Average Grod's Average Blog

Emma started potty training this week. We bought her a little toilet. It's actually pretty cool. It has handles and can be used on its own or with an adult toilet. She uses it with our toilet and that way the base can be used as a stepping stool. She is very good at telling when she needs to go "potty." Sometimes the actually says the word but more often than not she will say "dirty mermaid" because she has diapers with the Little Mermaid on them.

As you can see I did a good job messing up my blog by "upgrading" to a new template. Sooner or later (lets face it...later) I will fix it. In other news, I am going to attempt to bring back the Learn2Draw blog but again I will need a bit of help. It won't require much and anyone interested should email me. I'll be contacting people this week anyway hoping to sucker some of you in.

I saw this site a couple days ago. http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/
I don't know if Nintendo has taken it down of it is just getting too much traffic but you should check it out if you can. It tracks all the different items people have destroyed with Wiimotes. Speaking of destroyed..."The father of the Playstation" is being "promoted." He is being taken out of the everyday aspects of the Playstation. Smells like a cover up for the screwup known as that PS3. Crazy thing is an American is running the show now over at Sony Computer Entertainment. Wow. The Wii shipped over 6,000,000 units in the first week too. I am glad Nintendo is doing well and I am excited to get my hands on one.

Its been about a year since I added the Amazon search window on the sidebar. Thanks to everyone who made a purchase through it. Don't forget to buy a couple things through it this season and make sure you check www.amazon.com in the next couple days. Stay home and avoid the Black Friday rush! They are having incredible deals such as the $100 Xbox 360 tomorrow.

I would go for the tacos! Taco Bell pretty much makes me sick 90% of the time I eat it but I could always buy another PS3 and I would probably be the only person in history to win a lifetime supply of gas and tacos!!!

Here is the comment I posted about this story:
Just wait until one of them hits "Grandpa" as he walks by and induces a heart attack. Sooner or later someone is actually going to kill a family pet with one of these flying Wiimotes. In a sick and ironic twist it will be during a game of Wii Nintendogs!

Have these people seen the games that are available for this system? I realize that it is the cheapest Blu-Ray player available right now but if it plays discs like my PS2 it will be useless after a year. I know that Final Fantasy, Metal Gear, and future Rockstar games will be available for this platform but at this point I can't imagine spending the time or money on this machine. Don't get me wrong I want one soooo bad, if for no other reason than to play FFXII (I recently sold my PS2) but I really think that patience will pay off with this machine. If you don't believe me look at the titles that are or will be available before 2007. Sports titles and a couple that are available on other platforms. There are 2-3 exclusive titles that will cost $20-30 come June. I can guarantee that the games launching at the end of this systems life cycle will be worth the money. I think this machine probably has a wider range of possibilities for game programmers than any of its competitors and given the design of the Wii I think that says a lot. At this point I would go with the Wii. Xbox 360 STILL has no must have title and like I said... the potential is there for the PS3 but it will be a while until developers really learn to take advantage of all of its capabilities. When they do(I'm looking to Square-Enix) the games will look unlike anything we have seen before. As far as their fun factor goes.... we will have to wait and see. The Wii will be fun right out of the box.

"Huh? Yeah it is...my hair is brown."
"Excuse me?"
"I am just trying to show that you aren't the only one with a firm grasp of the obvious."

I am a reader. More so than I used to be and I owe this to my wife. Right now I am 20-75 percent of the way through 6 different books ranging from juvenile fiction to editorials to the obligatory Flash programming book. I don't have a lot of time to read and the majority of it is accomplished during my breaks at work. I read while I walk around the hospital on my way to and from work as well as on my break. Those who can't be bothered to pick up some print constantly plague me with the dreaded "That must be a good book." I don't know if they are trying to start a conversation or falling prey to narcissism and speaking just to hear their own voice. They wouldn't walk into a room full of people staring at a TV and say "This must be a good movie" but rather "What are you watching?" as they sit down to join the sitcom sponges.

How do I know these are the unread? We readers stick with each other. If we dare interrupt it is ALWAYS done with a "Oooooo what are you reading?" This is seldom a sore greeting and if we are at a critical point in our literary journey it is entirely acceptable to inform the greeter "I can't put this down right now, just a minute." This greeting between book lovers is always coupled with the hope one will come away with another title added to the "must read" list and even if that doesn't happen it will at least allow you to speak about a hobby you love with a kindred spirit.

So if you see me walking with my face half hidden behind the pages of a book don't talk just to talk. Interrupt me with something of substance. Ignore me. It doesn't matter just don't tell me something you can't be bothered to find out for yourself.

She walks over right behind the door and sleeps on the floor every night. Sorry the picture is so bad but it is difficult to reach in there without waking her up.

I added some more photos. The highlights include:Emma stealing the cheese, first day in her big girl bed, stealing dad's heating pad spot on the couch, pouring crackers on the floor, our new kittens, and Emma wearing adult socks. Enjoy!

So I just skimmed over the updated story about this pastor. Not looking good for him and I am rapidly swinging toward my normal frustrated, disenfranchised, condemning self. Now Haggard's side of the story doesn't make sense. At best it sounds like he left out some information. He is admitting to buying meth and requesting a "massage" from the prostitute but claims that he never committed any sort of sexual act or took the drugs. I waste money on drugs all the time only to throw them away without trying any. (sarcasm...I haven't ever done any drugs. Not even in Highschool*.) This pastor was waaaaayyy out of line just picking these drugs up and it is going to ruin him. The evangelists are half right. This is still political but more and more it is looking less ridiculous. The part about the gay male prostitute "doing the moral thing" is still pretty funny though.

I am done with political blogs(I had a good run(sorta) of 2 in a row woot!). There is too much info to keep track of and too much BS to sort through. I'll be posting some new photos of Emma this weekend.

*I am actually straight arrow and this is meant more as a joke(if you read the article).

Usually when a priest, teacher, or politician is involved in a scandal I am pretty frustrated that they have abused their position to take advantage of someone or violated the public's trust by participating in some immoral and unspeakably low act but when I read this story about the Rev. Ted Haggard something just didn't click.

I am glad that the male homosexual prostitute, ex-prostitute decided to that he "had to do the moral thing." This is completely laughable. Especially given Tuesday's vote. I don't know either of these men so Haggard could be completely guilty but the damage will be done regardless. If you look at this logically though the story doesn't add up.

