Wel, as I sit here with my Star Trek sneakers on, my trusty WoW cap on my head and typing on a desk covered in toys (of which at least ninety percent are mine) I don’t quite feel 41. It’s not a milestone year, more of an after thought. But this past year has been a big one. A second daughter, the re-introduction of the AT crew into the strip, and a general feeling of hope for the future. I can sense that this coming year is really going to be a big one. I just hope to be flexible and alert enough to take advantage of any opportunities.

I do feel blessed to have people almost daily tell me how much they love the strip and how glad they are that I am back in the saddle (well, lately it’s been more like hitching up my britches again). The new work flow is a double edged sword in that I can get a bunch of strips done in a faster fashion (writing a batch, then penciling a bunch, then inking a bunch, then scanning and post production, etc.) WHEN I get the time that is. Between homework, a looming final and the littlest one not going to bed until midnight or later the work flow leaves me with batches of half finished strips. Perhaps there is something to be said for the slightly slower, yet more flexible one off process. Hmmm, something to consider in my fine tuning. Needless to say, expect a batch of strips soon.

But not tomorrow (well, maybe tomorrow) as my family is taking me to see the Star Trek exhibit as the Tech Museum here in San Jose. =)

Set phasers for FUCKING AWESOME!

I’m delaying today’s strip due to artistic integrity. I always forget how hard it is to pull real people into my “style”. I needed to spend a good portion of the day doing sketches and figuring out the best way to convey real life people in my strip.

In that same vein, I’ve been perusing a LOT of web sites of illustrators, cartoonists, character developers and caricaturists. My current “style” (I use the term loosely) has served me well over the years, and it’s pleasantly evolved over time, but I find myself trying new things in doodling and generally broadening my artistic vision. Unfortunately, maintaining a cartooning schedule (along with other life stuff) does not allow much wiggle room for messing with my cartooning formula. Don’t worry though, I’ll keep on going with the fun-nay until I can figure out what to do. Perhaps a revamp of the look of the characters, perhaps even changing methods might lead to more evolution in my art (I’ve been toying with digital inking and different programs).

So, expect today’s strip today … just not right now.

With some false starts the past few weeks and but a whiff of a comic buffer in place, I wanted to … nay … needed to get back to cartooning. I’ve got pages and pages of comic ideas just begging for my attention. I ended up taking such an extended hiatus because instead of stressing out and putting up strips willy nilly and just randomly (as was happening a bit while wrapping up the vasectomy storyline) I knew when I put my foot on the starting line again, I’d be going full tilt once I got started.

With the little one just settling into the most basic of schedule, I have at least an hour or two to myself each night to get my cartoonin’ groove on. So far the plan is to pencil at least a strip a day and get three strips inked over the weekend for the coming week.

Plus Halloween is coming up and I missed having the Angst Technology company Halloween party last year. I love dressing the gang up each year.

So, enjoy the upcoming cartoons as well as blog posts and other sundry news items and opinions and bits of info that I drop here from time to time.

It’s good to be back. =)

It seems that life is what happens when you aren’t cartooning.

I’ve been holding off on any substantial blog posts out of a sense of obligation that the cartoons need to come first. I feel bad sitting down to type when I should be cartooning. Unfourtnately though, my cartooning time has been coming in short bursts where I try to jam as many strips as I can create into little time windows (hense daily updates for a few days and then nothing for a while). I’ve passed on a few weighty and/or entertaining blog topics, relegating my thoughts to small Twitter snippits and Facebook updates.

With the layoff, making time to let my wife study and do homework, taking the family out to do things, a recent garage sale (emptied a 10X20 storage unit) and a “fussy” baby (she will only allow me or my wife to hold her and we need to be in her eyeline) the cartoon windows have been brief (but oh so satisfying when they do come). We were childless when I initially launched in 2000 and was on hiatus when my first was born. I thought I had a grasp of what a wee one would do to my schedule and how to work around it … HA!

So most everything else on the site has been put on hold until I can catch up with my cartoon backlog. Well, I’m going to fnish out the current vasectomy storyline and then start posting strips on days they are done (or at least try to build up a buffer again if I get one of those presious chunks of time).

Don’t worry, I won’t be giving up or going on hiatus. It seems I am happiest when I am cartooning. Even if it’s a little progress at a time. It seems I get very irritable and anxious when I go too long without putting pencil to paper (or mouse to paint program for that matter).

