It's Baseball Season Again

People don't use a smartphone for talking. They use it for playing Angry Birds or getting news made specifically for them from Zite (an app I recommend) or for goofing around on Google Maps.

An app I would love to have (besides the AP StyleBook which, for some reason, costs more than the physical copy) is a Find A Grave app where I could search for graves, create new ones and easily upload photos from my phone if I wanted. Ah, I'm living in a dream world.

Yep. Would've won if it wasn't for the other team being better than us. So after the game we shattered their kneecaps with bats.

Cause of Death: Brick

For some reason, NBC doesn't have an official
photo of the entire current cast. So here is a regular
photo from the 2011 Christmas episode.

There's been a lot of news lately about the once-hit NBC series The Office. The Office premiered midseason in 2005 to rave reviews and soon became NBC's most popular comedy and an anchor show in their venerable Must See Thursday Nights. But starting with the seventh season, things happened that didn't bode well for the show. Star Steve Carell decided to leave which left writers and producers scrambling to find a replacement manager. First they brought in Will Ferrell in a four episode arc before putting him in a coma then they had Rainn Wilson's Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) become the manager before shooting off a gun and damaging Andy's (Ed Helms) eardrum. Then they had an entire hour-long episode based on Jim, Toby and Gabe (John Krasinski, Paul Lieberstein, Zach Woods) finding a new manager. That episode boasted such names as Will Arnett, Warren Buffett, James Spader, Catherine Tate, Ricky Gervais (creator and star of the original UK Office), Ray Romano and Jim Carrey. The new boss wasn't revealed until the eighth season premiere and, not really to my surprise, they chose Andy. Actually they chose James Spader's character, Robert California, but California somehow fanagled his way to a promotion and then gave Andy the job.

That they even had to give Andy the promotion in a roundabout way bothered me. And while I was excited that James Spader would be a semi-regular, that excitement quickly went away as California became more and more annoying. But other things quickly began happening that tells me this series is coming to an end. I heard early in the season that Rainn Wilson wanted to leave the series. They are now developing a spin-off series focusing on Dwight working at Schrute Farms. They then sent a bunch of the staff to Florida to open a Sabre store. During their time in Florida, Dwight got promoted, Ryan (B.J. Novak) realized how much he needs Kelly (Mindy Kaling), Jim actually enjoyed pretending to be an imitation Steve Jobs, Erin (Ellie Kemper) became a live-in helper to an elderly woman and Stanley (Leslie David Baker) had the time of his life in Florida. Had the Sabre store worked out, I could've definitely seen Jim and Pam (Jenna Fischer) move to Florida for Jim to be the new Sabre spokesperson, Stanley retire and move to a warmer climate and Ryan and Kelly finally tying the knot.

But something else happened. California nixed the Sabre store idea and everybody went back to Scranton--even Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) who was up for the regional manager job in the seventh season finale. Tate's Nellie was a serious contender to be a replacement but I found just her five minute appearance on the finale to be overdone, annoying and not at all funny. Everyone else it seemed, loved her. Nellie returned to Scranton and essentially usurped Andy's job. Andy was skipping work to go find Erin and is unable to complain and Robert California is too impotent to order Nellie out of the job.

But I still feel as if the writers are leading up to The Office coming to an end after this season. Everything I mentioned above could still happen. Andy could still lose his job. Dwight could find Nellie's methods underwhelming and quit Dunder Mifflin. What we know for sure is that James Spader is leaving after this season. We also have Mindy Kaling starring in her own series on FOX next season and executive producer and Toby actor Paul Lieberstein is also leaving to focus on the Dwight Schrute spin-off. While Helms and Krasinski are close to signing on for season 9, both are suggesting that if there is a ninth season, it will be the last.

I don't think Charlie Brown ever said "I like Ike" but this strip is spot on. I love "Peanuts" but I don't like seeing the reruns in the newspaper. It makes me sad and keeps newer strips from finding an audience.

Speaking of strips that make me sad:

I would like to think Cousin Ignatz's name is a tribute to George Herriman's Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse but more than likely Chip just chose a funny name.

