Sunday, October 31, 2010

Have Yourself a Happy, Haunted Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you! Without a doubt it is one of my favorite times of the year. Even though I scare easily, I love the spooky Halloween parties. There is something about seeing all the jack-o-lanterns, witches, wizards, vampires, scary monsters and hearing stories of "things that go bump in the night" that I find so much fun. This year I decided to dress as a vampire, and put together a fun costume. I even had fake blood dripping out of the corners of my mouth...blech!
 
To me, the best Halloween parties are when guests really get into it and go all out with fun costumes. Depending on your creativity, time and budget, you can create a world of the unknown and unexpected for guests. I love all the hype and theatrics of great Halloween decorations. Check out these great pictures...I hope you have a good-n-spooky Halloween too!






























Zombie guarding a coffin...
Skeleton still getting an IV drip
Spooky Ghost warning guests
"A Spooktacular evening"
My nieces had a dinner of Mummy, goblin eyeballs and witch's hair

Friday, October 29, 2010

The Adventures of Duncan: At "PEOPLECO"

Check out this quick video...a cute twist on reality of pets running a company called PEOPLECO. The beginning a chocolate poodle you might recognize....

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Casting Call for all Dogs in Southern California!

Do you have a dog who loves water and loves to have fun? Your dog could win an opportunity to perform on the Natural Balance float in the 2011 Rose Parade on New Year's Day in beautiful Pasadena, California! Once again, our amazing bulldog Tillman and his friends will be performing on the float. But this year we're looking for even more dogs to add to the fun. We're holding an OPEN CASTING CALL for ALL DOGS in Southern California on Monday November 8th and our training facility in Pacoima, CA. Just go to: www.naturalbalanceinc.com to learn more and register your dog. And don't forget to look for another amazing, record-breaking parade float from Natural Balance Pet Foods!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Go Green with Organic Lollipops for Halloween

I saw this article on msnbc today and wanted to share it with you.

Halloween takes on a shade of eco-friendly green

Businesses respond to growing demand for organic trick-or-treat options 

By Jennifer Alsever (msnbc.com contributor msnbc.com contributor)

If you are like most Americans, you'll spend about $20 on Halloween candy this year. That is, unless you're like Jennifer Boyd-Mullineaux. 

When trick-or-treaters come knocking on her door in Westport, Conn., the 40-year-old mother will drop something different into their bags this year — boxed organic raisins, agave sticks, seashells and herb-seed packets. She doesn't mind spending slightly more on them than she would on candy.

"I just feel like candy is unnecessary," says Boyd-Mullineaux, a physician's assistant who has two children, ages 7 and 9. "You see the incredible volumes of candy collected — knowing that no one should eat that much — and it just goes into the trash. It just doesn't seem responsible to us."

Boyd-Mullineaux's house may not be that unusual. She's among a small but growing legion of parents across the country who are going green this Halloween — handing out alternative treats, carrying reusable trick-or-treat bags, making their own face paint and decorations and swapping used costumes.
Organic businesses leap on bandwagon The shift has opened a big door for makers of organic products that for years sat on the sidelines while mainstream companies reaped the rewards of the $5.8 billion Halloween market.

"A lot of moms are frustrated," says Corey Colwell-Lipson, founder of the nonprofit Green Halloween, which offers online tips and helps organize green events around the holiday.
"We try to save money. We try to have a small footprint, eat healthy food," she says. "Here is this holiday. It costs a lot of money. It creates a lot of waste. It's food that I don't want my kids to touch with a 10-foot pole."

Joining those moms are 50 zoos and aquariums across the country that will hand out mini organic granola bars and fruit leathers — instead of traditional chocolate — to the millions of kids who visit their annual Halloween celebrations. In the past, a large zoo might have given away 150,000 pieces of candy.

