Oh Christmas Tree

I am interrupting the vacation story to blog about Christmas. So Merry Christmas everyone.

When I was single I had this pathetic looking tree. I don't even think it was a Christmas tree, I think I just bought something that had some pine needles on it. Now my wife and I have two Christmas trees. We bought one with pre-lit white lights and got a great deal on another with colored lights. We use the bigger one for the living room. My wife decorates it with all the nice pretty ornaments that she has collected over the years. The other tree is my tree. I recently started a collection of cartoon ornaments. I have Muppets, Peanuts and Looney Toones.

Looking at the two Christmas trees had me thinking that they do represent what Christmas is about. They are covered with things that we love or remember. Along with my cartoon ornaments, are some very old glass bulbs that were handed down to me from my parents. Most belonged to my Dad when he was a kid. I love looking at my tree and seeing those old ornaments and remembering Christmases past. I would be awake all night waiting for Santa, trying to hear when he would show up. Our chimney was not very safe, but I knew when he left because he would slam the front door. I would be the first out of bed. It did not matter if it was 3:00 in the morning, I would have everybody up to see what Ol' Saint Nick left.

On the other tree, my wife and I started a collection of buying an ornament that represents where we went on vacation. We recently got to add a star fish and a sombrero that we bought in Mexico on our cruise. There are also ornaments from Sea World, Bush Gardens and one from Disney that we got on our honeymoon that started it all. Christmas trees have personalities that represent the things we love or loved in the past.

Where did the Christmas Tree come from;

"There is no evidence that the modern custom of a Christmas tree originated in paganism. The Romans did decorate their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts. Late in the Middle Ages, the Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees in their homes or outside their doors to show their hope in the forthcoming spring. The modern-day Christmas tree evolved from these early German traditions. " From allabouthistory.org

Then consider what we put under the Christmas tree....PRESENTS!!! We buy gifts for the people in our life to show how much we love them. We stress out trying to find the perfect gift to show how much we love that person. We try to teach kids it's not the getting it's the giving.

So why did I pick Christmas Trees as my topic for this joyful season. Because it is the theme of my favorite Christmas TV special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” There is a scene where Charlie Brown and Linus are picking out a tree and Charlie Brown picks out the worst looking tree in the lot. Linus had two of the best lines in the story. The second one is;

Linus says: "I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love."

Isn't that Christmas, showing people a little love. Not just family and friends. But this is a time of year we are nice to strangers and maybe go out of our way for those less fortunate. The Christmas season seems to be a time when everyone tries to show a little love to each other.

But lets face it, all we really care about is the gifts. That is what Christmas is about the Gift. The gift of the Son from the Father to us all. The gift of the Savior or as Linus would put it from the ornament that started my collection (you may need to turn up the volume on your speakers);

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Vacation on Cruise-Day 2

From the theme of Gilligan's Island

Sit right back and hear a tale

A tale of a fateful trip

That started from this tropic port

Aboard this tiny ship…. 

Sadly I did not have to look up the words to the song; also we were not on a tiny ship. It was a very large ship with more people than just Mr. and Mrs. Howell, though most of the people were their age or older. We got to the port to start our cruise. The people watching had begun. As we looked around the waiting area we were noticing that we may be the only normal people getting on this boat. Most of these people looked like they just rolled out of bed and maybe took a shower before showing up. The other people getting on board were newlyweds. You could tell because they would stare at each other, smile and laugh. Then the minute one turned away the other would have a look of horror on their face, wondering what had they just done. Then you had the cheap people. You have to pay for drinks while on the boat, except for water and lemon-aid. But, the cruise will let you carry on your own sodas. So I saw husbands, fiancés, and boyfriends carry around bulks of soda they just bought at Sam's club. 

So it was time to board the ship. You were able to relax on deck until it was time for lunch. I was shock at the number of people on this boat, and what was also shocking was that some of them were already in their bathing suits, lying out in the sun within minutes of getting on. Unfortunately I had to see all these people in their bathing suits throughout the week. I definitely was not cruising with Mary Ann and Ginger. They were mostly a bunch of Skippers and very large Islanders.

Then it was lunch time. Like a herd of cows everyone rushed toward the feeding trough. This was serious business and it was every man, woman, and child for themselves. People were pushing and cutting in lines like it was their last meal. It's all you can eat; I thought they were going to eat it all that day. More about the food at gabbin-bout-grub. 

So after lunch we stood out on the back of the deck and watched the shore line as we sailed away. We worked our away to the front of the boat to watch one of many sunsets that week. If you ever get to leave the Tampa port, be sure to get to the highest point of the boat as you possibly can. The boats have to go under one of the longest bridges in the south, and there is only a 10 foot clearance from the top of the ship to the bottom of the bridge. If you are up there watching it, it looks like it is going to crash into each other. Once under the bridge you are in foreign water and it's time to turn off the cell phone. Or else you will get a very high roaming charge on your bill. During this time we met a very nice couple and ended up in someone’s wedding photos. Not by accident, we were asked to be a part of it. The photographer asked us to look at the couple with our hands in the air in celebration. That was a little weird and this couple will be looking at their album later on in life wondering who these crazy people were at their wedding.

The rest of the evening we explored the boat until dinner. We saw a bar, another bar, a casino, and then another bar. We did find one of best spots on the boat. The all you can eat ice cream bar. The other spot was the 24 hour pizza buffet. Really it was a very nice ship, with plenty to look at and do. When in doubt you just find a spot by the pool and relax, which we did until dinner. To be continued at www.gabbin-bout-grub.blogspot.com

The Vacation - The drive.

Life has been getting in the way a lot lately. From punk neighborhood kids to police officers that do not want to do their jobs. Ever wish you could live in Mayberry for one day. All that is for a later blog, the wife and I got to take a break from life for a while when we went on our cruise. The problem came when the rest of the world came with us. Jerry Seinfeld once said on his show that only about 2% of the population is good looking. Sitting in the port waiting to get on the boat I would agree. But let’s start at the beginning of the trip.

We started off Saturday morning. I wasn't feeling good the night before so I took some cold and flu medicine before we left. The box said it was for day time, but that must have only meant that it was orange instead of blue like the night time ones. You know that little writing on the box that says do not operate heavy machinery after taking the medicine. They actually mean that. I was feeling like I was floating in the clouds. I was doing all I could to concentrate on the road. My wife knew something was up when I cranked up Led Zepplin (not something I normally listen to). I pulled off at the next rest area so we could switch drivers.

Rest Areas are so interesting, one big bathroom on the side of the road. I always walk in hoping I am the only one in there, also wishing I was the only one to ever use the facility. Purposely trying not to touch anything, using elbows whenever possible. You feel like you need to wash your hands after you washed your hands in the restroom sinks. Not to mention the people. People do not care who is watching them when they have to use the bathroom really bad. They are pulling certain articles of clothing from their behinds and doing their versions of the pee pee dance. Then they stare at the vending machines hoping they can find something that will ease their hunger pain with the change they found under the car seats.

