Tonight at 6:55pm, we lost our beagle, Buster. He was my idiot muse. As all beagles are, he was stubborn and didn’t listen very well when it came to food or getting into things he shouldn’t get into, but he was loved and I hope he realized it. I will no longer be able to fake throwing french fries at him and watching him try to catch nothing and then looking around as if he may have missed it. I will no longer be able to watch him howl when I sang off key as if singing in off key harmony with me. I will no longer be able to do any of those things and more, but I will always remember him and the ideas he gave me on being silly and not too bright for some things and absolutely brilliant for figuring out others. Goodnight Buster, sleep well under the tree I will bury your coffin under tomorrow.

I have to finally admit it, I am not a good public speaker. Sure, I can write a mean speech and a fairly funny comic strip, but when it comes to standing in front of a group of people to tell them something about myself or my business, I fail miserably. I’ll think of something good to say, write it down in notes, hone my speech and practice in front of a mirror, add a few jokes and stories, but then, when the moment of truth arrives, I freeze and stammer and forget just about everything funny or informative I was about to say. Oh I’ve tried all the things I learned in my college public speaking course, like picturing the people you are speaking to in their underwear, but that only makes it more difficult to discuss the topic I was trying to get across in the first place.
It doesn’t matter the size of the group either, whether it is 100, 1000 or even 6, I just can’t seem to give the speech as it was intended. I can talk to people one on one just fine, but put me in front of a group of people and forget it, stammer time (cue music from the 80’s). So I guess I will just continue to be a writer and artist and leave the public speaking to others who are good at it. Maybe the next time I have to do it, I will just get a projector and type out my speech…yeah, that’ll work.

Hi there Grovers! As you may have noticed, there is a brand spanking new banner gracing the site. The reason I did this is two-fold: 1) I lost the original PSD file in the great hard drive failure last month and cannot find the CD in which I placed all the original files to the site and 2) I was growing tired of the original banner and was wanting to streamline it anyway. Eventually, as I learn more of the ins and outs of how to modify the WordPress template, I am going to bring the whole site towards the colors and style of the banner.

Also, I’ve been on twitter for over a month now and have made quite a few friends. If you look over to the side there, you will see some of them listed as Friends of the Grove (there’s a spiffy graphic being designed for that section, too). Also, down at the bottom right, there is a list of comics I regularly read online. You should check them out as they are done by some spectacular artists and writers. Help the webcomicker community by reading them and bookmarking the pages so you can keep up with these talents!

Follow me on twitter @KarlKleese