I got babies on the brain. And, the Irish, too.

C'mere Big Fella!

Doorway

Here are two links for you: This one is a link to a video. It's mostly just funny/weird, but there is a reference to female anatomy, so don't freak out. It's from a British show called "The Mighty Boosh."

This link is to an online book called Poker Without Cards. Sort of an interesting read. I thought so, anyway. Sure, it's reminiscent of a Socratic Dialogue with one guy playing the straight man, so to speak, but kind of fun anyway.

To Arms!!!

I Think This Sums it up Nicely

Business Casual

Originally, I was going to tell you about my experience at Bank of America today where I went to deposit 2 checks and was confronted by their "new, more convenient method" of making deposits at their ATMs where, instead of putting all of your checks, cash, etc. into one envelope and inserting it all at once they now have you insert each check, individually, into the slot where a computer attempts to scan the check and decipher the amount and ask you if it read it correctly and shows you a little image of the check--which ends up taking longer than ever, especially today when, after successfully inserting the first check (handwritten-- a personal check by the way) and having the ATM correctly read the amount, I attempted to insert the second check which the ATM twice spat back out at me saying that it couldn't be read, thereby forcing me to walk into the bank (luckily I was there during business hours) and fill out a deposit slip and go to a bankteller's window and make my deposit the way we did it back in the last century (the last MILLENIUM for crying loud) and the best part is that the unreadable check was issued by flippin' BANK OF AMERICA itself, and was not even handwritten, but was, rather, printed out by a computer-- which, one would assume, would make it that much less of a challenge for the fancy ATM that can read human handwriting to read! But, I won't tell you about that.

I'll tell you instead that my office (which I appreciate very much, thank you--not complaining) at work is right above the main conference room, and sometimes very loud meetings take place there. Today there was some kind of endless, catered gathering of who-knows-who-these-very-important-people-were going on most of the day. It inspired this drawing.

Dunce

It is "Kenny's Korner" after all.

Gloomy Gus

I don't know about you, but I've been a little gloomy lately.

Brow Ridge

Earthquake

Quaky 'round these parts.

Smog

Smoggy 'round these parts...

Reach for the Stars!

Reunion

Our ol' college pal Sean came out for a visit from the east coast. It's been 13 years since we've seen him. Nobody's changed a bit!
It's been awhile since I was up drinking 'til 5AM, too... Good times!!!

Moondance

OK, I'm hesitant to post this, because I'm afraid that you're going to start thinking I have an overactive imagination, or that I'm crazy, or that I'm just a liar. But, I'm going to do it anyway, because what happened tonight was REALLY WEIRD AND COOL!

It all started earlier this evening--maybe around 9:30. I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water or something, and I looked out the window and saw the full moon. I instantly felt a sense of pleasant relaxation come over me, and I hadn't even realized that I was in any way tense. (At the time I didn't know it was a full moon, either.) My reaction seemed a little unusual, but I didn't give it much more thought.

A little while later, I was surfing the web, and I was checking out one of the cool sites that I like to visit, and the second item from July 16th's "weird news roundup" or whatever you want to call it, had a link to some UFO blog that had some embedded videos of some dude talking about how tonight's full moon was of extreme spiritual importance for the world, and it would bring about amazing changes, etc.. I thought to myself, "What an interesting synchronicity that I should be affected so unusually by seeing the moon earlier, and then to come across these videos, seemingly at random. Ooh La La!"

So, a little while later, around 11:00, just before I was to begin my "manly workout" (see previous post) I thought I would go outside and take a look at the moon again. So, I went out and stood on the front balcony and stared up at the full moon and pondered a bit. The sky looked more or less like Panel 1. above. (You can see it more clearly if you click on the image. That's jupiter up to the right of the moon, by the way.)

After a few minutes I noticed what I took to be a star (see Panel 2.) just to the left and below the moon. I assumed that my eyes were still adjusting to being outside in the dark, but it seemed sort of odd that I hadn't noticed it earlier anyway, because it was a fairly bright light. I had a passing thought: "Please start moving..." Because hey, wouldn't that just be flippin' awesome??? I NEVER actually expected that it would do what it did next...

The light started drifting slowly, almost imperceptibly, to the right, and as it did, it appeared to either divide into, or separate from, at least two other distinct lights (Panel 3.). As this occurred the lights seemed to be surrounded by a kind of fog or mist.