The accuser claims he voted for Ronald Reagan. That means 18 years old in 1984 so he is at least 40 years old. I don't know anyone who decides on a career change and ends up a prostitute so he has probably been at this for a while. Actually I don't know any prostitutes. He obviously makes good money but he also said he is no longer a prostitute yet his last meeting with Haggard was supposedly in August which was barely two months ago. He is also does drugs. My guess is he is an addict. What else are you gonna spend $200/hour on? If prostituting did so well financially people would do it all the time. Instead they do it out of necessity, usually to pay for a habit. So lets see. This guy who has been slumming around for 20 years decides to give it up. Probably because when he turned in his resume that says "1986-present manwhore" the offers came pouring in. Of course they all beat his previous $200/hour wages. This isn't something you just give up either. There aren't options for people with this background. His evidence is also stuff that won't hold up in court and he has nothing to lose. My guess is he is getting paid somehow and is going to mess things up for a lot of people. I don't actually thing Haggard is guilty and sooner or later I think this thing will kind of go away but the damage will have been done. Sorry to go on so long about political stuf but its my blog and I have the mic.

As requested.
Here are my minis. I swear I am gonna blog on Microsoft soon but in the meantime check out live.com Nothing impressive but I will have to check back after 11/7 to see what they do. Looks like everyone is going to have thier own search engine "portal"(this is totally yesterday's word) soon. They're all kinda knock offs. I am happy with mine but sooner or later I am gonna want it for my desktop. I'll be posting a photo of my workspace soon.

I am a wanna be web guy. Sad thing is I haven't really jumped onto the whole web 2.0 thing yet. I think it's because I want to remain a normal internet user. I know my way around the internet and I don't need every bit of information at my fingertips 24/7. Plus I think a lot of it so far has been gimicky. I was working on a desktop application for myself that would incorporate the feeds and applications that I use on a regular basis. I know it is pretty much just like a Mac desktop(this might mean Boone-3 M$-0) or the forthcoming Windows but I wanted the experience of building one for myself. Well I finally found someone who did it well enough for me to change my homepage to. http://www.yourminis.com/ is a cool page which allows you to basically customize your own homepage. I know Yahoo or Google lets you create your own page as well but I prefer the control of yourminis plus you all know how much I like Flash. It is made by the guys who brought you http://www.goowy.com. Give one of em a try.

What do I have on my mini? Calender, To do list, weather, email, brother's blogs, a COMIC!!! and more. YAY!!!!

Today Emma and I went to Costco. While I was busy shopping she decided to take care of an important phone call. She called her Great Grandma G.G.(nickname) and had a very animated 15 minute call. At this point Grandma is thinking "I don't remember any phone call." Don't worry you aren't going senile she didn't actually dial. She picked up my phone, opened it and started talking. She was talking all about her favorite things and waving her other hand wildly around in animated gestures just like her mom does. The name G.G. popped up every couple minutes and at one point she offered the phone to me and yelled out her name. G.G. Obviously wanted to speak to me. Emma went on and on about The Little Mermaid, Grandpa, Elmo, Shrek, puppies, and kitties. All her favorite things. She was completely oblivious to the people around her hamming it up and pointing at how cute she was. Knowing her she probably just chose to ignore them because this kid doesn't miss much. She really looked like it was all business. Maybe next time I will actually dial the phone for her since I am sure G.G. would love a real call.

My brother is a Mac user. Who knows why but he is. (he doesn't get out and game much) He made a nice comment about a Microsoft product the other day. Now this

I am planning to post my defense(Really) of Microsoft soon.

Every night we put Emma to bed in her bed. Every night I check her at about 2 in the morning and she is sleeping on the floor right next to the door. I always have to gently mover her and put her back in her bed. Weird huh?

North Korea is testing nuclear weapons. If I had a choice between releasing Saddam and giving North Korea nukes I think I would flip a coin.

The other week one football player ripped the helmet off of another and then stomped the guys face with his cleats while he was on the ground. You probably heard about it and if you are anything like me it made you sick. Sorry I am bringing it up again because at this point you have probably heard all of it and got over it. What makes me mad is that if I did this anywhere I would spend the night in jail. I might be able to get out on bail until my trial but there would be a criminal trial I am sure. Because this happens on an NFL football field the authorities leave the punishment up to the NFL authorities. The punishment was stiff...for the NFL. 5 games without pay. I believe the previous record was 2 games. Believe it or not there were players who thought this was too stiff an urged the offender to appeal. The upside of this story is that he actually took responsibility for his actions saying he did it, he was wrong, and he would accept any and all punishment the league handed down. He also apologized to his victim. His coach was cool too, making a bee line for the other teams coach after the game assuring him that if the league's penalties weren't enough the team itself would deal additional punishment. This is all well and good but this was a malicious criminal act requiring 30 stitches. Is his punishment too strict? You tell me. Five games with no pay amounts to $190 k in lost income. That's right. He is losing more than I paid for my house. Sounds fair but that is 1/17 of his $5.5 million contract. Something is wrong with this world when there are people starving and homeless yet a criminal can make millions and avoid criminal punishment just because of celebrity status. To be fair the team is looking into their options and have been notified by their lawyers that he is breach of his contract so whether or not he will play again is up in the air. He may or may not play for his team again but I doubt he is done for good. I could be wrong but at this point I don't have the confidence that any professional sports organization or the american sports enthusiast to do the right thing. They are just too entertaining and that means they bring in money. Anyone remember Mike Tyson?

I moved the mouse wheel down about 2 clicks and instantly relived the past three months of my life lol. So I posted about The Murder City Devils reunion show. Many of you know the outcome of this because you were (or rather weren't) there. We didn't go. This was a busy Summer. Guess I got that right because technically Summer is over even though it still feels like it but my calendar does say October. Anyway the concert fell on the same day as bachelor party for a friend of mine. We were doing an all day affair starting with breakfast. Here is were things get a little embarrassing. More for Shanna than for me but embarrassing all the same. I'll probably break some man code too and spill the beans on the events of a bachelor party but here goes...

