And, life goes on...

So, some of you may know that my wife and I tried to start our own business last year, we had this "visionary" "consultant" (I use both terms as loosely as I can).  He came riding in with big ideas about how we could provide exemplary medical care and a great experience all while making a decent living.  It looked good on paper, the model was great, the idea harkened back to the day when physicians made house calls, and you were more than a number on a chart.  Well, I borrowed out all of my retirement that I had built over the last 8 years and then we got started and things looked ok.  The money started disappearing, payroll was costing a fortune, and for those who don't know it takes 90-180 days to start getting money from the insurance companies.  So our "guide" suggested we get a line of credit, we did, a second mortgage, check, all the while he kept getting paid, but neither my wife nor I drew an actual paycheck, merely an occasional loan payment when the company could afford it.  Finally we'd had enough, no guidance, his accountant seemed just as crooked, we fired them both, cut our staff in an effort to make ends meet and stay within budget.  In the end it wasn't enough, we had to file personal bankruptcy, dissolve the corporation, close the doors, and lose our home.  So now I'm unemployed, broke, and have left both our families back in Arkansas, and moved to Texas where my wife has a new job, however the market does not look good for me.  So if your out there, and a physician, and an Osteopath named Nicholas Bartz, D.O. approaches you with a great scheme on behalf of his company Health Pro Solutions, or he wants to hook you in with Barry R. Pasis, Patrick Mallett, or Jim Chaston, CPA; run, call your local BBB, AG, and get a lawyer!  He is a schmuck on wheels and will screw you out of everything you have and have no liability when you fail.  Also, if you live in Pismo Beach, CA and visit The Doctor is In on Shell Beach, find a new doc, they are in bed with him and ready to screw you blind.

The New 52, or How I learned about Comics Again

Ok, so for those of you out of the loop, DC Comics has for the past 5 months been paving the way to a "reboot", or a new marketing effort to revive print media.  As such they had their typical "Event/Crisis"; This year it was centered around the Flash, Barry Allen for those of you not sure which Flash I am referring to.  So Barry wakes up in an altered reality where Aquaman and Wonder Woman are in a huge fight (which gets very little screen time) and a lot of alternate versions of earths well known heroes.  Superman has been locked away and not give access to our yellow sun, which as we all know is the source of his powers, (spoiler alert, he appears in the start of the series as a gangly, weak and tired version of his normal self).  Continuing spoilers, Bruce Wayne died with his mother in Crime Alley, and Dr. Thomas Wayne has donned the mantle of the Bat.  Thomas and Barry have some great one liners between themselves my personal favorite is a Flash to Bats jab, "Bruce would have gone..." Pack the bags nice guilt trip!  So the past five months we've been trying to figure out whats going to happen, how Professor Zoom AKA Reverse Flash fits in, and then we get to issue 5 and the shit hits the fan, the heroes recruit the Shazam family, gotta love some Captain Marvel!  Turns out this whole alternate universe was created by Barry, he's the villain!  He was so upset over the death of his mother that he jumped on the cosmic treadmill and altered the timeline, and cause all the other ripples, why don't people listen to Dr. Emmet Brown, for a crack point, he knew about the timeline, and you don't mess with the timeline.

So flashpoint 5 led directly into Justice League #1, the first of the new 52, to be honest I had to read it twice to catch all the subtleties, and also because it was so hard to turn off everything I know about the DC universe, I mean 30 years is hard to turn off.  So basically, none of the heroes know each other, at this point there is no league, and well, I am lost, I always thought it was the trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman who were the founding members, but from this issue it looks like its going to be Batman, Green Lantern and Superman.  Best line, Superman to Batman, "I don't handle easy, so what can you do?"  Everyone looks 20-30 years younger, teasers around, like the LexCorp sign "Building the city of tomorrow...today" (Delta City from Robocop anyone?)  I also loved that GL's constructs were a fire truck and a jet fighter. Also love that they have no clue who Darkseid or what a Motherbox is for that matter.

