Howdy folks, just wanted to poke my head out of the sand and see how everyone is doing. This is going to be on of those 'hodge podge' posts, so pick what you like and ignore the rest. :)
--I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day. We've been so busy with work/business around here that we totally forgot to send a card to my dad. Not that he cares, but that's not the point. I did manage to give him a call, though, so I'm not a totally terrible son. (haha!)
--Anyone else watching Mad Men? I think I've mentioned before how I got sucked into this show, catching up on five season in two weeks time on Netflix. I'm a sucker for "period" shows/movies...especially anything set in the 60s or 70s. As much as I've enjoyed the show in the past, I'm having a hard time continuing to watch it and I think it's because of the main character.
Don Draper has proven, time and again, that he's not a very likable protagonist. I mean, he cheats on his wife, yet berates her for kissing another man in the line of duty. She's an actress on a successful soap opera. I realize that they tell you why, exactly, Draper is the kind of man he is via flashbacks to his youth, but still...he's not a character I can sympathize with in any respect. I'm pretty sure that's intentional on the writer's part.
Regardless, Jon Hamm is great in the role and the entire cast is equally impressive. I'll stick with it, but I'm hoping they wrap things up, soon.
--We saw Man of Steel this past Friday (along with everyone else in the country, it seems) and I had some quite a few reservations going in but, thank goodness, they were unfounded. Just goes to show you that you can't trust the reviewers. Most are movie snobs, anyway.
Regardless of what you may have read, this flick is pretty darn good (in my opinion) and stands head and shoulders above Superman Returns.....even though I thought Kevin Spacey made a great Lex Luthor. Well worth the time if you're looking for a well done action movie.
--I've been looking for a local writing group, down here in Vero Beach, Florida so, if anyone in the area knows of any....
--Also, on the writing front I've been working pretty diligently on my new project. It's tentatively titled Last Chance and will involve super-heroics in the old west town of.....Last Chance, Wyoming. It's circa 1850s, which will mean a bit of research as to how life was lived (generally speaking) back then. Things are coming along and ideas are forming, so I think it's all heading in a very positive direction.
For today's Music Monday offering, it's back to the Surf Music craze (stop rolling your eyes!!! ) with one of the great groups of the era....The Ventures (with special guest, Peter Frampton).
To go along with my old west project, here's on their huge hits... Apache.
Not much going on today. My friend's daughter and her friend have been staying with us as they do a fact finding mission on our local beaches as well as our "night life establishments". *Ahem*
Ah, to be young again.....
Anyway, I just thought I'd throw out a couple reminders of some fun blog hops that I'll be hopping around to in the next few days.
The first is coming up this Friday, the 15th. Mark Koopmans is hosting his second "Got Green Blogfest". All the pertinent info as well as sign up, HERE and it looks to be a lot of fun. The premise is simple....just explain how you get your "Irish" on...that's it. The stories can be real or imagined and, being of Cherokee Indian and German descent, my story will, more than likely, be imagined :)
It should be a fun one, so sign up and give Mark K. a virtual kiss....he's Irish...I think...
The other hop, coming up on Monday, the 18th is hosted by the Ninja Captain himself, Alex J. Cavanaugh and it's another straightforward and fun hop, especially if you like movies.....which I do! You can find the info and sign up linky HERE . So, your mission...if you should decide to accept it (and you should)...is to mentally round up your top ten favorite films and report in with our Captain on Monday. It should be a lot of fun.
Something else I've been thinking about as I hop around the blogosphere...and this idea might serve me better as next month's IWSG posting....but, I've been thinking if, mabye, I'm too lowbrow for this writing thing.
I won't go into the particulars here, but sometimes I just get the feeling that the life of a writer seems more complicated than I anticipated. Not that I plan on quitting writing or anything like that....I enjoy it too much..., it's just that I consider myself a pretty un-complicated guy and that's how I like to live.
I don't know....I guess I'll have to think more on it and, like I said, it might wind up being my IWSG post for next month....we'll see.
I know it's not Monday, but I'll throw in a little bit of Surf Music to help you get over the Hump. Here's the 'King of the Surf Guitar' himself, Dick Dale, doing his rendition of "Ghost Riders in the Sky".
My post last Friday, about some of the ins and outs of Google Plus, generated some interesting comments. Most of them along the lines of "I'm on it, but don't really do much with it."
Given that Facebook has the lion's share of the users, for now, it's understandable. Unless you have regulars or just a lot of circlers, there probably isn't much on G+ for you at this point. That can change though, if you're willing to work on it, a little.
Maybe you've already decided that Google Plus isn't for you. You're busy/happy with Twitter and Facebook, or any other social media site you might like...Tumblr or Pintrest for example. That's o.k, too.
For those on the fence and/or curious about Google Plus, I'd like to share my thoughts as a sort of 'mini tutorial' on using G+...or, at least, how I use it. This isn't going to be all inclusive or all that extensive, but it should touch on some of the main focal points and don't worry...I won't put it all into one post.
To begin with, let's talk about.....
