Big News!

SURGERY UPDATE:

The surgery itself went off pretty much as planned, although it took nearly 4 hours in the recovery room for them to get my pain level under control. Today, I am living on the highest strength of hydrocodone available, which is double the strength I had for last year's shoulder surgery. I would like to say everything went off without a hitch, but the truth is that I was in the hospital for 4 days, home for just 24 hours, and back in the hospital again for 6 more days after just getting home. I was experiencing this pain and pressure in my chest, and what it turned out to be was water in my lungs. The first night I was there, I stopped breathing during the night, freaking everyone out but me. This set off all kinds of heart tests, but was later on diagnosed as sleep apnea, and a very bad case at that. More on that later.  So after going through final and conclusive heart tests in which they finally reversed their diagnosis and said there was nothing wrong with my heart after all, I felt pretty good, until I got back to my room. My nurse was waiting with this rather large bag of IV fluid which I learned I needed to get quickly, because they found an infection in my blood. So, as you can imagine, there have been many good reasons why I have not posted any information until now. It is 3am, and the shoulder still has not let up for sleep. It does not like the typing position so writing this will be the last thing I do for awhile. As for my return to the network goes, I have a doctor's appointment on August 4th, but there is no way I will be ready to go back by then. Although I was hoping to return in mid-August, that date is looking less likely thanks to the other setbacks and unforseen complications.

I know many of you have written to me and wished me well, and from the bottom of my heart I thank you all. Continue to write if you wish, because I do every once and awhile get on the internet and read the emails I get, even if typing is not a good thing for me to do right now. Hopefully, in another few weeks, I can start getting back to you all. I have at this point over 700 new emails. You guys are amazing.

God Bless you all.

Sincerely,

Dan Dennis






LIQUIDATION CHANNEL TAKES OVER WHERE GEMS TV LEAVES OFF!

In a move that was totally unexpected by virtually everyone, Austin-based Liquidation Channel moved into virtually every major market that the now closed GemsTV Shopping Channel once had occupied. Indeed, the very next day that former GemsTV viewers went to see what was on their channel, the first thing they saw was a friendly, happy host from our channel. We have made major inroads into some of the largest markets in our fair land.

Here is the list of cities that Liquidation Channel is now available in on cable. Basically, if you live in or around the area, and you used to get GemsTV, there is a good chance you now can view our network, Liquidation Channel.

Here are the cities:

New York City: Time Warner Ch. 94 (3am-8pm)

Washington, D.C.: RCN Cable Ch. 189

Boston, MA: RCN Cable Ch. 189

Chicago, IL: Comcast Ch. 110 (12 noon - 6pm)

Denver, CO: Comcast Ch. 55

Seattle, WA: Comcast Ch. 79 (Mon - Fri)

San Francisco, CA: Comcast Ch. 168 (preempted 3am - 7am)

Sacramento, CA: Comcast Ch. 185/168

Irvine, CA: Cox Cable Ch. 112

San Diego, CA: Cox Cable Ch. 358

Scottsdale, AZ: Cox Cable of Arizona Ch. 7

Las Vegas, NV: Cox Cable Ch. 449

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX: Time Warner Ch. 18/55

Austin, TX: Time Warner Ch. 277

Houston, TX: Comcast Ch. 17

South Florida: Comcast Ch. 75/578

Hampton Roads, VA: Cox Cable Ch. 121

Northern Virginia: Cox Cable Ch. 159

*Note: All networks on 24/7 unless otherwise indicated


GEMS TV CLOSES SHOPPING CHANNEL IN RENO

In a move that caught everyone except the top brass at GemsTV/UK totally unaware, GemsTV USA announced that they have closed their channel in Reno on April 15, 2010. According to reports as of this writing, there have been no mention of on-air talent moving to any other networks. If any do turn up at other places, we here at dandennis.com will do our very best to keep you informed. The departure of GemsTV from the industry leaves just Jewelry Television and Liquidation Channel as the only two large all-jewelry shopping channels on the air today.

My personal comments on this situation with GemsTV:

There certainly existed over the past three years a healthy aire of spirited competition between GemsTV and our network, be it The Jewelry Channel, or Liquidation Channel. However, it is never a good day when we lose one of our own. Viewers start to have doubt in the industry, no matter how ill-founded they may be. Others may vow to never buy from anyone else ever again but GemsTV, and in both of these instances, everyone, even the consumer, loses. On a personal side, I have many friends that worked at GemsTV and they find themselves now out of work in a very small industry, with one less option to go. None of these things make me happy, in even the slightest manner. I wish all the good people at GemsTV nothing but the best.

COLORED STONE MAGAZINE MAKES A SUDDEN DEPARTURE

Colored Stone, an industry standard of excellence for decades, suddenly ceased operations this past December. Considering that others had gone before it, and how small the publication had become both in size and circulation, I for one cannot say I was shocked by any of this. What did surprise me was how quickly it was done. They merely sent me an issue, said it was the last one, and that any remaining issues would be filled with its' other related publication, Lapidary Journal. This did not sit well with me, for I used to subscribe to LJ, but dropped it as it became more and more dedicated to Lapidarians. Colored Stone became the second major jewelry publication to falter this in less than twelve months.


MODERN JEWELER MAGAZINE SUSPENDS OPERATIONS

Modern Jeweler Magazine, a flashy publication that has been keeping jewelery lovers in the know since 1901, has suspended operations. The reason supplied was because of the world wide effect the global economy has had on the gem and jewelry industry as a whole, and the effect it has had on sales over the past few years. Modern Jeweler featured beautiful, flashy colored photos and I for one will miss it. Hopefully, new investors will be found, and the publication will be saved.


More Big News!

I am curently negotiating a publishing deal for "Book Two" with a book publisher that is located right here in Austin. If things go well, I should have the proposal in my hands soon, and this could lead to the opportunity I have been waiting for to go full speed ahead with the project.

So all of you who have "Gems" that have been asking about the second book, it is getting closer and closer to being a reality.

Also: I am in the process of getting "Gems" put up on the internet as an Ebook.

More information on both of these projects as we go forward.

Dan Dennis Dot Com: We're not just about gemstones anymore.

News update about my recent surgery:

As many of you know, last June I had the shoulder surgery from hell. It is continuing to be a problem even to this day. Most of the things that needed to be repaired (labrum muscle tear, torn rotator cuff, and broken collar bone) in the 4 1/2 hour procedure have turned out fine. Unfortunately, there is one thing that continues to be a problem: the shoulder has once again frozen into the socket, and mobility is limited. I actually had this repaired as well, but thanks to a physical therapist that apparently was clueless in the beginning, the lack of proper attention to it has caused it to bind up again.

I have been working at getting it loose feverishly with my current physical therapy team since September of last year, so far without success. The agreement that I have with my doctor is that if the arm is not free of the socket by June (it will be one year on June 4th since the surgery) I am afraid that the only other option will be to undergo more painful surgery in an area that is already admittedly quite painful going in.

Keep me in your prayers. I can really do without the additional surgery, believe me. I can also do without the additional hospital bills.

Thanks.

More News!

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Be my friend!

You guys are the best! 

Dan