Gizi & Omega

That's the best photo I could get so far today of the two kitties. Our building is having worked done on the outside, right next to our unit and so both cats are a bit freaked about the noise. They won't even be out here in the living room with me right now because of the noise.

The short haired one to the left is Gizi. We've had her since November of 2006 and we think she's about a year old right now. She has a cold, poor thing. Last night when I went to the bathroom, she followed me in to get some lovin's and sneezed icky snot all over my foot. As you can see, she still looks like a kitten and we think she won't grow any bigger than her size now.

The one to the right is Omega. See all that pretty red hair? She is the first kitty I've known to have really red hair, not the dumb orange (every orange kitty I've had, I haven't gotten along with). Her fur is amazing AND she doesn't shed much.

She's starting to know her name but damned if she'll come when you call her. Gizi, on the other hand, keeps hoping for food or play when you call so she'll run to you every time.

I think Gizi's mine and Omega is Bratworse's but we'll see. Right now, Omega's been sleeping next to her and Gizi next to me but that might change in the future.

I'll try and get more pictures of the two to post up here.

Raiders Fan, Not a Football Fan

"You're only a Raiders fan, not a football fan like me," declared Bratworse to me at the end of last season. I tilted my head for a further explanation. "You only care about the Raiders and you don't care to watch football unless it's Raiders related."

I wanted to disagree with Bratworse. I wanted to declare myself a true fan of football but you know, she's right. I figured this out a few weekends ago when I flew down to Long Beach for DanceTeach's graduation. On the flight back via JetBlue, two PBA (Professional Bowling Association) tournaments were on ESPN and ESPN Classic. The first one was Professional Women's and the second one was a tourney from 2005 which featured a showdown between Pete Webber and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Throughout the flight I was fascinated and cheering in my seat for every strike, groaning for every missed opportunity and just loving the experience. When I got off the plane, I said to Bratworse, "I'm a bowling fan - I like to watch ALL bowlers. And you're right, I'm just a Raiders fan, not a Football fan."

Being a Raiders fan, last season was particularly hard. But with a new coach, the number one draft pick JaMarcus Russell, with Moss gone, it's hard not to feel hope rekindling again. It's only about 6-7 more weeks until pre-season and honestly, I can't wait.

Why We Went to War

Damn, but boy howdy, did Atrios (Duncan Black) totally nail the many varied reasons for us going to war. Hope he doesn't mind but I'm going to quote the first part of it and you can go there to read the rest of it.

The answer is unknowable because there isn't one. There are a variety of powerful actors who have different motives. It's as true, if not more true, for the continued occupation as it was for the initial invasion.

George Bush started the war because Saddam tried to killed his Dad and because he wanted to prance around on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit. He later got stubborn about the whole thing when those mean Democrats started criticizing him, and he began to buy into the transformational rhetoric due to his increasing messianic bent. And, now, it's about his "legacy."

Dick Cheney started the war because of his insatiable lust for the black stuff. Dick Cheney keeps us in Iraq because of his insatiable lust for the black stuff.

Don Rumsfeld went to war to prove that he could achieve any military result with 3 marines, an armed aerial drone, and his left pinky. He stayed in Iraq because George Bush told him to and because he still needed to prove his awesomeness...

Democrats went to war because they were scared of losing their elections. They stay there because they're scared of losing elections.

And these are only some of the reasons why we're fucked in Iraq.

Waaaaay Too Cool

Found this video through BoingBoing and just had to share with you all.

This guy, Eggman913 made a video of about 500 pieces of artwork, all featuring women's faces, morphing into each other. I spotted Da Vinci, Picasso, Monet, Mucha (two of them), and others I recognized but didn't know.

I want this as a screen saver now!



Enjoy this as much as I did!

