I'm not sure how many here might rememeber me, but this is Tensik, Falcor/Falcres' wife.

I'm sorry to say that Phantomgraph took his life yesterday afternoon around 3 PM US Central. He had been battling depression for many years, and this time he decided to end his pain.

I know he had a lot of friends left here so I wanted to be sure that his followers were aware that his account woulld be drifting quietly into the sunset. I will not be checking messages here as his tablet, which has his login information and contacts and such, is going to be going with him. He never left home without it, and I'm making sure he'll always have it with him.

I'm sure he's watching your art from wherever he is now. :)

Tensik Riverdance

Alright, today I had enough of the blasted noise from our air conditioner. It's one of them cheap arse Haier window mount units my mate and I bought last year.

Every since day one the thing would build up water in the inside of the cabinet and splash water around inside of itself to... according to the manual... help cool the compressor. WTF over... no other AC units do this!

The damb thing sounded like it had tiny pebbles rattling around in it all the time. Note I used the past tense.

Sick and tired of it I did a quick Google search and found out other folks had not only the same problem with the unit, but you could indeed modify the darn thing so it wouldn't make the noise. Other solutions included drilling holes in the bottom of the case to let the water drain.

I did it faster, and easier. I dug out my dremel and with the cut off tool cut a quarter inch notch in the case to let the water drain out. Bang, problem solved. By doing it this way I didn't have to disassemble the unit to make sure I didn't bore into anything critical, nor did I even have to take the darn thing out of the window. (In fact I didn't even shut the thing off.)

I stuck a picture over in the scraps gallery for folks to look at in case anyone has one of these noisemakers and wants to preform a little surgery on their own units.

PG };8>

Ding dong, Bin Laden is dead,
Killed in his compound by a bullet in his head.
For the thousands of lives by his hand they fell,
“May 1, 2011 – Osama Bin Laden sentenced to hell.”

- PG

And the official winner is..

 Rhiyjeu !!!

Congratulations bud!

For an update on the first person who actually figured out the puzzle ....that person didn't want the prize, and defaulted it to the next person who figured it out who is Rhiyjeu.. (he was just an hour late) So Rhiyjeu is going to be the subject of my next model.

I'll be working with him over the next months (yea it takes that long to make a 3D model when you work full time.. )

I would like to thank EVERYONE including those who didn't post but tried.. Thanks fur watching.. this contest was for You all..



If you want to understand the puzzle and the answer well here you go!..

The individual numbers are the points one gets for each letter in the game of scrabble. This particular set of numbers is from an old movie called Sneakers.. (it's a predecessor to Johnny Mnemonic) which stared Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsly and Mary McDonnel (To name a few!.. even River Phoenix)

The point of the puzzle is that in the poignant scene in the movie, where the characters discover the real meaning of what they sneaked.. ('sneaked' is a Hollywood term that predates 'hacked') Robert Redford and Mary McDonnel use the Scrabble pieces to unlock the secret, which is an anagram... "SETEC Astronomy = Too Many Secrets" (the numbers in the puzzle correspond to the Scrabble scores which is plainly shown in the movie)

Rhiyjeu is the fist to accept the prize with the correct answer.. explaining (as required by the rules) the puzzle with this..."The numbers represent the value of each letter in the game of Scrabble. The phrase was an anagram (meaning different words spelled using the same letter) from the movie that the characters came up with playing Scrabble."

Once again Rhiyjeu, congratulations.. and thanks to all for playing!

PG };8>

Hello All, I have two correct submissions to the puzzle, although the first person may not actually want the prize in which case I think I'll award it to the second person. (In other words the original winner forfeits the prize.)

I'll keep everyone updated and post the winner's name in a new journal as soon as I've heard from both parties.

PG };8>

Get your mind out of the gutter! (LOL) I'm referring to my contest!

I said that I would give out a clue in the last week of the contest, well, I got busy IRL with my job and didn't have time to update the contest with the clues. Well, my bad, so I'm offering another week to solve the puzzle.

That means you now have until Saturday, June 7 at midnight FA server time to find the correct answer.

So you want the clue?

I thought I would be extra nice since I was late with the clue by four, and give you TWO.

Ready? Here we go...

* The solution is clearly shown in a movie.
* The BIG hint : "To score, you need to know the secret of astronomy."

Good luck!

PG };8>

I doubt if anyone will get this but if some one does by say June 1st I'll make an articulated 3D Model of their character and you will definitely win my geek respect!

Here is the deal.. you have to privately tell me exactly what the following means and why. This is a tough one folks, but I'm offering up about a hundred hours of work so have at it.. If no one gets close by the last week I'll give one hint.. and only one!

If no one wins I'll post the contest next year with a touch more clues..

Get your brain caps on.. cause this is what you have to solve...

(11113 111111134) = (111 3114 1131111)

Explain!

PG };8>

Update: I forgot to mention you may enter as many times as you like oh we will say up to five times a day. (If it's six I'm not going to disqualify you. I just don't want to get 300 messages per day from one entrant) And don't forget to send in your answer privately... Like any contest you have to follow the rules!

Entries to be sent as a PM here or to my private e-mail address. First correct answer (based on time stamp) wins!

PG };8>

Update: The Clue by Four!

