So yeah, here! I did this last night. Kind of an homage to the old days.
Even though I’ve been posting less than 1 new comic a month this year, for some reason you folks keep droppin’ by the site. I dunno if it’s mostly all you hardcore fans or if it’s a steady stream of new eyes but here you are. And the longer I go without something new to show you, to thank you for keepin’ on comin’ by, the more annoyed I get. Even my webserver’s sick of serving you comic 235 and the same blog post over and over again. So here’s what I’m gonna do. I still just don’t have the time to be making new comics on a schedule (sorry), but at the very least I’m gonna be scribblng new blog posts as much as I can - SERIOUS THIS TIME - no fewer than 3 times a week. Who knows, maybe I’ll get crazy and jot down something everyday (but I’m not making that promise, cuz damn that’s asking for pain).
So keep comin’ by everyday. LJ-friend me. Kiss my RSS.
SERIOUS THIS TIME.
Have any of you been following the story leading up to tomorrow’s annual Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest? I wrote about it last year, when Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi broke his own ridiculous record, eating 53 and 3/4 hot dogs (and buns) in the allowed 12 minutes, narrowly edging runner-up Joey Chestnut by just 2 dogs. Adding to the excitement of the race, 5 weeks ago in a qualifying event, Chestnut smashed Kobayashi’s record by devouring 59.5 dogs, skyrocketing his odds of finally de-throning the 6-time champion this year. But now this: last week, it was reported that Kobayashi was suffering jaw pain - and that he can only open his mouth to the width of two of his fingers. Yeah that’s right - he’s “listed as day-to-day” with a competitive eating related injury.
Is he making up an excuse for if he loses? Is he trying to lull Chestnut into complacency? Or is it all just for ratings? Who knows. In any case, he’s gonna compete - (“Takeru Kobayashi has told Major League Eating that he will compete at Nathan’s on July 4th. … Magnificent athletes like Kobayashi convalesce and recondition in ways mortal men do not,” said Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating) - and you can watch it live tomorrow at 12pm ET on ESPN.
Lastly, here’s something you gotta check out. Super-fan Jessica compiled an unofficial 37-song aLp soundtrack, and every song’s got a download link, links to comics in the archive, and commentary. It’s awesome beyond words, thanks J!
Comments on this comic (17)
Jurybreak
I did get dismissed from jury duty last week after they interviewed me for 30 seconds, but after I’d sat there doing absolutely nothing for 12 hours over 2 days. I learned a lot of interesting stuff about the process from watching and listening to everything go down, and from all the folks who emailed or twittered their jury duty stories to me - thanks…
Read the rest of this entry »
From the dark depths of my kids’ imaginations
The scariest movie I’ve ever watched with my kids is, seriously, Finding Nemo. Yet it’s like Elaine just pulls random things from my horror movie collection for them when I’m not looking, judging from the drawings that come out of their imaginations.
The 5th picture below looked to me like some sort of H.R. Giger inspired Alien; thanks to reader Wendy for pointing out it’s a dead ringer for Onyx from Pokemon.
Happy Halloween! And let’s hope you don’t see my kids on the news tonight.

Read the rest of this entry »
Achievement Unlocked: 10 Years
Today is my 10th wedding anniversary with Elaine. That’s crazy.
We’re on our way down to a gorgeous place near New Hope, PA for our first ever weekend without the kids! I’ll be live-blogging the whole thing, especially during our fireside massages*.
Today it’s incredible outside so when we get there we’ll be doing some lakeside biking. I’m happy to see Elaine’s wearing her aLp t-shirt that she looks totally hot in.
Happy anniversary baby, I love you.
* No I won’t.
Hey my buddy Noah and I are starting an official aLp Killzone 2 clan, just for fun, just to find some more cool folks to frag around with. If we get enough people we’ll make clan-only rooms where we’ll blow each other’s heads up. If you can’t/don’t wanna join the clan, that’s cool; we can just be friends. All skill levels welcome. If you’re interested, leave a comment here or email me with your PSN ID, your email address, and where you’re from and you’ll get an invite.
The aLp fridge magnets are back in stock! The first thing I did was plaster the mini-fridge at my office (click on the photo to the left - no the pics of my kids are not for sale).
Get yours today! Or you can come see me at my table at I-Con on April 3-5, and I’ll personally hand it to you.
Thanks to everyone who submitted photos for the Be in aLp contest! Here’s the 6 winners for your pleasurable convenience…
Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks for all the emails and Facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday on Sunday! Not only does the internet have a way of skyrocketing the number of people who want to wish you a quick happy birthday, it also (thankfully) cuts down on the number of phone calls you have to answer. No offense to my brother, my aunt, and my mother-in-law!
Just wanted to share the birthday cards my (3-year-old) kids made for me. Here’s Rachel’s - ignore the writing:

In case it’s not obvious to you, I’m the figure on the left, Rachel’s the one diagonally down from that, and Adrian’s the one on the right, fittingly with a cupcake in its mouth.
Adrian drew what looks to be a facehugger or something attacking me:

WTF.
How would you like to star in an official aLp episode?
Read the rest of this entry »
Saw this sign today. Can anyone figure out what it means?

I’m on vacation! So I’m coming back at you next week on Tuesday! Even though I’m at peace with going this week without an update, you can go ahead and make fun of me if you want. I’m cool with it. All I know is aLp is still weekly after my week off and I’m still having fun.
I am hard at work on something - a birthday present for Elaine, who turns umpty-ump tomorrow! I’d show you what it is but there is the very, very small chance she might read this (she usually comes by only when the mailing list tells her to). All I’ll say is it does require a lot of the same activities that go into aLp. LIKE PROCRASTINATING LOLLLL
These are the two best things I got for Christmas:

Honestly I don’t know which one I love better. Joray Fruit Rolls are so good I literally almost cry when I eat them. They’re better than sex, at least in that they’re a whole lot cheaper to have 6 at a time. Thank you Elaine, for getting them for me, and also for forgiving me for that last sentence.
So yeah I got a PS3 too, which is really not good for getting anything done. I’m playing Prince of Persia right now, though it looks like LittleBigPlanet’s on the horizon. When I get a PSN ID, I’ll let you all know what it is, unless, like photos of me wearing my suit made of Joray Fruit Rolls, it’s something that should be kept private.
Reminder, follow me on Twitter which I seem to be able to update kinda frequently, and become a fan of aLp on Facebook, if for no other reason than all the cool people are doing it.
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!