Organic food makers have seized the opportunity. Just this year, Annie's Homegrown launched a new line of trick-or-treat-sized organic fruit snacks. Then there's salty-snack purveyor Snyder's of Hanover, which this year came out with Halloween treat bags for its pretzels; Nature's Path, which introduced bite-sized organic crispy rice bars; and LaraBar, which started making mini granola bars — all for Halloween buyers.
Whole Foods, too, dove into the Halloween season with unusual zest after years of letting mass merchandise retailers collect those sales. The chain beefed up Halloween signage at its 270 stores and even partnered with some companies to develop new products.
"Whole Foods went crazy for Halloween in a way they never have," says Maria Emmer-Aanes, director of marketing at Nature's Path Foods. "I think that people are dying for alternatives."

Nature's Path has already sold out of its gluten-free Halloween bite-sized bars. Now the Canadian company is talking about making a Halloween variety pack for next year.
That demand for healthier alternatives extends to candy as well. Halloween sales have doubled this year for organic lollipops made by Yummy Earth, a Ridgewood, N.J., candy maker. Four years after founder Rob Wunder created the suckers for his organic-fed toddler, they are sold in 40,000 retail stores, including mainstream outlets like Publix Super Markets and Babies R Us. The lollipops don't use high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives or color dyes. 

"We sell over a hundred million lollipops a year," says Wunder, who declined to give sale figures for his 60-employee company. "People are sick of yucky stuff that they can't pronounce in their treats."

The growth shouldn't be surprising. Organic foods and the green movement are both flourishing, despite the economic downturn. One-third of consumers now buy organic products monthly, driving a $24.9 billion organic food and beverage market.

Offering more than organic treats The green Halloween sales extend beyond treats. San Diego-based EnviroSax recently launched a line of reusable trick-or-treat bags, following success by competitor ChicoBag, which has been making Halloween bags for five years.
ChicoBag holds annual children's art contests and puts the winning designs on its Halloween bags. The Chico, Calif., company sold out of its $6 bags this year and expects to sell 80,000 of them next year. "Interest keeps multiplying," says Wes McMahon, ChicoBag marketing director.

And while Americans are still expected to spend some $2 billion this year on new costumes, about 40 percent of consumers will simply reuse last year's costume or make their own, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation. Some like Boyd-Mullineaux are organizing free costume swaps, in which people bring a costume and trade it out for another one.

"People are inspired by the idea," says Green Halloween's Colwell-Lipson. "You're saving money and getting something new to you. And it's green, which is icing on the cake."




Friday, October 22, 2010

Rick' Roadshow: The Horrific Journey Home...

