The Art of Tim

The insurance appraiser just left.

The bad news is, he declared my Jeep a total loss. I sort of knew that’s where it was going, but deep down I think I sort of hoped it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

The “good” news is that he declared the value of the Jeep/damages at just about what I paid for it. So it looks like at the very least I may break even, which is fine by me.

I’m going to start looking for a new Jeep tomorrow. I’m trying to decide between a Cherokee and a Grand Cherokee. I used to hate Grand Cherokees, but I’ve been looking at some (with lifts) and they’re starting to grow on me. But I do still love the boxy, angular style of the XJ. We’ll see.

Originally I wanted a YJ, but Wranglers are more a summer vehicle, and with my sports car I already have a summer vehicle. I need something tough for the harsh NE winters.

A couple of interesting facts from the accident report: The woman that hit me was nine months pregnant. Also, her license has been suspended since September of 1991.

O_o

So Britanny and I went up to Cape Cod for a couple of days for some escape and relaxation. We drove up Tuesday afternoon after she got out of work, and got there around 6pm. We went out for dinner with my parents in Woods Hole, then just hung around for the rest of the night.

On Wednesday we got up early and took the boat over to Martha’s Vineyard where we walked around, did some shopping, played at the arcade, at at the beach, had lunch and relaxed. During lunch I got a business call from Pierre, who informed me that the Save ConnectiCon donation drive had reached its goal of $34,148.00. I was shocked. I hadn’t expected it to end while I was away. I told him to shut down donations. A short while later I received a call from Ananth (applegeeks.com) on the topic as well.

Britanny and I headed back over on the boat, and hung out at my parent’s house for a while, before getting ready and heading out to the Barnstable County Fair, an annual carnival that comes through Cape Cod every summer. We played some games, ate some junk food, and went on some rides that we will never brave again. It started to get windy and a little rainy, so we called it a night.

Today we made the drive home to Connecticut. I’m back to work on comic stuff.

I went to the police station and got the accident report that had all of the lady’s insurance information on it, so I called a filed a claim with her company. They’re sending out an agent to appraise my Jeep first thing tomorrow morning. Right now I’ve got a rental (which I expect them to cover), and I’m going to start looking around for a new Jeep (probably another XJ) since I’m 99% sure they’ll declare mine totalled.

I was just starting to get attached to that truck too…

Britanny and I were on our way to a party tonight. Five minutes from my house, I was driving through an intersection, green light, and this stupid lady coming the other way pulls a u-turn right into the side of my jeep. Turns out she was driving with a suspended license to boot. To make her luck even worse, a cop was driving right behind her and saw the WHOLE thing.

Britanny is ok, I’m a little banged up but no worse for wear.

My jeep is fucked to hell though.

They had to pry the door open to get me out. Now it won’t stay shut unless I hold it. It drives, no axles were bent, and there is no visible frame damage, but the whole side is caved in about 6 inches.

The lady was driving a brand new Expedition, which is fully insured by her boyfriend. I’ve already contacted my insurance company… I think maybe in the morning I’m going to call a lawyer.

I spent the majority of my weekend getting back into World of Warcraft. I’ve gotten at least three characters up to their mid-thirties since release. Each time I get busy with work and stop playing for a while. When I decide to go back, my last character has been stagnant for too long, and I’ve forgotten what I was doing with them, or how to play the class. So I just start a new one.

I really enjoy the game, and I know an expansion is in the works, so I’d like to have a decent level character when it hits. I started a Troll Shaman, which I’m having a lot of fun with. He’s only L17 right now, but I’m finding myself hooked on WoW again. Maybe I’ll be able to stick with it this time?

Starting tomorrow my little semi-vacation ends, as I have to get to work preparing for ConnectiCon next weekend. Not too much to do, since Pierre will be coming down from Canada with all of my t-shirts and posters and such, but I still have to get some comics done in advance.

Britanny comes home tomorrow, so I should get to see her on Monday. This is the longest we’ve ever been apart, and it’s absolutely killing me. I can’t stand it. I really miss her, and I need her back home.

After ConnectiCon we’re going to take a short vacation to Cape Cod to visit my family and relax for a couple of days.

Just doing some face sketches today, using basic shapes. I still don’t think I’m quite achieving what I’m looking for.

Today just all around sucked. Bleh.

Doh. I was talking to Brian tonight and I spilled some water on my keyboard. Things went downhill from there…

[01:18] Absath: nuh oh
[01:18] Absath: cbra/p
[01:18] Absath: numm
[01:18] Absath: i s/pilled watebr inu my keybroabrd
[01:18] Brian: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[01:18] Absath: anud nuow its nuot wobrkinug /pobro/pebrly
[01:18] Absath: wowo
[01:18] Absath: weibrd
[01:19] Brian: You know, some people actually type like this
[01:19] Absath: good thinug i oobrdebred a zbroabrd yestebrday
[01:19] Absath: =?P
[01:19] Brian: Oooooh. Lemme know how that works out for ya.
[01:19] Absath: i will
[01:20] Brian: I think I’ve given up on piloting. I’m obviously born to be Armored Infantry or just a guy in the back of the chopper doing his best R2 unit impression to keep the bucket of bolts flying.
[01:26] Absath: i8m go9nu7nu7a o9br4de3br4 a fli8ght sti8ck
[01:26] Absath: w2o9w2
[01:26] Absath: thi8s i8s ge3tti8nu7g /p0br4o9gbr4e3ssi8ve3ly w2o9br4se3
[01:26] Brian: OMG, HAX.

I ended up taking the keyboard apart, cleaning it, and putting it back together. And then it didn’t work at all. Out of sheer chance I had recently ordered a Zboard (www.zboard.com) to try out. I’ve heard lots of good things, so I’m interested in trying one first hand. Now it turns out it was a necessary purchase. In a house full of geeks I was able to scrounge up a spare keyboard to use until it arrives, but it’s a piece of shit.

Ahh well.

Happy 4th of July everyone.

Well, I’ve started my semi-vacation. Now that all the book work is done I can relax for a little while, and catch up on some stuff.

Britanny left yesterday to spend a week in Florida with her family, so I’m really missing her. I’m sure she’ll have lots of fun down there though.

I’m feeling sort of giddy today. I got an email from George R. R. Martin, my favorite author. Martin writes the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books, and I’ve mentioned them in my comics a couple of times. He read them, and dropped me a line. We exchanged a few emails, talking about his next book, and some other things. It was really cool. So that sort of made my day.

Played a lot of Battlefield 2 today, and just generally relaxed. I like this.

Hopefully this marks the return of the daily sketches. I’m going to try and get back into a routine again.

Oh, and I haven’t shown you guys my new toy yet: