Eddie Mitchell Picked a Peck of Peppers!

And I did it last night.

If this heat wave doesn't break, the peppers will be about the only thing left in the garden. My flowers are nearly all dead. Record highs every day this week so far, and tomorrow's supposed to be no different. There's a TON of stuff I want to do in the yard, but it's just too hot to do more than the bare necessities.

And now a word from Chiquito!

He wanted the last word on this morning's post. Happy to oblige the cute little kitty.

The Hole Truth

The hole, er, whole truth about what’s up with me this time. This is a picture of our kitchen ceiling.



That large gap that you see in the ceiling tiles is not a design feature, nor is it the beginnings of a skylight installation. It’s not even one of those little “fix-it-up” jobs that came with the house when we bought it.

Rather, it’s something that just happened last week. We came home and found the kitchen ceiling getting really acquainted with the kitchen floor.



We’re not sure what caused it. There’s not been any kind of a leak or drip or anything like that. In fact, it rained over the weekend, and I kept listening and looking in the hole for signs of a leak, and there weren’t any.

We’re reasonably sure it’s not termites either. At least there are no signs of damage on any of the joists and such. I’m a little concerned that it might have been larger critters crawling around in the ceiling, but the hole’s been there for a week and we’ve not seen any signs of such. And none of the cats are acting like there’s something up there we need to check out.

Still, for some reason, the ceiling tiles ripped away from the staples holding them up. I’m starting to think maybe the house decided to redecorate itself. Either that, or there’s some kind of inter-dimensional Star Trekky portal up there. Maybe the answer is incredibly obvious and we’re just not seeing it yet.

More puzzling than what caused it is what to do about it. We thought our home warranty would cover it, but no such luck. Keith thinks we can handle it ourselves. I’m still thinking we might be too handy-man challenged for that. There are only about twelve tiles that have fallen (so far), but that could change any time now.



If we do tackle the job ourselves, then should we just replace the tiles that have fallen or rip the whole thing out and put something new and shiny up. I’m a little afraid they might not make this particular style of ceiling tile any more. It would be our luck that they have matching tiles these days, but they’re a larger size, so they won’t fit in the hole.

I’m honestly lazy enough that, if we’re going to have to yank the whole thing down, I just might advocate waiting until the rest of them fall out on their own. I mean, what’s gravity good for if you can’t use it to your own advantage?

On the other hand, a little destructive-therapy might feel good about now. Who can I pretend that ceiling tile is as I rip it down and cast it to the floor with a disdainful sneer? Take that foul fiend! Now back to the pit that spawned you!! Uhm, sorry about that… Stupid overactive fantasy life…

Anyway, now that the dust has settled a bit and we’re through having people pass through the house and look at this, I’ll blog a bit more. This includes finally answering Roger's questions! And when we come to a decision, I’ll post something here. It might make for some fun photo ops.

Speaking of photos, here are some that are happier than a hole in the ceiling.

The garden is going okay. The beans and bell peppers are not doing well and several tomato plants have died, but we still have a bunch that are really producing well. The hot peppers are doing great, too. I missed the chance to take a pic of our first huge batch of Roma tomatoes, but here are some Orange Pixies! Aren't they cute?







Wait a minute, that last one wasn’t an Orange Pixie! That was Chiquito! Isn’t he HUGE now? He's been with us almost a year now.

The reason I couldn’t get a pic of the first bunch of Romas is…



..They’ve already been turned into yummy homemade salsa! I love yummy homemade salsa!

The green flecks are homegrown cilantro from the herb garden.



I missed the first batch, but here’s the second batch of Romas, with a couple of others thrown in. All waiting to be turned into more yummy salsa!



And to close out, here’s our only bell pepper to date. Sad, huh?

Could it be...SATAN?

Who's disrupting my blogging plans for this week? Could it be...?

The jury's still out on the answer, but things have gone all to hell on this end of the blog, yet again. I'll explain more later, but in the meantime, enjoy a taste of Mike's latest graphic meme-thingie.

