Mike In The Shell » Mike

The Wine Affair

Mike — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:56:34 +0000

If you remember last year I talked about The Wine Affair, and what an amazing time I had at the event. I am really psyched for this years. It’s in October, on the 17th if I remember correctly. And. It’s going to be awesome. Last year the food served up by Mojitos and The Hyatt were AMAZING. My two favorites for sure. This year I am being told there is going to be port and chocolate. I have no idea where, who or what…but I love port. and chocolate. I wish I had more time to talk about what an amazing time I had, how much fun it was and to try to tell all of you to GO TO THE WINE AFFAIR! But I need to get back to work. So busy it’s not even funny. So that being said if you are interested in going to the event you can buy tickets to The Wine Affair, or if you can’t make it then you can help by sponsoring The Wine Affair. (It’s for a good cause folks!)

As a disclosure I should tell you that I happen to get to go to The Wine Affair because I volunteer and donate some stuff to Soroptimist of Greater Santa Clarita. (granted I do all that because the event is awesome and I like going)

Google | I made this for you

Mike — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:04:04 +0000

Google I made you a gift. Playing around in Chrome with your awesome Chrome Experiments. Made here with this:
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/harmony/

Opinionated Me

Mike — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:14:34 +0000

So GoDaddy just launched this new thing called GoDaddy MarketPlace. It’s news to me (seeing as I just saw it here it might be news to everyone? idk?

Ok…so I have a few issues with this. Mainly…what is the point? Mall type ecommerce always just seems to be done wrong. I don’t get why they’ve gone this route other than to possibly make money off of the people who want to include their products there. Other than that I really do not see a huge demand for something like this. I have to keep this short, but can someone please tell me what the point of this was if not for the $20 per merchant they’ll get? (and the possible 9% on sales but is it going to be that popular where it’s worth it?)

I appreciate any feedback anyone has. I don’t want to crap on their parade but I just don’t see the value or point in it.

[Disclosure: I'm a GoDaddy Customer and an Affiliate]

New York CITY!

Mike — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 00:02:01 +0000

That’s right. I’m going to New York for the Affiliate Marketing Summit for work. They’re going to send us out just for the event so it means flying in on Sunday and our on Tuesday. Doubt I’ll get to see anyone while I’m back there but I can’t wait just to see the city. I had such an amazing time when I was out there visiting family, I can’t wait to go back. First thing I’m doing is finding that killer pizza place in Brooklyn and grabbing a slice.

If anyone wants to meet up while I’m there we can try to work something out, no guarantees that I’ll be free but hit me up if you can meet me down there and we’ll try to grab dinner at the very least. Maybe catch some UCB improv?

LA County Animal Control Issues

Mike — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:30:32 +0000

The following was taken from this facebook album.

Something needs to be done about this. If it’s accurate (which I’m not doubting) then this is a huge issue.

More information also here. http://www.laanimalservices.com/

VERY IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ – REGARDING NORTH CENTRAL SHELTER – LOS ANGELES, CA

Forward to ADL-LA from source(s) who want to remain anonymous.

“I’m writing you about the massacres that are happening at the North Central shelter on Lacy St. On Saturday there were at least 50 empty kennels, and the employees were told that the staff can’t care for all the animals (which is B.S.) So in anticipation of budget cuts and closing “shelters,” Davis and Barth are telling us that animals have to be put down. You should see what a ghost-town shelter looks like; ‘it looks post-nuclear.’ The latest killing spree took out around 25 puppies and 40 small dogs. Yet, Davis keeps insisting that euths are down this year and only aggressive and irremediably ill animals are put down. What a liar she is. Some of the more sympathetic employees are very upset about this, but Davis and Barth are forcing the vet tech’s to put down animals even though we have lots of empty cages.

Animals are now being put down on a regular basis for “time and space,” despite empty kennels. And what’s really sad is that often on Saturdays and Sundays when people can get to the shelter to look for a pet, volunteers and the public witness many dogs being pulled from their kennel by an employee to go to their death mid-afternoon, not even affording them a few more hours in the day to be seen and have every chance to possibly get adopted. Can’t the staff at least wait until after the shelter closes?

