Exercise Log: November 24 - 29

This week I ran, biked and rowed 35.5 miles, burned 2760.9 calories and weigh 143.7 pounds.

Monday: .72 miles on elliptical trainer, 10:00; rowed 1.3 miles in 10:00; biked 3.25 miles in 15:00; ran 1.42 miles in 15:00
Tuesday: ran 3.54 miles in 35:00
Wednesday: 1.11 miles on elliptical trainer, 15:00; rowed 1.8 miles in 15:00; biked 4.04 miles in 20:00; ran 1.77 miles in 20:00
Friday: rowed 2.51 miles in 20:00; biked 5.42 miles in 25:00; ran 2.30 miles in 25:00
Saturday: ran 6.32 miles in 1:05:00

Push Ups:
Monday - 111 total, 23 max (21 regular, 2 modified)
Wednesday - 140 total, 36 max (19 regular, 17 modified)
Friday - 131 total, 26 max (20 regular, 6 modified)

I intend to repeat weeks 3 and 4 in the 100 push ups program since I had so much trouble with meeting the minimum numbers.

Caption Contest Winner

The caption contest has closed. I received responses from two people. Two people excited about the possibility of possessing some dust covered stuff from my house.

The captions:

These two from Patrick Murfin:
"Don't worry. They can't tell she forgot to give you pants."
"Your 15 minutes are over, Joe, just unclog the damn toilet."

One from Robin Edgar:
"And just who are you to complain about my mullet?" ;-)

The winner is Patrick's second caption.

Patrick will receive credit and a link when this comic is uploaded (Sunday evening - November 30) and if he is willing to send a mailing address to toonrage@gmail.com some random item of uncertain value and use from my house.

Since, I'm feeling generous Robin can also send a mailing address to receive a random item from my house. I will make sure to declare it properly on the customs forms.

This caption contest inspired a new creative project: Stuff all over the world. The title is from George Carlin's "A Place to Keep Your Stuff" I may not be able to travel the world but I can have stuff spread all over the world. If you want some of my stuff send a mailing address to toonrage@gmail.com. I will send you something and in return I want a picture of my stuff in your possession or with a landmark in the background. The stuff will weigh less than 1 pound and non-religious in nature. I will do my best the respect the cultural sensibilities of other countries.

You will confide in the Mary Worth

No thoughts? The closest I've come is, "Hey, I'm not thinking! Damn."

Resistance is futile. You will confide in the Mary Worth, especially now that she has an object you desire. You will not get the photo back until you confide. Confide, Lynn, confide!!!

Maybe Lynn is made of sterner stuff. She skates away knowing that she has several copies of the photo and print up more any time.

I hate having my mind messed with by Family Circus. What the hell is happening here? What's the gag?

The drool brings you back to the breath.

Zombie comic tries to make a point

The flag is labeled white in case the coloring gnomes at King Features screw things up.

Grin and Bear It grasps for relevance. Senility illustrated.

--------------------------------------------------------

Cartooning does bring out the demented aspects of my personality. Today, I spent a great deal of time making sure that a drawing of a poo-flinging machine could work plausibly. I had no problem with a monkey wearing glasses, speaking and presenting a drawing. The details that I fixate upon sometimes worry me.

-------------------------------------------------------

Christmas came early: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=us&q=Ann+Coulter&btnG=Search+News

Ann Coulter, the leggy reactionary broke her jaw and the mouth that roared has been wired shut.

Who's going to blow Sean Hannity for the next few weeks?

The perfect UU holiday hymn

If it does them I'm the most ethical eater ever even if I refuse to eat tofu.

From Medium Large, a brilliant comic from the writer of Sally Forth:

I think we have the perfect all-inclusive holiday hymn that some UUs have been on a quest to find. The fact that it comes from a non-UU source increases its perfection.

Exercise Log: November 17 - 22

This week I walked, ran and biked 31.33 miles, burned 2264.4 calories and weigh 145.1 pounds.

Monday - walked Loki 2.04 miles in 34:28
Tuesday - ran 3.86 miles in 38:44
Wednesday - biked 9.11 miles in 38:56
Thursday - ran 3.39 miles in 35:00
Friday - biked 6.58 miles in 30:23
Saturday - ran 6.35 miles in 65:00

Push ups:
Monday - Max 21, 81 total
Wednesday - Max 21, 96 total
Friday - Max 23 - 115 total

Grandmothers Behaving Badly

Maybe Pig needs to attend a faith development class at his local UU church. Butterboy would melt quickly in the sun but he would make the world smell and taste better.

