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Back at Florida Supercon 2022

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My first time attending Florida Supercon (or any Con) was back in 2013. My friends, Worms and Isis, invited me since we’re into a lot of the same nerdy stuff (mostly things they got me into), so I decided to go and I brought my camera along — we also ran into another buddy who’s into the nerd stuff, Rudy (who made a comeback during Supercon 2022).

Back then, Florida Supercon was a much smaller event. It took place in the Miami Airport Convention Center (MACC). Since then, I’ve seen the show continue to grow to the larger CON that it is today, thanks to ReedPop taking over. In 2014, Florida Supercon moved to the Miami Beach Convention Center, a few years later to Fort Lauderdale (due to construction). For the past few years, (minus a canceled 2020 Supercon) it has taken place in the newly reconstructed Miami Beach Convention Center.

There was a period of time when the whole thing took place over the 4th of July weekend —- which was a terrible time to be on Miami Beach. Luckily, this year it took place the weekend after, which was good enough for me.

What to do?

There’s a few things I like to do at a CON (I have also attended MegaCon in Orlando once). (1) I bring comics to get signed by artists and writers. I also buy prints and artwork from some of those artists. (2) I like to spend money on nerdy/geeky fan art and other stuff too. This year I bought some posters, stickers, a shirt and my first set of metal dice. (3) I also try to attend some panels. And (4) I like to meet the guests. Guests come from all places: movies, TV, anime, YouTube, Twitch, even Wrestling.

Over the years, I’ve come up with a fun way to meet these guests that makes it exciting and sometimes memorable for both of us. I like to make them drawings of characters they’ve played, usually in animation. This also helps me get back to drawing, which is something I used to do when bored in school.

Super Guests

Guest tables are where you go to meet the “famous” people. At each guest table you may pay for an autograph, photo, sometimes a voice recording or whatever else that guest feels like selling. You can also just meet them. I never pay for any of the extras because I’m just excited to meet and have an interaction with these people.

*Side Quest: I understand why they charge so much for each thing, if they didn’t they’d be signing things, taking photos and not really “meeting” anyone. It also helps keep the lines under control. Sure, certain lines get extra super long, but for the most part you can always come back and find a better time to visit. If a guest table is empty at the moment, you can always ask any of the “guest handlers” when they plan to return. Handlers have access to the full guest schedule, although sometimes they just go out for a snack or bathroom break.

What I’ve learned over the years is that many of the guests are very kind and thankful when you bring them a gift. They especially like homemade gifts. Some may even waive the fee of an autograph or picture as a trade off.

It’s also a good ice breaker to give them a drawing of a character that you’re a fan of. From there they may go into some fun stories about working on that project. When I brought Jason Isaacs (aka Lucius Malfoy) a drawing of his character from Star Wars: Rebels (the Grand Inquisitor) and he said, “Oh wow, I’ve never seen the show. Did I do a good job?”

When I met John DiMaggio he started speaking in his Bender voice and other character voices. He also gifted me a signed picture of King Zog.

This year’s Supercon was full of The Walking Dead actors. I had the chance to meet Cooper Andrews (Jerry), Ross Marquand (Aaron), Seth Gilliam (Gabriel) and to chat with each of them for a bit. I talked to Cooper about acting and creativity, and Ross and Seth both took pictures with me for giving them drawings. Ross also did some of his spot on Michael Caine impression.

When Kate Flannery was at Supercon two years in a row, I brought her a different animated character drawing each year. The second time she said, “I remember you! Let’s take a photo.”

A few years ago, I was excited to meet Bret Iwan (the current  voice of Mickey Mouse). I ended up attending a panel with him and two other voice actors I wasn’t too familiar with, Adam Croasdell (Ignis Scientia from Final Fantasy XV) and Steve J Palmer (Bill from Red Dead Redemption 2). After the panel I went on to their tables just to tell them I really enjoyed the panel. Adam was a super cool dude and we talked for about twenty minutes.

I stopped by Steve’s table on my way out. No one was in line behind me. I told him I just wanted to say hello and that I really enjoyed the panel. We ended up talking for about an hour about his start, acting, improv, food, and so much more. After that I decided I should try to meet as many of the guests as I can, even if I’m not so interested in their main projects.

This year, when I returned on Sunday (after attending on Friday) I ended up meeting a few anime guests that I wasn’t too familiar with. I made them drawings of some of their work, but not the main anime shows people were mainly excited about. I ended up having some really cool conversations with these people too. And since then, I started watching a little more anime to see their work.

