Intention versus Action and a Pretty Good Idea

First, I want to thank everyone for helping though my angst about the million dollar Twitter contest. Turns out I'm a nice guy after all and shouldn't worry so much. So I’m sleeping better at night, but still feeling a bit of a celebrity twat. Here’s why.

I was heavily involved in the Pentecostal Church when I was in junior high, taking everything they said to heart. I was the kid passing out Chick Tracts at school while everyone else was concerned with titties and masturbating without guilt every chance they could get. (What’s that even like?)

And though I'm now miles from what you would call a practicing evangelical, a lot of the teaching I received from that time in my life still sticks with me. After all, good advice is good advice. Doesn’t matter where it comes from. Nowadays I’ll take a spiritual lesson from wherever I get it: Jesus, Buddha or the guy who cuts me off on the 101.

This is from the New Testament, Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV) "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

I’ve always used that as the general rule for my charity giving. It’s tough to do when you’re famous though. I get invited to a lot of things involving a charity auction of some kind where I have to announce to everyone how much I’m giving just to be able to give money and get the auction item. But I still think it’s better to just give the money and shut up about it whenever you can. Don’t take out an ad. Which is why I’ve been feeling the way I’ve been feeling.

But I’ve also been thinking a lot about the meaning of that passage lately, and maybe I got it wrong.

Jesus is talking about intent here as well as action, no? If the intent of your charitable contribution is to let everyone know what a big man you are, then verily I say unto you that the good karma stops there. But if you would just do all your giving in secret, well then... problem solved without even thinking about it. Theology students and bible scholars, feel free to chime in via the comments section.

My guess is I fall somewhere in the middle on this. My intent is totally pure, but I did it publicly AND asked for something in return (a million followers), so see you in hell. (Ha ha. Just kidding. The idea of a bunch of people suffering for all eternity in a big cavern of fire being poked in the butt with pitchforks by demons and whatnot was made up by Dante. It’s not really in the Bible. The concept of hell is, but not the pitchfork in the butt stuff.)

For next year, I’m cooking up a plan where we all can raise a lot of money, but let the charity itself benefit from having the followers. Thus, if charity x gets y number of followers on their twitter account during the year (increasing their reach and visibility), then I will donate $1 for each follower (plus extra pledges of money-per-follower from others). How’s that for an idea? Just kicking it around right now, but it sounds right. And it keeps what I think is the best part of this, which is all these thousands of people asking their friends to perform a quick, simple task (hitting the follow button) to raise money for charity. Please leave thoughts and ideas about this in the comments section.

But wait. Is putting this idea up on my blog just like announcing it “... with trumpets, as the hypocrites (and celebrity twats) do in the synagogues and on the streets..”? Am I going to end up in a cave of fire being poked in the butt with a pitchfork?

Aw, fuck it. I’m doing it anyway.

Could've Handled This Better, But Anyway...

All this Million-Dollar Twitter thing happened so fast, I still can't believe it.

Last Saturday a soccer team I own a part of, the Seattle Sounders FC, beat the Columbus Crew at home 1-0. Columbus hadn't lost a home game in 22 matches, and the victory all but assured us a spot in the playoffs. I was practically doing flips in my office while the game was on, and after the final whistle I acted like an idiot jumping around and pumping my fists as if I'd played the game myself instead of just watching it on TV.

I went on Twitter as soon as the game was over to publicly congratulate the team, and that's when I saw the @ from @Drew. He'd sent me a few more before that I guess, but I missed them. I was about 13,000 followers then and it was hard to see all the @'s I was getting. (Now I really can't keep track. If I see a specific request from someone in an @ reply nowadays it's just dumb luck.) He's this close to being an official cancer survivor and sent a link to an article about his effort to auction of his @Drew name and give the money to the Livestrong Foundation, Lance Armstrong's cancer charity. I was in a GREAT mood, so I tweeted him and bid $25,000 for the name.

By the way, I didn't care less about getting the @Drew twitter name, and still don't. It was a long, slow, steady climb to 13,000 followers and I wasn't about to change my name after all that.

Then I thought about it for a bit, and still in a great mood, upped it to $100,000 if I got 100,000 followers by the time he ended the auction of his Twitter name on November 9th.

Then, after a couple of days after that got a bit of publicity, I went crazy and made it a million for a million followers.

Now here's how I could've handled this better.

