Birthday Party Photos

My brother and sister threw a great party for me. My sister did a lot of work and it was a great party. Thanks!

I ate my own head later.

Hot flash fund. I wore the t-shirt in Best Buy when I bought my laptop. I took off the button.

The photo that appeared on the cake. I was 18 months old.

Photos can be printed on the frosting and it is edible. Living in the twenty-first century is so exciting.

More pictures are available for friends and family at Walter's Flickr photostream

What happened just now?

Lynn fainted.

I find Karen Moy's ham-handed attempt to paint Frank Griffin as an uncaring ogre quite humorous. Frank is a dick but at least he does not hide it behind a facade of niceness, unlike certain old biddies with a penchant for hideous tops.

I thought this was a practice session. I guess I missed something during Thanksgiving.

Competitive standing - a sport I could get into. Competitive standing would have been more exciting to watch than the football games on Thanksgiving day. ESPN Sports Center had a poll about whether other NFL teams should host Thanksgiving day games. I don't watch NFL often so it would be nice to see an interesting game but on the other hand, a lot people in Texas would have to interact with their families if the Cowboys did not play. That could be quite a threat in a state where at least one family member has ready access to firearms.

The Jonas Brothers played during the halftime show of the Dallas - Seattle game. I did not know that prepubescent girls were a target market of interest to the NFL. Talk about a huge demographic shift of an audience during a single program. I went outside during halftime.

I will be working at Radio MASH this weekend, so I will update myself on the interests of prepubescent girls. Gag.

I can't do this anymore

The lamest cry for help ever. Perfectly appropriate for Mary Worth.

Choose carefully the people with whom you share dialogue balloons.

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

Gratitude, Part I

Mom, Dad, thank you for not making us go to church. Thank you for not forcing a religion upon us.

Thank you for allowing us to choose our own spiritual paths. Thank you for supporting my journey even though I went down some roads that concerned you.

There are those who would criticize you for not making us go to church but you did the right thing. Some of the nastiest, dishonest, cowardly people I've met have been nice, church-going people. Some of the most ethical, most compassionate, most courageous people I've met never set foot in a church.

Not making us go to church may have protected us from the nasty people with the nice facades. Allowed us to develop the wisdom to see through the facades. It certainly kept us from becoming one of those people.

Yes, I have my moments of nastiness and I allow those moments to come out too often, but there is goodness and integrity at my core. I believe all three of us have that core of goodness and integrity. That did not occur in a vacuum. Despite your faults, you are genuinely good people and you passed that on to us.

You did the right thing regarding religious upbringing.

For that I am grateful.

1,500th post

Tom Wilson probably found this hilarious. I have committed the same sin, inflicting a cartoon on the public that only I found funny. What is speaking, the toaster or the toast?


In honor of my 1,500th post - a funny Marmaduke.

Walter and I had the same sort of thing happen at our wedding reception. Some guy danced with everyone but he was not part of my family, Walter's family nor one of our friends. Just some guy.

From The Onion: Goofy Guy Named Gary Enlivens Otherwise Intolerable Wedding Reception

Our wedding reception was quite fun.

Marmaduke is a big hit at this party.

News from family

My mother's house is undamaged. My sister's house is one of the few on her street that did not get major damage. My aunt and uncle's house was hit by 4 trees. They are all still without power but everyone is okay.

On this front the bird's cage is back in its place in front of the window. My brother-in-law is spending the night here because he does not have power and the place he was staying is very crowded.

Both of us are off tomorrow. Walter was scheduled this day off and I took some annual leave. This had nothing to do with Ike.

Made it through

We just got rain and wind gusts but no power outage nor flooding. My family closer to the coast made it through but they do not have power. Last time I checked on them they did not sustain any damage to their homes but they have a lot of debris in their yards. I don't know if my mother's mobile home made it through undamaged.

The pets made it through. I think the birds were more upset about having their cage moved than the goings on outside.

Mary Worth Watch

I will miss a couple of days of Mary Worth because of Hurricane Ike. I'm 150 miles inland but in the storm's path and will likely receive heavy rains, high winds and maybe power outage. I don't run the computer during nasty weather anyway. The nasty weather is expected to hit my area by Saturday morning.

Most of my family lives ~50 miles inland - northwest of Houston. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

When this passes I will go back and check on Mary and her background. Maybe Joe Giella can surpass his previous record of 2 days of background continuity.

Apathitis

I experienced a small bout of "I don't give a damn." Had it since Friday and I think I finally got over it today. I was able to function enough to do important things like visiting family but I just did not give a damn about routine stuff - updating my website, this blog, exercise, drawing and scanning. I let several things slide so now I play catch up. I needed some rest. As to whether or not I earned it - I don't care. Who decides whether or not I deserve a bit of rest or blow off a few little tasks for a day or two anyway?

