Hrm.

So, Russia is supplying Iran with materials and technology to start their own nuclear program and re-starting their bomber patrols, and threatening to aim nukes at European targets if America doesn't get its imperialistic tendencies under control. And France of all people is threatening to strike at Iran. Greenspan is apparently trying to rescue his legacy after a disastrous marriage with the Bush Administration. This is all news to me, as I've been off in Donnland for half a year.

Loafalicious

The bread turned out quite well. Needed some salt but other than that, it looked just like a loaf of bread. Next of course is the fusion of yeast and hot oil.

The Yeast

A new era begins in cooking. A yeasty loaf is rising in the kitchen - room temperature isn't ideal but I'm going to let it rise overnight, then brush it down with butter and pop it in the oven in the morning. I have definitely overdone it with the espresso. My mind and hands are jittery and my head hurts, probably from dehydration. Anyways.

Homespresso

So, noticing that there was usually a krups machine at the Brown Elephant that looked like it would make espresso I ventured over today and, lo and behold, there was one. The coffee that comes out isn't espresso at all - hardly any crema. The steam nozzle does seem to do an okay job of whipping up milk into fluff, and it's kind of convenient to be able to make two cups at a time rather than the normal twelve. I'll try out some different techniques but all in all for $2.50, not a bad deal.

Back!

And back home again. Rose reports Mr. Fergus and Isaac were chasing after each other - "frolicking" even. It is, I'd imagine, a better life for him.

Coming home I spent forty minutes on Bart, two hours and twenty minutes waiting for the plane to take off, four hours in the air, forty minutes getting off the plane and getting my luggage, and then two hours taking the blue line downtown to take the red line to Jarvis. I caught the tail end of the Wednesday night Halo 2 session and then did a bit of "reading" - slate, cnn. Catching up on the news and current events.

I learned a few things on this trip, one of which is marijuana is referred to as "nuggets". Entering Golden Gate park on the east side every couple of minutes someone approached me offering "nuggets", "bud", and "drops". I was walking from McDonalds when someone walking the other way said "you need some nuggets." A couple of gals (also out of towners) explained that he was not in fact talking about McNuggets, but mara-juh-wanna nuggets.

Tuesday night at Simple Pleasures Cafe on Balboa a group of folk musicians were playing. It reminded me of my dear Roe Family Singers in Minneapolis, whom I shan't be seeing at the 331 for a while owing to circumstances. Before stopping there I biked to the beach and stood for about five minutes before heading the other direction. This seems to be a motif in my life.

All in all it was a good trip, much better than last time when I was rushing about seeing landmarks. And now, with a renewed sense of purpose. Show no mercy, do not hesitate, as the saying goes.

Fergus Has Left Home

Mr. Fergus, Fergus Theodore Lannin-Cat, is now at his new home. He seemed a bit jumpy but his new pal was friendly and welcoming, and you couldn't ask for a better new parent. I don't think he ever adjusted to Rufus' absence - he would every so often run back and forth meowling out as if he thought the brown turd was hiding. Hopefully in time he will become fast friends with Isaac the Cat.

Labor Day!

By some odd coincidence, Labor Day marked the six month anniversary of my having left Ham in the Fridge. It also seems like about the right time to close my goofing about exploratory phase and start being serious-ish again... right after I attend to all the mosquito bites I got yesterday.

More Skills Retuning

So... getting my drawing/illustrating skills back up to snuff. Just a general type of cartoon inked and colored in illustrator - my hands are just not steady enough for inking on paper (much like good ol' Charlie Brown). Now on to making funny stuff.

Technical Error

YOU AT HOME:

[click] Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred. This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.
[click] Sorry! an unexpected error has occurred. This error has been forwarded to MySpace's technical group.

MEANWHILE AT MYSPACE TECHNICAL GROUP HEADQUARTERS:

TECH 1: Hey, we got another 20,000 technical error messages.
TECH 2: Like I give a f***. Pass me another cocaine dipped gerbil - I need an ass fix.

And Back!

It was a good trip - the car still seems to be dependable, there was a good amount of hanging out and eating fried foods. My supply of ink has been replenished. Of course what good is a trip without some kind of mystery (this time provided by the multi-talented Maxeem)? No good at all, of course.

Minneapolis.

And so, my car was fixed as late as it could possibly be fixed yesterday meaning a late start on the road. As usual rather than stopping when I was tired I stopped when I was within shouting distance of Minneapolis - Stout, where all the hotels were booked solid thanks to some kind of start of the school year thing. Onwards to Minneapolis. I noticed as I was driving that the car was full of paint fumes from the body shop.

As per usual in the "why the hell did you do that" department, I crashed in the trunk of my car. Now here's the odd thing (to me at least) - my back feels better from sleeping in the trunk than from sleeping on my bed. SOOOO, I'm guessing that reconfiguring the bedroom is the cause for my recent back soreness. Now on to the fair and the fried food.

- Floozy Ha

Bah.

This whole Minnesota visit has been a series of unknowns and mistimings. As usual, Andrew will be in Chicago while I'm in Minnesota, so visiting him in his new home is off the list. Dave will be in Chicago Monday so I won't be sticking around to play with the Roe Family at the 331 Club. Adam is in Seattle on business? Maybe St. Louis. One of those "S" places. My Friday plans to visit Erickson's new space and cook up the boys at Big Time Attic some fresh fritters are off as well. I'll have to see Tim's new home too at some point - the pictures looked grand.

So, that leaves the State Fair with C., Sunday evening in Albert Lea with Max, Britt and Rachel, and bumming around Nordeast on Sunday with JD discussing sandwich recipes and drinking beer. A stop at Big Brain Comics to bother Mike? Possibly. If you're a fan of talented cartoonists, and who isn't, the folks up in Minneapolis have made a tribute book for Eric Lappegard who recently passed on after an unfortunate accident. The BTA folks have a blog post detailing the details.

It's kind of funny how me and my brother talk about death. I guess it's more direct than how our parents talk about it - they basically don't. "Passed on", "no longer with us". I'm sure when Lynn and Mike reproduce we'll say she's "in a family way". In the latest blight upon Has, Gene's basement flooded. We have obviously angered the Super Supreme Being in some way.

Panglossing

If nothing else these equipment breakdowns and misfortunes have made me better prepared for the road, which of course is beckoning again. New tires, AAA membership, a fresh copy of Vista installed on my macbook (which had sat unused for two months), a better digital camera (yet still reasonably priced). Thanks to my bad back I've had to take time out to stretch and exercise, how terrible. My blistered feet of course inform me that I need comfortable walking shoes, and might need to look into some socks. While back pain and the possibility of car unreliableness after being rear ended aren't thing that make me stronger, they have made me more aware of the possibility of misfortune.

And So.

A bit of early morning systems work and the Athlon X2 box is repaired. New motherboard, new heatsink... of course, with the new motherboard there's the requirement for a new copy of Windows. Perhaps the first Vista Home Premium box in the lineup? This not being a pressing concern I'll let the box sit, ready to be prepared to be ready for action.

