Get The Party Started

I woke up this morning, and as the alarm was going off the guy on the radio was imparting these words for the day:
"Life may not be the party you expected, but while you're there, you should at least dance."

I assume that break-dancing or moshing would be rather unnacceptable, but do whatever makes you happy.


FYI: Happy Birthday to Fred Grandy today. He's 59 years old.
You know... "Gopher" from The Love Boat TV series?

But officer! It's really oregano!

I suspect that Indonesia will soon become the culinary center of the world.
The only recipe I know you can make with it, is brownies.

.... not that I've ever made them, of course.

Spy Tech.... James Bond Style!

I thought these were the shiz-nit when I saw a post about these online.

(Apparently they've been posted by quite a few people, but I just saw them the other day)

I can totally see James Bond using one of these pen-computers to tap into the command center of the place he's trying to break into, and then taking pictures of the secret files and stuff.

Heck, I'd want one just to look cool... but we know that'll never happen.

Unfortunately, these probaby won't be available any time soon.

Mmmm.... yummy!

Yesterday evening (after 'angry-boy and his road rage adventure'), Hotness and I went to Seattle to meet with some friends at one of our favorite restaurants, Pomodoro.

I had Vitello alla Marsala:

Provimi veal scaloppini sautéed with mushrooms and demi-glace sweet Marsala sauce. Served with garlic baked potatoes and seasonal vegetables

And Hotness had Paella:
Risotto, wild prawns, fresh clams, natural pancetta, mushrooms, green peas, olives, onions, garlic, olive oil, and saffron

As always, it was an AWESOME meal, and we look forward to going again soon!

If you live in/near Seattle or plan on visiting sometime soon, you should definitely check this place out.

Angry White Boys

Yesterday I was the victim of "Road Rage".
The event is still bothering me, so I thought I'd try to get it out of my system by writing about it.

On my way into town yesterday morning, I was being tail-gated by some young punk in a blue car. He was so close to my rear that I couldn't read his license plate.
I stepped on my brake to get him to back off, which sent him weaving and screeching to slow down.
Well, that certainly helped to piss him off, as he then proceeded to follow my exact route in town.
I pulled over at a local coffee shop to let him pass and give me his "angry look" and then be on his way. No such luck. As soon as I pulled to a stop, he pulled in right behind me and started getting out of his car.
"Okay, not cool" I thought, so I pulled back into the road and stopped at the stop light. He followed me and again got out of his car. "Yeah, DEFINITELY not cool now" I said to myself.
So, I ran the red light hoping a cop might see it as he got back in his car and followed me out of town.
By this time I called 911 who then put me through to the Highway Patrol.

To cut this story short, the guy followed me out of town, around a round-about intersection and back into town.
All the while I'm on the phone telling them about him racing up to my bumber and waving his middle finger at me. I also noticed he had a baby car seat in the back. "Great! I've got a crazy idiot driving behind with a kid in the car."

I saw a police car coming in the opposite direction, so the guy on the phone told me to try and get his attention. I flicked my lights, but the offiicer totally didn't catch it and passed me.
Behind the cop was an RV a few car lengths back, so in desperation I made a HARD left-hand turn behind the cop and in front of the RV. The idiot behind couldn't make the turn in time, (thank goodness for a nimble car!) so I managed to get out of the parking lot I turned into, back onto the road and going in the opposite direction of my pursuer.

I didn't see him after that, so I either lost him or he gave up.

The problem is; There's only a couple of main roads from my house to downtown and I live in a heavily redneck-populated area, so my chances of running into him again are fairly certain... especially since I drive a distinctive car.

This event has my stomach in knots, kept me from getting a decent sleep and is bothering me still today.
For him... he probably went home, had a few beers and told his buddies how he scared the pants of some dumb yuppie and has by now forgotten about it.

It makes me wish that enforced sterilization was mandatory in some cases. We don't need any more stupid, young punks in the world like that one.

Comics Of Import

im·port (IM-port)

–as a verb (used without object)
to be of consequence or importance; to matter.

(loosely borrowed from dictionary.com)

So.... I wanted to recommend a few comic books that are not only good to read, but also have some sort of societal importance. Also, they use the graphic medium of comic art to convey images that are important to the story itself.

First up: MAUS

You might have heard of this work by Art Speigelman, who put illustrations to the events that happened to his father during WWII and Nazi Germany.

I had known about MAUS for quite some time, but never read it until just a few years ago. Ironically enough, I actually read it on Holocaust Rememberance Day (I didn't plan that, it just worked out that way) and therefore had a particular impact on me.

