#Mike Zigler

[dearconnmurphy]

This photo has me feeling

BLESSED

[deejayrpstaylorsversion]

Wow that’s { CASSANDRA HARRINGTON } ?! I know they have been told they look like {KENZIE ZIGLER } but I cannot see that. { SHE } is a { FOURTEEN/FIFTEEN (and possibly older for future!aus) AND FEMALE } who was born on { JUNE 4TH }! Here are some incoming info about her!

Cassandra, or Cassie for short, is the younger sister to Steve Harrington. She is the same age as the core younger kids, being a freshman at Hawkins High school

Cassie knows little to none about the upside down and the things about Hawkins. She  does think it is weird that her brother hangs out with kids her age all the time - but she really doesn’t question it.

Cassie has been a dancer since the day she could walk, her mom putting her in ballet classes. Though she is no prima-ballerina, the dance studio is her second home probably being there more than her actual house, also having a job at the studio co-teaching with the younger kids (5-7 year olds)

Once Cassie was in high school, she did try out for cheerleading joining the squad, it did cut her time for most of her dance classes - but she does still work at the studio.

Her grades have always been good - never going to be valedictorian but they are good enough to get her into a good college and out of Hawkins. 

RELATIONSHIP THINGS, if you see this and want to interact this is not set in stone - we can change anything or disregard it entirely. 

Steve: When growing up, there is about a five to six year age gap between the Harrington siblings, but they had always been close. He often is bringing her to school or picking her up from dance. 

Dustin: She has a crush on Dustin, simple as that. Cassie knew him but really got to know who he was from the way Steve talked about him. She totally would have dance with him at the snowball in season two and she was very bummed when she found out when he went to summer summer camp that he got a girlfriend. She’d never try and break them up, she loves seeing Dustin happy.

Will: Cassie and Will are close friends. Honestly she was probably around him the most when everyone separated off in s3 making them closer. 

Robin: Robin is her older sister, there isn’t much there. but sometimes Cassie just needs an older sister figure to talk to because she can’t just talk to Steve about everything.

Nancy: Cassie loves Nancy, and honestly misses having her around with her brother - also the only ex of Steve’s she likes

El & Max: She gets along with both of them well, but they honestly don’t have too much in common, though they have all gone on shopping trips before, and she does try to hang out with Max after El moves away with the Byers - even though she gets pushed away just like the boys do.

Mike: She doesn’t like Mike. She finds him annoying, and honestly some times rude as fuck. Though if for whatever reason a group of them are hanging out, or some how they all end up at the Harrington house - she is tolerable of him.

Lucas: She knows Lucas, Lucas knows her, probably have had some classes together, and being on the cheer squad - she has been to plenty of games to see him sit on the bench.

Chrissy: Chrissy took Cassie under her wing, having fought for the younger girl to be on the squad, even though she knew nothing about Cassie, she just knew the girl already knew counts and was able to keep up more than any of the other freshmen girls who tried out.

Eddie: Cassie only knows of Eddie, and what she heard through her brother and Dustin - She still doesn’t understand anything about DnD so there is just a lot of nodding and okaying Dustin to death when he talks about Eddie and DnD.

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 305

Sep 2021 Solicits

Comic Reviews:

Wonder Woman: Black and Gold 1 by AJ Mendez, Ming Doyle, Nadia Shammas, Morgan Beem, John Arcudi, Ryan Sook, Amy Reeder, Becky Cloonan

Batman: Reptilian 1 by Garth Ennis, Liam Sharp

Checkmate 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Dave Stewart

Infinite Frontier 1 by Joshua Williamson, Xermanico, Romulo Fajardo Jr

Gamma Flight 1 by Al Ewing, Crystal Frasier, Lan Medina, Antonio Fabela

Heroes Return 1 by Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Matt Wilson

Marvel's Voices: Pride by Kieron Gillen, Allan Heinberg, Terry Blas, Steve Orlando, Tini Howard, Mariko Tamaki, Vita Ayala, Leah Williams, Lilah Sturges, Anthony Oliveira, Crystal Frasier, J.J. Kirby, Jan Bazaldua, Jim Cheung, Kris Anka, Olivier Coipel, Jethro Morales, Derek Charm, Joanna Estep, Javier Garron, Claudia Aguirre, Jen Hickman, Brittney Williams, Samantha Dodge, Luciano Vecchio, Marcelo Maiolo, David Curiel, Erick Arciniega, Tamra Bonvillain, Paulina Ganucheau, Brittany Peer, Kendall Goode

Vinyl 1 by Doug Wagner, Daniel Hillyard, Dave Stewart

Spawn's Universe 1 by Todd McFarlane, Stephen Segovia, Marcio Takara, Jim Cheung, Brett Booth, Adelso Corona, FCO Plascencia, Peter Steigerwald, Andrew Dalhouse

Black Hammer Reborn 1 by Jeff Lemire, Caitlin Yarsky, Dave Stewart

Imogen of the Wyrding Way by Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, Peter Bergting, Michelle Madsen

Good Luck 1 by Matthew Erman, Stefano Simeone

Snow Angels vol 2 1 by Jeff Lemire, Jock

Sonic 30th Anniversary Special

Carmen Sandiego: Need For Speed Caper

Aggretsuko: Little Rei of Sunshine by Brenda Hickey

Keeper of the Little Folks: Fairy Balm by Carbone, Veronique Barrau, Charline Forns

Claire and the Dragons 1 by Wander Antunes

ExtraOrdinary 1 by V.E. Schwab, Enid Balam, Ana Godis

99 Cent

Lounger 1 by Nick Mullins

Homerville 1 & 2 by Justin Young

Wandering Koala 1 by Jeff Thomason

After the Storm by Stefano Petris

Deadgods 1 by Juan Ramon Lapaix

Jupiter Invincible 1 by Yusef Komunyakaa, Ashley Woods

Loveland by Timothy Pitoniak

Tales From the Dispatch Vol 2 by Maxwell Bristol, Catherine Broxton, Shaun Evans, Edward Ficklin, Matthew Sotello, Eric Young

Tales of the Scarlet Order Vampires by David Lee Summers, Michael Ellis

The Black Car by Michael Kaz, Josh Maikis, Gregory Ramos

The Walk by Michael Moreci, Jesus Hervas

Additional Reviews: Shazam!, Loki ep3, Owl House 2.3

News: Batwoman stupidity, hope for Gwen Stacy, ScarJo returning to Disney for Tower of Terror, Spider-Man Beyond (from Saladin Ahmed, Cody Zigler, Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason, Kelly Thompson), Joker manga where he raises deaged Batman, return of Warren Ellis, Skybound YA graphic novel line, delays to Batman/Catwoman, Cates/Stegman series Vanish, Savage Land-based movie, Marvel NFTs, Avatar new live-action series makes all the old mistakes

Trailers: Jurassic World Dominion, Sexy Beasts, Karen, Shang-Chi

Am it Glenn?

Comics Countdown:

Ascender 16 by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen

Stray Dogs 5 by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner

Undiscovered Country 13 by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson

Something is Killing the Children 17 by James Tynion IV, Wether Dell'Edera, Miquel Muerto

Black Hammer Reborn 1 by Jeff Lemire, Caitlin Yarsky, Dave Stewart

Snow Angels Season Two 1 by Jeff Lemire, Jock

Batman/Superman 19 by Gene Luen Yang, Emanuela Lupacchino, Darick Robertson, Kyle Hotz, Steve Lieber, Matt Santorelli, Sabine Rich

Robin 3 by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov, Luis Guerrero

Shadecraft 4 by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela

Guardians of the Galaxy 15 and SWORD 6 by Al Ewing, Juan Frigeri, Guru eFX, Adelso Corona, David Curiel, Federico Blee, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia

Check out this episode!

