Sketchbook: That's a no go

Some apps just don't stand a chance. Especially when an apostle comes out against it.

Beavers and ducks, oh my!

The best parody remains faithful to its source material. Pokémon Go uses the original 150 Pokémon. But this, being Oregon (home of the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers), we needed a beaver if we were going to have a Psafetyduck! Luckily there is a later-generation beaver-type we could use to model our character on!

OK, this should be the last of Pokémon Go references. I hope!

Be careful out there

Before we start any public relations campaign, we do market research to make sure we have the right message.

My research for this involved crowdsourcing with my family members, who are not only in the target demographic, they also know a lot about Pokémon. For example, they advised me that Safetepi would be good for a seatbelt message, and that the name we'd chosen for the turtle (based on Squirtle) would NOT work for this target market.

Keep it safe

I realize that a lot of other places have been in school for nearly a month now. Oregon's a little different in that we don't start school until after Labor Day for the most part.

Safety tips

There has been a lot in the press lately about businesses complaining about Pokémon Go players interrupting their normal operations. In fact, we just got notice that the railroads are warning people to stay away if they're playing.

We thought we might turn that around and make people think about safety and have that message reinforced when they see our Safétymon.

Back to school!

So I said a few weeks ago that I was done with Pokémon Go. I guess I was wrong. As I hinted a while back, we launched a "Safétymon GO" back to school safety campaign at the Oregon DOT.

We have downloadable posters, internet memes and lots of safety tips for pedestrians, cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. (Feel free to download them and share!)

It must have been a slow news day when we launched, because it garnered a lot of media attention: TV, newspapers and social media. Cool!

If only it were that easy

Wouldn't it be awesome if there were a family history app that was like Pokemon Go? You could track them down, catch them — and when you get to a GenealogyGym you could have battles!

I think I'll suggest that to the IT folks at Church Headquarters...

Editor's Note: With any luck this will be my last gag based on Pokemon Go.

Pokémon habitat

...because Snorlax is a sleeping type, and high priests are notorious for sleeping...

Gotta catch them all!

With so many Church buildings serving as Pokemon gyms or training centers, the Church issued a statement saying that all visitors are welcome whatever brings them to our buildings. It's not a huge leap, then, to have the IT folks at Church headquarters develop a useful app like this!