Karma Whore

Slashdot is doing “Ask Tick creator Ben Edlund anything…”.
So I posted this question, which I think is funny, and I wanted to share it with you, my loyal monkey armada. 🙂

Loss

My Aunt Val had a stroke on Monday, and she died around 1030 this morning.
I was just going to keep this to myself, but I want everyone in the world to know what an amazing, wonderful, loving, kind, thoughtful, selfless person she was. No person, anywhere, at any time in my life ever loved me as unconditionally as she did. She was truly the matriarch in my family, and, as the initial shock of her loss is wearing off, the growing sadness and emptiness is consuming me.
While she was struggling to survive on Tuesday, and was mostly unconscious, I held her hand, and Anne told her that it was our anniversary on Wednesday…she squeezed my hand, and when I told her that I loved her, and that I’d miss her if she had to go, she turned her head to me, and she smiled, and squeezed my hand, hard. It was the first time she’d been really responsive to us. I felt like she knew we were there, and I felt like she was telling me goodbye, and that she loved me. For that, I am eternally grateful.
Do not ever take anyone for granted, for even one minute. If there’s someone in your family who you love, pick up the phone, and call them, right now, to tell them.
I love you, Aunt Val.

The time, has come, the Walrus said…

Boy, having a vacation was awesome, and very much needed. If you haven’t gotten away, even if it’s only for one day, with your SO, you simply must do it.
We went up north, and visited some wineries…I can’t wait until I am successful enough to move the hell out of LA, and go someplace along the central coast, or even SF. I took some pictures, and posted them in the gallery.
Our server got borked while I was gone, because I was using a .vacation to send the autoresponse. I didn’t know that .vacation keeps a log of everything, so I filled up /var with 79MB of needless info…so, until I figure out another way to send an autoresponse, it’s gone.
I want to run a listserv, for announcements, and maybe a quarterly journal of weblog posts, and stuff…if you know of extremely easy software that I could configure and run, post it in the comments. That’d be cool.
I have some potentially MAJOR career news coming up within the next 3 to 5 days…I can’t wait to post it…!
OH! I submitted a link to Fark, and it was accepted!! Woo!!!
I noticed that nobody went to loren’s house, or posted lots of useless crap for him. I’m very sad.
I will be posting the next installment in the saga of SpongeBob Vega$ Pants very soon.
Let’s Roll!

Make Yourself

I’m out. I’m gone until Thursday, on a much needed get away with my wife.
So, while I’m gone, I thought I’d leave something interesting for you to do: You can go to the Liquid Radio Players website, and listen to the shows I’ve done. Funtimes.
The two shows I’ve done so far are “The Lust of Penelope” and “The Madness of the Horror”
They are done exactly like old timey radio shows, ala The Shadow, or The Greaseman, so you’ll have to settle in, and pay close attention…but I think you’ll enjoy it.
For those of you who haven’t noticed, Soapbox is back.
I’m supposed to be in McPaper tomorrow, be sure to check it out.
RFB will be down, because my computer will be off. Why not listen to thepAvedearth? You’ll be glad you did.
Or, you could go visit loren, and post lots of comments for him. He particularly likes jokes about monkeys. Tell him I sent you.
One last thing: Did you know that Adam Curry is posting stories about all our favorite bands, and Michael Jackson? It’s true. Adam Curry was on eMpTyVee from 1987-1991, or something like that, and he’s sharing stories about the bands he got to interview or hang with. My favorite so far is the story of what a freak Jacko was. Duh.
I keep asking him to post stories about Van Halen. You should ask him to post stories about Van Halen. You should call your most estranged relative, and ask them to bug Adam to post stories about Van Halen. That’s the power of the internet to unite, and bring us more stories about Van Halen.
Play nice while I’m gone, and stay the hell off the couch.

How To Disappear Completely

When’s the last time you looked at your bookmark file? I mean, really looked at it, and realized that most of your bookmarks have gone unused for months?
I did that this morning. Holy crap. I had close to 40 bookmarks that I couldn’t even remember bookmarking. So, after cleaning them up, I got to thinking…I’m getting bored with my regular sites. Which is good, because I’m reading more books, seeing more of my family and seeing more sunlight.
But I had this idea: Post one link that you like, that isn’t already on this site, that hasn’t been posted by someone else. Maybe it will give all of us someplace new to look at. I’ll send the coolest one to Fark, where it won’t get posted.
I’m going out of town tomorrow until Friday, so there will be no updates to the site, and the RFB (which is up right now, btw) will be down, as well. May I suggest thepAvedearth as an alternative listen.
I’m gonna be in USAToday tomorrow or Wednesday, in the e-briefing column. Cool!
If you wanna read the EFF’s analysis of the USAPATRIOT act, it’s here. Scary.
Did you watch The Simpsons last night, after the game? I’ve never seen that one before. Brilliant!