Today I found out my former workplace let everyone who was left go... Looks like it was a good thing I left when I did. I feel bad for everyone who lost their jobs, but I know they also expected it. Maybe they didn't expect it that day, but everyone's known it was coming for years now...
After that bad news, we spent a lot of the day brainstorming ideas for a new project we are working on. I also got the new computer up and running with all the software and printer/scanner drivers.
After work Francesca and I went to Kitchen Window. We had a class with the former chef from Moto-i. It was really cool and the food was amazing. The buns at Moto-i are incredible, and that is the main focus of the night. I thought I could never get enough of those dang buns, but I ate so many... so many.
Afterward as we walked home we stopped at Gamestop to grab Ghost Trick (not for me). Once back at the studio, Lindsay picked us up, and now we're watching Ghost Adventures. Sc-sc-scary.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Computer time.
I've was busy last week making stationery. I've become pretty much the only person to work on this big project now that Lindsay and Francesca are teaching. Which is fine, since the rush is kind of over, but it still takes all my time.
I even went in to thier offices Friday morning to get a new project. It's another stationery project, but this one is considerably different than the previous one, style and content-wise. So that's cool.
It seems like they really like working with us, which was made really apparent during this meeting. The last project had a roomful of designers in addition to us, but this time it was just me and one other guy, who's a photographer. So we survived the rest. Good for us? Or is it because we just take the punishment?
After the meeting I did lunch with Natalie again. I wish I could get out there more, but it's so far away. I always feel rushed, so I never actually stop into the office to say hi to the old gang... I should probably do that.
This Saturday I got my computer back. I was relieved that they didn't have to wipe the hard drive or anything. I backed up everything many times over using Time Machine, so it wouldn't have been a huge deal, just one more headache. So it's nice that they sparred me the hassle.
On Sunday we also got a new Mac Mini for the studio. We already had extra monitors, keyboards and mice sitting around, so it was an easy pic. It's now the official studio computer, for use by freelancers and interns. It's also hooked up to both scanners and both printers. So that's a lot of fun. Even thought it's a biznass computer, I still like playing with new stuff.
The rest of the weekend was filled with trips to the gym, Target, West Elm and 5 Guys burgers. I put in some time at night on Dead Space 2 and it's still really good. I'm totally loving it, as expected. It was a pretty laid back weekend. Which is good.
I even went in to thier offices Friday morning to get a new project. It's another stationery project, but this one is considerably different than the previous one, style and content-wise. So that's cool.
It seems like they really like working with us, which was made really apparent during this meeting. The last project had a roomful of designers in addition to us, but this time it was just me and one other guy, who's a photographer. So we survived the rest. Good for us? Or is it because we just take the punishment?
After the meeting I did lunch with Natalie again. I wish I could get out there more, but it's so far away. I always feel rushed, so I never actually stop into the office to say hi to the old gang... I should probably do that.
This Saturday I got my computer back. I was relieved that they didn't have to wipe the hard drive or anything. I backed up everything many times over using Time Machine, so it wouldn't have been a huge deal, just one more headache. So it's nice that they sparred me the hassle.
On Sunday we also got a new Mac Mini for the studio. We already had extra monitors, keyboards and mice sitting around, so it was an easy pic. It's now the official studio computer, for use by freelancers and interns. It's also hooked up to both scanners and both printers. So that's a lot of fun. Even thought it's a biznass computer, I still like playing with new stuff.
The rest of the weekend was filled with trips to the gym, Target, West Elm and 5 Guys burgers. I put in some time at night on Dead Space 2 and it's still really good. I'm totally loving it, as expected. It was a pretty laid back weekend. Which is good.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Makin' Sushi
We had the meeting we had been preparing this morning. It was kind of strange, but it was interesting and there could be some interesting opportunities there.
After the meeting, I walked to the Apple store and sent off my computer. It was really sad and difficult, but I hope it will come back without having to erase all the date or replacing the hard drive. I have everything backed up right up to the minute I dropped it off, but it would be way less of a hassle if I didn't have to set everything up the way I like it again.
After work, Lindsay and I had class at Kitchen Window. We took a Sushi Class, which started at 6 PM. We walked to Calhoun Square and found the classroom. It was a full night, so we grabbed a nametag and found a place to work.
We spent the next 3 hours making and eating sushi. Our teacher was a sushi chef at Sushi Tango, and he was a nice, funny guy. Kind of nervous. But we learned a lot and by the end of the night we rolled about 12 rolls (6 each). We got to eat/take anythign we made, so we had A LOT of extra.
We took it back to the studio, and shared it with Francesca and Adam. Even they couldn't finish everything we made.
It turned out really good, though, and I feel like I could probably do it again. It would be difficult to do just thanks to out lack of space/supplies and proper set up, but it's easier than I thought it would be.
We took pictures with my phone, so when I get my computer back I'll probably upload them.
After the meeting, I walked to the Apple store and sent off my computer. It was really sad and difficult, but I hope it will come back without having to erase all the date or replacing the hard drive. I have everything backed up right up to the minute I dropped it off, but it would be way less of a hassle if I didn't have to set everything up the way I like it again.
After work, Lindsay and I had class at Kitchen Window. We took a Sushi Class, which started at 6 PM. We walked to Calhoun Square and found the classroom. It was a full night, so we grabbed a nametag and found a place to work.
We spent the next 3 hours making and eating sushi. Our teacher was a sushi chef at Sushi Tango, and he was a nice, funny guy. Kind of nervous. But we learned a lot and by the end of the night we rolled about 12 rolls (6 each). We got to eat/take anythign we made, so we had A LOT of extra.
