I love this man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af1OxkFOK18

SB 20 Robot 3

Here is an unfinished robot. You like? Yeah, he's okay.

So Jen is off to Vegas next week, and I have the house and the boy all to myself, and a babysitter, and maybe Jen's dad at some point. That will be fun after not seeing him for four days while in D-Town. Jen will have fun, and win us enough money to buy a pony.

Not much to report. A boring week, other than getting the now Flash at work, and messing about with that. It does many neat-o things. I'm having a good time with it.

Seriously, all I have for you is a silly robot.

-JP

SB 19 - Squid

Well, I haven't posted a Sketchbook in a while, so here you go. It is a squid. I didn't have much to work on today so I drew a squid. And there you have it.

So I'm back from Denver. I finally got my driveway free of ice yesterday after much scraping with a nasty looking scraper thingy, and now we're supposed to get dumped on again. Another 6-10 inches heading our way. To tell the truth, I am relieved. Other than my lack of an actual snow shovel, I have no reservations about the coming storm. I could use a weekend in, after the holidays and the cruise and the Denver. I caught a cold in the three days since I've been back as well, so I could use the rest. Next weekend, Jen goes off on her own trip, so the boy and I will be batchin' it. That will be fun. Sometimes I really like having him all to myself.

The big news in Stilly is that the new, up-to-date Wal-Mart opened today. Whoopty-fuckin'-do. It is a lot closer to my house, but my bank is still in the other one, so good and bad I guess. I hate that I have to shop there, but they don't give much choice. Albertson's is hella expensive, and the IGA is a friggin' joke. Stupid Wal-Mart.

Not much else going on. I miss my Denver friends, but I am glad to be home. If any of you in Denver can get me a really good paying job, so we could all come back, go ahead and do so. You have my number.

-JP

Denvah in '07!

Oh.

My.

Gawd.

Did we have a good time. (click me)

