Sparktoblog!

In shock at the loss of Bear.

I just got a phone call and have been informed that Bear Brown committed suicide this morning. Bear was a friend to me, someone who took me into his house when I was in need, kept me company, worked with me to help me get a job. Bear was my artist; we would work for hours on tattoos, renditions, Photoshop techniques. Bear was my guide through a difficult part of my life, and someone who I could guide through difficult parts of his life.

This comes as quite a shock to everyone – just yesterday he was having lunch with Ruth and telling her how his life was getting better. Not the day before that he was thinking of adopting a puppy, and starting to put down some roots. May whatever greater powers that exist above us watch over Bear, and help guide his soul away from the agony he must have been feeling. We will all think of you fondly Bear and hope you have moved on to better things.

Ponderings and musings...

The last two days have flown by. It might be my interrupted sleep, it might be that I’m having fun, heck – it might be that I’m on vacation, but nonetheless it’s still flying by. Skype has been adjusting to me quite well, and I’ve slowly been getting the hang of fatherhood.

Yesterday was a big day for Skype – he had his first Vet appointment (clean bill of health!) today and was very good. He got his second round of vaccines, so he was a little out of it while his immune system adjusted. In the late afternoon I took him down to the courtyard and let him play with a little toy dog named Cocoa. They played quite nice, and it was good to see him get active and run around with another dog. If he keeps this up he will be big and strong in no time.

I’ve been very tired the last couple of days. Keeping up with Skype is a full time job. I’ve been catching up on my ripping, and getting all my shots from Sunday at Hempfest all prepped up for the internet. I’m certainly glad that I have a fast computer because processing 500 RAW shots takes some serious CPU cycles as I have found.

I’m quite seriously considering dumping Comcast entirely (both cable TV and internet access) and going with Speakeasy DSL. They are offering 4 static IP’s, 6.0/786, and much faster ping times than Comcast, and much better reliability. Plus if I get that I’ll be getting rid of the phone line for the ReplayTV and will end up saving myself about a hundred dollars a month. I’ve been watching so little TV of late it almost sounds like it would be a good deal in the long run.

Getting the hang of this fatherhood thing...

So I’m starting to get the hang of this whole fatherhood thing. The first 24 hours were certainly a bit rocky as we both adjusted to each other and such, but things are going really well with Skype now.

During the last day Skype has adjusted quite a bit better to city life. He’s starting to get really curious and energetic, and crying a lot less. Last night he slept for four hours straight and then another three hours after that. I hope this trend continues and I can start getting some quality sleep myself. I’m enjoying sleeping with Skype – it’s nice to have something warm and fuzzy to snuggle with.

I’ve had a lot of friends drop by in the last couple of days, and Skype is getting a bit more courageous and friendly with strangers. I can’t wait to take him to the vet in the morning so he can get further along with his inoculations. Once he’s had his third round I’ll be able to take him to the dog park and really let him play with a lot of other dogs. It will be good for him to play with more dogs, particularly if I can find some puppies his age to romp with. I’m planning on taking him out to Maple Valley at some point this week so he can romp with his brothers and sisters for a couple of hours.

I’m slowly getting the hang of fatherhood – there has only been one potty training accident today, and he and I are bonding quite well. I have a lot to learn, and a lot of good friends to help me along the way.

On a sad note my grandma fell a couple of days ago. She got knocked around pretty badly and had to get a number of stitches in her face. She may have also damaged one of her artifical knees. I’m pretty worried about her and talked to her on the phone for a good half an hour this afternoon to comfort her.

I’m really glad that I have a week off – not only for Skype’s sake, but also for mine. I’ve been working really hard, and it’s good to have a break. Today I had a moment where I realized that I have to be at work tomorrow and got a little upset till I remembered that I won’t be going back to work for 8 days. It was very comforting for me and at least I’ll get a chance to really relax. It should be healthy for me in the long run.

My little baby boy comes home.

The last 24 hours have certainly been an entirely new and amazing experience. I thought I was prepared and this would be “by the book” – goodness knows that I’ve read enough books in the last month. Nothing could quite prepare me for actually bringing Skype home!

