FYI: TWFE will be on the move! Seriously...

After 2 1/2 years of The Wayne Fontes Experience being an unaffiliated blog, I'm happy to announce I've come to an agreement to write for the Most Valuable Network.

TWFE will be moving to the MVN platform soon, likely by the end of the month. I'll be back to writing about all the Detroit teams regularly, under one roof.

To be honest, I wasn't looking to make any changes with my blogging, and was perfectly content posting here at Blogger, and at SideLion Report for Fan Sided Blogs. But MVN contacted me earlier this week, totally out of the blue. They wanted to take The Wayne Fontes Experience into their fold, and to the next level. They also asked I blog about all Detroit sports, including the Lions, exclusively for them. The opportunity to write for a large, and growing, blog network like MVN, and the exposure they are offering, it was just too much to pass up.

On a sad note, I resigned from my post at SideLion Report with Fan Sided today. They are a great group of bloggers and I wish them all the best.

I've been ignoring TWFE somewhat, my being preoccupied with the Lions at SLR. That's going to change, obviously. I'll be back to posting regularly at TWFE all the way up to the move to MVN's servers.

As you might guess, things are going to be in a state of flux for the next couple of weeks. I'll do my best to keep everyone in the loop as to links, RSS, and the like. The 2+ years of archives will be moved as well.  Obviously, waynefontes.com (and waynefontes.net, which I now own) will direct to the new location when the dust has finally settled.

So please bear with me and the transition to MVN. It should be interesting. Well, I hope the move isn't interesting...Hell, you know what I mean.

Thanks for reading, and expect plenty of Lions coverage here over the weekend. I need to touch on the Tigers, and their misadventures too!

Housekeeping: Advertising, subject matter and you!

Just a couple of housekeeping notes.

I've been playing around with the sidebar and ads, as you may have noticed. I've become a member of the Yardbarker Blogger Network, along with Scalper.com joining on as an advertiser. I'm trying to generate a little extra revenue from the site, so you may see bits and pieces come and go, as I see what works, and what doesn't. But you would be doing me a solid if you did click on the ads occasionally. Let me say thank you in advance!

I know content has been a tad sporadic lately, mostly due to my going through a slight creative drought. The biggest creative change being I've stopped the newspaper COTD and Above the Fold posts. I'm not sure if I'll bring them back, as I felt I was beginning to repeat myself, exhausting some subject matter. I don't want to be doing the same things, ranting about the exact same subjects over and over and over, as it bores you, and even worse, bores me.

I'd rather do 1 or 2 quality posts on TWFE and SideLion Report in a day, than several bad to middling ones. There were times I felt like I was churning out crapola, just to have new content. If the material is there, I'll post more. But I'm not going to force it, just for the sake of posting something new.

But you will continue to see changes on TWFE as time goes by. I have opportunities for cross promoting TWFE with some Detroit media entities, will be guest posting on another blog soon, and there are other things I STILL can't talk about. As I know more, and have dates, you'll be the first to know. Please bear with me as start to wade into some uncharted waters, and see how deep I want to go.

Anyway, I just wanted to get all that off my chest. You readers mean the world to me. Hell, many of you (namely the members of the Detroit blogosphere and you readers) I now consider good friends. I always appreciate your comments and emails, along with your visiting TWFE and subscribing via RSS.

Thanks for letting me ramble, and as always, thank you for reading!

Housekeeping: I'm blowing this pop stand

I apologize for the lack of posts the last day or so, as real life has gotten in the way.

I just wanted to warn you few diehards that visit TWFE on a regular basis that posting will soon stop for a few days. You'll be going cold turkey (To be honest, so will I), as The Wayne Fontes Experience will be on hiatus from Thursday 12/20, through Sunday 12/23. But it's for a very good reason...

I'm leaving the D tomorrow morning for a long weekend, and heading to one of my favorite cites in the entire known universe, Las Vegas! I know the holidays are right around the corner, but who's going to turn down a trip to Vegas? Anyone? Didn't think so.

