7/28/07: Vacation here I come...and a Playboy covergirl? (450th blog post!)

Yeah, that's right, I met Ashley Massaro from the WWE today. She was walking around the mall at 9:30 in the morning and looked lost. My computer had just crashed, so I figured I'd go find someone to talk to. I look back, and I see a hot blondie, and I'm thinking, "She looks DAMN familiar." I keep walking but then turn back, and she smiles, but she looks lost.

"What are you looking for?" I ask.

"Heh, is it that obvious? I'm looking for the Apple store."

I just look at her and say, "Okay, follow me." And I proceed to walk her to the Apple store, then making the asshole comment of the day..."Yeah, it's normally the one with the BIG APPLE on it..."

She thanks me, and then I look at her and ask, "Are you?"

Her reply..."Yeah...I am."

Me: "Cool."

Then I walk off...at this point, I geek out a second. Here I am, having helped a Diva in distress, and all I thought to do was leave...and NOW, I think, "Great, she'll think I'm stalking her..." But I went back, and simply asked, "Ashley, I know you get this all the time, but..."

Now here's where the story many years down the road will change, but tonight, it'll remain the truth...

"Can I get a picture with you? Otherwise, the guys won't believe me when I tell them this story..."

She was happy to oblige, and I became the freak fan, and she told me, she's currently dating a wrestler, and it isn't Matt Hardy...the funny thing here is she asked her mom to take the picture (I guess she met mom at the mall, because she wasn't with her originally when Ashley looked lost.) Her mom declined, very much like mine would, and the Apple employee helping her had to take the picture.

No autographs, no lies about how I made out with a Playboy covergirl, just a good old fashioned "I met a hot famous chick and because I never leave home without my phone...I got to prove it," moments.

Now, I've got to get some sleep before my long 8 hour (if I'm lucky) drive tomorrow to the Jersey Shore.

Wish me luck, all, Monday and Tuesday I'll be in my favorite visiting spot, Atlantic City, and yes, I'll be bringing the laptop, because I want to finish writing something.

Who knows, maybe when I get back, JK and I'll have updated the TAVA site.

And here's the pic, guys, since I know EVERYONE wants to see it.

7/23/07: It's actually after midnight already...

So my wife had some serious issues with co-workers based on her blog that she writes. She basically talks about her day to day experiences on her night job, and overall, it seemed like it was all a matter of time where one or more of her co-workers would feel like she was talking crap about them behind their backs and then retaliate.

Well, it happened. And Christy was really upset this morning about it, but now seems alright with most of it.

Now I love an support her, so I'm not going to go into much more, other than hopefully she knows what to do, say and how to act to prevent this type of thing again.

My problem with this situation is simple. My wife explains HER perception of the truth in her blog. She writes about what she sees, what she does, and how it all pertains in the overall scheme. However, the people that read her blog, in most cases are her customers, and not necessarily her coworkers. Because of this, when her coworkers found that she was writing things (funny or not) at their expense, they didn't take kindly to it. So they started making up stories to tell about Christy. She feels she was telling her side of the truth, but they were making things up about her.

Me, I'm 100% honest, 100% of the time, to the point that it can get me in trouble, because there's no reason to lie, because it just digs a larger hole that you need to come clean on later...that's me. A lot of bar patrons that aren't where they want to be in life will make up whatever they can to get the means and results that they want, because of whatever reason they come up with.

I have a guy that works for me that lies so badly, that it seems like he truly believes the lies in which he tells me. He told me he went to Wrestlemania, which was in Detroit, even though he has no money, no car and no wherewithall to actually set up the trip and get back in time to work the following week. Yet he truly believes he was there when he talks to me.

He told me he has a Nintendo Wii...however, when his sister came into my store and she said, "Really? It wasn't at the house when I was there..." His reply? "I hid it, because I didn't want anyone to play it."

And finally, and my personal favorite..."I am working on Assassin's Creed." Its a game being made in MONTREAL...QUEBEC...CANADA. yet he was explaining "how cold" it is up there, and that part of the reasoning behind it's lateness is because he lives in NC and can't make it up there for all the meetings.

I understand why people lie. I'm a writer. Lying is an essential portion of writing fiction. You have to place yourself into the mindset of someone or something else, and yet truly believe it yourself so that you may get others to believe it themselves.

Where am I going with this? Who knows. I love my wife. I'm not mad at her for writing her feelings or blogs, but I explained that if people don't feel they are being talked or written about, they always take it wrong...much like my employee that I wrote about would have every right to be, even though he hasn't been honest about much since he started working for me...and he has a nasty case of the funk.

That's why mostly, I write about me, as vain as that probably is, at least it means the only one that I can make mad is me, right?

Vacation is 5 days away, and it can't come soon enough. I'm hoping to take copies of THIEF and TAGGER so I can try to get inside them again, since I'll actually have some good free time for the first time this year.

Oh, and if anyone has any suggestions for when I go to Vegas, I'd love to hear'm... I've never been there, and want to take in the town when I'm there, because who knows when I'll go back, unless the company makes it a regular gig.

7/22/07: Break the walls down...

So here's the thing I'm pissed off about. What do you do when you walk up to your friend who's been drinking all day, and you ask him his opinion on something and he tells you you're an asshole...?

Well, you can do what you want to do...in living colour.

I'm tired of listening to assholes who want to do things their way. Here's my opinion to people who look at this pretty religiously...IF YOU WANT TO NOT DO ANYTHING just keep going.

Tonight, I walked into a bar that I've been going for years. I asked the owner of said bar, "What happens when people haven't been here, and want to be treated fairy..." And do you want to know what the answer was?


"Don't talk to me like you are above me, rob." And then when I flat out looks at him like I was upset and wanted an answer, instead of expecting a response...his response was, I'll walk to where other people are...

Here's my problem with this...I've been YOUR FRIEND for how long? I've expected you to call me out when I'm wrong, just as like I'd expect you'd hope friends would call you out when you are wrong...

