Took me forever to do all the background scenery. All the tiny buildings, the pirate signal glow in the clouds... But I think it looks sharp.

Only a little more than 1,600 miles, about 24 hours total driving time, not counting naps, food, rest stops.


( Me in Idaho, also a bridge behind the cut )
Edit: I'm tired. I forgot to mention why went to Idaho (Why does one go to Idaho?) I was picking up furniture that whiskeyjacks mom had sent with friends who were moving from Florida to up "near" us. Well, it was a lot cheaper than hiring movers. We now have both kid rooms furnished.

It happened over 10 years ago at a homemade highland festival and medieval games party (and drunkfest, but I repeat myself). Instead of a caber toss we had a railroad tie toss. We had a hurl the heavy rock contest. We had tunics on. We had home baked bread and different stews and roasted meats and lots and lots of alcohol. Also, we had an archery contest.

The archery contest consisted of a cheap can of beer on a string tied to a branch that was situated over the hay bale target. So the beer is suspended in front of the target, got it? Then we start the beer swinging. I figured that sticking it anywhere onto the target was good, but sticking it to the bulls eye was best. I got pretty close (I had a target in my yard after all, so I had some practice). I stuck it pretty close to the center of the target, but hit the can in the upper left corner.

Then it was Joel Shirley's turn. I've never seen a shot like this in my life. We replaced the can that I had just punctured with a fresh beer. Joel took aim. Did he peg the can dead center into the bullseye? No. Did he explode the can with some kind of rain halo effect that rivaled a Texas downpour? No. He shot high and hit the tab, pushing it back and breaking the thread holding it, and dropped the can opened, unspilled, and upright onto the ground below. Then he walked over, picked it up, and drank it. It was pure luck, I know, but still he opened a beer with an arrow. Damn.

I'm caught up with my slacker one comic per month goal. Here is October's actual comic. Whadayathink?

Update 2: Comicspace.com is back online.

Here’s another conversation with Sabrina. We were listening to Beethoven when she asked:

Sabrina: Who wrote the Four Seasons? Was it Beethoven? 

Me: No, it was Vivaldi.

Sabrina: (with a clever look) Daddy, I know there’s a 5th season.

Me: No, there are only 4.

Sabrina: You remember, the one with the zombies.

Me: Are you thinking of Halloween? That’s just a holiday, not a season.

Sabrina: No. Remember, you said there were 5 zombies.

Me: ?

Sabrina: On the radio.

Me: Are you talking about the musical group, The Zombies?

Sabrina: Yes.

Me: Are you talking about the song, “Time of the Season”?

Sabrina: Yes, that it.


This is how Conversations go with Sabrina at the moment. She remembers everything. She heard “Time of the Season” once while we were driving somewhere and she heard that there were 5 people in the group, The Zombies, that performed it. Because we were talking about music that featured a season she associated The Zombies with Vivaldi and expected that I would get the reference (which I eventually did, but it took me a minute).

I will add to my email signature, somewhere after the obligatory "If you are not the intended recipient to this email..." company warning:

If, in the preceding email, I have inquired as to the veracity of some piece of information and you have indicated that one or more parts are incorrect, please also tell me which part(s) and include the correct information. You know I'm just going to email you asking for it about 10 seconds after I finish reading your reply. My list of people to hit with a shovel is already impractically long, so please avoid getting on it as long as possible.

This one I'm pretty happy with. I like the caffeine deprived zombies at the cafe window. Plus, who else gets to yell "Beans!!" in a comic?

I also considered naming this one "wizard personal ads". The backdrop is rolling hills because that's what I drew for the original comic. Then I changed the dialog so it was more appropriate indoors at a bar or apartment, but I liked the hills so they stayed. Not like it really changes the comic. This is just the way my slacker brain works.

This morning Sabrina and Ian were playing with some lego/playmobile medieval set toys. There was a castle, some knights, a king (which Sabrina was using), horses, canons, etc., when the following exchange occured:

Ian: "Sabrina, there's purple guys in the castle!"
Sabrina, nonchalantly: "It's ok, I'm their king."

Ok, things aren't quite that bad, but 700 billion dollars, 700 billllion dollars, that's a lot. Now they're going back to the drawing board for new regulation and laws to prevent this sort of thing happening again. Laws can be pretty complex, though, and I think they need to hire some legal hackers. Let me explain.

I work in IT. We design software that can be pretty complex too, so we put some thought into the design to keep bad people from abusing the software. We follow good processes, but it's not enough. It's difficult to both create and attack your software at the same time. Smart companies know this and they hire a hacker team to dig into it. A team of people dedicated to finding holes, weaknesses, and potential abuses are given access, pizza, and a paycheck and they pretty much always find something. It more than pays for itself in the money you don't have to pay later when the damage is done.

So I think Congress should hire a team of hatchet-men lawyers and ex-Enron managers, give them the 700 billion dollar plan and the new regulations, and tell them you'll give them a huge reward for finding exploits. (Also tell them you'll be watching them, so don't try using the exploits yourself. These are tricky bastards.) Maybe one of my astute readers knows whether something like this already happens. Are Congressional plans reviewed by independent entities to find exploits?