Archives: November 01, 2007

Month Impossible: Day Thirty, This is the end

Friday, 30 November 2007 09:51 AM

Ten in the morning, November 30. Fourteen hours to go, fifteen thousand words to go. I am cutting it really, really close.

 

 

 

UPDATE: 12:15pm: Now at 37,011 words, plus one more drawing completed. Time for lunch. Lunchtime entertainment: the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

UPDATE: 3:24pm: Up to 39,019 words. Need to increase the pace a little if I'm going to make it.

I'm doing other things during writing breaks: fielding calls from clients, working on our website portfolio, discussing a template design with Anthony. Every now and then I'm checking the most recent updates on the big news of the day, a hostage crisis at Senator Clinton's campaign HQ in New Hampshire. I'm not feeling desperate enough to grab onto this event as fodder for my plot, fortunately. I hope the situation is resolved soon.

The last few thousand words I wrote are basically a tangent to the rest of the novel. I think they might work better as a short story, and once this is all over I will go back and extricate them, flesh the story out, and see what it looks like on its own.

UPDATE 4:40pm: I don't think I can stomach any more coffee. Mom brought over some food for my dinner. Yeah Mom!

UPDATE 5:20pm: 40,000 words. Completely out of ideas. Time for dinner, with the hope that a new idea will pop up while I eat.

UPDATE 6:56pm: 41,033 words. No ideas, but still throwing words at the page, watching them stick.

UPDATE 7:56pm: 42,044 words. Also posted the drawings from the last few days and today to Flickr. Still four drawings to go. And of course about 8,000 words. Listening to an old Robert Palmer album (they are all old, yes, but this one is very old), "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley," which I think was produced by or features someone from Little Feat. Funky and bluesy, makes me want to dance.

UPDATE 8:55pm: 44,051 words.

UPDATE 9:20pm: 45,012 words. There are creases in my forearms where they rest on the laptop edge.

I'm listening to a CD called "In Loving Memory Of...." by a band called Big Wreck. I had seen a video by them late at night years back, liked the song, bought the CD without hearing any other songs, and for once liked the whole CD. I've never heard anything else by them since. Thanks to the miracle of YouTube, though, I can show you the video:

I remember now: the lead singer of Big Wreck = yummy.

And it looks like there are more videos -- maybe they're still making music? I'll have to explore that ... after I'm done with naNoWriMo.

UPDATE 10:19pm: 47,127 words.

UPDATE 10:46pm: 48,036 words. Closing in on the end.

UPDATE 11:36pm: 50,143 words and done!

The end was hairy, and although I meant to leave all the characters alive this year I ended up killing a bunch of them in the final hour. Very strange how that works. If I do more with this particular manuscript, I'm pretty sure the ending will change.

But for now, it is perfect. Now I have just four drawings to make to complete DrawMo on time. Excuse me.

UDATE: A bit after midnight: Drawings now finished and uploaded. DrawMo doesn't have an official measuring device, so I confess I fudged a little and kept going past midnight. It's still the same day if I haven't gone to sleep yet, right?

I am one weary person -- but a highly creative and dedicated weary person. I'll write up some thoughts on the month over the weekend, when my hands don't hurt so much and when I'm more alert.

I think I will continue with daily blogging through the end of the year. I'm enjoying the conversation, even if sometimes it seems I'm talking mostly to myself. My goal was to try and rediscover what I enjoyed about blogging, and that has been the most fulfilling goal I reached.

Thanks for coming along on this adventure with me!

 

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-Nine, Tick-tick-tick

Thursday, 29 November 2007 09:27 PM

It's a quarter after nine pm, the second to last night of November. Here's what I need to finish before midnight tomorrow night:

1. Write 19,692 words and have them verified by the NaNoWriMo word count tool (allow time for the crush of others also trying to verify at the last moment).

2. Post the several drawings made in the last couple of days, and draw and post ten more.

3. Post at least one blog entry tomorrow.

4. Remember to post on the NaBloPoMo website about the posts on this website.

None of that is too terribly hard.

Oh, I guess they sound hard. The main traits I need to make them happen are endurance, and courage. Endurance to stay awake and keep typing when I really, really would rather be sleeping or doing just about anything else; and the courage to be really, truly, definitely awful.

So let's see how this evening goes. I'll update this blog entry periodically with word counts and general reports. Check in via the comments if you'd like to cheer me on.

Our goal for the evening is 10,000 words -- more than I've ever written in a single day. And here we go!

Update: 11:09pm: OK, so I was momentarily distracted by other blogs, and by the momentous launch of WearPittsburgh. Go, click on the Store tab, and buy yourself a shirt, then stock up on gifts for loved ones. The pierogie shirts are my favorites, as they spread the joy of this special food to the world.

But then I got my fingers going a little, and now we are 500 words or so closer to goal.

Which is not far, I know. We go on.

Thanks to everyone who has commented or sent an email of support. Without you, I would have given up and gone to sleep by now. Hmm, so maybe not so much thank you as damn you.... No, thank you! Onward!!

Update: 1:47am: Another thousand words. I felt my music selections were holding me back, as they were drifitng toward Elliott Smith. I do like the sad emo boys, but on this occasion the depressive, suicidal/mysteriously murdered subtext played poorly. I switched to Robert Palmer -- he's dead but died of natural causes, and somehow that was better. But I ran out of tunes. Jumped onto iTunes to buy some more, and somehow managed to nuke my iPod. It's restoring now.

If I fail to finish this novel, I will blame iTunes. they have failed me in my hour of need.

I suppose I could tap into this huge pile of CDs that brought me solace for years before there ever was an iTunes....

Update: 3:00am: Brewed a pot of coffee, retrieved the iPod after it had mostly restored. Hate everything in the world right about now.

On a practical level, my hands feel mostly OK. The coffee is kicking in. The rest of the world seems to have gone to sleep, and left me to deal with this manuscript on my own. I've written 3,000 of the 10,000 words i'm hoping to complete tonight.

Once more into the breach, my friends.

UPDATE: 3:03am: Forgot to mention that I sketched a clock, the second of two this evening.

UPDATE: 3:13am: Another drawing done. Damn, they are so much easier to pull together than paragraphs of text. What's that saying ... a picture is worth what? Turns out to be just about correct, except they forgot to mention the time savings.

UPDATE: 3:38am: The novel, which started out as a fairly standard piece of fiction, has now devolved into some sort of Paul Auster/Dave Eggers/Bruno Maddox bit of meta-fiction, all self-reflective to the point of perhaps not being fiction at all. Have you read Bruno Maddox's "My Little Blue Dress"? It's witty and fun. Not deep, i'll agree. But it reflects on the relationship between author and creation.

Another thousand words done. I notice that I'm having trouble capitalizing things correctly. Time for another drawing.

UPDATE: 4:24am: Another drawing, another thousand words. It's interesting to witness my thoughts grinding down. Each thought is an effort, spelling is a challenge. I'm done for the night, and I'll deal with the rest when I wake.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-eight, Strip malls and worldwide connectedness

Wednesday, 28 November 2007 11:58 PM

It is a quarter to midnight on a Wednesday night at the end of November. I'm sitting in my car, parked outside a strip mall on McKnight Road, a shopping district in the suburbs north of Pittsburgh.

I'm parked here because there's a Starbucks here. The Starbucks is closed, but that's fine with me because their wi-fi connection is still on, and I can get a signal even outside.

There's also a Bruegger's Bagels. They have free wi-fi, but I didn't notice they were here until after I parked. They should make their signs brighter -- more noticeable.

