From the Annals of the Sparklyfiend

Tis the season...

2006-11-21T18:11:39Z

Tis the season for shopping! Well that's what it seems like anyway.

I've been on the hunt for the best places to buy affordable, super stylish, green (meaning environmentally friendly) clothing, decorative and home products!

Here's what I've got so far.
(I'll keep updating this as I find more)

Affordable & Stylish Envt Friendly Shopping!

Outdoor gear and clothing
Shoes
Cool Tees with designs
Glass Ware
Beer (local and world)
Rain Forest super store: Jewelry, clothing, etc. Free trade & supports the rainforest with each purchase.
Green Consumer Reports!

For your business..

Printer

A bit more expensive

Gaiam super store: good stuff, kinda affordable
Vegan Clothing

Click-A-Day to Donate!

Here are my favorite Click-A-Day sites - simply click the button on the site to donate!

puddlejump @ 2006-07-19T09:27:00

2006-07-19T13:30:28Z

Oh happy place...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWFMUMytm3U&mode=related&search=President%20Gore

Tony Blair knitting?

2006-07-18T21:10:02Z

Transcript and Video of Bush and Blair's mistakenly taped conversation:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10391789

The highlight?
Blair tells Bush he knitted him a sweater. I shit you not. What is that? Code? It's just silly.

Blair is so being the lapdog, stuttering and getting interrupted by Bush who hardly looks up from his meal. Bastard.

puddlejump @ 2006-06-20T17:54:00

2006-06-20T22:03:12Z

I haven't updated in a while! Lessee...

Ryan and I went camping a week ago and Ryan an Dad completely bonded. It was very sweet. Dad's wanted a son for forever, who knows why, so I think he really likes having Ryan around. Probably b/c Ryan will watch a football game with him and we women could care less. :-P He used to try to watch it with our little male foofoo dog Ping - poor Dad. :-P

Anywho, all's been great! I love my job (as usual) and my man makes me tasty food and is super supportive (and now he's working out waay more than I am. Must fix this!)

oo! and look, Ry and I are famous today! :-P hehe

I say famous b/c of how many people read this comic.

The funniest thing is what this comic did to my hit count - the day's not even over and look at it!

Weeee!

2006-05-11T23:03:23Z

So for the longest time, I had about 10 people looking at about 100 pages in my comic/day. Which was great, I thought.

Then this past weekend I started advertising and said hello to a few comic artists - one of which added my ad below her comic and now... for 6 days straight...

I can't believe 500 new people are looking at my comic within a day! O_O
And I can't believe they're staying to look at 4000 pages!! ^_^

Weeeee!!!

Check out the chick who was so helpful: Devil's Panties Yay for DP!

*does happy dance*

Fun fun fun..

2006-04-17T21:03:58Z

I was trying to figure out how to describe my opinion system (I like opinions better than beliefs - little nod to the Jay & Silent Bob quote :-P) last night after easter dinner. I'm not atheist exactly b/c I believe we're all connected. So time for another visit to the BeliefNet Belief-O-Matic test! :-D

I do love online tests so.

