They have tried to yank the rug right out from under me, but so far, so good -- with just a little help from my friends. So far, I have survived two days under this new software at work. I even did a little bit more a little bit faster on the second night, so maybe, just maybe, I will get the hang of this program. Most of us agree, there are a number of things which keep this from being the vast improvement we were promised: several of the wonderful "new" features could have been done using our old software, and are only occasional things anyway. Several of the standard, everyday operations actually involve more complex commands than the old software. And, of course, most of the actions that stayed the same really didn't because we all have to learn new keystrokes to make the same old magic happen.
But, as I said, with a little help from those around me, I'm figuring it out.
Wish me luck.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Checking In
Hey, everybody! I'm baaaaack!
No, I wasn't abducted by aliens for the better part of the month. Been going through some changes at work which have translated into many extra hours. And work has been taking enough extra time of late that I haven't been feeling especially creative, or even motivated, for that matter.
But, now that I'm here, I see it has actually been closer to a month than I thought it had been, so it's about time I checked in, even if just for a brief visit.
I hope to be back in a few days with more. Take care of yourselves.
No, I wasn't abducted by aliens for the better part of the month. Been going through some changes at work which have translated into many extra hours. And work has been taking enough extra time of late that I haven't been feeling especially creative, or even motivated, for that matter.
But, now that I'm here, I see it has actually been closer to a month than I thought it had been, so it's about time I checked in, even if just for a brief visit.
I hope to be back in a few days with more. Take care of yourselves.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Meanwhile, back in the Comics Den ...
I said I wasn't going to talk about comic books all of the time, but it's been a while now, so here we go returning to geek-heaven:
The vast majority of collectors I have talked to store their collections (books bagged and boarded, of course) in boxes or on shelves alpha-numerically, i.e. Batman comes before Superman and Spider-Man and even Batman: Gotham Knights and Batman #100 comes about 100 issues before Batman #200 (if you're lucky enough to have comics from that far back). My system, while not unique, is a little bit different.
I look at the comic book characters I love and their adventures as if they were real people living real lives. No, I don't mean I have trouble distinguishing reality from make believe, but previous writers and philosophers have posited that if someone can imagine something, then somewhere in all of reality, that imagined thing can be real. Following this logic, I try to store my comics in "chronological order."
In a simple equation of a collector following one title only, this would not be very different from storing the books numerically. The continuity of most modern comics is that issue "B" takes place after issue "A." Even if issue "C" includes a flashback to something that happened before issue "B," the bulk of the book would still occur after issue "B." But then, let's say, issue "D" comes out and tells the origin of the title character. Issue "D" includes no flashbacks, there is no "current" framing sequence with a character thinking back. Well then, chronologically, issue "D" would come first in my collection, making the order of the books D, A, B, C.
Of course, most collectors don't follow just one book or one character. And sometimes characters interact in each other's stories. Batman may appear in a stand-alone issue of Superman during the same month that his own title is on part 3 of a 4-part storyline. Does that appearance of Batman in the Superman title really "happen" between scenes in that month's issue of Batman or did it "occur" either before or after the storyline in the Batman magazine? Answering questions like that and placing the comics in order accordingly is part of the enjoyment for me. Sometimes there will be clues within the story to indicate which event came first. Sometimes it's a completely arbitrary decision.
Yet, even the above example isn't really complex enough to show the myriad plotlines and stories one has to keep straight to achieve this goal. To see just how convoluted it could get, let's look at one of my favorite characters: Nightwing. For those not in the know, Nightwing is Dick Grayson, the original Robin, the Boy Wonder, all grown up. Nightwing currently has his own self-titled comic book published monthly. Nightwing is also a member of a current group called the Outsiders and often appears in that book. He is also a founding member of the Teen Titans. There is a new group of Titans right now, and Nightwing is not a current member, but he guest-stars in the book quite often as he was a founding member of the original group and the current group includes the current Robin, Nightwing's "little brother" in the Batman family. Let's add Batman into the mix; that includes titles such as Batman, Detective, Robin, Batgirl, Batman: Gotham Nights and Batman: Legends of the Bat, all of which could feature a guest appearance by Nightwing. The character is also friends with the Flash, another founding Teen Titans member. He has been in titles like JLA and Birds of Prey before. That's a dozen books this one character could be in during any given month. Odds are he wouldn't be all of them in one month, but let's say he was in only three; there are still the other characters in those three books who could each be in multiple books each month. It can be a challenge sometimes.
The vast majority of collectors I have talked to store their collections (books bagged and boarded, of course) in boxes or on shelves alpha-numerically, i.e. Batman comes before Superman and Spider-Man and even Batman: Gotham Knights and Batman #100 comes about 100 issues before Batman #200 (if you're lucky enough to have comics from that far back). My system, while not unique, is a little bit different.
I look at the comic book characters I love and their adventures as if they were real people living real lives. No, I don't mean I have trouble distinguishing reality from make believe, but previous writers and philosophers have posited that if someone can imagine something, then somewhere in all of reality, that imagined thing can be real. Following this logic, I try to store my comics in "chronological order."
In a simple equation of a collector following one title only, this would not be very different from storing the books numerically. The continuity of most modern comics is that issue "B" takes place after issue "A." Even if issue "C" includes a flashback to something that happened before issue "B," the bulk of the book would still occur after issue "B." But then, let's say, issue "D" comes out and tells the origin of the title character. Issue "D" includes no flashbacks, there is no "current" framing sequence with a character thinking back. Well then, chronologically, issue "D" would come first in my collection, making the order of the books D, A, B, C.
