Epiphany.

I love to write. Since I do so much writing and have done for many years, it came as a surprise to learn that my best writing happens in public. I know that this is nothing new for many, but I was raised with the concept of the cloistered writer, rising every morning with the sun (Asimov, King, etc.). Banging away in solitude. Treating it with a fully Lutheran midwest work ethic.

My favorite spot is close to coffee, always indoors (until they dramatically improve screen contrast) and in the company of mildly noisy, ocassionally nosy neighbors. I like to be interrupted and the background of life is a nice stress reliever.

On the flip side I like to design while watching movies that I have seen more than 10 times. Dirty Dozen comes to mind.

Go figure.

Anger Management.

Yesterday, while shopping at HOBO for new office cabinets, Susan called me with bad news. Apparently our cat Sootfoot, in an effort to jump into the basement window sash, decided that my new Dell 24" monitor would be a perfect staging area. He is a big cat and the monitor is a bit top heavy; the result: were one freaked out cat and one destroyed monitor.

After the inevitable moment of irritation, I thanked Susan for letting me know and went about my business. There was nothing either of us could do. The cat is naturally curious and LCD monitors are fragile. It hardly makes a difference how I feel about it. Being angry would only make everyone feel worse and likely shorten the life of my cat.

Today, my daughter hit my son. Not casually, either, she really hauled off and whacked him.

Both of my children are lovely and full of energy, but it cannot be denied, by any who know them, that my son is a kind, gentle soul and my daughter is a bit of a short tempered hooligan. Before anyone takes me task for these raw categorizations I remind you these are not value judgments. It's just the way things are. I love Meghan's spirit: she won't take no for an answer and she is willful to the point of distraction. Grayham's forebearance and patience are laudable. I sometimes need to remind him that he's not his sisters' punching bag, that he has to stand his ground with her. Grayham doesn't want to hit her back, but he's annoyed that she shows so little consideration for him. She's seeking attention in the shadow of an awesome older brother, and has little in the way of impulse control at this age.

My wife brought her to me for punishment, which she really hates. She hates the idea of Daddy being mad with her, of disappointing me. When I catch her doing these things myself, I am quick to give her a swat on the behind: not as a punishment, but to get her attention, in no uncertain terms. Now, I am not so sure. In any event, she was brought to me after the infraction and I decided that a swat on the behind, was not going to be appropriate. Hitting her for hitting him just did not seem like the right way to go.

I took away her new bike for a week. She wailed, but she didn't fight me on it. I hope she is starting to learn that hitting her brother isn't cool.

One-and-a-Half Star Prince

The latest installment in the Harry Potter series, "The Half Blood Prince" was a bit of a disappointment and this is coming from a fairly rabid fan of the book and film series. I hate to say it but the movie was just, well...boring. To be fair, I am reading the book concurrently and it has its issues as well. But that being said there were numerous other issues with the film.

***spoilers***

The pacing was really difficult to follow and at times seemed like the production was racing from plot point to plot point with little regard for the characters motivations or background. The first 30-40 minutes reminded me of making marks on a checklist.

"Slughorn is a chair...got that?...ok. Trip to the orphanage done?...let's move on, folks. Don't forget 30 seconds of Draco brooding, there....perfect!" Finally, we have 2 hours of plodding to wade through. Sheesh.

The film is heavy on teenage angst. The principals are at the ripe age for maximal hormonal fluctuation. Hearts are broken, chests are pounded, girls swoon. Pretty typical fare, but even the production team must have seen the writing on the wall. They added a new scene midway, full of fire and Death Eaters and explosions (was Michael Bay uncredited?) just to keep the adrenaline levels off life support.

In fairness the movie looks great and the cast all do a fine job, but the pacing and material often seem forced and in the end the movie doesnt do very much to push the story forward. This film is a poster child for a decent directors cut, but it has so many bits that need work it would amount to a substantially remade film and I don't see that as an option.

Just my two cents.

Half Blood Prince

Getting amped for the 10.15 show. Susan (my lovely wife) and I are heading out to meet friends at the local iPic. For those that have not yet attended the iPic, two critical items of note. NO KIDS under 21 after 7pm AND you can get a decent double rum and coke to take into the theater in a glass. Holla! My shoulder is in need of a drink and is bringing me along for the ride, so who am I to complain.

