Art House Coop Pix

OK, here are the pictures of my sketchbook entries that I mentioned in my last post.

I'll leave it to your imagination to decide what they are or represent.

Hodge-Podge

There is no focus to this post, just a lot of rambling.

I finally go my computer online.  The signal is weak, but usable.  The first thing I did was to download updated drivers for all my components.  Got all my software registered or activated as needed.  Now to rebuild my favorites list.  It's probably in my transferred files somewhere, but I'm to lazy to dig it out.

I'm trying to wrap up my Art House Coop sketchbook project.  For along time, all I did was gesso pages.  Now I have to add content.  I did a block print, using a section of a carved easycut panel I had done a while ago.  Dang!  I couldn't find my printing inks, so I tried acrylic paints.  The result is not what I desired. 

As I was gessoing the pages, two stuck together.  When I tried to separate them, I tore a hole in each.  Holey paper, Batman.  Now what do I do?  I thought of making a designed hole with a paper punch and having a window into the pages beneath.  What would you suggest?

Although this is a sketchbook project, I think of it more as an altered book project.  Or a scrapbook project.  that's why I chose the title, This is NOT a Sketchbook.

I'm a bit remiss in posting pictures of the pages, either here or on my page at arthousecoop.com.  As Diane noted on her blog post, procrastinating runs in our family.

Which reminds me.  I thought I only had a month and a half to complete the project, but when I went to the web sit and checked, I learned I have until January 15, 2011, to submit. Hey, why am I rushing?  I only have 75 more pages to fill.

Modeling for Money

This week, I sat for the Berks Art Alliance Portrait Group.  The group meets every Thursday and creates a study for a later art work.  Some are so good, they finish the work in the 3 hours allotted.

I wore a medieval knight costume that my wife made.  I'll be posting pictures of the art on my website, www.vallere.com under the Rogue Gallery section, as soon as I figure out how to get them from my android phone to the computer.

Some artists wanted more time to complete their project, so I'll be returning for a second day on December 16, 2010.  Maybe I'll wait until after that session to post the pictures.  Then I can retake them with my Sony point and shoot camera.

I made $24 in modeling fees.  Every little bit helps.

sketchbook redux

Suddenly it's November and I need to get cracking on my Art House Coop sketchbook project.

I was thinking about alphabets and how they evolved, so I went online and down;loaded various alphabets - Greek, Sanskrit, Cyrillic, Runic, Hebrew, Chinese, Egyptian and Mayan.  Then I thought, "What if I created my own alphabet and used it in the sketchbook?"

The sketchbook page is shown below.

This is really a cryptographic exercise, so I won't reveal the structure until the sketchbook tour is over. Then I'll post a "Rosetta Stone" on my Art House page.



Politics

Have you seen the VW commercial, where the guy takes all kinds of odd jobs in order to get his own VW Jetta?  I'm starting to feel like that guy.

The past two weeks, I've been working as a paid political canvasser, collecting data about several candidates,  It wasn't as bad as I expected.  When someone comes to my door, I just blow them off.  I expected the same treatment.  Instead, I found that most people would listen politely and then decline to participate.

Some wanted to vent against the incumbents and a few were downright rude.  One woman ordered me off her property.  As instructed, I maintained a non-confrontational attitude (which is hard for me to do) and did not express my personal views.

I got my first paycheck today.  Time to start paying for my toys.

sketchbook revisited

I've been so wrapped up in my computer project lately that I haven't been doing much with my sketchbook project.

Time is running out!

Because of the bleed through problem, I began gessoing pages in the book..  I learned that gesso isn't a very good medium to use for this and I began using regular acrylic paint.

Today, I began painting backgrounds for my future entries.  I'm using sample paints that I get at various talks and seminars. 

Soon it will be time to commit words and images to paper.

I'll keep you posted and put images on this blog, as well as on the art house website.

Mid-Stride

The computer is up and running beautifully.  Now I have to figure out how to get on the internet.  I have a double problem.  I'm having trouble configuring the computer and I'm in the dungeon (basement) where the wireless signal is weak.

