T-shirt #319 - Ultimate Centrals Regionals 2001 Orange Shirt

T-shirt #319 - Ultimate Centrals Regionals 2001 Orange Shirt

Yes, another Ultimate shirt. And why not? It's Ultimate Mondays.

I featured the blue version and long sleeved shirt of this design and from this tournament in T-shirt #277.


I am still in hiatus mode. But I am also still behind schedule and struggling to work ahead.

Is there really anything to say about this shirt? Not really. It's a nice burnt orange color, unlike the blue one I shared in T-shirt #277.

Today, a bit of text to make a post-Super Bowl point and a bunch of pictures. Atop the blog today, a stack of shirts waiting to be photographed (with me in them). Just a little preview of what's to come because this is the 365 T-shirts blog. I like having a lot of pictures in the folder ready to go. I also like choosing a shirt just for that day and getting the photos once the inspiration strikes. But as I close in on the end of the blog year, I suspect I will be a little less motivated by inspiration. In fact, soon, I may have an accurate count of how many shirts I have left. I suspect I have more than the number remaining in my year, which is forty-six.

On winning and attracting and receiving

The Super Bowl from last night was very disappointing, especially since I picked Denver, and Seattle spanked them 43-8. I feel badly for Peyton Manning.

People claim that prayer works. There's actual evidence that focusing positive energy on an outcome affects the outcome. This concept reminds me of a movie called The Secret, which I have seen several times. The film purports to be a documentary about the secret to prosperity, which is the law of attraction. There's some good content in the movie, and I have written about it the times I have written about gratitude (such as here in T-shirt #252).

I am more interested in the way to attract love and positive things rather using this secret to attract money. However, one person interviewed described envisioning checks in the mail rather than bills, and when he did, checks started to arrive, money for him in his mailbox, rather than bills to pay. I always thought this was an  stupid example, especially since the guy is an INVESTMENT BANKER.
So, of course, he's going to get checks in the mail.

Lately, I have been waiting for a check to arrive. I visualized daily, and ever day, for over a month, there were no checks. Then finally, today, there was a check. I think this shows that the mind attracts when it is NOT FOCUSED on the thing desired. Serendipity is much more powerful than visualizing and attracting and receiving consciously. This connects to how I met Liesel. I had been looking for love so much and had received so little. And then, when I did not expect it, when I was not looking, my life totally changed.

There's a power of the Collective Unconscious at work here, but the attraction, the magic, happens as a result of the consciousness turning AWAY from the thing desired and not actively desiring it. Only when the mind is occupied elsewhere can the thing materialize.

This also proves that Denver may win the Super Bowl next year.

And now some pictures.

On the left, a "selfie" from today. This is the shirt I am actually wearing. I am anticipating the release of the Veronica Mars movie, which is March 14.

Below, I have included a picture of my pal Tom Meyers (the Loc or Lord of Chaos), my wife Liesel, and me at Food Dance from Friday night January 31st celebrating good news that Liesel received that day (which may not yet be for public transmission) and Tom's imminent interview with a prospective employer.




Next, because I am a bit obsessive about documentation, I have several pictures of my birthday cards (also Ivan's cards as he is a "grandson"). My family has always been big on cards. I wrote about the card Liesel gave me in T-shirt #302: Green Lantern.

The next two pictures document the upcoming T-shirts to some extent. The first picture shows the stacks in my office and the recent gifts of cool, retro, re-issue toys and a Star Trek game.

There are not enough Satchel pictures on my blog. The last image is one that I found on the Internet to go in my first computer program in my C# programming class.

