Not a recommended weight loss method

by ArdRhi on March 16, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Posted In: Blog

biohazardBe very careful of the latest intestinal bug going around. It’s very nasty, and can hit you out of nowhere practically overnight. My partner got it, and I helped her deal for a day, hoping that I wouldn’t get it, but the very next day — wham! — down I went. As of Monday evening, I had lost about ten pounds. I don’t know what it is now, I ‘m afraid to look. I’m able to keep down tea and toast now, and my voice is coming back slowly. It should be fine by the weekend. I’m glad, because I’m supposed to be on the Webcomic Beacon Podcast on Sunday the 20th at noon Eastern, and I’d sorta like to be able to talk!

I got the base art laid in for the next page yesterday and today. That part’s the easy, relatively quick part. The harder, more time-consuming part will have to wait until tomorrow, when I’m feeling a bit stronger and less like I’ve been beaten with a big bag of wet sand.

Oh, where’d we get this little gem of a bug? My partner went to babysit our grandkids on Thursday. Turns out the bug had gone through their house earlier in the week. Not a real mystery, places with babies are always hot zones, but it only took a day to hit after that. Fast and nasty. Be on the lookout, and if you get it, be careful not to dehydrate!

Additionally, I’ve just found out that sometime between 9pm on the 17th and 5am on the 18th (MDT), my hosting service is moving the server containing my sites to a new data center, which will result in a short downtime of 1-3 hours. If you try to reach the site and it’s down around then, don’t panic, it’s just the server move.

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Rough Couple of Weeks

by ArdRhi on March 11, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Posted In: Blog

I know I’ve been quiet lately between comics, and I apologize for that. The blog postings have been few and far between because I’ve been putting all of my energy into the comic pages. I’ve had to spread out the time I spend on the artwork because they’ve been very complex, with very involved backgrounds, and I’ve had to build some very detailed 3d assets for them.

In addition, I don’t know if anyone is familiar with the prescription drug Darvon, sometimes found in conjunction with acetaminophen in the drug Darvocet, but this 50-year-old pain med was recently the subject of a nation-wide recall. According to the official FDA press announcement:

“The FDA sought market withdrawal of propoxyphene after receiving new clinical data showing that the drug puts patients at risk of potentially serious or even fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. As a result of these data, combined with other information, including new epidemiological data, the agency concluded that the risks of the medication outweigh the benefits.”

This is bureaucrat-ese for “a half-dozen people worldwide had some kind of problem and said they’d sue, so we decided to take it away from everyone everywhere.” I discussed this with my cardiologist, and he said that in over 30 years of practice, he’s never seen anyone have a cardiac problem from this medication in any form. But what can you do, when it’s no longer being sold?

Given that it was my “breakout” pain medication, I had to get something else, so off I went to the pain management doc, and we tested out a couple of different meds. The first one didn’t even touch the pain, so I went back. The second one is working much better, and I’m starting to catch up on things a bit. But I still have to use a work timer — I use WorkRave — to make sure I take frequent breaks. If I don’t, I do too much for too long without a break, and I’m in agony and can’t do anything.

But for now, I’m managing with this new medication, so long as I spread things out and take frequent breaks.

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New Voting Incentive

by ArdRhi on February 3, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Posted In: Blog

Just a quick note to let you know that there is a new voting incentive, a wallpaper image of Jenny playing Go with herself, available on the Top Web Comics page.  You can see it, save it, or set it to your wallpaper by voting for the comic with the Topwebcomics 100 button on the right sidebar.  Please vote every day if you can, it helps promote the comic.

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Whew.

by ArdRhi on February 2, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Posted In: Blog

Busy, busy, busy!

Well, the final page of the first volume, Weak Interaction, is in the can.  You’ll all see that next week.  I’ve got my work cut out for me now.  I need to do some cleanup, get the earlier pages in a shape I’m happier with, do a back cover, some inside covers, and improve the front cover.  Then I can kick it off to the printer.

I also haven’t been idle on Volume 2.  I’ve been building scenery, lining up extras, arranging for backgrounds, and writing scripts like mad for the past few weeks.  In the words of Christopher Lloyd, it’s going to be glorious.  But in order to do it properly, I’d like a week or so to concentrate on it.

So if you would like to do some guest art for me, I’d really appreciate it.  Just send me a note to “quarktime+guestart” at gmail dot com and let me know, and we’ll work out details.

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Small Wonder

by ArdRhi on December 27, 2010 at 1:29 am
Posted In: Blog

I wanted to let you all know that I got a wonderful addition to my accessibility tools as a gift this weekend! My wonderful lifemate gave me a delightful 7″ USB monitor as an accessory to my workstation. This Mimo UM-710S USB Monitor rotates between landscape and portrait mode, works as an additional monitor under Vista and other operating systems, and lets me run my productivity tools on the side so I’m not forever digging under my artwork to find things.

I put my Google Chat, Winamp, and Workrave RSI timer on it, so I don’t have to have them on my main screen. I can even put a small video popout there, or shrink a Second Life screen and move it there so I can idle and keep an eye on any messages that might come in while I’m working. It helps me handle interruptions more smoothly, and keeps my level of tension down. Lower tension and stress means less pain and easier work!

Remember, no comic this week, but I had to share this great gift with you! All of you currently in the Northeast U. S. and being buried by the blizzard, stay safe!

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