Not Quite Ready

Posted on April 30, 2021 by SusanG

I’m not sure I’m quite ready for things to “get back to normal”. Sure, there are things I would like to be able to do more comfortably. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to return to the way things were. I’m, also, not sure that we can completely. Which, I think could be a good thing.

While I look forward to seeing family again without masks, an getting hugs, and even going back to the Taekwondo studio, there are a few things, I’m not sure I’m ready for. The social obligations, or the perceived social obligations. The feeling like I’m letting someone down if I decide not to go do something because I would rather do something else, or just because I don’t want to do that right now.

I took the opportunity of the lockdown closing the gyms to figure out that I don’t really like going to the gym. It’s not that I don’t do things to try to stay active and get in exercise. I do that. I just don’t enjoy the social expectation that you have to go to a gym to stay healthy. And I found that at this point, I don’t enjoy the gym experience. I’m happy to not have to return to that “way it was before”. And I found out something else.

I wasn’t looking for this revelation or realization, but due to the nature of lockdowns and having to stop for a bit, it was able to find me anyway, I got to recognize that there were things for which I was putting in a lot of time and effort, and a good deal of my focus, and while they were and are nice distractions, they aren’t helping me with the thing that needs to be my higher priority. That is my day job. This is a big shift in my thinking that may seem to be sudden, though, it is a few years in the making.

A few years ago, the day job wanted me to get a certification. I had old opinions about certifications that they were mostly a waste of time, but they wanted me to take the test. I made an attempt at it, didn’t pass, and then didn’t try again. My inner two-year old decided to throw a temper tantrum. I was still railing against, not, the opinion of the test, but of where I was in my career and life. I wasn’t doing what I went to school to do and I was indignant, at least inside, that I had/have all this creative talent, and maybe even brain power, and I wasn’t doing anything “great”.  They day job was not happy about my not trying again and it became more of a requirement for them that I pass the test than a desire for me to.

My original couch.

I did pass the test on the second try. And I found something out. Because of my experience with people who had taken and passed more than a few Microsoft (in particular), certification tests, I had a low opinion of their value. I knew people with their MCSE that couldn’t change a hard drive, and one that apparently was responsible for a virus intrusion at a bad time of year. I also knew a guy that could buy the study book on Friday, spend the weekend studying it, take the test on Monday, pass, and return the book on Tuesday.  

What I found out, after taking, and passing that first certification test is that the tests have changed. They are harder than what I expected. You do need to know your stuff, or at least to have been exposed to enough of the technology to be able to figure out the answer based on your study and experience. Studying for the certification tests was a good way for me to get further knowledge of the stuff I work with and am responsible for as part of my day job. As a result, I now question the attitude of the people that say they don’t need schooling for working in computers or that certifications are worthless pieces of paper. Yes, there are people that are good at what they do in the technology field and they are self-taught, or mostly self-taught. Kudos to them. That doesn’t mean they couldn’t also benefit from the knowledge they would gain by studying for a certification test or taking a course.

Not only did the requirement, to take and pass that certification test change my opinion of computer certifications, it also forced me to look at my attitude about my day job up to that point. Or at least the few most recent years leading up to that point. What I figured out, much to my disappointment, was that I had no plan B and I needed to make plan A work. It took time but I started to better embrace the idea that I was going to need to take a few more certification tests. Though, the study needs were a little frustrating. It meant I would have less time to play at being a digital artist, or at being a guitar player, or even at being a traditional artist, or whatever other fantasy I had that I might be. It meant that I needed to look realistically at what I need(ed) to know for the day job as opposed to what I dreamed I could/would do.

None of this happened overnight. It wasn’t a lightening bolt that hit me out of the blue. It took thought and reflection. And though the beginnings of it started much before the pandemic started, the opportunity for them to grow and gain a stronger foothold for me and in me, that, came with all the lockdown measures. There is a benefit in forced boredom. It is the place where we get to be creative, it is the place we get to heal, and it is the place where we get to reflect on those things we have been able to avoid by staying too busy to look at them. And what I got to see is that I have a very good day job. I have opportunity to learn and grow in it if I choose to, and if I will step up and make the efforts. I may need to put in my personal time to gain knowledge in the areas that I can be of most use for it and that is the nature of the field I work in. If I were a Medical Doctor, at least a good one, I would need to continue to keep up with the changes in medical science as well. So, this requirement is not unreasonable. Challenging at times, yes, unreasonable, no.

My new couch.

Because of this shift in my priorities, and because I’m still settling into it, I’m not ready for things to go back to the way they were. I’m not ready to go back to doing all the same things I did before. I’m not ready to return to the same perceived or otherwise social expectations and obligations. I’m still getting comfortable with my new priorities, and I’m not ready to have to say ‘no’ to things, I’m also not ready to face the people that I have come to realize over an incredibly tumultuous year, have such different values from me, something that is a whole different topic.

All this shift in priority and focus means I have spent much less time over the last year playing guitar and working on art projects. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t done some of both. On the contrary, I have managed to complete a few cool art projects, and I’ve learned at least one or two new songs on guitar. I, also, studied for and passed a certification test and started studying for an additional test or two.

