Another weird dream

This is really weird. I never remember my dreams, but this is the third in a week or so that I have vivid recall of. It also features famous people.

In my dream, I was chosen to participate in a new reality show hosted by Steve Carrel, called Celerity Scavenger Hunt. Each participant is teamed up with a celebrity and then they go on a scavenger hunt , hence the title. Each week, someone would get voted off. It's like The amazing race meets Dancing with the Stars. And just like DWTS, the celebrities are decidedly D-list. I was pared with Kari Byron, the hottie from Mythbusters. Steve Carrell does the whole Intro, and off we go. Kari and I have to look for a envelope hidden in a park somewhere. We figure out that it is in Central Park, NY, which is near where we already were. So we went and got the envelope, but were instructed not to open it. The first part of the contest was to take 12 hours, and we did it in like 20 minutes. So we went and got a coffee. Then in real life, I knocked over the cup of water sitting on the night stand, waking me up and spilling water everywhere that I then had to go clean up.

Like I said: Weird. And I'm just the kind of nerd who has a dream about Kari Byron that is completely non-sexual. That's even weirder.

In Other news:

Jackson is adjusting well to being at home. In fact, I think he's a lot more relaxed. The teachers at his school kept telling us little stories here and there about how quiet he was. We were always a little mystified by that, because he's a little blabbermouth at home. We fugue he was weirded out about something. He also was kind of solitary at school. He's either just watch, or play by himself, which is fine. I'm still like that, but since he's been home, it seems like his vocabulary has doubled, and his sentences are more complex. Could be that we were just not paying attention, but still. This week he went to story time at the library and participated just fine. Who knows?

Joseph is rockin' along. He's looking around real good and smiles when he sees me. That'll melt your heart a little.


Other than that, not much going on.

-JP




Side note about Kari Byron: She's a pretty cool artist.

I'm a Nerd.

But I never really realized how much until the other day.

I was watching the Made-for TV, backdoor Pilot for Knight Rider. This should have been enough, I know. The only reason I wanted to watch it, is because originally Will Arnett was going to be the voice of the car. They replaced him with Val Kilmer, which seemed an odd choice, and it made me curious about the whole show, so I downloaded it completely legally, of course. Just so you know, the movie sucked egg rolls. It was basically a two-hour car commercial. Lame.

But I digress.

Here is why I'm a Nerd: The main dude driving KITT, was supposed to be The Hoff's illegitimate son. The Dude looks a lot like The Hoff, and even wore a maroon t-shirt and leather jacket, much like The Hoff did back in the day. Now, in the original series, Michael Knight was actually officer Michael Arthur Long, a cop who was betrayed and nearly killed do to some kind of industrial espionage. He was saved by the Knight foundation and given facial reconstruction and a new name for some reason. Then he went out with his kick-ass car and kicked some ass. My point is that the kid shouldn't look anything like The Hoff, but like Officer Long.


Soon after I realized this, I realized that for some reason Knight Rider trivia is in my brain instead of actual useful information and I wanted to kill myself. When I told Jen about it, she inquired as to why I can't remember the most mundane things like taking out the trash, but I remember God-Damn officer Michael Arthur Long.
Why can't history tests and things like that stay in me head instead?



I feel shame.



-JP

Star Wars by Saul Bass and McSpaced

Do you guys know who Saul Bass is? He Invented the opening title sequence as we know it.
I borrow* from him all the time.
Click here.
Or here.

Then watch this:



Awesome work, random YouTube guy!

In other news:

They are making an American version of Spaced, one of my all time favorite British sit-coms. As far as American remakes of British shows go, I have mixed feelings. While most of the reality based ones like What not to Wear and Antiques Roadshow seem to do quite well (Just look at American Idol or Trading Spaces), Most of the imported sitcoms do not. There are notable exceptions, like The Office, All in the Family and Sanford and Son, but for every Three's Company, we seem to get six or seven Couplings or the horrible Red Dwarf remakes.
I think the reason is not so much that Americans don't get British humor, it's just that they can't translate it very well when you have studio executives pulling the strings. It seems the less they mess with the premise the better, as with The Office. This has a lot to do with the creative team as well. If the makers "get it" and have respect for the source material, then the outcome can be really good. This is not the case for Spaced. The creative team attached is led by McG (McSpaced?) of Charlies Angels: Full Throttle fame(WTF!?!?) Simon Pegg has made his feelings very well known, and is not happy about it. His main problem is that while they do intend on giving them a small payment, meant basically to shut them up, they are in no way otherwise connected to the project, other that having their names mentioned in the press releases and marketing materials. Even there, they oddly omit the series co-creator Jessica Hynes, probably because she isn't as famous in America as Pegg is. Weather or not the remake is any good, Pegg says wh would have at least liked a phone call. Bastards.
Let's hope they don't fuck up the remake of Life on Mars, either. This one I really don't get, because the original would do just fine on Network TV with no changes at all. It is a fantastic show.


That is all

-JP






*read: Steal

In Traffic...

So this morning I got cut off rather forcefully during my commute. So forcefully, if fact, that I had to swerve a bit onto the shoulder, coming dangerously close to the ditch. I had Jackson in the car with me. Jackson's reaction was: "Woah, Daddy!"

The guy who almost hit me was driving a Hummer. He was on the phone, not paying attention to what he was doing. He was severely overweight. He had a "W: STILL The President" sticker affixed to the back of his gas-guzzling monstrosity. He was arrogant and Rude, and I thought to myself: You are everything that is wrong with this country.

-JP

Okay, so...

I had a dream last night where near the end, I had to punch out Walter Mathau.

That is all.

Look how cute my kid is!

I mean, seriously.

More here.

-JP

What I will be saying next year...

If I haven't jinxed just now, is that 2008 was a pretty rockin year. I have high hopes for the coming presidential election, though I had high hopes for the last two, and was severely disappointed. "They won't vote for Bush," I thought. "They're smart people.
D'oh!
Well, this time people will get it right. At least I will. They are already turning.

So in addition to having two boys running around, an awesome wife, Settling into a great job, and being debt-free(as in no student loans, credit cards or car payments*), I will be very well entertained this year.
I thought Cloverfield was awesome. I know a lot of people did not, but I did. You all know of my love for Godzilla, and this was the first decent giant monster movie out of the states in a long time. Maybe ever. That kicked off what might be the geekiest year ever for movies. The sad fact that Star Trek has been moved from December to May of next year is the only blemmish on the year of the Nerd. This is our time.

Iron Man gives me little tingly feelings in my nether regions. This looks to be one of the best and most faithful comic adaptation since the first Spiderman. (the obvious exception being Persepolis**) Robert Downy Jr. seems to embody Tony Stark completely and with much gusto.

The Dark Knight will be equally cool, and as Heath Ledger's swan song, I hope his talent shows through, and lets everybody know that he truely was one fearless motherfucker.

And then there is the new Indiana Jones movie. Looks like the bad guys are no longer the Nazis, but The U.S. Army and maybe the Roswell aliens. Giggidy.

More Comic Book/Super Hero/Nerd Movies:
The Incredible Hulk: Ed Norton should do a bit better. The last one looked like it was made out of silly putty.
Speed Racer Why does Christina Ricci still get to play teenagers? She almost 30. Oh, right. She's a cutie.
Hancock Even though Will Smith is slipping down the Scientology slope, I will give him the benifit of the doubt on this one.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army Yay!
X-Files 2 Wait, what?
The Clone Wars Hopefully this won't be a crapfest. The animation looks cool, but that means squat.
Wanted This movie has veered really far away from the comic, but for some reason looks cool anyway. Others:
Choke We finally get another movie based on a novel by Chuck Papahniuk, of Fight Club fame. This one looks just as weird.

It looks like George Romero is borrowing a page from Cloverfield with Diary of the Dead. I love Zombie movies, and Romero is the King.
Be Kind Rewind I am getting to be a big fan of Mos Def.
Semi Pro If you don't know about this movie then you have been living in a fisherman's boot.
10,000 B.C. This just looks so wonderfully innaccurate and weird. Wooly Mammoths in Egypt? Do tell.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
And those are just the ones I really wanna see, and have the patience to post links to. We also get: Get Smart, Mongol, In Bruges, Death Race 3000, Quantum of Solace, The remake of the Day the Earth Stood Still, Harry Potter, and the second Narnia movie.

