Cruising for Cash

Ok, I'm calling all bloggers to my side. I live in Houston and have quick access to the heart of downtown. Traffic is outrageous and the shopping centers are madhouses all day, every day. So, I was driving through town today, despising the traffic when this idea hit me. I'm not sure if it is original, but I can honestly admit that it originated from my own imagination with no outside inspiration. I think some large corporation should pay me to cruise around in a big vehicle plastered with vinyl advertising their company. Now I know that companies do this for their own businesses (mostly for the tax write off) but how cool would it be for someone like Amazon.com to create a big suburban to drive around the shopping centers at Christmas. It would really anger Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Bass Pro Shop, Best Buy, Circuit City as well as all the other places...but who cares. They couldn't do anything about it, and it would really turn heads. I think it would be amazing...and productive. It would also be sweet to see a 4 wheel drive truck advertising Google products in rush hour. We could call it the Google-mobile.

I'm thinking $100,000-$200,000 would cover it. It would be 1 year of solid marketing to one of the fastest growing areas around. You couldn't beat that deal, since the advertising spending in the US was $149.6 BILLION in 2006. Hey advertising guys, it might be better to go simpler and cheaper. Give it a try!!! But don't steal my idea! You can write me at rparsons25@hotmail.com

So, all you bloggers out there, need to help me get the word out to Amazon and Google. Blog it up and see if I can get me a job Cruising for Cash!

Rather Read Than Listen

Ok, this is a question for all you bloggers out there. I recently put out a post on Why People Love to Blog and those thoughts have prompted some discussion. Now their is another question on the table. Would you rather read someone's thoughts rather than sit down and listen to them? Why?

I have my own opinions but want to hear from you. I know that there are many people who know me, if given the choice, would rather read me than listen to me. There is statistical proof of that in my reader's stats.

What do you think?

Why People Love to Blog

As I'm sure you can now tell, I am addicted to blogging. This prompted a question in my own mind..."Why do people love to blog?" Through my journey of learning to blog and joining multiple communities of bloggers, I have been amazed at the magnetism of blogging. Literally, millions of people are doing it all around the world. Why?

This is what I think.
1. Everyone has something to say. The deaf, mute, blind, educated, uneducated, rich, poor...you name it. Everyone has something to say. Maybe it is a call for unity. Maybe it is a call for equality. Maybe it is a cry of desperation, frustration or anger! Maybe it is a scream of joy! A joke, a rant, a plea...Everyone has something to say!

2. People have in inherent desire to be heard. Before the 21st century, the only people who got to publish their thoughts were the rich, connected or lucky. The only way to express yourself was through a journal or diary which anyone rarely saw. If you were lucky, you might break into the publishing realm, but it was rare. Mostly people were limited to writing editorials to the paper that generally went straight to the recycle bin. With the internet and blogging abilities, anyone and everyone can now be heard!

3. With most blogging platforms now allowing comments, people can receive feedback on what they have to say. Some is positive and some is not but in the end, it shows the writer that they both accomplished speaking and being heard. Now, rather than keeping everything bottled inside, people are now knowing that they receive acceptance and confirmation that they exist! Once upon a time, when you submitted something for publication, you might wait weeks or months for a form letter or postcard. More often than not, that never came. Now you can get instant feedback...from REAL people! It is feedback that matters.

4. Blogging is a community. Visit sites like Technorati, Blog Catalog, Blog Rush, My Blog Log, etc. and you will find huddles of bloggers all congregating around their particular interest or passion. It gives people a sense of belonging. They encourage, suggest and help one another in many different ways like comments, blog rolls, and help blogs. It is like a little digital village. Everyone, everwhere wants and needs to belong to something. With the technological age, less is happening face to face, while more is happening online. If people continue to disconnect physically, they must find a way to do it digitally.

It is pretty amazing where we have come in the last 10 years. I look forward to where we will be tomorrow! Blogging, without a doubt has changed the world. Has it changed you?

You may agree. You may not. But this is just my beginning observations as I have entered the blogging realm. I would love to hear what you think!

Starbucks, I've Changed My Mind!

After considering complying with one of Starbucks recent recalls, I changed my mind. Our children are important, but we need not be parents who put our children in a plastic bubble simply because something bad MIGHT happen. Today, I am choosing to ignore Starbucks recall on their children's plastic cups.

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Starbucks, I've Changed My Mind!

If you have been keeping up with my posts, you have seen the blog about Starbucks Recalls Children's Plastic Cups. Since I had one of the "hazardous" little cups, I had decided to return it to Starbucks...if nothing else, for a free cup of coffee. Then I began thinking. When I was a little kid there were not as many recalls. Mostly, they recalled stuff if it created an immediate threat of DEATH. If it could just harm you...well...that is what seperates the men from the boys.

Then, my son started asking for his favorite cup (which I had obviously confiscated per the recall). But how could I resist those pouting, big, brown eyes? What could possibly happen to him? According to Starbucks, he could drop the cup, break the little face off of it and scratch himself. Oh NO! If scratching himself was something that would damage him for life, I better put one of those gigantic, plastic bubbles on order and put him in it immediately. We would never be able to play in the back yard, playground or...anywhere again if an abrasion and laceration we something that would damage a child for life (side note: if you want to hear some funny stories about growing up 30years ago...see The Ice Cream Truck Diaries). The worst thing quoted by Starbucks was children taking the little broken pieces and choking on them. My son chokes on candy and bananas sometimes. Does this mean Chaquita and Hershey's need to put all their stuff on recall? If I'm not close enough to supervise my child when he drops a cup, breaking it and then thinking "wow, these tiny little pieces would sure be tasty...I'm going to put them in my mouth!" Then, please slap me.

