I lost my friend today.

This just sucks. A few days ago I told you about my friend Mark Sullivan. He died today.

Mark had a congenital condition that eventually compromised his heart to the point he needed a transplant. His condition deteriorated so rapidly he went from his happy-go-lucky self 10 days ago to his heart finally giving out at 9am today. Mark was 40 years old.

Mark had his spleen removed a few days after birth leaving a decent sized scar on his torso. He was so unassuming and always deflected attention away from what we would later learn was his knowing any day could be the day. Once, a girl he was seeing asked me about Mark getting bit by a shark. I asked her what the hell she was talking about, she said "I saw the scar on his abdomen and I asked him what happened, he said he got bit by a shark". Knowing Mark he was laughing the whole time.

I've known Mark for 15 years and I was fortunate to be his roommate in Raleigh for 6 months. Mark was a good looking guy, played guitar, wrote songs, and was a genuinely great human being. Needless to say the ladies loved him. But it wasn't some skank-ho fest at our place, there were no strippers, no dumb-asses, no body shots. Marine Biologists and aspiring Psychologists and such. It was one of the best times I ever had, and I'm pretty sure it was for Mark as well.

I moved back to Denver, Mark eventually moved on...first to Jacksonville at the legendary WAPE. I hooked him up with John Peake who brought him to the even more legendary KRBE, Houston. Mark was big time. He would go on to Minneapolis, Tucson, even Mankato Minnesota where he thought he wanted to be a Program Director. Mark last radio days were spent in Chicago at Love FM, within earshot of his hometown.

3 months ago they told Mark he would need a heart and liver transplant by the end of the year. He almost made it, we all thought he would. We all just took the cue from his optimism, he thought it was no big deal. When it was all said and done he would just tell people he got bit by another shark. That was Mark.

Donate your organs if you're not set up to do so already. And I hope somebody like Mark will cross your path, you'll be a much better person because of it. Trust me.

Hear Mark's music on his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/marksullymusic

'Twas 3 days before Christmas...

So I worked Saturday at The Peak until 2pm, decided I'd head over to the new Big Mama Jama Target (I forget what they name it but you know what I mean). I had to pick up wrapping paper and a few stocking stuffers. I know, the Saturday before Christmas at Target, but that is the point of this post. I fully expected there might be another shopper or two. I had zero problem with it, I was in no hurry, destine to enjoy every minute no matter how long it took. Not everyone uses this Zen-like approach as you might guess.

At one point I overheard a woman in the next aisle greet a man she obviously hadn't seen in some time, "...doing some Christmas shopping?" or some such small talk. To which the guy responds "yeah...I hate this f**king store, everybody in here is an idiot!, I hate this f**king store!"

Now, I'm no Mensa member, so I couldn't resist wheeling around to see what one looked like. I mean, declaring the rest of us idiots and all. As it turned out I don't think he was Mensa, as a matter of fact it appears his frustration might come from Target being way out of his league. Whatever genius-man does for a living, it apparently doesn't include a dental plan or a clothing allowance as he appeared to be limited to free T-shirts and Dollar Store pants. About that time a red-face wife-looking woman corralled him up, no doubt adding to the list of reasons why she cant live without him, and hastily moved on.

I moved on to the greeting card section, my last need. As I approached I noticed a guy wearing a skirt. A kilt is probably a more accurate description, but still not very manly. He had two adorable small children in the cart with him, very hippie like. Soon a woman, I'll call his common-law wife for the sake of my amusement, appeared from one of the other card aisles in what was surely a home-made full length skirt. Very hippie like. She was a bit frustrated, I guess she couldn't find a card that just said "Happy Holidays", I could sense skirt-wearin' hippie-man getting agitated. While the two hippie kids enjoyed themselves, dad used the opportunity to denounce the season, damn us! "Welcome to the over-commercialization of Christmas! This is what you get people!"

Here's a tip - you have no condemning authority whatsoever if you are a man wearing a skirt. Period.

As the wiseless hippie children stopped, sensing their no doubt normally placid father had cracked, they quickly took their cue from The Stranger chuckling at skirt-wearing Pops.

Here's my point, I really don't care what you wear or who you are, thereby don't embarrass yourself by trying to be what you're not. If you hate Target, stick with the swap meet or stores that sell Jack Daniels mirrors. No need to roll into Target and start dropping f-bombs. And the commercial aspect of Christmas is a lot of fun for most of us, if not you then please stay home and make presents from twigs and granola. People would probably expect it of you anyway.

I had a blast this Christmas, I hope you did too.

Merry Christmas 1988

My daughter Sheila left this for me this Christmas Morning.One of her many nicknames, "bench", comes from the Miss Finch character in The Sesame Street Movie. Sheila always called her Miss Bench.

Ugh.

This is my buddy Mark Sullivan, you can call him Sully if you want, or Dino. Dino was a radio name he used, sometimes with the last name De-Loro. He was emphatic that you use a hyphen when spelling his made-up last name.

Mark is going to be spending this Christmas hooked up to tubes in the ICU at The University of Chicago Hospital. He's awaiting a heart/liver transplant that he needs pretty quickly.

This pic pretty much sums up his personality, always laughing about something. Unbelievably, I've never seen or heard the guy pissed about anything. Yep, he's that cool. This would be the epitome of the"why do bad things happen to good people"question, but I will certainly stay optimistic, he would.

