I just added a widget for my Kickstarter campaign for The Starving Artist’s Diet.  I hope you’ll take a moment to check out the project.  Even better, I’d love for you to join me in bringing the book to press.  If you really want to go crazy, grab the widget and put it on your blog site too.

As always, thanks for visiting The Jackodile Press.  Come back often and see how we’re progressing with the funding of The Starving Artist’s Diet.

Each day I get one step closer to seeing my first book go to press.  It’s been a bigger project than I first imagined, but I know it’s also a better project than I first imagined.  And while it is not going to be a book for all times, it should bring a smile to people’s faces and hopefully even a little chuckle.

The book is called The Starving Artist’s Diet.  It’s a humorous look at what artist must do to survive and still create his/her art.  Each chapter presents actual eating tips to make your money go a little further and features real artists out there making it happen.

All along I have planned to self-publish this book.  At first I thought no publisher would be interested.  As I’ve developed and now written the book, I’ve come to think this actually might be of interest to a broader audience.  Still I’ve decided to keep control of the publishing.

As I’ve looked at the cost of publishing, I have decided to use Kickstarter to essentially pre-sell the book.  You should check out Kickstarter.  I’d love for you to participate and pledge for my book, but you should take a scan through their site to see if there are any other projects that catch your fancy.

Anyway, I’m a day or two away from launching my Kickstarter campaign.  I’m a bit nervous because what if no one participates?  What if no one wants to invest?  Can my ego take that kind of rejection?  Like with everything in the past, I’ll survive.

Thanks for keeping The Starving Artist’s Diet in mind and check back here frequently to keep updated on its progress.

Has anyone else tried the Coke Rewards program?  You sign up at www.mycokerewards.com and then enter the codes on the boxes and bottle caps to earn points and win prizes.  Maybe it’s just me, but I’m coming to the realization that I’m wasting my time.  Actually, after I entered my first code, I knew I was wasting my time, but I’d started something and I didn’t want to rush to judgment.

Well,  now I’m two years into occasionally collecting the codes and entering them into the Coke Rewards site, and I have a whopping 684 points (that’s 3 points per bottle cap and 10 points per 12 pack).  What can I get with 684 points? I can get a lot of sweepstakes entries, screensavers, mobile phone wallpapers, an Avis rental car upgrade, a six month subscription to Siempre Mujer, or a Fanta silver charm bracelet.  I’m really bummed that I’m still 66 points shy of getting the Coca-Cola beach ball.

At this point I’d love to just walk away and forget the whole thing, but I’m committed.  I’ve come this far, so it’s hard to admit that I let Coke steal all this time and energy from me.  Admittedly, it wasn’t that much time, but I feel a bit ripped off.  All these years of loyalty to Coke and then they treat me like this.  It’s like they really don’t care about me.  It’s so hard to believe and accept.  I feel used.

So where do I go from here?  Do I take that Fanta charm bracelet or try and stuff the ballot box and put all my points into a sweepstakes?  On second thought, maybe I’ll collect just 22 more bottle caps and get that beach ball.  It looks like a really nice beach ball.

It’s the scoop of the century.  If you know what team LeBron James will sign with and then post it to your blog or website first, just think of the amazing traffic you will attract.  Other sites will link to you.  You may even get a few click through on your Adsense ads.  You would be reverred by journalists abroad for gettting the scoop and more importantly getting it right.

So do I really know where LeBron is going to play basketball next season?  Sure, New York… No, wait, Cleveland… Or Chicago.  Actually, I’m still holding out hope for the Pacers.  Of course, as you can see, I have no clue.  I’m not an insider in the sporting world.  I don’t have a crystal ball.  And I definitely don’t know “King James” (his loss).

The great thing about scooping this story is that it will be old news almost as soon as it’s new news.  So, who will get the real scoop?  LeBron James.  I can see him posting it on his website and then letting the media frenzy begin. (Oddly enough, it doesn’t look like LeBron has a truly active website.  His official site says it’s about to launch.  So, if it doesn’t launch when he announces his basketball plans, will it ever launch?  Will it matter?  How in the world does the first or second most popular basketball player in the world not have an active website?  Maybe he’s planning to launch the site the same day he announces.  That would most likely be the highest first day of traffic for any website).

