STOP. Nerdy time

Time for the polar opposite to yesterday's sports talk: COMIC BOOKS.

I've been a nerd for a lot longer than I've been interested in any sports, but I only started reading comics a few years ago, when Nathan visited the States and got me interested in Green Lantern. Now I read a bunch of titles, and want to mention a few that have been REALLY interesting lately.

X-FACTOR

That is a cyborg Captain America punching Iron Man in the face, while Jamie Madrox watches. How can that not appeal to a comic book fan?!

Peter David's doing some great writing for this series, and it's fun getting to see these alternate universes that Madrox (AKA "Multiple Man") is shifting around between. And with the characters in the main Marvel-verse, we get to see a couple members of the old school X-Factor back in the game: Havok and Polaris!

ANIMAL MAN

As far as I'm concerned, this is the stand-out of the DC "new 52". It's my favorite DC title, and hopefully one that keeps selling and doesn't get cancelled.

Currently, writer Jeff Lemire has the title on a collision course with Scott Snyder's SWAMP THING run, as Buddy Baker (the superhero Animal Man) and Alec Holland (formerly, and soon to be again, Swamp Thing) both clash against the third force of life. Buddy and his daughter are connected to "the Red", through animal life. Alec is connected to "the Green", the plant life. The third force is "the Rot", which is threatening to overtake them both.

CHEW

This one is another that I talk about all the time. It's one of the few comics I've fallen in love with that has nothing to do with superheroes whatsoever.

In a world where the Avian Flu cost the lives of millions, chicken has been outlawed. As a result, the USDA and FDA have become two of the highest branches of law enforcement. Enter Tony Chu, a detective with the strange ability to receive psychic flashes from any and all foods he eats or drinks... except beets.

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I'm trying to think of good shit to write about, I really am. Also, going to go home and make that video that I owe you guys. So, I'll go do that, since my laptop battery is about to die. See ya!

NHL/NBA arena in Seattle?

YES!

If you've been reading for a while, you might know that I'm a hockey fan. Vancouver Canucks are the closest that I have to a local team - and they're awesome - so, go Canucks! Occasionally, as that link shows, I'm a slightly annoyed fan, but it comes with the territory.

There's been talk for a while now (I first heard about it during the Stanley Cup finals) about an investor or group of investors wanting to bring the NHL to Seattle, as we haven't had a real hockey team since the early part of the last century. Now, according to an article in the Seattle times recently, talks are moving forward on a joint NBA/NHL arena!!!!

I am kind of interested in basketball, and would love to see the Seattle Sonics back. And as far as hockey teams... well, the Phoenix Coyotes are league-owned, and I think they just need a city to love them. We could do that, right, Washington people?

I HAVE FAILED YOU!

I got off work about twenty minutes ago, and I was waiting for my laptop to charge, I realized something -- I forgot to blog yesterday! I hesitate to make excuses, but I think my brain forgot about it in the small rage-splosion that I had on Twitter last night. While it's not a world-ending problem, it DOES mean that I have to put a video up. Fffffuuuuuuu-

Cool. Alright. I can do this. But not today, because I'm still at work and can't make a video, sitting here in the back office. What I CAN do is make a video tomorrow, when I get off work, and put it up tomorrow afternoon or evening. Soon as I get done with tonight's shift, I have four days off!

For now, I think I'll link you to some of my favorite blogs, and hopefully you'll enjoy them as much as (if not more than) you enjoy mine!

Kelly Hogaboom | Life in HQX
http://kelly.hogaboom.org
This one is the only local blog I have in this short list of links, and it's from someone who is full of awesome. So full, in fact, that her and her similarly-awesome husband managed to spawn two of the most well-spoken and thoughtful kids that I've had the pleasure of hanging out with. They're a great family, and that's primarily what the blog is about - along with Kelly's sewing and craftwork, sobriety, and other musings about the area in which she and I both live. Go. READ.

Death Boy
http://deathboycomic.co.ik
It's not technically a blog, but it is a great webcomic written by my friend Ian Austin, and drawn by another friend, Dan Butcher. It's irreverent, occasionally topical, and even if you can't get into Ian's writing (and, really, how could you not?), it's worth checking out for Dan's fantastic art. I look forward to the day when both of them can work in comics professionally!

