Gingerbread isn't just for houses anymore

So I know it is late for this, but well, I made this after Christmas too. I've never made anything but the generic graham cracker house that people CALL a gingerbread house, but this year I wanted to make the real thing. First I made the gingerbread. This didn't go all that well because I didn't know what I was doing or how it should bake. Well it turns out that directions to bake it until it is "toasty" are crappy unless you pre-cut your shapes, and pre-cutting shapes is hard because they deform in the soft dough. Anyhow, I ended up spending a ton of time baking my dough and then a million years cutting it, but I made myself a gingerbread Gazebo.

I actually designed a pattern using SketchUp and printed it on cardstock, then used it to cut out my shapes. Somethings (like the roof) went really well. Others (like the posts that I had wanted to be candy canes) didn't go so well, but still it was completed as you can see. The royal icing I made and put in a bag to pipe onto the structure worked well and the decorations by my wife were a success as well. There are more photos in that gallery if you are interested.

My wife is awesome

So I had to wait a little while, but my Christmas gift arrived yesterday (with the first real snowfall of the year. I got a bit of a white Christmas I guess) and I was even hope to get it from the front doorstep.

Some point in my late teens, I became infatuated with several old fashioned concepts. Fountain pens and pocket watches. I bought myself a fountain pen in Vienna, Austria while on vacation, but lost it last fall. My wife was wonderful enough to buy me a new one as a gift last year. I carry it around with me everywhere and use it daily.

I received a pocket watch from my ex-girlfriend, and while it is still a very nice pocket watch and I like it, I wanted another one from my wife. (Also the other one isn't currently working. It is a simple problem, but I need to take it in for repair). I bought all my groomsmen pocket watches and wished for awhile I had gotten one as well because while theirs was undoubtedly not a nice in material or craftsmanship, it was quite a bit larger and still looked very classy (unlike most pocket watches you see in Walmart etc with the horrific patterns on the case).

So on Christmas morning my wife presented me with a picture of my back-ordered watch with the sad information that it might not come until late January. She checked on the status last week and said it could have shipped as early as the 13th. Well it must have shipped right around then (probably the 14th) because it arrived yesterday the 17th with a UPS 3rd Day sticker on it. I love it. It is a skeleton movement, and as such requires manual winding. I've never had a hand wound watch, and that just adds to the appeal for me. It also happens to be gorgeous, but I'll let you judge that for yourself.

I've been sculpting again

Okay, so it has been a million years. But I'm posting at the moment to let you know that I've been sculpting again and you can find a whole bunch of pictures, including in progress ones if you click on the photo.

That sound you heard? That was my head exploding.

Programming and late nights have historically gone together. Not only is the intarweb held together by a lot of Mountain Dew and late night coding sessions, but us computer programmers have a reputation for our monitor glow tans and anti-sociality (though most socialites do their real socializing at night, not during the mornings for instance). However once we join the real world (IE graduate from College) we tend to find that we have to keep more normal hours than we would prefer. I, like many other coders have found that I really don't get clicking until after noon, and often I start really firing on all cylinders code wise only after 4pm. However once it rolls past midnight, there is a negative side to things.

As long as things are flowing well, you're golden, but if you start encountering a bug, it is often hours before you will find even the simplest problem. And if, God forbid, as has happened to me tonight, you find out that what you are attempting simply isn't possible because someone made a decision in some code that you have no choice but to use, and that it would be possible if you didn't have to use that piece of code, well, your fragile mind is like to snap.

I'm heading to bed. This will all feel like a three day bender in the morning, but now it feels like death.

The New Family Member

I realize I've been bad at updating this thing. May was my last update and November the one before that. There will be no NaNoWriMo for me this year as I'm working two jobs already. But I thought I'd post a picture of Henry who is our new kitten (though we got him a couple of months ago now.
 

The Better of two Pumpkins

Profile_Pumpkin_size
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

So this was my second carving after I rememberd how carving a pumpkin works. Originally I considered a big scene, but ended up deciding to try a face in profile (this is a really thick pumpkin). It turned out reasonably well, some of the better hair I've done, but I'm still not entirely happy with this. Oh well, enjoy.

A Practice Pumpkin is always a good idea

Sunglasses_Pumpkin_Crop
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

So I haven't posted in forever. I am currently working two jobs (though not travelling much anymore) but I made time for my annual pumpkin carving. This was my first attempt and it sure is lame, but it was decent practice for the next one.

Jet Planes and Here Comes the Bride

So, tomorrow the wife and I hop on a jet and fly to Arizona for a wedding. Honestly, I could totally use the break from life in general, so we're going to take a week there and enjoy the hot desert air. Just thought I'd post a little something since I haven't written anything in forever. I don't have much to say, so I guess I'll get back to writing up my trip expense report.