CHUTTON!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! So, it's Halloween time. Time for scary stories. Some of you know the scariest of them all. Chutton's story. Here is the condensed version... The year was 1994, the setting a 100 year old farmhouse. Out comes the Ouija. Strange things happen, and a spirit who identified himself as David Chutton speaks to the scared youngsters. Doors won't open. Sounds are coming from upstairs, but no one is up there. One of the girls starts to cry. David Chutton maybe isn't so friendly. Well, the scared kids left the house. No one knew who David Chutton was, but they knew they didn't want to be around him any more. The next week, Chad and I were working at the Olin Cemetary with Don Woodley. And guess who's grave we passed by? David Chutton? No. But the grave we saw neither of us had ever seen before, and had always made me wonder about that night. Not Chutton, but David C. Hutton. (creepy music, Hooohaaahahaoooohooohhahahah, creepy music).

Hawks are back on track....

...And this guy loves it. I actually know this kid from an ER visit.... Can't tell you about that, but I can tell you he is funny as hell. He was at the Gameday visit and Tony Cooper took this pic. You can check out the rest of Tony's gameday pics here. Hawkeye's thumped Purdue last weekend, I will try to get a few pics from that game up.

Anybody else really dig the Eels?

If you don't like the Eels, you probably haven't listened to Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.... Check em out.

Sorry, forgot to attach the link, now click on it above. Also, you can borrow my CD's if you want. Brandon, you could also borrow or just have this white bust of David I have.

Don't worry, he's safe.

You can see DAVID in LIVE ACTION HERE

David, Caesar, same difference....

Hmmmm...

Steve Alford Game Used Golf Tee! (maybe)

Steve Alford's Golf Tee! (Could Be!) Dream IT. Be IT. This could be yours! Still fully functional, and the grass lodged in the tee from the possible powerful swing of Steve Alford remains untouched.

This Iowa Basketball labeled golf tee was found by myself on the tee off of the 9th hole at Brown Deer Golf Course. Less than a mile from the home of Steve Alford, who is known to golf there, who elses could it be?

I can make no actual guarantee that Steve Alford used this tee, but on the off chance he did, wouldn't you want it too? I had it inspected by my Beagle, (see photo), who mysteriously immediately offered the tee a contract extension and a raise even though the tee has not made me any money or met any of my expectations yet. Coincidence? I think not. More proof that this tee likely launched a golf ball once held by Steve Alford.

I will include the mint condition Nike Golf Ball free! (Not possibly game used by Steve Alford.) You could use this golf ball to hit off of the same tee Steve Alford might have hit off of. Just think of that! This is Steve Alford we're talking of here. Steve Alford has counted to infinity, twice! Steve Alford always knows the EXACT location of Carmen SanDiego. Steve Alford has 12 moons, one of which is Earth. And you could own his (maybe) golf tee. Get it NOW!

Cullen Bright Facts...

Who really is more tough? Rick Watters or Cullen Bright? You compare the facts and decide.

If you spell Cullen Bright in Scrabble, you win. Forever.

Rick Watters originally appeared in the "Street Fighter II" video game, but was removed by Beta Testers because every button caused him to do a roundhouse kick. When asked bout this "glitch," Watters replied, "That's no glitch."

Cullen Bright does not teabag the ladies. He potato-sacks them.

When Rick Watters plays Oregon Trail, his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather, roundhouse kicks to the face. Rick also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

Cullen Bright puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like the rest of us. The only difference is, then Cullen kills people.

Rick Watters does not have chest hair, he has millions of highly venomous nematocysts. You have virtually no chance of surviving the venomous sting, unless treated immediately. The pain is so excruciating and overwhelming that you would most likely go into shock and collapse a split second before getting hit in the face with a roundhouse kick.

It's a HAWKEYE STATE!

The BIG gameday. Iowa versus ISU. All week long the Iowa players had to look at posters in each of their lockers, above the urinals and in the weight room of a billboard on I-380 that ISU put up declaring "It's a Cyclone State".

It was a really great college football game, and even more so, because Iowa won. Paul was a little disheartened afterwards, which is self-explanatory in where he tries to lobotomize himself with his finger.


