Sa 11.04.06 QUESTIONS: RE GENERAL PLANNING 1. How big is my studio room? 2. How much is flooring going to cost? 3. Who's going to do the flooring for me? 4. What am I going to do about my slow laptop? 5. When am I going to spend time looking at Camino? 6. Is Pergo going to be strong enough to withstand metal chips? 7. Who's going to tear out the closet for me? 8. How much will removing the closet cost? 9. Would tiles be smarter than Pergo? 10. Does pretty outweigh durable in my studio room? 11. Do I need to price-compare different contractors? 12. What's the web address for Oregon certified contractors? 13. Do I trust my first landlord to do a cheaper/better job? 14. What's my first landlord's contact info? 15. Does my first landlord even do this type of job? 16. How much am I willing to pay for the closet job? 17. How much am I expecting at the outset that I'll have to pay for the closet job? (What's my own estimate?) 18. If I upgrade the laptop, when will I take it in? 19. If I upgrade the laptop, when will I order the parts? 20. Do I want to shop around for better hard-drive prices? 21. Where should I look to find my former landlord's contact info? 22. How should I find the website for Oregon certified contractors? 23. Should I look for websites that talk about how to hire a contractor? 24. What are my scheduling constraints for hiring contractors? 25. Can I make phone calls immediately, or do I need to background research first? 26. What are my main stopmo projects right now? 27. To what extent do infrastructure projects (remodeling, computer memory) stand in the way of animating? 28. Do I want to go with Pergo that's in-stock at Home Depot, or special order? 29. Do I want to look at stores besides Home Depot for flooring options? 30. How much time am I willing to invest in shopping around for flooring options? 31. Have I already made up my mind about what I want to buy for flooring? 32. Is upgrading the hard-drive on the laptop an adequate long-term solution? 33. How does getting a bigger hard-drive impact my back-up strategy? 34. How much memory does each of our machines have? 35. Does the terabyte drive have enough memory to back-up what we have right now? 36. Am I going to have to buy more back-up memory to cover what I have now, even if I don't upgrade the laptop? 37. How am I going to determine if there was file corruption when Camino's hard-drive died? 38. Does upgrading the laptop's hard-drive need to wait until our back-up strategy is upgraded? 39. What am I going to do when the laptop runs out of memory again? 40. Is there another way I can distribute activities on the machines in order to maximize usable storage space? 41. What are the main functions that my computers are serving right now? 42. Does fixing my iTunes library stand in the way of backing up Camino? 43. Am I going to start my iTunes libary over from scratch? 44. Can I reimport CDs from the files where they've been ripped, instead of going back to the CDs? 45. How much info about the CDs is stored in the music files? 46. What CDs am I not going to be able to re-import? 47. Should I simply throw away all the music that Carl gave me? 48. If all Carl's music was separated from mine by a smart play-list, and that play-list no longer works, does that mean that our music is all mixed together now? 49. What playlists am I going to need to re-create by hand? 50. How do I start iTunes from scratch? 51. Besides iTunes, essays, and Let Sleeping Gods Lie, what are the important files on Camino? 52. Is upgrading the laptop contingent upon getting Camino back in working condition? 53. Are there really four computer issues to be dealt with: laptop memory, back-up strategies, looking for corrupted files on Camino, and rebuilding iTunes? 54. Is iPhoto actually a problem on the laptop? 55. Does iPhoto take up a significant amount of disk space? 56. Is iPhoto running slow because I don't have enough RAM? 57. At what point am I going to upgrade the machines to pentium processors? 58. Can I be running one pentium machine on our network, and not the others? 59. Is partitioning a hard-drive something that I could do myself? 60. What does it take to program rsync? 61. Do I want to look into ways to have iTunes be streamable to a stereo? 62. Would it make sense to put iTunes on a dedicated external drive? 63. What projects might conceivably go on dedicated external drives? 64. If I get the closet torn out and Pergo put in, are there any other major changes I'm going to want to make to my studio room? 65. Am I going to need a new shelving strategy after renovating the studio? 66. What does it take to put in more electrical outlets? 67. Are all the electrical outlets in my studio room on one circuit? 68. What is the electrical circuit in my studio room rated for, voltage wise? 69. Do I have enough power in the studio room to be running power tools and the computer at the same time? 70. Do I need to come up with a new ventilation strategy, once I get my fume-producing projects near the window? 71. Do I need a ventilation hood? (Do ventilation hoods work for this kind of work?) 72. Should I look into an air purifier for the studio room? 73. Do air purifiers only pull particles out of the air? 74. What's the difference between air purifiers that use filters and the Sharper Image purifier that doesn't? 75. Do I have any deadlines for getting the computers upgraded? 76. What are the consequences of keeping Gretchin waiting on me to get Camino in order? 77. Do I have any deadlines for getting the studio remodeled? 78. Other than Thanksgiving, is there anything that's going to take me out of town during the next two months? 79. How long will remodeling take? 80. How long will it take to get the closet torn out? 81. How long will it take to get the floor put in? 82. When I get the floor put in, where am I going to put all the stuff that's currently in that room? 83. Why does the stereo seem to not be sending sound to one speaker? 