Two anime people I met were Todd Haberkorn and Amanda C. Miller (both from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations). I gave them each a non-Boruto drawing, and had good conversations with each of them. Todd was Mr. Knickerbocker on Barney and Amanda was Princess Quasar Caterpillar on Star vs the Forces of Evil.

Fun Times

I have definitely seen a few guests who are only there to make some extra cash off of fans, but for the most part everyone I’ve met has been excited to be there and talk to some people who admire their work. The same can be said for most comic artists and booths. They are mostly there to show off their work and meet people. On a few occasions I did see some of the artists walking the floor, which is cool to see.

Florida Supercon weekend is a super fun and awesome weekend. I do hope to visit some more CONs around the country. I will also be sharing some of my favorite artists, booths and other posts about the event on myVGBC.com. So keep an eye out for those.

For now, here’s some of the cool stuff I picked up while at Florida Supercon:

Also, as promised here is Rudy’s comeback to Florida Supercon 2022:

*I was able to attend Florida Supercon 2022 last weekend with a Press Pass thanks to my other site myVGBC.com, although I do plan to post about it on both of my sites (this one being the other one).

Disney Snacks • Magic Kingdom: The Search for my Mickey Cake Pop

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A few years ago, while visiting Walt Disney World with my buddy (who lived in Orlando at the time), I learned about my favorite Disney treat — the Mickey Cake Pop. We were visiting Disney’s Hollywood Studios and there was a small bakery (or confectionery) inside one of the Sunset Boulevard shops (near Tower of Terror). That was the place to get cake pops and other sweet treats inside of Hollywood Studios — once upon a time.

From that day forward, any time I would visit a Disney Park with my buddy we always picked up some Mickey Cake Pops, except in Epcot. There is no confectionery in Epcot, but that’s fine with me. Epcot has tons of great snacks and treats to eat, and Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie (the French bakery).

Side Quest:
Today, that Sunset Boulevard Bakery no longer exists.
In fact, there is no confectionery inside of Hollywood Studios.
It’s very sad that I can no longer pick up a Mickey Cake Pop
inside of Hollywood Studios*
(*my most visited Disney Park in recent years).

Since the loss of the Sunset Boulevard Bakery, Mickey Cake Pops are now only available in 50% of Walt Disney World Parks — the two Kingdoms, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. You can also probably find them somewhere in Disney Springs.

During my return to Magic Kingdom last month I had a small scare. I planned on eating some good treats, including something I’ve never had before. However, I also planned on finally having another Mickey Cake Pop — which I hadn’t enjoyed in over a year.

I’ve compiled this short journal of my meals during my last visit to Magic Kingdom in April.
I only ate three things, and they all happened to be sweet treats or desserts.

Treat #1 • Dole Whip Swirl

This first treat had been planned out since the moment I booked my Magic Kingdom reservation. I have always heard great things about the Dole Whip, I just thought it wasn’t really for me, since I love chocolate over fruity sweets. My original idea of this snack was more complicated than it actually is. In my mind it was some sort of pineapple drink float with soft serve on top.

The Dole Whip is basically soft serve ice cream and you get to choose whether you want Vanilla, Pineapple, or the swirl. For my first ever Dole Whip I went with the swirl, and that was the right choice. I think the mix of Pineapple and Vanilla is the perfect combination. The tartness of the Pineapple is toned down by the Vanilla flavor.

I ate this around noon for my breakfast, and it was a great breakfast. The soft serve is not too heavy of a snack. The weather was also perfect for a cool treat like this. The whole day was cool (in the 60s), so I wore my sweater, but the sun was shining so it was a little warm too.

I ate my Dole Whip and proceeded to visit one of my favorite shows in Walt Disney World, the Enchanted Tiki Room.

Treat #2 • Marshmallow Pop

After moving from land to land, I arrived in Fantasyland to visit Big Top Souvenirs, which also houses some baked goods. I came in searching for my favorite treat, but this is where I received some disappointing news.

When I asked for a Mickey Cake Pop, the cast member behind the counter notified me that they no longer existed. I saw a snack that sort of looked like a Mickey Cake Pop, so I asked for one. She told me it was like a rice krispie treat version of the Mickey Cake Pop, so I said, “Sure, why not.”

