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May 31, 2006

Peeking

I'm here. Just very busy juggling various projects. Be back soon.

Posted on May 31, 2006 4:24 PM | link to this entry

May 25, 2006

Silvertone 2015

This set was given to me by a friend and business partner as a Christmas gift somewhere around 1997. The Sears company produced this set in the 50's (this fellow dates it at 1956) but it still has a lot of characteristics left over from the late 40's-brown bakelite case, inventive use of the material for the grille (and use of grille cloth), and retro script on the dial. It shares several design elements from older sets—for example, the GE radio I have, but with more class. Mechanically, there's nothing wrong with it; it has great sound and pulls in distant stations easily. There's also a helpful metal badge on the back with a unique serial ID; the original owner would call Sears, give them this number, and they would be able to run down parts and service for that specific model. It's not a radio that would have stopped me in my tracks, but as I've owned it, I've grown to appreciate its lines and condition, and I'm happy to have it in my collection.

Posted on May 25, 2006 2:27 PM | link to this entry

Still On PDX Time.

Jen and I are groggily sipping (nay, gulping) coffee this morning and attempting to wake up. Last night's curtain call came at 4AM, after a long day of edits and new page layout for her and pre-production Photoshop work for me. She's been pulling these hours for two weeks now—we were talking via iChat at midnight PST last week while I was in Oregon—but this is the final stretch. The client is still trying to stuff new pages, pictures, and random changes into the mixture this morning, but she has slammed the door on their little fingers (the deadline is Friday) and we are in cleanup mode from here on out.

At one point last night, she asked me if all this was worth it, and I had to remind myself that we aren't working for someone else on a salary, we get to work together (shockingly well yesterday, I might add), and we get to make the decisions as to how far we'll go for our clients (which is usually pretty far).

Yeah, 4AM sucks, but the commute is pretty sweet.

Posted on May 25, 2006 10:40 AM | link to this entry

May 24, 2006

RE: LOST.

Tonight's guest: Everybody's favorite character and evil-voice actor Clancy Brown!

A quote from the IMDB: "All the movies where I play nice guys don't seem to do very well."

Posted on May 24, 2006 9:36 PM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

May 23, 2006

I Almost Forgot...

Our houseguest of three months is gone! I can relax in my own house again!

Posted on May 23, 2006 4:34 PM | link to this entry

Home Again.

I landed in BWI at 6:10 this morning after taking a red-eye from PDX, with a whirlwind layover in Vegas. (Note: the Vegas airport blows. It seems the only thing they are interested in doing is putting as many slot machines in between you and your connecting flight as they can. Good times.) After Jen picked me up from the airport, we returned home and crashed for two hours of restless half-sleep before getting the day started. The front half of the lawn is now mowed—just in time for a meeting with one of our larger clients—but the back half is two weeks overdue. I'm sorting through a pile of cords, peripherals, papers, mail, and the remains at the bottom of my carry-ons trying to jump-start my brain, but it's pretty slow going. I'm going to need massive quantities of coffee and red wine to self-medicate my sleep cycle back to Eastern Standard Time.

Posted on May 23, 2006 12:54 PM | link to this entry

May 22, 2006

Have Gun, Will Travel.

I've been out here in Oregon for the past week doing some contract work with some old friends from the dot-com days. Right now I'm sitting on a couch relaxing after a day's ride from Brookings to Portland (the work was in Brookings, my plane is in Portland) through the redwoods in California, up the coastline on I-5 and into the city. Oregon is a pretty beautiful, interesting place. I feel at home in a state which features an espresso stand every quarter-mile, and where free wi-fi is offered at state parks and rest areas. Now, the whole state isn't like that—you can't get wi-fi in the mountains, but you can always get espresso. Seriously, I've seen more coffee joints than liquor stores, and the only thing that outnumbers both is adult novelty stores, which seem to be everywhere. And the coffee isn't watered-down bullshit, either; the McDonald's in Brookings sells better coffee than I've had in most Maryland Starbucks.

People here are friendly and welcoming; we had two people stop their cars and let us cross a busy street in downtown Portland, something I've not experienced since being in Maine ten years ago. Everybody waves as they drive past, something that must be difficult to do while speeding down the highway (no lie.) However, these people all apparently pack serious heat. Oregonians take possession of firearms seriously, like owning shoes—concealed-carry is not against the law, it's expected.

Classic cars are abundant, to the point where a native Easterner like me weeps when I see a mid-50's sedan in near-perfect condition, or a Scout with brushguards, mudders, and a winch pass by on the highway. And they're sold for pennies out here—T-bucket roadsters in the low teens, or early 60's coupes for two or three thousand (with a fresh motor).

