Egalitarian Graphics: December 2005

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All the best to you and yours!

Eg ;)

In regards to Comics and Violence

Well...for me it's not the violence I object to...

when I was a kid I read the most violent comics available...House of the Dead, Tales of the Crypt, Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella, Sgt.Rock, War Tales, Ripley's Believe it or Not,...etc...

if anyone besides me remembers the big old Eerie and Creepy and Vampirella series ...they were more violent than most comics today...ghouls, beheadings, torture, etc...that picture of the Hulk tearing Wolverine in two is mild compared to most of the imagery in Eerie or Creepy.

Images of violence does NOT make someone go out and commit violence...

low self-esteem, depression, fear, resentment, jealousy, etc...is what makes for violent behaviour...NOT seeing Superman die or Batman get beat up by Bane

a corrupted emotional/intellectual state + a convenient excuse = violence

Eg

Tales from the Convenience Store 5

Two More Two tales this time really, rolled into one:

This weekend's excitement came at 10 till 4 this morning when I'd just finished selling one of my morning regulars his newspaper. While he was in the store, a black Nissan Titan rolled up and parked at an odd angle in the lot, right near where this customer was parked.

The customer exited the store and was in the process of returning to his vehicle when the new arrival beckoned him over and spoke to him. A few seconds later the customer again came inside and asked me to phone the police for an ambulance. At this point I noticed the driver of the nissan attempting quite unsuccessfully to exit his vehicle. He looked as if he'd been beaten within an inch of his natural life.

Suffice it to say that, at 4am, when the boss arrived, the presence of 5 police cars and one ambulance had her somewhat shaken.

The rest of the story: Joe Victim had been out hustling pool. He had several thousand dollar's worth of custom pool cues in his truck, and a huge wad of cash. He'd obviously been winning this evening. Now Joe Victim wasn't a small man, quite huge in fact, but the three guys he'd beaten at pool decided they were sore losers and decided to try their luck against the big guy. He got the best of 2 of them, but the third got him in the back, where he'd had back surgery...

Joe Victim had lost motor control of the left side of his body and couldn't feel his legs when he arrived at our store. He was taken via ambulance to the hospital and treated.

Tales from the Convenience Store 4

This one's a bit dated, having occurred about 4 days after Katrina. Episode 3 - Be Prepared

It was a hot, dry, dusty afternoon outside as I stood working the 1pm-9pm, the toughest shift for the store all week. It's me, myself, and I manning the register, listening to the complaints of ultra high gas prices, and comiserating with the customers about both the price of petrol and the weather. Typical Saturday, I thought to myself as I ring out yet another faceless, nameless customer. Then they roll up in my parking lot. All 15 vehicles of them, ranging from a Lexus SUV down to an old beater Ford 150 pickup truck. They're one family. They're tanking up gas, and buying out all the supplies they can get their hands on in my store including all my ice and all my bottled water. Their destination: New Orleans, Louisiana.

Now this put me pretty busy for a bit. You see, there were 40 or so of them ranging from Grandma and Grandpa down to preteen grandkids. I asked them why they were attempting to return so soon, and got my response from Pa, who was obviously the boss of this motley group. "My family owns a business down there and we're going to protect it from the looters. You wouldn't happen to know where we can get more ammunition between here and there do ya?"

I blinked and answered in the negative, not having had the need of ammo save for hunting in years now, then inquired politely after their armaments as if actually taking interest. Pa has his eldest son pull the tarp back from the bed of his pickup truck. There's a .50 caliber machine gun, several Soviet AK-47's and US M-16's lovingly crated in the back along with various caliber rifles and pistols. "Man, you guys are pretty serious about this, aren't you?" I asked, an honest look of amazement across my face. "Yep, since that (expletive deleted) Bush isn't doin nothin, we figured we'd handle it ourselves." "Good luck to you." I responded and returned to my work.

I can't say I blame them for wanting to protect their property at all costs. I sincerely hope they can actually get into New Orleans proper; I've heard the roads in are all closed up.

I honestly hope they don't have to kill anyone, but if they do, they're very well prepared.

Ice

Tales from the Convenience Store 3

Now the Second Story!

Our favorite K9 Officer Friendly was one of the officers that worked this scene. He's the same one that officially 'collared' my car thief from the last time I spoke of things along these lines.. Now after it was all over, Officer Friendly entered the store to get his soda and have a mini-bs session with my boss and I. During the course of this he remembered his favorite 'dumb criminal' tale, which he freely shared:

He'd arrived for a restroom break at a store about 2 miles from mine. When he pulled in, there was a Hispanic male outside looking VERY agitated, jumping up and down and screaming.

