The Dreaded Weekend Report

Yes, that's right, blame it Paul. He inspired me.

Saturday
- William's first haircut. He wailed, but survived.
- The cheapest trip to Costco EVER. Try to beat $1.35. I dare you.
- I did the thing-that-shall-not-be-named (aka work) at home.

Sunday
- Elizabeth, William, Yvonne, and I went outside to play.
- Flew the kite to the end of the string (and only crashed like Charlie Brown a few times).
- Yvonne pulled some weeds around the well.
- Elizabeth road her bike a little while William tried to pedal the tricycle.
- Visited friends who just had their third child (their second daughter). It's easy to forget how small they are.
- Stopped at the library to check out three books.
- Stopped at Poncho Villa (local Mexican restaurant) for take-out dinner.

Monday
- Yvonne is off today so I got up early and hit the Y. Ran a mile without killing myself (or my legs).
- Got donuts on the way home to make-up for my run.
- Yvonne and kids are now off to town to shop and play.

There you have it. My weekend in a nutshell.

The power of 3

*Caution - There will be swearing in this post.

I've long been a fan of the number 3 (sorry Paulie, I have to use the number, not the word here). Probably because I was born on the 3rd. Or just because I'm weird. Anyway, the number 3 has appeared in many things cool. The Star Wars Trilogy. The Back to the Future Trilogy. The Icewind Dale Trilogy. A "silence of three parts" in The Name of the Wind.

I've been re-reading (listening actually) S. M. Stirling's saga about The Change. Repeatedly there's the idea or concept of "the three-fold law" essentially saying that if you do something good, it will be repaid to you three-fold. Same goes for evil. Kind of like what you dish out, you get back. I've never been a big fan of this "pay it forward" kind of mentality. After all, look what happened to the kid in the movie.

Which brings us my weekend. It sucked. Shopping when you're tired is NOT a good idea. Tired and cranky makes it worse. Tired and cranky in a sea of people, well, you get the idea. Saturday was spent at the local library getting a library card (more on that in a later post), watching Elizabeth learn about money, shopping at the local craft fair (more on that in a second), and shopping in town for groceries, Christmas presents, and the like.

While at the craft fair, there was a dearth of parking spots. So I parked in what one would assume to be a normal spot, behind someone else. When we left, someone decided to park behind me, effectively making my day. And if you happen to be that TN VOL fan, I'm not sorry I pushed your fucking car the few inches I did to remove myself from the parking lot. You're damn lucky I didn't push you to the other side of the fucking lot because I easily could have. So enjoy your early fucking Christmas present and I seriously hope I don't run into you in the next week. I might do something stupid just like you.

Yesterday was even more pleasant. Instead of six hours of sleep, I got four. But the sea of people had ebbed a bit, so I was able to ford my way through. We did get some more groceries for the holidays and I gave a few chuckles at Victoria's Secret. Elizabeth and I went to pick up some free underwear and I decided to shop for a Christmas present. Elizabeth was anxious to leave so she could ride the "rides" in the mall (those little car-thingies that move around). Well, when she heard I wanted to "shop" there, she said "Why daddy? Everything in here is for girls." "Yes sweetie, everything in here is for girls, , but I wanted to shop for something for mommy, not for me to wear." The woman passing by did her best not to laugh out loud. At least not while I was close enough to hear her. Then we had Yvonne losing more of a crown last night. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing that I don't like beer. I might be an alcoholic if I did.

And this morning, things looked brighter. Our dentist was nice enough to update us on the changes made based on our letter (which was based on our poor experience with Elizabeth's teeth). So that made me feel better. And my hygienist was chatty, which was okay, but it still makes me wonder if deaf people talk while at the dentist. Anybody know?

So now that I've let off some steam, I'm starting to gear up for next year and what projects it will bring. I'm brewing one right now, but we'll see how it works out. Meanwhile I'll be counting to ten.

One Abbamondi

Two Abbamondi

Three Abbamondi

Four Abbamondi

Five Abbamondi

Six Abbamondi

Seven Abbamondi

Eight Abbamondi

Nine Abbamondi

Ten Abbamondi

I am now at peace with the galaxy.

Comic #0 - Why am I doing this

That's right, I'm drawing a comic. Why? Because I like comics. I cut my teeth on Marvin, Garfield, For Better or For Worse, Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and many others in my youth. First through the newspaper, then through books. Over the years I've never quite lost touch with these characters. Some have passed on and new ones have arrived to fill in (Foxtrot, Rhymes with Orange, Dilbert, and others).

More recently, I've discovered web comics and online graphic novels. You can see some of my favorites over there on the left but here's a quick rundown of who/what I follow (I'm sure I'll miss a few - apologies to if that includes you).

• 1979 Semi-Finalist (aka Rabid Lamb Comics)
• oharlene's comics
• Fortuitous Twist Comics
• FreakAngels
• garfieldminusgarfield
• High Maintenance Machine
• MyLifeComics
• The Miserable World of Prometheus
• Heroes
• Rabbit and Bear Paws

Some are diary comics, some are fictional, but nearly all are fantastic in so many different ways. Story arcs, humor, action, just so much that makes it readable everyday.

And, with that in mind, two web comic artists I follow (Paul and Kelly) said they were losing a bit of their drive to draw. So I took it upon myself to fill in the gaps for any of their fans while they refill their creative juices. I'll be posting four comics over the next few days. Maybe I will inspire Paul and Kelly to keep drawing just so I won't have to torture you with anymore comics.

Deepest apologies to all. And no, I'm not responsible if your eyes start bleeding.