He uses mice to represent the Jews and Cats for the Nazis, as well as other animals for the other nationalities.

Take a look:

The whole book is very compelling and hard to put down.

If you are into history, and particularly WWII history, this is an incredible story told by a concentration camp survivor to his son.

Next: The Plot

This was one of Will Eisner's last works that he did. He spent several years researching the story and illustrating the pages before he ever collected it and had it published.

It was finished just one month before he died.

It details the history of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and how they came about and their continued use as hate-literature today.

The "Protocols" were used heavily by the Nazis and continue to be a source of so-called "truth" by other anti-Semitic groups to this day.... despite being a complete forgery!

I'm not giving away the story by saying that, because the book details how and why they continue to be used no matter who dis-proves them.

These next three books are from the same author / artist: Joe Sacco

Joe travels to the places he writes about to get the stories he later illustrates and publishes.

Palestine:

Here he travelled to Israel and Palestine, talking to the people who live on both sides of the Occupied Territories. He doesn't make a case for one side or the other, but rather puts the differing viewpoints and prejudices out for everyone to read and try to understand why the violence happens over there.

Safe Area Gorazde:

Travelling to war-torn Bosnia during the 1992-95 conflict, Joe reports on the conditions and people living in this town that didn't get a lot of "press-coverage" compared to Sarajevo.

And The Fixer:

Another story that took place durning the Bosnian War.

This one chonicles the life of a man named Neven who arranges (or "fixes") things for people for money as a way of surviving in Sarajevo.

Yet another book that chronicles the Bosnian War,

Fax From Sarajevo:

Comic legend Joe Kubert tells the story of his friend Ervin who was trapped in Sarajevo, along with his family when the war broke out. The only way they could communicate to the outside world was via faxes, and through these Joe put the book together so Ervin's story would not be lost.

Lastly, here is a rather recent and little-known book by artist / author, Miriam Libicki who tells a semi-autobiographical story about her life in the Israeli army.

She is currently living in British Columbia now, but travels all over promoting her self-published book, Jobnik!.

I had the pleasure of meeting her in Seattle at the Emerald City Comic Con, where I picked-up all her current issues. The story mostly deals with her trying to fit in with her peers and performing her duties in the military, which is an interesting change of pace from the previous books (which deal more directly with war and it's victims).

It also talks about people's attitudes in a war-type scenario, like when they are on leave-of-duty but are told not to carry ANY identification on them to trace them as Israeli soldiers so they wouldn't be targets.

Anyway, just a few books I recommend if you're looking for something that doesn't fall under the "super-hero" shadow of comic books. They are all based on past or current events, so they are worth reading from a historical standpoint.

I think they should be required reading in school, so that students have a different viewpoint than just what they hear and see on TV.

I hope you read them and enjoy them. I did.

Night & Day Watch

Just got back from going to Seattle and watching a movie at the Neptune Theater in the University district (or U-district for you hipsters out there).

My buddy Doug & I, met up with our friend Mike and his cousin Jana to go see "Day Watch", which is the sequel to "Night Watch".

These are both Russian films about the battle of Good vs. Evil. Or in this case, Light vs. Dark.
It's a very interesting premise, in that both sides have the same types of characters on them.
(Meaning; You have "good vampires" and "good shape-shifters" etc..., as well as bad ones.)
The stories are both very engaging and the special effects are pretty fantastic.
Almost better than a lot of Hollywood films that have been coming out lately.

Supposedly the these are just two films of a trilogy (what film isn't part of a "trilogy" these days?), but after watching this one, I liked how it wrapped-up loose story threads from the earlier film. You can watch both of them and the story would be complete, so I'm interested in how they are going to make a third movie after this.

I typically don't like to watch subtitled films, 'cause I'm sort of a slow reader and I don't want to miss the action going on in the movie. These, however, I found easy to read and still follow the action without missing anything. Plus, some of the dialog is integrated into the action. (For instance, when somebody knocks at the door, the dialog jiggles a bit. And one time a character is swimming in a pool and suddenly gets a nosebleed when he starts to hear a voice. The dialong is spelled out in the blood and disapates into the water.)

On the DVD for "Night Watch" you have your choice of the original Russian-speaking version with subtitles, or an English-speaking version. I watched both and found the Russian version better. (In the English version, they seem to mumble a lot and I can't make out what they are saying sometimes)

Highly recommended to watch.
What can I compare them to, you ask?
Well....
W-A-Y better than "Underworld"
Darker than the "Lord Of The Rings" films
Kick-@$$ special effects like the "The Matrix"

Let me know if you like it.....

