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 The Good Life. |
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You Are Welcome Here Life is good. Let's share it. New Year, New Strategy For 2026, I launched a weekly topic rotation designed to help me stay d i s c i p l i n e d while ensuring that you, the reader, always know what to expect. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a million followers  and gain official WDC "influencer" status, and I often find myself seduced by whimsy. Thus, my blogging strategy continues to evolve.So, What Can I Expect? I'm glad you asked. For now, until whimsy strikes again, here's what you can expect (updated March 2026): Weekly Theme Posts  Music & music educationThe art and business of writingOwning & managing a small businessScience & technologyParkinson's disease, type 1 diabetes, and other medical topicsPersonal News & Updates Health newsFamily, work and leisureThe Occasional Rant Although I try to post rants at "What the Fork?" (and you should, too!) Newly Written Works When I check off completed writing goals, I'll share the fruits of those labors, if applicable. Weekly Goals & Progress I'll establish work and writing goals every Monday and touch base throughout the week. |
| As we close up another week together on Planet Earth, I thought you might like to hear about dramatic Netflix productions highlighting two of the worst things that ever happened on our shared planet: (1) the Holocaust, and (2) the asteroid collision that caused the extinction of almost all of the dinosaurs. Nuremburg (Netflix) A two-and-a-half-hour movie starring Russell Crowe as the Nazi second-in-command and war criminal Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, and Rami Malek as the US Army psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley, tasked with analyzing him to confirm he would be fit to stand trial at the Nuremburg Trials. It was educational and heartbreaking. Despite the hype around Crowe's performance implying otherwise, the story is Dr. Kelley's. In order to get Goering to trust him, Kelley spent thousands of hours interviewing him, finding ways to connect and empathize with him - arguably one of the most evil persons in the history of mankind. All of the acting was outstanding. But even more important was the educational element. I especially appreciated the cuts to actual footage from the Nuremburg Trials, demonstrating that they had staged it accurately. The educational element may have slowed down the story a bit, especially given its length, so Wiki's classification as a "psychological thriller historical drama film" may be a little generous. It's definitely the second half of that description. Our household rating:    The Dinosaurs (Netflix) A 4-episode docuseries narrated by Morgan Freeman. Do you even need more than that? If that's not enough of a recommendation, then how about "produced by Stephen Spielberg"?  So, this series was utterly stunning. The live-footage landscapes were breathtaking. The CGI elements, other than the dinosaurs, included representations of major extinction-level Earth events, and a neat signal of the passage of time where the episodes used different "camera angle" (not a real camera, lol) strategies to imply that the Earth was spinning at warp speed. It was also incredibly educational and engaging. For comparison, I love David Attenborough nature documentaries, but I can zone them out and focus on, say, writing a blog post with it playing in the background. Freeman's voice is no less soothing than Attenborough's, but the content was so interesting that I had a hard time looking away from the screen. Another 4-thumbs-8-paws-up rating from us. We highly recommend both. A goals update to close the week is below. I didn't get everything, but I got a lot, and I'm happy. New empty checkboxed goals tomorrow. Cheers, Michelle Goals for 3/2/26 - 3/9/26 Work Goals  Review work tasks list 3x per week Advertising - Needs immediate attention! Website Updates - Virtual Lab, Performance Events, Calendar pages under Student Center menu Budget -  To revisit next week. Lease renewal - TBD, not urgent yet. In June, it'll be urgent.Writing Goals One review per day Mon-Thu Add content to MichelleTuesday.com/author - On the agenda today. Min 30 min/week on current novel - I sprinted at "Sprint Writers Forum" ! One short story for "The Bradbury" - TBD One themed blog post - I reviewed "56 Days" earlier, and today, "Nuremburg" and "The Dinosaurs" Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - Complete Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" - TBD |
| A few months ago, I fired the digital marketing company who recently took over for the company who had been managing my digital advertising for years. The details of all that are a topic for another day, but today, that leaves me trying to figure out - again - how to use Google Ads without the help of a consultant. By now, it should be easier than it was the last time we tried to do it ourselves. Alas, it is not. But I'm trying to learn and understand, and one step I took was to install Site Kit on my Wordpress website. I'm playing with it now, and here's an interesting top ten list (I did promise a blog post with a numbered list!) For reference, the website is http://www.michelletuesday.com Top search queries for your site (Clicks, Impressions) 1. michelle tuesday music school (24, 73) 2. michelle tuesday (15, 34) 3. is jim carrey left handed (2, 627) ??????? 4. what was the first instrument ever made (2, 124) 5. 2010 pop artists (1, 46) 6. 2010 pop stars (1, 15) 7. 2010s pop artists (1, 93) 8. at what age did taylor swift start playing guitar (1, 7) 9. bb king left handed (1, 1) 10. can taylor swift play guitar (1,28) I don't know how Jim Carrey wormed his way into my blog. Maybe Storm Machine  , who contributes to the music school's blog, has an idea? And while I'm glad the school blog is garnering hits, I'd be interested in getting hits from keywords like, you know, "music lessons" or "learn piano".  The first hit in that realm is ranked at #27: "ocarina lessons near me." Yay for niche markets?That's where Google Ads would come in - I can boost the keywords that aren't showing up in the organic hits. I think. I may need a consultation with the marketing guy who helps me because his daughter is my songwriting student and their family loves us. I try not to take advantage. All of this explains the second line in my goals, which are updated below.  Musically, Michelle Goals for 3/2/26 - 3/9/26 Work Goals Review work tasks list 3x per week Advertising - Needs immediate attention! Website Updates - Added 4-Week Trials & updated the Careers page with photos!http://www.michelletuesday.com/get-to-know-us/careers Budget - Though I now have more questions than answers. To revisit next week. Lease renewal - TBD, not urgent yet. In June, it'll be urgent.Writing Goals One review per day Mon-Thu Add content to MichelleTuesday.com/author - TBD Min 30 min/week on current novel - I sprinted at "Sprint Writers Forum" ! One short story for "The Bradbury" - TBD but wrote "Water-Bat" for last week. One themed blog post - I reviewed "56 Days" but bouncing around more ideas. Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - One badge to go, which requires my last review. Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" - TBD |
