Tuesdays with Media: Sheldon

Comic strips are great: in a small space, they give you the setup and punchline for a joke.  Since there are so many comic strips, it easy for creators to set their's apart by giving their setup a unique spin or theme.  Maybe their comic is about the army or about vikings or about a chubby cat.  And with the internet, webcomics are available to more people than ever before.  In particular, I enjoy Sheldon, a comic that often pokes fun at nerd topics:

Those are all real comic book characters.

Written by Dave Kellett, Sheldon is about a genius ten-year-old boy that runs his own software company.  He downloaded some speech-recognition software into his pet duck's head, Arthur, who can now talk.  He lives with his grandpa, "Gramps" and is friends with the two other kids in the neighborhood: Dante, who wants to be and artist, and Emily, who wants to be an actress.  Despite some fun characters to play with, Kellett sometimes drops everything for fun diversions.  For example, lately he's been doing "Anatomy of ..." comics about different animals:

One thing that can be dangerous about webcomics (verses traditionally printed ones) is that they may not appropriate for all audiences.  Kellett, however, keeps things kid-friendly.  That's not to say that kids will get all of the jokes, but there won't be anything inappropriate.

If you're looking for a fun comic with a nerdy bend that you can share with your kids, Sheldon is a great pick.

Seize, Again

On Sunday, I had a seizure.  This one wasn't has severe as the first on, but it was still pretty bad.

Sunday was Stake Conference.  I felt sick, so once it was over, I asked for a blessing from Samuel and Mark.  When it was over, I stood up and shook their hands, and then woke up lying on the couch in the foyer.

Earlier in the week, there had been some trouble getting my anti-seizure prescription refilled, so I hadn't taken my meds in two or three days.  I wasn't too worried since in the past if I missed a round of medication, I experience aphasia, which isn't fun, but it also isn't dangerous like a seizure. Well, this time I seized.

After I came to, Samuel drove my car home and Mark took me to the pharmacy -- the medication had only come in the day before, so the earliest I could have taken it would have been if I had picked it up that morning.  Once I was home, I ate some lunch (which took me 45 minutes just to eat a sandwich and an apple) and undressed so I could lay down.

When I woke up a few hours later, I could barely move my left shoulder.  When I last had a seizure, I tore my rotator cuff, so I think I may have done that again.  My thighs, neck, right shoulder and knees are sore as well.

Since yesterday, I've gain some mobility back, but I've still got some healing to do before I'm back to normal.

Brains...

My brain is fried from looking at so many apartments this week.  I think I'm getting close, but it's very stressful and I'll be very happy when it's over.

(Sorry for two cop-out posts in a row, but as already stated, my skull boss is a crumpled, worthless heap.  Hopefully, next week will be better.)

New Fatigue

When your average day at work consists of you sitting at your desk typing -- occasionally getting up to discuss a project with a coworker or work on a side project (like taking product photographs) for a couple of hours -- it's what your body comes to expect.  Unfortunately for me, the entirety of the last two days has been spent standing and shooting video, leaving me exhausted both physically and mentally.  I know, it lame of me to complain that I didn't get to sit in my comfy office chair for eight hours, but it think the change in activity was more mentally tiring since I had to think about different kinds of problems and how to fix them.

I don't want to insinuate that I'm dissatisfied with my job.  I'm just happy that I'm a technical writer and that the videos only count as a side project, at least on day like today.

Tuesdays with Media: Fractional Compressor Wiring

I should warn you: the following video's subject matter is pretty boring, but you find it interesting from a technical perspective.

As you probably guessed, this video was made for Danfoss, with the major players on the production team being Ian and I.  I helped write the script and was behind the camera for all of the raw footage, which combined both video and still photos.  And while that's important work, the real magic was provided by Ian.  The voice-over, Ken Burns effects, schematic overlays, and other editing marvels are all him.  The background music and opening and closing animations were provided by Danfoss, but Ian still implemented them well.

The video has gotten a lot of praise and has been passed around the office, even by people who aren't involved with the project.  And now, since it's finally been posted to YouTube, I can share it with you.  Be sure to tell Ian how much you enjoyed the video, despite the less-than-interesting subject matter.

Unexpected Answer

I've been having trouble finding a new place to move to that suits my needs.  I've been looking for a place that's within my current ward's boundaries, but as close to my job as I can get and costs less than I'm paying per month now (I am losing my roommate in the process).  That left me with only two options, though I preferred one complex over the other.  I was about to submit the application when I decided to pray about it.  The answer I got was that I needed to keep searching.  Frustrated, I thought to myself, I don't have a lot of options left if I want to stay in my ward.  In response, the Spirit had one word stand out to me: if.  I had honestly not considered the idea of moving out of my ward.  I've lived here for over two years and I've really grown close with a lot of the members here.

With the next day being Fast Sunday, I took the opportunity to fast on the matter -- should I move out of the ward?  At Church, we had our new Bishopric announced and with all of the testimonies shared by both those leaving and those incoming, the presence of the Spirit was high.  I felt about 60% sure that it was time to leave before the meeting, but by the time it was over, that level of assurance rose to about 90%.  Just to be sure, I pulled my Home Teacher aside and asked for a blessing.  While there were no specific instructions that I needed to move out of the ward, I still received my answer that, yes, it was time to move out.

