Halloween, here we come!

I don't know what has gotten into me this Halloween, but I'm looking forward to having the neighborhood kids stop by with their Trick or Treating. We have been living in this West Meade neighborhood for 22 years now and have seen the old timers move on to Florida or into condos. We're happy to see young families move in while getting a chance to say hi to the parents, and take some pictures when their kids show up at Halloween.

Every year, Mrs. WonderDawg takes great care in assembling fun goodies bags. Besides the candy, she ALWAYS includes "schwag" like toys, fake buck teeth, eyeglasses, PlayDoh, stickers, etc. As Christians, we have no problem with kids having fun, but we do include a kid friendly tract, "Jesus junk" and trinkets.



Of course, we decorate the front of the house with cob webs, spiders, orange lights and pumpkins. Speaking of pumpkins, I have NEVER carved a pumpkin in my life. So I went crazy with a carving kit with included patterns and carved TWO pumpkins! The third is pending, as Mrs. WonderDawg didn't want Homer Simpson's face. D'oh!



Last, I recalled seeing years ago on America's Funniest Staged (hit me in the crotch, please!) Home Videos, a practical and creative Halloween prank. Flushed with spur of the moment inspiration, I ran down to the thrift store for some jeans, dug around in the garage for some scrap wood, old shoes and Titans paraphenalia and .... IT"S ALIVE !



Behold my Tennessee Titans Halloween Thug! He doesn't have a name, but he is a bit creepy. Even my two dogs won't get near it probably for fear of getting spit upon. Word gets out fast!



The prank involves taking my Tennessee Titans Halloween Thug out to a couple of neighborhood houses, sit him on the porch, knock and see if anyone fills up his bucket with candy. Should be a Candid Camera moment.

It's Halloween. I'm so easily amused these days. O well, everybody have a safe and fun time!

Wake me up...

Wake me up... when election day ends (next Tuesday).



As seen in West Nashville on Charlotte Pike - the other side of the sign is pretty vulgar.

I'm feeling it

A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. ~Henry David Thoreau

Romosexual ?

Tony Romo, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys energized the fan base tonight with a must win game on the road against the Carolina Panthers.


(photo credit)

"Romo rallied the Cowboys from a 14-point first-quarter deficit, passing for 270 yards and a touchdown, and Julius Jones ran for 94 yards and a score to help the Cowboys beat the Carolina Panthers 35-14. The Cowboys set a team record with 25 fourth-quarter points." Recap at NFL Network

John Madden was impressed: "He looks like the guy that walks into the pool hall, sinks the 8-ball, takes your money and leaves."

Everybody in Cowboy land is loving QB Tony Romo... and voting YES ! for Tony to lead this team to a respectable finish, if not the playoffs.

The Cowboys will travel to Washington next Sunday to slap around the Redskins. I'm so jazzed that I'm in the mood for a friendly wager.

I'm a Cowboys fan and I approved this post because I likes Tony Romo in a football kinda way.

Oh yeah, the Tennessee Titans won too.

The discontent of overpaying

Nothing stirs up discontent or dissatisfaction more as a consumer than checking prices AFTER making a purchase.

I've learned a long time ago to curb my impulsive buying habits and credit card stress by purchasing electronics / gadgets with proper due diligence by shopping around and settling on the final purchase. Back before the Internet, it meant reading the Sunday ads, going in the store undercover - meaning not having an eager beaver salesclerk birddog you throughout the store.

With all things being equal, and depending on where I like to shop, i.e. for electronics, back in the old days, Circuit City over H.H.Gregg or now BestBuy over CompUSA, 90 days same as cash always won out. Surprisingly, a lot of stores will give 10% extra discount by asking for it.

Discounts on power tools? Forget it! The local pawn shop is the only place making deals and usually the tools belong to some down-on-his-luck-carpenter who has to sell his tools from his livelihood to make ends meet. I don't want any part of that. They could be stolen tools too.

These days with internet access and Google for price shopping, I've gravitated to Buy.com, Apple, Amazon or a handful of boutique speciality stores. My friend, Steve has a geek approach to getting the best deals.

CNN Money has an article on The best time to buy everything.

