New blog Post MamaFauver Foods

As 2009 and the decade come to a close, we thought it would be fun to look at our five favorite designs we've done since 2005. While we've only been doing this on a part-time basis until now, we've done some memorable cakes for clients and friends. In this short little serialized list (and who doesn't like lists?) we've compiled a neat little rundown on the story behind each of these great and tasty works of art! Each day this week we will list our five favorite cakes of the last five years.

Read more

Open Source Creative programs

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33457

Since getting the new Hard Drive setup, I have decided to concentrate on Creative Open Source programs for my projects. I believe in the open source movement, dislike Adobe's monopoly, and figure I can always find good plug-ins, or request plug-ins, from developers to suit whatever needs I may run into.

I have used them before, including the last magazines I did which I used GIMP, Scribus, and Inkscape. There was a bit of a curve, but I was able to layout the magazine as needed and get it to the printer with no problems (other than some printing issues on previously created pages which I had nothing to do with). I had been using Adobe Products, but I no longer have a license for them nor do I have the cash to shell out for a Master Creative Suite. Sure, I COULD keep using the programs, but that would be technically stealing. I'd rather do things legally and be proud that I was able to learn three new programs with a bit of a curve. The open source programs are not as powerful in some aspects, nor are they as elegant or seamlessly integrated. However, they are much lighter weight and I just have to find workarounds for any extra stuff I wanted to do. They suit my needs right now.

I have also used NVU for web stuffs, and I find that a bit trickier than Dreamweaver, the WYSIWYG interface, anyway, so i found myself more into the code than the GUI. Coding is coding, and that can be done in a txt file, so sure, whatever. I have yet to explore the open source versions of Director or Flash (synfig), so I will let you know what's up when i figure them out. Honestly, i don't use Flash too much anymore, anyway. Maybe for little things, but there are so many free utilities out there and other options available I probably won't even bother (unless I get a client who REALLY wants something in Flash, and then I will gladly buy the package and license with the advance).

For video editing and composition, I am okay with Premiere and a neophyte with AfterEffects, so Jashaka (for Motion Graphics) and just installed Avidemux. It is foreign to me. However, I can use most nonlinear editing systems for the basics at least. I learned in the eighties with three VHS VCR's connected with AV cables then moved on to UMatics in college. The editing isn't about the software, it's about the art of the edit, which I am still tackling. but I love it. I just need footage to practice with.

For audio, I had always been fond of CoolEdit pro (and I learned with cassette tapes, then Reel-to-Reel) and was decent with a razor but had a better ear. I sucked on air, though, because I thought I was funnier and more clever than I actually was. I still have that problem mostly. So now i use Audacity, and I just upgraded to a new version. I have only used the multi-track editing capabilities lightly, and it takes some getting used to, but the most recent audio recordings were done with Audacity and a cheap microphone, so what do you expect.

That's it for now. Oh, we use OpenOffice for our Office Productivity. I've also used AbiWord. I like both of them, and they seem lighter weight than the heavier MS Word, but I did have to buy that with this system at the time to get .dosx - however, I believe OpenWrite can open dosx files now.

Well, that's my update for a snowy day in December. We have 6" at 11 Am and are expected to get 18+. Unheard of in December in southern New Jersey. So I get to go clean the kitchen and do some creative tinkering by making batches and batches and batches of cookies! Enjoy your day and I hope you do something creative today!

Brett

LULU coupon code - 20% paperback today only!

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=787484

COUPON CODE DEC18

Notes from the Chemo Chair, anyone?

Film vs. Digital

In a flash of "Luddism" (or Luddite-ism), I have refused to jump on the digital camera bandwagon. I was never a great photographer, but I managed to squeak out some fairly decent shots with my trusty Nikon, which is approaching twenty years old. I recently had to buy a new camera, as the old Nikon body, which has been through Hell and back, finally broke down and I could no longer close the film compartment without duct tape. It still works but it needs service and I can keep it around as a secondary camera when needed. I still have the original lenses, a wide angle and a telephoto, and they are still clean and SORT of maintained. Not as well as I should have maintained them, but they still take a great pic.

I did try to jump on the digital camera train fairly early when I was cataloging jewelry in 1998, and studied a little under a photographer at an automotive parts manufacturer (I was in the Production department for packaging). He had a Nikon with a digital adapter, which was quite a chunk of change back in 99. Since then I have tried different point and click digital cameras, as well as a few digital SLR's. I still haven't liked them. The closest was a Canon Rebel I played with around Easter last year, as it came closest to my Nikon 6006 experience.

The trouble, of course, is the film. Film is expensive for someone like me, who has no money but a lot of passion. And I take a lot. I bracket photos. I waste frames for exposure. And this is where I SHOULD have a good Digital SLR, because the Digital waste is subsidized into the cost of the camera. I should note that I also love the fumes of a darkroom and the chemicals, though they do not love me, especially in light of recent pulmonary problems. But fixer - it turns me on.

My digital shots are worthless. For some reason, I have a block that doesn't allow me to compose, expose, or shoot how I want. I don't know why. Perhaps it's the viewfinder, perhaps it's the LCD screen on the back of them. Perhaps it is the chintzy electronic zoom, the auto focus (though I do use autofocus on the 6006), or the lightweight nature of the point and clicks, but I find that I can't take a digital photo to save my life.

