One of the webstrips I like reading is You'll Have That, about a young married couple and their friends. I ordered the one shot comic from my shop a while back with a cover by Scott Kurtz. I saw the books on the website, but never had incentive to get them before. But now creator Wes Molebash is offering a deal until the end of the month where you can get the two trade collections (usual price $4.95 each) and the one shot comic (with a variant cover) all for $10 and free shipping. I ordered mine last week, and he sent the first batch off on Friday, and I got mine today! He even included a sketch with it all.

For many people, losing weight includes looking into the dietary supplements on the market to help them out. But there are so many on the market, and it's difficult to choose one that would be considered "best", or at least best suits your needs. Fortunately, diet pills can help you with your selection. They've rated the diet pills on the market by 12 different criteria, factoring in such things as value, ingredient quality, customer feedback, safety, company reputation, reorder rates, etc. As with anything pertaining to your health, please consult a physician before undertaking any effort to change your health and condition.

Marvel's first quarter earnings call was scheduled this morning, and here's what they had to say. No movie next year due to the writer's strike, and Iron Man 2 and Thor scheduled for 2010. 2011 has Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers movies scheduled. No word on the Ant Man movie and if there'll be a Hulk sequel if the movie does well. Oddly enough, the stock went up today, as usually it goes down after a movie's released.
And at Lying in the Gutters Rich Johnston gets to relay Brian Michael Bendis' and Mark Millar's involvement with the Iron Man movie. Also, he talks about the wonders of having a region-free DVD player (or at least one you can hack the code on) and links to Amazon UK's upcoming Marvel animated DVDs, most of which haven't been released here, including the upcoming Iron Man cartoon (DVD scheduled for release February 2009 over in the UK)
And not to neglect the DC side, here's an article about an interview with Aaron Eckhart which kinda spills the beans about Two Face (with profile picture of Dent post-transformation): "That's right, people don't really know yet. I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. I can't talk about it beyond that because I don't want to give away too much of the plans by Chris. There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; Chris is going way farther than people think."
I dunno, I think Rich Johnston has an idea how far it goes.

Just today, thinking about the warmer weather and summer coming up, I was wondering what I did with my sunglasses. And it's such a hassle to go out and buy new sunglasses, because this is the time of year the prices seem higher (which would follow, because there wasn't much interest in sunglasses before, back when it was cold and gray up here) Fortunately, Alterna Eyewear is running a promotion where you can get free sunglasses if you just pay shipping and handling. Might also check out their line of sunglasses accessories since they're running a similar promotion. And who knows, maybe the old sunglasses will pop up after I get these. But the new ones are much cooler.

Mark Evanier is reporting the news that cartoonist Ted Key has passed away. Although I recognized his name from the "Hazel" strip from the Saturday Evening Post (and Evanier's posting has a publicity picture of Key and Hazel star Shirley Booth looking at a Hazel collection, Key has created other things. Among them was Peabody and Sherman, and from the Walt Disney stable the films Million Dollar Duck, Gus (the first movie I ever saw at a multiplex) and The Cat from Outer Space. Condolences to his family and friends.

Having a medical practice involves so many areas, and having to navigate a minefield of insurance providers, with their forms and red tape. And that's just one aspect of the practice. At some point, you'll realize that you can't do it all, that you'll need the assistance of trained professionals in some aspects of your practice so that you won't be overwhelmed. You need the help of medical billing consultants who can help you out with the hassles of billing. Established in 1996, Advanced Billing Professionals, Inc. offers nationwide medical billing services for all practice types and sizes. They provide their clients with complete support, including insurance verifications, billing, and follow up.

This is why Scarlett Johansson isn't calling me. This isn't right, he isn't right for you. He was engaged to Alanis Morissette and they didn't get married. He's just using you, Scarlett.

Well, the weather's getting warmer and people are starting to make their vacation plans. If you're flying anywhere and looking to rent a car, have you thought about using Advantage for your car rental? They're offering great deal on rentals such as SUVs (I know, it isn't a vehicle you'd want to own because of the high fuel usage and environmental impact, but I can understand being on vacation and wanting to get something cool. I'm a sucker for convertibles myself), vans, and they offer a free day if you fly with Sun Country Airlines. Their rates start at $19.99 a day, with their selection of vehicles, and the Magellan navigation system, it's worth checking them out.

There's another thing we've got that we've never gotten before in this previously-insignificant state: the prerecorded phone call. This one was from a PAC warning us that Obama not only was for abortions, but he wanted to bring back partial birth abortions. Boy, they had the wife's number both literally and figureatively, huh?
*SIGH*
I wonder why Scarlett Johansson doesn't call me?
Oh, and here's the standings of Clinton and Obama on different issues (including abortion) courtesy of our local metropolitan newspaper.

