naladahc | tripping along the golden path

So I had cleaned of the rest of the deck so he could finish power-washing the deck but he was nowhere to be found.

I eventually found him across the street talking to Miller and Ryan and before I knew it three hours and 3 1/2 bottles of wine had happened.

Suffice to say, I didn't make it to the gym this morning. My bag is in the car so I may try to get 5 miles or so in at lunch time.

It is raining again. Weather.com is still calling for a partly sunny Sunny with 20% chance of rain so I'm hoping that the cookout goes well.

Well. My parents aren't coming down from Glass City for the party.

That means none of Nalamatka's tater salad or her famous banana pudding dessert.

Oh well.

All I can say is it will be an extremely rough next 7 months for me.

Every day is going to be a challenge living in this house now.

Every single day.

Not sure what's bothering Señor Pan Mootzar but when G. and I came home from an evening with the Kelmeister and Kelmeister's husband, I found hoont vomit all over the place.

He's refused to eat today and looks like he's got the flu or something.

He seems ok, just down and depressed.

I'm hoping he's ok and there's nothing wrong with him. Especially with our expected 45 or so house guests tomorrow.

Señor Pan Vomits-a-lot is a thousand times better than he was the other day.

He was subdued at the cookout yesterday but that is to be expected.

Of course, at 6am this morning that all changed as I heard the *murf* sound coming from stairwell.

Sure enough, as I walked down the dachshund went round in circles and was totally his old self. He even ate a full bowl of food.

Some season 3 Battlestar Galactica goodness linkage. (Courtest of DestructoGirl)

Can I please find a full size Grace Park doll that looks like this to hump?

(Actually, she's a thousand times hotter with her hair pulled back!)

I have just read an awesome little bit of news from Florida in the St. Petersburg Times.

Gov. Jeb Bush sent a fundraising letter the other day to raise money for Sen. Alex Villalobos' Republican primary opponent. The governor is still angry that the Miami Republican had the nerve - we'd say the courage - to vote against his effort to restore tuition vouchers that the Florida Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional. Villalobos also refused to back an effort to alter the popular class size amendment. Now he faces a tough primary that symbolizes the GOP's intraparty struggle. Bush wrote that Villalobos "has abandoned our party's principles and lost his way."

Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, supports Villalobos. Her typically blunt reaction to Bush's letter and the resulting exchanges:

Argenziano: "The governor has a history reflecting accommodation of special interests as evidenced by the agencies' contracts, and his flexible Republicanism is at odds with both America and actual Republican principles. In his heart of hearts, the governor prefers dictatorship to democracy."

Carole Jean Jordan, Florida Republican Party chairwoman: "Personal attacks on the sitting governor of Florida questioning his character are far beyond the bounds of responsible dialogue. I sincerely hope that Senator Argenziano will reconsider her comments, especially in light of all that Governor Bush has done for the people of Florida and for the Republican Party."

Argenziano: "Carole Jean Jordan can kiss my ass."

If this is in fact real, kudos to Argenziano for avoiding being quaint or eloquent.

So all the past couple of days of insane eating has left me with an Anal Rampage... and I'm not talking about a never-released Botcon exclusive Beast Wars figure either.

Balls!

Creepy skeletal looking Liza Minelli says David Gest tried to poison her and he accuses her vagina of being diseased!

Um. Does anybody actually care about this shit?

So I decided to be a total fucking American loser and tune into Kate Couric's totally pointless first day as anchor of the CBS Evening News and... she's been like face-lifted and shit.

Maybe it is just the make-up.

She doesn't look at all the like Katie Couric from the Today Show.

And guess what?

Yeah. This shit plays just like every other fucking news program. And the silly one-on-one video edits are just jarring.

Um. Kids. How much did you spend to revamp your sets and such for this? And was it really necessary to hire James Horner to redo your intro/outro music?

It is all utterly pointless.

Oh. And applying video effects to Iraqi troop video just looks like really shitty.

The only decent news left in the world is BBC News and the occasional NPR moment.

And W. just did a comparison of Bin Laden to Lenin??? What the fuck???

Oh. And Rosie O'Donnell started on that View today. She looks like she de-dyked herself a lot.

