The interminable buildup is over.

The Obamas have a new dog. A Portuguese Water Dog. Named Bo. He’s a cute little rascal.

The Obamas are thrilled, I’m sure.

I’m not.

My wife, two daughters and I also have a Portuguese Water Dog. His name is Winston. My life, as I had known it, is now over.

Since this whole media contest for the dog started, I’ve been rooting for the Obamas to get any dog other than a Porty. Now, when people come up to us and ask us what kind of dog we own, we’ll mutter “A Portuguese Water Dog,” and they’ll invariably say, “Of course, just like the Obamas.” This has already happened. Twice. These dogs, and how great they are as pets, used to be a pretty well kept secret. Now, the secret’s out.

That’s not to speak of all the predictions about puppy mills cranking out PWDs. I hope this doesn’t turn into the President’s stimulus package for the overbreeding of a wonderful dog. Hopefully, the breeders stay just as careful about selecting owners as they were when I bought one. Portuguese Water Dogs, I’ve been told, are not in shelters. You can’t rescue one because there aren’t any to be rescued. Probably not exactly true, but whatever kernel of truth there is in that, I’ve always took it to be an endorsement of the breed and its owners.

My family isn’t as down about this as I am. And I don’t mean to rain on their parade. Now that the deed is done, I should say what’s in store for the Obamas based on our experience. Not the typical stuff about how loyal they are, playful, etc. All that’s true of EVERY DOG. In discussions with other owners of this breed, what I’ll tell you is pretty consistent with the experience of others, too.

It’s a dog that will attach to its primary caregiver. In my house, that’s my wife. Winston needs to know exactly where she is at all times. When Hannah e-mailed me earlier this year to renew that chip he has implanted under his skin, I balked at paying the $10. If Winston, who stays approximately within a 7-foot radius of my wife at all times, is missing, we’ve got bigger problems than a missing dog. It becomes a missing person’s case. So, who’s the attached human going to be? Sasha, Malia, the First Lady or Mr. President?

Good news. The dogs aren’t chewers. Bad news, they are swallowers. Socks, underwear, dead squirrels, boxes of needles (true story, this happened to Winston’s mother). You have to be hyper vigilant, especially when they are younger than three years old. Nothing of great historical value to our country small enough to be swallowed by a dog should be left sitting out. Seriously. And whatever they swallow will end up on your front lawn, or pooled up at the bottom of the stairs with their dinner.

Portuguese Water Dogs deliver presents to anyone who walks in the door. This can make for some slightly embarrassing situations. No visits by heads of state from other countries should be casual enough that the first dog is in the room. Otherwise, the first gift to the dignitary may be an article of clothing not meant for public viewing, or worse, something dead.

They will be mistaken for poodles. A lot. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

So God bless the Obamas and their new dog. I wish them well. But what would have been so difficult about them getting a labradoodle? Maybe Bo has tax problems in his past and they’ll have to withdraw him from consideration. Somebody needs to get on that angle.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Not sure when you’d use that word in print, but if you did, you’d probably have a dilemma on your hands (i.e. where to break it).
Adobe InDesign, the program we use to lay out the pages of all of the publications we publish here at Hammock, gave up immediately when I just typed the mega-word into a four-column page. Instead of helping me figure out the best place to break the word, it just made all the words in that text box disappear (Thanks, InDesign). So I’m on my own. Here’s how I would do it:

Contrary to popular opinion, Editor Bill Hudgins does not spend all day looking for weird news on the Web. It finds him. His days are also filled with donkeys, time on Facebook and a comfy chair with a warm cat.

What is the first thing you do when you get in the office each morning?
My day starts early—around 5 most days (That’s me with an early bird, a Harris Hawk, at left). Breakfast first, always, accompanied by TV news and checking email, Dilbert, Calvin & Hobbes, Facebook, and the news online. Handle any overnight business, send emails to clients or designers or writers as needed. Feed our foster-care horses and donkeys, play with cats and welcome the day—definitely a morning person whose ideas come early. I spend about 40 minutes commuting and use the cell phone only when I must.

First thing at the office: Switch on computer, get coffee and catch up on what’s happened since breakfast. If I haven’t already, figure out a plan for the day—if other things don’t interrupt. Plans are useless, but planning is essential.

What’s your favorite non-electric tool you use for work?
Sticky notes. I use stickies at home and office to capture fleeting ideas and to-dos, to remind me of obligations and appointments. They have almost replaced my “back-of-hand Pilot.”

Which meal fuels you better for the day, breakfast or lunch?
Breakfast, definitely. Morning guy all the way. Coffee and either oatmeal with fruit and nuts, or toast, cottage cheese and fruit. When I travel and have to be going all day, I go the bacon and eggs and grits and biscuits route. Lunch makes me sleepy.

Do you doodle while on the phone or in meetings? What do you doodle?
Some times at meetings. Rarely when I am on the phone. Usually I am multi-tasking and the keyboard is tempting.

How do you divide your time each day between projects? Do you set aside specific hours to work on certain things, or do you just play it by ear and see what needs the most attention?
I’ve never been able to consistently block out time for only one task. Sometimes when I am desperate, I turn off the phone and set email to check every 30 minutes to an hour. If I have to read a book for research or a review, I usually have to do that at home; there are too many incoming distractions at the office, and the chairs at home are more comfortable for that. I am thinking of bringing a reading chair to the office, but it will seem bare without a cat in it.

