Thinking Things Through

Yet another advantage of watching TV shows online: You avoid the network's promo bugs, those little icons for other shows that run in the corner of the screen. They used to be only the station icon. Now we get animated blocks of text and show logos. Unfortunately ABC decided to pimp the return of V with a red V and a countdown clock during Tuesday's Lost. At one point, the V obscured a crucial piece of text provided by Sun. The reaction was strong and may have led to a boycott of sorts. According to this article, the ratings for the V premiere were the lowest of the show's brief run.

Roo's kicks are getting rough. Your Sister practically hops off the couch when they hit. We are now signed up for new-parent classes at the hospital. They start later in April, and she was concerned it would hurt my progress on the comic. She said I didn't have to go if there's a schedule conflict. I won't hear of it. This is a group effort all around. The only baby-related event I'll miss is the girls-only shower.

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Because Your Sister is a registered Republican, she receives fundraising material from the GOP. Yesterday she got a solicitation disguised as a straw poll ballot for the 2010 campaign. It lists these names, and I'll qualify them:

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (who?)
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (who?)
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (disgraced)
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (marginalized)
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson (who?)
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (magnetic, popular, flaky)
Former New York Governor George Pataki (marginalized)
Current Representative Ron Paul (earnest, smart, tends to get strident)
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (a wannabe)
Current Representative Mike Pence (who?)
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (marginalized)
Former Senator Rick Santorum (ruined by Dan Savage)
Current Senator John Thune (who?)

Not a stellar line-up. Note who's missing: Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Governor who bombed on live TV when he tried to rebut Obama's first speech to Congress last year.

It says a lot of the current Congressional minority leadership that none of the GOP Senate or House leaders are considered viable presidential candidates. All of the ones on the above list either have glaring concerns or a lack of national prominence. 'Course Obama had the same visibility issues four years ago. And let's be fair, if the Democrats had to offer a new candidate for 2012, they'd be just as screwed (Biden? Pelosi? Yikes.) . Except for Palin, the GOP has no elevated presence, and her support is tenuous. She's foremost a celebrity and has little chance of surviving a protracted presidential campaign. We didn't return the ballot.

We were entertained by the rhetoric that Obama is taking money from trial lawyers and Wall Street fatcats, to use their words. The Democrat has Wall Street backing? Really? The letter said he might rake in a billion smackers for his re-election campaign. I can see that. I think the campaign will only become more lucrative for everyone.

Picture of the Day
I might make this a t-shirt.

A Night Out

I've made online adjustments to our registry. I added onesies (is there no dignified name?) and removed the South-African designed Bumpo. We were handed one last night by the teacher couple who fed us. It was a nice evening at their place, talking a lot of school stuff and a little baby stuff. They have a baby younger than a year old and giant dog that eats teddy bears. We had wine and fajitas.

We got back home after ten, but I recorded this week's Lost. I watched it while Your Sister prepared for bed. It's a good episode; things are happening.

I drew most of page 18 today, and I might finish it tonight. I plan on cementing our newish mailbox this weekend, weather permitting. It's leaning badly.

Neither the office nor the post office are closing for Good Friday or Easter for what appears to be the first time. I'm confused.

Picture of the Day
This is what a volcano eruption looks like from an airliner.

New Look

Trying something new via Blogger's tricked-out templates. If this is awkward to read, let me know. I may tweak it in the next few days. The map background is a nod to writing you in South Africa.

Taking A Break

Your Sister stays home today to catch her breath, both literally and figuratively. She just wants a little break. She noticed some calf swelling last night, and it went away once she put her feet up. She has a teacher workday Friday, so that will help her take it easy this week.

(Confession: My first wife ran to the woods while taking a sick day. I learned only that night that she wasn't sick and used the whole day to scavenge from our house and move to her new digs. Whenever Your Sister calls in sick and I go to work, one of the many stupid voices in my head wonders if she'll be there when I get home. She's done nothing to continue this. It's all my dumb brains.)

I used my lunch break yesterday to stroll another Target and see what baby items leaped out at me. I'm concerned we'll need home clothes for Roo. We have outfits for seeing people, but those won't be worn around the house. I awoke to find the registry suggestion list with my work stuff. I'll call Your Sister later today to ask if this is now our shopping list.

Your Aunt wants very much to help us as we become parents. Last night she emailed me an offer to pay my student loans. I thanked her. I told her I was humbled by the generous offer and I'm lucky to be in such a caring family. Then I told her the student loans are but a memory. We took care of them last year.

Before Your Sister retired to the royal bedchamber, she posed for reference pictures for the comic's last scene. My heroine is robed and curled up on the couch. I started page 18 today. The arbitrary April 4 pencil deadline now looks feasible. I still need to fix the perspective-heavy backgrounds using reference photos.

Picture of the Day
This looks like a real article but sounds a bit fake.

Must it Be Monday?

We didn't do much after you left. We got groceries and ate a light lunch as we were still packed to the gills with pancakes. We couldn't even get Starbucks to power us through the afternoon work. She hunkered down with her laptop while I drew some more. I've now moved from the street fight to the nighttime apartment scene. I have six pages to go, and I want them penciled by Sunday. That will give me a month to tidy up backgrounds using Google Street View and fix inconsistencies before I ink and letter. I'll also need a cover image to pencil, ink, color, and letter.

During a bathroom break, I got a call from the local theatre asking me to audition. The director asked what how we are.

Me: Very pregnant.

Him: Still? Seems like she was pregnant eleven months ago.

Me: Yeah, she feels the same way.

That raised my hackles. While one could (rudely) argue I'm using the pregnancy as a dodge, I instead say I'm refusing to commit to anything until we establish a new routine. Say I did agree to work a show (and pretend I'm not preparing for a convention), I'm quitting said show at the first sign of any baby complication. In this, I am unreliable. I'm saving them and me the trouble or scrambling at the last second. They just canceled Glass Menagerie because an actor was took sick to prepare adequately, and they again refused to do a reading-theatre version to at least fulfill the sold tickets. Why is a scaled -back show worse than no show? Anyway, I again think the recent award was given in hopes to bring me back sooner. I haven't found any wall space for it yet.

I called My Mom to fill her in on registry info. She also may be joining my uncle for a trip to Vegas after little Epic Win is born.

Your Sister suggested I have wings while watching last night's giant annual WWE show. I gobbled them and had one of the bottled beers you brought us a few months back and marinated in rasslin. I also worked on some sketches for the publishing logo.

One of the teachers invited us for dinner Tuesday, and she'll give us more baby hand-me-downs.

Picture of the Day
The recently released cover to the last Scott Pilgrim comic.

Work Is Made

Since last Sunday afternoon, I have smacked out ten and a half pages. That's astounding. And they don't look all that sucky either. I've taken full use of my digital camera to create instant reference photos, and they will be preserved for the sake of comedy. No one would recognize me in the subsequent drawings as most of the pictures were for female character, and I didn't draw my beard.

According to the baby book, we are now, finally, certainly, and absolutely at the beginning of the third trimester. We are at 27 weeks. Your Sister suspects the downward pressure she feels is because her hips haven't widened yet. She also has a girl name she's holding onto like a life jacket. She also suggested a decent boy name to which I struggle to object. She may have picked the winner.

There are calls for snow today and tonight, and that's a problem for the school. Tuesday is the rescheduled day for the state writing test. The county got a break from the state to move it back to March 23 based on snowfall problems. Even a two-hour delay tomorrow could wreck that plan, and the test would need to move again. Whatever snow we get is supposed to be gone by Wednesday, and that's some comfort for Mom as she plans to come up for the baby appointment. She wants to lay eyes on Your Sister in person, to truly believe she'll be a grandmother.