Speed Racer returns?

I remember watching "Speed Racer" when I was a young and highly impressionable wee little lad. I can't say it's one of the shows my mind recalls whenever friends or aquaintances talk about cartoons or TV shows from our youth.
It just didn't make that much of a mark on me. Sorry.

But apparently the retro-cool factor has been amped-up to 11 now, since it's getting ready for a whole bunch of new (that's right, NEW) episodes on Nicktoons.


I like the car. This one might be pretty good. I'll wait and see....

Back on Tuesday

I skipped a few days.... sorry.
On Tuesday I spent the day with my good friend Doug and his daughter (my niece) Natalie.
We went to the Seattle Aquarium, where tons of pictures we taken and lots of merriment and mirth took place.
Here she is checking out the fish:

And the two of us:

(Man! I look like I'm about to put her in a cassarole or something. What a creepy look on my face.)

We hopped her up on sugar ('cause it's good for growing kids!) while we were at the aquarium and then couldn't get her to take a nap. I wonder if the two were related?

Later, back at their house, Doug & I grabbed some lunch (more Mexican at Ixtapa) and watched "Ghost Rider" extended edition and then scanned in all my larger artwork (hence the earlier post about it). You know, for all it's cheesy acting, I actually liked "Ghost Rider" and the extended version adds some nice character depth to it.

Here's a couple more pictures from that day (after we got back)

She is just a cutie!

That's all for now. Nothing terribly exciting happening. Hope I didn't bore you.

Update Time

I just added some art to my Comicartfans.com page.

Thanks to my good friend Doug, who has a really big scanner, we were able to get the big pieces online.

But... since I'm technically not allowed to post prints (only ORIGINAL art) on the Comic Art Fans site, I'm posting a few of the other cool things I have here.

(I know.... I can see you're just too overjoyed about it)

The first one is the "Strangers in Paradise" anniversay print. I got it directly from Terry and Robyn Moore when I emailed them about purchasing some original art from them. They gave that to me as a bonus. (They are such wonderful people!)

The other two were given to me by my good friend Jim. He was in New York on business the same week that the wrap party was happening, and picked both of these prints up for me 'cause he knew how much of a fan I am of Terry's work. (Thanks again Jim!)

Heh heh! Naked women and monkeys! Always a good combination!

I picked this print up at one of the smaller comic book conventions in Seattle quite a few years ago. The artist is Aaron Lopresti and he's done a lot work in comics.

A couple of rock posters done up by comic book artists.

The first is by Dave Johnson, and although I wasn't at the show on the poster, I did go that concert when it came to Washington at the Gorge. It was great. Lot's of Van Halen songs by the former lead singers.

The other poster is by Tera McPherson. I met her at one of the earlier Emerald City Comic Cons that I volunteered at a few years back. She was a very sweet person. I had the pleasure of seeing her again at Flatstock when they were at Bumbershoot in Seattle two summers ago.

Hmmm... that's all I have for now.

Go check out the rest of my comic art (if you haven't already) by clicking the link for it on the left.

Or click here if you're too lazy --> Comic Art Fans

Be good 'til I get back.

Later......

Feliz la Cumpleanos!

Today was Hotness' birthday (she turned 29.... AGAIN).

We both spent the day avoiding work, doing stuff around the house and going shopping.

I bought her a few more business-related clothes (more on that in another post) and then we went to the gym, and later out to a Mexican dinner at Ixtapa in town.

I excused myself for a moment and went up front to let the waiter and hostess know it was her birthday. So after dinner (which was muy bueno) they came out and sang "Happy Birthday" to her while she wore the sombrero.

She was suitably embarrased, but managed a coy little smile for the camera... as you can see.

Needless to say, a good birthday was had. Everybody was happy.

To Fight the Unbeatable Foe

Amazing Spider-Man issues # 229 & 230
This was a GREAT two-issue story with Spider-man duking it out with the X-men's foe, Juggernaut.

In a nutshell, Madame Web (a psychic) had a vision of a hulking creature coming to abduct her and called on Spider-man/Peter Parker to come save her.
Being the good-guy that he his, Spidey goes off to find and stop the Juggernaut before he can get to Madame Web.

In the process, he gets the holy, living crap beat out of him.
When we leaps onto the Juggernaut, he gets scraped off like dog-crap on your shoe as Juggy storms through a building.
Spidey takes a wrecking ball and swings it into Juggs, who just bats it away and into a building that collapses onto Spider-Man.
And so on....