Welcome to Rick's Roadshow: The Horrific Journey Home. I last left of with a wonderfully pleasant weekend in Telluride, Colorado. Even after being 10,000 feet above sea level for a few days I was still having a tough time breathing. Deep breaths seemed to escape me, and I felt winded after minor physical exertion. Mind you, I am somewhat "de-conditioned" and need to lose 10 pounds. My story picks up early Sunday morning. My traveling companions and I had decided to get an early start to check out and drive back to the airport. When we got to our rental vehicle, we discovered we had a flat tire. Well it was early on a Sunday morning in a very small town. We knew there would be no one around. We used the On-Star thingy (they were less than helpful). In the interest of trying to keep moving so we would get to the airport on time, we changed the tire ourselves. I was short of breath, huffing and puffing, wheezing while trying to change a tire. I didn't feel comfortable driving 2 hours down winding mountain roads on a tire-donut. After calling our rental company, we decided to head to the Telluride regional airport to switch cars for one that didn't have a flat tire. Since they told us they would be open by 9 am, it was only a half hour to wait, so off to Telluride Regional we drove, ever-so-gingerly. 
The plan was to get to the local airport, wait til the car rental place opened at 9 am, switch cars and be on our way by 9:30 or so- which meant we would have plenty of time to make our flight out of Grand Junction airport. That is, until we arrived at the rental car booth at the deserted Telluride airport and found this sign. Frustrating, but since it was only a half hour, we would probably be OK, so we waited. 9:30. 9:35. 9:40. 9:45. Minutes seemed like hours as we watched the clock tick. We began to worry about making our flight our of Grand Junction, as we still had a two hour drive yet. How would be get home if we missed our flight? We already had to make a connection after the first flight. We walked over to the other car rental agency booth in the airport, and found this sign:
That certainly didn't help us. Out of desperation, we walked behind the counter of both rental agency booths and found the employee phone lists, and called the top person, assuming it would be the manager. Much to my luck, it was. Both had decided to come in late that morning and were "on their way". In reality, it was a Sunday morning and it was a fairly small airport, so there wasn't much happening anyway. But here we were, expecting someone to be available for us at 9 am and it was now after 10 am and no agent.
Me and my travel companions were getting antsy. We decided to consider alternative options. Maybe we could abandon our scheduled flights and just fly out of Telluride airport, we thought. So we walked over the airline counters; there was no agent to be found. Then we saw this sign at the customer service call button (see above).
 The other two airline desks were vacant as well. Earlier I had seen a woman walk in and disappear behind the desk somewhere. She was nowhere to be found now. I decided to check the flight schedule board...perhaps we could just find a flight right here and avoid the long drive to Grand Junction.
Then I saw the flight board. Not much activity at all. No flights, so no luck. Meanwhile we waited for just one of the car rental agents to show up, we started to get a bit giddy. Soon, panic set in and we came to the realization that we would now miss our flights, even if we had a new car to drive off in at that very second. A sense of impending doom descended on we four. What shall we do now?
 We started to search the tiny airport..every nook and cranny, hoping to find someone, anyone who could help us. There were no agents, no janitors, no service people, not even one customer. FINALLY both car rental agents arrived and I explained that we had a flat and the 800 number service people said there were other cars available and we could switch out our vehicle with another and be on our merry way. We figured we could still head to Grand Junction, perhaps catch a flight to Phoenix and see what our options would be. One of us decided to check flights on the iPad, only to discover there were not enough seats left on the later flights. Someone would be left behind. Anyway, our nice car rental lady declared that she didn't have a single car on her lot to give us anyway. Frustrated we walked over the other agency, the one that "Tries harder", and sure enough she had a nice vehicle available. My traveling companions huddled for a moment and discussed options. Drive two hours to Grand Junction and get stranded there, maybe luck out and get to Phoenix, and maybe get stranded there...we had no idea what options would work. Then we looked at one another and said, "Well, we could just drive all the way home to Palm Springs".  Suddenly, the notion of having control of our own day seemed quite appealing. By this point, we had waited nearly two hours at the airport, feeling stranded and helpless. Having our own car to drive all the way home just seemed like a good idea.
And so, off we went.  We returned the vehicle with the flat tire and rented a new one from another agency. The perky lady with the curly blonde hair explained that a one way rental to Palm Springs would cost $268. I had everything I could do to hold in the laugh. Mind you, not that money grows on trees, but at this point that hardly seemed like a huge sum of money. We all just wanted to get home. So we set off. I offered to drive, as it was pleasant weather. We charted a course for Palm Springs. The navigation told us it was twelve hours and forty-five minutes. No problem. Riiiight. The first few hours were in fact, no problem. It was a beautiful drive through long winding roads and amazing mountain-scape scenes. We stopped for a quick lunch in a tiny gold rush type town, and re-fueled. We kept ourselves busy chatting endlessly and singing along to the Broadway channel on Sirius XM radio. Then we hit Arizona. 
 Let me tell you, it was a long long long drive through Arizona. Kayenta, Tinalea, and then Tuba City-which was downright scary. We stopped off to refuel and decided it was best not to get out of the car. There was some sort of street fair going on with people spilling out everywhere. It was chaos. People walking up asking or money, standing in front of our car, a one-armed beggar approached as well. I have lots of compassion, but at that precise moment I was more in a mode of safety and protection. So we took off. Monument Valley was so interesting with its miles of deep red clay color dirt as far as one could see. Sings for dinosaur tracks peaked my attention, but there was no time to stop, we wanted to get home. My the time we reached Flagstaff we were growing tired of the drive, the scenery and even the Broadway channel on Sirius was wearing out it's welcome. I started to change channels, searching searching searching. Even silence seemed welcoming, but not for long. I needed mental stimulation.
We stopped three time to refuel and twice to eat. Fast food was getting gross. The car was restricting and we were just at the point of "get-me-out-of-here". I drove the entire way through, by my own choice. I didn't want to be in the back seat and risk feeling queasy as I sometimes do. Being in the drivers seat was best. I wasn't the slightest bit tired, just tired of driving was all. We finally pulled into Palm Springs close to 11:00 PM, having made great time when you consider it should have taken much longer. Still, 12 hours in a car non-stop was frightfully painful. I must say, however that one does learn about ones friends when being confined closely for that long. It strengthened our relationships and reinforced the value of true friends. And so despite a horrific journey home from Telluride, I look on the bright side of life and find good in everything. The scenery was beautiful, and we had more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Even if it was a horrific drive back to our beautiful Palm Springs.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Rick's Roadshow: Telluride, Colorado