We set up shop in a house about a half-mile from the edge of the water, opened up a card table, and got to work. The job itself is great—it's an application for mobile phones that could really take off with a large demographic—and it felt good to brainstorm out some ideas and develop some creative solutions with two people who are much, much smarter than me. And every day, weather permitting, our host C. would take us to a different beach to walk off some of the stiffness brought on by five hours of straight typing, which allowed for some great photography. The southern Oregon coastline is just incredible—miles of rocky surf, completely different from the Jersey shore I grew up on.

We also took some time to travel out of Brookings, into the mountains, and up a one-lane fire road to a remote firing range, where C. and J. broke out thir rifles and we commenced to exercising our second-amendment rights, in fine fashion:

J's Mini-14 is a compact, solid rifle with a utilitarian feel and a comfortable weight. We single-loaded and shot with iron sights, because the clip didn't make the trip and the scope mount was being uncooperative. I did some pretty successful plinking at the 50-yard targets (the close ones in the shot above) and some woefully inaccurate shooting beyond that. C's AR-10 is a specialty target rifle, and he has a huge scope mounted and dialled in for very accurate fire. The rifle is a lot heavier and offers more kick (being a larger shell), and I did some frighteningly good shooting at 75 yards (the medium-range targets above) before we packed it in. I've forgotten how satisfying it is to do some simple target shooting with a rifle, and I may look into a lightweight, dependable target rifle like John's in the near future.

We drove back into Portland this afternoon (Sunday) and J. took me to look at Powell's Books, a bibliophile's candy store unique to the Northwest. We hit the technical bookstore first, where I quickly dropped $25 on two used books that normally would have cost $70, and then to the "big" store, where my mouth fell open as we toured the multiple floors of books. My pusher J. convinced me to buy another book before we left, and then we headed off for some dinner.

Posted on May 22, 2006 12:30 AM | link to this entry

May 18, 2006

More Coastline.

Not a whole lot of time to write, so new pictures will have to suffice.

Posted on May 18, 2006 6:06 PM | link to this entry

May 17, 2006

Oregon Coastline

Down the street from the house I'm working out of, there's a short path down to the beach. We took a walk after a day's work and explored the coastline, and I took the opportunity to shoot some pictures. Follow the Flickr link to see some other shots.

Posted on May 17, 2006 12:11 PM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

May 15, 2006

Twin Peaks.

I believe that's Mt. St. Helens smoldering there in the foreground, and (possibly) Mt. Ranier in the background, framed by the wing of my 737. It's 4:33 local time, (7:33 EST) and I've been up for 17 hours, with a five hour drive down the coast ahead. More to come...

Posted on May 15, 2006 7:23 PM | link to this entry

May 14, 2006

Alpha-Bits.

The U entry on the Alphabet Project is live this afternoon, and there are a few minor changes to the presentation. I'm moving further into the caricature end of things, and so what I posted shows the original pencil sketch and the final artwork that resulted. I also added a pencil sketch for Tarantino from last week.

This one didn't happen as easily as the last few have. I would up cutting it three times—the scale on the first version was too large, and the second suffered from uneven linework. This version is closer to what I have in my head, but isn't one of the top five. Now, I face the difficult task of finding a subject for V. Any suggestions?

Posted on May 14, 2006 5:55 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

May 13, 2006

Confused.

I don't know which is worse—the fact that after Spetember 11, our government has been reviewing our phone call histories, the fact that the three big telco vendors sold our records to the government (no big surprise there), or the fact that half the country doesn't seem to give a shit. One of the key reasons I'm socially Democratic is because I am a firm believer in my civil liberties (those I still have left, that is.)

It's not so much that the government is looking at who is calling who (when one caller is in a foreign country, from what they claim). It's that this administration does everything under the nebulous veil of "National Security", without consulting my representatives in Congress, something that is, um, AGAINST THE LAW. Or, at least, that's what Mr Fahey taught me in public high school seventeen years ago.

Posted on May 13, 2006 4:47 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

May 11, 2006

New Addition.

Yesterday I deposited a freelance check that was pretty small by normal standards, but large in rewards. Around the Lockardugan studios, we have an assortment of old and new equipment, bought as time, money, and projects allow, and our PC is one of the oldest relics in the shop. (Number one would be our circa 1994 LaserWriter 630.) It's a no-name clone box with a Celeron 433—I think—built for me by my former business partner Dan when this blazing speed might have impressed somebody. It's beige, and it contains remnants of my first-ever PC (the floppy drive) as well as cast-off components donated to me by friends who took pity on my spendthrift ways. It's been a reliable, dependable workhorse of a computer, and it's allowed me to make money and stay viable for longer than I would have imagined.

