December 30th 2003: moved!
Hello! If you've ordered or emailed me in the last week you're probably wondering what's taking me so long to reply... well, the reason why, and the 'something neat' that I mentioned in the last update is that I'm in the process of moving! I'm moving from my little apartment in Queens (seriously small, two rooms) to a little house an hour north of NYC. Amazingly, it's going to be cheaper every month than the apartment, and I'll be able to do all sorts of cool things. I'll tell you all about it later. For now though, I'm still going to be behind on email and orders for at least a couple more days. After that I'll start getting caught up.

December 18th 2003: ch-ch-ch-changes
Okay, for the next couple of weeks I'm going to be really really busy with something neat, so you can expect me to take longer to reply to emails, and orders will take a bit longer for me to send out than usual. You can still place new orders, but try not to order too many custom buttons if they require me to do a bunch of work right now.

Basically, expect some delays! I'll tell you why in a week... ^___^

I'm still going to try really hard to get your orders out as fast as I can though!

Oh, and there's really no way that new orders are going to get there by xmas now...

December 11th 2003: It's not going to happen!
Well, I looked at the calendar and after today I simply cannot promise to get any new orders out to be delivered in time for the holidays. If you waited too long and you want to take a chance anyway, you *must* choose the USPS Priority Shipping option. Please don't ask me to insure that you get your order before the 25th though, because it's not likely, sorry. I did warn you!

I will still try though. I am going to be extremely busy in the next week though, so all my trying may still not amount to a handful of bunnies. Of course a handful of bunnies is a wonderful thing.

No, I don't know what I'm on about either! ^__^

I did put up something new on the button page though...

I call it a buttonbutton (because I'm silly). It's a regular button that I modify so that there's a plastic shank with a hole in it (a ring) at the back that you can use to sew it on to fabric. You can use it in place of normal fabric buttons on your clothes or projects (like bags closures) or you can just use it to attach your buttons more permanently than a pin-back. Once a button is modified (and I can only add this to new buttons) it can't be changed back to a pin-back button.

I first had the idea over a year ago but like most things it took me awhile to actually get it to happen, there's always been a million other things I've been working on!

December 1st 2003: oh boy
wow, December already! Alright, if you want to order shirts or undies for xmas you're kinda late. You can still order them, but choose the USPS Priority Shipping option when you order and pay right away, preferably by paypal (don't forget that 'echecks' take a week to clear). After next week you can pretty much forget about getting shirts and undies on time, but of course I'll still try. Button orders shouldn't be a problem for another two weeks... but don't wait, because I'm not promising anything now that it's December! ^___^

I had wanted to update the site with new stuff this month, especially since I didn't add new designs last month, but I've decided to wait a little bit. I want to make sure I get everyone's orders out as quickly as possible, with the holidays and all, and I am probably going to be *very* busy in a couple of weeks with some other things (you'll hear about that later) so I thought it would be best not to put too much extra work on myself. It's really hard to do all this by myself sometimes...

I'm working on special new things though, I just can't help myself.

November 15th 2003: Gift Certificates!
Hello! Here's a little update. I've added gift certificates, I wasn't quite sure how to add them but I think it all makes sense. There's also a very special new undie... I've updated the shirt and undie sizing information page btw, and I added new pictures to the gallery. I think that's it for now. There's exciting stuff going on...

oh and Little Bub the Cute Kitty is all better! yay!

October 31st 2003: Undies!
Yup the undies are finally up on the site! Since I spent most of time working on them the usual big button update is being replaced by a little teeny-tiny one. There are also a few new shirt designs up.

It's almost November already, so please, if you want to order stuff for the holidays do it soon! Especially for apparel orders because they do take awhile for me to fill. You will definitely want to have those ordered before December rolls around.

My kitty cat is sick. She's got a UTI and her liver is a little funny. : ( It's not bad or anything, but ever since she went to the vet she's mainly been lying in a cardboard box moping. Hopefully the antibiotics will make her all better soon.

October 7th 2003: New shirts!
Well I'm still tired but I put up a whole bunch of new shirt designs anyway! Hopefully you'll like them.

October 2nd 2003: button update!
I've been super-busy lately but I did manage to make some new buttons. I'll add more shirts and stuff when I'm not so tired.

September 22th 2003: maybe someone spiked my lemonade...
I just wanted to say that I love all of you because I simply couldn't say it enough no matter what... all of your support and sweet letters and notes really mean tons to me and I get all warm and fuzzy reading them every single day. I've been terribly busy of late and I feel a bit out of touch so I just wanted to let you know that you all are very close to my heart. *mwah* -ken

September 20th 2003: Any color you want!
Hello! I just updated the shirt section to include a new option - you can now choose your own shirt colors instead of settling for the colors I picked. There are a lot more colors to choose from now. Go look!

