How Long Can Russell Last?

Russell is still on Survivor. Amazing. I thought that once people knew what a sneak he was, they would remove him. Nope. Not yet. And David Caruso is still on CSI: Miami, so it shows that wonders never cease. I am no actor and yet I think even I could take off my sunglasses dramatically, stand sideways while I talk to everyone, and include dramatic pauses in every statement.

Yes, I am a Walker, but I do not use hand turn signals. Maybe I should. I have been known to cut in front of someone when hurrying to a meeting.
Game night tonight in Queen Creek. I did see a new game at lunch yesterday that looks interesting. Dominion. Remind me to investigate it. There is a cool game shop at Chandler Fashion Mall that has Bang! Maybe I will cruise over there Saturday and check out Dominion.

I have a HUGE presentation on Monday to the VP about our projects. I am generating the slides already, but dad gum it. This morning, I rethought my strategy and may have to redo 3-4 hours of work done yesterday to make it more usable. Maybe I'll have to be working on that on Saturday instead.

I think that I mentioned that our shower is leaking into the bedroom and kitchen. I should probably fix the valve first to see if that at least stops the problem. I bought the faucet insert a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I'll have to work on that on Saturday.

While I would rather keep thinking of things to write that I could say I should do on Saturday, but I must still finish and work on today's presentation so that I can work on Monday's presentation. Y'all have a good weekend.

No Survey Today, Even If You Want One

Fine. When even a preacher gives you guff, it is time to through in the prayer towel and hit the showers of blessing. Even so, 80F is too hot for me and 68F is too cold until you get under the sheets at night. And if there was even a pencil out of place on college roomie's desk back in the day, he would notice. I used to move his stuff around just to get a rise out of him. So if he says I might be surprised at his desk, he is correct. Is there nothing in this life you can count on anymore?

We did not watch LOST last night. Not because we did not have time. No, it was not a new episode this week. What is up? Well, the final episodes all happen with no further breaks, so here we go. ABC, this had better not all be a dream of Hurley or something. We better not see Jesse James wake up and realize LOST was just a novel he was reading while he only dreamed of cheating on Sandra. Ben Linus better not be the local preacher who was telling a story to his daughter each night at bedtime.

Speaking of things on TV, do any of you ever interpret statistics in an unexpected way or react to a single comment heard? No wait. Do not answer that. No surveys today, remember? Well, if you know me, then today's CoV comment should come as no surprise. I don't remember the actual number I heard on the radio, but this works for comedic effect.
I see by the hands on the old clock (you are correct. There is not actually a clock on the wall near me. Just the one on my desktop, but that doesn't sound as poetic.) that it is time to end our verbal sojourn for today. Fear not, little buddies, the skipper of this blog will be back tomorrow for our tour before the weather starts getting rough.

A Little Help From My Friends

Today's CoV was suggested by a coworker, but I do think it is a clever acronym. What do you think?
LOST was a repeat last night. Whassup with that? Whassup with that? The next 4 episodes are all new, though, beginning May 4. Chuck may not get cancelled. Good. Human Target may not get cancelled. Good. No Chorale concert Sunday afternoon. Good. It is Wednesday and we are almost halfway through this week. Good.

I saw a couple of responses to my query yesterday about how warm you keep your homes. One of you is crazy! I'd wind up looking like a pile of goo at 80F. It is bearable outside where you cannot control the temp. Inside? Well, let's just say it is worth the cost of the electricity to cool our place a bit more. However, we switch to summer electric rates starting May 1. Since we use the Time Of Day plan, our rates are lower off-peak and higher on-peak. So, if we run the AC between 1pm and 8pm, it costs 30% more than normal rates. I will reset the thermostat on Saturday. Then, 8pm each night, we crank it down to the nighttime 71F. Yeah, baby.

After a certain amount of time, clutter gets to even me. Normally, you cannot see my desktop for papers and folders. Today, it is bugging me. So, I hope to get around to decluttering so I can start the cycle again. Are you a clean desk aficionado or one who uses piles or more like me? I think I can guess for Gweg.

