But hey, I AM still alive.

I have also crossed another milestome of Middle Aged Adulthood, last week I wrote a Tuition Deposit Check.

After also considering West Virginia Institute of Technology and City Tech on Brooklyn, it looks like Padawan Two is going to go to Buffalo State in the fall. They seem to have the strongest program, seem to place all their Mechanical Engineering Grads, and the school has a lot of interdisciplinary opportunities to enrich his education, including a fascinating set of courses on Creativity. Hell, I'd like to take that course! Buffalo is also a proper city these days, and not the depressed place it seemed to be in the 80s when I last passed through. So there's some city life to explore, which will be good for a young man.

It's also reasonably affordable, more or less, by today's standards. The boys grades are good but not stellar, so scholarship opportunities are kind of lean. What's a little annoying is that the scale of ATHLETIC scholarships seem to dwarf academic ones, and that's a drag. In the course of doing my homework and due diligence, I have become cranky and opinionated on the entire SUBJECT of college costs. School costs have spiked on the order of 600% in the past 30 years.

The other day, I posted THIS on that other... um... FiBby platform...


The numbers are positively terrifying. Kids are hitting the street with 150K in student loan dept. And I surely don't want that for the lad. To the best of My recollection, Pratt cost us about 20K (1976-1980), I had a clump of small scholarships, and I was a commuter. But at current pricing, I could not possibly send the boys to Pratt or any other pvt 4-year school.

Thoughtful columnists like Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Noam Chomsky have written some rather pointy articles on the implications of this for the future of the Nation.

"Public higher education has been the gateway to the middle class but that gate is shutting – just when income and wealth are more concentrated at the top than they’ve been since the 1920s, and when America needs the brainpower of its young people more than ever.

"This is nuts." — Robert Reich

Stop Starving Public Universities and Shrinking the Middle Class

It IS the end of the American Dream, as we're likely the LAST generation that had a better life than our parents. It certainly looks like 99 PERCENT (yes, that's a snark) of the generation after us is having a tougher time. My father was a Cab Driver and sent me to Pratt, a quite good 4-year private college. I could not POSSIBLY sent my guys to pratt as a Graphic Designer in the current economy.

In other news, we were down in WV last weekend to support Standing Bear's Wanjila Oyate Wacipi Spring Horse Pow Wow. Was a good time, if tiring. Picked up a pair of Yamaha A15 speaker for the PA, and they performed magnificently. But still TIRED after all the roadtripping.

Today was errands and house/yardwork.

Tomorrow another command performance in Brooklyn for Mother's Day. KrazyCrafter, her Mom, HER mother, and KC's Sister - my sister in law...  all moms. And I got tagged with the "Go out and get something for my mother." Well THANKS. I better get some serious husband points for this. Mother in law tends to just go buy what she likes, so is a bear to find anything clever or interesting for. Course if I screw it up, I can soak the blame. That's the sort of argument you cannot win, but just shut the frak UP and lose gracefully.

Adobe released Creative Suite 6... I've hardly gotten used to CS5.5. The upgrade is $375 for Design Premium, but they also released Creative Cloud, which is a cloud-based Subscription Service. I can do a year at $50/Month, or $600 for the year. Gives access to FAT rack of Adobe tools, but I've hardly time to explore the new features of CS5! And I'm still paying for the Mac Pro I bought to run it on. 

We're also thinking about an... exit plan. The costs of living in the NYC tristate region have been growing relentlessly steep. The two most painful rises have been the health plan - just ate another 30% increase and our property taxes, which have more than DOUBLED since we moved to Rockland County in 2001. And our income has been overall pretty flat since '06. I don't feel particularly picked on, since this is the case for most Americans and certainly just about everybody I know.

I did have a funny observation.. the keypad swipe machine in the supermarket pops up with: "Amount OK?" ... and you've a $275 grocery bill. Note that milk STILL costs more than gas 'round here. My first response is "FUCK, NO!" Lowe's seems to have clued on to to this, and theirs says "Correct Amount?" Which is a pure ACCOUNTING question, and does not require a value judgement or opinion...

Sill have to get the gutters repaired from the windstorm that took out our Internet, phone and TV a couple weeks ago. THAT was amusing.

Life has hardly been boring. But a little gorram downtime would not be received poorly, if you follow...

Banzai.



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

Taking a moment to from tax crunching to post this up,

I wrote an article for the Age of Limits section of the 2012 Wheel of the Year Calendar for Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuay and expanded it to a longer more fleshed out essay. With Apple and their "Chinese Connection" in the news, I thought examining a bit of the Big Picture was in order. Put it up at The Daily Kos, got decent feedback.




I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

Just a head's up and a hello. I AM SILL ALIVE, and even read journals from time to time.

Mostly been working my DONKEY off, and the 504 things that keep a family and home biz going. But some highlights — 

The monster catalog that has EATEN my professional life is on the horizon be being complete. Correction phase. And the company want to just fo an E-version of the full book, but a 48 page Sampler - but GOTCHA, the sampler will have NEW content too... Two forward one back. But in anticipation, lining up new work to keep the Studio humming. Gotta rack up those hours. Surprisingly, that indludes a "back from the dead" project that's been sitting since sometime in 2010. Brought a check to get his account in order. Well, all right then.

I am typing this at the moment surrounded by piles of... interesting documents - and dead mail destined for the recycle bin. I have been a bit remiss at the taxes this year - aforementioned professional preoccupations contributing.

Oh, we also have termites. Spotted a swarm coming from under the siding, and the front door frame Thursday. Had Terminix out here first thing on FRIDAY. You don't piss around with this shit. You just get the contract killers on the frakkin' case and write the gorram check.

