Learning to Do stuff

You know that old chestnut from children on TV, where they will just keep asking 'why' over and over in an attempt to drive adults crazy.  Ever wonder when that starts happening?  Well now you know: it's two weeks before their third birthday.

In Tyler's defense, he's not doing it to drive us crazy.  I'm pretty sure he's doing it because he wants to learn more about things.  He hasn't quite grasped the subtle distinctions about when it's appropriate to ask the question ("Here is your Toy."  "Why?" "Did you like school today?" "Why?") but he has figured out that when he asks 'why' he generally gets more information, which he seems to like, and we certainly aren't planning to tell him to stop asking.

Jessie is...nesting...a little.  This weekend it was important...nay, CRITICAL, that all the light bulbs in the house were properly set.  This involved a shopping trip to pick up some conventional bulbs and some CFLs, a lot of using of step ladders, and then a trip to Lowes to drop off the CFLs for recycling and to get a couple of replacement glass covers for the bulbs.  She did this.  The pregnant one.  And then she decided that there were too many leaves on the front yard and that they needed to be raked.  She says pregnancy makes her tired, but every once in a while, you wouldn't be able to tell, I'm sure.

This weekend we went to a Carnival.  It was actually part of the Austin Rodeo, which sounds really cool, but the actual rodeo part starts at 7:00, and Tyler wasn't going to make it that late.  We actually went out right after his nap and hung out mostly at the rides.  Tyler was just tall enough to ride a bunch of the little kid rides that had shown up in the giant parkng lot.  His favorites were the plane one that went up and down and his very first Roller Coaster (I convinced him to briefly put his hands up in the air) as well as the Ferris Wheel, which had a fantastic view of the whole area.  We walked around a lot, had some funnel cake, and had a pretty great time.

We also go to see some pig races, which was staged with surprising professionalism and was a lot of fun to watch.  Tyler was pretty into it.  There were some vendors, too, but if I'm going to get myself a proper cowboy hat, and at some point I think it's safe to say I will, I'm going to need to take a good long time to make sure the construction is up to snuff and the size is proper for my gigantic head.  I'm also likely to need some time for some real soul searching before I buy myself a cowboy hat, because...you know...*cowboy hat*.  But I do look good in one, and it keeps the sun off.  Anyway, Tyler was getting a little antsy, so we didn't have the time to really get a *feel* for the hats on offer.  Or the boots.  Those are lower on my list...give it time.

The petting zoo was my favorite.  I love a good petting zoo.  They had a lot of nice goats, a llama, some deer, and even a couple of shaggy cows (calfs?).   All very well behaved.  They also had newborn goats and even some young kangaroos, but those were cordoned off from the general populace.

I also got a kick out of the livestock area.  They had the best-in-show winners all out for us to see, and they were some pretty-looking specimens, I do agree.  They also had some chickens, which I'm pretty sure Tyler had never seen alive before, as well as a whole bunch of baby chicks, which are, of course, fully adorable.  Seeing all the prime livestock made me want to be a farmer a little bit.  Not because I'm looking for harder work, just because it seems like it would be pretty cool to be good at raising such great-looking critters.  And then, of course, killing and eating them.  I bet they are all delicious.

And because I said I owed it before, here are some pictures of the Diorama I just finished painting:

Check him out!  He's a golem!  

I made up a story about him, of course.  He was created in a temple that long ago has fallen to ruin.

The golem, however, still stands.  And when an adventuring party comes across him, they have to ask...is he still working?  Can we go around him?  How old are those broken weapons, anyway?  

You can even pull him out of the diorama, too.  

Looking sharp, dude.  

He is made out of the same stone as the temple.  They were built at the same time, after all.  

-N

Mostly stuff about kids

I like that Casey has a name.  It makes her feel like a real person.  It also drives home that there really is a little person in there.  Not to start an abortion flame war, but you start to get a sense of where these people are coming from when you realize that at some point in your mind the transition was made from 'biological process' to 'a baby that hasn't shown up yet.'  Giving her a name really helps, and she already has a little personality, especially as we have another baby to compare her with.  She kicks a lot more than Tyler did, making Jessie certain that she's going to be a sporty little tomboy who wants to play hockey all day.  I've also felt what I'm sure is her head a few times.  She isn't head down yet, and occasionally she'll get into a position where you can tell that you're inches, just INCHES away from her tiny little baby skull.  You just want to kiss it so bad!  But you have to wait, she's still baking. 

Yesterday we went to a king cake party, a pretty low-key affair with some friends from work.  A lot of little kids there, too, so Tyler had plenty of friends to play with.  They had a play kitchen area, and Tyler was obsessed with it.  He spent a really long time standing there, making me cookies out of whatever material was conveniently nearby, and asking if anyone wanted french toast.  (I had made french toast for breakfast.  Tyler approves.)  Since Tyler was so interested in cooking, Jess convinced me that we should go off and get him a kitchen playset of his own.  I was hesitant, but Jess convinced me the same way about the train set, and he plays with that *all* the time, so we gave it a shot.  We ended up getting a pretty serious one, and it came in an Ikea-style flat pack, so I spent much of yesterday afternoon putting it together.  It's done today, and Tyler (with 'Mater's help) has been making Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches all morning. The process involves the microwave for some reason. 

