Erik’s Blog

Hey, how’s it goin’? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? In case folks think I’ve dropped off the face of the planet or that all the love is gone, I figured I’d check in and post an update or to…or twelve…whatevuh.

Thrills and chills await you after the jump.

I guess putting everything in chronological order will do.

Anniversary in California Wine Country

If I was filthy rich or at least didn’t have to worry about retirement, like, at all, I’d move to wine country in California. Really, no foolin’. The weather is great, it’s quiet, you can ride a bike on the streets with only a minimal risk of death, and it’s just over an hour from San Francisco in case a dose of city life is required. Oh, did I mention some of the best wineries on the planet are there? Probably not. It just costs a fortune to live there. Still, if I had the money…

And get this: while we were there, folks in Europe were trying to smuggle liquid explosives onto planes, causing an almost immediate ulcer for everyone who wanted to fly home with wine (putting it in luggage would result in lots of wine-stained clothes and shards of glass, so carry-on is the only viable option). HA! WE DROVE! Everywhere we went, the folks running the wineries commended us on our good fortune. Needless to say, we stocked up.

Oh yeah, Brenda and I have been married seven years, in case anyone’s wondering.

Luchadore, no more

August 21^st was my last day working at Richter7. What a wacky crew. I don’t know if they gave a rat’s ass about me leaving (I was just a summer intern, after all) but I miss the hell out of them. I’ve worked in creative environments before but none were quite like Richter7.

So that makes two graphic design jobs that I left this summer. Although I’m doing graphic stuff at LANDesk, it’s not graphic design. How I’m going to manage to stay creative is a mystery, but I’ll figure something out.

School, the Home Stretch edition

My last year of school has begun. In early May I’ll be out. This is supposed to be the longest nine or so months of my life. I guess considering I can’t bear children (nor do I want to) I’ll go ahead and agree.

With the exception of my “first” semester back in 2003 (Ha! I’ve actually been going to college on and off since 1983) I haven’t literally been a full-time student. My average class load has been 11 credits. Full time is 12. Big deal, one credit, right? You take 12 credits of classes and work part time and see how much that one credit takes away from your R&R.

Speaking of school…

I managed to get into MATH 1030. What’s that? It’s the only math class I need to graduate with a BFA. I’ve been trying for years to qualify for the class and every time my math placement scores have been one or two points off. I can’t say how I managed to finally make it into the class, but I made it. And that’s all that matters.

Samuel Johnson is Indignant by Lydia Davis

It had to happen sooner or later: a McSweeney’s publication that I didn’t care for. Their track record has been so awesome, too. I’m sure there’s something profound that I’m missing about Davis’ book, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out what it is. Reading the book was like reading a blog that has occasionally interesting posts but more often than not just makes you shrug (not unlike this blog. admit it). I don’t know what else to say about it but “meh.”

I’m now about 3/4 of the way through Tristan Egolf’s Kornwolf. Not bad, but homey should have laid off the commas a bit when he wrote the book. Wow, punctuation really can make reading difficult, can’t it?

I went to see a dentist

Again, BFD right? Wrong: it’s been about 15 years since I saw a dentist. I had no idea how bad my teeth had gotten so the horrors running through my head were epic. It turns out I’m in really good shape. Even the dentist was surprised. I have some cavities to deal with but that’s about it. Nobody is more relieved than I.

The overhaul continues: I saw an eye doctor

I’ve been more attentive with my eyes than my teeth. It’s been around 4 years since I saw an eye doctor. Long story short: my eyes are in great shape, my vision actually got better? WTF? and I’m getting new glasses. Short ones, not the huge rectangular things I’ve been wearing for years. They should be ready this week. I’ll be a new person. If I’m not completely embarassed by the new glasses I’ll post a picture. Maybe.

Our lawnmower got all busted and stuff

Our mower looks like it’s been dropped off a truck speeding along I-15 at 80mph, then hit by a semi, then gone over the side of an overpass and onto the traffic below, then an elephant scratched its ass on it, then… You get the idea. It’s not pretty. Brenda and I can’t quite figure out how it got that way. We’ve only used it around our house. Maybe the ghosts are messing with it. Who knows.

A few weeks ago the mower (mid-mow) decided to have issues pumping gas into its engine. It would run, but only in a slow sputter. After another mow or two it decided to give up completely. If I lean the mower back so the front’s elevated off of the ground it’ll run, but as soon as it sits flat on the ground it stalls. We’re going to have to have it fixed for sure. Something tells me the bill will be almost as much as a new mower.

Brenda and I want to pave our yard. Wouldn’t life be simpler? We’d have to make it bumpy so the skateboarders won’t get their panties in a wad looking at it.

I re-discovered DOS

The FreeDOS project just recently released version 1.0 of its free DOS distribution. I don’t quite know why I installed it but I did. Every since doing that I’ve been tinkering with it, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the old days of crappy 16 bit single-task operating systems, slow modems, BBSes and ANSI graphics entertained me much more than today’s computer scene ever will. Playing with FreeDOS is a throwback to the late 1980s for me. The networking doesn’t work for crap with Parallels Desktop (yet) but it’s still wacky stuff. I’ll grow bored with it in the next few weeks but for now I’m having loads of pathetic, geeky fun.

There’s more…

…but that’s about all I can type for now. I’ve covered most of the big stuff, if it can be considered big at all. Maybe I’ll add pictures at some point.