Lost most of LAST weekend as a windstorm we had Friday morning took off one of the gutter drains. But the dipshit installers had attached our fiber-optic cable to it, and when it went down, took that out too. So there went our TV, Internet and Land Line phone. Spend too much of that weekend on hold with Verizon trying to get a tech out here. The fellow who came Monday was very friendly and apologetic and was like, "I got this." And true enough, gott'er dun', took him all of 45 min and we're re-wired. MUCH better.

Padawan Two is doing the college tours. Next weekend, taxes in order (with luck), we're headed out to University of Buffalo, then the Following Weekend, down to West Virgina, (the west half) to WV Institute of Technology. Zip across the state to Standing-Bear for the Sun Dance Meeting the next day. Then have to haul it back up that night. On Sunday, CUNY City Tech is having their Open House! Just strap a tank of coffee to the roof of the gorram car and we're good to go.  End of the month, we're headed BACK down for the MD Sheep and Wool Show and the Standing Bear Spring Pow Wow, where I'm doing sound for the singers. Woot. Happy Beltaine.

The Bathroom showers are proceeding slowly along between everything else we've got going. Got one done, and doesn't look half bad. Have the concrete backer board in place in the Master Bath shower, and ready to replace the tiles. As it turns out, with the Art thing, I am not half bad at this. Translation, "I don't utterly suck." But I can attest that the guys that do this professionally, and are good, earn it.

I also posted an essay on Apple, Sustainability and the Global Economy on TheDailyKos expanded from the article I wrote for this year's Four Quarters Wheel of the Year Calendar. Decent reception. I'll try to put up more on that later.

Anyway, things to do. Calls to make. Numbers to crunch. Coffee to mainline.

Banzai!

I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

Well... been an interesting week....

Was just the Lady's birthday Wednesday... Happy Day, Princess! Picked up an awesome NY Blackout cake at the always amazing Carousel Cakes. Got a bigger one than usual, was feeling indulgent, and won't go to waste with the locusts here. We're probably going to pick up new glasses tomorrow. Been a couple years and our old ones are falling apart. But the doc says we have pretty good eyes for our age. Will probably take the opportunity to take her to lunch.

I am seeing the top of the hill of a huge catalog project. Was about as big and as as much of a pain in the ass as I expected, but much more time consuming, not total hours, but linear calendar time, as I had to play tag team with the other projects in the studio. But will be happy when it's out of here and on press... nearly 300 pages. But I am happy to have the hours and pay some bills off.

In other news, on my way working towards my 4th Degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate, I earned my Deshi Title Wednesday night. That's one step below Sensei (Teacher) for those of you unfamiliar with the system. No hurry there, but they're both out there if I keep sweating.

Aside from the poliitical clown show out there, have been thinking about global issues for the past several years, helped a lot by the focus on the Age of Limits in the past six years of the Wheel of The Year Calendar for Four Quarters Interfaith Sanctuary. - also out to press – Yay! And I am fairly certain that there are big changes on the horizon for EVERYONE and EVERYTHING out there. The $3.79 gas that the Republican Candidate show has been busting on President Obama for is quite frankly BULLSHIT. How do you feel about $10.00 a gallon? Petroleum prices are only going one direction in the long run as it gets ever more costly to suck the stuff out of an increasingly stressed planet.

So the Lady surprised me with this one. As I approach the horizon of my retirement... what would I, given infinite freedom, like to DO about it. I am still thinking about. While there is a temptation to build a castle, deepen the moat and raise the drawbridge, that does not sit well with my temperament and spirituality. Since I have been writing about the subject for Four Quarters, I suppose one of my desires is to get more people clued in to the fact that we're living in a petri dish. The Earth being largely a closed system, with only meteorites, cosmic dust and sunlight coming in. It's not a model that we can base an infinite growth economic system on. The issues we're seeing, incessant war in Africa, dept crisis in Europe, income inequality in the USA, the stresses of globalism are all symptoms of a system under stress.

Very bluntly. Resource Depletion is real. Overpopulation is real. Peak Oil is real. Climate Change is real. Ocean acidification is real. Species erosion is real. Environmental degradation is real. Global overshoot is really, really real. All of it, all real, all connected. Native Americans and Indigenous people all over the world know – and have known forever that  all this stuff and everything else is all connected, and are on the same page as the scientific community about these issues. Mitaquye oyasin. Hechetu aloh. But be very aware that there are wealthy and powerful interests that are very invested in the status quo to sustain their wealth, power and influence, and are spending fortunes to convince us that none of it is happening. But the choices I see all the nations of the earth facing in our lifetimes, certainly that of our kids, is whether to we choose to change our lifestyles to more sustainable models, or have if forced upon us by massive crisis, unrest, and collapse.

A rather learned presentation at the well regarded TED Talks by Paul Gilding puts it more eloquently than I can. Check it - The Earth Is Full. What's interesting is that some of the comments clearly illustrate some of the context he points out, a HUGE amount of denial and wishful thinking and faith that our tech will rescue us.

Caught a mouse earlier this evening, had to cross him over. Sorry little brother, not your house, or cupboard.

Banzai. Yo.



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

 

Last week we suffered a brief power outage here in the lower Hudson Valley. Due to previous incidents, I have two UPS boxes – Uninterruptible Power Supplies – running the machines down in the Studio. When the lights went out for most of our town, the only thing running were the Studio’s Three Macs, external drives and the desk lamp. It was a Sunday Night, and after the boys and I shut down the machines and made the money safe, I took the family out to dinner in the next town – IHOP, nothing fancy –  to wait out the outage.

