As mentioned yesterday, I decided that I simply had to spend some amount of money.
Buying the Touch didn’t really cut into my bonus, as it was essentially purchased with the disposable income left over from my regular paycheck after paying bills.
So far I like it – I went with the 16 GB, which means that I can fit a lot more music on it than I could on my 2 GB Nano, obviously.
The interface is decent, and the underlying OS is pretty responsive. The multi-touch screen does actually make for some intuitive interaction, which is always touted as one of the strengths of Apple products.
That being said, John C. Dvorak recently wrote an article about how there really is no such thing as “intuitive” technology, and I tend to think that he has a point.
In particular, you run into the question of “Intuitive to whom?”
As a veteran PC user, there are certain approaches to interacting with anything computer-related that strike me as intuitive, though to a Mac user, or a complete newbie, they might very well seem counter-intuitive. Of course, I’m also a veteran Mac user, so making the shift isn’t really that difficult.
However, where the intuitive – to pretty much everyone who isn’t a Luddite or from a pre-industrial society – aspects of using the Touch end is when you run into the brick wall that is iTunes.
All of the non-Apple mp3 players I’ve had in the past generally worked like this: you plug it into the computer, the computer recognizes it as a storage device, and you drag and drop content directly onto it.
From pretty much any standpoint – Mac user, PC user, Linux user, etc. – that is extremely intuitive.
Much more so than having to launch a specific application (after you download and install it, along with another application that you may or may not want, but have no option not to download and install), telling it where to look for the files you want to put on the device, then going through a rather lengthy “synching” process.
Again, that leads to the question of “Intuitive to whom?” In the case of iTunes, I would say that the answer to that question is “Certainly not the end-user.”
Granted, this isn’t a particularly arduous process, but it certainly lacks the elegance of simply grabbing what you want and dragging it over over to where you want it.
Really, where intuitiveness comes into play with the iTunes model is from the perspective of a product/service provider. Tying your end-users to a particular, proprietary application, which you can then use as a means of delivering additional for-pay services to them, is incredibly “intuitive.”
Still, those quibbles – and some irritation over the way it organizes, or more to the point, doesn’t organize photos, which I won’t get into – aside, the Touch is a decent product.
Given that, minus the actual phone and the camera, the Touch is essentially an iPhone, I did consider actually taking that additional step and going all out and buying an iPhone.
The main reason I didn’t, though, is that it wasn’t all that long ago that I dropped a considerable chunk of change on my current phone. Given that there’s nothing wrong with my phone, I see no need to replace it.
(Technically, there wasn’t anything “wrong” with my Nano, either, but I did want something with a higher storage capacity.)
Beyond that, while I have come around to liking the whole smart phone concept, I don’t really see the need to combine my cell phone with my mp3 player, and I believe that there’s something to be said for having distinct devices that perform specific functions, even if there is some overlap.
(And of course, there are my objections about the inherent pretentiousness of iPhone ownership, and my desire to avoid diving any deeper into Apple fanboyishness, but those are just knee-jerk reactions and not actually major considerations, or really in any way serious, for that matter.)
In any case, so far it seems like a worthwhile gadget to have dropped some money on.
Speaking of which, after discussing it with Scott – who concluded that I would “use the hell out of it” – and watching some YouTube videos of it in action yesterday, I’ve decided that once I get my refund, I’m going to drop a huge chunk of change on a Wacom Cintiq.
I was initially thinking about going with the more affordable 12” model, but eventually said, “Screw it,” and decided to go all – or at least mostly – out and get the 20.1” version, which I think has the advantage over the 21” model in that it’s widescreen. Not to mention the fact that it’s $500 cheaper.
Kathleen made a suggestion, which I’m seriously considering: register Heroic Portraits as an LLC, which would allow me to claim the cost of buying the Cintiq as a business expense.
It’s a good idea, and one definitely worth pursuing. The only problem is that it leads to the inevitable conflict between practicality and impatience.
To wit: I want the Cintiq now!
(Well, not right this second, but as soon as I have the refund money. Okay, I do want it right this second, but I’m able to wait until I get the refund, but waiting beyond that? I’m not so sure.)
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Friday, March 07, 2008
The Jonmerican Way
So you had to know I was going to spend some money on a new gadget.
To do otherwise would not only be un-Jon-like, it would be un-American.
To fulfill my Jonly and patriotic duty, I bought an iPod Touch.