Please see this post for the clue and the new deadline!

Good luck!

PG };8>

Warning! Foul Language! NSFW and all that rot!

FA posted this as the link O the day..
I found a better version of the song by DJ Tempo up on You Tube };8>

Considering what I work on now, it's like a perfect theme song!

Also I just updated my Ubuntu box to 8.04 LTS (Hardy Heron).. almost everything is working perfectly without any changes including my custom installed video drivers.... so go for the update while your giraffes in the air!

PG };8>

If you have been reading these things you know I started at my new place of employment last Monday. Now it's time for a report card of how well I'm doing.

OK most of Monday was spent filing out paper work, safety training and meeting some of the folks that I am working with so I'll kinda skip most of that day because not much happened other than I got excited about the companies benefits. }:8>

Tuesday I spent most of the day just learning where stuff is at, where to get tools, how production moves around in the area I work and so on. Now although I'm not going to tell you the name of the company, (it's not hard to figure out) I have decided to tell you what I make.

I help make utility trucks. Yes, the kind that the power company uses.

I work in the part of the plant that makes the custom huge monster models that can take a pair or workers up to around 150 feet in the air. (That's more than 15 stories folks!) The trucks themselves come from various companies and range in size from giant "douly" diesel trucks to absolute monster semi's. (Peter-built, International, Mac and so on.)

The smaller 'standard' models that you see running around rural areas are made up in the front of the plant. I work in the custom department in which, a little like "CMT's Trick My Truck", we take a brand new extended bed semi (with nothing behind the cab except the frame and axel(s) and with a lot of welding, work, and ingenuity build a custom made super boom truck, a digger derrick (The truck/machine that digs the holes and installs telephone / electrical poles) or whatever the heck the customer wants.

An example is a truck we sent to California this week. It can take two men up to about 120' in the air.. has hand made custom tool boxes, an industrial generator with built in 500 watt halogen flood lamps and 110/220 outlets, drop down / fold away steps, remote control spotlights, a bathroom AND a break room on the back. (That's pretty flipping kewl eah?)

On Wednesday I had one of the managers stop by and ask me how it was going. He told me that he had heard that I was going great, already way ahead of the curve. That made me feel good of course. Later on in the morning the folks that were in charge of electrical systems were busy so I dove in and helped out a guy that's been at the company for a couple of months wiring the main battery box.

I was training this other guy on my third day when I had never even seen the inside of a battery box!

Latter on when the guy in charge of electrical had some time to check up on us and he was rather stunned that I had wired it correctly with out any training the very first time.

Dragons are good.. hehehe };8>

Now considering that second shift (which I'm destined to be the electrical systems guru for) and most of the other folks I work with have little knowledge of electronics or electrical systems, I decide to play it safe and disconnect the main battery from the electrical box. (So that the circuits are basically dead and no one can short anything out while their wiring stuff.)

Flash to this morning. I'm at work, asking the electrical systems guy if it is OK that second shift wired the rear junction boxes backwards to the diagram (not kidding they did) and I start wiring up the trailer connectors, tail lights and all that jazz by, you guessed it.. with just the schematic. (I spent most of my time making sure the other shift had the thing wired correctly albeit backwards!)

Once again Dragon did it right the first time... thou I did have to ask a couple of questions because the junction box had several of the same colored wires in it! (Unmarked of course)

So after that I'm about to start on some other wiring and the electrical systems guy calls me over to another station and shows me how to upload the programming on a certain kind of rig. (Modern semi's are computer controlled. If you know how, you can reprogram the windshield wiper button to turn on the head lights if you want.) My trainer specifically chose the most difficult model to show me on. (I think to see if I would understand.) The whole process of training (after I fixed the laptop =) took about a half hour.

When he was done he asked me if I thought I understood. I summarized the process in about two minutes verbally while he stood there and grinned. (In truth semi's are nothing more than glorified PLC's =) Out of four hundred folks at the plant where I work, four (1%) have the knowledge to program a rigs computer. The software / system engineer, the electrical systems guy on my shift and two line managers. I was told today that it looks like I'm going to take over some of the software / system engineer's job and start designing and building the software & circuits on the custom line.

OK, so the day is going great and I'm about to wrap up my shift and head home. Second shift comes in and the guy that wired the rear junction box comes in and fumbles about trying to see if he had wired one of the lines correctly. I of course let him sweat the fact that he can't get any voltage back at the rear box. In a panic the guy is trying to figured out what he did wrong. I grin, walk up and temporarily reconnect the battery to the battery box. Low and behold he's got juice! *ROTFL* Show's ya how much he tested last night eah?

Anyway.. not too bad I would have to say after day four on the job...

PG };8>

Today I nervously went in for my drug test and physical exam. I wan't worried about the drug test, I was worried about my back, my hearing and my color blindness.

So here's how the old dragon measured up...

I passed the drug test with flying colors.

I didn't have my vision tested for colors so no problem on that!

Now my back. The guy testing me noticed I was locking up trying to move into some of the positions he asked me to get to.. I failed only one test.. the one he called the superman test. For that one you have to lay down flat on a mat, raise your head to a ninety degree angle to your back and look forward as raise your legs and your arms up off the mat and hold them their for a minute. After 20 seconds I couldn't hold it and one of my knees touched the mat. Game over.. I failed.

