Progressive to Me: Get Lost

We've had Progressive Auto Insurance for years now, but I'm a little ticked with them right now. Three years ago, when our van was almost exactly three years old, Stef got in a little accident, and the hood of the van was replaced. Over the course of the next three years, the hood has been very susceptible to stone chips, and has been developing large, deep gaps in the paint, all the way down to the metal. Our local Progressive rep in Livonia, Jason, asserts that this is normal wear and tear for a hood. I am skeptical. Never have a I seen long cracks in the paint emanating from the spot of a stone chip, or from the front corners of a hood. The old hood looked really good right up until the accident, and I would think the new hood would look pretty much the same at this point. Nope, according to them this series of deep cracks is perfectly normal, despite the fact that it occurs nowhere else on the vehicle, or for that matter on any vehicle I have ever owned.

At this point Progressive has used up my customer loyalty. If I can find cheaper insurance elsewhere I'm jumping ship. I pay for insurance so that I can get my car fixed correctly when something happens, not poorly fixed and then discarded. Add to this the fact that the van's CD player wouldn't work after the accident and they flatly refused to fix it, and you'll see why I'm at the end of my patience. I'm paying for a service and I'm not getting the service. Bye bye, Progressive Auto Insurance.

Wait a Minute....

Today The Morning Show had a segment on college murder cover-ups. I was not surprised to hear them talk about EMU's recent tragedy and the administrative debacle surrounding it, but what did surprise me was something said by Robert Dickinson, the father of slain student Laura. He recounted gathering the family and driving to EMU after hearing the news of his daughter's death. He then said he was told by the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner that there was no indication of foul play. Not an EMU source, but a Washtenaw County source, the same source that a report on the incident would claim as having reported to EMU sources that there was potential foul play. So now I'm at a loss of whom to believe. It occurs to me that if the medical examiner had told Robert Dickinson that there was no foul play, couldn't he also have told EMU authorities the same? I mean, isn't that the medical examiner's job to make those kinds of determinations? I know EMU has taken a lot of flak for not informing the campus of what happened, but for the first time I'm starting to wonder if it was the medical examiner who was the source of the controversy. I don't think anyone at EMU can realistically be expected to do the job of the medical examiner, and whether or not the situation looked like foul play to the untrained eye isn't the same as an official finding of foul play.

Looks like there's more of this story yet to unfold.

EDIT: Contrast this to the story from WZZM where Robert Dickinson says "We were told the night they found Laura that there was no foul play. Even when the medical examiner's report said foul-play suspected." All this time I had assumed the we were told meant we were told by EMU, when I now see that it might possibly mean we were told by the medical examiner.

Willpower

Saturday I went to a family reunion for my dad's side of the tree. While there I noticed a large scale under the claw-footed tub, and realized that this was my first real opportunity to weigh myself since beginning my diet on July 23. I had originally planned on waiting until my next appointment with my regular doctor (September 5) to find out my progress, and for a minute or so I debated whether to just wait or go ahead and step on the scale. In the end, instant gratification won out and I stepped onto the scale .... 195! I had lost 25 lbs. in the past month! I was elated.

I have now set my final goal at 170, a full 50 lbs. less than I weighed in July. I'm hoping that another 2-3 months will get me there. The gratifying part is that it's working, and I think there are a few keys to my success so far. It would probably be more appropriate to talk about this after I had reached (and maintained) my eventual goal, but I feel like blabbing now.

Portion Control. The whole key for me has been a change in attitude toward what a reasonable meal quantity consists of. Once you get yourself accustomed to the amount of food that comprises 1000-1200 calories a day, 2000 calories in a day feels like a gi-normous binge in sheer volume. Getting used to stopping at the point where I would be just getting started previously took an act of will. I don't know if it's physical or psychological, but I don't really have the shut off when it comes to food. I could/can eat until I'm physically uncomfortable and still want to eat more. It's especially difficult in fast food places where the meals consist of a number of small, inexpensive items. Taco Bell is the primary example of this. I order way too much food, then eat all of it. Well, I used to anyway. Nowadays I can safely get one or two small items (after carefully consulting the nutrition guide) that still leave enough room in my remaining calorie allowance for a reasonable dinner.

