This is another strip from my “Best of 2014” entry in the National Cartoonists Society annual awards. (See yesterday’s post.) The NCS requires 12 samples from the calendar year being judged. Whenever I thumb through the old stuff to pick out my favorites, I always am reminded the strips I like sometimes are not the strips you, the reader, favor. So maybe you wonder what I am looking for when I pick out 12 of my favorite strips in a given year. Of course, “funny” is the gold standard. The cartoonist who can be LOL funny every day is going to be a wealthy person, but that is nigh impossible. Even 12 times a year isn’t easy. Second, I look for “fresh.” I look for comic strips with a different and meaningful take on ordinary circumstances. This is, after all, what artists across multiple disciplines strive to do.
204 responses to “Polished Approach”
OF due 1050-1110 CST. Peace, emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
If you ever have trouble coming up with a dozen representative cartoons to submit to NCS, just ask your Loyal Readers™ for suggestions. I’m sure many of us would not only have opinions but would not be shy about proffering them.
Of course this would deserve inclusion in any “best” series.
Jackie, I applauded your efforts to not be fubsy.
It was Dictionary.com Word of the Day, and I couldn’t resist using it in a sentence. And it’s British, don’t you know? 🙂
Brother said mom’s out of surgery. Vascular surgeon did balloon angioplasty of largest vein on left side. Smaller veins not able to be treated. If mom’s pain continues amputation is only remaining choice, level to be determined. Dr. also scoped mom’s right leg and will do balloon angio on that side in a week or two. I will be at the hospital after work today. Thanks for your concern and prayers.
Mark
Mark I have been worrying a out you all morning and doing laundry in flannel pjs, that’s the kind of thing I do when I am worried or nervous. It’s hard to work in a laundry under remodelling but it is coming along nicely and at least laundry part won’t be long finished.
About your mom, I have to deliver a sermon here, on a soapbox. I lost my husband to lung cancer and second hand smoke. Your mom may lose her leg and smoking is a main contributor. I am a reformed smoker, quit 50 years ago. Worse kind of evangelist.
Village, if you smoke, please do what it takes to quit. If a loved one smokes, use tough love and get them to quit. It’s the best Valentine’s gift you can give, your’s and someone else’s heart and lungs.
Fat and squat?
Hey, I was in a floral design class where the instructor lost it and told a student “You are a squatty, poopy little housewife and you make squatty, poopy little flowers and that’s all you will ever be.”
He could have saved time if he’d known fubsy. It wasn’t me, I got to be his mini-me and could design pieces to put his name on, so I got to be cool, if straight, with the high style guys.
Jackie, to add to your comments on smoking, if you have pets, you are also poisoning them with your smoking. Doc has put mom on the patch beginning when she gets home, with reduction in actual smoking till she gets the patch and nothing else. As you know, I already had it out with the only possible source of cigarettes outside the family, mom’s neighbor/friend. Brother and I may be changing locks on the doors.
Jimmy, I think that we all know Arlo too well. His words are not fresh to us at all. We all knew what he was going to say before he said it!
Mark I think you are doing the right thing. I know there are those who’d say it’s her life, let her do what she wants but I think there is a time for intervention. Would we let people jump off bridges or commit suicide if we could stop them?
There are many forms of self destruction.
I think Arlo has if not a one track mind, tunnel vision. I once asked a friend how often he thought of sex and he said all the time. Unfortunately he was married.
Jackie:
I am a bit beyond those days but way back when, if you had asked me how often I thought of sex, I would have said, “Only when I am awake!”
Steve Moore
A major known cause of lung cancer, especially among nonsmokers, is radon. The only way to test for it is to buy and use a kit for the purpose. My local Habitat for Humanity Restore has them for just $6.
http://www.habitatuc.org/radon.htm
Oklahoma is endemic for radon and yes, I have a detector. Is entire US radon positive or only certain soils?
Debbe – Last week was hell. SIXTY-FIVE plus hours. I lurked, but didn’t chime in.
Grandma is in the hospital. Acute congestive heart failure. She is resting comfortably, and they are working to drain the fluid. She’s had the condition for years, but this is the first time it has put her in the hospital.
