Snow Day? (oh, pretty please)

I feel a little guilty. I've been watching the Weather Channel website all night. That's not so bad in and of itself. I, however, have been routing a certain storm system on. If all goes as the meteorologists have predicted, we should start seeing a snow storm about midnight that is supposed to last until 8:00. You know what that means? NO SCHOOL!!

You see? Down here in Tennessee they don't have what you call plows. Also, they got this big ol' mountain I'm livin' on. So any accumulation means they have to call of school. That sure beats having to dig your car out of two feet of snow in order to get to school because the superintendent would not close schools.

I must say that I think the schools being closed for the flu, although a little weird, was a good idea. My attendance has been down about 20% lately. Now flu or not I know kids will take advantage of a situation. (I did.) The numbers don't lie. Do you know how hard it is to advance a curriculum with a fifth of your class missing on any given day?

What I'm saying is, let's stop pretending that everything's alright and call off school!

The Bug Has Landed

Well, now it's time to pay the piper. The flu bug that's going around has hit me. I'm taking ibuprofen to keep my temperature down. It also helps with the aches. I haven't made up lesson plans for a sub. so I'll just get to bed early and stay hydrated.

That's all I've got the energy for now.

Bakin' 'Til the Wee Hours

I got to bed at about one this morning. Why? Well because I forgot to bake bread. You see, the spouses of seminarians bake bread for the Eucharist services. Being a male, I could have gotten away with not doing it, but I'm all for shattering stereotypes. That and I love to bake. No, I really do.

When I woke up this morning, I decided I'd finish the first story-arch of my web-comic. I'm done with two episodes and will be finishing the third after I post this. I had been having a bit of a block as to where to go next with the story. You see, I knew where I wanted it to end I was just stuck on how to get there. Toys in hand, it was all coming together. Well, Mercutio decided I was having so much fun that he had to be part of it.

As cute as it was, I was running out of time before I had to leave to pick up Monkey-Girl. Words were exchanged. Feelings may have been bruised. Then Merc got that look in his eye. That, "Oh no, you di'n't!" look. I backed away slowly and told him to have a blast with my toys.

(I hope this isn't my last post . . . .)

Extended Vacation

Monkey-Girl discovered that I have yet another day off tomorrow. Again, this is because of the flu. As we were watching television, I noticed that school closings were being broadcast the same way sever storm warnings are.

Back in Wisconsin, we'd (rarely) close for snow. Here in Tennessee, where we're having temperatures about thirty degrees higher than the Cheese State, we're closing schools!

Again, I'm not gonna look a gift-horse in the mouth. I'll just sit back and enjoy.

Gaming, Gaming, and More Gaming!

I played most of Saturday. I woke up at eight and started to work on my web comic. That mostly involves me playing with transformer toys and my laptop. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for my loyal readers.

My buddy Gordon called at about noon to invite me over to play some board games. I got home at about six and had dinner and started watching a movie with Monkey-Girl. At eight, a couple of Monkey-Girl's classmates called to invite us to play Lord of the Rings Risk. HAVE IT! (I'm trying to get that bit of slang perpetuated.)

It's now Sunday and I need to hit the pillow or else I'll be a zombie in church. (That sounds like a neat idea for the comic.) Wow, I've got to go if I'm that punchy.

Congratulations Elizabeth for being the first to post a coment on my blog. (Thanks for reading.)

We Are Go for Launch!

The project I've claimed to be working on has finally yielded something worth displaying. By clicking on the banner above you will be taken to a very simple little web page I've been working on. There's even a little bit of content to go with it.

I cannot claim this as an original idea. I owe my inspiration to As Cybertron Turns, a now inactive web comic, and Has/Tak Theatre, a web comic that is currently running (and from whom I "borrowed" most of my layouts.)

Besides churning out this bit of lovely, I went to lunch with Monkey-Girl and her classmates. It was nice to see everyone. We even squeezed in a trip to Chattanooga before coming home and having dinner with a couple with whom we are are enrolled in a class. (Get me using whom twice in one post!)

All in all, I must say this was a very good day. Please visit Penguin Playhouse soon and often. I have some fun story ideas and feedback will definitely encourage me to see them through.

Thanks!

