http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:ministan&section=today deviantART RSS for by:ministan en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:34:54 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/23977520/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/23977520/ Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:11:27 PDT
I've been exercising, both with resistance and aerobic training, in an effort to replace the tremendous amount of muscle mass I lost following the emergency surgery. Seriously -- I was down 40 pounds! Not a diet I'd recommend, however.

Oh, and I was on a liquid diet for about ten days due to a kink in my lower intestine, a "complication" of the surgery (sometimes it seemed like it would never end). Fortunately, I am back on solid food now. As an aside, they show a lot of food commercials on television.

Being off the wound vac has made it much easier to get around. Plus, I can shower practically with impunity now! I can get out of the house and even walk the distance from the car to the doctor's office. I'm also back to doing some housework (dishes and laundry mostly).

So I'm slowly getting back to the person I was, albeit with an eight-inch scar on my abdomen. I won't be entirely back to normal until my final surgery sometime in the July/August timeframe. Still, dealing with what I have now is waaaaay better than all that other crap.

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/23159905/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/23159905/ Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:31:12 PST
Now, all my muscle has atrophied, I can barely walk, and am generally weak as a kitten. I have an open wound on my stomach and a wound vac running constantly. On the plus side, I am not dead, and probably won't die anytime soon. Oh, and I'm finally home.

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/22036783/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/22036783/ Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:15:04 PST [link]

----

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and best wishes for the coming new year from Bob & Kathryn’s household!

2008 while not a tremendously busy year was, overall, a good one, marking our second year together. Things are still going quite well between us and we’re very happy that we found each other!

Bob continued his job working as an editor for the online publisher Arcamax (www.arcamax.com). It was a banner year, with sales exceeding all expectations as more and more people seemed to get their news online.

Kathryn continued in her job at W.H.H. Trice, a local property rental agency. The downturn in the economy doesn’t seem to affect the fact that people need to rent places to live, so she remains very busy.

The year started out with a lot of fun at our local science fiction convention, MarsCon, in January. Bob continues to be involved behind the scenes, so he’s pleased to say that 2008 was a huge success with everyone looking forward to 2009. Kathryn, who was a vendor, enjoyed both the con and her sales.

We followed up with no fewer than three other conventions in the following months; StellarCon (in North Carolina), RavenCon (in nearby Richmond), and HorrorFind (in Maryland). Bob was an artist guest at the first two, with Kathryn vending, while both of us vended at Horrorfind.

Of course, one of the best parts of traveling to these shows is staying with and visiting friends and family. They’re like mini-vacations you take throughout the entire year!

Kathryn continued her sideline of making soft-sculpture dragons, although on a less aggressive schedule than in the past. Her biggest show remained the Maryland Renaissance Festival. While she’s no longer a full-time vendor, she was juried in as a guest for two weekends. The first was marred by tropical depression Hannah on Saturday, but things were much better on Sunday. Her second weekend was blessed with excellent weather, making for brisk business all around.

We also expanded our furry family by one this year, adding little (but growing!) Edmund to our brood of Mina, Oskar, and Graehling. He's quite the bundle of energy, but also very snuggly, with a purr like a Harley engine starting up. He’s fit in quite well with the older cats, frequently engaging Oskar in wrestling matches - tubby Oskar being a very... err... stationary target.

Some bad news -- Late in the year, Bob was diagnosed with diverticulitus. Complications from it will lead to surgery early in 2009, although he’s expected to recover fully. Unfortuntately, issues associated with it caused us to cancel our holiday travel plans.

Otherwise, things have been rather quiet for us, which is something that we relish, as unplanned upheavals tend to nudge their way into one’s life much too often. We continue to have our monthly book group meetings, as well as weekly coffee klatches with local friends.

Here’s hoping that all of our friends and family can spend a joyous holiday with the ones that they love this holiday!

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/20032447/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/20032447/ Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:52:00 PDT
First, according to geckoman, big_danny_t, the aforementioned scarydavedc, and most of the hucksters I talked to at the con, it was a pretty lackluster affair, with the fen keeping their wallets firmly locked closed, so what I saw was probably the bottom-end of what I can expect to see at future events. Given that the tables were prohibitively expensive here (I only managed to afford it by riding in on dragonmakr's coattails), a con with more affordable tables but less attendance might be more successful, or at least equally so.