So last week, I'm out and about shopping with my family for PUMPKINS.... I've never bought pumpkins before.

This particular place in Belle Meade had an precise pricing methodology.



From bottom to top: $1.00 to $12.00 and up (see the extra pumpkin to the right? That's my $8.00 selection)

Pick the pumpkin and they will price the pumpkin to the approximate size. So if your pumpkin is larger than the $7.00 standard and smaller than $8.00... hey, they'll eyeball it in .25 cent increments!


(here's Gary & Megan with one of the pumpkins)

When done, I'm thinking these pumpkins are expensive! Two for $18.00. Since a big church was selling them, I'm thinking they had an extra middleman in the mix plus a Belle Meade upcharge.

Afterwards, we head over to Walmart for Halloween decorations and while having fun with the family with Elmo buckets and rats eating your skull headwear, I make the mistake of looking at the Walmart pumpkins - $2.77 each!!!

Jag, I feel your pain... The Great Pumpkin sticker shock hit me square in the gut like I got overcharged big time with a smile.

Ridiculous!

On the other hand, I would look pretty stupid returning two pumpkins without a receipt. And I did get to take pictures of my kids in a pumpkin patch setting. Not so at Walmart.

So much for being frugal... (or some say cheap).

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt - Safe

Photo Hunt 27: Safe

Theme: Safe | Join the Photo Hunt | View Blogroll | Visit participants.

Safe - Affording protection... a safe place



Today in Nashville, it's a beautiful autumn afternoon. I'm watching these geese swim by in safe waters. This upscale apartment complex is set back from busy roads, so not only are these geese safe from traffic, but swimming together, there is safety in numbers.

xxx

I joined the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Tn Chick. You too can play: Join the Photo Hunt There's a different theme every Saturday, and it's a lot of fun visiting the community of participants.

TV Squad Visits the Set of: The Office

One of my favorite sites - TV SQUAD takes its readers on a behind the scenes visit of Dunder Mifflin (which is the set of my favorite show THE OFFICE).


(photo credit - TV SQUAD)

Go check it out - lots of great photos!

Here's another site for Office fans - OfficeTally.com

Saturday Back Blues

Today really stinks - it's very apparent that I can't lift anything heavier than 10 plastic coat hangers -
I was overreaching into a box of coat hangers and then "OWWW!" my right back muscle starts throbbing.
Mind over matter. Mind over matter. Mind over matter.

I'm Good Enough...

... I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!



The strip above represents at times how I envision all the rhetoric about the upcoming elections that is tossed about on the blogs. That's why blogs about politics wear me down.

I admit it. Taking sides is hard work. Ford vs. Corker. Palm vs. Windows Mobile. PC vs. Mac. Bud Light vs. Miller Lite. Ford vs. Chevy. Somebody the other day gave me some crap about being a Christian hyprocrite for not hanging with him after his divorce - I didn't commit adultery, so I'm not going to take that guilt trip and justify your sin.

See what happens when Dilbert is the first thing I read in my inbox?

Hat tip: Dilbert / Scott Adams

Invesco Field at Mile High

My son Gary while traveling to Seattle for Air Force duty, sent back this awesome picture of a blizzard rolling into Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, where Mrs. WonderDawg's favorite team - the Broncos play.



If you like stadiums then check out stadiums of the NFL

Suzy Kolber as a reference

I like watching lots of NFL football. Even this past Monday night as my Dallas Cowboys got slaughted by the Giants. Now I've learned to hang tight with my Cowboys since 1965 through the good times and bad times while enjoying the multitude of Super Bowls wins.

Even Super Bowl XXVII (1993), when the 'Boys where laying the wood on the Buffalo Bills 52 - 17, I can recall throwing up my hands in sheer joy, signaling "TOUCHDOWN!" while accidently bruising my right hand against the wall. Yes, the pain of winning.

Anyhoo, I just don't get having three commentators in the booth especially this year's ESPN version of Monday Night Football - Mike Turico is ok, Joe Theisman talks too much and Tony Kornheiser reminds me of the guy in jr. high school who sits behind you and jabs you with his pencil. Enough!