When I got back the power was restored, and I brought the Studio’s systems back up and online. We have three generations of Mac tower spanning a decade of Apple Tech. Workstation #1, a new Mac Pro - the shiny beast. Workstation #2, a still very capable Power Mac G5 in a neatly identical tower. Station #3 is an, ancient in computer years, a pampered Power Mac G4 Quicksilver machine. All seemed well and I got back to work, trying not to think about the tile repair in progress in two of the bathroom showers. But the next day, something seemed up with the G5. For no reason that I could figure out, the machine was hanging and freezing, apparently randomly. Well, that’s a raised eyebrow and a line in the forehead. But nothing too outrageous, log out and reboot often takes care of a lot if random wonkiness. Sometimes, cruft can accumulate in caches and temporary files and needs to be cleaned out.

Later.

Okay, repairing permissions and running maintenance scripts often takes care of more persistent system weirdness. After trying Cocktail, had to back off and run Disk First Aid from a system Disc.

Later

Still funky. Oh frakkin’ hell. What? Mind you, was annoyed, but not panicking. This was no longer the my primary machine. There were still a lot of work files on the G5 I needed access to, but there was a good backup from the night before on an external if the problem was more persistent. Oh wait, there’s a clue. About this Mac says I have 2 GB of Memory. Last I looked, I thought I had three. System Profiler says I have four 512 MB Ram Modules in the DIMMM slots. That’s not right. Two of those should be One GB modules. Sure enough, startup self-test reports a memory failure. Ah-HUH. Between freezes and restarts I try to suss out the bad stick. Tech Tool reports that the RAM is CAN see, the 2 GB is OK... despite freezes. The Rember memtest Utility does report a memory failure, but cant identify the bad stick. Frak, have to do this manually.

This involves powering down, disconnecting everything and pulling and swapping the RAM modules and rebooting the machine and testing the memory. If it behaves, the memory is good. When the errors show up... you’ve got the bad RAM. It usually takes a few back and fourths, tedious process, but reasonably straightforward.

SO. While I had the machine up on the desk and opened up... I decided it wouldn’t hurt to dust out the insides while, have to do that periodically anyway. But instead of rolling the chair over to the Mac Pro, I got lazy and did the long reach. And fumbled the can of air like a running back being chased down by the Green Bay Packers. It bounced across the Pro’s keyboard and I saw a key cap go flying. FRAK! I finished blowing out the G5, set it back up and left the memory test to run.

I hunted up the low profile key cap and examined the keyboard. Whoops, it’s the “W” key, use that sucker all the time. Best get that back on. Now unlike the spring affairs of taller keyboards, the low profile one use tiny... no, teeny tiny little scissor hinges, with even teenier pins where the key cap clips to... So set to the delicate job of resetting the key cap in place.

And it would not go in. I tried levering it on. Slipping one side into the retaining clps from the side... nothing doing. I am getting freaked out and frustrated, no way am I replacing a pricey Apple Extended Keyboard for a friggin’ KEY CAP. The memory test finishes, the modules are clean, and I set the weirdness aside and swap RAM sticks again...

When the machine is back in test mode again... I resume my exercise in frustration, with no better luck. I pull out my designers loupe and examine the keywell switch, the underside of the key cap for damage. Nothing seems amiss. I try tiny variations of angle and pressure, trying to find the right approach. Nothing.

Then one eye tracks up and to the left... there is the “W” key right where it belongs, on the second row, comfortably between the “Q” and “E” in its’ time-honored position in “QWERTY..”

I look at the key cap again with a rising sense of “DOH.”

It’s a frakkin’ “M.”

Blinking, I rotate the tiny square of plastic 180 degrees...

** CLICK **

Well. Hell.

But the cap is neatly seated, and the keyboard is working perfectly fine. And I got on with diagnosing the G5. I ended up pulling the two 1 GB sticks - it was one of those had gone bad after the power outage. I’d be able to isolate the specific bad one when I got a replacement to swap out. (Memory modules have to be installed in matching pairs) A couple of days later the G5 is back to three GB, and I have a spare 1 GB module left over - and one glitchy module to keep the hell out of the machine.

And here’e where the Design Geek has his moment.

For many years, Apple used an Italic version of the Univers typeface on it’s keyboards. Univers it similar to Helvetica, where the “M” is straight sided... and the “W” is wider at the top than the bottom. In their current keyboards, since 2007, they use VAG Rounded. In VAG Rounded, both the capital “W” and the “M” characters are slope-sided. So the “M” inverted is nearly identical to the “W”... of course I should have known better based on the POSITION of the missing key cap – which of course WAS the eventual tip-off.

The key cap only has retaining clips on one end of the key, attaching to one side of the nearly perfectly flat scissor mechanism's tiny plastic pins. I could have stood on the keyboard with the cap inverted and it would never have clicked in.

I can honestly claim the distraction of being preoccupied by my diagnostic efforts with the G5. But for frak’s sake, people – that was dumb as a bag of hammers. Deceived by my own designers, type obsessive eye...

For what it's worth, banzai...



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

I've expanded my comments about Religious Freedom and went up on Kos with it.
If you're interested...

"Stop me if you've ever heard the phrase, 'barefoot and pregnant.'

"If you're a politician pandering to the religious Right, you support such religious based restrictive legislation in direct violation of the first Amendment in return for their votes. You do this no matter common sense, the will of the vast majority, the health of the nation, or even whether or not you share their particular morality. You'll proudly proclaim that you do in the lofty name of religious 'freedom'."

Its over here:

About Religious "Freedom"... at The Daily Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/14/1064666/-About-Religious-Freedom-

Blessings to you!



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

There's been a lot of noise and thunder - mostly significant of nothing - about "religious freedom" in the mediasphere lately.

Seems I was just here the other day - I don't want to go off on a rant here, but ya'll made me do it. Got started on Facebook, and I'm going on here.