Honestly, even the sword dealer couldn't move anything. The only hucksters doing any real business were the bootleg DVD dealers, and if they can't move merch, nobody can!

I did get some good exposure and feedback. The $10 matted mini-prints were popular, the cards less so. I was able to "upsell" from the mini-prints to full-sized, unmatted prints three out of four times, and I need to do that more often as the simple prints are considerably less work and, thus, more profitable. I sold a few of the full-sized, double-matted prints, which was nice gravy as they're premium priced. I decided to get out of the t-shirts as they're bulky to transport and don't sell well. I just can't compete with the dedicated t-shirt vendors. I'm better off licensing my designs to them and letting them do the heavy lifting.

Speaking of which, I did get a little interest from one, and a lot of interest from another on doing custom t-shirt designs. Seems my style is perfect for silk-screening. With a little luck I can get a bit of side work from that angle, which is fine with me as I enjoy that sort of drawing and design work.

Overall, this first step into full-fledged artist dealer-dom was pretty successful. I suspect I can do okay at a regular sci-fi con, especially if they have me as a guest. It also increases my exposure tremendously, so even if I break even it's a worthwhile venture. And as I build up a larger variety of prints I'll probably be able to sell even more (I mean, I did all this with only eight marketable prints!). I should still hang in the art room, but with an eye towards it as an advertisement for my work in the dealer's room.

Of course, if I start doing work that ties in with dragonmakr's dragons, then we'll have a really marketable brand going, and who knows where we can go with that?

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/19923500/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/19923500/ Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:30:54 PDT
I got the cards bagged tonight. Tomorrow will be spent cutting mat board after mat board. Of course, the key is that all the mats are exactly the same size, so I should be able to knock them out relatively quickly. Still, I'm glad I have a stack of blades!

Kathryn did pretty well with my work at the spring Horrorfind show, and she only had about a third of what I'm bringing (and that show only has about a third of the attendance of this show). Plus, gas is dropping, and the fen may have a few extra quatloos in their pocket. So I'm being cautiously optimistic.

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/18015803/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/18015803/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:37:16 PDT
]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/13314927/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/13314927/ Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:17:19 PDT how they were gonna use it. But, still, wow.

If it ends up driving a little traffic to the site and I sell a few t-shirts, then that would be worthwhile!

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/13055651/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/13055651/ Tue, 22 May 2007 19:41:06 PDT

01) First name: Robert

02) Your nickname in dA: ministan

03) Birthday: Sept. 15, 1965

04) Horoscope sign: Virgo

05) Birth town: Norwich, CT

06) Religion: Something generally following the teachings of Joshua bel Joseph

07) Nationality: American

08) Parents: Joe and Rose

09) Do you love them: of course!

10) Brothers or sisters: none

11) Do you like the place where you live: pretty much... I'm one of the oddest things in it, so I can deal

12) Where would you move to live forever?: Switzerland, perhaps?

13) Color of your eyes: blue

14) Height: 6 feet

15) Weight: 265

16) What school/grade are you going to: college graduate

17) What marks do you have: I did very well in college, as opposed to HS. bleah

18) How many piercings do you have, and where are they?: none

19) What do you want to be in your life: happy

20) Your life: in flux, but relatively settled

21) Personal quote(s): hurm

22) Lucky number: dunno

23) What are you interested in: art, literature, movies, television, computers, my friends

24) Good side of your character: creative, outgoing, friendly, generous

25) Bad side of it: critical, pushy

26) Is your life happy: generally

27) Do you think that you are crazy: not terribly so

28) What is the time: 10:00 pm

29) What is the date: May 22, 2007

30) What’s the weather like: 75 and partly cloudy

31) Favourite day in a week: Friday

32) Favourite Music: Progressive

33) Singer: James LaBrie

34) Band: Dream Theater, Disturbed, Anuna

35) Song: Trial of Tears

36) Best concert you have been: Cheap Trick

37) Actress: Emma Thompson

38) Manga: anything by Alan Moore

39) Film: The Wicker Man, Tom Jones

40) TV serial: Heroes

41) Theatre play: The Fantastiks

42) Film director: Alfred Hitchcock

43) Do you want to be famous: sure!

44) Do you want to be an actor/actress: no

45) Do you want to be a singer: I wanna be a rock star!

49) Colors: green, brown, taupe

48) Flower: pretty!