Pony up yer sawbuck! We're going to the movies.


*You have no idea how little stress there is when you have no payments other than the house. :)

** Go read this book RIGHT NOW, then see the movie.

In which I update my loyal fans...

First off, let's get the baby pic out of the way--->

Aaawwww!

The boys are doing fine, and Jen is doing awesome. Good things all around.

I don't know if you guys are following any of this Anonymous vs. Scientology stuff that's been going on, but I have because I am totally fascinated by it. For one thing, the Tom Cruise Video is friggin' hilarious, and I truly believe that these idiots deserve to be put out of business. It is after all, a cultish scam based entirely on a dare. Last weekend, across the world, a bunch of protests were held at the behest of a group of internet nerds calling themselves Anonymous. That's fine and all, good for them. Won't do a bit of good, but A for effort. What I don't get is that the protestors took to wearing masks, probably because of Scientology's habit of photographing, identifying, and suing the pants off of anybody who doesn't like them. Okay. I get that. But what you don't realize is that putting on masks, gathering in large nimbers and acting like weirdos makes you look like a cult. That being said, I think this picture is oddly arousing.

So I guess there is an election coming up? I think I eard that somewhere. I think I have finally decided who I want to back. Although I am firmly in the "ANYBODY else!" camp, and think either democrat would do a good job, I really like Obama, and here's why:

“When I am this party's nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq; or that I gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt on Iran; or that I supported Bush-Cheney policies of not talking to leaders that we don't like. And he will not be able to say that I wavered on something as fundamental as whether or not it is ok for America to torture — because it is never ok… I will end the war in Iraq… I will close Guantanamo. I will restore habeas corpus. I will finish the fight against Al Qaeda. And I will lead the world to combat the common threats of the 21st century: nuclear weapons and terrorism; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease. And I will send once more a message to those yearning faces beyond our shores that says, "You matter to us. Your future is our future. And our moment is now.”

Or as Patrick Neilson Hayden puts it*:

"I’m for Obama knowing perfectly well that, as Bill Clinton suggested, it’s a “roll of the dice”. A roll of the dice for Democrats, for progressives, for those of us who’ve fought so hard against the right-wing frames that Obama sometimes (sometimes craftily, sometimes naively) deploys. Because I think a Hillary Clinton candidacy will be another game of inches, yielding—at best—another four or eight years of knifework in the dark. Because I think an Obama candidacy might actually shake up the whole gameboard, energize good people, create room and space for real change.
Because he seems to know something extraordinarily important, something so frequently missing from progressive politics in this country, in this time: how to hearten people. Because when I watch him speak, I see fearful people becoming brave."

Can't beat that. I hope.

That is all.

-JP

*WAY better than I ever could.

In which I show you some Art I like....

Well, as far as babies and what not go, there is little to report. Joey is just concentrating on growing, so that keeps him pretty busy. Jackson is a spitfire these days. His imagination is taking off like Yuri Gagarin. You can always see pics of the boys here, here, and of course here.



So in lew of anything interesting happening, I give you some really cool art I have found lately:


This is Mark Khaisman, and he makes art out of tape. I remember in college, we had an assignment where we were to create a piece using what the professor called "non-traditional" materials. I wish to God I had thought of this back then. I don't really remember what I did for that assignment. I remember all the other's projects a lot clearer than my own.
One guy found a maniquin in the dumpster by his house, and did a lovely landscape painting on it. The resident pretentious, femi-nazi, I'm-only-a-lesbian-for-political-reasons(and only for the duration of college), dread lock having, over-alls and green Doc. Martins wearing chick* got all up in his shit for "objectifying the female form". Whatever. I'm glad Ani DeFranco isn't popular anymore.


This is Andrew Bell, and he draws a different monster every single day, and has for over 6 years now.



I wish I had that kind of determination.



This is a poster by Shepard Fairey of Obey Giant fame. He has formally endorsed Obama, but would like everyone to vote regardless.

I love this guy's poster and street art. Right up there with Banksy.


And let me tell you this: I love street art when it is doene properly.
I cannot stand tagging and that kind of shit. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of graffiti artists are very talented. I just wish they would put more effort into "going legit", like Banksy, Basquiat, Keith Herring, and the like, instead of just writing the equalivant of "Johnny was here" over and over again.

Could be it's a tough guy thing. I guess I could see that if you came from a rough and tumble neighborhood, and were interested in art, but knew you would get your ass kicked if you persued it, you would have few options other than Street Art or Tattooing. No tough guys use oils, I guess.

Another rememberance from college: In one art class, there was this tough looking straight-edge skinhead guy (which blows my above theory ). I don't remember his first name, but his last name was Flower. This was ironic enough, him being a skin with a name like Flower and all, but he would make these art pieces that were really dark, violent and usually politically motavated. Lots of skulls and blood and whatnot. So you'd get these greusome pieces that could be used as cover art for Skinny Puppy, but in the corner would be the word Flower. Kind of Magrite, if you think about it.



I think that's all I got.



-JP




*Through out the '90s, there was one of these in every single art class I ever had.

Poor Heath.

I'm actually pretty sad about Mr. Ledger's passing, I have to tell you. He seemed like he had a great future ahead of him. Mysteriously, Britney Speares is alive and well.

Here is a new pic of Joey. He has changed a lot in the last 4 weeks, don't you think?

In other news:

-Charbucks is getting desperate.

-Now that the aliens have added a few plants and throw rugs, the whole place seems a lot more homey.

-I doubt a cheese whiz filled, bacon wrapped, deep fried hot dog is in any way good for me or my diet, but it sure does sound intriguing.

That is all.

I love this picture

This is my new favorite pic of Jackson. I don't know why, I just love it. This is the basic look of curiosity and mischief that he usually has. I'm betting he's thinking about tackling his little brother.

My mom is here to help out with new baby for a week, so she's missing out on the 25º weather up in Denver for the much warmer 26º weather we have here in Tulsa today.

In other news:

I think that if I ever get a space ship, I'm just going be a Teaser like in Hitchhiker's Guide:

Teasers are usually rich kids with nothing to do. They cruise around looking for planets that haven't made interstellar contact yet and buzz them (ie: they find some isolated spot with very few people around, then land right by some poor unsuspecting soul whom no one's ever going to believe and then strut up and down in front of him wearing silly antennas on their head and making "beep beep" noises) Rather childish, really.

Obviously, that's what happened in Texas thin week.

-JP

Two weeks in...

And I have to say it has been great.

The new kid is awesome, and if you still don't believe me that he looks just like his brother did, then I offer these to photos as evidence:

Is that not creepy? I don't mean creepy like the guy on the corner with his hands a little too far in his overcoat, but more like: Didn't I have this kid already?
The answer to that question is in fact, no. Joey already has is own personality. For one thing, he sleeps. All day. He eats a lot and is awake for that, but then sleeps. Only occasionally does he wake up to look around. Jackson never slept. Shit, Jackson still doesn't sleep. We went a whole year without more than a few hours on average each night with Jackson. Joseph does keep us up (well, Jen), but not like Jackson did.
He has other quirks and what not of his own as well, and I think it will be exceedingly interesting to see how different he is.
Thanks to everyone who wished us well and brought us food. you guys rock.

-JP

2007...

Was a very strange year.