We took it back to the studio, and shared it with Francesca and Adam. Even they couldn't finish everything we made.
It turned out really good, though, and I feel like I could probably do it again. It would be difficult to do just thanks to out lack of space/supplies and proper set up, but it's easier than I thought it would be.
We took pictures with my phone, so when I get my computer back I'll probably upload them.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Studio 2.0
We spent all weekend cleaning the studio. My main job was to frame and hang all our artwork, but we also did lots of trashing of old crap and rearranging. It pretty much took all of our time. Adam helped out a bit, too. It was a lot of work, but we finished up Monday night after work.
I don't even remember else what happened, it was a long weekend. But here's some pictures of the aftermath. You can see a post on the Paper Bicycle blog.
But here they are, anyway.
Much nicer.
I don't even remember else what happened, it was a long weekend. But here's some pictures of the aftermath. You can see a post on the Paper Bicycle blog.
But here they are, anyway.
Much nicer.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Freezing
This morning I had a meeting in Eden Prairie pretty early in the morning. I took Lindsay's car, because she was going to need mine to take the dogs to the studio in.
Her car was dead, since we hadn't used it in more than a month, so I had to jump it before I left. I wasn't more than a few minutes late, so that's pretty good, I guess.
The meeting went well, and then I went back to the studio to work for the rest of the day. After Lindsay came back from class, we stayed at the studio for a while. I started to play The Witcher, which I had downloaded the previous night. I've been interested in that game for a long time, and bought it over the Steam Holiday Sale for 5 bucks. But it's taken me a while to clear the space to install it. I only have a small section partitioned for Windows, so I have to pick and choose what games to install. The Witcher was 15 gigs, so I had to delete a couple games to make room.
I played for an hour or two, and it was pretty good. I'd like to play more, but who knows when I'll find the time. But I did totally enjoy it, so I'll try to find some time as soon as I can.
This was a boring post, I guess.
Her car was dead, since we hadn't used it in more than a month, so I had to jump it before I left. I wasn't more than a few minutes late, so that's pretty good, I guess.
The meeting went well, and then I went back to the studio to work for the rest of the day. After Lindsay came back from class, we stayed at the studio for a while. I started to play The Witcher, which I had downloaded the previous night. I've been interested in that game for a long time, and bought it over the Steam Holiday Sale for 5 bucks. But it's taken me a while to clear the space to install it. I only have a small section partitioned for Windows, so I have to pick and choose what games to install. The Witcher was 15 gigs, so I had to delete a couple games to make room.
I played for an hour or two, and it was pretty good. I'd like to play more, but who knows when I'll find the time. But I did totally enjoy it, so I'll try to find some time as soon as I can.
This was a boring post, I guess.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
5 games, one mailman.
Tuesday had a slow start. We had pushed out a big deadline, and even though there was more work to be done, I think we earned a little downtime. We actually met with another cotractor, and actually hired him to work on our upstairs. So we start mid Feburary.
Lindsay and I went to early lunch at Pho Hoa. Daaaang was it good. It's been a while. We spent the day catching up with clients we'd ignroed in the madness. After work we went to St Paul to pick up Francesca. It was her first day teaching at CVA, so we met her at Cafe Latte and got some wicked food and cake. I got some Tres Leche and ate the crap out of it.
When I got home, I had gotten 5 games in the mail. 4 from Goozex, and 1 from Amazon. It's been a couple days, and I've almost tried all of them, so here's some thoughts...
Little Big Planet 2: I put this in to get the install/updates out of the way, I dind't really have any plans to play it yet. But the intro started, and it's interactive, so I just went with it. So I played about 10 minutes of it.
It seems more story driven than before, but otherwise it's pretty similar. The graphics look about the same, and the games feels the same mechanic-wise. And although I wasn't in love with LBP 1 (although I thought I would be), I think this will be a solid sequel.
I've seen some the absolutely crazy things people created in the beta, and there's a lot of new stuff added into the creation features, so I'm excited to see what's going to come from that.
LBP is weird because it's almost like I have the game just to see what people do with it, not really because I want to play it a bunch.
ModNation Racers: I put this in the night I got it. I started the update process... and didn't get to play it until the net day. I was only awake for 4-5 hours, so it probably took about 6 hours. Pure stupidity.
This is why I never play you, PS3.
I actually got to play it last night... and I might be done.
The kart racing seems fine. But I already have the Sonic Kart game from last year, and it seems to have tighter controls, better tracks and more clearly defined power-ups than ModNation.
But the point of ModNation is the user-created content. I know. But I'm not going to make anything, and (like LBP) I'd rather play a tight game than a sloppy game that has user-generated content. But unlike LBP, the user content in ModNation Racers has less potential to be mind blowing.
I like the chunky, big graphics (the karts/characters seem HUGE on my TV) and the bouncy physics. But the tracks seem kind of blah.
I spent a little time and made a character from scratch. 9/10 of the stuff you can use to build is locked when you start, so it was a little limiting. I started to make a kart and decided I couldn't care less after a couple minutes. I have no patience for this kind of thing.
I did 3 mission races and 1 online race. None stood out as being particularly fun. And the loading times are TERRIBLE! Like, I'm talking MINUTES. Which is nearly as long as the races! I heard the patches improved load times, so I'd hate to have seen what it was like previously.
I didn't hate the game or anything, but as I turned it off I had the realization "this could very well be the last time I ever play this game..." So yeah.