Internet Gadget of the Day
Behold The Emergency Yodel Button.

Sketchy Progress

I stayed home sick Wednesday with a sudden head cold. I ate Vitamin C pills and yogurt, and Your Sister bought me the delicious 99-cent frozen pizzas that I adore. I actually napped. I hate naps. I feel better today, but I ate that I missed a day of drawing.

Something I realized when working on this hero minicomic: I usually don't draw this big. Even when I draw on art boards, I tend to pack the comic page with too many panels. This time, I deliberately made bigger, fewer panels per page to leave room for the dialogue. It's made for panels wit lots of space inside for backgrounds and people (and they'll get covered by word balloons), and it's made me draw in larger strokes.

I'm getting down the basics of the panels and moving on to the next page. My backgrounds will need tightening, but that can be done right before I ink. I want to come back to the pages with a fresh eye and catch the problems before I declare them ink ready.

Here are the small sketches of two pages and their accompanying larger, tighter drawings. I ned to add shadows and flesh out the backgrounds.

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Moving Picture of the Day
This made me laugh up my medicine.

Introspection and Toil

We take turns making dinner. Always have. This changes only when the other is buried in work, illness, or existential morass. I made dinner last night, but it wasn't a real dinner. It was ruben sandwiches.

Ruben sandwiches are messy to make, and the best people to make them are diner cooks. They have a big, flat cooking surface that was probably built greasy. It doesn't matter if the sauerkraut tumbles out or the dressing spills. Me, I get neurotic about the innards becoming outards. I work delicately. I baby the sandwiches when I flip them. I make it more work than it needs to be.

Then I feel guilty over the size of them. They are slivers of sustenance. They are credit card-thin. I make two of them for each of us. This can't be my attempt at making a supper: Two-dimensional appetizers that are ready in 20 minutes. It's not equal work. I must construct delicious tower for my baby mama.

I continue to work on the comic. After two pages, I see that I am timid in my panel structures. I must flesh it all out more. I must push. I'm glad to realize this now, at this point. The comic is telling me what I need to do. I'm glad to have this much progress and yet have enough time to adjust and correct. I'm also delighted to be making a 20-page comic.

Picture of the Day
I'm developing this kind of collaboration.

Weekend Funtime

About those FaceBook pictures of me:

I dropped by Toys R Us Thursday to see what was marketed to the youngsters. I like to keep track of the designs and franchises. Sometimes it's surprising. An entire aisle, for instance, is devoted to pro-wrestling figures. I had no idea demand was that high for them. The toys for the recent Star Trek movie collect dust as do those for the GI Joe film. You never know what's gonna be a hit with kids.

The push for the new Iron Man film has begin, notably with the toy helmet in those photos. The previous version was a faceplate held on by a stretch band. It's blah. I noticed the new full-head helmet and played with the sound buttons and light-up eyes, and thought it was cute or kids. If I were eight, yes, I would beg for this. But I'm much older. Back on the shelf it went.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good fit for the shelf with my lucha masks. It might not, however, fit my head. I mentioned the notion online, and the reaction was unanimous: Dude. DUDE! I went back the next day and bought it.

I got it home convinced that when Your Sister returned from Charlotte, she would see me wearing this toy and resolve to never leave me alone again. (I also considered buying tiny ones for the cats to wear as she walked in the door.) She got back home earlier, and with no warning, and I had to reveal the contraption quicker than I planned. She loved it. Even wore it. The next day, I put on my suit, and she took pictures of President Rocket R. Science. The helmet now sits on that shelf, bookending lucha masks with the Vader helmet.

Your Sister weathered the trip well, and she recovered Saturday night while I attended local roller derby. It was a blast, and I think it allows Asheville's various subcultures to mingle in good humor.

Still adjusting to the time switch, but I'm able to start the hero minicomic. I showed the panel sketches and script to Your Sister, and she seemed to enjoy it. She found no major plotholes, and I put pencil to artboard Sunday. My first panel was a perspective-heavy establishing city shot, and it was no fun. If that's the most difficult panel I do -- and I suspect it will be -- I'll be fine the rest of the way. The convention is two months from today, and I can do this. I can really do this.

What I cannot do is see one of my favorite authors. Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Haunted, Lullaby) will be in Asheville for an intimate reading and autograph session, and I shall be at prom instead. It's not horribly disappointing. I won't regret our last public outing before Roo's birth. But this is the second time I've missed out on a Malaprop's appearance because of a prior engagement. I guess this balances the toy helmet.

We bought larger clothing for her Sunday at Target. While she was trying on outfits, I shopped for socks and found some nice deals. I also found a pair of socks that may have been returned. The label was damaged, and the socks were dirty and worn. I suspect someone traded out the socks they wore to the store with this pair on sale. I remember working retail and discovering little schemes like this. She gets winded easy now, and we walk slower. She makes time to walk as much as possible. She simply goes slower now. We are looking at budgets to see which insurance policy Roo will join and how long Your Sis can stay home from work.

In a fleeting moment of regal largess, she suggested I have buffalo wings last night. I was to eat them Friday before she got home, but she returned early. She hadn't eaten supper, and I took her out. Last night, I had the wings. Eh. It's not something I would have weekly anymore. Maybe I picked up Your Sister's disinterest.


Picture of the Day
Could be a new t-shirt. I didn't make this.

Singled Out

The Missus is off to a convention, and I'll see her again tomorrow night. We said our goodbyes before she drove to work, and she got teary. She always did, but now we can blame it on the pregnancy. She dabbed her eyes, and now my hanky has her tears on it. I tell her things like "neither of us are gong off to war," and it does no good.

I will do more thumbnails and sketches for the hero mini. If I can open up my style a bit -- more cartoony -- I can draw this quick. I've again tweaked the script for dialogue, but the panel layout from yesterday remains. I'm sure I'll adjust the words right until it's printed. My panic over the deadline is assuaged a bit. I can do this. Probably.

Picture of the Day
Or maybe I'll just drink tonight and watch basketball.

Progress

Just to prove work is getting done. These are shaded panels from the medieval comic.


I also started another draft of the hero minicomic and changed the layout of the ending. It has the tone I wanted, now in simpler panels. I'm getting up earlier and going to bed later to work on it. Not that you know anything about that.

I'm taking Saturday night off to see local roller derby.

This week's Lost is the goods. See it when you can.

I think Your Aunt wants to buy us a new car, site unseen. I'm trying to dissuade her. Also, Your Mom is anxious to learn the baby's real name. I may suggest Roo-sevelt.

Milestone

We start the third trimester today.

A student teacher gave Your Sister two big Tupperware bins of maternity and kid clothes. We dug through them Friday night. The tubs are organized into age-months for the kid. Most of the clothes Your Sister tried on were too small. She translates this as being fat. I argued that any pants with leg hems that short wouldn't fit most adults. This student teacher must be tiny. I also suggested that she gave us hand-me downs from someone else, and the student teacher may not have been able to wear them either. A number of items for mom and kid still have tags. She found a few shirts that fit, including one hideous frock we dubbed "the Dharma Shirt" that looks like it's from the mid-'70s scenes in Lost.

The next evening, we stepped inside a mall maternity store and found some new pants and tops. I sat in the changing room with her to help with shoes and pants legs. The cashier said she didn't look so far along in the pregnancy, and I repeated that throughout the weekend. She sometimes gets down about being big, but she's nowhere near as large as she thinks. Also, she's pregnant. I underscore the word repeatedly: pregnant. From behind, you can't tell she's carrying.