Problem is...someone asks me when they think they ought to sing, and I ask the owner of a bar?
I DO NOT expect an anser after the fact...I expect MY FRIEND of 5 years to tell me that we are or ARE NOT hanging out that weekend...if we aren't...you're GOD DAMN LOSS. TOO GOD DAMN BAD. So glad to hear you'd rather hear if someone wants to hang out rather than live.

Here's the thing. I ask you a question as your equal. Why? Because you KNOW I've earned it. You want to feel as though I ask the question in a a way where I'm not the boss and you are on the wrong planet.

If you think you know something I don't...you are on the wrong planet... if you think you deserve a statement about this...YOU ARE WELCOME.

Get over yourself. I'm tired of everyone accepting your asshole attitude, when all YOUR FRIEND asks is a question. If you have an answer, then answer the goddamn questions... Don't get mad because I ask a normal and standard Q, get mad because I answer something you already know...

Like why my wife got to sing twice before I did on Saturday? Simple...she paid the DEE JAY... meaning?

Simple...it meant, since she paid him to let her sing her second song of the night, WE no longer had to wait until the song was over, and more impotantly, we could ALL get along with what further was to come, WITHOUT a bias interjection, or someone BRIBING to get to sing of anyone else.

I'm so glad we are all so honest, ALL THE TIME...

7/21/07: Long Fuggin' day...soooo tired.

Tonight, my buddy, Rich, and his lovely bride, Julie, are having the after wedding party they didn't have when they got married a couple months back.

Truth is, since I was invited, I'm going, but no offense to Rich, I'm just not up for it. He's an awesome former co-worker, and I am as good as my word is gold, so I will stay true to my statement and make sure I travel to chapel hill before him and Julie move to NY...

Last night, I went and saw my buddy Tino's band play. Nice mix of music, so it was a fun evening. My friend John, a cop in NY was in town so we went and hung out, had a beer or two and then decided we'd hit one of his old favorite bars, since he's not been back to Raleigh in probably 4-5 years.

We go to a place called O'Malleys, an ol' Irish pub, and are having a good time. We get into a discussion of college football and whether or not they'd be able to make an 8 team playoff and utilize the structure of the current bowl formula to help it along...he says no, and I say yes, which I'll explain in a future blog, btw.

Suddenly, at like 5 after 2, a dude starts fighting with ALL the bouncers and the bartenders AT THE SAME TIME...its' like 5 on 1. CRAZY. He wraps his arms around a pillar because he doesn't want to leave, and they start pounding on him and they pull him so hard they break a support pillar OUT OF THE FLOOR AND CEILING!

Un'fuckin'real.

Needless to say, after that, I went home, but saw him still trying to fight his way back into the bar as we left.

Couple that with the 10 hour day I had at work this morning, and I'm working on like 3 hrs of sleep, and had to deal with the best pre-order day probably in my store's history (we had 26 when I left). This made up a percentage of 89.7% reservations to transactions...

Wow.

I know it doesn't mean much to others, but I'm exhausted, now. And I now have to put a happy face on even though I don't really have the energy to do anything.

Ah, to get old.

7/19/07: About as crazy as a rainbow trout in a carwash...?

We'll start here with an update on THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES. Recently, I made a comment about the creators of this webcomic being hacks...well, we are not really hacks, folks. Both JK and I work very hard with our respective portions of the comic, and have fallen behind because we are doing everything we can to support our families. Unfortunately, TAVA is not a paying gig. At some point, we would love it to be, but at the moment, its not. Because of this, we both have day jobs, and we both enjoy a little free time to be ourselves...this causes, on occasion, a lack of ample time to complete the pages we are trying to deliver at top quality.

I have seen the next seven or so pages from JK, who is now going to a left to right panel structure to give it more of a webcomic feel than its current iteration, and they are just as high on quality as all the other pages he's delivered, so when we've got them lettered and ready to post we will conclude the current story and jump into the next one.

Anyone who watches professional wrestling knows who Jim Cornette is. The old manager that used to carry a tennis racket down to the ring. But it wasn't just any tennis racket, this racket (covered in its case) was strong enough to take down even the biggest opponents. Well, the subject title for this blog comes from him, tonight, since that's a direct quote from him as he was speaking to a near-naked Kurt Angle on tonights TNA IMPACT. It just struck me as one of those lines that makes no sense, but suddenly you want to say it a couple times to see the kind of reaction it gets.

Recently, Eric Kent, a longtime collaborator of mine on comic projects, asked if he could show some of his pages from his work on two of our long delayed projects, TAGGER and THIEF on his upcoming website. I told him I had no problem with it, but I didn't want him to show off all artwork, because I didn't want to give away the whole stories...of course, that's part of the problem. I've had next to no time to overlook these scripts and figure out where I want them to go, and this has caused Eric to move onto other projects, even though, like me, he knows both are solid comics, and deserve the best treatment. A couple days ago, I got the itch to start updating the Elisalandis.com website with new material, ie, TAGGER. TAGGER was always to be the sequel of sorts to LANDIS, while explaining the past of recurring character, Janus Tagger. He was such a great character as I wrote the initial LANDIS series, and I really wanted to develop him alone, and his origin, which takes him to different corners of the globe. Eric has drawn probably 25 pages of this story already, and I've asked him to send me high-rez copies of the pages, or 600dpi jpg files so I can start lettering and inking them, so that hopefully, by the start of next year (at the latest), TAGGER begins on the elisalandis.com website under the same update terms as LANDIS originally did.

No timetable on THIEF, since I want that story to be perfect before I display it to the world.

In the world of comics, this week, I'd recommend ALL the World War Hulk books (except Ghost Rider), Justice League of America (which reminded me of the Tarantino episode of CSI) and I actually enjoyed the Wolverine Origins ANNUAL that came out this week. Oh, NEXT WEEK the Death of Sabretooth I mentioned earlier happens...Gotta hand it to Simone Bianchi, that man KNOWS how to leave little doubt that its over for him...and amazingly, its NOT on the last page.
Yes, I've seen it, since Marvel included it in their preview books this week.

