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Jim Davis is best known for being the creator of the comic strip Garfield. Davis grew up on a farm, which, like most, had a number of stray cats. Davis didn’t go straight into drawing cats though. He attended Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. There he majored in art and business, and after his graduation he spent two years working for an advertising agency before assisting Tumbleweeds creator, Tom Ryan. With Tumbleweeds Davis learned how to be a full-time cartoonist and eventually launched his own strip, Gnorm Gnat. Gnorm wasn’t particular popular though, and after five years in an Indiana newspaper Davis squashed Gnorm with a giant foot which crashed down from the sky and ended Gnorm’s comic career. Davis wasn’t finished though. He knew he wanted to keep drawing comics, though he began to realize that a gnat wasn’t the most personable of main characters.

When Jim Davis looked over the standard crop of Sunday comics, he realized that there were a number of great strips about dogs. Peanuts was still going strong with Snoopy as perhaps its most recognizable character, and Marmaduke was still getting into trouble. Despite all of the goofy dogs in the comics, Davis couldn’t find any strips about cats. So Garfield was created, the well known, lazy, lasagna-loving, Odie-tormenting kitty cat familiar to us all. The inspiration for Garfield came from all of the cats of Davis’ childhood all rolled into one, which perhaps doesn’t say much for cats on the whole. The name came from Jim’s grandfather, James Garfield Davis.

Garfield was launched in 1978 in 41 U.S. newspapers. The fat cat’s fame snowballed, and Garfield is now the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world, reaching over 263 million readers. Davis’ paperback collections have also sold well; when the first collection was published it reached the bestseller list and stayed there for 100 weeks. Accolades include four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program, induction to the Licensing Hall of Fame, awards from the National Cartoonist Society including Best Humor Strip, the Elzie Segar Award, and the Reuben Award.

Jim Davis has aggressively marketed Garfield, and the orange cat’s likeness has appeared on coffee cups, sweatshirts, license plate covers, and almost anything else his face could fit on. Though some cartoonists have attacked Davis for selling Garfield out, the lasagna-loving feline has nonetheless become one of the most visible multimedia figures in comic history.

Originally posted 2007-10-14 18:23:10. Republished by Old Post Promoter

Christmas is my very favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. I love putting out Christmas decorations and having friends and family members over for drinks and snacks. It is a magical time of the year for me that I love sharing with those I care about.

Because I love the holidays so much I have collected many Christmas decorations through the years. When we travel I go to the selection of Christmas decorations in gift and souvenir shops. Now we have so many ornaments for the tree that we need to have two trees in the house so that I can display all the Christmas decorations I have accumulated. This is also fun because we put one tree in the living room in front of the bay window so that you can see it from the outside as well as inside. The second tree we put in our bedroom. I love falling asleep with the lights on the tree and the decorations sparkling in the lights. By having two trees I place the formal ornaments on the living room tree and place the homemade and whimsical ornaments on the upstairs tree. Having two trees is extra work, but it is worth the effort. I also place a small artificial tree with miniature ornaments in the guest bathroom.

Ornaments are not the only Christmas decorations I have accumulated. I also have a snowman village as well as a winter scene village. I put out the village displays the day after Thanksgiving and leave them out until the end of January. I have also started collecting hand crafted old world Santa’s. They are created by a local artisan using recycled furs and wool fabrics. Each one is a work of art and has its own character. I leave them out for an extended period of time also.

The other part of Christmas that I enjoy is baking and candy making. It is the time of year that people do not seem to be concerned about what they eat. It is so much fun to entertain this time of year because the Christmas decorations on cookies and candies add a festive look to the platters. From the day after Thanksgiving until New Years I make sure that I have Christmas goodies available to share with anyone that drops by. I make special snack mixes that are both sweet and salty to take along to other’s homes. I also make special treats to place on co-workers desks.

I enjoy life throughout the year but nothing can replace the magical feelings I get when I hang the first Christmas decorations each year. Seeing the special things that I have collected over the years is like greeting old friends.

Originally posted 2007-06-06 03:22:13. Republished by Old Post Promoter

If you want to save a little cash around the holidays, you can do some things to keep your list a little smaller. When it comes to friends and distant relatives, you might want to consider gifts that are made for more than one person. That means you don’t have to buy a separate gift for each member of the household. You can find gifts for the family if you know a larger family and you just can’t find it within your budget to buy for all of them, and you can also buy a Christmas gift for couple rather than getting two separate things.