And, you can see Todd Nickell, the perennial Cycloner in a nice Hawkeye shirt next to the explorer. Is Todd turning?... The fans rushed the field at the end, some people were doing snow angels, and the entire stadium was chanting together, "Hawkeye State!, Hawkeye State!"


We finished the night off around the fire...

Chad got Descent!

Got a new gaming store, reminiscing about COBF, and Chad got Descent. I've got gaming in some sort or another on my mind. Hence the red dragon drawing. Anyone care to guess how old he would be? I have to work way too much to start off this month, but you can bet we'll be at Critical Hit Games later in September with MTG and Descent. And lots of junk food. We'll let you know when...

Death by Glabrezu

On this Sunday morning before church, I reminisce about a giant of very short stature. One for whom this blog is named after. After not heeding a warning light going off in the back of his head while running through an anteroom full of short, whitish blobby mini-devils he proceeds forward into a great room, lit by four magical fires. He soon realizes his trouble.

So, what's a halfling to do? First drink your potion of spider climbing and your potion of giant stregth. Take Katrina's Greatsword that is normally too wieldy for a halfling not potioned up, climb the wall and jump off in last hurrah. A halfling's battle cry is not something you think of, but this day it would have put Bruenor Battlehammer's call in its place. With greatsword held in both hands pointing straight down between his short legs, he used all his wieght and enhanced strength to drive it down from the mighty jump from the ceiling. The Glabrezu never knew so much pain. A halfling? It almost drove the Glabrezu to know no more. Instead, he reached up and grabbed the fly sized creature from his back and crushed the halfling would be hero between its claws. Like Tristan, it was a good death.

Will it Sink or Will it Float, Part 2: Beagles?

I have taken Daisy to the Res. and to Lake McBride which is right by my house several times and she had shown me no inclination that she can swim. My brother just threw his dog in the water for the test, it swam, but now is scared of water, so I didn't want to do that with Daisy. So, I got her a life jacket, (I know, pathetic), and just figured when she is ready she will swim.

So, we went out on the kayak, and she was scared, until we hit a big wave and she fell in. First, instant panic, then, "Oh wait, I float, this isn't so bad" She got back on the kayak and was relaxed the rest of the time and would go back and forth from the front to the back checking out stuff. Then Thomas, Daisy and I went out in a canoe and just canoed around Lake McBride. It is very peaceful out there, really a great afternoon.

Other notes of interest:
PLUTOPHOBES!!!
ABC news just reported some elitist, double planet hating scientists have just demoted Pluto from planet status in the face of the IAU new recommendations. This is clearly prejudice against Pluto for its size and status as a 'double planet' which makes some Plutophobes uncomfortable. More on this later.
Critical Hit Games...
A new gaming store is open in Iowa City, (actually in Coralville, on my way home from work, I pass it every day, uh-oh). The gaming itch grows... The store is by far the best gaming store I have been in. It has great organization, a board for posting meeting times for certain groups, tables for MTG, Pirates, and miniature games. It also has a great junk food and pop selection. Suddenly I feel like I am ready to gear up with Quinn, Marcus and Manji-Sahib and tear up some owl-bears. Ahhhh.

Will it sink or will it float?

Nicole started teaching 5-6th grade science this year, and we did a test run on an experiment at home tonight to make sure it would work. Apparently, acrylic beads are just the right density that is sinks in tap water and floats in water saturated with kosher salt. I have no idea why the experiment called for kosher salt, but it did and that's what we used. You can see nicely in exhibit A above, (the picture with the two cylinders), the left glass contains salt water and the acrylic ball floats, while it sinks in the tap water on the right. The picture above with the single glass shows the ball floating in the middle. I put the salt water in the bottom and gently poured the tap water in to keep them from mixing much. Just like oil and water, they stay separated enough for a while that the acrylic bead floats in the middle.



















After our brief science experiment I found Daisy had ripped a hole in her favorite toy and was gutting it leaving that fluffy white stuff all over our living room. I was concerned it might be too late, but I took the chicken directly to the kitchen for an emergency repair with some 3-0 Nylon nonabsorbable sutures. I was able to repair the chicken's wounds, and within minutes the chicken was back being thrown wildly around. He will need some physical therapy for the first few days though.

