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Hello my fellow poor people! Welcome to this week's “Malikas Kards Konfidential," inside production details/family notes from KUWTK’s last episode, “Sister, Sister and a Babymoon”
Needing 2 weeks of multiple health screens after watching this Malika-filled episode, producers surprised us with a trip to Morongo where we could pretend that we really care about the Malikas just for a brief moment in time. They gambled, put their own health at risk, discussed the horrors of giving birth to a person that’s about to pop, and honestly, nothing more. I realize that for most people, this episode is something so far out of reach from the normal Kardashian realm, so in moments like these, I am humbly reminded why this show is coming to an end. #ThisIsTorture
Our A-plot is Khloe taking Malika on a babymoon, something that is apparently a very real thing, and our B-plot was Corey v. Kendall. Let’s dive in before we're all haunted by Robert Kardashian's hologram!
Cold Open/Scene 1: Kourtney and Kim discuss Kendall/Kylie fight

• Producers say Kourtney and Kendall spend the most time poolside at Kris' Palm Springs House.
• When the family films in the pool, producers usually watch from Kris' outdoor grill and bar area.
• Producers were still reeling from Kendall and Kylie's fight. They assumed the drag show ended their Palm Springs filming, but then things got turned upside down.

Scene 2: Kim and Khloe talk about the fight while Kourtney sits in the corner and says nothing

• Producers spent a bit of time with Kim and Kendall after the fight to better understand what went down.
• The girls are in one of Kris' guest rooms... The 14,500 square foot home has 7 bedrooms in total.
• Kim and Kourtney's fight was still very fresh for producers even though it happened a few months ago. Producers say intense sister fights of that magnitude don't happen very often.
• Because none of the sisters were actually present for Kendall and Kylie's fight, they were hesitant to take sides. They hoped Kylie and Kendall could work things out themselves.

Scene 3: Kim, Khloe and Scott talk about the fight + Malika's babymoon

• Producers make sure every family member involved in an argument has their side captured on camera. "It's important we don't come off like the show is presenting only one person's perspective and emotions."
• Although her sisters reached out, it was Kris that Kylie was in touch with the most after the fight.
• Before giving birth to True, Khloe took a sister "baby moon" with Kim and Kourtney to Tokyo.
• After Kim and Kanye announced in 2013 that they were expecting for the first time, they escaped to Paris for a "little baby moon"
• Malika has said she craved cereal throughout her whole pregnancy.
• Malika has said she'd love to have twins one day, just not in her first pregnancy.
• There were a lot of mixed feelings when Scott started coughing. Most producers didn't know what to think or take seriously yet.
• The crew also tried holding their breath and counting to ten.
• Producers thought Kourtney was the family member who might get bored during lockdown. She loves to travel, so it would be hard for her to suddenly be grounded.
• Producers thought Kim would love the downtime... she's so busy, it would be nice for her to get a breather from all of her obligations.
• u/LinusRanger13 NOTE: Alright let's hold up a minute because we got some kontinuity ERRORS up in here. Let's call this scene for what it is: staged. This scene was filmed on March 30th, 2020, three weeks after Kendall/Kylie's fight and Malika's babymoon. I can tell because Kim is wearing the same shirt/hairstyle that she wore while taping virtual interviews for The Tonight Show and The View, the latter of which which aired the next day. Poor Malika... she's just trying to spend some time with her newborn baby, but this is the price you pay for taking over Kourtney's spot on the show! This must also mean that they were NOT quarantining separately here... as this was just two weeks after the L.A. shutdown. A professional camera crew clearly shot this as well, so let's hope they all got tested before filming!

Scenes 4/5: Malika sits through labor horror stories during her baby moon lunch + en route to Malika's favorite spot in the world, Morongo

• Malika's babymoon was the same week (erhm, the day after) that Khloe had been in Palm Springs with her family.
• The girls wanted a cute outdoorsy restaurant that was close to Morongo.
• In August 2020, Khadijah announced she was pregnant with her third baby. She gave birth to her son Christian in 2010 and daughter Celine in 2014.
• It made Malika nervous to hear all the birth stories over lunch.
• The girls got recognized at lunch, but producers say people were respectful.
• Palm Springs is frequented by L.A. residents. Producers say everyone kind of gets it and isn't so out of control the second they see a celebrity and cameras around them.
• A long bathroom break at the restaurant held up the girls. Producers say it started with Malika, then everyone was in there with her, so it took her forever to get on the road.
• It was only a 20-minute drive from lunch to Morongo.
• Producers say Malika got pretty carsick whenever she wasn't driving.
• Production provides a basket of snacks when filming on long drives.
• All the sisters have given pregnant members of production great advice about labor and delivery.

Scene 6: Kylie breaks away from STASSSIE BABBBYYY to fulfill her contractual obligations by participating in a scene w/Kris at her office

• Both Kris and Kylie have the same exact desk size in their offices.
• Because Kris is seen by many as a "boss bitch mega-mogul," it's easy to forget she's parented 6 kids. Producers are always in awe when that side of her comes out.
• Kylie and Kendall have bickered about "typical sister stuff" over the years, like borrowing each other's clothes without saying anything.
• Some of producers' favorite memories of filming Kylie and Kendall as little girls were during family trips... most notably the Dominican Republic, Greece and Bora Bora.
• Producers say those trips were a lot of fun, and the girls would film music videos with the whole family.
  • u/LinusRanger13 NOTE: Here's another bonus music video from back in the day. :)
• Producers say out of all her kids, Kim is the one Kris has the easiest time communicating with.

Scene 7: Khloe, Khadijah and the other girl day players celebrate Malika in their Morongo suites

• The girls had five suites at Morongo.
• Champagne and different juices were served at the "Momosa" bar.
• Khloe had never been to Morongo... it was a place Malika usually liked going to by herself.
• Besides hitting the casino, Malika wanted to lie by the pool in a cabana, go in the hot tub and do some shopping at the nearby outlets.
• Producers found it funny that Khloe went through drama over not packing proper clothes. "We thought it was funny and just rolled with it... they would've had fun if they all only brought sweats."

Scene 8: A future boring plot is SAVED by Corey reading Kendall for the "asshole" that she really is

• Corey just happened to have a mirror ball because of a prank that was being pulled on an associate producer.
• Corey and Kris are big Dancing With The Stars fans. And, Rob and Kim's time on the show are some of the family's favorite memories.
• This was Kris and Corey's first time meeting Artem, but Kris and Cheryl Burke already went way back.
• Cheryl was Rob's partner on Dancing With The Stars.
• The man standing against the wall is Kris' security guard.
• Corey and Kris were learning the Argentine tango because they wanted to enter a small dance competition.
• Producers say Kourtney would also be a great dance partner for Corey. (okay? 😅Maybe not after he whoops Penelope's ass!)
• While Corey was on the phone with Kendall, Cheryl and Artem gave Kris a few pointers.
• Kris knew Corey was on with Kendall, but she had no idea things got so heated until after the call.
• Kris and Corey had a long dance session with Cheryl and Artem.
• Producers say Kris and Corey's dancing was actually pretty good, and their choreography was complex.
• Producers say maybe the footage of Kris and Corey's dancing will pop up in some future never-before-seen footage show.
• u/LinusRanger13 NOTE: This scene is legit, as it was filmed two days after the Kendall/Kylie fight, on Mon. 3/9/2020.

Scenes 9/10: Malika celebrates International Women's Day by telling the world she don't give a flying FUCK about her baby daddy's business + Khloe, Malika and their day players risk their health by playing in the casino amid a pandemic

• The family usually asks each other for their opinions before posting things on social media.
• Producers have joked that the girls should read their DMs on camera - but it's never happened.
• Many photos on the family's social media feeds are taken by the crew members. Audio supervisor Erin - aka Paxy - is their favorite "camera phone" photographer.
• Sometimes producers will set the lighting and the DP suggests the framing... helping with the family's social media pics becomes a fun little production.
• Throughout the babymoon, Khloe never took Malika's phone away... or made her take social media breaks.
• Malika said she didn't morning sickness at all during pregnancy.
• Malika has said, "I'm able to be a Malika because I have a Khloe.... we're a duo that's really tough to come by."
• Producers say the girls got recognized in the casino, and there was a point where a small crowd was gathered behind their table filming them.
  • u/LinusRanger13 NOTE: WOW, recognized with a full camera crew in tow!? SHOCKING.
• None of the girls hit up the slots, which was good for production... it's difficult to get clearance to film slot machines.
• Besides roulette, the girls also played blackjack for a while.
• Khloe won the most money that night.
• About 20 crew members went to Morongo.
• The girls spent about an hour in the casino.

Scene 11: This trip seems to never end as Khloe, Malika and their day players head to dinner

• Malika thought she was having contractions for about half an hour before dinner, but producers say nothing super alarming.
• Producers were really worried Malika would actually go into labor.
• Despite hearing about Morongo for years from Malika, Khloe had no idea what to expect.
• Producers say this was one of the longest dinners ever filmed. It lasted for hours - the girls hung out and were chatting forever.
• After dinner, Malika wanted everyone to play games back in the room, but Khloe and a producer were trying to figure out how to get out of it. It was really late and Malika needed to rest, even though Malika didn't feel like it.

Scene 12: This episode still drags on as Malika gives her baby a real kick by drinking caffeine

• Malika had been in pain on and off since waking up.
• There was talk about Malika pranking the girls by pretending her pain was getting worse, but that wasn't until later in the day when it was clear she was feeling fine.
• One of the most heartwarming moments for producers was when Malika shared a sonogram of the baby with them. It was the first time any of them saw her future son.
• Khloe and Malika did steal some private moments together early in the morning and at the end of filming.
• Khloe was first to leave because she had work obligations back home. The other girls took their time and hit up some shops on the way out.

Scene 13: Corey and Kris talk about the phone call w/Kendall

• When Kris moved into this house, production limited the amount of crew allowed inside to just a couple. That's significantly fewer than any of the girls' homes.
• Kris had spoken off-camera to producers about being in the middle of Corey and Kendall. They really felt for Kris as she struggled with her dilemma.
• Kendall didn't want to see Corey or film with him. Producers say she was still super upset.
• u/LinusRanger13 NOTE: After this scene aired, a "Konfidential Klip" was shown of Khloe, Malika and their other day players playing a baby game. Malika also pretends that she is in pain but plays it off as a joke. Hilarious! Nothing noteworthy here.

Scene 14: Khloe, masked up, is graced by a visit from Kris... who is shook by the new mask culture

• Khloe's assistant picked up the masks at a hardware store.
• When filming that day, production also wore masks per Khloe's request. Producers say masks weren't yet mandated.
• Some crew members were worried about Khloe's runny nose, while others were unsure what to think. The severity of it all was still not as clear as it is now.
• At this point, producers and the family were all freaking out and unsure what was going on. It was the next week when they stopped filming and went into lockdown.

Scene 15: Kendall shoots her Architectural Digest cover

• There were 15-20 people from the Architectural Digest team at the shoot, and just two people from the series production team.
• According to producers, the most impressive part of Kendall's house is her art room. It has curtains that are actually a canvas you can paint on.
• Sometimes the family copies each other's interior design ideas, but producers say they have individual vibes and like keeping certain things unique to their individual homes.
• Producers were surprised that Kendall and Kylie still weren't speaking. Khloe and Kendall discussed the drama with Kylie for about 30 minutes, then Khloe "really started coming apart," say producers.

