Political Rage

I just heard on NPR that Senator McCain has requested the Presidential debates be postponed on account of the economy. He has also requested, on account of a stomach ache, that he be excused from gym.

Senator McCain, if you are elected in November, will you also postpone the Presidency in times of economic crisis? These debates are so essential exactly because of the current state of the economy. Participating in the Presidential debates in no way impacts the steps congress is taking (or not taking) in reaction to the bank failures. What exactly is McCain intending to do for the economy while he's avoiding talking about it in front of a national audience?

If Senator McCain is not ready to discuss the economy on Friday, I have no faith that he'll be ready to act in the economy's best interest in January.

The presidential debates, now more than ever, must go forward. What will be said on Friday is every bit as pressing as the futile congressional bickering over a doubtful buyout that will increase our federal debt by 700 billion dollars.

Real Living on a Diet

If you're following my blog at this point, you probably know me in person, and you probably know I've been on a diet for a while. One of the curses in any diet attempt is the pitfall of eating out. Especially while traveling. It seems like even when you think you're being good, you gain weight while traveling.

Probably that's because you aren't being as good as you think. Things that seem healthy might be loaded with calories and things that really are healthy might surprise you. One tip I've heard from Weight Watchers and other diet sources is to ask for a box at the beginning of the meal. I pretty much always do that when I eat out now, unless I'm sharing with someone. BTW, if you're sharing two dishes, even if one is a salad, it doesn't count as a half portion anymore.

Cutting your meal in half from the get-go can certainly help, but even half a meal can be upwards from 1000 calories depending on what you order. Don't assume it's healthy just because you're eating less of it. Yeah, and salads are OFTEN more than 1000 calories just by themselves.

A tip I got from South Beach is to swallow a spoonful of Metamucil (mmm fiber) five minutes before meals so you'll feel full. Personally, I find that idea repulsive, but hey, whatever works.

Snacks are a big help. and I usually take granola bars and fruit leathers (kinda like fruit rollups that are actually made of fruit) to keep us going during the day. On South Beach fruit leathers are completely out and granola bars are limited to the South Beach granola bars (which are GROSS) so I usually stick with nuts. Yes, I do count them out. 30 of the little ones like pistachios and peanuts, 12-15 of bigger ones like walnuts and cashews. Surprisingly, that's usually enough to make me happy. Snacks should help keep you from feeling like you need to inhale your dinner.

Here's one tip I came up with on my own: figure out what your ACTUAL caloric intake should be. The FDA, or whoever it is that makes recommendations, claims that average daily intake should be 2000 calories. This is total crap.

First of all, 2000 calories is probably a good average intake for a MAN from the 1960s. We're generally less active now so some guys might be around 2000 (and athletic guys will be above) but I'm betting most guys are a little bit below that. That, mind you, is to maintain weight. If you're actually trying to lose weight you should be eating less. And unfortunately it's not even CLOSE for women, we need far fewer calories in general to maintain weight. There are online calorie counters all over the place that can tell you about how many calories you need. It's good to get a ballpark of that before you start estimating how many calories you should spend for a meal.

The most helpful thing I've found for traveling on a diet is chain restaurants. I know it's completely counter intuitive, but bear with me. This also applies to eating out locally, though in that case you can usually afford to test your favorite places to see ones have you gaining weight and which do less damage. The trick is that many chain restaurants have their nutrition information online so even though the majority of their meals may be atrocious, you can pick over it ahead of time and fine those one or two items that are healthy. Deciding what you're going to eat ahead of time does take out some of the excitement, but it also cuts back on the temptation to get something REALLY bad, because hey, it's not like there's anything healthy on the menu, right?

Here are some menus I've found online: P.F. Chang's, Bob Evans, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Macaroni Grill, and Chilis. As far as I know Applebees, TGIFridays, and Outback don't provide nutritional information, so while they may have acceptable food on their menus, I'd just avoid them since you can't be sure. Olive Garden ONLY provides nutritional information on their "healthy" items, and that information is incomplete (it doesn't tell you calories or fat for low-carb items and doesn't tell you carbs for low fat items. SHADY) so I'd travel with care there, and make sure to limit your portion sizes. As for all the rest, many of them are in pdf format, which I'm pretty sure is a ploy to discourage people to get there, but never mind. It also means they're very easy to PRINT. And then tuck into your travel journal, so wherever you go, you have a few things you know you can eat. Be careful to notice that most meals sneakily don't include sides, so you have to add those in too. I usually aim for no more than 500 calories for my big meal, maybe 300 for a smaller meal. That is going to vary.

