Feb

28

when to stop kicking that horse

Filed Under me so g33ky, tout le fromage | 1 Comment

My last post announced a project I’m working on— the quirky illustrated book of poetry aimed at the young and young at heart (to sound cliché about it). This means I need access to a scanner. We have a lovely all-in-one machine stationed in Neil’s office but it’s inconvenient for me to use. We have two single-purpose flatbed UMAX scanners that have been collecting dust on a shelf in the water heater cupboard. How to resurrect one of them…

I’m a smart cookie when it comes to getting shit to talk to other shit. I go into a rabid hyper-focus for driver/cables/device/network issues. Most of the time I can make the seemingly impossible work, and sometimes I dig around in the opensource community to get these things done. I spent the better part of this evening getting the compiled installers downloaded and installed and the scanners spluttering along, teasing me with potential. Then I installed VueScan— which is a commercial application with a long and positive track record for coaxing the zombie scanners of yesteryear into modern workstation compliance. Fortunately, Neil had purchased a professional license years ago and no longer used it. VueScan just works. I don’t have to worry about SANE or TWAIN or backend packages that are nearly impossible to track down. That’s the only thing about opensource that can drive me crazy— the scavenger hunt that some projects require to get what you need working.

Sometimes, the cost of chasing your tail and wasting your hours is better spent on a commercial application. At least in this case, we managed to dig out the license on an old archive on an unused computer. Now it’s just a shame I can’t get those couple of hours back…

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Feb

26

a foxy project afoot

Filed Under Writing, tout le fromage | Leave a Comment

The exact details of this project (first mentioned on Neil’s site) have changed a bit since the originally planned collaboration. The idea was for me to write humorous and quirky poems about foxes and the good mister would create pen and ink illustrations to go with each one. That idea was hot in June but shortly after the initial enthusiastic announcement, Neil and I both got busy on other work, leaving the foxes on a back burner. This week, I approached him discuss the future of the book.

There will still be a book of fox-related words and illustrations, but instead of the project involving two Dixons, I shall be the sole creator. This is very exciting and less terrifying that I thought. I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book in the inspired vein of Shel Silverstein— quirky illustrations and words with a broad age range appeal. I’ve been writing that sort of poetry for as long as I can remember. I think it’s about time I do something with it.

I’ll provide updates and previews here.

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Feb

23

in love all over again

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 4 Comments

I shall not pretend that this miraculous connection between our computers is only cerebrally enhancing— oh, no no no! Tonight I rediscovered The Hampster [sic] Dance.
BUT, proving there are more stars to the sky, I now have an additional instrument of torture:
Rainbow Dividers. Make sure you refresh your page for the FULL, HORRIBLE EFFECT.

It’s not the communication, the education, the ‘information superhighway’ of it all that I confess to loving the internet for tonight— it’s the hypnotic power of animated gifs and really, really annoying music. Hits me kind of like that Kylie Minogue song* from a few years ago. I think I’m still damaged from that one.
—

*“Can’t Get You Out of My Head”, which by the way, is even more awesome if you leave the Hampster [sic] window open at the same time… practice getting them synced.
Now I have to go put my head in the oven and play with sharp things.

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Feb

22

Henley bound

Filed Under photos, tout le fromage | 2 Comments

UPDATED: After uploading, I decided on a better crop for the photo originally in this post. Both photos are still on flickr.

I set off to meet with my friend Barry for a lunch date in Henley-on-Thames and though the day was cloudy covered in cloudy sauce, I took my camera and bucket full of optimism along. A few shots turned out and here’s one of them:

reLRPSv2-5933-1.jpg

An unused part of the Maidenhead train station, nearing midday.
See it larger on my flickr page.

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Feb

21

Sweet, cryptic spam

Filed Under irregular, tout le fromage | Leave a Comment

sweetspam

The above was spotted in the Akismet spam messages. I thought it was too good to delete without just a little love.
The screenshot is from my Twitter page (as you probably guessed).

Feb

18

he’s back: another illustration

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 5 Comments

Today was a bit of a brain-wreck, so instead of crawling into bed to sleep the day away (and that was immensely appealing) I cracked open the watercolours again.
Here’s what popped out:

hello?

See this larger on my flickr page.

Now, a break for dinner and then hopefully I can get buried in a manuscript I’m reviewing.

Watercolour, Acrylic, UNI pin Fine Line pens, pencil, on Moleskine sketchbook

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Feb

17

an experimental illustration

Filed Under regular, tout le fromage | 8 Comments

I don’t draw or paint nearly as much as I’d like or should. Yesterday I had the crazy idea to do both, but to use watercolours, which I feel I should inform you, scare the crap out of me.

an experimental illustration

I had no idea what I would draw or paint when I started. I just washed some colours onto the pages and then started with a pencil. This is the result. I think I like it.

Expect more and, hopefully, better.

Watercolour, Acrylic, UNI pin Fine Line pens, pencil, on Moleskine sketchbook

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Feb

16

just before his heart explodes

Filed Under conversations, regular | 7 Comments

I wander down to the home office at the end of the hall…

J - ‘So, with the new machine, how much coffee to water do you usually use?’

N - ‘Two scoops for five cups.’

I try to make imperceptible my expression of panic.

J - ‘OK.’

I pause and then calmly pad down to the kitchen, careful to not break into a run.

Moments later, Neil slips into the kitchen. Spots me spooning soaked coffee grounds out of the top of the machine. The machine continues to gurgle through its demanding task.

N - ‘How much did you put in?’

I giggle.

J - ‘One to one.’

N - ‘Oh, that’s fine. Just add more water.’

J - ‘I was already making twelve cups…’ *

–

*Additional funny bit: being unfamiliar with the new coffee maker, I was unaware that I had it set to ’slow filter’ which makes this stuff double strength. I could sell my coffee on street corners…

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