Destroyer Minis

Ninja Post
  --30 August, 2007, 20:43:54

The first of my gencon entries is up in the gallery now. It's been up for a couple of days actually. I'm just bad about this whole writing thing.

My post gencon re-entry continues to progress well. Last week I went on a nifty 16 mile hike. The theory was that my body would be as tired as my head afterwards. I'd heard that Hurricane Ridge was a lovely place. So I found a trail that led up to it. Only upon reaching the top was it discovered that you could drive up the other side. Oops.

My folks are in town now, so I don't think I'll be getting too terribly much done. I do hope to continue posting Gencon pictures over the next week or two.

Returned!
  --21 August, 2007, 12:22:27

Gencon was lovely, and my flights back were quite pleasant. As always it was lovely seeing my old freinds and meeting exciting new people.

Results!

The main contest:
1st and 2nd place for single mini. (The rules that allowed to do this might be changed for next year.)

1st place large model

Best in show this year went, most honorably, to Derek Schubert with his diorama. I have never seen a mini that I like quite so well. With his permission I'll be updating my favorite's gallery.

However I did bring home a best in show trophy too. My Skarre, Queen of the Broken coast won Privateer Press's painting contest. Yay! That pretty well covers fall's tuition. :D

More good news. I got an A in biology. I'm rather surprized actually. Painting 4 contest entries in 4 weeks and taking a class has been the limit of my physical and mental capabilities. I figured I would have babbled like an idiot on my final exam. Hooray! I'm going to go have a hot bath.

Pictures will be coming after I've had a couple of days to relax.

*pant pant*
  --14 August, 2007, 22:30:53

My minis are never done. But all four of them are now good enough to enter into Gencon's contests. Which ain't too bad, all things considered.

My final exam is the day after tomorrow.

I've slept about 5 hours per night this week.

In general I'm feeling optimistic. Except about my chances of winning a best in show this year. I've heard that both contests (Gencon's main and Privateer's) have uber painters entering dioramas. None of my entries are dioramas. I believe I will not sucessfully defend my title.

Should be fun though.

No Such Enzyme
  --1 August, 2007, 15:44:09

The other day in class my prof was talking about the semi-conserved nature of DNA replication. This means that some of the DNA that's floating around out there is very old. Old Carbon? Why, that's an interesting problem. When the nice stable C14 suddenly turns into a grumpy and reactive nitrogen atom, that could really mess stuff up. Perhaps there's an enzyme that comes in and fixes this. Then I did the math. There are 3 billion base pairs in a human DNA strand, with aproximately 20 carbons each however the C14 abundance is one part per trillion. So about 5% of human DNA has a C14 atom. After 5,000 years 2.5% of those DNA strands might have some trouble. Clearly there is no cause for alarm.

My biology test went well last week. I'll get it back tomorrow.

There's no auction this month I'm afraid. I had too much to paint for gencon. Auctions will be resuming next month.
Also I forgot to post a link to my classes for Gencon. Or more realistically, I couldn't find the proper page on their site. : ) So if you wanted to get into my classes--they've sold out--just go ahead show up with generic tickets. I'll work people in, and there are always lots of last minute cancellations, so it should work out fine.

The diet coke I forgot in the freezer before class today didn't explode. I'm happy.