I've been using the online surname Greenbear for over fifteen years. So far, it's been a good name. I like it, and I've knocked off all the rough edges.

That said, I'm now about to launch a new blog and business site. This will be something professional, with real products where I will be asking for money. I did a little Google search on "greenbear" and come up with mostly marijuana references. Not really what I had in mind. My products will be pretty far away from bud culture.

So... do I fish for a new domain name, or do I go forward with shoving "greenbear: in there?

I survived the first infusion.

Picture it more of a boring scene.
An Airport.
You walk in, get checked in.
The Nurse (steward/es) checks on you, gets you settled.
There's a quick poke, and then you sit there for a couple of hours.
You stand up.
Go out the door.
Say "buh-bye".

The place was set up to do a couple dozen people at once in chairs ringing the room. Slow afternoon, as I only counted eight or so people. 2/3 were there for chemotherapy.

Not once did I want cheese. However, I've been nibbling on bits of food since I got home...

For those of you who don't know, I have ulcerative colitis. What this means is that I have toilet issues, to put it mildly.

To combat it, I've changed my diet, done some expensive drugs, and otherwise had an interesting past seven years. I've lost 70 pounds. I went from 200 - 210 pounds to 130-140 pounds. Some days, I hardly feel like a bear. Then *ahem* other things come up that remind me that bear isn't about size...

My illness hasn't gone too well lately. My doctor wants to put me on a new medication, delivered every eight weeks by IV drip. This drug sure isn't your friendly Wal-Mart $4 Rx. Then again, with the one exception, all of my medications have been on the "you can have drugs or food this month" list, price-wise. I'm thankful for the golden handcuffs of my employer. Even then, to get insurance to cover this new medication required some hoop work.

This drug is made in mice. The final mix is 75% human drug, 25% mouse drug. That means I'm going to be infused with bits of mice as an inescapable consequence of how this biologic drug is made. That's part of the reason behind the IV infusion. They can check for allergic reactions and stick me with an epi-pen is something happens.

To relfect this change, should I do a mouse character? How about a "Borrowers" bear? That is, a bear the size of a House Elf (D&D, not Rowling)?

Any better ideas?

More drafting. I'm sure none of you will care.

Hi Mike,

I hope I've got the right Mike. The photo on your Linked In profile sure looked like my old roommate from college. The resume was a bit surprising. I'm writing because I've taken a new job with your firm. Director of Global NOC, if you believe that. A long ways from crawling under desks and pulling cable. Moving to a new area sucks. Sure, I've got a family, but a guy needs an acquaintance or two, occasionally, to goof off with. So... Want to get together and catch up?

Kevin

Mike clicked over to the Linked In profile page, grumbling as he cleared his browser cookies so he could get to the actual page, not fill out the tons of shit asked for on his long-ignored profile. The photo was Kevin -- perhaps 50 kilos heavier than he remembered and 25 years of age added. Question was, did he really want to revive something that had lie dormant for 25 years? Could that even be done? Not really, Mike conceded. It'd be a new relationship. Answering the email can wait a week.

Mike signed off, just as a rhythmic sound of a drum solo floated out of his son's room. Alarm on schedule, but Tommy won't be awake for another ten minutes, he thought. Just enough time for tea.

I have no time, really, but I think I can fit in five minutes every now and then to scribble something down. If I like it, I'll paste it all together and y'all can tell me how much my writing sucks.

Mike sighed as he sat down in front of his computer. 5:45 AM. For a change, his digestive system wasn't waking up at odd hours. The meds seemed to be working. Libido? Active enough for a 50-year-old bear. No complaints from his wife -- except maybe that they need to go at it a bit more often. That, or go to Europe. Mike counted three times this week and had already asked a travel agent to quote up some itineraries.

Listening carefully, Mike can hear his teenage son snoring in his room. The chaos won't start for twelve minutes. Mike has just enough time to check his personal email.

What's this? A message from Kevin? I haven't hear from him since shortly after he got married...

In 1958, Paddington moved in with the Browns, made a friend with Mister Gruber, and went from being Peruvian to extremely English. No one quite knew how old Paddington was, so they started counting his birthdays over again. That means Paddington is now fifty four years old. What is he like now?

In my version, Paddington inherited Mister Gruber's store. Mister Gruber is long gone, but the bear still runs the packed-with-junk antiquities store. The question has always been, since the bear took over, whether people came in for the antiquities or to check out the bear?

Paddington inherited the house at 32 Windsor Gardens as well. Two days a week, when his store is closed, he can be found tending the garden in back, in the kitchen canning his own jars of marmalade (he's made quite a packet lending his name to a jam factory, too), or lying in a hammock, his famous hat on his head, and one of Mister Brown's old briars for comfort and memory.

What is your Paddington doing, fifty four years after moving to London?

I'm a programmer. It's what I do. It's how I make a living.