I'm actually posting this from the Touch, which is a pain, so I'll wrap this up and post more later from my computer.
To do otherwise would not only be un-Jon-like, it would be un-American.
To fulfill my Jonly and patriotic duty, I bought an iPod Touch.
I'm actually posting this from the Touch, which is a pain, so I'll wrap this up and post more later from my computer.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Money Money Money Money...Money!
Real Thursdays are so much better than those fake Thursdays.
They are superior in every way.
Especially this Thursday.
A while back I mentioned that AOL was paying out its annual bonuses to employees and to those employees, like me, who were laid off.
I was beginning to get annoyed because I knew that current employees had already received their bonuses last week, but I hadn’t heard anything or noticed a sudden increase in my bank account.
I was especially annoyed yesterday when I heard people where I work now – a company owned by the same corporation as AOL – saying that they would be getting their annual bonuses today.
While I was lying in bed last night, it occurred to me that maybe I would get my bonus today, as perhaps AOL was waiting for my company’s payday to give the bonuses to ex-AOLers now working on that other branch of the corporate tree.
When I checked my account balance this morning, I found that this as indeed the case, and, in fact, AOL had disbursed the bonuses via my company’s payroll system.
So…bonus!
The nice thing was that the bonus was deposited separately from my regular salary, which means that while the government took a huge bite out of it, the bite wasn’t quite as big as it would have been if my bonus and salary had been lumped together.
Given that this is a non-mortgage payment payday, and that the bills I have to pay with my paycheck amount to a lot less than a mortgage payment, I’m pretty much rolling in dough right now.
Things only got better, though, when I went to H&R Block this evening and got my taxes done and discovered that I’m getting a huge refund.
So things are looking pretty good.
Which is, of course, making me nervous…
Things That Couldn’t Possibly Amuse Anyone But Me Department:
The other day while I was sitting at the computer doing…something. Drawing maybe? Well, whatever it was, I was listening to my MP3s, with Media Player in “shuffle” mode, and the song Wake Up Dead by Megadeth came on, and my inner metalhead rejoiced.
So this morning when I got in my car I reflected on this metal moment and decided to eschew my standard car CD listening habits – which tend to hover between Nick Cave, Liz Phair, and Sarah McLachlan – and put in something with a little more “oomph.”
I decided on Tribute, the Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads concert album that I listened to so much in high school that at this point it’s probably encoded in my DNA.
As I was rounding the last major bend on my way to work, the song Mr. Crowley came on, and as I sang “Oh, Mr. Crowley” along with Ozzy, I did so in a voice that was somewhere between that of Lucille Ball and Mrs. Big Head from Rocko’s Modern Life, a sort of raw, throaty, “Ohh, Mistah Crowley!”
And then I laughed.
A lot.
(For those in the know, I sounded rather a lot like our standard imitation of Carol from AOL, though I didn’t ask for a chili dog or a Lucky Strike.)
They are superior in every way.
Especially this Thursday.
A while back I mentioned that AOL was paying out its annual bonuses to employees and to those employees, like me, who were laid off.
I was beginning to get annoyed because I knew that current employees had already received their bonuses last week, but I hadn’t heard anything or noticed a sudden increase in my bank account.
I was especially annoyed yesterday when I heard people where I work now – a company owned by the same corporation as AOL – saying that they would be getting their annual bonuses today.
While I was lying in bed last night, it occurred to me that maybe I would get my bonus today, as perhaps AOL was waiting for my company’s payday to give the bonuses to ex-AOLers now working on that other branch of the corporate tree.
When I checked my account balance this morning, I found that this as indeed the case, and, in fact, AOL had disbursed the bonuses via my company’s payroll system.
So…bonus!
The nice thing was that the bonus was deposited separately from my regular salary, which means that while the government took a huge bite out of it, the bite wasn’t quite as big as it would have been if my bonus and salary had been lumped together.
Given that this is a non-mortgage payment payday, and that the bills I have to pay with my paycheck amount to a lot less than a mortgage payment, I’m pretty much rolling in dough right now.
Things only got better, though, when I went to H&R Block this evening and got my taxes done and discovered that I’m getting a huge refund.
So things are looking pretty good.
