The Comic is Finished!

Over the past few months, I've been taking a comics class at Meltdown Comics, and I've finally completed a 12-page comic! 'Escape From Camp Artemis' is about a sheltered homeschooled girl who is forced to go to camp, and plans an escape with one of her fellow campers.

Copies of the comic should be available for sale at Meltdown by the beginning of next week.

You should also feel free to call/email/message me if you would like a copy; I will be more than happy to send one your way.

Preparing to Fly

I have been planning my May-June trip for so long, that it is hard to believe that it is coming up quickly. In fact, it is little more than one month before I make the flight to Brussels. However, I have been doing my best to make preparations and ensure the trip goes smoothly.

I've had flights and hotels lined up for months, and I just recently got train tickets. I also bought tickets to the Van Gogh museum and Anne Frank house in order to avoid the lines there. I've got travel guides loaded into my Kindle, and some travel videos on my iPhone.

I've also loaded my phone up with some apps to help me get around. I have some transit guides, and some translators as well. Although I am guessing that I could get by using my English, pantomime, and awkward grin skills, it is reassuring to have the translator app handy just in case. The apps are, of course, not perfect, but between the general translator and the two phrase guides, I should be able to navigate any problems that arise.

There is really not much left to do, beyond creating lists of priorities, reviewing maps, and thinking of possible day trips and other excursions. I want to make sure to have a fairly good idea of what I want to do, so I don't end up wasting my time or backtracking. Nonetheless, I don't want to lock myself into a tight schedule; I'd worry that any disruptions to a meticulously worked-out schedule would leave me feeling very disappointed and frustrated.

In any case, I am looking forward to this trip! It will be wonderful to have a change of scenery, and to take myself away from my daily routines and responsibilities. I am excited to explore, and to learn about what Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark have to offer!

Dinner Party I: Codfish with Herbed White Wine Sauce

I haven't had much experience cooking. When I was growing up, I didn't have to take care of meals, and I don't have much motivation to try and cook an entire meal while I'm living on my own. I thought that it would be a fun project to set up some dinner parties with friends, and use the opportunity to test out some new recipes. This Saturday, I had my first dinner party!
These recipes are all from Martha Stewart's webpage. Without further ado, here are the recipes, along with my thoughts about making the dishes.
Saturday, April 16
Guests of Honor: Monica and Michael
The main dish was codfish with a white wine sauce, which was complimented by a mixed vegetable dish and a side of potoatoes.

From App to Zzzz...

One of my favorite new iPhone apps is the Sleep Tracker. It uses the phone's motion sensors to provide a rough estimate of how deeply a person is sleeping at a given time.
It works as an alarm, which is timed to activate at the period (within a designated 30 minutes) when one is most alert and likely to respond.
As an added bonus, it keeps a record of a person's sleep cycles for a given night, making it possible to track, in a more objective sense, how well a person has been sleeping. Obviously, the measurements are pretty rough, and it's not like this app is capable of reading brainwaves, but I still am excited to see the results.
I tend to be a night person, and struggle in the mornings, so I'm hoping this tool will help me to address my problem.
Finding Number One: It looks like I am not getting enough hours of sleep.
Finding Number Two: I kind of knew that already.

No Longer a Luddite

I've been wanting to upgrade my cellphone for a long time now; it's gotten to the point where smartphones are so ubiquitous that an old-school phone poses disadvantages. I was hoping to upgrade sometime after my trip in May, but wanted to hold on to the old phone for a little while longer. And then, I spilled tea on my old phone, completely disabling it...
I spent 20-odd days without a phone, which created some minor complications, given that people tend to rely so much on cellphones. Fortunately, my Kindle has (free) 3G networking and a primitive browser, so I still had a way of staying in touch while on the go. If nothing else, my phoneless state forced me to become a little more punctual, which is never a bad thing.
I finally joined the iPhone club on Wednesday, and have been enjoying the new gadget. While I've owned an iPod Touch for years, and the iPhone is pretty similar, the iPod is old enough that many of the newer apps are no longer compatible. Plus, it lacked certain capabilities, such as the ability to take snapshots or play podcasts.
In any event, it's nice to have the full use of the device when I'm not tethered to a wireless connection; since I'll always have a map and easy access to email and Facebook; it'll allow me to make more spontaneous plans or last-minute changes.
I do look forward to playing around with the phone's functions a little more. I've gone on something of an app shopping spree, and have found some fun and useful programs. I'm also starting to get into podcasts for the first time, and am enjoying the wealth of free information and entertainment out there.
And it'll be nice to talk to people on the phone, I suppose.

