So that’s that and we’re done. Time to stop talking about it and move on, right? Wrong. There’s still over three weeks to go (as of this writing) and here’s the other deal with Kickstarter, if you get pledges over and above your set goal, you get the extra. Nice folks can keep pledging financial support right up until the end.

She made goal, so why should we keep spreading the word about UberDork Café and raising money? Well, number one, it’s not built yet. Have you ever bought a house, or a car or moved to a new town? Have you ever taken a vacation to another part of the country? Regardless of what price you see advertised for these things, without fail there will be additional costs. I suspect it will be the same with the UDC. I know Natali is really thorough and she’s been working her butt off making plans to ensure UberDork Café the bestest place ever, but chances are there will be unexpected expenses. What better way to make sure something like that doesn’t delay the Grand Opening than to build a little cushion?  That’s why I’m still asking everyone to keep spreading the word. If you donated already, you have my heartfelt thanks. If you haven’t, then check out her Kickstarter page and consider doing so.

Thanks again for helping to make a dream come true.

The July 14th comic, like most of my comics, is set in a fictional place. The difference with this comic, however, is that it doesn’t have to be!

I would like to take a moment and introduce you to Natali. Many of you may already know her on Twitter as @UberDorkGirlie or as the newest member of the Power Geeks podcast team. I know her as “a dork with a dream”.

I met Natali online last year and in the time I’ve known her she has changed my life. I could spend the rest of the post talking about how awesome she is just being herself, but I need to tell you about her dream, the UberDork Café and she needs your help to make that dream come true. She described the UDC (UberDork Café) in her blog a couple times here, and here. She’s way better at telling you about her dream than I am.  So go read her blog and get the details and then come back here. I’ll wait for you in the next paragraph.

Back? So it’s a cool idea, yes? Art + Science = Geeks. I like that. It will be a family friendly place where you can go and drink coffee, game, learn and do so much more. Every time I read about it I think more and more that it has the potential to become a Geek Cultural Center. A place where you can go and bring your mini-geeks with you.  A place that will encourage you and them to grow and learn. Plus, did I mention there will be coffee?

Currently she has started a Kickstarter page to raise the capital needed to cover the startup costs of the UDC. What’s Kickstarter? It’s this awesome page that lets you pledge your financial support to different projects that interest you. And here’s the key part, if the project you support doesn’t raise the declared goal amount you’re not charged. You only have to pay up on your pledge if enough people pledge. Right now she’s trying to raise $5000 and she’s over halfway there, but if she doesn’t get to the $5000 mark it’s all a wash. The backers don’t get charged and she doesn’t get anything.

I know the economy is tough right now, so I’m not asking you to pledge a $1000 or anything crazy like that. I’m not even asking you to pledge $100, but how about $1? or $5? There are almost 70 people backing the project already. If we can spread the word to enough people all of those $1 and $5 donations will add up fast. Granted, if you are feeling generous and want to dig deep and drop $100 on the project that’s awesome cool too!

If you can’t donate, how about you just do me a favor and tell some of your friends about it? Maybe they can help spread the word with us. Just link them to the UberDork Café’s Kickstarter page.

Now for the fine print. I have to admit that part of the reason I am so excited about this project is the possibility of someday having the UDC be successful enough to start opening franchises across the country. How cool would it be to have a place like this in your hometown? But that won’t happen if we don’t get this first one built.

Thanks for reading. I appreciate your time and attention on something that means so much to so many people.  If you’d like to donate, just click on the UberDork Café logo or one of the Kickstarter links above.

For the most part I think we’re doing okay. We have our problems, sure, but we’re still here doing our democracy thing. Years ago I started a Fourth of July tradition. Every year I take out my copy of the Declaration of Independence and read it. It’s a printed copy that I picked up ages ago but I feel better reading it in printed form rather than electronic. I have copies of the Declaration and the Constitution on my iPod Touch in App form, but it always strikes me as odd when I get an update notification for them. What changed? Did someone drop out a politically inconvenient part? What if all we have are electronic copies one day? So I keep my battered, typewritten copy on yellowing paper to read and remember.

I think I’ll watch 1776 again today. It’s not the most historically accurate film of all time but it was my introduction to the Founding Fathers and William Daniels will always be what John Adams looks like in my head. Plus I like the songs.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to introduce you to my new partner in web comickery, my son Yoni:

We spent some time going over story ideas and working out the scripts Friday and then spent Saturday in a marathon of cartooning. Working with a creative partner is a lot more difficult than I expected. Back and forth we’d go. Each and every change had to be hammered out until both of us were satisfied.

As we were working on character designs I off-handedly asked, “Would you like to be a cartoonist someday?”

He looked at me with his serious face, brow furrowed, and said, “Daddy, I am a cartoonist.”

That’s why you can like this week’s updates or not and it won’t hurt my feelings in any way. There’s nothing that could be said to me anytime soon that will take me off of this cloud.

Fathers and sons sometimes struggle to find a common ground. Sometimes it’s a struggle that lasts a lifetime, sometimes it’s never found. If cartooning and comic strips are to be our common ground, I’m glad we found it this early. Due to my own memories of feeling ashamed of my art and finally giving up on drawing for many years, I’m going to take this opportunity to do everything I can to encourage and guide him. When he grows up he may change his mind about what makes him happy. If he does that will be fine. If he still wants to pursue art of some kind he will always have my full backing.

Thanks for dropping by, I hope you enjoy this week’s comics as much as I do.

P.S. He told me that since I use the name “Tovias” instead of my real name (Daddy), he wanted to use an internet name also and he picked “Yoni” So this week is brought to you by the team of Yoni & Tovias. Cartoonist Team since 2010.

In just over four months from now I will be appearing as a guest at Intervention 2010 in beautiful Bethesda, Maryland. I love their tagline “Your Online Life, In Person”. It really sums up what I think the whole convention will be about. Many of us spend hours every day reading comics, blogs, tweets and Facebook statuses from people we’ve never met. Personally most of the people I “know” are people I have never met other than as text or pictures on a monitor. That’s where Intervention 2010 comes in and fills the gap. You have the opportunity to meet up in one place and meet all the folks you know from online in the flesh.

So what does this have to do with missing comics? Since I will have a table at Intervention it stands to reason that I should have something to put on the table, doesn’t it? Looking back at my old comics I found that many of the older strips didn’t have print ready originals that I could use. I made the choice to take a little time to go back and rework a lot of the files and produce high-resolution originals that would be of a good enough quality to print in book form.  I’m still not sure what the final product will look like as it is still a work in progress, but I will have a book for you at Intervention and hopefully some tee-shirts, buttons, bookmarks, etc. as well.

How will you find me? I know Danielle Corsetto has a giant stuffed cactus with her at most of her con appearances. You can always spot her, or know she’s around when you see it. I need a eye-catcher like that. So what would you suggest? I’ll have a banner with the logo displayed at my table, but what do you think would make people stop? My original plan of a blow-up sex doll wearing a Green Lantern costume has already been vetoed so I’m out of ideas. Let me know what you think, otherwise I’ll be the guy sitting at the table with a Green Lantern power battery looking sad.

In any case, I look forward to meeting you all at Intervention 2010 this September 10-12 at the Hilton Washington DC/Rockville.