Strip 49

Hi there, all, and I hope you had a very blessed Thanksgiving!

I can hardly believe I’ve done 49 strips.  I thought about doing something special for the 50th strip, but time has slipped up on me.  But, I do have something planned for a little down the line.  A more significant number, at least to me.

And, folks, here we are at the end of November.  Christmas crunch-time is officially upon us.  Thanks to online merchants (much preferred by me to hot, crowded malls), I’m close to finished with shopping for this year.  Then, I can just relax and enjoy watching people as they walk through hot, crowded malls in a desperate attempt to find the perfect gifts.

Of course, with online shopping, the shipping times put a little terror into me.  I have purchased in the past and recieved items ON Christmas Eve.

Thus the early shopping this year.

I used to go out and do all my shopping in one day.  I had to.  It was the only way for me to face it.  Like a bandaid – one quick pull, not letting it drag out over weeks.  I still go out one day, but I know it will only be for picking up the odd item, something that catches my eye, maybe a stocking stuffer or two.  I might even take in a movie that day, if I get done early.

I really do love this time of year.  I’m very happy I can enjoy it more now, thanks to free shipping and online discounts!

See you all on Monday!

Strip 48

Okay… I don’t know if that email in the first panel is legible.  I can read it… but I know what it says, so if anyone wants to pipe in, I’m all ears.

Short and sweet today, because I’ve had a rough night.  Nothing really bad, just enough to get me tired.

I’ll see you all on Friday, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Strip 47

The Lions are 0-11.

I’m not a huge football fan.  I watch the odd game now and then, but I don’t keep up with football, be it college or NFL.

But here in Michigan, unless you live under a rock, you know the Lions are 0-11, because for the first time in a long, long time, the entirely winless season seems possible.

Not only possible… maybe probable.

No team has ever gone 0-16.  Tampa Bay when 0-14 in 1976, when there were only 14 games a season, but nobody has gone 0-16.

There are five games left for the Lions.  Yesterday, they looked like they would win… for one quarter.  They were up and playing… but there was, even then, an aura of “one mistake and it will collapse.”

It isn’t the yips.  That’s when a player that plays well hits a period where they seem to lose all ability in a sport.  The Lions never played like they knew what they were doing this year.

And, of course, there is now the dark side of all this… where the fans start to crave the 0-16… because, I suppose, a record is a record.  If you can’t be successful, why not be infamous?

See you all on Wednesday!

Strip 46

Howdy, and good Friday to all!

So… I’ve owned a combo DVD Recorder/VCR for a while.  Over a year or so.  It came with one recordable DVD, that I used twice before the power went out one day and the DVD was somehow made unreadable. 

Since then, I’ve only recorded on the VCR.  (I have watched a lot of DVD’s on the machine, though.)

Until this week.  The VCR has started eating tapes.  I don’t mean every once in a while - every tape I put in.

With the NBA season in full swing, I’m actually wanting to record things once in a while (I still enjoy Chuck, NCIS, The Amazing Race, and Law & Order!), so I had to go out and get some DVD’s to record on… and come back to the house and figure out how to get that to work, since I have no idea where the owner’s manual is and I haven’t done it in over a year.

(And, yes, of course, I managed to buy the wrong discs the first time out.  Anyone interested in little expensive frisbees?)

Anyway, I finally figured it all out, even how to format the disc (after many hours of yelling at the DVD recorder, “I know it isn’t formatted yet, that’s what I need YOU to do!!!”), and now…

I can’t believe I was using tapes.

Oh, the glory and convenience of the DVD!  Not having to cue up to a certain point to watch a particular show!  Just going to the menu and clicking on the program I want to watch… it is a wonder to me.

I know… the world is already moving into the realm of the DVR, no discs and all… which places me about three years behind (or is it more?) the trend.

Too bad.  I like the DVD recorder.  It takes me a while to warm up to technology.  Maybe by the time this machine dies, I’ll be ready to move on to the next step… which probably means you will all be recording on the facets of a crystal by that point.

Have a great weekend, peoples!

Strip 45

Howdy, one and all!

A friend cued me into a really great sermon that was presented by Dr. David Platt at the 2008 Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting.  It was incredibly convicting (which, despite the connotation, is something that should be welcomed), and powerful.  If you want to listen to it, it is available in podcast form here.  Check it out!

Strip 44

It’s cold, I’m tired, blah, blah, blah, insert your own witty post here. 