Though my efforts at studying for additional certifications have been somewhat diverted to learning some things in order to implement a project for the day job, I still plan to try for another test this year. Because of that, more of my time will be spent on stuff for the day job. I have finally embraced it as a career, not just a job, and as such it has become my priority. I don’t intend for it to take up every waking moment from now on, I hope to stay a reasonably well-rounded person so, I intend to continue to pursue my hobbies. And that right there is the key shift for me. The things I do, art and music, while very much a part of who I am, I am still a musician and an artist. Those activities that I engage in as a musician and as an artist, are my hobbies. They are not going to be my way to quit the corporate world and make my way. I am not going to become this overnight sensation in any of it. I do them because I enjoy them. And something about them insists I do those things. I may, on occasion do something cool with one of the hobbies that is notable beyond just being fun. But I won’t be playing at any of them as a side gig anymore. Oh, I still have projects planned for the art, and I have courses for the guitar that I want to get into as time permits. I still have video games I want to play, and maybe try to build, and I still have animation projects that sound like they would be fun to make. And if they all happen great. If some of them don’t, that’s ok too.

And so, I’m not ready to “go back to how it was before”. I am ready for a new normal. One that is more purposeful, that expends less energy trying to escape from what I have and more time embracing and accepting it. And more time actively working to improve it.

The new TV stand.

Currently, in addition to working on PowerShell for the day job, I’m also working on things around my home. Some of the new furniture has arrived and the young men upstairs were of great help and took some of the old furniture to the garage for me so it can be picked up for donation. I have been doing some cleaning out of things and so along with that furniture I have a bunch of boxes of miscellaneous stuff for that donation pickup. I’m excited about this. I’m still painting the bedroom. I’ve got one wall left to do. It has more furniture against it and one of those items is the bed so moving stuff will be a task. But once it’s all done, that will be the last of it for that room. There are still two more pieces of furniture to come. They may be a while before I get them. But that’s ok. The way things look right now is so much closer to what I want that I can be patient.  I have also started that 24 move poomse I have to design. I’ll try to remember to explain what that is about next time.

I don’t have as many pictures this time. Just the difference between the new sofa and the old one. It’s more of a difference than it looks in the pictures. Oh, and I have one of the new tv stand, though I forgot to take a picture before I took the old one out so I don’t have that for you to compare. I’ll have more soon. I’ve got time off from the day job and I’ll be working on finishing up some of the projects around my home. And I might even manage some time to just chill. That would be something.

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It’s Spring

Posted on April 14, 2021 by SusanG

Ah, Spring. And pollen season. Of course, in some areas, with the climate changing the way it has been pollen season seems like it lasts longer than Spring and starts halfway through the Winter. I was out walking in my neighborhood one evening and came upon a very pretty view of walkway shaded by trees that were green with new growth, it had shed its petal and they were coving the walk. It was quite pretty. I even took a picture.

Lovely Spring Time Walkway

It was a very pretty sight. Though, it also reminded me of why I had been sneezing. About a week later we had some rain that was just enough to wash the pollen into puddles. And once again, I was reminded of why I was sneezy and my eyes were watery. Still, I am happy for the season, I like the warmer weather and once the trees quit dropping pollen on everything I will get to enjoy sitting on my balcony at lunch again.

Pollen lake

I have been inspired to put some effort into upgrading my home. I will blame my Sister (as well as a year of working at home) for this. As part of that I decided to tidy up the living room. I still had things sitting in a corner from when I re-worked my office space. Mostly it was Lego stuff. One of the Lego items was the set of the VW Camper Van that I started last Summer. I had worked on it and then set it aside and hadn’t got back to it. I looked at it and decided that I would finish putting it together so I could reclaim my containers that I had bricks in them, and then I could get rid of the box. So that’s what I did. It only took a couple of days to finish it.

Next up on my upgrade track was the floor lamps in the living room. I have had two unmatched lamps for many years now. I could never really find something I liked. And one of them, because it had a clear glass “shade” I really didn’t like because the light was too harsh. I said something to my Sister about looking for lamps. I figured that since she recently got a bunch of new furniture she would have some ideas of where to look. She did and made a few suggestions. So now I have new lamps that match.

Old lamps on the left….New lamps on the right

I’m working on additional upgrades as well. Some of it is furniture and some of it is lighting, and there is even some painting in there. One of the big things is that I’m having and electrician come in and replace a bunch of lights and the ceiling fans in the bedrooms. This is a project that I basically started two years ago when I got the lights. I finally decided to order the ceiling fans. At that point it was really a matter of finding an electrician. For that I checked with my Mother to find out who she used. I have that person scheduled to do the work while I’m on vacation. I will be home, I just don’t have to worry about if my computer doesn’t work while he is working in that room. I’m really excited about this.

