My van has returned to me!

A couple days ago, I got my van back. It was at a friend's house being repaired. He took his time, too. Oh well. I have it back now so I can drive it. Uh, after I get plates, tabs, and insurance that is. I can also probably start on my project soon.

I am going to paint some custom graphics on the side of the van. I have the design ready. Now I just need the paints and other stuff.

To see what the graphics look like that I'm going to use, just go to my website. Go to the themes page and look at the first wallpaper. I think it's the first one. It's the ogre. That's the image I'm going to put on the van. I'm also going to do some other detailing work on various spots on the van, but I don't know what yet.

Another Day, Another Dollar. And paying off the TV!

Well, after two years, I finally own my big screen TV. It's a 61 inch Toshiba projection tv. It's really nice. I made my last payment a couple days ago. It feels nice to own stuff you were renting for a long time. My brother just started his own rental agreement for a laptop computer. It's really nice. It blows my computers out of the water!

Today at work was very sad. I didn't bring in very much money. But my tips were pretty good for the night. At least I had my laptop there playing tunes through my stereo.

What I really want to buy now are a couple of digital cameras. I want some older Sony cameras. They're like DCR something-or-others. They record on Digital 8 film. That's what I want. I want to buy two of them so I can make my movies. Right now all I have is a standard VHS camera, and my brother has an 8mm camera.

Anyway, I can't think of what else I was going to write. So good night.

Productivity?

Well, it was almost another sunday shot to hell. Except that I've been doing some serious redesigning of a portion of the website. Duh, it's njmstudios.com. That's if you're not accessing the blog from my site.
 
The "BeardofPants versus pc_builder" comic is getting it's own spot on the top menu in the site. Plus it's being set up to look more like a regular webcomic. In page layout that is. Complete with previous and next buttons, etc. The "BoP vs. pcb" comic is going to go to weekly updates, too. That's definitely a commitment I'm unsure of being able to handle. But I'll give it my best shot. The new weekly strips will continue throughout the summer at least. It may go longer on weekly updates. But it really depends on how fast I can come up with ideas and draw them.
 
I'm also planning on using a similar layout when I start my new webcomic. I'm thinking of waiting until January 2005 to start the new comic. I currently have over 20 "issues" scripted. I want to do 52, so I can do a whole year of weekly strips. By January I should have the first 52 done. That way I can start with that comic and updating it once a week. That will give me plenty of time to work on year two, three, etc. The new comic will also have it's own entry on the main menu at the top of the site.
 
And when I refer to "the site" I mean the "NJM Studios" section. Not the "DuckMadeFilms" or "Fandango In Fargo" sections.

Farewell for a friend.

Tuesday, July 13, 1:00 AM.
It is a day that, thanks to this blog, will live in my memory eternally. It was on this day that I lost a trusty companion. Now before anyone starts getting all weepy and sympathetic for me... realize, I'm not talking about a living being.

It was on this day that I lost my cab. My "trusty companion", I had her from cab inception to retirement. And what a bitter way to go... not gracefully for merely being old, but harshly, with the equivalent of a mild stroke.

Her engine blew. Not entirely. Just one cylinder. But it was the mechanic's decision to retire rather than repair. As many miles as "#35" had, it wasn't worth the cost of a new engine. (And by new I mean used.)

Number 35 had many small problems. The cd player didn't work. The side mirrors couldn't be adjusted electronically. The traction control and abs were out. Etc. To me they weren't problems. No. That was personality. Out of all the cabs in the fleet, #35 was my favorite.

And I treated my car lovingly. It's understandable that the engine blew. After 257,000 miles, we were hoping she'd just make it to the end of summer. Then she'd get a peaceful retirement.

On a side note. I don't know what it is with our propensity to refer to inanimate objects (cars, boats, houses, etc.) as "she". I would've refrained, except calling my cab "it" just didn't feel right.

Anyway, back to mileage. It is quite a feat that #35 made it to 257,000 miles. These days, our cabs (of the company I work for) don't even make it to 200,000 miles. The other drivers are just too hard on them. By the time they hit 200,000, their cabs are nothing more than rolling piles of junk.

Everything was looking up for my cab, too. The mechanic had only recently put in a new compressor for the A/C. And he replaced the front components of the engine so it ran smoother. Number 35 was driving like a new cab again, and one blown cylinder sent her right to the scrap heap.

Boring days off.

I spent thursday doing pretty much nothing. I was online looking for free mmorpg's to play. When you look for the free ones, that pretty much limits you to 2d style games. I found a couple 3d ones, but haven't tried them yet. That's because I tried Runescape for the first time, and after a few minutes my computer crashed. Every time.

I found a fun one called Apereta. According to its website, it's still in Alpha stage, but it's still pretty fun. It's at www.aspereta.com

I actually spent nearly 7 hours playing Aspereta thursday night to friday morning. It's fairly addictive. So on friday at about 10 am I thought I'd just stay awake all day instead of getting some sleep. Unfortunately my body disagreed. I fell asleep around 10:30 and woke up and 2.

So my day was nearly blown. I went and got my paycheck, stopped by the video game store, then rented some movies and came home.

I rented "Along Came Polly" which was pretty funny. "50 First Dates" which I thought was very good. Although funny, it had some really touching moments. And I rented "Master and Commander" which I haven't watched yet, but am about to.

I suppose I could make a post about once every day. But, how interesting or boring would that be? I think I'm mostly doing this blog just for myself. It's been many, many, many... many years since I tried to keep a journal. Actually I remember it. My last entry in my last journal was about Kurt Cobain's suicide. After that, I just didn't feel like keeping a journal anymore.

A good day at work.

Well, I got a lucky break at work tonight. I picked up a baggage run from the airport. By the way, I drive a taxi. It just so happened that the bag was going to my grandparents' house. They live on a farm about 60 miles away.

Since I don't have a working personal vehicle, I haven't been able to visit them in a long time. So getting this baggage going right to their farm was just great! When I told my dispatcher this, he said I could take my break out there, too. Sweet!

So I got out there, and boy were they surprised to see me. We sat down and talked about a lot of stuff. I was even just in time for supper, so I ate out there too.

I haven't seen my grandparents for at least three years. In that time, grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It had spread to his right hip. So now he can't walk very well. He has to use a walker or crutches now. And he has to come into town about once every three weeks for radiation and chemo. But otherwise he's doing great. I am sooo getting my van fixed as soon as possible so I can visit them all the time.

Seeing my grandparents while working was the highlight my day. Otherwise, it was a slow and forgettable night. But at least I have the next two days off. I think I'll go see Spiderman 2 a second time... and maybe a third. I'm definitely going to see some of the ones I haven't yet. Like Dodgeball.

My very own blog.

Now what to do with it. I spent many hours trying to set up my webserver's ftp functions so I could host my blog directly. But alas, it wouldn't work for some reason. I had to resort to blogger's site for the hosting.

Oh well...