My current one saved my life a year ago this past April with two stents.  Three of my four main heart arteries had blown out; and the only one holding things together was one that was put in a stent back in 2001.

I had gone to the hospital because edema had set in and I noticed my feet swelling.  I thought I’d get a diuretic and go home the next day. It was not to be. It required two separate procedures.

Now every 6 months, I go see (“Surfer Dude”). That is what my wife calls him (my cardiologist) as he is young, good looking and always tanned and in good shape and wore a pooka shell neclace in both surgeries; a bit discomforting at 1st but I adjusted.  A little over a year later, today, he did an EKG and checked my weight, blood pressure etc.  Everything was perfect. I explained to him that my wife Lee has been watching out for my health prodding me to eat better and exercise more. I go hiking with her every other day. I drink 1/2 gallon of our “magic 2000 year old thermal water” every other day.  I eat salads, sushi, and other health foods.  Salt has virtually disappeared from my diet.

But my blog is not about heart disease and I rarely bring it up.  But its been a little over a year and but for the grace of God I have cheated death yet again.  Don’t get me started on all my near-death experiences…there have been quite a few more than the two heart attacks; most having to do with accidents, etc.  I am a klutz as well.

Today, I wore one of my cartoon caps to Surfer Dude’s Office. I think I’ve worn it there before but he never brought it up. He was rather chatty today and aske me where I got it. I told him the story of Londons Times Cartoons and gave him one of my business cards and then asked me if I had any medical cartoons. I assured him I do (in fact probably several hundred). That’s what happens to your psyche when you are klutzy all your life and later end up with heart disease.  But I digress.

I have always heart that attitude is half the battle and taking care of oneself is the other half. I am a nonsmoker and nondrinker.  Lee and I hike 2-4+ miles depending and they are mountain miles which means you can just about double that as far as the aerobic value of it.  Plus the miles are in the middle of the most beautiful National Park in America, Hot Springs National Park, which, like the water, is very healing.  It is impossible to be suspicious of a turtle, silly to feel hatred toward frolicking squirrels, and impossible to be angry at an affectionate mockingbird who is following you just for a collaborative melody. In other words it is a safe healing place.  And I’ll be damned if more often than not, I can look at all the beautiful wildlife and flora which surrounds us, and an idea for a cartoon doesn’t pop up. So I keep a pen and paper in my pocket on every hike (though that is not why I go).

My hope is to encourage everyone, especially younger people to take care of themselves *now*; in other words it is never too early to prevent heart disease. Eat right.  If you smoke, stop. If you’ve stopped and started back, not to worry. Stop again, and again, and again. It is that important. For many it takes 10+ times. It will finally make sense as you learn to re-enjoy the taste of fresh air.

Look at your diet.  Simple is better. Fresh fruit and veggies.   Less or no salt.  The lower the sodium the better.     Exercise!!!  If you are immobile you can still exercise.  You can learn tai chi on the Internet.  Lee & I do Tai Chi before every hike.

I hope I don’t sound preachy.  If you are reading this, chances are you are probably a Londons Times Cartoon & Gifts fan and I’d like you to be with us a long time.  Plus to be honest, I don’t want you to have to go through what I’ve gone through because you truly don’t have to. It is a choice.  Seems complex but it is simple.  Choose to be healthy.  That does not mean perfect; it means conscious of healthy things vs unhealthy things from food to emotions to exercise to career.  Choose what feels healthy and the younger the start, the faster habit becomes lifestyle.  Cheers, Rick London

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Rick London is a writer, entrepreneur, designer, and outdoorsman.  He founded Londons Times Cartoons & Funny Gifts which have been the #1 offbeat webcomics & gifts on the Internet (MSN & Google ranked) since 2005.  He has founded numerous online shops which feature his cartoon images and also others which are unique fashion such as the worlds only love quote shoes, Shoes That Amuse, and ShoeShies.com, Sushi Shoes & Gifts.

Of course the first and main reason the gratuitous slap in the face to all the life coaches, social media experts, “wisdom experts” (who either lift quotes and/or articles and take credit) or edit them just enough to insult our intelligence with their name as the credit.  I love such “writers” who do not understand that we’ve been to college, because they certainly haven’t.  Most of those are what are known as “life coaches” who are nothing more than a “gang of literary thieves”.  What they do is often attractively package and sale mundane and sometimes exciting philosophy that we learned in college and is, of course, now free on the web. They charge a fortune for books, tapes and the like, leaving their victims (clients) bleeding in the streets, but with the opportunity to become such a “literary-thief-in-training” as well. So it has a “Donald Trump/Amway MLM feel to it”.