Brien picked me up after work, and we drove out to Maple Valley. Things were fairly straight forward when we got him. We played for a little bit to get him tired, let him say goodbye his littermates, grabbed a couple of days of his puppy chow, and were back in the car. I was very worried ahead of time he would get carsick or not enjoy it, but it worked out pretty well actually.

We got in the car, and he sat in my lap on a towel we had laid out. He sat watching the scenery going by with a guarded expression for about a minute, then lay down and went to sleep on my lap. He pretty much slept the entire way home, oblivious to the mounting miles away from the world has he knew it.

When we got back to my condo he was a little upset, but dealt with it well. He was not as curious as I would have at first expected, and preferred instead to just stay with me. If he lost track of me or Brien he would start to cry. I gave him his first meal and he was very excited about it – for good reasons he had not been fed in about 5 hours to help with the trip home.

In regards to housebreaking I got off to a rocky start. Thank god for my little Dust Devil wet/dry Stainbuster. I’m very quickly getting him on a schedule and learning how to know when he has to go – last night I had about 6 accidents, but today there has only been one time where I did not get him outside in time. He’s starting to get used to going outside for potty, and should start picking up on the housebreaking soon (I hope). I know there will be accidents for months, but if I can minimize it early I’ll be happy.

Last night was very disrupted. I got a couple of hours here and there, but had to keep getting up to take him out. We made it out most of the time, but at least I kept him from going in my bad. At 5:30 in the morning he woke up for good and started crying because he was away from his litter. I consoled him and did what I could, but he kept it up for nearly 30 minutes. We ate some breakfast then off to explore the world.

I’m keeping him away from dogs I don’t know, and being careful not to have him outside too much. I’m paranoid about him getting his vaccinations as soon as possible, and he does not have his first vet appointment until Monday.

Tres and Jake came over and brought Sophie. It was good to introduce Skype to another dog that he will be seeing a lot of. He was kind of skittish at first, but soon warmed up. Sophie was very standoffish so they did not play too much, but it was good to introduce him to a dog that was from Seattle nonetheless.

After lunch and a trip to Mud Bay to get some more toys, and a couple odds and ends he ended up crashing on my couch next to me, where he has spent the last two hours cuddling up to me in his sleep. I’m glad to have a bit of a break finally, and am catching up on my geeking.

I’m very excited about the next ten days. I think Skype will adjust well to life with me, and we are going to be great companions for each other. The first couple of months of housebreaking and basic behavior training to get good habits set in young, but it will be worth it in the end.

Almost a homeowner!

So today was one of the most stressful days of my life, but also one of the best. Today I signed all the paperwork for my condo, and plunked down the rest of my down payment. There were a few snafus along the way, and the paperwork did not materialize until the last possible moment, but somehow it all worked in the end. I had a very stressful time dealing with the process throughout the day, and trying to keep up with responding to all the little things that needed doing. Sadly my work life suffered for it and I got very little done, but hey – you only buy your first house once!

At 3:30 I left in a mad dash to get to the bank to get a cashiers check for the escrow company. After that I had to drive like a madman down to the escrow offices in Bellevue to sign my name 47 times and initial countless more. Tera (the goddess) came up to walk through the signup process with me and explain what all the papers meant. I owe her big time as she has been a great Shepard through this process and has helped me understand what is going on at every step of the way.

After the signing we went out to Marinepolis for a bit of sushi and to catch up. While we were eating it was as if a great weight lifted off my shoulders – I don’t have to deal with the condo buying process any more, and it’s as good as done. Now all I have to do is wait for a phone call on Monday to let me know the title has transferred, and I’m as good as gold!

Tonight was supposed to be brew night, but I’m too tired and stressed out to deal with any of it. Now that I’m home I just want to curl up into a little ball and get a good nights sleep. After today, and with the stresses (good stresses mind you) of bringing home Skype in the evening I really need to be at my best.

Hempfest Photo Gallery

I’m just starting to get my images set up from Hempfest. I should be posting some of them here in the next couple of days. For now I encourage you to check out the official Hempfest Photo Gallery for 2004. It’s got some of my shots, as well as a ton of other great moments in time at another unforgettable Hempfest!

