Archive for the ‘consumerism’ Category

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just a click

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Short Run Video – Our team has now raised over 50% of our goal of $11,000!!! Long way to go, but we’re on our way. If you can donate, please consider even a small donation ($5 or $10) – if you can not afford a donation, how about clicking one of the Share, +1, or Tweet links at the bottom of this post to help us raise money to fight blood cancers? Just a click!

Our team page for donations - http://pages.teamintraining.org/nj/wdw12/AllForLayna

Movie Review…

Atlas Shrugged Part 1 – with all of the occupy movements and the economic crisis, you would think that this movie would have received more fan fare. Ayn Rand‘s tale of the good of capitalism and bad of Marxism should be a very close parallel to the demonstrations and hullabaloo we all see in the media. But the problem is, this movie is pretty terrible. Such a shame, Ayn Rand was one of my favorite authors in college.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Posted in books, consumerism, family, friends, mac, money, movies, Phils, running, SEO, Social Media, thoughts | No Comments »

a big run, good meeting, and soccer

Sunday, November 20th, 2011

Abbe and I got a big run in yesterday at Cooper River Park, 16 miles and finished in great shape. We treated ourselves to some coffee afterwards and then a modest celebratory dinner with some pizza from Riv.

BLP came over for a late afternoon meeting and we covered a lot of stuff for one of our best clients and even chatted about some potentially really cool ideas involving the future of both of our companies.

Today, I’ll be rooting for Bubs during the Pinelands League soccer tourney. The Lakers have real shot as the number one seed for a championship today. Go get ‘em boys!!!

Movie Reviews…

Life in a Day – loved this documentary, this was the culmination of Youtube submissions of a day in the life of people all around the world edited together into a snapshot of life literally, in a day. People brushing their teeth, people eating, sleeping, dying, coming out to their grandmas… everything. Only complaint was the final clip – it felt kind of self-involved and contradictory to the realism of the previous portions of the film. Great concept, and fantastic execution. Highly recommended.

Prefontaine – I ordered this movie from my library as a surprise for Abbe and I to watch. We are runners and Steve Prefontaine is one of the icons in the running world. A man that died too young and changed the world of running in his few years on this earth. But holy shit, if I were a member of the Prefontaine family, I would have sued Jared Leto, the producer, directory and anyone that had anything to do with this piece of awful filmmaking. There is not one redeeming portion. Like at all. This could very well challenge Mannequin 2 for worst movie ever made.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Posted in Abbe-ness, consumerism, facebook, family, food, friends, furiousBall Media, money, movies, running, SEO, Small Business, soccer, Social Media, thoughts | 1 Comment »

karmaic smiles

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

So, if a Dad gushing over how proud he is of his son bugs you – you should probably find another blog post to read today…

See this? This is a kid enjoying the products of his hard work…

That is Bubs in his report card prize, some new Bauer Vapors – which are decent, but not lavish skates by any stretch. But to a kid that was wearing skates two sizes too small, they are the best thing ever.

His grades will be finalized next Wednesday and he has straight A’s except one class, Social Studies – which he is one point away from an A. He has a chance to get that A with a homework assignment or a quiz. Even if he doesn’t hit the perfect report card – his work has been extraordinary this marking period. Not only has his grades been awesome, but he is also playing soccer and ice hockey. He is learning how to organize himself and doing it without much complaining.

On top of that, I also received a letter from the BOE yesterday informing us that Bubs is going to get an award for his perfect score in Science on the NJASK last year (a test given to all NJ students in 4th and 8th grade). And I’m not done yet…

Last night at practice, one of the parents of his teammates came out of the boys’ locker room asking the parent next to me, “Do you know who number 7 is?”
“Yeah, that’s Van.”
And before I could claim #7 as my little dude…
“What a sweet kid, he came into the locker room and gave the coach the nicest apology for getting upset at the last game.”

I was beaming with pride. I was upset with Bubs for his complaining from the last game. Some familiar words came to mind… life grades on a curve. But hey, this is all part of why sports are so great for kids – those mistakes and improvements make these young men better hockey players and human beings.

Oh and on top of all of that greatness, karma smiled on me that day – while Abbe was cleaning our bookshelves, a $100 bill was found stashed in an old Christmas present from my parents… oddly enough almost the exact price for those skates.

Continuing on the good stuff motif… Team All for Layna received our largest ever donation and now, the team is at nearly 40% (up from 24% last week) and I am now at 50%! I can not wait to go out in this cold, rainy weather and run today. And with Black Friday approaching, I want you to consider skipping your coffee at Starbucks that morning and having a cup at home instead. Why $5? What good would that do for a cancer patient?

