First Day of Radio M*A*S*H

This year's count of children is 4,300. Below are some pictures from today. We filled orders for about 800 children today.Some of the toys straightened out after a major order filling.


Folks watching the Cowboys - Packers game on Dish TV (Donated by Starfire Satellite) and big screen TV (Donated by Sears). Because of issues between the cable companies and the NFL this game was not available for airing on cable or regular TV. The tents in the background are provided by the Texas Army National Guard.

A radio personality from KORA in the broadcast tent
Girl Scouts cleaning and sorting used toys.

Robert repairing electronic toys and making sure batteries are fresh.

Geordie LaForge and Data make an appearance at the toy drive. They are in Engineering.

Some more straightened out toys. Alpha Delta Zeta, who I failed to take pictures of, did a great job of filling the orders in the evening and straightening things out for tomorrow.


The sign. Yes, the weather was as gorgeous as that sky. Tomorrow, the high will be 70.


Just completed a shopping trip (cash donations are used to buy toys) and now are sorting toys into their age groups.
1/8 of 1 percent of the stuffed animals that we will receive over the weekend.


Members of the Bryan Noon Lions Club filling an order.


Elizabeth loading an order into a huge trailer. The orders stay there until the organizations come pick them up.

Radio M*A*S*H does accept gently used toys. Unfortunately, gently used is subject to various interpretations. The example below is not the most egregious misinterpretation of gently used but I think this contribution has made my top 20 from over 10 years of volunteering.


Elizabeth enjoying an executive rocking horse. A rocking horse built to support a full grown man. I've sat in it and it is very comfortable.
More volunteers enjoying the rocking horse.
Some donations belong in the WTF? category. A ceramic bobble head bison.

Toys bought Wednesday night to get this party started.

We often have a shortage of 14 - 16 year old girl things. We have a shortage on the boy's side as well but not quite as much. Ages 8 and up we usually have to purchase toys for on shopping trips; 7 and under can get by on toys brought in by individuals or groups.


By the end of Friday we hope to get at least half of the orders filled.

If you are in the Brazos Valley come by Post Oak Mall and check things out. If you are elsewhere check out Radio M*A*S*H on the web.

What Classic Movie Are You?

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Found this at Fancesco Explains It All

New word to add to my vocabulary

Whoa, Billy! Turn the arrogance down a notch!

Thank you Bucky Catt for the new word - annoypid. Annoypid: annoying and stupid. I love it! Annoypid is such a perfect word for what my work week has been like so far. The annoypid students have attempted to turn their lack of planning into my emergency this week. I refuse to deny students the wisdom gained from experience. Consider it part of the "other education."

I can now update my regular website. Cannot do it in the most efficient way but I can do it. This is a huge relief. I will try FTP tonight but at least there is a working method as a back up.

I will not update on Sunday because of Radio M*A*S*H and the minister's installation. That day I will work at the toy drive, go home, clean up, attend installation and then go back to the toy drive, finish up and then go home and go to bed - hopefully at a reasonable hour.

Wednesday's Cartoon

Another non-gag. Not really a cartoon. The season was affecting me along with some news. Sort of looks like Martian Manhunter but he does not have a nose.

I'm on hold with Ipower technical support in an attempt to resolve my inability to access my files. My files are on an old platform that very few customers still use. So far the results of attempts to solve the problem lead me to a page with the message that says:

"Your Account Is Not Yet on the New Platform

You are trying to access something that is only available on the new hosting platform. For more information, or to manage your account on the original platform, visit the Transition Kiosk."

I'm told that things will be much easier once my site is on the new platform. I would have more patience with this transition if I were informed of when my site will transfer.

I love lead!

Robert Lovely did not have access to an actual Barbie doll so he used the female figure from one of the anatomy books that most artists have around the house. I think Lovely did what I often do - draw the picture then come up with a gag.

I haven't looked at a Barbie doll in over a year and do not pay attention too closely to the commercials when ever I watch SpongeBob Squarepants so I could be unaware of Mattel's efforts to reproportion Barbie. I will find out later this week at Radio M*A*S*H.

I could recreate the above cartoon with one of the many less than gently used Barbies that get donated every year.

This year, the toy drive will have a poster depicting all the recalled toys. We could have a Barbie shortage.