Here's a principle about how religious freedom is supposed to work. You create a framework of high personal religious liberty, with a progressive social structure, allowing each individual to choose for themselves whatever personal spiritual pathway that suits their convictions. You do NOT legislate specific restrictive religious doctrine and restrictions into the laws of the land for ALL citizens regardless of what faith they are, or whether or not they are religious persons.

But of course if your tradition is missionary or evangelical, apparently you do exactly that.

If you're religious or spiritual path conjoins you from doing this, that or the other... the approach is simple. Do not partake. No one commands that you do as some others may, or are permitted to do. Is your moral fiber so thin, so weak that it must be enforced by the press of the Law? If you have freedom, and individual liberty, you have the choice to disdain abortion, keep kosher, be abstinent except for procreation, face east to Pray, crawl into a sweat lodge... A person's relationship with the universe and the great mysteries is a damn personal thing and ought to be left that way.

So do your thing and I'll thank you to keep your finger out of my eye; and your nose, not to mention your Senators, the hell out of my bedroom. The payback of the First Amendment suggests that you be left alone to do your holy thing, but also requires you to allow others the same respect and courtesy. So many forget, and distort the intentions of the Founding Fathers to further their social or political ends. But ten of the original thirteen Colonies were a patchwork of different religious sects, the other three being two mercantile and one penal colony. To hold the fragile Republic together, the new Federal government, beyond overriding public safety and security considerations, pledged to leave the new States' affairs of worship the heck alone.

It was why a good chunk of the Colonial population (excepting slaves) bailed out of England and Europe in the first place, to escape religious persecution. Remember the whole point of the Pilgrims.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

If you oppose abortion, don't get pregnant, or have and love the child. If you oppose contraception, have children or don't have sex. If you oppose Sex Education... be willing to raise your grandchildren alongside your own children as they become teenage parents. But they'd probably be much better off actually HAVING some legitimate choices, and enough clear knowledge to make responsible informed ones about their sexual lives and health.

It's been pointed out to me that unwanted — pardon me — "accidental" children can be put up for adoption. But it still carries the flavor of an abdication of responsibility. One of the entire themes of Family Planning in the first place, is that every child be chosen and wanted. If you're really opposed to abortion as primary birth control, then you should be ALL IN for contraception. Access to contraception and Sex Education is the hands-down proven best way to reduce and even eliminate abortion, AND as an extra bonus, contain the spread of STDs including HIV! Sex Ed? I would have to say that sexual responsibility is a lot easier to practice when you know what you're doing. But the opponents of abortion, are surprisingly (or maybe not all that surprisingly) also opposed to contraception, and sex education.

Stop me if you've ever heard the phrase, "barefoot and pregnant."

If you're a politician pandering to the religious Right, you support such religious based restrictive legislation in direct violation of the first Amendment in return for their votes. You do this no matter common sense, the will of the vast majority, the health of the nation, or even wether or not you share their particular morality. You'll proclaim that you do in the lofty name of religious "freedom".

Especially if you're a hypocritical corporatist owned by the lobbies and corporate interests, and willing to pass the most regressive social legislation, in return for PAC money and continuing to vote power, privilege and relief of responsibility to the über-rich and the megacorps.

That's partly another rant, but these plutocrats appear for the most part to not much care about social issues so long as they get obedient, union and benefit free ever lower wage workers, tax breaks and subsidies, and exceptions from regulations designed to protect the people and the planet. Many of these people, as elites always have, take their wealth and power and elevated positions of privilege as license to do as they please. They will always have the wealth and influence to assure access to health care, contraception, abortions for their daughters, above the very laws they have crafted for their own benefit.


So attacking women's rights, and control over their reproductive health in the name of "religious freedom" is truly an abomination in my eyes, and clearly unholy. As for me I am a real fan of the First Amendment. Please leave me to fill my Pipe to pray to the Great Spirit, sing my songs, and do go to your worship as you see fit. And what my wife an I do to and with each other in the privacy of our bedroom, is none of your, or Congress's God da— ... blessed business.

Okay, rant off. Back to work.



[Expanded from a Facebook post and collected LJ comments ]



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

Nice that the Giants won the Super Bowl, again. That's cool. And... oh yes, they got a frakkin' <em>parade</em>. A full on march down the Canyon of Heroes under a deluge of ticker tape and confetti... well about that...

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but as they say, OH WELL...

I've been agitating lately for a parade here in NY for the Iraq vets. If the Giants ( the JERSEY Giants, mind you... ) get a parade, the vets sure as HELL deserve one. The vets want it. The people want it. NYC folk sho' NUFF want it. Just the Pentagon doesn't think it's a good idea. And of course Mayor Bloomberg, a real one percent-er sort of tightass, is definitely with the brass. The City Council wants to throw a parade. Come ON, your Honor.

And the argument the we're still fighting in Afghanistan is a bag o' bulls**t. When Allied forces prevailed in Europe vs the Nazis in WWII, we had a parade for VE-Day. The war was of course still raging in the Pacific. And months later we had ANOTHER parade for VJ-Day. So lets give a trip down the Canyon of Heroes for the Iraq vets and when we get our people back from Afghanistan, let's toss 'em ANOTHER ONE. Gods only know we'll likely to be in some other costly and dubious dust-up someplace else by then.

As the son of a veteran, the political horseshit just baffles and infuriates me. No matter what the politics that send our young men and women into harms way, they went, they served, they sacrificed terrifically for this Nation. They deserve our respect and gratitude, and we ought to show it, not kiss the Pentagons ass. St Louis had the right idea, a couple of citizens stepped up and made a bit of noise and the city got with the program and got behind them.

It's appropriate. It's proper. It's the right thing to do.

