Merry Christmas To Me!
I don't really have a list of things I want. I actually would be glad to get socks or a shirt or tie. Cuz I hate the idea of wasting perfectly good money that could be buying cool stuff or food going for socks and stuff like that. I hate having to buy clothes and only do it rarely. Except for t-shirts. I like to buy them.

I am feeling somewhat gifted with the thought that both Belle & Sebastian and Billy Bragg will tour next year. Of course the Decemberists will--they're the hardest working band in the business!

Don't Worry About Me...
I'll be OK, I suppose. We watched Super Size Me tonight.
And I feel a bit queasy, I must say. At least for now I NEVER NEVER NEVER want to eat any of that crap again EVER. I suppose that this is a normal and intended reaction to the film, so I guess I'm a big fat cliche, huh? (We'd never seen the whole thing before, just parts.)


Now one thing I have been enjoying lately is this Gevalia Pumpkin Spice coffee. I hate pumpkin. I hate "spice" things like tea and cake. But this stuff, with cream and sugar, is really good. Not that I'd ever want it to replace my morning dark roast, but I am pleasantly surprised, since I shun all artificially-flavored coffee like a gourmand stays away from fake crabmeat.
There. Now you know I am not a rigid, grouchy, unadventurous old man. I tried something even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it, and it turns out I did, so I get the medal for open-mindedness this week. Ha.

Ride Hard, Live Long, Never Give Up!
I just discovered that "Biker Billy" was killed very recently by a stupid teenager who was trying to text someone while driving! What a complete f*cking idiot! Was that CUL8R (or whatever!) worth it? And he's only charged with careless driving! I am amazed that Biker Billy's widow says she feels sorry for the teen. First thing I'd do is check to see if Colorado is a death-penalty state, even though I don't believe that killing another person is ever a just punishment for any crime. But how many more innocent cyclists have to die before the laws that are already on the books are taken seriously? Plus, he was in a marked bike lane! If I drift to the other side of the road and kill another driver I'd at least get charged with manslaughter, I imagine. But if it's a cyclist it's a misdemeanor.
Biker Billy was a frequent poster at the Bicycling forums, and his often abrasive advice was always 100% correct, technically. Several times he answered my nit-picky questions about stuff as arcane as bottom bracket spindle length and rear derailleur/crankset/shifter compatibility. Whenever he chimed in--almost every thread--his answer was the last word.
Some smart ass said it was an internet hoax. I don't think so. The facts are that a cyclist was killed by a stupid teenager. It's on CNN's site, it's on the local news' site. Jim Price=Biker Billy. Why would he pretend to be his daughter and say he was dead? It seems unlikely that someone completely hijacked his account. Why would someone else take this (true) tragic story and apply it to him? The forum was just renamed in his memory. So the powers that be at Bicycling Magazine don't seem to think it's fake.

dammit!

A Fistful Of Blisters, A Spicy Brown Nose
Will this be all I have to show when I'm old?

Maybe I should check out that online illustrator portfolio, job-getting service. It costs a few hundred smackeroos to get in on it, but that should be taken care of with a few jobs, right? (Provided I get them, of course.)

One Day I Could Have a 50-inch Waist
Went to a friend's family's for Thanksgiving. (Why do we have a holiday where we celebrate the beginning of the end for Native Americans? Or maybe it's about religious intolerance--"If we can't be fundamentalists the way we want to, we'll go find another country!" The Pilgrims never celebrated it!)

Ate too much.

Hee hee, He Said "Ass"
I released my inner 14 year old recently when I was prowling around the internet and found a band name generator. I typed in "ass" and these are the results:
Ass Cranapple
Porcine Spinach of the Purple Ass
Ass Custodian
Demented Ass
Ass Moment
Ass Wednesday
Maroon Ass
Left Nightclub
Cherry of the Ass Spirit
Shapely Ass
Failing Ass
World Ass
Ass Ankle
Outer Space of the Ass Beaver
Ass Rib
Degrading Goat
Ass Ass
Channel of the Weed
Awesome Cheddar
Ass of the Simian
Butt-Ugly Subject
Groovy Lady
Ass Subject of the Conductive Slug
Ass of the Blur

I can't help but chuckle out loud at a few of them.

Also, this is the design on the bag of the music store in town when you buy enough junk to need a bag.

Rock on, dude! Notice that it's an acoustic guitar--with only 5 strings? And it's capo'ed.

Monkey-Stroking, Commence!

Went to the University of Toledo last night to see Lazerlove5, Brian Nupp's band.
Gabe came along, cuz he likes "rock n roll" and "Robert Hedgehog." Sure enough, there were two Robyn Hitchcock songs in the set.
It's a shame the silly UT freshman didn't stick around. Their freshman films were cute, though.
Video clips: The Lizard and Sweet Ghost Of Light. Both are especially well done!

Fine, Be the Voice of Reason!
See if I care!

Ho Ho? Ho Hum
Snow fell. (Well, sort of fluttered around, lazily.) Went to office Christmas lunch (yes!). Had to dress up. Hooray...for...the...holidays. Woo...hoo.

Lauran has 3 ovarian cysts. Benign, but no fun for her.

Clean Up in Aisle 5!
The boys seem to think that everything magically cleans up itself.
And appears on their plate for breakfast with the same magical efficiency.
Usually I find them hilarious. This is not one of those times.
Ah, the joys of parenting!

Doesn't Matter How Far You Come, You've Always Got Further To Go
Sometimes I think I've forgotten more than I've ever learned, which, of course, leaves me with an intelligence deficit in the end. Even advanced degrees are just academic parlor tricks, really.
I've been very forgetful lately.

And yet, I can remember lyrics to invisble hits from the 80s.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Some new words, which will hopefully affect the "extras" over there on the side that are generated by the keywords on this site.
Food Glue Bathroom fixtures String Yarn Bottles Beer Wine Chips Sausage Gears Plugs Chains Milk Coffee Telephone Slinky Tape Stand Knife Speaker Stairway Floorboards Strap Headband Thumbtack Doorknob Doormat Sugar Splenda Screen Venetian blinds AC DC Music Woody Guthrie Joe Strummer Billy Bragg Beatles Rust Drillpress Router Tablesaw PBS CNN CDR DVD Lens Filter Mac Chess FIDE Carbon fiber Campy Pincher Spatula Battery Lead Screwdriver Broom Tortillas Brush Cellular phone Pencil Frame Checkbook Canned air Skeleton key Pipe Magazine Bookshelf Goggles Marcel Duchamp Anselm Kiefer Joesph Beuys Socket wrench Fork Knife Spoon Maple Syrup
OK, that should be enough for a while.

Smile
I found some art. It was under a pile of stuff in my geek lair.

"Art"

Sibling Rivalry
Since I'm accomplishing nothing with my life, artistically speaking, today, I'll post Sammy's recent drawing. He's the one on the left, with the big grin. He says that's Gabe on the right.
Nice. Remember, Sammy is 5. I'm impressed.

Credo
It sure does pay to have friends in inky places.
Jamie, who is making a batch of the "God Loves Guitars" t-shirts for almost immediate sale on this website sometime in the near future, also took my old pawn shop cheapo amp (named--and stencilled on the bottom--"Stinko" because, well, it smelled bad when I bought it) and is giving it a makeover. Someone tell TLC, they can make a TV show out of it!

To Wind A Piece Of String Around

Where was I? I forgot the point that I was making...

In Symphonies of Jelly, You Play with My Disease
No recent art to put up here, so I'll just put up a work in progress.
Most of my little paintings grow from piles of crap in the garage, so here's one of the things emerging. It'll get all painty eventually, when I feel like it.