Workin’ The Plan

Posted on August 10, 2020 by SusanG

Of course the question is, which plan? Well right now, roughly two. The studies plan and the technology consolidation plan. The studies plan is what I’m calling the part last week where I figured out that if I get certain things done, I’m be really done with them and can move on to different stuff. I haven’t mentioned the technology consolidation plan yet. I’m still assessing a couple of items with that. However, I did get started on it.

Playing in Procreate. It’s a whole new world.

About a month ago I ordered an iPad Pro, at the same time I ordered an Apple Pencil and a cover to go with it. A couple of days later I had the pencil and the cover and was waiting on the iPad. The iPad finally arrived last week. Finally. And now, I’m getting used to using it. There were a few things that finally convinced me to get an iPad again. For starters, the Pencil. This was really exciting to me when it was first introduced and now with some of the upcoming changes to how it works in iOS 14 I’m even more excited. Another thing was trying to draw or sketch with the tools on a Windows tablet styled Surface and finding it a difficult enough experience that it hasn’t inspired me to learn how to do it. Yes, I have a stylus for the Surface. There were other things that appealed to me as well. The fact that the OS on the iPad is designed for a tablet and not a desktop operating system trying pretend to be a tablet operating system. The difference in how privacy is handled is another plus. And it fits into the bigger technology consolidation plan, which, as it implies, will ultimately see me with fewer devices. Hopefully.

Since art is a factor for having the iPad getting the right app was important. For that, this time I decided to purchase Procreate. I have Auto Sketch I think that’s what it’s called. It’s the Autodesk Sketch program and I could have stuck with that but I decided to go with something that seems a bit more “Apple main stream”. I have tried it already. In fact I used it to play with an idea for what to do for the next donut scene after the one I’m working on. It was fun to use that idea to learn a bit of how to work with the app, it was also the first fairly simple thing I could think of. And you know what. It was so easy and smooth to use that I actually want to learn to use it to make 2D digital art. That’s a cool thing to me. In fact it’s probably the coolest thing so far.

The garden is growing.

I already have Garage Band for the iPad so I’ll be able to use it for some recording of my practice and noodling if I want to. And yes, you really can produce music in Garage Band. I haven’t done it yet. I’m looking forward to trying it. I am planning on getting an iRig to go with it so that when I do record it will, in theory, be better quality.

Speaking of music, I worked on my guitar course again this weekend. And again I learned something. It is a slight variation on the turn around for the 12 bar blues. It was easy enough with a couple of the boogie patterns he uses and more challenging with the other two. My brain and fingers kept getting a little tangled. I kept at it though. I played it until I could do it. I used the iPad to watch the lessons. I like the portability more than my other devices and I think that will be important as I get to some of the more involved lessons that I may want my guitar in hand for as he’s going through them.

It probably seems like all I have to talk about this week is the new iPad. That’s because, last week, up until it got here I was working the study plan. It was a full week at the day job and a long one as we had server patching at the weekend. As I mentioned in the last post, I figured out that if I got a few of the things I’d been working on done I’d have more time to better concentrate on the big study so I could get that out of the way. So that’s what I did. I was about half way through the week and found that I was really close to finishing the AWS course. So I pushed through and finished the course and the test for the course. I am done with that. For the immediate need. Now back to the SQL study with that as the focus. Which is what I’m working on now.

Donuts are modeled. Need sprinkles and color.

Though I did take some time to work on the guitar course and to practice, and I worked on the donut scene, once I was done with the patching and maintenance for the day job, SQL was my focus for the weekend. And I worked the iPad into that plan as well. I have these notes I’ve been taking for some flash cards online that even though I’ve been taking the notes, I haven’t gone back and read through them. So I decided to do that. Read the notes. As I was reading them I thought it would be better to re-write them so I could read them more easily. But I wanted to write them, not type them. So I found a good notebook app for the iPad. I chose one that I had to pay for. It is one I can have full access to and not have to subscribe to it after the free trial. I’m really loving it. I’ve got almost all of the notes copied. Just a few more sets to go. And I’ve retained some of the information too. Progress.