Turns out this Hispanic male was travelling, and had given a ride to a female he'd met at one of his fuel stops from there to our lovely town. On arriving at the scene, the female had called her boyfriend and they'd all sat down outside to enjoy a cold beer and smoke some of the illegal herb he was carrying in quantity to his final destination.

Nature called. Our favorite Hispanic excused himself to go to the restroom. When he returned, the couple was gone, and so was the bag of SEVERAL HUNDRED pounds of dope from his trunk.

He wanted the cops to recover his stolen dope...

Ice

Tales from the Convenience Store 2

So there was this drunk... Saturday a couple of weeks ago I had the dubious pleasure of working the afternoon/early evening shift. It was hot, as Texas weather usually is during the late summer, so we were selling massive quantities of beer. Amidst the hustle and bustle of rapid fire transactions I looked out into the busy intersection outside our store, there to see a pickup truck stalled out, hood open, and a guy wandering up in my parking lot.

Now next door to us there's this 10 minute oil change place, with those wonderful 6 dollar an hour would-be mechanics working in it. You know the ones - pretty nice guys actually, but not quite the brightest bulbs in the box. To me they were steady customers like everyone else, only they get free refills on their sodas and in exchange leave their greasy footprints all over my nice, clean floor.

Anyway so the guy comes wandering up just as the youngest oil tech comes over for his (once every 10 minutes all day long) soda refill. He proceeds to offer "Squirrely" (as I like to call him - he acts like one) 10 bucks to get the truck out of the intersection and help him fix it. Squirrel, seeing a profit of almost 2 hours of his labor agrees to help. They work their way back into traffic.

Just then Officer Friendly (remember officer friendly from the last post? Same guy) comes rolling up behind the truck and turns on his lights. Now it gets interesting.

I tend to a few more customers who are in a hurry to get their beer and get back to watching ballgames on their teevees and ignoring their rugrats (who'll come in later begging coins to buy candy with), then turn back to see everything gone. No cop car, no truck, no Squirrel, no Officer Friendly, no guy. Hrm. This is odd. It's only been a couple of minutes. I walk out front for a smoke.

Now there's a blind side of my c-store where I can't see from the inside or in front of the store. It's a parking area. We call it 'robber parking' since it's a favorite hangout of local drug dealers, shoplifters, potential robbers, and those who prefer I not see their vehicle. I always look over into robber parking when I'm outside smoking to make sure nothing too dangerous is going on. I looked, and there was the truck, half in and half out of my back driveway, cop in front, and another in the rear. One's doing a field sobriety test on our hero, while Officer Friendly and his dog are searching the cab. "Hey, this one's getting good." I think to myself as I stroll back to the front doors so as not to be too obvious in my curiosity. I finish another drag of my smoke and up drives yet another customer so I ditch it and go back inside.

It turns into a rush, so I don't get to go back out and gawk. No matter, Squirrely and Officer Friendly enter the store about 20 minutes later. I get the details. Turns out our hero was involved in a hit and run about 3 blocks down. It was bad enough to cause his truck to overheat and stall out at the intersection. Once the truck had cooled enough, it was easily started and driven (by Squirrel) into our parking lot (sort've - I told you he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box already didn't I?) and the entire parade moved over here. To make matters worse the guy was completely hammered on whiskey and beer, which he was more than willing to throw up all over my otherwise reasonably clean parking lot during the investigation. The icing on the cake was the gram of methamphetamine and half ounce of weed Ali (Officer Friendly's dog) so easily found in the cab. Ooops.

Ok, I hosed off the puke, but I got my revenge by proxy - another drunk's off the street.

ice

Tales from the Convenience Store

Greetings and Hallucinations Kudos to the Eggman for getting the ball rolling with this wonderful occasional Blog. Being the lazy kinda guy I am combined with putting in entirely too many hours at my job in the C-Store, and the fact that I've never considered doing one for myself until he suggested it, set it up, and invited me to post here, well...Thanks Bro!

And now without further fluff, I give you:

Tales from the Convenience Store.

