Which is what I am. Before I pole vault into bed, I'd like to thank all the folks who've written with good thoughts about my mother. She's doing still better, thank you…plus, I seem to be straightening things out with that medical supply outfit.
It's very annoying, when one is complaining about poor service, to keep talking to people who have no power to do anything but apologize. I don't need apologies from anonymous folks. I need action to be taken. The other day, in one of the few conversations I've had with someone who might actually be able to solve problems, I went through a laundry list of things that had been done wrong and then said, "You know, I'd be embarrassed to have this much inefficiency in my line of work…and I write cartoons for a living. Nobody dies if I screw up." I think that made a bit of an impression. At least, things got better after that.
Part of my mother's recovery involves treating her for Sleep Apnea, a condition which I also have. Several years ago, I wrote this article about it and now it seems to run in the family. And by the way, if you suffer from this, live in or around the Los Angeles area and have a prescription for the equipment, I would like to recommend my supplier. Home Respiratory Care, which is reachable at (310) 441-4640, came to my rescue when the Big Name Medical Supplier dropped the ball. The folks there are wonderful. I went through two other companies before I found them so I know what "not wonderful" is. The folks at H.R.C. are wonderful.
Thanks also to all who sent suggestions for a new dial-up Internet Connection. I'm trying one out in the next few days and I'll report back here if they turn out to be wonderful, as well.
Several people have written to ask if I'll be moderating my usual dozen-or-so panels at this year's Comic-Con International…an event that commences in (gasp, shudder) sixty-seven days. Yes, of course. Can't tell you what all of them will be yet but there will be the usual Cartoon Voice Panel, this time with some folks who've never been on one before. We'll be playing Quick Draw, and there will be a Golden/Silver Age Panel and a Jack Kirby Tribute Panel and I think I'm going to be hosting a panel on one of the greatest pieces of animation ever done for TV. I'll also be interviewing a number of top veteran comic book creators…and I should be able to give you a list here in a couple of weeks. So don't write and ask me what they'll be and, for the love of Paris Hilton, don't ask me where you can get a hotel room. What do I look like? Travelaxe? (If they can't help you, nobody can.)
Hey, does anyone have a copy they don't want of Rowan Atkinson Live? I'm looking for the stand-up special he did several years ago…the one with the sketch about the schoolmaster who beats students to death and the sketch about the ungracious award accepter and the one where he plays the Devil welcoming people to Hell. It came out on VHS and ran 300,000 times on Comedy Central…but I never got a copy and I'd like to find one and dub it over to DVD. There's a very funny man.
One thought before beddy-bye: Is it my imagination or did the following just happen in this country? George W. Bush ran around saying that we have a Social Security crisis because we will eventually have to reduce benefits by about 20%. So to fix it, he's proposing a new, much more expensive plan that will cut benefits by about 20%.
Is that about what happened? Naw, couldn't have. I must need sleep. G'night.