Racehorse Names

As I've written previously, with the exception of very specific events, I'm not that much into sports. One thing I do enjoy is the "Triple Crown" of horse racing: The Preakness Stakes, The Belmont Stakes, and, the most famous and popular American horse race of all--The Kentucky Derby.

I usually pick my horse by whatever name I like most. And how do they get their names?

There are actually a lot of rules and regulations for the naming of thoroughbred horses. First, the name must be registered by February of the horse's second year. There are many others, including these banned names:

•  Names consisting of more than 18 letters (spaces and punctuation marks count as letters);
•  Names consisting entirely of initials such as C.O.D., F.O.B., etc.;
•  Names ending in "filly," "colt," "stud," "mare," "stallion," or any similar horse-related term;
•  Names consisting entirely of numbers. Numbers above thirty may be used if they are spelled out;
•  Names ending with a numerical designation such as "2nd" or "3rd," whether or not such a designation is spelled out;
•  Names of living persons unless written permission to use their name is on file with The Jockey Club; Names of persons no longer living unless approval is granted by The Jockey Club based upon a satisfactory written explanation submitted to the Registrar

This last rule is what made it possible to have a horse named after actor Tony Danza at the 2014 Kentucky Derby. 

So, here are some horse names I've come up with. 

Inocentbystander

Friendly Fire

Dr. Doc Doctor

Ms. Smith Go To KY

Lazer Sharp Mind

High Momm

Back at the Ranch

Garfield's Lazagna

French Kiss

And of course.....

Soon B Glue

The last triple crown winner----the last time one horse won all three races----was Affirmed in 1978. That makes 36 years. Will it happen in 2015? It sure would be exciting!

Invented In New Hampshire

New Hampshire is my home state, the state with the first Presidential primary, and the "Live Free Or Die State".

It is also the state where these 10 inventions were first created.

1. Paper Towels
     
         Inventor: William E Corbin
         Year of Patent: 1920
         Place: Gorham

The story goes that when Corbin became general manager, in 1904, of the Brown Co's Gorham Cascade Mill, he got the idea because he was tired of wiping his hands on the then old-fashioned rolling cloth towel. "It was always sticky and greasy," he said.

His paper towels were made of Kraft paper, the same paper that today's paper grocery store bags are made of.

2. The Knitting Machine

      Inventor: Herrick, Walter, and Jonas Aiken
      Year: 1836
      Place: Franklin

Herrick and his sons were inventors as a family business. Their original machine could knit the tube of a sock, from knee to ankle.

3. The Sewing Machine

     Inventor: Elias Howe, Jr.
     Year: 1843
     Place: Nashua

It all started with an overheard conversation. After his first design didn't go over that well, Howe's second design was a big hit. For one thing, it had a needle with an eye at the point--an idea that came to Howe in a dream: an evil king threatened him with execution if he didn't complete his work within 24 hrs.

4. The Apple Parer

     Inventor: David Harvey Godell
     Year of Patent: 1863
     Place: Antrim

Goddell was a former New Hampshire Governor (1889-1891) who grew up on a farm. He invented the apple parer while working at the Antrim Shovel Co; at the height of its initial popularity, 24,000 units were sold in three weeks.

5. Tupperware

     Inventor: Earl Tupper
     Year: 1946
     Place: Berlin

The ubiquitous kitchen storage containers came after Tupper worked at the DuPont Chemical Company where he designed unbreakable and light masks and containers used during World War II.

Today, a Tupperware Party happens every 1.4 seconds.

6. The Alarm Clock

    Inventor: Levi Hutchins
    Year: 1787
     Place: Concord

Although it was never patented, and it was developed for his own personal use, Hutchins is still considered the inventor of this convenient yet somewhat annoying device. At least in the US, anyway.

7. The Spork

     Inventor: George Laramy
     Year: 1907
     Place: Enfield

This much maligned member of the silverware family did not have a name when the patent was accepted--the word "spork" didn't come about until 1909. However, the reason for its invention was so that the combined knife, spoon, and fork could be "adapted for use by persons with one arm," according to the patent application.

8. The Segway

     Inventor: Dean Kamen
     Year: 2001
     Place: Manchester and Bedford

In popular culture, the Segway is most famous its appearances in the movie Mall Cop, and the video for Weird Al Yankovic's "White and Nerdy." The two-wheeled, self balancing, electric transport is now used in tours, college campuses, and other tourist destinations.

9.  The Measuring Tape

     Inventor: Hiram Augustus Ferrand Jr.
     Year: 1922
     Place: Berlin

The measuring tape started life as the Rapid Rule, but it was very similar to what we have today. Commander Admiral Byrd even had one on his expedition to the South Pole.

10.  The Artificial Leg

       Inventor: Benjamin Franklin Palmer
       Year: 1846
       Place: Meredith

About 5 miles away from the Weirs Beach area of Lake Winnepasaukee,  Meredith is the center of activity in the Lakes Region.

Palmer's wood artificial leg was intended to weigh less than 3 1/2 pounds for the full leg, or less than 2 pounds for below the knee. He also created articulated joints in order to mimic the natural motion of a leg.


-------------

Source material for this post is the article "In Praise Of The Spork And 14 Other Inventions" published in the Oct. 9-15 edition of The Hippo.

Where Was "Scrubs" Set?

Thanks to the magic of Netflix, I recently rediscovered one of my favorite sitcoms of the early 2000's. Scrubs, an early multi-camera half-hour comedy, told the story of the medical staff, patients, and others working at Sacred Heart Teaching Hospital. This is a new classic sitcom, with its unique mix of physical comedy, verbal wordplay (I wish the book of Dr. Cox's rants that JD gave him at the end of season 8 was a real book, I bet it would be a great read), and the best ever musical episode of a non-musical show. It's sure to make audiences laugh for years to come.


Unanswered Questions

By the end of its nine season run--if we include the last, when the show was renamed Scrubs: Med School--we learn almost everything about the people of Sacred Heart, including the name of its university (Winslow University). But with all we know,  three unanswered questions remain:

1. Where is the show set (city/state)?
2. What is Janitor's real name?
3. Why does Dr. Cox have such unrelenting hatred of Hugh Jackman?

While these are all important questions, today we are most interested in the first one. There are occasionally shots of licence plates, the state is never shown.


