The Great Lepus Blackout

Welcome back everyone. If any of you tried to visit us late last week, you may have noticed something funny. The site didn’t exist for a few days. Thanks to a server glitch, we were down on Wednesday afternoon, all day Thursday, all day Friday, and Saturday morning (with a few flickers on Saturday evening and Sunday evening).
This was not the result of anything I had done wrong. The blame rests with my host server. For those of you who are unfamiliar with how the internet operates, a website is just a collection of files contained in a folder or a set of folders. These files are written in a code that your web browser translates and displays. In order for web browsers to access these files, the folders have to be kept on a computer that is turned on and connected 24 hours a day. These computers are called servers. It’s too expensive and inefficient for each website owner to own and operate their own server, so we rent space on a server that is owned by a hosting company.
So last week, my server crashed and needed to be rebuilt and reloaded. There is never a good time for something like this to happen, but last week was especially lousy for a couple of reasons:
1.) I’ve recently started buying advertising. Now, new readers who have only just found Lepus Studios from my new ads are going to wonder if my site is unreliable.
2.) I’ve recently started selling advertising. I had to suspend all the ads I was selling until the matter was resolved. As a result, I’ve sort of had to start over with my sponsors. My web ads are not commanding the prices they used to. Last week, I was earning 3 to 5 cents per ad each day. Now I’m back to 0 to 2 cents. It’s a sad day when you need to work your way back up to 5 cents.
3.) I was invited to draw another guest comic for the SuperFogeys. (This time, it’s for their fifth anniversary celebration. Twelve different artists are each drawing a wacky chapter summary. Here’s my contribution: http://superfogeys.webcomicsonline.com/2011/09/26/chapter-3-the-techno-shuffle-recap-by-marjorie-rishel/) When people read guest comics that they like, they often want to visit the guest artist’s site. If my site isn’t working, I could miss my chance to draw in new readers. Luckily, the site repairs were finished on time for my part of the event, but it was a close shave.
4.) Did anyone read the latest Urban Underbrush? That week’s comic brought us to a fairly important point in the story where I spelled out some fairly important character information. (I got to draw people making out). I would rather people not have missed that.
I’m not too angry at my hosts over the server crash. I understand that accidents like this are unavoidable (Murphy’s law and all that). I am a little annoyed by the way they handled it. They did not notify any of their customers about the crash and have yet to make an effort to compensate us for the time we lost (time that we paid for.) My server contract runs out in March. Unless these guys do something to really impress me in the next five months, I’m backing my bags and heading for greener pastures and bluer waters
-Marj

My Summer

(Originally posted July 14, 2011)

My summer’s been picking up speed lately. I’m teaching my annual summer art classes this week and next week. It’s where middle school and high school kids learn the joys of Photoshop and Flash animation. Also, I’m going on a camping trip this weekend, which will be a welcome break from all the computers. I’ve drawn a few comics ahead, so this won’t affect my website. Except that I’m writing shorter blogs, due to the time crunch.

The End.

-Marj

The Day the Music Died

(Originally posted Nov. 5, 2010)

Music

Technology

I’ve have had very little music in my life lately. This is largely because I lost my entire iTunes library when my old hard drive crashed. Less than a week after my hard drive died, my iPod inexplicably broke. The scientific explanation is that my iPod and my original hard drive were deeply in love and the iPod did not want to live in a world without the hard drive.

I will eventually need/want to replace the iPod. I’m not a rabid Apple fan geek, but the thought of using anything but an iPod for my music…I might as well be using the Fred Flintstone record player made from a bird and a rock.

So which iPod do I choose? My old one was a four-year-old iPod Nano, which came with my computer. It only held one Gig of music, which was a little tight, but got the job done. If I buy a new Nano, I can store at least 8 Gigs of music (for you technical illiterates: 8>1). Of course, I could also upgrade to something that holds pictures and video. I could even keep art samples on it and carry it around like a little portfolio. But, I don’t really need anything but music, and I don’t need to pay a hundred dollars for non-necessities. But then, even the cheapest new iPod would cost over a hundred dollars. It almost seems foolish to spend that much money already, only to then get stingy and miss out on the extra features. Apple has arranged their price structures perfectly. If you have enough money to consider buying something, you have enough to at least consider the next level products.

