[106] drilling

I have no idea what this ship actually does but you have to admit it's awesome!

[105] WAR

[104] Close Encounters of the Cake Kind

What you don't know is that the cake is actually missing the back half in this photo. We got tired of waiting for that scene to appear in the movie and decided it would be safe to just eat the back and then hide it in the photo. Thanks to Liz for the idea and Ian for the title!

[103] Consumerism

[102] Overachievers

Special thanks to Northwest Jane (who is an overachiever) for letting me photograph her feet when I was supposed to be keeping her from dying.

[101] Guest Comic!

OMGWTFGUESTCOMIC!! Today's comic was written by Dante Shepherd, the gifted and talented criminal responsible for the atrocities over at www.survivingtheworld.net. Dante's intellect is simply too powerful to be permitted to intermingle with every-day society so we locked him in a room with a camera and a chalk-board. Now he spends all his time breaking his most genius thoughts down into easily digestible lessons that the rest of us can enjoy without the threat of being overwhelmed. Go there now, stop reading this.

[100] Served All Day

[99] Spine Flu

Sorry for the lack of ransom note style text; I wrote this comic entirely with my left hand. Check out the picture below. That discoloration on my finger is dry blood. I'm fairly certain I should be getting stitches right now. Apparently the fates are getting me back for chopping my sisters finger off when she was 10. (oh, don't look so shocked)

[98] Scooby Doo

Note: Special thanks to Dawn who had no idea that she was going to be staring in Skidmore Bluffs today.

[97] Scarecrow workplace hazards

I wanted to so something about The Scarecrow and Mrs. King, but I didn't think anyone would remember that show. I watched too much TV when I was a kid.

[96] The Invasion

[95] The Frog's Dilemma

Dr. Sarah K. was kind enough to entertain the idea of writing a guest comic for me this weekend as I'm feeling a little under the weather. Unfortunately timing didn't work out. My thanks go out to her just the same.

[94] Dracula

[93] Birds

[BG2] Field

It's the second Wednesday desktop background!

This week we have them in three aspect ratios
16:10 - apple laptops
5:4 - most work computers
4:3 - other work computers

I don't really want to clutter up the site with a bunch of strangely shaped images so until I have a better idea, you can find them here: www.speaksphotographic.com/bluffsbackgrounds/

Click to enlarge the image you want, then hover your mouse over the top-left of the image. An icon will appear to allow you to download it. Let me know what you guys think!

[92] Fishing

Note: Taken on the campus of my alma mater: Willamette University. Not exactly sure why the sign was there but it sure was amusing.

Also: Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content, a man I hold in high regard, is somewhere that we've all been. You know the place; logically you know that things really aren't that bad but for some reason you can't help but think that everything is ruined forever. You should send him a tweet of encouragement @jephjacques.

[BG1] Chopper

Greetings Skidmore Bluffs fans, At the insistence of my absolutely brilliant and drop-dead gorgeous comic-adviser, the Bookseller Chick, I'm going to start posting background images on Wednesdays. This is a brand new thing so I'd love to have feedback.

I'm posting the image in 16:10 (apple laptop size) and 5:4 (standard work-computer size) aspect ratios. Please let me know if you want other resolutions for future posts, and PLEASE don't forget the feedback!

[91] adultery

[90] The Lollypop Guild

[!] Guest Comic? OH NO!

Greetings lovely readers,

Check out my guest comic over at Dante Shepherd's Surviving The World. Dante has a PHD in life and he wants to share his knowledge with you! Plus, he has a lab coat on, so he MUST be smart :)

[89] Flying Carpets

(Update!)
Dr. Sarah Kruse, PHD of economics was inspired by the photograph and decided to write her own text: "Flying carpet reintroduction programs never really took off. It appears their camouflaging abilities were lost in the 1970s."

[88] invisibility

[87] CSI Nightmare

[86] True Love

Never fear, No FedEx boxes, Pathfinders, or guys named Marc were actually injured in the making of this comic. The FedEx box was leaning at that strange angle for some other reason and we nosed the truck up to it for effect.

[86] Misleading Packaging

Extra special thanks to Andrew's dad Bob. He came over to our house just to stand for this comic. Having met his lovely wife as well, I'm reasonably certain that he's not the sort of gentleman who would go hunting for tarts at the grocery store.

[85] Lockheed Martin's XH-135 "Witch Killer"

Note: It's really damn hot in Oregon right now.

[84] Homeland Security

[!] Found Wallet?

Greetings Skidmore Bluffs fans. I seem to have lost my money clip! The only identifying thing in my money clip was a single Skidmore Bluffs business card. If you pick up my money clip, please email me. My Address is over there on the right side of the screen.

