Somewhat related, The System’s Order of Magnitude and of course my Pile System.

Here it is, comic number 599, which means the next one is the big 600! Technically we are past 600, as there’s one I accidently screwed up the number and a few in the archive that don’t really have numbers or don’t fit into the number scheme. Still, exciting to see round numbers.

For those of you that came out to Connecticon this past weekend and said hello at the table OR came to Super Art Fight, thank you so much. It was great to see Rick, ParasitePaladin, Allison, Ray, and all the rest of you who came by to say hi or bought something. And to you newbies, hello. This is my website, hope you like.

To say Connecticon was a success would be an understatement. It was huge. I did the 2nd best sales I’ve ever done at a con and had $0 in costs for the trip, as they were all covered since I was a guest. Not to mention, lots of people came by and said they read the comic which always makes me feel better. No crazy lines or anything, but it’s a wonderful reminder that people actually read this thing I put time into and post on the Internet. The numbers in analytics and the comments I see are written by people who wonder why I didn’t update on Monday, who share it with friends and coworkers, etc. It’s an amazing human connection that I absolutely love, and rejuvenates me until the next show.

Now excuse me while I work on The System Book 1….

They’re like Time Lords, only they can travel through coffee. And similar to Time Lords, their french presses are bigger on the inside.

By the way! Back in stock in all the sizes is the “My Body Is Just a Filter” coffee shirts in the HilariAwesome store! Check it, yo:

Another chart, and on one of my favorite topics, coffee. It was actually inspired by this Reddit thread on the coffee subreddit, which quickly devolved into the pretentiousness of good coffee. Specifically from vornan19:

I can’t be more of a coffee snob unless I start roasting my own beans!

I figured I’d take it as far as I could, though I did leave out a few details / possiblities along the way. Feel free to fill them in, and share your own methods in the comments!

As for me, most of my coffee is made by the following:

• Beans bought whole from wherever I can get them. Sometimes it’s Trader Joes, but normally one of my friends gets it for me as a gift from somewhere since they all know I like coffee. Coffee for me is like stamps for Jeremy on Sports Night. “I always seem to find one when I need one.”
• A Cuisenart burr grinder that normally goes for around $70, but I got for $30 through Amazon. Worst thing I can say about the thing is that it takes up a fair amount of room in my kitchen.
• Most cups of coffee are made with a Bodium french press, but I also have a cone dripper when I’m feeling adventurous.

Oh, and one more thing! Tomorrow (Sunday) is my birthday! If you want to buy me a present, share my comic (this one or otherwise) with all your friends, maybe buy a print of this comic or something else from the online store, and maybe, just maybe, buy me a cup of coffee (I accept PayPal through systemcomic@gmail.com).

Oh, and if you’re looking for a great cup of coffee in the DC area, check out Filter in Dupont Circle. See my artwork on the wall and tell them Ross sent ya.

You can order this on a poster here. You probably should, it’s obviously pretty great. And if you agree with the sentiment, you probably would like this shirt too:

Apologies for the sporadic schedule of late. Life happens sometime, but I’m striving to get back on track. Hang in there, Systemics.

There are lots of coffee-related drinks with funny names. There’s the Poor Man’s Latte, the Red Eye, the Red Chai, and plenty more. What ones can you name? Or, even better, make up?

If you like this, we have coffee shirts! They’re cool:

How many cups of coffee does it take to get to your sweet spot? For that matter, how many cups of sugar does it take to get to the moon?

An unplanned guest comic today from Samantha Kyle. You may know her work from Random Assembly, an amazing web comic I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. While it’s amazing, it’s unfortunately over with as Samantha works on new projects, so head on over to her tumblr to see more of her work and keep updated. And the best part? I didn’t even ASK for a guest comic. She just MADE IT CUZ SHE’S THAT AWESOME!

Also, while I’m at it, her husband Lee is also an awesome comic person, working on the newly-launched Little Guardians, which is just 10 pages in and updates M/W/F. That’s it above, looking all cool. So check that out while you’re at it.

I mean who wants to visit a temple, right? Where’s the flash? The pizazz? The roller coaster rides? The fun house? Is your body a temple, or have you come up with something better?

Btw, thanks to @brianfenton who stole the words out of my mouth on Twitter claiming his body is both a brewery and distillery.

Ah, the Hipster Union. Came up at my local-owned, all-cute-girl-barista coffee shop this morning. As I sat there in my trendy glasses, with my iPhone and MacBook Pro out, wearing my flannel shirt, thinking about what to do a comic about today. For those proud members, here’s your badge. Wear it with pride.

I think this belongs on a v-neck American Apparel shirt, don’t you?

When I had this idea, I put lots of thought into what jobs hipsters had. I put it out on Twitter and got lots of responses. Here’s a few, but add more in the comments!

• @spkr4thedead51: Bike Messenger
• @lindsaytron: unemployed, musician, scarf model, printmaker
• @mikkelmarius: Bike messenger? Social media consultant?
• @prindiville: bookstore owner/employee, librarian, art (or design) teacher
• @martyfnday: record shop, graphic designer (heh heh).
• @leecherolis: Bookstore clerk, artist…
• @sekelsky: Running a college radio station, working at American Apparel, venue promoter.
• @Ria_: Busker. Professional criticizer. Professional concertgoer (only if nobody else is there). Etc. Etc. Etc.
• @DanielleOBrien: Biggest hipster I ever knew was a journalist.
• @passive_mission: they sell trendy tragically good bad hipster used clothes. (consignment stores)
• @kevinengelkamp: actor, model, graphic design, writers, custom jewlrey maker, bookstore
• @ghostfreehood: they don’t believe in jobs
• @mylaundrystinks: Record store/music store employee, art supply store employee, receptionist at the EPA–wait, that’s a hippie.
• @lorig: knitter/crafter, owner of specialty restaurant/food store/food truck
• @sammooney: art gallerist!
• @davidknauer: I’d tell you, but you prob haven’t heard of it. It’s pretty obscure/ironic/mustachioed.
• @designvalkyrie: librarian.
• @boogiestace: um, how bout designer?
• @aidensdame: Holmes was hipster before being a hipster was not-cool. Careful,might get caught in the circular logic trap there.
• @strickATX: Working at Wal-Mart, but only ironically.
• @wombatina: Bicycle repairman, itinerant photographer, performance artist, bookseller, baker.  Oh god.  too many.
• @rothjen: Vintage clothing store worker
• @radiusman: The mecca of hipster jobs is working an Apple store.  You should know.
• @rebeccaames: Dude. Keytarist in a community band. Recycled glass artist. Vegan restaurant waitstaff.
• @peticanoe: the only person I know who works at an apple store also has gigantic holes in his ears & wears argyle cardigans #hipsterwatch2010
• @alanzilberman: Actually, I think a spy might be the ultimate hipster job. It’s so cool you can’t even talk about it
• @wombatina: Jesus=hipster.Wore sandals and walked everywhere, bearded. Into this cool ‘love everyone’ thing that you probably havent heard of.
• @katieobrienSF: bike messenger, cashier at Urban Outfitters, designer…
• @rynVR: Campus bookstore, apparently. At least that’s where they all hang out in my town. It’s like a hoodie convention.