$5 can get you a latte at Starbucks or a beer at the local bar, but to see how $5 makes an impact for cancer patients, check out how every dollar really does count:

  • If 2 people gimme 5…$10 provides two hours of microscope use to determine if a new medicine will stop a life-threatening lung infection in a bone marrow transplant patient.
  • 4 people…$20 pays for a bottle of nutrients that will nourish 10 million leukemia cells grown in the laboratory for a week, enabling scientists to test whether a new anti-cancer drug halts their growth.
  • 8 people…$40 purchases enough razor-sharp blades to prepare bone-marrow biopsy samples from 200 patients, enabling doctors to make accurate cancer diagnoses.
  • 20 people….$100 pays for the cost of an antibody used to determine the precise characteristics of lymphoma cells, allowing doctors to determine the best treatment for a patient.
  • 50 people…$250 buys an instrument to measure tiny volumes of liquid, which allows scientists to accurately measure the solutions needed to prepare a patient sample for a diagnostic test.
  • 100 people…$500 purchases 10 hours of time on a flow cytometer, a machine that reveals a multitude of characteristics of blood cancer cells that could be developed into effective diagnostic tests.

To dontate: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nj/wdw12/AllForLayna

Movie Review…

X-Men: First Class – this was probably the best super hero film I’ve seen. That’s not high praise by any stretch, but this film was decent.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Posted in Abbe-ness, consumerism, facebook, faith, family, flash, friends, HTML5, ice hockey, movies, running, SEO, Social Media, thoughts, web design | 2 Comments »

rocking the 3G, a good catch by a reader, and a healing pup

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Well, at some point yesterday, my Verizon FIOS Internet and TV service went down, so I’m rocking a 3G connection from my iPhone until Verizon gets this working again. I believe it is due to the winter storm that hit several days ago (although we did not get much in my area).

A blog reader this morning pointed out a bit of hypocrisy on my part in yesterday’s post, the ads. Here I am spouting off to buy local and I’m showing ads on my blog from Office Depot and Amazon. Well, if you noticed – they’re gone now. Truth is, those ads have amounted to probably $20 over the past year. Wasted space in the grand scheme of things for sure.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I fault absolutely no one for shopping at Wal-Mart or Office Depot because their prices are low. We are all faced with tough times and saving money for my family is absolutely my top purchasing decision point. If there is a local merchant that is at least competitive with their prices, great. There is nothing wrong with shopping at a national/international chain store at all when there is no local option. Or heck, what if the guy at the local shop is a dick -  by all means, shop at the non-dick run store.

The point of my post yesterday was squarely aimed at the folks that are distraught at the cheese shoppe’s closing that never shopped there and to a larger extent, the folks that complain about the sad state of Main Street and do nothing to help.

In addition to taking those ads down, I will offer ad space on my blog to any local merchant for $10 a year (for either a 468×60 banner – between the posts or a 160×600 skyscraper – sidebar). Only caveats are no porn, violence, or gambling links. My blog averages around 1,300 uniques per month, this is a very fair deal – but if any business owner has another offer, I’m all ears.

On the lighter side… Titan is doing well after a visit with Dr. Frame on Tuesday. He either pulled a muscle in his back leg or bruised something while hopping up into the back of the car. He was whimpering whenever he put weight on his back leg going up stairs, but was walking without a limp. He is going up stairs with no pain and hopping back onto the couch (when he has permission) just fine already… see?

And this is really sweet… all Viv asked for when we were searching for a dog was a big doggy she could put her head on and cuddle with when she watched TV at night. Mission accomplished. Good boy, Titan!

Movie Review…

Source Code - I think this was the strongest of the recently released alternate reality films (Limitless, Adjustment Bureau). The story, acting, and action were all much better.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – what a great concept and although the material was sorta weak, Spurlock’s personality and directing really carry the film. Abbe and I really enjoyed this one.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Posted in Abbe-ness, consumerism, customer service, family, friends, furiousBall List, furiousBall Media, iPhone, money, movies, pets, SEO, Small Business, Social Media, SQL, thoughts, web design | 5 Comments »

discordant discourse

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

I miss Abbe. I am heading out in about a half hour to go do my long training run of the week (10 miles) without her. She has to work today, which is in by no means a complaint about her having a job. Don’t get me wrong, hard work is no problem for myself or Abbe. We are extremely proud of the tired feeling in the evening from an honest days’ effort.

We Are the 53% and a fairly very well done response - my take on this is that both sides are making generalizations that are far too broad.

The divide between the wealthy and poor has grown out of control. The middle class has become an endangered species.

I do not fear taxing the rich fairly but I also do not think anarchy is the answer.

On the other side, I don’t support forgiving student loans and as much as I think universal healthcare needs to happen, the infrastructure just can not be laid in the current economy and the healthcare/insurance company backed political interest groups funding so many politicians.

I also do not think telling the Occupy Movement to “shut up and take a shower, you hippies” will fix this problem. I believe in hard work and like the former marine (mentioned in the open letter linked above), I also regularly work 60-70 work weeks. I raise money to fight cancer. I support my local businesses, like the Medford Works festival website I put together to promote businesses in my town (done for free).

A conversation needs to be had, that’s all I’ve got at this point. So if you want to comment and debate, do it respectfully. I am absolutely willing to hear both sides tell me I’m wrong here – but if you call me stupid, I’m not listening any more. I deserve respect, just as you do.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Posted in Abbe-ness, consumerism, douchebaggery, faith, family, friends, idiots, iPhone, money, politics, running, SEO, Small Business, Social Media, thoughts | 2 Comments »

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