Santa Rosa, CA. ~ While designing an ad for my friends Natalie & Vinnie, owners
of Russian River Brewing Company, I got this crazy humorous idea to use one of
the stone heads on Easter Island, a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific
Ocean. My Idea was to have fun with an Easter theme of some kind, but it was a
bit out there! We didn’t use the ad, but had a lot of fun creating it!
It actually inspired me to draw a picture for the
cover this year. I normally do an April Fools joke of some kind for the cover.
What is fascinating about Easter Island are the proverbial 50-ton stone heads
scattered on the island. To me it’s humorous! Easter Island is located on a
remote volcanic island in Polynesia. There are over 900 of these...Read more here
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March 2018 Upbeat Times. Sonoma County
Growing Up with the World’s Only All
Positive Paper!
Santa Rosa, CA. ~ Some
people have told me that they’ve traveled all over the world and have never
read or seen a paper filled with only
good news and completely fun content. I’m sure there are others.There has
to be, right? But uniquely, there is no paper exactly like mine(ours). I
personally invented UT out of neccessity for purposes of sanity...and I saw all
the good in our communities!
Recently it dawned on me the paper has had a truly positive effect on Sonoma County and beyond. I realized
that there are some younger individuals that have grown up reading the paper.
Some have just graduated from high school! But that’s not all. In addition to
that, their parents have read the paper, cherishing the positive
side…Read the whole Paper Here!
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February 2018 Upbeat Times
February 2018 Upbeat Times
Santa Rosa, CA. ~ Probably some of on the finest publishers I ever worked for before I became a publisher myself were; Rollie Atkinson (Sonoma West Times & News, Healdsburg Tribune, Windsor Times, Cloverdale Reveille & Discoveries Magazine) and John Boland (Sonoma County Independent...Now the Bohemian 1993-1996) & John Burns of the Argus Courier(He was publisher of Sebastopol Times & News back in the 80’s when he hired me). I honor them because, if it had not been for their mentoring, guidence and patience with my efforts to bring them advertising to support the publishing of their papers, I believe I would not have the kind of knowledge I have today to do what I do. Starting with the furthest back was John Burns with the Sebastopol Times & News. I met John when I was a budding cartoonist and I liked him immediately. He had a great sense of humor and also was very Santa
Rosa, CA. ~ Probably some of on the finest publishers I ever
worked for before I became a publisher myself were; Rollie Atkinson (Sonoma West Times & News, Healdsburg
Tribune, Windsor Times, Cloverdale Reveille & Discoveries Magazine) and John Boland (Sonoma County Independent...Now the
Bohemian 1993-1996) & John
Burns of
the Argus Courier(He was publisher of Sebastopol Times & News back in the
80’s when he hired me).
I honor them because, if it had
not been for their mentoring, guidence and patience with my efforts to
bring them advertising to support the publishing of their papers, I believe I
would not have the kind of knowledge I have today to do what I do. Starting with the furthest back was John
Burns with the Sebastopol Times & News. I met John when I was a
budding cartoonist and I liked him immediately. He had a great sense of humor
and also was very......MORE
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Santa Rosa, CA. ~ In early 2017 I had the honor of speaking to a retired audience of over 125 retired senior citizens out in Oakmont at the Berger Center. I wrote about it a month later. At the time of my speech, one gentleman stood up during question time and said my information incorrect because on the cover of the paper it says ‘SINCE 1998’. I mentioned to them I actually started in 1997, which I did. Like any good idea, it takes planning. But not always do I plan everything out. In 1997, I went with my gut. I wanted to see if my idea would work, so that I could spend my time and money in Sonoma County where I grew up, publishing only good news. It was a….More Here...
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December 2017 Upbeat Times
Santa
Rosa, CA. ~ At my
house, when it comes to cooking, I am given the honorable title of, “CHEF
PAUL”. I love to cook! I love the days of preparation and the seven minutes it
takes to consume a delicious gourmet feast.
The smiles and compliments make it all worth it! I cook in
my down time(and I mean, down time in a positive way). And it is also mostly
my ‘UP’ time. I find great pleasure in
successfully designing a meal not to be forgotten.
One of my first jobs was
working in a restaurant in Sebastopol, California, as a
dishwasher. Within months I was allowed to bus tables and was known as the
‘tornado’. Not only could I do all the dishes for the restaurant that sat
nearly 70-80 people, I found time to clear tables for the next....More (read the whole paper here)
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November 2017 Upbeat Times
PROUD & Thankful!
November 2017 Upbeat Times
Santa
Rosa, CA. ~ I’m
not sure where to start...but here goes. I’m deeply saddened and affected for
all of those people I personally know as well as those I’ve never met who have had to go through the major challenge that had moved through
our Northern California communities in early October. In fact, there is really
nothing I can say, except that not a couple of hours after it all began I heard
a frantic pounding at my door around 4 am alerting my family to
what was transpiring. I'm already thankful and proud of my community but this
brought that proudness up a hundredfold.