Rant for the day. Hmmm... might be a Kos post in this one.

Heh! till next — Banzai!




I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

I have taken the Studio Website dark today, January 18, 2012, for 24-hours to protest the U.S. anti-piracy laws - Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which would break the internet as we know it, give the US Government and the Entertainment Industry unprecedented censorship powers, and degrade the actual structure of the Internet, causing it to be less secure and stable.



As a small design studio, FRS depends on an open and unfettered internet for our very livelihood and joins Wikipedia, MoveOn, Reddit, BoingBoing, Mozilla, WordPress, TwitPic and the ICanHasCheezBurger network in this day of protest. Google, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr will not be joining the day of protest, however, all have expressed their stance against the bills.

Urge your elected representatives to oppose these bills
The Senate bill is S. 968 and the House bill is H.R. 3261.

Google has posted a petition and information page here: End Piracy, Not Liberty

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

There has been almost an utter media blackout of this legislative effort, and it's not s a surprise. The entertainment industry, the primary sponsor of these bills, OWNS most mainstream American news media, and therefore can control coverage of this issue. The only place where this is being talked about is ON THE INTERNET. So that's just a taste of what we might expect should these bills pass, and allow control of the internet to flow into the hands of the entertainment corporations.

Hello Congress? It's NOT okay any more to not have a clue how the internet works.

Isn't that a handsome fellow? If I am going to cultivate my inner leftist curmudgeon, I ought to do it with a little style, and some clever mucking about in Photoshop. And the movie is frakkin' brilliant, from a brilliant graphic novel. But should this legislation pass, my site, this journal, and anyone who liked the profile pic on FB could be SHUT DOWN, just for posting it, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS. Think about that when you want to give Newt Greenwich the Cheeseburger treatment.

Give a frak. I'll be back up tomorrow.

Banzai.



I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

If you've been scoping me on FB, you may have seen me bitching about the washing machine commenting on the authentic Shaolin Temple experience. Which consists of hand washing my karate uniform in the bathtub. But could be worse, could be a using a rock in freezing cold stream on the slopes of Wudang Mountain in Human Provence in Winter. Character-building to be sure, but now that we've had that experience...

That said, GE and the Warranty company came through with the check and yesterday Krazycrafter and I went shopping for a new washing machine. After doing, surprisingly exhausting online research and due diligence for startling little data, have come to realize a few things. Washing machines are not what they were in the 60's and 70's, nor are they the machines we, or our parents, grew up with.

One of the things we noticed is a trend toward Energy Star and HE (High Efficiency) featured Machines. In an effort to save both water and electricity these machines behave rather differently than their predecessors. They do seem to require people to change their clothes washing instincts and behaviors pretty radically. Subsequently, the reviews for machines even recommended by Consumer Reports seem to split right down the middle between Love and - not hate, but absolutely LOATHE them.

Another trend is that they are no longer build to last. Older machines lasted ten, fifteen, twenty five years. Modern machines are more complicated, have far more electronics, are less sturdy and built much more cheaply then their predecessors. Much of the parts and construction is outsourced. Much more plastic in place of metal parts. We're told that we should expect a service life of not much more than five years for a modern machine. Many of the comments in machine reviews reflect ire and dismay at the relative immediate self-destruction, swift failure, Dead-On-Arrival, or non-performance of their recent costly purchases. Moving parts, tricky features, finicky and fragile electronics, and cost saving corner cutting... apparently a bad combination. People's dismay and disappointment at once stout brands is palpable and runs like a bitter "j'accuse" through the interwebs. The people most particularly incensed seem to be those who have just replaced ancient faithful 20 year old or more Kennmore, Maytag and Whirlpool machines to be confronted with the SUCK of modern washing machines.

The brands with the best reps, and most costly, are LG and Samsung, both Asian brands. But on the other hand, we've NO long term stats fr them, since they weren't even on the scene 10 years ago. NO American has a 10 year old Samsung. LOL. GE in particular has fallen to the bottom of CR Brand Reliability ratings, with nearly 20% of ALL UNITS requiring major repair within 5 years of purchase. Like ours, dead after FOUR major service repairs over about 5 years. The design flaw of the spin cycle suspension had the thing shaking itself to self-destruction, and sounding like a freight train with the shits.

Never again. And maybe GE should pay some frakkin' taxes, too. Jus' sayin'. But in the larger picture, this adds to the modern cost of living in America, that's transferring the resources of the Middle class into the hands of the Corporation. When you have to replace every major appliances every five years instead of fifteen to twenty, it does add up.

Anyway, since there's hardly any point in an expensive high end front-loading machine with the bells and whistles... been there and f**k that. We ordered a mid-line CR Recommended Maytag MVWC400XW, easing out a similar Whirlpool. (By the way, Whirlpool bought Maytag) And yes, an Energy Star, HE, top loader, but with some commercial-quality (alleged) components. It seems to have a slight advantage in love over hate in it's class, and we'll see if the frakkin' thing works. At least a good deal at Lowes, with s 25%-off MLK weekend sale. As you can see, neither a particularly glam or exciting looking thing, by ya know.... As the Lady said to the sales drone who asked about what features we wanted, "I want it to wash clothes, and not break down." Like the lady said, just want it to frakkin' work.

Aside, the aforementioned sales drone got penalized for talking WAY too fast for us 'old-timers" and not using his "inside voice." We may have shopped at the larger Orangeburg location, but ORDERED it from the closer Clarkstown store from a calmer, more polite fellow. Bedside manner matters, kids.

We ended up enough ahead on the budget to pick up a nice (but cheap) area rug at Big Lots to replace our fraying and dying old Ikea one in the living room, and a box of chocolate mint cookies. Krazycrafer likes it a lot, and the cookies were a win, and making her smile is a big plus with me. The washer should arrive Wednesday.

