Busy and the Holidays

No, Busy and the Holidays is not the name of a 1950's singing group, though I now lay claim to the name if I ever time travel. It just means that we are already past Thanksgiving and the to do list from work and home is piling up.

The plus side is that if the Christmas decor didn't get up this weekend then it wasn't going to happen for a while.

This is likely the earliest the Fry house has ever had a tree up and decorated, not to mention that outside is looking rather festive. Not Griswold festive or Whoville festive but bright and twinkly enough to bring a smile.

The picture, taken from my old phone, does not do it justice, but it is serviceable.

"100 Tacomics" Book Signing

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a book signing for Tacoma political cartoonist, artist and web designer, RR Anderson, who officially released the much-anticipated 100 Tacomics: The Secular & Apolitical Cartoon Life of Tacoma and her Moral People(s). If you have ever been amused, aghast, enlightened or deeply offended by one of this Tacoma's cartoon-legion hero's work, then this book will provide you the necessary fodder to laugh, wince and shake your head once again.

The Tacomics included in the book are drawn from what he has drawn for the last four years or so. Actually there have been some really interesting Tacomics that won't make it in because of their appearance in 2010, but that is OK. Ryan announced that he is working on the next edition, composed of work done through 2010 to 2012 at the signing last night. He promises that he will produce one every Tuesday in order to make that happen. Just because he would be doing that anyway should not diminish the anticipation of the upcoming sequel.

Though in book form, it cannot repeat the appeal of working your way down the comments section that accompanies each new Tacomic as it is posted, it provides a equally valuable experience by including commentary from the man himself. He describes much of the inspiration of what went behind each comic, and when no inspiration existed, he admits to it. Additionally, information on the Frost Park Chalk Off, the secret society of Tacoma, "The CLAW", and other bits and pieces of Tacoma are generously included. That makes this a must have history book as well.

I am pleased to have my signed copy from the event, which I purchased at King Books. I also bought one from www.lulu.com, which I will likely place in the Christmas stocking of someone I know. Anonymously.

The one I have will go on the bookshelf, strategically place high enough that my kids will have to be tall enough so that when they stretch to reach it, they will be old enough to stretch their minds on the topic of Tacoma's political scene.

It will be next to my original drawing of the Tacomic, "Who Control's The Tacoma Media".

Time To Elf Yourself Again?

Yes, I know it is not even Thanksgiving, and I do not believe in dealing with Christmas stuff in early November. I am a Macy's Thanksgiving end of parade kind of guy. However, I love the elf yourself thing that JibJab does each season.

Once again the JibJab team has combined forces with a kind sponsor (OfficeMax) to provide some free access to some fun online festivities. No doubt I will find the appropriate family photo and each of my kids will once again be dancing around like a wild pack of elves.

The question is do I do it now, or wait until the day after Thanksgiving, which is still two weeks away.

Fall 2010 Virtual Scavenger Hunt

It is once again time for the virtual scavenger hunt in Living and Working in a Virtual World. The students will be in teams of three and have laptops with wireless connections to work with.

When I first started doing this, the teams would be lucky to find half the items. With search engines and search techniques being much improved, it is now a race to see which team finishes first.

I have tried to add a couple of tougher queries that require special search engines or specific sites to succeed.

One new item, which is in my opinion a bit spooky is this one.

"What is the maiden name of my youngest sister?"

That is the only information given. Substitute a question similar to this with the name of one of your family members and think about how easy or hard it might be to find online. I will guess that half the teams get this one right, even though there are no official public documents out there which give the answer away.