Speaking of babies, Your Baby Daddy signed a three-year deal with the Chicago Bears. Peppers is too good a player to stay in a small-market team his entire career, and I hope he becomes a marketable figure in Chicago.

Before the maternity store visit, Your Sister worked a Saturday makeup day, and that ruined her weekend. We drove to Asheville to do our taxes and walk through downtown. A few months back, I picked up a print by a local painter named Sarah Faulkner. It's hanging in our bedroom. She has a booth at the Woolworth Gallery, and her work clicked with me. It's miles away from the usual folk amateur styles you usually see in local galleries.



Your Sister thought the art would make for good nursery decor. We visited the artist's booth and picked out two prints, but they're for the rest of the house. They're a bit gloomy for the baby room.






We still may use the brighter art for the nursery. We'll see. I like the idea of staying away from pastels and primaries for the nursery. I want Roo to be exposed to the wide range of colors.

Before we bought maternity clothes, Your Sister escorted me to into the teen-jewelery stores so I could buy new earrings without looking creepy. I now have new adornments. No new piercings, mind you. Just new baubles.

I finished inking the medieval comic while she was at school, and now I must pencil the hero minicomic. I have just over two months to complete it. I measured out my art board dimensions, and now I need to make tighter sketches from my thumbnails. It'll be a pinch, but I can do this. I need to script the medieval comic, and Your Sister needs to do the calligraphy for the original poem's stanzas.

I can tell we're gonna change the clocks soon, because the morning daylight feels different. I want to run again, but I need to do the comics instead. I'm debating internally some ideas for table decoration at the convention.

We had some buddies over last night for supper and conversation, and one of them admitted to never seeing Star Wars. I gave her a standing invite to come by and watch one of our copies. I also offered to crank it up that minute, but it was too late in the evening. I fast-forwarded the Oscars afterward. The ceremony looked small and rushed. The pretaped nominee readings were breathless, and I'm convinced final presenter Tom Hanks improvised his comments for brevity. I'm OK with who won. I've liked Jeff Bridges since seeing him in the second King Kong remake. I was very disappointed that they eschewed the performance of any original song nominees, but I appreciate the tribute to John Hughes.

Moving Picture of the Day



The new Iron Man 2 trailer. While I'm not crazy about the team-up of new villains -- seemingly obligatory since Luthor worked with the Krypton 3 in Superman 2 -- Paltrow and Downey look like no time has passed since the first film. I always enjoy Don Cheadle. But the final bit here sold me: They developed a logical portable-suit solution. In the comics, Stark kept his suit in a briefcase. In the film, the briefcase IS the suit. And it's the red/silver variation which a number of IM fans grew up with.

Snow Shuffling

We hunkered down at first. The snowfall was apocalyptic, and the subsequent wind and sunlight added ice to the cotton candy/mashed potato drifts. I worked online for a few hours and offered to walk with Your Sis to the town's Italian pizzeria for what's become our snowstorm tradition. She assured me she could walk the three miles plus there and back as long as we took it slow and let her catch her breath on the hills. We did. Our road was a glacier, but the rest of the trip was smooth and bright and windy and brisk.

We got to the shop, wolfed down buffet pizza, and headed back home. She has trouble bending over now, and her attempts to fix her socks just made her mad. I offered to help, and she grudgingly assented. She thinks it's demeaning to both of us if I fix her foot clothing. I say she's being silly. I told her I wished someone would say something. I have a surplus of what-for I need to dish out. But I fixed her socks, and I'm sure I'll be tying her shoes soon. She's starting her third trimester next week. This stuff is gonna happen. And it's temporary, I tell her. She's gonna have a crash diet at the end of June.

I got home and did more online work. About an hour later, the snowplows rumbled by. When they departed, I shoveled the driveway and the road in front of our property. I waited too long however, and the debris froze as soon as I walked to shovel other areas. Even sweeping over it didn't break the ice chunks. The first Wednesday of the month has become a fundraising night at the local Mexican restaurant. The money goes to the high school, and I drove her out to it as a reward for grading papers all day. We swapped snow horror stories with other teacher people and got back in time to watch some TV before collapsing into heaps. OK, she collapsed. I stayed up to ink our comic. I'd like it done by next weekend -- inked, scanned, lettered, and polished. I have to get cracking on my minicomics.

Her school has a three-hour delay today, and a make-up day is scheduled for Saturday morning. We drove to the local Buck of Stars before heading in different directions for work.

Picture of the Day
I predict that women will be throwing their partners by the 2018 Olympics. A number of pairs did this kind of lift (one might argue it's more of a brace than a lift), and each was shocking and well done. I appreciated the athleticism.

900 Posts

Yep, we hit a milestone.

I'll skip some telecommuting hours today to shovel the snow. We still won't be able to drive until the plows clear the way. It's oddly silent out there; even the nighttime highway noise is gone. This telecommuting isn't bad, per se, but it requires adjustment. If I hadn't gotten a cool pad for the laptop, there's no way I could put in a full day. Well, fullish, anyway.

I'm using what would be my two commute hours to work on the comic before and after working from home. Your Sister is now facing another Saturday of teaching. Cabin fever struck her hard and early, and she swept the driveway last night. I can't stop her. I can only check on her and invite her inside.

Two items of news:

1) We haven't heard from the doctor's office, and we were told earlier that no news is bueno. The assumption then is no gestational diabetes.

2) Your Sister's teaching assistant has bailed, citing family circumstances. This is something of a relief for her. He couldn't get his assignments together, requiring her to prepare to cover his lessons while preparing hers. Even though she has no safety net now, she's back to what she was accustomed, and she's glad the end came this early in the semester.

Lost has turned a corner, and I'm relieved. I think it can focus on the core characters now.

Picture of the Day
The rare female rebel pilot.

Whiteout

This is the rare late blog post because I spent the day telecommuting. While our tiny village was and continues to be pummeled by fat snow clumps plummeting to the earth, Asheville didn't get enough to slow traffic. My office computer was switched on there, and I connected to it from my workshop. I worked the majority of the day on files that could have waited a few more days.

I don't see us leaving the house until Friday. We've gotten at last six inches of styrofoam snow, and it isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow morning. We went for a short walk today to survey the damage. Before we left the driveway, we spotted a utility truck swamped in the street. Within five minutes of walking, our footprints vanished. Somehow, we still have our satellite service so we're catching Lost tonight.

I have to sign off from the laptop. My eyes are dead.

Picture of the Day
"Roads? Where we're going we don't need ... roads."

Plans Are Suggested

Your Sister is averse to belly pictures, and we've only taken a handful since her bulge emerged. Now, I'm not going picture crazy, documenting everything we do and supplanting an experience with the depiction of the experience. I do want to make a record of the most incredible nine months of applied biology we'll encounter. But she has days where she feels huge and unattractive and old, and I scold the camera and send it to its room without camera dinner. Some quick photos were taken and posted on FB where Your Mom practically called her gigantic.

My Mom is feeling better with a new prescription called Pristiq. She's making plans to accompany us to the next appointment in late March, and she again is asking about names. We're no closer to a name and probably won't lock in a top-five list until Your Sister is convinced it's not a girl. Is it possible the doctor was confused by the machine imagery? Yes. It is probable? No.

