What I Really Wanted For Christmas

As many of you know this year the Christmas season was a little drab with me coming down with strep throat and various other potentially life threatening illnesses. My Christmas shopping experience was basically non-existent, and like they say when you don't giveth thou shalt not receiveth... um... much. Or something like that. My parents sent me some neat stuff and a check for home decorating, and my brother and sister-in-law got me an iPod Shuffle, and my friend Jacob and his family got me some hot sauce and some chocolate. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the one thing I was really hoping for. What's that? TRUCK NUTZ. Yes you heard correctly. Truck Nutz. Okay so maybe I don't own a truck, but you don't need a truck to enjoy these babies. According to their website, you can get "properly sized Nutz for motorcycles of all sizes, trikes, ATV's, golf carts and similar sized rigs." You can even get them in key chain form.

But sooooome people just don't get it. Maryland delegate LeRoy Myers is trying to introduce legislation that would ban Truck Nutz and other displays of anatomically correct human or animal genitals on motor vehicles. I have one thing to say to delegate Myers: GET OFF MY NUTZ.

Update 4: Drawerings Part II

Alright, here is part two of my recent drawing binge. Here is Otis taking a siesta on the heater after enjoying a couple Coronas at Mindy's winter fiestaval. I just made that word up. Fiestaval. Anyway I have to research what my next drawing will be.

Update 3: Me and My Drawerings

"Well you know my name is Simon

and I like to do drawerings..."

Something else I have gotten back to is drawing. I hadn't really done anything in a while so I thought it was time to work on a little portfolio. I decided to start with some drawings of Otis, everyone's favorite boston terrier. I finished the first one, a piece I like to call Otis Chewing on Bone (I uploaded a copy below). I am mostly done with the second one, Otis in Pancho with Beer, which I will post later when I have finished it.

Update 2: Grad School Marches On

Fall semester ended a couple weeks ago, leaving only one class left to go in the spring. Financial Accounting was a snap especially after the infamous Financial Statement Analysis. Ethics was okay - the topics were sometimes interesting but any class with sixty students and a class participation grade is bound to result in a lot of argument-by-sound-bite. I was really glad that I decided to write the final paper the week ahead of time because write after that is when I came down with strep throat (and believe me, there was no writin' nuthin when you have strep throat).

I also have paid my final tuition bill and purchased my last school book. In fact, my grad school related cash flow will in fact be positive due to the tuition reimbursement money I will have coming back. My last class is Marketing Management, one of our core classes. In case you were wondering, no, I did not concentrate in marketing.

It'll be kind of strange to not be in grad school anymore. Class starts in two weeks and then runs for eleven weeks. I'll be glad to be done, but I've talked to a bunch of people recently about how you start to identify yourself as a "grad student," as this seems to carry some cachet in certain circles. This is especially true when your job is boring and rather hard to describe to people. Oh well, like Mindy I'm starting a new job hunt in 2008. I'm sure you are all as excited about it as I am! Yeah!

Triumph Strikes Again

Here is another pretty hilarious post involving Triumph the Insult Dog, this time dumping on Bon Jovi:

Miss South Carolina Hearts Geography

I guess Mindy was too good to post this on her blog, but in case you were wondering why Americans have such a problem with geography just ask the third runner up for Miss Teen USA:

Update: Reason, Me

Well gang I suppose it's time for me to start to update the old blog again. Not too much has happened lately, with me coming down with strep throat a couple weeks ago which then transformed into some kind of cough which is finally just about done. That kind of put the kabosh on the whole holiday season, but we'll survive somehow. There are a number of updates for you (school, presidential race, Match, etc.) though but instead of making some kind of mega-post I will spread stuff out over a bunch of posts.

Anyway, this weekend was sort of a Mindy-Meg Super Party. As usual, it was at the Local which is one of the, um, local Irish pubs. It's a pretty nice joint, although I did learn that they replaced Strongbow cider with Magners, an Irish one. Although the name doesn't exactly roll off your tongue it tasted fine, although our waitress was not a fan of the change. Then again, I suppose serving a beer named after an Englishman who help invade Ireland in the 12th century doesn't really make a lot of sense. Anyway, it was sort of a blogger fest with many local and international bloggers in attendence. Most of you should know Mindy from Mindy Does Minneapolis, and Meg blogs out of NYC at Hobocamp. Christine of the now defunct Clog Blog was there and Jason of St. Paul Living fame was there with his new boyfriend Corey. Bobbi Jo of bobbiloblawslawblog was there as well with some friends, Katie was there with her fiance (she blogged for about two weeks). Non-bloggers included Heather K and Ben who I think went to college with Mindy.

A good time was had by all, although with this crowd there must always be some drama. Christine was all sad because her fiance had to go back to grad school in Pittsburgh. Mindy broke off her Internet relationship with her Internet boyfriend because apparently he Internet sucked, or something like that. Meg is leaving NYC to go to grad school, and it turns out that Heather has been sick for about as long as I have. Personally, I had to swallow my pride when Corey (who was sitting right next to me) announced that he had a ton of great, single women friends but he couldn't find any straight men to set them up with. While Ben was offered a hook up with one of Corey's fabulous co-workers the plan for me was apparently to accompany them to the Saloon. That's a gay nightclub. Corey thought that a lot of straight women went there to meet straight men. I will let you come to your own conclusion about that, but I'll just say that I think I have a better chance at meeting eligible women at a Promise Keepers' rally than at the Saloon. Seriously. This is the story of my life.

In other strange news, it turns out that Meg is going to Tanzania to do volunteer work this summer on what appears to be the same program that someone I know is on right now. Combined with the lionologist that makes three people I have met recently who have, are, or will be spending significant time in Tanzania. The funniest part is that they were both told to buy baggy pants before they went on the trip, because apparently in Tanzania the sight of a white woman in hot pants is enough to cause major street rioting. Apparently this is due to some kind of butt fetish, which I can relate to (although I don't go around tipping cars over and lighting them on fire or anything).