I’m expecting to make a little more progress on the donut scene this weekend, maybe even adding some color to it. And I will be making sure to get some guitar practice as well as the guitar course. Even planning for that, my big focus will be the SQL. I’ve made progress with my notes, and my book study and I have a few more tools to work with so that I can get myself ready to take that test and pass it. For now, I have few pictures I managed for this week so enjoy.

Yes, I felt the earthquake.

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Adjustments, Tweaking, and Maybe Motivation

Posted on August 3, 2020 by SusanG

I recently caught a small case of boredom where I wasn’t too excited about the things that I have listed out to do. I started thinking about it and realized that it might be because, half or more, are things that I am working on for the day job. Yes, they are things I want to learn as well. It’s just that they are more for the day job. And even though I finished the Blender Donuts tutorial, I hadn’t really replaced it with one of the other things I am wanting to learn. That’s because I’m still making 3D donuts. I guess it’s time have another look at things.

Salad Greens

The first thing I did while I was thinking about that was to make myself some lunch. I had a steak sandwich wrap and used some of my lovely salad greens that have finally gotten to a size of needing to be harvested periodically. As I was eating my wrap, I thought about the things I’m working on for studies, I realized that I had one course that I have completed a bit over half of. It could be finished fairly soon. And it might be enough to get me what I need. I need to check that out. That is the AWS course. That leaves two other lines of study. SQL and Ruby. I actually have a lot of what I need for what I started out taking the Ruby course for so I can pace myself a little differently with that one. Which brings me to the SQL. I’m studying for a test. As soon as I pass the test, I’m done with that. Done. Hmmm… I think I have a plan.

I’ll be working on that plan and seeing how well I can get it going this week. I’m hopeful. I really think it will work. I will include some of the fun bits too. I mean I still have Taekwondo, I still play guitar, and I’m still making 3D donuts.

Meet Phil. Phil lives in the Music Room and loves that window.

Speaking of all those fun things. I did work on the guitar course again this weekend. I’d say I didn’t learn much with this set of lessons I watched except I learned just enough. The discussion of power chords and the why of them. Why they get used and why they work and a little of how to work with them was helpful. I’ve never been a big power chord player, except in a couple of cases for the blues. And I never had any real good explanation of their point. Now I understand. No. I won’t be switching to chunking away at power chords all the time. Seriously, that would be boring. It’s just now, I have a better understanding of them and their place.

Sketched it first.

Donuts. 3D donuts. Yes. I finished the tutorial in time for last week’s post. And I had an idea for the next scene. I think I told you, I intend to make a lot of 3D donut scenes. I’m treating it like practicing my scales and fingering exercises. I’m hoping to get faster, and to get some of the techniques well entrenched in my brain so that, like doing some of the Taekwondo forms I learned when I first started, I will have done them so much that I don’t have to think that hard to use them.

I did do something a little different this time. Actually, I may have done it one other time a few years ago. Anyway, I sketched out a rough idea of what I want the scene to look like. It’s not too fancy at this point. The point is to go through the exercise. And using a sketch, I think is good practice as well. Both for my sketching skills and for my workflow.

Starting a new donut scene

What else is happening? Well, I took some time during that bout of boredom and before making lunch, to work on the Lego set of the VW Samba bus. I’m not really far enough along with it for it to be worth a picture. And I’ve had my plants to take care of. The Basils, I think will make it. The Thai wasn’t getting enough water apparently. The Genovese was just getting enough water. They both have some new growth so it’s a matter of time I think. And the salad greens. They finally got big enough and full enough that I had to start harvesting. I had them as an addition to a salad one night and I’ve had them on wraps a couple of times now. I am hoping to get them transplanted before their roots get too overwhelming or tangled for the water resevoire.