Note-lets

Some quickies:

1. As of this past Saturday, I had not been on a bike since I was in college. Since Sunday, I've not only been on one again, I've ridden about six miles--most of it last night.

2. Roger, I've answered most of your questions. I just need to look a couple of things up to make sure I'm remembering them right. I should post them in the next couple of days.

3. Other posts rolling sround in my head: my comic shop's anniversary, yard sales, the garden, some music notes.

4. Two weeks later, and I'm still in my old office.

5. Days of Our Lives has been particularly good lately.

6. Recent CD acquisitions: Hoots and Hellmouth, Patrick Wolf, and Feist.

7. Kentucky Music Weekend is this weekend!

8. I've got some links to add to the sidebar, as soon as I get the chance.

I've given up for the moment

I've temporarily abandoned the fight to get the Twitter flash badge to look right on my sidebar. Instead, I'm using a modified version of the Blogger badge, which I really don't care for. I'll wrestle with it more this weekend, while I'm catsitting. I'll have time to mess with it then.

It's been a really yucky day....

So, yesterday, the person who is coordinating the completely arbitrary and needlessly complex office moving for our department told me in no uncertain terms that I would be moving out of my office first thing this morning.

My new office--much smaller, with no storage, and no bathroom--is across the hall from my current one. The new one had just been painted, and I was told to "be ready to move." (Along with a few tacky comments about how trashy my office looks and how that better not happen in the new one. Gee, thanks, mom. Do you think that might be because my office is FULL OF BOXES because I'M SUPPOSED TO BE MOVING and YOU were the one who told everyone OVER A MONTH AGO to be ready to move because it was going to happen ANY DAY NOW??)

So I went in over an hour early and moved everything from my current office to my new digs, except for the furniture. I figured that if I got the jump on moving and the guy who was supposed to move my furniture showed up "first thing" as announced, then I could get everything set up and be back to work by 10:30 or so and not lose a lot of valuable work time.

Alas, first thing in the morning came and went, and finally at about 9:30, the move coordinator showed up and announced that she had an "epitome" last night* and no one was to move today. The painters, who were waiting for me and a few other people to move to new spaces, were to "paint around people."

So I spent the rest of the day in my current office with all the furniture piled up in a tight clump watching the paint dry, that is when I wasn't retrieving all my other stuff from across the hall.

That's what I get for thinking these days. Honestly, I'm starting to feel like the "Novocaine Mutiny" episode of MASH. That's the one that gives us this famous quote from BJ:

On the very first day, Frank observed that the M in MASH stood for Mobile. So, he had us break down the entire unit and move it across the road.

He's referring to some really bad leadership decisions made by Frank Burns during a stint as CO for the unit. Everything he's describing is what I'm going through now. The spirit of Frank Burns lives at our agency!

So, I come home, get online and through the wonders of the Comics Weblog Update Thingie, find this post from Occasional Superheroine, and say: "Just what I need, an entertaining, relaxing internet survey thingie. This should be fun."

Then I take the quiz, and this is the result:



Which Annoying B-list Celebrity Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey.

It really has been a crappy day!

*No, I'm not kidding. She said "epitome." This is what I'm dealing with these days.

HELP!

So I got me one of them there Twitter thingies, which is proving highly useful for blowing off steam. But I can't seem to get the badge to embed correctly in my blog. Right now, it's stuck at the bottom, where it's also pulled the rest of my sidebar with it. Any tips on how to right this layout boo-boo?

Lightning Doesn't Always Strike Twice, You Know!

Okay, so it's lunchtime and I'm walking past the antique store again, and--lo and behold!--there's another box of comics sitting out front. This time the sign says they're a buck each.

Since I had some money left from the weekend, I stopped to take a look. (Like I would have just walked by even if I were broke!) This time it's a bunch of Archies from the late seventies andearly eighties, plus a ton of older Cracked magazines. Nothing that I'm the least bit interested in, unfortunately. My Cracked days are long behind me and I ditched most of my Archies from that era a while ago.

