Happy Father's Day to The Admiral

The Admiral did not find me in a rocket and raise me. Nor did he launch me into space (though I strongly suspect the thought crossed his mind from time to time).

But like Jonathan Kent, The Admiral (with no small assist from the KareBear) did his best to instill in a young League some sort of moral compass. While I think he would have frowned upon my adoption of a cape and sky-blue tights an an outfit of choice, like Pa Kent from the movies and books, The Admiral's role as a father was a bit more involved than occasionally peering over the top of his newspaper or teaching us how to throw a baseball (which he did as well, with mixed results). We were lucky to have parents who saw our challenges as teaching opportunities, and who asked us to reach our own conclusions as we forged ahead.

I don't want to go on too long and get sappy and boring, and some of this is deeply personal. But I consider myself fortunate every day to have had the balance of parents that I could not have been luckier to have had, had I been flung across space to touch down in a field and be picked up by Glen Ford.

The Old Man is a good guy, and I can only hope to do him proud. So on Father's day, I salute thee, Admiral.

Memorial Day

Peabo forwarded an e-mail to me on Friday. An old pal of mine from many-a-year-ago, whom Peabo is still close friends with, is now stationed in Afghanistan. Last week our friend (will call him "S"), lost a peer and close friend when a roadside explosive went off beside or under her transportation. Normally, "S" would have been traveling with her, or she with him. But, for whatever reason, not on that day.

With the US at war on multiple fronts, good people will lose their lives for reasons often abstract and with very little to do with them had they chosen another path other than service. What can you do but set aside some time to honor them?

Its easy for me to push the reality of what's going on out of mind as it is now so often out of sight, and the reporting is concerned more with vague ideas of what may or may not happen, should our government tilt one way or the other on policy.

So the League takes a minute to salute our service men and women, living and passed. Now and in the past. And hope that "S" make sit home safely when his tour has come to an end.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there in Leaguer-Land.

I'll be spending Mother's Day this year with Judy, Jamie's mom, and will raise a glass to my own mom when they come to visit in a few weeks.

I've known my own mom for quite a few years, and in that time, I've had opportunity to observe her at work.


it is impossible for me to imagine the KareBear sitting this still unless she were asleep

As lucky as I am to have the KareBear for a mother, its difficult to underestimate how many other kids my mom has taken care of over the years. A constant of the Steans household was to see all our pals running around the house, being fed, spending the night, and having a second home at our house. I was probably in high school before I figured out not all moms did this (Peabo's mom, however, probably saw a doubling in the food bill in the years I grew up in Austin as I wasn't shy about wandering into their kitchen).

And as my mom has taught however many decades worth of kids, it wasn't uncommon for us to have some kid who was having a rough time of it hanging around the house in one shape or another. From the girls whose family lost their house in a tornado to me wandering downstairs in college and seeing a pool full of kids I didn't know were going to be there that day, the lady's heart knows no limits to size nor does it know boundaries. She genuinely loved those kids, and when I'd wander the hallways of her school when I'd come to visit, those kids who hadn't been in her room for a few years were still trying to talk to her in the hallway.

All that, and there was never any question whether she had time to be a den mother for my cub scout troop, was hauling me and my pals to basketball practice, hosting parties for my drama gang, whatever... She was always there.

I don't want to paint too much of a Beaver Cleaver picture. Like any family, we had our differences. But I can honestly say that those differences were always something easy for me to deal with, especially as I grew older and knew that those differences stemmed out of approach, not out of any lack of love.

As nuts as I was about Jamie, I don't know if it was because of how nuts I was about Jamie or because she liked Jamie all on her own, but Karebear has been nothing but supportive of Jamie and me in a million different ways. And I know she's very pleased to finally have a daughter instead of just two, big, smelly boys.


probably what the KareBear envisioned for herself when she had a family


What she wound up with

Since I graduated, she's retired, but that doesn't mean she isn't volunteering at her former school, teaching English to new residents, and helping out with my grandfather and the kids of family friends.

This spring Karebear is fulfilling a lifelong goal of journeying to Kenya on a mission trip with a church group. While its traveling far from home, and into an unknown situation, part of me thinks its pretty typical of my mom. She's going to go above and beyond to help people she doesn't or who she barely knows.

So, I salute thee, Karebear. Happy Mother's Day. Hope that bouquet showed up.