HIATUS TEXT: I am taking a short hiatus. A "hiatus" for the 365 T-shirts Blog does not mean that there will not be shirts or that I will skip posting on any forthcoming day. There will be shirts. But the shirts will not be exciting or the featured shirts will not require me to write a small novel to properly generate the content I feel is sufficient. I created a category for my hiatus so as to group together those "easy" shirts that I consider to be "hiatus shirts." The goal of the hiatus is to fill in many blog days with easy shirts in order to complete longer love letters to beloved popular culture icons on more special shirts and to write more complex entries AHEAD OF TIME. The daily grind is becoming too much and causing me to fall behind and to be forced to post incomplete entries. I am hoping that a series of hiatus shirts will allow me to catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead. Ideally, I would like to be writing the bulk of each entry three days ahead while always working on at least one other. I have a lot of great shirts to share before the end of my blog year (after all I was just given SIXTEEN shirts for my birthday). Stay tuned. I promise to post the more interesting and longer T-shirt entries as I finish them. Thanks for reading. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 46 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.03 - 20:11
final publication - 1402.04 - 8:11
(ooooh... weird synchronicity. Blog entry and update published 12 hours apart!)

T-shirt #318 - TPTA Corporate Olympics Shirt B

T-shirt #318 - TPTA Corporate Olympics Shirt B

Watching the Super Bowl.

I am blurry.

I am tempted to leave the entry alone with only the text above.

This is the second of two shirts that I have that are the same. My other shirt was posted as T-shirt #309.

HIATUS TEXT: I am taking a short hiatus. A "hiatus" for the 365 T-shirts Blog does not mean that there will not be shirts or that I will skip posting on any forthcoming day. There will be shirts. But the shirts will not be exciting or the featured shirts will not require me to write a small novel to properly generate the content I feel is sufficient. I created a category for my hiatus so as to group together those "easy" shirts that I consider to be "hiatus shirts." The goal of the hiatus is to fill in many blog days with easy shirts in order to complete longer love letters to beloved popular culture icons on more special shirts and to write more complex entries AHEAD OF TIME. The daily grind is becoming too much and causing me to fall behind and to be forced to post incomplete entries. I am hoping that a series of hiatus shirts will allow me to catch up, get ahead, and stay ahead. Ideally, I would like to be writing the bulk of each entry three days ahead while always working on at least one other. I have a lot of great shirts to share before the end of my blog year (after all I was just given SIXTEEN shirts for my birthday). Stay tuned. I promise to post the more interesting and longer T-shirt entries as I finish them. Thanks for reading. BTW, this is the standard HIATUS TEXT that I will include in every "hiatus shirt" entry.

Today, Sunday February 2nd, Ground Hog's Day, was actually a day off. I did NO WORK at all, which is very rare for me.

Since my friend is visiting, we played D&D (Pathfinder) in the afternoon, and enjoyed a lavish food spread created by my wife in the evening as we watched the Super Bowl.

My wife continually proves that she is an amazing human being, and I continually renew my knowledge that I am very lucky to be married to her.

TODAY'S PHOTOS

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 47 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1402.02 - 20:32
final publication - 1402.04 - 8:27

T-shirt #286 - Michigan - The Rose Bowl 2005

T-shirt #286 - Michigan - The Rose Bowl 2005 - Happy New Year!

I do not own any Michigan State University Spartans gear. I wish the Spartans well and a victory today in the Rose Bowl.

I am ashamed of Michigan's performance in the so coveted (that's sarcasm) Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. I don't even want to write about it.

I know I promised comic book content today, but that will have to wait. Today's entry will be short. But I will share a few photos or images that have been sitting in my T-shirts blog folder. I know I did photos yesterday, but I promise to only share a few.

Hey, it's New Year's Day!! Happy New Year to you and yours. 

Oh, and I don't make New Year's Resolutions. I make resolutions all year. I have lived up to many of mine as evidenced by this damn thing.

So instead of resolutions, some geeky and sundry various nonsense. Enjoy.

But I do like this resolution that I posted to Facebook (via Warren Ellis via someone else).

These next two links may not work unless you are registered to and/or logged in to Facebook and/or Good Reads. But I post them here for posterity or my own reference. But give them a try. Or try them via my Facebook and/or Good Reads pages.

YEAR IN REVIEW - FACEBOOK

My books from 2013 on Good Reads

If not, here's the books.

I love this cartoon. I am posting it separately to Facebook to make sure more people see it. Thank you Twitter-world.

I also love the following cartoon.

Along with yesterday's Roald Dahl quote, this was one of my favorite things Liesel posted all year.

