Guten Tag.17

Sorry for the delay. Good news is I have two strips this time.

Man, I've been pretty busy lately. As some of you may know, I work at Wal-Mart and they recently decided to give me around 36-37 hours every week. Now this would be alright at any other Wal-Mart or any other retail store, but I work at a Wal-Mart in Taylor, Michigan. I imagine it would be hard for anyone unfamiliar with the area to understand what that means, but it's usually a sea of people every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. 

People who are more than less unaware of the fact that we employees essentially clean up after them all day. People who don't understand that this is a company that can afford to roll back prices on almost everything, because the majority of its merchandise is made in China. 

Having worked at Wal-Mart for more than a year, I'd like to share some advice that I think might help potential or current customers: 

1. Don't expect the employee in a certain department to be an expert in all things covered in that department. He/she doesn't have time to sit around and compare specs between toasters or air conditioners or pools. More times than not, she's just going to default to reading the product label back to you.
2. Don't expect that since Wal-Mart sells and assembles bikes, it also has the expertise of a local bike shop. The assemblers at my store have about a 15 minute time limit per bike, and don't really have time to make sure the brakes are adjusted just to your liking. And please don't bring a bike back multiple times to get it fine-tuned. If you want professional service like that, go to a bike shop and pay for it. Wal-Mart can't provide it for free.
3. If you're going to buy anything that you plan to stick in your vehicle, make sure it fits in your vehicle. Honestly. I think one week I helped at least 3 people carry out a pool/tv/furniture to their vehicle only to find they planned on driving it away in a compact. Like it would just magically fold down into the trunk. 
4. Don't leave your trash on shelves. Although this really goes without saying, but there are more than enough people who need this advice. I'll admit, cups and water bottles are one thing, but come on, used kleenex? band-aids? And honest to God, there have been two separate occasions where I've had the distinct privilege of finding a used diaper. Oh yeah, you're right, that is a good spot for it, right by the books. 

Well I hope that helps. You guys have any more questions, feel free to ask me. But right now I have to get ready for work. And it's my birthday, no less. 

Alright, have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.16

"I wanna play the guitar...and I wanna get paid.."

Wow. Quick week:
Watching the red wings almost win the cup, work, watching the red wings finally win the cup, saw the Indiana Jones movie (more on it later), more work, graduation open house for my cousin, church, etc.
Dang, summer is going by too quick, and I have too many projects on my mind and not enough time to complete them. Music and art are competing interests right now for me. I feel like I have a lot I want to do with music, and a lot I want to do with art, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to pursue both equally or have to choose between them. I guess it'll come down to whatever pays better..haha. Sadly.

Oh yeah, Indiana Jones. I don't know, I hear a lot of negativity hurled towards this movie, but I'm going to stick to my guns and say I liked it. I thought it kept the tone of the other movies, even with the use of today's special effects and cgi. The action scenes were pretty exciting, except I don't know about the Shia LeBeouf tarzan scene, that was a little stretch. There's a lot of negativity aimed at the end of the movie, but without giving it away, I thought it wasn't too far fetched from what some people believed actually happened in that culture. (with giving a little bit away, at least it didn't talk or make contact with the characters). Anyway, if you're an Indiana Jones fan, you have to see it. If not, I'd wait till dvd. It was pretty good.

Alright, I obviously don't have a career ahead of me in movie reviews, so I'm going to leave that to the professional cynics who have lost imagination and know that movie sequels are fundamentally doomed to suck in comparison to the original.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

ps. (lyrics from The Snake the Cross the Crown, which is an awesome band making honest music. find out for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/snakecrosscrown )

Guten Tag.15

Alright alright alright alright alright.

Twice the wait means twice the Guten Tag. Hope you can handle that.

Go see the Indiana Jones movie, like I...will soon be doing...

Can you find the hidden message in this one?

One day I'd like to collect these in a book. But I think I'm going to wait until when I graduate from Wayne State and don't have a reason to do these every week. Hopefully by then more people will be reading these. That should bring the total readership up to one.

Have a nice week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.14

Hello. Guten Tag time.



Oh man, I'm watching The Empire Strikes back, and I've come to the decision that the original Star Wars trilogy is one of the few movies worth passing down to my kids. That is, if I have kids. That is, if I get married. If I get a girlfriend. Anyways. I remember first seeing the movies as a kid and thinking how big the story was, and how believable the characters were. Now, after watching the documentary that's on the dvd box set, it's crazy to see how they made so much work on such a small budget, at least by the standards of today's movies. It's weird that with all the advanced technology and ability to depict space battles in cgi in the newer Star Wars movies, the models used in the original trilogy look and feel more believable to me. Well enough nerd musing. Have a great day.

-ryan

Guten Tag.13

video games have almost eaten my brain. but I'm doing better, and getting back into the habit of sketching and drawing a lot. here's the new guten tag.

-ryan

Guten Tag.12

Alright, Guten Tag is back. I didn't have to turn it in for a couple of weeks due to finals, and I was a little swamped with final projects myself, so I took a little break. But it is indeed back. Now with 50% more good.

Guten Tag.11

I was trying to think of something witty to say, but I got nothing.

And this strip is inspired by true events. Sad to say.

-ryan

Guten Tag.10

Hey everyone. This week's strip comes to you devoid of any underyling political leanings or eco-friendly diatribes. I think it pretty much sets the tone for all future strips. But I must apologize, for although I drew this strip with my bare hands, I outsourced the job of coloring to my computer. I think it did a pretty crappy job. It's fired. Have a good week.

-ryan

Guten Tag.9

Gah, the snow came back again this past week. But it's alright. Like a friend who has difficulty recognizing when he's overstayed his welcome, it'll finally go away. In a wet, ugly mess if it has to. Oh hey, I drew another strip. And wouldn't you know it, it's somehow related to what I just said. What a coincidence. Have a good week.

Guten Tag.8

Happy St.Patty's Day everybody. Go celebrate your temporary Irishness but try to cut back on the alcohol influenced vehicular manslaughter.

Yes I know I've been slightly lazy in getting these strips up, but they're up now. I've also switched my process again, and I now draw and ink the strips first before scanning them in. I was dissatisfied with the final look of my earlier strips that I had done in Photoshop, and I think the traditional method of pen and paper brings out my personality better. Whatever. Here are the three I did since the last update:

-RH