Digital Thursday

Well, tomorrow the fam boards a jet plane and will be heading to sunny Atlanta! Then we will get on another plane and go to Phoenix, Arizona. Wifey is part of the planning committee associated with a big-ole-conference out there and Little Man and I will be coat-tailing it out there with her. My parents are going to head out there as well and make it more of a family vacation. We are packing tonight and will only be taking a few foodstuffs for the boy. The rest of his food will have to be purchased whilst in Arizona.

Anyway… I did not have anything “ready” for today’s Digital Thursday, so I whipped this up whilst at work.



I am not committing to posting anything whilst in Arizona, but if I get a moment, I will try.

To recap:
See you suckas later!
We will be staying here
In case anyone wants to come and chat
It is incredibly over-priced
We wouldn’t go there if it were not business
Have a great weekend everyone
And possibly have a great next week as well
Listening to Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai from Traveling without Moving

printer document station

Whilst pondering the intricacies and delights folded within the mantle of vanilla cream of a vanilla bean cheesecake, it came to me that I should probably be paying better attention to the claxon call warnings coming from the printer document station that I was idly waiting upon. It seems that if there were 10 places within a printer document station that a paper might (how do you kids say it these days? Get…) jammed this over-achieving printer document station had discovered at least 2 more.

Whence the printer stopped beeping incessantly, I opened hidden compartment upon hidden compartment, turning handles and sliding drawers merrily collecting paper as I went. Tra la Tra la. After stacking the eighth piece of mangled paper from the guts of the printer document station, I asked myself in a surprisingly outside voice, “Sweet Jeebus, can there be any more of this paper jammed (as the kids these days say) in this god forsaken printer document station?” Alas an answer from the heavens was not forthcoming. An answer from a co-worker who is clearly a ninja due to his soft footfalls and silent ability to creep up on me up while my elbows are within a printer's document station's guts was forthcoming.

“I know, this thing has been jamming all day long.”
“Not like Bob Marley though, right?”
“Who”
Damned kids! ... was that out loud? No? Good “Oh, a musician from the days of yore.”
“You’re weird, dude.”
“Wow, they said ‘dude’ when I was a kid”
“I’m getting out of here, dude, and calling IT before you break something. You freak.”

I set back to the task at hand. Un-jamming the printer document station. I was now up to 10 sheets of paper from 8 different locations. There were 3 doors open, five drawers exposed, and still 2 more jams to go. Finally moving onto the last trouble spot as indicated on the little screen embedded on the face of the printer document station, I knew I had only moments (hours) before the IT clean-up squad made me quit the quest. One final plastic tray and the day would be mine!

The last jam area on the printer document station was the gigantic paper drawer feed mechanism. The printer document station tried to stuff 5 pages through the feed mechanism simultaneously. For those of you out there in cyberland who don’t know what that means, it means… it means that… well, it means that the printer document station will go down with a paper jam issue.

To recap:
We fly out Friday morning
Little Man is excited to go
Gorgeous weather today
It is time to go home
Mimma is spending the evening with Little Man to get her fix before her weeklong withdrawal
That means Wifey and I will have a “date”
That means I need to get the heck out of dodge
Listening to Disconnect by the Rollins Band off of Weight

20 Questions Tuesday: 89 - Dustin's Day

Continuing on in the vein of last week’s 20 Questions Tuesday, this week I am being interviewed by the unflappable Dustin or Cotters in my Tummy fame. He has a fan club, where as I do not. As far as I know he does not have t-shirts though. Sure, I have not sold any shirts as of yet, but that is beside the point. The point is, he does not have any.

On to the questions… Oh, Dustin?


1. When did your obsessive love of cheesecake begin? Am I putting words in your mouth by calling “obsessive?” If so, too bad, my interview.
I was about 12 years old when one of my mom’s friends, who was a professional dessert confectioner had a chocolate chip amoretto cheesecake that had cracked. Restaurants won’t buy perfectly edible and tasty treats that are cracked so she gave it to the fam. I ate all but 1 piece. An obsession born.

2. What is your favorite internet haunt while not getting work done on the job?
Ten Ton Studios Forums

3. Who would win in a fight between Peter Parker, sans Spidey powers, and Clark Kent, sans Superman powers?
Clark Kent would take peter parker behind a woodshed for the beating of his life. Clark is a corn fed Kansas farm boy from the old school. Parker is a science geek without much in the way of physical action. Kent beats the snot out of him.

4. Pluto: Do you feel it should be restored to full planet status, or did you have your doubts from the beginning?
Oddly, Wifey and I just watched a special on this the other day. I am now of the inclination that it should not be considered a full planet if other larger objects whose primary orbit is around the sun are also not considered planets.

5. Last fiction you read and really liked?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

6. Do you ever watch MythBusters?
Occasionally. I think it was a great idea for a quarterly special, but as an ongoing show it has traversed beneath busting myths into disproving whimsy. Before It worked with hard and fast urban myths and tried to disprove them. Now it has almost become an exercise in disproving stupid ideas. There just is not enough material out there for this to be a weekly gig.