When it comes to buying for couples, you might find things to be easier than you thought. While each person in a couple is an individual, couples always have some common interests. What one person needs might not be something the other likes, but there has to be something they do together, or that drew them together in the first place. If you can figure out what those things are, you are well on your way to buying the perfect Christmas gift for couple. Remember to keep it simple or you might go out of your mind trying to choose.

If you don’t know a couple very well, or consider them to be casual friends, this is definitely the way to go. You can normally find some sort of food gift to give them that they will appreciate. Do they drink wine? If so, you can get them a bottle of their favorite, or a case if it is within your price range. If they enjoy pasta, you can get them a gift set with different pastas and sauces. Some like the traditional meat and cheese sets, and those can be a great gift as well. As long as you keep their style and their likes in mind, something is out there that will be perfect for them and perfect as a Christmas gift for couple.

You should also think about things that they need when thinking about a Christmas gift for couple. Did you go camping with them last year and notice they could use a larger tent? That might be the perfect gift. Did they decline a dinner invitation to their favorite restaurant because they can not afford to go very often? Get them a gift certificate. A gift will be good if it is something that they can use together. Don’t get something only one will like and put both names on it, but rather, take some time to think of what they love together and the ideas will come to you rather quickly.

Originally posted 2006-10-18 02:24:21. Republished by Old Post Promoter

I’ve been raised on science fiction books and computer games, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I’m proud of my geekhood these days. Although it took some years of talk therapy to help me deal with all the verbal and physical abuse I sustained in middle school, I feel an appreciation for good science fiction books was worth it. I could come home from school, thoroughly beat up and demoralized, and escape in some fantastical universe created by one of the worlds more imaginative people.

Today, at my age, geekness is generally rewarded instead of punished, but I still find myself escaping into science fiction books often. Maybe its just nostalgia, or maybe they’re just fun books to read, but its certainly my favorite genre. While I’m also a fan of other genres, other books often just seem unimaginative and somehow lacking in the kind of depth that good science fiction books have.

Though its started as a small group of books that quickly developed an almost cult like following, science fiction is a pretty wide and fast growing genre these days. No longer are science fiction books solely about some kind of space adventure, or some Star Trek like world. There are a lot of science fiction books that are about alternative pasts, possible futures, or maybe even a present day scenario only slightly modified from the real world. One of my all time favorite science fiction book series is Stephen Kings’s Dark Tower collection. It’s an going series of science fiction books, five of which have been written, with several more on the way. Just reading the first one of the series, titled

Originally posted 2006-05-30 03:08:01. Republished by Old Post Promoter

It’s that one night of the year when the creeps come out, and the spirits roam free. The children prepare themselves with costumes and make-up. The parents fix bowls of candy and goodies for all the little visitors. Yes indeed folks, I’m talking about Halloween. What are you going as this October, 31st? Today more than ever, Halloween is celebrated across the country. I say this because of the cool costumes and Halloween stuff that fills the superstores whenever that spooky night grows close. While our parents may have struggled to make due with toilet paper wrapped from head to toe in order to go as a mummy, these days we are blessed with much more realistic options. Virtually anything you can imagine can be found. The Internet has made it all possible.

What kind of funky Halloween stuff do you like to decorate your humble abode with as that Fall celebration draws near? Do you stick to the classic cotton spider webs and plastic crawlers, or do you go for more of the new-age fog machines and cackling voices that tend to scare children right out of their costumes? Or maybe you like to mix it up with a medley of both. Regardless of what Halloween stuff you prefer, you can find it all these days with the mere click of a mouse. Do you have a PC or Mac? Do you have Internet access? This is all you need to make a fun and spooky Halloween night for you and your family. One thing I love about the World-Wide-Web is the vast selection of costumes. No matter what you’re hoping to be, you can find that original costume for a decent price in cyberspace. Last year my 7 year old wanted to be a she-devil. What do you know; I actually found that costume online in no time. There is infinite Halloween stuff to sort through and choose from.

If you really do some browsing on your home computer, you will discover an array of Halloween activities and games for children. Maybe your son or daughter is just itching to play a ghoulish game, or paint a spooky picture. It’s all accessible and free on the Internet. Other Halloween stuff such as virtual haunted houses and ghost stories can be spotted on a number of websites. So are you in the mood for eerie and exciting Halloween stuff? Hop online today and see what fun decorations, costumes, activities and games you can find. That magical night is growing closer by the minute.

Originally posted 2007-12-30 12:08:05. Republished by Old Post Promoter