K. Gots to go. Thanks for listening. Well be back tomorrow. Same Bat-time. Same Bat-channel.

It's Not Monday

Man, it was a crazy day yesterday. I put in 10-1/2 hours yesterday, and still had some unfinished items when I went home. Then, we decided to have Boston Market for dinner, but they have tweaked their menu and taken away the better value items, so we left. Well, we ate first. No, we didn't, but I thought it would be a funnier sentence if I said we did. Ha ha. It was a funnier sentence, but it was a lie. It's all a lie. It's time I admitted the truth. OK, it's not really all a lie. In fact, suddenly I feel like that SNL character that keeps saying "Just kidding." No, I really don't, but I thought it would be funnier if I said I did. OK, it wasn't really funnier this time. Let's move on.

I have more Waldo-themed ideas and have included one today.
See how I tied Waldo in with the preference of programmers to keep the building lighting lower so they can see their screens. It is always so dark in my building, except when facilities comes in.

My boss has been out sick for a week now. I hope he is better and returns soon. I hope he stays away until none of the rest of us might catch whatever it is. Don't you hate it when people come back and they are still coughing or sneezing or whatever. Of course, we would never do that.

Hey, we had a discussion about the fact that some people are finally turning on their air conditioners for 2010. What?! We've been running ours for months. We keep it at 71F at night. How about y'all? What is comfortable at night for you?

Well, we'd best get to work. We also ought to do our best work. But don't let your work get the best of you. I thought that would funnier... OK, enough with the running joke. See ya.

Monday, Monday

Not so good to me. That is a bit of a take-off on a Mamas and the Papas song. I've already had to reboot three times. Attendance at the daily 8:30am meeting was way down. The boss is out sick, so questions come to me. Whine, whine.

If only they couldn't find me.
You may have noticed this is being published a couple of hours later than normal. I just did not have time to fight my machine, get the info ready for 8:30, and update this blog. So, rather than subject you to even less interesting writing than usual, I waited and am writing between the 8:30am and a 9:30am meeting that I have over in another building.

We had a game night get-together over at KLIKs on Friday night. That was fun. Kendall seemed especially crazy, and that was fun. We went to see Date Night on Saturday, and enjoyed that. Kathie was under the weather yesterday, but I think she is better today. So, that was our weekend. No wait, there was one more thing. Kathie found that our shower is leaking into the bedroom, so it ruined several LPs that were stored in a box on the floor, and messed up the carpet beside the wall.We already knew it leaked a bit into the kitchen in the other direction. Ah, the joys of a 20-year-old house. I will try caulking the corners and edges before we opt for more drastic repairs.

OK, time to walk over to the other building. I hope you had a good weekend, but now, let's jump into this week.

We Made It Through The Week

We have arrived at another Friday. For those that work through the weekend, they probably look forward to a different day. For those of us toiling Monday through Friday, today is a welcome sight. So, I do and it is.

Good Survivor last night. Two immunity idols played, neither by the person that possessed them. LOST this week? Meh. Riverworld on SyFy? I enjoyed the book, but this is a pilot for a series and so it played out a bit differently. It was OK. My old computer at home? Meh. It sure feels slow. Me? Well, I feel slow, too.

Speaking of slow, let's check out Clarity of Vision. We've had cars and gas engines for a couple of days. Let's slow things down a bit. What might happen if we all ran the same wireless mouse?
Anything up for your weekend? Kathie and I are still discussing ours. Who knows? Maybe we'll find something to do? Saturday brunch? A movie? Taco Bell? We might even do all of those. We are wild and crazy people (and are old enough to remember that SNL skit).

No one interrupted me during the creation of this post. In fact, it is eerily quiet here at the office. Did we actually have today off and no one told me? Nope. Someone just arrived in a nearby cubicle. Oh well, let's do a little work. See you next week.

Rainy Thursdays and Mondays Always Get Me Down

Well, that is not exactly how the Carpenter's song goes, but it conveys a clear message. Since today is not Monday, you can infer that today must be a rainy Thursday, and that would be accurate. The high will only be 66F. Oh yeah. I can take that, since 5 days ago, it was 96F.

