Davis Ray Sickmon, Jr

Blog

Changes to the Blog – Sort of, Changes to Life, Return of the Vlog?

Changes to the Blog – Sort of. Problem:  I keep saying I need more writing customers.   What I’ve got now isn’t bad, just doesn’t put me on as solid footing as I’d like. Problem 2:  I’ve got a company website.  However, it’s geared towards my other field, video game development.  It’s rather hard to …

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Low light image of lighting a cigarette with matches, with light trails turned on during capture.

The Smoking Habit

I tend to prefer vaping to smoking these days, but if I’m stressed out, I tend to revert back to smoking.  Which is funny:  I really can’t stand the taste anymore, it’s just part of my coping mechanism habits. As one might expect, with a moving coming up, and a new potential part-time gig coming …

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Prepping for the first con I've done in a while... (ICT Comic Con) 1

Prepping for the first con I’ve done in a while… (ICT Comic Con)

August 27th, 2016 is ICT Comic Con & Science Fiction Convention here in Wichita.  I’ve done cons before – I’ve been an attendee, a vendor, and a speaker.  I do the Great Plains Renaissance Festival twice a year, but that’s not quite a con, though it’s got some con-like stuff going on (like the Kansas Authors’ Pavilion …

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Moving Day Approaches and All That Chaos 2

Moving Day Approaches and All That Chaos

Well, it’s getting close – it’s almost time to move.  Just like everyone else, I hate the process of moving.  But, I’m fairly excited about the end result of moving. A friend and myself are going in on an older 4 bedroom, 2 bath house.  The way things work out, there’s one regular sized room, …

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How to seduce a writer

Maybe I’m Doing it Wrong, and I Suggest Pictures With Circles and Arrows

Sometimes I write blog entries, and never publish them because I feel they’re a little too “personal” – getting into subject matter that maybe I shouldn’t be telling people openly.  This took hours to write, despite only being around 1,300 words – there was a lot of “pondering” that went into writing it.  Sometimes, that’s …

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Writing on demand

Writing on Demand

Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book? It took me years to write, will you take a look? It’s based on a novel by a man named Lear, And I need a job, So I want to be a paperback writer, Paperback writer. — The Beatles, Paperback Writer So, I’m a writer.  Heck, …

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Gold being poured out of a Crucible

Deeper Into The Crucible

While I had a number of things going on today, one of the important ones was a meeting with Liz Statzer, who currently acts as Associate Director for Crucible, the Kickstarter backed game that’s due to ship beta October 31st. Now, the position of Associate Director is a rotating position among the 8-Bit Minion Intern …

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The Moving Adventure, and Back Into The Crucible 3

The Moving Adventure, and Back Into The Crucible

Gettin’ had Gettin’ took I tell you folks It’s harder than it looks It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll – AC/DC, It’s a long way to the top (if you wanna rock and roll) (See at the end of this post for why the choice of this …

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My 27th Birthday 4

My 27th Birthday

Earl Grey tea infused cake.  Just let that roll around in your brain for a moment – it’s friggin’ tasty.  That’s what Morgan made me for birthday cake 🙂 My birthday was fairly sedate.  On the 29th, I pretty much just focused in on three things: searching for an apartment / house, looking for some part …

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Meet the new blog, same as the old blog... 5

Meet the new blog, same as the old blog…

  “If you don’t like what you’ve got, why don’t you change it? If your world is all screwed up, rearrange it! Raise a little hell, raise a little hell, raise a little hell!” — Trooper, Raise A Little Hell So, it’s that time again.  That time where I swear I’m going to start updating …

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I Love You

I love you.  You probably don’t hear that enough.  It’s not that the world has become about all hate, it’s just that we’ve lost sight of the important part lately:  love. I might not know you very well if you’re seeing this – some people on my friends list I know very well.  Some, I …

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The continuing pursuit of health, and the stumbles 6

The continuing pursuit of health, and the stumbles

The picture is something I see nearly every day.  I’ll get into that a bit more later in the post, and why it both amuses me and motivates me, but it’s also part of a broader picture.  And, I’m not saying I’m particularly unhealthy; just that I want to improve, and sometimes that’s a struggle …

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SEO

Content & SEO Tuesday

SEO (Search Engine Optimization – basically, how high does a site rank on a Google search) is a field I know about, but I’ve avoided it considerably over the years.  I also usually avoid content development, too.  I mean, sure, I write plenty of stuff for myself, but I don’t usually do it for clients …

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Shoulder Brace

Why I have a shoulder brace: it hurt more than I thought it did.