B-Day & Easter

Having a birthday in early/ mid April occasionally means I share the weekend with the Easter Weekend. I figure in the big picture, folks probably care a bit more about Easter than my birthday (it seems my birthday may not hold the weight of Easter. Go figure).

I don't mind the confluence of days, and, in fact, welcome it. People are generally in a good mood on Easter, so in the case of this year, I kind of got to ride that wave.

Thursday we had dinner with some friends, as I mentioned. Friday was low-key, and I am afraid I wound up watching reality TV with Jason after dinner. Saturday we stayed home, ran some errands, and then joined friends and family at my folks' house in N. Austin for a lovely dinner with entirely too much food. And somehow I walked away with a 6' Superman standee (of the Bruce Timm art Superman. Pretty awesome).

Today we headed to El Arroyo for a family brunch (and for me to receive my birthday loot. Thanks, loot-bearers!), took in some sunshine and had maybe a Bloody Mary to say "howdy" to my latest journey around the sun. It was supposed to rain, but instead we had 80 degree temperatures and a clear sky. Really, couldn't have been better.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Thanks to all who could make it to any of our outings this weekend, and all the Facebook, e-mail and other birthday wishes.

Some lovely birthday tributes from Jason and Jamie. Thanks so much, you two. I am to blush.

In closing, I have to post this picture of our good friend Erica's kid, Isaac, as he says "hello" to the Easter Bunny. An Easter Bunny from your darkest nightmares.

Round-Up and Video Clips

Chuck Candy


Firstly, today was a wild day here at League of Melbotis. JimD sent a link from my Chuck E. Cheese post to Whitney Matheson at Pop Candy. (Matheson is the same blogger who recently asked my Devo question...) Matheson posted the link, and my hit count jumped from its usual 45 hits or so a day (that includes a lot of folks accidentally hitting the site) to about 1800 at last count.

That's a lot of people hearing about my tight slacks and aversion to messy children.

Anyhow, I welcome all the new folks who might stop by. We always appreciate new visitors here at The League, and we hope you enjoy your stay. Please feel free to poke around, ask questions, and generally make yourself at home.

It's always fun getting some visitors who aren't usually at the site. I totally recommend going back and reading the comments section as several other Chuck E. Cheese alumni piped up with similar tales. Great stuff.

Bankston on MSNBC

My former roommate, Kevin Bankston, appeared on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" this evening arguing for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the government for illegal wiretapping.

You have to understand how weird it is to see the same guy using the same tone with Keith olbermann that he once used to argue that it was MY turn to clean the living room.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I'd rather we not actually debate the topic here, as this isn't that kind of blog, but be a little weirded out that the guy with whom I share a multitude of embarrassing memories is now an important attorney-guy/ pundit.

Old times, old crimes.

Nimoy and New Trek in Austin

It seems the Alamo Drafthouse is a bit bigger deal than I realized. There was a showing of Star Trek II, Wrath of Khan at the Alamo this week with, supposedly, a few minutes of the new Trek sent by the studio. The Alamo surprised the audience with a guest appearance by none other than Leonard Nimoy (that's Spock to you non-nerds), the sort of proto-celeb to us in geek-kind.

In 6th grade, and I wish I were making this up, I had gerbils named "Leonard Nimoy" and "Richard Nixon". Let us speak on this no further.

Well, THEN Paramount pulled the coolest switcheroo in geek history by showing the entirety of the new Trek movie to the assembled.

Read it here in the NYT.

DAMMIT, MAN!!! Sadly, I probably would have missed it had I been in town because I did just watch Star Trek II on cable. Twice.



Spock is my homeboy.

Twitter

I'm probably way late on this, but... it sort of sums up my feelings on a lot of why I can't fully embrace Twitter as a social tool.



Easter Fun

Some times the simple ideas are the best



Minneapolis

I saw very little of Minneapolis while there. I can say the conference was pretty cool, and I learned a lot. Too much stuff going on during any hour, so I missed stuff that I couldn't split in two or three to visit.

There was snow on the ground when I arrived, but it all melted by the time I walked around a very little bit on Sunday. After that, I never really left the office.

Anyhow, I'm back. And I'm going to catch up on some sleep.

Happy Friday the 13th

to my brother!

Other Side of Christmas - 2008

Hey Leaguers!

I hope you had a holly, jolly Christmas (it's the best time of the year).

