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Don’t tell Egad…

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:37:00 -0500

Recently some of my awesome friends have started blogging. This inspired me to start blogging again as well. Which kindled some redesign thoughts for AbstractPenguin.com. I don’t plan any major rehaul until 2009, but I thought it would be nice to start with a new penguin logo. Don’t get me wrong, I love Egad (shown right). He’s done wonders for the site over the past four years. But… Um, how else can I say it? “You’re being let go.” “Your department’s being downsized.” “You’re part of an outplacement.” “We’re going in a different direction.” “We’re not picking up your option.” Take your pick. I got more. Although I greatly enjoy working in Photoshop, my digital illustration skills needed improving. So I’ve started doodling around to create a new penguin. Once a frightening stranger, I’m becoming fast friends with the Pen Tool. Here’s a sneak peak at what I’ve got so far, but it’s far from done: Vector Penguin His left (right on screen) fin seems a little… strange. That needs some fixing up. And he’ll need a face. And a name! Perhaps Victor because he’s a vector graphic? Perhaps Egad the Second? I’m also thinking about making him more abstract somehow… Further bulletins as events warrant. What do you think? So while I’m working on a new penguin, your job is to start thinking of what other changes you’d like to see to the blog and Abstract Penguin. What sections do you like the most?

Tax Increase

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:19:00 -0500

Erie County Council voted tonight (Tuesday) to increase tax income by 2.5 Million dollars and cut 37 positions from the county workforce. It’s too bad jobs have to be cut, anytime, but especially during these troubling times. The increase in taxes, on the other hand, was necessary to replace pension funds lost in the recent [...]

Another Rooster ...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:38:00 -0500

or maybe it is a chicken. I don't know. Now that I'm going through my photos I took at the county fair I'm thinking I should have written their breed down. This one I thought was sharp with its rusty red feathers and black baring on the tips. Yes you will have to take my word for it. He/she had big eyes that looked right through you. Darn I wish I had written those names down now. Next year for sure. In the meantime I'm just sketching out ideas for more paintings. I did another one about an month ago and will do more before I decide.We still have snow so I suppose it is here to stay. The birds are flocking to the feeders and are feeding on the suet dough like crazy. And I'm thinking about Christmas. Not much time left for projects to get done. I was hoping to get rooms painted, books made, art work done. Sigh, where does the time go. So I just take it day by day trying to get jobs accomplished.Tomorrow is another day.

Steelers Gab’s 1-on-1 w/ Ike Taylor

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:28:00 -0500

Gab site editor Matt Loede catches up with Steelers CB Ike Taylor just moments after the Steelers beat the Chargers Sunday in a wild 11-10 victory at Hinez Field. Matt talks to Taylor about the effort, the big outing from the defense, the defensive play against the Chargers Philip Rivers and the run game, and the short week coming up for the team as they get set for the Bengals Thursday night. Click below to hear a few minutes of Matt Loede w/ Ike Taylor.

Snow outside, Snow on the Blog

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:17:00 -0500

Well since there is still snow outside why not keep inside (on your computer while you are looking at my blog). It was a pretty nice day out today though. Little chilly. Hope you enjoyed the poll from the last post. Hey you know what’s fun? ElfYourself from OfficeMax. I have never tried this before but now that I have it is really fun!! Check it out!

Zuzu’s petals

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:11:00 -0500

I’ve thought about this scene all day. Tomorrow, if I remember, I’ll try & find my favorite scene from the movie:

Moving All Over!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:37:00 -0500

