Random Ramblings

- Ziggy has clearly been the breakout star of Sean’s Ramblings. I try not to overexpose him, but folks have been clamoring for Ziggy news. Here’s a brief story that I hope appeases his fan club. The other night, Ziggy and I saw a bug fly into our home. While I went to grab a paper towel to take care of the situation, Ziggy had other ideas and ate the bug. I was and am both mortified and proud.

- In other Ziggy-related news, I went to a local grocery store not named Wegmans (it’s rare but this does happen occasionally) since they had a buy one, get one free deal on cat litter. Unfortunately, they were out so I went home with only Klondike bars that were also on sale. When asked if I got a rain check from the customer service desk, I didn’t have an answer. I figure that if a store is out of a product, they are out. Do you get rain checks? This didn’t occur to me probably since I never feel like standing in a customer service (or any other type of) line.

- This is not Ziggy, but perhaps I could teach him to hug.



- When the Pirates first faced Justin Verlander this season, the Tigers pitcher threw a no-hitter through 8+ innings and finished giving up just one hit in a shutout victory. Yesterday, the Pirates scored two runs on five hits against last year’s American League MVP and Cy Young Award winner. I look forward to the next time the Pirates face Verlander where I expect the Bucs to score 4 runs on 9 hits!

- When a child turns 15 months, is appropriate to say that he or she is 1 & 1/4 or just better to go with 15 months?

- I’m convinced that Stephen Baldwin was the top Baldwin brother after the release of Usual Suspects. Of course, now, Alec is clearly the top Baldwin. Has Stephen do anything worthwhile as an actor over the past 15 years (besides guest-starring on his brother’s show 30 Rock earlier this season)?

- You may have noticed that I finally updated the “What I’m Reading” portion of my blog’s sidebar. Unfortunately, it’s already out of date as I completed Taft 2012: A Novel and started reading The Art of Racing in the Rain. I have a feeling that there will be a few moments of the latter book where it gets a little dusty in the room.

- How often do you think people approach actor Eriq La Salle and ask him about or make a reference to Soul Glo?

Trivia Tuesday tomorrow!

Selling Out?

Back in January, I wrote that in the three years since I started Sean’s Ramblings, I have earned a total of $0 from writing this blog. Nine months later, I am proud to say that I have made enough money from writing posts about eating free California Tortilla burritos, trivia night questions and Steelers news and information that I should be able to retire by 2108. (Now that is going to be a difficult election!) Actually, that’s not true, as the current total I have earned from this blog remains $0. Regardless of the economy, I guess I’ll never be able to earn a living from this.

Recently, however, I have received several inquiries about money-making opportunities. In one case, I would write about a specific topic, and an advertiser would pay me for my opinion. As long as the advertiser is fine with me possibly slamming the product or issue, I could be OK with this. I guess it all depends on the topic as I’m not going to start writing about shampoo or tax policies. In the other situation, a sports handicapper wants to provide a banner ad on this site. Whether or not I am interested in having ads on this site, I have no idea what to charge for ads or even how to post them.

So my dilemma now is if I want to sell out to make a little money. Will you respect me less if you do? Would you worry about money clouding my opinion on a particular topic? I’m probably over-thinking this. The $5 extra dollars I could possibly make won’t help my retirement accounts. (Although, I could use it for a burrito!)

In the meantime, feel free to send me free stuff! For example, Turner Publishing is the greatest publishing company ever. Yes, I’m biased since they sent me the book Historic Photos of Theodore Roosevelt. There are some amazing pictures of Roosevelt with the Rough Riders and giving his speeches during his presidency. While we are likely tiring of Obama-McCain, the 1912 election between the incumbent William Howard Taft, Roosevelt, running for a third term after a four-year hiatus, and the eventual winner Woodrow Wilson, must have been fun (and I mean this is a non-sarcastic way).