I should have just donated the money in the first place without doing the million-follower challenge. Yes, I guess it does "raise awareness" somewhat, but who wasn't aware of Livestrong and Lance Armstrong's fight against cancer? I think they were doing a pretty good job of raising their own awareness without me.

But instead, I think I made it a bit too much about me by making it a contest that benefits me in exchange for my donation. So there it is. My regret. Maybe I didn't make it too much about me. Maybe I just though up a fun way to raise money for a good cause. Whatever. I feel like I made it too much about me, so that's that.

But I'm glad so many people are participating in this. It is a lot of fun, isn't it? And it's cool watching the numbers go up every day. I'm glad the money is going to such a good cause. I'm glad @Drew's plan worked out. So it's all good in the neighborhood, as they say, except the small twinge of guilt about asking for a million followers in exchange for the donation. But I was pretty full of myself last weekend. I own a piece of an expansion team that kicked some serious ass last Saturday. They're probably going to make the playoffs.

So if you're put off by my method, blame them. :)

(And don't forget, tweeps! If I get one million followers by the end of 2009 I'll donate one million dollars to Livestrong. Anything less than a million, I'll prorate it. And it all started with Drew Olanoff, aka @Drew, who has cancer.)

The Beckham Experiment

I read the Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl last weekend. It's a great book, especially if you are a fan of any other team in MLS besides The Galaxy.

The years covered in the book, 2007 and 2008, were the last two years I was able to be a fan of the Galaxy (I'm one of the owners of the Seattle Sounders FC now). Reading it made me re-live every wall-punching moment: Hearing about Beckham getting hurt in Spain. Seeing Beckham get hurt at the Home Depot Center. The firing of Frank Yallop. The hiring of Ruud Gullit. AC Milan sticking their beak in our beeswax. Nobody passing to Beckham. Beckham waiving his arms, desperately trying to signal that he was open and nobody else on the team seeming to give a shit if he was open.

(Soccer fans who didn't follow the Galaxy may think I'm exaggerating the part about nobody passing to Beckham, but I don't think I am. During the last home game of the season last year, my friends and I watched in wonder as a Galaxy player, dribbling the ball into the attacking third, looked up, saw David Beckham wide open on the wing, and then turned around and dribbled the other way. Only thoughts of my poor fatherless child kept me from flinging myself over the balcony of my luxury box.)

In short, it was a time at the Los Angeles Galaxy that they and Major League Soccer would like to forget. I will heretofore refer to this episode in MLS history as "The Troubles".

A couple of important thoughts went through my head as I read this book. One was a mantra: "Without Phil Anschutz and AEG there would be no pro soccer in the United States. Without Phil Anschutz and AEG there would be no pro soccer in the United States. Without Phil Anschutz and AEG there would be no pro soccer in the United States." (And please, God, don't forget Lamar Hunt. Without those two we probably wouldn't have enough interest in soccer in America to even get a cable station to carry it.) So AEG had a bad couple of years with the Galaxy. So what? They're allowed. Forgive them for stubbing their toe while attempting the never-before-attempted.

Another thing I couldn't help thinking as Grant Wahl described misstep after misstep was "How can this possibly benefit the Seattle Sounders FC?" You see, during the Troubles, I was a fervent Galaxy fan. But now, a year later I find myself in the enviable position of being part of the ownership group of the expansion Sounders. And, if I do say so myself, we've done everything right so far. :) But there's nothing in this book for anyone in the Western Division except for bad news.

Is there anyone out there that seriously thinks AEG and the Galaxy management are going to let 2007 and 2008 ever repeat themselves again? Ever? You think they're ever going to let themselves get to that point again? If you do, then you're high. Bruce Arena (former US Nat'l Team coach) has the Galaxy actually practicing! (Unheard of in the Gullit days.) Their defense is 1,000% better. Even Landon Donovan and David Beckham have supposedly patched things up, which is the worst thing you could hear if you own another team. I don't want those two getting along and scoring goals now. Donovan is one of the best goal scorers in the league. Beckham is perhaps the best ball-passer in the world. I don't want them to be playing the Sounders and being all happy and focused. I want them slapping at each other during warm ups. This book might be the worst thing to happen to everyone BUT the Galaxy.

