Cats from the past

I'm not sure who these guys are, but I love the line of the kitten's back and tail. It's the essence of cat, I think, the way he's arching up to look bigger, and looks slightly annoyed. Little cat acting like big cat.

I think one of them is named "Charlie." These are dated 11/66. The top picture is one of those "cute overload" type pictures of the same kitten, obviously rarin' to go hikin' in the backpack. The old kind before they had those padded straps and other luxuries we wimps have today. And the pack was made of heavy canvas and steel and weighed 20 lbs. just by itself.

Suzy and I not compatible!

Before Suzy and I started dating, we decided to hash out once and for all if we'd work together. So we went to Disneyland and got this printout. (That's also the trip where Chris and Angie got married) I forget if it was based on our birthdays, or our aura (say that 5x fast) or what. Alas, our relationship was apparently not meant to be. But we stuck it out anyway despite fate decreeing that we were riding the doombuggy to splitsville. Does anybody know what Cheryl Ladd is up to nowadays?

Chubby Cheeks

Here's a picture of our faithful dog, Fletcher. He was a border collie "mix", (yea I know, just a mutt) and this was taken about 1982. I just had my molars pulled, to kick off the joy of years of braces/headgear wearing. It's apropo that Fletcher is young and full-faced as well.

When I would run around the next-door-neighbor's fields, he would, purely on instinct, chase after all the sheep and round them up and herd them into their barn. Impressive, but the owner didn't like it.

Another Horse

Yet another horse! Ye old photo box is full of them! Is that Jackson Pollack holding him? Or perhaps Grandpa Herbert? And is that a cigarette I see, hmmm? He (mr. horse) looks a bit like Frankie. Arabian? It looks like Salmon Arm, I recognize that steep hill in the background. No on second thought I don't. And is that a UFO hovering in the background? Ok back to work.

ps check out another new post a couple posts down, didn't make it to the top for some reason.

This Old House

In the spirit of old B&W photos, here's an old photo of our house, taken about 1935 or so, in the depths of the Great Depression. People were getting nervous about Hitler's antics across the sea, Benny Goodman was the big thing in dance music, (about to do his Carnegie Hall concert) and cars fit in garages built for them.

Also, white picket fences and lacy curtains were all the rage. Gutters hadn't been invented yet and window technology hadn't progressed to the point where they could make panes more than a few feet across. Good thing someone later took those eyesores out and put in big picture windows...(yes, I'm being sarcastic). And check out those crazy M.C. Escher roof tiles.

Chik-chik-chik-chik-chick-ENS!!

When we moved to Bellingham in 1980, we inherited 4 hens and a rooster. Mighty Meat Makers was the name of their strain. The Rooster was named, for lack of a better name, or any name at all, #1. The strongest and biggest hen was #2, and so on down to poor #5, who was always hen-pecked.

My fondest memory of them is bringing out the pieces of bread soaked in vegetable oil, which was their daily treat. One of us would call "Chik-chik-chik-chik-chick-ENS!!" and where ever they were, they'd stop what they were doing and start an all-out sprint to the front porch where we were. You should've seen how they "leaned into the curve" as they barrelled around the house at full speed.

They were good, if messy pets. The property was always splattered with chicken poop. Then we slaughtered and ate them. They did live up to their name. (One can't get too sentimental living in the sometimes harsh world of the country.)

This old house II

Why we took out the carpeting:

Mom's collie?

here's a picture of Mum as a child (I think?) with an unidentified pooch. Is he wearing a mask of somesort? And are those...ice cream cones on the dog's head? Mum must be 10 years old or so. And why so sullen? It looks like it's at Grandma & Grandpa's house in Tappen...?

Late breaking News! Mom emailed me the rest of the story. Thanks Mom!:
"Lassie, the dog in the pictures, was given to us, and had been trained to bring in a herd of cattle. Saying "go get the cow" set her in motion, and she would dash around looking for something to herd. Since we only had one cow, Lassie would bring her in, usually at a run, with her bag swinging wildly. Soon the cow figured out that she didn't have to run from the dog, so the dog had the cow chase her, and brought her in that way. Smart dog. But running is bad for milk production, so the whole scenario came to an end."