Why does Brutus' instincts immediately lead him to "do you think he left you stuff in his will?" That seems pretty selfish even for Brutus.

He Could Sell Organs As Well

I was going to comment on the Romney Illinois primary win yesterday but then I decided not to. I know why Romney won--the rich and well-off Republicans in Chicago. Santorum won the southern majority of the state because that part has signs along their highways like this:

DIALED 9-1-1
AND I'M ON HOLD
SURE WISH I HAD
THAT GUN I SOLD 

There's even more posted around Illinois and a full list of them can be seen here. It reminds me of driving around the back highways of Kansas and even though Chicago considers itself the Midwest New York or Boston, Illinois is decidedly Midwestern.

Solid plan.

Hello Spring, Welcome to Hell

I know these strips are produced about two weeks before they are published but I just looked at Cleveland's weather and it's a nice 75 and partly cloudy. Meanwhile here is 61 and has been raining since Sunday and will continue to rain the rest of the week. I'd rather have Cleveland's weather right now and not just because my car window won't roll up and there's nothing covering it.

Hello Bernice, Welcome to Hell

Ah, Gladys is getting reconnected to an old friend who she lost touch with when she settled down and had kids. And as someone who has read The Born Loser since he could read and religiously since 2008 I am offended by the "he's not quiet and well-behaved" phrase. Wilberforce is a really good kid even if he's a little slow.

Gonna Need More Green Beer

For full animated comic, go here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody. Hope everyone is having the luck of the Irish today. I went to our local St. Patrick's Day today and there will be pictures of it up soon over on Tauy Creek's Facebook page at some point later today. So you should go over and look at them and maybe even "Like" the page.

Why is Gladys leaning in like that? It's like she's clutching the edge of the panel and is trying not to fall over. Also, this strip should've ran yesterday because it looks like Brutus has just gotten home from work and considering today is Saturday.....

South Park Did It

This birth control / abortion talk making the rounds in mainly Republican states have gone too far but it still seems as if far too many people don't care. Their hatred of abortion is clouding their judgement on what is actually right. I was reading a newspaper article and in the comments, a commentator wanted the journalist who wrote the article to change "anti-aborton" to "pro-life" and "abortion rights" to "pro-abortion". Which, if you bother to actually check the facts the AP Stylebook, the journalist's Bible, says to use anti-abortion and abortion rights instead of pro-choice, pro-life, pro-abortion or anti-abortion.

Anyway, I pointed out after commenting on his idiotic word mangling that if he doesn't bother caring about what a woman can and can't do with her own body then he doesn't get to complain when Obama or any other politician begin stripping away his rights.

Uh-oh. I agree with Veeblefester. I better take a break from reading The Born Loser for awhile because it's starting to rub off on me.

Pot Pie Sounds Good

I have a VHS tape of stuff I recorded off the TV years and years ago. The tape mainly consists of episodes from the third series of the British series Red Dwarf but it also includes the movie The Richest Cat In the World which starred Brandon Call (Step By Step) and Kellie Martin (Life Goes On) but also, as I just learned today, Larry Hagman as the voice of Leo the Cat. But alongside this decent made-for-TV movie is a short cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon entitled Housecats.

When I remembered that Housecats was on that tape, I began thinking about other cartoon shorts that I remember watching as a child. One was a short about a dog dreaming about himself sleeping titled Dog Brain.

And the other was the Canadian animated classic The Cat Came Back about a yellow cat that just can't be gotten rid of.

The Cat Came Back, for some reason, scared me a little bit as a kid. I think it was the part where Old Mr. Johnson falls into the mine and is attacked by all those rats and bats and that bat follows him home. I don't know. I don't really remember.

And you can think me later for getting the music in Dog Brain stuck in your head later.

Oh but Pi Day was yesterday. Once again something else that the Thornapple family has failed at: having certain foods on certain days.

Brutus Is More 'Big for His Height'

He's really not that big for his age. Wilberforce is supposed to be nine and that kid is huge. Hope no one becomes a fan of Jacob Yaeger because we will probably never see him again.