There's a competition coming: http://lpc.opengameart.org/ The Liberated Pixek Cup. There are two phases.

Phase 1: You make art and enter it in the contest under Creative Commons license (CC BY-SA 3.0), essentially saying anyone can use your art to make games. This phase runs June 1 - June 30.

Phase 2 is where I come in. I take the art and make a game from it. This phase runs July 1 - July 31.

I have some ideas. I don't know whether I can pull it off or not. Still, I think I'll try. Even if my game isn't ready for the contest, I can put it out and get people (like you!) to tell me my game sucks.

Complete the couple below and win a prize!

Daddy bear's belly, soft as Jelly.

A two panel drawering.

In the left panel, a young bear cub. He has a bubble pipe and is reading a comic book.
In the right panel, a grown-up bear. He's smoking a pipe and reading a book.
Title: Some Things Never Change.

What book should the bear in the right-side be reading?
Who would be interested in drawing such a thing?

I'm playing with a game engine. So far, all I have is a guy walking in place. ...and it stutters o the web page. The Processing version doesn't stutter.

http://www.bluemarble.net/~berin/ga....._in_place.html

I'm looking for furry pixel art. Right now, I'm working in 16x16 tiles and 16x18 character sprites. I can work with bigger. Who does cute sprite work who might be interested in dropping some animation into a shits-and-giggles game that will be offered for free and (most likely) no one will play?

Father Bear is fast asleep,
A bag of cookies at his feet.
His pipe, gone cold, in the tray does set.
Time for mischief, the cubs do get.

That's pretty much it... Question is, what do I do with it?

Just some ideas I'm working on. Might be a while before you see them. Being a Dad is a lot of work. With suggested movie posters. If you feel like drawing the poster and post it (PG-rated, please) I might work a bit faster.

Clerk Bear and Coach Bear Move In
Yet another Odd Couple. [Two bears, back to back. Bear on left dressed as an accountant (visor, vest, white shirt). Bear on right dressed as a jock (sweatsuit)]

A House in Vacaville
The entire neighborhood knew 625 East Janeway was haunted. No renter stayed in the place past Halloween. Professor Daniel Treadwell has been hired to find out why. [Tiger. smoking a pipe, and carrying a glowing box (ghost trap)]

Fox Hunt
Julian Foxx just got the letter... [Fox in Victorian workingman's clothes with scared look on his face. Aristocratic dogs on horseback in he background.]

Dennis Tiger
Species: Tiger
Blood type: o-positive
Vices: Anything Nintendo
Age: 22
Wants: Clerk bear, but can't think of a way to ask him out.

Dennis is a cultural transfer student. He managed to weasel his way into a job as a towel check at the local public bath. Mostly because he was willing to scrub toilets.

Name: Ken (last name not picked yet)
Age: 23
Blood type: A-positive
Height: 173 centimeters
Weight: 100 kilograms
Diet: omnivore
Vices: cigars, wine, beer, sake
What he wants: To succeed without his father's assistance. His father always pushed for him to be on the sports teams and to be president of his class. Just once, Ken wants to succeed on his own.

Coach Bear has been knocking around, trying to start his own business. He's failed twice with his father bailing him out. This time, he's going to try cram school and get a degree in business, concentrating in entrepreneur.

Name: Ken (last name not picked yet)
Age: 21
Blood type: A-positive
Height: 173 centimeters
Weight: 85 kilograms
Diet: vegetarian Meat is too expensive
Vices: Beer and Sake, when he can afford it, or is bought for him.
What he wants: A boyfriend. He's not a virgin, but each guy he's been with so far keeps avoiding him.

Clerk bear just finished his degree in accounting at a mid-grade university. The recession is making his job search difficult. He works part-time (39.5 hours a week, so no benefits) at a department store. He's a "floater", and never knows just where he'll be working next.

I'm going to re-launch Clerk Bear and Coach Bear. Hence the OSV. I need names for the bears. The gimmick is that the two bears have the same same, hence being called by their jobs.

The world is pseudo-Japanese. I'll be using Bells rather than Yen and will Anglicize some of the details. Also, Coach Bear will be from a rich family. Clerk Bear will be from a poor one. Yes, shades of The Odd Couple.

So... any ideas for names (first and last)?

Anyone done furry "art" involving a bear and a giraffe?

Also, how about furry "art" with d=r*t?

Announcing the birth of A.B. 7:46 PM today. 3 pound, 13 ounces. 17 inches.

Mother is resting. Father is stuffing his face and picking up all the "Oh shit, we forgot to take that to the hospital with us" things.

I had an interesting dream last night. I dreamed that  Ollis had commercialized LATOOB, converting it into a cartoon. The 'toon was picked up for airing in Prime Time by NBC. The animation style was sort-of like Daria, and various friends made cameos as the plot revolved around  Ollis turned professor at a Community College. Shades of Welcome Back, Kotter.