So now I'm really nervous.. The next test was the repetitive 50 lb weight lift. Despite the fact that my back was twitching I went up and did the test.. (I used my legs to lift like your supposed to..) I did freak the instructor out because I cantilevered the weight with my arms so I could pull the weight to my center of gravity before lifting. (In other words I brought the weight up with my arms to my body then used my legs to stand up.)

The test guy asked me not to do that, but mentioned that he was surprised I could with my upper arm strength alone. He even went so far as to say that I should do that if I can in the real world, as it it the more correct way of lifting.. which I know because I screwed my back up lifting wrong before.

Anyway up down repeat and so on.. he hurmmed and asked for another test. Lay flat with my head against the mat and lift a bar over my head.. So I did.. way back, as far up as I could. He was surprised how much of an angle I could make with very little effort.

The last set of tests were to measure my ability to basically bend. Now I have a twisted spine, it's called scoliosis, (that thing they test you for when you were in grade school.) The test guy noted instantly that one of my legs is shorter that the other. What could I do? I had to agree that I knew about it. Then we did the bending tests. What do you know... One way I can bend 100% more than the other..

So the tests are over and I'm sitting on the exam table. I know My friends are all counting on me to pass these tests and stuff and I'm nervous so I just blurt it out... "Well, how did I do? Did I pass or fail?"

The test guy looks up and says... "Well your drug test came back clean, you have a problem in your lower back with it not flexing but you passed the lift test with flying colors so I'm going to call the company tomorrow morning and tell them you passed."

He asked my if I had any questions, and I did, about how to help myself better with the test I failed and he gave me some exercises to do even thou I know the reason why I failed is I have fused vertebrae.. we shook hands and I went on to the hearing test.

Oddly, despite the fact that my hearing isn't all that great and I damn near failed my MEPS (Military Entrance Physical Standard) hearing test... I passed wonderfully. (I can hear the tones, but when they modulate (like when you speak) it kinda turns into mush.. :) Once again, on the high end of the scale I was hearing stuff that most folks can't.. but I showed up average for all the other frequencies.. close but within normal hearing range!

So the results... Unless something weird that shouldn't shows up in my background, I passed my tests and should start next Monday! (YEA!)

Well it had to happen at one time or another and yesterday it finally did. On a whim I went to a job fair for one of the local manufacturing companies, walked in with my degree and a resume and walked out with a job offer. It's been a long road as the song says, getting from their to here, but I think it'll be worth it in the long run.

Next Monday I have the obligatory drug test and general physical exam and as long as my background check comes back OK I will be starting the Monday following. Yea!

Now I'm just starting as a production worker, but from what they have told me my degree in Electronic Engineering Technology is going to put me in a good place with the company. I'll not say what company it is, but we make some very large and very kewl stuff that almost everyone who is reading this has seen on a relatively regular basis. Hehehe...

Well all thanks so much for all your good wishes, it seems this old dragon has now got a job!

You get a kick out of something as silly as ROTFLMAO!

da do da do da...

(And no I don't play WoW)

Whelp, I had to see the special effects, so while I was at the library today I noticed that the DVD section had Transformers. I was looking for 'V for Vendetta' but it wasn't in and spotted transformers and thought, oh what the heck.. it's free and if it sucks it won't have cost me anything so I checked it out.

(Yes BTW we have that kewl of a library here in this little town.)

So I took it and my books home and started reading my Piers Anthony selection, made some dinner and talked to my mate and my fried Tens. Finally I put the darn thing in the computer here, fired up VCL and decided to watch it.

Now I have to tell you I was never a fan of the transformers. In fact, other than the trademark logo 'more than meets the eye' and the fact that the transformers were cars that transformed into big robots I never really knew much at all about them.

So I watched the film for it's FX because, you know, I like computer CGI and wanted to see what they had done with the flick. (duh)

Man, was I disappointed. Not in the effects mind you, not in the story which I knew was a play on every teen aged kids dream of having a really kewl car.. no I was disappointed in ME!

I wasn't even watching the effects, they seemed so natural it just clicked and I found myself riveted in the simple and predictable but lovable story that was and is nothing more than a morality play.

A hardly ever talk about movies because my tastes seem so different from most, but this movie gets four and a half out of five stars for just being so fucking kewl. Considering I was expecting another comic book 2 at best stars that's once hell of a high grade from this dragon.

In short, I wasn't transformers fan before, but I sure am now! A must see! Two claws up in a circle!

Well now, it's been an odd week so far and it's not even half way done!

Lets start with the job search. Yep I did get a call from the college I've been applying at and I have my third interview on Friday of this week. I also got a call from the Vice Presidents office telling me of a job opening at the local high school, also for a IT person.

Now I've thought about this a lot and to give folks a little hint, the college and the high school are 'married' in some ways, meaning they often share resources and personal depending on who gets the funding and how much they have to work with.

I've talked this over with Tens and we kind have come to a consensus of what this probably means.

First, I must have obviously impressed them quite a bit for them to call me on the first day of the closing and to set up an appointment that is probably at the end of the interview process. (Remember this is my third interview with them.)

Second, by the VP's office calling me It and telling me about a job at the high school (which for all intents and purposes is like another division) I'm thinking that they are VERY interested in tapping my skills because they will still be available to them.

