January 28, 2008

I'm A Sick Duck.


I need some of these, stat!

Not that this is a surprise to any of my readers, but I've got something wrong with me.  Unfortunately, in this particular case, it has nothing to do with a mallard on a surfboard, and everything to do with a case of the unfortunate ick.  Consequently, posting may be somewhat light while I attempt to deal with it.

(pictures of duckie tissues from The Tissue Store.  No, I'm not kidding.)

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:47 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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January 25, 2008

Surfin' Bird? You betcha!

Step 1)  Let the top video load, but DO NOT press play yet.
Step 2) Turn down the volume on the top video.
Step 3) Load the bottom video.
Step 4) Start bottom video, then start top video.
Step 5) Wonder just what the h*ll is wrong with Wonderduck.




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January 23, 2008

What If...?

It was a brilliantly sunny day that Sunday morning, seemingly not a cloud in the sky.  People made their way to church, or did laundry, played golf or slept in.  Out in the harbor, motorboats took men from one point to another, seemingly at random. 
A few miles out to sea, a metal behemoth sailed towards the harbor.  On its flat wooden deck, a white painted number "6" gleamed in the Pacific sun.  The Enterprise was coming home.  The time: 710am.  The date: December 7th, 1941.

The term "first order counterfactual" refers to the changing of one detail of a recorded event, and seeing where that change takes you.  In the world of "alternative history," such as Harry Turtledove's writings, a first order counterfactual may be something as simple as the Confederate Lost Orders not falling out of an officer's jacket, leading to the United States being divided permanently.

742am.  A huge flight of Japanese fighters and attack planes approach Pearl Harbor. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, gazing out of the cockpit of his Nakajima B5N, has just keyed his radio to life.  "Tora tora tora!" 

Back on board the Akagi, the flagship of the attacking Japanese fleet, static whispers through the speakers of the radio room.  Then, unexpectedly, Fuchida speaks again.  "There's a carrier in the harbor!"

In the actual events of history, the Enterprise had been on a mission to Wake Island, delivering fighters to the garrison located there.  Scheduled to return to Pearl Harbor on December 6th, she was running late... and thereby missed out on being the main target of the December 7th attacks.

more...

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January 19, 2008

Steven's Eye Is Better!

SDB had an icky eye problem, but he reports that it's gotten a lot better overnight.

That's good, because I looked up the thing he had at Wikipedia, and this was the photo used to illustrate it:

Yeesh...

As he says, not something you want to see just before you eat. 

Posted by: Wonderduck at 03:09 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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January 18, 2008

Battle Rush Week... Is OVAH!


Crossed the finish line in style, too...

So we finished up rush week in fine fashion, blowing last year's numbers out of the water, and making the year at the same time.  Can't complain about that, that's for sure.

And I got my boss hooked on Kanon '06, to boot.  She hasn't watched anime for about six years, and not much of that, either.  Here's a conversation we had a week or so ago:

Her: I saw a movie about a machine...
Me: Ghost In The Shell?
Her: Nooo...
Me: (thinking) Howl's Moving Castle?
Her: Nooo... it had a guy with a motorcycle in it.
Me: Akira?
Her: YES!  I didn't like it though.
Me: Believe me, Kanon is nothing like Akira.
Her: Are you sure?
Me: Pretty sure.

As I was leaving today, she asked me "So what's up with Ayu disappearing like that?"  My job here is done.

Now, a few days to relax, and not go outside... Saturday's high is supposed to be 5 degrees F. (That's -3107degrees Celcius to my Euroreaders)  And sleep.

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January 14, 2008

First Day of Duck U.'s New Semester

So today was the start of the new semester at Duck U., or as we call it in The Biz, "Rush."  It may not have been the busiest day we've ever had at the Duck U. Bookstore, but might have been the busiest we've had in a Spring semester...

How'd it feel?  Like this:


Other than a quick bathroom run (even ducks gotta go sometime), I pretty much was on the cash register for nigh on seven hours straight.  My back hurts, my neck is stiff, and by the end of the night I fully expect a bruise to have formed on my left hand.

It's Christmas in the Bookstore!

In his comment section, Steven mentions that he could never work retail.  It does take a different type of person to do the job well.  I really enjoy helping customers, usually... but by the end of a day like today, all I really want to do is hide underneath the counter.  "Nope, not here, sorry."

A good CSV person has to have a hook.  It might be detailed knowledge of everything in the store, for example.  Mine is humor.  I'll be funny and try to make the customer laugh at least once.  It helps that I've been at the Duck U. Bookstore for almost four years, AND a graduate of the U. to boot.  I know the school like the back of my hand, I've been in the classes they're taking, and I'm on a first-name basis with a lot of the professors.  And the duck collection gets mentioned every once in a while, too.

Hey, it works.  I was the best salesman at the CowPuter store for the year I was there... mostly because I could be less-than-serious.  Computers are 'serious bidness' for most people; newbies are often afraid of them.  If they saw someone having fun talking about them, in English, they liked it.  It's the same way at the Bookstore.  Sure, the kids need the books, but they don't have to get 'em from us anymore.  Plenty of online places to get 'em these days.

They still come to us, though... I'd like to think some of the reason for that is the humor.

And the free burrito.  Don't forget that.

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January 08, 2008

Here Come The Kids... There Goes The Sanity!

Careful readers may have noticed that The Pond has been somewhat slower than normal recently, and somewhat anime-free.  There are two reasons for this:

1) I've actually been WATCHING anime, rather than writing about it.  I tore through Magical Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS in three nights (I want Vita to have her own series...), for example.  Now, for some people, 26 episodes over a weekend may be nothing, but for me, that's a lot. 
2) Over at Duck U., it's that time of year again: beginning of a semester!  Which means we'll do, oh, a quarter or so of our annual business in a week.  As you can imagine, we're a smidge busy.

I kinda wish I could do this... either the armor or the kendo stick.

So it's probably going to stay slower than normal around here for a few more days, but I've still got posts on Zipang!, Bamboo Blade, and Clannad coming, and I'll stay on top of the F1 Pr0n as the rollouts continue (on a related note, Honda is ditching the "ourearthdream" livery).

If nothing else, though, I'll still try and stick a picture up every day.  Maybe.  I hope.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:05 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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