49) Food: Eye-talian

50) Drink: Coffee

51) Sweet: M&Ms

52) Fruit: apples, cherries

53) The worst food: gooey stuff

54) The worst Drink: Clamato

55) Favourite singer: ever? Sinatra

56) The worst Band: anything appended "hip hop"

57) The worst Actor: Keanu Reeves

58) The worst Actress: Demi Moore

59) The worst Movie: The Phantom Menace

60) The worst book: Sphere by Michael Crichton: honorable mention goes to Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

61) Do you drink alcohol: every now and again

62) Do you smoke: no

63) Do you take some drugs: no

64) What do you adore to wear: anything with an elastic waist

65) Do you think you're pretty: I've been told I'm attractive

66) What languages do you speak: English and Fenglish

NEXT FEW SKIPPED AS THEY WERE IRRELEVANT

77) Are you in love: yesh

78) Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend: p'raps

89) How does he/she look like: ?? Like a person? odd wording here

80) Is he/she from dA (put avatar): nope

81) When was your Very First Kiss: 18

82) How was it: sweet

83) When was your Very First Sex: not too long after

84) How was it: clumsy and fumbling!

85) E-mail addess: yup

86) Do you have something against gay people: nope

87) The best experience in your life: some of the cons I've been to

88) The worst experience in your life: abuse

89) When were you the happiest: when I was 11 years old

90) Who can make you happiest when he/she tries: My good friends

91) When were you the saddest: when I was in the U.S. Navy

92) Who do you want to go on deserted island with: Somebody good at escaping from a deserted island!

93) Do you have a secret: of course

946) What would you do if you were invisible for one hour: bump into things a lot, as my eyes wouldn't work!

95) Who do you want to get stuck in a lift with: someone who knows how to f... ]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/12413414/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/12413414/ Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:57:44 PDT
[link]

Go and check it out!

And thanks to Cap'n Skusting for his excellent taste!

(and check out my overuse of exclamation points in this posting!!!)

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/12204303/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/12204303/ Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:41:27 PDT
Well, it turns out that this was merely a case of sour grapes.

I had a total blast a StellarCon. Met a bunch of new people, got treated like royalty in the art show (and got invited as a guest for next year) and even managed to sell four pieces cor cold, hard, cash.

Jim Butcher was the author guest and he was a hoot. Got him to sign three books for me, one for Carolyn, and even inscribed one to our GM (whom he cheered on, encouraging him to continue using the characters and demons from his books to slaughter our PC's. Uhm... Thanks Jim!)

Anyway, for next year my cheer shall be "SheVaWho?"

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11964288/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11964288/ Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:48:47 PST
I don't really blame the con staff. While the con wasn't necessarily a home run, it was certainly more than competently run with plenty going on, interesting panels, and entertaining guests. Inparticularl, Blair and crew did their usual bang up job on the con suite, and the art room had a lot of great pieces.

But there were no real room parties and it just had a feeling of "same ol' same'ol" to me. Never mind the fact that I didn't sell any art. Oh, and I somehow managed to have an artist I admire practically in tears while I was trying to tell her how much I liked her art. Good job, schmuckhead!

Maybe it was because I went to this con expecting great things, what with all my new pieces and whatnot, and that somehow got me in "asshole" mode, but I seemed to be doing a lot of pissing off and alienating of people whom I consider friends. It *had* to have something to do with me, because it certainly couldn't have been *all* of them!

As the final nail, my snub in the art room seemed to be complete. I've learned from an ex-staffer that, at some point in the past, I'd raised the ire of the art show director. Since then, I've done my best to be as nice, polite, friendly, helpful, and generally low maintenance as possible. And what has this gotten me? Getting stuck in the absolute back of the art room, with one-and-one-half panels. This when every, single other artist guest had a nice spread of four feature panels, even ones that had less than half the art that I did. Yay me!

I will say that one particular senior staffer did search me out and complimented me on all the new pieces, so that did make me feel better. And, as I mentioned, in general the staff was great. Heck, even said art show director was nothing but nice to me in person. And I *have* told him in the past that I didn't need four panels. So maybe I brought it all on myself.

In the end, I just cut and ran before noon on Sunday, not even saying goodbye to anyone. The way things had been going, it may have been the only way to avoid fisticuffs. Heck, I was home by 3:15, which is when I normally leave the frickin' thing!