I showed up in time for breakfast. It was good. I don't drink very often. I could easily say I drink less than once a month and not make a liar out of myself. For this event Shanna had cut me loose for the entire day and it was the only day of the Summer to just be Garrett with his friends and not have to be a dad or a husband. To clarify I mean duty wise(chores and diapers) not morally...I wasn't out carousing although I did take a trip to Capitol Hill. I had 5 drinks with breakfast. Count em. 1 2 3 4 5. That's a lot. I had to go get fitted for a tux and there is no way the guy couldn't tell. Shanna was embarrassed but I was surprisingly lucid. I just smelled like a pirate. I went through most of the day in this sort of haze. It was fun. Haven't done it since and I probably won't again although I know of 2 bachelor parties coming up next year! Anyway we didn't go to the Murder City show. We walked through the aftermath and spoke to people who were lucky enough to witness the real thing. We missed the added 2nd show the following night too. I guess in a way this was kind of the end of an era for some of us. Three years ago there was no way we would have missed a show like this. It was definitely more fun to just hang out and catch up with each other. When we did make it to a concert we were talking afterwards about how sore we were to stand for 4 hours. Where did the time go and when did we get so old?

So I just wrote a decent blog about a movie I had seen and didn't like. More importantly why I didn't like it. When I hit Spell Check IE blocked my checking pop up and deleted my post. Guess this is the last time I blog in IE. Maybe I'll write it again sometime.

Emma woke up just now. Shanna went into her room to read a book to her while I went and got a diaper. They are reading Curious George's ABC's. When Shanna gets to the 'F' page she starts to turn it and Emma says "Gee." She knew what was coming up next. I grabbed the book and started over. She can say her ABC's up to M. She doesn't know them all. She only recognizes a couple. But she will say them along with me up to M. She can't quite clearly pronounce all of them. Her 'C' sounds an awful lot like her 'G' for a little girl who just turned 18 months old about a week ago I'd say that is pretty good...Although I am her daddy.

At least this is the short version.

I am still working on some stuff to put together a new version of this blog. Rather than make people check this thing all the time for a semi monthly update and launch a completely finished blog I am just going to jump right in. I am almost done with my font but I am not sure how it is working out. Here is a photo of part of it. Let me know what you think.

Soon you will be reading this blog in my own hand.
The top line is size 12. The next is 12 Bold. The last is size 14. If they are too difficult to read let me know. I am open to any suggestions. My ultimate goal is to let you choose a font and possibly even apply a CSS sheet to my blog. All done through Flash. Cool huh? If you don't know what this means just nod your head along with me.

I have was busy with the Ashley Paulina Jewelry site too. You know the link. Make sure to visit the shop. Keep an eye on the main page as well because there are going to be some nice changes coming. I have been trying to figure out Photoshop but there is a lot to learn.

On the family side of things Shanna got a new job down in Seattle. She likes it for the most part and her new schedule allows us to see each other more. Emma is completely in love with Elmo. She calls him "Melmo." She is also sleeping in her toddler bed which is really just her crib without one of the sides. She climbed out of her crib so it was time to make the transition. She loves to show off her bed to visitors. She has a stool she keeps under the bed and when it is time to climb in she pulls it out and climbs up.

Thanks to those of you still checking this thing. I promise more content, updated links, and a more interactive blog in the future. Keep watching...it will be fun to see how this thing evolves.

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we are able to tell you that yes, we will indeed
be playing a show this summer. Since the rumor started spreading a few weeks ago, we
have received an amazing amount of emails full of very kind words and urgent questions.
Here are the answers to some of them.

All members will be playing. This means that Dann and Nate will be playing guitar. Coady
will be playing drums. Spencer will be singing. Derek will be playing bass. And yes,
Leslie Hardy will be playing keyboards. A few of you seemed concerned that Merchbot
2000 might not be there, but rest assured you will be able to pay him a visit as well.

The show will be in Seattle. It will be at The Capitol Hill Block Party (http://
www.capitolhillblockparty.com/). We will be closing the outdoor stage on Saturday July
29. For extra fun, you should come on Friday July 28th, and you will be able to see Big
Business and Pretty Girls Make Graves.

Tickets are available online. You can go to TicketsWest (http://ticketswest.rdln.com/
EventDetails.aspx?evt=47903) to purchase them. You can also buy them at Neumos if you
live in Seattle. They are $10. If you buy them online, you will have to pay $2.50 per ticket
service fee, and $3.50 per transaction for handling, so maybe get together with friends, to
save a little bit of money purchasing a group of tickets (you can buy up to 8) at
TicketsWest. This is for just the Saturday. Like we said above, why not purchase a ticket
for Friday and make a weekend out of it.

We are looking for a place to have an after party because Merchbot 2000 really wants to
spin records while the rest of us drink. So we should have details on that soon as well.
There will also be additional bands playing the other two stages after our set, which
should be worth checking out.

If you are flying in from out of town, that is great. There are several hotels very near the
event, and we are trying to figure out if the event has a deal at any hotels, so you can save
a little bit of money.

For more details regarding the event and our plans, please feel free to check out http://
murdercitydevils.hellboundmanagement.com or the myspace page at http://
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=60766872.

Thanks for all the great feedback, we are looking forward to the show, it's going to be a
blast.

gabe and the murder city devils

I am thinking about starting up again. I have been really busy building a shop for a previous client. I think it has turned out well. Once it is all wrapped up I will post a link to it. I couldn't believe that my site has been getting around 1.7 hits per day. That's not very many you say. I say it is for a site that has no content and it is all referral traffic from the one site that I have built. My goal is to really focus on my site so that I can have something for all my visitors and potential clients view. Not to mention a way for them to contact me about possible future work.

I posted a couple more Emma pictures. I love that little girl so much. She is soooo goofy and makes so many great expressions. My Grandpa posted some great photos of her too but you probably have to be logged in to see them. My Flickr Pro account expired so I can't add them to a set. No real loss since I never did anything special with them but my site will become even more unorganized if that is possible. Also, if you are one of the 2 people per month that visits the Learn 2 Draw blog you will notice a bunch of it is missing. I let my domain lapse so anything that was linked to it is gone for now. garrettrodriguez.com was fun while it lasted and I owe my brother Gabe a lot of thanks. He bought me a bit of real estate on the web and even though I probably didn't take full advantage of it I did put it to good use. It was also the reason I got into Flash which led to web design and the inception and launch of my own tiny buisness which has been profitable enough to pay for a full version of Macromedia Studio 8 and a 6x8 Wacom Intuos tablet so far. I have received a lot of gifts over the years(and hopefully I can add a Nintendo DS to that list come Saturday hehe) but this one was probably one of the best. Or maybe the wierdest. Whichever way you call it, it is probably the one that has changed my life the most and in a good way.