When I get tired of working on the internet problem, I load software.  I've put on Office 2010, Sony Vegas Pro 9, SonicFire Pro SE, Adobe Creative Suite 2 (I'll up grade to CS 5 Master Edition when my budget eases a bit), and a few specialized programs.

As I was trying to decide which software to load, I realized that I have ton of stuff that I never use.  Why should I clutter up the system with this?  Time to weed out material and donate it to charity.  There must be someone still using Win 98.

Since I installed Windows 7 on the new beast, some of my old programs won't work, even if I think they're worth having.  When I get on the internet, I'll download the Microsoft application to allow me to use legacy software and hope it works.

Stay tuned for further adventures in the self assembled computer saga.

Baby steps

I finally got the computer to boot, sort of.  I had to change the video cable between the computer and the monitor.

Now I get into the boot menu, but cannot figure out how to configure the boot drive.  The system sees the drive, but doesn't enable it.  Hmmm.

Time to reread the manual and check some cabling.

I'll keep you posted.

Laundry Day

I entered my first video challenge today.  It was a 72 hour video project by the Art House Coop.  I view these as learning experiences more than serious endeavors, but I am getting better at video editing.  Anyway it's only 57 seconds long, so take a minute to view it.

For some reason, I am unable to upload the video to this blog, but you can follow the link below to youtube to view it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPhBVccYuu0

55th Class Reunion

My West Pittston High School graduation class had 79 members. On September 4, 2010, 29 of us met to celebrate the 55th anniversary of our graduation.  Sadly, 21 had already passed away.  The remaining had other commitments that kept them from attending.  Several of my good friends from high school live in the area, but won't come to the reunions. I wonder why?  I would really like to see them.

 I'm always amazed, when meeting with a group of similarly aged people, how some seem either younger or older than me.  Of course, this is a subjective view.  And looks do not correlate well with how a person feels or what they can do.  Some of the youngest looking oldsters that I know are alcoholics and we know how that destroys your system.

The drawing above was done by Richie Irace.  He also wrote lyrics for the reunion songs.  Who would have know, when we were kids,  that he had such talents.  I'm glad that he developed them.

Well, we plan on doing it again in five years.  I hope I'm still the youngest in the class. :)

Windows 7 Upgrade

A few days ago, I updated my wife's computer from Vista to Win 7 Home Premium.  Everything went fine, except I couldn't log into the internet with the wireless connection.  My wife was really ticked.  "Now why was this upgrade necessary?"  It's supposed to make life simpler.  Uh-huh.

After 3 days of discussions with the cable Internet provider, the router manufacturer, my computer savvy daughter and her computer savvy husband, and finally Microsoft, I was able to resolve the problem.  It seems the Norton Internet Security software thought I was under a virus attack and refused to let me use the wireless connection.

It took an hour and a half of Microsoft tech time to figure that out, so I don't feel too brain dead about it.

Anyway, I deleted the antivirus software, got the wireless router to work, and reinstalled the antivirus software.  Everybody seems happy now.  I know I am.

The whole process was very educational and I have a better understanding of the operating system now. 

Not that I expect to do it again, anytime soon.

Just Looking

This post has nothing to do with Lady Gaga.  Nor Michael Jackson.

If you had to choose between Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, who would you choose?  What are you choosing them for?

If your looking for Marlon Brando or John Wayne or Humphrey Bogart or Clark Gable, you're probably an old broad.

If your looking for Rita Hayworth or Lana Turner or Mae West or Myrna Loy, you're probably an old geezer.

If you're looking for 50 Cents, you're probably unemployed and out of wine

If you're wondering what this post is all about, join the club.

Smartphones

In 2004, AT&T Wireless (the original, not the next generation), offered Nokia cell phones with a special plan in honor of the Olympics.  It was called the Olympic Gold Plan and was quite a good deal, with shared minutes, text messaging, and a limited amount of data access. The phones and plan served us well until this past week.

Then Mary found that the iphone 4 was in stock at Best Buy and got one.  I got a Samsung Captivate, an Android phone (one of the Galaxy S family).  We got them at Best Buy, because they gave us 18 months to pay them off.

