Sometimes the strangest news is is something you can't make up. At the Las Vegas heart attack Grill this past Saturday night, a man was in his 40s was eating a a Triple Bypass Burger and began sweating, shaking and eventually had to be rushed out of the restaurant by paramedics after ironically suffering a heart attack in the emergency room themed restaurant.

After their 575 pound 29-year-old spokesmen died late last year this is another story about the restaurant picked up by many media outlets. How's that for free publicity?

The restaurant's theme attempts to glamorize life-threatening gluttony and its Mills can exceed 8000 calories in just one sitting. They offer flat liner fries and hamburgers called the triple or even quadruple bypass Burger. If that wasn't enough of a celebration of unrepentant gluttony any person who weighs over 350 pounds gets to eat their meal for free.

As for me I don't think I'll ever eat at this place even though sometimes my curiosity can be somewhat morbid. If you got here remember they even have a sign in the door that says eating here is hazardous to your health. So if you want me disgusting blobs of greasy lard soaked food and take it literally die than go ahead this is America so nobody's going to stop you.

Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand in NBC's "Smash.", Photo courtesy of Mark Seliger / NBC

My wife has been making me watch this new show on NBC called Smash. It's basically a show that revolves around the efforts to mount a musical retelling of the life of famed actress Marilyn Monroe entitled Marilyn: The Musical, on Broadway. This show veers off in numerous directions and follows the lives of those characters involved in bringing the musical to life.

I'm not going to lie, personally I hate musicals and for that matter shows about the making of musicals as well. The only reason I don't throw a fit about watching the show with my wife is it has Anjelica Huston. On this show her character Eileen Randis going through a bitter divorce and in my mind I'm waiting for her to channel her inner Morticia Addams and throttle her soon-to-be ex-husband MMA style and begin with the ground and pound beating him to a bloody pulp. I know this will never happen on the show but sometimes it's nice just imagine because the looks her character shoots towards her husband makes you believe it's just might be possible.

Other than that the only other thing I enjoy about the show is watching Katharine McPhee play the role of the fresh from the Midwest girl in the Big Apple Karen Cartwright. Her innocence and I guess the fact that I haven't really seen any of her other work make me root for her to get the role of Marilyn Monroe.

What makes Smash different than nearly every other show on television is it lacks a physical antagonist and is probably what intrigues me most. You see, Smash, doesn't have a big bag of figure hiding behind a curtain instead they use circumstance and real life as the antagonists and let me tell you there is no bigger big bad than them. Having been around many people who have worked in Broadway Theater I can tell you that the show has stayed true to how life is on Broadway and how circumstance can make a star or leave you destitute at the drop of a hat. This stage is a cruel mistress and you're only as good as your latest hit.

Smash airs Monday nights on NBC after The Voice for those of you who are interested. My wife really loves it so at least check it out and give it a couple episodes to see if it's your cup of tea or not.

I'm kind of sad because I just found out one of my favorite animals might soon be added to the endangered species list. The Australian government is considering adding its national icon the Kola  to the endangered species list. I knew they were beginning to become threatened because last year Australia actually launched a full inquiry after some experts in the country stated there may be as little as 43,000 koalas left in all of Australia.

Over the last 200 years millions of these beautiful creatures have been killed from being hunted, the destruction of their habitat, dog attacks and most seriously of all an increase in diseases including chlamydia and retrovirus.

I was reading last week that on average the Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital stated they they treat on average four koalas a week that have been hit by cars now that roadways and housing have entered areas normally home to these adorable animals. The government in Australia said that they should have a decision on whether or not to add the koala to the endangered species list in the next three months. Right now, koalas are actually listed as "vulnerable" but that status doesn't actually give them any special protection it's just a fancy way of saying we need to keep an eye out to make sure we don't kill them all off.

The decision on whether or not the koala bear should be regarded as an endangered species has been considered three times in the last 15 years by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee (TSSC) each time a decision has been put off due to lack of information. The current meeting which should be voted on within the next 10 weeks actually has over 25 year's worth of studies showing the rapid decline in the population and actually placing koala numbers at around 26,000 left in the wild.

Internationally, the koala is listed as of "least concern" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List. However, the U.S. considers the marsupial a threatened species. I sure hope something is done to protect these fuzzy little marsupials because it would be a shame if the entire species is gone by time my future grandchildren are old enough to visit a zoo and see one. Experts say if the current trend numbers of the koala bear's population decline are taken into account you may see an entire species extinction within the next 35 years.

You might not have noticed but snapback hats have returned (as well as most of the stuff I hated about the 80s) and it is beginning to look like fitted hats may become a thing of the past. For those non-hat wearers are just people who only wear those free hats they get when filling out a credit card offer, snapback hats aren't really anything new in fact they been around refusing to die for almost 30 years.