See you all on Wednesday!

Strip 43

Sooo… the first images of the USS Enterprise from the upcoming new Star Trek film have been released.

Yep.

If you haven’t seen it, here it is.  Check it out.

Now, despite my reservations about the film (I am a huge Trek fan, but an avid avoider of anything attached to J.J. Abrams), I want to talk about this ship they’ve designed.

Because I don’t think it is a very good design.  Now, hold on – This isn’t merely me looking and saying, “Ugh – the saucer section and neck of the ship are too far back” (although, they are).  I have thought about this a lot. 

The ship seems cobbled from two different thoughts of design.  The top is a somewhat traditional design, but the bottom explodes into an “organic” design that really doesn’t fit, all curves and flow.  The problem with the organic design is that it doesn’t work – neither in the cobbled design or in the concept of what the ship should look like at the beginnings of deep space exploration.

Please understand – The problem isn’t that the Enterprise has been redesigned, it is the redesign they’ve gone with that is the problem.

I knew the ship would be changed at least a little for the film, so I’m okay with that.  And, I do appreciate the efforts to keep the ship familiar looking for long time fans.  I just don’t think this design works. 

The original design of the Enterprise on the TV show seemed very utilitarian, but well balanced.  Take a look at the comparison I’ve put together here.

If they were going for an original series sort of look for the movie (which, judging from the costumes, I’m assuming they are), it would have been better to eliminate the ill advised curves that don’t fit with that utilitarian design.  These are the first steps of deep space exploration for Starfleet – contours and aesthetics shouldn’t come into play just yet.  And if they do, it would seem the saucer section should be modified to match… stretched, maybe, or having it flow into the neck of the ship in the same way the neck is flowing into the base.  And, yeah, the whole thing looks squashed. The design needs some of the open areas of the original.

Ah, but maybe modern audiences wouldn’t accept that type of utilitarian design.

Fine.

I offer the 1701-A version as an alternative.  Take a look at this comparison.

Note that the design is actually radically updated from the TV series, but the essence remains the same.  Here, the designers managed to update without going the organic, curvy route.  Sure, there are elements that are more rounded, but instead of trying to evoke an update with forced “flow,” they instead decided to go with what I would call a more sleek look – modified angles (Yes, angles!) give an updated, yet still balanced look to the ship as a whole.

Frankly, looking at it again… I just wish they’d gone with the 1701-A if they were going to take that much of a departure from the original ship.

My two cents.

Strip 42

It is November 12th, and the Christmas season is in full swing.

That’s right, you heard me.  Or, rather, read me.

A lot of folks complain about the instant jump from Halloween to Christmas each year.  I am not one.  See, I have a really big stack of Christmas related odds and ends to get done, and if I were to wait until post-Thanksgiving, none of it would happen.

There is, of course, the previously mentioned Operation Christmas Child to get ready (I think I’m doing two shoe boxes this year), the annual Comic Geek Speak Forum Not-So-Secret Santa, designing, producing, and sending out this year’s Christmas card, five commissions that MUST be done by Christmas, decorating, and shopping for my family.  Tack that on to my full time job and a three-day-a-week webcomic, and I’m gonna need as much time as I can get!

So, crank up the the Christmas tunes, and get in the Spirit, peoples!

See you on Friday!

Strip 41

It is snowing.

Not merely the odd and brief flurry-type of snow, either. This is actual snow. No accumulation, but it is a warning of what is to come.

I don’t really mind snow, but I’m not a fan of what other things come along with it – namely, cold weather and ice.

Cold weather, I just lost my tolerance for it. The ice, though…

Every year, I take one BIG fall. And, when I say that, I mean it. It is almost cartoonish, the way my feet fly up in the air after I slip on ice, and my body slams down to the ground. Oh, I’m careful – trust me. I walk carefully, penguin-like. Despite my precautions, I can count on that one knock-the-wind-out-of-me fall.

Which is probably why I have the slight sense of dread as I watch the snow fall outside the window today. The fall is out there… waiting for me… for that moment…

See you all on Wednesday.

Strip 40

Power has returned, and here is the strip! 

Just a quick note of appreciation here, at the 40th strip, for all of you readers.  Thanks for you support and devotion.  It means a lot.  Forty is traditionally a number of testing, and I can honestly say, I wouldn’t have made it through without all of you.

For that, you have my unending appreciation.  Thank you!