Spam Monkeys Can Burn In Hell...

Fuckers snatched up the old "quality-television.com" url and apparently want $400 to buy it back. Assholes only paid $8 for it.

I hope they burn in Hell.

That is all.

Rising From The Ashes...

Been rather underground last month.

Always dread February as many of you know, so forgive me my usual "Duck and Cover" of late. Fortunately, it was a quiet one for myself this year and hopefully that means the rest of the year will follow suit! *crossing fingers*

So, SitRep:

1) QTV

I FINALLY got a working copy of Dreamweaver at work and while I haven't attempted to ask if I can have a copy at home, I am allowed to work on my old site in the interests of "education, experimentation and exploration" during my breaks and lunch time. This is a good step in the right direction because I really miss working on my own stuff and if this opportunity develops into a rebirth of a favourite creative outlet, then I welcome the potential awesome with open arms.

Since the impromptu move from the old ISP has made sure to nuke the existing internal site links from orbit, I've got a TON of cleanup to do. You can now point and laugh all you like at all the broken links, missing images and Flash file (.swf) links to nowhere, how fun is that?

I believe that the main issue we're going to see is that all the internal links in the .swf webshows and shorts are going to be very difficult to repair. HTML links = easy, Flash movie links that I no longer have the original .fla files for = not so much.

I have no idea how I can go about repairing those. D and I lost touch over a year ago now and thanks to a hard drive failure wiping out my contact info last year, all that contact info is long gone. If an opportunity arises where I can re-connect, I'll see if ol' D still has those files knocking around. We shall see.

In the meantime, I'm simply going to have to figure out new things to do. I've lost contact with pretty much 75% of the site's usual contributors, barring Wonko, Dr. P and myself, so it's now a question whether I want to do something solo or attempt to find new co-conspirators. Anything is possible in the realm of possibilities, but for now I'm focusing on fixing what is before contemplating what can be.

Common theme with things I do, it seems. Heh. We'll see how things go indeed.

2) Project: BoozeTunes

As Summer slowly approaches, my mind is turning once again to thoughts of the River and of Schlitterbahn. I was toying with this idea last year of constructing my own ice chest stereo system.

If you've ever tubed the Guadalupe over the past several years, it's likely that you've seen (or rather heard) what I'm talking about. Essentially, I propose to literally build an ice chest that not only contains favoured icy beverages but also a marine stereo sound system as well.

For an example, there's this one, designed by RadioRaft. While awesome in execution, it's rather damned small. After one adds in the hardware and battery, there isn't much room for anything else.

I would almost say that this model is meant for music alone and not for the ideal dual purpose I would ideally utilize it for.

Here's a DIY model from Reggie Smith, webmaster of Toobing dot net His approach is to hard bolt speakers and the receiver on the lid of the chest itself, with the wiring and battery tucked into the ice chest itself.

I believe that a more traditional rectangular ice chest would allow more room, I'm currently dealing with the following issues:

A. Heat

Putting a receiver inside as well as speakers adds heat to the interior of the chest. While one could open and close the unit occasionally to allow reasonable heat/air exchange, condensation is also another concern especially on those humid Texas days.

B. Condensation/waterproofing

I decided to go with marine equipment because that provides greater protection against condensation and water splashing issues, however, there is a concern with keeping the exposed wiring free and clear.

C. Battery

Probably going to go with glass pane, closed system marine batteries. Lead acid batteries on the water make the Law a bit fussy. Problem is with the closed batteries is the higher cost, between $70 to $200 depending on size and rating.

D. Design

I admit, I am not the most mechanically inclined individual for the job. I have a ton of theories and some wild ass hopes and dreams, but I envision building the speakers into the front side wall of the chest and tucking the battery in on one side of the chest, leaving the other side free for frosty beverages.

My quandary is in building this so that it allows for ample beverage storage, proper ventilation, waterproofing and be reasonably aesthetically pleasing.

Two and a half months until the season starts and I'm open to suggestions! :)

Hooooooboy. Where to start...

Really have my hands full at the moment, so I'm going to keep this good and short for the moment. :(

1) Quality Television has moved to a new ISP and has a new URL. Please update your bookmarks to:

http://www.quality-television.net

There was a little bit of stupidity on my part and a lot of customer no service on the part of our former ISP. The old URL is now locked out and I couldn't transfer it to the new website. I'll try to snag it back after it expires but for now, it's .net instead of .com to get there.

