The week that was: Update Feb. 26, 2016

It was another busy week fine tuning and streamlining the business side of RVtravel.com, adapting to the new, much more challenging world of publishing on the Internet. I'll have more to say in two or three weeks.

The redesign of the RVtravel.com website continues. We created it in its present form about 10 years ago and it's out of date. If it were a six cylinder car, it would be operating on the equivalent of four cylinders: it gets you where you need to go, but not very fast and not very efficiently. Once we are done it will be much easier to find information, and the site will look ten times better (maybe 100 times!).

The Tricaster

I  spent five or six hours this week polishing my skills on our Tricaster, a specialized computer used in live (and taped) video production. It enables us to use up to four cameras at once in our small studio, switching from one camera to another at the push of a button. It's an amazing machine, an entry-level device that is used by video production companies and even some small TV stations for their newscasts.

Me, rehearsing our mini game show.

Our first regular production will be an online game show which I will host. Gail will be the co-star — kinda the "Vanna" of the operation! We'll start off weekly and see how it goes. I am very excited about it. Many RV-related companies have donated products, some worth more than $200. We should have the first show up and running within a few weeks.

Our YouTube channel has reached 11 million views, which makes it one of the largest on YouTube about RVing. Only a few other channels have more views, and I figure with all our new "mini" shows we may take the lead we once held. But I don't care: I just want to have fun with the studio and produce a lot of really helpful content for RVers.

By May, I should have a good handle on the business side of RVtravel.com in its new, improved and streamlined format. Gail and I plan another cross-country RV trip this summer to the giant Hershey (Pennsylvania) RV Show in mid-September and two or three camping weekends in the Northwest. It will be great to get away without having to worry too much about business stuff back home.

On a personal level, the cherry trees in my neighborhood are flowering and spring is in the air. But here in the Northwest we're still a few months away from consistent summer type weather. For awhile, more rain. . . Still, when it the sky is clear here now, it's spectacular. From Edmonds, we look over Puget Sound to the majestic and now snow-capped Olympic mountains.

Also, I bought a parakeet recently. His (or her) name is Shakey (too early to tell its sex yet), which is what I name all my parakeets. I've had four or five through the years. He's a friendly little fellow who just wants to sit on my shoulder all day long. Parakeets are wonderful, very social pets and if you are lucky they will talk. Did you know that parakeets are the most talkative birds of the parrot family? My sister, who lives nearby, is a bird nut so when I go away she is happy to babysit. She also names all her parakeets Shakey. I'll tell you the story some day.

That's all for now. See you next week.