Lots to report today:

Item The First: Like every well-meaning and loving husband everywhere, I can be a bonehead sometimes. Example A: I forgot to mention that Monday’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” was written by my awesome wife. Well it was! And I forgot to mention it! Which in no way diminishes her awesomeness…but which assuredly diminishes mine. Dang!

Item The Second: In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Neil Patrick Harris brought “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly” on to last night’s episode. You may remember that Neil kindly bought a few copies at the book launch party for himself and family…which already put him in solidly in the “awesomeness” category for me. Seeing him holding a copy on the show now solidifies his awesomeness.

Item The Third: Lot of awesomeness being handed out, today.

Item The Fourth: A few readers have e-mailed asking me if my paintings will be for sale. After stewing it over, I guess they probably could! Awesomeness! But as I said in e-mails and on the forums, it’s going to take me a half-dozen practice paintings before I’ll even be ready to share photos…so don’t expect fireworks before February.

Item The Fifth: A few flummoxed readers have asked what last Saturday’s cartoon was all about. Why is Flaco in Kiev? Why is he hopping a train? The answer is that I’ve been itching to tell a little side story for Flaco, and have decided to tell it on Saturdays. It started two week’s ago, and continued this Saturday. It’s an experiment to see whether a Saturday-only side-story can work. I’m as curious as you are to see if it can. I’m even more curious to see if Flaco can get to space. He’s made it Kiev, already, so he’s off to a good start. (Sidenote: curious about the Baikonur Cosmodrome?)

I’m not sure if this is localized to Los Angeles, or perhaps even just to my house…but man-o-man, the federal “Do Not Call” List seems to really have fallen apart in the last few months.

Don’t get me wrong: it was workin’ like magic at first. But I’m suddenly getting 2-3 calls a day from unregistered numbers, or sales calls masked as non-sales calls, and it’s kinda bugging me.

Have smaller phone-based sales companies suddenly realized they can operate under the radar of the “Do Not Call” list…or am I the only one receiving these calls?

So, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to pick up my brush and start oil painting again. I haven’t painted in about, oh, ten years, so this should be fun to dive back in.

But man! Oil painting supplies are ‘spensive! All my old paints (and a lot of my tools) were in not-so-good shape after a decade, and replacing them set me back a cool $350 bucks. Lordy! If there’s one thing that’s gonna make me stick to THAT resolution, it’s my wallet being 350 clams lighter.

But the shame of the last decade is that I absolutely love painting. I completely lose self-awareness when I paint. I remember looking up at the clock at my old studio, and seeing that it was 3:30 AM. I had started painting around 4 in the afternoon, and had completely skipped meals, bathroom breaks, and sleep. That, my friends, is an engrossing form of art. I can’t wait to get back into it.

Anyway, I’ll be sharing photos of paintings as I get them finished. I think I’ll do a Rex Chestington riding into the sunset, after a few practice paintings.

Just a quick reminder:

The “It’s My Berfday” Sale ends Friday night at midnight, California-time (PST). Treat yourself to that Sheldon original artwork you’ve had your eye on, and become the envy of all your high-class friends.

Friday being my birthday, I would be remiss if I also didn’t say THANKS MOM!

Since Friday is my birthday, my wife had the cool idea of having a sale on original art between now and then. So, for the next four days, all Sheldon original art is 40% off the normal price.

In fancy-shmancy art galleries, Sheldon originals command a hefty $400 price, but you can purchase your favorite strip here for sale prices as low as $75. Here’s how:

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How do I purchase an original?

To buy the original art from your favorite strip, just navigate to that page using the archives page or the back-arrow buttons.

What if I still can’t find my favorite strip in the archives?

Lots of Sheldon readers have helped one another out by posting a question in the Sheldon forums. Drop by, mention that you’re having trouble finding a particular strip, and you’ll be surprised how fast folks are able to help. And if that doesn’t work, drop me a line.

OK, I’ve found the strip I want…now what?

All you need to do is click the button that says “Buy Today’s Original Art”. It’s located on the blue post-it note underneath the strip. Here’s a image showing
where.

I’ve never bought original art before. What can I expect?

Each Sheldon cartoon is a hand-drawn, hand-lettered, one-of-a-kind creation; drawn on acid-free Bristol Vellum cardstock using archival Faber-Castell Pitt and Pigma Micron pens. The daily strips (Monday-through-Saturday) measure 4 1/4″ x 13 3/4″; and Sunday strips measure 8 3/4″ by 19″. All strips are black-and-white, and frame up beautifully.