I started inking our medieval comic. I realized after one panel that using fat-nib pens to delineate art based on slim-lead pencils kills my art. I moved to the thinnest pen I have -- 0.2 mm. -- and I like what I see. The stiff plasticity is diminished, and a more organic contour emerges. This might be my ink style from now on. I'll put up scans as it nears completion.

We bought cooling stands for our laptops, and I drew my journal comic on my new machine as I watched Olympic hokey from the couch. That's so scifi. I'm gobsmacked. If I didn't have a pregnant wife and various comic projects, I'd liveblog TV shows. Your Sister, however, did talk to one of my fellow roller derby fans and demanded he take me to some of the Asheville games this summer.

I picked up my drama award Saturday over a dinner out with theatre buddies. It's nice. It'll look good on the wall. Your Sis reminded me she wants me to do theatre when a show strikes my fancy, even if it's in Asheville. I dunno. I wouldn't get home from rehearsal until after 11 each night, and that might stretch for three months. That knocks me out of watching Roo. I don't see me doing theatre again for years. And that's fine. I have comics and games and a baby to mold into a genius.

Picture of the Day
Marvel Comics is publishing Girl Comics, a new anthology created entirely by women. Nice idea. Horrible name. Here's a page from the first issue. These are all current Marvel superheroines.

The one on the bottom right was played by Halle Berry in the X-Men movies. The upside down hero is Spider-Woman, who had her own ABC Saturday cartoon years and years ago.

Here's her cartoon opening sequence.



Yes, her "spider-like powers" include flying and hand lasers. I don't know.

Sugar Rush

We had the glucose test this morning. We arrived at 8:30, and she was given a cup of clear, cold liquid. She could pick her choice of flavor, and she chose "flat Sprite." She was concerned about the taste so I had some first. It wasn't bad. The cold overwhelmed the flavor at first, and it quickly took on a lollipop-syrup flavor. I only drank a fourth of what she would have to chug, though. After that, we sat in the waiting room to kill an hour. I had my laptop and worked on my journal comics. This was my first time using the giant laptop outside the house.

They drew her blood, and she weakened. She said giving blood has only been a problem in the last year or so, but there's no suggestion of anemia. After a few minutes, we visited with the doctor. He checked Roo's heartbeat (136) and asked for updates. We didn't have many notes. We made an appointment for March 24, and the doc will do an ultrasound just for My Mom. I took her to Starbucks after, because, really, why shouldn't you follow a packed sugar drink with another? We'll find out Monday if her blood-sugar is OK.

Picture of the Day
The Canadian hockey team took some shit for celebrated by drinking immediately after their gold-medal win. But how happy does these winners look? Gold on home ice? The IOC is lucky they kept their clothes on.

Cooking With Villainy: Cucumber Raita

Doom's kingdom of Latveria has failed to dominate the Winter Olympics in the soon-to-be-annexed nation of Ca-na-da. Despite the construction of skatebots, skibots, and bilathalonibots, Doom has yet to feel the treasured gold medal in Doom's iron fist. Doom's designs are, of course, impeccable and perfect. Therefore, Doom must conclude a conspiracy is afoot to deprive Latveria of its rightful recognition. As always, the blame lies at the feet of That Accursed Richards.

RICHARDS! DOOM CALLS SHENANIGANS!

To salve this shame, Doom repairs to the kitchen, and there shall Doom concoct another success, another testament to Doom's unerring glory. Doom shares this new recipe with you, the unworthy denizens of the planet over which Doom shall soon extend his benevolent reign.

Doom bequeaths to you the Cucumber Raita!

For this exquisite delight, gather you these elements:

• 1/4 tablespoon sugar
• 8 ounces plain, low-fat or fat free yogurt
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh crushed mint
• 1/4 cup coarsely shredded unpeeled cucumber
• 1/2 tablespoon minced sweet onion
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Doom commands you to combine ingredients and apply to side dishes or preferred protein vehicle. Doom at times entertains the notion of drizzling the raita upon his sirloin and jasmati rice. It soothes the rage inferno ever stoked by the continued existence of That Accursed Richards. Doom indulges upon and is momentarily distracted from his plans of vengeance, but never in his designs of grandeur.

Doom has nothing more to say to the likes of you. Begone!

Holding On To Old Stuff

Friday was the lone regular day of school Your Sister had last week, and all is chaos. Meetings with parents, mandatory department sessions, and items to grade and test are piling up. Her week is a junkyard of deadlines. Instead of breezing into the theatre award banquet that night, I took her out to dinner. The banquet was just across the intersection from us, but I had turned down an invite for Valentine's Day (horrible timing) and didn't change the RSVP when the banquet was moved to later in the week. She wanted pizza, she got pizza. She let me have wings, and they were devoured. I joked that my absence would guarantee I would win an award. Ha ha, that's a good one, pass the napkins.

I won an award. I got a call about 9:30 that night from my director liaison who's no longer the liaison, and he informed me I won best supporting actor for the Scrooge play. I credit my translator actor for making the ghost scene work despite the lack of other actors' familiarity with their lines. The sideburns also proved my commitment to the play, and it's possible they threw me a bone to keep me around. The director and I agreed we'll all have dinner together next weekend.

On Saturday, Your Sister taught for five hours while I tried to find a case for a hard drive. I removed my PC's drive (very, very easy) and needed a shell to plug it into and connect to my laptop. Radio Shack, our town's only electronic franchise, closes on weekends. Because no one tinkers on electronics on weekends. That directed me to the shop where I bought this PC four years ago, and he had exactly what I needed. Now I have a 180G back-up drive AND all my files from the PC. I still have my 2000 PC, and I yanked out that drive and drilled through it before throwing it away. It was 3 gigs; I have jump drives bigger than that. I have boxes of needless computer equipment, and I'm offering some of it to the school's newspaper staff. I also was able to finally get my hair cut.

After all that, we drove to the ag center for the annual maternity consignment show. Instead of individual booths and vendors, items were categorized and labeled with prices and scan codes. We bought two Fisher-Price toys we remembered from childhood, although I argued the old phone toy wouldn't work for today's kids as it no longer resembles modern phones. We got a baby sling and a frontways papoose and a sun shade for an outdoor pen. Not much, really. We didn't plan to grab a lot. We just wanted to see what's out there for kids and moms (Dads can go eat bugs.). Maybe in a few years, we'll swoop in and get much more stuff. Oh, the very first item we laid eyes on was a Roo book. We didn't get it; it was a good omen but a weak story.

We attended a teacher party that night, and I indulged in peach moonshine. I woke up Sunday starving and wobbly.

I ran on Sunday, and I am weak. I have to build myself back up. We watched Olympics between bouts of grading or drawing. I might get our medieval comic penciled by the weekend. I am powered by movie DVDs as I toil in the workshop.

Picture of the Day
This is the new bay window on the space station. I don't have to tell you what this resembles.

Computer Operation

If the PC died because the motherboard had a meltdown, that suggests the hard drive is still OK. I hadn't tried to remove one before, but I like the idea of a 100+ gig backup drive. A friend suggested I try this, and, except for an hour and ten bucks, it costs me very little. If I can extract the drive, I'll buy a cheap drive shell to house it and keep it in my workshop. I want to remove it anyway; I won't recycle a PC with an intact hard drive. If my experiment doesn't work, I already have the back-up drive I bought within the past two months. As I'm rearranging computer space in my workshop and connecting my peripherals to the laptop, this is one small activity.

The laptop, by the way, works like a Mac. I don't know if this by the design of HP or the new Windows, but all my peripherals were plug-and-play. I didn't need one of the installation CDs I excavated. I hooked them up to my USB hub, and I can connect them to the laptop through one plug.