7. If you were going to open up a store and sell customized T-Shirts, where in the country would this be and what would be the store’s name?
It would most likely be in Columbus, Ohio (where I reside) and be called “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem” because I would also sell shoes there.

8. Swedish Fish, Gummy Bears, or Sour Gummy Worms: which is superior?
In a fight? I would use Sour Gummy Worms. They typically are coated in granular sugar. I could hope that the sugar would get in my opponents eye. The others are just squishy and not at all useful in a melee.

9. I just had to get a tetanus booster shot. I hate shots. HATE them. Your feeling on shots?
They are not up there with my favorite things, but I do not hate and fear them as much as most people.

10. Is it wrong that I don’t even know how to change the oil in my car?
It would be wrong if you did not even know where to go to get your oil changed. It is a changing world and skillsets are changing. I am confident that if you were exposed to how to change the oil in your car, that you would, in fact, know how to do it if the need arose.

11. It’s snowing here in Seattle in the middle of April which is pretty much a freak event. Does Ohio get much snow after March?
Typically we can expect one good snowstorm in April. This year, I think we dodged it.

12. Beyond Hippopotami, are there any other creatures that you just can’t play nice with (aside from the Yeti of course)?
There are not any other species or breed of animal as a group I don’t place nice with. After Hippopotami and Yetis, it becomes a more individual hatred, isn’t that right, Cinder?



13. I just learned what a “Rat King” is today. Does that make me woefully uneducated?
The “cryptid?” It doesn’t surprise me that you may not have heard about it. It is an obscure one. If there is a more urban dictionary-ish meaning I am unaware of that connotation.

14. Hannah Montana…what’s the big freakin’ deal???
I. Have. No. Idea. I don’t understand the clamor. It does not make appreciable sense to me. She is not supremely talented and she has not really been super-marketed either. I understand the whole High School Musical thing (to a point). It was hyped beyond belief and targeted to a demographic with gobs and gobs of purchase potential. Hanna Montana just doesn’t seem to be advertised as much and yet has become this amazing phenomenon.

15. Best CD you ever purchased?
Ten by Pearl Jam… God, I am old

16. I’ve heard a lot of talk as of late about a manned exploration to Mars. Part of me is really excited at the prospect and another part of me kind of thinks that the billions of $$ that it would cost might be used to better feed/cloth/house/educate the people of this plant. Your thoughts?
This is a tricky question. People need goals. NASA needs a hard and fast goal to really help push the boundaries of human thought. I do think that someone needs to come out and say that we will step foot on Mars by 2020. Think about all the technological advances that occurred after Kennedy said we would step on the moon before 1970. BUT one should definitely think about what this means to poverty and other social programs. Here lies a massive problem. The problem is that the money for NASA and the money for social programs do not typically come from the same kind of procurement program. Basically NASA’s budget and social welfare budgets have little to nothing to do with each other. Personally, I would rather a president say we will be energy independent by 2020 instead of step foot on Mars.

17. What is your favorite Muppet?
Ahem… “Who is your favorite Muppet?” I would have to go with Sam the Eagle.

18. I could never understand Kermit the Frog’s attraction to Miss Piggy. Even for a Muppet, she’s pretty ugly…right?
I would rather know how the Swedish Chef got a job cooking or WTF Beaker is.

19. Am I right to be afraid of David Bowie’s performance in the movie Labyrinth?
I believe you should be more afraid of his performance in Dancing in the Streets.

20. Can Little Man be next week’s interview-er? What kind of theme (if any) do you think his questions would have?
Little Man’s questions would most likely revolve around lack of proper parental response time and determining why we don’t want to stay and lay down with him at 8 PM. I am not sure we want 20 questions revolving around my inability to get Cap’n Crunch to him in less than 10 seconds.

To recap:
Wifey’s trip on the jet plane is a go
Therefore next week there will most likely be a break from the daily blogging
We will leave Friday and get back the following Friday
A full week of desert fun
Not to be confused with dessert fun
Which is eating
Mmmmmmm eating
I like eating
Eating = good
Thanks to Dustin for cowboy-ing up and taking on the 20 questions solo today
Listening to Why Go by Pearl Jam from Ten

Ramblings

This week is the week that we make preparations to get the heck out of Ohio for a week of fun in the Arizona sun. This, of course, means that all three of us are getting new underwear. At least that tends to be one of the side effects of going on a longer trip for our family. Yesterday, Wifey got Little Man some new underwear and as I was rummaging through my underwear drawer (that oddly looks like a laundry basket) realizing that it is about time to take half of my skivvies out of rotation. The pregnancy seems to dictate when Wifey should hosiery up as well. It seems that all three of us are converging upon a point of underwear maintenance and procurement.

This is what you people come here to read about, yes?