My name is unimportant. My job, however, is. I provide you with day to day necessities including sustenance, petrol, ice for your cooler, and refreshment. In return, you provide my company with a small (or sometimes large as the case may be) amount of cash, and me with endless entertainment. I deal with people from all walks of life, from the most wealthy millionaires, to the construction worker on the street, to the local crack whores and other dregs of society. I am the eyes and the ears of your community. Not one thing happens near your home without me knowing about it or silently witnessing it, all the while keeping a smile on my face and providing you with your late night cravings. Yes, I'm the clerk at your local convenience store. I take the abuse you dish out, sometimes handing it right back, sometimes taking it, or if you get too moronic with me I might even throw you out of the store, verbally or bodily, or even call the police on you. I thank you for your complements while cleaning up your trash and the other messes you carelessly leave behind you, wondering if it's truly a 'nesting thing' when women leave shredded bits of toilet paper all over the bathroom floor and laughing heartily when a customer comments on the pretty girl that just walked out and how I'm lucky to have such a job. I gloat a bit during the summer months when the temperatures outside get up over 100 and I'm cool as a cucumber inside, and growl at the weather when thunderstorms blow my trashcans out into the highway leaving me yet another mess to clean. I am psychiatrist, bartender, social worker, employment agent, bodyguard, and best friend all rolled into one, but nobody ever really knows my name or who I really am.

Episode 1 - Don't piss off the clerk.

So one moonlit Saturday evening I was working my graveyard shift and hustling to get my customers well taken care of, up drives this guy to my gas pump number 1. Now this wouldn't be too terribly noteworthy save that good old number 1 had its hose ripped out earlier by an unwary patron who forgot to hang it up and drove off with it still dangling from their gas tank. Needless to say the pump was out of commission, and the guy was noted by me to be obviously drunk, stoned, or otherwise moronic.

We'll call the guy Joe Schmuck.

Joe gets out of his car and proceeds to bother some of my inbound customers asking them for money (we call it panhandling around here). This is a HUGE no-no because it drives off business. One of my customers complains to me, giving me the full 'go ahead' by our company's policy to call the police on poor Joe.

Joe doesn't realize that I'm on the phone with police dispatch as he enters the store and pays for 2 dollars in gas with some money he's just gotten from a customer. I take his money, set him up on a different pump, tell him which it is and why, and he exits the store. All the while police dispatch is keeping me on the line.

Now this is unusual. The dispatcher normally takes information, alerts the local beat officer, and hangs up. It's pretty weird that she's staying on the line with me. I decide to keep a very sharp eye on Joe since something's obviously up.

Joe finishes pumping his gas and tries to exit the driveway. Since our store is set on a corner of a busy intersection it's difficult to get into traffic. Since 18-wheelers frequently use both roads, and there's a red-light, and Joe's trying to turn left, well, we can pretty much guess that he gets blocked in by the big truck waiting on the light to turn green. Dispatch advises me there are units entering my parking lot from the other side and to let her know when they nab him.

Out of nowhere 5 (Yes, FIVE) police cars pull up, lights on and sirens blaring, and they take poor Joe down at gunpoint and haul him quickly away to jail.

This is pretty steep for just a drunk panhandler...

After the clean-up efforts, the K-9 officer that was working the case enters the store to get himself a free coffee and discuss the case with me and what I'd witnessed. With him is a plainclothes detective who was also in on the arrest. Turns out Joe was in a car he'd stolen about 2 hours prior and there was an all points bulletin out on him. Oops.

Moral of the story:
If you're going to steal a car, DO NOT piss off the clerk where you're buying your get-away gas!

Cya next time,
Ice

The Day is Near...

Merry Christmas,

Everyone!!!

Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Eg ;)

Remembrance

Whether you believe that Jesus was an actual person...or is a god...or just a made up legend to convert the masses to a new religion...or a man turned into a legend...a martyr...a saviour...a friend...an icon...

it really does not change the message that either he taught...his father taught through him...or that was made up around him...

so...even though men may disagree on the details of his life...the message of peace, love, and compassion is a message we should aspire toward and revere not only this time of year...but every day, all year, throughout the days of our lives.

Peace, and may you have a safe and happy holiday season...and may that happiness resound throughout the rest of your lives.

Eg ;)

Blogging

Not too long ago blogs were little more than an on-line journal of one's thoughts and life...a public version of the locked diaries that young girl's hid under the bed so their brothers wouldn't read them.

Nowadays...blogs are much more than diaries...virtually every political party, news service, information site has either a blog alone or as an extension of their website...

it still serves it's original purpose with millions of bloggers...but...it has prospered to the point where if it is not on par with websites it is quickly catching up to them.

Our blogs are a reflection of this changing attitude...different in look, different in feel, and different in purpose, our blogs are much more than journals, and have the non-commercial aspects of many websites.

"Changing the face of the blogging world one blog at a time"...Administrators Blog

isn't just a statement in fact with us...it's our pleasure! :D

Eg ;)

Enough Already...! :D

Socrates again: sheeeeesh....a couple more :D

and still: a couple more...