I had a night meeting in Oakland, and I'd forgotten to write my daily post beforehand. When I realized that I was going to miss my daily blogging, I tried to think of ways to get online:

• Go back in my friends' house and ask if they could stay awake just a little longer, so I could write a blog post!
• Drive downtown and struggle with the free Pittsburgh wi-fi, and hope I figured it out before midnight!
• Call one of my stalwarts who live in the North Hills, wake them, and ask if they'd mind if I dropped by for just a few minutes to get online!

Naturally none of those would do.

Then I realized I could find a strip mall, find a Panera or a Starbucks/T-Mobile or some such, and be on the internet in moments. Pretty much any McDonald's would help me out even. And I could continue to listen to my iPod over the car stereo while i wrote.

So here I sit, bathed in the glow of my laptop screen, scrunched behind the steering wheel of my rapidly chilling car outside an international mega-chain, typing away, connected to the world.

We live in amazing times.

Ooh, security guard coming. Gotta go!

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-seven, Murderers, animated treadmills, and yet more writing

Tuesday, 27 November 2007 11:36 PM

I've mentioned before that "Murderers," currently playing at City Theatre on Pittsburgh's South Side, is a terrific play and well worth your time and money, yes?

The play is three monologues, each by a different actor, each beginning with the sentence, "I am a murderer." The play is by Jeffrey Hatcher, a playwright with a strange and dry sense of humor that apparently is closely aligned with my own. He also wrote "A Picasso," which City Theatre put on last year and which I enjoyed quite a bit. "Murderers" is even better. It's full of slight asides, charming characters, murder and revenge and people saying very unreasonable things in very reasonable tones.

The sets, costumes, sound, lighting and direction are all excellent, and the performances are layered, rich, and engaging. Plus, the intimate Lester Hamburg Studio is an ideal space for these intimate tales of life and death.

What did others think? City Paper loved the play too and the Tribune-Review admired it and wondered if a crime spree was bigger than imagined, while the Post-Gazette didn't care so much for the play although Christopher Lawson admitted he laughed along with the rest of the audience.

As for me, I suggest you find an evening in your busy holiday schedule to slip down to the South Side and take in this play, as an antidote to all that's saccharine sweet about the holidays. "Murderers" continues through December 22. Find more information, including how to get tickets, at the City Theatre website.

In other news of things I like, my close personal friends OK Go got a shoutout on the Simpsons this week:

NaNoWriMo update: You'll note that the word count in the meter in the sidebar is speeding upward. I'm writing my pretty fingers to the bone. thank you to everyone who has offered encouragement. It may sound a cliche, but your words help me keep generating my words.

DrawMo update: My brother Anthony sharpened all my pastel pencils, so I'm set to churn out some pretty new things. And some ugly new things too -- I don't much care right now, as long as I catch up.

Tenacious Kane

Tuesday, 27 November 2007 01:57 AM

Apropos of nothing: If anyone is planning a biopic of my hero Orson Welles, I hope they will consider my other hero Jack Black for the lead.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-six, Let's get it on

Monday, 26 November 2007 11:59 PM

Steelers win. Worst ever Monday Night Football game, and possibly worst ever NFL game. But we won, and it counts.

Starting my NaNoWriMo writing for the day ... now. Yeah, it sucks. Even my mom thinks I'm not going to meet the 50K goal. But she's kind of a pessimist.

Will be drawing during breaks in writing.

Wish me luck, because I need it.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-five, Quakers, Presbyterians, and pirates

Sunday, 25 November 2007 10:41 PM

Some thoughts at random:

• I read the headline "Quakes kill at least three on Indonesian island" too quickly, and I thought, "But the Quakers have always been a nonviolent people." And what are Quakers doing in Indonesia anyway?
• Repeal Day, the anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition in the U.S., is coming on December 5, so I'm on the hunt for some spicy ginger beer with which to make Presbyterians. If you know where can I get some in western PA, please email or leave me a comment.
• I find that music from soundtracks provides good background while I'm writing. Today I listened to the soundtrack to "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." I didn't feel inclined to introduce any new pirate characters, but I may set an upcoming chapter on an island. Tomorrow I will try the soundtrack to "Amadeus," because I want some character to play piano. Or wear a white wig.

DrawMo update: Still running behind. One winning strategy at this point would be to do very simple drawings, to save time. Instead, I just spent about forty-five minutes drawing a leaf. But it's pretty, so that's OK. You can expect simpler drawings in the coming days though.

NaNoWriMo update: I nearly gave up today. I'm working hard, and obviously making much better progress the last few days, but the holiday weekend is just about gone and this next week will be tough. The final week of any month is the busiest for us at work. So as I looked at the little quota graph there in the sidebar, and thought about the time I'd need to find in each day this week, I felt a pang of despair.

But then I read Julie's super-encouraging comment to yesterday's post. How could I give up when I have the chance to be "the stuff of legend"? I must go on.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-four, revving up

Saturday, 24 November 2007 11:40 PM

There's less than a week left in this month of challenges. Little time to blog, so let's quickly asses the situation....

DrawMo update: I'm drifting behind on drawings -- only 15 done, meaning my new quota is two a day for the duration, plus an extra or so when possible. This shouldn't be a problem. I haven't drawn in two days though, due to...

NaNoWriMo update: I'm finally writing, at torrid speeds. I found a frightening little widget, which is now in the sidebar of this site. For each passing day, the widget shows what my new daily quota should be for the rest of the month, given my progress to date. The green bars are the amount I actually wrote in a day, while the red is the amount or additional amount I needed to write. There's a lot of red there, but as you can see for recent days there are also healthy stretches of green. I need to make the remaining bars fully green.

So far tonight I've written about 1800 words, and I'm aiming for 5000 total before bed. I'm tired, but the writing is proceeding as smoothly as possible. The actually plot needs a big jump of adrenaline, so it's time for a plot twist. Maybe with a surprise or two, and the introduction of a new character, I can reach 20,000 words. It doesn't look so impossible right now.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-Three, Count it out

Friday, 23 November 2007 11:20 PM

I've reached the happy word count of 12,345 words in my NaNoWrimo novel draft, which seems an opportune time to stop and post a short blog entry.

It is still not at all certain I'll reach the 50k mark by the end of the month, due to what I'm gradually coming to recognize as a paradoxical combination of workaholism and procrastination.

As you know, if you've followed my NaNo 2007 saga, I'd blocked off today for writing and writing only. I didn't go to the parade on my small town's Main Street, nor the soup party that friends threw afterwards. I didn't shop anywhere (not that I would have withstood the crowds anyway.) I had been booked for babysitting duty, but then I was relieved even of that.

In other words, today I was at home, with nothing I to do except write.

And what did I do? I researched project management tools and started constructing an elaborate set of my own making. I worked on a client project that could have waited until Monday (and made nice progress). I paid bills. Did laundry. Make a batch of oatmeal cookies -- delicious, by the way.

I spent nary a moment at rest, and I found just about every thing to do aside from writing.

But then, at last, I did make myself sit down, and open the file that is the novel so far, and start typing words into the keyboard. I resigned myself to the probability -- no, the near-fact -- that what I was writing was complete garbage and would mean nothing to anyone around me, or even to myself.

Sure enough, just as miraculously as a hard and tiny seed cracks and sprouts and becomes a seedling, the first crappy paragraph led to another, and another, and the finally to a paragraph that was passably interesting. And then the characters, who up until then had been sort of poking at each other as if with sticks, walked into a room that was intricate and fun to write about. And then we were off and churning out some ... well, it's still crappy stuff, but at least it's going somewhere.

And, critically, it's pushing the word count upward.

More yet to write tonight. Probably no drawing, for fear of changing creative gears and throwing everything off. Even trying to construct a proper metaphor to explain my fear just now felt risky. I'm going back to the fiction right this moment. More updates tomorrow.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-two, Pie!

