Monday Morning QB 13.11.1

Wow!

My last blog post was 2.13.09...

There is a whole lot to go over and I am certainly not going to be able to do it all in one day– I have work to do. But I do realize how important writing is on so many levels so I am really determined to get back into it. My plan, going forward, is to publish three original posts per week and a repost on Throwback Thursdays. We will do the old Monday Morning QB (obviously) on Mondays and Things We Like/Let's Roll on Fridays with another cool feature on Tuesday or Wednesday. How does that sound?

I need to explain all the changes that have gone on in our life over the last four years but, as I said, it may take some time to go ever all of it.

• I have gone into business for myself- The biggest single thing and reason for me not having time to post is A Skeetz Production, LLC. It has been a tremendous challenge but a gigantic blessing at the same time. I will write about the experience and so many things that I have learned that I want to make others aware of in the near future but as difficult as it can be, it has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

• We have Guy- I have never thought it best for my family to publish the names of my boys but I have two of the best young men that seem to grow up so fast every day. I love them more than I could have ever imagined and if I wasn't so old, I would have a half dozen more. I'm sure that I will have a lot to write about those experiences too.

• Facebook- and such... I was just getting into Facebook, LinkedIn and then Twitter when I stopped writing in the Blog. I actually have a draft with a bunch of notes that I had on the new technology from over four years ago. I have lots to say about social media and how it has become such a huge part of our lives.

• Other Stuff- In addition to the big stuff I have a ton of thoughts on other stuff that I can't wait to share! So much stuff that I can't even think of it all but some if it includes:
• House Guests- I have become an expert on this
• Business Networking- I want to do a weekly feature with guest contributors
• Duck Dynasty- and other hillbillies taking over pop culture
• Plus- my usual stuff: sports, music, God, trivia, movies, TV, T-shirts, friends and fun...

I will quickly try to figure out how to incorporate the Blog with all the other social media that I am involved with. I would like to invite you all to follow this Blog by subscribing at the top of the right column and to check out other articles listed by topic further down in that column.

Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.11

I really should change the name of this weekly post to Tuesday Morning Quarterback or something because I think it has been a month since I published on a Monday. I don't know if it is that I am too busy because of the time of year and all of the stuff that's been going on or if it is that I am getting a little bored and I haven't made it a priority to write when I do have the time.

Spare time is always hard to find around the holidays but this year I'm going to take advantage of the technology and use the internet to handle most of my shopping chores. From the looks of the reports on my Website, many other smart consumers are doing the same.

Top Five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez blog:

5. land of the lost

4. stroke-chiropractor

3. suck for a buck

2. trivia

1. schweddy balls

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez:

5. Smallville Athletic Department

4. Suck It Trebeck

3. Charlestown Chiefs/Slapshot

2. I'm Cute

1. Big Brother/Big Sister

I have neglected the shop lately, hardly adding any new designs yet I have quite a few concepts started that I need to knock out before Thanksgiving so I can be included in the Holiday gift-giving rush. It is encouraging to see some interest in designs other than the political and baby stuff though. Many of my ideas are a little obscure but I am banking on there being enough interested customers out there, if I can just get the exposure on the shop so they can see what I have to offer.

If you know any of these, so-called, interested customers, forward this blog or tell them about my WebShop or, even better, just buy the gift and give it to them for Christmas! Here's the notes from the weekend:

• When I first opened the shop, I thought that most of my business would be from customers that requested custom designs for one or a few T-shirts but it was awfully easy to just throw a design up on the site and see who would buy it. I did, however, complete my first special order last week for a friend of MLW who is participating in a Walk for Breast Cancer. If you need a special event design-- just drop me a line.

• I'm a poet and don't know it.

• Christmas shopping for M3S has been made very simple this year as he has so eloquently informed me that all he wants is... everything-- every toy he sees on TV, in catalogs, at the mall and in some other kid's dirty little mitts.

• Is it normal for three-year-olds to know the word humungous and use it correctly in a sentence?

• Trivia is still a top keyword that is driving visitors to my Websites. I'm not sure why because I rarely write about trivia, but we have taken home two-firsts and one-second in the last three Trivia Nights we have competed in.

• My 20-year-old nephew's 19-year-old girlfriend said she has cleared upwards of $850 a day waiting tables at Hooters. You have to come up with your own punch line for this because there are just too many ways I can get myself in trouble with this one.

• Just for kicks, I was helping my fourth-grade niece with her Geography homework on Sunday. The first question was, "What is the capital of Washington, D.C.?" Who is checking the teacher's work?

• Unless your going to plan on making a career out of the military or as a travel agent, Geography is pretty much useless-- made that way by easy access to MapQuest and portable GPS units.

• If the feds are going to bailout the big-three automakers now, what's next? You can come up with your own punch line here too. I didn't mean it to be a joke... but it is.

• I can't imagine how one gets poison ivy this late in the year after more than one hard frost when all of the plants should be dead but, somehow, I managed to get a doozy of a batch. Pray that it doesn't get in my nook and crannies.

• It is going to be a tight race and come right down to the wire to determine if the Rams or our Fantasy Football team sucks more this year.

• My 22-year-old niece was finally convinced that I may "have something" with my theory that the stroke was caused by chiropractic treatment after seeing a video of a woman in Canada that had a similar story. Now that I have most (but not yet all) of the family on the bandwagon, I'm coming after you! Read my story, It Only Seems Fair, and then visit my Squidoo page, Stroke-Chiropractors to see all of the evidence for yourself!

• If you have a cause or even just an interest that you would like to get the word out about, Squidoo is an excellent, easy, free vehicle to do so.

• I'm sure glad Mimi is alright. Yes-- for her sake, but also Nanu's. He's a tough guy but I don't think he would get along very well without her.