A indefensible canceled snow day allowed Your Sister to visit Asheville. She and Your Mother met up at Babies R Us and set up a simple registry. The store gave us a freebie Huggies box, mostly coupons. But there is a sample organic diaper. That's our first diaper. We don't have much on the registry, but we hope to shop at the annual maternity swap meet this weekend. I think Our Moms are gonna scrap over who buys the largest items.

Roo's movements are stronger. They no longer can be mistaken for indigestion or muscle twitches. They are jabs. Mayhap we'll name him after a World Cup player. That starts two weeks before he's due.

Your Sister doesn't want belly photos taken, but I can tell you her swelling is above and between the hips, and it's a solid lump. She doesn't show much anywhere else. Yet.

Picture of the Day
Run, Woody! RUN!

Say Hello to My Gigantic Friend

Why wait, I ask. Why drag myself through a week of online price comparison and consumer reviews when I find the tool I want, nail down a decent price, and can drive to the store to get it? Why indeed? Especially when you learn during the drive that Your Sister prefers the revived death-metal stylings of Metallica and will gently bang her head while wearing a knit cap and braids like an Olympics snowboarder and look cute as hell doing it.

Now I have a laptop. An HP Pavilion Something Something with a 17-inch screen. It has a full keyboard including number pad. It's vast. The iPad is 9.5 x 7.5. My new monster is 17 x 15. Massive. Also? It's fucking speedy. All the claims about Windows Home have proven right. It loads quick, it provides Mac-like taskbar screen previews, and the security controls are manageable. Your Sister's laptop is smaller but it has the touch monitor that may be detachable. I'm not sure. After some online consultation, I learned my PC's motherboard may be hosed, and the hard drive might be OK. I'm thinking of wiping it and using it as an external home drive for the laptop.

I configured my laptop (which needs a name) while watching the Olympics. I also played with Skype for some online chatting. That's a handy program. Your Sis even said hi to some of my geek buddies. Then she saw my newest cartoon about potential birth defects, and we talked a little about potentially raising a handicapped child.

Picture of the Day
Steve Nash at the Opening Ceremonies from Big Picture. This guy had a big weekend. He flew up from Phoenix to Vancouver on Friday, helped light the torch, flew down to Dallas for the All-Star Weekend on Saturday, won the skills challenge that night, and played in the All-Star Game Sunday.

I've enjoyed the games so far despite a snakebit host country. The luge death and torch snafu Friday, no snow for the ski events causing training runs and games to be postponed or lost, a new problem with the speed skating center, and the usual squirrely judging in the figure skating events. I hope it doesn't get worse.

RIP My PC

And my computer has died. There seems to be a major hardware problem that not only causes my computer to never turn off, but Windows won't boot up. I cracked open the case and removed the memory chip I installed recently. Nada. I tried to recover using the Windows XP disc. My computer couldn't recognize it. I'm taking the machine out back and shooting it. I'm already pricing HP laptops (similar to Your Sister's), and I hope to have a machine by this weekend.

The computer is almost exactly 4 years old. While it toiled mightily, it did so vocally. It was always something. This could be repaired if I take it back to the small shop that made it. But that guy disappointed me right off, and I won't give him more money. I'll go to Best Buy. Thank Vader I backed up my files about a month ago.

We're snowed in at home again, watching the Olympics and working on the medieval comic. She wants to calligraphify the text. That's doable.

News Action Alert Weather Central Update Bulletin

The snow forecast came in relatively late. I sent an email to Your Sister Friday morning and told her to send me a grocery list, and she acknowledged it. I warned the boss. We're supposed to be out Monday for President's Day, and we're already behind on the magazine. She's a bit anxious about getting it out now. Of course, our printer is in Northern Virginia, and they're closed due to snow anyway.

When the snow began to fall at the office around 2, I emailed and called Your Sister. I needed confirmation that it was snowing at home before I could leave. The boss was nervous about losing more time to bad weather. She was unwilling to concede another shutdown snowfall.

About 4 pm, Your Sis called to say the roads were getting bad, and out the door I went. Things were fine for the first 15 minutes, then the roads and sky merged into gray. The roads became slick, and dumb people were driving. Some were too slow; some, driving white cars, didn't use headlights. I noticed a disturbing trend in 4x4 drivers to drive as if the trucks were fragile. They were slow, forcing all us behind them to lose traction as we slowed. Before I made it into town, Your Sis called to say she was going to the grocery store. I had told her earlier that I would go as I came into town, and this displeased me greatly. We now had two vehicles in the winter junk an hour after she told me to come home. When I made our city limits, I called her to confirm she was heading home. She was. I expected to meet her at the house within five minutes.

The slippery roads were populated by more stupid truck drivers through the hamlet. I went the back way to the house, leaving the highway for what I hoped was a clearer road than the usual way. I knew she was going this route too, and I wondered if I was driving in her tire tracks. I slid a few times before turning onto our neighborhood road, the one with the big hill. We had taken this way to avoid that hill, but we still had the beginning of our street to worry about.

As I approached that road, I again saw the small sedan parked at the intersection of those roads. It had been there since the second snowstorm last weekend. To avoid sliding into it, I veered left. It would give me a straighter route up our road's hill. Unfortunately, veering left took me very left, and I had no control. I slid past the road and down the big hill. I knew I couldn't turn around in the road without risking blocking both lanes. I aimed for the first driveway, and that was when the tires lost traction completely. I crunched into the old ice bank formed from the first snowstorm, and I couldn't move the car. My front end was off the ground. If not for that bank, I would have taken out a telephone pole and hedges. I called Your Sister and got no answer. Not surprising. Her phone is horrible. I called the home line and got nothing. I know she often goes to the bathroom when she arrives home. So I left messages. Angry messages.

As luck would have it, the very first person to come by my stuck car was the state trooper who is also our next-door neighbor. He was able to go back to his house and get shovels. While waiting for him, I went to the house whose driveway I was now blocking and asked for the snow shovel. I got it and started hacking at the ice bank. I again called Your Sis and got nothing. When the trooper returned, he was in his truck, armed with shovels. His wife was riding shotgun. She called her kids at home to peek at our driveway and confirmed Your Sister's car was there. So she wasn't stuck, I thought, she just won't answer the phone.

We dug the car out, and I drove down the hill, turning around to go back up with a running start and hopefully back home. That was easier than driving up our road's hill, and I again slid all over the place before pulling into my roadside parking space in front of our house. I turned off the car, filled with nerves and anger, and called Your Sister again. She answered, and I told her I was home and to check her messages. She said she had called back repeatedly and left messages. I got into the house, and that's when she told me she had gotten stuck (on Holly Road, oddly). She used a bag of cat litter to give her car traction and managed to force her car back onto the road despite no help from those living inside the closest house which just happened to be our other next-door neighbors. She had beaten me home by a few minutes, but her car slid down the driveway before she could reign it in. It's now blocked by bricks.

Today we shoveled and swept. Another neighbor was stuck on a similar ice bank, and neither of us could free it. It stuck atop a bank with each of the right wheels completely off the ground. We left it for the day. When we saw the trooper neighbor come home, Your Sis and I carried leftover cocoa to him in gratitude.

Later in the afternoon, we formally sat down to start the medieval comic. She gave me her page ideas, and I helped shape them into a linear story, and we hashed out a comic. I'll thumbnail the book over this three-day weekend. It might become four day if the forecast snowstorm hits Sunday night. She spent most of the evening working on the comic script, despite my suggestions that she wait until further in the process to nail that down. But I won't push her on this; I know she over-prepares.