Oh. My greeting cards arrived. I set them up and ordered them online using Moo.com. I got them today. They look great. They are a matte finish but not the matte finish that I was expecting. I was expecting something a little more rough which would have been fine for what I did but not so much for other things I’m thinking of. Now that I know what to expect I can make decisions about other card projects going forward.

That’s it for now. Enjoy the pictures.

My cards have arrived.
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Moving Along

Posted on July 27, 2020 by SusanG

I was going to call this post “Movin’ Right Along” however, every time I say or think that phrase my ear worms start singing the song by that name from the original ‘Muppet Movie’. It wouldn’t be so bad except they don’t remember all the words. So I’m stuck with Fozzy Bear singing half the words in my head for hours. It wasn’t worth that sort of torment.

As you might have guessed, things are looking up as far as getting cool things done and learning stuff. Once that nasty headache completely cleared I was able to really get going. And even solve a thing or two. Like when to start one of the guitar courses I purchased, and what to do about some blank greeting cards. So onward.

Salad Greens. Two weeks old.

I was working along this week trying to make progress on all the different things I’m learning for work, and getting somewhere. I took a really basic overview course on AWS. Now I’ve started a little more in depth course with plans for an even more in depth course after that. I worked on Ruby this week, mostly setting up my system for running Ruby on Rails locally. I have a personal laptop that I’m using for that and for the Blender lessons. I found the part of the Ruby course where they tell you how to set it up so I did that. They also show you how to set it up on Mac and on AWS Cloud9. I have an old (10 years) Mac Book Pro that I bought used to mess with and I decided to see if I could set it up with Ruby on Rails. It took a bit of effort and wasn’t as smooth as the Windows 10 laptop, but I chalk that up to it being 10 years old and not on the latest OS. Still, it works.

Blender Donut

I’m still plugging along on the SQL and as I looked at something one day from the book, it clicked what I’d been encountering with the online study stuff I’ve been using. Which means that is starting to take hold as well. That’s a relief. And kind of cool.

I tend to keep a list of things that I have to remember to do, like appointments, or classes, and chores. I also keep on the list, things that I’m working on or don’t want to forget to work on. And some are things that are big projects that could be coming up. As I was looking at this list this week, it clicked with me when I could work on one of the guitar courses I bought. I no longer do weekly grocery shopping and I don’t have Taekwondo on Saturday so that would be an excellent day to work on that. That’s not to say that is the only day I will pick up a guitar. It’s that it is the day that I will sit down and watch some lessons. Then I can spend the week working on the exercises. So yeah. I did that. I sat down Saturday afternoon, I was planning on morning but had a spurt of creativity for a different, out standing, project that I worked on. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Final Donut and Coffee.

Back to the guitar. I watched about an hour of the course to start. A lot of it was really very basic stuff and review for me. Though, I finally understand some of the notation on the TAB sheets I use. And I have even put them to a test. What a difference that makes. Oh boy. So I went through about an hour and got to the basic beginning lessons and printed out the PDF file so I could have it to remind me. Then a little later, I decided to spend some time playing around with the exercise, and a little of what will be coming next. And I solved a problem for myself.

Remember that I have had some trouble with my arm and that some of it seems to be aggravated by they way I try to play the rhythm for ‘Dust My Broom’? And I’ve tried the open tuning for it, which works, though it requires considerable adjusting and relearning of things to make full use of it. I’ll get there. Or back to working on it. For now, it turns out because of how this instructor shows a basic blues boogie, (I consider it a shuffle but I could be wrong), I learned how I can play that, all on the same fret and thus use a capo and not have to use that poor, little finger. And when I figured it out my brain wanted to explode. I’d been working so hard to figure that out and here it was, and it was simple. I’m totally excited, and mind blown. Almost as mind blown as when Kevin showed us the C-A-G-E-D stuff.

Awesome Coffee. Made in Blender.

