Olivia sings

check it out here
http://gallery.me.com/marc.dumas#100232

Posted via email from Marc's posterous

Happy holidays!

I know that I haven't been around for a while, but I wanted to just say Happy holidays! i'll start posting about all that is going on in the next couple of days. Happy whatever you celebrate and Merry Christmas

A new Day - Happy Halloween!

Since I've been gone for a while I, try and catch you up and still make this brief. I started a new job - I'm working as a Small Business Consultant - helping Small Business Owners, the self employed and individuals get the type of insurance coverage they need and deserve. I started on Tuesday and it's been a trip. the first day or 2 were mind numbing, but after I got throught that and got the the selling part, I really liked it. I think that I can make a lot of money, and more importantly, make a difference and help some people. You'll hear more about this from me later.
Also,I've started back up on my weight loss goals. I really want to get down under 250 by GAC next year. It won't be easy, but I think that I can do it. I just have to make the decision to not be a fat tub of lard any more. I want to be around for my children and if I keep getting fat, there is no way that's gonna happen.

In terms of Blogging/Twitter/etc - My goal is to blog here at least 2 times per week about what's going on in my life and tweet 2x/day  If you are a reader of mine and want more, I'll give you more, but now here you go

That's all for now - Since Its halloween, I'm taking Opie and Simba trick or treating and I'll be back with pictures

See ya later

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for that guy in LA who says interracial marriage is wrong

here's what you get from it - if that's the definition of wrong, i don't wanna be right

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Interracial couple denied marriage license in La. - Yahoo! News

NEW ORLEANS – A white Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.

Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She is white and he is black. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

"That was one thing that made this so unbelievable," she said. "It's not something you expect in this day and age."

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.

"We are looking forward to having children," Humphrey said. "And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we're typical happy newlyweds."

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 "that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."

The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending "the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice."

"He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it," Schwartzmann said.

According to the clerk of court's office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.

Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.

The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk's office.

"I've been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don't think I've mistreated anybody," Bardwell said. "I've made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn't tell this couple they couldn't get married. I just told them I wouldn't do it."

via news.yahoo.com

Are you kidding me - Glad this guy wasn't in Wisconsin 12 years ago or I would have been in a heap of trouble

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Back to work

I need to get back to work on a lot of things - this blog, my life, losing weight, having fun, and being a productive member of society. I think I'm back on the right path - I got a new job. Sweet. Now if I can get my car fixed and start getting the rest of my life in order...life will be good

Rainy day in Chicago

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the trials and tribulatons of interviewing

So today i stat a big interview blitz - and it's off to the races with the family running late - nothing like your kids to put you in perspective when you're trying to get somewhere on time.
Eep

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TJ's presents come early

The boy wonder got some presents early since his grandparents came early. Party is tomorrow

Sent from my iPhone
Marc...

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I need to come up with a name...

...for TJ's party, and parties in the future. You see, we call Olivia's party oliviapalooza and she loves it and it has a nice ring to it. What do we call this one? Festival de Theodore? TEDFEST? Destruction time? (he likes to rip things apart - these kids couldn't be any more different if we tried - his latest is yanking the cable lines out of the wall). But it should be a good time for the kids. We're going to Gymboree, which allows the kids to run off some energy while the adults sit back and watch. i think I have camera duty, unless i can pawn that off on one of my fraternity brothers. Other than the clown (those of you that know me know that is one of the few phobias I have) it should be a hoot. And, when we are done, we can go for italian ice at mario's (the season is about to end soon) or even better, there's a bar next door!

Can you believe that it's been a year already? I can't

Thank you to my dear sweet wife for giving us this great gift. I love you little man...

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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I wasn't always fat...

