haddadadad

Last Friday, I set up some prints and paintings at the Urbana cafe, La Gourmandise Bistro. The German cafe is operated (and I think owned) by Pete Schnabel, who is really really super nice. He’s a fan of the Haddadadad nickname and now addresses me as such. Unfortunately my camera’s battery was/is dead with the charger MIA. I took this round of pictures with the oh-so-lovely droid camera. Remember when 5.0MP cameras were crazy-expensive? Ha!

Maybe I’ll actually sell something! <3 You can check out my prints for sale on Etsy, and all paintings available on Crafthaus, which I will update when I am able to get my battery charged. I got a bunch of new paintings to put up! WHERE IS MY CHARGER?! *sob*

I moved.

My studio is now within the Independent Media Center of Urbana, or IMC as the l33t say. I was hesitant to go there (hippies! a-eee!) but the monthly rent of the new place equals the amount of money I spent on gas to get to the free old one. Also, I can get to this place by bicycle, bus, or skate, all money savers. Also, this place has loads of security and a controlled climate. Also, this place is near food establishments for when I forget to pack a lunch. Also, the people I interacted with that are in charge and not overbearing socially-inept hippies and are in fact nice, friendly people grounded in reality. The vibes of a new place are overwhelmingly positive, and these feelings of renewal shall by exploited to the fullest extent of my ability. I’ve missed the chill calm that is Urbana.

I have completed one and half commissions as of this posting, and it feels pretty good. It’s like getting my school work put on the fridge. Hauling my butt to studio will be way easier now that it’s closer. My work was up at Evolve Fitness Center in downtown Champaign from the beginning of June until last week. My latest spot will be a bistro in Urbana. I’ll link it when I’m officially on the walls there.

No sales on my Etsy as of yet. I put up a large print of my favorite recent painting. Here, let me link to it for funsies. Continuing my focus on people, I’ll probably not deviate from the theme unless a commission calls for it. I like doing different type things. Focusing on one type makes the others more exciting when they occur.

I additionally acquired a new living space, one the cats were not too happy about the first day, as displayed by their pouty faces and general spastic demeanor, running through all the rooms, climbing over everything possible, and landing in the safest place they could find. Together.

This move is probably their best bonding moment. Fiona the lioness has cooled her jets since being here, being more playful towards JP with her jabbing, batting and nipping to soft bapping and virtually no nipping unless she feels the fuzz is being a twat. JP is standing up for himself in this new unclaimed world, and they are, for the most part, now at peace with each other in a large space big enough for two cat egos.

Since that first night, JP has gone back to his station in the tv stand and has held it strongly as one of his daily posts, watching all in his shared kingdom.

BONUS: Nessa! I watched her this weekend for a friend, and this cat is abso-fucking-lutely adorable even if her favorite toy is a crumbled up ball of paper.

SWINE FLU AAAAAH OMAAAAAGGGGGGGG

(10:28:45 PM) SJ: i’m done on friday
(10:28:48 PM) SJ: final critique is then
(10:29:51 PM) Jeff: omg
(10:30:01 PM) Jeff: WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
(10:30:37 PM) SJ: riding horses on the beach duh
(10:30:46 PM) Jeff: omg me 2
(10:30:58 PM) Jeff: we can start a horse riding bizness for tourists
(10:30:59 PM) SJ: hurrayyyy
(10:31:06 PM) SJ: there will be rules
(10:31:09 PM) Jeff: jeff & steph horse adventures
(10:31:10 PM) SJ: 1. no dreadlocks allowed
(10:31:14 PM) Jeff: rofl
(10:31:18 PM) SJ: i like this name
(10:31:29 PM) Jeff: the rules will not be numbered
(10:31:34 PM) Jeff: they will just have ~ in front of them
(10:31:40 PM) SJ: oooo
(10:31:41 PM) Jeff: ~laughter is a must
(10:31:53 PM) SJ: ~braids and pink bows optional
(10:31:54 PM) Jeff: ~no fats allowed sry2say
(10:32:02 PM) SJ: ~kids eat half-priced on sundays

(1:55:04 AM) waters: HOW IS THE STORM I HEAR IT IS AWFUL
(1:55:11 AM) KGB1: the power went out for a little
(1:55:17 AM) KGB1: from on of the lightning bolts
(1:55:32 AM) KGB1: and i mayyyy have jumped from a seated position
(1:55:36 AM) KGB1: abotu ten feet in the air
(1:55:37 AM) waters: oh god @.@
(1:55:41 AM) KGB1: when it struck
(1:55:42 AM) waters: hahahahahha
(1:55:45 AM) waters: maybe.
(1:55:50 AM) waters: prolly not though duh
(1:56:04 AM) KGB1: more like a foot
(1:56:22 AM) waters: well if you’re gonna jump, then do it well
(1:56:23 AM) waters: meaning
(1:56:25 AM) waters: a foot
(1:56:26 AM) waters: into the air
(1:56:28 AM) KGB1: yus
(1:56:32 AM) waters: using butt power
(1:56:34 AM) KGB1: i’m still not sure how it happened haha
(1:56:38 AM) KGB1: yes that must be it
(1:56:59 AM) waters: butt power + adrenaline
(1:57:02 AM) waters: magic can happen

i might miss some of the massmails.