The coolest thing, in my opinion, was when Spidey drove a fuel truck into the Juggernaut in an effort to stop him in his tracks. I mean, c'mon. An exploding fuel truck would slow down Superman for bit, right?
Yeah... check this out:

Juggernaut sez: "This won't hurt me!" "Nothing can!"

Spider-man is unable to stop him, but when they get to Madame Web's place, she passes out. Juggernaut thinks she's dead, and gets angry that he came all that way for nothing and storms off. Spider-man gets pissed and goes after him.

Eventually Juggs gets trapped at a conctruction site and Spidey leaves him there hoping that's the last we see of him (you, know... for like a couple of issues at least).

I loved this story as a kid and going back over it now, it is still one of my favorite Spider-man stories. It was only two issues long but had a metric butt-load of action.

I wish more comics were this good with fewer issues, rather than the mini-novels being written today.

If you find these in a quarter-bin, it would be well worth picking them up.

Paranoia

Last night Hotness and I went to see the Fantastic Four movie. (I had already seen it, but she hadn't)
We got there just in time to get our tickets, find a good seat and catch the trailers, without having to sit through all the boring ads and pop-culture trivia they display on the screen while you're waiting.

There was a guy that bought his ticket just before I got ours. Nobody really noteworthy, just some guy going to the show at the last minute.

We found our seats about halfway in the row and about two-thirds back from the screen.

The guy who got his ticket before me, picked a seat in the same row, about 4 or 5 places to my left. No biggie. It was a good row to see the movie without being either too close or too far back.
What was weird was, soon after he picked his seat he put his jacket and backpack(?) on the seat next to him and then disappeared.
Hotness noticed him being gone first, and I thought it was odd. Why would you leave your stuff in an un-occupied seat for an extended period of time amongst strangers?
I kept watching for him to appear with popcorn or a soda, but several minutes went by.
Then after the trailers started he showed back up without any snacks, sat down and that was that.
For about 2 minutes... then he left again.

This was starting to creep me out. Was he some nutjob who planned to set off a bomb? Or just just weird ADD person who can't sit still (and if so.. why go to a movie?)?
I waited for a couple of minutes and then left to either see if he was still in the theater or get an usher to check out what might be left in his seat.
As I got to the doors of the theater, there he was text messaging on his cell phone. I pretended to be looking for somebody else and went back to my seat followed by him shortly after that.

Nothing much transpired after the movie started and got under way. But about half-way into it, he got up and left again for a few minutes. Came back, sat down and finished the movie.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is this...
It used to be that this type of stuff was just unusual and annoying. But now we live in a world where we second guess almost every gesture or glance and document any odd behavior.
It's sad and pisses me off that we can't just go somewhere and have a good time without having to keep one eye on everybody and everything around us.

Which takes me back to being in Bellevue the other day. I know that I'm not going to freak out and attack someone, but the people at the mall don't know that and therefore were uncomfortable with my presence. But why? Because I didn't look or act like them.
And so I was a victim of the same suspicions I had at the theater last night.

What a drag.

Oopsy daisy!

On Friday around noon, I got this picture on my phone....



It appears that someone made what is technically called.... a boo-boo.

This happened down in Kent, WA where Hotness works.
Somebody was unloading pallets of stuff out of the truck but hadn't remembered to properly support the front end. After they had taken out quite a bit of the pallets that were in there, it got unbalanced and fell forward.... with somebody still inside!
Luckily he got out safely and wasn't hurt, but it's pretty funny that it happened.

I guess when you do the same type of thing over and over, it's easy to forget the details.

We drove past her work on Saturday and they had fixed it. The trailer was level again.
_____________________________________________________

That evening after work I got together with a couple of good friends and had dinner at Cafe Veloce in Totem Lake. A good time and great food.
I used to work with both of them, but they've moved on to different jobs, so I don't get to see them as often as I'd like. Still we had fun and it was good spending time with them.