And have you visited my flickr account lately?

Scanning Machine Set Up

Scanning printing machine set up, check. Billiard ball rear ended on Touhy Avenue by a woman who, according to a witness, "just didn't stop", yes. Even MORE stiff and achey than I had been... well, yes. Let's recap:

* Back goes out. Unable to move for a bit.
* Computer goes bad.
* Tires needed replacing.
* Rear ended.
* Ballast in kitchen has gone bad.
* Once again buried in possessions.
* Frittering technique has improved substantially.

Well, yes, this does seem like a trend. And if we were to do a regression analysis of these past couple of weeks we'd say I AM DOOMED. If this unlucky streak were to continue indefinitely that would certainly be so. All of my computers will go bad, my car will be flat as a pancake and need an infinite amount of repairs, I will be in a wheelchair in the dark because all the lights in my condo will have gone out, and I won't actually be able to wheel myself anywhere because I will have covered the place from floor to ceiling in rummage sale finds. Additionally, I will be better than God at preparing fried delicacies (fritters, french fries, fried meatballs(?)).

The thing about Donn Ha's, as noted by The Bat-Man, is that Donn Ha's are a superstitious cowardly lot who believe in things like lucky/unlucky streaks and karmic wheels. So let's review things in a more rational light and see what lessons the Super Supreme Being has actually presented us:

* Stretching and exercise are important! // Exercise more, stretch.
* Most computers can't function when the fans are encased in cat hair! // Dust my computers periodically.
* Tires wear out eventually! // Just a fact of life.
* The stretch of Touhy between Ridge and McCormick has a disproportionate amount of bad drivers and it's actually pretty amazing something hasn't happened before. // Take Howard or Pratt when heading west.
* I don't WANT fluorescent lights in my kitchen - they're practically useless for preparing food at night. // Replace the entire fixture with some incandescent lighting.
* If you thrift and rummage a lot, stuff will pile up. // I have multiples of everything I would ever want. Stop thrifting!
* I WILL be better than God at preparing fried things. // It's true.

Anyways, today was a pretty good day with much stuff gotten done, and the last two weeks have been pretty good in the helping other people doing good deeds area. Next week, off to Minnesota body shop permitting.

Hurrah

CentOS server transported into $5 dual celeron machine. Check!
Dedicated Windows XP music recording machine. Check!
Vista BootCamp on Macbook. Check!

So that leaves: setting up the scanning printing machine and rebuilding the Athlon X2 box.

The Road

My initial assumption was that my lucky streak had ended, and that I was in for an unlucky streak - things going bad of a sudden at the worst time. My front tires had developed slow leaks and needed replacing, my desktop computer had apparently given up the ghost to a quarter inch layer of cat hair clogging up the fan. But after mulling over things for a bit both of these are actually good, positive things. The Athlon X2 box had become my main computer and I had terribly neglected my MacBook, my on the road book go anywhere at the drop of a hat MacBook. And fresh tires? What could possibly be bad about having fresh tires?

So today will partly be spent reorganizing systems - getting the travel kit prepped again, turning a different under-utilized machine into a dedicated music recording/editing machine, another one into a file server/testing server/versioning server, maybe converting another one into a dedicated scanning server (possibly the tablet pc so the wacom can go in the travel kit with the macbook). And eventually I'll get some parts (motherboard, new case, new os) and reuse the Athlon parts.

Rummage Gods Bless You!

Continuing this impossibly good rummage season, I picked up an old computer on Saturday for $5 figuring it would be good for parts and it ends up having a dual processor motherboard - currently two celeron chips but I should be able to replace those and have a very, very capable server for the office, and reintegrate the 2GHz box into the windows pool.

Rummage Summer

"The world will be different, because I have understanding."

"Understanding of what, master?"
"Digital watches."

Thanks to a wonderful rummage summer I've been able to expand my knowledge in a number of different fields at well under anticipated budget. Photography, computer recording, sandwich making of course. My programming survey has been at 90% complete for a while now. Writing of a fictional sort has been neglected but my 13,000+ page journal has grown at its normal rate. Travel, well... there hasn't been as much of that as I would've liked.


Photography

I've picked up a number of cameras on the cheap at yard sales, the brown elephant, the Salvation Army in Evanston, off of Craigslist. Amongst the many cameras obtained:

Yashicaflex: This one I'll need to get fixed. There's a tired spring in it and I've almost no idea how the film advance works. Still, the one picture that did turn out turned out nicely although the camera itself doesn't instill any character to the photos (i.e., the camera is accurate).

Polaroid Spectra 1200i: I was all excited about this one. The Spectra is supposedly the king of the point and shoot Polaroids. Unfortunately for me the SI model is the one with all the knobs and doodads.

Polaroid 101 Land Camera: This one has a lot of character. When using black and white film there's noticeable light leakage, and the rollers do a terrible job of spreading developer evenly.

Zenit: Haven't tried this one out yet. It's missing a few parts that might come in handy - like a film rewind arm.

Yashica Electro 35: Rangefinder camera. This one wasn't much use to me itself but the wide angle and telephoto attachments have made my minolta much more versatile.

Kodak Instamatic: This one is more than likely a bust. It uses a type of film that's not common and as far as I can tell there's only one place in America that still processes the film. I could process the film myself now but from what I've seen of sample pictures there wouldn't be much point in doing so. There is, however, a cartridge of kodachrome inside which would require positive processing if I were to do it right. I'll probably just use the rest of the film and then negative process it (which will yield weird colors but it's mostly a curiousity thing at this point).

Stainless steel tank, two 35mm reels: Free! Thank you craigslist.

Jobo Press Kit: You'd assume this being a Jobo product that you'd need their automatic developer machine for it but the chemistry works with dip and dunk tanks. $20, and I've already processed five rolls with it.


Recording

My favorite item so far is my DOD wah/volume pedal, $25. This one was a surprise to me - I went to pick up a mac classic (it's more practical than my manual typewriter, if only slightly moreso) and the seller had this sitting out too. Matt says that I need a distortion pedal as well - it's one thing that computer plugins really can't do well.

Runner up is my audiophile 24/96 pci card, obtained at a very reasonable price off of craigslist. This fellow reduced latency to where it's almost imperceptible, and allows me to record with vsts on the track being recorded. The nice thing about this is it's possible to create a fuller song sketch quickly, and then fill things out at a later point. Lay down a simple drum beat, paint some notes. Toot sweet.

Accordion: I'm not sure what use this will be as of yet, most likely I'll just use it to record a few riffs.


Anyways. Time for a donut and to stop in at the Tummala's garage sale.

It Keeps on Rolling

So, this has been the most amazing rummage-ing season ever. The $10 accordion, my Mac Classic, and today! On my way to pick up groceries I stopped at a block sale and found a Yashica with a tele and wide angle adapter and multiple lenses. The camera itself is for crap, and the adapto-lenses don't screw onto my current lenses BUT with a 52mm to 55mm step up I will have a SUPER telephoto lens and a SUPER wide angle lens. So exciting.