So aside from impending intimate garment purchase, it also looks like I will need to purchase at least one more pair of shorts. I do not think that 3 pairs of shorts are going to get me through 7 days of fun in the sun with a 4.7 year old. He seems to be hard on my clothes. Much harder than me. I have not spilled pizza sauce on my shorts in over 15 years and yet, there seem to be pizza sauce stains from the un-refutable hugs of a loving yet tomato puree clad child. If we can get most of the laundry done this week, I should be okay regarding shirts for the Arizona heat as well. I am amazed at how many of the stains on my leg wear are not of my own making. This was not something that was impressed upon me during my previous to non-parental existence.

So for those millions of you out there who read this blog and do not yet have children (like the other millions of you out there reading my blog) children stain stuff. There is very little you can do about it.

ON the topic of staining, children like things that are permanent or near permanent. If choosing between washable markers that are happy-go-lucky colors like red, blue, green, purple, and yellow and a boring old black Sharpie, get ready to sand the finish off the dining room table, re-stain and re-poly. If Little Man can choose between slightly aged tomato puree and fresh baked cookies and if I am in a lighter colored leg wear, the puree gets selected. And glitter glue? Who the hell thought that was a good idea? Not only is it glitter, which we all know reproduces asexually, rapidly and constantly, it is also sticky. No one can get rid of regular glitter, much less this pre-sticky version. I assure you that if there has been alien contact by someone getting abducted, those aliens are right now wondering where the speck of glitter can from in their spaceship. Moreover, alien friends and family on their home world are wondering right now why Flarg the Mighty has glitter on his cheek.

FYI, For those of you who do not know, Flarg likes to go to raves.

To recap:
If Jules Verne had written that the center of the earth was filled with creamy nougat, instead of some odd amalgam of swamp gas and prehistoric landscapes and lost civilizations, the United States of America would have already sent a fat man to investigate. By “sent” I clearly mean “could not stop.” Using his Three Musketeers bar as compass and Hershey’s syrup as a weapon, that fat man would press on until he got to the Mohorovičić discontinuity. This intrepid traveler would be joined by his brethren in his quest for the Nougat. They would sustain themselves with flash cooked cake batter and indestructible Twinkies. Without proper cooling I am certain their descent to the Nougat would be halted at least temporarily while he and his friends imbued with the superhuman endurance of their Rascal Scooters endlessly roamed along the borders of the lithosphere looking for their entrance into the unforgiving mantle, the molten caramel of the geological Snickers cross-section. The promise of near limitless nougat fueling their unyielding drive bent on the complete consumption of the cloudlike confection that makes candy bars transcend from the mundane to the sublime…
Ummm… uhhh… that one kind of got away from me
20 Questions Tuesday will be an Interview with Dustin
I should quit now, shouldn’t I?

Digital Thursday

So, Little Man is ill at home and now Wifey and I are timesharing. I will only be in at work for about another hour or so before I return to the den of snottiness. Anyway… I was not going to post from work today since I am only here for such a short period of time, but I am waiting on some people to make groundbreaking… nay earth-shattering decisions regarding a proposal color scheme, so what the hey.

It seems that Capt McArmypants has decided that Digital Thursdays should be a bit more timely. I guess where he works doesn’t have morning meetings or crap work that has to get done. He, being a wonderfully helpful soul and compassionate human being, decided to create a post for me. The real post will follow… I think you will be able to determine where I take over.

HI I AM SRH AND THIS IS MY BLOG!!!

SEE!!!
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Last week’s No-Prize Sketch Challenge over at Ten Ton Studios was to take someone else’s pencils and “finish them.” For those of you no up to speed with the comic lingo there are primarily four different tasks that have to happen before a page is ready (aside from writing and editing). They are penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering. Clearly some of these tasks can be done by the same artist, but usually there are more than one artist working on a book at any time. Lately, lettering has started to be a dying art due to computers with their fancy fonts and their beep beeps and their boop boops.

Anyway… I got some high resolution pencil scans from a fellow artist work posts his stuff over at Ten Ton Studios forums and started the inking and coloring process. The pencils are from David Newbold, and are pretty tight to say the least.

The concept as I saw it was that Firestorm was coming out of a page that was done like DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man illustration. My part of this was all done in Photoshop and ended up being about 10 layers deep. Overall extremely I am happy with how it turned out.
To recap:
Little Man is sick
He seems to be getting better though
I hope that we are able to ship him off to preschool to infect the other kids tomorrow
Capt. Mc Armypants is nothing if not helpful
He is also very proud of his “art”
I especially like the white space left in the "e"
Very Warhollian
He also finds the word “Yeti” very funny
In fact he is most likely saying, "Yeti Yeti Yeti Yeti" right now
He is a simple man
And in his simpleness he is in the US armed forces
AS A LAWYER
I don’t feel so safe right now
Listening to my phone ring
Have a great weekend everyone

*This evening I will relink the pics for easy embiggination

Just a recap

Instead of boring you, dear fine readers, with another laborious writing exercise, I have decided to bring down unto you just a recap.

