Mark my words, you're going to see Indy EVERYTHING...

SQ sent this one in... it's yet another spud based toy that we must have...

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Finally...

...this means that YouTube, now has everything on it. Repeat, everything is now on YouTube.

And I am, again, vindicated.

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Awesome!

Well, I know where my money's going in '08.... (Thanks to SQ to bringing this to my attention).

Long awaited update post coming soon (if MLW gets the pic's online).

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2007: A Year in Review

The following was intended to be 2007's Xmas letter, but I got put in charge, and you know how those things tend to turn out... Thus, we sent NO cards this year (see? Told ya... so no need to be offended, we didn't send to anyone...) Anyway, for those of you that are actually curious as to what's happening in our little, localized section of reality, well, feel free to read on...

* * *

Well, 2007 was another busy year for us (isn't it always, though?). We started new projects, added to our family and traveled quite a bit.

We started a monthly movie night, with a full, old-fashioned schedule of cartoons, serials, and two features (sometimes classic, sometimes contemporary). The nights seem popular, and we certainly have enjoyed watching old favorites and experiencing new entertainment.

We welcomed JAM’s 1st Cousin-once-removed, Zach, to the world, and have been amazed at how quickly he’s grown (and grown and grown). By the holidays he was walking – sort of – and clearly has a mind of his own. Allyson and Ricardo will have their hands full with him!

We had the great excitement (Woo. Hoo.) of redoing our master bathroom, and having our pipes replaced. We now love our bathroom. The re-pipe was… challenging, and we got into a legal dispute with the company. But, thanks to a wonderful lawyer friend, we’re now done with them. (If you plan to have any plumbing done, please ask for the name of a company to avoid...)

We saw Phantom of the Opera, and Avenue Q. Both were wonderful, although in very different ways. Phantom was exciting and the special effects were wonderful (and we hadn't seen it in like 15 years...), Avenue Q was dirty and wrong and hysterical.

We went to not one but two comic conventions this year. New York ComicCon (we LOVE NY!) was huge and exciting, although bitter cold outside made traveling a little unpleasant (OMG it was cold! And so windy!). We stayed in Weehawken, and took the ferry across the river, met lots of interesting people, bought way too much stuff and in general had a great time. Philadelphia Wizard World (in June) was a lot of fun. The Reading Terminal Market provided wonderful lunches, and we got to see both the cheerleader from Heroes and Number Six from BattleStar Galactica. We continued our new "con hobby" of collecting art and again came away with large quantities of stuff.

We traveled to Philadelphia a second time to see the King Tut exhibit with Debbie and Jim. The exhibit was wonderful and our time with Debbie and Jim was, as always, enjoyable.

We also traveled to North Carolina to visit Jenny and Andy before they had their son (back in March). Andy took a group of us on a walking tour and we got to learn much about Durham’s history. We went to see the Lemurs, and ate gelato (Mmmm... gelato...), and had lunch with Brian and Katie.

For our anniversary we went to Niagara Falls. We stayed in a wonderful hotel with a view of the falls. It rained the first day there, so we did all the wet tourist stuff – the boat to the bottom of the falls, walking under the falls. We also went to the local zoo and saw a magic show (where we got our picture taken with a tiger!).

For the holidays we hosted Jennifer’s parents here. Allyson and Ricardo wanted Zach to spend his first Christmas at home, so we all stayed here. Allyson hosted Christmas Eve dinner and Jennifer hosted Christmas Day dinner, and good food was had all around. (After Xmas we went to NJ to see JAM's relatives.)

In October Jennifer left her job of six years and took a position at the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy. She’s the Manager of Information Services, essentially the entire IT department, so is learning a lot about everything related to computers. An office with a window certainly is a step up and having budget control is fun.

Jonathan is still the President of the Art Deco Society of Washington, although he did not stand for re-election so is stepping down in January. Jennifer is still the secretary of the home owners association, and still enjoying the interpersonal drama. We both are volunteering at the Alexandria animal shelter, working as cat companions. Spending two hours a week petting cats is much more relaxing than either of our jobs (or other volunteering work...) As an outgrowth of that work in November we fostered four kittens. None of them had been socialized, so we spent several weeks convincing them that people are actually pretty cool. In the end we gave three back, and kept a little girl (totally didn't see THAT coming...) So Loki now has a little sister named Morrigan. He’s taking the changing fairly well, although is clearly upset that she’s touching all his stuff and doesn’t let him nap as much as he’s used to. She believes 3am is the best time to run around and play, and he believes that 6am is the best time to beat her up. So far there has been no blood or broken bones, although several tufts of grey fur have floated past.