The Lego Bus

Aside from some new furniture in the living room that is due to arrive in the next couple of weeks, the only other thing I can really report on is the paint in the bedroom. I think I have ranted before about the tan on my walls that I really hate. The last room to sport that color on the walls is my bedroom. And the tan is going away. I purchased the primer and the paint and got started. As if the tan weren’t bad enough just because of the color, as I was watching the new color dry, I realized it is not just the color I don’t like, it is the finish. The finish of the tan is eggshell. I always use a satin finish on my walls. I wonder if that partly explains why I have to dust my walls. The lint and dust seem to stick to it. I don’t remember living any place else where I had to do that. It’s really weird. Anyway, the painting in that room has begun. I’ll be doing that over a couple of weeks. As much as I would like to do the whole room in one weekend, I don’t see that happening. I have some fairly large furniture to shift around, and as my Sister pointed out, it is on carpet, so it will be a workout to move it. I’ll break up the work and probably paint the easy to get to walls first. And then, if I don’t have it done by the time I’m on vacation, I’ll finish up the other two walls then.

Bedroom Hall ugly Tan walls

I made another change that has made a really big difference for me. Though, it is not in my environment. It is my footwear. Many, many years ago I ended up at a Podiatrist at the recommendation of the Acupuncturist. I was diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis and given a list of recommended footwear brands, a few that made shoes in wide, as well as some affordable insoles as my ‘insurance wasn’t good enough for custom orthotics.’ It made a big difference. At some point, I strayed from those recommendations and had trouble again. More than once. I have sprung for the custom orthotics twice as that was the recommendation of the new healthcare personnel. Both times they have ultimately caused more pain than they were worth. I have even tried the zero drop shoes to get close as I could do the ‘barefoot’ idea. Most of the shoes would feel good at first and then I would find that something about them that was an issue for me. During this time, I have continued to suffer from a variety of injuries. From ongoing inside of the leg shin splints to a sacroiliac joint being pulled to high hamstring issues being the most recent.

Bedroom Hall new Blue walls

As the hamstring issue improved, and I started back to Taekwondo, I started thinking about all the things I’ve done over the years, and some of what has really helped. I thought about the day I told one Podiatrist that I only wore the orthotics when I was seeing him. He asked what I wore at other times and I told him Crocs or cowboy boots. He said to just keep with that. So, I got some Crocs. And they started to help. I tried new tennis shoes that I went to a running store to get. But as comfortable as they are, they weren’t really working for my morning video boxing. I’m not a runner so the features that make the shoes great for running turned out to be totally unhelpful for me. However, while I was getting those tennis shoes the seed for what I finally did was planted.

I lamented that I miss the leather tennis shoes. The other person working that day, was looking at a catalog and announced that New Balance still makes a leather tennis shoe and they could order it for me. I filed the information. And then a couple of weeks later, after I had figured out that the new shoes aren’t ideal, I wondered if I could order those New Balance shoes online. It turns out I can. So, I did. I happen to have a few sets of the affordable orthotics that I ordered and hadn’t been using. Once the new shoes arrived, I started wearing them as is, and saw good improvement. I put the affordable orthotics in and what a huge difference. My joint issue is nearly gone and only intermittent and not very much at that. The high hamstring issue is getting much better. And the shin splints. Wow. I have relief that I haven’t had in years. Seriously. I do still feel them some after too much walking or sometimes after Taekwondo. And even then, they are nothing compared to how they did feel. The improvement is huge. And I find things continue to improve. My ankles now have a chance to get stronger which means my single leg balance is getting better. I can wear them while I video box and the support has helped a lot.

My new comfortable tennis shoes may be the same ones that are mentioned in the snobbish, ageist, judgmental articles that say things like ’10 things these people think are cool but they aren’t.’ Those articles really piss me off. The article or the author assumes everyone is only wearing things because they are cool. As opposed to maybe it is the best thing for that person’s body. So, they can poke fun at my Crocs, and they can poke fun at my leather New Balance tennis shoes, but there’s a good chance, I will still be able to walk on my own when I’m 90 while they will struggle when they are even just my age.

I’m finding that by fixing the situation with my feet, it is slowly improving other things in my body and that is a good thing. This is helping to free up my energy to do things like, paint my bedroom. A project that, like replacing the lights, I have wanted to do for two years. And as I get that done, and the furniture and finally some vacation time from the day job, I think I will once again have the energy and interest to get back to the art and music. Oh, and all those things I still need to learn for the day job.

And just because, a little Spring kite flying curtesy my friend’s daughter

Speaking of things I need to learn for the day job. I got some training on one of the items. Power BI. Some of our international colleagues are using it and so we are now looking into it for some of our reporting. As a Database Administrator, and as the Administrator for our Hyperion and Essbase data, it occurred to me that I needed to know at least how to use the application because I was going to be asked about how to connect to those things from Power BI. Fortunately, the day job came through with some introductory training for people that were interested. Which means, I’ve got that bit of stuff I need to learn done. And I can see where it would be useful for one of the other projects I have to work on which is great because as soon as I can free up from the current upgrade project, I’ll need to get back to learning PowerShell for that. And knowing that I have some things I want to do with what will come out of that project will help keep me working on it and not get too distracted. (SQUIRREL!)

And now I am off to dive into a PowerShell course and start to design a 24 move poomse for Taekwondo. Fortunately, I have about a year to design it and master it. All about that another time. Until the next time, enjoy the pictures.

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Getting Moving, Again

Posted on March 9, 2021 by SusanG

Like a lot of people, I have noticed that my activity level has decreased. Significantly. And after seeing my nephew’s incredible transformation, and knowing I need to do something similar I’ve decided to try to do something about it.