Next weekend starts my vacation, where I'll be in the usual family spot of Sea Isle City, NJ, as well as my normal trip to Atlantic City the follwoing week. I can't wait. It would be easy to say I was burned out, but I don't think it really says it all. I'm exhausted with all the stuff going on, I've got a pulled hamstring and other things going on at work, so I'm just beat.

7/12/07: The lack of Rob on here...

All of you have probably noticed the lack of updates here on the blog, and the reason why is for the past week, I've had ailments preventing me from doing much else other than go to work, and sleep. And no, those ailments DO NOT include going to work and sleeping.

In fact, since early last week, my left gland has been swollen to the point that it had been giving me headaches. Not just those, "Oh, I have a headache" headaches, but the...stop breathing you are too loud kinda headaches.

I've suffered migraines before...the ones so bad that the only comfortable place in with the lights out, laying on your bathroom floor to be as cold as you can on where it hurts, and the throat problem has been getting me to have headaches very similar to those. I was up until after 4am last night just waiting for the 4 tylenol maximum strengths I took to finally kick in. When I woke up, I didn't feel refreshed, I felt weak, tired and ready to grab more tylenol.

I'm in constant pain from my knee. I attempt to not take ANY medications for it unless it really really acts up, because I don't want to become dependent on any outside medications. These headaches, however are making me scream for a morphine drip or a vicodin in hopes of a good night sleep.

TAVA is pretty much offline for the time being, as well. JK said he had pages coming to me this week, but I have yet to see them, which I'm not blaming on him, we both have our own lives outside of the webcomic world, and we both have regrets as to how the actual website for the comic looks at this time.

We want the comic to be a place where when you go, it doesn't look like a couple of hacks putting up a pretty nice looking comic on a horrible website. We want it to look like a couple hacks doing a decent comic on a cool looking website. JK will have to forgive me for calling him a hack, but I think I've heard him use the words himself recently, so I don't think he'll mind too much.

He wants the comics to be more episodic, like 8 comics, and then background / DVD extra materials, and I think its a cool idea, so we'll see where we go with that.

So my company commissioned the makers of BioShock to create 20 "Big Daddy" busts, which is a ceramic figure head of the big ugly from the new game, and decided they were going to have a contest about it. The top 20 stores in the nation get one...right now, my store ranks...boo...1200. BUT, here's the really cool thing, 2K also sent all of our stores a ULTRA LIMITED EDITION Bioshock faceplate for the XBox 360. These are serialized to only 5000 (or so, I haven't seen mine, just yet), but that makes them ultra-rare, whoopie! And although I thought they forgot about mine for my store, it arrived today, on my day off.

For the other contest we're in (we're actually in about 5 right now, but this is one I have a chance at winning), I'm second in my region, and the top 5 get the prize, which is pretty sweet. All we have to do for this contest is get everyone who reserves a game or buys game informer magazine to give us their email address. Pretty simple, huh? Only problem? There's one other store in my district, not just region, but district that is about 14% HIGHER than me...meaning catching them will be next to impossible. and the prize for the top in the region is a chance to win a Nintendo Wii...which I don't need, since I already have one, but I could trade it in and put the trade-in value towards my upcoming games...which would be nice.

well, enough rambling...I hope everyone isn't upset at how long I've been away from the computer, and to all you video game nuts, check out the downloadable content on your PS3 and 360's, because there is some AWESOME stuff on there, now.

7-6-07: Wolverine: THE DEATH OF SABRETOOTH!

Since NO major comics website has posted this ANYTHING about this story, I've decided I'll run with it.

Marvel Comics recently sent an email to all major retailers across the country, letting them know that for every ten copies of Wolverine #55 they ordered, they would be able to order one Limited Edition "Decaptiation" Variant Cover for the conclusion of Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi's 6 part arc.

While it's cool that this cover is going to be another rare cover in the variant scheme of things, this isn't the ONLY piece of news here...

Marvel ALSO intends to KILL OFF SABRETOOTH. Loeb had been on record saying that this was going to be the ultimate chapter in the story between Wolverine and Sabretooth, and Marvel is planning on capping it off (Ha, no pun intended, Cap(tain America) fans) with the death of his ultimate villain.

Rumors are already starting that Daken (what a horrible name), Wolverine's recently found son would then take up the mantle of Sabretooth as another kick in the face to his father's attempts to be a good guy.

Of course, this wasn't the only thing Marvel told retailers to keep their traps shut about. The other big news from them is that it seems they've pretty much locked up the rights to Stephen King's THE STAND as well, and now the really bad rumors about how to get rid of Mary Jane have turned into, "Who's a Skrull?" which MOST of us fans are hoping doesn't turn into, "Mary Jane is a Skrull!" God no!

In fact, let me comment on that. My local retailer and I had a discussion about this, and we agreed, if Mary Jane turned out to be a Skrull, just to "put the cat back in the bag," wouldn't it turn out to be JUST LIKE THE FAILED CLONE SAGA?! Marvel tryed to give us an unmarried Spider-man at one point by taking a clone from issue #150, and telling us that he was the real Peter Parker...then, realizing the uproar, they came up with a horrible fix, and the Peter Parker we always knew and loved turned out to be the true Peter Parker again...and now I think, if they combine their "Who's a Skrull?" Story with "Let's get rid of Mary Jane" Story, we run the risk of fans going, "I HATE YOU! THIS IS THE WORST THING EVER!" Of course, if you put Brubaker on writing it instead of Bendis, and then I may read it first.

Well, these are this month's major rumors...enjoy!

7-4-07: Three movies in a few more days than that...

So I have now seen three movies this holiday week, and two are the movie blockbusters, LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD and TRANSFORMERS, while the other is the sleeper hit good family flick, Ratatoulie.