Dragon Quest IX: I played this before bed a couple of nights and in the car waiting for Lindsay to finish class. So maybe an hour? 1 1/2 hours?
So far, it's... boring; JRPG style. I don't have any real party members yet and I just got out into the real world. I'll keep going for a bit to see how combat changes when I've got more going on.
Right now I literally put it down and just pushed 'A' while I was saving some files on my computer. Snoozefest.
King Of Fighters XII: Not 1/2 bad, I kind of like it! The graphics aren't QUITE what I was hoping for. They're a bit pixelated and not all the characters are as smooth as they could be. They range from looking great to just Ok.
King of Fighters has always been far behind Street Fighter in terms of the actual gameplay, and the same applies here. But it's not bad. In fact it's pretty good.
One thing I did notice is that the Achievements are CRAZY stupid! I got 3 while I played, and that might be all I'll ever get. Kind of annoying. But whatever.
Bioshock 2: What? Anyone who reads this blog (which is me and Jesse, unless if he quit from boredom) knows I played Bioshock 2 a while ago. And I liked it, but wasn't crazy about it. Kind of a grind. So why would I re-acquire it?
Because I wanted to play Minerva's Den, the single player DLC story arc, which is supposed to be phenomenal. It's completely stand-alone story-wise, and it's supposed to out-shine Bioshock 2 (and in some people's opinion, the original Bioshock).
I haven't touched it yet, but I have the highest hopes for Minerva's Den.
So there you have it. I have a feeling I'm going to pass ModNation Racers onto the next Goozex user, give Dragon Quest a little more of a chance before sending it away. I'll keep LBP 2 around to see what the community does. And I'll keep King of Fighers around because I love 2-D fighters that much. And hopefully I'll get to Minerva's Den before Dragon Age 2 takes over my free time.
Lindsay and I went to early lunch at Pho Hoa. Daaaang was it good. It's been a while. We spent the day catching up with clients we'd ignroed in the madness. After work we went to St Paul to pick up Francesca. It was her first day teaching at CVA, so we met her at Cafe Latte and got some wicked food and cake. I got some Tres Leche and ate the crap out of it.
When I got home, I had gotten 5 games in the mail. 4 from Goozex, and 1 from Amazon. It's been a couple days, and I've almost tried all of them, so here's some thoughts...
Little Big Planet 2: I put this in to get the install/updates out of the way, I dind't really have any plans to play it yet. But the intro started, and it's interactive, so I just went with it. So I played about 10 minutes of it.
It seems more story driven than before, but otherwise it's pretty similar. The graphics look about the same, and the games feels the same mechanic-wise. And although I wasn't in love with LBP 1 (although I thought I would be), I think this will be a solid sequel.
I've seen some the absolutely crazy things people created in the beta, and there's a lot of new stuff added into the creation features, so I'm excited to see what's going to come from that.
LBP is weird because it's almost like I have the game just to see what people do with it, not really because I want to play it a bunch.
ModNation Racers: I put this in the night I got it. I started the update process... and didn't get to play it until the net day. I was only awake for 4-5 hours, so it probably took about 6 hours. Pure stupidity.
This is why I never play you, PS3.
I actually got to play it last night... and I might be done.
The kart racing seems fine. But I already have the Sonic Kart game from last year, and it seems to have tighter controls, better tracks and more clearly defined power-ups than ModNation.
But the point of ModNation is the user-created content. I know. But I'm not going to make anything, and (like LBP) I'd rather play a tight game than a sloppy game that has user-generated content. But unlike LBP, the user content in ModNation Racers has less potential to be mind blowing.
I like the chunky, big graphics (the karts/characters seem HUGE on my TV) and the bouncy physics. But the tracks seem kind of blah.
I spent a little time and made a character from scratch. 9/10 of the stuff you can use to build is locked when you start, so it was a little limiting. I started to make a kart and decided I couldn't care less after a couple minutes. I have no patience for this kind of thing.
I did 3 mission races and 1 online race. None stood out as being particularly fun. And the loading times are TERRIBLE! Like, I'm talking MINUTES. Which is nearly as long as the races! I heard the patches improved load times, so I'd hate to have seen what it was like previously.
I didn't hate the game or anything, but as I turned it off I had the realization "this could very well be the last time I ever play this game..." So yeah.
Dragon Quest IX: I played this before bed a couple of nights and in the car waiting for Lindsay to finish class. So maybe an hour? 1 1/2 hours?
So far, it's... boring; JRPG style. I don't have any real party members yet and I just got out into the real world. I'll keep going for a bit to see how combat changes when I've got more going on.
Right now I literally put it down and just pushed 'A' while I was saving some files on my computer. Snoozefest.
King Of Fighters XII: Not 1/2 bad, I kind of like it! The graphics aren't QUITE what I was hoping for. They're a bit pixelated and not all the characters are as smooth as they could be. They range from looking great to just Ok.
King of Fighters has always been far behind Street Fighter in terms of the actual gameplay, and the same applies here. But it's not bad. In fact it's pretty good.
One thing I did notice is that the Achievements are CRAZY stupid! I got 3 while I played, and that might be all I'll ever get. Kind of annoying. But whatever.
Bioshock 2: What? Anyone who reads this blog (which is me and Jesse, unless if he quit from boredom) knows I played Bioshock 2 a while ago. And I liked it, but wasn't crazy about it. Kind of a grind. So why would I re-acquire it?
