JanerBlog

Quote of the day, belated.

Last Sunday I had friends over for a post-Thanksgiving, Leftovers Potluck. As one couple was preparing to leave, the husband announced that his Very Pregnant Wife had to go home and 'gestate'.

Jokes For Nerds

So I've got houseguests coming next weekend, and I've started thinking about things like thoroughly cleaning the room they're going to stay in, and what sheets I'm going to use on the hideabed. Both of these guests are ex-Rennies and are big into Irish/Scottish history and culture, so I thought I'd use the cool plaid flannel sheets that Tish gave me a couple years ago.

And then I realized -- in an irony that only they'd appreciate -- the sheets are Campbell Plaid. 'Cause, you know, nothin' says 'hospitality' like Clan Campbell.

Long Strange Trip

Well.

After promising to post more frequently, I gave you an even longer radio silence than before. Fine blogger I've turned out to be.

Well, it's all been for good reason. There were holidays and dogs and lots of comic work, along with a bunch of other stuff I can't really talk about in fear of being dooced, but other than that, things are relatively okay.

For reasons I can't get into (see "dooced", above) I'll be changing jobs in the not-too-distant future. Some of y'all know the score already, and for those of you who don't, and want to know, well, I'll be holed up in the studio pretty frequently, so just give a call (John B. -- I got your message and it's taped to my desk; I'll be calling one of these crazy, crazy nights).

I'm treating this change as a crossroads rather than misfortune (Again, some of you have heard this already, so just kinda skim it if you're sick of it by now) and am trying to get as much of my life rearranged as possible before I actually make the transition. This could mean many things:

1) If I intend to stay in the tech sector, I'll probably have to either go back to school, or start over again at a position much lower-paying than my current salary and learn new skills on the job. The skills I have, while marketable, have become rather commonplace and are not typiclally the sole focus of a position any more (i.e., in addition to HTML/XML and Photoshop experience, you must also have SQL and/or Java and/or ASP and/or .NET and/or UNIX, none of which I have.) At this point, the question becomes: "Do I like the tech sector enough to either go back to school or start over in a relatively menial position?" The answer to this is probably yes, however, this leads us to choice #2:

2) If I'm going back to school anyway, do I want to go back for Tech, or something else? Currently, I've no "ideal" career in mind, at least not something I enjoy enough that I'd want to complete a master's degree in order to persue it. The obvious choice #1 is a Master's of Library Science -- I think I'd make a good librarian -- but there are only two accredited schools for an MLS in the state, and attendance at either would require a move cross-state. That's not an option, and there really are no lucrative positions in Library Sciences / Information Management without an MLS. So that's out.

Obvious choice #2 is teaching at a community college, but I need to make a certain level of income, and judging from the input of friends currently teaching at KVCC, that job won't swing it. Actually, that's not entirely true; let me rephrase: to achieve an acceptable monthly income, the amount of time and number of classes I'd have to teach at a community college level would be such that I'd have no time left over to do artwork, and I'd be so completely fried that I wouldn't want to create anyway, which is totally counterproductive to my lifestyle.

I'll probably see a career counselor at some point; I can get discounted tuition at WMU through Paul's job, and I'd ideally just take a couple classes to boost my skills rather than go pick up another degree. We shall see. This point segues nicely to #3:

3) Why can't I just make comics? This is an enormous point of frustration for me. The career I'm best at, that gives me most joy and in which I've got a de facto doctorate is the career that can't support me. While freelancing is technically an option, and having two freelancers in the same house is technically possible, it's not really financially feasible, at least not at this point in our lives. So, heigh ho, back to the workplace I go -- unless Pixar drives up a dumptruck full of money to secure the movie rights to Vögelein. There's always the possibility that I'll get approached by someone who wants to do a GN with me, someone trustworthy that can pay a rate that'd keep me afloat till I could find something new -- but again, that'd leave me with very little creative energy left to make my own work. It's a tradeoff I think I'd take, at least for a while -- I bet I could write the next Vögelein scripts while I was doing art for someone else, and that'd be a blessing -- but it'd have to be the right setup.

So there you go. Chances are good I won't find anything right away, and will need to spend a couple months either taking classes or doing intensive job hunting. While that's happening, I'll have a couple choices as to how I'm going to support myself: I could either go with my old fallback, the Kelly Temps (they've always, always come through in a pinch, and sometimes led to really great things) or try to round up enough commissions / freelance work to equal what I could make as a receptionist. We'll have to see.

Yeah. Lots of stuff to think about. I'm very, very glad I have Paul and Zoë right now, as well as wonderful friends like Cooper and Nora and Tish and Jen and JimO and Kat and Virus, all of whom have let me bend their ears. Good folks are good therapy. Thanks, everybody -- and thanks readers for your patience. I'm hoping I'll feel more talkative now that the initial shock has worn off.