Speaking of hot or not, I am not sure which one this mouse cartoon series represents. However, I am determined to see it through. Today's may be the final one, but there may be one other if I want to comment on how noisy the office is with these mouse solutions in place.
LOST - I thought this was an OK and not great episode. Glee - This was a really fun episode, even though I knew few of the Madonna songs. Alison said we would probably enjoy the upcoming Lady GaGa episode even less, then. It is much more fun when you are familiar with the songs.

Do y'all ever check tvbythenumbers.com. It gives ratings and renewal statistics for TV shows. According to them, Chuck is unlikely to be renewed. Human Target looks to be in bad shape, too. I don't watch V, but it is also in trouble. However, Survivor is still good, although I do miss Boston Rob. Tonight's unknown is whether Russell will make it through the next vote.

You know, almost every day, work interferes with my blogging. What is up with that? A dude just came by with a Gantt chart he wanted me to look at. Hey, Buddy, maybe I haven't clocked in yet, OK? Fine. He stood there, so I looked at it and asked a few questions that made it sound like I did not mind. Actually, I didn't mind, but that is not the point. I have an obligation to put out a quality blog every day. Hey, I heard you snickering back there.

Fine. That is the end for today. Have a Totally Awesome Thursday.

Still a Day Behind

I got a lot done, but I still feel a day behind. Luckily, I have few enough meetings today to catch up on some of what did not get done on Monday. How about you? Are you where you thought you would be on this week's To Do List?

Another To Do List that I am behind on is creating CoVs. Right now, I create each days cartoon the night before. That is cutting it really close. I used to have at least one week queued up, so that if I got way busy, I would still have one for the following day. Oh well. It keeps life exciting, right?

Today continues the ridiculous one-upsmanship that an office environment seems to bring.

Yes, I went to Chorale last night. Yes, the allergies went with me, too. So, I did not make it through every song. Since we had practice, I have not yet seen LOST or Glee. Probably, we will catch up on those tonight.

I see by the clock on the wall it is time to return to the land of work. Actually, there is no clock on the wall...and maybe calling what I do work is stretching it, but there is a clock on my computer, and I do have things the company expects me to complete, so.... I will sign off now.

Your Tuesday, My Monday

Did you notice anything missing from yesterday? You know, like Clarity of Vision? Like my insightful and detailed blog? Like your only bright spot on Mondays? Well, I was out sick. I feel just OK today, but I cannot afford to miss more work, so here I am.

That also means that CoV is back today.
On Sunday, I was unable to perform my solo in the second of the two nursing home concerts that the Chorale did. I thought I could do it, but during the concert, I asked the man next to me to sing it. He did a good job, but we certainly caught the director off guard. I hope it is just allergies or that I did not infect anyone at the homes when I shook their hands. Right now, I do plan to go to Chorale practice tonight.

We went to the California Baptist choir concert on Friday. They were very good. That is the school where two of Preacher Bro's kids attend, although neither is in the choir this year. I have heard that Lauri will be in it next year, though. Hey, Caleb, I finally started reading Black and am enjoying it this time.

Well, I have two days worth of work to finish in one day. Let's see how I do.

A Warm Weekend Awwives

We reached 91F yesterday. Our first 90+ day in 2010. Bring it on, weatherman. However, we are supposed to go to the zoo tomorrow, so keep the cool around a couple of more days.

Today, there is another cartoon that one of my teammates would not appreciate. Maybe some of you will not, either. That's OK. We've got room for all opinions in the blog. I try to be an equal opportunity insulter.

Since our computer died (a G5 iMac running 2.1GHz), we have been using our old G4 iMac (533MHz). Whew! A chip one-fourth the speed of the old one really limits YouTube and stuff. And even web surfing is painfully slow. I've got to make a decision about this. Do I cough up a couple of hundred and see if I can replace the capacitors in the broken iMac which does not have the Intel chip, or move into the modern age for $1K or so? I will let you know.

It is a good thing that I took a really huge breath on Wednesday because I have not had time to breathe since then. I know each of you has had weeks like that before. Me, too. Oh well. As Glad sings, "Everything that has breath, Praise the Lord."

The Phoenix Opera is performing Figaro right now, and the radio commercial this morning said, "You have heard it in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Now hear the real thing." I don't think that is why I chose today's post title sounding like Elmer Fudd, but who knows.