While I was looking the owner popped out again. "Ain't you the one that bought all them other comics?"

Me: "Yeah."

Owner: "Well, you're gonna buy all these too, ain't you?"

It's not easy to break an old man's heart, you know. I was as gentle as I knew how to be, even though I kind of felt like I had walked into a baited trap. Oh well....

---

On the other hand, I got a phone call late this afternoon about a batch of Treasure Chests that I was trying to buy from an estate sale.

It was actually at an old book bindery. The man who owned it had died at 97, and his family was selling the contents in preparation to sell the building. The place was just overflowing with all kinds of antique books, and TONS of other ephemera, including a stack of about 20 issues of Treasure Chest from the mid-50's.

They had their first estate sale week before last, and. of course, I had to go check the place out. I really wanted the Treasure Chests, but they were way more than I could afford. Last weekend, they opened the place up again and discounted everything that hadn't sold, including the comics. Unfortunately, they were still more than I could afford to pay for them.

Since none of them had sold, I decided nothing ventured meant nothing gained, so I made an offer on the lot. The woman coordinating the sale felt it was too low given that they had just marked them down, but she took my name and number, and said she'd call me after the sale was over and let me have whatever might be left at my price.

Well, I got the call today. Most of the lot was still there, so I'm going to pick them up tomorrow.

Once again, that'll pretty much wipe out my weekend yard sale dollars, but since I'm supposed to be cat-sitting this weekend, I probably wasn't going to get out to many anyway.

---

And a final note about buying comics: My LCS is going to be giving stuff away to celebrate its 30th anniversary!

From their email:

SATURDAY, JULY 21

To Commemorate our doing business in Louisville for
30 Years, from 9am - 7pm, rain or shine, our parking lot
Will be filled with CDs, LPs, VHS, Toys, Books, Cassettes,
Posters and so much more!!
All for YOU to shop through and choose 5 items to take
ABSOLUTELY FREE!!! (No purchase required!)

To add to the excitement, you'll get 30% off all merchandise in the store -
not just Saturday, but also Friday and Sunday (July 20, 21, and 22), and daily
drawings for gift certificates, merchandise and T-Shirts.

Woo hoo!

Do the Riverdance Rap!

I don't care if everyone else in the world saw it two months ago! I'm old, cranky, and out of touch. And I thought it was cute! So there!

Hello insomnia, my old friend!

Please accept my apologies for the long period of what Mike would call "low content mode." It's probably better than "no content mode," which is something I'm really good at. I just needed to blow off some steam about some things that have been frustrating me lately, but without being too specific about what they are, at least for the time being.

My hope is to be able to explain that "yellow" thing one day soon, but for the moment, just know that it, along with the talented cats, and the drag Wonder Women are what's been keeping me sane for the past few days. I appreciate your indulgence and promise a return to somewhat real content this week.

In the meantime, biggest, bestest, happiest sixth birthday wishes ever to the best stuffed little bull blogger the interwebs have ever seen!

LAST CHANCE!

Note to self:

No, wait. I was wrong.

This is what the world needs. (Or at least what I need right now...)




Gotta love the hair action!

Here's another one. Similar concept, same song, not as well executed, but killer intro. (Crappy sound though.)

What the world needs now...

...is videos of cats playing pianos!

For God's Sake!

This is a public service announcement!

ATTENTION!

And, of course, there are these...

"You gotta jiggle it at the end."

What the world needs now...

...is more videos of cats flushing toilets!











Then, of course, there are those who prefer to watch:



"Gee, that toilet's getting a work out!"

For Chiquito.

In Which Your Eddie-tor Makes a Comic Haul of Sorts….

One of the most important parts of my daily routine is my lunchtime walk. The building I work in isn’t too terribly far from the Post Office where our box is, so I take advantage of the opportunity to get out of the office every day and go check the mail.