Hey, remember how much I guessed the weekend gross on Iron Man would be? And how much it turned out to be? LIke I said before, I don't know why we play this game, or are interested in how much money a movie makes. Maybe it's the inner youthful fanboy excited at the premise of Marvel making their own movies and starting to tie things together in their own universe, like in the comics.

A day in the life in my pants isn't really all that much to write home about. I usually keep the pants I'm going to wear that day in the bathroom and put them on after I take a shower. It's usually just me sitting watching TV, playing video games or writing interesting posts like these. So if anyone was wondering what my pants would say if they could talk, it would most likely be "why does this idiot keep sitting on me all day?"

Fortunately, there's a lot more creative types out there, if not more active types that could tell more compelling stories about a day in the life of their pants. Anybody with any imagination could enter the Dockers contest where you could submit your stories as a video for the Dockers TV Commercial Contest going on right now. Many people would wonder what sort of story they could do about their pants, but there are many more creative types who have got the wheels turning right now thinking of what sort of videos they could submit for the contest. Or maybe they're thinking about Dockers pants and might want to check some out, maybe buy some. That'd be cool either way.

In addition to the fine publications I got today, I went looking to fill the gaps in my action figure collection. Wal-Mart and Meijer didn't have the Indiana Jones figures, but Target did, and I got: 2 packs: Indiana Jones with Ark, Marion Ravenwood and Cairo Henchman. I wanted the Marion figure, but opted for the 2 pack because 1) single figures are $7.49 vs. $9.99 at Target, and 2) The Marion figure had the monkey in the 2 pack, that I knew Kathy would love. I also got single figures of Belloq, Sallah, and Cairo Swordsman, so I could be closer to getting the exclusive Indy mail-away figure. Didn't see Mutt Williams or Irina Spalko, the two I'm mainly interested in getting. I also saw at Target the DC Universe variant figure of Firestorm (original version) and I HAD to get that.
Even being more careful with my spending, I'm still running up some bills here. It's not paid with credit, but with funds we have, but it's up there nonetheless.

I went out and got my free comics as part of Free Comic Book Day. I also got an Iron Man heroclix for a friend in case he can't get one (it's Derby Day in his neck of the woods) and my main shop offered a couple of freebies for my younger nephew, a Sonic and something else along those lines. I replied that the nephew in question was of driving age now, so he changed it to an All Star Superman and X-Men. In addition to some of the ones I was looking forward to, I was glad to find Love and Capes, as well as the Comics Go Hollywood freebie TwoMorrows Publishing put out. In case you missed the latter publication, TwoMorrows is doing their annual tie-in with FCBD where they're offering free stuff (mainly downloadable versions of their publications)

After seeing Iron Man, I remembered that the Indiana Jones action figures were scheduled for release yesterday, and wanted to go out and see if I could find any. First stop: Toys R Us. They were picked clean of most of the figures, I was going to get a 12" Indiana Jones, but saw the speaker holes in the chest, and the talking one wasn't the version I was wanting. They were also picked pretty clean on the Prince Caspian figures, as well. But they had new Batman figures, some tying into The Dark Knight. There was only one from the actual Dark Knight figure line (Joker goon) that I passed on for now, mainly because they were $7.99 a figure. I was going to get the DK Batman figure and Joker from the movie, but they had a movie multipack with both figures, plus Batman Begins Batman and the Scarecrow figure. At $29.99, I thought it was worth picking up. They also had figures from the Hulk movie, so I got the Abomination and the Steel Beam Weapon Hulk. They were pricey at $9.99 each, but they were in my opinion the best representation of the characters from the movie.
Then we went to Borders, where I had a 30% off one item coupon and some Border Rewards that I cashed in just before the end of April, to use this month. I wanted to get the DVD of Blast of Silence that I wanted to get since Patton Oswalt wrote about the movie in the back of Criminal #4, and said the DVD was coming out. None of the rental places around me had it, and Blockbuster Online has it as a "short wait" since it came out. I also got the Iron Man novelization because Peter David wrote it, and like the Easter eggs he puts in for fans (a quick glance shows a couple of characters named Layton and Colan). Then I went to Wal-Mart to see if they had any Indiana Jones figures, they did, so I got Indy from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indy from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (it's more than the old days when Kenner would just add different accessories, you can see a difference with the figure itself. They're doing a promotion where you can send in proofs of purchases (no receipts, fortunately. It's a pain to include that "with the purchase price circled" and all the hoops they make you jump through to get a rebate or freebie like this) to get an exclusive figure. They don't make it clear where the sticker is you have to put on the redemption form, but it's inside the little box with the figure, which also includes a small replica of the artifact that's on the sticker. I also got the Mr. Potato Head Indiana Jones toy (Taters of the Lost Ark) that is with my Darth Tater and Spud Trooper on the shelf that Kathy has dubbed the "Lucas taters".
And since Tony Stark said he wanted a cheeseburger when he came back from captivity in Iron Man, and showed with Burger King, that's what Kathy wanted for supper. We tried the double whoppers with cheese (doubles for the first time) and I think that's what she wants to get when we go to BK from now on. Yes, they had Iron Man toys, but nothing worth seeing if they had to get.

