The Ventures

This--->
(click it, you fool)

Is the comic I am sending to John Allison for his SGR Idol contest. If you don't read SGR, click on the icon to the right and read every single page. You will be sorry if you don't. I have also finished the Cthulhu story for Jeff, and he is happily banging away at the lettering. I will post that story on the NGV5 page when he's done. I am also doing the cover art for Joey's band, The Evildoers new CD. Then it is back to doodles at work and ball-point pen sketches. Oh, and new NGV5 stuff.

Visit from Aaron

This weekend saw a rare departure from Denver by one Aaron Taylor. We had a great time. He seems to be doing well. Not drinking or smoking, and he looks really fit. Due to Jason and Jennifer's stupidity, he had to be picked up by Jen's step-dad, and subjected to his company. Norm is awesome, but a bit of a shock for the uninitiated. Cody joined us on our weekend outing as well. I took Friday off and we hung out in Stilly. We hung out at the house, went to the coffeeshop, Jen and Aaron got hair cuts, then Aaron bought an Eskimo Joe's hat as well as this hat. He tortured the poor sales girl for over an hour, talking about spinny rims and headless chickens. She was awfully cute, but couldn't tell if Aaron was hitting on her or not. Neither could I. Neither could Aaron for that matter.
Cody joined us, and we went to get Chinese food, where Aaron and Cody had a little Oprah session about the state of "Denver Girls" while I ate lo mien. Back to the house for beers and patio conversation till the wee hours of late evening. Cody crashed there and in since the Powers pantry was poorly stocked due to a moderately successful attempt by Jason to lose weight( I'm down to 225 from 240 when Jack was born, and have 30 to go), we decided to hit Shortcakes. Shortcakes is a 24 hour greasy spoon with cramped quarters and no high chairs. They put American cheese (pasturized processed cheese-food product) on everything, and I was happy. Jen was not, as she ordered a cheese omelet (they had no mushrooms, that would be healthy) and she hates that fake cheese shit. We then went back to the coffeeshop, where Jackson flirted with all the cute girls on staff. Boy, if there is a cute girl or a camera around, that kid turns into the biggest ham. Cody departed to Enid for a birthday party, and we soon departed for Tulsa to see the grandparents. More accurately, for them to watch the boy so we could go to the bar. I cooked steaks that tasted yummy but were a wee bit undercooked.

The bar was fun. Jen made a new friend in the form of a drunk fucker who would hit on anything that moved.

witness--->

There were drunk girls and I smacked Jessie the bartender's ass, much to his delight. Jen was on a mission to find Cody a "nice Oklahoma girl so he won't leave" but was unsuccessful. The closest we got was a goth chick who decided to hit on me instead. Too bad. Who doesn't want to get with this?

Sunday was spent sight-seeing. -->

What a sight. The less said about that the better. I think people in OK are gonna think every guy from Denver has short dark hair and horn-rimmed glasses. We did hit woodward park. There were attractive Earth Day girls that Aaron and Cody failed to hit on. We ate Pepper's. Our car battery died, and we had to get a new one.

More patio partying back at Casa del Powers and then we went to bed, tired from all day in the sun. Monday I went back to work and Aaron went back to Denver. But not before Jackson was introduced to Greek food. The tabuli was a hit. We were then hit with rain, hail, and tornados that lasted all night. A fun weekend.

Things my wife has made up about fictional animals

I had a good weekend. I had Friday off, so I did a bunch of yardwork and chores and stuff. Saturday Jack and Cody and I went to the coffeeshop and then I cooked us all some fillets wrapped in bacon that kicked bottom. Jen made mashed potatos and they were equally bottom kicking. We drank some adult beverages and killed parasitic bugs. (one did not lead to the other)
At some point, Jen and I started talking about how I will eventually take Jackson camping and she will not attend. Partly because camping is a very father-son bonding thing, but mostly because she's really girly and doesn't like dirt. Then this happened:

Jen: Well, if you go, you need to watch out for the Oklahoma Grizzly Beast.