The question that I have whenever another toy recall makes the news: There is an acceptable level of lead?

...because most of the lead is in the flakes.

Tuesday's Cartoon

I drew this on Halloween before I received the call from Walter about his father. A cute little girl with black holes instead of eyes gives the creepy man the creeps. No real gag just some humorous illustration that reflected my mood at the moment.

Slow School

Mary cannot simply say that she now has a dog. No, this little misunderstanding will go on for three weeks just because Mary cannot say, "I have a dog." like a normal human. I wonder how poor Chester will deal with the constant dimensional shifting of his surroundings?

No, Dolly the slow is not a command but an adjective describing the type of school you attend. Thel could get rid of two of her children by speeding up and then hitting the brakes. She has an airbag, the children do not. The seat belts in the back seats are useless and go right across the little children's necks. Part of my psyche would take great joy in the sound of the Family Circus children's necks snapping and that kind of scares me. Perhaps observing this closely during meditation could yield some insights. Then again, it could serve as a reminder to stop putting so much psychic energy into trivial matters.

Desire is a cause of suffering and may I be free of the desire to see the Family Circus children die bloody, violent deaths - the comic strip children not the real people which the fictional children are based upon. [Holy crap! I really need to read more carefully before I publish! I do not desire the death of the real people either.] An unfulfilled desire can cause has much suffering as a fulfilled one. Satisfaction is fleeting but keeping that in mind I could enjoy the killing as long as I do not become attached to the joy and understand that the joy will only last that moment. I could be completely in that moment and then move to the next.

Hey, that's the other fat, orange cat's gag!

Monday's Cartoon

Apply directly to the forehead.
Apply directly to the forehead.
Apply directly to the forehead.
Apply directly to the forehead.
Apply directly to the forehead.
How would one apply indirectly to the forehead?

Friday's Cartoon

I got the pattern from one my 1971 Sears catalog pages.

I finished reading Star Trek: Titan - The Sword of Damocles. Good book, mentally challenging in some places.

I will skip the "Black Friday" stuff but I still need to go out and run some errands. Errands that will keep me far away from shopping centers. I refuse to get up at the butt crack of dawn on my day off so I should miss most of the consumerism.

I don't get into the holiday spirit until Radio M*A*S*H

Thursday's Cartoon

Have a happy Thanksgiving or at least a minimal amount of bloodshed, no involvement with the authorities Thanksgiving.

Wednesday's Cartoon

If you like talk like this after you are like over 30 years old then like maybe you should see like a therapist or something or just like beat yourself about the head because that is like what everyone who has to like listen to you talk wants to do. Like no one will take you like seriously like anywhere if you still talk like a 15 year old girl. Like shut the @#$%! up! Like ugh whatever!

Tuesday's Cartoon

I know, today is Monday. Monday evening. I post new cartoons in the evening.

Pick up after your dog

Mary Worth follows the condo rules but completely ignores the local leash laws. Mary rules Charterstone and Santa Royale, leash laws do not apply to her. I bet she won't go out there and pick up after Chester.

Oh my God. I received a vision of the upcoming storyline! Mary Worth learns a painful lesson about picking up after your dog after a child of a Charterstone resident spends a month in a coma after the child injures his/her head after slipping on one of Chester's droppings that Mary neglected to pick up. See Mary wracked with guilt. See Mary give advice about cleaning up after your dog in the form of a sickening platitude. See Dr Jeff Cory's heroic doctor skills bring that child out of a coma. See Mary express so much self-satisfaction with her decision to force Dr. Cory to leave Vietnam that she explodes into a supernova of self-congratulation so powerful that it collapses in on itself and sucks all of Charterstone and Santa Royale into its black hole.

It would be funnier if all the residents of Charterstone stage an intervention to get Mary to pick up after her dog. All of them say in unison: "Mary, we are tired of slipping in dog shit!"

Hey, King Features! If Karen Moy has to leave please consider the above my resume.

Huh?
What? Can we write comics that make sense?

Contents settle during shipping. Why did a man send this in?

Monday's Cartoon

I decided to post new cartoons on the blog until the mess with my web host reaches a resolution. It seems that Ipower has more business than it can handle. I don't care about the transition process I just want to update my website.