Two big days coming up!

Monday night with Skype was fun, but I was beat and getting really sick so I did not get a chance to really play actively with him. He was the most active I’ve seen, but I just could not keep it up for long.

After I made it home I passed out and got a restless nights sleep. I woke up in the morning feeling quite badly. In a somewhat misguided effort to be loyal to my employer I dragged my ass into work and waded through my email. After I was done with that I did an hour or two of resourcing before I wussed out and went home to nap all afternoon. I spent most of the afternoon reading the Monks of New Skete books again, and sleeping. Dominic came by to clean, and I passed out cold when he was half done.

Today was not quite as bad at work. I was busy catching up and getting ready to be gone for 11 days, as well as tying up final details for my loan. I go in to sign paperwork tomorrow, and then I close on Monday. Tomorrow is all the activity needed from me, and I’ll just get a call on Monday to let me know when the deed has been changed over. I must admit I’ll feel a lot better when this whole ordeal is over with.

I’m really looking forward to Friday. Brien is going to come over here in the morning, and I’ll drive him to work. After work I’ll pick him up and we will go out to Maple Valley to finally bring Skype home. Leaving him there tonight was really hard – he passed out in my lap about a half hour before I had to leave and it was just so nice massaging him while he slept.

Tossing and turning before work...

After a sickly night of tossing and turning I’m feeling a bit better and sitting here at work. I went to bed very early last night – at around 9:00. I slept through to 2:00, then started a feverish tossing and turning that continued on until my alarm went off at 7:00. I drank Emer’gen-C all night, and that helped a little bit. Hopefully that was the worst of it and my body will heal from the punishment that I dealt to it at Hempfest quickly.

I’m very excited to go see Skype tonight. It’s been 4 days since I’ve seen him and I really miss him. I can’t wait till I get to take him home in 4 days from today. Taking 10 days to play with him will be exactly what the doctor ordered.

A wet, wet hempfest

Hempfest certainly has been a powerful event this year. We had to battle horrid weather and storms, but somehow we made it, and had an incredible ‘fest at that. I showed up at around nine in the morning on Saturday to an overcast day with rain predicted at 6:00.

I spent the majority of the day (until 6:00 when I left) walking around taking in the sights and sounds, and capturing what I could with my camera. It was really nice not to be responsible for a stage this year – I always disliked not being able to really enjoy the Hempfest because I was slaving away for it. Not that I mind – it’s a great cause and should be supported. This year I got to wander around taking photos and really get the Hempfest experience.

At about 2:00 in the afternoon it started to rain on Saturday. I was wet and miserable lugging around my gear, but kept on going for the sake of getting “the perfect shot”. I wrapped my camera in a plastic bag with a hole cut in it for a lens. That worked pretty well, although it did make operating the buttons and controls a little bit difficult. Within an hour or so I was drenched to the bone and looked like a wet cat. I was amazed at how many hardcore hempsters stuck around for the rest of the fest. 4:20 was certainly far from norm – all of the stages except for the main stage were shut down for electrical reasons because of the rain, so people were huddled together under tarps smoking out and celebrating Hempfest in all it’s glory.

After getting home I worked on photos most of the night. Brien came over for movies and pizza and we watched Diehard 3 (how very appropriate for the day) while munching and talking about some of the photos I took.

This morning I woke up feeling horrible. I think that being soaked for so long yesterday was really bad for me. My lungs feel like crap, and I have a bad cold. Luckily a little bit of Vitamin C and some Dayquil made it possible to get out of bed and head down the Myrtle Edwards park to do it all over again.

I got there and it was pouring rain – the storms last night had ruined tons of booths, and did some serious damage to a couple of our stages. Everyone was wet and miserable, but we kept going, and as the rain died off at noon or so spirits started to rise! Hempfest is going to lose a lot of money this year because of the rain, but hopefully the community in general will help get things back on track.

After the Dayquil wore off it was a struggle to make it to 4:20. Once that had come and gone I made a beeline for my condo and am sitting here trying to relax and make myself healthy again before I have to go to a long week at work. I have a little over 500 images to go through and can’t wait to see all the finished photos. I’ll be posting them online over the next couple of days.

