Missing

The printer that I recently bought, as mentioned, is WiFi connected, so I'm able to use it to print from multiple devices. I set up my wife and the younger's phone with the app to print from. This is the image my son used as a test print.

It's a friend of his that he plays Xbox games with, who lives in Arizona. He makes up some random memes from pictures he takes. A while back, his family was out this way for a wedding, and he visited for a couple days and slept in the basement.

I noticed that it was similar to the missing poster for Walter White in season 2 of Breaking Bad, so I updated it with the joke text that Walter and Walter Jr. find on his Aztec, borrowed my son's phone, and took a scan of it for him!!!

I'd forgotten about it, until I needed to do another scan. It's too good to toss, so I taped it up in the laundry room leading to his bedroom. A few of his friends came upon it, and found it to be hilarious!!!

Follow Up Fashion

I'd posted previously about several of the recent additions to my wardrobe, and shortly after either added more, or remembered others that should have been included, so here they are!!!

First up is a thrift store find. It's a real thinker!!! My dad was from Michigan, and had that Yooper accent. I guess since I learned to speak while I was around him, I've got it too, and my boys both have it as well!!! Anyway, you've heard of the Upper Peninsula, but here's the much lesser known Lower Peninsula!!!

Next is a vacation purchase from Yoshi's on the Pier in Avalon from this year's vacation. Nice old school woody and a pre-worn look, as well as Catalina branding going for it (not real visible in this picture, right under the “Beach Paradise” it has “Catalina Island” in white against a fairly white background), in a color that I don't have much of in my wardrobe. In addition the the at-some-point mentioned Stinky's Fish Tacos shirt I got for surrogate son, I also got a real nice coat of many colors for my wife, and a nice Catalina fleece jacket for the younger son. Yoshi's has gotten a good amount from me.

This is one of those long forgotten ones, I think it was 2 years ago I got this one. I've got several In-N-Out Burger shirts, and they usually have a similar look, full color image on the back with nice muscle cars, and the In-N-Out logo and arrow on the front. One time when we were there, they had this one on display, and it's unique with a largely monochromatic image, with only the sign at the top and the palm trees at the bottom in green, and the exhaust in red, both rendered as if they are neon lights.

The front logo is different from the normal as well, with the “California” beneath added. Bought one for myself and one for the younger.

Here's the couple of the previously mentioned thrift store finds from our most recent anniversary trip. First is the 16-bit Rick and Morty shirt. Once again, photos added a little background flair that looks better than the original picture.

And the Lynyrd Skynyrd shirt. Had this picture taken today, as you may have picked up on if you noticed the crutch!!! I do like me some thrift store finds. When we were on Catalina we looked up the thrift store I'd seen on the map before, but had never been to because they have very limited days and hours, and we set out to be there on a day and an hour they were open. We made it, but it was no where to be seen, and checking with a local guide, they confirmed that they were no longer in business. Ah well.

And another recent addition, I have probably 30 or more black T-shirts, but almost none fit anymore. A shame, I like a lot of the designs. A replacement for one here, I like the design and sentiment!!!

And another from way back (happened on a picture of it from our '22 Catalina trip), my wife had given me this one, and once again, I like the design and sentiment!!! Bonus, it also has a nice feel to the fabric.

The Chime Tower Story

Here's one I keep meaning to share, ever since I heard the tale, way back in 2013!!!

That was the year we vacationed on Catalina for the second time, and on that visit, we did a behind the scenes tour of the Casino. Since that was so long ago, I don't have any of my own pictures available (I know ABOUT where they are, likely on the hard drive from my old Toshiba laptop, but I'm in no mood to dig through. Should buy a external HD and consolidate all my pictures!!!), so these are all web-sourced.