Availability. As odd as it sounds, having predictable food options easily available to me has helped tremendously. I know that for lunch I'm going to get a Wendy's small chili, and it will be 220 calories. Every now and again, when I feel especially hungry at lunch, I supplement with a side salad, adding another 40-50 calories. It appeals to my frugality (at $1.26 it's the cheapest lunch this side of ramen) and leaves me enough calories to eat whatever I cook for dinner. If I had to pack a lunch I know I would likely pack (and eat) too much food, and the calorie count would be harder to control.

Accountability. I have told enough people about what I am doing that I cannot reasonably deviate from it without being confronted about my excess. At home it's easier to munch and nibble without really keeping track of what I'm eating, and that can lead to uncontrolled intake if I'm not especially careful. It is also incumbent on me to produce the results my doctor has recommended, which helps with the delayed gratification aspect.

Perspective. While at family camp, I decided to make the adult banquet dinner on Friday night a "Diet Free Zone" and eat whatever I wanted. For two days I anticipated how great everything would taste, and how good it would feel to each a steak and a baked potato, and even a dessert! In the end I was disappointed, not because the food was bad but because my memory of food was so much better. I was full after a fairly modest amount eaten, and the taste just wasn't as extraordinary as I was expecting. I had been initially afraid that any return to rich foods would made continuation of my diet nearly impossible, but that has not been the case. I have since afforded myself very small, occasional portions of ice cream or popcorn, keeping rigorous track of portion and calorie count of course, since then. I love food, but doesn't mean I'll enjoy it more if I eat a lot of it. I'm also getting more concerned about my health (gasp! a nearly 40-year old who suddenly is concerned about his health! Unprecedented!) and would like to feel good as I continue to age.

Two things that have helped a great deal are my brother's gastric bypass surgery and my friend Bill's "popcorn diet" concept. The popcorn diet is just a psychology trick. Bill really likes popcorn, so he tells himself, "If I eat a small dinner I can have popcorn later!" Typically, though, the popcorn gets forgotten as the evening continues. This attitude of "not forbidden, just not a high priority" has helped me control dinner time intake. I had a chance to spend a few meals around my brother after his surgery, and was amazed at how small the portions were that he could comfortably eat. That, in essence, was the bulk of how the surgery worked for him. He was stuffed to the point of feeling sick after only a few tablespoons of food, so his caloric intake was dramatically reduced. Maybe there's more to it than that, but it seemed that simple to me. I thought, "Well, I can just eat meals like a gastric bypass patient does, and that will achieve the same effect without going under the knife." I haven't gone to quite the same dramatic portion changes, and I have been wary about entering starvation mode, but the premise seems to have been correct.

Anyway, I'll look forward to a big, fat load of ridicule if I falter from my goals now that I've made my methods transparent.

Less vs. Fewer

Okay, people. I'm tired of this. You can talk about how much of something there is, or you can talk about how many of something there are, but you can't mix the terms.

Less refers to a decrease (either qualitative or quantitative) of a singular collective. I feel less happy. There is less pollution. I ate less than normal.

Fewer refers to a decrease in the quantifiable members of a set. We have fewer employees. I ate fewer calories than normal. I have received fewer emails since the server crashed.

I just sat through a two hour meeting to which the words whom and fewer were apparently not invited. I really like this language, and while I may not always be its best advocate I certainly find some of its misuses to be grating.

Back to Work!

We're back! It was great! Etc, etc...

I moved offices Friday before going on vacation, in anticipation of our team (web) switching offices with the DBA team. Now that switch has been put on hold, so I'm stranded with the DBA's for a while. They comprise a number of my regular friends here, but I still feel isolated from my team.

Painting has re-commenced! Man, I need to make this more of a painting blog and less of a diary.

Weight loss! I have no idea how much I weigh now, but I do weigh less. Taking various people's advice into consideration, I did a little research on what "starvation mode" typically comprises, and am well above the accepted starvation range at 1000-1200 calories per day. Again, I can't really quantify how much I have lost but I'm clearly losing it, as evidenced by belt notch utilization. I'd like to say I feel better, but my recently discovered enlarged spleen is just a bit uncomfortable (rather like having a side-stitch most of the time.) I plan on getting a weight reading on 9/5 when I return to the doctor, and not before then.

Family Camp Time Again

Well, we're off to family camp tomorrow. I plan on taking my paints, just like last year, but I don't know if I'll get to use them.

