Goodbye 2010

Is it just me or did this year FLY by!?

Amazing how fast time goes isn't it? It's so weird saying goodbye to 2010 so soon.

So... anyone have any New Years Resolutions? Let's hear'em!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BUBBER!!!

Hey everyone! Mrs Fancy Pants here is having a birthday today!

Please deposit any best wishes into the comments below.

Oh... and she wanted me to tell you that she's accepting gift cards from any of the following stores (sigh)

1) Starbucks
2) Old Navy
3) Target

But seriously, comments and "well wishes" should do just fine. : )

POST #2000

Check out the post for today!!! This is my 2000th post and baby it's on!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I made my first post on the blog. I think I grabbed on to the fad when it was moving into MySpace. (that thing before Facebook)But I've been loving this blog ever since!

I even have a few thoughts to share with everyone about it:

01. I had originally imagined my blog would be for comic strips not only by me, but from other people as well. I had a few ideas to start things out but then I was going to have "guest artist" in every month to do stuff too. I remember asking 4 people, but each one backed out for reasons of being "too busy" so I just continued drawing them myself.

02. "Family Circle" is one bit I never got tired of. I could've gone on for YEARS making fun of that strip. But after a few months I decided it was a dead horse and moved on.

03. I LOVE the fact that I posted so many pictures back in the day. Seeing them now still makes me laugh at how much we change as time goes by. I intend to post more pictures in future post.

04. The most popular strip to date MAY be "Snakes" It's received the most request for sequels and is still my wife's favorite strip I've done. What's mine? Hmmm... tough question, but "Balloons" would definitely be up there in the top ten.

05. Besides the first year, have you notice my post have become my frequent every year? Yep, it's true. Seems I have more to speak about every year. Weird. The first year shouldn't really count since back then I didn't know you could post a picture AND comment on it at the same time.

06. I've been blessed to have so many folks read my blog after so many years and look at the comments! So many of you from everywhere have been so kind with your support over the years and I really want you to know I appreciate it very much.

Ok, that's really all I wanted to say. Thanks for making Cardco: The Blog so popular. I look forward to making post #3000 in a few more years.

C-ya!

Introducing Baby Tallis

Sorry it's taken so long to get this video out to everyone! I meant to post it a few weeks ago but kept forgetting.

Here's Tallis, the latest edition to the Wilkins family!

Lost Years (46)

This was the last thing ever recored on my old camcorder. It was early 2004 (maybe even New Years Day) when I was goofing around with two friends.

One of them (Jessica) picked up a camera and filmed this. I thought the camera had died by then so I didn't even think it was working. I don't think I've ever seen this footage before it was converted.

Oh well, here ya go.

New Years Countdown Tickers

Make Your Own Christmas Tree Card

BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS!?!?!?!

This is Megan's kid... : )

Twas the night before X-mas...

Are we counting down the hours yet folks?

Kinda crazy to me that the holiday is already upon us isn't it? Where does the time go? But do not fear my friends! For the 12 Days of X-mas start tomorrow.

Let's try to celebrate them all and keep Christmas around way past New Years. K? K.

See you tomorrow for a little X-mas cheer....

Lost Years (45)

Ok. 4 things:

1) Look at how little Charity was!
2) Look at how stupid Caleb look even back then!
3) Look at Mom's face as she's looking at her first grandson.
4) Look at little baby Archer... aww... so cute!

Lost Years (44)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the largest amount of empty beer cans I have ever seen firsthand. This is down at Will Huber's old house in Baton Rouge.

Nice shot of Rachel there at the end too. : )

Lost Years (43)

Here we have Bray on X-mas day real quick, then shoot over to Jeremy and Bethany's "reception" where the church got to greet them as a couple for the first time.

Watch how bossy Bethany is.... : )

Best X-mas Movies

I can't believe I've never had this post before??? What have I been doing this whole time going 6 years strong on this blog and not once talking about the best x-mas films of all time!!

Ok, so I'll begin (in no order)

Short Film: Hardrock, Coco and......JOE!

Every year when we were kids this short clay-mation cartoon would appear on the Bozo Show and we would sing along EVERY TIME!



Honestly, if you haven't seen it before, check it out on YouTube. Fantastic stuff!

Charlie Brown Christmas Special

Nothing beats an old Christmas classic such as this eh?



The music from this show constantly plays on the radio during the xmas season.

Christmas Vacation

Speak of a classic. There's so many quotes to give on this one I wouldn't even know where to start!



I never thought I'd hear myself say this but... look how young Chevy Chase looks in this pic?!