So please bear with me as I get my “C” legs under me again (”C” for “cartooning”) and get the gears of the site oiled and spinning again. There will be more blog posts coming, a site redesign, more tutorials and content and of couse … many much more cartoons.

Thanks for hanging in there. =)

Oh man, what a great few days. I’ve got the next dozen or so strips plotted out and had a full day today to just do pencils and get things started. I should be able to post strip up to about May 13th or 15th and only be a few behind then. Plus this lays the ground work for the vasectomy storyline.

Since the layoff I have been poking around for jobs, taking the girls out for day trips for quality family time, and generally resting and recuperating since my “procedure”. Luckily though my wife took the little ones all day today so I could have some quality me time and get a running start to get back up to cartooning speed.

And speaking of quality time, you can see me speak at FanimeCon 2009this coming Saturday and Sunday at the San Jose Convention Center. That’s right, InkTank LIVE and in yo’ FACE! I will be speaking on two webcomic related panels hosted by Scott Vancil of Hell Has Found Me.

May 23rd
Saturday 12-1pm Mariott Salon III
“Webcomics: An Insiders View”

May 24th
Sunday 2-3pm Mariott Salon I & II
“Your Own Webcomic: Year One”

1. You Keep Your Balls
You’re not being castrated and everything remains intact (for the most part) and in place. Your dick will also remain in place and untouched (which sounds sad, but is a good thing in this instance).

2. Your Balls Are Still Attached
Your balls are attached to your body by a collection of veins and arteries and connective tissue. Disconnecting the vas deferens won’t cause your balls to just float around freely in your sack.

3. It’s A “Procedure”
A vasectomy is an out patient procedure, and not a full blown operation. You get a local anesthetic (with a very small needle) in the area surrounding the operation. Once numbed, a very small incision is made in the scrotum and a short section of the vas deferens is pulled out in a loop. Then the small section is cut and removed and the ends tied off (and/or cauterized with a small electrical zap). Boom. That’s it. It takes twenty to thirty minutes and you just walk out of the doctors office. Well, perhaps you waddle a bit, but you can just leave.

4. You Can Still Ejaculate Normally
Sperm cells make up a very small portion of your man chowder. You will still ejaculate the same with no noticable difference. Or it might be noticable if you are the type to look really, really close. Ya weirdo.

5. You Can’t Have Sex Immediately After
Aside from waiting a bit after the procedure to heal up, you still have “air traffic” lined up on the “runway” prepared for “takeoff” after the vasectomy. The vas deferens is a rather long tube and it will take a couble of ejaculations (about 15 to 20) to “flush the pipes”. So prepare to set aside an afternoon.

So, now you know. And knowing is half the battle. G. I. GOT A VASECTOMY!!!!!!

Well, I have good news an I have bad news.

The good news is that I will be back to cartooning in full force in the very near future.

The bad news is because getting laid off in this tough economy has cleared my immediate schedule.

Yes, I have indeed lost one of the best jobs I ever had. I’m taking it a bit harder than the usual “reduction in force” layoffs I’ve been a part of in the past (particularly around the “dot bomb” implosion) since I was really suited for this job and had recently gotten an excellent performance review. But alas, the economic downturn is causing all sort of companies to make painful decisions.

SO…while the job hunt is on (those still exist, don’t they?) I have more than ample time to get my cartooning groove on. I can finally start checking off the laundry list of comic gags I’ve been collecting on this legal pad next to my keyboard. Heck, I might even be able to get some blogging done about topics that have been on my mind lately.

Don’t worry about the strip though. Even though it’s semi-autobiographical I am settled into Angst Technology and my current circumstances won’t be directly reflected in the “Inkyverse”.

After all, when you’re down you need to surround yourself with friends. Even if they are of the poo flinging, karaoke butchering, mad technical scientist, long haired perv variety. Actually … ESPECIALLY if they are.

Hey neat, I’ve apparently been named as a finalist for a “Beaky”, a personal list of favorite webcomic sites from the gang over at Webcomic Beacon. You can read more about it here:

http://webcomicbeacon.com/2009/04/01/episode-70/

and here

http://comixtalk.com/fesworks/webcomic_beacon_70_2008_beaky_awards