A Long and Drawn-out Post

Devoid of any meaningful content. Much like life itself.

First, I'd like to welcome a new addition to the Blogroll: Ellie323. Ellie323, a.k.a. "The Sister" around these parts, is the latest of the giant web of blogs spawned directly or indirectly from Me, CherkyB. Only two of all those previous blogs are still going, CJ's Blah and The JohnnyB. Spankolio bit the dust after exactly six posts and rumors about his death that he was never able to completely shake. CJ and JohnnyB both had spin-offs in the form of Cindy's Blah and Thoughts in the USA, neither of which made it too far before calling it quits. Cindy's Blah was completely deleted, and though Thoughts is still there, it has a grand total of one post. I guess if we're counting second-level spinoffs, though, there's another that's still going: What Part of..., JohnnyB's own spin-off of himself in which he describes his political views.

I'll save you the trouble: he's an unabashed left-wing whacko who is tormented by the fact that he just can't seem to give in to the rabid anti-semitism and terrorist apologism that is required from today's "progressives". The one thing that is fitting, though, is that JohnnyB's head is actually big enough to require two blogs to support it.

Not that I don't love him.

So, what are the chances of Ellie323 making it past six weeks? Well, if you take a look at those vanity blogs (i.e., not the political blogs) that have made it and those that haven't, it really comes down to two things:

1. They have changed their names after being given suggestions by Me, CherkyB.
2. They make frequent references to Me, CherkyB.
   

That's right, folks. "CJ's Blah" was originally given the unwieldy "CJBlah" moniker, and "The JohnnyB" was originally just "JohnnyB". And neither blog can get through more than a couple posts without making some reference to me. Hell, "The JohnnyB" even has a reference to me in the tagline.

So, let's take a look at Ellie323 to see if we can figure its chances for success. I see that she has #2 covered, with the first two out of three posts making reference to me, CherkyB. However, the title of the blog still needs work.

I remember back when I was living in that Hell Hole called Rochester, a movie reviewer named Jack Garner used to come on the radio in the morning to give movie reviews and chat with the wacky morning DJs. One day, some local moviemaker had released an indie film, and he was in talking to Jack about it. It was called "Rapture [some number]", and Jack said, "Never name a movie with a number in the title. People can never remember titles that have numbers in them."

So the number is going to have to go, regardless of whatever deep, personal meaning "323" has in Ellie's life. I don't know what that is, given I've only known her for twenty years. Best I can figure, it's a reference to her first car. But "Ellie" is not a very good name for a blog by itself. Maybe something catchier like, "What the Ellie's Going On?" or "What the Ellie's that on my shoe?"

Ok, maybe those aren't guaranteed winners. But I'm breaking one of my cardinal rules for entertaining blogging - I'm only drinking Diet Coke (Diet Cherry Coke, at that) - so you're not necessarily going to get my best stuff tonight.

Not unless you buy me dinner and a movie first, at least.

Ok, so after that Big Giant Plug for all associated weblogs, we can move on to other bidness. I got myself up early today with MaxieC, and I managed to see this wonderful sunrise:


I'd like to note that that is the moon, not the sun. This was 7am looking west from my back deck. The mountains were glowing brilliant red with the morning sun coming up over the plains behind us. You just don't get photo-ops like this in San Schmose.

I took a half-day off on Friday so that I could do some painting. The Mrs. insists that we paint the guest room before Fat Moother arrives for Thanksgiving. I love taking time off work to be with my fambily. It makes me just get all giddy inside.


We bought the paint and I got the ceiling done on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning, after a half-hour of non-stop nagging from The Mrs. about how I shouldn't watch the last half-hour of The Incredibles with my childrens, but should be painting (I was actually waiting for my breakfast, which never arrived), I got to painting. HannieC helped me patch all the little nail holes in the walls, and she even helped painting. Here's the "before" shot.


HannieC is a chip off the old block when it comes to painting. The Mrs's block. She only rolls, no cutting. And she only paints the bottom half of the wall. Then, she spends a lot of time nitpicking how quickly you're doing the cutting and complaining that you're holding up her work.

I showed her how the cutting is done. I told her, "This is called 'cutting a wet edge.'" Which she thought was a funny name. Whenever I say it, I get this picture in my head of Fat Moother saying, "and this is called cutting a wet [something else]," and then demonstrating.

Here's "after". Like all good before/after shots, it's of completely different walls. We painted a forest green and a brown called "Clydesdale". I noted that I thought it was called Clydesdale cuz it looked like the color of horse poop. Happily, these dark colors will require a second coat, so I know what I'll be doing too slowly and after starting too late all day tomorrow.


Here's a picture of the lovely Miss HannieC holding Angibelle. You may note the rather elaborate bandage on HannieC's left index finger. This was the morning after the incident. We're all friends again.


I can't mow under this tree, because the branches are too low to the ground. Now the leaves are an almost iridescennt orange. It is very cool looking in person.


Now for some old photos that were sitting in the camera. This one I call, "Momma said no more TV."


Here is "Please? Just one more bag of potato chips?"


MaxieC will, on occasion, ham it up for the camera.