Back Out

My back is out again. So many suspects - different bike, different chair, bed flipped around. Incredible pain. Will spend day in bed on my stomach doodling. Bah!

Motorcycle Boy: The Weasel's Theme

http://www.doodlehead.com/experiments/The%20Weasel.mp3

Modd Zillyans

So I've been making some songs for the Modd Zillyans character:

http://www.myspace.com/moddzillyans

Other than that it's sandwiches and naps. Yawn!

And There It Is

So I'm getting ready for my noon time nap and the answer to quick three point shading in flash hits me (where each point has a different shading value and the values between the points are interpolated). Unfortunately the margins of this blog are not large enough to contain my solution...

Dropped Camera.

Today my A520 died, falling a scant 1.5 feet to oblivion. God has been pushing me towards film for a while now, and now through the instrument of His will known as my clumsiness, perhaps I have gone over the edge.

Reversing the Flow

So after all these great rummage/thrift finds it's time to get rid of the useless stuff. Two full boxes of old books, books from the days when Java was new, are going to the Brown Elephant. A box of soundcards and a bag of old shirts are also departing. Then tomorrow or Thursday perhaps a trip down to the electronic recycling drop off and then over to Gene's to see his new place.

In other news, Fergus came knocking on the door yesterday, poor wee bairn. He is getting used to being back by knocking everything off of every table.

Bench For Cheap!

So today during my errands I had the fool notion to BUILD MY OWN WEIGHT BENCH. I don't want a fancy weight bench with leg attachments and a bench press, just something to lay against and do butterflies with. Now, before you remind me about my previous construction efforts, let me remind you that this will be super cheap to make. A piece of plywood, some sticks, a bit of foam, fabric and staples. The road to physical fitness is only a few nails away. Or screws. I'm not sure which but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Fritters Fixed

Of note, the Dominicks at Clark and Howard has fixed their fritters - size is back up to normal, apple content is optimal, they no longer fall apart at the seams. While I will continue eating the Bennison's fritters as they're more conveniently located, there is no need to avoid the Dominicks fritter any longer - in fact, it tastes more like the fairground apple slice fritters I knew growing up in the circus.

What More? Nothing.

I've been looking over things and I'm not sure that there's anything more I could want in terms of tools. The last item to be added in my toolkit was an M-Audio Audiophile card, acquired off of good ol' Craigslist. Computer recording has gone from really laggy to play it/hear it, even with effects layered on. There's still a lot of organizing to be done of the ol' Doodlehead Studio but my toolset is fairly complete now. All that's left is to keep on learning and doing new things. Fare forwards folks, fare forward.

Why Wait? Get Rid of Your Computer Now!

... if it's Tuesday, Thursday, or the first Saturday of the month.

So I'm cleaning up my place and getting reorganized and I'm noticing that there I've gathered a lot of old, useless computer stuff over the past year (I got rid of a lot of old, useless computer stuff at about this time last year). This is stuff nobody in their right mind would want, and even I don't want after a bit of time. A bit of googling came up with this:

http://swancc.org/recycling/computerelectronicsrecycling2.html

The city of Chicago now has a permanent drop off location for hazardous junk. No need to be poisoned by noxious fumes waiting for an annual event any more. Get rid of that old can of turpentine, those old paint cans of rotting latex. Do it! And as long as you're going take some of my stuff with you.

Super Good Day

So I woke up at 6 and knocked some things out and then headed out to do some shopping/rummaging. At the Brown Elephant there was a mini stereo with a broken cd-tray and a woman fiddling with it. I tried to wait her out and finally offered her $5 to give up on it at which point she decided to take it. Not the $5, the stereo. Then off to Costco for sundries and back for a bit more work. Then I went off to get a fancy coffee to fuel me through a bit more work when I run into Kate and the other one heading off to a rummage sale where I find a $50 horseshoe set for $15, which I'm giving to Mike for his birthday. And now, back to it.

Stewart's Coffee

Today's going to be one of those days - nice and easy. So I made myself a pot of coffee - I've run out of the Costco beans so I picked up a can of Stewart's Coffee, a local coffee that I used to hear advertised on The Score. This stuff is actually really good. I avoided it because I figured if they advertise on a sports radio station they might not be that good but it's got a rich flavor, a hint of that animal manure smell to it which I usually term earthiness, and for a dark coffee it isn't burnt tasting. A doodlehead recommendation.

Paradise.

Thinking about it, other than the shootings and the crime this is a sort of paradise. Fritters in the morning, a dip in the lake for lunch, living up amongst the leaves. It is nice.

Home

So I get home last night and it's sweltering, there are people all over the streets, the poor and the Cubs night gamers, sirens and unmarked cars all over the place. All the comforts of home. Then at around midnight the power goes out in the neighborhood, so I stumble over the things I've brought back from Minneapolis in the dark and hop into bed and am nearly asleep when I hear a loud "bang" and then sirens sirens sirens. And of course when I wake up in the morning my network is all messed up. But damn it all, it's good to be home. If the feces and needle count isn't too high I'm going for a wade today.

God Bless The Cannons

So the only thing keeping me in this town now is the disposition of my bed. Fortunately, Kevin Cannon has agreed to take the bed and a number of other sundries off of my hands. God bless the Cannons! I'll be able to head out tomorrow at a decent hour and have a nice leisurely drive home. To my wife I leave my second best bed.*

* This is not literal, and only barely literary.

Almost Done

It was a bittersweet cacophony last night with the Roe Family. I sat through the entire set and passed on my broom and board to Q. at the end of the night. A new broom player will appear at some point. Hopefully he can make good use of my gear. I will more than likely miss the Roe Family Singers. Even when the most proper care is taken attachments may form.



I am sitting outside good ol' Muddy Waters on Lyndale. There was a fritter donut sitting on the counter but it's all wrong, all wrong. The dough is hard and crumbly like a donut, there's much too much cinnamon. This is basically a cinnamon roll in the guise of a fritter. The coffee though is most agreeable.

Max was in town hanging out with Britt. Apparently his identity was stolen. We seem to agree that we should be a comic of our own, much like Kevin and Zander. Following model, I'll be the tall goofy one and he'll be the short mean one. In a reversal, I'll be goofy and say things about how business and corporations and wealth stratification are good things, but in a dopey way.

I am almost done clearing out the apartment. From craigslist things came, to craigslist they return. Let us ponder this lesson. Pondering... pondering...

Wired

So I woke up this morning and did a little programming and then got the funny idea to convert my phone jacks into ethernet jacks. Much easier than I thought - the place has cat5 cable running through it, just needed to switch out the jacks.

Bah!

I went to Ritz camera looking for film but they knew not what film to sell me, and they only had one type of pack film. I need Mike to be back but unfortunately he'll be back as I'm leaving. And the kicker is Motorcoat has a land camera already, and his works with 667 film.