Ride 'em, Cowboyhouse.

Yahoo to Team With Over 150 Newspapers

Sorry for the Radio Silence...

Hey, you guys.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, but things have been pretty darn busy of late. Work's requiring a lot of me, I had a library talk to finish, another five-page scene to grind out between now and the end of the month, the PDF to finish up for the beta readers, and assorted other running around. Hasn't been much downtime, and when there has been, it's mostly been spent on the couch, trying to work up the gumption to go tackle something else on the to-do list.

The Bridal Shower for my future sister-in-law went very well; mom worked herself silly the last few days and really turned her house upside-down for the occasion. She cooked some really amazing food and decorated the tables so well that the shower was a total hit. Amanda, her sister Stephanie and her mom all came and had a great time, and received some really awesome gifts (Chocolate Fountain! Rock!). Sister Jill and I ran around serving drinks and desserts, taking coats and purses, and generally keeping things moving. After everyone left, I ran a few additional errands and then did dishes for nearly two hours. It was all worth it, though. Amanda's such a wonderful woman, and we're absolutely thrilled to have her as part of our family. The good she's done for Tom is visible and amazing, and we're looking forward to eating holiday dinners with her for a very long time.

**

The dog's doing better. We've been keeping her in a separate room overnight and when we're gone, and it seems to be helping. On Tuesday we caught her in the act of chasing Basia, and we had a sit-down bad-dog talk with her. I did the "Collar Shake" that the Monks of New Skete advocate using as an attention-getter, and Paul and I both yelled at her and then refused to make eye-contact with her for about half an hour. She really got the hint, and has hardly looked at the cats since then. When we started interacting with her about an hour later, she was a little sheepish, but she perked right back up and hasn't been fearful, so it seems she gets that it's a correction and not just unexpected meanness. I don't want to get too physical with her, because it's obvious that others have done so rather cruelly in the past, but this really seemed to get through to her. I'm hoping it'll stick. In the meantime, the cats seem to be tolerating her much better over the last couple days, and everybody's all in the same room and interacting well.

**

What else? Hm. Thanksgiving's coming. Wednesday we're skipping Art Night because I have to bake pies and bread and make cranberry sauce. Woo! If all goes well, we may have a nice pie-swap with JimO and Kat after dinner with my folks. Then Paul goes off to Mid-Ohio, and I get to stay home, go feral, work on the comic, and eat stuffing leftovers. Here's hoping he doesn't come home to find me and Zoë under the dining-room table fighting over a legbone.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Apparrently, a "cat-sized hole" is also a "Zoë-sized hole". Swear to God, she can get through an 11" x 6" space in the baby-gate. We've shimmed the doorframe so it's now an 11" x 5" hole, and we still think she can get through. Any narrower and the cats probably can't get through.

Hmm.

No plan survives first contact with the enemy...

Okay, so we've had our first dog trouble. Minor and expected, yes, but still bothersome. Zoë is, unsurprisingly, chasing Basia the Girl-Cat. What's odd here is that she was living peacefully with the cats for five full days before she started this behavior; we came home last night and found Basia crouched behind the furnace, tail like a bottlebrush and completely freaked out. What we think is going on is that the cats get ignored until they start moving fast, and then they get interesting. Brodie is so old and creaky that he pretty much never moves fast. Basia, on the other hand is still full of spunk (and piss and vinegar, too) and can go pretty fast when she tries. We figure she darted past Zoë, who thought she was playing, and gave chase. She does fine when we're there to supervise, but apparrently when we leave, any behavior is fair game

We're hoping that we can break her of this habit; I'd prefer not to crate the dog. I know it's not inhumane, and that some dogs actually like being in a surrogate den, but for whatever reasons I'd prefer to just have them all get along and not have to worry about penning the dog in while we're gone.

Zoë is also raiding the catfood. Also totally expected -- this we solved by getting a baby gate for the laundry room and cutting a cat-sized hole in it. Most people just put the catfood on the dryer, but Brodie can hardly make it up to the couch, so we had to find an alternate solution.

Humph. I hope we can get Zoë better acclimated to the rules of the house, and soon; cat-chasing is pretty much the only thing that could force us to give her up. Before anybody freaks out, we got her from a no-kill shelter, and the woman who adopted her out to us emphatically told us that if she didn't work out, we were to bring her back and that she'd happily find Zoë a new home -- she said she's done it many times before. Sending her back is an absolute last last resort, but we have it as an option.

We really want to make this work. It's easy to see that Zoë is an outstanding dog; we just have to get her trained up.

