Does This Tony Cochran Guy Know Me?

Suspicious. (Click on the image for a readable comic experience.)

Still in the middle of Right-Brain Time. Will be thinking and writing in words again soon.

Foreign Policy for Really Big Dummies

Jon Stewart breaks it down.

This Just In: Dean Downgraded

This is a funny headline. That is all.

This Just In: Dean is Big News

First he shows up on the front page as a hurricane, causing havoc in the Caribbean and Mexico, and then he's on the front page of the Living section, as a bike salesman assisting many, many women with dubious excuses for buying bikes...

Coming Soon to a Canvas Near Me

Words are slowing to a stop. Images are taking their place. Time to get back in the "studio" (read: corner of the family room).

Back soon.

OMG and LOL

This is why a daily visit to Cute Overload is necessary, people.

You Will Thank Me For This

You need to see the surfing hippo now.

National Geographic Photo of the Day: Surfing Hippos

Found Poetry of the Week

I get a perverse pleasure in typing paragraphs like this at work. I'm calling this...

Your Validity Is Showing

Whenever possible each provision

of this Rental Agreement

shall be interpreted in such a manner

as to be effective and valid under applicable law,

but if any provision

of this Rental Agreement

shall be invalid or prohibited under such applicable law,

such provision shall be ineffective

only to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity

without invalidating the remainder of such provision

or the remaining provisions

of this Rental Agreement.

-

-

-

Thank you. I'll be in the lounge, accepting free drinks as tokens of your esteem.

One of the Smarter Labs vs. a Door With No Glass

Labs. You gotta love 'em. Because otherwise they would starve, freeze to death, die of heat stroke, drown, or get eaten by bunnies.

The Ivy Root of the Week

I say it looks a little like a reindeer. The pickaxe (I've decided to spell it with an "e" for extra length) is for perspective. Ooh, I'm a killer. Yes, this IS the most exciting part of my day.

I don't think this picture captures the insidious nature of this wisteria vine, but it's the best I could do. This shoot is like six feet long, reaching out blindly to grasp whatever may be out there to capture and subdue. These shoots come out of the mother vine all over, climbing the roof, getting into the cracks between the house and the eaves, feeling around for something to crawl onto and consume. As you can tell, it has already begun to demolish the fence once built to hold it up. Left alone for a summer, this vine would destroy Vancouver.

If it didn't look like this in the spring, it would have been gone a long time ago. But once more, beauty successfully disguises evil.

Back To (Killing) Nature

It felt good to get out there for a couple hours and dig out ivy roots with a pickax again.

I've been out of the game due to wedding duties, but I had a few hours to myself today (after I completed the few hours to myself that I spent lazing around with a book), so I girded my loins (well, I put on sunscreen) and ventured out to the ivy patch for some ivy killin.

I don't know what I'm going to do for therapy once the ivy is gone. There is nothing like yanking a dachshund-sized root out of the ground with the help of your trusty pickax and tossing it onto the pile of formerly-vanquished dachshunds to make a smallish female feel like a Riveting Rosie.

It's the exact opposite feeling I get from going to the gym and ending up moving myself and my tiny weights to the corner to make room for the larger, more important-seeming manly, grunting types.

I suppose there is no shortage of vines of one type or other here at Estate Von Kleine Schweine. Always something to kill.

More Pictures of Cute Wedding People

Serious practicing went on during the rehearsal. This is how to walk back up the aisle with style.

This is the site of some very arty wedding photography involving some lovely old columns (lovely professsional photos to come soon, I'm sure). Also using the columns this afternoon: a homeless dude and his sacked-out dog. And a dumpster. With Dave in the foreground, classing the place up a little.

I just like the fun being had in this snapshot. Action photo. Movement. Light. LIFE. (Ode to Ingmar.)

"What do we do with our hands? Let's just hold them out in front of us like this. Perfect."

Daughter-In-Law Successfully Procured

Adorable couple posing at the Skidmore Fountain during Saturday Market. Why not?

Adorable wedding party members enjoying a pre-wedding beverage. Why not?

Some random parent and grandparents waiting around for some wedding action. Isn't that foxy silver haired lady wearing the most adorable dress?

Adorable wedding party milling about at the Skidmore fountain for a good reason, I'm sure.

The wedding was short, full of friends and good wishes, and a few laughs. The bridesmaids were lovely and teary. The groomsmen were goofy and warm. The groom was handsome, funny, and fashionable. The bride was beautiful, funny, and relaxed. It was obvious to everybody in attendance that they chose each other well.

The party afterwards was happy, all-inclusive, and full of the best family and friends. I danced like an idiot, but I wasn't alone.

If you don't count the gorgeous bride and groom, I'm going to have to give the Cutest Dancing Couple award to my parents.

Although I may be biased.

I heart Dean and Jenny. They work hard and play hard and know some stuff. And like the best show dogs, they have great bloodlines. They are going to go places.

Brain Activity Level Down to Minimal

Dean and Jenny's wedding is on Saturday. Everybody's starting to come into town. Constant grocery shopping has begun.

Dean and Jenny sent invitations out to pretty much everybody thinking maybe half would show up. Turns out this wedding is the hottest ticket in town. It will be standing room only.

My crossword puzzle powers have melted away along with most of my reasoning powers.

I heard a Flight of the Conchords song today on Fresh Air ("The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room"), and I honestly thought it would make a cute song to dance to at the wedding.