That little project that took up my Saturday morning? So, I’ve been writing cards and letters to a few friends and family, for fun, as a good way to keep up, and to help support the post office. Now I prefer to send the letters in blank note cards with something interesting on them or if it’s really short, just a post card, again with something interesting on the one side. At first I resisted purchasing cards because I had a few and I wasn’t finding anything I really liked. I did finally find some, they were these awesome paintings of Llamas with a rainbow mohawk, or glasses, or very prim and proper, and even one with headphones on. My nephew has been a big fan of them. Before that, I was thinking I really should just make some. Problem was, I wan’t sure what sort of art to put on them. Then, it looked like the card stock was going to be matte, not glossy, and I wasn’t sure about what I had finally decided I could put on them, which was some of the pictures I took in Australia.

So this idea for these blank greeting cards has been sitting on my list for a few months now and I’ve been stuck. This week, I got an advertising email for this site called Design Cuts. I downloaded a free bundle of Photoshop and Illustrator brushes and fonts and back grounds and such from them five years ago. They regularly send advertisements for the weekly freebie, or bundles that are on sale. Something caught my eye in the one they sent this week so I pulled it up to see what was in it. There were a few items that I thought would be really useful and fun to see what I could do with and one of those was a set of masks. Not like face masks. Masks to use to hide parts of an image. That seemed like it could be fun to work with.

A taste of my Aussie Greeting cards I made.

Back to looking at that list. So I hadn’t purchased the bundle yet. I was thinking about it and pretty sure it would be a good choice, when Friday night, I happened to look at the item on my list that was for the Australian greeting cards and boom. I new exactly what I wanted to do for the cards and with that mask set. Which lead to Saturday, after breakfast and some awesome coffee, I purchased the bundle, and started experimenting. I ultimately came up with about 25 different pictures that I thought might work and I applied different masks and created these really cool pictures. I chose 5 to use for the greeting cards. I got them uploaded and ordered and they are on their way. I’ll post a little taste with this. I’m so excited.

And on top of all that I have finished the Blender Donuts course completely this time. I finished up the note taking on the final section which covered some key framing, animation, a bit of setup, and compositing. There’s still a good bit to learn that I really don’t have a feel for in Blender. At least I got to learn some new bits now. I wasn’t sure I would get it done this weekend. I thought it might take part of this week. I did get it done and now I can start on the endless donuts project. You’ve been warned. I’m excited to have that part completed and so I can move on to using that a little more creatively and to really add my own twist to the subject matter. I have an idea for the first one, already.

I has been a full week. And a satisfying one. I feel like I’ve really managed some breakthroughs with several things and that makes a big difference for my mood and my attitude. I am exhausted at the end of the day, and that’s ok. At least I feel like my day was well spent. Enjoy the pictures from this week.

My final animation for the Blender Donut Tutorial
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A Penny on the Track

Posted on July 20, 2020 by SusanG

You know that practice of putting a penny on the train track to get it squished? And how you’re not supposed to do that because supposedly it could cause the train to derail? Either part of that applies to me after this weekend. I’m either the squished penny or the derailed train.

A meeting doodle. My home office has more
colors to doodle with.

Ok, it’s not quite as bad as that. I was working along last week with a fairly good routine working on the various things I’m trying to learn and I was all set to have a weekend that I would be able to sit down and really get into one or two of those things and make a surge in progress. I even got my Friday errands done so I wasn’t going to be interrupted with going out to do something. I was set. And then Mr. Migraine shows up to squish my penny and derail my weekend plans.

Now the good news is that I got a few things done during the week that were significant, and I got a few small extras done on Saturday before the migraine took hold. And that’s the important stuff.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I bought an Aerogarden. I got it the last week in April and have been growing the herbs that come with it. Ok really, I was just growing the Basil. The Mint and Dill and Parsley came up. And they tried to get going but the Thai Basil and the Genovese Basil came up quick, got big quick, and took over the light so nothing else stood a chance. The stuff grows so fast that I could make a one to two person serving of fresh Pesto every three days. I finally decided that, since I couldn’t keep them trimmed back enough so they weren’t getting burned by the light, it was time to pot them in soil and see what would happen. I needed bigger pots. And if they survive, I’ll get them some.