The Schwinn family

Continuing the theme, this is me and me first um, pet bicycle, circa 1977 or so. Note the protective plaid pants to guard against falls. It was actually a convertable bike for boys or girls. Just unbolt the top cross bar and attach it down by the pedals and boom! Instant chick ride. I wanted a bmx bike, but the kind young man behind me acquiesced a few years later and got me the bike of my dreams: The Schwinn SX 1000! Still have it in the garage. Great bike. Thanks dad!

Also, check out the fine physical specimen that is William I. Salas! I think that's when he swam 60 laps a night or something. But he was a male chauvinist pig. At least that's what it says on his Tshirt.

Cyclo & Ace II

We interupt this blog to bring you this special post. I found another Cyclo and Ace cartoon! You'll have to excuse my French bashing though, I think they were just another country besides the U.S., and therefore as good an enemy as any. Yiiiiiy!

(Jackie?), Chan and Mom 1955

Wow, thanks "Mille" for that illuminating coverage of the last photo!

I'm now a little scared to post this next one (while putting off doing a freelance job as long as possible) of mom herself on "Chan" from that same year. Chan was a quarter horse? No, he was a "Saddle bred Hackney Cross" according to the back of the photo. What's that? Did mom own him? And who's the handsome collie? Where was this? My mind wants to place it as Grandma's and Grandpa's in Salmon Arm, but I think this pre-dates that...?

And love the jaunty cowgirl hat!

Horse and Buggy

Here's an interesting photo dated September, 1957. It features an handsome horse in the foreground, held by someone I don't recognize (a young Grandma Gladys maybe?) and a cherry '55 bug in the background! Also beautiful beautiful brick tudor! (The bug is also a tudor of course) This also showcases the power of photoshop; This was all shades of pink and red when I scanned it, and I was able to coax out what is at least close to the original colors. Parents, if you want to fill in any details, I'm all ears.

Pets: Past, Present and Future

Since we seem to be getting a rep. for being crazy pet owners, I thought I'd start posting some of the animals of various sorts from the Salas fambly past. Here's a fun group from August 1983. From left to right: Sugar, Eleanor Roosevelt Smudge, and ChaCho. We trained them to all sit up at the same time for their dinner. It was quite impressive. Note our rockin', recently departed linoleum floor. Kind of gives me a headache looking at it like this.

House from a plane

Wee! This is a more recent follow up to my very first post. Thank you Mowrers for buying a unique car!

My scary face

I had some fun with facial hair last week. Grew it all out, then shaved bits of it off throughout the week. This was the final triumphant flourish before it all came off again. I'm taking off the sideburns too, and going back to mini-LukePerry's.













This next one may be even scarier looking: My silly grin looking at the boidy on me shoulder.

Kickin' Bass!

After buying a new Sony head unit, I was thinking of adding or replacing a speaker or two in the Corolla, so I perused some of the reviews at Crutchfield.com. Here's a couple alarming reviews, courtesy of our misguided youth:

SORRY BAZOOKA
Written by ANTHONY, BROOKLYN N.Y. 11222
"I WANTED SOMETHING WITH A LITTLE KICK FOR MY 1994 BMW 325IS MY FRIEND GAVE ME THIS BAZOOKA HE BOUGHT FOR HIS CAR, OK I DID NOT EXSPECT SOUND LIKE MY MERCEDES 190E WITH THREE AMPS 12 SPEAKERS AND TWO 12" SUBS I WANTED TO KEEP THIS ONE SIMPLE BUT I HAVE TRIED AND TRIED TO CONTROL THE BAZOOKAS BASS I WANT IT TO BE FELT AND HEARD "CLEAR" INSTEAD IT WAS LIKE A SOUND YOU HEAR IN THE BACKGROUND AND YOUR NOT SURE IF IT IS YOU OR NOT? DO YOU UNDERSTAND LIKE A POLICE SIREN YOU LOOK AROUND AND IT IS YOUR RADIO? I HEARD A STRANGE AWFUL SOUND AND IT WAS ME? SORRY I HAVE REMOVED IT AND AM NOW GOING TO TRY THE INFINITY WILL RATE IT AFTER IT COMES "

Gee, Anthony, could it be you're experiencing the effects of hearing loss already at the tender age of 19? Why the flip does anyone need 12 speakers! We're trying to sleep here and you're driving down our real estate value!

