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Letters from an Artist

November, 2005

11-28-05
Thanksgiving has come and gone without an entry in my little blog. I've been here, faithfully logging more than my quota of pixel viewing time, I just haven't taken the time to write. Writing is entertainment, and sometimes therapy for me, depending on my mood. I've put 22 hours into a new client's web site over the last 2 weeks, and that has robbed me of the motivation to write here for pleasure...so I guess this is therapy?
   Over the Thanksgiving break I took back a brand new viewsonic CRT monitor that had wake up problems: waking up with half light, instead of bright. I took it back to http://www.infotechnow.com/ and they kindly exchanged it for a 17 inch flat screen CTL monitor. I continue to battle with my broadband home network. It breaks down about once a day. It's too complicated for this network challenged bonehead to debug, so I simply turn stuff on and off until it works again.
   My students are getting their finals this week. I don't have much left to teach them in this set of classes; now it's their turn to show me what they can do. I've blown out both arms with the constant gym climbing I've been doing after work. Fortunately, my gimpy knee is happy again so I can start pedaling for exercise.
     Tomorrow I have drawing, but I've taught them everything I know. I think we'll simply form squares and do figure drawings of each other. Those are always fun as we get to practice our blind contour skills. Now I need to break out my flash book and study animation. I've not been able to touch it for two weeks due to the paying web work.

11-20-05
Broadband has reached the Webster house! Eight years after first hearing about the possibility of a broadband connection, I finally got one. My phone company is running a 6 month special for DSL service at $20 a month. After that it goes up to $25, but that is still only 2 dollars more a month than I pay for dial up. It's not high speed broadband, only 256K, but they tell me that can be up to nine times faster than dial up.

   Getting it up and running was challenging. By following the instructions that came with the DSL modem, I was able to get my big computer online using the USB connection after a couple hours and about 5 operating system crashes. Unfortunately, using the USB connection created a problem: I wouldn't be able to share the connection to my laptop.

    The next day I tried to switch to the cat5 connection (standard network wire) but the computer couldn't see the modem. I learned some new tricks like: "start>run>cmd>ipconfig and ipconfig /all" to see what DOS thought of the whole business, but never got it working. Finally I called CenturyTel and spent an hour trying various things with a tired sounding young man who finally decided my problem was a bad network card.

   His parting suggestion was to try the same process with my laptop since it was several years newer. After I hung up I tried it on the laptop and it worked like a charm; clearly pointing toward a bad network card on my big computer. Feeling bold, I opened the brand new linksys 4 port router and tried to install that on my own. It wouldn't work. Each unit (DSL modem and router) has it's own control panel interface. Once I put the router between the working DSL modem and the laptop, I could no longer talk to the modem, only to the router. Supposedly the router interface could control both units through a series of dialog boxes, but I kept getting errors.

    I called linksys and after a short wait reached a friendly woman who spoke marginal English. When I described the problem she said there was a better wizard available for download from their web site that would fix my problem. I told her that I'd already tried the wizard on the install cd and it hadn't worked. "No, no," she said. "The wizard on our web site is much newer and better. Would you like to try it?" I sensed she was trying to avoid a long troubleshooting session by sending me to the wizard, but figured it was worth a try. She gave a special "head of the cue" phone number and an id number and I hung up to download the wizard.

    I found wizard file right away, downloaded it and ran it from my desktop. To my great surprise, it fixed all my problems immediately. Figuring I had nothing to loose, I plugged the big computer into the router, bad network card and all and it soared off onto the internet without a hitch. I've been up and running for 3 days now, and it's only crashed once. Rebooting both computers, the router and the modem got me online again. One of the best features of DSL, besides the speed is that we can use the phone normally now, the line carries both internet and voice at the same time. It also seems surprisingly robust. During some testing I've turned off or disconnected almost every device in the networked system, including the phone line itself and was pleased to see it come back online in minutes. I also ran the Windows XP networking wizard and was able to get the big computer inside the laptop to a shared folder, but not vice a versa.

    After a long dry spell I have a new web site customer. This client came to me by way of an old friend of mine from college. Guy and I went to web design college together back in 1999. We've stayed in touch as we've bounced around from job to job. He has a great job now with a cellular phone provider doing graphic and web work. He gave me this client because he no longer has time to do freelance work.

    The site is already up and running, the client just wants some content added on some new pages. I put about a dozen hours into it last week, working half a day on Saturday and a few hours during the week. After finishing 5 new pages I called him up for a walk through. It was fun listening to the silence and exclamations of pleasant surprise as he saw his words and pictures appear. Web Design can be fun work.

   Now it's Sunday and I've tried to focus on my animation book, but don' seem to have much energy for it. It's nine PM now and I still haven't rehearsed my lesson plan for tomorrow. Looks like I'll be up until 11 tonight. I don't really care for these geeky weekends, still, I guess it's the price one has to pay to make a living in high tech.