Genovese Basil, Garden of salad greens, Thai Basil.
Yes, the Basil’s were in that garden, with the light taller.

There is a question if the Thai Basil will survive because of the abuse I put it through trying to get it out of the garden. It’s root system was so extensive that it took over the water well. Between that and the light, no wonder nothing else was having any luck. With a bit of squishing and fiddling I was able to get the roots out without cutting them. I think that was a good thing. Though, they took up nearly the entire pot that I had for it to go into. It’s still hanging on and it’s been six days so maybe. The Genovese Basil wasn’t as bad. It too could use a bigger pot.

The cool thing about that, and my work from home situation for the day job is, I did all that on my lunch hour. After work I re-potted the Mint and the Basil that are on the balcony to keep the wasps away. And then it was time to clean up the garden and start a new one. I started some salad greens. I have no idea what they are, they just say salad greens. Those little buggers sprouted in two days. I’ll have to keep and eye on the roots this time.

My guitar playing has been intermittent lately. I’d make excuses and reasons why it isn’t happening except, we all know that they really don’t count for anything. So I’ll leave it at that. I did get in and do a little work with my loop pedal one night. It was a quick thing but I’m starting to get the hang of it…sort of. A few months ago I finally decided I needed to try laying down a rhythm track on my loop pedal so I could work on soloing over an eight bar blues. I’ve got a good feel for a twelve bar but the eight is newer to me and I haven’t had a lot of practice with it. So I fiddled with it and stomped it on and off and whatever several times and finally got a clean loop of the eight bars down so I could play over it. It worked great.

You can just see the little green leaves starting to peak through.

At one time I was using a little mini loop pedal that was just a one stomp and one track pedal that worked well. And while I still have it, it’s not on my pedal board my Boss RC-3 is. It’s got more bells and whistles, knobs, and buttons than I know what to do with right now. So for me to figure out, how to get what I wanted was an accomplishment. And then, to remember that a few months later was just as big a deal for me. Next up, learn howto add a second track to the first one, cleanly. That will be something.

I’m still working on donuts. That was one of the things I had planned to do this weekend. I was going to finish up the tutorial, all the way this time, and get started making dozens of donuts in Blender. That didn’t happen. So it’s on the agenda for this week. I was also going to finish up the section I’m working on for the Ruby course. That didn’t happen either. So I’ll try again this week.

For now here are a small few pictures for your enjoyment.

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Still Starting, and Continuing

Posted on July 13, 2020 by SusanG

Oh my. I hardly know where to start or what to cover today. I have the same problem with all the books I have to read and online courses that I’ve signed up for or need to take, and all the projects I’ve set for myself. There is so much that I sometimes end up stuck trying to decide where to dive in. It turns out that bit about the artist that I shared the last time seems to be helping. It really doesn’t matter, which one I start, I’m going to read them all, I’m going to learn them all, and I’m going to do most of if not all the projects, or completely different ones. The key is to just start. And that’s what I’ve been doing. Some days more successfully that others.

Yes. I did join in the home gardening trend

There are a few things on my plate that are related to the day job and some of those things seem to be expanding. I’m still studying for one more SQL certification test. This one has been a little more of a challenge than I expected because of the nature of what it covers. That’s ok. Though I did have to find a different way to study for it. I think I’ve got a better system down now and I am making a bit more progress. It involves and old study technique that I only ever used in the classroom. However, I’m now also using it for the online courses I’m taking. I’m taking notes.

Really. Super simple solution right? Well it depends on how good or bad your handwriting is. Oh, that’s the key. I’m taking notes by hand. I’m not typing them into the computer or a tablet. I’m writing them on dead trees and with ink. I’ve read the book once and did the highlighter thing. Now, I sit down with the book and take notes from it as I’m reading it for a second time.

