Good News | Everybody Loves Sammy

When I’m gone, let them say I surfed with Giants

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends.

Its great to be alive on Sept 3rd, 2015. Good, bad or indifferent, today is a gift. This picture means a lot to my family and I. My mother and I were in Central Park, this is June or July of 2012. It was just at the time when we were forced to start over from the very beginning again.

Its funny, looking back on this picture I knew the work that had be done and it felt overwhelming because I was still trading full time during this period. But that’s the thing about life, you have to take it one day at a time. Look at what has been created one day at a time since the summer of 2012. We created Dr. Harp Seal, an ambassador for animal kindness around the world, the daily inspirational morning posts, The Good News Channel and the amazing people we’ve connected with from that, The evening “Thoughts & Prayers” for animals and people in need, the Movie Rewrites and etc.

The point I’m making is, it’s one day at a time. That’s how the ELS house was built. If we put in the work, we will get the results. There are no short cuts. And through it all, the best part of everything the Smith Family has built, is with all of you, our animal loving friends from around the Globe.

A fun little play on words from the movie Troy. “When I’m gone, let them say I surfed with giants. When I’m gone, let them say I lived in a time of Dr. Harp Seal.”

OK, for all our new friends I have included this link to an Audio of where the saying; “Sammy Loves the World” came from. – It’s not just a slogan, its real story. To hear Audio, click link; https://soundcloud.com/dr-harp-seal/the-story-of-sammy-loves-the-world

If you want to read how the seeds that were planted in my head in 2000 catapulted the Smith Family into Social Media. It was those seeds that took me out of Wall Street and gave me my greatest passion of all; The ELS Family, click link; http://www.everybodylovessammy.com/nasdaq-5000-and-sammy-family-15-years-in-the-making/

Happy Throwback Thursday friends. See you tonight.

We Are All The Same

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends. Dr. Harp Seal here.

Thank you for stopping by. I just wanted to point out a line in the 1998 movie Dr. Doolittle. Towards the end when Eddie Murphy who played Dr. Doolittle and his dog Lucky were walking away from the camera, lucky asked Dr. Doolittle; “if he is now going to be doctor for animals and people?”

And the Doctor responded with; “What difference does it make? We’re all the same anyway. Eddie Murphy was right, whether Dr. Harp Seal is a 44 year old man, a 10 pound Pomeranian or a Harp Seal from the Arctic, what difference does it really make ?

See you tonight friends.

Sunday Sunday’s, so good to me

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends.

Happy Sunday Funday. Pardon the late post, we had a power outtage this morning.
Sammy & Family wants to wish you all a splendid day. Sunday mornings are by far our favorite day of the week. day of the week.

Monday through Friday its, work, work, work. Saturday we catch up on personal responsibilities. But on Sundays, we let imagination in the door and back into our lives. On Sunday’s we get to be us again, the people we set out to be from the very beggining.

We want to thank Karen Kirkman Hanckle for that fabulous story she shared with us last night. Our friends from around the world really enjoyed it. It was very sincere and heart warming. Karen has been an amazing friend to The Smith Family.

With that said, The Smith Family and Sammy & Family invites anyone at anytime to come share one of their stories with the ELS community. It does Not have to be about Sammy & Family either. We want to hear your interesting stories that involves your family and / or pets too. Everybody has an interesting story to tell that we can all be entertained by, or where we can all learn something from.

Nobody needs to be shy either, look at the stories I write. I let it all hang out, the good, the bad and the indifferent. I will continue to share my stories with y’all on Thursday nights. Hopefully Jessica and mother will start sharing some of their stories as well. But its not all about us. Quite Frankly,I am getting bored with us, lol. So you all have an open invitation so say” — Scott I have story I want to share, and I want to share this week”
From there, we got right to posting. No nonsense, no politics, no bureaucracies, straight to posting.

OK lets kick this day off with two positive notions.

1. Take the words; “Should have, Could have, would have” and throw them in the garbage. The only thing they do is hold us back. I used to be in that business, i am not in the business anymore.

2. Unless I’m dead, i keep swimming. Everyday above ground is a gift. Sometimes I forget that and i have to remind myself that many people that were here yesterday are no longer with us. If I wake up, I thank life for another gift.

