We arrived home in Tampa this evening, after a whirlwind 2 week stay in Mumbai. Greeted by an unusually cold wind (it’s 41 F as I write this), we’re very glad to be back home. The flight back was incredibly exhausting, mostly due to the fact that we never caught one break between Mumbai to Brussels to New York. (We can thank the new airport security measures for that.)

Airport travel has deteriorated to the point at which I really don’t want to travel by plane for a very long time. At one point in Brussels, we had to wait in line with the rest of the passengers (roughly 350 folks) for individual bag searches (on top of the already overbearing security measures), which took roughly 2 hours. While trips like this are unbearably exhausting as it is, traveling with a small child amplifies the experience.

Thankfully, outside of a few short tantrums, Sonia gave us little trouble (she slept most of the time).

Obviously, there’s more to write. I’m in the process of catching up on e-mails, blog posts, comics and the like. It will take me a few weeks to get my bearings again, but I’m coming back to my comics with renewed vigor and excitement – and that’s hopefully good news all around.

Above are a few snaps from the photos I’ve downloaded so far. More insights and observations from the trip will come about in the days and weeks ahead, over at UNcubed.

In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed the classic strips I’ve run. New strips will resume in a few weeks (if not sooner). Thanks for your patience!

-Krishna

Reader Jan, from Germany, sent in two photos of himself and his PC Weenies books a few weeks ago. I’m pleased to share them with you today. Jan is standing in front of the New Palace Stuttgart, quite an impressive German landmark!

Thanks, Jan!

And if you wish to add your own photo, why not post it to my Flickr Group, dubbed “PC Weenies Toons in Strange Places”?

And, on that note, I’m pleased to let you know that once again taking orders for “PC Weenies: Rebootus Maximus”, collecting over 120 pages of glorious PC Weenies content!

Word on the street is that I may have an order making its way out to Antarctica soon. Which means “PC Weenies: Rebootus Maximus” will have made it to 6 out of 7 continents (First copy in Africa, anyone?)

-Krishna

A few weeks ago, I entertained the notion of a caption contest (just for the fun of it), where I provided the art and left the other elements (color and text) up to the reader. I later completed the strip (which ran on December 25th).

Turnout was pretty weak, but nevertheless, I did receive one humorous entry (shown above), courtesy of cartoonist Barry Buchanan, of the webcomic “Don’t Feed the Geek”. Click on the strip to see the larger version.

Thanks for participating, Barry!

-Krishna

A new year beckons new goals, so I thought I would share a few I have set for myself this year.

1) Become a ninja at organization. I’ve decided to stick to the tried-and-true hand-written To Do lists. It keeps me focused and aware of the multitude of looming tasks and deadlines. Software To Do apps don’t do anything for me (largely because lists get buried amidst all the visual chatter on my screen.

2) Attend at least 3 conventions / book festivals / conferences. What better way to interact with fans than to attend a few shows?

3) Have a copy of “Rebootus Maximus” on all 7 continents of the world. I’ve confirmed a sale for a book that is currently making its way to Antarctica. That leaves only one more continent where “Rebootus” has yet to appear: Africa! Who will be the first in Africa to own a copy of the book?

4) Lose 10 pounds. Yes, I feel overweight. I plan on stepping up my exercise regimen and I’m going to make it a plan to eat right. It’s not just about me anymore – my family counts on me to be there for them for many years to come, and God willing, I plan to make that happen.

5) Complete a new animation. I’ve been talking about this for a while, but this year I’m going to make it happen.

6) Find a volunteer programmer to help me handle back-end site related tasks. I’m looking for a Wordpress / Comicpress / PHP / SQL developer to help me take my sites to the next level. I just don’t have the time or skill to make certain site modifications. (I would be more than willing to barter my design skills in exchange for any help.)

7) Move. As much as we love our town home, Aarti and I want to find a nice place to settle down.

8 ) Grow my freelance illustration business. 2010 is off to a good start business-wise, but I’m always on the lookout for new and exciting illustration projects to sink my teeth into.

9) Grow site traffic. I think doubling the readership is an achievable goal. Let’s make that happen!

Next year I’ll look back at this list to see how well I did.

-Krishna

My 4th Logitech Trackman Marble Mouse (shown in the photo above) has finally bitten the dust.

It’s the fourth one I’ve owned in about 4 years. I’m torn, really. On the one hand, I think the Marble Mouse is one of the best trackballs I’ve ever used. On the other hand – I feel that the build quality (namely the mouse buttons) on the unit leaves something to be desired.

To clarify, the buttons on the Marble Mouse are the Achille’s heel. The problem I’m now experiencing with this trackball is that single clicks are being registered as double-clicks. It happens consistently, even after moving the trackball over to my laptop.

This manner of failure is nearly identical to the manner in which my other 3 Logitech Marble Mice ‘died’. It’s so incredibly frustrating.

Last week I began the Great Trackball Hunt. Based upon my research, I’ve decided to switch to a Kensington trackball model this time around. I have a Kensington Orbit with Scroll Ring on order from Amazon. It should be here in a few days. I’m hoping that it lasts better than the average 1 year lifespan I’ve been getting with the Logitech.

In the meantime, I’m back to using a (*shudder*) regular mouse.

-Krishna