Saturday night, I was getting off work after a week which saw things just turning for a change. Times to move on and move forward, get the store back to ranking well, and be successful, and I decided early that night that I was going to see LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD because I needed an adrenaline moment that gets the blood moving, makes you realize that Bruce Willis still has it at age 52 (and hell, read his Playboy interview this month for his changes on how he deals with things, including his stance on american politics as well as his movie performances), and is just fun. Did I really feel John McClane in the character...no. I have to state that first, because with his bald head and it being PG-13, I felt that the character was watered down and missed the most important aspects of his character...his whit, his disregard for his personal health and his charm. When you look at this against the original DIE HARD, HOW did he catch up to the bad guys in this? In the first film, they are in the same building...EASY TO CATCH THE BAD GUY... here, he somehow drove through NY to get to Washington, then went to WV, MD, and then back to jump on an F-37 fighter jet...NOT John McClane, but definitely Jack Bauer. HOWEVER, I enjoyed the movie for the simple fact that it did what I expected it to...entertain me, and make me realize that if they ever wanted to put these two FOX properties together (DIE HARD and 24) I'd be perfectly okay with a 50 year old NY detective taking over for the other 50 year old CTU runner. Yes, that's right...if FOX were able to talk Bruce Willis into taking over for Keifer Sutherland, *I* would continue to watch it, and probably be happier, so Keifer could go back to being a villain in movies...I'd even suspend Disbelief that a man named Detective John McClane was being brought in to run the tactical of CTU...Anyway, I give DIE HARD a strong 8 for being fun, funny, action-packed and just overall enjoyable. I do wait for the UNRATED version, which is guaranteed to have different lines used in certain spots, and for those that have seen the movie, Bruce Willis mentions that you can only use the word, "fuck" twice in a PG-13 film, but you can kill all the badguys you want...so I guarantee you will KNOW where other things were said and new lines were spliced in...its obvious in a couple spots...

TRANSFORMERS...hm. This one is a little tougher to review. On one hand, you can ask my wife, I was literally giddy in my seat bouncing back and forth making sure I was going to be one of the first to see this movie on Monday, that's right, Monday, and then I was going to let all my friends know I saw it. Christy was less than enthusiastic about seeing it, but was a good sport and went along, while texting to her friends, instead of watching the robots smack each other around.

Okay, so I'm watching it, and when you first hear Peter Cullen's voice of Optimus Prime, you just feel 8 years old, again, and you just wait to hear Bumblebee, Jazz and IronHide...unfortunately, Michael Bay decided that returning all the voices for their characters was not important, and neither were the 29 year olds in the audience of this film that was created to make 8 year olds giddy. Yes, I had problems with Transformers. At one point, and I don't call this a spoiler, but it may be, Optimus Prime is telling the 16 year old Sam Witwicky, "Can you hurry up, looking for those glasses?" While hiding from his parents, and I watched as this scene took up 10 minutes of screen time, and I found myself thinking, "Can you hurry up and get to Megatron?" Some of the action scenes were great...some were underwhelming like the climactic scene of Prime versus Megatron, which was WAY TOO short, and since when has Optimus Prime been such a puss? Inclusion of lines like, "More than Meets the Eye," "One shall stand, and one shall fall," and "Roll out" were great, and nostalgia builders...but lets be honest, this, ONCE AGAIN, was another film where the director had a great vision but then missed the audience that it was important to appeal to...THE AUDIENCE THAT GREW UP AND WANTED TO SEE IT...originally, I gave TRANSFORMERS a 7, but now, I rethink it a little more and drop it to a 6.5, based purely on Peter Cullen and the awesome special effects...that's good enough for a 5.5, and Megan Fox is good enough to add another 1.0 to the score for her beauty...that chick is flat out HOT, and didn't have a horrible aussie accent like the blond girl, but if I could shut her up by shoving something in her mouth (if the wife would let me), I'd be MORE than happy to oblige.

Finally, Ratatoulie...I loved this film, and very well think this MAY be PIXAR's best film ever. It's tough to say that, but it seemed it, and was adorable. You feel for the rats, and the one thing I loved MORE than any other part of the movie was that people didn't suddenly understand what rats were saying...they squeaked to humans, but could understand each other, but humans just heard a rat...it was a great move on their part...though you suspend disbelief that a rat can A) read and B) understand a human. But you have to, as it is an animated movie. I won't spoil a lot from this simple yet delightful plot, and the fact that I got to see it with my niece and nephew made me enjoy it even more, especially after my brother dumped his popcorn and my niece kept stepping in it to make it crackle on the floor. This is a wonderful family film, and it makes you hungry by the end, but I'll say this...just see it. I'd assume PIXAR will take home another Oscar for best animated picture, and the visual aspect of what Pixar did with Paris is just amazing. I give this a 9, and by far say its my favorite film of the summer season so far... though I did NOT go see Pirates, since I hadn't seen the second one.

6/30/07: Free ringtones and wind of change...

Anyone looking for free ringtones? Try here...set up a username and password and then you can create or download your own ringtones.

http://www.phonezoo.com/Welcome.do

I've downloaded about 20 of them already and will probably continue to download even more.

So my former assistant manager and I had a conversation today. I can't go into it all for legal reasons and such, but lets just say two options were given to him, and he chose the one that was best suited for his future...

I am a little upset it didn't work out better, but with his resignation, I learn that now you never hire your friends. It puts an added pressure on everything that you were trying to accomplish, and more than anything else, you never know what you are going to get in terms of the employee, comparably to what you get as a friend.

Certain people make good friends, and yet bad employees...I'm sure people would say that some people make good friends and bad bosses, or the other way around as well, but in my history, you can become friends with people that work for you, but mostly, you can't bring your friends into your workplace. Someone always takes advantage of someone else, and even if they are attempting to NOT create a dissention, there's still one that forms.

I am harder on keyholders, because they hold a much larger amount of responsibility than a non-keyholder They are guaranteed a specific amount of hours, which means they handle a majority of the store's transactions, which means, YOU MUST perform. Some of your non-keys are expected to have better tasking abilities, but a key's job is to be 80% sales and 20% operations...worst case scenario, 70/30...a manager's job is supposed to be the other way around, 20% sales/80% ops...my problem was that I was pulling 90% of the stores sales numbers and doing 75% (or more) of the store's operational work.