To recap:
No topic
No writing exercise
No problem
All recap
All day long
Boo-yah
Little Man is a bit under the weather today
He is all congested and snotty
His asthma is also flaring up
We are hoping that it is similar to a bug I had last week
That only lasted 3 days
Overheard at work today:
“… made the Amish look like dirty whores.”
My question to you is, “What doesn’t?”
The Amish are just a randy cultural sect
Don’t deny it
Plumbers should get everything attached tomorrow for the new bathroom
Dare I say that we will have a downstairs bathroom this weekend?
I daren’t
Anyone want to volunteer for the next installment of 20 Questions Tuesday?
We bought a wall mount light for the new bathroom
We need a ceiling mount light for the new bathroom
We went with a vessel sink
That means I have to stain and poly the vanity countertop
Kick ass! Another task on my “to do” list
Karen: I think we will be attempting to employ your painter friend
It would be nice to remove painting from the to do
Unfortunately, the painting is a task I am capable of completing reasonably well
Such is the way of it
Sweet proton torpedos we have some laundry piling up
It is mainly my laundry at the moment
Just because of volume
Little Man has more articles of clothing in the laundry
My articles are just significantly larger
Wifey was reminded that I did indeed grow up in the south last night
It was my appropriate usage of the phrase “Good Gawd Damn”
I am a delicate little flower of a man
Digital Thursday is coming up tomorrow
I will be traveling to Phoenix, Arizona next Friday
So not next week, but the following one I will not be posting
I need a break
Listening to Moon Over Bourbon Street by Sting from The Dream of the Blue Turtles

20 Questions Tuesday: 88 - Sparky's Day

This week’s 20 Questions Tuesday is a bit of a departure from the norm. Today I will be interviewed by one of my typical questioneers. The questioner in question is Sparky, a co-worker of mine. Well, kind of a co-worker. I haven’t actually done any work with her, but she works for the same company in the same building.

Sparky, if you are ready…

On to the questions:
1. What do you like best about your job?
I have a super flexible work schedule that allows me to do handle sick kid time and other emergency “don’t go into work” stuff very easily. That helps a ton when you have a food allergic asthmatic kid.

2. What is the best piece of work/project you've ever done?
Hmmm… this is an interesting question. I have a hard time choosing anything that I have done at my place of employment so far. It seems that none of the projects I have worked on have been built. Um… I would have to go with the inking and coloring that I did for last week’s Ten Ton Studios’ No-Prize Sketch Challenge. It will be the featured piece for this week’s Digital Thursday.

3. What is your dream job?
I believe being independently wealthy would do for me. It would do very well indeed. I would philanthopize….

4. If you could wear anything you wanted to work everyday, what would it be?
Shorts. I abhor long pants. I have very sensitive knees due to removing most of the skin there whilst having a soccer career as a kid.

5. What was your first job?
I sold NordicTracks in a NordicTrack store in a mall.

6. What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
"Don’t let the fuckers get you down."

7. If someone who knows you well had to describe you in one word, what would it be?
Sardonic

8. Whom do you admire?
Wifey.

9. What keeps you awake at night?
Insomnia

10. What is the first thing you think when you wake up?
Curse you day.

11. Tell me about how and when you and Wifey came to the decision to combine your surnames.
Well, I figured that if she had to go through the pain of changing last names, I should as well. She was planning on combining last names and I surprised her with my offer to change my name as well.

12. What do you find most challenging about being a bi-racial family?
Explaining why some people don’t like our family or why some people are staring at us. Luckily, that is not something we have had to do much. Columbus, Ohio is surprisingly replete with inter-racial families.

13. Finish this phrase - People assume _______________ about me, and they're wrong.
I will modify this phrase as I see fit.

Some people assume that I care about what they are saying, and they are wrong.

The "about me" is redundant and repetitive.

14. What is your #1 pet peeve?
I am sooo not answering this question knowing some of my readers. I am not giving that kind of weakness away to those people.

15. What frustrates me most these days is.....
Lack of professional fulfillment.

16. What delights me most these days is...
Little Man’s giggles

17. What books are on your bedside table?
Right now? Good Night Moon

18. What would the five-year-old version of you say about your life now?
Wow, you are old.

19. What are you better at than anyone else?
Sometimes I am “in the zone,” so to speak, with the puns. When I am on… I am unbeatable. I know, one would think there would be a pun there… and yet.