Once back on the road my wife took over driving. We like to amuse ourselves with the stuff written on the billboards. There is everything for Bible scripture to advertisements for Adult Stores. They even have places to eat for adults only. That is so shocking and I always wonder what type of weirdo wants to eat at a place where you have to wonder what body part has touched your food or what the person in the booth behind you is doing. The other billboards we had fun with were the ones that had these puppies being used to advertise a hotel. The puppies were cute but I don't remember the hotel so it wasn't very good advertising.

One of the worst parts about driving somewhere is the other drivers. It just seems like some people are in their own little world when they drive. While the rest of state is driving the speed limit or just little above, maybe even a little more than above the listed speed limit. You have this one person who feels the need to drive at a snails pace in the middle of the highway. Once you get stuck behind this person, they are almost impossible to past. For one the other drivers are flying pass you, pointing and laughing because you made the mistake to get behind the probably 101 year old lady who can't see over the steering wheel. The other reason is that every time you go to pass, the person in front of you, who probably learn to drive on the first automobile ever made, decides to speed up at the last minute. Then you have the other idiot drivers who want to live out their dream of driving a NASCAR. They are doing mach 10, weaving in front of people, and probably a confederate flag waving off their antenna. If you are are able to see the passenger, they will most likely have their bare foot up on the dash board or hanging out the window. You think to yourself two things; one I hope there is a cop waiting up there to catch them and two, I wish I could go that fast without getting caught.

After 6 hours of driving we make it to the hotel to get a good night rest to start our long vacation the next day.... Check back to hear about our ocean adventure and also check out gabbin-bout-grub to read about the food we had.

Attack of the Armadillo

I was attacked by an armadillo! That’s right, it something you don’t hear often, but it actually occurred. Of all creatures of the night, I stood face to face with the horrible armadillo. Sure in the cartoons they are cute woodland animals, but when you see one, they are the devil’s pets.

I had been going to work early in the morning, the sun not even up. The last few days have been peaceful. I get the office to myself, no phone calls, and no interruptions while I work. So I had been looking forward to being productive that morning. I pulled into the parking lot and my headlights hit the gnarly beast blocking my way to the office door. At first I thought it was an opossum, the distance cousin. Opossums are harmless; we used to have one growing up. It would come up on the porch and eat the cat’s food. We flick on the porch light, it would look up at us and nod its head like it was saying ‘Was up’ and go on its way. When I took a second glance and saw its rigid covering and pointy schnozzle, I drove to the other side of the parking lot to study the creature from a far. He looked like he was eating on his latest prey. I don’t know what prey to the mighty armadillo is, but I didn’t want to be next.

I drove around to its back side, hoping to go unnoticed I turned off my head lights. When I got close enough I hit him with my bright lights and laid down on my horn hoping to shock the hard shell rodent. Nope, he just looked up at me with his beady little eyes and continued to devour his victim. I put my car in reverse and drove to a parking spot to think of my next attack. He sat there in front of the entrance taunting me. So I did what any man would do in that situation, I called my wife. There was no time for small talk, I just blurted out, “Are armadillos dangerous?”

“What are you talking about?” she said confused.

“There is an armadillo blocking my way into the office and I don’t want to walk up to it if it is going to attack me.” I said with a little fear in my voice.

“I have no idea if they are dangerous or not, I can look it up on the internet.” My caring wife said while trying not to laugh at me. “Do you want to start carrying my pepper spray?”

“That’s ok; I think I see it walking into the bushes.” I said with a little relief.

So I go to the office door with my key ready to unlock it knowing that the monster was lurking in the bushes waiting to pounce on me. I quickly unlocked the door like a frightened kid in a horror movie. I get into the building knowing that the armadillo ran past me when I opened the door. I looked around and was satisfied that I was safe. I’m waiting for the sun to come up before I come into work early again.

Holy Man Cave, Bat Man!

My wife and I have been talking about our dream house since we have been married. Our little three bedroom house just isn’t big enough for us. It was fine when I was living as a bachelor. But, when I got married, I found all my stuff was either being thrown out or sold. What little I do have left is crammed in a corner in a spare room we set up for an office. I also have a small area in the garage I’m allowed to make use of when the cars are not parked in there, which is 95% of the time. So part of my dream house is to have a nice big room I can call my own, aka The Man Cave.

I could not really decide if I would prefer a nice bonus room above a garage that would let in some natural light and have access to the rest of the house. Or a basement with lots of room to spread out and have different functional areas like; a work-out area (yeah right), office area, and a pool table of course. The decision was easy after visiting some friends of ours and saw their finished basement. It was like having another whole house. Then I thought to myself, of course Bat Man.

Bat Man is a favorite to every guy. Why? Not because his alter ego Bruce Wayne has millions of dollars, not because he gets to go on cool adventures and fight crime, and definitely not because he hangs out with other guys wearing tights. It’s because he has the Bat Cave. Every guy at one point or another thought it would be cool to have an underground hideout to get away from the world; hanging out in a cool cavern, surrounded by high tech gadgets, and a sports car (the Bat Mobile) in the background that the chicks dig. The Bat Cave is what made Bat Man a super hero favorite.

So a basement is what I want as part of my dream house, a Man Cave.  It will be a place that I can hang out in solitude and veg out from the stress of the world. My high tech gadgets would be my computer, video games and guitars. I may not have the cool sports car, but that’s what posters are for. That’s right a place that I can hang a picture of Snoopy next to a picture of the Three Stooges. No flowers allowed. If I want to sit around in a cape and tights that might be a plus, but I would have the privacy to do so if I wanted. I will allow my wife to come down in the basement once in a while, after all even Bat Man had Alfred his butler.

Thank you 9/11

Thank you 9/11

The challenge of this day is to remember. It is easy to remember where you were at, what you were doing, and what was happening. But can we look back and remember what we can be thankful for?

Thank you 9/11

Thank you for those that lost loved ones, your loss is great and I have prayed that time has taken the pain away, but others are reminded to be thankful for the loved ones we have around us now.

Thank you for reminding us that we have the freedom to pray.

Thank you for the public servants of the police, fire department and many more that went out that day to do a job, which reminds us that the job they have is also a duty to us.

Thank you for 9/12, which reminds us of the next day seeing all the flags waving with American pride, knowing we would overcome and “our flag was still there”.

Thank you to those who started to search for survivors, which reminds us that when this country has a tragedy, all differences are put aside and we band together to help each other, Like “One Nation Under God.”

