I can't wait for you next post, to see what Ryan has cooked up for you. I hope to be a fun trollmomma.

While I was reading this posting, all I could think about was how much I wish me and my father had been able to find an activity like this so that we could have spent more time together. He's an alcoholic so beer bottling would be out of the question, but I still wish that we had made a better connection. I always wanted us to paint together because we both have some artistic talent, but he never seemed to have the time. He is also...shall we say old fashioned? And he valued time with my brother far more than with me. Now, he is old and sick and lives in another state far, far away. Ryan is lucky to have you as a father because you have made a great effort to spend time with him, and found an interesting way to bond. He seems to understand how lucky he is, and I'm glad for both of you. It really is a lovely bit of writing. I hope that you add it to another book.

July 29th, is also my late grandfather's birthday. Sadly, he passed in 1986. He was a science teacher and used to show me and my brother all kinds of cool science stuff. I think that those little lessons was the starting point of me becoming a geek. Also, he was a man of few words and he spoke carefully and deliberately. When he observed something he liked or appreciated he would simply say, "That's pretty sharp." Have an awesome birthday, Wil! I think you're pretty sharp. :)

Wil, You will never have to worry about me shoving picures or books in your face to sign. I NEVER get to see or meet famous people and if I did I'm sure I would be SO star struck that I wouldn't have the nerve to approach them. I doubt that I would be able to wait in line for an autograph either. I actually have a fear of meeting famous people and then saying or doing something stupid. Then I would kick myself in the ass forever, because I sounded like an idiot in front of someone I admired. So, for me at least, it is a situation I would probably avoid altogether. So I guess you can imagine how blown away I am at the balls those morons had to approach you the way they did. And that woman! She even had the guts to follow you?! I have issues with personal space anyway, and for people to get so close to me without permission would probably make me go APE SHIT. Then they would all be punched in the face. If I had been followed, I would have called the police and told them that I was being followed by a nut. Perhaps a night in the pokey would make autograph hounds think twice before accosting me again.

LOL. I love those Easter eggs. Very nerdy, but oh so cool. I have an almost two year old so no dying eggs for us just yet. She's a little too young to understand what is going on. So this year I'm still doing the plastic ones with toys inside them. Have a Happy Easter Wil.

I loved this posting, Wil. I can relate to it, but in a different way. I'm not an actor, but I was a teacher before becoming a full time Mom. I had never thought of being anything expect a teacher. It had been my dream my whole life. I graduated from Appalachian State in 2002 and became a 7th grade Language Arts teacher. I had a day much like the one you described. A day when my efforts culminated into the realization that I was in a great place and I was doing something right. Coming from a home that was full of abuse and terrible adversity, this was a beautiful moment for me even though the circumstances leading up to it were very sad. I had a student come to me, and made a B-line to me, when she heard she lost a member of her family and she got very emotional about it. I was shocked that she felt close enough to me of all people to comfort her. It was then I realized that my job really was more than just teaching grammar, but to help to heal open wounds. I was honored that this kid chose me to help her. I hugged her and just let her cry like crazy while tyring hard not to cry myself. Her mother later came to me and thanked me and said I was the perfect person that her daughter needed at that moment and she was grateful that I made myself so accessable to her. I was sort of surprised by this since, I only did what I thought any other teacher would do. I hope to go back into teaching as soon as my little one is pre-school aged. That will be another year or so. I do love being a Mom, but I miss teaching and I'm looking forward to going back. I guess my point here is, no matter what sort of careers we end up in, we should do what we can to make sure we are doing something we love. You, Wil, seem to love where you are in your life right now and I couldn't be happier for you. This is coming from a person that couldn't be happier about their state as well. I know exaclty where you are man Isn't the most awesome thing EVER?

Oh man. I think I will tweet this posting to Kevin Smith. I think he'll get a kick out of it. Great story. I had a dog that liked to bring us "presents". It once brought us a squirrel that was still alive and sqeaking. I was only four so that was a rather tramatizing experience since all cute and furry critters were close to my heart. I actually had a hard time loving and petting my dog after that. I didn't understand the animal kingdom that much obviously.

Hi Wil. I was just looking at this recipe again since I hope to make this soup sometime this week. I was wondering, do you eat fish at all? I know that you are mainly vegetarian, but I was just curious to know how far that extends. Thanks again for the recipe. I can't wait to try it.