In it, I:



-Had a second child .
-Went to Denver three times, to make up for the previous few years of nuthin'.
-Went on a cruise.
-Sold a house.
-Rented a house for a few weeks.
-Stayed with the in laws for a few months.
-Bought a house.
-Moved three times, once to a new city.
-Dealt with more roaches than I care to think about.
-Got a new job.
-Quit a job.
-Dealt with two major ice storms, one in January, one in December.
-Sold a car I bought for $300 to someone for $500
-Got a fairly decent car. For cheap. Finally.
-Tried like hell to support my wife in all aspects of her pregnancy.
-Probably failed to do so.
-Made some new good friends.
-Sat through the wettest spring and summer EVER.
-Bought and $80 watch. Maybe not a big deal to you, but it was to me.
-With the help of my wife, we wiped out 99% of our debt, and cancelled all of our credit cards. We live cash-only now and life is awesome.
-Hosted my dad at our house for a visit. For the first time.
-Turned 32.
-Jack turned 2, and asserted his two-ness like when the bosses kid is put in charge.
-Was severely disappointed with all the new shows this year and most of the movies. The exceptions being Hot Fuzz, Robin Hood and Torchwood, but those are English.
-Was happy that Radiohead pulled their heads out of their asses finally.
-Quit smoking for good this time.
-Went on a weight loss program.
-Lost a total of 16lbs over the summer/fall.
-Gained 5lbs back over the holidays.
-I was happy to welcome Zane (Jack and Joey's cousin) into the family. All three of them have their grandmother's eyes.
-Saw the democrat controlled congress fold like deck chairs every time the lame duck idiot of a president threatened a veto. I didn't vote for you to go up there and be wussies.
-Realized that politically, there is no center anymore. And that sucks.
-Killed a pet fish on accident.
-Realized how important the whole "bread winner" thing is. Let me tell you: It is VERY important.
-Thought the whole mooninite scare was the stupidest thing ever. EVER!
-Settled into my new job just nicely, I think.
-Spent most of the year gearing up for new baby.
-Did some higher-profile Illustration jobs, which was nice.
-Listened to my friend's new radio show a lot.

I did not:
-Attend a wedding. The first time in years.
-Update my comics blog enough.
-Call my friends with kids enough.
-Call my other friends enough either.
-Call my family really at all.
-loose as much weight as I'd hoped.
-Get a good haircut. Three years running!
-See the third Pirate movie.
-Go to any concerts for the first year since I was 10.
-Do that painting for Jen's mom like I was supposed to.


All in all, 2007 was mostly awesome. New cool job. New cool house. New cool kid. Debt free.
Can't get much better.


2008, will for one, be a totally awesome movie year. I am anxiously awaiting Ironman and The Dark Knight. Also, a new president, which will ease tensions no matter who it is. Well, maybe not Huckabee. Otherwise any change is good. Some better than others, but still. I will unleash a new generation of Powers Brothers onto the world! Mua-ha-HA! We also get Olympics.


In other news:
As you know, I doodle in my calendar constantly. I used to scan them and post them, but my new job does not require a scanner, so they would sit in the day-planner amusing no one but themselves. Well I couldn't have that, so below is a mash-up of some of my favs over the past 6 months or so. The theme seems to be "Chicks and Robots".

Enjoy.

-Happy New Year, everybody.

-JP

We are home!

And we have a new baby!

Joseph Edward was born Dec 28th at 9:11am. He was 8lbs, 8oz, and 20 and a half inches long.

You can look at pics here.

All in all this experience was way better than the last, what with the 22 hours of labor and the emergency C-section at the end and all the blood and what not.

This was a lot smoother and scream-free. The birth was better, the recovery was better, and the nursing staff was better. Even the free shit the hospital gave out was better.

So. We are home. You can call if you want. We will be chillin' for a week or so, just getting to know that baby.

-J.

Tomorrow

I will be a dad for the second time. Having a planned c-section is awesome for the planning stage of the pregnancy, but shitty for everything else.

It is supposed to happen, barring any emergencies that may push us back, at 9:00am. I hope by the end of the day to post some pics or something. I'm trying not to freak out, and the only thing I'm really worried about is Jackson's reaction. I know he'll get over it eventually, but I still worry.

In other news:

Our christmas was a lot of fun. We had a good time. Jackson got so much Thomas the Tank Engine stuff, one could choke a rhino with it. Jen and I got both a new video camera and a new digital camera. Lots of filming will be done. yay. My favorite thing I got was my "Tulsa Peeps Unite" shirt. It has a robot on it.

Um... That's it more soon.

-JP

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

awwww....YEAH!

How many times can I say that I am excited? One more won't hurt.

I am excited. Click here.

See what I mean. That slow blink at :57 is driving me nuts.

I have an ear infection.

As well as a sinus infection. Here is the story:

On the plane trip home from Denver after Thanksgiving, I felt a little under the weather, but chalked it up to travel yuck. Then I got really sick, and spent two days in bed with the lights off, wishing for sweet slumber to shroud me in his purple cloak, or death. Or some shit. I wanted to feel better. So I did what any man would do, and exceeded the recommended dosage of several over the counter drugs and floated back to work. After a while, I felt better but had lingering stuffies and a chest mucous that was being expelled at an alarming rate. I was missing my healthy smoker's cough anyway (I more or less quit back in April), so I didn't mind.

About a week ago, my ears were all plugged up, so I went to town with the off-brand Q-tipTM or cotton swab. My right ear felt line, but my left was a little poppy after a day, so thinking I missed something I went back at it. I went a little too far, and lost hearing in my left ear. I frantically searched google, and found that this happens all the time and that there is even a warning on the box. I guess only the name brand does that, because I checked, and it wasn't there. Based on what Internet said, I assumed that I either pushed a heap of wax way far back, or ruptured my eardrum. I decided to wait it out. A week later, I had developed a distinct ringing, reminiscent of the few days after seeing Skinny Puppy or Ministry live. I decided it was time to see the doctor.

Once there, The Doc looked me over, and when she got to my ears, she couldn't even see in there. We have to irrigate, she says. A while later, the nurse shows up with a giant plastic syringe and a bucket full of a mixture of Hydrogen peroxide and hot water. I hold this smaller bucket with a notch cut out for the ear up to the side of my head, and he proceeds to squirt the stuff into my ear with the strength of a fire hose. On the third or fourth try, I can suddenly hear again!
"Whoa! That did it!" I say.
"um.... Yeah." He says, and shows me what's in the little bucket. It is not pretty.
The Doc comes back and looks in my ear.
"Oh, yeah," she says. "You have an ear infection.
Well duh.

I am now on antibiotics. And some kickin decongestants, that may have been half-way made into meth already. I'm happy about my ear. Don't let those things go, kids. Oscar Wilde died from an ear infection, you know. And you don't want to be like Oscar Wilde do you?

-JP

ICE STORM!!!

So, um, yeah. There is an inch of ice covering the city. A quarter of a million people don't have power, and I would say 85% of the businesses and all of the schools are closed. Airport has no power. Bush declared us a disaster. The first time he's been right about something. Good times.

Check this out. Kinda cool.

I work for a 24/7 news organization, so I still have to come in. Yesterday I totally spun out on the highway and went off the road and down the embankment, luckily landing facing the correct way on an on-ramp, so I could just get back on the road, which is what I did. No harm done.

Jen and the boy are at home and going a but stir crazy, so they may go to the mall play area because of course the mall still has power. She and the rest of the city. They might make the grandparent rounds today, just for a change of scenery.

Jen's Dad has no power, so he may be staying with us tonight. It will be our luck that as soon as everybody gets to our house, the power will blow.

-JP

So, um

These photos have been making the rounds lately. I don't know what they are for, but they are kind of awesome. Maybe as part of Lindsey's sentance, she has to hang with comic nerds as a community service.

There is also this. Iron Man looks pretty good. I'm actually excited about that movie. Also this. Fun.

In other news: Jackson is very excited about Christmas. I'm not sure he really knows why, but he knows that the world is building to something and that it involves flashing lights and shiny things.

I think that's all I have right now.

-JP

I have to say...

...That the poster for the new Harold & Kumar movie is pretty damn awesome:

Traveling with a 2 year old..

Is not as difficult as you'd think. I had him on a little tether, so that helped.