I will take that approach with my next call to technical support. Help me find a way to update my website while you take care of this transition business. I guess I will need to become more assertive by refusing to hang up until I can access my files on their servers. Perhaps at least find out the transition status and see if I can wait it out.

If I receive no resolution or updated information by the end of the month then I will find a new host. Irritating customers is one method of bringing business down to a more manageable level but probably not one recommended by the experts.

Blog Reading Level

Got this from The Next Chamber, who got it from KRAD's Inaccurate Guide to Life

In A Perfect World...

For some reason, I found the middle panel especially funny and relevant to my web host problems.

My log in problem has been sent to the next level technician.

Today is Walter's birthday. I did not forget.

Progress

My account is unsuspended. I still cannot upload or log into my control panel but at least the site is up. I received a response from the address I found on the Ipower website rather than the address given by technical support.

My account was suspended for Apache abuse. Something, I don't know the specifics yet, I did would have caused some downtime. I cannot think of anything that I have done differently from the last 4 years that would cause a problem.

Now I'm on hold with technical support to try to resolve my other problems. At least they have classical music as their hold music rather than the soulless instrumental crap.

Ipower annoyances

Wow, it looks like my comment about Suddenlink got noticed. Thanks for paying attention and attempting to address the problem.

For the record, my comment about Suddenlink was more of a vent about my neglecting to tie up every single loose end and failure to contact every single entity that had my e-mail address when my e-mail was changed.

Now maybe a little bitching about Ipower might get the attention of someone from Ipower who can help me.

I went to the Ipower website and found that the address for abuse is different from the address given to me by technical support. So, I will, for a third time, send an e-mail to the abuse department, except I will use the address on the website.

Would an auto reply kill anyone? I've sent two e-mails (one on Tuesday, one on Wednesday). Is a quick auto reply saying that my messages were received and my problem will get addressed in a certain amount of time too much to ask? I did not receive any bounce back messages so who knows where my pleas are going?

It took three calls to technical support to find out that my account was suspended in the first place. 3 calls. The first two techs could not understand why I could not log in my control panel. The third tech made the discovery.

I was probably contacted via the e-mail address on file (which for technical reasons was changed) and no response was received. I have updated my files with Ipower.

I want to resolve whatever problem that caused my account suspension as soon as possible.

Until all this, Ipower's customer support has been quite good and service very reliable. I would like to stay with Ipower but as this drags on, I'm reconsidering.

I hope I find a message from abuse@ipowerweb.com (the address given to me by technical support) when I get home. It would make me feel better and get the ball rolling on getting aperfectworld.org back up. This whole thing has become quite frustrating.

I am invigorated by busywork

The job is not so bad right now. I'm working on an interesting project but since it is registration time my train of thought is often interrupted by phone calls. I feel like a character in Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. (I made a reference to Kurt Vonnegut - I'm such an intellectual!) Just when a germ of an idea develops the phone rings.

Some helpful hints in calling for an appointment and thoughts that go through my head while talking to you:

• Have your schedule in front of you before calling
• Your mom sounds like a very lovely person but she is not doing you any favors by calling me to make your appointments. Your sister or girlfriend aren't either. How come I never talk to fathers, brothers or boyfriends?
• How can you not know your current class schedule by now?
• Talking on the phone is nerve wracking - I hate doing it myself - but I can recall my own name rather quickly despite the circumstances
• Leave some identifying information in your e-mail - a real name preferably. I feel kind of silly addressing a response to Mr. rockthegoodag11 (not a real handle that I know of)
• Our department has over 400 undergraduates, so no, I cannot guarantee a quick response from the advisor

About the account suspension and taking time off from exercise: I did not realize the amount of time in the evenings that I devoted to updating my website and exercise. I've been going to sleep earlier than usual. Maybe this account suspension was the break I needed but refused to take. I'm still quite interested in what caused the suspension and would like to get things back up. Someone actually expressed concern.

So, that's the deal

I finally found out what the problem is with my website. My account has been suspended since Nov. 4. I've contacted the "abuse department" at Ipower. I was sent an e-mail informing of the suspension but thanks to Suddenlink's incompetence I did not receive it. Ipower now has my correct e-mail and hopefully they will send me the information I need to resolve the problem.