Yay!! Internet is back!! :-)Well, we moved into Shane's dad's house this past weekend. He lives with his fiancee in Millcreek, and was nice enough to let us stay in his house in Edinboro for a while!It is definitely a treck to work every day . . . it takes me about 30 mins - 1 hour to get to work (depending on weather/road conditions/etc).Of course, the first day to work from Edinboro, we had to have a MAJOR snow storm . . . I've always been nervous driving in snow, and was scared out of my mind . . . country roads don't really get the attention that main roads do . . .I made the mistake of going on a road that doesn't get traveled very often . . . I would've been ok if I could've stayed in the middle of the road, but of course . . . . a gigantic plow truck comes barreling down the opposite side . . . and so I had to get over as much as I could . . . aka . . . I had to go into about 2 feet of snow (I don't have 4 wheel drive and I don't have snow tires . . and the tires I do have . . suck.) . . . so I am freaking out b/c I'm like . . . there is NO WAY I'm getting out of this . . . so the plow truck goes by (barely squeaking past me) and I try to go again . . . no luck. So then I start to panic, and back up a little . . . go forward a little . . . back up a little . . . forward a little . . . no luck . . . do it again . . start sliding around . . . then Shane calls and says "how's it going?!" . . to which I reply . . "baber!!! I'm stuckkkkkkkkkkkk!!! :-( " . . . so I was very scared. Very stuck. So I kept putting it in drive . . reverse. . . drive. . . reverse. . .drive . . . and finally God helped me out! I was soooooooooo thankful!! And thank goodness, no other cars came down that road, so I just drove on the left side the rest of the way.But overall, it has been very nice here. I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE the country!!! Shane's dad owns 10 acres, and it is one of the most beautiful things to see. I do love driving through the country on my way to work and back. Everything is just so beautiful . . . it sounds corny. .. but I just feel more in touch with nature and truly appreciate it more. The things that God makes just amaze me.Shane has already gone snowmobiling in the backyard, and we have taken Behren out for several "run/play sessions" in the back yard. I cannot wait until it gets warm again (I know . . . I have a while) . . so we can just sit out on the back deck and take it all in. Just relax. You can see so many more stars at night, and it is just beautiful.(yes that is a golf ball in the dishwasher. . . we found it in there when we opened it the first time . . gary's response . . "it needed cleaned")We have made some minor improvements to the house so far (with Shane's dad's approval of course). We cleaned it up a bit (Shane's dad thought it was clean. . .which it was to an extent, but sometimes I can be a neat freak . . .). We also updated the sink in the bathroom with a new faucet (the old one was too close to the sink so you couldn't get your hands under it very well) . . soooo happy with the new one!! It looks great! Shane is also making us some coat rack thingies for our door to the back yard and the door from the garage. We moved the furniture around a bit, and I think I might make Shane paint the bedroom with me (Sorry Shane . . . Shane hates to paint) . . . right now it's white, but I want to paint it a khaki color like our old bedroom . . it's just so much more cozy!! I will probably buy some pictures/mirrors/plants/etc. . . just to make it more a "home". Warm it up a bit!Nina likes the new sink too!Well . . .other than that . . I have been working. By the time I get home and eat, it's time to sleep! . . . and then do it all over again . . . I'll try to keep you up to date!

Honor Your Heroes

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:02:00 -0500

(November, 2002) It has been my practice every year around Thanksgiving time to devote this space to heroes. I believe that we need to celebrate the people that we value, and we need to do it now rather than later. When we want to complain about someone, we certainly leap right into it; why not extend the same speediness to appreciating people who do well? After all, when we appreciate people who are doing well, we strengthen them and make the world a bit more like the place we want it to be. In years past, I have celebrated my former teachers, old friends, and community volunteers. This year I’m turning my attention to the world of work. In the world of work, there are few things as great as a good boss. The first boss I ever worked for was John Mahaffey. John was an unusual boss, the kind of man whose friends call him colorful and whose enemies call him a loon. I went to work for Mr. Mahaffey the first summer after I graduated from high school, and I heard more four-letter words out of him in my first week of work than I’d heard in my entire senior year. He could be pretty forceful in expressing his opinion, but you never had to guess what his opinion actually was. I always found him to be decent and honest; he was a good first boss. I am fortunate that my most recent boss is also a good one. Bill Vonada has not been the principal at FHS for many years, but he has demonstrated most of the qualities that you can hope to find in a good boss. Bill listens and pays attention. He manages to hear what you’re saying and to listen for the point you’re trying to make by saying it. If what you’re saying is not good news, he doesn’t try to manage you or convince you to stop saying it. Bill talks (which is not uncommon in bosses), but he speaks in plain English and says what he means. He is what was once called a “straight shooter,” the kind of person who uses words to communicate information instead of covering it up. If Bill thinks you’re right, he says so. If he thinks you’re wrong, he says so. If he doesn’t have an answer, he says so. Bill works for the team. This whole team concept seems to be a tough concept for some bosses out there. Teams include a variety of jobs, some more critical than others. A good captain knows how to lead, but he knows the value of his team-mates, too. A quarterback with a great passing arm is useless without a receiver. Teamwork is a two-way street. Bill takes care of his people and does his best to see that we can do the jobs that he does, in fact, expect us to do. This is a simple equation that escapes many leaders—leadership is a relationship, and no relationship can survive when one side does all the taking and the other does all the giving. Like most of the good leaders I’ve known, Bill seems to have a clear sense of the purpose of his organization. There are lots of good people in leadership roles whose better sense is clouded by ego or insecurity. Bill is one of a handful of leaders I’ve known who never seem to let pride or ego get in the way of doing the job. When someone would rather look good than do good, problems always follow. Bill, I would guess, is squirming as he reads this; he would rather do good than look good. Whether he knows it or not, I have learned a lot about leadership from Bill in the last few years. This is just my time of year to say so. I would bet that you have had a good boss or two in your life. If you have become a boss, I’ll bet that somewhere in your past is a person from whom you learned some of the principles by which you now lead. What I encourage you to do this very weekend is take out a piece of paper and write that person a letter. You can keep it simple: “You are a hero of mine because…” We are far too reluctant to praise bosses. We figure they’re “just doing their job” or we don’t want to appear to be sucking up. But we live in a world where good bosses are an increasingly rare and lonely breed. Just like anyone else, maybe even more so, they need to hear that their work is noticed and appreciated. The thing about most heroes is that they never know they’re heroes unless someone else tells them so. It’s up to the rest of us to let them know.