OK, I am starting to think about work stuff, so I will sign off. Have a great weekend. Yes, even you, ZKW.

Three in One

Remember that I told you there was a teammate who requested not to be copied on any CoVs that might reflect negatively on Obama? You are correct. She will not be seeing today's comic. And I have a couple more ideas that I am fleshing out that she will not want to see.
Well, we watched LOST and Glee and Criminal Minds last night. Yep. Three programs in one night. Criminal Minds had Forest Whitaker on with a team in preparation for a new spinoff in the fall. It looked interesting. Glee was fun, although we are certainly looking forward to next week's Madonna episode. LOST was really good. They are really scrambling our minds now in preparation for the series end.

I heard what each of you just thought. How could I know they were scrambling my mind knowing where I am starting from? Actually, that is a good question.

It is supposed to reach 90F today. While that is not really hot for this time of year, it does signal the approach of those disgustingly hot days. Now is when we start paying for our wonderful winter weather. Our nighttime lows are creeping into the low 60s, so I can feel it coming.

ZKW, I knew you would appreciate the recent comparison paragraph between Preacher Bro and me. Thanks for the comments.

Tax Day Minus One

OK, y'all. It is time to get those taxes completed and mailed out. We spent ours months ago. Speaking of sending, AZ just opened their Cash for Appliances deal on Monday morning at 6am. By 9:30am, all of the $6.5 million was allocated. Oh well. I suppose we will keep our washer and hot water heater for now.

Today's CoV came from Kathie's comment that our breakroom was huge compared to hers. So, I wondered if a breakroom could get too large.
It is now three days in a row with a single panel in Clarity of Vision. I may have one more idea that could work in a one-panel format, but I am not sure if a four-panel might not work better. It is an iPad-based comic. We'll see. I also thought of an idea for an app called iPrez.

Pray for Preacher Bro, who is dealing with a suicide in his church family. Pastors certainly must deal with all the extremes of life. Pray he will have the right words to comfort and heal.

So it seems Keith and I represent the extremes of our family's life. He heals, I verbally wound. He comforts, I upset. I'm good-looking, he's... Well, enough of that comparison.

As seems to happen every day, I need to actually do some work for my employer. Have a good middle-of-your week.

Rainy Days and Mondays

It is true that the PHX area does not get that many rainy days. So, for me, it must be Mondays that get me down. They are crazy, busy, and follow a couple of days off. I am glad this week's Monday is behind me. For you, though, I imagine it is Fridays that get you down because you know I probably won't blog again until the next week. Sorry, my friends.

It has been a few days since the radio inspired a new cartoon. I am not sure where yesterday's and today's CoVs came from. Of course, today is simply an obvious extension to Steakholders, so let's take a look.

I have not written tomorrow's strip yet. I am an anxious as you to find out where I will go.

I have hit my limit on assignments at work. I have to tell the boss that I am maxed out on projects and support work. After all, I want to do great work, so I will set up a meeting to identify his priorities between my tasks and deliver the high-value stuff first.

When I wrote that last paragraph, it reminded me of a Monty Python sketch where two women are discussing how much one of their son's has grown up. We then find out that he is actually the head of a government department, but it sounded like he was a three-year-old. That is because when I wrote it, I thought, "Wow. I sound all grown up."

Tuesday nights now contain LOST, Glee, and Chorale practice. Craziness, I say. Madness. We will have to watch both TV shows tomorrow night.

OK, the lady in the cubicle beside just came in after a week in Hawaii. I need to listen to the trip. I'll be back tomorrow.

It's Always a Blur

Weekends go by so fast that many of the events seem a blur by the time we go back to work. It reminds me of what Bella says when you ask "What did you learn in school today?" or "What did you learn in Sunday School?" Her answer is the same for both. "I only know when I'm there." So what did we do over the weekend. "I don't know. A bunch of stuff."

This might be my first single panel strip. Who knows, it might also be my last.
Right now, I have five meetings scheduled for today, and six for the rest of the week. Whew.

I did some filing this morning, so I estimate my desk is 1/9 clean. That only leaves about 89% more that I need to file or toss. We shall see.