Things I like about family camp:

• 24 hour coffee
• no dogs
• I don't have to cook
• in-depth bible study
• no dogs

The one thing I just can't seem to do at family camp is relax. A lot of the things that people like to do to relax just end up stressing me out.

Phantom Itch

I had a little dentistry done today, namely a crown and a filling replacement. The teeth in question were adjacent to each other, so the amount of anesthesia used was enough to make half my face numb for six hours. The problem came about 6:00 PM, when I experienced an itch on my lip. I went to scratch, but the spot where I thought the itch was located was still numb. I could have scratched until I bled and I wouldn't have felt a thing! It was, without exception, the most frustrating itch I have ever experienced. I could touch the very spot of the itch, and yet I couldn't scratch it.

Posthumous Advice

A manager got laid off here last week. Today, the department secretary and the person who acts as office manager were cleaning out her office as I walked by. At least a year before her departure, on a bulletin board next to the door, the ex-occupant of the office had posted a quote.

It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.
--Roger Babson

I'm sure that this seems wise as long as you are not suffering that sort of failure in this sort of economy. By this economy, I mean Michigan. It's bad here. It also might be unfair to brand it as failure, since it was an economically driven layoff. I'm sure it feels like failure. It would to me.

"Medical Week" continues for me. Yesterday I got fitted with an "event monitor" that I will be using to record unusual cardiac activity over the next 30 days. Honestly, I think my doctor was a bit alarmist setting me up with this thing. The sorts of issues I was having were tied inexorably to eating, and my current diet has kept the issues at bay for the past three weeks. I'm still experiencing the heartbeat increase, but the forceful pounding I was feeling is pretty much gone. It irritates me just a tad that I'm going to have to wear electrodes during the week we are at family camp. That's what I get for complaining, I suppose.

Visible!

Hopefully GW won't crush me for linking an image from their site.

My giant is posted on the GW website! It's on the Chicago Games Day 2007 coverage page, in "Honorable Mentions Page 2."

So check it out and say, "Hey! I know the guy who painted that!"

Impatient

Bear with my while I pace the floor awaiting the GW news site to be updated with more photos. I desperately want to see my giant there, and nearly a week after games day the irrational impatience is killing me. It's uncharacteristic of me, or at least I would like to think it is. It takes time to prepare photos for web display, and there were an awful lot of great models that got photographed.

Please enjoy the pretty flowers while we wait.

Off topic, my "get less fat" crusade has been going quite well. I've managed to stay at about 1000 calories a day and maintain daily brisk walks without a significant amount of hunger or regret. When I think about all the food I have decided not to eat in the past 11 days it gives me a startling realization of how many calories I was actually taking in per day. I wonder if there is a maximum caloric absorption limit, after which any potential calories you have ingested just pass through untouched. That theory is the only dubious rationale I can imagine to explain why I don't weigh 500 lbs. Family Camp is Aug. 11-19, and eating small portions when I have a buffet available three meals a day will be a challenge. Hopefully Stef can give me a little willpower nudge if needed.

Notes from Jeremie Bonamant Teboul Seminar

Getting the chance to listen to Jeremie talk for 2+ hours about his amazing painting was a privilege, and was the highlight of Games Day for me (yes, even above getting honorable mention. Did I mention I got honorable mention? I'm pretty sure I did.) What follows are the notes I took during the seminar. Some of it is well known technique, but when he mentioned it I decided to write it down for re-emphasis. During the seminar, Jeremie repeatedly stressed that his methods were not "universal truths" for painting, but were only his personal techniques.

• After white primer coat, apply 4-5 base coats for color consistency. Paint should be about 6-7:1 diluted.
• Applying paint to change color of the paint underneath is a glaze; to change lighting is a wash.
• Alternate brush stroke direction between coats to minimize brush marks.
• Paint transitions in color by applying less pressure with the brush during the stroke. (Practice for consistency)
• The same brush can be used for the entire model, with different pressure used to create different line thicknesses. He typically uses a 1 or 0 brush, Rafael or W&N Series 7.
• Paint can be pushed as well as pulled; use decreasing pressure as you move away from the paint source.
• Remember: complex processes can always be broken down in to a series of small, simple processes. Don't be intimidated.
• When sculpting, use aluminum foil as filler over your armature. It's cheaper than putty.
• For a sculpting tool, use a "color shaper" (basically a brush with a rubber tip.)
• Take a picture of a live model in the same pose you want to sculpt, for reference and correct anatomy.
• woods chips, cut and connected with milliput, make great basing.
• for dirt on basing, create a layer of milliput, then press a textured object into the milliput and let harden. (alternative to flocking.)
• For moss, glue the protective foam from blister packs to model, then rip away. A small amount of foam will remain stuck to the glue.
• For water effects, use a 2-part epoxy. The label of the product will have instructions on how to color.
• For glossy objects, mix gloss varnish right into the paint. It adds depth and volume.
• Owl pellets are a good source for small bones for basing (yuck!?!?!!?!?)
• Style item: repeat color between the base and the model, for overall theming.
  
