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.

NaNoWriMo is Started

I have started my NaNoWriMo entry, and I have posted my first chapter/entry. You can keep up with my story here

Let me know what you think of it and the additions as I go on. Also a vote as to whether I should just put up chapters as I finish them, or as the correspond to the dates in question (as the story is supposed to be taking place this month. For instance I have another chapter done, but it isn't supposed to be written until the 4th. I kind of like that approach, and it can mean that you will get multiple chapters some days, and none others. This is likely the case even if you want a chapter each time I finish one, but a vote would be good.

Punpkin's Made Creepy

Steve-Pumpkin_Eyes_2005
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

Steve-Pumpkin_unlit_2005
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

Steve-Pumpkin_2005
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

So it's Halloween again. I totally don't get into the whole spooky decorating thing, but I do get into the carving of pumpkins. Hope you like them. You can click on each one for a larger sized version.

Premo Sculpey is $0.77 a block, but I don't need any.

It is a sad state of affairs people. This is an opportunity that doesn't come around often, and I would like nothing more than to walk out of Michaels with $40 in clay. Premo usually runs more than twice this price. But alas, I cannot force myself to get more than three blocks I actually can use. I have stocked up in the past, and have enough for now. Since I am trying to be good with money, and already have my eye on a couple of graphics books in excess of $50 a piece, I shall have to hold off.

Ah yes. Here I am, four years out of school and lusting over what are essentially text books. Not that I recall lusting over any of my textbooks while I was in school. My wife doesn't get it. Why would I want a boring book about computer programming to read for FUN. She would understand if I needed it for work (I bought one of those recently), but I will read this for fun. In fact it has indirect work applications, but still, even if it didn't, I would still want it and read it for fun.

This disconnect in mindsets has caused some consternation. If I ask a question of you in the vein of "Why does/did that happen?" Chances are, I want to really understand. I hate not understanding something. Sometimes I'm too lazy to actually DO anything about it, but I still hate it. So, if she or a member of her family (she is particularly sensitive about them, well they are her family) asks me why about something. Well, I tend to start from the beginning and explain it. From my experiences, when people have asked me a question and wanted a full answer, I would often labor on trying to explain it (specifically about computers) to the frustration of both of us, because I was working under the impression that they knew something fundamental that I took for granted. (There are a lot of things I find I take for granted that I shouldn't)

So to stave this off, I explain from the ground up unless I know my audience is knowledgeble. This works well with computers, because most people don't have any more idea about how their computer works than I do about my car. In fact, most people regard them as basically magical devices. You turn them on, they work, or don't, and you put up with quirks, because the only thing worse is dealing with the Computer Wizards (see, we're even referred to as Wizards). And besides, that whole field of computer magic is obviously unstable or they wouldn't all have these problems. When my wife asks me how my day at work is, and I want to explain some particular issue tha requires some knowledge that I don't believe she has, I'll figure out an everyday example and explain it. Often she didn't care, but in this case, I'm the one who wanted to communicate my day, so she has to deal.

Well, so I treat any request for information that I know the answer to the same way. Ask me why the Aurora Borealis occurs, and why you don't normally see it in Virginia, and I'll confirm that you are familiar with the Earth's magnetic field, and solar flares, maybe touch on the solar wind. Then I'll explain about the Van Allen belts, and magnetic field strength and ions etc. Well, apparently this means I think her family is stupid. I treat them as if they are honestly seeking knowledge, and that if they knew the background information (which they most likely don't because they never took an interest before, which is fine) they would already know the answer. So I start with the background and explain. I specifically don't treat them like someone I feel is incapable of understanding the answer and just say "because it does." Heck, if they ask me, they should know I'm going to answer the question the best I can.

Apparently I'm condescending (and I can see how it could be interpretted that way) and should just answer, "because it does/is". Okay, perhaps they don't want the long version. Perhaps when someone asks me they might just REALLY want to know if the answer is simple or complex. Maybe they just want me to say "That's actually a bit complicated, do you want me to answer it fully, or did you just want to know if there is a simple answer?" And I'll try and do that from now on. But ladies and gentleman, here we have a classic case of a disagreement in a marriage due to the way two different families relate. In my family, when we asked a question like that, we knew my father was going to give us as complete an answer as he could, and so we either didn't ask, or prefaced asking with some statement to indicate we wanted the simple answer.

