Birthday

Happy Birthday to me...... birthdays suck.

Some problems

The last 3 to 4 days have been a mess. Most of the problems revolving around the computer. Saturday, after taking an hour and a half to get home from class I was informed that our computer, in some sense of the word, blew up. As Ben told it, he was playing his game on the computer when it crashed, he restarted it, and then a bit later it crashed again. This time it never started back up. After some attemps to start it, nothing worked. I start to freak out because all of my graphic and design work is on that damn computer, and I only have half of it backed up. Ontop of that my first major publication was due on Monday for my desktop publishing class and I wasn't done with it. We start calling up places to see if anyone would fix it. Saturday night, believe it or not, most of the computer geeks are out and about and the one's that weren't wanted almost $200 an hour to come and look at the damn thing. Eventually, we found a place that would take it, and someone ended up looking at it on Sunday.
Apparently, the video card that is in charge of processing all the graphics and images on the computer burned out. We got it temporarily replaced, so I could finish my school work on time.
I did manage to pull everything together, but at 11:30 Monday night I log onto the school's website to submit my work and the damn thing won't load. So now I have a new problem. All the websites in the world work fine on my computer except the one that I really need. I talked to the tech guy for 45 min. Today. We really didn't get far cause it still doesn't work. I had to drive to campus to submit my work on one of their computers. I have given up on fixing the problem today. I try it again tomorrow, but my hopes are not high. This whole thing is giving me an ulcer.

Goat Power

The Jewish holidays are here, and since Ben works at a Jewish organization, he's getting a lot of time off in the month of October. Wednesday was one of those days. We both had the day off so we decided to go on a little day trip. We ventured north west and landed in Harpers Ferry, WV. The weather was beautiful, so we decided to bring the dog and go on a little hike. I don't mind hiking, and on certain occasions I find it enjoyable, but unless we have a destination goal in mind I get bored just walking for the sake of walking. I think we walked about 5 miles that day and if it was up to Ben, I'd probably still be walking on the trail right now. After our hike we stopped and had some well deserved lunch, and headed home. Needless to say, the dog and I slept well that night.
On the way back home I noticed a goat on a chain eating shrubbery on the side of the road. I made Ben stop and pull over so I could take a picture of it. Apparently, instead of buying a weed whacker, people get goats to eat their weeds. That's not something you see everyday, and I thought it was worth a picture. Something about livestock on the side of the road is entertaining to me.

Also on Wednesday night I got to talk to my old friend and roommate, Natalya. She got the DVD of Adam's house warming party and called to say how great it was. She seems to be doing well, focusing all her efforts on painting and getting together a body of work to do a solo show around the end of the year. I have to give her props for sticking with it, but I am sure if it wasn't for her parents, she couldn't afford to. She also says that there is this great artist community down in Miami that she is becoming a part of. She also works part time for a local artist who's first name is Naomi, but her last name escapes me right now. I'm almost jealous of her in a way. It's a lot easier when you are around like-minded people, and you have someone to bounce ideas off of. It's a lot more difficult when you are working in a bubble. But, you have to do what you have to do.
School is going well. The hours of work are crazy, and in a way I am glad that I don't have a full-time job right now. It would be near impossible to get all this work done. Although, my opinion changes when I open my wallet and all I see is dust. That's ok though cause I'm on a mission, and I'm going to make it whether I become homeless or not.

Bumper Stickers Gallore

After countless hours of battling with server issues and sizing and resizing all my images, I have finally finished my second website for my class. I chose to honor the great and powerful bumper sticker with my site. The subject I though had a lot of potential, and if I knew everything there was to do with HTML and it's counter parts I am sure I could have made my site a whole lot cooler. But knowing what I know, I think I did a damn good job of it.
Now I have to finish my work for my other 2 classes. All this work is very overwhelming, and it seems to always take twice as long as it should. But I guess I am still learning, and a lot of learning it is. If you would like to check out my latest creation on the web clink here. Have fun.

First website

I have finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. All is clear now and slowly the throbbing in my head is subsiding. One of my assignments in the Internet class this week was to make an instructional website. Basically, it's a website that will teach you how to do something. I chose stone carving because I like to think that it's something that I know how to do. At the beginning of the class I knew almost not HTML code and by the end I was typing it out like I was writing a book. I am sure that you all are curious to see what this looks like. So, here's the link for you to enjoy. It's the first of 2 that I have to make and when I finish the second one I will post that as well. Enjoy!

Busy, busy bee

The past three days have been very draining, and it's only half way over.
I've been staring at a computer screen an excess of 12 hours a day. By the time I go to sleep my eyes are blood shot, like I've been smoking pot all day.
I started my week long class on Monday. Between that and the other 2 classes that I have to keep up with I'm not getting very much sleep. I'm absorbing so much info that by the end of the day I ususaly have some sort of headache. But don't get me wrong, all this learning is great. I didn't realize how much I missed it, until I actually came back to it. It's like this portal has opened up in my head that's been sealed off for years. If I didn't have to sleep I would go almost non-stop, but unfortunately, my body starts to shut down around 11:30pm.
Starting all this was really overwhelming in the beginning. Working with computers requires to to think in a different way, and I wasn't used to that. It was a struggle, but I think I am getting the hang of it. The funny thing that I have been noticing with my classes is that no one really has any type of art background. Everyone is either in computer science or something related to that. I guess MICA might finally come in handy. I'm thinking by the end of the week, I'll have become a genius, or I'll end up with a brain hemorrhage.

Little Factory

Like I said in my last post, I have been crocheting at work to help pass the time. I can now add 2 more pieces to the collection that is still growing. I finished a little bag in the beginning of the week and today I finished a larger one. I have sat there for 8 and a half hours day this week and pretty much the whole time I have been crocheting. I am actually pretty surprised on how well things are starting to turn out. People have told me that I should start a website and sell them. That might not be a bad idea considering I'm going to have to build a few websites this semester anyway. The extra money would be nice and it would be great to get paid for something that I created even if it's considered a craft.
It's great to get paid to sit behind a desk and basically do anything I want. This is probably the least responsibility that I ever had in a job, and that's perfectly fine with me. Speaking of jobs, I got offered one the other day and a frame shop, but at the last minute the boss decided that he was only going to hire someone part-time, and I need more then that. Oh well, maybe one of the other thousands of job posting I have submitted to will some through. ( it's not really thousands, it just seems like that sometimes).
I start my week long internet course next week. I'm nervous about it because it's suppose to be an advanced guide to the internet and we are learning html ( which I know a little of) , JavaScript and things of that nature. I'm just hoping that this class is not too advanced, otherwise I am going to have a hell of a time. At the very least it should be interesting, and I definitely will have more then my share of school work to do next week. I'm crossing my fingers that I come out alive.
Anyway, below are pictures of the two bags that I made this week. I still want to put a lining and maybe a zipper on the bigger one, but they pretty much look like they will completely done. If anyone is interested in them, let me know. I am sure I can find a way to part with them.