...but I was always a big kid. Just like my son now, (who's new nickname is Moose) I was a big boy. I went through phases where I was huskier than most of my friends ( yes I wore clothes in the husky department), but I also grew out of it thanks to a want to go to West Point and just genes. I've always had a big behind and big thighs, but at one point in my life I was, dare I say it, skinny.
Here's where you come in. I'll be giving a prize to whomever can send me a picture of my skinny self - If you have one. I'll post them here on my blog as they come in and you guys can vote.

Thanks

p.s. I'll get back to that skinny guy sooner rather than later, just you watch.

Posted via email from Marc's posterous

Sorry i've been away for so long

This time of year always gets me excited, now especially since I'm a grown up (allegedly). It's recruitment season for fraternity men and it's always interesting to see what new and exciting ways the fellas try and get people to become pledges. Over the next month or so I'll see it all - from root beer kegs to hooters to a myriad of other things. To all of my Brothers across the country - GOOD LUCK!

Also, I would like a chance to send a shout out to my good friend (heck, for all intents and purposes she's my big sister) Meg (she goes by Margaret now, but I have a note allowing me to call her Meg still) for 3 things.
1. She lost a bunch of weight and looks rockin'
2. She seems to have found happiness in the arms of her new man ( even though he doesn't talk much - maybe it was me)
3. She gave me an awesome book about love and marriage and life, and it truly changed my way of thinking.

For all of those things - thank you - You are the best!

Lastly, happy birthday to my little Brother, Reggie, who turned 25 on monday - keep striving to your dream, and when you get rich, you'll need a lackey and I'll be there

See ya around

Marc...

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my favorite foods/things - part 1

So one of my friends asked me yesterday what I loved to eat - i responded food - i love most everything, but here are some of my favorites, and why - let the debate begin

Pizza - first off let me say I love Chicago Style pizza - not stuffed, true deep dish pizza. My favorite used to be Pizzeria Uno/Due downtown, before they sold out and became a chain that puts out bad stuff. Now I'm all about Lou Malnati's - the perfect blend of meat and cheese and it's so damn good. If i want thin crust pizza, i'll go up to the north side and get Pat's or out to the far south side and get Vito and Nick's, party cut, please (no wedges , squares)

Italian Beef - for those of you reading this from outside of Chicago and have no idea what an Italian Beef sandwich is, it's like a Philly cheesesteak, but different; it's like a french dip, but better and it's so food that i'll drive all over hither and yon to get a good one. For me the best, without question, is at Al's on Taylor Street. Great spice in the meat and the gravy and the hot peppers are so tasty. Get it dipped with hot and an order of fries and you're in heaven. the only thing that could make it better is to geta combo (they add a piece of Italian Sausage in the middle

Italian Ice - while Maro's is the best and always will be, there are others that I like a lot as well. Tom and Wendee's, Carm's, Icebox in Lakeview, but nothing's like Mario's. the crowds speak for themselves.

more foods coming - please feel free to comment

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My social experiment

So, I'm going through a lot of stuff right now - the search for a new job, stresses at home; fighting a myriad of factors that are causing havoc in my life, and I wanted to stop and take stock of what's going on. I thought a good place would be to determine how the world sees me. Try and take an objective look at me through the eyes of my friends (and my enemies, and my frenimies) using the most viable social platform out there - Facebook.

I asked the question:

I would like you to tell me what about me made you decide to say, "I like him." It could be something funny; it could be something deep, or something in between. If you could do this for me, I'd be very grateful. (If the answer is nothing, or, I hate that SOB, well, that's fine, too as it will help me with my project)

and the responses I got were interesting - people talked about how genuine I was (and still try to be); people talked about how welcoming I am; my love and dedication for my fraternity; how good I strive to be for my friends, the fact that I'm easy to talk to and that I always have an ear for people.
Some people talked about my character and my concern for otehrs and I even got some people to talk about my politics and how I force others to look at both sides. Some talked bout the first time they met me and how I looked (my penchant for bow-ties, ect)

The best comment I got, though, was probably from the person who responded who knows me the least - I've only met him face to face 1 time for 2 days while he was interviewing me for a job. He said,

