It’s been quite a while since I did one of these, so it seemed like a good as time as any.

To lead off, this weekend is St. Patrick’s Day. On that beautiful day, I’ll travel down to New Jersey to hit up a disc golf tournament. This is a tournament I look forward to every year because of how clean it’s run and how fun it is.

I’m ready for some disc golf this weekend!

The March O’ St. Pat’s Madness is likely one of only two or three PDGA tournaments I’ll play in this year, so I’m excited to see the weather should at least be decent.

The other blog I run, RattlingChains.com, is also taking part as a sponsor of the event. So it’s neat to have that be part of it as well.

I’ve actually had the chance to get out and throw a few times, lately, too. I think if I can just kind of plug along and stay calm and have fun, I have a chance — to not place last!

In the end, it’s my hope this is a sign spring really is coming. Hopefully, anyway.

****

Last weekend, I was contacted by a newspaper to cover a basketball game.

I won’t lie — basketball is one of my least-favorite sports to cover. It’s probably because I’ve never been a huge fan of the game. I don’t hate basketball, but I’d rather cover other sports.

Still, when money is calling…

It’s still fun to see a byline on a story I’ve written.

So I covered a sectional championship girls game. It was a sloppy game, but the end result was pretty exciting. The final four minutes really made the game something to remember. One of the teams scored on a three-pointer to tie it with under a minute to play. Moments later, the other team came down and responded with a wide-open three to take the lead for good.

And the best part about small-school basketball? The crowds were huge. And loud. And exciting.

After the game, I did my interviews and and soon after wrote the story. It was kind of nice tapping away at a story. I sent it in and all was good. But the next day, when this paper came out (a Sunday paper), I won’t lie — it was still quite a cool rush to see a byline on a story.

Even after my last stop at a newspaper — despite a sour ending — I still get a kick out of bylines. It’s a nice feeling to see your name on something done, so I’m glad I had the chance. And I’ll appreciate the check even more!

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OK, people, I try — note try — to eat as healthy as I can. And, for the most part, I avoid fast food.

But this time of year is hard.

Shamrock shakes rule!

Why, you may ask?

The Shamrock Shake! I absolutely love this time of year at McDonald’s when they bring these bad boys out. I’ve been a fan of Shamrock Shakes for years and I usually limit myself to two or so a year. They are, after all, filled with sugar!

I’m at three this year. I know, bad me.

But they are so damn good.

I do wish they’d go back to the old-school way of doing things — in the paper cups with the shake already mixed. It’s not the same in these plastic cups and adding the mint mix.

It’s still pretty good though.

This year, I’ve also resorted to having them done without the whipped cream and cherry, which cuts out some calories and sugar.

Anyway, the ones I’ve had this year have been fantastic. I figure on one more this year and then I’ll let them go away for another year. If you haven’t had one, I’d encourage you to get one before they are gone for the year!

****

I’ll finish this post talking about beer.

As many of you may know, I’m learning how to homebrew. I have an Irish Stout finished and I think it came out really well. And with St. Patrick’s Day coming up…

I’ve truly enjoyed my Kiss Me Arse Irish Stout.

I’ve had some luck so far. The three that have been bottled and tried already have done really well. They’ve each received pretty good and honest reviews from friends. Nothing over the top, yet, but all pretty decent.

I also have an Irish Red bottled. As of today, it’s gone through that cycle and I can put one in the fridge to try it. Maybe that will be the beer to try when I get back from Jersey on Sunday?

It’s Irish, after all.

It’s been a fun process and I’ve slowly been stepping up from the easy process to a little harder. It’s been a heap of fun and I hope it continues.

Only time will tell.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend and if you are out celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, remember to have a driver and be careful out there!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Seriously?

Is that all?

Twenty-eight days ago, we started a wonderful challenge of writing a post per day. Now, mind you, I’ve done this before. And not even with a challenge! Just blogging for a full month (or more) in a row.

It’s true, however, that when you put some emphasis on some crazy themes, it gets harder. Alas, it’s a done deal. As of the moment I hit publish on this post, I’ll have completed this challenge. For the second time.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Though there were some off-the-wall prompts this time around (I think even more than the first time), I’ve once again enjoyed it. Truthfully, challenges like this get your mind working and make you think about things in a different way. For the most part, I try and stick with reality on the prompts. I try and come up with something in the real world (though I did use Earl once). I find that to be even more challenging.

When one challenge closes, there’s always another ready to snap away!

But enough about me. Hopefully you’ve been with me for the past 28 days and you’ve seen it all.

I’ve really enjoyed reading and commenting on all the other blogs. Outside of the ones posted later yesterday (I’ll be getting to them) and today, I’ve ready pretty much every post people have done in this challenge. I can’t say I have commented on every post, but if you’ll recall there’s always reasons for something like that.

And though they may readily deny it, I know Nicky and Mike like this challenge. And I’m sure there will be a third one. Though, to be fair, it may have to be done without my prodding. I’ll just wait in the wings for the next one. Patiently, this time. Kind of.

I have a whole heap of new blogs I’ve really enjoyed going to during this challenge. And I’ve loved that there are several from the first go-around still there and going at it. I’ll be updating my blog roll soon with a few more of the ones I truly enjoyed and got to know.

No matter what, that’s the best part about this challenge — meeting other bloggers from all over with different tastes and styles. It’s made it fun and I look forward to continuing to reading some of their blogs in the coming weeks, months and more. So for that, I thank Nicky and Mike for taking this on again and I will look forward to a third — if and when it happens. This time next year, perhaps?

Still, I won’t lie.

