Various changes to the website coding have been made, and The Sandwich Shop Ninja website is now fully integrated with the CMExpress system that the majority of my website runs on. There are a few things missing that require more changes in CMEx before they can be reimplemented, but those are very minor. The RSS feeds now decode properly, and this should be the last time everything since 2004 is marked "new" in Google Reader.

The next news entry will be an update on the next TSSN episode's progress, though the blog will keep updating on a more frequent basis.

The first episode of The Sandwich Shop Ninja can now be seen on YouTube in a high-definition format.

So I guess someone came here looking for "the sandwich shop Utah" for some reason. I don't know how someone could employ an entire state to work in a sandwich shop, but whatever.

Progress on the game has gotten a bit slow as I try to get some of the graphics done and try to figure out a style that works. I tried to fake perspective on the cliff edges and pillars, but it doesn't look very good, and to make it look good would take a few months of drawing every pillar and edge at multiple angles.

There was a really cool lightning storm going on tonight.

Recently I've been working on a new game on my own. In heart, it's a remake of OSGWTTFWYSOTTM with more puzzle-type elements, a story mode, and a level editor that will allow people to upload their personalized levels to an online database for people to browse and play. I've been calling it "Terrestrial-Based Game With Tiles That Fall When You Step On Them Too Much" since it will be based on land instead of outer space, but that's just the working title and will change when I think of something better.

Once I get everything finished and working, the next thing will be to figure out how Flash game licensing deals and MochiAds work so that I can sell out make money and keep doing this stuff at the same time.

Finals are over again, I've moved back to California and got most of everything set up again, and the game graphics project is finally done. Things will be picking back up again, and I'll post a link to the game when it's finally released.

Low-bandwidth YouTube version

I recorded my trip from Utah to California taking one picture every 10-11 seconds, minus about an hour of travel before Winnamucca when I could change the battery. There are about 2970 pictures in all, played at 24 frames-per-second.

I had to turn in my sketchbook today, so I made sure to scan in some of the things I've drawn last month. I think I went to the Hogle Zoo three times last month, and those sketches turned out more interesting than the rest.

The Hogle Zoo has a great variety of animals to draw, possibly greater than the three zoos that I've been to recently in northern California combined. The Sacramento Zoo, however, still wins at having the most billions of lemurs.

This guy, however, freaks me out. See those teeth? Those sharp and pointy teeth? He sits up on this rock looking down on everyone who passes his domicile, his beady little eyes watching with the utmost disdain, patiently waiting for his chance to strike. The plaque on the wall claimed that this guy's closest relative is the elephant. This is a horrible case of misinformation, as it doesn't take a scientist to tell you that this guy's closest relative is Dracula. If there wasn't a half-inch pane of glass separating him from us, he'd surely be leaping neck-to-neck as he feeds upon the blood of the living. His name? The Hyrax. A name surely derived by the sound his victims make as he sinks his teeth into their necks.

The game graphics project is down to the last two items.

And here are the weird search engine queries from February:

• "number one thing that makes a sandwich shop fail" - It is a statistically provable fact that all failed sandwich shops did not have a ninja employed at the time of failing.
• "have you seen a ninja sandwich" - Here's a hint: if you start choking while eating a sandwich, it is possible that you are eating a "ninja sandwich." However, most sandwiches lack the physical and mental capacities, let alone a long enough lifespan, to train to be a ninja. Also, a sandwich-related death could be a result of the well-known Ninja bacteria known as "Salmonella," rather than the sandwich itself.
• "sandwich shop captain pirate" - This will also make your sandwich shop fail.

Three things remaining on the list of things to do for the game graphics project! Animating explosions is fun.

Also dealt with another minor crisis where I had to re-attach the connector jack to my laptop's power adapter. Again. I've lost track of the number of times I've had to do this now. This time, however, the cord also started breaking off from the power 'brick', so I had to break that open as well. It has a nice, shiny coat of duct-tape now.

These are some of the better sketches I did this last week. My application for the animation program is due April 1st, which is less than four weeks away.

images/progress_1.png

I hope to get started up again on the next episode in April, and created a new progress bar to help me figure out how much I have left to do. There's still a lot left to do.

As for the game graphics project, last week I completed one of the five remaining chunks of work I need to do. That leaves 4 things to do. It's looking really cool so far, and I can't wait to show what to show what we've done!

As for other things, the animation portfolio deadline is coming up. Less than six weeks to go. I also saw Coraline a few weeks ago, and it was really good. There were quite a few parents who thought it would have been a good movie to take their small children to. I'll bet those children had some amazing nightmares that night.

I've had this sitting on my hard drive since December 2007. This was made for an illustration class for a story about a Mayan princess. It's theoretically unfinished, since there were supposed to be people in the background which never got put in.

It's been a while since I've listed any of the weird ones I've gotten. Here are the best for December and January:

• "Sketches of commandos"
• "ninja shirt turtle"
• "desktop background sandwich"
• About 19 different variations on "how to start a sandwich shop." I wonder why...

...and I can already tell that February is going to be an interesting month. All this, combined with the strange group of advertisers in those boxes lately, makes me think I may need to re-evaluate who I think my target audience is. Jewelry and beads? On a site about animation and ninjas? There was even an ad for some online occult surplus store a few days ago. Yes, I'm serious.

The index page redesign has been successfully switched over. There's still some re-categorizing to do, and anyone who bothered to subscribe to the old RSS may need to unsubscribe and resubscribe to the desired one. Each page generates its own RSS now, so you can keep track on as little or as much as you want. Those interested on just the basic updates related to the main content of this site will probably want to subscribe to the 'News' page, and those interested in all updates may want to check out the new blog section.