Which is, of course, making me nervous…
Things That Couldn’t Possibly Amuse Anyone But Me Department:
The other day while I was sitting at the computer doing…something. Drawing maybe? Well, whatever it was, I was listening to my MP3s, with Media Player in “shuffle” mode, and the song Wake Up Dead by Megadeth came on, and my inner metalhead rejoiced.
So this morning when I got in my car I reflected on this metal moment and decided to eschew my standard car CD listening habits – which tend to hover between Nick Cave, Liz Phair, and Sarah McLachlan – and put in something with a little more “oomph.”
I decided on Tribute, the Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads concert album that I listened to so much in high school that at this point it’s probably encoded in my DNA.
As I was rounding the last major bend on my way to work, the song Mr. Crowley came on, and as I sang “Oh, Mr. Crowley” along with Ozzy, I did so in a voice that was somewhere between that of Lucille Ball and Mrs. Big Head from Rocko’s Modern Life, a sort of raw, throaty, “Ohh, Mistah Crowley!”
And then I laughed.
A lot.
(For those in the know, I sounded rather a lot like our standard imitation of Carol from AOL, though I didn’t ask for a chili dog or a Lucky Strike.)
Y'all Are Brutalizing Me
Yesterday I watched a movie entitled Run Ronnie Run, which sprung from the minds of the titular Bob (Odenkirk) and David (Cross) of the late HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David.
The movie focuses on the life of one Ronnie Dobbs, the sort of stereotypical scrawny, shirtless, drunken redneck who can be seen trying to weasel out of being arrested on Cops every week.
In Ronnie’s world, Cops is called Fuzz, and Ronnie has appeared, and been arrested, on the show more than any other person, and has generated a cult-like following of fans, which an opportunistic entrepreneur decides to cash in on by creating a new reality series focusing entirely on Ronnie and his arrests.
The characters and situations are lifted directly from Mr. Show sketches, such as this one, in which a musical based on Ronnie’s encounters with the law is being produced:
What makes this so awesome is the earnest – almost lovely – manner in which David Cross, as Ronnie, sings of being “brutalized” by the police.
The only thing that could be more awesome is this clip from the movie featuring the same oddly poignant song, with the part of Ronnie being filled by Mandy Patinkin:
And what ratchets up the awesomeness even further? A naked Mandy Patinkin singing Ronnie’s song.
Overall the movie was entertaining, though the long format didn’t do it any favors, as it lacked the rapid-pace of a much shorter and to the point Mr. Show sketch. But any flaws and shortcomings the movie may have had were more than made up for in the form of a pre-breast reduction surgery Nikki Cox parading around in very tight bikinis.
(Sexy Update: Now with some low-res screen caps of Nikki in one such bikini culled from the interwebs.)
The movie focuses on the life of one Ronnie Dobbs, the sort of stereotypical scrawny, shirtless, drunken redneck who can be seen trying to weasel out of being arrested on Cops every week.
In Ronnie’s world, Cops is called Fuzz, and Ronnie has appeared, and been arrested, on the show more than any other person, and has generated a cult-like following of fans, which an opportunistic entrepreneur decides to cash in on by creating a new reality series focusing entirely on Ronnie and his arrests.
The characters and situations are lifted directly from Mr. Show sketches, such as this one, in which a musical based on Ronnie’s encounters with the law is being produced:
What makes this so awesome is the earnest – almost lovely – manner in which David Cross, as Ronnie, sings of being “brutalized” by the police.
The only thing that could be more awesome is this clip from the movie featuring the same oddly poignant song, with the part of Ronnie being filled by Mandy Patinkin:
And what ratchets up the awesomeness even further? A naked Mandy Patinkin singing Ronnie’s song.
Overall the movie was entertaining, though the long format didn’t do it any favors, as it lacked the rapid-pace of a much shorter and to the point Mr. Show sketch. But any flaws and shortcomings the movie may have had were more than made up for in the form of a pre-breast reduction surgery Nikki Cox parading around in very tight bikinis.
(Sexy Update: Now with some low-res screen caps of Nikki in one such bikini culled from the interwebs.)
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
At Least Tomorrow Really IS Thursday
All day long I found myself unable to shake the belief that today was Thursday, a belief that started yesterday, when I started thinking that it was Wednesday one day too soon.
I keep a supply of cereal bars in my cabinet at work. Today, after eating the last one in the box, I thought, “I should pick up some more tonight,” then thought, “Wait, I don’t have to, because tomorrow is Friday and it’s the first Friday of the month, so it’s healthy breakfast day.”