Of course, we had to drop the good old Olympic Gold plan and sign up for a new 24 month commitment.  That's the part that hurts.  My monthly bill just jumped up $50 ($25 each).  Maybe we'll get tired of playing with them and can drop down to the $15 plan ($30 for two).

Right now, however, we're packing on the megabytes as we learn all that we can do.  It's a lot harder than the good old candy bar phone, but so much more fun (and frustration).

I had 200 text messages included in my old plan. Now I have none and have to pay 20 cents for each message, both incoming and outgoing.  That's not really a problem, just a fact.

One problem that I do have, is that the Captivate is so popular (and the demand so unexpected), that both Best Buy and AT&T have run out of screen protectors. I'm treating the screen very tenderly, until I can get one.

Computer woes

Finally got the computer assembled and fired it up.  No POST.  Could not hear any POST beeps, because of lack of speaker.  Seems the chassis manufacturer (Thermaltake) expected the motherboard manufacturer (ASUS) to incorporate it and vice-versa. 

Radio Shack didn't have one, so I ordered it online.  It cost $2.00.  I added a USB cable for $3.00 for a total of $5.00.  S&H was $7.00! 

C'est la vie.

Now I'm waiting patiently until it arrives and I can get on with my project.

Check back in a week for an update.

Your legacy

There’s a hot topic in the press right now. It’s all about how your internet postings may become a source of embarrassment later on in life and should take steps to sanitize your internet trail.

I remember reading a quote by the playwright Moss Hart. He said, “A bad review is better than no review at all.”

Most of us will not create a living legacy. Not a great book, a museum masterpiece, a grand piece of architecture, a memorable poem, a musical opus, or any other tangible legacy.

The sum of your postings will be your legacy.  Are you really worried about what you leave behind?  Will you be embarrassed when you are cold in the grave?

Consider this:
A tarnished legacy is better than no legacy at all.

The Wright 3

While at Graycliff, I bought a book for my grandson, Alex.


It is The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett. It's a mystery involving three 12 year olds and the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House, located in Chicago.


Of course, I had to read it, in case Alex wanted to discuss it. I think it's a great read, in the vein of the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Harriet the Spy, and others of this genre.


I read about pentominoes, Fibonacci Numbers, The Invisible Man (book), Rear Window (movie) and lot of other stuff. I even had break a coded message.


If you have a child in this age range, I recommend this book.

Graycliff

Yesterday, we toured Graycliff, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed summer cottage on Lake Erie.

It seems large on the outside, but small on the inside. But, then again, it's a summer retreat and doesn't have to be large.

The building is in a state of disrepair and is undergoing restoration. To me the restoration represents a contradiction. Everything is being taken back as closely as possible to the way it was in 1928, when the house was built. This is in keeping with standard historical restoration practices.

My problem is this. Frank Lloyd Wright was an advocate of using the latest technology in his designs. In the spirit of his design philosophy, upgrades should be made using modern materials that maintain the integrity of the design, rather than the integrity of the materials.

This is not going to happen, but it's a thought.

Outside of the boundaries is a cinder block building that houses the gift shop and offices. I asked the tour guide if it would be stuccoed to match the house. He couldn't understand why they would do that. I said, "To maintain the design integrity of the grounds." He seemed to think that was an absurd idea and that it wouldn't happen.

I seem to by the odd man out here.

There are a lot of articles being written about how Google and EBay monitor your searches and sell personal profiles to various advertisers.

I decided to mix things up. Every once in a while, I'll search for something strange (to me), like pig farming or taxidermy, just to confuse things.

A few days a ago, I searched eBay for accordions, blacksmithing, glass blowing, and other things I'll never use. I was amazed at the results that I got.

Now to see if I get targeted ads for any of these.

When I was a technician for anti-aircraft missiles in the army, the air force would stage mock attacks and try to jam our signals. We in turn, tried to jam theirs. This was known as counter-jamming.

That's how I view my pseudo-searches. Counter-jamming the profiling system.