All in all, I am excited, Jim Lee has to be one of my favorite artists, Geoff Johns can really tell a story, Go back and read some of their older stuff, its all good.  Loved Jim's work on Batman: Hush, and well anything Geoff has worked on in the last 18 months has kinda been the building blocks toward the new 52.

Ok, your caught up, hope I didn't spoil it for you, and if I didn't then I hope you might want to read it.

I'll see you in the back issues!

Et Tu U.S. Pizza

O.K. so I'm not really a food snob, but in a way I am... I know that makes no sense, but you get the picture. I generally do not stray far from my "regular" menu items at most restaurants, but I spent Sunday down in the Rock at the Mom's, with the toddler in tow. We decided to order pizza from U.S. Pizza, mind you, I've been eating this pretty much since I was old enough to remember it, but I also remember (and no one else seems to) Pizza Planet, on Geyer Springs, I remember the pizza came on a cardboard disc in a paper bag the end stapled over to keep your pie from sliding out. But thats another story for another time, kinda like Taco Kid... Ok, back to Sunday's pizza disappointment. Ordered the usual, a large supreme, still surprised that you can call a 13" pizza a large anymore, but hey, its what they do. I seem to recall back in the days before every Tom, Dick and Harry stole the recipe from U.S. Pizza and opened their own eateries (Pizza Cafe & Olde World Pizza I'm looking at you cough* cough*). There was this mystical pizza recipe that they had, it was 2 parts homemade goodness and 1 part secret dusting seasoning. Back then I did not have a palate for identifying spices or ingredients, I just knew it was good, I liked it, and I wanted more. Make way for all the fast food, other independant pizza joints, the endless Pizza Parade at a certain buffet. Gone is the TLC that went into each pie, gone is the magic dust that made it so unique, gone is the we're little and independent, but hey, now you can order online, we have microbrews, goat cheese, pizza with no sauce, pizza with no gluten. Give me my gluten, give me my sauce, and dammit give me toppings, for what is a pizza without anything on top of it! So to you U.S. Pizza I say "It's been swell, It's been great, but honestly it's not me, it's you!" Thanks for the memories, but after Sunday, you've truly left a bad taste in my mouth.

So, I'm fat and lazy, and tired of it...

I've struggled with my weight for many years, from the time I was a child and began wearing "husky" sizes, I knew I was different, I couldn't always get the in style clothes. Well not much has changed, very few stores carry "Big and Tall" and those that do carry a nice hefty price tag. No I'll admit having a few of the nicer shirts is great, they do tend to last longer than a cheaper brand. But $90 for a polo shirt? Geez, and I thought $3.50/gallon gas was crazy. So my wife has been doing this vie shake stuff, one for breakfast, decent lunch and then shake for supper with some success. Now she has started this Couch to 5k, for those of you unfamiliar (and here's where geek tech comes in), it's an iPhone app that guides you from sitting your lazy ass on the couch to being able to run a 5k (3.2 miles for us americans). I've decided first no more crappy food, cut back on carbonated drinks, more water, less coffee (ouch) and start walk/running with the C25k app. I saw a few weeks back an old friend from CLS was starting to run as well, so I can understand how he felt about it, I've never really run, not sure I know how to run, but am going to give it a try. So wish me luck as I get my fat ass off the couch, wave if you see me, and stop if im laying on the ground.

Thanks and stay geeky!

Fathers Day

Well, its right around the corner, and I never truly understood the day, since my father was not around much when I was a child. I did however have a Grandfather who was the closest thing to a father I knew. He would teach me things, how to bait a hook, how to tie a slip knot, how to install plumbing, anything and everything, he could do it. He was a self made man, he owned his own plumbing business for years, and when he retired he gave it to his son, my uncle. Now when I think back to his abilities, what was always a good time, was that he would come home everyday for lunch, and then a short nap and then they'd go back out to work. What a great life, in the summers I'd sit around waiting playing with my Lego's having fantastical space adventures and watching my Grandmother watch her stories or occasionally play Gin with one of the neighbors. They'd come in dusty and dirty and then they'd wash up with Lava soap, to this day thats still the sign that you've done some real work when you need Lava soap. We'd all sit at the bar and have a sandwich and fritos or leftovers from the night before, and one day, well one day my Me-Me made from scratch chicken and dumplings for lunch! Oh I still remember that day.