Will a DSLR change things for me? I know I would go through at least 10000 bad digital pics before getting used to it, and the plus side of that would be the digital pics could easily be trashed. Of course, it may just be too much camera for me to handle to begin with, and perhaps I should just stay the course with my 35mm and buy film in bulk. I can't set up a darkroom because of the chemicals (I'm so sorry, fixer), and developing the film gets expensive, of course. I have a bag full of undeveloped film. Almost 50 rolls of film.

The other thing is just an aesthetic of grain of the film vs. the digital image. Sure there are many applications for whatever operating system to manipulate the image, and I am sure a talented artist can fool even the most discerning eye.

While my camera usage is limited to 135mm in the 80's, the Kodak disc camera (remember those), 35mm of various stripes and lightweight point-and-click digital cameras, I still prefer the Nikon 6006. It's sturdy, it takes a good picture, and above all I am used to it's controls and quirks. The new body for it only cost me $20 on Ebay, and the lenses are still supported, so long as they are nikkor. However, I think I need to take a step in one direction or the other.

I do not think that step will be DSLR in the near future. I would rather experiment with a medium format film camera, like a Hasselblad or Yoshica, though the Hasselblads are WAY out of my price range. Yes, they expense is still there, but I am more concerned with image quality and being able to take some breathtaking photos, and I do not think that digital is the right way to go artistically. While yes there are amazing photos taken daily with digital cameras, I know that for me I need something else.

So, I think, for the time being, I will keep on keeping on with my Nikon 6006 for my photography. It's more time consuming, but that psychological block I have with digital is not going to help my skill improve. In fact, I will try one of those 365 projects next year, yet all with film. There will be a delay, of course, between the actual shots and the scanning/posting process. (Yes, scanning). I believe I have rambled on enough.

Of course, if someone wants to gift me a D90 for "review", I wouldn't turn it down! ;-)

A list for December 16th, 2009

Why babies could never be good spies
a list for 12-16-09

1. Feeding schedules
2. Gas pains
3. Inability to follow simple orders
4. Uncontrollable vocalisms
5. The constant need for comfort
6. unscheduled and immediate naps
7. Inability to use sophisticated devices
8. The "lie" reflex doesn't come until they learn to speak
9. The sweet smell of soiled diapers is pervasive and is an instant "tell" that a spy is in the midst.
   

Aftershock of Pneumonia

I don't know if this will be long or short and I will just be dropping the bits of my brain directly into the blog. (Sorry about the short post from before, my mistake)

I was not feeling well a few weeks ago. In actuality, my breathing had really sucked since I had H1N1 over the summer. While the swines didn't kill me, they certainly curtailed any dreams of being a cross-country skiier or long-distance runner. To be honest, I don't think I've ever harbored those dreams. In a smaller yet more profound sense it did strike me that my livelihood and the thing I am best at, which is the unfortunate choice of being some sort of spoken word performer/storyteller. You know, one of those actors despite not having acted in anything since last December. My voice is a great asset, as is my breath control, and I know it and I know I have underutilized it which I believe has been a great detriment to my career. I have been able to use it for the delight of my children when I tell them stories, which is a treasure for all of us. I love doing it and they love hearing daddy's stories.

When my breath is taken away, whether by Hodgkin's pleural effusion when first diagnosed in 2002 (yet despite the breathlessness I was still able to give a fairly memorable performance as Banquo and choreograph the fights), to the recurrences where the disease centered on nodes in the lung. Vast amounts of chemotherapy and radiation therapy have weakened my lungs again and again. Of course, the years of smoking Camels and Marlboros did nothing to help my lung function, and that is a curse I gave myself. It should be noted however, that the smoking did not give or contribute to Hodgkin's, according to oncologists - there is no link - but damn did it affect recovery. I was born early with fluid in my lungs and had a lengthy hospital stay in Philadelphia for the first weeks of life and came down with case of pneumonia when I was two, requiring another lengthy stay in Philly again. So, from the beginning, my lungs were not the best specimens of human health. Living my life in polluted areas does not do good things for breathing, either.

Anyway, flashing forward to November 10th or so and I start to have a rattle in my lungs that is fairly nasty. I am immuno-compromised thanks to cancer and transplants - so I tend to pick up infections with clumsy ease. It felt like the beginnings of a chest cold or allergies or bronchitis. Another week and I feel worse and have a cow of fatigue sitting on my body. I stayed on a chair for a whole day, feeling like I just needed to get a little more sleep. The next two days I did feel a little better so I went to NYC for my third treatment of Bendamustine. Talked to the doctor about the chest crap, they tested for swine flu (in case I contracted it again thanks to my defective immune system), and gave me some Zithromax. Second day of NYC/bendamustine went as predicted and my fatigue, as predicted, did not go away. However, I walked several blocks to finally try to catch a cab. I should have had the lobby call one for me in hindsight. The cold wet air made me feel like death warmed over. I was cold, clammy, and couldn't stop coughing.

November 20th, a friday, was a doozy. I slept all day and had trouble getting up and around. So much that I ignored the dog so much that the poor girl pooped on the floor by the door waiting to be let out. Johnathan had a party to go to and Steph was going out for the evening to see a movie with friends. I promised to clean up as much as I could, which ended up being nothing. I was a useless gelatinous blob of mucous and pain. Steph suggested I call the doctor and I didn't, of course. I knew it would mean I would have to go in the hospital and I thought it would be foolish to go for something like bronchitis. Plus, I felt like doing NOTHING. Friends were coming over to help relieve some twin duties so both Steph and Johnathan could get out of the house for a few hours. Steph, especially, who was having an especially hard week, needed to get out to the movies and have a dfrink afterward.

