1.) a design agency told me to “just use AI” to help flesh out the 16 other pieces to their 18 piece project, which they are doing, for money. And because I don’t have a huge library of my own images I turned to Microsoft CoPilot to produce them, and it worked ok. Some look a touch janky, but I’m under the gun, and I don’t have weeks to produce images myself. I feel icky.
2.) The children were playing in the basement with friends the other day and I found several 3d printed additions to my D&D / wargaming table (snakes no less!) and it was very thematic. I’ll allow it! I liked it so much I took some pictures to capture the mood.
The gulg gets a nasty surprise! (Fig 1.)What awaits you on the trails that take you around the gulg? (Fig 2.)
Now I need to turn my attention to all the new snow we got last night, and of which we have more coming later on today. Enough already with the snow! I bet the skiing folks are happy as clams this year. The season started in November, and will likely carry over until at least early to mid March. My eldest Girl Guide troop is snowboarding next week, so if it can stick around until then, we’ll all be very grateful, otherwise it can fuck off from whence it came!
I have a good chunk of work to do today, so I’ll not keep you much longer. Ciao Bella.
A blazing minus twenty eight this morning. The vehicles had to think real hard about starting after sitting for so many hours in this cold. Even 8 had to sit and consider my life choices when it came time to venture out of doors. To save myself the trouble I put the trash, and the green bin down on the curb yesterday evening before the full throated effects of this cold had settled in. Still had to go out with a third bag of trash this morning though. That was a brisk walk with some pep in my steps!
This Tuesday feels like it should be Thursday. That happens when I work through the weekend after a second very busy week. That means meaty invoices to go out on Friday, which is a good thing. Otherwise I was yawning and tired, ready to go back to bed by four pm yesterday afternoon. I like a good amount of paid work, but not too much, and certainly not all at once with long lulls in between, but in this economy I can’t be too choosy.
On the upside it is sunny with a baby blue sky!
Look at all that clear blue! (Fig 1.)
If our dog walking pals don’t show up shortly we’re just going to walk ourselves and head home, in our of the cold. Brrrr. Miserable cold. It’s ugly. No chance the kids have outdoor recess today with it feeling like this.
No need to be embarrassed, you are so far off the radar that no one is looking at you, they are all wrapped up worried about other people looking at them to notice you. Isn’t that great news? No need to stress yourself out about it any more. As a teen in the 90’s you are unencumbered by the cell phone video surveillance epidemic that the current youth face. You are free to try new things, explore, be creative, dress differently, and dance like idiots and there will never, ever be any photographic evidence of it, unless you decide to pose for a photograph. Camcorder units were large, expensive, and not all that easy to come by for us middling to poor folks in rural Ontario. There will be no lasting images of how you dance, dress, speak, or work. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Also all those peers whose opinion you were so afraid of, you do not see a single one of them again after the 2000’s are done. Life is pretty great for you.
Oh! By the way, Yes you do have Crohn’s Disease, no it isn’t Celiac Disease. Go on meds, and exercise.
Turns out you enjoy Olympic lifts, and indoor climbing a fair bit more than roller blading, skateboarding, and cycling. Dump the highschool girlfriend(s), work on yourself, and try not to be frivolous with money, so you can actually enjoy both College, and later on University.
Be kind to yourself, be generous but not a push over. Don’t bother to smoke, even for just that one summer. Wait on the weed until it comes out in reliable gummy format, your throat / lungs will thank you. Try a bit harder to pick up the fundamentals of the guitar, and fight harder to keep on playing the trombone once your folks move when you’re fourteen years old. Keep up with the musical theatre (it’s a real hoot).
Not off to a particularly auspicious start for Team Canada, but they’ve held the USA to a one point deficit, so not completely terrible. I would be happier to see Team Canada tie up this game before the final thirty seconds of the third period. I’d rather this not go to OT. We will have to wait and see. I got up early for this, so I’m drowsy, and feeling a bit grumpy to boot!
I believe today is the last day for the winter Olympics, so there should be a closing ceremony on television at some point tonight. Oh… Team Canada power play coming up, LFG!!
Lost in OT, with some disappointing game play during the final minutes. Taking line changes instead of following the puck in the charge to the net. Lacklustre. Lackadaisical. Generally lacking all around. Whiffing on the puck – twice, on break aways (looking at you McDavid). Lost the gold to take home silver, same as the women’s team. Better luck next time.
Well who TF asked for that!?! Where am I going to find the space to put ten more days of accumulated snowfall? Add in the fact it has rained twice in the last few days, and we have a real mess on our hands. The previous snow banks are now hardened ice blocks, with no give to them. It is going to take a substantial effort to get the driveway, and the walks, plus the back patio & deck sorted out after ten more days of snow. That still only puts us into very early March, which means we can still get even more snow. I am over it. I’m so very tired. If flames would work on snow, and not set the house ablaze I would spend a day washing it all down with a blow torch or a flame thrower! Has some restrictions on use around these parts, but perfectly fine to use as an agricultural tool against weeds, and invasive plant species. Not so cool near cars, and the house, with a forty foot gout of liquid flames and super intense heat. I want to be rid of the snow, not char bricks, and boil off the paint on my cars. I’m sure it would feel very cathartic to lay waste to all this snow though. If I had a suitable heat shielding that is.