The day before yesterday, as I was going out for the morning paper, I met a fox on our sidewalk. I think he was a young fox. When he saw me, he turned and loped away, heading for the park.


That night, I was awakened about 3:00 am to find a bat circling around the bedroom. He didn't seem to be very smart. I opened a window for him to get out, but he went to the bathroom instead. I opened a window there, but he headed downstairs. I opened the front door and he made several circling flights around the hallway, before he found the way out.


Now I wonder, what has made our house suddenly attractive to wildlife? What other critters will come calling? I can't wait!


Well, yes I can.

computer project rework

When I fired up the system for a rough test, I realized that I had installed the CPU cooler backward. The fan exhaust must face the rear chassis fan.


Tomorrow I'll take it apart, clean the thermal paste from the bottom of the cooler and top of the CPU, reapply the thermal paste and reinstall the cooler.


More work for mother.

Computer update, nearing the end

Here it is, the motherboard is installed with the CPU cooler, memory and memory fan.

Now I'm starting to add the components, drives, etc.

I was going to reuse the DVD drive from my old Dell, but it's not a sata drive. The next day I got a notice from Newegg of a special for a Sony DVD burner at @20.00, so I got it.

The last item is the video card. I have to wait until the 20th to order it, because of credit balancing. Boy, I wish I were rich.

Computer Project Update

I'm adding 12 Gb of Corsair ddr3 1600 RAM to the system. I got the Corsair memory fan cooler shown, to prevent the memory from ovrheating.

The project moves forward in fits and starts.

CPU and Cooler

Continuing on with my project. I'm installing an Intel i7-930 Quad core CPU. It operates at 2.8 GHz. This CPU represents a compromise between my wishes and my budget.



The good news is that my motherboard will allow me to upgrade to a six core CPU later, when the prices drop.

I'll be cooling the CPU with a CoolerMaster Hyper N520 CPU cooler. This is reviewed as better than the standard Intel CPU cooler.

Computer project moves on

Got my motherboard (see Pix), CPU, and memory.

I plan to read the manuals several times and then begin the assembly.

First step is to fit the motherboard to the chassis. Then I can add the CPU, memory, CPU cooler and memory fan.

The case has a removable motherboard tray, to make this easier.

I have the boot and data drives ready to install and the DVD burner and Blu-Ray Burner in hand. When this step is done, all I'll have to do is install the graphics card and test the system.

power supply installed

I finally got around to installing the power supply in my computer case. Pretty easy. The picture shows the space at the top of the case where the power supply will be mounted.

Then I started to check out other things and found a loose fan in front of the drive bays. I fixed that.

I practiced all the things that needed to be done when I get the rest of my stuff and learned that "toolless" does not necessarily equate to "easy".

Later this week, I'll order the motherboard, CPU, and memory. Then the real fun (and monthly payments) begins.

sketchbook begun

OK, I've done the first page in the sketchbook, which happens to be page 18. I actually began on page 16, but messed it up, so I moved onto page 18. I'll gesso over page 16 and do another project there.

If you understand this, please don't post your insights. I want every reader to have a chance to reason it out on their own.

Computer project

While my computer project is in limbo, I given thought to other things. Like, why are there so many external drive bays in my Thermaltake case (6)? I mean, how many external drives do you want or need? Maybe two.

Then I began reading articles about peripherals that fit in these bays. I saw fan controllers. They come in single bay and double bay height. Cute, but do they work? Is this a worthwhile investment?

Then there are card readers. Again, a nice idea, but how many times would I use it. I generally transfer files from my camera and camcorders by cable.

What else is there to fit in these bays? if you have any suggestions, pass them on.

sketchbook update

Donna and I had a discussion about the nature of the sketchbook for the Art House Coop project. The web site says the book must remain its original size, but pictures of past projects show big fat sketchbooks. I concluded that the rule refers to the height and width only and anything goes WRT the thickness.

Anyway, based on Donna's comments on her blog about bleed through, I gessoed the middle two pages to see if that helps. I'll report on this in a later post.

