Almost there...

I've just gotten back to working on the website and there's really not that much left to do. I might be done with a couple days.



The latest things I've added to the site are a fancy looking "what is a firestarter" page and some links on the gallery page to link to other galleries. It was kinda hard to get those links to work, I eventually ended up just recoding that section of the page.

fancy "what is a firestarter" page

new links on the gallery page

I'll probably be using a ebay store to facilitate online selling... I hope. Anyways, after this its on to more projects!

Ye are of more value than many sparrows

Jonathan and I saw this little American Goldfinch hopping around kind of slow-like in our backyard the other day. He appeared to be sick or something. He just hopped around a little, not apparently looking for seeds like birds usually do when they hop around (and Goldfinch's usually eat out of the feeder, not off the ground).

Eventually he just sat down, and then moved a little ways... and then sat down again, right in front of our window, even though birds normally get scared away by people watching them out the window so near.

We left and when we came back, he appeared to be dead. Closer inspection confirmed the fact.

Later, as I was looking out the window, I remembered how even a sparrow seemed to be important to God, and yet we were worth much more to Him.

"Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows." Luke 12:6-7 KJV

I really liked the balance and color composition of this picture (except for the fact that the bird is dead). I also thought it was pretty touching. Here are some other pictures I've taken recently:

Semi-Shocked Jack after a water change (that's where all the bubbles came from) slowly swimming towards the top of the tank. Or maybe just oxygen-low...

A snail we found on a walk with Dad, Mom, Jonathan, and Grace. I just couldn't pass him up...

I thought this sunset was pretty cool...

By the way: Hello to Jonathan in Taiwan! Hope you have a good time over there.

Site two up and running

I've finally got my latest bit of web design work online. You can see it here.


I used free hosting at freehostia.com, and I bought the domain names two domain names for it (one was variant on the other) at 1 & 1 hosting. That brings the total hosting price per year to about 18 dollars a year - not bad at all. My hosting at freehostia is working pretty good so far, I found them on a long list of free hosting providers I found...

unfortunately I can't get the address for that website with the list right now... my computer is undergoing a RAID operation right now and can't be accessed so I'm using my Mom's laptop to write this post.

I'm still working on it but my clients needed it up as soon as possible so there's still a few warnings on different pages. Tell me what you think about the site...

One warning: there is another site that sells a similar product. This is not the same site! Similar name, but different site and different people.

By the way, their "firestarters" work really well. My family was even going to buy some to use in our wood stove before Christmas but we haven't gotten around to it yet.


I may post my post-production review on this site when I am finished. Other posts on this project can be found here and, more recently, here.

Flaming Title Animation

Just recently, the client I've been I've been working on a website for asked if I could make a title animation of some sort to make it look like it was on fire. -???!!! I told her I wasn't sure if I would be able to do that, but that I would see what I could do (I never even mentioned to her that I was planning on using Blender to make it).

Click Below to see in full-res at 2560px wide.

Using the tutorial "Burn Them All" by François Grassard (aka CoyHot) from the May 2008 issue of Blender Art Mag, I've been able to make a flaming title that looks fairly convincing. I still have some work to do on it (such as the outline shape of the flames), but it is still pretty cool as it is.

Newest Website Online

Right now I'm working on a web site for my client's home business. See some of the design process below:

This last design is very close to what it will look like when finished. At the moment I have finished coding the home page and am making the other pages using the home page as a template. Won't be long before the site is up and running.