[theliterateape]

Losing a Best Friend 10 Years Later — Remembering Mike Zigler

By David Himmel 

On Friday, October 16, 2009, one of my best friends, Mike Zigler, died.

It was a stupid death. One that was completely avoidable if Zigler hadn’t been the man he was, and maybe, if I hadn’t left Las Vegas two years before to continue my life in Chicago. When people ask me how he died I joke and say, “With his hands at two and ten” — the textbook instruction on where a driver should place their hands on the steering wheel. Zigler died in his car, in the garage of my Las Vegas house, which he was renting from me.

It was accidental and completely unsurprising. See, Zigler was an alcoholic, and if I had a dollar for every time he passed out in his car after a night or three-day bender of heavy drinking, I’d have about fourteen bucks. That’s what he did. Get drunk, get home safely and pass out figuring he’d deal with going to bed properly in the morning. Thirteen of those fourteen times — and I’m both under- and overestimating here — he parked the car in open air. Car ports and parking lots and driveways. It was that last time in the garage that put him in real danger.

The months leading up to Zigler’s death were good months. He had been sober. I last saw him in May when I traveled to Las Vegas. He looked good. He sounded good. When I left him, he was good. We spoke on the phone every day without fail. Sometimes two or three times. We were each other’s sounding boards and biggest fans and most honest critics. But we didn’t talk the day before he died. Work had been whupping his ass. He was recovering from an injury garnered playing in his intramural basketball league. Not one to mope, Zigler, like me, was quick to beat himself up when not living up to self-imposed standards.

The night he died, he fell off the wagon. I wasn’t there but I can only assume that it was really more of a step off the wagon. But with both feet. More a jump off the wagon. And he drove home with too much booze in his blood. Probably not enough to render him completely out of his mind — the guy had a professional  drunk’s tolerance. But why’d he leave himself in the car? Knowing my dear friend the way I did, I’d bet my last dollar and the best parts of my soul that he pulled in with a favorite song playing on the radio. He let the song ride out to the end, but drunk enough to be a dipshit, he closed the garage. The carbon monoxide knocked him out then took him out.

See? Stupid.

At first, the coroner ruled it a suicide. But Zigler’s father contested the ruling. Following a series of interviews with Zigler’s family and friends, including me, the cause of death was ruled accidental. Because here’s the thing: Zigler’s mortal enemy was himself especially when he put people out or couldn’t be the incredible friend/son/brother/boyfriend he wanted to be. If Zigler was going to kill himself, he wouldn’t have gone quietly the way he did and he sure as shit wouldn’t have left his corpse in my house for me to deal with. Or more to the point, for me to live with every day after. That wasn’t his style. He would have headed off to some distant desert nowhere and offed himself in solitude. Like an old feral cat. Maybe. I don’t know. But I do know that leaving his corpse behind for his girlfriend to find in my garage would have appalled him.

But this was the man he was, in small part. So, in that way, there was no escaping this kind of inevitability. Unless, I’ve convinced myself, I had been there. 

Maybe he wouldn’t be living in the house and, therefore, wouldn’t have had access to a garage. Maybe my proximity to him would have given him a safe place to seek shelter from his shitty week. Maybe I would have gone to the event with him that night and would have steered him clear of the booze. After all, he’d been doing so well sober and, overall, things were really on the upswing for him.

People have tried to convince me it’s not my fault. And it’s not. But they’ve also tried to convince me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. And I disagree with that. Not my wife, not my therapist, not anyone can convince me that my presence in Las Vegas that night could have saved him. Maybe he would have died another way, another time. I don’t know. But with the facts that we have, I’m sure I could have, at the very least, staved off his death on October 16, 2009.

 ✶

And so it’s been a decade since he’s been gone. Mike Zigler and I were a part of each other’s lives for about ten years, which means that on October 17, 2019, Zigler will have been gone from my life longer than he was in it. And that’s strange.

But he lives on. Of course he does. Memories, photographs, videos, his writings, the stories… My son has his middle name.

I have no idea what life would look like had Zigler lived through that car nap ten years ago. Things would be different, for sure. Better? Worse? Different. Of course, none of that matters because this is what it is. We have no choice but to miss him and remember him always. And since our lives are like puzzles that we’re constantly rushing to find and fit the right pieces in the right place, my puzzle will always have a piece missing. You can make out what the puzzle is but the table will always be visible from where Zigler’s piece once was. Such is life when faced with death.

✶

At his very strange memorial service a few days after his death, planned not by his family or friends but by the giant corporation he worked for, I got up to say some things about the man. It can only barely scratch the surface of him and our friendship, but it’s something. And the feelings in those words are as tangible and raw today as they were a decade ago. Here they are.

Zigler’s Eulogy According to Himmel

I have maybe millions of Zigler stories I could tell. Many of them not suited for discussion outside the confines of him and me, a few select friends or a road trip to some western Americana. 

But here’s one…

Back in college, Mike, Tom Carrow and I decided we were going to take a weekend and drive to Lake Tahoe to go skiing. We hopped in Mike’s truck and about ninety miles out of town we approached a small town called Beatty, NV. The three of us being eternal adventurists, Mike turned to us and said, “Let’s stop off here, have a beer, see what this town is about. We walked into a tavern called the Sourdough Saloon. It was a great place: A large bar in a horseshoe shape with a fire burning and books on the wall. There was a jukebox full of Credence Clearwater Revival, The Animals and Dion and The Belmonts. Right off, we were smitten.

We saddled up to the bar and ordered our Miller Lites. Mike was sitting next to a big burly guy in a flannel shirt and trucker’s cap. Always quick to make friends, Mike turned to the guy and said, “So, what do you do for fun around here?”

The man took a long pull from his bottle of Budweiser and said, “Well… there’s a stop sign at the end of the corner that’s fun to look at…” Mike looked at Tommy and me as if to say, ‘You guys gotta here this.’

The man went on. “It’s the wrong time of the year, but in the summer, when people are paintin’ their houses… it’s fun to watch the paint dry…”

Right then the bartender, who was this Amazonian monster of a woman, began screaming at a guy across the bar from us. And he was screaming right back. And there were curse words and swear words and four letter words I’d never heard of and it was getting violent and louder and threats were made. And the three of us are wondering what the hell was happening. We looked around and no one else in the bar seemed to notice this. They’re going about their drinking, chatting and thinking of stop signs like nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Then I made eye contact with a little old man in chinos and a button-up shirt and an old ball cap and glasses. He sort of nodded at me and started to make his way around the bar towards us. I told Mike and Tommy, “This is great. Looks like the only normal looking guy in the bar is going to explain what’s going on.”

The old man came up to me and pulled something out of his pocket, held it to his neck and spoke with a raspy, mechanical voice, “mmm… It’s OK, they’re brother and sister.” The man spoke through that little device one would wear after a tracheotomy. Upon realizing this, we laughed and watched the siblings continue to shout it out and ordered one more round – and a Budweiser for our new friends.