Jason: The Oklahoma Grizzly Beast?

Jen: Yep. It looks like a bobcat... but it has the face of a lion.

Jason: Really?

Jen: Yeah, and there's longer fur down the middle of it's back.

Jason: Like a mohawk?

Jen: Yes. And... (motioning to her mouth ala the Holy Grail Bunny scene) It has those big teeth.

Jason: Saber-teeth?

Jen: Yeah.

Jason: Oooo... Kay. Does it have stripes or cheetah spots or...

Jen: NO! It has cow spots! (Jason spits out his beer swig)

Jason: Well, does it have cat eyes or those black cow eyes that look like they have no soul?

Jen: No, listen. That's the thing. That's how they get you! It has big blue human eyes and these long eyelashes! So when you see one, it looks at you like a puppy and you go 'awww..' and when you go to pet it, it GETS you! Rawr!

Jason: Well you be sure to tell Jack about that before we leave. So I gotta deal with nightmares.


Here is what popped into my head:

Careful out there, kiddies!

Sketchbook #7

Bunch o' monsters. I really like the rotten orange monster. No one likes a rotten orange. Not even other rotten oranges. It is sad, really. I think I need more colors of highlighters. I could really branch out and waste time at work more effectively. Anybody who buys me a cool colored highlighter will receive a JP original piece of ball-point-pen-and-highlighter art in the mail.

Act now!

Litigation

This is not a real product-->

Are you confused? Brian at Doubleshot Coffee Co. in Tulsa has received a cease and desist order from Starbucks. He is to remove all mentions of the name "Doubleshot", because the company feels that it is a copyright infringement on their trademarked drink, the doubleshot. The thing is, how can one a) trademark a universal drink, made by anyone who has a espresso machine, and b) confuse the name of a business with the name of said drink?

I can understand if his store was called "Dr. Pepper's", but if Dr. pepper tried to sue him because his store was called "Soda", that would be extremely stupid.

from an email sent by Brian:

"I received a letter last week informing me that I am infringing on a trademark that Starbucks has had since 2001, "Starbuck's Doubleshot." The lawyers advised me to cease using the DoubleShot Coffee Company name, to shut down my website (http://www.DoubleShotCoffee.com), and to destroy everything I have which bears the "DoubleShot" name. Come read the letter yourself-- it's framed and hanging on the wall, over the garbage can.

"Please tell as many people as you can about this outrageous Starbucks chicanery. We figure that the more publicity and public indignation we stir up, the better chance we will have at standing up against this evil corporate empire.
Find out more information about this on the latest episode of AA Cafe (and learn how to get a 15% discount on web orders): http://www.DoubleShotCoffee.com/aacafe or on iTunes (search for "AA Cafe" in the music store).

You should listen to the podcast. This is a simple case of a big corporation stomping on the little guy. It will serve them no purpose other than to eliminate a competing smaller businesses that happes to offer a better product. A lot of people don't like Brian and would frankly love to see his store replaced by a starbucks, but regardless of your feelings, this is just not right. Fight the man!

March calender

Here it is----->
I like the little deep sea diver. This month also sees dig-dug, a space chick and the grim reaper.
Also, I was very excited to see the return of Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi channel. As latchkey kids, my brother and I were big fans, watching every sunday morning on PBS as we stayed at our dad's house on the weekends, waiting for him to get up and out of bed. This was at least until we discovered Teletunes, but even then Jeff would tape it, and we'd watch it later.
The new Who, on the heels of the Hitchhiker's movie, has awakened a dormant uber-nerd in me. I'm extremely nerdy, I know, but this is a super form that had been surpressed by good music and fashion sense. I find my self back in the comic shop a little more, and lurking around on a few message boards that maybe I shouldn't. Old favs like Robotech and Star Trek: TNG are finding their way onto my TV. I am especially excited for Star Trek 2.0, and I even watched a couple of X-Files episodes last week. I don't know if I should resist (futile) or just give in. All I know is that I'd better see a hipster/indy rock/emo concert soon or there will be tape on my glasses before I know it.