I hope somebody did not get their panties in a bunch about one of my cartoons.

Race Results

The race results have been posted. It took me a while to find them because there were no links to the Filly - Clydesdale divisions - they had to be found by scrolling.

Place: 18 (I did finish at a faster chip time than 17th place but the order is based on gun time)
First half: 2:48:21.5
Second half: 3:30:46.4
Gun time: 6:23:34.5
Chip time: 6:19:07.9
Total pace: 14:38
Overall place: 1090
Overall by sex: 362

I will continue distance running but will take a rest from full marathons. At least avoid southern marathons outside of the winter months. The weather in San Antonio was beautiful for other activities.

Back from San Antonio

I finished the San Antonio Marathon. I did not finish in the time I wanted but I got the medal and the shirt. The heat and humidity started slowing me down around mile 13 and then a cramp around my right knee forced me to mostly walk between miles 18 and 23.

The volunteers for this race were great and I appreciated the massage therapists for sticking around so long after the race. Other marathons they usually bug out in 5 hours so I never got an opportunity to receive a massage. The massage was worth it because it gave me the strength to walk to Denny's for a post race meal and then to the hotel.

Walter and I had a wonderful time in San Antonio.

I decided to do half marathons for a while. Start out with stand alone halves so I don't feel like such a wimp running among full marathoners.

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.

Comics and stereotypes

These are two great comic strips that deserve to be in more papers and other venues that will result in financial rewards for the artists. I especially love the battery low detail in Watch Your Head (the second strip). I'm glad that printed newspapers are not the sole source of comics. Thanks to the web (the Houston Chronicle and the Seattle P-I websites do a great job of using the web to expand the selection of comics available to the reading public without having to shrink things to include all the comics in the print edition.) I can enjoy some great comics. Of course this leads to some frustration because with all the great material to choose from why are some comics still in print?

Both of these comics feature of group of people that live in America. A group often pigeon-holed into a single stereotype. Both of these comics show that this group has a lot more diversity than the mainstream media would have people believe.

Candorville, the first comic, features the classical nerd stereotype of bad teeth, thick glasses, timidity and poor fashion sense. The only thing missing from this stereotype is the pasty skin. Lamont, the main character in Candorville (who does not appear in this particular strip), more accurately represents nerdiness in the real world. While a science fiction fan (particularly ST:NG - he wears a communicator on his t-shirt), Lamont holds down a job, has had sex, is generally well-groomed and well-informed about things outside of science fiction. Lamont is also not timid about expressing himself in a lot of areas.

Cory of "Watch Your Head" typifies the college age nerd. Embraces his nerdiness but remains aware of and somewhat frustrated by the hurdles that he faces as a nerd. He refuses to let those hurdles force him to turn into something he is not just to fit in. Very inspiring.

Both comics show that nerds have many interests and can function well within society without compromising themselves. Both comics also show that nerdiness is a lot more mainstream and common than people believe.

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

aperfectworld.org is still down. According to their website Ipower is having phone issues (their lines are giving busy signals in error). I must not be the only one experiencing an outage. I'm glad I don't make a living off this. I make some money but not a living. This is giving me a chance to create a larger backlog of cartoons. If it is not resolved by tomorrow, I will make a phone call, e-mail, chat or whatever has not crashed at Ipower.

I've been using this company since 2003 and this is the longest time my site has had an outage and also the first time that I've found support a bit frustrating.

Exercise Log

Last week I ran, walked and biked 26.09 miles, burned 2,831.1 calories and weigh 175.3 pounds.

Monday: ran 5.33 miles in 1:05:00
Tuesday: biked 4.02 miles in 20:00
Thursday: ran 5.63 miles in 1:05:00
Friday: walked 2.92 miles in 56:49
Saturday: ran 8.19 miles in 1:33:20

This week's plan:
Monday: 20 minutes on bike followed by calisthenics
Tuesday: 5 mile Tempo run - 3 miles at 10:39
Friday: 2 miles @ 12:16
Sunday: San Antonio Marathon - goal: less than 5:30:00. If I maintain a 12:16 pace I should finish in about 5:15:00. I have been able to maintain a faster pace for two hours quite easily.

