Spike's Back

For those who read yesterday's entry that our neighbors cat Spike was missing, he's been found. He got himself locked under another neighbors house for the last two and a half days.  Spike's an inquisitive guy, and apparently while the neighbor was storing some tools under the house, Spike slipped in unseen.  They found him about 7:30 yesterday evening.  He was pretty hungry, but other than that, just fine.  Thank God!  We all adore Spike. 

And this is why I will never have outside cats.  I would lose my mind if I lost track of my cats for even a day. 

Interview Queen

I dub today, "Interview Day."  I conducted a 10 AM interview with a jewelry artist for an upcoming article in Art Jewelry magazine on "How to Sell Your Work to Galleries."  (Still searching for a snazzier title...feel free to e-mail me ideas!).  Then I was interviewed at 11:40 by Mike Moore of WLOE/WMYN about my book. Unbelievable, but I forgot to mention my book launch this Thursday.  (Note to self:  Never, never interview from now on without notes).  Then I have a 1 PM interview with a NY literary agent for a piece I'm working on for Writer's Digest 2006 annual Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.  I've got 2 interviews scheduled for tomorrow for various works in progress, and one more on Friday.  For someone who prefers not to talk to people, I seem to be out there this week.

I'm focusing on not stressing myself out to the point of incapacity.  I have so much due this month.  Two unexpected but really good projects presented themselves, but they're both large, and they both have tight deadlines.  This wouldn't be a problem except I let some work slide last month, thinking I had all this month to work on them.  Not smart.  Procrastination is a bad, bad thing.

I was so stressed yesterday, I couldn't calm down for almost an hour.  Blair and I took a walk and about 10 minutes into it he asked, "Are you feeling better?"  "No," I answered, and picked up the pace.  I got some work done and then we drove into town for lunch and to do grocery shopping.   I was highly critical of our waitress for wasting time (bread not on the table, didn't take our order when she brought our drinks and we had to wait for our check).  I kept watching the clock, thinking how much all these little delays were setting me back and that I shouldn't have gone in the first place.

I don't want to be that sort of person.  I am not a "live in the moment" person but I really would like to be.  I used to be religious about meditating for 15-20 minutes every morning and I found that made a huge difference in my concentration and peace level.  I need to start it again but I'm not following through with the commitment.  I'll do it for a day or two, then I'll allow something to come up and I won't do it.  The key, for me, is to mediate at the same time every day. That way, it's something my mind and body start to adjust and look forward to.  I'll  have to pick either a super early AM time or late at night though, because my schedule varies so much from day to day, I don't think I could ever pick a time like "9 AM" and have it stick.

No time like the present, right?  I've got 30 minutes until my next interview, so perhaps I'll grab a cat and just sit quietly and breath.

Oh!  Speaking of cats, please say a prayer for Spike.  He's our neighbor's cat who we adore and our neighbor called this morning to say he's been missing for several days.  We're worried he got locked up in a shed by accident.  But he's a beautiful, friendly, funny cat and I'm nuts about him.

The Million Dollar Homepage

Have you heard of the Million dollar Home Page?  It's the brainstorm of a 21-year old in Britain, looking to pay for college.  He created a home page of a million pixels and sells advertising space on the page for $1 a pixel (minimum order of 100 pixels).  His goal is, obviously, to raise a million dollars. 

He's already at close to $700,000.  More than that, the site is getting huge press attention and has about 700,000 unique visitors a month.  Click here to read the Nov. 22, 2005 write up on the site in the Wall Street Journal.

Why am I writing about this?  Because I took a gamble and decided to buy some pixel space.  And a gamble it is.  I was only willing to shell out the $100 for the smallest allotment of pixels, which means you can't properly see my graphic.  (However, if your cursor passes over it a message pops up that reads: "Cat Humor Book - Erma Bombeck of Cat Writers!")  But the site is new, people are intrigued, there are testimonials from people who have seen a marked increase in traffic to their site since signing up for a slot on the page, and even the WSJ seemed to offer an endorsement.  So, I'm in.  Best scenario, new people find my book site.  Worst case, I'm out one hundred bucks.

To find my link on The Million Dollar Homepage , go to the site and look about halfway down the screen for a large red "15" on a blue background.  My cat icon is to the immediate top right of the number 15.   If you need more help, look for the "Web Hosting" block, fairly large, with a small heart in a block underneath it.  Go down about four big squares from there and you'll see the number 15 and move your cursor to the right and you'll find me.

I've only been up for a day.  After a month, I'll see if I can track how many hits are coming in from the site.

Early Bird Door Buster Prices

Ever wonder who those maniacs are who wait outside the stores at 4:45 AM the day after Thanksgiving, rocking on their toes, blowing on their chilled hands and eyeing the people next to them in a mental evaluation of who would win in a foot race to the register?

Wonder no longer.  Those people are us.

We set the alarm this morning for 4 AM and were out the door by 4:40, intent on being among the early arrivals for the 5:30 am opening of Dick's Sporting Goods.  You see, kayaks were on sale, almost 60% off until 2 PM. We've talked about buying kayaks but weren't entirely sure we'd use them enough to justify the investment.  But this was such a good deal, we decided to go for it.

There were only 5 kayaks in the store, and we snagged two of them - a bright red and a bright yellow.  We even got a $20 coupon because we were one of the first 250 customers in the store.  We purchased a basic roof kit to secure the kayaks on top of the Explorer, and pulled around back to pick them up.

For the next 35 minutes, Blair and two other men tried diligently to make the kayaks fit, but it was a no go.  We were presented with the option of purchasing a $150 deluxe roof kit, per kayak, to secure them, but at that point the good deal lost its good feel.  So, we stood in line and returned the kayaks, the roof kit and yes (sniff), even the $20 gift certificate.

We had a little more luck as the morning wore on, but both of us remarked the door busters this year really weren't getting up early for.  Nothing blew us away.  In years past, we prided ourselves on our day after Thanksgiving shopping prowess.  A few years ago, we were inside a mall waiting for a store to roll up its heavy armored gate.  As the gate began rising off the floor, Blair and I looked at each other and said, "Drop and roll, baby. First ones in. Drop and roll!" (Don't worry, we didn't really do it...)

We've spent the better part of the afternoon addressing Christmas Cards.  Some day, I'll have my address book up to date.  As it is, I piecemeal together a list from the address book, business cards, e-mails, and random envelopes I've saved throughout the year.  We've decided our friends are just way too transient of a group and ya'll need to settle down and make our lives easier.

Happy Early Bird Door Busting Shopping Day to You and Yours.