I bought the elements for sandwich wraps and lunchables and ate my first self-made wrap for lunch today. I even added spinach. Take that South Beach!

On the work front, last week, I answered the question, "Do you need my name and phone number" several times without an ounce of sarcasm.

I warned my fellow church board members that all that repressed sarcasm might leak out during the meeting last week.

I need to vent some more sarcasm before the congregational meeting. There is a proposed policy on the agenda and some anxiety about it has already floated up. Rev. Eric and some of the Board members hopefully dealt with it this past Sunday. I was out of town visiting family so I missed the forum.

After this congregational meeting, Walter and I will become common members. No more titles for either of us.

What seems unimportant today

What seems unimportant today may take on greater meaning tomorrow. Retch.

I hope Toby is not going to bore us for 3 weeks with her tale of woe. Oh man, this could turn into a version of the Canterbury Tales. We had Mary's Tale, then we have Toby's Tale, the Ian Cameron and so on. In a few hundred years the whole thing will be inflicted upon high school students in advanced English classes.

I chose the Pardoner's Tale when my English class studied the Canterbury Tales. The Pardoner was a hypocrite and the tale was not as ribald as some of the others - that's all I remember. Kids, if you are assigned one of the tales from the Canterbury Tales choose either the Miller's Tale, the Knight's Tale or the Wife of Bath's Tale.

The archaic English can be a difficult read but not at painful as this Mary Worth flashback.

Speaking of unimportant things, I had a very busy weekend.

Left work early on Friday to meet relatives at the George Bush Library and Museum. Saw Barbara Bush and petted Sadie, the current Bush dog. I chased down Barbara and her entourage to return a credit card that fell out of some one's pocket. Someone who is able to hang out with Barbara Bush should have a sizable limit on their Visa Card. Alas, my first instinct was to return the card only after the return did the other possibilities come to mind. Those thoughts were a joke. The only thought that occurred in the moment was to return the card.

My parents did something right. I did not go to church as a child. Maybe honesty is the default setting for most people and those settings get tweaked or subverted based on situations, environment and upbringing.

Saturday participated in the Democratic Convention for Brazos County. Was elected an alternate delegate to the state convention. Most of the 5-1/2 hours spent at the convention was talking to neighbors and others. The credentials committee took a 5 hours to certify everyone. The actual electing of delegates to the state convention took some precincts as little as 10 minutes. My precinct took only 10 minutes then most of us left. Very few had the endurance to deal with the resolutions. I had a dinner party at my house that I needed to get to.

I made it home in time. Walter and I hosted one of our church's canvas potlucks. The conversation about church and what it means to people were very good. The others brought good food.

Sunday enjoyed a great service by the children. A rare "inter generational" service that did not just have to sit through with a plastic smile. It was one of the better non-minister led worship services. Even better than what some adults have done. Too bad "inter generational" has become a bit of a code word for service to sit through with gritted teeth. People who chose to stay home because of that word missed a quality worship service.

Then it was off to visit with relatives some more. I was too busy and too tired to update my cartoons. Sorry. I was too busy and tired to keep up with all kinds of things this weekend. I'm glad my weekends are not regularly this busy.

It will be nice to have a normal week. New cartoon will go up tonight.

Cool Video

When I visited my family yesterday, someone mentioned that Uncle Tommy had videos on YouTube. I came home last night and searched and found two videos. I also did a Google search on Tommy Crook, hoping to find a website. I did not find a good website dedicated to him but found lots of information. I knew that Uncle Tommy played jazz guitar but did not know the extent of his influence or abilities. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame this year.

He plays at the Lanna Thai Restaurant on Memorial in Tulsa, Oklahoma every Friday, 7:00 - 10:00 pm

The New Reality

The site outage has become quite annoying. I look forward to a lovely afternoon on the phone trying to figure out the problem.
--------------------------------
Attended my father-in-law's funeral yesterday. He is buried in the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery. The cemetery is less than two years old. A lovely location nestled among hills. The site is also on the flight line of a small airport and adjacent to Ft. Hood. The would make Walt happy because he did not want to be buried in a place that was too quiet.

Aside from the family, my father, a woman from College Station ISD Transportation and a couple from church attended. The navy sent two people - one played Taps. The sailors folded and presented a US flag that was draped over the coffin.

Regarding the couple from church, I refuse to believe in a God that would condemn these two kind people to eternal damnation simply because they did not say or believe certain things. Going out of their way to support Walter in his time of grief has got to be worth more than just mouthing words and holding beliefs. I'm grateful to have these two people in my life.

It went as well as a funeral could go.

