New Artwork!

I did a drawing for John Sanford to help him celebrate the second anniversary of his comic strip, Chippy and Loopus. So here it is! You can see this piece, and much more artwork at his blog. Enjoy!

Catching Up

Anita's been laid up for a while, but she's more mobile now. A few weeks ago (around tax time), the cats knocked over a trash can, and she slipped on it, wrenching her knee and injuring her ACL.

We had no idea how serious it was at first - it was tough to get an appointment with our GP, who was on vacation. The emergency room visit didn't tell us much, and our initial appointment with our GP's substitute fell through. For some reason when I called to confirm, we weren't on the schedule at all. The new doctor wasn't part of our insurance plan, and the office we were going to didn't have the facilities to perform an MRI, which we needed to do. Urrgh!

Fortunately, I got a recommendation from a co-worker, and the new-new doctor - a sports physician - very kindly examined Anita immediately, in spite of his busy schedule. We got the MRI release we needed, and got the scan itself that same evening.

The injury, while not as bad as it might be, is still very uncomfortable and will take a while to heal. Anita has a custom-fitted knee brace now, and she's just about to start physical therapy. We've both got our fingers crossed that her knee will be much better before the puppet season starts!

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Saturday was our second wedding anniversary! It hardly seems like two years have passed already. We had a fancy lunch at Chez Panisse, and dinner at Rivoli, which were both delicious. We exchanged gifts, and watched The Matador in the afternoon. Anita liked it more than I did - I thought it was just okay.

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Anita generously allowed me to fly down on Sunday to the Vinyl Toy Network in Pasadena, a convention devoted exclusively to designer vinyl toys. It was the second of its kind, so I had no idea what to expect, and I thought I might see some stuff that I wouldn't see (or be able to buy) elsewhere. Plus, it gave me an opportunity to visit some of my southern California friends, so that was a great fallback regardless of the VTN's quality. Brian and I went to the show, and we met up with other college-era friends for dinner.

Being the super-life-wasting nerd that I am, I flew down painfully early so I could get in line an hour before the show started. There was a goody bag offered to the first hundred guests, so Brian and I were determined to get one! We each got one handily, then it was off to Toyland!

While Brian and I had a good time at the show, it wasn't something I'd recommend traveling to do. The show floor was extremely small - there was less than twenty tables set up, and the layout was cramped, considering the average volume of a boxed toy. Imagine buying two or three boxes about the size of a traditional rotary telephone (or half of a modern printer). Now stick those in a bag and walk down aisles that can fit three or four bag-less people across. The first hour wasn't a lot of fun, as the heat and humidity soared due to the early guest crush.

Since most sane people could go through the dealers' floor in about twenty minutes, the crowd thinned to an acceptable level. I found a few items that I hadn't seen elsewhere, but for the most part, almost everything that I bought there, I could've bought online. No big surprises or bargains (aside from avoiding shipping).

We did get to meet a couple of cool designers, so that was a nice plus. Dave Pressler has worked in special effects, so he makes his toys from the ground up - sculpting, casting, painting, the works! Cameron Tiede has a fresh, unique style, and his toys are slated to debut this summer at Comic-Con. Both of them were great guys, so we chatted for a little while.

We left the show at 3:30 or so, and met up with our friends for dinner in La Crescenta. Brian hustled me back to Burbank airport, and I was back in Oakland at about 11:00 PM. Fun stuff!