My wife Lee and I decided a long time ago that was not for us. Don’t get us wrong. Nearly every major life coach on and off Twitter has tried to recruit us…let me rephrase that..recruit our wallets, but we decided it might be safer to put what extra we have in savings and invest in our our clean businesses which involve designing and selling gifts and collectibles. Our business is very simple, very clean, and offers products of tangible value, no regurgitated philosophy or wisdom, simply usable and/or collectible gifts, clothes, etc.

Lee is an amazing nature photographer who writes a nature blog, Hike Our Planet, and I’m sometimes told I can turn a phrase and create a cartoon that goes on all our products.  Though we often deal with POD’s (Print On Delivery) manufacturing companies, our main factory for six years now is in Rhode Island and the majority of our products sell at Amazon.  Recently the Sears Marketplace picked up a good many of my cartoon gifts. Lee has taught herself not only photography, but how to take that photography and her own unique graphics and create products such as shoes, tees and gifts at her  Lee Hiller Designs Shop. Her items are also available at associate shops all over Amazon.com. She has no snake oil for sale. It’s the real thing.

Why do I make this “comparison story” between “life coach” and legitimate businessperson?  Early on, especially in social networking, it could have so easily gone the other way. The life coaches are artists. Con artists. They are friendly. They know all the right things to say. They can win one’s hearts and minds the way no politician or army even dreamed of doing.   And they have built in radar that heads straight for the pocketbook.

Life coaches often “build a name for themselves”, then start the process of writing books, making cds and tapes, having seminars, and talking nonsense that sounds somewhat like wise philosophy, and it should, as it is more often than not lifted from major names like Emerson, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and so many others, edited and/or watered down, and their own (the life coach’s name) placed on it. I’ve even seen them lift Biblical quotes, change them a bit, and wala, guess who the new author is?

If you’ve just started Twitter, you probably have many of them on your friends list who are following you. They seem to be predatory (the most) to newcomers who haven’t a clue.  Many of the wiser ones change their moniker to “spiritual coach”, “spiritual advisor” “life author” “coach/author”, and the list goes on and on.  In any case, watch for subtleties; the devil is in the detail and as I mentioned earlier, they are con-artists of the highest degree.

My wife Lee once quoted, “You are your own best life coach”, and she is so right.  The alleged purpose of the life coach of whom you pay thousands of dollars is to motivate.

I prefer the freebie by Walt Whitman who would laugh at any life coach. His great quote is, “To Begin, begin”.   Really, what more does one need to know?

Oh, look in the yellow-pages under “pest control” to rid ones home of rodents. I almost forgot that part of the story; but should note it since rodents and life coaches seem to be in the same category (sorry rodents, I know you’re better than that).

When I read an article, I don’t just want information, I want a remedy. A solution.

The solution is, when you find yourself being called and/or emailed by these “Oh, so nice life coaches”, and you will, cut off all ties.  Yes you will hear cries like a baby. They will “badmouth you” on Twitter, facebook and wherever.  Trust me, in the long-run, these are the types you DO want to bad-mouth you; for persons of goodwill know, that if these crooks think you are “no-good”,  you must be a person of substance.

And you really are if you were able to out-maneuver these cyber-whacky sharks by cutting them off and blocking them from your Twitter stream. It is as simple as that.  Oh and screen your calls. You may receive a few curse-word filled calls for your sinful betrayal.  That means “You Done Good”.  Congrats.  Now it’s time to play REAL Twitter. The riff-raff has suddenly disappeared and the drama and chaos has magically dissolved.  Oh, and you still have your money. Now, wasn’t that fun and easy?

On the side of the blog I’ve posted some recent products I’ve made from my various shops (the cartoon store, ShoesThatAmuse, and ABoyNameSushi) shops for your entertainment enjoyment. Oh, and please don’t be shy to purchase. If you don’t, I may have to have a life coach call you for an appointment.