Saturday is here, same with more snow. I had a very busy week, and it looks as though next week, and the week after that are going to be pretty intense too. Invoices going out are a good thing! Means money coming in, and that’s very important given the times we find ourselves living in.
Funnily enough I just watched a report that shows just how poorly AI does real life work tasks, and in each case the best AI LLM service succeeded just 3.75% of the time, regardless of the brief it was served, and the desired outcome of the task requested. I’m happy to see AI crash & burn, and fail. Much like Meta, and AR glasses. If anything we should go back to more analog tech that can’t corrupt other things around it. No word ending bugs come from a type writer. Beyond a harshly worded letter.
Because my week was so very full I did not manage to finish my Warhammer 40K omnibus. I have one novel, and one short story left to go, but once finished that adds three novels, two novellas, and a short story to my reading challenge. I jump ahead by a good margin if I can finish these last four hundred pages in a timely manner.
Wednesday was a bit of a wash, we certainly did get nearly seven inches of snow, but the freezing rain portion of the snow day, was a total bust. Today however it is zero degrees and full on raining. Was to be a light drizzle, but I can hear it tap tap tapping on the car roof. It’s a fairly hardy rain this morning. A touch of the grey gloom hangs upon the air. We’re at the farm ready to go walk in it, just waiting to hear if our dog walking duo are still coming over. Otherwise we’ll do a truncated loop and get home in our of the rain. Preferably before it begins to freeze over. Sheets of ice aren’t much fun to drive on with people anxious about being late for work!
Pitter patter on the windshield. (Fig 1.)
I can only imagine that the creek in the valley below is opening up in multiple spots due to all this running water. No longer safe to go tubing down the back hill and attempt to cross the creek in one fell swoop. Will have to break before the creek drop off or chance an icy swim in four feet of water, and an under current below the ice. Not favourable conditions for kids under the age of eight. So we will steer clear of the creek for now.
We did it! Made it to Friday in one piece (at least so far, it’s still early in the day). But I feel slightly less stressed out, which means a clearer perspective, and a better frame of mind. The weather tipping back towards cold and snow/ice hasn’t done my mood any favours, but it is February still so I have to get real and deal with it. Not like it’s April 10th or anything like that. We’ve got miles to go yet before we can be reasonably sure that snow is no longer an option. Next we’ll be sick of the rains in April. Ha. Never happy. Too hot. Too cold. Too wet. Too dry. Pick a lane! Sheesh.
I hope you all have a restful weekend, and a cathartic end to your work week. Short weeks always feel so long. Funny how that works. Take care.
Having the kids home for two additional days this week didn’t help me out all that much. Could have done without the extra six inches of snow, not the two bouts of shoveling that followed. I’m tired, and I have a long way to go before EOD Friday before I can relax. Dog walk was held up by snow plows, and farm hands running about the grounds with gigantic snow blowers on tractors scaring the dogs. Not my ideal morning. It’s cold again, there’s more snow than ever piled up every which way, and I’m feeling a tad grumpy. Not ideal! Best get to work though before even more stuff piles into my inbox.
It’s been go go go all day today. I’ve had more emails today than for all of November, December combined. It’s been a real blur of a day. Still more things to go back to and edit, but I’m ok with that – for now. Looks as though I’ll have a very full day tomorrow, and likely a new big project to kick off on Monday (though if that wanted to wait an extra few days I wouldn’t complain).
Hard to believe it is Thursday afternoon already. The new snow is melting under the ever so slightly stronger sun. We are definitely drawing closer to the first day of spring. You can feel it in the rays of light. A sense of warmth where there had been little to none in the minus twenty five degree cold snap we had for six or seven weeks there.
Looks like I’ll be helping friends reassemble their furniture on Saturday after their move. Glad to not have to lift things, just assemble them! A bit more technical, but far less physical. I’m all for it. I’ll bring my tool bag, and my knee pads, perhaps a impact driver, and I should be all set to help out for a few hours. Maybe we’ll get beers & pizza! Who knows!?!
Luckily no dogs were harmed by tractors, plows, or snow blowers on our walk this morning. That’s a big plus in my book. Wouldn’t want to have to pick bits of fur and bone out of the snowblowers blades. Would really kill the momentum of my morning. Ha.
Soon it’ll be time to take the kids to their extracurriculars, so I should go tackle my latest round of edits before I run out of day light. Ciao Bella!
