Sketchbook # 13

New NGV5 page is up. And this---->
Is a weird guy in a haz-mat thingy. He has hard work to do. Or that suit is keeping him alive, I don't know which.
Holy crap am I ready for a long weekend. I have a wedding to participate in, for my buddy Craig. That will use up tonight and tomorrow. Sunday will see Cookie return, perhaps just as triumphantly as Superman did. COOKIE RETURNS now in theaters! That would be awesome.
I took Monday off, so now I don't have to go back till Wednesday. There WILL be whiskey in by belly at some point in the mean time, just to warn you. Weddings are generally great sources of whiskey, and I fully plan to take advantage of that. I don't know what I doing for the 4th, so if anybody has any ideas, let me know. I hope to see several things explode in the sky*, and this year I just might get my wish. That is, if mean ol' Mr. Chinese Dragon God of things exploding in the sky isn't still mad at me about that hooker.

SuperJack

I think Jackson will grow up to be a super man. I saw the movie last night. I liked it. Muy fun. The bits with the kid were a little cheesy, buy could have been a lot worse. Routh seems to have channeled Christopher Reeve from beyond the grave. He was a dead ringer in almost every way. Except the haircut, which kind of bugged me. It looked like Clark Kent had the same stylist as Franz Ferdinand.

Yesterday, a bunch of baby armadillos visited us. There were three of them, and I snapped a few pics, and video taped them romping around in utter cuteness for about two seconds until Sadie dug her way under the fence and tore after them. I think she got one of them on the tail before I could catch up to her in the woods and grab her. They ran under a big brush pile and never came back out. Sadie is a terror terrier. She'll get you. The woods behind our house are nice to look at, but I found a tick on me this morning after I was only out there for a few minutes, adding to the list of reasons to not go out there. I dropped my video camera when I ran after Sadie, and now it doesn't play right.

sad.

Gone to Pot

We had a heckuvah busy weekend, and it is still technically going, as I have not been back yo work yet. Jen had an event, so I did the same thing I always do on relay weekend: I drive to Tulsa, get the boy from the babysitter's, visit the relay for a while, spend the evening with him at the grandparent's house, and fight to get him to sleep. Then the boy and I amuse ourselves on saturday while Jen sleeps it off. We went to the coffeeshop, saw some friends, and poked around Target. Saturday night,we had a lovely meal with B&G, and went back up to Stilly. I had to bag out of Craig's batchelor party because I was too tired. Sunday was an eventful day, sort of. Jen had to prepare for a procedure she had today, which involved taking laxatives and clearing out her bowels. It sucked. If she wasn't asleep, she was in the bathroom, and wee Jack was getting sick, so I had to deal with a cranky baby all day in the midst of mowing and cleaning the house in preperation for Jen's dad coming up to watch the boy while we went to the hospital. whew! Somehow I managed to watch the entire box set of Spaced (I had to order a duped copy from England via ebay), and Shaun of the Dead, as I have recently become a HUGE Simon Pegg fan. His bit in Doctor Who was awesome. Today was the hospital. All that prep, and the thing only lasted like 20 minutes. We've been relaxing and doing chores and taking care of a sick baby all day.
Off to Wally-World!

Sam Houston was a tall man

66 feet tall if you believe the statue. I went to the city named after him this weekend for a family reunion (of Jen's family). We (Us and Jen's sister and her husband) drove a rented mini-van all night Thursday, so that Jack could just sleep the whole time, which he did. We met a very stoned, very butch tweaker-girl at one of the various gas stations along the way. She clamed she was looking for her friend Crystal, and we figured out hours later that this was actually a drug reference, and we all felt really old and out of touch. We continued on our way, arriving around six in the morning. We handed a fully rested baby off to the grand-parents, ate some greasy-spoon breakfast in Baytown, and slept it off at a really shitty hotel. This was after showers and switching rooms due to an undisclosed liquid being on the bedding. Could have been salsa, could have been blood. All we knew was that it was red and that we didn't want to sleep on it.
On to the reunion. Lots of family, lots of catching up, lots of passing Jackson around for people to scream "Isn't he CUTE!" and make loads of snap judgments about his life, pleasent and future. My fav being that he must love all things round like balls and knees because they remind him of boobies. We are a heap of barbecued burgers and hot-dogs and mac and cheese and salad.
The next day was much the same. Sitting around and yapping, although this time the cooked an entire pig on a giant spit. That was cool to watch, but the the meat wasn't very good. Kinda gamey and under cooked, even after being over the coals for most of the day. We checked out the bay, and sat through a series of torrential rain storms. Sunday we drove home, and Jack was a bit more perturbed about it, but slept most of the way, meaning he was fulla energy all night long, so I'm a little sleepy now. On the whole I had a good time but the drive wore on everybody after a while, and we were glad to come home.

