brykmantra.com

Okay, so it’s nowhere near Autumn yet, but we’re having about a week of temps that are only around 90F, so I’m running with the fantasy and hauling out the pumpkin icons:

I even broke out my traditional end-of-summer album: Who’s Next, by the Who. I don’t know why, exactly, but ever since college this has been the music with which I usher in cooler temperatures.

I’m sure it’ll be back to 100 next week, but for now I’m living the dream, so I was Baba O’Reillying all the way home.

The main reason that I decided to post today, though (3 days in a row!), was the group of famous birthdays clustered up today, including: The Man Who Should Already Be President, The Creepiest Person on the Planet, and Morgan Webb’s co-host (who, besides being very, very lucky, is smarter than he looks).

Okay, that’s all. I’m going out to enjoy the nice weather!

Well … sort of …

Judge the evidence for yourself at the Flickr set I just created …

Has it been four days since my last post? Guess I should do something …

We actually got some rain today — although not as much at our house as rained on me outside the grocery store just a coupe of miles away — and more importantly, we got a break from the heat. We were promised three days of mid-90s temps for the middle of last week, but didn’t even get one day under 100.

I have to give a shout to our friend Dr. Mary, who stopped in to my wife’s beauty shop this week, and made sure I knew that she still reads the blog, even though she rarely comments …

And then today she commented! Bonus!

Thanks, Dr. Mary!

If you’re not watching Venture Brothers on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, you’re missing one of the best shows on TV. It’s like Johnny Quest on acid, and it gets bonus points for staring Patrick Warburton.

Follow the link above and watch clips if you doubt.

Three cool birthdays today: Peter Stormare (Prison Break, The Brothers Grimm, and those hilarious “Unpimp Your Auto” commercials for VW), Sarah Chalke (the best visual aspect of Scrubs — she’s the big Three-Oh), and … Pee Wee Herman (I know you’re 54, but what am I? …).

Here’s a fun lesson in regulatory incompetence, in the form of a dance remix animation: “A Series of Tubes”.

It’s just one small example of how clueless are the regulators who control our lives — and, for a bonus, it’s an example you can dance to!

For the original speech that inspired this (by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens), click here.

You’re welcome.

Check this out: UsedFAQs.com, a blog that harvests choice Q&A’s from random FAQ’s across the web.

Sample queries include Will I get to meet Barbra Streisand?, Where is the least (most) painful spot?, and my personal favorite, How can I use a Barney Fife Impersonator at my next event?

1. New Prison Break episode on tonight! Man, it’s been a long summer TV drought, so it’s nice to have something new.

In case, like us, you need some catching up on the plot points (like, When did Gargoyle Woman become President?? How did T-Bag lose his hand??), and there are a lot of them, you can check out the Prison Break Wiki.

2. I posted more new shots of Bristol last night!

It’s been 105 every day for a week now, so out comes the blazing sun icon once again:

It was 13 years ago today that my wife and I first met. Just for the record.

That was a major turning point — for the better! — in both our lives.

And it was four weeks ago tonight — this very hour, in fact — that we brought home little Bristol, aka Destructo due to his habit of chewing up things, especially bed linens.

Anyway, I posted some more pictures, so enjoy.

I ran across a quote by Napoleon: “Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.”

Does that mean its possible that my boss doesn’t actually hate me?

It’s largely irrelevant, since the result is the same, but it would explain a lot.

I wanted to make a note of this: Bruno Kirby died this week. You might not know the name, but you knew the face — from City Slickers, Good Morning Vietnam, and When Harry Met Sally.

He deserved more recognition than he received.

I haven’t mentioned The Spook in a while, so this is for him, for reasons I won’t mention here: Clell Tickle, Indie Marketing Guru.

It’s been pointed out that I am once again slacking in my posting duties, so here’s a picture to stop your grumbling, at least temporarily. Click on it to get to the Flickr page, and a link to the larger version.

There’s been a big development that I really need to post on, but it’ll take a lot of writing, and a lot of time, so it will need to wait a couple more days …

(But here’s a hint: It’s on a subject that Pam and I have in common …)

My wife pointed out that I haven’t posted in a long time, so here’s a quick wrapup (hopefully) of what’s been going on:

1. Molly tore up one of her toenails, inside the paw, and it got infected, so we had to drop her off at the vet Friday morning for some minor surgery. It broke our heart to have to leave her — she looked so heartbroken — but she feels a lot better now. We also had them clean her teeth while she was under sedation.

We didn’t notice that she was injured at first, since that was on her leg where she had hip surgery before we got her, so we were used to her pulling up that foot.

2. The very day after dropping that big wad of cash at the animal clinic, we had another urgent discomfort situation: Our air conditioner stopped working.

Not a good thing in Texas in August.

But, long story short, we were able to get someone out shortly after noon, and got the problem fixed (worn out motor in the unit fan) before too long.

It was another big unexpected expense, but it was a big relief to get it done.

3. Our new puppy Bristol continues his reign of semi-terror, tearing up my wife’s special pillow — filled with hulled barley — and scattered the contents all over the bed in less than 5 minutes.

We figured that, after leaving him alone in the house on Friday, without even Molly to keep him company, we’d come him to find a pile of bricks and rubble where our house used to be, with him sitting on top thinking, “Serves ya right!”

Fortunately he behaved himself, although it didn’t hurt that we closed off all the back rooms to remove temptation.

4. They announced the finalists of the promo video contest for The Office, and ours didn’t make the cut. I was never very hopeful, but I have to wonder at their choices.

The theme of the finalists seemed to be that they were either about variations on the them song, a gay twist on the show’s running jokes, or the destructive throwing of things over cubicle walls.

That, apparently, is what is takes to impress the Hollywood crowd.

Thanks, though to all my friends out there who voted — many of whom took the trouble to register an account just to do that! — and for all your kind comments.

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So yes, it’s been a fairly rough week, but it could have been a lot worse. The air conditioner, for instance, could not have gone out at a better time of the day or week, and it could not have been fixed any faster for this time of year. Like my dead pickup battery a couple of weeks ago, the inconvenience was minimal, and it was due to happen anyway. So we just count our blessings and hope we continue to be as lucky.

And one more thing: Happy Birthday to Pamibe, a couple of days late. Click on over to her place and wish her a belated happy one!