Mark's space

      Another setback has struck.  Just when I thought I had accumulated enough money to start recruiting my legion of terror, I had to fill the gas tanks on my elite vehicles.  Who would have thought that a 2000 Pontiac Montana and a 2000 GMC Jimmy would take almost my whole accumulated hoard of money to fill?  Now I am back to square one.  I have been forced to rethink my plans for my vehicles of terror.  Originally I was thinking black Hummers with lots of chrome and a big insignia decal on the hood so everyone would know they belonged to me.  With this recent enlightenment I can now see the folly of that thinking.  What good is a vast number of intimidating vehicles if they have to sit in the impenetrable fortress because I can't afford to keep filling them with gas?  Even if I taxed all my subjects till they had nothing left I doubt I would be able to get more than a few vehicles past the half full point.  So, after further consideration I have decided to scale back my vehicles of terror to something more practical and affordable.  I am currently considering between the Honda Accord, Nisson Sentra, or the Chevy Cobalt.  Granted, these vehicles don't have near the intimidation factor of a hummer and the hood decals will have to be somewhat smaller, but with the money I save on the vehicles and long term on gas, I will be able to afford to purchase more intimidating uniforms for my legion of doom so I think overall, it will be a wash on the intimidation factor.  I will add a few more medals and some brass accents along with some very intimidating shoulder applets to my already stylish design.  This will do two things.  First, it will make my legion much more intimidating after they get out of the vehicles.. kind of an intimidation to go thing.  Second, it will make the uniform more of a chick magnet since most chicks love a guy in a uniform, the more intimidating the better.  This will improve moral among my minions and may allow me to cut back on the number of items I have to order on pizzas for our Friday night movie nights so there will be a pretty good cost savings there too.  It is this kind of fiscal responsibility that is sorely lacking in our current government that will make it easy for me to ascend to Supreme Overlord even quicker.

After further thought I have ruled out an island fortress for my home base.  After making several phone calls, I discovered that it is impossible to get a pizza place to deliver to an island fortress, especially one as far out in the bay as Charity Island.  I know it would be very hard to keep my dark horde content if I can't offer them pizza night on Fridays and I don't want to risk a an insurection amongst the troups.  My current thought is to find a small town or run down city to take over as supreme overlord.  Such a location would need to provide the basic necessities like a good pizza place that delivers, a dollar store for those pesky little needs, a dry cleaners for my uniform, and a quicky lube to keep my vehicles of terror well maintained.  If possible it would be good if my legions of darkness could practice maneuvers and carry their weapons openly without raising suspicions as to my plans.  Perhaps Flint would be a good place to start.  I will give this some thought as a good location for a fortress is probably one of the most important decisions I will have to make.

My plans to take over the world are proceeding nicely.  If all continues at the current rate, I should be able to afford my first gun within a year or two.  Then, within another year I will be able to afford to buy a bullet for it.  With that big step accomplished, I can set about the daunting task of starting to build an army.  With iron fist leadership, I will drive my minions forth and begin my conquest.  Something small at first, a place to establish a base of operations, then expand from there.  I am thinking a small island would be a good start.. easy to defend, yet convenient when I need to send out for supplies.  Perhaps Little Charity Island in the Saginaw Bay would work.  I will give this some further consideration.