Joe 'de Bold

Save the Internet.

2006-04-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

In the interest of free speech on the net, please visit this site link and add a link to it on your site or blog.

http://www.savetheinternet.com

Congress is getting ready to let the telecoms decide which sites to let you load quickly and which not.

Bandwidth will go only to the highest bidder. Don't let the greatest experiment in free speech in the history of humanity, be wittled away by greedy telecom corporations!

Don't let politcal speech be legally curtailed.

I want one!

2006-03-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

Remember drawing on the floor as a kid? And how much better it was?

Not so easy as an adult. But this guy has the right idea. With my back problems I could totally see building one of these.
Just substitute some confortable memory foam for the chest and forehead pieces, or maybe something more like a hamock.

In any case, I could see raising it all up a bit, putting a flat screen monitor on the floor...

O.K., I know it's riduculous, but when you spend as many hours as I do at a computer doing art, any new idea for back relief has to be considered.

Oh, and it's raised up so the paper can slide underneath him for oversized work. (This would also be useful for cutting large Mattes.)

I doubt you will see this on American inventor.

Real World Simpsons Intro!

2006-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

Someone has created an amazing, shot for shot real-world recreation of the opening sequence to "The Simpsons."
Even all the background characters, from Moe, to Barney, to Chief Wiggum, even Bleeding Gums Murphy is in there!

Just click on the image below to watch!

For my Mac Friends...

2006-02-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

I'm having a geek-gasm!

Every now and then a utility comes out that makes you say...
Well Duh!!!!

Disk Inventory X is one I have to highly recommend. (OSX)

This wonderful shareware program generates discrete color coded blocks from treemaps of your files and file groups.
A very clear graphic representation of your disk usage, (better than Norton ever did.)

It's non-destructive in and of itself, but when you click on the blocks you can see exactly what they are. Then you call them up in the finder to move, edit, delete or whatever.

It's so user friendly, gained back 3.5 gigs on my main drive within 10 minutes of first launching it.

Perfect for getting rid of those redundant copies of back-ups etc. Also for finding that errant Photoshop file that's 4 times the needed size and sucking up your drive space. Not to mention any scratch disk space left over from a Photoshop crash.

You can get it at http://www.derlien.com/index.html

Thanks to www.madprofessor.net for sharing this gem with the world.

Your private info in the future.

2006-02-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post. Funny AND Scary.
Make sure your sound is on first.

Son is doing O.K.

2006-02-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

At the moment my son is doing O.K. The medication he is on has halted the hives.
He returned to school today.

The problem is that as soon as he stops the meds, he was flaring up again, and he can't stay on long because it weakens his immune system.

Unemployed Again.

2006-02-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a single Dad.

I spent last night until 4:00 AM in the emergency room with my son. He was covered from had to toe in hives. His fingers and toes were swollen like sausages. His lips were 3 times regular size. His tongue was swollen and he could barely speak. His eyes were red and puffy.

The meds they gave him knocked him out and I was told to expect him to sleep all day.

I called work and left a message why I would be late.

While I was on my way in, the owner called and told me not to bother, that I was fired for being late.
I made sure he had recieved the message as to "why".

He had.

Good ridance.

I didn't need this right now, but life is WAY to short.

And my life is way too complicated to have yet another Psycho to deal with.

Man-Bags

2006-01-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

My friend Knetik posted about the trouble he has pickingout a "Man-bag" that doesn't look wussy.

I've had to carry one around for some time now. The combo - brief case, technology bag, that doubles as the "Single-Dad's",
wet-wipe, medication, Yadda, yadda, yadda - "Man-purse".

I tried a back-pack, but they aren't shaped to hold my dayplanner and back-up drives etc.

Eventually I'll get the James-Bond, chrome camera case that'll fool everyone. But for now this is the best I can find.

(Sigh.)

Lego Knitting Machine

2006-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Click on the title to this post, to see a movie of the Knitting machine invented by Thomas Johnson,
built out of Legos no less!
Amazing!

It wasn't me officer!

2006-01-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this guy's mug looking at tech articles on Google News.

I could easily be confused with Brian Proffitt here in a police line-up.

Question, Have you ever stumbled across one of your own dopple-gangers?

Join this Virtual March, with Uncle Walter.

2005-12-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

"Why I Am Marching"

"I am joining the hundreds of thousands who shall be marching in this virtual march to demonstrate the concern that we all hold for the future of our planet and all the living things -- flora, fauna, human and animal -- that exist upon it. The governments of the world have tarried long enough, and the United States is scarcely without doubt the greatest culprit among them.

