Nevermind

No post today.

To those of you who don't work Thursday or Friday, have a good one.

Upcoming

Tuesday morning I fly out of Cowcity to head off to the green and gray state of Oregon.

Monday, hopefully around 10AM PST, I post but will not post again until the following Monday.

Beware the Catgirls

Oh, Something Positive, why must you be so funny?

The full story starts earlier, but the catgirls starts here, then this happens, and then the true danger is realized.

I hope the story goes on for a while before it ends.

Cross Cultural

As my brother's girlyfriend says, "不想念书不想干活."

Although, I suppose only the second half really relates to me.

This Family Artist

My brother has a new art website.

Yes, that is a self-portrait on the home page. And if any of you out there were a comic nerd, like I am, you'd totally see the pencilers and inkers who have influenced his style.

I have some quibbles over his site, but it's a great start and it's nice to be able to look at his work whenever I want.

Teaching? HA!

My grandma has decided that I'd be a perfect teacher. She decided this because I followed a two-year old and a three-year old around trying to keep them getting hurt and to give the babysitter, the first, and the parents, the second kid, some time off to just visit with people.

Basically, I followed them around and pretended to understand what they were saying when they talked to me about whatever excited them. Also, I gave them flashlights so they could walk around in the dark and watch the shadows. They were so distracted by the things around them, I didn't have to do anything more than just watch them play. Hardly what a teacher does.

When I tried to explain to her why I don't want to be a teacher and I'd not be a particularly good teacher, she didn't really hear what I said. She tends to not listen when someone says something she disagrees with. The conversation ended with her reasserting that I'd be a great teacher, especially of little kids, and me trying not to shake my head while she looked my way.

Bones

In the new Star Trek trailer, NewBones has a line. He says, "Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence."

It bugs me.

It bugs me because the real Dr. McCoy would have made that kind of a comment about humanity or sentient species in general, not space. The real Bones just saw space as a place where all beings were just as stupid as they were on their home worlds.

I tell you, if they get NewBones to be as great a character as the real Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, the rest of the movie can be shit and I'll still enjoy it.

Independent Voting

The local Democratic Party headquarters for this last election is across the street from where I work. The office is now closed, but they still have posters and banners and such up in the windows declaring that they tow the party line. One of the signs in the windows says, "Democrats register to vote here."

That got me thinking this morning: Would a no pressure, non-partisan, independent voter place be useful and wanted during major elections?

People would be allowed to register however they want.
There'd be information on the candidates and the state and local measures.
Have some expert information from the left and right side as well as middle-of-the-road statistical analysis.

Also t-shirts and bumper sticker would be sold to help support the place. (You know, we'd aim for a non-profit status.) The shirts and stickers would be both positive ("If You Want Choice, Then Vote") and apathetic/negative ("The Lesser of Two Evils is Still Evil").

Would people go for this sort of thing? Or do they mostly want to flock to a flag so they can be on the "winning" team?

Two Reasons

1. Elex did one yesterday.
2. I'm doing my best not to do any work at all today.

Hooray!

Randy Milholland of Something Positive (one of my favorite stories starts here), among other online comic strips, sold twenty commisions for twenty-five dollars, each, and I bought one of them.

The rules were up to three characters, his or other people's, and Choo-choo Bear if you want him. No porn! (He said he could do porn for more money, but not with his characters.)

This is a scan of the picture I ordered. (He asked if it was okay.) That's PeeJee on the left, Arthur in the middle, and Aubrey on the right. And it is wonderful. It'll be hard waiting for it to reach my front door.

Thank you Mr. Milholland for this opportunity.

And the Answer is...

Fluoxetine.

Starting Today

By the time this gets posted, I'll have left work for the day.

Today, I am going to speak with my doctor. She will want to speak to me about being too fat, having high blood pressure, and the fact that although my bad cholesterol is at a decent level my good cholesterol is low despite the pill she put me on. I, however, set up the appointment so I could get her to put me on some form of an antidepressant.

