(l-r) Charlene, Zsavonne, Peter, Jana, Tiffany at Aura

Merlot Marketing’s PR Team subscribes to Peter Shankman’s Help A Reporter Out (HARO) service, which connects savvy journalists to sources. It’s a brilliant viral movement and Peter’s membership is growing each day - he’s nearing 40,000 members! While HARO is a large network, Peter’s three daily e-mails make you feel like he’s your bff. Thanks to the Sacramento Public Relations Association (SPRA), Peter was in Sacramento yesterday for an SPRA luncheon where he talked to local PR pros about social media and its future in PR. Not only was it a great discussion, full of amazing information and certainly a lot of laughs, but we also got to meet our homeboy, Peter, in person!

As is customary for Peter’s speaking engagements, SPRA threw a members only happy hour at Aura in midtown last night where we all got to hang out, network and kick it with our HARO bestie. Massive thanks to Peter for giving Sacramento his time and sharing his wisdom. Also, a great big thank you to my friends at SPRA for having the forethought to bring Peter into town. (I should probably disclose here that I am SPRA’s VP this year. And I know that that looks like I’m thanking myself, but I’m actuallythanking the faboo SPRA peeps who make my job as the veep so rewarding.)

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We Giants fans have a saying: “I only root for the Giants and anyone playing the Dodgers.” With that said, GO PHILLIES!!

Matt Stairs' crushing blow to the Dodgers = Jana sleeps very well at night

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The buffet line

It’s the end of the day and I think I speak for everyone when I say that I don’t think I’ll be injesting any sugar for a little while. And this is me (I have a pretty controlling sweet tooth), so you can just imagine how any normal person feels.

It would seem as though Uncle Marxy’s World Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies are now Uncle Marxy’s Award-Winning, World Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. We don’t know how he does it, but Matt’s won again. He wins everything! Truthfully, those cookies were pretty darn good, but I think we’ll still wait for the indepentdent performance enhancing drug test to come in.

Everything was delicious and the vote was very close. We had a five-way tie until the last vote, so a big congrats to all of our entrants. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’m coming down from my sugar high, so I need a nap.

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Steve the Pirate from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

September 19th is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. In honor of this, let me provide you with a couple of tools. Click here to visit the Official International Talk Like A Pirate Day Web site. But, first I recommend having some fun by discovering your very own pirate name. Click here to visit the Pirate Name Generator. It’s really easy. So easy, in fact, that it only took me three minutes to research my co-worker’s pirate names! Want to see them? Follow the jump…

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It’s time for the Merlot Marketing Semi-Annual Bake Off! And the competition is fierce. At noon, we’ll be judging all of the entries and voting for our favorites, so stay tuned because we’ll announce the winner later. The rules for this competition are very simple: Everything must be made from scratch (no boxed mixes), and must have been baked in an oven. The entries don’t have to be sweets. As long as they were baked in an oven, they qualify.

There a lot on the line today. Mostly pride. Although for me, it’s a little more than pride. It’s also my title. I’ve won the last two baking competitions, so a win for me today would mean a hat trick. I’ve never had a hat trick before, so I’m hoping my entry will solidify my place in Merlot baking history. 

Hungry? You will be. A list of all of the entries is after the jump…

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Welcome back, 2-4!

It’s official! Bobby Jackson is back in Sactown. He was officially traded (there have been weeks of speculation) today from the Houston Rockets for Ron Artest, who we tots didn’t need anyway. Bobby was with Sacramento from 2000-2005. He’s certainly the most adorable Kings player EVER. They may not be the greatest team in the league, but at least the games just got more interesting.

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I bought my husband a Wii for the holidays last year and have found it to be one of the most entertaining purchases I’ve ever made. Originally, I was opposed to a videogame system. I mean - hello!? - we’re adults. Well, in today’s world, just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a resounding game of Guitar Hero. And today, I am the Guitar Hero. I have beaten* the game. (*Granted it was on Easy mode, but my fingers are tiny so shut up, it was difficult!)

For my birthday - which was quite recently, thank you for asking - I asked for the Wii Fit. This is an application for the Wii that lets you do yoga, strength training and aerobics while tracking your fitness progress. Agility tests and balance games test your core strength and let you hone your skills. What I did not realize is that Wii Fit is worse than a personal trainer.