However, its time is due. Switching between Photoshop, web browsers, and HomeSite (the main reason I own a PC) is painfully slow. The hard drive, which dates back to the Clinton Administration, has begun to sound wonky. I'm sure it draws gigawatts of electrical power, between the ancient power supply and the hand-me-down Voodoo 5 video card, which features two cooling fans and sounds like a hovering Russian helicopter. And frankly, it's very big and bulky. Recent events and upcoming plans have illustrated the need for something faster, smaller, and more portable to work on.

I found an outfit in a hole-in-the-wall shopping center in Glen Burnie that sells off-lease computer equipment for relatively cheap prices [Name withheld.] I dragged Jen there yesterday after a lunchtime client meeting to look over the selection, and found a basic IBM R30 Thinkpad for what I thought was a reasonable price. After standing around and waiting for one employee to get off the phone with what I assumed was his lawyer (a discussion about divorce papers and who would retain possession of the house had my mind spinning all sorts of stories about this kid) I was waited on by another, younger, walleyed kid who turned out to be the store manager. He broke out a power supply and I waited patiently for him to test out the unit while concentrating on not passing out from A. the heat and B. the overwhelming stench of mothballs, geeksweat, tapioca, and baby powder. After enduring the checkout and an anti-AOL diatribe by a distraught, shrieking female customer, I was given a matching IBM notebook bag and a swappable floppy drive, paid my money, and escaped back into the fresh air.

Because the company is not Microsoft certified, they are not allowed to install anything but the original system, so I am stuck with Windows 98, which is a little like riding a tricycle again. After installing a firewall, I spent a good part of last night looking up basic functions like file sharing, installing fonts, and DHCP setup, but it's gone smoothly and easily. It feels lighter, faster, and more responsive already, and I'm almost finished getting it set up for heavy usage. At some point I'll have to upgrade it (or, alternatively, buy a MacBook and set up a dual-boot environment, but I don't see that kind of scratch headed my way for some time now) and actually learn how to maintain a PC without hosing everything.

So, does anybody have a copy of Windows 2000 laying around? Heh heh, just kidding, Mr. Gates.

Posted on May 11, 2006 9:18 AM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

May 9, 2006

Home Again.

Back from Atlanta, at 11:30PM. Atlanta drivers are not concerned with southern manners, nor do they obey most commonly used road signage. Lessons learned: AirTran blows. Bodies: The Exhibition is worth the $20 admission, and will make anyone quit smoking, but they don't allow photography. The city of Atlanta itself seems to be comprised of many scattered groups of high-rise buildings linked together with miles of overpasses and tunnels. The Botanical Gardens are closed on Mondays, but Piedmont Park is not.

Posted on May 9, 2006 12:37 AM | link to this entry

May 7, 2006

Gradjeate.

Reporting from Atlanta, we have witnessed the successful graduation of the fourth Lockard child, from Georgia Tech. Among the way, we have encountered fickle Georgia weather, unreliable public transportation (Note: the Georgia Dome has an abnormally small parking lot—be warned) a restaurant called Maggiano's, where food is delivered not on plates but in shipping-container sized portions, and a little too much red wine. Now the process of shuttling people back to the airport begins.

Posted on May 7, 2006 11:20 AM | link to this entry

May 5, 2006

Today's Post Brought To You By The Letter "T".

After a week's hiatus, the entry for the letter T is live on the Alphabet Project. This one is simple black and white, partially because I don't have time to color it, but also because I did it a little differently than the others, and I'm really happy with some fo the detail. I'm flexing the caricature muscles a bit more now, and it feels good. This is progress, people.

Posted on May 5, 2006 9:34 AM | link to this entry

May 3, 2006

RE: Lost.

FUCK. I didn't expect that. We liked the commercial, though. For some hints, go here. Interesting that it was the the two DWI's, isn't it?

Posted on May 3, 2006 10:41 PM | link to this entry

Unknown Philco.

I bought this Philco in the John's Antiques Firesale (it was one of several sets in a pile) in my first year off collecting. Originally it had a dark burled wood finish, making it look striking and unique, and it came with no back, cord or dialcover. I took the finish off, not realizing (this was years before you could look up anything on the internets) the "finish" was actually offfset-printed paper made to look like burled wood and applied to the case with some kind of clear varnish. I set it aside after buying and installing some new grille cloth, fully intending to return to it at some point, but it's sat idle and naked since about 1995. I'd guess it's prewar based on the label design—it's only partially intact—but it doesn't look like any of the other Philco labels I have. More research needs to be done, as well as a reconditioning of tubes and electronics.

Posted on May 3, 2006 11:17 AM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

May 1, 2006

A New Toy.