There was actually zero rice krispie inside of this new pop. Instead it was filled with pure Marshmallow fluff, which was better for me since a Mickey Cake Pop has Marshmallow fluff for the ears. Although it wasn’t the Cake Pop I had wanted, it was still pretty close in shape and satisfied part of my cake pop needs with marshmallow fluff.

Even though the Mickey Marshmallow Pop was not exactly what I came looking for, I would definitely get one again. This was a really tasty snack. I also know they have different shapes and versions of these that I will most likely try out in the future. Some may even feature different flavors.

Treat #3 • Mickey Cake Pop!

At this point I was on my way out of the park. I stopped at a few shops on Mainstreet USA to pick up some goodies on the way out (I have to use my Passholder discount whenever I visit Disney Parks, usually to get a new mug).

I also decided to stop at the Mainstreet Bakery to pick up some Goofy gummies. These are another favorite, but more of a take-home treat. I also got some Disney gummies for my nephews.

When I got to the cash register to pay for these treats, I also decided to take home a giant Mickey cookie since I was feeling a bit defeated about the missing out on my Mickey Cake Pop. At this moment I saw the cake pops, I asked the cashier, “Are those cake pops, or more marshmallow fluffs?” and he assured me that they were the cake pops I was looking for.

I had found them on my way out. I was so excited that I asked for one and I still took that giant cookie home, for all of my troubles. If you’ve ever had a cake pop at Starbucks, it’s sort of like that but there’s way more cake pop to it. Also, there’s the added Marshmallows for ears.
__

Since I hadn’t visited Magic Kingdom for over a year I just wanted to eat some sweet treats. I do plan on doing more food related posts in the future, and definitely some Epcot Food Festival posts as well. So, be on the lookout for those.

Stay tuned for more learnings, and hopefully I’ll be back at Walt Disney World soon to write about more Disney stuff. I still have one or two more posts to go from my April trip.

What are your favorite Magic Kingdom (or Disney) treats? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter, telepathically, or any other way you’d like to reach out and tell me about it.

Ferdi’s Learnings 3.0

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Back in 2020 during the height of the pandemic, I launched Ferdi’s Learnings 2.0. I changed up the style and look of the site. I got back into posting a couple of times a month (sure, I planned on one or more posts a week, but things happen). I worked on my photo editing skills.

It is now 2022, and time for something new…

Ferdi’s Learnings 3.0 

What does that mean exactly? This year, I’m going to try all kinds of new stuff. This time it’s not about changing the look and feel, but instead it’s about adding more content.

A couple of weeks ago I added the “Events & Entertainment” category to the site, when I wrote about attending my first Live WWE event in over 20 years. And I will continue to add new “Events & Entertainment” posts (not just wrestling). In fact, I will be working on some later this week.

I plan to post more food stuff this year. Last year, I started my “Apples in Review” posts, where I was going to review every flavor of apple I could find. I did eat a bunch of apples last year, and have many photos of me eating apples now. I just quickly abandoned posting about apples. Yes, there are many different types of apples, but I learned that they mostly taste the same — or my apple palate isn’t very advanced.

Don’t worry, I will do something with those apple photos. Here are some pictures of me taking a bite out of some juicy apples…

I do however have a great love for “Sweets & Treats.” Hey! I think I just discovered another new category.

In the coming weeks I plan to start adding a few more, so stay tuned. For now, you can enjoy this post that talks about what I plan to do in the future. (This is what is called a filler post).

I will continue to write my regular learnings about dumb stuff I learn some weeks, but I’m also trying to grow. Aren’t we all? It’s important to continue to evolve. I’m not the same person I was seven or ten years ago when FerdingsLearnings began as a one off weekly post on a blog featuring a few of my Miami Ad School classmates.

Special shoutout to Wallace Cruz for creating this site as SCnA (Super Cool n’ Awesome people). And, for later handing it over to me for Ferdi’s Learnings when everyone else got too busy with their real work.

I will continue to write and post and explore and more just to make Wally proud!

Thanks, and see you real soon with some new stuff!

Bananas • The Perfect Food

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I recently came to the conclusion that bananas are THE MOST PERFECT FOOD.

Think about it. A banana comes ready to eat. All you have to do is peel it and eat it.
Let’s briefly go over some of the reasons why bananas are THE MOST PERFECT FOOD:

#1 GREAT AS IS

There’s no need to mess with the banana, but you can if you want to. You may also eat a banana just as it is and that’s fine.