I hate having a shoulder brace on when I sleep.  But, I’ve discovered there’s more than one good reason to wear it every night. Originally, Morgan had taught me how to wrap my shoulder so I could workout without causing more pain in my left shoulder.  It sort of hurts more than I let on …

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Fat as Mr. Bean from Lima

I’ve always been fat

If you could read my mind, you’d discover that I’ve always been fat.  Or, at least, that’s how I view myself. Now, it’s not really body dysmorphia – it’s not something I think about many times a day.  But, it comes up.  And I’ve discovered I’m not really alone in that sort of thinking – there’s …

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2016 resolution

2016 Goals Part V:  Independance, Love, and Toxicity 

My final (I hope) piece on my 2016 goals is sort of a catch all for a few subjects. In Part I I reflected on my failures in 2015, and talked about financial stuff for 2016. Part II I talked about health, Part III I talked about dating, and Part IV I talked about the …

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2016 Goals Part III: Dating and Relationships 7

2016 Goals Part III: Dating and Relationships

Continuing my goals for 2016… Towards the end of 2014, I was separated, and in April 2015, I was divorced.  Yep, sucks, but life moves on. I haven’t put huge amounts of effort into dating.  Now, that’s not to say I’ve done nothing what so ever about it, it’s just that I haven’t gotten super …

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2016 Goals Part IV:  The Projects 8

2016 Goals Part IV:  The Projects

I didn’t finish a number of projects on my list in 2015.  I’m under no illusions that I’ll finish all my projects in 2016, but I’m going to try. 🙂 I avoided quite a few personal projects in 2015 – I needed to be careful adding too much to my overflowing plate of things to …

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2016 Goals Part II: Pushing Forward on Health 9

2016 Goals Part II: Pushing Forward on Health

My 2016 goals aren’t written in order of importance, but instead, written in order of coherence.  Basically, the things I can articulate reasonable are the things I’m writing about first. I had some pretty solid workout / health goals for 2015, and I failed to meet them.  Now, that’s not to say I didn’t improve. …

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2016 Goals, Part I: Quick Reflection, and Starting Goals 10

2016 Goals, Part I: Quick Reflection, and Starting Goals

In 2015, I didn’t do resolutions – I set some goals for the year, and moved on.  For 2016, I’m doing the same thing, but a bit bigger this time. I knew 2015 was going to be a recovery year.  There was only so much I was going to do – my resources were low, …

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Indiana Jones Visual Comparison Video

A Visual Comparison of Indiana Jones 1 – 3 vs 4

I ran across this video in my various feeds, and love it:  it’s a comparison of the first three Indiana Jones movies against the four (somewhat hated) movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  The first movie was 1981, and the most current one was 2008. While I didn’t care for the …

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A #FreeTheNipple moment I had to wrap my brain around... 11

A #FreeTheNipple moment I had to wrap my brain around…

So, earlier today, someone I knew made a #FreeTheNipple post on Facebook (without the hashtag).  I’m a support of the concept, but this one caused me a moment of vapor lock as I was trying to reason out online etiquette for it. Normally, if someone posts a picture of themselves dressed nice, or doing something …

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A Tale Of 30,000 Crunches (in 30 days) 12

A Tale Of 30,000 Crunches (in 30 days)

So, one day I ran across two things online:  one was a 10,000 crunch in 30 days challenge.  The other thing was a “total abs” workout.  I saved ’em both, and tried the total abs thing for a bit.  It was… OK.  Crunches, like 30 crunches, really don’t do a whole lot. Then I looked …

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The New Server (and it's nightmare) 13

The New Server (and it’s nightmare)

There’s a checklist of things that have to happen before I kick off my new web series, “Sex With Davis” (no, it’s not about having sex with me, it’s about the science and facts of sex), and a checklist of stuff that has to happen for my business.  One area that they overlap is web …

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My Life At The Beginning of 44 14

My Life At The Beginning of 44

SO, I get older today.  That also means I tend to get a little grumpier for a bit, as I take a look back at the last year (and my life in general), see where I’m at, and where I’ve been.  Just for S&G’s, I thought I’d write this one down on a blog, so …

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A Tale Of Two Reboots: "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Terminator: Genesys" 15

A Tale Of Two Reboots: “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “Terminator: Genesys”

I don’t hate sequels and reboots – sometimes they work out really well!   But, it’s a case by case thing – some of them excite me, some don’t. When Mad Max: Fury Road was announced, I was a bit dubious – did Mad Max need a sequel after Thunderdome?  That pretty much wrapped up …

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Pitch Perfect 2 16

Pitch Perfect 2

Concessions Guy, making small talk: “So, what are you here to see?” Me:  “Pitch Perfect 2.” Concessions Guy comes to a complete stop, drink in hand, looks at me, and tilts his head a little:  “Uh… with someone?” Me, with a grin:  “Yes, with someone.” “Ah, OK!” (The above was the actual conversation that happened …

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I'm looking forward to Monday - the next "new beginning" 17

I’m looking forward to Monday – the next “new beginning”

I’ll admit it – there should be a law against looking forward to Monday Mornings, but I am.  I used to be one of those folks who hated Mondays, but I got over that a number of years ago.  But, this one is a little different. Now that I’ve figured out what’s wrong with my …

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And now there’s a plan (Workouts, post-screwed shoulder)

So, I finally made it to the doctor today to have my shoulder looked at.  Yep, it’s screwed.  I haven’t had an MRI on it yet (that costs more than I have, and may not even be relevant), but range of motion, prodding, etc. confirmed what I thought – it’s most likely torn cartilage.  While …

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Making a... er... beercan sunflower? Yeah, I'll call it that. 18

Making a… er… beercan sunflower? Yeah, I’ll call it that.

Lately I’ve been doing various artsy sorts of stuff (mainly woodworking) when someone I know online said (paraphrased) “I know this is sort of odd, but, would you make me something?” Now, this wasn’t a “something specific”, this was a “something”.  I asked, and they didn’t have anything in particular they wanted – just “something”. …

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