Viking

This is a playmobil Viking. Everyone thinks it's lego, but it isn't. Playmobil is cooler. Maybe not cooler, but I like them more. They are a little more inventive. They don't allow the player to be as inventive as legos, but they are different kinds of toys, so that's okay.
Tonight, we are traveling to Houston (actually Baytown) for a family get-together. We are traveling at night so that Jackson can hopefully sleep through the 8+ hour drive. He doesn't ever sleep through the night anyway, so I don't really see why he would this time, but maybe being in the car will help. The Powers and The Nelsons will pile into a rented mini-van and stare at the Texas landscape. I'm really tired from Jack not sleeping last night, so hopefully the Nelsons will do the driving in the wee hours of the morning. Driving through Houston can be a pain, but I have driven in L.A., and Lonny has driven in Iraq, so we should do okay. We have ipods and good company to help out.

In other news, look how friggin' cute my kid is-->
I mean really. This kid is the cutest cutie in Cutesville.

Okay. Enough gushing. I'll post a report of the weekend on Monday.

That is all.

Sketchbook #11

I'll have a new NGV5 page up later today I hope. This is our hero, Steve. He winds his way through the silly futuristic/Old West world that I have put him in. He's fun. I guess he just got shot here. Again. He should have that looked at.

It be Monday. I had a good weekend. Went to Tulsa's RFL for the American Cancer Society. It was nice for both of us to be there to just enjoy it, and not be running around the whole time putting out proverbial fires. We had a good time. Jack's cousin Lindsey was staying the weekend with Jen's parents, so they came to the relay as well. Lindsey dragged Jen into the Jupiter jump, and Jen's body has been telling her what a bad that was ever since.

Saturday it was 107 degrees. We tried to stay places that had air conditioning. We did not succeed. After the heat subsided. We went to Enid America to see Cody "Cookie" Dopps and his family at a pool party. I had a really yummy bratwurst. Jack made friends with Cookie's niece London. Cookie's family is down to earth and really friendly. We had an awesome time.

Yesterday we did nothing*. Grocery shopping, the Pita Pit, and some serious lounging. About 2:00, I got a wild hair up my ass to thin out some of my crap, so I went through all of my books, movies and CD, and took a big pile down to Hastings, and got about $100 worth of trade, that I spent all but ten bucks of right then.

And now it is Monday. Most people hate Monday morning, but I kinda like it. My boss doesn't show up till noon, so I usually surf the whole morning. There is usually a new Homestar, post secret, many a web comic, and the big thing is that somebody has usually posted the new Doctor Who that aired in England over the weekend. Yay!

update - The new page is up now.

Bunny

So yesterday after my dick of an alarm clock woke me up, and after I stumbled into the kitchen and made coffee, and was out on my deck having coffee and a cigarette, I saw a bunny. This in itself is nothing to get excited about. We live in rural OK and our lot backs up to a forest with just a chain-link fence as a separator. The thing is that I was really not awake yet. I was really groggy, and there was fog. Literal fog, mixed with sunlight, making the forest look really cool. And it was really still. Very little sound. Just me in my underwear, the forest and the fog. Then I look down and there is this rabbit. Not out in the woods, but just off my deck, about 2 feet away from me. He seemed to be doing the same thing I was. Just sitting there, enjoying the view. I moved, and he looked up at me as if to say "oh, hey, man." and went back to looking at the forest. I went inside to get Jen and Jack, because I thought he might like to see a woodland creature that wasn't dead on the side of the road, but the bunny had gone on it's way. The sun soon burned off the fog and I got into the shower.
I like bunnies. If I were to have a rodent as a pet, I would choose a rabbit. They are actually kind of cuddly, and don't smell as bad as ferrets do. But I would never have a rodent for a pet. I have two dogs, and a cat, and when I have caged animals, I like fish. So there.