Thank you for reminding us that we live in a great country, that we have the freedom to have a different opinion than our neighbors and still live in peace.

Thank you to those who found a cross under the debris and stood it up as a symbol of Hope.

Thank you for reminding us that we live in a country that allows us to raise a cross and freely worship it.

Thank you Todd Beamer for saying “Let’s Roll”, reminding us of the American spirit of fighting for what is right no matter the sacrifice.

Thank you to Todd Beamer’s family

Thank you to President George W. Bush for repeating those words “Let’s Roll.” Taking the fight to the terrorist and protecting this county.

Thank you to the military for taking action and making us feel safe.

Thank you to the families that have; a son, daughter, mom, dad, wife, and husband which are serving in the military. Your sacrifice to us does not go unnoticed.

Thank you to all military Past and Present, that we have the freedoms that allow us to say “God Bless America.”

Thank you President Barack Obama for continuing the fight and keeping this nation safe.

Thank you for May 2, 2011, the day our military took down the main terrorist.

Thank you 9/11 for reminding us how important our government leaders are.

Thank you also for reminding us that we have the freedom to vote for those leaders.

Thank you to all that kept on living, going to work, paying bills, going out on a Saturday night date, getting married, having babies, etc… “The terrorist did not win.”

Thank you 9/11, we now have 9/12 and beyond to be thankful for. To remember how great our country is, the people who protect it, the people who live here, and the freedoms that we have. Like saying “God Bless America”

Lamentations 3:21-23

Yet I called this to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

Pepper Spray and Kittens in this Crazy World

It goes without saying that this world is a crazy place. Probably because there are just some crazy people in it, just look to your left and to the right you’ll see what I’m talking about. If there is no one around, take a look in the mirror…. There ya’ go.

My wife likes to go running at the park across the street. So being the protective husband I am, and not being able to be with her all the time, I bought her some pepper spray for a little protection. I would hope I wouldn’t have to worry about anything bad happening, but like I said this is a crazy world we live in. While my wife was running one day she came across some kittens that were in a storm drain.

Enter Crazy person number one; some cruel person just decides to dumb these kittens in a park to fend for themselves. I wish I knew who they were so I could shove them in a storm drain and walk away. So my wife calls me up and tells me about the kittens. I tell her to leave them there and either call animal control, or one of the kids that practice football there will beg their parents to take them home. I also agreed to go check on them that night when I got home from work. So we go to the park after diner to check on the kittens, and there they were lying around on the parking lot. The parents and kids were leaving and just walking by the kittens as if they didn’t exist.

Enter Crazy people number two through at least 15; these people didn’t care that these little kittens were just lying there almost dehydrated and starving. You would think one of these people with their many bottles and coolers of water would have given something to these helpless animals. On top of that their little punk kids were trying to scare the kittens by screaming and jumping at them. The parents just let them do it and did not saying anything. The Bible says spare the rod, spoil the child. I was looking for my rod for both the kids and the adults. So we caught one of the kittens, the other one was too scared and ran back into the storm drain. We took the one home and got it some food and water, and then we went back for the other thinking it might not be as scared when there were not as many crazy people at the park.

Enter Crazy person 16; myself. So here I am about 9:00 at night chasing a little black fur ball around the park. Thinking to myself; I was crazy thinking that my wife would ever just leave these kittens out here, I was crazy thinking that they would never end up at my house, and now we are going to be known as the crazy cat people of the neighborhood because we are going to have four cats (we already have two) running around our place. Now I just have to convince some other crazy person to adopt one of these kittens. What type of crazy world do we live in that the same place where my wife needs pepper spray to go running there are cute little kittens running around?

Back to school

Remember going back to school as a young kid and your first assignment was to write a report on “What I did over the summer.” One year I was so excited to report that my parents got me a tent and I camped in my backyard almost every night. Since school has started back for most kids I thought I would give my summer report.

Over the summer I went to work every day and on the weekends I; put screen boards on the back porch, mowed the lawn, cleaned the garage, put up a ceiling fan. We did go to the beach for a week, but after that; we had to replace the pool pump and AC unit, my battery died on my car and I hit my head on a rock while tubing down a river. When did I become an adult and my summers quit being fun. I think I’m going to pitch a tent in my backyard this weekend and get some of my old comic books and a flash light.

Welcome back to school kids. I am a little jealous that I don’t get to shop for back to school supplies. I miss getting a new box of crayons and picking out a cool lunch box.

Long Summer

I originally started this blog to just keep things separate from my other two blogs (Gabbin-bout-Grub) and The Bachelor Pad). So I don’t write here often, but this summer has been long. Kids would probably love to have a long summer. But, when adults say something is long, that is never a good sign.

First, before we go on our vacation we have been having trouble with our neighbors kid a.k.a. Satan JR. He seems to think it is fun for him and his friends to throw their liquor bottles in our pool. Well I think it would be fun to put my fist in his nose, but doesn’t mean I should do it. So we spent MONEY to put a big fence on the neighbor’s side of the pool. We get back from vacation, ready to enjoy the privacy of our pool and we have a leak in our pool filter. Call a pool guy to fix it, he makes it worse and tells us we need to get a whole new filter and pump. Luckily he never charged us for his visit of making matters worse, because he couldn’t fix anything. But we had to spend more MONEY for a pump and filter. So after waiting two weeks for our new pool parts we had to spend more MONEY on chemicals because our pool was so green from not having the filter running for two weeks. So we get our pool up and running in time for one of the hottest days of the year, when our AC unit breaks down. Guess what? We have to spend more MONEY to get that replaced.

So not only is a long summer not a good thing, but it also means you have to spend a lot of MONEY. Hopefully we won’t be in for a long winter.

It looks like my last post was sometime in April. It's not my fault, I always said I would post stuff until life got in the way and life got in the way. Things like the capture of Bin Laden and the prediction of the end of the world. Not that I was personally involved in any of those things. The wife and I went to the beach for a week to take a break from life and now that we are back and refreshed, I feel like sharing whats been happening on this post and the next couple of ones. So stayed tuned.

Mostly work, work work has been going on. Not that I am complaining because in today's economy I am thankful to be working. But it's not just my day job, as I stated a few months ago I am trying to earn a little money on the side by doing some graphic design work. I have put some bids on some interesting projects. My favorite so far was for a Mexican clown that did Micheal Jackson impersonations. Yes you read that correctly, he wanted a character of his clown for a coloring book to give to kids at birthday parties. It's been a tough start, but I am having fun seeing what people need for graphics. So if you hear of anything send them my way and check out http://www.jason-miller-design.com/

The other thing that has been going on is that we have been terrorized by the neighbors. These little punks have had big parties with loud music and underage drinking. Whatever, just keep it in your own yard. No, not them, they decided it would be fun to throw cookies in our pool. Ok, just cookies I cleaned them out. Then they decided to throw wine cooler bottles in the pool, along with trashing my yard with beer cans. Each time I call the police they tell me they can't do anything because we did not actually see it with our eyes. They suggested to get motion cameras to catch them in the act. I wanted to tell the cops that I just won't pay my taxes that help pay their salary and use that money to buy a security camera. They did have a talk with the kids and made them clean my yard. We have since built a tall privacy fence on that side of the pool and it has been nice not seeing them and having almost total privacy. I like standing on my side of the fence and sticking my tongue out at them. Yeah they can't see me, but it's like a victory dance to me.