I'm so loving how gasoline has now dropped down to the $2.35/gallon range conveniently prior to the mid-term elections.

And woah, big news on "new" oil just off the coast.

All in the nick of time.

I'm not saying anybody would ever manipulate oil prices or the time table to reveal new information about such things as oil production or other price things.

I'd never say that.

I mean.

This is America.

We'd never do that here.

My massive erection caused by Grace Park and her character "Boomer" has just gotten even harder!!!

*spoilers*

Awwww.

The Nepalese boy is getting the short shrift by Guinness World Records.

He's not old enough to qualify yet.

Looks like it is back to playing with pebbles.

Help Paramount enhance "Star Trek" -- photoshop some improvements you'd like to see in the series (Fark)

There are some really good Photoshopp'd improvements to the franchise.

I could care less about Marvel Comics or 99% of their characters.

They just haven't really done anything for me in decades.

But unfortunately, I read today that there's a comic I'll probably end up getting.

And what sucks even more is it is only a short story in it that I want to read.

Ty Templeton will be doing a short Howard The Duck story in Civil War: Choosing Sides.

Fuck!

Maybe I can just sneak a read in a store.

I could care less about Venom, Iron Fist, The US Agent, or the all-new Irredeemable Ant-Man.

When comic message boards go horribly wrong.. (Newsarama forums) courtesy of postmodernbarney.com.

Two awesome videos that they played on the Stern show recently.

What's scary is that Max Power, Giga, Kelmeister's Husband, and I once had a roommate very much like this guy.

(Then again, I've seen Max and Kelmeister freak out like that too back in 2003.)

I love the woman laughing and then laughing harder as her child chokes! Man... this is a total lesson in why not to be fat.

Hmmm. I thought this week was the Bville Pumpkin Show and/or Festival (Cowtown villages fight over these things) but I'm apparently off by a couple of weeks.

That means I can devote quality time to prepping Phase V in the basement this weekend!

Woot!

The greatest Flickr group.

Ever.

Remember Friday, September 08, 2006.

For on Friday, September 08, 2006, Scipio Garling invented Slash Pic.

Mark my words.

Slash fic had to start somewhere. And here's where slash pic starts

Not only did I clear the entire south part of the basement up and get Giga's toys to the front, I also managed to get about 80% of the parging down for Phase V!!!

I can't believe how easy most of it came off. Of course, there had to be an exception, and the small section under the circuit breaker (image above) is just as hard to remove as most of Phase IV was.

For the most part I think this Phase will go quickly.

Tomorrow I'll try to get the rest of the parging down and all of that out to the trash.

It'll probably take 2-3 days to really clean the walls and since I'm now using the drill that may even go faster.

Oh. And I also reorganized the last year and half of my house repair photos into a solid new gallery called "Extreme House of Love!". Feel free to get your do-it-yourself home repair moistness on!

So I got several hours in today before my wrists and hands just couldn't take it.

Surprisingly, it is the vibrations from the drill that begin to bother be after a couple of hours.

I just hate turning it off and still feeling the vibrations go on and on and on.

The best web graphic.

Ever.

It may not look like much but I got almost all of the pain in the ass parge down.

Got a full drilling and vac'n done too!

Tomorrow will be a solid second pass of drilling and I'm hoping... just hoping... to get the wall/floor seam sealed.

I discovered this major problem while working today and it seems I'll need a plumber soon to repair a solder on a pipe.

Any of you Cowtown readers have any plumber recommendations?

I have totally fallen in love with this song and the one video (above) for it.

It haunts me.

The solo guitar. The solo voice.

This HB's cover is really good too.

And it is also really easy the butch the lyrics into Hoont-related songs as I've often been known to do. I am lame like that.

What’s Distracting Patricia?

Hitler of course!

So my back hurts. I must have really twisted it when working yesterday and man did it start huring about 2 miles into my cardio.

*sigh*

This basement indeed may just be the death of me.

Or at least of this slacker fat-ass body.

Of course, I'll no doubt end up being reincarnated as another home owner with a shitty basement and be caught in an endless karma loop.