Everyone on my street was out, helping others to alert them to a
catastrophe unfolding to the north of us, less than three miles away.
In almost total darkness a sky as red as a sunset and sounds of explosions and
more. I wasn’t even sure what I was witnessing...then neighbors explained. I
was shocked and stunned to be honest...and I was afraid.
I am so thankful I was alerted
and that people helped everyone immediately...not even 5 hours into the
disaster and my neighbors from India went and bought over 100 pizzas to bring
to Elsie Allen High School, one of the many shelters…More
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October 2017 Upbeat Times
Sonoma County's October 2017 Upbeat Times
Santa
Rosa, CA. ~ Did
anyone see where the year has gone...by chance? I’ve been searching incessantly
for the entire month of September. Well, just before I began the October issue
of this paper, I found it! Eureka!
Who invented time? Wikipedia says, “A large variety of devices have been invented to measure time. The
study of these devices is called horology. An Egyptian device that dates to
c.1500 BC, similar in shape to a bent T-square, measured the passage of time
from the shadow cast by its crossbar on a nonlinear rule.” Excuse me?
I personally have a T-square at home and it
measures in inches. I’ve looked for ‘time’ on it, but to no avail. But, it is
interesting, when I use it to measure things...I look up and 10 minutes has
gone by! Yep, that’s where it goes. In fact, I saw time
fly by the other day as I cleaned the house and vacuumed and washed the dishes
and finished working on my kitchen. In fact, days went by and then into weeks.
The reason I’m....More
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September 2017 Upbeat Times
Sept 2017 Upbeat Times is Good News!
Santa
Rosa, CA. ~ When
you see this circle with the DL, it means that there’s a direct link to the
story and or contact information when you read the paper online with your
computer or ‘smart’ tablet.
It’s funny because although I use
technology for running my paper, I generally still like to read stuff printed
on real paper. I like the feel, the ability to set it down and pick it up
without having to charge it! My wife gave me a Barnes and Noble ‘Nook’ device that’s pretty cool, but a
paper novel is novel in itself these days!
In the next couple of months
we are publishing a series of Fall & Holiday Guides that have so much to
offer! As usual I will also publish for free, any FREE event you or someone you know is having. You may have a 10-word headline max, and up to 50
words maximum. I normally charge $65 for this, but as a gift back to all of our
readers I will offer this gift, one per person, as a thank you!.The only rule
is: It must be a free event! Being a publisher of an all positive paper
has many wonderful
attributes. Most of the time this paper runs like a finely tuned
machine. Sometimes people will call to...Read More
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August 2017 Upbeat Times
There was a full team on the field at
AT&T Park recently with nine kids from under served neighborhoods across the
Santa Rosa region, who got a once in a lifetime chance to play in the big
leagues with the San Francisco Giants.
This special occasion on the AT&T ball field was made possible
through a program called “Kids Take the Field” with Bank of America and Valley
of the Moon Children’s Foundation – an organization that helps create a safe
haven for children in need by providing support and educational services. Giants players like Brandon
Crawford and Joe Panik joined the junior league players, who received
autographed baseballs as well as tickets to attend future......More Here!
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July 2017 Upbeat Times
Santa Rosa, CA. ~ My lungs were being used at full capacity when I finally ascended Half Dome in Yosemite, California, mid-June of 2017. Gripping the cables with an iron fist, the last 400 feet tested my exhausted legs, but my will and arms were strong. Nine hours into the hike that began at five a.m. from the 4000 foot base of Yosemite Valley, I finally reached the peak of Half Dome(I woke up at three a.m. just to get there before the crowds). My legs felt like I had tied lead bricks to them just above my calves and I was only two miles into the hike from the base of Yosemite Valley. My leg muscles were beginning to question what it was I was doing. In 1984, I had backpacked up.....More here!
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June 2017 Upbeat Times
Santa
Rosa, CA. ~
After 19 years of publishing the
Upbeat Times, I have to admit that I’ve found quite a few good usages for the paper other than reading. Each month,
I’m lucky if I get 10-100 returns/left-over copies(and sometimes a few more
if they are buried by other local papers, which happens often) from over 1000
distribution locations here in Sonoma County. But, when I do get the returns, I
know they go to a good place for sure. One of them is Mel’s
Fish & Chips on Hopper Ave in Santa Rosa. Each month we bring a box or more
and they use the paper to keep the fish and chips very hot!
The other day, in my harried
state, I left a few ‘New’ bundles near
the back tire of my car. I was going to put them in my
trunk later in the morning for restock purposes. Of course I forgot about them.
So, when it...More
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