Diary of a Dying Girl
http://diaryofadyinggirl.wordpress.com
Jorah's already got more readers than I did during any of my really busy months doing Random Ramblings, but if you haven't read her blog until now, then enjoy it. Without shredding her respectable anonymity, she writes about her life, and her writing is so involved that you really do begin to care about how the story goes. She's the blogger that I wish I could be as good as.

TANcast
http://www.tancast.com
It's a podcast, but they do occasionally have blog posts. And considering that it's three random guys talking about random shit (and sometimes TANfights!), it's a lot more awesome than I can make it sound. Tim, Andy, and Noah make me laugh every week, and even without knowing them, they kind of give off the same feel that I get when hanging out with people I know, so it's even more funny to hear them rip on each other.

The Tsaritsa Sez
http://www.thetsaritsasez.com
She's a hip-hop musician, blogging fiend! Alexandra's pretty great, and very socially conscious and intelligent, so it's a pleasure to read her blog when she posts. The only ones that I don't care for are the style/fashion posts, but that's just me being an uncool, fashionless nerd. :P


So, that's the list of blogs that I'm going with this time. I would put more, but my head is killing me and both my battery time and the time before my bus is almost up. Enjoy the links, and I'll be back tomorrow with the post I'd planned for yesterday! (And a vlog, some time tomorrow or the next day!)

Time to suck all the fun out of this blog!

It's three days in to my "blog every day for a year" online journal attempt, and now it's time to go for a serious topic and suck every bit of whimsy out of this blog -- for just a day. :D

This one, I call "Is Misogyny Too Strong A Word?"


At work, I see a lot of comments that are, at best, semi-misogynistic. I don't know that the men that say them hate women, as the word misogyny would imply, but they seem... well, I'll let the comments they say speak for them, and you can judge.

• ME: "Do you need a bag, sir?"
  CUSTOMER: "Nah, I've got one at home." *chuckling at his wife's expense*
  
  (sometimes they say "in the car", or "she just walked out the door", and this is by far one of the most common things I hear)

That's the only one that I can remember verbatim, but another theme is to have them griping about how irritating women are, and all sorts of other things that I just have to grin and bear for the sake of my job.

So, is it too strong a word? Or does it fit just right?

(the fun will be back tomorrow... hopefully. :D)

Sometimes, I'm pretty awesome

Know what a great way to wake up is? A damn good breakfast.

Know what a damn good breakfast is? One of my BREAKFAST BURRITOS!

I made these a few days ago, and since the package of steak I used turned out to be a LOT when I diced it up, I used up the rest of the tortillas. Filled them with steak, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and some cheddar jack cheese, folded them up, and then tossed them back in the resealable bag that the soft tortillas came in and froze them. Reheat, maybe pan-fry a little bit to make it golden-brown and crispy, top it with salsa, and proceed to OM NOM NOM.

Now that I've started doing that, I think I'm going to use the "cook a lot, freeze, reheat one at a time" method more often. It lets me control what goes in the foods I'm eating, and is a handy way to preserve leftovers for a little while. Plus, who doesn't love a good burrito, amirite?

I would give a recipe, but there wasn't really a whole lot to it. I'd bought a pack of "beef tips for stew" because it was a way to get a good price on steak that I was going to dice up anyway. The hash browns were pre-packaged, and I scrambled up about seven or eight eggs to go with it all. You can probably make it healthier by making your own hash browns rather than buying them pre-made, which I'm thinking about.

What are some other good burritos that I could try and make? I'm definitely buying more steak and tortillas on payday, but I'm thinking about barbecue beef (or chicken), maybe some sort of red pepper chicken, and all sorts of other varieties. I like the idea of burritos as a good thing to start with.

OH! And I bought a slow cooker! But we can talk about that whenever I actually use it. Probably within the next week or so. :)

A Moment of Clarity

A few days ago, I tweeted about one of my Day Zero Project tasks - keeping a journal for a year. I decided to threaten myself, to ensure that I stayed on task with it. If I miss a day, I have to vlog!

Okay, so it's not a huge threat, but dammit, I'm NOT a fan of vlogging unless I've had large amounts of beer. Today, I decided to change things a little... instead of writing in a journal every day for a year, I'm going to BLOG every day for a year, with the same threat if I fuck up. Considering that I'm regularly broke and don't do a whole lot of fun things with my lack of moneys, I can't promise it'll be fun.

In fact, it might be painful.

You've been warned.