Because I wanted to play Minerva's Den, the single player DLC story arc, which is supposed to be phenomenal. It's completely stand-alone story-wise, and it's supposed to out-shine Bioshock 2 (and in some people's opinion, the original Bioshock).
I haven't touched it yet, but I have the highest hopes for Minerva's Den.
So there you have it. I have a feeling I'm going to pass ModNation Racers onto the next Goozex user, give Dragon Quest a little more of a chance before sending it away. I'll keep LBP 2 around to see what the community does. And I'll keep King of Fighers around because I love 2-D fighters that much. And hopefully I'll get to Minerva's Den before Dragon Age 2 takes over my free time.
Monday, January 17, 2011
The final push.
Alright, I thought I was on track. I was going to the gym, blogging everyday, but then we hit a crunch again... sigh. But the end is in sight and we can only go up from here.
On Thursday last week we went to the AIGA event. Chris S, Francesca, Lindsay and myself met up with Mary and Ben and found our way through the U of M campus. I hate going over there, and make a habit of avoiding the area. We are unfamiliar with the halls and auditoriums, and they don't seem to do much to try to point you in the right direction, but we made it.
The talk started out slow, with microphone problems and guests who didn't seem too interested in discussion, but it definitely picked up by the end. There was good discussion and some drama in the crowd (one woman stood up and angrily argued with the panel until a moderator got her to leave). When we left we had a lot to talk/rant/argue about and that's a good thing.
On Friday the construction finished on our upstairs floors. They look really good, but the whole house reeked of chemicals the whole time. We avoided the fumes by staying at the studio all night. I was in the studio alone all day while Lindsay taught, and afterward we me up with Adam and went to Yum. We stayed there for quite a while, until they were closed, then we went back to the studio. I played Nier for a while while Lindsay and Adam looked at dating sites (for Adam, not Lindsay). We also watched a documentary called "The Science of Sex Appeal" or something like that. By the time we left, it was 4 am... too late.
The next day we got up pretty late. We had a lot of work to do for our final-ish push, so we went to the studio as soon as we could. We stopped for Hot Dogs and worked at the studio until 6 or so, when we went to a friend's house for dinner. Our friend was Lindsay's boss at Target and mine at D56, but she and her husband acts a bit like our parents. They tell us how proud they are and they call us "the whippersnappers" when we're not around.
We were supposed to meet at 112 Eatery, but they just got a new dog, and it's their first ever. So they didn't want to leave it alone and we ended up getting takeout from Rainbow Chinese. Which was good too. We ended up staying 4 hours or so, instead of the 2 like we planned. We ended up leaving at 11 PM or so, just to go back to the studio to work until 2 or 3.
Sunday was a business day. We got up and went straight to work. Francesca came with and we cranked on the final group of designs we needed to do. That's about it.
Monday we met with a drywall guy about the next stage in our upstairs renovation. Then we went into the office. We had a new intern starting, and Mary came in to help too. Francesca had them working by the time we got there, so we joined in. 1/2 way through the day we got Chris S to help, too, so we were working at full capacity. We didn't have enough space to go around.
We finished up the bare minimum, and sent off the designs. We still owe some, but we got the critical ones out the door, and on time to boot. Way to go us.
On Thursday last week we went to the AIGA event. Chris S, Francesca, Lindsay and myself met up with Mary and Ben and found our way through the U of M campus. I hate going over there, and make a habit of avoiding the area. We are unfamiliar with the halls and auditoriums, and they don't seem to do much to try to point you in the right direction, but we made it.
The talk started out slow, with microphone problems and guests who didn't seem too interested in discussion, but it definitely picked up by the end. There was good discussion and some drama in the crowd (one woman stood up and angrily argued with the panel until a moderator got her to leave). When we left we had a lot to talk/rant/argue about and that's a good thing.
On Friday the construction finished on our upstairs floors. They look really good, but the whole house reeked of chemicals the whole time. We avoided the fumes by staying at the studio all night. I was in the studio alone all day while Lindsay taught, and afterward we me up with Adam and went to Yum. We stayed there for quite a while, until they were closed, then we went back to the studio. I played Nier for a while while Lindsay and Adam looked at dating sites (for Adam, not Lindsay). We also watched a documentary called "The Science of Sex Appeal" or something like that. By the time we left, it was 4 am... too late.
The next day we got up pretty late. We had a lot of work to do for our final-ish push, so we went to the studio as soon as we could. We stopped for Hot Dogs and worked at the studio until 6 or so, when we went to a friend's house for dinner. Our friend was Lindsay's boss at Target and mine at D56, but she and her husband acts a bit like our parents. They tell us how proud they are and they call us "the whippersnappers" when we're not around.
We were supposed to meet at 112 Eatery, but they just got a new dog, and it's their first ever. So they didn't want to leave it alone and we ended up getting takeout from Rainbow Chinese. Which was good too. We ended up staying 4 hours or so, instead of the 2 like we planned. We ended up leaving at 11 PM or so, just to go back to the studio to work until 2 or 3.
Sunday was a business day. We got up and went straight to work. Francesca came with and we cranked on the final group of designs we needed to do. That's about it.
Monday we met with a drywall guy about the next stage in our upstairs renovation. Then we went into the office. We had a new intern starting, and Mary came in to help too. Francesca had them working by the time we got there, so we joined in. 1/2 way through the day we got Chris S to help, too, so we were working at full capacity. We didn't have enough space to go around.
We finished up the bare minimum, and sent off the designs. We still owe some, but we got the critical ones out the door, and on time to boot. Way to go us.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Bad night, mediocre day.
