Scott Johnson, Sales, Blackhawk Hobby Distributors

Born January 27, 1963, graduated from Western Illinois University in 1987 with a degree in Film and Photography. I am an avid miniature painter and terrain builder, Historical Miniature gamer and role-player and have been for many years. I have been gaming since 1975 and started painting shortly after that. Some of my favorite games include Desperado, Sword and Flame, Gaslight rules, .45 Adventure, Melee, Wizard and Savage Worlds. My interests also include History of Colonial Africa, Pulps, Old Time Radio shows, B-Movies, soundtracks, and photography. I have been working at Blackhawk Hobby since March of 2000 and wear a variety of hats: from assisting in the warehouse, to setting up and administrating the company's computer system, to advising in purchasing, to managing the sales team. As your sales representative, my goal is to help stores find the product they're looking for as well as help them expand their product lines so they can be the most dynamic shop imaginable. Some fun websites to visit: Zoot Radio (free old-time radio downloads) http://www.zootradio.com/ and The Congo Project: http://congo.natmus.dk/english-congo-project.htm

Charles May, Sales, Blackhawk Hobby Distributors

A two year veteran of BHD, I enjoy RPGs, boardgames, and those "reading books." I've lived in several cities in different states - California, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois - and have been pleased to find great hobby store in each area. My goal is to help stores be successful, so that wherever I may travel or reside, there will always be a great hobby store to visit. Favorite book: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. First roleplaying game played: Basic D&D at age 13. Most influential game: Cribbage, as it taught good math skills and how to lose gracefully.

Andy Paddock, Sales, Blackhawk Hobby Distributors

My introduction to tabletop role-playing games began with a simplistic dungeon-delving game entitled Hero Quest. Then, in middle school, a buddy of mine gave me his copy of the AD&D 2nd edition Dungeon Master's Guide. Then I heard about Magic: The Gathering. I started buying that right as Unlimited was ending. From that point, D&D and Magic were it. I continue to play both, all the while, trying out new games as they are released. Vs system (Upper Deck), Pirate's Cove (Days of Wonder), Munchkin's of all sorts (Steve Jackson, of course), and Mwa Ha Ha (White Wolf) are currently amongst my current favorites.

Megan Lippitt, Sales Assistant, Blackhawk Hobby Distributors

I got into the gaming and comics scene a bit later than most, starting to pick up comics when I was sixteen and playing the HERO System two years later with my best friend's family. In fact, I went to my first RPG session instead of going to the prom. I soon joined a D&D group and got a job at a local comic and games store. In the spring of 2002, I was hired by Blackhawk. I spent a couple years out at the warehouse in the shipping department where I became known as "She Who Must Be Obeyed When It Comes To Shipping." Now, I'm in the office working as a sales assistant. My current favorite games are Legend of the Five Rings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity RPGs and the Sid Meyer's Pirates PC game. Apples to Apples is also really fun. I'm addicted to the bands the Clash and the Pogues and the comic books Hellblazer and Poison Elves. And although I'm slightly embarrassed, I highly recommend the Neopets website http://www.neopets.com/refer.phtml?username=strummer162

Kim Kowalewski, President, Blackhawk Hobby Distributors

I was a Blackhawk customer for about 19 years before purchasing Blackhawk in December 2000. With my retail background, I felt that I had a pretty good perspective on the type of service and products that Blackhawk needed to fulfill in order to be an excellent distributor. I enjoy the challenges of running a full-line distributorship. I especially like our cutting-edge computer system, which we have done much with in terms of customization to make it exactly what we want. I try hard to keep involved with customer issues. I want to never lose my retail point of view so we can direct our focus on our retail customers.

Fritz Simon & Hawthorne - the office cats

Fritz and Simon, the two office cats, were both rescue cats. Fritz nearly suffered the same demise as her litter mates (being thrust down a hole punched in a wall) if it weren't for the quick thinking of a little neighborhood boy who, watching the horror, grabbed her and proclaimed her his pet. Unfortunately, his parents weren't keen on the idea and told him to put her out in the shed next to the apartment building carport where she was soon discovered and taken in. She was named Fritz after the vet "determined" her gender to be male, only to be wrong with the next visit - but the name stuck. As a kitten Fritz was a holy terror, torturing the King of the Castle, a big black cat with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. As she got older, and more rescue cats were brought in, she became less and less accommodating to the new family members and had to be relocated. She was the first official office cat and wears that crown to this day. She likes to sleep A LOT. And she knows her history - when asked "Who was one of the most horrific dictators of the 20th century?," she rarely needs prompting.

