As you know, I started this little “Ask dcr” segment two years ago. To date, it’s only been used once, when Pete asked “Why is American Cheese yellow?” Actually, there was another question that I think I never answered. Well, publicly anyway.

While there’s been no one asking questions in a long time, as of late, they suddenly started to pile in. So, I’ve developed a bit of a backlog of them. I’ll clear them out by answering them here.

First off, Jodie who signs her eMail as Ricky, has this question: “Please forgive us to disturb your precious time. We are … one of the biggest international trading wholesalers in China.We mainly sell electrical products. … Do you have a story that started on Hotmail? Tell us now.”

Please note that the question was edited for brevity. Anyway, thank you Jodie/Ricky for your question. As a matter of fact, no, I do not have a story that started on Hotmail. I do have stories that started as dreams and stories that started as scribbles on a notepad, but none that started on Hotmail.

Our next question comes from Caviar who asks “Es actual su sitio Web?” The answer is “Sí” which is something Caviar would probably realize if he visited this blog regularly.

Hadley asks “Do you want to have an access to a huge database of real, verified companies, looking to hire individuals willing to work at home?” Thanks for the question, Hadley. I’m not sure what I’d do with such a database. It’d probably just gather dust.

Finally, Collins writes: “I‘am sure this e-mail will get to you like a surprise but it’s true.
I’m at a routine check in my bank where I work; encountered in an account that has not been claimed, which is currently $ 14.300,000 ((Fourteen million U.S. Dollars) are credited….”

(Again, the message was edited for brevity.) This is quite a coincidence, Collins. I’m sorry about the unfortunate passing of your customer. Even though you expressed no explicit question, I felt I needed to respond to your message. By some coincidence, I happened to have recently lost $14,300,000. Just a few short months ago, I won that amount in an international lottery. Unfortunately, due to some clerical error, money was removed from my account instead of being put into it after I replied to the International Lottery commission with my account information. It just so happens that the amount taken from my account plus my lottery winnings plus the amount of interest I would have likely earned over the past few months is $14,300,000. So, I find it an extraordinary stroke of luck–not a surprise–that your message comes to me. I believe that your deceased client may have been the agent of the International Lottery that made the supposed clerical error on my account transaction. I see now that he took my money and my winnings and kept them for himself. I greatly appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Collins. If you could facilitate the transfer of these funds from your institution back to me, I would be greatly appreciative. In fact, I am willing to allow you to keep 20% of the $14,300,000 for your time and trouble in facilitating the transfer. You’ll understand, of course, if I am reluctant to transfer my account information. You never know who may be reading. You may, of course, remit these funds to me by a certified international money order or PayPal.

Send your questions to: askdcr@dcrblogs.com. That address, of course, may change one day if I start getting a bunch of “Official [insert name of little blue pill]” junk mail.

Disclaimer for the Humor-Impaired that May Be Employed by Government Agencies: This post is intended as humor, poorly implemented though it may be. I am not actually soliciting anyone to send me millions of dollars. I realize the message received is spam and a scam. Now, get off my blog and go do your freakin’ job by finding genuine criminals.

This is what a purple passion flower looks like when there are no limits.

Maybe.

Anyway, Speedy did a Purple Friday this week, so I guess I’m two days behind. Or, maybe I’m a few days ahead.

Anyway, here are the rest of the players, as swiped from Speedy:

Not Really Purple Snowstorm
Speedy Cheats by Sneaking in His Own Post (from the Past)
Flying Purple Frogs (Do They Eat People?)
Butterflies and Spiny Spiders Who Eat Them
Purple Fairies

Snow.

Just a little bit. But heavy stuff.

And, of course, the snow blower wouldn’t start.

Took some pictures. Yeah, it’d be neat if I put some of them in this post, but the camera is in another room and I don’t feel like getting it. Normally, I’d go and get it, but I’m just doing my daily blog post, then it’s back to making dinner. I probably won’t be on later tonight because it’s game night.

Then again, I may be back late, late tonight, as in possibly early tomorrow.

Who knows?

Anyway, made two dips. One is a creamy salsa dip and the other is a bean dip. Once I finish up this post, I’m off to make Philly steak sandwiches.

Which I think will be, like, right now…

Today, I will share with you a method of earning $1,000,000 per year with your blog.

It’s an easy step by step procedure.

Step One: Find a way to earn $2,739.73 per day in profit on your blog.

Step Two: Keep it up and you’re done!

