steve jobs sort of accepts the gospel!

For anybody interested, The Iron Rodcast is now available on iTunes.

The main page is:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-iron-rodcast/id368396943

So write that down and then type it into a browser and then the browser will redirect you into your iTunes.

Or you can just click here.

Go ahead and subscribe! It's a good idea. Seriously. Subscribing downloads new episodes automatically to your computer so you don't have to do it yourself (it's all part of the robots taking over our free will). Then the podcast can easily be synced to your iPod or iPhone or whatever you've got. Then you listen to my nerdy nasally voice while you jog. It may not be the most adrenalizing thing to listen to while you run, but it's WAY freeer (freer? free-er?)

at least we didn't call it the godcast

So even though my hand hurts, my incredibly dorky, nasally "um" emitting voice works totally fine (except that it's dorky and nasal and says "um" A LOT).

A couple of weeks ago Pete, Rhett and I decided to start another podcast but this time we decided to start one that most people we know might actually be interested in listening to.

We call it The Iron Rodcast and you can probably guess that it's an LDS-themed podcast. Pretty much most people we know are pretty hard into their LDS, so this may prove interesting for you. We pretty much talk about what we learned in Sunday School (which is always news to me since I always miss Sunday School) and then talk about something else random and religious.

We've recorded two episodes so far and iTunes doesn't recognize it yet, but you can download them all directly at ironrodcast.blogspot.com. Hey! Let us know what you think.

Pete and Rhett are of course geniuses, but at least I take comfort in knowing that I'm the good-looking one.

no hand job in the carpal tunnel of love

Toward the end of last week my job as a ladder manufacturing drone came crashing down when out of nowhere I lost sensation in my right hand.

Didn't think TOO much of it until the next day when my hand was still asleep. The doctor told me i still had strength enough in my digits, so he ruled out flat-out carpal tunnel and suggested it would go away in a day or two. After three more days of nothing improving I saw him again and he gave me one of those carpal tunnel gloves that Michael Jackson wore in the "Black or White" video. He said if I still have problems in three weeks there are some expensive, wasteful nerve tests to do after that.

I really hate that the last thing I remember feeling with my good hand is a rivet gun. And I'm pretty scared that the loss of sensation and dexterity will be something I'll have to learn to live with. No doubt I'm overdramatizing. I tend to worry even though nothing bad ever happens to me. I'm constantly considerably blessed. Of course maybe that means I'm due. Here comes the anxiety.

There is a long list of stuff I've been meaning to do that will be pretty difficult to accomplish now. I should have waded through the list long ago and should be working on a new set of stuff now. Alas, the timetables have turned. The comic strip will be a little while longer and family... your Christmas presents may arrive closer to Independence Day.

In the meantime I'm wondering what job I can do that doesn't seriously involve my right hand. About the only thing I can think of is stand-up comedian. Maybe I can develop my own genre. Sure people love laughing but is there any demand to see someone just be really depressing? I bet I could do that pretty well, because I can only think of one stand-up joke --

Hey everybody! Have you ever been driving around and seen those signs that say 'Caution: Children'? What's up with that? Like I'm gonna be afraid of a few kids? I'm in a car, what are they gonna do? I mean, I'm a small guy, but I think I can handle a few children... unless there are a lot of them... like there were last week. Wow. Those kids really walloped me good. Most of them just took off too. They could have at least driven me to the hospital. I guess they're kids right? They don't have cars. I had to beg this little girl to drive me to the ER in my car. By the way, any of you people see an 8-year-old Chinese girl driving a '98 Corolla? I had to walk here. Man, I can't believe she suckered me like that! You know, come to think of it, I'm really grateful for 'Caution: Children' signs.

Anyway, that's that. My hand is numb but late last night I thought I felt some feeling coming back. Don't notice it so much today, but maybe that's just the process. We'll see.

don't not get a day job

Just about everybody knows my desire to attend the Muse show tomorrow night. Since such things are no longer in my financial league, I pretty much gave up until Joe forwarded me information about the X96 design-a-Muse-poster-contest. I thought hey, what a good idea, I'll do it!

I also sent the info along to Roxy and she totally won. So that's cool.

Anyway, here's the one I did.

Here are the images I took from.

Notice that one of the items is the album cover to The Resistance, which is their recent one. I heard that much of the album is based on the novel 1984, so I tried to make the poster sort of like a propaganda type deal. Hence the wicked overuse of the "watercolor" filter. Also notice the individual hexes that have been dislodged from the original. They're supposed to be falling out of place from the big honeycomb thing. For some reason I don't think I was able to capture the falling phenomenon very well. I'm also wondering if I made the band too evil. I know for sure I should have revealed the drummer a little bit better. Maybe I should have gotten rid of the hex above his eye. And that fist! That fist is right out.

Alas...