You can't buy protection like this

This is my favorite of the Morning Calm strips. I like the second panel where he sees himself as a mighty Hwarang warrior...just like me.

I choose top!

More from the land of Korea

A boy and his dog

It's another of those special days, so today we feature a boy and his dog.

Take out

Two side notes:
No. 1 - The restaurants I used for this were some of my favorites along the Wasatch Front. I don't know if any of them are still around.
No. 2 - One of the first official meals I had in Korea was at a company cafeteria in Pohang...cafeteria style squid, seaweed, rice and kimchi. Mmm, mmm!

Monday sketchbook: Sub humor

Last week there were news reports of two armed nuclear submarines that collided deep in the Atlantic Ocean, one from France and the other from Great Britain. The news story reminded me of the one and only submarine-related cartoon that I can recall drawing, and all it is is a sketch.

Show him what?

OK, so this is a little dated. For those of you unfamiliar with Mormon cinema, Man's Search for Happiness is a classic from way back. It helps to answer the questions:

• Who am I?
• Why am I here?
• Where am I going?

It was produced by the Church for the New York World's Fair, back in the 1960s, I think.

Now, back in the days before DVDs, even before VHS, as missionaries we carried around filmstrips and filmstrip projectors to help deliver our message. And, as missionaries in Korea, we often ran into folks who were indeed pondering those very questions. It occurred to me one day as we were traveling in the rural Korean countryside that it wouldn't be too far fetched to have an experience just like this one.

In fact, there was one time we taught a Buddhist monk almost this very lesson. It went quite well until we talked about the need for a Savior in Jesus Christ. At least he was polite in his disagreement, unlike some other folks we ran into.

Anyway, The New Era published this one not long after I came home. It still makes me smile.

Morning Calm II

The guy has my "Korean" name. Back in the day, they gave us all Korean names to help us blend in better. Being a blond white guy, that didn't always work so well...especially when I was paired with a 6'2" companion with bright red hair. We didn't exactly pass for natives as we walked through the streets of Yosu!

And, for the gee whiz file, my brother served in Seoul and we had the same family name, Beck, which means "white."

Land of the Morning Calm

We're now counting down the days before Zach goes in to the MTC. Of course, that reminds me of when I served my mission a couple (dozen) years ago. When I came home, I thought it would be cool to do a strip that was sort of opposite of what I experienced: Koreans acclimating to life in the United States. I drew up a half-dozen or so strips based on that premise. Here's the first one.

Rise and shine! It's daylight in the swamp!

Right about this time each year for the past several years, I've felt like the rooster here. Early morning seminary is great -- it's just not great to get up for early morning seminary! Chris went to early early morning seminary; they started at 5:40 a.m. so he could be at his early bird class at school by 6:30. One reason he looked forward to going on a mission was so that he could sleep in...not normally something you associate with missionary work!

It's effective, one might say

So after the overindulging in chocolate and sweets over the holidays, it's time to turn to health and wellness.

Only dreaming

Monday sketchbook: Gooo-aaa-l...not so much

Turning back to the wide world of sports...

It's in the mail

Happy VD!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Drafting

OK, so it's not a great cartoon. But it does have historical significance. Note the T-square and the drawing table and the distinct lack of any computer equipment whatsoever. This was back in the day when the engineers at UDOT were experimenting with the early iterations of CADD systems. One of our senior engineers was really excited to show me that he made little faces on the bees on the beehive on the Utah State Seal.

On the other hand, we're currently updating the Oregon State Highway Map. The features are all data driven, the geographic features use the latest in GPS technology, individual items are scalable...it's an incredible leap forward in technology.

Granted, the smiling bees were cute and cutting edge. I look forward to seeing what's next!

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Today also marks the ninth anniversary of the final Peanuts; yesterday was the ninth anniversary of Charles Schulz's passing. This is the last strip as it appeared in our local paper, The Statesman Journal.

Commitment

I had a friend in college who used this line, and I thought it would make a good cartoon.

Conspiracy theory

Not to stereotype the sexes, but I think most men would agree with this sentiment.

Puppy times!

In a case of life imitating art (or my cartoons anyway), yes, we did get a new dog. A yellow lab puppy. It's been hinted at in the past couple of weeks on my Zarahemla Times blog. And here he is:

Monday sketchbook: I've been searching so long...

This one scares me just a little.

Special guest artist: Calvin Grondahl

This is one that's drawn from real life. I was one of the yearbook editors at my high school (go Lancers!). At the end of the year the publisher sent back all the materials, including the photos. I gathered quite a collection... : D

Warming up to the neighbors

This was just an absurd thought that I had. I mean, they wouldn't just ignore each other, would they?

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The Church has a channel on YouTube, I just found out. I really like the message of this video:

Corpus what?

My brother was in law school when I did this one, and I kind of got a kick out of the term "corpus delicti," although it didn't mean what I thought it meant.

Focusing on what's important

It's funny how perspective works, isn't it?

Los Ganadores

In Webelos we've been working on the Fitness badge. The boys are supposed to learn about health and nutrition, including the risks of abusing alcohol and drugs. That reminded me of this activity book that I helped put together for Salem Keizer Together, an organization that works with schools to do essentially the same thing.

I scanned this page as representative of some of the work that I did in the book, illustrating the idea that winners don't use marijuana.

Then Michael Phelps comes along and gets himself photographed with a bong. Thanks, Mike.

Watch your back!

Monday sketchbook: What's cookin'?

My wife said I should run something else instead of this for Groundhog Day. I'm sorry, sweetie!

We interrupt this program

This is one of my favorites from the ol' BYU strip. Sometimes life just gets so intense, it's nice to have a silly holiday like Groundhog Day.