Into the Fire

So it's the last home game for the basketball teams. It's senior night, and the teams are playing their archrivals. The students held a spirit week with daily dress themes. There were fresh rumors of a weekend snowstorm. There was a buzz before the games began.

All was well until the boys game. This school has a ribald student section. They have dances and coordinated cheers and a costume style (ties and headbands, for whatever reason). They jeer opposing players and cheerleaders. They have fun. They are loud. They can be obnoxious. Last night, they got really obnoxious.

Using logic I can't begin to fathom, one of our students had a photo an archrival player. It's was clipped from a newspaper, and it was of the kid during a game. I wasn't embarrassing. It was just a game photo. But this was brandished throughout the game, and it was meant to rile up the other team's fans. It did.

What was a boisterous game became dangerous quickly. Near halftime, one of their students crossed the aisle to yell at our student section. He was kept at bay by a cop, but our principal, standing not three feet from this, did nothing but watch. Later, the kid with the photo stupidly -- and The Rock means "stupidly" -- walked over to the guest student section and stood in their faces with the picture held aloft. It was yanked away by a guest student. He got mad and grabbed a hat off the head of a student fan. The two-man game of keep-away flowed onto the court during the game. Cops eventually noticed what was going on and tossed the students. Except the kid wearing the hat didn't leave. He hid behind standing students. Some of our kids on the balcony above him saw this and started yelling. The cops didn't notice, and the yelling got the attention of some parents sitting in the guest section. Those two groups began jawing.

Your Sister and I were sitting on the opposite side of the court, between the benches, and watching all this. She called the principal, still standing with the cops between the student sections, to warn him the upstairs section was getting ugly. He couldn't hear her on his cell phone amid the din of the game and the fans. I could tell she was about to bolt, and I tried to block that verbally. Stay here, I said. Let it go, I said. They can handle it. The unstated trump card was "and you're not taking our baby into a fistfight." But she was off, and I told her I was going with her.

At this point, the already tense game was threatening to become a cage match. The teams were five points apart with less than a minute to play, and the guest team was exploiting the lack of a shot clock to hold the ball. This angered the home fans, parents and kids alike. Our team had to play tight defense to get the ball in play, and tempers flared on the court. Fouls were called seemingly every two seconds. That stoked the fans. It was bedlam.

We hopped to the floor by going behind the guest bench (really a line of bleachers), and we jogged to the opposite side, right in front of our student section. She informed a cop what was going on. Seeing this, the parents in the guest section thought she was ratting them out and began yelling at the cop (and probably us). The students upstairs saw this and started getting in their last verbal shots on the adult fans. They responded, and the cop wisely darted up there to shut it down.

Our downstairs student section realized something was up and wanted to see. The first two rows bled out onto the court to catch a look. Your Sis and I were the only adults there to back them up (the principal was probably off still trying to hear her on his cell; she hung up minutes ago), and we kept them off the court. However, our kids higher up on the bleachers were closer to the argument upstairs, and now they wanted to help their buddies. Your Sister was debating what to do. I put my hand on her back and steered her to the other side of the court. Whatever might happen could do so without us involved. We ran back to our seats and again snuck past the guest bleachers. Those kids not playing watched us the whole time and thought we were ratting out their parents and friends. They gave us the stink-eye. I was watching them to make sure they minded their manners, but we were walking between them and other guest fans.

We made it to our seats and watched the game finally end. we lost. I don't care. The situation needed to be tamped down, and I blame the principal for not huddling with the coaches to admonish the fans. The crowed dispersed a little too slowly for my liking, and I got Your Sister out to her car quickly. I watched her leave the parking lot to ensure she didn't try to break up any fights that might happen. I didn't see any, and I drove home myself a few minutes later.

I hope there's some sort of announcement about student behavior only because it would acknowledge something needed to be done. Your Sister shouldn't have been the one to save the day. She later assured me she wouldn't get into harm's way, but I'm not convinced. I'm positive she would restrain herself somewhat to protect Roo, but there we were between two loud, angry, fired-up students sections. That was too close for me comfort. But she did feed me game food of pizza and Snickers, and I'm too appreciative to be stern.

She graded papers when we got home, and I thumbnailed my latest script and discovered I had a comic. I've got 20 pages and a real ending and some wiggle room for panel adjustment. I'm ready to draw out the panels.

Picture of the Day
It's too winter to do anything outside.

Plans

Your Sister and I decided to make an official date to brainstorm our medieval comic. If we leave it to whim, it'll never get done. We must rendezvous. I finally have an ending to my hero comic and now must thumbnail it out again and see what kind of page count I'm looking at. It can't be more than 20 pages without becoming prohibitively expensive. But what I'll be cutting is mostly conversation. That should be painless.

We have also decided to stay in Friday night and catch the Olympics opening. We saw the previous Olympics in the summer of 2008 right before your white-jacket ceremony and en route to the Outer Banks. I barely remember the previous Winter Games. They included the Russian skating judge who sabotaged the Canadian pair. They were given a special gold medal for their trouble. Those games seem more than four years ago. Wait, they were! That was 2002 in Salt Lake City. I completely forgot the 2006 Turin Games in Italy. Hokey smoke. I have no memory of those Olympics. I am a horrible American.

I tested GoToMyPC last night, and I can now use my work computer from my home workshop. It's wonderful. I can now telecommute when we have bad weather or a baby.

Please be sure to check your mailbox.

Picture of the Day
I protest. Kermit is his own man frog.

Dark Clouds

Mom had another sibling health scare. Her brother, Don, had aneurysm surgery last night in Columbia, and she's rattled. Don is the remaining brother. For close family, it's him and her, and me. There are dozens of cousins and great uncles and such, but they're scattered across the state. She still hasn't escaped the routine of work and house, and I encourage her to go see a movie or something to break the routine. This winter has not been kind to her, and she hopes spring will ease her spirits. I wonder. I'd prefer it if she attacked the malaise now. In related news, we're supposed to get more snow tonight.

+ + +

She and Your Sister continue to wield hope against Roo's gender. They want girls. Mom even envisions a certain type of hair. Your Sister latches on to her favorite girl name. It's gonna be me and the likely boy against them. I can't let him fall to the dark side.

I was strangely inclined toward a girl initially, but I feared it was becoming preference, and I squelched it. It's not proper. I had these notions of unleashing a smart tomboy on the world, and I realized it's just as much of an accomplishment to raise a boy who will appreciate that kind of gal. It does seem like all the best names that spring to mind are for girls. The boy list seems suddenly paltry.

+ + +

I'm going to post my journal comics on my website within the week and will update them regularly.

EDIT: Scratch that. The comics are already online. I'll link to them from my website. You, Constant Reader, can find them here.

Picture of the Day
Dr. Chang puppet out of nowhere!

Getting Better

Your Sister shook off the head cold over the weekend. I knew I needed to get her out of the house to build up her strength before going back to school. She also needed larger clothes. Two of the town's three department stores have no maternity departments, and we again had to drive out of town to buy something. We had some luck in a local consignment shop, but we indeed crossed the county line to the nearest shopping center. She how has maternity jeans with a stretchy front panel. We measured her belly, and she's at 17 cm from bone to navel, not yet halfway to the final 40-cm plateau.

To fend off a bacterial invasion, she's making yogurt at home. The ER antibiotics alarmed her, and we bought jelly jars to hold our strawberry and raspberry yogurt. I had a taste. It's good stuff.