Brutus Doesn't Take It Home With Him

I've only had two jobs that I loved. Jobs where, had I not quit or they weren't temporary, I would've stayed a lot longer than I did. The reason I quit the one job was I needed something that paid more money and more frequently. I would gladly go back to those jobs if I could but, alas, I cannot. Which is good because there's a chance I'd end up this guy:

People like this annoy me. Constantly talking about your job is almost as boring and annoying as talking about your children. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he likes his work and I hope to have a job someday where I actually want to get up and go--that hasn't happened in awhile but aside from little stories or complaints, I keep that crap to myself.

Brutus Is a 14-Year-Old Girl

I went to see "The Lorax" this weekend with my wife and son. I hadn't read the book since I was probably in Kindergarten. It was really good. I was glad that despite the ads focusing on Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, the movie was really about Danny DeVito (the Lorax) and Ed Helms (the Once-ler). I get the movie has a liberal, "let's save the environment" story to it, which, of course, has angered Conservatives and people in big business.

Who the hell has a problem with trees? Clearly this person who posted a comment on Amazon in reference to the book:

First of all, I'm glad that you aren't above going to library to borrow books because the library is a liberal concept. Offering free books to people so that they can read and become educated--shudder. Secondly, did you not know what The Lorax was about? Also, do you not know that most everything Dr. Seuss has written has a liberal undertone? Also, did you know that Dr. Seuss' earliest job was creating war propaganda for the United States during World War II?

And the fact that you are resorting to insulting the language in the book is laughable. It's a book for children and the point of creating the word "biggerer" instead of using "bigger" is because Seuss used unique and made-up words to tell his stories and "biggerer" fit the poetic pattern better. The book is a poem, remember.

And if you don't want your children reading things with a liberal bias then you will be screening an awful lot of books, TV shows and movies because most everything out there has a liberal bias and most people making that stuff have liberal leanings. Maybe you should, instead of policing your children on stuff that is supposed to entertain them, let them figure it out themselves.

And do you really want to read a children's book that has the opposite message of "The Lorax"? Where it's okay to chop down trees, ruin the environment and essentially destroy the planet as long as you make money? That's the thing about children, they aren't stupid. They're going to question why the tree has to be cut down. "Can't the Once-ler find something else to make his Thneed?" "Why isn't he replanting trees to replace the ones he cut down?" From my experience as a kid, being around kids, raising kids and being around more kids is that kids love trees. And I've also learned that if you don't like trees, you are in the minority.

Anyway, "The Lorax" is a really good movie and it doesn't drag out like so many other kids' movies (I'm looking at you Pixar) but if you don't like being lectured, having lessons beat over your head or pro-environment talking points sung to you, then you probably won't enjoy the movie.

Brutus has mentioned on numerous occasions that he is a loser. To me, it's reminiscent of someone on Facebook posting this as a status: "Why do I even try? Sometimes I wish I could disappear forever." and then having 27 people comment on it, begging the person not to kill themselves or whatever they are thinking but then commenting, long after people have concluded they have killed themselves that "It's a song lyric" or "It's from a TV show" or "I just dropped my glass of milk and was sad about it." It's over-dramatic and mainly just to gain attention.

50% More Beret

Hey! Did you know that Tauy Creek (and/or Watch This Space) has a Facebook page? I've just upgraded it to the new timeline format so...I don't really know what that means. You should go check it out and Like it because you get constant blog updates and I just posted it's first note which talks about Pistol Pete. Let me know what you think and tell your friends.

The reason is because chocolate doesn't need any help getting people to buy it. Also, if you are to believe the news, there is or may be a chocolate shortage soon which means chocolate will just get more expensive.

I Didn't Say That. Don't Hold Me to That.

Moebius, real name Jean Giraud, passed away earlier today after a battle with cancer. He was 73. Moebius is best known as a comic book artist, mainly doing one-off illustrations but he did apply his talents to Silver Surfer: Parable, The Halo Graphic Novel and creating Blueberry, an atypical cowboy.

Moebius art from Superman #400

That's not really a prescription, just advice. I think if my doctor just started "prescribing" out-dated advice, I would go looking for a second opinion.

Then What's With the Apron?