September 8th 2003: New Shirts!
I added a few new shirt designs...

September 3rd 2003: New Bumpersticker!
oh, I forgot to add a new bumpersticker yesterday, but it's up now so go look!

September 2nd 2003: New Stuff!
I've been incredibly busy lately but I spent yesterday making new buttons. I tried to get in a bunch of suggestions but I couldn't get to them all, expect more buttons sooner than usual.

I also updated the shirt section a bit.

The weather changed to Autumn overnight, it's so odd. Autumn is my favorite season but it's a meloncholy thing too. Time to break out the jeans and hoodies!

Click here to see the new stuff

August 20th 2003: Postcards!
I made a postcard! I'm sorta excited about it, I think it came out really well. It's the first in a series of postcards that I have planned (it won't be hard to figure out what the series is going to be like once you see the first postcard).

You may have also noticed the undies link - no they aren't ready yet but the menu up there looked a tad empty without it, so...

Don't forget that the bumper stickers *are* up now... and they are all bumpery-stickery.

There will be lots of new buttons, shirts, and bumperstickers by the end of the month or my middle name isn't Fernando! (I bet most of you didn't know that.)

Before I got on the F train today I thought that I'd better bring a flashlight, some water, and a sandwich but then I thought, nah.

August 15th 2003: Blackout
I was stuck underground on the F train for two hours yesterday and then I spent two hours walking home. ah, New York.

August 14th 2003: Bumper stickers!
Well I know that nigh-blank bumper sticker page must have tested the patience of some people... but now there's stuff on it so go look! Yes, I've finally started making bumper stickers. I actually could have been making them a year ago, but it takes me awhile to get up the nerve to do things sometimes. They're really nice, I'm totally happy with them.

I've added more shirt designs too!

Summer is almost over, I can't really say I mind because autumn is my very favorite season so summer can just go suck a lemon. Still, it went by really quickly.

I dyed my hair blue recently and if you look at the "cuddles keep me sane" shirt page you can see it! and me of course. I had an interesting conversation about it while waiting in line at the post office the other day.

(crazy lady with a really strong queens accent): hi how are you?
(me): I'm okay.
(crazy lady): what did you do to your hair? you dyed it? why'd you do that?
(me): oh, for fun.

I like how she asked me how I was before going on about my hair, I guess it was her way of creating a rapport between us before she delved into her line of questioning. How very.

Standing in line is always great people-watching fun (actually it's quite disturbing sometimes). I've seen physical fights, postal drama, stuff catching fire, magic tricks, swarms of policemen rushing in, 'suspicious packages', and a dancing marmot troupe. No no, that last one was just to see if you were still paying attention. ahem.

oh, one little note: my mailer supplier changed what they print on the mailers, they no longer state that they are recycled, but I did contact them and they told me that the mailers are made out of the same recycled stuff as before and that they are considering putting that information back on them, since I insisted it was important to know. I just wanted *you* to know.

By this time next week I'm hoping to have another new thing ready for the site... we'll see.

July 27th, 2003: New buttons and shirt designs!
Okay, there are 49 new buttons and I've put up a bunch of shirts. Remember, if the shirt design you want doesn't come in the shirt color you want it, let me know and I'll probably be able to add it. The same goes for any other shirt designs you want to see.

There's not too much to report otherwise... oh, I'm going to keep the 15 item limit off because it seems to be working out okay. Well, I've just been managing to work really hard. I've been getting orders out really quickly (shirt orders take a little longer because I only restock blank shirts once a week), like within a day or two. Hopefully I can keep that up.

Oh, a note about the shirts. Blank American Apparel shirts cost me alot more than other shirts that I could use but I won't because of the sweatshop issue. So please keep that in mind! The shirts I use are very very high quality and feel great and they aren't made with sweatshop labor. Lauren (thanks!) sent me a link that has lots of good information on the issue - www.behindthelabel.org.

July 13th, 2003: little things

Also, I'm doing a little experiment, lots of people have been asking to go over the 15 button limit I ask people to stick to, so for one week I'm going to take away the limit and see what happens. So order as many buttons as you want!

July 11th, 2003: Bumper stickers
I added a little form to the bumper stickers page so you can tell me which designs you want me to make!

July 7th, 2003: A little update...
I updated the site with a small button batch. There are some that you are just not going to understand unless you are an Eddie Izzard fan (the Heimlich and faux-movie buttons), so I can only suggest that you become an Eddie Izzard fan!