Interestingly, it is essentially the same idea recommended for learning to code in the Web Development Bootcamp course that I’ve signed up for. In the first section, there’s a little bit on a recommendation for how to use the videos for learning to code. Apparently, a lot of people, besides myself, try to learn and do at the same time as watching the video through the first time. The recommendation is to not do this. Instead, watch the video, take notes and try to understand what material is being covered, then try to do that lesson. A simple solution again. And, yes, when I think about it now, my response is, “well, duh”.

Some of the results of the gardening.
It made good pesto.

I haven’t made it very far into the Web Development course, yet. However, I have taken that bit of information and started using it for the Blender Donuts tutorial. It might be working. It sure makes more sense. And it gives me more uninterrupted time when trying to do that part. I watch the video, take notes, and then try to do the steps. If I haven’t taken good enough notes, instead of going back and watching the video again, I try to figure it out and make sense of what I wrote. Sometimes I watch a couple of the videos before I try to actually do what they are showing me how to do. It seems to be working. I’ll know better once I get all the way through the course and then go back and try to do it again but a little different.

And that is the item that is going to be the thing I ‘draw for a year’. Or maybe my Blender thing that I’m going to draw for the rest of the year. Blender Donuts. Brace yourself for dozens of Blender donuts.

There are a few other courses that I have signed up for, or as I discovered today need to sign up for. Some, like the one I learned of today, are for the day job and some, like Blender, are for personal projects. And some may have some overlap. One of things for the day job is an off-shoot of a course I took for the day job.

A vertical climber, my home gym solution.
It is harder than it looks.

I have the assignment and opportunity to learn some of the scripting and automation that my company uses for a variety of things from patching to server deployment and configuration. I completed the initial course they wanted me to take which caused me to realize that I probably needed to learn Ruby. I had a meeting with one of the principle people involved in it to get a better understanding and overview of our environment and setup. One of the initial things that came out of that was that my instinct on Ruby was correct. The other thing that has come out of it, as of today, is that there is some other training I need to complete before I can get access to the scripting environment. And this type of situation always makes me think of the song by The Fixx, “One Thing Leads to Another”.

Right now, for the day job, the studying and courses I am working on, or need to work on, cover, MS-SQL, Chef, Ruby, Linux, and now AWS (though I don’t know yet the extent of this training). In addition to that some of the courses I’ve signed up out of personal interest or need cover Data Science, Web Development, Machine Learning, Blender, Unreal Engine, Programming in C++, Python, and Javascript, and even a course or two for Guitar. As you can imagine it can cause significant brain congestion trying to figure out what to start doing most days. I want to do it all. But I won’t be doing myself any favors if I work on one for a little time here and then another over here, and try to start all the courses at once. And yet. I need to start. And then continue.

Ah…recently, freshly, roasted coffee beans.
From Katz Coffee in Houston, TX

What I find interesting is that it is a daily decision to work on something. Right now, with all the crazy in the world staying motivated and focused isn’t always easy. It would be very easy to default to staring endlessly at new sites or even scrolling through social media. And yet I know that is not at all satisfying or healthy for me. When I find myself starting to fall into that behavior, I make a conscious decision to do something. And by doing that I can continue to start and then continue. So this week, so far, I have started the Ruby course, and I am continuing the SQL study, Chef, and the Blender Donuts, and I must not forget Taekwondo. Which I have been continuing and I find it a huge help in creating a bit of order for me.

Even with all that going on, I am still playing guitar. Though I’m not getting in quite the same amount of practice as I was. I do have a couple of interesting guitar courses that I’ve signed up for and as a fun and relaxing item, that may be the next ‘start’. I have managed a couple of new things with the guitar and gear. I’ll try to remember to share that next time. For now, here are a few pictures of things.

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