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Yipe! I’ve been tagged, by benconservato.

4 jobs I have had (besides my current job):
Bet taker at a race track
Fast food grill cook
Steel mill (I pushed a series of buttons that cut and loaded steel into the mill, it was thrilling)
Hotdog factory worker

4 movies I would watch over and over:
Lord of the Rings
Fight Club
Christmas Vacation
The Royal Tenenbaums

4 places I have lived:
Hamilton, Ontario
Puslinch, Ontario
London, Ontario
Kitchener, Ontario

4 TV shows I love:
Dead Like Me
the Office
Battlestar Galatica (Darn cliffhanger endings)
Southpark

4 places I have been for a vacation:
British Columbia
New York city
Chicago
Montreal

4 websites I visit daily:
My own Pickledog blog
Illustration Friday
Drawn.ca
cbc.ca

4 favorites foods:
Pizza
Chicken curry
vanilla yogurt with frozen raspberries
pretzels (stick not twisty)

4 places I would rather be:
California
Toronto
A house in the country
East Kitchener, the west side is nice but it’s a longer commute to work.

4 people I am tagging:
John Coulter
Studio lolo
Digital Scott
Amanda Schmitt

My idea for this weeks Illustration Friday topic is based partly on a conversation I had with a friend over the weekend. My friend Derek is my oldest and closest friend from way back in grade number 3, and a talented writer. We were discussing the balance of working full time while developing a second, artistic career, and the polar-bear plunge into freelancing.

Pursuing a new career is certainly not a decision to be made lightly, but everyday Pickledog is persuading me to put away the ol’ Graphic Artist mask, and put on a new Freelance Artist mask. How can I say “no” to that face?

Whenever someone mentions the word “might” in Brautsville it is hard not to think of the greatest player to ever wear the brown, orange, black and yellowish white, Mighty Mean Macallroni.

Macallroni was the captain of the Brautsville Ice Brauts from 1985-91. In that span he was twice named MVP, and in 1990 led the Brauts to their first ever championship over their infamous Quad-City rivals the Kitchener Maple Kats.

Yes some would say Mighty Mean Macallroni possessed more might in his little baby toe than most people could hope to have in their entire body. Others would accuse Brautsville of shaving a bear and teaching to skate, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that Macallroni was the first player to almost successfully body-check the Zamboni.

Go Maple Kats!!

Milo is a kid genius and inventor. Maybe you have heard of some of his inventions like the Perpetual Lotion Machine (Patent Pending) which infamously ruined the Crunchy Bay Beach Party. It’s a good thing he has a friend like Sidney to help him test his newest invention the Time Toilet. Inspired by other famous inventors like Sir John A MacDonald (as mentioned in my previous post) Milo has harnessed the power of the twin toilet to race backwards in time to 1994, but a leak in the flush capacitor has plunged them much further back..

A tinkle in time will save nine!

Here in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving in October so it feels like deja vu all over again this week. Canadian media is so enriched with American content it almost feels like Thanksgiving here again.

Besides the difference in scheduling there are some subtle differences in the way we enjoy our turkey-lisious holiday. Here Thanksgiving is a time when all Canadians give thanks to Sir John A. Mac Donald for defeating the giant squirrels, and creating maple syrup. A traditional thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, and maple syrup gravy which is generously applied to everything. In our home after dinner the kids would gather in the front yard to watch Sir John wrestle the giant squirrel to the ground. When we grew older we realized that it was really mom and dad in costumes, and not the real Sir John A. and giant squirrel.

Despite the lack of giant squirrels and maple syrup, I still think that Americans know how to do Thanksgiving right. The Macy’s Parade, Pilgrims, yams, and a super long weekend! Pickledog and I have so much to be thankful for this year, and we would like to wish all of our American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Yodel lay hee hoo! The clear mountain air helps Hans unwind.

Do you like your buns toasted? I love the smell of a toasty camp fire, and roasting hot dogs. Just don’t stand too close, hee- hee..

This is the artwork from my Black & Orange submission. I cropped the image for my submission, but as you can see there is a whole forest of happy ghosts.

It’s a windy day for pirate balloon’n. Here’s an ol’ salty balloon shanty fer ye.

Would ye like t’ ride in me beautiful balloon
Would ye like t’ ride in me beautiful balloon
We could float among th’ stars together, ye ‘n I
Fer we can fly we can fly

Up, up ‘n away me beautiful, me beautiful balloon

Th’ world’s a nicer ship in me beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in me beautiful balloon
We can sin’ a shanty ‘n sail along th’ silver sky
Fer we can fly we can fly

Up, up ‘n away me beautiful, me beautiful balloon

“Up, Up and Away” by the Fifth Dimension

Wishing all the ghosts, skeletons, pirates, and sorcières a safe and happy Halloween.