Third. How many jobs have you applied for and have gotten hand written notes from a company VP AND calls from his office regarding other positions in their infrastructure.

This all boils down to a lot of waiting and quite a bit of confidence on my part. I do hope to get into the college, but I'm not going to knock the HS either. After all, since both places get their funding from the state it may simply be that they are more worried about funding issues for my salary. *grins*

First the 8 facts thing cause I was taged by  zinemerald :p

Rulez

1. Post these rules.
2. Each tagged person must write 8 facts about themself.
3. You have to inform 8 people that they have been tagged, on their userpage.

---

Eight Crazy Facts

1) I'm something of a jack of all trades. A abbreviated list of my skills includes the following: I have a associates degree in electronic engineering. I've been making some form of art since first grade. I can build just about anything out of wood including a house. I can weld. I know over ten languages, all of them except English are programming languages. I repair my own cars (except for automatic transmissions). I haven't used windows on any of my own machines since Windows 98. (I run Linux) I've been an amateur photographer since high school & I won first prize in a state jewelry design contest when I was in school.

2) I consider myself a professional geek. Not nerd, but a geek, and I'm proud of it.

3) I was in the United States Air Force and was nearly thrown out for weighing too little!

4) I was eleven when I sat down on my first computer and I've always dreamed of using the machines graphic abilities to tell stories.

5) Although I consider my character Falcor to live in a SciFi world, he has appeared in stories featuring all most all ages.

6) I've been known as 'the dragon' and 'phantomgraph' since elementary school. Most of my friends still call me 'the dragon'.

7) My favorite car is a 1979 ½ Chevy Monty Carlo 'H' series.

8) I'm partially color blind.

---

So I'm scribbling an e-mail to  saraya this morning and all of a sudden the phone rings. I race over as quickly as I can and answer the thing and to my relief it was the college I've applied to. (To work at not as a student.)

YES! Third Interview is 8 AM on Friday Morning! :) Wish me luck all!

Stolen from  zinemerald

(Note this is answered from my characters perspective as a joke)


1. Is there anyone on your friends list you would ever consider having sex with?
Consider.. how about had?

2. Sex in the morning, afternoon or night?
Yes. *evil grin*

3. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
The other guys ;>

4. Pork, beef, or chicken?
Pork the chicken with your beef?.. (meat ... it does a dragon good!)

5. Have you ever had to pull over on the side of the road to puke?
Nope. Don't have roads in space baby!

6. Have you ever taken your clothes off for money?
Hell yea, haven't you?

7. Shower or bath?
Shower for smex, bath for relax.

8. Do you pee in the shower?
*lol* Why? Wanna watch?

9. Mexican or Chinese?
Chinese.. theirs like 4 billion of them to eat ;>

10. Do you want someone aggressive or passive in bed?
Passive... Sticks and stone may break their bones but whips and chains excite them.

11. Do you love someone on your friend list?
As often as I can.

12. Do you know all the people on your friends list?
No, but I've talked to most of them.

13. Love or money?
I'm a dragon.. you do tha math!

14. Credit cards or cash?
Cash, preferable gold.

15. Has there ever been anyone in your family you wish wasn't?
*chuckles* I was an only hatch-ling... eventually! };8>

16. Would you rather go camping or to a 5 star hotel?
If you woke up with a condom up your bum would you tell anyone? (Camping)

17. What is the weirdest place you have had sex?
Your house, with your brother.

18. Would you shave your entire body (including your head) for money?
Na, I like my mulit, and it's the only place I have hair. Wanna see?

19. Have you ever been to a strip club?
Yep. It's called customs.

20. Ever been to a bar?
nobt tobnigh offiser. *hick* :)

21. Ever been kicked out of a bar or a club?
Tonight or this week?

22. Ever been so drunk you had to be carried out of somewhere?
Nope, but I've hauled a lot of ass out of bars };8> *lol*

23. Kissed someone of the same sex?
As often as I can.

24. Favorite drink?
Screaming orgasm. Hey, their blue and it ain't a knee-high baby!

25. Had sex in a movie theater?
Yea, in a couple of films. };8>

26. Had sex in a bathroom?
fap fap, slap slap, fap, slap, fap "Hum... be right out!"

27. Have you ever had sex at work?
Duh, I'm the fucking boss! (Get it.. badump bump)

28. Have you ever been in an "adult" store?
I've supplied adult stores!

29. Bought something from an adult store?
I've signed stuff in an adult store!

30. Have you been caught having sex?
Yea and I was lucky to get away, his daughter still has my good thong!

31 Does anyone have naughty pics of you?
See #28

32. Who do you think has the guts to repost this?
 Tensik  wolfmonkey and  saraya *ROTFL*

o==---=^=---==o

And now for the morbidly curious, the real answers:
4 beef;
1-3,5,9,14,16 &32 same as above;
6 nope oops-forgot *bush*;
7 bath if theirs time;
8,12 & 27 nope ;
9 Chinese;
10 aggressively passive;
11 several;
13 love;
15 most of them;
17 on top of a car in a crowded state park;
18 not my head. The rest well...;
19-20,22-23,25-26 & 28-30 yep;
31 You know who you are and #18 should remind ya.