Good bang for the buck
Written by Christopher, Chicago, IL
"I was looking to add some bass to round out the 12 other speakers I had running thru my Audi without going overboard or beyond my standard musical needs. I got many mixed reviews about bass tubes but..."

Standard musical needs? What the hell do you listen to that needs 12 speakers?

And what's up with 12? Is that the magic number in car audio?

How far we haven't come

Suz and I went to a rather nice restaurant in the clouds last night, thanks to a generous gift from a client. The waiter was careful to:
1. Initially address me first, not Suzy.
2. Ask Suzy what she wanted first (ladies first.)
3. Give me a menu with the prices listed, while my wife's menu was bare. (That way we men-folk can direct and approve the menu choices based on price if we so desire)

But the food was awesome, shredded duck and roasted yams on home-made raviolli in a fancy green sauce of some sort. Then choklit molten lava cake for desert, drowning in a choklit sauce, with little white hearts drawn in white chocolate. Yumm!

Rapture!

No, not the name of that Blondie song, silly goose.

I picked up one of those fundie-flyers in the parking lot today:


It has the usual drek inside. In this case the mark of the beast will be "a new world order featuring a complex and complicated system to administer and track the movement of people, equipment, goods and finances." Sounds like somebody is lifting liberally from their old Economics 101 textbook. But I thought this part was funny:

What To Do In Case You Miss The Rapture:
1. Stay calm and do not panic. (Insert scene from Chicken Run. AAAAHHHH!!!!)

2. Realize that you are now living in the Great Tribulation. (Are there lots of Tribles around?)

3. Pray like you have never prayed before in your life. Start by repenting for your sins. (I'll be at the gym exorcising)

4. Do not take the mark at any cost. (Sucks to be you if you live in Germany. Oh wait, they're Euro'd now)

5. Set a plan in motion for survival. (Eat the tribles!)

6. Trust no one. (Wow, that's a good Christian thing to say)

7 Watch for the Antichrist. (I thought it was Saddam Huissen, according to Weekly World News)

8. Don't give up hope! (We're screwed! AAAAHHH!!!!)

ps Lo! The mark of the beast!:

I think the stress is showing...

I snapped this picture before we started our commute this morning.

I've been pressuring Chris and Rich to leave on time lately (haha), so sometimes Chris doesn't have time to take care of the grooming of his various hair projects...

OK one more...

I couldn't resist this one, brought to my attention by dear wife Suz:
Elephants at the Woodland Park Zoo have painted Expressionist masterpieces: Their interpretation of the Seahawk broo-haha. So that's what the animals do when they close the gates at night.
http://www.zoo.org/seahawks/seahawks.html

Stop the Insanity

Please know that, before I completely alienate everyone (except my dad), I will stop posting about the Seahawks and the superbo'. I'm not that guy. I have a couple witty and touching posts lined up that will replenish hope that Christian is a nice, sensitive, thoughtful guy. Stay tuned.

GO SEAmmmmmph

Seahawk update

The flight went well. Our boys are as comfortable as is possible:


Holmgren tried to keep the business as usual theme during the flight from Seattle.

He was so relaxed that he slept most of the way.

"We really have it rough when we travel," Holmgren said, jokingly. "The owner (Paul Allen) bought us an airplane. We have all the gadgets so that we can watch live TV or movies, whatever you want. All the seats are first class. The flight crew is the one that we've had all the time.

"The mood on the flight was like the mood of this team all year. I make it a point to go down the aisle once or twice, along with the other coaches. The guys were watching TV or doing what they usually do. Our season's not over yet. That's how they've approached every game this year."

Not everyone Ga-Ga for the Seahawks

From the Friday Seattle Times:

"I'm disgusted," said Marietta Alexander of Everett, "I hope the team loses and loses big! I hope all the sports teams decide to move to Outer Mongolia and people get serious!"

"I don't worship people; I worship the Lord," said Alexander, a substitute teacher. "It's gone beyond reason. People are outfitting themselves like freaks and spending thousands of dollars that they probably don't have to go to Detroit. All that money could have been given to the homeless and the poor."