(To make matters worse – or better, depending on how you look at it – I was even wrong about being out of cereal bars, as there is actually one left.)
I did at least remember that it’s Wednesday long enough to stop by the comic shop on my way home.
After last week’s phenomenal selection of new comics, this one was only so-so, with the highlight – and a very good highlight – being Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight.
As for the rest there was, of course, Countdown to Final Crisis, and the latest issue of the Countdown-related mini-series Countdown to Adventure.
At least it was a relatively cheap week.
I say relatively, as it was still almost $10 just for the three books, and that’s after my 10% subscription discount was applied.
I’m not so old as to remember when comics were really cheap (like, ten cents a pop cheap), but I have seen an exponential increase in the price over the years.
The cheapest I personally remember comics being is fifty cents. They didn’t stay that cheap for long, making the jump to sixty cents, which is where they stayed for several years before making the jump to seventy five (At which point my mom almost decided to stop buying me comics, ultimately relenting, but telling me “Don’t tell your dad.”). They stayed at seventy five cents for quite a long time, before they finally made the jump to $1, and beyond, with the beyond coming much more rapidly than any price jumps that came before.
Now they typically range from $2.99 to $4.99.
In fairness, they are printed on paper stock that is vastly superior to the newsprint of old, and the colors are much richer and more vibrant.
Still, it’s a long way from the fifty cents of old.
In any case, that will do it for this Thurs- dammit, Wednesday entry.
I keep a supply of cereal bars in my cabinet at work. Today, after eating the last one in the box, I thought, “I should pick up some more tonight,” then thought, “Wait, I don’t have to, because tomorrow is Friday and it’s the first Friday of the month, so it’s healthy breakfast day.”
(To make matters worse – or better, depending on how you look at it – I was even wrong about being out of cereal bars, as there is actually one left.)
I did at least remember that it’s Wednesday long enough to stop by the comic shop on my way home.
After last week’s phenomenal selection of new comics, this one was only so-so, with the highlight – and a very good highlight – being Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight.
As for the rest there was, of course, Countdown to Final Crisis, and the latest issue of the Countdown-related mini-series Countdown to Adventure.
At least it was a relatively cheap week.
I say relatively, as it was still almost $10 just for the three books, and that’s after my 10% subscription discount was applied.
I’m not so old as to remember when comics were really cheap (like, ten cents a pop cheap), but I have seen an exponential increase in the price over the years.
The cheapest I personally remember comics being is fifty cents. They didn’t stay that cheap for long, making the jump to sixty cents, which is where they stayed for several years before making the jump to seventy five (At which point my mom almost decided to stop buying me comics, ultimately relenting, but telling me “Don’t tell your dad.”). They stayed at seventy five cents for quite a long time, before they finally made the jump to $1, and beyond, with the beyond coming much more rapidly than any price jumps that came before.
Now they typically range from $2.99 to $4.99.
In fairness, they are printed on paper stock that is vastly superior to the newsprint of old, and the colors are much richer and more vibrant.
Still, it’s a long way from the fifty cents of old.
In any case, that will do it for this Thurs- dammit, Wednesday entry.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Checking In
Not much new or exciting has gone on since last I posted, but that pretty much goes without saying.
After two nights of wearing my new, looser-fitting lenses, things are looking pretty good (no pun intended). Vision is getting clear, there’s no pain, and while I don’t share The Dazzler’s ability to stare directly at the sun without damaging my eyes (though I’m not a cheesy character created in a too-late attempt to cash in on the disco craze, so I’m one up on her in that regard), I can at least bear to be exposed to the light of day.
Whether or not I should be exposed to the light of day is another matter entirely.
As I got back to my desk after my third meeting of the day – a meeting that ran a half an hour longer than scheduled – I was pleased to see that my fourth meeting of the day had been rescheduled for tomorrow at 10.
After accepting the meeting invitation I realized that it conflicted with one of my weekly conference calls, and I wondered why it was that Outlook hadn’t informed me of that. As I took a drink of water I figured out why there was no warning of a conflict, and it’s a good thing that my mouth was full of water, as otherwise some of the more sensitive ears in the area around me might have been assaulted by a profanity as I realized that tomorrow is only Wednesday, not Thursday.
Two days in and it’s already been a long week…
At least tomorrow is new comics day, though I’m not sure what’s on the shelves (apart from Countdown to Final Crisis, of course), so I don’t know if it’s going to be a good week or not. I’m suspecting not, given how good last week was.