How to Create a Stained Glass Piece

I enrolled in a stained glass class this Fall. Here is how I put my piece together:
I started by picking out a design; because this is a beginning class, we didn't have enough experience to create our own. The designs were traced onto thick paper, and the pieces of the design were cut out with two-bladed scissors.
Next, we picked out the glass we wanted to use, traced the outlines of the component pieces onto the glass, and used our glass cutting tools. The tools included a glass cutter (which was oiled before being used), and a few different tools which were used to break the glass once the original cut had been made. Some glass was more textured, and was therefore harder to cut.

Once the basic cuts had been made, the pieces were refined and made to fit together with the help of a grinder. A grinder is a spinning piece of hard metal (with a sponge attached to keep it from getting dry and causing damage). It allows you to wear down a piece of glass in a controlled manner.
Starting from the bottom corner, each piece is smoothed out, and made to fit relatively closely with the other pieces. It is an arduous process, but, as the grinding process continues, the piece begins to resemble its final form.

After the glass has been cut and fitted together, I started lining the individual pieces with a flat strip of copper.
Using the specialized device, I placed the edge of a piece of glass in the center of the wire, and moved the glass around until the entire edge was coated with the copper.
I took a roller to flatten the copper, and used an X-acto knife to cut the pieces of copper that stuck out. Once I was done, I placed each piece in its proper place in the design.
Finally, I was ready to solder the pieces of glass. Solder is a mixture of tin and lead which binds to the copper, but not the glass itself.
I started by soldering the 'joints' on one side of the piece. I covered the areas with flux (a mild acid which allows the copper to bind to the solder). Then, I took a spool of solder, pressed a hot iron against the metal, and allowed the molten metal to fuse to the piece.
Then, I soldered all of the 'lines' on one side of the piece (except for the edges, where the frame would go). After waiting for the side to cool off, I did the same on the other side. I cleaned up the piece, added a frame, and added a copper finish on top of the solder.
To add some final polish, I wiped the piece off with a waxy cleanser.

More than Kindle, and Less than Kind

I've been curious about e-readers for a while. Since I have a trip coming up, and didn't want to pack a lot of travel books, a reader became an increasingly attractive prospect. So, once I heard about the new Kindle, I figured that "it was time" and snapped one up.
I've spent the last week getting a handle on the device, and, while it won't completely replace traditional books, it has many advantages. I'm glad I have a Kindle to carry around, and I expect to read many more books on it.
Pros:

• It's easier to carry around, and easier to read on a whim. This is especially true with respect to larger books. I can make a point of carrying the Kindle around with me where I go, and can decide to start a new book at any time. If I wanted to start reading a given printed book, I'd have to be more deliberate about it.
• E-books are searchable, which is a valuable feature with certain kinds of books, like reference books.
• It is easy to get cheap, or even free, versions of out-of-copyright classics.
• Books in general are cheaper.
• The Kindle encourages reading; when I have a small library at my fingertips, I'm more likely to read when I have a free minute, and less likely to do something less edifying with my time.
• There are some books I don't want to keep around forever, and I don't have to feel guilty about deleting them. (and I can get them back for free if I want to)
• There are costs to owning a physical object (like a DVD, CD, or book), and it's nice to "own" a book, and have access to it at any time, without having to carve out space for it, organize it, or move it around.
• I like being able to underline texts or make notes without "defacing" the book.
• I like the e-ink technology used by Kindle. It more or less mimics a printed page, and it's nicer to read than a backlit screen (especially since I spend way too much time in front of backlit screens).

Cons:

• Traditional books engage the spatial part of my mind in a way that an e-book simply couldn't. After reading a printed book, I can flip through, and remember the place where a favorite passage was, or where a certain plot development occurred. I can, of course, perform a search on an e-book and find what I need, but I can't interact with the book as an object. 
• It is easy to share paper books. I'm not sure that it's possible to share your e-books without lending your reader.

Ultimately, I think I'll rely more and more on the Kindle for my everyday reading, but I would still like to get "traditional" paper copies of the books I deem special. If nothing else, I'm glad that the Kindle is getting me more engaged in books and reading, and I hope that I can maintain my level of interest.