Die Hard

Oh yes. It's a Christmas movie.... that rocks!!



Yippie-ki-yi-yeah!

Home Alone

You hate that you love it but it still would make your top ten X-mas films of all time wouldn't it?




The Christmas Toy

Ok, this one I'm going to have to talk about for a little bit. It's a Jim Henson movie that came out (I think) in the mid-80's. I LOVED this movie when it came out. And guess what? It's on YouTube as well!



So I watched it again (only 50 minutes long) and you know what? This is where Toy Story got it's idea.

I'm not joking, listen to this story line for "The Christmas Toy"

A little girls favorite toy starts to panic as he realizes tomorrow is X-mas and soon there will be a new X-mas toy, which means he won't be the favorite anymore. (Just like Woody, except it was for the kids birthday)

There a big "dumb" rocking horse in it (Like Rex)

Oh and the toy that is replacing him? A female space warrior. I'm not joking. She comes out of the box not knowing that she's a toy. Spouting phrases such as "What planet is this?" When they tell her it's the Living Room she responds "Such a strange name for a planet" She even has a space sword (similar to Buzz's laser beam) that she harmlessly attacks inanimate objects with around the room.

My mouth was wide open. I couldn't believe I didn't make the connection until now. Crazy stuff. Don't believe me? Go check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

Muppet Christmas Carol

I know, I know... I got a thing for Muppets. But this is such a great movie!



The 2 songs "Marley and Marley" and "It feels like Christmas" will be stuck in your head FOR DAYS after you watch this!!

The Grinch

One of my favorites. I watch it every year and find something new to laugh at every time!



Now I know you're going to post about others let me guess a few: Four Christmases, Elf, It's a Wonderful Life, The Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation 2 (just kidding on that last one) But to me, these top the list.

What do you think?

Christmas Countdowns

Lost Years (42)

Still into our "Wilkins X-mas Video Spectacular" here's a few clips of us opening presents on X-mas Day.

Lost Years (41)

Here's the "Bethany fight" continued, with a little bit of X-mas Day footage added at the end.

Lost Years (40)

Here's Bethany (pre-kids) thinking she can take on the Wilkins boy in a fight.

Lost Years (39)

Just another average holiday in the Wilkins family kitchen....

Lost Years (38)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... the Pudd-o-meter!

SANTA BOWL 10 Recap

1st Quarter

Problems with the clock forced a VERY quick quarter, where each team got to carry the ball for one possession (4 and out) each. No score in the 1st

2nd Quarter

Mike Dlugosh scores on a touchdown pass thrown by Robbie McBroom, and converts the FIRST 2-point conversion in Santa Bowl history making it 8-0.

The Adults force the Youth to punt (after the refs give them 2 5th downs in the drive!) but on the return the ball is muffed and the Youth get it on the 10!! Of course the Youth were able to capitalize on the error and Cohen Landry makes a short catch for a TD. 8-6

Adults storm quickly on the next possession but fail to convert a touchdown before another short quarter. On the last play however, Robbie McBroom suffers a cracked rib and has to leave the game.

3rd Quarter

The heat is on as both teams come out swinging. The Adult's defense is full of holes but thankfully 3 interceptions are able to stop every drive the Youth have. Adults Offense struggles as well and the score remains 8-6

4th Quarter

Adults score again on a long pass play to Kerry and lead 14-6.

They stop the Youth on the next drive but this is when one "wayward" ref started playing for the Youth.

A first down catch is ruled "no good" even though another ref ruled it fair, penalties for.... well we don't know what they were for... are called against the Adults, getting the Youth down the field. Several extra downs were awarded to the Youth to keep the ball alive. It was so bad even the Youth admitted it too...after the game : )

But even with all that help they couldn't avoid a 4th interception that ended the game. We were told before the snap that there were :58 seconds left in the game. But they'd all magically disappeared once the interception had been made..... hmmm.. : )

Final score: Adults win once again 14-6

It also turned out to be the shortest Santa Bowl EVER. Thanks to clock issues, the game ended AN HOUR EARLIER! Barely going over an hour and a half. (that's with a 15 minute half-time mind you) A record that tells you how bad the clock issues were.

But besides that the weather was better than the year before (an understatement I know) and everyone had a lot of fun... except for my brother Caleb of course : )

SANTA BOWL 2010

Last year the Adults stormed in and took back the trophy from the "one and done" Youth. It's been 12 months and now the Santa Bowl is finally back, tomorrow at 2pm at Forsythe Park.