"They aren't thinking about the fact that one day they are going to have to stand before God and account to Him what they did with their time and money."

She plans to nap during the Super Bowl.

Shouldn't she be helping the homeless and poor instead of selfishly taking a nap?
GO HAWKS!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!

Where's the new annoying slogan?

Ok, 1 week until the superbo'. Where's the latest "Refuse to Lose" or "Two outs? Who cares?" or "Raider Busters"? There's a fan rally in kirkland tomorrow. Maybe they'll unfurl it there. I need to know what the Camry will look like with its new bumper stickers and flags.

SEACHICKENS ARE NOW SEAHAWKS! GO HAWKS!!! WOOOOOO!!!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Nike bought ads on MSN.com yesterday, for their new Airmax360 shoe. Being a sucker, I clicked on the link, in the name of flash research.

They have an inspirational commercial about getting up early and working out, to the sound track of life's most hated sound, the alarm clock. There's a montage of some of their athletes rolling out of bed in the dark and heading to the track/pool/field to sweat and actualize their dreams and stuff.

The gimmick to get your email address on the site is that you can sign up for a "wake-up call" from one of your favorite athletes, as long as they're one of the eight listed.


Mistake #1:
In my infinite wisdom, I decided to give it a try.

I signed up to have Justin Gatlin (Athens 100m champion) give me a call at 7am. I've been wanting to work out in the morning again, but it's been difficult since Suzy was able to adjust her hours at work and get in an hour later, forcing me to sleep in, the big meanie.

Mistake #2:
I woke up with a start at 2am, and thought it was 7, until I looked over at the clock and saw it was in fact 2am. It took me an hour to go back to sleep.

Mistake #3:
I didn't think to leave the phone by the bed to grab it when it went off. When it did go off (I waited for 15 minutes in excited anticipation, since I tend to wake up at 6:45 anyway) I had to feel around for my glasses and trudge to the other room to get it, while Suzy, jolted awake from a deep sleep, exclaimed "who the hell would be calling at this hour?!"

By the time I grabbed the phone, poor Justin had hung up, and didn't even leave a voice mail. I didn't want to come back to bed right away to an angry wife, so I had a bowl of cereal and read the latest Superbowl news. Then I crawled back to bed and sat staring at the ceiling until the alarm went off.

Now I'm tired and grumpy. And a little wiser(?). I signed up for a 9:45 wake up call tomorrow morning.

Boycott Catsup!

From the Seattle times:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seahawks/2002760169_funrail25.html

Pittsburgh's most famous export is Heinz ketchup. As a Seahawks fan, I'm imploring all of you to boycott ketchup for a couple weeks. We'll starve 'em out! Better to eat your freedom fries naked, or with mustard, as a sign of solidarity. Who's with me?

Of course, they suggest you pour your ketchup on the side of fries, not on top, as we cultured people have done for years.

In related news, Sports Authority is selling a beautiful Tiffany-style lamp with the Seahawks logo on it. The perfect accent to our Arts and Crafts inspired livingroom!

"The Sports Authority sells NFL-licensed Seahawks items on its Web site(www.sportsauthority.com), including the Wincraft Seahawks snack helmet.Chips go in the snack bowl on top, the salsa in the removable faceguarddish.For those hoping to integrate fan-dom and fine living, it also sells aTiffany-inspired table lamp with the Seahawks logo cut into stained glass.Not only is it officially licensed ? it's imported."

I just emailed Suzy. It may be a bit of a hard-sell, but I'm sure she'll eventually be on board. Whoops, looks like she's responded to my email:

"Apparently your involvement with professional sports has lowered your IQ tothe point that you no longer comprehend taste or remember that you have a wife."

Ah well;)

Super Sonic Dad

Digging through the big box of family photos:
Here's a picture from the mid-60s, when my dad worked for Boeing. Not only that, he was there during the exciting development of the Boeing "SST" or "Super Sonic Transport". The thought of the day was that planes are getting faster and faster, so it's only reasonable that going beyond the sound barrier will be an everyday occurance by 1980, so we better get on the band wagon now. And so they did. My dad was in charge of the graphic design of the program, secret high-level plane design, and making presentations to big wig clients overseas who wanted to buy the plane. They even gave him a white lab coat that said in big letters "USA" in red and "SST" in blue.