We the people have the strength to bring our country from our weak-kneed stumbling gait in the last ranks of reason to the leadership of the great march to environmental victory.

I want to be in that parade and if there is a place up front I'd wish to lead the band or at least be assigned a big bass drum to help pound out the rhythm of glorious success."

Come On! Add your voice! It's never been this easy to make our views known and to make a difference. -JoedeBold.

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/marchers/?19843

Schiavelli

2005-12-26T14:01:00.000-08:00

You know this face from hundred's of movies. As familiar as that guy up the street. You didn't know his name.
Now you do. Now he is gone.

Rove Implicated In Santa Identity Leak

2005-12-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of those folks at "The Onion."

Today's question.

2005-12-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

Are you a shepherd, a sheep, or a wolf?

Protector, Protected, or Predator?

Whichever you are, is that by choice, or decision, or fear?

And what would you rather be?

Imagine a world where we were all shepherds.

And all decisions were measured by their effect on our flock.

Dejavu All Over Again.

2005-12-14T15:12:00.000-08:00

Today I met Vladimir. He is wearing the first shirt he bought when he came to this country from the Ukraine 12 years ago.

12 years ago, this was the first T-shirt design I ever color separated on a computer, (from a water color I had done.)

Back then I did T-shirts. I have not really done T-shirt design now for almost 10 years. But here I am in 2005, designing T-shirts, and Vladimir is the guy fixing the hot press which cures those shirts.

I had not even SEEN this design in over 10 years.

And mind you, this shirt looks like it had never been worn before! Immaculate!

It's really cool when your old art sneaks back up on you. More on that to come.

God and Santa are roomates?

2005-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

The Official U.S. postal service position on letters to God, is as follows...

Quote...

"Letters to God can be addressed in the same way, replacing "Santa Claus," with "God"."

Unquote.

So... God=Santa?.... Or are they just roomates?

Click on title above to go to the official link.

A Meme is Born.

2005-12-13T11:15:00.000-08:00

A while ago I had a long discussion, with my 9-year-old son, about what a "Meme" is.

He has since proceeded, without apparent reason, to repeat the phrase "I LIKE potatos!" in and around his fourth grade class as often as he can.

A few weeks ago he upped the ante by putting a tune to the phrase and starting to sing it.

I have since gone into the afterschool program there, when he is not around, and heard children singing it to each other in front of bewildered councilors. It has become the in-joke!

We are the authors of social currency.

American Inventor

2005-11-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

O.K., a lot of my friends from "The Company" were amateur, or would be inventors like myself.
Some of the inventions were games, processes, properties, and other products etc.

Most of us are pretty good pitchmen (and women).

The folks at American Idol have decided to create a show where us ubergeeks can compete to get our inventions funded and built. Even kids can enter with a parent or guardian.

...Then you get an advance of your first Million against royalties.

Here's the FAQ...
http://abc.go.com/primetime/americaninventor/faq.html

Here's the site...
http://abc.go.com/primetime/americaninventor/

Auditions are in D.C. on Dec 11, and in Atlanta on the 14th.

I will be giving away small, signed, limited edition prints to the first 10 people who can identify the above picture via my regular e-mail.

Life's tipping points.

2005-11-01T19:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted. (The website isn't done.)

Tomorrow is another of the big court dates on "you know what." It WAS to be the last,
but I doubt it now. The Chesapeake courts are so back logged that they do not afford enough time to actually resolve a case like mine. We are nearing the start of year 5. I am still being pressed to be responsible for her bad debts. Death of a thousand cuts. As soon as my son falls asleep I have to work on finishing my court diary. Merging all my calendars and logs.
Retreading the events I have tried to forget.

All this aside there is much going on in my life that gives me hope. Lots of blessings to count.
Work's going good, and there are lots of really creative projects crossing my path.

I've finally found closure on that non-legal, non-employment issue that was tearing me apart last November.

And after 41 years I am finally comfortable in my own skin.

I miss all my friends from the company though.

I'm working for a family owned company now, everyone is related.
It's a very different dynamic.

I'm so into work-a-holic mode right now. But it has to be for a little while longer, at least.
Then a short rest, then phase 2 of my grand plans.

Next time I decide to be cryptic, I hope I have time to just write backwards in Italian.

Kurt Vonnegut weighs in.

2005-09-14T15:35:00.000-07:00

"Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. The hell I can't! Look at the Reverand Pat Robertson. And He is as happy as a pig in s**t."