Thursday, 22 November 2007 11:35 PM

And how did the pies turn out? Fantastic.

Actually, come to think of it, I didn't have any of the pumpkin pie, but because the filling didn't all fit in the pie shell I had to cook the overflow in a custard cup. That's going to be a fabulous breakfast for me tomorrow.

I can say with assurance that the bourbon pecan was delicious, and criminally rich.

The rest of our feast was also wonderful, with perhaps the best turkey Mom has made and lovely side dishes from everyone.

I've mentioned previously that my sister Laura is going to Guatemala for the Christmas holidays, and she's decided to blog about her trip. (Thanks to those who posted encouragement to her in the comments.) I'm moving her blog from its old location to a new one and adding features that I hope will make it easier for her to create photo galleries and blog about her pictures.

So this evening I worked on her site -- instead of writing. Hmm.

It's true that I love this kind of project, pulling pieces together and getting a website set up just the way I want to, and it would be good for me to have this done simply and quickly, so I can show her how to use it before she flies back to San Francisco Saturday night.

But it's also tempting to see the new projects that I suddenly embark upon as diversions from my other projects -- and my other projects are also great projects! things I want to work on! things that are important to me!

I frustrate myself.

But let's come back to today. Today is a day for giving thanks, for recognizing the things that are good in life, that perhaps we take for granted. I'm thankful for my health; for my family and the fact that I love them and they me and that we get along and take care of each other; for the friends I've made and the connections I've found with individuals and communities; for the often-maddening but still amazing society in which we live.

This is a bit more gooey than I like to get on this site. However, it's all true. I thank you for reading.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty-One, Pie Preparation

Wednesday, 21 November 2007 11:51 PM

I'm on dessert duty for my family's Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. I rarely get dessert duty -- Mom usually makes most of the dishes and brushes aside my offers to make pie, leaving me to bring a vegetable or other side dish instead. But she had knee surgery recently and is healing only slowly, so she is having to rely on the rest of the family more. So at last I get to exercise my mad pie-making skillz.

I've had a hankering for bourbon pecan pie ever since Uncle Crappy talked about having it at a tailgate party. It's easy to make, as is the requisite pumpkin pie that I'll also be bringing. The only hard part might be the crust, but I'm armed with Julia Child's food processor-enabled recipe. Regular flour plus a little cake flour, stick and a half of butter, four tablespoons of shortening, big splash of ice water, whirl it around for a few pulses, gather it up and refrigerate for a few hours, then roll it out and put it in a pan.

It's easy as pie. (Hah!)

NaBloPoMo note: You remember that "NaBloPoMo" stands for "National Blog Posting Month," right? Today is the twenty-first day in a arow that I've posted at least once. I'm enjoying the experience -- and the traffic to this site has gradually drifted higher with the passing days. More importantly to me, the average time visitors spend on the site is increasing, and the percentage of repeat visitors is on the rise. I hope that means you're enjoying this as much as I am.

DrawMo: Six drawings behind, so I'd do well to make two drawings a day whenever possible. The month is almost done, and I don't want to find myself needing to make a big pile of drawings on the last day (as I did last year).

NaNoWriMo: Another reason to keep up with the drawings is that I'll most likely be spending the last few days of the month typing nonstop. Ooh, boy, am i in a pickle on this. I have all of tomorrow to write -- outside of pie-making and feast-eating of course. And then on Friday I'll be babysitting my niece in a house without wi-fi, which means that once she's asleep distractions will be minimized, so novel creation can be maximized. At least, that's the theory.

Month Impossible: Day Twenty

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 08:32 PM

I had scheduled a meeting with a client tonight. I've always been open to night meetings, especially since small business owners sometimes have day jobs or other commitments that make it hard to meet during work hours. As I was driving to the meeting, the client called to cancel -- feeling sick, not able to meet and definitely not wanting to spread contagion.

I thought, Cool, I can catch up on some novel writing and drawing and working. Came home and fixed dinner, gradually unwound a little, and realized that a night without obligations would have benefits.

So: No DrawMo and no NaNoWriMo. I'd already posted today a couple of times, so I'm still current with the NaBloPoMo challenge, but if I could I'd skip that too. I hereby allow myself to relax for several hours!

Secretly though, I've got an ace in the pocket for my challenges. I'm going to keep it secret for a few days, in the deluded hope that not stating it publicly will force me to stay a little on course. Ah, the ends I go to, trying to trick my own brain.

End the Suffering, Restore the Dignity: National Toupee Forgiveness Day, 11/26/2007

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 04:33 PM

Less than a week away from National Toupee Forgiveness Day, that special day instituted by Tunesmith & Anthony. On NTFD, toupee wearers can freely leave behind their hairpieces and move on with their lives, without fear of anyone remarking on the change.

If you are not a toupee wearer, you may think this important day does not affect you. But you are wrong. You have a part to play, a very important part, and without your involvement the day will fail.

Quoting from the T&A site:

The Tenets of National Toupee Forgiveness Day:

1. Long suffering toupee wearers who have yearned to cease wearing a toupee but have not for fear of embarrassment shall stop wearing their toupees on National Toupee Forgiveness Day.
2. A habitual toupee wearing person’s failure to wear his toupee on National Toupee Forgiveness Day shall and will be interpreted as his tacit acceptance to participate in and enjoy all benefits of National Toupee Forgiveness Day.
3. The non-toupee wearing general public shall promise not to acknowledge in any manner or form that a former toupee wearing person has suddenly stopped wearing his toupee on National Toupee Forgiveness Day. No references to a participant’s appearance, past or present, shall be made either in the form of compliment or ridicule.
4. All parties involved agree to never mention or acknowledge a participant’s former toupee wearing habits into perpetuity.
5. Going forward, National Toupee Forgiveness Day shall be observed annually on the Monday following Thanksgiving.

Make note: On November 26, if you see someone who normally wears a toupee and he (or she, god bless her) is not wearing the accustomed hairpiece, you MUST NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT. And going forward, you must continue not to say anything.

If you really feel a need to make a compliment to the newly-freed individual, use a clever substitute compliment. Something like, "Have you lost weight? You look great!" That's it.

(I would love to post a clip from the toupee episode of "The Dick Van Dyke" show here, but I can't find one. If you locate the scene with Alan Brady, Laura Petrie, and the multiple toupees, please post a comment.)

Give a toy, get a holiday portrait on December 8

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 09:40 AM

A great holiday idea from our friends at Creative Treehouse:

Holiday Portraits for Toys

On Saturday, December 8th, the members of the Creative TreeHouse in Bellevue will put their talents to good use and hold a benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh. Professional holiday portraits will be taken at the Creative Treehouse, located at 517 Lincoln Ave (2nd Floor) Pittsburgh, PA 15202 from 10:00AM to 8:00PM for those who bring a toy donation for Big Brothers Big Sisters. Suggested donations are toys for boys and girls up to age thirteen and around the price range of $10. Family portraits are available for a donation of two gifts, one for a boy and one for a girl. Single portraits will be available for a donation of one gift. A holiday backdrop designed by Creative TreeHouse members will be available as will a normal studio backdrop for single and family portraits. The whole family is invited to spend time at the Creative TreeHouse while portraits are being taken. Portraits will be available to download online with a special code provided to each guest at the event.

Please visit www.creativetreehousepgh.com for more information.

