Conrad has Taste

Whew.  Its Sunday, April 15, 2012, made it through the week, and this is The Side.  yeah, it was a tough one this week, and I'm glad to have a morning where the main thing I've got to worry about is blowing on my coffee to get it the right temperature.  Sure I've got another week of exhaustion ahead of me, but its those little respites that let us keep going.


That includes doing stuff like reading some comics.

COMIX!!!

Starting off with BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 9 #8 in which we deal with Buffy not being pregnant, but being a robot.  I know those two things are often confusing.  Buffy and Spike confront Andrew about her being a robot, because, of course, it had to be Andrew.  Detective Dowling is also dealing with the nasty death of his partner during the zompire attack.  He's not coping well at all, and that's actually refreshing.  Very often in the Buffy-verse we see characters adapt to dealing with supernatural threats a bit too easily.  This character is a capable police detective and had knowledge of the existence of the supernatural things that go on, and was still incredibly shaken in the aftermath of losing someone to them and having to fight for his life.  I'd been having trouble remember the guy's name, but the character really stood out issue.  There's also a disturbing little bit with Xander that has me fairly creeped out as to possible directions they may make with the character.  This is made creepier by by a bit of possible fore-shadowing from season six of the TV show.  But, this season has taken turns that I haven't been very comfortable with, but has given interesting payoffs once the story worked out.  The main story itself is taking a neat path of its own.  Cliff Richards steps in on pencils and does a great job.  All and all, a decent read.  This story has me engaged.


Moving on to the comic that AMC just optioned to make a show of THIEF OF THIEVES #3.  We meet Special Agent Cohen, the beautiful FBI agent who is determined to catch Conrad.  Oh man, this book was just great.  Nick Spenser just worked this whole issue masterfully.  The back and forth between Conrad and Cohen was absolutely brilliant.  This book is just scene after scene of brilliantly dialogued, well paced storytelling.  Shawn Martinbrough continues to shine with his elegant noir style.  This issue does a great job of letting us know exactly where Conrad stands with the law, as well as giving us a glimpse of some of history in relation to Cohen and her investigation.  We actually don't see much of Conrad in this issue after the opening scene, but Cohan is a great character to follow around.  The book is low on action, but there's still a ton of things going on that kept me riveted.  Do yourself a favor, go out and buy this book.

MUSIC!!!

There was a huge reveal this month in THIEF OF THIEVES: Conrad is a Zevon fan.





Figured that one was appropriate for old Conrad.  OK, I'm off to take a couple rotten kids to the circus.  I'll see y'all Wednesday.

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

Its Friday, April 13, 2012, I'm not buying that Friday the 13th crap, but ask me again at the end of the day, and this is The Side.  This has been one helluva week.  The Missus is in Kansas trying to help her ailing mother.  I'm lucky in that I've got family and good friends to watch the kids while I work.  This hasn't been very easy.


My time of getting my thoughts together and having some quiet time in the car on my commute are gone.  I'm having to roust the poor kids out of bed early and get them dressed and in the car to get to the very nice lady that's watching them and then try to make it to work on time.  So far, I've been doing pretty well at it.  Picking them up after work has gone alright, but with their gymnastics class, and my karate class I haven't gotten by the comic shop.  Maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky.


Its really not so bad as everything is still getting done.  I'm just pretty tired.  Haven't been sleeping too well, but that's pretty much just stress, and to be expected.  I'm not about to beg the Missus to come home because I know she's needed there and I'm glad she was able to get out there.


I was thinking about taking off Saturday, if only to give the kids a break from having to get up so early, but that's likely not in the cards now.  Had an accident on Tuesday, which left the bossman with an arm broken in three places.  He took a fall off a step ladder when part of the deck we were demolishing decided to fall the wrong way and punt the ladder out from under him.  Fortunately he landed on sand, but it was still enough to bust the arm.  Now I'm the muscle for the team.  That's definitely not good.


He sat there for a while on the tailgate of his truck.


"Man.  My ribs hurt.  My arm hurts.  My ankle hurts."


"You know what really sucks?"


"What's that?"


"I have a splinter."


Yeah, I was being a dick to lighten the mood a little, and it worked a bit.  What's kinda galling is that one of our clients has been calling and trying to get his deck replaced in a rush.  He knows my buddy's arm is busted too.  Not sure what he's expecting.  I know we're going to slow down a bit, and that deck replacement is a big job.  Too big right now.  Guy is either going to have to wait or get someone else to do it.  The deck replacement we're doing now is tough enough, and its simple by comparison.


Here's the part that gets me: I know there's a lot of things going on that affect me, but aren't directed right at me.  The mother-in-law is very ill, so i have to span the gap to keep things maintained here.  My buddy broke his arm, so I'm going to have to really be on my game at work.  Its tough, but its understandable.  These are people i care about and that have watched out for me a lot over the years.  I've got no problem at all doing whatever I've got to do to help out.  It just galls me that we're got a client that we've done work for for years and has always seemed real buddy-buddy with us, and now its like he doesn't care that there's an injury, when are we starting his project.


So, it is tough right now, and yes I am a bit cranky, but hopefully I'll be able to sit down this weekend with a nice cup of coffee and some Eggo Waffles and all will be right with my world.

MUSIC!!!

Just like the title said...







That's it for today.  I'll grab my comics and hopefully have some reviews by Sunday.  See y'all then.