It's not perfect. When I'm traveling I don't even bother to worry about salt or carbs, I'm just looking at my net calorie intake. Planning ahead helps a lot though, it can keep you from throwing up your hands and giving up, and, if you actually follow your pre-picked meal, you might even lose a pound instead of gaining five.

Wangston's Law

Earlier today I was listening to Weekend America on NPR. There was an interesting segment, a short amusement driven piece, about something called Wangston's Law.

Wangston's Law states that: Humans should not waste their time discussing any question that can be answered by a robot (google, wikipedia, etc.)

This "law" is actually invented by some guy (not named Wangston) who pulls it up at parties whenever he thinks the conversation is too mundane. I guess it's an interesting idea. His point, I think, is that we should focus our energy on higher pursuits and let the matrix handle the easy stuff.

The way I see it, we should take the opposite approach. In these days where (relatively) accurate information is available, from anywhere, within seconds, it seems like a shame to not find out the answers whenever you can. If the thought: I wonder... ever enters your head, why aren't you typing it into a toolbar window? In a way, both ideas are promoting the same thing. Wangston's law wants us to work on a higher level mentally, and so do I. Only I think the best way to enrich our brains is to fill it with as much information as possible. We really have a ways to go before we run out of room.

Matt and I actually have a rule to that effect. Whenever one of us says "I wonder" we try to write down the question and look it up later. When I get an iphone the later part will go away (Matt's got a smartphone but often questions occur to us while he's driving). The extremely obvious theory behind the rule is that if we do this, we'll learn new things all the time. We don't follow it perfectly, but we've already learned many things we never would have known. For example:

Dolphins sleep with half their brain at a time.

Swallows mate in flight.

The movie Apollo 13 did all the null-gravity scenes the same way astronauts train for it: steep diving airplanes.

Will any of this information ever come in handy? Who knows. If it's so easy to find out though, why shouldn't I try to know more than I did yesterday? True, useless information is not particularly helpful, and in some cases it might actually be harmful. I see a big difference though, in filling up on unnecessary information for the sake of knowing it (as with rote memorization) and learning things because they interest you. Obviously the things Matt and I look up do interest us, or we wouldn't be asking the question. So I want to propose that the rule Matt and I (sometimes) follow should be another law, to counteract Wangston's Law.

Wanker's Law: Humans should take advantage of the ease of information provided by robots (google, wiki, etc.) whenever a question arises.

Why Wanker's Law? Because it all comes down to mental masturbation. Humans as a group won't follow either law. Individuals are generally not motivated to learn. We love to discuss over-discussed topics like who won American Idol, because it's easier than contemplating the mysteries of life. Meanwhile we're far to lazy, intellectually, to type every question into google. It's not that pushing the buttons is too much work, it's just that we aren't used to exerting the effort of keeping a question in our mind long enough to look for the answer.

Micro Memory

At Aunt Sharron's, the summer I turned five, my cousins found some baby mice. I thought at first they were toy plastic pigs, because mice are born without hair. We showed Aunt Sharron, we thought they were sweet and I hoped to keep them for pets. Instead, she threw all the babies- far younger than me- over the fence like the garden snails. I knew without asking that this was not to send them along to live somewhere else, but to splatter their little pink bodies on the hot sidewalk.

Jim

Dear Jim-

I think you've been hanging on these last couple years more because you knew so many people loved you than because you really wanted to. That'd be like you. I don't know how many times my parents called me and said, "Jim's not doing so well, they don't think he's going to make it through the night." And every time, you surprised them, you pulled through with a polite, "no not right now, thanks." Even this time, you held out a good week longer than anyone thought you would. Still I wish I could have seen you once more.

You've been more like a grandfather to me than a great-uncle. I remember when you came to my class for grandparents day in fifth grade. I surprised mom by asking if she thought you would, and she surprised me by saying she though you'd be thrilled that I asked. I don't know if you were, but I think she was right, and it made me feel bigger, better somehow to realize you'd be happy to be considered my grandparent. You told me and my friends stories about your time in World War II that I don't remember anymore. Grandma and Bud were there too, but you were the only one who ever talked about it.

Before Grandma moved to Oregon, whenever she came to town during Thanksgiving, we'd all go over to your place to be with you and Flo and Mona. That felt more like real family time than any other holiday I'd experienced, and the next year, when Grandma stayed in Philadelphia, I told mom I wanted to go to your house again. She explained that it was rude to invite ourselves, but I told her I didn't care, and I bugged her until she did.