*facepalm*

It's going to take awhile for things to settle into the new home. I am looking forward to having to fix tons of internal links, let me tell ya!

Also it takes a good 24 to 48 hours to reset the DNS settings so the website may be in and out during this time of transition. Joyous!

2) To add into the fun, the roof on my apartment has suffered structural collapse and needs repair, which is likely going to require a temporary hotel stay while they fix the mess.

No one's been hurt, my stuff is mostly ok. As long as we are spared from any heavy rain, wind or the like, things should hopefully remain ok. Happy happy, joy joy!

That's all I have for now! The good news out of all this is that the new webspace provides a hell of a lot more room, unlimited bandwidth and more options for potential awesome. More on this as things develop!

Fruitless Chase Pt. 1

Made this eons ago with some childhood pals of mine. The quality is horrendus, the script was just barely above horrible and the acting was downright embarrassing.

Still, it was a ton of fun to make and that's all the excuse needed to unleash it upon the world...

...I'm so sorry.

Merde...

So, I decided to play around with iWeb earlier, right?

I wanted to frig with the ol' site and make it look spiffier, especially in regards to making the QTV blog easier to post to and browse. It was going to be, in one word, awesome. After hours and hours of work, the one thing on my mind is...

...thank deus for backups. We now return to the website and blog as it was in the early part of this morning!

And In The End...

D: "Well, we're ready to head out."
Me: "I see. All packed and ready then?"
D: "Yep. How are you managing?"
Me: "I'm at 97.2% now. All I have is my bed, some clothes and a few odds and ends."
D: "Ah. Good."
Me: "Yep."
D: "Yep."
Me: "Oh, I found that QTV poster print of Smitty & Lon that you printed out and hung in the office amongst my stuff. Did you mean to leave it or..."
D: "Nah, I figured that you should have it. I can print another later but I thought you'd like one of your own for... uh... for wherever you call home next."
Me: "Thanks, dude. I'll definitely hang it up. Wherever I end up, that is."
D: "Not quite the productive year we'd planned for, was it?"
Me: "No. Not quite. I mean, don't get me wrong. I guess things just changed is all."
D: "Yeah."
Me: "Yeah. Still, no hard feelings, dude. I'm happy for you and your gal. You're about to do something that I've talked about for years... Moving away from this state altogether."
D: "Funny, isn't it? I always thought you'd be the one to go first."
Me: "True. But that's what life is about. Making choices. Heh."
D: "Still, perhaps this is one of those turning points, ya know?"
Me: "Yeah. I was talking about this with a pal of mine yesterday on this subject."
D: "Oh?"
Me: "Indeed. Something along the lines of you being gone not exactly a bad thing. In fact, it'd possibly be a chance to... Well, stretch my wings a bit directly on my own terms, I guess was the point."
D: "What, like QTV's been holding you back?"
Me: "Something like that, I suppose. Maybe not exactly."
D: "Hardly. Dude, QTV's been mostly yours as far as the site's gone. I'm not meaning that to sound in a bad way. I'm just saying that there's a lot of your voice in there, not just mine. You can still claim it as your own. Build it how you will, in whatever direction that you will. Remember, that's how we started this thing in the first place. Two guys goofing off, putting random stuff up there that we thought was cool. Don't give up on that idea just because I'm not around."
Me: "Oh, I wasn't thinking of giving up on it at all. I'm just lacking direction with it."
D: "Start with what you know. Photoshops, Adventures, Stories. The rest will come as it evolves, ya know?"
*Silence*
D glances at his watch as his girlfriend bellows his name to hurry up.
Me: "Well, I, uh... Err..."
D: "Yeah. I know what you mean."
Me: "What, that we've arrived at the uncomfortable stage of our conversation?"
D: "Yeah. The goodbye."
Me: "Well, fuck, it's been almost seven years that we've been friends."
D: "Well, I'll only be up the road after all..."
Me: "400 miles is hardly 'up the road,' Dude."
D: "This from the guy who so casually waved his hand at driving to California, Las Vegas, Orlando and New Orleans on so many trips..."
Me: "Yeah, that was before a 800 mile round trip would run me $100+ in gas. Shit, for $100 a few years ago, I made it to Orlando and a third of the way back."
D: "Yeah. Still, we'll keep in touch."
Me: "Oh, of course. I'd like that. Open invite for beer whenever you're in town."
D: "Deal. And if you ever have that burning desire to visit beautiful OK City, the same is true."
Me: "Sweet. Oh, and I'll run the keys by the landlord for ya."
D: "Oh? Thanks! That's cool of ya!"
Me: "No problem."
D: "Yeah."
Me: "Yeah."
D: "Well."
Me: "Yep."
Girlfriend: "DOUG! WE HAVE GOT TO GO!"
D: "Guess that's the cue, eh?"
Me: "Yeah... Fair winds, dude. Oh, and I totally farted in the back of the U-Haul just so you'd have something to remember me by!"
D: "How thoughtful! Glad I left a Cleveland Steamer in the upper deck of your toilet then. Wouldn't want you thinking I didn't care, right?"
*Laughter*
Me: "Alright, get the fuck out of here before we turn this goodbye into a Hallmark Channel moment."
D: "Yeah. Wouldn't want to get all weepy and stuff. Manly men don't do that kind of shit. Nor do they tell each other that they'll miss each other, right?"
Me: "Course not. Missing people's for the FBI. Now, make with the scooting already. You're givin' me a headache."
D: "Fine. Catch ya later, man."
*Grins and extends a hearty handshake.*
Me: "You too, dude."