I'm going to try to post something every day again. I got out of the habit, probably thanks to the incredible tedium of my life. But my reader demands more!
Today was kind of ok, but kind of awful. Last night was extra terrible.
Thanks to the dust, construction and constant flow of men in and out of our house, we have to have all the cats locked up... in the 2 rooms available to us. And one cat can't be with the rest, so that's 1 to 4. Which means 4 in the bedroom. And that would be fine, if they weren't LOCKED in the bedroom. They love being on the bed and sleeping, provided they don't HAVE to. But as soon as you shut the door, and all of a sudden they all have places they want to be.
And I'm a super light sleeper, which means I had cats meowing at me, pawing at me, walking on me, chomping food and scratching at litter all night long. I was very angry.
We tried to sleep in as long as we could, but the workers showed up to work on house which forced us up and out.
I didn't get much done at work. I got an alright amount done but a lot seemed to be re-saving files in different formats over and over.
Then we got an email about our deadline. There must have been some miscommunication, or this is currently being some miscommunication, because the deadline is now way sooner than anticipated. Like, impossibly soon.
Not impossible like we'd have to stay up 24/7, but impossible like even if we had 10 people to stay up 24/7 it'd be impossible. So there's that. We're trying to sort that out.
I dropped Lindsay at MCAD to teach, and I went to the gym. I'm trying to go every day I possible can, even if our clients have other things to say about that. But I knew I couldn't go tomorrow, so I was really motivated to go today. And it was fun.
Now we're watching nature documentaries and working. Or rather, I'm writing this blog.
Today was kind of ok, but kind of awful. Last night was extra terrible.
Thanks to the dust, construction and constant flow of men in and out of our house, we have to have all the cats locked up... in the 2 rooms available to us. And one cat can't be with the rest, so that's 1 to 4. Which means 4 in the bedroom. And that would be fine, if they weren't LOCKED in the bedroom. They love being on the bed and sleeping, provided they don't HAVE to. But as soon as you shut the door, and all of a sudden they all have places they want to be.
And I'm a super light sleeper, which means I had cats meowing at me, pawing at me, walking on me, chomping food and scratching at litter all night long. I was very angry.
We tried to sleep in as long as we could, but the workers showed up to work on house which forced us up and out.
I didn't get much done at work. I got an alright amount done but a lot seemed to be re-saving files in different formats over and over.
Then we got an email about our deadline. There must have been some miscommunication, or this is currently being some miscommunication, because the deadline is now way sooner than anticipated. Like, impossibly soon.
Not impossible like we'd have to stay up 24/7, but impossible like even if we had 10 people to stay up 24/7 it'd be impossible. So there's that. We're trying to sort that out.
I dropped Lindsay at MCAD to teach, and I went to the gym. I'm trying to go every day I possible can, even if our clients have other things to say about that. But I knew I couldn't go tomorrow, so I was really motivated to go today. And it was fun.
Now we're watching nature documentaries and working. Or rather, I'm writing this blog.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Cat Puke.
Hmmmm. I feel like I should have more time to write these things. I am getting worse, but I guess that's ok. Here's the deal. I cleaned a ton of shit to prepare for our re-doing our upstairs floor. Starting Monday there have been, and will be, dudes here at 8 am sanding and making tons of noise.
Our house is super dusty, dirty and cramped. We can't let the cats out of our room, because they want to go upstairs. So we have the front room and the bed room, 7 animals split between 2 rooms.
All the crap from upstairs in in the living room, kitchen, front room and wherever we could put it.
What I basically am trying to say is that I feel like I'm suffocating every second I'm at home.
And at work I've got a ton of crap to do that super detail oriented, so I feel like I"m suffocating there, too. This year is not starting out as I'd hoped, but once this upstairs project is done I feel like it will be much, much better. At the same time, we should be finishing up this project at work, so maybe it will be like a double rainbow all the way.
In other news, I started (and finished) Singularity. I was probably most interested in it because it was made by hometown heroes Raven Software. It was good to very good. The story was whatever, the graphics were pretty good, but the time-manipulation device is what made the game. There's a ton of abilities, and switching it up and using all of them is what made the game a joy.
Highlight: throwing down a Deadlock (a bubble that slows down time for anything inside, including bullets) on three guys, then running up to each one, shooting a bullet at their head, then unfreezing time to watch them all crumple at once.
It's a very cartoon-y kind of game with crazy sci-fi, terrible accents, silly monsters and a nonsense story. But it was good. And pretty dang short. I played in big spurts after being so burnt out from last week, but it couldn't have taken more than 5 or 6 hours.
Also, this:
Our house is super dusty, dirty and cramped. We can't let the cats out of our room, because they want to go upstairs. So we have the front room and the bed room, 7 animals split between 2 rooms.
All the crap from upstairs in in the living room, kitchen, front room and wherever we could put it.
What I basically am trying to say is that I feel like I'm suffocating every second I'm at home.
And at work I've got a ton of crap to do that super detail oriented, so I feel like I"m suffocating there, too. This year is not starting out as I'd hoped, but once this upstairs project is done I feel like it will be much, much better. At the same time, we should be finishing up this project at work, so maybe it will be like a double rainbow all the way.
In other news, I started (and finished) Singularity. I was probably most interested in it because it was made by hometown heroes Raven Software. It was good to very good. The story was whatever, the graphics were pretty good, but the time-manipulation device is what made the game. There's a ton of abilities, and switching it up and using all of them is what made the game a joy.