We don't "do" press checks.

2005-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

Second day on the job. I was due to go on a press check, but despite what I and another manager were each promised, the printer just went ahead and did it anyway without me.

They printed the wrong plates on the wrong substrates and had about a 40% dot gain.
It was a mess. The artist who licensed his art to us will not approve it.

I called to find out what had happened.

Now I’m a nice diplomatic guy when it comes to stuff like this. I figure maybe it got delegated and there was a miscommunication.

So I called their production guy who handed me over to the owner, (whom I have never met or spoken to before), and he goes ballistic on me. He had a prepared speech!

He tells me they don’t “do” press checks, that time is money, and that if I need to come down and approve the art before they run it, maybe they don’t need my business. He tells me to go back to my boss and tell him this.

The guy was rude as all get-out. I could not get a word in edgewise to even let him know his guys had screwed it up, and had I been there I would have saved HIM money.

He started telling me after all this how he had “been in this business 25 years.” And didn’t need me telling him how to print.

I did manage to get in... “I’m not impressed.”

Life is too short to deal with this kind of person. I can’t imagine how they stay in business.
I’ve had my share of nasty people in my life. They contaminate your attitude and soul.

No more.
It’s time for happy Joe.

Hired! (?)

2005-09-10T19:10:00.000-07:00

I got hired today. It feels very strange to move back into an industry I left over a decade ago.
There is a feeling that this is something I am doing only for my kids, not for me.

There were other prospects I was more interested in, but none have become solid offers, at least not ones I could take and stay local. Mkae wrote a recent blog about Edith Kielor moments, and I feel like I'm having one here.

Sometimes you make choices just because you have run out of time.

Pat Robertson ditributes relief money?

2005-09-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

FEMA is suggesting that after the Red Cross, Pat Robertson's "Operation Blessing" is another good place to send Hurricane relief money.

Isn't Pat the one who told us his own prayers diverted a Hurricane from Virginia?

If you believed his system of logic, then God must have willed this Hurricane to hit New Orleans!

This is the same idiot calling for the "taking out" of the Democratically elected leaders of other countries! (Murder in Christ's name?)

The same guy who's Jet, on the way back from tax-deductable "mercy missions" happened to be loaded up with diamonds from South Africa!

Is there no one more credible to be number 2 on the list?
Say,... the Salvation Army?

Or is it because they don't send PAC money to the RNC!

Give until it hurts, but not to Pat.

Please Listen!

2005-09-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

The Mayor of New Orleans Speaks

On local radio, the most human outcry for help. The Mayor of NewOrleans tells what he is up against and how the Governor and President are too busy spinning things to get real help where it needs to be.

Hear it here, uncensored. That's right,... the networks are censoring parts.

Disk full.

2005-08-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Evan had a post today about those mornings where you are so zombified you put the cereal in the fridge and the milk in the pantry etc.

As I have said before, when my stream on consciousness is using too much ram, my background applications,... ones like,...

"I'll put the car keys here, 2.0"

...They crash, and the files get corrupted. Memory gone.
I wrote a long bit a few days ago about the human mind and it's software, vs content, vs hardware. After a while it got too personal to post.

I want a mental-ram upgrade, and a few more terrabytes of permanent storage too.
Symantec's new brain-disk utility wouldn't hurt either.

Here to There.

2005-08-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

I know I need to make a radical u-turn.
My gauge is on E.
I can’t find a break in the median!

Thanks for the support.

2005-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

I want to thank my friends for the support I recieved on my last post, which I have temporarily removed. I have not been contacted by "them" or anything, I am thinking about a different tack and am going to try and keep my options a little more open than an open rant.
At least for now. I'll keep my freinds updated in a less public forum for now.

Sorry casual surfers!

Free Speech.

2005-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

http://www.freewayblogger.com/

Free speech starts to rear it's wonderful, creative, ugly head.

Mantis Eats hummingbird.

2005-08-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Apologies to Boing Boing, where I found this. This kid took pics of a Praying Mantis catching and eating a humming bird.

There must be some great deep metaphor in this?

Getting Things Done

2005-08-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

I got that David Allen book, "Getting Things Done",...
I've been too busy to finish it.

A New Friend

2005-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

The past few days my son had been telling me he caught glimpses of a racoon at day camp. He was very insistant and clearly did not think I believed him. I think some of his his friends at camp were giving him grief.

During parent's night, last night, we exited the building to startle this fella and 3 of his friends.
Dad was quick on the draw with the camera, so my son gets his proof!