Stay in touch in 2008!

[Please note: for those interested in such things, I highly recommend looking at the entire set of photos on the fliker account -- we linked to as many as we could, but there's many, many more...]

Cubism?

Many people here at work know me through my incredibly brightly decorated cube. (Comics posters will do that). However, SQ sent in this interesting article/slide show that demonstrates I have not gone far enough...

* * *

In other news, I was going to regale y'all with the tale of how Faith escaped from the bathroom where we're keeping the kittens, but honestly now that they've almost all done it once or twice (the most frequent offenders being Xander and Faith, shown together here) it hardly seems quite as dramatic... We expect that we'll be returning the kittens sometime in the next week, and while it's optimistic, it's possible that they might be in their "forever homes" (that's a phrase we use at the shelter) by Xmas.

You know, I'm not sure if I ever said why I got involved in this... specifically volunteering at the shelter (the fostering just being an outgrowth of that). I have to say it was MLW's idea originally, I think her exact words were something to the effect of, "You like animals... why don't you see if the Animal Welfare folks need volunteers..." And why it's true that MLW was the impetus that got me to send the first email on the topic, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the examples set by other folks I've known of the years on the value of caring for animals. I already mentioned MLW, and I'll do so again, but I also am thinking here of the work that Boppie does, and going back even further, well, I'd be leaving out a lot if I didn't point to Ms. K. Even though we don't talk that much anymore (and even if, if memory serves, I gave her a hard time about it back in the day), I think that her example was something that made an impression on me.

So anyway, enough of my yammering. More cute kitten pictures coming as soon as they get out of the camera...

* * *

Coming soon, more info on comic book movies... (I know, you can hardly wait...)

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The Golden Compass...

...is coming out this weekend, and while other plans prevent me from seeing it, the movie looks pretty cool. And so is the website.

Check it out, my daemon is a female tiger (I hope this doesn't mess up the blog format...):



Apparently you can comment on how accurate a view of me that seems to be and the daemon might morph. Be nice.

Ask me about my foster kittens...!

So I've mentioned to some of you that MLW and I are currently fostering four kittens for the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria (whom I've discussed before). Contrary to popular belief, these are not four new additions to the household, but rather a short term project we've taken on as part of our volunteering. We're working on socializing the kittens (they're all semi-feral... I think) and making them good candidates for adoption. So yeah, it involves a lot of scheduled playing with kittens, petting kittens, holding kittens (and also being kittens the ubiquitous needs to feed, water, and clean up the waste of kittens, but I generally leave that to MLW... Have I mentioned how lovely she is lately?)

Many of you have asked for pictures of the kitties (well, those of you who haven't already met them). And now that our temporary Internet hook-up hiccup has been solved (through the generous auspices of the incredibly nice OragamiSlayer), we can bring the initial pictures to you. Thus, I happily introduce...

• Buffy (the leader) -- Buffy enjoys eating, the house, eating, occasionally receiving special coded messages from the mother ship, and, oh yeah, eating.
• Willow (the shy one) -- Willow enjoys eating, hiding, eating, seeing what other people are eating, and... you're not looking at her are you?! Don't look... eek. (Willow's is going to be the most work.)
  
• Xander (the... boy) -- Xander is a cool dude. He is Willow's brother. Even through his eye drops, he's been great. He loves playing, and often will wrestle with Faith. Loves hiding behind things and jumping out. Doesn't mind eating, but isn't compulsive about it...
  
• and Faith (the vaguely crazy one) -- Faith is the youngest of the kittens (I don't know if I said, but there are 4 kittens from three litters) and physically the smallest, but she doesn't appear to be aware of any of those factors. For the first couple days she truly terrorized the other three. Though now she and Xander seem to play wrestle more than fight. Faith is also the only one that really makes sounds. (All four purr, mind you, but Xander and Buffy only seem to make sounds when they go to use the litter box.) Faith has a cute/pathetic little meow sound she makes. Or should make... it often drops off, so one thinks, "Wait, did I hear that or not?" She often makes the noise while purring if not being petted with both hands...
  

Please bear in mind that Xander had a minor eye infection when we got him, so we had to give him drops. Hence the vague pirate-like look about him in some of the photos.