It's not that the new snapback hats aren't attractive they always just have this cheap feel to me and I just feel silly laying out 20 or 30 bucks for a new Phoenix Suns hat if it's a snapback and not a fitted hat. Then again my head is enormous which is to say most of my fitted hats are 7 ¾ or 8 so most of the snapback hats either just don't fit my head or I'm like right there at the final two holes so it feels pretty funny not to mention looks weird whenever I wear one.

I understand that fashions come and go and then come back again but why they have to go and mess with hats? I guess now I have another reason to hate Chris Brown because him and Tyga seem to believe they are responsible for bringing back the snapback they even went as far as making a song called "The Snapback Back".

I just hope a few of the hat companies out there keep making the fitted hats because part of me feels like an old man if I wear a snapback.

I might have to go ahead and stock up on some fitted hats until somebody out there kills off the snackback. I can only hope that maybe the new hip snapback hats catch on with old people and the less desirables when it comes to fashion so that I can get my fitted hats back.

I get it Whitney Houston was a celebrity, a talented singer and had an amazing song called "I will always Love You". Even though she had all that going for her she still died and many people's eyes died a victim of her demons. She was troubled now down in fact her drug abuse is well documented in fact if you don't believe me just type in her name with drugs into Google and see what comes up. Sure it's a tragedy when anyone dies I know this firsthand because I'm still dealing with a lot of loss in my life but I don't understand all this television and Internet coverage of it.

Far more important people have passed away and gotten maybe just at most a slight mention on the 10 o'clock news. Every day it seems like a US soldier is killed in action fighting for our country and yet we still seem obsessed about a lady who let's face it was a drug addict and squandered a gift instead of caring about that young man or woman who just gave their life in Afghanistan or Iraq. This world is messed up is kind of funny but what pops into my head right now is a scene from the very first Harry Potter movie when Hermione Granger is more worried about being expelled from school instead of dying and Ron comments "she really needs to sort out her priorities" that's really how I feel about America right now we need to sort out our priorities and stop making people who break the law and practically just kill themselves are role models.

I know I seem heartless but how many people in the 90s probably said "oh, Whitney Houston does drugs and she's okay so why can't I just give it a try". We need to stop idolizing the bad people like drug users, child molesters, woman beaters ( Chris Brown) and any other law breakers out there and find someone else to look to as a role model. Or better yet stop having role models were not named Jesus and just live your life correctly and quit acting a fool people. Sorry for the rant just getting really sick and tired of how screwed up the average American is.

Al Capone might not be the very first person to pop in your head when you think about an entrepreneur. After all, he was a very scary man who went to jail for tax evasion and happen to be very active in prostitution, bribery, smuggling, murder and the selling of illegal alcohol during Prohibition. Just because Al Capone's businesses weren't exactly legal it doesn't mean that Capone himself didn't know a few things about running a successful business. In fact prior to being sent to Alcatraz Capone owned more than 300 businesses filled with hard-working loyal employees.

Here are a few tips from Al Capone on running a successful business:

You're only as good as your word. It said that Al Capone ran a very efficient business. He always told those under him that "Your word is your bond" and Capone made sure none of his employees ever lied to him. This is one of the biggest things missing in business today. Many companies make false promises or maybe make statements then under deliver. The best way to lose a customer for life is to not live up to your word.

Remember where you came from. Whenever one of Capone's employees would start strutting around and acting like a big shot he would tell them "Don't let your head get too big for your hat." Even though Capone was a ruthless criminal he never did forget where he came from and was actually looked upon as a neighborhood hero to some for his generosity to those in his old neighborhood. It's always a good thing to support local charities and schools because these people at one time were your neighbors plus your generosity could open doors and bring you in new unexpected customers.

Be honest with your business partners. It is said that Capone only had to give orders one time to his employees and after that they were expected to do their job correctly from then on out. Al Capone would always say "Don't lie to the people you work for will." I'm pretty sure this works really well for him because let's face it who wants to lie to AL Capone? If you are unable to do a job it's always best to just come forward and be honest about what's wrong or what you don't understand instead of trying to make it look as if you're working correctly in order to obtain a paycheck.

Remember, it's never easy. . Like I said earlier Al Capone at one time ran over 300 different businesses. When a reporter once wrote about how easy it was for Al Capone to make money Mr. Capone was quoted as saying "Find out what it's like to run a business and meet payroll." Everyone has ideas that as a boss all you do is kick back while everyone else does all the work you did tend to forget that it's the boss who's financially on the line if heaven forbid the business hits a dry spell and stops making payroll for a while.

Earn your customers loyalty. Even though it might've been illegal Al Capone supplied high-quality alcohol to the citizens of Chicago from 1922 1931 during prohibition. He was once quoted by reporter as saying "Be loyal to friends an invincible to enemies." Unlike many bootleggers at the time Capone didn't take to watering down the product and because of this people always tended to hunt out Capone run establishments.