*sigh*

It is supposed to rain big time starting late tonight and most of tomorrow.

My south wall is a tad exposed and I fear when it rains. I can't have a repeat of the "waterfalls of hell" back from June 1.

*sigh*

I so want to be done with this.

Maybe I should just help Giga with his shit at the toy show and just throw my shit on ebay.

I always love when I vaccuum really really good because then I find things are even worse than I thought. Not always mind you. But sometimes.

The old sewer drain plug, that appears to have been painted shut (last repair?) exhibits previous concrete slab repair work... and it is all cracked!

The cracks were filled in with dirt and dust and since I've never touched them in 3 years I never knew it was actually all cracked.

The area above it and to the chimney was also previously repaired but it was just full of dirt really with a thin parge on it.

I thought the dirt was concrete because it was so heavy but no. After digging it out I finally hit some river stones.

Yay!!!

DC announced they'll be collecting the 80's Who's Who in the Showcase Presents black and white trade paperback format!!!

My copies are so beat to shit that some of them barely qualify as bound books anymore.

Crisis on Infinite Earths negated 70% or more of the history included in this series while it was still being published but this to me was far superior to Marvel's version. The art was so superior and far more creative.

While I haven't cracked open a Who's Who in probably close to 15 or so years I can remember exact panels and artists.

Dave Stevens Golden Age Catwoman was a masterpiece of appropriateness. Jim Aparo's Huntress was kick ass. And Perez's early covers are bee-yoo-tee-ful!

If you page through the Who's Who series you'll see how Bruce Timm & company came up with many of the characters who eventually appeared in Justice League Unlimited.

I used to feel so sorry for the guy when he was on TV with his bizarre freakish mother a few years back.

Nobody should be raised in the oh so wonderful environment she created.

And no human should ever be exposed to Bobby Trendy like he was. No man, woman, child, or animal should be exposed to him.

Anyway, (Anna Nicole Smith) discovered her 20-year-old son dead in her hospital room just hours after he had come to visit her and and his new baby sister.

One of my co-workers was needing to buy some kind of secure "donation boxes" and ended up doing a Google search for them.

I happened to be in his cubicle when he was looking at one of the results of the search.

The site has a donations page that reads...

The paypal account is for Blockstackers Intergalactic (our parent company) and any contributions will be earmarked to offset the cost of waistcoats, monacles, and apples used to bribe starving children in exchange for their theft of ancient hardware from impoverished inner city libraries. Any extra cash is typically used for money bathing and/or jaguar repair bills.

And then I read...

Miguel A. Bonds, 31, was arrested Sunday night and charged with second-degree rape, two counts of third-degree unlawful sexual contact, and providing alcohol to an underage person.

Authorities said a 20-year-old student told investigators that after the school's football game Saturday afternoon, he mentioned to Bonds that he was planning on pledging a fraternity next year, and that Bonds offered to "teach him what he needs to know about pledging."

He said he followed Bonds to his apartment, where they watched a movie, according to authorities. The student said that Bonds gave him a drink made with vodka and that he immediately felt dizzy.

As he drifted in and out of consciousness, Bonds began performing oral sex on the student and touched him inappropriately, police said.

The student awoke Sunday morning naked on the floor and nauseous, police said. After leaving the apartment, he received a phone call from Bonds, who asked whether he remembered anything, police said....

About 90 students are involved in the band, known as "The Approaching Storm." The public university, originally founded in 1891 as the State College for Colored Students,

Oy koledy!

But seriously, everything I needed to know about pledging I learned from films like Animal House, Revenge of the Nerds, and Frat Pledges IX: The Spankings Continue.

Damn you rain!

Damn you all to hell!!!

It has been really raining today. Major major raining.

I went to the basement during lunch and it was dry. No water from the current wall but who knows how things'll go as the rain continues.

I really wish I had got the east side gutters channeled into a drainage pipe but that didn't happen.

Also, my trusty $15 Big Lots drill is pretty much dead. Thankfully I got most of this Phase dug out but I really will probably kill it trying to dig out the very last (and hardest) old mortar along the floor seam. They didn't have any other ones at the Olentangy Big Lots so I'm sure it will die tonight. I'm surprised it lasted this long with so much dust inside of it.