What The Production Says, and the "Seattle Theory"

The actual production of the show was at the decommissioned North Hollywood Medical Center, located at 12629 Riverside Drive, which was a real hospital from 1952-1998 (the site is now the location of an apartment complex.)

The cast and crew has famously said that the show was set in San DiFrangeles, California, encompassing the area triangulated by San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. This is interesting, but that is an awfully big area of California.

My personal theory, until my Netflix review of the show, was that it was set in Seattle, Washington. I had no real evidence of this. It was a really strong gut feeling. A feeling that was blown out of the water by the season six episode "My Road to Nowhere", in which the gang took a trip to Tacoma, Washington, which is only about 40 minutes outside of Seattle. On the show the trip took all day, so Seattle is out.


A Few Assumptions And Other Ideas

Seattle may be out of the running, but the San Diego area, thanks to Sea World, may still be a viable candidate. Elliot's on-and-off boyfriend is a trainer at Sea World San Diego, and she often takes the train there for the day or to stay overnight.

Detroit may also be a possibility due to the fact that when JD returns to work after his father's funeral, Dr Cox gives him a Red Wings jersey. But I feel that is less about location, and more that Dr. Cox is a Red Wings fan.

Before we go any further, let's consider a few assumptions:

1. The road trip mentioned above started from the hospital in the morning after sunrise, but they arrived in Tacoma before dark. There is no evidence from action or dialog that they traveled over night, so it is assumed that the outgoing trip (to Tacoma) happened in one day and they were on the road no more than 12 hours.
2. The overall average speed limit for the trip is 70 miles per hour. Let's assume that with traffic and rest stops the actual average speed they traveled is 65 mph.
3. This means that the maximum one-way distance traveled is 750 miles.
4. Finally, let's assume that the show was set in a major metropolitan area of California.


Now We're Almost There....

We can now picture a to-scale circle on a map, representing 750 miles, with Tacoma at its midpoint.

Using Assumption #3, we finally have to eliminate San Diego because it is over 1000 miles from Tacoma. We also must, based on Assumption #4, eliminate all of Washington State, Oregon, Canada, and of course the Pacific Ocean.

At the limits, however, we still have the Sacramento and San Francisco areas.

Conclusion (AKA "The Winner Is...")


Based on the above, I have determined that the location of the show is in a suburb of  California's capital Sacramento. Not only is this the only Californian metropolitan area that fits all assumptions, we have the additional fact that in all driving scenes over 9 seasons, there was very little driving up or down hills.

Movie Review: Mitt

When I started this blog, I promised myself that I would  purposely keep it non-political; there’s enough of that in plenty of other places.  With this writing, I will endeavor to keep that promise and simply do a movie review.  

With that said, Mitt isn't about politics. It’s about a family man, Mitt Romney, trying to successfully complete the most time-intensive, expensive, and grueling job interview in the country.

In this fly-on-the-wall documentary,  produced by One Potato Productions for Netflix, director  Greg Whiteley  gives us an inside look at the family life of a presidential candidate. We on the outside see only the glamour---the lights, cameras, and private planes. But behind all that is a long running string of take-out food, hotel rooms, and sleeping in buses.

The film follows Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who first came to national prominence after taking over leadership of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, on both of his presidential campaigns. We also meet his wife Anne, sons, and daughters-in-law. Various campaign workers and others make cameos.

Family means everything to the Romneys. The entire clan is in on almost every decision from deciding to run through writing concession speeches.  Mitt owes it all to his father, George. While looking over Romney's notes for the first debate with President Obama, eldest son Tagg asks why he writes 'Dad' at the top of the page. "It's to remind me of my father, " Mitt answers. "Where I came from. Dad grew up poor but worked up to own a car company and then governor [of Michigan].  I have to remember that."

Whiteley does very little interviewing, he just lets the raw footage speak for itself. One interview, however, results in one of several comedic moments in the film.  During a South Carolina campaign stop in 2008, the hotel desk clerk is asked if they knew which candidate was staying in their hotel. He and a co-worker look through the records and eventually figure out it’s Romney. “I never heard of him,” he says.

Another funny scene takes place the night of  the  2012 Correspondent's Dinner, the annual tuxedo-and-ball gown Washington tradition where all the politicians and other Washington elite gather to make fun of themselves and the press. First, Romney tries to iron his tuxedo shirt cuff----while he's wearing it. Then, at dinner, he gets a big laugh: "You wear many outfits on the campaign trail, " he says. "Maybe jeans in the morning, a suit in the afternoon. But it's nice that Anne and I get a chance tonight to wear what we wear around the house."

After the good times of the dinner, we cut to Election Night 2012. Things are looking good, but then they look bad. Mitt and family watch as one state after the next is called for the president. And so it goes late into the night. Romney is getting nervous.

Although the West Coast polls are still open, they realize that statistically, it all comes down to Ohio. A few minutes later, the news comes in......Ohio is lost. The family is both relieved and disappointed--relieved that it's over; disappointed that Dad lost....again.

After writing the concession speech, there's only one decision left to make:  What to do about the Secret Service. It is decided that they will drive Mitt and Anne home, and that's it. "I wouldn't feel comfortable with them doing any more after that." Mitt says.  And so the film ends. Anne and Mitt carry their own bags into the house, and Mitt goes into the living room, a man alone with the rest of his life ahead of him.

The film won't change any minds on the politics of Romney, you either love him or hate him. But it is a very well done documentary.  It is an unprecedented look at what life is like on the campaign trail through the eyes of not just the candidate, but his family.  It's a very select group that gets to have such an experience, and thanks to  Whiteley and his crew, we get to experience it too.

Reebok has one. So does BMW. And You and I do too.

So, what exactly do you, me, Reebok, BMW, and all other organizations have in common? We all have a brand.

That's right. A brand. As Tom Peters wrote in his article "The Brand Called You" for the August/September 1997 issue of Fast Company magazine, "We are the CEO's of our own companies: Me, Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You."

This concept of a personal brand is new to me. I've only recently heard about it in a session on branding as part of the Career Enhancement Program (CEP) that I'm taking part in this summer at work. To be honest, I don't fully understand it.

As we discussed it in class, this is not unusual for people of my MBTI type (click here for more on this). We have to really be sold on the idea. For us, we should just be able to be the best employee we can be, do the best work we can do, and the rest should just take care of itself.

But I'll try.


Part I: What is a personal brand? Where does it come from?