We set forth on a chilly Thursday evening that was going to get way chillier. Like chilling out with the children of Chile while eating a chili-dog with green chili and a bev from the chiller while watching a chilly-willy cartoon, awaiting the start of The Big Chill. Cody and I did not care. We were on a mission. And we were in a heated, 4WD truck with some good music. Cody is good company. The road trip is a good test of friendship. If you don't want to jab an ice-pick into someone's eye after hours and hours trapped in a tin can with them, then you never will.*
We did well, with Arctic Monkeys and Eddie Izzard, and peeing on a gas station in the freezing cold keeping us awake. That is until about 4:00 am, when we both started to crash. But like that famous line from the Gambler, we were both too tired to sleep.
We made it to the Breakfast King and all was well. The King has changed a bit. The smoking ban has forced a bunch of dives and greasy-spoons to smarten up a bit in order to appeal to those who would otherwise not want to fight thick grey fog for a plate of biscuits covered in thick grey sauce. No yellow windows with my fluorescent yellow eggs, please. It also means that your clothes don't stink after a night at the bar.
A visit to Cain at the Pablo's to get some keys and we got settled into my mom's mostly empty condo, feeling a bit like squatters. At least I did. I was on a mat on the floor, whereas Cody had a King-sized bed. It may not have hit him as hard. Funny thing is that I got to sleep right away on my little mat, and Cody fussy-butted around in his king-sized pile of cousin's until he gave up and went to the mall.
I met up with him a bit later for sammies and coffee and shuffleboard and Newcastle. Then we tried to take naps, but I couldn't sleep this time. Cody had a craving for a Gabor's hamburger, so off we went. People slowly trickled in, and we chatted and drank and ate. I took off for a bit to visit with Amy, and while at The Thin Man, Eric the owner bought me a beer. This was a bit weird. I've seen him charge his own mother. Off to Sputnik, and a fantaboulous time. This was a great night. I met a lot of really cool people and had a lot of fun in the photo booth (see above). We closed the place down, and went home to sleep it off.
Saturday we slept in. After a kick ass if way too expensive breakfast buritto from watercourse, Cody went off to visit his sister, and I tooled around town with Aaron and Jeremy until it was time to hit LeCentral with my mom. I saw the new Tattered Cover, the new Twist and Shout, and some galleries and toy stores along Broadway. It was cold and icy. I bought a little toy from a very cute girl. LeCentral was delicious. I had beef tips on a bed of pasta and the French onion soup that has an inch of provalone on top. Yummy. We called the whole world and told them to meet us at the condo.
Then the real fun started. See, in the condo, you need a phone to buzz in somebody from the lobby. Being squatters, we had no phone. But I remembered that if you have a TV hooked into the antenna for the building, you get a channel that shows all of the security cameras. At first, we were just watching to see when someone showed up so we could go down and let them in. Each time somebody got there, we would make them do something goofy, not knowing that the rest of the group was upstairs watching. We speculated on what would be amusing to see on a camera pointed at a lobby, like putting Jeremy in there in a recliner with a reading lamp, or Cain spilling a box of baby chicks. Once everybody got there, we spent a while doing other weird things, like little plays, pretending to strip, or a hockey fight that spanned two floors. Then Cain put a dollar in the lobby to see if anybody would grab it. After a while we thought it would be fun to put a sign by the elevators, telling them to put it back. This we did to hilarious results. After two people came through the garage instead of the front door, and with a large group of malcontents getting steadily more drunk while staring at a bunch of security camera images with growing anticipation, we hit pay dirt. A young couple came into the lobby. The man noticed the dollar, picked it up, and did that thing where you hold it with two hands in front of someone and sort of snap it like "look what I got". She nodded in that unimpressed way every girl nods, as if to say "great," but not really mean it. As they round the corner, they see the sign. They look at each other and look back at the floor where the dollar used to be, and to our complete astonishment, the guy fishes the dollar out of his pocket and puts the fucker back! Then he peels the tapped up sign we put on the wall, and re-tapes it to the floor by the dollar. Then he and the girl, giggling, enter the elevator and go out of sight. Hoo Boy did we have a good laugh at that one. A while later, another guy, who's honesty really amazed us, picked up the dollar, and left it on the coffee table ling before he ever saw the sign. When he did see it, he went back and put the dollar back on the floor. By that point, it was late, and fewer people were coming in, so we decided to go to Streets of London Pub, where we spent the rest of the night throwing darts(not always at the dartboard), giving each other fake knuckle tattoos, drinking whiskey, and generally having a great time. We went our separate ways, Cody and I got some Taco Bell, and watched the last part of a weird as fuck animated movie about giant fish-faced people oppressing tiny humans, and the first part of a Hercules movie before crashing out.
Sunday I had lunch with my Dad, ironically just 45 minutes after I woke up. I spent the later part of the afternoon with my mom, having coffee at the shop, and then we all decided we wanted Indian food, so we went to Lisa's house. We drew on the wall, and listened to Cody play the guitar, and soon realized that not only was there no Indian food in her house, there was no Indian food in out bellies either, so we went to an Indian restaurant. Called India's. The mightiest vindaloo in the land, I tell you. I needed Lager**. I was informed that not only did Cody once piss off the lead singer of Live for no reason, but the movie we saw was called "Fantastic Planet" and was the product of a Czeck and French team-up intended to freak out really inebriated people in the future. We headed back to Sputnik, and met even more cool people, and had an awesome time. I had a few too many whiskeys, which was fun because I was a lot more mellow after having vodka redbulls the previous two nights. Cody and I had a wonderful conversation with Vanya and Katie, that I don't remember much of. After being forcibly defenestrated at about 2:30, we went home and slept the sleep of the dead.
Monday we packed up and headed home. All we did on the way back was text all the people we just saw, talk about how wonderful the weekend was, and how much I wanted to get home to see my wife and kid. We made it back despite a massive series of snow and ice storms that made the whole state look as though it had been covered in vanilla icing.
Today I went to work. Yes, the fuckers made me go to work.

I can't even begin to explain how much fun I had. Thank you to all who made it so. Despite all that, I was Jonesing to see my family. As much as I love you all, I love them more. I am happy to be home with them, though missing all of you. I feel so torn.



*maybe
**The only thing that will kill a vindaloo.

So we went on a Cruise...