So here is what I don't understand. I have to stay up at night, peeking out my windows, hoping to catch the kid next door in the act of doing something dumb. But while at the beach, surrounded by people we don't know, we can walk away from our stuff for hours and nothing is touched. I don't just mean that we walked a few feet away. I mean we left our chairs, beach umbrella, and whatever else we took, went back to our condo for lunch for about an hour or more and came back with nothing ever been touched. It wasn't just us, people would leave there stuff out over night and it would still be sitting there the next day. Maybe it is the beach life, playing in the ocean or the sand between the toes, the people there just live a different way and are just so relaxed and nice. So I'm thinking I should take the kid next door and hold his head under some water and bury him up to his neck in some dirt somewhere. Anyways I was able to do some drawing while I was there. The picture is what almost every kid looked like at the beach.

This past weekend was very amusing. Friday nights my wife and I have started a little tradition, Fun Food Fridays. Through out the week we eat kind of healthy, but on Friday we have a little fun and eat something greasy or something that we know is not good for us. Anything from pizza, wings and Philly Cheese Steaks and always with a side of fries, I look forward to Friday. We also watch some movie together. We end up laying on the couch until 11:30 or later depending on what we find on TV. Typically my wife is asleep next to me by 9:30, so that’s when I watch what I want and eat a little more of whatever is leftover. I enjoy Friday night.

This weekend had an extra bonus. My brother-in-law had a birthday and we all went out to eat. We went to a place that all you can eat salad bar and MEAT for $50. That’s right, all you can eat MEAT. Everything from steak and chicken to lamb, it was a never ending supply of MEAT. You have a little card next to you; one side is red for stop the other sides green for go. Red for stop bringing the meat and green for bring it on. The servers come out of no where and just cut pieces of meat from their skewers. Picture it; men running around with big ol’ slabs of meat on a stick at your beck and call to serve you grade ‘A’ cuts of beef, cooked perfectly. On top of that, they had these rolls that just popped perfectly in your mouth. I’ll just say I had my $50 worth. While everyone else was kicked backed and groaning, I was still going at it. I think I heard my name being chanted in the background. Go Jason Go. At one point I looked up at one of the servers that were putting a lamb chop on my plate, “I’ve been waiting for you all night.” There is nothing like topping off a long week with a MEAT fest.

That morning we took my cat to the vet. The devil’s cat as some likes to call him. It was no problem getting him into the carrier. He rode in the car like a dog, sitting in my lap looking out the window. When we got to the vet he sat in his carrier. You could see the confusion on his face. Then a Golden Retriever walks in. Lovable dog, just wanted to say hi to everyone. He got a little close to the cat carrier and my beast let out a might growl. Everyone in the office looked at us. The people next to us asked, “What type of DOG do you have in there?” when I replied it was a cat, they moved a little farther away from us. The vet, after warning her and hearing his roar, handled him like a lion tamer. Grabbing him by the back of the neck and throwing him down on the table. He tried to fight back but once they threw a towel over him, he didn’t have much of a chance. Until they called in a young tech. She was little cocky and thought she could be nice to the cat beast. He saw his chance and drew blood. I saw the look of satisfaction in his eyes, knowing he at least got a good shot at one of them. We took him home and he slept for the rest of the day. I bet they are still talking about him at the vet office, about the cat that fears no dog and takes no prisoners.

Life has been pretty uneventful lately. The most recent development is that I am trying to start a Graphic Design business on the side. I just really enjoy drawing and being creative. I have gotten a lot over the last 18 years as a drafter/designer, but I’m just extremely bored with it. Most of that time has been in the steel stud industry. I could just about tell you all you need to know about gauge of steel, galvanization, and c-studs. Sounds interesting don’t it? I spend most of my day talking to people about how long a 3-5/8”, 20 gauge stud, will span in an interior, non-load bearing condition, where the lateral load is 5 psf, with a deflection of L/240. In case you care it is 15’-9” at 16” O.C. It’s not much to go home to tell the wife about.

So a few months ago I took some graphic design courses. I enjoy combining my creative side with my knowledge of technology. Over time I have been working on ways to promote myself to gain a few side jobs. The image above was a character design I did for someone’s web site www.shipfinn.com. (I don’t think he has it up to date yet) It is about a kid’s story of moving place to place, I had to go through 3 or 4 different drawings to get him right. The guy kept on saying he wanted him to look like his 9 year old son only in a cartoon style. The first one I drew he said he looked too much like a teenager. His very words were “The drawing looks more like it is of an 11-12 year old boy, my boy is only 9 can you make him look younger.” That was a challenge to take 3 years off of cartoon character, but I achieved it by making him a little smaller. Point is I enjoyed doing it.

I am currently trying to get a bid to design T-shirts for a dog training school. They specialize in dog sports like; agility, dock diving, and sheep herding. So I sketched up some quick drawings shown below. I call them “The Judges are Full of Sheep.” I’m hoping to hear something back next week.

 
I like the fact that I am able to go from drawing a little boy in a back of a truck to dogs dancing, it keeps life very interesting. So if you know someone who needs some graphics done, I have a web site I am working on http://www.jason-miller-design.com/. If you need to know something about steel studs, go away or I’ll find one and knock you in the head with it! …. Just kidding.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

You don’t see my green and I don’t care

Pinch me if you want, but don’t pull my hair

But before you do, take a look at my underwear.

This has been a very revealing week. I have learned a few things you can and can’t do as a single but can and can’t do when you get married. For instance:

SINGLE- You can watch whatever you want and whenever you want on TV. No matter how childish or stupid it is.
MARRIED- You can’t watch your favorite cartoon or sci-fi movie when your wife is in control of the remote.

SINGLE- You can set the temperature of the house to anything that makes you feel comfortable.
MARRIED- YOU can get up out of bed in the middle of the night and change the temperature when the wife asks, “Does it feel cold in here?”

SINGLE- You can eat fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
MARRIED- You can eat wonderful home cook meals prepared by your wife to make sure that the rest of your arteries are not clog up with anymore fast food grease.