Shortly after midnight on January 24, 1987, 35-year old Charlie Anderson, a veteran deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, returned to his suburban home in Burbank, California with his wife, Beth, and their two sons: five-year old Michael and eleven-month old Richard. Since Beth was suffering from a back injury, she said that Charlie offered to go inside and put Michael to bed while she waited in the car with Richard. However, Beth would soon hear gunshots from the house and when she walked inside, she discovered that Charlie had been shot to death in the upstairs hallway. Michael had been tucked into bed and was unharmed, so Beth took her children and ran to a neighbour’s house to call for help.
When police arrived, they initially suspected that Charlie had been shot after walking in on a burglary. The only fingerprints found inside the residence belonged to the Anderson family and some drawers were partially open which had an item or two removed. But while some items from the home were carefully placed together, investigators found it odd that other items of greater value were just lying around in plain sight and had not been touched. The day after the murder, the Burbank Police Department received an anonymous phone call from a man who claimed to know who Charlie Anderson’s killer was. The man said he did not want the call to be traced or recorded, so the lead detective gave him his office number, but after hanging up, the caller never phoned back. Investigators have since leaned toward the burglary at the Anderson residence being staged and suspect he was murdered by someone he knew. When Charlie was found, he had a shocked, wide-eyed on his face to suggest he had been surprised or betrayed by someone. In 1999, a case against a potential suspect was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, who said there was insufficient evidence to file charges. While Beth Anderson has never been named as a suspect, she aroused suspicion by not allowing police to re-interview her in order to clarify details about the night of the murder. Beth passed away in January 2019.
On March 31, 1988, 43-year old Carol Montecalvo was shot to death inside her home located only four blocks away from the Anderson residence. Her 46-year old husband, Dan Montecalvo, was shot in the lower back, but survived and claimed that he and Carol were attacked by intruders in an apparent burglary gone wrong. Investigators initially believed that the crime might be connected to the Anderson murder, but soon came to suspect that Dan staged the attack by murdering his wife and inflicting a gunshot wound on himself. Dan was an ex-con who originally met Carol while serving time in prison for bank robbery, owed $67,000 in gambling debts to various casinos, and stood to collect $600,000 in life insurance from Carol’s death. One police officer friend of Dan’s claimed that after Charlie Anderson’s murder took place, Dan kept asking him questions and pressing for details about the crime, creating speculation that Dan used it as inspiration to murder his own wife and make it look like both crimes were committed by the same perpetrators. Investigators gradually built a case against Dan and while the murder weapon was never found, they eventually found a hollowed-out book Dan owned with a secret compartment which they suspected he used to hide the gun after shooting Carol. Dan was charged and convicted of his wife's murder in 1990.
However, a neighbour named Suzan Brown came forward and confessed to being responsible for the crime. Brown claimed that she and a male accomplice were burglarizing the Montecalvo residence to search for money to buy drugs, but were surprised when the couple arrived home. But Brown’s story kept changing and the district attorney’s office did not consider her to be credible, so they dismissed the confession and Dan died in prison in 2013. But interestingly enough, Brown also confessed to being present for Charlie Anderson’s murder and mentioned that her accomplice left a jacket behind at the scene. In fact, a green windbreaker had been found next to a fence in the backyard of the Anderson residence, a detail which was never released publicly. In spite of this, the Burbank P.D. also dismissed her story and does not believe she was involved in Charlie’s murder.
I cover this case on this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold” podcast:
http://trailwentcold.com/2019/10/02/the-trail-went-cold-episode-143-charlie-anderson-and-carol-montecalvo/
Sources:
https://unsolved.com/gallery/charlie-anderson/
https://www.dailynews.com/2007/01/29/probe-ongoing-in-cops-slaying/
http://articles.burbankleader.com/2002-01-26/news/export11305_1_burbank-police-off-duty-police-officer-tim-stehr
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-02/news/mn-524_1_hearing-shots
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Dan_Montecalvo
https://books.google.ca/books?id=GnVGDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT8&dq=carol+montecalvo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSvvrfh_rkAhUKTd8KHR6nC9EQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=carol%20montecalvo&f=false