Picture of the moment: Hempfest Main Stage Panoramic

I just got home from Hempfest and am quite excited about some of the shots I got. Unfortunately it rained all afternoon, but I was amazed at the turnout considering the weather. This shot was taken from the left of main stage shortly after 4:20. I’m not 100% happy with the panoramic stitching, but for being handheld it came out fabulously.

Picture of the moment: Robots Past

I have not been posting as many images lately because I’ve been busy preparing for Skype and getting ready for COTGL and Hempfest. While at Chris’s (the director) house for a COTGL meeting I found out about his robot collection.

He has a lot of great classic robot toys from his childhood. It was very dark in his room, so I had to crank up the ISO on my camera. This gave the pictures a very grainy and old school look which turned out well. I want to go back and shoot them again sometime in better natural light, but for now I’m really happy with the way this one came out.

Be expecting to see lots more images in the coming day from Hempfest.

Work, work, work, work, Skype, work, work, work.

I’ve certainly been keeping busy the last couple of days. On Monday I made 2 deals at work which certainly makes it easier for them to swallow me taking 10 days off when I take Skype home. The last couple of days have been so work-filled that they have passed quickly. Unfortunately this is wearing me out and I’m feeling very tired already in the week. Somehow it felt like today should have been Friday.

On Tuesday evening I went out to play with Skype. The litter is out in the yard now, no longer contained to the pen together for their safety. It was fun to romp with all the puppies. Skype is still behind them a few days in terms of coordination and such, but is starting to catch up nicely.

Tonight is going to be a quiet night around the house. Ian is coming over for movies and I’m sitting here writing and editing videos (what else).

Googlebomb?

I’ve decided to perform an experiment in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by asking people to link my dogs name (Skype) to the word Skype which also happens to be a VOIP tool that I won’t link to here ;). I'm hoping that if I play my cards right I can at least make the top ten for google searches for Skype. If you want to help link to http://blog.sirskype.com/ with the word Skype from your blog, or other online medium.

4 fun filled days

My goodness the last 4 days have been fun/crazy. On Thursday night I went out to Maple Valley to play with Skype. Tres came with me to meet him and we had a gay old time on the way down there. It was nice to have him there because he’s a really good photographer and I got him to take some nice shots of the two of us together. He agreed that Skype is the perfect puppy for me.

After we were done there we went back to Bellevue so I could drop him off at his bike and we ended up at Sushiland Marinepolis for a delightful meal of Sushi. We then went back to my place to meet up with Jake and look at movies and such.

Friday was a fairly commonplace day. Ginger and I had lunch with Tres to give him a thank you gift for being such a good contractor, and then I had a quiet night at home. I spent most of it reading the most amazing book – The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete. It goes beyond most training books and instead focuses on how dogs work, how they think, and how a pack would work in the wild. The Monks of New Skete teach that to train your dog you have to be able to communicate with your dog, instill confidence in your dog, and have a positive, trusting, and mutually respectful relationship with your dog. I agree in every way with this line of thinking.

Come Saturday morning I woke up early to greet the Comcast guy. He ended up replacing my modem, and hopefully this new one won’t have the problems that the old one had and will stop dropping out every couple of days. So far so good – I’ll keep everyone posted as things progress.

After the cable guy I met with Mili from K-9 Escort Services. She is a professional dog walker, and quite impressed me. She has been doing it for 9 years, and has quite the list of references. I got a really good vibe from her and am excited to have her be a part of Skype’s life.

After meeting Mili I went out to Factoria to meet Brien for some lunch. It looks like he is going to be buying a condo in my building and I’m somewhat excited about that. If we play our cards right and get him on the board for the homeowners association as well then I’ll nearly have a majority. After a bite to eat we headed out to Maple Valley so I could introduce him to Skype.

The introduction went well – he had grown and matured even from seeing him on Thursday night. Brien hung out for about 5 hours then headed back into Kirkland to see some friends of his. After he left I ended up staying the night so I could bond and cuddle with Skype.