Sheldon cartoons appear in LA art galleries, in the lobby of Google, and in hundreds of homes around the world. But don’t wait to get your favorite strip: there’s only ONE original for each, and when it’s gone…it’s gone!

If there’s only one original…how will I know if the cartoon I want is still available?

The Sheldon store automatically places the word “Purchased” over the button when a strip has been sold. So if you see this, then you know that strip is gone.

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I’ll even throw in this extra birthday goodness: if you’re not 100% satisfied with your Sheldon original art, you can return it for a full refund within 15 days of purchase! (Take THAT, Amazon.com, and your unwillingness to refund my singing Christmas fish from two years ago!)

Hope you had/will have/are having/will have come to have a great New Year’s. I’m still not sure what I’m doing to ring in the new year. My wife and I are realizing we’re getting older and more content when “tea” sounds like a great option.

My 21-year old self would probably punch me in the teeth for even typing that.

As for Sheldon…good things are coming for the strip in the new year. A third (and possibly fourth) Sheldon book will be coming out…I’ll be adding some fun new stuff to the site…and there may even be a new “companion” strip added to the lineup. But more news on all that in the weeks and months ahead.

For now, I’ll leave you with this challenge: what interesting word possibilities did Arthur miss in jumbling up “resolution”? I’d be curious to see what folks can come up with.

Since I started sharing poetry the other day with Robbie Burns, I’ll give you a peek into the “poetry” that runs through my mind on a daily basis. This morning, it was the best line ever uttered in the English language.

Specifically, by the Muppet character Janice (of Dr. Teeth’s band), in “The Muppet Movie”, as the band sings “Can You Picture That”:

Floyd:

Lost my heart in Texas, Northern lights affect us, I keep it underneath my
hat,
Aurora Borealis, shinin down on Dallas! Can you picture that?
Can you picture that?

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Janice: you are, and shall always remain, my secret favorite Muppet character.

I realized something interesting about “Money” magazine today…and I’m not sure what it says about the magazine’s editorial, promotional, and sales strategy.

First, I should mention that I really, really enjoy “Money”. Since they retooled the editorial (hipper) and demographic focus (25-55 year olds) of the magazine, it’s improved leaps and bounds. I happily subscribe to it, and have enjoyed reading it cover-to-cover.

But it’s in reading it cover-to-cover that I noticed something interesting. Or, at least, something interesting to me, a cartoonist who just moved his entire archives to a free site: Every story from the print version of “Money” is repeated, for free, at money.cnn.com. All of ’em. For free.

Granted, not all at once. They dribble them out over the course of the month. But if you’re a savvy reader, and check the site at least once a week, you’ll get all of the articles that appear in the magazine.

This seems like an ineffective “loss leader” for print subscriptions, so…I’m at a bit of a loss as to their strategy, here. Keep in mind that, while their demographic is lusted after, there’s not a huge amount of targeted advertising on the site itself, so that can’t be paying the bills.

Could it be that CNN is paying a tidy enough sum for the extra content? Or is there something I’m missing here?

I’d love to hear your thoughts over at the Sheldon forum. I’m a bit flummoxed.

I should’ve mentioned it when it happened, but all copies of “A Well Balanced Meal” are now sold out. My apologies if you weren’t able to get yourself a copy…I tried to give fair warning.

On that note: copies are still available for “The Good, The Bad & The Pugly” and “Pure Ducky Goodness”, over at the store.

Forgive today’s strip, if you would. It’s a pretty random poetry reference to Robert Burns….I know.

But I’ve always found it funny how, when you put the words “Scottish” and “poetry” together, it’s pretty much just Robbie Burns and….well, Robbie Burns.

Apparently, the Scots live by “The Highlander” credo of “There Can Be Only One”. Because outside of Burns, there are no other poets. Or, at least, none that spring to mind. You’re pretty much left with the two guys that wrote that song “I Would Walk 500 Miles”.

But I do secretly dig Robert Burns. And because I feel guilty for besmirching the name of the great Scottish nation, today I’ll share with you my favorite Burns poem, “To A Mouse”. He wrote it when he ploughed through a field mouse’s nest, and startled the little creature:

(Note: It reads a little tricky at first, until you assume the “Scottish poetry position”, which I just invented. Crouch forward ever-so-slightly, and stick an elbow out. You’ll find Scottish English much easier to read.)

Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,
O what a panic’s in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi’ bickerin’ brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee
Wi’ murd’rin’ pattle!

(My favorite part? He rhymed “BEASTIE” with “BREASTIE”. Ahh, Scotland.)