(As a side note, allow me to plug Apple’s AppleCare service, which is covering the cost of the repair. The replacement parts and labor came out to around $450, which is about twice what I paid for AppleCare when I purchased the computer. Definitely worth it, here.)

But, needless to say, I don’t have a computer on which to draw my comic strip. With any luck, it’ll be back soon.

…I wonder if this is what detox feels like…

However, I’m now hip-deep in the process of manually transferring everything back. I’m not sure why this part didn’t happen automatically, but it’s gonna be a long, slow process. So, no comic tonight; perhaps none this week. My apologies. I’ll try to make up for it soon.

Wish me luck…

Oh, and in the meantime, you can check out the guest strip that Jeremy Bentley and I made for Zombie Roomie!

I’m afraid I’m going to have to call off for tonight. I got some bad news last week, which was coupled with a major inconvenience, a massive administrative headache, and some devastating family health updates. All of this hit in roughly a 24-hour period, and I’m just now coming out of the massive funk that came in its wake. Despite a return to my usual ebullience (not to mention loquaciousness), I just don’t have the gumption to get a new comic strip up tonight. I might be able to squeeze one in later this week, but I think I need to just take tonight off.

Please come back next week, and thanks for understanding.

–Jeff

P.S. In the meantime, a friend of mine wrote a new story for Gloaming Gap. She claims to be not much of a fiction writer, but if you’re like me – and I know I am – you’ll find that it’s pretty darn good!

First up, Google and the Red Cross in Japan have teamed up on a page for monetary donations: http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html. The lowest you can donate is 100 yen, which translates to just above $2. Every little bit counts.

Prefer to send something other than money? Check out Second Harvest. This is an organization in Japan to which you can ship supplies that will be given DIRECTLY to the people who need them. Take a look at the list of supplies at the link. You might consider gathering up a big box of supplies and having a few friends pitch in for shipping to Japan. They need raw supplies more than money at this time.

You can also text REDCROSS to 90999 to easily donate $10 to the Red Cross.

Thank you all, and we wish you the best.
–Jeff

Any of you out there that read other webcomics, particularly the big-name ones, will know that this week is the super-stupendous, fabulously-fantastic, sock-it-to-me-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious San Diego Comic Con. As it’s billed, it’s “the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world!” And because of that, a great many webcomics are kinda taking the week off so the artists and writers can spend a week rubbing elbows with … well, each other, really. Although, personally, I’d prefer to talk with ‘em, rather than some sort of weird arm-joint mating ritual. But, eh, that’s comic people for ya.

Anyway, I wanted to let all of you know that I, too, am taking a week off. Of course, the reason for my week off is because I’m doing tech for my church’s Vacation Bible School (and playing a spaceman on the last night, for that matter); however, if you’d like to believe I’m hobnobbing with the cultural elite in San Diego, be my guest.

Oh, and if any of you are reading this while actually at SDCC… tell everyone I said, “Hi,” okay? Thanks.

–Jeff

* Bawl! *

Told you.

I changed ISPs today, and the transition has been anything but un-bumpy. I’ll do my best to have a comic up later in the week…when I’m solid that I have a connection that’s, well, solid.

Kinda feel like I’ve arrived in a teensy way today. Greg Dean of Real Life Comics posted a guest comic today that I drew! Sweet! It’s a pretty awesome strip (RLC, not just mine) that eerily mirrors my own life from time to time. Check it out and enjoy!

In the past, I’ve mentioned the adorably melancholic (melancholicly adorable?) strip “Count Your Sheep” by Adrian Ramos. Definitely a favorite of mine. Well, adis (as he tends to refer to himself) has started another strip called, “My T-Shirt Fairy Tale”. The artwork and heart behind the strip is equally as strong as his work in CYS; perhaps even more so, since he’s got a broader color palette to work with, as well as a fun conceit with characters’ T-shirts frequently acting as narration boxes.

Reason I bring this all up is that (and I’m not sure why this is, but let’s just go with it) apparently, the success or failure of this new strip will have a direct impact on adis’ hopes and dreams for his own future. I’m asking you, as a reader of webcomics (or else ya wouldn’t be here, would ya?), to please check out “My T-Shirt Fairy Tale” and, if you like it, vote for it at Zuda. I’m all for helping someone follow his dreams. Join me, won’t you?

–Jeff