The next set of website-structure updates won't come for a while. The administration panel I use to upload stuff and manage content, pages, and other settings needs to be overhauled first (again...), and I have more important things to finish up before I take on that task.

Things have been quiet here lately. Along with school, I've still been working on the one project with an independent game developer, though it should be nearing completion soon. I've also been making significant changes to the website coding over the past six months, and I've got enough completed of the index page that I'll be able to switch that over this weekend.

Though my class schedule this semester is way less stressful than last semester, I still have to prepare for the portfolio deadline on April 1st for the animation program. If I get progress on the Sandwich Shop Ninja episode at some point, great. I have a lot of work to do, unfortunately, and it may have to wait a bit more. At the very least, I'll drop a link to the game when it's finally released.

Happy 6th Annual Day of the Ninja, everyone!

So, you want to start your own sandwich shop? Well, you've certainly come to the right place. Maybe. I don't know. You're the one thinking "Oh, hey, I want to know how to start a sandwich shop! This place titled 'The Sandwich Shop Ninja' might be a good place to look! Surely this is the best and most relevant source of information," not me.

Anyways, this is the best and most relevant source of information on starting a sandwich shop. The best one in the world. There are many things you will want to think about as you design and start up your very own sandwich shop. Some things are important to think about, some crucial, some vital, and some will leave you bleeding in a dark alley in Chicago if you don't think as carefully as necessary so you'd better think very, very, very, very carefully about everything here. You don't like bleeding, do you? Exactly.

Location

The first thing to do is rent, buy, or get a lease on a location. Location is everything, except for the things that it is not. There are good locations, and then there are bad locations. Here are a few examples of good and bad locations:

• The corner of two busy streets - Good location. Busy streets mean many customers.
• The mall's food court - Good location. Malls are always full of potential customers. Even during a zombie apocalypse, be it the survivors hiding in the mall, or the zombies that come in when some fool thinks its safe to go outside. Zombies love sandwiches. Brain sandwiches.
• The bad part of town - Good location. Thugs, gangsters, mafia hit-men, mimes, and other various no-good-doers all love sandwiches.
• The moon - good location. It is a known fact that astronauts enjoy eating delicious sandwiches.
• Just Down the Street and Around the Corner - the ultimate location. Anyone can find this place from anywhere. If someone gives you the greatest sandwich of your life and you ask him where he got it, odd are he will say "just down the street and around the corner." You will follow his directions, and you will find it. Every single time.

Employees

After you have chosen a location, you will need to hire employees.

Most restaurants will do good to hire a ninja, and only one ninja. Although it would seem otherwise, efficiency and productivity decrease as the number of ninjas are severely decreased due to what is known as the Exponential Ninja Factor (ENF). If you manage to perpetuate a rivalry between the two, you may be able to avoid any ENF impacts; however, unless both ninjas are evenly equipped and skilled, you run risks of loosing an employee. Contracts with ninjas must be considered carefully. A ninja will hold his or her end of the contract with the utmost honor, even to the extent of loss of life. In fact, it is unknown if any ninja has ever survived a breach of contract. It is also important to take note that the same holds true for employers of ninjas: statistics show that out of all employers who had failed to hold their end of a contract with a ninja, 100% had met an untimely demise.
While one ninja can handle most of the workload, you will still need additional employees. Once you have hired a ninja, you will need to acquire a Ninja Ally Compatibility Table. Certain types of employees can cause disastrous results when mixed with ninjas. The NACT tends to vary between ninja clans and families, though there are a few incompatible types that are common between all. Namely: dark wizards, zombies, Michael Dudikoff, and pirates. They all mix badly with ninjas, but pirates most of all. Your sandwich shop will have a severe impact on the neighborhood's levels of swashbuckling and scurvy epidemics.

After procuring your NACT, there are a few area-specific positions you will want to have filled. Most cases deal with areas that contain larger demographics of unruly people. If you are located in one of these areas (ie: "Bad Part of Town" location), you may want to hire a polar bouncer. Nobody messes with a bouncer who is also a polar bear.

The Other Stuff

Then after you do some other stuff and get customers and all, you reap the rewards of capitalism. Congratulations, you have successfully gone from "sticking it to the man" to "the man it is being stuck to." Don't ask what "it" is. You don't want to know. Or maybe you should, since you'd have already stuck some of it.

Recap

In conclusion, the steps to sandwich shop success are:
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Thank you for reading, and join us later on for "Extra-Extra-Extra-Extra-Large Tee Shirts" and "Endangered Species: The Oboe Cat."

There's been a huge lapse in updates lately. Most of that is due to finding out how much time 15 credit-hours take up (18 credits if you count the artistic anatomy class that I'm 'auditing' so that I don't have to do the homework). I think the amount of time I spend on campus during the week is more than what I actually spend awake in my apartment. I realize now that 1 credit-hour is the equivalent of about 3 real-time hours. I don't remember it being this bad last semester, though. Maybe the more credit hours you take, the longer they are in real-time?

I hope to see more free time when I finish up a project next week with an independent game developer, though most of that time will probably go to studying for classes. I'd be sure to at least have something up for December 5th, the International Day of the Ninja.

I've reconsidered the current need for large file uploads. I'll figure that out after the rest of the site is working off the new website system I'm programming. For now I'll just be using a workaround for uploading the occasional file larger than 8 megabytes.

This is a time-lapse video of part of my trip from California to Utah, compiled from 2036 pictures from a digital camera mounted on the passenger-side sun visor of my car. It isn't the entire trip, since my camera's batteries kept dieing and the camera's power jack input doesn't seem to work at all. Batteries are a pain to change when the battery compartment is covered by one of the zip ties holding the camera in place.

The next time I try this I will be mounting my tripod to a part of the car and sticking the camera on that. I don't know why I didn't think of it the first time through. Also, I'll need more batteries.