Other John Platts in History # 2

England's John Edgar Platt (1886 - 1967) was a famed woodblock printmaker. An entire book about his techniques is available online here.

My 10 Least-Favorite Beer Brands

10. Budgieweiser

9. Coors Chocolate

8. Sitting Rock

7. Zima Golden Wheat

6. Tres Equis

5. Corona Average

4. Guiness Clear

3. Sam Adams Summer Sweat Porter

2. Miller Life

1. Thunderbeer

Places I need to visit

Borneo – I need to see orangutans in their native land...before they're all gone.

Yankton, SD – My dad actually went to college there. But his school went out of business years ago and is now a federal prison. It would be great to see and visit the town, although I'll skip trying to get over the fence onto the old campus.

Australia/New Zealand/Tasmania – More unique creature per inch than most other places on earth, and more politically stable than Madagascar. Win-win.

Acadia National Park – I have lived in Maine more than four years, which means I'm past due to get up there.

Santa Fe – During the annual American Indian Market, of course.

Anyplace my friend, musician Randy Granger, is playing – Randy's music means a lot to me. I want to see him in concert one of these days.

Oz – So what if it doesn't really exist?

Virunga National Park – The only politically unstable area I'd risk going to in order to see an endangered species (in this case, mountain gorillas).

India – I can't narrow down which part of the sub-continent I want to see, but one place on my list is the Gir National Forest, last home to the world's only remaining Asiatic lions. (Are you noticing a trend here?)

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico – I've already been there, but I'd like to go back.

Portland and Seattle – If just to check out their comics shops.

San Diego – Gotta visit that zoo.

Where else should I go? I've got cabin fever and need to plan some travel in my mind.

Other John Platts in History # 1

The Hungerford Virtual Museum -- a museum that only exists online but still serves its community of Hungerford, England -- provides the 19th Century history of the area's Platt family, including several generations of brewers named John Platt.

What I'm up to...

A month? A month???? Four weeks since my last blog post here? Bad Platt! Bad!

Oh well, I'll forgive myself. It was a crazy-busy January, made all the more crazy by this really wacky winter we're having. Today pretty much caps it. We have so much snow piled up in front of our front door that there's almost no way to get outside, let alone start shoveling. Oh well, I guess I'll just wait for the snow guys to come in a few hours and let them do most of the work...

So as to the crazy-busy part... work is awesome. Yes, one of my major clients had to cut me loose (tough times), but I did so much writing in January that I didn't even notice it. I turned in at least six major feature articles, including three that will actually be in printed publications -- yes, paper hasn't quite gone out of style yet!

The Extinction Countdown blog had a great month. My story on Tasmanian devils was quoted by dozens of other news outlets. Jeff Corwin named me his "global citizen of the day" for my writing about Borneo's clouded leopards. And several other stories got major linkage on the social networking sites. Not too bad for a topic that is so overwhelmingly depressing.

I also started writing regular news stories for Mother Nature Network, which fits quite nicely into my goal of doing a lot more environmental writing this year. They're a cool outfit to work with, too.

February (all two days of it so far) has involved sending out lots of new pitches to magazines and other publishers. So far this week, I have sent out 11 pitches -- and I have already received one yes and one maybe. I guess I'm doing something right here.

Meanwhile, I'm reading a lot in my free time -- if just so I can get some books out of my "to be read" pile and out of the house if I decide not to keep them. I'm a lot less sentimental about keeping books after three moves in seven years, so I don't feel too bad about letting them go.

(Here's a tip: If you have anything you're not sure you want to part with, take a few photos of it. You'll remember the item, such as a well-loved book, without needing to own it any longer.)

Most of the books I'm parting with are being donated to the local library. A few get listed for sale as used books on Amazon. Sales there aren't great, but they did pay for my new printer a few weeks ago. Every little bit helps, right?

Hmm... you know, that's really about it in terms of what I've been up to. It probably doesn't sound like much, but I've really been heads-down for most of January. February should be a lot more varied and interesting. It has 26 more days to prove me wrong.

Well, I think that's about all of the writing I can do for today. I just might do do some shoveling. Either that or take a nap. Yeah, a nap sounds pretty inviting right about now...

In 2011, I will...

• Post my resolutions later than most other people (done!)
• Do good work that I care about (and less that's just about the almighty dollar)
• Make a difference, in as many ways as possible
• Write at least 100 articles about endangered species (and if I'm lucky, help contribute to saving a few of them)
• Draw at least 50 gag cartoons, move my webcomic to a better host, and figure out a way to make a few dollars from my cartooning (or at least the first two)
• Have an unexpected adventure (but by saying this, am I expecting it?)
• Turn 42 (eek!)
• Finally move out of this mold-ridden nightmare townhouse (achoo!)
• Lose 5 pounds. Or ten. (Or less.)
• Take 1,000 photographs (which means finding 1,000 new things in the world to photograph)
• Seek peace, calm, happiness and enjoyment in all things (except those things I'll stay angry about)
• Probably not write any fiction (except this list?)
• Try to end the constant pain in my hands (not typing stuff like this would have been a good beginning)
• Blog more (or not)
• Take control in all things (because I deserve it)
  

Our wreath came out of the blizzard looking even merrier

Our wreath came out of the blizzard looking even merrier
Originally uploaded by JohnPlatt

Merry three days after Christmas!