Anyway, I went to Denver for the Thanksgiving holiday. I had a good time. I didn't get to see nearly anybody that I wanted to see, but I had a boy in tow, which meant that the family hogged me a bit.
The trip out was nerve wracking, just because it was the first time me and the boy had to deal with travelling on our own. Security went smoothly, though I don't know why I was forced to take his shoes off as well. It went so smoothly, in fact, that we were left with a long time to wait, and yes, the plain got delayed by about 45 min. Jackson was excited to get on the plane, but once we were on it, he didn't realize that we had to stay on it, and after about 5 minutes, he started saying: All done. Wanna go now! When the plane finally took off, he conked right out. whew! We stayed at my mom's new condo downtown, which had an awesome view. We settled in with the fam. Thursday we ate turkey. I chased Jackson around all day while Tim's kids talked about home theaters and motorcycles. Jack heard them talking and said: "Motorcycle go Vroom! Vroom! Crash!" which is surprisingly accurate. I went out that night and saw Jeremy, Cain, Kindra and a few other random people and had a really good time. We even saw a fight that spilled out og the bar across the street. Fun.
Friday was spent primarily at my Dad's house, and was also very pleasant. We ate at Carmine's and played with my Dad's model train set. Jackson took a giant sploogy dump and we had to wash all of his clothes. Fatherhood is awesome. I had dinner that night with Aaron and Amy, and they are wonderful people, I tell you.
Saturday I went to Pablo's and hung out all morning.




We ate Lunch, and were on our way. This time, the plane was delayed 2 hours, and Jackson was so friggin' bored by the end of it, he was happy to crash out in the canned air. Now, I ask you this: Why in the hell do airports not have a children's play area like the mall does? Do you know how many marriages that would save? Airports suck.
We made it home, and I spent two whole days sick in bed. I don't know if I caught it on the trip or when I got back but it was a doozy. Hence the late holiday posting. Sorry about that.

-JP

I watched a lot of movies this weekend

And I don't know why.

Jackson stayed at PaPa B's house Saturday night, but I'm not sure that made any difference. What was weird was the scope of movies I watched this weekend. First off was Pan's Labyrinth,
a movie about a young girl who is immersed in a world of faeries, sprites, and other woodland creatures, and should definitely not, under any circumstances, be viewed by children. NOT a kid's movie. That being said, it is a wonderful, dark, disturbing movie and I loved it. I like that the whole thing could very well be a construct of the little girl's mind, and just a coping mechanism. Or it could be real. What I didn't get was the title, though. The 'Pan' character is actually called The Faun, and the Spanish title translates to The Labyrinth of The Faun, and there is no character anywhere called Pan. So why Pan? Are Americans just more familiar with Pan? Is Greek mythology more widely read than Shakespeare? Does it just sound better? That last one is my guess, because it does. Trailer here.
Next was The Misfits starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Eli Wallach. An oldie but a goodie. More interesting because of what was going on off screen. Monroe was in the middle of both a mental break down, and a divorce from the movie's writer, Arthur Miller, and was spiraling down her path of drink and pills. She had to attend the premiere on a day-pass from a psychiatric center. She was dead within a year. Clark Gable had a heart attack three days after filming ended, and died 11 days later. It was the last movie for both. John Houston spent most nights drinking and gambling in Reno, where the film was shot. Montgomery Clift was his usual pill popping self. It seems the title could refer to the characters or the cast & crew.

Next up was The Black Hole, a movie I haven't seen since I was a little kid, but I remember loving it back then. If you forget that this was put into production solely because of the success of Star Wars, and the obvious scientific shortcomings, then the movie still holds up. It is slightly fragmented, as the writers were obviously unsure of how to merge the epic, sweeping, slow pacing of standard sci-fi up to that time, ie 2001 and the like, with the obvious appeal of fast paced action ala Star wars. The mix is clunky, but the movie is still interesting on many levels. My most vivid memories from seeing it many times in my youth, are the scenes where Anthony Perkins gets killed, which is way less disturbing than I remembered, and battle in the greenhouse, which was actually cooler that I remember. I still love the double barrel guns they use.

While doing chores and whatnot, we watched (on cable) The Devil's Advocate, one of the more stomachable of Keanu's pre-Matrix roles, and Pretty Woman, (wife's choice, natch.) a movie I realized would never work if made today. Or if they did make it today, it would have to be Julia Robert's first day as a prostitute rather than having been one for some time. You can't have a hooker as a likable character any more. Actually, now that I think about it, it didn't really work then either.

Then I finally watched Transformers. Way better than I thought it was going to be. This is due to a number of things. First, Shia LaBeouf is a much better actor than anybody, especially Michael Bay, realized. Second, Optimus Prime having the same voice was brilliant. Third, the way the bots transformed was just friggin' awesome. Also, the show-stealing cameos made the movie. John Turturro and Bernie Mack were both awesome. And before you say or think it: Plot, Schmot! These are Transformers, fer cryin' out loud. Now where's my Go-Bots movie?

I also watched Dawn of the Dead again. Crap-ola I love that movie. Snyder is a genious in his own little way. He will do great things with Watchmen.

In other news, this guy ---->

and I are going to Denver this week. He is very excited to go on a plane, even though he has done so twice already in his short life. And a cruise ship. He keeps telling anyone who will listen that he's going on an airplane on Wednesday.

I am... anxious to say the least. Jen can't come because she's too pregnant, so it will just be the two of us in the thick of holiday travel season. Wish me luck.

-JP

Holee Molee it's windy.

This must be how Chicago feels when it's really windy. Or anywhere else where it is really windy. It doesn't have to be Chicago, I guess.
Is Thanksgiving really next week? How did that happen? For all you Denverites, I will be in the bid D Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon of said Thanksgiving week.
We should hang. Maybe Friday night, we could get some Chinese because I'll be sick to death of American food by then. Then the drinking. A trip to Denver is not complete until you enter a plane or car to go home, and you are completely hung-over, sleep deprived, and cranky.
Anything fun going on these days? I am anxiously awaiting the Winter season. I realize that it has been winter for some time for a lot of you, but dammit, I haven't seen hide nor hair of Mr. Frost. It was 73° yesterday and sunny and I had to take my hoodie off during my walk with Jackson around our new neighborhood. This is not winter.
We are all moved in, and warm and happy in the new house. Jack loves it and the dogs don't give a shit unless you have food.
Unfortunately, being moved in means I will soon have to turn my attention to a bunch of projects that I have been putting off due to either my homelessness or my using my homelessness as an excuse to procrastinate.
These include:
-The Boxing poster of Eloi vs Morlocks I've had in my head forever
-The caricature of of a famous news pundit and his daughter I said I would do months ago
-The DVD cover and inserts for The Evildoers press packet that is way over due
-Updates to NGV5, six months late (and zombies are out of style now)
-A painting/assemblage for my in-laws foyer
-Framing a bunch of original art I've collected over the years
-Finishing the design of the tattoo I want, and then actually going to get it (maybe I'll do that in Denver hmmm...)

There is probably a lot more that I have forgotten about, or cannot recall at the moment. Work work work. I need to start using my down time at work to advance some of these causes.

Any help would be appreciated.

-JP

Happy Halloween from...

Mua HA HA!

I got my cat back.

And a big thanks to Leslie for cat-sitting for the last month or so. She seems to not really give a shit about the house, which is fine. It's the mark of a well-adjusted cat. I heard a great quote somewhere once: A house can be a home if there is no cat, but how would it know?
Most of our stuff is moved in except for us. We just had to go and move right close to a holiday, and our favorite one at that. Lots to do around Halloween when you have a kiddie.
Last night we went to the Zoo, with B&G, who brought Gavin, and Carissa & Brianna (sp?). We had a great time, an more importantly, the kiddos had a great time. The Zoo is fun. It marked the first time Jackson has had a large amount of candy all at once. It also marked the first time he crashed and fell into a sleep that could rival some comas out there. I expected him to have a long white beard when he woke up. But alas, he woke up at 6:00, rearin' to go. Next week will be better. Daylight savings will have taken effect, and he will appear to wake up at a proper hour.

In other news:
I really don't have any other news.

-JP

Homo(ner) Again!