Maybe I can find time to run to other Big Lots later this week.

I was worried about all the rain.

I had a right to be.

But the time I came home from work the water had started seeping in along the floor where I was digging out yesterday (below).

Of course, it was really coming in under the front porch so I got a fan running and the dehumidifer going to try to make sure it keeps it somewhat dry.

There's no possible way I can even begin to get to that part of the basement until at least the end of October.

So if you don't know it I'm finishing up day 5 of an 18 day fast.

The first 3 days are always the hardest and thankfully they are in the past.

After I got back from Toledo last month I really let myself go to hell, going off diet a few too many times and then going a bit crazy with the Labor Day cookout all resulted in me feeling like shit.

What's amazing is that after 5 days I've shed over 15 lbs of water!!! That's the kind of bad crazyness I've felt on my body lately.

My depression also seems to be lifting.

Yeah. I know. It is weird. But fasting always tends to clear my head out.

At least for a little while.

What's scary is the salt water cleanse I take just got absorbed by my body tonight. Usually, I hear (and feel) it rumbling through my guts for an hour or so and then Nala visits the Bathroom of Non-Love for a couple trips.

Not tonight. Scary.

A very interesting article from the New York Times about the rise of diabetes in India.

Yay for Western Cultural influences!!!

But what's interesting is how it is an inverse of the wester cultural norm with the wealthy being more obese and diabetic than the poor.

“Jokingly in talks, I say you haven’t made it in society until you get a touch of diabetes,” Dr. Mohan said.

As I've said in the past...

I would so read a Topo The Octopus comic book!

Nun tried to kill priest after finding him in bed with another woman

A jealous nun appeared in court charged with threats to kill and an arson attack on a priest's house - after she caught him in bed with a married woman.

The furious nun - who was also Father Carmelo's cleaner - was also armed with a machete and threatened to kill the priest before being restrained by passers by.

The saucy goings on were made even more interesting by father Carmelo's age - he is 70 years old - and is said to have been sleeping with both sister De Sousa and the other woman for several months.

At the court hearing Sister De Sousa also claimed to have had two abortions as a result of having unprotected sex with Father Carmelo and also showed several love letters from him.

She told the hearing: "I just flipped when I came to the house and caught him in bed with another woman who is married.

"We had been together four years and I had even had two abortions because of him."

Fasting brings many different changes to one's life while on the fast.

Smells become far more intense after a few days. And I mean every kind of smell.

Another effect which is along the "spiritual" lines is the way clarity of thought becomes far more precise. I can't describe it really.

And dreams? Oy koledy!

Normally I'm not one to remember dreams at all so I don't even know if I actually have them or not on any frequent basis.

But fasting not only brings on the dreams, it also makes them distinctly crazy and for some reason memorable upon awakening.

And last nights dream. so rudely interupted by the clock alarm, was one major bad crazy one focused on my unhappiness at not being able to go to San Francisco these past few years and the fact that I haven't eaten in days.

In the dream I was in San Francisco with The Fabulous Christine and we had rented a car and were driving all around the city. I kept stopping and smelling food being cooked at this or that restaurant and it was driving me crazy. I could smell everything.

Well we finally stopped at, and I kid you not, the German Village Coffee Shop but in San Francisco!!!

It was exactly the same place and even Liz and the regular crew were working there.

I ordered my usual "club sandwich, no tomatoes, side of mayonaisse" and Christine said "Oh. You love those. Double it!"

So I ordered a double and Liz just kind of rolled her eyes.

Well the club sandwich comes out and it is like 7" thick being that it consists of like 15 layers of turky, ham, cheese, and bread!

I ate the entire thing and the potato chips and was still hungry!

It was insane.

Yes. Fasting triggers weird things.

Behold... the origin of the lamest greatest comic book super-villain ever....

Composite Superman!!!

So a little after 8am I get this call from security that "VIP Kelmeister is down in the lobby for you" and of course, I'm like, "what the fuck?" thinking there's an emergency or something.

Nope. I just had a visitor bringing me coffee!

Was kind of cool.