This year Jamie and I had Christmas with her folks, Doug and Kristen, with most of the Christmassy activity centered at Jamie's folks' house down in San Marcos. Luckily, it was very nice outside, so we were able to take Melbotis and Lucy down with us (Jeff stayed behind to watch the house).

The McBrides have their big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day in order to maximize Christmas Day lounging. It was about as traditional meal as you'll find with turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc... Which Judy did almost entirely by herself. And, I might say, outdid herself this year. This was followed by Judy's Christmas morning quiche, the traditional cinnamon roll wreath, and more.

We did the annual present exchange (I did well, thank you), and I think everyone did okay this year in the loot department.

There's been no small amount of discussion of the "Twilight" series of books (and movies) which are about not-really-Vampires. Jamie and Judy have read all of them, and Kristen is making her way through. And yet not Doug, Dick nor myself have yet to feel any inkling of curiosity about the series.

I did talk to The Admiral, KareBear and Steanso on Christmas Day. It sounded like their Holiday was going swimmingly.

We've got some tired dogs on our hands today as Lucy and Mel spent two days out in the McBride's big backyard and with a fairly steady stream of folks stepping out to throw the ball for them. Mel was in a bit of a blue funk in the week or so headed into Christmas as it was cold and his old bones do not love the cold the way they once did, and it was tough to get him outside for any length of time on his own. He was much peppier with the sun (probably the best present he could have received).

I, myself, am way off schedule on sleep, caffeine intake, etc... So I am unsure if I've been appropriately peppy during all the festivities.

Anyhow, we're now on the other side of Christmas, and that's always a pretty good time. Hopefully we'll use the freetime a bit more wisely than usual before I return to work than I have in previous vacations. I am going to try to do some organizing of CD's and books, sort some comics, and get to the garage after New Year as part of the Christmas decoration breakdown.

I hope everyone's Christmas went well.

Merry Christmas from The League

the child is Shauna C's kid, Rosco

Merry Bat-Christmas!

Hat tip to Randy

You and Santa and Trucks and Bears and Hippie Kids Have a Coke and a Smile

It's a Wonderful Life

"It's a Wonderful Life" is a movie a surprising number of people haven't actually seen all the way through. Given the homage, parodies, etc... and insertion of clips of the film into countless other Holiday movies, I think a lot of folks think they've made it all the way through, but when you really press them, they know the story but aren't all that familiar with the original movie.

There was a very interesting story in the New York Times recently that discussed the discrepancy between how many people (in my experience, usually those who've never actually watched the film) believe it to be schmaltzy and painting a sugar coating on the world, when those who know the film a bit better know... that isn't "It's a Wonderful Life" at all. At the same time, I found the article a bit confusing as it seemed to conflate the common misconceptions about the movie with the reality presented in the movie, and without much credit given in the way of historical context regarding what life might have actually been like during the film's release.


Ah, the Holidays...

And, he takes a dig at "Bells of St. Mary's", which was actually a hugely popular movie of the era, earning a couple of Academy Awards and a huge number of nominations.

I saw "It's a Wonderful Life" the first time on television in the late 80's, before a copyright dispute got it yanked from the airwaves where it had been a favorite of UHF channels for years (the sitcom Cheers had a gag about how, in December, their UHF affiliate became "It's a Wonderful Network" showing the movie over and over).

It's easy enough to latch onto the message at the end of the movie, which is probably why the movie gets props even from those who consider it a bit sugary. We'd all like to believe our lives are worth something, not just to us, but to the people we're around and who matter to us. And if we've lived well, perhaps our value goes well beyond that.

And certainly, the movie means something far different when you see it when you're young versus how you see it as an adult and you, also, perhaps never boarded that steam ship and maybe life isn't quite as full of adventure as you'd hoped... And I'm not sure that the article's author gives full props to the fact that George Bailey doesn't want to toss himself off a bridge because of his legal troubles, but because of how he feels he's spent his life in a manner he never intended, and now he may be going away for a long, long time thanks to the mistakes of one of the folks he's carried with him.

I think that unless you're living a pretty awesome life, then there are very few people out there who can't relate a little to George Bailey.

There's actually some pretty entertaining stuff about how cool Pottersville looks compared to Bedford Falls, and in an America where the ideal vacation is in Las Vegas where they serve you free drinks as long as you keep gambling, its hard to argue the point. Maybe a vice-ridden town didn't equate to prosperity in anyone's book in 1947ish, but, hey... all I'm saying is that apparently you could pick up dames like Gloria Grahame. That's sort of jolly.