You can always find Digital Media Manager Megan Morris logged on to something on the Internet. With a mouse in one hand and some other gadget in the other, you can bet she’s jumping into something new for work — and for fun. I interrupted her candy-chomping and code-busting this afternoon to see how a day in the office typically goes for her.

What’s your favorite non-tech tool you use for work?
I don’t really have a lot of non-tech tools in my life, but I guess I would have to say my coffee cup. I cannot even begin to function without a cup of green tea when I first get in to the office, and it has to be out of a coffee cup (I’ve used a styrofoam one before and it’s just not good).

If you could only keep one kind of candy at your desk for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh Summer, this is like asking a mother which of her children she loves the most. But if I had to pick just one, I probably would go with Tootsie Rolls. I would have said peppermints, but I know that Natalie always has those up front. So HA!

What communications medium helps you the most during the day?
IM, hands down. I am a multi-tasker and hate to be interrupted by the phone (email is OK, but I can’t stand a messy inbox), and IM lets me answer someone or ask a question without having to completely stop what else I’m doing and get off track. Plus, being a nerd, I just prefer to converse in text rather than in person. I would probably IM my family instead of calling if they would let me get away with it.

What is your favorite on-the-job responsibility?
Lately I’ve been getting into some more involved (well, more involved for me) coding, so any time I get to work with php, javascript or CSS I get excited. I still love writing, but I’m really starting to appreciate the art of building Web sites—even the nerdy back-end part. The more I learn, the more I realize the creativity involved in it, and I love being able to see the graphical elements and the coded elements come together as a nice-looking, functional Web page. It makes me feel very productive.

How do you refocus if you’re having trouble concentrating or getting the creativity flowing?
If I’m getting frustrated and just can’t get back in the groove, I will usually get up from my desk and walk around a bit, or I might read a quick news piece online. Just something to take my mind off the task at hand long enough to refresh my brain. Then I will usually queue up some different music on iTunes (which artist depends on what I’m working on, but I can’t really pinpoint how I decide… I just kind of feel it) and try to get back to it.

For most associations, events are an integral part of their annual calendar. Despite the effect of the current economic situation on many events, the good news is that events provide associations a perfect opportunity to leverage the power and excitement of social media. There are so many ways an association can engage its members before, during and after an event with social media tools. Providing this type of new and exciting value to attendees is a smart way to provide additional member benefit and reverse shrinking attendee numbers for future events.
Here are five tips for associations looking to engage their members before an event through a social networking community site:

When Senior Editor Lena Anthony isn’t training for a marathon or picking up “most photogenic” honors from a host of different places, you can find her at her desk plugging away on the next MyBusiness magazine. I caught up with her this afternoon for a few minutes of her time. And a Clif bar.

What do you reach for when you need an afternoon pick-me-up?
I always pack a Clif Z-Bar for the afternoon. The packaging says it’s made for kids, but I’m pretty sure they meant kids and Lena. I’d seriously jump off a cliff if Clif stopped making them. Get it?

Do you doodle while on the phone or in meetings?
I don’t doodle on the phone but I often find myself jazzing up the letters at the top of a meeting agenda. In a weird way, I think it keeps me focused.

What communications medium helps you the most during the day?
E-mail, e-mail, e-mail, did I mention e-mail? It also creates an organized paper trail for those times when I’m drawing a complete blank on something, which leads me to the next question…

How do you refocus if you’re having trouble concentrating or getting the creativity flowing?
Knocking out a mindless task helps me refocus. So does refilling my water glass. Or telling Jamie a knock-knock joke. I’ve also figured out that some days just aren’t meant for creativity, and that’s OK. And then some days it’s like, “Whoa, brain, where are these awesome headlines coming from?!”

What is the last thing you do before leaving the office each evening?
I don’t have an end-of-day ritual, although I guess it should be “turn off my computer.” I read somewhere that would save gobs of money and energy. It would probably also give my computer fan a rest.

It can be difficult to balance an association’s desire to make a national impact and its need to recognize and celebrate the efforts of its grassroots membership. We walk this delicate balance with many of our clients—including the National Federation of Independent Business and the Daughters of the American Revolution—and we’re challenged to find creative ways to present local chapter content so that it’s still compelling to a national audience.

This week, Hammock’s design team let me pick their brains about the covers of our favorite magazines. After taking a look at 10 titles, each designer picked their favorite and explained why. The verdict?
For Lynne Boyer, the great photography and simple design of Garden and Gun is a winner. Kerri Davis was drawn to the big graphics and creative cover blurb placement of Texas Monthly, and Ben Stewart was drawn to ESPN‘s unique photo of basketball star Kobe Bryant kicking a soccer ball.
Check out the video and they’ll tell you more—and reveal which big-name magazine cover they didn’t care for.

With so many outdoor buffs at Hammock, it’s easy to catch spring fever around here. Now that the sun is shining and the weather is warm, we’re all fighting the temptation to spend every waking minute outside (I write as I gaze wistfully out my office window). As soon as it’s quitting time, many of us head straight for the trails, lake, garden, etc.; in fact, some of us are even taking up new outdoor hobbies. So, what can you find us doing?

Last fall, when the economic downturn became a daily news topic, it didn’t take long to get a little sick of all of the doom-and-gloom reports. On one hand, it is what it is. The economy stinks. But on the other hand, come on already!
That’s why we decided to take matters into our own hands, and shine a different light on the economic downturn with the April/May MyBusiness cover story, “A Helping Hand: How small business is stepping up to end the recession.”