robert.admin – Page 235 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

May 8, 2011

Art, art, art….

Been working on finding illustrators for Early Retyrement. Ugh, what an effort. I’ve signed up with Elance to look through their stacks. And yes, while it’s great that they have bazillions of illustrators, they don’t have much of a search tool. I need a graphic illustrator with a fine touch and a cartoony air. But even with searching specifically for “Illustrator” and “Cartoon”, I’m getting product designers, kiddybook illustrator, restored-plane noseart specialists. That’s 2400 results, with no way to even know what they have unless I click on a name, click on the portfolio, then click on likely art to […]

May 8, 2011

Saturday morning errands

I’d done a spreadsheet train-thingee for Doc Andy and it was misbehaving. Since Mookie the cat needed more food, I told him to bring it into his clinic Saturday and I’d come by. Since Interlachen Animal Hospital only 5.3 miles away, it would make a nice morning ride. One of the advantages of being green and living urban. Since I’ve picked up my commuting (2-3 times a week) I have really not run many pleasure rides as of late. This would be one. Got onto Corrine and had a sort of “nudist feeling”, how everything feels light and airy. And […]

May 8, 2011

Early ReTyrement

How brilliant the sea looks today, Patisbazos mused from the manor’s high window, looking across the city’s thick rampart to the sparkling Mediterranean. Even more so without the black hulls of foreign triremes. He was a tall man, thin as a mast. His dark hair and beard were tightly curled in the manner of his Persian overlords, his clothing Medic in origin. His flowing white robe, cinched with a wide belt, ended at mid-thigh to expose trousered legs. His head was topped by a spherical felt cap tailed by a ribbon of white silk. The western sun flashed upon the […]

May 7, 2011

OpsLog – Southeast Virginia Division – 5/7/2011

Imagine two railroads, competitors forced by narrow river valley geography to wiggle together like snakes in a drain pipe. That gets you in the spirit for John Wilkes’ Southeast Virginia Division, a joint operation of the L&N and Southern Railroads. Its really neat to dispatch – the two lines cross and recross each other, actually sharing a long section of right-of-way. When two dispatchers work it, they have to clear such moves back and forth, keeping the traffic rolling but not into each other. Today we were short (pregnancies and diarrhea cut back our staff). I ran both desks. Great […]

May 5, 2011

Copyright

I’d always been told that the “poor man’s copyright” worked. That you could carefully wrap up, stamp up, and mail a hardcopy of your work to yourself. Then, in the midst of a courtroom struggle you could present this bomb right on the stand. “Let the record reflect…” RIIPPPP “that the package dated last year contains a copy of the word in question, posted by the author, sent to the author!” Nice fantasy, anyway. A couple of weeks ago, the newspaper (remember those, kiddies? Better google it) had a piece about copyright and how the poor man copyright didn’t mean […]

May 1, 2011

Signal Maintainer 2

Why do I do this to myself? I’ve built two small layouts and worked on our club layout for years. I’ve wired and rewired as parts failed and needed replacing. There were all sorts of problems in my last ops session – four failing Radio Shack toggles as detailed HERE. The first two (in Salinas) I replaced quickly. The next two in King City… I put off. For months. Every night I was too tired, something came up, whatever. For the last two weekends I’ve been meaning to do it. Never got to it. So finally, like Black Bart of Blazing Saddles, […]

April 30, 2011

Tales from Earthsea (review)

Let’s just put it out onto the table – I’m a Miyazaki fan. I loved Porco Rosso and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’ve got many of his movies on the shelf. This latest effort, Tales from Earthsea, comes from his son Goro Miyazaki. This film heralds in a new Studio Ghibli, a darker one with more details. At the beginning of the flick, we sense that everything is wrong, that harvests are off, that fevers are taking livestock, that magic no longer works, that dragons (largely unseen) are fighting. And then, the most horrifying moment of all, the boy who will […]

April 29, 2011

Gilmore Girls / Jericho (opinion)

My mom and dad got us to first watch Gilmore Girls. If you were like me (without the benefit of my folks) and didn’t know anything about it, Gilmore Girls was a chick flick show that ran on TV for seven years. Lorelai Gilmore is the quirky single mom. Rory is her tenacious daughter. Stars Hollow, the town, is a bedlam of kooky characters. We ended up watching all seven season (which, at an hour per show, is a solid week of tears and laugher. Sigh). Now we are watching Jericho, a show about a Midwestern town struggling after the […]

April 27, 2011

OpsLog – LM&O – 4/27/2011

The problem with operations on a huge model railroad is, well, operations on a huge model railroad. It takes 15 people to run this thing. We might be able to double a couple of jobs but it takes some juggling. So I was already feeling like we might be understaffed when my dispatcher called in sick. Then another guy canceled. Got to dinner tonight and there were only three other guys at the table (some ops night there are a dozen). I was figuring we might manage a reduced session, or mother-may-I, or just sit around and yack. So the […]

April 25, 2011

OpsLog – Nebraska Division – 4/25/2011

Good to be in the dispatcher’s seat after a month away. I had the dual line Nebraska Division; UP trains on the low line, BNSF on the high. Things were running hot. My usual trouble spots weren’t. Most of the locals were on their way back. I figured the rest of the session was smooth sailing. How a cork can sneak up on us. Two BNSF freights coming down the long hill from Denver, nose to tail. I gave them clearance to Holeridge, no problem. Then a fast passenger train pops up on the grade approaching Denver. Hmmm. I duck […]