I tell you this story because the thing about Zigler is that he was always up for an adventure with his pals. Twice I was called by Zigler saying, “Let’s go. I rented a Jeep, we’re going off-roading.” And just a week or two before I left town, he and Kara came to my house early on a Sunday morning and said, “We’re going to the Grand Canyon.” And I said, “Okay, I’m bringing my bb gun and we’ll shoot cacti.” Kara was very excited about that.

Zigler and I were best friends. We taught each other how to get into trouble and how to get out of trouble. Mike and I went back to Beatty several times and always returned with a new cast of characters for our stories and more often than not, our trivial stresses and concerns of daily desert life worked out and understood.

Because Zigler and I were always a support for each other. Through good times we were each other’s cheerleaders and biggest fans. And through tough times we were each other’s cheerleaders and biggest fans. A co-worker and college friend of ours, Krista Kulesza once asked us, “Don’t you ever get sick of being around each other?” To which we both looked at one another and turned to her and said, “No.”

Cute, ain’t it?

Zigler loved a philosophy I’d stolen from my mentor at UNLV, Dr. John Irsfeld: Give people permission to be who they’re going to be. Zigler did that. He gave permission to his parents, his friends, his co-workers, even his political rivals and often to the hitchhikers, downtown drunks and Beatty bar barons he so often shared stories with. Another theory and I lived by – also an Irsfeldism — was living by The Platinum Rule. While The Golden Rule tells us to treat others as we want to be treated, The Platinum Rule says to treat others as they would have you treat them. It’s a less self-absorbed way of living in a functioning society. And Zigler lived by that Platinum Rule.

When friends or even acquaintances would come to town, he would bend over backwards to hook them up with a show, dinner, passes to Studio 54, a place to stay… He was always running around, but he always had time to have lunch with you. When I came back to town in May and needed to fix a few things in my house he was renting, he spent two days patching and hammering and helping me install a new door even though he was about as handy as a three-year-old. He did do a great job of running back and forth to Home Depot, Lowes and Subway for me though…

Zigler and I were likeminded in nearly every aspect of like-mindedness. We understood each other. He understood me with such an understanding that he never once questioned my decisions or made me feel guilty or thought any less of me. He just understood and was there for whatever I needed: A ride to the airport. A job. A beer at the frog. A trip to the Indy 500. Talks on my patio until four in the morning about love and family and that voice in our heads that always told us, “Go do something spectacular…”

I live in Chicago now and I spoke to Zigler nearly once a day. The night before I left town two years ago, Zigler was over helping me pack. He was up with me all night. He told me that he didn’t want me to leave, but he knew and understood why I was going. “To chase the dream, be with the girl, do something spectacular.” I just wrapped a show I co-wrote and produced at a Second City stage — part of the dream. Mike designed the programs. And every Saturday morning following the Friday night show he would call just to see how it went. An hour before Jarret Keene called me and told me what happened to Mike, I received word that another show I pitched got picked up for a run. Zigler would have been just as proud, maybe more so.

And I admit that for every step I make that’s closer to spectacular, it won’t have the same feel because Zigler won’t be there to share it with me. And I won’t get to see him write that book he was talking about or bring Liberty Watch back to newsstands or make his way to the national stage and make Ann Coulter and Bill O’Rielly, that putz on MSNBC and his boyfriend, Rachel Maddow and all the other pseudo journalists cower at his brilliance. And that is crushing.

Zigler and I became friends by challenging conventions. By writing news and opinion at The Rebel Yell. By forming the UNLV Student Radio Association battling mean old administrators for some kind of student involvement in their campus radio station. By questioning religion and politics and taxes. And knowing that spirituality and fewer politics and no taxes were a much better way to go… We both agreed that sometimes things seemed so absurd and so lazy and thoughtless, but we laughed and regularly found such beauty in that absurdity and in the irony of it all.

Zigler never believed in heaven. But he did believe in legacy. It doesn’t matter what each of us thinks about where he is right now or who he’s with or if we think nothing existential like that at all. He’d be fine with us just thinking. What does matter is the legacy, the fact, the proof that Zigler was here. Because to Mike, the facts were what mattered. And the fact that his generosity and loyalty and friendship and alibi and wisdom and humor and fairness were unmatched.

There was a restaurant on the corner of Sunset and Patrick called Venice Beach a few years back. It overlooked the landing planes at McCarran Airport and at the right time, the setting sun. Zigler and I would go there, order the same thing every time and sit in silence while we filled our journals. Then we’d chat about what we’d just written.

For me? I can’t say I’m alone or don’t have great friends and people who will be there for me no matter what. But I can say that I feel a little lonely — a little misunderstood. And if there is some kind of heaven, which I think there is, I’m hoping the first stop on the way there is a place like Beatty. And I’m betting Zigler’s already got a few dozen friends and a million new stories to tell.

But if not — and I don’t know for sure — I’ve got plenty of Zigler stories to last me just a little bit longer.

[acidicbaby]

I firmly believe that the window washing business has a tremendous amount of advantages over other businesses.

I've been in a number of businesses as many of you probably have, and when making the comparisons between window washing and some of the other lame businesses out there, you have to admit that window washing comes up smelling like roses.

BUT...us window washers will still face challenges.

And I'm not talking about the challenge of cleaning a window. Anybody can get a window clean with a little elbow grease and the proper tools.

No, I'm referring to the ability to clean windows and market your business at the same time. This is the ultimate juggling act.

If you stop marketing your business for any length of time, it's only a matter of time before calls from interested prospects dry up, and consequently, so does your calender.

I saw it happen very recently with a guy who had a good 3 weeks of window cleaning jobs lined up. He used every marketing technique outlined in my manual How to Start Your Own Residential Window Washing Business. He lined up all kinds of jobs. But then he decided to focus his attention only to window cleaning, not to marketing. Oops.

To make a long story short, after that 3 week spurt of business, he woke up one day to find no customers on his calender, so he essentially had to start over. Now of course, he'll have those customers to come back to again and again on a repeat basis, but I'm talking about right now having gaps on the schedule which really shouldn't be there.

And it's harder and more time consuming to start over then it is to just keep the gravy train rolling.

Let me explain with a couple of stories.

--Master motivator Zig Zigler talked about "starting over" in one of his speeches I heard recently. He used the analogy of one of those old fashioned Wells you may be familiar with.

These types of Wells have big 'ole handles you need to crank in order to draw water from the Well.

When first wanting water, you have to really pump fast and furious. But once you have a constant stream of water coming out, then it just takes a little pressure on the pump handle to keep it going. The hard work was already done at the beginning. BUT...don't stop. Because the water will go all the way to the bottom if you do, and you'd have to start all over again with serious pumping action.

--The people who I've helped get into the window washing business have heard me talk about when I was in the Insurance business. One of the things I used to do at the beginning of my insurance career was actually shut down my marketing efforts during Thanksgiving week and not crank it up again until after the last college football bowl game was played at the beginning of January.

I just sat around for six or seven weeks or so getting fat on all the Holiday goodies, and alhough it was great just kicking back on my little mini-vacation, come the beginning of January, I had to start all over again generating interest, making phone calls, following up, setting appointments, etc.

Which means that I didn't see the fruits of January's labor until March or so as far as having a full calender of appointments again and banking commissions.

I mention the above couple of stories just to illustrate a point, and that is simply that we can't back off or let up. Because if we do, we could find ourselves with some unwanted vacancies on our schedule. And this is especially true if you're relatively new to the window cleaning biz.

But that's the challenge. Like the person above who had 3 weeks of window washing jobs. How in the world do you wash windows and still market your biz?

