July 31, 2006

Grasping Revolution And Increasing Production

I posted the X entry of the Alphabet Project this morning, after an absence of updates last week. Let's hope the stirring, motivational words of Deng Xiaoping will lead me to fully engage in the movement to increase production and to practice economy to set off a new upsurge in industrial production.

Posted on July 31, 2006 12:24 PM | link to this entry

July 28, 2006

Vacation

We're taking our monthly vacation in little trips this weekend because we're responsible for puppy-sitting. Today's destination is Longwood Gardens, where it will be hot in the sun but pretty to look at. Meanwhile, my business server is down again, so if you need to reach me, call my cell or email the idiot account.

Posted on July 28, 2006 11:47 AM | link to this entry

July 27, 2006

HUZZAH.

The aforementioned check has arrived. Which means I have a bank run to make this morning, as well as some light grocery shopping. Thank Jeebus.

Posted on July 27, 2006 10:27 AM | link to this entry

July 26, 2006

Window Shopping II, or: I Can't Afford It, Anyway.

Why is it that all the motorcycles sold on Craigslist in this area are crotch-rocket ego bikes worth more than my Jeep? All I want is a decent, running Honda CB350, or even a mid-70's R60. Sheesh.

Posted on July 26, 2006 3:26 PM | link to this entry | Comments (2)

Window Shopping

If I ever get paid, and actually have money in the bank (gasp), this is a partial list of Stuff I'd Like To Buy:

The birthday present I have picked out for my wife
Life insurance
A pair of dress chinos so that I don't look like a bumbling hick on our client meeting next week
A new pair of dress shoes to replace the 5-year-old Steve Madden knockoffs I currently own
A pair of prescription sunglasses to replace the ones I lost in the taxi on the way to our hotel in Rome two years ago
A set of iPod headphones to replace the ones I've got, which are fraying, cracked, and dynamically mismatched
The ability to finally subscribe to satellite radio, putting the unit we've had since December to use
Extra RAM, a new battery, and a CD-burner for the Thinkpad, which needs to be backed up

Supposedly, there's a FedEx package on its way with my name on it. If it ever does arrive, I'll be able to pay 1/2 my upcoming tax bill, the August mortgage, and at least some of my outstanding bills.

Posted on July 26, 2006 10:08 AM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

July 21, 2006

Providence.

I got an email yesterday afternoon with a signed proposal, something that will make the next couple of months very busy, and hopefully profitable as well. I can't stress how much of a good a thing this is, considering the (in)frequency of checks coming in the door lately.

We seem to be fighting the familiar first-year battle of balancing our incoming and outgoing cash flow, something that leaves us both exhilarated and terrified at the same time. I think I could speak for the both of us when I say that we're probably busier now than we ever were at 9-5 jobs, with the added roles of bookkeeper, project manager, systems administrator, and salesperson. However, having my best friend work over my right shoulder is a lifesaver—we each provide the other a welcome mix of business advice, sanity check, and aesthetic criticism at those points when judgement is impaired by stress, fatigue, or creative block.

At this particular moment in time, I'll say that it's been a great experience. I'll also admit that I've got less in my savings account than I've had in ten years, I'm living week to week, and sometimes it takes me several hours to fall asleep at night on account of the worrying. However, I've got several long-term projects lined up that I'm excited about, a developing portfolio just about ready to promote, and the freedom to take in a half-price matinee on a Tuesday afternoon with my wife (not that we've taken advantage of that yet.)

Posted on July 21, 2006 9:51 AM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

July 18, 2006

Kenmore Air Conditioner

The Kenmore model 75062 is a low-profile, EnergyStar-compliant unit, featuring a remote control, timer function, 6000 btu/hr, and quiet operation. We bought ours at Sears and installed it in about five minutes. It cycles on and off quietly on the EnergyStar setting and chills a 150-sq.foot room in minutes. Plus, being low-profile, we can actually see out the window over the top of the unit. (It's also comparatively light.)

Posted on July 18, 2006 11:47 AM | link to this entry

Adios, Scumbag.

I finished an illustration of Ken Lay last night at about 1AM, one that I've had rattling around in the back of my head for the last couple of days. It went very quickly and turned out well, even though I changed it up at the Photoshop stage and added a new section. Let me know if you like it.

Posted on July 18, 2006 9:42 AM | link to this entry

July 14, 2006

Photoblog, Part 2.

Oh, yeah. Pixelpost is very nice. Between projects this morning, and with a few slight hiccups here and there (mainly MySQL-related admin stuff) I got the app up and running smoothly. Within about two minutes I had two images uploaded, commented, and working. The admin interface is a little rudimentary (I'm spoiled by Movable Type) but fully functional and robust. It supports RSS 2.0, and it's valid XHTML. There's some spam blocking built in, email notification of new comments and comment authorization, and the application supports both .JPG and .GIF formats. I'm digging around the templates now to see how much I can customize the page layout, but this looks promising. And, there's a pretty robust community out there.