Highlight: throwing down a Deadlock (a bubble that slows down time for anything inside, including bullets) on three guys, then running up to each one, shooting a bullet at their head, then unfreezing time to watch them all crumple at once.
It's a very cartoon-y kind of game with crazy sci-fi, terrible accents, silly monsters and a nonsense story. But it was good. And pretty dang short. I played in big spurts after being so burnt out from last week, but it couldn't have taken more than 5 or 6 hours.
Also, this:
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Crazy work and crazy relaxation
It's almost 2:30 am. I just got done working out and now I should be going to bed, but I don't really want to.
This week has been pretty crazy. On Monday we went in for a meeting to get some revisions from the first phase of the big project we're working on, we found out some bad news about a shifting schedule. We've got a lot, lot, lot to do in a short amount of time... Even more than we thought, and even shorter than we thought.
Luckily, we had massages scheduled after the meeting. Lindsay had given me the Total Body Elixir Vichy Treatment at Juut. I wasn't sure what that was, but I was game.
It was, and I quote, "a hot oil hair treatment and scalp massage. A facial cleanse, full body exfoliation with smoothing body polish, and foot massage get you ready for your massage treatment. Massage with oil on the front of your body is followed by your vichy water massage on the back of our body. The finishing touch is an overall moisture application to leave you soft and smooth."
It was awesome, basically. It started out with me changing into a robe and slippers, then going into this massage room/bathroom. There was a massage table, but it had gutters on it and towels. There were 5 or 7 jets hanging from the ceiling above the table, and a big hose attached to the wall.
The first stuff was pretty standard, with oils and massages and stuff. Then I was scrubbed head to toe, front to back, with some abrasive salt exfoliation stuff. It felt like really coarse, sharp beach sand and kind of hurt, but also felt really good.
Then I was rinsed off with a large, fairly high pressure hose. It was dark and candle lit in the room, and I had my face buried in the massage table, but it felt like waves on a beach.
Once that was done, the shower started. The jets above me turned on one by one, and soon I was basically in a sensory deprivation chamber. The water pummeled my entire body, and the sound was so loud it was the only thing you could hear. It sounded like a massive rain storm. I couldn't see anything and it felt like I had a 40 pound blanket covering my entire body, but a blanket filled with bugs that was constantly shifting. In a good way.
Before we began, my masseuse set some ground rules. People are known to get claustrophobic in a vichy water massage. If I was uncomfortable, I should raise my hand because it's too loud to hear with all the water running.
I was fine, but I did have a few moments of near-panic or suffocation. A few times I had to lift myself up just to breathe, because my chest has so much pressure on it. I couldn't see, hear or even tell if my masseuse was around sometimes. She would come over and adjust my towels, or shampoo my hair (yes, this was a super-pamper treatment).
But I mentioned feeling like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber because at one moment, I started to realize I had no idea how long I had been under that water. As far as I knew, it could have been 5 minutes or an hour. I started to get a little worried, thinking what if she fell over and died and I didn't know and I was just sitting here under this water and I'd never get up until the hot water ran our or I turned into such a prune I couldn't stand it?
Obviously everything was fine, but for a split second, I was convinced I was in big trouble.
My description might sound terrible, but it's not. It's awesome. It's an hour and a half of totally crazy, relaxing, rejuvenating bliss.
After it was over, my masseuse covered helped me get into my robe and slippers, then draped a massive, heavy blanket over my head. She took me to a waiting area and wrapped me in two more blankets, so only my face was peeking out. She gave me water and tea and left me for 20 minutes.
She said that I couldn't leave or go outside until my blood-pressure had normalized, as the treatment does some crazy stuff. So I sat swaddled in blankets until it was time to go.
Lindsay had only gotten a normal massage, since they only have one area to do vichy treatments. She was pretty jealous when I met back up with her.
From there it was back to the real world. We went back to the studio and made a game-plan for the week. We've got too much to do and it's a bit scary.
We went home at a normal time, since we didn't have the dogs along, and we spent most of the night working, although I took a break to play Battlefield with Ryan and Chris C.
The rest of the days have been less wonderful.
I went to meeting the following day to get brought up to speed with how we should proceed with production files for a project, and it was a long, confusing meeting. Not because the process should be that confusing, because I don't think it is, but because the client was not prepared in the slightest and used examples that were flat-out wrong.
So it was like "this one has this right... but ignore the rest. this one shows how this should be... except it shouldn't be like this at all." Whatever, I got it. Other designers seemed to bit a bit worried, though.
We cranked on stuff until the wee-hours of the morning ever since. Last night we were at the studio until 2:30 or 3. And tonight we were there until 12:30. Which is why I decided to work out when I got home.
I thought I was starting out the new year well by hitting the gym right away, but now we're in think middle of so many deadlines we only have time to work and sleep.
Sucky. But we've made major progress, and I think by the end of tonight we closed the book on a few projects that have been looming for a while. So it feels good. Things are manageable. It'll be a few more days (or weeks?) of late nights, but it's moving in the right direction.
This week has been pretty crazy. On Monday we went in for a meeting to get some revisions from the first phase of the big project we're working on, we found out some bad news about a shifting schedule. We've got a lot, lot, lot to do in a short amount of time... Even more than we thought, and even shorter than we thought.
Luckily, we had massages scheduled after the meeting. Lindsay had given me the Total Body Elixir Vichy Treatment at Juut. I wasn't sure what that was, but I was game.