She is feeling much better, and she's back to work today. We had a low-key Super Bowl with take-out pizza, and she was able to stay up for the whole game. She's no longer sleeping upright like the Elephant Man, and she's almost back to normal. We should be able to huddle up over our minicomic soon. I started thumbnailing the panels for my hero mini based on a script draft. I discovered I currently needed only 14 of my 20 planned pages, and that lets me spread out the panels and make them bigger. That's great news. Still need a good ending though.

The theatre scheduled its annual awards banquet for next Sunday, Valentine's Day. I question the wisdom. I told them I would not be going as I'm going to cuddle up with my missus for our last pre-baby Valentine's Day.

Picture of the Day
The passion of the graphic designer.

Morning Sickness

Your Sister woke me up this morning saying her throat was swelling shut again. This happened last year, and she was given two steroids shots. That's not so simple an option now. The baby doctor's office wasn't open yet, and he told her to go to the ER. It didn't take long to get into a bay there, but we had to wait 20 minutes after; Your Sister was drinking ice water, and it skewed the thermometer. Throat cultures were taken, and that sparked a gag reflex. Combined with her empty stomach, this wasn't fun. Next, the nurse couldn't find Roo's heartbeat for a good two minutes, and this rattled Your Sis. I tried to calm her down and explain we weren't seeing our regular nurse, a woman who can find Roo in seconds. That didn't help the stress of the day.

She was told she doesn't have strep, and they suspected an ear infection. Your Sister wouldn't fill the prescription initially but consented when I reminded her it would be trickier to get it later if we get the big snows. I had to drag her out of the school and stop her sub plans. She's at home now, hopefully sipping mint tea.

Picture Link of the Day
My journal comic and others can be found here. My name should jump out at you. There will be a complete story up each week.

Picture of the Day
A new view of the WKRP DJ booth. No Herb? No Les? Bailey, Jennifer?

Collaboration

We got antsy, and Your Sister can no longer be asked to walk four miles for half a pizza. The warmer weather allowed me to chisel out the car and drive her downtown for lunch and groceries. The shoveling took about a half hour. We returned home to more warm temperatures, and Your Sister was determined that the driveway be made passable for her car should she need to use it. Out we went to shovel and chop. We were at it for about 90 minutes, and she was careful, but busy. There are now tire ruts for her car, and half the driveway is now clear. Of course, more air junk is forecast to plummet this weekend. At least the shoveling gives me a fantastic workout. I am sore and tender today, and I didn't sleep well. But I look fabulous.

I mentioned yesterday that I signed up to create four pages for a medieval anthology. One of my shoveling brainstorms told me to consult Your Sister. You know, the one who studied medieval literature for four years. Then I wondered why we couldn't just write it together (defined this time by her doing the writing, and me acting as her art robot). It struck her as a pleasant notion at first. Then it became a definite idea: adapting a certain 9th century poem. I woke up this morning to find two pages of notes and a rough script.

She's started her first fiction story. It's an adaptation, yes, but it's a good start. She admitted the story is tumbling out of her, distracting her from sleep and school work. She's got the bug. I'll tread carefully in the process from scattered ideas to drawn panels, but we have two months, and she's already got her story skeleton. I also honed the bones for my superhero mini yesterday.

Lost comes back tonight, and I am wired for it. Mad, crazed, and enthused.

Picture of the Day
I discovered the paintings of Alyssa Monks. I now never want to paint again.

Snowed In

Your Sister called me Friday afternoon to say it was snowing at home, and it was piling up. I left work immediately. As soon as I reached my car in the parking lot, the snow shower fell. It got bad quickly, and the drive was slow. Our back road was covered when I arrived, and I had a tough time getting up the hill. Had I been a half-hour later, the car wouldn't have made it.

We sat out the storm. We got about eight inches of snow before the sleet came down. Today, the road is a sheet of ice. Your Sis was itchy to move, and she swept a trail to the mailbox Saturday. Sunday, we scraped and shoveled the area around the car (alongside the road, just like before).We lost the satellite Saturday under the pile of white, and it came back Sunday morning after an early melt. I thought I'd have to go on the roof.

We caught up on our recorded shows -- Fringe, This Old House, Jeopardy -- and some work. She plotted out her semester, which now includes a Saturday school day. I am plotting one of my mincomics for the convention, and I just signed up for another anthology due in May. I'm doing four pages on the medieval-fantasy genre, and I have no idea what I'll do yet. But I can do that and my two convention minicomics. I know I can. I also posted my first journal comic today. The host site requires registration, so I'll post each week's comics here at one time.

Your Sister holds out hope for a daughter, and she has in hand the name she wants. She may try to change Roo's gender through mind power. I fear she can do it and then move on to my feeble brains. My Mom strangely requested we not name Roo with initials (DJ, AC, etc.). We hadn't considered it.

Picture of the Day
I'll build her an Iron Man armor to help her make it through the work days. Also I'll have serious hair.

It's A Sidekick

Before getting home yesterday, I zoomed into the grocery store to stock up on Your Sister's mom snacks. The death snow looms. I chugged a caramel frappuccino for lunch and pulled into my carport right as Your Parents arrived. We had about half an hour to kill before we picked up Your Sister. I cut up her celery snacks and tucked away groceries while Your Mom vibrated in the house. She seems to be more wired in the last year. The anxiety of seeing a grandchild on ultrasound, and kibitzing over possible ailments, did nothing to settle her.

We scooped up my baby mama and began the check-up relatively quickly. Your Sister has put on two pounds in two weeks. Her blood pressure is fine (124/68). We were directed straight to the scanning room, and she was radar'ed within 15 minutes.

The baby is fine and appears to be a week ahead in physical development. The head, neck, belly, and femur measurements are good. We saw the heart chambers. We saw feet and fingers. And then we saw what the doctor defined as boy parts. He's confident we're brewing a lad. Your Sister wants to keep some girl names in reserve just in case, and I offer a "probably" disclaimer to be nice. But it's a boy. We're having a padawan. (Yes, there were female jedi, but we saw, what, two in six films?).

Your Mom voiced concerns about a number of wives' tales, and they were each shot down. The baby, for instance, is breech right now. The doctor assured her it has plenty of time to turn. It's the natural fit, after all. But what about the baby being born with the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck? Happens daily, he said. Does the speed of the heartbeat confirm it's a boy? Nope. Sometimes I can't tell if she's genuinely nervous about something or buzzing with energy. Either way, all signs point so far to a healthy pregnancy. We go back in a month for the blood-sugar test.

Your Parents didn't want to loiter in Yokelsburg after the appointment, and Your Sis and I had a celebratory dinner at the pub. We spied a child's birthday party, and Your Sister grew ravenous for cake. We slipped into the now-emptied grocery store and bought a one-layer red velvet cake. We discussed parenting matters along the lines of when do we have The Talk? How do we handle curfews? You know, things we have a decade to gear up for.

I called My Mom and told her the news, and we called a few other people before I shouted it on the Book of Face.

He looks healthy. That's all that matters. I think Your Sister wanted a son. I hope she's as happy as I am. It looks like we'll be snowed in for a few days. I don't mind. A small period of stillness will let us contemplate further this project, and we can huddle together in our home.

Picture of the Day
The menstrual cycle in cute cartoon form. We won't be seeing this until summer.