Circles
Circles are how you organize the people that you want to follow/keep in contact with. Whenever you mouse over someone you haven't circled, you'll get a drop down menu with all the circles you have created. All you do is check the boxes that apply and you've added the person to your circle(s).
Shannon isn't in my circles, but I could just mouse over her name or the "add user" button and then check the boxe(s) that go with each of the circles I think she might belong. This would add her...no muss, no fuss.
For better circle management, you also have the option of, under your circles tab, dragging your circler's portraits to other circles or deleting them if you need to.
(Just a note, I have more bloggers in my "Blogger" circle than what the above picture shows. I just have it cropped to show all my circles, which cuts down the view on the amount of people in the Blogger circle)
Also within your circles, you can edit (pencil icon), share (arrows icon), or delete (trash can icon) a circle. Sharing a circle or being shared in someone else's circle is a good way to find many people you might not have found otherwise.
Now you're probably thinking "O.k, I get it...it's a circle...move on!", but circles are important. It's your main organizing tool and the foundation of how you post and who sees which posts. Yes...I said "Who sees your posts..."
Google Plus gives you the option of only posting so that certain people or circles can see what you put up. You can also just post to just one person, if you like. G+'s way of "messaging".
The screen shot below is your typical posting template.
The top (Share what's new) part is for your text. Using * * on both sides of your text will put it in bold type. Using _ _ on the sides of your texts will italicize the word.
The space after the chain icon is for links. The 'Add' button allows you to attach pictures and videos, as well.
Once you get your post set, the drop down box allows you to share to as many or few circles/people as you like. In this example, we have "Your Circles" (just the circles I've created), "Public" (meaning anyone using G+ can see it, if they stumble across it), "Extended Circles" (your circles as well as their circles), then goes down to my individual circles. If you want to 'send a message', just add the person's name after a "+" and hit send.
(The 'Send to Do Share' button isn't standard, it's there due to an extension I use and mentioned last Friday)
The number in parenthesis after the circle name is how many people I have in that circle. Yes, it's true...I follow two celebrities.
This is how it looks when I send to some of my individual circles...
If you look down on the lower right, you'll see a check box (Also send email). If you check it, it sends an email to everyone in those circles that you've just posted something. The general consensus says that you shouldn't do this unless it's really something important that you think these people must see. Doing this too much is akin to spamming in the Google Plus universe.
The way you organize your circles is pivotal to how you keep track of the people you want to follow as well as how you share to them.
Make sense? Clear as mud?
I'm thinking that's probably enough G-Plus talk for today, so I'll save the discussion on "Plus One"ing, resharing, and a few other things for my next Google Plus post.
Now, let's talk music....
Music Monday
Aaaaand the infatuation with 'surf music' continues. There are quite a few versions of Apache, but this version by The Shadows just nails it.
Now, granted, these suave Brits don't look like they would be able to to capture the true surf sound, but they did and put on quite a show doing it. Nice suits and choreography usually doesn't fit the 'surf' image, but the music speaks for itself.
Just in case the coffee isn't giving you enough of a kick this Monday morning, maybe this will help...
A couple of weeks ago, Nick Wilford over at Scattergun Scribblings, came up with a little blog hop to help raise some money for his stepson's education. His stepson, Andrew, has cerebral palsy and his choices of colleges aren't as wide or varied in Scotland as we have here in America.
To that end, the goal of the hop was to gather material for a book Nick was planning and use the proceeds to help Andrew further his education.
I was happy to help out with a (last minute) entry and even happier to see the project come to fruition.
So, without further ado....I give you Overcoming Adversity.
Take it away, Nick.....
A collection of seventy moving and uplifting original pieces - real life, flash fiction, and poetry - about battling against the odds and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. The contributors include Amazon bestselling authors Alex J. Cavanaugh and Kyra Lennon, and the cream of upcoming talent.
The anthology is part of a fundraising effort to send the editor's stepson, Andrew McNaughton, to a specialist college in England. Andrew has cerebral palsy, and is a remarkable young man with a promising future. However, the free further education options offered in his own country of Scotland will not challenge him and allow him to progress. In order to access the education he deserves, Andrew will have to pay exorbitant fees, thus creating a situation of discrimination.
Help us get Andrew to college by buying a book that runs the full gamut of human emotions, ultimately leaving you inspired and glad to be alive. Whatever struggles you are going through, our sincere hope is that this book will help.
"But Mark", I hear you thinking (I can, sometimes hear your thoughts, yes), "just where can I get my hands on this amazing anthology?"
Well, I'm glad you asked that....because Overcoming Adversity can be found at....
So head over and buy a copy...or two...or three...and enjoy some great stories on Overcoming Adversity. It's for a great cause.
Best of luck to Nick and Andrew!
I'll leave you, this Monday, with some cool music that's been running through my brain all weekend.
If you follow along on my other blog, you've seen how I've recently re-discovered my love for "Surf Music". Having grown up listening to The Ventures, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, as well as many others (thanks dad), it was only natural that I carry my fondness of this music genre with me through and into my, ahem, later years.
So, if this doesn't get you going or, at the very least, your foot tapping then go back to bed!
--We saw Man of Steel this past Friday (along with everyone else in the country, it seems) and I had 
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