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Back Road Bears:crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
I've been sitting at my computer for the last 5 1/2 hours and I'm not sure I can get up! It's 1:00am... I can't think straight... my rear end is NUMB and conformed to the chair cushion. My shoulders are all rounded and hunched... I look like Egor! And my right hand, with which I control my mouse, is cold!
I've found some great online video tutorials for the website software I use... wish I'd found them long ago! Now I'm wishing I could stay up the rest of the night so I could re-design my website. LOL!
I also sat here trying to figure out Blogspot and got a blog started for myself. Yes, me...a blog. I swore I wouldn't as I can't imagine anyone wanting to read my ramblings... posting them here is enough, is it not? Besides, I have no time for keeping a blog current! I can't even keep my website current or get bears made! If my family (myself included) could find a way to stay out of a hospital for at least a week I might have the chance to get something done! 3 of us have ended up in an emergency room in the last week! Anyway.... I started a blog.... for no praticular reason than feeling left out! Ha!
I want to know.... is anyone else's bottom numb? "Mouse" hand cold?
Signed,
Numb Bum
:crackup:
Doodlebears:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Daphne, thanks for that I needed an early morning laugh! Yes I can relate to the numb bum and mouse hand syndrome. When I've been working in Adobe I've had this happen to me. The time just goes away and before you know it you are all bum numb and mouse hand frozen.
...and Daphne please get your family to stay away from emergency rooms, it's not good for your health. 
Hugs Jane. 
Storytime Bears"I want to know.... is anyone else's bottom numb? "Mouse" hand cold?
Signed,
Numb Bum"
:crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
Bears by Jodi
Posts: 3,540Well my bum's starting to conform to the chair....which means I need to go doing my morning exercises instead of being on here
And I've done the cold hand/hunched shoulders thing as well... Stretching your hand, and lowering the arm below heart level, and giving a good shake will help. :hug:
Be careful.... you will end up in the hospital with carpal tunnel surgery..... been there done that ....and it does not take 6 weeks to get back into action....it takes about 6 MONTHS!! Numb bum?..... oh,yeh...all the time...a hazard of sitting for any length of time for me.
Back Road BearsVeronica.... I've had tendon release surgery on my fingers.... took a YEAR to get back to 'almost' normal. So I hear ya!
Funny... I Googled 'cold mouse hand' and found lots of forum users all over the WWW who were complaining of this! Someone designed a heated mouse. Someone else a hand warmer and I saw a great suggestion to put the mouse on a heating pad! I think Debbie has a good suggestion... keep the mouse below heart level. If I put it on the pull out tray on my desk it's not so bad.
Added you to my blog, Daph! So glad you've jumped into the fray. It can be a really fun place to just kinda chat to the world at large, whether anyone is listening or not. Laughing here...
I've also had tendon release surgery, but not for carpal tunnel; for DeCuervain's which involves the tendon that runs along your thumb and inner arm. Whatever the reason, though... that kind of surgery is a total ouch.
IRegarding tingling tendon issues... It DOES help to keep your mouse low, I've found; mine is on a pull out tray and I try to move my fingers around when I can in marathon computer sessions.
Like you gals, my butt is often numb... and sadly, getting bigger with each year in this industry. Bearmaking and all the marketing stuff that goes along with it (especially when you're largely an online presence with mostly an online market, like me and many of you, too) takes a lot of sit-down time at the ol' computer. MUST find a way to fit some cardio in between stitches, eMail, blogging, posting, and designs!
Back Road BearsPerhaps I can figure out a way to set up my laptop on my elipitcal machine and learn how to read and type while walking.... yeah right! :crackup: I can see it now..... emergency room here I come! :crackup: :crackup: :crackup:
I've been thinking about the artists I know who are well known, been making bears for years, sell out at shows, have 6 month waiting lists for orders and do NOT have a website, participate on forums or sell on eBay. Think of all that time they are making bears, not yapping on a forum or getting frustrated as they navigate the learning curve of webdesign. The fees they are saving by not paying eBay, PayPal, web hosting.... and again... all those bears they are getting made instead. Sure, they spend money on magazine ads and traveling to shows, etc. but they get more bears made. More bears made means more bears to sell which means more money.
In this day and age perhaps starting out in a computer savvy world a new artist DOES have to have web presence. But do they really?
I have no answers... there are many different angles at which to look at this... many different situations and circumstances... each artist is different... what works for one can't or won't work for another, etc.
Here I go.... wondering away 'out loud'.... isn't this what I have a blog for now??? :crackup:
Old habits die hard.... I guess....
Blogs are for wondering out loud. Forums are for wondering out loud, too. Wonder away, Daphne! :)
The people who are well known and have been making bears for years and years are lucky; they already have a customer base and plenty of industry peers with whom to network. In an age where shows are sadly disappearing or decreasing in size and attendance, newer bearmakers are faced with a different set of circumstances than those original bearmakers faced, with fewer opportities to show and less of an audience at those venues where people show up.
This wouldn't be the way I, personally, would choose for our industry to look; I think bear shows are exciting and incredible. It's just the way that most everyone, all around the world, is reporting things to be, as compared to the 80's or 90's. That's the topic we're all so excited about resolving, and discuss over and over, isn't it? Namely... Just how do we interest new collectors, revive flagging shows so they don't close, and renew enthusiasm for our bears, all the way around?
I don't think new bearmakers necessarily NEED an online presence but I do think for many the internet is their entree into this industry. It was for me and if not for the internet I wouldn't have even known about artist bears. To be clear... I wasn't remotely suggesting that to make bears one needs to sit at a computer all day, or post to forums or blogs, or be an online presence. It does take away from bearmaking time (although my personal opinion/experience is that any time lost is more than made up for with the international exposure one gets on the web.) The cost involved is TIME. And time does have a cost, as Daphne will wisely tell you, as will any Econ 1 professor. You can't be two places at once.
I was simply saying that bearmaking itself takes a lot of sit down time... and that, for those who choose to market themselves online, which is as valid as any other sales venue, that takes a lot of sit down computer time in addition to time at the sewing machine or on the sofa (for those who hand sew.)
Just wanted to clarify.
Back Road BearsNo need to clarify anything, Shel.
We've been over and over this topic. As I said before... they are many sides, angles, considerations, exceptions to each person's situation..... no right or wrong answers.
The whole bit about spending more time on the computer doing bear industry related stuff but not making bears is something that's bothered me for a while. The artists who spend more time making, less time computering, are examples we should also consider. They have a collector base, sure, but we also know that collectors don't collect forever.. they have to be gaining new collectors too.. yet they aren't on the computer. They are at shows, advertising in mags, etc. and it's working for them. It's helping to keep that home-grown, intimate, collector to artist relationship and feel to the teddy bear industry going! Teddies bring humans together... whether in person or over the internet... either way its wonderful!
Just wish it didn't affect my read end in such a negative way! :crackup:
WienUrrrrm, Daphne, you only got a numb bum, but feels like the seocnd stage is a growing bum :crackup: ...and, boy, can I relate to that!
I need to sneak a peak into your blog, I guess... me being nosey!
:hug:
Gaby
Back Road BearsGrowing bum... OH YEAH! :crackup: Since I started doing this full time 2 1/2 years ago I've put on plenty.... it should be well padded back there and not be going numb!
WienDaphne, hihi...
I am just happy that I didn´t get corns on my bum, when I started sitting in front of the pc....just like one gets it on toes :crackup:
Gaby