You preachers. You still have to preach your full sermon, even if missionaries already spoke for twenty minutes earlier in the service? Sure, I know your were inspired by the Spirit, but couldn't you by maybe 15 minutes inspired instead of thirty or more? And while we are on our trip this summer with Preacher Bro, remind me to have us rotate blessing duty so that only 2 of the 9 blessings last longer than 10 minutes or so.

The time has come, the Walker said, to speak of many things. Of blogs and posts and CoVs, of network probes and pings. Of getting all my morning work done before the first phone rings. I am outta here for now.

Open Foot Insert Mouth

Wait. What did you read for the title of this post? Was it Open Mouth Insert Foot? Just curious. It is like a study that I read that said English speakers can read almost any word as long as the starting and ending characters are correct. Ins't taht wreid?

I looked back over yesterday's post and realized that you might think I am worried about my granddaughters coming over tonight. No way. We love them both and welcome them to our house with open arms. I was being funny by calling them hurricanes. Of course they are constantly moving until they fall asleep. Of course they have to pull out every toy in the basket. Yes, we have to read every book we have. That is part of being 4 and 2. I wouldn't trade it for anything. They are miracles of God and I am so glad they live close enough that I can see them almost every week.

Another thing that I cannot worry about is whether you like each day's CoV. Even for me, I find some of them funnier than others. Hopefully, they are more funny than not, except for certain family members in the Dallas area who apparently find cucumbers funnier than my strip. However, this is not meant to pick or any one person. It is merely a commentary on the fact that CoV represents the unique thoughts that come from my brain that most of you have never been subjected to. Sorry about that.

What is up with the Villains team on Survivor? They are crazy. I did not want Boston Rob to win, but I miss him, and so does the team during competitions. Have you seen the competitions on A Minute to Win It? Stacking apples, moving eggs using a pizza box, carrying M&Ms with a straw. They are crazy things. And just a few of the 24 hours are left. Do you think they will kill Jack? And just a few of the LOST hours are left. Do you think they will kill Jack? No telling how many Jack In The Box commercials are left. Do you think they will kill Jack? OK, that last one was added just to have one more reference to the kill Jack question.

I decided to have a PB&B sandwich for lunch today. What? Oh, the second B is banana. No, I am not going to fry it.

It is Friday, so there will probably be no additional posts until Monday. Have a good weekend.

Better Late Than Never

We are on the downhill slope of this week. That makes even a day when I had a dentist appointment seem better. It also means we are about 36 hours from Hurricanes Kendall and Bella arriving in Chandler, AZ. I think we can handle them, though.

I can handle Powerpoint OK. Can you? I think the CoV guys cannot.
Since I am entering this four hours later than usual, I am struggling to be as eloquent as normal. And while I did come up with 6-7 new CoV ideas last night and this morning, I don't really know what to write here.

Thinking of CoV ideas, though, I have one idea for a Tiger Woods themed strip. The hygienist said it was too soon for her, so she did not laugh or even smile. Thoughts?

Well, I had best earn my keep. And I need to open my CoV Ideas file and enter the new concepts.

Wow Wow Wubbsy Wednesday

We are keeping the grands on Friday night. In preparation, we have recorded several programs on our DVR to keep them entertained. These include Wow Wow Wubbsy and Spongebob. So, the alliteration of Wow Wow Wubbsy with Wednesday came to mind in titling today's post. Yes, I have watched WWW with them. No, I do not know any of the character's names, but I would recognize the blocky style in which they are drawn as being from that show.

Do you know what a SWOT diagram is? If not, check out the CoV blog for a little more detail.
Did you see Alison posted again? Be sure and check it out because she got some great news yesterday. She was told that she will have a job next year in the Casa Grande School District. It will likely not be first grade, and it will not be at her current school, but she will continue as a teacher there. Praise God for that.

It looks like Zachary, Brenda and Emily may be leaving Pensacola soon. It is fun to live in different places, but I do not envy them on the logistics of packing and moving and unpacking and restarting a life in a new place. Wow, it sounds like I am getting old, doesn't it?