They take apart their nightmares and they leave them by the door

Tuesday, 20 November 2007 02:09 AM

This is for India and her Monday night tangos:

And this is just for you -- an immaculate confection:

Month Impossible: Day Nineteen, studying Spook and getting serious about the novel

Monday, 19 November 2007 11:38 PM

Today I tried to sketch Spook, my other cat. Officially, Sammy is my cat, and Spook is Sammy's cat. When I first got Sammy, she was cooped up all alone during the day -- I worked in a real office then -- and when I came home and tried to write or do anything she needed a lot of attention. I thought she might enjoy having a pet of her own, to keep her company.

I visited Animal Friends, which was then in the Strip District in Pittsburgh. I looked for a male cat, younger than Sammie, having read that this would be the most likely cat for Sammie to accept/not freak out about.

Spook was just about a year old. He'd been rescued from another shelter on New Year's Eve. He was very affectionate and shy at the same time: couldn't stand to be picked up, loved to sit on your lap. He was a little more timid than what I had hoped for,but he was the best fit, so home he came.

It took a couple of days for him and Sammie to grow acclimated to each other. Now, almost six years later, it's hard to imagine them being with any other cats.

Spook is a very handsome cat, but he really doesn't like having anyone stare at him, so drawing him head-on is impossible. I started with the small head and he got up and settled down again with his profile toward me. He has a fabulous profile -- movie star quality -- so I was pleased to get to draw that.

Then I decided to draw just his eyes, so I kept calling him over. He'd come and look at me, then move away. The larger version of his face therefore took longer to draw, but it captures a little of his attentiveness and his heartbreaking look of wistful longing.

NaNoWriMo: Just wrote 500 words in fifteen minutes, and I didn't even hate them too badly. Stopped only to post this before midnight. (And to check football scores.) Aiming for 2500 more words before bed -- plus it's trash night.

Here we go!

It's just a life story, so there's no climax.

Monday, 19 November 2007 12:05 PM

What we're listening to in the Big Big Design offices: Okkervil River's new album, The Stage Names.

Month Impossible: Day Eighteen, Rain Dogs and Carmen

Sunday, 18 November 2007 11:58 PM

The song "Rain Dogs" by Tom Waits popped up on my iPod, and I thought I'd make a drawing of rain dogs.

This would be my first DrawMo drawing from imagination, rather than from my surroundings. I envisioned the dogs as like the Hounds of Hell from a comic strip whose name I can't think of right now the Sylvia comic strip (unfortunately I can't find any of the "Hounds of Hell" strips online to link for you). I pictured them blue and black, with big yellow teeth, and maybe not quite so scary.

But my initial sketch started heading in a different direction, and I wanted to draw something quickly so I could post. So I started anew and drew this, which is from a photo my brother Anthony took years back, of my other brother's dog, Carmen.

Poor Carmen was a very sweet dog, a Golden Retriever. Not terribly smart. She had every health problem a Golden can have, especially skin troubles that caused her to scratch and chew herself until she bled, and that sometimes made her smell. But she was dear, and Jude loved her.

Anthony scanned the original color photo and made it monochrome, then printed it on photo paper. Somehow the printing process caused it to acquire a bluish tint, which is part of the appeal of this photo for me -- and part of why I decided to copy it today.

NaNoWriMo update: I'm going to write right now. Seriously. UPDATE: OK, now I have 520 new words. More symbolic than anything, but each word counts toward the total. Onward.

Month Impossible: Day Seventeen, 2PointHome

Saturday, 17 November 2007 11:56 PM

If you've been following my Month of Challenges, you know that today I planned to finally catch up on NaNoWriMo. You also probably know me better than I do, and guessed that I would not succeed in this plan.

I went to an event in McCandless today, a suburb north of Pittsburgh, to check out the filming of the reveal of a home improvement show, and the surrounding hubbub and block party. The show is called MyHome2.0. It's created and produced by Verizon, so there was a lot of marketing of Verizon products, especially FIOS. And there were lots of giveaways and goodies, including some earmarked for bloggers and podcasters like me who attended and wrote about the event.

I was given a cute little Flip Videocam -- just like the one Oprah has been giving out and using -- so I shot a little footage at the event.

Considering how small and light and simple this camera is, it shoots good quality footage. That is, it would if handled by an operator with steadier hands and more experience and skill than yours truly.

Here's my clip of Brian, one of the on-screen gurus from the MyHome2.0 show, talking about the challenge of supplying a family that includes nine kids.

The episode of MyHome2.0 that was filmed today and this week won't air for a while of course, but the first episode is showing. You can see find clips and podcasts online at the 2PointHome website, and in the Pittsburgh area you can watch the episode Sunday morning at 11am on WPGH Fox 53. You should check it out at least to see the three gurus in action. They are kooky, lively, smart, and quite engaging. And the stuff the team puts in these houses they renovate is drool-worthy.

The day was fun, especially seeing behind-the-scenes and how a show like this is created. Just snippets, but good stuff. The block party Verizon threw for this was huge, and while a number of neighbors were probably inconvenienced the folks I saw seemed happy, excited, and interested in what was going on.

Several other bloggers and podcasters were on-hand or dropped by -- I've never seen so many video cameras and high-quality TV cameras in use at the same time, and as many people filming other people, filming crowds and whatnot. And afterwards a bunch of us headed over to Mad Mex for beer and food. A fine fall day.

Tonight I made one more drawing for DrawMo, which I'll post tomorrow.

No noveling, as I mentioned. I received an email from Neil Gaiman (as did everyone else who's signed up for NaNoWriMo), and in it he encouraged us all not to give up, to keep writing. In my case, to restart writing. OK then!

Month Impossible: Day Sixteen

Friday, 16 November 2007 11:59 PM

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Seattle for the annual LFM Alumni Conference. LFM stands for Leaders for Manufacturing, which is a program within the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

I graduated in 1997. I attended a few of the conferences after graduation, and although I always had a wonderful experience -- great discussion with other alumni, interesting presentations, cool plant tours of nearby partner companies' facilities -- I skipped more than I attended.

But I looked forward to this year's conference because it would be the 10 year anniversary for my class, and I assumed a lot of my classmates would also attend, and because the conference was scheduled in Seattle, a city I love.

Seattle was all that I could have hoped. I stayed downtown, just blocks from the Seattle Public Library where the conference would be held and surrounded by fun restaurants and bars and shopping. We had a nifty view from the hotel room. I paid a couple of visits to Vessel, an excellent bar that I've mentioned in other posts, and barmaster Jamie Boudreau fixed absolutely delicious cocktails, including one with his homemade pumpkin ale liqueur. Oh my.

But I was disappointed that very few of my forty-four classmates attended. Even among the half dozen or so who live and work in Seattle, only one attended -- and he was giving a presentation! Perhaps it's telling that, of the four of us who were there, three work as consultants and one owns his own manufacturing company, with the result that we all can set our own schedules and don't need to get a manager's approval to attend an out-of-town event.

Those of us who were there spent the time catching up, getting advice on various career and life issues, and talking about the issues of the day. It reminded me how much I enjoyed my time in grad school and how much these folks mean to me.

The conference itself was terrific. Standout presentations included a talk by Jeff Wilke, who is one of the top guys at Amazon, about how they handle logistics and new services like same-day delivery in certain cities. That probably sounds dry, but Jeff is an entertaining speaker, and of course I'm eager to learn anything I can about how one of the leading e-commerce companies operates.

Another great talk: A commodities trader told how he got into trading, how that world has changed as the exchanges have switched from open outcry trading on completely silent, electronically managed trading. Great insights into a world about which I know little.

We toured the manufacturing facility of Industrial Revolution, the company my classmate Keith Jackson recently purchased. They make those ice cream maker balls you may have seen, and a bunch of other products. Keith is so excited to be running his own company, which at about 20 employees is a wee bit smaller than the last place he worked -- Boeing -- and a lot more personally satisfying.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that I had a great trip. I was reminded how much my grad school program meant to me.