A couple more...

A Couple of : Socrates Strips

? :D

2 Points

Cats

Heston

More Football

Where's the Endzone? :D

A Few Rounds

Grandmotherly

The Coolest Game

Norma

Air

Mick

Of like mind

Sea Eagle: Osprey

Mysterious

Tennis Anyone?

The Bears

Relaxed

Pride

Woman Standing

Introspection

Impressed Woman

Button

Congrats The Anti-Lounge!!!

Imagine...on November 17th I was congratulating you on 1000 visitors...now...on December 17th, just one month later to the day...I'm congratulating you on 2000 visitors!!!

As of today the blogs are 120 days old...starting from the first post in this blog on August 20th...that, of course is not when the other blogs started or when any had their StatCounters installed...but...close enough :D

Again...WhooooHoooooo!!! on making 2000!!!

Eg ;)

OH...the above picture was a futile attempt by me to make a Christmas card around my Santa design...using Power Point....sheeeeeesh!

Nine More Days Till X-Day...

On the ninth day of christmas my true love gave to me...

nine broken bones
eight cancelled credit cards
seven mall mishaps
six sorry not tonights
five take out the trashes
four will you get this
three she could do betters
two major arguments

and a big freakin' migraine in a croak tree! :D

With much regret

I had to get rid of The Fox House...I personally loved the template and the concept behind the blog...but I found myself just posting things in it and promoting it just to keep it alive...to no avail.

I simply don't have the time to keep all these blogs updated and alive by myself...I could go the popular route and create political blogs, or blogs that critique new products, or ones that serve no other purpose than to link to other blogs, or the ones you see that follow a specific religious theme, etc...there are certain themes that go well to draw in an audience...but my main focus was to create a group of blogs that form a community...in the best sense of that word....luckily, thanks to the members here there are some blogs that I don't have to worry about and I can post whenever I feel like...but there still are some blogs that need my constant attention just to keep them alive.

Some blogs I keep...because I really like the template, or structure, or the concept of them...as an example the Sports at a Glance blog...I find myself keeping it around simply because I love sports and I think the template is perfect for a sports theme....but there's really no point in keeping it...if you really think about it...because it simply isn't used.

There never is just one reason to do anything...and I had several reasons for creating these blogs...and one of those reasons was to attempt to create a small community of friends that could discuss a wide variety of topics from sports to music, from religion and philosophy to jokes and humor, have a place to play games, and talk about life.

And then...eventually...translate that to a website...and have everything in one place.

But the truth be told...I'm probably too organizationalist...I like having everything in it's own place...much like my life...I like to have everything where it belongs and where I can find it...neat, and easy to locate.
By contrast my daughters are slobs :D ...I'd have better luck getting NASA to build me my own private shuttle than getting them to clean their room :D

Eg ;)

Page Rank

I'm not sure of the signifigance of this because I really haven't checked into it...except to say a lot of people seem to talk about it...and some people seem to be in awe of it...

at any rate I decided to check out where we stand and...

this blog ranked a Page 3...and 'all', with one exception, our other blogs came in at Page 2...

the only blog that wasn't ranked was the new one that's only a few days old...The Administration Blog.

By comparison... http://www.antionline.com/...has a page rank of 6.

Eg ;)

Template tags

I discovered why some blogs weren't fairing as well as expected...apparently there were four blogs missing meta tags used by search engines to crawl sites...so...I added them...

that's one drawback to using ' other ' templates...you have to keep an eye on missing code :D

Eg ;)

Up to???

Well...I'm sure you're all in suspense as to what I've been up to...

OK...I'll tell you anyways :p

I've been working on the portal blog...not the same as the portal blog for a website that was previously mentioned in The Anti-Lounge...but the blog version of it.

Administrators Blog

Still needs a lot of work but it's ready to show...hope you like it.

Eg ;)

Congratulations Mel

Mel's Photography Studio 1000+ veiws and going strong :D ...a testament to the quality of her work.

Eg ;)

Welcome to our new Members: Cemetric, dino, and Aspman

Welcome aboard the Blogs guys!

on another note:

Still looking for contributing artists to show their stuff...98% of my artwork is old, faded, mis-used, lost, or no longer in my possession...haven't drawn anything substantial since my kids were born...so...there's nothing I've shown to date that's less than 8 years old.

Set up to the plate people and show the world what you've got!

Eg ;)

Egalitarian Graphics

Saturday, December 31, 2005

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Saturday, December 24, 2005

In regards to Comics and Violence

Friday, December 23, 2005