Here are my results with a little touch of commentary. :-P

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
I like going to UU churches. :-D
2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (93%)
I never get this - you need to believe the savior thing to be a Christian right?
3. Secular Humanism (87%)
This is almost right on the nail.
4. Liberal Quakers (87%)
I like going to Quaker churches too.
5. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (78%)
Yeah, I like seeing doctors, myself. And, you know, not a Christian.
6. Bahá'í Faith (68%)
It's cool, but I don't believe in an afterlife. I think I become dirt and then part of plants and then part of anything. I like plants, so that's a really nice thought. :-)
7. Neo-Pagan (68%)
No dieties here! :-D
8. New Thought (62%)
Ok, this one sounds pretty close to what I am. Tho take out the Perfect Mind jargon.
9. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (60%)
yup.. still not Christian
10. New Age (60%)
Not too into the healing stones (unless good solid scientific studies backed it) and funky terminology.
11. Nontheist (59%)
Were it not for the "we're all connected" idea I like, I'd say I'm this.
12. Taoism (56%)
Kinda, but sometimes I think they overthink things a little?
13. Scientology (55%)
Scientology can kiss my ass! (ducks Tom Cruise lawsuit)
14. Theravada Buddhism (55%)
Don't believe in an individual separate soul, just one shared soul if anything, so this doesn't fit. Plus I want my focus to be enjoying life and others and harmonizing together - not ending something.
15. Mahayana Buddhism (46%)
Don't believe in dieties.
16. Orthodox Quaker (46%)
Don't believe in dieties.
17. Reform Judaism (46%)
Don't believe in dieties.
18. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (42%)
Um.. no dieties?
19. Jehovah's Witness (38%)
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Me a converting people to the Bible. Right. I needn't look at the rest I think. :-P
20. Sikhism (38%)
21. Hinduism (33%)
22. Jainism (26%)
23. Eastern Orthodox (18%)
24. Islam (18%)
25. Orthodox Judaism (18%)
26. Roman Catholic (18%)
27. Seventh Day Adventist (17%)

Argh!

2006-03-01T16:38:33Z

Congress is voting tomorrow on a bill that would gut the food safety and labeling laws in Delaware, thus endangering our health and the health of our children, our families, and our communities. We need your voice today to stop this anti-consumer, industry-sponsored bill - please take action now!

Here's what's happening: H.R. 4167, the "National Uniformity for Food Act," lowers the bar on food safety by overturning state food safety laws that are not "identical" to federal law. The bill could directly harm consumers by increasing their exposure to food-borne illnesses, undermining the authority of state food safety officers, and overturning state food labeling laws.

Take California, for example. In 1986, California enacted Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act to protect citizens from chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and educate people about their exposures to these toxins. Sounds like a good law, right? H.R. 4167 would overturn this landmark bill!

If Congress passes this bill tomorrow, it could wipe out state regulations across the country, including Delaware.

To help safeguard our food safety laws, go here!
http://go.care2.com/e/jhg/iX/Fanh

Have Butt, Must Bootie Dance

2006-03-01T00:21:06Z

We're going dancing at Shampoo tomorrow night. Come! Or I shant bite you.

I'm going to be giving out InThePuddle thongs b/c I have extras after the NYC Comic Con. It was a bit to family oriented for me to let them leave my satchel. O_O *blush* I think they shouldn't be a prob in Shampoo though. :-P

I say pah

2006-02-13T22:46:16Z

For shame, yahoo. For shame.

I invite you to bitch with me:

Yahoo! Inc.
Customer Care - Privacy Policy Issues
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(408) 349-5070

To Yahoo:
I read that in China you helped arrest online journalists working in support of human rights. Do you plan on doing this again? Because I am planning on ceasing completely my use of your email client after 10 years of use b/c I am embarrassed to be associated with such an action. If you tell me you plan on doing this sort of thing again in the future, I will stop all use of your service and discourage it of others.

I realize you're trying to make money, but there are certain lines you do not cross.

Items of Import

2006-01-09T16:43:37Z

Item One: Pee-Mail Of The Day

Item Two: My employers, Tracy and Mia, are preggies!! Come August we'll have a baby in the office!! A little Levesque too - so s/he'll be chatting in French, sipping fine grape juice, and likely banging loudly on pans. YAY!!

Item Three: I had a great weekend! I had lots of good time with family sking, doing yoga, and hiking. The weather was nice for it. And even got to hear Sean and Ryan jam while Michelle read and Dana and I spewed artsy all over canvas and paper with crayons and paint. And Sean even got me to sing Tangled Up In Blue. :-P

Item Four: For the yoga peeps...

puddlejump @ 2005-12-07T17:38:00

2005-12-07T22:41:40Z

swipe! from Natureschosen

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

This year I've been busy!