Of course, life throws curves. . . all the time. 10 PM I got a call from the parent of Johnathan's friend, where he was staying for the evening. They were playing a game with toothpicks and she didn't get them all up from the carpet, so my boy of course stepped on one, driving it over half of an inch into his foot. Mike and Matt went to get him and they took him to the ER, where Steph showed up. After waiting four hours the docs finally pulled it and bandaged it.

Saturday and Sunday I declined more. By 2:30 Monday morning I could barely move. I went downstairs to the bathroom and it took me fifteen minutes (at least) to climb the stairs. I could NOT catch a breath. I woke Steph and told her to call 911. They got there, evaluated me and transported me to SJHS in Vineland. Put on oxygen and some morphione for the pain in my chest. I was diagnosed with pneumococcal pneumonia. I had pleural effusion as well as cardiac effusion. The main concern was that they felt the fluid around the heart was the main problem, but it turns out it was only because of thickening of the heart wall from all treatments and the bacterial infections. After a few days I was moved from ICU to the step down unit and I worsened. My breathing became ragged, I developed a fever, and my numbers plummeted. I needed more and more oxygen and still had unbearable fatigue. I was moved back to ICU and I decided I wanted to be transported to HUMC as soon as something was available.

Another bug was found in my system, another pneumonia, and my chest xray did not seem to improve too much. The secondary pneumonia is common with patients receiving Bendamustine. Anyway, the pulmonologist strongly urged I be put on a ventilator. I refused. I did improve enough to be moved to step-down, and after a few days in step-down I was transported to HUMC.

I was at HUMC for a few days and improved dramatically and was finally sent home on Monday. However, I am still recovering. I can't walk up stairs, I can only stand for a limited time, and my muscles have atrophied from being bedridden for two weeks (more). I am on steroids and four different prophylaxis antibiotics while my immune system tries to recover. The newest development is the blood sugar testing, thanks to the steroid induced diabetes. So far my sugar at hgome has been controlled enough and I haven't needed any insulin, but that could change.

I do know I am glad to be home, happy for the friends I have, and ecstatic to see my family again. I may have lost work, but I am alive and I can appreciate every breath I take. Thank you for being there for me, and I can only hope my bond with you grows stronger!

Probably a little too scatter-shot, but daytime TV and meds will do that.

alive

I'm alive.

I was admitted to SJRH in Vineland for Pneumonia on the 23rd. Finally I have internet access again. I have lost some vauluable contracts which SUCKS.

More later when I don't start hyperventilating while thinkgin about it.

Shilling for my greater good

11:47 on Saturday evening? Time to try to sell a tshirt or twelve! and FRAK CANCER

http://www.zazzle.com/newfrakcancer_tshirt-235326519739866297

I took the design I made for CafePress and went to Zazzle. I make a minimum royalty on the design, so buy twelve! Please!

They make GREAT gifts for Thanksgiving! And Mondays!

Or just to tell someone you care enough to FRAK CANCER!

I admit - a marketer I am not. . .

Shilling for a living - books and audio recording of Radiation and Superpowers RT or forward please!

I have Books for sale! hardcover, softcover, and downloadable! Damn The Cancer: Plays, Damn the Cancer: Notes from the Chemotherapy Chair (non-fiction), and Furies Fell (a play).

All here! http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=787484

Also, an audio sample of Notes from the Chemotherapy Chair on Multiply.

Have a great weekend, and please pass this along.

My plug for the day

Support my (chemo) drug habit!

http://www.lulu.com/content/hardcover-book/damn-the-cancer-notes-from-the-chemotherapy-chair/7791611

New book

I took someone's advice and collected my essays on cancer and having cancer, etc. and put them into a book to sell on Lulu. Right now there is either an e-book for 6.25 or a Hardcover for more than that. I don't care if you buy or not, but if you could at least pass on the link I'd appreciate it! (I'd also appreciate if you bought a first edition, too!)

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=787484 - Damn the Cancer: Notes from the Chemotherapy Chair

Help out!

Hey, I have a Lulu account and I have created a hardbound cover edition of my Damn the Cancer plays. Could you help out and spread the word or even buy three copies for your friends? It's lulu, so i only get a small bit of the money (except the download, I get $4 of the $5 listed). http://www.lulu.com/content/hardcover-book/damn-the-cancer-short-comedies/7790367

I thank and love you in advance!

Progressives

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=175726262753

Nothing there yet.

Some rehash of my own

I recently read an article on What Not to Say to a Cancer patient, which reminded me of my own take on it posted almost a year ago on Suburban Panic.

I've reposted it on my other blog site, Nusquam Ubi Sub Ubi. . . http://fauver.madpage.com/wordpress/?p=233

I thought I was being mean in one section, but really, I was being too nice upon rereading it.

Pardon to the Facebook and twitter people who have seen the link already.

New post, but it isn't much. . .

http://fauver.madpage.com/wordpress/?p=225

Monday Morning Blog

I am well-rested this morning, mostly.  I do have some of my scrambled brains cobbled back together, which is a sign that the worst of the chemotherapy side effects are over.  Only five more of these to go!  Next chemo stop is September 15th & 16th.  Hopefully a deadline won't drop in on that week.  But if it does, I will manage, especially with help of family and friends, as usual.  I really can't emphasize enough how much I love my family and friends, and it usually takes something like cancer to really have that appreciation come to the forefront.  But then again, we don't care about the air we breathe until we can't breathe it anymore, so why should anything else be different?

Read more at my other blog.

Yes, it's pathetic, but why do I find it so damn funny?