I also feel the need to stress that these are not OUR kittens. If you're interested in adopting any or all of them (or any number of other beautiful cats, dogs, birds, small critters, etc.) please contact the AWLA and fill out an application. Even if you're not sure, the first step is always an application. If you are interested in the kittens, please mention us and them. (It's likely the AWLA won't know them by name, because they have hundreds of cats, and more importantly, because we changed their names just recently... as there was no common theme, and many of them kinda sucked...)

More pic's to come I'm sure. Also likely wacky stories...

A couple of interesting...

...articles about the movies... the first talks about what the phenomenon of the new movie and technology behind Beowulf and what it means for the convergence of video games and movies. The other is an amusing piece from the NY Times -- your pre-holiday despressing movie guide.

And just to keep things real, as it were, this from the "DUH!" dept...


Hopefully, I'll have some photos of recent events and the gaggle of kittens we're fostering some time soon.

Couldn't have said it better myself...

...so I'll let Clive Thompson at WIRED say it instead.

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My cousin...

...sent me this disturbing news about the local PetSmart. I'm going to have to look for somewhere else to shop...

UPDATE:

This just in through my contacts at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria:

Allan and myself went out to the Petsmart and reviewed the tapes with the Manager and District Manager.The employee never hit the dogs and has a great record with them. The employee is 18 years old and was basically being a kid. He was play-grabbing at one dog in particular, nothing that would be cruelty to animals, but the dog he was playing with is a very submissive dog; including with its owners. We spoke with the teenager and advised him that if the dog is submissive then he should not be playing with the dog in that manner, also we advised the Managers that they need to do more training with their employees and explain to them how to read dog's behavior, etc. Also the employee states that no one told him what was acceptable forms of play in the playgroup. In any case the dog was not hit and the employee was talked to about the situation and will get better training. The dog was not physically hurt. The actions of the employee could be interpreted wrong by someone looking in, but if you review the tape, frame by frame as we did, you will see exactly what occurred and he did not hit any of the dogs. According to the Managers the complainant was a disgruntled client.

Chaun Gorden--Director of Animal Control
4101 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, Va.22304

I have a lot more...

...to talk about (and seemingly have forever), but in the meantime, here's a little something someone at the AWLA sent me.





Cat lovers know it's funny because it's true...

Serious stuff

...(though not apparently serious enough to make me get this posted on time... I can be such a loser...)

So occasionally (and I use that term loosely), I get the "So what's new?" question. And since I don't believe I've shared this here yet, I thought I would let you know. I've been volunteering (for four+ months now) at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. The AWLA is a great organization that takes care of animals here in (you guessed it) Alexandria. So one night a week (or more if my schedule permits) I stop by the Voila Lawson Animal Shelter and pet cats. Yep, that's right. I pet cats. Who even knew that was a job? But it's not only a job, apparently, it's an important one. Live in the shelter can be stressful on the animals, and no one who comes into adopt says, "Hey, can I have that stressed out looking kitty in the corner?" By us (and by "us" I mean myself and the other volunteers, amongst whose ranks I'm managed to convince MLW to join) spending time with the animals and continue to keep them "social" we reduce their stress level, which in turn makes them more marketable, which in turn gets them adopted quicker into a good home. The folks at the League tell us we're saving lives, and on my less humble days, I choose to believe them. But I'll let you in on a secret, I really feel as if I should be paying them. No matter how bad my day or how bad my week is, I know that on Tuesdays, I get to play with cats (and kittens, but I personally feel they don't do much before 5 months or so). This lows my stress level. It's a win-win (as I think we've covered in earlier posts...)

So, if you're looking to support a local animal charity with either your time or your dollars, please allow me to suggest the AWLA for their fine work. And expect to see me occasionally referring to different cats I may interact with. Some of them can be quite memorable (like Bobbit). And please don't think AWLA only deals with cats... there are an equal number of people working with dogs, rabbits, birds, and various little critters (hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, etc.)

* * *

Okay, so that's what I've been up to, but it's not even remotely everything I want to share. A lot of environmental stuff has been across my inbox of late, much of it worth sharing...

Do you know anyone that actually likes junk mail? Yeah, me neither. But did you ever stop to think about how much of a waste it is? For everyone. Time, money, trees, gasoline, more time, and more money. Why not opt out instead?

* * *

And speaking of wasteful... OMG! Was I disturbed when I read this... Did y'all have any idea how bad an idea bottled water is? Now, I'll be the first to say I can't see it disappearing, but maybe working together we could do something to reduce the amounts. I mean, DAMN. Out of control. This will straighten your hair...

