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| Wikis! |
30 May 2008 |
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Look to the right...no, look to the left, sorry. See that box titled "Wikis" over there? I'm making an effort to get more of my programming projects setup in Wiki format so that in the future I can encourage anyone who finds the software useful to help contribute -- documentation, etc. Money's always welcome, too, of course *grin*
I feel slightly ashamed of the fact that this is the first new "content" on the front page of this site since 2006!! |
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| Evening Tide |
25.Sep.2006 |
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This evening I once again began a "painting" in Photoshop (boy, it's been a while). I'd forgotten how to do a few of the effects I wanted to add (stars behind the haze in the sky, for example), but by the end of the evening this is what resulted. I'm fairly happy with it as a start.
Sun Oct 1: Tonight I did a little more work on this particular "painting", cleaning-up the coastlines, reworking the mountain shadows, and revamping the cloud cover. The overall brightness, contrast, and color balance needed some tweaking, too. I think I'm ready to call this one "done" though.
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| Argiope aurantia |
02.Sep.2006 |
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This afternoon I stepped out on my deck with a cup of coffee to admire how verdant the recent rain (thanks hurricane Ernesto) has made my lawn once again. It's really recovered quite nicely from the dusty, dry brown of the past month. But I went outside partly because some activity near the back of the deck caught my attention: something seemingly spider-like was swinging around in the breeze, but it looked far too large to be an actual spider. After all, the only indigenous species I knew of that grew to such a size was the garden spider.
And indeed that's what it was! A nice large female specimen (if the online classification guide is to be believed) who will hopefully stick around rather than moving on to a more garden-like locale when she eats her web this evening. With any luck, she'll like my deck so much (and who wouldn't??) she'll build an egg sac -- tis the time of year. If that's the case, then I have all the more reason to renovate that area of the lawn this fall and transplant the egg sac there so that come spring this beauty's young can keep watch over the garden I hope to plant there.
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| Artwork |
[digital] |
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Once upon a time I spent my evenings learning more about Photoshop and digital artistry in general. Perhaps, like creative writing, once I'm finished editing the thesis and have it bound I'll return to this enjoyable activity.
- Desert Planet: [thumbnail at right] I found an awesome tutorial online for creating "space images" and this was the product of those lessons.
- Tonefos Vesalto: This illustration was done using Illustrator and Photoshop. The waterfall figured in a series of stories I began writing at the same time in 2004.
- Hylempolunt - West Gate: Another landmark form the series of stories I began writing in 2004. I made a second revision eventually.
- Battle Axe
- Long Sword
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| Rest in Peace, Cocoa |
Feb.15.2006 |
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The morning of February 15th, 2006, I awoke to find that my sweet little guinea pig, Cocoa, had not on this particular day. She seemed in good health and spirits the evening before, so this comes as such a sudden and unexpected shock to me. At any rate, she passed quietly and peacefully amidst her sleep by all appearances.
When I bought Cocoa she was just a runt running with a large herd of piggies at the pet store. All the guinea pigs I picked up would squirm and make heroic attempts to get away. But Cocoa, being bullied by the others, seemed quite content, and thus she happily went home with me to Delaware. Over the past five years "Little Miss Fuzzy-pants," as she was once called by a friend, has helped me weather some of the rain that falls in one's life, providing the kind of unconditional love only a beloved pet can.
Sleep peacefully, Cocoa. Your "daddy" loves you.
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| GarageBand Compositions |
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Sometimes when I'm bored I play with GarageBand...and sometimes I feel like making my compositions available online. Nothing truly amazing, just some of the Apple-provided loops and a few notes of my own tossed in here and there.
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The sadness of a hero. |
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A light, lively piano piece. |
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Snappy, latin beat with a techno flair. |
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Wikis |
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Public Wikis that I maintain:
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Photo Albums |
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Nothing fancy, just some of my photos exported from iPhoto!
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| A Long Sea Voyage |
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The crashing waves broke on the sand --
Upon the dunes that line the strand --
Where Neptune's fury pounds ashore
To knock and rap at childhood's door.
Behind it stand the youthful pools,
Those Lakes of Blissful Carefree Fools,
Where all who splash in joyful play
In innocence do pass each day.
And, ignorant, do not surmise
They soon must leave that paradise.
Thus stood I once, a boy thrust out
To gaze in wonder thereabout
A wider world than all I'd known
So suddenly to me was shown.
I left my perch atop the turf
To caper down into the surf:
Around my feet the tide cajoled,
The ocean waters, dark and cold,
Did urge me out apiece from land
Until I could no longer stand.
Calm at first, I sought to gain
My feet again some hard terrain
Yet with each crest and trough that passed
Further seaward was I cast.
Just as the ocean grinds to sand
The margins where it touches land,
So my calm seemed to dissolve
Against the mighty sea's resolve:
Lost amidst a wide expanse
Of destiny and circumstance
I foundered long and fought my fate,
I kicked and paddled full of hate,
Yet all was swallowed by my foe
The unrelenting current flow.
Until at last, after a length,
Devoid of any scrap of strength,
Resigned I was that all was through:
With no more fight what could I do?
I closed my eyes and took a breath
Assuming now had come my death.
But when I ceased to thrash and swim
I found the ocean not so grim
For with that breath I stayed afloat:
Myself, I had become the boat
That saved me from a sodden grave
Buried deep beneath a wave.
- J. Frey
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"To let any love wither and die without fighting to keep it alive is to give up on the truth of love itself."
"Dreams are the sermon of one's heart when the mind cannot deny the heart an audience."
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