Blog: My Brain Dump
Monastery (1992)
Well, this was a fun little find this evening!
I did a lot of tags for radio and TV commercials for (Time) Warner Cable back in the late Eighties and early Nineties. And when it came time for a regional/national TV campaign, TW wanted to stick with the same “sales voice” they’d been using for years.
I have never sought out the camera…but I’m enough of a ham that I didn’t turn down the opportunity (plus, it was a decent payday!). So, Warner’s Mike Kenny and I flew to the Twin Cities in the dead of winter and stayed at a very nice hotel attached to the Mall of America. And early in the morning, we showed up at a production studio to shoot my part in this very nicely-done commercial.
The concept for the commercial was that I was the pitch guy for an irresistable offer on cable TV…and one of the monks in a monastery was so overpowered by the INCREDIBLE OFFER that he nearly broke his vow of silence in attempting to take advantage of it. 😉
I don’t remember a whole lot about the session (it’s only about 9 months shy of TWENTY YEARS AGO now…), but I do recall them dyeing my beard brown (because it naturally had a lot of red mixed in as well…by the way, this is NOT considered an issue today!) and having to do a bazillion takes. By the time we got back to Columbus later that day, I think the whole trip was less than 24 hours.
This was a great opportunity. I’m glad I found this again before the VHS tape decayed to dust!
Yellowberry Jam: My First “Real” Music Video
Ever since YouTube became an indispensable tool for sharing your music, I’ve sorta tinkered around with little music video concepts. The truth is: A well-done music video…the kind that gets people talking…costs a boatload of money and requires a boatload of time!
I’ve had a number of songs in mind that seem like they deserved a chance (someday) at a legitimate music video treatment…especially some of my solo piano pieces and my original songs for kids. Some elicited very strong reactions…kept people talking…caused folks to take time out of their day to write me an email telling me how much they’d been touched, etc.
I tried to take some of these and put pretty pictures with them, at least. While they weren’t anything to write home about, it was something…as opposed to the nothing I was doing instead. And about 18 months ago, I hired some very talented artists and put together a faux animated video for one of my kids songs. It was cute, but still wasn’t the kind of thing that really impressed people.
This year, finally…things have started falling into place. I’ve found some affordable resources, and have finally hired some folks who can give some of my material (songs and the only story I’ve ever written) a legitimate treament.
Yellowberry Jam is my most popular kids song to-date. So it was fitting that it got the first real shot. And I think the animator, Dave Barnis, did a great job of capturing the spirit of the lyrics and music.
I really need help spreading the word about this. I won’t consider this effort a success until I reach 100K video views on YouTube. So anything you can do to tell a friend with children about it…email someone, post it on Facebook, send a Tweet…anything at all…would be MUCH appreciated.
There are a couple other cool things in the pipeline. I should have another one to share with you in the next 10 days or so. And there is a group of puppeteers who have fallen in love with another of my songs for children and are having a special puppet made just for that song. Hopefully the final output of that product is just weeks away as well.
I’ll be back someday to talk about how an industry outsider like me…just a regular guy workin’ 80+ hours a week…can get cool things like these done while continuing to just work and carry on my life every day. It’s a new way of working…but something that I believe others can benefit from. And I feel that it can be especially critical to Americans in the middle of the current economic crisis, with jobs being moved overseas, etc. We need a new way of doing business…and I’m learning some lessons that I hope to share soon. However, in order to have any credibility, I have to be able to point to some success. And this music video is my first big test.
So please do anything you can to help me make this video a success by spreading the word. I have MANY more things along these lines that I’d like to tackle. But unless people are seeing them and talking about them, it’s pretty hard to justify the investment of time and money involved to create them. So, please…if you like the video…SHARE IT!! 😉
En-Joy!!
But…That’s Not Possible…Your Cholesterol Should Be HIGHER!!
Just ran out to the mailbox to grab the mail…and when I got back, my phone was blinking. It was a message from my doctor’s office. If you’ll recall…when I spoke to her by phone last week, I asked if she thought it was wise for me to come in for a blood draw so she could evaluate my current levels, just in case we could drop any more of the prescription medicines…since some are known to inhibit weight loss (we had already cut my blood pressure meds in half…and I had completely dropped an antidepressant that I’d begun taking in November, with no ill results). She thought the blood draw was a great idea…so I went in the next morning, they confirmed the weight loss to that point (about 36 lbs on that particular day)…checked my pulse and blood pressure…and took some blood.