I tried to be lucid for this post, but it didn't work out too well

I TRIED to be lucid - but this is what chemobrain does. . . http://fauver.madpage.com/wordpress/

MSKCC adventures: Days of Bendamustine

Day "One", again, this time in a new facility.So my intrepid adventuring sidekick, Nate, who has medical problems of his own, took off from my home in Vineland and stopped at Wawa to gas up, grab some cold tea, and drive the hour to Trenton (Hamilton Square, actually) to pick up a Transit Train into NYC (Penn Station). The trips were pretty bland and nothing exciting happened. I finished "You Suck" by Christopher Moore and am halfway through "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". The problem with PPZ is that it's really a one-joke premise so far and I find myself not as excited as I am supposed to be. Meh. I guess when you deal with a type of plague you have yourself, you tend to be more critical of fictional plagues. We arrived in Penn Station and walked out the wrong side - d'oh! I knew better, too. So we walked around to the Mad Square Garden side and grabbed a cab. No cash cabs were available, damn the luck! Instead we had a bearded fellow by the name of Anis. Got to Sloan Kettering in average time, popped in to register and found out I was to immediately have a bone marrow biopsy - yay! Unscheduled as far as I knew. I was also informed they had been waiting for me since 11:30. Considering it was now 1:00 PM, I was late. Although in my defense, my actual appointment was for 1:45. So, they gave me the option of the manual cork-screw into my back or the new-fangled, ultra-expensive device they just got - you know, a new toy. I chose the new toy. I love the sound a drill makes when carving through flesh and bone, especially when I can hear it on both the inside and outside of my body. Still hurt when he hit the bone and crunched it as well as when they sucked the marrow for an aspiration. But it was over a LOT quicker. We're talking five minutes tops. I approve of this technology.

Docs had a phone conference to make sure I had all of my tests completed and legitimized, yada yada. He talked about HLA typing, and it doesn't seem that Sloan Kettering is on the same page as HUMC. Something to clarify later with both hospitals.

So then the true waiting game began. We bounced around to three different waiting rooms. Which you know, is ALWAYS fun. Didn't actually get chemo until five o'clock or thereabouts. They accessed my port, grabbed a handful of blood (vials of blood, that is) and pre-treated me with fluids, Zofran, and Dexomethosone. I needed something to eat, so I asked for some OJ and crackers, which I shared with Nate. They hooked up the bendamustine and I was out of there an hour later, feeling "slorshy". The nurse, Joann, told me to report at 3 the next day for more slorshy goodness. We grabbed a cab back to Penn Station, grabbed a quick bite at a Moe's inside the station and grabbed the train back to Trenton through thunderstorms. After another uneventful trainride, aside from the bouncing, jostling train car which made the slorsh slorsh even more, that is.

Got home around 10:30 feeling slorshed out, flushed, and had a bit of a headache. I did sleep well despite the weird dreams which I do not remember and the rock hard erections that kept waking me up. I've had that happen before with chemo. It's actually one of the "better" side-effects when I am able to use it for what is intended. When I'm not, it's like I overdosed on VJuice from TrueBlood.

Day Two of the clinical trial was really a lot more of the same as Day One, except no surprising flesh drills. I did notice that a) my arms were healing and not as itchy from that damnable eczema stuff, nor b) was I coughing as much. Probably an attribution from the Dexamethosone rather than the Bendamustine, though Doc Hamelin did tell me that it starts working within the first two treatments, so I am very hopeful about that. Oh, another thing I was told is that they are continuing to check on HLA matches, even with cord blood, but they are undecided about a second Allo transplant - they want to see how the Bendamustine works and possibly put off the transplant for another time or maybe never is need-be. They want to weigh everything positive and negative. So it just means yet another uncertainty in my treatment. Still looking for a match, though, just in case.

So I waited four hours in the waiting areas of Sloan-Kettering after uneventful drives, train journeys, and wild cab rides until I was moved to yet another area and had my chemo started at 6:15 PM. From 2:45 to 6:15 is not four hours, it's only 3:30, but it was still an inconvenience. Left feeling slorshy again, but not as much as I had packed water, almonds, fig newtons, and teriyaki jerky with me. Trust me, I know exactly what to bring to chemotherapy. I'm a frikkin expert. I slept the hour of Bendamustine. They knew I was pissed because they didn't drip it, they let is drizzle in. It made my head a little bloated, but it got me out faster.

I wasn't able to visit Carmen in the city this time, but next time. I took another wild ride to Penn Station, and a ride on Transit beck to Trenton that wasn't slorshy but was fairly crowded. I worked on outlines for Hamlet, as well as other projects for home improvement and other things, so it wasn't as unproductive as the day before.Another night of sleep, another flushed face, another bout of all-night stiffies.

One round of chemo down, five more to go. Cancer, you're one done SOB.

Did you like this one? I have more coming. Leave me a buck! or fifty cents. or twenty-thousand dollars. I don't mind.

Brett Fauver (not Brett Favre, but he can donate too if he likes!)

856-265-3687

brett.fauver@gmail.com

Thanks! If you do, I'd love to thank you - leave me your address!

You can also buy a shirt to help out. http://www.cafepress.com/fauverarts2

Course of the day

Waiting in Suite 7 for chemotherapy. Been here over an hour and it's not because of socialized medicine.

ugh, I hate to admit it, but I need help again

So, of course, it's down to this again. . .

