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One of my biggest pet peeves on the internet is the shameless self-promotion that comes along with being the proud parent of someone or the proud owner of something.  I don’t have a problem with the occasional post about how great your new toy is or how wonderfully your child performed in the recent spelling bee.  I cringe when every single post is about them or it. Someone probably thinks I’m going to be a bad parent because in three weeks, I’m going to allow myself to still be me and I won’t post pictures of my newborn every 45 minutes. I will post the occasional picture or story.  I’m a private person and I tend to think my private life should stay that way.

That being said, apparently folks want to see the occasional picture of a new toy or a new kid.

I won’t post a picture of the iPad, but I will say the device is far cooler than I expected it to be. I ordered it because it was cool and because I saw potential. I am enamored by it because of the myriad things it can do extremely well. Reading books on the device is a great experience. Having all of my useful PDFs with me on a device that is comfortable to interact with and not as cumbersome as my MacBook Pro is a joy.  Being able to watch TRS, iFanboy or Diggnation on a plane with the iPad is a worth the price of admission. I don’t have to compromise my media consumption for portability.

I also bought a bunch of comics today and got myself a cool Flash ring with the purchase of Flash #1 by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapaul.  Gorgeous book. Great art. Can’t wait to read it.. and I got a cool ring to boot.

Finally, some of you may have figured out from my tweets or facebook status messages recently that I bought a Camaro. When I was 17, I wanted to buy a muscle car but decided to spend a year at DePaul University instead. Fast Forward 18 years and I’ve continued to want a muscle car.  I have the coolest wife in the world and one that fully supported me getting the car I really wanted. It may be that she wanted to use it to pick up chicks, I have no idea.  In any case, my 35 year old self is currently gloating to my 17 year old self. I bought the Camaro I wanted and am happy as hell to have it.  For those of you asking for pics, a few are included below. It’s got a black exterior and interior. A sun roof. and everything inside I’d want… with the exception of a v8 and all of the tickets that engine would bring with it.

After a recent twitter poll, I found out that I may not be built for getting sketches from artists at Cons. I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head, which is a good thing considering that I’m about to write a blog post about it.

First, getting a sketch would require standing in line. I’m particularly resistant to standing in line. I’ll do it at amusement parks because there is a definite payoff that I can understand. Waiting in line for It’s a Small World for Caitlin is worth the wait. She loves that ride and I see real value in the end result. Waiting in line for a pretzel? If the line is three people deep, maybe I’ll wait.

If I were to wait in line for a sketch, how much value would I really get out of the end result? I wouldn’t sell the sketch, so that value is negated. I’d probably set it on my bookshelf and never think about it again. There might be value in showing it off to my comic book reading friends. Let’s be honest though. Taking a picture of the sketch and posting it to twitter doesn’t really count as “showing it off” or validate twitter followers as “friends”. This potential value is negligible.

Second, I’d need something to request of various artists. Can I request Marvel characters from DC artists or vice versa? What do I ask indie artists? Can I ask everyone to draw Superman fighting a bear (it is Chicago after all and C2E2 will be a few hundred yards from Soldier Field). Do I ask everyone to draw Spider-Man fighting Hulk? I have no idea. Worrying about this makes me batty and is a good reason for me to avoid asking for sketches.

Finally, getting sketches requires patience. Beyond the frustration of waiting in line or the anxiety over what to request, I have to wait and return later to pick up the sketch book. That’s more of a commitment than I want to devote. What if I’m done with the con and want to go home, but can’t because my sketch book is sitting on an artists table waiting for the pickup time? I’d rather just leave.

So, rational or not, sketch booking isn’t for me. Not my cup of tea. I’ll live without personalized sketches. I’m completely ok with that. If I want something to frame or showoff, I’ll buy original art or original comic pages. I’ll survive.

I am going to attempt to write a blog post on my iPad. So far the onscreen keyboard has not gotten in my way, which is a big plus and pretty surprising. If I stop abruptly it will be because typing on the iPad was obnoxious.

(now onto my post)

I’m tired of the Internet. I’m tired of everyone being completely too cool for everything. Message boards, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and everywhere else you look, someone is telling someone else what they should think. If not what, then they’re telling everyone how to think. I don’t think it is possible anymore to simply disagree. Being right is now a Right.

The most recent large scale event that caused waves in the “better than you” crowd was the release of the iPad. For full disclosure, I own an iPad. Two actually. I love the device. Is it everything i wanted it to be? No. Is it exactly what I expected? Yes. I haven’t fallen in love with the idea of convergence. I’m ok with things in my life having purpose. I put no pressure on my printer to also be a handy card reader or a fax machine. My digital camera does a great job but I don’t ask it to do the job of my video camera.

Back to the outcry. Since the day it was announced, people have spent countless hours and words telling other people why the device would be/is crap. It doesn’t multi-task. It doesn’t have a camera. It can’t make coffee. (I’m sure there’s an app for that) My personal favorite is the contention that it’s a massive iPod Touch.

It doesn’t end there. On message boards i frequent, you can’t go more than a few posts without someone telling others how/why to think certain things. “No human could like this comic because it is crap, the writer is crap and the artist draws with crayon,” they’ll say. Great. What if it makes me laugh in the same way that the movie Airplane does? Is it ok to like it then? Hearing people call into a podcast to ask if they are weird for liking mainstream comics truly brightens my day. We all need to stop apologizing for liking things. Especially, “mainstream” things. They’re mainstream for a reason.

Everyone has examples. Meatball fan-ism for your favorite sports team. Technology holy wars. Michael Bay movies. Coke or Pepsi. Democrat or Republican.

When did life change so that it was no longer sufficient to say, “We don’t agree”?