Buses, cabs, and vehicular transports are all canceled for schools this morning, but the schools are open. I think we are going to take this opportunity to have a restful mental health day. We’ll the kids more so than me, I have a lot of open projects on the go, so I can’t flake on a work day. The kids however, had excellent report cards, and are looking to cash in with a freebie open day of R & R. I get it. I’m down with it.
The freezing rain is set to hit later on today, so a dog walk is still on the schedule. Luckily it isn’t foggy like yesterday, and hopefully not too chilly either. The subs rays were kinda warm yesterday by the time the afternoon rolled around. It was making me smile, and squint. Far better mood while the sun is out. Today however, is grey, and overcast. Ready to drop all sorts of precipitation on us for long, seemingly unending hours. Cool, cool, cool.
I’m going to eat first, then head out to walk the dog at the farm with the kids. Just not as early as I would normally because my spouse is going to a nearby school in town, instead of up in the Georgina / Sutton area. Means she could be home at a reasonable hour too, if we’re lucky.
By all accounts today is Wednesday. Feels like a long week all ready! And the day hasn’t even started yet. Oh bother.
Visibility might be an issue early this morning. (Fig 1.)
I passed another accident at the same junction as on Sunday.vsame thing by the looks of it, somebody didn’t want to stop at the sign, and expected the main road travelers to yield to their crossing attempt. But in fig, moving at 60 km that’s an unlikely win for the gambler in you. So more cops, more EMS folks, and another fire truck get parked by the corner for a few hours. Tough luck for those who got blind sided on their morning commute to work. Wrote off a car, and now likely have a sore neck, or some chest injury from the seat belts, or inner car crumple zones throwing gear in their face (i.e. air bag). Hopefully nobody was killed now grievously injured in the collision.
We are sat at the farm waiting on the others to arrive for a brisk walk in the foggy sunshine, and newly wet snow. Still below zero, but not by much. I look to have a busy week ahead, so the faster I get home to eat, the quicker I can tuck into my work. Had a couple emails over the long weekend warning of new projects coming my way today. Can’t say no to paid work!
Short school week at least, so the kids are happy. No trouble getting them out the door for school. Tomorrow is midweek already, so it should move fairly fast. It’s almost March, which means another week long break for the children. Maybe some time spent doing Maple Syrup if the weather plays along nicely.
Drive safely in the fog this morning. Take a beat, and don’t rush when you can’t see what’s coming.
Primered, base coated, dry brushed, and now working on the shoulder pads, one side yellow, and the other red. (Fig 1.)
Even with only forty miniatures to paint this is taking me a while to do. Glad to have the ring light and magnifying glass combo on my desk to help because some of these details are microscopic, and my failing eyes can’t see them without help. I also bought some mini specific brushes that are teeny-tiny because over painting is a very real issue for me. I’m not well versed in steady brush strokes. I’ve had to go slow over many days because once I start to rush I get sloppy, so it’s best to stop when I start to feel that way. I would like to not have to strip and repaint these for a third time, if I can help it.
I bought these so long ago I don’t even know what regiments they are. I just remember space wolves on a few boxes. I’ve had these for more than twenty years. But I didn’t care for blue, so I’m going grey, with light blue dry brushing, and an icy blue edge highlight (if I ever get far enough to adding that on). I wrote out a list of steps to make sure I don’t forget anything.
Different shoulders, pouches, weapons, trim, purity seals, eyes, furs & pelts, and then basing the models after all the paint, and various washes have gone on. They won’t be box art quality, but they should (hopefully) look more presentable as a cohesive unit. Afterwards I have some 16 Eldar models to touch up too. I got my updated airbrush in on the action to smooth out their look, with priming the models, and zenithal highlights, and base coats.
I think about buying more space wolves models all the time, but the Games Workshop stuff is expensive, and finicky to put together, at least it was back in 2002. I don’t play the game, I collect the models, and paint them, as well as build terrain pieces, but I have not yet played a single game. I have watched a number of tutorials on YouTube, and sat through other people playing all out battle sequences online. I don’t own the Space Wolves codex book, so I don’t really know how to build out an appropriate army, even if I wanted to. Just what I need, an additional offshoot hobby. I have 200 or more D&D models coming from Archon Studios later this year from Dungeons & Lasers so I can wait on plastic bits, because I have a shit tonne coming my way. But that’s for D&D not Warhammer 40K TTRPG. Totally different rules of engagement and story telling. Ha!
It will likely take me until March to complete the 40 Space Wolves models I have on deck, so I’m not in a rush, but I hope they look decent when I’m done. It’s a lot of work, and effort, and hours to put in for them to look just as bad as when I started them. Let us hope I do a better job this go around.
I think the gold trim, Aguila and dark washes should tie them together nicely. Maybe a themed base for all 40 to add some pizzazz. Who knows!
Greatwall Studios Graphic Design 
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