In this picture foreign dignataries wait for a presentation to start (note easel in background) while a woman-folk waits to get coffee. This hanger was the largest building in the world, until Johnny-come-lately Kennedy Space Center came along.

My dad took the picture with his Polaroid "Land" camera. After the shot was taken, he had to pull out the exposed paper, but it in a little slightly-curved container and stick it in his armpit. That's why the container was slightly-curved. You've come a long way, baby.

Unfortunately Boeing's plane never quite got off the ground, while the French Concorde ruled the trans-sonic skies. But it turns out dad was right all along, as the Concorde is now grounded, due to it's massively expensive expensiveness. And my dad still has a cool bathrobe he got out the deal that says "USA" in red and "SST" in blue.

ps Dad, be sure to chime in if I've distorted any of the facts regarding your roll.

Shot Pudding

I've finally started using one of my local shotput rings again, now that I'm recovering from injury yet again (wrist injury on throwing hand, from Olympic Lifting nine $%!& months ago). Reminds me of Lance Deal's '96 quote that he's like James Brown: "you have to keep coming back, coming back, coming back." It also reminds me that I work at a day job as a graphic designer only so I can fund my shot put career. It's important every once in awhile to step back and put things in perspective.

Anyway, I approached the ring, all excited and ready to throw, only to find that it had been covered by about 2-3" of dirt, mud and pebbles, all topped with a gigantic dog turd.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and didn't even remember this annual rite from previous autumns. I could've used a frikkin' snow shovel this time, for &%@&?!sake.

So out came the towel, scraping away the goo, inches at a time, until the towel became solid with dirt and grime. Then another towel, then another. Then I had to beat the towels against the nearest fence, but found that to be a decent discus exercise;)

After 1/2 hour of this, fingernails aching, I was ready to throw on the slick and still muddy surface. Unfortunately I couldn't turn out of the back with confidence due to the existing mud and moisture. So I put down a scrap of towel on the ring, underneath my left forefoot and turned on that. It worked! At least until I put so many holes in the towel it didn't work anymore.

But I thought that's a neat trick I'd pass along to y'all. Illegal for competition I'm sure, but helps in practice during inclement conditions, when you have enough to battle as it is.

Post Mortem:
I love the internet for helpful feedback like this, from Mohamad Saatara:

Christian,
I saw your post on the ring. We have a lot of trouble in Flagstaff with dirty rings due to inclement weather, and we devised this system that seems silly but actually works great:

Get an industrial mop, and a snow shovel (if you don't have access to a snow shovel you can use a regular flat head shovel), and make a mix of about 5 gallons: 1 small bottle of bleach (more if the ring is very dirty or muddy), and water. The bleach gets ride of the algae and other organic matter that make the surface slippery.
[etc etc blah blah won't bore you with the next two paragraphs on ring care]
I hope this helps and best of luck with your throwing.
Mohamad Saatara
NAU Track and Field
Associate Head Coach

ps (If you're actually still reading) I love having my own blog. It's time to abuse it and drive everyone away. If this post doesn't do it, the one below will. heh heh.

Jessica and Nick: Splitsville!!!

I don't usually pay no mind to what the stars are doing, but this one has me reeling. I thought, as did the rest of the nation, that Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's marriage story would continue for the rest of their lives, like they vowed. But all is now a shambles.

A quote from the wire (Gosh I love MSN Entertainment):
The couple's reality show, "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica," which chronicled their daily lives in a new California home, turned them into stars. The show, which ran for three seasons, made Simpson infamous for her dippy-blonde moments, including the time she confused the tuna she was eating for chicken, or when she eschewed Buffalo wings because "I don't eat buffalo."

(cue rim shot. You can't make shit like that up.)

Donkey Kong Level 5

Here's a sketch I did for Donkey Kong, my favorite video game. It was partly inspired by Mowrer's sketches he did as a kid with Jack. But also inspired by bad or at least weird dreams I have every once in a while that I'm trapped in the world of Donkey Kong, a "Mario World" if you will, with no way out.