Then afterwards, I went and saw the new Fantasic Four movie "Rise of the Silver Surfer".
I really liked it. I thought it was way better then the first FF movie, which was mediocre in my opinion.
I was bummed that (SPOILER ALERT! right-click and hi-light to read) Galactus wasn't the purple-clad, helmeted, giant being us fanboys know and love but I was happy that they portrayed the Surfer like he is (was) in the comic. A conflicted soul, just doing his job.
I was also a bit put-off by the Dodge logo that they put on the Fantasti-car. LAME!!!
We saw an ad for Dodge right before the movie that showed the F-car and how "Dodge was the only maker trusted by the Fantastic Four..." blah blah blah. I said, "If they have a Dodge emblem on the car in the movie, I'm gonna puke." Well, they did. But I didn't.
Anyway, overall I really enjoyed it. I went in with very low expectations and came out pleasantly surprised. (Much like I did with X-Men 3. Not a great movie, but enjoyable)
______________________________________________________

Yesterday Hotness and I went to Bellevue in the morning so she could get her hair cut.
On the way (not a more than a mile from the house) I hit a bird. I saw it dive in front of the car, and as I thought "Well, hmmm. I don't think I hit it", I heard a 'THUD' and a poof of feathers in the back widow. It must have flown under the front and got hit by my back tire. Yuck.

While I was waiting for her as her hair was getting cut, I went to Bellevue Square Mall.
Talk about up-scale. I don't go Bellevue unless I have to, because people there are way too uptight and snooty.
For example: I was dressed in (CLEAN!) jeans, a grey T-shirt, sandals and a fleece jacket. I had my cell phone clipped on my pocket. If I were in my home town, I would be looking like I was dressed-up, but in Bellevue... people actively avoided me. *
I was waiting for an elevator and a girl walked up, saw me in the corner of her eye and turned to take the stairs. (Okay, maybe she was just being safe. I am an "unknown stranger" so I didn't let it bother me)
While in the mall, more than one person moved to the other side of the walkway to avoid passing me too closely. One woman even shifted her purse to the other side of her as she went by. I wanted to jump at them and go "Oogie-boogie!" just to see their reaction, but I probably would've been hauled off to jail.
Perhaps I had a sign on me that said "Watch Out! I kill birds!"

After her hair was done (and I had scared half the people at the mall), we drove to Bremerton to see my mom and her husband.
They've recently had a couple of baby horses added to their herd, and have been asking us to come and see them. So we did.
They look like smaller versions of big horses.
I kid!
They were cute, and it was nice to get to see them while they are still small.
Plus I don't get over to my mom's that much, so any chance to visit (however brief) is nice.

We got home late, around 11:00 p.m. or so, and went to bed.
Pretty long day for not really doing anything exciting... except scare people in Bellevue.

* I should note that the mall wasn't officially open yet. It was around 8:30 a.m., so there were only a few people there at the time. Mostly 'mall-walkers' and employees getting to work.

Smile Power Day

Today is Smile Power Day.

We've all heard that it takes more muscles in our face to frown than it does to smile... but I prefer the excerise.

Heck! There's gotta be SOMETHING to be smiling about.
It's Friday
For some of us, it's payday
And for me personally.... I'm starting a 4-day weekend tomorrow!

First Time

I remember my first time pretty vividly.

I was young, maybe about early teens.

I really didn't know what to expect, but after it happened.... wow, I was in love.

We were travelling across country at the time. Taking the Northern route in the summer heat.
We stopped in Montana for some gas, a bite to eat, and a chance to stretch our legs for a bit.
I wanted to go to the minimart next to the gas station and look around for a bit.

And that's where it happened.

I fell in love with comic books for the first time.

(What? You were expecting something naughty? Shame on you!)*

It was "Amazing Spider-Man" # 238

This was the first appearance of the Hobgoblin, and the very first comic that I started to 'collect'. I read this issue over and over during the rest of our trip. It came with an insert for the temporary tattoos (that I put on to be, you know, cool and stuff).
The cover was rolled and creased and bent, and isn't worth much money if I were to sell it, but it was the very first comic that meant something to me.
I bought the next issue to try and get the end of that story, but it was also "...to be continued".
So I bought the one after that. Same thing.
In the mean time, I started reading other books and getting into those stories as well.

But "Amazing Spider-Man" has alway been my first, true love.
I don't think I felt a real connection to the character or anything, I just liked the story and the pictures. It made me want to read more.

Now here I am, 25 years later and still reading comic books.
I've got long-boxes and short-boxes all over my office (not to mention a couple or so more outside the office... much to The Hotness' constant requests to "do something about them").

"Amazing Spider-Man" #238 will always hold a special place in my collection as the "First One".
I'm a geek. What can I say?

(*Actually, my 'first time' was pretty traumatic, over w-a-y too quickly, and a memory I'd rather forget about)

Ukulele Goodness!