The good news for me was and still is, that with the first lock down, my Taekwondo Master got innovative and decided to teach his classes on Zoom. Yay. The classes are a little shorter, and not quite the same intensity level. I think that is all circumstantial. There is a difference between kicking actual targets and kicking air. For the most part this is working out really well. And I was continuing to do class 2-3 times a week. Right up until I realized I needed a break because of what seems to be injury. So, I took a roughly three-month break. This was helpful for the injury, not my activity level.

I have been seeing improvements in the injury and solved some other problems that were likely contributing to it and I am starting to kick things into gear again. Which led me to looking for some solutions for better fitness. Yes, I still have the vertical climber that I got early in the lock down. And I do use it, just not as much as I wanted to. It has exposed a weakness in an ankle that starts to hurt after a period of use. I’m working on this because that climber is great exercise.

I saw an ad for a Fitness Boxing game on the Nintendo Switch and thought that would be a good fun way to get some exercise. A couple of years ago I tried boxing in VR on my Oculus Rift and found it to be effective at working up a sweat. But I’ve taken down my VR setup so, I set about trying to get a Switch. They tend to be intermittently sold out everywhere. Which is really frustrating.

Then I tried looking for weight training equipment since I enjoy that sort of exercise. That was super frustrating. Half of what I wanted or needed wasn’t available, it’s all sold out. And then when I could find what I wanted or needed I looked and the price and thought about where I was going to put it and that Switch started looking like a much better option. But. Sold out.

I decided to try to find something for my Xbox or computer that was an active sort of game thing. The Xbox ones all require a Kinect which I don’t have. As I was looking one of the top listed ones was BoxVR for PS4VR. Wait, isn’t that what I have for the Rift?

At the beginning of the lock down I had setup my rift on my laptop and cleared some space in the dining room to use as my “gym”. It wasn’t an ideal setup by any means though I did use it, about three times. Then an announcement was made about Oculus accounts having to use their Facebook accounts. And without really investigating what this meant, I was not at all happy so I took the setup down and removed it from my computer.  

I was irritated by the move and terribly disappointed. I see so much potential for VR for so many things and find it incredibly fascinating. I felt a little betrayed by Facebook and Oculus. Oh. Before I get too much further. Let me explain why Facebook or Oculus can push this requirement to use your Facebook account. Several years ago, Facebook bought Oculus. Just as the headsets were becoming available. At the time I was saddened by the acquisition because I didn’t see it as being a good thing in general. However, I was able to admit that the sort of presence of a big name or known entity being involved could improve the development of the gear, even if it was just through a regular cash flow. So, I grudgingly accepted the event as potentially useful.

My mini-gym

Fast forward a couple of years and the headsets are now more readily available and I decide to take an online VR development course and I want to do the final part for Oculus instead of mobile. It’s a perfect reason to spend the money on the headset and an add-on card for my computer. I can’t say that I used it as much as I thought I would, or maybe thought I should. It sat for many months without me using it. Then I got BoxVR and I was better at using it for a couple of weeks. I had issues with a foot or that ankle, I’m not sure which and then I just wasn’t keeping it up. And then we had the pandemic and it seemed like a good solution again. And then Facebook decided to get even greedier than they already are. And I put it away.

Once I saw that BoxVR was highly rated as a fitness “game” and I realized I have said game, I had to decide if I was willing to go through the hassle of possibly converting my account. As well as, if I had space, and what would the setup look like. This is the Oculus Rift. Not the new one. It requires a tethered headset as well as two sensors. I finally decided that I could give it a try and see what happens. And for the account situation, it turns out that all new accounts must use Facebook accounts. All existing Oculus accounts can use their existing Oculus account until 2023 they just won’t have access to the social features.

I set my Rift up in the living room with just enough space to do the boxing. It required me to move the laptop if I wanted to watch TV or do my Taekwondo class. Which I’ll get back to in a moment. I made the goal to get up in the morning and do about 15 minutes of BoxVR every weekday before breakfast. Then eat and shower and head to my desk for the workday.

I did this for about a week trying to see if I would keep up with it. And in that time, I learned a few things. First, is the hand controllers eat up batteries like crazy. The headset isn’t really sized for someone my size, it’s a little big and I have had to make some adjustments to get it to stay where I need it. I wear glasses, I have to wear them with the headset, and they fog up as I get hot and sweaty during the workout. And I’ve discovered that either, the headset really is too heavy for the type of movement I’m doing or the muscles in my neck aren’t very strong. I think it might be a little of both.

On the other hand, VR boxing is one heck of a workout. I get my heart rate up, I sweat, and believe it or not, I end up with some sore muscles. Many of the workout routines have squats and dodge requirements and they can be quite effective. The first few routines I did, had some squats, and some dodge but the dodge was only to one side. This didn’t seem right to me. I felt like I should be able to dodge both directions. I found a routine that is more balance and does dodge to both sides and I discovered what is probably the source of many of my injury problems. Oh, holy cow, those back and side muscles on that left side were sore. Yeah.