It was, and I quote, "a hot oil hair treatment and scalp massage. A facial cleanse, full body exfoliation with smoothing body polish, and foot massage get you ready for your massage treatment. Massage with oil on the front of your body is followed by your vichy water massage on the back of our body. The finishing touch is an overall moisture application to leave you soft and smooth."
It was awesome, basically. It started out with me changing into a robe and slippers, then going into this massage room/bathroom. There was a massage table, but it had gutters on it and towels. There were 5 or 7 jets hanging from the ceiling above the table, and a big hose attached to the wall.
The first stuff was pretty standard, with oils and massages and stuff. Then I was scrubbed head to toe, front to back, with some abrasive salt exfoliation stuff. It felt like really coarse, sharp beach sand and kind of hurt, but also felt really good.
Then I was rinsed off with a large, fairly high pressure hose. It was dark and candle lit in the room, and I had my face buried in the massage table, but it felt like waves on a beach.
Once that was done, the shower started. The jets above me turned on one by one, and soon I was basically in a sensory deprivation chamber. The water pummeled my entire body, and the sound was so loud it was the only thing you could hear. It sounded like a massive rain storm. I couldn't see anything and it felt like I had a 40 pound blanket covering my entire body, but a blanket filled with bugs that was constantly shifting. In a good way.
Before we began, my masseuse set some ground rules. People are known to get claustrophobic in a vichy water massage. If I was uncomfortable, I should raise my hand because it's too loud to hear with all the water running.
I was fine, but I did have a few moments of near-panic or suffocation. A few times I had to lift myself up just to breathe, because my chest has so much pressure on it. I couldn't see, hear or even tell if my masseuse was around sometimes. She would come over and adjust my towels, or shampoo my hair (yes, this was a super-pamper treatment).
But I mentioned feeling like I was in a sensory deprivation chamber because at one moment, I started to realize I had no idea how long I had been under that water. As far as I knew, it could have been 5 minutes or an hour. I started to get a little worried, thinking what if she fell over and died and I didn't know and I was just sitting here under this water and I'd never get up until the hot water ran our or I turned into such a prune I couldn't stand it?
Obviously everything was fine, but for a split second, I was convinced I was in big trouble.
My description might sound terrible, but it's not. It's awesome. It's an hour and a half of totally crazy, relaxing, rejuvenating bliss.
After it was over, my masseuse covered helped me get into my robe and slippers, then draped a massive, heavy blanket over my head. She took me to a waiting area and wrapped me in two more blankets, so only my face was peeking out. She gave me water and tea and left me for 20 minutes.
She said that I couldn't leave or go outside until my blood-pressure had normalized, as the treatment does some crazy stuff. So I sat swaddled in blankets until it was time to go.
Lindsay had only gotten a normal massage, since they only have one area to do vichy treatments. She was pretty jealous when I met back up with her.
From there it was back to the real world. We went back to the studio and made a game-plan for the week. We've got too much to do and it's a bit scary.
We went home at a normal time, since we didn't have the dogs along, and we spent most of the night working, although I took a break to play Battlefield with Ryan and Chris C.
The rest of the days have been less wonderful.
I went to meeting the following day to get brought up to speed with how we should proceed with production files for a project, and it was a long, confusing meeting. Not because the process should be that confusing, because I don't think it is, but because the client was not prepared in the slightest and used examples that were flat-out wrong.
So it was like "this one has this right... but ignore the rest. this one shows how this should be... except it shouldn't be like this at all." Whatever, I got it. Other designers seemed to bit a bit worried, though.
We cranked on stuff until the wee-hours of the morning ever since. Last night we were at the studio until 2:30 or 3. And tonight we were there until 12:30. Which is why I decided to work out when I got home.
I thought I was starting out the new year well by hitting the gym right away, but now we're in think middle of so many deadlines we only have time to work and sleep.
Sucky. But we've made major progress, and I think by the end of tonight we closed the book on a few projects that have been looming for a while. So it feels good. Things are manageable. It'll be a few more days (or weeks?) of late nights, but it's moving in the right direction.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
It's a new year.
It's the new year, 2011. Welcome to it.
Our project that we've been busting on is over (well, phase one is over. Phase two starts Monday...). It was super successful, though. In all, we did 32 designs for a pitch meeting. There were other artists submitting as well, for a total of 70 or 80 designs. Of those, 35 were to be chosen to move forward.
We found out that 23 of ours made it to final. Which is amazing. It's about 400% better than I expected, actually. The best part is there's a bonus for chosen pieces, so we will be getting way more than expected. It actually makes the whole thing worth it. If I could do a couple of rush jobs like this a year, I would only have to work 6-10 weeks a year and end up making as much as my income was a couple years ago...
But that's not going to happen, I guess. I should appreciate the flukes when they happen...
Other than that I've been doing some sketches and designs for a new client. It's kind of fun stuff, but I've had a bit of trouble coming up with the ideas I need. It's just a bit too vague and open. I should take that as an excuse to do some fun, amazing stuff. But instead I flounder a bit trying to figure out what's right...
So that's what I was doing on Friday. After work we had Adam come over. I made Sloppy Joes and we celebrated the New Year in an understated fashion. Just the 3 of us, playing Rock Band and eating sloppy joes. We ended up staying up to late, even for New Years Eve. We weren't really doing anything; Adam brought over Epic Mickey and played a bit of it for us. It seemed really not very cool.