The teams are ready but who will become victorious in the end? Find out in tomorrows post....

Lost Years (37)

Welcome to the "Jordan Holiday Special"

Lost Years (36)

More X-mas tree decorations plus a few X-mas carols being sung in this clip.

Hope you enjoy!

Lost Years (35)

Tis the season I suppose. Here's us decorating the X-mas tree around the house. If you laugh at how Caleb looks, wait till you see what I have next week on him...

Lost Years (34)

At last we have Jeremy, riding off with Bethany and then Jordan, showing us his "grape" trick.

SEC Champs!

Look out Oregon... here we come!

Here we go again...

Anyone will tell you to beat an SEC once in a season is hard enough... but twice??

We shall soon see...

War Eagle

Hello, Mr Anonymous

Remember back at the beginning of the season when the Cam Newton investigation was going on and nobody cared?

But when Auburn started gathering wins and Newton started blowing apart defenses to become the leading Heisman candidate, the rioting began.

To think this all started from an "anonymous" source for ESPN.com Cam Newton and his dad asked for money to play for Miss State and when it didn't work out, they went to Auburn. And before he left Cam called an "anonymous" coach at Miss State and said "the money was too good"

Hmmm... too bad the NCAA, SEC and FBI couldn't uncover anything like that. They would have rendered Cam ineligible for sure! Too bad all the sources crucial to ESPN.com's story were "anonymous" or this would have put Auburn and Cam in deep trouble.

Oh wait... Auburn and Cam have been cleared, rats! Sucks when you make a story up and have no witness's to show for it.

Wait!! I forgot! What about John Bond!! Yeah! ESPN.com did mention his name in their "report"

Oh wait... I remember, the day after ESPN.com broke the story, Mr Bond was quick to jump on radio station WCNN in Atlanta during the "Buck and Kincade" show to say that ESPN.com GREATLY mis-quoted him in their report.

In fact his attorney Phil Abernathy said that if someone tried to bring ESPN.com's "anonymous" allegations to court that they would be "thrown out in a hail of laughter, due to their gross inaccuracies"

Before I go further I want you to know I don't fault the media for keeping sources anonymous to protect them, it's just when EVERY other source seems to come from an "anonymous" person and that's when you should get a little suspicious.

In fact, Greg Doyle from CBS and Mike Pesca from NPR both seem to agree that ESPN.com's "chicken little" allegations are a prime example of "journalism malpractice" When all you have is "hear-say" and "gossip" it's kinda hard to believe. Just ask the magazine paper that reports Elvis is now living on Mars as an alien warlord, and they'll tell you they had "anonymous" sources as well.

And let's stop quoting "anonymous" coaches and go with some REAL coaches in college football.

How bout the 2 coaches who should hate Auburn the most? Alabama and South Carolina (who play Auburn this week in the SEC Championship) Surely they were outraged by the Cam Newton decision??

Go ahead... Google it.... I'll wait....

...... done? Look's like both Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier didn't have a problem, did they? In fact, sounds like they were in favor of the decision doesn't it? Hmmm... sure beats the opinions of the coaches from Anonymous U!

But the torches are still burning and the pitchforks remain in the air. Everyone wanted a witch hunt and now they're upset there no witch to be found. I know the average hater (let's call them villagers now) is really feeling bummed. Here they wasted all their time looking to "kill the witch" but the judge and jury has deemed Cam "clean".... "Aw man! I just BOUGHT this pitchfork! And they don't give refunds!"

Why not look towards Justin Brant? The Director of Crimson Tide Productions who approved of the taunting songs the (now fired) DJ played during Cam Newton's practice last Saturday?

Nah, that's not important... ok, how about the fact Florida is now being investigated for a Federal crime in leaking Cam's school record? Ouch! That's gotta hurt!

Eh, to be honest, neither of those stories interest me either, so let's see... AHA!! CAM NEWTON IS IN VIOLATION OF SEC BYLAWS!!! YES!! YES!!! I GOT IT!!

Let's see here... section 14.01.3.2 right? He violated it!! INELIGIBLE! INELIGIBLE!!

Oh wait... let me read more...

Section 4.4.2 (b)

The Commissioner shall have jurisdiction on all questions of student eligibility for intercollegiate athletic competition and may appoint an advisory committee on eligibility and infractions and base actions on consultations with this committee.

or how bout Section 19.10.3.4

The Commissioner has the duty and power to investigate the validity of violations and impose their penalties and sanctions against member institutions, their athletic staff members or student athletes, for practices and conduct which violate the spirit, as well as the letter of the NCAA and SEC rules and regulations. This shall include the ability to render prospective student athletes or current student athletes ineligible for competition due to their involvement in a violation of NCAA or SEC rules that occur during the individual's recruitment.

