Another Grateful Dead/Stormtrooper Mashup

So as I am coming up with Stormtrooper mashups to put on shirts, this one is the one that I have spent to most effort on. The Grateful Dead have a logo that is referred to as the "Steal Your Face", so I just played off of that and mashed up some elements from Star Wars. The symbol of the Empire from Star Wars fame.



Empire Logo


Steal Your Face Logo

Happy StormTrooper

Who says the Empire has to be unhappy and oppressive? The Empire needs a makover and go with a more "friendly" look, so I came up with the Happy Stormtrooper.

Stylin'

We went to Burlington Coat Factory today to see about finding some winter snow boots for Jack. We figured it wouldn't be that hard, but they seem to be out of season.

While perusing through their store, I came upon some Ed Hardy stuff, in particular, an Ed Hardy jacket that screamed "pay attention to me"!



I had to try it on and give my best "duck mouth", a la hot chicks with douchebags.

Keep on Troopin

This is my ode to Star Wars and Robert Crumb (one of my favorite illustrators of all time and a true genius, if you ever get a chance, watch the DVD Crumb.)

Minor Renovation

I am in the middle of a project upstairs to take a small wall and move it back. I have removed the wallboard, which was some cheap, thin material that would give if you put your finger against it, not what I would call a "wall". I have removed that and the insulation and have begun to get some materials for the flooring so I can complete that this weekend. I will keep you updated as far as my progress.

Puzzle Wrecking

My two nephews down in Geogia like to wreck the puzzle after their mother finishes them, she recorded this and it was always funny. So when Jack and I made a puzzle this weekend it occurred o me to do the same.

Polin8r

I see this car in my parking lot every once in while, makes me smile. Get it?

Snow? What snow?

I'm not going to show you the cars that were abandoned along the roads around her or bitch about how it took some people as long as 8 hours to get home or that many employers let their employees go waaay too late. I'm going to post some pics of the beautiful snow found around my yard. There are some other pics of several broken branches (Particularly the crepe myrtles) and I have a cyder that is holding onto about 50 pounds of snow right over my power line, but I am not panicking, yet. There are as of right now, 4000,000 people in teh DC area that do not have power and we do, so I am thankful for that.

So enjoy the snow, the nice, fluffy, non-dangerous pictures of it.

Funny License Plate

...and may the force be with you as well.

Funny Stuff I Made Jack Say

Yeah, Chicks Dig It.



Wow, That's Deep Man.

The $450 Toyota Key

This is a picture of a Toyota key for Kate's car, a 2007 Toyota Hybrid Camry. This is the only key we have because I borrowed her extra and have somehow misplaced it. But what do you do with a key that you have misplaced? Get a new one, have one cut from the original or go to the dealership if its a special key like the one that Toyota makes.

Well, after looking around a bit in the house and exhausting that search, I decided to pursue replacing it, so I went to the dealership where they informed me that a replacement would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $400-$450. For a key. To a car. Not the car itself. just. the. key.

I am standing there and am beside myself, shocked that somehow a simple object has become an instrument to separate you from your money. They really have you over a barrel, you can't just sell your car if you disagree with how much a replacement part costs. You are committed when you buy a car and that includes all those "little" things, like the key.

The guy at in Parts says, " well, its specially cut with a laser, we have to send it out to get cut, we don't even have the equipment to do it." Like I am supposed to feel better about that. Oh, yeah, even YOU GUYS don't even have the equipment to cut a key that you sell, well, then, I guess money is no object!

The key is programmed so that you can get in the car, while the key is in your pocket, and it will start the car when you press the button. That IS pretty cool, but is it $450 cool? Naaaaw.

For that price, we should have received three keys, one for each member of the family, with our names engraved and it should have been decorated with Swarovski Chrystals.

I checked online and found a replacement for only $230, but I did have to have it programmed by the dealership. I may go that route, it certainly would save me a couple hundred if I decided to replace that key. I know I will taking a second and third look at every nook and cranny in the house looking for that damn key.

I also know that when it comes time to get a new car, Toyota can suck it. Take your special key made from unicorn horns (or whatever magical element that makes it so darn expensive) and shove it!

Chuck E Cheese

I actually like the pizza at Chuck E Cheese's.


Jack and his buds at "Chucks".


Air Hockey at CECs.

We went to a Par-Tay at Chuck E. Cheese's this weekend for a five year old. I forgot just how much energy is expended at these events. Tons of games, parents and over-sugared little ones that its overwhelming to a 4-year-old, let alone a 41-year-old.

We got a little bucket of coins when we got there from the host mommy, and went through those in a split second. The pizza wasn't ready just yet, so I went and got a few more for $10. Now, if you have never been to CEC, its like legalized gambling for kids. You pay for some tokens and use those tokens in their machines to play games. Some require skill, like Skee Ball and some do not, like riding the big plastic train. When you play these games, you get tickets and at the end, when you have exhausted your token, you can turn in your tickets for a receipt which has your tabulated ticket count.

You take that receipt to the counter of prizes and you "cash" them in. Jack and I managed to cash our $10 worth of tokens and changed that into 3 Iron Man pencils and a tootsie roll. The place makes a killing, not many CECs going out of business, have you noticed?

One of the better uses for those tokens is if use them to get a picture.

Jack and Kate

Two cuties.

Le Sneak

Click Here

I ran across this on Reddit and laughed out loud.
Hope it does the same for you.

Let's Go Play...

We keep finding these stink bugs (or they find us) in the house. They will fly around and are attracted to lights, so they will fly right into them like big, dumb flies. They are harmless, but you should handle them gently because if they feel threatened they will skunk you - and it stinks!

I've taken about 40 or 50 of these things out this year, last year it was a half dozen. They are taking over here on the East Coast.

I get rid of them by taking them to the door and flicking them out into the cold, where they die. So that's what I say when I see one of these little annoying guys - "Lets go play in the snow, bitch."

Doodlicious

I wanted to start doing more creative stuff this year, instead of making a resolution, I just wanted to be more creative and exercise that part of my brain.

I was going to start a Twitter account under the name "Fake Dan Snyder", but someone already beat me to it. I had a bunch of funny tweets already to go, too!

Instead, I have decided to start a year-long project to draw a doodle a day for a whole year. It was hard to find a decent domain; I tried "DoodleaDay.com", DailyDoodle.com", and even "MydailyDoodle.com", but some other people had already bought them, but aren't doing anything with them. What a shame, there is lots of potential there, too. I ended up buying a domain, Doodlicious.com and am posting a different doodle each day. Check it in a month or two and see how well I am holding up.

Marble Madness

We went to Granddad and Grandma Fritz house on Sunday and watched half the Redskin game, we also exchanged Christmas presents. Jack got a few dollars and a trip to Toys R Us. He chose t get a Marble toy and a Leapster game. The marble toy is a bunch of pieces and parts that fit together so that the marbles do cool stuff.

Its easier to show you, so here is an example of what I am trying to explain:


We had a good time there and did some more shopping after that at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Grandma Fritz got Jack some Redskin pencils, which he loves. He brought his helmet so when the game was on, he could run around like he was playing in the game.