I realize I haven’t actually said this directly yet, but I will be attending
the San Diego Comic-Con.
I am still unsure why I am going back, after swearing not to ever, ever again.
But here I am, actually looking forward to it.

I’ll have no table as I will have nothing to sell, but if you want to
hunt me down I’ll be flitting between the tables of Christopher
Baldwin, Scott
McCloud, and Steve
Lieber.

Because it’s all their fault.

Hmmm. Well, I guess to be fair, I am the one that suggested to Christopher
that he attend, but he ran with it much harder and faster than I expected
and now I find myself part of his "entourage" where I believe my
main function is to spot him at his table for bathroom breaks. But he did
find a place for me and my gallant husband to rest our weary heads (give it
up for the lovely Kate!) So, what the hey, I’ve never been part of an
entourage before.

As for Scott, it’s most certainly his fault. So let’s move on.

Steve? Why do I blame him? Why, for the sheer enjoyment value!

Damn you, Steve Lieber.

So, being so grateful at saving $100, I decided to reward CompUSA by buying
something else there. But as I had taken care most of my computer needs yesterday,
the only thing I could think of was cable ties.

As I searched for my meager purchase, I encountered a section sign that made
me burst out laughing. Gender Switchers! Who knew it was so easy!

I sought out my good sport of a husband, who accompanied me on this trek,
to share my glee. (Yeah, I don’t get out much) He was amused and then
very seriously pointed out that they were more accurately sex changers, as
they dealt with the nitty gritty aspects of innies and outies, not a societal
construct. It warms my heart that he shares my obsession about the distinction.

Not sure what to make of the fact that the cable ties I was looking for were
in among all those gender switchers.

Tired of dividing my affections between two computers, I decided it was time
to make a commitment.

Actually, ever since receiving the spectacular birthday present of an iBook,
I have been plotting to make that my main computer, financing the needed accessories
and upgrades with the auctioning of my tried and true iMac (yes, I am a heartless
cad.)

I’ve been putting it off, intending to take care of it after finishing Chapter
1 of Dicebox, because these things always take up a good day or two. But that
was before 1) I knew I was going to San Diego and 2) experiencing the the
higher processor power of the iBook.

One of the steps necessary was upgrading the memory. I normally buy from
Chip Merchants, but I needed to get this show on the road. So, after calling
around town, I found the best prices at the CompUSA in Jantzen Beach.

This usual hellish drive was made even more charming by the closing of half
the highway, but I got the chip at the price quoted over the phone so the
lost hour and a half of my life seemed worth it.

Ah, but then there was the other hour and a half of running out to buy a
jeweler’s screwdriver set to open the memory shield. Only to repeatedly try
to install the memory with no success.

Being of that generation of graphic artists who had to be their own low-level
IT guy, I have installed much memory, a couple of hardrives and one ethernet
card in many generations of Macintosh with resounding success. (Of course,
my first time opening a computer casing was near comical, with my repeated
groundings of myself and desperate attempts not to sweat—back in the
day when 500 MB was a big deal and cost close to $500.)

So I assumed, naturally, that this was a bad chip. Had to be. I had it in
place, secured by the notches, but the computer only recognized the factory
built-in memory. So, after a cathartic cursing attack I put it aside for the
next day. More lost drawing time. I would have to take the chip back to the
store the next day. Even more lost drawing time.

Betcha can guess what happened next. I brought the computer with me so they
could see for themselves. And I got to see the resident Mac Tech click into
place with the familiar noise that had been lacking in my attempts the night
before. And sure enough, start up the computer and the memory was now 512
MB higher. Dammit.

I felt like such a girl. Especially since the tech and his two co-workers
were guys. At least they popped it in for free. I tried to ease my embarrassment
by chatting with the tech about how I’m just relieved it worked, and what
a great price for memory etc. and so on. He agreed and talked about a price
that was $100 less than I had paid. I thought he meant another chip but, no,
the chip I had bought had gone on sale that day. And then he graciously refunded
me the difference.

Which made it clear to me that my new iBook had refused to accept the memory
in order to save me $100.

Okay, maybe not. Still, it’s a nice little machine.

First, thank you to Christopher Baldwin for letting people know about the new home for Dicebox. By the way, the latest Bruno
book, the seventh in fact, is now avaliable. It is beautiful, two hundred pages containing two storylines and available at the Moody
Cow Convenience Store for the fabulous price $12.00, shipping included.

Thank you to Greg Stephens over at the Zwol Forum for his kind mention and for directing people to the site.

And of course thanks to Scott McCloud for his enthuiastic and multiple plugs of Dicebox—which is odd to think of as my new comic, as I’ve lived with it for about a decade. Although it has only fairly recently been called Dicebox, true.

Also thanks to people who have written like Kris Dresen, Clint Hollingsworth and Hugh Madison.

And for those who have started linking to Dicebox, like H. S. Kim at Kung FOOL! —thanks!

And thanks to all of you for stopping by.

June 23rd 2002

Not to contradict myself…

There won’t be an update to Dicebox this Monday/Tuesday as usual. If
you care to know the exact reason why, go to the Dicebox
Main Page.

So, go check out Amptoons.

Amptoons
is a collection of assorted cartooning works by my good friend Barry Deutsch.
You’ll find his weekly political cartoon, plus his archive of Pre-Structuralist
Funnies and his last 24-hour comic, Filling the Hole. He’s contemplating
some other long-form comics stories, and maybe he’ll post the amusing strip
he did in the mid-’90s, Kipple (aka Cast of Thousands),
which appeared with Christopher Baldwin’s Bruno
in the University of Massachusetts Daily Collegian.