Grand Avenue and Flight Deck feature grandmothers behaving badly.

Health care dilemma

Who can resist the siren call of the internets. I make web pages and I cannot resist. The great blessing of the Internet: it looks like work.

Its call is really powerful because I'm in a different office filling in for a co-worker. Fortunately, I memorized all my favorite URLs and passwords. I can access others via links to ones that I know.

The situation with the co-worker has caused me to reconsider my health care plan. That and other incidents. Getting a diagnosis is bit of a Herculean task. My problem is relatively minor and irritating, a rash that appears on my arms and legs from time to time, but my co-worker's is quite serious and it took a long time to get the diagnosis.

Health care plan enrollment occurs in July and we get the literature in May. This will give us time to look at how we actually use medical services and see if there is an option that would better suit our needs.

I hope the election of Barack Obama will put to rest McCain's proposal to tax health benefits as income. With my health benefits added to income I end up in a higher tax bracket.

Considering the large amount that me and my employer pay for health insurance for me and Walter (about $10,000 per year combined) I think I deserve more than 15 minutes of my doctor's time and a test to see what the hell this rash really is. After paying $50, twice, plus time for stronger hydro cortisone cream, I wonder what the hell all that money that comes out of my paycheck and my employer pays, pays for?

I wonder if my family doctor just kind of lazy or overworked. A few years ago, I did receive some testing for something by a substitute doctor, it turned out to be nothing serious but now there is a good baseline for my heart in my medical records. My regular doctor said he would not have preformed the tests based on my description of my symptoms. This really concerned me after reading about how heart attacks behave differently in women and that younger women in particular have trouble convincing doctors to run the tests or consider a heart attack.

I guess I should be grateful for what I have but screw that attitude - crap is crap regardless of what others don't have.

The Funnies

Someone drew a comic about our last fishing trip. Except we did not drink all that beer.

Loki gets mostly dry dog food and table scraps. He made children happy on our walk last night until an adult got scared and shooed the children away. Look, lady, if he was going to maul your children he would have done it before you shooed them away.

No, Royboy, it is not the universe, just Pluto, still irritated about the demotion.

Exercise Log: Nov. 10 - 15

This week I ran, biked, rowed and walked 12.46 miles, burned 1068.5 calories and weigh 145.1 pounds.

Monday: bike - 3.56 miles in 16:21
Tuesday: ran - 3.43 miles in 36:21
Wednesday: rowed - 1.28 miles in 10:00
Thursday: ran - 3.44 miles in 35:50
Friday: walked Loki .75 miles in 14:43

Push ups:
Monday - max 16
Wednesday - max 18
Friday - max 22

Sunday exertion test: 26 push ups
This means I do column 3 for weeks 3 and 4 in the 100 push ups program.

I need to do at least 13.58 miles of activity per week in the next six weeks in order to meet my yearly goal of 1,000 miles.

Caption Contest

A cartoon drawn using CorelDraw. Now I need some dialogue or a caption.

My self-esteem has been a bit high lately so I need to be brought down a notch. Therefore, I am holding a caption contest. No one will respond and I will be reminded how few people actually read this blog.

The "winning" caption will receive credit when this cartoon is uploaded to aperfectworld.org and if they are willing to send a mailing address, a random item from my house. Seriously, I will pack an item from my home into a box or envelope and mail it to the winner. I will ship to addresses outside the United States. The item will weigh less than a pound and be of uncertain use and value. I can guarantee that it will have some dust on it, which I will leave on as a bonus.

I put quotation marks around winning because no one will respond.

Yes, this is blatant comment whoring.

The contest closes whenever this entry no longer appears on the first page or if I think of something funny for the above cartoon.

Realistic drawing

I sometimes entertain fantasies about drawing realistically. I'm sure my skills would improve with practice. A book recently hit the shelves that has two of my drawings in it: http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2008/adamsrattlesnake.htm. One of the drawings is quite realistic and the other combines realistic with cartoony.

I find I can draw more freely in a cartoon style. I get too caught up in getting it right and end up feeling frustrated. I do envy those who can draw realistically.

I can draw a reasonable facsimile of something that I am looking at, although the perspective can get a little weird.

I've been experimenting with a simpler cartoon style. Those cartoons should go up in a couple of weeks.

In comics, great writing can overcome bad art. Look at XCKD or Wellington Grey - both stick figure comics.

Radio MASH

Radio MASH has updated parts of its website: http://www.brazosradio.com/mash/
Toy or Cash/Check donations can be made in person at the MASH compound at Post Oak Mall December 4th through December 8th, 2008. You can also donate money online at the Radio MASH website.