We are reaching the upper-80s this week. Summer is coming to the Valley of the Sun. It is almost time for us to pay the price for having such comfortable winters. Boo.

Speaking of almost time, that is what it is for my daily reporting activities here at the old workplace. So, I will leave you wanting to hear more about our exciting life. Until then....

New Hires Galore

Here at the office, my boss has hired 8 new people since last Monday. And he has asked me to help get them ready for work. You know, the normal things like physical environment (bathrooms, break room, conference rooms), political environment (PSD is where they develop apps for students like classrooms and discussion, so it gets highest priority), and IT environment (Three main areas of IT, each runs its own projects). So, that has cost me maybe 8 hours out of the last 48. So then, yesterday, he sent a note asking where a deliverable he asked for on Thursday was. Well, I did not get answers from all the people I contacted, so I suppose I had better focus on that today. Hopefully, no one new will show up this morning.

I have a follow-up dentist appointment Thursday morning, so I want to publish the cartoon I thought of in the last visit before I go back. Here is a dude leading a meeting with other dudes who cannot understand him after he went to the dentist.
Did you watch that Duke-Butler basketball game last night? No, neither did we, but it did look exciting on the news this morning.

OK, I'd best get ready for the daily 8:30am so I can get back on the deliverable that the boss is chomping at the bit for. Don't worry. I'll be back in 24 or so. Although 24 won't be back, but that's a different post.

He is Alive

I got some cute snaps of the grands this weekend. However, I have not loaded them into the computer pending a decision on how to handle iPhoto while I am without my main computer and its files. No iPhoto, iTunes, Photoshop, anything. Maybe I should just load them into a folder and then import them when I replace my machine? Anyway, the bottom line is that I still have them in my camera.

So, this weekend, we celebrated Easter and the fact that He is alive! It was a good service and the sermon centered around those that went to the tomb.

Unfortunately, my G5 iMac is not alive. Being without my home computer does not mean I am without any computer. I am using the old backup G4 we had at home, and I still have my Windows laptop at work. So, I can still create Clarity of Vision each morning. Some of you may be upset at that, but it's what I do.


I only worked half-a-day on Friday. Today, though, is a normal workday. So, I'd best get started on it. See you soon.

Good Friday

Yes, I agree that most every Friday is good, but today is Good with a capital G. There is no way I can fathom even one-millionth of what Jesus went through on this day 2000 years ago. And He did it for me! I wouldn't do that for me.

I does feel a bit sacrilegious to present today's CoV in the same post as the previous paragraph. However, it is the one I already had queued up. I give you my send-up of Jack and Jill.

We are heading over to Kyle and Lyndsay's tonight. Sunday at the folks is scheduled to be a typical ham, potato salad kind of Easter meal. I don't know about Easter eggs or not. I think a Peeps cake is planned, too.

I need to go pick up my unrepaired iMac today. I may try to scoot by Fry's Electronics for a hard drive enclosure so I can capture everything inside the iMac. However, I may not do that today if I don't have time.

666 No More

I saw that the Preacher Posse chimed in on yesterday's post. Nice. Thanks for monitoring and keeping me on the straight and narrow (and cheap. Right, ZKW?). Anyway, post number 667 does not have the same ring as yesterday's number, so I'll just move on.

While the post number is not special, today is a day that schoolkids and children love to celebrate. I certainly remember having to laugh uproariously when Kyle and Alison would tell their little April Fool's jokes. The CoV may not be uproariously funny, but it does celebrate the day in a light-hearted way.
As usual, we watched LOST on Wednesday night. Interesting indeed. I need to check out Jed and Cara and see what they thought. Tonight is Survivor night, and you know what that means. If you don't, you have not read my blog enough. Shame on you.

I do still have at least one more NERDsery Rhyme queued up, but special needs keep getting in the way. Maybe I can get it published tomorrow. I also came up with a couple of more ideas for CoVs last night. Here, I'll tell you what I thought of and maybe you can have your own ideas where they might go. I don't yet. What I wrote down was SWOT and SWAG.

I seem to remember that today is Maundy Thursday. I have wondered before who decided to name all the days of this week of Easter. There must be a cartoon somewhere in that.