The Casino is an amazing classical building, with a theatre downstairs, and a huge dance floor on the top level. Of course, along with a lot of other stuff there, it was built by chewing gum magnate by William Wrigley Jr. If you notice from the ariel view, it has a couple of wings on either side. Instead of having staircases, these wings house ramps to ascend about 12 stories worth of height, the same style as he has at Wrigley Field in Chicago. I had a much better shot showing the ramp, but this is the only image I was able to find.

In a previous post, I had mentioned that the Catalina Buffalo had been brought over for the film adaptation of Zane Grey's "The Vanishing American", and that Zane had lived on the island for a while. He loved fishing, and built himself a Pueblo style house, or more accurately, a compound overlooking Avalon and the sea beyond. He also did some correspondent work for a Chicago newspaper, writing for the society page, as there were several of the rich and famous who visited Catalina.

One evening, the Wriglys were hosting an event at the Casino. Ada Wrigley was coming down one of the ramps, and her shoe hooked on the carpet and she ate it. Zane Grey witnessed it, and the incedent was reported in the newspaper. Naturally, Mrs. Wrigley was not amused. You'll notice there isn't any carpet in the picture of the ramp, she had it removed.

Not long after, Mrs. Wrigley announced that she was presenting a gift to the city of Avalon, the Catalina Chimes Tower, which chime every 15 minutes from 8 AM to 8 PM.

Located directly across from the Zane Grey compound.

Happy Thanksgiving

A couple of food and beverage related pictures of my wife for Thanksgiving!!!

The first is from our anniversary, at a very nice Italian restaurant: "It's the best steak I've ever had!!!"

The second is from a very authentic Mexican restaurant on the Big Island (where we ended up after we couldn't find the barbecue place)

She does not approve of your Mountain Dew Baja Blast.

My Name Is the Knight

There are many influences and inspirations for art. Here's a confluence of a couple.

Some of my favorite new music from last year came from Brian Fallon. In one of the songs, it features the following lyrics:

And it cost me nothing, baby

Nah, nothing more than this

Nothing more than this useless heart in my chest

Nothing that I needed, nothing I regret

Nothing that I needed, and I'd do it all again

I'd do it all again

I thought that was a great lyric, along with the later lines,

Singing, "Ooh, not just yet"

When I go, I'll be going out in flames and fiery wrecks

I decided I would have to come up with some sort of artwork to memorialize it. I didn't have to go far to find it, after all. Don't know how it came to me, but it did.

For as long as I can remember, there's been an oil painting that my dad did back in the late 60's hanging in the living room of their house. A surreal knight from a chess set with a hole broken in the side to reveal his broken heart. I did my take on it on my board at work. I'm pretty pleased with the results. I'll probably eventually add the first set of lyrics to the drawing.

It wasn't until I started adding in the coloring that I realized that the whole thing is heck of a pun.

My Name Is the Knight (Color Me Black)

Creepy Caterpillar

This was pretty cool. I probably can't really take credit for it, but I'm going to anyway!!! Back in October on the Woody Show, Greg was telling about a nightmare he'd had of caterpillars. I sent them over this text:

Well, just last week they posted this video!!!

I thought there was a detail that got edited out where there was a camera inside and Woody had a screen where you could watch inside. I was thinking of trying my hand at doing a drawing of this situation. The other scene I'd like to try to make a drawing of is when Menace fell asleep on the floor before he could make it to the couch, and have his dogs thinking about eating him!!!

Yoshi and The Tire

Down at my parents house swimming today, and my mom had some pool inflatables she'd picked up on clearance. My nephew declared the blue sea monster float to be Yoshi. When one of us had said Yoshi and the tire, we came to the conclusion that, when paired like that, it sounds like a wacky radio duo. The hijinks ensued. We went on for a couple of hours coming up with all kinds of situations for them. There may or may not be more episodes in the future!!!

Self Portrait

I've got a chipboard card that I use on my tray at work, makes for a good writing surface, and a place to stash stuff behind it. Some time ago, I was working with this one guy, and he writes "Great job" on one of the cover sheets left for me. When I got back, I handed him my sharpie and indicated the chipboard sheet, asked him if he could make it more permanent. He did, then underneath it he added the word, "Management". Everyone who saw it was greatly amused.