Quite a few people have told me that more chinchilla buttons would be nice, so I went through the photos of my chinchillas and made some. They are very excited to be on buttons but they are now demanding more raisins.

Call me a dork, but there are also some astronomy ones. I get all choked up about the cosmos you see, there's so much out there... I capped it off with a button that says, "Is it not enough to look at the sky anymore?" with Van Gogh's Starry Night in the background (t'was fitting, I thought). That's just something I always think while walking around at night passing houses with TVs flickering through their windows.

And there's more!

Oh, I also added a form to the shirt page so that you can suggest the shirts I put up next.

Click here for the new buttons

July 1st, 2003: Everything changed!
Hello! Notice anything different? No? hmmm... oh, I'm just being silly, I know that you do! I'm guessing the first thing you noticed is that I changed the look of the site. I wasn't really planning to or anything, but a few weeks ago I had the idea for the curved layout and the 'kitty umbrella' background and I just went and did it. I think it's cute and there are a few nice little details I hope you'll notice. There are still alot of things I want to tweak and add and change a little so keep an eye out for improvements. If anything is not working or looks dumb let me know please!

Oh, and now all the buttons are sorta organized differently. It should be easier to browse through related things now and the search engine should help you find whatever you want.

The next big thing is that I'm finally selling shirts! It's taken me a very long time but I had lots of good reasons. I'm only starting out with a handful of shirts, we'll see how it goes.

I know it says 'bumper stickers' up there but those aren't ready to go yet! So be patient. I just didn't want to leave a big hole in the layout.

I finally updated the gallery! The how to order and faq pages got a little bit of an update as well.

I think that's it. Oh, I made over 140 new buttons in the last month.There's all sorts of neat stuff, from my usual political stuff to absolutely wonderful art from the 19th and early 20th centuries. I also spoof on the Department of Homeland Security's 'Be Ready' ad campaign and um, I drew a mouse.

Click here for the new buttons

May 31st, 2003: May is over? Already?
Hi again. It was brought to my attention that I forgot to put a button in the last update, so I thought I'd fix that and put up some new ones as well, not too many this time though. You can tell I've been watching Margaret Cho DVDs huh?

Click here for the new buttons

May 18th, 2003: More new buttons. Finally.
okay, sorry I took so long with these. The bit is, they've been sitting around here for awhile so some of them are a little... dated. With the war being 'over' and all. Not that it's really over, despite what they say. Was it over ten years ago? Nope. Anyway, they're still neat and there's a bunch of others, some kindly donated by rad people I adore! (thanks!) I have about 50 million new button ideas to make so there's more coming of course. Let's make a date for next month then, at the latest. If I stand you up I'm a bad kitty!

I've been working *really* hard on my new secret project in the last week, it's hard but it's coming together. Lots of pretty stuff in store.

Click here for the new buttons

May 9th, 2003: oh look it's May already.
What? May? Gosh I don't know what happened but the year is already zipping by. Everytime I look up from the buttons it's Friday again.

Anyway, hi! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I'm not dead, and things are good, sorry if perhaps I worried any of you! I do actually have a bunch of new buttons that I've been sitting on (ouch!) and I'll try to get those up sometime soon. I've been working on (and building) fun new things, some for mushycat and some just for me, so that's what I've been doing with my time. Since you're going to ask anyway, here's a hint: you can pin buttons to some of them.

oh, there's something I wanted to talk about. You may not agree with all the buttons here, and that's fine, but I don't think it's right (or logically correct) to dismiss broad categories of people because you don't agree with the of the voices of a 'few'. I'm not even talking about *my* voice, I'm talking about the voices the buttons take on when you put them on. Yours, you know? I think it's important to realize that different people are at different places in their lives and experiences, and something that you might find crass today another person might find empowering, or at the very least, right for them at that moment. And there's no linearity to any of it, so you may find yourself in that other person's place tomorrow.

Also, support DIY efforts please (look at my links page). It may be easier for you to go to the mall and buy things at some awful store that was put there merely to exploit you than to take the time to support Rad People doing Interesting Things for the Right Reasons, but think about where your money is going and what you're actually supporting. There's a whole ecomonic machine out there that's oiled with the sweat and blood of people being taken advantage of. It's cold and heartless and I don't like it. And remember, it's very much a feminist issue too, who do you think is working in the sweatshops?

Anyway, sorry for going on so much! I'll shush now. New stuff soon!

March 22nd, 2003: NYC Peace March
I marched, and I took photos. You can see them over here!