This means, also, that anyone wondering what sort of things to get Tyler for his upcoming birthday could *totally* get him some play kitchen supplies.  Play pots and pans, play food, stuff like that.  There is a *ton* of that sort of stuff out there, and at the moment we've mostly stocked his kitchen with stuff from ours, which I'm probably going to need back at some point...

He also likes books, toy cars and especially toy construction equipment. 

Tyler still likes building things.  One of his favorite activities is to get his hammer, give me the wrench and go about 'fixing' the cat condo.  He insists that he is Bob the Builder and I am Pumpkin-Head for this process.  (Go watch the show if you haven't, it's on netflix.)  This requires me to talk in a silly voice.  It's important for immersion. 

I've broken 200 pounds a couple of times, but it's been tough to stay under.  Dieting is nearly impossible when you have a pregnant wife.  Still, though, it's impressive to realize I've lost a *Tyler* worth of weight at this point.  My walking desk has been getting a lot of work.  I can burn a surprising amount of calories while playing video games. 

Another cute Tyler story for you. Last weekend we got Tyler a haircut.  He was very well behaved.  When we got home we gave him a bath, and he complained that if we scrubbed to hard, we would wash off his haircut. 

Few more weeks till the most important event of the year.  ReaperCon!  Oh, and the baby shows up around then too, but whatever, PAINTING!  I'm almost done with one of my entries, a Golem guarding a door with broken weapons scattered all around him.  I owe some pictures of him once he's done, he's looking pretty great.  I even have time to start another entry, too.  Jess is the best wife in the world to let me go to this, though she is flying in some help for the weekend.  Also, I'm only a few hours away by car, so if the unexpected does happen, I can be back home really quickly.  I'm very excited for the convention, though.  I signed up for all my classes, and have been frequenting the forum to reconnect with old friends. 

Tyler is starting to learn to read.  He's been sounding things out, asking about words, and making letters (mostly T for Tyler) out of sticks.  It's very exciting, mostly because with any luck he'll be able to read books to Casey in the back seat just like we do for him now.  They start to learn how to write (more like 'assemble') letters in the next grade, where he'll be moving very soon, so he's pretty much right on time, I think.  Good for him. 

-N

ReaperCon, Days 3 and 4

Last one!  There's two more below this, so if you just see this, scroll down a bunch and start reading down there.

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Reapercon Day 3

After another early morning and good breakfast, I didn't have anything scheduled until 4:00 in the afternoon, so I took my time in the morning. I read the forums, considered whether or not to bring pizza or other goodies, looked for interesting games, that sort of thing. After a slow-going morning, I headed over to the con to do some stuff.

On the way in, I'm sure, I got stopped and asked about my Backpack. I got noticed for it *all the time*. People were super curious and wanted to know more about it, and I can't blame them. Its primary goal seems to be looking really, really cool. I'm going to change my Forum name to GuyWithCoolBackpack.

My first stop was to talk with Jeremy Bonnot, he's the guy that taught the 'how not to suck' class. Really nice guy, I asked him about getting smoother blends, and he invited me to just sit and watch him paint. It was very informative, and I'm super glad I took the time. I watched him paint for about an hour until they announced they were going to start the VCR teardown competition. That's where you get to break apart a VCR and build something cool out of the components. I was the only one there, at the start, and so I got to tearing it down and getting all the cool parts out. I found the head of the VCR, and pulled out the innards, and made the cool thing that I made. I'm sure you've seen pictures. It took a while, and my paint job was pretty spotty, but it was an absolute blast. I spent a lot of time working on it. Eventually a few others joined in, too. Tonya and Adam, Richard, and another lady named Lynn. There were some pretty good ideas in there, though all the paint jobs were clearly pretty rush affairs. I had a lot of fun doing that.

 

(This is my guy.  the neat metal thing in the middle spins!)

After a lot of that, I joined my color theory class. Yes, more color theory. It was incredibly useful, though. Whereas the beginner class focused on more practical rules, the more advanced class talked about visual design, composition, and other graphic design ideas that really made me think about color and where to put it in really great ways. It was a super-great class.

After that, and a little more milling around, and some dinner, it was time for the awards ceremony. My piece won a Bronze, which was actually right about what I was expecting. A lot of other people won bronzes, slivers, and golds, too. We were all very pumped. Richard, Ben's dad, actually won a Silver Sophie...completely by accident, as it turned out. But he got to take the trophy and hang onto it, and I'm sure they'll just cast another if they need it. It was neat to see one of the Sophie trophies, too. Something to aim for in the future.

After all of that excitement, I went out to dinner with Ben, Aaron, Vincent, Tonya, Adam, and a whole big bunch of other people. We had sushi, and I had a couple sets of crazy rolls. We sat around and chatted, handed around the Sophie, made jokes, and met a few new friends. A very nice ending to the eve. I got back home, did some packing, and then went to sleep.

Day 4:

Got up bright and early, got some breakfast, and packed up my stuff. Managed to get it all in one trip, surprisingly enough, and then got my stuff out to the car. A guy asked for a ride, and I said I would, as long as he would stop somewhere to get bagels for me. We went to one, but it turned out to be at a University, and it was all closed down. So instead we just drove back down to to convention, getting some donuts on the way. Yum.