If you haven't had time to listen to seven hours of podcast interviews, or you didn't retain everything you heard, here are some key points. I didn't think to do this until just now, so I'll be posting it as a work in progress and updating it throughout the afternoon. That way more people will have a chance to read up before the premiere.
Karishma Patel, 37, Personal Injury Trial Lawyer, Houston, TX -First generation Indian-American Her mom was as a legal assistant, and got her a filing job at her law firm when she was 14. "I didn't have other options. I was basically told I was going to be a lawyer and I didn't disagree."She has watched every season and regularly listens to RHAP. She sits close to the TV to study the inflections on people's faces when something is said to them, so that she can think about what that means. But, her parents and husband don't share her enthusiasm for the show. Asked if it's her dark pleasure she says, "It is completely bright. It is a beautiful pleasure of mine, but it is mine and mine only. I haven't been able to find people to share it with." -Doing the show has caused her conflict. "Not only is it not expected, it's not allowed. It's kind of like being a disobedient Indian girl. You're not supposed to be doing this. What you're supposed to be doing is having babies. But I don't care. I'm a risk taker. I'm here to prove to myself that I don't need to listen to anybody else. I don't need permission from anybody else. This is my journey and I'm going to take it. I hope that people watching out there can see that an Indian woman's value does not come from doing what she's told." -She doesn't currently have children, and she says she has some decisions to make as she enters a crossroads and the next stage of her life. -Her law firm told her they'll replace her if they're able to find someone, and she can have her job back if they don't. "I didn't flinch." -Her strategy is to be non-threatening and play a social game. She doesn't look 37, and she wants to use that youthfulness to be disarming. She wants to build relationships other people believe in. She defines success by other people vouching for her loyalty when they go off and have private conversations with one another. "That means I got 'em, because it's actually the other way around." Asked if she wants to find someone she can trust, "I'm not going to be capable of it. I'm too skeptical for that. I overthink things, so I'm not going to be able to trust somebody the way I want to be trusted... If I do, that's the end of my game."
My take: Oh my God. Poor Karishma. Her story hurts my heart. She reminds me so much of myself in her isolation, her defiance and her deep feelings. I worry that her fear of trusting people could get in the way of her forming genuine bonds. But, there's nothing she can do. Society has made her the way she is. I hope she gets a lot of screen time so she can be a star of her favorite show.
Missy Byrd, 24, Military Veteran/App Developer, Tacoma, Washington -Originally from Georgia. Her family was 'decently poor.' She played basketball for the Air Force Academy because she thought it was her ticket out. -She had a brain tumor. She stopped menstruating for a year and two quarters. "I'm not dating anyone but I have breast milk. I'm a literal cow... I would look down and my shirt would be wet, and I thought, 'Dang you're clumsy. I knew you were clumsy, but you're clumsier today than you were yesterday. But it was - it was - uhh - milk." She had crying fits. She developed a stutter and couldn't look at people. Doctors told her she was just stressed. When her dad died she couldn't process emotions normally. She was about to go to the French version of the Air Force Academy, École de l'air, after graduation but because of her mental instability she was removed from school. The military shipped her to the same Air Force base as Sandra (Fort Lewis.) "I don't want to be there. Super sad. Check into the post office - fuck this. Check into the dorms - hate that." The doctor there found the tumor. She got an MRI and all weekend she believed she might have cancer. Over the next year and a half she eliminated the tumor and the symptoms using vitamins. She enlisted and worked logistics. -She made a list of the things she wanted to do now that she was going to live. "The first thing was go see Beyonce. Beyonce costs way too much money for a normal person to go see, but if you've just almost had a near death experience you go see Beyonce, bro!" She was feet away. She drove across the country. She tried weed. -She had an idea for an app, but didn't even have the computer literacy to use social media. She found a veteran's association and asked if she could intern. "They said, 'No, you should build this out yourself. We want to work for you.' I said, 'No, the fuck you don't. Okay, lemme call my grandma.'" She wrote a grant proposal and won a $1,500 office space in the center of Seattle. "Just to do whatever I want. It was like a laboratory for a child. I had Play-Dough up there. I had a white board... Just mind blowing shit when I could have been dead." -She'd seen every episode of Survivor at least three times. She started watching because her Air Force Academy basketball team was getting decimated, and she related to Foa Foa getting decimated in Survivor: Samoa. She added the show to her list. Josh suggests, "The bugs are eating you because they want some of that magic." -She isn't going to tell people her story until she's in the Final 3. "That's that Final 3 magic." She doesn't want to overly rely on strategy. She doesn't want to win individual challenges. She to build a social game and find ways to relate to everyone.
My take: She's so full of exuberance. There's not a negative bone in her body right now. She's too young and her life experience is too necessarily limited to talk around three years of her life. If she shares her story, the beauty of her perspective will cause everyone to fall in love with her and want her to do well. If she doesn't, people will sense that she's hiding a lot. I think she'll figure that out and course correct within the first day. Since she was at the same Air Force base as Sandra and she was a massive fan, does that suggest she knows her?
​
Ronnie Bardah, 35, Professional Poker Player, Henderson, Nevada-Born and raised in Brockton, Massachusetts, 20 minutes south of Boston. They were the only Israeli family in town. 50% of the people in Brockton were from Cape Verde, and he considers himself an "honorary Cape Verdian." A couple of his friends were shot and killed at a young age. -He was a good kid and had a good heart, but he was always hustling. In Junior High he was flipping Oatmeal Cakes and Fudge Rounds for a profit. Slinging baseball cards. Both his parents gambled. They were always at the dog tracks or Mohegan Sun. He had his friend make him a fake ID and got stuck with the name Alaja Jones. He went by Al and started playing the casinos. Quit his job at Sears Automotive to play poker full time.-He played Atlantic City, Vegas, then internationally. He had his first big score in 2010 when he took 24th place in the main event for $320,000. Got to keep $150,000 after taxes. "Poker's a hard way to make an easy living. Lots of people try. We risk every day. You have to get to a point when you can manage your bankroll and I've never gone broke in the 16 years I've played." -In one of the most viewed poker hands of all time, he was bluffed out of a million dollar pot by a supermodel on a poker TV show filmed in Monaco. "She made a sick play. She had no idea what she was doing but all the stars were aligned."-He watched Borneo when it aired and got back into it when fellow poker player Anna Khait was on. He calls Jean-Robert, "kinda a lazy guy...He's really good at befriending multi-millionaires." "Anna Khait... is probably the least poker player out of all of us. She played for a couple years." "And then Garrett - He's a very, very smart, smart kid... Self-made millionaire. One of the very, very few." -He only drank water for 7.5 days and lost 25 pounds for his health and to get an idea of the conditions of the show. He thinks he'll thrive in the survival situation. "People like being around me. I like to fucking bust balls and joke." He thinks old school alliances are a good plan, but you have to adapt. He says that like in poker, Survivor players can have every advantage, but they have to really smell it. -He wants Vince out. "There's an Asian Zeke in there. What value does he bring besides ruining people and getting in people's heads? He's a liability in challenges. He looks like a little corn puff. We gotta get him outta here. Sorry to sound so mean but it's the truth."
My take: Ruuuuude. He has no way of knowing how other people on the cast are talking in their interviews, and may assume the trash talk is standard. If he were playing on some seasons it would be. But, in this particular season it sets him apart in an unflattering way, and it seems a part of the tough persona he's built up to escape a scary situation growing up and enter a fantasy career. We'll see whether his tribe thinks he's a straight talking character or a jerk.
​
Tom Laidlaw, Former NHL Player, Brampton, Ontario, Canada -He was with the New York Rangers for 7 years and the LA Kings for 4. Now he has his own podcast, True Grit Life (truegritlife.com). Does it with a friend, Kevin Allen, who writes for USA Today. Does motivational speaking. -Growing up on a dairy farm outside Toronto there was a pond to water the cows. It froze over in the winters and he'd play hockey because there wasn't much else to do. Went to Northern Michigan University - four year hockey captain, ranked #1 team in the country. Drafted as a 20 year old. "My buddy had a horse farm. We were cleaning horse shit out of the stalls. There were no cell phones back then. This is 1978. My father got a call at our farm house from the New York Rangers at the draft. Back then nobody went to the draft - it was just teams. They said I'd been drafted in the sixth round. He calls the farm house where I'm working. They bring me up. He says, 'Son, you've been drafted by the Rangers.' I said, 'Great. What do I do now?' He says, 'Finish cleaning the shit out of the stalls.'" -When he played intimidation and fighting was strategy. There were guys tougher than him, but he could fight and he could also play. Problem was, he fought a guy once, and from then on the guy wanted to fight him over and over. -Jerry Bruckheimer, big hockey fan, called the NHL and wanted to get some players on the Amazing Race. Tom had kept himself in shape, he had his passport. They ended up asking him about Survivor. He'd watched it before but not for a while. He wasn't so sure he wanted to play a game where you hurt other people, but friends helped him get his head around it. He was very impressed by Christian's toughness in the endurance challenge. To prepare for the show he studied how he reacted to different situations, how to control his heart heart, etc. He wants the mental challenge.
My take: Tom really ticked me off when he spoiled a couple of outcomes of this season. That's a betrayal of the producers, his cast and the viewers. But, if that hadn't happened I would like him. He's an easy-going, charming guy. His life experiences are a bit different than anyone else who's been on the show, which is what you want.
Vince Moua, 27, Admissions Counselor, Merced, CA -His family is Hmong. His parents lived in Vietnam in the destruction left by the war - dead bodies, guns, people who wanted to kill them. They went to refugee camps in Thailand. Then his dad became a Montana farm hand. He met Vince's mom in the US, but she came from the same place. -Vince is from small town Merced, California - the 209. Few people he knew went anywhere but the UC system and community college. He went to Stanford, one of only 7-10 Hmong. He realized the significance someone can bring to people from the same community. He tried to be pre-med but realized "no, not today." The issues of access he cared about came well before people got to the hospital. He ended up going with education. His mom was a teacher, "But when I was growing up she said, 'Yo, if you become a teacher Imma disown yo ass.' To all of us. But, that's always kinda been my jam." -He lived in South Korea for five years. He taught English in a town. Then in Seoul ahed worked with low and middle income students who wanted to study outside of Korea. -He's a Survivor superfan, who even mentions on his Tinder account that he plans to be on Survivor. His parents were worried about him doing TV because he's not out as gay to his extended family. He comes from a clan where his dad is the "top dog" and Vince is "the next top dog." In the Asian American/Pacific Islander community when you come out, it's your family who faces - in a sense - dishonor. For a long time he distanced himself from his family, hoping they'd all be less hurt if they found out and disowned him. He always tried to find friends who would be there for him should his parents not be. A year ago his mom asked him rhetorically if he was gay. "I was try'n to go around it. I was like, 'Gurl, you don't wanna know! Yo ass keeps asking!' But she kept asking, asking. So finally I told her 'Yeah, I am!' and she was crying. My dad was like, 'Oh, my son!'" But, Vince is fine with who he is and wants to show kids like him that "let's hope that it gets better." Now his parents just want him to win. -He'd like to play an old school strategy but "I'm not afraid to cut a bitch." With the tribe he's going to be Homeboy Vince from the 209, but when he talks to the camera he's going to tell people "Don't underestimate your narratives." This past year with Crazy Rich Asians, he wants people to know that there are some Crazy Hood Ass Asians.
My take: What a character. Vince has a clear point of view - Hmong, blue collar, gay - which is unique to him in Survivor lore. Even though double minorities have sometimes had trouble fitting in socially on Survivor I think somehow he's going to pull it off. As unlikely as this sounds I could even see him being a Cochran-esque winner.
Aaron Meredith, 36, Personal Trainer, Warwick, Rhode Island -He's very keyed up at Ponderosa. Rambling so fast it sounds like you're listening to 1.5x. He's read four books so far - Relentless by Tim Grover, Can't Hurt Me by Dave Goggins, Iron Cowboy by James Lawrence, Harry Potter. -He was an engineer at a building insulation plant. He was miserable, too antsy sitting at a desk. Couldn't focus. So, he drove up and down the East Coast popping kettle corn - from Maine to Florida - traveling with carnies. Bartended for a while. He'd played college football and baseball, lifted since high school, and he and his friends wanted to get "huge and jacked and ripped." The owner of the gym suggested he become a personal trainer. He ended up working mostly with middle aged women and it taught him empathy. Now he owns two women's-only fitness studios. He puts supportive women around one another and offers them the positivity to seek self-growth. -He's also a party boat emcee. Lights, DJ, bar, drinks. He's an extremely social person. -He'd first applied at 23 - 6 or 7 times over the years. He was in the mix for Cook Islands and David vs. Goliath. -He's been married 7 years and has a 5 year old son. His son is a huge fan of Survivor. Libby Vincek is his favorite player. Kara Kay was his next favorite. Aaron is already sure Molly will be his son's favorite. "He has a type. He He likes the attractive blondes. He says, 'I like them because they have a nice face.' I like mommy because she has a nice face too." The boy was very concerned about his dad going on the show. He said, "Dad, I don't want anyone to laugh at you and make fun of you." Aaron said he wanted to win. His son said, "But you might not win." When they watch the show he'll always ask, "Do they like him? Do they like her?" If Aaron is portrayed in a negative light he'll have to sit down with his son and talk. He doesn't want to play a deceitful game, but he will, because he doesn't care how he's portrayed.
My take: His story about his son is one of my favorites from all these interviews. I hope he gets to work with Molly. His adrenaline is too high. I hope he calms down a lot when the game starts. But, someone so social and sweet hearted who can win challenges and take themselves to the end has got to be a contender to win.
Chelsea Walker, 27, Digital Content Editor, Los Angeles, CA -Chelsea just took the cast photo and they put her in the third spot from the bottom, a good omen because a weird number of winners have been in that position. "Your girl's number three. I got this!" -She's a Jersey girl. She went to the University of Maryland. "I didn't do Survivor: Maryland or anything." She studied Broadcast Journalism. She knew the generic emails for NBC Universal and emailed random people until someone replied. Now she's been in LA a year. She did coverage of award shows. Now she works at IMDB, where she helps Kevin Smith with his show. She just interviewed people at SXSW. -She's been watching Survivor since she was 8. She's cried in every interview because this means so much to her. She's trying to explain that at the point she starts crying again. "It's been such a dream of mine and To be told no year after year after year - these past six years have been a total mindfuck. I've basically been called every single year. I've been to finals three times. Survivor is my one true love, but the one year they didn't call me I got really pissed off so I tried out for Big Brother. I ended up becoming the alternate and got my key being filmed and all of that crap. But I don't like that show anyway." -In September 2017 she was at a WeHo bar for her friend's birthday when, "Oh shit that's Jeff Probst." Her girlfriends all know she's obsessed, so she pulled the waiter over and asked what that guy was drinking. So, Chelsea sent another one over. "I told my friends, 'Take my credit card. Split the bill, because I can't come back after I do this. As soon as the waiter drops off the drink I'm like, 'Jeff, this one's on me. You can buy me the next one at finals.' And I just walked out of the restaurant... That was a big move!" They didn't call her again that year, but Jeff still remembered when they talked this year. -She's been working out at four different gyms - weights, pilates, yoga. Push ups. Memorized puzzles. Reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, which she keeps in.a Bible sleeve so people will think she's religious. She also carries Harry Potter because she would trust someone who read HP. She wants to keep it cool. Make one on one connections. Eventually find idols - and not tell anyone she has one - and make calculated moves. "I don't want to be a Jacob. No offense."
My take: Hearing this girl cry from joy because she's so happy to be on the show makes me emotional. She's a real go getter. I wish I were that damn fearless. Truly, I wish I were more like her. I hope her pure zest for life comes across on TV and she doesn't get stuck with a purple edit just because of her age and gender. I also hope no one decides to get threatened by her as a competitive girl and vote her off premerge. I think she'll go far. Hope so.
Dean Kowalski, 28, Account Executive, New York, New York -Referring to himself in the third person, "Dean is 28 years old. As we mentioned, he lives in New York and he prides himself on being a well rounded person when it comes to interests, abilities, personalities... If I'm listening to Drake and Lil Wayne, I gotta go home and cry to This Is Us.. I can play basketball but also think about our place in the universe." He likes to tag basketball courts with a peace symbol with a ball on it which he makes using a stencil. -He structures most of his interview with Josh around an Outwit, Outplay, Outlast format, explaining why he excels at each. -He grew up in an affluent suburb. His dream was to play in the NBA. He was 5"9 3/4, so he set his eyes on college basketball as a realistic alternative. In order to get looks from colleges he went to a school 30 minutes away - top five in the country, Nike would fly them around for games and give them free Jordan sneakers. He was one of only 4 white guys in the whole school and the only one on the team. He played with Kyrie Irving, the #1 overall draft pick. "My friend said you look like the Make a Wish Kid who just wants to be on the team for a day." He played at Colombia University, where he was co-captain his senior year despite averaging two minutes a game. He became a teacher, then did sales for a tech startup in New York. He now sells ads for Google. -He's a fan, but far from a superfan. He started watching Brenda's season. (He thinks it was Nicaragua, but it was actually Carmoan.) He works with a superfan who freaked out when they had a meeting at H&R Block with Carolyn Rivera and they went out to Bourbon Street with her. He kept watching for five years and thought he could do well. He hates when people are all talk, so he sent in a tape. For the video he interviewed random strangers on the street, who had never met him or seen the show, and asked them, "Why am I going to win it?" A barber, a construction worker. He's going to tell people he's in marketing, not sales - people have sales.
My take: I'm just not that into him.
Elaine Stott, 41, Factory Worker, Rockholds, NY -When Josh asks her not to touch the table she asks him, "You seen that Bart Simpson commercial, right? Don't touch my Butterfinger? I'm already hungry thinking about it." -"I had a pretty rough way to go growing up." Her single dad raised her and her three brothers. She was the youngest. "I was raised like one of the boys. Know what I mean? Daddy didn't know how to raise no little girl." He worked 16-17 hour days. The kids raised themselves. "When little children make their own decisions, they make poor ones." She was a hellion. -She's originally from Woodbine, Kentucky, Nick Wilson's hometown. Her god sister went to school with him and she knows him through the grapevine. "We rode on different sides of the track. 20 years ago he coulda been my lawyer, because I was on the other side of the law. I'm not bad. I've just done some things." Public intoxication several times. "I come from a dry county. It's like Footloose. We cross the state line to get a beer and when you come back you're in trouble." She stole a newspaper stand once and had to do community service. "I was a little bit mean." -She went to live with her grandpa and cleaned her act up, by which she means that she started smoking a little weed and playing sports - basketball, softball, track. She played softball and judo in college. "I couldn't do nothing real technical. We had Brazilians on the team who could do flying arm bars. But if I got these claws on you and got ya on the ground I'd waller you to death." In casting she put this guy Will in an armbar. She was gonna choke him but didn't know if she should. -When she graduated, her girlfriend was a college Freshman so she went to all the same parties and ballgames for four years. Then she realized she needed a job. Now she drives a Ford truck for a factory. She's been there 15 years. She works 12 hours, 7 days a week. -Growing up her mom "was always in my life in some sense. She'd never miss a birthday. She'd be homeless, but she'd still call." Elaine and her brothers bought her cars, and places to live, and got her jobs. "In a sense I've been mourning the loss of my mom my whole life." Once Elaine was homeless herself and there was snow on the ground. It was cold, and her teacher took her in. Gave her Christmas presents. Made her go to prom. Survivor was a thing they shared, and the teacher was gonna be Elaine's loved one. But within a one year period the woman lost her daughter, her husband, her dog and then had a stroke. Now "she walks like Frankenstein" and can't go. Elaine got Probst to talk to her, and she can't wait to watch. In October Elaine's biological mom went into a coma. She was on life support, but Elaine wouldn't unplug her. Her mom came out of it and seemed to be doing a lot better only to die very suddenly of a heart attack. -Her girlfriend and her girlfriend's two sons are gonna be watching. The 18 year old doesn't know because he can't keep a secret. The 13 year old helped her lose 20 pounds doing crossfit to come out here. She wants the money, but she really wants "some of that soul searching, that life adventure, that life changing - some of that. You know what I mean? Gimme some of that soup! Lemme eat some of that up! I want this show to build me up, because I feel like it can. I sure hope to hell it don't tear me down."
My take: About 12 sobbing emojis in a row. She's my favorite. If she gets voted out premerge I'm going to go into mourning. And how can you not sort of expect that? I am going to be so upset if they just dismiss her because she's older and looks out of shape and sounds country. If that happens, I want another Second Chance season next year.
Elizabeth Biesel, 26, Olympic swimmer, South Kingstown, Rhode Island -Josh says that Elizabeth was outright identified by one of the other contestants because they'd been watching YouTube videos about how to be a better swimmer. Others guessed she was an Olympian based on her rings tattoo. -She's from the Ocean State. They lived a block away from the beach, so they wanted her to take swimming lessons. She was a rambunctious child and swimming was the only way they could calm her energy. She started breaking records when she was 7 or 8. When she was 13 she made her first national team. At 15 she went to the Olympics. She got good early. Women peak around 22-23, and she ended her career at 24. You couldn't make much money doing it. She swam one of the longer, more grueling races, and her body said "no more." She listened to her body and retired. Some athletes lose their love for swimming because they're embittered by losing by 1/100th of a second, or they leave injured. She left on a good note. Still, if she could swim competitively for the rest of her life, she would. Now she doesn't know who she is or what she's going to do with the rest of her life. Every hour of the day used to have a purpose. Now her days are wide open. She can't keep eating 5,000 calories a day. "It's sort of like I'm mourning the death of Elizabeth Biesel the swimmer." -She was a Survivor fan as a kid because Richard Hatch was from Rhode Island. In her area "Every single household that had a television set was watching Survivor." When they asked her if she'd do the show, she felt pure joy. She said absolutely right away. She's excited about the competition of Survivor. No heated Olympic pools. You're stripped down to your core. She's amazed by the scope of the production apparatus. She's not a schemer. She wants to be a challenge beast - not the best woman but the best overall. She'd love to have a Wendell and Dom relationship with another woman. But, she wants to avoid the drama as long as she can.
My take: Could Chelsea be Wendell to her Dom? She's so wholesome. She's just so "Olympics." I love her and everything she represents. I'd love to see her rocket through the swimming competitions, lapping everyone else. Go Elizabeth.

