Am I the only one that finds it weird when you talk to people online that you don’t know in person, speak about personal things, grow some sense of a friendship or acquaintanceship with them, and then when you meet them in person, they still feel the need to shake your hand and say “nice to meet you”?

I’ve been on a casual date or two where we talked online for a while before arranging a meeting. I’ve become friends with my girlfriend’s friends on Facebook and Twitter and had conversations there, and yet it’s weird when I hug them like a friend rather than shake their hand and say “nice to meet you” even though, in many ways, we’ve already met.

This is a new thing, obviously, and only pertains to a small number of people on the Internet. A lot of you feel like it’s dangerous to meet people from the Internet, which seems silly to me, but that’s a different issue. The point is that there seem to be differing views on how well we know people that we’ve never shared a room with but have still had personal conversations with.

Does there need to be something in between a hug and a handshake for those of us that “know” each other virtually when we meet in person? This Internet thing doesn’t seem to be going away, so perhaps it’s time.

A few weeks ago my friend Molly and I made quite a bet.

We were talking about things in our diet that we don’t need. She was shocked at the amount of soda she’d had lately. So we decided we would create a bet to see who could go the longest without soda. But, strong-willed people that we are, we decided that wasn’t nearly difficult enough. This is when Molly and I decided that we will not drink soda or eat cheese for two years.

Why are we doing this? Because soda and cheese are two things with almost zero nutritional benefit and plenty of nutritional detriment that are a daily part of most of our lives. Soda is sugar and bubbles; cheese is sodium and saturated fat. The only argument in favor of either is that they’re good for the soul. I understand this, but if it’s hurting my body more than helping my soul, I’d rather find other ways to find joy.

Neither of us has any weight or personal appearance goals we’re trying to meet, though we are a bit curious what the end result will be.

Oh, and there are exceptions. We get two freebies a month for accidental or intentional slip-ups. Major holidays are exempt and other exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis. Like when I meet my girlfriend’s family and eat her mother’s world-famous Italian food.

So far this hasn’t sucked too bad. It’s actually kind of fun to get creative, especially when I go out to eat. And it puts me in a healthier mentality generally speaking. I went to Subway yesterday and, because I couldn’t get soda, I opted out of the “meal deal” entirely and didn’t end up scarfing down some greasy chips with my cheese-free sandwich.

Anyone want to try this out with us? It’s a fun test of will power and hey, after two years, maybe your long-term desire for cheese and soda will be diminished forever, leaving you to be a healthier person.

Oh, and I should mention that the wager is that, if either of us breaks the rules, the rule-breaker has to get a tattoo of the other person’s choosing. Ba-zing!

Bonus question: should I do some quick math to see how much I spend on cheese and soda in a year and donate that amount to a hunger relief organization? Just a thought.

I’ve talked about Ramit Sethi a few times. And Twitter, too, for that matter. Who knew I’d cover both in the same post?

As a strong advocate for Twitter, I have to say this is the best that’s come of it thus far: after loaning Ramit’s book I Will Teach You to Be Rich to a friend, who subsequently had her purse stolen with the book inside, I tweeted about it and Ramit responded personally, offering to replace my copy of the book and give one to my friend as well.

If I weren’t a fan of his before, I certainly would be now.

Other things Twitter has done for me:

• Gotten a response about a technical issue with Mozy
• Gotten a response from Rhapsody that led to me being included in a private beta of the next version of their player
• Multiple personal responses from record labels and musicians that I respect
• Getting to know my girlfriend better before we started dating
• Learning the power of brevity
• The ability to track last year’s Los Angeles fires in real time for a friend who was visiting me while his family was facing evacuation

If you aren’t using Twitter, maybe now’s a good time to start.

Recently I’ve noticed that when someone tells me a story, thought or idea about him or herself, my most natural response is to tell a story, thought or idea about myself that relates somehow. Ever since I had that realization, I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s a personal problem I have with being self-centered or if that’s how most of us relate to each other.

So what’s the verdict? Am I selfish and have friends who quietly deal with that particular character flaw of mine? Or is it human nature for us to respond to another’s experiences with a personal reflection of our own?

I should start paying more attention to how other people respond to me.

Tim Blair, my former boss’s boss (er… something like that), puts it quite eloquently:

Inexperience in Washington politics is a lot like recruiting a rookie to play on a last place team. They certainly won’t make things worse and might just make things better.

Tonight is the night I see Radiohead. (And Liars!) It’s also the night I get to hang out with Leah and commemorate what would be the birthday of JD Rhea. We’ll both have goosebumps and tears for more reasons than can be counted.

The best part of all this, aside from having the potential to be the most memorable night in recent years, is that there’s a rumor buzzing that video of the show is going to be broadcast online. That means that, by next week, I’ll be able to find a professionally-shot video of the most significant concert I’ve ever attended that I’ll be able to keep forever. Now that’s cool.

If you care to get a play-by-play, you can be watching my Twitter for updates.

This is shaping up to be a wonderful day.

I didn’t feel like drawing a comic this week, and I’m at least half a week late anyway, so here’s a crappy drawing of my shoe that took maybe half an hour:

(Click for full size, as always.)

It’s been a long time since I sketched something I was looking at. Despite that, I don’t think I did that bad. What do you think?

Also, a hearty CONGRATULATIONS to Amy (yes, the one made “famous” in my dumb comics) who got engaged on Tuesday to the dapper and charming Dan B. The only downside to this moment of awesomeness is that now I have to work my vacation time schedules around their prospective October wedding date, seeing how Amy wants me to be there and stuff. I know, life is rough. Way to not work around my needs with your little wedding, guys. Jeez.

I get to be the funny one in this one. Weeee. Also, Amy said she didn’t want to wear a smock any more, and she wanted… uh… more evident lady parts.

(Click image for full size)

Other than the fact that I accidentally gave her black lipstick in the second frame and that I seemed to have trouble drawing myself consistently, I think it turned out decent enough.

I’m on a roll. Once again, this was an actual conversation, barely edited so it would fit into comic form, and clearly not censored whatsoever. That’s how I like it. And I’m posting it without running it by Amy first because she’s gone all weekend. Whoops.

(Click for full size)

I tried drawing it bigger this time, which meant it took two pages to get it done. It made the job easier, but this whole scanning, cropping, cutting, pasting thing isn’t very fun. Other than screwing up the proportions of Amy’s head on the third frame, I think I did a decent job. I’m finally starting to get comfortable drawing the characters, which helps a lot.

Drawing number two is done. I feel kind of guilty about scrawling out some rudimentary cartoon characters and calling it a “drawing.” But whatever. I’ll draw something legit at some point. Maybe.

(Click for the full size)

For the record, all these comics will be heavily based on actual conversations with Amy. So if they don’t make sense, that’s why.

I decided to pen over the pencil on this one, then erase for a cleaner drawing with more contrast. In the process I smeared the ink and had to clean it up. Then the scanner made a really uneven scan so I had to digitally alter the image to clean it up.