Aftermath of house fire across the alleyway

Several months ago, a house across the alley from the apartment building I live in caught fire. The fire started in the attached garage, and quickly went into the house; the building hadn't been lived in for some time, and was only used as a shop to work on race cars at the local track... as such, no one was hurt, but the paint and fuel throughout the building made the fire spread very quickly. Fire shot out the windows in a manner similar to a flamethrower; and it took a while for the firefighters to contain the blaze.

Here are some pictures my aunt took the morning after with her camera phone:



This last picture shows the damage to the neighbor's house caused by the flames... the houses are roughly 12 feet apart! Fortunately, the damage was only cosmetic; the damaged siding has since been replaced.


About a week ago, a crew from the city finally came by to demolish what was left of the house. They used a huge backhoe (the type that's normally used for large-scale demolition projects) to literally "punch" what was left of the building from above! As it was raining during the demolition, I couldn't get closer to take better shots of it, but you can get the idea from this picture:


Here are some pictures of the aftermath:


Now, you can barely tell that there was ever a house there... I wonder what they'll do with the lot now.


This was certainly one of the more interesting things to happen in this neighborhood in a long time. From the scare of the fire, to the relief the next day that no one was hurt, and then finally to the fascinating process of the demolition; it was an interesting experience to have a "front-row seat" to the story unfolding just behind my home.

Keep in mind, my awe over the events would not be such if someone had been hurt.

Myspace...

Yup, I finally went and did it... I created a MySpace page.

I probably won't be using it nearly as often as the sites I currently go to, but it's still a good thing to have in order to get more exposure for my work, as well as having a greater possibility for encountering people I haven't seen in a long time.

My MySpace page can be found here.

Isaac Hayes, R.I.P.

We've lost another great man.

Isaac Hayes passed away earlier today at his home; he was 65.


News story here: http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8817903

What's your name's robot acronym?

Here's something that I saw on the DA forums:

Get Your Cyborg Name

Queen of Chaos

A new illustration of Enyo I just finished last night:

For this illstration, I wanted to go with a slightly more "artsy" approach. Since I didn't like the angle her left leg was in in the original sketch, I decided to draw her whip in her hand, and use said whip to make a border for the image. I worked out well, I think. The entire illustration, like my previous piece "Fabulous Night," uses my method of doing all of the colors with watercolor paint and then going over everything with colored pencil.

The part that took the longest amount of time was designing her card. orz

Feeling much better now

I'm doing much better now! The medicine the doctor gave me to treat the chest pains is working, and I've been able to get caught up at work again.


Now, the only thing keeping me from producing art is this:
Since I use the White pencil the most (for highlights and blending gradients) it has seen the most wear and is almost unusable now... with Black and Cream following not too far behind. I've been using these pencils' condition as an excuse for not producing a whole lot of colored pencil work, since I didn't want to waste them and have to buy a whole new set just for a handful of colors.

However, I found out I could simply order individual replacements through Blick's Art Materials for surprisingly cheap... so I went ahead and placed an order today for some replacements and was able to get a few colors that weren't included in the set I have (which is the largest Prismacolor set available...). So now I have one less limitation on my art.

"Fabulous Night"

During the time I had off from work, I was able to get this painting done:

This piece showcases a LOT of new techniques that I've picked up through my recent lessons... as a result, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Also, for my first time trying to draw the Moon, I think that turned out well too. It seems that I'm getting the hang of fashion, as well.

Materials used (and in order, too!) :
Bristol board
watercolor paints
markers (Prismacolor and Sharpie)
colored pencils (Prismacolor, and a couple of Rose-Art)
oil pastels

I don't know quite how Blogger will go about resizing the image, but on my DA account, I've added the option of downloading this in wallpaper size: This picture on DA

The painting was inspired by the song "Masquerade" by Kaya... the title of the painting actually refers to the secondary title of the song.

Okay, I have an answer

All right, so I saw my doctor today and got an answer to what the problem was, and fortunately it is not linked to my previous heart problems.

From what he determined today, the root cause of the pains appears to be "Costochondritis", which, though it is normally only temporary, is known to occur as a chronic condition. He said that the sensation is similar to a heart attack, so considering my own health history, I was right to be concerned.

So, I've been put on an anti-inflammatory medicine to reduce the swelling between my ribs and organs until I can set up an appointment for full X-rays and other stuff to get a better idea of exactly what the specific problem is, and how to stop these problems more permanently. Until then, I've just got to take it easy and try not to overexert myself.

I apologize if I worried anyone.

Chest pains, again...

My health has me worried as of late.