Of course, most collectors don't follow just one book or one character. And sometimes characters interact in each other's stories. Batman may appear in a stand-alone issue of Superman during the same month that his own title is on part 3 of a 4-part storyline. Does that appearance of Batman in the Superman title really "happen" between scenes in that month's issue of Batman or did it "occur" either before or after the storyline in the Batman magazine? Answering questions like that and placing the comics in order accordingly is part of the enjoyment for me. Sometimes there will be clues within the story to indicate which event came first. Sometimes it's a completely arbitrary decision.
Yet, even the above example isn't really complex enough to show the myriad plotlines and stories one has to keep straight to achieve this goal. To see just how convoluted it could get, let's look at one of my favorite characters: Nightwing. For those not in the know, Nightwing is Dick Grayson, the original Robin, the Boy Wonder, all grown up. Nightwing currently has his own self-titled comic book published monthly. Nightwing is also a member of a current group called the Outsiders and often appears in that book. He is also a founding member of the Teen Titans. There is a new group of Titans right now, and Nightwing is not a current member, but he guest-stars in the book quite often as he was a founding member of the original group and the current group includes the current Robin, Nightwing's "little brother" in the Batman family. Let's add Batman into the mix; that includes titles such as Batman, Detective, Robin, Batgirl, Batman: Gotham Nights and Batman: Legends of the Bat, all of which could feature a guest appearance by Nightwing. The character is also friends with the Flash, another founding Teen Titans member. He has been in titles like JLA and Birds of Prey before. That's a dozen books this one character could be in during any given month. Odds are he wouldn't be all of them in one month, but let's say he was in only three; there are still the other characters in those three books who could each be in multiple books each month. It can be a challenge sometimes.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Life As Usual ... Obstacles and Some Good People
Problems are so much easier to deal with when you have a little help along the way. As I alluded to in a previous post, the transmission went out in my pickup -- more specifically, the clutch burned up because of a transmission leak I failed to notice. Had to get around for almost two weeks with just my wife's car for the both of us. Wasn't fun, but it could've been worse, and the transmission shop we took the truck to did a great job for us. I admit it, I'm not the most car-minded of guys, but the staff at this shop didn't make me feel like an idiot, they got us fixed up and running again, and they stood behind the work when we discovered one seal that wasn't quite tightened all the way and took the pickup back for that. Yeah, they didn't get one seal right, but everyone makes mistakes. These guys admitted to the error, fixed it without charging us and were still very gracious about it.
Next problem: I think I've mentioned before that I currently get the bulk of my comics, trade paperbacks and action figures through a mail order company. They are so great, it is unbelievable. Apparently, the shipper has lost my most recent month's worth of stuff. I get e-mails from the company and the shipper when an order has been sent. The e-mail from the shipper has an estimated delivery date. I know its just an ESTIMATED delivery date, but they are usually right on the money, and sometimes even a day early. Not this time.
So I tried to track the package online -- isn't technology great -- well, yeah, when the system works, it is. The shipper's tracking software recorded the box leaving the company and going to its first stopover. Leaving that place and arriving at another destination along the way here. And finally, leaving that location. Then nothing. The trail stopped two days before the delivery date, four days before I finally logged on to check things out.
So I called the shipper. After talking in circles with a computer for several minutes, I got to a person who promised to look into the problem. I talked to reps from the shipper three more times, each time having to supply additional information about what was in my package and getting no answers as to what had become of any of it. Finally, the last exchange with them resulted in the shipper needing a specific packing list of the contents of the package. I order stuff all of the time and the company sends me whatever is available on the date the package is sent. I never know exactly what is in the package until I open it. So I called the company to have them get in touch with the shipper and provide a packing list.
Here's why the company I order from is so great. They said they would handle things from that point. If they and the shipper together could not locate my package within about a week, thecompany would re-ship all the items they could. (Remember, they didn't lose the package, so I didn't know if I would just be out everything or not.) They also told me that should this happen again (we all hope not, but things occasionally go "not according to plan"), to call them, the company, first and let them deal with the shipper.
So, it's too soon for this whole thing to be resolved yet. And no matter what, I'm going to be getting my comics late. But I'm more certain now that I will eventually get them. That's a good feeling. Thanks guys.
Next problem: I think I've mentioned before that I currently get the bulk of my comics, trade paperbacks and action figures through a mail order company. They are so great, it is unbelievable. Apparently, the shipper has lost my most recent month's worth of stuff. I get e-mails from the company and the shipper when an order has been sent. The e-mail from the shipper has an estimated delivery date. I know its just an ESTIMATED delivery date, but they are usually right on the money, and sometimes even a day early. Not this time.
So I tried to track the package online -- isn't technology great -- well, yeah, when the system works, it is. The shipper's tracking software recorded the box leaving the company and going to its first stopover. Leaving that place and arriving at another destination along the way here. And finally, leaving that location. Then nothing. The trail stopped two days before the delivery date, four days before I finally logged on to check things out.
So I called the shipper. After talking in circles with a computer for several minutes, I got to a person who promised to look into the problem. I talked to reps from the shipper three more times, each time having to supply additional information about what was in my package and getting no answers as to what had become of any of it. Finally, the last exchange with them resulted in the shipper needing a specific packing list of the contents of the package. I order stuff all of the time and the company sends me whatever is available on the date the package is sent. I never know exactly what is in the package until I open it. So I called the company to have them get in touch with the shipper and provide a packing list.
Here's why the company I order from is so great. They said they would handle things from that point. If they and the shipper together could not locate my package within about a week, thecompany would re-ship all the items they could. (Remember, they didn't lose the package, so I didn't know if I would just be out everything or not.) They also told me that should this happen again (we all hope not, but things occasionally go "not according to plan"), to call them, the company, first and let them deal with the shipper.
So, it's too soon for this whole thing to be resolved yet. And no matter what, I'm going to be getting my comics late. But I'm more certain now that I will eventually get them. That's a good feeling. Thanks guys.
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