What’s making me happy this week? Read on.

Better Call Saul. I finished the Breaking Bad series on Feb. 3, and the Feb. 8-9 premier of Better Call Saul made the letdown of finishing such a fabulous show a little easier to handle. The first time I saw Saul on Breaking Bad I thought, “Now there’s a great character.” Television history is filled with some great spin-offs (Maude, The Jeffersons) and some stinkers (Three’s a Crowd, Joanie Loves Chachi.). I have a feeling Better Call Saul will be in the former category.

BTW, the first time I saw Bob Odenkirk as Saul, I recognized him from the “The Abstinence” episode of Seinfeld (ninth episode of the eighth season). Clearly Seinfeld was the feeder program for Breaking Bad (Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn are also Seinfeld alums).

How To Become a Rock Star for $290, by Brett Goldstein on Medium. I often tell my mass media students that we live in a time in which we can produce our own media content for relatively little money. Maybe these 20-year-olds don’t think that’s amazing, but I do because I remember when these tools were not available to the average person. Here’s an article that breaks down exactly how you can produce a professional-sounding song with collaborators, marketing, everything, for $290. I like the questions Goldstein brings up, including can this be considered art?

The result:

A story with a happy ending. On Monday night, we saw an alarming post on Facebook from Kay Nierengarten, the breeder from which we got our first whippet (Kahlil) and our second whippet (Nina). A whippet named Madison had gone missing near Two Harbors, Minn. Not good, especially since the area was getting snow and temperatures were plummeting. I just felt sick that night and into Tuesday and Wednesday. The thought of a skinny little whippet out in the cold, lost and scared, and thinking about how Kay and the owners felt put a dark cloud over everything. On Wednesday I was getting a coffee at Caribou and the barista had to make a new pot. I checked Facebook on my phone and what was the very first post I saw? The whippet was found and safe!! Not even any frostbite or injuries; she was just hungry. She had found a space underneath a little shed, not far from home, and made a nest. I had prayed hard that Madison would stay safe. Dog lovers everywhere, rejoice!