It was relaxing in that whatever we wanted was right there, the food, shows, the bar, the swimming pool, all right there, and we didn't have to pack up a bunch of crap or find a babysitter or anything, we just went upstairs. So that was cool. It was exactly like being trapped in a LasVegas Hotel. Sure there is plenty to do, play the slots, go to the buffet, see a musical... But you can't leave. You have to stay put and give your money to them.
It rained on us from when we got to Galveston the night before until a well into the Cruise.
We had a fun night in the Super 8, frequenting the Waffle House out front a little too much.
We packed the whole family into 2 cabs, and headed for the pier, which looked like a really run down bus terminal made for giants back in the time of talking animals. We stood in line for a while, then got on the massive ship, which was made in the late '80s and the decor has never been updated. A lot of neon and busy carpet patterns. The halls are lined with plastic New York New York sky-line buildings that shimmer in Black and green and gold. If you have epilepsy, I caution you to not take a cruise on this boat. We spent the first night and part of the morning hiding from the rain and trying to keep our food down, as the swells knocked us around a little.
After that, the sun came out, and the upper deck was soon flooded with an enormous amount of scantily-clad Americans of all ages and weight classes.
We all spent most of our time in the restaurants. Not like we ate continuously (I actually lost weight), but there were 13 of us and we tended to linger. We took Jack swimming, and to a kid's dance party, and saw some shows, and Jen and I got some awesome spa treatment massages. Mostly we just sat on the deck and chatted with the fam. Jackson was a hit with just about everybody, because he's super-cute. We got a lot of compliments.
All the meals were included, but none of the drinks were. Any soda or alcohol we had to pay for, and they were not cheap. I think I spent most of my time drinking the fruit punch from the kid's buffet. You could buy stuff from the duty free shop, but after you buy something, they kindly wrap it up, and tell you where you can pick it up once the cruise is over. Bastards. You could get this drink card worth unlimited sodas for like $25.00, so we got one and smudged out the name enough so a bunch of us could use it if we were crafty. Tim and Lonny both brought Whiskey in their luggage, so we mixed that with our ill gotten Mr.Pibbs. Fuck the man!
Cozumel was really cool, but we were only docked from 8 till 5, and two hours. Either side of that was spent ferrying people from the ship to the island because a hurricane knocked out the pier last year, and they aren't too busy fixing it. So really we only had 4 or 5 hours on shore, which wasn't enough to see the whole island. We ended up renting a van, dropping off the girls at the plaza to do some shopping(after I got us lost and we ended up in the ghetto), while Tim, Lonny and I went to see the Mayan ruins. The ruins were neat, but small, and I hear the ones on the mainland are a lot bigger and more impressive. I'll hit those next time.
We were originally going to rent some scooters, but I'm actually glad we didn't. Cosumel is the scooter wreck capital of Mexico, and I now know why. Scooters are everywhere, and they don't give a shit. At one point we saw a woman driving with her 4 year old standing on the running boards, while the 8 year old sat behind her carrying a large cardboard box, just whipping in and out of traffic. We saw one scooter that had 5 people on it, mostly kids.
I had to buy some diapers for Jack in Mexico, and let me tell you, those things were sub-par. They held very little even though they came up to his nipples.
So after getting on the very last ferry back, we did the whole boat thing back to America.
We were barely looked at during customs, but the airport security was awful. They took away a bunch of our stuff, including a small bottle of Mexican Vanilla Jen had bought that I had mistakenly put in the carry-on, and were complete dicks about it. Due to some bad scheduling, we had to sit in the airport for a few hours, and that didn't impress Jack one little bit. He got pretty cranky, and told us so by smashing cheese crackers into Jen's purse. Once on the plane, though, he passed out, and slept the whole way home.
We all had a good time, there were few family clashes, it was relaxing. But I was very happy to be home, as was Jackson. He was way off his schedule, and it was starting to wear on him. When we finally got home, he started laughing hysterically while getting all of his toys out of the bin. He slept for 14 hours.
Now, after Jen spent the last two days doing a shit-ton of laundry, and we hurriedly celebrated her birthday, I am off to Denver with Cody tonight. We were going to leave on Friday, but since there is yet another giant snow storm heading there that will hit Friday afternoon, we thought it best to drive all night rather than get stuck somewhere in Eastern Kansas.

See you when I get there.

