March 11: A dynamic class in marketing for difficult economic times

It's rare these days when I get up in the dark, because I've been working the other end of the day, staying up late at the computer. But CEDR (Clatsop Economic Development Resource) was putting on a free seminar with marketing guru Robert Sherk from Portland as the speaker.

Our business class teacher, Jim Entler, said that Bob knew marketing like few people do, and I have to say this class was well worth getting up for. He was very entertaining, which is not necessary, but makes it more fun, of course, and he had tons of great ideas for businesses of any size. I took lots of notes as well as taking home the hand-outs. We'll be putting a lot of the ideas to work here at Tapir and Friends. I was pleased to note that we already do some of the things he mentioned quite well. Others were good reminders, and still others were new. His suggestions were illustrated with stories. All in all, it was a great experience. If you get a chance, keep an eye out for more CEDR presentations - and you can't beat the price. No, they didn't pay me to advertise this, it was really worthwhile. I don't know when I've been up early in the last few months, but I like it. I might try getting to bed on time, though that may take some doing. I love working into the night on stuff I enjoy.

The seminar was held at the Seaside Convention Center. Coming out after the class, I wanted to take a photo of a crow in a tree over the sidewalk, but I just didn't do it. Not sure why. I guess I wanted to get home to lunch. After conscientiously avoiding the complimentary doughnuts, sweet rolls, and muffins, I was hungry.

I've finished blogging the move from Colorado to Oregon

It starts here, and there are links at the bottom of each entry to get to the next post. I also started an alphabet series (letter A and letter B) on the gift shop blog and I added a poll, which I hope a few people will take. I thought the alphabet thing would be boring when the idea first came up, but it was fun. I also added a bunch of stuff to the sidebar on this blog, and I linked from my Facebook to Twitter (which I'm just discovering), but I think there's a better way to do Facebook. I bookmarked some instructions. Lee worked on the gift shop pages today from Bend. Time for bed, and I never got around to watching a movie.

The Plover Arrow and the Glorious Express

I've been spending a lot of nice days inside working. Mostly it can't be helped right now, but I am going to make a vow to get out more. I'm lucky, though, because what passes outside the window is pretty interesting, even when I'm stuck a the desk. All of the wood is soaking wet, although we have sun today.

It's always fun to learn the names of the ships. Some seem pretty strange, like the Plover Arrow. What the heck is that?

I have to use the camera's zoom to see this close up. It's interesting to see how tall the ladder is on the various ships. This one is pretty short, and there isn't too much of a climb for the pilots. The shapes and colors are always interesting, too. I'm never tired of watching the ships. One might wonder about pollution. Our air looks clean here, and I didn't think that much about it at first. But yes, they are highly polluting, and I'll write more about that later.

The Columbia River doesn't get the huge ships that go through the Panama Canal, but we do get some big ones. They come in various sizes. You might think that a ship like the Plover Arrow is big until one of these comes along!

Here's another set-up for letting the pilots on board.

Clouds and blue sky. It looks like it's going to rain again.

It's just one of those days

It's one of those days where I feel like have so much to do and nothing is getting done. What is it? An appointment, a business meeting, lots of e-mail, phone calls, pay some bills, test the in-progress shopping cart, check the bank account, a bit of this and that. My phone dings at me to let me know I intended to put some signs up in our windows today, get to the gym early, call the pharmacy, and start on a pile of old accounting. It was sunny and beautiful out earlier - makes me want to weed the garden and buy some plants. Blogging is part of my work, and I've actually done some of that. I posted about frogfish here and tapirs here. I've posted on my Tapirs Google Group, texted about snowflakes in Bend. In the photo above are a few of the new items I want to put online in the gift shop. And I've begun sorting and organizing this place a bit more. I still have a lot I want to do with it. No time. I've been here for two years now, and I've never quite settled in the way I want to. I've done a lot of fun things, though - taken trips, worked on projects, worked on tapir work and the gift shop. They say the purpose of life is to enjoy, to feel happy. I can do that. I like that. I try to remember it. I'll quit griping and get on with it. If "things" don't get done so fast, oh well :)

Gold fills the air: Exceptional evening light and sunset at the Peter Iredale on an Oregon beach

The Wreck of the Peter Iredale at Sunset

Click on any of the photos to go to the album.

I almost missed this gorgeous evening light. It was raining and dreary, and I went shopping at Freddy's before going to the gym. Freddy's took longer than I thought, and the gym was closing. I hadn't been to the beach in awhile, so despite the rain and grayness of the day, I went. I was going to snap a couple of pix and go home, but the "new" batteries I'd put in my camera were not new, but very, very dead. I drove to the corner store on the highway and got new ones. Then I drove over to Hammond (another post) and took a few pix in the drizzle and fading gray light. Time to go home. But I saw to the west that the sun had broken through the clouds in a sliver of brilliant light, so I thought there could be something worth taking pictures of at the beach. Hoping for a nice sunset, I looped around once more and drive out to the Peter Iredale. Oh, my. I'm so glad I did. The air was filled with golden light, and I was in time to see the change of colors through an amzing spectrum. Not only that, but the rainbow on the landward side of the scene was a complete arc, growing stronger by the minute and then becoming a double rainbow - and what did I see perched on a pole in the midst of the rainbow? A bald eagle. I got his photo before he flew into the rainshine. In the album there's a photo of the rainbow's top curve, too.

The colors on the landward side of the hillock were rich and muted like a Romantic era painting.

Here's the bald eagle. At times like this, I wish I had good long lens, but that day will come.

The eagle flew off into the golden light.

The colors on the beach were muted, breathtaking and constantly changing. You can see Tillamook Head in the distance.

I didn't tweak this in PhotoShop except to boost the contrast the smallest trifle. This is how the camera saw the color of the sun's light diffused in the air. It was still sprinkling a little, and the air was wet and the slightest bit misty. I love the rows and rows of waves on our flat beach.

I took a lot of pictures this evening. Click on any photo to go the web album, and you can see the slide show or flip through the album of rainbow and Peter Iredale photos. I'm sure glad I didn't miss this evening at the beach!