Hideously Cute

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:55:00 -0500

Or maybe cutely hideous.The toy museum had a small display of these Palmer Cox "Brownies." I was enthralled. Check out this band...look at their ugly, adorable little faces! The best one is the tuba player. Doesn't he look like he's peeved because he has a big round butt in his face?Best advertising slogan ever: "It's that after taste!"I think my favorites were these two.

Vote Nah and Yeah Scripts for JPG

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:18:00 -0500

In my downtime today and yesterday, I spent a few moments clicking through a bunch of submissions to JPG magazine's three Issue 20 themes. Because the position of the "Nah" and "Yeah" buttons change depending on the size of the image, it became a slow, tedious process that felt a lot more like work. I took a few moments to write up some AppleScripts to help me automate the process. The two are simply: tell application "Safari" to do JavaScript "document.getElementById('voteNah').submit()" in document 1 tell application "Safari" to do JavaScript "document.getElementById('voteNah').submit()" in document 1 Using FastScripts, I assigned each a keyboard shortcut - ctrl-N and ctrl-Y - both of which are on the right hand. I can now rate images just about as quickly as possible. Of course, I still pause to look at the good ones and I often consider my options… I just don't have to stress out my mouse arm quite as much now.

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Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:43:00 -0500

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Quick note

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:22:00 -0500

Just an FYI that I made it home, the kids are happy and Hawk is getting better. Back to your lives, citizens.

Redhead

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:51:00 -0500

It’s always been her dream to be a redhead. She thinks it makes her look more sophisticated.

Busy doing nothing

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:35:00 -0500

After the last few months this is very strange. I have a job, so that pressure is off, but now need to move to Buffalo to start. There’s a relocation team on the job and things are moving fast, but meanwhile there’s plenty of time. Trouble is, the time just disappears! Today we bought a load of Calphalon cookware. We haven’t bought much while living in the rental house because we didn’t want to be cluttered up with stuff that we had to move, but as a removal firm will be doing the work we can buy the stuff and simply pile it up ready to go. We also picked up a set of knives. Exciting, huh? Because of moving Celtic Grid has to be shut down. Some time in the future it may get resurrected but for now, in Erie, it closes. Putting the shutters up on the website was easy, now the bank account needs tidying up, the PO Box closing, etc. We need to spend time in and around Buffalo this week looking at neighborhoods. I need to get a medical and a drug test (I didn’t realize I’d have to take drugs!) Lots of snow pictures to process ready for the kids’ November web pages. So much to do…not sure I have time for a job!

How’d That Happen

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:11:00 -0500

Ms. Fretful just advised me that the comment feature was turned off on my last blog post. I have no idea how that happened, as it’s a feature that is defaulted to be on and I don’t recall doing anything differently when I posted that entry. How odd.

Allegheny Chamber Music Students To Present Vocal Recital

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:53:00 -0500

Soprano Alyssa Gumkowski, tenor Dalton Phillips and bass-baritone Christopher Voss will present a free recital in Ford Memorial Chapel at Allegheny College on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 3:15 p.m.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:41:00 -0500

Progress Report Spazter sits at level 28 this weekend. Another week and I did not get to play as much as I wanted. However, I did get a chance to enter T4 Open RvR this weekend for a few hours. I had a lot of fun despite the lag. I am not sure at this point if the game is just inherently laggy in large RvR battles, of if I still have something wrong with my computer. News From the Herald This week there was a couple hotfixes in preparation for 1.0.5. Most notably 1.0.4b was released this week. If you managed to read through all of the class changes coming for 1.0.5, you may have noticed that they seem to be focusing on the Engineer and the Magus. The changes coming for both of them are sweeping changes to their class mechanics. As I see it, right now Engineers do not have a ‘place’ in RvR. They are week, wearing only light armor, and the only good damage they can deal comes from their turrets. 1.0.5 was planned to change all that by nerffing their damage a bit while giving them quite a boost in defenses. However, it seems that with 1.0.4b they decided they couldn’t wait to nerf the class. Since I do not play an Engineer or a Magus, I’d like to know just how much 1.0.4b takes away from the classes without the defensive buffs they promised in 1.0.5? Heavy Metal Live Event