SINGLE- You can not ACCIDENTALY burp in your girlfriend’s face before you kiss her. This is gross and will probably lead to an instant break up.
MARRIED- You can however, ACCIDENTALY burp in your wife’s face after a big meal after she insists of wanting a kiss, even though you warned her that it was not a good time. You really shouldn’t do that either, but your wife can’t break up with you if you do.

Please vote fot JT, Phil, Buddy, and Harold at http://www.thecartooniststudio.com/. It's kind of like the American Idol for comic strips. Search for my name Jason Miller and log on to vote.

Well some good news, “The Bachelor Pad” has made it to the second round in the comic strip competition. There are 10 rounds total, so keep up the voting and help me get through all 10 rounds to win a syndicate contract. Which is a big deal, it gives me the chance to work with editors and other people who will help me promote the comic and sell it to newspapers. So go to www.thecartoonstudio.com to vote.

Some bad news, the economy is still gong down hill. It is so bad that McDonalds is letting Ronald McDonald go. They say it is a new marketing plan and that he represents the old McDonalds. But I just think, like most companies, they are tired of paying some clown to stand around and do nothing. Oh well, as long as they don’t mess with the fries, I don’t care if they get Justin Bieber to sell their stuff. He needs to get a taste of the real world anyways. Put a paper hat on that kid, give him a mop, and tell him to go clean up after the 5 year old that just messed up the women’s bathroom. I’m a little tired of seeing this kid who hasn’t gone through puberty make millions because he needs a hair cut and can sing “Oh Baby Baby.” Meanwhile adults all over this country are hoping they can get a job mopping floors to provide for their families. Only in America.

Speaking of families, last week I wrote about my brother. I only think it is fair that I talk some about my sister. First let me point something out. My parents already had a boy, and then they had a girl. So they already had one of each. I always wondered if they had a bet of what they would have next, or if they thought they needed to give it one more try because the first two were not what they expected. Ok, I know I was a surprise. Being only 18 months younger than her we were only a grade apart from each other, which meant we typically were in the same school growing up. That was cool, we had each others back. Once in elementary school we walked around the playground, arms linked together, shouting we don’t stop for no one! Unfortunately for her she was the middle child between two boys. My brother and I would gang up on her when we had the chance. One time (when the parents were gone) we picked on her so bad; she slammed the door so hard it cracked it. We all got in some trouble after that one. She now lives in the south, not that far from me. We don’t see each other as often as we like, but it is nice knowing that there is some family close by. Even if it is the family member, that I still have a scar over my eye from where she pushed me off a table. Thanks sis.

I love living in the south. Here it is the beginning of March and it’s been in the 60’s everyday. This past weekend it reached to the 70’s. Meanwhile in the frozen tundra of the north, they still have snow on the ground in my home town of Akron. While my wife and I enjoyed the weekend outside doing a little yard work, my parents were still huddled in their house battling cabin fever. Yep, I love living in the south during this time of year. The two down sides are that pollen season is just around the corner. That’s the time of year when everything turns yellow and you almost have to wear some sort of mask to breathe outside. The other downside to living in the south is that I am away from my family and I miss out on some family events.

My niece turned 16 this week. I haven’t mentioned much of my siblings. I’m the youngest of three. The oldest, my brother, has two daughters, both teenagers. The middle child is my sister and she lives in the south as well. We got along ok growing up, we had our fights like most brothers and sisters do. My biggest problems was the hand me downs growing up. My brother’s clothes were out of style by the time I could wear them, and it just wasn’t right for my parents to try to pass off some of my sister’s stuff down to me. I shared a room with brother until he moved out when I was 18. Up to that point I had to put up with his snoring and a cramped room that wasn’t quite big enough for the two of us to be in there at the same time. He being the oldest meant I got booted out the majority of the time. But, we had some good times together; we would gain up on our sister and picked on her until she got mad, and my favorite memory was when my voice was changing and he had me talk to one of his girlfriends on the phone and pretend it was him. I moved away not too long after he had his first child. It’s hard to believe that the same guy, that when you walked into our room his half was all neat and clean and my half looked liked a war zone, has a 16 year old daughter. It would be fun to be there watching him teach her how to drive and see him react when a boy comes over to pick her up on a date. Last I heard from my mom, his hair is turning a little grey.

While my sister and me our able to drive around this time of year with our windows down enjoying the weather. Our brother is up north teaching his daughter how to drive the icy roads. As much as I would like to be around to watch him stress out over it, I at least have the comfort of knowing that I am not on the same roads with one new teenage driver. Even though everyone down here seems to drive like one, but that’s for another blog.

By the way I have enter a comic strip contest to try and win a sydicate contract. So if you like to see JT and the gang in the paper; log on to http://www.thecartooniststudio.com/ ,click on the "So You Wanna Be A Cartoonist Contest" in the upper left corner, type "Parents Visiting" in the search bar and click on the thumbs up. You can vote more than once. Please vote for me.

Ever just have one of those really bad weeks. I mean the ones where you wish the world would just blow up, because almost everything around you is spinning out of control. I’m having one of those weeks. It makes me understand why some people drink and smoke, they need something to relax. I don’t and won’t do either of those two things, but I will however indulge myself with some comfort food. Thank God my wife is a good cook. What did my wife make that relaxed me so much? A nice Turkey dinner with all the fixins, it was like watching a rerun of your favorite TV show (in this case Thanksgiving) and you knew how it was going to end. Passed out on the couch.

I’m not going to get into the details of what happened this week. I’ll just say some people are jerks. I think there should be a law that says if someone is being a jerk to you or your family; you should be allow to yank them by the ear into the nearest bathroom, shove their head into a toilet and flush, a.k.a “The Swirly”. This is how we handled things on the playground growing up. It worked so well. We were taught at that age to stand up to a bully and they would back down. When do you reach the age when that does not work anymore? When the bully becomes of age to be able to hire a lawyer and sue you. So society tells us to be nice and ignore those who annoy you and they will go away.

I just don’t believe this works for every situation. There are pirates in Somalia that are just annoying the heck out of boaters in that area. I really haven’t seen anybody take care of things. I guess they are using the philosophy to ignore them and they will go away. I don’t want to be the one to explain this reasoning to the families of the hostages that the pirates just killed. Egypt didn’t learn the lesson of ignore it and it will go away, when the people got sick of how the government was treating them so they decided to throw out the dictator. It might just be because I’m a little steamed by the bad week that I am having, but it just seems to me that the bullies of this world are protected, and I just keep on getting kicked in the groin and have to ignore it. Thank goodness for leftover Turkey and here’s hoping that next week is better.