We closed on our new house today! It is a bit far out into the 'burbs for my taste but it is also a bit big and new and still under warranty for in-town, so whatcha gonna do? The guy who owned it before us was a contractor which worked to our extreme advantage in two ways. 1) He did a massive amount of updates to the house, and he did them WELL. 2) We got way more bang for our buck, as it were, when they agreed to pay up to a thousand dollars worth of repairs needed per the home inspection, because he did them himself, and saved on labor, meaning more repairs. Rawk for us.
So we will finally be out of the In-laws house. They are great, wonderful, giving people but I am ready to leave. I am ready to have my own space.
I will miss Norm and his weird OCD quirks, though. Like how the trash gets picked up on Tuesday morning around 9am, yet we have to gather up all our trash on Sunday because he places the trash out at 7am Monday. Or how he believes that our dog's urine contains miracle plant-growth properties, because there are random spots in the back yard that grow a little greener than the rest of the lawn. Miracle dog urine is the ONLY explanation, he says. I suggested aliens, but he said I was full of shit. Or how he's on that awesome drug that makes everybody quit smoking, and readily admits that the actual craving to smoke is long gone, but he still smokes about a pack a day. And takes the extremely expensive drugs to quit smoking at exactly 7:00pm every day, because "They don't work otherwise". Or how even though he goes through a $10.00 "mega-pack" of beef jerky each and every day, he'll drive to a completely different wal-mart if the one in Sapulpa only has the smaller, and thus somehow gayer, "mighty-pack", which he won't buy because "That's just throwin' your money away".
What I won't miss is the uncanny ability he has to magically be standing where ever I happen to need to be. Or how he'll eat more of Jackson's food off of Jackson's plate than Jackson does, causing me to make a second batch of whatever it was that I made. This after I, not 15 minutes ago, offered to make extra so he could have some, to which he always answers no. When he says yes, it's actually worse because he'll stand over me, telling me how to cook microwave bacon properly, which I can't do because he's standing in front of the microwave. And, of course, how he's always up in my shit.
The good FAR outweighs the bad, however, and given some of the relationships I've seen with in-laws over the years, I have one of the very best. They have given me and my family a roof over our heads rent-free for several months, and their hospitality is more generous than I would have ever guessed.
Now I have to get the fuck out.


That is all.

In Rainbows...

So my good friend Sarah has this post, in which she asks weather or not Radiohead ripped her off in some weird dollar to Euros and/or hidden fees fiasco when she bought their new album. My friend Brandon had a similar problem, and he figured out that since Radiohead were in England, they were using pounds instead of Euros, or the other way around or something, and yes, his transaction was a little higher than he expected. But he still got the album, and he got it for cheaper than he would have in a store or on itunes, so he's okay with that. It's all about the art, right?

Now, I didn't have those problems because I got it off a friend from work, so I really didn't pay anything for it. I think it was all an elaborate marketing ploy, but it worked. People seemed to love the concept. I know it did, and I had every intention of buying it. I was going to give them about $10.00, but when a guy at work waltzes up with the thing on a flash drive, what are you gonna do? I am weak willed, everybody knows that.
On to the album: I love it.
OK Computer is arguably one of the best albums ever made ever, and is the benchmark I use for all other Radiohead albums. Kid A was close. Amnesiac a little further away. Hail to the Thief and The Eraser were complete let downs. I don't hate them, but When I have OK Computer and Kid A sitting there in the same pile, I'm gonna reach for one of them. I do the same thing with The Pixies. Bossanova and Trompe LaMode always take a back seat to Doolittle and Surfer Rosa.
In Rainbows, especially when compaired to The Eraser, really lets you know that Radiohead is a group effort, and not the All Thom Yorke Show, unlike some bands like The Cure or Coldplay*. The mellow, guitar-driven tracks are like seeing an old friend, back to their usual self after getting out of rehab. And I an sure Phil Selway is happy to be able to actually drum again.
They keep the ethereal, psychedelic aspects that remind me of bands like Tones on Tail and Galaxie 500, back in the '80s, and are what made Radiohead great, like a rock band conceived completely under water. And there are some solid lyrics in there. All in all, I think they are back on the right track, and I'm happy for it.

In Geek News:

Wil Wheaton is interviewed for BoingBoingTV:



He goes into a nostalgic narrative, summarizing a story he's written for his new book, about that time in many of our young nerdy lives, when we had our allowance in our hands and found ourselves staring up at the wall of action figures at the local K-Mart (back before they were ghetto), trying to decide weather to save our cash for something big like the Millenium Falcon, or to go ahead and get the instant gratification of holding Greedo in our hands right then and there. I have to say that he hit the nail on the head with that one, and this was something my brother and I struggled with every weekend of our lives until we discovered girls.
I was always the saver, my brother the spend it now type, and I would hold that over him every chance I got. Like when I pulled out some Halloween candy sometime after thanksgiving, or when I bought a rare back issue of Groo the Wanderer that one time. It made him furious. He ended up stealing a good portion of stuff from me over the years because he just couldn't stand it. We are still like that to a certain extent. I can't wait to get a copy of Wil's book.


That is all.

-JP





*Let it be known that I cannot stand Coldplay. Overrated and dumb.

Just like everybody else does....

Things like this make me happy that the interwebs exist.

You know what else makes me happy the interwebs exist? My friend Joey has a radio show that broadcasts from a public radio station in Austin. He has a Jazz show on Wednesdays, but on Friday nights he has a goth, industrial, new wave show that is as awesome as they come. So I sitting here listening to the Smiths on my computer and i didn't put it on. YAY! He even gave me a little shout-out. Awww...


Jen failed the first test for gestational diabetes. SUCK. Now she has to eat this awful all-carb diet all weekend, and she gets to do another even nastier test next week. I hope she passes. The same thing happened with Jackson and she passed the second time so everybody cross your fingers.

In Geek news: The new Star Trek movie is getting cast with the best people ever so far. Oh, you want proof? They cast Simon Pegg as Scotty. Satisfied? I am. We also get Harold as Sulu and Sylar as Spock. Can't get much better.
Also, Captain America is back from the dead and he has some spiffy new duds.

Um... that's it.

Feuling My Silent Rage

So....
Jackson has a new thing. Well, actually 3 things. 1) He's been waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep until we leave for school, and he gets a nice 30 minute nap while I get to dodge road raged South Tulsans. Sometimes he's visibly upset, and cries for while, but sometimes he's ready to party. Or wrestle a bear. Or go bungee jumping. 2) He has found his whine. This eluded him for some time, but now that he has it, he's decided to make up for lost time and whine loudly and with much feeling. About everything. 3) A natural progression from #s 1 and 2, he has decided to test the waters concerning the length and intensity of fits. Screaming and ranting and yelling for hours at a time. Last night he scored a hat-trick, and nailed all three. You have never seen anything more pathetic than your own kid crying at the top of his lungs in the dim light from the microwave in the wee hours wearing no pants or diaper, as he had torn them off in total frustration. All this adds up to me feeling a little more empathy with Alec Baldwin. I don't agree with what he did, not by a long shot, but I understand it. I'm cranky in the morning anyway, and adding an extra three hours to my morning is not a good idea. In a weird bit of coincidence, TAL did a story about just this phenomenon this week. I was happy to hear that Dan Savage was having the same problem. If we were in our own home it would be one thing, but we are still with the in-laws until the beginning of next month, and they invariably wake up and stick their noses in our business. They are just trying to help, I know, and they do, but sometimes I wish they would just shut their door and let us work it out.

In other news (about time, ya whiny bitch!)

Heroes is back, and although I do love it so, NBC has decided to add what seems like an extra 10 minutes of commercials to each episode. I actually timed it, and at one point there were 4 minutes of commercials, 4 minutes of show, and another 6 minutes of commercials. SIX! Get back to the show. I'm not buying a friggin' Swiffer!
I have given up on Bionic Woman and Journeyman. They failed to hook me. Journeyman will never be as cool as Quantum Leap was, and Bionic Woman makes me feel like I'm watching the actual '70s version, though unironically. Starbuck isn't even cool anymore.
The one new show I actually like, Reaper, is going strong, but I don't think it will last. Not OC enough for the CW, I think. Hopefully Sci-fi will pick it up, where it can live happily for years to come.