PG };8>

Well today is the day! It's about two hours from my interview and I'm just about ready to slam down a mountain dew, take my morning pills and hop into the shower in preparation to don the 'monkey suit' again. I think Tens is going to want to get a picture of it so I'll be sure we post it later on this afternoon.

Last night I spent several hours reviewing several web sites that had the infamous 100 questions an interviewer may ask. I'm a little tired as I'm not quite used to being up this early but I feel I'm about as prepared as I can get for the interview.

I know a lot of folks out there have been hoping and wishing me luck for this interview, and I just wanted to thank all of you before I even get started. Everyone's encouragement and belief in my abilities have been a tremendous support that is worth more than any of your will likely ever know. My claws are crossed and I'll spin the tale of the interview sometime this afternoon.

0=--=^=--=0

Well the interview went well. I was interrogated in a round robin style by the director of IT, his assistant and the Vice president of the college. I of course got the usual questions like tell me about yourself.. about my accomplishments in IT and so on.

During the interview I projected and smile and spoke to each person and the group in whole as I answered each question. As the interview progressed their were lots of smiles and even a few laughs going around the table. I backed up each one of my statements with real world examples from my life demonstrating my team work skills, how I've worked though some difficult situations with co workers and of course customers.

Their biggest concern was the fact that I've been out of the industry for nearly seven years, and that is a perfectly reasonable concern. I did impress them with my knowledge of Linux and of the general services required to operate a network.

Somewhere in the middle of the interview the Vice President asked if I wasn't selected for the position I applied for if I would be interested in a lower level one than network tech III (he hinted at Tech II). Of course I said I would be very interested.

The very last question they asked was from the Vice President. "What does your bumper sticker say?" *chuckles* First time for that one, so I talked about what I call the "Make it Work Foundation" and compared it to McGuyver's Phoenix foundation and my love for just getting things working properly again. That one brought a couple of chuckles from the group.

As the interview was mostly over I asked a few questions about the network and the technology used on campus, why they choose some solutions rather than others and so on to show a level of interest and to let them know that I wasn't afraid of the technology they were using.

All and all I feel that I had the interview pocketed, the only glitch seemed to be my lack of current experience, thou I stressed that I'm a quick learner. The Vice President himself even complimented me by saying that I interviewed very well and I was told that I should hear something by the end of next week or the beginning of the next at the latest.

If I were to grade myself on the interview I think I would have pulled a 65% to 75%, which is what i estimate my chances are of getting the position. Considering I don't know any of the other applicants (Or even if their are any) I think that's very good sign. All in all, theirs very little I think that I could have done differently, so I'm happy with my presentation.

So, lets all keep our claws and paws crossed that is was enough!

Stuffs to report!

Well, yesterday I got all dressed up in my monkey suit (A dragon in a tie *lol*) to take my application and resume in to one of the local electronics manufactures. I had been told that most of the time when your turned in a application this company would take you in for a interview right away. "Printed circuit board layout person." I keep mumbling to myself as I walked up to the building, getting all ready to dazzle some HR person with fancy words like Ohms law, latent capacitance and garbly gook like that. Instead I ending up turning over my paperwork to the person in the lobby and turning around and heading back outside.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed. So far I haden't even so much as gotten a call from any of the places I applied to. Now granted, I have been applying over the week before and week of Christmas, so I can understand folks arn't really working on stuffs that week, but I was hoping I would have gotten at least one call.

Now flash forward to this morning. I've been developing a cold over the last couple of days and today my head is all stuffed up. My plan for today was to scribble up a couple of more resumes for the last couple of nifty (read not factory production work) jobs and get ready to print them up and start ground pounding on the 2nd.

Then the Phone rings.

Tens answers it and hands it over to me. It turns out it was Mike, from the first place I applied for, and incidentally the job I want the most... at the local technical college! I conducted the on the fly phone interview rather well I think despite the fact that I was having a little difficulty hearing him because he had me on the speaker phone.

Humm.. speaker phone... *grin*

For those of you that are wondering this is a IT position at the college, not instructor or broom pusher.. so it's quite likely that the first part of any review process would be a phone interview to ditch any candidates that just don't have a clue or the qualifications.

I was asked some questions that I knew was coming, including the 'how come you haven't been working in the IT field over the last seven years?' So I fixed that one easily, I answered truthfully that I had been running my own small business on the side, doing whatever was needed by whom ever called, but had been employed consistently over the years, which of course is also true.

The next major question of course was about any certification. Again, I was able to answer honestly that I was certified with Cisco in 1998 or 99. I told Mike about how we had been having trouble with configuring routers and the like because of some problems with the windows software that they had shipped. (It would cause the Router to lock up totally, sometimes you had to have some one come out and hard flash the cmos.) I also told him truthfully that we just basically gave up on the software and began configuring the equipment with either telnet or the serial ports.

At about this time is where Mike 'remembers' to tell me that the director of IT is standing right next to him listening to the conversation. I had already guessed this because of the speaker phone and some grunts and some pauses that indicated to me Mike was looking at someone else to see if what I was saying made any sense.

Their were a few more general questions and at end of the phone interview Mike asked the IT guy if he had any questions. He didn't. Then Mike and I scheduled an interview for next week!