My son has named this one Rocky.

Interview Horror Stories

2005-08-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

...So the phone interview for that big job comes through on my cell earlier than expected.

They had already rescheduled it once, so I better talk to them right?

It’s hard enough driving in heavy traffic, after 2 "near" all nighters working on freelance.

I’m looking for fast food. My 9-year-old son in the backseat needs to eat before parent’s night at his day camp. That is 15 minutes from now.

So I pull over, (of course), and answer it.

Now 4 managers with a speaker phone are picking my brain to see what I’m made of while my son is kicking my seat and growling “Hurry up Dad” over and over, no matter how hard I try to signal for silence.

I talk about how a good art director is really a coach.
Then I made some comment about being a single parent, and how of course I’m used to multi-tasking.

That got a laugh. They said I should have put THAT on my resume.

I’m told all about the company, but I miss half of it because my call waiting starts beeping in my ear. With each beep there is a fraction of a second before I get the audio back, and whoever it is,... KEEPS CALLING BACK!

The 4 managers ask me when I could move, and I have to admit that there is this little wild card, a custody hearing coming up, maybe next week, maybe much later, I just don’t know yet.

I’m trying to put a positive spin on this, when my son starts banging his head on the window and groaning.

They ask if I have any more questions. I admit to some, but tell them I’m drawing a blank because I’m trying to get my Son to his play, and his patience has run out.

They were really very nice and offered to let me submit some questions in writing before a follow-up call.

I’ll have to sleep on those.

Zorbing!

2005-07-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Who says everything's already been invented?

Jump this giant transparent, inflatable hamsterball, suspended inside a spherical moonwalk ride.

Now fill it with water and roll it down a grassy hill!
It's like a roller coaster / waterflume that can be as long
as your local hills are high!

Zorbing is a big new craze in NewZealand, and from the video I have seen it looks safe and thrilling. People even lay in front of the thing, just to get run over for fun!

Imagine digging giant pits at the bottom of a hill and playing Zorb golf!

If I had the money I'd buy 2 of these things and get a permit to sell rides down Mount Trashmore here in Virginia Beach. (It's a hilly, grassy park, built over an old dump. Actually a very nice space.) Someone's going to do it.

Can you imagine the business this would do next to the skate park?

There is also harness Zorbing, sans-water, which takes you end over end. And tandem Zorbing of both varieties.

You can check out the manufacturer's home page at zorb.com
It's a flash site a little hard to download.

Or you can see it at zorbsouth.

One Hundred Percent.

2005-07-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

How I feel.

Chewie Gruntie

2005-07-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

O.K. It's caption contest time. What do you think?

Real Men of Genius.

2005-07-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here’s to you Mr. Card Game designer.

You’re an ultra rare collectable.

It takes a certain I.Q. to write an F.A.Q. for a T.C.G.

You know the rules, because you wrote them,...

In tiny, hard to read print.

Yours is a Fellowship forged in common purpose, late night caffeine, and goldfish crackers, The fruits of which will live forever... on e-bay.

Remember, you didn’t win or lose, you invented the games.

Scotty beamed up.

2005-07-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

James Doohan died early today. He was suffering from Alzheiner's. Every Treker out there will be writing their own eulogy today I guess.

He invented Mr. Scott.

Scotty was one of us. A regular guy.

We needed to know there would be regular guys in space. In our futures.

He wasn't one of the politicians. He seemed like a good boss to work for. He broke the rules when he had to, to do what was right. He didn't wait for the suits to figure out what direction the ship was going before he tweaked the engine to get her there. He knew that life was what happened inbetween the great battle plans,...

...in the details.

As a kid I learned can-do attitude from Scotty,... from Mr Doohan.

Godspeed.

The Jim and Tammy Show

2005-07-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

All my friends blogs are reflecting about the local kid's shows they watched when they were young. Bozo, Romper room, etc. But most of them did not grow up here in the Norfolk area.

Here we had only one static filled UHF station other than PBS. That was WYAH TV 27.

Here every afternoon we were taught our manners, indoctrinated by Jim and Tammy Baker and their strange little puppet show.

Just like the other shows up north, theirs would have swarms of local kids playing games for prizes. Usually they involved Bible verses. Tammy's alter-ego was Suzy Moppet. That was the Porky Pig puppet you see here,... in drag.

I don't remember the "Kukla Fran and Ollie rip-off" puppet's name, but needless to say, I think the serpent was Jim.