Assessing the Kitty Situation

Last Saturday, we passed by the Oakland Animal Shelter and looked at each other before screeching to a halt. Went in and looked at three kitties. One was a lover but she was also a major shedder. Knowing Bratworse’s inability to deal with loose strands of hair, I gently suggested another. Bratworse was insistent on the lover and only when we discovered that she hadn’t been fixed yet and we had to wait a week did she change her mind. We had wanted the kitties used to each other before we went away.

Another one we looked at was a playful playful kitty. The animal shelter now does this really cool thing by tagging their cages with personality tags. This one had Party Animal underlined three times (the other one, the lover had "Follower"). While we thought it would be a good match for Gizi who is also this party animal, we thought the havoc wreaked upon our place might be too much.

We instead chose one whose fur is SOFT SOFT SOFT! I thought Ashley’s fur was soft. This one has Ash's beat but not by much. We’re calling her Omega (Meg for short – she reminds me of Disney’s Hercules’ Meg). It turned out to be a really good choice.

We had thought Gizi would be an alpha cat but it turns out that Gizi’s just a playful oblivious kitty. (Bratworse says Gizi's like me, always wanting to play, often oblivious.) Omega’s got a stronger personality and will nudge Gizi out of the way for food. Omega is more playful by herself but will let herself get chased around by Gizi. We’ve been letting them out into the living room when the construction workers weren’t there but when they gather in the bedroom at night, we lock them in. Last night was the first night they had the freedom to roam the entire condo in the middle of the night and boy howdy, am I glad. Last night, I don’t think I woke up once to a cat for the first time in 6 weeks.

I can't wait to post pictures of our new family member.

Lack of Political Posts

Don't know if you've noticed but I've been slacking in the political posts department lately. First off, being without an internet in the evenings really has hampered how much I post. Secondly, the main topics in politics these days are the U.S. Attorney scandals, the immigration reform bill, 2008 presidential candidates and of course, the Iraq War.

I haven't posted much on these topics because I'm realizing in the U.S. Attorney scandal, either you get it or you don't. And if you don't, you don't want to really know. People who don't think that this affair was scandalous will tell me, "What's wrong? They work at the pleasure of the president and all presidents fire U.S. attorneys."

Basically these are the types of people who believe in slave labor - where else can people be removed without justification? In a meritocracy such as the U.S., there really should be NO instances of firing due to political reasons. Trying to explain why the firing of these 9 attorneys (yes, I said 9 and that's cause I DO keep up with the news even though I'm not blogging about it) just fires me up until I see red, so why bother?

I don't know much about the immigration bill so I won't post about it.

As for presidential candidates, I'm not passionate about any of the choices right now so I'll wait until after the primaries to really start making noise.

And the Iraq War? Until Cheney, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice are behind bars for their involvement in the run-up to the war, why else bother? It certainly looks as if people in congress (the majority that is) are too worried about getting back into office to vote against the war.

I'm going back to work on my WoW chars. It's certainly more fun that looking at the future of this country.

Soooo Close Now

Well, we got the internet hooked up on Saturday, as well as the new iMac. Also new to the house is our cat Omega who has the softest fur I've ever felt on a cat, even softer than my beautiful Ashley's. I'll put up photos of Gizi and Omega later.

The last bits of the construction should finish today or tomorrow. Yay! Then new windows time! WOOT! I've been wanting double paned windows for my place since I got it and they should be installed in the next few weeks.

I will be so happy when all this is done and we can start tossing out things. It's sooooo close now.

Praise for M.B. Jessee

Bratworse had done a wonderful sponge paint job in the living room and of the walls affected by the flood of last year, one of them had the faux decorative wall paint on it. So we hired M.B. Jessee to paint this wall to match the other walls.

Well, because the job has taken so long, and the house is in complete disarray, the paint that was used as the base for that wall, was completely wrong. It was waaaay too pinkish (we have a blue/purple motif throughout the living room).

Brian Sweet (sp?) is M.B. Jessee's faux painter and oh man, did he do wonders!

