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8-30-02
Busy times right now. School
is out, but my freelancing project is in full swing. I've
also just rebuilt my old computer with a friend from school
and have been spending a lot of time working the bugs out
of the network and the operating system. Drivers, BIOS settings
and the reset button have occupied far too much of my time
over the last few days. The network is running finally but
I still haven't got the Internet connection sharing to work.
Though the weather is lovely, Sue won't go camping. She says
the kids have "things going on". Lisa is doing high
school soccer and Clint works. I guess that is why we waited
so long to have kids....get your fun out of the way early.
8-24-02
This is the longest I've ever
gone yet between a journal entry. Finals week is usually an
easy time for a teacher because all our lesson planning and
lectures are behind us. Now it is the students turn to do
the work by handing in their finals. We can sit back and help
as needed. But because teaching is not my only job, I have
been buried in work from a large web site project. I've made
some huge strides forward, moving from the interface into
the sliced html. There are still a few minor bugs in the complicated
Javascript dropdown menus, but it is working in all browsers
and all platforms including the notorious Macintosh.
I have enough classes again next quarter
to survive on financially, although it's still a good fourteen
thousand dollars a year below what I used to make in printing.
I am planning to pick up some of the slack with freelancing.
When this big project goes live I will have one hell of a
good looking portfolio that should make it easier to attract
clients.
I have some sweet classes next quarter:
Imageready, Illustrator 2, Beginning Flash and Introduction
to Drawing. By Drawing I mean drawing from life with pencil
on paper. Talk about a course tailor made for me! I get to
teach the subject that I love more than anything else.
One of my students chose to do a web
site for his final. Because this was a short quarter, I was
unable to teach the Imageready part of Photoshop. This highly
motivated student taught himself the Imageready and Dreamweaver
with some strategic assistance from me. Though I only have
him for 3 hours one night a week, because I was on campus
substituting every day this week, he began showing up during
every class I taught. It annoyed me a little, since he took
time away from my regular students and I had to warn him that
I could only help him if none of my other students needed
me. Fortunately for him, a lot of my students chose to work
in other labs, or at home so I was able, when no one else
needed me, to walk him through the slicing and Javascript
part of building a web page that functions quite a bit like
this one. It got to the point where every time he would walk
in I'd say, "Uh oh, here come trouble." But I think
everyone one knew that I was secretly glad to have a student
so passionate about learning. It's nice to be needed.
8-14-02
The hours have been piling up
at an alarming rate. In the last 2 days I've worked 25 hours.
When people think of working at home, they imagine sitting
out on the deck in the sun at a patio table under an umbrella,
a tall glass of chilled orange juice by the laptop. The kids
play happily in the yard and life is bliss. The reality is
starkly different. I can't sit outside because the yellow
jackets are extremely curious this time of year. The kids
will do anything to leave the house to escape Dad, who sits
moodily in front of the computer from wake up to lie down,
eating meals at the keyboard. There is no commute, but working
these kind of hours, a drive would be welcome. I listen to
music on a Walkman through thick earphones to insulate myself
from washer and dryer, eight feet away in the kitchen. Because
there is no separate den in this little 3 bedroom house, I
work in the living room to the dismay of the kids who would
prefer to watch TV...something I find too distracting. On
the flip side, this house may be small, but it's paid for
in 9 years and the monthlies are smaller than most peoples
car payments.
As a reward for all the hours I've
put into my freelance project, I spent the morning finishing
a landscape painting I'd begun several months ago down at
the Purdy spit. It was invigorating to stand at the easel
for 3 hours, capturing the changing light on the bridge and
the deep green salt water below. The light breeze kept the
heat down and fishermen came and went, while Richard, the
homeless guy sat companionably nearby nursing a bottle of
wine. Everyone liked the painting....I feel good about the
time I spent there.
Afterward I took my 30 year old Sekai 10
speed down to Old
Town Bicycle for a new bottom bracket. Getting the darn
thing in and out required a table full of special bicycle
mechanic tools. I'd gotten most of it out at home, enough
to find out that the bearing were shot. The new one came sealed,
so it should easily last for another 30 years...wonder if
I'll still be riding.
When I bought this bike in 1972, I
was living in a tipi. I've been repeatedly advised to simply
buy a new one, but I like the old thing. For a simple collection
of chrome molly steel and rubber, it has a powerful pull on
my sentimental nature. The mechanic said he'd never seen anyone
put enough miles on a chainring (the front sprocket gear)
to actually wear the teeth down to the point where they no
longer function. With a little luck, I'll do it again.