Influenza Vacation

Due to Middle Tennessee's little flu crisis, there are so many teachers calling in sick there aren't enough substitutes to cover for them. Accordingly, the Director of Schools has canceled school for the entire county. I have an unexpected three-day weekend!

I'm planning on using the time to play with the new photo editor I found. (I'm really close to launching the little project I've been thinking about for a while.) I'm also going to work on getting some of my junk up on Ebay.

Until then, I'll be putting a dent in the book I'm currently reading, Star Wars-Legacy of the Force: Tempest by Troy Denning. Like many Star Wars novels it has and excessively long title. The book, like the entire Legacy of the Force series, is quite good. It is set some forty years after the events of Return of the Jedi. Han and Leia's son, Jacen, sees the destructiveness of disorder in the galaxy and decides to do something about it. To affect change he'll need power. We Star Wars fans know the quickest path to power. The Dark Side.

The series is a wonderful exploration of a good man doing what he knows to be the right thing, but failing to see the downward spiral he is descending. I'd recommend the series to anyone interested in reading about the Star Wars universe beyond the films. The first book is Star Wars-Legacy of the Force: Tempest by Aaron Allston.

A Feline Lesson

What is it about cats that makes them so cool? Here we see a giant of a cat that has been known to attack innocent women with little to no provocation napping on the back of our couch while cuddling with a stuffed penguin toy. Notice that he looks to be thinking something along the lines of, "Do you have a problem?" or better yet, "Take a picture. It'll last longer."

We did, and it does. Thank you, Mercutio. We're obviously taking ourselves too seriously if we can't appreciate the simple pleasure of cuddling. You've shown at least one person the error of his ways.

The Circle Grows

I spent some time getting Monkey-Girl all set up with her own blog. She took to it very well and will (hopefully) find it easy to keep up with. I know she's wanted to do something like this for a while now. Good luck Monkey-Girl!

Personally, my day's been a mixed bag. On the one hand, I made egg rolls. (Much easier than it ought to be.) The dark cloud that has been covering my day, however, is my total lack of a decent photo editor. I have this fun idea, but I'm lacking in the proper tools (and motivation.) I'll be looking for something free to try after I get this posted. Maybe if I remove the excuses I'll actually produce something. (What a concept!)

Here is a sign I see each day as I drive home from school. Monkey-Girl and I have taken to calling it the shapely road sign. It's actually a warning that the upcoming underpass is too narrow for two cars to pass at the same time. (Which is scary in and of itself, but you get used to it.)

The Vader Shrine

I must admit I get a little weak in the knees over Star Wars. I'll go so far as to say I giggled like a little school girl when I found out about the prequel trilogy almost ten years ago. I stood in line to get Episode I tickets like the rest of the suckers. Now, I'll admit there seemed to be a little something lacking in that first film, but on the whole the spirit of the original trilogy remains. By no means did I rush to decry George Lucas as a hack while simultaneously burning copies of The Bantha Trader and writing a, "Why Jar-Jar is the Anti-Christ," article.

That being said, I have to say that Revenge of the Sith contains one of the greatest moments in cinema for 2005: the birth of Darth Vader. This entity of evil from my childhood was back in one labored, mechanical breath. It was a good thing Monkey-Girl had picked up extra napkins.

Along with the movie came a deluge of marketing crap that I was all too eager to gobble up. Limited finances (and storage) led me to limit my merchandising intake. Naturally, Vader was my man.

Here is my shelf at school. The kids think it's weird. I think they're weird. It works.

Start Here

So, where to begin . . . .

I've started reading other people's blogs, but haven't actually taken the time to track back to the beginning. I suppose that is because I liked the blog as it was as I was reading it and not because of some grand, meticulously crafted mission statement.

This is the main reason I've decided to just jump in without a specific purpose. (The other being that Monkey-Girl has a lot of reading to do for school today and this is a nice quiet activity for me.) We'll see exactly what this ends up evolving into in due course.

Some say that if one fails to plan then one is planning to fail. Well, first off, failing at a free-to-create blog hardly seems like a genuine failure. Secondly, a lot of good things have happened when people have been allowed a free hand, unencumbered by a strict agenda. (Did the Second Continental Congress plan to declare the colonies independence?)

Although I do not expect to spawn anything as wonderful as the United States of America (say what you want; it is the greatest nation on earth flaws and all), I do think this will be something fun. I just don't know what yet.