Sometime between 1985 and 1990, I collected Garbage Pail Kids. These cards were funny and gross, which made them a bit taboo. My sister had a Cabbage Patch Doll, so that made these cards a must have for my teenage self. To be fair, I’m guessing she enjoyed the stickers as much as I did though I don’t ever remember asking her.
Continue readingHelp us find Paul Penguin!
In 2019, my parents volunteered to run our booth for penguin adoptions at the Salem Holiday Market in Oregon. We are grateful for their help, but unfortunately, we didn’t give them all the information they needed about our penguins.
Continue readingWhat Do We Need to Make Our Store a Reality?
I was asked what we need to make our store a reality, and the list I came up with was long and filled with all the things you might expect. However, the first thing we need is to learn how to get people to the store. We’ve had a Facebook page, an Etsy shop, a Patreon, an Instagram account, a now-deleted YouTube channel, an Amazon author page, and a website long enough to know that we don’t know how to get people to any of those. We tried ads. We’ve cross promoted. I’ve used all of my SEO knowledge to rank us higher. I’ve taken classes in marketing, gone through five day challenges, and spent a month with a marketing guru; nothing has worked to bring sustained traffic that converts to buyers.
Continue readingPenguinate.com Partners with Melting Pot Candy in Independence, OR
We are happy to announce that our penguins have a new adoption center available in Independence, Or. If you live in the Independence area and have ever thought about adopting a penguin, it’s time to visit the Melting Pot Candy on Main Street!
Continue readingGetting the Most out of Motivational Speakers
Every motivational speaker has the same story, or at least, they all have a variation on a theme. Usually, it starts with a hardship – My dad and I lived in a bathroom, I lost my eyesight, I was poor. It doesn’t matter what the hardship is – We had to drink tap water, My dog ate my stuffed animal, My grandma got me a bunny suit for Christmas. What does matter is that it caused the motivational speaker to take action. He or she has overcome whatever issue it was, or maybe continues to face the horrors of the issue that comes with the emotions associated with it, but life is much better than it was before.
Continue readingPeace Corps and the Unabomber Insanity Plea
When I was in the Peace Corps, the FBI captured the Unabomber and he was facing a trial for his crimes. The Unabomber was responsible for killing three people with package bombs that he mailed or delivered himself over the course of 17 years. He could have faced the death penalty, so his attorneys argued that he was insane. Their specific reasoning for declaring him insane included that he lived alone in a cabin. Now, a cabin is not too far from a hut, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I was living away from “civilization.”
Continue readingTuatara Returned to Tiritiri Matangi Island in 2003
Tuatara in New Zealand are the last surviving members of the order Sphenodontia that was around during the time of the dinosaurs. They like cool weather and have an average lifespan of 60 years though some may survive up to 100 years. In the wild, the tuatara can only be found on the islands around New Zealand. They are no longer on the mainland and went extinct when the Maori introduced the rat to New Zealand. In 2003, the tuatara was reintroduced to Tiritiri Matangi Island after an absence of 100 years.
Continue readingICYMI: ‘My Life in the Peace Corps’ Available on Amazon
You can now get both the paperback and the eBook of “My Life in the Peace Corps” today at Amazon! I composed this from the letters I sent home while I was serving in Peace Corps Guinea, where I joined as a Public Health and Community Development Extensionist. I was assigned to the health center of a small town of about 5,000 people in the middle of the country. My nearest Peace Corp neighbor was 70 km away during my first year, and I could only get a car out of my village on Saturdays.
Continue readingHow My Relationship with Grandpa Grew over Time
Growing up, my grandfather helped our family a lot, in spite of the fact that he didn’t like the behavior of me or my sister. As children, my sister and I were not raised to be seen and not heard. Instead, we spoke back to adults and told people what we thought about anything. We also weren’t very good at sitting in a restaurant and being quiet while the adults conversed. At one point, he told my mom that he wouldn’t take us to a restaurant again unless we learned to behave.
Continue readingTime to get to the Wooden Pot; Get Your Books in ‘Mortal Choice’
The snow floated down onto Christian’s overcoat as he walked through downtown Blackwood Forest. The large flakes were lazy as they wafted on the wind. Christian turned up his collar against the wind and quickened his steps. He looked up the street at the sign for the Wooden Pot. A warm cup of coffee would be great right now. This time of year, the Pot was making eggnog lattes with real eggnog. It was thick, rich, and a meal by itself. He might get a pastry, too. He reached the door of the café and reached for the handle. A howl rose up from somewhere in the woods around town.
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Penguinate! Positive Creativity 