ROUTINE

I have lots to talk about, but no time to talk. My work and school schedules are forcing me to get into a regular routine, and I really, really hate routines. So even though I'd like to get some work done right now (1:09 a.m.) I've got to force myself to get to bed, otherwise I'll be falling asleep at my keyboard early tomorrow morning. So, here's a few quick thoughts:

Congratulations to Hill and Ken on the birth of Baby X! He's adorable!

Thanks to Geoff for helping me fix my broken web site. I haven't implemented the fixed code yet, but when I do, a little missing line will reappear. It's not a big deal, but it's been driving me crazy and I'm way too anal about these things.

This Friday I have my first big project due for school. I wish I had maybe one additional day to work on it, but that's not in the cards. More on this later.

This link is makes me laugh every time I see it. It's kind of hypnotizing.

Go Steelers!

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OFF AND RUNNING

School is going well. It's hard to believe it's been two weeks already. We're covering the basics right now but things are going to get a lot more intense starting this week. The above rendering was from a lesson on realistic surface texturing. We studied real apples and had to create a believable surface for a red, yellow and green apple. When you look at an apple really close, it's amazing just how complex the surface is. It took about seven layers of textures each to get the apples the way I wanted them. For other lessons, we've made other textures such as rust and coke can labels.

It's all going well, but these are definitely long days. I really wish I didn't need to work this year while I'm in school, but somebody's got to pay the rent around here. Not much else to report other than work in the morning and school in the afternoon and evening. I'll post more assignments as I finalize them.

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DAY 1

Christmas in Washington was great! I got to spend some real quality time with my family and with a bunch of friends both at, and away from my old office. It was cold in DC, but not too bad. I got to see some small patches of left-over snow, but mostly it just rained. While we were there, my family and I even took a break from all the visiting to go see a giant monkey movie.

The holiday traveling experience wasn't all that bad. The airports were busy, but not out of control. My flight back was delayed a little bit due to weather in Atlanta, and I found myself running through the terminal to make my connecting flight, but I made it with a few minutes to spare. The flight itself wasn't bad, but if you've ever been on a plane where you sat near someone who brought their little puntable poodle as a carry-on, then you can probably feel my pain. There were two different small dogs on the flight and both of them yipped and barked for nearly the entire flight. I don't think I was the only one wishing we had some small doggie parachutes on board. As we were making our approach I was looking at the buildings on the ground, and there I saw a small cluster of extremely bright yellow buildings. I can't say for sure, but fairly certain that was my apartment complex. Who'd believe it?