The short answer to this is that we need to learn to prioritize and incorporate effective time management principles.

I know, I know. Pretty elementary stuff here, but it really is critical to master them.

One of my most successful students is a guy that plans his entire day around a 2 hour marketing window where he'll distribute flyers, coordinate a postcard campaign, talk to other service businesses, talk to realtors, talk to property managers, talk to builders, visit commercial storefronts, or any number of other things on the marketing agenda.

Time doesn't permit everything above to be done within that two hour time frame obviously, but he'll pick one, maybe two strategies he wants to use that day, and then do 'em.

The 2 hours may be at the beginning of the day or the end of the day, or it may be one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. That doesn't matter. What does matter is that he'll take ACTION and expose his marketing message for 2 hours each day to prospects.

Mike truly understands that we have no business without customers, so he sits down at night and jots down the next day's marketing goals on a "to do" list. This is as basic as it gets, but hey...it works.

And this is confirmed when he calls and we talk about the fact that prospects are calling (many times as we're talking, we'll be interrupted a couple of times by his phone ringing) and his calender is filled up with window washing jobs.

By doing this, and committing to it on paper, the challenge of finding prospects is null and void. Like my 'ole sales manager used to say, "if you talk to enough people, you've got to make sales".

In my case, I used to take one whole day and part of another to do what Mike does every day.

I generally preferred to do my window washing estimating on Friday, and Friday morning was when my business breakfast was held where business owners got together and supported each other with leads and referrals.

Since I figured I was already dressed up in nice company clothes (polo shirt/dockers) instead of my window washing work clothes, I figured I may as well make that my main marketing day, so I mapped out a schedule on Thursday night of who to see and talk to on Friday in addition to the estimates I was scheduled to do.

That doesn't mean I didn't do any marketing during the week. Postcards were a big part of my biz, so if I was ready for a mailing, there was always time during the week to place a 5 minute phone call to my direct mail house and tell Dick to send out a mailing to zone such and such.

And Saturday morning was pretty much reserved for me to go out with 2 to 4 neighborhood kids and blanket subdivisions with flyers.

As an example of what you could do, if you're scheduling a job, schedule it at 10 or 11 and then head out at 9:00 to:

--introduce yourself to 5 realtors and give them your business card. --quickly drop off 25 flyers to commercial storefronts. In/out/next. --visit 3 other service businesses to see if they would be interested in getting together to promote each of your businesses. (I know of one guy who formed his own leads type of organization since there were none in his town)

And then the next day, jot down other things you can do, or repeat the above. At the end of the week, you'll not only feel like you accomplished something, but more importantly, you'll be creating tremendous awareness for your company, which of course, leads to more phone calls, more business, and more moolah in your pocket!

The above is not hard, and when looked at daily, they're just little things, but it's the little things you do every single day that will determine your ultimate success, not the one big thing that we might do every 2 or 3 weeks.

Now the good news is that over time, we can all drastically decrease our marketing "to do" lists.

The first two years of my business was hustle, bustle, hustle bustle. Every form of marketing that could be used was used. After about two years though, guess what? The pump was primed hard enough during the early stages, I then just had to apply a tiny bit of continuous marketing (it never can stop completely), kick back, get the phone calls, fill up the calender, and coordinate my window washing crews. All the fun stuff.

Just remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. An initial burst of massive action is excellent because it generates immediate dollars and gets you entrenched into the biz, but mark- eting needs to be sustained over time if you're looking for long term success.

Experts have said that once we do something for 21 days, it becomes a habit. I don't know about the 21 days part, but I do know if we do something long enough, it'll simply become second nature to us.

So...there are many challenging pieces to the window washing business. Prioritize the implementation of those pieces by creating yourself a simple "to do" list (Hint-place marketing at the top), incorporate time management into making that list work, and repeat on a regular basis.

Lather

Rinse

Repeat

If you do that, then the snowball of window washing customers that I refer to in my manual will gather up speed. And when that starts to happen, you may as well get out of the way because there ain't nothing you can do to stop it. :o)

To your window washing success,

Steve

256-546-2446

Steve Wright is the author of How to Start Your Own Residential Window Washing Business, and has started hundreds of individuals on the path to success in their own window washing business. Mr. Wright has also developed a revolutionary online web-based system called The Customer Factor to assist all window washing business owners in maintaining and growing a successful business. Using both of these resources provides the one-two punch needed to catapult anyone from zero to six figures per year in the window washing business. For more information, give Mr. Wright a call at 256-546-2446 or visit either of the websites posted.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Steve_Wright/6268

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/75407

[f-sharp-inder]

🎶‌

String Noise: Triple Album Release Happy Hour

✅Ticket

Free

⏱Time

New York : Fri, Mar 26, 2021 4:00 pm

London : Fri, Mar 26, 2021 8:00 pm

Seoul : Sat, Mar 27, 2021 5:00 am

🔊Performers

String Noise

String Noise:

Conrad Harris, Violin | Pauline Kim Harris, Violin

Greg Saunier, Drums

Composers:

Jessie Cox, Jonathan Finlayson, Lester St. Louis, Anaïs Maviel, Charles Overton (Alien Stories - Infrequent Seams)

Eric Lyon (Giga Concerto - New Focus Recordings)

Tyondai Braxton, Caleb Burhans, Philip Glass, David Lang, Paul Reller, Greg Saunier (A Lunch Between Order and Chaos - Chaikin Records)

Record Label Owners:

James Ilgenfritz | Dan Lippel | Brian Chase

Engineers:

Brian Chase (master)

Kevin Ramsay (recording, mix)

Greg Saunier (recording, mix, producer)

Elliott Sharp (master)

Ryan Streber (recording, mix, master, producer)

International Contemporary Ensemble (Giga Concerto):

Josh Modney, Violin/Project Manager

Leah Asher, Violin

Wendy Richman, Viola

Christopher Gross, Cello

Meaghan Burke, Cello

Randall Zigler, Bass

Nuiko Wadden, Harp

Daniel Lippel, Classical Guitar

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, Flute/Piccolo

Campbell MacDonald, Clarinet

Ryan Muncy, Saxophone

Rebekah Heller, Bassoon

Nicolee Kuester, French Horn

Mike Lormand, Trombone

Dennis Sullivan, Percussion/Timpani

Nick DeMaison, Conductor

Visual Artists:

Edwin Bethea | Will Cotton| C. Steve Johnson

Co-commission with Carnegie Hill Concerts:

Nicholas Zork, Co-curator

PR:

Steven Swartz (DOTDOTDOTMUSIC)

Evan Welsh (Clandestine Label Service)

🎼Program

LISTENING PARTY starts at 4PM with:

Kurt Gottschalk, Master of Ceremonies (NYC Jazz, Stereophile, the Wire, WFMU)

String Noise: Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, Violins with Greg Saunier, Drums

Composers: Caleb Burhans, Jessie Cox, Jonathan Finlayson, Eric Lyon, Anaïs Maviel, Charles Overton, Greg Saunier and Lester St. Louis

VIEWING PARTY starts at 5:30PM with:

Special pre-recorded EXTRACTIONS by members of International Contemporary Ensemble:

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, piccolo

Rebekah Heller, bassoon

Dan Lippel, classical guitar

Josh Modney, violin

Nuiko Wadden, harp

DOCU-video PREMIERE : Giga Concerto

Edited by Chandler Clamp

EVENT PRODUCER, Nicholas Zork

SPECIAL CRAFTED COCKTAIL RECIPES by Kat's Dogs Art & YoYo Comics:

The Rose

Doves & Pigeons

Area 75

String Noise: Triple Album Release Happy Hour Tickets, Fri, Mar 26, 2021 at 4:00 PM | Eventbrite

[prowrestlingpost-com]

RAW and Smackdown Live Recaptory (Goldberg Returns, SummerSlam)

RAW and Smackdown Live Recaptory (Goldberg Returns, SummerSlam)

Photo / WWE

Raw opens with superstars on stage as the ring bell tolls for the victims of the recent mass shootings. This is the go-home edition of Raw prior to SummerSlam. Samoa Joe is out, standing on the announcer’s desk threatening to preempt the show after being accused of being the one who set up Roman Reigns last week. He directs some pointed comments at Michael Cole since Cole had been…

[ericfruits]

Costs Of Discipline

The Indiana Supreme Court has suspended an attorney for his failure to pay the costs of a disciplinary case.

