Letters to Holly

Friday, January 15

Not Quite.

The docs declined to crank up the ultrasound machine, but Your Sister is fine. The office was happy with the blood pressure, urine tests, and weight. She's put on six pounds in the last month. The baby's heartbeat, which we heard, is fine, and we go back in two weeks for what they're calling "the anatomy." They'll do a range of tests, and we should learn what we're carrying. The doctor mentioned the option of various tests, and we passed. We're going to term unless the scanner shows us something dangerous to Your Sister. The doctor mentioned the arbitrary nature of defect probabilities and noted the risks were there but slight, even for old folks like us. We're inviting My Mom to the next appointment, and Your Mom will be invited to the next one. Oh, Your Sis was given Midrin for her headaches, which were described as hormonal.

Mom is beginning Zoloft today. Her doc said she needs a little help dealing with everything of the past two years. He and I agree that she needs to break her routine and get out of the house. I seemed to have talked her into seeing a movie this weekend, and she does still intend to travel this summer. Spring will be here soon, and that will help. She agreed to come up for the appointment so long as there's not ice blizzard tornado that day.

The website is up, simple and plain. I can't get the mouseovers to behave.

Picture of the Day
A lesson in Legos.

Thursday, January 14

Oh. Right.

I had the idea to start a Flickr page to work around the page limit of my new website. Imagine my surprise when I learned I already had a Flickr page set up, and it included the anthology comic I did last spring. I completely forgot. I don't have an email detailing when I signed up and with what password. Wait ... I just figured it out. I have access to the page now.

I started digitally inking a sketch last night. It isn't faster yet, but it will save me time on digitally repairing the traditional inks. I hope to post the image by the weekend on FB.

We have our appointment today, and I'm groundlessly hoping we can get scanned and learn the sex. I continue to fight the inclination to yearn for one gender over another. It's not fair to anyone.

Picture of the Day
Dr. Hoodie Robot, can you see the golden child?

Wednesday, January 13

She Has A Point

Me: "So I got a call from GoDaddy.com tech support today. My site was flagged as a sex site, and they wanted to know what was up."

Her: "GoDaddy was worried?"

Me: "Yeah."

Her: "The people who advertise with the girls in jumpsuits talking about their 'enhancements' are worried about people making sex sites?"

Me: "Yeah. Apparently Heygregory looks like heytherebigboy."

Her: "So what will your sex site offer?"

Me: "Imagine the tips for dumb husbands in our baby book. My tips will be for the prequel."

I called them today for a tech question, and they fixed it immediately. Their ad campaign is dopey, but the service is fantastic.

I think Your Sis is suffering from the dry air. The headaches and traces of sinus blood parallel the heater's recent workout. We use a humidifier in the bedroom to help. I don't think the head problems are pregnancy related, but we'll mention them tomorrow. Since they're not doing a scan, we'll get our money's worth by burying them in minutiae. Although if we can bully them into a scan, and we do find out the baby's sex, we'll broadcast it.

Picture of the Day
This is why kayaking is preferable.

Tuesday, January 12

Shifting

My website was hosted by GeoCities since the mid-'90s. GeoCities closed in September after nicely warning their customers for months on end. The comic convention will list websites in their program and website, goosing me to get to work. My old site is kaput. I will build a new one and leave the personal material to FaceBook.

I decided to host a site at GoDaddy. It has good prices and is large enough to offer decent tech support. I had no idea how good it was until this morning. I've been a customer for less than 24 hours, and they called me to get my site on the right footing. It's so unheard of that I still suspect it might have been a scammer calling to steal my site or ID. My site was somehow flagged as a sex site, and I had to explain its real intent (and content). The site is currently a one-page greeting for now, but I should get everything online by the end of the month.

I've also scripted the first mini designed specifically for the convention. I hope to experiment with digital artwork this weekend. I used my PC tablet to draw repairs on the comic I did for the high-school arts magazine, and it was not only quick but fun. I want to have that energy for the convention material creation. I was told this morning that I can't sit with the publisher at the con; the tables around theirs are reserved. We won't be that far away, and I can practice working on my own for a while. It's been a quick succession of decisions since Friday, starting from "maybe I'll go" to "how many comics can I make and sell at my own table." Golly.

Your Sister is bedeviled by headaches, and I blame her grading posture. She curls on the couch and strains her eyes with sunlight reflected off the yard glaciers. It may also be work stress, but there's no sign that it's related to pregnancy. I try to relax her when I see her brow furrow about work matters. "Don't boil Roo," I warn. She needs help sometimes getting off the couch and off the bed, depending on her positions.

Picture of the Day
This photo wasn't labeled, and I initially thought the woman was in the cockpit of a blimp. By the joystick of the pilot looks a tad too modern for that. His cap and haircut say '60s to me.

Monday, January 11

New Things

School was canceled Friday due to a dusting of snow Thursday night. Exams are now pushed back a week, and teachers noted this with much relief.

We begin Week 17 today. Your Sis is a tad rounder. But then we're stuck inside all day. I'm probably a tad rounder too. We learned only recently that this week's doctor's appointment will not include a new ultrasound, meaning we have to wait another month to discover the sex. That's deflating. That will happen, we hope, four weeks later, and we're inviting My Mom to come along.

Your Sis is changing snacks and will now try peanut butter and celery. Also, clementines were bought. She's moved away from grapefruit for now.

Within two says of each other, I was asked to take part in online comic projects. One is a story told with via page posted online per month. The other is a journal comic. Then I discovered Asheville is hosting a comic convention in May. The prices for artist tables is dirt cheap ($35/50 per table), and I have decided to slap together minicomics to sell. I'm going to work a table for my stuff. But I since learned my publisher will have a table there. I will contact him to see if he wants to meld tables for the show. I'll also give him the first opportunity to print my stuff. If he passes, I'll do it myself. The con is holding a poster contest, and I want to give that a shot too. There's a money grand prize. My publisher is probably going to enter as well, and I'd like to show him up in the spirit of friendly competition.

The NFL Bet
We blew it. All of our teams are now kaput. Your Sister adopted the Arizona Cardinals again during last night's game. She wants old QB Kurt Warner to succeed.

Picture of the Day
Another new item in the grocery store: Buddha hand. I hadn't seen it before. I'm amazed at what we sometimes find in this yokel burg.