This is what I posted on January 29 last year

I'll wait here while you look for it

So I looked at what's next

It's the thankless part of this award stuff
I have to nominate five pigeons bloggers

It's a given that I have to nominate Suldog
That's because he deserves to take another shot at me now that he knows me better
Then I might as well nominate the Ol' AF Sarge
The Cranky Old Man gets nominated
Ooh, yeah, and Buck gets it because the other three are here
I was gonna nominate Uncle Skip, but he's got a full plate right now
So we'll ask for volunteers

Now I'm supposed to ask the nominees 11 questions
Unlike the Daft Scots Lass I can count that high
My problem is I don't have the kind of imaginations that can come up with that many really good questions

1. when did you realize you were no longer a child ?
2. do you think it's necessary to shave every day ?
3. indoor sports or outdoor sports ?
4. Memphis, KC, or the Carolinas for barbecue ?
5. Dinner or Supper ?
6. Favorite movie ?
7. Ideal vacation ?

And because I got a break y'all get a break
You can choose to create your own next four questions or stop there.

Just grab the icon at the top left of this blog
Or take this

kinda wish this fit in the sidebar

Or you can go search the web for another image if ya want
Or you can even choose to ignore it
Life is all about choices

Am I done now?

Seventh question

I had to laugh when I read #7
I'm fairly certain I have no one single role model
There a large number of folks I attempt to emulate
For one thing I don't always pick the best characteristics to copy
Sometimes... many times I find the quirks more attractive
I'm always looking to see if there's approval from someone
Fortunately, I'm not into illegal activities... just stirring the pot
It's more fun to go comment on other blogs than it is to dream up posts for this one
I find it absolutely amazing that I have any followers

What I have to do now is decide if I am gonna skate for a couple of days because we're short four questions (thank you)
I suppose the first thing to do is go back an look at what come after the questions

Number six

So then we're asked,

Winter or Summer?

As one who tries to live one day at a time, in the moment as it were, I am forced by the nature of things to accept summer
This is because, at the moment, here in the northern hemisphere, summer precedes winter, which has recently departed
I also have a preference for summer because I find it easier to cool off than to warm up

Still on the short list

The Daft Scots Lass is was way too easy on those to whom she presented the award
First off, she didn't give a time limit, and
Secondly, there are only seven questions to answer

That's exactly how she put it (it's a screen capture)
We're on number five now
I have no idea what the answer is
What I mean is this blog is it, unless email and telephoning count
I just don't know why, other than it's the closest thing to having a job that I do
I really don't like writing emails or talking on a phone
Oh goodness, face to face... I really do like face to face conversations and meeting new people
That would be my favorite social platform
Blogging is a poor substitute
But I have met some pretty fine people here

Really... you have to ask

We're on number four

Think real hard, if you've been following this blog for any length of time
You tell me which it is
Don't get me wrong
I like 'em both
But it should really be a no brainer
About the only thing I like more than bacon is sex

...and maybe chocolate covered bacon

Next question

Okay, okay
We'll do these in order... all of them

One and two have been answered
So what's my most embarrassing moment?
I had to think long and hard because the career has lasted longer than dirt
I've come to the conclusion I have to go all the way back to the fifties
The memory still stands out though it must be a shadow of the original memory
There was some kind of classroom assignment
I think we were supposed to write a sentence using something like a pluperfect past participle in the present tense
Whatever...
I said something to one of my deskmates as an aside
I never could do anything without commenting
It was along the lines of how much I kinda liked a certain person of the female persuasion in our class
Each of us was then supposed to tell the class our sentence
My deskmate used what I had said as his sentence
That ended that assignment for the day
It also embarrassed the crap outta me
The young lady in question moved out of town

Tomorrow's question is almost too easy

 

Question two

The second question of the eleven that turned out to be only seven is:

Dogs or Cats?

Why on earth would anyone capitalize cats when it's not the first word in a sentence
Not that I don't like cats
I like them at least as much as dogs
I have had both
Dogs are like dependents
Only you can't claim them on your taxes
Cats are relatively self-sufficient
They just look vulnerable sometimes
I know people who have both dogs and cats
They have to find someone to watch their dogs when they go away (or take them with)
They just put the cats outside and leave

So I guess my answer is No!

Question three:

Your most embarrassing moment

I need awhile to think about that

11 questions?

