Greg Skoog's Profile | Typepad

This is Greg Skoog's Typepad Profile.

Join Typepad and start following Greg Skoog's activity

Join Now!

Already a member? Sign In

Greg Skoog

Recent Activity

Let's give 'em something for talking out

Rewards Club member Pam Keen, her Consultant, Bev, and their friend Mary Anne, on a scrapbooking trip last September. Pam Keen of Virginia has been a member of our Rewards Club since July and she’s happy to tell you all about it. So it was sort of icing on the cake the other day when she got the phone call telling her she’d won the $500 Shopping Spree in last month’s Creative Memories Rewards Club Refer-a-Friend promotion. How did Pam find out about the $500 offer? “Well, I told my sister Marianne about last month’s deal where she could sign... Continue reading

Posted Jan 16, 2013 at CM Life

3

We're awesome. The judges said so.

We’re pretty proud of our product development and creative services groups right now -- the illustrators, graphic designers, writers, developers, marketers, trainers...who put together most of our advertising, marketing and product designs.* That’s because this past Friday night there were a whopping 11 awards given out to Creative Memories' work at this year’s local ADDY Awards show. What’s an ADDY Award, you ask? The ADDY Awards are a creative awards competition sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). In fact, it’s the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition -- attracting over 50,000 entries each year in local ADDY competitions.... Continue reading

Posted Feb 21, 2012 at CM Life

16

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone! And thanks for your patience. There are a lot of folks out in that plant pushing really hard to get you the best albums possible as quickly as possible!

Commented Feb 10, 2012 on Beeing productive at CM Life

Beeing productive

It's Friday here in St. Cloud, but the pace is anything but casual. We're scrambling like a highly motivated, carefully choreographed little hive of album-making bees. What's the rush? It's the effects of January's Celebration Sale –– where everything was 25 percent off. There were some screamin' deals to be had, and you guys snapped up plenty of them. Well shopped, my friends. But it's Feb. 10 and thousands of you still don't have your albums yet. So we're out here, buzzing around, busting our stingers to get these albums assembled, out the door and on their merry way toward... Continue reading

Posted Feb 10, 2012 at CM Life

21

Rising to the challenge

A man with no goal is a rudderless ship, subject to the whims of fickle Neptune's fathomless fancies... No, wait, that's not right. (Well, it is right, but it's not going to get me to the point I want to make. Lemme start over.) A man with no goal is a ship safe at port. He hath access to all he might need, but knoweth not how strong the stuff of his sails may be. Stand by for actual example intended to double as allegory in 3... 2... 1: Years ago almost everything I ate was bland. There was no... Continue reading

Posted Sep 20, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

Brian, not as long as you win.

Commented Sep 19, 2011 on Listen up, everyone. Listen to Greg. at The Nothing Box

Brian, that's the beauty of being a Rosemount alum. You're permanently granted full Irish status, with all the rights and privileges associated therewith. Hell, I didn't even graduate from there and my McLiver and I are milking that genealogical immunity card for all it's worth. [Cue RHS fight song in background...] Go Irish!

Commented Sep 19, 2011 on I am one-eighth bohemian. Not nearly enough to be interesting. at The Nothing Box

I am one-eighth bohemian. Not nearly enough to be interesting.

My mother is half German, one quarter Swiss and one quarter Bohemian. And aside from a rampant, swarthy eyebrow, those crazy gypsy roots have given me... (sigh) Just about nothing. For the most part, I'm okay with that. But every once in awhile, I really wish I had a little more of a bohemian edge to me. Just every once in awhile I'd like to be able to sit in a darkly lit coffee shop, sipping organic espresso, wearing something that looks truly ridiculous but is still cool (because it was hand-woven by the grandmother of an Ecuadoran freedom fighter... Continue reading

Posted Sep 18, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

Listen up, everyone. Listen to Greg.