So Funny

Good lord the Cannon Un-Brothers have been on a roll. Visit their blog now! I wish every day were Monday other than the days when they publish Chapter 99 installments.

Donn the Road

So I took a drive yesterday to try out my road kit, get some cheap wisconsin cigarettes and gas, and take some photos. Some notes:

Clearance Tripod: Obviously on clearance for a reason. One of the clips broke on the extendo legs so I had to use my foot to keep it from sliding down. This'll need replacing. Also, using it as a monopod didn't work (I seem to sway from side to side). Additionally, it may be time to get a better camera.

Power Inverter: Super.

Archos 404: Also super, but the playlist needs to be pared down. Coupled with the power inverter I can survive those long stretches where there's no country music stations. Has a nasty habit of going into unresponsive mode. BUT there's enough room to use it as a supplemental hard drive, meaning one less other item to bring.

Drink Powder Packets: Super savings in both cost and weight over buying soda. Just fill a bottle with water at a rest area, drop in a packet of powder, and drink deliciousness. Wyler's and Crystal Light make my brain hurt, but the Propel packets are good as are the Hawaiian Punch packets.

Cup Shaped Ash Tray: Flicking your cigarette out the window while going 65 mph is really difficult. This little fellow means fewer burn holes in my shirt.

MacBook: Well, it sure did look cute. But you can't really work on it without an external monitor.

I think the key is going to be taking less on the road which will be easier as it gets warmer. Still need to get my fake beard and a nice beat up hat for buskering.

Someone Buy Me a T-Shirt

So since I've retired I've gained about 40 pounds, which means that my shirts don't fit any more. Or rather they leave nothing to the imagination and everything to pure, abject horror. So, if someone with some money would care to buy me a t-shirt I'd be much obliged. I want the one with the skull in a scuba mask so I can look like the kid from pvp online only underwater.

Hooray For Linux

So I took a spare machine over the weekend and installed CentOS. It's been a while since I've had a linux box but this thing is pretty solid - I'm using it as a file server, testing server, and jukebox. Using it as a jukebox is kind of a change since it actually takes effort now to skip a song or look for the right song.

Gene may be taking the dining room table off of my hands this weekend which will free up more space for my music and xbox'ing setup (the xbox somehow moved to the dining room while I wasn't looking). I'll be back in Minnesota next week probably for the last time for a long time. Goodbye Minnesota! Goodbye Roe Family Singers!

Also, if you get a chance go see the I Ching Quartet. They remind me of my very dear northern friends the Roe Family Singers but younger and if possible funnier.

Hurrah!

This morning there were two lumpy donuts waiting for me, in a bag, marked "lumpy donut". One didn't make it to the door, the other met its end shortly after. Thanks Kate! I also bought two day old pastries for my wanderings today.

Victory!

Kate has finally agreed to special order fritter donuts from Bennisons, with the agreement that if a donut goes uneaten it will go in the freezer and at the end of the week I'll buy the leftovers at full retail. The lumpy donut is by far my favorite. In its absence I eat either the coffee claw (airy pastry type) or the scone (crumbly biscuit genus) but these are only the extreme ends of the lumpy donut, which lands right in the sweet spot. I got a tip from a friend of Xxxxx's that the pumpkin donut from Bennisons is also very tasty, but I've not seen sight of that yet.

In the continuing story of folks heading to Seattle, Brooker-Weis are headed out to Portland this weekend and driving up to Seattle. If they were the type I'd have them pull a prank on Motorcoat but Mike'd look at me like I was nuts.

2%

So I'm driving home from the Empty Bottle and I see an S.U.V. with an American flag sticker on one of the rear side windows. Of course I get curious so I examine the rest of the car. The spare tire's cover has a picture of an eagle, staring dead ahead, bursting through an American flag talons fully extended. Sort of leaping at the car behind. So I'm wondering to myself what exactly is the message? Here's an eagle tearing apart an American flag. Did the owner of the car not get that?

Pot Calls the Kettle Cookware

So I brought my spare capo back from Minneapolis and gave it to Xxxxx, who I've loaned a spare guitar to, and she asks if I'd mind if the guitar travels. So by travel she apparently means she's going to be moving out of her apartment (she has a roommate) and sleeping on other people's couches, which she's mostly doing now anyways. I questioned whether that was such a good idea but that's kind of hypocritical since I've done the same thing and may do the same thing again at some point. Wheeling about playing guitar and cello and writing songs and playing music? Kind of cool but still, I worry.

In other news, a couple of things I've been pitching in on during my retirement have launched or are near launch. I'm very pleased with all of them. That's a new feeling for me.

Sweet Home Chicago!

Just got off the road and finished unloading stuff after a brief trip up to Minneapolis - Jamey Erickson invited a bunch of graphics professionals (and me) to critique his class's final projects and, having never been invited to one of these I was honored to make the trek up to attend. The kids had a wide range of skill levels but they all handled themselves pretty well in terms of presenting and talking about their work. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to refrain from being overly critical, which is my natural tendency.

Needless to say, it is nice to be back amongst my tools and to have my napping couch at hand. Now to reintegrate my away gear into the office and get a couple of hours of work done!

Back in Minneapolis

Back in Minneapolis. It feels weird being here now and I think I know what the difference is - all my tools are now in Chicago, whereas before they were here. Home is where the tools are. All my monitors are back in Chicago, my printer, scanner, wacom tablet, etc. I packed really light this time as I anticipate it being a short trip and I'll be bringing some big items back with me (television, appliances, chrome shelves).

It's always a good visit stopping in at Big Time Attic. Zander and Kevin are always making SOMETHING entertaining. They're definitely in my heroes list. Something funny every few days, and their normal work which is sometimes funny too. Adam's in St. Louis, Gene's back in Chicago, Shad and Vinny are at Puny tending to the New Power Generation. It's funny how this little group has fared over the years.

Ywan...

Well, it's been quite the weekend. Good ol' Wirtzy came down from Minneapolis to play the hideout with his band Cap'n Yonder so I took a bit of time to show him and one of his bandmates around the hood. Had a sandwich at the cafe/deli, went to the lake and climbed on the rocks. It just so happened that Adam was playing the hideout on the same night as the Dirty Found show, which was totally, obnoxiously packed. Funny stuff though, definitely go if it comes to your town. And in the last bit of coincidence the ever talented Mary Nisi DJ'ed afterwards, although I was so pooped out by that point I went home.

Today me and Matt and Nick went to see Spider-Man 3. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the other movies, other than the Kirsten Dunst scenes. She may be a fine actress but in this series she's been cardboard. She was very good in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In the Spider-Man series she's not so good.

Tomorrow I'm heading back up to Minneapolis. A bunch of folks are critiquing some of Erickson's students' final projects, one of which I helped out some on. Plus I need to get my television and some udder stuff. If you don't know, I love you. Whoever you are reading this. It is true. Oh yes. Scout's honor. Cross my fingers.

