Category Archives: Sunday’s Rant

My Current Style

So there are rules that I must follow when I make a comic. Naturally because they’re my rules, I can change them on a whim, but the rules are about consistency, and that consistency becomes the style. So for today’s rant, I thought I’d just pontificate on the style of my comic.

Since late 2005 my panels had consisted of a thick black border that the speech bubbles could overlap. Sometimes, like in yesterday’s panel, The border becomes just a background. Usually I only do this for holiday promotions, but it’s not a hard and fast rule.

The speech bubble tail has to point to the speaker’s mouth. I read somewhere once that it only has to point to their head. Oh no. That tail needs to point to the mouth or it just looks really sloppy.

The text is my own font. I hope you like it. I’ve only been working on it for the past 13 years. For some reason, I never thought the comic looked right using all capital letters. I’m usually quite fastidious about spelling and grammar.

The character shading is something that evolved from a tutorial on how to create a mercury puddle effect in Paint Shop Pro. It’s the same concept but handled in a different way because the original method wouldn’t scale to higher resolutions. This stylistic shading has become my signature technique, and it’s even fooled some people into believing 3D software was involved.

Speaking of 3d software, a few years ago I started fooling around with the editor in the Cube 2 engine, aka “Sauerbraten“. By the end of 2011, I switched to using screenshots of my designs.

I don’t always use the screenshot sets though. Occasionally I use a shaded cube background for when the setting isn’t really all that important or I’m just being lazy. It’s also a thing where I’ll just leave it black for that borderless look.

And now that leaves me with the last thing I’ll mention: The follow up text below the comic. Honestly I should know better. The comic should stand on its own, but for some reason I feel compelled to elaborate. It’s gotten to the point that sometimes the comic doesn’t make sense unless you read the exposition. I really need to work harder on avoiding that.

So that’s about all I’m going to write about for today. What other stylistic characteristics do you think exemplifies “Pathos in the Plumbing”? I’d love to hear what any of you have to say.

Pax,

-f2x

Staycation

If you’re in the service industry, you probably have to work most holidays, but I work in manufacturing, so I get Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving off every year. So it occurred to me that I could use three vacation days and take that whole week off! Bare in mind that there are also the weekends on either side of said week, so it stretches my time off to nine days.

“Are you going anywhere?” my coworkers would ask.

“Yeah. Home,” came my terse reply.

Of course that doesn’t mean that I won’t be doing anything. I have a lot of work around the house, things to do on this site, chores to do for my father, and let us not forget that Thanksgiving doesn’t happen all by itself. I’ll be making deviled eggs and peeling potatoes for my aunt, so I’ll be busy, busy, busy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pax,

-f2x

I’m Not Sure We’re Reaching Our Target Audience

I don’t visit this site like the rest of you. I open a hidden page where I can log on to add more jokes and comics. While I’m there, I can look at the stats to see how many people are visiting the site. Lately, there’s been an increase in the number of times that this site has been unreachable. There’s also been a correlational decrease in the visitor stats.

I can’t tell for sure because I’m not testing the site every ten minutes, but I’m starting to suspect server downtime is having a bad influence on my numbers. People can’t get through, so they stop coming.

This makes me sad for a couple of reasons. #1) I’m paying out good money to my webhost and getting spotty service. #2) If no one is visiting, then why bother? I could just as easily run a tumblr page.

You know what I’d really like to do? I’d like to go back to running my own webserver right here at the house. The biggest problem with that is the fact that I haven’t done it since 2005, and I’m not really sure how to do it anymore. There’s also the potential for even more down time since there aren’t any highly reliable low cost to free dynamic DNS services.

Anyway, I’ll have to get busy and weigh my options. Renewal is coming up right after Christmas, so if I’m going to do this, it has to be before then.

Pax,

-f2x

That Generation

I hope you don’t mind… I’m going to take a moment to vent a little. To give context, I work for a company where the overwhelming majority is in their late 50’s to late 60’s. While some of them are generally wonderful people, there’s more than a handful that say and do things that a Christian couldn’t fathom, yet these people staunchly identify themselves as Christians.

“We was raised to show respect.”