He had called up saying umm, did you know that the base paint is waaaay off and we told him yes, we knew it, but please just do the best in matching the wall with the rest of the unit.

Expecting the worst, we came back to the house yesterday to inspect it and lo and behold, we were blown away. The result is only slighty more pinkish than the original. We are ECSTATIC!

So, if you are in the Oakland/Alameda/Bay Area and need a good decorative painter for your house/office/etc.? Hire Brian Sweet of M.B. Jessee! Outstanding work!

Coming Together

Well, the progress on our house is coming together nicely. I'm picturing some time next week being able to enjoy our living room again. Of course, this is dependent on whether we ge† flooded again. Can you believe that during this past year, nary a word from Shirker? Can you imagine the type of lessons this type of parent might teach? No wonder people like our president abound.

Well, over the next month, we should have our double-paned windows as well. My new iMac is in a box waiting to be opened and after the dust has settled, we'll be getting our new kitty too.

I'm just a tad impatient right now. There's so much work ahead still but at least starting next week, we won't be cooped up in one room anymore.

AND it's the three-year old's birthday this weekend. We'll be partying with a bunch of rug-rats and screaming 2-3 year olds. Should be most excellent!

Life just can't be better.

Suggestions of Plotlines for Women Super-Heroes

I occasionally go over to read some blogs about comics like "The Roar of Comics" or "Written World". Today, I found out Marvel is putting this cover on the sales rack.Way to go Marvel. [NOT!]

Since some (most) comic book writers seem to be at a loss to provide good plot lines for the women in comics, here are some suggestions as to what not to do.

1) No rape. C'mon writers, you call yourselves writers? If you are writing too many books a month and have to resort to this as a plot device, then you need to give up one of your monthly books. No matter how well you might be able to do it, it's been done - over and over and over again.

2) No rape survivors. Again, stop being lazy. If you want your heroine to survive something, survive a heinous mother situation. That's at least a tad more realistic.

Covers like this one above, makes me REALLY glad I'm out of the business. With that and MJ Watson below, Marvel Comics shows how their audience is made up of prepubescent angry men who can't get dates. Grow up already.

After 29 Years, It's Celebration Time!

My best pal, Danceteach just graduated from Cal State Dominguez Hills with a Summa Cum Laude in Interdisciplinary Studies. I'm pretty sure he graduated high school in 1978. Needless to say, (but I'm saying it here for the record anyway) I'm dang proud of him.

Now, I'm pushing him to go to law school. It's been a constant yet far-off desire of his since high school. Now, it's not that far-off so why not go for it?

His only two (supposed) obstacles? He'll be 52 when he graduates and $100,000 in debt. Pffft I say to all that.

I hope he does go for it and I'll be attending his law school graduation in 2012.

Where's the Live Q&A for Dan Froomkin?

Aware that it's Thursday, I wondered whether I missed a live Q & A with Dan Froomkin, auther of my favorite column in the Washington Post. So I check the transcripts and lo and behold, Dan Froomkin hasn't had a Live Talk since March 28th.

WTF?!?

Washington Post, give this man his Live Q&A's back. He's the best thing you have.

[Added]

So I dropped Dan Froomkin a line asking if his Live Q & A's are still around since I couldn't find them on the archive page and [JUMPS AROUND LIKE A FAN GIRL] OMG! He wrote back!

Hi and thanks for pointing that out. There was a glitch on the archive page. It's been fixed now. My chats continue apace!

D

I've a feeling if this wasn't a virtual mail, I'd be grasping the letter with both hands and bouncing up and down, re-reading and re-reading his words. Gawrsh, I feel like *such* a fan girl.

Wii Wireless Sensor Bar by Nyko

Remember the stir-crazied cat I blogged about earlier in the week? Well, while we were at the hotel room, she decided the wire to the Wii's sensor bar was a good way to quell the time. To thwart her chewing capabilities, we splurged and bought a Wii wireless sensor bar by Nyko.

I finally had a chance to try it out the other night.