However, Suzy Kolber is so cool -



...she knows her sports, is a seasoned reporter, well prepared and she always has nothing but nice things to say when telling anecdotical stories about players. Since Suzy is single, she'll be perfect for my blog friend Big Orange Michael, but alas, he is a Washington Redskins fan.

If I ever needed a spokesperson to recite a character reference on my behalf, then Suzy is the person. The girl is so upbeat! I find her to be very professional in her reporting, without being snarky or crass. She would be awesome in the announcing booth - I wouldn't be surprised if she winds up doing color announcing sooner than later.

Joe Namath likes Suzy too. Click here for the clip.

The Voice of Reason has spoken

Winter is setting in, and I tend to get cabin fever from being cooped up with no activity to unleash my nervous energy. Now I love working from home and being totally focused on my work in front of the iMac making changes to our company website. We got a great creative team and database pros who really know how to make this site sizzle. I just try not to muck it up.

Other than clicking the mouse and eating bbq among other things, I like to build stuff with power tools that involves woodworking -- building furniture, fancy dog houses, handyman stuff. So when I saw this Scrabble project from Make Magazine, I said to myself, "I can do this!"



I even went on eBay to search for Scrabble tiles. Apparently, people use Scrabble tiles for scrapbooking.

I not a fan of scrapbooking and all the doodads that go with it - heck, I'm not even fond of Scrabble. (my family is!)

So, I asked Mrs. WonderDawg about making a coffee table out of Scrabble tiles.

"Are you nuts?"

"Why?"

"Well, I saw a picture..."

"What are you going to do with it? It may look good maybe in a kid's game room..."

"Why don't you build a table with marble tiles so that it can go outside in the weather?"

The Voice of Reason has spoken.

Tomorrow, I'll ask Mrs. WonderDawg about making a outside table out of tiles.



Like Chrissy Mitchell does. I'm so inspired. Because Mrs. WonderDawg will say, "Go right away - just keep the noise down."

Driver's License Photo Op Time

I'm always about preplanning those tasks ahead of time that require standing in line or waiting in a doctor's office... for several hours. Like updating my driver's license.

Since there is NO distinction between being an illegal or citizen of Tennessee when it comes to which line to stand in to obtain a license to traverse the highways of Tennessee with a smoke bomb of a car, I tend to amuse myself with gadgets to pass away the anticipated four hours in line. Reading a book tends to make me drowsy.

So I'm polling my WonderDawg readers for some advice...

I need to come up with a list of songs on the iPod to ease the insanity; For starters, I like...

Dub Side off the Moon, a reggae version of Pink Floyds' Dark Side of the Moon

and does this picture flatter me?

Before:


After:

Stop laughing at me - I've gone retro...

A lot of folks outside of my Nashville Palm User's Group geek crowd give me the gentle jabbing about using my Bluetooth Treo Wireless Headset:



I was never a Star Trek fan anyways, so references to those characters don't faze me. Besides, it's the perfect device to use while driving, so at least I got two hands on the wheel (most of the time). My Palm friend Michael Ashby showed me how to pair the headset while using Skype on my iMac through the Bluetooth preference menu (upper right corner on the iMac). So when a call comes in from a client in Africa, Japan or England, the Treo headset is perfect - reach, place on ear and talk away.

Well, I'm going retro with the latest in technology / oldest in style? with the ThinkGeek Bluetooth Retro Handset. "Something with heft and that good-old-American solid construction feel - like a 1972 Cadillac."



Should be here in a couple of days and I can't wait to try it out. Don't have Bluetooth on your phone? Try the Retro Phone Handset from ThinkGeek.

"The Retro Phone Handset is a new production replica of the Western Electric 500-series model, which was the classic phone handset for several decades. It's been slightly modified to work with the headset jack of most cell phones (or via a "hands free" adapter kit, sold elsewhere). Just plug-in and dial - or for added effect, put your cell phone in your pant's pocket - then it looks like you're talking on a phone connected to... well, who knows?"



Oh by the way - here's the Nashville Palm User's Group geek crowd - don't laugh! Somebody won a new Treo 650, PalmLifeDrive and a T5 PDA. Don't hate the players; hug a geek today.

Attention Cingular customers!

