On this Date...
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Winter Has Arrived!
It's February in Indiana and after the mostly mild January we've had, it was time for the snow to come*... and it did. There had been predictions that we would wake up yesterday with eight inches of snow already on the ground, but it was almost noon before we actually started seeing anything. It fell in big wet flakes that stuck to everything and by the time night came, Indianapolis was a winter wonderland.
These pictures were taken when I was on my way out the door to visit friends for dinner and cards - what better way to spend a cold snowy night, right? We enjoyed a delicious dinner courtesy of Bruce and then we played euchre and spades until the wee hours of the morning. Here's the group of the evening, Mark, Dwayne** and Bruce:
*I figure, if it's gonna be cold we might as well have some snow to show for it. It's usually about this time of year that I'm sick of the snow and ready for it to be gone, but we've had so little of it that it's actually a nice change of pace - especially when it's snow like this!
Here are a couple of pictures I took that show the snow on the trees in the courtyard of my apartment building:
**Dwayne was my partner for the evening and despite a slow start with the first game of euchre, we managed to win the rest of the games of the night. This picture was actually taken as they were trying to persuade me to play one more hand of spades, but it was already way past my bedtime and I needed to get home! Besides, isn't there some sort of wisdom about "know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away..."?!?
The evening topped off a really great day and the drive home on the snowy streets was perfect. I slept well and woke up to this view out my kitchen window:
Though I had work to catch up on today because of my play day yesterday, it worked out well as this is the kind of weather I enjoy watching from my window as I stay in my jammies all day!
Invisible Question Marks
Since I've started teaching Typography, I've gained a greater appreciation for type as an element of design and the written (and spoken) word as a form of art. I came upon this video that combines the two cleverly and even if you don't know anything about typography or care vary much to look at letters, I think the message contained in this short 2:45 clip is worth hearing (seeing):
Prompt: What's the Nicest Thing Anyone's Ever Done For You?
Wow... I haven't done one of these in ages!
I'm trying to post more regularly these days so I'm falling back on a tool I haven't used for more than a year - Imagination Prompt Generator. It's a great way to come up with an interesting topic to type about without needing something specific to say - kinda like creative writing assignments back in high school!
It's hard to pin down the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me - there have been a lot of nice things! I'm not even sure I could narrow it down to the nicest thing anyone's done for me this year... so I'm going to opt for the nicest thing anyone's done for me this week (bearing in mind that it's only Tuesday!)...
Jeremy started out as a friend of a friend who happens to know a lot about computers. I've got a laptop that I've had for a few years and it's still running just fine but it's not been running at it's peak for quite awhile, so he was recruited to help me out. Bear in mind, prior to his helping me with my laptop, our entire relationship was based on two short meals...
Anyway, Jeremy works nights so I went to his home a couple weeks ago at about 8:00 in the morning (after he had just finished working an overnight shift) - the plan was that he was going to install some memory and upgrade my operating system... we both figured it would be a couple of hours, tops. Plans changed though when he discovered that my laptop didn't have enough space to run an updated operating system... oh well, we could still back it up and install some memory, right? The memory was installed but when the laptop was restarted, it required a force shut down. What's more, when Jeremy tested the computer to see what might be the problem, we discovered it had a damaged hard drive. Fortunately, we figured all of this out by 8:00 - TWELVE HOURS LATER...
Fast forward two weeks and I've purchased a new hard drive. I went to Jeremy's again at 8:00 in the morning (after he had just finished working another overnight shift) with the goal that he would simply install a new hard drive and show me how to back up my laptop effectively. Again, a couple of hours... tops.
The hard drive swap was flawless and he removed the memory that was causing the forced shut downs (we were flying along) and he even upgraded the operating system (possible now that the hard drive was bigger)! We went to back the computer up and everything came to a screeching halt!
It seems the first time you back up a hard drive it takes a long time because it has to be partitioned. That didn't mean a lot to me except that we had time to go get lunch and come back - hopefully it would be done by the time we returned.
... it was 8:00 before I left his house - another TWELVE HOUR DAY!
Jeremy's work on my computer would have to qualify as the nicest thing anyone's done for me this week as he worked for hours with no sleep and few complaints - and the only thing he charged me was the cost of lunch (which he didn't even ask for!)... and in the end I have a more pimped-out laptop and a new friend. I totally got the sweet end of this deal!