I stood there and watched my pal drive off, his girlfriend in close pursuit in her car. They were on their way to adventure.

Myself? I had a storage shed to fill and a few last nights to enjoy in the calm quiet of what is now my place. Can't get any simpler than that.

One World Is Enough For All Of Us...

In a few hours, Bill will be on his way back to Texas.

We'll be working on a final update upon his return (actually when he's had a chance to decompress a bit), but I cannot express how much fun this project has been. If you haven't seen his latest update, I'd recommend checking it out before reading onward.

Don't worry, I'll enjoy a Dr. Pepper and wait for ya...

*sip*

*burp*

*Sluuuurrrrpppp!*

*brraaaaaaaaaap!*

Oh, you heard that. Sorry. Note to self: Drink Dr. Pepper without typing the experience.

Noted and logged.

Alright, the point I'd like to make is about how Bill has changed just over this past month. He made a comment to me last night about how the whole experience has really opened his eyes to a larger world.

He had really dreaded the possibility of going to Korea in previous years. A lot of that is probably because he worried about being away from his family for that long, but I think a tiny chunk of it was that he was perhaps a bit "skeeered" about leaving his comfort zone.

We went drinking the weekend before he left and I had asked him about how he felt about the trip. He told me that he didn't really know what to expect. After all, the guy had rarely left Texas, let alone crossed International Waters.

A month ago, he mostly worried about how safe things were over there, if he'd be able to fit in and if he'd be able to get out and explore without getting into trouble accidentally.

He mentioned to me the other day about how he just had never imagined having the experiences that he's had this past month. While we joke a lot about Bill being a "dumb redneck," he's not the stereotypical version that pops in most people's minds of a guy sitting on his ass all day wearing a John Deere hat and slapping his wife on the ass to fetch him a beer.

Truth is, Bill has way more of an open mind than he gets credit for. He's the kind of guy who's not afraid to go to a Bob Marley concert even though he sticks out like a sore thumb with his Dallas Cowboys shirt and cop-like haircut. He's interested in exploring the world around him, even if he rarely gets the opportunity.

He was talking last night about how this trip was completely not what he expected. He picked up some of the Korean language and basically just talks to anyone he can. He's made a lot of friends during his stay, not only with co-workers at the Korean side of the company he works for but also with people in the community that he's had a chance to meet and spend time with. While he mentioned that he never thought he could go to a different country and come back with a lot of new friendships under his Dallas Cowboys hat, somehow I always knew he could. He's just this friendly kind of guy, ya know?

I was pretty amused with some of the other pictures he shared because he literally pulled a few people off the street to take pictures with. He told me that he was just surprised as to how much people were happy to be in the pictures. "It was just as much fun for them as it was for me," he says.

Quite a difference when (during the Bob Marley festival, actually) we attempted to get Americans to be in our pictures. Most would look at us like we asked them for a weasel sandwich on toast. Just not the case in Seoul!

Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm glad he had the chance. It really inspires me to get off my ass and go exploring the world a bit. Which also means that I need to save money like a mad hatter, but still, at least the idea doesn't seem so far fetched as it has before...

Intermission IV: Redneck Outta Water...

For those who keep up with my site, Quality Television, you've likely read about my friend Bill's month-long trip to South Korea. He's been sent there by the company that he works for for a month of training. He's decided to have a little fun while he's out there and will be sending in updates to me for posting, which I will be doing here.