Anyway I am on the computer most nights doing real work instead of gaming so I will probably start blogging on a more regular basis again. See you soon.

E3 this week. I haven't kept up on it too much. There are a couple big things coming out of it. Nintendo announced that their new machine is called "Wii." Pronounced we. We-ird if you ask me. The trailer for Halo 3 was released. I am sure this is about all the Microsoft "gamer" sheep care about. Not me. I haven't seen it. I don't care. Halo is cool but nothing special and the "Master Chief" is easily the most overrated avatar in video game history. Sony announced the price for the PS3. In my opinion this is the biggest thing so far. Probably one of the biggest announcements in the industry in years. $600. Pfft. Who are they kidding? I guess there is gonna be a 20 gig version that is cheaper. $600 for the 60 gig version but the pricing will be open in Japan meaning it is up to retailers to price it. Screw that. Over here the corporate price gougers will be bleeding 15 year olds by forcing bundles on consumers once again. Force feeding us games we don't want just to get the one we do. I guarantee most bundles will run around $1000. Imagine the PC you could build for that. Even the Gateway or Dell you can get for that kind of cash could run circles around a PS3. If you buy one it is only for the library. They are going with PS2 controllers so it would be upsetting for those who own a PS2 to be forced to buy another controller when they don't need one. Whatever. I'll buy one sooner or later. Even though I could probably buy a Wii and an Xbox 360(bleh I should just buy a couple DSs) for the same price.

My next post will appeal to more of you.

Yay! I am an uncle!

I have finished up the site I was working on for Hope Academy in Nigeria but I haven't heard back about finding a place to host the site. At this point I am pretty much done with web stuff and am going to get back to playing with my own things. Maybe even get going on my own site. I just haven't been motivated to do anything lately. Part of it stems from a fear of over indulgence and an inability to step away from Flash. I literally have an easier time turning off a game than quitting in the middle of a project and that makes for some very late nights and VERY early mornings. Emma is waking up before 7 these days and it is killing me.

I made a tree program and I was thinking of turning it into a class but in the end I didn't see much point so I made it a component. I will post it sooner or later. Nothing fancy. Just some recursive functions that grow branches. Nothing new either but it is new to me and I needed the practice to get back in the swing of things. I am just about ready to start animating some stuff. I am narrowing down my list of topics and trying to figure out what I want my first project to be.

I am completely sick of music at this point. There doesn't seem to be anything out there that can hold my attention for more than a couple days. I have been listening the soudtrack to Amelie of all things as well as listening to audio books.

I was going to post some video of Emma but I decided against it and taped everything we have so far onto video cassettes. I will be mailing one to AZ and one to CA. If you read this and you live in that state(and you are actually related to Emma) you will be receiving one some time next week.

I saw this about 4 months ago and I was going to post it then but as usual I got lazy. My keyboard died and I need one anyway so I guess the timing is good.

I was sick for most of last week. I still have a bit of a cough left. I didn't really do anything last week except go to the doctor's.

My computer ran for about a week and then it died again. I am using my friend's computer once again but it is slow and frustrating especially since mine was running so well. I am going to upload some pictures and video as well as finish some web stuff but then I think I am going to take some time away from the computer. At least until I buy a new one. Not really a big deal since I only blogged a handful this last month. I recommend you check back here once a week but at this point that is me being optimistic.

I do want to get some video of Emma up early in the month. Garrettrodriguez.com is expiring next month so I may as well use up all the bandwidth. I am not going to renew it so there will probably be some dead links popping up if you decide to read any of my archives.

I uploaded some more pictures to Flickr.

My blogging days aren't over I am just taking a break.

Last Sunday marked one year since I fell and tore up my knee. Read all about it here. This Sunday, today actually, is Emma's first birthday. Pretty unbelievable and exciting. Life has changed so much over the past year. All for the better but it wasn't always easy. I guess the good stuff never is. Emma and Shanna have been sick for a couple days now so it looks like her party is going to be moved to next week.

Work has sucked my will to write.

Honestly I just haven't felt like blogging anything lately. I launched a new blog, posted the first half of a story and then lost the impulse to write. If you haven't noticed I forced myself to write the second half of the battery story. It is amazing how easy it comes once you sit down and start.

I played a lot of Evil Genius this last week. I also resurrected Moonleaf my level 60 Hunter from World of Warcraft and hada good run with a friend. Then I managed to get some high end gear for him as well. I also go invited to the Auto Assault Beta so it may be a while til you hear from me. Back in the day I used to apply for every beta possible and never got it. I haven't applied for one in 2 years and this invite came out of the blue. Wierd.

I read a book on CSS and am working on a website for a school in Africa. I am halfway through The Life of Pi. It is good so far and you should all check it out. I am still part of the way through A Feast for Crows but I put it down to read Pi since I am borrowing that one. Once I finish the website and put down the games I will blog a bit more regular like. Or at least post some more pics. Or maybe finish the banners for the Lear to Draw site. Who knows? I don't think I will ever be finished. I am not spell checking or proof reading this. Too bad.

So I leave my car overnight at a gas station. The next morning I call my dad up and lucky for me he is able to shift a meeting and help out a son in need. We have my car towed to my parents' house. My dad loans me his car to use for a day or two while I have my alternator fixed. At this point everything seems fine. Things fall into place regarding the alternator and by the time I am off of work it is replaced.

The next day I put Emma in the car. My dad's car. It is making a really strange hum. I put my stuff in, sit down, turn the key, and.....NOTHING. Not a single click, hum, or buzz, and definitely not the roar of an engine. His car is D-E-A-D dead. At this point I am talking to myself. "You gotta be kidding me? What is going on here? This can't be happening." SMACK!!! That was me slapping myself to make sure I am awake. I check to make sure that I turned the lights off after returning home last night. They were turned off. I grab Emma and go back inside. I going over the people I need to call to notify that I am going to be late. I need to call my dad and tell him that I some how managed to drain his battery and offer to buy him a new one. I need to call my work and tell them that I won't be able to make it in until Shanna gets home. I need to call Shanna and tell her to come straight home because I can't meet her at work.