And back to work, for the likes of me.

Moar Coffee plz.



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Hey, I'm not dead.

And I haven't thrown in the towel on journaling or blogging, even though I've updated the FRS blog WAY less than I've updated here despite the onslaught of Facebook and *cringe * Twitter. (I think I don't tweet much because I'm not a twit... sorry, too easy.)

No, I've just been OhMyFrakkingGods BUSY. Do have to pay for that Mac Pro and the other piles of debt we've accumulated the past year of the New Economy, and the Studio - thank the GODS - is booked solid. Huzzah! But on the other hand, prime blooggin' time is typically late night, and the past week once tasks are done, have been passing the frak OUT.

But prolly need the sleep, yo.

I promise, a more lenghty and imformative post real soon now.

B4NZ41!



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While my Lady complains that the time energy and resources to do a holiday card is wasted, it still pleases me to do them. It's a little perk of being a graphic designer.



The scene is from the WHUMPING we go during the "Halloween Surprise" storm.
it IS pretty, even is it was the natural disaster of the year for our area...

Happy Holidays out there!



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It may come as no surprise that I am on The Daily Kos. Even became a Kossack. Not that I believe that either side of the aisle is working for anyone but the 1% and themselves these days. but I just read a Kos diary that punched right through to some thoughts I was having...

It included this troubling bit...

"... But the demise of the Middle Class over the past 30 years has catapulted people who only 30 years ago thought that they had made it back into the ranks of the poor. That's no more tragic than the fate of those who never escaped it to begin with...but it IS cause, I feel, for all of us to stop for a moment and reevaluate our priorities.

If the census numbers just released get worse...if the trend towards greater poverty in this country increases...I don't care what your pet peeve or your pet issue is...this country is doomed. And the doom will be accompanied, eventually, by real violence. Because you can only corner a wounded animal so long before it lunges, in one last effort at survival, for your throat." — Keith930

The Growing Poverty Rate in America is Not an Issue. Really, it's Not. It's THE Issue.

Worth a read. Go there, I'll wait right here.

And this is what I had to say about that...

It's like it was pulled from my own brain...

... this diary is so spot-on. I can sum it up in a single sentence.

I used to be Middle Class.

I am still clinging to the career I entered in 1980. Used to be a proper living. Now if I was not self employed, I likely would NOT be. My skill set is larger than it ever was. My productivity is prodigious. But none the less, like most of my colleagues in Graphics and Design, what was a professional career has become the working poor.

And both my parents were working class kids of working class parents, and busted their asses to launch Me into a professional career path. And I got there. But the path seems to have arced over towards the ground.

And even shouldering more debt than I ever IMAGINED, I am still doing better than many of the people I know. Many of my family members, friends, clients and colleagues are struggling to stay afloat, some are hanging in there, many are sinking.

But this is the disturbing part. When we get flyers from places like Gander Mountain, Cabella, or Dicks Sporting Goods, I used to pass over the Gun section to check out the tents and hiking boots. After all, these were civilized times and not really that necessary or appropriate in a polite suburban life.

But now I pause. And I find myself looking them over with some care. Not at the well-mannered .22s either, I am looking at the rifles that can knock some desperate a**hole down.

We are entering tense times.



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Weirdly enough, coming up for air by being actually upstairs not on the big new Mac Pro but on the laptop. Therefore not working a the moment. But fer frakssake, it's Sunday people. Instead of being down in the Studio, going to try and actually get out and do holiday sort of things. Visiting Museum Village for their Holiday weekend event.

I AM rather liking the new Mac Pro. Tho' we'll be paying for it for prolly most of the next year. No iPad for ME this holiday. LOL. It has weirded out my perception of time for tasks. On the G5 some things too so long, and I knew when I could get up and stretch, hit the latrine, fetch coffee, get a sandwich (and eat it) while the beachball spins. With the Mac Pro, other than Disk Access (have a mirrored 1TB RAID 0), most things are like SNAP! BOOM! DONE! What else have you got for me boss? Yikes. Take some getting used to, and I'll recalibrate my working rhythms. But it's cool. I am having a kind of Phantom of the Opera scene bouncing from the G5 for the PM as I move projects back and forth. I also am liking the Magic (grrrrr, it's TECH not magic) Trackpad a lot better than the Magic Mouse, which disappears under my man-sized-hands, with too teeny a working surface to be useful. But sorry, Ghost of Steve Jobs, I am still WAY faster on my Wacom tablet, stylus not withstanding. But for the same reason I got a Mac Pro rather than an 27" iMac i7, I am a specialty market. I CREATE content, not just consume it.

Padawan 2 took the SAT yesterday and I THINK he is beginning to take the college process a little more seriously, but is not being as proactive as I would like. But if he' destined to be one of the 99%, I'd be happier if he's on a track to be in the top half of it. Tho' as they say, you never know what the future may bring. But the numbers are still daunting, and scholarship numbers are largely still what they were when I graduated at the beginning of the '80s.

In other craziness, we've started looking at communities well outside the tri-state region for bailing out from under our crushing property taxes. Krazyrafter has encouraged me to revisit Monster and the other job boards and consider a staff position - with actual benefit - just about anyplace. And she has a point. I will readily admit to being discouraged at job prospects for Art Directors and Graphic Designers back in 2002-2004. And seriously, the industry in the NYC region has NOT recovered from the 30% contraction post 9/11. The listings for Art Directors nationwide on Monster was shorter than the NY Times Classifieds circa 2000. And I am WAY too old to reboot my career as an frakkin' intern at 53... you know, wife, house, car, kids, the usual accouterments. It's... interesting. But just about anyplace other than here would be cheaper to live than here, except for NYC itself, Westchester, Nassau and perhaps the inner Washington Beltway, Beverly Hills, and Marin County, CA.

