Where did I go just now?

I'm invisible!


That's a distinct possibility. Either that, or the motion detector above your garage door is broken.


Yeah. Definitely one or the other.

Something Out of a Charlton Heston Movie

What are all these locusts doing here?


Another weather-related Sametime Status? You're better than this, Jeremy.


I'm sure that's true, but it seemed important today. All of the loyal readers were concerned that The Blag You Know And Love made it through Hurricane Irene safely. Incidentally, Irene is a terrible name for a hurricane.


So fortunately, the Tubes that host this website were not flooded over the weekend, and you're back to writing crummy statuses. We can all rejoice.


Indeed! So with today's message about locusts filling in the end of the world gaps, I think this should round out my weather-related writings for the near future. Once winter comes around, I reserve the right to whine about shoveling and cold, though.

More goodies tomorrow!

You Have Been Trolled!

The weather lately is like something out of an Elmer Fudd cartoon


You're getting a haircut?


Well, I was more referring to the great cartoon "What's Opera Doc" in which Elmer Fudd (As the demigod Siegfried) uses his Spear and Magic Helmet to summon various natural elements. They are, in order: North Winds, South Winds, Typhoons, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and Smog. Here's a fun fact! Aside from the word "Smog," Elmer Fudd's voice in this cartoon is one of very few in Merrie Melodies' shorts NOT voiced by Mel Blanc. The uncredited voice acting for Elmer was performed by Arthur Q. Bryan.

Anyway...in the past week, we have experienced North Winds, South Winds, probably some Smog, and an earthquake. Sunday, we're told to expect a hurricane. Naturally, my thoughts immediately turn to cartoons.

You may now go about the rest of your day with "Kill the wabbit" stuck in your head. You are welcome!

My Martini Was Perfect

Still trying to deal with the aftermath of yesterday's terrifying earthquake


Aftermath? The epicenter was like 400 miles away from you.


That's hardly the point. We still felt the effects of the tremor in New York.


You felt your desk wiggling.


In fairness, my office is on the third floor of a slightly mushroom-shaped building. The consequences could have been disastrous.


If there was an earthquake larger than the tiny little tremor that happened this far away.


Okay, so the effects at work weren't especially substantial. What about the damage caused at home?


The sand in your mini zen garden was out of place?


I actually didn't think to check there.

What I did think to check out was Facebook, which immediately exploded with comments from people about the earthquake. This, of course, is a flimsy pretext to link you all to This Edition of the whimsical webcomic XKCD. It seemed to be quite appropriate during and immediately after yesterday's events. Hope everyone made it through okay.

This Is Going To Cost Me

Awe man, I missed Southern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day


Is that why there was just an earthquake? You're responsible for this?


Strangely, no. Everyone knows that "Hoodie Hoo" day is the day everyone is supposed to run outside and yell "HOODIE HOO!" at the sky in order to scare off winter. Since it's getting toward the end of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, it's their turn to scare the crappy weather up our way. This is lousy.

We up here in the north should take this opportunity to sabotage the southerners' attempts at Hoodie Hooey and do our own Hoodie Hooing in order to keep winter in the other hemisphere where it belongs.

Some Loyal Readers Hate Clowns

I feel like Charlie Brown from that old "Coasters" song


You got a new pet Beagle?


I sure didn't.

So back in 1958, a group called "The Coasters" put out a song called "Charlie Brown." According to Reliable Sources, the song has nothing to do with the Charlie Brown of "Peanuts" fame, but instead refers to a purely fictitious class clown who's apparently routinely throwing spitballs and gambling in gym class. He may or may not be a giant.

Anyway, today's Sametime Status is actually about Volleyball. My Facebook Friend Danny Kinda teaches us that in beach volleyball, your team gets three hits, two of which are ALWAYS yours. This means that you make the pass, your partner sets, and you hit, rather than you doing the setting, leaving the hitting up to your partner. That involves a level of trust that you shouldn't have. While this is at least partially true, when looked at from the other side of the net, when serving the ball, you always serve the ball to the person you want to have hit at you, since that person will then make the first and third hits. As such, you generally end up serving the weaker hitter. For this entire weekend's tournament, ever team I played against served me almost exclusively. This makes me sad.

At the same time, there's an ages-old beach volleyball adage that if you're getting all the serves, it's not because you can't hit, it's because your partner can't set. Therefore, I've decided to go with that as the explanation for this series of events. Also, for both days of the tournament, I had partnered up with players who can hit like freight trains, so there's also that. Regardless, all of the other teams serving at me all day made me start to think, in a rhythmic baritone voice, "Why's everybody always pickin' on me?"


So this strategy of serving the tall guy...how did this work out for the other teams?


Not especially well. I made it to the finals on the first day of the tournament, and was about to play the semi-finals for the second when Mother Nature decided to cancel the rest of the festivities. We totally would have won, though.

Hopefully, It's Not On Fire

Jeremy's Sametime Status is a proud supporter of Rooftime!


So, Rooftime is an annual charity volleyball tournament held in the Poughkeepsie, NY area and run by Loyal Reader, Steve. The tournament is a fund raiser for the Dutchess County Coalition for the Homeless. This will be the 19th year for the tournament, and a good time is sure to be had by all...especially those playing against Jeremy, because he's terrible.


Hey now!


Sorry...went off book there for a second. Please continue.


For more information, or to register to play (All ages and skillz levelz are welcome) please visit Steve at Rooftime.net.