Grantconnected.com reported on recent charges

A Marion attorney is facing a drug possession charge stemming from a summertime traffic stop.

Beau J. White, Marion, is facing charges of possession of cocaine and operating a motor vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance in person’s body after he was pulled over by the Indiana State Police officer for a traffic incident in July.

White was driving northbound on Interstate 69 just before 9 p.m. on July 29 near the Marion/Montpelier exit when ISP Officer Jeremy Perez witnessed White’s vehicle drift into the right shoulder, hitting the rumble strips, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Perez. After White was pulled over, Perez said he said White was sweating heavily, had bloodshot eyes and blood and mucus around his nose and mouth area, though White denied using any narcotic drugs when asked, according to the affidavit.

A search of the vehicle found 0.03 grams of cocaine in a small cellophane wrapper in the vehicle, according to the affidavit. White was then taken to the Grant County Jail and a toxicology test was performed on him.

While at the jail, White was interviewed by Det. Sgt. Josh Zigler of the Grant County Sheriff’s Department. During the interview, White said he was using cocaine bought in Muncie while driving that day on July 29 and was “depressed and downtrodden” about family life and drug use and would sometimes drive to relieve stress, according to a statement filed by Zigler in Grant County Superior Court 3.

Though the incident occurred in July, a warrant for White’s arrest wasn’t issued until Nov. 9, nearly four months later. White was arrested on Nov. 10 and shortly released from jail after paying a $605 bond.

Grant County Prosecutor James Luttrell said the delay in arrest was due to his office waiting on results from the toxicology reports. As of Nov. 17, the results of the toxicology test still haven’t been released.

“It’s not unusual for the toxicology to take this long,” Luttrell said. “We decided we weren’t going to wait longer.”

On Monday Superior Court 3 Judge Warren Haas removed himself as the judge in the case, giving both the plaintiff and defendant seven days to agree on a special judge.

White has worked as a public defender in the past. The Indiana Supreme Court temporarily suspended White’s license for a month in 2012 after the court found him to be guilty of failing to help a client, failing to act promptly, failing to keep the client informed about the status of the case and failing to refund an unearned fee when terminated.

(Mike Frisch)

http://ift.tt/2psxhsU

http://ift.tt/2psxhsU

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 301

DC August solicitations

Comic Reviews:

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom 1 by Brandon Easton, Fico Ossio, Rico Renzi

Stargirl Spring Break Special 1 by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Todd Nauck, Alex Sinclair, Hi-Fi

Batman: Black and White 6 by Scott Snyder, John Arcudi, Brandon Thomas, Pierrick Colinet, Nick Derington, Elsa Charretier, Khary Randolph, James Harren, Klaus Janson, John Romita Jr

Heroes Reborn: Magneto and the Mutant Force by Steve Orlando, Bernard Chang, David Curiel

Heroes Reborn: Siege Society by Cody Zigler, Paco Medina, Pete Pantazis

Heroes Reborn: Young Squadron by Jim Zub, Steve Cummings, Erick Arciniega

Heroes Reborn 4 by Jason Aaron, James Stokoe, Ed McGuinness, Mark Morales, Matt Wilson

Reptil 1 by Terry Blas, Enid Balam, Victor Olazaba, Carlos Lopez

Made in Korea 1 by Jeremy Holt, George Schall

Star Wars Adventures: The Weapon of a Jedi 1 by Alec Worley, Jason Fry, Ruairi Coleman

Witcher: Witch's Lament 1 by Bartosz Sztybor, Vanesa Del Rey, Jordie Bellaire

Down River People by Adam Smith, Matthew Fox

Onion Skin by Edgar Camacho

Nook by Caleb Thusat, Marcelo Biott

Redshift 1 by H.S> Tak, Brent David McKee, Sebastian Cheng

Misadventurers 1 by Joseph Michael, Nicolas Touris

Monstrous: Heartbreak and Blood Loss 1 by Gregory Wright, Rachel Young, Sharpe

Blue Flame 1 by Christopher Cantwell, Adam Gorham, Kurt Michael Russell

99 Cent Theatre

CHC One Shot: Will Aliens Do My Homework? by David Whalen

Into the Wilderness 0 by Gabe Cheng, Elisa Menghel

Mister Johnson 1 by Adrian Jules

Tales From the Dispatch Vol 1 by 

Orphan King 1 by Tyler Chin-Tanner, James Boyle

Kickstarter: The Game

Additional Reviews: Hannibal, Calls s1, Kominsky Method s3, Big Little Lies s2, Men in Black 4, God of War

News: McFarlane TV deals, Naomi greenlit as series, next Arrow-verse crossover, Amazon buys MGM, Sandman casting, final round of Round Robin, Inferno event coming soon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Young Kraven, sequel to GL: Legacy coming soon, Flash ending with season 8, Joker sequel, Okoye series in development for Disney+, ultimate movie crossover

Trailers: Eternals, Last Night in Soho, Gunpowder Milkshake

Am It Glenn? 

Comics Countdown:

Ascender 15 by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen

Strange Adventures 10 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Evan Shaner

Department of Truth 9 by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds, Aditya Bidikar

Batman: Black and White 6 by Scott Snyder, John Arcudi, Brandon Thomas, Pierrick Colinet, Nick Derington, Elsa Charretier, Khary Randolph, James Harren, Klaus Janson, John Romita Jr

Something is Killing the Children 16 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'edera, Miquel Muerto

Down River People by Adam Smith, Matthew Fox

Beta Ray Bill 3 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer

Money Shot 11 by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie, Caroline Leigh Layne, Kurt Michael Russell

TMNT: The Last Ronin 3 by Peter Laird, Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Luis Antonio Delgado

HaHa 5 by W. Maxwell Prince, Gabriel Walta

Check out this episode!

[theliterateape]

The Mysterious Crack House Tavern

By David Himmel

This piece was originally written and performed for Truth or Lie in July 2019. Everything you are about to read is 100 percent true.

It was a Friday night and Zigler and I had had a long week at the day job of producing corporate communications for the MGM Mirage company. We were weighed down with corporate drone annoyances, family drama, relationship woes, financial uncertainty, and the general frustration of living in mid-2000s America. We needed to shed our skin and relieve our minds. Too many weeks had been like the one we just had. Too restricted, too prescribed, too… everyday. We needed trouble. We needed uncertainty. 

“Let’s go out tonight,” I said to Zigler as he crushed another can of Diet Coke in his office in an attempt to stay engaged with his professional duties.

