Saying Goodbye and then say Hello to...

Hey yall, Notice that I haven't written here in about FOREVER! Notice that my wife is getting to be the prolific one at blogging? Yeah me too. Well, there's a reason. I have been moving more toward artiswork.org as my main site, and now that is ready to check out. I am finished with the most recent redesign, and I will be doing all my writing from there now. If you are so inclined, and feel like making me smile, then get subscribed over there too, and if you care to look around, you'll find a lot of fun things that are going on. I have a rotating link list of some of my fave stuff I find on the web, as well as a rotating list of cd's, books, people, places etc, that I update frequently, you can find that stuff here. If you use RSS, feel free to grab the feed for it here, so that you can get updates on what I'm writing. Thanks yall, Matthew

Just a new picture

That's all, not much to say.

Gear Geekery

First, a late Christmas present: Leftovers from Amy's bonus. I love having a smart wife, you get all kinds of neat things when her boss's think she deserves to know how much they appreciate her work :) So, between saving up on my own and a little help from household funds I purchased the next piece to add to my photography equipment. Check out these puppy's: On top is the bogen/manfrotto 3021bn Tripod leg Kit. These things aren't for backpacking. They're sturdy, and "hell for stout" as my dad is famous for saying. But how are supposed to put your camera on a set of legs? You're not. For that one needs (okay, wants) a quick release ball joint head (trigger grip). Since I'm not shooting my .40 cal as much these days at least I can pull this trigger now and then. This head allows for maximum maneuverability without the fuss of untightening and tightening multiple levers for a each shot. Lastly, is the first product I am purchasing with money I have made from my first sold website design. Amy and I have agreed to put 10% of gross back into my ability to work. Things that go under that heading are education, a new powerbook (someday), gear, gadgetry, and geekery that helps me do the work I am doing better. Thus I present, the Wacom Intuos 3 Pen Tablet. This is the stealth bomber of mice. The Intuos pen has incredible sensitivity. If I push harder the lines get heavier, darker, thicker. If I move at an angle, the brush I am using in Photoshop reflects those changes. What's really nerdy, is that if I turn it over, it acts as an eraser. Check it out. I just wanted to let everyone know, that while I am always talking about Jesus, I am still very much into "the world". I need Jesus because of how cool these things are. They are like little golden calves all wanting my devotion. Thank you Jesus for attaching me to you, thank you for the blessing of these new tools for creativity.

Self Portrait in Philadelphia

I took this shot recently while in University city. Its not really a great shot, but I thought there was something fun about the way that I had to remember how I got a shot of myself like this. I'll let you figure it out. In the meantime, the story behind this is that I was in University City meeting with my first real, live, client. I am doing my first web design for pay. The site will be up at the end of February, so I'll make sure to keep folks posted. I'm getting excited about how these skills might be viable part of ministry in London when we get over there. Hmm. Have a great day all.

Heads I win tales you lose

I finished work today at 2:30pm so that I wouldn't go over my quota of 20 hours per week. As I got in the car I started to think about where I could go for the next couple of hours to do things I wanted to do like work on design or learn a new content management system, or just catch up on my favorite RSS feeds, to see what's happening over at the the textpattern forums or what my favorite designer is writing about or laying out. Hmm. Where to go? Oh wait, Amy is home with Brighton, she didn't sleep well, and we all know Brighton is a handfull. Hmm. Should I rethink this? I think I'll stop by the coffee shop, just for a bit. So to make a long story short, I meant to go to the coffee shop, but I took a wrong turn and "couldn't be bothered" to go the long way around, and suddenly I was at home. Thank you Jesus. Amy ended not needing tons of help as Brighton was asleep when I got home, but its one more way I am continuing to see how self driven I am. A daily fear is that I will run out of time to do things I want to do. That somehow I will get gypped out of something that should be mine! Dangit! Man, Christ tells me again and again. Its not yours. You've never had anything but me to keep. I found this pie chart, that I think pretty much illustrates how I think about myself. Guess which slice is "MY TIME!"