A few months ago, I came across an article of fifteen apps writers must have. One of those apps was Evernote, an app that could save brief notes, large descriptions, pictures and audio. I downloaded the app because I thought it was something that may actually get some use from. I also thought it would be handy for when I am away from my computer and needed to make quick notes because not only does Evernote save the notes on your phone, it also syncs it up with Evernote's web service and Evernote's desktop program so no matter where you are, you have access to your notes. You can even purchase an upgrade to gain access to your notes offline.

I originally used Evernote to just jot down ideas for stories but I soon began using Evernote for when I go out to cemeteries and keeping all my history notes easily accessible. I also use it to remind me what I want to write about on my blog. But all of this is just the beginning of what Evernote can do.

One feature I just found on Evernote is CallTrunk, an extension that can record your phone calls and stores them on the web so you can listen to them later, annotate them, download them or delete them. I don't see where I would need something like that but for business people, I could see that being used when away from the office. And there are dozens of other apps and extensions that can be used with Evernote to make your note-taking endeavors even more amazing.

I downloaded the Evernote app in January and it has quickly become my second most used app on my phone. After Angry Birds I'm kind of ashamed to admit. So head over to the Evernote website and take a look at everything they have. If you are interested in diligent note-taking or even just keeping track of things you see on the Internet, Evernote can help you out.

I'd like to think that Gladys just wanders her house while Brutus and Wilberforce are at work and school wearing her apron even when she is nowhere near the kitchen. It's images like that that help me through the day and put a smile on my face.

Adele

I mentioned before how I was having trouble finding out what happened to Adele Miller. She disappeared between in 1880 and 1900 Census and the 1890 Census was lost in a fire. I was stuck until something came up on familysearch.org. It turns out that Adele married Francis X. Jardon on December 5, 1883. About the same time, I found an entry in the Complete Tombstone Census of Douglas County, Kansas:

Jardon, Adele, wife of F.X. Jardon, Apr. 8, 1839 - Age 29 y. 2 m. 15 d.

I originally thought that it was a typo. That the year should read 1939 which meant the 29 years was wrong. I've seen many tombstones and a 7 can definitely look like a 2 if it's faded enough. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Baldwin City so I went out there and found her grave. I was expecting something simple and not at all fancy but instead, I found this:

This massive monument was for Adele (Miller) Jardon and no one else. I outlined the inscription on the stone and it indeed was correct in everything written in the Tombstone Census book except for one thing. Adele died in 1889. Only 29 years old and just over five years of marriage. I am glad I now know what happened to Adele, I just wish it could have ended on a happier note.

In other news, it's the 900th Born Loser post and I am a little saddened that it is occurring on a day where The Born Loser makes a pun. A very bad pun.

The Quigley Report, Part Two

We have continuity, people! I get Veeblefester's lack of enthusiasm on this matter. Brutus was told to do something and he got it done. Unless you actually go above and beyond your job requirements, you really shouldn't be praised for doing your job.

Either Way Just Do It

Brutus needs to get home so he can watch some wonderful Super Tuesday coverage. Although I admit I would rather do the Quigley report than listen to Newt Gingrich yammer on about $2.50 gas that he has no business promising.

I met my darling wife during Super Tuesday back in 2008. We ate at a local sandwich shop and watched all the primaries and you know what they say, it's always a good idea to talk about politics on the first date.

It Was O.J. Dropping a Bloody Glove

Does Brutus not care what woke up his son? When I said that something woke me up, my mom would ask what it sounded like. I ask my son if he said he heard something that woke him up. Best case scenario, the sound was just the house settling. Worse case scenario, Satan.

His Friends Are NASCAR Owners

I've quit caring about how Lividea/Lividia/Lavidea is spelled. And yes, it must be awful to be able to spend a small fortune remodeling your house and then be able to move willy-nilly. Rich people have it so hard.

Maybe Gladys Has Her Father's Nose

Should Mother Gargle really be casting stones on other people's noses? I mean, turn Mother Gargle upside down and you could safely hang stuff on her schnoz. I wonder when Glady's nose will start to curve downward....

Andrew Breitbart 1969-2012

Andrew Breitbart, Conservative media publisher and activist has passed away unexpectedly from natural causes. He was 43.