I got there in plenty of time for my morning class: brushstrokes. I got some more instruction on layering, side-brushing, and plenty of other techniques. I'll have to go over my notes again to make sure I've got it all, but it was a very useful class. Anne Forester, the lady that taught it, had lots of energy, and she's actually in charge of the paints for the entire company, so she is an endless font of knowledge. She gave me some good advice on my minis, the same advice pretty much everyone gets: more contrast with highlights and shadows.

After that I stumbled into a CAV game, a mech-based wargame, and played that for a while. It was pretty fun, but large-scale wargaming isn't something I'm looking to get into anytime soon. Regardless, it was neat to learn the system, and I got some Reaper Bucks out of the event.

After that, we gathered everyone together that did the VCR build, including the guy I gave a ride to the Convention with. He had built something overnight. So we all stood up there while Reaper Brian announced the winner. I was expecting the lady that made the imps tearing through the wiring to win, especially when Brian announced that it was the one that made the judge laugh the most. But in a shocking turn of events...they gave it to me! I was genuinely surprised, and really happy! I got some cool mousesling bar-goers. I really like the mundane kind of stuff, so getting such a nice set was a real treat.

(Myself, ReaperBrian, and the Mouselings I won!)

Then was the Auction. There was a lot of neat stuff, but nothing I was planning to really go after. I figured the really cool stuff would be out of my price range, so I thought I'd bide my time and wait to see if there was anything I wanted. Also, the whole event was a lot of fun to watch. Cool things going, people winning stuff, it was a hoot. After a while, me not seeing anything particular I wanted, Tonya and Adam started bidding on some magnetic character markers that they used in their gaming. Not really having anything I wanted that badly in mind, I just gave them my tokens to see if they could win with it. Turns out they didn't need it, but the gesture was kindly received...

...especially a few minutes later, when something did come up that I wanted. A case for carrying miniatures, something I didn't have but could really use. I bid on it, and it ran up to $220, which was as much as I had. It looked like I was going to get it...until someone bid $230. Tonya just gave me some of hers, putting me up and letting me win it. Very nice of them.

Of course, as the auction went on, people had less and less money, and Vincent managed to clean up on a couple of really cool things. He got to design his own mini, got a bunch of cool figures, and then, in the greatest gesture, picked up a figure case that was going for far too cheap and just gave it to Adam and Tonya. They were quite pleased, and there were hugs and smiles all around.

Then the auction wrapped up, and I was anxious to get back on the road, in case I got to see Tyler before he went to bed. I said my goodbyes, thanked everyone I met, and many people at the company for putting on such a great event, and then got on the road. There was some really annoying traffic, but it was an uneventful drive. I got home filled with figures, painting knowledge, and really, really warm memories.

-N

ReaperCon, Day 2

More of this!  I wrote a lot

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I got up early again this morning, had a nice waffle and some other fixins for breakfast (very yummy) and then went off to the convention space to start the day. I got a nice parking space really close in (parking is at a premium out there) and walked in after everything opened up. My first order of business was to check my class schedule, I didn't want to be late again. Then I went over and got my Vampire bones box set. So excited! It was all dense and heavy and full of fun things to paint. I also got a whole lot of paint, which is good, because I'm still building up my paints at home, and also because I didn't bring any paints with me, and the paints they had available were a bit limited. I also called up Todd and eventually picked up his Vampire set. I'm excited to give that to him. After a little bit more hanging around, I went off to my first class of the day, one on Basic color theory.

The color theory class was great. It went over some basic terms, and gave some straightforward rules on how to know when colors work well on a miniature. In essence, you don't want too many colors that are too close to each other on the color wheel, they don't offer the contrast that you want. You can get around this by muting colors, making them darker or lighter, things like that. Very useful. I took my new found knowledge with me back to the paint-and-take table, where I painted up another guy too see what I could do with his color scheme. After a little bit of Struggling, I went back to Anne Forrester (the lady that taught the class, and also a Reaper Employee in charge of all their paint, she had a lot of knowledge to share) and she gave me some tips on how to make it better. I also took my frog king-and-queen to her, and she gave some tips on things to work on (higher highlights and darker shadows). Very nice.

I also took a factory tour of Reaper on this day. It was really intriguing. Reaper Brian (the production manager, big honcho at the company) took us around and showed us the process. We got to see their fancy new plastic injection machine, look at how they made molds of figurines by pressing them in rubber disks that looked like tires. Then the cut channels for the metal to flow in and the air to flow out, and then the mold was ready to go. If you make your own mini, you can even contract them out to make molds and cast copies of your mini for you. Not cheap, but pretty cool. Then we got to go back to where they cast the minis. They had hot metal all ready to go, they grabbed a mold (asked for a mini that people liked and Reaper Brian just remembered the mold number off the top of his head) and cast some minis right in front of us. We got to ask questions about the metal, the process, how hot everything got, it was all pretty fantastic to do. And at the end, he gave us some of the minis that he had casted. Very nice of him. I can see why the company has so many fans.

