My journal page on the ACME Delivery site had only a link to the journal before.

Today, with no small amount of technical assistance, that changed. The journal page now has the journal embedded right on it like it really should. The style will suffice, though I think it's possible to do a bit better. It was just the better looking of the two fairly uncluttered styles I found.

I uncovered a couple snags while doing all this. The IJ embedding information isn't there or isn't being generated right, but I got around that by looking at the LJ embedding information. Which, for python, seems to also be rather lacking and the code I wound up using doesn't look quite like LJ's example. Worse, the 'styleid' in the example, 101, doesn't seem to exist on IJ.

I've been looking for the right forum or community to ask if there is any guide to the active styleid numbers. I found a bunch that show different calendar views and different friends list views, and a few that show the journal itself. I know I can make a custom style, but if there is already one I'd like it doesn't make sense to repeat the work. If what I am really after doesn't exist, then it makes sense to do that work. And others might appreciate having that style option if there's a place to tell folks about it.

What am I after? Something a bit plainer than what I have for the journal if viewed on IJ itself. On IJ, it makes sense to have the sidebar with all the links. On the embed, those links don't need to be there. A few can be at the top like on the embed right now (that's style 29, by the way). It would be nice to have the icons accompanying every entry, too. Right now, I know how to get the icons or how to get away from the sidebar links, but not at the same time.

Current Mood: nerdy

Poll #3231 self-referential
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Should I post polls?

Current Mood: curious

Is the ACME Delivery web site missing anything? I'm starting to get the feeling I might be overlooking something obvious.

Current Mood: curious

I've been hearing some about this "Year of the Ox" or "Year of the Earth Ox" (an ox should be down to earth, I think) thing and I don't really get it. I don't think it's my year, any more than any other, anyway. Also, I know I'm not the ox, but merely an ox. I don't know who the ox is or would be.

I've also heard two versions of things. One is that the year of the ox is good luck for oxen and the other is that it is bad luck for oxen. I checked, and you know what? I wasn't born in an ox year. Does that mean I am an ox that is not an ox? Well, I know what I am, and that's all that really matters to me.

Current Mood: amused

From RCSI Publishing's MFF 2008 con report:

"...when suddenly, this adorable ox named Orvan showed up with deliveries from ACME for Foxfeather, Lucky and both Matt and myself."

Adorable? I do not think of myself that way, but if someone else does, who am I to argue?

"Matt and I weren't sure what to expect from a package marked ACME, but he was so cute you couldn't help but trust him."

Cute? You know, I keep hearing that. I like it, but I can't quite believe it. Trustworthy I do believe, but so few others seem to. They seem to always expect a kaboom, somehow.

"Thank you for the box of goodies, Orvan Ox!"

You're welcome, of course. But I just deliver, really.

Current Mood: amused

The ACME Delivery photo gallery for RCFM 2008 ("Deep Six") is in place now. It has been for a few days, really. I do wonder what happened to that rope. Hopefully it was untied and put to better or at least non-use.

Current Mood: awake

I don't go around primate tipping.

Current Mood: peaceful

Whew. I know it's been over a month, but I finally have the MFF 2008 gallery up on the ACME Delivery site. I did what I could with some of the photos. That flash is intense and when close things are whitish it can wash stuff out. Hopefully my processing of the pictures helped enough. I'm glad that the photos of the delivery to 2 the Ranting Gryphon (while he was on stage! That was his idea, by the way.) turned out so well. This time there are pictures of every delivery I made at the convention. I think that's a first. And there are some pictures of me off the clock as I offer candy around.

I've also added a few items to the Product Page as well updated the pages about what conventions ACME has done (well, I have done) deliveries at and what conventions I might be going to. It's never a sure thing, but I really hope to make it back to Penguicon and RCFM again. And yes, I know, I still need to work on the gallery for the last RCFM.

Current Mood: productive

Wow, it's as if I forgot about the journal. Well, I haven't. It just seemed like it. I kept on figuring I'd make an entry about this or that and then not getting around to actually doing so.

One of things being done, besides dealing with the holidays, while I was neglecting this journal was taking care of the 2009 ACME calendar. And sheesh, what a thing that wound up being. The posing for December (the photo for which did not properly processed until way late... and don't blame the photographer) wasn't too bad. At least not compared to the endless meetings about what to do for 2009 since there just weren't enough readily available images built up through the year.

