So, sometime over the last year and a half, I let myself go.  It was a slowish process, but that's how it happens.

I could justify all sorts of reasons.  I worked from home, and while it seems like I'd have more time to exercise, or not eat out for lunch, it didn't work out that way.  In fact, the opposite was true.  I never knew when to stop working.  For the first 6 months or so, I had my puppy to raise, and so I couldn't leave for all that long, and when I had free time, I'd take him on walks, and then have to go back to work.  Also, working at home can get monotonous, so to stave off boredom, I'd run across the street for snacks.  Plus, our neighborhood is replete with cheap, quick takeout options.  You can see where this is going.

It turned out that I ended up at 196 lbs.  Normal for me, for the last few years is about 175, give or take a few pounds.

Sure, I'm a bit vain, but it makes sense, since a big part of my life is appearing on the iFanboy video show, and my clothes were getting less and less flattering.

So here's the deal.  The San Diego Comic-Con is in just about a month.  I propose to myself, and use the public forum as inspiration, to lose 10 lbs by San Diego.  It might not even be a realistic goal, but it's a nice round number isn't it?

I bought a bike, and if you've been following me on twitter, you'll notice I've been doing a lot of riding.  Haven't lost an ounce, to be truthful, but it's a start.  Over the last week, I've been riding my bike to the gym, working out, and riding back.  I'm aiming for 3-4 times a week.  Other than that, I'm just cutting down on what I eat.  Cutting out carbs sounds like a great idea, but I know myself well enough that it's so not going to happen.  So, I'm just eating less, or trying to. And I guess I'm using the internet as my guilty conscience.

Of course, by the time I get to San Diego, well, that week's a bit of a loss.  Either way, I should have more energy at the least.

I get stopped a lot on the street by people who see my dog, and tell me they want a frenchie too. I'll be honest, that about 99% of the time, I try to talk them out of if. My boy is a very healthy frenchie, and we're on a first name basis with several vets already. Plus, they're just a lot of dog to handle. Someone asked me about him in an email, and this is what I sent back to them:

The health issues are comparable to english bulldogs. They're basically the same. You can get healthy ones, but overbreeding, and poor breeding have caused a lot of problems for in the breed to watch out for. My dog is pretty healthy, but we still bring him to the vet all the time, for things like allergies, which in him isn't severe at all, but in others can be terrible.

Basically, if you want a frenchie, you should do a lot of research on them, and make sure you have the time and ability to take care of them. They overheat in not very hot weather. They can be pushy. They can have all sorts of health stuff, and they're not cheap. If you get one, make sure you go to a reputable breeder, and never a pet store, and don't cheap out on the puppy, or you'll end up paying more later. Read about them as much as you can, and know what you're getting into.

If that all works out, they're great great dogs. If you're out of the house a lot, and can't spend lots of time with him, then I'd try another breed.

That all being said, my dog is awesome, and he's the best thing we've done in a long time.

So, just be very aware of what you're in for.

A few years ago, I had some TV writing aspirations. But ultimately we decided to move from Los Angeles, and if you're not in Los Angeles, you're not writing sit-coms. Also, the odds of getting on a sit-com these days are less than making it to th NFL (not a joke). I did some specs, a King of the Hill, a 70's Show, and a Scrubs. Earlier today, I was looking through my notes and found a whole bunch of stuff on an Arrested Development spec that I guess I never got around to writing. It turns out that Lindsay and I came up with some of the concepts together.  Arrested Development is probably my favorite sit-com of all time (so of course, it had no audience), and while these ideas aren't the greatest ever, they do indeed still make me chuckle.

After a show goes off the air, there's no point in doing a spec for it, so rather than completely waste these character specific ideas, I thought I'd post them on here.

Some of the notes make no sense, and have no context ("rubber"), but I can also hear him saying it.

General Notes: 6/11/05

• GOB gets into a minor accident on his Segway and has an epiphany. Life is too short and he needs to pursue his dreams.

• Gets a job at a Target-like store to work with “real people”

• Gets paycheck – amount is so small he thinks it’s a joke. Can’t believe people live off this. Leads a revolution of some kind for all the Target workers

• GOB loses all interest in his magic, which then makes all of his tricks work for some reason and he doesn’t even care anymore. One of them has to be incredibly spectacular. People are really impressed with his tricks – ask him if he’s ever thought of doing magic shows for real.

• GOB – “Rubber.” Now where do I get this “rubber.”

• Gender roles in children

Stories:

GOB gets in accident, tries to change his life, get a new career. Learns something.

G-M is walking past Tobias and knocks something over with his hip/butt. Tobias makes a good natured joke about G-M getting to be a bit of a wide-load, or tubby, completely kidding. G-M laughs it off and doesn’t think about it. George-Michael later goes to find some school clothes, and the medium doesn’t fit, so the salesperson suggests he move from a large to a medium, and he flashes back to the comment and has a panic attack about the fact that he thinks he’s gaining weight.

Then GM develops an eating disorder, which he doesn’t perform correctly. Binging but not purging, for example. Or he finds a terrible diet on the internet and decides to follow it, but it’s the worst diet ever. All bacon or something. Only eats cereal.

Buster adopts dog

Tobias gets a fan or a groupie, or just a guy he meets who fawns over him and flirts with him openly. Tobias, oblivious, flirts back and refers to this guy as his new best friend. He’s really attractive, and its obvious to everyone that he’s coming on to Tobias.

He can also play into the other characters’ stories, because he has a great career which GOB wants to emulate, and he has a great body which GM wants.

He finally bares his soul to Tobias, who misses the point completely, and he’s wrecked. Everybody else wants to keep him around, and doesn’t explain it to Tobias, because they want to take advantage of him.


ACT I

GOB gets into minor accident on segway, and sustains a small injury. He rushes himself to the hospital. He calls the family like he’s been hospitalized, be he’s only got a bruise or a splinter.

In hospital waiting room, he’s doing tricks that he doesn’t care about. Family comes to see him and he does a great trick that works perfectly, but his point is to show them that he’s not inspired, and he needs something better, something new.

Here's a layout I did for the artist of a current project.  "Rough" is not enough to describe what this is.

With the excellent excellent work of the extremely talented Jordan Boyd, please accept this remastered version of "Logue's Patrol".  If you were paying for this (which would be awesome, by the way) you might call this double dipping.  The words are the same, but the images and the experience are so much nicer.

If you can, take a look at the black and white pages in comparison, and you'll see how much Jordan's work added.  Look at the golden glow coming from the windows.  Look at the feeling of cold that's been added.  Look at the heat from the explosion.  Hell, look at the footsteps in the snow.  He's truly every bit an artist as well.

I don't have to tell you that Jordan has joined the team to create our next project.  It's almost as if we can't lose with this team.