I'll be staying at the parent's time share on the (Far south end of the) strip, and expect hope to be liquored up the vast majority of the time. I'll have internet and email access through my trusty Sprint Ambassador approved Samsung phone, so I can check/answer email, upload any pictures to TWFE I may take while in a drunken haze, post beer fueled rants to my Twitter feed (It's on the right sidebar), check comments and the like.

Sorry to say that there will be no live blogging of the latest Li0ns loss this Sunday. Considering my state of mind during those games, that's probably for the best...

I'm damn curious to see how the city has changed. It's been several years since I've last been to Vegas, which was for the weekend of the Rams - Titans Super Bowl. That weekend was a total blur, as I attempted, with the help of my brother-in-law, to drink Vegas dry of Corona. We came damn close to succeeding.

As for gambling on that trip, the night before the Super Bowl I won fairly big playing blackjack at what was then known as the Union Plaza. I would have done even better, but one of my BIL's friends managed to drink himself into a stupor at the table, and passed out. As everyone else in our party had already headed to a club, it was up to me to either let him get thrown out of the casino by security, or cash out and get him back to the hotel myself. Despite being on one the best winning streaks I'd ever experienced. I did the responsible thing, and cashed out.

His inability to handle liquor ended up costing me a fortune in cab fare. I had to take him back to where we were staying (A time share at the Flamingo Hilton), get the stumbling drunk to his room safely, and then hop back into the cab to meet up with everyone else at the club. Thinking back on it, I should have let security toss his drunk candy ass onto Fremont St.

As for the Super Bowl XXXIV, we caught the game at a movie theater sized screen at the Circus Circus, as the BIL had a friend working there who could set us up. I somehow managed to pull off a win on the game, along with a parlay on Super Bowl prop bets. It was a great day, as I got quite a shine on while making a nice chunk of change in the process. I should hope to be so lucky on this trip, as I'll be on a much stricter budget.

Hey, if anyone has inside information/knows the fix is in/has a sure thing for me to bet on this coming weekend, I'm more than willing to listen. And no, "Always bet on black" isn't a tip, though Wesley Snipes did offer it as such in that 90's classic flop, "Passenger 57."

As I need to freshen up on my blackjack basic strategy, research where the best low limit table games are now located, and pack, odds are good this will be my last full post till I come back late Sunday night. As I'm not yet sure on my Christmas plans, posting may be infrequent when I come home as well. I'm just going to play it by ear.

Feel free to check back over the next 4 days to see if I get anything up on TWFE during the trip. Be it pics, Twitter updates, or even a quickie past, you never know...

Remember, I need a SURE THING at the sports book! A little help, please?

As always, I appreciate your patronage. Thanks for reading!

Housekeeping: Happy Thanksgiving

It being the Thanksgiving holiday and all, I'm expecting the remainder of this week to be relatively quiet at TWFE.

As for my normal stream of consciousness blogging of tomorrow's Lions game, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to so as of yet.

I don't have big plans for Turkey Day, just headed to my mother's for dinner. But I'm not sure what time dinner is scheduled. I'm always the last to know. But I digress...

If we eat late in the afternoon, I plan on live blogging the game. If it's earlier, don't expect much of anything on TWFE till Friday, and even then, it may not be much. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be able to plan my blogging activities soon, as my mom does read the blog. Hi Mom!

If there is a time to take a short breather from writing, the coming long weekend is as good as any. Then again, if something happens over the next few days (Wolverines coaching rumors, Tigers sign a FA/make a trade, Lions stupidity, etc...), or just feel suitably inspired, I'll be sure to hit the keyboard running. In other words, I'll be around...


For those of you slackers who read blogs instead of doing your job, and won't be back till Monday, enjoy your 4 day holiday! For the rest of you, continue to stop by anytime, or check out the RSS feed.

As always, thanks for reading... Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Housekeeping: State of the blog

I've been wrestling with a severe case of writer's block the last few days. Even when I did get something posted, it was a struggle to do so. Between you and me, whenever I write an "Inside Millen's brain" installment, it's often due to the fact that my idea well has run dry. There's been nothing but fumes in that well for several days.