Place Your Bets

As we might find out today what we're carrying, let's breakdown the predictions:

Your Aunt: Boy (an angel told her)

Our Sister-in-Law/My Coworkers/Some of Your Sister's Coworkers/Many People Online: Girl

Our Oldest Niece: Both (She thinks Your Sister is carrying a boy, but her cousin will be a girl.)

Me/Your Sister: No comment. We have preferences. We'll never admit them, although I think I did here a few months back. If I did, ignore it. I was raised being told what my girl name would be and what I would have done at various ages. I got the hint that Mom didn't get what she ordered.

Your Mom has accepted the invitation to join us for the appointment. I don't know if Your Dad is coming too. I invited them both. My Mom was flattered by the initial suggestion and plans to join us for the next doctor visit. We're facing another snowpocalypse. I bought a real snow shovel and will hit the grocery store before the appointment today.

I got home last night to find both Amazon shipments had arrived. The new big scanner is a beauteous thing of beauty. Choirs sing when you look at it. My comic art boards fit entirely in the scan bed. Simple hook-up, simple interface. I like it muchly. The first of the journal comics are scheduled to go online Monday, and I'll link to them when they're up.

Picture of the Day
Learn it, live it, love it.

Power Outage

The canceled schoolday allowed Your Sister to stock up on forms and gear up for the next semester. She secured a desk and bulletin board for her student teacher. He gets to host a vocabulary test today, and she thinks he's lulled himself into overconfidence about it.

Mom all but confirmed she will not be coming to the appointment tomorrow. The weather forecast is too dire. She's clearly upset by it and assumes there's some divine reason for the obstacle. We'll extend the invite to Your Parents, but Your Sis thinks the weather will keep them home too. Or the dog will. Your Mom doesn't like leaving the dog alone at the house. When they visited Saturday, the dog came along. I'm not bothered by it. He's a great dog -- well behaved and sweet. But the commute is practically longer than the visit.

I discovered an failed outlet in my workshop this morning. That made my computer set-up inoperable. I checked the circuit board and fiddled with the other outlets. Repairing it is just on the other side of my comfort with household maintenance, and I found a local electrician to come by. He fixed it in no time, and luckily it was a bad outlet and not bad wiring. That was my fear. That and an ensuing house fire. The bill was steeper than I expected, but I'm glad to pay it.

I checked estimates for printing my comics through OfficeMax and got numbers I expected. I have to decide how many copies to print. Do I do a big batch? If I don't sell out at the show, I can sell the others later, but it will cost more now. If I buy a bit less and sell-out, I might miss out on the maximum profit for the show. Also a friend who works there offered me a good deal on a b/w printer, and that would allow me to print the comic at home and take it to OfficeMax for the assembly. I'd probably still print the color covers there. I checked the price of paper cutters too.

It will definitely be a better use of money to buy equipment and do it at home, but that labor will require me to finish the artwork earlier. Also, I'm going to only do two comics, not three. A lot of time remains between now and the show, but I must get cracking on the pages. I've had good sketch luck recently, and I think I can produce a good story.

Picture of the Day
If our galaxy was a subway.

Then Again, Maybe Not

I forgot to mention yesterday: When Your Parents came over Saturday, they brought a pile of stuffed animals from Your Sister's childhood. Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Peter Cottontail, and a Roo. I had no idea she owned a Roo back then. They were musty with basement air, and it took two thorough washing-machine cycles to clean them up. They're now brighter and awaiting their guest of honor, and all this anticipation terrifies me that something will go wrong. It's been too easy so far (Yes, too easy for me, the one not getting bigger each day, the one who can easily stand up from the couch and bed, the one who gets to sit all day at work).

The Pooh Bear wore a German bib with "Mitt Woch" on it. I was also reminded in a conversation last night that Your Sister didn't grow up in America. We were talking about football teams of our youth, and she pointed out she had fewer because she didn't know about football until the early '80s.

A small snowburst canceled school today. This was to be the first day of the new semester. The roads are clear, and I drove in to work. Another snowfall is predicted for Thursday night and Friday, and this might cancel Mom's visit. I can't go get her this time, and I doubt she wants to risk staying with us until Sunday. I talked to Your Dad and offered (or he might have asked) for them to come with us Thursday if Mom cancels. If nothing else, they can all be there at the same time, but we'd rather parcel out the parent escorts to the doctor. We want to outnumber the parents if possible. I'll call Mom tonight to warn her about the weather. That won't go over well. But I'll advise her that we're not guaranteed to learn what we're packing on Thursday. Hopefully that will help.

Did we ever tell you that Your Sister invited both sets of parents to our jailhouse wedding ceremony at the last minute? We agreed to tell none of them until after; I knew My Parents wouldn't be able to leave work on one day's notice. She couldn't contain herself however, and I had to explain to Mom that if they couldn't attend, Your Parents agreed not to either. It was an excited notion Your Sister had, and I had to squelch a potential forest fire. It made a hectic weekend a little more frantic. I want to keep things fair between the parents.

An email I sent to Your Sister resulted in a possible new mother nickname for her: Queen Mum.

Picture of the Day
Quick, to the VW Ball!

Beetle Bouncing

I was informed Friday that Your parents would take Your Sister's car to dealerships near them to learn its trade-in value. They might even do basic haggling for a new car then let us bat clean-up. We had talked of replacing her car for a while, and that noise grew louder after we became pregnant. As it's her car, I'm out of the loop on the conversation they had. I'll do what I'm asked.

Your Parents came by Saturday to get that car and leave us their VW to drive in the meantime. Your Father called me that night to say he talked to Your Brother, who had suggestions for selling it privately. I called him, got the info (briefly: check online car sites, find the average asking price, and sell it online), and called Your Dad back to verify. With that information in hand, it was decided that we should take the car back.

I drove the VW to work today and will swap it with Your Sister's car sometime before I return home. It's a jarring change from driving our Matrix, and I'm pretty sure it's never before bounded down the road to the thumps of Missy Elliot and Jay-Z. I'm surprised the flowers stayed in the dashboard vase. Also, European gear boxes are the devil.

Your Sister watched over Saturday exams for students getting a second chance to pass them. At the same time, I performed surgery on a dying scanner before calling time of death around 10:30. I immediately ordered a larger one off Amazon, and it's the scanner I've wanted for ten years: one that can scan 11x17 art boards. No more reconstructing comic pages digitally, thank Odin.

I began scripting one of my minicomics and hoped to have a local printer handle the reproduction and binding. The first shop I went to was run by a woman who shook her head as soon as I showed her the minis I wanted to emulate; the town's allegedly preeminent print store is actually a Xerox and mailing store. She did suggest the other two stores in town, and neither is open on weekends. I'd have to drive to Hendersonville or Asheville if I wanted this work done in my free time. Instead, I'll give some Asheville shops a chance to print my convention comics, and I'll offer them advertising if they give me a discount. The inability to use nearby shops pisses me off. Virtually every business open on weekends are restaurants and tourist shops, and only half of those are of interest to locals. This will probably be a $500+ job to make three comics for me; I'm sure some business wants that money.

Your Sister worked at school Sunday during a biblical rainstorm. We lost our TV signal a few times during the very good football games. Neither Super Bowl team -- Indianapolis and New Orleans -- are ones we picked in the preseason, but we're happy with them. I'm sure she'll root for whoever I don't.

The night before, I felt Roo move. It felt like stomach rumbling. We held our hands there for so long that we lost Roo's movement among our own pulses. We were eventually sure it was over and fell into sleep. Mom's still planning to come up Thursday for the scan.

Picture of the Day
I need to run again now that the cold has passed.