Author: Cynical Woman

Cartoonist, Artist, Geek, Evil Crafter, Girl Scout Troop Leader and Writer. Also, a zombie. I haven't slept in I don't know how long.
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Move It Mama Monday! Turkey Trotting

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Welcome back from the holiday! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Are your stomachs bulging from all that turkey you ate? Mine would be, but I managed to sneak in some exercise. Yep, that’s right! Yours truly managed to work up a sweat, in spite of being out of town and it being a holiday involving lots of food.

I can thank my sister-in-law for this. We were up her and my brother-in-law for the holidays, and she had signed up to do SOME’s Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I managed to get Hubster, the kids and myself signed up as well, so very early on Thanksgiving morning, we all went out to walk/jog the Tiny Turkey Trot (one mile) and then we did the full 5K Turkey Trot. And I learned something very important during these events, and that is…

No matter what you think you’ll be doing, always dress to run!

I expected the girls to walk just the 5K. Instead, they opted to do both events and they took off running right at the start, then continued to alternate between running and walking the entire distance of both courses. I was dressed in jeans and loafers. This was not an ideal running outfit. Now I know better for next year. I will wear running shoes and sweats, no matter what!

In addition to SOME’s Turkey Trot, Hubster decided to bring along the Wii and set it up at his parents place where we horrified/amused one of his brothers with bouts of Just Dance and Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout. Even though we were in a very cramped space, Hubster and the kids and I all managed to shake our groove thang without falling over any furniture. Though one time I did get a low-hanging wind chime tangled in my hair.

And there was the usual walking about. Unlike in my hometown, you can actually get to a number of places in DC just by walking, so we walked to the park and to the zoo. And since the Zoo was doing a night-time “Zoo Lights!” display, we walked all through that as well. Lots and lots of walking.

All in all, I got plenty of exercise in, and I managed not to eat too much turkey so I feel pretty good about myself. And in summary I would like to say that this Thanksgiving I was very thankful that I did not look like I did in the photos we found in my in-laws’ house where I was three weeks post-partum and I looked like Tippy the Whale.

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Rats! Episode 72 – One Thing I Am Thankful For

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Click on the thumbnail above to see the full-sized cartoon.

One thing I am very thankful for – I no longer have to wear that stupid tie. I hated wearing the tie with the winter uniform. I tied it once, when I first had to wear it, and then for the next four years would just loosen and tighten it to get it on and off. I think I even turned it into the uniform shop still tied after I graduated. I really, seriously hated that thing.

Not that the ties that usually come with women’s military are any better. But at least those dumb little neck tabs never choked anyone to death.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving today! I am still in DC, but will be back with the PerCaDraMo cartoons I’ve been doing sometime on Sunday. See you then.

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WIP Wednesday – the Steampunk Holiday Card That May Never Get Done!

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Steampunk Holiday Card WIP

Do you like it? It’s still a work in progress and I’m starting to think I will never get this done. It seemed like such a simple project to do when I came up with the idea, but at every step of the process, something had gone wrong. I’ve had major software problems, the biggest of which was my prefered 3D package, DAZ Studio, going completely berserk on me. (Actually, I have a far more colorful phrase to describe what DAZ Studio did on my computer, but I’m not going to use it here. However, if you ever catch me in person and really want to hear a rant, ask me about DAZ Studio 4 and how poorly it performed on my computer.) After losing three days to software problems, I finally broke down and bought a copy of Poser Debut, which worked as advertised and did exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, after installing Poser Debut, my computer slowed down to a crawl, to the point where even opening email caused a warning to pop up on my screen saying, “Outlook is using an excessive amount of CPU resources!!” Or something like that.

Anyway, this was supposed to be done the last weekend of October, which turned out to be the weekend I spent pulling three all-nighters to create a race t-shirt for my daughters’ school. That t-shirt design got a lot of nice comments back, which makes me happy, but I’ve been suffering from the time loss ever since. Hopefully, I will finish off this design before December. I will make it available as cards, even though it’s a bit late for that, but I will also make it available as an iPad case, an iPod Touch and iPhone case, and t-shirt design, and maybe a few other products. It’s going to look very nice by the time I’m done, I swear it, with a lovely swirling combination of cogwheels and snowflakes falling down onto the woman’s hair and face, and a steampunk border to go with it. You’ll love it. You’ll want to own it! You’ll demand I make prints of it available for sale. If I can, I will do exactly that. And you’ll buy it because you love me and support me and all that other crap.

Or not. You can simply just look at the smaller images I post here and leave me a loving comment saying, “Nice artwork!” I would be enjoy any feedback you care to give, monetary or otherwise 😉

By the way, if you do like the steampunk artwork, let me know. I’m working more and more on developing themes for products in the Zazzle shop, and if there’s something in particular you’d like me to draw more of – more steampunk, more zombies, more robots, etc. – I’d be happy to accomodate you.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, people!

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Some Quick Thoughts About the “Militarization” of Police Departments

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I ran across this article today in the online version of “The Atlantic.”

“Why Does a Small Town Have an Armored Vehicle? A Police Chief Explains.”

This article hit close to home for me, and I wanted to say a couple things about it. First, this is a perfect example of why no one should jump to conclusions. There is a reason why this vehicle is in Galax, Virginia, as the police chief explains, and it’s a good one. It’s used for response to high-risk situations all over the region, and the Galax police department didn’t buy the vehicle, they agreed to house it and deploy it.