• Can't say it enough... tell the people you love, that you love them... now!

No... I really mean it! Stop reading this blog and and call your Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Brother, Sister or anybody else that you care about, and tell them how you feel; step away from the computer and give your Wife, Husband, Girl or Boyfriend a kiss; find your kids and give them a big hug and then spend a few moments playing or talking with them because a time will come when you won't be able to do these things-- and I don't want you to blame me that you didn't take the time when you had the chance...

Then come back here and Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.09

Back to the Monday Morning Quarterback thing after a full three-days of pushing my Squidoo lens promoting public awareness of Chiropractic Stroke. If you didn't get a chance to read it you definitely should-- especially if someone you care about visits a Chiropractor. The story generated over 100 hits on the blog from 37 unique visitors who, hopefully, forwarded it on to others that will read it soon and forward it... and so on, and so on, and so on.

I am encouraged that it did so well but I am still looking for ways to take the Site viral. Anything that any readers can do would be tremendously helpful as I am only one person with a job and a family and hoses that need to be taken into the garage before we get our first freeze of the season tonight. SkeetzTeez is doing pretty decent too. Looks like it is going to be our biggest month yet:

Top five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez Blog:

5. Jonas Brothers and Sarahcuda (tie)

4. Trivia

3. Chiropractor

2. Stroke

1. Suck for a Buck

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez:

5. I Survived a Major Brain Injury and All I Got was this Lousy T-shirt

4. Saturday Night Live- Schweddy Balls

3. McCain/Palin (McMaverick/Sarahcuda)

2 Big Brother (Sister)

1. Slapshot- Charlestown Chiefs

I couldn't figure out the run on Charlestown Chiefs T-shirts until I realized that they were selling in threes-- the kids are buying them to dress as the Hanson Brothers for Halloween; every time I think the McCain/Palin design is done, I sell another one; and I don't understand how trivia often makes it on the search list as I don't have anything directly relating to the subject. Maybe I should! Notes from the weekend:

• Since when did all suspects become Persons of Interest? Would you be more willing to turn yourself in if you were named a person of interest rather than the suspect-- whether you were guilty or not? To me, they are one in the same.

• Did I miss when they moved the end Daylight Savings Time? I thought it was always before Halloween. 

• What ever happened to taking things you found around the house and making your Halloween costume? You have to spend a fortune on something the kids are going to wear, if your lucky, a couple of hours.

• Have you seen the adults' costumes available? They are either too gross or too revealing. The women's outfits look like hussies, harlots, hookers or whores.

• Do 11-year-olds need to bring two forms of identification? A local municipality passed legislation limited trick-or-treaters to 12 and under between the hours of 5:30 and 8:00. That should open up the streets for vandalism for all the 14-year-olds after 9:00.

• How is that working for you?

• Why does no one use the word hussy anymore... or harlot, for that matter?

• Isn't it about time that we can vote over the Web? The Internet has made the gathering of information, in almost every form, many times easier for both the gatherer and the provider. Why can't they come up with a way to vote in general elections that way too?

• Do you think the media, not the advertisements but through polls and such, influence the elections? I tend to think hearing poll results can make a difference how people vote or, even more notably, deter them to vote altogether because they assume that the race has already been decided and their candidate has either won-- and doesn't need the extra vote, or lost-- and

the vote is wasted.

• When is this season going to end? Looks like the World Series is going to drag on for, at least, another day or two because of rain, of all things. Get your Old Time Baseball T-shirt while you can before I switch it over to the Old Time Football Design.

• Who would've guessed? Our Fantasy Football team defeated the guys in first place this week, climbed out of the cellar and are only three-and-a-half games out of the lead halfway through the season.

• What should we name our new baby boy? Vote over there somewhere ------->

That's all for me tonight. I work-out and diet for good health but, because of the regimen, I am too tired to enjoy it.

Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Follow the bouncing ball...

There was a time, quite recently actually, when I was considered extremely knowledgeable about music. I may not be asked to participate on a general trivia team but I was a first team all star at music trivia night. Not that I knew my classic rock as well as Dupee or the 80s as well as Cox and I definitely had my weaknesses, like country/western, but overall, I had a general, overall knowledge about a very wide range of music genres. 

I said that this was fairly recently but I must be getting old because I realized that I haven't been in the band since just after Jenn and I were engaged– that was almost six years ago now. Except for when I am listening to my Zune during my workouts (which is not often or long enough) I rarely listen to any of the music I used to. 

I guess most people most often listen to music in the car. That's why radio stations are so concerned with drive times for ratings. When I'm in the car alone I am usually listening to talk radio. Maybe that's because music stations in this town suck, maybe it's because my single-CD player skips after you get to the third track or maybe it's because I'm getting too darn old.

When I'm in the car with my wife and/or son (which is most of the time now) we usually go with no radio at all. I wish I could say this policy is to promote conversation and family togetherness, but honestly, it's so there are no arguments over what we listen to. My lovely wife prefers (get this) either Hip Hop or Christian music while my three-year old tends to lean toward Rock 'n Roll but can surprise you, go off the board and request something that he heard seven weeks ago... "you know, that one song– about... babies!" He's an incredibly bright kid but he can't understand the concept of a radio and my inability to control what song they play next.

So this one-time front-man for a band called 1.sick.puppy now finds himself, most days, with either something we sang at church or heard on the Disney Channel or a tune like "The Pirate Song" or "Who Let the Dogs Out?" stuck in my head. 

That's enough to make you old.

I have a few more music designs inspired by my wife added to the cafepress shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5792787

I am considering doing a whole series of license plate frames in the follow the bouncing ball theme! Tell me what you think about that or give me lyrics from good driving songs to use in the comments section!