3. The path to a better world flows through the humane treatment of all animals. — Dr. Harp Seal —

See you tonight friends.

Karen Kirkman Hanckel leads us out tonight with a Personal Story

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good night friends. Let me say before Karen Kirkman Hankel tells her story, that she is the ultimate Social Media Princess. Second to none. OK, here’s here story below;

Our family member, Karen Kirkman Hanckel leads us out tonight with a very touching story. Karen is part of Sammy & Family’s immediate family;

In July of 2012 I decided to join Facebook. I kept hearing family and friends talk about it and I thought it would be a good way to keep up with family. Of course, I was a late comer as social media was already the way to communicate and the youngies in our family were already on FB for years. Anyway, I had no idea how it worked but after just a few days I was connected to most of my family, cousins and old high school friends.

It was just great catching up with a lot of people that I had kinda lost touch with for many years. One of my oldest (before high school) and dearest friends, Donna-Gayle, kept sharing this little dog’s picture almost everyday. I was fascinated by him because he was so cute that I thought he can’t possibly be real. He looked like an adorable stuffed toy!! Of course, it was even more fascinating that he was in photos and doing things in every landmark in New York City:) I just couldn’t believe that here was this precious dog in my favorite city in the world! I went to Sammy’s page and liked Everybody Loves Sammy so that I would see his daily posts of inspiration and animal advocacy. Everyday, I loved the posts and looked forward to them morning and night. ELS is a very interactive page and I enjoyed the contact and hearing more and more about Sammy. I couldn’t resist his charming, beautiful smile.

He always looked like he was smiling. Just the happiest little dog I’d ever seen.:) You get the picture, I was really falling in love with Sammy.

To fast forward the story a little, I became friends with Scott, Jessica and many of the Everybody Loves Sammy community. They are all a great bunch of animal lovers and we had Sammy at the center of our friendships. As time progressed, I felt that I would love to meet Sammy and Scott in person. But they were in NYC and I was in Virginia by then. I just knew that if I possibly could I wanted to hold Sammy in my arms. It was my dream. Then, after Scott and Vanessa had been dating long distance for awhile, they announced they were getting married in Central Park in June of 2013. I thought, oh wow, somehow I have to get there and meet them personally. I really wanted to take Scott up on the open invitation to the wedding. My husband, John, was out of town for work, so I booked a train ticket for myself to NY so I could make the wedding. John came home 2 days before I was supposed to leave on Saturday morning. He had a fit and said “you can’t go to NYC by yourself to a wedding to meet people you’ve never met” LOL, it was a little strange I guess.

Anyway, knowing I was going, he couldn’t talk me out of it. So he had me book a ticket on the train for him as well. Friday night at 11:30, the Amtrak people called and said the train was going to be delayed by two hours. I was so upset because the delay would mean missing the wedding. I cried and cried because I could see my “dream” of meeting Sammy going up in smoke. John said go to bed because we’re getting up in a few hours and driving to NYC. So we did. Left @ 4:00am and drove into lower Manhattan at around 10:30 Saturday morning!

I didn’t care about not getting any sleep because I was too excited about meeting Sammy anyway.

We checked into our hotel and leisurely walked a few blocks to the Motor Boat Pond in Central Park. I was so worried we were in the wrong place but then all of a sudden, I heard Scott with his true NY accent talking and coming down the hill to the pond. My heart skipped a beat as I was standing there and I first saw Sammy.

I couldn’t believe it was really happening and I was seeing him for real. And Scott, Vanessa and Henry:) It really was my dream come true.!!!

The wedding was so nice. Scott and Vanessa treated us like old friends and I held Sammy & Henry. The pictures from that beautiful perfect June afternoon in Central Park will be forever in my mind and my heart.

We met so many people that day like Jennifer and her kids, Jo Ellen, Briggette, Brian, Ron, Diane and others that are treasured friends now. Nothing more special than Sammy though:) Henry is the love man, what a sweetheart. We’ve visited several more times since that day and hope to see Sammy and Family again soon but that first meeting in the Park will always be one of my most favorite memories ever.

