Careful Mr. Bunny…

The past few days I have been forced to exercise the breaks on my car as various creatures have been darting across the road. This is not all that uncommon on the outskirts of Philadelphia but this year there seems to be more animals mimicking the idiocracy usually reserved for humans. Within the past week I have nearly blasted Bambie, destroyed Donald, and went thump thump over Thumper (multiple times). Those bastard bunnies are a particular menace this year as they hop across the asphalt as if they were late for work. As an added bonus, the deluge obscured the plethora of potholes by making them seem like innocent little puddles. Welcome to the season of road kill.

And it’s not just the animals, even the weather seems to be running late this year. While the temperature is getting warmer and the trees are coming into bloom, the page turned on the calendar from what is supposed to be a rainy April to the fragrance heavy month of May. However, the rain seemed to be running a bit late and, knowing of its tardiness, has been doing everything in its power to make up for the dryness of the previous month.

The torrential rain has brought traffic to a halt on numerous occasions and has causes those ballsy bunnies to run even faster across the busy streets in an effort to dry their little bunny butts. Last week was particularly bad as the Schuylkill River seemed to have a mind of its own as it became bloated and busted over the banks overtaking homes and highways. The precipitous precipitation seemed to wash away brain cells as it was a full couple of days of dodging cars, people, and animals all vying for the right of way during my daily commute.

However, even with all the headaches caused by the weather and the mindless actions of man and animal alike, it is great to see everything beginning to bloom so early in the month. Seeing the pink, white, and green coating the trees along the highway just makes for a more pleasant experience when diving to work. And it will continue being an enjoyable journey until the day that all the pedals begin coating the roads, cars, and street signs turning an enjoyable experience into an adventure that is by no means pleasant when you account for the aforementioned people and animals.

So, for now, I will gladly take the good and try and forget about the bad. I just hope that the seasons and weather get back on track so that things can, once again, run on time rather than scurrying about like the White Rabbit. Actually, more like the White Rabbit playing a game of Frogger.

Hello Vocus!

Photo taken in Jim Thorpe, PA by my wife during our trip in June.

Today I made a decision that could change the future of this blog. You could say it was a “through the looking glass” kind of day when I decided to get this blog listed on Vocus. The hope is that I might be able to introduce a whole different world of opportunities because of it. When writing and posting every day it all comes down to having something to write about. This is one way to have some stories come to me which is why I might be able to expand upon the subject matter and maybe introduce some new topics.

I have worked with this service for a number of years now and the lists that it provides are an excellent way to find new reporters and bloggers. However, this is my first foray being on the other side of the screen. The years that I have used the site have been while working in public relations (which I still do) and now I am the one, potentially, being pitched. Actually, I am kind of on both sides of the equation.

For those of you unfamiliar with Vocus here is the basic summary from the company’s about page:

Vocus (NASDAQ: VOCS) provides leading cloud-based marketing and PR software plus consulting services enabling companies to acquire and retain customers. The company offers an all-in-one suite of applications and consulting services to help clients attract and engage prospects, capture and keep customers, and measure and improve marketing effectiveness. More than 17,000 annual subscription customers across a wide variety of industries use Vocus software. The company is headquartered in Beltsville, MD with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. 

Furthermore, the reason public relations professional use the service is because it allows them to “Connect with journalists and bloggers, send press releases, monitor news, reach influencers, and measure and share your results. Vocus PR Suite is designed to help marketing and PR pros increase their influence and tell their story online, across social networks and through the media.” While most PR/media interactions are relationship based (or should be) there is no getting around the fact that sometimes cold pitching has to be done. That is the nature of the business.

Moving forward this will certainly be a balancing act between my professional life and my personal writing life. I will be sending pitches and, hopefully, fielding them as well. Fortunately, the topics that I have covered thus far in the blog and topics I hope to introduce are completely different from the ones that I represent when on the other side of the mirror.

However, I think the most interesting, important, and beneficial thing that could, in theory, come from this development is the fact that being able to see a story from both sides can only help me both in my writing and with my professional career. Knowing how people on both sides of the pitch feel about the process is something that too few people understand and I am looking forward to experiencing that interplay. I am hoping for an interesting ride.

Time To Embrace My Mountain Heritage (At Least For A Day)!

As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I have started to take day trips on the weekend to get out of the apartment while spending some time together and exploring places in our state that we have never seen (or haven’t been to in a while). The first of these day excursions was last Saturday, May 25^th, when we drove up the Northeast Extension to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (we were away the weekend prior but it was a trip to New Jersey so that doesn’t count).

Jim Thorpe, formerly Mauch Chunk, is a small town tucked in a valley at the southern most boundaries of the Pocono Mountains. This picturesque village, commonly referred to as the “Switzerland of America” and the "Gateway to the Poconos", is a well known regional tourist destination but with little exposure beyond the tri state area. I consider ourselves very lucky to be only about an hour and fifteen minutes from this mountainous respite.

I have known of this place for some time but never had the chance to drive up there and explore (pretty sad since I have lived in Pennsylvania for most of my life). However, my wife had never even heard the name and didn’t have a clue as to where it was or what was there to see. It didn’t take much to convince her to make the drive… all I had to do was give her the address for the tourism website and a quick click on the YouTube found on the home page.

Early the next morning, my wife woke me up and informed me of our decision to put off cleaning the apartment until Tuesday so that we could spend the day together exploring Jim Thorpe. About an hour later, here was the view of the town as we descended on Route 209S toward the heart of the valley.

After a quick detour to the other side of town and talking with some local residents, we backtracked to the main parking lot along the west bank of the Lehigh River. Given our proximity, our first stop was at the visitor’s center at the old train station where we picked up a map, got a recommendation for lunch, and took a quick look at the train as it was pulling out.

From there we only made it about a block and a half before we stopped for lunch at Bear Appétit. With our stomachs full, it was time to start our lazy walk up and down Broadway where we found this café (which reminded my wife of her sister).

We weaved our way in and out of shops and up and down some of the side streets for a couple of hours before we started to make our way back to the car. Having enjoyed our brief tour of the town, we made one last stop at The Inn at Jim Thorpe before we made it back to the parking lot. It was time to use the gift certificate to BedandBreakfast.com we received from my brother and sister-in-law which had been slowly fading in my wallet for the last six years (no expiration date)! In other words, look for a follow up to this post later this month.

Back in the car, we did a very quick drive by tour of the rest of the town as well as some surrounding communities (you can cover a lot of ground when the speed limit in between is fifty five) with our final stop being the overlook on Flagstaff Mountain where our final picture of the trip was captured.

*Please note that all pictures we taken by my wife during this trip. I look forward to contributing my own photography to future trips and posts.