Turns out I need to remember to put the phone on the charger. I picked up the phone and dialed and the stupid thing just laughed at me. In actuality it beeped at me but at this point I couldn't tell the difference. I pretty much lost it. I made some sort of weird huffing elephant sounding noise and shoved the phone back on the charger. I ran upstairs and headed to the corner of the room in which if I stand on one foot just right with my one hand on my head and my butt hanging out a window I can get a single elusive bar of reception with my cell phone.

First I call my dad and let him know that I have killed his car. He laughs and reminds me that he and Harv had been working on the car window and had drained the battery operating it. When he went to charge the battery he couldn't because he couldn't find the charger. Of course he couldn't because I had it >:~(

In the end everything worked out ok but it was a long day. My parents even brought my car back in an attempt to trade cars but I had their key with me at work so they had to go back home in my car. I guess I learned that you should keep your phone charged and that the battery light doesn't actually mean battery. It means electrical system and when it comes on you really should look into it. Maybe someday I will be a car guy. Til then I will just have stories that aren't fun to live through but are good for a laugh when you post on the internet.

My brother's blog is down and he is in Kansas so he asked me to post this for him. I haven't read it yet and I need to run to work so here goes.

<>
Kansas Trip
Right now I'm in bed. Away from my beautiful pregnant wife, soon to be son and dog. I miss them. Let's see right about now we'd just be finishing up watching Grey's Anatomy and the four of us would be snuggled up on the couch. Fortunately the dog doesn't take up too much space.

Tonight I am in Hayes, Kansas. I had the opportunity to fly out to Denver on thursday where my Grandpa Don picked me up in the motorhome. We then drove four miles to Colby, Kansas and stayed in the Wal Mart parking lot. I haveto say that this thing is pretty comfortable. Not as comfotable as sleeping next to my wife and dog (sorry Grandpa, but I think that's the way it's suppposed to be). For being a 1990 ford motorhome with over 100,000 miles on it, this thing is really in comfy. I truly enjoy my grandpa's company and I think I can safely say that he enjoys mine. I can't imagine traveling in such tight quarters driving through the rolling plains of Kansas with a fellow you can't stand.

With good planning we were able to have a leisurely trip getting good sleep and not too pressured to drive long periods of time at a time. We met up with Tonne family who own Special T Hunting (www.specialthunting.com). Let me tell you these guys are great! If you're ever in Tipton, Kansas look them up. They raise their own birds and are just down right nice people with a strong work ethic. We shot a nice two rounds of their sporting clay course which is 100 shells apiece. Out of 100, I hit 50. Not bad considering the last time I shot a shotgun. I was fortuante enough to use my grandpa's Franchi Falconet 20 gauge double barrel with a modified and improved choke. "She's a real hunny of a gun," as they say. I really like the sporting clay course and it's something I'd love to continue in WA. Altough I felt like me shoulder had been punched 100 times in the same spot. All that was to prepare for the next day.

Today was the hunt. A late start and a breakfast of jalepeno bagel with cream cheese, pepperjack cheese wrapped in black forest ham and some medium pulp orange juice helped to give us the energy for a long day of hunting. Now I won't go into all the details, I think perhaps me grandpa could do that better, but it sure was fun. We hiked up the first rolling hill to where the birds were said to be and didn't have a flutter. But a few minutes later I had a pheseant rooster in my vest. Buena, my grandpa's sweet pointing lab chased up first bird of the day and it happened to be right out in front of me on the right side of the field. As I heard the bird cockle and the flapping of wings I instinctively brought my gun up to my shoulder. I quickly went thru my checklist in my mind as I arraned the bird in my sights. I made sure that the dog was out of the way, that my grandpa was safely off to my side and that there weren't any lawyers in the line of fire and flicked off the safety. First shot: miss! Time for a second shot and bang, whoop there was a bird falling out of the sky. Now Buena is a beautiful dog and it's her instinctive nature to retrieve. She chased the bird down and brought it to my feet, trotting back to me with such a proud grin on her face. She was proud, and she should be. She had just completed the task that had been past down in her dog genes for many generations.

So now what?! There's a bird at my feet and there's nothing left but for me to put it in my vest and pack it. This went on all day and may not sound like fun to some of you who, but it was. We had great success at first but managed to lose track of a bird across a fence while Buena was busy retrieving another shot bird. By late morning we had missed a few opportunities but stilled enjoyed the hike through the brisk Kansas rolling hills. We hitched a ride back to the motorhome with Larry and they served us lunch, a refreshing break from the hunt. With a renewed energy we set out in a new direction with new direction. We didn't get far. The first bird was spotted before we left the driveway and before we were even loaded. They held the dog back while I went in after it. Turns out we got two birds before we even really set foot in the field!!

Although our shooting accuracy steadily dropped as we went along it was amazing to see the dog work and we really had a great hunt. Did I mention yesterday was 60 degrees? Today was colder because of a storng wind, but it was very clear. We settled up and sincerely thanked our hosts for their warm hospitality and celebrated our success at Applebee's after driving an hour and a half from Tipton to Hayes. Tomorrow we head for Denver and then I catch a flight out to Seattle. I lto travel, I like to shoot and I love to spend time with my granpa. And while I can't wait to give my wife a big fat kiss and feel my little baby boy kick my hand through her tummy or feel boo's wet little tongue lick my nose, I'm having a great time pretending to be a cowboy, sleeping in an RV under the stars with his trust-worthy companion, noble dog and dependable shotgun updating his blog on his handheld treo cellphone pda.
< /gabe >

Here is my new blog. I am still going to keep Wildhog as my main blog but I figured this would be fun. Let me know if you want to contribute. It is going to be a multi user blog so I can set you up with permission to post pics if you like.

As far as the name goes. I am going to stick with Learn to Draw as the official name but I will be rotating names through so you can always suggest new ones to me. Once I have it up and running you will see what I mean.