Computer project update

The power supply arrived today. I'm impressed with the packaging. The supply itself came in a rubber lined velvet bag and the low voltage cables are in a lined nylon pouch that is shaped like a brick. the pouch will see further duty as a light or microphone case, I'm sure.

Computer Project Update

Amazon said the power supply wouldn't ship until July. I was checking it out and noticed that the price had dropped by $20. I cancelled and reordered.

Previously I was due a $20 rebate in two months. No rebate now,but with the price drop, it's like an instant rebate.

They said it would be another month before it shipped. Suddenly it shipped! I guess they didn't want to take a chance that I'd cancel again.

The supply is a Corsair HX 850 W. The project moves forward.

Sketchbook

I've been studying my blank sketchbook. It's amazing what I can visualize on each page. This has prompted me to create a Word document where I log these ideas. I can see a pattern emerging that will be the theme of the book. The official title is "This is not a sketchbook".

I noticed that the pages are perforated. Since these sketchbooks will be on tour, it's possible that pages may be torn out. I'll number each age, so that readers will know if something is missing. I did pay to have the original book digitized, so anyone can go to the Brooklyn Library archive and see what they may have missed.

Art House Coop Sketchbook

I received my sketchbook for the Art House Coop project today. I expected the cover to be bright red, but it is more muted. I also expected the covers to be thicker card stock. But it will do the job.

This is a family project. Diane, Donna, Chris and Alex are all doing a sketchbook. It will be fun to compare them.

Anyway, now it sits blank before me. What should I do first?

Procrastinate!

That is what I do best. I have six months to fill it. No sense in rushing and botching the job.

Take time to plan.

I'll probably start it in December, when the wolf is at the door. There is no motivator like a deadline.

Power Supply

My original intent was to buy a case and power supply and begin assembly of my self assembled system. I received the case, but the power supply is backordered.

The supply that I ordered was a Corsair 850w HX. This supply is highly rated, which is why it's in short supply, I guess.

So now I in a holding pattern. The plus side is that my budget doesn't take as quick a hit and I'll be able to move on to phase two as soon as I get the power supply and install it.

My daughter and son-in-law generously donated a copy of Windows 7 Professional for the system.

My computer adventure has begun. My first purchase is a Thermaltake Armor Plus case (steel). I got it at Amazon, so I could take six months to pay it off.

I chose the Armor Plus for several reasons

• It is a full tower case, which allows for good air circulation and good cooling. I didn't want to get into liquid cooling at this time, but this case will allow me to go that route in the future
• On the top front, there are headphone and mic jacks, eSATA, Firewire, and four USB ports.
• There is room for six 5.25" front loading drives, one 3.5" front loading drive, and seven hidden 3.5" drives
• The motherboard is removable for easy assembly and there is a cable management system

The down side is the weight, which is 37 pounds. The aluminum case is 22 pounds, but costs about $50 more.

Stay tuned for further adventures in my computer assembly project.

RIP DELL

My computer died. No suddenly, like a heart attack, but slowly, in incremental pieces, like cancer.

It was a Dell. Now it is a Dead Dell.

First the hard drive gave out. It was a Maxtor. Dell replaced it free of charge, but I lost a lot of data. After that I was diligent at backing up. For about two months.

A year later the replacement drive failed. It was no longer under warranty, so I replace it with a Western Digital. I rescued some of the data with Handy Recovery.

Next the LCD monitor became unstable and the picture rolled and shook. I replaced it with the old CRT monitor from my Gateway 2000.

The sound card died and then I had memory problems. Then it stopped completely.

RIP DELL.

I've decided to assemble my own PC. I want it to be able to edit video and audio material that I generate, so it has to be fast.

I may reuse the DVD burner from the Dell, until it dies. I have a Blu-Ray burner that I got as part of a package deal from Videoguys.

I also have two WD hard drives that I have been using as external drives with a WD docking station.

I need to do this piecemeal, due to budget restraints. I'll keep you posted on this blog.

Hello, again!

This my annual post. At least, that is how it turned out. Actually, I forgot that I had set up this blog. I'll try to be more diligent and post more often in the future.