Now comes the time to take care of little details and learning to live in the new reality.

Fleas and Parking

Aurora is in a new foster home. We are battling fleas here so we will not be fostering until things clear up. The flea situation has improved but according to a vet, the fleas this year are Frontline resistant. It will be easier to get the situation cleared with only one dog. We thought about using a fogger but we have birds and would have to leave the house for several hours with two birds in tow so we opted for a carpet powder. I think Loki enjoys having the house and his people to himself.

I helped with football parking at our church. The church is located within walking distance of Kyle Field so football season is a great source of revenue for us and some nice exposure for the church. I try to be extra nice and friendly. That attitude is a hold over from my days as an evangelical Christian. One should always behave kindly because you could be the only Christian that someone meets. I was not wearing anything identifying me as part of the church or standing on the end of the driveway that has our church sign (Only those who actually parked would have guessed that I was part of the church.) but I still felt compelled to smile, wave and say "Howdy" to everyone that passed by. I could be the only UU some of these folks ever meet.

The other two people working parking did a great job of maximizing space and collecting money. I just held the sign. We have a bit of an informal contest at church to see which team (thanks to the efficient recruiting efforts of our parking czar everyone usually has to work only one game per season) could get the most number of cars in our parking lot on game day. Today we got 43 in our lot and 14 in the lot next to ours (we share the revenues with the tenants or realtor (depending on occupancy) of the house next door) for a total of 57 cars plus a motorcycle. Last year the record was 47 cars in our lot.

Parking was $15, the smile, wave and howdy were free.

This was the first game (non-conference against Montana State). The parking lot filled a lot sooner than last year. The game started at 6:00pm, four cars were in the lot by noon, the lot was full by 4:00pm. I got a nice sunburn on the back of my neck. Yes, now I'm a redneck.

Walter's father will be leaving the hospital soon and will be back in his own apartment. Walter spent most of the day cleaning his father's apartment.

Life Updates

I do other things besides run, take online quizzes, and read comics.

Walter's father is doing better. He is lucid and finished with his radiation treatment.

Aurora got an adoption application. She could be in her new home as early as Wednesday.

Loki has been part of our family for a year now.

The church board retreat was very productive and I'm excited about the future of the church. Rev. Eric preached his first sermon to a packed house on Sunday. The church in San Antonio sent a nice letter and the board president read it out loud.

What is Talent?

I received the above postcard today. I saw the image and initially thought, "It's just two chairs stacked on top of each other! Where's the talent?" but upon further inspection I noticed that the artist, Mike Womack, created an optical illusion with paint. Now, that's talent. The piece is titled Cloud. Maybe this year's exhibit will have some more examples like this.

I have visited previous exhibitions of New American Talent and have wondered why did this curator choose these pieces and what are they seeing that I am not. One year, a piece with a title that I do not remember (probably untitled complete with the pretentiousness of all lowercase), was simply a roll of toilet paper on a holder bolted to a wall and part of the roll was carefully rolled out and laid out over a couple of steps. The Stark Gallery marketing people featured this piece on the post card advertising the exhibit.

Some people wonder why the public does not support the arts to the extent that they feel the public should. Others wonder why non-commercial artists are not taken seriously.

Does the toilet paper roll artist really have talent? Talent worthy of being placed in a gallery? Talent greater than say, Thomas Kinkade? Which one is the hack - the commercially successful Thomas Kinkade or the toilet paper roll artist? I think the real talent was the person who convinced a curator that the carefully laid out toilet paper roll is art worthy of being placed in a gallery.

I wonder how much of a curator's criteria is determined by the merit of the art rather than other factors? Curators are human beings with all the foibles. Would a truly talented artist with poor representation have the same chance as a so-so artist with a great agent?

Changing subjects: in the third panel Momma realizes that her own death would make her children happy. The one thing I'm certain about the nature of God is that it has a sick sense of humor when it comes to answering some prayers. Momma knows it, too.

My father-in-law is still in the hospital undergoing treatment for cancer. The drugs and toxins have had a weird effect on him. Walter successfully convinced his father that the people at the VA hospital were not trying to kill him, they did not kidnap him, and most importantly, they are not trying to sell him a car. The third item took Walter the longest to explain. Odd the fears that come forth in an altered state of mind.

99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall

This depicts my meditation yesterday. The monkey mind was going wild. Get back on the cushion and try again. Or not try. The cartoon is funnier given Buddhism's admonition against consuming substances that cloud the mind.

News Flash! Everyone's teen years were painful. Dawn does not know how to flirt and is starting to scare Dr. Drew Corey. He has moved from the seat next to Dawn and moved to the seat across from her. Even scarier is that people have come in, eaten and left since this dinner has gone on. People disappeared between panels.