Hehehe "Go dragon, go dragon, go dragon!" *lol*

So that was how I ended up scheduling my very first interview here in South Dakota }:8>

Anyway every body wish me good luck on the third thou I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket until I here the magic words.. 'when can you start!'

As always I'll keep you all posted and every body wish me good luck on the third. I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket until I hear the magic words.. 'When can you start?' but it goes to show you that I got a call on the most difficult position to obtain that I applied for and I've already passed their first test.

Well, I made it. I am now officially in South Dakota. To be honest I've been here since last Friday but I've been so busy remaking my resume for each of the positions I've applied for. Couple that and the custom cover letters and I haven't had the time to get in touch with just about anyone so I'll give everyone the rundown.

Some of you may know my mate and I have run into the serious financial problems. (Which is why we we unable to meet many of you at MFF) We both ending up getting fired from our jobs on the same day. (We worked at the same place.) Long story short we've been looking for work and because Michigan's economy basically sucks golf carts through garden hoses I decided to move out here and try my luck with the jobs while Sar stays back in Michigan to finish up some of his other commitments.

Being poor I had to take a bus, which meant hopping one at a quarter of seven in the morning on Friday and running the gambit that I might actually arrive in SD on Saturday evening. For those of you who have taken a greyhound you know how iffy their schedule is.

Surprisingly I ended up about a half hour late at my destination, which is to say not bad at all! Although I didn't care much for Greyhound itself, I have to say I was impressed with Indian Trails and the other bus line that I took enough to take them again. Although long, the trip was relatively pleasant as long as you didn't have to use the lavatory on the bus! (Think mobile outhouse... ewww.)

I met Tens at a restaurant called the Granary which is a great truck stop type home cooking place! I had my first "real" meal since Thursday night and ending up crashing on the couch.

The weekend was spent orienting me on the location of most important places in town so I can know where all the employers are. Monday morning we hit the career center and low and behold, it's everything the little lion said it would be. A little tiny town, with a lot of good jobs. Sure a lot of them are just factory work, but being from Michigan It's a heck of a step up from working at a gas station or something akin.

So last week I spent mostly from the time I woke up to when I crashed at night rewriting my resume and making cover letters for the jobs in my top list. (Aka not the factory work, some even using my 3D skills!)

Although on Monday the career center will be open, I'm not expecting a whole lot to happen until after the holidays, but I'm going to keep plugging away. Sometime after next week I'm going to start applying for the general factory worker jobs so I won't be spending so much time recreating my resume as filling out applications but I'm hoping a get some calls from the higher paying jobs before I start on some line somewhere. (not that that's a bad thing!)

So that's where I've been for the last couple of weeks. I still don't have access for my machine to connect to the Internet, so updates and stuff are liable to come slowly until I get a ton of stuff set up for my self, but I haven't left the fandom, ignoring anyone or anything quite so dramatic. I can get e-mail and stuff and other than posting here and on my various other haunts (get it ...phantom) I am also sending out a more detailed news letter and stuff for those who want the scoop. Just email and I'll add you to the list. As for IM's it's going to be a while I fear.. but I'll get with you all as soon as I can. Thanks for hanging in there with me :)

As Douglas Adams said, "Don't Panic!" Or better yet, as the psychologist Sidney Freeman from M*A*S*H* said, "Folks I've said it before and I'll say it again. Take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."

PG };8>

Well, It's about time I let everyone in on what's going on. Unfortunately  saraya and I were unable to attend MMF as we had planed. We lost our jobs about a month before the convention and because of that were unable to attend. Finding jobs around here is a real pain, finding a good job is almost a laughable task. Michigan's economy is probably worse now than I have ever seen it and as a result I am having to head out of state to find work.

For those in the know, my mates brother  Tensik has generously offered to try not to kill me for a couple of weeks while I stay at her place and get a job/place of my own. It's unfortunate that I have to have help from someone else just to get a job but we both live in towns of roughly about the same population. Last week their was 15 or so jobs posted in the local paper here, most where nursing jobs or required eight or nine years of experience to obtain. I visited the job site for Tensik's town and saw literal hundreds of good paying jobs.

So for a while I'm going to vanish from the face of the earth again until I can get my poop in a new group and get things straightened out. I will be leaving this state very early in the morning on the 13th and arriving sometime late eve on the 14th.

I probably won't be online much if at all until I have my financially stuffs going in the correct direction so I'm handing out hugs and sorrows to anyone who is going to try to get a hold of me in the near future.

Rest assured however folks, you can't keep a good Dragon or Phantom down, and as I'm both, well, it's just not going to happen!

I'll see you all around the corner.....

....In the dark.

Muhohahahahahahahaha }:8>

'Ello all.