A few hours of sleep was all I got with all the excitement and I ended up driving back to Seattle on Sunday morning very tired. I spent most of the day puttering around the house working on some personal projects. I wandered down to the Mud Bay Granary to check out their supplies and talk to the owner, Jill. Ken wandered over and we watched Tank Girl before I passed out for a solid 12 hours of sleep before dragging myself to work this morning.

I will be running the place in a year...

The Homeowners association meeting yesterday was fun. It was nice to meet more of my neighbors, particularly now that I’m going to be staying here for a while for sure. We discussed a few things about the building, and I was offered a chance to join the board for the homeowners association. I accepted the position and think that this will be a great opportunity for me to learn more about how it works. Besides – knowing me I’ll be running the place in no time!

My little baby... puppy!

Last night was certainly fun. I went out to Maple Valley to play with Skype again and was quite pleased to see that he has officially gone from being a baby dog to being a puppy. He wanted to romp and play, and is getting quite curious. After an hour or so he got worn out and it was back to him sleeping on me, but it was fun to take him outside and play a bit.

I’m pretty tired today but the day has gone by quickly. I had a 4 hour meeting in the middle of the day that helped break things up. I’m going to be rushing home tonight for my first homeowners association meeting and I’m quite excited about it. I also got my birthday presents today – a Playstation2 and Sonicare toothbrush – Amazon.com rules!

The bad part of the job

Yesterday was a generally bad day, but I got some good results for it. It got the first truly unpleasant bit of recruiting thrown in my face – I had to fire a contractor who was a friend of mine. It really sucked because I had very little to do with the process, until the client decided to pull the plug and I had to be the bearer of bad news. I made an early day of it and went out for a couple of drinks to talk with my friend and get him calmed down and ready to face a brave new workless world.

After that Dominic came over to clean and I pitched in, managing to go through my closet and throw away a bunch of stuff. I moved all my furniture around and am quite pleased with the results. I now have a lot more room in my condo, which will help give Skype more romping room.

I get to go see Skype tonight and I’m completely excited – I can’t wait to see how much he’s grown. If Sunday was any indication he should be pretty playful by now!

Alien Spike

Today has been a remarkably relaxing day. I woke up feeling refreshed and after a few hours of puttering around the house cleaning things up I headed to Sundazed. Sundazed is an outdoor music event held once a month in summer in a local park. I got there and hung out with some friends for a little while, but ended up leaving after an hour because they had simply tragic house playing the whole time I was there.

The pedestrian underpass from the parking lot has beautiful graffiti along the whole way. I snapped this pic while walking through. I like the bold colors and hard angles! I did very little to this photo post processing, mostly just bumping up the contrast a little bit.

After Golden Gardens Tres and I met for dinner at Picoras. I had the greatest calzone and I will probably be eating it for a while. Gosh it was delicious. Tres wants to buy a few prints of things I’ve done so I’ll need to hook up with him this week to go over my portfolio.

I headed out to Maple Valley for a couple of hours of quality time with Skype. He’s growing so fast! He’s growing out of the baby stage and becoming a puppy. Today we played outside a bit and really had a fun time at it! Check out Skype Central for more pics!

Blah

I have not been feeling too well over the last few days. Yesterday I left work early because I was feeling quite bad and went to go sleep with Skype. After sleeping for a while out there I drove home and went back to bed. 14 hours of sleep later I felt somewhat better, but still not 100%.

Today I drove over to my co-worker Greg’s house to help him get his computer working. It got some nasty spyware and the easiest way to fix it was to get a new hard drive to back up his data on (he needed a bigger one anyway) and wipe the drive.

After that I headed out to Maple Valley again to play with Skype. He’s growing fast, and the change even in a single day is noticeable. He was more alert today, and a lot more exploratory when I took him outside. He’s starting to learn to walk faster and I’m sure he will be running in a week or two.

I’ve made a decision to start a separate blog for Skype. I will still post things about him on Sparktoblog but I feel that the amount of information that I’m wanting to put up will be a bit more than my average reader is interested in. I should have the DNS set up and the design work ready in a day or two so look out for Skype Central links soon!

Update: Skype Central is up now, but the domain mapping has not moved over. For now you can access it at http://blog.giantchoad.com/sirskype/ and I'll post another link once sirskype.com goes up.