What Groo does best.

Here is the May calendar-->
Flash fans will see Bitey. If you haven's seen that movie, watch it and the rest of Adam Pilllips stuff, as he is really good at flash animation.
The old school nerds will see Groo. Somebody sent me a clip of the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon on you tube, and I saw Mark Evanier's name in the opening credits, and was flooded with memories of Sergio Aragonez's Groo The Wanderer, for which Mr. Evanier was the script editor and answered the letters column. Groo was fun. The same five gags over and over again for close to 20 years, and the part of me that stayed 12 years old never got tired of it.
Also, I really am sick of pirates and ninjas. I see them everywhere these days. Every ironic hipster t-shirt has one or both on there, there is an "ask a ninja" meme going around, and pirate crap is all over the place thanks to Captain Jack Sparrow (I will go see that movie, though. It looks hawesome).
In other news, I crossed over to the dark side this weekend, and bought a PC laptop. The decision was purely an economical one. I just can't afford Mac stuff anymore. I've had macs my whole life, but they have gotten too pricey and too snotty. All the actual technology seems to be equal, just the interfaces that are different, so since I work at a place that uses PC, and I occasionally have to work on stuff at home, and they can provide me with software to do so, $700.00 all together seemed a little more manageable than $2400.00 without software. So there you have it.
I bought it during the first Saturday I've had all to my self in years. The grand-parents took Jackson to the zoo, and Jen had to sleep of a relay, so I was on my own. I went to the coffeeshop, I saw a movie in an actual theater, went to the book store, and generally fucked off. It was fun, but I sort of ran out of things to do, and went back early. I realized that if I'm not with my family or working on a project, I don't really do much. But I'm either with my family or working on a project about 99.00% of the time, so that's okay. I guess I tend to buy expensive things when left on my own anyway, so it's probably for the best.

That is all.

oh, no!

It truly terrifies me that I find this picture so appealing.

Lost time

We had a heckuvah good weekend. Friday was our anniversary, and we drove to Cushing to see about an Italian restaurant we heard about. There are no other Italian joints here besides Joseppi's, which is sub-par, so we thought we'd give it a go. The salad and appetizers were awesome, but the entrees were kinda 'meh'. Not good enough to drive the 45 minutes again.


Saturday was the star of the show. We went to Enid, America to see our good buddy Cody.
He took us to see the farm he's renovating. He told us all about the history of the place and how it was homesteaded during the land run and built up by hand. And how a little girl watched helplessly from the porch of the house as the bank auctioned it off during the depression, and vowed to buy it back some day. It changed hands a few time over the years, sat dormant for years on end, was used as a crack house for a while, and was bought back by the little girl, now all grown up (and whose son was one of the founders of ebay), who is paying to have it renovated to period specifications before she donates it to the Oklahoma Historical Society, who will either make it a tourist destination, sell it, or let it sit for another 100 years or so, going back into disrepair.


The story of the history is as interesting as how they are going about the restoration. They started on the barn, and are re-pouring the foundation in little bits. This means that they had to raise the barn, then dig out the foundation, keeping it in place with this weird system of piers, and jacks and straps and things. So what you get is a floating foundation, and a few feet above that, a floating barn. It is really neat to see, and it is amazing that only Cody and his Dad are accomplishing all this on their own.