Addendum: I think I may go back to Movable Type anyway, just because I'm going to be extending the basic layout to have a sideblog with illustration-related content as well as portfolio work. As much as I'm not wanting to wrangle with the complexities of MT again, it's going to be for the best. Now, I just need to get paid so I can order a new domain and get the ball rolling...

Posted on July 14, 2006 9:16 AM | link to this entry

July 13, 2006

The Lockardugan Concession to Reality TV.

Oh, man, the third season of Project Runway started last night. You know where I'll be on Wednesdays for the next couple of months. I thought for sure tattoo-neck-guy was going down, or maybe basket-head-tweaker-guy, but they sent the chick who couldn't use a sewing machine packing—probably a good thing for her, in the long run.

Posted on July 13, 2006 9:21 PM | link to this entry

July 11, 2006

Photoblog, Part 1.

I'm doing the legwork to build a new website for my illustration portfolio, in the hopes that I can make it more of a weekly (or even daily) endeavor. My dream is to have a site where I post sketches and finals of my work as well as other articles and sites I'm looking at, and have a place for comments and an RSS feed. Because I'd like to make it as easy as possible, I've been looking at a lot of photoblog software, which is a more specialized version of traditional weblog software—the emphasis is on ease of uploading and immediate posting, as opposed to the hassle of adding a photo to one's Flickr account, hunting down the URL, and pasting it into a Movable Type window, repeat, repeat. In essence with a lot of these apps, the photo is the central unit, and the title/caption becomes secondary, almost metadata.

I started with some of the lighter applications, and looked at Folderblog, which has ease of installation and lightweight footprint as two of its key features. Instead of a true content management system, it acts as a PHP script running in the background, processing photos as they are added to a central folder and tying them to text files with metadata. Some of its drawbacks are that it has no allowance for .GIF files (which are central to the work I do), it has a gloopy UI, it has questionable support, and it has a very small community. I was able to modify the templates to get a layout that was more in line with what I wanted, but it's not perfect. I'm shelving this one for the time being.

The next application I'm looking at is PixelPost, which (shudder) requires a MySQL database backend. Having navigated the myriad websites to find the information I need and the link to the required file (a binary installer, thank CHRIST) I got it installed and running under OS X last night. I then found a handy utility called Navicat to administer the database, something I've only been able to do previously with arcane command-line jujitsu found buried in pages of lousy open source documentation. And speaking of lousy documentation, how about providing a screenshot, people? Or simply a better website, that, um, lists some of the features of the application? I'm going on reviews here, and looking at other websites for an approximation of what I might get, and that's just not enough. I do like the database backend, and there seems to be a healthy community building helpful tools (captcha, clean URL, and ratings, for example).

As I continue with the experiment, I'll keep writing about it here. I'm hopeful I'll find a robust enough application that I can use for a real-world website, and finally get the site I want running.

Posted on July 11, 2006 9:47 AM | link to this entry

July 10, 2006

The Natural Order.

Let's all wish my sister Renie a warm, wonderful 29th birthday today! Renie, we hope it's a great day for you.

There's not much to discuss here in C-Ville, other than the fact that we're A. totally finished with picnic food for a while (them nitrates will clean you out, and not in a good way) and B. embarking on a Campaign To Eat Healthier, all in the wake of the 4th of July Parade. Being left with 24 hamburger patties on the 5th means we gave the FoodSaver a workout, stocking our freezer for the next year's worth of grilling. One of the benefits of post-party cleanup is that we still have a sizeable cache of beer in the basement, something that's been in pretty short supply around here lately.

Also, I finished the V entry for the Alphabet Project this morning, bringing order back from chaos. I'll make a slight detour to work on an obituary piece to commemorate Ken Lay's passing, and then return to X later in the week.

Posted on July 10, 2006 1:35 PM | link to this entry | Comments (1)

July 7, 2006

Cingular Blows, Part II.

Cingular Under Scrutiny

SEATTLE, July 6, 2006: (AP) Cingular Wireless Corp. promised to provide uninterrupted service to AT&T Wireless customers when it acquired that company in 2004, but instead it nickel-and-dimed them and degraded their reception in an effort to persuade them to sign new contracts, a federal lawsuit said.

...Yeah, and how about my lousy reception now that I have a Cingular account? Jen and I are seriously considering switching our service and phones.