Well, maybe we can keep finding some more science experiments to try and share. I want to test more stuff to see if it floats. David Letterman has a game called WIll it sink or will it float and it always amuses me. Does a can of peaches float? How about my cell phone? How about The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan? I think witches float.

Without the Shadow- Nothing

When I read that quote it really stuck with me. I found out it could have a lot of meaning that I didn't initially comprehend. I read it in the context of that 'If the eyes sow no tears the soul can know no joy', or basically that through life's struggles we come into more fulfillment and can be happier than before. I have come to truly believe this more than ever.

I found out that in Japan shadow has a different meaning. They have a saying, (Paul help me here if I screw it up), or rather a reply to how you are doing, “Hai, Okagesama de”, which means I am fine, I am under the shadow. Kage means shadow, (Ahhhh, NES game Legend of Kage anyone?), but this saying more means, Yes, I am protected by the Gods.
-'For the one without a shadow, love and success will always remain illusive.' - Gaku Homma




As for the pictures, Daisy found this pleasantly creepy praying mantis and wasn't sure what to think of it. It would turn it's head to look at me no matter where I stood. Mmmm. Also, I was going to make a shirt of my picture of muncher's picture of him wearing a shirt with my picture on it, but I couldn't find where I put my iron ons.

2 Skinnee J's were right- Pluto is a Planet!!!

The 2 Skinnee J's tried to tell us this all before, but some didn't listen. (Check out the song from them off the album Supermercado, Pluto is a Planet, it really is a Pro-Pluto Political Rocker) Well, Pluto is a planet, along with Ceres, Charon and 2003 UB313, or better known as Xena. IAU has proposed a definition for a planet to be any object orbiting a star that has been pulled by its own gravity into a ball shape and is not a satellite of another planet.

Ceres was a planet in 1801, but got demoted to asteroid over a century ago. It rejoins the planet race after this long segregation. When asked about the reinstatement, Ceres quipped, "For over 100 years I have been ridiculed, laughed at, pointed at- ooohhh, look at him, used to be a planet, but now just an asteroid, hahahahhaHAHAHAHA, (pointing and snickering)". Clearly a delicate topic for Ceres, he went on to speak about his committment to the planet community and hopes that other planets out there get their recognition as well.

Charon is sort of been Pluto's moon, but the problem was that they orbit eachother, so they now both gain Planet status. Pluto has spoke vehemently before about the Earth's opposition to Same-planet unions, stating that, "The only reason Earth doesn't want to give my Charon planet status is for tax and insurance reasons, and now they want to demote me from being a planet because I am that kind of planet. Well, I am planet, so is Charon, and hear us roar!" Now, with the new IAU definition, both will be planets, and be our solar systems first 'double planet'. It is still unclear of the tax and insurance benefits that may follow.

Finally, 2003 UB313, or Xena will also gain planet status. It is the farthest known planet-elect in the solar system, and was unable to be reached for comment on Tuesday. Currently thought to be starring in an upcoming roll with Kevin Sorbo for a Hercules/Xena epic movie, she has been very busy.

AstroZombie Brando

I got up at 4:30 this morning to run and nature said 'no you dinnit' by pounding North Liberty with a thunderstorm right when I got ready to go. So, I threw in some laundry and uploaded my first ever caricature. I wanted to be clear on the definition of caricature, because I wanted to know if I was really drawing one or not.

The first definition: A representation, especially pictorial or literary, in which the subject's distinctive features or peculiarities are deliberately exaggerated to produce a comic or grotesque effect.

These are carnival type caricatures that come to mind. But maybe a Undead-Zombie representation of Brandon is still a caricature, exaggerating his peculiarities. Mostly his tendency to drink blood and mutate into an Astrozombie one night a month, which happened to be exactly last night while I was drawing this caricature, on the full moon.
That picture of Brandon taking a sip of guinness on his blog looks innocent, until you picture that same drink, only last night taking form in hemoglobin-guzzling zombie ectasy. I salute you, Brando AstroZombie. Please don't drink my blood.

Long Hiatus

If anyone actually ever checks this page anymore, well, you need to get off the computer. I have been on a little 'sabbatical' for a while. I found I need to de-busy my life a little. It is nice to take some time to sit back and appreciate life, to be more of a human-being than a human-doing. We're not very good at that, at least I am not very good at that.