Just some rambling about this week, first of all it was Valentine’s Day this past Monday. It was so much easier being single during this time of year. While most unmarried people looked at it as a SAD (Single Awareness Day) day, I always told myself that I was just saving money because I didn’t have to buy a gift for anyone. So now that I am married it is a requirement to show my love to my wife on that annoying day, because Hallmark told me so. I personally think that day was made up by women so they can get the men in their life to buy them chocolate, like a druggie needs a quick fix. So the pressure of what to buy my wife began the week before. Not only what to buy, but to find the time to buy it. With my wife, getting out of the house to buy her a gift without her knowing it, is like James Bond breaking out of a terrorist compound. But I was relieved when my wife said that she had someplace to go Saturday morning, so I had a clear break. Plus that evening she said she didn’t take Valentines Day that seriously. I shouted a little Amen in my head. Long story short, I got a cool vintage Snoopy tie tack and she got a video game she had been wanting (yes you read that correctly) and a bag of her favorite M&M’s. Yes Hallmark I bought a card too, so don’t send your goons after me.

I got a weird letter mailed to me this week. It was from the company where I bought my jeep. Seems they were checking their files and when they came across my name they crunched some numbers and figured out a way to lower my monthly payments. Now wasn’t that nice of them to take the time to do that and pick me out from all of the customers that they had sold cars to. It had to be legit because it looked to be hand written on a piece of their notebook paper, even had my name on it. The thing is my wife and I paid my Jeep off last year, which means I have no payments. So unless they are going to start giving me money, I don’t understand how my payments can be any lower than nothing. I thought about giving them a call just to have a good time with them, but figured my time would be better spent finishing installing the new garage door opener for my wife. That was the real Valentine’s Day gift and she loved that better than anything else I could have gotten for her, plus chocolate. Don’t ever forget the chocolates; they get a little mean when they can’t get their hit.

We live in a very unique country when compared to others around the world. Every morning before I start my day I like to take a quick look at the headlines.

According to Yahoo here are some of the top Headlines

For the US:

Chipotle Mexican Grill Caught in Immigration scandal
Tenn. GOP lawmaker credits Hooters for success
Ranchers hope critters can weather subzero temps
NY Rep. Lee resigns after shirtless photo on Craigslist

My favorite

South Carolina may move against prison Facebook users

Meanwhile around the globe:

Egypt’s government resists mounting pressure for change

India, Pakistan say peace talks to resume
Somali pirates capture supertanker, $150M of oil
S. Sudan rebels break ceasefire, 16 dead
Suicide bomber kills Afghan district chief

At the beginning of the week our news was filled with the results of the Super Bowl and the commercials that were played. Around the world people were counting the amount of injured and dead from a day of protesting. No wonder so many people are either trying to come across the big ocean to the land of the free or fight for their own freedom. Our prisoners (the people who supposedly have lost their freedom privileges) are on Facebook, while people around the world are fighting for their basic rights as humans.
Just a little something to think about the next time you get on Facebook and whine to your 200 so called “Friends” that you are out of your favorite cereal. Which makes me wonder what our postings on Facebook would be like compared to someone in another part of the world.

Maybe:
USA
Woke up this morning looked out my window and prayed, ate breakfast, went to work.
Canada likes this

Middle East
Was glad I woke up alive this morning, hope no one saw me pray, now to look for food and hope my car doesn’t blow up to kill those around it.

England
Woke up this morning thinking about THE wedding!
USA like this

A week has gone by. It’s been the typical week of going to work and doing the same routine at home of watching the same TV shows. Not that I’m complaining sometimes it is nice to have that comfort zone of knowing what is going to happen next. But what I find interesting is everyone has a different daily routine and comfort zone. It’s the other people that might be involved in our weekly rituals that we can not control that sometimes change what we do.

Every week I try to call home to my parents to just say hi and that I am still alive. When I was single I might have called home twice a week, because my mother has a fear of her children being kidnapped by Mexican terrorist and making us work as slaves in their cotton farms. So for her sanity I call her so she can hear my voice and know that I am ok. I missed a week calling her this past week. Not that I forgot, my weekly routine was just a little more busy than normal and time got away from me. So I get this phone call. “Hey I know your busy, I was just wondering what’s been going on, I’m ONLY your Mother, so it’s not that important that you call.” For those who are not familiar with this sentence, this is the sentence of guilt. I’ll always be her little boy that shouldn’t mess around with her routine.

It’s not just people that have a routine, animals live by it. I’ve had my cat for nearly 8 years and he has a habit of going to his food dish whenever he wants and having food waiting for him. Well we recently adopted. No not a kid, but another cat. My wife named her Buttercup, it got shorten to Butter, and I call her Butt because she has no tail. Not even a nub, she is all butt. Well Butter (this is a family friendly blog so I’ll keep it clean) is a large cat probably twice the size of Shadow and she likes to eat. She’ll eat all the food in her dish then clean out Shadow’s dish as well. Then Shadow goes to eat and there is no food in his dish. Which is probably why Shadow chases her around the house, she changed his routine.

The moral of the story is “You can never be too big to mess around with someone routine.” or “Don’t be a butt by changing someone’s habit.”

Old stuff

My wife and I were watching one of our new favorite shows the other night “Storage Wars.” These guys go to places where people rent storage, or should I stay stop paying rent on their storage units. They get about 5 minutes to look inside the unit without going in, they are not allowed to open any boxes, and then whoever gets the highest bid gets everything inside the storage unit. Sometimes it is all useless junk and other times there is some crazy collectibles inside. Last night a couple bought a unit that had over $5,000 wroth of old toys inside for like $600. Which brings two questions to mind; why would anybody forget or not pay the rent on a storage unit that had that many collectibles in it and what stuff do I have lying around that is of any value?

One logical reason is that maybe the person passed away and no one knew they had this stuff. Or, maybe they did not really know how valuable this stuff was. Who really does know how much something is until they sell it. There was another guy you bought a storage unit and it had shrunken heads in it. Which leads me to other questions; who buys shrunken heads and why are they keeping them in storage in an old cooler?

I have one thing that I know that might have some value. Actually I share this with my brother, a Wayne Gretzky rookie card in very good condition. How I ended up with it don’t know. How much is it wroth? Maybe a few hundred dollars, but it’s not like I can go to Wal-Mart and take a TV to the register and hand them this rookie card for it. As of right now, it is sitting in my closet and it is about as valuable as the cardboard from a cereal box. That’s the thing about collectables; they are not of any value until you sell them. I remember as a kid when Star Wars was huge, I had a bunch of toys and comic books. I don’t understand how people are looking for toys still in the box. They are toys; no kid wants a toy to just stare at in the box. Not only did I destroy the box, the action figures did not make it as well. It was an epic battle between G.I. Joe and the Star Wars clan, very few survived. Those memories are more valuable to me than the toy itself, plus I’m not paying a rental fee to hang on to them.