For the past three years or so, I've been dealing with occasional chest pains, feelings of weakness, etc. When I went to the doctor after collapsing on the job at the McDonald's I worked in at the time, it was discovered through stress tests and other examinations that I have a weak heart, and that one of the valves is slightly damaged. It wasn't a big enough deal at the time to require any serious action, but I was advised to not overexert myself.

So, here I am after a couple of years working in an office environment with little or no actual physical activity required, and the symptoms have for the most part been behaving themselves, only having minor episodes from time to time.

However, for the past two weeks, the sensation of a large hand physically crushing my heart has been too painful to to ignore; keeping me from concentrating at work, and preventing me from being able to sleep because it hurts so bad. For the most part, I figured that it was something that would simply go away and not be a problem anymore, just like each of the times I'd experienced this sensation since it all began. However, it keeps just getting worse each day, and I've actually been able to feel my heart going off-rhythm far more often than it ever has before.

Right now it's almost 4 AM and I have to go to work in less than 5 hours... and I cannot sleep. Since it's a sensation I've become somewhat accustomed to, I don't want to call 911 and pay for an ambulance service to whisk me away as an "emergency"... but at the same time, I can't totally ignore it for too much longer. I'll probably see if I can tolerate it until morning, and then drive myself to the hospital to check in in a "non-emergency" kind of manner... because I would hate for it to be a real emergency and then be denied treatment due to having become broke from paying the ambulance and emergency room fees.

I called the hospital front desk about an hour ago to ask if I might be able to get a quick answer from someone there who might know if it's possible to determine if my situation would be construed as an emergency or something less urgent... the doctor she sent me to talk to told me that "chest pain is something that should be taken seriously" and hung up... I'm not sure if he thought I was just a prank caller, or if he really meant I shouldn't be wasting my time asking stupid questions...

I honestly don't know what to do.

Winning hard enough to fail

LOL Spider Solitaire.

It took me over 50 games just to get it set up for this type of endgame... orz

Compartmentalized climate control with no effort!

I wish my apartment had central air... I've got my AC in the window of the livingroom, and a fan in the "hub" of the apartment in order to distribute the cold air, but it's still not enough to reach all areas of the apartment. Using my thermometer, I have recorded a 15-degree difference between my computer desk and my drawing desk in my office, which is in a position where I can't really route the air to.
With the temperature extremes in here, it's no wonder I've been experiencing headaches lately...
as a result of those, I haven't really been able to concentrate on getting much work done... but then, I'd rather have headaches than put up with being sweaty all the time... which isn't too good a thing for a Traditional artist. Not to mention, this apartment is like an oven during the summer and it can easily go over 100 F even when the outside temperature is lower, due to it being an older building without substantial insulation; and being on the second floor it has no shade, but the neighboring buildings and trees in other yards block the breeze.

More work on the MG-styled F90

I've finally resumed work on the MG-style Gundam F90 that I started last October.

I had it put away for a while, since I had cut one of my fingers pretty badly while modifying the original feet of the HG F90 kit... but decided I had better get back to work on it.

Over the past couple of days, I've done some fairly extensive modifications to the legs. Here's an overview of what I've done in recent work:

1- I separated the knee area from the original HG F90 leg; since the MG F9a kit has a double-jointed knee but no separately movable kneecap, I decided it would be cool to attach this piece to the joint section of the knee so it can be movable as well.
2- I removed the accessory hardpoint from the leg pieces in order to glue it together as one piece; I'll soon do a lot of putty and sanding work to bring the halves of this piece together.
3- Since the F90 has a recessed area on the inner calf that corresponds with the intake vents on the F91 frame, I cut out the recessed area to expose the vents. I also made the inner calf its own separate piece just like the hardpoint, for the same reasons.
4- The finished inner calf (for the left leg), with the part with the vent on it glued in place. I'll fill the space between the part and the armor with putty once I get some more.
5- The original front lower leg from the old F90 kit. Not much to look at, and not very poseable either...
6- I cut up and trimmed down the inner part of the F91's rear skirt armor in order to attach it to the skirt armor of the F90. It took a lot of effort, but this is one of the parts I'm proudest of.


Here you can see the left inner calf and the rear skirt armor in action. Perfect!

Next, I plan to cut off the back half of each of the lower shin armor parts that came with the F91, in order to make the "exposed ankle" look of the F90. As for how I'll create the exposed components, I haven't figured that part out yet...

Here's a test-fitting of the parts for the torso and the arm. I'll also be using the F91's face in this build, as well. Also, note the section I cut out of the F91's abdomen; this will be to accommodate the F90 cockpit, which I will be extending to the interior of the torso just slightly.