“Yeah. But let’s go somewhere we’ve never been,” he said.

“Works for me.”

I returned to my desk where I crushed another can of Red Bull in an attempt to stay awake just enough to make it look like I was engaged with my professional duties.

We ducked out a little before five and headed home to change out of our suits and into jeans and T-shirts. Zigler met me at my place. We grilled up a couple of cheeseburgers and bell peppers and had a few Miller Lites as we lined our stomachs with our feet resting on the first step of my backyard pool. (This was back when a twenty-something bonehead could afford to buy a decent house with a decent pool in his backyard.)

“Let’s go downtown,” I said. “But not Fremont Street. Not the hipster bars either. Too many people we know there.”

“And I want to go somewhere new. I’m feeling claustrophobic,” Zigler said.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll go a little farther north-east. Undiscovered territory.”

“Perfect.”

With the stealth and precision of a ninja assassin, I puked.

We made a couple quick stops at some dingy casino bars and chatted with a few of the patrons. Most were two-thirds in the bag from a long day of being hunkered over the bar’s recessed poker machines. Like the guy in the sunglasses who called himself Shades because, he told me, he carried a blade. I told him that didn’t make sense. Then he showed me the blade. I told him it still didn’t make sense. Then he stabbed it into the bar’s wood. We headed out after that. Well, after we had two more beers with him.

We then found ourselves in a predominantly Mexican bar. I say predominantly because we were the only gringos in it. And I know it was specifically Mexican because of the Mexican flags covering almost every inch of every wall in the joint.

The place was packed. A hard-rocking mariachi band was tearing up the stage. It was a squeeze to get on the dancefloor where men and women were moving in perfect choreography. Cowboy boots, cowboy hats, traditional western Mexico fashion… Zigler and I and our freestyle dancing, Chuck Taylor shoes and punk band T-shirts did not belong there, though we were perfectly welcomed. The music was loud. No one spoke a word of English to us — and our Spanish was pure shit at best — yet we managed enough of a conversation with several revelers to share a few drunken hugs and buy each other a few rounds of Tecate.

Then someone ordered us tequila shots. Back then, I couldn’t handle shots. Strange, I know, that it took me until my thirties to be man enough to hold down a shot of anything. Zigler wasn’t a hard liquor guy at all. But we didn’t want to be rude. I forced mine back. Zigler tried to charm his way out of taking his. It wasn’t working. I took his and handed him my car keys. “You have to drive now,” I said. Then, with the stealth and precision of a ninja assassin, I puked. The tequila, the Tecate, the Miller Lites, and a few bits of mostly chewed burger and bell peppers… I puked it all up at my feet standing there at the bar. I grabbed a stack of cocktail napkins and dropped them at my feet. I mean, to leave it there would have been disgusting. No one saw a thing.

I ordered more beer and we returned to the dance floor.

On nights like this, we never wanted to spend too much time in one place, so after a little more dancing and a few more beers, we headed out. Zigler drove about two blocks before whipping into a large half-concrete half-gravel parking lot. We were on the edge of downtown just under the U.S. 95. Other than that landmark, we weren’t quite sure where we were. We’d never been to this dusty nook of town.

The building looked like a bunker. Metallic gray siding covered the exterior. The small glass block windows were six-feet up. Through them, we could see what looked like flashing disco lights. That’s what attracted Zigler.

“Let’s keep dancing,” he said.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Try not to puke here.”

“You saw that!?”

“C’mon, man. I know how you operate.”

Zigler and I entered and froze. Standing no more than three feet from the entrance we silently — telepathically — debated if we should make it an exit.

This bar was not the disco party we expected. There was no music. There was no dance floor. There were no tables or chairs or barstools. There was a small bar at the back with a light machine resting on its corner. About a dozen-and-a-half people meandered the open floorplan or sat on the floor with their backs against the wall watching the lights. It was eerily quiet. The most prominent sound was the whirring of the light machine.

“What the hell?” I asked him really, really quietly.

“I don’t know,” he said in the same whisper 

We stood there a moment more. We did not belong here. That was obvious. There was something happening that was otherworldly to us. We should have been drawing attention but the zombie patrons paid us no mind. Weird as it was, this was the kind of uncertainty we were seeking.

“Get us some beers,” Zigler said. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

He disappeared to my right. I headed straight back to the bar. The bartender looked at me. I waited for some kind of greeting like, “What’ll it be?” or “Yeah, what!?” but I got nothing. Just a dead-eye stare. 

“Two Miller Lites?”

The bartender looked at me strangely, almost surprised then retrieved two tall cans. “Four dollars.”

“I will cut off your fucking ears.”

I gave him a five.

I sipped my beer and studied the scene. Of the twenty or so people in the room, only three were drinking. Sort of. They were gathered together kitty-corner from me, slumped along the wall barely moving, gazing at the yellowed linoleum tile. From where I stood, everyone had the same dead-eye look of the bartender. These people weren’t drunk. They were whacked out on some other substance.

Then two of the meandering zombies dragged themselves toward me. I was in the most unfamiliar territory I’d ever been in in my entire life. It had always been a talent of mine, and Zigler’s, to adapt to any situation and make would-be enemies into friendlies. But this was different and I wasn’t sure why, and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen or what I needed to do.

Just as the zombies were about to reach me they scattered. Zigler had returned from the bathroom and had scared them off. I handed him his beer.

“Go to the bathroom,” he said to me.

“I don’t have to—”

“Go,” he interrupted.

“Why?”

“Go. But use the women’s bathroom.” Zigler and I had been best friends long enough and been in enough strange situations that we trusted each other completely. But I was suspect of this suggestion. “Go. Women’s room. And leave your beer.”

 “So you can drink it? I know how you operate.” I headed off.

I slowly pushed open the door to the women’s restroom. “Hello?” I called out. No one answered so I pushed the door open completely and entered a small area with another door that led into the actual bathroom. So I slowly pushed that door open.

Standing there was the largest, most ferocious looking man I’d ever seen. He stood at least seven-feet tall, his bald head was the diameter of my chest. His raven-black skin glistened with sweat — streams tearing down his bare bulging arms. His eyes were not glassy like the others out there but had a fiery focus that raised the hair on my neck and caused my goosebumps to cower. He blocked the entire way into the bathroom. A hulking human eclipse of the ladies’ room. Standing in front of him was a tiny blond woman. She came just to his belly. Her skin was sickly pale, her eyes glassy and sunken like her cheeks. As I sized up the beast-man, she darted around me and locked the door behind me. I was trapped. She returned to him.

Together, they looked like Krang from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. You know, the gross-looking brain thing floating in the stomach of a monstrous, superpowered machine-man. Or like the little laughing pet thing that sits near Jabba the Hut in Return of the Jedi.

“Uh, I’m in the wrong bathroom,” I said with as much confidence as I could, which was none.

“Are you gonna buy some crack?” The beast-man boomed.

“What? No. I—”

“You’re here. You better buy some crack. Now.”

 “I really don’t have the money, just this beer.”

The blond tweaker lunged at me and stuck her face up toward mine. Her eyes came alive. She was all of the intensity within a two-mile radius.

“I will cut off your fucking ears.”

I didn’t break from her stare for what felt like days. When I looked up to the beast-man he smiled an evil grin. “She’s not fucking around.” She produced a knife that made the one Shades jabbed into the bar look like an antique butter knife.