Merry Christmas Dino!

"She sucks at life!"

Quickie Survivor update...Fatty Courtney made it to the final vote! I was actually pulling for her after watching the other three, she sorta perfected that "whatever" attitude while the others were either grovelling or lying ad nauseum. She even managed to blurt out that the low-totem-pole-lunch-lady Denise "sucks at life" (she later apologized). Too Funny. And BTW, Denise will proudly maintain that mullet because it makes her feel like a lady, thank you very much. The Producers gave her 50 grand at the last minute, I guess they figure keeping her and her family in Marlboro Reds and Easy Mac for life was a small price to pay for entertaining the nation.

Survivor winner Gay Mormon Flight Attendant Todd (I'm sorry, but these characters are almost cartoon-like, and I didn't make up the descriptors) managed to convince the jury of adults that lying, back-stabbing and cheating should in no way affect their personal relationship. Kudos to Todd for pulling that off. Amanda likes to lie too, but only Erik fell for the puppy-dog turned back-stabber face. One vote. Somehow I think she'll be fine, no producer supplementation needed.

Big Ol' JR, the exaggerated sense-of-self poker player who loudly claimed neither Todd nor Amanda would get his vote because of their declared art of lying, apparently succumbed to his man-crush and voted Todd in. His being the swing vote. JR even baffled himself by not being able to explain it when asked. My Guess? One look at the post island Hair Of Todd and JR was butter in his hands. Its the kind of 'do you make up when you're 6 years old and you've been in the bathtub for a half hour. The only thing missing was the beard of soap suds. It was Todd's last trick and JR is still roaming the streets mumbling an explanation to only himself. Congrats Todd and to all those that don't suck at life.

Survivor Fatty in the final four!

Hey look, I like reality shows...and Survivor is one of the grandaddies.

I pegged Survivor China contestant Courtney Yates to get the boot early on, she's annoying and can't do anything physical. Now she's in the final four and I have realized my error. An anorexic in Survivor is genius! While other contestants are grousing for food and overwhelmingly preoccupied with the lack thereof, this girl is in heaven. So what if she can't chop through a rope with a machete for food reward, she doesn't need it. Her body self image is going through the roof! What other contestant can wear their Survivor buff around their chest?

How intimidating is it to be stuck on an island with nothing to eat but bugs and rice and have your competitor laughing at you because she's on day 36 with no food and loving it? There's no way you can win. It's like having a stare down with a stuffed animal. So, I say you go Fatty! Let them lose the will to live while you proudly display your skeletal structure under that thin layer of pasty skin! Now, about Amanda....

From my balcony this morning.

Phoggy Phoenix Morning from Steve Douglas on Vimeo.

What if runners were like skateboarders?

thanks Mark Hitt.



Brought to you by Gnarstar.tv

Do Not Attempt.

So Best Buy has been running a TV ad where two brothers try to figure out where the Christmas present stash is. One brother is on the others shoulders while the hoisted one peeks into the attic. I've seen the ad several times, Sunday I noticed something different. The line "Do Not Attempt" was super-imposed during the commercial while the boys were doing their attic attack.

What is it we're not supposed to attempt? Would it be not having your brother on your shoulders? My 46 year old brother needs no prompt to not attempt, believe me. Would it be not have minor siblings attempt? As if having kids do it for the sake of a commercial is legitimate while doing it for fun is asinine. Maybe looking for the Christmas stash should not be attempted. Or possibly doing anything Best Buy says in the commercial should not be attempted.

I'm sure someone from the Best Buy legal department who has more words in their job title and more zeros in their paycheck than me is guiding us thank God. My guess is this legal eagle got his or her ass kicked while playing chicken in the pool as a kid.

Move along...nothing to see here.

Sometimes insomnia can be fun. This morning I woke up around 4:00. After waking Lucy the cat for no reason (hey, he does it to me all the time) and reading Kelly 2.0's MySpace Ballistic Bulletin Rant, I flipped on the tele.

I know KPHO Channel 5 starts doing news at 4:30am so I figured why not see if the malls in Omaha were still safe and secure (why people yak about big city crime when these "high-valued" Midwestern communities turn into arcade shooting galleries is curious). I didn't pay close attention until 4:31 when they went to their traffic center with a traffic person in front of a special traffic map to talk about...traffic. At 4:31am. Laughing by myself with a yet unamused but awake cat at all the green arrows as said traffic person covered all the area freeways. At 4:31am. In a somewhat failing effort to justify her existence she did happen to mention an off ramp stall or something before tossing it back to the dueling anchors. Then, like Groundhog Day, they brought her back at 4:36am. 5 minutes later. What do you suppose happened on the freeways of Phoenix between 4:31 and 4:36am? Well, as the traffic specialist confidently explained in front of her map of green arrows, nothing.

I suppose the folks at Channel 5 think that if they have a traffic person with green arrowed traffic maps at 4:30am viewers might see them as "the news team to watch". I think of them as "the news team with absolutely nothing better to offer so we'll waste time doing this".

All is not lost, I fell asleep before all roadway hell broke loose at 4:41am (I can only assume).

KPHO = 1, Lunesta = 0

Year 1999 A.D. - this was made in 1967

Black Talk The Vote!

Talk The Vote!! (with The Peak)

Last year's Peak Christmas video

The Peak Christmas Video from last year. from Steve Douglas on Vimeo.