I figured a few nice scenic photos would be nice, but that idea went nowhere. So did a bunch of others. No, 2009 will look like 2008 should have. Yep, the 2009 calendar uses the new images. Look for yourself if you must. And then, as if that wasn't screwy enough, I got to go and revert all the progress on 2008 to the original images! Yes, really.

Hopefully that sort of nonsense won't be happening again. The 2010 calendar images will be taken during 2009, at least. And I'm stuck in them yet again. Sometime in the next few days the December picture, and maybe the January picture, will be taken. I say "picture" but it won't be one each. It'll be a bunch that all look almost alike and somehow one will be the Right One. I do get to keep my clothes on this time around, at least.

Hey, if anyone reading as ideas for what do for various months and they aren't outright repeats of the 2008 and 2009 images, I'm... well, I suppose I am curious. And a bit worried what folks might come up with.

Current Mood: relieved?

In case I didn't mention it, it's been confirmed that I will be delivering at Midwest FurFest again this year. So far it looks like I have thirteen deliveries to make, but it might be a couple less or a couple more. I know there will be at least ten parcels for certain. I've seen the stack.

I also will have the Cow Tales candy again, but just that. I won't have the crazy amount of odd candies I did last year.

Hopefully I can get the deliveries done fairly quickly and only have one or two candy runs. That way I can have some time for myself and enjoy the convention.

Current Mood: cheerful

The belt I've been using for a while is fraying a bit. The buckle has teeth that chew up the fabric. I've been able to hide that fairly well, or so I thought.

But yesterday when I was told a bit about the deliveries for Midwest FurFest next weekend (more on that in the next post) it was noticed. I expected that to be bad. It turned out to be good, eventually.

I was given a few choices, all brown and black, but I had to reject them. Me? Wear leather? Not going to happen. That should not even have been suggested. I think the sudden realization of that did have a good result, besides a bit more awareness on someone's part.

I now have two new belts I can use and neither one is leather or has a belt-chewing buckle. One looks like old blue one did when new, except it's more a dark green or olive. The other has metal eyelets and looks more like what might be imagined if someone said "buckle" to you. That belt is a sort of yellow-green. The color might be a bit of a problem with the uniform for the style conscious. It's not quite a match and not all that different. If I recall, ideally it has to match exactly or be decidedly different. It's only a possible problem for others, really. It's not like I'm looking at myself all the time.

Current Mood: pleased

And I'm almost as scary as zombies?! That's according to this poll.

What, me scary? Aww, come on. I suppose I could be if I really tried, but I don't. Not often anyway. I have no reason to be intimidating.

Alright, it's not just me. It's me with an ACME parcel for you. One person even said that, " Orvan with a package for you is scarier than all of them combined and doubled!" with the "them" being ninjas, pirates, vampires, and zombies. Sheesh. You'd think every ACME item was insanely dangerous. Evidently some folks do think that. Which is curious as I've had folks look for their names on the delivery signature sheet and express disappointment at not finding them there. So not everyone is worried that might get something from ACME. Some are concerned that they won't.

Still... me, scary? Come on.

Current Mood: surprised

The new October and November ACME Calendar images are up and in place now. October has been for a few days, I just haven't said anything about it until now.

I wasn't that nervous in the October shot, but more frustrated. So many times of "let's do that again" and I have dark suspicions about a few shots taken after the line wore through. Goofy setup. It could have been made to just look like that, but no. In the name of realism it was just like it looked and there were a few ropes cut through. Seems rather wasteful to me.

The session for November went much better. At least I got to keep something on for all of that. And I got to pick the color, at least. A nice dark blue seemed good, to avoid any more nonsense like what happened during the shoot for July. I do look good in November, though I think at least some of that is good retouching work.

Only December to go, for this year. It will so nice to have that over and done. I really hope the pictures for next year will all be like those I posed for about a week ago. That is, fully clothed.

No deliveries today. Instead it a was a photo shoot day. A bunch of photos, some of which might wind up being used for the 2009 calendar. Some photos by a corn field, some at park, and even at and in a genuine get-in-and-close-the-door phone booth. I didn't change in there, Superman style. No reason to change clothes (I got keep them on for all the photos this time. I liked this shoot.), not enough room in there, and it wasn't that old a phone booth that it had opaque sides. Those aren't all of the places, but there are lots of photos. I have no idea which ones will be used, if any. I haven't even seen any of them yet.

Current Mood: good

I don't have a Coca-Cola bottle crown cap, and it might be getting even harder to find one. Today I saw what looked like plastic bottles of Coke in a carrying carton for glass bottles. I hadn't seen such a thing in non-mini sizes in years. Except they weren't plastic bottles. They were glass bottles. Glass bottles with plastic screw-off caps!

