Friend of the blog, Ryan Nobles

The Internet is nothing if it ain’t a powerful resource for pranks. And why not? It allows large numbers of people to exert minimal effort to create powerful inside jokes. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what local TV news anchor, and friend of the blog, Ryan Nobles appears to be doing.

For those not local to Richmond, the city finally succeeded the diamond-shaped hole that was left with the Richmond Braves baseball team left town by bringing in a replacement. There was a whole mess of news stories and controversy about this attempt hinging first on where to put the stadium and then on the mascot.

Richmond's Terror That Glides From The Trees

Let’s talk about that mascot, and the no-goodery I promised in the title, shall we? It’s a Flying Squirrel. Not exactly an image that strikes terror into the hearts of visiting teams, but the company is trying to make Richmond baseball a family-friendly event and I’m okay with that. What I am really okay with, however, is that apparently the local paper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is holding a contest to name said mascot.

Enter Ryan Nobles. Apparently Ryan thinks that the mascot should be named after another local-legend and friend of the blog, one Weather Dan. So, Ryan put out the call today to have everyone vote along those lines.

So, if you’ve got two minutes to have fun, to create a little digital havoc, and two support a couple friends o’ the blog, please go here and vote to name the Richmond Flying Squirrels mascot “Weather Dan.”

That's our Weather Dan!

January's Pitch Winner

For those that missed it, in January I decided to hold a pitch contest to determine the next book I would purchase in what I hope to make a monthly trip to the bookstore. The impetus for turning the decision into a contest was a desire to broaden my horizon. So, sometime this week I’ll be swinging by the local bookstore and picking up not one, but two copies of “A Dirty Job”.

Why two, you ask? Because, we’re doing it again. And the person who pitches the winning book for February will get a copy of January’s winning book for free.

Here’s the run down:

Got a great book you want to tell someone about? Pitch me. Did you write one? Pitch it to me. Are you representing a client? Pitch them to me. Recently read something that was horribly overlooked for its pure genius? Pitch me.

The rules

• The book must currently be in print and available at a brick-and-mortar store.
• You only get two sentences, or 40 words to sell me. Title and author are not counted in this limit unless you use them in the pitch itself.
• Pitches must be listed here, as a comment, by Friday the 6th of March.
• The winning pitch receives a free copy of the previous month’s book.

January’s winning pitch: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore. Paranoid Beta Male given the job of “death collector”. Hilarious (in the laugh out loud kinda way) and perfectly dark :)

So, as I am want to do when looking for many varied viewpoints, I hit up Twitter. And I got a few very good responses. Unfortunately, Twitter on a Blackberry is a stilted medium at best. I ended up grabbing a random book in addition to the one I came for.

As I’ve yet to crack open the second book I purchased, I cannot vouch for my ability to judge a book by it’s cover. But, I’d like to roll in to Barnes and Nobel next month with an idea of what I want to purchase.

To that end, I invite you to pitch me. Got a great book you want to tell someone about? Pitch me. Did you write one? Pitch it to me. Are you representing a client? Pitch them to me. Recently read something that was horribly overlooked for it’s pure genius? Pitch me.

The rules are simple:

• The book must currently be in print and available at a brick-and-mortar store.
• You only get two sentences, or 40 words to sell me. [edit] Title and author are not counted in this limit unless you use them in the pitch itself.
• Pitches must be listed here, as a comment, by Friday the 6th of February.

That’s it. I buy the book of the winning pitch.  And if you think I’m kidding, I once used my blog to name a friend’s child.