I need to say, this strip is not a fanciful fabrication on my part. This strip is a goddamn documentary of my running dialogue with our dog, a chihuahua named Hemingway. It’s unsettling. I seriously don’t know how Zara deals with it. I would’ve called some government agency for an intervention by now.

On a personal note–hi Zara! I miss you terribly while you’re at the Siggraph convention in sunny LA. You can’t see me, but I’m waving at my screen. Come home soon, m’lovely.

Joe

Happy Tuesday, all. Please disregard the “MWF” graphic at the top of the page. We’re pretty lazy, hereabouts. See, I’m coming off a weeklong stay-cation, so apart from a whole mess of stuff getting done around the house and helping Zara get ready for Siggraph (i.e., the OTHER big nerd convention in Florida last weekend), things have slowed to a glacial pace. And now, with the missus on the left coast for a week, it’s fat city here at Casa Ravata.

Many thanks to Dean and Bronson for today’s strip, as it was inspired by a conversation the three of us had one fine weekend. Me being me, I tucked it away for just such an occasion. Where I used to be worried about mining my friends for material for the strip, it seems to have sunk in that this thing is here to stay, and now, when we get together, it’s not uncommon for me to jot notes as we go or ask Zara to “remember that for later.” I do try to avoid using any gags I didn’t originate myself out of common courtesy, but this is one instance where Bronson came up with a bit that was just too good not to use.

Joe

So, we’re switching to Macs at work. This is something I was initially dreading, but recently I had the opportunity to spend some time editing video on Final Cut Pro, and after about 12 hours of that, I officially “Get It.” I am officially “On Board.” I am buying a black turtleneck, as Dean would say, and developing a taste for soy lattes.

So, my initial reaction was to jump in with both feet, and look into changing my home setup from PC to Mac as well. I was exactly six seconds into explaining this plan to Zara when the look on her face reminded me that she’d only reverted to PC because of me. The rest of that conversation played out pretty much like what you see in the strip today.

So, needless to say, no Macs are in our future, at least for the time being. It’s a shame–as someone who’s wrestled the giant anaconda that is Windows for my entire adult life, working on a Mac is like leaving work in the coal mines for a job as a highly paid taste-tester for Taco Bell. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it doesn’t leave you with the taste of brimstone in your mouth after eight hours on the job.

As always, thanks for coming–see you Tuesday!

Joe

Okay, here’s the bitch of today’s strip. While I really like the three different vignettes that we see in it on their own merits, the first two go together thematically (one guy who’s enthusiastic about an innovation and one guy who pisses on that innovation), but the third one doesn’t–Dean is commenting on Joe’s analogy, not the innovation itself.

I didn’t realize this until I re-read it right before posting it. But now I like Dean’s line too much to change it. So, on the whole, I like the strip a lot, but it feels sloppy and unfinished. Did anyone else feel the same way? Hopefully the only person who’s bothered by this is me.

Anyway, thanks for coming! Since we switched to Tuesdays and Thursday (ie, the days Penny Arcade and XKCD don’t post), we’ve had crazy traffic coming through. We’re glad to have you! Stick around–maybe Thursday I won’t be so keen on berating myself.

Joe

Good Thursday, all.

I literally can’t have Bronson over to our house without having this conversation with him at least once. I’m sure it happens in other places–otherwise, why bother putting the Y-invert option on all new games? I blame Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the N64, the first game I encountered where this was a problem. Ever since, it’s been a damn wrestling match. At least Zara and I both play inverted. It’d be a shame to have to go through a second divorce.

Happy weekend, everybody!

Joe