Letters to Holly

Friday, April 30

Slouching Toward Bethlehem

I stopped by the print store to see a proof copy of the comics. I didn't get it. Apparently the store was swamped with impractical orders. The day before, I saw a man commandeering the constant efforts of the print-desk associate; I learned later that he had been there virtually all day (8 to 8) working on a brochure and bookmarks. That's madness.

I appreciate that I have software at home and years of experience with it to cobble together what I need before handing it to the print people. I appreciate that other people don't have this. And I thoroughly understand that many people who want a print project really have no idea what they want. Instead they know what ads they like and hope to recreate as closely as possible. Hence the gabillion "got milk" ripoffs. Also the peeing/praying Calvins.

When I arrived, I waited about half an hour before they opened up my PDFs for the first time. I watched the associate (not the poor bedraggled creature from the day before) as he imported my PDFs page by page into another document to print them. That cocked my head. My PDFs were the right size and adorned with crop marks. They were ready to print. I made an effort to reduce their efforts. That's not altruism; the less they have to do, the more it resembled what I had in mind. I learned their software requires importation and printing. No matter how I gave them my files, this step would be necessary. Seems redundant.

I was told last week that I would save money and save them time if I made the files 4.25 inches wide. I had made them 4.125 inches wide. Since then I had bumped them up to the requested size. But the associate this day said the pages were too big to easily print with my attached page numbers. After a few tries at sizing the pages correctly, I held prints in my hand of the pages and the covers. They were not attached to each other or trimmed. Still, they had the pieces and the method to start the process. The cover looked great, by the way. I did not see a proof of my monster comic, but they have a template of sorts to follow. The paper and card stocks are nice. They have two weeks from today to get it done. It's out of my hands until I get my hands on it again.

I picked up Your Sister for the latest doctor visit. Her blood pressure is good. She was worried she hadn't put on enough weight since the previous visit, but the nurse said that gain would come soon enough. Roo's heartbeat is around 130. Your Sister has trouble lying down for the heartscan, but she toughs it out. We talked to the doctor about names and the childbirth classes, and we emphasized our trust in them when gametime arrives. We go back in two weeks. They did not crank up the bellyvision. On the way home, sparked by a Facebook comment, we agreed to circumcise Roo. The science argues that it helps prevent disease, including HPV.

That reminds me that Your Sister has already ceded the birds/bees talk to me when the time comes. My notion is to tell Roo to cautiously indulge himself. It's my hope that I don't become a parent who rails against the very bachelor activities he enjoyed. I've seen one of my exes make such comments online, and it's such a drastic reversal that I wonder if she posted them after losing a bet.

After an outdoor dinner, I mowed the yard and finally hacked at the backyard bush damaged by the snows. I was pooped. She was pooped. We plopped on the couch and turned on the TV. And this greeted us:



Of course, we watched the whole thing before she adjourned to the bed and me to the workshop. I'm enjoying this languorous pace for preparing my convention materials.

Tomorrow is mom's baby shower.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

excellent. kill bill.
guess who qualified for their blue belt in bak mei style of kung fu?
bak mei, or pei mei, translates to white eyebrow...and the character of bill's and the bride's master in the films is based on the guy who started that style way back when.

yup. so now i'll start weapons work! wohoo! such a great stress relief from school.
have a great weekend.

Gregory said...

Wait, wait, wait, you study it? Why have I not heard this before?