Life and How To Live It

Well, it's been a long day but an exceedingly good one. Two very good naps, a bit of work, just finished a grapefruit, tickets to see Spider-Man 3 on Sunday. I'm apparently getting a credit on His/Hers, the HOT new EP from Zelienople - cello and gasp on the last track. I've been slowly increasing my number of productive hours each day and have apportioned a bit of time in the morning to guitarifying. No sense saying I'm unretiring or that I'm still retired. Just doing what I do.

Deviant Sex Act Fabricator

The boys at Aesthetic Apparatus have posted a Deviant Sex Act Fabricator. Funny stuff! Those guys have it figured out.

Stupid Product Idea: Praisins

Turns to the flesh of Christ in your mouth, not in your hands. Pretty much peanut M&Ms but with a raisin inside and Christian iconography on the candy shell.

Out the Door!

This time I mean it.

Yikes. Busy Morning.

Definitely a more busy morning than I was expecting here at the old Doodlehead Retirement Studios, which has meant delaying work on play/not-for-profit/for little profit projects - and putting off trying out my new toys! I picked up a spiffy polaroid camera for $3 at Brown Elephant yesterday, a nice carafe, and an old classical guitar that's really messed up ($15). I also should visit my brudder in Oak Park to make use of his free box of comics. And take a nap. And go out and take some polaroid pictures. So much to do. I now have tips from two separate sources that the sensible lumpy breakfast donuts appear almost exclusively on weekends.

Aaaaaaaaaaargh.

I've been back too long for this to be jet lag. The insomnia is back. Curses.

Cards Cards Cards

So I went to the UPS distribution center and they had trouble finding my package (of course) but at least it wasn't as bad as going to the center downtown which apparently is co-run by the Department of Homeland Conspiracies and space aliens. From outer space. After about an hour of waiting I got my cards and they look super spiffy, other than that the "6" in my phone number could be mistaken for an "8". If someone dialed that number they'd get Noodlehead, my evil twin. Or my opposite twin. Maybe he's the good one.

Now I'm taking a lay of the land in terms of what needs to be done. Checking to make sure I understand where things are at, how things are structured, prioritizing, checking to make sure the balance of time is maintained. All very grueling brain work. Plus now that all my equipment is back here I've been getting my office set up so that I can get things done. Things aren't "just right" yet especially the temperature - it could be a little warmer in here (it's about 50 degrees, slightly chilly).

There were no lumpy donuts this morning so I had a chocolate croissant, which wasn't very satisfying. It's an over-sized croissant with a hard, not creamy, chocolate center - like a chocolate bar with padding. My irregular presence in town means that I'm left to the luck of the draw, donut-wise, from now on. It is to cry.

Short Trip.

Well, off to Northbrook to pick up my retirement cards. The excitement is as delicious as a Donnwich.

And Again, Back

And I'm back in Chicago again. Other than the two hour drive from the edge of the city it was a pretty good trip. Plus my music player ran out of juice. And my head started hurting from too much commercial radio. But other than that a nice pleasant drive. I figured out where I lost my checkbook - a hidden compartment in my backpack. Well, hidden from me since I keep on forgetting it exists.

For now and the interim there's so much to be done on all fronts. The trick is going to be maintaining the balance between me time, my personal projects/exploration time, being available to help people out, and of course work to fund this stuff (which itself can be stimulating). Maybe it's not the right mix to impose on other people but it's the right mix for me.

Bah.

Still on California time. It's 2:21 in the morning and I'm not sleepy enough to sleep. Wait there it

Back in Minnesota Temporarily

And so, I'm back in Minneapolis for a little whiles gathering things to bring back to Chicago. I'll stick around long enough for another broom session with the fabulous Roe Family Singers, but after that I'll be fairly scarce for a while. There are sandwiches to make, lumpy donuts to eat, arrangements and rearrangements to be made. There are a ton of notes from this last trip to write down, although I'm already starting to lose some of the characters.

SF: Day Four, 3:30 on 4/20

Friday was much more of an interesting day than the others. I started out by harassing the guy at the Apple Store, then moved on to poke around EVB which is really a neat place - the developers have their own little lofted area and there's a basketball net and all that stuff. I proceeded from there towards the coast taking the 71 bus. I met an old Greek man who kept on asking "are we at 45th street? I can't talk to the driver that man is in the way. 45th Street. Where are we?" A couple of girls were standing next to me and wanted to know if they were on the right bus for Haight Ashbury. When the bus started up hill one of her feet would kick me.

"Sorry I'm kicking you," she says, and then kicks my sandal. "Kick! See? I'm kicking you."

Knowing what I know now, they were off to get high and might have already been high. I just took them for tourists.

So I continue on the bus to where it turns and I can see the ocean and figure I must only be a few blocks away and get off and start walking. There's a little oriental grocery and I get an orange for forty-one cents and it's absolutely delicious and I'm thinking of a bit about how the candy consortium manufactures these oranges, which are actually candy, and has used its evil influence to get people to pretend that they're actually fruit. My hands are sticky but I figure I'll find a restaurant along the way to wash my hands.

It ends up, however, that I'm several miles from the shore and it's primarily a residential street. I need to pee but there are no restaurants or anything but I keep on walking. I presume that when I'm near the coast there'll be all kinds of businesses but after a long whiles there's still no restaurants. There is however a surf shop so I head in there to ask for help.

"Hey, is there any kind of restaurant or something around here? I've been walking for forever and I haven't seen anything."

"Yeah, if you go one street over there's a lot of restaurants and a 7-Eleven."

D'oh! So it ends up I'd been walking parallel to relief the whole way. So I find a place to pee and have some lentil soup and a diet coke and then walk the rest of the way to the beach. There's a fireman, two policemen, and some kind of civic worker standing at the corner of the last street. I've finished my cigarette and I can feel their eyes on me. I drop the butt in the trash.

"Smart," the policeman says. There's some kind of highways to cross and then I'm walking, gingerly, across the sand towards the shore. A girl is there dressed in some kind of moon alpha unit clothes, loose cottons and silks or polyesters, shifting rocks and shells with her foot. I have her take a couple of pictures of me against the ocean and then head back towards this coffee shop nearby to post some pictures.

"Do you have 'the wireless internet' here?"
"Yes."
"Can I have a medium coffee please."
[ pause ]
"Will that train take me to Haight Assberry?"
"Yeah, if you take that train it'll take you to Hit. Get off at Cole and you can walk to Hit."
"I want to go to Haight Assberry."
"The train'll take you to Hit."
"Oh... are you Australian or something? You're saying 'hit'."
"I'm Irish. You say tomato, I say tomato."

A rather raw looking dude comes in with a backpack and a guitar. If he were in a movie he'd be played by Nick Nolte. He goes into the men's restroom and stays in there. Guys come by, jiggle the handle, then use the women's restroom. He was still in there when I left after twenty minutes, maybe taking a sponge bath.