20. What's the best thing about being a father?
It is not about being the father, it is about loving the child.


To recap:
Tomorrow is Wednesday
Just an FYI to all of you out there
I just got my review for last year’s “work”
I am still employed
That makes me happy
Was #20 just a bit too sappy?
It was?
Deal with it folks
We had to get a boatload of bathroom stuff yesterday
Thanks to Mim for doing Little Man’s bed-time ritual
Listening to In My Tree by Pearl Jam from No Code

One thing

Thing the First:

Computers are made up of a bunch of different primary components that make them work. The list basically goes motherboard, processor, memory, soundcard, network card, graphics card, hard drive, front-side bus, media drives (diskette floppies, CD-Rom, DVD-Rom, etc…), power supply, heat sinks, and cooling fans. That is the basic list for a PC at least. The list for a Mac looks more like fluffy bunny, kitten’s purr, unicorn smiles, and good feelings (of superiority).

Anyway… if anything goes wrong in that laundry list that component has to be replaced prior to the machine working again. I have been expecting my 5 year old pc to start shutting some of these systems down because, well, it is 5 years old. So, it did not surprise me on Saturday evening when I was un-able to use my home PC. What surprised me was the component that had gone south (by “south” I do mean metaphorically where technology don’t shine, Alabama). It turns out that my monitor was borked.

Now, I don’t know if many of you out there in cyberland have ever tried to use a computer without a monitor… It is more difficult than one might imagine. Typically I would not usually list the monitor as something that might go wrong with a PC because it is not really associated directly with the box that is the PC. No screen makes computing HARD!

So Sunday morning I was at Best Buy getting a new monitor. I also priced out a new PC to go with said monitor. I maybe should have gotten the 2 bundled in a package deal, but I feel that further investigation into modern PC info is necessary. My knowledge of top-of-the-line PC components seems to stop about 4.7 years ago. I am slowly trying to re-acquaint myself with the modern PC component list. Buying a new PC is very similar, to me, as buying a new car.
I hear they are up to quad-cores now.

To recap
Still have much to do on the old “to do” list
We have to get a toilet and sink tonight
The plumbing for the new bathroom is going in this week
Yipppeeee!
This weather shifting stuff is killing my head
Why, hello, Fluffy
It has indeed been a long time
Not long enough if you ask me…
Listening to Monkey Wrench by the Foo Fighters off of The Colour and the Shape

Digital Thursday

Okay, I did not get done inking the image I WANTED to post today, but that will give me something for next week. This week I have something else for the Fellowship of the White Star RPG monster manual. This is a Hebrew golem for the book. It is a pretty hastily mashed together digital drawing and Photoshopped image.

Oh, and I scanned my left hand.

At least it was not anything else anatomical.

To recap:
Holding on the phone with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles
Little Man needs a photo ID for our trip to Phoenix, AZ
April 25 through May 3 we are going to be in Sunny Phoenix
Most likely basking in the sun that shines upon trains
It will be nice to be away from the office for a bit
The BMV is just as efficient on the phone as in person
Maybe even less so
We are fending for ourselves for dinner tonight
I have no idea what I will be having
I will attempt something associated with left over spaghetti sauce
My hip is bothering me again because of my wallet
Wow, am I old
Listening to Right in Two by Tool off of 10,000 Days
Have a great weekend… I will be staining stuff

Not enough time

There is a veritable plethora of things that must be done prior to the arrival of a certain, as yet un-named little girl. My mind very rarely strays far from this list of milestones and benchmarks of natal preparation. We are at week 29 in a 40-ish week process, and there is much to be done.

Currently the contractor has a few things left to do in the new kitchen, a slew of things to do in the new office, and a near blank slate to work with in the new bathroom.

The Kitchen:
The contractor has to add the quarter inch round to the counter tops to finish off those bad-boys. He also needs to sand down the ceiling seams and install the skylight and lighting fixtures. Unfortunately he needs me to prep the quarter inch round before he is ready to install it. That requires a bit of sanding and a bit of staining on my part. Once he gets the ceilings sanded and the skylight installed, it is time for painting a plenty. I also need to stain and seal the windows before he can trim them out as well. Once the ceiling is done, there are 2 walls that need painting as well. That doesn’t even start to get into the tile by tile replacement that needs to take place. There are a couple of tiles that have cracked and a few on the edges that need to be replaced as well.

The Office:
The office needs a ceiling, a wall, lighting, a significant amount of patch work on the tile floor tile, and to be painted. You know, nothing much. It will be my responsibility to re-tile the needing to be retiled portions of the floor and paint the room (including ceiling) as well.

The Bathroom:
It has a fan light installed and other than that it needs to be worked on. Plumbing has not been roughed in, it is missing a wall, it needs lighting, its vent needs to be moved, which will necessitate re-tiling some areas. Once all the construction stuff is done, I will need to paint that room up as well.

The Dining Room:
This room only needs 2 things done. The patch in the wall needs to be cosmetic’d up (seamed, sanded, and painted) and the vent needs to be moved which will necessitate some hardwood flooring patching. I will be responsible for painting… when everything else is done.

Once these three rooms are done, I will be able to move our current office into the new office. The old office will need some painting and then a boat load of baby fixings need to be put in there. Most likely we will need a new light fixture (possible ceiling fan?) in that room as well. Bottom line is that there is no nursery until the new office is outfitted.