Let me know how you like it.
Help me by posting pics or emailing them to me.
Help me by coming up with more names for the blog.

As promised here is my battery story:

It all started about 26 years ago. I had just finished a bottle and filled my pants. I was ready for a nap. No no no. That's my story. This is supposed to be about my battery. I am still in this story but it takes place a bit later.

Fast forward 25 years. Shanna and I go on a vacation with my family. When we get back we realize that my car door has been left open for the entire 3 days we were gone so I wasn't very surprised to find my battery pretty much dead. I went to my parents' house and told my dad, asking if I could borrow his battery charger. I still have it by they way and this little known tidbit of information will come into play later so remember it. My dad loans me his charger and tells me that it will get me to work a couple times but I should really buy a new battery. He insists on loaning me the money for a new battery. As many of you know we had a baby about a year ago. With babies come bliss. I mean bills. Huh, funny how that works. I gladly accepted my dad's money and then promptly used it to keep the lights on, keep the water running, or feed the new mouth. Charging the battery seemed to worked just fine.

About a month ago my car battery light started coming on once in a while. It would turn off so I pretty much just ignored it. After all, I knew I had a weak battery and I was just delaying the inevitable. Then one night my car died. All gauges went to zero. All the lights turned off including headlights. I left my car at work overnight and got a ride home. Shanna and I jumped my car the next morning and took it to get a new battery. This was on Thursday.

The battery guy told me that he put a new battery in the car but the light was still on so I should have my alternator looked at right away. I nodded. He pulled the keys back sensing that I was blowing him off. "I mean you should have it looked at as soon as possible." I nodded. "Today would be good." This guy wouldn't give up so I told him I would. I wouldn't. I knew that I would have to wait until some time next week because I needed to get paid first.

I continued to use my car the next couple days. Sure enough, after 10-20 minutes of driving my battery light would come on. Then it happened. I made it all the way to Tuesday night. Driving home at midnight my car died. Deader than last time. No power, no lights, no gauges. I decided I better get off of I-5. When I turned on my blinker my car turned off. I literally crested the offramp hill and coasted down into a parking spot at the nearest gas station. This parking job had to have been providence because I didn't even have brakes to stop myself. It was the best parking I have ever done and I didn't do it.

Don't hate me but I have some other stuff I need to work on so I will have to finish this tomorrow.

We had fun tonight at my parent's house. We went over for dinner with my family and some friends. The night ended with us talking about photo stuff. I'm not too big on it but I want to learn how to use Photoshop and Fireworks. When I we went home Shanna went straight to bed. I should have. I told her I would go to bead at midnight and right now I am 3 minutes late. I played around with a great photo of Gabe and Ashley's nephew Ethan. The result is the latest entry on my demo page. Just click anywhere on the photo. It may take a second to load and it probably won't run smooth on a dial up connection.

I only have room for a few more projects and then I will be forced to build a menu of some sort at which time I will add a preloader. Funny how I want I tell people I am a designer and yet for my own page I just jump right in and start showing stuff off. At least I have a site planned but it would be no fun to have to wait for it to be finished to show this stuff off.

Off to bed I go. My mind is racing and full of ideas for this and other projects. Flash is a dumb think to do before bed. I will probably just lay there for the next hour or two waiting for numbers, formulas, photos, and ideas to leak out of my ears so I can sleep. Hope they don't make a mess on my pillow.

P.S thanks to those of you who are checking my project page on a regular basis. I just checked my web stats and at least one person is hitting it everyday. I will try to post more often to it. Cool to know that I am actually using up some of my bandwidth.

Don't worry. I haven't thrown in the towel. Sit still and let me explain.

I am 26. Most of my peers that married are getting divorced. They are working on the final pages to the chapter in their lives that society has deemed the "starter marriage." Marriage isn't really sacred in our society anymore. This is tragic but not surprising considering what little is. "Self" is still considered sacred. That is the only real reason to get married anymore. A friend of mine always jokes: "think of the tax benefits." Too bad that is what most people are thinking of. Marriage has be reduced to nothing more than a financial agreement that benefits both parties. Think about it. You can sleep together, live together, buy a house, car, or even adopt a kid together but it is difficult if not impossible depending on your zip code to get benefits, insurance, and a couple of other financially beneficial things.

I don't think very many people go into marriage thinking this way. At least traditional male-female ones. Homosexual ones seem to either be about the above stuff or something to the tune of "we just want to announce are relationship to the public." There should be more to it than money and or public acknowledgement. Marriage isn't easy. Scientists believe that the "effects of love" only last 12-18 months. After that you have to work to maintain the relationship. Even with the best intentions it is easy to get caught up in the "me" of it. Most people say something like "marriage is all about sacrifice." It is and it isn't. That is a crappy slogan too unless you are pushing sports drinks or athlete shoes. No one puts self sacrifice on their daily To-Do List even though the world would be a nicer place if more of us did.

I have pretty much given up on playing video games. I still want to finish Psychonauts for Xbox but I have sold my PS2 and my Gamecube is collecting dust. I actually would have sold that too but oddly enough Shanna wants to keep it. I don't think of this as a sacrifice. To the outsider it may appear that my wife has me whipped and doesn't allow me to play. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have changed, not sacrificed anything. I would rather spend time with Shanna and Emma than playing games by myself. Sometimes I need "me" time and that is where the sacrifice starts to come in as I blogged earlier.

I had it pretty good as a bachelor. I didn't have to clean my room EVER. I had my own bed with my own blankets. I make a terrible sleeping partner since I snore and I like to sleep with blankets and pillows wrapped all around me not spread neatly and tucked in as Shanna prefers. I only had to do dishes when my dad came downstairs and got upset at the mess I made. I had my own bathroom and shower. My "rent" was about 20% of what it is now. I could stay up as late as I wanted, play games, watch movies, listen to music at anytime of the day. My only responsibility was to be at work on time. I filled the rest of the time in with as much sleeping, eating, playing, or "me" activities as I could. If I had taken the time to examine my previous life and look at where a wife, much less a wife and a daughter would fit in I would have seen that marriage wouldn't be for "me." If I wanted to maximize "me" time I should have told Shanna to hit the road and bought 12 pack of soda to keep me awake through an all night WoW binge. Getting married is probably the stupidest thing you can do if you want to live for yourself.