I spent a long time after that just working on my mini, painting him very slowly and taking my time with the color scheme, before it was time for me to go to another class: how not to suck. It's widely billed as one of the best classes on offer, and I happen to agree. It was very comprehensive, straightforward, and was focused on techniques that will help you learn how to become a better painter. It was all very impressive and informative.

Oh, and somewhere during all of this (I think it was the day before) I submitted my guys to the painting competition. The neat thing is that they took pictures using their fancy lightbox (making everything look really cool) and then those pictures got displayed on big TVs overlooking the main floor. I'll admit, I sat there for a while and waited until mine came up so I could take a picture.

Oh, and during all of this, I'm making new friends. Just constantly getting into random, mostly effortless conversations with people that just happen to be sitting across the table from me, or what have you. Everyone was very, very friendly, easy to talk to, and made me feel very welcome...even though most of them actually were there for the first time too. I wrote down a lot of names and forum handles, because there was no way I would have remembered it all.

So after some more random painting (working on lining my miniature, something from the previous class) Reaper Brian and some other people from other gaming companies sat down and just started talking about how the whole kickstarter thing went. It was mostly advice about what works on kickstarter, which wasn't really useful to me, because I'm not planning on starting one, a lot of complaining about kickstarter's website (it does need an overhaul) and a few interesting stories tossed in here and there. I stayed for quite a while, then decided I was done for the day and rolled on home. I got to talk with you for a while, missed you greatly, and then actually took some minis outside and primed them. One of the advantages of the new bones minis is that you don't have to prime them, but the paint still, often, beads up and rolls around, like water off a freshly waxed car. It's hard enough for me to paint when my paint does stay where I put it. Having it move isn't helpful. I let them dry off overnight, and then reorganized my backpack and paints, and then went to sleep.

-N

ReaperCon, Day 1

I'm back from Reapercon!  Well, technically, I have been for a while.  I did some daily write-ups like I do when I'm on vacation so that I can remember things better, and since I have all of them, I thought I'd share them here.  Enjoy!

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I drove up on Wednesday, and on the way up I drove up past this big plume of smoke. They were in the process of closing down the southbound traffic, but the northbound traffic was still going, though I suspect I was probably one of the last few to be allowed through. I saw on the news later that I was probably driving past a burning fertilizer plant that exploded massively. Yikes. The rest of the drive was uneventful, though, except that the bombcast I was listening to kept having to restart. I checked into the hotel and was instantly on the lookout for people that I thought would be at reapercon. I saw a couple where the guy had a star wars figurine on his backpack. My people.

I realized that I forgot pretty much all of my toiletries, but the hotel had free backup toothpaste and toothbrush, and they also had some contact lens solution for sale. I kept my lenses in creamer holders overnight, and then in the morning I got some new cases, so I'm set. But I got up really early in the morning because I didn't want to have to wrestle for breakfast and also because I was *so excited* for the con that I didn't want to miss anything. I got my food, did my shopping, and then found Reaper HQ. It's a warehouse building on a normal road, and when I got there the sign that said 'enter here' was pointing at a closed and locked door. It was also raining, something else I hadn't planned for. But before too long, the rain stopped and the door opened for registration.

I was nervous about meeting people cause I really wanted to, but always have trouble just introducing myself. I needn't have worried, the guy right behind me, who is named Aaron, and goes by Adrift on the forums (you have to have both names) started talking me up, and I spent most of the rest of the day just hanging out near him and meeting people he knew. I've also met several on my own, though, it's really easy to just strike up conversations with people you've never met before.

After taking my time looking around the reaper HQ area, including the break room still dressed up like a pirate pub from last year, the metal bits exchange where you can trade random metal from a HUGE table of random parts, and plenty of paints and minis everywhere, I dropped my stuff off and joined a random RPG that needed some extra players. It was a hacked-together system from a bunch of other RPGs that I've never heard of, but it was easy to pick up, and the guy running it was a LOT of fun, very enthusiastic and very flexible. The setting was far more interesting.

For the convention, they came up with a story about a hell-bound slice of Victorian London hosting a dark carnival of the damned. They came up with factions, too, the Carnival, which are all crazy legions of hell, animal trainers, strong men, that sort of thing. The League, which are traveling adventure-types, out for the forces of good. The street thugs, urchins, cutthroats, dockworkers and other Victorian unsavories. And my faction, the stickmen, which are crazed doctors and their monstrous experiments that are looking for the secret of eternal life. Your faction, both in the RPG events using this world and in the actual convention, gets points for particpating in things, and whoever has the most points at the end of the con, and the end of the RPG stuff, wins. Pretty neat little thing. Anyway, the RPG was great, I got to play a Frankenstein monster, I hit a lot of things very well.

After that I went over to the paint-and-take, where you can pick up random miniatures, paint them, and then take them home. It's very nice, and that's where I got the mimic I sent you a picture of. I painted him for a while, and then got some lunch, all while chatting with random people that were coming and going at the table.

Sonic was there, yes, the drive-through place with the onion rings that you don't really like much anymore. They brought a frier, and some hot plates, and a bunch of food, and they stayed open from lunch all the way through dinner. The food isn't *amazing* or anything, but considering that most Convention food is actively junk, the fact that it's pretty decent is high praise.

