1. You Keep Your Balls
You’re not being castrated and everything remains intact (for the most part) and in place. Your dick will also remain in place and untouched (which sounds sad, but is a good thing in this instance).

2. Your Balls Are Still Attached
Your balls are attached to your body by a collection of veins and arteries and connective tissue. Disconnecting the vas deferens won’t cause your balls to just float around freely in your sack.

3. It’s A “Procedure”
A vasectomy is an out patient procedure, and not a full blown operation. You get a local anesthetic (with a very small needle) in the area surrounding the operation. Once numbed, a very small incision is made in the scrotum and a short section of the vas deferens is pulled out in a loop. Then the small section is cut and removed and the ends tied off (and/or cauterized with a small electrical zap). Boom. That’s it. It takes twenty to thirty minutes and you just walk out of the doctors office. Well, perhaps you waddle a bit, but you can just leave.

4. You Can Still Ejaculate Normally
Sperm cells make up a very small portion of your man chowder. You will still ejaculate the same with no noticable difference. Or it might be noticable if you are the type to look really, really close. Ya weirdo.

5. You Can’t Have Sex Immediately After
Aside from waiting a bit after the procedure to heal up, you still have “air traffic” lined up on the “runway” prepared for “takeoff” after the vasectomy. The vas deferens is a rather long tube and it will take a couble of ejaculations (about 15 to 20) to “flush the pipes”. So prepare to set aside an afternoon.

So, now you know. And knowing is half the battle. G. I. GOT A VASECTOMY!!!!!!

Well, I have good news an I have bad news.

The good news is that I will be back to cartooning in full force in the very near future.

The bad news is because getting laid off in this tough economy has cleared my immediate schedule.

Yes, I have indeed lost one of the best jobs I ever had. I’m taking it a bit harder than the usual “reduction in force” layoffs I’ve been a part of in the past (particularly around the “dot bomb” implosion) since I was really suited for this job and had recently gotten an excellent performance review. But alas, the economic downturn is causing all sort of companies to make painful decisions.

SO…while the job hunt is on (those still exist, don’t they?) I have more than ample time to get my cartooning groove on. I can finally start checking off the laundry list of comic gags I’ve been collecting on this legal pad next to my keyboard. Heck, I might even be able to get some blogging done about topics that have been on my mind lately.

Don’t worry about the strip though. Even though it’s semi-autobiographical I am settled into Angst Technology and my current circumstances won’t be directly reflected in the “Inkyverse”.

After all, when you’re down you need to surround yourself with friends. Even if they are of the poo flinging, karaoke butchering, mad technical scientist, long haired perv variety. Actually … ESPECIALLY if they are.

Hey neat, I’ve apparently been named as a finalist for a “Beaky”, a personal list of favorite webcomic sites from the gang over at Webcomic Beacon. You can read more about it here:

http://webcomicbeacon.com/2009/04/01/episode-70/

and here

http://comixtalk.com/fesworks/webcomic_beacon_70_2008_beaky_awards

Yeah yeah yeah, the baby is all fine and cute and stuff … but this is about a different kind of baby steps.

Thanks to my ever wonderful wife, we are setting aside some time for me to be a “baby free zone” to allow me to focus time on cartooning again. We did a small test run this weekend and I was able to get a strip posted and some others penciled and in the queue. Likely we will set aside a good chunk of time on Saturday to get my three cartoons for the week done and then if any opportunities arise during the week I can get any extra work done (like working ahead for a buffer or web site maintenance or coding). Hopefully this will allow me to do the minimum to keep the site timely and if I have “spare” time, than all the better, but I won’t be dependent on those rare little windows to be creative.

I might also declare “comic bankrupcy” and finish off the birthing storyline week and then pick back up with strips backdated starting April 1st (as opposed to trying to fill in the full two week comic debt I’ve accrued). This should aleviate the pressure I’ve been feeling watching those days just pile up in my mind as comic debt and I can focus on getting extra strips done as a buffer and keep pushing forward.

Oh, and as an aside, my mother has noticed what a friendly and supportive fan base I have.