Sammy & Family would like to close with having Karen and John at our wedding, and Jo Ellen Berryman took our wedding day to unprecedented heights. June 15th , 2013 was one of the nicest days I have seen in NYC after 44 years old at that point. God is great. And God was exceptional to us that day.

Signing off from Puerto Rico, Dr. Harp Seal for Sammy & Family on day 231.

Steven Blandin’s Bird & Wildlife photography

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends. We are thrilled to have Steven Blandin featured on “The Good News Channel” today. He is an award-winning professional wildlife photographer who leads instructional bird & wildlife photography tours in the United States and around the World.

Flash Of Pink => Gold medal at the 2014 Professional Photographers of America International Print Competition | Roseate Spoonbill flapping its wings after a quick bath in the shallow mangrove waters. Also created at the Tampa Bay Spoonbill rookery. A rare glimpse at the full wingspan of this magnificent bird.

When i originally contacted Steven after seeing his work, he could not have been more passionate about when speaking of wildlife photography and cordial in explaining it to me. This gentleman is an artist when it comes to photography. Nowadays anybody can snap a picture with their smartphones and capture a pretty decent shot. But that’s not the game Steven Plays. He’s all in on techniques, equipment and the process of capturing those one in a life time shots. Here’s a link to see what equipment combinations work best for him; http://bit.ly/1hYuzDE

Flying In The Water => Short-billed Dowitcher shaking the water drops away. Small shorebirds are very interesting when looked at from closer! Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

He is currently ranked in the top 5 Professional Photographers in the state of Florida, he exhibits in Arts Galleries in New York and across the United States. His work has been recognized many times and has been published in various nature magazines. Steven gives an instructional eBook, “The 4 Angles Of Success”, for every new blog follower at www.bird-wildlifephotographyblog.com. The Good News Channels has done dozens of features by now and we love to see an artist give something away to share is passion and techniques through his eyes.

Speeding At Low Altitude => Royal Tern taking altitude after taking off. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Artist’s Statement right off of his website.

“My wife introduced me to nature photography during our early dating years. My passion for wildlife photography itself was truly born during an African safari in Botswana. Since then, I have been hungry for learning more about all aspects of photography. I have watched my work flourish into creations that take me back to those encounters in all the vividness of their emotions. Here’s link to Steven’s website; http://bit.ly/1EgW1GY

Smelling The Light => Polar Bear smelling the air in quest of tis next meal. The adorable beast had been munching on berries for a while, when it decided to lift up its nose and walked away. Hudson Bay, Canada.

Steven has a fine art gallery; http://bit.ly/1IfzUv8. Perfect for corporations or for private collectors. We will be pleased to offer you custom fine art photography impressions to adorn your walls. Enjoy browsing through the fine art collections and do not hesitate to reach out to us for quotes or custom requests. We offer limited edition signed aluminum metal prints, metal prints with a glass/acrylic top layer and fine art canvas with sizes up to 98×43 inches. Custom sizes are available; http://bit.ly/1IfzUv8

Vampire Wings => Final round at the 2015 BBC Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition, Birds category. Reddish Egret in hunting position during an overcast day. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Checkout Steven’s blog where he will share with you his love for nature photography through field posts, instructional photography tours update, photo creation advice, equipment reviews and much more. I personally went through it and was completely amazed. A wealth of information on birds, wildlife, nature and so many camera and photography tips. Here’s the link to his blog; http://bird-wildlifephotographyblog.com/author/bephotographers/

This kind gentleman Steven Blandin has four different types of tours he can take you and a group on. “The Alaskan Bald Eagle Photography tour;

Steven can also arrange a Botswana African Safari — Bird & Wildlife Photography Tour …

If that doesn’t suit your fancy, you can take a Florida Spoonbills & Shorebirds Photography Tour in the Tampa Bay, FL area, Lastly, Steven has a Private Wildlife Photography Workshop and Bird Photo Tours in Florida;

Feature continues below now;

Follow My Eyes => Peacock in full mating display. Corbett National Park, India.

Steven’s Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/StevenBlandin.birdwildlifephotography

Tilted Landing => Willet about to land to join the flock. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Steven’s Instagram account; https://instagram.com/stevenblandinphotography/

In The Summer Landscape => Final round at the 2015 BBC Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition, Mammals category. Not the typical Polar Bear image! Male Polar bear cruising the Summer landscape with purple fireweed blooming. Hudson Bay, Canada.