PART ONE OF FIVE
So, you wanna go to SHOT show? You think it's all fun and games? Get to play with guns? See Jesse James and James Yeager? SHOT show is the annual pilgrimage of the unwashed masses to Las Vegas to rub elbows with youtube celebrities, bloggers and overseas businessmen copying US made equipment and share infectious disease.
If you love guns, gambling and gonorrhea - SHOT show is for you! It is not my typical idea of a good time. I am not a big fan of Las Vegas.
However: I do attend for a few reasons. First, I do enjoy travel and I'm gold on UA so I can usually score an upgrade. Second, industry people are in there that I do hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars with business with so it's nice to put a face with the name and see what deals are out there. SHOT for me has been a bust for the past few years. Being a value guy, I want to buy at $1000 and sell at $3000 and as of recently the gun business is more like buy for $1 and sell for $1.10 if you get what I mean.
We used to do business at SHOT and now it's just checking in on foursquare, instagram and rubbing elbows with bloggers and the like. I want to make money, not spend money so this is very annoying to me.
Anyways, onto the play by play.
Saturday, January 19th. Three days before SHOT show.
I talk a friend of mine to drive me to the airport after I drop my F350 at the body shop. I had a hit and run and someone totally fucked up all my paint and clearcoat. My guy says he can get it done while I'm gone for SHOT so I hitch a ride with a friend and pick up the tab for lunch. We have brisket. It is delicious. I get to the airport 3 hours early for my flight just in case the TSA line is a shitshow thanks to, well TSA. The government shutdown is not helping these folks. I have pre check and much to my surprise I breeze right through after a brief 3 minute wait.
I slog my way to the lounge, as shitty as it is to wait for my winged chariot to IAH. I have gone from being in an abusive relationship with AA to being in an abusive relationship with UA. Although if you really want to experience the battered spouse feeling, NK is a few gates over.
I board my flight to IAH and my Renton assembled chariot is on time and boarding early. The hate agent scans my pass and the alarms go off and spits off a new boarding pass. I have been upgraded to first class. You all will be turning right, I will be turning left once I pass the threshold of 2L on this old 757. I'll take a cleared upgrade at the gate any day of the week considering that I am 29/53 for Bush to LAX.
Fuck my life.
I gate check my bags to make life easier for me and the rest of the folks riding with me. If I don't have to worry about being short on time at my destination, I like to gate check to free up bins for those who are not as fortunate. Eventually I board and ask the FA to say hi to the captain and get a ride report. She says no problem. I step down into the 757 flight deck and take some selfies with the crew. They appreciate my aviation nerdery. They tell me that there will be light chop all over texas today and we're going to have some bumps so strap in and don't be a hero.
Having brightened the day of the flight crew, I head back to my lie flat window seat, fully recline and kick back and relax by listening to channel 9 on the IFE. It's disabled. Fuck. I put on a movie and watch the delightful Tag with the always excellent Jon Hamm, Ed Helms and others. It's a good movie and made me laugh. Just as we get to the gate the credits roll.
We land at Bush right on time but I have a 59 minute spa layover I had planned OR I can go to Landrys with my priory pass and get some blackened snapper. Do I hightail it to the Centurion lounge in terminal D, my home away from home? Or go for fresh grilled seafood?
This centurion lounge does not have a spa. Fuck it, lets go cajun. I walk over to Landrys and order the blackened snapper. It is delicious. The kitchen is a little behind so they box it up the rest of it for me to take on the plane which they don't have to do and I leave the waitress a nice tip. I am sweating from the blackened seasoning. I don't care. NOM NOM NOM. Fish is delish.
They have already started boarding to LAX as I walk up to the gate. I ask the hate agent if there's any upgrades. She says first is checked in full and we are 100% packed to LAX today. I thank her and board my bulkhead seat to LAX with my blackened snapper in one hand and personal item in the other.
Giving the FA a friendly nod, I ask to say hi to the captain and she says no way boss, we're busy - sit down and shut up.
Rude.
The boarding door closes for an on time departure and I watch another classic - Wall Street!
I polish off the blackened snapper, dirty rice and green beans. Charlie Sheen before he went crazy was a pretty good actor. He's so dreamy. I'm sweating profusely from the blackened seasoning and get up to throw away my trash because I didn't want the other guys in coach to have to do it for me. I walk right up to the forward galley into Bitchy McBitchface who woke up on the wrong side of life starts telling me to use the coach lavatory. I tell her I just wanted to throw some trash away and she gave me more attitude than a sassy black woman working at the DMV.
Listen lady, if you don't wanna be dealing with trash - maybe you shouldn't be working for United, eh?
I take my seat and I fall asleep on the way to LA. The ride is smoother than my nephew's 16 month old ass. The flight was not long enough. The landing is a perfect grease job on 24R and the only thing awakening me from my slumber is the reversers on the 737 Max. I pull my headset out so I can tune in LAX ground on LiveATC just as we make the left for taxiway Alpha/Alpha. I see the taxiway signs out of the corner of my window and start the feed just as I hear the ding.
ding
What I'm expecting: Welcome to Los Angeles where the local time is 5:55. Your Houston based flight crew would like to thank you for flying United and your baggage will be at carousel (integer)
What I heard from a clearly panic stricken FA: IF THERE IS A DOCTOR OR ANYONE WITH MEDICAL TRAINING ON BOARD PLEASE RING YOUR CALL BUTTON.
Everyone wants to be a hero until it's time to do hero shit.
I reach up and press the button and a single chime tells the FA that row 9 pressed button.
ding
FA: If you are a doctor or have medical training please head to the rear galley immediately.
I dumped my phone in my seat. (This was my first mistake. I'll tell you why later.)
Shit. It's go time. The passengers next to me are soundly asleep and it's a full flight, so I unbuckle my belt and turnstile jump over the two of them making a resounding thud onto the cabin floor.
I promptly walked with a purpose to the rear cabin. As I'm heading back I hear someone else walking behind me but I'm focused on the long walk from the bulkhead to the rear galley. I arrive shortly and my immediate impression is that the rear galley is not in good shape.
Oh, the bitchface FA that told me off? She's now profusely thanking me for showing up. Funny how that works isn't it?
There's a woman lying across three jumpseats on oxygen screaming in pain with a clearly experienced physician working on her and checking her out. I am not about to get in his way. Right behind me is a six foot three beast of a man who I can only imagine used to play right wing for Detroit. Doc 1 is working her, there's me and Doc 2 is behind me.
Doc 1 tells us she's got shortness of breath and chest pains.
Doc 2 nods and says he's a trauma surgeon from Cedars Sinai.
Doc 1 tells us he's an internal medicine specialist at UCLA.
Doc 2 asks me what my specialty is.
FC says structural firefighting and making sure you two get everything you need.
Doc 2 looks at the FA and asks if they got an AED on board.
I look up at the nearest overhead and there's an AED in the compartment, I bust it out and hand it to him. They start sizing her up as we taxi down Alpha/Alpha. I stand in the aisle inbetween the two bathroom doors as they do their thing ready to help out.
(FC breaks the fourth wall)
FOR THE UNINITIATED: United is in terminals 7/8 on the south side of LAX. When you land next to In-and-Out Burger on Sepuldeva you're on the north side of the field. It's easily a 20 minute ride to get from one side of the airport to another when they're busy. Prime time for LAX is 1800hrs because you have all the morning flights from the east and the afternoon flights from the central time zone arriving.
When you have a medical emergency and time is a factor, a 20 minute ride to the gate is what we call sub optimal. There's hard stand/remote gates at LAX on the northwest side of the field surface street adjacent that you can get to a lot faster than a long haul around the airport. If you give me a choice of going to the hard stand and meeting the ambulance or taking a 15-20 minute taxi during rush hour to a UA staffed ramp - I will GLADLY take to the hard stand, shut down and start em up. Yes, it's going to inconvenience a plane full of people for 20 minutes for you to unload, restart and taxi back. No, I give zero fucks.
My mistake was leaving my phone behind. Had I had it with me, I would have known we were going long way around and applied some intervention techniques to get things moving faster. I had no idea where we were.
(Cut to present)
Doc 1 managed the best he could and the lady said inbetween raspy breaths that she was going to start vomiting from the pain. Doc calls for a bag. The FA takes the safety equipment bag, the one holding the lifevest, seatbelt extender and oxygen mask and empties it.
OH FOR FUCKS SAKE. I reach over to the nearest passenger, pull all the contents of the seatback out, dump it on the floor and hand doc 1 a United brand official airsick bag. Just as I do this and I step back, the plane rapidly slows down and begins to turn.
(FC breaks the fourth wall again)
I used the term suboptimal earlier, and this is going to be a theme for the rest of the trip. Boeing in their infinite wisdom decided to stretch a 737 design and call it the MAX instead of doing a clean sheet. Three FA's, two doctors, me, and our lady experiencing chest pains are in the rear galley all not wearing seatbelts. All but the patient are standing. We are something like 80 feet behind the main landing gear.
Inertia is not our friend today. I start falling and I grab the only thing I can on the way down: the door handle to the lavatory.
(Cut to present)
Next thing I know, I've experienced what the FAA would probably term a "Lavatory Incursion" - and I wonder where my life has gone wrong as my knee has hit the toilet bowl. I get back up and prop a hand up on the cabin ceiling just to steady myself for the rest of the ride to the gate.
I look towards the front of the plane and notice something. Some fuckwit in row 29 is livestreaming this on instagram or some crap. Are you fucking shitting me? I lean over to the purser and tell her that while Doc 1 and 2 are fixing her, I'm gonna go do some fixing of my own about 10 rows up. My resting bitch face is on point right now as I walk up to the tactless millennial inconsiderate smartphone user and get ready to fix this problem in a way honed by years of catholic school, brute force and dealing with shithead customers.
FC: Just what do you think you're doing?
1: I'm livestreaming this on twitter. It's my right.
FC: You're gonna delete whatever you filmed right now.
1: Or what are you gonna do about it?
FC: You see that FA over there? The one that looks like she's not taking any shit from anybody today? I'm gonna ask her for the intercom, I'm gonna call the captain and my friends over at the LAPD are gonna haul your ass in front of a judge and the next place you're gonna be livestreaming from is the back of a police car. And let me tell you something you might not know. There's two ways to enjoy LA Jail on a Saturday night. One's a Richard Pryor album. The other's when a skinny inked up ginger white boy like you walks in. Give me that goddamn phone.
I'm handed the phone and I delete the video as I walk back to the rear galley and put it in my back pocket. People are now asking if they're gonna make their connections and shit and I tell them to shut up, we've got more important things going on. As I walk back I peek through the windows seeing nothing but darkness. How long does it take to get to the gate? And even then, is there an ambulance waiting there?
What the fuck is happening? Where the fuck are we?
I ask Bitch McBitchface how long these symptoms have been going on. Apparently this issue had just arisen upon landing. Doc 1 asks for a stethoscope. I pull down the first aid kit from the compartment. It requires keys. The cabin crew has to find the keys for the first aid kit. I'm eventually handed a key and bust out a stethoscope for the doc. I peer out the window of the rearmost seats looking for signs of a gate, ambulance or anything I can reference to figure out where we are - the tower, a 777 tail which would tell me we are nearing the international terminal.....nothing but darkness.
This is not good.
Doc keeps the O2 flowing as we are all standing there helpless waiting for the plane to get to the ambulance or vice versa. The cabin crew asks how they're going to get her off the plane.
FC: Well she's in no condition to walk, can you get the rampers to put air stairs on 2L and take her off that way? It would be easier and optimal.
FA: I don't think we are able to do that
(It is at this point I think I smell toast. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T DO THAT? GET ON THE INTERCOM AND TELL THE CAPTAIN THAT THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE HER OFF THE PLANE VIA 2L AND STAIRS WTF)
I get that what is happening is clearly exceeding the crew's training but this is.....bad. Eventually we arrive at the gate and the fine folks at Station 51 from LAFD EMS arrive. The EMT sizes it up and calls for an aisle chair to be brought to take her off the plane since she can't walk. (WE HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS THE WHOLE TIME!)
They load her up and I step out of the way into the lavatory, I see them wheel her out through a crack in the door. I take this chance to do a bit from spies like us.
I look to my left and extend my hand. Doctor. I nod. I repeat to the right. They also repeat the bit. We chuckle.
I look towards Doc 2.
FC: Hey Docs, I didn't catch your names. I'm Will. Will Hayden.
Doc 2: George, George Rodriguez.
FC: Good work there Dr Rodriguez. Thanks for helping out.
Doc 2: We're doctors. It's what we do.
Doc 1: Hiya Will, I'm Charlie Fong.
FC: Nice work today Dr Fong. Thank you for showing up.
We start walking back to our seats as I snort out a laugh.
FC: So, Dr Fong.....I guess it's safe to say that United has successfully smoothed things over with the Asian physician community?