My original plan for this post was a history of my depression, but once I got near word 1000 and I hadn't written even a quarter of what I wanted, I decided shorter was better.

I don't know what I'll be put on and I don't know how I'll react to it, but I'm pretty sure that this is the right step.

Huh. Fuck?

A memo from the Governator:


The office may be closed for a day. We may be asked to take a day off each month. Or I'll be accruing time off.

If this goes through, of course.

One thing I wonder, though, is how, if he wants to force us to take time off, eliminating two holidays will save money.

PS The union still hasn't gotten a contract out of his people.

A Spec

I've only seen two episodes of The Big Bang Theory, but if I were into writing specs and thought I had a grasp on the show's structure, I have an idea for the A plot:

Penny gets a box from her parents that was delivered to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment because she wasn't home; Sheldon, against his better judgment, signed for the box. She opens it there and it's full of her old Barbie stuff. Penny reminices a bit and Sheldon is horrified that she actually opened and played with her toys. He pulls out a Wonder Woman, mint in box, Mego. When she wants to look at it he "explains" his is worth something and hers is worth nothing. Thus begins their dark alliance into the seedy world of Barbie and Mego collecting culminating in a bidding war over the ultra rare black/asian 1972 Supergirl Barbie and the success of one and the defeat of the the other and the gloating that follows.

'Course that little paragraph is all it's ever going to be.

Oy

I'm having a very hard time explaining myself.

No more politics talk from me.

Dear California,

Welcome to a new era of institutionalized bigotry and discrimination. Jim Crow is back, although it should probably have a more gay sounding name, like Claireesa Ambrosial or something.

This year's Proposition 8 will be headed to court, I know this, but since it alters the state's constitution, it'll have to be decided by a federal appellate. No matter what the decisions of the lower appellate court, the losing side is going to push the appeal up the ladder and in the end it'll be for the Supreme Court to decide.

If the Supreme Court chooses to hear the appeal, it'll be Bush's court that does. I think we can all guess what their decision will be.

Of course, it'll ignore that clause in the 14th Amendment which says, "No state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," but that's beside that point. I mean, just because a corporation is considered a person under the 14th Amendment doesn't mean we should allow people to get married because some think a marriage shouldn't have too many or too few penises involved.

I'm sad. It hurts me to know that a friend I had in high school, who came out in college, can join the armed forces and be shipped around the world with a gun in his hand, but when he gets back he's not allowed to enjoy the privileges that heterosexuals have.

It may just be me, but I used to think of you as a progressive state. Sure, you didn't allow women to vote until 1911, and it took a State Supreme Court decision to allow interracial marriages in 1948, and I've watched you choose to treat children who commit crimes as adults and then increase the punishment, and this is the second time you've decided that a marriage should only involve one penis, but I wanted to believe you were good and wanted to help and protect people.

Maybe it's time for me to seriously consider leaving. I've vaguely flirted with the idea in the past, but it was never serious. Today, though, it feels more serious. Perhaps I'll move to one of those states that have practiced intolerance for hundreds of years so I'll never be disappointed when I see intolerance and fear win.

All the best of luck,

ticknart

The Results Are In!

And no matter which ticket win, we all lose. It's just that there's a bit of hope that with one of the tickets we lose a little less.

I will be so much better when all of this is done.

Edit at 11:38AM:
One of the guys in my office just said that he likes the what he hears from Obama better than he likes what he hears from McCain, but since he's a Republican he didn't vote for Obama.

Please, can anyone explain this to me?

Membership

As of this morning, I am a proud new contributer to the blog What's Distracting Us?.

As the fearless creator of the blog states:

When working in a medium sized office setting, you tend to share links with your co-workers, and then forget to show your other friends. This is a demonstration of what a recent study claims we spend 25% of our office time doing (while maintaining or even increasing productivity). Our managers, on the other hand, would call them "distractions".

It's pretty ease to see what my main niche will be over there.

Photo Phaturday

Click for embiggening.

And that's all, folks.