"There's a passionate and sincere tone in your voice when you talk about the things you love ... your family, fraternity, friends... I appreciate that you live your life with a servant's heart. You're a gentleman"

That quote alone really made me take stock in who I am, and who I had become lately. It's my hope moving forward that I live up to that quote, because if we all do, we'll live in a much better place. What it really made me do was become dedicated to getting off of my ass and really getting to work. If people see me as that person then I have to be that person and live up to the ideals that are there.

that's all for now - see ya soon

Posted via email from Marc's posterous

Something that might help you this year

NOTE - if you don't care at all about fraternities, or think they are stupid, today's post isn't for you - we'll be back with something else for you in the next couple of days.

So, one of the blogs i read often is from my friends at Phired Up Productions. They ae in the fraternity and sorority recruitment business and generally great people. This is their blog from today and I thought that it really struck a cord with me about how our undergrads act sometimes and how we can help them get past being that awkward turtle
they are located at www.phiredup.com

Do youhave members who flail about socially like awkward turtles? Of course you do. You might even be one of them. One of the greatest gifts you can give one of these AT’s is the gift of social confidence and energy.

One of the reasons I’m so proud of what Phired Up does is because college students have limited opportunities in their formal education to learn good communication and sales skills. These are arguably the most vital skills to master if one wants to be successful in relationships, work, organizations, etc. after college — yet our institutions of higher education, in general, do a poor job of building positive communication habits in their students.

We can talk about recruitment strategies until we’re blue in the face, but if you’re an absolute social dud, if you’re awkward to the point of making others uncomfortable, if you can’t summon confidence and energy in yourself in social situations… well, we need you to improve yourself before we can improve your recruitment.

I recently did a powerful workshop with a group of fraternity men in which I demonstrated the power of bringing CONFIDENCE and ENERGY to a social situation. As we push the collegiate student organization world toward social excellence, a great place to start is by building their CONFIDENCE and ENERGY. What are you doing to build the CONFIDENCE and social ENERGY of your members?

Social Energy

I would argue that the energy you bring to a social situation is your own choice. After you read this post you’ll no doubt engage in some social situation… what energy will you bring to that. Will you be aloof, tired, bored, average, nice? Or will you be powerful, engaging, interested, fun, warm, inviting? It is your choice, I think…

The Myth of Cool

I learned long ago the power of taking off your “Cool Cap.” Cool Caps get in the way of social excellence. It has become commonly accepted that people who are good socially are the traditional “cool” people. I strongly argue that. I think socially excellent people are often not obviously”cool.” They don’t try to impress other people — other people are naturally impressed by how confident they are in themselves and the positive energy they bring with them to every social interaction. If you don’t think you’re cool, that’s o.k. It has nothing to do with being socially excellent. In fact, most “cool” people I know think they can lean on their coolness in social situations… they often miss out on experiencing social excellence.

Social Confidence

CONFIDENCE comes from practice. Plain and simple. To become confident socially, check out the lessons in these great non-Phired Up resources. Most of these are blog posts, and there are two big downloads that can be really helpful.

Share the lessons from these resources with your members — THEN PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

The Positivity Blog: 8 Tips from the last 2500 years

The Positivity Blog: 5 Awesome and 5 Awful Conversation Topics

AskMen.com: How to Improve Your Social Skills

Penelope’s Trunk: Three Specific Ways to Improve Your Social Skills

Dale Carnegie: Communication Principles Free Download

The 7 Challenges Workbook: Free 100 Page Book Download

3 Steps to Making Socially Excellent Awkward Turtles

Here are three important stepsforyou to use to turn the Awkward Turtles in your organization into socially excellent members (who can recruit!):

STEP 1 - CHOOSE EXCELLENCE and ENERGY: The first step is to challenge your members on the choices they make in every social situation. What do they choose to be? Shy or Proud? Inward or Outward? Cool or Curious?Ask them todefine with a single word whatenergythey’d like to exude in that social situation. Ask themhow theywant the other people there to describe them after the social situation.