We would suffer through this every day, while waiting for BugsBunny and Popeye, and adjusting the tinfoil on the coathanger arial.

Imagine the trauma to our impressionable young minds.

(Imagine Bozo run by Ned Flanders.)

This was Pat Roberton's gift to us kids. It was cheap programming on a rundown station that would later morph into CBN, the 700 club, and the Family channel. An empire bought with donations from endless local "charity" telethons, pleading to raise money for God's work.

(Pat just knew God wanted us to have Jim and Tammy,... and more Gilligan and Bonanza re-runs.)

All my cousins got to be on this show eventually. I never had to.

Still, I'll always appreciate Jim and Tammy, as a kind of childhood innoculation. Like a slightly less threatening pathogen, they helped evolve my skeptic immune system.

The current plague in our country started with the likes of them.

Guide to Norfolk

2005-07-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here is an hillarious short essay describing Norfolk to out of towners.

Yes I said "an hillarious" I was once corrected by Sister Eileen in Catholic school that "h" sometimes functions as a vowel, and should be preceeded by "an" not "a". Of course we used to use V's intead of U's too. IN ANCIENT ROME!

DO-NUT DINETTE closing!

2005-07-16T07:02:00.000-07:00

This Norfolk landmark has remained essentially unchanged since I was born.
There has always been something comforting about it's presence on Colley Ave.
It was a valid reason to be late for Art meetings. Someone would straggle in late and say,
"I stopped off at DO-NUT DINETTE,"... and the big greasy bag they brought was like a get out of jail free card.

On freezing winter mornings after I dropped my son off at elementary school, I would then go to drop my daughter off at Blair middleschool. She would complain that it was too cold outside to wait for the school to open it's doors.

I would take her over to the DINETTE and we would eat donuts, drink hot chocolate and talk about her dreams.

I found myself dropping my son off, just a little bit earlier, in days to come so I would have an excuse to spend those rare precious moments alone with my daughter before she started her day.

She lives with her Mother now.

I regret one morning in particular when I wish we had both just slowed down,...
...and stopped for donuts.

For the news story go here.

Things are picking up.

2005-07-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well I have to say, for being out of work I'm awful busy.
Thanks to all my good friends, freelance has picked up. If it were like this all the time
I could almost work for myself, insurance not withstanding.

Experience tells me it tends to be feast and famine though.

In any case I'm busy and that keeps my mood up. I've got some long overdue commissions I'm wrapping up to make way for all the new work on my plate.
And my website will FINALLY be up soon!,... No really!

The i-Pod Flea

2005-07-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this hillarious spoof for a new i-pod model.
i-Pod Flea
You should check it out. You may need a free subscription to NY Times online though.

Today We Are All British.

2005-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today’s attack on the London Underground has shown that these Islamic fundamentalists do not have a clue.

These horrific acts against innocents, which accomplish nothing, are not the “will of God”, They criminally defame Islam.

Further, they give some western leaders the very tool they needed to wrench even greater control.

FEAR.

Without 9-11 the American public would never have supported the invasion of Iraq.

From what I can only imagine to be an Islamic fundamentalist point of view, this American presence, on this scale in Iraq, is a step backward for their cause.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Couch of Brad

2005-07-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, Brad was moving and the word went out that a couch was available.
As my friends know, all my extra cash has been drained by ongoing custody battles, and for a while I was using an old van bench covered with a quilt as a couch.

Not pretty. Downright scary for the women folk.

So I accepted. Not only did Brad volunteer this comfortable marvel, he helped me carry it up 4 flights (!) to my elevator-less apartment.

Only last night did I find out from Erika, that Brad never actually moved!

So anyway this is my relic from the Church of Brad. I wonder how many cards were designed and game stategies developed from here? Now I sit on it when I am playing chess with my son. That board there, under the brass bowl full of shells, was my late Dad's. 90% blind, he stained and inlaid all the wood himself. He taught me to play on that board, I taught my son on it, and now the student occasionally surpasses the teacher.

My son loves to sit on the "comfy couch," as he calls it now, and play Playstation and Gameboy, and dream of becoming a great videogame designer. A new relic.

Thanks Brad.

Movie Day. (Minor spoiler)

2005-06-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

War of the Worlds was good. I don't give it the high marks I gave Batman though.
The effects were great, (Hey, Spielberg film.) And Cruise didn't ruin it. But there are so many good actors out there. He should have made it with someone else. They tried to establish the characters a little, but this was a seat of your pants action film and it only needed so much.
Some of the fire effects and matte paintings could have been a little more realistic.