I brought her up to the Window Office of Love and we chatted and even had the awesome privilege that my office offers of watching Evebird arrive at work, his Autobot Matrix of Leadership proudly dangling from his rear view mirror.

We then stopped by his office and chatted.

This is the first unexpected visitor I've ever had in 5 years here.

Oh. And in other important news, Katie Couric's reign as the top news anchor ended this week as CBS Corp.'s newscast dropped to third place.

Wow!

Whitney Houston must have finally gotten off drugs and realized she was married to Bobbie Brown.

She's finally getting separated.

I had to take off yesterday since my fingers, wrists, and back were killing me from Day 69.

Today I managed to get about 300lbs of concrete mixed and applied, adding another thin layer to the floor/wall seam and officially starting the wall at the chimney and working back to the circuit box.

I still have 180lbs left but I just couldn't take it any more so I had to stop.

I did however get the yard mowed and all the hoont bombs picked up.

At present I have salt water gurgling in my loins and I really should get downstairs near the bathroom.

Regarding The Stormtrooper Effect...

"What would happen if Imperial Stormtroopers and Redshirts got in a firefight?" is well-known among fans of both series. It's a paradox, because even though it's a redshirt's destiny to die quickly at the hands of the enemy, Stormtroopers simply wouldn't be able to kill them due to their poor combat skills.

There's definitely some kind of religious and philosophical in the paradox of red shirts and stormtroopers.

Hell. Perhaps the answer there is 42.

You all know how I've come to really regret the house I bought and the neighborhood I moved into.

I had always intended to probably only keep the house 5 years and quite frankly, hopefully I'll be able to sell it and get out of here before 4 years.

Well Kelmeister sent me a link to an article that actually puts in words the things I've definitely seen occur.

So I managed to not only get the entire Phase V section fully tuckpointed and parged (above) but I also got the floor/wall seam in Phase VI dug out and hydraulic cemented and sealed (below).

Unfortunately, this required a marathone 6 hour session which is the longest I'd put in at any one time since I injured my shoulder.

My back is in a lot of pain and my knees are killing me but at least it can all cure as one mass now.

We'll see how bad I hurt over the next couple of days.

Oh. New rear brakes tomorrow.

I must now go shower.

I have spent a decade espousing a theory I have that at least once a day you'll have a "Hitler" or "Nazi" moment.

You have to be aware of them since many may be almost subliminal but they are there.

My "Nazi Moment Of The Day" comes courtest of Chris' Invincible Super Blog and DC Comics in the form of Weird War Tales featuring Nazi Gorillas!!!

If Hitler had been able to make Gorilla Nazi Platoons all kinds of bad crazy sh*t would have happened.

The war probably wouldn't have ended until at least 1949.

Holy shit!

The other day I accidentally put my Chase credit card into the ATM instead of my debit card (since they look practically identical) and took out some cash.

I fucking got a $10 transaction fee since I messed up which card to put in!

I never have taken a cash advance out and that transaction fee is insane!!!!

Ok. The initial waterproofing of the wall/floor seam is done. I'll put a quick 2nd coat on later this evening.

Tomorrow will hopefully bring the final mixing and application of the last 360lbs of concrete from the floor up to about 24" or so. Once that cures it'll be ready to waterproof the entire walls of both Phase IV and Phase V!

Of course, right now I need to go down my salt water colon cleanse and let the joy of intestinal cleansing begin!

Yup! The fast is going extremely well!

All I can say is: Uncensored Anal Ring Toss!

I love my Howard TV!

The cover to Superman #659 is da bomb!

Krypto rocks!!!

I so miss Scary Korean Restaurant!

I could so go for that spicy pork and kimchee and tofu dish right now.

I've lost 90lbs (with a bit of up and down) since May 2005 and I just am still not happy (larger image).

When I started this back in May 2005 I knew I could take some of it off but I really didn't realize how hard it would be once my body stabilized at a certain weight and would not budge from that.

I've spent practically the last 10 months bouncing between 235 and 245 and that unfortunately is where my body really seems to want to be at.

With the recent fasting to shed excess water, I've managed to drop to 223 (as of this morning) and I know that once Botcon is over with I'll have to really refocus on diet, exercise, and house work again.