I think that it has something to do with the current Detroit sports landscape. The Wolverines are rarely on TV, we all know the story as to why, so no need going there again. Ask yourself how fired up are you about Michigan playing the 1-7 Gophers tomorrow? As bad as the Big 10 is this season, in a year when a MAC school would finish mid pack in the conference, Minnesota is still unable to field a competitive team. Not exactly the most compelling matchup of the weekend. At least WXYZ is doing the fans a solid, and picking up the ESPN Classic feed of the game for all the Comcast and Charter subscribers who can't get the 4 letter's network of last resort. The folks at channel 7 gets a well deserved TWFE tip o' the cap.

On the pro side, there's no significant news regarding the Tigers expected for at least a few more weeks. The Pistons' regular season is still a good 5 days away, and Hell, it's the NBA regualar season we're talking about... While the Red Wings are playing well enough, when their biggest stories are the playing/contract status of the hugely disappointing Igor Grigorenko, and Dom Haseks' creaky hip, well, 'nuff said about the overall excitement level of the NHL regular season. As for the Lions, I'm still not sure if they are a good team or not. I have a bad feeling that Brian Griese is going to carve the Lions up. But I'll have my normal Lions commentary on Sunday, regardless.

The World Series matchup has been underwhelming, especially after a thrilling ALCS. With the Rockies playing the part of the freshman team scrimmaging aginst the varsity Red Sox, the games haven't been all that compelling. Even last night's 2-1 BoSox victory, though close, had the feeling of it being fait accompli. To be honest, even though I had fired up the DVR for the NBC comedy lineup anyway, I ended up watching their 4 great comedies in real time, than follow this snoozer of a World Series. Jack Donaghy doing role play on "30 Rock" was much more compelling than watching the Rockies helplessly flail away at Boston pitching.

Anyway, that's why things have been on the quiet side at TWFE this week. I am contemplating doing more recurring pieces so there will still be content when my creativity isn't flowing, and the Detroit sports landscape is slow. I'm thinking of doing more in the way of daily link dumps and/or news roundups, power ranking summaries, and my thoughts in regard to them, possibly extending my "Burning questions" bit to cover the Pistons (I'm not sure about doing the Wings, as I'm the first to admit that I'm don't come close in hockey knowledge compared to the Wings' bloggers) more live blogs/running diaries, You Tube stuff, that sort of thing.

I'm also going to commit to spending more time replying in the comments, as I have been too God damn lazy in replying to you guys (Like 'eff, Uncle Omar, Ian, Gun-Totin-Wacko, k, you all know who you are) who take time to comment. I very much appreciate your feedback.

I'm still going to have plenty of my normal "Pulled out of my ass" opinion pieces, but I'm hoping to do more with TWFE soon, and I want to have content you all can look forward to reading on a daily basis.

As always, thanks for reading!

TWFE has been silenced! For up to 24 hours, anyway...

As you all know, TWFE HQ is moving. Again... For good reason, to a totally remodeled place, but still,moving is a pain in the ass, back, neck, and most every other body part.

As it turns out, I'll have the help to move the big things today, starting around 1pm. Which means I need to get my ass in gear. Now!

The cable guy is supposed to be by tomorrow. So hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be back, up and running somewhat smoothly, by Friday afternoon. Give or take...

Wish me luck, and that I finish in one healthy piece...

Now that personal news is out of the way, on to the Tigers. Quickly.

I thought the Tigers would beat the White sox last night. I just didn't think that it would involve the Gambler folding, the pen, for the most part (GRILLI! ARRGH!), actually picking up the slack, and take Ryan Raburn channeling his inner Hank Greenberg to do so.

It was a good win. More importantly, a needed win for the on edge fanbase, who were going slightly goofy after the doubleheader that we shall never mention again..

I wake up this morning, and see that the former Tiger, the Yankees loopy Professor Farnsworth is the hot Tigers pitching rumor. I was at first, what is Dave Dombrowski smoking? Some of the good stuff I did in the 70's, obviously...

Now, I'm warming up to it, mostly due to the fact that it sounds like it's just going to mean just taking on Kyle Farnswoth's contract, and not much in the way of a prospect. If the cost of a Lidge, Cordero, Dotel, one of the Texas relievers, or any of the usual suspects is unreasonable, the slightly off kilter Farns is not a bad fall back. Not bad at all.