New buttons soon!

oh, one more thing. For you people who use msn, hotmail, yahoo, or any other of those free email thing-os (but mainly those three) - your email is totally unreliable, I hope you know that. I get *tons* of bounced email from those places, mailboxes unavailable or too full or whatever. So if you are waiting to hear from me that might be why you haven't.

-ken

March 19th, 2003: Glue sticks and posterboard...
I save the pretty things you all send me you know, and today I finally decided to start putting it up on my closet doors. I've got alot more to put up...

-ken

March 19th, 2003: More new buttons!
Well I don't think I have to tell you how I feel about what's going on in the world right now. It's awful, it's disgusting, and it's wrong. We all have to do something about it. People are dying because the US wants to have its little sandbox war, wants to put Iraq and its resources in their pocket. It's all very school-yard, these men with their war machines, and you can just picture a little Rumsfeld or Bush getting kicked in the shins and crying and plotting revenge. There's just no way to rationalize this war save for the tenuous 'links' this administration has offered up, and even then there's no reason to move to action at this point, they know it, the world knows it, we know it.

Don't forget about the fight to control your reproductive rights either. Recent rulings threaten to put new roadblocks in the way of your right to choose and make the threat of oppressive protests and violence from the anti-choicers ever more likely.

Back here in NYC, where men with big machine guns still stand around my subway stop, it's getting all nice and warm out, which is quite lovely. I want nothing more than to get one of these and go on a picnic. I even had my sunnies on today, after going to the post office *twice* (I've been working so hard it's crazy) in no more than a tshirt and jeans. My hair's getting long. I'm going to dye it blue next.

.

It seems sort of pointless to talk about such trivial things right now but I think it's important to still have things to smile about. Though I can't say I'm smiling right now.

And here are the new buttons. There are some silly ones, there are some serious ones. All because I love you. More soon, and other stuff.

-ken

March 11th, 2003: Please don't send coins in the mail.
There was a 'postage due' notice in my post office box today and when I went to pay it a meanie-panted manager came and scolded me about people sending me change in the mail. My regular clerk said she didn't think I was a bad boy so I didn't feel too bad. : ) But please don't send change, especially if you aren't going to hide it well or not at all. Sending me $3 in quarters is just sorta not the best idea. Send postage stamps instead or round up or down. At the very least just use dimes only, they're small and light. But tape them down and put them between cardboard.

Remember, if an envelope weighs more than an ounce it's just going to cost you more in postage anyway! And coins weigh alot.

March 9th, 2003: Rant.
Occasionally I get an email saying something like, "you should offer views other than your own, it's not fair to republicans or pro-lifers or whatever...". These people either don't understand the site and think I'm just doing this to make money, or they honestly think it's unfair... Well, this site isn't here to pander to everyone. You are *never* going to see a pro-choice button next to a pro-life (anti-choice) button here. I only make and put up what I believe in and what I think is important (frivolous stuff aside). You don't have to agree with me about everything to like this site, but please don't ever ask me to embrace hypocrisy so that you can have a button. Because I won't do it.

And now for something completely different. Isn't this cute????????

March 4th, 2003: I'm tired.
I found myself totally exhausted today, no energy at all but I tried to work anyway. It went very, very slowly. So it's time, once again, for a "ken's-been-working-too-much" entry! No really though, here's the thing: there are so many things I want to work on and do and I somehow have to make time for them. Things like the bumperstickers (which are coming along fine) and the shirts, and I've been wanting to make animated shorts for *so long*. So I'm going to have to figure out some changes to make so that I can do all that.

Here's one! No more big orders! As you probably know I have a 15 item limit for orders. I asked that people don't order more than that, or place multiple orders at the same time because that's the just same thing as going over the limit and that's not helping me any. Some people however, still go over the limit. Yes it's true. I've found that the one aspect of my personality that gets me into trouble most is my inability to say 'no' to people most of the time. It's not that I have a need to be accepted, it's just that I'm generally too nice and people generally want too much. And now I'm putting my foot down! If you place a large order, I'll... I'll... well I won't say no, but I'm putting you at the very end of the line. You are going to have to wait! And that's final! Oh I'm so stern!

Other changes as I think of them.

February 22nd, 2003: New Buttons!
Well it's been quite awhile since I've put up new buttons, but now I'm putting up over 170 so I hope you'll forgive me for taking so long? I spent all of this week making new designs and filling orders (LOTS of orders) and gosh am I tired. I haven't even gotten close to making designs for all the ideas I've had though. There should be *tons* more coming regularly now, I think I'm on a roll. I know there's alot I want to say.