It feels wrong to me. The screw caps probably are better for re-sealing as nobody seems to have the old plastic caps that could properly reseal glass bottles anymore. I wonder how many people even have bottle openers anymore, since even many crown caps are now screw-off rather than pry-off. I do like the screw-off crown caps - they aren't as likely to get bent up before I get them. It's still disappointing to see even glass bottles go to plastic screw caps.

Current Mood: disappointed

ACME 2008 Calendar Index

I made good and sure that I had the beach ball ready for this picture, and that it was opaque. Not transparent, not translucent, opaque. And no, that's not a backdrop. At least the shoot was on a warm day with enough of a breeze to blow any bugs away. It still took far too long.

I'm a bit surprised I haven't had to pose for any 2009 images yet. Maybe they'll feature (pick on) someone else? Nah, I wouldn't be that lucky.

Current Mood: blah

Phillumeny is a fancy name for collecting match related things, if you haven't worked that out. Unlike with the bottle caps, the generic matchbook icon is easy. It's exactly that, a generic matchbook.

Adding to my matchbook collection is a bit harder than adding the bottle caps. Metal crown caps are still used and not just on beer bottles, where they're still the main cap. Nowadays, not every bank or business has a bowl or jar of matchbooks on a counter as a means of advertising. Matches aren't just for lighting cigarettes, but it seems that as fewer places allow smoking (and I prefer that as getting that tobacco smoke smell out of my fur is quite a chore), fewer places advertise with matchbooks. Or at least they don't have them in plain sight.

This one was a happy find as it works so well for the icon.

Current Mood: pleased

Someone asked me who this "Orven Ox" (or is it "Orven the Ox" ?) is. I do not rightly know. I am not Orven Ox. I am Orvan Ox. I have been also been called "Orvan the Ox" which is also right, as I am an ox. There are other oxen, and it seems a bit presumptuous to claim that I am "the Ox" myself. I may be the (only?) one named Orvan, but how many Orvans do you know? Not all that many people even know about the late Dr. Orvan Hess, and I figure a doctor that did what he did would easily have been the most famous person with the name.

I don't think that other folks using the 'the' is a bad thing. It's kind of like being put up there with Kermit the Frog. I take it as a compliment.

Current Mood: weird
Current Music: Smells Like Nirvana - Weird Al Yankovic

Since the writing in the icon is too small to read, her name is Amoolia. I don't know just what sort of aircraft that is.

Current Mood: cheerful

You just knew that an ACME bottle cap had to appear eventually, right? Well, here it is.

Current Mood: okay

Back in March I was wondering about a bottle cap icon. Now I have one, and it's not anything I thought of then, nor is it the suggestion I got.

It's a piece of candy. I had forgotten about Bottle Caps candy until a few weeks ago when I saw some. I bought a box (the oversized kind you find in movie theaters) just to get this image. Now, here it is. The candy caps are smaller than the real things.

Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: (Goodbye Broadway) Hello Montreal - Waring's Pennsylvanians

At Penguicon I occasionally get mistaken for a gnu. Considering what Penguicon is and that the Free Software Foundation has a gnu for a mascot, and how a gnu's horns look sort of like mine, that's somewhat understandable. At least at a distance.

What puzzles me is when I'm mistaken for a moose. A moose? Moose have antlers, which my horns look nothing like. How do folks make this mistake? I wonder if Bullwinkle J. Moose ever had the reverse problem.

Current Mood: puzzled

Being a Presidential election year here in the USA, there will be a couple big political conventions. I will not be at either one.

It's not a statement, it's just simple recognition that each one prefers to deal with elephants or donkeys, respectively. They both like eagles, too. Since I am none of those things, I'll be sticking to my non-convention work. I don't mind. I suspect the security types would be overly concerned about my horns. Also, political conventions are better on TV, as you can leave the set switched off.

Current Mood: calm

Who is this Orven Ox? With a name like that, it's surprising we haven't been mistaken for each other sooner. Assuming that someone didn't just misspell my name, that is.

I've changed my comment settings here so that anonymous comments are not visible until I approve them. I don't like doing this, but since the last few anonymous comments have been from spammers I think it sadly necessary to make the change. No rewards for spammers; they get to fail even harder now, as I will not be allowing their spam any visibility.

Unfortunately this means that anonymous and OpenID comments from decent folks will also be screened until I make them visible.

Current Mood: grumpy