In still other news, we just had a river development plan here in Tulsa shot down. I have mixed feelings. I really think the city needs something like this, and though I am unsure if this particular plan was the best they could have come up with, at least it was something. The opposition was angry and fierce, and was mostly along the lines of "no more taxes" and "let's not give anymore power to the government" and "just use the money he already have more responsibly", and I can understand that. But now all bets are off and I have a sinking feeling that Tulsa will continue it's downward spiral to becoming a ghost town. I look at the river every day as I drive in and I keep thinking that there should be nothing but bike paths, Frisbee golfers and smoothie stores littering the banks, not old mattresses. But I'm used to Denver, I guess. I love Downtown Tulsa, I really do. If there were decent parks, some awesome condos, a good school, and a grocery store down there I would totally live there. But I guess I'm just used to Denver. I could go months with barely touching my car. I miss that feeling that the inhabitants of a city actually cared about it. I just don't get that here. I'm sure they do, and a lot of them will tell you that that is exactly why they voted down the river tax, but still. I've never been anywhere where the people seem to hate their own city so much. I think the river will get developed anyway. It will be slower and more at the hands of private entrepreneurs, but it's too good of an idea to ignore.

-JP

A few small things that made me smile...

First off, you know those girls you see in cars that are either really small and really expensive or really big and really expensive? They are usually wearing white framed sunglasses, look a little bored to be in the car, and are just way too attractive for their own good? You know those girls. They're everywhere. I saw one yesterday while waiting to cross the street, and she was digging out the biggest booger ever. Just swirlin' away up in there. She even checked her nose in the mirror, decided it wasn't booger free enough, and went back at it. I guess some people don't realize that glass is clear. I guess one could take small comfort in the fact that she made it to her destination with nasal passages free of obstruction.

Second, we may have found a house to buy yesterday. I don't want to get my hopes up because the other two times we went through the house buying process, we didn't get the first one we put an offer in on, and why should this time be any different? Still, the house is nice and the price is right, so I can't help but be a little excited. I missed out on the Smallville* premiere and ER to go look at that house and I am not one bit sorry for that.

Does anybody else think Jessica Alba has an odd skin tone? It isn't quite olive like most people of Latino descent, and it isn't quite white-girl-with-a-tan either. Not that it makes her any less attractive, mind you. Which, as the Nerd I am, I only realized once she started doing comic book movies.

The week of new shows has been pretty okay, I guess. Heroes was awesome as usual, though I don't think they can push it too far past two seasons. Twin Peaks taught us that the public can only take so much weirdness without a pay-off (I'm lookin' at YOU, Lost).Bionic Woman kind of sucked. The villain was way better than the heroine, and Miguel Ferrer needs to stop accepting the same role over and over again(He plays the same guy he played in Point of No Return and RoboCop, and a dozen other shows and movies). And it another in a new crop of shows that have British actors playing Americans, ala House. Bionic Woman, Life, Journeyman... All Brits. WTF, Mate? Reaper was awesome and funny and poorly edited and I hope it lasts past this season. We get the gift of Ray Wise, another RoboCop/Twin Peaks alumni, like Ferrer, ad the Devil, and he's fantastic. I missed a few I wanted to see that I'll have to catch in re-runs. Medium is back in January. I am very sad to see The Dresden Files wasn't picked up for a second season, and that Veronica Mars went bye-bye too. At least we get Kristen Bell on Heroes this season. She picked Heroes over Lost (suckers!).

Um... Now that I'm done geeking out. Jackson decided that 4:00 am was the time to get up and start playing today. So the wife and I had to get up too. He, however, got to konk out on the drive to school, where as I, did not. So I stopped for a massive coffee, or rather what I thought was going to be a massive coffee, and ended up being only a 16 oz coffee and they still charged me five bucks for it. Why do they call it a Latte? Because it costs a Latte, that's why. After working in the coffee industry all those years, I really hate paying for coffee now. I just feel somewhere in the back of my head that I shouldn't have to, I guess.



*Please don't tell me what happened, I am... aquiring it as we speak,.. um... write? whatever.

Forever in Flares

So tonight we had to go to the Sprint store for some service that the people on the phone told us we had to go into the store for, but the people at the store told us we had to call on. This dispute did not get resolved. Go fig.
We were hungry on our way there so we decided to hit the chick-fil-a, because they have a play area for toddlers. And we have a toddler who likes to play. In areas. Little did we know...(dramatic pause)... that they were having a "Fabulous 50's Night" to celebrate their 40Th anniversary. All the staff was dressed in what their parents, who were born in the late '60s, early '70s, told them people in the '50s dressed in. The Guys just put on paper hats and white aprons. They weren't trying too hard. People dressed as cows (the mascot of the place that serves chicken) greeted us from the corner and at the door wearing over-large Elvis style sunglasses. As was the Elvis impersonator.
There were a few things amiss about their party that Jen and I noticed right off the bat. 1) 40 years ago was 1967. 2) The Elvis impersonator they hired was dressed as the 70's Elvis, with a white jumpsuit(which was adorned with beads on both the tassels and the sash. But awkwardly. like Indian beads. only crappy). 3) Said Elvis impersonator was singing Neil Diamond songs.
He knocked them out of the park, though. Best Neil Diamond I've ever heard from an Elvis in a fast-food joint. The meal was yummy as always, and we got free brownies and root-beer floats.
Jack played happily in the play area. The slide was way more interesting than some dumb-ol' Elvis.

-JP

Two books that made me very nostalgic

So I have read two books in the last couple weeks. Both of which got me thinkin' about about my misfit high school days, though I would never in a million years want to return to those days (except maybe armed with my current brain).
The first was The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl,* about a nerdy comic book obsessed freshman who hates his step-dad, is prone to migraines, stays up all night making comics because he is an insomniac, and is slowly falling in love with a Goth girl. I could have easily described myself that way when I was a freshman in high school. Anybody could have described me that way in high school. The main difference being that I had more than one friend and listened to better music. I could have easily turned into this kid were it not for an older brother and the fact that I met Joey randomly in the hall about a month into my freshman year, forging a life-long friendship, but more on that in a future post.
The Second was The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and I have to say that this is one of the best books I have ever read, and I have to give a huge shout-out to Ann for telling me about it. I read it in three 2-hour sittings. It has a very Catcher in the Rye feel to it, and that book is mentioned several time throughout the story. Told in a series of letters to an anonymous reader, the main character Charlie is going through his freshman year in the early 90's, and seems to be some sort of super-genius who can't deal with social situations very well. Kind of like the scientist who's assistant has to follow him around with a sandwich because he forgets to eat. That kind of guy. He befriends two of his classmates and goes down an interesting road filled with new experiences and a welling up of passion that Charlie just can't seem to give into. What made this book so special to me that the characters described were the same people I hung out with during the early '90s while I was in high school. I new these people and I had similar experiences and listened to the same music and I really identified with this poor kid who couldn't quite make himself do some of the things he really wanted to do.
Good books, both. They are quick reads as well, so check 'em out!

In other news:
I want to thank Jeffrey Rowland for this. PostSecret is pretty cool, but there is definitely a Degrassi Jr. High drama quality to it, and I think people just make shit up so they can see their silly postcard on the web. Don't they realize how flippin' easy it is to be on the web? You're reading this right? That's how easy it is.



JP: Out.


*If you like either of these, you can also check out The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl , about a girl who works in a coffeeshop and draws comics and gets to save the world for real from an otherworldly gun-slinger. Fun.

A Quick One...

Not much happening right now for no good reason. No bugs, no moving, and the big project I have been working on tirelessly for the last few weeks or so has been implemented, and most of the known bugs worked out of it. I finished the last thing on my massive work list yesterday, and crossed it off. I then looked around restlessly and realized that I didn't have anything to do, which was a new one on me since arriving to my new vocation. Weird feeling.
In Other news:
Somebody who walks the same path I do from the company's parking lot to downtown likes bananas(a word I never know when to stop typing). I know this because this person leaves the peals on the ground. Most mornings, there is a fresh one lying there as i walk along. There are also many many other peals scattered about that this person has left during their earlier travels. The oldest ones tend to shrivel up and blow away into the train yard after a while, so I don't really know how many or for what duration of time this has been going on. For some reason this really bugs the crap out of me. Why can't you just throw them away, mystery person? Or even wait to eat it until you get to work? I know that they are biodegradable, and that sometimes the pigeons eat them, but seriously, pick up after yourself.