Here of late, it’s actually been the highlight of my day. Getting away from the madness, even for a few minutes, is really good for me. I’ve always liked walking. It’s good “me time”—a chance to get inside my head and sort out my thoughts on the way things are going right now. Right before the Triple Crown races, I got an mp3 player, so nowadays; it’s a chance to get inside my head with Emmylou Harris. (Not sure that came out right…)

Anyway, this Wednesday I was strolling down my usual walk route, which takes me past a little antique shop. On nicer days, the couple who own it have stuff sitting outside on the sidewalk and I like to look at it out as I pass by. Well, that day, the outside stuff included a box of comics, which of course, I had to stop and check out. A note on the box said they were 2 bucks each, so I figured I’d see if there was anything I wanted that I could get today with the six dollars in my wallet, and then come back tomorrow with a little more cash, if need be.

Now, I’ve been at the game long enough to know that you take your chances with comics and antique shops, although there are a couple in the area who know how to do it right. Usually, you find a stack of crap in pretty rotten shape, with outrageous prices on them.* Still, I’ve made some of my best finds at antique stores, thrift shops, yard sales, and the like. I guess one of my basic rules of life is “Never pass up a stack of comics** that’s for sale without at least looking at them.”

Since I had already seen the 2 dollar price sign, I figured it was worth a few minutes to look and see if there might be anything I’d drop a couple bucks on.

There were a couple mid-60’s DC, lots of late-60’s to mid-70’s DC and Marvel books, and a few Gold Key, Archie, Dell, and Harvey titles. Everything was pretty beat up—stuff that had been read and loved quite a bit. Three or four had severe spine roll, and there were a couple that I could tell were not complete just by the way they felt. Still, most of the books were in good/fair condition, and some were a pretty solid good, depending on who was doing the grading. In other words, good reading copies, but nothing that was going to make anyone rich.

Now, I’m not a terrible condition-whore. Much of my collection is not bagged or boarded. All I really ask is that a comic be complete, readable, and have a cover. (And the cover is actually a pretty recent addition to my list of conditions.) I honestly don’t mind paying a couple of bucks for a beat up, but complete DC SA book. In other words, I did feel the stuff was worth looking through, and there were a few things I would not have minded spending a couple of bucks on.

While I’m going through everything, the old guy who runs the store came out and asked me what I’d give for all of them. He kept saying that he didn’t care about them and just wanted them gone, but that “some of them” are pretty old, which really left me kind of fuzzled about what kind of an offer to make. Either you want to clear them out cheap or you want to make some money on them, so the mixed message was a little perplexing.

So I started weighing the factors in my head:

1. My standard acceptable condition, my typical price range, and lots of DC’s from the era(s) I concentrate on these days, plus a few surprises.
2. I’ve got some cash in the bank for this weekend’s yard sales. It’s not a lot though.
3. A few of the books I already have. Not many, but enough to factor into a decision to take the lot.
4. Honestly, there were also some books in the lot that I really didn’t want. (The Marvels for one.)

All that taken together was actually pushing me towards making a stack of what I did want and seeing what kind of deal I could get. But right when I was about to say something, the owner said “Ill let you have the whole batch for fifty cents each.” I guess he figured my hesitation meant I was going to wander away.

So, he and I counted them out—79 comics in all—and I agreed to the deal. Fifty cents each for what I wanted out of the batch was a great price. In terms of the few books I didn't really want, I just look at it like I paid a buck for a few of the other issues instead of fifty cents. Still well worth it, in my mind. I had to run to the bank to get the cash, and now I’ve got a “new” stack of comics! (I'll try to work out some time to put some scans up over the weekend.)

I figure I’ll put anything I’ve already got and what I don’t want in our next yard sale. Might as well see if I can make someone’s day. I got started as a “serious” collector/reader by finding stuff at yard sales and flea markets as a kid, so maybe there’s someone else out there like me. One of the real tragedies of the way the hobby has evolved over the last decade or so is the sense of insularity and rigidness that’s developed.