Wow! Thanks, Wil. I try to make a vegetarian dish at least once a week and I LOVE to make soups. Personally, I hate using canned stuff unless I really don't have enough time for what I want to do, or I can't quiet find the exact thing I'm looking for. (That's the former sous chef coming through.) So I would probably soak some dried black beans to start and then maybe simmer them in some organic vegetable stock for about an hour. That would soften them up really nicely and then you would get some good flavor going. I do have to say that with canned beans I do like that nice thick liquid that they swim in while all snug in there. Just my thoughts though. Thanks so much for sharing.

Wow! The floor looks beautiful Wil. That just goes to show that when you buy an older home, you never know what kind of treasures you may find. My mother once told me that when she was little her family moved into a huge house on a farm and that there were a few old furniture pieces left behind. One of them was a wash stand, the old fashioned kind, with a big oval mirror and a wooden rack attached to hang hand towels. It was a very unique piece of furniture and no one really knew where to put it, so it ended up in the den for many years. Then one day when my mother was cleaning she tripped on something and went tumbling into the wash stand and broke one of the little handles off of a drawer that no one could open. With the old knob knocked off my mom and grandfather managed to pry the drawer open and found old letters. I mean OLD letters. In one of them, a woman was writing to her sister to tell her about how snobby the new neighbors were because they bought a car. That letter was dated 1909. Most of the letters however, were dated back to WWI. They were letters written from a son to his mother telling her not to worry and that he would stay safe and come home soon. My mother's family poured over the letters and they were in awe at what they read. Soon after they turned the letters over to a local historical society since they didn't recongnize the names on the letters and they had no way of contacting the previous owners. Pretty cool huh? And on the television gig for Leverage....very cool! I love that show, and I was just telling my husband that we should see you on there again very soon. I'm glad I was right.

Oh my goodness. I adsolutely loved Night Court. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. I also remember those two crazy backwoods charaters, but until you posted this I never would have made the connection that Bob was Brent Spiner. I have been doing that a lot lately. I'll see someone on tv or in a movie and I'll say to my husband, "Oh wow, that guy looks really familiar but I can't remember where I've seen him." Then my hudband will loook them up on IMDB or something and he'll read off their career history. It never fails that he reads off something that makes me go,"Oh right! I remember that dude." :D

OMG! Wil, I loved the Vectrex. I played Scramble, Armor Attack, The Star Trek game (aka Star Ship), and a game that was built into the console itself called Space Wars. But, hands down my favorite game was Cosmic Chasm. I played that game for hours at a time. I'll never forget the plastic films you had to put on the screen and clunky cartridges that plugged into the side. Me and my brother continued to play the Vectrex games until the machine simply gave out and stopped working in 1992. My parents had purchased the Vectrex for us as a Christmas gift in 1983. There are times I still wish I had it. That little console was a huge part of my childhood that I will never forget. Thank you for jogging some awesome memories.

It is not uncommon for people to get really depressed during the Christmas season. It is mostly due to the fact that people end up alone on a holiday that should be spent with family, or they get depressed because they feel like failures for not having much "stuff" under the tree. I fell into this depression trap about four years ago. We had two medical emergecies earlier that year, and me and my husband had been laid off. The bills piled up and I got super depressed and overwhelmed. I actually thought about taking my own life a few times, and luckily my husband was paying attention and made me go to the hospital despite my protesting. Although I got over my depression, Christmas had lost its luster. I began to dread the holiday and found myself going through the motions of what people traditionally do without any real sincerity. Then in July, I gave birth to my little girl. Christmas came early for me this year. Christmas has now been revitalized as I now look forward to helping my little girl tear into her gifts. I look at her and think about all the letters to Santa she will write, and I am blown away by the wonderment she is already expressing when she looks at the lit Christmas tree. Christmas has become magical once again and not because of the "stuff" under the tree, but because I get to see joy of the season through my little girl's eyes.

I soooooo want one of these mugs. Oh, and these mugs will make great stocking stuffers.

Congratulations Wil and Anne. That really is a beautiful picture of the two of you. I would love to go to Napa Valley. I'm a real foodie and I love wine. Me and my hubby celebrated seven years of marital bliss this past June, and welcomed our first baby into the world in July. We were friends when we started dating and I'm glad we took the plunge into marriage and parenthood. Oh and for the record, some girls find geeks to be super hot. At least this is true for me. When we got serious, I took my man down faster than a zebra being attacked by a lion in a National Geographic video. Oh yeah!

