January 9, 2010
I've had the usual first week of a new year glitch of putting 2009 on checks and on this blog (went back in and changed them) and on my daily sketches. Finally getting used to writing twenty-ten, which is pretty amazing when you think about it. It's my sixth decade on the planet, and while I've experienced some dillies (the sixties come to mind), this last decade has been hard to beat when it comes to jarring ridiculousness. It has been described as The Decade From Hell, by Time magazine, and worse, by my friends in construction and real estate.

In The Year Twenty-Five Twenty-Five Will Man Still Write The Wrong Year On Checks?

And speaking of real estate, Kathy and I had dinner last night down at the Keg Steakhouse in Desert Ridge with Wonderful Russ and Wendy Shaw (split bill: $67 house account). They are in the process of retooling their business model. When I asked if they are cutting back on advertising Wendy said, "No, the model isn't broken, we just need to tweak the message." Very smart. So many of us panic and cut the very thing, advertising, that keeps the money flowing. It's literally like cutting off oxygen in an emergency room to save money on electricity. Of course, this is easy to say, but much harder to do in practice. I really respect their focus and commitment. That was inspiring.

Gorgeous day on the Sonoran Desert. Went for a walk with Peaches at about eight. Mid-sixties, got up to low seventies this afternoon. Attacked sketches with a vengeance, whipping out 25 scenes by lunch. Did another dozen this afternoon.

I've got some heavy travel coming up at the end of the month. Flying to Lubbock for a speech at the Ranching Association (I'll post a flyer on Monday), and I'm teaching at the Orme School first week of February, and, after that, flying to Salt Lake City to speak to a group of history teachers (I think from all over the state).

I have been contacted by a group from the Netherlands who saw my blog posts on Tintin. They are having messy copyright issues with a studio who claims all the rights to Herge's artwork. Fascinating problem, especially in this free download era. More details next week.

"If you've seen the present then you've seen everything—as it's been since the beginning, as it will be forever. The same substance, the same form. All of it."
—Marcus Aurelius, Roman philosopher-emperor, 200 A.D.