Friends

To my pals xipetotec  and rachsiel ! May today be joyful and happy!

...which means it's time for my annual posting of The Cat Carol. This is the 4th consecutive year I've done this so it's become a little tradition of mine. Huh!

I first came across it while listening to the CBC. It's beautiful and sad, especially the musical version of it. 'Cuz, y'know, I am sentimental. You can find more information about the poem (and the musical version) right over here.

The Cat Carol

The cat wanted in to the warm warm house,
but no one would let the cat in
It was cold outside on Christmas Eve,
She meowed and meowed by the door.

The cat was not let in the warm warm house,
And her tiny cries were ignored.
'twas a blizzard now, the worst of the year,
There was no place for her to hide.

Just then a poor little mouse crept by,
He had lost his way in the snow.
He was on his last legs and was almost froze,
The cat lifted him with her paw.

She said "Poor mouse do not be afraid,
because this is Christmas Eve.
"On this freezing night we both need a friend,
"I won’t hurt you - stay by my side."

She dug a small hole in an icy drift,
This is where they would spent the night.
She curled herself 'round her helpless friend,
Protecting him from the cold.

Oooooo

When Santa came by near the end of the night,
the reindeer started to cry.
They found the cat lying there in the snow,
and they could see that she had died.

They lifted her up from the frozen ground,
and placed her into the sleigh.
It was then they saw the little mouse wrapped up,
she had kept him warm in her fur.

"Oh thank you Santa for finding us!
"Dear cat wake up we are saved!"
..."I’m sorry mouse but your friend has died,
there’s nothing more we can do.

"On Christmas Eve she gave you her life,
the greatest gift of them all."
Santa lifted her up into the night sky,
and laid her to rest among the stars.

"Dear mouse don’t cry you are not alone,
you will see your friend every year.
"Each Christmas a Cat Constellation will shine,
to remind us that her love’s still here.

Oooooooo"

Von

It needed a new hard drive. Luckily, Paul saved the information on my old hard drive to reintall on my computer, but it's slow going. This Windows browser he's got on my computer now sucks. He says it will improve once he loads in office and then adds all of the add ons. We'll see.

Much as that sucks, it's still ok.

For those of us of a certain age, remember when we saw Star Wars the first time? It was such a jaw dropping improvement of everything that had come before. This was some ground breaking science fiction!

I never thought I would ever have that experience again. I was wrong.

We saw Avatar in 3D last night. Mind you, I thought Titanic was good, but for all the wrong reasons. Even now, we never watch the first disc of the movie. We load up the second disc, where we get to see the ship sink and we cheer as annoying Leo di Crapio bites the big one. Now that's entertainment!

So I thought it was a safe bet that James Cameron wouldn't be able to make me cry. Except that he got me, hell, he even got Paul. We had tears running down our faces in the closing scenes.

This is another ground breaking film, showing us something we've never seen before in science fiction. I was totally blown away.

Paul and I already want to purchase tourist tickets for Pandora. We're going to have to settle for going to see it again.

I spent the morning wrapping Christmas presents. I'm almost done but my back is killing me.

Just a quick note:

Interview is done and now archived online at http://trtgk.vonallan.com/2009/12/radio-interview-on-wcap-980-in-lowell.html if you want to listen to it at your leisure.

Hopefully I don't sound like an idiot! :)

Von

I have to say that I'm pretty amazed at how many retailers are carrying my bookie. There's still a very, very long way to go, but it's a promising start. Yay!

As always, this list is updated at http://trtgk.vonallan.com/2009/11/retailers-carrying-road-to-god-knows.html, too.

California

Atlantis Fantasyworld, 1020 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz, California, Phone: 831-426-0158

Comikaze, 5517 A/B Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, California, Phone: 858-278-0371

Flying Colors Comics, 2980 Treat Blvd at Oak Grove Road, Concord, California, Phone: 925-825-5410

Florida

Coliseum of Comics, 4722 South Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, Florida, Phone: 407-240-7882

Georgia

Dr. No's Comics & Games Superstore, 3428 Canton Road, Marietta, Georgia, Phone: 770-422-4642

Illinois

Chicago Comics, 3244 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60657. Phone: 773-528-1983

Maine

Casablanca Comics, 151 Middle Street, Portland, Maine, Phone: 207-780-1676

Coast City Comics, 656 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101. Phone: 207-776-1719

Maryland

Third Eye Comics, 45 Old Solomon's Island Road, Suite 102, Annapolis, Maryland, 21401. Phone: 410-897-0322