The dominant mindset that says comics have to be from only two publishers and of only one genre also seems to insist that they can only be purchased at comics shops and have to be bought on “New Comic” day. Nothing else seems to count. There’s no room in that picture for the kid who finds a bunch of neat stuff at a flea market or for the middle-aged guy who goes back to his toxic workplace a little happier because of a great find at an antique store on his lunch hour. Where’s the joy and fun in that?

There is one downside: I’ll need to try and make some “creative arrangements” if I want to hit any yard sales over the weekend. I could just sit home and read comics and work in the yard, but there’s a yard sale ad in the paper for tomorrow that lists “vintage comics.” Gotta check that one out, don’t you know?

Here we go again…

*Either that or a bunch of “hot collectibles” from the 90’s glut. I’ve seen two or three long boxes full of Adventures of Superman 500 (and the like) during our yard saling jaunts this summer. One guy was trying to get a buck a piece for them. Another one only wanted a quarter each. It was kind of sad and kind of scary all at the same time.

**Or books, or CDs, or…you get the picture.

---

A related note: If you’re in the Boston area tomorrow don’t miss Beaucoup Kevin’s comic giveaway! To paraphrase Tom Spurgeon: “If I were in Boston, I’d go to this!” There's nothing cooler in my mind than someone dealing with his excess comics by giving them away! Hope it goes well, Kevin!

Okay, I really should have titled that last post “Shirtless Fat Gay Guy* Warning!”

My apologies to anyone taken aback by my mounds of man-flesh. I came in the house one night after putting in one of my flower-beds, covered in muck and such, and yelled at Keith to get the camera because I wanted pics for the blog. He thought I meant pics of the flowers I’d just planted. Silly man! I meant grubby, grimy me!



Now maybe those of you who clamor for posts from me will think twice about it in the future!

Anyway, for the last few weeks, my mood has been just too damn rotten to blog. Honestly. There was no way I could imagine anyone wanting to come and read my pissiness for days on end, so I took a bit of a break. I really should I have said something about it, but them’s the breaks.

I can’t go into a lot of detail here, which is another reason I let the blog lie fallow for a while, but the situation at work honestly gets a little worse every day. At the same time, none of my leads are panning out. To say I’m really discouraged is putting it mildly.

So, I’ve been doing other stuff instead of bitching and moaning on my blog:

• Taking Walks
• Reading (been burning through a book every two-three days)
• Going to Concerts
• Making Responses to Visual Memes (without posting them)
• Retail Therapy of the Second Hand Variety
• Sitting in the Backyard
• Eating LOTS of Ice Cream!
• And, of course, Gardening!

Depending on how things go in the next few days, I might do some blogging on some of the above.

In the meantime, here’s some stuff from people you’d really much rather read about than me:

The Thrift Store Project runs across the kind of sale ad I love! (Even though the background story is really kind of sad.)

Behold, Cerebra! The Comics Blog Search Engine we’ve all been waiting for is here! Thanks Kevin!

Why must the world make Robot Mike Cry? Someone really needs to figure the answer to that one out because the Robot Army seems to be growing.

Go learn some more about Roger Green.

Good ol’ Gordon finds a way to actually make this Paris Hilton nonsense into something worthwhile.

Happy Belated Anniversary Mr and Mrs Lefty Brown!

*Can’t wait to see the hits that generates!

Brains*

In all honesty, I’m not really sure where I’ve been lately. All I remember is going to bed with an awful headache one night and waking up later in a tightly enclosed box. Took me forever to get out of the damn thing! Turns out it was buried under about six feet of ground. Now who in the hell thought that was a good idea?



Anyway**, things have been a little off-kilter ever since I managed to tunnel out. Every time I turn up at one of my old hang-outs, everyone runs and screams. Little bits of me keep falling off. And I have this terrible craving for cerebellum.

*In loving tribute to the much-missed Zombie Tom, of course.

**Yes, I do have a lot of nerve posting a shot like that without any sort of warning for the faint of heart! Or those who happen to be eating. Or those who are pregnant or may become pregnant.

Popping Back In With Old Memes and Lolcatz...