If we paint the Duchess’s room (we will need to), we should also paint Little Man’s room as well. He is closing in on being 5 years old and his room is still stuck in the color scheme we used for his babyhood. It needs to be updated. I might try to postpone this until he is five and make it about turning five.

Anyway… I have about 16 weeks worth of stuff to do and about 10 weeks to get it done in. We are going to be out of town for Wifey’s work April 25th through May 3rd or 4th. Time… it is a running away from me.

How are you doing?

To recap:
So little time
So very little time
Yes, yes, like sands through the hourglass…
Not sure what will be ready for Digital Thursday tomorrow
I am digitally inking a piece for one of the Sketch Challenges I have been entering, but I have other things that need to be done
Listening to Sabotage by the Beastie Boys from their Ill Communication release

20 Questions Tuesday: 87 - Thirteen

Ah, Wifey was a bit disappointed about the lack of coverage for our 13 years together yesterday. So I decided to make sure that today’s 20 Questions was all about the number 13.

Thanks this week go to ACW, Dustin, Peefer, Lord Pithy, Sparky, JA Coppinger, and Allrileyedup.

On to the questions:
1. Is it wrong to have 13 as a favorite number?
Nope

2. I understand the Friday the 13th superstition came from the purging of the Templar Knights - does this have any truth?
That is no necessarily true. 13 was an “unlucky” number for a long time before the arrest of the templar knights. It is also unknown if the Templars were arrested on Friday the 13th as well. Ooooh mystery clouded in myth wrapped in confusion…

3. Know anybody born on the 13th - they're crazy right??
I am not aware of anyone I know being born on the 13th, but I do know many people whom are quite mad.

4. How screwed up would all our references be if we had 13 digits/fingers instead of 10?
We would not realize how messed up our references are/were because that would be the established numerical system.

5. Why are 13 year olds the bane of online multiplayers everywhere?
In general, 13 year olds are a bunch of selfish attention seeking pricks. Especially in groups.

6. The number 13 reversed is 31. Do I have to stop eating at Baskin-Robbins now?
You are still eating at Baskin-Robins?

7. If you had thirteen thin mint Girl Scout cookies, would you share any of them with anybody?
I would give them all away, for I am not under the spell of those devil treats.

8. A baker's gross: 145 or 156? Please explain.
145. A baker’s gross would include 1 extra to ensure proper flavor and texture.

9. Which Ocean's N movie was the best? Please provide an answer even if you haven't seen them all.
Of the recent glut of Ocean's N movies, Ocean’s 11. It is the only one I saw.

10. a)Do you remember your 13th birthday? b)Who was your crush, real or celebrity? c)What is your favorite memory of being 13 years old? d)Who was your favorite comic book hero when you were 13 years old?
a) yes
b) don’t remember
c) Nothing comes to mind… wait, my soccer team won the state tournament.
d) Cyclops

11. Which is the unlucky digit, 1 or 3?
3

12. I associate 13 with puberty. Do you have any unlucky associations with the number? Puberty by chance?
Why must you dredge up these bad memories? What Plane of Hell doth thou inhabit? Begone! Harass me no more foul daemon!

13. Who was your favorite member of the 80s brat pack?Hmmm… I have to pick? Ummm… Let’s say Demi Moore.

14. What McGyver tool would you create to escape a dull day at work and what office supplies would you use to create it?
Scotch tape, stapler, Sharpie pens, cyan toner, and Mountain Dew to create an ink bomb, to be detonated in the executive bathroom. I would call it the "Blue Man Group bomb."

15. Do you know the words to "Party All the Time" by Eddie Murphy?
My girl wants to party all the time
Party all the time
Party all the time

That was without looking up lyrics… impressed? Anyway, go look here.

16. The Cosby Show or Cheers? Definitely not The Golden Girls, right? Right?!
Both Cosby and Cheers. Wasn’t that the beginnings of Must See TV?

Questions 13 through 16 were brought to you by the year 1985. The year Sparky was 13.

17. Why is channel 13 always PBS?
Channel 13 was network in Birmingham, growing up. Boo- Frikkin Yah! You have been proven otherwise!

18. 13 Ghosts or The 13th Warrior . . . which was worse?
13 Ghosts. At least 13th Warrior tried to be a clever retelling on the Grendel tale.

19. Why do you think there’s no 13th law in the Code of Hammurabi? Unlucky, or ancient conspiracy?
Well, in Babylonian mathematics and religion 12 is a perfect number. The number system for Hammurabi was a heximal system based on the number 6. Therefore 12 is a more appropriate fit than 13. Why do I know this? Oh, yes, Babylonians were the ones that determined the 360° format for the circle, and that was because of a base 6 numerical system because the … you guys stopped reading didn’t you?

20. I hear that in other countries, they fear Tuesday the 13th. How lame is that?
Pretty lame. One should fear every Tuesday that they encounter not just the 13th!