Last Wednesday I stole ilexopaca's purse (-30 points). In June I donated bone marrow to kiltedman in a life-saving procedure (300 points). Last Tuesday I gave axehead42 a Dutch Oven (-10 points). In February I didn't flush (-1 points). In May I broke rmaslow's X-Box (-12 points).

Overall, I've been nice (247 points). For Christmas I deserve a new dolly!

Sincerely,
puddlejump

puddlejump @ 2005-12-07T17:34:00

2005-12-07T22:36:53Z

lala!

I went to poetry!

It was fun. Man I missed it!

puddlejump @ 2005-11-30T15:46:00

2005-11-30T20:47:54Z

Fun petition of hte moment:
Holiday Season pledge

puddlejump @ 2005-11-30T11:41:00

2005-11-30T16:51:32Z

rrg

So I was actually planned to come by poetry, but on Mon night Ryan realized his sister's birthday party was Tues night. But I said I was going to freaking go to poetry so I wanted to be out by 9pm so we could go.

But family being important, birthday's aren't the thing to rush (especially since I couldn't get to the house until 8:30). So we finally got out at 9:30 and headed straight to poetry a few minutes away.

But just as we were arriving, I realized I'd be a punk to come at 9:40 [i]after[/i] most of the poeting was done. So I went ahead on home. I'll come next week, unless more random birthdays decide to spring up where they aughtn't be!

stuff stuff stuff

2005-11-22T18:14:09Z

I've kept up work on my comic - though I've made some changes, like it's now updated Mon/Wed/Fri instead of 5 days/week. I was just wearing myself out.

Other news, I'm coming to poetry tonight! I've been wanting to come for a while. I'll try and work on my comic a little bit while I'm there so I don't end up staying up super late again. I was up late lastnight doing a redesign for hte comic site but when I went to save it all got erased! So nothing to show for those 2 hours of work, no worries for me though. The next design will be even better!

Anyway, if anyone in poetry still reads this (ie hasn't completely forgotten their estranged Christi) I'll see you tonight!

-------------------------------------------

In other news, my work won a cool award:

Yay Yikes! We got the Sustainable Business award for Best Service Company! :-D

The Triple Bottom Line Award for Best Service Company was awarded to Yikes Internet Specialists, a web design and programming business located in Northern Liberties. Yikes Internet Specialists has been observing the triple bottom line since 1996. Even as a small company of eight employees, Yikes pays a living wage and provides excellent benefits. They support youth interns and have hired four former interns for full and part-time positions. They have a strong record of charitable giving, allowing employees to choose their favorite charity, and donate thousands of dollars in pro-bono website work every year to local non-profit organizations. They have a written policy on environmental responsibility in their employee handbook and recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, aluminum and glass and compost at the office. Their office is powered by 100% renewable energy and they donate money to plant 5 seedlings for every tree’s worth of paper they use in the office. They use an old-fashioned business model of slow, steady growth and have increased their budget by 20%. The award was accepted by co-owners Tracy Bannett and Mia Levesque.

pensive night...

2005-11-16T06:34:54Z

I just thought about the fact that I'm almost 30 (turning 29 in a few months, if you're wondering) - and that being 30, nearly a 3rd of my life has passed. Am I really living the life I want to be living?

I'm more rich than, what, 97% of the worlds' population. What an immense amount of power to wield.

Are there any more daily habits that I can pick up that will change it for the better? Is there any way I can help more of the poor survive disease?

I recycle and use reusable shopping bags. I work for a business that uses 100% wind power and recycles and largely serves the environmental and non-profit community. But, I want to do something greater.

Should I decide to live always in a small apartment so I can donate the extra money? Should I buy a diesel car that I convert to run on biodiesel so I don't support blood-soaked oil? Should I try to buy a small house or condo so that I can install solar panels?

Or bigger - should I make a website that supports green energy or advertises the need to fight disease? That somehow inspires people to act or helps coordinate people?