It’s with palpable irony that this phrase is frequently uttered without a hint of any respect for the person it’s directed at. Their platitudes and other thought terminating clichés have stirred up the violent and the stupid. They polarize then politicize nearly every concept, then make it a contest to see how absurdly far that they can take their assertions. It usually reaches its peak when someone suggests “They ought to take those people out back and have’em shot!” The rest of the clique nods in satisfied agreement as an air of smugness fills the room. The lack of compassion is nauseating.

I guess I can take solace in the fact that in about a decade or two, their influence and numbers will be drastically reduced, and in three decades they’ll pretty much all be dead and forgotten. The “Me generation” and all their narcism will serve only as a cautionary tale about the shameful deed of killing your own soul.

May God have mercy on them, because history will not be kind.

Pax,

-f2x

Car Care Conundrums

Back in 2009, as the world was crumbling around me, my late grandfather’s Chevy Cavalier had crossed a threshold I could no longer abide. I forget what the quoted repair cost was going to be, but there were enough things wrong with the vehicle that I basically signed over the title to have it scrapped. Shortly thereafter, I found a late ’90s Plymouth Breeze for $3000. Sporting power windows, power mirrors, and cruise control, it was a very modest step up from the Cavalier.

Three and a half years later, that Breeze was running rough. Rather than hassle with car repairs, I enlisted the help of my father, a former car salesman, to help me find another $3000 sedan. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that I would consider a GMC Envoy that had an asking price of around $8000, but my father encouraged me to try it out. After the test drive in which the “Service Engine Soon” light came on, I offered them $4150 and they took the offer.

So back to the Breeze. About six months later the Breeze was still rusting behind my house. I decided to take it down to “AAMCO Total Car Care” because they were only two miles away and I could easily walk home after dropping off the car. Basically I wanted to know if it was worth fixing. A few days later I got a call from the manager. It was the way he said it, “For what it is, it’s not in bad shape.” He gave me the rundown of everything thing that needed to be done. The total cost was around $700.

I got my Breeze back a couple weeks later, and it was running as good as when I bought it. That’s when the Breeze became my beater.

Months and years passed by. With a certain degree of regularity, I had to limp the Breeze back to the AAMCO for repairs, but this time was different… The price tag was a daunting $1250 for the repairs. There comes a point that you have to walk away, and this was borderline. Reluctantly I approved the repairs and the Breeze seemed like everything was OK again.

Four days later, I had barely driven the car a hundred miles when I heard a knocking sound. Then there was the sound of demons emerging from the bowls of hell coming from under my hood. I’m not a mechanic but right then I knew: “Water pump.”

The next day I took the vehicle back to AAMCO dripping coolant along the way. I couldn’t believe that after all that money spent on the previous repairs, it immediately broke down again. My emotions were swirling as I left the Breeze at the AAMCO. If I walk away now, that $1250 would have been for nothing.

So the water pump actually comes as part of a “kit” that replaces a bunch of stuff. All the belts, including the timing belt, the tensioner, labor, and a few other things came to $730. I nearly cried.

It was late Thursday, and the Breeze was finally ready to come home. I climbed into the car, adjusted the driver’s seat, and started the engine. It sounded pretty much like it always does… but different. More confident. As I pulled off the lot, the engine really had a new lease on life. It felt like a much newer car. The ride was amazing.

The real question on my mind is, “Was it worth it?” I mean, if I had originally been given a figure of $1980, I would have walked away and scrapped the Breeze, but splitting it up like that… Oh, and it’s not like the mechanics planned it that way. There’s no way anyone could have predicted the moment water pump would fail even though the car has 170,000 miles on it. It ran fine up until it didn’t.

But since the timing belt is new, the engine seems so much smoother. Also, the original repairs included an alignment and new drum brakes, so it handles like a champ… But that’s still an awful lot of money to put into a 20 year old car. What I’d like to know is at what point do I actually say enough is enough, and sell the car for scrap?

Pax,

-f2x

Learning from Limits

So I mentioned in one of my earlier comics that I cancelled my home internet service. I’m actually a heavy internet user, so this left me with a serious problem. From an economic point of view, wireless data plans are not viable for long term, and Spectrum is the only landline option currently available in my area. So I figured I’d cancel Spectrum, “up” the wireless data plan, use the phone as a hotspot, and after a few months, crawl back to spectrum as a new customer.

