Two Tomorrows Till Thanksgiving

Let's keep yesterday's nonsense going by expanding the scope of non-specific words. I'm sure this could apply to your work environment, too.
It is almost Thanksgiving. It became a national holiday on Dec 26, 1941. Since then, it has become more of a secular celebration than a religious one. That does not give us an excuse to leave God out of our remembrances. As our pastor said Sunday.... Well, I don't remember exactly, but something about the blessings God gave us and how we should keep those in mind. Take that thought, remember the sermon you heard, and combine them, and that's what I am implying.

I have a lunchtime meeting today, but I have two chocolate chip loaves that Lyndsay made to share with the team. Nice. Now I just need to make sure I do not open them early.

Do you have to work tomorrow? I do. Oh well, I do have a job, so that is good in today's economy. What it means to you is that there will be no Clarity of Vision on Thursday or Friday. I know that may throw some of you into withdrawal, but it cannot be helped. even creative minds need some recharging. No, I should not say that, because then you will expect new levels of humorness next week and I don't have anything planned yet. Let's just say that I only publish so many per year and I am nearing my limit, so like TV shows, there will be a hiatus, OK?

The Dryer From H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks?

Now see, all of us thought that the dryer saga was finished when we replaced the motor last week. No! It worked for three loads and then.... It looks like that new motor was broken, so Dad and I went and traded it out Saturday. So far, it is now working, but I guess I will keep my fingers peeled and my eyes crossed. I was going to call it the dryer from... well, you know, but I think that would be inappropriate. After all, if the dryer did come from there, it would work really well, right?

As you will discern from today's CoV, we rate projects by stoplight colors. So Green is good and Red is bad. That is what drives the central idea of easily recognizing the status of a project by its color.

We are almost to Thanksgiving, a day when we should all reflect on the blessings in our lives. It brings to mind a Carpenters song that Craig Hughes and his sister used to sing in choir concerts. It might be called Sometimes. Anyway, it goes

Sometimes, not often enough, we reflect upon the good things,
And those thoughts always center around those we love.
And I think about those people who mean so much to me,
And for so many years have made me so very happy.
And I count the times I have forgotten to say "Thank you"
And just how much I love them.

And last night at Chorale concert, the director told a story about a man who ate at an all-you-can-eat BBQ. When he went to leave, he found he had thrown his keys into the bin with all the trash and thrown-away food and used napkins. He ended up digging through it to find them and came away dirty and disgusted, but he had saved what he went in there for. The director compared this to Jesus, who left the beauty and glory of Heaven and came to a dirty earth for each of us.

The Lord has given me so much and I want to say thank you to Him and to all my loved ones. But not today. Oh no, then what would I do on Thanksgiving?

Extra Parts When Reassembling

A friend suggested that, when I put the dryer back together, I would probably end up with extra screws. It's true. How does that happen. Where did I pull one from that I forgot to reinsert? How long before that bites me? Anyway, Dad found a new motor for the dryer and we put it back together last night. It worked! Yeah, that probably is because he helped. Still, let's go for another 20 years with it.

Today is the end of the 'where do famous quotes come from' series. I think I chased down that rabbit hole long enough. Here, go ahead and read it.

SPOILER ALERT for Survivor if you TiVo'd it.
Did you see Survivor last night? Can you believe Russell has found his third immunity idol? And how about that tall bearded guy's expression each week when one of his team gets blindsided? Yeah, this is a good season. Speaking of good, we picked up wings from The Vine and a flat crust pizza from a new place called Chicago Pizza that just opened Sunday. Both were good.

I Lint Dad the Motor

No, you are wrong. I did not misspell anything in the title of today's blog. Well, I should say I did misspell something, but it was on purpose. The dryer motor died a couple of days ago, so Dad and I disassembled the dryer last night and confirmed the motor was bad. Whew! You should have seen how much lint was down inside the bottom of the dryer, and all over the motor. So, the appliance parts place is only open until 5:00 or 5:30. So, Dad took the motor and is going to get a new one during regular hours. Then, we get to figure out how to put all those pieces back together.

CoV time. You need to read this with a Scottish accent, OK?

I must admit that some of the musical arrangement on the FOX series Glee are really clever, even if I don't know the originals. Last night, I did and the way they move back and forth between songs is quite creative.

We now have 42 episodes left of LOST. 13 more in Season 3. 13 in Season 4. 22 in Season 5. I am sure we will be ready for Season 6 now.

Taking a Shot

OK, so we had time for one episode of LOST last night. Now I can overlook so many inconsistencies in TV shows and movies. It is OK when a kung fu fighter hangs in the air for six seconds. Still, in this episode, Kate is standing on the beach holding a walkie talkie. Suddenly, it is shot out of her hand. So they were able to hit a 5-6 inch target from 50 feet away. Now, she and Sawyer are startled and begin to run up the beach. The bad guys chase them, but now, they cannot hit within 20 yards of them. Why did that catch my attention? I don't know. It just seemed too incongruous (whatever that means).