2006 year in review

Everybody seemed to love this last year, so I'll do it again.
In 2006, I:

(in no particular order)
-Was relieved that a good portion of the country came to their senses and realized that allowing any one political party do whatever they want is a bad idea.
-Switched from a mac to a PC. (there are very valid reasons)
-Downloaded more music and movies than I bought.
-Saw Jack turn one.
-Welcomed home my brother-in-law, safe and sound, from Iraq.
-Watched my son grow from a baby to a boy.
-bought a car, sold a car, couldn't afford that car, sold that car, bought a $300 car.
-Visited DC and met a bunch of politicians. (I had more fun meeting Ann's family)
-Really got crackin on my comic website.
-Got one comic published in a mag and one posted on a website that wasn't mine.
-Really got crackin' on comics and art.
-Worked on my house a lot. It is finally starting to feel like our house, and not one that we are house-sitting.
-Got so comfy in my job, that I think I can do something more now.
-Realized that I am a better parent than I thought I was.
-Realized that Jen is a way better parent than me.
-Drank a lot of coffee.
-Was excited at the news that Jack will have a new cousin to play with in the coming year.
-Didn't loose the weight I wanted to loose, but didn't gain any either.
-Never did get a decent haircut.
-Made it through the most God-awful fuckhot summer ever. If that shit happens again this year, I'm moving back to Denver. I can deal with cold. And they never give you a day off because it's too hot.
-Watched a crack in the foundation of my house inch upward in pace with all the fuckhot. As soon as it started raining, the crack stopped.
-Was visited by many a friend and family, which was surprising, because Oklahoma isn't on most people's "gotta visit before I die" lists.
-Went to a fabulous wedding for two people who honestly care about each other, and got to be a groomsman, which was a distinct honor.
-I made a friend. One of the best ever. He drives a lot to see us, and that makes him cooler.
-Turned 31, but I got to throw a really cool party for Jen's 30th. Robin helped. I'm lying. Robin did most of it.
-Taught myself Flash. It's actually fairly easy, if time-consuming.
-Did lots of sketches. More than usual.
-Realized that the 3 hours I spend with Jack in the evening after work and before he goes to bed isn't enough.
-Was mostly disappointed with all the over-hyped summer movies I was looking forward to. The pirate movie was the only one that really delivered.
-Was really happy that the new crop of nerdy shows on TV were so good. Heroes, Doctor Who, Torchwood... All awesome.
-Was amazed to see a great many people move out of Denver, my brother and his wife included. There are still many reasons to return, but they get fewer every year.
-I now have a good reason to visit Portland.
-Realized how a good family support system really helps out when one has a kid. Those guys are super!
-Realized that Jeremy is really good with kids. (keep that in mind, ladies.)
-Noticed that Thom Yorke doesn't "have it" anymore.
-Got into some new bands. There is good music out there, you just have to dig.
-Saw several friend's bands got fairly popular, proving that it does not have to be a "young man's game" to break into music.
-Didn't visit nearly enough people.
-Saw Jack start pre-school, start using words and sign language, have a really awesome Christmas, figure out how the use the vacuum, and generally watched him grow up a little. He's exceedingly smart and slightly impish. He'll be a maniacal genius. I'll have to keep my guard up.
-Realized that Jen deserves a medal for what she does. Working and being a mommy has at times run her thin, but has strengthened her resolve and character to degrees she is completely unaware of. She is tougher, more resilient, more loving and sweeter every day. I'm so glad I married her.
-I think I really became an adult this year. Having a kid really skews one's perspective if they do it right. We had a few financial bumps here and there, and the fact that my kid and my wife came before everything without me even thinking about it or even realizing it was a bit of an eye-opener. I see a bunch of people who were never ready to be parents or never will be, who try to cling desperately to their old lives instead of embracing their new one, or who look at kids as a burden and not a blessing, and I want to smack them. Not that people's lives need to stop, far from it. It just needs some skewing. I don't want to tell anybody how to live but when a plasma TV is more important that putting food on the table, you got some thinking to do. (I'm pointing at you, crazy couple in wal-mart the other day)

2006 was fun. We will miss James Brown, Jack Palance, Dave Cockrum, Gene Pitney, and all the others, including troops, who died. We will have fond memories of the good, that hopefully outweighed the bad.

2007 is set to be another fun one. I have a few secret and evil plans, but I'll keep those to myself. I do intend to make a road trip to see Jeff, and to move my comics to a real website, but those are "at my leisure" tasks. Jack will turn 2, I'll turn 32. (or freezing if I was Celsius)
Grace will have her kid, and the fam will grow. Congress may or may not get anything done, but let's hope they do. Maybe then the stupid polarity of the nation will ease a bit, and the power-hungry folks at the top won't be able to gorge themselves on our liberties as often. I have a few more rooms to paint, I have to get a new garage door, get my foundation fixed, have the transmission on the truck looked at, and we need to find Jen a better car. We need to pay down some more debt, but last year we got rid of a good chunk, and if we stick to our guns, we should be sitting pretty by this time next year. I'll have to teach Jack to pee standing up. I'll try harder to loose the 20 lbs I still need to. I'll try to get a decent haircut. I have a few art projects to tackle, and some prints to frame, and a stack of books to read. I have a kid to look after, and wife to help to not go crazy. It should be a blast!