For $2,000,000 per year, just start a second blog and do the same thing.

Repeat as often as you wish.

Wait… What? You want me to tell you how to make $2,739.73 per day on your blog? Geesh. I’m not going to do all your work for you! If you can’t make the effort toward figuring out that minor detail, you don’t really want to make a million dollars a year blogging, do you?

Some people. You give them a step-by-step plan and they still aren’t willing to do the work necessary to bring the plan into fruition.

Well, I tried to help. You can lead a horse to water, but you just can’t make him drink, even if you push him in.

Shut up! It’s not a mirage! And sand can clean you as well as water anyway. Ever heard of sandblasting? That’ll clean things up. Don’t you watch Star Trek?

If you didn’t watch LOST this past week and don’t want to read spoilers, stop reading now.

I will not warn you a second time.

Okay, this is your third and last warning…

Seriously. If you don’t want spoilers, go away now.

Okay, here we go. OMG! Everybody freakin’ died!!!

Okay, that last bit was for the stragglers that wanted to complain about it being spoiled for them. The real stuff, for those that watched, is coming up. (Last chance if you don’t want to read spoilers…)

Okay, so this is the umpteenth time I’ve used “Okay” in this post. So, the question on everyone’s mind now is, who is Sayid now?

Well, let’s go through the options, okay? (There’s that word again…)

Sayid is Jacob

This appears to be a popular theory. The Man in Black/Smokie/Esau has been appearing as Locke, so it makes sense that Jacob would come back as Sayid, right? What!? First, note that the fake Locke is not using Locke’s body, as evidenced by Locke’s dead body being found. Since Sayid’s apparently dead body is the same body that came back to life, why believe that he is now Jacob? Even if you want to believe that holding Sayid in the special water was a process for allowing Jacob to enter and use Sayid’s body, consider what Sayid said when he appeared to come back to life: “What happened?” If he were Jacob, why would he be asking, especially when a short time earlier the deceased Jacob was telling Hurley what to do. If we are to believe that Jacob has powers or something beyond the capabilities of a normal person, it would seem that he would know what’s going on, even upon finding himself in Sayid’s body, which, if planned, would increase the odds that he’d know what was going on. So, while a possibility, my current thinking is that Sayid is not Jacob. Remember, Jacob has been interacting (or manipulating) this group since way back when, and I think Jacob’s plan presumably involves something more than using Sayid’s body as a vessel.

Sayid is Locke

Locke was supposed to lead the Others. That’s why the Man in Black/Smokie/Esau took advantage of the situation to get Ben to kill Jacob. Had Locke not been supposed to lead the Others, there would be little advantage for fake Locke to be, well, fake Locke rather than someone else. So, it’s reasonable to assume that Locke is important to Jacob’s plans. Was Locke being dead part of that plan? Or, did he need Locke alive? Of course, it is also a stretch to think that Sayid was manipulated into being part of the group that crashed on the island so that his body could eventually be used as a vessel for a reincarnated Locke. But, maybe Jacob is winging it now. Or, did he plan for the Man in Black/Smokie/Esau killing him. Also, remember, too, that fake Locke told Ben that Locke’s final thoughts were of confusion. And, what were the first words out of Sayid’s mouth? “What happened?”

Sayid is Sayid

Yeah, that’s the simplest to explain. He’s still Sayid, just changed as was Ben when he was saved by the same process. And, if he is Sayid, it’s not unreasonable to think that, if you thought you were dying and not going to live and suddenly found yourself alive and seemingly well, your first thought might be “What happened?”

So, I’m thinking that Sayid is Sayid is the strongest possibility, with Sayid being Locke a close second and Sayid being Jacob being a farther last.

What do you think?

I almost forgot to blog today.

Here it is, one hour away from midnight and I just realized I hadn’t done a blog post today.

Whew. That was close.

I’m trying to manage 1000 days of consecutive daily blogging. I wouldn’t want to have to start over. In fact, I probably wouldn’t. I’d live with 500+ days. Maybe I’m close to 750 by now. Who knows? Anyway, it’s a long way to 1000 yet (December 27th of this year, I think).

So, whew. That was close.

Of course, all you’re getting is this lame post, but we’re going for quantity not quality these days, so what does it matter? Besides, Google still ranks me as a PR2 and there are only five of you reading, so, really, does it matter anymore?

Anyway, so this is today’s post. A post about how I almost forgot to post. Isn’t that exciting? Nope? Well, a post is a post. Deal.