The hat in the drawing -- you'd forgotten the drawing from the start of this post, hadn't you? -- is one I wear mostly when out for a jog. I haven't given it much thought, but my reawakened connection to LFM has made me a little prouder to wear it.

DrawMo update: I caught up one drawing today. It's kind of ugly, but you can still see it in my Flickr stream. Only behind by five now I think.

NaNoWriMo update: Ouch. So, so far behind there. I'm hoping to meet up with some other NaNo-ers tomorrow to write. Probably staying in tomorrow night too in an effort to catch up.

Month Impossible: Day Fifteen

Thursday, 15 November 2007 10:34 PM

I've lost the concept of downtime. I still experience downtime, but not on purpose. That is, I'll plan to spend an evening working -- as I did tonight -- and then I'll start fixing dinner, wash dishes while it's cooking and read an article or two, eat and keep reading while I do, then read a little more. All the while, I'm thinking in the back of my mind, or in the front, that I need to get working very soon, that I can't relax.

This reading all is interesting and feels important, part of my connection to the world and of the ways I feed my mind.

Then I try to get back into the working bit, what I planned to do and fully believed I wanted to do. It's now about 10pm, sometimes later, and now I need to weigh the value of what I can do in the next few hours versus getting a full night of sleep. Also, I was supposed to exercise earlier and I let that slide because I figured I could do it in the morning. That morning now looks quite a bit shorter -- and honestly, I despise exercising in the morning, I've always known this, so do I truly expect to wake and don some spandex and head briskly to the Y?

Does everyone else argue with themselves incessantly? All day, about which thing I should do next, what would be best, or most useful, or most interesting, or better long-term or short-term? It's not procrastination; it's more like confusion. I have very clear priorities, but it's hard to map them to action.

In grad school, they used a series of linear equations to match students with internships. I need a bunch of linear equations to help me work out my days and weeks.

I think what I really need is a Jeeves. Someone to gently manipulate me away from what I think I want at any time and toward what I really want, what will make me happy in the long run.

Tonight I wanted to write the review for the play I saw last night. I have the elements of it floating in mind but can't get them to coalesce. I will force myself to do so by tomorrow morning. (Maybe first thing tomorrow. (There goes the workout.))

PREVIEW: "Murderers" at City Theatre in Pittsburgh is a fun, lively, engaging play with a mordant sense of humor, terrific direction, great production, and top-notch performances. It's worth your time, and if you're a reader of this site you're likely to love this show. Yes, I blog about City Theatre a lot, but I do because they put on shows like this. It's really good, and you should find a chance to go. You've got a few weeks, but it's going to start to sell out (because it's good). Details here.

About the drawing: I need to entirely redo this blog. That's a major undertaking and I'm planning it carefully. In the meantime, there are some key problems with it that I can fix, and I worked on a few today. One thing I noticed is that my profile picture, which I use here and elsewhere, is a year or so out of date. I need to make a new one, so I thought I'd make a drawing of the old one for posterity. I started by outlining the space, and I got the proportions wrong -- everything is wider/shorter than it should be.

So apparently if you shorten my face (and idealize the picture a bit), you get a red-haired Ellen Barkin. I'll take that.

Month Impossible: Day Fourteen

Thursday, 15 November 2007 03:03 AM

Almost halfway through my month of impossible challenges. It's not quite time yet to reflect on the wisdom/stupidity of these things I've set out to do.

So instead: Here is a drawing of a necklace that my sister Laura gave me. People tell me that I'm stylish, funky, hip, fun. My little sister Laura is all this and more.

Laura will be traveling in Central America for the Christmas holidays -- I think she's going to Guatemala, but she might be heading to Ecuador; she hasn't left yet and I've already lost track of her. I'm hoping to convince her to blog about her travels. You can find a (very old) blog about her past adventures at Have You Heard From Laura?. (Yeah, 2004. I know. She's not a born blogger like yours truly.)

Here's my idea: Please post a comment here to say that you're interested in hearing about Laura's travels this year. A simple "hell, yeah!" will do. I'll use your vote of interest to bully talk Laura into sending us photos and updates about her trip.

Think of it: an attractive blonde all-American girl, with boundless energy and a loose command of Spanish, wandering around Central America for the Christmas/New Year's season, reporting back on what she encounters so we can live vicariously through her.

It's bound to be fun. I think Mr. Toast is going too. I want to know all the grand times they experience. Don't you? Please let say so in the comments.

Month Impossible: Day Thirteen

Tuesday, 13 November 2007 11:43 PM

A couple of years back -- 2003? -- I subscribed to John Cleese's website. This meant I could watch subscriber-only content on the site, humorous videos and such, and participate in chats with Mr. Cleese. I found the site hard to navigate and the content sort of uneven. I was impressed that he was experimenting with online media though, so I was happy to support that effort.

The Friday before Valentine's Day of that year, I receive a message on my cellphone. A woman with a lovely British accent said she was "checking my coordinates" because I'd been chosen to receive a phone call from John Cleese on Monday. I called back just as fast as my fingers could dial, and spoke with an assistant who confirmed my address and phone number, and who assured me that John Cleese would be calling me on Monday.

Monday was Valentine's Day. That morning, a delivery guy from The Bloomery brought me a basket with two plants in it, and a note:

TO CYNTHIA,

FROM JOHN CLEESE,DO BE SHURE TO
HAVE A LAUGHTER FILLED
VALENTINE DAY.AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SPEAKING TO YOU ON THE TELEPHONE

I spent the next few hours muddling around my house, working a bit and waiting for the phone to ring.

Eventually, it did, and on the other end was the very recognizable voice of John Cleese.

He was pleasant and inquisitive, asking where I lived and what I did. We talked about his website and my recommendations for improving it (arrogant web designer that I am, unable to keep opinions to myself for even a phone call). He told me about the one-man show he was developing, how he would be trying it out in Australia, and how he was looking for other ways to work besides dealing with Hollywood. He talked about being the voice of God for Spamalot, which had just opened or was about to open on Broadway....

It was a delightful phone call, and he wished me Happy Valentine's Day.

So here you see my drawing of the plants that John Cleese sent me. (OK, that his assistant sent me. Whatever.) I nearly killed one of the plants earlier this year due to my terrible lack of plant care. They need to be replanted in larger, nicer pots, and that basket should be thrown far, far away. The ribbon is now faded to the lightest possible pink -- not nearly as bright as what I've drawn here. But as you can guess, I adore these plants, and I show them off to anyone who visits my home.

I'm several days behind in drawing. I'll work on squeezing in a few extra drawings each of the remaining days this week.

I'm about to try and write at least something for NaNoWriMo. Of the challenges I've undertaken this month, the novel is the hardest by far. I haven't lost hope, but I admit to being a little concerned.

Month Impossible: Day Twelve

Monday, 12 November 2007 11:50 PM

I like to joke that "work gets in the way of the rest of my life." Today I can joke that "the rest of my life gets in the way of the rest of my life."

The second Monday of each month is Mixology Monday, an Internet meme (theme/concept) I've participated in for a few months. For me, writing an MxMo post means finding a cocktail recipe that fits the theme, trying it, being dissatisfied, finding another, trying it, kind of liking it but not really, and then finding and trying a couple more, finally settling on something, writing about it, taking a photo, rereading what I've written and finding a dozen typos.... You see how it goes.

This kind of blogging takes lots of time, but it's among the most fun I have on the internet. I adore researching something, thinking about the best ways to present my idea, struggling with the theme and organization and style, all of it. This is what I'd do every day if I could. It takes an inordinate amount of time, and I don't know if anyone reads these things. They bring me joy though, and I hope at least one person, somewhere, enjoys what I've written.