Simply put, your personal brand is your organizational reputation. It is the match between what you would say about yourself, and what others would say about you. It's what comes to mind when your name comes up.

Your personal brand is the combined information from a variety of sources:

• Stories people tell about you and that you tell about yourself. 
• Beliefs that people have about you. For instance, if you keep a sloppy workspace, people may believe you do sloppy, haphazard work.
• Indirect exposure, i.e. if a third party asks your boss about you, they have indirect exposure to you. 
• Direct exposure, you with a co-worker. 
• Perceptions such as what people think about your personal appearance. 
• Personal experience--what people know about you outside of work. 
• Professional experience--what people know about your career and plans for the future. 

For a brand to be effective, it has to be powerful. It has to show how you are different from the others. Also, it has to be relevant. If you won "Employee of The Year" 10 years ago, but nothing since...well, who cares? It really comes down to: what have you done lately?

Part II: The Recurring Elements of a Brand

There are 5 elements of a brand:

Personality

• Your personal style and energy
• Others' emotional responses to you as a person
• Perceptions and beliefs about you

Product

• YOU are the product--not just your role
• Total sum of your skills, experience, education, potential, knowledge, etc
• Features vs Benefits--as an example from the Peters article, a feature could be that you anticipate and solve  problems before they become crises. The benefit is the client saves money and headaches just by you being on the team. 

Wrapping

The things that "wrap" your product, such as appearance, word choice, meetings, reports, e-mails, etc. 

Marketing

• The strategic and proactive actions you take and behaviors you use to build and maintain your desired brand and reputation.
• It comes down to this: "It's not just what you know, it's who knows you know it."

"I Inc" Mentality

• Don't wait to be invited.
• Want to be the best. 
• Be accountable.

Part III: Assessing and Developing your own brand

In the few days since taking the class, I have made some progress in this part of the process. But sitting there at the table in group, I really struggled. 

Initiation

First, clarify the desired outcomes of your project. In this case, develop my personal brand. Start by asking yourself: how am I known? How do others experience  me? Do I have a following--an appetite for what I offer? 

Next, determine who will be involved in the project. Who is the Marketplace for "I, Inc"? Start with the answers for the third question above. 

Planning

Create your plan and determine a timeline----what steps do you have to take to complete the project? Define each step, decide who needs to be involved, and set a deadline for completion. I'm still working on this part. My coach, leader, and program cohort will help me with this. 

Execution/Monitoring/Controlling

Put your plan into action, manage changes, gather input and feedback, and work to complete the tasks required to achieve your goal.


As I said before, I've been struggling with this idea. But I'm starting to come around--even just writing this post has helped. By the end of the summer, I'll have it. 

**In addition to the Peters article mentioned, material for this post came from the "Enhancing Your Brand" Participant Guide put together by the Talent Management team of the BCBSMA HR department**

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

About a month ago, I applied and was accepted into a program at work called the Career Enhancement Program (CEP). Included in the program are various excersizes and group meetings meant to teach you not just about the company, but also about yourself. In the end, you should be armed to take your career to the next step.

One of the requirements is to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Commonly known as a "personality test", the MBTI surveys how you would react to and feel about various situations.

Based on the work of Carl Jung and created by mother-daughter team Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers during WWII, the team first published the full MBTI in 1962.

The Types

Isabel Myers developed four pairs of  "preferences". Everyone has all eight prefrences within them that they use according to the situation, but within each pair, you will skew towards one or the other.

The pairs are:

Where you focus attention:
Extraversion (easily relate to the outer world of people and things)
Introversion  (easily relate to the inner world of ideas and impressions)

The way you take in information:
Sensing (interested in what the five senses show, what exists in the present)
Intuition (use imagination to see new possibliities and insights, focus on the future)

The way you make decisions:
Thinking (base decisions on objective analysis and logic)
Feeling   (base decisions on values and people-centered concerns)

How you deal with the outer world:
Judging  (like to have things decided, life is planned and orderly)
Perciving  (don't want to miss anything, life is spontanious and flexable)

Once your questionaire is analized, to find your type, just take the first letter of your preference from each pair. There are 16 different types.


My results

How did I come out? My type is ISTJ--Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging. Remember--these are prefrences--we all have all eight within us, and we switch depending on the situation.


What this means

Like all things, all 16 types have benefits and negatives.

A few of the  benefits for my type:

• Strong sense of responsability and great loyalty to family, organizations, relationships
• Work with steady energy to fulfill commitments
• Go to any trouble to complete something seen as neccessary, but balk at doing anything that doesn't make sense
• Perfer to work alone and have accountablility but will work in teams when needed and when roles are clearly defined
• Have a profound recpect for facts
• Practical, sensible, realistic, sysematic
• Clear and steadfast in opinions
• Believe standard procedures exist because they work. Support change only when facts demonstrate it will bring better results. 

And a few negatives:

• If not developed in Thinking--may not have reliable ways of dealing with the world and instead may be preoccupied with thier internal memories
• If not developed in Sensing--may rush into premature judgements and actions without considering new information
• Generally don't share their wealth of Sensing observations and memories except with close friends
• Others see ISTJ's standards and judgements, but may not see the individual, sometimes humorous, private reactions

I think this is generally pretty accurate. It certainly sounds familiar. 

"Show" "Business"

"There's no business like show business"

                                                             ----Irving Berlin, for Annie Get Your Gun

Berlin's song is meant to be a satirical take on what life is like in show business. But it's true, there really IS no business like show business--an industry that is a special hybrid of the creative and the rational. 

The creative--the "show"--is made of actors, actresses, musicians, writers, set designers, hair, makeup, and wardrobe people, and countless others pooling thier talents to put on a performance that the audience will, ideally, love and talk about in the future. 

But then there's the rational side--the "business".  Like any other industry, there has to always be someone in the office, so to speak, taking care of HR, payroll, hiring, firing, and the thousand other things that have to be done to keep the business in business. 

Above everything else, there's marketing and promotion. Ultimately, nothing else can happen unless these are successful. And in a small business like mine, where I have to be both the creative and the rational, I do it all. 

While my formal training is complete, well, as much as training is ever complete, I have kept my membership at Such A Voice  (SAV) open so I have access to various one-hour webinars. I have recently taken one called  "Taking The Sales Out Of Your Voice", hosted by SAV's Jilllian Nielson. Jillian presented a step by step guide to active marketing-- another way of saying "hitting the streets and hustling work"--as opposed to passive marketing, such as joining a pay to play site like voices.com. (The webinar is geared for VO, but I'm sure the concepts would translate to any industry.)