Now, I’ll get back to what I was doing when I realized I hadn’t blogged today…

It’s Groundhog Day. Be prepared for six more weeks of winter, because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today.

It’s Groundhog Day. Prepare for six more weeks of winter, because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.

It’s Groundhog Day. Get prepared for six more weeks of winter, because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today.

Apparently, it’s Music Monday. Good thing Speedy had a post today, otherwise I’d have to post pictures of lightning or something.

But, instead, I know that it’s Music Monday, so I can do a Music Monday post.

Just without any music.

Hum along, if you know the tune. And, if you don’t, just make something up. Your co-workers will never know.

1…

2…

3…

A 1, 2, 3, 4…

My fame is fleeting.
I lived on the balcony.
Yes, I think you’ve seen my red door.

My nose is bleeding.
I fell from the balcony.
Yes, I think you pushed me too far.

Someday, somebody’s gonna come around and make you pay.
Until then, you’ve just got to let me go.
Oh, no, don’t let go.
I’m still dangling from the balcony.

Yes, I said I fell.
But, I was just giving you a scare.
Now would you please help me up?

Wait. Where are you going now?
Have you not seen my slipping hands?

Oh, I know you’re not slamming the door.
On this wet and rainy night.
I’m still hanging on the balcony.
None of this makes sense to me.

Oh, whoa… Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo. Woo.

Whoa.

Woo.

Whoa!

Woo!

Whoa–Woo–Whoa–Woo–Whoa–Woo.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww…

My fame is fleeting.
I lived on the balcony.
Yes, I think you’ve seen my red door.

Yesterday was Purple Saturday. Guess Speedy was busy or forgot, because he didn’t have a post to remind me.

But, I had grapes in yesterday’s post. Those are purple. I think that counts for something.

Anyway, we’ll make it official with a Purple Sunday post. Plus, I didn’t have any other ideas. I was hoping that this January was going to beat January 2009 in terms of traffic, but that’s not going to happen. Last year, I had that surge in traffic from the Twitter phishing posts. Still, I was on track to beat last year, even without a big surge of traffic from anything. I did get some minor blips from the Late Night TV Battles, but that was nothing compared to the Twitter phishing traffic of last year.

And, this being a weekend, where traffic is normally lower than on the weekdays (I guess people must read blogs at work…), there’s probably not much chance of beating out last January. I would have to about double my normal weekend traffic. So, bummer.

Anyway, you’re probably wondering what’s in the photo. It is cauliflower. Purple cauliflower. Like Bond, James Bond. Only it’s cauliflower, purple cauliflower.

And, it’s real. I did not make it up. See?

For those that still don’t believe me, check it out on Wikipedia: Cauliflower. It’s purple because it has antioxidants. Still don’t believe me? Okay, then, maybe you’ll believe The Persnickety Palate: “Purple Cauliflower Eater.”

Now that we’ve established that I’m not making this up, get thee down to thy local grocery shoppe and get thyself one of these passionate purples of cauliflower and enjoy the hearty goodness of antioxidants without the brain killing alcohol of red wine. Not that I make any guarantees about the antioxidant strength or worthiness of the purple cauliflower, because I have no idea. But, you can eat all you want and not get drunk. So, you can still drive home afterwards.

Or operate heavy machinery.

Or get on Facebook without worrying about what kind of drunken messages you’ll leave your ex.

You’re on your own if you make purple cauliflower wine though…

You know, I’ve had this little Wacom tablet for a couple years now. I’ve rarely used it. I don’t even think about it most of the time either, probably because it’s tucked off to the side where I don’t even see it, buried under a dust cloth (i.e., paper towel) and miscellaneous computer cords and stuff. Even the pen, which used to be visible on the corner of my desk, is hidden behind a hard drive, and an envelope that’s really been there too long. I should file that…

It was originally used on my previous computer. It sat on top of it, in fact. I think. It’s been a while. Even there, I didn’t use it that often.

It was a package deal with animation software I bought. You could buy it at the same time as the software for a reduced price. A nice discount, as I remember. I think there was a choice of sizes. I chose the smallest. I figured that would be sufficient for my needs and I could always get a larger one if this animation stuff worked out. And, the small one was a really good deal. So, why not?

Shame that I don’t use it much. Or, rather, hardly at all. I wonder why?

Oh, yeah. Now I remember… I can’t draw.

That also explains why the animation career went nowhere fast…

It did seem like a good idea at the time though.