I finally have all the paperwork I need to get my taxes done gathered together, so now it’s just a matter of hauling my lazy ass in and getting them done. I’m thinking Thursday, as Thursday is payday.
And that’s pretty much the extent of what I have/have the energy to write about, so I’ll bring this entry to a close.
After two nights of wearing my new, looser-fitting lenses, things are looking pretty good (no pun intended). Vision is getting clear, there’s no pain, and while I don’t share The Dazzler’s ability to stare directly at the sun without damaging my eyes (though I’m not a cheesy character created in a too-late attempt to cash in on the disco craze, so I’m one up on her in that regard), I can at least bear to be exposed to the light of day.
Whether or not I should be exposed to the light of day is another matter entirely.
As I got back to my desk after my third meeting of the day – a meeting that ran a half an hour longer than scheduled – I was pleased to see that my fourth meeting of the day had been rescheduled for tomorrow at 10.
After accepting the meeting invitation I realized that it conflicted with one of my weekly conference calls, and I wondered why it was that Outlook hadn’t informed me of that. As I took a drink of water I figured out why there was no warning of a conflict, and it’s a good thing that my mouth was full of water, as otherwise some of the more sensitive ears in the area around me might have been assaulted by a profanity as I realized that tomorrow is only Wednesday, not Thursday.
Two days in and it’s already been a long week…
At least tomorrow is new comics day, though I’m not sure what’s on the shelves (apart from Countdown to Final Crisis, of course), so I don’t know if it’s going to be a good week or not. I’m suspecting not, given how good last week was.
I finally have all the paperwork I need to get my taxes done gathered together, so now it’s just a matter of hauling my lazy ass in and getting them done. I’m thinking Thursday, as Thursday is payday.
And that’s pretty much the extent of what I have/have the energy to write about, so I’ll bring this entry to a close.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
There Will Be Donuts
On Friday mornings at work a selection of donuts, muffins, and bagels are set up in the lobby at work.
(On the first Friday of every month, there is a “healthy breakfast” spread set up in one of the conference rooms that, in addition to donuts, bagels, and muffins includes fruits, cereals, and juices.)
One of the advantages of arriving before most everyone else is that the vultures haven’t had a chance to circle, so I always have my pick of the best offerings.
I usually grab a blueberry muffin and a glazed donut (even during “healthy breakfast”).
That’s about as exciting as my week gets.
Certainly it was the highlight of the past few days.
On Tuesday when I picked up New Frontier on DVD, I also picked up Beowulf, which I watched Friday night. It was interesting to spot all of the moments that were designed for 3-D viewing, but which were no longer in 3-D as they had been in the theater. Lots of swords and spears coming right at you, and that sort of thing.
It was the unrated version, so the scenes of Grendel ripping the Thanes to pieces were considerably more grisly than they had been in the theatrical release.
Yesterday was pretty much a nothing day that started a bit after 9 when the girl with the big guns from my eye doctor’s office called to check if I’d picked up my new lenses (I had, on Thursday), and to verify that I would be in for my appointment on Tuesday. I have to wear the lenses tonight and tomorrow night and hope that they don’t send my eyes into a tailspin.
I decided to stay up after that, though after a few hours of not doing anything in particular I couldn’t figure out why I had decided that, and so I went back to bed, this time to be woken by my mother calling.
She’s coming out to visit for my birthday, and had called to have me walk her through the process of finding a ticket on Expedia (I checked the other travel sites for her and found that Expedia was cheapest).
After that I did some drawing that didn’t really amount to anything. Apart from that, I didn’t do jack. I never even showered or properly got dressed.
I did, however, wash my sheets, so I guess that counts as something.
Today I was slightly more ambitious, taking the time to shower and even shave, and bothering, though I wasn’t sure why, to put on actual clothes.
As I said, I wasn’t sure as to why I bothered to get dressed, but then I remembered that I needed to the laundry today, and it was as good a time as any to wash my lounging around clothes.
I’ve decided that I hate grocery shopping on weekends enough that it’s worth it to try out the whole Peapod thing, which allows you to do your shopping online and then have your groceries delivered. I’ve resisted giving in to the notion for a while, simply because the store that the groceries come from around here is Giant, which is more expensive than Shoppers, and which I just generally dislike.
