Episode II: Attack of the Continuation

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Miss Information

So the last 3 trips I've made to Denver and the Tech Center, the same driver has been driving the Super Shuttle that I'm on from the airport to the office. I have no complaints about this guy or his driving (the vans always seem to smell faintly of urine and coffee, but that's not the point here). And for the last 3 trips, the Super Shuttle has driven me past this street corner that is close to my hotel and on the way to the office. Every time we've gone past this corner, this driver points out this lot and says something along these lines:

"You know why there's nothing developed there? There's a Pet Cemetery there in that corner lot where the trees are. I think there may even be some of the original land owner's buried there."

It's not exactly always in those words, but it's been just about like that when he launches into this quick bit of DTC Trivia he's feeding the need-to-know-out-of-town visitors. Now, I've pretty much always appreciated that he has done this. He could just keep his mouth shut and eyes forward while he drives us to our destinations wrapped in the soothing sounds of easy listening radio; or, he could be suicidally weaving in and out of lanes of traffic while chatting with his buddies on the cell phone and barely paying attention to the road, cars, or even pedestrians. But he's not doing any of those things. He's trying to share a little bit of his wisdom with us and I appreciate that. If for no other reason than it gives me something to look forward to as we turn onto the street that crosses this corner. I know he's gonna point it out and I have a pretty good idea of what he's going to say.

But since I've been staying at this hotel a block away from this street corner, I've become familiar with it in so much as I knew it was there and I could point it out to people I work with and say: "Hey, I heard there were some pets and maybe a person buried on that lot there in that corner," and they'd say, "Oh, yeah?" "Yeah," I'd banter back and so on and so forth the conversation would continue.

So, today after work, I figured I had a few minutes before I had to get back to the hotel and sit in front of the TV and I walked over to this corner to have a look at the headstones and see what I could see. Maybe get a few decent shots out of it to boot. Over I walked the whole block and when I arrived I found a guy throwing logs into the back of a truck.

I introduced my self and said why the heck I was on his land and could I look around at the gravestones and what-not.

"This corner lot here? Where we're standing? Shoot... Naw, I ain't never heard of nothing like that about this spot here. There used to be a' old farmhouse there from the 1800's, but I hadn't heard of no pets or people being buried over here."

Turns out, this guy has worked in the building across the street and down a piece from the lot he owns or his company owns and The City had given him/them a ticket so he was cleaning up the trash and taking out some trees to avoid further actions against them. That's cool.

I poked around and snapped a few shots, but it turns out that this street corner is pretty much just that: a street corner lot.


(i think that's kind of sad, too. i mean, this spot used to be a previously developed piece of property that had a house and out buildings [i saw the half buried brick and stone foundations as i nosed around], but now it's an undeveloped and dilapidated piece of land that no one is quite sure of the history. it's nothing big, but this was someone's home one time. there were people that lived here and died here possibly and had lives and slept and did chores and were yelled at and laughed and cried and all of those things. now the city is ticketing the current owner's for neglect and dumping violations [i suspect]. i suppose nothing is forever.)

On a long enough timeline. The survival rate for everyone drops to zero.

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club, 1996

Episode I: The WebComic Menace

Okay, so a few years ago I was relly really REALLY into web comics. I mean, really into them. I saw webcomic artists at speeches, read all of their blogs, did alot of really good time wasting things that they suggested I do. Which is cool and it was fun, but it had to end. I needed to keep my job.

Anyway, one of the offshoots of this was that I decided to draw a few comics. Now, I've always really enjoyed Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, Bloom County, and Get Fuzzy and other, more "traditional", print comic strips. Growing up I read them every Sunday. Was there really any other use for the newspaper for a child on a daily basis? When Berkley Breathed retired Bloom County from circulation, I told my mom and she told me "Well, I suppose should draw your own strip then, huh?" It didn't really take in any professional manner. But there were moments. I tried to draw cartoon-y characters in my doodles pretty much all the time. They kinda sucked. I still do, actually. Though, I must say, they have become less crappy in their doodleosity. I had even drawn a few for pitching to the Purdue student newspaper, The Exponent. Umm, they were never accepted...and for good reason. I'm not bitter. They just weren't that good. The strip was called "Señor Bob." They were about a guy named Bob and his girlfriend/wife (I hadn't really worked out their relationship, but they lived together) Janey and the wacky adventures they got into in their daily life. it was crass. It was perverse. It was funny to me, but I guess not the Purdue student paper, and that's okay. I drew them in my break time as a janitor at Purdue to pay for school. That's not the point of this post either, just a little side trip, day hike into my history.

Anyway, maybe one day, if I find them, I'll scan them in and post them. Not today though.

Today I have something more special-er for you, Dear Reader. Today I dig deep into "The Archives" of these files I have on my drives and let them see the light of the web for the first time. To you, Dear Reader, today I present the webcomics I drew in the style of Natalie Dee, xKcd, Sinfest, and all the rest. Here is the first of the Awesome Qat Butcher series:



more tomorrow...

KT and Dad go to the Lake

KT and I took a trip to Lake Mendota the other day because it was 53 degrees and I needed to get out of the house. ...-*ahem*- I mean, because she needed to venture out and see some sights.

As you can see from the photos, she was bundled up pretty well even though the wind screaming across the ice-covered lake was cold, she was still trying to push the woolen sock she's bundled in down and off of her 'cause she was hot. I had 3 different ladies, all of whom were holding some little kid's hand' that it was too cold for her to be out.

I politely told them all the same thing: "I didn't tell you how to dress your kid. Thanks."

Hey, at least I was polite, right? Yeah, I thought so.