Thursday, April 28, 2011

Like The Weather

STORM 6174

Around 1:30 AM this morning, Missy and I were woken up by the sound of the nearby TORNADO SIREN...first thing we did was go into the living room and turn on the television to see the weather forecast...Missy gathered up the rabbits and moved them into the hallway...meanwhile, our cat was already hiding deep in the cabinets underneath the kitchen sink - a favorite place of hers to hide in a thunderstorm. I made sure to grab my shoes and my wallet. If worse came to worst, I didn't want to be barefoot and without my ATM card. We waited in the hallway for the storm to pass...I casually left the hallway every now and then to see the weather report and to check Facebook and Twitter to see what everyone else in Athens was doing in preparation for the storm. By 2 AM, the storm passed us, just as the weather report predicted, but we stayed in the hallway an extra 15 minutes "just in case". When the thunder, lightning, and wind subsided, we finally emerged from the hallway. We put the bunnies back in their pens before finally heading back to bed, where we struggled to get a few more hours of sleep before having to get up for work...

In retrospect, we were probably too casual in our tornado preparedness, especially in light of all the survivor stories we've been hearing this evening. Maybe next time the tornado siren sounds, we'll get into the closet that's in our hallway instead of just hanging out in the hallway, and maybe even strap on our bicycle helmets while we were at it; maybe next time, all our important papers and documents will be in the closet with us, along with the first aid kit; maybe next time I'll grab my car keys and backpack along with my wallet; maybe next time I'll actually concentrate on hunkering down, instead of effin' around on the internet trying to get the latest storm reports, etc. etc. etc. Next time, we'll just concentrate on sitting as tight as possible until the storm passes. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live through an actual tornado, and what it would be like to live after it. Knock on wood it never comes to that. But at least we can control how well prepared we can be if it ever came down to that.

STORM 6177

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Fluke, There It Is!

FLUKE 6115
(a comic strip in last week's FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE about the FLUKE COMICS FAIR...including a cameo by a cartoon version of Missy...so meta!)

This past Easter weekend was a busy one...Saturday was the big 10th ANNIVERSARY of the FLUKE COMIC & ZINE FAIR. After work on Friday, we had our traditional craft fair/zine fair-eve pizza at TRANSMET (tip: cold pizza makes for a decent lunch the following day when you're trapped at your table during a convention). While waiting for our pie, Missy put the finishing touches on three new ZINES...

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After dinner, it was off to OFFICE MAX to run off copies of Missy's new zines...

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Back at home, Missy (with some supervision from Nilla) cut and stapled while I cut, pasted, and sequenced pages in four new zines I was hoping to show at Fluke...I ended up running to KINKOS around midnight, staying up super late to get my stuff done for the following day...

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The next day, we got down to the 40 WATT a lot later than we had planned. The line stretched down the street and around the corner...here was everyone in front of us:

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...and everyone behind us:

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Once we set up, it was a constant flow of browsers and shoppers...we were so busy, I didn't get a chance to take many photos...which was a good thing, I guess!

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Here's Missy signing her book, PERSONAL CHARM, for a fan...here in Athens, Missy is kinda notorious for her "controversial" TOFU BABY comic in the local FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE...so sometimes people ask for her autograph! Crazy!

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Each vendor got an official CERTIFICATE OF TABLE, which was a nice touch...

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This couple sitting behind us kept falling asleep...the girlfriend was crashed out with her head on the table, while her boyfriend kept nodding off while sitting up in his chair, with the back of his head hitting me in the ass every time that he did (I was standing directly behind the chair he was sitting in)...needless to say, it kept Missy entertained throughout the day...the funniest thing was that they were seated right in front of the entrance...so imagine walking into Fluke and the first thing you see is this girl crashed out on the table and the guy next to her is leaned back in his chair, head back, mouth gaping and snoring...

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No surprise...I ended up selling my last "NERD" PLAQUE at the comics fair!

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The second autograph request of the day:

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Speaking of nerds, here's some dude that was walking around the convention with a DRAGON PUPPET...I'm not sure, but I think he was communicating with people, ventriloquist-style:

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At the end of a very long day, we packed up all our stuff into our ROLLING SUITCASES and hoofed it a couple of blocks to our car, all the while looking like we just got off the Greyhound bus...

FLUKE 6090

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Cake Boss


Marietta Diner 0077, originally uploaded by sugar-cookie.

Last week my parents were here for a visit. We got to go to a place called the Marietta Diner for lunch one day. Check out these cakes!

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This one was for sure a crazy cake! Look at those jimmies! Some people call them sprinkles, but we call them jimmies.

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We tried the chocolate mouse cake that is in the back of the pasty case in this picture. It was really yummy! And cute, too.

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I had a veggie sandwich and fries.

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My mom had onion rings!

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And Dad had a turkey dinner! Just like Thanksgiving!



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Operation Cutify: Hall Of Lame To Hall Of Frames

OP CUTE 5015

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So, we wanted to turn our drab hallway into a MINIATURE GALLERY. We wanted to have a place where we could display our collection of prints, photos, and objets d'art and we wanted to be able to easily re-arrange things on a whim. After the re-painting was done, Missy's parents built PICTURE RAILS with wood molding we got at Home Depot and installed them to one side of the hallway. To complete the "gallery look", we installed a TRACK LIGHTING system that we got at IKEA...

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We tested the rails by placing a few items on them. The hallway is only about 75% done...we've got a lot of prints and photos that we need to get framed still. When the hallway is 100% done, we'll have framed artwork hanging on the walls as well as sitting on the picture rails...

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We also finally hung up a couple of framed CONCERT POSTERS in our CRAFT ROOM. The ranch feels more and more like "home" with every piece of framed artwork or photo we're able to get up on the walls...

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