Fine. Let's take some CoV, shall we?

Hey, have any of you seen the new Prisoner on AMC? I watched the first one (of three), but I have not made up my mind yet. Certainly, Caviziel is no McGoohan.

Looks like our clothes dryer needs some surgery. I am certain the belt must be replaced (it is the original belt, well over 25 years old). Now, the drum won't even spin, and when I press the start button, I get a noise but nothing is spinning, not even the motor. I'll bust it open tonight, clean it up, and see what I find. Yeah, I am excited, too.

Today's Is Ready

Sure, I did have an idea for today's CoV. It is tomorrow's that I am struggling with. I have all the panels ready except the final comment in the final panel. So, if you have any clever ideas to end it with, let me know. What? You need to know who it is about before you can help? No, that would spoil the surprise.
Somehow, I did not record the password for my electric company online payment. So, I told it to send it to me. Nothing. I suppose I also have the wrong email address in there. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, isn't it?

I am recording the new AMC remake of The Prisoner. I have not real expectations on it, so that may help make it good. I certainly enjoyed the original (no, I only saw it in reruns).

Did anybody see 2012? It made big box office over the weekend, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is worth my time. What about the new 3D Christmas Carol? We saw the preview during the nationwide train tour, but that was mainly a 3D teaser. Some critics are saying Jim Carrey was too much as the ghosts.

Five. Five Epi. Five Episodes of LOST

Did you read the title of today's post the way I wrote it? You should have heard the current advertising jingle for Subway when you read it. You know, "Five. Five dollar. Five dollar footlongs." Anyway, we caught up some by watching five episodes of Season 3 this weekend. Yes, we will have to make up the other two sometime this week.

We also did see the girls this weekend, but I forgot to take my camera, so no photos. Speaking of photos, though, I am almost finished with a new photo book. It is a departure from my usual, day-to-day photo journaling. You'll have to come here and see it. Sorry. Well, first, I've got to complete it and get it printed. Then you can come and see it.

Speaking of the weekend, the Boys went down, the Cards came back, and the Suns held on. Two out of three is not too bad.

How Does He Find Those Idols?

I know we are not supposed to have anything to do with idols, but how does Russell keep finding the immunity idols on Survivor? Last night's episode had a great blindside at Tribal Council when he played it. Let's see if he can find a third one.

They are playing for $1,000,000. That is a lot of scratch, a lot of cash, a lot of simolians. Speaking of money, please read today's CoV.

When I research these strips, I look for quotes by the actor, his or her filmography, anything they may be famous for. I could not find much on Cuba Gooding, Jr., so I had to play off the single line. Yeah, a bit of a stretch, but certainly challenging.

Kathie cruised out to Lyndsay's last night for dinner and to pick up some cakes for school today. She came back with three bundt cakes that are so big, they cover almost our entire kitchen table. I don't know how Lyndsay baked them. Maybe they are really just jello molds covered in frosting?

IT'S FRIDAY! Yeah, baby. No, nothing really planned. Maybe we can knock out a few LOST episodes. The days are inexorably counting down. (Is there anything that counts down exorably?)

Marlon

Marlon is an unusual name, to be sure. When I hear it, I think of my trips to Scotland back in the 80s. One of the things I remember was how they enjoyed teasing me about my accent (because, of course, they don't have one). Anyway, one of their pet US peeves was that the name Marilyn and the state Maryland are pronounced pretty much the same over here. They pointed out that they would pronounce them Mahr'-lin and Merry-land. Fine, enough personal junk (you can't really say that, though, because it is my blog.
Alright. We are almost caught up on TV again, so we can get some serious LOST going this weekend. And we will have to if we are to keep up with our goal of being ready for the final season early 2010.

We have reached another Thursday, with the family Survivor get-together. Will Russell make it through another week? As obnoxious as he would really be in life, he does make for good TV and is great to hurl insults at during the program.

Holidays (Yours and Mine)

As almost always, we will get CoV out of the way for today. However, I am interrupting our regularly scheduled comic strip series for a rare detour into seriousity and appreciatingness for Veteran's Day (this is a holiday for our nation)and those in our family who have served in any branch of the military. Thanks.
Here is a sample page from the photo book I am working on from our recent foray into SW Colorado (this is a holiday for our family). Most of my past books have moved sequentially through our vacation. On this one, I am moving through the photos by theme. So here, we have tall tree shots with a road or path and minimal people, so I grouped them into Roads Less Traveled.

While I am not a veteran, even for those that are, today is a normal workday at our company. I will return tomorrow with more brainless, time-wasting fun.