As I wrote here before, my wife loves to make floorplans in her spare time. Her big thing is apartments, designing different types of apartments, trying to utilize the best out of different spaces available. When we were eating at Golden Corral today, she said that I caught her trying to figure the dimensions of the table we were sitting at and eating. This isn't necessarily a career, and she isn't exactly looking for a job right now, but that's what I was thinking of when I read about Process Simulation, which is a program to help businesses determine the best use of their space to derive the maximum benefit for their customers. Process simulation is a discipline where art meets science and joins the world of business for unprecedented results. Health care agencies, automotive designers, educators, and a plethora of other industries are benefiting from Visual8’s visionary application of technology Sometimes it's a matter of designing more parking spaces to get more customers (and I know a few colleges that can utilize this feature, or at least make more parking available), or reviewing your personnel and their job descriptions, comparing it to your company's needs, and reallocating your human resources to help your company better achieve it's goals and potential. Or it could be reallocating your existing space to ensure you get the most out of your business and therefore the most profit. And sometimes it's a bit more involved, which is where their design technology and expertise comes in. Best of all, you don't have to take a chance or risk your resources. With their planning and design, you can derive maximum benefits for minimum risk.
With their software and design systems, whether you're just imagining "what if" or have more hard data in search of a more concrete solution, Process Simulation has the tools and the talent to help your business realize it's full potential.

Quick review here, no spoilers. Want to tell you about it, but don't want to ruin it. That is, what hasn't already been ruined by the internets here. If you're not sure where this falls in comic book movies, this is one well worth going to go see. And they did have a couple of scenes between Tony and Pepper to get the female audience interested in the story. It wasn't packed when Kathy and I went to see it, but that usually isn't an indication of how it'll do. I'm guessing $80-105 million this weekend.

So you're expecting. You're probably wondering what you're going to wear as you blossom more into womanhood. Seriously, us guys don't think you so fat when you're pregnant, we mean it when we say you look beautiful. Especially when we love you. If you are looking for maternity clothes to wear while you're expecting, why not check out what they've got here?

Yeah, there's a lot of places on the internet to watch videos, including one that everyone's heard of where You can watch a lot of Tube on the internet tubes. But you're always on the lookout for more places where you can watch funny videos. I want to tell you about this one called Gonnabe.com where if you click on the link you can watch a satirical commercial featuring a gold digging blonde girl doll (I don't want to say any more because I've read how litigous certain toy companies whose name starts with M and ends in attel can be about things like this) So if you want to check out funny videos, or look for another cool source of videos to watch online, why not give Gonnabe.com a try today? There's enough there to keep you occupied for hours and hours.

You know how the weekend movie grosses are such a news item now, with it seems that people wonder more about how much a movie makes than how good it is? Yes, I have to admit I was speculating on the weekend gross of Iron Man. It's the first film that Marvel has more of a hand in and more of a financial stake, and no matter what people in the blogosphere says about Marvel, at least (to quote Moe from The Simpsons) "I'm a well wisher in that I wish you no specific harm." I was thinking about how Spider-Man broke $100 million it's first weekend (and it was good. How so? Kathy and I saw it twice that weekend. And that was while we were attending Star Wars Celebration.) and that there was no reason why Iron Man couldn't do the same. Until I thought of one:
Lack of female moviegoer interest.
Spider-man had the love story angle with Mary Jane, and that famous shot of her kissing Spidey with him upside down. I haven't heard of anything similar with Iron Man. At best, we can hope for a momentary flirtation between Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Happy Hogan (director Jon Favreau). This is a pure testosterone Maxim-magazine fueled movie fest, and I have no compunctions about that, supporting Favs all the way.

Long time readers to this blog know that recently we had to get my wife new eyeglasses. Even with her eye insurance and going to Wally World, it came up to $130 for the new pair. And then there's this one site where you can get new eyeglasses a lot cheaper, and in different styles. Since we already have some, maybe we can see about getting a backup pair.