I recently decided to jump on the bandwagon and catch up on Lost. 103 episodes over the course of 5 seasons are available on DVD. I’ve made it through about 37 episodes and I’ve come to the conclusion that Lost isn’t about a group of folks stranded on an island on which mysterious things keep happening. It’s a social experiment to see if viewers are willing to continue to watch even though very little happens.

And then.. the wheels came off in my brain.

I should have seen it coming. I know better than this. I am in love with a storytelling medium that specializes in telling stories in which nothing of substance happens to a number of extremely important characters. The connection between my love for comic books and Lost should have been more obvious. The cast/crew attend comic conventions (San Diego particularly), which I sloughed off as being pop culturish and just a way to boost publicity. The connection was made when I noticed the credits in the middle of the second season. Jeph Loeb is a producer. If I comb over the first 35 episodes or so, I’m sure I’ll find more comic book creator links.

My interest in Lost was waning after the first few episodes of Season 2. I didn’t care much. As soon as I made the mental link between comic books and Lost, I was back in. If I can suffer through Dark Reign and Norman Osborne, I can suffer through Lost never providing answers.

The story seems to be moved forward by filling in back story and making links between characters. 37 episodes in, I have no idea what Dharma is. I have no idea who is providing supplies to the bunker. I have no idea where this bunker gets power. Comic books move their stories along in the exact same way. Instead of changing a character in a real way, they shuffle the pieces around within the world around the character. Batman subtly changes over time, but he’s essentially the same brooding and determined kid that watched someone gun down his parents.

Through this lens, I’m completely OK with where Lost is going and I’m along for the ride. Hopefully I’ll catch up before the new season and can enjoy the ride in the final season in real time. Incidentally, catching up on Lost feels exactly like catching up on a comic. When I wanted to start reading Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, I went back to the start and picked up all the trade paperbacks. I read them as quickly as possible and had to fight the urge to ask wikipedia who certain characters were. I feel the same way watching Lost. The CIA officer that let Sayid go? He looks familiar and I think I saw him in the jungle. Wikipedia would tell me if I’m right, but I have to avoid the temptation.

So.. tonight I’ll probably finish most of season 2. Tomorrow night I’ll probably pick up season three on DVD. It’s an interesting ride and I can’t wait to catch up and start watching in issues.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found a few interesting pictures that I’ve wanted to add.  They’re a collection of odd things I see while I’m out and about.

This picture is simply infuriating.  I saw this truck a few weeks ago while having lunch in St Paul.  Where do these people come from? I am all for the free exchange of ideas, but ignorant people frustrate me.

Where do these people come from?

The next image is brought to you by the wonderful folks that paint directions on the street.  The road ends in a T not more than 250 feet from the painted arrows.  You can see the street sign in the distance.  Do they really need to tell drivers that you ONLY go left and right?

The road t's... what other options are there?

I love the next image.  While waiting for chinese takeout, I noticed my little friend in the fish tank. Clearly, he’s the super-hero of the fish tank with his dashing domino mask. I wonder what his secret identity is?

Wonder what this fish does when not in costume?

Finally, while driving to Minnesota tonight, I noticed a quickly moving object north of me on I-39 heading into Rockford, IL.  Clearly, as is normal, I thought it was an alien spacecraft until I got a little closer.  Turns out, the Rockford Airfest was this weekend and a B-1 Bomber <fixed> was flying over the city.  Very cool random sighting while on the road. (and for those that are going to ask, I pulled over to the side of the road to take the picture.. I swear <crosses fingers>!)

B-1 Over Rockford...

When I was a kid, i was obssessed with looking at the starry night.  The stars just hung there twinkling away and every night i’d find the same ones in different places.  I eventually noticed they were moving across the sky nightly and back and forth in the sky over time. It was pretty cool.  Not long after this, I figured out constellations and fell in love with Orion.  Every night, I’d look for Orion.  The stars and Orion were much like how I saw myself. Always on the move, but always the same.

I grew up in a very non-stereotypical way.  Most kids I know lived in one place their entire lives.  They can go back to their homes for the holidays still and they know a neighborhood they grew up in like the back of their hand.  Like the stars, I moved constantly.  By the time I was nine, I had lived in three States and one foreign country. Since then, I’ve lived in four additional States.

Even in situations where I should have found stability, I couldn’t find any. I lived in one house from the fifth grade until I graduated high school. During those eight years, I went to 6 different schools.  A guy can’t catch a break.

Through all of this change, I learned a great deal about myself. I learned who I wanted to be and I learned how I wanted to be.  Family and friends that know me could tell you that I’ve been pretty consistent in my manners, actions and moral compass for years.  I found my voice early in life and took comfort in as my world changed around me.

In the way my mind works, my location in the world was similar to the movement of the stars over the course of the year.  Constantly in different places and always in motion.  My identity and my self-confidence was similar to the stars as an entity.  Always the same, always there.

To this day, when I get out of the car at night, I look up and find the stars and constellations I loved as a kid.  I still think about the movement of the stars at night while I’m driving home from a gig. I still wonder what we’d find if we could travel among the stars.

Of course, now that I’m in a place of my own that I have no plans to vacate, I can’t seem to find Orion at night.  When I’m finally home for a bit, I’m going to stake out my constellation.

Every so often.. a blog needs to die and be reborn.  Over the years, I believe I’ve created more new blogs than I’ve created blog entries.  Oh well, such is the nature of the curious tinkerer.  After ditching WordPress a few years ago due to some update issues, I’ve settled back in with the old pain in the ass.  We’ll see how this goes. I like the new backend and I appreciate many of the ease of management features that I moved to Serendipity for.

Maybe I’ll post more than once a month. maybe.