Hopefully, Stellarcon (in two weeks) will be an improvement.

Post script: I did finally make a reality check on the art room. Most of the people in there buying art were *women,* and I can see where my current pieces wouldn't necessarily appeal strongly to that demographic. So perhaps I can adjust and re-focus accordingly.

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11845536/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11845536/ Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:25:36 PST [link]

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11621195/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11621195/ Tue, 30 Jan 2007 09:13:23 PST
[link]

As well as coffee mugs and tote bags.

The prices may seem ridiculously high but, believe me, I ain't hardly makin' nuthin' on these suckers.

Other designs available once I've sold a few of these and can afford one of their paid accounts (which allows you to have more than one design).

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11052763/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/11052763/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:43:35 PST Since I posted the card here, I thought I'd post the little letter I'll be including with it as well, since most of the people I know here on dA won't be getting a card!

Holiday greetings from the Snares - Bob and Carolyn along with their decreased brood of felines; Agatha (left), Elsa (center), and Mina (right).

The past year was a relatively quiet one on the home front, at least as far at the humans were concerned. For the cats, however, it was a bit more chaotic as we lost not one, but two of our feline brood.

In August Jiji's congenital bladder condition reached something resembling critical mass. The pill and food therapy we had her on seemed to have reached their limits and she was in constant pain.The only solution at this point was expensive, risky surgery. With a successful outcome seeming rather unlikely we girded ourselves and chose the emotionally difficult option of having her euthanized.

We like the think that the few years she had with us were good ones, as she always had plenty of love, places in the sun to rest in, and visual entertainment in the form of a picture window facing a well-stocked bird feeder. We will miss her black silhouette in our window.

In October some workmen left the door open one time too many and Gibson got out, never to return. We acquired him when he wandered to our door, a stray. So we can only hope he'd decided to move on to some other household.

Fliers posted around the neighborhood netted several phone calls about a cat which resembled Gibson. Since it didn't appear that he'd be back, we elected to adopt her and named her Elsa. While she's no replacement for Gibson, she's extremely friendly and playful, causing Mina no end of torment. So things are still quite interesting!

On the house front, we finally broke down and had not one, but both bathrooms remodelled. We really had no choice, as the upstairs bathtub was on its last legs and was about to lose the last of its tub-ly properties.

We pretty much gutted the hideous fixtures in both bathrooms and replaced them with classic, durable ones. We even went so far as to use porcelain tile in the more used upstairs bathroom. It's very nice to finally be rid of the kitschy 70's wallpaper and flooring!

And so, as we enter the holiday season healthy and happy, we wish the same to you and yours!

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10794090/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10794090/ Mon, 20 Nov 2006 21:30:57 PST
It was tough because she was so durned loveable and she did make a good companion. But between my allergies acting up and Carolyn's asthma it just became too much to manage. Never mind that the cats were spending virtually all of their time holed up under the beds due to the fact that Emma seemed to lump them into the same category as rabbits and squirrells.

In the end I found a good home for her. A very nice older woman (a widow) who lives on the other side of town had been wanting to adopt a dog for some time, but couldn't afford too. Seems the local Heritage Humane Society (HHS) requires all animals to be spayed or neutered before they let them go, which can amount to over $300! Since we'd already done all of that, plus socialized her, she had no qualms about taking her at all. I suppose it was sort of like we'd fostered her.

Anyway, Emma's new yard is almost as big as ours (and ours is ridiculously huge), and she has a nice big house to hang out in. No kids or other dogs around, but it's still a nice home for her. So, in the end, I feel pretty good about the whole affair.

So, we adopted a new cat.

After Gibson disappeared, I posted fliers all over the place hoping someone would spot him and call. While that didn't happen, I did receive several calls from people who had seen a cat they thought was Gibson. I saw said cat and, while it wasn't Gibson, it was very friendly and sociable.

It also turned out to be a stray. Over three weeks had passed since Gibson's disappearance, and it seemed likely he wasn't to return. So, it seemed as if it was our density... er destiny... to adopt this one.

I too her to HHS for a feline leukemia test (which was negative) where they were also kind enough to deworm her, treat her for fleas, and microchip her (in case she decided to pull a Gibson). Then I brought her back to the house where she very promptly made herself completely at home (much to the irritation of our resident felines but, after Emma, another cat must seem a breeze).

