MikeBrum.com

So, since I realized that I haven’t been updating here almost at all, I figure I’ll throw a few pics this way.

The first is of my new desktop image. Many of you will recognize that comging from this site with a twist from me. (fyi – the blue on the screen is glare)

The next three are pics of my desk at work. Nothing really special here, just threw those up in case anyone was curious what I do every afternoon.

Either way, enjoy.

It’s been a while since I last posted. I’ve been busy with the new job and just crap in general. Looks like I’ll have more free time for a while until I head to Ottawa/Toronto for close to a week.

Other than that, I’m still around. Drop me a message if you need me.

No, I’m not in Germany, but I did get a message from Hanno earlier today in regards to my Pop Up Window Tutorial all the way from Germany. My site doesn’t get loads of hits or anything like that. Something like 5 – 20 per day on average (some of which being from me). But it’s appreciation like this that really makes it worth it.

hello, this is hanno – sending an electic mail from berlin. i was just looking for a nice tutorial about popup – windows and after quite some time of searching did i stumble over your tutorial – and: was most positively affected by a tight stream of enthusiasm ( i call it the crazytedstream ). all the german sites about popups were boring and asthetically pretentious. your style is informative, factual and entertaining; it woke me up on a boring wednsday afternoon – thanks ted and all the best wishes from germany!

Thanks Hanno for taking the time for the great feedback – it’s greatly appreciated!

Here are pictures from my Ottawa trip.

The first 21 pics are of Turtle Island, the place that Mariah and I are getting married at this summer. It’s really nice and the pictures don’t do it justice. They’re also currently cleaning things up from the winter and it’s just going to be that much nicer come the summer! Needlessly to say – I’m very excited.

The next few pics are just of Marria, her dog (which will be our dog in a few months) and myself in various poses. They’re just there for you to be jealous because she’s so damn cute!

We took some mod pics, which are available by request. I just don’t want to throw them all up in a fully public forum such as this.

In short – we had a GREAT time when I was up there and I can’t wait to go back!

Enjoy the pics!

Ok, I took a few pics as I said I would and as I specifically promised Mariah (plus she took a couple for me and it’s only fair :)

So, FYI – the vast, vast majority of it is just grey-lined, so don’t worry about the lines in terms of thickness, etc. It’s just a guide for now. We spent an hour and a half getting the stencil just right and there’s a few more sittings to go. Plus, if things look a bit crooked, it’s probably because I had to contort my arm to get the pics and skin has that funny tendancy to twist when your limbs do.

When I can get someone else to take some pics, I will and I’m sure you’ll get some better angles and lighting than me sitting around at 2:00am. Either way, I think the piece is going to turn out GREAT! I’m so pleased with the work so far. I know there’s some odd and redundant angles… just enjoy them :)

The next sitting is planned for 5/18 for 4 hours. That will be more than enough time to finish the black work and start in on the color. After that, there should be one or two more sittings left… we’ll see how things go in May before that’s even a concern though.

So everyone… enjoy the pics!

I’m not sure exactly how long it is until my plane leaves, but I know it departs a bit before 9:00am tomorrow morning. So, somewhere in the area of 19 hours or so. Yes, I’m very excited.

So, I’m doing laundry right now and after that, just a bit of packing and I’m all done. I just hate it when people leave their clothes that are done in washing machines and driers. I just moved some guy’s stuff onto the folding table, but I’m always afriad that the person will come down after I move their stuff, get mad, and then fuck with my clothes. But I did put the two loads that were done (I had 3 loads and there’s only 4 machines and one was still going) in little piles on the table, so it’s clear that I didn’t “fuck” with anything, but you never know how people are going to react when it comes to “ownership issues”.

It’s amazingly warm today, just shy of 70 degrees last time I checked. I’m very impressed. I’m happy I get to wear shorts, even if for the next week it’s going to be a bit colder than it is here. Ah… the sacrifices.

So last Friday was my last day of work at Zurich Scudder. It was definately odd, but not horribly uncomfortable. There’s definately a few people that I’m going to miss and a few that I’m glad to see go, but it was a fun 3.5 years and I’ve learned a lot. I have no regrets and quite a few fond memories, and I’m glad to say that I’ll take those with me to my new job.

The start of my sleeve got postponed until the 18th, the day after I get back from Ottawa. I’m not pleased but it had to be done. I guess it’s better than having to worry about taking care of new ink on vacation. Nonetheless, I’m still a bit bummed.

I’m sure that I’ll still get online here and there and check email sparsely, but nowhere close to my normal frequency. So if you have something urgent, you’ll probably be able to get ahold of me one way or another.

And undoubtedly, I’ll have LOADS of pictures to share when I get back :)

Hi Dan

Well, I just got back from seeing Blade II.

I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, so I wasn’t sure to expect. Obviously, the reviewers that watched it couldn’t appreciate the vampire / action genre that Blade [I] was setting up.

Almost all (except one that I can think of) fight scenes were very well done. The CGI & effects were done remarkably well. There was a bit of “wire action”, but not so much as you would generally see in a Jet Li movie, letting you believe that a creature such as a vampire would be capable of such feats.

Another aspect that I liked about the movie was the gore. I’m not talking about the 80′s Troma style gore, but a very liberal amount of blood and CGI effects really made you wince a few times. While I’ve heard a few reviewers complain about this aspect of the movie, the only thing that I feel I need to point out is that this is a vampire movie – vampires drink blood – lots and lots of blood. It seems as if they looked over that slight detail.

The plot was very well done with a few twists. It’s not somethign that’s going to blow your mind, but it’s solid with no holes that I see.

In addition, the body art in the movie is very nicely done with a few heavy “pain rituals” in one spot in particular towards the beginning.

In short, if you liked Blade [I], then you’ll almost definately like Blade II. It takes a running jump off the foundation that Blade [I] laid down and actually has an ending phrase that doesn’t let you down. :)

Well, I woke up sometime after 2:00a randomly. I instinctively reached up to feel my septum and realized that my plug was missing. Fuckin’ great! Luckily, it was just on the bed and I found it rather quickly. Naturally, there was an o-ring missing (which I was never able to find. So, from full slumber I’m forced to find some lube and get my septum plug back in so I don’t lose any gauges (and given how my septum is, I would have been A LOT smaller if I hadn’t have noticed until morning).

So, I get everything in and all is fine so I go to my little jewelry bin to get another o-ring that might fit. So I get it on and *smack* whack the jewelry bin with my hand and 1/2 the pieces go flying all over my floor. Fuckin’ lovely.

So I try to pick up what I can and still haven’t checked it yet since it happened at 2:00am! But I think I got the important stuff. Bah – what a bitch. I really shouldn’t do ANYTHING when just woken up from sleep.

Oh- and then I slept through my alarm for a while in the morning. At least I managed to make it to work on time… barely.

So, I placed my order for my mp3 player! I’m hoping to get it by next Friday!

I ordered the Soul Player II by AVC. Check out the specs >here<

From everything I’ve heard, it’s an amazing piece of technology that really does surpass the other mp3/cd players out there right now without spending $300+ on one.

I’m currently waiting for that, my BMEShop order and some mail from Mariah to arrive. I’m thinking my BMEShop order was held up because I also pre-ordered the ModCon Book with it, but I’m not positive. I’ll do some investigating if it doesn’t show up by Monday.