Couple of things to report. First, I will not be attending MMF this year like I had hoped. Unfortunately some financial issues reared their ugly head and I'm not going to be able to make it. My apologies to anyone and everyone who I was going to stop by and chat with.. hope you understand. }:8<

I finally updated my avatar! (OMG!) Yes, after using the same old avatar since 1996 I've updated it to the chevrons I use on my newer artwork. In case you are wondering what the heck it is, I'll explain. The two chevrons represent the letters P and G. The lower parts that create the body are made to look something like a rusted chunk of metal that's been sharpened all around it's edges. The round parts at the top are 'gem drops', or lenses that take the image behind it and kinda of warp it inside of it. Of course the true effects can only truly be seen during a full 3D render, but I fudged it up with Gimp to look OK for our purpose here };8>

Lastly I've been working alot lately at improving my 3D modeling and animation skills. I've decided to postpone the Djinn project for a little while to brush up on my other skills. Hopefully you will notice I've made some improvement. *grins* };8>

---

'PG' aka Phantomgraph };8>

Welp I thought I would go ahead and do one of thoes Character meme things. Taken from  Tensik

(Oh and their is a reason when it's spelled meat and not meet. It's a SciFi thing. Meat Falcor refers to his living breathing person, rather then what he appears to be if he's jacked into INet)

Lastly note my character is Falcor. Phantomgraph is my artist name. Their realy is no Phantomgraph character, and just to confuse you, my avatar is of another character I created.

Check out my gallery if you want to see what Falcor looks like.

1. What is your character's name?
Falcor Riverdance.

He had the rank of Coronal once in the Confederation, but as he's a privateer now he is just known as commander.

2. What is your character's name in another language?
Mud. Seriously thou English becomes the tongue of the stars, so their really isn't another language.

3. How old is he/she?
It's a secret. No really it is, but he looks about 30sh in human years.

4. What is your character's race/species?
Dracine. That's a genetically engineered human (Anthro Dragon). He's blue.

5. Do they have a crush?
Shouldn't this read Does He/she... anyway.. no.. he does have a mate thou.

6. Do they have many friends?
What's with the engrish here? Anyway... No, Falcor dosen't have a lot a friends. In fact he has a lot of enemy's; but a lot of folks respect him.

7. What planet is your character from?
Luna, the moon, or rather the largest station that orbits it. Lunar 1.

8. Does your character like to eat?
Sure, thou few understand his taste in food. He eats rations mostly. Not because he has too, be cause he like it. (Think of choosing to eat Ramon, something his creator does.)

9. What's his/sher favorite food?
Children. Just kidding, he likes seafood of all things. With soy sauce, lots of soy sauce!

10: What's his/her favorite drink?
Beer. He usually drinks white tea thou.

11. Is your character annoying?
Only like the plague.

13. Is your character loved?
Yea, One time, at band camp .... *chuckles* ;>

14. Is your character hated?
*ROTFL* Oh yea.. Some because he comes from a rich family, some because of what he did serving in the Confederation, and some just because he's abrasive.

15. Is he/she emo/goth?
No. Thou he likes looking at pictures of Gothic buildings. (cathedrals are his favorite.. he's yet to see one in person.)

16. Is he/she straight, bisexual, or gay?
Falc is Bi, but he's mated to a male lion.

17. Is he/she a virgin?
*ROTFL* Yea sure.. {Hey, prove it! };8>

18. Name 3 hobbies
Target shooting, spelunking and origami. He's good at the first two...

19. Is your character normal?
Compared to what? Other privateers? No. He resigned his commission as a Confederation officer. He also dosen't have to be a privateer. He comes from a family with more money than they know what to do with.

20. Is your character attractive?
Yea, he has a blaster. Are you going to tell him otherwise?

21. How does your character handle emotions?
Falcor is driven by his passion for what he believes is right. He's not known for being touchy feely, but their are stories that he has a soft side. (he won't confirm them thou)

22. Does your character have other forms?
Not really. (not meat forms anyway)

23. Does your character overreact?
Nope. He's usually very calm and calculated.

24. Is your charcter a criminal?
He pleasds the fifth. Falcor operates in the gray area between the laws. By Confederation law he isn't, or atleast he's ever been caught.

25. Does your character go to school?
He did. He graduated top of his class at the academy.

26. What's his/sher IQ?
Depends. Overall, he's about a 150 (yea that high) on some things thou he's way off the chart, others *cough* well he has a blaster.

27. Does your character have a disease/curse?
Well, sort of, he's a Riverdance. That's enough of a curse.

28. Is your character dead?
No, but lots of folks wish he would be.

29. Does your character have a family?
Yes. His father owns RDI (Riverdance Intergalactic), the largest privately owned fleet of deep space ships. (It's a shipping company) His family is legendary, something Falc tries to stay away from.

30. Has he/she encountered any tragic times in life?
Plenty. During his duty as a Confederation officer he had to give orders that cost others their lives. He has a hard time forgiving himself for those decisions. The ghosts of those who lost their lives seem to haunt him.

31. What's the best time in your character's life?
The first time he ever flew a ship. He knew he was home.

32. If you could name 1 friend, which would you relate to your character?
One friend... well one time at band camp... *chuckles*

33. Is your character single?
No. He's closed mated.

34. Has he/she developed any relationships?
Sure. He's a privateer. Maintaining business relationships is the name of the game. Heck you would probably be hard pressed to find a bartender that hasn't heard of or talked with Falc.

35. Does she/she have an element?
Yep.. Space, or the vacuum their in. He's in that element 99.9% of the time.

36. Do you role-play your character?
Um, yea.. DUH

37. Do you write about your character?
Yep.

38. Does your character have a bad temper at times?
Yea, all the time. He's grumpy.. *wink* expecially then something's wrong with his ship, which is all the time!