11-12-05
Being busy is usually a good thing, but this is getting bizarre. So much has gone on, and is coming up that I'm going to start with last Thursday when it began, (this is Saturday, 11PM).

Thursday:
I had a fairly busy day in class teaching my fireworks effect to my Flash class. The students usually like that one because it uses a bunch of new techniques, such as masks, fancy alpha gradients and motion guides. During the afternoon lab when I normally grade, I had two hard core students studiously working at their homework and asking just enough questions that I was unable to grade any of the 18 students who handed work in that morning. They were frustrated that Friday was veterans day: no school; and wanted to take advantage of my presence since we wouldn't have our normal Friday lab.
     I left a little early to go to my yearly allergy doctor appointment, expecting traffic in the heavy rain. When I got out of the car at the doctor's office, I saw something black at my feet under the car. Looking more closely, I saw it was a saturated wallet with a bunch of money stuck to the outside with a money clip. "Hot Damn!" I thought, free money! Maybe it will be hundred dollar bills, and I can call the guy up, tell him the money was gone...well, maybe not. Hey, we all can dream. I would never do that...I think. Anyway, I didn't have to make that judgment call because there was only 18 dollars. There were however a bakers dozen of credit cards including Visa, Mastercard and American Express. I crammed it all into my glove box, figuring I'd deal with it later, there was no way I was going to hand it over to security, those guys are all underpaid, they'd be more likely to steal it than I would.
     I had a good visit in the doctors office. I just go there now for maintenance. They've got my allergies and occasional asthma under such good control that I only call them once a year or so for antibiotics when I get a bad cold that goes into my lungs. The new doctor is very cute, hardly looks 22, but must be at least 30. She is Vietnamese, but speaks such perfect English she must be second generation American. Perfect bedside manners, and that's a rare thing. When I took my breathing test they told me I had 109 percent of the expected lung capacity for a man my age and weight. In other words, I'm in exceptionally good aerobic shape...at least my lung capacity...I'm not sure if that is directly related to fitness. At any rate, I've stopped the downward slide they had noticed over the last 3 years.
   When I got back to the car I picked though the wallet trying to find the guys phone number. According to his drivers license his name was Jeremy, and judging by a couple business cards and stuff he was a pharmaceutical salesman, but he didn't have a card of his own or a checkbook. It looked like he lived on debit and credit, with lots of punch cards for lattes' and salads. It felt weird pawing though someone's wallet, almost like I was intruding into his privacy.
    Finally I found a business card for another saleswoman that had a hand written Seattle phone number. I called it and asked,

"Do you know Jeremy M?"

"Ah, yes, I do, how did you get this number?" she asked.

"My name is Mark Webster, and I found his wallet. I'm trying to contact him to give it back and your card was in his wallet."

"Oh, I see," she said carefully, "Is this your number, the one on my caller id?"

"Yes," I said, "that's me, he can call me at that number." Just then, as I was talking on the cell phone I saw a guy walk around my bumper, looking agitatedly under my car. He came walking quickly down beside my door, glancing briefly at me as he went by. With a shock, I recognized him from his license photo.

"Hang on," I said, rolling down the window. He was walking away then, still peering under the cars. To his retreating back I said:

"Are you Jeremy?" He spun around quickly on the streaming wet pavement and said, quickly "Yes, I'm Jeremy".

"I think I just found him," I said into the cell phone and hung up.

To the man in the rain I said, "I found your wallet".

"Oh my god", he said, "an honest man."

"Well, you know, that karma, it comes back around" I said, handing over his soggy money, cards and receipts, which I'd strewn all over my car seat. "I guess this means I can't keep the ten spot," I said impishly.

"Man, I can't believe how lucky I am that you found it" he said, looking at me searchingly.

"This is your lucky day", I said, "I was tracking you down right as you walked by."