There are nine steps to the plan, divided into "Getting the Job" and "After the Job".

Getting the Job

Step 1:  Figure out the smaller towns in your area. Ad agencies like to use talent from bigger cities as this adds credability to the job, and makes it easier to get jobs. 

For instance, I'm pretty much right between Boston, MA and Manchester, NH. There are many smaller towns in this area. 

Step 2:  Google a list of ad agencies that handle business in your area (For me, between Boston and Manchester). Focus on any located or have work in the smaller towns, then elimate any that don't have a website. 

Step 3: Check out the sites of the rest. If any handle work that requires--or could require--VO, make a note. And if any do event marketing, think about being an MC. 

Step 4; Once you decide who to contact, fill out the Contact Us form with a simple note including a link to your site/demos. If you have the name of the creative director, even better. Something along the lines of:

---------------------

Dear XXXX, 

My name is Bill Georato. I am writing to let you know that I am available for any voice work you may have. Please find below the link to my site: 

https://www.voices.com/people/william51969

I will follow up next Tuesday. 

Thank you very much for your time, and looking forward to hearing from you. 

Bill Georato

--------------------

The point is to introduce yourself and your availability. Be sure to include the link.....Creative Directors don't have alot of time and you don't want them to have to go hunting for you.

While we're at it, don't forget any local businesses you may personally frequent often. I've already given my business card to my doctor's and dentist's office. And keep in mind local school districts---someone has to record thier phone system messaging, why not you? 

Step 5: Follow up! But do so only when you say you will, not before...or after. Ask if they have any clients for which your voice will fit. Even if they don't at that moment, offer yourself as a resource. Ask if you can keep in touch with them---every quarter is good. 

Step 6:  Congratulations! You got the job! From this point on, it's all about communication. Both you and your client will have expectations....keep all lines open. Ask every question you can think of: What exactly is the job? Local, regional, national? Radio, TV, Internet? Is it a private company IVR? 

Don't forget about post production. Are you or the client responsible? What about music? (This is a big one, if you are responable for this, but don't have access to royalty free--be sure to tell them.)

After the Job

Step 7:  OK, the job is done. Time to invoice; you love what you're doing, but you still want to get paid, after all.  But be sure to wait until the job is completely done. You don't want to have to invoice twice: once for the job, and again for any changes. 

It's best to invoice your clients the first of every month. So, for work done in May, invoice in June. 

You want to have a template with your company logo, name, and address. Itemize the bill relative to your agreement with the client. 

Step 8: Track your business. This is good not only for tax time, but just for your own records. Have a spreadsheet, as detailed as you like, listing all aspects of your work: client name, dates, type of job, date invoiced/paid, which media the job was for (TV, Radio, etc). Details, details, details.

Also have an expense sheet. You want to keep track of money spent on memberships, supplies, etc.


Step 9:   Keep top of mind. Send reminders, thank you notes, holiday greetings (audio!). Use social media to keep in touch. 

So there you have it. Everything you need to know about marketing in one blog post! Well, I suppose not really. But it's a great start. 

The Big Idea

It was born in 1857. Its two most prominent people were an Oxford professor and a Civil War Veteran. It took 70 years to complete, and when it was, it literally defined the English Language.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester, is the true story of how two men from vastly different backgrounds came together and, along with many others, put together the most important dictionary ever created.

The Professor

Born in February 1837, James Murray would grow up to become not the first or last editor of the OED's first edition, but he would be forever known as the most important.

Coming from the Scottish Borderland with an "unpromising, unmoneyed, unsophisticated" start at life, he very quickly proved himself to be an adept student, becoming a lecturer, joining all manner of philosophical societies,  eventually taking a professorship at Oxford.

Later, he would become the editor of the OED, and he fully took charge of the project, which at that point was nearly 20 years old. He instituted a full scale overhaul of procedures. The new plan: have volunteer readers carefully comb through books going back to the 1200's and pick out every interesting word, make precise notes as to the book and page, and cite the sentence the word appears in; then simply send them in. Every reader was given preprinted slips to fill out accordingly.

Murray and his staff would then go through all the slips, which eventually numbered in the millions, categorize them alphabetically, double check citations, write definitions based on the citations and common knowledge,  and send them to Murray himself, who would do the final edits on pronunciation and definitions.

The Madman

William Chester Minor was born in 1834 in the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to missionaries of the Congregationalist Church. There he lived until he was 14 when he was sent to live with relatives in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated Yale in 1863 as a medical doctor.

He joined the Union Army, but after the horrors of war, he moved to London, England, when, in 1871, he shot a man to death. The British authorities diagnosed him with what today we would call paranoia and schizophrenia (most likely brought on by the war) and sentenced him to life at the Broadmoore Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

There he stayed (late in life he was allowed to go home to his brother in CT), a brilliant man with nothing to do...until the OED came along. He was allowed to work on the project, and for nearly 30 years, he combed his books and became one of the most prolific contributors to the work.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Now we come the the final major character in Winchester's tale: the Dictionary itself. There have been dictionaries before; the idea goes back to the ancient Greeks. And there were earlier English dictionaries. But none of these earlier projects were bold enough to take on every single word --scientific and common, vulgar and sophisticated; every noun, verb (in all tenses), pronoun, article---- everything in the English language.

When all was said and done, the OED's first edition:

Defined 414,825 words
Had over 1.8 million quotations
One complete set (12 volumes) had 127 miles of paper, and over 200 million letters, numbers, punctuation marks and spaces, all hand set and letter-pressed.


Winchester's book, known in Britain as The Surgeon of Crowethorne, is a mere 242 pages long, but it is an epic tale which is gripping and well written. It is fascinating how two men with such different backgrounds and experiences would come together, and not only be colleagues from afar--Oxford was only about an hour away by train, but it would take Minor and Murray almost 20 years before they meet--but the close friendship they forge when they do finally meet.

Each chapter starts with the OED's complete entry for a word that describes the theme or events of the chapter. This is a very interesting device, and you learn some vocabulary along the way.

I had been eyeing this book for years, and I'm glad I finally took the time to read it. As William Safire said at the time it came out, "The linguistic detective story of the decade." Indeed it is.

A Launch Letter

"Launch Letter".  A few weeks ago, I had never heard that term. Now, I have one of my own.