One big reason is that I need to be in the right place to meet the next Mrs. Larsen.  It's weird to think that moving to a new place is going to facilitate meeting my wife, but that's basically the story of how my parents met.  Even as I write this post, I can feel the Holy Ghost confirm the truth of the motivation behind this move.  Now I need to follow the Spirit and move into the right ward.  Prayers on my (our?) behalf in this matter would be very much appreciated.

At Least One Native is Restless

Yesterday at work, I received an email requesting my help proof-reading some instructions.  As I've mentioned before, this isn't an unusual request, so I thought little of it when I opened the attached document.  What I found was different from what I usually work on.  For one, the document was written by someone in my office who is, presumably, a native English-speaker.  For two, the document was much longer than those that I normally help out with: nearly thirty pages as opposed to three to five.  Still, this is a standard part of my job, so I dove right in.

The documents that I normally proof have been reviewed at least once already.  I usually just catch some awkward phrasing that slipped through or fix punctuation errors.  This time, it was pretty clear that whoever worked on the document before me hadn't even read through it once.  There were three sentences that just ended in the middle (something like "To set the temperature access the. To set the time ...").  Three!  One or even two would be surprising enough but three makes it seem like he was trying to slip in mistakes.  Remember how it was really long?  Well that wasn't that big a deal because the last half of it wasn't written: it was just a bunch of headings and sub-headings, but no body text.

I tried really hard to be as polite as possible with the questions I asked ("This sentence appears to end in the middle. Was that intentional?"), but I had to correct so many errors and ask a lot of clarifying questions that I wonder if the original author will be offended.  If he takes offence, I'll be honest and point out that I had to ask so many questions because the instructions he wrote were so unclear.  Maybe it'll be fine and he'll recognize that I'm just doing my job.

Who would have guessed that proofing a (presumed) native English-speaker's work would be so much more annoying than a non-native one's?  Maybe the stuff from Danish writers is more fun because I can look for patterns to learn about some of the difference between the languages.  Whatever the reason for the difference in enjoyment, I was very pleased to discover that the page count was inflated.

Same Experience, Different Lessons

Since my job requires a substantial drive everyday, I've decided to move closer to it.  However, since all of my friends are in my Ward, I decided to still stay within its boundaries, just farther east.  With my notice given, I'm on the hunt for a new apartment.

Alone.  Samuel won't be coming with me, but that's mostly a good thing because his family should be approved to come to the US any day now.  Even so, knowing that our time together is limited has made me a bit too eager to for us to part ways.  More and more frequently I find myself saying silently to myself, "I won't miss you when you're gone."  Admittedly, that's unfair, but I'm mostly being sarcastic and just trying to vent (to myself?) about my frustrations.

That was my state when Samuel came home yesterday evening.  I had treated myself to some take-out from a local Korean place and was finishing up the large meal when he walked in visibly downtrodden.  I asked what had happened and he told me that he was at his final attempt to take the behind-the-wheel test to get his driver's license, but the tester refused to ride with him because he was "panicked."  I protested that of course he was anxious because he had failed the test twice before and if he failed again, he would have to start all over with taking the written exam and taking driver's classes.  He agreed, but, of course, it was in vain.  I encouraged him to cheer up and told him that things will get better.

Then he asked for a blessing.  I was surprised, but of course accommodated his request.  I cleaned up my meal and had him sit in the chair I had been using.  When I open placed my hands on him and opened my mouth, the spirit of revelation came stronger than I can ever remember experiencing it before.  I won't share the details of the blessing, but I will say that there were words of love and encouragement and also instruction for Samuel.  When it was all over, he was crying, but I knew that they were not tears of sorrow.

When it was all over, I realized how much of a jerk I've been.  No, I haven't said anything rude to his face, but I've thought the rude words repeatedly.  And despite my eagerness to be on my own again, Samuel came to me as a friend in need of uplifting.

The instruction may have been for Samuel, but he wasn't the only one to learn something from the experience.

Tuesdays with Media: Lights ...

In last weeks' Tuesdays with Media, I wrote about how Ian and I failed in our attempt to make a movie with his kids.  What I left out was that that was our attempt to film a second movie.  Our first attempt was successful:

As can be seen above, Clara was our subject so that we could do a lighting demo, showcasing the homemade lights that Ian and I built.  Clara was chosen because little kids are cute and Ian figured that she'd follow directions fairly well (he was correct).  And for those paying attention at home, Clara is sporting a new hairstyle that I gave her (e.g., I put a part in her hair on the right side and gave her a ponytail).

While it's nice that we were able to get the footage we needed for this video completed, it was an admittedly easier project to work on.  Clara stood in place while Ian ran the camera and I flipped on the lights in sequence.  Even having the microphone turned off didn't get in the way.

I passed around the video at work last week and got some positive feedback.  I must say, it's nice to be recognized that we know what we're doing, even if we're only figuring it out as we go.

Trials of the Gainfully Employed

Once again, I got to be sick this weekend.  I've spent most of the last two days either unconscious or treating my symptoms.  The good news is that I seem to be gotten over the worst of it in about 48 hours -- I'm still not 100%, but I'm fairing much better.   The bad news is that just to be safe, I'm not going to exercise this next week, since I think overdoing it is what made me sick in the first place.