Personal Writing Section

When I was getting ready to leave the Library, I put together a list of things that I wanted to pursue but never really had the time to do. One of these goals was to just write more frequently - no guild lines: just take whatever thoughts have been running in my head and then transcribe them to paper. It is pretty remarkable when you think about all things that run through your head in a day...but how often do you actually take the time to analyze the reasoning behind why you think the way you do, or do the things you do. Just like when you are studying for a test...you may think that you have a pretty good understanding of the topic but it isn't until you actually force yourself to do a problem, rather than just thinking about it, do you really get to find out how much you really know. Hopefully through the writing process I can learn a little bit more about myself...plus if nothing else, 5 years from now I can take a trip down memory lane. I gotta imagine it will be entertaining to look back and see what craziness was running through my head.

Creating My Own Blog Template...Sort Of

Since I kinda do HTML programming for a living at my real-job, what better way to apply what I've learned/am learning than on my own blog. The possibilities of HTML and CSS are almost limitless...almost to the point where it seems too daunting to try...but the best way to learn is to do, so here we go!

Back From the Dead

Wow...almost 6 months since the last time I wrote something on my blog...I blame the clutches of that damn Diablo 2...should have never started up with it again - I have too many separation difficulties and playing that addicting of a game, in hind-sight, probably wasn't the brightest of ideas. But now that I am back, I'm obviously back to business. Time to try and finally start doing some of the things I had originally planned to do when I left the Library as a second job...6 months of slacking should be more than enough right?

Diablo II - Again for the 23890283 Time....

Why oh why can't I truly get away from this dreadful game?

Was it not enough that I've already invested an outrageous amount of time playing this on numerous occasions...first it was the original game, then came Lord of Destruction, then new runewords, then version 1.11...even after cruising through Uber Tristram...yet again this masterpiece of a game taunts and sucks me right back in (damn you Allen for peer pressuring me back for the new ladder season and damn you Blizzard for working on Diablo III and re-hyping Diablo II).

Argh...as if paying for the game like 3 times...stupid CD keys where did you go...wasn't enough...well here goes $10 for a new set of keys from eBay...

I admit it...I am an addict...please Andy, be the voice of reason and lets minimize the number of 6 AM Mephisto runs...

Damn you Diablo 2...I hate that I love you so much...

The Sketching Process - Archangel Zauriel

As a goodbye gift, I recently drew a picture of the Archangel Zauriel from the DC Comics for a friend. I figured it would be a good opportunity to outline the overall process since I've never really given much thought as to how I take a picture I find/like all the way to creating a finalized sketch.
		Step 1: (2 Hours) Of the entire overall sketching process, I would say that this step is the hardest. The first step that I take when I sketch a picture is to create a very basic, light outline of the overall picture. Often times it requires quite a few trial and error runs - mostly it is fitting the image into the space you want and accurate proportions - very rarely am I able to pull of something that I am satisfied with in the 1st time. Since this will be the skeleton for the drawing, it is very important that I get a sketch that you feel comfortable with.
Step 2: (1 Hour) Once I've gotten a basic sketch in place, the next step is really entails cleaning it up: which includes darkening the existing lines and erasing anything that doesn't quite fit. Unlike the previous step, this step actually goes by rather quickly. One thing that I almost always find myself having to resist at this point is adding in extra details or jumping around the picture to sections that are interesting and/or filled with details.
		Step 3: (1 to 2 Hours) Now the fun really begins. With the overall sketch pretty much now in place, at this point I go through and start adding in all the details of the picture while also removing anything that might still be out of place or doesn't quite fit. By the time this step is over, there will be very little, if anything else that gets changed, so it can be a fairly time consuming process, but by far the most interesting and entertaining.
Step 4: (4 to 5 Hours) While step 3 may be the most entertaining phase, step 4 is probably the most tedious. After step 3 the sketch is essentially complete, now the final details, filling in, and shadowing are all that remain. While drawing a sketch without a referring source may require more effort at this step - especially when taking into consideration how the lighting will impact the shadowing - having a pre-existing source takes care of these details. So at this point I just simply spend the next long while finalizing the details - starting in the upper left hand corner and working left to right to avoid smudging the lead since I am right-handed.
Finished Product: (Total Time: Approximately 8 Hours)
Definitely a labor-intensive hobby but the joy of taking something you see and being able to recreate it is definitely fulfilling and enjoyable.

The Office

I was introduced to the Office by a friend and man that show is hilarious. Though this past season hasn't been quite as laugh out loud funny as the previous seasons, the show as a whole is still probably the best comedy show out there. Can't wait for season 5!! I had uploads of all the videos up on Youtube but because of copyright violations they have all but been taken down :( Quite unfortunate since I would think that the more little tidbits/video clips are out there, the more people who happen to stumble upon it would love it and would tune in to watch the show. SPOILERS BELOW - so if you haven't watched the show (WHY NOT?) beware!
And now...the Top 5 Best Pranks:
5) 70% is better than 30%

4) Fax from the Future
Jim takes some of Dwight's fax letter heads before leaving for another branch and periodically faxes Dwight a fax - claiming to be Dwight from the future.
3) Altoid Dwight?
Jim conditions Dwight to want an altoid every time he makes a sound on the computer. New meaning to Pavlov’s Dog Theory eh?
2) Gaydar
It is revealed that Oscar is gay, so Dwight and Michael request a "Gaydar" from Jim so that they can find out who else in the Office is also gay...then Dwight accidentally scans himself...
1) CIA
Dwight is tricked into believing that he has been recruited for a secret CIA mission. Jim and Pam take this opportunity to text him to inform him that he has been discovered and must destroy his cell phone.

11 - Technorati & Blog Tags

Before doing this exercise, I had heard about Technorati but was never quite 100% sure of what it was or what it did. I really like how there are multiple ways of searching for the same subject - the different results for each type made sense...how one person lists or tags something is usually different than how someone else might categorize it. While browsing at the popular blogs/searches/tags I was not really too surprised about the top results. As a more technically driven resource, I sort of figured that the top results would be tech related one way or another. Still it is a useful feature to see the most popular searches, if nothing else to get a feel for what people think are important.