You can use bananas as an ingredient to enhance many meals and snacks. You can make a StrawNana smoothie. Make an extra sweet treat, like a frozen Nutella-Banana, Banana’s Foster or Banana Split. I even once grilled bananas wrapped in bacon. I’ve had bananas on pizza!

Side Plug: I also make delicious Ferdi’s Nana Puddin’ which you can order anytime by messaging me via text message, email, or social apps.

#2 CONVENIENTLY PACKAGED

There’s no need to wash your banana. Plus, you can easily peel it, with your fingers. Oranges feature an outer layer that you don’t eat either, but you need some sort of tool (or knife) to get to the inside — unless your some kind of barbarian. Other fruits hit the floor and need to be cleaned before you put them in your mouth.

#3 NO WASTE

Although the banana does come in it’s natural “package” (aka banana peel), there’s no need to worry about pollution. The banana packaging (aka banana peel) is 100% biodegradable.

Side PSA: Let’s just keep banana peels off the streets and walkways. You never know what’s going to happen when someone drives, bikes or steps on a banana peel based on what we’ve seen in movies, cartoons and Mario Kart.

#4 NUTRITIOUS

Bananas are a healthy source of fiber, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and various antioxidants and phytonutrients. You can learn more about the banana’s health benefits right here.

#5 DELICIOUS

Also, Bananas aren’t just a convenient snack, they’re also a delicious one. But this leads us back to reason #1. Like I said earlier, bananas are great as is but may also enhance many meals.

Are bananas my favorite food? No, of course not. There are a million better foods out there. But they are a great choice and the most perfectly made food by Earth (or God, or whoever you believe is in control of everything). I’m just trying to say they are the most perfectly designed food for instant consumption.

My New Favorite Superstar

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BACK IN THE DAY

Back in the late 1900s and early 2000s, I was a big WWF fan (now known as WWE). I watched Monday Night Raw every week, and I even remember Smackdown coming on TV at some point during my fandom. I would record episodes on my VHS tape if I had to miss them, so I could watch them later (no streaming, TIVO or replays back then).

The Rock was, is and forever shall be my number one favorite Superstar. In fact, here’s a cool story. I’ve never met The Rock, but I do have his autograph (pictured below).

SIDE QUEST

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Autograph

Side Quest
When I was in the 7th or 8th grade there was a WWF event happening in Miami, FL and The Rock was going to be at Bayside (back when it wasn’t super gross) signing autographs. The day it was all going down I happened to be in the middle of Midterms or Finals at school, so I couldn’t skip school for that 

Side Side Quest
Also, my mom worked at my school so it was kind of impossible for me to skip without her knowing. I once stayed up so late on a school night that my alarm clock (yes, not my cell phone, but a clock that was created to tell you the time and wake you up), didn’t wake me up. At around noon, my teacher had asked my mom if I was sick or something, and she said no. She came home and found me asleep and took me to school.

Side Quest cont.
Because I couldn’t go to Bayside, my coach (Tony) went to Bayside to meet The Rock and get his autograph for me. I will never forget that. (I also have a basketball signed by Bill Cosby because of Tony, which is another story for another day).

BACK IN THE DAY cont.

In middle school, I attended three or more Live WWF events (Raw, Smackdown and one of those late night ones no one watches like WWF Livewire). Since we were just kids at the time, my dad had to take me and two of my stupid friends. My dad was not a fan of wrestling, but he did it because he loves me.

Wrestling was a big part of our lives. We would all give each other DDTs and Stone Cold Stunners. We’d Rock Bottom each other into the pool. We’d shotgun soda cans like we were Stone Cold Steve Austin. We played WCW and WWF video games from the N64 on.

But then something happened. Sometime in High School, I just sort of dropped off of the WWF train. It was like the whole Santa Claus thing (which I believed in for way too long). Sure, I knew wrestling wasn’t real, but at some point it wasn’t cool to like it anymore. I moved on to other “cooler” stuff.

CUT TO A FEW WEEKS AGO…

My parents really wanted to watch the show Yellowstone, because all of their friends were talking about it. I did the research and found out it was streaming on Peacock, so I signed up for a  FREE one month subscription to Peacock just so they could watch three seasons of Yellowstone in about ten days.

One of those days I was at home working, and I checked Peacock just to see what was on there. I found some good stuff, The Office, Parks and Recreation, the new MacGruber show, a bunch of movies and sports stuff.