I'm looking for a little assistance in the transportation/food/lodging department for my frequent chemotherapy trips and visits. They are long days (so far) and plunge me deeper into fatigue. The train ride home after chemo was so damn bumpy I almosty blew chunks all over the seat. I was a little queasy and it didn't help that the train felt like it was on a paint mixer at points and at other points, going over a gravelly pothole filled road. Yes, I know it's a train, but just imagine if. . .

So, it's already put a pretty bad strain on the already tight finances, and I haven't been able to make jam or salsas yet to defray costs (a week or two when fruits and veggies are ripe enough), it has caused some wear and tear on vehicles, the gas issue is there, as well as the costs for parking, taxis, subways, and NJTransit trains. Then there is the question of eating. It is just such an added expense for me as well as taking precious time away from any work I might have coming in. So, could you spare a dime for a man who's down on his luck?

Thanks! If you do, I'd love to thank you - leave me your address!

Sometimes. . .

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to please someone, they turn on you and prove how much of a douchebag you already knew they were. . .

douchebags. . .

Stunning display of GvHD

Well I have GvHD, I think, over a lot of my skin, maybe about 60%. It's itchy, red, and irritating. Does the GvHD mean I don't need chemo? Does it mean my own body is finally taking care of shit like it's supposed to do (after a transplant, I mean)? Probably not, but there is always hope.

I am irritaed right now at my printer, which prints one postcard (usually) before jamming. I haven't even gotten to 200 yet today. Only 800 and some to go. It's not actually printing the full postcard, just a mailing address.

In between deadlines right now. The last deadline was last week at some point, but the issue was finally uploaded on Friday evening. I was yelled at vociferously by the publisher because I said I would get it to the printer by the afternoon. I told him that it WOULD have happened if he hadn't changed so many pages around. Each time he would do that we would have to repaginate. The upload time to Box.net was atrocious (so he could see the proof). Anyway, the issue is done and out of my hands at this point. Northern NJ papers are due this week, and I had asked to get all material in to me by Aug 4, due to my associate being at Wizard World Chicago this weekend (I was supposed to attend as well, but I had a conflict with a wedding of a good friend which I am in - the wedding, not the good friend), so of course, I only have info for 30 of 70 pages. These papers always seem to be an afterthought for the publisher - oh yeah, we ARE doing those papers, too, aren't we? And I get stuck holding the dead fucking rat.

I have a doc appointment tomorrow for a fun fun bone marrow biopsy. Have I mentioned it's fun?

Thursday I have a trip to Memorial Sloan Kettering for a PET scan, a CT Scan, an EKG, and blood work. Not a lot of fun. I will be pretty damn tired.

Friday I will no doubt be working my ass off to get the issue uploaded, and I have a rehearsal dinner to attend that night.

Saturday is the wedding on the beach, and I can't wait. It shoukd be a lot of fun if not sweat-inducing.

Had a meeting with a prospective presenter of Hamlet. Looks promising but I have a lot of work to do on the proposal. Luckily I have some talented friends who have already signed on to help. Anyone else?

Updates to that Other Blog

Sheesh, how many do I have. . . Too many, that's how many.

Anyway, I've added pages for plays.

They've all been forced upon the Multiplyers before, but since Multiply has the best way to broadcast to all of my networks, I post from here.

http://fauver.madpage.com/wordpress/?page_id=155

Shamless Plug

By now you are probably getting tired of me and my shamless self-promotion, but I am pretty proud of the designs and I really do need your help!

So even if you can't buy one right now, could you pass on the link? I'd be appreciative! And if you DO buy a shirt, please send me a pic of you wearing it! (or drinking from a mug or slapping a sticker somewhere it shouldn't be, etc.)

Brett

www.cafepress.com/fauverarts2

Brilliant!

I found this via Jennifer Gardner. . .

go ahead, fight me

http://derylykt.mybrute.com

New Design - Ahh, frak it.

http://www.cafepress.com/fauverARTS2/

Just thought of another design today, so I made it this afternoon and posted it.

Funding myself

Probably a little pricey, but I can't afford to run a bunch of shirts at a printer right now, so CafePress it is.I also opened an Etsy store, but there is nothing there.Just trying to offset the additional costs of travel, food, etc for the next six months. Buy a shirt.

Jammin! (an unscientific poll)

Thanks to le petit gateau (aka Boston Shellie), I am thinking about making jams again. I just want to know, by this unscientific study, which flavor would you most likely want, if you were to want any.

So which flavor of We Be Jammin Jam would you most likely devour and not share?

Jammin! (an unscientific poll)

Thanks to le petit gateau (aka Boston Shellie), I am thinking about making jams again. I just want to know, by this unscientific study, which flavor would you most likely want, if you were to want any.

So which flavor of We Be Jammin Jam would you most likely devour and not share?

More Marrow

Finally, some news

I went to Sloan Kettering yesterday and met with my new doc, who had worked before with Goy. Very nice man who seems to be ahead of the curve on cancer treatments. I signed on to a clinical trial of bendamustine. It's a drug that had been used to treat several types of cancers in East Germany, yet nothing had really been written down or documented. The drug is FDA approved, but the trial is to study the effects on Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Well, to see the efficacy rate, side effects, etc. However, the drug is "exciting" and "promising", though, for legal reasons, I can't get excited or have them promise anything. Oh well. I am okay with it all.

I have testing (PET/CT, EKG, bloodwork, bone marrow biopsy) on August 6th, with treatment to start on August 11 (continue on the 12th) and then repeated every 28 days for 6 cycles (1 cycle is 28 days). This means the treatment schedule will be as follows (more for me than you):

August 11, 12

September 8, 9

October 6, 7

November 3, 4

December 1, 2

December 29, 30

The side effects are like side effects of other chemos, though they are supposedly well tolerated. I will find out.