Yes, my parents read the strip and the comments (and the Twitters apparently). I do however occasionally need to let her know when I’m not really unemployed for long periods of time and that I don’t really work at Angst Technology. To her, the comic strip is like a weekly letter home letting them know what I’m doing and how the family is faring.

InkTank … bringing old fogies to the technological forefront against their better judgement since 2000!

To ME! The InkTank cartoon is one year old today. Wow, time really has flown in that time. I had hoped to push forward with a lot of site and cartoon related stuff this year, but it has been a very busy year indeed.

141 InkTank comic strips published (15 shy of a full years worth)
2 job changes
1 move
1 new baby

Overall I wasn’t able to move forward with grander plans to attend conventions, publish a few books and generally push the business end forward. But I did start drawing again and in the end, I felt it was a good year to get the ball rolling again (better late then never, eh?) and I was able to get a feel for what sort of schedule I can sustain. Three a week seems to be what I can handle right now (well, not RIGHT now, obviously) even though my brain is wired for gags five times a week. I was well on my way to getting a solid production schedule down and had a bit of a buffer in place before the baby came, so I feel confident it is a schedule I can work within and hopefully expand upon.

The year has established the main character and his family and I feel confident now to move forward and focus more on the other cast and integrate them all more closely in the coming year. Not all new readers remember the AT gang and my other strips (although hopefully the archives have kept them entertained) so I feel it is important to spread the comedy wealth among the cast and get some mini-storylines going.

I have had a very good first year, overall, and I eagerly await to see what the next year will bring.

Hope you guys like what you will see. =)

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz … I wonder where the comics is?

Well, since the baby seems to be settling down into a semi-regular sleep pattern now I’ve been able to snatch a bit of time here and there to get some drawing done. I’ve got a few more pencils to ink and post so expect more comic goodness this week. I might even do some more streaming video of me drawing. It seemed to go well last time and I’ll be sure to post on Twitter when I do live events like that.

I’m going to be wrapping up the birthing story line and filling in the missing days starting with the 16th, which means I’m in sort of a “buffer debt” zone for a few days. But I do so hate holes in the archives.

Wow, it’s getting to the point that I want to cartoon so bad I could cry. I’ve even taken to carrying my papers and art supplies around with me in my backpack all the time in the chance a drawing opportunity pops up.

The wee Inkling is doing well, but my daily schedule consists of getting up at 8:00am to go to work, get back from work and take the Inkling so my wife can sleep, she takes the night shift around 1:00am and I go to bed until I get up at 8:00am to go to work. Pretty much work and 24 hour baby duty. The hindering aspect is that she is quite fussy at times and doesn’t like to be put down (at least while I have her). She is precious and a beautiful little baby girl, but drawing and computing one handed with a wriggling poop factory latched to you is impossible.

I’m trying to figure out some sort of schedule. I guess I was lucky I was on hiatus when the first one was born. I mean, I love to watch TV as much as the next guy … but there are only so many boxes set seasons of House, Bones, Burn Notice and the like to keep a guy occupied into the wee hours.

I’m not worried though. I know that eventually she’ll be on a regular schedule and I’ll have more “free” time to do my cartooning. I have so many jokes and stories to tell, so many situations to put the gang into. I’ll post strips when I can, wrapping up the last week of the birthing storyline then moving onto more wacky hi-jinks and geek humor with the whole gang.

Stay tooned.

Oh, what an exciting day for a Lego lover. As me and the family strolled the mall yesterday, we wandered into (if I drag everyone, it counts as “wandering”, right?) the Lego store. Now, I’ve not gotten any Lego sets for a while (at least over a year) but I still like to peruse and see what all is going on in the lands of Lego.

An audible gasp took me as I laid eyes on … A NEW LEGO PIRATES SET!

I grew up on the Lego Space line in my youth (mid 70’s) but it was the Lego Pirates line that drew me back in as an adult. From picking up a few set here and there to a near obsessive compulsion to hunt them down on eBay after the line ended I would say that at least 90 percent of my collection is made up of Pirates sets. Not to mention the small armies of red and blue coated soldiers to stand against my pirate armadas.

Well, now with the Pirate line launched again, new set and pieces are available along with the prices of the older sets coming down (hopefully).

Ok, I’m done Legogasming. Time to build!

Well, after I get back to cartooning that is.