The doc's have a two Mississippi awkward pause as they begun laughing hysterically. Please, tip your waitresses. Try the veal. I'm here all night. Tactless millennial asks me to return phone, and I hand it back as we walk back to our seats.
EMS clears the plane, captain tells people that they can now leave and a cacophony of seat belt buckles pierces the high pitched drone that is a 737 sitting at the gate without engines running on shore power.
I ask Bitchy if I can see the captain on the way out as she once more thanks me for my service. She stuck her head in, got a nod and let me pass. I asked the captain why we landed on the north side of the field with an onboard medical and why we didn't get priority handling from the ground controller and why the hell it took so long to get to the gate.
His response was staggering.
CA: We didn't even know there was an emergency in the galley until the FA told us. By then we were almost to the terminal.
FC: Are you fucking kidding me?
CA: Nope. By the time we knew something was going on we were already on the ground and almost to the gate.
We talk airplane briefly about the 737 Max, the new jumpseats and I wish them a good rest of the trip. I secretly think he's got to be shitting me.
Being a good aviation nerd, I made mental note to check his work after I got back to the hotel.
I head to the lounge in LAX for a bite to eat, a sprite and some very boring time to myself. Just as I walk into the terminal there's a voicemail from my uncle. My plan for LA was to see my family - and my cousin and his wife who's pregnant with their second kid. I crash at my uncle's house in Pasadena and walk around old town and shop at Vromans Bookstore and enjoy all that Southern California has to offer. It's a good way to spend a weekend. If you ever get a chance, do it. It's fun. I can pay United a shitload of money to fly into McCarran on Monday or I can spend 1/3 of that and go into LAX a few days before and hop over for $45. I love LA.
NEW VOICEMAIL FROM UNCLE LOU: Family emergency, we all have to head to Chicago because Lisa's mom is in the hospital and we can't see you this weekend. You're on your own. I'm on my way to Burbank to catch the last flight to Midway. Talk to you later.
Fuck.
Time for an FC adventure.
I order some food in the lounge and crack open the laptop. One of my customers works for LAFD. I find his personal cell phone number in my sales records.
ring ring
1: Go for Smith
FC: Chief Smith! Will Hayden here! How's that M110 running?
1: Will...holy shit long time no talk. What's going on?
FC: Family bailed on me for this weekend, gotta make my own adventure. You working tomorrow? I'd love to see how LA does things.
1: No, but I have some friends on C shift that are. Let me see who's gonna be around. Let me call you back in 10.
FC: You got it Chief.
I eat and drink and relax and the phone rings back. Chief smith says be at station 9 at 0800 hrs Sunday morning. I say no problem! Thanks! He tells me to check in with the captain of the truck crew and he'll show me around.
While I'm on the laptop I book the marriott in Torrance. It's near the airport and a 25 minute ride to station 9. Little did I know it's next to a goddamn oil refinery and the housekeeping staff have left all the windows to my room open. Ugh. I kick back and take a shower. When I get back, I pulled all the ATC tape from LAX tower, from landing clearance to touchdown to the ground controller handoff to the checkpoint, to the request for medical assistance and timestamped all of it.
The request to LAX ground for EMS was made somewhere on taxiway bravo after passing papa (TBIT) but before Charlie-6. (T7). By that time we were already on the south side of the field and terminal adjacent.
Cabin crew didn't tell the captain to request EMS till we got to the other side of the fucking airport. From the moment I walked up, I had assumed (incorrectly) that prior to the request for medical assistance they would at least have told the captain what was going on. They didn't and he was flying blind. When you do a CPR class the first thing you do is call 911 and ask for an ambulance because it does not matter how much CPR you do if an ambulance never shows up to take you to the hospital.
There's a lesson to be learned here.
When seconds count, the request for EMS is waiting for the plane to get to the terminal to be called.
I knew United wasn't great, but this is to use a southern california term - no bueno.
The Westchester In and Out Burger has a 4x4 with my name on it and it is DELICIOUS. After I finish eating I hop on the hangout with the guys.
Since I've got no plans till morning I decide that it's worth the crazy time and I call u/gunexpert69 and we make plans to hang out at his local watering hole. We then try to pick up some flight attendants at the Doubletree. We fail miserably and call it a night.
Sunday, January 20th. Two days before SHOT show.
My alarm is set for 727AM. It rings, I wash up, jump in the car and put free fallin by Tom Petty on the radio and hop onto 405 south to pick up 110 north. The freeways are empty and I make incredible time downtown. I look down at the address and wonder where the fuck I am going. 7th and San Julian St? I drive around and there are tents on the sidewalk everywhere. This is the closest I have seen to life in a WROL situation. Eventually I find a spot on 7th street, bang on the door and the guys tell me to pull my car into the back lot. I do so and the guys are having breakfast and invite me to sit down and grab a bite.
When in Rome......
I grab some eggs, bacon and a biscuit and the truck captain comes by and says oh you know Smith? Apparently they came up in the same academy class and are old friends. He sticks his head out the door and yells at one of the guys and pantomimes some instructions. I don't speak ASL so I just nod and take it in. He runs down what they're doing today. LA tradition is that weekends are for the boys so they do training on weekends. It's 820AM and they've setup a training scenario and are gonna run it. This looks cool.
One of the guys comes back and hands me a headset, saladbowl and turnout coat. Captain says you're with me in the truck. Gear up.
Uh. What?
CA: Yeah, Chief Smith said you'd be riding along with us today. Right?
FC: LOL! I thought he was just gonna do a station visit. Sure, I'll ride with you guys.
CA: You ever see a TDA before?
FC: I used to be on the engine or the quint so this is gonna be new.
CA: Well, jump in. Lets go.
My ride to LA was a 737 max made in Renton that just came off the line January 17th. My ride to Skid Row was a 100' Pierce Arrow XT Tractor Drawn Aerial that was three years old. I hopped in and we drove around to the training location where the guys were to setup the ladder and pretend like they were venting a roof on a 5 story building. I was told to go shadow the command post as they'd be evaluating the guys and they had a good training day. LA has a good group of people and it shows. They did a post training debrief, simulated a dry hydrant and talked about everything they did, everything they did badly and everything they could do better.
LA has some fantastic people there that are very talented. The guys started putting tools away and rolling hose. I find the captain over on one of the engines and ask him if they need help with anything. He says if you want to help out, we're breaking down that attack line you can drain it.
FC: You guys straight roll to a flat load right?
CA: Yeah. You know hose?
FC: Drivers do it with hose.
CA: LOL! Hadn't heard that one before! Here's some gloves.
He gave me some gloves, I straight rolled three sections of three quarter line and hauled it all back to the engine where I found the truck captain loading hose with his guys. If anyone wants to see where real leadership is, it's helping your guys load hose and pack up tools.
I hook up and look up as I notice their technique. LA flat loads all their attack line, no preconnects. Two guys in the bed dressing and dutching it, one guy on the ground, straight roll between the boots pulling hose straight up into the engine. Gets any residual water out and they can check the gaskets every length. Never seen that done before but it looks like a smooth technique. I hook up the last of their attack line as the guys finish packing up. The bells come in and there's an automatic fire alarm tripped. First call of the morning. We hop over there and its' a false alarm.
The rest of the day is spent with station 9 watching the various indigenous folks of Skid Row do their thing. Station 9 is the busiest fire station in the nation. Before lunch they ran 3 overdoses, 2 stabbings, and a cacophany of crap. I went with them and their ambulance drivers and EMT's really earn every dollar they make working this area. After a quick break for lunch, they start watching the Rams game. Just as it got good, bells came in for another few calls and next thing I knew - the Rams were going to the super bowl and the dinner bell was ringing.
I decided it would be overstaying my welcome to hang out for dinner so I packed up and bought a shirt and told the guys if they ever needed guns to shout at me. Drove over to Grand Central Market to get a bite to eat and then grabbed some in and out burger on my way back to the hotel. txgi is sloshed and in no position to travel after watching the patriots destroy KC.
It's been a crazy day and the beginning of a crazy trip. And it's just getting started.
Monday, January 21st. One day before SHOT Show
I wake up late, grab lunch at the Del Amo mall and do some shopping. My flight to McCarran leaves at 7PM and arrives just after 8PM. Knowing rush hour traffic in LA I decide to leave early and get to the airport at 430. I hightail it to the lounge in TBIT and grab a bite to eat and relax. I'm on an Alaska A320 to McCarran all the way in the back but at least I got a window seat. I stop in on the way to talk to the captain and he asks me a bunch of gun questions. I tell him the VP9 is good to go and he should buy it with his ATP credentials.
The 320 ride to LAS is entirely filled with moderate chop. The airplane is literally banging the side of the plane into my head. It is a miserable flight. We land on time and I am unable to stop at the Centurion lounge for a bite and a drink because it's closed for renovations.
I grab my bags and pick up my badge for SHOT Show at the airport and jump on the shuttle bus to Hertz. I reserved a compact knowing I'd need to be in and out of a tight parking garage. I get to my assigned spot, spot 13 and there's a fullsize Chevy Suburban there.
What the fuck is this?
I throw my bags inside, jump in and drive right up to the Gold Member service area.
FC: The lady on the phone asked me compact, midsize or fullsize - WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?
Hertz: That's the Hertz Love Wagon! Think of all the ladies you can drive around in this!
FC: DO I LOOK LIKE A GODDAMN LYFT FOR WORKING GIRLS?
It is at this point where I learn something.
The best part about Vegas is anything crazy or unbelievable can be explained or justified by shrugging your shoulders, opening your palms upward and saying "It's Vegas!"
Hertz: It's Vegas!
FC: I am not driving (gesticulates widlly) THIS into the parking garage of the Palazzo for 4 days straight!
Hertz is not impressed with my pantomime.
They find me a brand new 2019 Honda Pilot with 19 miles on it. I hightail it up the highway to Circus Circus. Check in line is totally deserted. I am able to haul my bags up and get keys in 3 minutes flat. That's gotta be a fucking record.
Just as I arrive at my room I decide to send Rusty Shackleford a picture of me looking grumpy in front of the hertz love wagon.
RS: ARE YOU IN VEGAS?!?!?!??!?!?
FC: YES!!!! WHY ARE WE YELLING?!?!?!??!?
(image of Rusty coming down the escalator with the sign behind him that says WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS in the background)
FC: Oh dear god. I just got to the hotel to dump off my bags, you want a ride? I can be there in 20.
RS: Nah man we just landed a few min ago I was gonna take an uber
FC: By the time you get to the rideshare area it'll be 20 minutes. I can be there by the time you get to the curb. Seriously.
RS: LOL okay head over!
I look at my watch. Las Vegas Blvd traffic on a monday night? This isn't gonna work. I grab my coat and run back to the parking garage and tear out of the CC garage tires squealing all the way down. I bang a left onto Sammy Davis Jr Drive and haul ass to Spring mountain where I jump on 15 and get the car up to 100MPH between mandalay bay and 215.
McCarran Airport SUCKS in many regards and the airport pickup is one of them. It's not laid out well at all but it makes the cabbies plenty of money. I find it kinda funny because this year I'm picking up Rusty. Last year I was picking up a coworker of a buddy of mine who needed his SHOT show pass and there was no way to get it to him that night so I just said fuck it, give me the pass and I'll get it to him and drive him to the hotel. The year before, I picked up u/fluffy_butternut.
I guess I am the world's worst uber driver. I like doing the same bit over and over again like beating a dead horse so I can pickup Rusty one of to ways.
A: The classic Las Vegas Airport pickup. Drive to airport and park car on curb. Wait for metro PD to start yelling at you for parking on the sidewalk. Message Rusty to tell him I'm the one parked on the sidewalk.
B: In my best Arnold Schwarzenegger impression: COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE
My calculations were rough but I figured rusty should get to the curb right at the same time as me. If he's there already, we do B. If he's not, I'll do A.
The speed limit in the tunnel under the airport is 55. I'm doing 90. I fly up the ramp to Terminal 1 and tell him that I'll grab him at the American arrivals level. Just as I pull off to the curb to tell him I'm here he tells me he's just walked outside and I look up and see a classically hawaiian shirt standing at the curb. I pull the car forward, stop quickly and do my best Arnold. He laughs and hops in. I take him to his hotel and dump him off at registration as I park the car. I spend 20 minutes parking the car and I walk over to registration to find him still in line. The hotel is packed with people for the convention.
Behind us is a beautiful blonde engineer in town for what I'm guessing is World of Concrete based on the blueprints she's brought with her. I chat her up a bit until I see that she's got a wedding ring on her other hand. We head up to rusty's room where we find a king size bed and a hot tub 5 feet away. You don't even need to leave your bed to drown a hooker if you don't want to.
It's Vegas!
Rusty says lets go down to the casino and lose some money. We head down to the casino and lose some money at the craps table. This trip is not treating me nicely. I tell him I gotta tap out. Show in the morning.