A month is too long to wait.

The last couple of days have been both depressing and incredibly fun! It’s really driven home exactly how long a month is and boy I can’t wait to bring Skype home! The hours just seem to drag on at work.

Last night I went out to Maple Valley to bond with Skype. He’s growing up so fast! He gained at least a pound, and his vision is clearing up quickly. He is starting to track motion, and get a little bit more playful. He still sleeps 80% of the time, and I’m really enjoying snuggling up with him when I see him and petting him while he sleeps.

Tonight I had a meeting for the Hempfest photographers and we got to go over a lot of the details about the event. I’m excited to be shooting it this year rather than focusing on running a stage. I think it’s going to be a blast to wander around shooting all day and really getting to take the whole event in for the first time in my life. I bought a 2gb memory card today to make my total storage space 8gb which should help me make it through the day.

After the meeting I went up to help Julie move her washing machine. Julie is a fabulous retired lady that lives in my building – we ended up talking for nearly an hour about dogs and our lives. I’m glad that I’m getting to know her as she is one of the old school cool people that really needs to be in my life.

iPod lost...

I was so upset last week – I thought my iPod Mini had been stolen and I spent a week or so cursing the sky about it. I loved my mini, worshiped my mini, and adored my mini. Then I met Skype and promptly forgot about my mini. Then today I brought in my old camera bags to show to Liz as she is considering buying one from me. When I was showing her my Domke bag my iPod mini fell out of one of the pockets. Silly me for going off and not doing a thorough search. At least I have it back now! THANKS LIZ!

Skype is so cute!

So I’m head over heels in love! Sunday I spent a good 5 hours with Skype. He still sleeps a lot, so it was 10-15 minutes of playing, and then an hour of sleeping, but it was nice curling up with him and reading my dog training book. He was so cute sleeping on my chest. It almost made me want to cry he was so cute. It just drove home that he’s going to be a big boy soon, and there is no way he will fit on my chest, let alone be able to sleep on it with me still being able to breathe.

I just made arrangements to take a week off so that I could really get him used to my place, and me being gone before I have to leave for work. This also will help me get used to the while “owning a dog” thing. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I’m really excited about this. I always thought of the process of raising something; be it a baby or a puppy; as a sign of maturity.

Speaking of maturity Jake and Tres came over tonight so we could go celebrate Darren’s return at Barzzaro. After an amazingly delicious and fattening dinner we headed back to my place to watch some fresh steaming videos. HAWTT! Now Jake is sleeping on my couch like the homeless homo he is, and I’m sitting here trying to sleep, my mind flashing back again and again to my baby boy!

OK – now that was insane!

So my birthday yesterday was absolutely fabulous. It started out Friday night after I met my baby boy Skype when I headed out to the Bad Juju Lounge with Brien and some friends, and at midnight they started feeding me shots of tequila. After a couple of hours of that I went home and passed out to get ready for my big day.

Scot came and collected me in the morning and took me out for lunch and such for a while as he sucked and had to go to Vancouver pride instead of my birthday bash. I spent most of the afternoon doing research on Pit Bulls and reading on how to train them.

Come seven o’clock I headed down to Charlie’s for the dinner mayhem. Mike and Cyn brought Charlotte and the rest of the gang (Jake, Tres, Brien, Ian, and Ken) came to eat a mostly civilized dinner with me before we all headed down to The Cuff for the real mayhem.

Once we got there people started trickling in. A bunch of my coworkers (Erika, Kym, James, and their significant others) showed up, as well as a bunch of other random friends. It was good to see them all in one place. It was an interesting melding of my two lives to have my co-workers hanging out in a gay leather bar with me. The evening degenerated into a shirt swapping, heavy drinking, making out, complete debaucherous festival of the incoherent.

I ended up chickening out at two in the morning to go home and pass out. A lot of the other people went to Tony’s after party, but I did the responsible thing and went home. I had planned on taking Monday off so that I could recover from Saturday and Sunday, but given how much time I’m going to be taking off when I bring Skype home I decided that doing my recovery on Sunday would be better.

I’m off to shower and head out to Maple Valley to play with my baby! More pictures coming!