Monday, February 26, 2007

A Tribute to Greatness


I am a truly lucky man, as many of you know. I present my only piece of evidence, Monkey-Girl.

Here she is among her brethren in the Times Square Toys 'R' Us. We were on our summer '06 seminary tour checking out General Seminary in New York City. Our search eventually led us here to Sewanee. (Somewhere very different.)

I can't think of anyone else I'd be willing to a) tour four different seminaries with, b) relocate to rural Tennessee with, c) become the spouse of seminarian for, or d) someday become the spouse of a PRIEST for.

Quite simply, she's the one; the one I come home to, the one I take care of, the one I dream with, the one I love.

She's also my little monkey.

"Oop oop, Baby."

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Chasing About Chattanooga



Today Monkey-Girl and I met up with our friend, Bubba. We toured Rock City and Ruby Falls. We introduced Bubba to sushi, and ate Ben and Jerry's ice cream. A full day indeed!

I'm too tired to compose anything too terribly funny. Please, however, feel free to look at the pictures I took.

Here They Come!


Don't look directly into Bumblebee's eyes! He'll get into your head and start planting thoughts. Terrible thoughts.

Actually Bumblebee is part of Hasbro's upcoming Robotic Heroes line due out this summer. Robotic Heroes is part of the marketing blitzkrieg America will be experiencing this summer to coincide with the release of Transformers. (There needs to be more italics in that last sentence.) Michael Bay is set to make us eat, sleep, and breath Transformers, and this little oxymoron (a non-transforming Transformer) is a Duplo chewer's way into the party. There will be 872 trillion toys and other vaguely Transformer related items available inside of four months. (I counted.)

I'm not at all upset by this, mind you. I'm actually looking forward to haunting toy aisles and searching out the as yet unannounced yet inevitable Mountain Dew with Starscream on the can or Optimus Prime fruit roll ups.

Until then, just stay avoid eye contact with Bumblebee. Remember: terrible thoughts.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

"All the World's a Stage"


Here is the latest addition to Sewanee's cultured culinary catalog. (Alliteration rocks!) The Globe Cafe occupies the previously vacant space adjacent to the campus bookstore. It's wares include sub sandwiches featuring the finest Boars Head meats and cheeses as well as some pretty wonderful pizzas. (If your ever in the neighborhood try the Gourmet White pizza. A little bit of heaven will explode in your mouth.)

The name congers images of Shakespeare's original playhouse The Globe. (I think it's the faux parchment sign.) Shakespeare's Globe also served food, though, nothing nearly as wholesome as Boars Head's finest. Imagine hot dog vendors at today's sporting events, but without any health codes. (No wonder the place kept getting shut down because of plague.)

Sewanee's Globe (not italicized) is much healthier. It probably won't be mounting original productions of of the English language's single greatest contributor. You win some you lose some.

Monkey-Girl and I picked up some pizza's after evening Eucharist to eat while watching Survivor Fiji. Fun!

Also, I just wanted to let you know I've posted another couple episodes of my web comic. Check it out, yo!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

BOING!


Okay, so you saw that my previous entry showcased Mercutio in the snow. This is from today. I guess spring has sprung. These daffodils are proof.

I know that we'll probably get another chill before March 21st, but apparently nature doesn't. The weather was such a pick-me-up. I found the camera when I got home and Monkey-Girl set right work, taking pictures of all the pretty.

To juxtapose this whole scene, we then walked to All Saint's Chapel for the Ash Wednesday service. It's a little challenging to be penitent while God's being so extra glorious. To prove this (kind of), several little kids couldn't help running around in circles on the lawn, giggling their heads off after the service while we adults tried to accept that we were dust and would return to dust.

I'm giving up sweets for Lent. I guess that means I'll be having my Valentine Sweetarts with my Easter Sweetarts.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Snow on the Mountain


Here are Monkey-Girl and Mercutio, or M & M as I call them. (I never call them that.) It snowed all day Saturday and we thought Merc would like to see what was up. I know we get snow in Wisconsin, but this is the first time since we've gotten Merc used to the harness. He had a lot of fun. Cats are curious and any time they get to explore is a cause for celebration.

Now it's Monday. (No school on Presidents' Day, fool!) The high is 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Soon there will be no evidence of the fun we had just days ago. That's why God made cameras.