Now that I'm a father, I try to do all those things I missed, I tell my daughter every day that I love her, that she is beautiful, and that I am so blessed to have her and her mommy in my life. I've always said my goal is to be the father I never had, and I hope that I'm succeeding and I hope that someday, when I get wherever it is I'm going, I can walk up to my Father and say Thank You, you don't realize it but you made me a better man than you ever were or could be. I'm not angry, or bitter, but ok maybe I am a little, I just wish I knew more about why, but there are some questions that life cannot answer.

So give your father that shirt, belt, or new wallet, but most of all, just stop look at him and tell him that you love him, and give him a hug. And if you can't do it in person, just remember a phone call is just as effective, don't wait until its too late and you can't say it.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad...I still love you!

An iPhone for the rest of the world...and why I don't really care

So, with all the hoopla that presented with the announcement that Apple was finally bringing the iPhone to Verizon (knowing full well they turned the original device down 4 years ago), its a huge step forward for Apple and the domination of the two major carriers in the US. While this is a great idea, for those of us who follow Apple semi-religiously know full well that in less than 6 months the iPhone 5 (or whatever they are going to call it). So all the early adopters who stood in line and camped out to get one, well you're going to feel silly when the new one comes out in June, or you won't, most people won't care, but for me I'd feel bad buying old tech.

Now back to the whole dual carrier global domination, well we know that Apple has slowly been eeking away at market share and now that you have two carriers who have the largest customer base, also have the iPhone this will just allow them to continue to grow and get everyone on the multi-touch bandwagon.

I love my iPhone, I love my iMac, I love my Macbook Pro, I loved my iPad, but I will not be buying a Verizon iPhone, despite everyones claims that AT&T is the devil and the service sucks, I have never really had major issues, I've been to a few major cities, including L.A. and didn't really have the trouble that people talk about. I can also be very happy that they finally got 3G in our area, and its a considerable improvement. It's also nice to be able to use data while on a call, to get emails while on calls, to AT&T I say thank you!

Well that's all for now, oh, and if you have time and want to get something really different for your iPad or your iPhone check out my friends company that uses old world book binding techniques to make a very unique and cool case for the iPad (voted iPad case of the year!). Just announced this week was the Bookback for the iPhone

"Wintry Threat"

Ok, so for the past week, the home page of the Weather Channel has shown a map of the central region, with big letters right across the state of Arkansas saying "WINTRY THREAT". This is basically the cry for you to run out of your homes, stock up on bread milk and eggs (I assume when your stranded by the snowpocalypse you eat french toast?). Personally I'd be stocking up on junk, frozen pizza, and some variety of cheese in dip form. Oh and toilet paper, god knows you can't face cabin fever without soft 2 ply, weaved, quilted, aloe, goodness.

We've seen more snow in the last three weeks than the last 2 winters, do not get me wrong, I love the snow and think its beautiful in its serene calmness (until you have to drive somewhere), then it becomes the most anger inducing, foul language generator you can find, ok, so thats not the snows fault, its the other drivers. As I lay down last night thinking its 39 degrees, I think they missed the boat on this one, only to wake to a quiet white blanket of wet snow. Not enough to mess up the roads, but enough to slow everyone down and make my 15 ride in, more like 25. Oh and to the cop i saw this morning, scrap your windshield, the mound of snow on the edge that causes your wipers to stick, is not cool, nor good. There is now another threat headed this way. Rumor has it, that it will start tomorrow night and then carry into most of Wednesday as well. I say bring it snowmageddon, we want to see what you're made of, do you have the moxie!?

To that I'll be in Little Rock tomorrow with the Leadership Class from the Chamber, discussing State government, I'll be sure to say "Hi" to the guvnah for you all!

And if you missed it here are my top three commercials from Super Sunday.

1. I just love the volkswagon commercial, funny and I remember the product!

2. Cowboys and Aliens, come on, this is gonna be awesome!

3. Captain America, I had to pause and rewind the dvr several times to get a good look at Red Skull...Gonna be Legendary!