Regardless of whether or not he was a likeable man, and there is evidence to support that he may not have been, Ernest Hemingway was one of the greatest writers of all time. While there are writers out there that can create a hell of a good story, it is rare to find a writer that can create the flow and eloquence that the classic writers had. However, the modern styles of writing are less stuffy. They are refreshing and real. With all that being said, to me at least, I think it is interesting how Hemingway looked at writing as being “work”. He was right in the sense that so many do not appreciate the difficulty in creating. In order to prove that writing truly was not only a mental exercise, but also “work” Hemingway made writing a physical chore. He wrote standing up. Just a fun tid bit I thought I would share. Hang in there Wil. I'm sure a stroke of inspiration will come to you.

So Wil, I have to share this story with you. I too have had a terrible accident with a blender. Two years ago on Valentine's Day me and my hubby invited another married couple over for dinner. My hubby had bought me a lovely bunch of roses that I left on the kitchen counter. I had made a big pot roast and while the roast had cooked perfectly I was disappointed that the liquid in the cockpot didn't thicken into a gray like it normaly does. So, I had an idea to pour some of the hot liquid into the blender and added a tiny bit of flour to thicken it up. The liquid exploded out of the blender because I didn't allow the pitcher to breathe enough when I hit the button, and the hot liquid went everywhere. I too was hungry and distracted with my guests so I wasn't thinking very clearly. My hubby and my friends lost it and laughed at me as I tried to wipe the searing hot liquid off my face and arms. While I was cleaning up, I noticed that my lovely flowers had been sprayed with a generous amount of roast beef gravy. To which I said without thinking, "Oh man. My flowers' petals are all beefy." The laughter that followed was like nothing else I've heard before or since. *sigh* It took me two years to build up the courage to make a pot roast again.

Holy shit Wil. That totally sucks. I bet that guy is a lazy, unemployeed, peice of shit that still lives in his Mama's basement. He is a leech that should be shut down for good. I bet if given the chance he would do it again to someone else. So, I hope he is paying attention to what you said and what everyone else is posting here. Hey, you, guy-that-Wil-won't-link-to-for-obvious-reasons...you are a DICK!

I don't blame you for freaking out over the beetle landing on you. I have a terrible fear of spiders. I have a very good reason for disliking them. It is a long story of course. Just know that when I see one, I completely loose control and I scream for my hubby to get rid of it.

Hello Wil, I am so glad that you surpassed your beginning goal. I think that is just amazing. My hubby and I were pleased to donate as well on behalf of our kitties Milo and Neko and our pet rat Nimh. Also, I hope you don't mind but I thought I'd take the opportunity to tell people how they can help animals shelters in other ways besides sending monetary donations. You can clean out the clutter in your garage or closet and take that nearly new badminton set, that hammock you never put up, the board games you don't play anymore (that still have all the pieces) and that barely used camping equipment and take this stuff to the Humane Society Thrift store. That's right. If you have one of these thrift stores in your area, you can take unused or gently used items to the thrift store where all the proceeds go to the animal shelter. Also, animal shelters have free classes that will show you how you can volunteer your time. This usually includes dog walking, bathing the animals, and the general cleaning and maintenance of the animal enclosures. I have actually done the dog walking, and not only did the dogs get exercise, I lost about 15 pounds. :) Anyway, I just thought I'd mention other ways people can help out if they feel moved to do so, but they don't have the extra cash.

Wil, I gotta tell ya I love these podcasts. I am a new mom, and when my little one is napping I steal a few minutes for myself to look at wwdn In Exile. Everyday I look forward to your posts and you often write something that gives me a giggle. This site has helped to diminish my stress levels for the past nine weeks...and counting. I look forward to reading Memories of the Future. Hopefully, I will be able to read it when my baby is napping or when she finally gets on a schedule that will let her sleep through the night. Then may be I can say up late and read. Boy, that'll be nice. :)

I'm glad to hear that you are finally getting better. I've had a case of the flu just as you described. I have never been so sick in my life. Well, that's not totally true. There were times during my pregnancy when I felt worse...but not by much. ;)

Aww, Wil. You're sick? Too bad you don't live here in Colorado. If you did I'd make you a mean chicken soup that is a cure for the crud. (I was a sous chef for a gourmet catering company.) If you don't get better soon, go to your doctor. You never know what sort of bug is floating through the air these days.

Wil, you absolutely deserved that. Keep on rockin' the Geek World.

Yeah, I like how the photos stack. Although they give me the impression that you are shaped like an inverted cone. Still, very cool.