Bert

The world lost one of the sweetest and most lovable cats of all time this morning. Bert, or Big B as I liked to call him, lived a long and interesting life. From his early days living in the woods of Santa Cruz and literally running up and down vertical ladders to his glorious feasting with his dining buddy, Wendell, Bertkins was round and jolly and friendly with everyone he met. 

He came loaded with special features, like his magic white spot, his "cowardly lion" tail that had no feeling, his push-button spot between his shoulders that always prompted him to lie down, and, of course, his many, many extra toes. I think he had a total of 8 extra toes in all, maybe 10. It was like he had a second little mini-paw attached to his regular paw. 

Bert was brought up by my sister, Rachel, for many years until she moved to Germany. Then he spent many exciting years in a few homes in San Francisco until he ended up with us a few years ago. My cat, Toby, didn't take well to any new kitties in the house, but fortunately Narangkar's sister, Siriji, took Bert into her home and gave him lots of love. I am so happy and thankful that Siriji was able to provide Bert and comfortable home and lifestyle for his final years. 

Bert was about 15 or 16 years old and his health rapidly declined in a very short period. He was such a sweet and lovable guy. Despite being ill and not eating, he continued to purr and snuggle up until the very end. We called him Bertkiss, Bertimus, Bertleman, Big Bert, Chubbs, Big B, Bertkins, and sometimes The Lummox. We'll always love him and never forget him.

3 Years

Narangkar and I celebrated our three year wedding anniversary a few weekends ago with a leisurely picnic at the location of our reception, the UC Botanical Gardens in Berkeley. Our actual anniversary was Thursday, July 10th, but we hosting a "drawing party" at the gallery that evening so we celebrated the following Sunday.

Narangkar whipped up some awesome salads. We also got some good cheese and cider. We were hoping for pulled pork sandwiches over at Cesar, but had to settle for tuna. 

Looking smooth.

This picture is making me thirsty.

My wife is so awesome.

We spent a good part of the afternoon trying to get macro-photos of bees. 

Botanical goodness.

The obligatory jumping photo.

Junk Pirate #16

Junk Pirate #16 is out now. It has lots of good stuff, like a letter from some guy in Santa Rita, Certificate of Death, Gremlins trading stickers, Wizard Dust Mop, Get out of Drunk Tank free card, the OptiVisor, 99 Wife-Savers, The Working Girl's Doodle Pad (number 2!), Drag Racing Club, other people's wedding photos, Skeletor, Ladies Score Card, Structure of Freemasonry, Y2K Survival Guide, Jokers, specimen collection information, Vincent Price's favorite game, not one but two horse diagrams, "I am a tree.", Party Pooper Award, Declaration of Mid-Life Crisis certificate, Hickety Pickety, "...just see if I don't!", and more.

If you are reading this than you most assuredly know me well enough to deserve a free copy. If you don't, than go here to buy it. Thanks to all the hard workers at the EBD (good to have you back, Jammer), and the fine folks at Rowan Morrison Publishing (me and Nara).

"When you have problem remember me. I will always beside you."

Albany Skate Bowl

Rumor has it that the concrete skate bowl in the Albany landfill park is getting torn down sometime soon. There is another, conflicting rumor that the skate bowl is actually getting expanded. On thing you can be sure of is that Jacob Tillman recently visited the East Bay and, once again, tore it up. Bonus air from Duncan. I've got the video to prove it...

Connecticut Represent

I flew out to visit my Mom at her lovely home in Connecticut this past week. We mostly just sat around and talked for four days straight. I also took the time to clear out a lot of my old school papers and toys and things that she has been kind enough to store for me over the past 13 years. Time goes by so fast. Anyways, here are a few snapshots from the trip:

Artful photography. This is actually a jumping photo.








We went to an art exhibit at the Stamford Nature Center. It was of sculptures by Nathan Sawaya made from Lego blocks. Pretty cool.


Then we checked-out the animals on the farm. From afar, we thought these giant turkeys who were hanging by the Coke machines were made of Legos, too.




Goats!


More wild animals. This time it is the Pudge Master, aka the Varmint Hunter.


That's Pudge on the left and Bobo on the right... ready for some dinner.


This is just a small sample of the many boxes of stuff I went through. Attention members of the Stamford, CT Freecycle: there are some good comic books coming your way!


He-Man and the Masters of the Universe... coming soon to eBay.


Here is a photo from Waveny Park in New Canaan. When I was in high school, I spent a lot of time sitting in this park doing nothing.


On my last night there we had a big fire. I wish I had a fireplace in my home.


The flight home was long and I was super tired but still couldn't fall asleep. I got some cool pictures of "the City" during our descent.

Other events that I didn't get photos of were: chicken broccoli casserole, several dead chipmunks and a dead mole courtesy of Pudge, a picture of me with the Ultimate Warrior when I was about 10 years old, my Mom's awesome bathtub, a pretty awful art show (featuring no Legos), Westy storage, the happy guy who took my old baseball card sets, "The Thieves' Market" by Frederick Grant, and my Mom (she doesn't like having her picture taken).
Thanks for having me, Mom. I love you.

Anniversary in Hell

Narangkar and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by spending two fabulous nights in Las Vegas. We figured, if you're gonna go to Vegas, don't half-ass it. Vegas is a gimmicky, cheesy, grimy place so we opted to stay at the dumbest hotel/casino we could find... Excalibur. 100% authentic Las Vegas experience, baby. We stayed two nights and left just before we both went crazy from all the noise and smoke and hooker cards and fat people and bad food and video screens and buffet lines and people with their tiny kids (are you folks nuts!?!) and just the whole Vegas-ness of it all. We partied hard, had a great time, and never want to go back.

Here are some photos in chronological order:


The view from our hotel room window. It was just magical.


Damn right.


The New York, New York hotel/casino has a mini Statue of Liberty that plays patriotic country music non-stop. God bless America.


We spent the daylight hours by the pool. There were speakers blaring rock music (not classic rock, but the contemporary shit I've never heard before and never want to hear again) non-stop from speakers mounted in every tree. Time for a drink.


$5.75 Corona "imported" beer. As opposed to $5.50 Budweiser "domestic".


We visited the M&M's store, which was 4-stories tall! Four floors of M&M's merchandise! You could buy a 4-pound bag of Skittles for 20 bucks! There was also a "World of Coca-Cola" pavilion but we skipped it. Time for another drink.


Nearby, on The Strip, they are building another monstrosity.


Our second night we headed downtown where the low-rollin' casinos are.
Our kind of place.


This Queen look-a-like tribute band played a few songs every hour outside the 4 Queens Casino. They rocked me. Then they were the champions.


So much razzle-dazzle.


Then the whole Fremont Street domed light show thing happened and it was like, "What the hell is going on?!?" I think Narangkar summed it up nicely by saying, "They've got the technology, but they don't have the content."


Narangkar jockeys some Wheel of Fortune slots while slamming down 54-ounce footballs of High Life to the sweet smells of fried Twinkies. I think Mermaids was our favorite casino.


Meanwhile, the floor starts to trip us out. Whoa.




The old "Ratso and the Pufferfish" routine.


Glitter Gulch... check your dignity at the door.


So glamorous. So drunk.


I think this sign clearly explains why Excalibur is the best hotel in the world. Ever.


See you in Hell, Vegas.
From, Pete...


and Narangkar.