September 23, 2011: Good Things

[fluffy]

A couple weeks ago I was feeling depressed and burnt out and tired and so on. But then I got a spark of inspiration because of a good dream, that made me start doing daily comics about the good things that happen in my life, regardless of how minor. (I can't take credit for this, as I got the idea from someone else.)

Since then I've been finding that my outlook has improved a lot, and while before I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep finding good things to do comics about, instead I'm having trouble deciding which thing to draw!

Also this has led to other fun stuff: yesterday's Good Thing was that Dreamhost's security scanner found an exploit on my site before it became a problem. The folks at Dreamhost loved my comic, so they gave me a credit on my account and also posted a link to it on Twitter, so my comic has gotten around a thousand readers today (and counting)! Considering that I usually get something like 40-50 readers in a week, this is huge for me.

QOTD: What good things have been happening in your life?

[Who_Izzy]

I just won 500 dollars at the casino boat! lol

[Caravan Ray]

QOTD: What good things have been happening in your life?

Nothing. And now it sucks even more because you reminded me I can't draw

[Caravan Ray]

I just won 500 dollars at the casino boat! lol

You mean you just took $500 dollars worth of food out of the mouths of the children of problem gamblers. Have fun with it. If it was mine - I would spend it on drawing lessons.

[fluffy]

QOTD: What good things have been happening in your life?

Nothing. And now it sucks even more because you reminded me I can't draw

Don't worry, a lot of people think I can't draw either.

[Caravan Ray]

QOTD: What good things have been happening in your life?

Nothing. And now it sucks even more because you reminded me I can't draw

Don't worry, a lot of people think I can't draw either.

Actually - it's a good idea. I am feeling a little that way myself at the moment. Get ready for an explosion of something i can do (you may want to put own some newspaper).

[king_arthur]

The last couple weeks have been tough because my mom, who's been in a care home and declining for a while, spent a few days in the hospital and then a few more days on hospice care back at the care home. So between sitting with her at the hospital, coordinating family visits and having to make some tough medical decisions... tough. But we knew this was coming, and I know that she didn't want to spend the next 20 years being propped up by machines, hardly able to communicate. So it was sad, but also a bit of a relief that it's over... we moved her here to Arizona about six years ago, and, unfortunately, it seemed like that cause more family strife than when my dad passed away 20 years ago and only one of us ended up with his '57 Stratocaster...

But there's been a bunch of good stuff lately, too. I'm doing my last class in my eLearning Design certificate program and will be doing an internship at the school where I took the classes, and they know that I'm aiming at turning that internship into my glorious return to the workforce. The surgery I had in February for my face pain problem seems to have worked - for a few months, talking, eating, swallowing, singing, even sleeping sometimes was painful. The transition to Windows 7 has been relatively painless. While I'm annoyed with facebook most of the time (it's a geezer thing, wishing they would stop forcing changes on us, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout), I did manage to reconnect with a guy from high school who had been missing in action since 1970 and then just showed up one day. The Arizona summer is almost over. I got my 1000th song written and recorded this year, that was a long time goal.

So, yeah, when I stop and think about it... a lot of good things have been happening. Good QOTD!

Charles (KA)

[BBABM]

Let me start by saying congratulations fluffy, that is awesome! I like your cartoons, though I am not a regular reader. My favorite that I have seen is in the liner notes of "Love and Monsters". It's the one where the little plaid critter and Godzilla monster are both asleep in the middle of the road. The monster looks very happy, and it makes me happy.

As for the qotd: I have just recently moved from a crappy old apartment, into an awesome 3 year old house. I just bought a new guitar, and it should arrive today. I quit smoking (good in the long run.... Really sucks right now). Been making pretty good money at work, and business is finally starting to pick up. Good stuff rules.

[Manhattan Glutton]

I'm working on fundamentally changing my outlook in life as well. Trying to override negative patterns and replace them with positive thinking.

The other day, someone wrote me a curt email when I politely asked for something. Instead of answering in kind or feeling upset, I showed him some kindness - and it worked!

Now for the bad thing: Dreamhost stores account passwords using standard two-way encryption.

[Billy's Little Trip]

I think you draw good, fluffy. I just don't understand half the stuff you do. Which I guess is the point of your work. You want to speak to people of your intellectual equivalence, (if that's even possible) drive a Prius and enjoy the smell of your own farts.