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Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, and designer.  He created Google and MSN’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times in 1997. Less than a decade later he launched online shops which now feature over a quarter million licensed products which are featured at such shopping channels as Amazon, Sears, Shop.com, Shopping.com and many others.  He also has his own shops such as Rick London Collection where he sells his favorite cartoons on tshirts, mugs, greeting cards and other funny gifts.  London founded the world’s only famous love quote shoes in 2007, ShoesThatAmuse.com which have received the thumbs up from APWire and USA Today.  This year he launched ABoyNamedSushi, a division of his ShoeShies which are sushi artwork shoes and gifts.  London has published over 500 articles and his cartoons have appeared in the Jerusalem Post. His main Londons Times Cartoon site boasts 5000+ color offbeat cartoons which have lured 8.7 million visits.  Several of his originals are a permanent part of the Roy Orbison Collection and Mayo Clinic Medical Library.

Then came college. The importance of specializing became even more important though it was demanded of me to pick a major and minor which I did about ten times at four different colleges. I didn’t finish but I did study hard and a lot of subjects. I was always a hit at cocktail parties because I learned words like “ethnocentric” and “Kierkegaard” and phrases like “To thine own self be true”. I stopped using that Shakespearean gem as it seemed to depress most of my fellow college students (including me) as, which of us was truly being true to ourselves if we were sitting at a desk listening to the most boring professors on the planet? Do as I say, not as….

In my twenties I simply decided to go out and conquer the cold cruel world and almost did so a few times. I worked on a few major projects for others and a few of my own and learned a good deal about how the world works. Of course the more I learned, the more I learned I needed to learn.

The years passed and early important lessons never left. “Learn to do one thing and do it very well”. I learned to do a few dozen things and none of them all that well.

I went back to school in my mid-40s and everything had changed. The new mantra was “Be flexible. Learn to do a lot of things because things are changing so fast you are most likely to be doing something else tomorrow”. In fact none of the nearly 100 hours I had accumulated my first time in college applied (even though I didn’t need to take the classes again as I was tested for life experience and apparently had learned my lessons). But the new pragmatic (right in your face) lessons were harder than anything I could imagine. But some of them manifested and transferred into the workplace.

Do I do any one thing very well? Not really. I co-create Londons Times Cartoons with my very talented team. I founded it in 1997. I founded several funny gift shops which feature my cartoon products with an inventory of over a quarter million of them.

I founded ShoesThatAmuse.com in 2007, the world’s only famous love quote shoes. APWire and USA Today wrote a very nice story about them.

This past month, I launched ABoyNamedSushi.com a division of ShoeShies which are sushi shoes and gifts and I enjoy that very much though sales are far from brisk, but then again inventory is far from full. So I keep plugging away.

Sadly, most of my early professors who (not on purpose) misled me to do one thing and do it well (how in the world could they see how technology would change our lives and future) are now deceased.

My more recent professors and students from Western Governor’s University are now on Twitter and facebook and, like me, are attempting to become more renaissance every day (as am I). We all have so many balls in the air, at times, it looks like an online juggling convention.

My wife Lee started with a simple photography blog HikeOurPlanet.com which has turned into a very popular nature wildlife blog and she makes her own line of gift and home decor products, LeeHillerDesigns.com.

On the way to doing what we do now, Lee and I did what we had to do to survive; that is, SEO, article marketing, blogging, promoting on Twitter and other social networks; you name it.

We do all this and still have time for our favorite charities and causes such as wildlife, environment, Japan recovery, domestic animals and much more.

We’ve learned to do a lot, and though we may have received an “F” for that 40 years ago in college, it is what is the norm today.

Times change and so do people. I was thinking recently if Einstein came back and lived in our generation, a 6th grader would have to not only have to teach him how to work a PC, but tell him what it is.
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Rick London is the founder of Google’s #1 ranked offbeat cartoons, Londons Times and its licensed shops such as The Rick London Collection which is currently seeking associates. There is no fee (EVER), our manufacturer Zazzle pays YOU for sales, you never pay us a penny. You visit my Zazzle Shop, sign up for a free shop and affiliate account.  Post items you like from my shop, promote, sell, earn. Just like in the olden days.  To sign up CLICK HERE.
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Though sushi has been a part of civilization longer than one might imagine, it was not always in the current form in which we are used to devouring. It started as a simple “fast food” dish in 2 A.D. in China and was an excellent way to preserve food (there was no refrigeration then). In the early days chefs fermented rice, placed raw fish on the rice, threw the rice out, and ate the fish when hungry.

