I BET YOU THOUGHT IT WOULDN'T

Dogblog update tonight -- I made it just before February ended, too!

Time for The Shield.

Have an excellent evening/morning/what-have-you.

IN MY OWN ... WORDS

Something I've recently begun to say when something meets with my approval: "Brilliant." This bothers me a little because I'm not British at all. Nobody else seems to think this is a concern, but I still feel [pilkington] like a bit of a wanker. [/pilkington] Like it's an affectation or something. It's not! I just picked it up from someone and now I can't seem to stop. It'll go away eventually.

WHO KNEW

- That even with a damn week in New York, you could still lack the time to see about a dozen people

- You can't really get good Mexican in that city

This is a pretty short list, I'll admit, but the long list is mostly full of in-jokey references to things that only six people will understand, and that's just not what this blog is all about. To the people I couldn't get to see, I'm sorry about that, but maybe I'll come back sometime.

I AM ON VACATION

This is why there's a Jon-shaped hole in the internet. Service will be restored with regularity probably next Monday or so. Go forth and conquer.

ALCHETRIXMY

Something I appreciate in breakfast cereal that I'd forgotten about until fairly recently: You know how when you're done eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs, you end up with chocolate milk? Well, when you're done eating a bowl of Trix, you get strawberry milk. I like that. It's sort of a bonus.

THANKS FOR SHOWING UP

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who showed up last night at the show; it went pretty well, apparently! Hopefully I'll have some recorded versions of those songs relatively soon.

Not much else to talk about; the Ricky Gervais Show is pretty good, but I'm guessing you probably already knew that. I'm still catching up on things.

SOMETHING HAPPENING

Tomorrow (Tuesday) (Valentine's Day)
Bazaar Cafe (California b/w 21st & 22nd)
7:00pm
Solo acoustic set
All original material
A couple of new songs, even

You are 100% guaranteed not to hear a single thing that even remotely resembles sappiness. Later on, provided her voice returns to her, my housemate Chloe will also play a set, in which I'll be playing violin for a few songs.

I realize this is short notice, but I figured most people would be doing things for Valentine's Day. I don't know why I thought that.

I'M SAYING IT NOW

It's too warm for the winter coat. I'm not going to put it on its hanger and stick it back in the closet yet, but I get the impression I won't be using it a whole lot anymore. This is sort of a shame, because that coat has a lot of pockets to put things in. The springtime one doesn't, really.

The springtime one is actually getting kind of faded and threadbare. Maybe it's time for a new spring jacket? What say you? Something for what I'll call "brisk weather," to be layered on top of, say, a t-shirt and hoodie.

I am open to suggestion.

WORDCRAFT PLATINUM-PLUS

Like a lot of other humans, I enjoy Achewood quite a bit, but there have been aspects of its recent writing that sort of defy reason, wry little feats of phrasery that, while not totally unprecedented, are still more or less unmatched anywhere else on the damn internet. Let's not bother with endlessly quoting lines from the strip or the blogs some of the characters keep -- you can just read them from there. The thing that really seals it for me is the quasi-daily "Current baby status" update at the bottom of the main page; the author and his wife had a baby a little while ago, and the bone-dry matter-of-factness with which he deals with this new reality is pretty much the antidote to every Cute Baby Thing On The Internet ever.

The last update was a couple of days ago: God gives babies mullets, but I take them away.

SEMI-PERMANENT HAIRY REMINDER

I haven't shaved in two consecutive mornings and I am totally fascinated by the feel of my own face. I left it that way today primarily as a reminder to myself: Buy soap. And also replacement razorblades. So I'm going to do that pretty soon.

Looking at the title of this post again, I wonder if it could be used as a euphemism for something.

Lastly, I wish to inform whoever was in charge of coming up with Diet Pepsi's new ad campaign that the phrase "brown and bubbly" just makes me think of sewage that's been heated to a simmer.

SPAMYSTERY

Here's one for you:

The email address I use the most, which is not posted anywhere on this webspace, gets something like 20 spam emails a day, usually of the "buy this cheap software/C1A.LIS/mortgage deal type thing" variety. It's a Gmail account.

The email address that's actually on my Blogger profile, also a Gmail account, gets no spam whatsoever.

What's that all about.

Also, how come I don't get all those Nigerian scams and porn notices my old, old Hotmail account used to receive in bulk?

Spam, man! What's the deal!

HAPPY BIZZLE DAY

My vast network of spies has informed me that Bizzle turned three today. Bizzle's owner (my friend Jenny, who's on the other coast) doesn't do "rabbit years," I don't think, which I'll be honest and say is a system I prefer, too.

"Bizzle" is still the best name for a bunny ever devised by the human mind.