I mentioned that to do my Taekwondo class requires moving the laptop. Well, the week before I setup the Rift again, I was feeling better injury wise and decided to try a class. I did some of my forms on my own and didn’t hurt from them, so I thought it worth a try. So, I tried a class and made it all the way through to the end.  Right now, I’m trying to go slow with it and do one day a week. I think it’s getting better and I can tell that what seems to be the bigger antagonist for my ‘injury’ is sitting too long in the wrong position. That doesn’t mean I can just jump right in. After three months the legs aren’t as flexible and not quite as strong. I am making progress, and I feel good after either a Taekwondo class or workout, and after the BoxVR workout. And that’s the point.

That was a couple of weeks ago when I first started writing this post. Things changed a day or two later. I was doing a more extended BoxVR session and got frustrated that suddenly the program couldn’t see my controllers. There are a few possibilities that I could think of why this was happening. They all came down to possible technology issues that, coupled with the headset frustrations sent me looking to see if there was a Switch available.

I reasoned that if the Fitness boxing was as good a workout as the BoxVR, or even close, then it would solve the headset issues. No heavy headset and no fogged glasses. And maybe it would solve this technology issue. My biggest worry was if I would use it enough to justify spending the money on it. Then I thought about my gym membership. I paid per year for my membership at the gym what the Switch and the game will cost. I went to the gym only on the day I met with my trainer. Once a week. If I use the Switch and Fitness Boxing once a week, it’s really very similar to what I was doing. If I use it every day or even three times a week, it is very much worth it.

My search was fruitful. I got the last one available at my local big box electronics store and it was ready in less than an hour. There was a demo for Fitness Boxing 2 so I downloaded and tried it out before I made the full commitment. I liked it. So, I purchased Fitness Boxing 2 online from Nintendo and it downloaded to my Switch. It has a lot of nice features that BoxVR doesn’t have. There is much better tracking of your progress. And there is guided, to an extent, workouts.

As far as the “game” is concerned, I had to start back at square one. I don’t think that is a bad thing. The timing is different, and the instruction for the different punches is better. Also, I think, having more difficult stuff unlock as you get better, is a good sign of progress. And I have progressed. Not just by the “game’s” standards, also by my own. My shoulders aren’t sore every morning when I start. They still get sore during the workout so there is still room for improvement there. And there are a lot more routines to work up to. I have finally progressed to the squats and dodges. And the workouts with the ducks and weaves are a good challenge.

And a weight bench.

An interesting side effect to the workouts with the shadow boxing games is that I started feeling a lot better and I wanted to add more to my workouts. That had me thinking about that weight gear again. I don’t really have the space for it. And yet. It would make a difference and I don’t want to join a gym just for that. So, I did a little more searching and found a few items, that would help, and I could add on from there. I found a bench and a heavier kettle bell. Those have arrived. I combined them with some of what I already have and created a workout for myself. After years of working with various trainers, I have a wide variety of exercises I already know and can pull from to develop a nice workout on my own. It was effective. I have done that workout once, and it took a couple of days for the legs to recover. I also ordered a convertible dumbbell/barbell set. When that arrived, I got a good workout getting it up the stairs.

And yes, that has been the big news and events of my past couple of weeks. Well sort of. There was also the recognition that I have a bunch of additional stuff I need to learn for my day job and that got a little overwhelming. I have a handle on it, I think. I have identified what will be the most widely useful thing to learn and what I need to focus on for accountability, as well as what I need to get a rudimentary understanding of for discussion and likely future implementation. That’s a start. At one point I was just exasperated by all that I need to learn because, I still have more to learn for the stuff I currently use and do. And now I have all these other things. What that means is that right now a lot of my non-work time is taken up with trying to get up to speed on stuff that will help me with work.

I have always fought this. I perceive it as a lack of balance and feel like I’m somehow being robbed of personal time and my personal interests. However, I’m hoping that if I dive in and try to tackle some of this, to the level I need to know it, and not fight it, then it might go more smoothly, it might cut down on my frustrations, and even possibly make my day job easier. And perhaps it will clear up some brain space for more art and music.

At least, all that is how things stand right now. As I was looking at those things I need to learn, and the ones I want certifications for, I found some study modules that I missed for one thing I thought I had completed. That’s ok. I was planning on going back through all of that again before I started to prepare for the test. And I would like to get that test taken and passed. That means, that, with trying to increase my activity level, and studying, I have not been getting to much else. That will have to do for now. There is too much going on at work for me to try to make my after work life complicated or stressful. I’ll still have updates to share though. And, as much as I shift from one thing to another, you never know what else I might get into.

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Finally A Place for That Stuff

Posted on February 11, 2021 by SusanG

Last week as I sat down to write this post, I had all this stuff that I was going to share about technology and getting the right stuff and getting rid of the old stuff and things that work nicely together. I was two or three pages into it and realized it sounded like a really boring lecture. Yeah. So here I am trying this again.

What started it was me trying to setup one of my previous desktop computers for someone to use to test out something. I, fortunately, wasn’t very far into the process when it just quit on me. Shut off. I spent enough time trying to figure out what the problem might be, as it looked like a problem I had experienced a couple of years ago, before I finally gave up. It was done working and I didn’t have the patience for going through all the possible swap out of things that I could with an even older desktop computer. So, I delivered the news to the intended recipient and then had to figure out what to do with the computer.