Posted on July 7, 2006 8:55 AM | link to this entry | Comments (4)

July 5, 2006

2006 Catonsville Parade.

You really can't see it here (or more importantly, feel it, but it was about four thousand degrees in Catonsville yesterday. I decided to put up the ghetto tent in the driveway and stake out as much shade as I could for us, instead of melting on the curb. Here you can see the wood pegs I whittled to replace the broke-down steel poles that are all bent to hell, and one section of the roof that's folded back on itself.

This attempt at staking out territory was somewhat thwarted by people who were not invited to our party using the tent as shade. We kicked all but a few out so that our whole party was seated in relative comfort. After a few tense moments staring down two local cops parked across the street, we resumed flouting the open container law in full view, and relaxed once they retreated into the air conditioning of their squad car.

The parade was a lot tamer than in years past; there was no POW in bamboo cage, no Elvis, and no Mummers. There were many flags, though.

Governor Combover showed up with a retinue of supporters, handing out ~~propaganda~~ stickers and signs. The LT-Gov was right behind him with better signs and larger stickers. Finally, the Mayor came by and I made sure to get me some signs and stickers, but his were flimsier and disappointing —I want to put a big billboard on our front lawn and piss off my neighbors. My neighbor got his pokes in with the Steele sign until I evened the score with my O'Malley sign.

I don't understand the reasoning behind this float: are they celebrating the fact that Catonsville has huge, Volkswagen-sized cockroaches? Is this a slight on my community? Should I be afraid when I take out the garbage? Will one of these bloodthirsty creatures attack me when I'm mowing the lawn? Could I mount a saddle on that thing and ride it around as some form of green emissions-free vehicle?

I would, however, love to buy this sculpture from these men and mount it on the roof of the Jeep, Dale Gribble-style, just for kicks.

That guy in the front there really loves his Jeebus. I mean, think about it. It's nintey-nine fucking degrees out there, and he's in a pair of long chinos and tennis shoes, with a blue sash around his waist, walking a three-mile parade route. And what's with the tambourine? They had a truck with two big speakers blasting out some music, and there was choreography. Like, weeks-of-practice-in-someone's-backyard-choreography. That's the most hardcore thing I think I've ever seen at the parade, and I've been to a few of these now. And the guy in the back, with the big sign—I wonder if he won that job or got stuck with it? Don't get me wrong—I have love for the Sky Pilot, but I prefer to celebrate it in the comfort of air conditioning, thank you.

(my neighbor turned to me after they'd passed, and pointed to their chase vehicle. "That's Jesus' minivan," he said solemnly.)

This particular float never ceases to amaze me. Every year there's something different. Here's how I imagine the brainstorming session went:

Person 1: We need to put something new on the float this year. Banjos and stuffed animals just aren't cutting it.
Person 2: The kids love the MTV these days. The old stuff isn't interesting anymore. Nobody even knows what a paddle-wheel is.

Person 1: Well, I can rig up some linkage to make the stuffed animals dance...

Person 3: Yeah, OK, but we need a "hook". Something that makes everybody say, "WOW".

Person 1: ...

Person 2: ...

Person 3: What about a dragon?

Person 1: A dragon?

Person 2: Like, a fire-breathing dragon? We'd need to get a permit for that...

Person 3: No, like a big moving dragon. Nothing with fire. We could mount it on my van...

Person 2: I have some camouflage tarps and some angle iron.

Person 1: We have some leftover hydraulics from the low-rider float two years ago...

Person 3: Let's do this. (clinks beer bottles together)

Yes, Virginia, that's an animatronic dragon on the top of that van. I'd have a better picture for you, but every single time I lined up a decent shot, several members of the Jailbait On Parade comittee would walk in front of the camera and fuck it all up on me. (This is where roving bands of teenagers walk in the opposite direction of the parade, on the street, in clothes more revealing than a Penthouse photo shoot, for no particular reason. I'm no prude, but no fourteen-year-old daughter of mine will leave the house looking like that, thank you very much.)

This guy, god bless him, is in every parade. By the time he makes it to our house, his striped hat, once so proud and tall, is flopped over his back. His belly is soaked and hanging out on the tank of his Harley, and his coattails flap weakly in the breeze of exhaust and humid air sweeping down Frederick Road. This year, he obviously decided the tophat was too much and switched to a striped do-rag, a much cooler, if not less formal solution. He was out in front of Lady liberty, who was mixing it up with the kids on either side of the street. He'd zoom ahead a few feet and stop, gunning the engine on his Sportster and waving weakly, then turn around and wait for his old lady to catch up. I like to think of this as a good representation of what we celebrate on the Fourth of July: the freedom to dress up silly, drive loud, obnoxious vehicles, and treat our women rudely. God Bless America.