A launch letter is something a new business sends out to friends, family, and prospective clients with the purpose of introducing the business and some relevant background on the people and industry.  In this case, the business is me, and what better way to start sending it out than a blog post.

So, with no further delay, here it is.

Dear,

My name is Bill Georato, Voice-Over Artist. Why voice-over? Well, I have always had an interest in entertainment, I had one line in my middle school production of A Christmas Carol, but it really started in college. As a DJ on college radio, first at WUMF 100.5FM (University of Maine-Farmington) co-hosting Bill and Matt’s Excellent Radio Show, then at WWLR 92FM (Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT) hosting my own show, Bill’s Basement, I learned how to use my voice. Over time, working in education as a middle school science teacher, and later as a health insurance  member service representative and finally volunteer presenter at the Museum of Science-Boston, I honed my voice and presentation skills teaching students and  visitors scientific principles through demonstrations and discussion. These aspects of my career- formal and informal education, and customer care- all have one thing in common: voice and presentation. This brings us to the final piece of the puzzle--formal voice-over training. One day, I was leafing through the local Adult Education brochure and saw a one night seminar being presented by Such A Voice out of Vermont. I took the class and decided that I wanted to pursue this as a career.

The voice-over industry is no longer simply radio and TV. These are still part of it, of course--Mike Rowe’s narration on Deadliest Catch, or Bob Saget on  How I Met Your Mother, for example--but there is so much more. Video games, audiobooks, GPS systems, talking greeting cards, home phone answering machines, and the recorded announcements at the airport are all voice-over. There are all kinds of voice-over in business and education too: E-learning programs, PSA’s, HR orientation videos, and IVR/Corporate voice-mail systems. Even Siri herself.

If you are in need of a voice talent, or know of someone who does, please send me their contact information. It will be kept in good hands. Thank you for your time and consideration, and looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Bill Georato

tinyurl.com/williamgvoice

The 1st Annual Spring Sprint Duathlon

As you know, I'm not much of a sports person, but I do enjoy running a little. I've done 5K's, a couple of half-marathons, and even finished the San Francisco Marathon.

This last Sunday, May 4th, 2014, I added a new event to my athletic career: the Spring Sprint Duathlon at Smolak Farms, North Andover, Ma. 

What is a duathlon? In this case, it's  a 5K  (3.1 mile) road run, a 13.3 mile bike race, and a 1.5 mile trail run. Add this up, and you get a nearly 18 mile race--just a little more than a half-marathon. And you do the whole thing, one right into the next. 

It all started at work about a month ago. Team Blue--Blue Cross Blue Shield MA's (BCBSMA) fitness and community involvement group--had put out the calender for upcoming events. I thought about doing this for a few days--after all, the location's convenient  for me, and I do also enjoy bike riding--so I signed up. There were only 10 spots available, and in the end there were only three of us. This gave us the option to race as a relay, but we are individualists, so while we started together, we ran our own race.

But there's one other thing......I volunteered, and was accepted to be, team leader/captain. In this, it was my job to take the team photo, make sure my team-mates had all the information they need, and take attendance on race day.  Not too difficult, but kind of funny that I was captain of an athletic team. 

Race day. I arrive about 6:30 am. Registration opens at 6:45, there is a mandatory meeting at 8:15, and the start is at 8:30. I've got my bike in the back of the truck, my Team Blue shirt, and ready to go. At registration, I pick up my bib for my self and my bike, and meet up with my team-mates, Christine and Angela.

Team Blue: From L--Angela, Christine, myself

The 5K

There were  about 120 competitors, and according to the Athlete's Guide, there were to be two waves: first all the men, then all the women and the relay starters. But in reality, we all started together, and right at 8:30, we were off. Heading down the main road through the farm and out the back gate,we wind our way through the back streets of  North Andover. The road is open to traffic, but we have half the road and there are plenty of volunteers and police to keep things safe. At the half way point, we literally turn around and head back. Once back on the farm, we head into the transition area to switch to the bike race. 

The Bike Race

In a duathlon, just like a triathlon, time in transition counts to your total time. You want to spend as little time as possible there. This is why everything has to be ready and perfectly positioned. 

Every competitor has their own spot in the transition area according to their bib number. I was very lucky with bib # 40; this put my bike in the front row of transition, and I could just run in, strap my helmet on (helmets are required in official USAT events such as this; I would wear one anyway), and get right back out. 

But before we could actually get on the bike, we ran/walked them up the hill to the main gate, and jumped on as we hit the road. From here, it was a 13.1 mile loop around the towns of North Andover and Boxford. Again, the road was open to traffic, but being Sunday morning, there wasn't really much. Volunteers and police were at every turn so it was very safe. There weren't many people out, so it was a quiet ride, and as we came up to another rider to pass, we'd say hello and good job. 

Since I have no odometer on my bike, and there were no mile markers on the road, it was hard to tell where on the course I was.  But I did have my Timex in chronometer mode; since it took about half an hour to finish the 5K,  at the 1 1/2 hour mark I figured I was getting close to the end of the ride (more on my times later.) And that was about right. Off the bike, and back to transition for the trail run. 

The U.S.S Sheldon Cooper ready for launch.

The Trail Run

The final section of the race took me into the apple and peach orchards on the farm. Weaving in and out through the rows of trees--and up and down the hill--I walked most of this course. I was tired, despite taking my Goo and water. Also, I had studied the course maps, including the changes in topology, but you never really know what you're getting into until you actually see it. 

Of course, you do have to run through the finish line, so once out of the orchard, I ran back on to the road and through the finish.

Post race

After running through the finish, I caught up with Angela, and later Christine. While I was the last to finish in our group, we all had a great race, especially since this was the first time any of us had done something like this. We were all happy with our times, and most importantly had a lot of fun in a great setting,  and would do it again. 

Time for food now.  The folks at Smolak Farms put out a nice spread: water, coconut water (which I quickly learned I didn't like), bananas, apples, ham and cheese quiche, broccoli and cheese quiche, and freshly baked banana nut muffins and Smolak's famous apple-cinnamon donuts. So good.

The Times and Placement

Here's my stats for the race:

111th place overall, out of 120 finishers
30:21 on 5K run
0:48 in 1st Transition
1:04:49 on 13.3 mile bike
0:36 in 2nd Transition
22:22 on 1.5 mile trail run

Total time: 1:58:54

13th in age group, 63rd in gender.