No real time right now for the usual excuses. Life is still up in the air, and the job still sux. More on that later.

For right now here's some stuff to belatedly cash in on what's been going around lately:

Comic lolcatz:




What can I say? He was a kitten at the time! He was too young to have good taste in comics.

---

Dimestore Merlin:

Dedicated with love to Bully. Happy second anniversary (belated)! Can I be in the posse too?

For Dorian.

---

More later! Maybe...

The Papa John's Ten Miler is TODAY!!

What's this all about?

Photos from last year's race. courtesy of the official photographer!

Some inspirational photos for a Monday evening!

Toilet on the sidewalk.

Isadora Duncan's fake Mexican grave.

Dead Jesus under glass.

So now you know:

1. What my mood is.
2. What kind of week I'm expecting to have.
3. Why I'm most likely going to hell.

Always Remember...

Once you start making these damn things, it's hard to stop!

No, I don't know where this one came from or what it means, but the part about my mother is true!

These people do this kind of thing better than me.

Always Remember...

Yes, this means they're finally ready and will be in the mail tomorrow or Friday!

Consider this an internet hug for Mike Sterling!

Oh, and a happy birthday wish too!

I’m not a comics retailer or that much of a Captain America fan, but it’s pretty darn hard to venture out onto the comics blogosphere without running headlong into the continuing trickles of fall-out from last week’s events. Accordingly, even a mostly disinterested by-stander like your Eddie-tor can find himself with some impressions to share and lots of pontificating to do.

To wit:

One of these days, it would behoove Marvel to remember that their customer base is the comics retailers. Making vague statements about how “big” a book is going to be is not the same as giving your customers information they can actually use.

I wonder how many non-Cap readers took a chance on ordering this issue based on Marvel’s vague solicits? If retailers didn’t see a massive boost in pre-orders, why would they want to take the risk without more information?

The Direct Market is, what, thirty years old now, and there are still comics readers who don’t have a clue about non-returnability and how it affects what a store will order? That boggles my mind.

If Marvel wanted to keep the story itself under wraps, could they not have at least shared some info about their pr/marketing plans? “We’re planning a major PR push for this one, including CNN, the NY Post, and many other major news outlets. We anticipate that this will greatly increase demand for this issue from the general public, so you might want to get ready for it.” That’s a little more concrete and specific than “Trust us. It’s going to be big. Order lots.”

Yes, I know that a major news happening could very well have scuttled all those PR plans, leaving retailers with unsold issues, but that’s beyond Marvel’s control. At least my way, Marvel would have tried to work with their customers.

And would it have really hurt Marvel to say that any increases retailers made in their orders before FOC would be returnable? “We don’t think you’ll need it, but every issue you increase your original order by will be 100% returnable. Take a chance on this one! We’re standing behind you!” If I were a retailer, that’s the kind of vote of confidence I’d be looking for from Marvel.

I don’t understand the grand fear of spoilers that pervades this little hobby. Is it really that bad to find out what happens before getting a chance to read the comic? Knowing what happened in the story is still not the same as actually reading the story. I’m always as interested in how the story was told as I am in the story itself. No spoiler can tell me that.

Lots of fans are perturbed by the whole thing. Some are pissed. Some are cynical. Still, there are responses, and then there are responses. Long live the little stuffed bull! Huzzah!

And what does Batman think of the whole thing?




Batman image from Dorian, of course.

Bruce and Dick: Totally Hetero

This one is dedicated to Dorian.*




*Okay, so the ideas's not overly original, but I had been holding onto these images for a while now, waiting for some inspiration to use them, which Dorian provided yesterday.

Well, how about that?

February 2007 was the most consistent posting month I've had in ages, maybe ever!

Maybe it's because I just feel so totally frustrated right now. Who knows?

Now, as to whether or not I said anything worth reading, that's another matter all together...

I just hope this damn year gets better.

Oh Why Not?

What's this about?

Note to all the other bloggers who came up with "tiny shackles" jokes a little earlier than me: I created mine before I saw yours. Honest!