Anyway, after some more painting and some more eating, I realized I was a little late for my first class. I considered just skipping it, so as to avoid embarrassment (copping out, as I do) but decided to be bold and walk over. I strolled right in, apologized for being late, and jumped right into class. The guy teaching it was Lazlo Jakusovski. If the name sounds familiar, it's the guy that did the Hot Lead DVDs that I was watching that Todd got for me. He was a good teacher, and seeing his technique was a really big help, it gives me a lot to work on, which is pretty good, actually. I messed up the technique on the example minis they gave us to work on, but I understood why I was messing it up, at least, so I have some hope of improving.

After the class, I went back to the painting table to hang out with some new friends, a sensation that was really quite pleasant. I worked on my mimic some more, and then when everyone was going to head off for dinner, they asked if I wanted to come along, and of course I said yes. We got in a few cars, and I carpooled with Adam and Tanya. Adam really, *really* reminds me of Kevin. You remember Kevin and Clarissa in Albuquerque? Adam has the same long hair, same beard, same nerdy shirts, same warm personality and everything. They were fun to hang out with. Anyway, we drove down to Bjs, which is part of a Brewpub chain that they actually have down in Austin, too. We've never been there, though. Anyway, we got there first, and then I went off to the bathroom. When I came back, everyone had arrive, and they were all standing around a 5-year-old who was playing some dungeon game on his Ipad, and everyone was entranced. My people! (Yes, the dad was there too, he kept his eye on us, but he could tell we were all just really being nerds. Totally harmless.)

We had a great dinner and cracked a lot of jokes, told stories, compared convention plans, and generally had a really nice time. I made a great joke about how scatterbrained Aaron was being when he got hungry, and that became a running joke for the evening. I also saw a tiny baby bunny outside of the window. I guess they just live in the city around here. So cute!

When we were done with Dinner, I drove Tanya and Adam back to the hotel. They said they were going to be up for a while, working on some painting. They also asked if I had some 'Green stuff' (Epoxy modeling putty) and I did, and they were very glad for that. They also asked if I had some superglue, and I had some of that too. In exchange, they let me use their paints. I worked some more on my guy, admired their pieces for the competition, and then got sleepy and decided to call it a day. I got to sleep a little after midnight, and had a great, great day.

-N

Things I've been up to

We'll start with a Tyler update, being as I'm sure he's the guy you're most interested in hearing about. Tyler's latest trick is that he's starting to have thoughts of his own. Ever since he's been able to talk, he's been really good at parroting, repeating things he's already heard. New to his repertoire, though, is coming up with his very own ideas and sentences. That's right! There's a little human in there after all.

The most memorable example of this behavior has been when we were singing “Wheels on the Bus.” It's always been one of his favorite songs. After a few verses, I asked which sound he wanted to do next.

“Tyler, what else is on the bus?”

He paused, staring ahead, like he does when he's deep in thought (we all know where he gets this from)

“Enui!”

Okay, he technically just said “En-We”, but I think we all knew what he meant.

“Enui? Really? What sound does Enui make?”

Another long pause.

“Boop, boop, boop.”

And so we sang, “The Enui on the bus goes boop, boop, boop.” And he laughed. He laughed so hard, he thought it was just the greatest thing.

It shows up in a lot of smaller ways, too. We'll ask him what he wants to eat and he'll come up with something all on his own. You'll point out something that's big and he'll remind you that Tyler is Little all on his own. He hasn't yet used it to suggest that Daddy and Mommy are always wrong and that he should get more ipad and candy, but give it time, I'm sure.

Work continues apace. I got to travel last week to Patuxent river, again. I was supposed to be gone for the whole week, but we got out there, got everything working in a couple of days, and then everyone went “great, it works, I guess we're done” and went home. Jess has been really busy at work, too, well befitting a person who is so well regarded. And before any of you ask, I'm not worried about the sequester. It may make us trim back a bit, but I suspect that the most likely prospect is that we'll hire new people a little slower. I've been on the test team for maybe 6 months, and there are 5 new people in the group that have joined since. We're busy.

I've also been working on my Minis for ReaperCon. I decided to pull together some of the guys I've been painting and give them a platform to stand on together. Give it some scenery and character, so to speak. Here are some pictures, I hope you enjoy.

I'm also excited because I think I'm going to build a new computer. I've never actually done this before, but I've read some tutorials and it doesn't appear too difficult. The main source of work will probably be selecting all the components, and if you ask any computer-building nerd, that's the best part of the whole endeavor.

-N

Finished my mini

Remember that guy I was working on before?  He's done! 

 

Here's more progress shots.  I'm pretty sure on this day I worked on his pants.  It's subtle, I know.

 

Here I'm starting to work on his coat.  I did the green lining inside his coat.  Nice highlighting, yes?  Also his epaulettes, which I also learned how to spell.  

 Worked on the gun today.  Did some shading and highlighting on the wood and metal drybrushing on the...metal parts. 

And here he is, all done!  I did a chrome look for the sword.  Impressive, no?  I think it came out pretty good.  Also did some grass around his feet.  The grass nearer to him is dead, I imagine it's a side-effect of his crazy-evil power.  I'm quite pleased about how well he came out.  I'm going to go get him a fancy little plinth to display him on for the convention.  Next up on the painting queue, a frog king and queen for Ray and Jeanne. 