I wanted to write little pithy comments for each new button but I don't have the energy at the moment. Not that they need pithy comments but they're always fun.

The Bush quotes are meant to go next to a Bush face button. Like this:

I just can't believe the things he's said. They're all real quotes, I swear! I spent a whole day laughing and being terrified at the same thing when I made those up.

Oh, and thanks to everyone who sent in designs or said I could put the custom buttons I designed for them up on the site! *mwah*

So go here to see them all! And remember that you can click on the buttons to see a larger version of them! (just make sure you aren't blocking javascript popups)

ooopsies! - Some people have been having trouble accessing the above link to the new buttons. I think it was a cookie problem (the browser kind, not the yummy kind, though now I've gone and made myself hungry). The link should work now, but if you are still getting an error message let me know

One other thing has been changed in the site, when a button doesn't have a larger image available, there's no longer a link to the non-existent larger view. So there should be no more clicking on a button and seeing a kitty (the 404 page).

February 11th, 2003: plugplugplug
After a week of me helping out by writing scripts and doing lots of tweaking, my pal shan's jewelry website is up - http://www.shedoesjewelry.com. She spends a ton of time making beautiful beaded jewelry and every piece is one-of-a-kind.

February 11th, 2003: Magnets!
I finally put the button magnets up (see the bottom of the main page). I've had them around for awhile, but I didn't put them up because adding the code to handle them in the old shopping cart would have been a pain. With the new shopping cart I wrote last month it took no time at all! Well, I hope it works... Anyway, the magnets are nice and strong and come with a bit of double-sided tape to mount them in the buttons, all you have to do is pull out the spring-pin from the back of your button. If you want, you don't have to use the tape and you can put the spring-pin back in whenever you like. The magnet will just stay stuck to your fridge. You buy them separate from the buttons btw, just add one to your cart and then set the quantity to whatever you like.

February 7th, 2003: A new shopping cart and search engine!
Okay, tonight I'm putting up both the new version of the shopping cart and the search engine... hopefully all will go well. The new shopping cart won't really look much different, the major visible changes are the addition of a verification step to the checkout process, and greatly improved postal rate figuring. My old method of figuring postage was a bit rough and I wasn't charging enough for some international orders. So expect to see slightly different shipping prices. It's all very accurate now, based on weight and every other little detail.

The search engine is basic but it works well I think, just give it a go. I'm going to be keeping an eye on how people use it and I'll improve it as I can. It should be very easy to find things on the site now! I know the individual pages can be a bit disorganized.

Please email me if you have any problems!!!

As for me, I've been happily working every day and keeping up quite well with the orders. After a month of no routine at all it's nice to be back into a schedule of sorts.

New buttons hopefully next week!

-ken

January 31th, 2003: Back from a bit of a rest... er, not much of a rest really.
Well, it's the end of January and I promised the site would be back up and so it is! But I didn't manage to finish everything I wanted to finish and so the only new thing that I'm putting up right now is the mushycat button designer, which helps you make your own custom buttons. Go here for that. It's pretty nifty.

January went by really quickly and I spend half of it sick, so despite working myself ragged I still have lots more work to do. In the next couple of weeks I'll be putting up a new version of the shopping cart I wrote, a search engine, and new button designs. I didn't get to work on the bumperstickers or shirts at all... soon soon.

Custom buttons are back! It's amazing how long of a break I took from doing them. There's a new page on how to design a button, what to do and what not to do, what type of files to send, etc. There's also something nifty - a Flash button designer app that you can use to make simple button designs easily. It's the first thing I've ever written in Flash. The only thing I ask is that people *read* the stuff I wrote and please don't ask me to design complicated buttons unless you're really having a hard time doing it yourself. I'm rather good at photoshopping but I only have so much time! My cat is very demanding.

I've *still* not started making shirts yet. I think I've been saying 'soon' for about a year now, but it's very complicated to do if you insist on being socially and environmentally aware about it, and I do very much insist on that. It's easy to make cheap, crappy shirts, but then that's a waste of resources. It's easy to make a small amounts of good shirts, but if you want to make more than that there are health and environmental issues to deal with, and I'm not interested in poisoning myself or my kittycat or mother earth. I recently read about a poor girl who was selling and making resin jewelery and after awhile she developed a sudden and very bad reaction to the chemicals. Craftiness is good but when the process is scaled there are alot of issues to consider. I think I've come up with a way to print shirts that addresses all that though, so be patient!

I'm going to see Rainer Maria tonight! woo!

-ken