This is the sacrifice. Coming to realize and actually walk the walk that you aren't number one anymore. My greedy human nature tells me that if I find a plate Shanna left out I should leave one of mine or leave hers so she knows what I have to deal with. But I have found that picking up something she left out just because I am the one that found it or changing the roll of toilet paper even if it was empty when I got there encourages her to respond to me in the same way. I try to make myself the person I want to be married to. Sounds weird but say it to yourself until it makes sense. I think any marriage will work as long as both parties can remember that.

So I guess my marriage really isn't for me. I had good intentions going into it and I never meant for it to ever be totally about me but I know I used to put me first more than I do now. I have come to the conclusion that my marriage is for my girls. Mainly Shanna with a bit of Emma tossed in. I am already reaping the benefits so in the end I guess it is for me too. It's kind of like cooking. I can cook my favorite dish for myself and it is hard to beat. But the experience is much more enjoyable if I cook it for someone who enjoys it as much as I do. Hopefully they share some with me but if not things will be just fine.

If you ever hope to get married remember all this stuff. Don't let the idea of sacrifice scare you too much. The best way to live for yourself is to live for someone else. This is the best advice I can give you.


P.S.
I wrote this about 2 weeks ago and I meant to go through it a couple times and clean it up as I don't think all of the wording is quite right. My thoughts are pretty much all there just not as organized and as accessible as I'd like. I got home and wanted to post something but it has been a loooooong week so I am just giving this to you in its original form. No new or original stuff tonight. I will post about the long week later but for now just be warned: If you run on batteries stay far, far away from me.

Band name:Editors:Dumb name for a band
Song:Munich:Cool name for a song
Album:Back Room:Good name for an album

This is the best song I have heard lately. Almost like Interpol. People say She Wants Revenge has an Interpol sound. Listen. It doesn't.

Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's
Moon River is a song from Breakfast at Tiffany's
The newly released Anniversary of Breakfast at Tiffany's is Pink
As the name implies there is a breakfast at the famous Tiffany's Jewelry store

Thanks to Darren for submitting names for the smurfbite knock off site. I want more. Start coming up with artwork too. I have 5 drawings. How many do you have?

I added another project to my demo page. This one does involve Emma but even my Grandma Emmy should be able to look at it. It is a bit weird but I think it is cool. I'm not really finished with it. Eventually I want to draw her face by in lines and then fill in the color but this is a good start.

Click the demo link to the right to see it. I need to fix the size but for now it is fine. Check Boone's blog for the original photo.

This last Fall I fell in love with a site called smurfbite.com. Don't bother checking. It's gone. I plan on creating an offshoot. The beauty of this site is that you will be able to post. You won't have to wait for me to post your pics. I need help with a name so I am holding a contest. I have only two ideas for the name of the site so far.

More fun than a barrel of Monkeys.

Son of Smurfbite.

The first is obviously unoriginal. The second is cool but I am basically gonna rip some guy off in deed so I probably shouldn't rip him off in name as well even if imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Post your ideas or email them to me. At the end of the week I will either pick one or maybe hold a vote. Get your paint programs warmed up because this site is only going to be as cool as we make it.

With the addition of this final hint it should be a dead giveaway.

- It involves a trip to a jewelry store.

Good luck. She still doesn't know.

Yet...

I bought her a Valentine's Day present. It's just a small something. She is dying to figure out what it is. I told her Friday I would give her one hint per day and then give it to her on Tuesday. Here are the hints so far.

1. I am actually buying it for me but it is her gift. In other words it is something I want just as bad as her or more. ( It's not a bowling ball. )

2. It's pink.

3. It involves a river.

4. It could only have been made by a Tru Man.

Post your guesses via comment or email them to me. I'll give another hint tomorrow (Monday) and I'll post the answer on Tuesday. Shanna thanks you in advance for your help.

I didn't blog this week but I came up with topics everyday. Then I get home and do something else.

I played some WoW, Guild Wars, and even logged back onto City of Heroes for a night.

I read 2 books by Ravi Zacharias. Both were very good.

I watched Seven Samurai and Crash. Again both were very good.

I didn't actually do Flash stuff but I have updated my particles I just need to upload it. I did mess around with a lot of color stuff as I am trying to integrate it into my site someday.

And as usual I played with Emma a lot.

When I was a kid I would tuck my shirt it. A far cry from today although my shirt is tucked in right now. I was such a dork that I would tuck it into my underwear. No one told me this was the wrong way. I was simply told to tuck it in. One day in First Grade kids were making fun of the class nerd. Turned out he had his shirt tucked in like I did and his underwear was showing. I pulled my shirt out before anyone could notice I dressed like him and then I made fun of him too. Later at home I spent a long time in the bathroom tucking in my shirt different ways to figure out why it was so dumb. It took me a long time to figure out tucking it in beneath your pants and above your underwear is the right way. Sometimes I wish I could tell that kid I am sorry but he would probably just think I was crazy. Unless he is putting lipstick on his lips and writing my name on his "people to kill" list like in Happy Gilmore. Then he might take me off his list but I guess I'll never know.

I completed another update to the particles. I also replaced the link to the right so that it is my demo page.

Think of medium as a substance or atmosphere the particles are traveling through. The slider controls how much velocity they maintain as they travel.

Gravity should be evident to anyone living on Earth.

Bounce was originally called friction but I renamed it because it could be thought of as how much "bounce" each particle retains after hitting a wall. It is sort of the inverse of friction.

There is really a lot to play around with. Testing the mins and maxs seems to be the most interesting but you can make some cool things happen by playing around in between. Don't lose to much time with this though.

I think next up will be some blurring and so you can make a flame effect. Another idea I have is to change the color based on the location so your flames, smoke, waterfall... could go from color to color like red to orange to yellow. I still want to add some collisions and interactivity. Collisions could prove to be weird they all spawn from the same spot. Eventually I am gonna let you choose where they start as well.

I don't know about you but I am glad all that is over. I don't think I will ever do a serial blog again. Someone should point out that a blog is a sort of serial thing but whatever. I won't do that again unless I have written the entire idea and organized everything. Then I'll just break it up and post it in parts. It seemed like a good idea at the time since I wanted to post on the topic but I hadn't said all I wanted to say. Problem is... I go over these thoughts at work and then get home and don't want to type them up. I had moved on to much more interesting topics in my own mind but I didn't feel I could move the blog on without finishing the music stuff up. Thanks for bearing with me.