I like challenges. It keeps me fresh with blogging things and forces me to sometimes think outside the box a little. I know Ziva, another participant in this challenge, does a 30 days of photography one sometimes. I like that idea because I’m a photographer. I just have a hard time posting 30 straight days of photos on this blog. So it got me thinking a bit. What could we do to intertwine photography and blogging?

Then the ideas instantly came — a monthly photo blogging challenge.

I initially ran the idea by Ziva to see what she thought of it because she’s done the photo challenges. She told me she was on board with it and would lend her “challenge” expertise if needed.

So here’s the deal.

On the first of every month, I’ll have a blog post about the theme for the month. Each participant will have the full month to take five photos to cover the month’s theme. Interpret it as you see fit. On the final day of the month, do a blog post about the photos for the theme and post it. Come back over here and I’ll have a link thing setup, much like Nicky/Mike and Ziva do for their challenges.

The beauty of this challenge is it’s one post, but it still gives you a challenge. And it challenges you with photos as well as words.

My post here tomorrow will explain the challenge in-depth and have the first theme.

This challenge will go on for however long. There will be no direct end date. As long as people seem interested and want to continue along with it, they are most certainly welcome. Who knows? Maybe it’ll just be Ziva and I doing it. Or just me. Or three or four. I have no idea.

So, in the end, I guess that’s not all for now.

Maybe for the current challenge. But there will always be challenges, whether blogging or in real life, that one will do or overcome.

I’ve enjoyed this challenge and look forward to the next. And for that, I’m thankful.

Hope to see some or many of you hopping into the monthly photo challenge!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Another day, another post in this challenge I am involved in.

Sheesh.

The bright side? There’s only a few days left. That’s a fact.

And then I yearn for this to continue throughout the rest of the year. That’s fiction.

That being said, it’s been fun and I’ve found several new blogs I’ll be reading more often (fact). Today’s topic has thrown me for a loop, though, as I have been trying to come up with something somewhat funny and good to write (fact).

Then I figured out what I should write about (fiction).

In fact, the truth is, I didn’t.

Allow me this, though. True story.

Throughout my life of writing, I’ve always worked with fact. Whether it be newspapers, magazines or whatever else, most of the writing is based in fact. Even in public relations. I know some will be shocked there. But in PR, it’s still based on fact. It’s just fluffed a little to make it better for the organization. If people don’t understand that, well, they don’t understand how things work (fact).

I’ve tried to get into fiction a little in recent years. My “Life with Earl” series, which came well before the NBC series “My Name is Earl,” (fact), is partially based on fact (see the golf story), but then quite liberally made into fiction (see the rest of the stories). Allow me to tell you the reason for how Earl has been shaped over the years.

When Earl first started, it was an attempt at a total humor column in the college newspaper. He was actually somewhat well received. Alas, the faculty adviser didn’t think it was worth the print. So for me to use Earl, I needed to have him be relevant. So I took a different look at politics and timely stories with Earl. Some of those included Earl calling the White House to discuss some political things with Bill Clinton. The problem? George W. Bush was now in office. (That’s when I was in college, you see). Or the time he complained about Tiger Woods being the main person on golf broadcasts, no matter how good or bad he was doing. (To some, that may still be fact!)

But my favorites are when I put Earl in crazy situations and see how my mind makes him react. It’s fun fiction. I’ve often thought about an Earl book, made up mainly of stories of him in different situations. Maybe one day as I’d like to make them all connect somehow and then be able to have an actual ending, outside of just a bunch of stories.

Maybe I can make those fictional accounts into a book soon. Could that be fact? We shall see.

I have other fictional ideas for books, too. One is disc golf related. I have the beginning. I have the end. But the middle — the meat — is just not coming together for me. I need something to push that one along. I want to make that fact.

I even have a couple of geocaching book ideas (fact).

Instead, I’m sitting here typing about fact or fiction for a monthly writing contest (fact)!

Alas, I keep plugging along. In life. In writing. In making beer (fact). And I keep dreaming about that lottery I won (fiction, but would like to be fact).

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

– Confucius 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Traveling is great, but it’s always nice to head home!

I love traveling.

It’s truly refreshing to see other places in the world, whether near or far from your home base. To see how people live, interact and do the same sort of things you might do is a fun way to almost escape reality.

Traveling is tiring though!

I’ve heard people speak about this in the past and I always wondered what they were talking about. When I traveled years ago, I’d go full-force for several days, sleep in, have full days and nights and come back raring to go. But as I’ve aged ever-so-slightly, I see what people are talking about.

It can wear you out.

With traveling around wherever you are, packing in things to do, places to eat and, sometimes, a few cordials, some people “work” harder when on vacation than in the real world.

Personally, I don’t usually skip a beat once a vacation ends. I can kick back into gear doing what I need to do and usually have no “lag” in regard to energy and such. Even after flying somewhere. I don’t know why that is, but it seems to work well enough for me. It could be that I usually try and plan a day or two off after a vacation.

But I have realized something — when ending a vacation, it does always feel good to be home at last.

No matter where I’ve been, it’s nice to get back to normal. And I can say, even if I ever won some massive lottery and got to travel at will, going home is always mice. Friends, family and everything else — it’s nice to be back to normal.

I’ve been lucky to travel to some pretty cool places in my life, whether work-related or personal. From Ireland to Montreal to Austin to Florida — I’ve had some fun times.

But it’s always nice to come home.

The best part of it is it makes you yearn to keep traveling. To see more places and things. To get a feel of a culture you aren’t used to as much as normal. But that’s why it’s a vacation and not home, right?

Put yourself into these situations. How many times have you come back from a great vacation and said something along the lines of “That was a great vacation, but it’s great to be home at last.”

My feeling is many of you have said it. I know I have.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!