I'm just starting to watch the Galaxy play the Red Bulls on FSC as I write this. Donovan and Beckham just hugged. Donovan looks like he's about to play in a World Cup game and his testicles will be removed if he doesn't win. The Galaxy already scored and I haven't even had a chance to finish this paragraph. See what I mean? The world of every team in the West is about to be turned upside down because of this freaking book. Good job, Grant.

The Seattle Sounders FC play the Galaxy in LA on August 15th. I hope everyone remembers that we're not playing the same Galaxy team from last year whose every game-plan from Ruud Gullit was "I'm going out for coffee, anybody want anything?" This is the Galaxy who now are re-energized and have something to prove. They have a former MLS Coach of the Year who has won the MLS Cup twice. They already tied us on our home field 1-1 without Beckham. Now they have Beckham back and he and Donovan hugged.

Damn it.

Clock Game Controller - Since 1972!

Saw this backstage today and it blew my mind. It's the control box for The Clock Game on TPIR. Serving obediently and without pay since 1972.

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS

From A Course in Miracles: "When you meet anyone, remember it is a holy encounter. As you see him, you will see yourself. As you treat him, you will treat yourself. As you think of him, you will think of yourself. Never forget this, for in him you will find yourself or lose yourself."

Beautiful, huh? I thought of this while looking at a video from BoingBoing.net of members of the Westboro Baptist Church singing "God Hates The World". If you click on the link and watch it, I have to warn you that it's tough to sit through. At first, I laughed because it was so outrageous. I thought it had to be a sick joke. But then, when I realized how serious they were about their hatred I got more and more sad. And after it ended, my soul was in a puddle on the floor.

But then I remembered that passage from the Course and I just let it all go. I ended up feeling bad for them, actually, trapped in that way of thinking and unable to have any peace because of it. And unable to offer any peace to anyone who isn't as miserable as they are. God doesn't hate the world. They do.

Now I'm no saint. And if you end up reading enough of my blog posts and tweets you'll quickly see what a hypocrite I am for asking that we all love one another one day and screaming at a soccer player on TV on the other. But I don't hate the world. In fact, after watching that video I love the world even more. Any world that can take that kind of abuse and still let you live in it is okay by me.

I'm just starting to raise a 4 year old. And after I watched this video I recommitted myself to teaching him so much about love that it will never occur to him to join a group like the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka. That's my answer to them. I can't hate them. Hate is what they're selling and I won't buy it. I can pray for them, though. I can hope that one day all of them will come to their senses and get help so they can get out from under that horrible psychic burden they're carrying around. And I can work to make the world a place where, in the future where my 4 year old will live, the idea of the Westboro Baptist Church never crosses anybody's mind.

Care to join me?

My Big Celebrity Life

While all the cool celebrities are busy going to the hottest clubs in Haaalywood just so they can get on TMZ, your humble game show host is at home with his fiance playing Second Life and watching Fiddler On The Roof. They just finished Tevye’s Dream. Now they’re at the wedding singing Sunrise, Sunset. I think I’m going to cry. Why didn’t she marry the butcher? The poor, poor, butcher? Yes, dance promise breaker! Dance and be damned!

But, now we're so inspired by the dance number at the wedding that my fiance and I have decided that after we finally sign up for swing dancing lessons and then salsa lessons, we'll take Jewish line-dancing lessons. What's done is done! Five chickens!

Anyway... Second Life. People build the most amazing things there. Like this fantastically creative woman (man?) Pandora Wigglesworth. (Who knows what her/his real name is? Everyone is anonymous on Second Life including me). She has a store called Curio Obscura (above). It's this crazy steam punk Chitty Chitty Bang Bang place that's built on the back of a crab girl in a top hat.

Inside are things for sale that I would kill to have in real life: A propeller that fits in your mouth and allows you to fly, a clockwork body and brain, a robot pillow fight machine, a hand-held X-Ray machine and Anywhere Doors. Anywhere Doors let you just point to a wall and make a door that you can disappear through. Man, have I needed that only about a million times in my life.

Uh oh, Tevye just had the Tsar's dudes break up his daughter's wedding. Entr'acte, which is Jewish for "Intermission". Get him in trouble at the end of the first act. Get him out of trouble by the end of the second. That's the sit-com golden rule.

I have a friend who thinks being on Second Life makes me somehow less of a man because all I do is shop and look for cool places like Curio Obscura. He plays World Of Warcraft. As he said to me in an email, "I go on quests and kill monsters all day. What do you do, change your shirt?" Ooooh. Good burn. Yeah, you're more normal than I am.