I need to find that groove that I was in where I was focused every day and lost the major part of my weight.

Finishing the basement by mid-November will just be a plus on that!

From the Daily Show...

How many months has it been since it was announced and I've finally gotten around to looking at the Hyatt Regency Lexington where Botcon will be held.

There's free wireless internet in the public areas so that means I'll take "Ye Old Powerbook G3 Pismo" and do Botcon blog updates throughout the days we are there... all 4 of them!!! Or maybe we can take Giga's smaller iBook and just use that for both of our high quality blogging/photo posting needs.

I'm also happy that the hotel has a complimentary gym since I'm usually up around 4:30am and I'll be happy to find a treadmill or cross-trainer to spend 90 minutes on. I did this last year in Dallas and just having access to some cardio makes me feel far less guilty about eating and drinking while I'm at the con.

I'm kind of scared to say that I'm actually getting excited to go.

While I'm more of a major lurker and not a die-hard message board poster (since I have plasticcrack.net for that kind of thing) I'll probably be at the hotel bar Friday night for the slowly gaining steam Allspark bar gathering.

With the exception of Jeremy, I really don't know anyone from the various boards.

So I think I'm finally rested up since this weekend's activities that pretty much left me dead tired.

Friday's marathon 6 hour concrete work killed me and that pretty much carried into Saturday and Sunday.

I basically slacked off yesterday and fell asleep very early but that left me wide awake around 4.

I debated about going to the gym but since I need to try and get my final concrete work in, I decided to go into work early so I can just come directly home after a meeting with a possible vendor.

The house is, the say the least, a disaster.

All the boxes from the toy show litter the front room and dining room and everything's in general disarray.

None of it can go back into the basement until I'm done with the next stage (Phase VI) so I suppose the best that can be done is to bring order to chaos and just stack everything nicely against the windows.

That means I have to have the south half of the basement finished by Giga's usual Thanksgiving Day dinner and a highly probable House of Love LIfe Day 2006 celebration the following Saturday evening.

I didn't do Life Day last year but during the recent cookout people asked about it so I think we have to have one this year. More bottles of alcohol will make it tolerable.

Oh well.

The basement has to be the focus the next few days so I can come back from Botcon and get the 2 days of water-proofing done and then immediately start on the final walls of the main basement room.

Yeah. 2 weeks before Thanksgiving is a nice goal to be done with the main basement room. That'll mean it took basically 7 months.

Over the past 18 months I've gone from a BMI of 40.4 to a BMI of roughly 28.9.

By that standard I've gone from "Morbidly Obese" to "Overweight" with just 3 points shy of the top of what would be "Ideal" form my height and frame.

Now BMI isn't totally accurate but hey, I gotta measure against something.

So today brings to a close the long road to redoing the Phase IV and Phase V walls.

Essentially a third layer of concrete has been applied to the wall/floor seem to add additional material to the most fragile areas of the wall. This is where in the "old" wall the water was most likely to seep through.

This'll take a few days to cure and then... *drum roll* the full waterproofing of the entire areas can occur from the furnace to the south chimney!!!

Autumn has definitely arrived in the Cowlands.

Recent mornings have been in the brisk 50s and that "summer vibe" in the sunlight has disappeared.

The sun has even started to set earlier which just portends that autumn has indeed arrived.

I much prefer autumn to summer so no complaints here.

Of course, this just means a switch from high electic bills (due to the a/c) to high gas bills (due to the furnace).

In honor of The Hoont's recent and deadly gas attacks, I've retooled a WWII British gas mask poster.

Enjoy!

Of course, this also would constitute your "Hitler Moment Of The Day".

Of course, my general view of humanity also tends to be "you are a wallet with legs waiting to be raped" and let's face it, most humans pretty much are happy with that state of affairs.

Western culture has bred stupid humans to be exactly that.

Oh. And Microsoft Media Player shreds your rights.

The fun just keeps getting better.

It'll be awesome when we can't generate electicity anymore.

Consider this summer's debut of Burger King's BK Stackers, which include a Quad Stacker option of four slabs of beef, four slices of cheese and up to eight slices of bacon -- "smothered," as the company puts it, in a creamy sauce.