That is not how she grew up. Neither way is right or wrong, but those differences can cause strife if you don't identify them. But I'm warning you now, that if you ask me why something is, I'm going to do my best to give you as complete an answer as necessary.

November Nonsense

So the month comes again. One which I have looked forward to for some time now. Not because of Thanksgiving, though that should be good, but rather because I will be NaNoWriMoing again. I have already spoken with Miss Virginia Ruth about this year's attempt, and plan one making sure that if I don't make it to 50k words, that I will at least have more than her. It will be my daily goal to achieve this.

50,000 words really is a short novel. But to write that many words in 30 days is rather a challenge. It breaks down nicely it seems to the paltry sum of 1666.6666666666666666666667 words a day (though I plan on only writing complete words, so most likely I'll be writing 5000 words every three days.) Given that my posts (when I make them) regularly exceed 1000 words (the last post was only 575, but two posts previous was an impressive 1188) you would think I would have little to no trouble producing 5000 written words every three days. The truth is somewhat wore complex. I seem to think and create much more effectively in longhand. The problem with that is that I type about 20 times faster than I write, and a full hundred times more legibly (not even considering that I'm currently still learning a now keyboard layout). So I will often find that I have enough gathered thoughts to write a relatively rapid 5000 or so words. Often on the first day, but after that, my momentum is spent and I fail to be able to determine where I will be going from where I am.

Not this year. This year I've actually come up with a concept I'm excited about, ahead of time even. I'm going to plan on 25 chapters of 2000 words each, and determine ahead of time the major thematic plot developments per chapter so that when I sit down to write a chapter, I know what has to happen in it. I will not however tie myself exclusively to this formula. If I feel the need to deviate, I will. My major problem has been a lack of knowing where I'm going.

The story will be in first person, and told almost as a journal entry reflection of each period of time. I will be posting completed chapters to another blog I will inform you (my two readers) about in the near future. As to Miss Virginia Ruth, do you want to get together sometime during the first week of November to flog at our novels together? My wife will be out of town (this is far less scandalous than a reader might suppose for reasons that aren't really your concern) and I will be free virtually all week. Perhaps we could manage to get a little ahead of the game even. You know I have enough computers if you cannot bring your own. (though I believe you can)

Coming and going

So, I have returned from yet another trip to Sufflok, and a narrow brush with the Secretary of State. (Last time it was the Joint Chiefs) and am currently packing to head for my parent's lake house where my wife and I will celebrate our second anniversary. This almost didin't happen on time, as originally, I was supposed to be in Suffolk this week as well. But as evidenced by the current week, I was unable to really do my work in that particular environment, and so I got to go home. (Thanks to sense being spoken by my Software lead.)

But for a moment I will address the subject of absences and gender differences in perception. (I'm sure you can't imagine why this may have come up.) The major issue is that my wife is always very upset when we are separated, and is made more upset by the fact that I don't seem to be as badly affected. In fact, I almost seem to enjoy my time apart. Well, let me attempt to break it down for you.

Men, always have their cave. In many homes, it is their workroom (where the tools are, often the garage) or the bathroom, because their wives insist on the rest of the house looking nice (read: feminine) which honestly, is quite sensible of them. But it leads to the male in the relationship feeling that they have no nice places to be themselves.

Men are not entirely themselves when with their SO, and despite any protestrations to the contrary, women are wuch happier that this is the case. Men don't strive to be crude, but we seem to do a good job of it when left to our own devices. Bottling this up all the time, (except when in our caves) tends to lead to a desire to be alone for awhile to be the pure male we remember being. So, when there is physical separation (say a three hour car ride to name one completely at random) for a time, the man is torn. He truely does miss his wife (or SO), but he also revels in the temporary freedom to be what he remembers being. And let's be clear, he doesn't desire to stay that way (well, this isn't always true, but assuming he's happy in his relationship) but he want's that ability to let out the pressure he's built up.