The barn was really awesome, but the interior the house was just plain creepy. Trent Reznor would love to shoot a video in there, or you could film the next Blair Witch there. It is riddled with bullet holes and is full of dirt and animal feces. Some stairs are missing where a cow fell through from the top floor. What amazed me was how the people who built the house were either really short or were hunchbacks, because it was really small and the ceilings were really low. The fact that it was a drug-haven at one point was what creeped us all out. I asked Cody if it was even more creepy at night, and he said he didn't know, because they've never tried it.
We tried to find a few ghost towns and only found ghost buildings, so we went back to Casa Del Cody, where he made us some kick-bottom baked ziti, we went for a walk where he told us all about the little emo girl who lives next door and hates her parents (aaah, memories...), and then we got ice cream. It was muy funtastico.

Sunday was a blow off day. We did some yardwork, We had Cody over, we grilled a pork loin, watched some movies and hit the sack. Monday was a Tulsey town day. Jack screamed the whole way down there, putting us all on edge. Though he hammed it up when we got to the mall to have his portrait made. He loves the camera. We ate some Olive Garden (shit, that's a lot of Italian food for one weekend!) and headed home. Cody went to feed his kitty, and we played with Jack till he passed out.

Then I got up and went to stupid work.

Sketchbook #10

This is some dude and another weird monster. I don't know why I am drawing so many these days. Perhaps I am channeling something. I'll bet its my co-workers. Many of them, were they turned into monsters, would look similar. I actually saw a guy yesterday that in addition to the giant gut, the tucked in polo shirt, jean shorts and newbalance sneakers, had a fanny pack, which is in itself not a rare occurrence 'round these parts. But, this guy had the strap threaded through his belt loops. WTF? Is he being economical buy using it as a belt, therefore saving money on said belt? Is he terrified that somebody is going to tear it off his waist and run off? If so, the pack-snatcher would most definitely get away, as the pack-owner is a tubby. Maybe it rides up. I'll bet that's it. Stay down there, fanny-pack! I don't need you up by my man-boobies!
In other news: This be our 4th anniversary weekend. That means we've been together for over 6 years. A record for the both of us, and I think that if we were going to get sick of each other , it would have happened by now. We have no real plans, except for going ghost town hunting with Cody Dopps, and a visit to Enid, USA. A place that I've been to before, and apart from Leonardo's Discovery Castle, it is a pit. But Cody makes things fun. He'll show us.

That is all.

Sketchbook #9

This is a Sea-Devil. Any Doctor Who fans out there? (Yes I know that this kicks up my nerd rating a few notches) I love the new series of Doctor Who. I loved the old one as well. They are bringing back the old enemies one by one, and we have had the Daleks and Cybermen so far, but I'm hoping they bring back these guys. They were so silly, and the actors in the outfits couldn't really walk correctly, so they moved really slow, allowing the companions extra time for close-ups of them screaming and looking generally angst-ridden, but not running away. I would also love to see The Master and the Sontarans, who may or my not have something in common with juggernaut from The X-Men.

That is all.

Is it 2008 yet?

In the grand scheme of things, I think that illegal wire-taps, phone data-mining, illegal wars, high gas prices, record deficits, shitting on New Orleans and shooting a guy in the face are a lot worse than lying about a blow-job. I can't for the life of me figure out why people back a political party like they back a sports team. "Win or loose, good or bad, that's my party and I'll support them to the ends of the Earth!" "You are either with us or against us!" "WOO HOO!" Both sides do it, and I've done it, everybody does it. Nobody looks objectively at an issue any more because it too damn hard. They might have to think about it for two seconds, and that is precious thought that is currently trying to figure out the map on Lost. People really need to figure out their priorities. The ISSUE is what is important, not the party.

Sketchbook #8

This is a toy robot.

