As many of you know, there are several comics on the daily comics page that have outlived their usefulness and need to leave. Along with BC (the creator died, already), Peanuts reruns, Blondie and The Family Circus, Garfield is one such comic.Garfield hits 30 years old this year (in June) and it has started to wear out its welcome, I think. My favorite part about the whole Garfield universe, in fact, is the Garfield & Friends TV show, and the best part of that was the characters other than Garfield (particularly the pig, the chicken and the walking egg).Anyway, in either some sort of post-modern comic criticism or an effort to actually make Garfield's comic strip funny, someone has made a site of Garfield strips without Garfield. They make Jon Arbuckle look like an idiot and I love it!Here's the site.
And here's a taste of what it shows:
We recently got to hang out with our good friends Jeff and Ali, as well as another buddy, Brandon, who was visiting from Virginia. Ali and I talked about our desires to get back in the habit of running, but that it is kind of hard being that Jeff is always studying (it's his last semester of law school) and Crystal is pregnant, so neither of us really have an exercise partner handy.
While that sounds like an excuse, anyone who has ever tried to exercise by themselves knows how much nicer it is to have a partner.
We decided on a plan to get us both running more; we made it into a contest. We are calling it The 100-mile Challenge, and it is simple: the first person to run 100 miles as of March 10 wins. The winner gets to have the loser make them a dinner of their choice.
We have both posted our mileage on our blogs (although Ali's is not open to the public, so if you want to see how she is doing you can e-mail her and ask permission to be on her blog). I am also posting my weight, as I assume that running 100 miles is bound to make me weigh less.
Check back for updates, and if I'm not progressing as you think I should, let me know; I want to win!
Some days, Crystal will find herself awake in bed but not really wanting to get up. When this happens, she stares at our ceiling and tries to recognize shapes in the textured ceiling. So far, she has found a couple very good ones, one of which is zoological, and the other is entertainment-related.
I, on the other hand, have spent approximately two minutes trying to find such shapes and have nothing to show for it. I think my lack of experience in such an endeavor is due to my inability to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling. If I am trying to sleep I will toss and turn and move a lot, and if I am just waking up, I get out of bed.
See if you can guess what Crystal sees in the two shapes that are posted above...
Scroll down for the answer.
Scroll farther.
Scroll a little more.
I think we're far enough away to not spoil the answers, but keep going anyway.
One more scroll...
Here they are!
Did you see them?
A seahorse and Mr. C. Montgomery Burns from The Simpsons.
My dad is the coolest. He is always busy doing something interesting and amazing, quick to help others and very easy to talk to. We get along very well (ever since I stopped being a punk teenager, actually) and have a lot of fun together. There are many things that we do and ways that we think that are similar.
However, there are also some things in which we differ wildly. This post is about one of those things.
My 14-year-old brother, Morgan, called me last night to tell me that he had been talking to our dad about babies or something and wanted to share some information with me. Apparently, before I was born, my dad had already envisioned my life. I'm sure it included a lot of things, but the main points were that I was destined to be an all-star in high school, both in academics and athletics, both of which would get me into BYU, where I would be the star quarterback on the football team. I would win the Heisman Trophy and be drafted as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, only to decline in order to enroll at Harvard Medical School, where I had been accepted.
As Morgan recited this to me, my dad hollered in the background, "But tell him I'm happy with how he turned out!" I assured him that I like the way I turned out, as well, and enjoyed talking about his dreams for me.
When I hung up, it made me think about my expected child and what I envision for her. So far, all I have planned for her is to be able to fight with and beat up the children of my best friends, Jeff and Brandon. Since they don't have any children yet, Chicklet is bound to win. My dreams will come true, unlike my father's.
After than, I don't have any aspirations for her, really.
Fortunately my child will have a good mother, so she won't turn out bad, in spite of me.
This week Crystal and I went to the doctor's office for a so-called "targeted ultrasound," which offers more than simply the two-dimensional view of the baby. The ultrasound tech doing the pictures was very helpful and friendly, and she got us some good pictures of the left side of Chicklet's face. The left side was the only one available, because the little girl apparently loves to use the placenta as her pillow. You can see her snuggled up to it in the pictures below.
(On a side note, Crystal asked last night how we should refer to the placenta. Is it Crystal's placenta or the baby's placenta? I offered to claim it, but Crystal sternly told me that I wasn't really involved. Debate amongst yourselves, readers, and let us know!)
The tech told us Chicklet weighed 1 pound 7 ounces and that she likes to hang out upside down for some reason. She is also really wiggly from about 8:45 p.m to 9:15 p.m. each day, which causes Crystal consternation, and causes me amusement.
According to the little widget Crystal put on the lower righthand side of the blog, Chicklet is at 23 weeks right now, with about 17 to go. Our due date, per the targeted ultarsound, is from June 18 to June 26.
If she comes a couple days earlier, say June 15, I would be happy because actually seeing my kid would be the best Father's Day present ever. I'd even let it slide if Crystal didn't get me anything because she was in the hospital!