Simon was discovered as a kitten at a McDonald's late one night. He was bumming around looking for scraps, but not walking very well because his back leg was busted. He was a hard one to catch - very suspicious. A little McDonald's hamburger to coax him out of some bushes was not good enough for this cat - it took a can of tuna fish to bring him close and capture him. Shortly thereafter, Simon was taken to the vet and was fitted with a strange contraption to reset the bone in his leg. Now, you would think that two metal prongs and pounds of bandages would keep a kitten sedentary. Not a chance! Simon teased, taunted, and tortured the other cats in the house until there was pandemonium. One minute, this three-legged demon would have some groggy cats running in fear, and in the very next moment, those groggy cats now ticked-off would be hot on his tail, seeking vengeance. As Simon got a little older and more rescue cats were introduced into the family, like Fritz, he became anti-social and had to be relocated. Simon became the third official office cat. He likes to eat A LOT. He occasionally gets a deranged look on his face for no apparent reason. He takes great pleasure in torturing Fritz.

What can be said about little Hawthorne? He was adopted with his sister, Prudence, both coming from an animal rescue organization. The story goes he and his sister were found alone, up a tree, in the dead of winter. His back legs were injured and weakened, possibly arthritic, but he had a healthy set of lungs. His sister had chronic upper respiratory/breathing problems, damaging her larynx (she cannot vocalize ‘meow’) but had strong limbs. Both were incredibly affection-deprived. Rehabilitating both took time, but both grew healthy. Hawthorne regained strength in his legs and learned how to jump from object to object without pain. He, unfortunately, came to view everything as “scalable” including anyone standing. He makes very odd noises. He can grunt like a pig or howl like a Tasmanian devil, the devil sounds coming mainly at night when he’s caught pseudo-prey. He loves FOOD and considers every plate fair game. But this little idiosyncrasy of his – grazing on every plate in sight – turned into a big health issue for him when he developed irritable bowel and had to be put on a high fiber diet. Still, food is his world, even if it looks like cardboard, smells like cardboard, and tastes like cardboard. He is the most agreeable, accommodating, and most oppressively-affectionate [read: needy] cat known to us all. And his sister, Prudence? Over time, she strengthened her lungs from humidity treatment and vigorous jaunts in the yard. She is now queen of her very own forest and scales trees at her leisure.

Sophie, Chubbs, & Daisy - the warehouse cats

Sophie began as a rescue cat, was moved to the office as the second office cat, and then relocated to the warehouse. Sophie just showed up one late spring evening, hungry. She was given a bowl of food, water, and good conversation. She stayed a while and then, as if she had a mission, abruptly disappeared into the darkness. She appeared the next night, and the night after that, always staying for awhile and then leaving urgently. A bed was finally made for her on the back porch just in case she decided that whatever she had to do after dinnertime wasn't all that important. During her comings-and-goings, a hunt was on for her owners, without much luck, but she seemed content with the current arrangement, so for the time being, she was accommodated. Until one night, when she showed up looking very ill. She was in labor, and it was a horror. She was rushed to the emergency room. Only two kittens survived, one robust, one sickly. The whole ordeal left her weak, so she and her kittens were taken to the office to be looked after nearly 24/7. Unfortunately, the sickly kitten died after one day, despite our attempts to help Sophie tend to its needs. Sophie slowly regained her strength and her kitten grew quickly. During those weeks, Fritz put up a real fuss about sharing her space with creatures other than humans so she had to be separated. When Sophie was strong enough, and her kitten (now named Pip) was able to fend for himself, they returned to the house. But things didn't quite work out. Sophie was tired of being in the company of a kitten, and she didn't want to have a thing to do with the other cats in the house either. So, she was whisked back to the office. Once there, she still couldn't get along with Fritz (or maybe it was the other way around). She was then moved to the warehouse, where she now enjoys the affections of many doting humans.

Chubbs showed up on a cold and blustery day two years ago and started meowing out side of the receiving door. We brought her in and fed her. The next day we took her to the vet for shots and a check up and found out she had been eating oats and horse feed. We located where she had been living - about 3/4 to a mile away from the warehouse in a horse barn. The owners said she was a great cat and took her back. Two days later she was back at the door. She stayed with us for a couple days and then we took her back again. We already had two cats in the warehouse - we weren't looking for another. Within 4 hours she was back at the receiving door again. We tried once more to bring her back to the farm. The owners said if we wanted to keep her we could, be we declined. Within an hour, that cat was back at the door. Well, after that, she moved in for good. She likes to eat, sleep on the computer monitors, or follow Scott around trying to engage him in conversation.

Daisy showed up one day, apparently abandoned, on the farm where the BHD warehouse is located. THE BOSS said "No-more-cats! The warehouse isn't big enough!" Well, we fed the kitten and gave her water, but she was a very independent little thing, so we never really saw her that much. A few days later THE BOSS came up to see how things were going. While he was standing there a little black kitten came out from the shed and started walking around him. Being a cat lover, he picked up Daisy and the rest, as they say, is history. Daisy or Trouble (as some people call her) spends most of her day exploring the warehouse, looking for the perfect place to sleep or keeping an eye on everybody. When she's not doing that, she's working off her nervous energy, racing through the warehouse willy-nilly, trying very hard to rouse Sophie and Chubbs into play.