OMG! I am LOVING this bar. It is much more sensitive than the original and much less annoying, due to the lack of wires. (The original had like a 25 foot cord! Okay, I'm exaggerating but only a little) With the original, whenever I played Cooking Mama: Cook Off I had to reset the controller to make sure it was synched with the sensor bar correctly. With the new wireless and sensitive sensor bar, I just plunged into the game with no adjustments needed.

Bratworse is looking forward to getting our Rayman back from Writerboy and his wife so she can drum without worrying that the sensor didn't pick up her movements.

The only two drawbacks to the sensor bar? It uses four AA batteries, AND you have to either turn it off physically yourself, or put it on a 1 hour or 2 hour timer to shut it off.

If you own a Wii, consider plunking down $20 for this. Also, invest in rechargeable batteries. Your Wii remotes and your wireless sensor bar will love you. So will the environment AND your pocketbook.

Wii Moving Up?

Well, lookie here. Gamestop must've decided that the Nintendo Wii is coming up in this world. I remember that it used to be XBox 360, then PS3, then Nintendo Wii or something else. But now look at the order. PS3 has dropped down to 4th place, behind Nintendo DS even.

By the way, in the past two months, our pals Robbie & Kitty, E&B, RobnRoger (You have to say their names together like that and honestly? I've only just figured which was Rob and which was Roger about a year ago, after 8 years of knowing them), Writerboy & his wife, have all gotten Wiis. Only a few more of our friends to go and then Wii'll take over the world. [rubs her hands with glee]

Why There's Scorn Towards Comic Books

Once again, the comic book industry answers the question, "Why is there scorn towards comic books?"

The girl is MJ Watson. This is a figurine from the movie Spider-Man 3. This is supposed to be Spider-Man's wife. Yes, those are thongs peeking out from under her pants above her child-bearing hips. Yes, she's barefoot. Yes, those boobs are nearly popping out of her shirt. Yes, she's washing Spider-Man's costume by hand! No, surprisingly, she isn't pregnant (but those child-bearing hips sure give that inference, don't they?)

Straight men used to be astounded that I wouldn't be appreciated of such "art" work. After all, wasn't I gay? But I wonder what in "gay" or "lesbian" implies that I would like cheap, tawdry, exhibitionist shows like this.

I'm sorry MJ Watson. Your character deserved much better than this.

Precipice of New Beginnings

Remember waiting for Christmas morning? Remember wanting to run everywhere, then realizing no matter how fast you run, Christmas morning wasn't going to come any faster?

Life has been like that for us for the past three weeks, ever since they started fixing our place.

In two weeks, everything we've put on hold for the past year will come to fruition.

We will be able to use our living room again. How cool is that?

We will be able to start our new aquarium and figure out how to get our dead rock alive again. We will be able to raise octopus again.

We will have the space to walk away from each other in a fight.

We can stretch out and not stumble over each other or the cat.

We will be able to bring a new kitten into the house.

We will be able to work upright at a desk instead of being in bed all the dang time.

We will have the sunlight of the living room with all the beauty of the neighborhood gracing our vision.

But until then, we still live in one bedroom. Our stuff scattered in boxes, piled into two rooms. I'm so excited... this is the precipice of new beginnings for us.

Fascinating

I normally make copies of incoming checks for my boss. Well, today, we got cash instead of a check and so off I tottle to the copier. I put the $20 and the $5 next to each other on top of the invoice and push start. Three seconds later (our copier is very fast) a black sheet comes out.

Hmm, I think. This shouldn't be the case. So I readjust the bills and the invoice and hit the start button again. Again, a black sheet spits out.

I call a co-worker over and together, we experiment.

Apparently, this copier thinks its okay to print out a copy of the $20. It has no problem with a copy of the $5 either. Furthermore, if the $20 and the $5 ARE NOT next to each other (like having a space of an inch between them), the copier spits out copies of those just fine too. However, place the two bills together and something in the copier tells it to spit out a black page.

