The Garage Office

I recently moved my desk, computer, and everything I need out to the detached garage to be my office. I setup some cheap lights and a green screen for my streaming experiment. I have a few things I still need to do:

• Instead of WiFi extenders, I just bought a 200 foot Ethernet cable and ran it out to the garage. I need to get some plastic guides to attach it to the wall instead of just having it run along the floor, then I need to get some stakes to guide it along the edge of the yard.
• I purchased a fabric sun screen to act as a permeable wall so I can have my garage door open, but not have all my computer stuff exposed to the world. People will probably be able to tell I’m out here, but now what I’m doing.

The Website

I decided on using Hugo for my website. I really like the idea of a static site for mostly static content. Unless I open things up to a discussion forum, it should do the trick. Now I need to:

• Actually customize the template I’m using to make it my own
• Come up with a banner graphic, site icon, and home page icons
• Confirm I understand the git integration, publishing, and backup strategies.
• For now, get it published to my little Raspberry Pi server.
• Eventually get it hosted somewhere.
• Get my integration with Let’s Encrypt going so my site has an SSL certificate.

The Blog

I like nattering on at length, if you couldn’t tell. The blog will definitely be a part of things, but it’s not the only thing. I do want to get an accountability chunk of things going. Here’s when I woke up, how long I worked, what I ate, if I exercised, what I did, and for how long, etc. I think some of it will be in a cvs file, and the stuff that doesn’t fit well into that will be in a .yaml.

Selling the House

I’ve talked to a realtor. I’m definitely selling the house. For that I need to:

• Write up a document letting my roommates know that February is the last month they’ll be living here.
  • I also need to let them know the rent is increasing starting October. The heating bill last winter was insane. Between the gas, electric, and other utilities things were close to $500.
• Decide when I’m going to get rid of most of my crap. I’m thinking I should do it in the summer, rather than a Minneapolis Winter.
  • There are some things, like the kitchen stuff, that I’ll need to hold onto.
• Decide if I’m going to sell the car. If I move to Europe, that’ll definitely happen. If I stay in the states, maybe not.

Moving to Portugal

From the little I’ve researched I really like the prospects of moving to Portugal. To do that I’ll need to:

• Get a revenue stream going so I can qualify on the freelancer visa.
• Learn at least a little Portuguese.
• Confirm the requirements of both the visitors and freelancers visas.
• Decide what cities I’m actually considering moving to and confirm the price of rent and/or purchasing.

A Revenue Stream

It seems like I’ve been doing everything except Blender since I got back from my visit with Sarah in Houston. While my diet, biking, office in the garage, and everything else is important, I need to refocus on Blender.

I have the idea that I’d like to produce a half hour to one hour animation a month, then release the animations once a week like a season of T.V. I have a lot of work ahead of me before that’s a reality. I’ve spent over a week just working on the block out of a space ship I’d like to use in the show.

While I’m making the show I’d produce regular “making of” content. Something like CBaileyFilm’s “Dump Run”, but with a lot less polish. For that to be interesting I need to get a lot better and faster at Blender.

I need to:

• Devote at least eight hours a day, six days a week to Blender.
• Decide on specific courses I need to take.
• Actually finish projects, not just get them nearly done.
• Get my main characters and set pieces created.
• Get the story I want to tell straight.
  • I like Science Fiction Space Opera.
  • I like the idea of being out of contact with society, ala early sailors and explorers, or the original Star Trek where they didn’t have subspace buoys everywhere.
  • There has to be some faster than light travel, and I’ll probably break physics ala Star Wars for interesting space shots.
  • I like Iain M. Bank’s Culture series.
  • I enjoy Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict artifact hunter series.
  • I like the execution of Babylon 5, and the ideas in David Brin’s Uplift Universe.
  • I really loved Firefly.
  • I also need to keep my budget down to a manageable level.

So, I’d have a character who’s an archaeologist at a time when the Earth has access to FTL travel, but it’s still rare for our species. Aliens got there first, and we’re catching up. Most FTL travel is accomplished through gateways constructed by a truly advanced race who no longer exist. Earth isn’t conveniently located near that highway, which is why we’ve largely been ignored.

There has to be some way for large ships to travel FTL without that highway, but I’m thinking it’s massively expensive energy wise, slow, and maybe even a little dangerous. Earth has access to the technology to build these ships, but largely we’re happier to hire passage on other race’s liners.

My main character would own one of the few non military, non institution, non commercial liner or freight liner hyper capable ships. I like Alex Benedict’s status as a bit of a pariah to the academics, but somebody who puts in the time and effort to find sites that others just aren’t finding. Kind of the guy that Indiana Jones is always railing against. Even on Earth you have examples of somebody more commercial minded than museum minded finding old sites for the money more than the academics of things. A modern example is the Odyssey Marine Exploration finding a Spanish Galleon full of gold and their conflict with the Spanish government on the salvage rights.

To further complicate things, not everything ancient would be so technologically out of date. Species in this universe regularly develop advanced technology, flourish, and eventually ascend, get killed by natural disasters or war, or die out when they lose their will or desire to reproduce. Some ten thousand year old artifact may end up being a dangerous technology.

That’s the generic backdrop of my story, but I need to come up with a specific ship, crew, governments, individuals the crew interacts with, etc. I need to write the story. Create the ships, the characters, all the clothing, objects that you can see, etc.

I will also, eventually, need voice actors other than myself. A musician. I’m not sure what all else I’ll need. For the making of series I’ll need to get OBS Studio up and running.

Other Possible Revenue Streams

I like the idea of producing this show. I’d like the revenue from the show, and the making of streams, and maybe some tutorial streams, and sponsorships, Patreon memberships, and merchandisingto allow me to do that full time. I also realize it may not actually work out that way.

If it doesn’t work, at least what I make for the show, assuming I apply myself, should be enough for an impressive demo reel so I can attain gainful employment as an independent contractor.

Now To It!

I’ve written more than enough. Now it’s off to do it. I have a Manta Ray Space Ship I need to get animated, and detailed!