-N

Wholesome Family Activities

So in case you're wondering what it is that I've been doing with so much of my time that I can neither blog nor call up parents at the traditional time (sorry!), here's an explanation.  In a couple of months there's a convention up in Dallas called ReaperCon.  Reaper is a company that makes miniatures, the kinds I've spent so much of my time learning to paint.  The convention sounds really cool: they will have classes, plenty of places to paint, lots of things to do and see, games to play aaaaaaand...they have a competition for painted miniatures.

 Now I have never been competitive about my painting, but I looked at a lot of entries from last year and by comparison, my most recent work seems to match up pretty well.   At least, it does when I take my time.  Plus, they have a very forgiving grading system: you get graded based on how good your mini looks, not how many better painted miniatures happened to be entered in the contest.  I'm aiming for 'bronze' rank, but even if I don't get that, you get a certificate of merit just for entering, and I would hang that up proudly on my wall. A lot of the highest-end painting really is just a function of putting in really a lot of work.  And so in that spirit, I've begun working on my entry already.  I've been taking pictures at the end of each day, to show off progress and also to give you guys a sense of how long it takes to paint one of these guys so that they look really nice.  Also to show off how good I am at this now.  :)

Here is the end of day 1:

they grey is the primer: so the only thing I managed to get done in the several hours I spent on the first day with this guy is to get down a base coat of red, white and skin tone on part of him.  Told you: long process.  You use very thin coats of paint and paint them on usually around 4 or 5 times so that your guy looks like a little person, and not a tiny figurine covered in plastic paint.  The matte finish takes work, but it's crucial for a good looking figure.

Day 2:

A few more colors make their appearance.   did the gauntlet, mask, and the like in a slightly different red color.  I have a back-story in mind where the guy stole the coat from someone on the battlefield, so the color doesn't quite match.  Also, the accessories were given to him by his evil overlords, they are the source of his power.  It's very complicated, maybe I'll write up a story for him later.

Day 3:

A lot of progress on this day.  It was Saturday, and Jess let me paint a lot during the day while she watched Tyler.  the rest of the base coat has been laid down, and I even did the shading on the back of his coat.  I think I did a pretty decent job, but this is one of my first attempts at this sort of dramatic coloring.  A cape is a pretty good place to start, though.  The places where to put the high-and-low lights are pretty obvious.

Day 4:

Oh man, I really like the progress I did today.  I painted that tatoo-thing in the center of his chest like scarification, and it came out looking really well.  I also added some shading to his gauntlet, mask, loin cloth and chest-skin.  You might not be able to tell in this picture (heck, I can't even tell unless I look under the magnifying glass Jess got me for Xmas) but I managed to individually shade each of his ab-muscles.  I'm pretty impressed with that.

And lest you think I spend all of my time cooped up in my room ignoring my parently duties and painting: here's some evidence otherwise:

There was a nice breeze today, so we got out Jessie's stunt-kite and went out to the park.  There were a lot of crashes, but Tyler thought this was one of the coolest things in the world.

Jessie took Tyler skating also this weekend, Kneecaps be damned!  He thought it was also the coolest thing in the world.  Cutest, too!

-N

A Subtle Shift in Priorities

Well just take a look at how timely this blog entry is. Ha! Fantastic.

Recently, which is to say 'the last few months', I have not been enjoying the prospect of going to Judo. I would realize it was Monday, my normal Judo day, and my stomach would sink. Judo isn't that bad, not really, but compared to some of the other things I do with my evenings, it just always felt like a waste of an evening. We often spend a frustrating amount of time just talking about stuff, and I've never felt like my progress has been that marked. I got my black belt, I guess, but I still never really felt like I earned it, but just going to judo because it was 'judo day' hasn't really felt right in a while.

I sat down with Jessie to talk about my 'crisis of activities', something that comes up every few years, and she told me exactly what you'd expect her to tell me: if you're not enjoying it, then why are you going? We have our Kinect at home for exercise (and it keeps kicking my ass), there's no need to go if I'm not enjoying it. So for now, I've decided to take a hiatus from Judo. As Jess reminded me: I can always go back. They've been doing Judo for a couple of centuries now, I don't think they're going to quit anytime soon.

So I certainly don't lack from good uses of time in my life, or at least not fulfilling ones. Miniature painting continues to be great fun, and I'm getting better at it with every mini I paint. I even have a permanent home for my painting, now, as opposed to just keeping it in the library and moving it every time we want to play cards or something. I carved out a little corner of my studio and now have my stuff all set up for all the painting I could want. I also shuffled my studio over so it's now in the same upstairs room as the guest bed. We can use the old studio room for...other things.

There's also Piano, which I am attempting to be as diligent as possible about, because you know what practice makes, don't you? I did get a little down on it because, like most of my hobbies, it's not really leading to anything. I'm not going to any recitals, or joining a band, or anything. Though the better I get at piano, the easier it will be to compose music in the future, which is nice. Still, though, playing the opening to Journey's “Don't Stop Belivin'” is a pretty good way to end a day, so I keep at it. If anyone knows of a band in Austin looking for a piano player without a whole lot of time to invest...let me know.

