I got stuff!     1 comment

I got stuff! Check out the swag the kids from AMCA in Alpharetta sent me: dog biscuits and tennis balls, and even better, enough to share with Mandy (my sister, who you may have heard of).

Now that the weather’s getting warmer, it’s more fun to do stuff outside, and last night I got to be on TV again and be outside at the same time, which was pretty awesome. Me, Dad, and Dennis were out in the little garden spot outside 11Alive. Dennis talked about dogs who bark too much.

He wasn’t talking about me. Really.

If you forgot to watch or DVR me on TV last night, you can watch it right here:

See you soon!

check out my new photos!     3 comments

Y’know why I love going to 11Alive? Because everyone there is so happy to see me, and even if I mess up my behavior, there’s always another person who wants to pet me and tell me I’m a good dog.

My friend Josh from 11Alive’s web department took a bunch of pictures last night while I was greeting my faithful fans before going on TV, and he put them up on my webpage. Click here to go see them. (You’ll have to scroll down a bit.)

And here’s video of me, Dad, Dennis, and Mom from the news last night, in case you missed it.

I just wish Dad would stop telling everyone how much I weigh…

Stay safe this weekend; Dad says there’s probably going to be some bad weather. If that happens, I’m totally watching him on TV.

triumphant return     2 comments

I made my triumphant return to 11Alive last night. Did you see it?

Aw, come on, how could you miss it? Brenda gave me a nice intro and everything!

My friend Shawn, one of the producers, took this picture of me too:

I’m on almost every Thursday, either at 6:00 or 7:00 in the evening. Sometimes Dad and me hang out with Dennis, and other times we meet people like pet psychics. It just depends.

my how things have changed     1 comment

The 11Alive.com video content manager always organizes video alphabetically, first by symbol, then by number, then by letter. So every time I go in to get information for videos I want to put on 11Alive.com, I see the same 20 or so stories.

Three of them are gas price stories.

This evening, on my way to work, I saw gas in my area for $1.47 to $1.55. I drive a hybrid anyway, so it’s not like I spent a ton of money on fuel in the first place, but believe me, I’m enjoying filling up for under $20 a tank.

The first story on the list is from July 10. Jerry Carnes interviewed people who went to a Norcross gas station to get in on a $1.99/gallon promotion at a time when gas was at or above $4.00.

A couple of months later, Jerry caught gas on sale for an alarming $5.20/gallon in Cumming. The high prices were courtesy of Hurricane Ike.

Finally, I have this story from Kevin Rowson, which was filed on October 23. Gas at that time was in the $2.30 to $2.50 range.

It’s interesting to me to see the wild swings in gas prices. Even before I drove a hybrid, it was more about curiosity than money-saving (although once it got over $3.50 even I started to worry). Now that gas prices are back down to manageable levels, though, I still think about trips in terms of dollars, not miles. As I wrote last May:

Last Saturday, we celebrated Memorial Day at a friend’s house in Decatur. He lives 40 miles from us (each way). I get about 250 miles per tank, with a 14-ish gallon tank, so about 18 miles per gallon. (When I bought the vehicle, gas was $1.50 a gallon and actually going downward a little.)

That means my trip to Decatur not only was 80 miles and about 100 minutes of travel but also cost me about $19. And we couldn’t even stay for dinner because it was my daughter’s bedtime.

What I’ve noticed over the years as a member of the news media, a PR writer, and a semi-professional blogger is that, once behaviors are changed, be they on a personal level or a business level, they are unlikely to change back. Did you change any behaviors during the gas price crisis? Did you change back now that the crisis is — at least for now — averted? Or are you keeping your gas-saving behaviors in case there’s another gas panic or price increase?

***

Wondering what’s up with the new look of 11Alive’s blogs? Click here for a brief explanation.

Don’t get distracted!     1 comment

I had a nice visit at 11Alive yesterday. I got to meet all sorts of new people, and hung out with my friend Josh, who helped make my website and my blog. That’s him over on the right. It took a while to get him trained to sit and smile on command, but we pulled it off.

My friend Dennis also was on TV with me, and he talked about what to do if your friend (the one with paws, not the one with feet) has trouble doing his or her business outside. I was going to tell you about it, but instead, why don’t you just watch the video? It’s not too long. I promise.

I wish I knew more about what happened, but I decided it was more important for me to take a nap, as you could see at the end of the video.

Keep an eye on my page; Dad took a little video of me at home, learning how to not eat the Christmas decorations. We tried to post it yesterday, but it didn’t work right. Maybe Dennis can help train our computer, too.

My Latest Visit to 11Alive!     1 comment

Wow, that was great! I came to 11Alive yesterday and got to see all of my friends in the information center, and got lots and lots of people to pet me. It helps being cute.

My friend Dennis, who Dad calls my trainer, took me around on a leash to help me get used to wearing one and being a good dog. That meant no jumping up on people. I love to jump up on people, so this wasn’t so awesome, but it’s okay. If no jumping except when told is part of being a good dog, I guess I can handle that.

My friend Shawn, who’s a producer at 11Alive, took some pictures of me on his cell phone. I’m still waiting for him to send them to Dad, but when he does, they’re totally going in my official photo gallery.

I wish I could’ve run around outside, but it wasn’t going to happen. Too rainy and wet. I think I like keeping my paws dry.

Anyway, if you didn’t get to see me on TV last night, that’s okay, because Dad’s friend Josh showed me how to embed video onto my blog:

If you want to embed it, all you have to do is click the fourth icon from the left (the little picture of a piece of paper with the end folded over) and you can embed me on your blog too! Or you can e-mail me or post links on your Facebook.

Oh, that reminds me: Chris, who works on 11Alive’s website, made a Facebook group for me! If you’re on Facebook, please join it. I’m going to get on Facebook really soon, I promise, but I’ve just been so busy and haven’t had time!

Okay, that’s all for today. Have a good weekend. I know I will!

My web page rocks!     No comments yet

Have you seen my new web page yet? It rocks! Big thanks to Dad’s friend Josh for putting all that stuff together for me. Whenever there’s new video of me out doing stuff, Dad’s going to make sure it goes on that page, and we’ve also got photo galleries. If you take any pictures of me out at events, you can upload them, and you can check out the pictures already taken. I know I sound vain, but hey… I’m cute!

But there’s more. Did you know that looking at pictures of cute animals can be healthy? Check this out:

When people watched 10 minutes of animal footage, their heart rate and blood pressure dipped not only while they were under stress, but it stayed lower even afterward. It didn’t matter whether the animal was scaly, feathered or furry. Even better, the sound doesn’t have to be on to reap the calming benefits, so you can sneak a peek at the latest panda/polar bear/Labrador retriever clips before your next tension-filled meeting, and your officemates will never know.

Hey! I’m a retriever! Maybe not the Labrador kind, but… I retrieve things! Really! I swear!

Anyway, so if you’re sitting at work and you’re not feeling so hot about things, just visit my photo galleries and if your boss says something, just point him or her to that article and go back to watching my antics.