So today’s call was regarding my test results…and I quote:
“…your cholesterol profile is VERY GOOD. She says go ahead and stop the Zocor…and we’ll check your cholesterol levels again in 6 to 8 weeks….”
And why is this significant? Because since January 3rd of this year…I have switched the process by which I select my foods to focus FIRST on fat intake, SECOND on protein intake…and then, to eat for taste and cover my nutritional needs in terms of vitamins, etc. Thus…whereas quantities may or may not have varied (I clearly AM eating less of EVERYTHING than I was two months ago…), the percentage of fat and protein in my diet is signficantly higher than it was at the first of the year.
So, you might say: “Some fat is fine…unless you’re trying to lose weight. Protein is good…although the USDA guidelines say to treat meat like a garnishment rather than a main course. But…what about the vegetables?? There OUGHT to be vegetables. SEND IN THE VEGETABLES!!”
And to that, I say: “That’s fine, if that’s how you prefer to eat. But for me, I need BOTH to eat in a healthy way AND to lose weight…a LOT of weight. And what I am doing now has helped me shed 39 lbs over the last seven weeks. Without hunger. WITHOUT FEELING DEPRIVED. NOT EVEN FOR AN HOUR.”
“But…all that FAT…all that MEAT! Your cholesterol will be SKY HIGH!!”
Well, based on what I had been reading, I did not expect that to be the case. In fact, when I set out my copious quantities of prescription meds and supplements for this week…I was down to 3 pills left of the statin. Under normal circumstances, I would have re-ordered the prescription then, so that when I ran out this Friday I’d have some at the ready. But…as I predicted last week in a blog post, I did expect expect my cholesterol to be higher…and maybe it would even DROP some. So, I just decided I’d wait and see what happened.
The doctor’s office says my cholesterol profile is VERY GOOD…and that I can stop taking the statin I’ve been taking for the last year to manage my cholesterol!
I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nutritionist. In addition to a few other things for which I am paid and somewhat known…I’m a fat guy who’s trying to shed a couple hundred pounds of body fat accumulated over the past 25 years. So…no…*I* wouldn’t take my word for it, either. But now I have some hard data.
And I hope you might find this news as enlightening…and encouraging…as I did. 😉
Low-Insulin-Impact Breakfast For Low-Carb & Slow-Carb Eaters
I am continuing to get questions about what I am eating to have lost nearly 40 pounds in about 6 weeks. By the way…I have been at a 39-lb loss plateau for about a week. This doesn’t concern me at all, as I took 20 years to put ON the 200 extra pounds…so I’m in no rush to see it all drop off by summer for swimsuit weather. 😉
Anyway…since January 3rd, the basis of my food choices has shifted to these three priorities:
1. nutritional sufficiency
2. insulin impact (also sometimes referred to as glycemic index or low-glycemic foods…a factor in management of blood sugar…so critical for both diabetics and for those concerned with weight management)
3. taste (i.e., I can’t survive long-term on cardboard, even if it was the most-nutritious food on earth…I just can’t live that way)
So here is my breakfast for this morning:
3-4 bites of Tyson Chicken Breast Strips (sorry, forgot to weigh during preparation…maybe 4 oz, though). These things are so delicious. I’m not generally a fan of white chicken meat, because it’s so dry…but these are moist and wonderfully-seasoned right out of the bag. I don’t need to do anything else to them…just heat and dig in. Meat is my best source of protein (essential for blood sugar stability…I’m not diabetic, but this also helps keep hunger at bay and helps you maintain focus between meals) and of fat (which makes you feel satisfied when you’ve eaten).
A raspberry CARBmaster Yogurt from Kroger. 4 net carbs (I am currently keeping it under 20 net carbs a day to stay in ketosis and keep my weight loss going), with maybe 12-15 fresh blueberries and a pinch of Truvia (natural sweetener with stevia and erythritol) to make the yogurt just a tad sweeter. The Truvia doesn’t even count as carbs…especially in this quantity. But the combination of the three tastes great!
And finally, a slice of SmartCarb #1 Wheat Bread from Julian Bakery (toasted, with real Land O’ Lakes butter). The bread is 1 net carb and adds a really nice texture to the meal.