I have been doing a lot of drawing lately. I dig colored pencils, (preferrred by 3 out of 4 teachers!, and most importantly my wife the teacher). Interestingly, besides colored pencils, I used one other media on this picture. As I was coloring my pinky was bleeding a little and got on the picture, specifically at about 4:30, just on the right side of his cheek. So, I added the red everywhere, which I think made it better in the end anyway.

Nostalgia in the form of Garbage Pail Kids

My parents moved to a new house and as such asked me to come by and get my stuff that I have been storing in their old house. It had been a long time since I had gotten them out. Pure beauty. I used to be obsessed about Garbage Pail Kids, or as those in the know call them, GPK. I have about 1,000 cards, some large ones, those little puffy stickers and 1 poster. I used to have a plastic toy garbage can that you could push a button and Ashcan Andy would pop out of. Not sure what happened to him.



I took a couple pics here to share. Remember how each card had a cousin? You can see to the right, Vile Kyle and Disgustin' Justin are the same card with different names. Tyler Sievers was my best friend in 4th grade, and we thought it was cool that our Garbage Pail Kid Cards were cousins, (Travelin' Travis and Flat Tyler, a kid squished on a tire). Anyway, thought some of you might have had a few of these. If you still have them stored somewhere, I am always in the market for the original ones, especially the series 1-4.

They also have a website where you can make your own animated GPK and email it to someone. I think Cullen would really like this.

Working the night shift...

Ok, Brando will know who this guy is immediately. Anyone else know? He also now is a spokesperson for a lock company.

I am working the night shift and had a chance to Blog since its slow. I read Eric's Blog. Eric, my brain doesn't function in a manner to let me respond to your questions. I need things like, "Who is better, Cory at video games or Brandon firing a rifle? Discuss". I promise I will try though.

I got a promotion for my last year of residency, which equals I have more work to do. As such, I feel I already am lacking in my Blog post frequency. I am going to keep blogging and will be reading all yours, but I will probably be blogging less. I do owe you a quiz I promised though, and I want to do it just right, so be patient and I will have it soon.

Also, we should start finalizing some plans for the SuperChad Bachelor Party Extravaganza. Anybody know where we can get a bus/big van, 2 strippers and a goat? Ok, seriously though about the bus/van. And the goat. No strippers.

Done with the PICU

I finished the PICU this week. My last night I was on call, a 30 hour shift, and I grabbed a photo of the skeleton crew on with me to share with you all. I like how Paul takes photos of stuff he is doing and gives a glimpse of what is going on with his life, even if just a snapshot, so I think it will be fun to do the same from time to time. I am somewhat limited from the best pics however, due to patient confidentiality and ethics.

The PICU, (pediatric intensive care unit), was a cool place to work for a month, but I am glad as hell to be done with it. The hours suck. If I were a single guy though, I would milk it, example: Buddy in front of random girls, "Travis tell me what you did today." Me, "Oh I helped saved dying babies lives".
In reality though, it is way different than ER medicine. We had kids with congenital defects not equivalent with life, but humans have figured out ways to give them surgery and save them. You could theorize that it goes against the whole darwinism concept, but some kids can grow up to be entirely normal otherwise. I had one baby, which I really wish I could show you the video I made of for our ER video library, that after surgery had its chest OPEN. I mean lying on the bed, literally with a 6 inch gap in the middle of its chest with a piece of sterile saran wrap over its heart. You could stand there and watch its heart beating. It has to stay open for a couple of days after the heart surgery, and then they can close it. Its straight mad scientist shit.
ok, i am going to bed. like joe horn says, walk easy.

Erin McKeown Show

I found out Erin McKeown was playing last night at The Mill, so Chad and I got tickets. She delivered and rocked, which was nice after the boring ass Bright Eyes letdown.

One thing I learned about Erin McKeown last night that I didn't previously know was that she has a particular fan following. To be more specific, when I got there, Chad and I were pretty much the only guys there, and our hair was longer than all of girls there. Not that it made a difference, it actually made it more fun, Chad and I singing out loud amongst a sea of young Iowa City lesbians.

Chad and Hillary, Leah, Sarah, Nicole and I went.







I ran into a friend that works in the ER, Glenn, who plays guitar at The Mill some nights.