STEP 2 - PRACTICE IN REALITY: Many peopleget excited about the idea of role-playing social situations so that people can practicebeing sociallyexcellent.This is a fine way to start to build confidence, butnothing replaces reality as the ultimate testing ground. The truly best way to practice good social skills is to do it in real situations. Start by taking your awkward turtles somewhere that they’ll know nobody and nobody will know them. This offers a low-risk opportunity to experiment with new social techniques. Next, try it with some other organizations you’re friendly with and who might benefit from helping their awkward turtles as well. Finally, jump right into a real life social situation (or recruitment situation) and be there with your little turtles the whole time, correcting their behavior, encouraging them, and helping them build their confidence.

STEP 3 - KEEP IMPROVING: Social excellence is not mastered in the course of a day, a week or a year. Social excellence is a commitment to continual improvement and always pushing your own comfort zone. As an organization, make it one of your main accomplishments each year to push your members to higher levels of social excellence.

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My political bent

<b>My Political Views</b><br>I am a center-left social moderate<br>Left: 1.21, Libertarian: 0.37<br>http://www.gotoquiz.com/politics/political-spectrum-quiz.html">Political Spectrum Quiz</a><br>

It's right where I thought I would be - center left; socially/culturally liberal, financialy centrist and hawk on nat. security - Just where I like it

More tomorrow about my facebook social experiment

See ya soon - MASD

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Race, changes of life, and Phi Psi - RIP Carlos

As most of my readers know, I'm a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. I'm one of the Founding fathers of my Chapter, and i'm the Chapter Advisor to 2 chapters in the area. I'm but one of a handful of "minority" members, both of my own Chapter, and of the fraternity at large. Of the over 200 initiates of my chapter we have less than 15% minority participation. Until I ran for National office at our last convention, no minority had ever run for a national alumni office before. i was the Obama of Phi Psi (even though to anyone with an ear for history i would tell I'm more Barbara Jordan than Obama). I lost that election, but it was close. What I really did was fling the door open for people behind me, and me too, to go and try and win. I thought about that in the wake of 2 things that have happened over the last 2 weeks - the whole Obama/Gates/Cambridge cop thing, and the death of one of those minority members of my Chapter, Carlos Navarro.

I'm really sad about Carlos. He was a good man and I was proud to call him my Brother. He wasn't the first Hispanic member of the Chapter (that distinction goes to my buddy Jaime, another Founder), but he was probab;y the first hispanic member who had a choice. He could have joined one of the 2 latino organizations that were on campus at the time, but he chose to walk with us. Once when he was a pledge, he sought me out. He was taking flak from "his people" and didn't know what to do. he was thinking about quitting. He was also just nervous. We went and had a gatorade together in the cafeteria and i talked to him. I tried to tell him that Phi Psi would be good for him; that the bond that you forge here will help him for the rest of his life. That his Brothers didn't care what color his skin was, just that he lived up to the principles of our Order - loyalty, Brotherhood, and Service. I told him my story: how when starting the chapter, members of the Black fraternities and soroities questioned my blackness, and those who didn't do that overtly simply shunned me, unitl I showed them that I was doing something bigger than the pettiness they were bringing.

Carlos left that meting and decided to really strive to make Phi Psi the best chapter on campus. He dove head first into our Ritual and was always the first to sign up for community service. Watching him made me proud to call him my Brother.  He understood that he could be his own man with us, and we'd always love him.