Also, the “Love Plaques” the city shelters are offering to hang on dog kennels and cat cages for a $300 donation, do the donors know that those very kennels/cages may be only a short stay for hundreds of innocent animals who won’t make it out of the shelters alive?

And, lastly can you find out what the volunteer coordinator Jaren “do-nothing” Sorkow’s salary is? I’ve yet to meet one volunteer who can stand him, and the majority don’t even know who he is. Even staff at East Valley, where he has his office, say he does nothing all day. Think of how much advertising can be bought for what the city pays this jerk.”

Those who have given ADL-LA this info wish to remain anonymous, since they do care about the animals and fear they will either lose their jobs or their status and not be able to help the animals at all.

If as proposed under current budget cuts, one of the six shelters is in fact closed down, this is even MORE reason why we need a new GM ASAP that knows how to implement progressive, humane polices that will drastically cut the number of animals being killed and dramatically INCREASE the adoption rate; and implement creative advertising that will bring more people into the shelters to adopt.

*Jennifer Conrad, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, figured out that if just ONE PERCENT of the residents living in Los Angeles would ADOPT from LAAS instead of buying their pet(s) from a pet store or breeder, LAAS would be NO KILL! (By the way, Jennifer Conrad DVM was also one of the impressive candidates who was REJECTED after the first round of interviews for LAAS GM candidates !)

Your task this week is to call and e-mail the mayor of Los Angeles, and insist that he choose the most qualified of the candidates interviewed and SOON. mayor@lacity.org (213) 978-0600

There is a Holocaust going on in our city shelters and we need a new GM that can get in there and begin to implement proven, humane and progressive life-saving programs, policies and protocols.

******************************************************

ADL-LA Disclaimer: Nothing contained in this publication is intended to encourage or incite illegal acts. Some of the information in the posts have been received anonymously and ADL-LA cannot make any guarantees for the accuracy of these reports. Any views or comments stated in this report are not necessarily the views of ADL-LA.

Obama’s Fault

Mike — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:54:22 +0000

Okay, so while goofing off on Facebook the other day I had an idea for a game. This is 100% the improviser in me wanting people to play with so I made a website for the game.
The object of said game is to tie random events in history to the fault of the Obama Administration. I’d love for this to become some sort of viral hit just because it has been really funny so far. So. Please feel free to check it out and let me know what you think. Enjoy Obama’s Fault!

Round one was done entirely on facebook but if you want to read a basic rendition and aren’t already my buddy then check out the first round here.

The rules are really easy.

1) No political opinions. This isn’t about your loving or hating The President of the United States. I don’t give a crap what you think about him. That’s not the point of the game.

2) Points here are like the points on Who’s Line. And by that I mean they don’t really count. At some point in time if this becomes big enough I’m sure they will and at that point best answers will win some sort of prize. But for now lets just have fun. (Okay I think I’m going to offer an incentive so the points are going to start to counter faster than you’d think)

3) Douche baggery will not be tolerated. This is all in the vein of humor. So please. Be have. Be nice. and have fun.

Most importantly…Just have fun and be creative.

Quote of the YEAR!

Mike — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 23:06:09 +0000

“We should all come with warning labels. Life causes cancer. The good news for us this year is that we learned that sometimes Cancer causes life.” - Gloria Gunn

And that my friends is the truth. I HATE what my disease put me through and would LOVE to be normal and have great lungs and not look at peoples arms and go “Oh, they have good veins” or not know what chemotherapy is like. But at the same time I can’t give up the amazing people that I’ve met, and the lessons that I have learned.
My friends are amazing people who are shaping the future of this world and I am happy to have them in my life. My life has its ups and downs, but I treasure each and every day and I love the people who are in it and I hope they know that. So as much as I would love a new set of lungs…I’m happy with the result of the experiences I’ve had.