The behemoth sandwich -- defibrillator sold separately -- contains 1,000 calories and a whopping 68 grams of fat, including 30 grams of saturated fat. According to nutritionists, that's about half the calories and 1-1/2 times the saturated fat the average adult should consume in an entire day.

So either it is 1) a red herring or it is 2) the real deal.

I could see 1 being the case to keep the story going and mislead you into something and believe me, I understand all the the essential issues of 2 since a child has to age to some degree and let's face it, most comic characters don't age much... essentially Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.

But I just want to say, if Sam Bradley, Junior is Selina's Baby Daddy all I can say is...

FUCK YOU DC COMICS.

FUCK YOU DC COMICS.

I never really ask for much out of comics.

I've gotten sick of their retread boringness for so many years now.

But if Bruce Wayne is NOT the father of a daughter named Helana by Selina Kyle but is the father of a stupid off-panel recent concept son by Talia then FUCK YOU DC COMICS.

Today is Day 15 of my fast.

I've broken my record of 14 days set previously on my March fast! That makes me happy.

I definitely should be able to easily make it to 18 days.

But I have to admit, I've been "cheating" in the sense that I took some liquid nutrition above and beyond the "lemonade" that I take daily.

I've had a couple of Generifast and Slimfast shakes when I've felt tired.

But I can still be happy there was no solid food at all.

I was listening to The Friday Show on Howard 101 and learned something interesting from the "Guess Who's A Jew" skit from an old late 80s Stern show.

Ted Knight, one of my favorite actors from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was actually Polish and his real name was Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka.

Now that's a great Polish name!

If I recall, a konopka is a "couch".

Anyway, there's always something new to be learned while listening to Howard 101.

Oh. And Ed Asner was the one who was Jewish.

Jesus appears (once again) in a reflection coincidently in a house up for sale.

There's video too.

Holy shit!

The mascot of the 1972 Munich Olympics was a rainbow-colored dachshund named Waldi.

He's a little too " gay" colored for my tastes but I think I need to find a few pieces of Olympics memorabilia from 1972.

Hmmm... I do know some people currently residing in Germany and Austria too.

Well. It looks like it'll be rainy and cloudy for the entire weekend.

This'll make Barnesville 5 to 10 times as exciting as normal.

Hopefully, there will be no water in my basement.

So I spent the weekend in the eastern outer Cowlands at a pumpkin festival.

More on this tomorrow.

However, here's the photos.

*sniff*

Aldomania 2006 comes to a literal crashing halt with Aldo's unexpected death in this past few days' Mary Worth.

Memorial videos available at The Comics Curmudgeon.

*sniff*

I think it is time to declare my old neighborhood of Lagrainka in Glass City dead.

This morning brings...just wonderful news...

Two men found dead in the back seat of a parked car in North Toledo yesterday afternoon are the victims of the second double homicide in the neighborhood in six days.

"This has been a rough week," Toledo Police Chief Mike Navarre said.

The men were found about 1:15 p.m. in the 300 block of East Lake Street, near Lagrange Street and Manhattan Boulevard.

Last night, Shawn Purnell, who for four years has lived across the street from where the latest victims were found, said he feared for the older neighborhood which is known for its annual Lagrange Street Polish Festival.

"For this to happen right in front of the house, I'm not liking it too much," he said. "This neighborhood is going down the drain."

Oh buddy... that neighborhood went down the drain 2 decades ago!

This is just an example of the nail in the coffin of Lagrainka.

In the immortal words of DeForrest Kelly's "Bones" character: "She's dead Jim!"

My parents so need to get the fuck outta dodge now!

It is a good week on Howard so far.

George Takei is on this week doing his announcing gig.

He pops up every few months when he's in New York to spend a week on the show and it makes for great radio er... satelllite broadcasting.

Insane Clown Posse I could have done without though.

So I finally got around to watching The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe yesterday morning and man oh man was it just... just... boring.

And that is really one of the worst crimes a film can make for me.

Now I've never ever read the Narnia books. It just wasn't part of my childhood at all and much has probably been altered or deleted for the film.