All in all, it was a great morning out, and looking forward to next year! 


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: The opinions stated here are solely those of the author, and do not  reflect those of BCBSMA, or its management or staff.

Movie Review: Muppets Most Wanted

There are two kinds of bad films. First is the type that is truly terrible, one with little to no redeeming features at all. For example, the cinematic atrocity that is Grease 2. There is an OK idea for a plot--Frenchie takes Teen Angel's advice and goes back to high school--but overall it is a horrid film: writing, acting, and music. I regret that I'm simply aware if this movie's existence. I double regret actually watching it.

The other kind is a film that is so bad that you actually like it, maybe even enjoy it enough for multiple viewings. For example, Dennis Quaid's Jerry Lee Lewis biopic Great Balls of Fire, or Johnny Depp's 2013 take on The Lone Ranger. These films also aren't good,  Depp's turn as Tonto is nothing short of cringe-worthy, and Quaid's Lewis is way over the top, but there is just something about them that you like. They clearly tried, but obviously missed the mark.

Relative to the rest of the Muppetverse,  Muppets Most Wanted, the latest film in the franchise, is in the second category. Starting literally the second the previous movie ended--in fact the first shot of this film is the "The End" of the last-- The Muppets are back together, with the addition of Walter, and are discussing what to do next. Enter Ricky Gervais  as Dominic Badguy, who offers to work with Kermit and the others on promoting a world tour. But Badguy has a secret, he is the number two criminal mastermind. Who is number one? None other than Russian Kermit doppelganger Constantine, "the world's most dangerous frog". After escaping from a Siberian Gulag, Constantine joins Badguy, and they hatch their plan to steal Britain's Crown Jewels.

This is the main plot to the film. Key to this is that the Muppets believe  Constantine is really Kermit; Badguy manages to convince them that Constantine's Russian accent is really Kermit with a cold. And they buy it. The exception here is Animal, who knows right away something is wrong. "Bad frog," he says, "Bad frog. Bad frog." Meanwhile, Kermit has been captured by the authorities thinking he is Constantine, and has been sent "back" to the Gulag, where  Commandant Nadya, played by Tina Fey, recruits him to stage the Gulag talent show.

The tour travels across Europe as Constantine and Badguy uncover one clue after another--Da Vinci Code style--as to how to get to the Crown Jewels. The plan culminates with the long-awaited lavish London wedding of Miss Piggy and "Kermit", which  Real Kermit, after escaping from the Gulag, crashes. After the expected "Which One Is The Real Kermit?" scene, Piggy finally realizes the Constantine has duped them all.

In the end, the Crown Jewels are recovered, and Badguy and Constantine are taken into custody by Ty Burell's Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon and Muppet CIA agent Sam The Eagle.

This relationship between Napoleon and Sam is probably the thing that makes the most sense in the whole movie. Starting the moment they meet, they are arguing over who has the biggest badge. This is one of the biggest laughs in the film, as each in turn comes up with bigger and bigger badges. From then on, they have their disagreements--"European slacker" versus "Hard-working American"--which makes for some good scenes, and when it's all over, they realize they work well together and have become good friends.

As far as the story goes, Muppets Most Wanted is OK at best. It is an interesting take on a more "adult" subject. Being rated PG limits the filmmakers on what they can do--it is the Muppets after all, but all the explosions and threat of death seem a bit out of place here.

Finally, let me mention the music. It is rather uninspiring. The opening song--a self-deprecating riff on how, generally speaking, sequels suck-- was funny. But the rest of the music was not that great. And don't even get me started on the whole Celine Dion thing.

As one who grew up with the Muppets, I can honestly say that they are normally very entertaining. But not this time. And I'm not sure about the kids either. I went with a group that included two eleven year-olds. Didn't hear a single laugh out of them.

Studio Day

It is a cool late winter New England morning. I awake to the sound of the wind blowing through the bare branches of the naked trees. Looking out the window, the sky is still dark but soon the sun will be glistening off the snow. I've had a good nights sleep, and good thing, because the last 14 weeks have all lead to this.

It's February 21st, 2014, and it's Studio Day, the day I record my first professional voice over demos. I'm nervously excited--or excitedly nervous, I can't decide which--but I feel ready. My coach Angela and I have taken the last three weeks going over my scripts, and my best friend Duncan will be joining me (he doesn't know it yet, but I've decided to start introducing him as the founding member of my Entourage.) And last week, I took a  test trip into town to make sure I know where the studio is (thanks to another friend, Bob, for the ride over there.)

7:45 AM. After breakfast and the usual morning getting ready, it's time to leave. I grab my backpack containing the supplies for the day: notebook and pens, water and more water, two sets of scripts--my marked up scripts and  clean copies for the studio--and $200 cash; I have the studio for two hours at $100 each. I am leaving a little earlier than needed, I don't need to be there until about 10:15, but I have a near phobic fear of being late, especially for something really important like this. Besides, I have to pick up Duncan, and we are driving into Boston, and I don't want to take a chance on the Friday morning traffic.

The plan is to park at the Museum of Science-Boston, and take the Green Line C train to the Hynes Convention Center stop. Arriving at the museum around 9, I figure we have a half-hour to 45 minutes to kill, so we wander around the place, then head off to the train.

At the appropriate stop, we get off, walk down  Newbury St, and right to the building--Cybersound Music. Perry Geyer, the owner, who is also my sound engineer this morning, greets us. It's a small studio-reception area, two recording booths and a booth with the engineering equipment. The booth I'll be using is Studio A, the larger and more updated studio. I have a microphone, headphones, and a TelePrompter off of which I can read the copy. There is also a piano and glass window through which I can see Perry and Duncan. Perry will be signaling me that we're rolling.

Sound check, and it's time to start. Angela has called in via Skype, and, as the demo producer, she calls the action. We have 11 scripts to record in two hours, and it takes me 15 minutes to complete the first one. This leaves me just over 10 minutes to complete each of the others. Are we going to make it? But a pattern develops---one take of the complete script, then several takes of each sentence, and a final recording of the whole. It's interesting why we do it this way. Let's say we want a perfect take of the sentence "I like chocolate milk." They can take the "I like" from take one, and put it together with the "chocolate milk" from take three. And you have a perfect recording of that sentence.

