Jason Griffey

Check out the cute little thing. The problem? Still too expensive…4 gigs, $249? Nah…they’re pretty, but I’ll save up for the 40gig.

Here’s Betsy’s favorite picture from our various Christmas visits. This is a monkey bobble-head that she got me. It’s a running gag with us…every Christmas, she asks me what I want, and I always answer “Peace on earth, good will towards men, and a monkey.” So nearly every year, she gets me a monkey.

Here’s the kicker: my father informs us that I’m probably actually remembering my great-grandfather from when I was very young. He actually HAD monkeys…two of them, Spider Monkeys. He had a cage for them, and would get them out one at a time to let them crawl around on him, and swing around the house…according to my dad, he was the only one that could handle them. His hands were so callused that when they bit him he didn’t even feel it. I don’t consciously remember this, but I suppose it may be buried somewhere and I’ve just incorporated it into my subconscious. That, or monkeys are just cool.

So…a couple of really brilliant guys who do a little online comic called Penny Arcade decided before Christmas that they were going to show the world that gamers weren’t a bunch of backwards introspective adolescents hiding in their parents basements, but instead were giving, fully-grown members of society who wanted to spread the joy of games.

To this end, they started Child’s Play, a site through which donations could be made for children in the Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Here’s where the Media royally screwed up. After they showed up with more toys than you could believe (actual figures in a minute) and local Seattle media picked up the story, somehow it was reported that the donations were from a “local catholic school” and that the toys were valued at “nearly a thousand dollars.”

Here’s the scoop…this couple of cartoonists and gamers raised over $200,000 worth of toys. Two. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars. They had $16,000 worth of Game Boy Advance SP’s by themselves, not counting the rest of the toys.

Really impressive, and they aren’t making nearly as big a deal out of it as they should.

From BoingBoing, the Gollum Rap.

Then consider helping out the Wikipedia. As the organizer posted in a letter, they are short of operating expenses for a new server, and since it’s a free (as in beer AND freedom) service, those of us that use it might be convinced to pony up a few bucks for the priviledge.

Well…we’re T-minus 5 hours or so ’til 2004, which sounds weird to me. 2004 seems like some bizarre future-year, where we jet around in flying cars wearing silver jumpsuits.

But…it’s here, and we’re minus the flying car (Except for the Skycar, which I want) and the jumpsuit (thankfully, those went out in the ’70s).

Hope everyone has a great New Years, and stays safe. Looking forward to seeing everyone back in Chapel Thrill.

Finding an envelope in a Civil War era book sealed by the author.

Scary = determining that the envelope contains smallpox scabs from vaccinations.