I could care less whom you want to vote for, all I ask is this…..VOTE!

The second hand if a knife…*tick* slice…*tick* slice…*tick* slice

I hope that everyone who comes by here is a registered voter. If you aren’t, what’s keeping you from doing it? Don’t know where to go? It’s never been easier, just go here to get help registering online. I really don’t care who you vote for (well…actually I do, but that’s not the point here), so long as you vote.

I just realized that I have had this blog for a year now, and this is only my 40th post…I really need to work on that.

I am home from Japan. Happy to be “home”, but I would feel that way no matter where “home” was, it has nothing to do specifically with Missouri or Kirksville. I am already beginning to plan my next trip back though.

Well, in less than 12 hours I am leaving for St. Louis. Will stay there tomorrow night. Fly to LAX on Tuesday. Stay in LA on Tuesday and come Wednesday, I’m off to Tokyo again. Kind of scary how I am not getting that “stoked” feeling I got the first two times I went. I would hate it if going to some place I love as much as Tokyo would become common place.

I will be logging on while I am there, but not sure how much time (or energy) I will have for blogging. I have SO much to do on this trip it’s not even funny. I thought 2 weeks was to long to stay at one point, now I am not sure even a month would be enough time to get everything done that I need. As expensive as it is though to go and stay there, 2 weeks is really all I can afford. Hopefully no hiccups will happen this time, but I am going to try my darnedest to make sure they don’t.

Hope to blog ya from Japan!

Well, t-minus 1 week to the first part of my trip to Japan. I go to St. Louis next Monday, Tuesday I fly to LA and Wednesday I fly to Japan. Due to the time difference I land in Japan on Thursday afternoon. Thus begins 2 weeks in my favorite place on Earth, Tokyo.

This time I am going to try to do a daily journal type thing with at least one picture a day as opposed to my ususal randomness. I am trying to get the 2001 trip pics up before I leave. I am also working on a super-sized new addition of content to my site, but not sure when that will be going up.

Not a whole lot else to talk about, just trying to get ready for my trip. Yay!

It’s kinda scary, but I am actually working on my website again. Nothing that pretty, but I am trying to add a lot more content to it. I’m just hoping it works. Nothing is up for the public to see yet, but hopefully I will publish the new stuff in the next few weeks. If all goes well though, it will be something to come back and check out a little more often.

I hate having my hands tied, and in some ways this blog is starting to make me feel that way. There are several things I would like to comment on, but I can’t because of my belief that a business owner should be impartial. There are several companies *I* won’t deal with because I don’t like their publicized stances on different subjects. And when you have a business of my size that is just not practicle. Biting my tounge though is sometimes tougher. ARGH! Blast my need to be impartial!

Was there a law passed at some point that I missed? Where in the world is it written that everyone must use their blog or Live Journal to moan “Poor me! POOR POOR ME!” I have gotten to the point where I am just fed up with reading anyone’s blog. (The irony I am writing this in a blog is not lost on me)

At least I use my blog to vent opinions, there might be an occasional bitch about my life, but lord folks…keep some of this BS to yourselves!

You gotta love the web somedays. Ok, as everyone knows, President Bush was
arrested and convicted of a DUI when he was 30 (proof
here).
Flashforward to the present day. Someone showed me this on the Canadian Embassy
website (exact page
here):

Persons Who Are Inadmissible to Canada

Members of Inadmissible Classes include those who have been convicted of
MINOR OFFENCES (including shoplifting, theft, assault, dangerous driving,
unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of illegal substances, etc.),
or of INDICTABLE CRIMINAL OFFENCES (including assault with a deadly weapon,
manslaughter, etc.). As well, those who have been convicted of DRIVING WHILE
INTOXICATED (DWI) are considered Members of an Inadmissible Class. Driving
while under the influence of alcohol is regarded as an extremely serious
offence in Canada.

Um….does this mean President Bush could never go on an official visit to
Canada? Would they REALLY say “Sorry Mr. President, but you’ll just have
to turn Air Force One around and go home.” Makes ya wonder!

I’m not sure when it happened, or really how it even happened, but I have come to a realization about myself….My name is Sean and I am a Disney addict.

Now don’t go thinking my house is covered in Mickey Mouse, it’s not. I can no longer deny it though, I truly love the works of Walt Disney and his original Imagineers. The only true sign you will find of my Disney love is some Haunted Mansion ride related items in my house…a few Nightmare Before Christmas statues…a couple of Little Mermaid statues…DVD sets….oh man, I was wrong, Disney *IS* all over my house.

However, all that being said, I now find myself siding with a camp of people against the Disney company. If you have not kept up with what is going on with Roy Disney, you really need to go read SaveDisney.com. (And for those who don’t know who Roy is, he is Walt’s nephew).

Michael Eisner is single handidly destroying what made Disney what it is today. And in turn he is essentially spitting on all the original ideals set forth by Walt himself. To me, the final straw was closing down the feature animation department at the Orlando studios. Apparently Mr. Eisner no longer sees a need for hand drawn animated features in the future of Disney. Excuse me, but no hand drawn animated features from Disney is like saying “We really don’t need Walt.”

I know a lot of people out there are saying “But I hate the Disney company!” and I can’t say as I blame you. All I would ask is that you realize you are actually hating the Michael Eisner version of the Disney company. You would be hard pressed to hate the original vision Walt had for his empire. A vision where it truly was an idealic Happiest Place on Earth. Where if a park bench in the theme park had a paint chip, by the next day the bench was repainted (a budget that Eisner cut several years ago), that children were the most important customer (as opposed to Eisner only being concerned about keeping the shareholder’s happy) and producing some of the most beautiful animation the world has even seen (see above for Eisner’s take on that…and also note I said “some of the most beautiful”, some being the keyword).

So please, take just a moment of your day and check out SaveDisney.com. Thank you.

I guess it takes me getting sick to get me to post a new entry. (although I still doubt anyone is even reading this thing) Not a whole lot going on, business still sucks. Not sure what happened there. Things were going great up through August, and then came September and it all went to hell. Convention sales were down, net sales were down, everything was down. The weird thing is we are shipping just as many orders as ever on the web, but the customers are spending significantly less per order, hence the down swing in business. The number of orders encourages me and tells me there is still a lot of interest out there, but the lower amount spent per order tells me the economy finally caught up with me.

Then there is the Yen. Ow. The United States is artificially weakening the Dollar so that we can export more. This in turn is making the Yen artificially stronger, and in turn giving me many many headaches.

On the personal side of my life, well on the personal side absolutely nothing is happening. I work too many hours a day/week to have a personal life. Though in a town in the size of Kirksville, there really isn’t much of a social life to be had. Don’t get me wrong, I like living here. I like the idea I can accidentally forget to lock my car and when I come back it will still be there.

Otherwise not a whole lot to say. Hope you are all having a safe and happy holiday season!