But if I'm cutting back on Judo, perhaps it would be a good time for me to try doing something else with my time, eh? Maybe a little...VOLUNTEERING? Yeah, I know great minds think alike.

I scrounged through various volunteer listings online, hoping to find something that could make some use of my expertise. Something maybe with education, too, because I really, really like education. I ended up signing up for Austin Partners in Education. I start on Tuesday.

I'm volunteering! It's quite exciting. All I saw on the sign-up-form online was that they needed people to help with groups of two-or-three middle schoolers who need help learning math. Sounds up my alley, yes? But I had some questions, which I brought to the lunchtime training session I went to last week. Turns out this group has around 2000 volunteers (!) and what they do is one class a week, the whole math class meets with a group of probably 10 volunteers who guide them through the lesson for the day. The job is to ask questions, get them thinking, and generally show our excitement for the subject matter at hand. I can do that.

I'm coming in the the middle of the school year, which usually means I'll be replacing someone who couldn't make it through the year (Life happens, you know?) so I'm hoping that I'm up to the standard set by my predecessor. If this goes well, and I've only got something like 7 more classes before the end of the year, maybe I'll sign up for a full year next time.

Of course, right after signing up for this, the local community magazine came out with their summary of a boatload more volunteer opportunities, so I can certainly expand if I want. I may have to, if I'm going to help Sandlin meet her goal.

So let's see, what do you need to know about Tyler. He's coming up on his terrible twos. They're not really that terrible, cause he's such a great kid normally, but you can definitely see where the beginnings of a furious little id are going to create a few frustrating afternoons before we get him properly civilized. He doesn't want to share, he gets angry when he can't have is way...you know...kid stuff. On the plus side, the house next door to us sold, and we met the neighbors today while we were getting ready to take Tyler out biking. (We bike, he rides behind). They have a 9-year-old boy, and a 2-year old boy as well. Score! Jess made them cookies. They move in tomorrow. We know pretty much nothing more than that (except their names) but we are going to bring them cookies, so I expect we will be fast friends.

Tyler is starting to sing. You have to know what you're listening for, because he can't carry a tune yet and he only get's about 70% of the words, but we've heard him do 'Twinkle Twinkle', '5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed', 'The ABCs,' and 'The Itsy-Bitsy Spider', with hand motions and everything. He is also really excited because he gets to go to Disneyland for his birthday, or at least near his birthday, and Nana and Grandpa are going to be there too. Though to be honest, at this point the trip is about 30% for Tyler and 70% for Jessie. Also, we get to visit some friends in LA while we are out there, so good fun then, too.

-N

The Adventures of Temporarily-Single Father

Yikes, it's been too long. What have we been up to?

Well we got our windows in a while ago, and it has already made a huge difference in the comfort level of the home. The Weather has started to cool off to pretty chilly at night, and we haven't even had to turn on the heater yet. Just ambient heat and good windows is good enough to keep us going through the night. The other major boon is that the neighbors' barking dogs are much quieter now. It's subtle, but pleasant.

We had our pseudo-annual neighborhood grill-out on Saturday. Not a lot of turnout, but a few families did show up, and everyone was really pleased that we were taking the time to do this, so it's worth it just to foster a sense of community around here. Also, Tyler learned to share toys. Sorta. He still needs some practice on that.

Also this weekend, the silver car had its battery die, so I got to be all manly and get that fixed. I considered just taking it in somewhere, but I've messed around in the electrical system of enough vehicles for work at this point that I felt it wouldn't be a insurmountable task, especially with the internet and friendly auto-parts people to help me through. Anyway, I went out and bought a battery (getting a jump to get home after I discovered the battery wasn't low...it was dead. Got some tips from the guy that sold me the battery (as well as some goop to help ease corrosion) and read up on the process on the internet, then took out some wrenches and went to work. As those of you that have ever done it before know, it's not a particularly difficult process, once you know how. But I got to surprise Jessie when she woke up from her nap and the car was totally fixed before she knew it. Still have to take the old battery back for recycling, though.

And this week, Jess is off on travel, so I'm single-fathering it again. It's not so bad, of course. Tyler gets to see mommy on Skype fairly often, and as long as he has lots of things to play with at home he's pretty easy to manage. Went to sleep just fine a little while ago and shows no signs of waking up in the middle of the night with “where's mommy” sweats.

Speaking of Tyler, the baby dictionary has completely fallen off the rails at this point. I couldn't even guess at how many words or word-like utterances Tyler knows at this point. I was always impressed by the ability of parents to understand the babbling of their children, but what I didn't know was that usually the parents don't have any idea what the kid means the first time he tries out a new word either. We just have more practice at it.

Those are the highlights of the last few weeks. I'd write more, but I have a few more e-mails to write and some research to do on how to 'base' miniature figurines. (Look it up, it's pretty cool). And then I have to hit the hay. A temporarily-single father needs plenty of rest.