Sixth grade should have been a radical year for me. 1978-79 was an awesome time to be in Napa, California. Sixth grade was one of a very few years where I wasn't starting out in a new school. (I went to 10 different schools, K-12.) Northwood Elementary was a K-6 school, so I was regally perched atop the food chain. I was not only a member of the elite, paramilitary Northwood Elementary School Patrol – I was a sergeant.* That year should have been a stone groove. But there was one snag. Ms. Lenzi. From an educational standpoint, Ms. Lenzi... Continue reading

Posted Sep 15, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

Play and win valuable prizes!

Corinne and I are playing another of our little games. (No, this one does NOT involve a Catholic school girl costume. I'm NEVER putting that thing on again.) Here's the way this one's going to work: Corinne's going to give me random topics and I'm going to have two days to work that topic into a blog post. So today it might be nihilism. Friday it might be purple unicorns. I don't know what she's going to give me. And, originally, I thought I'd just keep it quiet to see if I could weave these random topics into posts that... Continue reading

Posted Sep 14, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

Oh yeah, Jodi. I just kind of thought that was assumed. For clarification's sake, and for anyone who doesn't know either of them, let me say for the record: either Jodi or Rachel could kick my ass without even breaking a sweat. They're awesome! BTW, Jodi, tell Chad he's a much better bag bitch than he is a photo transferer. Still waiting for that "after" shot! I'll add it here when I get it.

Commented Sep 14, 2011 on She's my little rock and roll at The Nothing Box

Don't Sponsor Us

Do NOT sponsor me for next month's Mud Run. I'm going to have a kick-ass time. I'll be hanging out with great friends. I'll even get to have a couple of free beers when it's all said and done. No, you should definitely NOT subsidize my competitive jones – nor should you subsidize Corinne. Her recreational team might be even more fun than my competitive team. We're going to get filthy. We're going to be slogging through chest-deep "mud puddles", climbing over logs and jumping over fire. That's OUR good time. You shouldn't pay for that. Here's what you SHOULD... Continue reading

Posted Aug 23, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

What a weekend should be

I just had the kind of weekend that picks up your brutal, beat-down of a week, shakes it by its scrawny neck, and hollers "Suck it, bitch!" It was the kind of weekend that God sends on rare occasions to some of His most weary and downtrodden little creations. The kind where the veils of stress and frustration flutter and part in a passing breeze of chance. My weekend kicked ass. Now, in order to truly grasp the scope of this weekend's awesomeness, you need to get your head around the profound suckfest that was "last week." Stuff was breaking,... Continue reading

Posted Jun 27, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

Dang, Jen! That's a fantastic idea. Brandon, loosen up the taps. House of Pizza, here I come!

Commented Jun 24, 2011 on Worth every penny at The Nothing Box

Worth every penny

That bright-yellow behemoth in the front of this photo is sort of a summer project of mine. I found it last fall at a house down the street, sitting forelornly at the end of a driveway with a hand-scrawled "free" sign hanging from the top tube. I gave it a thorough, cautious, up-close look and, since I'm an idiot who has no idea what he's looking for/at, it looked salvageable to me. It's a Browning. As in the firearms manufacturer. I didn't even know they'd ever made bikes. (Though I don't know why I'm surprised, since my mother-in-law gave me... Continue reading

Posted Jun 23, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

Them kids is smart

Huge kudos to Erin – the second of our collective brood and my first biological offspring to graduate high school. (SIDETRACK: That "huge kudos" intro was totally my subconscious mind crying out. I just finished lunch, my sweet tooth is screaming at me, and all I have in my desk drawer is a couple of those tiny little 100 calorie Kudos bars. Tasty, but not nearly substantial enough. Evidently, somewhere in the uncharted recesses of my brain, there's a part of me that would like to mush about 8 of those things together into a huge Kudos bar. Yum.) Erin's... Continue reading

Posted Jun 20, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

Little Duplex on the Prairie

Settle the hell down, breath deeply, and take comfort in this simple fact: there's someone lazier than you. There's always someone lazier than you. I coasted through school based on that knowledge. I finish races fueled by that knowledge. And, occasionally, I sit comfortably on my back patio with a beer – at peace in the glow of that knowledge. I'm aware that I will never win an award at any lawn and garden show. In fact, in your neighborhood, I'd probably be that guy. The guy you shake your head and grumble about at the annual block party. The... Continue reading

Posted Jun 8, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

Is it really paying for sex if the money was hers to begin with?