Massachusetts

The Outer Limits, 437 Moody Street, Waltham, Massachusetts, Phone: 781-891-0444

Larry's Comics, 66 Lakeview Avenue, Lowell, Massachusetts, Phone: 978-459-5323

Comicopia, 464 Commonwealth Avenue #13, Boston, Massachusetts, Phone: 617-266-4266

Michigan

Green Brain Comics, 13210 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, Michigan, 48126. Phone: 1-313-582-9444

Nevada

Alternate Reality Comics, 4800 S. Maryland Pkwy, Suite D, Las Vegas, NV 89119. Phone: 702-736-3673

New Jersey

The Record Store, 6299 Route 9 North, Howell, New Jersey, Phone: 732-905-9056

New York

Jim Hanley's Universe, 4 West 33rd Street, New York, New York (opposite The Empire State Building), 10001. Phone: 212-268-7088

Jim Hanley's Universe, 325 New Dorp Lane (at the corner of Lawson Avenue), Staten Island, New York 10306. Phone: 718-351-6299

Cosmic Comics, 10 East 23rd Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York, Phone: 212-460-5322

Midtown Comics Times Square, 200 W 40th Street (Corner of 7th Avenue), New York, New York 10018. Phone: 212-302-8192

Midtown Comics Grand Central, 459 Lexington Avenue (Corner of 45th Street), New York, New York 10017. Phone: (as above)

Ohio

Laughing Ogre Comics, 4258 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, Phone: 614-267-6473

Oklahoma

Speeding Bullet Comics, 614 North Porter Avenue, Norman, Oklahoma, 73071. Phone: 405-360-6866

Oregon

Cosmic Monkey Comics, 5335 NE Sandy Blvd., Portland, Oregon, Phone: 503-517-9050

Texas

Dragon's Lair Comics & Games, 6111 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas, Phone: 512-454-2399

Austin Books and Comics, 5002 North Lamar Blvd, Austin, Texas, 78751, Phone: 512-454-4197

Boomerang Comics, 729 Hebron Pkwy #190, Lewisville, Texas, 75057. Phone: 972-315-5291

Washington

Zanadu Comics, 1923 Third Avenue, Seattle, Washington, 98101. Phone: 206-443-1316

Canada

Alberta

Another Dimension, 424 B - 10 ST NW Calgary, Alberta, Phone: 403-283-7078

Ontario

Perfect Books: 258A Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Phone: 613-236-6468

Quebec

Librarie Astro/Astro Books, 1844 Ste.Catherine Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Phone: 514-932-1139

Nova Scotia

Strange Adventures, 5262 Sackville Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Phone: 902-425-2140

Strange Adventures, 68 York Street, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Phone: 506-450-3759

Online

If you'd prefer to buy the road to god knows... online, you can certainly do that, too.

Amazon.com

Amazon.ca

Amazon.co.uk

Barnes & Noble

Von

(there's a bit of zipatone which creates a bit of moire pattern at lower resolutions. Sorry!)

( Bigger version after ze cut )

Von

Tuesday I spent half the day baking yeast rolls. Mind you, it's been a good 5+ years since I've done any, so it appeared rather daunting. And after I had stuck the rolls in the warm oven to let them rise, I realized that I had left out the eggs. I rationalized to myself that yes, french bread contains no eggs so they should be fine. WRONG. They were lethal weapons when they came out of the oven. Rock hard and ready to be heaved at the first cat/person/bird who pissed me off. Because, you know, I was already pissed about forgetting the eggs.

But I heaved them all into the trash can.

Good thing I did, too. I was making a smoky bacon spaghetti sauce for dinner last night. I chopped up the onions, I chopped up the garlic and then I went to the refrigerator for the bacon and found out I had 4 pieces. I called Paul to ask what happened to the bacon. Apparently all that leftover cooked bacon in the refrigerator is what was left over after he fried up almost the entire package last week. Scratch that for dinner. Told Paul to buy more and I'd fix the sauce after dinner and we'd freeze some and have some Wednesday night.

In the process of making the sauce late last night, I asked Paul to open up the French red wine that goes in the sauce. Mind you, I've been buying this same cheap red plonk for years for cooking so I gave Paul the wine corkscrew and went back to making my sauce. Next thing I knew he was in the kitchen with the bottle opened showing me a nice hole in the screw top lid. Much Saran Wrap and rubber bands later, I think we have the red wine corked for now. Might have been nice if there had been a warning that they changed their mode of opening.

Yesterday was a terrible no good very bad day for cooking. I've never had a cooking day quite like it.

Fortunately, I tackled those damn yeast rolls again today and I emerged triumphant. This time I remembered to use the eggs. And tonight, I don't feel like heaving rolls in anyone's direction.