Pics of the litter

Christmas pics here.

Catch up!

Well, we have a lot to cover. First off, there are some pics of Jeremy's trip here.
Second, we had an awesome Christmas! With the exception of a short jaunt to OKC for a small family thing, my plan to not go anywhere, and make everybody else do the driving this year worked just as I had planned!
We spent a good time at Grace and Lonny's house, where she had a big announcement, and Jack got a set of Jack-sized cleaning products (vacuum, mop, broom) that he was EXTREMELY excited about. He loves to help us with chores, and he flipped out when he saw them.
Sunday, Jen and I made a big batch of snacky food consisting of a shitload of sweets and things that can be dipped or scooped into other things. We munched on all of that all night in lieu of an actual meal. We stayed up late, played video games and watched movies and had an all around good time. Monday, we all woke up about the same time Jackson did. He didn't have the full understanding of what the day meant for him and his playtime activities, but he got up early nonetheless. When we dug into the pile, Jack made out like a bandit, and his favs were a toy coffee pot, that we got him so he would leave mine alone,* and a the trikie, as evidenced above. The rest of us had a good haul as well.
The rest of the day was spent being very lazy, eating food, and playing with all of our toys.

Today I had to back to work. :(

slacker week

So I don't have many projects, and my company had to have everything sealed up for Christmas a few weeks ago, so we are down to slacking and having holiday parties and things like that. The staff is dwindling as they leave to visit their families anyway. Today we had out secret Santa thing and a little raffle thing, and I got some cool stuff. So that's cool.
Turner got off okay, with just a massive delay with his connecting flight in phoenix. I guess they have a huge blizzard right now. Good thing to come home to when you live in Denver. Makes it feel like home.
Jack just got done getting pics with Santa, and from what Jen tells me, he wasn't a big fan. He wasn't scared or anything, just didn't want to sit in his lap too much. I remember my brother going nuts come Santa time, and I think we only did it for a few years. This is corroborated by the distinct lack of photos depicting either my brother or me with Santa. I don't seem to have missed it much.
My cards are not done, and my gifts are not mailed because I'm a total slacker. I'm hoping to get that done today, and everything will be late, so don't expect much.
I tried not to go overboard with Jack's presents because he has grandparents and will be very well taken care of.
I am finally over the horrible stomach virus that I got on Sunday night. Yay. I didn't eat for two days and dropped 5 pounds. I slept 12 hours Monday night. I woke up hungry, and took that as a good sign. Thankfully there was a pot-luck at work. I brought pop-tarts and a toaster. Un-thankfully* Jen now has the stomach thing. I think this may be what Jack had when he was throwing up and not eating for a while. Mystery solved!
Having kids mean you get sick a lot more than you used to.

weekend of fun

we are having a great time. Turner have been here since Wednesday. Lats night he and Cookie made home made green chili that was the best I have ever had. Then after Jen's sister and her husband came over, we all drank beer and wine and sat around the chimenea and played video games into the wee hours of the morning. Right now we are eating cinamon rolls and watching the discovery channel and nursing hangovers.

The X-mas

Christmas is creeping up! 10 days left. If you don't receive a card or something, well, it's because we have an 18 month old and a house guest right now.
Speaking of: Turner made us the most awesome dinner last night, because I won his contest. It had pasta and chicken and a cream sauce and asparagus and a bunch of other stuff and we ate till we wanted to pop it was so good. Then an hour later, we gorged ourselves on ice cream. Turner ate three bowls I think. Maybe more. We drank a bunch of beer and watched a movie, part of a dog show, and then some documentary on discovery about puppies. It was doggy night I guess.
This saturday, there will be a party in his honor. You should come, it will be fun.
Jackson seems to be over his bout of barfing, and is not only feeling better, but has decided to sleep through the night two nights in a row. This has NEVER happened, and getting all that sleep is a weird feeling at this point. My chemical dependencies are much more noticeable. All that coffee in the morning used to just keep me functional, but now I'm actually a bit jittery. All bleary-eyed and happy. It's like an old friend I haven't seen in years. I welcome his return. Jack LOVES Turner BTW. He follows him around, and wants to be picked up by him all the time, but it think that's because Turner is like eight feet tall, and Jack likes to see everything. They cuddled on the couch for a while last night, and Jack usually saves that for really close family members, so that's cool. So remember that, ladies: Turner is good with kids!
What else? The new HP trailer is up, and though I now a crazy huge fan or anything, I do like these movies. The thing that struck me in the trailer is that I didn't realize how much I hated the haircuts in the last movie until I saw that all the characters get shorn in this one. Although if that's the main thing I took from the last movie then they must have had some major storytelling issues.
So that's it.