They took her from the nursing home early this morning, and my great-aunt (grandma’s primary contact person) was told she could call back later when she had been evaluated. When she called back, the ER nurse demanded the security code. What? Well, it turns out this hospital’s policy is to leave a security code with someone who is allowed access to her information (the nursing home in this case), and until my aunt provided the code, she got nothing. Of course the nursing home director was in a meeting the first part of the morning. Finally, my aunt got the code, and the hour-by-hour recap. Grandma will be in for at least a few days, depending on the cardiologist’s visit.
Next week will be interesting, work-wise. Will be a traveling week. All I have to do is teach a new-to-the-company store everything. In four days. I agreed to this madness in a sleep deprived state. Heaven help me.
It varies:
http://www.radon.com/maps/
Will allow you to click and zoom in for your area.
“Fubsy” = “short and stout”, Jackie, which somehow sounds better than “fat and squat”.
Or perhaps not. Millionaire Widow Lady and I were at a formal Christmas party where we encountered my Perky Aerobics Instructor. PAI was wearing a beautiful long, low-cut black velvet gown. She was also seven months pregnant. “You look stunning,” I told her, perfectly sincerely, because she did.
I could immediately tell something was wrong as her face fell. So could her husband. “What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“Ghost said I look stout,” she said, her lower lip quivering. (The band was making it a bit noisy there.) He immediately explained to her what I had actually said. And I ended up getting a big smile and big hug from her out of it, so it was all good.
Lady Mindy, I have a feeling the newbies will get more out of four days with you than they would two weeks with anyone else in your company.
Prayers for Grandma. CHF is serious but medsci has made strides in treating it.
Someone described meeting me recently as a voice coming from beneath a giant sunblock hat and there was a tiny woman under the hat so maybe not stout.
It has been years since I attended formal party. Another life when I had a wardrobe of evening dresses, cocktail clothes and beaded tops, accessories. And I gave parties that required them.
Not sure I could do better now than casual chic and maybe a church service or a luncheon date?
Ghost – Don’t make me blush! I hope I do okay. I am not just training, I also am doing a rather through evaluation of structure and equipment. My biggest concern will be the bookwork. I forget how many stores are coming online at once (a bunch) – I know good and darn well those servers are maxing their memory, and the sudden surge of new stores is going to crash them (like they did with us). And it is really hard to show someone paperwork with no computer.
The other area of concern is vendors. Apparently, they used a different system, and ours doesn’t always follow a logical progression. Throw in this new (wretched, awful, disorganized) distributor, and the kerfuffle that is ordering, and I suspect several will bail quickly. My boss’s actual quote (regarding new distributor) “Dont tell them just how bad it is, I need you to come back!” What a pep rally. :-/
Dear Mindy, this sounds really tough. With your quick brain and great sense of humor, I bet you will handle this very well. We in the Village are all thinking of you and wishing you the best of luck. I imagine many Villagers are praying for your grandmother, too, and when you see her please tell her of the love and many prayers your friends are sending her.
“Village, if you smoke, please do what it takes to quit. If a loved one smokes, use tough love and get them to quit. It’s the best Valentine’s gift you can give, yours [as in his, hers, mine, etc.] and someone else’s heart and lungs.”
Amen. I hope one near and dear quit in time, but anytime is better than not quitting. It would qualify as a controlled substance if were introduced anew.
I should check the radon.
Peace, emb
Mindy, somebody at corporate needs to load the working software on a laptop you can take to show them how it looks. It doesn’t actually have to connect but you can walk them through the steps with one. Or do screenshots and print out the various screens to show and tell. Maybe if the vendors and staff gang up on the distributor and tell then how its supposed to work they can get organized.
Good luck to your grandmother. From the pictures you have put on FB, either she has a good sense of humor or the person holding the camera is very entertaining. Prayers for good recovery and a short stay.
TruckerRon, thanks for that link. I now know that my home county is below the national average for indoor radon.
Mark, I’d still recommend getting a kit and testing your home. A county average means little if your home happens to be sitting over a strong source of radon. Your county health department should have a kit available for $10 or less.