wow.  I had a great weekend in Texas and I’ve got some photos to post but my server went down.  I’ll start with the Fan Days report soon.

I won the Burt Reynolds Edition Trans Am in December and had it delivered in January.  Part of prize along with winning the car was some cash to help with the Taxes.  The car was delivered on Jan. 4th and then I was laid of on Jan. 11th.  Good thing I had some money in the bank.  Perfect timing.

I found a 3 month contract job doing similar work at a similar pay.  Near the end of that contract I was asked if I was interested in doing a print for Celbration Japan.  The Contract ended early and I was able to work on the print.  Perfect timing.

I went straight from Japan to the San Diego Comic Con.  Someone had not been able to make it to be in the Artist Alley so I was able to sit down an show off more of my work and meet lots of people.  Perfect timing.

We put the kids to bed, called our neighbor, went to the hospital, had the baby, I came home and was able to get the kids ready for school.  Perfect timing.

I have had steady contract work but things started to slow down a bit.  We started to wonder if we have bought a house too big for our needs.  Then my sister-in-law and her SIX boys needed a place to stay for awhile.  They moved from Indiana to stay with me, my wife and our six kids.  We are now known as the B’15s and our house is run like a flying fortress.  We have space for everybody and we’re reasonably sane.  I got an email to do some more work and the contracts have started up again.  Perfect timing.

We found a great deal on a freezer from Craig’s List.   We got the freezer a little while back and then our ice dispenser on the fridge started acting funny.  We reached in manually to get some ice for the kids cups to go to bed and it was a pretty melted.  We were able to transfer all of the  freezer items to the new freezer (except some of the ice cream :D) and then bought some ice to put in the fridge then went to Sears.  We found last year’s model on discount and I think we’re going to get it.  Perfect timing.

More often than not the comedy or tragedy of a situation will be determined by our perspective.

I don’t read Harequin books.  I just can’t get past the image of Fabio and his golden locks dreamily gazing at me and saying, “I can’t believe it’s not butter”.  I also don’t watch Nascar.  I don’t quite understand either of these markets, but it looks like these two kids are heading for a meaningful relationship.

In one book, our heroine, an ex-kindergarten teacher, falls in love with a Nascar driver after first being hit by his car and then driving his enormous motor coach from race to race.  Catch me I’m swooning.  Read more at the New York Times.

These are some of the greatest Ice cubes around.  Click the image to go to the site.

Domo Kun is the mascot of Japan’s NHK television station, appearing in several 30 second stop-motion sketches shown as station identification during shows, AND he’s absolutely 100% made of AWESOME.

“DOMO” means thank you in Japanese and the suffix “KUN” is used for addressing young men (like Mr. Miyagi used to called his student Daniel San).

I recognized Domo Kun when I saw him the other day at Target. It looks like they’ve “Hired” him as their Halloween mascot.

This is the video that Target has made with Domo.

Here are some of the original shorts that were made in Japan

A friend of mine sent me this image this morning and I couldn’t stop laughing.  I looked online to find the original photos and came across some other ones that I thought I would work a little photoshop magic on.

I was on the Star Wars site today (heh, of course I was) and the image below caught my eye (heh, of course it did).  One of the things that I found most interesting was the description.

“From Rubies Costumes “Secret Wishes” line, this sexy Slave Leia costume is perfect for Halloween parties OR OTHER SPECIAL OCCASIONS. Includes top, briefs with skirt, belt, choker and headpiece. Available in sizes XS-M.”

Hmmmm, what exactly would qualify as  one of those special occasions?  Charity auctions,  canned food drive for the homeless, tailgating, parent teacher conferences?  Also interesting that the sizes come in a range of EXTRA small to WOW!  MEDIUM!!!  “Would you like to have Medium coverage or extra small?”  The heels are NOT included.  Click the photo to go to the Star Wars Shop.

I just realized that it was ONE year ago this month that I started blogging.  No real need for celebration, but I thought it would be interesting to look at what has happened in the last year.

Stopped off at Windsor Castle on my way to Coimbatore India.

Kuala Lumpur and then off to Perth Australia

entered a video contest and drew my first sketch cards for Lord of the Rings

Won the contest LOST MY JOB, went to the Phoenix ComicCon, lost a video contest

lost another video contest, drew 50 more cards for Lord of the rings

Drew Indiana Jones cards, lost another video contest, dug a hole for the trampoline

 drew cards for The CrystalSkull, then Marvel, then the Clone Wars

did a print for Star Wars Celebration Japan, went to San Diego ComicCon, I was a finalist at the Star Wars Fan movie challenge

had a baby.

A few phrases to use today on “Talk like a Pirate day”.

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! - exhortation of discontent or disgust

Ahoy, Matey - Hello, my friend!

Blow me down! - expression of shock of disbelief akin to “Holy Crap!”

Booty - treasure

Keelhaul - punishment in which a person where dragged underneath the pirate ship from side to side and was lacerated by the barnacles on the vessel

Lad, lass, lassie - a younger person

Shiver me timbers! - comparable to “Holy Crap!”

Son of a Biscuit Eater - insult directed towards someone you don’t like

Thar she blows! - Whale sighting

Yo Ho Ho - cheerful exhortation to demand attention

Jerry Reed, a singer and actor that I remember best from “Smokey and the Bandit,” has died of complications from emphysema at 71.

East bound and down.