I'm back. As you can see, the fish were biting a little too hard for my liking.
Mrs. BH and I have been graciously invited to attend a luau in Minneapolis this evening, so regular blogging will resume tomorrow, unless I'm nursing a killer hangover.
Back in a week or so.
We've just returned from a 3-day trip down the Great River Road to pick up our daughter from orchestra camp in Decorah, Iowa. We stayed at a couple of bed-and-breakfasts along the Mississippi River, antiqued and thrifted 'til we dropped, ate odd local delicacies, and generally had a very fun time. The weather was absolutely picture-perfect.
As you can see, my tiki-scoring mojo endured my return from California, as I managed to find cool PolyPop tschotkes just about everywhere I went, and at very reasonable prices too, although I did have to pass up a couple of fairly common Trader Vic's fog-cutter mugs which some jackass dealer had marked up to $95 each! Good luck selling those, buddy.
Larger images and item descriptions are located once again in the mug gallery, and some photographs of our trip can be viewed at my Flickr account. I even saw a Tiki bar along the muddy Mississipp, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single thing tiki about it besides the name.
[Link: Tiki Mug Gallery]
[Link: Great River Road Photos]
*-No actual foam Cheeseheads were harmed in the making of this truly awful song parody.
In anticipation of that tragic day, I've decided that I wish to be fitted with a rocket-propelled prosthetic arm, holding a tiki mug.
That is all.
I'm off to the SF Bay Area for the next two weeks on bidness. Blogging will probably not occur here in the interim, so the 5 or 6 of you who're still reading this blog will just have to go find something else to do.
My mom doesn't have a computer, so she won't see this, but in honor of Mother's Day tomorrow, I wanted to show you all the 1944 high-school graduation photo of the woman who made me what I am today...a Fez-wearin', Tropical-cocktail sippin', opera-lovin', jet-settin' hipster!
Thanks, Mom!
Found in a box: a 1969 photograph of my Pop surrounded by 8 lovely Korean hostesses at a party in Inchon. He looks like the cat who just got the cream, doesn't he?
....don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
Well, another year has come and gone. 2007 was kind of a mixed bag: I traveled a lot more for work, got violently ill in Malaysia, and pleasantly tipsy in London, dumped a couple of so-called friends, made some new ones, Mrs. BH finally got a job as a liberrian, then lost the hearing in her right ear from a virus, I struggled with health problems too, we sent our oldest off to college, and we got a pretty cool new kittycat.
On the blogging side, things were up and down as well. On the good side, I was published in Mark Frauenfelder's book Rule the Web, and contributed to Beachbum Berry's new book, Sippin' Safari. I became a PCL contributor. I saw my readership reach an all-time high, then watched it crash and burn as a result of my neglect due to boredom and overwork. In the latter half of the year, I spent most of my time exercising the trivia center of my brain on Flickr playing around in the Name That Film and Name That Show pools.
So what's in store for 2008? Well, I don't really believe in resolutions, but I've already taken steps to try and get healthier and shed a few pounds. I'll definitely be on the road again soon. I leave for Melbourne, Australia in a week, then I'll be back in London (and possibly take a side jaunt to Mallorca) in February.
I'm sure I'll be running hot and cold on the blogging thing like I always do, but I'm probably too much of a showoff to quit entirely. As always, thanks to all the folks who've supported and linked to me over the years.
See you in the funny pages...
Oh, Hai! I is Fez, new kat of Mr. Bali Hai. While he been in England drinkin' warm beer, I M in his Tiki bar, drinkin' all his Rumz, peein' in ice bukkit, and eatin' all da bar snax.
Uh oh, BH just come home. I has to hide now be4 he kick my furry kat butt!
L8r!
Fez