There's a postman putting his cart away near the train turnaround. I ask him where to board the train and he points. He's from the Phillipines. I tell him I'm from Chicago and he tells me he has a friend from the Phillipines who lives there. "He uses his brain instead of his body," he says. "A lot easier." This he says is one of the worst routes in town but I'm guessing they're all pretty bad. He says one minute you're freezing the next burning. He had another route once in the hills, that's when his knee started hurting.

So that was the day up until about 3:30.

SF: Day Three, Via Vehicle

The city by car is a lot different than the city by foot. By car, I was able to focus out the areas that were unappealing as though they were just channels I was skipping over and only experience the areas I was interested in. Not surprisingly I got lost on my way to Muir Woods, somewhere halfway up the mountain, and ended up near the tippy top. Being lost, however, holds little consequence as I have nowhere I really need to be any time in particular.

And then once again I got lost, this time on the way back. I assumed that there MUST be a shorter way than back down the same way I came that might end me up in Mill Valley, and weighed that against the idea that there's no urgency and wherever I ended up I'd eventually find my way back.

Having run out of beverage I stopped at a small wayside for a snack and a drink and was informed that, continuing the way I was going, I would get where I wanted to be. It would be a long drive but I'd get there.

Back in San Francisco I stopped at Isotope, which was the most unusual comic book shop I've been to in a long time. A few things were striking about the place. First, it was clean and looked fairly upscale inside. Second, there were no action figures, resin busts, board games, collectible card games, t-shirts, none of that. Third, and most oddly, within a minute of me entering the owner said "Oh we've got a lot of events - etc. is coming, Gene Ha, etc. will be here in May..." I went over as though I knew nothing and said, "Gene Ha? What's he up to? He's coming here? Geeze, he's the greatest comic book artist in the world, perhaps the multiverse." It was during this conversation that I finally decided to drop my Paulie from Rocky III references. Nobody ever picks up on those.

SF: Day Three, Pt. 2: I Hate Nerds

Apparently I'm missing all kinds of geek conventions that I might find amusing. The alternative press expo is this weekend, and there was a just ended Web 2.0 meeting this week. All things considered though I think my time is better spent otherwheres. It's an overcast day, and cool, which for me is just perfect. I can honestly say that I don't do anything for a living right now other than keep myself amused, which is better than saying I try to hawk pots and pans or make things so people can sell pots and pans.

In the upcoming week there will be two larger test runs of the Donnwich, one in Minneapolis with Big Three Attic and one in Chicago. Donnwich uber alles!

SF: Day Three

So I'm up this morning and head to Starbucks and there's a line that's on the cusp of having to wrap around it's so long. And I says to the lady in front of me "I wonder if the Starbucks down the street is this busy?" I figure her for a geographer there's a big conference of them here.

"Down the street?" she says, and I point in the general direction. Another lady, another geographer apparently, sidles behind us and then another two patrons behind her. We hatch a plan and head down the other ways to the Starbucks which is not more than 100 feet away and the line is a bit shorter but moving much faster. I have some pictures that I'll need to stitch together when I'm back home of a street where there are two Starbucks pretty much directly opposite each other.

I keep on saying "geologist" it's the stupidest thing - I know which one to use but some little imp inside of me is making me say "geologist". Fortunately they aren't insulted but rather take me for some form of simpleton.

Me, I'm heading north to the woods, get some nature. I get very impatient with nature - for the amount of time you have to spend on it there's not that much entertainment value. Hopefully it won't take up my whole day.

SF: Day Two

Two days out from a bum's perspective, hoofing it hither and yon. I was at Pier 39 today and saw a Spanish guy trying to lure a seagull nearer to him. So I throw a french fry halfway betwixt them and the Spanish guy is all nicey nice to the seagull and then suddenly "STOMP" with his foot "ARF ARF ARF" he goes chasing after it with his arms waving about. The seagull looks more annoyed than scared but backs off.

How did I end up there again? Well, I says to myself "I'm going to take the first bus I come across to wherever it takes me." So the first bus arrives but apparently it's a charter bus. That's probably the bus I should have taken but I had to open my mouth and ask what the fare was when it was pretty obviously not a municipal bus. So I'm waiting for a muni when I get impatient. Seeing a trolley approaching I head over to the trolley stop and take that car to the end of the line, which of course is Fisherman's Wharf.

So walking back along the shore to Market Street I figure that I don't much like this town but that it's a nice experience to be somewhere unfamiliar with nothing to do. I wouldn't want to go to Los Angeles - my preconception of Los Angeles contributes features to my conception of Hell. But perhaps a Toronto or a Seattle, or almost anything north of Washington D.C. out east.

The first half of my day was Chinatown. It's a depressing strip of street. There were a lot of those electronic stores where nothing has a price marked but everything's "on sale", and you can find cameras for "$129 (on up)". I found a crappy Chinese restaurant that was nowhere near the quality of a crappy Chinese restaurant in Chicago. One dim sum restaurant had a female barker on the street who accosted me from quite a distance. I'm not sure why she singled me out - maybe she could see the MSG craving in my moony face.

In any case, tomorrow I am definitely getting away from the city and driving out.

Well Of Course.

You are Mr. Scott
You are a fun-loving foreigner with an
amazing ability to get any job done on time.
Often described as a "Miracle Worker".


Mr. Scott...90%
Chekov...90%
Jean-Luc Picard...75%
Data...73%
Spock...70%
Will Riker...65%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)...65%
James T. Kirk (Captain)...65%
Uhura...65%
Worf...60%
Geordi LaForge...55%
Deanna Troi...50%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)...50%
Beverly Crusher...35%
Mr. Sulu...30%

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

On My Word, Unleash Deliciousness!

The Donnwich/Hawich is born! Thanks go to my first taste test subjects Adam and Rita. Pictures of the first test on human subjects will be posted soon. The working name for this new food adventure is "The Shitfire Grill", as the food is very hot and spicy.

The Diaspora

And so the diaspora continues. I'm up here in Minneapolis, got here in time to prepare a large batch of spicy pork for Tim's birthday party, but so many are either already gone or leaving. I'll be hopping a plane Monday and heading out west to see what all the fuss is about.

Whenever I'm up here I think about that fishing trip we went on when I was a kid, me and my brothers and my dad and my grandfather. Where we first discovered David Letterman through his midday show "from the top of the sears tower" or something. We had to, apparently unexpectedly, drop our grandfather off at the airport so he could go somewhere in a hurry.

Soon Motorcoat will be heading out to Portland, Vickerman to Los Angeles. Strand is apparently off to Seattle. It's like this country's spinning and things are getting flung to the coasts. It's tough. If I weren't a Chicagoan where would I go? I'd imagine New York for the pastrami sandwiches, but I'm going to eat my way around San Francisco and see what they have there for the ol' tummy. I'm figuring I'll start on the wharf with something light - some kind of deep fried fish, then head to Ghirardeli's for a sundae, then follow my nose to a bakery, then have a nice coffee and let things digest. What sandwich delights await me? I know not. It is an adventure after all.