• For title plaques, print a negative on transparency and then paint the backside with gold paint.
• Do not just highlight edges. For true zenithal lighting, always highlight surfaces perpendicular to the light source. Surfaces parallel to the light source should receive no blending at all.
• Zenithal lighting splits planes of light and shadow.
• Focus more highlighting on the parts of the model that you are attempting to accentuate.
• For edge lining, highlighting a portion of the edge more than the rest works more dramatically.
• since metallics reflect things around them, highlights should appear all around them.
• effective metal can be produced with simply "boltgun" and selectively applied black washes
• Do not use metallics in shadowed areas. The metal flakes will reflect light and ruin the shadow effect.
• For scratches, prime white, dab with masking fluid, spray white again, wash brown, then remove masking fluid with cloth. (I think I left out a step in my notes... maybe putting the scratch color on before the masking fluid?)
• For dust, dab model with foam from blister pack (just a tiny amount of paint, like dry brushing)
• On gems, do not make a strong line on the bottom of the gem. Small effects help, like tiny white specks on the top.
• Contrast warm to cold - put some yellow in the highlights and blue/purple in the shadows

And then some things I didn't write down at the time, but can remember.\

• To "box in" water effects, use masking tape. Once the water effect (epoxy) has cured, the masking tape pulls away easily.
• Freehand work is seldom precise enough to start. Draw the initial lines, then edge them with background color to make them thin and sharp.
• Seed pods from tree (silver birch?) make great basing leaves.

I was talking to Marc at the GW store about all this, and mentioned how inspired I was. He said, "Yeah, I was too the first time." Apparently his inability to apply techniques he had witnessed from better painters was frustrating for him. I will not be discouraged!

Honorable Mention!

I didn't just make first cut, but honorable mention! A friend witnessed the judging, and reported that both the winner of the bronze and my model were on the "winners" shelf turned backwards for some time before mine was placed back on the "first cut" shelf, so I'm assuming that means I was even considered for the bronze! I stood back and watched the GW staff photograph my giant along with the winners, which presumably mean that he may be shown on the website, or even in White Dwarf! I will dutifully report here (and presumably brag on the CMON and UE forums.)

Man, I have got to photograph this thing....

The best part, besides seeing all the amazing painted models, was Jeremie Bonamant
Teboul's amazing painting seminar. I am inspired.

Well, I'm Off

Next stop: Chicago

The giant is complete... I'm hoping I can resist fiddling with him for the next couple hours. He turned out good, but once assembled and based the overall visual impact wasn't greater than the sum of the parts. I was a little disappointed by that.

Well, I've said it from day 1: may goal is to make first cut!

What a Difference Three Days Makes

72 little hours. No, I won't sing (although it is a great song.)

On my doctors "advice" I have discontinued the use of Sudafed / sinus pills (either phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine), have reduced my caffeine intake and have tried to limit use of my Albuterol inhaler. The result? My heart rate is down from 100+ to slightly fewer than 80 beats per minute in only the three days since the physical.

EDIT: I take that back. After eating lunch (a Wendy's large chili, about 12 oz.) my heart rate went back up to slightly less than 100. Two hours later it's at about 90. I'm going to have to take more data points.

EDIT 2: Now four hours later, it's down to about 80 again.

Economical and Convenient

The trip to Games Day (Rosemont, IL) is 265 miles one way.
530 round trip / 20 mpg = 26.5 gallons of gas
26.5 gallons of gas * $2.85/gal = about $75
If I drove, I would probably have needed to spend the night.

I paid $32 for the round trip bus ticket.