By 7 A.D. sushi made its way to Japan, where seafood is a staple entrée. However they started making the rice a “side order” with the fish. About 1600, Matsumoto Yoshiichi of Edo (now known as Tokyo) began experimenting with flavors such as rice vinegar and selling this “new dish”. By doing this, they created the world’s first “fast food” and it was more often than not eaten immediately.

Below is a wonderful short YouTube video by my very talented wife Lee Hiller London.

The majority of “sushi” eaten in American restaurants is nigiri (finger sushi) and California rolls, almost no resemblance to the original Chinese food known as “sushi”. An ethnic food that swept the world by storm was developed yet further by the artful experimental restaurant entrepreneurs of north American creating a fusion of food and art.

So not all, but a good deal of the history of my favorite food was familiar. Also familiar was my limited knowledge of design; that is, the best design often reflects the vision of a culture; a modern trend if you will.

Though pizza, hamburger, etc all have their “beauty”, I was not inclined or motivated to purvey the beauty of thousands of mg of trans-fat artery-clogging foods.

But sushi was and is a different story. I started with shoes (mostly womens) but now make mens too. I named the store ShoeShies.com. Then I started designing aprons, mouse pads, mugs, postage stamps, key chains, caps, and just about everything else showcasing dishes of sushi and sashimi and its all available now at Shoeshies.com. I am loving doing it and it has “recharged” me to continue to make cartoon products for Londons Times Cartoons and my love quote Shoes That Amuse…and eat more sushi.

But now, when all the sushi places are closed at 2am and I have a hunger for it, I can look at the sushi mouse pad next to my pc and drool…or drool on my shoes; knowing they will lead me to the nearest sushi bar….tomorrow.

Every time an important anniversary arrives one tends to reflect. Especially when they get older and more forgetful like me, and appreciate the moments we  *can* reflect and it is at least semi-accurate.  Today is one of those days.  My wife Lee and I were so busy last year putting together our 13th anniversary book, a whole year went by and we were just getting it off the ground.  But March 19th, 2011 was our 14th anniversary. I remember working with a local artist when I still lived in my hometown of Hattiesburg, Ms named Richard Larson.  He understood my warped sense of humor and writing well, and since he was a fun guy to work with, and his last name was “Larson” (same as my favorite cartoonist ever “Gary Larson”), I figured it was “fate”.   Richard was from a small-town nearby named Picayune, Ms. We worked well together for about  a year or so.

      Like all creative endeavors, we had our differences, but we did profit from our creative endeavor.   I was the concept/creator and writer, and Richard the artist.  My vision of Londons Times would be offbeat, but not in cartoon style art; more of a combination of fine art and cartoons, and in color.  Richard did not like this idea and rebelled for about four months.  He finally decided to give it a try and within 3 months we sold the rights to 12 images to a San Diego T-shirt firm for $10,000.  They were all in color but I was kind enough not to say “I told you so”.  He wouldn’t have minded anyway. We’d both been starving artists and writers for so long; getting  $5000 each was like winning the lottery.  I was sure we had won it.

    Then I remembered that man plans, God laughs.  I had written another thousand or so cartoons, and Richard’s wife became pregnant.  Not only that, but she was a stable nurse who found him a job at a small local bank. It was either her and the baby and the bank job, or the iffy cartoons.  I understood completely and, though sad, I tried to keep my head up. I asked friends what I should do, and every one of them said (not in the same wording) “Throw in the towel, and consider it an interesting experience, and go find a 9-5 coat and tie job”.  I remember the feeling of nausea coming over me. I had done that for many years in jobs I didn’t hate. Hate is too mild a word. I despised them. I abhorred them. I needed them to support my artistic venture.

     By the end of that year Richard and I had created about 200 cartoons together and made one very nice sale.  We also had a very good time doing it.   I was sure we could get a book contract for a compilation cartoon book but every NYC agent we wrote sent back a polite form letter. The fact that the timing was not right for them to consider us “was no reflection as to the validity of our work”.  Then one came that was personal. It was one of those same form letters from a very large New York agent that said, “That’s all I need…another failed cartoonist”.  I could feel that sinking feeling. I wanted to throw the letter in the trash so as to pretend it never was written. In my heart of hearts,  I felt she was right. She’d seen a lot more than me.  But wait.  We’d created 200 cartoons.  But now I had no artist/partner but I had a free website from a firm called “Hostway” with more free pop-up ads than I had cartoons.