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Homid, Uktena, Ragabash. Comes from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, modern day Palm Springs, CA. Specializes in infiltration, data theft, and blackmail, with a focus on A-list celebrity patrons of tribal casino in the greater Los Angeles area. Deed name: Stalks-the-Stars. Grew up with the concept of gambling as a way of life thanks to the tribal business, thinks of everything as a game that is meant to be rigged to ensure victory, calls it having the house edge. I do actual IC/OOC card tricks while playing to demonstrate the concept of "rigging the game".

As a first road trip, I took my new 100D Model S from Los Angeles to Las Vegas this weekend. I decided to check out each Supercharging station to see which ones I would like to use in the future. For distance calculation purposes, I used the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Below is my review of them with grades on the following metrics:
Overall: Overall score
Availability: Availability of Supercharger stalls
Accessibility: How easily the stop is accessed from the freeway
Amenities: Overall grade for shops/restaurants/etc.
Restrooms: Grade for cleanliness/# of restrooms
Food: Grade for food options/quality
Proximity: How close the stalls are to the amenities
Rancho Cucamonga: 12 stalls
Address: 12642 Cultural Center Dr, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91739
Distance between charging stations: 65 miles to Barstow
Distance from Vegas: 221 miles
Distance from LA: 48.1 miles
This one was full when I was arriving but luckily someone was pulling out as I came in. This seems like it is a highly trafficed spot as it's at the 210/15 merger. This location is right next to the Victoria Gardens mall (https://www.victoriagardensie.com). There's a variety of restaurants and shops you can check out on their website, along with an AMC theater. The stalls are in a back place in the parking lot that is not directly next to the mall entrance.
Overall: B+
The lack of availability brings down what would otherwise be a solid A.
Availability: C
High traffic freeway junction has potential to create more demand than supply of stations.
Accessibility: A-
Pretty close to freeway with easy on/off when there's no traffic.
Amenities: A
A full mall with movie theater.
Restrooms: A
Many standard mall quality restrooms.
Food: A
Lots of choices in the mall.
Proximity: B+
The stations are in the back of the parking lot not super close to the mall entrance.
Barstow: 16 stalls
Address: 2812 Lenwood Rd, Barstow, CA 92311
Distance between charging stations: 65 miles from Rancho Cucamonga, 16.5 miles from Yermo
Distance from Vegas: 157 miles
Distance from LA: 111 miles
I thought that this location would be very heavily used and unavailable but during my to/from trips it always seemed to have some availability. This location is next to a Chili's and Aryes hotel with some nicer restrooms in it than your normal gas station. It's a 5 min walk to In N Out/Starbucks with a large selection of almost every fast food option available too. This Barstow stop also has an outlet mall which gives further food options within it and a shopping destination.
Overall: A
Lots of food options, cleaner restrooms, pretty easy on/off, and not too far from the amenities makes this a solid stop.
Accessibility: A-
Pretty easy to get on/off but have to drive through Lenwood road a bit to get to the stalls.
Availability: A-
16 stalls offer a lot of availability but I could see it getting jammed during peak travel times.
Amenities: A
Solid food options and outlet mall.
Restrooms: A
The Ayres Hotel and Chili's have better than gas station.
Food: A+
Lots of options.
Proximity: A-
~5 min walk to almost everything.
Yermo: 18 stalls
Address: 36017 Calico Rd., Yermo, CA 92398
Distance between charging stations: 16.5 miles from Barstow, 52 miles from Baker
Distance from Vegas: 140 miles
Distance from LA: 127 miles
When Barstow is too busy, this can be a great plan B, and is a great stop in and of itself. This is my second favorite supercharging station on the trip. It has an easy on/off from the freeway and the stalls are right next to an Eddie World which offers a host of vendors and food options. Check out their full offerings on their website: eddieworld.com
Overall: A+
Very easily accessed, lots of availability, and Eddie World is a surprisingly cool stop.
Accessibility: A+
Very easy on/off the freeway.
Availability: A
Decent amount of stalls.
Amenities: A
Eddie World has everything you want from a highway stop.
Restrooms: A+
From Eddie World's website "Our beautiful 26,000 sq. foot store is designed to provide you an immaculate clean restroom experience every time you visit us. We are dedicated to clean bathrooms, it is our passion, period."
Food: A+
Lots of food options in Eddie World
Proximity: A
Stalls are a quick walk to Eddie World entrance.
Baker: 40 stalls
Address: 71808 Baker Blvd, Baker, CA 92309
Distance between charging stations: 52 miles from Yermo, 51 miles from Primm/Stateline
Distance from Vegas: 89 miles
Distance from LA: 179 miles
This is the mega charging lot with 40 stalls for maximum availability. Directly next to the station is a DQ Chill & Grill, Tapioca Express, Orange Julius and convenience store. Baker also offers a host of fast food options down the main drag, which are a bit of a hike if you're walking from the station, especially in the heat. The main food attraction in Baker is the Mad Greek Cafe which is 0.4 miles/8 minute walk from the station. There's also the Alien Fresh Jerky store in Baker, which has a variety of exotic jerkys and is about 0.7 miles/15 min walk from the station. The restrooms next to the station are "gas station gross" but not the worst ever. There's also few restrooms and tour busses stop here which can cause lines.
Overall: B
This stop is really only good for getting your supercharging on, and it does that well with 40 stalls available.
Availability: A+
Largest amount of superchargers on the trip.
Accessibility: A
Pretty close to freeway on/off ramps.
Amenities: B-
The close vendors are a bit lacking.
Restrooms: C-
Closest restrooms are on the grimier side of gas station stalls and can warrant long queues from tour bus stops.
Food: B
Smattering of fast food options and Mad Greek Cafe
Proximity: A/B-
Very close to the shops mentioned but B- for the better option (Mad Greek Cafe)
Primm (Stateline): 10 stalls
Address: 31900 S Las Vegas Blvd, Primm, NV 89019
Distance between charging stations: 51 miles from Baker charger, 36 miles from first Vegas city supercharger
Distance from Vegas: 39 miles
Distance from LA: 230 miles
This is a great stop. There seems to be a lot of availability here and I stopped on my way out and way back. This is right next to the Primm casino area which gives you a chance to do some low stakes gambling if you are so inclined. You could also walk or take a shuttle or get over to Buffalo Bills in order to ride a roller coaster or log flume Fri-Sun. There's a nearby convenience store w/ Starbucks by a gas station, a variety of fast food options, a Mad Greek Cafe and your standard array of budget casino food offerings (cheap buffets, cafes, etc.) in the closest Primm Valley Casino. There's also the Factory Outlet malls if you want to get some shopping on. Overall, this is a great place to top off to have some miles to get in/around/out of the city before you get into town or get a semi or full charge on your way out. This is my favorite one on the trip but I may skip it if there's a lot of traffic and don't need the juice.
Overall: A+
Lots to do at this stop with lots of convenience.
Availability: A
Only 10 stalls, but there was no one else there with me either time I stopped.
Accessibility: A (no traffic) or D+ (with traffic)
This is a very easy on/off if there's no traffic but could be a nightmare to get on/off if there's a traffic jam around Stateline.
Amenities: A+
Everything you want from a highway stop and more because of the casino options.
Restrooms: A
Casino restrooms are always better than gas station ones, and the ones in the Starbucks/convenience store are nice too.
Food: A
Lots of options.
Proximity of stalls to Amenities: A
Very short walk to the Starbucks, fast food, Mad Greek Cafe, Primm Valley Casino, and outlet malls.