How does this deal with race, and what's the tie into the beer summit today? Simply put, while race is something that we deal with all of the time, and something that pervades our culture and influences a lot of how people act, or walk, or talk or think, Its really about individual choice and how YOU deal with race and racist behavoir that makes you the person that you are. Dr. Gates got angry - on that day he decided that he wasn't going to take it anymore; President Obama made a mountain out of a molehill; and when race enters Phi Psi - unless its some moron calling me N----r, I tend to let it wash off of my back. Carlos was the same way. i watched him get called everything but a child of God by his Brothers, much like I had some 15 years ago, and I watched him smile through it all. i watched as other Latinos/Latinas, got angry for/with Carlos for not striking back, and he calmly explainging how the people were his Brothers, and they would never say any thing with malice. But I also saw him angry when it wasn't meant to be funny, and he handled it with grace and the honor expected of him.

Carlos, you will surely be missed. My parents tell me that you'll like it where you're going, and when you get there, make sure you thank Letterman, Moore and Tom Campbell for all that they've given us.

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I want google voice and (pic) the reason I get up in the morning

So Google has come out with this new app called voice that lets you put everything voice (vm, calls, etc) in one place. It's going to allow me to forward everything to the same spot and i'm super excited, but ATT just threw it off of the iPhone which is soooo bogus. More to come on this developing news

In other news, Simba (my 11 month old- not his real name of course) actually walked this morning so I'm pretty stoked about that - here's a picture.

I hope my week gets better - it started off pretty crappy

see ya soon

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Posterous | Re: My First Blog Post

Today's Question:
Should prostitution be legal in the majority of America? If yes, why? If No, why not?

It's my opinion that, assuming the prostitute in question is there of their own free will, and not via coercion, that it should be legal. It should be taxed and monitored, and the providers should be tested regularly and there you go. Looking forward to people's answers.

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Baseball's over - for now

So, many of you know that I coach a high school baseball team. We aren't very good, but we go out and try and we got progressively better as the season went on. This is my second year as a head coach, and it doesn't get any easier. This year we were 8-21, which was an improvement over last year. We got some good players and we have a kid that, if he puts in the work, is going to be special - so much so that he was the MVP this year as a Freshman.

We had our regional championship this weekend (for those of you readers that are out of state, or used to other formats, in most parts our regionals would be equivalent to your sectionals) and we lost 9-7. I won't bore you with the minutia of the game other than the bomb my CF hit onto Michigan Ave to get us within 2. lord knows we got close, but couldn't get over the hump. I wanted to win so badly, but it wasn't to be. I finish this year knowing that my 7 seniors are in the top 12 in their class and all are going to good schools next year.

see ya around campus

About a dozen shy now

So, As readers of this blog know, it started out as my journal of my weight loss trip. That stated out as a bet between my fraternity brothers and I on who could lose the most weight (percentage) by our biannual convention last year. I lost. but not by much, but it helped me start to work on getting fit. I joined a gym, I stopped eating McDonalds and pretty much gave up pop and beer. That got me to lose all of 10 lbs. I was pissed. But, i'm happy to report that I have, since 1/15/08 lost 46 lbs. That rocks.

What have I been doing? Well, i'm been eating less and also trying to work out at least 3x/week. I don't always succeed, but i don't let that little setback get in the way of my goal. I've got a long way to get to where I want to be (not shopping in big/tall stores), but I think that I can get there, and without the surgeon's scalpel. As always, I thank my friends and my family for their support, and for Olivia's biting comments that make me go to the gym (Daddy, you're the biggest Brown Bear I've ever seen...)

So you can follow me on twitter

http://www.twitter.com/masdumas

It's been a long time

So I'm now going to really try and be committed to writing on my blog about 2x/week. I know that I said that during lent, and I failed at that, but I think I can do this. I'm still losing weight (down about 35 lbs over all, but no where near my goal weight. My pants fit better and people notice it in my face, so that's a good thing.