While I won’t be the one to scoop the LeBron James story, I will probably be the first one to post it to all my friends on Facebook.  I may even be one of the first on Twitter (there’s a challenge).  So while I won’t be THE first, I will be one of the first and just think of all the notoriety that comes with… right, none.

7/6 UPDATE:  Apparently, I won’t be the first on Twitter because LeBron just signed up for Twitter.  Now this is power.  He signed up today, and he already has over 167,000 followers!  You can check him out at @KingJames on Twitter.

Something’s wrong here.  Why is it when fireworks should be selling like hotcakes, stores are offering “buy one get five free deals?”  Usually, at the holidays, the corresponding products are overpriced with no discounts to be found.   At Valentines Day, roses are a ripoff as well as that box of candy.  As Easter approaches, the baskets, plastic eggs, and candy are all top dollar.  It’s only after the holiday when the prices drop.

So what gives with fireworks?  How can the store give five away after someone pays for only one?  There’s only one logical conclusion.  They’re ripping us off.  Now, as I see it, buying fireworks is already a waste of money.   Literally, your money goes up in smoke.  But the price of that one has to be way off the chart compared to its manufacturing and marketing cost.

While I prefer good old discounts like 25% off or even better 50% off, even a BOGO deal sounds more legit than “buy one get five free.”  (Here’s my BOGO rant.)  But once you start offering five with a purchase of one, it should trigger a question of how much are they over charging for the one?  Right?  They didn’t make the five “free” fireworks for nothing.  They have to pay for that somehow.  So either the free fireworks are duds or very boring, or they are not really free.

I hate stupid promotions such as these.  I hate BOGO, but I hate this one even more.  I guess I hate it because it plays to human gullibility.  Everything about it says the retailer is lying, which only makes mad.

So what’s the limit?  Why sell one and give five away.  Why not go one better?  Sell one and give six away?  It’s like Six Minute Abs.  Why not Five Minute Abs?  So I propose that the fireworks sellers go all out and cut everyone a real deal.  BUY ONE GET A BILLION FREE! Sure, that first firework is really expensive, but the other 999,999,999 fireworks are a steal!

The problem with sports is the refs.  They screw-up so many calls.  They ruin perfect games, miss the big penalties, and call fouls that are only imagined.

The problem with sports is the players.  They’re a big bunch of overpaid whining babies who have a ton of athletic ability and very little common sense.  They carry guns, get into fights, stay out too late, and then wonder where all their money went as they file bankruptcy after only three years out of the league.

The problem with sports is the fans.  So many of them are uncultured blow hards who drink too much, run naked onto the field, and get into fights in the stands.  They are blindly loyal when the team is winning and no where to be found when the team is losing.

The problem with sports is the coaches.  Too often they use the wrong line-up, make stupid play calls, and cannot command the respect of their players.

The problem with sports is the owners.  For some reason they think they are qualified to evaluate talent when their specialty is accounting.  And when all else fails, their solution always seems to include spending more money, especially if it’s the taxpayers’.

The problems with sports is the commissioners.  They think they own the game.  They change the rules and hand out meaningless suspensions and fines.

The problem with sports is the money.  Whatever happened to playing for the love of the game?  Players only play hard when it’s a contract year and don’t respect the contract they have signed by demanding more money with two years left on their current deal.

The problems with sports are what makes it really great.  It’s the problems that keep the conversation going.  It’s what powers so many radio and television shows and written content on the Internet, in magazines, and in papers. The problems in sports helps create a more textured and indepth story.  If there were just the game, at some point we’d get bored.  But when you add bad calls, player complaints, commissioners trying to change the rules, ridiculous salaries, and obsessed fans, you have a beautiful story filled with flawed characters and compelling plots.

So the problem with sports… is what makes it great.  It’s a problem that doesn’t need to be solved.