It was a downer to know that the store was sitting squarely on my shoulders. I still got my numbers, and in some cases, I got everyone else's too. Some people don't understand the strain it puts on one person to have to keep that up, and what happens when they have a bad week, as well? The whole store falters.

Well, anyway, things have been weird recently, but now I know that I get to start moving in a different direction, and if everything's going the way I want, I'll go through christmas without much to worry about...hopefully that's how it goes.

Am I upset by what occurred today? It felt like it was likely to happen. It became more about excuses and less about how to do it, and it became more about victim statements and less about succeeding at all costs.

I'm competitive. You have to be in this field...especially if you want to succeed or survive...or hell, at least get a decent raise. I personally got tired of showing nothing for my personal numbers. It was like, "Oh, I'm the second best selling manager in the district, and my store is third to last..." Not exactly how anyone wants to look at it. It gets tiresome, and it drags even the most positive people down...of which I am not.

I am successful because I don't let things hold me back for long...and yes, I would cut ties to help my store and myself be more successful...sometimes you just have to...and that's just how it goes.

6-27-07: What a difference a couple days make...

Everybody that knows me, knows that I'm a fan of pro-wrestling...and up until Tuesday morning, a fan of Chris Benoit. I still feel the WWE was correct in their 3 hour presentation of ALL THE GOOD he was. No one may ever know what the truth is to the story, whether he couldn't cope with a wife that may have been unfaithful, or a son that was undersized and given Human Growth Hormone to attempt to help him grow, we will just never know.

The man himself went from an Instant Classic to a horror story. I find it difficult to write this, not because it is the most talked about incident on the internet, the news, what have you, but because this was a man that you could tell cared for people, and they cared for him. Now, I bet most of those people want to take back any and all of the kind words that were said about him.

I do not condone his actions, and part of me hopes that there was still some sort of hostage situation, that he had to play along with and made it look like a double murder suicide, because I can not fathom what it would be like to ever consider murder, let alone, murder of a young child.

As a writer, I often times put dark places in my head to be able to reach that level that the readers want to see...hell, I've even killed of 75% of humanity in LANDIS, but one thing I've never been able to wrap my head around is what causes a man to do this.

One can wonder, one can guess, but I still feel a little sorry that now, a man that I've watched on tv as a wholesome husband and father, a champion among champions, is now run through the dirt, and I, along with millions of others, now wonder, "Why?"

I'm not sure I want the answer. It is simple to see that the man went from a Hall of Fame wrestling career, to one of America's darkest moments. All his merchandise has been pulled, all his memories of good now stripped, and no one is to blame but himself.

I bet now, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Mick Foley and others that traveled with him thousands of nights are glad they didn't speak on Chris Benoit at his tribute, and having heard all the lingering stories, you can see why people such as John Cena were hesitant to speak in the first place, but I now feel really bad for Chavo and Dean Malenko, spilling their tears over a man that had many more problems than he ever let anyone know.

--------------------------

As an update, wrapping my head around this actually IS a part of why THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES has not been updated. I've mostly been in shell shock from the events of the past week, as my wife has dealt with two up close and personal tragedies, and now, I'm coming to terms with this. I apologize for my lack of professionalism around this, as it did not affect me personally, but mentally, it pressed against me, and I'll pick up the pieces as we continue TAVA beginning Tuesday, July 3rd.

6-23-07: The week I'm having...

So it all starts off with my computer getting a virus, and now, I'm unable to update the comic, which I feel horrible about and need to figure out another way to make sure I get this thing updated, because I feel like a jerk not getting the pages up and on at the right time...THIS is the reason we missed the Thursday update, folks, no other reason than my computer is now going through its 8th time of Virus Scan trying to get rid of this shite.

So that was all well and good, and then I decide I'm going to update my cell phone, since I'm at the renewal date and I can get a pretty cool phone, right? Well, I did and this is going dandy, but while this may be going well right now, there's something looming...

My dog jumped our fence yesterday. He does it every so often, and NOW my homeowners association has changed the fencing to include a 6ft fence...so now, I'll probably have to consider a larger fence if the dog keeps doing this. Normally, no big deal, but the next door neighbors have a newborn baby, and apparently, Ardy got a little excited and bouncing around seems to have scratched the baby. The police show up at my house and I tell him that the dog is in his cage where he goes when he's bad. The police tell me to just make sure I keep him chained up outside to prevent him from getting out, or to make sure we keep a better eye on him in the back yard. I'm thinking no big deal (since I hadn't heard about the baby getting hurt). Animal Control shows up shortly thereafter, telling me that the baby had been struck, and had scratches (and has now gone to the doctor to get looked at) due to anything happening to a baby and the possible severity of it. I had no idea that this occurred, and feel horrible. There's no other way to look at it. I thought just with the fact that the police had shown up, that if anything like him getting out again happened, I may have to put a dog down, now its just a situation where we have to think of the livelihood of the neighbors. Ardy is NOT a violent dog. Even when he plays, he's not the type that nips or bites at your hands. He's just an excitable dog...bigger than he thinks he is.

I go to a restaurant called the FOX AND THE HOUND last night because a buddy of mine, Carlos (another Gamestop Manager) is going to be judging a bikini contest and just figures it'd be cool to go. He starts telling me about this hot Asian girl that is in the contest, and he's saying things like, "well, she's got my vote..." to which I begin thinking for some ungodly reason, "Y'know, I bet I know who it is..." Low and behold, its our old bar-buddy, Jackie, sitting there on the stage and waving at me. After the ladies do there struts in the bikinis, and while the judges are tabulating their results, somehow, I get entered into a WING EATING CONTEST... not most in a timeframe, but fastest wing eater of a basket of wings. Guess who won...that's right, the R O B won out...funny how my gluttony seemed to help for once. Jackie ended up winning the bikini contest, but I don't know if her $250 prize is as good as my "Party for 10-20 people for appetizers and pizza" prize that I won, but who knows.

Sometimes during the week, my wife lost an aunt. No, she didn't just disappear, she passed away. Yeah, perfect time to be funny, I know. Anyway, she wasn't as upset by it then, but then a person that was a musician that would come and play at her bar passed away, as well, and the crazy thing about it was that his car keys were still at her bar, since someone had gotten him a cab home. He apparently died from a massive heart attack, and I don't think I ever met the guy, but she's pretty shaken up by it.