Darth Maul

A little late, but just found a photo of my Halloween Pumpkin from around 2000. Don't tell anybody, but I vandalized a few pumpkins for their stems without paying...

Disneyland 2005: Unflattering Portraits

Suzy has always had this thing for licking Angie's hair. Chris is thinking about the next big web thing as he strokes his chin contemplatingly. Angie's nodding off to nap. I'm practicing for my Kabuki theater debut. Shelley is using her invisibility cloak. Rich...I don't know what rich is doing.

Disneyland 2005: The darker side II

Fun with the camera: a magical Disney moment as seen through Walt's crotch.

Disneyland 2005: The darker side

Kid in blue suit: Yo G! You is on our turf! You aksing for a quick trip to the morgue, if you know what I'm talking about!
Geppetto: You talkin' to me?

(Brief battle ensues in which kid's ass is handed to him on a platter; he done been served.)

Geppetto: That's right, don't you EVAH come back to this hood, bee-yotch! And wipe that smile of yo' face! (Gives kid rude hand gesture)

Disneyland 2005

Great attention to detail: Even the wallpaper at Disneyland Hotel is properly themed!

Christian Salas: Media Whore

Here's a quick, non-Disney post before Disneyland. I dressed up as Darth Maul for the Ep. I Line Event back in '99 (stood in line for a week, in 8 hour or so shifts). Lori Matsikawa from Kiro Channel 7 picked me out to interview, since I looked like a freak and probably would provide a good sight and sound byte for the 5 o'clock news. They look for people like me to put in front of the camera so Fred and Sophie Jones sitting in front of their TV with cats on laps can shake their heads at the likes of freaks like me.

Oh! And I shaved my head. I was going to shave my eyebrows too, but Suzy wouldn't let me.

Pinocchio and me 1977

I kept my teeth healthy by chewing through logs. But at least I'm doing better than poor toothless Pinoc.

Splash Mountain 2000

Yaaarrrrgh!!!!! I am Mowrer and I shall eat your head!

Disneyland 1977

My dad loved to take pictures of mom and me in heroic poses, i.e. low camera-angle looking up, and the subject looking up and off to one side toward a heroic, optimistic future:

Disneyland 1988

I don't have any photos from my 1988 Senior trip to Disneyland, but they made us wear this costume and do the goosestep through the park, in 85 degree weather. Fortunately, I had good eye protection. I think my favorite part of our band outfit was the spats. How often does one have an opportunity to put on a good pair of spats? Or say spats? or just one spat? spat spat spat.

New Computer

I gots me a new imac last night, and they now come with an app called "photobooth" that snaps your photo, with all sorts of wacky filters. Not an earth-shattering program, but good for some cheap laffs:

My old boss. "Christian, your sarcasm is a problem.":


"Yes sir. I'll try to be better sir":


Medical Miracle Christian. Or poligymist(sic?) Christian:

Game Fantasys! page 5: The amazing, stunning, climactic conclusion.

All that build up, character development, an evil villian, a great cover and...this is what the pay off is. oh well.

Game Fantasys! page 4

Now we discover the identity of author #2: Vortron Ter! Leith was much better at coming up with names than I was. But then he played more role-playing games than I did (0). We also uncover Leith's Beatle appreciation with the quote from the song "come together." He insisted on reading this page aloud during our presentation, because he had to sing it with just the right inflection to sound like John Lennon. Which he did. I had no idea what the hell he was doing at the time, but I'll always remember his voice as he sang it. But now that I've heard the song lots, I know he sang the "right now, over me" too fast.

You can also see from the illustration that we stepped up the pace.

He used the word "entrapment" even if it was used wrong. Very impressive. I had no idea what that meant. Come to think of it I still don't know what it means. It's legal and it's bad, I know that.

And by the time you get to the bottom of the page, boom, it's over. All that's left is the triumphant last page...

Game Fantasys! page 3: Planet Flark--------->

Now destory is really heating up! I did not do the illustration on this page, I think we traded off and he illustrated and I wrote. The proletariat grumbling about "what the boss offered us" is an interesting addition for such a youngster. must've gotten that from one of our parents. Or a Barney Miller episode.