Thanks, Jeremy!
I've Lost Everything!
... well ... not really everything!
I just lost most of my contacts (email, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) and emails from the last few years.
The upside is that I had the recent fortune of having my laptop's hard drive replaced and my operating system and software upgraded. I received an external hard drive for Christmas so I was able to back up most of my files and I have a lot of other files on my work computer. I even borrowed some cleaner and polished my laptop up! Overall, it was a good - if expensive and time-consuming - project.
If only I'd managed to back up my mailbox...
Now I have the exhausting task of replacing all the lost information that it took me much of the last three-plus years to gather. I know there will probably be plenty of information I won't have any way of recovering, but I'm confident that when I'm done I'll have a much more organized and thorough database to work from. However, if you're reading this, please feel free to shoot me an email so I can make sure I've got your info...
... and I'm backing up my mailbox daily right now...
The Book of Joe
I've actually been meaning to review this book for a few days now since I finished it on my flight to Florida last week... I just wanted to have the time to put into words what I thought about the book, but I realize the longer I wait the darker my memory becomes so I'd better put something down before I'm totally useless!
The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper was recommended to me and I read it without knowing anything about it - and I fell into it right away. It's the story of a small-town guy who makes it big when a novel about his hometown becomes a best seller and a subsequent movie is made. In the novel he scandalizes the town with a thinly-veiled retelling of their darkest secrets, and then he has to face those same people when he returns to be by his ailing father's bedside.
Anyone who wasn't on the top of the heap during high school will find something to relate to when they see their own experiences mirrored in Joe's resignation to being content with his social standing and the not-so-flattering aging of those who were popular lends a quiet vindication that life will trump in the end. It didn't help that the hero of the story was about my age and that he hailed from a town that placed sports at the pinnacle of achievement - a little bit of my story, too! The whole time I kept thinking I couldn't wait to get out of town... and at the same time I couldn't stop watching what was happening...
The writing style is alternately funny and somber and very present in the moment. There are a few clichés I could have done without, but I let Tropper take me where he wanted to and when I was done I was glad for the ride. Actually, I wonder if it's a little of the truth behind the clichés that made them so uncomfortable.
Some of the language is a little too honest for me to recommend it to everyone, but it's also the honesty (and humor) that made this such a compelling read. This book has romance, violence, sex and sports! If you're looking for a guilty pleasure, look no further... and let Jonathan Tropper take you to Bush Falls!
Two Years
It's been two years since I posted my first blog entry on this site!
Two years is a long time and a lot can happen in that time. As I look back over the last two years: I started out in Pennsylvania doing freelance work after having just lost my job as the Graphic Designer for a screenprinter... I took part in the Penn State Pride celebration, and more specifically, the Commitment Ceremony that generated so much controversy that spring... I moved to Indiana and worked on expanding my portfolio... I became a cyclist... I got involved with Indiana AIDSWalk and The Damien Center... I started teaching at The Art Institute...
Who knows what the next two years will bring? I look forward to the changes and challenges but also the continuing growth of my walk in Christ and the opportunities I'll have for teaching, illustrating/creating... and posting here...
Before I wrap up this entry and while I'm feeling all nostalgic, here's a picture that was taken on my most recent trip to Orlando:
Sarah is someone I met when I was with Camfel my first year - she and I trained together, spent our first semester touring in neighboring regions, and became great friends. When I was having a rough time during Thanksgiving, I went to Vermont and spent it with her... and when I was getting ready to leave Camfel (or so I thought), she was the one I wanted to do my last show with. When I found out she'd be at Disney World the same time I'd be in Orlando I couldn't pass up the chance to see her again and here we are... on her birthday... Happy Birthday, Sarah!
Okay, enough reminiscing... time to move forward again! ;-P
Planes, Trains (Busses) and Automobiles
So to follow up on the story I mentioned in my previous blog entry, let me tell you about my trip back from Florida this time. Have a seat, it's a long one...