Speaking of normal. I'm going to quit blogging now, put on my clockwork head and play some Zyngo. In Second Life. While eating Doritos and watching the world's greatest Jewish musical.

OMG... now the other dude wants to marry his daughter without permission! It's the same movie I just saw in the first half! Just like Sin City. The same story over and over and they call it a movie. Kee-rist.

Price Is Right, The Ride PICS! (Thanks Adam)

Adam Sandler (the TPIR producer and stage god, not the comedian and actor) got me these sample pics for our "Price Is Right, The Ride" project. Can't wait to have these available for every taping. :)

Two Tweets are Better Than One

It occurred to me today, as my Appalachian Trail joke was flying around Twitter and points beyond, that if one's name is TPIRHost people might think the joke was a product of, and had the seal of approval of, family-friendly game show The Price Is Right. (Joke: My new term for sex: Hiking the Appalachian Trail. Inspired by the Gov. of S. Carolina claiming to be hiking the Appalachian Trail for 5 days while he was actually in Argentina having an affair, and probably thought of by a million comics at once but it made me and my friends laugh so I tweeted it.) Not a dirty joke. But it does have the s-e-x word in it, so...

Also, I'm linking to stories that agree with my own personal political views (which Price doesn't even have - everyone on the show voted for the same guy you liked), and soccer (which no one on Price even knows the rules to), and lots of other things not related to The Price Is Right at all (which no one on Price even thinks about). So I thought it better to get a new, different twitter name to avoid any confusion when posting non-Price Is Right stuff before I got too many followers. (Over 7,900 in less than a week! Whoo!)

From now on, @DrewFromTV for all my Drew Carey, the comedian tweets.

http://twitter.com/DrewFromTV

And, @TPIRHost for all my tweets about The Price Is Right.

http://twitter.com/TPIRHost

Cheers! :)

Price Is Right, The Ride

If any of you have been seeing souvenir pics of TPIR posted around Facebook and MySpace lately, it's part of a new thing we've been working on for fans who wait in line to see our live tapings. We've code named the project "Price Is Right, The Ride", because the pics remind us of the kind you buy after you ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. It's all part of our desire to add something extra to the waiting-in-line-for-8-hours experience. (Waiting in the line can be half the fun of attending a taping, though, so don't let the long wait make you afraid to come. People have great conversations and meet new life-long friends in line all the time.)

We did it with the audiences for the two shows we taped this past Monday. We had a big green screen set up out in line, and people posed in front of it like they were spinning the wheel. Then they were able to go online and download a pic of themselves that looks like they were spinning the wheel on TPIR, along with a "Watch for me on The Price Is Right on September 21, 2009" message on the bottom. There was also a Cliff Hangers pic you could choose, and I think... a Plinko.

Anyway, Adam Sandler is hard at work on all of it, and there'll be an announcement when it's all done and ready for daily use. Stay tuned!

Anyone have a pic on their MySpace or Facebook that I could link to so people can see it? Didn't want to post anyone's pic without their permission...

Comments Back On - and are now Moderated

I couldn't figure out how to delete an already posted comment without turning the comments back on first. Didn't want the comment that caused me to turn them off in the first place to be displayed even for a second, so I just deleted the post. It was the one with the pics of all the models. Will try to re-post those sooner than later.

Meanwhile, I have the "moderate comments always" button on, so hopefully this won't happen again. Thanks everyone!

More posts coming soon. Have some Second Life stuff to share, plus soccer and Dan Harmon.

Cheers.

COMMENTS TURNED OFF

I'm sorry to say I had to turn off the comments section of my blog tonight. (And I've only posted a few times!) Someone called a former co-worker of mine who I loved a horrible bigoted name and I won't have it. I won't have that kind of thing spread around the world via me.

I'm very new at blogging and I'm learning how to use blogger on my own by intuition (and a couple of reference books I just bought two days ago). I don't know how to delete individual hateful comments (or if I even can) and I don't have time to moderate them all. I have a job and a 4 year old to play with at home. So until I can get someone else to moderate or figure out how to scrub away the stain, comments are off. Sorry.