That is all.

And we sit and wait...

Well, things have settled down a bit. We moved, my Dad came for a visit, then my Mom came for a visit, then we moved again, then had the other set of grand kids here for a visit. This weekend was more calm until our car broke. Not really broke, but they can't put the put the plug for the oil pan back in, so they can't put any oil in it, so there it sits until Monday. Other than that, things are good. Having live-in baby sitters is awesome. We can just run off to the store if we want to.
But we still live with the parents, so there is an inherent lack of privacy. I got walked in on whilst taking a dump the other day. I can usually hear Norm's office TV louder than the one in the living room even though he has the doors shut. Things like that.
Jack is talking up a storm. We were eating dinner the other night, and I had a bit of red beans and rice on my face, and hey said: Hey daddy, wipe your face. About as snidely as I would have.
He's also a little mimic, so watch your language.

So a lot of people have been asking me for more of Norm's recipes. I have bad news for you all. He has no more. He eats only those things and variations of those things. Jen bought herself a pint of Butterfinger crunch for her preggers self the other night on her way home from work. We had to run some errands, and when we got back it was gone. Let me just tell you that when a pregnant lady is expecting there to be some ice cream to be in the freezer and it isn't, you'd better replace it pretty quick. He also has a tendency to eat large spoonfuls of whatever we're cooking right out of the pot while he walks by. Then he puts the spoon back in. That's pretty annoying.

And it is 9/11, or as some have called it, patriot day. Whoopty-do. Put a flag on your car. It is literally the least you can do. And the up shot is that it benefits nobody but sticker manufacturers. Send a care package why doncha.

In other news:
The new Iron Man trailer is bloody kick-ass. It will be the able to challenge the awesome comic-to-film awesomeness of Hellboy, Spider-man, and 300. At least until Watchman comes out. Speaking of, there some booty-rockin' pics from The Dark Knight surfacing through the inter-ether. Heath doesn't look too bad.

Oh and all the stuff you heard is true. Britney sucked. She looked like a slutty weeble wobble.



-JP

Well... There it is.

So. We loaded the last of the stuff into the pod last night. It will be picked up tomorrow, and that will be the last of the bug house, other than the fight to get our deposit back. The cat was not happy to be moved again, and she'll have to do it again this weekend, as Leslie has been gracious enough to keep her for a while. We plan on chilling for a while t save up some cash, pay off some debt, and mooch off the in-laws. I am sick to death of moving things around, so I'd like to put that off as long as possible. This does involve staying with Norm and his wacky eating habits, but at least I have back up from my wife and kid this time. Here's a funny thing: After Jack's birthday party, we had a bunch of those little individual serving ice cream things, the kind that used to come with a little wooden spoon-shaped thing, left over, and Norm ate 4 of them in one sitting. The best part was that he was totally unashamed about it. He didn't get 4 of them one by one. He just grabbed all 4 at once. I think he would have grabbed more, but that was all that was in there. Monday night, we had some leftover pizza, actually about half of a large pizza, so quite a bit of pizza. He ate it all in one go with mustard on it. yum.

We also found out yesterday that Jackson will be a big brother to another boy. YAY! My brother mentioned that, try as he might, he couldn't imagine a Powers girl anyway, so it's just as well.

Um... That's it.

-JP

In which I have to move again...

Because of the bugs.
We got an exterminator and I put a massive amount of crap on the lawn, and in the crawlspace and have sprayed the house every few days and the fuckers just won't leave. I just got my cable hooked up, too. The last straw was on Saturday when Jen went to pick out an outfit for Jackson's birthday party, and there were three roaches in his drawer, that scattered when she opened it. That was it. we are out of there. We are going to stay at the in-laws until we either find a new place to rent or a new place to buy. We may just hang there, and bank some cash for a really sweet down payment, depending on how much annoyance is involved in living there.
The landlord was being pretty cool about it, but his wife was not. Jen got in a pretty good argument with her on the phone the other day, and that pretty much sealed the deal. I think that it we are out by the end of the month, having been there less than 30 days, we should get our deposit back just fine. We are going to try to move all our stuff into a storage unit over the weekend, so if you would like to help out with that, give me a call.
In other news, Jack had his 2 years old birthday party, a month late, on Saturday, and it was a big success. We all went to incredible pizza, a join put on this earth for kids parties. We all had a good time. A lot of people showed up. Jack made out like a bandit with a heap of toys that are sadly going into storage this weekend. He played the toddler version of whack-a-mole, and rode the little train a lot. Then he crashed out and slept for two hours.

That's all I got.Have fun.
-JP

In which we internet-stalk...

So Jen did some interwebs sleuthing, and it turns out that dude from next door at our old house was put away for 2 years for selling meth and cooking it in his house. The other two people who lived in the house at the time got much smaller stays, which means they probably testified against him. He and the wife got married shortly after he got out, and the two of them moved in with dear old mom next door.
Only one of the 4 kids is their own progeny. The oldest is from when Dude was in high school, and the twin girls are hers from some time before as well. Only the kid that just turned two is theirs. This made us think:
Wait a sec, ... that means he was still in when the kid was conceived ... that means that he was the result of a conjugal visit ... yuck ... and she was preggers when he got out and they got hitched at the court house ... classy.
The meth use does explain the two's erratic behaviour and their extreme skinniness. (In looking through arrest paper work, the wife was brought in a few years ago weighing 135 lbs, and her most recent arrest shows her weight at 105 lbs.) And the complete lack of any memory.
And the jail time certainly explains the crappy tattoos. All of it explains why neither of them can get a damn job. Now I an REALLY glad we moved.

Speaking of:
The bugs are getting fewer and further between. On the advise of a Kettler, I bug-bombed the crawl-space. That was kind of fun actually, like chucking tear gas into a heating vent. We are starting to be able to close both eyes when we sleep.
I wish the animals were any flipping help. They just stare at the bugs as they scurry across the floor, Even the cat. Bloody useless, they are.

The visit with my Dad was fun. We took Jack to a Drillers game, and he had a really good time. Now every once in a while, he'll say: "Wanna see base ball!"
So that's cute.
Jack started at a new day care yesterday, and I think he loves it. He gets a little upset when we drop him off, but from what they tell me, he gets over it pretty quick. He was in a really good mood when I picked him up so let's hope that stays the norm.
Um... that's it.

-JP

We are Tulsans again.

Well, we are all moved in. Kind of. There is a lot less room in the new place, but we knew that. Our stay here is completely temporary, so we just have to decide what not to unpack. I think the china and the comics are staying in their boxes.

What we do have room for, apparently, is bugs. Lots of bugs. All kinds of bugs. The kitchen was pretty filthy when we got in there, and we slowly started seeing the signs of an infestation. We cleaned everything real good, put all kinds of traps and what-not down, sprayed inside and out, then called an exterminator. He came yesterday and now the house is airing out. It should take care of the problem with minor maintenance here and there.

I really hate that I'm renting again. The majority of what we have to unpack is out, we just have to find a place for it all.

Jackson is very excited because he got a toddler bed shaped like a VW Beetle. Now all we have to do is get him to actually go to bed in it. Jackson, like his father, doesn't like to go to bed early. He'd rather stay up and see what everybody is doing. So we usually have to put him in his crib at bedtime, and once he realizes that we mean it, he'll settle down and go to sleep. The car bed has no rails or anything, so he'll just get up, and come out of his room. We're working on that.

My Dad is coming to visit tonight and for the weekend. I get to see him rarely, and Jackson gets to see him even less, so I'm really glad they'll be able to spend some time together. Our new house is right by the Baseball field and my dad is a big baseball fan, and the Drillers* are The Colorado Rockies' farm team, so there is that, too. Other than that, we're going to do some touristy shit, and have a generally pleasant time.

Then we get a weekend to ourselves, and then my Mom is coming down for a visit while we plan a very belated birthday party for Jackson.

If you wanna come, let me know. Jackson likes tractors and fruit snacks.

I finished the new Harry Potter book, and I have to say it is a bit of a let down.

!!!! Spoilers !!!!