On another note, I will only be posting on Thursdays now. Life is just getting a little too busy to try to post something twice a week and it doesn’t pay the bills. Unless someone wants to buy a Wayne Gretzky rookie card to keep things going. :)

Robbery

This weekend I learned a few things. First thing I’m learning is that there is a reason for voice mail on phones. I had to teach myself that I don’t have to answer my phone every time my wife calls, especially if I’m in the middle of something. If it is important or an emergency she will leave a message, otherwise I end up being on the phone with her listening to her tell me that the cat threw up and she almost stepped in it. So Friday I am in the middle of doing my work and she calls and leaves a message. I check to see if it is something important and if I need to call her back. Yep, radiator hose has a leak in it and there was smoke coming out of the car. So I called her back, thankfully she was at home and not stuck on the side of the road. We worked out the car situation, because we both needed to be at two different locations that night. I had to start preparing myself that I was going to be working on a car that weekend.

I know nothing about cars. My wife would tell you I can barely drive a car, much less work on them. I know where the gas goes and change a tire if I needed to, but that’s about it. So we were all set to take her car to the mechanic when I thought, let me take a look under the hood and see if it is an easy fix. A few hours later and a trip to the auto store and I had replaced one cracked radiator hose. Yep, it was one of those moments that I felt like I had passed a test to be a man. It wasn’t a difficult task, I did have to grunt and groan a little. But that is what makes it such an accomplishment. I smashed my finger nail. The clamp on the hoses on a 10 year old car is hard to get off, and my hand slip on the pair of pliers I was using and the clamp snap back and caught my finger. I started to bleed, but it kind of made the whole experience a little manlier.

Leave it to my wife though to put me in place. She did not do it on purpose, but I had her make a list of things that I needed to buy at the auto store. I was thinking I was going to look like this well prepared mechanical guy going to the auto store and I would show the worker my list of things I needed and be on my way. So I shoved the folded piece of paper in my pocket; when I got to the store I pulled the paper out of my pocket, unfolded it, and saw my list of parts were written on pink paper with a dancing penguin in a tutu, on top was written in big bold pink lettering “I’m a Dancing Sugar Plum.” I thought these guys are going to take my man card away if they see this. So I got all the parts I needed with out having to accidentally expose my feminine side, but it did kill the whole manhood buzz I had going on. Lesson learned, always check your list before going to the store.

American Idol

Last night I found out I have another problem to add on to the weird things that is wrong with me. I’m addicted to American Idol. I told myself since they started putting promotions on TV, that this year I was not going to waste my time watching that junk. My wife was even stating she was not going to get involved in it because she was not a fan of J-LO. So my wife had to work late last night and I had to go to a late meeting, I used this as an excuse to stop by the Golden Arches on the way home, I was having a Big Mac Attack. I sit down with my bounty of food; push the cat away from sticking his head in the bag, (he loves their fries) and turn on the TV. I totally forgot that American Idol was starting that night. I though to myself, the wife is not home, it won’t hurt to watch a little. A Big Mac, large fries, a Dr. Pepper and two hours later, I had watched the whole show. My wife came in during the middle of it, kind of rolled her eyes at it and walked away. Just when I thought she had stronger will power than I did, I hear it on the TV in the other room, Busted.

I don’t know what it is about that show that just sucks you in. Maybe it’s like watching a car wreck that you can’t look away from. There are some good singers that they put through, but let’s face it; there are a lot of people out there that should keep their talents in the shower. Then I even wonder if some of these people should be allowed to walk the streets freely. The point is I wasted two hours of my life watching this show, well not the whole two hours. McDees fries were involved for some it and that is never a waste of time.

Thawing Out

Atlanta is finally thawing out. My wife, who was getting cabin fever from being cooped up inside all week, and I went out Saturday morning to run a few errands. I had to take a little control over this trip. Last time we did an errand run together we ended up in one too many women’s apparel departments. There is nothing worse for a guy to be standing around surrounded by racks of dresses and blouses without an ounce of TV or sporting equipment in sight. So we agreed we were just going to run out grab the few things we needed and get back home.

I needed a few parts for a garage door opener I am installing for my wife. I’m a little different from some guys. I actually enjoy when my wife has something for me to work on around the house. Nothing like grabbing a power tool and putting something together, when I put on my tool belt I feel like Batman and his utility belt. Only, Batman’s belt doesn’t pull his pants down just enough so everyone can see the color underwear he is wearing. Maybe that is what the cape is for.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and eating the snacks my wife prepared for us while we watched the football playoffs. Atlanta lost, but the home made party Chex Mix, Tacos, bean dip, and peach pie were good. So it was a score for me. Even though while we were eating dinner I had just finished my fourth taco and going back for more (I know what you're thinking, why didn’t I just put more than 4 tacos on my plate in the first place.) When my wife spoke up and said, ”Uhm, could you leave me some more.” I wanted to say, “It’s survival of the fittest Babe!” But realizing that she made all the food and I probably would regret that comment later, I politely backed away and waited for her to get what she wanted. Even Batman and all his gadgets in his utility belt would rather face the Joker than a woman scorned.

Passage Proverbs 21:19:
It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.

Snow Roads

I have discussed before the many differences between the north and the south. The north says “You guys” compared to “Ya’ll” in the south. Around the Great Lakes they drink pop or soda; below the Mississippi River they drink sweet tea. The one thing I thought would be different here in the south would be the weather. I hate having to get up a little earlier to walk out to warm my car before I go to work, hoping my first step doesn’t send me flying across my iced over walk way like Wayne Gretzeky after a hockey puck. Plus it’s been really cold, I mean the type of cold that freezes the stuff inside your nose when you inhale, I hate that feeling.

The D.O.T. here (Don’t-Own-Trucks) were not prepared. The guy that heads the department said on the news that we should all just hope the sun comes out soon. That’s a reassuring statement from the guy who is supposed to be keeping the roads clean. Basically we should all go outside and sing like Anne “The sun will come out tomorrow…” We’ve all heard it before, these southerns can’t drive on snow, and well this Yankee couldn’t either. When you have ice on top of ice, with no one putting salt or clearing off the roads, you need to be a penguin driving a zamboni to get around Atlanta. So they just keep telling people to stay inside.

Schools have been out for three days now due to the weather. Some schools were on Christmas break so some of these kids love this weather. Plus for some of them it’s the first time seeing snow like this. So people are grabbing whatever they think will slide to go sledding; trash can lids and laundry basics seems to be the favorites. The best I’ve seen is some guy on the news going down a hill in a canoe. So the other day when I was snowed in I looked out my window and saw a guy in a pickup truck pulling his kid on a piece of wood behind him. I figured he must have worked for the D.O.T. and it was bring your kid to work day. I am starting to hear people saying they are getting cabin fever, three days of snow and these people are already going out of their minds. Another difference between the north and the south, Good luck to all my buckeye friends and family who might get snowed in for a week or more.