This race will be the first marathon that I've trained for solo. I feel good about my prospects despite being at my heaviest in 3 years and two very disappointing long training runs. Also, there are some emotional issues to face later this week. I'm not sure how those will affect me. As long as the temperatures stay nice I have a good chance to make a personal record.

Not doing as much cross-training and running (outside of the race) this week because of meetings, travel and other events.

Also, He Can Levitate

aperfectworld.org is down. Very annoying. My host is doing some kind of transition and has set up a "transition kiosk" to let their customers know about the status of their transition. Good intentions - poor execution. Going to the kiosk only sends me back to the site telling me about the kiosk. I do not get any useful information about my site's transition and attempts to log on to the old control panel are unsuccessful. I hope the site is back up soon so that I can put up my latest cartoon.

Now about other people's cartoons:
Mary's scarf has lengthened since rescuing the dog. The lady with the cat in the first panel is irritated because she has been waiting for hours, despite patronizing this animal hospital for decades, while Mary Worth and her stray get to see the vet immediately.

A fun look at the first UU principle.

For the first time in months, I took time to write some cartoon gags. Some of them are funny.

I think the time change helped because I did not experience the 9:30 - 11:00 wall of sleepiness this morning. I felt a bit more focused this morning.

No funny for you!

Today and yesterday I did not draw anything particularly funny. Cartoon creepy but not funny. I've felt compelled to draw things but not funny things. Part of it has to with the season another part has to do with stuff going on in my life. Both parts have to do with death. Odd that I would feel the effects of the autumn season because this part of Texas really does not experience an autumn in the usual sense. More like spring with slightly muted colors. A few leaves change and die off but most trees keep their foliage.

I should sit down and write some gags since the funny does not seem to happen when I start drawing. It usually happens but not this week.

Boo!

Will King Features please hire someone to check the art continuity between the panels of Mary Worth? This will leave me nothing to gripe about but I'm willing to make the sacrifice. Is that Professor Cameron's more mellow twin brother? Can Giella draw a beard and mustache on the same face?

Yo Mama's so fat that time slows down around her!

I make similar sloshing noises when I go for a long run. The noises come from my water bottle. Sometimes I hear slapping noises but I won't tell you where those come from.

Creepy!

I look forward to receiving Trick or Treaters. Walter has decorated the house and I carved two cool Jack O'Lanterns. One of the Jack O'Lanterns went to church because it has a flaming chalice design carved into it. I will post pictures.

After Halloween, the flaming chalice Jack O'Lantern will become a major flaming chalice.

Think about Crock

Mr. Giella, thank you for not drawing Mary Worth wearing bicycle shorts and shirt.
How did Mary get her hair into that helmet?
Where did the fence go in the second panel?
How can Mary have a flashback to an event she did not witness?

Oh my! The scary ass chicken appears again!

If you need to stop song playing in your head, think about this Crock episode. Really think long and hard about this Crock. Think beyond the borders. Think about the cook's methods. Think about this Crock. The song has gone away.

Sweet Tranvestite from Transexual Transylvania

She's more upset that he looks better in the black dress than she does. She should be proud of the effort he put in. Most guys would just put on the dress and be done with it but this guy went above and beyond. If you read Flight Deck you know what sort of shape the lead male character is in and can appreciate the marvel of engineering required to mold the his figure into that dress. This is a man that respects the art of drag enough to put so much effort into his costume.

After some reflection maybe the wife will appreciate all the effort but right now she is still irritated that he looks much better in that dress then she ever did.

Exercise Log

Last week I ran and biked 28.88 miles, burned 2,815 calories and weigh 174.5 pounds.

Monday: ran 5.24 miles in 1:05:00
Tuesday: biked 3.59 miles in 20:00
Wednesday: ran 5.64 miles in 1:05:00
Thursday: biked 3.70 miles in 20:00
Saturday: ran 10.71 miles in 2:05:38

This week's plan:
Monday - 1 hour run at 12:16 (marathon pace)
Tuesday - 20 minutes cycling and strength training
Wednesday - go home and get ready for trick or treaters
Thursday - Tempo run - 6 miles, 3 @ 10:39
Friday - walk dog
Saturday - 1.5 hour run @ 12:16