NaNoWriMo: Nothing today. The rest of the month's daily quotas increase proportionally.

DrawMo: Today would be the day I switch to color pencils. Look for something bright and cheery tomorrow.

Mixology Monday: Gin

Monday, 12 November 2007 11:05 PM

It's Mixology Monday, hosted by the wise-beyond-his-years Jay Hepburn of Oh Gosh! Our topic this month is gin. A fantastic topic it is too. Too many people lack experience with gin, thinking it's good only for Martinis and G&Ts. It's terrific in both, of course, but it's versatile, and now we get to discover many ways in which it can be enjoyed.

Because November is Month Impossible for me, I wanted to write a quick and easy post. I failed, big time. But that's lucky for you, because it means I will now spend many entertaining paragraphs (I hope they will be entertaining...) explaining what went wrong and offering alternatives and additions. Here we go.

The Cocktail

Faintly from the back of my mind, I recalled that there was a gin recipe that I'd not tried in one of my cocktail books. Atomic Cocktails is chock full of style, but its recipes are hit-or-miss. Still, I had been interested in this one, if only for the blatant Fitzgerald name-drop. Here's the full recipe including prologue:

Webster's F-Street Layaway Plan

This was the martini of choice for F. Scott Fitzgerald, patron saint of the mixed beverage. Could this wild hybrid of good gin and complex Chartreuse be the reason Scott and Zelda were always dancing in those fountains? In any event, the Layaway -- a specialty of notorious Bay Area bar master Jamie Reynolds -- is best served the way Fitzgerald liked it: day and night.

1/4 ounce green Chartreuse
1 1/2 cups cracked ice or 6 ice cubes
2 ounces dry gin
1 lemon twist for garnish

1. Chill a martini glass.

2. Pour the Chartreuse into the chilled glass; swirl it around to coat the interior, and discard any excess.

3. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the gin. Shake vigorously to chill, or use a long-handled bar spoon and stir gently about 20 times. The key is to work quickly so the ice doesn't melt and dilute the gin.

4. Strain the gin into the chilled glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

Serves 1

Pretty much everything about this drink sounded bogus to me. The recipe is nothing like a cocktail recipe from the early 20th century; it's gin in a coated glass, which I'm sure wasn't popular when Fitzgerald was alive. I'm unable to turn up anything about Bay Area bar master Jamie Reynolds. Plus, "stir gently 20 times"? Please.

Still, this drink would give me a use for the Chartreuse that's been taking up space in my cupboard -- as far as I could tell it was undrinkable. Maybe I'd finally found it's place in the bar world.

I mixed the drink as described, using the gin I had on hand, Hendrick's. (I know: not ideal for mixing. But I like it straight so I keep it in stock.) And I was thoroughly displeased with the result. The Chartreuse (green? yellow? I can't tell -- it's chartreuse! Most likely what I have is yellow) and the Hendrick's fought for attention and refused to blend. The lemon tried to make everyone play nice, but it was outdone.

So ok, this drink was no good. I was going to simply report my experience and be done with this MxMo post. And then I skipped around the internet and found Jamie Boudreau's MxMo post, in which (among other topics) he explains that Chartreuse and gin are the best of friends.

The Bijou he described sounded delightful ... everything that my Layaway Plan drink was meant to be. I didn't have quite the ingredients listed, so I subbed in what I could:

Not-a-Bijou (with apologies to Jamie Boudreau)

1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz yellow Chartreuse
3/4 oz sweet Vya (which I bought because PeterB said I should)
2 dashes orange bitters

Stir, strain into cocktail glass. Lemon twist garnish.

This is a lovely drink, in stark contrast to what I'd made earlier. Incidentally, I had the outstanding fortune to visit Vessel a couple of times recently and thus to have drinks mixed by Mr. Boudreau himself, and I would describe this drink as being characteristically his style: complex and multi-layered and balanced. (Also: very strong.)

And but so, now I've given you one lame recipe for MxMo, and one recipe that was blatantly copied from another MxMo participant. What value am I adding to this world?

To make up for everything, I present the following investigative report: the results of a gin tasting I held a little while ago. Please enjoy!

The "My Brilliant Mistakes" Gin Tasting

Some months back, I received this email:

Dear Cindy,

Your blog is very interesting and would appreciate our new G'Vine Gin. G'VINE breaks away from the traditional juniper based "London dry" and is truly a unique product. Thanks to its versatility, G'Vine offers many new drinking options. Please visit this funny video/blog, which presents G'VINE as true innovation and an alternative to vodka. Feel free to share your great experiences with gin and/or vodka and share this blog with your friends. We are happy to link their blog to yours in "Gin, Juice & Other Blogs" category. We would appreciate it if you would link back to us as well. Enjoy.

www.deathofvodka.com

Cheers,
G'VINE Gin

So I checked out the website. The video was light and kind of amusing. But before I could recommend it to you, my beloved readers, I felt I should try the alcohol in question. And that I could not do, because I couldn't find G'Vine Gin in any local Pennsylvania liquor stores. I deleted the email and figured that was that.

Another week passed and I received the same email again. I wrote back:

Hi there,

Thank you for the email. I'm interested in knowing more about your product. I haven't been able to find it in stores -- is it available in Pennsylvania? I'd prefer to try it before recommending it to my readers.

Cheers,
Cindy

They wrote back with a nice note, promising to send me a sample. And sure enough, some time later I received a package with two cute airplane-sized bottles of G'Vine, plus an impressive pile of marketing literature and a CD of images.

Being a marketer, and a blogger, and a person who enjoys gin, I liked their approach. Get the word out, use online technologies to reach your target market, get the product in the hands and glasses of people who can spread the good news. And send Cindy free gin. An excellent strategy.

The thing was, I felt quite unsure of the underlying concept of G'Vine. I mean, G'Vine is gin that doesn't taste like juniper -- which, to me, is pretty much the point of gin ... the tasting like juniper bit. There are other flavors there too, different botanicals and whatnot depending on which gin you're drinking. But the gin-ness of gin, if you will, is the juniper. Take away the juniper, and what's left?

I thought I should try this juniper-lite gin along with other gins, to figure out what juniper brings to the party and what else is possible. And rather than drink great quantities of gin by my lonesome, I decided to invite over some gin-drinking pals to help.

The New York Times did a similar tasting earlier this year, mixing a variety of gins into Martinis and dissecting the results. I didn't want to repeat their work. For my tasting, I would serve the gin stirred with ice and strained. Mostly, this would mean I'd have more tasters: My gin-drinking friends mix their Martinis with the "pour the gin and look across the room at the bottle of vermouth" method, and I feared they'd be thrown off if I tried to introduce any other ingredients into the drinks.

But that was just as well, because this gin-only tasting would allow us to focus more on the gin flavors without vermouth or olives or any such.

My tasters were my brother-in-law Mike, and my friends Jud and Paul. And me. All of us have been known to enjoy a variety of spirits, although I can't recall Jud or Paul every drinking vodka.

For this tasting our responses were subjective of course -- your mileage will vary -- but looking through our notes you can see trends: I like the flowery and sweeter gins, Jud and Paul despise them, Mike has a wide range of taste. All the same, the common points are interesting.