I quickly called Nina out to see what was going on, and she came out and could see the lights too (What a relief!) After a little while, the lights faded out leaving no trace. We were, of course, totally at a loss as to what we just saw. Nina went back inside to check on Cooper because he's sick, and because Nina's a Mom. I stayed outside (Wouldn't you???) and after a few minutes the light returned.

I called Nina out again, and again she saw the same thing I did. The light didn't blink on like flipping a switch, it was more like turning up a dimmer. And, after a moment the fog returned, too. I can't be certain whether the light moved and gave off a sort of contrail, or whether the light remained stationary and just kind of exuded a mist that drifted in the wind. I'm inclined think that the light itself was moving because the "cloud" that formed had a curve to it. Then the cloud divided (or there were two clouds to begin with and they drifted apart) and it looked like Panel 4. This time, the clouds remained visible until they eventually drifted below the trees where I could no longer see them.

So, there it is. (And, earlier I thought I had nothing to blog about! Cripes!!!)

Self Portrait

A bit of a dry spell lately, but here is some fine art to sustain you through these troubled times.

God Bless Tiny Tim

Ah...I rediscovered this brilliant album this evening. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it as a kid.

I traced a photograph of him for this entry. Sorry.

Headless

Here is this week's timecard drawing. I wonder what those payroll folks must think of me.

smalltalk

"Sandwich"

I was at a sporting goods store during my lunch break, and at one point I was walking down an aisle and a woman was walking down the same aisle in the opposite direction. As she passed me she said, under her breath, "Sandwich."

Ability

I know how.
I am able to brew a pot of coffee.
I can do it.
I am able-bodied.
I am capable.

Houseguest

A few weeks ago, Cooper started talking about someone named "Mara." We were out on our front balcony one evening and he said he wanted to go see Mara. I asked him who Mara was and he would only say, "Mara is Mara." Just for fun I looked up Mara on the internet, and it turns out that Mara is the name of a demon that tempted the Buddha while he was sitting under the Bodhi Tree. She's also the Hindu goddess of death, among other things. Anyway, I digress.

I found that information rather chilling, but chalked it up to coincidence.

So, last night, I was in the dining room with Cooper and he said, "Let's go see Mara!" So, I followed him into the living room and I sat down and tried to get more information on Mara, and Cooper gave his standard "Mara is Mara!" Then he told me that Mara was sleeping under our bed.

(Chills).

We quietly went in the bedroom and Cooper retrieved these exercise balls from under the bed that he wanted to stack up (like Frosty the Snowman). He whispered the whole time, and was very careful not to disturb Mara. He told me that sometimes Pepper (our dog) "woofs" at Mara. It was all kind of freaky.

Here are some of the questions we asked Cooper followed by his responses:

Q: What color hair does Mara have? Is it blond, brown, red, or black?

A: Red.

Q: What color eyes does Mara have?

A: Red. (He told us later that Mara was entirely red).

Q: Does Mara talk to you?

A: Yes, but not to you and Daddy.

Q: Does Mara scare you?

A: No.

Q: Is Mara nice?

A: Not nice.

We told him that Mara was not welcome in our house, and that she had to leave. To which Cooper defiantly replied "Mara IS welcome in our house."

We told him that Mara had to go home to see her family, and Cooper told us that, "This IS Mara's home."

So, what are we supposed to do with all that??? I mean, granted, Cooper's not even 3 years old yet, and he has a good imagination and all, but he's been consistent about the existence of this Mara character for awhile now. It's just hard getting information out of him. But, you know, there have been some weird happenings at our house in the 8 years we've lived there, and sometimes Pepper does bark and growl for no apparent reason. For the most part I never really worried about it. I mean, the house is old, and we live a stone's throw from a 300 acre cemetery. My feeling was always that if we had a ghost or two, they were probably there before we were and, as long as they didn't do anything harmful or threatening then live and let live (so to speak, heh heh...) But, if there really is a red-eyed thing that sleeps under our bed and talks to our son then I think maybe it's time to take a new approach.

Dooodle

I tried to post this doodle yesterday, but Blogger said, "No!" Today it said, "OK, but with a few reservations."
Stay tuned, though, I have a spooky story for you...

itch/contort/strain/worry

This drawing's better than the other one I posted. Look at this one instead.