I updated the particle project. Now you can pick your color. Should be self explanatory but I do need to make an actual web page for this stuff since the labels aren't really legible. That will be happening soon. Till then you can just open the actual SWF file if you have trouble reading them.

I have been playing around with some Flash stuff. I am just making some particles that you can play with. Sooner or later this will turn into the new demo page. I built the sliders as components which I think is pretty cool and you can expect to see them in the future, especially if I want to give the user some control. Let me know what you think. I haven't finished with this yet I just figured I would show something I have been tinkering around with. If this is version 1.0 I am already on 1.2 but it isn't quite ready. I left zero as a possibility knowing that it should do nothing and wanting to test it. It isn't an error that you get strange results.

I should probably note that the first slider changes the size of the particles and the bottom one sets thier velocity. The next update will be more complete as long as I make it earlier in the evening.

Forgive the sloppy(non-existent)page layout. I hit publish, FTP'd, blogged, and went to bed. It is almost 4AM.

I'll finish up all the download ranting someday.

Music. This is a whole new can of worms. The music industry is killing itself. MTV, VH1, Top 40 radio stations all take big bucks to run. They all require big bucks to play your songs. This means that if you want to sell records you need money. This means you have to sell millions just to recoup your capital. Not a good business model. Artists such as TLC who are repeatedly in the Top 40 can count on going Platinum multiple time with each release so why do they go bankrupt. They spend way too much. Not just the artists but the labels as well. If you only put 10k-40k into an album you can turn a really good profit even if you only sell 50k albums. This can be done. People do it all the time but no one wants to give it air play if you aren't wiling to pay them. So now we have a music industry spending millions just to get us to pay them millions but they do this by releasing safe artists. Artists who have their songs written and recorded for them, lip sync their concerts, and release albums that are generally good for only one or two songs. WNow you increase the price of a CD to $18 and up. Well who would have imagined that people would start looking to steal the stuff. The answer it seems for some companies was to add security measures to CDs, some of which were illegal, but that is another blog. When you offer an inferior product, charge more money, and treat customers with dwindling respect it should come as no surprise when they look for alternate ways to get your product. It is almost like a music prohibition period.

I am a couple days late so I'll post two entries today.

Well... there are a couple interesting things to note. First, it is illegal to obtain and distribute this stuff. So where does it come from? You download peer to peer software. This allows me to connect straight to another person's computer and transfer files between us. This doesn't require a website or a place to host the file. Its just me and the other guy. This software isn't illegal partly because of the 1st amendment and partly because of the whole Betamax Vs. Universal and later MGM Vs. Grokster. The idea is that I use it to share stuff that I legally own such as pictures. This is what is cool about AllPeers and why it is legal. The strange thing here is that it is legal to have websites hosts tons and tons of files that instruct your Peer to Peer software where to connect to get what you want. Go to one of these sights, type in Peter Jackson's King Kong, download the file and open it with your software, connect, download, watch. This is legal because they don't actually infringe on copyrights. Some of the sites have even received Cease and Desists from major studios and companies. They post these letters on their sites and openly poke fun at them while pointing to the legal documents absolving them of any wrongdoing. So far they haven't been shut down. They are like VCRs. Sure you can use em to copy movies which is illegal but they aren't intended for that and the VCR companies can't be held reliable for what customers do with them. I guess that would be like trying to blame gun makers for violence. In fact the only way a company or site can be held liable is if they actively promote illegal copying so most of them just post a notice to the note of "These files are intended for backup purposes only. You must own the original file in order to download legally."

Games are the same way but less so. Most of those stolen games would have been rented or played I would imagine. I'll probably get back to games later.

I can't believe it has been a week since I posted. I thought I had just a couple days ago. I have been busy reading up on some interesting stuff which I will post on soon. I have been doing a lot of thinking, praying, reading, and thinking. Lots of weird stuff going on up in my noggin. Have no fear it is all good stuff. I lost all the weight I put on over the holidays. Now I need to get back on track with the continued weight loss. I am currently setting up some computers in my room. I will have 3 going :) I am a computer nerd. I play too much WoW but I am going to quit again soon. Too much time away from Flash isn't good for me. I made a particle system for my first foray into Flash 8. Cool stuff. I will show it off soon. More updates coming more often. I promise.

I am working on a post. So far I have 2 parts finished and I think I will wrap it up tomorrow. It should be 3 posts total.

I got Studio 8 1 day earlier than expected and it has been digging into my WoW time. Yeah I am back on but I may cancel this month since I don't have time for everything I want to do.

Ideas for my new site are starting to take shape. I hope to start sketching this weekend and maybe start building next week. If nothing else I will do some small projects that can then be built upon and added together to form one complete site. I don't want to overdo anything but I want to build a dynamic site that will be a bit different each time you log in yet still maintain functionality. The options are endless. I will be trashing my current projects page here shortly so go check it out and get your laughs in while you can. I already have one finished project that needs to be shared and I am expanding on it rapidly.

I watched Cinderella Man. I liked it. I read The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs. I liked it. Go read it.

This is the reason. I love the idea of a Peer to Peer browser! I don't know why someone hasn't come up with it before. This would be an ideal way for Gabe and I to pass files while we are working on them. Our most productive nights were spent chatting ideas over AIM and emailing or FTPing files. As you can imagine we both had at least 3 applications open just for transferring info. When you add in apps for viewing or editing these files we both had 6-10 apps running. Even with two moniters that can be a bit much. With AllPeer, or should I say Firefox, I could surf the web, view my family photos, share photos, transfer files, and keep trck of who is online with just one window plus tabs(a Firefox feature). NICE!
I promise to keep my Flickr pics up and I will probably even add some more sometime. But once my membership is up I plan on sticking stricly with this software to share pics, video, and audio. I hope you guys jump on board, I hope this is all it sounds cracked up to be, and I hope you guys have cool stuff for me to download.

In case you didn't know you can download Firefox from my page using the link to the right. The link is probably way at the bottom if you use IE. That browser doesn't seem to like my code and screws up my page. All the more reason to switch.