Fascinating, no? Hmm, don't answer that.

New Term

Was IM'ing with a pal and he was describing a crazed woman he was dating. My advice to him?

"She sounds like a Dramaddict."

His response? "Yeah, and I was feeding her habit."

Dramaddict. I like that term. It's appropriate for a number of my ex's.

Outwaiting Desires

This past three weeks as our condo was being fixed, Bratworse and I have had to share a small studio suite in a hotel with our stir-crazied cat. We brought the Wii but stupidly only brought one game. Somehow we ended up with all three laptops there (we originally only brought one) but mostly shared the Macbook Pro.

For a geeked out family, this was akin to pure hell. *GASP* Only one decent screen to share betwixt us?

After three weeks of sharing the Macbook Pro, I started checking out iMac and Mac Pro towers.

I think I've decided on the 24" iMac. Now to outwait this desire so I won't really have to spend the money. Any odds that I will actually succeed in thwarting my wishes?

Warning Amount to Empty Words

Priceless!

So, you know those 11 moderate republicans I was laughing at yesterday? The ones who think telling the President (btw, while Cheney was out of the country... hmm think these 11 found their balls then?) that the Iraq War is harming the future of the GOP?

Yeah, the delusionists.

Well, guess how many of them voted to tie Iraq's budget to progress - that is, if there's progress made in Iraq, then funds would be approved, but if no progress, no budget. Seems like a rather fair proposition right? And you'd think that since these people who warned Bush that they cannot support him for much longer, would vote for something like this just to prove there's actions behind those warnings, right?

Go on, guess how many of them stood up to the President in action, not just words.

Now, HOW in the world did you guess that NONE, ZILCH, ZERO voted to tie funds to progress in Iraq.

Republicans - Their squeaky barks aren't worse than their bite. And the president/Cheney/Rove knows it. Vote for Democrats - Nancy Pelosi's got more balls than these 11 put together.

As If He Cares

So, I go to Washingtonpost.com and what headlines greet my eyes?

President is Warned the Iraq War is Harming GOP

BWAHAHAHAHAHA.

Pray tell, oh moderate Republicans, please, pray tell WHAT in the President's history has prompted you to even think that this idiot boy-king cares about anyone else or anything else but himself and his own desires/wants?

You guys decided this asshole would make a great head-of-state. You guys cheated and bought your way into the presidency. This man-child has NO regard for anyone, so why would you think your candid remarks at this particular juncture would have any effect? Asking him to care about 2008 elections would be akin to asking a two-year-old to care about letting you sleep enough to have a fruitful work day. Fat Chance.

Bush is your Frankenstein's monster. Deal with the consequences. This monster's isn't going to care any more than the original Shelley monster was capable of feeling.

Road Oddities

Here in the Bay Area, there is a section of freeway (conveniently just outside my condo) that doesn't allow 18-wheelers and other large trucks. It's a stretch of probably about 10-15 miles.

Sometimes, especially right now with detours causing much confusion here in the Bay Area (an oil tanker truck exploded two Sunday's ago, causing an overpass to collapse in a much trafficked intersection of freeways), a big rig will find itself on this particular section of the freeway.

It's an amazing sight to see because this one lone truck, is usually surrounded by slowing cars, whose drivers slow down subconsciously. A general sense of "One of these things is not like the other" permeates the freeway and as each driver finally recognize what is causing this feeling, the cars peel away from the lone truck and resume normal speed.

I know when I first moved into this area, I wasn't aware of this law but the first time I saw a truck on this section of freeway, I got annoyed without realizing what was causing my annoyance.

Isn't it weird how your mind registers that something is askew but it takes you a while to figure out exactly what?

YaY! It's Done!

No, not the work that Major Coward was supposed to take care of (and probably never will since she is, by nature a major coward). I'm talking about adding labels to all the posts.

Finito! Now onto new posts!

