Unrelated Jibber Jabber

Pick a car, any car...

Only 4 votes so far in the Pick-A-Car promotion, but hey, I'm happy to get those. The fact is I am running out of material. Although I really like most of the cartoons, they never really got any feedback, which is a polite blogger way of saying they suck...also I only have a few unused ones left (they come from a 1969 anti-heroin comic book called "Hooked" which was distributed in methadone clinics). The photos-with-sarcastic-comments (like yesterday's) do much better but I can't keep that up every day. The baboon stuff has a small following but, again, I can't run it everyday. I sometimes find stuff in the news I can use but that requires some knowledge of current events, of which I am lacking. People like Dan Tarrant are better at it and you really should read him for that sort of thing. That leaves the stories...problem is I can't tell the good ones from the bad ones; I can never tell what the response will be. I don't do this for praise, but I don't want to bore the shit out of people either. I was hoping the car promotion would pick the story for me. I do well with improv.

Steve Irwin...

Speaking of Dan, his current post is about Steve Irwin and I thought it was one of the better ones out there. Not surprisingly there are millions of pundits talking about old Steve. I heard on CKNW (Vancouver) today that Germain Greer said something like "the animals finally took revenge on him", she was being serious - bit harsh don't you think? Animals may defend themselves but I always admired them for forgoing the urge for revenge - unlike Miz Greer who is known for vengefulness and taking photographs of hairless young boys of indeterminate age...which is flat out fucking hypocritical. Some of the other posts I read included one by Surly Girl over at D-Flat Chime Bar which was a bit disappointing. She's a clever lass but she took the same easy kick at him that I would expect from people of more limited imagination. I find smugness annoying. I don't care if you like him or not but if you are going to write about it, at least look for a fresh angle.

My new office...

My progression from toiling factory machinist to high-paid architectural designer marches on. No sign of the high-pay yet, but the living conditions are improving. I am actually replacing a person who is off with a serious illness but will be coming back eventually. I am currently in his old office (emptied of personal stuff) and when he comes back one of us will get a new office....but for now I'm referring to the room upstairs, first on the right, as my office. At my old place, although I was 3rd in command, I didn't have an office, I had a desk in reception - outside the door to an empty office. It was like working in a hallway with people always standing next to me chatting with other people or reading over my shoulder. My old bosses reasoned that somehow if I were 6 feet further away from the factory floor everything would fall apart. But this is a real office. It has a window and if I stand on a chair I can look out of it (it's a factory, remember). And this is the best part, it has a door. My new job does not require me to deal too much with other people so I am free to close my door and work away undisturbed. This is unprecedented and, I must say, a great concept. The computer has reasonable speakers. It is air conditioned. That's better than most houses I've lived in. I was in there for 10 hours today CADing away and it was a joy. I don't ask for much, just to be left the fuck alone. My problem is I think everyone else is stupid except me...and that's probably not true. Another problem is that humor involving understatement doesn't do well in print form. You mustn't ever take anything I say literally...unless I literally say to take it literally, and even then you should add salt.