A little background on Bill:

He's a good friend of mine who has actually been in three other Fruitless Adventures, namely QTV's amusing visits to Austin's Bob Marley Festival and Zilker Park's annual Christmas Tree Lighting. He debuted on our site with the "Haunted House Adventure," where we toured an actual haunted house that was owned by his in-laws' family at one time.

So, he's not a novice to getting into mischief...

What he is a novice to is world travel AND flying. Yep, he's never been on a plane before and the first time he was, yep, this trip.

Bill's lived in Texas all his life, so this should be a lot of fun for him as he experiences life on the other side of the ocean. He's going to keep this adventure mostly informative (since he has to actually behave himself for a change), but he'll be updating with pictures and info as the month continues.

As an added bonus, Bill has asked me to post his e-mail address so that you can send in your questions and comments to him. He promises to answer all that he can (and perhaps have me post them, if we can work that out), so if you want to, drop him a line at: txhazmat00@yahoo.com He'll be over there until March 2nd.

His work schedule will keep him fairly busy, but he'll be going out to explore in his off time. From what I understand, he'll be touring Seoul, meeting people, doing some shopping, visiting the DMZ and more. It should be fun!

Intermission 2: Electric Boogaloo

Greetings!

It's been pretty serious moodwise on the ol' Blog lately, so I thought I'd take a moment to let everyone breathe! After all, there's a lot more to life than self-therapy. :)

First of all, I'm pushing the 'resume' button on the QTV website. While my colleague in crime may be leaving, I still love this site and I miss working on it.

The site will be presenting a new Fruitless Adventure, featuring my good friend Bill (who was in our Haunted House & Zilker Park adventures) and his month-long adventures in South Korea. Poor guy, he's never been on an airplane let alone left the country and starting next month, he's doing both!

It should hopefully be an amusing journey and he promises to send in updates as he is able. He's posted his e-mail addy on the adventure page, so feel free to spam, er, send him questions and comments as the adventure unfolds!

Bill and I plan on observing our annual tradition of seeing Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted animation festival at the Drafthouse this evening, so it should be a ton o' fun before he leaves town.

In other news, I am currently eating a muffin from this bakery up the street. Oh. My. Chuck, this is a mighty fine baked good. Had I no plans of stuffing myself with beer and burgers at the Drafthouse tonight, I may have considered another.

Anyway, I'll pick the series up again, but for now I'm going to go run amuck in the beautiful 60+ degree weather that we seem to have been blessed with. Have a good weekend, everyone and thanks for reading!

If The Song Is "Shiny Happy People," Then Why Am I So Damned Sad?

On the way to work this morning, I picked up my little girl at the vet.

She wasn't really there, of course, just the contents of what she had been encased in a porcelein urn. Where she really was at the moment is a subject of debate in the realm of theologians or those more highly trained in the psychic arts than I.

It's a strange thing, cremation. Cremation is a process, whereby an individual is reduced to the basic elements in a matter of a few minutes. Just a close of a door, push of a button, *whoosh* and that's it.

I didn't actually know how I would feel when I picked up Katy. The wait for her return seemed to drag on for a painful stretch of time. I had thought that perhaps I would have been able to move beyond the grief or the pain, but I realized just this morning that I had denied myself the basic truth that I hadn't fully let go.

I had stopped being angry about the circumstances already, but the feeling of lonliness had lingered. Compounding the feeling I was having was the recent revelation that one of my best friends (and Quality Television co-conspiritor) was seriously considering a move out of state with his girlfriend and also is considering hanging up our collaborative creative efforts altogether.

Granted, we hadn't done as much with QTV this year as we should have. We both looked at how events in our lives this past year have prevented that.

At least his reasons are ones that he chose in the path to happiness that he is on. I cannot fault my pal for his decision to be happy, nor would I attempt to throw a stumbling block in his way. If he's ready to move on to other things then so be it.

Seeing him with his girlfriend just really throws into light how extra squishy happy in love he is. I'm happy for him, sure, but at the same time I feel a little like one of the other Beatles when Yoko arrived on the scene. Maybe not to that degree, but I do admit that I feel a bit like Ringo sometimes.

Apart from this single post, I keep my mouth shut around the house about how I'm feeling. What would be the point otherwise?

I've been learning a lot about letting things slide off my back. I try not to stack up a lot of emotional baggage, but sometimes the conveyor belt runs a little faster than I can move to throw each new piece of luggage onto a connecting one-way flight to Anchorage.