As you approached 90, as I realized you were the last person living in my grandparents generation. I wanted to ask you about our family, wanted to hear all your stories, or at least some of them, and this time write them down. I wanted to give you another hug. I wanted to tell you that I can't help but love my fiance's father because he reminds me so much of you. More than the things I wish I'd said though, I regret that I'll never get to talk to you again. To hear your sharp quiet sense of humor.
Jim, I've never been able to guess what comes next, but wherever you are, I hope you're not in pain, I hope you can rest or not as you please. I hope there's still a you somewhere, because you were such a wonderful "you." I love you Jim, and I'll miss you.

Puddle Phone Photo

I wanted to share this photo just because I think it looks sort of poetic. Not that I know anything about poetry. This is from Crocker Park, a development that had the potential to be cool but is just kinda lame and trendy instead. You can click on this one for a larger view.

Hillary Clinton

In the last few days, many of the media mouths, even on my favorite news source, have been criticizing Hillary Clinton. It's not even really criticism so much as it is a fatherly shaking of the head, a "we expect better" sort of voice. And really that's so much worse. If they ever wanted to prove that there was a bias of sexism, they've succeeded.

I've been a stanch Obama supporter since the primaries kicked off, but I've always liked Clinton, both varieties. I don't think either of them (the Clintons that is) have exactly shown their best faces in this election, but I also don't think that Hillary's not-exactly concession speech is as big a deal as the media is making of it. To me, this is another reminder that behind Hillary's carefully polished face is a human being.

Because Hillary isn't being petty, at least that's not how I read it. Hillary is CRUSHED. How long has this been in her sights? Since Bill was elected? Earlier? I think everyone knew it was on the horizon when she ran for Senator, if not before. People joked about her being the real president when Bill was in office, so I'm sure it was on her mind. And at the beginning this election, Hillary was far from the only person who thought the nomination was hers for the plucking. Defeat hurts. I have to question how much any person who has not learned that, has actually tried.

So give her the measly four days she's taken to cling to "not making any decisions." The decision has been made for her, probably was weeks ago. Let her nurse her ego, and step down with dignity. Once she's had her time, Hillary will do her duty with all the enthusiasm of a cheerleader on Ecstasy.

To Hillary Clinton, (because obviously she reads my blog) I'd like to say thank you. We've been pretending that this isn't about race or sex except in a mildly amusing anecdotal way, but this election was always in some part about each of those things. I know it hurts to lose, but you've done more than any woman in history to make IT possible. In spite of whatever sexism you may have faced, you did NOT lose because you are a woman, you lost because you underestimated your opponent. And on the day you chose not to concede the race, today when everyone is wondering what you're thinking, this Saturday, when you throw your support behind Obama as you have to do: there is not a single person who can now believe that a woman cannot be president.

Hillary, it won't be you, but it will be because of you. It won't be me, because I don't want it, but I know I'll see it in my lifetime. You may see it in your lifetime. Maybe I'll vote for Chelsey Clinton. Because of you. I don't know what you'll do next. If Obama can defeat McCain, I believe this country CAN change, finally, in much needed ways. You will be a part of that. Maybe you can even step less carefully now that your presidential aspirations are spent. I don't know.

All I know is that while right now you are feeling the crushing pain of defeat, while right now I am cheering in my heart for Barack Obama, you have done something wonderful. I won't stop hoping for Obama, but I do hope that someday soon, you realize how very much you have done.

*images link to source

Baby

My drawing today is the first peek at my new webcomic Not Quite Magic. I'm hoping to get this going in a few weeks, once I've (I hope) built up a few comics so I can be sure to always post on time. I'll be posting every Monday and Wednesday and every other Friday. This un-inked drawing will be one of the Friday drawings, which aren't necessarily related to the main story line (you'll see once I get started). It won't be the first strip in the series, but it fit this week's Illustration Friday topic: "baby" so I thought I'd go ahead and get started.

As usual, click for a slightly larger view. Any comments would be helpful.

200!

I just reached page 200 in my novel! I think I'm finally getting close to being finished. Right now I'm working on the climactic scene, which is more because I'm skipping around than because I'm actually that near the end. I expect the finished book will be about 250, maybe a little longer. There are a few scenes I'm putting off writing, either because they're difficult for me (the beginning is giving me fits) or because they're such a big deal I'm still intimidated by them. As I close in on them it will get easier, at least that's how it's been working so far.