However, the cost of delivery isn’t that bad, all things considered, and the convenience of not having to deal with old people standing in the aisles with their carts turned sideways makes it worth the expense.
Evidently they don’t deliver on Sundays, though, and by the time I got around to checking the whole thing out on Friday night I was past the cut-off point for Saturday delivery.
I don’t really have any immediate need for groceries right now anyway, so I’ll probably just wait and do it next weekend.
I suppose that the question of whether or not limiting my interactions with real, living people even further is a good thing or not is debatable, but I have to view the impact that it will have on my levels of general annoyance as a positive.
After all, it’s not like I’m gaining anything – apart from groceries – by going to the grocery store, as grocery stores are not the hotbeds of available women that TV, movies, and idiotic articles in men’s magazines try to lead you to believe.
Neither are Laundromats, as far as that goes. In all the time I spent in Laundromats in my life, I only once encountered an attractive woman, and it was someone I already knew. And she was there with her boyfriend.
In any case, I think the online grocery shopping will limit the number of impulse purchases I make, and not having to run an obstacle course and thereby getting distracted and forgetting to buy things that I needed will make sure that I actually get everything I need.
I guess we’ll see how it goes next week.
In any case, I believe that I’ve made up for my lack of regular posting, and so I’ll go back to doing whatever the hell it is that I do, or, more to the point, don’t do.
Not That I’m Dropping Any Hints Or Anything Department:
Last week when I mentioned that Superman Family #171 – my “gateway drug” comic – was available for sale at Milehigh Comics, I made it clear that I was not dropping a hint for something that someone who was of a mind to do so could buy me as a present for my upcoming birthday.
I just want it to be clear that I’m certainly not hinting that someone could also go ahead and buy me a vinyl display case, like this, to put it in.
Obviously the only reason I’ve mentioned this and posted links is to make sure that everyone knows that I’m not dropping any hints.
(On the first Friday of every month, there is a “healthy breakfast” spread set up in one of the conference rooms that, in addition to donuts, bagels, and muffins includes fruits, cereals, and juices.)
One of the advantages of arriving before most everyone else is that the vultures haven’t had a chance to circle, so I always have my pick of the best offerings.
I usually grab a blueberry muffin and a glazed donut (even during “healthy breakfast”).
That’s about as exciting as my week gets.
Certainly it was the highlight of the past few days.
On Tuesday when I picked up New Frontier on DVD, I also picked up Beowulf, which I watched Friday night. It was interesting to spot all of the moments that were designed for 3-D viewing, but which were no longer in 3-D as they had been in the theater. Lots of swords and spears coming right at you, and that sort of thing.
It was the unrated version, so the scenes of Grendel ripping the Thanes to pieces were considerably more grisly than they had been in the theatrical release.
Yesterday was pretty much a nothing day that started a bit after 9 when the girl with the big guns from my eye doctor’s office called to check if I’d picked up my new lenses (I had, on Thursday), and to verify that I would be in for my appointment on Tuesday. I have to wear the lenses tonight and tomorrow night and hope that they don’t send my eyes into a tailspin.
I decided to stay up after that, though after a few hours of not doing anything in particular I couldn’t figure out why I had decided that, and so I went back to bed, this time to be woken by my mother calling.
She’s coming out to visit for my birthday, and had called to have me walk her through the process of finding a ticket on Expedia (I checked the other travel sites for her and found that Expedia was cheapest).
After that I did some drawing that didn’t really amount to anything. Apart from that, I didn’t do jack. I never even showered or properly got dressed.
I did, however, wash my sheets, so I guess that counts as something.
Today I was slightly more ambitious, taking the time to shower and even shave, and bothering, though I wasn’t sure why, to put on actual clothes.
As I said, I wasn’t sure as to why I bothered to get dressed, but then I remembered that I needed to the laundry today, and it was as good a time as any to wash my lounging around clothes.
I’ve decided that I hate grocery shopping on weekends enough that it’s worth it to try out the whole Peapod thing, which allows you to do your shopping online and then have your groceries delivered. I’ve resisted giving in to the notion for a while, simply because the store that the groceries come from around here is Giant, which is more expensive than Shoppers, and which I just generally dislike.
However, the cost of delivery isn’t that bad, all things considered, and the convenience of not having to deal with old people standing in the aisles with their carts turned sideways makes it worth the expense.
