Folk art or pig joint - you decide

A moment of silence, please

IT'S HERE! Bloodhounds couldn't have tracked this thing better. I was up late last night searching for upcoming flights from the UPS hub in Anchorage AK, to Louisville KY. Drove myself crazy reading all the negative rep's about Apple's stalling this, UPS is stalling that, no, it's Customs that has things tied up ... all I know is as of 11:45 last night, my phone was still sitting in a cargo container in Alaska. I even looked on the map - Alaska is WAY FAR AWAY from here. Crap. This morning, however, the iPhone Fairies had done their work and shipping status showed that it was out on a truck for delivery at 4:15 am Louisville time. Louisville may have its negative points, but being a UPS hub isn't one of them.

Coolest thing - dumbest thing:

Coolest thing first: the front screen doesn't smear up with greasy fingerprints like the old ones. Very nice. Don't know how they did that, but it works.

Dumbest thing: I had it shipped to my office, but it's synced to my home computer, so now I have to wait for the day to end so I can go home and activate it. Cough. Cough. I'm not feeling well. Swine flu probably. Cough. Maybe I need to go home.

Jesus got a gun ... Satan's on the run

Austin Texas next week

Josh and I decided to wear matching outfits the first day we're there.

Josh, however insisted that he change soon after our arrival.

I agreed and will change into my costume so I fit in better with the locals.

Prince Corwin of Amber

When my wife, Sue, met me, this is exactly what I looked like - except the face. We met on stage at a Science Fiction Convention. No Spock ears for me, no siree. I was Prince Corwin of Amber. A hero from the Chronicles of Amber written by Roger Zelazny.

A good friend of mine and fellow artist, David O. Miller, asked if he could paint my costume. Sure. So here it is. This was back in 1987. Great illustration. Dumb geek wearing the outfit. The cape was made from a woman's velvet coat with the sleeves cut off and the fur color rolled over into the arm pits to give it that padded shoulder look. A capelette served as the ascot. The chainmail was fashioned out of a metallic silver dress. I had REAL chainmail on my hand which was not in the illustration. And I still have the Toledo sword, though the scabbard has been refitted by another friend with brown leather and brass - Corwin would NEVER wear anything other than black and silver. There was a silver rose broach clasped at my neck. All part of the character from the books.

I won first place in the contest. Sue won third. She was dressed as a barbarian woman. Her costume consisted of a chamois cloth. Period. It was love at first sight.

Our sci-fi convention days are over. But I'm still a geek.