Queue It's a Small World

I know, I know, it's a very annoying song. But give it a listen/watch anyway while you read this (not to worry, it sounds a little more techno in this version, so it's not all bad).



Let's see, where to start. I'm a member of the Fantasy Book Spot Forums. And as a member, I've noticed a lot of great books get reviewed there. One was The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Since I couldn't resist all the hype, I bought the book. And enjoyed it very much.

So much, I created a Google Alert to tell me when the word "Kvothe" was used online. That's right, I'm that nerdy. So the other day, I got an alert that said "Kvothe" was used in a book review.

A review by Tia at Fantasy Debut, a blog that reviews debut authors. Pretty cool. Rothfuss was a debut author and I loved his book. Abercrombie too. Strout as well. And I'm sure Hines will be included soon. There's just something about fresh meat that speaks to me..... Anyway, I was reading my Google Reader this morning and noticed a new review by Tia on a book called The Stars Down Under by Sandra McDonald.

Being the curious cat that I am, I checked out her blog and read some of her older posts. Hey, wait. What's this!? A cartoon? Neat! Wait, that style looks familiar....Abbamondi?! WTF?!

Yep, that's right. Paul, aka Paulie, Abbamondi, star artist of My Life Comics, is drawing (in color no less) for The Outback Stars.

So, go crash Paulie's little party. Leave him tons of comments about his secret comic life (but be polite of course). I want to see him blush dammit!

Calling in Well-edited-

-edited-

I know, I know, quit whining.

And in other depressing news.....William is slowly recovering from some sort of stomach bug. He couldn't keep anything down and we've had to scale back to pedialyte in small doses. Yesterday he was able to handle some formula in small doses, so we'll see how he does today at the sitter's.

And in more depressing news.....I'm still plugging along in The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin. Reading about kids freezing to death in a blizzard is about as much fun as reading about Nazis killing kids in Night by Elie Wiesel.

In happier news.....I've made some slow progress on scanning more family history (this time a box from Mom). No surprise, there's some depressing stuff in there, but there's also some very interesting reading material. I'm thinking this summer I'll try to keep busy at work by scanning boxes of photos.

In more happier news.....I should be getting some more feedback on a short story I wrote (that's you Paul and Stone). I'll add that to Epheros' and hopefully get a re-write in at some point in the near future (think after April 15th).

And one final depressing story.....because that's my mood right now.....A fellow Edinboro alumni died. Nobody I knew in person, but I recognized from her flights as a kid.

The new TV

So, this weekend's excitement was the new TV's arrival. Dad agreed to purchase it for us on a short term loan. Once the refund arrives, it'll get kicked over to Dad.

And since he was nice enough to help transport the I guess we'll have to let him watch it.

Anyway, here's the "old"setup.



And here's the "new" setup.



* Apologies for the poor photos. The first is Elizabeth's and the second is from my phone. But hey, I did the best I could. Both entertainment centers are roughly the same size. It's just the TV that's changed.

** Paul, the Wii is awesome on here. Played Order of the Phoenix last night and it was almost like being inside the movie. I think if I can get an HDMI cable for it, it might even be better.

My list is better than yours

Since I'm a copy-cat, Paul and I think alike, and because it was a neat idea, here's where I stand on the AFI's Top 100 movies (this is the original 1998 list):

* bold I've seen, red italics I'd like to see

1 Citizen Kane
2 Casablanca
3 The Godfather
4 Gone with the Wind
5 Lawrence of Arabia
6 The Wizard of Oz
7 The Graduate
8 On the Waterfront
9 Schindler's List
10 Singin' in the Rain
11 It's a Wonderful Life
12 Sunset Boulevard
13 The Bridge on the River Kwai
14 Some Like It Hot
15 Star Wars
16 All About Eve
17 The African Queen
18 Psycho
19 Chinatown
20 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
21 The Grapes of Wrath
22 2001: A Space Odyssey
23 The Maltese Falcon
24 Raging Bull
25 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
26 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
27 Bonnie and Clyde
28 Apocalypse Now
29 Rosemary's Baby
30 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
31 Annie Hall
32 The Godfather Part II
33 High Noon
34 To Kill a Mockingbird
35 It Happened One Night
36 Midnight Cowboy
37 The Best Years of Our Lives
38 Double Indemnity
39 Doctor Zhivago
40 North by Northwest
41 West Side Story
42 Rear Window
43 King Kong
44 The Birth of a Nation
45 A Streetcar Named Desire
46 A Clockwork Orange
47 Taxi Driver
48 Jaws
49 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
50 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
51 The Philadelphia Story
52 From Here to Eternity
53 Amadeus
54 All Quiet on the Western Front
55 The Sound of Music
56 M*A*S*H
57 The Third Man
58 Fantasia
59 Rebel Without a Cause
60 Raiders of the Lost Ark
61 Vertigo
62 Tootsie
63 Stagecoach
64 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
65 The Silence of the Lambs
66 Network
67 The Manchurian Candidate
68 An American in Paris
69 Shane
70 The French Connection
71 Forrest Gump
72 Ben-Hur
73 Wuthering Heights
74 The Gold Rush
75 Dances with Wolves
76 City Lights
77 American Graffiti
78 Rocky
79 The Deer Hunter
80 The Wild Bunch
81 Modern Times
82 Giant
83 Platoon
84 Fargo
85 Duck Soup
86 Mutiny on the Bounty
87 Frankenstein
88 Easy Rider
89 Patton
90 The Jazz Singer
91 My Fair Lady
92 A Place in the Sun
93 The Apartment
94 Goodfellas
95 Pulp Fiction
96 The Searchers
97 Bringing Up Baby
98 Unforgiven
99 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
100 Yankee Doodle Dandy