At the vet's the next day that judged that she was just under a year old and in otherwise good health. Since she was another tuxedo kittie, we decided to name her Elsa, after the Bride of Frankenstein. She's a tiny thing, and we're not certain if she's gonna grow any further since we're not certain of her age. She's very friendly and affectionate, not at all unlike Gibson.

Here's a quick vid I shot of her attacking the laser pointer. It's a bit dark, but I'll try to get a better one later.



Anyway, we're back up to our sub-optimal number of three critters. Is there another feline in our future? Only time will tell...

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10501637/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10501637/ Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:15:00 PDT
Well, it wasn't that simple, actually. Went to the Heritage Humane Society (HHS) to get a trap for escaped cat and saw this little teeny beagle in a cage. She was so sweet, obviously wanting to be loved but so scared.

Since she had pronounced teats I suspected that she was a "lost" hunting dog which was used for breeding. Right off, I knew that this was the canine I was destined to give a good home to.

We've got a lot of rednecks around here who keep beagles as hunting dogs. They generally treat them like shit, rarely doing anything besides feeding them and barely that come hunting season (since they think they hunt better when they're hungry).

If you're driving through the country you're bound to come across a stray beagle, part of a hunting brood that got separated from the pack, well on their way to starving since they're usually miles and miles from home. They lucky ones get picked up, brought to shelters, and adopted. The unlucky ones... well...

Anyway, this little girl was obviously one of the lucky ones. We couldn't take her home until today, as it's the policy of HHS that any animals adopted out be neutered. She went in to have the surgery today during which they discovered she was pregnant again! This was likely the second or third litter she was to have, and only barely two years old.

I picked her up after the procedure and she seemed pretty good, although still very shy. She's starting to warm up to me (she had warmed to Carolyn, and any women, more quickly) although she's not potty trained. Still, we have a fenced backyard so we should get that straightened out soon enough.

In the meantime she's confined to the kitchen, which seems to be alright. She seems happy to have a warm, secure space. She has a peculiar habit of looking expectantly at you whenever you're in the room. I finally figured out that it's because, to her, whenever people are around it's because something's going to happen... she's going to get fed, watered, looked at, etc. It'll take some time before she just accepts that we're around all the time!

Eventually, I suspect she'll settle in quite well. I'll keep everyone posted here.

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10317005/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10317005/ Sat, 07 Oct 2006 17:28:50 PDT
Pity the admins here force you to stay within a stingy 15kb limit. I've got a bigger, more colorful version up at my LJ account. I suppose I could put it up as a deviation... and maybe I will!

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10297759/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10297759/ Thu, 05 Oct 2006 19:58:12 PDT
Still, it was exactly what I wanted. Better than Gimli, anyway!

Took me forever to get this thing down below 15kb. Yeesh... and to think I used to do these animated gifs for a LIVING!

]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10033912/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/10033912/ Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:20:19 PDT
Yeesh... I need to knock myself outta this rut and get to work. Too many distractions, the day job being the worst of them. Blurgh... ]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9970644/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9970644/ Mon, 04 Sep 2006 21:13:54 PDT
Still, going out the way he did, man if that doesn't put "Don't Try This At Home" into the sharpest of contrasts. I mean he *was* a professional, and *he* got killed doing it. The rest of us poor shlubs don't stand a chance!

Requiescant in pace, Steve. I hope the croc huntin's as good in Elysium. ]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9831559/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9831559/ Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:29:04 PDT ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9648836/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/9648836/ Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:32:58 PDT
Sure, there was some tweaking that needed to be done, but overall dA worked well, was intuitive, and entertaining.

But instead they're created an entirely new site which, while it may fix old problems, will create just as many (if not more) new problems.

*sigh*... What fools these mortals be.

And to top it off, the entire thing is slow as cold molasses today. Yippee! ]]> ~ministan http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/8663673/ http://ministan.deviantart.com/journal/8663673/ Wed, 03 May 2006 15:28:10 PDT
However, I need a portfolio. So, the first ten people who contact me with their character description will get their illo done for free. The next ten will pay $25 and, after that, anything goes.

So, take advantage of this offer while the offerin's good. Otherwise you'll be kicking yourself wondering where you're gonna get that $125 when you could've had the whole thing done for free! ]]> ~ministan