Sunday, January 30, 2011

Way Better Than An Imaginary Friend

Granddaughter Lorelei is visiting for the weekend, and I think it's hilarious that she's named her reflection in the mirror "Bob". She knows that it's her, but she treats Bob like a friend.

She also saw the Mummy in my room, so we taught her to walk around with her arms held out going "Mmmmmm. Mmmmmmm."

If You Missed It, Bad On You

More than any other sport, the National Hockey League's All-Star Weekend is a celebration of fun. The NHL changes up the format of the game often; sometimes it's East vs. West, or North America vs. the World, etc. This year, after the fans picked the All-Stars, two teams were selected to be captains and a good ol' fashioned sandlot-style draft was held to choose up sides. The draft itself was not bad, and today's game should be it's usual fast paced goalfest.

Or maybe not. During last night's Skills Competition, in the final event the goalies proved that they're there to show off a little bit too. Most years, the focus is on the shooters, but last night the goalies did a great job of stopping shots.

And the rest of the show last night was big fun. As a change during the fastest skater event, goalies were included. In full pads. Boston's defensiveman Chara set a new record with a shot clocked at 105.9 mph! Tampa Bay's St. Louis (pronounce it frenchy style: Sain' LooEEEE) proved once again that wiles and experience can overcome the handicap of being Richard Simmons' lookalike.

And even through it all, the real skills shined through. These guys are fast. They're big. They do things like juggle that frozen disk of rubber at the end of a six foot stick while skating on ice. They hit targets with shots and passes at long distance, short distance and at seemingly impossible angles.

And the entire time, each and every one of them was grinning like a kid at the circus.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Brush Mileage

I read somewhere that the only way to improve as a painter was to accumulate plenty of "brush mileage." In other words, the more practice, the better you get. With that in mind, I've done several new works this month. Check 'em out over at Quiet Tales, my other site.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Tedfoolery

















Saturday, January 22, 2011

Good Times / Bad Times

We just got back from a week in Florida. A leisurely drive down and back, a few days in Ocala with the in-laws and a couple of days at Daytona Beach, staring at the waves and recharging. Only had internet access once, for about a half an hour the entire week, and it was nice.

On the down side, a co-worker unexpectedly died while I was away (that's what I found out during that half hour of access), as did a favorite Aunt from my Dad's side of the family.

Good thing I'm not superstitious, or I might never go on vacation again.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Wet, Strong Probability of Ugly

Our snowstorm has fizzled into some wet flurries. Just enough to make everything glisten with moisture and the air to look foggy. Tonight it's supposed to get down into the 20's.

Joy.

Saturday, January 08, 2011

Toasty

Today's project for my daughter and I was to construct a camping quilt from a kit I bought. The idea being that since the insulation keeps you warm by trapping warm air in the "loft" of the layers, then the part of a sleeping bag that you lay on isn't doing you any good, warmth-wise. Hence, the quilt.

The kit was supposed to take about 8 hours of work to finish. Cutting, pinning, sewing, more cutting, more pinning, more sewing, and so on. Luckily for me, Mookie has an industrial sewing machine (can you say 12 layers of denim?!?!?!) and tons of experience, so we actually finished in about five hours. It was definitely a two-person job.

It's rated for 40 degrees, and I'll definitely be testing that when it warms up a little bit. It weighs in at less than two pounds, which is music to my backpackin' ears.

I'm really looking forward to camping this year.

Government In Action

I work in DC. Yesterday, while heading to lunch we walked near a park notable for the number of homeless people who hang out there. My friend pointed out some new signs attached to the trash cans in the park:

"Keep Our Streets Golden"

Brilliant. I can hear the conversation now:

"Honest Officer, I thought I was just obeying the new civil ordinance!"

Friday, January 07, 2011

Come On And Die Already!



The more *ahem* serious gun buffs are hesitant to call the new Kel-Tec KSG Bullpup Shotgun what it is, which is "The World's Most Perfect Zombie Killing Weapon".

If you'll notice, besides the space saving bullpup design, there are two magazine tubes sitting side by side under the 18.5" long barrel. There's a selector lever that you use to set to feed from either magazine. Can you say "seven rounds of double ought *and* seven more of slugs?" I knew you could. That's fifteen rounds (one in the chamber) of sweet zombie brain perforating power right there.

My only reservation is that this puppy is 12 guage. I like 12 guage, but if I'm going to be shooting enough to warrant this kind of weapon, I'd rather see it in something a tad more benign to the shoulder like 20 gauge or even .410. That would probably also add a couple more rounds to the magazine capacity too.

Let's Review

If you own an SUV, then you don't need to come to a complete stop before easing over a small speedbump. Check with lost and found, maybe they've seen your balls.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

We're All Full Up Here

DC that is. My latest encounter with a "special" person is a middle aged woman who walks down the middle of the street where my parking garage is in the city. Up and down the street, all day as far as I can tell. Meandering from curb to curb, hauling a huge duffle bag and a slightly less huge handbag. Well dressed too. Horns don't faze her, neither do angry shouts and gestures (I haven't and probably wouldn't given the circumstances).

I don't know where she's at in her mind, but she's the fucking Queen there.

Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Help Wanted

I'm two people short of a threesome.

 
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