What bugs me the most is that it was all spill-over from a TPIR "fan" site that seems, at first glance, to be chock full of people that are metaphorically out on the street with their pants down yelling at a telephone pole. It's not, totally. But like it always happens, a few people start screaming at telephone poles and next thing you know you can't hear yourself talk. And a couple of them were treating my blog like it was nothing more than another thread on their message board, and then the one guy went over what, over there probably isn't even a line, but over here is. I'm trying to have fun here and let fans in on what's happening on the show, okay? Not moderate your arguments. Seriously. You can hate what I do, hate the show, whatever. But let's be civil and have a reasoned discussion. I won't tolerate people pooping in my pool while I'm trying to splash around with my friends and get some sun.

I can't wait for PriceIsRight.com to start up in a couple of months, btw. It will solve so many communication problems. All fans will have a home there. New fans, old fans, critical fans, everyone. And I'll be on the message boards there constantly (along with everyone else on the production staff). We'll try to answer every question, deal with every conspiracy theory, and debunk or authenticate every rumor. And finally, fans will have a place to go and get first-hand news about the show, instead of unfounded speculation that ends up not being true from a guy who claims to know a guy who knows a guy. And we'll find a way to control the telephone pole screamers so the rest of us can enjoy our cocktails and chat. Sometimes we'll agree, sometimes we'll agree to disagree. But at least we'll be able to, at long last, discuss the show reasonably and intelligently.

Again, most of you are cooler than hell. I'm touched by the love I receive here. But that last dude... wow. Take it down the road, pal.

And this kerfuffle is just from one Price Is Right post! Wait until I start blogging about soccer. Hoo-wee. I'm going to need two moderators just for the guys from Toronto. :)

Comments back on when I get help moderating them or find my answer in my Blogger For Dummies book. :) Meanwhile... peace.

Christmas in June

I can't sleep, thinking about the taping of The Price Is Right tomorrow. We're taping the premier episode of the 38th Season of The Price Is Right. Starting my 3rd season. Airs in September.

You know, you can't see it unless you come to a taping, but everyone busts their asses on that show. Cameramen careen across the stage to save shots, stagehands sweat it out lugging these huge set pieces and prizes faster than they did yesterday, Kathy Greco flips me cards and dodges cameras, Adam points me to where I need to go while talking to the director while talking to cameramen and stagehands while talking to Doug who is talking to stagehands and cameramen... it's amazing to be in the middle of. And you can tell they do it not just for a paycheck, but because of the dignity and self-respect they get from doing a good job. I love working there, surrounded by that kind of hard work, day after day.

Rich Fields and the models actually vacationed with me this year. I spend all day sharing the camera with people that are so nice I want to go on trips with them. It's a place were everyone knows and likes each other. Above the line, below the line, stagehands, make-up, talent (Rich and the models), no talent (me)... That doesn't happen with too many shows.

Visited the set today and saw Mike Richards (the new Executive Producer). Couldn't help thinking of how we all were at the beginning of this past season and how we are now. We met right around this time a year ago after Roger Dobkowitz left the show. Roger worked at Price for 36 years. He taught me all the games and all the patter that came with the games. Now I'm meeting this guy Mike Richards at Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. I knew what he looked like because I had to look him up on IMDB because I'd never heard of him. He used to host Beauty and the Geek. I was late. He was on time. He's one of those guys who are always on time. Always moving. Always thinking. Always working. A real Ayn Rand loving go-getter. I was late.

His deal hadn't closed yet, and there was still a chance (I thought), that it wouldn't go through. And even after the deal went through, he wouldn't be able to start for 6 weeks or something like that. I had a press dinner that night where all they were going to ask me about was what was going to happen to the show now that Roger was gone after 36 years. I remember during those days I muttered a lot while I drove and didn't listen to the radio much because it distracted me from my muttering. I was living completely out of my body. We started talking about the show over our diner food. Small talk. Nothing major. How do you like hosting Price? You must be having fun. I auditioned for the show you know. Oh really. Ha ha. What was that like?

Finally, there was a moment when we both knew the small talk was over. I took a deep breath and said something like "Well look man, if you're going to do this show..." and then I laid out all my frustrations, talking with my hands and slumping a lot. When we were done with our lunch I had no idea what was going to happen with Mike Richards. Didn't know for sure that I would ever see him again. But everything I told him I loved and hated about the show, he loved and hated. Everything about the show that made me roll my eyes or shout with joy gave him the same feelings. We were already starting to complete each other's sentences. Still do. I love working with people like him. I can't believe the amazing luck-out they had in finding him.