Its been one of them weeks. I've started making contingency plans about how to fix my store at work, and all it'll require is a signoff from my boss, Kevin, with whom I expect to have a conversation about what to do on Monday. You know, my biggest rule at work, and the first thing I let every new hire know is simple..."I will not lose my job for you." And the second thing I say is, "I do not expect you to lose your job for me." I respect them enough right after hiring to let them know that I don't WANT them to take a bullet for it, because with my family at home, I don't think I'd be taking one for them.

Our company has a KEY CARD that we give every employee which gives our company stances. The main thing about this that I take from it is this..."NO VICTIMS" You sleep in the bed you make. You don't perform, YOU are responsible...not the customer that says NO, but the employee that doesn't make them want to say YES. I think I finally figured out where your mindset needs to be to be successful in sales...John Michael and Kristian at AT&T would always say, "It doesn't matter if you take those customers, because I'm gonna get mine..." They were simply stating the fact of, "You are the new guy...you want to come in and take everything, but the truth is, I'll still hit my quota, and laugh at you when you don't hit yours." (without ever saying that, because they both helped me understand HOW to get the move on).

I GET MINE. In my second bad week of this month, I still hit my numbers. Anyone who says "I can't." simply isn't trying hard enough. I had three employees bust their butts in numbers this week, and the store is still having a rough week because of the amount of transactions done by a select few. The difference between me and others is that I say, "I'm gonna get mine..." and they say, "Well, why am I not getting any?" I look past the past, and move on. I tell myself that I WILL succeed and therefore put myself in the frame of mind to do so. Those who do not, DON'T. Its that simple. You must think you ARE going to succeed to be successful. You can't think, "Why haven't I" when you simply need to begin thinking, I most definitely WILL.

Those who don't get it, haven't tapped into it. That's why some people who can't move faster than ketchup coming out of a jar can still be better sales people than that person with a quick wit and sharp tongue.

Maybe I'm off here, but all I can ask is...if I am wrong, why am I successful as a salesperson everywhere I've gone? And no, I don't hound customers, I simply make them see the benefit in doing it. Sometimes its because they are loyal to the store. Sometimes its because we are loyal to them for doing it. Sometimes its just something that makes sense. It isn't always the same answer, and sometimes, its multiples of them. No two people are alike, but if you keep thinking, "I don't get why I can't get there..." instead of, "Oh, I'm gonna get there..." you are just missing it, and its passing you by.

6/19/07: Man how long has it been?

So I sit here, on my day off and I'm watching STAR WARS: EPISODE 3 in HD because I have nothing else to do, and I think to myself..."I haven't blogged in a while." And then if hits me. Yesterday, I received a great gift from JK, three original art pieces of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES. These are beautiful pieces, and two have been seen already (as I've colored both and made t-shirts of both). The third piece, however, is completely new to me, and I'll hope to have a copy scanned soon.

I'm really excited about where the series is going, and I've written probably the first 10 or so pages of the next run, where we get introduced to Ardy's new secretary, who'll probably make appearances on the next run of TAVA advertisements, since it'll probably help hits.

Last night, the wife and I went to see Mr. Brooks, since I had heard good things about it. It was decent, and I liked looking at Costner as a man with schizophrenia, as well as constantly talking to himself through another character that only he could see named Marshall. The kicker of the film was Dane Cook and his appearance as a character that was lovably creepy, in that, he was a sick twisted watcher, and yet, Costner was trying to "teach him to kill" so that later, Cook may take his life. Interesting plot, though I was underwhelmed by Demi Moore in the role she played as a police detective.

So I ordered a new phone from Verizon. The Motorola KRZR. I'll probably receive it tomorrow, since I ordered it from them since they wouldn't let me buy it from Best Buy. From what I have read about it, it seems to be one of the better tested models of phone, and it includes all the features of my current phone. I've decided I may try the ESPN MVP service that Verizon now offers, if it is available for that phone model.

I need to letter a couple more pages of TAVA, and JK should be getting ahead in where we are in the development of it, so hopefully that is the case...

And on a final note of the day...April, I haven't forgotten the prize owed to you, but I'm afraid I lost the address and I'll attempt to send it by Thursday.

6-13-07: Marvel upsets with "BIGGEST PAGE OF THE YEAR"

So I read WORLD WAR HULK #1...good book. lots of interesting points, counterpoints, and perspectives...all that and Tony Stark offers a PARDON to any unregistered hero that helps them with the evacuation...BOOM, Rob hit the big news, right? Nope.

Turns out the big deal is a "HUGE" spoiler, that isn't all that huge.

Don't read any further if you don't want to know...









Jessica Jones must be a Skrull...why? Because here baby has eyes that are tinted green. That's what Marvel wants to shell off to you. That the Skrulls have taken a huge placement in the Marvel universe, and the first one found was none other than Elektra.

Okay, so all I have to ask is this...if you are going to state that this is the LARGEST page to hit this year, WHY have it come out on the SAME DAY AS YOUR BIG EVENTS FIRST ISSUE?!

Okay...so there you have it...I was right, and I was wrong...all at the same time. I am, however, waiting for the great SWERVE where Tony Stark gets amnesia and forgets EVER offering a pardon. That'd be cool.

6-12-07: Marvel lets the cat out of the bag early?

In what could be the most important blog entry I make to date, I've been saying it all along...

PETER PARKER JOINS TONY STARK AGAIN IN NEW AVENGERS #31.

I know, you are going, "Why in the blue hell would he do that?" And my only answer is, "It's the only way that Peter Parker can be a likable character again." And this little tidbit...

http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/June07/previews/WWHULK001_int0030.jpg

On this preview page from Newsarama, Marvel has let the ball drop again. Peter Parker is back to calling Tony Stark "Boss" and couple that with the fact that he's seen WITH the MIGHTY AVENGERS (plus Luke Cage of all people), it leads one to believe that Peter Parker has RE-signed the Registration act as a way to attempt to get his life back in order.