The descriptions are different in length and content dependant on the information your website offers. First purpose is to keep the descriptions short. Many websites delivered an own description which I partly quoted. If there is a need to change please let me know.
You'll find this list of merchants already accepting Vertcoin on Vertcoin homepage. In these shops you can pay with Vertcoin and maby with other cryptocurrencies. If you like to get added let me know and make sure that Vertcoin acceptance is apparent in your shop.

Debit Card

• Uquid, United Kingdom

Uquid Prepaid Debit Card "enables businesses to streamline commission, business, incentives, travel payments and control expenditures with enhanced convenience, flexibility, and security."

Fashion

* NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * NEW * 

• Cyroline, Germany

Cyroline is on "the tireless hunt for the special in the fashion world, the perfect fusion of individual styles, quality and sustainability." In physical stores you can pay with Vertcoin in Germany: Lübeck, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart.

• Zazzle

Zazzle is a "marketplace, you'll find customizable products, art and create-your-own products just waiting for you. We're PhD's, professional artists, manufacturing gurus, patent holders, inventors, musicians, and more. Everything we do is an expression of love." As a nice special Z provides Vertcoin shirts.

Food

• PexPeppers, USA

PexPeppers is specialized in "finest chili sauces, jellies, salts, seeds & more." Based in Pueblo, Colorado, USA PexPeppers is selling all over the world.

Gambling

• Vertcoingames

Vertcoingames: "Play Roulette, Dice, Blackjack and Video Poker using Vertcoin. Great games with fair, casino level payouts."

Giftcards

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• Coincards, Canada

Coincards provides Giftcards and was created in July of 2014.

• Crypto De Change

Crypto De Change provides Gift Cards and Silver Buillons since July 2013.

• Giftoff, United Kingdom

Giftoff is a "digital gift card retailer with the largest range on offer in Europe. Since 2014 we’ve been enabling digital currency users to shop with major retailers like Amazon.co.uk, Steam and Marks & Spencer. We stock over 70 gift cards and accept over 40 digital currencies as well as UK credit and debit cards."

Goods

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• FastTech, Hong Kong & Guangdong, China

"FastTech is the techno-centric destination for all your geeky needs and more. FastTech is committed to become the most loved and trusted electronics marketplace by offering superior shopping experience, timely shipping, and stellar customer service."

• King Pen Vapes, Los Angeles, USA

KPV provides Vaporizers, "electronic devices that help you vaporize your material into vapor for cleaner inhalation. People looking to quit smoking cigarettes are the main reason behind vapes."

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• Overstock.com, Salt Lake City, USA

"We are a tech-driven online retailer located near Salt Lake City in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains. Since our beginnings in 1999. Overstock has evolved from a fledging startup to a billion-dollar online retailer as a result of a hard-working and creative team."

• Red Bubble, Australia & USA

RB gives "independent artists a meaningful new way to sell their creations. Today, we connect over 400k artists and designers across the planet with millions of passionate fans." RB provides a huge sortiment of designed products like bags, wall art, home decor, apparel, stationary & more.

IT support

• GeekBox IT, Whitsett, North Carolina, USA

GeekBox "offers a wide variety of services including but not limited to basic computer setup, repair, virus removal, server setup, network setup, consulting, purchasing, cloud computing advice, gaming system and electronic repair." As a nice special GeekBox IT provides a Vertcoin T-shirt.

Merchandise

• Crypto Affect

Crypto Affect provides "Clothing for the hodler", crypto related fashion.

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• Crypto & Proud

C&P provides crypto related fashion and is "shipping worldwide with live rates and tracking."

• Crypto Compound

Crypto Compound provides "crypto-themed items" like fashion, mugs & more.

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• Cryptobird, Netherlands

"Cryptobird is a partnership to start a full crypto based webshop with high quality fashion to contribute to a wider cryptocurrency adoption around the globe."

• Cryptoble

Cryptoble provides "apparel and more". Here are crypto related shirts & mugs.

• Hodler Tees

Hodler Tees is a cryptocurrency centered t-shirt company based in Frisco Texas! (USA) We sell all things crypto related from hats to t-shirts and even posters!

• Nakamoto Clothing, USA & Canada

"At Nakamoto Clothing, we're passionate about designing and curating a selection of apparel to help grow this movement of change. And we're electrified AF!", international shipping.

• Official WikiLeaks Shop

WikiLeaks is a multi-national media organization and associated library. It was founded by its publisher Julian Assange in 2006. The shop provides shirts, posters and asseccoires.

• Spreadshirt, Greensburg, USA

Spreadshirt provides shirts and more. Based in Greensburg, USA, the owner comes from the Netherlands.

• Teepublic

Teepublic provides apparel, home goods, shirts, stickers, mugs & more.

• Shillshop, Netherlands

Shillshop provides stickers in outdoor quality and is "based in The Netherlands, all the products we sell are also produced in The Netherlands to make sure you'll receive the highest quality!"

• VTCmarket, United Kingdom

VTCmarket is founded by the Dunn twins Raf & Tom: "We’ve started off with T-shirts and are working on expanding with other products and merchants"

Multimedia services

• Richmond Drone Services, Virginia, USA

RDS is Central Virginia’s drone service specialists. From preparation to content delivery, we perform all work to perfection. We can act as both an aerial film consultant or as the remote pilot in charge on your next projects.

Printing, Graphic, Web Design

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• Catdi, Houston, USA

"Catdi is a commercial printing company with additional specialization in web design. Offering cost-effective commercial printing, direct mail, graphic design and web solutions to small businesses. Proudly Serving Houston and surrounding communities for over 10 years."

Professional Law Services

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• Bitcoin Tax, US and worldwide

Bitcoin Tax is "calculating capital gains/losses for any crypto-currency. Do you know the cost-basis of every coin you own? Are you tracking the profits and new basis when you spend or sell? Can you work out the best way to identify your trades to optimize your taxes? Let us do it for you."

• Burrell Law, New York City, USA

Burrell Law "Our New York City-based attorneys provide a broad range of transactional legal services" Every large business was once a small business. We are here to help you find a solution for your legal needs.

• The Crypto Lawyers, USA

The Crypto Lawyers - "we are a team of U.S. qualified lawyers dedicated to helping individuals, businesses, and organizations navigate the legal intricacies of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. We commit ourselves to strategically and aggressively represent our clients in their transactional and litigation matters."

Video Games

• Cavemen Studios

Cavemen Studios is a developer of video games. "Having over a century of combined experience on how video games tick, we've finally decided it's time to start creating our own products."

• Keys4Coins

"Keys4Coins is one of the first pc game stores who only accept cryptocurrency as payment. Our store is simple to use and you can shop anonymously. Only an e-mail is required so you can receive the license."

• XBL4BTC

"Our aim is to provide the fastest, easiest place to buy Xbox Live Gold subscriptions with cryptocurrencies"

Wallet & miscellaneous

• Vertcoin Medallion (metal)

Jzzsxm's Online Store provides a 1.5" diameter metal Vertcoin Medallion. Each medallion costs 2 VTC and comes with a metalized label containing a wallet address QR code of your choice affixed to the back.

• Vertcoin Medallion (wood)

LaserLightning provides one etched wooden Vertcoin with the Vertcoin logo burned into one side, and your custom QR code on the back. These coins are approx 1.5 inches in diameter.

• Paper wallets

Designed Vertcoin public and private wallets that can be used as paper wallets or given as gifts.

(NSFW) Adult shop

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• Toys4Sex, Australia

Toys4Sex is Australia's Online Adult store retailer intended for men and women. Toys4Sex comes with a specially selected range of products that has made its mark within the Australian adult market place.

