Subdivided We Stand Meets Marathon Man

Contacting Me

Oops -- due to a slip-up on my part, my [email protected] email address is not currently working, and likely will not work for the next few days.  For the time being, if you need to reach me, please use [email protected] . 

Also, my braughler.net Web site is down for the forseeable future as well.  All because I clicked a few buttons at Network Solutions that I ought not to have.  D'oh.

Cat in the Hat

Aaargh.  Had a fabulous musical medley planned around the latest developments in Mary Worth -- and then the old hag had to go and be unavailable online for the last 24 hours.  Dang.  None of my usual sources have come through, so it'll have to wait.

Needless to say, though, the fact that a potentially lethal stalker who looks like Captain Kangaroo -- and who has Mary in his sights, no less -- should be some prime fodder for some fun over the coming months.  As someone rightly pointed out on the Curmudgeon, however, you can always count on the writer of Mary Worth following the least interesting path possible.  Ah well, it's fun to dream, anyway.

So my content plans for my return-to-semi-regular blogging were dashed.  All I'm left with is a couple of half-baked ideas that I'd written down and stuck in my wallet, in the hopes that they'd eventually morph into full-fledged entries.

The first is a little thing I like to call "Peppy Songs About Depressing Subjects."  The idea was that I'd come up with a huge list of songs whose happy, peppy music belies a sad, depressing, macabre or otherwise seemingly incongruous lyric.  My hope was to have about 10 of them, but I'll present the handful that sprang to mind immediately and see what you all contribute.

• What's The Matter Here -- 10,000 Maniacs (child abuse)
• Up The Junction -- Squeeze
• Oh....damn...I had a few more, but am drawing a total blank.  HELP!

Oh, and in other news, I missed a very important development a few weeks back.  Seems as though "Cat" from the pointless and craptacular "Cat's Call" column in the Post-Gazette is now sporting a jaunty new hat.

New Cat:

Old Cat:

This cat may well have a new hat -- but the advice is as inane as ever.  But still -- jaunty hat!  Not since the heyday of a young Amy Marcinkiewicz have we seen such jauntiness on the heads of our media icons.

Oops

Did I say I'd return on the 17th?  I did?  Dang.

What I meant to say is that Subdivided We Stand returns on Monday, July 24.  A couple of projects (including the semi-annual staining of the deck, which is a dreadful project that I hate) are dragging along and demand my full attention.

I know, I know, it's a horrible time to be out, what with the introduction of the lustful Captain Kangaroo into Mary Worth's life.  You can be sure that Aldo Pederast (or whatever his name is) will be the topic of much bloggage to come.

Meanwhile, I've added a couple of worthy new blogs to the blogroll over there on the right.  Go say hi to Small Streams, the Burgh Blog, Tea-Lemon-Oldbooks, and the Sapient Sutler.

Hiatus

Subdivided We Stand (or its replacement) returns on Monday, July 19, although as always I reserve the right to post brief entries should events warrant -- events such as a little dog stuck down a well like we had here in Western PA this morning.  I believe all three stations sent their choppers to cover the event.  (Update -- here's the full story.  Love the imagination put into the dogs' names.  I'm sure the puppy's siblings, Leghump, Poopsoncarpet and Crotchlicker are thrilled to have little Sewer back in the fold.)

On a totally unrelated topic, do any of you iPod users know how to combine separate tracks into one continuous track?  For example, right now when I play my iPod on "shuffle", the Beatles Abbey Road medley pops up in its various component parts, rather than as the whole it should be.  Short of going back to my cd and burning it again as one long track, does anybody know a way to combine those separate tracks within iTunes?

(Update:  Ok, I stopped being lazy and looked up the answer myself.  Here it is, if you're interested.  I'll let you know how it works.)

Clarification

I think I may have mislead some of you regarding the future of this blog.

The usual nonsense will be continuing -- just under a different name, and now it'll be combined with my pal Joe's most excellent offerings.  I doubt you'll see much difference, other than the fact that once or twice a week there'll be a Joe entry.  Which you'll love.

In other news, I came to work a different way today, and along the new route I saw perhaps the most inappropriately-named business ever.

C'mon.  I mean really -- what joker came up with the name Hope Hospice?