84. Do I want to somehow hang the stereo speakers on the wall? 85. Am I going to hang my Lovecraft posters up on the wall? (Maybe over the window?) 86. If it takes a while for the floor to get put in, what do I do so that my stuff won't get in the way of Gretchin's Artist's Way classes? 87. When do the fall Artist's Way classes end? 88. Is the floor remodeling going to have to happen in December? (Possibly over Xmas break?) 89. Is the floor remodeling going to have to happen in January, before the Spring Artist's Way classes begin? 90. When do the Spring Artist's Way classes begin? 91. If I'm getting the computers upgraded, is now maybe a good time to rethink my file hierarchies? 92. Do I actually want to get all my files off the desktops, or is that a prejudice of my mac friends that I'm buying into? 93. What would it take to do a flowchart of my computer systems? (Back-up strategies? File hierarchies?) 94. When I get the closet torn out, do I just leave the holes in the carpet where the wall was? 95. To what extent do I need to cover everything up in the studio while the closet is being torn out? 96. What things am I actually going to have to remove from the studio in order to get the closet torn out? 97. What am I going to do with the carpet when it gets taken out? 98. Is there any reason to save the carpet? 99. To what extent will getting rid of the closet decrease the value of the house? 100. How much usable space will I really be gaining by getting rid of the closet? 101. Where is the stuff that's in the closet now going to go? 102. If I put shelving into the studio, do I want it custom-built, or do I want brackets? (Other options?) 103. How would I research shelving options for the walls in the studio room? 104. How much wall space should NOT have shelving on it? 105. How deep should the shelving be? 106. Can shelving support the weight of the lathe? 107. Could shelving support the weight of other bench tools -- a grinder, a belt sander, a small cut-off saw, a drill press? 108. Are the only art activities that need to be by the window torch-work and gluing with epoxy? 109. Should I protect the tables that I'm working on with paper or wood or something? 110. Is the room going to be too crowded if I have an additional table by the windows? (It's deeper than the piano.) 111. Is the electric piano really only ever going to be useful if I get Finale, or some similarly expensive composition/notation program? 112. What if the computer was against the closet wall, and the piano was against the south-facing wall? 113. How much time am I going to need to set aside to research contractors? 114. For the computer upgrade projects, there are several interwoven issues; what needs to be dealt with first? 115. Do I have a budget for how much I can spend on computer hardware issues right now? 116. Besides Mac Force and the Mac Store, what are my options for getting computer upgrades done? 117. Are either the hard-drive or RAM upgrades something that a geek friend could do? 118. Is a RAM upgrade something that I could do myself? 119. Am I going to want to upgrade the RAM on Camino at some point? 120. Am I going to want to upgrade Camino to a new computer at some point? 121. Is there still a point in keeping a tower computer as well as the laptop? 122. What if I ditched the tower, and simply plugged the laptop into different external hard-drives? 123. Can the laptop make use of the Cinema Display? Easily? 124. If I move to pentium machines, what software is going to become obsolete? 125. Do I have enough memory to begin work on Let Sleeping Gods Lie again? 126. What do I want to post about for SuperNOVember tonight? 127. What social obligations are going to disrupt my time this month? 128. On what days do I have large blocks of time to myself? 129. What's happening in December that I need to be planning now? 130. What would it take to get Xmas shopping done in November? 131. What events this month are going to take advance planning on my part? 132. When am I going to call J about Nov. 10? 133. Am I in a position to re-contact Scarda about drilling stainless steel balls? 134. Am I going to write thank you letters for my birthday? 135. Would I do thank you notes via snail mail or email? 136. Are there emails in my email in-box that I need to respond to? 137. How long would it take to inventory my email for messages that need responses? 138. When am I going to get my transmission fixed? 139. Am I going to take the Svan in to Jerry's for repairs? 140. How do I get my tags on the Svan renewed? 141. If info about renewing tags for the Svan is available online, where should I look for it? 142. Should getting new tags for the Svan be a part of my usual grocery-shopping expedition? 143. How much is getting the transmission fixed going to cost? 144. How long is going to take to get the transmission fixed? 145. When is a good time to be without a car for a few days? 146. When is a good time to be without my computer for a few days? 147. If I get a new hard-drive, is the thing to do to back it up, then re-import all the files? 148. Should I get all my files in order before getting a new hard-drive? 149. If the new hard-drive comes with a new operating system, what version is it? Will it mess with my applications? 150. What operating system version are we on right now? 151. How much longer do I want my laptop to last before I trade it in for something new? 152. How long would it take to re-organize the files on the laptop? 153. When am I going to get around to voting? 154. What all projects will end up requiring me to make phone calls? 155. What all research do I need to do before I make a bunch of phone calls? 