But how come everytime anybody goes underwater in a movie, even if it's a murky polluted river, it looks like a swimming pool from underneath? I mean it's CG anyway, so why all the bright greens and blues? Bad color grading in the underwater sequences. And with all the realisim of Saving Private Ryan, why did the tank battle here look so artificial to me? I give it an 8 out of 10.

I saw the Kong trailer on TV last night, and the same in the theater today.
MUCH more impressive in the theater. I'd plunk down money for that.

Sterilized Character

2005-06-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

I checked out the new d'Art center in downtown Norfolk today. It has been transplanted from an eclectic hodgepodge of dilapidated buildings into another interesting historic landmark, the Selden Arcade.

The old place made me think of something, which had evolved, like Diagone alley in Harry Potter.

Now it looks planned. Like some great mall gallery. A little too sterile. Not a working studio, but a museum.

Honestly it will probably be friendlier to the tourist consumers, and I hope it will lead to a better living for all the artists who stuck it out through the transition. They have really tried to make it interesting. They even have classrooms behind a great glass window so you can gawk at the students making art, like some strange Disney exhibit.

The old space had to move to make room for more condos and a Farm Fresh Supermarket, cloaked with an upscale label.

(Lord knows we need some more expensive condos downtown.)

Still why must we always sterilize away all the character, which makes a city attractive in the first place?

I guess for some obvious reason I feel a strong aversion to change right now....

I'm starting to understand Andy Rooney and this SCARES me.

2005-06-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the old studio, before the move. These were good times.

When I was a teen, I helped demolish what was in this very same space before the company moved in.

Guess it'll be another bar now?

When that get's built, I think I shall go there and get very drunk.

What did you do?

2005-06-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

To answers Shocho's question, posed a while back,

What did you do on the day you were laid-off?

Today I picked my son up early and took him kite flying
at Mount Trashmore. It was perfect. Easy launch. Clean flight.
Fun. Easy landing, no damage. Good times.

We sang camp songs as we walked back to the car.

Went to my Mom's to pick up her B-day present for my daughter.
Life goes on.

End of an Era.

2005-06-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well it happened. I got laid-off today along with 11 friends.
I'm still in shock. ...Then I have been in shock for 4 years.

Maybe now I'll get back to who I used to be. It's certainly going to be an interesting summer.

More time to build out this blog, make it nice. Finish my website, (That comes first) and spend time with my son. My cheese has long since been moved, and I have been living on fumes.

Maybe it's a blessing, just a little hard to see from here.

Door shut,... window opened.

The tragedy is, all this didn't need to happen.
It's so hard for a company to get close to the top of the heap. Once there, the world was their oyster. They hired the best throughout, and then usually ignored them.

(Next few posts could get a little bitter!)

Continuity

2005-06-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw a woman in a burka with a baseball cap on top.
This struck me as really funny.

Where was my camera when I needed it?

As I type this, my 9 year old son is sitting next to me, teaching himself Photoshop on my old Power tower. He's designing monsters.

This must be how the farmers of old felt when there
young sons first picked up a plow.

It brings a sense of continuity, no matter what he later chooses to do with his life.

Time out!

2005-06-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

For so long, it seems like every single bit of time I have "had-off" has been spent doing something for my kids, or a family member, or work on court papers, or taxes, or worst of all my job.

I've been so stressed I've broken 4 teeth in the past few weeks,... from grinding them in my sleep.

Finally I'm going to take a few days to do whatever the hell I feel like. No kids, no agenda.

I'm starting off with this blog, and not feeling guilty for NOT turning it into a design project.

I'll do that when I get a fun idea and not before.

Until a few weeks ago, Blogs were barely on my radar. SO wrapped up in my year 4 legal crap
that I didn't even realize the community of people I spend every day with were all networked this way.

I still don't IM. Barely have time as it is. Makes me feel like feel like Hellen Keller sometimes when suddenly the room bursts out in laughter.

10 years I have spent in a building with some of the coolest people, and brightest minds I've ever known. Except I have barely had time to really get to know any of them. My situation affords little after hours social life. My lunches are often spent catching up on do-it-yourself paralegal work.

Had I played soccer it might have been different. Truth is, I suck at sports.
And to quote Daffy Duck, "I hate pain,... it hurts me."

Maybe if I'd learned to play the damned games I decorated! But again, the "real games" usually were not between 1:00 and 2:00.

Now so many are leaving, so many more will go. Don't know where I will be either.

I feel like I've missed something. One person to blame.