I say "this time" because it seems like every time I travel now there's some sort of hiccup in the plan that causes some sort of challenge that turns routine into adventure. I don't know if it's the way of travel today or if I just have rotten luck with the flights I'm on - I guess I should just be grateful that I'm getting anywhere at all and that I'm able to walk away from the experience! That being said, here's how things went down on Monday:
I arrived at the airport about an hour and a half before my plane was scheduled to depart*. I got through the mess that is check-in and made my way through security and found myself at my gate with about an hour to spare, so I chatted on the phone a bit before I settled in with my iPod. They announced that our plane was running behind schedule and we would be boarding as soon as it arrived, emptied, and the flight crew had a chance to do their safety checks - but this shouldn't take long and we'd only be a few minutes behind schedule. Not really a big deal since I had over an hour layover to catch my next flight.
*This was earlier than anticipated, but lunch was quick and Steve and I both knew there was a chance I'd run into something unexpected as I made my way to my gate... if only I'd missed my flight...
They got through the process about as quickly as they'd predicted and I was soon on the plane next to Rick** - a hungover and exhausted guy from Alabama who would spend most of the flight snoring and amusing me with his southern politeness. Almost all of the passengers were on the plane when catering tried to enter to do a quick refreshment of the snack bar, and that's when things started to get interesting.
**Rick would be an entry by himself if he'd managed to stay awake. The brief conversation we had touched on drinking at the clubs, being a dad, and sleeping in airports. He had a thick southern drawl and his boarding pass listed three names - he was an interesting guy.
It seems the previous flight crew hadn't bothered to disengage the lock on the back door and when catering went to open it they ended up pulling the door apart and dislodging the emergency slide. The flight attendants went into a panic fearing that it might explode*** open and then we'd be in a "real situation" - maintenance was called and they spent a short time carefully pushing the still contained emergency slide back into the door and jerry-rigging it shut. This seemed to appease the flight crew and we took off - about 45 minutes late.
***Yes, "explode" was the word they threw around. At this point I should mention that the offending door was about three yards away from me and the only thing standing between me and the "explosion" was the arm of my chair. Small comfort...
The flight was uneventful after that (minus the potential explosion of the emergency slide), but the whole trip I was thinking about the fact that I would now have less than a half hour to get to my connecting flight. The last time I was in this situation, they locked the door early and I missed my flight and had to wait for the next one. We landed and, as expected, there wasn't a lot of time to spare. The shining moment in this situation was when the flight crew asked those who didn't have connecting flights to stay in their seats while the rest of us got off first - they did it! I've never actually seen this trick work before, but this generous group of passengers considered the good of the whole before the few minutes they'd save by getting off first. Nice.
As I was disembarking, I called Delta's Flight Information number to see if the weather had caused my next flight to be delayed and what gate I would need to get to quickly - the message I got was that my flight was cancelled. This didn't compute so I quickly ran to a gate agent who told me the same thing. Huh?!?
It seems there had been a problem with the plane we were scheduled to take and since it's evidently the only plane they had, they decided to stick the lot of us on a bus to get us to Indianapolis. What should have been a 40 minute flight turned into a two hour bus ride on icy roads as the snow and wind worked against us. On the bus I enjoyed a movie that featured cussing and nudity**** while I sat next to a guy who smelled of stale cigarettes and the guy in front of me reclined his seat so his head was laying in my lap.
****I was made aware of the movie when I could no longer hear the headphones that were in my ears because the volume of the movie was so loud. Evidently, it was set up for the hard-of-hearing - fortunately, that didn't deter those watching the movie from laughing extra loud to be heard over the sound. Boy, do I sound like a grandpa now!
I finally arrived to be greeted by Corey in my Jeep*****. I safely dropped him at home and then drove myself home and it was a little after midnight when I got here, but my bed was warm and I was glad to know the journey was over.
*****The "Automobiles" part of my trip!
I'm Baaaack!
Do you hear that?
It's the sound of angels singing because I'm back online in my apartment!
After almost three weeks of being without the internet in my apartment, I woke up this morning to try once more and I found a working router! I was able to listen to music from pandora while I did my quiet time. Of course, since I've been so long without a connection I didn't have time to wade through the emails that showed up in my inbox, but I've since gone through those and I'm a pretty happy camper*.
*about having the internet - not necessarily about the emails themselves. A person gets a lot of junk mail over the course of three weeks!
... and now I can start blogging more regularly again...