This week’s Grab Bag was focused on the Heavy Metal Live Event. The event, set to begin tomorrow, is set to coincide with the release of 1.0.5. The aim of this event is to get people to do the daily quest in order to get a chance at playing the new classes early. Honestly, I haven’t had a chance to play my character to 40 yet, and I don’t feel like stopping just to play another character. Hopefully the daily quests will be fun and there will be enough people doing them that it doable. Mythic does state that the quests will be solo-able, so we will see. I think the real value of this event is to give WAR some much needed positive PR. With the release of Wrath of the Lich King for WoW, and Mines of Moria for LotRO, Warhammer has really been taking a beating from the community. Blizzard release some interesting statistics from their exit polls last week that 46% of players who listed WAR as their reason for closing their Warcraft account have reopened their accounts. Why do you play? Keen over at Keen and Graev’s Gaming Blog pointed out a post on the vnboards this week from TristianX: “I’ve come to realize truly what could be warhammer’s greatest flaw, and that is I don’t miss it.” I have heard this statement from many other gamers. Unfortunately, I have to agree with his observation. When I am at work, or generally away from the game, I don’t miss not playing. I don’t have that drive to play that I’ve had with other MMOs. Keen goes further and recommends some possible hatchet-like fixes to the game. I have to say that I agree with some of them. Especially removing the zone control/locking. If I am in a raid spending several hours taking keeps and having a great time, I don’t want to wait for enough people to queue the scenario, or finish some quests to move on the next zone. Furthermore, I think that WAR needs something like Darkness Falls in th game. Give me some reason to defend my zone. Why should I defend a keep in Pragg when I know that they have 2 more zones to capture before they are attacking my city. I wholly agree with Keen in this observation. Keen suggests removing renown and victory gain from T4 scenarios. While, I do agree that the rewards need drastically reduced, I do think that you should be able to gain renown in scenarios if that is the way you like to play the game. I do, however, think that scenrios should not count in zone control. Keen has s ton more suggestions in his post, if you are interested I would take a wander over and read them over, then come back and let us know what you think can help WAR out. I personally do not think that Warhammer is in that much trouble. Christmas is weeks away many newcomers will show up. I think that after the initial hype of WotLK, most of the players who left will be back as well. Also of note this week, Korea Gamers are getting a Warhammer Server. It seems that Hangame has struck a deal with Mythic to provide servers in Korea. Wrapup Well, lots of stuff in the news this week. Hopefully I’ve helped you sort it out. So, what do you think? Is Warhammer dieing already? What can be done to fix it? How about those Engineers out there? Was the 1.0.4b nerf crippling? Until next week, Get your WAAAAGH on!!! -cfalzone

Benefits of Growing A Baby on Thanksgiving

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:01:00 -0500

Aw. well thanks for all the name support and help. We are going to journey on through this process and just maybe the good Lord will send us a dream and tell us the name in it and we can close this book once and for all.Or he could send us Gabriel, the angel, and he could give us a name! Either way, either way.Meanwhile, we are getting buttloads of snow up here in Erie! I wish I had my camera here because we had a foot fall on Monday night! It was so beautiful because it was also thundering and lightning and the whole world was really bright.Also, I had forgotten how light outside the snow makes the night time. Because the white blanketing everything reflects the moonlight and streetlights, you can really see quite a bit at night. It sure is pretty. Adam & I put on our boots and took a Lorelai walk (Don't tell Adam I called it that- Gilmore reference) with Powers on Monday and soaked up all the pretty snow.We really couldn't have picked a better time for me to be pregnant. I cannot wait until Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving I am pregnant and, therefore, expected to expand and so I can guilt-free eat my share of spinach madeline and dressing. (No comments on gluttony, thank you.) I'm also not into my 3rd trimester so heartburn hasn't hit yet. Also, helping contribute to the best Thanksgiving ever is stretchy maternity pants! I bet everyone in the fam is going to want a pair by the end of Turkey Day!

Cascade of medical news

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:54:00 -0500

Today must be the day for health-care and medical issues to pop up for my reading everywhere! There’s the Reuters article about family practitioners aka primary care docs who are planning on quitting or cutting back and we’re not talkin’ about cutting back on smoking or food…they are referring to reduction in physicians in medicine entirely. [...]

Amazon Officially Launches Content Delivery Network

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:20:00 -0500

A few weeks ago, Amazon announced they would soon have a content delivery network that worked with S3 to deliver content, despite the fact that a ton of people were already using S3 for content delivery (including me). Today, they launched their CloudFront delivery network. It’s a full blown content delivery network that will serve [...]