Alternating Moods

Woke up today in a good mood. Maybe it's because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and within a few weeks, we will be able to use our living room again after a year.

Maybe it's because Bratworse and I are actually talking about what we want in a wedding and it's seemingly more of a reality than before.

Whatever is causing my upbeat mood, it's a good thing because Bratworse woke up RAWR'ing. Unable to find her shoes this morning, she finally found them under a recliner. As she slips them on, she growls "Gee thanks for moving the chair on top of my shoes and not bothering to move them." I didn't bother pointing out that if lights were on (she hates them on, I love them on) I'd have SEEN the shoes to be able to move them but since I moved the chair in the dark, there's be no way to spot them.

See how this works? Me good mood, her bad mood. Me bad mood, her good mood. If both of us happen to be in a bad mood, we let the person who hasn't been in a bad mood recently get the dibs. The other has to try to be in a good mood.

It usually ends us with both of us giggling at the other. It's a good relationship.

Remember Your Fifth?

Your fifth birthday, that is. I'll be attending a friend's third birthday party soon. Have you recently been to a child's birthday party? How many children attended?

Well next time you go to a child's birthday party, or see a bunch of them playing in the neighborhood playground, take a closer look.

Then close your eyes and imagine that life was so rough, that out of eight children, one will have died by disease or by violence.

That's apparently what WE did to Iraq.

"One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005, according to the report by Save the Children."

Oh yeah, we're exporting democracy. Apparently, that's not all we're exporting. ONE IN EIGHT under 5 years old. How would YOU react if someone came to your neighborhood and reduced it to that statistic?

Service Completed!

Both Bratworse and I were called for jury duty today, but in separate courthouses. I just found out that no juries were called for today and my service is now completed for the next year.

Bratworse is hanging out at her courthouse, presumably to let them know how intensive her school is. (Was that splitting an infinitive? Thanks to The Mother Tongue I no longer care if I split one or not. Thanks Bill Bryson!)

Strange, whenever I talk of being selected for jury duty, everyone's first reaction is to coach me on how not to get selected. But I view jury duty as my civic duty; if it weren't for the financial hardship, I'd gladly serve on one. (It helps that I'm sorta narcissistic LOL)

One day, I hope to serve on a jury and be as fair as I possibly can under the law.

Comic Relief or Did My Memory Make That Up Too?

Along the same lines as my previous post, does anyone remember why Comic Relief started on HBO? You know, where Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg got together and proved that for all Whoopi's talent, she couldn't ad-lib the way Robin and Billy could?

I know, we all killed MANY many brain cells back then ESPECIALLY when the special was running, but does anyone remember the reason behind Comic Relief? It was because in the 80's, many many people had to move out of their homes because of foreclosures and the homeless population exploded.

Does anyone remember some of the consequences of that many people homeless? One small offshoot was that mail theft was constant.

Two weeks ago, the post office put up red warning stickers on our building's mailboxes warning of mail theft.

Just wait, as more and more people get desperate over their living situation, more theft, more mail theft, more vandalism etc. will occur. It's just human nature.

Just as it's human nature to forget events 20-30 years ago. *sigh*

Moonies or Did My Memory Create That?

At what point in history did Sun Myung Moon gain legitimacy?

I remember growing up in the 70's and having the Jonestown Massacre unveil itself through the media.

I remember hysteria about cults and how the Hare Krishnas and the Moonies and communes were out to brainwash you.

I remember TV movie after TV movie about vanloads of people creaping up stealthily behind you, throwing a burlap sack over your head and whisking you off to parts unknown. Then your parents had to hire some unkempt private investigator who then kidnapped you back and had to reverse the brainwashing.

And then the 80's happened. And talk about cults, kidnappings et al. slowed to a trickle.

And then the 90's happened... and suddenly with his foundation of the Washington Times, Sun Myung Moon, cartoon figure and cult leader, somehow magically became legit.

Can anyone explain to me what happened? Please?