Policies that suck

Mike — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:24:59 +0000

There are tons, and I am sure that a few weeks worth of research would net me more information and results that I could even read through. I’ve helped build a business or two so I understand the need for policies and on that side of things I can generally respect them, any clearly design policy that helps to protect the business and its consumers I can support. But you need to make that sort of thing known up front. Hiding a policy either good or bad doesn’t make much sense in a world where anything can be spread across twitter in the blink of an eye. Why try to hide something that another party can document and push across the web?
Enough on my ranting, my hearts not in it to be honest. I’m a little disappointed with the folks at Help A Reporter Out (HARO) for hiding a policy that states in order for a query to be ran the page it is going to be published to REQUIRES an Alexa ranking of under 2 million. My little blog here isn’t even close, the site I was going to write the article is a hell of a lot closer, being just over two million. Neither of us can run a query through HARO.

Why is that such a big deal? For me, being a small blog it means that I’m cut off from a valuable resource of data, HARO has a strong subscriber base that I’m blocked from reaching. (Unless of course my Alexa ranking changes) While it’s not the end of the world it does piss me off that they do not disclose this fact upfront. I’ve used HARO for work before and at that time they had a much easier process for submitting queries.

So what are my options? Well, I’ve gone back and forth with the staff their over e-mail and am getting no where.

“Like any company we have rules and regulations and we must enforce them.Your other site still doesn’t meet our Alexa ranking criteria and we require sites to be fully launched before we can run a query.”

Ok, in my book that’s a bit of a bitchy statement. You’re not banning me from a board or giving me a time out. You just won’t let me use your service. My sites not good enough for you, okay fine. But the site I’m writing for is close, and adding a blog into their site would have probably pushed them into the needed range (in my opinion it’s an opportunity that would generate the needed traffic.) BUT since neither of us are good enough, and I feel like I’ve been talking to a snob I’m not really happy with the idea of coming back when I do make the required Alexa ranking. And seeing as I’ve been here for a while and have no intention of leaving anytime soon…well I’m going to do it one way or another.

So instead I pushed my query through a competitor of HARO and so far the feedback hasn’t been what I had hoped. I’ve gotten one reply where with HARO I’d have gotten more. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers in this situation and I’m very happy with the quality of the reply I received.

Am I wrong to be annoyed? Thoughts? Opinions? Words that begin with the letter H?

Memorial Day

Mike — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:12:36 +0000

You know, considering that I come from a military family on my Moms side you would think I wouldn’t have had such a hard time with my friends enlisting. Both my Grandfather and Great Grandfather served, as well as my Uncle and I know there are more on my Grandmothers side of the family. My cousin is currently in the Army, and I know that my father loves the military but couldn’t enlist due to his vision (well…I think it was his vision) I remember the model battleships he used to build when I was a kid. I always wanted to play with them but they were this sort of forbidden fruit of a toy. Amazing detail, stacked with small parts I could easily lose or break and I wanted to play with the mini jet fighters so badly. I think a few times I did and I’m certain every time I was yelled at for it. I also remember my Dad trying to convince my seven year old self to become a Marine…or join the Air force to try to become a blue angel or something. I don’t remember all of it, just his passion for each branch and the excitement he had when he talked about it. You can still find a TON of military history books in my Dads house. We both share a passion for history.

And even though I’ve had a hard time with the entire thing I have an extreme respect for those who have served. While in the eighth grade my History final was a full video interview with several world war two vets, as well as vets from the Korean Conflict. I know I also interviewed my Step Grand parents to see what it was like to be a kid during the second world war. I received an A on the project and donated the tape to the teacher…who freaking lost it. I’m still pissed at the guy for that. There are people on there who have passed away, and it’s not like it was easy for them to talk about what they went through. How the fuck do you lose something like that? …sorry, it’s hard. I remember one of my Great Grandfathers friends crying on camera. I looked up to those guys, they all had something about them. I really regret not keeping a copy of that tape.

So…Memorial Day. I know everyone is looking at this weekend like it’s a big three day party. We all get Monday off…but why? Why do we get Monday off? Can anyone tell me WHAT we are getting the day off for? I honestly don’t think that most people can give me a good answer as to why they’re getting the day off or what we are supposed to be celebrating.