Also, she's got her first vet date tomorrow for a checkup, Rabies vaccination and hopefully some antibiotics. She came to us with a leaky nose; we figured she just had a bit of a cold from the kennels she's been in for the last couple months, but it's gotten worse. She was so full of energy and vigor that we didn't think it was a real problem, but now she's got an earache; she whines when you touch one ear, and keeps leaning her head to one side like she hopes the hurt will leak out. I hope we can get that cleared up in a hurry.

DogBlog

I know what everyone wants.

DOG PICTURES!

Meet Zoë. It's been a little early to blog about her until this point. She's been opening up like a flower around us. When we first got her home she was very very wary of everything, including us. She ha d an odd way of showing it though: she'd stand stock still and let you do whatever you wanted to her.

Slowly, over the last three days, she's gotten much more relaxed around us, and now greets us at the door as one solid wiggle. Her back is so long that when she does that labrador full-body wag, she looks like a furry sine wave.

Goodness knows what breeds she is. The only thing I'm fairly certain of is yellow lab... check out that big otter tail -- it's at least a third of her hip width:

The cats are still understandably leery, though they're warming up too. Look, no one's even hissing this time:

At the moment, she's still pretty reserved. She doesn't have any commands -- none at all -- but she walks okay on a leash and came with an extra special bonus prize: housebreaking. No accidents whatsoever, at least so far. We've finally got her eating kibble -- thanks to Sol's mom who suggested mixing cornflakes in with her food to make it more appealing. It totally worked!

That's all for now. It's late. Say goodnight, Zoë.

Holy Crap.

Rumsfeld. Buh. Whoa.

Post-Election Glow

Not gonna gloat. Nope.

But I am really, really happy to see Santorum gone, and Granholm back in charge. LIke, kermit-arms happy.

And Blackwell's gone from neighbor-state Ohio, and it looks as though Virginians had the sense to boot George "Macaca" Allen. On the other hand, I'll definitely miss Lincoln Chaffee. I'm wondering if we could trade him in for someone. Orrin Hatch, maybe? Hell, most days I'd trade Linc for Ted Kennedy. I'd definitely trade him for Debbie Stabenow. There are a few races that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, like Ford's in Tennessee, but this election was way more than baby steps.

And Nancy Pelosi? Two heartbeats away from the presidency. Welcome, Madame Speaker.

I am giddy with the possiblities, but I will reserve judgement for the first two years. These new folks will have to prove themselves; just because they're Democrats doesn't give them a free ride in my book. They better lead, and lead well, because the hope -- and frankly, the reputation -- of our country rests squarely on their shoulders.

Get to steppin', Congress.

Ooog.

I made a nice pilaf-from-a-box last night and augmented it with some leftovers; some decrepit mushrooms, a chicken breast and half an onion. It were tasty.

Twenty minutes later I was barfing up everything north of my toenails. Since I was ten, I've thrown up five times. Four of them were last night. I'm pretty sure it was the mushrooms.

For fun on a Sunday night, I really can't recommend this. I am feeling much better this morning, though. Lots of fluids; gatorade and vernors and water and juice.

I also need to apologise to my beta readers; I got really close, but since I spent the last four hours of Sunday night fetal on the couch, I didn't get the preview PDF done.

Sometime this week, I promise.

Shelter Humor

So while we were at the shelter, the owner referred to Zoë's obnoxiously energetic cellmates as "Jack Russell Terrorists".

Cute Overload

So, um.

Yeah.

Her name is Zoë.

We pick her up on Tuesday.

She's a Heinz 57 purebred mutt, picked up as a stray in Jackson, and thanks to the nice folks at Battle Creek Animal Shelter, is not being experimented on by researchers. She looks like a fusion of a yellow lab and a corgi: Corgi body and huuuuuge radar-dish bat ears that perk up and then flop over at the tips; coarse retriever coat with washed-out pembroke corgi markings. Appears to be about 3 or 4 years old, fully grown, ~30 lbs. Has obviously had puppies, judging from her huge tootsie-roll nipples. She's getting over some "hot spots" on her back, but she's mostly okay. Will probably need housebreaking and basic commands, but we think she'll be a quick study. After we've had her for a few weeks we'll have her spayed and shotted and dewclaws removed.

Totally sedate, very quiet, let us pet her eyes, and belly, and gently pull on her ears, feet, and tail. No mouthing, nipping, biting or barking. No cat-chasing, either: we think she'll be a good fit for our poor old arthritic kitties, who don't move too fast. Since the shelter's a no-kill facility, they can't take in any critters that aren't highly adoptable; they have no other way to get rid of them. The rescue people described her as "bulletproof" -- she's been hanging out with the owner's three-year-old, and with the local adult home / special ed kids, who've been manhandling and overpetting her for three weeks with no problems.

A fitting name for a rescued dog -- "Zoë" means "life" in Greek.