So what did SEC Commissioner Mike Slive do about that? He followed the rules. With the assistance of a lawyer and a former judge they reviewed section 14.01.3.2, specifically the phrase "receives or agrees to receive" and what do you think they had to say?

"You could read this bylaw expansively to conclude that an athlete is ineligible at all institutions for receiving a hamburger. I did not believe and do not believe that was the intent of the rule." - Mike Slive

Good thinking Mike, too bad the villagers don't agree with that statement. Or the SEC bylaws quoted above. Hmmm.... think the villagers even KNEW those SEC bylaws about the Commissioner? Doubtful.

"I had to determine what the appropriate league response was after balancing all of these factors and after considering all of that I did not believe that he had violated our bylaws." - Mike Slive

But here's another take on it by SEC spokesman Charles Bloom:

“It only applies when there is an actual payment of an improper benefit, or an agreement (such as a handshake agreement) to pay and receive an improper benefit. The facts in this case, as we understand them, are that the
student-athlete’s father, without the knowledge of the student-athlete, solicited improper payments (which were rejected) from an institution the young man did not attend, and that the institution where the young man is enrolled was not involved.”

Excuse me Mr Villager, your torch just went out.

Now let's be serious, do you actually believe the NCAA would pass judgment so lightly? Just because the call doesn't go your way doesn't mean it's all a big conspiracy, it means ESPN.com and other media outlets that fed the fuel on this whole story were wrong.

al.com's Kevin Scarbinsky said it best:

"Any evidence would have rendered Cam ineligible for good and the NCAA searched hard."

"Ok" says the villager, moving closer to the fire to re-light his torch, "but this has opened up a HUGE loophole in the system!"

Not really. A huge loophole existed already. Both the NCAA and the SEC admit it. Let's look at this from a different angle.. imagine this...

Cam had no knowledge of his father's dealings at Miss State but is deemed ineligible by the NCAA and the SEC.

Villagers around the world rejoice.

Silly villagers.

Now here's a situation: Let's say the following year my brother is a star quarterback in high school who's taking the step to college. He's decided to go Florida but hasn't committed yet. I know where he wants to go and try to solicit money from the college behind his back. If I succeed, cash money for me. If not? Oh well, no skin off my back.

My brother never knew about it but BOOM he's ineligible to play for the school. See where I'm going with this? This makes it so that EVERY college football player can be ruled ineligible for something they had no knowledge or control of. THAT'S a can of worms!

So for now the NCAA and SEC will look into their bylaws for the future. (good luck figuring that one out) The investigation is still ongoing as it should be. The NCAA needs to continue to be thorough in their investigation.

As for Cam? He'll be allowed to compete in the final 2 games of the season, receive a written apology from ESPN.com for making up phone call stories, Cam will win the Heisman, come back a second season and do it all over again with Auburn.

How do I know all this?...... An anonymous source told me.

Lost Years (33)

During the wedding reception, I teamed up with Bray to sing our brother a very special song.

Rock your socks off awesome. : )

Lost Years (32)

More Jeremy wedding footage. We have Mr Thin himself, posing with his bride to be. A young (I'm not that chubby anymore) Caleb, Bray warming up his voice, and Bethany feeding her "beloved" some wedding cake.

Enjoy!

Free and Clear

Well Haters, I guess you were wrong after all. The NCAA has just announced that Cam Newton and Auburn are both clear from violations and that Cam Newton IS an eligible player.

I feel so sorry for all the haters who wanted it to be different. Who held their little pitchforks and torches into the air, screaming "Foul" oh wait... I bet you're still going to do that now right?

The NCAA went "soft" they "play favorites" right? I'm sure we'll hear lots of that talk in the next couple of days. Especially if Auburn continues to win. Mark my words though, one loss and everyone forgets the Cam Newton thing for good. That's just how "haters" work.

So go ahead haters, keep hating, but now that Auburn's wins are all legit and Cam has been eligible this whole season you're going to look more like "sour grapes" than anything else.

Have a nice day!

Lost Years (31)

Happy December Day everybody!

Here's a special treat even I forgot I filmed! After the 2003 CWSC was over I filmed a short clip of me on the beach. I think this was supposed to go out on the videos I sent out to a select few every CWSC year. I'm not sure if this ever made the final cut or not, so if anybody out there can tell me, I'd appreciate it!