8-11-02
Sue and I turned a pleasant
afternoon hike around Point Defiance into a dangerous bank
climbing epic today. We had set out to walk the beach from
Owen's Beach West around the point to Salmon Beach. When we
got within sight of Salmon Beach, it was a long mile distant
along a rocky, moss covered shore. Above us the 400 foot dirt
cliff (bank) appeared to have a break where the angle backed
off from the near vertical and might allow us passage through
the cliff to the road which runs along the cliff edge. This
would save us 2 miles of hiking.
Once we had scrambled several hundred feet up the steep bank,
we found 30 to 60 foot terraced cliffs hidden behind the trees.
These are the cliffs that are slowly eroding away the headlands
and have caused much of the cliff edge trail to be rerouted
as it falls into the Sound. It appeared there might be a passage
by steering carefully, like fearless mountain goats along
the terraces and gradually gaining access to the road above.
Mountain goats we were not, and the
way was terrifying in spots. The bank/cliff was mostly very
dry sand mixed with clay and gravel. It had just enough consistency
to allow a foothold to be carved with the stick of driftwood
I carried. Standing on the carved out steps was very unpleasant.
I never knew if they would hold, and there was nothing for
handholds, just more gravel and sand. A slip would have carried
us an uncomfortably long distance (as much as 60 feet in places...some
of it airborne) to a rolling landing. A rope would have been
smart, since with my taller frame, I was able to reach some
of the root handholds that were beyond Sue and I could have
belayed her in places.
As it was, she simply asked me to
come back and give her verbal encouragement as she negotiated
my carved steps. After we had covered 75 percent of the distance,
retreat was no longer practical and we soldiered on, hoping
our initial assessment from the beach had been correct and
the way was free of blank vertical cliffs. After a last mantle
over the rotting stump of a long dead madrona, we saw a "normal"
trail leading up through the steep brush toward the top of
the bank. Broken whiskey bottles and diapers told us we had
truly reached the top. I've rarely been so happy to see flat
ground.
I spent most of last week
preparing a lecture on digital texturing for Photoshop. It's
an exciting sub area of Photoshop that allows one to apply
realistic looking textures to a smooth 3D surface and was
designed as a preparatory lesson for the 5 students in my
class who plan to specialize in 3D Studio Max next year. My
client approved the interface for her site, so I can now begin
slicing and dicing. I am looking forward to the html work.
Photoshop is fun, but it's nice to focus on logic rather than
design for a change.
8-5-02
My rear end is sore from pedaling
52 miles yesterday. M, his son and I rode from just North
of Auburn up to Alki Point Lighthouse in West Seattle on the
Interurban bike trail. For the last 15 miles, all we could
talk about was the pain our bike seats were giving us. Even
the full suspension on M's mountain bike wasn't enough to
prevent bruising. It didn't help that we lost the trail and
ended up riding for hours in the industrial area around Boeing
field. Here are a few highlights:
- Coming down the hill toward the Fauntleroy ferry docks
at 30 miles an hour and seeing the brilliant blue of wind
whipped Puget Sound spread out before us after 20 miles
of inner city concrete.
- After 25 miles, seeing our goal, the lighthouse, not 2
miles away along the shore.
- Cruising along the bike path around Alki point and smelling
the various flavors of reefer wafting from the relaxing
beach crowds.
- Turning a corner around a wood pulp mill under Spokane
street and being overwhelmed by the exotic scent of Cedar
chips.
- Returning via a different (flatter) route and finally
seeing something we recognized (the Boeing Flight museum)
....we're not lost after all!
- Cruising down the arrow straight Interurban trail in the
twilight, knowing we were only 8 miles from the car.
Good friends, a challenging adventure...it doesn't get much
better than this.
8-2-02
Another busy week is over. It
feels very fine to sit here at the computer and know that
I am not due back in class for 5 days. That is not to say
that I won't be working. I might even work through the weekend...depending
on whether I get any invitations for bike riding or climbing.
My large web site project looks ready to take flight in the
next few days. I have a verbal approval from the client, now
I need to make a few tweaks and present the final interface
for a sign off.
At that point I can finally begin the long awaited slicing
and html work. I love interface design, but it is far more
taxing than html and Javascript work. One is artistic, the
other is strictly problem solving. I love the artsy side,
but have had more practice at the problem solving end of the
field. Today I taught interface design to my Intermediate
Photoshop class. This is an amazingly gifted group of students
who take their education very seriously. I love sharing my
knowledge with them and watching their eyes light up as they
discover each new trick.
I'd kind of like to do that long bike ride up by Kent again
this weekend but I've not made any calls yet to see if anyone
else is interested. It's supposed to rain, which rules out
climbing and I really don't want to sit at the computer for
5 days through the weekend. Perhaps I will work on the lonely
painting out in the garage.
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