Then we played a bunch of Rock Band until our throats couldn't stand it. After that, i played Nier while they watched. I had just gotten Nier in the mail from Goozex, just because it seemed intriguing. It looks terrible, from trailers, and opinions are wildly spit over the game. Those who didn't like it, really hated it. And those who liked it, love it and shower it with praise.
It (the reception, not the game) reminds me of Demon's Souls. And I was in the "I love it" camp, so I figured maybe this was out-there enough to win me over. Since I got it from Goozex I've got nothing to lose. And so far... it's not bad. Well, it kind of is, but I kind of like it. I can see it going two ways: either I'm going to appreciate it more and more until I think it's pretty great (ala Fable 2 and 3) or I'm going to get sick of real fast.
When Adam was playing Epic Mickey, I also started up a new game of Civ V. I went with Japan again, but this time started my Civ much later in the timeline, skipping all the primitive stuff. I'm glad I did it once, but I doubt I'd do it again. Things go so much faster when you have the tech to travel faster and fight more effectively.
I woke up kind of late, but Lindsay was still sleeping. So I grabbed my computer and played my Civ game in bed... for like 3 hours... Lindsay got up really late. But it was awesome. My game is going really well, even though I'm playing on a harder difficulty. This is my second Civ game ever, but I do understand what I'm doing a lot more, which helps a ton.
I"m still playing in a really militaristic way, because I like turn-based combat. But I also don't feel like I know what's going on enough to go for a cultural or political victory. Besides,, I just like fighting and moving my army around the map...
When we DID finally get moving, we headed to Home Depot and picked up about 2 big metal shelving units, 8 plastic tubs and a bunch of cardboard boxes... It's time to take care of the basement. We came home and spent 5 hours or so just cleaning the basement, and it's starting to show some promise. We've got to get the upstairs cleared out because we're re-finishing the floors, but the basement's got to happen first. Or at least be partially started first. So that worked out pretty well, and It's a big relief to have the tools to store the crap we have, instead of just pushing it around a bunch, like we normally do.
After we called it a night, I played Nier for a little while longer. I'm thinking I might get sick of it before I learn to love it. But it's still good enough that I'm not sending off. Yet.
Our project that we've been busting on is over (well, phase one is over. Phase two starts Monday...). It was super successful, though. In all, we did 32 designs for a pitch meeting. There were other artists submitting as well, for a total of 70 or 80 designs. Of those, 35 were to be chosen to move forward.
We found out that 23 of ours made it to final. Which is amazing. It's about 400% better than I expected, actually. The best part is there's a bonus for chosen pieces, so we will be getting way more than expected. It actually makes the whole thing worth it. If I could do a couple of rush jobs like this a year, I would only have to work 6-10 weeks a year and end up making as much as my income was a couple years ago...
But that's not going to happen, I guess. I should appreciate the flukes when they happen...
Other than that I've been doing some sketches and designs for a new client. It's kind of fun stuff, but I've had a bit of trouble coming up with the ideas I need. It's just a bit too vague and open. I should take that as an excuse to do some fun, amazing stuff. But instead I flounder a bit trying to figure out what's right...
So that's what I was doing on Friday. After work we had Adam come over. I made Sloppy Joes and we celebrated the New Year in an understated fashion. Just the 3 of us, playing Rock Band and eating sloppy joes. We ended up staying up to late, even for New Years Eve. We weren't really doing anything; Adam brought over Epic Mickey and played a bit of it for us. It seemed really not very cool.
Then we played a bunch of Rock Band until our throats couldn't stand it. After that, i played Nier while they watched. I had just gotten Nier in the mail from Goozex, just because it seemed intriguing. It looks terrible, from trailers, and opinions are wildly spit over the game. Those who didn't like it, really hated it. And those who liked it, love it and shower it with praise.
It (the reception, not the game) reminds me of Demon's Souls. And I was in the "I love it" camp, so I figured maybe this was out-there enough to win me over. Since I got it from Goozex I've got nothing to lose. And so far... it's not bad. Well, it kind of is, but I kind of like it. I can see it going two ways: either I'm going to appreciate it more and more until I think it's pretty great (ala Fable 2 and 3) or I'm going to get sick of real fast.
When Adam was playing Epic Mickey, I also started up a new game of Civ V. I went with Japan again, but this time started my Civ much later in the timeline, skipping all the primitive stuff. I'm glad I did it once, but I doubt I'd do it again. Things go so much faster when you have the tech to travel faster and fight more effectively.
I woke up kind of late, but Lindsay was still sleeping. So I grabbed my computer and played my Civ game in bed... for like 3 hours... Lindsay got up really late. But it was awesome. My game is going really well, even though I'm playing on a harder difficulty. This is my second Civ game ever, but I do understand what I'm doing a lot more, which helps a ton.
I"m still playing in a really militaristic way, because I like turn-based combat. But I also don't feel like I know what's going on enough to go for a cultural or political victory. Besides,, I just like fighting and moving my army around the map...
When we DID finally get moving, we headed to Home Depot and picked up about 2 big metal shelving units, 8 plastic tubs and a bunch of cardboard boxes... It's time to take care of the basement. We came home and spent 5 hours or so just cleaning the basement, and it's starting to show some promise. We've got to get the upstairs cleared out because we're re-finishing the floors, but the basement's got to happen first. Or at least be partially started first. So that worked out pretty well, and It's a big relief to have the tools to store the crap we have, instead of just pushing it around a bunch, like we normally do.
After we called it a night, I played Nier for a little while longer. I'm thinking I might get sick of it before I learn to love it. But it's still good enough that I'm not sending off. Yet.
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