After a while, it was getting pretty worn, so I made up a new one, and stashed it in the back of my locker. A couple months back, I found it and broke it out again, for the sake of the new fillers. Not long after I had it out, I came across a sticker on the side of a box that said, "Mixed Skid". I thought that random, and put it over the bottom part of my chipboard. Not long after that, another filler put a line tag over the "D" and modified it into a "P", making it into my nickname. I thought that was pretty good, and came back with my cutter knife & modified the "Mixed" into my stage persona & the legend from my bowling shirt, Mix-Master!!! Everyone liked it.

It was pretty worn out when I'd first retired it, and it didn't get better. I decided to make a new one up, and do a visual representation!!!

I've only had it a day, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive!!! I tell people that it's a self portrait, and that my head isn't that big or lumpy in real life!!!

You Can't Take The Sky From Me

Another "Looking Back" post I could do at any time would be from Christmas last year. This won't be that, but in passing I'll mention that I did get a new Ipod touch 5th generation, case for the same, and the DVD set of Firefly. If you're not familiar with Firefly... I dare say you haven't spent near enough time on the interwebs. I've heard of it for years, but other than knowing that it was a short lived sci-fi series that was supposedly THE BEST SHOW EVAR and having seen some pictures of Serenity, (and knowing that it spawned the big screen release "Serenity") knew not much about it. Had my wife wrap it up, and write the tag "To: Daddy & the rest of the House Nerds". Going in cold, I have to say, it truly lives up to the hype!!! I've been taking my time, and am only up to the 6th episode because I'm trying to make it last. I have since picked up "Serenity", too, so I've got that to look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I really like my new Ipod, but I LOVE Firefly!!!

So, if you follow this blog, you know I often put something on my water cup, then use the same cup for a week or so. The last one I did, I put the second part of the line from the episode "Safe" that goes, "Today we were kidnapped by hill folk, never to be seen again. It was the best day ever!!!" Most everyone who saw it was greatly amused.

At the end of last week, I put this design on my cup, from the pilot episode. This has also gotten positive reviews. A few weeks back I came across the pair of toy dinosaurs pictured that have built in voice boxes that recite this dialogue. "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!!!"

In other amusements, I took the most famous Sweet Bro & Hella Jeff comic and modified it a bit & put in on a T-shirt. I took the last two frames off, took a square from the left bottom and repeated it in a stripe on the bottom, and put the last line of text under it, as well as modifying the text in the first two panels to be more work friendly (AND work related!!!) It's a pretty lame comic, but most everyone who reads it laughs like crazy!!! My older boy got a white shirt with red sleeves that he plans to add Dave Strider's broken record logo to. If you're keeping count, that will make six Homestuck themed shirts in our house!!!

Home Improvement

Wanna Go, Punk?

Haha!!! I happened on this a few days back. Not that funny the first time you watch it, but play it over and over, and it gets funnier and funnier!!!

Shaved Pussy

As mentioned in my previous post, our cat had some medical issues. Apparently, tom cats have a rather Hank Hill-esque narrow urethra, and are susceptible to it getting clogged up. We've never had a tom cat before, so this was news to us. Another first, this is really the first time I've ever been in a position to be able to do anything for a gravely ill animal other than having it put down. As also previously stated, 2013 is still an expensive year. Well, he is a beloved member of the family, so I did what must be done. He'd better not make a habit of it.

So there's the shot of his shaved forearm (forepaw???). When we first brought him home, he had a blue bandage around it. My older got a picture of that, it's probably on his tumblr somewhere. On the estimates from the veterinarians they listed Elizabethan collars, AKA the Cone of Shame. For spending more on the kitty than I spent on my wife's latest car, I was looking forward to posting embarrassing photos of that here, but if he ever got one, it was off by the time he was sent home. Likely would not have fit inside the cat carrier with it on. So all I get is a shot of him with the bald spot where the IV was. They said he was rather uncooperative. If you've already got a swollen full bladder and they're trying to catheter your achey urethra, see how cooperative you are!!!

