Channel Surfing 2

I knew I would want to revisit the channel surfing idea. I have had the idea of commenting on Gordon Ramsey swearing for a while, and decided the TV would be a good direction. I originally planned to have 2-3 Ramsey shows and comment about that. Maybe I will do that at some point. For today, though, I felt it would be funnier to have swearing in an unexpected program. Then, I just needed to find other shows on TV where they show, but bleep out, cursing. I probably should have used Jersey Shore.

BROKE DOWN

I wanted to do a followup on the PAC the CAR before PARC to DRIVE comic of a few days ago. So, to do so, I knew I needed another acronym. I first came up with BROKE DOWN, but couldn't find words to match the letters. So, I considered STALLED and CRASHED, but once I thought of Keep Expectations, I knew I could make BROKE DOWN work.

Channel Surfing

Today's comic idea comes from two sources. One is the old *MAD* Magazine, which they would regularly have a person clicking through channels with semi-related comments, similar to the above. The source of the comments is from driving up into the aspen forest near Flagstaff, AZ. Being the wordsmith that I am, I played with the word aspen in my mind, came up with the separate sounds, and began to plan this cartoon. Then, I just had to find silly comments to link the panels.

Identify Roles

Certainly, my mind is quick to notice homonyms. You know, words that sound alike. So, hearing people talk about roles at a time when I was hungry almost certainly triggered this comic. It's been in my backlog, but I was not sure how to weave the thread of the joke throughout four panels. Today, I thought of how to make it appear as a misspeak to the other character.

Spaghetti Western

Yeah, I did kind of give away the punchline in the title. I toyed with BBQ Italian as the name, but that seemed flat. The idea came from a coworker who sent it to me in response to the BBQ Something comic from a few days ago.

Processing the Process

We had a meeting yesterday in which a new process called the PAC must now precede our new process called the PARC. I decided this process needed to be tied in with some other acronyms to continue the theme of processes that sound like driving. I did change the name of the committees, although that might be because I cannot remember what they really stand for.

BBQ Something

A coworker mentioned something about a place they planned to eat, but he could not remember the name. So, he innocently said, "I don't know. BBQ something." I decided that would be a clever name to actually call a restaurant and added the name to my comic strip idea log. Today, since I had no new ideas, I chose this from my backlog.

Tweet Sounds

I went back to my backlog list of ideas today. Nothing caught my ear on my morning commute that sounded like a clever topic. I haven't heard any new ideas from family members. So, what did the idea look like before I fleshed it out for today's comic?
woke up to sound of tweeting.
sleep with window open?
no, keep cell beside bed.

British Study

This study came out at the same time as the Taiwan study I covered yesterday. I debated covering them both in one comic, but it takes too much space to develop each idea.

I considered taking this one in the direction of talking about Gordon Ramsey's cursing and maybe that is why the Brit's lives are shortened, but it didn't seem as clever. Maybe I will hold that concept for its own cartoon.

Taiwan Study

When I hear these types of studies announced, I always seem to evaluate them with a unique twist. The announcement from Taiwan about this study led me to consider how long a person's life would be if they really did add three years per thirty minutes of exercise. Could this lead to immortality?

KISS Templates

Yes, we are working through the changes of a re-org. Yes, we are going to reduce the number of project templates needed for a standard project. No, I hope we don't create one mega-template that still covers every possible topic possible.

Not At My Desk

I found this idea in my idea log. I came in with no new topics and had to rely on things I thought of in the past. However, since we are in the midst of another reorg cycle, this is still quite timely.

Vegan Diet

I am pretty sure I woke up with this idea already in my head. I was thinking of it this morning and have no idea where else it might have come from. I wonder if the theme can be extended to other diets?

Gingko Biloba

Somehow, I was talking with a coworker about something and she said "Gingko Biloba." I thought that sounded like the sound of a sneeze and then decided that would be today's topic. Well, I think that is how this happened.

McDonalds Retirement

I heard a newscaster talking about staying with stocks in their 401K for the long haul, even though the value took a beating this month. The other news person said many people are investing in gold and other non-stock opportunities. So, I wondered what things could provide long-term stable values? Well, I chose Happy Meal toys, not because they are a viable means of support, but because I could make a couple of jokes with them.

Page Program Ends

Actually, I knew almost nothing about the program when I decided to write today's comic strip. I chose this when I saw a headline that read "House To End 180-year-old 'Teen' Page Program." Once I looked it up, though, I was reminded of the various scandals involving Representatives molesting pages in the 80's and in '06. I considered commenting about them having to find new places to pick up teens now, but decided I didn't want to take the cartoon in that direction. Once I thought about a 180-year-old, and who might appear that old today, I picked Hefner to anchor panel four.

Happy Anniversary

Can you imagine being married to me for so many years? Neither can I. So, when I started thinking about a comic strip celebrating how lucky I was, that concept stuck with me. I decided to have the joke center around my wife's apparent lack of good judgment.

Work Wife Leaving

One of my friends is going to a new job today. She sits in the cubicle beside me, and she had been leaving her pill box on my desk each week. She said I needed to be her work husband and remind her to take her pills each day with lunch or she would forget. At a goodbye lunch yesterday, her husband thanked me and said she would need to find a new work husband at the new job because she really does forget to take her pills.

I knew I wanted the comic strip to end with a comment about no sex, but I couldn't figure how to tie it in. I decided to ask the question about how a work wife is different than a real wife and make it into a joke.

T-T-Y-L-8-R

This idea has been in my idea log for months. I saw it this morning and thought it could be clever. So, I started writing the comic and realized why it had stayed in the log for so long. I had never found a good way to end it. So, I wrote the first three panels and started trying to find a clever ending. I decided to have the straight man actually say something in text and not even understand what he said.

Don't Go in the Garage

The last two mornings, I have had some great ideas for comic strips, but by the time I get to work and boot up my computer, I forget the idea. So, I've had to scramble to generate a cartoon. I really thought the ideas were good, too.

Today's idea came from Gordon Ramsey's hyper-foul mouth, and the cooks he chooses for his show seem equally bad-mouthed. And they show that stuff even on the commercials. TV is definitely getting looser on its censorship. Still, I've heard the same funny idea from A Christmas Story and The Simpsons.

Home Sick

Yes, I was home sick yesterday. When I started thinking about what cartoon to write this morning, I thought of the home, sick vs homesick misunderstanding. I wrote the first two panels, then kept thinking of other phrases to write and kept having to move the word bubbles around to make all the statements fit in four panels. The only one (for me) that doesn't fit exactly is the mayor/mare segment.