I mentioned in yesterday's post that I was in Telluride, Colorado to attend their Horror Show Film Fest, specifically for the premiere of a new film I'm helping to promote. Now that's out of the way, I thought it was time for a fresh installment of Rick's Roadshow: Telluride, Colorado. I may not be the most "outdoorsy" type of chap, but I do love nature. Colorado has always been one of my favorite states for its incredible natural beauty. The Rocky Mountains are nothing short of stunning. 
Just take a look at the photos in this post. The Aspen trees were all a golden yellow hue. The gentle breeze caused their perfectly rounded leaves to shimmer and wave in concert, as if they were united in song. It seemed as if everywhere I looked I was reminded of God's divine hand in creating our planet. It was an idyllic weekend get-away spot. I'm delighted to have had a combination of work and pleasure that brought me to this lovely city, nestled high in the mountains. Check out these other photos:
The Aspen trees looked so beautiful along the mountainside.
At 10,000 feet above sea level, breathing was difficult at times. No wonder they have these Oxygen bars.
I was standing in a riverbed, which was low after the summer

Telluride has plenty of cozy & rustic hotels, inns & B&Bs for anyone's taste
at the base of the tram
going up the tram to Mountain Village
the view from the tram back down on Telluride
view from atop Mountain Village.
Me on the tram. Yep, I am happy here.
Grand Finale photo. Sunset on the Aspen trees- Incredible!
My visit to Telluride was wonderful. Incidentally, one evening I had dinner at a great restaurant called Cosmopolitan of Telluride. I highly recommend it should you ever find yourself in Telluride! Stay tuned tomorrow for my horrific journey home....

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Telluride Horror Show Fest: 'I Didn't Come Here To Die'

