Is debt free, is not debt free... and other points of note
I'm back, sort of.
Vacations are lovely, and my regular daily life isn't so bad either, it's the transition between the two that's a bitch.
Work survived two weeks without me (with much thanks to Toast for the fill in... I owe you dinner, at the very least, perhaps an Imax Dark Knight too), and recouping took a solid 7 hours yesterday, but it's almost back into the regular swing. A pair of big things were left for my return and procrastination is no longer an option. Also, it's time for that title shift.
Rack Raids didn't fare as well without my regular contributions, but then contributions to the Raid have been pretty spare as of late as contributors hide in the shadows or drop off the face of the planet. Where'd they go? I dunno. I'm having difficulty getting back into the review groove but it's something that I'll force myself into shortly, since, you know, that's what I do.
To compound my feeling of overwhelmedness I set up an interview with the Hoverboy gang yesterday, an exciting multimedia project that spans TV, the internet, comics and is rife with multimedia. Skewering pop culture, politics and social taboos in many different ways, it's an impressive endeavor as is, and the plans Ty Templeton, Marcus Moore and Rick Green have will certainly make it even moreso if even half of their plans go through. Look for the "Hoverboy Away" article on Chud.com early August (and look for Hoverboy:The Republican Superhero #1 on the comic book rack as of last Wednesday... I got my copy).
The interview was a travesty of ill preparedness, however, as I was utilizing decade-old technology (handheld tape recorder) which was for some reason recording twice as fast as it was supposed to, so my 180 minutes of recording time was reduced to about 42 minutes of actual interview. Marcus and Ty are cordial, multi-talented guys with big ideas and a wild sense of humour. I unfortunately didn't capture much of their dynamic on tape, when I finally got them both together. Marcus picked me up from work and we drove out to a studio in Scarborough to observe the recording of the "Hoverboy Theme", which is a 50's piece of military-themed bombast. When the tape recorder ran out, I was woefully unable to cope, sitting down to chat with the duo, not even a pen or pad for notes (I wished I had my camera so I could have at least captured a half hour or more of video with them). Anywho, all was not lost as once I filtered it through the computer and pitch shifted it and all that doohickery I did have some of it. I impressed no one however. **Sigh**
The camera, meanwhile, was at home, with pictures being processed by my lovely wife. Y'see my camera, bought about 3 years back, went sploosh into the water during a canoing jaunt, and wasn't recovered, so Aden had to buy a new one once we reached Thunder Bay. There, we took upwards of 200 photos (well, more, but I have selective editing tendencies before offloading pics from the camera). The pics are here. I, frankly, can't be bothered to post them on my own flickr as you may have noticed.
Our kilometerage on vacation totalled 3178KM (or something close to that). That's enough driving for one month, I think. Total cost of trip (car rental, gas, hotels, food) was about $1550, which means just as I got myself out of debt, I fell right back into it again. However, as of this Thursday, I'll be right back out again. Phew. Now, I have to plan out the house fund savings scheme so that we'll have the most money possible when we go house hunting without being poor schmoes along the way.
and that's lunch.
Vacations are lovely, and my regular daily life isn't so bad either, it's the transition between the two that's a bitch.
Work survived two weeks without me (with much thanks to Toast for the fill in... I owe you dinner, at the very least, perhaps an Imax Dark Knight too), and recouping took a solid 7 hours yesterday, but it's almost back into the regular swing. A pair of big things were left for my return and procrastination is no longer an option. Also, it's time for that title shift.
Rack Raids didn't fare as well without my regular contributions, but then contributions to the Raid have been pretty spare as of late as contributors hide in the shadows or drop off the face of the planet. Where'd they go? I dunno. I'm having difficulty getting back into the review groove but it's something that I'll force myself into shortly, since, you know, that's what I do.
To compound my feeling of overwhelmedness I set up an interview with the Hoverboy gang yesterday, an exciting multimedia project that spans TV, the internet, comics and is rife with multimedia. Skewering pop culture, politics and social taboos in many different ways, it's an impressive endeavor as is, and the plans Ty Templeton, Marcus Moore and Rick Green have will certainly make it even moreso if even half of their plans go through. Look for the "Hoverboy Away" article on Chud.com early August (and look for Hoverboy:The Republican Superhero #1 on the comic book rack as of last Wednesday... I got my copy).
The interview was a travesty of ill preparedness, however, as I was utilizing decade-old technology (handheld tape recorder) which was for some reason recording twice as fast as it was supposed to, so my 180 minutes of recording time was reduced to about 42 minutes of actual interview. Marcus and Ty are cordial, multi-talented guys with big ideas and a wild sense of humour. I unfortunately didn't capture much of their dynamic on tape, when I finally got them both together. Marcus picked me up from work and we drove out to a studio in Scarborough to observe the recording of the "Hoverboy Theme", which is a 50's piece of military-themed bombast. When the tape recorder ran out, I was woefully unable to cope, sitting down to chat with the duo, not even a pen or pad for notes (I wished I had my camera so I could have at least captured a half hour or more of video with them). Anywho, all was not lost as once I filtered it through the computer and pitch shifted it and all that doohickery I did have some of it. I impressed no one however. **Sigh**
The camera, meanwhile, was at home, with pictures being processed by my lovely wife. Y'see my camera, bought about 3 years back, went sploosh into the water during a canoing jaunt, and wasn't recovered, so Aden had to buy a new one once we reached Thunder Bay. There, we took upwards of 200 photos (well, more, but I have selective editing tendencies before offloading pics from the camera). The pics are here. I, frankly, can't be bothered to post them on my own flickr as you may have noticed.
Our kilometerage on vacation totalled 3178KM (or something close to that). That's enough driving for one month, I think. Total cost of trip (car rental, gas, hotels, food) was about $1550, which means just as I got myself out of debt, I fell right back into it again. However, as of this Thursday, I'll be right back out again. Phew. Now, I have to plan out the house fund savings scheme so that we'll have the most money possible when we go house hunting without being poor schmoes along the way.
and that's lunch.