I haven’t written anything in awhile. Mostly because I have to save the good stuff for my company’s blog now. My genius ravings about branding and customer service are being shared on the Creative Brief.

However, I still have the need to rant personally and this is a great outlet for that. Hmmm. There’s a lot going on now. Been out of town fixing up the beach house (okay, not really physically doing much, just complaining about contractors). And getting ready for my big trip. Watching the boys play baseball was fun. Last weekend I went to a party in Delaware. My friend Kathy’s daughter Kerri just graduated from high school. Kathy and Brian have raised two awesome kids. I’m lucky to know such good people!

Then there are all the things I want to do but don’t seem to get around to it. Like finishing the two books I started (writing not reading), the last two years of scrapbooking events, the collage on my wall, cleaning my bathroom, losing weight, exercising, learning Norse—you know all the important stuff.

Speaking of losing weight—only speaking now, not actually doing—I see we have a new food pyramid.

 

I guess it depends on what phase of life you’re in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding. But it is important to watch what we eat. My little buddy Cayden knows this. He learned it from the dogs who like to surround him during meal times. They watch what he eats, he drops it on the floor, and then Cayden watches them eat. It’s a circle of love.

But the most important thing is to exercise regularly. Whether that’s stretching out on the dining room table or licking yourself after a good meal—it all counts.

So now that I’ve gotten the important stuff out of the way, I’m going to make sure to get enough of the base of the pyramid by starting in on the summer season of TV shows. Covert Affairs is pretty good. So are Eureka and Royal Pains. Maybe I’ll multitask and work on my scrapbooks while I do that. So long for now.

Happy Summer!

One of my new favorite shows is called Raising Hope. The writing is great and the acting is spot on. In fact I’m pretty impressed by one of the male leads who previously starred in really bad-guy roles in Deadwood and Terminator, the Sara Conner Chronicles. Turns out he can also do comedy. Anyway…

Last week as I watched the opening scene I laughed so hard I had to rewind it and play it again. And now I’m going to share it with you. Not sure if this is legal but I doubt the TV police will seriously care. It’s not like I’m not making money off this blog (dang it).

The dog in the scene looks mysteriously like the Grendel dog. I think this dog based his take on this role from watching and imitating Grendel. Watch the video and then see the photo I took right after the scene played and tell me what you think. Maybe there is a future for Grendel on TV. Gosh I hope so. Then maybe he can start earning some dough to pay for the $45 bag of food I just hefted home last night.

I watched this webinar today on how to improve your blog. It was very interesting and the speaker—who was from the Kodak company—had some great stories and case studies to share. Being an amateur photographer myself, I loved all the fun posts they have. Let me just pose a question for your thoughts here. Why do we call ourselves amateur photographers? Basically almost every person in America over the age of three has their own camera and takes pictures. Almost all of them do not get paid, so isn’t everyone pretty much an amateur? Okay, not important I get it.

So, the speaker was telling us about a post she wrote that went viral. Of course, it had a dog in it so that helps, but she tested out one of Kodak’s products—a weird tripod thing which I think I need to get now—on her Pug. She summed it up by stating that all the photos that were taken showed him looking at 1) her, 2) his food dish, and 3) the cat. Too funny. Kind of sounds like men. (I bet they mostly spend their time looking at women, TVs, and refrigerators.)

Later on, she tried putting a video camera on the dog. It was like watching someone have a seizure inside your head. Not a good video but funny. The piece de resistance was when she put it on her cat. As you might guess, the only footage is of the back of the cat’s head. The cat was so lazy it didn’t move and so nothing of interest was shown.

After the webinar I put my iPhone in Grendel’s collar and hit record. He immediately turned his head to try to eat it so the only thing you see is black and then blurred randomness, and you can hear me in the background saying, “No Grendel! Awwwww. Dang it.”

I hope this was interesting content. Posting interesting content was the first tip on how to improve your blog. The second was to make a plan (I don’t think my life is that interesting to plan ahead like that), and the third tip was to answer people’s questions. If your questions have something to do with how to get cat boogers out of your window sill, how to get a Grendel dog to eat, or anything marketing related, I can help. Brain surgery, sewing, curling, eating with chopsticks, growing vegetables, and piano playing are not in my wheelhouse, so you’ll need to go somewhere else for those questions.

Check out the pug with the camera.

Kodak: A Thousand Words – Dog Photography: Not of dogs but taken by a dog.

Kodak: A Thousand Words – Pet Videography – Videos Shot by Pets.