Here's a little thing I built for Michelle this week. My dad and I both built one for our wives. The design is from one of those magazines the hardware stores send out. Michelle saw it and asked me to build it for her. I agreed even though my builder skills are even less than my Ultimate Frisbee skills. But it turned out alright, thanks to my Dad and his tools. It would have been pretty hard to build with a hand saw and a hammer!
You fill it with topsoil and plant herbs and spices and fruits and veggables in there. Then the bunnies can't get in there for once in their lives.
Oh noes! I went 2 whole weeks without Pallas pics! Well here are some good ones- the second one is after she was out helping me with the planter:

My wife's Ultimate team was short five guys today so I volunteered to fill in. Five minutes before the game they were explaining the rules to me. This is what I learned:
A Force has nothing to do with Jedi.
No bodychecking allowed.
Try not to throw up.

Anyways it was fun and I didn't totally embarrass myself- or worse, my wife -and I didn't throw up. Yet.

The crazy clouds on my drive home from work the other day- I just stuck my camera out the window and took some shots. Too much of a hurry to stop! At one point the rainbow was a complete half-circle and uber bright. It wouldn't fit into the viewfinder so no shots. I could even see the end of it as well as the pot of gold, but like I say I was in too much of a hurry to stop.

The big news out of Edmonton today is the new coaches for the Oilers. Unfortunately it means that the naming of Edmonton's third poet laureate got a little overshadowed. Congratulations Cadence Weapon!

For some reason I can only upload one photo to Flickr on the computer I use in Hinton and after that it crashes. It's a Windows so what can you expect?
Oh well. Technically I'm not even supposed to have these pictures let alone put them on the internet.
I do for three reasons: 1. I have never said the name of the company where I work or even really where it is, specifically.
2. I have never badmouthed the company in print, choosing instead to act as a sort of booster. They really do treat me well and I am glad to work there.
3. I post the pictures because they're all gummed up with awesome! Certainly not to make the company look bad.
People from all over the world contact me asking questions about them, some just are fascinated with the giant machines, some even build model replicas and need to know specs. So you know, just helping the world out!
Anyways, in totally other news, just remember that Avatar the cartoon is totally amazing no matter what kind of monstrous mess M Night makes of it.

May Miscellany:

1. Last week John Scalzi posted a review of the new Green Day so I immediately went to the store to buy it only to discover it didn't come out for a few days yet. Anyways I have it now and it's good. Kind of American Idiot + Foxboro Hottubs + Warning which is an equation that = asskickery. I still think American Idiot is the best and most important mainstream rock album since Nevermind. Seriously- prove me wrong.
2. Saw a bear at work the other night. It was snowing and dusk, so we weren't sure if it was a large black or a very wet and bedraggled grizz. I am pretty sure it was a black bear but that would be the first I ever saw on the minesite which is pure grizzly habitat. Last year I saw this really weird creature that crossed the haulroad in front of me. I was like what the heck was that? After some thought I kinda leaned toward wolverine but wasn't positive. Then this week someone mentioned they saw something strange at about the same place and we discussed it and decided it was indeed a wolverine. Next week I hope to see a saber-tooth tiger.
3. Ever see Lords of Dogtown? I saw it the other night at wo . . . uh, I mean I saw it recently. It was really good. Heath Ledger's performance had some elements of the Joker in it which was interesting to see.
4. How about Bully Beatdown? I've seen it once and it was fun to watch a bully get his ass kicked (Michelle: men are weird) but I wonder what happens to the victims once the cameras go home. "Yeah I got beat by a professional fighter while you guys watched and laughed but now that they're gone I am gonna take that ten grand you got."

Since Pallas doesn't quite sleep through the night it's my job to put her soother in if she wakes up before it's time to feed her. Sometimes I need to be "reminded" of my responsibilities. Last night before bed I was reading my Star Wars LegacyTPB ($5 at Calgary Expo!) which takes place 130 years after A New Hope. All the Dark Horse Star Wars comics come with this timeline that helps you make sense of when the story you're reading takes place- either a long time ago, a really long time ago, or not as long time ago, but still long. Anyways, this timeline musta got into my dreams since when Michelle woke me up to tell me to go put Pallas' soother in, I said, "You want me to fit her into the Ewoks movies? I think that's about the only place it would work . . . " As she has learned to do over the years, she just ignored me and put the soother in herself.
Anyways, you thought yesterday's picture was cute? Check these out:

So we stayed in Hinton for an extra day to go to a birthday party- little Taymin just turned two! Taymin's dad Robin is my good friend from work. Anyways they rented the pool for an hour and we got to take Pallas swimming for her first time ever. She loved it! We had a pretty great time too. If you're my Facebook friend you can check out some video. Waterproof cameras are worth their weight in gold. Almost literally.

I've always had an on-again off-again relationship with Star Trek. Star Wars is my first love, but I do really love that one episode where Spock is attacked by all those sasquatches when they crash land on that planet. And of course, TNG brings back memories of the Woodsy Crypt.
Some Star Trekking goodness from around the web:
John Scalzi haikuizes the plots of all Star Trek movies.
JimSmash is celebrating Star Trek Week!
Okay well, there's two anyways. Better than none.

May the 4th be with you!
Round here it kind of feels like every day is Star Wars Day. To celebrate, we went and watched Wolverine! His girlfriend could do Jedi mindtricks so there's your connection. Also, Wolverine may actually be a mutant wookie.
Yesterday I made a quick trip to the Edmonton Pop Culture Fair- just long enough to find Shane Turgeon's table and buy his book on Star Wars-related tattoos (as well as some old vintage Kenner figures!) called The Force in the Flesh.
Speaking of tattoos, my wife bought me Kat Von D's book High Voltage Tattoo which I just finished reading. What a great wife I have! If you like tattoos or LA Ink or rock and roll or anything related, it's well worth getting her book.
It's been over a year now since my last tattoo, and I still have to get that one touched up a bit. I think the obvious next one for me is something related to my daughter- maybe a classical greek goddess bust, done all cool, in honor of her namesake Pallas Athena.

Happy Free Comic Book Day!

I hope you made it down to your local comic book shop to get some freebies. We (my wife and daughter are getting all kinds of comic book events under their belts these days!) went down to Happy Harbor Volume 3 where the ladies of E-Ville Roller Derby were putting on a match as part of the festivities. Our good friend BeeBee Sting, dressed as Supergirl today, was there so we had to support her. And get free comics. Add in the first real nice sunny day of the year and it was pretty much a perfect day! Unfortunately, the super-villains won the game and have enslaved the Earth.




Also, some artists were there doing sketches for donations to the Food Bank. Fiona Staples drew me this sweet twi'lek:

CCEE- the artists

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the Calgary Comics Expo was to meet some of the artists I know or know of through deviantArt. Given that we were only there for a few hours, I didn't get to meet them all but I met the best ones!
First up, Amy Pronovost, the artyewok. Not only does she draw great Star Wars stuff, but she also specializes in flying bears! She drew us a little baby ewok in her sketchbook that bears a passing resemblance to Pallas. Plus I got one of her Star Wars Galaxy 4 base cards as well as sundry other swag. Thanks Amy!
I also had the opportunity to meet the artists of Imaginism, Bobby Chiu and Kei Acedera. Lovely people, both of them. I purchased their beautiful Waterworlds artbook as well as this print from that book:

Also quick shout outs to Virge, Laurie B, Johnny Luu and Miriam Libicki.

PS- Happy Miner's Day! Make sure to buy the miners in your life lots of presents!