I spoke months ago about how my personal Phoenix was going through the rebirth process. I thought I had just about figured through that and was enacting a new plan when I find out now that even THAT plan has altered substantially.

Life is funny like that.

Even the newborn Phoenix is apt to go up in flames, so it seems. Good thing there is another rebirth that follows!

I drove to work listening to REM's "Out Of Time" album. While one of my favorites of long ago, this album inevitibly drags out memories of when I was a sophmore in high school. Oddly enough, I usually skip "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People" and just headed straight for the deeper cuts of the album.

The first was simply played out too much in my brain, the second ... just too happy for its own good. Too goddamned "Shiny Happy" for my tastes.

And yet this trip in to work I listened to Shiny Happy at least three or four times. I don't know why, I just did.

Perhaps it was my brain trying to cheer me up because of the 'passenger' in the seat next to me.

Perhaps it was my emotional nerve center trying to inject some happiness in my skull to prevent me from drifting into the realm of one of those whiny emokids that you hear so much about. The ones who thrive on drama because it gives them a boost to their self esteem to be so depressed and break into tears because someone dipped their long hair in an inkwell in the third grade. (Heh. Not a bit likely.)

Or, just perhaps, it was my brain trying to tell me to just shut up and enjoy the song. Let the world sort itself out for awhile and savor the moment. You may not exactly enjoy hearing the happy annoying tune, but it sure is a whole hell of a lot better than sitting here alone in the silence.

Like An F-16 Out Of Galena...

I find myself spending more time on things that distract me from what I'd rather be doing. This is perhaps the most generic and overly commonplace way that I've ever started a Blog entry with, but then again I can't start every one off with a literary Big Bang such as overtly plagerizing the Declaration of Independence in an attempt to aid a friend in achieving a sense of renewal. I also find myself desiring to construct sentences that don't resemble paragraphs.

So, here we are.

It used to be easy for me to sneak a few extra bits of creativity out in any given day, whether these bits resulted in a new comic (and yes, I am aware I'm 4 days behind on that), a short story, a Photoshop worthy of the name or even a witty and informative Blog entry. It also used to be easy for me to construct sentences that didn't require the use of four or more commas.

But, I digress.

As time has been slipping through my fingers lately, I find myself filled with a strong desire to reclaim this lost time. I feel like I am nothing without my creative side and I'll be damned if I'm going to let it languish any further than it has.

In the old Blog, I found myself talking a lot more about what I didn't do instead of what I was actually doing (and in some cases, doing extremely well). I think a lot of that was due to having been in relationships and situations of my own where I compromised myself down to a shadow of my former self.

This is a lot of the reason why I decided to create this forum for airing my issues, for ventilating my frustrations, for bringing them into the public doman without throwing a monkey wrench in the upward motivations that one should embrace in such a fun and hilarious endeavour as the QTV website. I am serious when I say that writing in the old Blog was pretty painful at times, especially since I had a lot to say yet didn't want to be such a buzz-kill.

The next month is really going to be a busy one. I am in the process of making some really major life changes and while I'm very optimistic of the outcome, it's going to take a lot out of me. Perhaps I will elaborate further as events transpire, but for now I'm doing just *that* much better than I was doing yesterday and that's a damn good start.

Time to kick the tires and light the fires. The Phoenix shall rise again.

Welcome to the Abandoned Land...

I've made a rather startling discovery the other day.

I've read that people write in things called 'blogs' and in these 'blogs,' they talk about whatever floats their boat. They also use this thing called 'The Internet' to publish these 'blogs,' also named 'weblogs.'

Really keen and groovy stuff, right?

Alright. Lemme cut through the Bravo-Sierra and get to the heart of the matter. If you are here via the link that I published in the QTV Blog, you actually somewhat care about what goes through my head besides the usual madcap antics that my colleague Doug & I get into as well as the usual run of site update posts and whatnot.

I would say that I'm flattered, but flattery is best when it's on the dinner table. Oh, wait, that's a platter, or, uh, cutlery?

Heh.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by. This is essentially where I shall purge my brain. I shall unleash a plague of emotions, a storm of rant locusts and a firestorm of cheesesteaks here on this very blog. Yessir, good times will hopefully ensue.

Truth is, I'm trying to divorce my more painful posts and dark thoughts from the QTV Blog. I've been thinking for the longest time that the site should be for 'teh funnah' and that my moody or revolutionary posts were better left for a different venue.

So, I'm going to try this out. Thanks for stopping by!