In the event you didn’t know, Memorial Day is to remember and honor those people who have served and are serving in the Armed Forces, our surviving veterans, and those that died in combat. Going back to 1868 for Union Soldiers, Memorial Day, or Decoration Day has been the day that the United States honors the dead and fallen heroes of all its wars.

This Memorial Day I will remember my Great Grandfather, I will spend time with My Grandfather and I will be thankful for everything I have. I will do my best to show my friends that I support their choices to enlist and am so effing proud of them. (In the off chance they read this) You guys are doing something amazing, it’s going to change your lives and I’m so lucky to have friends like you. Adam, David, Kyle, Jenn, and John you guys are all doing something wonderful. Thank you.

Now. What can you do to show support for Memorial Day? How about you go over to APO Malls and Adopt A Soldier. Yes, I am going to plug my friends website, after all he is a Vet and I KNOW these guys could really use the support. They want someone to write them, someone to talk to, and someone to tell them “Hey. I know what you are doing isn’t easy, thank you” Show your support folks.

“I would like to thank all of our supporters for all that they do for us. While we are out here all of the little things count to us. So when you think that oh its just a candy bar or its just a card to us it means the world. Once again thank you all for your support.”

Creative Fundraising

Mike — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:05:17 +0000

Next Monday I have a board meeting to go to where we are going to need to come up with some very creative fundraising. We need to raise money not just to grow our organization (which is my ultimate goal) but to also keep our current office. I happen to love our office so this is of course very important to me.
Over the past few months we have seen our program go through hoops of fire and grow to a much more functional organization. We have a clear goal, we are all on the same page, and I am happy to see we are moving forward. But now we need money.

So…how do you raise a lot of money in a horrible economy? Better yet, how do you throw a fundraiser in this economy that hasn’t been done a million times or that people won’t roll their eyes at? That’s my goal with this post. Come up with a few awesome fundraising ideas and look at some of the old tried and true fundraising methods that I have seen work.

1) The heartfelt letter that you send to everyone and anyone you know relatively well.
Just don’t be a complete tool when you do this and you shouldn’t run into any trouble getting something for your organization. Honestly it’s not even about the letter, it’s about the heart or passion you have for what you’re looking to do. Just think ”Hi, I work with blah and they need money” or something just as smooth isn’t going to get you anything. Talking honestly while not going on and on is what will get me to give you money. I wish the annoying organizations that e-mail me monthly asking for a donation got that. Keep on focus and don’t go on for pages.

2) COOK OFF! This is the one that I have my heart set on. I plan on suggesting that we close our back parking lot, set up several “chef stations” and have several cooks come in and cook up their best dishes…just mini samples. This is a huge opportunity for local small catering companies and Chefs to gain some attention as well as a great way for us to raise funds. The event would be closed, tickets would be sold in advance, and a great day of fun will be had by all. – If we do this I will write about it…a lot. If we do not do this. I will write my full concept out in the hopes someone else does.

3) Go girl scout and sell some cookies! I know I make a mean chocolate chip cookie, and that we have a ton of people who can cook and a few professional kitchens that we can probably sneak our way into one way or another (and by that I mean use the network of friends and fellow fundraisers I know to see who can help us out) I’ve seen cookies raise a ton of funds for a few amazing non profit groups before. Trust me, this is not at all a bad idea. Some suggestions though are to a) have an event to sell the cookies at, usually this isn’t that hard to find. Just make sure you get permission from the correct people and then set up a booth. This is also another instance where you want to take advantage of your networks, both real world and social. Think about it, posting pictures of someone covered in baking flower from a “break” from baking is a great way to get someone’s attention. And then you let the cookies do the rest.

Of course there will be more things for me to submit, but for now I leave you with these three. Let me know if you have any questions, if you try any of these and they work that’d be awesome. If they don’t…well let me know and maybe we can figure out what happened. I have a ton of things I can think of for small groups to do to try to raise money (non profits I mean) So the meeting could be a long one Wish me luck!