Snow Day

Well I'm off today because of snow. That's right I moved from Ohio to Georgia to get away from that awful white stuff and I still get snowed in. It's God way of showing me he has a sense of humor. I did try to make it to work. I left thinking I grew up in this stuff, it's not going to get the best of me. So I get all bundled up, cussed a few times because I had to scrape snow and ice off my car. That brought back horrible memories of northern mornings; 3 to 4 months of getting out in the cold, scrapping 1/4” of ice off your car, and praying to the winter gods that your car would start, then you would have to maneuver your way down the frozen tundra called the driveway. Thankfully this morning was not that bad, but I still hated doing it. So I started to drive to work, I had to keep it in 2nd gear most of the time, fish tailing most of the way. I'll admit that part was fun, because at one point in my life I did want to be a Duke boy and drive around Hazard county, I can cross that off my bucket list now. But I didn't even make it half way to work. What normally takes me 10 minutes to get to, took me an half an hour. Plus, all the ice and snow covered the lanes in the road, I spun out about 3 times. I turned around and journeyed my way back home. Some idiot decided they were going to take a turn going 50 mph and almost spun themselves completely around. Had I been there a few minutes earlier I would have collided with them. So it wasn't the icy conditions that bothered me, it was the other Duke's of Hazard wanna bees out there.

So I came home to my wonderful wife who just the other day decided to point out how old I am getting. Seems she had discover that much like counting the rings on a tree, you can guess how old someone is by looking in their nightstand drawer. That makes sense; a young boy may have his favorite baseball card and action figure, a teenager may have that magazine he doesn’t want his mom to see, a college man will keep the phone numbers of all his hopeful dates. I on the other hand have; a heating pad for my sore leg where I pulled a muscle the other day, my blood pressure machine that I have to keep track of, and a pair of toe nail clippers so I don't accidentally cut a main blood vain on my wife while we are sleeping at night. Yep, I'm probably just a few steps away of keeping in my night stand a tube of Ben-gay and denture cleaner. I do not even dare, for risk of my physical and mental health, look in my wife's nightstand and see what she has hidden in there.

Christmas Gifts

So for Christmas I got some wonderful gifts; I got a laptop and some digital drawing software to go with it. I have been drawing for a long time. I think I got my first drawing board when I was in the 6th or 7th grade; I still have it and use it. Only now I am using it for a desk for my laptop. So working on my laptop on my old drawing desk got me thinking of how things have changed over the years and what will this year bring in regards to new technology.


There was a time everything was done by hand. When I first got into drafting we had to learn how to draw using the old drafting tools of T-squares and triangles before we even touched the computer. At that time drafting on the computer was still new and it was run in this program environment called DOS. Yes kids there was a time before Windows and Macs. Now it’s hard to keep up with all the upgrades that come out as this world becomes more and more fast paced. Before buildings were built from blueprints, now the whole building is computer generated and transferred to computers out to the construction site. Some old man is cussing because he can’t even figure out how to turn the computer on, and what he does build is wrong because, the young college punk sitting at his desk is depending on his fancy program to figure things out for him.

Even the way we take pictures has changed. Look in that old junk drawer in the kitchen; there will probably be some rolls of film from 5 vacations ago that still need to be developed. Good luck with that. Remember the Polaroid’s, the instant picture that you had to shake a little to start to develop. Now that is just some new dance song that has also come and gone. Today everyone is a photographer, because everyone has a camera on their phone. Now you can take a picture on your phone, send it to a computer, Photoshop it to make it look better, and instantly send it to all your friends on Facebook to see. I think I got maybe 3 actual Christmas cards this year. I mean the ones where you go to the store and pick out. We did get like 20 cards that people took a picture of their kids with Mickey or Santa, Photoshop in a Christmas tree and typed Merry Christmas. I’ll just say I don’t think Hallmark has anything to worry about in regards to competition; also we were guilty of doing that too.

I could go on and on about how communication has changed in this world. I mean even grandma has an e-mail address, yet I still do not find the time to write to her, some things will never change. The point is I hope this year we realize that all these fancy gadgets do not replace the fact that we need to think for ourselves. Plus my mother has just enter this century and got her first cell phone. I still have nightmares from when I was first trying to show her how to use a mouse on a computer. I think she thought she was accidently going to launch a missile or something.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone, I hope the year brings many blessings to you. There is no comic today because I spent my break tweaking this site and also worked on some other projects. I’m back to work after being on an 11 day vacation. I didn’t do anything but gain weight. For Christmas I got 4 boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes and gift cards to McDees and Taco Bell. My friends and family know me so well.

Before I get into the coming year, let me tell you how my year ended. My house was broken into! The dirt bags. I was on the phone at work talking to a customer when I got a call from my wife. I did not answer because, one I was on the phone with a customer and two, normally my wife just calls to tell me that she got peanut butter for $0.05 on sale with a coupon. I don’t care how much the peanut butter is, there just needs to be peanut butter in the house. So I text her to let her know I was on the phone and I would call her back. A few minutes later she calls again, I was still on the phone so I text her again. I thought there was only one thing that was going to get me off the phone with the customer and call her back, and that was that the store was out of peanut butter. But she text me with in seconds, it read “The house was broken into.” I quickly put the customer on hold and called her back. Thankfully everyone was ok and nothing was stolen. The neighbor across the street scared them away when she saw them kick in our front door. Which shows you the intelligence of these crooks; one who breaks into a front door in a crowed neighborhood in the middle of the day, two it was my understanding that they parked in the street, so I guess they thought they could carry my big flat screen TV across my yard in the middle of the day without being seen. The other good thing is that the police caught them that afternoon with some stolen goods in their car from the other houses they broke into. They caught them at a gas station. Isn’t that rule one when going on a crime spree, make sure the car has a full tank. Idiots!

So the New Year begins. The wife and I stayed up all night and played some dice game called Bunco and watched a bunch of musician we didn’t know on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Eve. That made us feels old when we didn’t recognize the current music and we couldn’t wait for midnight to arrive so we could go to bed. So what do we have to look forward to in the upcoming year? Well hopefully we will be selling our house and moving. That should be interesting, nothing like having strangers walk through your house when your not home. Oh wait that already happen to us, only this time maybe they will pay us to stay in the house instead of trying to take stuff out of the house. But what will be the new fad this year? What will be the new Facebook and Farmville? Because, that improved our life style a lot. What will Bill Gates come up with that everyone will go into debt buying, while it increases his chance to buy the whole planet? Will this be the year that the average American that is of the age to drive will put down the phone and use the turn signal? Looking forward to seeing what 2011 will bring to us.