The sun will come out.

Tomorrow the Turner man comes to town. Excited I am.
enough of that.

So yesterday, on the way back from school about 1:00pm, Jackson had his first big boy barf all over the car. We got everything cleaned up, hosed off the carseat, washed all of the padding, and let everything dry out in the sun. He seemed okay after that. After I got home from work, we needed to go to the store, so we put everything back together, all the padding back on, put the carseat back in, and he barfed all over it as soon as we pulled into the store's parking lot. So we used up all of our wipes, and almost had to run in to get more. Luckily, most of it landed on his hoodie, so it wasn't near as bad. He's still a bit oogy. He should feel better today, I hope.
Jen stole my phone on accident. And she's out of town tonight, so don't call me.

The Turner of the screws

So next week, Mr. Turner will be visiting, and I am very excited. For all his neurosis, he is a good and honest man. He became one of the best friends I have ever known within hours of meeting him(those hours spent at Streets of London Pub). I knew him before he had flames. I trusted him so much when we met, that I didn't have a problem with him moving in with Jen, him being an ex-boyfriend and all. For a whole year, and especially during the build-out for Pablo's,we played NHL HITZ and watched Blind Date or Conan every single night. We kept Gabor's in the black. And now he is coming for a visit. We are going to throw him a party, we like him so much. So come to our house on the eve of the 16th to wish him well, and help get him drunk. He will regale you with yarns of a tattooed goth existence.
In other news:
1)I need a new drafting table. If you have one, kindly set it on my porch.
2)Jackson's back teeth have turned out to be complete assholes. Nobody likes them. They keep Jack up at night, which keeps mommy and daddy up at night. Which makes mommy and daddy cranky and destroys their immune systems. In addition, it keeps daddy completely chemical dependent to appear human.
3)A happy birthday should have gone out yesterday to Tom Waits.
4)Happy birthdays go out today to my Dad, Joey, and Kyle.
5)Happy birthday goes out to Heather O tomorrow.
6)Yoko can go fuck herself.

Snow Day!

So as many of you anywhere in the Midwest know, we got a hella snow storm last week. It was a full on blizzard with only fifty yards or so of visibility. Since I now live in an area that doesn't see this very often (compared to Denver), everybody freaked out. And nobody knows how to drive in it. Like how turning you lights on would be rule #1. I went in late on Thursday, and ten inches later they sent us home and told us not to bother coming in on Friday. Woo and then Hoo. Three and a half day weekend!!
We spent Thursday night staring out the window. Friday I shoveled the driveway for the first time in the four years I have lived here. Then we got all bundled up and took Jack out to play in the snow.

He did NOT enjoy it. --->

The snow was way too high for him, and he couldn't move in it.
He did have some fun splashing in the slush. He spent most of the time in the garage bawling.

Saturday we had a little pre-emptive Christmas party at our house with Jen's dad's side of the fam, though Jen's dad didn't show up. We had a really good time. Jack got a book. We had a shit-ton of food and some really good coffee. After that we just hung about the house. I watched The Island. It was pretty, but stupid. Just like a few of the girls I dated after high school. Sunday we went to the city and did some shopping with Jen's sister and her husband, ending the weekend by stuffing our faces with Mexican food. Last night Jack decided that three AM was breakfast time and I am really sleepy.
We have little going on at work, so I've been watching the whole of Red Dwarf on my computer. I love bittorrent.

That is all.

This man taught me how to draw.

Dave Cockrum died on Monday. This is particularly sad for me because as the title states, Cockrum taught me how to draw.