-N

Busy Getting Stuff done

Just in case you're wondering why I don't blog more, its because I'm still spending all my time doing awesome stuff. I am, yes, still practicing the piano. I got myself a couple of songbooks for myself for my birthday. So I'm currently learning how to play the theme music from Super Mario Brothers. Yes, you should be impressed, it is very impressive. I can physically play about half of it, for now, but a little less than that with both hands at the same time, and essentially just the intro at the proper speed. So there's still work to do, but I'm really enjoying working on this song. I also got a book of radiohead songs, and I just have to figure out which one I want to learn to play first. And another book of exercise and basic songs to learn, to further expand my skills at a basic level. I'm still just playing on my keyboard, which is just wide enough for Super Mario brothers, though It doesn't use the lowest octave. Of course, I can just push a button and then it won't use the highest octave if I want. Electronics are great like that.

Also, paining miniatures. I've showed off a few of them to some of you over Skype, but I have yet to put up any pictures. They're pretty cool looking, if a little basic, but the process is very time consuming and cannot be rushed, which is part of what I like about it. You have to take your time, consider the process, decide what you want to paint on what surface...you know, ART. I find the whole thing pretty relaxing, and so I decided to invest a little more into our painting gear. I went out yesterday and picked up a bunch of random paint brushes (different kinds, so I can see what I like) some porcelain paint palettes (much easier to clean), and a few other odds-and-ends like slo-dry (for easier paint blending) and some finishing spray to keep the paint well set on the mini's when I'm done. I really like just going out and considering all the options and making decisions and...I don't know even going out to buy brushes yesterday was fun. Maybe because Jess was at home taking care of Tyler for me and, as it turns out, taking down all our blinds.

We're getting new windows put in in the near future. The nice fancy ones that the guy came to our house and punched through for us. Jess got down all the blinds, but we'll wait for a little bit before doing the curtains. We do need some privacy.

And then, of course, there's Judo. I've been doing more Shiai (sparring) recently, which still isn't a lot, but it's more than the 'none' that I've done before. I'm getting a little better, bit by bit, which is encouraging, though I'm still pretty far below most of my peers. I is encouraging, however, that whenever we get new students in that Sensei usually has them work with me. I like to think I'm a pretty patient teacher.

Anything else? Any other activities taking up my time? OH, that's right, my son.

Last weekend we went to Houston for Jessie's great-uncle-in-law's 90^th birthday. We learned that 1) Driving during Tyler's nap is a great idea. 2) Driving while he's supposed to be asleep is not. I also managed to pick up whatever upper-resperitory cough-fest Tyler happened to pick up from day care last, which is still making my voice a little croupy. But other than that, the trip was a pretty great success. Everyone was all excited to see Jess, and Tyler got to play with a couple of twin girls a little younger than he was. He was a little scared of them. I'll tease him about that when he gets older. We also brought back Jessie's Grandmother to stay with us for a while. Tyler eventually got used to her and even gave her some kisses on the last day she was here.

The comprehensive Tyler-dictionary is going to have to come to a close. He's learning a new word or two every day now. It would be difficult to keep up. He's using his words a lot more often now. Here are some highlights.

Nana: What he says every time we tell him we are going to Skype. He knows about grandmothers.

Areyou?: What he says when he is looking for things. Either Waldo in the waldo books or Daddy.

Doo-Doo!: This is the sound a train makes, and a lot of things are enough like trains (cars, rocks, pretty much anything he can push around) that they also make this sound too.

Yikes!: Luckly, this was what Jessie said when her antibiotic ointments took hold on her latest road rash. He's also picked up “Whoah” and “Oh no!” Nothing R-rated yet.

TeeBee: We let him watch TV when he's feeling bad and needs to relax, but he's also figured out that you can watch it at other times as well. He'll ask for it a lot. We generally just tell him no.

Ninite: Certain kinds of clothes are ninite clothes. They are the kinds you put on before it is bedtime.

We took Tyler out to a neighborhood festival this weekend where they had some pancakes, a hot air balloon, and plenty of booths selling arts and crafts. They also had a bounce house that Tyler was really into, even though he was the smallest one there. He was having fun getting bounced around by all the kids...and then the fan kicked off and the whole thing deflated. Which is scary, if you are small and don't know what's going on, and also potentially dangerous. Jess got to work pulling out some kids while other people (myself included) did their best to try and keep the thing from falling over too much. Tyler wasn't at the exit, though, so eventually Jess just dove in after him. She found him in a very unhappy mood, but having mama nearby definitely helped. Still spooky. He's been in two bounce houses in his life. Both deflated while he was inside. I'm not sure if he'll want to go into any more.

Tyler also got a haircut yesterday. His third. The second went just fine. The third was NOT fun. He didn't want the little cape thing on, and he did not like the clippers one little bit. There were many tears, but eventually we got through it with bubbles and patience. There's been a lot of trauma in his life this weekend. I'm surprised he's still this well adjusted.

Other Micro-news:

-Jess has had to go through her polygraph test. It was a horrible experience and she has to go back.

-Jess also is traveling in October for work. I'll have Tyler for the week. Planning to get him a tattoo.

-With all these activities, I barely have any time at all for Video games. Crazy, I know.

-Tyler, for those keeping track, will be 18 months old (1.5 years) at the end of this month.

-Also, Tyler sits in a Big-boy car seat now.

I'll probably write again in another two months when I have some time. :)

-N

P.S.: I have some pictures to share, too.  But photo upload seems to be wonky, so I'll try again later.