Check out some photos that Walter took from past Radio MASH: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22287142@N02/sets/72157603749330149/

You can see me get bigger as the pictures go back in time.

I'm not sure how the economy will affect things this year. A kid has not gone without during the years I've been involved.

Vent

If I had an appointment time available on the day and time you asked me about I would have mentioned it.

If one more student puts a questioning inflection at the end of a declarative statement, I will respond, "Are you certain?"

If an advisor tells you that you need to do something calling me will not change that. You still need to do the thing the advisor told you to do.

If I have a time slot available I will mention it. I have no reason to withhold time slots.

Enunciate.

Ladies, turn down the high pitches. It hurts my ears.

Pay attention.

It's wrong!

A free Mary Worth icon for your use. Right click and save it, then post it anytime you need to make a point. Use Mary's icy blue shadow visage to make your point.

[sarcasm] Ooh! I can crop an image! I'm so cool! [/sarcasm]

Exercise Log: November 3 - 8

This week I ran, rowed, biked and walked 16.25 miles, burned 1463.8 calories and weigh 144.3 pounds.

Monday: rowed 1.27 miles in 10:00
Tuesday: ran 3.17 miles in 29:45
Wednesday: biked 3.35 miles in 15:00
Thursday: ran 4.14 miles in 40:25
Friday: walked 1.22 miles in 21:27
Saturday: Impact Animal Foundation 5K in 28:30

100 push ups program - maximum number of push ups completed without stopping:
Monday - 10
Wednesday - 15
Friday - 18

Terrorist Fist Bump

I saw this photo on Francesco Explains It All and it made me smile.

I promised I would not let emotions take over...

To paraphrase the great John Wayne:
I voted for him, he will be my president and I hope he does a good job.

White people love their apologies. I apologize for the Texas A&M chapter of the Young Conservatives and Ashley Todd.

How could I not include this cartoon in today's blog? Change the hair color to blonde and it would be a decent cartoon likeness.

I managed to not watch television this morning and did not turn on the radio in the car. The silence in the car was good. I think I will continue that practice on the drive to work.

I read blogs and the online edition of the B/CS Eagle. Seriously, Eagle dump the reader comments. Stop giving the ugly a forum. This crap would not see print in the dead tree version of the bird, so why lower your standards for online edition? At least hire a moderator.

Hooray for South Dakota! Hooray for Michigan! Hey, Utah! WTF You doing in California's business? California, fund a proposition in Utah banning the wearing of underwear. If Utah (UTAH!!? DEFINING MARRIAGE!) can dictate to California who should get married then California should get to dictate something to Utah. Or at least have some its citizens be less than equal. Fair is fair.

Blame me

Blame me, I voted.

Walter and I voted this morning. The line was a bit long; it was very short if your last name began with Gu - Z. This was for voter verification, once to the machine things went very quickly.

I joked with Walter that I still love him even though marrying him put me in the first part of the alphabet and into this long line.

I found the number of people having to think a while about where their last name fell in alphabetical order a bit disturbing. Maybe it was the early hour (7:30 am).

I would think Texas of all states would not have trouble with dual last names.

For some reason my maiden name ended up on the roll even though it was not like that for the primary. I just had to fill out a form and circle the error.

I was tempted to use my cell phone to take a picture of the screen before I cast my ballot but cell phones are not allowed. Both parties in Brazos County are pushing for machines with a paper trail.

A pundit on MSNBC actually said something interesting: Texas, because of its Hispanic population, has the potential to become a swing state in future national elections and that would be a nightmare for the Republican Party. 34 electoral votes in play. Take that Ohio and Pennsylvania! I'm not sure if I want this pundit's prediction to come to pass. Living in a solid color state has spared me most of the campaign ad ugliness.

Waiting for the Apocalypse

Tomorrow, I vote. For November 5th, I've declared a personal news black out. I will want to know who won but I have no desire to listen to or read post-election analysis.

I will laugh if the apocalypse fails to show up. Hopefully, people will remember the day that the apocalypse failed to show up and no longer take those who predicted its coming seriously.

Exercise Log: October 26 - November 1

This week I walked or ran 20.15 miles, burned 2364.8 calories and weigh 144.9 pounds.

Sunday: CROP Walk
Monday: Walked Loki 2.67 miles in 46:49
Tuesday: Ran 3.42 miles in 33:59
Wednesday: .39 mile on the elliptical machine
Thursday: Ran 3.43 miles in 33:33
Saturday: Ran 6.33 miles in 1:05:00

Next week I start my 100 push up program.