I didn’t know a lot about the Internet, was not working, just writing cartoons and living in a tin shed (I’m not kidding).  I read a book called “Internet For Dummies” and learned as much as I could.  Keep in mind this was 1997.  There was no Google, no blogging, no social media, really not a lot but Yahoo! and forums. On Yahoo! I was able to locate some of the top cartoonists in the world (Including Charles Schulz).  Over the next few months I talked on the phone to Charles “Sparky” Schulz, Leigh Rubin, Dave Coverly, and Jon McPherson. I learned all I could.  I put up ads on forums in searh of cartoonists. I left no-holds barred and wrote nearly 2000 more cartoonists nonstop.   At one time I was assigning them to 12 different illustrators who were now on my creative team from Russia to Ohio and every place in between.  Suddenly, very slowly, we were building an inventory. 

In 2001, I had about 4000 cartoons up. The way I stayed alive was bartering our skills to small and large businesses who were beginning to use cartoons on their web sites and humorous logos, etc.  I bartered everything from organic grass fed beef, emu, fishing tackle, vitamins and herbs, sporting equipment, clothing etc.  The illustrators would take either a part of the barter or I would pay them the wholesale value of it. Most took the barter which was better for me too.    The only market out there other than barter was publishing and syndication. We were “way too different” for newspaper syndication, so mainly college textbook and trade magazines kept us going.

In September of that year came my major heart attack.  I was forced to stop the cartooning  (doctors orders) but I didn’t listen. Not only did I keep going full-speed ahead, I enrolled in college full time to learn business; and in particular business online.  It was a great experience but for the most part I let the cartoons go. I left the website up, and “took orders” from webmasters and textbook publishers but mainly studied, and enjoyed the natural beauty of my new home, Hot Springs, Arkansas with my favorite dog ever, a bearded collie/polish lowland sheedog mix “Thor”.

Three years passed and I began receiving emails and phone calls from churches, synagogues, charities, schools, and all sorts of nonprofits wanting signed copies of our cartoons for their auctions and fundraisers. I thought it was a joke until one a friend asked me if I’d checked our Google ranking lately. I had not. I was the #1 ranked offbeat cartoon on the Internet.  I was “stoked”. I started writing cartoons like I had in  my young early days which was not quite as easy because now I was studying like a banshee (Just how do banshees study anyway).   I found yet more new illustrators.

Now there was Google, social media, POD (Print On Demand), Online Branding, article marketing, bookmarking and all kids of other goodies we didn’t have early on.  I learned to use them all.

Suddenly I had close to 5000 cartoons, a book (thanks to my wife Lee’s publishing and designing skills that she learned while building her designer gift shop Lee Hiller Designs and her nature/wildlife blog  Hike Our Planet, and nearly 1/4 million products in five online shops such as funny tees, funny cards, funny mugs and many other products. Even funny doggie sweaters.  I also branched out and learned how to digitally design shoes and launched Shoes That Amuse in 2007 which are the world’s only famous love quote shoes.  AP Wire and USA Today did a story on it. It features shoes with graphics of famous authors, philosophers, etc and their famous love quotes.   I have also branched out into love quote tees, bags, mugs and the like.

To some it was all an “overnight success”. I assure you it was not even close to that.  I was confronted with dangerous situations that I know I would never do again.  I did what I had to do to survive. I never knew in a million years it might be a well known cartoon, much less the #1 ranked on the Internet.  All that was beyond my control and decisions made by others.  But I am grateful to “those others” for recognizing and liking the work that I do.

Now I get to also have fun and take off for a  mountain hike with my wife Lee whenever I feel like it.    I get to do at age 56 what I never thought I’d ever get to do. I am a full-time tourist if I want to be. Though Lee would probably say I’m still a bit of a workaholic, I’m nothing like I was ten years ago. I have mellowed out a lot and I enjoy the creative process. I don’t think much about deadlines. I create when I get the urge to create. Life is actually fun for perhaps the first time ever.  Maybe it takes what it takes for that to happen.

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Rick London is a writer, cartoonist, designer, and musician.  He is the founder of the #1 ranked offbeat cartoons on the Internet, Londons Times. He also founded many funny gift shops such as Rick London Shops,  Rick London Collection, Rick LondonWear and LTSuperstore.com.  He loves hiking, wildlife and nature, and playing the guitar (but not very well). His goal is to take guitar and singing lessons this summer.

Some Recent Londons Times Cartoons (Click Thumbnail To Enlarge)