And one to grow on.

21. Do you think people with thirteen fingers face lifetimes of bad luck and fear from the general public?
Yes, but it is more from their formian brow and super-strength than from the extra manual digits.


To recap:
It is review time here at work
Everybody is wearing their Sunday best
The reviews have already been turned in, wearing better clothes will not help
Really, those of you looking for nuggets of goodness in the recap, should be unhappy
Sorry for the disappointment
I need a hobby
Maybe I could impart wisdom from my hobby
Listening to One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head from the musical Chess

7 things

A few things to cover today.

Thing 1:

Thing 2:

Thing 3: Mom’s surgery went well. She is recovering nicely. Thanks for all the concern and well wishes. Her surgery was Friday afternoon and when I talked with her Friday night she informed me that I will definitely not be getting any more brothers or sisters. I assured my 64 year old post-op post menopausal mom that I was okay being her last offspring.

Thing 4: I went to the gym on Friday. I hurt now. Bad. I should be able to get back there soon, provided my aches and pains do not kill me before then.

Thing 5: The Duchess will be here before we know it

Thing 6: That scares the hell out of me. If you could see me now, there is a bunch of whimpering

Thing 7: Wifey and I have now been together for a whopping 13 years. Yep, 13 years ago this relationship started. I am pretty sure that 13 years ago we didn’t know what we were getting into and the bulk of the people who knew of us didn’t think that this would end up where we are in the here and now. A few into the relationship and there were inklings of the future, but 13 years ago was the unknown beginning.

Engagement came (relatively) soon after and marriage after that, but none of that would have happened without April 7.

To recap:
It has been a great 13 years, Wifey!
20 Questions Tuesday is up next
Little Man is disturbingly like me
Slump is the often forgotten about natural hazard
Even more ignored than a mudslide
Many a cliffside mansion should look into slump
I not only blog, I am also a public service
Buy a t-shirt!
Listening to My Body is a Cage by Arcade Fire for their release Neon Bible

Digital Thursday

I was going to work up something else, but I never got around to it.

This is now available in The U.C. T-Shirt Shoppe.

The drawback of Cafepress is that you can’t really have any non-standard printing. Meaning, I cannot have design go over the shoulder or placed over one of the hips. Cafepress pretty much limits the printing to a square in the center of the chest, left pocket area of the shirt, and the center of the back. Does anyone out there in cyberland know of an online T-shirt manufacturer that does odd placement screen prints?

Wifey keeps hounding me to come up with a T-shirt shoppe that specializes in non-crappy maternity t-shirts. Maternity shirts either have something stupid on them like “I’m with baby” or “Bun in the oven,” or they cost one’s arm and leg. Where is the middle of the road? Where?!?!

To recap:
I am in a fairly unproductive mood today
There is not much time until the pending arrival of the Duchess
I was going to draw a Dire Penguin…

Oh wait, I just did
Pencil on some crap paper
Scanned and releveled in Photoshop
Hey, Sassyfrass, anyone statting up a Dire Penguin for FotWS?
Listening to I Burn by the Toadies off of their debut Rubberneck

Have a great weekend everyone

Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch

If there were a popularity contest between the Yeti, Bigfoot, and a Sasquatch, the Yeti would reign supreme. We all knew this to be true, who is not enamored by the wondrous being from the roof of the world. The ever loveable Yeti is by far the most well known of all the giant primate cryptids, and that is saying a lot. The thing is the Yeti is like that fly by night foreign exchange student that everyone starts out liking until they get to know him. Sure Anders is cute, Danish, speaks with a sexy accent, plays soccer, and dresses all metro, but ladies he also thinks women should stick to womanly things like oral sex. Seriously ladies, Ander’s only came to the US to get laid. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out…

Ummm… anyway, I believe I have a t-shirt design for the Yeti now. You will have to wait until tomorrow to for it to be unveiled.

To recap:
Stupid popular Yeti!
I don’t like you
… or Anders
I would have ranked them way different
Well as “way different” as you can rank three things
Wifey has another dinner time meeting tonight
Listening to Karma Police by Radiohead off of OK Computer
Radiohead is consistently more popular than the Yeti
…and Anders, the Danish Jerk!

20 Questions Tuesday: 86 - Burnout

Last week I didn’t get any questions for the 20 Questions Tuesday, therefore today’s topic is all about “Burnout.” When you ask for questions regarding why people didn’t question, it is amazing how many responses you get. After weeding through all the “I thought it was SPAM” and “’Cause you SUCK, SRH” responses I have cobbled together 20 question revolving around “Burnout.”

Thanks this week go to Peefer, Dustin, ACW, Sparky, and Wifey… on to the questions!


1. Upon being burned out, my doctor prescribed sleep for me. This means, I get to sleep 8-9 hours a night, and my wife and children have to suck it up. The question is this: How much do I love my doctor?
I am not sure words can adequately describe, but I would have to guess “to the moon… and back.”

