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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
My New Beachbody . . .
Rodney sold me on a new exercise and diet program that he's been on for a couple months called P90X. It's by Team Beachbody and my system was shipped today. So, I'll be blogging my progress with photos, videos, and updates daily. It's a 90 day program, so around the first week of February I should be cut for the beach - just in time to wow the crowd at TwiistUp 5!!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Kayanta Update
Yes, Kayanta was rejected by the Knight News Challenge. I don't understand their reasoning at all. They said that it was because Kayanta does not address a specific geography, but other entrants did not limit their reach to a specific area - just to facilitating local content and engagement (which, of course, Kayanta does in spades).
But, we are still moving the ball down the field. We're engaged with a systems integrator that may use Kayanta to deploy through their clients' communities (a big win for us if we can make it happen) and we're moving forward with discussions with newspapers to help build out their local communities and deliver their content/media/activities. If you know of anyone wanting to be an Alpha tester, please send them to the site (http://www.kayanta.com).
But, we are still moving the ball down the field. We're engaged with a systems integrator that may use Kayanta to deploy through their clients' communities (a big win for us if we can make it happen) and we're moving forward with discussions with newspapers to help build out their local communities and deliver their content/media/activities. If you know of anyone wanting to be an Alpha tester, please send them to the site (http://www.kayanta.com).
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Today was a Rough Day . . .
It started out rough because of lack of sleep. Yesterday, Kayanta was rejected by the Knight News Challenge within hours of the submission (but that's another story), so I wasn't sleeping, but Mary Jane had a bad night too which just compounded the issue. But, the real culprit for my bad day was reading the news of the 8 year old boy in Westfield, MA that accidentally shot himself, and died.
First and foremost, the story is tragic. Mary Jane is turning 8 next month and I cannot imagine her being taken from me. But, secondly, the story is infuriating! The boy's father and the 'certified instructor' at the shooting range handed him the Mini Uzi to shoot. Folks - that is a sub-machine gun! This kid was 8 years old! What in Hell were they thinking???
Massachusetts has no age requirement for shooting a gun. There was no law of the land broken. Yet, please tell me that you understand that several natural laws were broken?! Have we not evolved enough that everyone understands the term 'age appropriate'? Kick ball, hide and seek, baseball, soccer, frisbee, jump rope, bicycle riding - these are activities that this child would have loved - and they would not have killed him. Hell, I'm not even saying that guns aren't OK, but let's at least limit a kid that age to a bee-bee gun, if you feel like you just HAVE to indoctrinate him into the gun culture that early.
And then they found Hudson's 7 year old nephew's body. And then I read that the 14 year old in South Carolina confessed to killing his mom who was 8 months pregnant (he will be charged with 2 counts of murder).
And the Piece de Resistance for ruining my day - the ATF foiled a plot by a bunch of skinheads. They were planning on killing 88 african-americans and decapitating 14 more (some significance in the white supremacy lit about 88 and 14), then go on a 'killing spree' (102 not enough?) and end their efforts by assassinating Barack Obama. Jeez Louise. We are going to hell in a handbasket. Here's Sarah Palin and John McCain decrying Obama as a terrorist sympathizer, yet their supporters are plotting Obama's murder!!? WTF?!!
So, today sucked . . . but my new mantra: tomorrow will be the worst day of the rest of my life! Think about that one - not a negative thought, but a very positive one.
First and foremost, the story is tragic. Mary Jane is turning 8 next month and I cannot imagine her being taken from me. But, secondly, the story is infuriating! The boy's father and the 'certified instructor' at the shooting range handed him the Mini Uzi to shoot. Folks - that is a sub-machine gun! This kid was 8 years old! What in Hell were they thinking???
Massachusetts has no age requirement for shooting a gun. There was no law of the land broken. Yet, please tell me that you understand that several natural laws were broken?! Have we not evolved enough that everyone understands the term 'age appropriate'? Kick ball, hide and seek, baseball, soccer, frisbee, jump rope, bicycle riding - these are activities that this child would have loved - and they would not have killed him. Hell, I'm not even saying that guns aren't OK, but let's at least limit a kid that age to a bee-bee gun, if you feel like you just HAVE to indoctrinate him into the gun culture that early.
And then they found Hudson's 7 year old nephew's body. And then I read that the 14 year old in South Carolina confessed to killing his mom who was 8 months pregnant (he will be charged with 2 counts of murder).
And the Piece de Resistance for ruining my day - the ATF foiled a plot by a bunch of skinheads. They were planning on killing 88 african-americans and decapitating 14 more (some significance in the white supremacy lit about 88 and 14), then go on a 'killing spree' (102 not enough?) and end their efforts by assassinating Barack Obama. Jeez Louise. We are going to hell in a handbasket. Here's Sarah Palin and John McCain decrying Obama as a terrorist sympathizer, yet their supporters are plotting Obama's murder!!? WTF?!!
So, today sucked . . . but my new mantra: tomorrow will be the worst day of the rest of my life! Think about that one - not a negative thought, but a very positive one.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Political Discourse
Those of you that have suffered me in conversation know that I like to talk. I am passionate and direct, but enjoy conversation as a learning tool as much as I do the socialization that it provides. Of course, politics is a great topic for conversation given my aforementioned predilection.
Recently, I've re-engaged an old acquaintance - not that he's geriatric (although older than me, tee hee), but that we've not been in contact for nearly 20 years. Matt is a great guy. I remember him as an affable, genuine soul with a quick wit and a caring heart. But, as we've begun recent discussions in the political realm, his vehemence is palpable and his defensiveness is acute.
How did this country devolve to this? Personal interactions are mimicking the ludicrous affront to manners that the election process has adopted. Name calling and gross misrepresentations are accepted as argument? Who is to blame for this? The public or the media? The spinners or the spinnees?
To me, it's not enough to discount Biden as a 'blow hard'. One must describe the specific activities and proposals that the man has executed to earn the badge. Just because we don't like someone doesn't mean that they are not the right person for job, right? I've had a couple of bosses that I didn't care for - wait, bad example . . . they shouldn't have had their jobs, either. But, seriously, it's not that I don't like Sarah Palin - it's that I don't like her for the job.
But we can agree to disagree. We can work together to accomplish the tasks at hand - educate the next generation, secure our citizens here and around the world, evolve our economic base for future success, and renew our infrastructure to support our future needs.
Recently, I've re-engaged an old acquaintance - not that he's geriatric (although older than me, tee hee), but that we've not been in contact for nearly 20 years. Matt is a great guy. I remember him as an affable, genuine soul with a quick wit and a caring heart. But, as we've begun recent discussions in the political realm, his vehemence is palpable and his defensiveness is acute.
How did this country devolve to this? Personal interactions are mimicking the ludicrous affront to manners that the election process has adopted. Name calling and gross misrepresentations are accepted as argument? Who is to blame for this? The public or the media? The spinners or the spinnees?
To me, it's not enough to discount Biden as a 'blow hard'. One must describe the specific activities and proposals that the man has executed to earn the badge. Just because we don't like someone doesn't mean that they are not the right person for job, right? I've had a couple of bosses that I didn't care for - wait, bad example . . . they shouldn't have had their jobs, either. But, seriously, it's not that I don't like Sarah Palin - it's that I don't like her for the job.
But we can agree to disagree. We can work together to accomplish the tasks at hand - educate the next generation, secure our citizens here and around the world, evolve our economic base for future success, and renew our infrastructure to support our future needs.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
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