Steven’s YouTube account; https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUV24v39vFKDXmMCLI2TSKw

Born Of The Water => Brown Pelican flapping its wings against the water in an attempt to clean up its dirty feathers. Created in the Tampa Bay, Florida.

Pink Landing On Blue => Silver medal at the 2015 Professional Photographers of America International Print Competition | Roseate Spoonbill with breeding colors landing on the clear blue water. Created at the Tampa Bay Spoonbill rookery, where I run photography workshops. I am always amazed at how stunning those birds look when they are about to land!

Sammy & Family would like to close with what a pleasure it was to work with Steven Blandin on this feature. Steven loves birds and wildlife and his pictures show his passion. We would highly recommend taking a tour with Steven. Not only will you see amazing birds and or wildlife but he will teach you his techniques of getting the best possible picture one can get. Taking a tour with Steven would be fascinating and educational. Gotta love that combination.

Social Media Consulting

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Hello friends.

As most of you know I have been extremely involved with Social Media these past 5 years. I am an expert in creating content, writing content, managing content and knowing exactly what platforms to distribute content most effectively.

Outside of my own Social Media communities I have consulted with other people on creating a community, maintaining a community and growing a community. If you should need consulting, look no further, this is what I do and what I love. My rates are very reasonable.

Sincerely, Scott Smith

My email is; Smith7024@yahoo.com — My Cell phone 917-855-7056.

The boys prowling around town

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning.

Sometimes Sammy & I are father and son. But sometimes we’re just two boys prowling around town. Of course I am married, so i can’t really prowl with Sammy but I’m a great wing man. Plus as you know I like to look at all he boobies walking by.

Vanessa Martinez thinks I am very immature with all the boobie talk, but hey when two studs like Sammy and I are hanging, what can I say, boys will be boys. Its not like when the guys hang out they walk by retail stores and say; “my friend you would look marvelous with that suit on” — No, we say “look at that gal that just walked by, and that one, and hey look at the one up there on the left”

In conclusion, when the boys get together, maturity flies right out the window.

‪#‎BoysJustWannaHaveFun‬ ‪#‎CyndiLauper‬

The Empire State Building and Sammy

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends. It was only a week ago that The Empire State Building hosted their historic event for endangered species. We figured to do a nice write up on this larger than life building and Sammy’s first class visit 4 Years Ago from the lobby to the very top. The official opening date of the Empire State Building was May 1st, 1931. It remained the tallest building in NYC for 40 years until the Twin Towers were built. It took only one year and 45 days to build. It took almost 7 million man hours to build. There are observation decks on both the 86th floor and the 102nd. Over 4 million visitors a year come to visit this bigger than life building. The total height of the building is 1, 450 feet. I mean it’s literally in the clouds.

As I have mentioned to all of you before, I was a trader for over 20 years on Wall Street. But my first job on Wall Street was a cold caller, yes the young man that would not let you off the phone. Be that as it may, my phone skills are unstoppable, unless of course you hang up on me which plenty of people did and do. So i called up the media department over Four Years Ago, and I said I would like to do a photo shoot at The Empire State Building for my website. They said terrific, lets get you set up. So we were exchanging information and she asked me describe what kind of pictures I wanted for the article I was going to write. I told her I wanted to take pictures of Sammy at all the hot spots in the building and particularly on the Observation Decks on Floor 86 and floor 102.

So she said; “Scott who is Sammy?” I said he’s my 10 pound Pomeranian dog, he just loves adventures. So the nice young lady said; “There are no dogs allowed in the Empire State Building. So i said to myself; “OK Scott, time to break out the old calling skills from Wall Street” — So I said; “Young Lady, in this particular sense you can’t really look at him as a dog, in this case he’s a spokesman for “The Empire State Building” in NYC. My website is going to do a featured story on the worlds most famous building sending more traffic to the building and that traffic will buy tickets to go to the observation decks. And I repeated “Its really not a dog coming to the building, its a project. The dog is just part of the project” — And I followed it up with one more closer, “Projects are allowed in the building, right?” So this sweet young gal said, I wont mention her name, but she said: “Mr. Smith when would you like to come in for the photo shoot?” — And without hesitation, I said” Tomorrow morning”

