Putting up that post about Jonn was the worst thing I’ve ever had to do.\u00a0 I really did spend the entire night sobbing.\u00a0 But you know how in the military things get stupid shitty and you have no option but to soldier on to the next task?\u00a0 Well, I had to do that, to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n
I’ve blogged here, or represented the blog in one capacity of another for 10 years.\u00a0 Slightly over that.\u00a0 We get so many lawsuits it would make your head spin.\u00a0 Some you know about, some you don’t.\u00a0 Because of one I had to take a hiatus from blogging.\u00a0 Not because I wanted to, but because my employer was getting brought into it, and they justifiably wanted me to limit their liability while that was going on.\u00a0 Some of you have seen the final judgement, and you know what my lawyers fees alone were.\u00a0 I could have bought Peyton Manning’s house for about the same.\u00a0 (And what I’ve received so far couldn’t buy a stamp.)<\/p>\n
I kept my law license despite not really working as a lawyer because I wanted to be able to help Jonn and the blog as much as I could.\u00a0 When I had twins this year, it was getting too much.\u00a0 But I still helped Jonn and the blog as much as I could behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
But I want to make one thing clear, in the roughly 7 years of representing him and 10 years of blogging, I’ve never received a nickel.\u00a0 And I told Jonn if he sent me any money I’d kick him in the balls.\u00a0 He graciously offered to pay my law license, and I declined that as well.\u00a0 He did get me a wedding gift, and he bought me a kindle for my birthday one year.\u00a0 No one else here gets paid either.\u00a0 So let me put that out of your heads, we got nothing, and were happy with that.\u00a0 In the future, we will get nothing, and we are happy with that.\u00a0 \u00a0When we did fundraisers, all of us would contribute our own money as well.<\/p>\n
I had kind of hoped when I put up the post people would want to mothball the blog.\u00a0 That decidedly was not your opinions as I read them, you want this blog….well, this COMMUNITY to continue.\u00a0 So, for now at least we will make it work however we do it.<\/p>\n
Yes, we took down the PayPal that went to Jonn.\u00a0 But not for the reasons that seems to be popping up.\u00a0 We’re trying to get Jonn’s name off all this stuff for legal reasons.\u00a0 I spent part of the week with Jonn’s family, digging in his drawers, going through his files, talking to the funeral director, trying to arrange the wake and 15 million other things.\u00a0 I took leave from work, drove 10 hours each way and did what I could to help his wife and kids.\u00a0 And I will continue to do that.\u00a0 Taking off his PayPal wasn’t an effort to get me off food stamps.\u00a0 You can’t have lawsuits that go after his estate, wife and kids.\u00a0 So I have to get that stuff fixed.\u00a0 But I gave every penny to the family.\u00a0 I’m helping them with innumerable things, that one is pretty minor to be frank.<\/p>\n
Alas, on the list of shit I have to accomplish, figuring out the blog is SUPER low priority.\u00a0 The family is my priority.\u00a0 \u00a0Jonn is my priority.\u00a0 For instance, I know Jonn wanted his wake open casket and in his uniform.\u00a0 Well, his uniform doesn’t fit, and is from 1993.\u00a0 Thing looked rough.\u00a0 Jonn wasn’t just a platoon sergeant, he was ALL OF OUR platoon sergeant.\u00a0 So, my best friend and a commenter here went to Fort Useless (SP?) and got Jonn a new set of blues.\u00a0 All new ribbons, new blue cord, new Combat Infantry Badge.\u00a0 Because I’ll be damned if he’s going to his eternal reward in a shitty uniform.<\/p>\n
I’m also planning the wake party.\u00a0 The family is afraid that some turds would show up.\u00a0 Probably a valid fear, since we have comments in the spam filter right now that would drive you right through the roof.\u00a0 We delete them.\u00a0 But if you live in the DC metro area, and you think you want to go, email me.\u00a0 My email is on the contact us page somewhere.\u00a0 We worked out a deal that it’s basically a flat fee, Guinness and other beers, and food included.<\/p>\n
You guys have sent donations to the new donation thing.\u00a0 I’m going to probably put that money towards the uniform (those things are expensive) and paying for the wake party.\u00a0 Which is why you should come.\u00a0 It’s for the community.\u00a0 Now, it won’t cover it all, but we’ll figure it out.\u00a0 And yes, we will take donations there for Jonn’s family as well, the lump sum thing is so the poor bartender we get doesn’t have to do 50 checks.<\/p>\n
I take the blame for not being clearer about this from jump street.\u00a0 And my only defense is I am jumping out of my ass trying to do a bunch of other things.\u00a0 Like go thru Jonn’s emails.\u00a0 Do you know that he has saved every email since 2008?\u00a0 Well, he has.\u00a0 And as I go thru them looking for things that need to be addressed I see a guy who loved all of you, and you guys clearly loved him.\u00a0 It’s 11:30 as I wrote this, and my no shit bedtime is usually 7:30.\u00a0 And I’ve been doing this every day since I lost my friend.\u00a0 But I should have made time to explain to you guys what is going on too.<\/p>\n
Short story, we’re hoping to keep TAH up and running, fresh content etc.\u00a0 We’re not asking for your money, because near as I can tell everything is paid for now.\u00a0 Again, no one is getting a dime of it, unless you count the beers you can drink at his send-off.\u00a0 But please understand that not being forthcoming on everything is a two fold logic: 1) I’ve got Jonn’s family to worry about, and 2) Idiots out there will take advantage of the knowledge.\u00a0 Also, frankly, I have no idea how to do this, I’m not in this position very often.<\/p>\n
But if you have questions, concerns, or thoughts, by all means share them with me.\u00a0 But my response may be terse.\u00a0 Not because I don’t care, it’s just that my list of shit to do in the next 2 weeks is longer than a giraffes neck.<\/p>\n
But we’ll get through this.\u00a0 Together.\u00a0 I know I don’t post much here lately (again, lawyers told me not to, wasn’t my choice) so you might not know me.\u00a0 But Jonn trusted me enough to tell me he wanted me to keep the blog going.\u00a0 And while I don’t really *want* to, I would do anything for Jonn.\u00a0 So, just have a little faith in him and his judgement, even if you don’t know me enough to trust me.\u00a0 I wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jonn’s rep or his family.\u00a0 And I won’t do anything to take away your TAH family either.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"