This past weekend I attended the Telluride Horror Show Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado. Horror fans were treated to three days of the latest independent films in the horror and thriller genre. Telluride was an idyllic setting for this film fest. Nestled high in the San Jaun Mountains of the Colorado Rockies, the area is stunningly beautiful and a dash of history of the wild west's gold rush days. The Horror Show festival was staged at the historic Sheridan Opera House and the Nugget Theatre. The fest featured 17 feature films and 22 short films, along with special events and guest speakers. 
Incidentally, our friends at Wikipedia define horror films as "...unsettling movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre."
The main reason I was in Telluride was to attend the screening of the new Independent horror film "I Didn't Come Here to Die", written and directed by an up-and coming new talent Bradley Scott Sullivan. I recently interviewed Bradley on my radio show. If you are an aspiring filmmaker, check out the interview for insights into the independent film industry. Click here to listen to the interview. True fans of horror and thriller genres will enjoy "I Didn't Come Here to Die". It's definitely not for the squeamish or for kids. But for those of you who enjoy a dose of gore and blood this film is one to watch. Veteran horror film journalist Chris Alexander of Fangoria was on hand adding his commentary about the film along with a discussion of a range of other horror films.  
After seeing "I Didn't Come Here to Die", I can definitely say this film meets that Wikipedia horror description in spades. The film's website describes the plot as "the story of a team of young volunteers working on a humanitarian project in the woods. Horrific accidents, rash decisions, and the unpredictability of human nature leads them all to the same disturbing conclusion." 
Truth be told, I am a moderate horror fan, meaning that I am somewhat nervous and jumpy. Needless to say, I had to look away from a few scenes here and there. However I found the film quite good; well written, with good character development and an entertaining story line. The ending is cleverly done, providing closure and leaving curiosities satisfied. For those of you interested, you can watch the teaser trailer here
Oddly enough, prior to the film, the festival featured a Pig Roast and pre-screening party. I generally enjoy pork and have no problem with most meats. However there was something rather graphic about seeing the whole pig on the buffet table, being served up, directly from the carcass. Major gross-factor. It was, however quite delicious. 
The buffet featured all sorts of standard BBQ type fare, and included some Halloween goodies, like pumpkin sugar cookies, brain jello, and eyeball candy. It certainly put everyone in the Halloween Horror spirit. 
"I Didn't Come Here to Die" is produced by Palm Springs' very own "Wonderstar Productions" and "J&J Productions". The cast includes actors Emmy Robbin, Indiana Adams, Jeremy Scott Vandermause, Kurt Cole, Madi Goff, Niko Red Star & Travis Scott Newman.I enjoyed "I Didn't Come Here to Die", and recommend it for horror fans. It's headed to the Austin Film Festival this coming weekend, where I'm sure it will also be well received. Special thanks to Director Bradley Scott Sullivan for taking the time to be a guest on my radio show last week. Keep an eye on him, I predict he is going places in the film industry.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Sheldon and the Nervous Waiter

Yesterday I had a business lunch meeting and decided to bring Sheldon along. He is so accustomed to being with me all the time that I hated to leave him alone all day. I phoned ahead to the restaurant to be sure the patio would be open (it was). Sheldon pranced right on into Mimi's patio as if he owned the joint. My business colleagues arrived shortly and were thrilled to see Sheldon, more than me I think. Our server wasn't a dog person- I could tell. He kept a far distance from Sheldon as he greeted us and took our orders. I'm always a bit taken back when I meet someone who doesn't like animals. 

I understand that there are dog people and cat people, and some cat people really don't like dogs.  Some dog people really don't like cats. But I rarely meet someone who has a physical aversion to an animal. I don't expect everyone to LOVE animals like I do, but it just seems strange when someone reacts so oddly around a dog. Now, keep in mind I'm talking about a standard poodle, not a pit bull or rottweiler or one of those breeds of which some people are leery. Well anyway lunch was fine, and the server was pleasant enough but by the look on his face, his darting eyes and the physical distance he kept from Sheldon I knew he was uncomfortable. I held Sheldon close to me when I saw the server approach, out of courtesy. But now really, could Mr Sheldon really be all that scary??

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Gadzooks its been awhile

Sometimes I just don't know where the time goes. It just seems to slip away. Mind you, I've been quite busy of late, but in a good way. I'm having buckets of fun at work and very much enjoy what I do. One of the nicest aspects of my professional life is I work from home a few days per week. Usually I awaken quite early, make a pot of cawfee and enjoy the desert sunrise before I start my work day. I often remark how much more I get done on the days I work from home. Without interruptions, meetings or social chit-chat, tend to work a lot more hours. Well of course I also don't have the unproductive commute time in the car, so it really is more productive.
 But I digress. So yesterday for some reason I decided to run out for my morning coffee. I went to a local coffee shop called Koffi here in Palm Springs. They have a few locations, and I really like to frequent their shops, because they are locally owned and have darned good coffee too! Well anyway I brought my computer, air card and found a nice shady tree in the courtyard to settle in with my coffee and blueberry muffin. In the photo above, you can just see some of the shade from the tree I was sitting beneath. Once I fired up my Mac Book I dug into my e-mails and started working in no time. A cute little birdy flew down from the tree and perched on my table, watching me work. It was at that moment I stopped and realized just how lucky I am. To have a job I love, where I can work nearly anywhere. My "office" that day was this wonderful courtyard with spectacular views. The universe, or one of my angels sent that little birdy to remind me to give thanks for all that I have in my life. And so, once again I am thankful. How about you? Have you given thanks lately?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Universal Order of Life