Our neighborhood sprouts signs like weeds every spring and fall; usually they are centered around telephone poles by busy intersections, and usually they are hand-lettered announcements of tag, rummage, and estate sales in our immediate vicinity. I dragged Jen to a couple this past Saturday morning, after a particular sign caught my eye: CAMERAS DOWN HERE. We found a salty-haired old gent standing in front of a card table with ten or so different cameras, and one caught my eye: a tall black square with two lenses stacked atop each other, looking like a NASA-certified cousin to my Kodak Duoflex. This was something more, though: Large teutonic lettering above the lenses identified it as a Rolleicord, the inexpensive brother to the famous Rolleiflex medium-format twin-lens reflex camera.

I talked to the guy a bit, and he claimed it had been serviced last year (about $100, if one can find a technician who still knows how to service these cameras), and a test of the shutter proved he was right. I paid him for the camera—probably a little more than it's worth, to be honest—and brought it home to add to the collection. Some research indicates it's a Rolleicord III, made sometime between 1950-1953 (s/n 1169169) and it takes regular 120 film, still available at better photographic shops worldwide. The negative is a 6x6cm image, much larger than standard 35-mm film, and with a good lens the image is sharper and lends to larger, clearer blowups.

We took the Duoflex with us on our trip to Ireland last year, filled with black and white TMAX, and shot some pretty amazing stuff.

I'd say the results were good in a LOMO kind of way—the imprecise glass lens of the Kodak added some blurring and distortion to the shots, which added to the general sense of melancholy and mystery.

I'm pretty excited by this find, and it's something I've been interested in for a long time. Thanks to my father, I have an excellent 35-mm Minolta on my shelf, and I'll never sell it. I spent many expensive months attempting to learn how to use it properly in college, and many more expensive months learning how to develop the film. I have a gaggle of antique 620 cameras, each in perfect condition and ready for a new adventure. They will accompany us on our next trip to parts unknown, and bring back imperfect, atmospheric snapshots that mean more to me than a crisp digital file.

This camera, though, is a step above the average, and it demands I take the time to learn how to use it, which is fine by me.

Posted on May 1, 2006 11:30 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

I Heart New York, Part 2.

Highlights:

1. Staying in a hotel suite directly off Times Square/Boradway, overlooking the Jumbotron and across the street from the TKTS booth. Jen and I calculated that our suite, located on the 39th floor, would cost something like $4000/mo. to rent if it was a standard apartment.

2. Channel 2 is still CBS, 4 is NBC, 5 is WOR, 7 is ABC, and 11 is PIX. The way it should be. Also: Chuck Scarborough and Sue Simmons still rock the newsdesk. Word!

3. We had a client meeting in 30 Rockefeller Center, which was pretty fucking amazing. The building is timeless, and it fills one with a sense of HOLY SHIT THIS IS ROCKEFELLER CENTER.

4. After the client meeting, we were offered lunch and a tour of the building—the cool stuff. So, we walked the set of Dateline NBC, and happened to see Brian Williams in the hall. Then, we toured the Conan O'Brien set (a tiny little set, and freezing) and then the editing and control rooms for NBC. Imagine the control room at NORAD in about 1/10th the space—you get the idea. From there, we were led onto the set and stage of Saturday Night Live, which was awesome. (While we were walking the stage, the standard NBC tour group was peering down at the set behind a glass wall from behind the top bleachers. Suckers.) Next, a walk through the datacenter of NBC, which is the largest, coldest, biggest datacenter I've been in. Wow. Then, we walked from 30 Rock across the plaza (Passing Tom Brokaw in the lobby) and into another building, where we found ourselves on the Today show set. (And me, without my camera.)

5. The Munch exhibit at the new MoMA, which was phenomenal. Jen was able to see the original version of a print she's had for sixteen years, and we got to see some old friends, plus walk the halls of the new building, which is spectacular. Go.

6. HOLY SHIT THIS IS ROCKEFELLER CENTER.

7. St. Patrick's Cathedral, as the noon mass on Thursday was letting out, was beautiful.

8. Fifth Avenue, up to the park, is a beautiful stroll on a spring day. And the park itself was relaxing and peaceful. We sat by the water and rested our feet for a while, watching the ducks paddle around and a raccoon jump the fence into the skating rink to raid the dumpsters.

9. The train ride up and back is definitely the way to travel. 3 miles from our doorstep to the Amtrak BWI terminal, up to Penn Station, and a 5-minute cab ride to the hotel. Sweet.

10. Passing the Milford Plaza hotel, and remembering one of many old commercials from the 80's:

The Milford Plaza is
The Lull-a-bye
Of Old
Broad
Waaaaay!

Anybody remember the Ritz Thrift Shop? Crazy Eddie's? Potampkin Cadillac?

11. Rudy's Bass Shop (Our hotel looked down on the Sam Ash store on West 48 Street), a third-floor walkup, which featured a mid 60's Fender P-bass in sunburst/tortoiseshell and a nice old Rickenbacker 4001.

Posted on May 1, 2006 1:23 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)