"Dude, you know what? I know this isn't much, in fact it's hardly anything, but it's all I have with me...as you can see, but I want you to have this. Don't even think about turning it down. It's just a token of my appreciation for being so honest," he said, and handed me the ten dollar bill. We shook hands and I drove away, feeling on top of the world. It's pretty cool helping someone out like that.
    I met Lisa at the gym 20 minutes later and we climbed for an hour and a half. She paid me a compliment, telling me that all her friends parents were fat and out of shape, and that I shouldn't try to compare myself to the fitness level of 20 year olds. I told her that I knew that was an impossible goal, but still it's nice to have something to aim for.
Friday:
    In the morning I spent 5 hours changing out Clint's alternator and battery. The rebuilt alternator had been dropped when it was opened up, with the result that the inside corner of the casting was "dog eared". It looked like a harmless dent until I tried to put the alternator on the engine and found that the drop had sprung the alternator frame. It was a full millimeter too large to slide into the already tight fitting on the engine. Clint needed the car to get to school and work Monday, there was no way we could wait 3 days for another alternator.
   Grimly I got out a metal file and honed down the aluminum frame of the brand new rebuilt alternator until it fit. Now, if the damn thing goes bad, and I have to return it, they could argue that I'd voided the warranty. I guess it's debatable, still, the quality of remanufactured parts is dismal, and has been for years. They farm that stuff out to the lowest bidder, usually off shore, and who can blame the poor underpaid blue collar slave for doing poor work considering what we pay them.
      At 2 when I wrapped up the car repairs I sat down at the laptop and studied Flash cartooning for 6 hours.
Saturday:
This morning I got up and researched monitors. Our 10 year old CTX monitor was showing weird fuzzy letters in blue, green and red at the edges of the screen. Nothing seemed to help it, even safe mode. It appears that flat screens are the way to go, if you have $300. I drove into town looking for an affordable glass (CRT) monitor by a manufacturer with a good reputation. I found nothing but trashy Hewlett Packard's and companies I'd never heard of. Stores have stopped selling a good selection of glass monitors, it's all pricey flat screens even though you get more value for the money in a glass monitor, especially if you need a small dot pitch, and a fast refresh rate.
   Finally I located a 17 inch Viewsonic flat screen with a dot pitch of .25mm in Federal Way at infotech.com. For $140 it looks like an excellent monitor. I'd have preferred larger, but I rarely work over there, preferring my laptop with it's ultra high resolution. The kids use it for homework, and for that it's perfect.
    After bringing home the monitor, I had a quick dinner before jumping back in the car to meet with a client in town about a web site. This is a new client, forwarded to me by a good friend from college. He's got such a good job now that he no longer has time to freelance. I have plenty of time for freelancing, and this could be a nice opportunity for me.
   Now it's midnight, and I'm thinking about tomorrow. I have to rehearse my lesson plan, and when I'm done with that I have to rehearse the script for a television show the college TV station is filming Monday afternoon. We'll be in the studio again (my third time) to film a one hour show featuring me creating a web page from scratch in Photoshop and Dreamweaver. It's actually a distillation of two 3 hour lectures. I'll have to cut our a lot of fat, and work at breakneck speed, but I think it's do-able.
     Tuesday and Thursday I have to volunteer at the gym. Oh, and I forgot about the 18 homework assignments I didn't grade last Thursday. Like I said, I'm so busy it's crazy.

11-5-05
One of my fellow instructors walked into the lunch room while I was adding creamer to my coffee. He and I used to work in the same print shop and I was pretty sure he was a coffee drinker, though I'd never seen him with a cup. He surprised me by saying he didn't drink coffee anymore and launched into a long story about how his mother had been warned by a doctor that coffee would worsen her diabetes symptoms.
   He and his father had decided to join her in quitting coffee together, sort of as a mutual support society. I asked him if he felt sleepy in the mornings without the coffee. He said, no, he didn't feel sleepy, and actually felt more alert all day because his body wasn't depending on the coffee for the jolts of adrenaline that caffeine causes. His actual words were: "Without the coffee, I feel more on an even keel throughout the day, instead of up and down."
    When I searched online for the "dangers of coffee" I found sites both for and against the evil brew, but this one had the most compelling information against drinking coffee. Here is a snippet of text from the site:

Most a.m. coffee drinkers don't realize it, but their morning cups of coffee set their bodies up for a rollercoaster day of highs and lows, only to bottom out at the point of exhaustion. Just a few hours after consumption, when the artificial high dies down, many people may reach for more coffee or something sugary to get another lift, leading to daily fluctuations in energy and alertness, and possibly to eventual chronic adrenal exhaustion

Too make a long story short, I quit cold turkey on Wednesday (this is Saturday morning) with mixed results. I was able to make it through my morning lecture, but my head felt as if it was full of cement. I was also a bit short on patience, though I don't think the students really noticed. I didn't get mad at anyone, but a couple of my whiners didn't get quite as much obsequious attention as they normally do.
    I really miss that morning buzz, but I think there is some truth to the talk about how you get that buzz from the adrenaline caffeine releases, and eventually the adrenaline becomes depleted, as your body can only stay in "fight or flight" mode for so long. This might explain why I get so tired around two pm and need that third or fourth cup of coffee.
    One thing I don't miss is all the impedimenta of a coffee habit:

  • carrying the cup in the car, or walking down the hall without spelling it
  • maintaining supplies of coffee, creamer and sugar at work and at home
  • rinsing my mouth out after each cup to keep my dentist happy
  • interrupting lectures to suck at my fix
  • remembering to carry my spill proof cup home from the office
  • trying not to spill it into my laptop, etc, etc.

I've made some progress in my study of cartoon animation. It's a big subject area, one that people spend their entire lives learning. In order to make any progress at it I need to devote large blocks of time to reading the books and working at the computer. This is difficult for a guy who likes to come home and turn off the computer and tv. Still, I've got to make the effort if I ever want to get my skills up to speed.

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"Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician."
- unknown