Philosophical debate: My wife offered me sexual favors this morning if I'd dig out her credit card that I've hidden. That's not dirty, is it? Continue reading

Posted May 25, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

And with that single utterance to the people of Athens, "We have won," Pheidippides collapsed and died from exhaustion. Or so the story goes. Ol' Pheidippides and I; we're kindred spirits now. Sure, he ran his from the plains of Marathon to the city of Athens after fighting all day in full armor while I ran mine through the streets of Fargo (and Moorhead, don't forget Moorhead) after sleeping in the back of my truck. But basically it's pretty much the same deal. And it's kind of a big deal. I'm a "marathon runner" now. I love that I can... Continue reading

Posted May 22, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

Driven... To the brink of insanity

Last week at church they showed a video clip of the guy from whom I ripped off the title of my blog. His name's Mark Gungor. And his premise is basically that men's and women's brains are just constructed differently. Funny and accurate. We're constructed differently. It's not good or bad. It just is. Don't believe it? Try planning a bike ride. MEN Eric: We should do that Tuesday Night Time Trial next week. Me: Next Tuesday I'm supposed to go out to dinner with Erin. But the chances are really good that she's going to blow me off. If... Continue reading

Posted May 12, 2011 at The Nothing Box

0

(sigh) Oh Me, While you are undoubtedly learned in Catholic dogma, your baseball catechism is clearly lacking. Must I remind you that the baseball gods are a vengeful lot – perched there on their regal thrones atop Mt. Cooperstown? So, while a gentle, caring person such as yourself might see no threat in the withholding of beer from (allegedly) lucky logo glassware, make no mistake – the baseball gods do. And if my team responds to my challenge with due moxie, then said moxie shall be rewarded tenfold. For so sayeth the unwritten rules. (Your sports-fan perspective is clearly still blurred by a film of stale champagne. I imagine it's easy to be smug when your team's got the Lombardi trophy sitting on their collective coffee table. Obviously I'll never know for sure!)

Commented May 5, 2011 on I'm not buying it yet at The Nothing Box

I'm not buying it yet

Okay bandwagon jumpers, I'm not buying it yet. Liriano's no-hitter could be the spark that ignites this team. And then they follow it up with another win this afternoon? Still, I'm not buying it yet. In fact, I'm going to have a beer tonight. (No special occasion. I just happen to like beer.) But I won't be drinking it out of a Twins pint glass. That's right. I'm announcing right here – for all the interweb to see – that I am hereby taking my Twins pint glasses out of the freezer and putting them up on the highest shelf.... Continue reading

Posted May 4, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

FYI, obviously the President's been hitting my blog again. He comes to me for most of his best analogies. http://www.startribune.com/nation/121241234.html

Commented May 4, 2011 on Not sure what to make of this at The Nothing Box

Gina, stay home

My good friend Gina is funny, charming, creative, and one of the most talented advertising professionals I've met in 20 years in the business. I don't give a shit. She needs to not travel with my wife. When the two of them leave town together, the moles of craziness start popping up all over my world and I can't beat them all down. You know, stuff like bloody deer hides showing up on the front step. A couple weeks ago (it's taken me this long to get the wording on this post to be sufficiently diplomatic) the two of them... Continue reading

Posted May 4, 2011 at The Nothing Box

2

Divorce is awkward. (What the hell? He goes a month between posts and that's the best insight he can come back with?) I mean it though. The family stuff is painful. The financial stuff is infuriating. The legal stuff is emasculating. But it's the friend stuff I want to talk about. When I went through my divorce a few years ago I was scared, confused, a little bit hurt and a whole lot of sad. And in the process, I did a lot pulling back and insulating myself. I leaned heavily on family and on a few key friendships, but... Continue reading

Posted May 3, 2011 at The Nothing Box

1

More...

Subscribe to Greg Skoog’s Recent Activity