If you were on the run, your aunt was about to die, and your wife who was a supermodel wasn't allowed to work, all because you were a fugitive, don't you think you'd do whatever you could to start getting back on the right path?

Apparently NEW AVENGERS #31 AND WORLD WAR HULK #1 come out of the same day, so technically, NEW AVENGERS #31 could have some other information in it, but there's no denying that Peter Parker is standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF IRON MAN and NOT being arrested here...

Now how will it all play out?

6-10-07: Just watching lots of different stuff, today...

www.ardyvanstarr.com <--The Official homepage for THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES, Updates Every Tuesday and Thursday from Pots and Pans Ink and Junior Bruce Productions.

In case anyone games and wants to add me as a friend, here are how you can get in touch with me...

XBOX LIVE ID: RPotchak
Playstation Online ID: Potsy


So I took a day off today. It was weird, I'd only worked two days since vacation, and yet felt exhausted, like I'd been running on all cylinders for weeks. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that during my trip, I probably only slept for about 7 hours the entire four days, which is alright with me, since I had a blast, but after a while the body just doesn't want to hold up, and today was one of those recharge your batteries kinda days.

Speaking of cylinders and batteries, tonight was the first time I watched PIXAR'S CARS from Disney. Now, I'll admit, it wasn't a perfect film, but it was a real cute movie. Owen Wilson and Paul Newman were great in their roles, not to mention when watching it in High Definition, you look at it and just get amazed by things like the water effects. I really enjoyed it, as it had humor and drama, and of course, that lovable "Cosby Show Ending" that every Pixar film seems to. I can TOTALLY understand why this film seems to connect with 2-5 year old boys better than most, since my nephew Drew is constantly saying, "Cars, cars, cars..." Which gets mixed in with some jibberish that apparently my sister, can understand without hesitation, but me? I feel like I'd need about 6 drinks in an hour to understand that much, heh.

I also watched 5 episodes of THE TUDORS, the story of Henry VIII and his kingship and courtship of Anne Bouline. I'm sure I spelled her name wrong, but if you have NOT watched this show, YOU NEED TO. I'm amazed at how well they keep to history, while still making it highly entertaining. It does seem a little odd that every time the king plays a sport, he loses, and yet maintains his court and leadership. A pompous ass, but yet still overly commanding, this first season has to do with his constant change in stance with whether or not he wants a treaty with Spain or France, and his introduction to Anne. It is an amazing array, and the only thing I would fix for the second season is brightening the lighting in the show. Sure, I understand that they used candle-light, but you are utilizing High Definition, so brighten it up some. All in all, though, check it out if you haven't.

On the comic end of things, we're still in search of an artist for DEAD SONJA VS. THE ARMY OF DARKNUTS, and nothing really seems to be materializing here. We would like someone kind of cartoony or maybe even manga-y, but I just want it to get made. I may revisit trying to get AP Furtado to participate, but it was just the largest stroke of luck that he found the time to do the first one, and I'd hate to have him think that I don't trust that he's too busy with his own projects, which I know he is (check out apfurtado.com when you get a chance).

I've decided when I find some time that I really need to hamper down and knock out THIEF. Eric was telling me that on his art page, that the hits for those pages EASILY are three times higher than any other project he's worked on, and that's because we both truly see the project as a first, and it really needs to see a quality end that neither of us have hit previously. Heck, even before that story is finished, I'm already being courted for a webcomic site and publishing, and we haven't got the script done yet (Though Eric is at least 2 full comics into the art, if I remember correctly).

We're about to the point in THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES where we will be introducing a new character to the story, but I'm not going to say more about it, other than you'll see a lot of him...or her...hehehe.

Finally, I'm considering where to take LANDIS next. I am actually considering finding a model, taking photos and then drawing from the photo reference. This would be a long, painstaking process, but I could only figure that the final product would be amazing...but I'd also have to figure out who to use as a model, and then find the time to snap a thousand photos to use...not to mention, I'm already thinking if I did that, I'd want to do it very Sin City -ish with the lighting, high contrast black and white. Very Specific light sourcing...which means finding a place to take those kinds of photos, as well...eh, who knows, wishful thinking right now.

Thanks to all the kind comments for the HULK piece, folks, as much as I like full color, I simply love that art style that much more.

6/8/07: Back from Vacation...too bad its over...

www.ardyvanstarr.com <--The Official Home of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES, Updated Tuesday and Thursday!

Wow, can you believe its been 4 days since I left? Wow...man, I hate that. it like flew by, which is funny because at one point during the trip, my wife, Christy said to me, "Don't you hate it when days just drag on?" And I said, "Fuck no...vacation SHOULD drag on...its all those work days that need to fly by..."

We saw a lot of funny things while we were gone, but overall, it was your regular vacation... lots of drinking, gambling, forgetting where the room is, and so forth. I really enjoyed my time away from here, but really wish I had handled the money a little better...

I was playing 3 card poker on the last night with $200. I got it up to anywhere between $500 - $600, and that would have left us decent for the week, but I was so drunk during the time that A) I never counted my chips and B) when the streak of hotness ended, I didn't see it until the chips were gone.

It was too bad, as well, because I really had fun, but the $200 was the last of my gambling money for this trip, and when I say the last of the gamble money, I mean THE LAST of it.

This was the first trip where I really attempted to play table games, and when I head back up at the end of next month, I'm going to play the tables a little harder, since there are some games I really want to try out (Texas Hold'm Table, and Let It Ride, both of which on slower nights you can play for about $5 hands). I enjoyed my time, and had my winning moments, and the wife and I DID come back with some money, and lots of candy, heh.

I missed everyone here, but unlike my wife, who'll probably blog the entire trip out in detail (and I may link everyone to it), I just didn't have a lot to say about it.

6-2-07: Hulk

So I got bored and drew this...its an attempt in the very savagery that is the Hulk.