Wii Fit scorned me the first time after announcing the results of my first balance test when it asked me if I found myself running into things a lot. Touché Wii Fit, touché. I am not known for my track record of balance and grace. A few days later, I was burned once again by my condescending fitness friend after the agility test. “Wow. The agility test is not your strong suit” it said to me. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, How rude!

Fast forward to today. I haven’t used Wii Fit since Sunday. The first two days of the week were filled with dentist appointments and board meetings. But the middle two have just been avoidance. Today is Friday and I fear a little bit for the life of my Mii. I can just imagine that Wii Fit has been stewing for the past several days drafting a list of all the nasty comments it can make when I do step back on that little white board of shame. Enough avoidance. I have a date with Wii Fit tonight after an evening of sports and the latest episodes of Monk and Psych. I swear I’ll get to it today! Here’s hoping my ego escapes without major incident.

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(Note to Debi: Brett Favre is the long-time, Super Bowl-winning, MVP quarterback of the Green Bay Packers… they are a football team) Leave it to the 49ers fan to write this post, but I promise it’s not out of malice or bitterness… this time.

I am SO over Brett Favre right now. I feel like he’s cried wolf to the media and football fans over this retirement (will he or won’t he??) issue for years now. And now that he’s changed his mind about his decision to retire, he just wants to step back into the Packers organization and pick right back up where he left off. Never mind the fact that they’ve moved on without him. Never mind the fact that Aaron Rodgers is prepared to take over. Never mind the fact that Favre told everyone he was retiring, made John Madden cry, filed the paperwork and got a phat retirement ceremony out of it. No, Favre expects everyone to just fall all over themselves to make his every wish come true. And why shouldn’t he? He’s used to getting whatever he wants because that’s what the Packers organization has given him for the past 16 years. Except the only people falling all over themselves in this case were the members of the media, who - for some reason - covered this story and his return to camp as if Favre was Britney and he’d just shaved his head.

IMHO, the Packers have every right to let Favre explore other offers without feeling guilty. I’m siding with the organization here because I know the minute Favre told them he was out, they started making plans to move on. And I’m sure they had some really solid plans (plans that involved former Cal QB Aaron Rodgers). Favre took his gold-plated ball and he went home to sit in his rocking chair, having completed an excellent career in Green Bay. That team faced the challenge of building around what was left without #4; so for six months it’s been building. Believe you me, I know what “rebuilding” feels like! I’m a 49ers fan! On top of that, I’m a Giants fan, so yeah, pretty familiar. Favre’s demand to be a part of the organization again is just not in line with the plan, so the Packers have to let him go.

I am still baffled as to WHY there is so much media coverage on this. I can see the daily report from Packers training camp, but we have a full-blown camp of reporters set up to track Favre’s every move. And why? I just don’t get it, but I know I’m sick of it. So, the Jets, the Bucs, I don’t care where Brett Favre goes now just as long as the media stops telling me what he ate for lunch.

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Summer in Sacramento is hecka H-O-T! We’re talking days and days of triple-digit heat. Well, get ready for some of that hotness to invade the Merlot offices, ya’ll!

Merlot’s “Sizzlin’ Summer Cube” contest is back! For those who don’t know, we like to decorate our work spaces periodically throughout the year. It’s a creative outlet and a telling form of self expression (how else would we have come to know about Matt’s dress-up box?). The entire office is invited to participate and the theme this time around is summer - convenient, I know.

The rules are simple: Each person has from June 1st until judging day on July 16th to decorate his or her work space in the summer theme. On July 16th, the judges (who are TBD, but will be non-Merlot in affiliation to avoid bias) will judge each design and a winner will be announced on Friday the 18th. Of course, the super sweet decorations can remain up until the end of the summer.

It’s a lot of fun, so stay tuned because we’ll post designs and updates along the way!

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Matt’s moving up the ranks here at Merlot. And for good reason as he is awesome at what he does.

However, he left his desk unattended yesterday and that never ends well. After returning from his Eric Estrada-filled trip to PCBC, Matt encountered a small barrier this morning.

*Please note that the conspiring individuals (who shall remain nameless) waited until after hours to execute the above scene.

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