I'd hope the Tigers would do more that just pick up Farnsworth (If that rumor is true, but the market will dictate what happens from here on out.

Till tomorrow, maybe, Big Al is signing off.

Shoutouts and housekeeping

Mike McClary's latest "The Detroit Tigers Podcast" has been posted, and available for your listening pleasure. (Via download and iTunes) It's titled "The Big Al Roundtable Experience." (Aww, jeez. I'm humbled...)

This dissection of the Tigers features "The Daily Fungo" crew, Mike, Doug, and Josh, Ian from "Bless You Boys," and obviously, going by the title, yours truly. I hope you all enjoy the podcast as much as I had in participating.

As you probably noticed, I'm trying a few different advertising ideas at TWFE. I've integrated some Google Adsense links, and became an Amazon affiliate. I'll try to keep that sort of thing as unobtrusive as possible. But please, feel free to click on a few of the sidebar links, as I need a new PC food rent beer money!

As you can also tell, I'm tinkering with the look and feel of TWFE. Ive been playing with the picture header, messing with the font, and added my Twitter feed, as I'm belatedly jumping onto the Web 2.0 bandwagon. TWFE will continue to be a work in progress...

There may be some interruption in posting later this week, as TWFE HQ is moving. It's moving all of, give or take, a whole 150 ft. As you know, I moved back to my hometown a few months ago. The complex I moved into is undergoing a total remodel, and my place is next in line to be redone.

Given a choice of either temporarily moving next door for 3 weeks, and then moving back, or moving permanently to a another building, into a freshly remodeled apartment, I figured moving once is vastly preferable to moving twice. The march of TWFE HQ to new digs is expected to take place at the end of the week. So starting on Thursday, expect little to no posting, possibly through the weekend.

I'll be back to regular TWFE posting later today. Thanks for reading!

A quick note...

I've been going to physical therapy for the last couple of months, and it's done my arthritis a world of good. But that same physical therapy just kicked my ass this afternoon, so I'm not feeling all that much like writing.

Even though there are a few things on my mind, odds are any ranting and raving won't be posted till tomorrow. I might have something after tonight's Tigers game, depending on how the denizens of the bullpen decide to pitch.

For my sake, I hope Jones and company aren't needed...

Thanks for reading!

Housekeeping: This and that...

It's been a while since I did a housekeeping post, and for some reason today seemed like a good time to do so.

First, a couple of personal updates.

On a serious note, I just wanted to send my condolences out to those affected by the University of Michigan Survival Flight plane crash. The tragedy hit a little closer to home here at TWFE, as someone close to me lost a good friend in the accident. They are going through a very difficult time, as you might expect.

When tragedy like this strikes, it can be difficult to put your feelings into meaningful words. All I can say is that those brave Survival Flight team members, who do a vital, important, and thankless job, are in our thoughts.

You all probably remember back in February when my housing situation became quite unsettled, to put it mildly. Well, 3+ months have now passed, and everything is cool.

I really like my new place (Soon to be totally remodeled as well), I'm getting to see some very old friends again (It's been fun attempting to explain what TWFE is all about to my computer illiterate buddies), I get to revel in my privacy (I miss my nieces and nephew, but not all the attending drama), and it's allowing me to spend more time on TWFE, if you go by my posting 8 times from Friday afternoon to Sunday night. In other words, all is quite well, knock on wood.

Let me give a quick shout out to Sprint and their ambassador program. I'm into my 2nd month of enjoying the use of Sprint's Samsung M610 phone. I'm far from being cool and with it, as those youngsters might say (I also wear an onion on my belt...Those big yellow ones), but at least my slim jet black cell phone gets their attention.

Moving on to even more trivial matters, like TWFE itself, I'm asking for your opinions and suggestions.

Now that TWFE is a year and a half old, I think the time has come for me to make a few changes, maybe big changes, in the blog.

Changes I have been contemplating include...

1. Getting my own (shorter) domain. This is priority one.
2. Check into other blogging platforms, as I'm beginning to feel hamstrung by Blogger's limitations.
3. Explore hosting options, and find out if that is even worth doing.
4. Making the blog much less generic looking, and have it closer reflect my own sensibilities, thus the reasoning for thoughts for 1 thru 3.
5. Doing all this on a relatively small budget.

