Random Update Round-Up

1) Spindle: It’s where the majority of my free (and not-so-free) time has gone the past week as I’ve been tweaking things in the background since the site “soft launched” last Wednesday. I pulled some different featured content to the front for those not inclined to wandering the City aimlessly — something I plan to do on a weekly basis — and am pulling together new content for an October 1 update.  Response so far has been terrific, both to the site design and the content, and I’m putting out the first official mass Call for Submissions tonight, distributing flyers at louderARTS and placing a sponsored listing on NewPages.com that will hopefully go live sometime this week.

2) Kids: Isaac had a rough weekend as he picked the wrong time to pull a spoiled brat move at Barnes & Noble on Friday night and is now on “punishment” until his birthday next month. His “punishment” is that he won’t be getting anything other than the basic necessities until then; no toys, no ice cream, no videogame time, etc. Of course, as that lame “punishment” probably makes obvious, it’s totally our fault that he’s a bit spoiled, but it’s not too late to fix it. We made him write an essay on Sunday about what he’d done, why it was bad and what the consequences were, and I think it finally sunk in for him why we were so disappointed with him. He’s such a sensitive kid, quick to tears when he’s embarassed or frustrated, and generally speaking he’s a saint, but he’s got a bad sense of entitlement that we need to nip in the bud. India had a similar moment Saturday night in Target, refusing to try on a pair of shoes and throwing a fit which got even worse when we “punished” her by putting her Lightning McQueen Halloween bucket back on the shelf. Yikes!  She can go from 0-60 in about 3 seconds, arms and legs flailing in high-volume anger, and then almost as quickly become a sobbing mess, clearly overwhelmed by the moment as she tries to calm herself and communicate. I calmed her down for a bit and she eventually agreed to try on the shoes and got her bucket back in the process, making the connection we spent the whole weekend trying to get Isaac to understand.  Looking at the two of them, myself, and people’s behavior in general, plus having finished reading The Speed of Dark (review coming soon), I can’t decide whether “autism” is too narrowly or too broadly defined.

3) Work: Took a quick trip out to Cincinnati last Thursday for a strategy meeting and to meet my new Advertising Director. Things are looking good for 2008, but I’ve got a lot of legwork to do over the next few weeks before the Jan/Feb issue closes to make sure of it.  The Nov/Dec issue blindsided me as I missed my overly optimistic reforecast, but I’m making it up online and am comfortably ahead for the year overall. I finished the media kit, too — an almost total revamp from last year — and if we can launch some of the new online opportunities I put in there before the end of the year, I should be sitting pretty when the smoke clears and the final numbers come in.

4) Fantasy Sports: My baseball team revived itself for one last hurrah after my pitching staff tanked last week, and I claimed 5th place this season. Sucky ending to what was shaping up to be a great season until these last three weeks. In football, my money league team is clinging to its first victory and I’ll be forced to root for the Eagles tonight over the Redskins, or at least for Jason Avant to outscore Santana Moss, in order to preserve the “W”. Matt Schaub has outscored Philip Rivers two weeks in a row now, sitting on my bench.  In my Yahoo! Poets League, I’m spanking fools with a 2-0 record and the highest-scoring team (though I might be surpassed by the end of tonight’s game.)

5) NY Sports: The Mets are giving me heartburn with their horrible bullpen situation. I mean, the Phillies aren’t that good, but we’re making them look like the Braves used to as they’ve now swept twice in a row and closed the division gap to 3.5 games. No way they catch up (fingers crossed), but it doesn’t bode well for the playoffs, especially if they manage to snag the wild card. With the Yankees keeping things interesting in the AL, I’m only partially rooting for a Subway Series rematch. Whether Eric Mangini wants to acknowledge it or not, the Jets officially have a quarterback controversy after Kellen Clemens stood up to the Baltimore Ravens’ over-powering D and never backed down, almost pulling off the dramatic comeback. If not for Justin McCareins dropping TWO TD passes — please, Mangini, make a statement and cut him this week, no matter the salary cap implications — they could have stolen that game. I’m a big Pennington fan but he’s had his chances and always comes up a little short in the end. Still, I’d take him over Eli Manning any day.  That kid’s a dorky goofball who will always be in his big brother’s shadow and will never succeed in NY.

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Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.