Kurt Vonnegut* died. We were both born in the same city, Indianapolis, making us part of the same granfalloon, and both had brewers in our direct family ancestry, another granfalloon. Of course, he's a famous writer and I haven't done much of anything other than keep myself amused - at times by reading his books.

Life Life Life

Life is pretty good right now. A little bit of work for money and beer, some doodling... busted out the 8-track and started recording some song stubs. As many naps as I need. I have time to field the occasional question, hang out with folks, go for walks. Time to write. Good good good.

Blue Monday

This flu is still beating the crap out of me. I thought I'd gotten past the worst of it but now I'm producing an unending stream of green snot. I always enjoy having the flu - it's such a totally altered state it's like a reset on life. Still, while I appreciate the discontinuity I'd like to be getting better soon.

I've been using the term "Fonzie Flat" with Gene in terms of finding a house with a, well, a Fonzie Flat. While not commonly in use in America it seems to be in use in Australia. Go American cultural hegemony, eh? I started using the term because we had a discussion with our step brother John about Happy Days, and how we thought Fonzie was super cool when we were young and how silly that seems now. Here's a high school dropout who would hang out with high school kids, lived above one of their parents' garage, and called the bathroom of the local diner his "office". Hitting a jukebox to get free songs seemed cool then too. Now, not so much.

In any case, I was thinking it would be nice to have a place to crash in Chicago so that I could be more rootless - moving about with no commitments but with a home base to store my stuff and have mail delivered to. Saturday morning the whole Ha clan of Chicago went to look at a place in Berwyn that was terrible but two houses down there was a house for sale and my mom made us all go look. Wonderful place, with fine turn of the last century woodwork. Anyways, back to play. There's experiments to run.

Blah.

I'm in Chicago with a horrible cold. The Dominicks had one of those dvd rental machines ($1 for 1 day) so I rented Rocky Balboa. Other than the scary plastic surgery around Stallone's eyes, which was very distracting, it was a really good movie.

The weather's really nice although it's supposed to turn again one last time. After that I anticipate garage sale season will be upon us - time for Garage-a-Thon 2007! The appropriate parties will be notified.

Can It Be?

Yes it can be! There's more chicken to be fried and distributed. Your taste buds have been warned.

Events!

Well, today has been a helluva day. Cooked up some chicken for friends, made a new friend by offering a person fried chicken that I didn't know, got harassed over the loudspeaker at SuperAmerica by A. while I pumped gas (it was SuperFunny), finished up a bit of phpeeing, drew a postcard, did some debug work on some project or other, cleaned cleaned cleaned, got some equipment at Microcenter... I think I should have a beer or something. The watercolor pencils are aces. I need to pick up some more before I head out of town.

IF you're in Minneapolis on Saturday, go to the First Amendment Gallery. There'll be stuff up by PUNY, the little company with a big heart, sadly a heart too big for its own chest like in that movie with that Culkin kid, and aEsthEtic appArAtus (that's not really how they mix cases on their name I'm just being a jerk), along with a legion of others.

If you're in Minneapolis on Friday, but not on Sunday, check out Puny-ite King Mini's work at the MCBA. And those funny little elves from AA will be there too, if not in person then through the artifacts of their work. I'm sure one of them will give you a d.o.m. if you ask nicely enough.

If you're in Minneapolis tonight, and feel like having some fried chicken, give me a ring and I'll fry you some up. MMMMMMMM. Fried chicken.

IF you're in Chicago next week and feel like having some pickles split into quarters, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, floured, fried, glazed, and then slathered in white gravy come by for my Clog-a-Heart-a-Thon.

Super!

Today was quite a nice day for exploring. At Wet Paint I found these watercolor pencils which I'll use for postcarding - I'm very excited. I also happened upon a Goodwill store and found a little kit that has an auto to usb converter, a household outlet to usb converter, and some thing I have no idea about for the low low price of $6. I have all the fixings to fry up chicken for someone's belated birthday lunch. My plane ticket and shelter for my San Francisco excursion are all set. Mid April I will be on my way.

Oh Brother!

Well, Gene's offer on the house was met with a weird conditional - the seller wanted the inspection to be "only informational". So he backed out. I'm pushing for him to get a place with a nice Fonzie flat for me to camp out in when I'm in Chicago.

I'm starting to dig out from retirement - my skills assessment is pretty much done, I know what I need to work on and learn for the next few months, and I'm almost done getting my equipment set up for Project ******.

Some things I've learned:

- Review, assess, let things sink in, visualize. Doing that reduces the amount of time actually spent stuck in front of the computer dramatically. Take the graph paper pad somewhere peaceful, sketch things out and do thumbnails, draw little flowcharts. Things become easy peasy.

- Working for sandwiches/beer is good. I've really enjoyed the things that have come up in the past few weeks where I was able to solve little problems for other people in exchange for food and liquor. And some interesting problems have been presented that were fun to work on.

Doodles

Some doodles I did when I was taking a class to convert to Judaism back in 199x (click for a larger view):

Wha?

I'm constantly amazed when I visit puny at the great work they're doing. Some of the stuff is apparently hush hush but they have a demo reel on the web:

http://www.punyentertainment.com/demoreel.html

I'm not just saying this so they'll come see me play tomorrow, Thursday, March 15th, at the 331 Club in Minneapolis. At 9 pm.

Manwich vs. Manimal

Feeling Good

A week of rest and recovery and I'm feeling good. Long walks, exercise biking, research and experimenting, scaling down my coffee intake. Life should be like this more. My pathetic chin hair has been shaved off and I'm ready to roll roll roll.

Rested and Fed

Well rested, well fed, and ready to start reading and experimenting. A half hour on the exercise bike, a new wacom tablet, a bit of code and design. Life is good!

More Rest

More rest, a bit of broom, bells and shaker playing for the Roe Family, puttering about, cleaning. Retirement so far suits me well. Getting some exercise in, going for a nice walk this evening and perhaps doing some drawing. My goatee experiment is a dismal failure. Had a nice moment while getting some art supplies where someone was talking about "when i lived in chi town there was a place just like axe man" and I was able to fill in the missing name, American Science & Surplus.

Yo. Yo.

And a peaceful day spent on the road, driving back up to Minnesota. What a wonderful adventure was had in Chicago. Italian beef sandwiches! French fries! Baby Gigi is speaking and has shown a strange affinity for her papa Matt's bass guitar, although she tends to just grab the strings rather than plucking. A long tortured introduction on Local Anesthetic which left me wishing he had just not played the song, but obviously deserved as I was very very out of it when I talked with him and might have seemed a bit like a prick. A very brief fun performance of some Johnny Cash tunes. A repaired headlight and muffler brace. Catching up with the enigmatic Greg Thomas of Lesser Birds. Hanging out with my brother and ma. More french fries! Coffee with T. And now, back up here. There's a very pressing need to do some cleaning, sleeping, and exercising but other than the sleeping it can wait until tomorrow.