I was playing with some tools I had used before, I pulled some green drawing paper, a white out pen (they now make retractable ones), a Pilot G2 black ink 1omm tip, and a green thick and thin sharpie, oh, and don't forget the pencil).

I got the whole thing done in pencil, inked it with the G2, and then added a third dimension to it using the whiteout. That's when I got the crazy idea to push it a bit and grabbed the green sharpie. I really like this piece...

MY ONE disappointment is that I couldn't get my scanner to grab the image, so this is a photo file from my 6mp digital camera. So if you can't see how truly intricate it is, I apologize, but otherwise, I'm really happy with this, since it take up most of my 11X17 green paper.

What's everyone else think?

6/2/07: Two days til vacation and I wanna blog...

www.ardyvanstarr.com <--The Official Comic Homepage of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES (By Rob Potchak and JK Radtke)

http://forums.keenspot.com/viewforum.php?f=100 <--The Official FORUM of THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES, and now the latest place I'll be posting this blog!

Alright, so I've now decided that I'll be posting this blog on the Keenspot Forum for LANDIS and THE ARDY VANSTARR ADVENTURES...why? Why the hell not? I am the moderator for the blog, so why not give my opinions and such in yet another forum...I mean, shit, I'm only posting it four places now, right? That's still less sites than are posting fake Paris Hilton naked videos (and some real ones, too...that girl doesn't seem to mind showing them little titties to anyone).

Alright, enough with being a guy, now its time to write...

So I know this person, calling them a friend would be a kick to the nuts for all my real friends (or a bite of the ass for the female ones), who seems to have a really high personal opinion of themselves, even though its so obvious this has only been inflated by his mother grabbing his cheek and telling him he's a handsome little man. My question is this...where in the blue hell do these people seem to think this from? I mean, we all know someone like this person, and hell, some of you have even met the one I'm talking about, and I don't want to sour him at all, so I'll call him Rayner. Anyone who can catch the comic reference, buy yourselves a cookie!

So I got into a conversation with him one time, and it went something like this. "So, Kevin and I were having this conversation, and we agree with Hugh Laurie from HOUSE when he said, '5's date 5's, 7's date 7's, and so forth...' The only obstruction to the rule is typically Money." (At least, that's when you don't have the sparkling cider based personality that I've got)... So anyway, he actually says, "Whoa, buddy...don't go lumping me in with you here..." To which I just look at him and state, "You shit, I've got a hot wife, so what does that tell you?"

He was left for a second without a response, and then stated, "Yeah, we're still not sure what you gave her to keep her around that long..." And then was like, "But dude, I'm a hot guy. I'm a sexy man..."

I looked back, with Dane Cook comments going through my scatterbrain and what came out was none to pleasing to anyone's ego..."Just because your mom tells you when you get home, doesn't mean its true..."

Sick Burn. Knockout...I believe I hear the bell.

I have to hand it to the guy, though...thinking he is "hot stuff" enough to have the balls to ask a girl out is not something everyone has. Hell, I didn't have it until like 11th grade, and even after that, when I knew I was out of my league, I had to bring a friend with the first name Crown last name Royal with me to the bash just to muster up the words. But you know what?

I've never claimed to be a sexy man. I'm my own worst critic. "No one can hurt me as long as I make the harshest jokes about me, " right? Truth is, I know I'm not a bad looking guy, but I also know that I have one of those personalities that place me at the front of the line of other 6's and 7's (depends on if I've cleaned myself up, heh).

Anyway, Rayner just makes me laugh sometimes. However, one thing you begin to learn is that you can state your lack of desperation, only to have the truth shine through by your actions.

None of us know the answer as to why Christy loves me...I mean, sure I'm a charmer, and we both love to bust balls, but that's a blog from her unto itself, I'm sure.

So my trip starts on Monday at about 3:30, (sweetheart, don't stick around the bar, get home ASAP, we want to miss Washington traffic if we can), I get to bust out the EZ Pass and the GPS, and go up to Atlantic City, where I hope to be by 1pm at the latest. For the first time, I'm not really in a rush to get up there, I just don't want to fall asleep on the drive. I'll probably be up til about 11:30 the night before anyway, so I'll be on maybe 4 hours of sleep...that's if I do everything I have to before we leave (pack, shower, etc).

I love trips like this, and I hate them at the same time. Its a little rough, since its a 7 hour (+) drive both ways, and I have to be back at work on Friday.

Derek actually didn't get mad at my inspirational statements in our gamebook (our bible), since I only want them to call me with performance numbers, but remember to get EVERYTHING done, because the LAST thing anyone wants when they get back from vacation is when you have to catch up on all the work since you were the only one DOING ANY work before you left.

I think he understands what needs to be done, but I told him I needed his I-9 form already, and he's still yet to give it to me. Geez...do you want to get paid?! Heh.

Anyway, you folks MAY NOT hear from me for a couple days while I'm up there, unless I can figure out how to use my phone as a modem, since the hotels/casino typically charge I think $8 per 24hrs to use the internet, and unfortunately, I'd probably only be posting a blog of how much I've lost, so it isn't worth even more money to do so...don't fret, though, any interesting winnings I see I'll be sure to attempt a snapshot, though no guarantees, since I guess I can technically be tossed out for it...and we don't want that.

Oh, and I got the COOLEST case for my Nintendo DS...its made by NERF and is an official product from Nintendo...it's just awesome...you have got to find one if you have a nintendo DS...

5/29/07: Other Photos, Rob in a bad mood.

ME with my new prize from the Sony Loyalty site, a rifle from the game, KILLZONE. Yeah, I'm still not sure where I'm going to put it, either...


















Me with a Mohawk...before I cut all the hair and beard.



















Fubar and his daughter, Hayden.



















Rob, foaming at the mouth...okay, not really in a bad mood. Stop thinking nasty thoughts, you sick fucks.

5/29/07: The Dogs...

Landis and Ardy...in odd, and embarassing moments.




The second one is my personal favorite, since Landis looks like Flo from 227...yeah, that really bad show that used the front flat from Sesame Street. The first two pics taken by Christy, and the last one, taken by me.