This was not the only piece of electronics equipment that I had that I needed to do something with. As noted, I had an even older desktop computer and a few other items that were well past their use by date. I’d been collecting them because I was going to try to do something responsible with them, like donate them to a makers group or a charity or something. I have never gotten in touch with the makers group and I am guessing, like many of the charities, they either aren’t open or aren’t taking in donations at the moment because they don’t have someone available to process them. What to do.

A few forgotten items to recycle.
Otherwise a clean closet floor.

As it turns out my local big box electronics store does take in electronics for recycling. They have guidelines on their website for how much they take in general, but each store has their own rules. I decided to put all the electronics stuff I was ready to part with in the car and see what they would take. As it turns out, the store I went to doesn’t have a limit on the number of items per household per day. They took it all. And I was over-joyed. Most of what I dropped off had been sitting in the floor of my coat closet for well over a year and in most cases several years. I can’t even tell you how good it felt to have that taken care of. It was huge weight off my shoulders because I no longer had to find the ‘responsible’ thing to do with it all. And, of course, as soon as I got home, I found a couple of other items that I could have taken. I guess I’ll be making another trip. I don’t think I will let it stack up for as long this time.

Another cool bit of computer technology stuff has to do with software. I think I shared that I finally figured out the advantages of cloud saving for things like the Adobe products, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fresco and so on. It was really cool to be able to go from my iPad to my desktop with a piece of digital art I was working on. Well, turns out there is some Microsoft stuff that does that sort of thing too and it’s just as cool. That’s the Office 365 subscription. I might have mentioned it in a previous post.

I was a bit reluctant to subscribe to the Office 365 for quite a while. For a number of reasons. Some practical and some just blind stubbornness. Ok, and how many other places, besides your hard drive do you want your files to be. Or maybe this is just old thinking. Anyway. I was not quick to embrace the whole concept. With my newest computer, which is now running Windows 10 like everything else, when I was setting it up I needed to choose between an open-source office suite and MS Office. I opted for the MS Office product. But, instead of purchasing the ‘box’ copy I went with the subscription. Partly because I could have it on everyone of my Windows 10 computers, and even on my iPad. It happens to come with some cloud storage and synching as well. Which I admit, I didn’t use at first.

This one lives in the office/art room.
It’s the newest computer.

One of the things in the Office 365 suite is something called One Note. I have always rolled my eyes at this piece of software. My first experience with it was some new hire at the day job, who I think was straight out of college, wanting it on his pc and we had to find a copy of it. Yes, you did just here my eyes roll. I have a friend who is an enthusiastic user of One Note, or I’m pretty sure he is. Anyway, I’ve heard about it, but I hadn’t really embraced it, or looked at it for that matter. Until my manager suggested we might use it for keeping some notes on a project we/I am working on. And then I came across some information in a course I was taking that I wanted to make some notes of, but I didn’t really want to write it down and Notepad just seemed messy. So, I opened up One Note. Hey, I need to figure out how to use it for work, so I’ll start here. I started finding it helpful, but I didn’t grasp its true usefulness until this last week when I wanted to make notes for things for my day. I had made my bed and had all these thoughts of what I wanted to do, things I should check, stuff I needed to keep in mind for work, and I wanted to write them down so I wouldn’t forget them when I got sidetracked by whatever. I grabbed my Surface, opened up One Note, started a new section and a new page and made my notes. I went on about getting ready for the day and when I got to my office, turned on my personal computer, as well as my work computer, there were my notes, on my personal computer, ready for me for the day. Now, finally, this stuff is getting useful. Really useful.

Yes. I maybe a little late to the party on some of this. There are reasons. I’m working on it.

Just because I am a little slow in embracing our cloud computing overlords doesn’t mean I don’t find some of the cutting-edge stuff really cool and exciting. I do. I went to school to study VR long before it was ready for prime time.

A few years ago, I was playing more video games than I really have time for now. And I was looking for something interesting. I was at the game store, working with a salesperson and asked about a game called ‘No Man’s Sky’. He didn’t really think I would like it. So, I didn’t get it. Now at the time, one of the things I had read about it was that it had a bunch of planets to explore and that they were ‘procedurally generated’. The short, not entirely accurate explanation for that is that there is some basic code that the program is given and from that it creates the planets and everything on them on its own. A programmer doesn’t have to design and code every single planet and everything on it.

This lives wherever.
Right now it’s in the living room.

Fast forward to the recent holidays and my reading holiday vacation. I picked up a book that looked interesting called ‘The Simulation Hypothesis’. In the book they happen to mention the game ‘No Man’s Sky’ and the procedurally generated worlds. And this made me want to revisit playing the game. After some dithering about the cost and would I play it, I found a solution and got the game. I like it.

It is not a fast-paced game, and unlike a lot of games, it doesn’t have a combat focus. It focuses on exploration and crafting for trading or to improve your base and ship. It is easy to get caught up in trying to gather all the resources you need to make the next thing you need. And it is really easy to get lost in exploring a planet and fill up your backpack to capacity before you can get back to your base or ship to make use of the resources you’ve gathered. There is definitely some engineering and planning that goes on as you decide what you need and how to get it built. And then there is the space exploration. Which I haven’t done much of yet. At least not on my own. It seems I still need to upgrade a few things before I’ll want to do that. I’m not far into playing. I think over three weeks I’ve spent about eight hours. Which while it sounds like a lot of time, I know people that play other games for that long in two days easily. I’m looking forward to getting to spend more time exploring the game. I have learned to be a bit more discerning when someone is telling me I won’t like something.