Gin		Tasters' notes
G'Vine		Mike: one star Smells a little like witch hazel. Tastes like it is diluted already. Slightly sweet grape taste, not very good by itself. A lot like Vodka -- maybe it would be good mixed. Not very ginny. "Tastes a lot like Bankers Club Vodka."
		Paul Don't buy it. Probably better with soda or tonic.
		Jud Medicinal taste. Tastes "premixed." The French should stick to brandy. Would disappear in a mixer.
		Cindy: --- Herby. Citrus? Lavender? Like it's already mixed with something. Would be lost with a mixer.
Tangueray		Mike: four and a half stars (second favorite) Smells like gin -- you can smell the juniper. Yummy by itself. Quite smooth, not too dry. Not a very complicated flavor, pretty mild.
		Paul Straight. Nice gin flavor -- mild. Not dry / pine tree-ish. Good with tonic. [Ed note: Paul brought this bottle to the tasting.]
		Jud Tingles the tongue. Very easy to drink straight up. "Tastes like gin." Nice "burn" down the throat.
		Cindy Can be drunk straight. Not super dry. Simple. Wouldn't want a lot of it.
Burnett's		Mike: three stars Smells like gin but very slightly -- not much juniper. Vegetable taste -- pretty mild -- middle of the road smoothness. Vodka back taste.
		Paul Vegetable / cucumber-y. Mild, not dry. Not worth trying again on purpose, but OK in a pinch.
		Jud Bite-y. Fairly wet, sweet. Upfront "veggie" taste. Alcohol back taste.
		Cindy: + Juniper, cucumber or fresh green pepper. Front-loaded, not a lot of body. Similar to Hendrick's. Slightly sweet.
Hendrick's		Editor's note: Here is where spelling and handwriting begin to falter in everyone's notes.
		Mike: four stars Smells like gin -- juniper. Pretty smooth. Front and back taste the same. Back taste has a little cucumber. Something floral. Good by itself.
		Paul Very mild smell. Nice kick. Cool? as a cuke. Don't think it would mix with vermouth. Rocks? Shaken w/ice? Flowery: rose petal. Try with tonic.
		Jud Pine then cucumber taste. Fairly smooth, flowery. Would hold up in a G&T.
		Cindy: + + Pine, cuke. Smoother. Once you think "rose petal" you can identify the flowery taste.
Broker's		Mike: five stars (my favorite) Smells like gin -- a lot like Tangueray. Pretty dry to start and gets sweet in your mouth. Sweet back taste. Lemony.
		Paul Mild gin smell. Like a drier Tangueray. Would probably be OK with tonic or as a martini gin. Sweet but not too sweet. All-purpose.
		Jud Wet, yet dry finish. Smooth, sweet, slightly citrus. Stands up by itself. Martini or G&T.
		Cindy: + + + Juniper and sweet. Stronger proof. Versatile -- mixable.
Seagram's Extra Dry		Mike: two stars (my least favorite) Very little smell -- just alcohol. Tastes like vodka. Very dry -- not too good.
		Paul Strong sweet smell, low taste. Big burn. Not very good. Big 'no' for martinis. Maybe OK in a pinch for G&T. Not an herbal taste - more medicinal.
		Jud Fairly flavorless. No bite or tingle. "Gin joint" taste.
		Cindy: - Little flavor -- like vodka. Burning for 80 proof. Paul's gin in college.
Plymouth		Mike: three stars Very mild smell. Very strong taste. Floral. Somewhat ginny, very dry. Strong back taste. Martini?
		Paul Mild gin smell. Smooth start -- very strong finish. Nice and dry -- martini? Flowery linger. I wouldn't seek it out again but would be OK w/tonic.
		Jud Wet, full body, strong finsh. Floral taste. Mild smell, heavy aftertaste. Good mixer, but not on its own.
		Cindy: + + Low smell, high flavor. Brings gin to the party, but floral. (What do I mean?? Probably that it tastes juniperish and floral, both.)
Junipero		Mike: one star Juniper! Juniper! Juniper! Very floral. The taste stay in your mouth for a long time. If you like the "pine tree" taste, this is it.
		Paul Very strong juniper -- too much for me. Strong start, strong finish, strong a couple minutes later. A big 'no' for me.
		Jud All about the flowers. Much bouquet -- literally. Too much for stand-alone. Long-lasting flavor. Good for chewing gum, not gin.
		MBM: + + Juniper up front. Flowery. Full finsh. Rose petal or lavender?
Bombay Sapphire		Mike: four and a half stars (third favorite) Mild smell, quite complex. Clean taste. Same front and back taste. Very dry. Probably great for a martini. Very consistent taste.
		Paul Very clean start and finish. Nice "gin" taste -- not overpowered by any one flavor, nice blend. Best on its own -- little vermouth, no tonic. Still my favorite.
		Jud Clean flavor. Tingles the tongue -- up the nose. Consistent taste before and after. Mild smell. Good straight up or with very little vermouth.
		Cindy: + + Clean with flavor. Has fragrance. Subtleties. Blendy -- balanced flavor.

So what have we learned?

• I wanted to like G'Vine, hoped that I would find something appealing in it, but I couldn't find a way to drink it. After the main tasting I tried mixing it in a Martini with just a little vermouth, and then in a Gin and Tonic with a slice of lime. The Martini did not work at all for me, and the G'Vine was lost in the G&T.
• Broker's is a damn fine gin. Also, the bottle comes with an adorable little bowler hat. That makes it seem chintzy even though the stuff is expensive. But the gin is lovely.
• After tasting all the other gins, with the wide range of flavors and strengths, I expected to find the Bombay Sapphire thin or bland. It was not. It still had plenty of flavor and subtlety. I didn't think it was quite as versatile and tasty as Broker's, but I was impressed with it.
• Nine gins is a lot of gins to try. Even if one is having just a sip of each, those sips add up.
• Taste plays a big role in enjoyment. Whether you'll agree with any of our tasters is, well, a matter of taste.

OK! It's time to see what others have devised for the Gin Mixology Monday. Please visit Oh Gosh! and see what can be seen. Cheers, and thanks to Jay for hosting!

Somebody's day off

Monday, 12 November 2007 03:39 PM

Separated at birth?

Sergey Brin of Google (from the Android SDK promo video -- which amusingly is on YouTube) ....

... and Ferris Bueller.

I think that means this guy must be Cameron:

(Video spotted on Engadget)

Month Impossible: Day Eleven

Sunday, 11 November 2007 11:55 PM

I said yesterday that weekends are when I catch up. I'm reminded today, though, that Sundays in the fall are when I get very little done, due to football.

I'm in two fantasy football leagues this year, and doing poorly in both. I'm floating around the .500 mark in each league, and each week that I win in one league, I lose in the other. You'd think that the win would make up for the loss, but I'm a competitive person and the wins hurt a lot more than the losses feel good. The fact that fantasy football depends heavily on luck and things outside my control does not help one bit.

But the bigger issue is that, once 1pm rolls around and the games start, I start checking my teams' progress. Obsessively. Basically I stare at the computer screen as it refreshes every few seconds. I also check email and Twitter, and post little emails and comments. the time flies and little of value is accomplished.

This afternoon I forced myself to work on a website migration during the games. This kind of work doesn't take as much brain power, so it's good for my Sunday afternoon split attention. This evening I didn't turn the TV on, and I checked scores only occasionally; my being desperately behind and having little hope made this sadly easier.

For NaNoWriMo I wrote about 1200 words so far tonight, and 6,700 overall. I've got a bit more to do tonight on that. My new goal is 2500 words a day, every day, for the rest of the month. If I can do that, I'll reach the goal.

For DrawMo I drew the boot you see here. I love these boots. They're a deep, dusky red, and they're by Frye. They're comfortable and seem like they'll last forever. Wearing them almost makes up for the fantasy football loss.

Month Impossible: Day Ten

Saturday, 10 November 2007 07:11 PM

The weekends are when I catch up. I meet up with friends I haven't seen in weeks, I stop by my parents' house to tell them what I've been up to and find out how they are, I sleep an extra few hours and fit in a nap to make up for the lack of sleep in the work week.