Swingingest neighborhood in Capraland

"It's a Wonderful Life" delivers pretty well on trying to demonstrate the value of the life of the everyman, that we effect more than we believe and our lives do have value. It's an interesting message for this time of year, when the "should be's" of the Holiday season are so much more apparent and painful when we're at our lowest. And that's, really, who the movie is for.

It's also important to note that before George's financial situation resolves itself that he's already at peace with his life, and, in fact grateful for it. I won't say that the deus ex machina of the tidy ending dilutes the film's conclusion and moral denouement, because its meant to reinforce the message of how one man is always more valued than he realizes. But its interesting, too, that its all gravy as far as George Bailey is concerned.

I used to watch the movie every year, but I think I'm now pacing myself. It's a movie I don't just like, but I actually believe in. Sure, it's sentimental, but to try to say its saccharine when you consider the sort of DOA Holiday junk we've been getting since, I think, Scrooged. I'll take a movie that isn't "Christmas with the Kranks", "Jingle all the Way", "Deck the Halls" or "Four Christmases"... secular Christmas movies that focus incessantly on the annoyances of the holiday/ having a family who loves you.

I'm not going to try to convince you. But give the article a read. If you get a chance, watch the movie.

Apparently not satisfied with merely forcing Santa down the chimney under duress, Superman then enters the Yuletide scene in an effort to swipe Kris Kringle's thunder.

Oh, Superman. You love Christmas too much.

NORAD tracks Santa

Hey, Leaguers. Those of you with kids might want to share this item with them.

Every year, for the past few years, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has turned it's considerable resources to tracking Santa over American and other air space. You kids might be curious to see Santa make his way around the planet before he reaches your house.

Here's a link to the NORAD Santa Tracking website.

OR, you can track Santa with Google Earth.

Office Party

Tonight was my office Christmas party. Lovely, catered affair at UT's new hotel/ conference center. Well, by office, I mean the entire library staff and their families showed up. It was a few hundred folks as far as I could tell.

I'm still new, so I stuck close to people I know, met some new people, drank some coffee, ate some food, ate a cookie. It was, all in all, very festive. And, it was interesting to see how so many people related to one another. A lot of them have been there for a career, and some were back after retiring.

I've never worked anywhere before that was somewhere I believed I'd be for more than a few years. Or where people took it for granted that their jobs would be there tomorrow, even when I worked at other university jobs. I'm not sure I believe I'm set for life, but it's an interesting dynamic. And a nice thought.

I don't know. I'm not ready to say I'm settled in quite yet.

Christmas Schedules

I'm actually in Austin straight through, but thanks to the unique schedule of the University, I'm actually off starting tomorrow at 5:00 until after Jan. 1 (but we miss basically every other federal, state or other holiday).

I'm looking forward to some downtime that doesn't include unemployment.

There's a lot of "chore" type stuff I want to knock out, but if you're around and about, give me a shout.

This also means light blogging will probably also continue throughout the break.

Christmas Poetry

I was asked pretty specifically not to repeat my Holiday Poetry experiment this year. So, alas, you poor suckers. No Holiday poem this year.

Not that anyone ever seemed to read the poems...

I Have No Idea What is Happening Here

...because it looks like Santa is an unwilling participant in this image

$25 from Salvation Army Goal

Okay, you cheapskates.

We're having tremendous success here at The League of Melbotis in almost reaching our goal of $300. We're only $25 shy of my goal.

Give here.

What's interesting is that we've had the opposite effect I had assumed the Red Kettle was intended to have. Rather than a bunch of smaller donations, we've had a handful of generous contributions.

Why, the League's own JimD threw back the curtain yesterday morning after being visited by the miserable, un-giving spirit of Randy, called out to a street urchin as to what days it was, and gave himself over to the spirit of Christmas and giving which swelled in his heart. Yes, that Scroogiest of Scrooges, Jim D, made a generous contribution.

Other generous givers include:

The in-laws, Dick and Judy.
The KareBear
The Admiral
Jason (aka: Steanso)
Doug
Heather Wagner

Heather "I'm in grad school debt up to my eyeballs" Wagner gave. But you didn't...

Well. I think we all know who Santa will favor this year.