And that's where it fails for me. It just doesn't provide enough info about anything for someone who may not be familiar with the source material.

Why is this wardrobe a doorway to this Narnia?

Why is Father Christmas briefly there? He basically only provides "deus ex machina" devices to the kids.

If Aslan is so great why don't we actually see why he's great?

It just... lacked developement in lieu of Weta-generated special effects.

It was just so mediocre and it had quite a cast!

I knew I was familar with the actor who played the main satyr but I just realized it was James McAvoy, who played Leto Atreides II in Children of Dune.

Tilda Swinton was ok but her "witch" character was lamely one dimensional and completely predictable.

I liked Michael Madsen's uncredited voice acting for Maugrim the wolf but I never realized how much he totally sounds like Michael Wincott. They have the same timber and roughness in their voices.

Oh well. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it in the theatre.

So. I'm patiently waiting for the arrival of अर्जुन T, or Arjuna T. as we call him around here.

Then again, he may be a she.

I believe Mrs T. said they'd induce labor tomorrow.

We'll find out soon.

Only 5 or so hours of work and I'm on vacation! Then Thursday morning it is down to Lexington.

Lori wants to watch The Hoont so I'm going to cancel having him boarded. That'll definitely relive the horribly stress he feels at being sent to the kennel and also not being around me. He's quite the dependent dog when I'm remotely in the vicinity.

I'm so happy that Botcon is less than 200 miles away. My max is about 3 hours or so in a car (either driving or riding) and that's just about at the upper level of what I can tolerate.

I definitely am still not happy.

I'm down to 220 now and yes, I know a lot of my clothes pretty much make me look sloppy since they are too big or strectched out but this photo (below) Giga took of me at the Pumpkin Festival served a good purpose.

I've gone ahead and "adjusted" it to something that I could be happy with.

So I ran to the Macy's in Upper Arlington hoping... just hoping... that I could find some simple black turtlenecks long sleeve shirts.

Nothing fancy. Nothing quite sweatery. Just black turtlenecks to wear with jeans.

I swear I can't find these anywhere.

But what this really is about is the insanity of clothing prices.

I'm not one to do old school department stores such as Macy's and the like. I'm fairly frugal with what I spend on clothes and since marketing doesn't affect me, I'm not one to pay for "brands" or "labels" when more generic fare will do.

That being said, I was shocked and appalled at what Macy's charges for men's clothing.

Much fo the same equivalent clothing can be found much cheaper at Target or Kohl's.

Hell. Even Macy's has their Levi's jeans at roughly $45 when the same exact pair can be found for $24 at Target.

That my friends if insane.

Even their clearance prices were higher than your typical Target/Kohl's regular prices. I couldn't believe it.

Simple 3-button short-sleeve polos, the basis of my work wardrobe, are so overpriced that I think I laughed out loud even. There is no 3-button short-sleeve polo shirt in the world that is worth $49 to $69.

I think I'll stick with Target, Kohl's the occasional thrift store find, and other generic cheap clothes for my lame ass attempt at fashion.

I got the first coat of waterproofer up on Phases IV and V today.

Tomorrow it should get the 2nd coat and then minor touch up with Drylock on Oct 2 when I get back.

There's no point in posting photos that end up looking exactly like yesterday's but I got the second coat of waterproofer up by 8:30am.

I even got to the gym this morning and got some clearance shopping done. I found a couple of casual coats for $20 so I bought em. They look mildy adequate on me. Got a couple of miscellaneous other things for this weekend too such as a new canvas side bag, new fiber, and some pill holders for my vitamin routine.

I'm not quite fully packed but I've been organizing things and trying to figure out what I don't took totally like shit wearing.

Four days and three nights is surprisingly a lot to pack for since I want to use the hotel gym too.

I suppose I should get moving on that instead of typing.

Mrs T. gave birth to a boy last night!

So Happy Birthday Baby T!

(Oh. And happy 30th Courtney!)

It being Botcon time and all I think I'll do my next few days of postings over at Plastic Crack Dot Net,

Check out my other site for fun and excitement over there.

It'll be a geekstravaganza.