Almost everyone in my family is musically talented... except for me. Of course.
But I'm trying to change that by learning to play an instrument.
I chose the ukulele, because it only has four strings (and I'm not very coordinated to handle more than that right now) and it's a funny instrument which I think is a good association for me.
I can do one chord really good and I'm working on the second one, but that's about all the farther I've gotten in learning so far. (I think I'll need to pick up a 'teach yourself the ukulele' DVD one of these days)

In the mean time, here are some cool uke clips.....


This was my original inspiration to learn the uke. I love that movie and I really like that song.
(... now if I just get Hotness to learn the cornet....)




okay, seriously, this guy is good.




And this is probably more what I'm going to aspire to when I get better.

I'll just be chillin' around the campfire with my homies when I bust out the ukulele and crank out some monster rock ballad.
... 'cause that's just how I roll. Yo.

Knock Knock

Cops raid wrong place, kick man in groin
“When (they) went to the right unit, they said it was empty.”
Gee, no kidding.
I wonder what tipped them off they might be next.
So what exactly do you say to somebody after that?
I don't think a simple "Oops, my bad" is going to work.

Popular Seattle Celebrity Dies

I was sad to find out that our newest member in the elephant exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, had died of (as yet) unknown causes.
Hansa was just 6 years old, and seemed to be doing well.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Seattle Times

(picture at left from the Seattle Times website)

We went to see her few years ago after watching a video of what the zoo had tried to do to get her mom pregnant. It was quite an ordeal, but was such a happy story when she was born.

I think we saw her after she had turned one-year old but before she was two, so was still quite small and extremely playful. (I have some pictures somewhere, but can't find them at this time)

She'll be missed.

____________________________________

Well, not to take a tragic loss and turn it on it's ear, but the GF and I finally upgraded or phones.

I had resisted getting one in the first place, but she talked me into it and turned out that I used it as much (if not more) than she did.

The ones we had were getting kind of ghetto, so we got some fancy new ones.

I got an LG VX9900 (a.k.a. LG enV)

2.0 Megapixel camera, bluetooth capable, and plays music that I can load from my computer on it's S-T-E-R-E-O speakers my friend. Rock on!

GF (from now on, she'll be referred to as "The Hotness") got a Motorola KRZR.

Her's was red, but I couldn't find a decent picture online of the red one.

It's bluetooth enabled as well, and a pretty sharp little phone in it's own right.

(I guess everything is Bluetooth now, but I've had my ghetto phone for so long it's new to me.)

Little-known Facts About Me

1) I like peanut butter & bologna sandwiches
2) My favorite number is "8"
3) I used to be in a professional clown group when I was around 4 years old.
(I only got to ride in the float and throw out candy, but I got to wear make-up and had an outfit)
4) I like Samantha Fox (the singer from the 80's)
5) My first kiss came from a preacher's daughter (and she was younger than me)
6) I modeled clothes when I was around 5 or 6 for the Goodwill in Seattle (as part of a back-to-school promotion)
7) I entered some flower arrangements in the State Fair and won two 1st place ribbons and two second place ribbons on the first try
8) I didn't have a driver's license until I was 19, and I didn't get my first car until I was 24
9) I like doing phone surveys
10) My grandfather taught me how to cast a fishing pole, but I never got the chance to 'go fishing' with him
11) I learned to ride a bicycle on April Fool's Day
12) I tried out for "Teen Jeopardy" when I was 17
13) When I was really young, I used to be terrified of "The H-bomb" and prayed every night that it wouldn't get dropped on me (I didn't know what it even was, but I heard about on TV)
14) I would love to go into space, but I never wanted to be an astronaut
15) If I could have a super-power, my 1st choice would be to fly, my 2nd choice would be to climb walls, and my 3rd choice would be the power to move faster than light

There's other stuff, but it's not anything I care to share at this time. Perhaps in other post........

Day One

Okay, after kicking around the idea of starting a blog (for like, a year or two) I finally did it.
Now... what smart-a$$, amusing content can I pour forth upon the masses?
How 'bout a manifesto (of sorts)?

1) I will try not to talk about my work unless appropriate
Those who know me, know what I do and how I feel about it so no point beating a dead horse.
And those who don't know me couldn't care less, so why bother?

2) This is not a political or religion platform
While the topic of either may present itself from time to time, neither one is my agenda.

3) I will try not to bore you
(Well... I can't promise you I won't have an off day now-and-then, but I'll do my best)

I guess that's not much of a manifesto, but good common sense.
C'mon.... give me break! I just started this thing. I gotta 'work into it' before it starts getting any good.