So my friends, other then an animated King Kong in 1933 at the top of The Empire State Building, Sammy Smith, the 10 pound Pomeranian to my knowledge is the only dog that was ever allowed in the greatest building ever. Wait, wait, I just said “dog” — I meant to say “Project” — A great New York lesson for our friends around the world. Its all about semantics. You say “Tomato” and i say Tomahto. And with that, Sammy the project got to see the Empire State Building with first class personal tour. They were literally creating restricting areas inside the building for my website to get the pictures I needed.

As I told you my late father was a commercial real estate broker in NYC. So his job was to move companies from one building to another should a company decide to have their offices somewhere else. During his years of being a commercial broker he showed prospective tenants many different spaces for lease inside the Empire State Building. But funny enough, the first time I saw this Iconic building was in the 1933 movie with King Kong climbing up it. And no, I did Not actually see it in 1933 being that I was born in 1969. King Kong was one of those movies they played ever year until the more recent ones were made like in 1976, and then another one in the New Millennium.

Its located on 5th Avenue between 33 and 34 street. Prime real estate for the world’s’ most famous building. Many a times I have stood right in front of The Empire State Building and looked straight up and because its so tall, I almost fell over to keep looking up and up to find the top of it. If you are in NYC, you must visit The Empire State Building. Put it first on your list.

Give your the problems the weekend off

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends.

Dr. Harp Seal was seeing a patient this morning who was very stressed out about work. The good Doctor told this patient he hear’s of this from many of his patients. He also told the patient he empathizes with his stress because in life there are many stresses.

So Dr. Harp Seal mentioned two things.

1. Take a vacation from you problems for the weekend and pick them back up on Monday. He then rhetorically asked his patient if he thought he deserved that vacation for the weekend. The patient answered, “Yes I deserves that. So Dr. Harp Seal said. “Well that’s a great place to start then see you next week”

2. He said to his patient, just a heads up, I don’t take any insurance.

Day 216 in Puerto Rico. See you tonight friends.

Sammy wants to share some beach time with everyone

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Dr. Harp Seal

Good morning friends.

This me and the boy hanging on the beach together. Obviously I keep in the shade except when he likes to dip his toes in the water to cool off.

What a great day to be alive on August 14th, 2015. Another gift today. Remember, good, bad or indifferent everyday above ground is a great day. The reason for that is many people who were here with us yesterday are no longer with us here today. So we owe to them and ourselves to make the most of the gift today.

Day 215 here in Puerto Rico. Just a reminder, anyone who’s going through some tough times has an open invitation to email me at anytime and we can talk about it. My email is; smith7024@yahoo.com. I’m just a person who has had a lot of ups and a lot of really downs, and if those experiences can shed some clarity on what you may or man not be going through, I’m happy and obliged to serve as many did for me in the past.

Sincerely, Scott Smith and Dr. Harp Seal. And Yes, they are two different people.

See you tonight friends.

Flying In The Water => Short-billed Dowitcher shaking the water drops away. Small shorebirds are very interesting when looked at from closer! Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Speeding At Low Altitude => Royal Tern taking altitude after taking off. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Smelling The Light => Polar Bear smelling the air in quest of tis next meal. The adorable beast had been munching on berries for a while, when it decided to lift up its nose and walked away. Hudson Bay, Canada.

Vampire Wings => Final round at the 2015 BBC Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition, Birds category. Reddish Egret in hunting position during an overcast day. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

Follow My Eyes => Peacock in full mating display. Corbett National Park, India.

Tilted Landing => Willet about to land to join the flock. Fort Desoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida.

In The Summer Landscape => Final round at the 2015 BBC Wildlife Photographer Of The Year competition, Mammals category. Not the typical Polar Bear image! Male Polar bear cruising the Summer landscape with purple fireweed blooming. Hudson Bay, Canada.

Born Of The Water => Brown Pelican flapping its wings against the water in an attempt to clean up its dirty feathers. Created in the Tampa Bay, Florida.

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