I laughed thinking of that scene in Crocodile Dundee: “That’s not a knife; this is a knife.” That disturbed them, intensifying the situation.

“I’d better not. You don’t want to waste good crack on me. And my ears… they’re terrible.” I said all this backing up to the locked door. I whipped around as fast as I could and unlocked it and bolted out. I thought for sure they were following me but I didn’t look back. I sprinted the few yards to Zigler at the bar. He was laughing hysterically.

“What the fuck!?”

“She threaten to cut your ears?”

“Yes!” He laughed harder, doubled over even. His laughing, my yelling and still, not a single patron raised an eye to us. And the beast-man and blond tweaker remained in the bathroom. “Really, what the fuck was that?”

“I have no idea. We should probably go.”

The drive back to my house was made with alcoholic care. It was hard to do because we were both laughing so hard.

“That was a crack house, right?” I asked. 

“Seemed like it.”

“A crack house tavern. Wow.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Here’s the thing that confuses me the most: Why were you in the women’s restroom?”

Zigler just laughed.

Truth or Lie is the only live it show that showcases non-fiction and fiction stories and tellers, bridging the gap between storytelling and theater. It is hosted by two-time Moth Grand Slam Champion Sarah Bunger. The event features five to six story tellers spinning true or fictive tales and leaving the audience to wonder, truth or lie?

First Sunday of every month 7 p.m. Firecat Projects in Bucktown (2124 N. Damen) 

Interested in lying to us? Submit a writing sample to Truthorliereadingseries@gmail.com. Pieces must be 8–12 minutes and can be 'truths' or 'lies' (ie creative nonfiction or fiction).

[junker-town]

San Jose State football hopes it’s found its own version of P.J. Fleck

The Spartans have already recruited like Fleck, but it hasn’t amounted to much yet.

Ahh, memories. From two years ago:

On February 4, the San Jose State Spartans and head coach Ron Caragher signed a recruiting class that ranked 57th, according to the 247Sports Composite.

San Jose State! A team that ranked 116th in the F/+ rankings and faded late, inked the second-best mid-major class, better than Western Michigan's and nearly better than Boise State's!

So how quickly can one great class make a difference? At WMU, the answer was "very quickly!" But can a bunch of freshmen fix some serious explosiveness issues? Can freshmen and a couple of JUCOs shore up an iffy front seven?

We toss around words like "upside," but there's no question that San Jose State will have a lot more of it in 2015 and beyond.

From a pure ratings standpoint, it was the kind of recruiting class that P.J. Fleck rode to a 13-0 start at Western Michigan in 2016. It was the type of class that Boise State uses to build the deepest depth charts in the Mountain West.

It was only one class, and it was a bit of a house of cards. Some members either didn’t qualify or took a while to.

Still, in 2016, the lineup included...

a senior quarterback who’d led the Spartans to their fifth bowl win the year before.

a four-star running back backed up by a mid-three-star back.

a seasoned No. 1 receiver and sophomores who were four- and mid-three-star recruits.

five offensive linemen starting for at least the second year.

two senior defensive ends who would combine for 22 tackles for loss.

a secondary that featured two mid-three-star juniors and a four-star junior.

That’s a combination of experience and recruiting that a mid-major doesn’t compile often.

With this lineup, San Jose State went 4-8, and Caragher was fired. The Spartans ranked 100th in Off. S&P+ and 112th in Def. S&P+. The Spartans were miserable until November, and when they began to improve, it was too late.

Recruiting is step one. It is only the first few miles of a journey that includes the Player Development River and the Tactics Trail, but getting through recruiting with interesting tools makes you more likely to succeed overall. And it jazzes up the fan base.

You still have to nail a lot of other steps, though. Caragher didn’t, so now it’s Brennan’s turn.

Nobody else is P.J. Fleck, but SJSU is hoping Brennan’s Fleck-like enthusiasm provides a shot in the arm. Basically any article about Brennan uses the word “energy” approximately 4,000 times. (Here’s an example.)

The 44-year-old former UCLA receiver is regarded as an enthusiastic recruiter, and he has California ties and SJSU-specific experience. He was Dick Tomey’s recruiting coordinator, eventually working his way to offensive co-coordinator in 2009. When Mike Macintyre took over, he remained on as receivers coach before taking the same job at Oregon State.

Brennan has spent most of his career as either a receivers coach, recruiting coordinator, or both. His single year as co-coordinator is his only experience at that level, and now he takes the reins of a program. It always feels risky when you’re asking a guy to skip a rung or two.

Still, Fleck and WMU proved it can work. Will it for the Spartans? And even if it does, can it work with what Brennan is inheriting — high-caliber, unproven athletes in the skill positions, major experience on the offensive line and in the secondary, and a brand new quarterback — or, like Fleck, will he have to strip the house down to the studs?

2016 in review

2016 SJSU statistical profile.

My 2016 San Jose State preview was a swing-and-miss. I declared the Spartans were “a couple of ifs from nine or 10 wins.”

If a big-play threat emerges on offense and a young secondary gels, SJSU could end up ranked in the 70s or so with a chance at about 9-3. If the offense is still too reliant on efficiency and the pass defense regresses too much, the Spartans could slip into the 100s and go 4-8.

I at least nailed it with the latter scenario. The passing game produced a few big plays, but the run game produced none, and the pass defense slipped from 45th in Passing S&P+ to 83rd. More importantly, SJSU waited two-thirds of the season to show the promise I thought it had.

First 8 games (2-6): Avg. percentile performance: 23% | Avg. score: Opp 37, SJSU 22 | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.7, SJSU 5.2 (minus-1.5) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: minus-9.4 PPG

Last 4 games (2-2): Avg. percentile performance: 39% | Avg. score: Opp 31, SJSU 29 | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.0, SJSU 5.6 (minus-0.4) | Avg. performance vs. S&P+ projection: plus-11.5 PPG

Neither the offense nor defense were good, but SJSU played at a top-80 level or so over the last few weeks, winning close games over UNLV and Fresno State and dropping competitive games to Boise State and Air Force.

Had the Spartans established that level earlier, they could have maybe eked out six wins and another bowl berth and saved Caragher’s job. Instead, a series of egg-layings — most notably a 34-17 home loss to Hawaii — did the Spartans in.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

When Charlie Strong brought Sterlin Gilbert to Texas last year to save his offense, the 37-year-old son of the air raid brought a younger brother of sorts, 27-year-old receivers coach Andrew Sowder. When the experiment failed, Gilbert followed Strong to USF, and Sowder got a call from Brennan and headed west.

(As fate would have it, SJSU opens the season against ... USF.)

Sowder was a student assistant at Baylor early in Art Briles’ tenure and ended up following Dino Babers to Eastern Illinois in 2012 and Bowling Green in 2014. Every coach has his own spin on things, but we can make some assumptions. SJSU is probably going to play with extreme tempo, spread the field as wide as it can, and try to create quick reads for its quarterback.

When you’ve got the right pieces, the Briles/Babers offense is almost untouchable. So let’s start counting the pieces.

Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Holmes

Receiver Justin Holmes. The junior is SJSU’s No. 1 returning receiver, and he’s exciting. He combined a 51 percent success rate with a lofty average of 15.7 yards per catch. He was a two- or three-catches-per-game guy last year, but he erupted for six and 106 yards against Boise State.