I want the comfortable, wealthy life I've always lived. I feel the want for my children to live in safe, pretty upperclass suburbs. But is it right? Is it fair? Am I doing at a cost to someone else?

I know. It's a hard question.

But really, why is it something to hide from?

Making my life even a little more true to what I believe in is something I can be proud of. Alot is even better. So what little or big thing can I do? I want to do all the above things.

Yeah, but I know what to do - spend less money on clothing and fancy cheese and fun stuff, maybe work a second job, pay off the last of my debt, invest in more stocks, buy a house and install solar panels, and then work to afford a biodiesel car. And keep my eyes open for some really kickass project to work on. ;-)

---------

On a slightly lighter note, today's In The Puddle comic is Renting 2 - Living the Undeath You Love!

arting out

2005-11-15T19:42:21Z

I hung out with some friends this weekend and did an "Art Corpse" together. (basically a piece of paper folded into 8 sections and people can't see what others did until all are done - they only see where others' lines come around the edge into their section).

Beware doing something like that, the results might look something like this:
Picture One
Picture Two
(pictures by Christi, Ryan, Rachel, Kristen, and Ken)

I'm also trying to decide whether to go to open drawing tonight or try to come down to poetry? I miss some of you guys. :-P

-------------
Updated 5 days/week: inthepuddle.com

Hank

2005-11-11T17:41:45Z

Yay! I posted a comic every day this week! I'm starting to get a little faster, and I hope so, because going to bed at 2am and 4am in order to get it done isn't good for me to do in the long term! For now though, I'm rather enjoying myself. It's nice to do what I want for once, instead of what the client wants all the time. (not that I don't really enjoy that, mind you :-))

Yesterday I helped (I played teacher assistant) Tracy teach people html again. Man is it fun! She does a great job, it's so cool seeing them get it and understand something they so couldn't before. :-) Though this time, instead of helping all the students, I spent much of the time helping out one student who didn't know how to highlight with his mouse, or use the delete, return, or arrow keys - there's no way he'll be building a website any time soon, but at least he'll come out of the class knowing how to type - he really was trying hard too! It was impressive how he just kept on trying for 2 hours straight. Hopefully he'll be able to email by the time the 3rd and last class is done. :-)

Fun link:
If you haven't heard about Hank yet...

lonely

2005-11-08T00:25:10Z

:-(

The cool thing is I got a lot done working all weekend on my website.

The suck thing is I feel lonely.

new comic website!

2005-11-07T03:04:07Z

Wee!! After many nights in front of the computer working with code, databases, and design (my first try to do it on my own for the former two) I finally have my new comic website up! It's database driven which makes it way simpler to deal with the ever-growing bulk of comic images.

Check it out, and do tell me if you encounter any bugs. :-)
In The Puddle

Alright, now to work on my commissioned painting. Wish me luck!

Dragons and Spaghetti

2005-11-02T01:40:36Z

I've made a new comic!
http://www.inthepuddle.com/

Also, hit the backward arrow button if you haven't seen the dragon yet. I like the way it came out. :-)

For those of you who haven't seen this yet, The Noodly Appendage has created a game!

Flying Spaghetti Monster: The Game

Halloween

2005-10-28T16:51:04Z

Fear the Mullet Cam!

Yikes does Halloween with coors beer drinking mullet lesbians, priests, and pirates.

puddlejump @ 2005-10-27T13:55:00

2005-10-27T17:57:34Z

Swipe from FARK, this is just freaking funny:

Karl Rove's mistress is leaving him to marry her ranch foreman, "Rhett Hard." Surprisingly not a joke
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/359560p-306346c.html

puddlejump @ 2005-10-25T20:33:00

2005-10-26T00:35:09Z

updated again :-)
http://www.inthepuddle.com/

pretty rain...

2005-10-25T01:59:02Z

In honor of the next few days:
New In The Puddle. :-)