Lest you think all my time has been taken up lately in the computer realm, I have an update on the sanded gesso on paper trial. I first decided to try it on watercolor paper and that was not a really good choice. I didn’t like the dips that the watercolor paper has. It made it difficult to get a smooth layer of color. So, I decided to try it on some Bristol. It’s a smooth paper to begin with so no dips. The only caveat is that I don’t have a small pad of the Bristol. I thought I did. My solution was to take a sheet from the large pad I have and cut it down to size. Then, I made sure to tape the entire perimeter of the paper down before I started the gesso process. I still had a little buckling initially, but it took very little to flatten it back out.

This turned out to be really handy for really
embracing the possibilities of One Note

Now as far as testing it out. I haven’t gotten back to that. I wasn’t enjoying my original test piece. For a few reasons I suspect. I have what I think will be a better subject in mind so, I hope to get something going on that soon to see how I like it. Now that I’m not fighting the watercolor dips.

There have been some really big changes to Blender recently. All of them sound like they are good things. And they may not be impactful to the stuff I do in Blender yet. However, listening to the reports of them, I feel like I have completely fallen behind again. As a result, though I have a few things to work on in Blender, I haven’t gotten back to them. Of course, with all the other studies, and exploring ‘No Man’s Sky’ I’m struggling for time right now. Hopefully soon.

I think that is all for the moment. Your coffee is probably cold or needs a refill at this point. I do have more to share. I’ll save it for the next post. And maybe I won’t take so long in between posts this time. I’m staying busy, though, I’m not sure how important that busy is. But as my grandfather used to say, ‘it keeps me out of mean-ness’ so at least there is that.

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Trying to Keep Up

Posted on January 27, 2021 by SusanG

I give up on trying to keep up with what is going on. When I first sat down to right this post I was going to comment on things that had happened and before I had finished it, something else happened. I have lost track of how many times I have sat down to write this post. I am calling ‘uncle’ on this. I’m going to write this, hope it makes some sense and post it.

The last month in this country has been a whirlwind of stunning and amazing events. If you could get whiplash from it, we would all be suffering for sure. Like many, I am hopeful for the year and years to come.

I have an update on the Mantis Shrimp pastel painting. I finished it. Yes. It is done. I’m quite happy with it. As happy as I am with the subject, meaning the shrimp, I think I might be just a little more pleased with how the background turned out. It may have opened whole new doors for me in creating art. Particularly in pastel. Possibly even in digital when I get to it. I have a whole new, better, more fuller understanding and respect for layers.

Completed Mantis Shrimp pastel painting.

Yes. Layers. I thought I understood layers before. Particularly as a way to keep parts of your art separated so that you don’t mess up the part that you already have the way you want. Or to have the sketch in the background so you can work over it, using it as a guide. I’ve even started to grasp the idea of layers for blending. Though, not completely. With the Shrimp painting, I inadvertently used layers for making my background, simply because I was spray fixing other areas so they wouldn’t get smudged while I was working on some of the detail. This is cool and has me excited.

I expect, with the digital painting courses that I have purchased, I will be getting a much better understanding of layers in digital art and how they can be set to additive, subtractive, multiply, overlay, and whatever else they have for options. I’ve watched enough demonstration videos on Instagram to understand that understanding what I can do with layers and their modes will make a big difference in my digital art as I create it.

As I usually do when I finish a piece of art, after I finished the Mantis Shrimp, I decided to clean my art desk. I realized, as I was doing that, that I had several boxes of soft pastels and pastel pencils and they were all taking up extra space on my desk which limited my workspace. So, I decided to order better storage for the art supplies, or at least the pastels. I ordered a spice rack spinner thing at the same time because the spices were another better storage needed situation.

Now I can see what I don’t have.

The spice spinner arrived first and I set about putting it together, taking all the spices out of the cabinet, putting the spice spinner in place which required raising the shelf above it so it would work best and then putting all the spices on the spinner in the cabinet. Oh wow. What a difference. And even when I closed the door. It is amazing how a change to such a small space, even behind a closed door can make such an impact on how a room feels. And now I can more easily see that I don’t have the spice or herb I was looking for.

The next day the storage for the art supplies arrived and I set about getting that all sorted out. I had to think about how I want it to work and what would be easiest to use. If I don’t have everything in the right order, meaning something should be in the top drawer instead of middle, I at least have things grouped properly and just moving which drawer is where is easy enough. I also got rid of I’m not sure how many boxes and tins that hold the supplies. I have more space on my desk and things are easier to find. I sat here stunned for the first few days. It was a lovely sight. And, after I tidied up the art desk and put the supplies in their new storage, I cleaned both my other desks, the one for the day job and the one for my personal computer work. Talk about a shock to the system.