I'm excited about "the Half Blood Prince" as well. Most of my friends are into the series, but lately I have run into more folks that know almost nothing about the series. Makes me wonder if they have been kidnapped and replaced, to be honest. I mean how much effort does it take to be up on your Hogwarts lore.

Check the link, o dwellers in ignorance:

http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/#/home

It takes a lot for me to get out to the theater these days. Last show I saw was the new Star Trek (very good), so I guess I pretty much limit myself to effects films these days on the really big screen. I have been trying to finish the book again, prior to the film, but it is just not gonna happen. Oh well, I'll get a jump on the final book anticipating the final two films next year and the following.

I think we are gonna shoot for sushi before the show.

Expelliarmus!

Monday Morning Moans & Groans

I find that writing early in the day is the best time for me. Two hours before the rest of my world wakes up and discovers me. I am writing a "tough love" scene at the moment and it scares me. I suppose I will just keep diving in and hoping to surface somewhere useful.

I was injured over the weekend during martial arts practice. I resisted doing the right thing, and froze, causing me to crash down heavily on my right side. Not being a lightweight did not help. Something in my neck tweaked. Had that moment of seeing stars and have not felt right since.

Taking it slow, stretching, breathing, just going about my day and hoping that the pain and tension will decline as the days progress. My testing date is looming large in the next few classes. I can't afford to miss class Wednesday, so I'll just have to suck it up.

Watching CharlieRose.com for inspiration. Alan Alda is the man.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8719

Post OS future...save me.

READ THIS:
MICROSOFT OPENING STORES NEAR APPLE
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3358

AND THEN:
Microsoft has an uphill battle, certainly.

Historically, they have not been able to compete with Apple's perception in the marketplace. But they own the marketplace volume in many areas. It's hard to compare. In fact the whole point all along is that the comparison is almost impossible. The "Apple is cool and Microsoft is not" or "Microsoft is faceless evil and Macs are for poets" argument usually follows. The coming post-OS environment (cloud, web apps) is poised to make this a moot point.

The way I see it they are not going to be able to compete on Apple's terms (seamless experience) they will have to create a new paradigm and let users decide. This has not always been Microsoft's strongest suit and they are often depicted as the also ran candidate.

Buy what you like.

Recovery at last.

Apparently my last save, last night, was not the last word for my 148 layer Illustrator file. At some point I erred and lost an evenings work. As evidenced by the BSOD report that awaited my arrival this morning. Big crash of the Vista-cular variety. Took all day to recover which scotched my writing time today. Ah well, have to catch up tomorrow.

I am looking into an autosave script that can run as an adjunct to Illustrator CS4. I am familiar with the argument that autosaves in creative programs are an interruption, but balanced against repeating work I would say its well worth it. It should be controllable by the user and part of the actions or history panel. Somehow.

Needs thinking.

A short interesting read....

http://rwillustrator.blogspot.com/2008/09/dear-adobe-quest-for-perfect-feature.html

Officially Offing Office

Yes its true. Office is leaving my machine. I have been beta'ing OpenOffice for a month or so to really see if it stacks up against the Office Suite. It does. There is nothing that I need Office for anymore in my day to day business.

Hasta la vista, senor bloatware. The stampede continues, into the cloud with the open source herd.

OMFG OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder kickin' in as I pick through the 124 layers of my illustrator file renaming and reordering layers to supposedly make it simpler for implementation. 28th revision.

I love design.

Creating Icons

Our latest designs are calling for more in the way of social networking tie-ins. Rather than using flat images for the icons I recreated the most popular in illustrator so I can scale them as I need to without degradation.

Wut-wut, Illustrator CS4, yo!

Gotta figure out how to post images in this thing. A lesson for later.

The new company

11th Hour Solutions is up and running this last year. We are providing clients with marketing and online consultation. At the moment I am the creator-in-chief, handling most of the business duties and pumping out designs and ideas. Currently working on a couple year long projects for site development and fundraising with NFP clients. Its good fun and I am working from home for the first time, full time.

Finishing office renovations in the basement that will make loads of difference to the productivity. A real network and workstations for co-working days. My partner, Monica stops in once a week and my other team mates stop in as they can or when they just need some companionship.

All in all its a good thing.

Been a year. WTF?

Finally getting back to this as part of my daily writing regimen. Working on a graphic novel and balancing a lot of creative work for my clients.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new bike. I won it on ebay and my hope is that it will get my ass out on the road with the kids. Their boundless energy and annoyingly effective guilt are a potent motivational force.