2. Do you prefer to burn one wick responsibly, or two wicks brightly? You may answer this literally or metaphorically.
I prefer the one wick responsibly, but I tend to burn two wicks erratically. You make take this answer literally of metaphorically.

3. If you had your child's energy, could you single-handedly save the world?
Easily, but… I would most likely spend the time running around acting like I could fly.

4. What lunch foods are you most burnedout on?
Sliced turkey breast sandwiches

5. If you can burn”out,” is it conversely possible to burn”in”?
Burning in is usually an etching process done with acid on zinc plates. Branding cattle is also a version of burning in.

6. Hypothetically speaking what is the cure for professional burnout? Healthy and unhealthy ways to combat it – any thoughts?
I think the only permanent solution if for the job to continually challenge. Most professional burnout occurs because the job becomes more routine and repetitive in some aspect. Healthy: try varying methodologies to accomplish similar goals, look to find different responsibilities, add new hobbies to your personal life, try to add something into your life that you find mentally challenging. Eventually you might resolve that a new job is necessary because all the changes you have tried did not work. Unhealthy: sulk, surf the web, blog about professional burnout from work just hoping that your boss notices, punch someone in the gut, knit… (just making sure people were paying attention).

7. If you were going to make a 5 min. film documenting burnout, what song would you choose for the background music?
Hmmm… this is a good question. To make the short documentary film work, I would have to find a song that has lost its copyright. I am cheap that way. Screw it, I am going with Got the Time by Anthrax (it is a badass cover of a Joe Jackson song).

8. Does corporate America recognize burnout? Does your work have any programs in place to combat it if they do recognize it?
I think corporate America does recognize that burnout is an issue for the modern workplace. It is one of the main reasons for the rapid turn-over in the work place. As for the second part of the question... no comment at this time.

9. Has the Little Man experienced burnout?
Yes, and thankfully it was with Higglytown Heroes. That show can bite my pale blue ass.

10. Do you know anyone who hasn't experienced burnout?
Not that I can think of.

11. What do you do for burnout?
Sulk, surf the web, blog about professional burnout from work just hoping that your boss notices, punch someone in the gut, knit

12. What do you do when feeling burnout at your job?
Sulk, surf the web, blog about professional burnout from work just hoping that your boss notices, punch someone in the gut, knit

13. How do you cope with "Noggin" channel burnout?
Lots of weeping... or has Little Man finally gotten tired of it and gotten on board the HGTVnation?

14. Have you ever experienced friendship burnout? Such as, you know what, this person isn't doing it for me anymore...they're too (fill in blank...whiny, negative, clingy, boring...) What do you do? What do you do???
Slowly disengage. Unless it is so bad you decide to move. Do less and less with the person and only invite them to things that they don’t necessarily like (rearrange your sock drawer, wash your hair, have "things" to do).

15. Some peeps feel burnout when they should be feelin' matrimonial bliss. What remedy(ies) would you suggest?
Typically relationship burnout is due to not paying enough attention to the relationship. I would suggest making sure to spend just couple time with each other. More couple time will either make the matrimonial bliss more blissier or kill the marriage entirely.

16. Were you ever friends with a burnout in high school? I was. I know this surprises you, but I was.
I believe the technical term is a “burner” unless they failed out, then they become “burn outs.” Yes, his name was Geoff, so he really had no other option than the weed.

17. Burnout as distinct from vicarious trauma...discuss
Burnout can happen in many a medium. One can get professional burnout as a librarian. Books books books bored bored bored
Vicarious Trauma happens for care workers of trauma survivors. OH GOD I CAN”T HANDLE ANY MORE CRAP IN MY LIFE

See the difference? Vicarious Trauma is a very specific form of burnout.

18. It's good when a fire burns out. Why not so much with people?
Because there are always more people to cleanse with fire… ummm that wasn’t what you meant was it?

19. What have you ever eaten so much of that you're entirely burned out on it now? In a related question, can one ever burn out on donuts?
I am not sure if there is a particular foodstuff that I just have completely overdone for all of eternity. There are temporary burnout items, but none permanent that I can recall. For the follow up, No. One can never burnout on donuts due to the wide variety of delicious confections on the market.

20. Do you think that there are some people who are prone to burnout on their jobs? Do they just care too much? Have poor boundaries? Care too much? I'm just curious.
I think there are jobs that are prone to burning out people, but those jobs are also filled with people who are prone to selecting jobs that burnout people. It is circular logic, yet eerily correct.


To recap:
Thanks to Liquify.org for finding this site
Many of them make me giggle
Wifey is all meeting upped today
She will get home in time for the bedtime ritual tonight
Or the ritual will not be complete
AND WE MUST COMPLETE THE RITUAL
Sounds more ominous that way
It is a left-over night tonight for dinner
I hope we have left-overs
Or I will be a bit on the hungry side
Listening to Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J
Don’t call it a comeback,
I’ve been here for years…