So…5 net carbs…and my goal is about 5-6 per meal. Very filling ((I won’t eat again until 12 or 1…and I could have stopped several bites before the end of the meal and been satisfied…thanks to the natural appetite-supression effect of ketosis). Tastes excellent. And best of all…because of the type of wheat the bread is made from…and the sugar alcohols used in the yogurt instead of regular sugar…this has a very low-impact effect on the pancreas…and causes a nice stable long-term reaction (instead of the 100-point jump in blood sugar levels resulting from a breakfast based around oatmeal or cereal). I’m forgoing eggs in this meal because I don’t have much time today for food prep. But they are also really good for breakfast, and don’t cause blood sugar problems, either.
A nice bonus: This bread is gluten-free. So for those with Celiac’s Disease…no problems there, either!
** UPDATE **
The Snack That Became A Meal
I had to burn up the rest of the blueberries that I ate from breakfast before they went bad….so I grabbed a couple of Snack Pack Juicy Gels…basically sugar-free Jello…and tossed them in a bowl. I threw in the rest of the blueberries… a few blackberries and a strawberry. I figured I would still be hungry… so I planned to have half a QuestBar to tide me over til dinner.
First of all…this was EXCELLENT. I didn’t need any erythritol all to sweeten the gelatin. It was perfect the way it came. The fruit was great. Nice texture, a lot of fiber. The gelatin just served to bring it all together (I have been doing the same thing with Snack Pack sugar-free pudding as well).
And…when I finished the fruit and gelatin…I realized I wasn’t hungry anymore. So the QuestBar went back on the shelf…to be devoured at another time.
5 Sites, 1 Week: Google’s Latest Algorithm Tweak
We’ve all just finished another round in “the Google Dance”…those periodic interludes where the engineers take center stage…and we all watch the awkward movements as sites suddenly appear on…or disappear from…the front page of the search results.
This time is always fascinating to those who pay attention to such things, or whose job it is to track them and improve the rankings of the sites of others…and incredibly frustrating to those whose income is based in large part on being found in the search engines. It’s times like these that can kill a business deader than anything…
After a quick review this evening…there seem to be some subtle moves, as well as some dramatic ones. We won’t know for a while what factors went into this…or how webmasters and SEO types might adjust to the changes.
Here are the results reflected in changes of the rankings of five of my sites over a one-week period. Before proceeding, let me note the following:
- I always have link-building campaigns happening…so some of the changes may well be due to progress on that fron…and not just on what Google has done recently.
- These are only the terms I am currently tracking. Many of the keyword phrases for my sites are as high as they could ever get a (rankings of #1 or #2, for example). Thus it is frequently a waste of time to track them over and over again (though not always… as we’ll see in a minute).
- These are 5 out of the 55 or so sites that I currently own…and I intentionally ignored some which barely moved.
Key:
- Keyword # is keyphrase number for purposes of this report
- Avg: XXK/mo uniques is the average number of unique visitors to that particular site each month according to Google analytics
- Searches per day is estimated daily searches (per Wordtracker) at the time the tracking was launched
- 02/17/11 is the site’s rankings in Google results on Feb 17, 2011
- 02/25/11 is the site’s rankings in Google results on Feb 25, 2011
Site #1:
Related to free, legal MP3 downloads within a particular tight niche.
History: 6 years old…ranked at #1 for its most targeted keyword phrase for a good 4 years now.
Site #2:
Related to free, legal MP3 downloads within a particular tight niche.
History: Virtually identical to #1 in concept and execution.
Site #3:
A 6-year-old site that is a great example of taking existing content and doing it better…nice presentation, interesting content, very decent traffic
History: Has been bouncing between the first and third pages of Google (almost inexplicably) for years now.
Site #4:
Clean, well-executed within a particular niche appealing to a tight demographic.
History: Less than 1 year old. Has been steadily gaining ground in rankings over the past few months.
Site #5:
A friend’s real estate site appealing to a top 60 metro market.
History: 8 years old, mostly page 1 & 2 rankings for selected keywords…though rarely in the top 5
OBSERVATIONS:
Site #1 is the real surprise. In addition to holding the number one spot for its primary keyphrase for the past four years, the content of the site makes it, by far, the very best site in its category… hich was reflected in its dominant ranking for so long.