Sill sick (cough)

I have no idea why I'm still sick for such a long time. I got really sick a few weeks ago, kicked it, and now I'm sick again. Maybe its becuause of my hectic work schedule. Maybe its because I haven't been exercising as much. Who knows, all I know is that its starting to piss me off. All I wanna do is sleep these days. Mind you, I'm not the type of person who gets sick often, so this is odd. Guess I'll have to be a trooper and stick this one out. (Cough)

Freelancing my brains off

With the exposure from last month's black cartoonist 'sketch-in,' I've been able to secure a few new freelance project. That's cool, because everybody can use a little bit of extra cash now and then. The bad thing is that this takes away from what precious little time I already have. Not that I'm really complaing (cause I love being a cartoonist), but I often wonder what its like to take a full vacation. I haven't taken a real vacation in a great while. Usually I take a few day off from my day job at the St. Pete Times to catch up on some cartoon stuff.
It's my own damn fault, though. I live in Tampa Bay, home of some of the world's greatest beaches yet I hardly ever visit that part of town. Maybe I can combine things: take my sketch pad out to Madiera Beach. That would be great except for the mosquitos, humidity, crying babies, tourists kicking sand in my.....Never mind.

The envy of soccer moms everywhere

So, I'm stuck in bed doing a bit more blogging than usual (cause I got no where go to). Before I got crazy sick over the weekend, I had a chance to attend a pretty good soccer game. It was Olympic qualifiers and team USA was playing Honduras. Other than a few very annoying Honduran fans, the game was good, USA won 1-0. However, the coolest part of the match was when it was over. I got the chance to meet the two stars of the team Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu (pictured smiling above). As I chatted with Adu about his time at DC United and SL Benfica (it's a soccer thing, you wouldn't understand) I started to think: This guy's filthy rich. Suddenly I got a bit depressed. I mean, I'm in my late thirties and this guy just turned 18 and makes about $4 million per year.
If I was only gifted with talent I could've been a pro athlete. Nah. I'll stick with cartooning.

Some good news (finally)

Just got work from one of my editors at Creators Syndicate that the Los Angeles Times have picked up Cafe Con Leche for a trial run starting March 24th. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. I used to live in Southern California and read the LA Times every day. I always thought that LA's demographics would be a perfect fit for my cartoon. Apparently the LA Times will permanantly pick up my strip if fans write in and say they like it, so I'm crossing my fingers on this.

Out sick

Today I did nothing. I didn't draw one cartoon, I didn't create one informational graphic for the newspaper. Why you might ask? Cause I was confined to my bed due to sickness. I don't remember the last time I did nothing. I mean, I tried to get up and go to work but just kept sneezing and coughing. Now, people who know me very well will tell you that I rarely get sick. In fact, the last time I got a major cold was probably 3 years ago.
I want to get up and do stuff but my body is protesting. I guess this was my body's way of saying "enough already." I guess I'll have to play catch up later on in the week.

Moving fast-forward in a town that doesn't move

So, as I stand in line at the local Starbucks in downtown St. Petersburg, Fla., I begin to tap my feet and check my clock. I then pull in to the parking lot of Publix (a grocery store down here) and wait about 5 minutes for the person in front of me to move their car out of the parking space. Is I nuts? Probably.
People here in Tampa Bay just move at a different pace, no matter how much you try to hurry them. Blame it on the retirees, blame it on the snowbirds, its all the same. Adapting to the pace has become a painful exercise in patience. Having previously lived in places like San Diego, Chicago and New York my pace of life is usually much faster that most of the folks I meet down here. They tell me "you need to slow down a bit. We're generally more relaxed down here in Florida." I don't buy it.

You see, I was born in South Florida (near Miami) and spent most of my youth in Orlando. Both of those places have a noticeably faster pace that Tampa Bay. But that's beside the point.

My only saving grace is when I take my trips to New York City. Ahhh, sanity.
For now, I guess I'll have to continue to adapt to the pace, or die tryin.' With apologies to Fitty.

Cafe Con Leche On TV!

Good morning, folks (or what ever time it may be where you are.)...

Just go through watching a clip of myself on Fox 13 here in Tampa Bay. They came over to my house a few weeks ago to do a profile of my cartoon "Cafe con Leche." The whole thing was pretty cool.

Here's the link.