Saturday, November 03, 2007

evening

A Very Late SuperZoo Blog Entry - The Claire Thomas Pet Accessory Mascot

I took a picture of this really cute pup at the Claire Thomas booth.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything I needed to buy, but the two people at the booth were super nice…and their dog, Baby, was really well-behaved and adorable.  So, this is my better-late-than-never blog entry.  Partially, it was late because I couldn’t remember what booth it was and the search engine optimization for Claire Thomas (I noticed the logo on the dog’s coat) company is abysmal.  Not only is their homepage not correctly named (it’s been named Petlovecnt.com, which isn’t something anyone will be searching for), they have a flash intro that makes things even worse, because search engines can’t tell that it’s a cute little movie with a dog pulling a sign that says “Claire Thomas”.  In fact, the name of the company isn’t mentioned anywhere important on the website.  It’s almost as though they’re trying not to be found.  Their domain name is terrible - tell me what you see in this name:  http://www.petlovecnt.com  I’ll bet it’s nothing good.  What’s wrong with ClaireThomasPet or ClaireThomasPetLuxury…or something that I might think of later, after a little time and a little sleep?  I’ll bet that within a couple of days, I’ll rank in the top two for Claire Thomas Luxury Pet Accessories.  I may possibly even end up first, and there’s no way that I should be.  So, Claire Jing & Thomas G(?), if you’re searching for your product or yourselves, and you come across this blog entry, perhaps we should make a deal.  I have some ideas for you.  Easy to implement and they’ll do wonders for your web presence.  It’s a very nice looking website, it needs some very crucial SEO and translation work.

I just did a little research on the company, and while the above paragraph might sound a little harsh, I think it’s probably something the company needs to hear.  I realize now that I was talking to the owners of the company, and they’re from China.  The site needs to be rewritten a little bit, with some SEO done to it.  In addition, I think a new domain name is in order, with a redirect from their current domain.

That said, here’s adorable Baby, the Shih Tzu, wearing a fancy coat, collar, and leash, and sitting on a fancy bed.  All told, over $1000 worth of doggie accessories.  Whew!  How hard would I cry when Dante chewed that bed to bits?

 

the wee hours

The Times When I Regret Not Getting Around To Having Kids

Most of the time, in the past several years, I’ve been relieved that I don’t have children depending on me to get up early to take care of them, to pay for their new clothes, to worry about them when they’re sick, to make them cry by telling them that there’s no way in the world that I’m ever going to let them watch that whiny brat, Caillou, on PBS.  However, there are times when I’d like to turn back the clock (well, besides those other times when I’d like to turn back the clock) and do things a little differently, and add a couple of kids to the mix.  I’ve had several people ask me if I was going to have kids, and even expecting me to, knowing that Leigh-Ann and I would be good parents.  So, the times I really miss not having kids of my own?  Halloween, birthdays, Hanukkahmas, end of summer bbqs, watching little kids play sports (oooh, I would love to have my own little #7, but I did get the next best thing, my nephew choosing my number, which I thought was so sweet), reading together, and stuff like this from Nancy’s Anthony, “He woke me up at 4:00 a.m. to tell me “I think my turtle is mad at me because when I looked at his face, his face looked different, but when I turned him around he looked the same.” The turtle is a stuffed animal.

Maybe when we’re settled and not financially tippy, we should foster.  That way, we help a kid (or some kids) and we help us too.  Although, I would like Leigh-Ann to be closer to her nieces & nephew, since I was able to be around for the early years of my nieces & nephews.  It’s not fair that she’s missing their silly games, their hugs & slobbery kisses, and the fun of being an in-person aunt.  Fostering kittens is great, but they grow up way too quickly, and they never want to sit down and color with us.