This is the definition of a first world problem, where one of the most remarkable things on my mind this week is how much money should I spend on a luxury item for myself. There is probably someone out there reading this who is listening to music on a 1986 walkman with the knobs broken off. Since the beginning of this entry, this person has been wondering if I will ever acknowledge that buying an iPod is a non-problem.

-Marj

Technical Know-How

(Originally posted Sept. 3, 2010)

This blog discusses:

Technology

Education

Noko Noko

Root Beer

So now that I've finished my schooling, I'm qualified to teach technology in most schools and businesses.

The trouble with specializing in technology is that there is so much of it that any specialist's knowledge will inevitably be a little spotty. I can't learn about everything so, of course, I have developed both strengths and weaknesses within the various realms of technology.

As far as web design goes, I would give myself a 6 out of 10. I built this website from the ground up. I like it, but someone with more experience could probably put together a site with more features. If I was the subject of a technology interview, here is how I think it would go:

Q. Your site looks pretty good on most computers. Was that by design?

A. Yes, I looked up standard monitor sizes in a book and worked out a format that looks good on most standard screens.

Q. Do you plan on giving pages a liquid layout so they will work better on mobile devices?

A. No, liquid layouts are tools of the devil.

Q. Why doesn't your page include a message board?

A. Access tools were the only part of web design class that I failed. Even if I could write a proper message board, I wouldn't want it to go live unless I could block swearing, slurs, and people who think online video games should replace console games.

Q. What measures do you take to make sure that your site is still visible by outdated browsers?

A. I place an offering of corn and root beer on my altar to the computer gods and pray that they make everything work out some how.

Q. Do you plan on adding an RSS feed?

A. I have wallpaper with trees and stars.

Q. Do you use any security measures to ensure that your site is protected?

A. Yes, security systems are employed.

Q. What security measures are you taking?

A. Why are you asking about that? Are you a spy? Are you with those seedy adult sites who tried to hijack my server?

Q. No... No, it's not like that... you got it all wrong...

A. Aha! you've come to hack my site and steal my eight faithful readers! Noko, attack!

Noko Noko: PHPFTTHHHH! (attacks)

...And so forth.

-Marj

Master Mind

(Originally posted Aug. 20, 2010)

Well, folks, this summer marks a major milestone in my life: I have finally earned my Master's Degree. As some of you know, in addition to being a pretty good cartoonist, I am also I certified Art Teacher. (This identity is known only to my friends, family, and anyone who bothered to read the "About" page.) Two years ago, I decided that I wanted to become certified to teach computers as well. I remembered that some of my friends and colleagues had recommended the Instructional Technology program at Duquesne University. I started my application in the late spring and I was ready to start my first classes in the fall.

Since I began graduate school, I filled every available slot in my schedule with classes. Like most grad students, I took summer classes and worked year-round so I could earn my degree faster. I was also teaching full time, so I was kept pretty busy. (Did anyone read my long rant last March, about how I was too tied up to hit any of the comic conventions?)

Admittedly, I did not need to take the web design class in order to graduate, but that class was well worth my time, don't you think?

Actually, all of the IT classes were pretty good. The program was well laid out and nothing we did felt like a waste of my time. All of the teachers and administrators were extremely helpful and supportive. (I would feel pretty guilty if I wrote this whole blog and did not give some praise to the hard-working folks who kept it going.)

This summer, I took my last class, The Practicum Course. For this final class, the students had to complete several major projects, which would exemplify everything we learned in the last two years. It was like taking a class entirely composed of final exams. It was easily the hardest class I had ever taken in my college career. It was the boss battle of classes. But after many sleepless nights and countless cans of Red Bull, I turned in the last of my projects roughly two hours before the final deadline, and then I slept for about a week. (I woke up only long enough to update this website. I've never missed an update!)

I am proud to say that all of my hard work and last minute scrambling earned me an "A" in the class (there were days when I wondered if I would graduate at all) and I exited the program with straight A's, except for one A minus. (That A minus should bother me, but it doesn't. It was a tough class.)

Now I go out into the real world, to see what doors this new Master's Degree will open for me. Don't worry, loyal readers. Although I now hold an M.S., I will continue to draw talking animals and telling myself how clever I am. (Bragging is part of my creative process. Why else to you think I just wrote all of this?)

- Marj