Getting my comic on

In a fit of boredom, I decided to create my own stick figure cartoons. Because let's face it. The only thing I can draw with a modicum of talent are stick figures. I have to admit one of my inspirations was the awesome kids over at XKCD, a geeky comic that I absolutely love to giggle at. Couple of rules though. You can use them as icons, etc, but you need to credit me (Geek Finder) and no hotlinking. Not that anyone would ever steal the damn things. In the world of stick figures, mine are but lonely lost circus performers in this crazy thing called life.






This has been your Stan Lee-esque Geek Find Flash.

Word Geek

If you are like a lot of people, you probably do some form of writing now and again. And no I don't mean any sort of dissertation on who was a better captain, James Kirk or Malcolm Reynolds, although I would be interested. I've been writing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. My first fit of writing fancy was a small construction paper book about a day at the beach which I made at the tender age of five. Probably my only great literary work to date. I love the meaning, the nuance, and the pure sadistic fun of stringing words together. I have actually looked up words in the dictionary just to learn the meanings. Now its time to put my words to better use rather than torturing my readers with yet more terrible puns.

There is even a month to celebrate putting large amounts of words together. November is National Novel writing month. So get out your laptops and start typing. At the Nanowrimo website you can sign up for your own novel writing challenge - write a novel (50,000 words) in a month. Of course its a huge undertaking. That's why its a challenge. Need help? How about a quick guide to writing a novel in 100 days? But you still only get 30 days for the challenge. Sorry.

Wonderful podcasts can help get you moving, answer those hard writing questions, and interview people who write for a living. Mur Lafferty always makes me laugh and her podcasts are a great place to sample some of her writing as well as great info on writing. You can find her at I Should be Writing, Geek Fu Action Grip, and one of her stories was featured recently at my favorite place for podcasted short stories Escape Pod.

Of course writing means using a lot of words. If you want to get wordly adventurous or double check your facts, Wikipedia is a great place to go. There's now also a wiki for quotes, a dictionary & thesaurus, and free textbooks. Everything you could ever need to be accurate (or inaccurate; hey, its your story).

But don't forget your most basic tool: your imagination. Go get your word geek on. Maybe you'll be the next Salinger. Because its definitely not going to be me.

This has been your fascination facilitation word Geek Find of the Day.

Zombies mean love

There are days when you feel disconnected. Perhaps a bit dead-like combined with a terrible case of the munchies. Don't you just wish you could walk around in a stupor and do nothing but moan? Of course you do! Zombies are back and better than ever. You too can be a zombie and I don't mean just at work. Dress up like a zombie and find yourself a Zombie Walk in the town nearest you at the Zombie Walk forum. Before you venture forth to snack on some grey matter, get into the mood by listening to Jonathan Coulton's classic, Re Your Brains.

For those of you who would rather avoid and/or overcome zombies, you have plenty of self-help guides. The Zombie Survival Guide can help you combat those nasty zombies as they attempt to eat your brains. I also suggest Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later (no, not the Sandra Bullock movie), depending on the type of zombies invading your town. For you, Queen may be a better choice of music. Or Staying Alive.

This has been your Zombified Geek-Find of the Day. Annnnhh.

Taking death to a whole new, uh, . . .place.

Human history is not all that long. If you want to look at the whole damn depressing timeline we've only been here five minutes, earthly speaking. Like everything else on this planet everyone gets a chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm dancing around the one thing nobody likes to talk about but we all get to do - die. It can be sad, it can be depressing, and it can really mess you up. So let's go at it straight on, kids.

When organizing your family vacation, there's no better way to bond then look for dead celebs. Asassinated presidents, your favorite televangelist - find them all at Find A Grave. This database is updated quickly so you can already find the recently passed on. On a more serious note (hah!), this is a great way to find a more tangible existence for those great personages and not just stare at a monument or two. After all, we're all human.

Of course those great pillars of history had their own stupid moments. Some of which you might imagine to be chronicled in the infamous Darwin Awards. Who knows - they might be. But in case you're like me and too lazy to actually look, you can find some of the dumber ways famous people offed themselves on accident here.

Now, I'm not saying death is great. However, we can't exactly avoid it. Death is not the focus of life simply another of its quirks, tragic in all its glory. Enjoy the journey. And remember that even famous people can be really, really stupid (like I had to remind you).

This has been your, well, creepy Geek Find of the Day.

What keeps me too busy . . .for now

Sadly I've been so busy training for my big challenging race, I haven't really had the time to post at all recently. So I figure a quick hello I'll be back real soon was appropriate to put right . . Here. With Hood-To-Coast coming up I've been running about two times a day, not to mention weekends. I'm so tired at night I can't wait to be in bed by 9:30p. I feel very lame. Its okay though. I've missed a few things and what I have kept up with, I just don't have time to commsierate about. I hope everyone will be patient just a little longer while I get myself back together again. After next weekend, I'm going back to slacking with beer. Aw, the good old days.

