88 Counties in Ohio

There are 88 counties in Ohio with each one having at least one dogs kill shelter. Some counties have more then one! OBW has taken dogs from about 90% of the counties. It is hard trying to balance all the requests... 88 counties with dogs in need, 88 counties emailing asking me to take a dog or 2 or 3 or 5, 100's of faces are emailed to me every week. It is not easy trying to decide who you can help and who you can't. Especially when you know that by saying no you just killed a dog. It is even harder when you walk into the shelter knowing you can only take 1 or 2 and the dog warden is walking behind you telling you "this one is scheduled to die today, and that one tomorrow". Making deals with the dog warden "if I take 3 will you give him another week". "What if I promise to come get him next week?". Then scrambling to find a place to put him and you think a week is enough time but it isn't enough time. Especially when adoptions are down and volunteers are limited and foster homes are on breaks. And you think to yourself, when do I get a break? To me a break is a weekend away.

Balancing family, work and dog rescue while trying not let the stress and pressure of making life and death decisions get to you. Knowing that the number that just came up on your phone is the dog warden but you can't answer because you are in a meeting at work. You know that you not answering probably means a dog will loose their life because you know that as soon as you call back the warden will say to you "oh you didn't answer and no one would take the dog so we put him to sleep". Trying to make sure that your friends, your family and your wife know that you do love them and that you are there for them if they need you but yet the dogs are always pulling you in 100 directions at the same time. Spending finally a nice dinner with your wife but your phone rings and it is an emergency situation with a dog in need... what do you do? Help the dog and risk making your wife mad again? Or say you can't help and the dog will die. Balance. Dog rescue is all about balance... taking the most urgent dogs and praying that the other pound that is full will hold off putting anyone down just a few days longer because maybe just maybe you will be able to figure out something in a few days.

Gilly Guilts me from Beyond the Grave

Okay, first I write this stupid thing: is there a firefox plugin, or config, to block BlogAds? Because that fucking crap keeps crashing my browser. Relentlessly. Then, and not before then, of course, I think to myself: how could I be so stoopid? Behold, the power of teh Googulz! And then what should I see in the no.3 spot of the Google keyword search “block blogads”? You damn right: This - News takes money. People who block Blogads are working against the blogs they support. Because that is the money which pays for the news. Just keeping up this site requires both contributions and ads. I’m not raising money until after the holidays. Sure, that’s a bit longer than the quarterly cycle I’d like to keep, but I rather any money now go to things like phone cards for Walter Reed. I can wait, I’m not going to starve, my computers work, and I can buy Christmas gifts. I also know people may well be broke after the holidays. But I can take that risk. But that cushion only exists because of blogads. That’s what paid for Thanksgiving dinner and the silly PDA version of Madden 2013 I impulse bought.

I’ll talk about transition issues later, but for now, I think what makes blogs viable is that people do support them, not only emotionally, but financially. Instead of selling out, we’re supporting what we believe in. And yes, I support blogs with cash as well. Why? Because things are not free. For too long, people have accepted volunteer work and amateurism as “grassroots” work. Well, we need to build an infratructure of sites which represents our beliefs. Does anyone think the Nation or New Republic is the best that we can produce? Or there is no need for new voices? Well, nothing is free. when you have the power to smack some dumb cracker like me upside the head from beyond the grave - then goddamn. You are a giant. Yet another reason the loss of this great man diminished us all. What the hell. If all it means is restarting firefox once in a damn while and losing 30 seconds of online time - that’s not much of a sacrifice, right? Respect to everyone at Group News Bite, and have a great weekend.

Very Ape

Warning: this post contains X-rated language. Late to the debate, but: WTF is it with all this “I don’t believe in evolution”? Or these polls that say “do you believe in evolution”? Come on all you jugheads and crackers. Let’s go back to kindergarten for a moment: the theory of evolution is not like santa claus, the easter bunny, or even like macrobiotics or acupuncture. It is not something one believes in or disbelieves in. It is something that one either observes based on an analysis of available evidence, or does not observe based on a lack of available evidence. Like any scientific theory, it is a model constructed from inferences. It doesn’t have one red fucking thing to do with “belief”. My country, my country. Overrun with jugheads, crackers, circus geeks biting the heads off of chickens, carnival fatsos, white trash sisterfuckers in doublewides chawin’ in their overalls. That is what you are: in love with your ignorance. Crack open a fucking book. Argue with and about the inferential theoretical model. But don’t say the word “belief”. Because the minute that word comes out of your mouth, I must infer that you are a double dildo fucking moron.

Bobbing Now and Then

Ghee mother of Mary I am going through so much change at the moment, I can hardly contain myself. Contain myself from what would be the valid question to ask. I will let you guys know when I see it. I edited the first draft of my Novel, some scary shize in there. I freak myself out, when I get to the gory bits I actually stop and say did I write that... awesome stuff... Then decided to digest my poetry and my short stories, will putt the edited versions on my blog so that I can get some feedback. I sure do need it. Enough talk about being a writer, the day is now. Then some random thing that has bothered me for ages now. The road that leads me to hell... some of us call it work... is a shelter that a street guy made for himself. 

