Wanna See Where I Work? A Cubicle Tour.

Ok, so I said I was gonna mix it up a little so here we go with something a little different. Like a bunch of people in this country, I spend 8 hrs a day in a cubicle. Thankfully, my employer let's us pretty much decorate them however we want. Some of my co-workers have plain Jane cubes, but I wouldn't be able to stand that, so mine's pretty well covered with stuff to break up the monotony. Let's take a look, shall we?

This is the outer wall as you approach my cube. It's sufficiently Mavs championshiped up thanks to the pages of the Dallas Morning News. I'll give you a tour of the interior beginning with the view from in front of my computer and continuing to the left as I spin in my office chair.

The wall behind my cpu has a poster of Devil's Tower in Wyoming which is one of my absolute most favorite places ever. I spent a lot of summers in Wyoming as a kid with relatives and I never go there without visiting the tower. Next to that I've got a Michael Finley Sprite poster. Fin would rank third all-time on my favorite Mavs list. On top of the computer we've got Spidey, Deadpool and Hambone. What a cool superhero team they would make!

Behind my twin monitors (us artists need lots of work space) there is a Mavs team poster from 2008 I believe.

On the left side of my desk sits my scanner which doesn't get used a whole lot anymore, but it does a pretty good job of holding a Rangers schedule, an SI NFL preview issue and an Amazing Spider-man CD of comics that I'm borrowing from a co-worker. On the desk itself is a recent issue of Spider-man and the jug I bring my milk to work in for my morning oatmeal. Yummy, right?

The shelf above the scanner holds photos of the wife and kids along with bobbleheads of Cuban and Dirk. There is also a Smurf for some reason, which was given to me by the same co-worker that loaned me the Spidey CD. Two more Mavs team posters cover the wall behind the shelf.

Here is the only large interior wall of my cube which gives me some room for a couple of full-sized posters of the Mavs and a Humberto Ramos rendition of Spider-man.

As, you walk into my cube there is a pillar on the right with a little room for some full sized movie Spidey and 2 Dirk game giveaway posters.

This is my window to the outside world that I'm lucky to have. Most people in the office don't have one. Another Spidey stands watch on the ledge. On the desktop is a stack of Sports Illustrated, Playstation and SLAM magazines, a plush Snoopy and Spider-man, my fan and an old monitor that doesn't really work anymore. I've also got 2 more of the Mavs giveaway posters featuring the Jet and the Matrix. The orange you see between the desk and wall is the bottom half of a talking Ricky Rudd Nascar Tide standup. His top half is behind the bottom half and out of view. I had to take the batteries out and dismantle him to keep my co-workers from constantly making him talk. I haven't had it together for at least 5 years, but I still remember what he says, "Hi, I'm Nascar driver Ricky Rudd. On the track or off, Tide takes the checkered flag. So remember, if it's got to be clean, it's got to be Tide!" That's how many times that danged button was pushed!

The right side of my desk hold my Mavs water cup, my radio that is constantly tuned to Sports Radio 1310 The Ticket and a sweet poster of Mark Aguirre dunking in his short shorts. This is also where I tack my calendars to keep track of those precious days off.

Finally, the last part of the cube tour is the shelf above my desk on the right. I used to have about 2 paper boxes full of various toys filling my shelves, but with my last cube move I cut it down quite a bit. Now I've just got these few Mighty Muggs figures of Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow, Wolverine, Black Suit Spider-man and original Spidey. Oh yeah, and a sweet Chewbacca figure that appears to be threatening to blow Spider-man's brains out with his bowcaster.

So there you have it, your own personal tour of my home away from home. I hope it meets your approval. Later.

Why Invincible Really Is "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe"

With all the comic book pub lately being heaped upon DC for their New 52 #1's and Marvel for their black Spider-man and X-men Schizm, it's easy to forget there are other publishers out there. One of those "others" is Image comics which just happens to be home to my favorite book, Invincible.

Invincible is written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Ryan Ottley and it is "The Best Superhero Book In The Universe!" It says so right on the cover of each issue and I'm here to tell you why.

It's not the action.

It's not the romance.

It's not the crazy super villains.

It's not the hot, alien chicks.

It's not even the brutal beatdowns. No, what makes Invincible "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe" is this...

it got my wife to read it. After all the years I've tried to get her to read a comic, Invincible finally pulled her in. She'll probably kill me for posting this photo, but I love it. Nobie and I came home the other night and she had already fallen asleep reading in bed and what do you know? There she is all snuggled up with an Invincible trade. Awesome! That is simply the clinching reason why Invincible really is "The Best Superhero Comic Book In The Universe". I dare you to prove me wrong. Later.

So, Where Was I?

So, you're wondering where I was for the last month right? Well, the answer is nowhere. I've been here all along. I just haven't been posting for lack of subject matter/want. See when I started this blog it was to keep up with other collectors and to make trades and such and it's been great for that. The problem is, we just aren't buying all that many cards anymore, especially packs, which means we don't have much to trade. Besides MLB stickers, we haven't bought much of anything. I was posting my singles purchases, but I figured I was pretty much boring everyone with just my Mavs, Rangers and Cowboys stuff. Sorry, that's about all I'm bothering with lately. My last several posts where not even about card collecting sports at all, just soccer though I tried to tie it in with some EPL customs. So I think it's time to retool a little bit. I'm gonna follow my buds TJ and Guy from Obsessive-Recreation and blog on whatever the heck I want to. Maybe cards, maybe comics or music or soccer or whatever. I'm hoping that by broadening my subject matter, I'll be more likely to keep up with it. We'll see. Later.

Don't Worry, I'm Still Alive!

Some of you were probably beginning to wonder what happened to me. Or maybe not. Anyway, it's been a whole month since I last posted and I didn't want anyone to get worried, so here's proof that I'm okay.

That's me holding the first issue of the all new Ultimate Spider-man featuring Miles Morales in the Spidey suit. It just came out today, so there's your proof. In case you've been out of the loop of comics, this issue is somewhat controversial as Miles is not your typical Spider-man. A while back when it was announced that Peter was gonna die and he'd be replaced by a new Spider-man, all the buzz was about Miles' skin color. That's right folks, he's not white! OMG! First the White House and now our beloved superheroes, what could be next?

Well, guess what? It's no big deal to me what color our new Spidey is. Sure I'd love for Peter to still be around, but not because he's a white guy, he's just familiar. I think the change is pretty cool though. See I don't think superheroes should live forever. I think they should die off, retire, grow disinterested or just altogether quit every once in a while. We don't need 80 year old Bruce Wayne running around trying to still be Batman. He's had plenty of apprentices that can take up the mantel and run with it, or how about this? Create an all new character every once in awhile to replace the departed ones. I kinda wish that's what they would have done here instead of giving Miles the Spider-man name, but I also realize that he wouldn't be getting near the publicity if he was named Arachno-boy or Wonderwebs or something.

Speaking of names and people being too hung up on Miles' skin color, I read a post on a forum somewhere today where someone was complaining about Miles' last name being Morales. They said, "If his dad is black and his mom is Puerto Rican, why does he use his mother's last name when they are married?" They seemed very concerned that a black guy wouldn't have a latino last name. I guess they must not watch very much baseball. Ever hear of David Ortiz for one? Just because his dad is black doesn't mean he can't be Puerto Rican or Dominican or something. Who cares what color his skin is or what his name is, as long as the stories are well written and enjoyable, and so far, it is. In fact, the biggest difference so far between the two Spider-men is not their names or races, it's their powers. **Spoiler Alert** Miles can turn INVISIBLE! Now that's got me interested. Later.