The whole series has been building up to a show down between Voldemort and Harry, and hinting all along that Harry will ultimately prevail because he has the ability to love, and Voldemort doesn't and ergo Harry is better no matter what. So after 6 big books and years and years of build up, Harry wins because of a wand mix-up. Lame.

Also, I spotted a major continuity flaw: Dumbledoor gets the Elderwand because of a duel. They make a big deal about how that wand was unbeatable in a duel. You can steal it, but you can't win against it in a duel. What's up with that?

The previous book set up a situation where the three main characters quit school and go hunting for the remaining horcruxes. The pay off here was a big let down. They spent the majority of the time hiding in a tent for months on end wondering what to do next.

I did love the Battle of Hogwarts, Though Ron and Hermione were strangely absent for most of it. In fact, most of the action scenes were awesome. I do have to say that I like the Voldemort of the movies better than the one of the books. He way more menacing.

!!!! Spoilers End Here !!!

Well that's all I got for now.

-JP

*why does their logo look so communist propaganda-ish?

The less one has to do with their neighbors..

The Better.
Case in point, and a main reason why I am not to sad to see Stilly in my rear view window:
The first year and a half that we lived in our current house(current for 3 more days as of this posting, anyway), Everything was awesome. Our back yard is tiered, and looks out over woods that have as of yet been undeveloped. So while out on the deck, we could just chill out and look at the trees. When I still smoked, this was my all time favorite pastime. We'd lounge out there, eat, read the paper, whatever.
About 8 months or so ago, our neighbors daughter, her husband and their 4 kids came to live next door. Now, while they aren't the most white-trashy people I've ever come into contact with, they're in the top five. They used to come for visits (and by "visits" I mean dumping off the kids and high tailing it for the weekend) quite often and we thought that was the case for a while, but after a few weeks, and after noticing all of their belongings piled up in the garage, we realized things were a bit more permanent.
The Dude in the family next door is a full on red-neck. He has his last name (Kaiser) tattooed on his back in an Old English font. He shaves his head. He never wears a shirt. He speak as though he is constantly stoned, and he might be for all I know. Either that or he drank his mind to mush back in high school. The wife, who is also the daughter of the woman who actually owns the house, is an out of work hair dresser who weighs about 6 pounds. The kids seem okay. The oldest is maybe 12, then the twin girls, and a toddler a little older that Jack, who is rarely in anything more than a diaper rain or shine.
Dude doesn't work, and we have cobbled together that he is in the midst of some sort of workman's comp legal battle. That's why they had to move in with mommy. That's why the wife works at the Git 'n' Gallup. That's why the car got repoed.
The reason this is a problem:
Our Deck is on the west side of our house. Their patio in on the east side of their house. Their house sits slightly higher. That means they can see everything we are doing over the fence. Including when we are in the hot tub.
So Dude is a bit dumb. He seems not to do much other than hang out on the back porch and smoke cigarettes. All day. He doesn't have music playing, he isn't on the phone, and the isn't reading. He just sits there without a shirt smoking. Every time we would go out on our deck, there he was. And the second we were out there, he'd try his darndest to make small talk that amounted to asking the same questions over and over, like what our names were and what we did for a living. But mostly he would just stare at us in a really unnerving way, and listen to our conversations and smoke. After a while, we started not going out there as often, and when we did, we would peek out first to see if he was there, which was risky because if he saw you, he'd start in with the questions, and then you were stuck. Jen threw a girl's night party once, and he stayed over there staring at them until 3 AM. He was actually a good part of why I quit smoking. I was just sick to death of seeing him out there. If I went out front instead, he'd be there too. After a few months, we quit going out back all together except to mow or grill.
But then we started seeing him and his family everywhere we went. At the store, at the park, next to us in traffic, all over the place. Every time, he'd run through the questions again.
When I got my new job, and it came time to sell that house, we actually told our Realtor not to go out back if Dude was out there. So last night was the last bit of crazy I hope I have to deal with.
We are moving this weekend, and have been packing like mad, giving away a heap of stuff, selling a bunch of stuff and throwing away a bunch of stuff. Last night I was loading up the truck with good will stuff about 10:30PM. I go out there, and there is Dude in his underwear in the middle of the street yelling,
"Whoever you are, I'm gonna kick your ass!"
I quietly go back inside and watch him through the window for a while as he keeps yelling to nobody. When I think he's done, I go back out there with a box for the truck, and he leaps out of the shadows, still in his undies.
"You seen anybody messing with my door?"
"No."
"Somebody keeps trying to open my front door," He says, bleary-eyed and slurring his speech a little. "I keep hearing the latch jiggle, and when I run out here, nobody's there."
"I don't know, man." I say, "I haven't seen anything."
"I think it might be the Chinese guy next door that has a crush on me," He says. "I ain't never seen gay Chinese guys before."
I see where this is going, and pry myself out of the conversation as quickly as possible. I shut the garage door and decide to load the rest of the stuff in the morning.
The Chinese guys in question is just one Chinese guy, who is just polite and dresses well, not gay. And if he were, I don't think Dude would be his type.


I am anxious to move.


-JP

A year and 6 months longer than the Macarena

Dear Jackson,

Well look at you, kiddo. 2 years old. That's more than the rise and fall of a few third world dictatorships. A hell of a lot more than some relationships I've had in my life. Less than how long I've had my glasses or have been to the doctor.

I have to say that I am awfully proud of you. You have learned a lot in the past year, and have taught me more. You figured out which one of us will cave in first depending on the situation.
You figured out that you can get two treats if you ask one grandparent in the kitchen and the other out on the patio.
You are getting really good with the fork, and with drinking out of a big boy cup.
You remember everybody's name now, and even though your mom and I are the only ones who understand what you are saying most of the time, you seem to be okay with that.
You hate it when the dogs sit on your blanket.
You love tractors, cars and airplanes with a crack-head like fervor.
You don't care that paw-paw gave you a horrible haircut, you love him just the same.
You are a happy, well adjusted little boy, which is more of a reflection of your mother than me, I'm afraid.
And although you know full well what a fit is and when to use it, we don't really care because we know that someone who is only two years old has very little control over their lives, and would like to keep what little control they do have. You make up for it in kind, as in that day a few weeks ago, when I hadn't seen you for a few days, and when I poked my head around the corner, you yelled my name and ran as fast as you could, arms wide open and I scooped you and your big smile up for a hug .

Two years ago, I had just started a new job, was moving to a different city and was awaiting a child. All of those apply today as well, though I hope I'm handling it all a bit better. Just relax and keep in mind that every time I shake things up like this, things usually end up better than they were before. Usually.

I do it all for you and your mom, buddy. You two are the best things ever, and your little sibling will be the icing on the cake. Actually, most cakes have icing, so maybe new baby will be a figurine or something.

I love you, son. Happy birthday.

-Dad

A New Recipe

This one is called Tomato Mash-Up

You will need:
-An insane amount of gigantic tomatoes from the guy with the cart or from the farmer's market or where ever. (These can NOT be acquired from the grocery store for reasons I will explain later.)
-An insane amount of salt
-An insane amount of Mustard.

Get the biggest plate you can find. Slice Tomatoes into "shapes"(once again, no two should match). Arrange the tomato shapes onto the plate, in a flatish pattern or just a big pile, It won't really matter. Add salt to top. Add mustard.
As with other foodstuffs that Norm consumes, leave the plate on the table for a good half-hour or so. When you come back, grab a fork and take the plate outside to the patio. Light a cigarette. Mush everything together into paste as you simultaneously eat the "meal" and smoke. When finished, proclaim that those were "perty good tamerters"


Now there are two things I don't get:
1) He insists on having fresh tomatoes right from a local farm, and won't touch the ones from the grocery store. Then he pours salt and mustard on them in such quantities that there is no possible way he or any other human could tell the difference.
2) What the hell is with having everything sit for so long before he eats it? And it isn't just food he makes for himself, like how he makes sure he's the last person in a buffet. And it isn't about letting it cool down because he does it with hot and cold stuff, though he puts the cereal in the fridge, so maybe it is. But he can drink coffee right out of the piping hot carafe, so maybe not.

Maybe he's just a freak.

-JP