156. What all can I do on an expedition out driving around town? 157. In the process of getting new tags for the Svan, am I going to have to take an emissions test and then wait for tags to be mailed -- or do they hand me new tags after I take the test? 158. Could I take the Svan in to get its transmission fixed immediately after an emissions test? 159. When is it going to be convenient for Gretchin to go to the auto shop with me? 160. Who do I owe correspondence? Mom? Bro? Aunt? Cousins? 161. Do I have bills that are going to come due soon? 162. Can I group bill-paying with the other correspondence (contact) that I need to do? 163. Once I get my communications with the outside world out of the way, is my time my own then? 164. What correspondence with other people is going to be required for planning upcoming events? 165. Are there any other birthdays besides Z's that I need to prep packages for? 166. Can I squeeze mailing Z her gift in on my expedition day? 167. Am I going to do an out-of-the-house expedition on Tuesday this week? 168. When are G & I going to do "Wrath of Kahn" with mph? 169. What exhibits and shows do I need to pick dates for? 170. Are my "outside obligations" limited to: bills, phone calls, social event planning, performance events planning, birthday/xmas gift preparations? 171. Should I just ignore the possibility of getting called by Bent/Laika, and act as if my time will be uninterrupted? 172. What possible projects have I discussed with people that I might be forgetting? (A monster month book, visiting Laika via Erika, prepping a new art portfolio?) 173. Is there any reason why I should be working on the CD shelving project right now? 174. Are K and I actually going to do a writing week this month? 175. Now that I have this list, how am I going to use it effectively? 176. Where have I left off the "quick and dirty" animation project? 177. Has Q&D become too complicated to continue pursuing? 178. What would it take to make a running/flying rig? 179. Do I want to try hollow resin heads for the "son" puppet? 180. Who all do I want to do xmas shopping for? 181. Is it feasible that I could do resin castings for people's xmas gifts? 182. Where does trying out step-block joints fall amid the rest of my stopmo projects? 183. Am I actually going to try to produce a full-length Q&D video -- or just do some tests? 184. Am I committed to executing the Q&D story, or do I want to drop it and move on to something else? 185. What would it take to get me to commit to making a submission for the December deadline SMA competition? 186. What aspects of the final Q&D puppets ought to be done in silicone? 187. Do I want to look into how to make doll clothing, for the next iteration of the puppets? 188. Do I want to try casting the puppets clothes in silicone? 189. Do I want to try making 3D maquettes of the characters? 190. Should I maybe do a bunch of character sketches before trying to do character maquettes? 191. Should I remake the cardboard set mock-ups, but to scale? 192. How would I make the comfy chair prop next time? 193. Besides having the boy puppet wiggle around on the chair and run through the cave, what's shots are going to be difficult? 194. What's stopping me from shooting test animation of the puppets interacting tonight? 195. What did the messages from Max's lawyers say? 196. Should I maybe bring in the umbrella from the back deck? 197. When am I going to vacuum this week? 198. Do I know enough about this week to start scheduling activities? 199. Is the reason why scheduled activities break down because not enough forethought has been put into what needs do get done, and they just can't run on autopilot endlessly? 200. Is there anything that I need to get done before going out to dinner with G tomorrow? 201. With costuming the "Dad" puppet, should I go with just the green shirt and blue pants -- or try to give him a jacket, too? 202. What if the dad puppet had a white shirt under a green jacket? 203. After I get the dad puppet clothed, is all I need to do to get filming to set up the set in the garage? 204. Can I film any shots of the son puppet without a running/flying rig? 205. Is there a diagram of how to make a running rig on SMA in the handbook? 206. Did Strider have diagrams of how he made his running rig for "Race the Wind?" 207. Do I need to make a ceiling for the living-room set before I film? 208. If there are shots where we're looking up at the dad puppet, does that mean I can't just glue his chair to the floor? 209. Should I glue the chairs to the floor -- or do I intent do re-use this set for the dining-room set? 210. Is the "next step" for Q&D simply to clothe the dad puppet? 211. Do I want to try to clothe the dad puppet tonight or tomorrow? 212. How off-scale is the set? 213. How far off the scale I set for the characters did the puppets turn out? 214. How far off-scale is the furniture? 215. Can I go ahead with using the living-room set in a reckless fashion, then make the dining-room set after I see what I've got? 216. Do I need to do more brainstorming about the acting before I shoot some scenes? 217. Shall I just test how the puppets work in the set, before I fuss with acting? 218. Should detailing the acting wait until I have better puppets? 219. How am I going to deal with facial expressions on the puppets? 220. How similar should the dad and son puppets look? (Right now they look like different species.) 221. Should I show the dad getting angry more, earlier in the story, so it's not so unanticipated when the worm pops out of his back? 222. Is the worm supposed to be a physical manifestation of anger that's been building for the dad character the whole time? 223. If I hotglue the chairs to the set, is dad going to be in the way when I try to film son? 224. Should I try to film the whole living-room scene, or just do test footage of the son in the comfy chair first? 225. Maybe I should do test footage of the dad and the son separately, then do the shots where they're both in frame at the same time? 226. What angles of the set am I going to see when the camera is looking at the dad puppet?