Capone's business tips may seem like common sense but in this day and age that were living in common sense and general decency or two things that unfortunately are on the client in business. Far too often people put the prospect of making a quick buck today over the possibility of making hundred dollars over the years. It's far better to live by a the tried-and-true code that was established by the old-school businessmen than use the model of today's businessman and go the route of a Bernie Madoff.

Well, another year has gone by and I have survived what I like to call Birthday week. it's not really a week full of birthdays it's just two birthdays my eldest child Vanessa's and my son David's birthday which coincidentally is today. I don't know why but every year I get overly stressed trying to make whatever it is we do to celebrate their birthdays a time to remember and I always feel like I fail in many ways.

This year they chose to go to the Phoenix zoo to celebrate their birthday because being around animals is one of their favorite things in the entire world. So we went and why we were there renewed our yearly membership and let the kids do and see everything they wanted to. It was very difficult for me to walk around the zoo because as I said in the previous blog post I reinjured my back and in fact by the morning of our zoo visit it was the worst I remember it getting since the initial injury over a decade ago. Not wanting to let the kids down however I took some medicine for the pain and just forcibly willed myself into completing the visit and not disappointing my children.

I know that life has been hard and I'm not an ideal father to them but I at least want to make sure they have some wonderful memories to look back on when they become adults. Hopefully this year I can do a better job in getting past all my disorders and physical issues and start letting them do more the things that they want to do. I don't want them to look back at their childhood and think why wouldn't my parents do this for me…

I agitated my back again today helping my wife carry our new TV stand up the steps and now I'm in a lot of pain. This isn't a new feeling to me in fact over the last decade or so I've had some major back issues and several doctors have told me that surgery is the best course of action to help with my issues. I'm petrified of having surgery and have been trying to just bear it but lately the pain has become so severe I can't even stand sometimes. Been taking muscle relaxers and hydrocodone but they just move it from an 8 to a 5 on the pain threshold. I'm considering trying acupuncture or a new chiropractor but don't know of any good ones her in Phoenix.

It's been a few months now and I still haven't come to terms with my Moms death. I wake up at night sometimes a bit freaked out because of I have a dream about her and I realize I won't ever see her again. It's been hard and in some ways harder than it was for me than when Sarah passed. I think the main thing is my mother had been there for me all of my life up until the moment of her death and I just don't like the thought of being in a world where she's not there for me to talk to and ask advice of.

I wish I could talk to her just one more time to get a few things off my chest but unfortunately that's not possible. In fact I can't even visit a grave and talk to her that way because my father had her cremated and keeps her urn in his living room. I would go and talk to her there but I can't get the memory of her lying in her bed dead out of my head whenever I enter my father's home. I guess maybe I should just write my feelings down or even just speak them aloud to myself and hope that helps. I'm just hurting on the inside right now because I never did learn how to properly grieve.

For all the pomp and excess of what was known as Madonna's Super Bowl halftime-show extravaganza a single middle finger is likely to be all the is remembered by those who watched the show. The flipping of the bird came during the performance of "Give Me All your Luvin" and at the end of her lines MIA flipped the bird and seemed to say "I don't give a fuck", although it was hard to hear clearly. It was an incident that was reminiscent of Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction" eight years ago a surprise risqué moment in front of tens of millions of unsuspecting viewers. The brief exposure of Jackson's nipple during the 2004 halftime show raised a storm of controversy and put CBS in hot water with the Federal Communications Commission.

I doubt there will be many consequences or that much backlash as a result in fact the only thing I'm certain of is MIA will see an increase in record sales. Those people who are upset by this probably didn't even watch the show I mean Madonna's stage grinding was far more vulgar an extended middle finger and even the commercials were raunchier.

Am I saying I'm ok with her actions? No, of course I'm not. In this age of live TV and internet streaming it would be ridiculous to believe that these actions could be prevented, it was a cry for attention and I'm just thankful we didn't have to see a "wardrobe malfunction" from the Crypt Keeper…Err I mean Madonna.

Let's just move along people and get over it. It took us America what 8 years to get over a nipple? How long for a middle finger? Two years? America needs to get that prudish stick out of its ass and just realize that if we stop making such a big deal out of anything view vulgar or sexual then we'd probably see a lot less. People like MIA and Janet Jackson commit these actions because they want the shock value. In that regards I guess mission accomplished.

This is America and we are all given rights of free speech so I have difficulty understanding that these people are who deem what's allowed and what is not. I'm not saying I'd want to see things like this pop up during my children's cartoons but one group telling another what is and what is not acceptable doesn't seem to American to me it seems like an intrusion upon my rights.