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Where's the Sand Castle???
Q. I was watching the evening news not too long ago and there you were ... talking about some big sand sculpture event in progress on the island so me and my wife and a bunch of our friends all drove over from Harlingen to take a look but when we got there we couldn't even find anyone who knew what we were talking about.
Was this some sort of cheap ploy to lure unsuspecting folks like us to the Island, or what?
A. Hey! It worked!
Actually, since I missed the broadcast myself, I had to rely on several eyewitness reports to piece together what this was all about. It seems that a local news channel ran footage of last October's Sand Castle Days festival several weeks after the contest had ended. We are really glad they shot and (eventually) ran it -- but they could have been a little bit clearer on establishing the fact that this was an event that had come and (was way) gone.
Having not a clue on what goes on in typical newsroom, the following scenario is purely speculative:
Head Honcho: Wow, what a slow news day! How are we going to fill up a full half hour when nothing is happening out there?
Flunky #1: I dunno, but we better come up with something fast -- we're live in 15 minutes!
HH: Don't we have some unused footage laying around, something warm and fuzzy we can run?
Flunky #2: Hmmm. Hey,we never ran that sand castle stuff from the island, did we?
F#1: You know? I don't think we did. Spoze anyone will notice that it is almost a month after the fact?
F#2: Nah... besides, those crazy sand castle people always got something going... we'll just keep it vague.
HH: Okay... go with it!
Next thing I know, I'm getting calls from everywhere - including disgruntled Winter Texans, the tourist bureau and the convention centre - all asking me where this big sand castle thing is happening...
The interest is obviously out there, so the conclusion is equally obvious: We need to schedule a sand sculpture contest every month!
Um... I'll get Amazin' Walter right on it.
What does Google.com think of South Padre Island?
Okay. So no one has actually asked me what the internet's busiest search engine thinks of our community -- but a recent search turned up list of googlisms that I thought were good for a chuckle or two...
A "googlism" is a list of short descriptive phrases culled from google.com, copied verbatim from the most relevant web pages on any given subject. A search for South Padre Island brings up a long list, most of which go something like "south padre island is one of the finest beach resort destinations in the us." The following list is comprised of what I consider to be the most interesting of the rest - the ones marked * were taken from web pages I created:
south padre island is not in your near future
south padre island is a most excellent choice for your spring break party*
south padre island is against the law
south padre island is probably the least prestigious of the destinations that we've targeted
south padre island is known for offering one of the finest and most extensive wine lists in south texas* (from the site I designed for Scampi's Restaurant)
south padre island is acclaimed as wild in a different sense
south padre island is a really really friendly place
south padre island is mcallen
south padre island is not complete unless you have downed a few at "kelly's irish pub"*
south padre island is taking off her panty for you
south padre island is "open for business"* (from a page created after the bridge repairs)
south padre island is known for sand castle building (honest - I did not write this one!)
south padre island is provided by surftran
... and, my personal favorite (credit a page created by Amazin' Walter for this one):
south padre island is the result of a great birthday present to randy from his lovely wife kathy
Of course I had to find out what google has to say about "sandy feet" --
sandy feet is available (don't tell my boyfriend!)
sandy feet is a friend of mine (anyone want to claim this one?)
sandy feet is a writer (I know, it's debatable)
sandy feet is home again and happy to be there (see "South Padre Island")
Next time you're goofing around on the internet, drop by www.googlism.com and see what google thinks about YOU!
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