This is why guys invented Boy's Night. (which women have copied in an attempt to prove they can do anything we can) The name is quite telling. We want a chance to be boys again. Something our wives just see the need for. Boy's night, exiles women for a night so the boys can do all the stupid things they want, and then (and this is important) they can return home and be a man again.

Now, I personally have been away from home quite often enough in the last 5 months, and could do with some time at home (we like being alone at home even more than alone on the road BTW) and with my wife. But I'm going away next weekend, and she's going away at the end of the month. We'll spend as much time together in the intervening time as we can and when she goes away, I'm sure I'll still enjoy being released to be a boy again, but I'll have a hell of a time falling asleep in our empty bed.

On the Road . . . again

So, I'm on the road once more. Not in the same way as the famous Beat author who travelled the country bankrolled by his Aunt back East, and meeting up with his crazy friends all over the world. I'm being bankrolled by my company, so it that way it is at least similar, and I meet various co-workers I've never met before, but otherwise it is totally different. For one thing, I'm in Suffolk, VA. For another, my version of a wild day is sitting in a room listening to a bunch of people talk about things that I don't care about, but that do matter to my future happiness.

Tomorrow I'll spend more time on a post, but I wanted to get things back underway. I've got to get to sleep so I can get up too early tomorrow (I work from home most of the time, so I never see 6:45 am on my clock unless I have to get up to go to the bathroom) and spend all day doing nothing. It should be a trip.

Men, we're retarded that way, and it has sod all to do with you.

I would like the preface this with the emphatic statement that in no way has the woman in my life done anything to bring this little missive to light. It was probably mostly a combination of watching 5 back to back episodes of the UK version of Coupling and talking with a woman about her and her significant other.

If women could realize that the universe that is their relationship does not have them at the center, life could be so much less complex for guys. Now let's be fair, women are not the only ones who think they are the center of the relationship universe, but women take it to the extreme at times.

Relationships are binary star systems. The stars orbit each other and all the other issues/events orbit the stars (things like the planet of the first kiss, or the ex-girlfriend comet that shows up every 5 years). But the important thing is that there can be something wrong with the one star that the other has absolutely no control over, or responsibility for. They orbit each other, they affect one another, but excessive worry and attention often does nothing for that spate of excessive sunspot activity.

Here is what it boils down to. Women seem to get to certain points in relationships before their man, and if he doesn't come along smartly in line with their mindset, then he must not value the relationship as much as they do. As an example (and I must, due to my audience) be quick to point out that as an example, it is neither perfect, nor universally applicable. It is however true in the general case.

Women tend to realize that they want this relationship to last for the rest of their lives earlier than men. And men, well, they have two options. One, they may realize that you are feeling this way before they are sure what they are feeling, or two, they may realize the same thing. It doesn't really matter which comes first, because sooner or later, they are going to freak out. This is where the women in my audience (and let's face it, that's most of my audience for some reason) need to realize that this has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with you. (Where you means the female that is the other person in the relationship) The only possible way in which it CAN become something to do with you, is if you make it so.

This is where you need to calm the heck down and realize you are not in the middle of this relationship. The entire focal point of this relationship in the mind of the guy, is not, and SHOULD not be you. Read that again and absorb it. Now realize that you will totally forget it the next time something like this comes up. It's in your nature the same way what the guy is going to do is in his.

Now, the guy may realize that "hey, I want to spend the rest of my life with this woman". He may realize "um...I think she's starting to think about the M-word" It doesn't really matter, because at some point, they man must face, and answer this questions. "Am I ready to settle down with one woman?" Notice, the question is not "Am I ready to settle down with this woman?" It is "one woman". Now women, this is where you need to take a step way the hell back and let the guy work this one through. He may say things to you like "I've been thinking, maybe we should date some other people." Crazy stuff. Stuff he doesn't really mean. It's an outcropping of this set of thoughts that are repeating in his head.