A banjo, a battlestar and some rambling

I had seen some trailers for Eureka on SciFi channel and I found it to be intriguing. I don't watch too much television unless I'm really hooked. Until I found Battlestar Galactica the last time anything hooked me was when X-Files came out eons ago. And I didn't even stick around for the last three seasons. I just couldn't handle all the annoying new people. How excited was I to see a trailer for the new season of BSG. Practically giddy I tell ya. Now at first I was more crack addict just happy for a fix as the images floated across my screen. After it all soaked in I realized something - the music they played during the trailer would more likely be heard on a Fox teen angst preview then on Battlestar. WTF! A little concern, a little worry. Of course I'll be watching the season premier in October.

There is a time in every person's life when they need a new challenge. I decided mine would be the annual Hood-to-Coast relay run here in Oregon. A wonderfully grueling 12 person relay run from the top of Mt Hood to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. I've run some 5ks and I love to work out so I thought this might be a good way to kick start myself. Get a new work out regimen going and really get into great shape. Its been going well. Until I hit a small snag. My left ankle is sore and achy. Enough so that on a run the other day I pretty much felt like walking, or rather limping my way back. My running partner, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, had made a comment about having my leg give out in the middle of one of my legs and being eaten by a deer (amazingly, deer still exist in Oregon). I then had a sudden maddening desire to write something on the subject. What follows is, I dare say, a comment on how a mind can be twisted beyond repair by our society and gummy bears. Forgive me.

I'm running my last leg of Hood-To-Coast. The pain is terrible now. Suddenly - my leg pops right off! No warning. No hey by the way your leg is thinking about ceceding from the union. It just comes off. So there I am. Somewhere in the god-forsaken coastal forest ready to turn my tank top into a white flag and mount it from the offending leg. When wonder of wonders, a lone deer comes out of the woods. It has probably been attracted by the scent of my ragged stump. Although it seems like it's going to start nibbling the nub, it takes pity on me. As I look into the deer's large overly drawn cartoon eyes I realize they can only belong to one deer - Bambi. I hop on his broad back and away we go! We're leaping and bounding down the road. I finish the race atop a giant 18 point Bambi waving my leg, which I did actually tie my tank top to, in triumph. I am pronounced a tragic hero and the losers who made it across the line first are disqualified in favor of my heroicness. I then lead a life of motivational speeches, crying about my childhood w/ Oprah, and end up wealthily wallowing in my mansion looking for Rosebud.

So there you have it. I will understand if you happen to be a member of family, read this and decide to disown me. Now for something completely different, I leave you with a wonderful piece of happiness. Trust me, this will help ease the pain of my musings. The theme song to Star Wars. On a banjo.


This has been your horribly, disturbingly wrong Geek Find of the Day.

Star Wars on a Banjo

Star Wars on a Banjo

The banjo is really quite a dignified instrument you know.

Politi-geek

I was inspired by a friend who, good-naturedly, was lamenting about the distinct lack of political-ness here on the Geek Find. Happily for me, I didn't have to try too incredibly hard. Being a geek doesn't mean burying your head in the latest Astonishing X-Men or being too googly about the fact they are making a movie of the manga Battle Angel Alita. A geek can be just as serious as the big-time pundits on TV (insert laughter about TV personalities here). I've begun to avoid the televised news as there is never anything thoughtfully discussed about local or national issues, unless its on OPB. You can see better political manueverings and discussions on Battlestar Galactica or West Wing. But that's why I love podcasts. I can find the people who keep my interest and have something to say which interests me.

This vague notion of political geekery was rolling around in my mind when I listened to one of my favorite podcasts today, Escape Pod. The most recent story, Shadowboxer, was disturbing in a political ethics sort of way. In a war on terror, what are we willing to give up? And what are we willing to do to secure our way of life? Which leads me to another, perhaps too serious Tuesday question: Do we need to change our thoughts on our way of life and the way it survives? Am I touching on blasphemy? Shocking? Check out the story and decide for you self.

Of course you can't have political discourse without people to fire you up. I mean, Fox has Bill O'Reilly and Anne Coulter. I find them very similar to Jerry Springer (What? You can't see Jerry in a blonde wig?). Outrageous and a tad on the far side for me. You can only shout at the TV so many times before it gets old. I haven't chanted 'Jerry! Jerry!' in years. The Leftwing Nutjob podcast lets me be outraged without hearing Bill hoarsely drowning out opponents. There isn't any yelling which saves my poor ears.

If you aren't in the podcast-listening mood, you can always check out a few places with way too many fun facts. NPR is fast becoming my only news source. Easy to read and with more than just the impression of being balanced, I absolutely adore the site. Of course, they also have podcasts from their shows, which are very nice too.

Tired of hearing how badly Dems behave? Or at least finding only them scandalized in the news most often. Now you have a home to call your own with the Republicans Behaving Badly blog. You know they can't all be good upstanding leaders . . .

Do I lean a wee tad to the left? Well, yes I do. Do I think all Republicans are big idiots? Well, no. Or at least not all of them. But then I will admit some Dems are big idiots too. The only way to get out of this mess alive is to attempt some sort of civil discourse. Mud slinging back and forth is just dirty. Not to mention eventually it seems to turn into bombs. Those are a lot more deadly. Here's hoping peace will come to the world. And Anne Coulter comes to her senses. I'm just kidding. Sort of.

This has been your politi-Geek Find of the Day.