In past years, Saturdays have been when I've written the most for NaNoWriMo. When I'm focused, I can write about 1,000 words in an hour, and more if I've discovered an interesting scene or engaging character. I like to divide the writing into chunks, because I find that my brain keeps fiddling with the characters and plot when I'm not writing; so if I start in the morning with an hour-long session, then break to eat and clean house, then return in the afternoon to write more, my creative well has refilled and the ideas pour out at top speed.

That's how today has gone. My goal is 4,000 words before I sleep, and I have 2,000 or so written. More importantly, I've fleshed out the narrator and her motivations and fears, I've come up with a setting that I find amusing, and I've come up with a better antagonist than the one I had at the start of this month.

The antagonist, by the way, is based on someone I worked for while in college. That job experience was puzzling, and this particular person's success never made sense to me. I guess that discord has festered in my brain all this time. Now I've found a way to use it -- I'll add other stuff and the character won't end up like the real person at all, but I'll have the chance to play out ideas and theories while I work on it. And I'm glad to be revisiting that part of my life. It was a good period but I didn't recognize it at the time.

No drawing yet today. I'm headed to a party, so when I come home I'll draw and write before bed. No, really this time I will.

Month Impossible: Day Nine

Friday, 09 November 2007 08:48 PM

Monday will be another Mixology Monday, with the theme "gin." So probably I should have waited until then to try drawing a glass of gin on the rocks, but I had a taste for the stuff and a need to draw something tout suite.

Besides, it turns out to be hard to draw a clear glass of clear liquid with ice. I have trouble with curves and perspective anyway -- I may spend the rest of the month trying to tackle this problem. Then the ice isn't really clear at all, it's full of hazy bubbles and then clear areas, and the glass fogs up where it's cold and water has condensed on the outside. The glass itself is quite thick at the bottom, which throws the perspective further off as I try to show the inside curve.

About the only part that's accurate is the coaster, which is part of a set of metal and ceramic coasters from the Frank Lloyd Wright collection. The metal part matches a pattern he developed for some house or other that he designed. And even that's not right, because it's too small for the glass.

I can't blame any problems on drink either -- I has just one sip while drawing. But that's OK anyway, because it means I can keep trying again and again through the month, or until the gin runs out.

No NaNoWriMo writing today. This weekend I shall tackle noveling big time. I'm aiming for 4,000 words each day, minimum. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but I've done it before. Sometimes the best stuff comes when you're desperate and trying to reach an impossible goal. All the easy stuff is tapped out, and the real creativity bubbles up. I'm counting on this. Trust the process (if you can call mad typing to reach a word count goal a process, and I can).

BlogFest 12 Wrapup: You say it's our birthday....

Friday, 09 November 2007 03:47 PM

Such a fine time we had at last night's Pittsburgh BlogFest. Click the image to see the sign-in sheet and find links to those who signed it -- that's a pretty good representation of the crowd that was present.

A number of people didn't sign in. The lovely ladies of Inner Bitch, for example, and Rachel of That Night, and Rachel of The Sum of David, and Jennie of 37 Roses. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone else; add a link in the comments or send me a note so I can add you. Oh, and Andrew Stockey was there too, spanning the worlds of mainstream media and this new media of the Internet.

Speaking of Andrew Stockey, he and a briskly efficient cameraman shot video interviews and footage for a story on Pittsburgh's blog scene. It will air today on WTAE during the 5 o'clock news. I don't expect it to be the lead story, but of course you'll still want to watch the program from the top of the hour to get your daily dose of Andrew's awesomeness. If you have to miss the airing, I'll post a link to any video they publish to their website once that's available. If you missed the news, you can read the story and watch the video on the WTAE website.

Eric Williams shot video as well -- for convenience he placed his webcam on a table top, which inevitably led to laughs when I parked my wide arse in front of it for a while as I pontificated on some topic or other. Eric promised to delete that particular segment, but I will worry the rest of my days that it will surface on YouTube and ruin any chances of my being elected president. (No, clicking that photo won't bring up a larger version. That's as big as it needs to be.)

Anyway, so we gathered and talked, drank and ate, and generally were fabulous. Thank you to everyone who was there! I look forward to seeing you -- and reading you -- again soon.

More write-ups and thoughts on BlogFest from others:

• Andrew Stockey
• Jennie Roth / 37 Roses
• Jim 2.0
• Michael Fulk
• Mike Woycheck / Have a Good Sandwich

UPDATE: More wrapups:

• Norm Huelsman

Month Impossible: Day Eight

Friday, 09 November 2007 12:33 AM

Tonight we held BlogFest 12. I was smart in that I scheduled very little for myself for today, which meant I had time to do things like run to the store for cake, and make and print signs and a sign-in sheet, and also shower and dress decently and arrive only forth-five minutes late for an event I was helping to host.

This was one of our biggest BlogFests, as measured by attendance. It might have been bigger yet if it hadn't been unluckily and accidentally scheduled opposite Pittsburgh's first DevHouse, which is an open-form programming and general geekiness event.

I had hoped to stop over at DevHouse once the fun at BlogFest started to wind down, but I opted not to for two reasons:

1. I was already tired and needed to get home and rest in anticipation of an important client meeting tomorrow morning.

2. I feared I was not sufficiently geeky.

I have pretty good geek cred, given my undergrad and grad degrees and the years I put in at Oracle, NeXT Computer, and other software places. But I've never worked as a programmer, and although I try to hide it I'm intimidated by real coders. You can tell me that's silly, and you'll be right. Still, I was glad to have an excuse to let friends check out the scene and report back. For now, I'll focus on growing enough backbone to attend the next event.

Tomorrow I'll write up a proper summary of BlogFest, with some links to the people who were there, and possibly links to DevHouse stuff as I find it. Also, WTAE should be broadcasting a piece that Andrew Stockey shot at the blogfest. Once I hear about the air time for that, I'll let you know, and I'll count on someone to YouTube or otherwise save that for posterity.

Thanks to everyone who came to BlogFest, either tonight or in the past. You are a fabulous beast, and I'm glad to know you.

Month Impossible: Day Seven

Wednesday, 07 November 2007 09:51 PM

If I had undertaken NaDruWriNi last weekend, I had a terrific topic planned: the question of pet blogging. I adore my two cats, and I find their daily activities charming and fascinating, but I'm not solipsistic enough to think anyone else gives a cat's ass about them.

Still, in looking for subjects to sketch for DrawMo, I find myself coming back to them repeatedly. They're hard to draw, for one thing, moving about as they do. They move about even more than usual if I stare, as I do when I'm trying to draw them.

But this evening Sammy consented to sit in one spot, and to turn to face me when I called her, so I was able to make this drawing. I feel I captured both her pretty eyes and her extreme displeasure.

Still trying to catch up after missing a few days' drawings, I also made a sketch of the embroidered Steelers logo from the fleece I wore Monday night. I had fun trying to depict the logo colors in black and white.

I did no NaNoWriMo writing today, again. My brain is fried from last night's near-all-nighter, and I'm having trouble stringing thoughts together. I will need to make massive progress this weekend.

UPDATE: Here's a photo that more accurately reflects Sammy's sensibility. She is no more pleased to be photographed than she was to be drawn, though.

BlogFest 12: We're only three years old

Wednesday, 07 November 2007 12:35 AM

In November of 2004, several local bloggers -- who read each others' sites but didn't know each other in real life -- decided to get together in person. It was the first Pittsburgh BlogFest, and it was a very, very good time.

Based on the goodness of that time and our desire to keep it going, we built a website to make it a little easier to find and keep track of blogs in this area. We held sporadic events to help people get started with or do better