The second shot here is just a cute pose. He was playing one of his favorite games with me when I took the shot, Big Cat in a Cage!!! Bonus, when we got him back, his claws had been nicely trimmed, making the game more enjoyable for the hooman involved.

I have to get some amusement out of this situation. If I don't get it from getting to see him in that cone of shame or from the increased traffic from this posts' title, I'll close with a little joke at his expense:

A cat walks through the double doors of an old west saloon. His front leg is bandaged from the wrist down. He declares, "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw!!!"

Pepper Jack!!!

First time in a while that I've made the time to do some artwork on one of my cups. This one may require a bit of explanation...

At work, there's several different way to get a difficult order. You could get a cut, a big count, something bulky, or something heavy. At some point a month or two back, one of the guys started to announce when he'd get a heavy order by announcing something to the effect of "I got a 122 pounder... With cheese!!!" Kinda like a quarter pounder with cheese, is the idea, if you didn't get that.

So, that became a thing, where a few of the guys would say that. I decided I was going to start calling out all different types of cheese whenever I'd get a bad order. Limburger!!! Gouda!!! Deep fried mozzarella (I particularly liked the way that one rolls off the tongue..)!!!

Then I threw out "Pepper Jack!!!" That struck a chord!!! A play on the term "jacked", and now whenever some of us would get a bad order, we'll say, "I got pepper jacked!!!"

One day I'm working on one of the printers where you're likely to get a difficult order, and I penned this on my cup. Several people got it right off, but some aren't quite clear on what was going on. A couple of people wondered, "what, no funfetti cake???" No, no, I love that stuff. A couple of people thought it had something to do with the Green Bay Packers. Ha ha, closer but no. I'd have used my highlighter and yellowed it some for that.

I used this cup for more than a week.

I like the way the picture I took of it came out, with the shadow and light. This is on the end table I have next to my recliner now, since my older has moved a new desk into the corner here. He's got the best seat in the house, I think.

The connotation attached to pepper jack is unfortunate. I rather like pepper jack.

More Rage (At Work)

Another true story of real life adventures made into a Rage Comic. This time from my work life. Funny how you get into something like the Rage Comics, and suddenly you filter all your experiences through that filter!!! Once again, click on the image & hopefully it'll enlarge enough to be readable.

Mysteries of the Deep

As mentioned in my previous post, when we visited Leo Carrillo State Beach last week, we'd found the lid to a baby grand piano. It worked as an incredibly effective, if somewhat cumbersome and heavy, skim board. I got fairly winded dragging it back to a good start point over and over,



Of course, the underlying question is how did it get there to begin with???
Was it on a ship from whatever the country of origin was that was caught in a storm??? The piano from the Titanic??? (Not likely on that one, I suspect it had a concert grand) A wild party at someone's beach house??? Being an affluent area most anywhere along the beach, could it have been a mishap while a piano was being delivered??? Insurance fraud, disposed of the evidence in the murky depths??? One of the images I found was actually of a mystery piano that appeared in Biscayne bay... I notice the lid is absent in that picture, could it have come loose there and migrated to the West coast???



Since this encounter, I've been considering making a smaller skim board for next time...

A Strange Creature

Here's a little something I've been wanting to do for a while. I'd shot some video on the Road to Hana in Maui when we were on our vacation there. The clips were a bit on the short side, so along with a bit of narration, I've edited them into a somewhat cohesive little movie. Sorry about the crappy audio, but I think you'll get the idea!!!

Totally Looks Like...

One of the Icanhascheezburger affiliate sites is their look alike site. I've used the builder on there to create these!!!



Hopefully all the links stay where they are, and everyone gets to see these.