Insurance, of course, won't cover travel, food, or lodging, and part of my insurance won't cover visit to NYC hospitals, but since it is a clinical trial, I really only have to worry about the incidentals. And that is still a bit of a worry.

More Health News. . . The WTF edition

So Sunday I couldn't take thoughts and put them into words - the right words anyway. I could say the simple words but when it came to important words, like my address, the date, my sons' names. . . chicken. .. things like that, the words were malformed on my usually fairly articulate mouth. For about ten minutes. My friend, an EMT, was worried it might be a TIA, or mini-stroke (or transient stroke), and called 911 (with Steph). By the time the ambulance got to our house, I was fine and could speak clearly as I could before the "incident". I did have two 7&7's, hadn't eaten much that day (a cup of coffee and a tuna fish sandwich several hours before), and did have an anxiety attack ealrier thanks to the LOUD children and the chaos abound. I don't like chaos. at. all.

Anyway, to the ER of Regional Med Center. After bloodwork, EKG, chest xray and CT Scan of the head, still perplexed, but not concerned enough to put me in the stroke center. Still all very concerned. Still concerned enough to "keep me overnight for observation". Yah. Remind me not to fall for that one next time. Overnight became 48 hours of waiting around for doctors to tell me nothing.

Monday I had an MRI of the head and the found nothing. An ultrasound of the heart, which they found a weird valve. More bloodwork, and my sugar was kind of low, low cholesterol, and normal everything else. I saw a physical therapist and they evaluated me as perfectly fine physically. I then had to wait for the neurologist to come in at 4:30 to tell me they didn't know what was going on and that the episode could have been caused by stress, anxiety, yada yada. . . and thet he wanted to keep me for two more tests - an ultrasound of the carotids and an EEG. Grumble grumble. . .

Monday night I had a hell of a time sleeping, mainly because I needed to get home and do some work. I slept like crap and then, just when I had finally dosed off, the morning crew started shuffling in and making all sorts of noise. So no sleep for me. Instead, around 7:30 I was carted down to Ultrasound, and they were clear. Done, taken back to my room and no sooner had I put myself in a semi-comfortable position did the transport guy pick me up and take me to the EEG. The EEG wasn't ready but the woman doing the test pointed out that I had a LOT of brainwave activity. Of course I do, I have an anxiety disorder! I can't STOP thinking about shit.

Anyway, I was done testing by 10 and had to wait until 4:30 to see the doc so she could finally tell me they were discharging me but I had to come back on Thursday for them to look at me heart from the inside.

So, a fun few days of tests and no real results, just a doctor or two saying "We don't know! We theenk it might have been a transient stroke, so take some aspirin!"

The Pope of Darkness

good or bad or I can't tell

Well, it seems that the celbripocalypse is nigh. I hope Karl Malden didn't leave Earth without his American Express.

I've lost 45 pounds since February. It's a mixture of things - no steroids, working steadily, cutting three inches off of the dinner plates, influenza/recurrence. I'll take it. It means I can fit into sizes I haven't seen since my wedding. I can wear large shirts comfortably - with room to spare! It's weird.

I'm still gettng out of breath when I do anything.

I am being referred to a Doctor at Sloan Kettering in NYC for new treatment with "no side effects". It is in quotes because I don't believe it yet. Two days every month for three to four months, possibly longer if they can't find a donor.

Getting new floors and going deeper in debt. however, the carpets here are disgusting, dander and dust filled bacterial breeding grounds.

Found a possible artist for a story I've written.

That's all for today.

Maybe.

Guess who the 37-year old man in the article is. . .

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/article_cc118ccc-64de-11de-b857-001cc4c002e0.html

Okay, you guessed it. . .

The Flu, continued. . .

JUST received confirmation that the flu virus I had a week and a half - two weeks ago was indeed the H1N1 virus, better known as Swine Flu. Damn pigs.

Flu Type A

Just got back from a six day stint at Hackensack university Medical Center. Flu, Type A. Couldn't breathe. Really sucked.

More later.

marrow donor needed. . . again

So I finally made it to Hackensack today to find out what they want to do to me.

My previous donor is unavailable, so the plan of just feeding me more lymphocytes is out the window, which sucks a lot.

It sucks a lot because it means I have to have another bone marrow transplant.

I remember the first one sucking, so I don't think this one will differ much.

The thing I don't know is if they will attempt to match the new marrow or the old marrow. I do know that my DNA will change, yet again.

So I need a new donor. Hey, you know what? The National Bone Marrow Registry is in the middle of a "Marrowthon" where it's no cost to register. FREE! How cool is that? You get to possibly save a life AND it doesn't cost you anything! Go NOW to www.marrow.org.

There are three drugs that I may be taking but I can't remember the names. Probably start by the end of this week.

I'm tired. More later.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Douchebags everywhere!

• Frakkin moveable deadlines.
• Got the biopsy results, and it is indeed Hogkin's - Frak. �I suspected it yet hoped it was not. �Oh well. �More treatment this summer.
• That is all.

YouTube suspends JREF

Relinked from Suburban Panic. . .

http://suburbanpanic.com/2009/03/30/youtube-suspends-jref/

Seems YouTube is suspending accounts of James Randi, as well as other skeptics.

funny

I have been going through some old stories that I started and found one about the Jersey Devil I started to write (but never finished) in June of 2005. The word count where I stopped: 666. I wonder if I did that on purpose.