Courtesy of PalmAddicts, I saw a deal that is just too good to be true, but I believe is 100% legit:



If you ever had your heart set on a palmOne Treo 650 PDA Phone, then Amazon is offering the Treo 650 for only $24.95 after a $20.00 rebate and new service activation with Cingular!

I've have nothing but a great experience with Cingular, despite the occasional oh-my-gosh $500 phone bill. I just recently upgraded Mr. WonderDawg's Motorola V-220 to a silver RAZR for $4.00 after a 50.00 rebate. The catch? Extend the plan for two years, which is no big deal since she is on the one minute a day plan anyway. Not a big phone talker.



Hopefully, Cingular will be carrying the new Treo 680 for $199.00 bucks - we'll have to wait ... more details at Engadet

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt - Dreaming

Photo Hunt 27: Dreaming

Theme: Dreaming | Join the Photo Hunt | View Blogroll | Visit participants.

Dreaming - To have a deep aspiration; To regard something as feasible or practical; To conceive of; imagine...

This theme is pretty easy for me to grab hold of... when I "retire" to "refire" in my latter years or when I win the lottery, I'm gonna be chasing sunsets. That's my big dream coming true.

I'm dreaming of a day when I hop in my big RV and start heading west starting here in Nashville:



and winding up at the Pacific Ocean.



Pretty simple... there's something about sunsets. If I want to go Deep Thoughts with it, then here goes... sunsets cap off a day, good or bad with a promise of a better day to come... Fresh winds always blow in from the west... and starting in Nashville, I won't run out of highway for a while!

Maybe I'm getting all old man like, but I am dreaming of a day of visiting the USA in a big RV, photo blogging with my family and dogs in tow, with all my tech gear - simply priceless (and expensive).

xxx

I just joined the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Tn Chick. You too can play: Join the Photo Hunt There's a theme every Saturday, and it's a lot of fun visiting the community of participants.

Having fun with Bubble Wrap

You may have seen the latest careerbuilder.comcommercial...

It's a monkey opening a box with bubble wrap. After tossing the new laptop on the floor, the monkey rolls around the floor in the bubble wrap making monkey noises, doing back flips and popping the bubble wrap. Meanwhile, the guy trying to work asks the monkey in the next cubicle if the out of control monkey is bothering him. The monkey shakes his head, "Nope"

We've been around similiar office cubicle behavior; like the IGMO who's racing his remote control car up and down the hallways or the guy who spills Coke on your desk and walks away...

It's those precise times you want to grind your teeth and make a career change. Here a resource for ya to help you out of predicament!

It's called inBubbleWrap

If you like free stuff and the best in business books and other free stuff to help you be smarter than the average bear or cubicle monkey, then it's really simple - just create an FREE account and visit every day for your chance to win - assuming that you correctly answer two qualifying questions such as:

How do male wookies meet female wookies?

Can you spell for me the sound anger?



There's a new offer for you to enter on a daily basis. I logged in and won several prizes such as The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley, Executive Intelligence by Justin Menkes and Spark by John Winsor! Check out October's previous offers here.

Here's some of my winnings so far since Day One of the inBubbleWrap launch last year:



Not only do I have a good collection of expensive books to draw business wisdom from courtesy of inBubbleWrap, but once done, I'm able to pass them along to friends. You can win big too!

If not, then use regular bubble wrap and make yourself useful:



What is inBubbleWrap?

Well to make a long story short, we love business. We love talking about it and we love doing business. iBW is our way to share this love (wrapped in Bubble Wrap) with you.

iBW is a site dedicated to giving you the opportunity to win FREE business related prizes. Each day (Monday – Friday) brings a new contest with new prizes for you to win. All prizes are business related whether it’s the latest set of business books, nifty office supplies or advice from a business book author.

New offers are launched daily at 9 a.m. (Central Time) and run for 24 hours.

inBubbleWrap is founded by http://www.800ceoread.com/ the best source period online for business books.

Public Potty Break Gone Bad

Jeffery Hanserd wants everyone to know that using a public toilet could leave you flushed with embarrassment.

Last night on WTVF - News Channel Five they aired a story - "Antioch Man On The Wrong End Of Practical Joke"

I'm all for pranks, but this one is pretty crappy - err - NOT FUNNY.