X-men was one of the first comics I really got into that wasn't of the 'kiddie' variety. It was also the first one that I knew all about, as in I knew the history of the characters and followed it the closest until it got too ridiculous, or I grew out of it. I don't remember which. Cockrum was my all time favorite X-Men artist, and his creation, Nightcrawler, was my all-time favorite X-Man character(followed closely by Longshot and Art Adams). Some time in the '80s, there was a four part mini series about Nightcrawler going to a parallel universes with Kitty's pet Dragon Lockheed. I read this series about a million times, and must have drawn and re-drawn every panel of every page. His art became the foundation for everything art related I have ever done since, no matter how hard Art School tried to beat it out of me.

He had a relatively short tenure with the X-Men, but his character and costume designs persist to this day. I followed his career pretty closely for a long time, and I remember that on the list for my hold slot at the Mile High Comics in Buckingham Square (slot 32. The lower the number, the cooler you were) I had written down "All Dave Cockrum".

He will be missed.

Any ethnic food will do.

Man. Holidays for latch-key kids, especially if they marry another latch key kid, involve a shit-ton of driving. This year wasn't so bad, but the whole mom's house in the morning, dad's in the evening, Denver for one holiday, Tulsa for the other, see these sets of people, then go across town to see the other.... Oh and if you are the first ones to offer up a grand-kid? Forget it. Even distant cousins want a piece of you.
So that being said, I have decided that now that I have my own house and my own kid and my own Christmas tree, the rest of you can piss off or drive to my house.
I racked up a lot of mileage in the last few decades, and now it's your turn. So come on down. I'll be the one sitting comfortably on the couch, half drunk by noon.

Okay. So despite all the driving, we had an awesome weekend. Thursday was spent in Enid America(the worst city in OK, according to many of it's own residents), At Jen's Aunt's house. There were stairs there which must have looked almost exactly like a jungle gym, because all Jack wanted to do was climb up and down them the whole day. He was also really into getting olives. Not to eat, but to squish, then feed to the dogs. There was lots of yummy food.
Friday I had to freakin' work, but I came in late, and left early. I spent the time in between decorating the internet marketing area for Christmas in the most obnoxious ways I could think of, eating the free pizza they provided for us, and watching downloaded movies on my computer. That'll show 'em! Then I drove to Tulsa, and helped prep for feast #2. We watched "the break-up", and although I generally like Vince Vaughn and I think Jennifer Aniston is a cutie despite myself, the movie was a let down.

Saturday was a giant pile of food with us having to eat our way through it. Lots of family and kids and running and yelling and then more food. After we watched Bedlam and had naps, Jen and I went on down to Arnie's for Larkin's CD release party. That was a blast. I love drunken Irish parties. I can't help but feel like I'm fulfilling the wishes of my forefathers. When Indian people participate in traditional dances and rituals, they must get the same feeling I get when I am in an Irish pub, with a Guinness, belting out drinking songs. It's a connection to your past.
Sunday was spent putting up Christmas decorations and getting the house ready for the holiday party we are throwing next week end.

I want Chinese food.

House (not MD)

We had a working weekend of sorts. Friday was spent not doing much of anything, and I think we went to bed early in another of our rockin' Friday night extravaganzas, involving me watching Doctor Who, and Jen Watching What Not To Wear. We may have put a load of laundry in after Jack went to bed. We're crazy like that.

Saturday, Jack went to the Grandparent's house to stay the night and to help in the yard as part of chore deal we have worked out.
Pictured is him in his favorite Elmo fleece hoodie, and his extremely small and therefore extremely cute Converse All-Stars.
His visit allowed us to paint the living room that we've neglected since we moved in. It is now a dark toupe color that really makes the fireplace pop, like you give a crap. I also reinforced the new shelves, and put the rest of my books on them. Our house is finally coming together like we want. Yay.
The real fun was Saturday night, when Cookie came over for dinner (we had Steak), and we actually were able to go to the bar. It was awesome fun to sit and drink Newcastles, ogle the college kids, yap endlessly, and watch drunks try to play pool. Frat kids, bikers, women of ill repute, and the best players were the Asian physics majors. They stay sober, and know all the angles.
Sunday, after realizing there was nothing resembling breakfast food in the kitchen, we went to iHOP for breakfast. Small town family restaurants are always a treat on Sunday mornings, and this one did not disappoint. Mixed in with the old people, hungover college kids, and church-goers were these two kids, about 15, who were right out of Rushmore. They were both dressed a little too nicely, and the one in the blue blazer was reading the paper and talking on his cell phone, while having a deep discussion with his friend about WWII. In response to these two old-before-their-time kids, Cody and I went and played video games the rest of the afternoon.