The Obama one I put one of the images up in a previous post, but I thought these looked better together!!!

If you enjoy these, please go here and here and vote for 'em!!!

Honolulu

On the way home from our second island stay, we had to fly through the airport on Oahu. We never saw any of it except the airport and from the window of the plane. Here's a little video I shot on my netbook of the younger doing his version of the Hallelujah chorus. He'd been doing it for a while, and at the end you can hear the older's exasperation!!!

Bin Twins

Here's an amusing one. A year or so after I started at this job, they hired a stock keeper. One of the other stock keepers (I'll call him G) started telling people he was my older brother. Hooked several people with that tale. He's built similarly to me, but a bit taller. His nose isn't as lumpy as mine, but more rounded. Similar mannerisms. I made a point to point him out to my wife at the Christmas party that year. She said, "He doesn't look anything like you!!!"




Yesterday we got a new supervisor. I can't even tell you how many they've gone through since I've been there, but suffice it to say they don't seem to have a very long shelf life. One of the original supervisors was walking her around introducing her. At lunch yesterday, the new stock keeper (who in the last few months has been made a filler) tells me that the new supervisor came up to him and asked him how he got that nickname, calling him by my nickname!!! His response: "Have you been talking to stock keeper G???"

In My Rearview

I was driving into work one morning last week when this incident took place. It was pretty entertaining to me, and put me in a good mood.

I'll preface this tale a little by saying that I've been trying to keep my speed at 65 or less for the last couple of weeks. It's not always easy to do, but I stay to the right so as not to obstruct traffic. I'm endeavoring to bump up my mileage by doing this, coefficient of drag increasing inversely with increased speeds and all that. Of course, with the warmer weather these days, I've been driving with the sunroof and/or the windows open, likely giving Baby the aerodynamics of a whiffle ball.

This particular morning, I was coming up to the interchange to the last freeway I take. I usually keep a good eye on traffic around me, and am usually aware of who is where, and often know what other drivers are going to do before they do it. I had been driving along with no one behind me for quite a distance, but the next time I looked up, probably around 1/8 mile before the ramp, there's what is billed as a German luxury performance car right on my rear bumper!!! Literally, mere feet from me, a distance better situated to parallel parking than cruising at 65. I maintain my speed, up until the long road of the transition leading to the curve. This section curves ever so slightly to the right, then leads into a 270 degree right turning clover leaf ramp. I let her coast down to around just under 50 coming into that stretch coming into the corner, and my shadow sticks right on my tail.

This has gotten on my nerves a bit, so as I'm starting into the clover leaf, I say, "Follow this, killer", and ever so gently start easing on the throttle. A German luxury performance car should be able to do some cornering, right??? I keep easing on the juice all the way through the corner, never coming close to the limits of adhesion, or even eliciting a squeal from the tires. I come out onto the freeway already exceeding my self imposed limit by ten MPH, and my new found friend is nowhere to be seen!!! I lay off and get the speed back down, and it must have been a quarter mile later before I saw him coming out of the curve!!! Ha!!!

That alone would have been good enough for me, but in the remaining quarter mile before my exit, he gets right back on my ass!!! Dude, I'd be embarrassed. He exits behind me. The street I exit onto has three lanes each way, and I end up taking a left, so if it's clear, I will move over to the left lane. It was, so I did, after checking my area and signaling. This guy does the same, except he never signals. Guys like him almost never do. Half a block later, he cuts back into the middle lane. Come on, you sit higher up than I do, and I can see from down here you ain't getting anywhere any quicker over there!!! Sure enough, a block later he gets back behind me!!! After that, he gets in a left turn lane. It has a signal for the turn, and he starts laying on his horn the second the light changes. Whenever someone around me starts honking, I almost always do so myself. I did. I think he should have left fifteen minutes earlier!!!

By the way, the picture on this post is a modification from a much earlier post, "Headlights in the Mirror", in case you thought it looked familiar!!!