For the next hour and 45 minutes we complete one script after the next--some I do quickly, others take more time. Finally, the last script--good thing it's a short one, because Angela calls "That's a wrap" with literally 30 seconds to spare.

And with that, the recording is complete. I take off my headphones and rejoin Perry and Duncan. We talk as Perry sends off the files to Such A Voice's post production team (out of the two hours in the studio, there's about  50 minutes of actual recorded material); it will take about 5- 8 weeks or so to get the final edit back from them.  I pay, Perry gives me his card, and the business of the day is done. It's 12:40 PM.

Before leaving the neighborhood, Duncan and I grab lunch, and we take the train back to the museum.

It's a little after 4:00 by the time I get back home after dropping Duncan off, and I just now realize how exhausted I am. It's been a stressful day--in a good way. I have passed an important milestone in starting a new career, and am excited to get the finished product back. I also realize that I have been so focused on the business at hand that I've completely forgotten that I've had a camera with me all day----now I don't have any pictures of the experience!

I have dinner, but by 8:00 I just can't stay awake any longer, so to bed I go, knowing that it's been a good day, and it's only the beginning.

My Favorite Place That I've Never Been

True story. A friend of mine--ok, it was me---was playing around on the net, and, well, you know how it goes: you start looking for one thing and you end up in an entirely different place. And I discovered my new favorite place to which I've never been.

 Medicine Hat is a city located in southern Alberta, Canada about 100 miles from the US border at Harve, Montana, and 190 miles southeast of Calgary. For those who are interested, it is geologically located at 50 N latitude and 110 42 W longitude. The city encompasses an area of roughly 45 square miles and is 2,365 feet above sea level.

The Legend

 But that’s enough statistics for now. Let’s tackle the burning question: Medicine Hat? Where did that come from? Well, like many place names, it came from Indian, or First Nation, history. The name Medicine Hat derives from the native word “saamis”, or medicine man’s hat. Here’s the legend as told on the city’s website:

The legend tells of a winter of great famine and hardship for the Blackfoot nation. The elders of the Council chose a young man to save his tribe from starvation. Setting out with his new wife and favourite wolf dog, he journeyed down the ice-bound South Saskatchewan River. After many arduous days they made their way to the “breathing hole”, an opening in the ice, located on the river between what is now Police point and Strathcona Park in Medicine Hat. This location was a sacred place to the First Nations’ people: a place where the water spirits came to breathe.

They made camp and summoned the spirits to appear. A giant serpent rose from the misty waters and demanded the sacrifice of the woman in exchange for a “Saamis” or “holy bonnet” which would endow the owner with special powers and great hunting prowess. The young man tried to trick the serpent by throwing the body of his dog into the river but the serpent was not fooled, and finally reluctantly, the woman was thrown into the frigid waters.

The man was told to spend the night on the small island (Strathcona) and “in the morning when the sun lights the cut-banks, go to the base of the great cliffs and there you will find your Medicine Hat”. And so aided by the magic of his Saamis, the young hunter located the much needed game, saved his people, and eventually became a great Medicine Man.

A City Is Born

Like many cities of the North American West, Medicine Hat was influenced by and has a history tied to the railroad. When the Canadian Pacific Railway came through the area, the builders had to stop to build a bridge across the South Saskatchewan River, and that’s when it all began. This was in 1883. Eventually the Northwest Mounted Police arrived to maintain law and order among the railroad and First Nations. Finally, in 1905, Alberta was incorporated as a province, and in 1906 Medicine Hat was incorporated as the new province’s largest city. The Railway’s mainline still goes through the city.

When the railroad first arrived in the area, a happy accident happened which still resonates. In fact, one of the city’s nicknames comes from it—The Gas City (other nicknames are "Canada's sunniest city" and "Oasis of the Prairies"). While drilling for water, the crew discovered a major natural gas deposit, found to be one of the largest in North America. The city leaders decided, in 1903, to form a city-owned utility to provide gas to all residents. This utility still exists today.

Speaking of city government, the leaders consist of a mayor (currently Dr. Keith Clugston), and eight aldermen, or council members. The mayor is also a council member, for a total of nine. Terms run for 3 years, and Mayor Clugston was elected in 2012. There are, of course, various committees within the council.

The People

 A city is only as good as the people who live there, and from what I’ve read, these are a young and vibrant people. According to the 2012 city census, the official population was 61,180 as of June 1st. Out of that, the largest age demographic is the 25 to 44 year old group, with 27 percent of the population, or 16, 681 people, with men in the slight majority. Overall, however, there are more women than men  in Medicine Hat, at 50.4 percent of the population. And it doesn’t cost much to live there. The city has one of the lowest property tax rates in Alberta, thanks in great part to the city gas utility.

What To Do

 According to the census, Medicine Hat has a great quality of life, in part to do the social life of the city. The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Center hosts all manner of concerts and shows. There are 618 acres of parks, and 57 miles of hiking/running/bike trails. The city was also on the Torch Relay for the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The torch passed through town on Saturday, January 16th, 2010. And that is not the only Olympics related event in Medicine Hat. In honor of the 1988 Calgary games, the city built the world's largest teepee.

This is just a little taste of the city. Overall—having obviously never been there—this city seems very interesting and I am looking forward to visiting our cousins to the Northwest.

Diary Of A Voice-Over Artist In Training, Part 3

The third edition of the series. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here.

Friday December 20, 2013 4:30PM EST--My books came today. Last week I decided to do some extra work and study on my own, so I turned in 40 credit card points and got a $50 Barnes and Noble certificate. With this I bought 2 books.

The  Book of Audacity, by Carla Schroder. Now I can be an Audacity wizard!
Stella Adler-On The Art And Technique Of Acting, compiled by Howard Kissel (with a forward by Marlon Brando). This is  widely considered to be one of the premier books on acting.

Thursday January 2, 2014 6:15PM EST-- Email from SAV, another storm, another delay in the seminar. Now it's Saturday, Jan 18th.

Monday January 13, 2014 2:15PM EST-- During last week's session, Angela and I went over a whole bunch of questions to help finalize the scripts for my demo. We went over my favorite things in all kinds of categories from travel, food, dream jobs and a slew  of other subjects.

I just checked my email and my scripts are in! I have 5 commercials and 4 narrations.