Just because.

Well, not really.

A student of mine got this as a tattoo.

And I am teaching mythology, so it was meaningful.

From my wife, just this morning.

THE BEST TIME TO BLOG

I may return to the subject above in a future post.

Crazy big win in fantasy football.

The awesome New Yorker cover by Chris Ware.

If you do not know Chris Ware, click his name. Or Google Search images of Chris Ware to see his amazing art.

The equally awesome New Yorker cover by Adrian Tomine. I wrote about Adrian Tomine most notably in T-shirt #98 - Optic Nerve. 

The pets, recent photos. First Vespers and then Satchel.

Sleeping puppy...

sleepy puppy.

'Nuff said. (following photo via Warren Ellis)

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 79 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.01 - 10:16

T-shirt #248 - Detroit Lions

T-shirt #248 - Detroit Lions

I am writing this as the Detroit Lions play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are currently winning 21-17, but Stafford has thrown two interceptions.

I realized I did not have a Lions shirt, so I bought this one the other day.

This is a must win game as the Lions should have won last week against Pittsburgh, and they are in a tie for first in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears with the Green Bay Packers only one game back, though currently losing at home to the Minnesota Vikings.

The most important thing for me as a fan is for the Lions to win this game today. But the second most important thing is for them to win by 10 or more points.

You see, I pick games by the point spreads with a small group of friends, one of whom I have never met in person, and the group has never met each other in person. The common element is me as I know all of the core group of four, but there's a fifth guy who is a friend of one of the others, and he's the one I have not met in person.

The Bucs just took the lead on a heave of a pass by the rookie quarter back. Damn.

So far on the season, I am 74-82-7. I have won among our group four times but only once as a solo win. The leader, Jason, is 80-75-7, followed by my friend Dave Mandrick at 77-78-7, my friend Bill at 76-79-7, and I am tied with Bill's friend Jay.


Okay, so as I was saying, I pick by spreads. Here's my picks today. So far I am doing all right, though in the time it took my to write this, the Lions lost.

I hate missing that Thursday game.

On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 7:35 AM, Chris Tower <gmrstudios2@gmail.com> wrote:

2013 WEEK TWELVE SPREADS 1/2 Chris  Jason   Bill      Jay     Dave

Thursday game 

New Orleans [-8] at Atlanta - NEW ORLEANS :-(

SUNDAY 1 p.m. games

Tampa Bay at Detroit [-9] - DETROIT LIONS [I agree that this is a big number for Detroit but at home? I think they can]

Jacksonville at Houston [-10 1/2] - JACKSONVILLE [Another big number but I was tempted to go Texans to turn it around at home, but nah...]

Minnesota at Green Bay [-3 1/2] - GREEN BAY [I can see this going either way but at home I give Green Bay the edge]

San Diego at Kansas City [-5] - SAN DIEGO [I think the Chiefs win but this may come down to a field goal]

Carolina [-3 1/2] at Miami - PANTHERS [Though Miami surprised us last week the Panthers are too good for it to happen again this week]

Pittsburgh at Cleveland [-2] - STEELERS [Tough choice. I like the Browns at home and by only two? I almost went Browns]

Chicago at St. Louis [-1] - RAMS [yes, my sort of upset of the week. At home and favored because of what they did last week IN Indiana]

NY Jets at Baltimore [-4] - RAVENS [Jets just screw me over all the time]

4 p.m. games

Tennessee at Oakland [-1] - RAIDERS [I am tempted to go Titans but Oakland has been looking good and at home by one? yeah]

Indianapolis at Arizona [-2] - COLTS [Also tempted to go Cardinals as people undervalue them even though they are favored but after last week's beat down I expect the Colts to be pissed off]

Dallas at NY Giants [-2 1/2] - COWBOYS [They may not win but I am betting on this being close]

8 p.m. game

Denver [-3] at New England - BRONCOS [yeah, nuff said]

Monday game

San Francisco [-4 1/2] at Washington - 49ERS [This might surprise everyone with the Redskins keeping it close or even winning but I am not betting on it]

Here's my last message about our picks.