Sunday Sunday, Little Bastards' Fun Day

An open house has me back out on the streets. It's time to do a bit of coding.

Some Kind of Wonderful

"I think we'll get along much better if we don't spend so much time together anymore. Because. I'm driving you crazy, and you're driving me crazy, and I'd rather have you think good things about me and not see me than see me and hate me. I can't afford to have you hate me, Keith. The only things I care about in this life are me, my drums and you."

Yesterday

Yesterday was spent mostly sleeping, or in bed, with a visit to see the Zelienople boys practice for their upcoming show at the empty bottle. Michelle said that I looked all Minnesota now, while Matt said I look exactly the same as I did when I left. My brother's in New York this weekend. He's worried that my plans this time are the same as last time - sell my place, head off to some strange city without a plan, sleep on someone's couch, and start totally from scratch again. The thought had crossed my mind but I'm fairly certain that's not the road I'm heading down this time. I'll figure things out I'm sure, once I've cleared out some space to think. Everything is being rethought, and I am back.

Sleeping Dogs

A bit more sleep helped me recover from the hot dogs. Time to pack up and head home. Supposedly one of my songs will be on WXRT's Local Anesthetic this Sunday at 7:30 pm, but I'm a wait and see type of guy. I'm not sure if it'll help turnout Tuesday or not, or whether I want more people seeing me play songs I don't even have memorized yet. But if you're interested, Tuesday evening I'll be playing a set of Johnny Cash songs at Uncommon Ground.

Me and Matt'll be eating some grub from Alberto's on Saturday. I'll be reading, drinking tea, and basically regaining my strength otherwise, visiting old friends, visiting my bookie and getting accounts settled there.

That Old Saw

What's that old saw about stupid? "Doing the same thing and expecting a different result"? I woke up in intense intestinal pain, most probably from the rather questionable looking hot dogs eaten last night. Sirens! Calling me to my doom against the spongy hot dog rocks.

Hopefully I'll have regained my constitution by mid-afternoon and will be on the road. On the road! Three more beautiful words do not exist.

The Knife That Cut Me Free

I have once again imperiled my good health by grabbing questionable snacks at SuperAmerica. I was going for the nachos - a bit of cheese, some jalapenos to kill the bacteria, when a couple of ladies advised me to go for the hot dogs. Easily persuaded I went to the roller rack and selected the two least dangerous looking hot dogs, which were still wildly different in color, one being a sort of orange pink and the other being a turd brown. Did the taco roll teach me nothing? Or is this some kind of death wish?

SuperAmerica. Back in Chicago they're called Speedways (when you're on the go when you're on your way). I'll be back in Chicago soon, licking my wounds, healing up. I am right now way past the red line in terms of stamina. Mentally and physically I'm beaten and bruised. My speech processing center is shot - I can hear words but I can't decipher them without difficulty. It's what my step-sister called the kaleidoscope - words come in and go through a kaleidoscope and I hear what I don't want to hear.

And so, Ham and I are parting ways. I don't think either of us could survive any other way, or more importantly grow. I'll have more time for, well, sleep, but also experiments and research, and being a more well rounded person. That old quality of life thing. Hopefully I can find a way to temper my ambition with rest.

Wire to Weird

It certainly has been an interesting experience up here so far. I've spent the past few days fighting sleep - sleep has been winning. I kind of wish I were back in Chicago, even if just for the weekend. One of the Upsons was having trouble with photoshop and I'm sure it would've been easy to have helped had I been in the same room. Christy said that Gigi is saying "mama" and "dada" now, and "why did uncle donn move away?" I'll be on the road soon enough. How soon? In a weekend or two for sure, with presents for the tykes and stories.

I have heard tell that there are all kinds of places out there in the world that I haven't been to. My intention when things are settled here is to go out and see a bit of it. I basically know Indiana, Chicago, and Minneapolis. The rest is hotels and tourist traps so far. Until next time!

Morning Recordings

Not the Pramod version - just me waking up on a Saturday and forcing myself to sit down in front of the ol' digital 8-track. Stream of consciousnessed a song and then tightened up the words. After this I think I'll be doodling songs not related to me. I've met a lot of people up here up north, gathered a lot of stories. Now it's just about finding time and getting depressed enough to write. Ha ha. And now back to work (an obvious effort to get myself more depressed).

Bah! Hulk Smash Minnersoter

That is all. Good night all.

Bah!

Well, the Minneapolis Cartoonist Conspiracy is a fun time, but not the WILD FANTASTIC ORGASMIC fun I had convinced myself it would be while chained to my desk in Chicago. I need to find a way to keep more in practice in cartooning - not just doodling, but composing frames and fitting words balloons in and such. But then, free time has been at a premium.

It ends up that Kevin, Zander and I all got the same S.A.T. scores. Weird! They're cartoonist/writers and I'm... well... I don't know what I am. I felt an absurd happiness today as I left work. I didn't stop smiling for an hour. I headed straight to the Diamond's building to chill out and ready myself for the C.C. meeting.

It was good to be back amongst the PUNY folk for a bit - watching the interplay of insults between Tim and Vickerman, watching new guy acclimate to the wild funny environment. In half a year things will be so much different there. It's like watching leaves fall, a bit melancholy. This whole past five plus years seems like a single year. I lose track of how long ago things were, like all of my days up here during that time were continuous rather than broken apart by weeks or months in Chicago. Experiential time versus calendar time or something. Something like that.

Hulk Smash

And so, a meaningful talk with my friend C. It ended up that we hadn't talked about real things enough - I'm a little bit of a joker and sometimes dance around meaningful discussion. So, back to work, or back to looking at the road ahead in terms of tasks. There are bunch of utility functions that I keep on recreating that I'll get into classes for hopefully easy reuse in the future. I keep on making them for little experiments, forgetting the experiments, and then refiguring them out later. I'll just have to refigure some stuff out and then remember not to forget.

Tomorrow is Cartoonist Conspiracy night at Diamonds, and hopefully I'm able to attend the whole thing for once instead of just the tail end. Kate brought some delicious blueberries in today. I have to find out where she got them, they were succulent.

Minnersoter

It is late on a Tuesday night in Minneapolis, or in the box that I live in in Minneapolis, which is a part (perhaps hence "apartment") of a larger box. There has been some movement on selling the place I lived in in Chicago but no offers yet - maybe someone will be overtaken with emotion from the Bears' impending Super Bowl win and will run out and buy a condo. Maybe my condo.

Mason Jennings has come up on iTunes. I'm too tired, too agitated to sleep. I was going to write in a bit of the lyrics to Fourteen Pictures but I can't make out what he's saying (what is he saying? what is he saying?). "Looking for something that was just right here..."

I feel like I'm all beat up inside and old, a senior citizen hoodlummed in the park at night. Came home and worked, tried to sleep, couldn't sleep. Time to take some WalSleep and drink some vitamin water. I don't know that I'm writing to anyone in particular. I'm a castaway on an island writing to myself just to keep myself on this side of madness.