Sometimes things have a way of working out. I believe there is a Universal Order where everything unfolds with a purpose. Yes, I believe in fate and destiny, but equally important is the free will we have been given to make choices and decisions as we live our journey of life, and also what we think. Without getting too "preachy" here, I believe God has a plan for us, and it's our job to take what we have been given and make wise choices. Personally I happen to be in a very positive phase of my life, for which I am grateful. Even when faced with interesting challenges and "situations" I practice positive thinking and demonstrate what Emmit Fox called a "mental equivalent" to the desired outcome. Somehow, things just seem to fall into place. Put positive thoughts out there into the Universe. Banish any negative thoughts and energy from your mind; they only attract the same. We all have the free will to decide what thoughts we allow to fill our minds. If you allow negativity to fill your mind, that's what you'll get. You get the idea. I've been meditating about a particular situation, seeking the answer of how to handle a matter. I did not dwell on the potentially negative aspects. Instead I remained utterly focused on the desired outcome. I envisioned in my mind what a happy solution would look like. Imagine my delight this week when exactly that happened. It wasn't how I expected it would occur, but nonetheless it is resolved. Once again I am grateful to be blessed with such positive karma. If you are dealing with challenges in your life remember to remove all negative thoughts from your mind. Verbally speak aloud to yourself what you want to occur. Remember that the Universe is always listening. Open your mind to allow the impossible to happen and you just may be surprised. My favorite piece of Buddha wisdom is "We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world".

Monday, October 4, 2010

A Radio Show with Purpose: Helping Non-Profit Charities Understand Social Media

On my radio show yesterday the entire show was planned to help non-profit organizations learn about using social media to drive donations. I approached the show drawing from my experience in the pet industry, but the content is relevant to any charitable organization. I was lucky to have two great guests from the pet community to provide examples and provide a model for a non-profit organization or individual seeking to maximize fund raising efforts. My guests were Kim Smith from The PETCO Foundation and Diane Silver, a popular pet blogger of To Dog With Love fame. Diane wrote about her appearance on her blog today. Diane is also the voice behind @CosmoHavanese on Twitter. Cosmo is Diane's totally awesome Havanese dog, who is a pro at agility, and Tweeting too, it would seem ;-)
 
The show turned out to be an in-depth discussion on the role of social media to help non-profit charitable organizations with raising money for causes and events. I was pretty psyched about it because organizations large or small, to individuals attempting to raise money for their favorite cause will benefit from listening to this show.

I'm hardly an expert on the subject matter, but I feel my experience working with some non-profit groups is there is often a disconnect from taking an idea to effectively activate their base to reach new potential donors. I tried to approach the show using my experience with fund-raising in the pet community over the past 14 years.

While doing research for the show, I decided to include tips from Mashable.com and ITTY.BIZ.com about social media fund-raising- both of which are good resources on the topic.

There were also some great fund-raising suggestions about offering donors premium incentives, working with retailers, planning TweetUps and using videos to activate the base of supporters. The show also includes tangible examples of how to motivate volunteers and activate your base with a robust social media campaign.
 
I felt both guests did a great job providing insights of how to integrate social media sites such as Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, as well as websites and blogs into marketing efforts. In their own words, both Kim and Diane shared real examples of how they use social media for success in fund-raising. In short, the show is packed with examples and ideas that will be helpful for charitable organizations of any size. 

If you know someone involved in fund-raising for any kind of organization, tell them to check out the show online. Hopefully they will learn how to combine online and offline marketing, social media marketing, blogging, and websites to engage their users. 

This episode is available to be heard in archive on demand anytime at BlogTalkRadio- Palm Springs Savant  It is also available as a podcast on iTunes.