Remind me to tell you about the time I came back from Fort Lauderdale yesterday - that's a fun story...
Mom's Birthday Surprise
This weekend my mom celebrated her... um... she celebrated a big birthday. I didn't ask her if I could post her age so I'll refrain, but if you want to know just ask me*. Anyway, she celebrated a milestone birthday and to help her celebrate, I surprised her with a visit and a project that she and I had been talking about for a couple of years.
*Email, call, smoke signals - I'm happy to tell anyone how old she is, I just don't want to put it in digital stone! The only clue I can give you is that ten years ago we had a surprise 50th birthday party for her... I'm still trying to track down my pictures from that one!
My parents have a house just outside of Orlando that has taken a decidedly Disney direction. Different rooms of the house are themed after different aspects/movies of Disney (there's a Hundred Acre Woods room, a Dumbo room, etc.). The smaller bathroom just off the pool was painted ultramarine with the goal that this room would be the "Finding Nemo" bathroom - the only thing missing was Nemo... and the other characters from the movie.
Mom and I have been talking about this project but I wasn't getting to Florida very often and she was in the process of getting the room painted so there wasn't much of a rush, but eventually the prep was done and I've been in Florida a lot lately so it was time to take the plunge. My original plan was to do more than I did this weekend, but the style of these paintings was unlike anything I'd done before** and it took me longer to get the hang of it than I'd expected.
**Replicating the smooth shades of Pixar images in paint is harder than creating flat shapes and outlining them in black. I'm not a traditional painter so there was a learning curve involved, but then the texture of the walls presented another challenge - it looks good, but it reminds me of the brick walls I've had to paint on project sites. Tricky, but possible.
Still, he effort was successful and here are some pictures of the finished product:
This is a mirror-image of the painting that shows more of what the bathroom looks like - do you feel like you're under water?
Here's Mom with her birthday present. She was apprehensive when she saw how big the first sketches of Dory were, but I think she appreciated the finished product.
I'll be keeping photos in my portfolio - not only was this project a lot of fun to do, but I'd be glad to do it for others who would like to put a mural in their own homes... shoot me an email if you're interested!
Diary of an Adjunct Instructor
I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I'm currently working as an adjunct (read part-time without benefits) instructor at the Art Institute of Indianapolis. Well, a new quarter started up last week and this time I've been asked to teach two classes - that means I'm now at the Art Institute from 1:00 - 10:00pm every Thursday and I have the privilege of working with 46 students*! This quarter is the best so far as this is the first one when I have a solid (and complete) lesson plan put together before the quarter even began.
*It also means that every Friday morning for the next ten weeks I expect to be EXHAUSTED from being on my feet for eight hours and using so much energy in class - think retail when you're the only salesperson on the floor.
My first quarter teaching this class I was usually only one or two lesson plans ahead of the class (though I did have a loose idea of what was going on). At the end of that quarter, I had a much clearer view of what I was teaching** and a better idea of how much I wanted to teach... and to do things the way I wanted to I had to scrap my current plan and start over.
**Interestingly, I never took Typography when I was in college - though I did take a few weeks of it during high school - so the idea of what an entire class based around it would look like was beyond me. With my lack of experience and guidance, I ended up putting together a fun and extensive but shallow curriculum that was a broad overview of both Type I & II.
The second quarter I was still only one or two lesson plans ahead of the class, but this time I had additional resources to work from and one quarter of experience under my belt so I my expectations were a little more realistic. My class became suddenly a lot more work, but my students were leaving that much better prepared.
I guess I did alright if this quarter is any indication because I have two classes that are almost completely full and I'm working on acquiring a tutor to help. Because I finally have a strong curriculum to work from***, I'm able to spend more time tweaking things and making each lesson plan that much more solid. I think that by the end of this quarter I should have a strong program for any Typography I class to use... it feels like an accomplishment.
***I'm now more than just a couple weeks ahead of my students - it's amazing how much more confident I am knowing where my students are going and how to effectively gauge their progress.
I love my work and I love my students and I love the work we get to do together. This isn't the work I would have chosen for myself, but it has so many components to it that matter to me and I'm able to bring things to my classroom that make this a truly rewarding experience. Life can take a lot of unexpected turns, but when I look at where I am now, I know I'm blessed.
Thanks, God!