Commercials: "Ellio's Pizza", "Garmin", "Miracle-Gro", "Hyundai Santa Fe", "LL Bean"
Narrations: "Blue Cross Blue Shield MA On-Hold Message", "Identifying Customer Need", "Physics Demonstration", "Iceland"

Saturday January 18, 2014 5:00PM EST-- After 2 postponements, we finally had our seminar. We started with 7 students, but one left after lunch.

It was a long, fun, informative day. We went over many aspects of V.O. from performance to script analysis, to the equipment you need for your home studio and briefly touched on marketing techniques and getting jobs. (Read more about it here.)


Wednesday January 22, 2014 7:00PM EST--  My 11th coaching session. Only 3 more to go. We started going over my demo scripts more in depth. And it's time to start working on my profile.


Wednesday February 12, 2014 7:00PM EST-- My last coaching session. Angela and I run through all the demo scripts and two extras. The extra scripts are one commercial and one narration from the lessons. For my commercial I chose "Disney Cruise Lines" and my narration is "Carteret Islands".

We also finalized my studio time. I'm going into Cyber Sound Studios in Boston (more on this in a later post.) Angela will be the producer of the demo. She has  been a great coach!


The "performance" part of my training is now over. Time to start marketing, and thus enters the second part of my package with SAV, although my training with them is essentially done. It's really all on me now. Time to start setting up my business!

Happy Anniversary, AKA, Who Reads This Thing Anyway?

One year ago today, Dude With Thoughts went live. Over the past year together, we've had many experiences--among them, we've endured breakups, visited places real and fictional, reunited with old friends, and even started training  for a whole new career. Happy first anniversary, and thank you for joining me!

For this first anniversary post, as a gift to you, dear reader, I want to tell you about......you! Thanks to my Blogger statistics page, I have a lot of interesting information on my readers. (Don't worry, it's very general, aggregate information--nothing personal to anyone.)

There are two kinds of stats, which I'll call "People Stats" and "Post Stats". For most of these, I can only see the top ten, so there may be others.

People Stats

People Stats are statistics about the blog's audience. These include things like what browsers and operating systems you use. It also tells me what are the most popular referring URLs and referring sites.

But the most interesting to me is the "Pageview (PV) by Country" stat. Here, "country" refers to the country which hosts the website that the viewer uses to enter the blog. Turns out, there's an international audience--in fact, I've had views from 6 out of the 7 continents. (Come on, Antarctica, you know you want to!)

PV By Country

United States	1014
Russia	70
Germany	54
Canada	36
Malaysia	36
United Kingdom	27
Serbia	21
Netherlands	9
Brazil	6
Spain	6

PV By Browser

 

Internet Explorer	791 (54%)
Firefox	253 (17%)
Chrome	177 (12%)
Safari	59 (4%)
BingPreview	37 (2%)
Mobile Safari	36 (2%)
chromeframe	33 (2%)
Silk	23 (1%)
Opera	20 (1%)
OS;FBSV	15 (1%)

PV By Operating System

Windows	1171 (80%)
Macintosh	117 (8%)
Linux	72 (4%)
Android	45 (3%)
iPhone	33 (2%)
Other Unix	7 (<1%)
iPad	7 (<1%)
Windows NT 6.1	3 (<1%)
BeOS	2 (<1%)
iPod	1 (<1%)

Referring URL

http://blogsrating.pw/	69
http://web.mail.comcast.net/zimbra/mail?app=mail	45
http://www.vampirestat.com	41
http://www.filmhill.com/redirect.php?url=http://flf-course.com?a_aid=510d2acc92117&a_bid=6f93443e	18
http://www.vampirestat.com/	18
http://www.7secretsearch.com	17
http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdudewiththoughts.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F03%2Fthe-top-television-characters-for-now.html&h=lAQGtoc_8&s=1	14
http://webmail.excite.com/6058f750/gds/index_rich.php	14
http://1832985c.any.gs/	13
http://www.adsensewatchdog.com	13

Referring Sites

blogsrating.pw	69
www.facebook.com	69
www.vampirestat.com	59
web.mail.comcast.net	48
m.facebook.com	37
www.google.com	34
www.filmhill.com	18
www.7secretsearch.com	17
webmail.excite.com	16
www.linkedin.com	14

Popular Search Keywords

dudewiththoughts.blogspot.com	12
baa 5k	2
dudewiththoughts.com	2
"halifax public gardens" (site:wordpress.com | site:blogspot.com | site:typepad.com)	1
25 year high school reunion attitude	1
americas ice cream and dairy museum	1
baa 5k 2013 blog	1
carnival cruise boston to st.john	1
carnival cruise to nova scotia advice	1
dude thoughts	1

Pageviews by Countries Entry Pageviews United States 1014 Russia 70 Germany 54 Canada 36 Malaysia 36 United Kingdom 27 Serbia 21 Netherlands 9 Brazil 6 Spain 6

Pageviews by Browsers Entry Pageviews Internet Explorer 791 (54%) Firefox 253 (17%) Chrome 177 (12%) Safari 59 (4%) BingPreview 37 (2%) Mobile Safari 36 (2%) chromeframe 33 (2%) Silk 23 (1%) Opera 20 (1%) OS;FBSV 15 (1%) Pageviews by Operating Systems Entry Pageviews Windows 1171 (80%) Macintosh 117 (8%) Linux 72 (4%) Android 45 (3%) iPhone 33 (2%) Other Unix 7 (<1%) iPad 7 (<1%) Windows NT 6.1 3 (<1%) BeOS 2 (<1%) iPod 1 (<1%)

 

Post Stats


Post Stats are statistics about the postings themselves. These include the number of pageviews each post has, the number of comments, etc.

There are a total of 33 comments.

The most read month was December 2013 (257 PVs), the least read was February 2013 (75 PVs). The average per month is approximately 121 PV's. The most read post was on the WWII Museum (81 PVs), the least read was my Star Trek inspired poem (7 PV's). The average number of PV's is 58.36. Top 10 Most Popular Posts (PV) The National WWII Museum--New Orleans, LA   81 My Summer Cruise, Part 1: The Ship   64 Movie Review: Trek Nation   46 My Summer Cruise, Part 2: The Ports   46 The Break-Up   43 The 2013 BAA 5K   40 Everyone Is Entitled To My Opinion   33 The Top Television Characters (For Now)   32 Weather For Kids, With Freddy The Frog   27 "Spock Versus The Volcano"   25
All in all, it's been a great first year. Thanks again for joining me, and looking forward to year 2!