Receiver Tre Hartley. More of an all-or-nothing threat, he averaged 17.3 yards per catch and was a difference maker in three wins. He caught a combined 14 balls for 273 yards and three touchdowns in the victories over Portland State, Nevada, and UNLV.

Running backs Malik Roberson and Zamore Zigler. The duo averaged 5.2 yards per carry as backups to Deontae Cooper with questionable efficiency (only 35 percent of carries gained at least five yards) and excellent explosiveness. Both are former three-star recruits, as is incoming freshman Tyler Nevens.

Receiver Rahshead Johnson. The former four-star was big early (two catches for 75 yards against Tulsa) and late (four for 72 against Air Force) and, at 5’11 and 169 pounds, appears to be a slot prototype.

Young receivers Bailey Gaither, JaQuan Blackwell, Billy Humphreys, Antwaun Ayres, and maybe Jeremy Kelly. All are former three-stars, and aside from Kelly, all are sophomores or younger. Kelly was listed as a safety but now as a receiver.

Six offensive linemen with 125 combined career starts. SJSU ranked in the 80s and 90s in basically every line stat last year, so this experience doesn’t come from an amazing line, but it’s experience.

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Malik Roberson

A couple of explosive backs, an experienced line, and a deep receiving corps? For an offense that works quickly and distributes the ball to a lot of weapons, that’s a strong list of assets. There’s just one thing I didn’t mention: a quarterback.

That’s not to say there aren’t candidates. Sophomore Josh Love, redshirt freshman Montel Aaron, and true freshman Terrell Carter are all former three-stars, and another true freshman, Ryan Johnson, is a 6’4 prospect who nearly hit a three-star rating as well.

Love got a head start by backing up Kenny Potter last year, but he didn’t nail his audition. Filling in against Utah and Iowa State, he completed just 24 of 48 passes, averaging a decent 14.1 yards per completion but throwing five interceptions.

Granted, that was against power-conference competition. Perhaps Love would have done fine against lesser defenses. Still, he entered spring with plenty to prove.

Defense

Brennan has adopted “Spartan Speed” as a catchphrase; he wants SJSU’s philosophy to be tempo on both sides of the ball. That explains the Sowder hire. To bring aggression and pace to the defense, Brennan brought along a co-worker.

Former Oregon State defensive backs coach Derrick Odum takes over a defense that has some rebuilding in areas of weakness but boasts one of the stickier pass defenses in the Mountain West.

Odum occupies branches on the June Jones (SMU, 2008-14), Kyle Whittingham (Utah, 2005-07), and, yes, Briles (Houston 2003-04) trees, which suggests he knows how to install an aggressive mindset. But one has to wonder if he’s got the pieces to turn that into production against the run. SJSU could be strong up the middle but shaky on the edges.

The backbone — defensive tackles, middle linebacker, safeties — could be excellent. Or at least, it will be experienced. Every tackle returns, including juniors Owen Roberts and Bryson Bridges, who combined for 14 tackles for loss and six sacks last year. Throw in junior linebacker Frank Ginda (11.5 TFLs) and safeties Maurice McKnight and Trevon Bierria (combined: two TFLs, 13 passes defensed), and that’s a good spine.

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Bryson Bridges

Last year’s top four defensive ends are gone, however, which means redshirt freshman Cameron Alexander — the star of Caragher’s 2016 recruiting class — needs to produce immediately. If he doesn’t, I’m not sure who will.

Meanwhile, Ginda is the only of the top three linebackers returning. Senior William Ossai saw time on the first string last year, but there’s probably a reason why Brennan signed three JUCO linebackers. Of the trio — Jamal Scott, Brando Phillips, Justin Parcells — at least one will need to become a disruptive contributor early on.

The Mountain West is loaded with run-happy teams, so the fact that the Spartans had a glitchy run defense and a good pass rush didn’t pay off. Now the pass rush has major question marks.

Maybe the secondary can pick up the slack. McKnight, Bierria, Ethan Aguayo, and Chad Miller are seasoned, exciting safeties, and senior corners Andre Chachere and Jermaine Kelly made quite a few plays to offset the plays they allowed last year. Because they had to play an extra role in run support, they got burned quite a bit on first down (passer rating: 171.9), but they were lights-out on third (103.2). They will be asked to do more with the rebuilt pass rush, but they might pull it off. If opponents ever have to pass.

Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Frank Ginda

Special Teams

Caragher left Brennan with a pretty solid special teams unit. Bryce Crawford is automatic inside of 40 yards, and Michael Carrizosa has a strong leg for both punting (44.3 average) and kickoffs (69 percent touchback rate). The return game wasn’t consistent, but in terms of both field position and finishing drives, SJSU should be able to do damage.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 26-Aug South Florida 56 -11.7 25% 2-Sep Cal Poly-SLO NR 11.3 74% 9-Sep at Texas 16 -28.0 5% 16-Sep at Utah 45 -18.3 14% 23-Sep Utah State 73 -6.6 35% 30-Sep at UNLV 118 -0.1 50% 7-Oct Fresno State 115 4.3 60% 14-Oct at Hawaii 109 -1.8 46% 28-Oct at BYU 46 -18.1 15% 4-Nov San Diego State 52 -12.3 24% 11-Nov at Nevada 117 -0.4 49% 18-Nov at Colorado State 43 -18.5 14% 25-Nov Wyoming 80 -4.3 40%

Projected S&P+ Rk 105 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 105 / 99 Projected wins 4.5 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -11.6 (112) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 100 / 88 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* -1 / -5.5 2016 TO Luck/Game +1.9 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 63% (51%, 76%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 3.4 (0.6)

Last year, I said SJSU was a couple of ifs away from a pretty big season. It was probably more like a few ifs, but the schedule appeared conducive to success.

This year, not so much. S&P+ projects the Spartans 105th, which could earn you a few wins in the MWC. But a brutal non-conference slate features trips to Texas, Utah, and BYU and a visit from USF, and S&P+ says SJSU has no better than a 25 percent chance in any of those games. The same goes for conference games against SDSU and Colorado State.

The schedule also features six relative tossups with win probability between 35 and 60 percent, but the Spartans might have to win all of them to reach bowl eligibility. Even if Brennan turns out to be SJSU’s Fleck, that’s probably not going to happen.

San Jose State is building for 2018, then. The Spartans will have rebuilding at cornerback and on the offensive line next year, but an abundance of sophomore and junior starters should make next year’s squad pretty dangerous.

Team preview stats

All preview data to date.

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Notes from the Post-it Wall | Week of October 14, 2018

By David Himmel

• Maybe it was the long-expected death of Sears, maybe it was the nine-year anniversary of my best friend dying, maybe it was the first nip of the coming winter… I found myself really blue this week.

• I don’t really care about Sears closing. Such is life. Adapt or die. It did a century of a quarter on this earth. That’s not bad. What is too bad is that none of the proprietors of the businesses it destroyed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were around to see its comeuppance. Not like the way so many small video store owners saw Blockbuster get its ass handed to it when Netflix and streaming came to be.

• A bath is like a love affair: A bath does not need be red hot to be enjoyed; but it can never be enjoyed if it cools down.

• If you begin a comment on a website or social media thread with profanity in ALL CAPS, you’ve washed out whatever reasonable point that followed. It’s the same as standing up and screaming “BULLSHIT!” at the top of your lungs during a conversation in person. No one wants to listen to a person who would be so rude.

• All things god and terrible begin with great conversations in a dark bar with a generous bartender.

• Go ahead and call her horseface, buddy. You fucked her.