NFL Tallies 2013

I love this close season with our picks!! I also love that I recovered from two horrible weeks to have a winning week, especially because I changed my Monday night pick to Carolina at the last minute. I should listen to the gut. That's the lesson here. Though the gut failed me with KC, the Chargers, the Packers, the Jaguars, and most importantly THE LIONS. Terrible.

Crazy ending. Jay, Dave, and I tie for first with records of 7-5-3 for the week. Bill and Jason tie at 6-6-3 for second. Three of us gain one game on Jason and Bill and we are all close, the largest margin being six games.

In points, Bill, Jay, and Dave are all tied with 43 with Jason and me just behind at 42.

Some good games for Week 12, especially an easy pick for Thursday night!

Smoodles Doodles!

-cbt

NFL Tallies 2013

You have read my comments about playing fantasy sports before. I would also like to share my Week 11 update from our KUDL football league as I beat the top team last week, and I am proud. 

Hey Christopher, You have just been sent the following note from Baby Fish Mouth (Christopher) in the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football league named KUDL Football (70932)... Greetings KUDLers, Though many of the games from last week have playoff implications and good elements to feature, I have to lead this week with a big YIPPEE because my BABY FISH BEAT LOUNGING LEOPOLD!!!! My Baby Fish handed Lindsey's Leopold just her second loss of the season, and we clinched our PLAYOFF BERTH! Though I do not usually crib from the Yahoo recaps, it expresses our come from behind victory, so well. In short, going into Monday's game, Baby Fish were down 208-194. The Fish rallied and schooled to a 215-208 win. Yahoo: "Baby Fish Mouth (6-5, 2,420.00 points) stole one from Lounging Leopold (9-2, 2,564.00 points) 215.00 - 208.00 in a back-and-forth battle. They were led by Drew Brees who had 50.00 points. Baby Fish Mouth scored first and went into Sunday in front 26.50 - 0. They lost the handle after the early Sunday games and trailed 98.50 - 86.00. After the late Sunday games, the lead went back the other way 183.00 - 146.00. By the end of the Sunday night game, the lead flipped yet again and Lounging Leopold went up 208.00 - 194.00. Baby Fish Mouth finally took the matchup in a Mondaynight comeback, led by Brandon LaFell with 14.50 points. With this win, Baby Fish Mouth clinches a playoff berth. " First place doesn't change with this win. Leopold still regins supreme at 9-2. But Favre and Zissou (who both won) are breathing in her fur one game back at 8-3. My Baby Fish are solidly in fourth now at 6-5. Lightning lost this week to Favre, but Dave clinches a playoff spot in fifth place, just one game off Baby Fish at 5-6, and with the distinction of having beaten my Baby Fish two weeks ago. Other news from last week is Favre who logged the biggest margin of victory of the week with a 63 point win over Lightning. Though this victory does not win biggest margin for the season, which so far also goes to Favre for a 115 point win over Discount in Week Three. Mosquitoes are in sixth right now and can clinch a playoff spot this week despite playing Leopold. Seventh place Discount would need a win over my Baby Fish and Mosquitoes loss. Likewise, Foamy who plays Favre would be in the same position, though Foamy holds a tie break advantage having logged his second win of the season in a strong 275.5-218 win last week over Discount. Even with either Foamy or Discount winning, I think Mosquitoes are a virtual lock for the sixth spot. Playoffs start Dec. 3rd with six teams, five of which have clinched. Right now, Leopold and Favre would have first round byes with Baby Fish meeting Lightining and Zissou play Mosquitoes (assuming they clinch). But this could change. Zissou has a shot at second. If Leopold were to lose again (unlikely), things could get crazy. Lightning could flip with Baby Fish in the 4th and 5th slots, but this would do little to affect playoffs. As always, I hope you are all having as much fun as I am. New Orleans vs. Atlanta tonight. Make sure the players you active are active and VOTE MATCHUPS before the games are locked down. a KUDLy rapier of punster wit -tower Go to League --Fantasy Football Commissioner http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1

HUZZAH!

I wish the Lions had won. :-(

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 117 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1311.24 - 16:15