It's not too late to give. With a measley $25 deficit, obviously anything you can give will make a major difference. It's as easy as buying junk off Amazon, only rather than blowing $25 on an "hilarious" white elephant gift, why not toss a few bones to a worthy cause like The Salvation Army?

If you can swing it, The Salvation Army would greatly appreciate your contribution.

Round-Up of Interesting Information and a Plea for Donations

New Jim Parsons Interview at USA Today

Check it out, Jim P. who plays Sheldon on "The Big Bang Theory" got a high profile interview at USA Today. There is no accompanying pie chart.

Hopefully Jim has not entered the twilight zone for actors where they have so convincingly embodied a character mostly unlike themselves that the audience is somewhat disappointed to learn that Jim is playing a character and not himself. (See: George Reeves as Superman, Michael Richards as Kramer, etc...) But, really, would anyone want to put up with Sheldon for more than 22 minutes per week?

Price of success, I guess. Hopefully Jim is enjoying the fruits of his labors. I'm still enjoying the show.


Give Some Dough to the Salvation Army and Help Out Your Fellow Humans

I am $5.00 from my personal goal set for raising money for Salvation Army. I am, however, $160 dollars from what I had hoped would be a team goal.

Tis the Season of Giving, Leaguers. Sure, I know times are tough, but that's all the more reason to share if you can.

The website is easy to use, the donation is probably tax deductible, and anything you give will genuinely help other people out in a time when so many people are in need. I know you gave $3.00 to the guy ringing the bell at the mall, and that's super. If you can afford to give more, we'd certainly appreciate it. We're going to be leaning on each other a lot more in the next few years.

So join League of Melbotis in giving. Click here, and then click "donate to my kettle". Anything from $0.25 to $250 would be welcome.

I've heard some people find the site a bit wonky. If you need help, let me know.

New Years Party

A gentle reminder that December 31st at 8:45ish, we're kicking off our annual Holiday Party as a New Year's party (Melbotis's 2008 New Year Hullabalunacy!).

Click here for details and to RSVP.


And to Keep You in the Yuletide Spirit



Also: SLOTHS

Only moderately safe for work

Thanksgiving Follow Up

Well, it's Sunday. Sunday night.

It's been a pretty long four days, and, in saying that, I'm kind of surprised its only been four days. But that's what happens when you have family coming and going, football on the brain, and the transition from the the Fall season into the Holiday Season.

I had a glimpse of life to come, and holidays to come, this weekend. My parents stayed at their new pad in N. Austin, Jason at his house, Cousin Sue at her place and we at ours. It seems the days of Too Many People in One House have drawn to a close. Which, really, has been most of my life, so I'm not really sure what to make of it. In the past, I was always amazed and confused by friends whose families lived in town and sort of didn't bat an eyelash that the Holidays were coming. If you weren't going to spend three or four nights kicked out of your bed and camped out in some corner of the house not your own, while wondering who kept turning up the thermostat (so you'd start sweating), it just wasn't the Holidays.

Anyhow, sadly, the Steans Family And Affiliated Family is now smaller in number. And we've somehow consolidated in Texas, with the locus in Austin. This is going to make things easier in some ways. And just plain odd in others.

No more sitting up with The Admiral and discussing the news until the wee hours. No more Jason abruptly standing up at some late hour and declaring "I'm tired as @#$%." Then going to bed.

No more shuffling into the kitchen and sorting out what sort of coffee was put in the pot (the parents like to poison me with 50% caffeinated), or coming downstairs at the folks' house to find some of their friends were not just up before me, they're over and visiting when I wander in with my hair standing straight up and peering out from behind my coke-bottle lenses.

Or, at Jamie's folks' house... no more realizing everyone has put off eating while you were sleeping. Or wandering out into the kitchen first thing, walking right past everyone and staring out the window into the backyard until your brain decides to actually wake up.

All that said, I'm happy to trade that for popping in to Jamie's folks' or my folks' house with a 30 minute drive instead of 3 hours.

Its just going to change things, and that's okay. Time marches on.

Jill mentioned on her blog that returning to Spring didn't feel like coming home. I think to a certain extent, I get that feeling. I love my parents, and I love their house, but (a) I've lived in Austin for 18, maybe 19 years, instead of the 3 I lived in that house in Spring, and (b) Jamie and I have worked hard to build lives in Austin. We're also heading quickly into our (gasp!) mid-thirties. While our lives are vastly different from those of our parents, we're not still moving from apartment to apartment like people right out of college. Hell, this spring we'll have been married for nine years. NINE.

