Howefitz Blog

The other day, my wife and I were discussing something that has now been lost in the folds of my addled brain. She asked a question that I also can not recall at the moment, but I remember my answer. I had said, “Well, yes and no.”

The reason I remember my answer is due to Calli, my four-year-old-tomorrow. Her eyes shot up, looked deep in to mine and said, “Not ‘yes-and-no’. Just yes. It’s always just yes.”

Since her birth, there has been no shortage of wonderful lessons she has given me, but this one gave me some serious thoughts.

I’m a big fan of Seth Godin‘s blog, conveniently called Seth’s Blog.

Seth recently wrote a post called The non-optimized life.

If you haven’t seen his blog, you wouldn’t call it optimized by any stretch of the imagination. He rarely posts a picture, and when he does it is only to illustrate his point.

He doesn’t allow comments and he doesn’t use excessive links.

He’s a busy man, and it’s a wonder that he blogs at all, let alone daily.

He uses social networking in ways that maximizes his exposure without wasting his time.

Ah, Independence Day. There's nothing more patriotic than watching a giant mothership blowing up our nation's capital...

In Avon, CO., they can’t wait to blow stuff up. That’s why, on July 3, thousands of people gather at Nottingham Park for the Salute to the USA celebration, which boasts the Rocky Mountains’ biggest firework display.

Unfortunately, I had to work last night and missed the whole thing. But Kat got to go and took some awesome pics using her Casio Exilim G* that served her well in Australia. (Those pics are coming soon, I’ll be posting them over several days after the holiday.)

I’m getting ready to pick Kat up from the airport after her Australian adventure. I must say, I’ve enjoyed her texts, but I’m ready to really hear the stories.

In messages of 160 characters or less, I’ve learned that she repelled off of cliffs at the Blue Mountains, toured the Sidney Opera House and Parliament, visited aquariums and zoos, held a Koala, swam under a waterfall, and ate kangaroo, crocodile, and (live!!) green ants.

But I can’t wait to hear the stories. She hung out with aborigines and stayed with a family that’s as in to Asian culture as she is.

G’Day, Mates! This Fatherhood Friday, I wanted to give you the update on Kat’s Australian adventures!

We’ve been communicating through text and the leader has been emailing us, so unfortunately, there are no pictures yet. They are in and out of phone service, and don’t have access to email very often, but here’s what I know so far:

They have repelled off of the Blue Mountains, swam at the Olympic Park, toured the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Aquarium, visited the Opal Museum, took a cruise of Sydney Harbor, visited the Parliament House, swam at Edith Falls, visited Aborigines, and Kat wrestled a sheep.

Phone booth, glasses, last of his kind... OMG! The Doctor is Superman!

It truly is amazing how a silly T.V. show can get you to thinking about life.

I am currently in mourning. I’m mourning the loss of a fictional character. What makes this behavior on my part even worse, is that said fictional character has the ability to ‘regenerate’, causing him to live, albeit in varying forms, possibly forever.

Yesterday, I lost the Doctor.

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew it was the end. The rest of the world has already mourned and moved on. They’re enjoying Matt Smith, I’ve seen the tweets.

Fired up and ready to go!

So. I had the pleasure of taking Kat to the Denver airport yesterday, where she began her trek to Australia! She was pretty nervous, though if she knew I told you my life would be over, so keep it on the DL, OK?

In honor of this great opportunity for her, and a flimsy attempt at saying I’m doing ‘research’ for my upcoming webcomic, Howefitz Sequential, here is a list of the top five Australian cartoon characters:

5. Felix the Cat

Felix, Inky, and Winky in 'April Maze'. image via Wikipedia Commons

Yesterday, because only really important things are put off until the last minute, I called a Travelex in Denver in a panic, ‘Yes, ma’am, do you always have Australian dollars on hand?’ I blurted right after the nice young lady’s spiel about Travelex being the greatest company ever or something.

‘Of course, sir. But it is available on a first come, first serve basis, and sometimes we do run out…’

Oh my God, there had been a run on Australian currency! Poor Kat will be wandering around The Land Down Under without legal tender paying exorbitant ATM fees!!! The horror! The unadulterated horror!!!!

After much deliberation, it has been decided that Joanne Owens (@hangglided on twitter) is the winner of my Sweet As Sugar Milk contest. She’ll be receiving her copy of Sugar Milk in the mail soon, I’m shipping it today! Congrats, and thank you so much Joanne!

With that, I am pleased to announce that through the generosity of my blog readers, friends, family, and a few impromptu garage sales (not to mention most of my tax return), Kat’s trip to Australia with People to People is now reality! She flies out on the 16th for 17 days in the Land Down Under. I can’t believe that it’s that soon! Incidentally, on the graphic above, I found a font on Artweaver called ‘Australian Sunrise’. What else would I use? Here’s a glance at Kat’s itinerary while she’s down there:

Image via Wikipedia

At the time of this writing, I have yet to sit down and watch the season finale of Glee. I could say it’s because I’ve been soooo incredibly busy… But in reflection, I may be putting it off just because right now, I have the finale to look forward to.

Once I watch it, then what?

And why do I like that stupid show so much?

I can’t really answer that question. When I watch with my wife, it never fails. One of us turns to the other and says ‘You know, this show really is stupid.’