39. Does your character get depressed?
No. Falcor is forever the optimist.

40. What's your characters favorite animal?
Gorg. Ask  berbalang :)

41. Does your character have any fears?
Yea, mostly of making mistakes. In space, mistakes often cost folks their lives.

42. Does your character have any weaknesses?
Yea, he's a sucker for the underdog, but I'm not sure if he considers that a weakness.

43. Does your character look up to anyone?
He has a secret hero, a person he respects more than his own life.

44. Does your character like music?
Not really. His true music is the rhythm of his ship but he's been known to boogie from time to time.

45. What's your character's favorite type of music?
He does like classical old earth music, it's the only kind in his private collection.

46. Is he/she impatient?
Not really.

47. What's something funny about your character?
He has a frigging mullet come on!

48. Name 5 nicknames
Falc, captin', the butcher of Bandoi, *insert curse word*, Dragon, Blue Drac, and the one that makes him smile... "Dwaggie" (Coined by a little human girl he rescued on the moon of Bandoi.)

49. Does your character curse?
Only when he's awake.

50. This test is over, what does your character have to say?
"Don't eat the rock candy in the urinal, it an't worth a shit!"

'Ello all! }:8> Most of you have been probably thinking I vanished off the map for a while again, but that is simply untrue.

Let me explain. Those folks that know me know I've been working hard on learning to animate. I'm not taking any courses in any school, I'm not bugging and artists out there that do animation to learn how they did it. I AM learning the whole pie all by my lonesome. I'm actually choosing to do things this way for several reasons, the number one being I learn far better by sitting down and making it work my way. I do have a book, the antiquated 2.3 guide for the software I use (Blender) and although I consult it quite frequently, I also tend to put some things together and just see what happens. It's how I learned to scribble computer code, and how I learned to make the machine do some things many folks said couldn't be done. I test out things as I go and find out what works and what dosen't. It also allows me to come up with ways of doing things that may not be by the book, but achieve an effect I like in a completely different way. In other words, express my artistic side. };8>

Telling a story is something I've always loved doing. Since I had my first computer when I was eleven I've dreamed of using it to tell my odd little stories. Each little trick I learn, every thing I do, right or wrong moves we toward that simple childhood dream, and I'm having a ball doing it!

So this is the point where the animations start, and the still shots are just sort of glamor work. Posting my animations however has turned up some problems that I hadn't expected, and is part of the reason why I've been a bit absent from this place as of late.

As of my scribbling this FA allows mp3 uploads in music (audio) format. Animations or video is limited to animated Gif files or SWF format. Not that I would ever have an opinion on things, but for displaying CGI animations SWF blows chunks. Technicolor ones at that.

First SWF is not really designed well for video. I've heard a half dozen reasons why, but the plain simple truth is that when I convert my animations over to SWF format they become HUGE and the quality takes a nose dive into the trash can.

This leaves me with one of two choices. Either suffer with the poor quality of SWF or find someplace that will allow me to post files in format better suited to my type of art. I bet you can guess which one I chose. *chuckles*

This brings me to my new addition to my growing list of places one can find my art. At the signpost up ahead, PG's Animation Station!

The admins of Furtopia have been kind enough to lend me some of their bandwidth and have allowed me to post my animations in compressed JPG mp4. The mp4 format creates the smallest files with the best quality that also is available at no cost for both me the developer and you the person who would like to play the animations.

If your a windows user, you can use just about anything to play the animations, most noteably the VLC player. For us penguin heads (Linux) VLC is a little clunky, but plays nearly perfectly. Totem however will also work so don't despair.

I'm not going to be leaving FA, I've just came to the simple conclusion that I shouldn't post crappy low quality work when I't just far simpler to post the good stuff elsewhere., so folks, here you be, the new link on the list

==> http://phantomgraph.furtopia.org <== For all the groovy animations!

Well, I've decided to take the plunge. That is I'm going to start using the watches and the favorites feeps here on FA. I've been hesitant thus far as I don't like the whole 'popularity' thing, but the pay off is it is a lot easier for me to catch up on the folks that I tend to watch currently with me old bookmarks. (Which I'm sure is the real reason for the thing.)

I suppose it would be proper for me to send a shout to those whom I'm going to start watching, and in some cases I will and I'll include some reason why I'm watching you, but If I don't please try not to have too much of a furry, I'll post some comments on one of your newer images that will mean a lot more than +1 watch dood! }:8>

Anyway, enough for now.. and don't forget to check my LJ for my latest WIPS.

Ello' all.

Yes I'm still alive, and yes I'm still working on 3D stuffs. I've decided that rather than waist FA's bandwidth with a lot of WIP pictures I would post most of my Wips up on photobukkake (photobucket) and use my old Live Journal to post notes and other stuff about them.

Because I do a lot of Scifi/fantasty with furries some of my models and the like fit into the props bin, although their intended as story telling tools for what will hopefully end up being some interesting comics and animations for the fandom. (Shorts at least, my goal is at least little mini episodes all done in Blender. =)

For now however feel free to wander over to my LJ and check out the modeling process(s) I'm mucking with at the moment and check out the WIPs... it's free art foo and you can always shoot me an e-mail if you have questions or comments. }:8>