And I think my folks are ready for the change.

Jamie's parents are in San Marcos now, so this is going to make the Christmas Holidays interesting. Doug and Kristen are coming into town, and will be hopping back and forth between here and the in-laws.

We're kinda/ sorta decorated for Christmas. I'd managed to get the inside about 80% decorated on Friday while Jamie rested after dialysis (we needed to put ornaments on the tree). Around 12:00ish today, we were just starting to pull exterior decorations down from shelves in the garage when Jamie noticed her fistula was bleeding through her sweatshirt.

Add in about three and hours in the ER (of which, about seven minutes was actual medical attention. The rest was waiting, giving information, and watching "Big" on basic cable), and we were home again by 3:15 and I was trying to get lights strung before the front would go dark by 5:30.

I checked three of our strings of lights before putting up four of them, and, curiously, once up they only half worked. Every single string of lights lit about half-way and then... nada. I tried swapping bulks, etc... but nada. I have no idea what was going on.

Anyway, I decided I just was going to quit and start again next Saturday morning.

The neighborhood will have to wait a little longer for The League's Onslaught of Cheer, '08.

Jamie is totally fine, by the way. What happened requires some a priori knowledge, but really simply: She had a scab on her fistula that fell off. The fistula is a very powerful vein, Jamie's also on blood thinners. Add the two together and you get a mix of Old Faithful and the elevator doors from "The Shining".

We did decorate the tree, and its lovely. We moved it this year, so its no longer out of view from the living room. I'm quite pleased with the change.

I'll get around to the Robot Ladies of Interest column later this week.

Keep it real.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

I'm outta here for a few days.

Sure, I'll be in Austin, but I'm going to take a break and hang out with the family for a few days. So don't expect much more in the way of navel-gazing, complaining, or pondering about robots or Superman until late in the weekend.

Jason is usually pretty good about taking photos and posting them, so I invite you to hit his site.

Enjoy your days off if you have days off. Enjoy the folks around you. Go see a movie. Watch a football game or three. Give some thanks.

Now get out there and eat the hell out of some potatoes.


FREEDOM FROM WANT

Being Thankful

I'm delicious

So I saw Meredith has wisely posted her Thanksgiving column before the Thanksgiving madness had begun. And, as much as I am unsure of my own schedule this week, I don't want to write this thing for an audience that has skipped out on me for the annual tryptophan overdose. And while most days I'm unsure of whose hanging about and reading, if I'm going to spill my heart, I ain't doing it for, like, 5 hits.

Anyhow, for me, personally, its been a... weird year. But that doesn't mean I have nothing to be thankful for. To the contrary! Sometimes a sorta-off year pulls things into focus, and you can re-evaluate.

This year I am thankful for Jamie's relatively stable good health. We've had a bump here and there, and we have a lot to think about next year. But it's been a good year, and despite Jamie's many challenges, I think she's doing well.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to work, of course. 2008 did not go at all how I would have liked professionally, and it wasn't much fun. But good people gave me a second opportunity when they could have easily passed on me for contract work. Then, of course, I've landed what I consider to be an enormous opportunity back at the University. And all during a period when many, many other people are in less fortunate positions.

I'm thankful for old friends, new friends, and old friends with whom I've re-connected. For a family who is as supportive as someone could ask for, and who is also physically closer (and/ or is planning to be). I'm also thankful all of you Leaguers out there in Leaguer-Land. You're tops.

It's a tough time out there for a lot of people this year. Perhaps more so than usual. The press is going to have you believing that the future is more uncertain than usual. But we never really know (or we wouldn't be in half the jams we're in now). Be thankful for what you've got. Make sure you let people know how glad you are that you've got them.

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving planned.

Gobble gobble.

Now go have some Turkey.



Also, I am thankful for UT's inexplicably high BCS rating, Superman comics, jobs where you can wear jeans, new comics on Wednesdays, good Batman movies and probably a hundred thousand other little things.

Present Idea

I now totally know what I am getting Judy (the mother-in-law) for Christmas.

The Tomahawk Skull Gauntlet.



I can totally see Judy using these. It's good to get something that's both fun AND practical.

Which is totally awesome, because I know Dick (the father-in-law) is really going to enjoy his neoprene skull mask.



tip of the hat to Randy for the website. (How he finds these things, I don't know...)