[83] Fishnapping

For those of you who didn't grow up in the south, cotillion is this weird social dancing class that unlucky children are forced to take, often to the determent of their social status among their peers. Time for bed. (I really don't want to go to work tomorrow.)

[82] Junk Yard Dogs Need Love Too

[81] Insurance Fraud

Many thanks to the lovely patrons at India Grill who were kind enough to let me photograph them.

[80] Masters in Cashiering

Note: I'm sorry for the crappy text guys. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night (happy birthday to me) and I'm way too tired to put the ransom note style on here. I'll fix it on Monday and re-post.

goodnight!

[79] JUMP! JUMP!

It's just so inviting...

[78] Chandelier Sabotage

I guess I'm a little bitter about this whole thing.

I'm dedicating today's comic to the very sad girl that I met at the bus stop. I hope it makes you happy again.

[77] People

The issue is certainly more complicated than this comic makes it seem, but I still think it's an important thing to consider.

[76] Misunderstanding

Special thanks to Min for posing for this image without even asking if I was going to make a really obvious swingers joke. Min is also the inspiration for Derek Stubbs' comic The Min. It's a paper comic but you can see some of the pages here.

[75] Low Flying

I had so many ideas for this one. There was an idea about twittering while flying, there was one about big-blue-watery-roads, there was one about rich people making stupid decisions. This photo just has so many possibilities!

also: I'm going to be syndicated!!! No, not the Washington Post (yet)*. A much more important publication has decided to pick up Skidmore Bluffs. Everyone should check out www.describetheruckus.com, they have a great blog about life and culture in Portland.

*Sorry for misleading you with bold text.. I couldn't resist.

[74] Treacherous Bushes

[73] Crack The Sky

Note: My mousing hand is now non-functional.

[72] Vocabulary

This should be read as a cheer for the new Decemberists album: The Hazards of Love. It takes a few listens but I promise you'll fall in love with it. If you're not familiar with the Decemberists or Colin Meloy, they are famous for their obscure vocabulary and flowery lyrics.

[71] Empty Nest Syndrome

Note: G. Xavier Robillard (pictured here) is not, actually God. I say this because the world does not need his ego to get any larger.

Special thanks to Ali McCart, my lovely editor, for all the things she helped me with in preparation for Stumptown Comic Fest. If you need an editor you should definitely check out her company. She's totally boss.

[!] SkidmoreBluffs at Stumptown Comic Fest?!!

Greetings lovely readers,

My publicist / spankin' hot table-girl "Bookseller Chick," has directed me to remind you all that there will be a Skidmore Bluffs table at the Stumptown Comic Festival this weekend. There will also be more than a hundred other fantastic tables there. You should all come down and support your local comic creators. (especially me)

I'll have several brand-new 1" pinback buttons, prints of some of the more popular comics, and free hugs for anyone who asks! (I don't know where the free hugs thing came from, I'm delerious.)

Also G. Xavier Robillard will be sharing a table with me. He's the author of Captain Freedom : A superhero's quest for truth, justice, and the celebrity he so richly deserves. (Harper Collins) and he'll be giving away copies of his book if you can answer some fiendishly tricky trivia questions.

See you there!

[70] Choices

ATTENTION!!: Next weekend is Stumptown Comic Festival! I will be there with a table and some delicious Skidmore Bluffs buttons, pre-order teeshirts, prints, etc for sale! See you there!

[69]Rope Swing

Note: For some reason the comic has been a lot of people flying through the air lately. I promise to change it up a bit next week.

[68] Poppins

Alternate text: Test pilots for the Air Force's "Powered Observation and Pursuit Platform for Intelegence and Nutralizing Strife" or POPPINS project, are asked to wear civilian clothing in case of emergency landing in populated areas.

Note: Thanks to Bookseller Chick for being the trigger-girl on this photo.

[67] Rickety

[66] Rainy Day Savings

Some of you may be aware that I sold a house a few months back. After you read the comic, check out this e-mail that my mom just sent me this morning after the comic went up.

when I heard this am that OR is having a wave of foreclosures because of job
losses (therefore there are far more houses available for lower prices); I
was glad again that you sold your house when you did. Yippee! (One thing to
smile about in these economic times ...)

XXX, Mom

What do I do now? Keep my word and skillet my mom in the face, or become a become a worthless shell of a man by breaking my totally binding promise to you readers?

[65] Comic-Noir

Note: My lovely and charming occasional editor Ali was slightly creaped out by the skeezieness of the noir-style narrator in this comic. If you share her sentiment, I promise to write a less skeezie comic next week.

[64]Maritime Law

[63] Telemark Skiing

Note: Your author is a snowboarder.

[62] Valentines day medication

Note: I've been crazy sick all week, so I had lots of drug bottles for this photo.

[61] Early Online Dating

Note: All work and no sleep makes Zander something something...