This episode has strange parallels to two small parrotlets being stuffed in a cage. This must be how Constanze and Fritz view me. No wonder 'Stanze bites me so hard. Especially if I look like that to them.

Game Fantasys! page 2

My second favorite name I invented (after "Cyclo") was "Tyro," which I thought was endlessly cool. But wait! What about a last name? I know: Styro! AND it rhymes! Sweet! I wonder if I thought of these when I was in the supermarket...Or maybe I was inspired by my Tyco train set...

- I don't know what "Gamble World" is.
- This is an early manifestation of my curly cue fondness.
- Also perhaps the first of many times I've come up against drawing two hands shaking, which is actually quite difficult.
- Leith came up with the name "Flar-exeker" (who, by the way, was about 25 feet high).

Apple stock

Apple yesterday released a video ipod, which will change the very nature of how people think and act, and usher in the age of Aquarius. They also announced their earnings, which broke all previous records, and they TRIPLED their net profits. So what are the headlines?

"...Microsoft stock is down $2 over the past month, and tech stocks in general were down yesterday after concerns were raised about Intel and Apple sales."

The truth: Analysts wanted/expected net profits to QUADRUPLE from last year's record profits. Unfortunately Apple only "shipped 1.24-million Macs and 6.45-million iPods, which represents 48 percent and 220 percent growth over last year, respectively. For fiscal '05, the mothership gathered revenues of $13.93 billion and a net profit of $1.335 billion, reflecting annual growth of 68 percent and 384 percent, respectively, and representing the highest annual revenue and net profit in the Apple's history." Yup. Apple's in the toilet. Better sell your stock now.

Also, what's wrong with this sentence?: "Microsoft is expected to report better-than-expected sales tomorrow."

How can "better-than-expected" be expected? Wouldn't that just be "expected"? So of course if MS's sales aren't "better than expected," the stock will go down. I hate the stock market. This is human nature at its worst. I hate all people. Grumble. I need coffee.

Game Fantasys!: Page 1

BTW yes, I know "Fantasys" is spelled wrong.

I actually have no idea what "Game Fantasy" was. Apparently Leith played it, but not me...Maybe he was anticipating me joining the craze that was sweeping the nation. He was about to explain, but thankfully got this train back on track. Ah! But thanks to the internet, I shall now find out...excuse me....OK I'm back. Nothing I could see...Maybe he made that up....oh well. Can't expect every 25 year search to end with Doobie-like success...

I must apologize for the gratuitous image in the lower left corner. You know how young boys are. However I was proud of the logo I came up with for the squadron of space fighters. Although now it looks more like the paper boat that Curious George built. And what the Hell's up with the rainbow?

Game Fantasys!

Here's a grade school assignment from...4th or 5th grade. It's a book written by my friend Leith (NOT "Leaf" which is what my wax-filled ears thought they heard, but that's another story) and illustrated by me.

Here's the cover. Please note:
1. only the middle space ship with the orange exhaust is authentic. The rest of the sketches and witty commentary were added in later years.
2. space pilots still need tight-fitting leather helmets with goggles, just like WWII pilots.
3. The high tech green yarn binding is...high tech green yarn.
4. My young self saw the typographic possibilities of adding a cat head into the M. Brilliant!
5. Even at this young age, I was practicing making things shiny and bejeweled. (cockpit of spaceship under "embarrasing")

Halloween Bejeweled

The re-skinning of Bejeweled continues! First Mowrer did Autumn, Now here's the Halloween version I did. If you want to play, you will need a PC; doesn't work on macs unfortunately:
Halloween Bejeweled

Story Time II

This is a sample of my childhood comic creation, "Cyclo & Ace": two crazy, happy-go-lucky fighter pilots with a bad habit of being caught unawares when "the enemy" came a knockin'. Unfortunately, this one was ripped in half sometime in the last 20 years, and separated from its mate. But it looks more old this way, and you, dear reader, can imagine the astoundingly witty and deep ending I must've given it...haha

Story Time

This is from some time early in Grade school. 1977 maybe? Thankfully they make space ships better now than the flakey 2000 models.