The bus leaves from the GW store about 5 minutes from my house. One of the employees has decided to leave the store open from 8pm when they would normally close until 3am when the bus is scheduled to arrive, so I may actually get in a Nemesis Crown game before the campaign ends.

Last night I finished the "boss rat" completely. That leaves only the engineer to paint (he's basecoated), a mold line to remove/repaint on the giant, and basing work. This is rapidly coming together!

Home Stretch

Tonight I will accomplish the majority of the remaining work on the giant, leaving me two night for touch up and error correction. I've been telling people that I've been working on him for six weeks, which turns out to be untrue. I purchased the giant on 6/30, the same Saturday the family and I saw Ratatouille. That means that from initial purchase until entry into competition at Games Day will be exactly four weeks. Last time I purchased a mini for competition I had four days to work and I won my category. Here's hoping I have some numerology thing going on! Okay, I like to aim big but I know my actual chances are about nil. The goal has always been to make first cut, and I will dutifully report here whether I made first cut when I get home from the event. The chance to actually see some world class minis and the chance to learn from Jeremie Bonamant Teboul are what I am most gaining from this.

Alright then. Off to paint!

Starving and Terrified

With only four nights of potential work left on the Golden Demon entry, I am making the transition from merely nervous to downright terrified. I got a good portion of the "boss" rat done last night, and did some basecoating on the engineer, so at least they're started. The only remaining painting on the giant are another wash on some of the mechanical components, some touch ups on the club/ax and the glosscoating of some parts, like the brain and the tongue.

I had a physical yesterday, and I need to lose 20 lbs. To start. I plan on exercising pure willpower to start a very low calorie, low portion, low enjoyment diet. That way I can plunge down to my target weight, then rocket back up to my current weight using the power of Dairy Queen and Checkers. I've tried to do things like limit portion size in the past, and the results have been fairly unimpressive, but I gotta tell ya... something about having your doctor telling you to lose 20 lbs. is a lot more compelling than just wanting to do it for arbitrary health reasons, to me anyway. Maybe I just trust authority figures. Oh, it turns out that I also have to cut down on caffeine. Limit caffeinne?!? I need that to remain conscious! I also need to have another echocardiogram stress test to see if my borderline left ventricular hypertrophy isn't borderline anymore. Hooray for medicine!

If You're Gonna Be An Idiot....

...you might as well be one for a stupid reason.

I'm sure by now you've read about the couple who neglected their two children because they were so obsessed with playing online video games. When I first read the AP story, which indicated that the couple was mainly playing a "Dungeons and Dragons" game, I thought surely they must mean World of Warcraft. Sure there's "Dungeons and Dragons Online" (DDO) but who could neglect their children over DDO?!? A couple of us at work tried out DDO, and just couldn't muster much interest in it after a couple days, despite the fact that it was created by Turbine Games (the same company that made Asheron's Call, which consumed years of our gaming lives.) Neglecting your kids over DDO would be like starving to death because you can't tear yourself away from C-SPAN. Eventually I found this story that confirms that it was in fact DDO that the couple were playing. Yikes.

The Bigger They Are....

EMU's President was fired yesterday, presumably over the Laura Dickinson murder. The Detroit Free Press has the story. Was it a cover up or just gross mishandling? I don't really know, but the buck has to stop somewhere.

In better news, the giant got a great deal of work over the weekend. The fleshtone is coming along nicely, and the face is starting to come together. There is a wrap of scaly skin on his right forearm that people typically paint green. I chose to paint it red to represent the skin of a defeated Carnosaur, a dinosaur looking thing from the traditional Skaven enemy, the Lizardmen. With only twelve potential days to go, I'm getting more and more worried that I will be able to finish him in time. I still have the two Skaven that sit on his back to paint!

GD Entry WIP 2

Conversion work is almost done. I ended up making a little crow's nest of balsa for the old warlock engineer, and have finished all the machinery on the back. The only think left now are the shields that go on the left forearm and the chains and hooks that connect all the machinery to the giant. I have the first hook assembled (jewelry chain and thin brass rod) and will be attaching it hopefully today. I don't know if I'm going to bother with hooks and chains on the lower part... it's busy enough down there already. I also repositioned the giant on the base (with Mark's advice) so that he's in mid-stride. It levels out the platforms that the Skaven ride on and makes the piece more dynamic overall.

I seriously need to take some photos, and it's almost time to start painting. Including today, I have 17 days to complete this fellow. Time is short.