Club High Castle Pre-Pandemic

Where, oh where have I been? As much as I like the idea of traveling to the stars and exploring new galaxies, that isn't the case right now. The computer saga continues... It had all the symptoms of a failed hard drive, so I did the normal thing and installed a new one. It worked beautifully for a few days. I thought that was that. Nope! I troubleshot everything from drivers, to faulty Microsoft updates, to the memory sticks. I even wiped everything and started over, which leaves only one piece of hardware as the culprit, the motherboard.  Despite what people say, money does make the world go 'round. Without it, I'd be hungry and without a roof over my head. Until I can get more of said money, I am out of a computer (I'm working from a tablet).  Digital commissions are a no go for now, but I can still do old fashioned paper or canvas pieces.  Well that was a Debbie Downer! How about I give you all some good news! The Year is Now has joined the

Resting on a sheet of ice until Winter plays nice, the Red Cart stands its frosty ground. Before the ballad begins, I need to inform you all that my hard drive recently kicked the bucket. It had served me for a good, solid six years. I salute you old friend! Anyone who is computer savvy knows what that means. For those who aren't: it basically means all of my programs are gone until I can dig through piles of discs tucked away in boxes. I mostly just need Photoshop and Word. Without Photoshop, I can't do my digital drawings. The red cart was drawn with my fingers on a tablet...>.> Digital commissions are on a temporary hiatus (paper commissions are still a go though!). The Ballad of the Red Cart There is a large pond with decorative fountains at one of the shopping centers the bus passes every morning. This winter has been a cold one, even for northern standards. It didn't take long for the beautiful pond to freeze over. For the past month or two, t

It's been a while since I've shared a good ol' military story! Turkey - 2001 The shop I worked in was responsible for hooking buildings up to the base network (among many other things that have nothing to do with this story).  Agent Double-Oh Awesome entered the scene when we got word that they just finished building a new *drum roll* building that had to be wired up to the network. We looked at the floor plans and decided that we would need to use the dusty, hardly ever used radios that sat in the corner in our shop in order to communicate with each other to get everything connected properly. Two of us went out assuming that our dusty radios were just simple two way devices. When we got to the site and found that we were the only ones there, well...put two young adults with radios together, and you get the adventures of Double-Oh Awesome fighting the Taliban and their evil laser sheep. I can't remember exactly what was said, but our game went something like

This week's post is a tribute to the late Leonard Nimoy. Death is one of those things I've never been good at talking about. Leonard Nimoy was one of Star Trek's most beloved actors and a world-wide icon. Millions have been deeply affected by his passing, and I am one of them. I discovered Star Trek in 2000. I worked the 6 am - 3 pm shift back then and would rush home to watch the sci-fi channel because Star Trek would be on by the time I got to my TV. Mr. Spock was quite the looker; I will not lie. He evoked creativity and jump started my imagination (as cliche as the notion is). I wrote silly adventure stories on the Enterprise involving him and Kirk, which were stored on floppy discs long forgotten and long lost to many moves and deployments. A friend and I would go to the local Italian fast food place because they had crayons and paper--the staff was all about not adulting when you didn't have to adult. We drew the craziest things, but they always involved