Hmmm. Like the new look?

Decided that the bright green was a little hard on the eyes, so I'm trying out a new template I got from Pyzam. Not entirely sure what I think as yet because text on black can be tiring. Shall have to see what I think long term.

Picking a template is so about individual expression and there were several I liked. But I wasn't sure they were me. Nope, don't ask me what that means. :-) I think I'm having a difficult time of late defining myself. I like that I don't fit into a neat package, but I find the variety a little overwhelming at times. Rarely (like with my car) do I find something that fits all parts of me.

Edited to add: This is the third different template I've been through now. Just not sure what my look should be. But I think the brown is more soothing and white background easier to read on.

Well-stocked craft closet

Almost on a dare, I made a lens on the well-stocked craft closet. 'Bout wiped me out by the time I figured out how I wanted to organize it, created artwork, then managed to gather all the info and links. Wow! And I still can see about 100 things that need to be changed/added. But that's for another day because I suppose the next thing on the list should be a well-organized craft closet. And possibly a library of books. I started unpacking my craft books last night (hooray for getting to move back into that part of the house!) and realized I had quite a collection. Might make a good lens.

Step 358,934

Next thing I need to learn about - how to do trackback links. I'm obviously missing something. As usual. :-)

Ah, Skelanimals again!!

Wow. OK, just ran across the new line of shirts and jewelry from Lounge Fly - cute new things for 2008. I should be getting them added to the Skelanimals shop in the next day or so. There's finally a shirt for Quackee and ChungKee, so nice to see that some of the other characters are getting the treatment. And the new designs are quite innovative - a little less dark, a lot more free flowing. I like!!

Keeping the Skelanimals shop tidy

Wow. Running a shop via Squidoo is a little tougher than I expected, particularly with such a wide topic as the Skelanimals. There are constantly new items being released and others being taken off the shelves. And there's just so many of them!!

They've released a new set of t-shirts that are definitely styled for guys - tuxedos and ties abound. A couple of new hoodies (Diego and Jack), some stationery items (Marcy), cute knee high socks (Marcy). I've got them all now. I also went back and added the cute totes (Dax and Ellie) and wallets that have been out for a while.

I really love these guys, so creating the shop was quite fun. I hope I can figure out how to better drive traffic and keep up with all the cool stuff!

Bland name means bad brand

So Seth's talking today about branding and avoiding bad brand names. I don't disagree with him (Ok, I rarely do), but it's one thing to know what makes a bad brand name and avoid it and another to come up with something good.

How do I know this? I've been racking my brain lately trying to come up with names for my husband and his partners for a company name. We run into several problems, the primary one being that so many domain names have been taken by squatters. (Who are doing quite nicely, thank you. Offer.com sold for $180,000 this week. Yikes!) Add to that two partners whose first language isn't English, one who's really young and none of them very marketing savvy. My husband will listen to me, the others don't. So this has been a hair-pulling exercise to say the least because they keep coming back to names that are generic, say nothing and are totally safe (boring). I keep trying to encourage them to think in terms of what the brand will be and less in terms of what the product actually does, but once the hair has been pulled out, there's little protection for when you beat the head against the wall. (I'd share some of the stinkers, but I don't want to jeopardize them getting a domain name. Wait, maybe I should so someone out there can steal them and I can make them get something better!!)

So how to avoid this? Because I run into the same problem all the time in my every day job. (Thus my involvement in this side project for my husband.) What I've learned over the years? 1) No one will go along with you just because you're the professional. (Oh how I wish that worked!) 2) Vague words will never sell your idea. Throw some facts and well-thought out reasons at them. 3) Give them options and make them feel as though they are making the choice. 4) Have a plan based not on how great your idea is, but on the players you're dealing with. Understand the personalities and play to them.

Do I take my own advice? Nope. I seem to run into this problem quite often, which is why I come up with the great ideas and usually let my boss run the traps. Good teamwork!

Hmmm ... can a new mom run for office?

Well, my initial reaction when I heard the word that Sarah Palin had announced that she was seven-months pregnant was - well, there goes that potential VP. After reading a lot of the other reactions on the web, I have to admit, I'm chagrined that that was my reaction. After all, I have nothing against working mothers. Had one myself. :-) So that wasn't it. I'm not sure exactly why I assumed that would knock her out of VP consideration. Most new mothers get a month at most, and she'll have that by the time of the convention. The job of running for office is quite time consuming, but her baby can travel with her. So what is it? Would most Americans have the same initial reaction? Would they react negatively to a new mom running for the second highest office in the land? Would McCain look like out-of-touch if that's the reason he doesn't chose her? (Granted her skimpy record could give him a gracious way out of what's turning into a popularity contest.)

Does her pregnancy make her more or less electable? After all, that's the real meat of the question here. Doesn't matter whether it shouldn't matter - it will. I had a really hard time swallowing it when Kay Baily Hutchison adopted children after she was already 60. On the one hand, those kids will have a life now that they could only have dreamed of before. On the other, she was a little on the old side for young kids. To me, it showed some lack of judgment. Maybe not a lack of love, but definitely judgment. Palin's younger, she's pregnant, she has some momentum behind her for winning the nomination. Haven't seen anyone calling her on judgment on this one so far. So, will she appeal to other women trying to have it all? Will the baby be too much of an upstage risk for McCain?

Guess we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

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Which Skelanimal are you?

Ha!! OK, I have a Skelanimals shop, so I've been hunting down more stuff to include, trying to keep up with the latest news, etc. Ran across the peta2-Fur is Dead campaign. OK, we won't get into my thoughts on that just now, but they have a "which Skelanimal are you?" quiz. So here's me - 

OK, makes sense that I would be Dax Dog since I'm such a dog person. But fur is lovely and meat is yummy! It was actually a hard quiz to take because it was so slanted toward vegan/vegetarian fur-hater types. So not me. Can I still love the Skelanimals if I eat meat and wear leather? 

I don't understand SEO

My small cross-stitch patterns lens finally has started showing searches for Google. It was indexed, but it never showed up when you searched Google. And everything on there was original. I will never get it, I think. I have other lenses that show up in searches almost immediately, then some that just seem to languish no matter what I do. My Skelanimals shop is having the same issue. Sigh.