Political Enemies Writing Bios for Time

WTF? I'm reading Time's 100 and come to the entry for Nancy Pelosi, then realized Newt Gingrinch wrote Nancy Pelosi's bio. AND in the first paragraph, he SLAMS her for going to Syria, totally ignoring the fact that Condaleeza Rice just went.

WTF?!?!?

Why didn't they let Madeline Albright write Condaleeza Rice's bio then?

Stupid friggin mainstream media.

[later] It's not just me pissed off at Time's 100. P.Z. Myers of Pharyngula noticed that Michael Behe (a Creationist) wrote the bio for Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary scientist. Let's hear it for the "liberal" media, who decided that liberals and liberal thinkers should have their bios supplied by the opposition whereas conservatives and conservative thinkers should have their bios supplied by fawning sychophants.

I used to read Time from cover to cover between 1992 and 1997. I am SOOOOO glad I stopped my subscription.

Impressions of Glenn Beck

The other day, I was flipping through channels and stopped to watch a strange show.

Why did they get a wrestler to host a talk show? I wondered to myself. The host, was belligerent and "in your face" so to speak, that is, he was leaning forward into the camera talking with his head tilted and gesturing wildly with his hands.

If you ever watched a wrestling show, (I used to, back in the days of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant) you will see the same style of talking. Trash talkin' is what I believe they call it. It's usually some beefy guy (somehow the skinnier guys just can't seem to pull it off) whose neck is the same width as his head, tilting his head so that it's at a 45 degree angle, eyes bulging, veins in his neck popping, and pointing his finger into the camera bellowing some belligerent spit-flinging phrases that seem cobbled together with duct tape.

To my eternal surprise, this talk show was showcasing the same idiotic type of guy. I glanced at the name of the show. Ah, The Glenn Beck Show. Apparently, CNN thinks that Americans would appreciate this type of "intellectual" discourse.

I did what most Americans seem to be doing, judging by the Nielsens. I turned the channel.

The Rocket Has Landed!

Yay! Our pals, Writerboy and his wife was blessed with a baby boy yesterday. Today, we'll get to meet the Rocket in person for the first time. There had always been a wall of flesh and amniotic fluid between us before.

Can't wait to meet the wee one. If he takes after his parents at all, he'll become a wonderful, well-rounded, full of trivia geek-type who can talk about almost anything with anyone. Can't think of a better start for anyone.

10 Years of No Convictions Isn't Enough?

Assemblyman Pedro Nava of Santa Barbara? SHUT THE FUCK UP.

You DON'T know that the freeway collapse was due to the trucker's actions. Gee, it could be his brakes failed.

Yes, this man had conviction after conviction but can you see that he's been clean for 10 years? TEN FRIGGIN' YEARS!

To me, 10 years of staying clean is MUCH more representative of a man than one accident. I hope you're a Christian, Nava, and I hope that God will judge YOU as harshly as you are judging this man.

Goddamn politicians, grandstanding and vowing to change laws that don't need to be changed. You all make me so sick sometime. Why don't you do something useful for California instead of stupid publicity moves? Asshole.

Meeting Online in Comments

Pandagon just did a review of Stuck Rubber Baby and so I made a comment there about how we'd snatch up the pages in the office when Stuck Rubber Baby was being produced. A day later, I went back to check the comments and lo and behold, there's Eddie, Howard Cruse's partner saying hi to me.

This is just one of the cooler things about the web... that you'd find an old acquaintance through a comments thread and chit chat for a day or two through it.

I like.

Puritanical? Indeed

Apparently, this picture from MySpace was enough for this young woman's university to decide that she wasn't teacher material. The photo shows her wearing a pirate hat, drinking from a cup that says drunken pirate.

Y'know, I had a few nuns teaching me in high school that was so sloshed, we called one of them Rudolph cause of her shiny nose.

I'd rather have a drunken pirate than a drunken nun anyday.