dahanese.com

Pancake's better at marketing than I am, apparently.

Yesterday, we announced the Borderlands 2 collector's edition. Someone on Shacknews asked me how big the loot chest was, and since we have a prototype in the office I said I'd take a picture for him to show scale.

I also had my miniature dachshund, Pancake, in the office, and since she's kind of notorious on Shacknews, I figured I'd use her for scale.

I like using yfrog.com (although it's not the best site, I know) for all my phone-uploaded photos (archiving FTW) so I tweeted the two below pictures of Pancake to show scale and then posted them on Shacknews.

Turns out gamers really care about the scale of their collector's edition loot chests and also love tiny dogs. As of this morning, she had 1270 upvotes on Reddit - someone dug her enough to repost the picture. She was also posted on tumblr and was reblogged quite a bit.

Pancake has now won the right to come to the office with me whenever she wants. Sure, she sits on my desk and whimpers after lunch because she knows she gets a treat then. Sure, she sometimes lets out a bark during a conference if she sees a big dog out the window. But she's probably also sold hundreds of collectors editions... So I think overall, she wins at video game marketing.

forays into photography.

so, as you may know, i'm getting married next week. this is rad and all, but what is WAY MORE AWESOME is that i'm getting a full week in maui, sans blackberry and laptop, to do anything in the world i want. it's a gorgeous place, and it's our honeymoon, so i want to have some kick ass pictures. thusly, about two weeks ago, i began my search to figure out what kind of camera we wanted to get.

we had a few options: iphone with a waterproof case when we go in the ocean, point-and-shoot with a waterproof case, waterproof point-and-shoot, or DSLR and some other option of the above.

i went with that last one.

Greetings and hello!

Well, hello there! You might have noticed some changes around the blog – and I wanted to give you a bit of a rundown on the hows and whys and what’s of everything new.

When I started this blog in 2006, blogs were more of the “internet journaling” type deal – and I used mine as such. I’m quite happy I did, also, because I have a nice record of some otherwise mundane memories – but as time passed, I got a pretty public-facing job, moved across the country, and the landscape of the internet changed, this blog has morphed pretty substantially. Particularly when I moved, it served as a great place to tell stories to my friends and family one time and have them all talk about it. However, just because I choose to be a public figure doesn’t mean the people I know signed up for it, so this space, albeit a banal one, was more of a private affair.

trippy.

so i found out my dog has a twitter account today. how? because she started following MY twitter feed, and i got an email about it.

and no, i didn't do it. and neither did mike. and i still think asked might have done it, but he's not online to ask. it's definitely a shacker (prompted by the posts i've made about pan being ill last week, i guess, and her awesome professional pictures.)

i've actually posted back to her a couple times. i am actually referring to this feed as "her" also, which is even more hilarious. my dog is CLEARLY not twittering. she's sitting beside me right now.

this is like when i made that blog for sake. (and that was awesome, by the way.)

anyway, you want to see pancake's twitter? right here. can't imagine it will hang around long, as i bet the shacker responsible will get bored. still, she has 14 people following her. my fucking dog.

oh, internet.

http://twitter.com/PancakeTheDog

holy shit meerkat!

long story short: a shacker has a girlfriend who makes fleece hats. i live in california, and have no need for a fleece hat, but it was inexpensive and i wanted to support her.

her hats happen to be animals. and i could request a custom animal. so, of course, i chose a meerkat. because that is, of course, the logical thing to do.

below is the result. i even have a comparison shot of me and a meerkat so you can see how uncanny the resemblance is.

if you want your own animal hat, go here: http://www.hideebugdesigns.com/

forays into not being professional.

note: that title is a joke. i'm professional.

but, today, i had a meeting with a company called wikia, who wanted to pitch me on their services and see if i wanted to work with them. i forgot they were coming. if i had remembered, i would not have brought pancake in.

at 11, the receptionist tells me they are here. i think, whatever, my dog's cute, and walk her down with me to the lobby. i start shaking hands, getting names, and then one of the guys goes "and jimmy wales decided to come today to give the presentation!"

yeah. i definitely asked dawn to hold on to pan for the next hour so i could let the founder of wikipedia give me a presentation.

DOH.

(as an aside that is definitely me being proud and also laughing at myself, he is rarely in the country apparently but they told me that we're a big name they really want to work with, so he wanted to come out and meet us. and then the guy who said that made a little impressed noise when he asked what i did and i said i founded and run the company's community and community-based events. i mean, thanks for being impressed, but dude, have you seen that guy sitting to my right?)

PANCAKE

well, she's not allowed, or should be jumping up on the couch, but this is adorable.

thankfulness.

i have been told that i have been gloomy lately in my entries. and this is true. i have been pretty gloomy lately. some is irrational. some is not. some will mend. well, all will mend in time, right?

anyway. here's a list of things that are good, and that i am thankful for.

- cats that sleep on my feet
- miso who sits in my lap when i work on the computer
- pancake who has a cute face (we shall add to this later when she does not whine at 6 am, is potty trained, and i am over her chewing through my laptop cord which cost $86 to replace)
- an awesome fucking job
- an awesome fucking bunch of coworkers
- a car that i think is really awesome
- two sisters, a father, and a mother who are really supportive and fun and kind and wonderful
- a group of friends that now pull from real life means so that when i use internet forums, i can use them just to bullshit, and not feel the need to socialize with the people that annoy me there because i have no other friends and/or means to socialize, thusly i have to see them
- being debt free
- having lost some weight and enjoying thoroughly working out
- being an excellent cook and really enjoying it (and having a really awesome kitchen and easy access to barbecuing)
- lots of sunshine and good weather in california
- cheap, amazing wine
- accessible flowers so that i always have blooms on my kitchen table
- an apartment big enough to HAVE a kitchen table
- a farmer's market
- access to a city with all the food i like, and a town with all the takeout i could desire
- a beach within day's driving distance (albeit perhaps shark infested)
- knowledge that, no matter what the hurtles, i am successful, surrounded by loving and supportive people, and saving money, and that each passing day, these things grow stronger, and the goals that i am shaping for my future are becoming more and more real and incredible

pancake?

on december 15th, 2007, little mini dachshund girl puppies were born. one is possibly a cream, but also possibly a light red. the other is a red, possibly a light red.

what does this mean?

a cream is like a golden retriever. english cream is the true term. a light red is like a golden retriever with a tiny bit of red highlight. english cream doxies go for a lot of money. red doxies, less so.

if this girl is a cream, she will be about double her price if she is "red".

i will be getting one of these puppies, and picking her up on february 9th.

here's your job. 1. tell me why getting a puppy is a terrible idea and i'm not ready for the responsibility and i will kill it. financially, i already have set aside the money for her first year bills. i've been planning her coming since... about a year ago, now. february of 2007, i believe. 10 months. 2. tell me which you think is cuter. the first, which is the possible cream, or the red, which will lighten up. all doxies lighten as they grow up.

and yes. i realize they both look like worms. they were born 2 days ago, after all.