But as a freelancer, I could certainly work from anyplace with a roof over, electricity, and a high-speed internet connection.

LAUGH OF THE WEEK - One of the print projects I am working on is a 2012 Tax Guide for a legal accounting firm. I was forced to get a software upgrade and the new computer to work on this project. As is industry standard, I submit comps of the work in progress in PDF format, a standard and an effective workflow recognized throughout the publishing world. And none the less, the first round was printed out, hand corrected, scanned, and FAXED back to the agency. So while the client that forced me to drop a CHUNK of cash on their project, are content to work with stone knifes and bearskins for their end of the work. My agency contact thought that was funny, but since then, corrections and revisions have come back in emails, word Docs, and even a few - thank the gods - annotated PDFs.

And I haven't been on Facebook for DAYS... I work for a living. LOL.

I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

I'm also exploring a journal at Dreamwidth. http://samuraiartguy.dreamwidth.org

Well the day I was semi dreading did finally come to pass. I got a stack of files from a client for a major project that my copy of Indesign CS3 could not open. Got the little raised middle finger salute from Adobe, instructing me to upgrade my software. Of course almost two PAGES of incompatible plug-in's was a clue....



Thank you very much, Adobe.

Now of course that was the $1000 upgrade that pulled the trigger on a new $5000 machine. Of course the upgrade to Adobe CS5.5 doesn't run on Power PC Macs... so the rising tide of tech has closed over my pampered and still perfectly sound Power Mac G5 tower. Of course this was for a 2012 Tax Guide, so have to work on this NOW... not in the Spring, or summer... or when ever Apple updates the Mac Pro next. Need a new machine NOW. Got the stuff on Wednesday evening, and was at the Apple Store Friday Night, and stuck a crowbar into my retirement money.

We decided to go with a Xeon Mac Pro, instead of the perfectly capable i5 or i7 iMac - at under $2000. I want to be able to have that tower configuration, add Hard drives, perhaps a SSD Drive, RAM, swap in a better video Card. The only thing you can do with the iMac is add memory, and a stack of external devices. Did not get the base version, which is actually slower than the i7 iMac, but the base config of the midrange model 2 x 2.4 GHz Quad Core Xeon, and tucked in an additional 1TB Drive, and of course a display - Apple LED Cinema Display - $999. I didn't have the time to shop for a Non Glossy pro display, so I see if I can get used to this one. But I have mostly indirect lighting in the Studio. I've already configured the dual 1TB internal drives as a Mirrored RAID array, the choice of the frakkin' paranoid. With care, I expect I'll have this machine for a WHILE. Honestly, we'll worry about Thunderbolt gizmos down the road a piece, there are hardly any Thunderbolt devices out there yet, and I needed to work on this project MONDAY.

There are also rumory noises about Apple thinking about discontinuing the Mac Pro, so I may have one of the last of the breed. That would be freakin' surreal.. But Apple has certainly been overwhelmingly pursuing a consumer market with the iDevices and MacBooks, and pointedly neglecting the pro market and the Mac Pro the past few years.

But there are definite upsides. It's a freakin' BEAST. This machine snaps off stuff darn near INSTANTLY that I was accustomed to waiting for while the beachball spun, stretching my legs, going to the bathroom, getting a sandwich. Cool. Thought about buying used, but surprise, not too many of 'em out there. People hang on to these boxes, 'specially the more recent ones. And do have the added benefit of Applecare and Now I am Officially an Apple Business Customer, with a few cool perks. It was a little funny in the Apple Store, as none of the "blue shirts" seemed to have any IDEA what to make of or do with us, standing at the one lonely Mac pro on display in the store, in a sea of iPhones, iPads and MacBook Airs.... Some seemed scared of us, till one said "I'll get a blackshirt." Black Polo Shirt wearers are Business Specialist.... apparently we needed special handling, and a higher tech level Apple geek. So we spent a rather nice time interacting with a very pleasant grown-up who actually had expertise in print, design and graphics.

All in all, end of the shift it's all really quite shiny.

Trackpads are cool. Way more useful than the included dinky Magic Mouse that my man-hands have a hard time with. Takes a bit of getting used to, but compliments the Wacom tablet nicely. Will also be able to take the Tax Deduction for new Studio gear in 2011... helloooooo audit. Hm. May have to actually run depreciation on this one.

I am still a little annoyed with gorram Adobe, who since they ate Macromedia, enjoys a near-monopoly in software applications for Creative Pros. Essentially, you have to have the Adobe apps or you are not professionally relevant. Adobe knows it, and the cost of Creative Suite has spiraled up over the past few years. They have us by the friggin' BALLS.

But the machine is configured, deployed and working. It's frakkin' nice.

Shiny. Banzai.



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Well we were coming back from looking at my Medicine Sister's Lodge up near Port Jervis preparing for Next week's coming of age ceremony, and fell across a Lowes up near Chester. Scored one of their last electric chainsaws. Rockland, Westchester and north Jersey's Lowe's and Home Depots were picked bare. Picked up the wee beasite below.


This weekend's Big Damn Hero. Not all that shiny, but gorram useful.

Also took Krazycrafter out for a rare (and growing more so) dinner out at Outback Steak House. OMGods, MotherF**KING Protein! Let the boyz had to fend for themselves.

We spent most of yesterday afternoon and this afternoon on the cleanup. And I've got to admit, the chainsaw made a huge difference in reducing a chest high pile of broken tree to firewood and brush. And the boys were pretty good about kicking in in a good way. And yes' we're still a bit citified, and went with an electric. Needless to say, was VERY conscious of Cord Control, have nicked one more than once with the hedge clippers...



