Greetings everybody!

I am back! I have been very busy with a new baby and new house in Mississippi.

I have to start with some bad news: After four seasons with the Salem Avalanche of the Carolina Baseball League, I have left the team in Virginia. The only reason is my family. Every summer, I had to leave my wife and kids to go to Virginia. Regretfully, I had to announce that I was leaving. I thanked the fans, the owner, Kelvin Bowles (who was a scout for the Montreal Expos in the '80s), GM Joe Preseren and, finally, the whole staff and people who helped for 4 years. I made a lot of friends there. For a foreigner like me, the welcome was great.

Their mascot, Mugsy, is probably the most appreciated mascot in that area. Everybody knows Mugsy. It was a great mascot for the fans. Mugsy was a dog with a very friendly style. I had great baseball nights as Mugsy. The players, referees and even players from the visiting teams liked Mugsy. At the last game, there was a little boy that was crying. I took him and hugged him and he said to his father: "Daddy, I love Mugsy, he's so adorable". That is why, after 15 years, I still like my profession so much. There's nothing nicer than living moments like that.

I am also very busy with the manufacturing of mascot costumes. Every month, my company PRO MASCOT sells 1 or 2 mascots. Starting with the next article, I will present a new mascot per article.

Over time, PRO MASCOT became very popular through the web. Every month, we go to a trade show to present our company. In future articles, I will also talk about those shows starting with the one in Atlanta. It is called IAPPA and it's for amusement parks.

I must say that things are going very fast in the industry. PRO MASCOT just launched a cooling system for mascots. It is very light and can be removed in 30 seconds. All the mascots are excited about our new product.

The big news of the month, though, is that for the first time, a book on the mascot profession is available. Those who are curious or want to get in the business will find lots of interesting information. The book has been available in English and French since mid-November. You can order it through my website at www.promascot.com.

This article was mostly about new developments about my company. In the next article, I will talk about our mascot school and some interesting mascot adventures.