* * *

Okay, enough ranting for the time being. Next time we'll have some lighter topics like the Bionic Woman, the Lone Ranger, and Halloween costumes...

What a seemingly odd...

...movie...

Template mods in progress

Mind the dust...

I was going to...

...continue with my random posting from Thursday, and then I read this posting by Joss Whedon, and it seemed more important somehow.

Randomness will continue later...

Yarrr! A day late...

...and a doubloon short... Or somethin' As most of you should know, yesterday (9/19) was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about might I suggest/recommend the official page, the Wiki, or the fine tome Pirattitude! So You Wanna Be a Pirate? Here’s How! and at least that way you'll be ready for next year. Still confused? These polite Canadian gents have created a handy "How To" film.

* * *

What else? Oh, right... I stumbled across this and fine it morbidly fascinating. My favorite part is under "Uses" where is suggests, "Last word in an argument" (because I guess "when you want to be an ass from beyond the grave" was already taken?) I must admit it could come in handy if you're threatening a global conspiracy or large government...

* * *

On the science front, it seems that scientists have determined that we are apparently (each, I imagine) ~0.9 percent more unique than they thought we were earlier (for a total of roughly 1% uniqueness). Oh, also redheads are going extinct. Or rather it was reported to be the case. Turns out things got jumbled up through the media and the interWeb... (no wonder I had so much trouble hunting down the source...)

* * *

I'm sorry, what was I saying?

* * *

This is quite possibly even COOLER than TLAP Day... My thanks to Origami Slayer for bringing it to my attention. Naturally, it's been picked up by clipmarks, digg, and probbly fark...

Okay... End part 1, more tomorrow...

This is totally awesome!

The first "official" Iron Man trailer to hit the web. (I caution you, it took me five tries to get it to download correctly, but I think that has more to say about the network at work than it does about anything else...)

But it is WAY cool. Check it out.

If the rest of the world stopped...

...maybe I might catch up... but I doubt it.

There's so much I haven't had time to share...

I didn't comment on how your Transformers collection might be worth a million dollars... Not mine, of course (though it is quite the talking point at work), and really probably not yours. But this dead guy's...

Nor did I mention there was finally news on the much awaited Man from U.N.C.L.E. DVDs. Nor the one from our dear, lamented Veronica Mars...

And for the local folks, FINALLY some other self-professed pizza snob has spoken up. (Several of those courtesy of SQ... thanks, Man).

Nor have I pointed out how the FBI could be following you around online (or, as some people who are MLW think of it, one step closer to Big Brother).

And that's not even getting into what I've been up to lately. Hint: kittens are sharp and potentially evil...

More later, I swear.

My work here is done...

So I get the following email from a dear, feline ninja friend of mine. It is completely true as I understand it. No names have been changed to protect anyone. And it brings a ridiculously huge smile to my face every time I read it:

Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:37:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Ninja El Gato
Subject: It's CLOBBERIN' TIME!
To: Jonathan Mazur

Good GRIEF, what have you DONE to my CHILDREN!
Fantastic 4 this, Fantastic 4 that, I spend my days as
Reid [sic] Richards to Sammi's Sue, with Quinn alternating
between Ben and Johnny Storm....  sometimes I get to
be the Thing, but Quinn usually claims that role.  A
few weeks ago they spent the day with the team emblem
on their chests, done with face paint.  I feel like an
underpaid actor. (But it's all good!  S calls our
family the Fantastic 4.)  It's all they ask for to
watch right now.  Although has asked for her own
Spider-Man costume...  Quinn's loathe to share, it's
still his favorite.

Got yer message (oops, now I'm typing like Ben talks),
sorry I haven't called yet (and sorry to hear about
your voice, I hope you've reclaimed it!), finding
phone time remains a challenge.  

Sincerely,

Mr. Fantastic

I seriously cannot tell you how funny I found the first line.

Comic books... capturing children's imagination since 1939...

(Granted, some people think it's "corrupting the morals of youth," but I think we know that those people are idiots...)

So happy to be passing on the fun to future generations. And now waiting for JADO's and my cousin's kids to be old enough.

* * *

So much other stuff to report. Perhaps when I have more time...

No, I haven't seen it yet...

...but SQ sent me this article which was kinda funny, since Transformers mania is sweeping the nation.

(For the record, I did see LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, and it was really good...)