Cody is master of the X-Wing.

Shelves!

Finally!

Lookkit dem shelves!--->

We sold some of our old shelves in a garage sale over the summer, and gave the others to cousin Preston after we repainted the room, because the red stain didn't vibe with our new guacamole colored paint. So all our (read: my) stuff had been sitting on the floor ever since. We had been waiting for some extra cash to build new ones and never seemed to have a spare $200. That is until we found the brackets we wanted on sale for $2.50 each, and found some really cheap wood. The third and most important piece was Mr. Dopps. He came over on Sunday with a mad fat pile of tools, and helped me put them up. They look really awesome. Jen had an idea of what she wanted, that I turned into something much more elaborate and expensive in my head. When we got all the stuff together, the whole thing ended up being under $75. So that was even cooler. Jen smart.

Friday I spend a good deal of the night looking for cousin Ryan's dog Roscoe who ran off earlier that day. We looked and looked until about 10:00 when we got a call from his roomate stating that Roscoe had showed up on the back porch out of the blue, whining for some food and smelling like a rotten creek. Crisis solved, I went back home and crashed out watching Doctor Who on the Sci-fi channel. Saturday we cleaned the house, raked the leaves, washed and detailed the Xterra, put it up for sale on the corner, did laundry, and bought the lumber for the shelves. Oh, and played with the kid. A lot.

Monday and today were work days, and as work is kinda slow, I spent most of my time watching my new love(thanks again, Cody!): The Mighty Boosh. I love those guys. They have a talking Ape as a main character. They break into elaborate musical numbers at odd times. They had mod wolves. That's what sold me. I also will have a new NGV5 page up by tomorrow, if the stupid scanner at work is functional.

um... That's it.

I voted

And I couldn't be happier. Finally the country has realized that letting any person or party have absolute power is dumb, because being able to do whatever you want without impunity always leads to bad things. The "value voters" have realized that no one party has a legitimate or singular claim to morals. People realized that making a living wage is better for business. When people make more, they spend more. They have realized that they want a health care plan that doesn't pander to big pharmesutical companies. They have realized that they like clean air and a pleasant landscape, and that they don't really want Florida or Manhattan or London under water. They don't want their civil liberties trampled on any more. And finally, they have realized that they want peace in Iraq with a viable exit strategy, and that they want to know what that is.
I have to give Bush a teeny bit of credit for realizing this as well. At the press conference yesterday, in addition to seeming pretty peeved, more at the party and Rove than anybody else, he seemed pleasantly open to the fact that he was going to have to change how he does things. And starting with replacing Rumsfeld was the best first step we could have hoped for. Maybe now some civility will return to Capital Hill. Maybe now the politicians will return to the center, where all of their constituents are. Maybe now the arrogant posturing will leave one side, and some confidence will enter the other. I doubt it, but maybe. It will be really interesting to see how '08 goes, because you know that shit's gonna start really soon.
Yay for change!!

Go Vote!

If you don't, then the terrorists really win. What they hate most about America is our freedom, and voting is the very basis of that. Also, If the current people stay in charge, even though they spout freedom in every speech, they are slowly taking it all away. So go vote for whoever is not the incumbent, so we can get some new decision makers in there. If the Congress goes Democratic, I'm not sating everything will be gravy, but change is sorely needed at this point. Checks and balances have to be in effect for this system to work, and there aren't any right now.
Voting is not so much a right as a responsibility, and a civic duty.
Enough of that.



A stern boy-->

We helped Grace and Lonny move into their new house in the sub-urbs of OKC this weekend. We moved everything from their storage until that they have been living out of while staying with an aunt for the past few months, and they seemed relieved to have their stuff back in a home of their own. Nancy stayed at our house with the boy overnight Saturday(and took this pic), so we got to go out that night. We visited Derrek and Caroline, and had a lot of fun. I didn't drive, so I drank a little more than I should have. Chris told the story about the time he got shot in the leg during a dispute in a parking lot that he was not involved in. There is now a spot on his leg where no hail grows, to his dismay, but I reminded him that pain is fleeting, and chicks dig scars.

Yesterday, we did jack shit. The only time we left was to look at an old Volvo that we are thing of buying. Jack played in a bird feeder while I test drove it. The guy only wants $300, so I think we're gonna get it.

And now I am at work, wishing I wasn't.