This was quite a year on TPIR. The entire production staff was knee-deep in it all season. I think the production staff has had more meetings this year than at any time in the history of TPIR. And not just general, how's-it-going-and-what-are-you-up-to meetings. There were meetings and discussions about everything. There had to be. Everything moved at the speed of light this past season. I don't even look the same as I did when the season started. We show clips of the show before the tapings and I don't recognize the guy on the screen. It's been that kind of year. I don't recognize myself from the beginning of the season to the end.

The biggest change in the show this past season? The prizes. At the beginning of last season, the show used to average about 6 new prizes per taping week. It was possible, if one wanted, to watch the show for a while and memorize the price of almost every prize we offered. Now, we do just over 30 new prizes per week. We smoke any other show on television on prizes. Everyone on the staff is constantly pitching prizes, every single day. And we have a meeting once a week to do nothing but pitch prizes. The staff comes in with dream trips they'd love to go on, stuff they saw in a catalogue that they'd LOVE to have, well thought-out themed showcases... the prize department can barely keep up with all the prize ideas everyone comes up with. At the beginning of last season we'd give away say... a trip to Vegas. Stay at a "premium hotel" or some vague language like that. Nothing wrong with it. But since the prize meetings, they came up with one of my favorite trips ever: A Private Jet (!) to Vegas, a Skyloft Suite at the MGM (where only rich guys like me stay) including 24 hour butler service, tickets to KA, tickets to a show at Caesars, two expensive dinners and $5,ooo in cash. I was drooling over that showcase. I'd never lusted after a showcase before EVER. But since the staff has been working this way I've lusted after most of them. The staff picks GREAT prizes nowadays.

Tickets to the Final Four, golfing at St. Andrews, a day on a Private Yacht in the Bahamas (just a small part of the Bahamas trip we offered), a completely restored '65 Mustang... our prizes have been CRAZY GOOD lately. All because of these prize meetings. They even get all giggly while they're pitching, jumping in with suggestions to make the prizes instantly better. I brag to my friends about the prizes we give away.

So that's last season. Lots of meetings and great new prizes. Video instead of old paintings. Trips you'd kill for instead of grandfather clocks. Hondas. Our last Pontiac (a G-6). New producer. New director. Host re-born. And we were just setting the table. Tomorrow, we eat.

Call it the Year Of The Bungalow. And give everyone in it the credit they deserve.

Here It Comes!

From the Bob Barker Studio at CBS in Haaaalywood...

How disappointing to be a TV star and find yourself turning to free blogger software to get your word out. I even have a friend I've already paid to build a website for me, but it all seems like such a huge pain. This took me 5 minutes and I didn't have to call anyone for help. I might not ever change the background either. I've got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so I think I'm good in the "notice me" department. For now ;)

I just need a spot to blog, that's all. I could use the Price Is Right page at CBS.com, but then I'd get stuck writing about just The Price Is Right. Same for the available-just-a-few-short-months-from-now-we-promise-from-two-years-ago PriceIsRight.com. (Honestly. It was up for a while, now static, and... available soon! We're announcing it during the show we're taping Monday. Airs in September. So here's hoping.)

When PriceIsRight.com is up and running for real (it really is nothing much more than a placeholder now, not worth linking to) I'll copy my TPIR-related blogs to it. Promise. And, I'll answer questions on their "dynamic message board" and make use of all the other groovy doo-dads that they are supposed to be loading it down with. Don't know what all, since no one has heard from them since the meeting. (The guy who promised to keep me updated on the wiki even called me Bro, I think.)

But meanwhile, get your first-hand TPIR word here. I'm also a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, a soccer team that plays in MLS, the top pro league in the United States. I'll blog about that. I host a once-a-month radio show on Little Steven's Underground Garage (Sirius 25 and XM 59). I'll blog about that. I work with the Reason Foundation on their video projects. I'll blog about that. And, I have the coolest, smartest, funniest friends in the world. I'll blog about them. Stand-up career, improv shows, all of it. Consider it blogged. (And tweeted, while I'm at it.)

And maybe one day, when I'm sick of plain old free blogger software and the basic templates that came with it, I'll call my friend and really go all Huffington Post/WorldNetDaily on everyone. But don't hold your breath.

Thanks for Coming On Down. :)