Writing a novel is a new experience. I chose to do a novel for my MFA thesis because I was afraid that if I didn't write one now I'd never write one. This particular story has been forming in my head for about seven years. I was feeling depressed, chatting with my friend Adam and trying to explain the kind of isolation I was experiencing. Finally I told him, "it's like being a changeling," and from there the story exploded.

It's pretty much unrecognizable now from the comic book concept I came up with as an undergrad. Gale is the main character of this book, part 1 of 4, and she didn't even exist in the initial conception. When I did invent her, I intended her to be a "bad guy" a nemesis for my main character, but instead she's turned into a full and tragic character, in some ways even more engaging than my initial protagonist, Breeze. Breeze will take over in book two.

One of the most alarming things about novel writing is how unpredictable it is. I'm used to short stories, 14-17 pages long, where I usually know everything that happens before I write it. With this novel, Lost Child of Summer, I had a vague outline in my head, but while the start and finished stayed at roughly the same spot, the middle wiggled around like the body of a snake. I know it sounds cliche, but it's almost magic to see how the characters take on a life of their own and the story twists in unexpected ways. It makes me feel a little powerless to realize that I'm not actually in control of my own story. With about a fifth of the book to go, I'm still not entirely certain about what's going to happen in certain parts. How weird.

Anyway, getting closer. Wish me luck. Here are some sketches I did way back when I first came up with the story. They don't really fit any more. Click on the images for a large version.

Page 1: "In more superstitious times it was believed that a spirit might come and steal an unguarded child." "The child would be replaced with the spirit's own unnatural babe. Candels, bells and other charms were often used to protect against this." "But sometimes the charms failed..." "And a human baby was lost." "And sometimes..." "No one noticed."Page 2: "Naptime age 1 1/2" "2nd birthday party" "Zoo visit age 3 1/2" "Family Camping Trip, age 5" "Basketball game 1st grade"Page 3: "Sheesh Mom, don't you have any normal pictures of me when I was little?" "Well... those are normal. For you." "Right."

Presidential Style Ratings

I just had the best idea ever. Ok, technically NPR already came up with something similar but I wrote most of this post before I read the whole article so I'm posting it anyway.

Heard on the news just now that McCain is hosting several vice presidential candidates in his home this week. So it got me thinking. What are they going to do be doing? Will there perhaps be unpredictable tests of character, thrown at various candidates with out warning? An unspoken contest to see who can cook the best patriotic Memorial Day hot dogs? Whatever they do, I'm sure tensions will be running high.

And everyone knows that people in close proximity with lots of stress and competition between them makes for good TV watching! So I propose a new reality TV show for this election: Presidential Judgment. Every week will be a new challenge. For example:

1. Say my approval rating is dropping rapidly through the floor. You're asked to take one for the team, and come up with a scheme to distract the American Public. Do you: a. Misspell "potato(e)" at a third grade spelling bee, b. Give a speech about Global Warming and/or claim to have invented the internet, or c. Shoot your best friend in the face?

What better way to rejuvenate the waning interest in Election 08? Imagine the Thursday night excitement when Florida Governor Charlie Crist forgets the cameras are on, and slips a baggie of white powder beneath the pillow of Mitt Romney. Or when McCain finds out about the secret love brewing between Romney and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal!

Really this is all very silly, but it does raise an important question about the nature of American TV: Why the hell didn't we do this for the campaign trail for Presidential nominees? There's still time, at this point Hillary and Barack won't be done till August.

Freight Elevator Photos

A professor's retirement party yesterday evening was held at the Lit in an old building in downtown Cleveland. Matt and I got to ride in a freakin' sweet old freight elevator (operated by a cool looking middle aged hippie) to get to the party. Here are a couple photos:

This one is looking up from the second floor but it actually looks deeper (higher) because there was more light.This is on the way back down from the first floor. You can't make as much out but I like the composition so I thought I'd share it anyway.I'm going to try to start up my "drawings of the day" again this week, we'll see how that goes. Maybe call it "drawings of the occasional" instead. Most will be new work but I'll keep throwing in some finished stuff from my portfolio and teen stuff from my old sketchbooks when it seems fitting (aka when I'm feeling too lazy to draw something new).

Muggle Musings (kinda sad, I know)

I was re-reading the Harry Potter series the other day, I think thats third time or so I've read the final book (I've read the others more obviously). Whenever you reread something you tend to notice things that you missed the first (and second) time around, and I'm certainly picking up on mistakes that I managed to miss in the first place.