It wasn’t just the routine cleaning after finishing the painting that prompted the need for storage. I also ordered some additional pastel pencils and soft pastels. They arrived just before I did my cleaning and contributed to the realization that I needed a better way to store the pastels and pastel pencils. Pastels and pastel pencils weren’t the only thing I ordered. I also ordered a gesso primer for pastel. It’s a textured gesso. It’s supposed to work on a wide variety of surfaces and supports so that I can use many things to pastel paint on, not just pastel paper. I had that in mind when I decided what to do for my next art projects.

Art desk covered in pastels and supplies before storage.

The worst part about finishing an art piece for me is if I don’t have an idea of what I want to work on next. And I didn’t. I was really struggling with what I wanted to create next. So, I sat down and started working on the Gretsch point painting again. I got a bit annoyed with it and went to set it aside. When I did this, I managed to smear some of the still wet ink. At this point, I was disgusted with the piece. I’m not one to completely destroy or trash a piece most of the time so I opted to just take it off the desk and move it to storage and not work on it. And that’s when I figured out what do for the next pieces.

The first piece is an experimental piece, meaning to experiment with materials or such, like the new gesso. The idea is to do a small piece that doesn’t need a large canvas to see how I like the gesso, if it does as they advertise, and what other techniques I might want to keep in mind for working with it. I’ve started it. I may stop and try again because of the choice of paper. I chose some watercolor paper since it’s a fairly heavy stock, and because I have some in roughly standard paper size so it’s not too big. This is a little frustrating because all the valleys in the paper that are meant to hold the watercolor paint. This makes getting the really smooth looking color coating more challenging than I was hoping. What I may do instead is to take a piece of the Bristol board and cut it to a smaller size and try the gesso on it and start over with that.

The second piece will be a little larger. I’m not sure yet if I will use the gesso or just use pastel paper and spray fixing frequently to complete it. It will depend on how I like the gesso. The piece will replace the Gretsch point painting. At least that’s the plan right now. I think I will like it better. And I think I will like doing it in pastel better.

All the pastels and such neatly organized.

The third piece will be much larger, possibly as large as the Blue Footed Booby picture I did end of 2019 and finished in the first part of 2020. This one will probably just use the pastel paper and the spray fixing methods. I expect there to be more detail and more need for depth that I feel like I get with the spray fixing of layers. This will be another underwater creature. In fact, it’s one I have intended to do for years, in black and white using the same point method I was using for the Gretsch. I have a few animals I have done that way and it was next on the list. I’ll share more on that when I start on it.

Things are starting to set a rhythm. I’ve got studies for the day job still. That will be a bit of an ongoing thing. I finished the one set of lessons I was doing for the Azure stuff. I’ve started a different set for Azure as well as some for Chef. I’m rapidly approaching the project that I was hoping to use Chef for a part of. It’s a minor part but a good exercise in using the tool that doesn’t risk breaking anything too bad.

I finished the Rhythm Guitar course and have decided to spend some time practicing what I learned there and really getting it into my fingers before I start another guitar course. While I’m doing that, I’ve replaced the guitar course with a Web Development Bootcamp course. I started it over the summer and then for various reasons got sidetracked and had not gotten back to it. So that’s what I’m working on now.

So far I am really enjoying the web development course. Most of what has been covered up to where I am at, I have already learned or encountered over the years with different websites I’ve built. Though, I will say I now have a better grasp of how to use and create tables in html. Not that you would really want to, at least not for layout, which is how they were used at one time. Next up will be some CSS. Which is also something I have had a little exposure to. So, I am not expecting too many revelations. Though, I don’t doubt I will still find something new to learn.

And now I have desk space to work in

One of the things I am enjoying about the web development course is somewhat similar to what I am finding with the German I’m working on at Duolingo. Either because of how Duolingo has structured their learning or how I am approaching it or a combination of the two, my grasp and comfort with German and the idea of using it has started to creep up on me. So that when I was speaking with a colleague the other day instead of greeting him with ‘good morning’ I used ‘gute nachmittags’ which is ‘good afternoon’ and more appropriate for the time of day where he is. I feel like the web development course is doing something similar for coding. It starts with a simple to understand ‘language’ to create a very basic web page that anyone who has been on the internet can grasp what it is. And the course will progress to not just the markup language and then the stylization language, it will also get into things like PHP and Javascript that are closer to ‘regular coding’ than HTML and CSS. And I think that, that bit by bit slow progression helps to build comfort with using coding or scripting as a solution to different things on the computer, either for personal use or for the day job. So, I’m really excited about working on the web development course.

The reading over the Holidays idea worked out really well. I read or finished reading a reasonably good number of books. Of course, I have probably purchased as many or maybe twice as many books as I finished. I tried to limit my book purchases so I could get a little more caught up on the unread books I have. I had set a goal of only purchasing one book for every two books I read. That only worked for a little while. Maybe what I will try next is choosing the books I am going to purchase each month, and then…. Never mind. That’s not even remotely realistic. I’ll just have to work on keeping up with my reading just like the rest of my studies. That covers what I think is noteworthy for now. What I manage to work on each week, as you know, varies. And with some of the things I’m working on there doesn’t really feel like a lot to tell. I’ll do my best to keep up and keep you up with the news and cools and adventures.

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