Wednesday, 2.18.09

He who go to bed with itchy butt wake up with stinky finger.

• Michael is walking. . . mostly. He walks more than he crawls or cruises right now. I guess he got tired of Morgan stealing his toys and running away.
• I went into it on my other other blog about the production troubles of firewire and stuff so I won't go into it here. However, I was thinking of returning the 4-pin to 6-pin cable but I dropped the camera on the concrete floor last night before bed. The cable was attached to the camera. The camera is fine (it seems) but the cable 4-pin end broke. Frick Frack Fruck.
• I'm tired.
• I have several piles of laundry facing me today.
• Despite the weather being fairly decent this season, I am through with winter. I want spring. Now, dammit!
• I am anxious to start editing Stringer and X but I want to wait for the rest of the footage. I think I may need to reshoot two interiors, as well, from looking at the footage. While I like the whole creative process of being a pocket change "auteur" I don't actually like setting up the sound, lights, or shots. Well, maybe the shots. I like the whole process as a well-rounded experience. However, when it comes to the editing session, I think that's where my passion lies. Some people have passion for playing guitar, others being on the stage, and even some who have it for digging deep into coding. . . Mine lies in taking raw footage and assembling clips to tell a story. Okay, I'll stop now.
  

He who have feet that smell and nose that run built upside-down.

Monday, oh you fantastic Monday, 2.16.09

Can't get enough of Sham-WOW

• Had a fire in the toaster oven this morning. Pop-Tarts are extremely flammable. Here's the quick story. . . I pop the tarts in the oven, set it for medium. I come back and they have barely been warmed. I set it for light and take bottles to the boys. I change two diapers that have very large turds and set each one to roam around the living room until I can get their breakfasts ready. I go in to the nursery to drop the turdy diapers in the diaper sausage maker and come back; I immediately notice the smoke and smell. My six-year old is sitting on the couch, just focused on something else. I run into the kitchen and see smoke pouring out of the toaster oven. I grabbed the fire extinguisher, pull the pin and. . . I can't figure out how to trigger it. I push the top and it goes off into a cabinet. Now realizing HOW it works I open the toaster oven window and pull it away from the wall (in reverse order) and flames shoot out letting off a nice wave of heat on this cold morning. I blast the oven and it's out, but smoke is everywhere, as well as particulate from the extinguisher. But the fire's out. Steph grabs the kids and puts them back in their nursery where there isn't any smoke but tuirns on the fan and opens the window. We open up all of the windows that actually open and try to air out the place. I must admit the cool breeze coming in from the windows was bracing and felt quite nice compared to the blast furnace from the little kitchen fire. No damage except to the toaster oven and the can opener (the electrical cord melted a bit), but the fisrt floor has the stench of smoke. I Febrezed it once and I'll do it again later. After I go out and get a new can opener and toaster oven. One that doesn't have a crappy timer that doesn't work.
• Michael walked a lot yesterday. Halting little steps but he was walking! Only a bit more than three months after his fraternal twin.
• Johnathan had a nice fit of puking yesterday morning. As children often do, he didn't make it to the bathroom in time, so I was cleaning a carpet at 7 AM.
• It seems FORD decided to cancel my directpay account without notice. Soooo I'm late with a car payment again.
• The back and forth with the mortgage, our personal crisis, has been averted yet again.
• I want to impose atheist law in this country, or at the very least agnostic law. Yes I know there is no such thing, which makes it as absurd as Imposing islamic law or basing laws on the book of Leviticus. I like shellfish, dammit!
• Today is day two of Celexa. I am on half-doses for the week. I had some depressive attacks over the past week. Yesterday and Saturday were pretty bad with the depression and anxiety. It used to be about cancer and treatment, now the anxiety and depression is about survival.
• Trying to rewrite the cancer stuff for a one-man show type of thing. I think it's called a monodrama.
• What DO you do with a drunken sailor, anyway? I'm sure he'd make quite a mess in the bathroom.

Although the Magic Bullet is best.

workshops

While most of my LJ and Multiply friends are outside of fifty miles of me, I thought I'd post a quick message here anyway. These workshops will be in the Vineland, NJ area.

I am holding four 8-week workshops starting in March for playwriting and acting.

The playwriting takes the writer through scenario writing to the completion of a one-act play. We work on character, dialogue, plotting, and above all, telling a good story. The workshop culminates with live readings of the completed work (although this is optional).

I am also holding two acting workshops and a scene study workshop. Each of these also culminates in a live performance TBD.

For more information, contact me at brettfauver@gmail.com or 856.265.3687.

shaksper

Any interest in Othello/Much Ado/R.U.R.?

Also, check out http://failblog.org/2009/02/05/k-mart-fail/

In an Othello state of mind

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.

Good Morning, 1/16/09

Johnathan is quite popular with the fifth grade set. . .