I went to my 20th high school reunion last weekend and it was, to say the least, a blast from the past. It was funny to watch some things occur:

• People falling back into their old cliques from high school
• No real deep conversations -almost every conversation that I either heard or participated in went like this, " Hi. its so good to see you. are you married? do you have any kids?" and moved from there - either into parent zone, or sort of scorn for those who haven't borne any fruit... unless they were living some fab life, and we had some of those.
• people still holding on to whatever baggage they had in HS, and the amazement that they brought it with them to the reunion

It was also funny to watch the backhanded compliments I received for my children and how damn attractive they are. Nothing like some girl you went to high school with, who didn't have time for you then saying to you, "who's the father of those children, because they are too cute to be yours. ha ha ha." That's always a good time. Glad my wife wasn't there - she might have hurt someone.
That's all for now, see ya soon

So I've been playing with my webcam and Coming up with some interesting stuff - take a look and tell me what you think



On other fronts, my life is getting better - I'm losing weight ( i think it's the whole "putting less food down the piehole theory" and getting ready for baseball. I've started talking to someone every week about the things that are holding me back and getting me ready to push forward. I'm excited.

One of my goals for lent is to post something here and on my other blogs at least once a week. It'll make the creative side of me move better. see ya on the flip side!

25 things you didn't know about me

So this sort of thing has been floating around Web 2.0 for a while, so I thought I'd send it to you and there you have it.

1. My Siblings range in age from 26 to 66

2. I learned to drive on a tractor in OK at age 11

3. I carry 3 kennedy half dollars - 1 from 1971, 1 from 2005 and 1 from 2008. and the 1971 piece was carried by my dad everyday until he died.

4. If I could eat only 3 things for ever, they would be Pizza, Italian Beef sandwiches and gummi bears

5. Holly, and only Holly, can tell me this joke and make me laugh - "What's Brown and Sticky?"

6. I'm deathly afraid of clowns

7.I'm the only person in the history of St. Ignatius to be confirmed and take first communion in the 5th floor chapel

8. I have most of the songs on those late-night TimeLife "Glory and Praise CD collections" (I can only imagine; our god is an awesome god) on my ipod and play them at full blast in my car

9. Once, while coaching girls basketball, i made a girl cry simply by pointing.

10. I love Hootie and the Blowfish - I mean like have all of their albums, like long after their were popular.

11.I have at least 1 friend in each of the 50 states

12. My 3 favorite days are: My birthday, Baseball Opening Day and Election Day

13. I have 2 middle names

14. I own over20 bowties

15. In 37 years, I've never gone more than 10 months without having a room mate

16. I love fruity, sweet "girly" drinks

17. My secret dream job is to have my own radio talk show like Roe Conn

18. I know the school Mascots of all 119 D1 football teams

19. I laugh hysterically when I see a dog chasing its own tail

20. I read at least 1 book per week cover to cover

21. My secret crush is Stacy London from TLC's what not to wear and I want to be Clinton Kelly

22. I can recite all of the Schoolhouse Rock rhymes (I'm just a bill...)

23. I played gold against Eldrick C. Woods and Lost my ass

24. I love Hats

25. I would love to live in a hotel for a year

A new day is here!

So today is the inaugration of Barack H. Obama. Today we see the change we so richly seek and the destiny of a lifetime fulfilled. For me, it means so much more than just the election of a Black man to the highest office in the land. Today brings the knowledgethat I can look at my 2 children, full of hope and truth and light, and tell them that there is nothing that they cannot achieve.

As the grandson of a man lynched for simply wearing the uniform of his country, a country that he risked his life for countless times - today is special. As the son of a man that, in order to continue to work for a country he loved so much, had to go to court just to achieve that priveledge, today is amazing. As a young man who has been given every opportunity to showcase his potential and sometimes failed miserably, this is a new dawn.

I stand before my friends, family and my God to tell you that today starts a new Chapter in My Life. Marc 2.0 if you will. Many things will stay the same, but over the coming year you will see many new changes. Some of you might cringe at what you see, but know that its all for the best. Some of you might decide that you don't want to "opt-in" to the new Marc...and that's OK too. We've had a good ride and all of you have helped me get this far on my journey.

Enjoy the spectacle of what we, collectively, are about to witness today. We won't see anything like this for a long time.

Marc...