I guess the best way to do this is to show you the questions?
This is how they appeared

Seven is a good number
It's easier than anything but six, five, four, three, two, or one
Here's one:

1. My favorite sports team pretty much relates to whatever season it is
   - right now it is the San Francisco Giants If this were November it would be the 49ers
   During the lull between baseball and football, I actually follow and cheer on the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Sharks
   I have also been known to root for the San Jose Earthquakes
   I have a favorite college, whose teams get my support
   But right now I have pretty much settle on baseball until football starts grabbing my attention sometime in September and baseball will dominate because it's a game I played until the wheels fell off 
2. Monday is soon enough... maybe tomorrow

 

This is fun

I suppose, if I wasn't the lazy sort, this could all be done at once
But then it would be a huge ginormous post and you'd have to scroll down to read it
Right?

So, yesterday left off with the first five of eleven random things about me
Today I will make up a few more
Isn't it true that since I am not a real person I can fabricate facts?
So far I haven't

1.  one 
2. two
3. three
4. four
5. five
6. I had a brief military career, cut short by a desire to have a life
   I was good at following orders
   I just didn't like it
7. I don't like to preach or to be preached at
8. I really dislike folks who judge
   Opinions are okay, though
9. Some punctuation is optional - it's my blog
10. I like soft women who smell good
11. Suldog called me a demented bastard
    I will cherish that 

The next part is a little harder

We'll manage

Okay... what's next

I thinks it's kiss a giant spider or somethin'
Where'd I leave my cheat sheet?
Okay... eleven random facts about myself

1. My name isn't really IT(aka Ivan Toblog)
2. There are at least two other bloggers who know who I really am (and still talk to me anyway)
3. I started this thing because just commenting on other blogs didn't seem fair and, besides, an outlet for my sometimes bizarre outpourings was needed
4. I have lived in California since it had a lower population than Pennsylvania
   ...sometime back in the first half of the last century
5.  Old, normal, always and never are words I really, really try to avoid using... along with profanity
6.  
7.  
8.  
9.  
10.  
11. 
    

Well, tomorrow's another day

Maybe I should do this all at once

That way it isn't necessary to go back to see what I've already posted
I have to find a place to hang the award now
I suppose I should put it with the rest of them down at the bottom of the page
It will look good by the Bacon
First, though, it gets a couple of day of top billing on the sidebar
A to Z is done... thank goodness
It started well enough, but toward the end it was a bit tedious
I probably won't do it again.
At least not formally
About the only plus is I have more tiny heads on the sidebar
And pageviews were up almost 50%

Since I only do this for me, that's pretty amazing

Oh I suppose I should tell you what I am doing to completely earn this award?

Okay... so that's two out of the way

The way I figure it, it will be June by the time I'm finished

In honor of the occasion*

*May Day

Someone called this the "Cartoon of the Year"

*Something better

About that post

The one posted yesterday
I'm pretty sure it's a fake ...unlike a lot of other stuff out there



I just like outrageous things

*well I almost made it

Who's sorry now

So Google did a doodle for Bob Moog's birthday.
That inspired me to write an original toon.
Be warned, I am not a professional musician.
I'm not even an amateur musician.
Just click on the image to hear it.
Hurry!

What'd I do?

In the words of Buffalo Springfield, "There's Something Happening Here."



This Blogger hasn't a clue what he did to deserve the increases in pageviews each month.

Is it stuff like this?



or



Anyway, thanks for the interest.

How to sing the Blues

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less you stick something nasty in the next line, like "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it.
Then find something that rhymes ... sort of: "Got a good woman - with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues are not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch; ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys and Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft an' state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis .

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada . Hard times in St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places:
a. Ashrams
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

11. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you
happen to be an old ethnic person, and you slept in it.

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived.
d. you have a retirement plan or trust fund.

13. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Michael
Jordan cannot sing the blues. Gary Coleman could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. muddy water
d. black coffee

The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. mixed drinks
b. kosher wine
c. Snapple
d. sparkling water


15. If it occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse, and dying lonely on a broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

16. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

17. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn , and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis .

19. Make your own Blues name (starter kit):
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit Lemon,Lime,Kiwi etc.)
c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)
For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.
(Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. I don't care.

Happy Anniversay

I may never get to do this again. I mean, how often does the 29th of February roll around? (that's a rhetorical question, Stephen)

Today is a special day for a blog friend (at least he was until today) and HIS WIFE. This video is hereby dedicated to them



Well, he says he like fruitcakes

So

I was minding my own business as I commented on another blog when suddenly this flashed on the screen




Then I asked myself