• Today Johnathan missed his bus, again, so I drove him to a stop further down the line. He got out of the car and was greeted by several fifth or fourth grade girls. As they realized who was getting out and standing at their stop with them, it was quite something to see their little faces light up and say his name with such glee. There were also a couple of boys his age, maybe a little older, who seemed to think this kid (Johnathan) was the equivalent of a first-grade Fonzi, sans leathers. One kid ran to him and started running at the mouth about Johnathan now knowing where he lives and visiting and yada yada yada. Johnathan's response was to exclaim, "Alright! Alright!" and walk past him towards the girls and approaching bus. I'm not worried right now, but if he keeps at this rate he'll be a cougar treat by the time he's a late teen.
• I need gloves. I can't find my trusty pair of superwarm gloves.
• I've been loving my lunches of Spinach Salads. . .
• On the fence about submitting a resume to direct Nunsense locally. Don't know if it is worth my time or worth it to interrupt my already shaky plans.
• Nanny was out yesterday and is out today, probably will be out Monday. She'll also be out for a week or two in about a month. So now I'm the nanny.
• I'm looking for a well-to-do Cougar to take me in as an assistant companion, so long as she funds my projects. . .
• I am baking a cake for the boys' party tomorrow. Well, baking it today when the boys are napping, which should be about 10:30 or 11:00. I love watching them interact and talk to each other. Fills me with lots o love. Except the biting. It looks sweet as Morgan reaches in to kiss his brother until the scream happens and I see the teeth marks.
  
• The twins turn one today! I let them sleep in until 9. It will screw up their sleep schedule, but it was nice, if a little worrisome, that they didn't wake me up at 6. (Not that 6 is that bad, but I've been super tired for the past. . . twelve months.) However, they are pleasant, smiling, talkative toddlers this morning.
  
• I sat in on a writing session of Idiot Box last night. Hopefully I'll be DP on the next few episodes. I have some idea for a cleaner, faster look. I think I contributed a few funny one-liners. For some reason, most of my humor last night centered around poop. . . or sex. But not both at the same time.
  
• I'll see you all on the other side of the weekend. Here's a pic of the boys I took while writing this:
  

Wait, what's the temp right now?

What's the temperature right now? Oh, it's negative. Gotcha.

Good Morning, 1/15/09

We have a biter, repeat, we have a biter.

• Johnathan kept to chores and cried when we wouldn't let him learn how to clean the bathroom. I relented and showed him how to clean the sink and toilet. Tonight he'll do the floors and bathtub. I told him and gave him a short example, but he did the rest himself. I did have to scrub the toilet in one section he missed (I had him squirt the blue cleaning liquid around the bowl and scrub until the blue turned white - he missed a spot), but he did a good job cleaning AND he thought it was fun. This is glorious news!
• The boy had a much better basketball practice and was able to dribble a bit better as well as bounce pass a little better as well. His shots are getting closer and he actually made a basket. I think one or two more practices he'll be ready to play a game. Problem with that is there are two games in between those practices. We'll see if he makes it through the game on Sunday. He already told me that he isn't going if he feels sick, which I know is his way of saying he doesn't want to play the game.
• While at practice, Steph tried to screw Morgan's crib's "gate" so he couldn't climb out. She put both boys in Michael's crib and went into the basement to grab the 3" screws and heard a horrible scream from Michael. She ran upstairs and saw Morgan opening his mouth and clamping down on Michael's arm. Morgan got into a little trouble. Michael has six welts, perfect little sets of Morgan's dental imprints around his body - arm, thigh, calf, nipple. . . Today you can still see the imprints but the previously red marks are now black and blue. Damn kids.
• Figuring out cheaper ways to produce higher quality video with my less-than-professional video equipment. All of the tips and tricks I found were ones I already knew about, but I have been squirreling away little bits and pieces of makeshift equipment for two years, so I am almost set. I did find a neat resource on how to build a steadicam apparatus with a few pipes, weight, and some fittings. I am pretty sure I can do that, as well as make a crane. The next short doesn't really need either the crane or the steadicam, so they can wait. The script I'm working on is going through a major change as I had a revelation on character and plot. It's a typical story, though, for me. Something that seems to be one thing but is actually some sort of horror. Will death be involved? Does the Pope shit in a Catholic toilet?
• This next short I do intend on taking to festivals, so it has to be as perfect as I can get under $40. (I know, the budget went up from last post!). I am not counting the gracious sponsorships from Mr. Thompson and Mr. Honachefsky, but they are going toward another project - that is, I spent the money on weaponry.
• Why is my dog barking?
• I got very little sleep thanks to Morgan who awoke at 11 PM screaming in pain and again at 3:30 AM. I took him to my chair and sat with him for hours until he collapsed. I think I passed out first, though. It wasn't a night of much sleep, though. The nanny called in sick today, which meant I had to cancel the teaching job I had for today. I didn't feel like dealing with the germs and attitude anyway. I get enough of that from my wife and boys.

Soylent White is made from paper!

Good Morning, 1/14/09

I am in need of blogging like I need another port-a-cath.

• I need to borrow a shotgun microphone for a week. Anyone do me a solid?
• Blu-ray doesn't seem much different than regular DVD to me, but then again, I am only connecting it through standard RCA cables.
  
• Morgan, the walker, is now becoming Morgan, the crib-climber. I didn't think they were supposed to do that for a while. What the hell?
  
• I need to go outside and clean up dog-poop. I hate cleaning up dog-poop. However, I'd rather scoop the poop than clean the bathroom. I think that's just the worst ever.
  
• Fine, fine. I'm twittering, already. Tweet, tweet. @brettfauver.
• I need a shower. Stinky everything. Maybe it will keep the flesh-eating ghouls away.
• Johnathan was excited to do chores yesterday. His motivation was money. He did eight chores and wanted to do more. I hope it holds for longer than one day.
• Mr. J has basketball practice tonight. I am not taking him, Steph is. I get the babies tonight.
• I have a few extra bucks, so I'm thinking about investing in a newer video capture device to recapture Perfetto and Beautiful Humanity footage, as well as the next $20 project I'm working on.
  

Flush the port. FLUSH THE PORT!