All Good Things...

Well, we had a pretty good run, didn't we?

If you count my homemade postings on the braughler.net site, this here blog began in July of 2002.  "Bob's Blog O' Love," I called it back then -- mainly because a miserable job experience was filling me with anything BUT love.  The title was supposed to be ironic.  At least as ironic as a black fly in your chardonnay, or 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.

So I'm closing in on four years of bloggage -- and still nary a point in sight.

What good times we've had...endless ruminations on Mary Worth...the Leviticus series....kids 1 and 2, myocardial infarction #1...dogs and vacations and all sorts of hoots and hjinks.

But there's no question that the last six months or so have seen a decline in both quantity and quality of posts.  That kind of bums me out, especially since there's been a steady increase in readership all along.  And I'm nothing if not an attention whore.

I attribute my own shark-jumping directly to the decline in number of times I take the dogs for a walk.

My best entries were those in which I came up with a topic at some point during the day, and then mulled over what I wanted to say during our nightly canine constitutional.  Those 40 minutes cleared my head, gave me a structure for my postings, and then all I had to do was come home and type it up. 

But, with the increased amount of time consumed by family duties, something had to go.  Sadly, it's been the doggie walks.  (Fear not for the pooches, though -- we had a fence installed last fall, and the dogs now spend a significant part of their days chasing each other and us around the yard.  If anything, they're probably BETTER-exercised than they were before.)

But it's become clear to me that something had to change, blog-wise, as well.  And so it is that I announce that Subdivided We Stand is entering its final days.

Oh, hell, enough with the melodrama.  While it's true that Subdivided is going away, I'm not.  Longtime readers know that I often recommend postings by my brother-in-blogging, Joe Kelly.  Well, from now on, I won't need to link to him, nor he to me.  We've decided to cast our blogging lots together into a new, yet-to-be-named entity. 

There are still some details to be worked out.  Besides a name (or "brand," if you will), we need to figure out how to re-configure our typepad accounts, how to manage our archived content, and a few other petty items that probably matter to no one but us.  Also, we really haven't settled on a date for our collective re-launch.

So that's the news.  I think it's going to be great -- with two content providers, there'll be less pressure to post something just for the sake of posting.  (Which is something I do but Joe does not, I think.  He tends to post only when he has something to say.) 

More to come.  I'll still continue to post here while the final details of the merger are hammered out.  My intentions are to have a new Leviticus up this week, possibly even tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

And to steal a catch phrase from one of Joe's novels (a catchphrase which, itself, was stolen from a classic 70's sitcom)....Can two middle-aged men share a blog without driving each other crazy?

BRB

Subdivided We Stand returns on Monday, April 3, with a new Leviticus and more of the hoots and hijinks that you've come to expect but not receive.

(On another note, I'm listed as "missing" by my 25th High School Reunion organizers.  To quote from "Office Space" -- "I wouldn't say we've been missing you, Bob.")

Hold Me Closer, Tony Danza

Monday Update: -- Still felt like crap most of the weekend.  Monday's Leviticus will be pushed back to Tuesday, Tuesday's Elton moves to Wednesday, Wednesday's misc. crap slides to Thursday, etc.

---

Felt like crap yesterday -- and too busy today to complete the Elton series.  You'll just have to wait for the final 10.

New Leviticus on Monday (now complete with disclaimer for the humor-impaired, at the request of some fundie who has taken offense to my "lack of objectivity"), and we'll finish up the Elton series on Tuesday.

Also, if you have a few (15, actually) minutes to kill, this clip from that late-night Craig Ferguson show, in which Craig talks about his recently-deceased father, is well worth a look and listen.

And finally, you should know that two Sudafed, washed down with a can of Coke, provide a lovely little buzz that will last for a couple of hours.

Break

Subdivided We Stand returns with a new "Leviticus" on Monday, February 12.

Steelers!

UPDATE:  Er, yes -- Monday WILL be the 13th, as scheduled.  Hangovers are horrible things.

Obligatory Holiday Post

Yeah, yeah, it's the same picture I posted last year.  Whadda ya want for nothin'?

Anyhow, here's wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season.  Subdivided We Stand returns with new content and a refreshed sense of purpose on Tuesday, January 3.