I think I'm suffering from writer's block (or whatever webcomic photographers suffer from when they can't create) as my webcomic hasn't spawned any new episodes. In the meantime, experience something kind of creative from me here:

http://www.testriffic.com/friendtest/2324247

I'll look into posting a leaderboard here on the blog.

I'm off to do some chores!

Friday, February 16, 2007

I'm Back!!

My laptop is back up and running. That means I'll be posting regularly again. It also means that I can get the web comic back up to speed.

It's amazing how much we can come to rely on technology. These last ten days without a computer in my living room have been different to say the least. I've actually experienced a sense of disconnection. My creativity has been held back. I've had to walk into the office to check my email!!!

Sarcasm aside it wasn't all bad. I read the entirety of Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers. I was able to plot out a fun Valentine's Day for Monkey-Girl. I also got to play with my Transformers toys instead of just taking pictures of them.

Besides my world being turned upside down due to my computer being weird, life did continue. I had bus duty this week which meant I had to get up an hour earlier each day. For some reason this has made me a zombie all week by around 9 o'clock. I took a nap as soon as I got home today which is the only reason I'm now awake to type this.

On Wednesday, Valentine's Day, it was snowing in the morning. I checked the school system's website. School was on. (I thought maybe Tennesseans were cowboying up.) I sat through bus duty. I listened through announcements. As I was prepping during first block I noticed the busses returning. The Board of Education was calling off school as of 9:30 am. Since my first class started at 9:37, I basically got the day off.



This picture was lifted from the district website. I have to admit snow is pretty. Maybe it's just prettier when your not in Wisconsin were the snow doesn't just go way because you look at it crossly.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

These Aren't the Books You're Looking For

Tonight's entry has to be short. I do have to teach in the morning. Where was I all night, you may well ask. I'd be obliged to tell you I was in Nashville visiting Star Wars author Timothy Zahn on his signing tour.

Mr. Zahn started the whole Expanded Universe surge in the early 1990s with his Thrawn Trilogy. At the time, being a fifteen-year-old, they were about the only thing cool about books.

Anyway, I got to meet the man who got me to read. Cool.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Did Someone Say Transformers?

It's that time of year again. The official Transformers toy convention will be taking preregistrations soon. (It's a heck of a thing to get excited about, I know, but it does beat back the winter blues.) Last year's convention was my first time. What fun! I was able to revel in my geekdom in a way I was never able to even at the Chicago Comic Con.

This year's show is in Providence, Rhode Island (home of Hasbro Toys) and only three hours from where Monkey-Girl and I will be this summer. The convention actually runs the weekend prior to the release of the Transformers Live Action Movie. This will be hot.

In other news, Monkey-Girl is enjoying the heck out of her belated birthday present from her sister. As I type this she's playing songs from Spamalot! on the piano. It's nice to have music in the house.

I've actually whittled my comic book stack down to three more books. I intend to finish those tonight, and so I must bid you adieu.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Super Sunday

I think I'm ready to go back to work. These two-day work weeks followed by four-day week ends seemed like a pretty cool idea at the time, but the there is only so much nothing you can do before your brain begins to rot.

We've put many miles on the Volkswagen this weekend. (A trip to Murfreesboro followed by a trip to Antioch will do that.) I personally have nothing to show for it either. Monkey-Girl got some school supplies and some slippers for walking around our cold cold house. (Heat pump my rosey red tuchus!)

I finished my latest Star Wars book and read about a dozen comics.

I also go to see Prince in the Super Bowl halftime show. He did a great job.

I'd best be off as we now have plenty of work ahead of us if we're supposed to somehow manage to get to an acceptable amount of the curriculum by the end of May. I'll need my rest. (especially if I keep writing sentences that long!)

Friday, February 2, 2007

Not One, but TWO!!

That's right. God blessed me with not just one, but two days off due to snow and illness. I'm also feeling 100% better. I got to do a little cleaning around the house, a little shopping, and some reading. (My latest comics came in.)

It's not just wonderful upon wonderful though. My laptop, with all my cool stuff, is having trouble. It cannot power up and will not take a charge when plugged in. I hope the laptop isn't dead. It'll be very hard to keep up with my website.

Monkey-Girl and I have been having fun together. We saw Talladega Nights on Wednesday night and Memoirs of a Geisha this afternoon. We're supposed to be going over to a friends to play some board games tonight. I wanted to get this in before that. Never know how long the night will go when your gaming, and I didn't want to miss two days in a row.