It had only been 15 days, and I thought I’d check. Spectrum was already willing to take me back as a NEW customer! That means my internet cost dropped from $60 per month down to just $45. Since I’m still using my old modem I’m limited to 40mbps down and 11 up. That’s actually far better than before, and as far as I’m concerned, that will do quite nicely.

And in the nick of time too! I had used up all my LTE data. I was facing the next 14 days of 2G (128kbps) speeds. Even on it’s lowest setting, I don’t think you could watch Netflix.

So in about 12 months, remind me to cancel my service with Spectrum. My $45 a month deal only lasts for a year before it jumps to $65. Maybe by then wireless carriers will be more viable, but I doubt it. Still they’re a great “go to” to get your land line provider to drop their price back to a respectable figure.

Pax,

-f2x

Back to the Menial Surfdom

Do you remember when I mentioned that promotion? Well, now I’m demoted back to my old position. It was actually per my request. Here’s the scoop:

When I applied for the position, I thought I’d get along great with my new coworkers… Well I was half right. I got along great with my new boss… but the other guy… Let’s just call him “Martin” (not his real name)… While we seemed to get along on the surface, I really couldn’t stand working with “Martin”.

Of course when I asked for my old job back, I gave the supervisor a different reason because even though I didn’t like working with “Martin”, he’s not a bad guy, and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. After all, it wasn’t his fault that I didn’t like working with him, and the guy who was “next in line” likes working with “Martin”. It seems everything worked out for the best after all.

Look, I already don’t like to work. I’ve said it many times that if I didn’t have to work for a living, I wouldn’t. Since I have to work for a living 5 to 6 days a week, it better not be something that makes me miserable. Working with Martin made me feel miserable, so it wasn’t worth the extra money.

Oh, and there’s a silver lining… The guy in charge of my department will be retiring in the next 3 to 6 years, and guess who’s the company’s #1 pick to replace him?

That would be me, sweetheart.

Pax,

-f2x

Drawing a Blank

It’s a little embarrassing when this happens, but it does. It’s not that there isn’t a lot to talk about, or my muse has taken leave. I’m just really busy right now with things. What kind of things? Well it’s the usual everyday things I’ve alway had to deal with, but these days there seems to be less time to take care of them.

So with all that’s going on, I can’t seem to come up with anything to talk about right now. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

Just wanted to point out something about that filler panel up there. That’s the “new and improved” Brandon. Looks kinda like the old Brandon, but the shading and texturing is done differently. I’m still working on it, but once I get it all done, it should have a cleaner, more professional appearance. Heck, even the couch and lampshades got upgraded.

Pax,

-f2x

Running a little behind

So yesterday (Saturday) morning I woke up to another stunning headache. Of course no one knows what’s causing these migraines, but the thing that really gets me is that they typically happen on my days off. This time is was so bad I threw up. It kind of pisses me off, because I had shit to do, and I’m left completely incapable of even basic tasks.

I was kind of busy all last week, what with work and all. It was the end of the month, so mostly 10 hour days. Something I’ve noticed lately… No matter what, I spend at least two hours in the kitchen every day. In any event I had pushed back doing the comic until the weekend, and Friday I was so tired I figured I do it first thing in the morning… And then I got the migraine. It lasted until well into the afternoon. Believe me when I tell you that looking at a screen with a migraine is like stabbing out your eyes with steak knives.

Not to change the subject, but I just noticed that it’s Sunday the 1st. That means there’s going to be a Friday the 13th soon. It’s not that I’m superstitious, but the yokel locals tend to run amok when these sorts of things occur. C’est la vie.

Pax,

-f2x

Throwing in the Towel

Two months ago there was an opening in the shop where I work. It was a step up from my usual thing, and the pay was higher to boot. I put in my bid, and on account of my 20 years of seniority, I got the position. I finally felt as though I had “arrived”.

At first, things were OK. I learned a lot, and I thought I was going to fit in well. Unfortunately there were a few things that just didn’t seem like they were working out. Then there was an “incident”. No one got hurt or anything, but it freaked me out.

Everyone kept telling me that it’s happened to everyone in this job, and even though I knew that it did, I just felt very uncomfortable being in that position. The next day I asked for my old job back, the day after that, I made it a little more clear that I wanted my old job back. They gave me my old job back.

So there you have it. I gave it a shot, it wasn’t for me, and I threw in the towel.

Pax,

-f2x