One of the members of the Indiana Animation Club is Haley Whalen, who works at the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. One exhibit they're getting ready to show (according to Ms. Whalen, the dates are May 3, 2008 (tomorrow) to May 3, 2009) is about comic books, featuring the collection of Max Simon, the late son of of one of the prominent entrepreneurs in Indianapolis. Actually, from the slideshow Ms. Whalen supplied, it looks like a good exhibit. I'll have to plan to go sometime. I didn't see in the pictures, but read in the Indianapolis Star that the exhibit included a comic shop replica. I'd like to see that, mainly to contrast between "museum" and "real life".

With the way things are now, many people are having enough problems paying for the now, let alone when they retire. It comes down to living off of Social Security, and the way you hear the news about that, you wonder if it's still going to be there when you retire. One possibility to change that is through something called by Diamond Bay Investments retirement Iivesting, where you can make investments in real estate income. The link has advice on how to keep on top of it after you invest in a real estate portfolio, and has what I feel is an appropriate quote: "Beware of the man who won't be bothered with details". - William Feather. If you do decide to invest, make sure it is something you keep on top of and not just put aside. Don't have it be something that the next thing you know, you find out it's worthless. Continuous review should help guard against that.

Doc Nebula says you should love Married to the Sea, like he does. And me, too. I'm working my way through the archives now, which is better than the way some webcomics do it. You click on a month and get the whole month's archives.

marriedtothesea.com
And check out Doc's further pontifications on what's going on out there. Lemme warn ya, hoss: after Tuesday's primary in Indiana, you should get your first Presidential mailing on Wednesday.

Paul Harris writes about a New York Times article describing a luxurious perk for members of the House: car leases with very high prices (one goes for almost $1000/month). One representative defended his Cadillac by saying he offers his constitutents rides in it and wants them to feel comfortable while discussing concerns with him. That's gotta join "I am not a crook", "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" and "Mission Accomplished" on the list of great political bulltish. And who pays the lease as well as the maintenance, gas, etc. Think they're worried about the increasing cost of gas?

Chantal Burnison has a product called Ethocyn that helps reduce the effects of aging on the face. Not only does it address the obvious signs you can think of, like crow's feet, they address other less obvious areas such as the smaller wrinkle lines around the lips and areas that sag due to age. Karen Phillips was an accountant who decided to try out Ethocyn, but only used it on one side of her face. Fortunately, she doesn't look like the Batman villain Two-Face, but the differences are noticeable, and attract attention whenever shown. With dedicated application each morning, it can certainly help reverse the ravages of the effects of aging.

Comic book historian Alan Kistler has an article up at ComicMix discussing the 10 Iron Man stories you need to read before seeing the movie. Meanwhile, Mike Sterling's been writing in his blog all week about how comic book movies only result in increased business before the film's release, and that's mainly from speculators smelling possible profit. His blog's chock full of fanboy goodness, well worth a read if you haven't already. And while I can't quote him, my local comics shop owner would say between the movie and Free Comic Book Day, there won't be any increase in business. Free Comic Book Day only brings out the people already collecting comics wanting freebies, and even if Iron Man did strike an interest in the comic, do you think people want to read the character as currently portrayed in Marvel Comics? I had the same dilemna after watching Superman: The Movie. I wanted to read a comic based on that Superman, but had a different animal in the comics.

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Tonight's the big night. They're going to start showing Iron Man at 8pm tonight. Much as I wanna go, I ain't going. I don't want to see it by myself (at least the first time) and if I take Kathy along, it's just over 2 hours, so we'd be looking at 11pm for getting home, and she has to get up at 3:30am to go to work. I have enough trouble fighting her to get 6 hours' sleep. So it looks like tomorrow afternoon.
But Gordon McAlpin at Multiplex wrote in his "notes from the manager" that the word on the street is when (not if) you go see Iron Man this weekend, stick around 'til after the credits. That's where the title of the post comes from. According to Roger Ebert's movie glossary the Monk's Reward is when you stay through the credits and get a little something extra. The first one I know about (okay, the end gag in Airplane! but this one's cooler) is in Young Sherlock Holmes (highlight to reveal hidden spoiler text) when Young Sherlock Holmes' nemesis in the picture travels to a lodge where he signs with his new alias "Moriarty" . When we go to the movies and the credits starts to roll, Kathy knows me enough to ask "is this one of the movies we should stay through the credits?"

Many people tend to tune out at technical discussions. In fact, most folks tend to tune out when they hear the phrase IT. But I was just reading a blog posting having to do with Information Technology (I don't want to come off condenscending, but I didn't know that's what IT stood for, and I just wanted to pass that along) I was reading this posting about how Digital Service Processors (DSP) are used in IP Telephony. Basically, our voice couldn't travel across the system without it, and it converts our voice waves from analog to digital and back again. It's written in a way that you don't need the 3 dimensional blackboard that Phineas J. Whoopee used in the old Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons. And if you're interested (or at the very least don't want to be intimidated by technical discussions) you can read this article about MCIPT training.