Evidently they don’t deliver on Sundays, though, and by the time I got around to checking the whole thing out on Friday night I was past the cut-off point for Saturday delivery.
I don’t really have any immediate need for groceries right now anyway, so I’ll probably just wait and do it next weekend.
I suppose that the question of whether or not limiting my interactions with real, living people even further is a good thing or not is debatable, but I have to view the impact that it will have on my levels of general annoyance as a positive.
After all, it’s not like I’m gaining anything – apart from groceries – by going to the grocery store, as grocery stores are not the hotbeds of available women that TV, movies, and idiotic articles in men’s magazines try to lead you to believe.
Neither are Laundromats, as far as that goes. In all the time I spent in Laundromats in my life, I only once encountered an attractive woman, and it was someone I already knew. And she was there with her boyfriend.
In any case, I think the online grocery shopping will limit the number of impulse purchases I make, and not having to run an obstacle course and thereby getting distracted and forgetting to buy things that I needed will make sure that I actually get everything I need.
I guess we’ll see how it goes next week.
In any case, I believe that I’ve made up for my lack of regular posting, and so I’ll go back to doing whatever the hell it is that I do, or, more to the point, don’t do.
Not That I’m Dropping Any Hints Or Anything Department:
Last week when I mentioned that Superman Family #171 – my “gateway drug” comic – was available for sale at Milehigh Comics, I made it clear that I was not dropping a hint for something that someone who was of a mind to do so could buy me as a present for my upcoming birthday.
I just want it to be clear that I’m certainly not hinting that someone could also go ahead and buy me a vinyl display case, like this, to put it in.
Obviously the only reason I’ve mentioned this and posted links is to make sure that everyone knows that I’m not dropping any hints.
A Glimpse Into An Artist's Tortured Soul?
While digging through some old files I found this page from an old sketchbook:
I vaguely recall engaging in these doodles sometime around 2000, when I was living in Minnesota.
Note that the line running down and slightly across the page on the right is actually where, in anger and frustration, I jammed the pencil into the paper and scraped it along, ripping the sheet and several sheets beneath it.
There’s a better than 90% chance that I was drunk at the time.
I vaguely recall engaging in these doodles sometime around 2000, when I was living in Minnesota.
Note that the line running down and slightly across the page on the right is actually where, in anger and frustration, I jammed the pencil into the paper and scraped it along, ripping the sheet and several sheets beneath it.
There’s a better than 90% chance that I was drunk at the time.
Keyword Kraziness: Karpentry Edition
My active and dynamic social life has prevented me from finding the time to post an entry over the last few days (Read: I’ve been watching a lot of TV and napping), and while I will post a proper entry at some point today, in the meantime I thought I should toss you all a few crumbs in the form of nobody’s favorite continuing feature, Keyword Kraziness.
pointlessness
You’ve certainly come to the right place.
direcpath suck?
Yes. Direcpath sucks hard.
brandie malay hot
That is what is known as a “fact.”
brandie malay feet
brandie malay tits
brandie malay boobs
brandie malay nipple
brandie malay nude
brandie malay pictures
brandie malay myspace
I am very clearly not your source for all things Brandie Malay. I did post all of the pictures of her that I was able to find a while back, which wasn’t much, and, unsurprisingly, she wasn’t nude in any of them. (Click on the Brandie Malay label at the bottom of this post to see that post.)
As for the various parts of her that people are seeking information on, I can say that yes, she does have feet, and she appears to have tits, which, one would assume, are home to at least one nipple, though, again, having never seen her nude, I can’t say that with anything beyond a reasonable degree of certainty. There was a recent episode of Hidden Potential in which she seemed to be exhibiting a certain amount of “pokiness,” but the protruding bits seemed to be in odd locations, so either they were the result of pointy or lumpy bits of whatever she was wearing under her shirt, or those particular bits of her anatomy are oddly-distributed either naturally or as the result of the constriction of whatever she was wearing underneath her shirt.
can't find tanya memme nude pictures
I’m not surprised.
my own experience about self reliance
Why would you be searching Google for your own experience? And if you were looking for someone else’s experience, there’s a kind of irony to that which amuses me terribly.
jane wogan & hgtv
Jane Wogan is a very beautiful woman who sometimes, but, to the show’s eternal shame, not always, appears on HGTV’s series Don’t Sweat It.