Not be unsympathetic, but personally, I strive to NEVER use public restrooms. Especially at WalMarts. Definately never at gas stations. If I'm within 30 miles of the house, the flashers are on the Honda and the race is on.

If I absolutely must, I use five layers of the seat liners and lots of toilet paper to lay on the seat (which Jeffery should have done). That's what the extra roll of toilet paper is there for.

While traveling, I never sit my backpack or laptop bag on the bathroom floor.

I don't answer my cell phone in the bathroom. Or make small talk.

And c'mon - please wash your hands.

I'm still freaked out about yellow file folders. When I worked downtown at L _____ y, I saw a guy in the stall with yellow file folders on the floor. He was writing out post it notes and placing them on the folders.

West Nashville's Nashville West

Living in the West Meade area of Nashville, I get to see the daily progress of the new $120 million retail development called Nashville West.

I'm seeing Costco rapidly coming to completion in time for a November 15th opening...



Road widening of Charlotte Pike is underway with the relocation of utility lines and soon, Brook Hollow Road will be widen for turning lanes. The concrete walls of the storefronts are up as well.



What I'm excited about is the integration of a "interactive park environment with significant green space for recreation or leisure use as well as acommunity local for organized sporting, theatrical or musical events." The development promises to be unlike anything that Nashville already has in place with the big enclosed malls.



What West Nashvillians are craving for are quality restaurants... the only rumor I've heard thus far is Olive Garden and that McDonalds will rebuild at their present location.

Stores? Best Buy, Staples, Pass Pets by the existing Firestone store as part of a strip center by Costco. Publix supposively pulled out.

Along the Charlotte Park development, my understanding from various sources: Super Target, Dick's Sporting Goods, Old Navy, Ross Dress for Less, Cost Plus World Market, Linens 'n' Things...

Trippin' to Tacoma, Washington

Many of you know how proud we are as a family of our son Gary entering into the Air Force, based in Tacoma, Washington. He's very passionate about the opportunties that lie ahead for him, and as parents seeing your chidren find purpose and embrace their destiny in a God centered worldview brings great joy to our hearts!

We've been busy around the WonderDawg homestead helping get things transistioning for Gary's big move to McCord Air Force Base.



A welcome back party, moving boxes out of storage and our garage to his fiance's house, banking matters, AAA trip-tik planning, visiting friends and relishing the time together as family.

Gary left Thursday morning with his good friend Brandon making good time from Nashville to Topeka, Kansas. Next leg: onward to Denver; Billings, Montana; Spokane and Tacoma.



We appreciate your prayers and good thoughts. Very grateful for the advice and well wishes!

Me in the monkey world

If I was a chimp rather than a WonderDawg, I guess I would look like:



More monkey business here

Promotional music collectables from the WonderDawg archives

Mrs. WonderDawg at one time was deep into Beanie Babies; coming back from Orlando on vacation, we stopped at virtually every McDonalds to collect the mini Beanie Babies - we ate a lot of Happy Meals back then.

I've been collecting musical packaging and promotional items since I was ten years old, not so much for the rarity, but the creativity in the execution of the packaging. Before Gary was born 26 years ago, I had at one time maybe thirty thousand albums in mint condition, filed A to Z, by category, in plastic outer sleeves and inside dust jackets filling a pre-nursery bedroom and a 10 x 20 mini warehouse.

I'm reminded when I was transferred from Atlanta to Nashville back in 1975, the UHaul was loaded down with peach crates full of LPs. The four hour trip took over eight hours with a top speed of 50 mph. Over the years, I got tired of lugging them around, so a bunch of them made their way to Great Escape. I'm down to a manageable five thousand or so LPs now.

These days, I've been collecting schwag from tech companies, but I love the old days when I was in the record business doing the marketing and merchandising stuff. When people were buying records by the crates, there were posters, buttons, t-shirts, trinkets and much more a plenty!

After lugging this promo stuff around for nearly forty years, I've been up in the attic reclaiming some stuff - such as the Rod Stewart standup I've hauling around since 1978 - which has a found a good home at the Mothership BBQ.