Although I did understand and like the one where the guy/girl/creature/fluffy was laying on the bed with one arm handcuffed, and the other on a table out of reach, and the key out of reach on the windowsill. Quite the predicament.

[fluffy]

Now for the bad thing: Dreamhost stores account passwords using standard two-way encryption. :P

You've mentioned this before, but I've never seen any evidence that they do this for passwords in general. They do store database passwords that way but every web application you're going to run on their servers stores that password in plaintext, so I can't really fault them for making it easier to migrate accounts between servers.

Which passwords are you referring to, and how do you know they're stored in a decryptable form?

[Manhattan Glutton]

Which passwords are you referring to, and how do you know they're stored in a decryptable form?

Forgot your password?
No problem. We'll email it to you!

Not that I blame them, but that's breaking two cardinal rules of security: storing the passwords in a retrievable fashion and sending them in plain text through non-secure systems.

Not that I want to derail the thread, but Dreamhost + security feels like an oxymoron in the face of this.

[fluffy]

Oh, jeeze, yeah, that IS a huge security fail. I just tested it and got my password in plaintext email. Lovely.

[JonPorobil]

Good things, good things, good things.

My band won the first round of a Battle of the Bands competition a couple weeks ago. Round two is on October 6th. If we win that, we go onto the finals, and if we win that, then we get a slot during South By Southwest.

We played a big show to a packed bar the first night of Austin City Limits and I presume there was someone important in the audience at that show, because we got an e-mail a few days later from a prestigious venue in town inviting us to play at a showcase, where there will be a SXSW scout undercover, and we'll be eligible for a slot on the basis of that show, as well. Our website is coming together nicely, we're booked for some recording in a couple of weekends, we just had a great photo shoot yesterday... Everything seems to be coming up Groove Think.

On a more personal front, I'm in a new relationship (and might potentially be entering into another one as well... when it rains, it pours). I've got a decent position in the stats rankings at my job. I got vacation time for the entire week of my birthday/Thanksgiving, and am planning my first trip back home to New Orleans in over three years.

And last night, after about a year of regular attendance at our local pub quiz, my team (So's Your Face) took first prize last night, and we ate and drank for free.

You seem to have caught me at a good time for that question.

[ujnhunter]

Played Poker with the boys for the first time in... 6 years (!) and won... also sang at my first Open Mic Night last night... it was fun... even if I wasn't that great. Good things! I'm planning on creating some sort of schedule for myself... so that I can get myself to not fall into the same rut of not doing anything... like "read a book for 20 mins" or "play a game for 30 mins" each day.

[Billy's Little Trip]

On a more personal front, I'm in a new relationship (and might potentially be entering into another one as well... when it rains, it pours).

Not only do you get your cake AND get to eat it too, but you get a big scoop of ice cream on the side?

.......i.hate.you.

[Who_Izzy]

On a more personal front, I'm in a new relationship (and might potentially be entering into another one as well... when it rains, it pours).

Not only do you get your cake AND get to eat it too, but you get a big scoop of ice cream on the side?

.......i.hate.you.

sounds more like pie than cake.

[Spud]

So I went to a meeting yesterday, came out and there was a BOOT on my car. Had to pay for the past tickets, fines, fees, plus the boot removal, plus the ticket that they gave me at the time. Got home and there is a notice of delivery attempt for a certified letter from the IRS. I am pretty sure they aren't trying to give me money. When it rains it pours. Good things? Not so much.

SPUD

[Billy's Little Trip]

So I went to a meeting yesterday, came out and there was a BOOT on my car. Had to pay for the past tickets, fines, fees, plus the boot removal, plus the ticket that they gave me at the time. Got home and there is a notice of delivery attempt for a certified letter from the IRS. I am pretty sure they aren't trying to give me money. When it rains it pours. Good things? Not so much.

SPUD

I have three words for you. Beer, beer, beer.

[Spud]

I have three words for you. Beer, beer, beer.

I wish. Can't afford it.

[Manhattan Glutton]

Where do we donate to your legal defense fund?

[JonPorobil]

Where do we donate to your legal defense fund?

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and click the "Donate" potato.