Roger Goodell is always talking about growing revenues and sometimes expanding the league. It seems likely that Los Angeles will eventually get a team again, but what about cities that have never had an NFL team? What city will be the next to host their first home team?
City: San Antonio, TX Population: 1,382,951 Other Pro/Major College Teams: San Antonio Spurs (NBA) Pros: Located in football-crazy Texas, San Antonio is by far the biggest city outside of Los Angeles to not have an NFL team. San Antonio is growing rapidly. And while a San Antonio team would be the third Texas NFL team, the geography works- they're more than 2.5 hours from Houston and 4 hours from Dallas. But what's most attractive is that it would be easy to plug in an NFL team without much investment, due to the construction of the 65,000 seat (up to 72,000) Alamodome in the early 90's. It hosts the annual Alamo Bowl and other events such as CFL and college games. At 65,000, it would be the 6th smallest stadium, tied with Ford Field and just a little more than the University of Phoenix Stadium. Expanded to 72,000, it lands between Atlanta's Georgia Dome and Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium. It would be newer than 9 currently in-use NFL stadiums. As the NFL seeks to internationalize itself, having a team this close to the Mexican border may also prove to be an attractive prospect to draw in Mexican audiences. Cons: The Cowboys and Texans may not want to share their Texas pie with another major franchise, even one far away from most of them. And while large, San Antonio is not a high-profile city. While the Spurs are popular, there isn't much in the way of major sports to know if a team would succeed in the town, and if they could pull enough dollars from Texans, Cowboys, and Longhorn fans. Likelihood: This seems to be the most likely place. An untapped population, international reach, and a ready-made stadium could make this a highly attractive spot for an owner looking to make a move with minimal investment (i.e. not having to build a new stadium, or get a local government to build one).
City: San Jose, CA Population: 982,765 Other Pro/Major College Teams: Sharks (NHL) Pros: San Jose is hip place in the heart of Silicon Valley, with beautiful weather and a lot of money. Cons: The 49ers just moved their stadium to Santa Clara, just bordering San Jose. If anything, they are more San Jose than San Francisco. With the Raiders in nearby Oakland, it would concentrate a lot of NFL firepower in one small footprint. Likelihood: Very low. The league would likelu not allow a team there with the 49ers on their doorstep. While a market can support two teams if large enough (Jets/Giants, 49ers/Raiders) adding a third would be too deletrious to those in place.
City: Columbus, OH Population: 809,798 Other Pro/Major College Teams: Blue Jackets (NHL), Ohio State Buckeyes (NCAA) Pros: Ohio is up there with Texas with states that take their football seriously. Columbus is the largest city and capital in Ohio, and is already the home of very avid football fans for the Buckeyes. I'm not sure of the politics would make this possible, but if OSU allowed the Columbus NFL team to use Ohio Stadium, it would be the second largest (only behind Cowboys Stadium) with a max attendance of 102,329. Cons: It would be the third NFL team in Ohio, next to the Bengals and Browns. Both of those teams have been historically not great, and along with the continued poor showing of the Blue Jackets and difficulty of succeeding in the NFL may make Ohio sports teams weary. Likelihood: Unlikely. The Buckeyes own Columbus, and the other two owners in Ohio (and nearby Pittsburgh) would probably not want to share their turf with a new team. Unlike Texas, this is an area that has been under some economic hardship and may be difficult to justify another team in the state.
City: Austin, TX Population: 842,592 Other Pro/Major College Teams: University of Texas Longhorns (NCAA) Pros: Like with San Antonio, Texas is enthusiastic about football. Still located a good distance from the current NFL teams in Texas, Austin is a city in the midst of large economic expansion. The University of Texas contributes to a fun, weird atmosphere that would make Austin an attractive destination for visiting fans to come into town. If like Columbus the NFL team was able to lease Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium, it would again be the #2 stadium in the NFL wth 100,119. Cons: Like Columbus and their Buckeyes, Austin bleeds burnt orange. UT football is a big deal there, and an NFL team would probably be in competition for these dollars. While there is large support from Texas faithful and the very large student body at UT, it's not clear that there would be the same level of support for an NFL team right there. Asking for 200,000 football tickets to be sold most weekends in the Fall is a daunting prospect for a town of less than a million people. Likelihood: Unlikely. Austin doesn't seem like a city that has much drive to need an NFL team, as their sporting fixes are more than made up by a typically-competitive UT team plus the nearby Cowboys and Texans.
City: Portland, OR Population: 603,106 Other Pro/Major College Teams: Timbers (MLS), Trail Blazers (NBA) Pros: Portland is a growing city that doesn't have a competitive football team nearby. Seattle is 2.5 hours, and the two recently-competitive football teams, Oregon State Beavers and the Oregon Ducks, are 1 to 2 hours away. Portland is larger than many NFL cities and is very underserved by pro sports in general, and Oregon fans have shown a lot of support for their NCAA teams. A sporting culture, including a ready-made partnership with Oregon-based Nike, might make Portland a place to put on the radar if the NFL seeks to expand. Portland and Seattle can continue their rivalry on the gridiron, instead of arguing whose Pride Parade is gayer. Cons: There would have to be a new stadium built, and locals are probably going to put up a fight against any public financing or use of eminent domain to secure a desirable city location. This would mean a stadium probably built out in the suburbs, which can have mixed results. I asked some relatives of mine what they thought about local support, and they were decidedly mixed, thinking that Portland thinks itself too much of itself to allow something as base as professional football to succeed. Likelihood: Not the least but not the most. While there's no real muscle pushing a team to Portland, and Portlandia has biased me to think that locals will protest something as base as football, it might actually be a good place for the NFL to consider expansion to.
City: Toronto, ON Population: 2,615,060 Other Pro/Major College Teams: Blue Jays (MLB), Argonauts (CFL), Raptors (NBA), Maple Leafs (NHL), Toronto FC (MLS) Pros: The Bills already play one game a year in Rogers Centre (though it will always be SkyDome to me) and there are a lot of Canadian fans of NFL football. While the Toronto series has been a debacle for the Bills (usually meaning the opposition has as many fans there as the Bills, giving them effectively one less home game a year), a dedicated NFL team may fare better. With local support, Toronto has the sports culture, population, stadium, and most importantly money (check out Maple Leafs ticket prices!) to support an NFL team. Whether the local support would actually catch is another story. Toronto would also become the third-largest city with an NFL team, coming in just under Chicago's 2.7 million. Cons: For American football, Rogers Centre only seats 54,000. That makes it the third smallest stadium in the NFL, above just Chicago and Minnesota. Crowd noise at the Bills games has been lackluster to say the least, but then again, so have the Bills. They would also be in direct competition with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL. While the NFL definitely has larger marketing and name power, the Argos do enjoy healthy local support and are one of the oldest sports franchises in the world. Ex-con players might create headaches for visiting teams at the border. Free agents might also be hesitant to make Toronto home, given that it's (really) cold and Canadian taxes are much higher. Likelihood: Very. Goodell wants to make the game international, and Toronto is the prime target. Buffalo seems the most likely team to move there, but it's far from guaranteed. Don't be surprised if Jacksonville sneaks in on this one.
City: Las Vegas, NV Population: 596,424 Other Pro/Major College Teams: None Pros: A completely underserved sports market along with a fairly high population. It probably wouldn't be hard to find a casino magnate with money to burn that could finance an expansion team in the desert. Cons: It's hot. The gambling and party culture might make it a hotbed of player misbehavior, as there's quite a difference between a rookie signing their first million-dollar contract in northern Wisconsin versus a 5-minute drive from The Strip. A new stadium would need to be built, and without any major sports teams nearby, it's difficult to know if an NFL team would be viable. The NFL might also balk at the image of a Vegas team, as inevitably there would be accusations of fixing and bribery for gambling reasons. Likelihood: Unlikely. The NFL is just too risk-averse to invest that kind of money into a place like Vegas.
City: Virginia Beach, VA Population: 449,628 Other Pro/Major College Teams: None Pros: Virginia Beach is one of those invisible large metro areas. Taking in the bordering cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Hampton, the greater area has a metro population of 616,805 just in those towns. Expanding to the larger area and it gets pretty big. It's a wealthy area with a major port and some great tourist areas nearby. It fills a void between the Baltimore/Washington tail of Megalopolis before the Carolina fans pick up. While there is no stadium, there is plenty of room for one, and lots of waterfront that could potentially be converted to a beautiful stadium location. And while the Sacramento Kings deal didn't work out, it showed that local government and ownership groups may be willing to bring a team to this area. Cons: Not a high-profile place. An NBA team, especially one like the Kings, is significantly cheaper than an NFL franchise. The team would have to build a stadium. Likelihood: Could be a dark horse. Virginia has a surprising lack of sports teams, and is even underserved by major college sports. UVa is rarely much more than middling, and sometimes-competitive Virginia Tech is all the way at the western end of the state in Blacksburg. While they probably won't be much of a target for a team looking to move, if the NFL chooses to expand, expect VA Beach to be under consideration.
City: Birmingham, AL Population: 212,038 Other Pro/Major College Teams: None Pros: The southeastern United States is strangely lacking in professional football teams. While the dominant SEC dominates the local sports fans attention, it seems like fertile ground in which to plant an NFL franchise. Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama, and doesn't have a local team in the city. Cons: It is on the smaller side of NFL cities, and it's not a sure thing that the dyed-in-the-wool Alabama football fans will change their spending from the Tigers and the Crimson Tide enough to really allow the team to take root. Likelihood: Very low.
City: London, England Population: 8,308,369 Other Pro/Major College Teams: Like, half the Premier league and a bunch of rugby, cricket, and at least one NFL game a year. Pros: The NFL has been playing games in London for a few years, and fan support has been steady. Wembley Stadium seats over 86,000 for American football. While many Brits seem to find our American game incomprehensible (but somehow find a way to figure out Cricket), there is some fan support for the game. Goodell has publicly expressed an interest in getting a team to London sooner than later, so there is definite management support. Cons: Imagine the 49ers travelling to the London teams, and you're talking about a 20-some-odd hour flight. American free agents will probably often be very hesitant to go to England. The London team's travel times to ANY games, even those "close" games on the US east coast would be a huge disadvantage. Their body clocks would also be completely thrown off, and jet-lag would become a factor. Likelihood: Very, but I believe it will be short-lived. The logistics and other factors of having a European-based team in an American league is just awful, and I think over time that would bear itself out.
City: Omaha, NE Population: 421,570 Other Pro/Major College Teams: None Pros: Omaha is a growing city, and Nebraska's economy is one of the strongest in the nation. While the state of Nebraska lives and dies by their Huskers (located at the University of Nebraska an hour away in Lincoln) Omaha's distinct lack of any major college or pro sports seems to be odd. The Huskers manage to scrape up enough people to fill their 90,000 capacity stadium in a city half the size of Omaha every week, so I think Omaha could very well support a team. The midwest is underserved with pro ball, forcing most Nebraskans to split between the Rams, Chiefs, or Broncos. I work with a few people from Omaha, and they tell me there's too much residual hate of the University of Texas for Cowboys fandom to take root. Omaha has a burgeoning music and art scene, and probably wouldn't be a detriment to free agents. Cons: No ready made stadium, and a lack of too much of a metro area. Knowing how absolutely religiously dedicated Nebraskans can be to their Cornhuskers, I'm not convinced an NFL team can really gain traction. This might be pure college ball territory. Likelihood: Not bad. I think Omaha would be a good location, and could be a great place for an expansion team.