I know that many of you have gone through the same thing with your own blogs. So I'm asking for suggestions/recommendations as to what worked best for you, as to hosts, domain registrars, and the like. I'm also curious as to what issues you might have experienced. Last but not least, for those who have experienced working with other blog programs (I've only used Blogger), is moving to Wordpress, or another platform, worth the hassle?

Please feel free to leave comments, or email me directly. (My email address is on the sidebar, if you haven't noticed) It would be very much appreciated!

As always, thanks for reading!

More housekeeping: Attempting to stay in touch...

I've been playing with Blogger before I call it a night, and managed to figure out how to use Blogger Mobile. Even though odds are good that won't have cable internet access for the next several days, I'll still be able to access the internet via my Sprint Fusic. (Thanks for the freebie, Sprint!)

Since it will be difficult, at best, to access TWFE, I'll be using my photog skills, or lack thereof, with The Mobile Wayne Fontes Experience instead. Now there's an additional blog I'll be able to play with, thanks to the phone's camera and email capabilites.

I have no idea what I'll be posting there, but I'm thinking that my moving adventure might be a fun thing to document thru a blog. We'll see what happens, as your guess is as good as mine...

I'll try my best to keep updating. As always, thanks for reading...

Housekeeping, we got housekeeping!

First off, I want to thank all of you for the good thoughts you've sent about my current life crisis, that being my housing situation. I HATE the thought of moving, but I didn't have any choice in the matter. Keep thinking the good thoughts, folks.

As for TWFE, I'm thinking there will be a post(s) tomorrow, and hopefully one over the weekend. After that, it's up in the air. I honestly think that I'll be attempting to post regularly, but till I'm on surer footing, nothing is set in stone.

So, despite all this going on in my life, the blog will continue to function. But for the next couple of weeks, I can't be sure how often I'll be able to update. Searching for somewhere to live that fits in my limited budget, the purging of items that I don't need/want/have room for, packing what I do keep, getting the stuff I need but don't yet have, and the stress involved with the whole damn thing, well, it isn't conducive to a good writing environment. Or even keeping up on the latest news and views, for that matter. Life gets in the way of the fun stuff. Wonderful, just wonderful...

Still, things are looking up. I'm hoping to have word quite soon as to where I'm going to be hanging my hat. Cross your fingers, everyone.

As for good news, I may also be doing some writing for another website soon. I'll let you know the site, what to expect, and when I'll start appearing there, when I have all the details nailed down. As always, you all will be the first to know. After the GF, of course.

Thanks for reading!

Sometimes you got to do the housekeeping

I need to put a quick stop to the normal TWFE hijinks. For just one post, anyway.

On a more serious note, I wanted to let you all know that there may be some bumps in the blogging road over the next few weeks. I'm soon expecting my personal life to get in the way of the the blogging fun and games.

Due to circumstances out of my control, I will most likely be forced to change my living arraignments soon. To be honest, I'm not expecting it to go super smoothly. I'm going to let you in on something that only a few of you readers know about me. I was diagnosed with both Ankylosing Spondylitis and Osteoarthritis about 10 years ago, and over the last 2 , it's gotten severe enough for me to be declared fully disabled. I still get around, but I depend an inordinate amount upon others, as it's not easy when you no longer drive.

I'm not planning on any big gaps in my posting, not yet anyway. I don't expect much to change for the next 3-4 weeks. After that, unfortunately, I can't guarantee that will continue to be the case.

I'm not sure that it's going to be easy to find decent and affordable housing when on long-term (Or should I say in my case, lifetime) disability. I'm guessing that it'll be hard to get both in a place, it may be just one or the other. I hope I'm wrong, but you know the old saying, the same I've used for the Lions. "Hope for the best, but expect the worst."

I'll do my best to keep everyone in the loop as to my adventures...

On a lighter note, there is the possibility that TWFE will be getting some MSM love soon. You guys and gals will be the first to know when I have more details.

I'll be at the west side TWFE HQ over the next couple of days. If the opportunity presents, I'll get some sort of inane commentary posted. Otherwise, I'll be back Sunday or Monday.

Thanks for reading!