I’ve thought about applying to be featured on the show in order to get some projects, such as the de-pinkifying of my master bath, completed around the house, and also to get a chance to see Jane in person. I don’t have such an artificially-inflated sense of self-confidence that I think I’d have any shot at charming the tool belt off of her, but I still think it’d be cool to get to see her in person and to hear that charming Irish brogue she has. Of course, with my luck, if I got on the show, it would be one of the episodes featuring the all-male cast.
On a semi-related note, my Realtor, David Harbour, recently appeared on an episode of HGTV’s series Get It Sold, and will be doing so again on March 5 at 8:30 PM Eastern.
I’ve been thinking I should shoot him an e-mail and see if he can get me the hook up with some of the Hotties of HGTV, but, again, I’m lacking the artificially-inflated sense of self-confidence that would make something like that seem worthwhile.
There are a few pictures of Jane floating around on the Internet, but in the interest of promoting your own experience of self reliance, I’ll leave it up to you to find them for yourselves.
Bonus Link:
As always, among the search strings listed here were the typical bra-related searches. In checking out some of the other search results that came up on those strings, I found a link to this article about the 100th anniversary of the bra.
True, it’s not going to do anything to help you find out how big [insert celebrity name here]’s knockers are, but I don’t see what good finding that out would do you either, so…
In any case, that will do it for this installment of Keyword Kraziness. Check back later for a harrowing account of the intense story of what’s happened in my life since last I posted.
pointlessness
You’ve certainly come to the right place.
direcpath suck?
Yes. Direcpath sucks hard.
brandie malay hot
That is what is known as a “fact.”
brandie malay feet
brandie malay tits
brandie malay boobs
brandie malay nipple
brandie malay nude
brandie malay pictures
brandie malay myspace
I am very clearly not your source for all things Brandie Malay. I did post all of the pictures of her that I was able to find a while back, which wasn’t much, and, unsurprisingly, she wasn’t nude in any of them. (Click on the Brandie Malay label at the bottom of this post to see that post.)
As for the various parts of her that people are seeking information on, I can say that yes, she does have feet, and she appears to have tits, which, one would assume, are home to at least one nipple, though, again, having never seen her nude, I can’t say that with anything beyond a reasonable degree of certainty. There was a recent episode of Hidden Potential in which she seemed to be exhibiting a certain amount of “pokiness,” but the protruding bits seemed to be in odd locations, so either they were the result of pointy or lumpy bits of whatever she was wearing under her shirt, or those particular bits of her anatomy are oddly-distributed either naturally or as the result of the constriction of whatever she was wearing underneath her shirt.
can't find tanya memme nude pictures
I’m not surprised.
my own experience about self reliance
Why would you be searching Google for your own experience? And if you were looking for someone else’s experience, there’s a kind of irony to that which amuses me terribly.
jane wogan & hgtv
Jane Wogan is a very beautiful woman who sometimes, but, to the show’s eternal shame, not always, appears on HGTV’s series Don’t Sweat It.
I’ve thought about applying to be featured on the show in order to get some projects, such as the de-pinkifying of my master bath, completed around the house, and also to get a chance to see Jane in person. I don’t have such an artificially-inflated sense of self-confidence that I think I’d have any shot at charming the tool belt off of her, but I still think it’d be cool to get to see her in person and to hear that charming Irish brogue she has. Of course, with my luck, if I got on the show, it would be one of the episodes featuring the all-male cast.
On a semi-related note, my Realtor, David Harbour, recently appeared on an episode of HGTV’s series Get It Sold, and will be doing so again on March 5 at 8:30 PM Eastern.
I’ve been thinking I should shoot him an e-mail and see if he can get me the hook up with some of the Hotties of HGTV, but, again, I’m lacking the artificially-inflated sense of self-confidence that would make something like that seem worthwhile.
There are a few pictures of Jane floating around on the Internet, but in the interest of promoting your own experience of self reliance, I’ll leave it up to you to find them for yourselves.
Bonus Link:
As always, among the search strings listed here were the typical bra-related searches. In checking out some of the other search results that came up on those strings, I found a link to this article about the 100th anniversary of the bra.
True, it’s not going to do anything to help you find out how big [insert celebrity name here]’s knockers are, but I don’t see what good finding that out would do you either, so…
In any case, that will do it for this installment of Keyword Kraziness. Check back later for a harrowing account of the intense story of what’s happened in my life since last I posted.
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