Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes

Who watches the watchman?

I do and will.

It should come as no surprise that I've read the greatest graphic novel ever. (I know I'm given to hyperbole, but there are many, many people who would agree with me.) I'm looking forward to the movie adaptation, but I know it will be inferior to the original. There's just some things you can only do in a comic. A film would have to leave those out or fail at attempting them.

I bring all of this up because my sister-in-law is reading the graphic novel now in preparation for the film's release. We've spent the better part of the evening bonding over The Watchman.

Cool.

WILDLY INAPPROPRIATE!!!

Monkey-Girl and I were cleaning in preparation for some house guests. We found this handout given to Monkey-Girl when she was doing physical therapy for her wrists.

Read the title.

Look Who's Back

No, not me. Phoebe. Check her out by clicking over there. ==========>

When you're done you can finish reading this.

Welcome back! As you can see the camera's battery is functioning again. The battery arrived yesterday actually. I had it shipped to my school so that we didn't have to deal with the Student Post Office here in Sewanee. It normally takes a bit too long to get a package. I couldn't put you through that.

Of course I forgot my keys yesterday and couldn't open my mailbox until today. Typical.

I replaced the battery, turned on the camera, and . . . nothing. I silently swore. I pondered my next move. Where could I buy a camera we could afford? I re-packed the new battery. I put the old battery into the camera, and guess what. I worked. I took a dozen pictures in a row.

Apparently the old battery just needed to know it was replaceable.

Now I'm off to write a nasty e-mail to Roger Ebert.

Why I'm Not Blogging, part 2: Technical Difficulties

Even awesome clearance cameras have their shortcomings. Apparently, the rechargeable lithium ion battery powering said camera can only be recharged about 400 times in two and a half years. The battery can't charge the flash and so the camera won't take a picture.

It's not as fun blogging without pictures and stealing other people's pics gets old. That doesn't even touch the mounting disappointment caused by the lack of new Phoebe photo content

Monkey-Girl and I took a trip to Best Buy to pick up some technological necessities. They were able to diagnose the problem, but they didn't carry the battery. This is illustrative of my camera issue overall. I've occasionally made progress, but it has been immediately been followed by disappointment.

That's why this has been dragged out for more than two months.

Fear not, faithful reader, I've just placed on order for a replacement battery. I even sprang for priority shipping. (I just can't trust a shipping service named Rite Way. )

Why I'm Not Blogging, part 1: Blame Phoebe

There are a lot of excuses for not bothering to blog for over a month. There are so many, in fact, that if I took the time to enumerate them it'd take several entries. (What a great idea!)

At left is public enemy number one.

For my birthday, Monkey-Girl and Phoebe bought me a (product)^RED iPod. They even had it inscribed:

For my Daddy
Love, Phoebe

What could be more awesome? Answer: nothing.

I've been a podcast listener for quite some time, but having a new iPod just sent me to a new level. My new fascination is podcast novels.

For anyone with a commute and an MP3 player I cannot recommend checking out Podiobooks.com enough. The site is a wonderful way to expose yourself to new writers with new stories. Best of all: it's free!

Some titles I heard so far:

Playing for Keeps by Mur Lafferty - A near-future story featuring super heroes, villains, and the not-so-super everymen caught in the middle. Mur is the host of the wonderful podcast I Should be Writing. I liked Playing for Keeps so much I bought a copy of the published book.

7^th Son : Book 1 - Descent by J. C. Hutchins - The first in a trilogy of thrillers involving clones, mind control and terrorism. It's hard to tear yourself away from your earbuds once this thing gets going. The entire trilogy can be listened to for free now. This first book is due in print this fall.

Infected by Scott Sigler - CAUTION. Not for the weak of stomach. This is a violent horror novel about a man fighting a disease that is taking over his body and mind. You will never look at kitchen shears in the same way again. The print version of this book and it's sequel, Contagious, are available now.

Well, that's a lot of links to check. I should stop now so I can edit this up nice for you, my much-loved readers. I promise to return soon.