( Anyway, big shots of the cleanup, and a bonus  )

We had more to do today. Taking off the stuff threatening the roof, and then the big dead branches and one with the scary split so that tree-san will have a better chance to survive. THAT was interesting up 40ft on the extension ladder with the chainsaw going after the huge split branch. We're all lumberjacks and we're OKAY! But no chainsaw for uninsured Padawan One, we ARE the frakkin' 99 percent, hello. Not to mention my frackin' Health Plan just announced they're planning a 21-29% increase for April 1st. That's a whole 'NOTHER rant. *Brooklyn Salute* But we got done with all My bits still in proper places, even through Padawan One dislocated [and reset] his shoulder today mucking about with a rake(!?!). No power tools for HIM, firekeeper or not.

One last weird bit. The saw came with a little bottle of bar and chain oil. Thoughtful? No, not really. It was a 1/10th of a quart dinky airplane liquor bottle. About enough to get the oil reservoir wet on the bottom. Note manual. "IMPORTANT: Fill Oil Reservoir before use or severe damage to your saw may result." So I barged into our local Lowe's yesterday and shoved the dinky bottle in the face of the young man with the vest at the door... In my best klingon voice...

"MORE... Of THIS."

He was very helpful. But those guys must have had a LOOOONG week.



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I edited the Storm post with more pics, having taken a look in the next days light.



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[EDIT - Sunday Afternoon ] 2:15 AM. Was just up in the crawlspace, we took some hits and the house may be damaged. Crack in the ceiling and two doors don't close. Calling the insurance guy tomorrow. Looking at a roofing job this coming season. Sooner, if the roof is not sound.



( Moved the big pics under a cut. CLICKY for Big Pretty Devastation )

Tree bits crashing around us most of the day and up and down the street. Lots of trees hurt including the big sweetgum in the back. There is a tree leaning on the power lines down the street. Surprised we still have power. But had a bunch of blips all day.

Looking stuff over the next morning... the house didn't take any direct hits, but we've stuff leaning on us that has to go. We don't think that the roof has severe structural damage, didn't find any. But there was wet coming through most of the roofing nails from the snow pack. So if it's not sound for for the Winter, will have to do the roof NOW. And that would be a HUGE pain in the ass. May have to have a pro look at it—after some of this melts off.

I thought Sunday would be a HELL of a cleanup. But need more serious tools than we have on hand, and have to wait till some of this heavy wet white mess melts off. However the Town Supervisors here in Rockland have asked us to stay home while they organize the clean up. Does mean I'll have to skip the Sweat event up and Camp Epworth today and one of the NYC Witch's Balls where I was supposed to facilitate the Ancestral Drum Circle tonight. Halloween is going to be kind of subdued around these parts this year.

I can do that. Will of the gods. Just thankful that we've not a hole in the side of the house and no one injured.

Wopila. Mitaquye oyasin. And Blessed Samhain



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Home and back just in time for the remnants of TS Larry to piss all over us... all week. Maybe just in time for H Katia.

We are tired this week. Bone weary, but a good tired of having been outdoors on the land in good company. Aches in places I forgot about, but my ankle, while sore some days, held up well.

Stones Rising was a total blast, especially for missing last year due to my stumping about in a cast and cursing the one flight of stairs in our house for being the work of a malevolent evil force. So even though we have a garage full of wet gear from packing out in the rain on the last day, and the washing machine and dryer has been going all day, I am very pleased to have witnessed and helped raise another great Stone in the Circle.

Krazycrafter of course did not permit me near ropes, rollers, rigging, lift bars or cribbage as the ankle is still healing. But there was a request for a Ceremonial Prayer Drum for The Rising, and upon reflection, agreed to provide. So did journey down with The Impossible Practice Ceremony Drum and sought to make what ever noise the Spirits might permit. There was a drum, and me, but that was about it for experienced singers. So I realized I'd have to make some, on the spot. And so posted sessions, and invited whoever was willing, and prayed Spirit would provide. The people who stepped up to the drum, not having heard most of the Lakota material till that weekend, and the results of their willingness and some no little trust, exceeded my expectations in just about every way possible. I have heard in my exposure to ceremony to be a "hollow bone" as a passage for Spirit and prayer. But each time I actually experience it, it still blows me away, every time. It should come as no surprise that many translations for Wakan Tanka, translate as "Great Mystery."

I could not be more humbled or gratified. In less than a month, I went from one of the least experienced singers on Jimmy Roach's drum at Sun Dance, to leading a drum with complete novices. Gives a fellow a bit of perspective. I'm glad I try to pay attention. It was so good. The people sang so well, and embraced "one heart, one mind." in such a good way. No less than the people on the ropes, or the stone people working the rigging, the drummers and choir we shared the circle with. Waste aloh. Wakan aloh. Wopila, pilamaye. Like, word, Lakota Nation, represent! Hoka hey!

Of course, have to be back at work, and catching up with the never-ending list. But at least I am employed. Of course if I wasn't self-employed, in this economy – I probably wouldn't be at all. So gratitude for still-marketable skills. Stil, it would be nice if a certain prominent multi-national educational publisher PAID THEIR BILLS. I'd be a lot happier working on this years catalog, if I got paid for LAST YEAR'S. Jus' sayin'.

Last thought on camping for this post... A tent over ten years old, may have been a faithful shelter, but the fabric itself is hardly weathertight any more. So we just ordered a new 10x12 dome from Cabella's, a fairly reputable outfitter brand. (Was a toss up with a similar Eureka, but they had a nice sale this week ) So we'll see how that one works out next excursion.

Hechetu aloh.

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