He even made wind chimes from cardboard that he has erected between two trees. His own outside mansion, now what tickles me pink is that every single morning I pass him and he sits writing something in a book. I have contemplated stopping and asking him for a peek. My fear that he might be insane and hack me to death, is the typical stereotype behaviour one shall expect from a office suite that keeps me away. Yes boohooo cry me a river, that's what I have become. Bow head in shame! So who think they know what he is writing? I am working on the boring suite stereotype pain in the lower butt area I have become. I got another tattoo! Yay!

Cartain Moments

There are certain moments which are yours. Even if you don’t remember them perfectly they are a part of you which can never be taken away. Some people make it their life’s work to set the record straight on various things about which lies are told, and i can’t fault those people. However, in my own case, it just strikes me as a waste of time. There are people who want to promulgate their own version of events, and i see no profit in making an issue of it. It kind of reinforces my belief that some things are better left in the past. But i would be dishonest, and why bother being dishonest here, of all places? If I said it didn’t affect me. Sure it affects me. Something that I started years ago is being credited to others with no mention of me, and there is a certain annoyance in that. But it’s no different than the very war which time itself has waged on me, making me older, trying to erase my existence. 

We will all be erased, eventually. Erased and more than likely forgotten. People will remember what they wish to. I feel overwhelmingly the imperative to keep my gaze in the middle distance. Anything else just feels like death. Some people, though, have put off getting a life way past the point of no return. God bless their pointy little heads, I’m sure that happiness and good fortune await them. I wish nothing but enjoyment and peace upon them, in their deluded and fictional little worlds. But it’s sad, in a way, that their only way to run from the Grim Reaper is to try to deny things that might make them uncomfortable. I don’t know about anybody else, but that sort of thing has never worked for me. heaven knows i’ve tried it. Those “people who care” have spoken in a public place, so I feel just the tiny amount of vindication I need to get on with my life from now and for the rest of the day. Thank you, people!

What to Leave Behind - Part 2

Secondly - show relevant work. By relevant I mean: It should be work that would interest the art director in question; Should relate back to your portfolio. Remember, you're trying to remind the AD who you are, what you do, and why you should be remembered. And for the gang back at the office, that didn't get to meet you face to face, you are trying to capture their attention with one quick glance. Finally, remember this vital fact - you are just one of a few hundred folks that the art director has met during the event. Please do not be offended if the art director turns down the large print, or hardbound coffee table size book of your artwork. Personally, I take as few bags, and as small as possible on my trips. It helps me deal with my sprints between planes when doing the transfers. 

I'd like to thank all the folks that were very understanding about that fact this year, and I'd like to thank the few folks that were kind enough to mail me their samples/prints. It was greatly appreciated! So which was my favorite leave behind? That would be a really hard call. One of the most effective though was from an artist that had some agency experience at GreatSem and created a "press release kit". In the kit was a business card, a couple of post cards, a few "tear sheets" and a couple of prints of some recent work. I had no trouble remembering who she was, what kind of work she did, and she got the notice of some folks back at the office. Now here's the hard truth. Just a thought...

If the quality of her work weren't above average and the relevancy of her work on target. Her leave behind would not have had any impact at all. First and foremost you have to hit those two important aspects first. It occurred to me that there is one last piece of advice I can pass on about leave-behinds. This might be the most important piece of advice I can pass along. The most important thing to leave-behind is your attitude and ego. No one says you have to agree with everything, or even anything, that is shared with you during a portfolio review, but if you are interested in working with the person across the table from you - recognize one simple fact. Arguing, being belligerent, shouting obscenities or being a prima dona are not successful ways to endear yourself with an art director. 

What to Leave Behind - Part 1

Through out the year I will get asked a million time about leave-behinds and other assorted promotional items. I just received the question again, and this time I'm just wrapping up the con season and have a nice fresh perspective on the issue. Let me start out with the most important point about self promotion. Have a leave behind. I was floored that on numerous occasions this year when I asked for a business card or some other self-promo piece so that I could remember an artist and share their work with the other AD's back at the office I was told that the artist didn't have anything to share. Seriously? If you want to be forgotten or passed over follow this example if you want a shot at getting some work. 

There, that's the easy part. After that bit of advice it gets a lot more complicated. This year I saw everything from standard business cards, custom business cards, post cards, mini portfolios packs, self published comics, self published books, and in one case a custom sketch with contact info ('cause they ran out of cards). Which one worked best? Which form of leave-behind got more notice? Tough to say... Let me tell you how I use leave-behinds. I look at hundreds of portfolios during a typical convention weekend. I use leave-behinds to kick start my brain about who and what I saw during the day/weekend/week. 

I also take the pieces back to the office (if I can fit them into my luggage... consider that, please!) to share with the rest of the AD's and show off shiny new distractions. So when you think of how the pieces are going to be used - that might give you a little more insight into what might make for a successful leave-behind. First off - it should highlight your art work. I struggle with names, but show me a piece of artwork and I can often remember an artist. So having a nicely designed business card is wonderful, but if it doesn't show me your artwork - chances are good I'll have no idea who you were, and the folks back at the office will have no idea what you can do unless they check out your site (good luck with that).