That's not to say I didn't find lapses in logic in my first reading, but most of the big ones, the obvious ones, were explained away. Snape's character for example always seemed a bit flat to me; in spite of the fact that I never believed he was a "bad guy" he was a little too conveniently and consistently nasty. The more times I read it though, particularly the final book, the more whole a character he seems.

He's not perfect mind you, there are still huge gaps, and I still feel like there was some scrabbling going on in the final book to explain how he could possibly be a good guy. I can accept that he hates Harry on site, the fact that he looks so much like his father is explanation enough for that, but why is he such a jerk towards everyone else? Aside from rivalries, he actually seems to get along well with Minerva McGonagall and the other professors, which would seem unlikely if he were so obviously wretched to everyone not in his own house. I think he starts to redeem himself in book five, when he seems to be more pretending to be cruel, but there's a big gap between "I see no difference" comment when Hermione's teeth grew all over the place and his suggestion that Crabb (or was it Goyle?) not choke Neville to death in order to avoid tedious paperwork. I've gotta wonder if in book four Rowling was really sure what she was going to do with Snape, because it seems like he could have been just as mean in less obvious ways, without giving away his uncertain status in Harry's eyes.

Slate Jokes

The Slate did a feature where readers sent in their scenarios of possible ways Hillary could win the nomination. Some of them are pretty funny, but this was my favorite:

"Hillary appeals to the Supreme Court, which, based upon a 2000 ruling, decides that the candidate with fewer votes wins the election. —John Kirkbride"

Awesome. Go here to read the rest.

Long Last

I am OFFICIALLY done with ALL my classes. Ok, maybe not officially until the grade comes in, but I don't have to go to any more classes! I am exactly 1 credit short of my M.F.A. *happy dance* Which doesn't actually translate to the amount of work I've got left... about another third of a book, 50 plus pages. *slightly slower happy dance*

Website

Things are winding down, I should be back to blogging in about a week. Until then, here's a link to the Vindicator website which I FINALLY got designed an online: www.csuohio.edu/vindicator

It's not exactly finished... the pictures are largely unlabeled not because I'm going for some ultra-cool minimalist look but because it was 5 am. The labels that do exist aren't haphazardly slapped on the photos because I have no design sense (I hope) but because it was... yes, 5 am.

Quick Update

So if there's anyone out there actually still reading my blog you've probably noticed that there's not been anything to read lately. Please forgive me and come back in a couple weeks when I'm done with end of the semester and end of the Vindicator (for me) stuff. I'll be back. (not intended to be read in a Schwarzenegger voice, if you imagined a Schwarzenegger voice, stop it.)

Just because

Because we all know how much I love stupid quizzes...
77% Geek

24

Bring it on.

47

(OK, but seriously, asparagus is not a color, I call bs.)

57%

Or something.

291 WATTS Body Battery Calculator - Find Out How Much Electricity Your Body is Producing -

Don't tell the matrix.

32

Personally, I think this disproves the above geek percentage.

47

I might not have done ALOT better on this one... but this really was "how many countries can I SPELL."

2,157,120How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?

No really. I've been working on my thesis. All night.

Bubbles

Here's another teen drawing for your viewing enjoyment. In color no less! A real rarity in my work from then OR now.So this one was actually drawn in crayon. I'm guessing I was about 16 because I think that's about when I was playing with color more (eventually I'll get around to scanning some of my less angst-y work that's in colored pencil). Click on the picture for a larger version.

Phone Pic 04-15-08

I realized I haven't posted a phone picture in a while so here's one I found amusing for, oh, so many reasons.This is from YSU campus, where I'm taking a non-fiction class. For those who can't read the fine print the sign says: "Only The Rock May Be Painted. DO NOT Paint Adjacent Surfaces."

Dark Star

Here's another teen drawing to chew on:The age on this one is pretty easy to guess because of the hair on the central figure. I was obsessed with spiky hair my senior year of high school (right up until after graduation when I got mine spiked and the style lost all charm) so my characters tended to have spiky hair. I would have been 17. By the way I would like to both BRAG because notice that my anatomy in this image is pretty damn good for someone without any real training and LAMENT because, honestly, it's not any better now.

Other updates: Blogger unlocked my art index blog (woohoo!) so I can start working on that again. I may or may not be able to get that up this week because I REALLY need to get the Vindicator website up by next week. I'll keep you posted on both. As for my thesis, which is sort of the main focus in my life at the moment, I hit the 175 page mark today! It feels like I'm moving slowly, but I do seem to be making progress.