Then I noticed something. Off to the side on the menu bar I saw it — one tab that read “WWE.” When I went over to it, I unlocked a never-ending world of WWE (WCW, WWF and more). I could go back in time and watch any match from the beginning all the way up until today.

So, I started with what I knew. I went back to about a couple of years after I had stopped watching. I saw some of my most memorable Superstars. Some I remembered, some I had forgotten and others that seeing them instantly triggered so many great memories. 

I watched some Royal Rumbles, which are the most exciting matches in my opinion. You get to see thirty wrestlers enter the ring one at a time for a giant match. The only way to get eliminated is to be thrown over the top rope and have both feet touch the ground — something Kofi Kingston has gotten very good at avoiding (click on his name to see the highlights). It’s also a good time to see which Superstars, Hall of Famers and even celebrities join the Rumble.

NEW OBSESSION

This past weekend I saw online that the Royal Rumble was happening. Also, I learned that I would be able to watch live on Peacock (no more fifty or sixty dollar PPV events). That’s amazing! I ended up watching the latest Royal Rumble on Monday, both womens and mens. 

I also watched most of the other matches from that night, and of course, with every big match there’s a story of what led up to that match. This is where my WWE wrestling rabbit hole began. After the Royal Rumble traveled back a couple of weeks to see where some of this beef had developed.

I went back to a few Smackdowns from last month and last year. Next, to SummerSlam to see where the Edge vs Seth Rollins story had started. I continued to go back and forth to learn who these new superstars are. I watched some Xavier Woods aka Austin Creed matches (since I know of him from his Video Game podcast, Up Up Down Down). 

And then it happened. I found my new favorite (second favorite, because The Rock will always be number one in my heart) wrestler, Rick Boogs! (you need to click on his name to see why he’s the greatest).

Go ahead, I’ll wait…

Rick Boogs

It’s Rick Boogs y’all! 

I first saw Rick Boogs in the Royal Rumble in his wrestling singlet. I just thought he was some nerdy wrestler dude. It wasn’t until later on that I saw him introduce the King, Shinsuke Nakamura with his electric guitar that I thought, This is the best dude ever! King Nakamura also brings a lot of thunder to the entrance the way the music travels through his body.

I forgot how fun wrestling is to watch. The matches are exciting and crazy. The stories are stupid and fun. And the entrances are electrifying.

I mostly just wanted to share Rick Boogs with the rest of the world, and now I have done that. So, goodnight!

Ok here’s one more for you. RICK BOOGS!

Kids in Cool Music Shirts

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The other day I was driving and I saw a kid (middle schooler) wearing an Outkast shirt, with the Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik album cover art. The first thought that came through my mind was, What does this kid know about Outkast? That album was released in 1994 — more than ten years before this child was even born.

Outkast • Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik album cover

I personally owned and wore my Outkast brand jean shorts, back when jean shorts were acceptable to wear in public — also many years before that same kid was even born.

It took a few minutes for me to realize that I was just being a silly grinch. Why do we have to think that way? I remember when I was in high school and I started listening to more Classic Rock. Today, I own Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Rush t-shirts — although I have seen Rush live twice. I’m just like that kid, but a future version of him. I’m sure many older people have seen me wearing my old band shirts and thought, What does this kid know about [INSERT OLD BAND NAME HERE].

Don’t be a Silly Grinch!

Pretty much every human likes The Beatles and that’s fine, even though half of them are no longer living — and haven’t been for some time now. Music lasts forever. I recently started listening to a lot of Sam Cooke. That’s music from sixty years ago — the early 1960s.

I know plenty of parents who try to push their music, movies and shows onto their children. I try to push the stuff I like onto my nephews too. Also, I’m a fan of new music. Last year, my most listened to album was most likely Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR — while running.

So why is it that any random young kid who likes a band you like is seen as a punk or poser? Maybe that kid has a cool parent (or aunt or uncle) who got them into Outkast. Maybe that kid went out and discovered these artists on their own. How much music did you discover on your own, and with the help of your friends or family members?

*But also maybe that kid is a little punk, because many of them are, but at least they have good taste in one area.

So, from now on when you see a child wearing a shirt featuring an old band, movie, game or anything that you’re a fan of maybe you should just give them a thumbs up, a high five, or a “Cool Shirt, kid,” or whatever it is they’re saying these days.