A new sandwich place is coming our way in Urbana Champaign. Actually, it opened last week. I saw it in a sports blog, of all things. This place is called Fat Sandwiche Company, and the sandwiches are as big as footballs. Well, at least one. This one:

The real reason I’m mentioning this seemingly insignificant news item is because FSC has a sandwich that could kill you. And you know I love food that’s so over the top that it’s deadly. For $25 you can buy a sandwich called “Big Fat Ugly”. It consists of two rolls, four cheeseburgers, a double cheesesteak, a chicken cheesesteak, gyro meat, grilled chicken, bacon, sausage, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese bites, fried mushrooms, jalapeño poppers, pizza bites, onion rings, hash browns, American cheese, mayo, and ketchup. Eat this six pound, football-sized monster in less than 15 minutes and your sandwich is free.

^– spanno on Al Dente

The 217 has big long interview with the owners of the joint. It looks like a Howboutabagel type deal. Nomnom. Oh… now I’m hungry.
deadspin. yeah.

Here are our choices:
-Hewlett-Packard
-Microsoft Windows Vista
-Best Buy’s Geek Squad
-myself
-mysterious parts within laptop that are not made by any of the above said

I have a technological problem I can’t shake. My laptop (HP pavilion dv9628nr)’s screen will blackout seemingly at random. It can happen at startup, when I open it after I just closed it, when I open it after it’s been closed for a time, when I shift my weight, when I move the screen, and sometimes it just goes out while it’s sitting there. This blackout is sometimes only the backlight, but it has also had no information on the screen. What’s the deal?

At the beginning of June New Laptop was taken to the Best Buy in Champaign, where it was purchased in October of 2007. New Laptop was sent away to be looked at by the mystery guys at the mystery location. The issues at hand: screen blacks out, audio output is finicky and will play either the left or right side, not both, and the webcam works intermittently. Four weeks later, it got returned with a clean bill of health: the mystery team could not find anything wrong. It may be an intermittent problem, which sucks becasue the team didn’t see it happen, but at least it’s not happening now! Okay great. I get it, turn it on, and the screen blacks out after I log in. Cooooool. I go back to Best Buy to explain the situation to quite possibly the coolest guy working there, Norm. I like Norm a lot. If you see him, he is the guy you want to talk to. He wrote out a letter describing the screen blackout, complete with old case number, new case number, what he had seen, and what he recommended to check. He put out a special speed-up request in addition to my rush-because-you-guys-fucked-up thing. Two weeks go by and my laptop has new LCD wires. Huzzah! The dude that handed New Laptop back to me said he had a similar problem that was somehow connected to putting his laptop to sleep often.

I use the sleep function when I’m going to be moving around with the laptop in a bag for a short time. Rather than dealing with a slow shutdown and startup, it’s quick and wonderful and holds onto the programs I had open. Unfortunately, the screen doesn’t like it. I have no idea why. So, I do as the kid says and don’t put New Laptop to sleep anymore. Kind of annoying, but the screen only went out once and a while and would come back on after fiddling with the screen’s angle. The laptop had been going to sleep when I would leave it alone, and the problem is back again. I talked to other people with similar models that look the same, and they have not had this problem. There’s been a problem of it not turning on, or screen slowly fading to black then having no information, but not the screen blacking out like a little bitch.

So.

What’s going on? Somebody tell me! I’ve been looking around the internets, albeit not intensely. It’s hard when you lose the screen after being on for ten minutes. As of yet a solution other than getting a new laptop has not been found. I do have a warranty with Best Buy.

THE SUSPECTS

Mysterious Parts
They aren’t by HP, and other than the LCD cables, they have not been replaced. Are they frying easily? Is this a ventilation issue? IS IT THE UNRESOLVED FAN ISSUE HP SEEMS TO HAVE?

Myself
Do I really treat my window to the rest of the world like crap? It is a huge ass 17″ widescreen that I smush into my leather messenger bag. I love the number pad. It’s important.

Best Buy’s Geek Squad
Are the mystery guys being bitches and just not looking at every possible angle? They probably think I’m an ignorant idiot with little idea as to the lack of complexity of computer innards. Innards that I can’t screw with myself because I got that cool warranty that takes away my laptop for many weeks at a time to not fix things.

Microsoft’s Vista
Everybody else is hating on it, maybe I should, too. By the way: needing more than one gigabyte of RAM to do anything fun is BOGUS.

Hewlett-Packard
Thanks for the shitty product.

lol massmail hijacking.