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

Proud auntie moment: my older nephew was mentioned in Dale Campbell's 2007 Texas Football magazine as a prospect to watch in the next high school football season. I bought a copy of the magazine and scanned the cover and page he was mentioned. I will send it to the rest of the family. We are all proud of him. I'm sure he will live up to the "hype".

I was the only person in the Barnes and Noble that day that did not buy the last Harry Potter book. I bought a Star Trek book, an anthology of Tales from the Captain's Table.

My real life

I've lost my cartoon backlog because of real life. I have one cartoon ready to go. Family matters have taken up some of my time. Other parts of my time have been taken up by lack of interest in doing anything. I'll watch TV, surf the Internet or play games but I have very little interest in doing anything productive or needed. I picked up a book at a garage sale about time management and leveraging my time and bringing balance into my life but the book sits on the kitchen table. I don't feel like reading it. I have a small backlog of books and magazines to read.

I took some time time off from work. Give me a chance to do some things at a slower pace.

The local movie theater played their first showing of the Transformers movie at 8:00 pm Monday. Decided to go see it after we heard about the early showing on the radio while traveling back from Temple. Walter really needed over two hours of escapist entertainment. He got it and was quite happy.

Walter went back to Temple today and he will be back later tonight. The drive is a little over an hour. I might travel with him tomorrow.

I planned on doing a few things around the house but so far I've eaten breakfast with Walter, taken a nap, read e-mails, read a bit of a book, fed and dried off the dogs, and read other blogs.

The dogs are outside so that Salvador and Edgar can have some flight time. Edgar still cannot fully fly but he can eat in peace with Salvador out of the cage. Edgar is really showing quite a bit of personality. I think he misses Sal being out of the cage. Edgar has a lot of neat chirps and calls and has taught Salvador a few of them. In the morning and afternoon they sing and chirp as a duet. I need to get that on video.

The day is not over yet so I will try to do something around the house. Definitely, will post the one cartoon I have ready. Beyond that, who knows. Maybe a few days of laziness will recharge my batteries.

Running Log

This week I ran 11.49 miles, burned 1613.2 calories and weigh 176.3 pounds.

Monday: 3 miles in 31:08
Thursday: 3 miles in 31:48
Saturday: 4 miles in 43:49

Things may go off routine in the next few weeks because of family matters.

Running log

This week I ran/ cycled 13.01 miles and burned 1007.9 calories. Everyone tells me that I look thinner but the weight on the scale is not shifting in the downward direction. Maybe I should stop worrying about it.

Monday: ran 5K in 35:06
Tuesday: cycled 6.28 miles in 35:00
Thursday: ran 5K in 32:38

I'm going fishing this weekend. The annual family fishing trip to Toledo Bend Lake.

Cramps and Comics

Visited the mothers this past weekend, mine on Saturday and Walter's on Sunday.

Codeine enhanced Sunday's visit. I attempted to kill some pain - some of the worst menstrual cramps ever. I took large doses to kill the pain. The pain went away after I took 1,000 mg of Ibuprofen. My liver will suffer but at least the pain stopped.

The Bible says women have those pains because of Eve's sin. Something is seriously fucked up about that logic.

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

What the hell is happening in panel 2? My artistic skills are lacking but damn it Giella, you are a professional! Is this what cartoonist Alzheimer's looks like? Perspective goes out the window. I'm glad that both characters are female. The character arrangement in panel 2 is making my head hurt. Curses upon you, Giella!

Huh!? Explain this joke and I'll send you some original A Perfect World artwork. Seriously, I'm running out of room to store the pages and I really want to understand this joke.

This joke would have been really hilarious in 1991 (Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country) or maybe in 1994 (Star Trek: Generations or Star Trek: Oh, Look Dramatic Cinematic Lighting!). What prompted this gag? The remastered original series (totally cool), James Doohan's missing ashes, the third anniversary of Enterprise's cancellation, rumors of a Star Trek movie prequel? Why this gag now?

This just in...

My brother-in-law had a book just published through Amazon.com

You can find it here: http://snipurl.com/19wo0

Description:
This is a story of a group of girls who attend a college of magic in the mountains of Colorado. They have nothing in common but have to become friends to survive the deadly feud between members of a evil family that has their unyielding grip on the world. The girls experience the light and dark sides of sorcery, fighting dark assassins, evil witches, a mighty dragon, and are helped by the friendly school janitor who is biggest mystery of all!

I haven't read the book. I've been asked to help promote it. I'm not an Amazon.com affiliate so I receive no financial benefits from any sales, only benefits of better family relationships.

Please check it out and write a review.

That's an hour glass on the girl's forehead.

Here is John's website: http://www.artoflawmack.com/