I'm so close to completing my current assignment for "26 Paychecks " ! I just need to write one review tomorrow.  On a related note, I love the Review Tool update. I also love the snippets! I formerly used forum-specific or book-specific signatures, but the snippets are much more flexible.Keith and I watched the Steal pilot on Prime Video per Jeff  's suggestion. So far, so good! I could tell you about it, but why reinvent sliced bread? Read what Jeff had to say here: "Watch List - February 2026" Goals are below. I added "Needs immediate attention" to "Advertising" almost two days ago, but you wouldn't know, because I haven't updated the blog since Monday morning. Nor have I attended to Advertising in all those almost-two days. Considering today was hump day, I have a lot of unchecked boxes on that list. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow! You're always when I plan to do stuff. Peace, Michelle Goals for 3/2/26 - 3/9/26 Work Goals Review work tasks list 3x per week - yes, and now I have three new goals.  Advertising - Needs immediate attention! Website Updates - Added 4-Week Trials & updated the Careers page with photos!http://www.michelletuesday.com/get-to-know-us/careers Budget - Though I now have more questions than answers. To revisit next week. Lease renewal - TBD, not urgent yet. In June, it'll be urgent. Teaching training for March - I forgot about this, but my receptionists kindly reminded me. Writing Goals One review per day Mon-Thu - Review of "A Box of Weeds"  Add content to MichelleTuesday.com/author - TBD Min 30 min/week on current novel - TBD One short story for "The Bradbury" - TBD One themed blog post - I reviewed "56 Days" but bouncing around more ideas. Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - One badge to go, which requires my last review. Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" - TBD |
| Keith and I binged all 8 episodes of 56 Days on Prime Video over the weekend. On the plus side, the storytelling was gripping. We wanted to watch more episodes on Saturday, bedtime be damned, but there were enough episodes remaining to convince our practical side to wait. The key driver of tension is not actually whodunnit so much as... who died? Sooo many red herrings, twists and reveals in that department. I also liked the way the story follows the lives of both the suspects and the investigators. Basically, not a single character in the story had the moral high ground. Everyone was flawed. But some characters weren't just flawed -- they were malicious. Karma is a bitch, though. Now for the negatives. The story centers around a new relationship between Oliver and Ciara. That relationship is ultimately the reason for the mystery murder. The two characters keep secrets from each other, one of which is that the "relationship" was planned in advance. But the characters end up legitimately falling in love with each other. Supposedly. I didn't see it, or at least, not enough. I felt like the development of the relationship -- emotionally -- was pre-empted to make way for eroticism, which seemed like a primary goal of the producers. The erotic scenes were just that - erotic - and did little to drive the plot or develop the characters or their relationship. It's also possible that the relationship was difficult to convey without knowing all the facts about the characters. The show is a mystery first and foremost, so we were uninformed about certain things in the histories of these characters, which, had I known while watching the relationship blossom, might have better convinced me. Overall, I'd probably give the series a 7/10. Below are my goals for this week. Literarily, Michelle Goals for 3/2/26 - 3/9/26 Work Goals Review work tasks list 3x per week - Pending Website Updates - PendingWriting Goals One review per day Mon-Thu - Pending Add content to MichelleTuesday.com/author - Pending Min 30 min/week on current novel - Pending One short story for "The Bradbury" - Pending One themed blog post - See above. Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - In progress. Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" - TBD |
...because it's the day we celebrate the end of February!   Almost as if my whole body recognizes the achievement, I had a kick-ass night of sleep last night. If you've been here before, you've surely noticed I've been using my blog to keep track of my progress against goals. Even when I blog about something else, I close each post with a goals update. It's just a good place to document daily and weekly successes for future reference (and they should be documented and celebrated!) But I'm struggling a little with the timing. I can't figure out what time of day to post the updates. So, today you get a goodnight post, and tomorrow, I'll probably kick off the week with a shiny new set of goals. Goals update below. Soooo close this week. Goals for 2/23/26 - 3/1/26 Work Goals Review work tasks list 3x per week Payroll - Employees = PAID! Website - Updated the Music Lab and Teachers & Staff pages.Writing Goals Create official author website - The bones are there: michelletuesday.com/author Min 30 min/week on current novel - Nope. Didn't happen this week. One short story for "The Bradbury" - TBD? I still have two hours.  Two poems for "PromptMaster !" - "Jealousy" - "Ode to Candy" One themed blog post - "Character GMC(S)" One review - Review of "It Works" Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - In progress, but met today's goals. Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" - March assignment posted. |
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