I handle this blog like I handle women:  not well and rarely. It’s been about six years (maybe less) since I’ve updated this thing. Since then, I’ve matured and grown emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. Not really. But my ear hair grew. Stupid ear hair!

On a sad note, a close relative committed suicide during the first week of July. Suicide is something I’ve never dealt with closely, and it leaves one with so many conflicting emotions. I oscillate between anger and grief, and now I just feel numb. Denial is in the past, but acceptance hasn’t quite made its way here yet. Looking back, I see so many missed opportunities with my family member, opportunities that could possibly have led to a different outcome. But I’ll never know that. I treated him with love and respect, and my every encounter with him was utilized to demonstrate that love. I didn’t do much, but I was there for him when he needed a smile. At the end of the day, that’s all any of us can give. I’ll miss him.

Well, enough of that. I’m depressing myself.

In the last few months, I’ve been busy with spmething of monumental and global importance:  summer movies. I saw the Transformers, which was everything I thought it would be—and more. The storyline was weak, let’s face it, but the thrill of seeing my favorite characters from my childhood alive and breathing (?) on  the big screen is something that I don’t expect to be matched anytime soon. When Optimus Prime uttered his classic line: One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall...I thought I was going to have geek overload and puke on myself. Autobots battling Decepticons in a no holds barred, kinetic, metal rending two hours that was money and time well spent. I couldn’t ask for much more than that. Thanks, Michael Bay! Speaking of Transformers, I bought some of the toys, too. For collector’s purposes. Really. OK, I opened a couple of them. After I spent an hour trying to transform Optimus Prime, I reevaluated my situation. Here I was, a thirty four year old man, sitting alone at home on his bed, cursing up a storm because I couldn’t transform a toy eighteen wheeler into a futuristic robot.  How pathetic! So I took it back to work with me and let the pharmacy technician I work with do it. She’s good at stuff like that. Now all is well.

In addition to the Transformers, I got a chance to see Spider-Man 3 as well as the new Die Hard movie. It was like a trifecta of sweetness. Next year will have to be pretty awesome to beat this summer’s offerings. A girlfriend would probably trump it, too, but it’s easier just to buy movie tickets. They can’t dump you.

Spider-Man 3, while not quite as rewarding as the one before it, delivered on the action and the pathos. And Die Hard was just a veinful of testosterone. It was like the 80’s all over again. I think I saw Eric Estrada and Don Johnson there, and neither one of them needed work. See what I mean? By the way, according to Word 2007, “veinful” is not really a word. That’s right; I plugged the fact that I’m using Word 2007 and not a pencil and paper. Don’t hate me because I’m rich.

My computer died last week. That was awesome. I was planning to buy a new one anyway. My fried hard drive made my decision somewhat easier. Thank God for backup drives. And brownies. I love brownies, especially with ice cream and meth.

I got a new PC, quad core and everything. It also came with Microsoft Vista. I’m a bit torn on Vista. It’s pretty and cool and everything, but it’s also kind of slow. I’m hoping the service pack coming this fall will remedy some of the sluggishness. If only service packs came in tablet form. That would be nice. I think my reproductive system has a virus—and spyware. Don’t ask.

On the cool, business side of things, my little side job as a CafePress shopkeeper is going pretty well. My sales have increased steadily from month to month, and I’ve learned a lot about designing as well as patience. With that obvious segue, I’ll end this entry with some of my latest designs that I have for sale. Thanks for reading.

Final Showdown Dark T-shirt

Inspired by the Transformers movie.







          
On The Docks Ringer T-shirt

Inspired by the Bon Jovi song, "Livin' On A Prayer."






Symbiotic Emo Button

Inspired by Spider-Man 3






Thread Killer Cap

Funny, geeky design for people who have a love/hate relationship with Internet message boards.