Me thinks that with the age of iPods and iTunes, our generation has totally missed out on the joy of album covers artwork in big 12 x 12 size and the stuff contained within. They'll never know the joy of The Who Live at Leeds Lp that was packaged as a press kit with B&W glossies, poster, booklet and other stuff, or Led Zeppelin's third lp with the spinning die cut wheel (that lp cause all kinds of warpage problems with retailers). I'll find examples from the WonderDawg archives and post it here soon.

In fact, I just might dig out my 100 favorite LPs with built in goodies and post a Flickr set.

Some of my favorites tucked away in ziplocked bags within easy reach of the keyboard are:





SUZANNE VEGA Days Of Open Hand (1990 US 11-track promotional CD, featuring Book Of Dreams & Rusted Pipe and housed inside a holographic front panelled tri-fold digipak.)





SUZANNE VEGA 99.9F (1992 12 tracks + 1 bonus Limited Edition 24 page book housed inside a slip cover.)



Jane's Addiction Been Caught Stealing CD Promo with mini handcuffs.

and some plastic:





Neil Young & Crazy Horse promo single from 1981 Reactor LP

Packaging of minicards

Last week I wrote about MOO minicards. A couple of days ago, I received the initial free 10 pack of MOO minicards to try out the service. To help spread the word, MOO gave away 10,000 FREE packs of 10 cards to Flickr Pro Users.



Not only are the cards of excellent quality and the delivery time from London to Nashville is within the promised ten days, but I REALLY like the packaging and presentation.

The little slipcase with the die cut window added a "this is cool" response. Nice job.

I go for this kind of stuff as I use to be a merchandising and marketing guy in the record biz in the seventies - early eighties.

More later...

When will I ever learn?

Everytime, I mean everytime without fail, when I cook something in the oven, like a pork loin roast or a meatloaf birthday cake, I open the oven door and get suckered punched in the face with 350 degrees of unleashed hell and heat fury.

My glasses get fogged up, I feel like my face is being stung by a thousand sweat bees and I yelp out a wordy durd.

All without dropping the pan on my feet. (That would be awful...)



At least I'm not like Jamie in Deadpan Valentine where he failed to commit suicide by placing his head-in-the-oven because of the unpaid-gas account cut-off.

I must prefer the electric stove way of instant punch in the face.

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt - Lost

Photo Hunt 27: Lost

Theme: Lost | Join the Photo Hunt | View Blogroll | Visit participants.



Lost - No longer in the possession, care, or control of someone or something...

It was one year ago on October 11, 2005 when I traveled to Sulphur, Lousiana for a week to lend a hand with the TN Baptist Disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. I was hoping to blog from there and send back some photos, but there wasn't an internet connection to be found, let alone electricity.

What I found instead were people who lost everything... from 100 extravagant homes on the Gulf washed out to sea at once to a modest single mom's apartment totally drenched.

With no electricity to wash clothes or run refrigerators, we had long days working from 5 am to 7 pm as part of the team that prepared upwards of 5,000 hot meals a day to distribute via the Red Cross and our base of operations. Another team went out with chainsaws clearing downed trees.

We who are consumer focused (and myself included) tend to look at the material things that are lost. We're left counting on insurance or the kindness of strangers to cover our losses in such devastation. Yet, we all are needing assurance that everything will be OK.



While walking the Sulphur neighborhood, we came upon this single mom and her daughter living in the apartment pictured above.



They were absolutely precious. While having lost all their possessions, except what could pack in the trunk of their car to start a new life, they never lost their joy for life. Rather, they were profusely thanking God for sparing their lives.

That week in Louisiana completely changed my whole theology of what it means to serve.

See a need? Go fill it. Don't wait for permission for a committee to decide whether the situation determines a "Yes" or "No" or worse, a "Maybe" response.

Lost - No longer in the possession, care, or control of someone or something... I got it. That week, I lost quite a bit of self-centerness through generous self-giving of time, talent and a open heart.

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

My Flickr set from the visit to Cameron, LA here

Paul & Debbie's flooded home

Base Camp at Sulphur, LA

Thanks for stopping by... (and letting me share)

xxx

I just joined the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Tn Chick. You too can play: Join the Photo Hunt There's a theme every Saturday, so I look forward to visiting the community of participants.