The story behind this sweater, as I immediately explained on our Flickr page as well as Guyswhocuttheirownhair after finding the image, was that about ten years ago I was in Santa Rosa with my parents, bumming around and generally not doing anything, which for those of you who haven't been there before is typically what you do while visiting Santa Rosa, when I glanced in the Goodwill store's front window and was stopped in my tracks by a thing of such beauty, I calmly and very gracefully crapped in my pants.
A clown sweater..
I'd never seen a thing of such repugnant and horrifying elegance. Sadly the store was closed, but as soon as I got home, I immediately called Jay Sycip, whose shop was conveniently located right around the corner. I begged him to go there as soon as they opened the next day and purchase it for me, and in return, I promised to "totally probably pay you back in full". He said he'd do it, but I was disheartened when he called me back later the next day and said that the little old lady who was working the front counter informed him that it was part of their Valentines Day window display, and as such, wouldn't be taken down and made available for sale until the end of the month.
On pins and needles I waited, the days ticking away one by one, until finally at long last the end of the month came. I excitedly called Jay again, and he said he'd go pick it up for me that morning.
Eventually the phone rang. "Hello!?" I said "Yeah, hey.. It's Jay" he started. I didn't like the tone of his voice. The clouds drew in thick around me as I waited for the news. "..I went back in and no one in there seemed to remember any clown sweater..." I couldn't believe it. They didnt remember the sweater? That's like not remembering being picked up hitch hiking by Ted Bundy.
"Alright" I said. "Thanks any way.." The line went dead.

Years passed, this fantastic article of garb never falling far from my mind, then, on this past Monday morning, while randomly scanning Swobo's friends on Myspace looking for alley cat flyers and the such, I caught a glimpse of something familiar. Something incredible. Something clowny and crew knit. My mind could hardly wrap itself around the thought of what I'd just seen. There it was, plain as day. MY sweater on a disgruntled looking young man, who was staring back at me as if to say "you suck, I rule, deal with it."

I immediately sent messages to the person who posted the image as well as the person whose profile it was posted on, pleading for information, of which I came up empty. I immediately thought, "I have the power of the internet. I will use that power and I will find my sweater." I made a post on Guyswhocuttheirownhair, and within five minutes was contacted by someone informing me that this wasn't just any disgruntled looking young man, but it was none other than Star Trek's own Wil Wheaton. As I replied to the individual who contacted me, my knowledge of Star Trek ends with Spock's corpse getting shot into space and landing in Eden, so the help was most certainly appreciated, but now I am engaged in in the unenviable task of haranguing a former child star out of his clothing, and this was all before lunch.

Seriously, you just can't make this stuff up...

Moving on, and with no direction in particular.. Chopper found time in his busy schedule of peddling sunglasses and giving advice to send me my favorite new video on Youtube, which may or may not be safe for work. I suppose it all depends on your perspective.

Secondly, and as much as I want to believe that Razor scooters are one of the lamest things to curse this mortal coil, Matt sent a video in that forced me to reassess my stance;

On second thought, yeah, Razor scooters are still totally stupid, but Matt McKeen is alright in my book.

Now, from Tina B;

"Behold- the man who looks like a thumb."

Yes Tina. Indeed he does. How truly unfortunate for him.

You all wanna see how many years old my cousin Smitty's son Miko is?

He's five, and if you were curious, he gets his looks from my side of the family.

Evan gave us a shout to let us know that the cameras are everywhere;

"Stevil-

There is some sweet mountain biking around Rapid City, so I wasn't surprised to find that the Google Street View crew caught you there, post-ride.

evan, yo!"

I'm just glad that the eye in the sky didn't catch me with my hand in my pants, which is where it usually is.

From my very most favorite blog of total randomness comes this offering;

As I mentioned on Tuesday, from time to time I'll take a minute to go back through old posts and re-read them in sort of a look-through-photo-albums-and-reflect-on-stuff kind of way, as well as to find typos, and missed punctuation (which I've tried hard to stay on top of, by the way) and as I was buttoning up this post, I was reading the comments left by folks after I'd written about feeling like I had run out of gas, and it occurred to me that I had never properly thanked you all for the extraordinarily kind words. It might seem sterile to read the thanks in boring old black and white, but what was conveyed genuinely meant alot to me, and I am humbled by your support, so again, thank you all very much for that.

If I were a sailboat (a very handsome and hirsute sailboat mind you), I don't think that it's a stretch to say your words were the gust that pushed me away from the rocks.

Alright- again to move on.... The bummer life screams around us at all times. Some days it is as easy to avoid as a slow pitch from a granny, but other days it runs you down with the force of a freight train, leaving you in a quivering pile, waiting for the big sleep to just make it all go away. Matt sent in this story which illustrates that very feeling.

P.T. Barnum came correct

The next bit of news that EB sent on is difficult for me to broach in this forum, and quite frankly impossible for me to to to even comprehend, but a fellow by the name of Josh out in Omaha, who according to our source is a stand up fellow, and a lover of all things two wheeled has experienced a horror and a heartbreak detailed in an article that out of respect for the families involved I'm not detailing here, but suffice it to say that an epic tragedy has befallen them and in every way possible, all of us here at Swobo send the Beasley and Moore families our deepest, and most heart felt condolences.
I bring this up simply to let Josh know that we are in his corner and if he should need anything at all, to please let us know.

I know that this is vague and weird, but please, just keep him in your thoughts and send whatever positive vibes you might have to spare his way.

You know, I like to keep it light here, but every now and again, as I said before, the bummer life can mow you down like so many bowling pins. I cant very well transition from a situation so sad to say, something like a hamburger dress without seeming like a total douchebag, so it's now that I'll pull the plug on this post and remind you all that life is indeed a fleeting thing. Hold on to the thing that you love, be it a person, an animal, a bike, your Dungeons and Dragons game, or even your clown sweater, when you can, and while you can because we're never guaranteed a tomorrow.

Your assignment today is to savor your life and the existence of the ones around you whom you love. Do it for fifteen minutes or fifteen hours. I don't really care how long you do it for, just as long as you do it at all.

It's Wednesday today, and from where I stand, that in itself is a pretty good place to start.