After the show I ran into Erin, and had just enough beers to strike up a conversation. I thought she might not give me the time of day, judging me as some frat guy, but she was actually really cool. She probably thought I was gay, that's why. Anyway, she insisted we take the picture hold-the-camera-yourself style, which made for cooler pics in the end.



They just got done playing at South by Southwest and were kicking off their tour starting in Iowa City. So, she might be coming around, and I recommend catching the show if you have time.

Margarita Night

Nicole had a spring break since she is a teacher, and so did our neighbor. We celebrated with a Margarita night which ended in the four of us having a brief video game competition.

If it takes you longer than 3 seconds to guess which game we were playing I am severely disappointed in you.

Hawkeyes blow game as I ignore blogging...

DAMN!

So, I have hardly been home in the last week, and thus my absence from the blogs. 94 hours between the PICU and ER in 7 days. Seriously. Then you throw in my beloved Hawkeyes in the NCAA tournament, along with a Magic gaming session wednesday night and you have little time for sleep or blogging. (I was 1-1 in the Magic game. Chad won the first, but then I pulled out my new "good luck" deck, as in good luck trying to win. )

The Hawkeyes were up by 14 points with 7:30 to go friday morning. Then they were up by 2 points with seconds left. And with LESS than 1 second left on the clock a Norwestern St. Demon launched a shot that had no business going in. But it did. I am not usually emotionally attached to the basketball team like I am the football team, (as in actually have clinical depression for a few days after a devastating loss), but the guys on this basketball team were a lot of homegrown Iowa kids who dreamed about playing basketball for Iowa, about being a Hawkeye since they were old enough to throw the ball through the hoop. Hard not to root for these guys. Plus, there were 4 seniors, so this was a horrible way to go out. I should also point out that they were battling Demons, and demons are evil.



They did however win the Big Ten Tournament just 1 week ago, so, congrats and so long guys.

Later this week, the second edition of the Nintendo quiz challenge. Ok, maybe by next Sunday.

Update: Paul submitted this picture above which he preferred.


Tony said he was tired of opening up my blog and seeing my mug at the top, so since I am at work here is my temporary post to take up space until I have time to put something more worthwhile on. I have no idea who this little girl is, but apparently mom and dad need to up her feedings. I just got off of a 30 hour shift in the PICU, so I am going to go sleep now for a while.

Wizards and Warriors

Cory's pic of Wizards and Warriors got me pumped enough to bust it out. Ok, so my memories were actually better than the game seemed tonight. You can see however that after battling countless not so horrifying flies and falling repeatedly down the tree shafts I made it to the boss. Apparently, his name was EVIL, as you can see above.

It's not everday you fight EVIL, so I was a bit worried.


Luckily, I had the Boots of Force, the Dagger of Throwing and the Shield of Protection. Coupled with endless continues, EVIL was no match for me.

I dispatched him, collected the treasure and released the Princess Lucinda.

There was much joy.

What Is Emo?

Can anyone tell me what emo is? I can quickly conjure a picture of an 'emo kid'. In fact, I like to think I would enjoy the company of an emo kid, and I have enjoyed bands dubbed as emo. But what's at the root of it?

Is emo 'emotive hardcore' and punk rock? Or more emo as in mopey, introverted and seeing the world as desolate? Early emo, a term dubbed in the 1980's was associated with punk rock and emotion the band showed on the stage.

Emo of the 2000's is more associated with the kid who is so humble that it even makes Jesus puke. (And Jesus almost never pukes, being immortal and not requiring an act of puke to dispell toxins from his corporeal manifestation.)

Emo lyrics tend to be a little more depressing, here's an example:

life is a spike / upon which i have impaled myself / screw you dad

Man, if you are emo and reading this I probably made you cry, didn't I?

Frickin' Emo Kid.

But really, despite my pokes I think emo kids can be very cool, but they're the ones who won't admit to being emo. If you call yourself emo, see the picture above. (In all seriousness to that pic, according to my very in-depth research on the topic emo is considered gay-friendly, which is cool.)

I think I might be a little bit emo. Or not. Maybe I just want to be. Tony Cooper is definitely emo, but mostly just for the gay part. What, or who else we know is emo?