One of my guests:
    Me with Diane (right) and Cosmo (front center). Natalie is (back center)

  
















.
Diane Silver is the author of the blog To Dog With Love and the voice behind @CosmoHavanese on Twitter. I met Diane at the Bark World Expo in Atlanta back in August (see photo above). She has spent the past 25 years working in public relations and corporate communications and held senior management positions at several major corporations. She is also a former sportswriter for Ann Arbor News and Ypsilanti Press. Today she is active with dog agility and supports numerous animal related charities. She is a regular contributor to The Anipal Times and is active with PawPawty fund-raising efforts online along with her trans-Atlantic friend @FrugalDougal, founder of PawPawty.com 

Kim Smith has over 13 years experience in web development and is Senior Web Manager for The PETCO Foundation. She is responsible for the organization’s website, social media and email newsletters and is a regular contributor to The PETCO Scoop blog. Ms Smith is a working board member for Pit Bull Rescue San Diego, responsible for branding and web based marketing including an online dog sponsorship program and social media interactions. She cites her passion for animals and a penchant for animal welfare as a driver for her web expertise.
To listen to other episodes of The Palm Springs Savant & Co radio show in archives: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/palm-springs-savant 

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Come Play in Our Backyard: Palm Springs

There are a few nifty new videos about Palm Springs. I thought I'd share one with you today. Enjoy !

If it doesn't play, click here to watch it.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Adventures of Sheldon & Harry Potter

Regular readers are familiar with the occasional mini-series of The Adventures of Sheldon which started in 2008 or later the Adventures of Sheldon & Duncan which started in 2009. It has been a month or so since the last episode, so its time for a fresh installment! I can't think of a better night than to be at home relaxing with the poodles. Both Sheldon and Duncan are happiest when we're all home together. Today brings The Adventures of Sheldon & Harry Potter. It all started when I settled down in the media room to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Mr Sheldon curled up on the black leather sofa next to me while Duncan Diggory chose to sit on the floor at my feet. As the movie started, Sheldon instantly perked up. We have surround-sound speakers in the media room that provide for excellent sound quality. Sheldon was drawn into the story in no time.
I first noticed in one of the scenes when there was a Quidditch match with kids flying around on their broom sticks. I watched Sheldon's head movie side to side as he watched the action on the big screen in front of him. I was amused by his interest in the film. 
Shortly thereafter there was a scene when Harry meets Professor Slughorn whilst snipping tentacular leaves through a window in in Professor Sprout's greenhouse. The magical tentacular plants are moving around wildly in their pots while the Professor attempts to snip a few leaves. For some reason, Sheldon was fascinated by this scene and watched intently. Maybe it was the sound and the movement of the plants. Sheldon leaned forward, to have a closer look at the screen. His ears perked up and he watched intently. I managed to snap the photo of his profile at that exact moment. I had no idea he enjoyed Harry Potter movies as much as I do. Sheldon watched the entire movie with me. When it was over, he got up, stretched out, yawned and walked to the bedroom to go to sleep. Another busy day in the life of Sheldon Gryffindor Rockhill.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Worldle Word Clouds....

 The other day I stumbled on something called "Wordle". Their own website describes it as "a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends" I did exactly that- I created a wordle word cloud on my blog. It was interesting to see what I'd been blogging about of late, and how it was depicted. Have some fun with your own blog and do a wordle. Its ever-so-easy. For maximum fun, print it and look at it on an old fashioned piece of paper. I'd be curious to see what you think of your own "wordle word cloud". Check it out, its FREE~

Disclaimers...

This blog is about life experiences & observations and stuff I am interested in. It is simply a side hobby and creative outlet; generally, with a tongue-in-cheek tone. I don't take it too seriously, nor should you. I do not profess to represent every point of view. Nothing on this site is a paid post.

It is for entertainment purposes only it, so just lighten up and just enjoy it. Life is short, live in the moment.

As the author, thoughts/views have no affiliation to my clients, business colleagues or my company.

This blog is independent and free of any type of financial affiliations. Some images used are from the internet and sometimes hard to credit them, so if you own any and want them removed just send me a message.

No copyright infringement intended. I am not responsible for defamatory statements bound to government, religious, or other laws from the reader’s country of origin or residence. The intention of this blog is to do no harm, defame, libel or offend anyone.