Tuesday, November 22, 2016

I’m not a very good multi-tasker unless it involves eating lunch and planning dinner at the same time.

I know, I know, I know. It’s been nearly five whole days since my last Howdygram post. If you have to know why, it’s because I’ve been busy designing coffee mugs for The Howdygram Store and I’m not a very good multi-tasker unless it involves eating lunch and planning dinner at the same time. Seriously.

So in case you’re interested I’m thrilled to present four of my latest mug designs. You can click the “Shop Now” button to — duh — shop now. Thank you.


I only have three free fonts for you tonight, but since all of them include multiple styles the grand total is actually 20. “Les Paul,” for instance, is an amazing layered 1950s-style typeface that comes with a bunch of excellent dingbats and cute mid-century illustrations. “Doblo” is layered, too. For my sample (see below) I chose a solid top layer and changed the color to red. There are also several striped styles, partial fills, waves, dots and lots of extras (borders, illustrations and dingbats). Download links appear below the graphic.

I’m still in the process of purging my personal font collection. I had 3,980 loaded onto my iMac and I’ve been deleting about 1,500 that I don’t really like and will probably never use. At the same time I’m trying to be more discerning about new fonts because there’s no point having hundreds and hundreds of fonts that look alike. The other day I was designing a holiday greeting card and it took me one solid hour to pick two fonts. That’s fucking INSANE, people.



Guess what. We’re jazzing up Howdygram headquarters again! Sometime today Ashley Furniture will deliver a new side table and a pair of terrific table lamps that I ordered online on Saturday. We’ll use the table and one lamp at the right-end side of our sectional in the family room but I’m not sure yet what we’ll do with the other lamp. Ashley sells nearly all of their table lamps in pairs, and the price (especially during a sale, like right now) is usually less than a single lamp on other websites. I’ve been brainstorming all by myself about what to do with the extra lamp and came up with the following possibilities: 1) let it rot in the garage; 2) gift it to a needy person who’s been sitting in the dark; 3) drop it off at Goodwill; and 4) sell it to our local pawn shop. I actually like that last idea best because there’s a big pawn shop not too far from here on the I-30 service road, like the superstore from that TV reality show “Hardcore Pawn” (it’s off the air now). Why not make a few bucks on a swell brand new lamp in its original box?! 
A little additional note about Ashley Furniture. Everything on their website includes FREE SHIPPING and their wood furniture comes completely assembled. (They sell real furniture, not do-it-yourself kits.) Sam and I used to shop at the Ashley store here in Mesquite when we first moved to Texas, but I’m a housebould senior citizen now with mobility issues and haven’t been inside a real store for years.



This hasn’t been a very exciting Howdygram post, and I apologize for that. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been avoiding a favorite subject that’s always received considerable space and consideration here — POLITICS — because my brain still tries to explode every time I realize that Donald Trump and his Nazi henchmen are preparing to take over the United States of America. It’s important now to regroup a little and figure out how I can make a difference with the “resistance” ... even if it’s just a paid subscription to strengthen The New York Times (they have a big target on their back now) or a donation to Planned Parenthood (ditto times ten). As for Sam’s response to all this, he’s suffering from a highly-advanced case of PTSD ... post-Trump stress disorder.

The only answer is more and better naps, and I plan to start RIGHT NOW. Thank you for reading this.

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