"If I settle down, then it's just one woman. There isn't any possibility of more. No more first kisses, no other women to feel what it's like to snuggle up with. No more breasts to try out. I'm not sure I want to give that up." Now keep in mind, the past dating history of this man has absolutely NO relevance on this. They may have dated hundreds of women, had hundreds of first kisses and worked every possible relationship to see where it could go. Or they might have stood on the dating sidelines waiting for the coach to put them in, and not realizing that they are their own coach in a team of one. I myself had only dated one other woman when my wife and I were engaged and about three months from marriage. I was sure I was ready, enthusiastically embraced a life together and then all of a sudden found myself regretting the loss of opportunity to date other women and have these experiences. Let's completely ignore the fact that in the year prior to Megan and I dating, I hadn't made friends with one datable woman near my age. And mostly through absolute lack of trying.

But it had absolutely nothing to do with my wife. She could either let me sort through it, and give me smacks upside the head if I did things like suggest we date other people 10 months into our 13 month engagment, or she could smother me trying to make me forget about the other women and forcibly pull me with her into HER future. Fortunately, mine let me figure it out. A couple should walk forward into THEIR future (which is generaly both parties walking in the direction they think is right, being shocked to find that sometimes this differs, and then figuring out which way to go as a couple each time they hit one of these places). But when a woman freaks out and decides she needs to fix her male, she begins to forcibly drag him the way she wants things to go. She pulls him further and further down HER path with no chance for him to affect the direction. This makes him feel even MORE trapped and in fact sabotages her. Because if he tries to pull away and say "I'd like to go this way please." She takes this as him rejecting her, but he's just trying to walk the path together (At least at first). She's already threatened that he doesn't feel exactly the same way she does and so any attempt to deviate from her chosen path is seen as a sure sign that things are over.

Let me enlighten you ladies. The sure sign that things are over is when he no longer tries to walk a different path. When he's given up and is trudging like a young child behind his mother. Whether it ends after the marriage or before, he has lost interest in this relationship and you've done it to yourself. His actions to change where things were going showed he cared about the direction. When he no longer cares enough to try and change things, he no longer cares period, and it is only a matter of time before he realizes it.

Whew...that was very long, and convoluted, but I think there is truth in there somewhere. Let me know when you find it.

A departure from Sculpture

Rose_Cane_Bowl_2
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

Though not a departure from Polymer clay. This is my first semi-serious creation with a cane. A Cane is a cylinder (in general) of clay that has some pattern running through it. In this case, there are two canes, a rose cane and a leaf cane, you can reduce them in size, but keep the detail, which is why there are two or three colors worth here, and the clay was mixed with translucent, so you can see through it when there is a candle in the bowl.

It looks better when lit and in a dim room than when seen in daylight, for a couple of reasons, not the least of which being that the boundaries between the clay are quite visible. But it's only my first attempt.

Base with multiple leaves

Sculpture_Dan_Small_Leaves
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

This is the other version. I'm a little partial to this one.

My newest Sculpture

Sculpture_Dan_BigLeaf-Front
Originally uploaded by Tegid.

This was an attempt to create a commissioned piece for someone. I made two bases for this image, and I'll post the other one next. Whichever base the person doesn't choose, will be used by another sculpture.

Don't get too excited

So I'm really just posting some of my more recent sculpture work. (Look for me at a craft fair near me this summer)


This is the completed sleeping mouse, sleeping in his leaf.


This is my most recent, it's a basset hound, though I've been told he looks evil. Hopefully that will not be the case when I'm done painting him. This is what they look like unbaked though, for anyone that might have wondered.

I've got a headache, but it's okay.

Because after two and a half weeks of 60 hour pace (two weeks of roughly 60 hours and one week of 40 completed in 4 days) I'm done with the project.

I've also finished a couple of other projects in that time. So here they are...Well the mouse isn't finished, but it is better than my last mouse in terms of ear size etc. I'm not too thrilled with the actual shape of the bear's head, but he looks cute.

And people have offerred to buy/commission sculptures from me, so I'm psyched about that. More practice coming up. Without further ado:







Enjoy and post comments. And Ginny, you can live your carefree (relative) college existence and scorn me for not posting all you want. (Actually, that really just lets me know that someone reads my blog).