Second, lest you think a sleepy little town like Galax doesn’t need to house and deploy such a vehicle, let me point out that Galax is not that far from Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech, where not that long ago a student went on a shooting rampage and killed several people. Oh, and Galax is also near Radford, which is home to a rather good-sized armory, last I checked. While I’m sure the Radford Arsenal has procedures in place to minimize the chance of a disasterous event occuring, there’s always a risk of something going wrong. And did I mention there are railroads in there area on which hazardous materials are often transported, and quite a few 18-wheelers carrying even more hazardous materials use the highways in that region all day and night? Yeah, Galax may be a sleepy little town, but there’s certainly potential for disaster in that region and it’s nice to be prepared for when things do go wrong.

Finally, let me just say I know a thing or two about Galax, Virginia. My first Army Reserve unit was located there. For almost three years, I spent one weekend a month and two weeks a year in Galax working with an Army truck unit. A lot of people in my unit were either local police officers or state troopers. These were good people, very hard working, and they not only served the public in their day jobs as police men and women, but they also served their country by joining the military. I joined the unit just after they came back from the Gulf War, so I know a little about the sacrifices these people made.

In the end, I just want to say that before we paint all police with the same dirty brush, please take time to get to know your local law enforcement departments. Every town has an event at some point where the police and the fire departments go out into the community to meet and greet, just like the event where this picture of the Lenco Bearcat was taken. Parades, holidays, community service events… I see our local police at events like these all the time. Yes, there are police out there who are committing horrible abuses, but a lot of police work damn hard to protect the general public. Get to know them, show them some support. The majority of these folks really are working to do a good job.

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ACW Episode 138 – The Trouble with Oatmeal

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Click on the thumbnail above to view the full-sized image.

There’s not exactly a punch line to today’s cartoon. But this really did happen. I didn’t get much breakfast on Friday morning before heading out the door, and by the time I was done with my morning water aerobics class and getting ready to head for the library, I was famished. So I bought the oatmeal, tucked it into my pocket and headed straight for the back of the library where I knew I could eat it in peace and quiet. I always bring coffee with me, because I like to have a cup of coffee when I work in the mornings, but the oatmeal was something I normally wouldn’t do. I have to admit, I don’t like bringing food into the library. I think too many people do it and they leave a mess and don’t bother cleaning up after themselves. And of course, sneaking food in can lead to some unexpected problems…

I did manage to get the oatmeal out of my pocket, though for a few minutes I thought I was going to have to it it straight out of the pocket then scrunch up the empty carton so I could pull it out and throw it away. Won’t be doing this again. As Mich pointed out, I should have just spent a few minutes in Starbucks eating the oatmeal there, but I was so intent on getting to my happy place in the library, I was willing to be stupid.

Speaking of my happy place at the library, I learned years ago that if I really wanted to get work done, the place to go is the library. There’s this one desk in the back that’s right next to an outlet, and the desk has those walls on the side so I’m shielded from nosy onlookers and I can sit and work to my heart’s content. I’ve been doing this off and on for years, and just recently started going back to the library for “regular office hours.” I’ve been there every Monday and Friday this month, working on my NaNoWriMo project, which is shaping up into… something. It’s more like pre-writing or outlining than a novel, but it’s that important first step in novel creation so I’m pleased with the results. As of this Monday morning, I’d written almost forty-six thousand words. My plan is to finish off those last four thousand words before we leave today to head to DC for the week.

I WILL NOT HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION DURING THE REST OF THIS WEEK BECAUSE I WILL BE IN DC!! I just thought I’d mention that. I’m going to be at my in-laws and they only have dial-up there and it’s not worth going down to the basement which is where I think I’d have to go to connect, so I’m just going to be offline for the rest of the week. I have all my blog posts for the week planned out except for the PerCaDraMo entries. I’ll continue to do a cartoon a day while I’m away, but you won’t see the drawings for Tuesday through Saturday until after I get home. Sorry!

Have a great Thanksgiving, and if you must sneak a turkey into the library to eat it, make sure it’s small enough to fit into, and get out of, your jacket pocket. Salud!

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Move It Mama Monday! I’m Slowing Down In Spite of My Good Intentions

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I told myself I would get out and bike no matter what, at least twice a week, but that isn’t happening at the moment. I’m slowing down, taking it easy, being a bit lazy, devoting myself more to work than exercise right now. It’s partly due to the cold weather and partly due to my work and personal schedules. I really do need to spend more time working at my desk, so I’m stealing time from every other activity I’m involved in to make that happen, including working out. And it hasn’t helped that last week the Hubster was out of town, so I had my hands full taking care of the girls on my own. Our trip to the emergency room on Tuesday night just killed any chance I had of exercising on Wednesday. I did manage to make it to karate on Thursday though, and I made it to water aerobics on Friday, even though I got there late. But I haven’t put in nearly the same amount of time or effort exercising this week as I normally would.

We’ll see if I can turn that around, or at least stop my slide into sloth and indifference during the holidays. I told my sister-in-law we’d sign up for a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. She’s going to run the 5K course, while Hubster, the kids and I walk it (my running days are over, thanks to my bum knees). It’ll be good to get out and walk in the brisk morning air then go home and eat all that food afterwards. And since we will be away in DC all the rest of this week, Hubster has mentioned taking the Wii with us so we can work out as a family at my in-laws house. That’s a good idea I think.

Hopefully, I’ll get back into my groove again soon. We’ll see.

My family and I are in DC most of this week. If I was very good on Friday, I got all my blog posts for this week done in advance, so there won’t be any missed posts. If not, you know what happened! I hope you all Happy Turkey Day, folks.

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PerCaDraMo Day 20 – When In Doubt, Draw a Robot

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I once read a line somewhere that said, “When in doubt, draw a fishie.” I prefer drawing robots, but the idea is the same. When you don’t know what to draw, have a fall back idea. Drawing tha will usually loosen up the ol’ creativity and lead to other drawings.

Drawn with SketchClub on my iPad, using the sketchy tool. My favorite drawing app, by the by.