DevilSaint parody comic #1: Sexy Beach

Meet Steve

Click to see his actual size! :D

This little fella has been hanging out around my office lately... he's already caught himself several flies, as well as keeping the ant invasion in check. To think, I used to be scared of these guys until I did some research on them, and discovered that they are more or less designed to peacefully co-exist with humans. For example:
- Humans are completely immune to the venom of the common centipede.
- Centipedes actively hunt common pests and other threats to our health and hygiene. Their favorite foods, believe it or not, are roaches and mice!
- They tend to avoid direct contact with us, and they keep their waste and their dead in places where they will be harmless.

I've noticed that ever since I started letting these guys live about a year or so ago, I've had no problems with any pests here other than the ants... but we're working on that. >:D

Terror of the Deep

Here is a new painting I just completed, entitled "Terror of the Deep," of my character Nautica engaged in battle with some fishmen.

Of course, the "terror" to which the title refers is actually Nautica herself, rather than the monsters she's fighting... :D

O HAI THAR

I was bored.... and decided to take it out on an old photo of myself...

An excellent quote

"To err is human, but if you want to really screw up, use a computer."
- one of my clients from work yesterday

New model store I heard about on the hobby forums!

Just recently on the HobbyFanatics forum, a store was brought to my attention as a new, reliable source for importing model kits. This store, Toyking / Leo Toys, has a great selection of Gundam model kits to choose from; lots of older models that are hard to find nowadays. Also, as a wholesaler from Taiwan, they are able to sell the kits for a hell of a lot cheaper than anywhere else I've seen, and their shipping prices are fair, too. I was a little skeptical at first, since the prices seemed almost too good... but after plenty of reassurance from fellow forumers I decided to go ahead and place a pretty big order (including several kits that I still owed Zig to repay him for some money I borrowed from him several months ago).

So, my order consists of:
1/100 G-Cannon
1/100 G-Cannon Magna
1/100 Guntank R-44
MG Strike Noir
1/100 Overflag
HGUC Gaplant TR-5 "Hrairoo"
HGUC Gundam Hazel II
(only the last three are mine; I was going to get the F90 with the Type A,D,S equipment packs too, but I ended up falling just short of having enough disposable money to spare for it...)

A pretty big list of kits, but the whole order ended up being very cheap; around $150 even including shipping from Taiwan for a 12-lb large package!

After placing my order, I was a bit concerned as I did not hear back from them for about 3 days; but I E-mailed the store and we were able to complete the order within less than an hour! The exchange was polite, and well carried-out. That's pretty good customer service, I think!

And so, I eagerly anticipate my new batch of model kits!

The cat's out of the bag... Washington press release about my job

Hello! As some of you who know me in real life or from various other corners of the interwebz may know, I currently work for the government... but I've never been very specific as to what my current role is, as the information on the program had only so far been released to a few "pilot groups" on the outside.

Well, as of this morning a press release was issued to various newspapers throughout the United States about this project, the Direct Express social security benefits card.

The official release can be found here: Official Washington Press Release


Now that the information has been made public, our office can expect to become much busier. We had just been releasing the information packets to 2 or 3 states per month in order to "control" the influx of new applications for the card, but now that Washington has issued a press release about the program... I just hope our small office can handle the call volume! Fortunately, the article already answers many of the questions asked by recipients calling to sign up to receive the card... so that should at least make things somewhat easier for us on this end.

More apartment woes...

So, I face yet another sleepless night as storms roll through central Indiana once again. No, not from the storms themselves... but from how my apartment is affected by them.

One of the windows in my kitchen, next to the fridge, does not have drainage holes in the bottom of the frame. Because of this, any time it rains the trough at the bottom of the frame fills with water; eventually overflowing out onto the kitchen floor. Since the window itself does not make a proper seal, having it closed does nothing to keep the water out... it rather creates a displacement which makes it overflow that much faster. Having the storm window shut does no good either, since the main cause of the flooding of the aforementioned window is the gutter directly above, which dumps a whole roof's worth of water down directly above and into the window. The water actually comes down in such quantity that some of it cascades down the INSIDE of the storm window, however the hell that's possible.

Since they say a picture's worth a thousand words, here's what I have dealt with cleaning up 4 times so far tonight.


First off, the dripping of water from the windowsill to the floor. It's slow right now, but at its worst it was like a tub faucet.

...And this is the puddle from this most recent round! you can see my poor towel in the middle of it, attempting with futility to help soak up the water...

And lastly, we see one of the culprits: the window frame which is lacking any sort of drainage holes in the bottom, and is currently most of the way full with water.

God, this is a fun way to spend my night....