So Jackson has decided that sleep just isn't for him. Doesn't like it. Last night he woke up once an hour until about 3am, when he decided he was up for good. We took turns rubbing his little back and letting him cry it out for small periods of time. He finally crashed out again around 5:30. I was up about an hour and a half after that. Couldn't find the shoes I wanted, all the big coffee mugs were in the still running dish-washer, and I had left my window down during a pretty severe storm, and a bunch of my CD's, most of which have paper covers these days, got all wet, as did my bum. I drank a massive amount of coffee, but forgot to take my heartburn pill, so I'm hella paying for that now.
But I'm in a pretty good mood anyway. We used our tax return to pay off the balance on a consolidation loan, and we set up a way to pay off our surprisingly low credit card debt. This means that after that gets paid off, the house will be our only actual debt (not counting regular bills). We have no student loans, no car payment, no stupid department store credit cards. Cash only, baby! This makes me very happy.
I'm starting to really enjoy Sia, the singer. I heard "Breathe Me" on KEXP a while ago, and as I did enjoy it, I thought she was a one-trick pony. Then I saw the vid for Taken for Granted, and some SXSW stuff, and changed my mind. She does a kick-bottom cover of Paranoid Android by Radiohead. I think I'll actually go buy that CD today.

That is all.

update- Sia used to be with Zero 7. I knew I recognized her voice. She's also the niece of former frontman for Men at Work Colin Hay.

Chaos Theory

Stilly is in chaos this lunch hour. Bushie is giving the commencement speech at OSU on Saturday, and three giant secret service helicopters just landed on the football field. I guess everyone wants a look, because traffic just got INSANE when I tried to come back from lunch. I assume they are here to stake out the "free speech zones" and find the best spots to place snipers and set up holding bins for hippies, and to wire tap the entire town.

I love a "free" society.

Pins and needles

I know, just know that you all look forward to the beginning of the month so you can see my calendar from the previous month.
Well fret no more, as it is here--->
Some one at work actually spotted the battle pod from Robotech, and knew what it was. I work with total nerds. But I drew it, so I one-up them on that. Everybody seems to enjoy the kool-aid man. I know I do. I can't drink that super sugary treat without my teeth hurting, but I do have fond memories of the fact that you can mix "Sharkleberry Punch" with almost any form of alcohol and have a yummy time. Usually the cheaper and more disgusting, comes-in-a-plastic-bottle hard liquor, the better. I wrote a comic years back about a fun time I had one night with just such a concoction. And by "fun time" I mean that I have little memory of what I did or why frozen veggies were in my bed when I awoke. I'll try to dig up that comic or re-do it for you all.

In other news, I need to pass this along:

"Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's First Amendment
-- a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T,
Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you -- based on
what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn'tÂ’t have to outbid Barnes
& Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.
Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is
the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic
participation and free speech. If the public doesn't speak up now, Congress will
cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable
companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch
online."

"If Net Neutrality is gutted, Google, eBay, and YouTube either pay protection money to companies like AT&T or risk that their sites process slowly on your computer. Comcast could intentionally slow access to iTunes, steering Internet customers its own music service. And the little guy with the next big idea would be muscled out of the marketplace, relegated to the "slow lane" of the information superhighway. " -WWdN.

The big corporations with politicans in their pockets are looking to squash the blogosphere so it runs the was they want. I'm sure this has a lot to do with the grass roots political uprising from the last two presidential elections on the part of the Washington supporters, and a way to make fat cash on the part of the corporations. I don't want AT&T to decide that a site I want to go to will run at a snail's pace because they didn't receive some sort of payment from said site or the ISP they use. This is stupid and greedy and wrong on so many levels.
Go here for more info: http://www.savetheinternet.com/

off my soapbox now.

Aech Ee double hockey sticks

So Jackson got baptised this weekend. Now he won't wallow in pergatory. A lot of family and friends came out for it, and we had a great time. My Mom and my Dad hung out more in that 24 hours then they had in the last 28 years and both behaved themselves. I spent all day Saturday cleaning the house, trying to fix my lawn mower and smoking chinkens (in the smoker), which turned out wonderful. Very juicy and delish. People brought desserts and food and themselves. We had maybe 30 people, a lot of whom had driven a very long way. Actually they all did because we don't really have any friends here. Jack looked less faggy then I thought he would, given that he was in a romper and wearing a bonnet. I wasn't pushing for him to go up there wearing a construction worker's outfit of anything. I'm just sayin'. He looked cute.

Go here for the story that Jeff and I just finished.

You all rock!

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!