Another option is just to not get annoyed with them and say something like, That kid knows what’s up, in your own head so you don’t come off as a creepy old boomer to this little kid.

Either way, let’s all stop being jerks in real life and on the internet.

Doing Too Much

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A Short Story:

Back when I was a student at the Miami Ad School, they’d bring in a weekly “Industry Hero” (someone working in advertising or something adjacent) to do a sort of Ted Talk for the student body. Afterwards, the person would stick around to teach the “Heroes” class, where they’d assign a week-long project based on their specific area of expertise. Most of these “Heroes” were former Ad School alum.

We had a few professional photographers as guest “Heroes.” I noticed that most of them used Canon cameras and products, and so did most of the students. I had a Nikon. The Miami Ad School was sort of like going to Hogwarts, but instead of visiting Diagon Alley for a wand, animal companion and magical broomstick, you’d instead go to Best Buy for a MacBook, Adobe Suite and a DSLR camera.

Back to the point, there was one “Hero” photographer who was an older gentleman one week and he happened to use Nikon products. One student asked, “Why do you use Nikon over Canon?” As if he were using the wrong camera. His answer was great, he said, “Nikon makes lenses and telescopes. Canon makes printers. Would you rather take pictures with a telescope or a printer?” As a fellow Nikon-user I thought that was a pretty sweet answer. All of the Canon folks thought the guy was a big D-hole.

I chose Nikon because (years earlier) looking at DSLR cameras with my friend we asked, “What’s the difference?” We were told, “Nikon is better for photos of stuff, while Canon is better for people.” Is that true? I don’t know, but I do know that I prefer to take photos of stuff (mountains, outdoors, oceans and cities), because any time you take a picture of a person they immediately say, “Let me see,” and “Uh, I hate it!”

Animals and babies are cool to take pictures of because they don’t do that. So, why am I telling you this story? I started thinking about companies and brands that work in multiple industries, and how it always seems weird when seeing a company’s name on some product knowing what unrelated product they also create.

Too Many Things:

For example, Yamaha makes musical instruments, but also motor vehicles*. When I was a kid there was a car company named Daewoo, at the same time my friend’s TV in his room was made by Daewoo. Dove makes chocolates and soaps — ok, I googled it and those are two different Doves, but it’s still confusing — it would be odd if one Dove product went inside and one went outside of your body, right?

*After some more googling I found out that Yamaha Music and Motors are two separate companies, but originated and are owned from the same mothership.

At the movie theater the other day I noticed the urinal pad read “Royal Company” and I thought I hope that’s not what RC in RC Cola stands for, because I don’t want my urinal pads coming from the same factory as my soda. I don’t drink RC Cola, but if I did and this were true it would have most definitely changed my soda drinking habits.

There are companies like Sony and Microsoft that have gaming consoles, computers, TVs and all types of divisions. Samsung makes TVs, appliances and all sorts of electronics. These are all in the same sector so that doesn’t really bother me.

I started thinking of people I know, especially fellow castmates from my improv theater. We all have different jobs and backgrounds, but that’s what makes us funny when we’re put on stage together to make stuff up. We have lawyers, accountants, bankers, firefighters, teachers, designers, writers and more… No Doctors though, doctors are never funny. If you have a funny doctor, you need a new doctor. Ken Jeong (aka Mr Chang – Community and Leslie Chow – The Hangover movies) was a funny doctor once and he had to leave that profession behind to become a successful actor/comedian instead.

I for one wear many different hats each day. I work as an accountant during the day, I freelance as a writer, copywriter, photographer and graphic designer sometimes. I write and create content for my two blog/sites (this one and myVGBC.com) each week. I also sometimes make ice cream, banana pudding and sweet treats to sell to people (Ferdi’s Ice Cream — returning soon?). You can also catch me on stage at Just the Funny making people laugh every once in a while. Do any of these take away from the others? I don’t think so.

While multiple separate companies can be owned by one singular brand/company, that doesn’t mean the same two people are working on each product. It just means that the executives (aka Overlords) running the show are watching over everything. These smaller companies are just operating under one bigger umbrella, but separately. As long as you trust one of those companies, I’m pretty sure you can give the others a chance. At least until they prove you wrong. We are all more than just one thing, and I guess companies and brands can be too.

The main thing though is to definitely keep the toilet stuff and food stuff separate. Urinal pad and soda manufacturing don’t belong in the same building, warehouse, city or even state… Ever!