When I was little, fast food joints would give out GLASS, cups with Star Wars pictures on them. My mom didn't ask for a lawsuit or recall when I dropped it in the sink and cut my hand on the glass. Have we become so protective of our children that we are afraid that anything and everything could possibly cause harm and therefore we need to monitor even the air they breath to make sure there are no germs in it? We feel compelled to slather them in that antimicrobial goo to make sure there are no germs on their hands. We don't want little boys to play like little boys and with little boy toys, because SOMETHING might hurt them. Something MIGHT break. How on earth are kids going to learn how to negotiate a brutal world if we protect them from EVERY scrape, bruise, bonk, cut and microbe. How are kids going to learn how to negotiate life, if they see parents freaking out about every little thing and walking around in fear 24/7.

Seems like I would better serve my son, by getting down on the floor and playing with him, supervising him, befriending him, modeling smart choices and loving him...not turning his favorite cup in for a free cup of coffee because it MIGHT hurt him. I want my son to learn how to negotiate life...not put him in a plastic bubble.

Starbucks, we're keeping our cup! Thanks for a great lesson in life.

The Courteous Blogger

Recently I have been reading about how to make your blog more effective. As I now understand it, people don't want to visit a blog where there is a lot of clutter and things are difficult to find. Because I am so inexperienced in blogging, I have decided to take the advice I have found and strive to become a courteous blogger. As you now know, I have changed the layout of my blog to make things easier to find and to eliminate the clutter. Hopefully you find it more pleasing and helpful. I also hope the content continues to benefit you. Thanks for reading.

Blog I Ran Across

I find it interesting that I ran across this blog yesterday called I Love My Heart . It is all about living a heart health life. Since I used to be a Cardiovascular Intensive Care Nurse, I enjoyed reading up on some of the things I used to teach my patients and also some new things. Please stop by and check it out...especially if you have risk factors that increase your possibility of having heart problems. Let me know what you think.

Starbucks Recalls Children's Plastic Cups

Starbucks Recalls Children's Plastic CupsI was cruising through Starbucks a couple days ago and saw a poster concerning this recall (apparently it was released October 9th but has escaped my attention till now). If you are like me, you visit the local Starbucks as often as you can. When you have your kids with you, it is tempting to over indulge them with a cool little coffee cup. I have the turtle one sitting in my kitchen right now. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ...

"Hazard: If the cup is dropped, the colorful face on the cup can break off and leave small parts or sharp exposed edges that can pose a choking or laceration hazard to young children."

Just thought everyone should know, especially if you have one or more of these cups being used by your kids. If you want more information you can visit Starbucks Press Room for the online report.

Starbucks recommends taking the cups away immediately and has given a phone number where you can call to receive instructions on how to return your cup.

Black Friday...Whatever!

It is bright and shiny this Friday after Thanksgiving for my family. We awoke at 0800 (a treasure, since our toddler normally wakes up between 5-6am) and are still lounging around in our pajamas. Some people call it Black Friday...I don't. We could be out shopping...but I'm glad we aren't. It isn't that we weren't invited to participate. We simply decided not to go.

There were no alarm clocks, lawn chairs sitting in a cold dark parking lots, fighting the old lady with a cane for the next super deal. We resisted the marketers today. Aren't you amazed at how much pull they have over our society? Making us believe we need to go out and buy something at rock bottom prices with...a new fangled credit card that will give you even more off your low purchase or frequent flyer somethings...but are going to charge you 18% in interest on more than half your balance every month for the next 6 months. For that price I could have bought a 52" flat screen LCD television for full price in CASH!

Let's put all the fighting, camping out, 4am mania aside. Aren't we scared of the whim of the masses and how simply a few people can influence them? There are a number of people who got up long before the sun came up who cant get up to make it to church, to vote, or work. Does this worry us? What would happen if once...only once...there was a nation wide boycott of Black Friday. Everyone could go to the park, a museum, or the library. What would happen? Would we see a massive turn around. It certainly would return power back to the people.

Don't be a lemming. Have a Bright Friday!

black friday

Christmas Decorations

In the past few days, my wife has been pestering me to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic. Apparently, she was raised to believe that everyone must "Deck the Halls" the day after Thanksgiving! (We won't breech the subject of in-law sanity in this post) In my family, we were lucky to get the tree up before Christmas Eve! (Please don't think I have any less skepticism about my own family's sanity) Somewhere there has to be either a surrender or compromise. What should I do? What is the social acceptable norm for putting up Christmas decorations. If it was up to Wal-Mart, I should have put up a lighted, giant size, blow up snow globe in my front yard, the week after Labor Day! That's not going to happen! So offer a guy in a predicament some help....PLEASE!

Watching the Bachelor

Ok...my wife commandeered the TV and turned on the Bachelor. Because I was feeling lazy, I was forced to watch/listen (I was blogging at the same time). Am I crazy? It seems like everyone is completely not listening to Brad Womack. The guy is giving a great reason for not perusing a relationship with these girls. No woman wants a "lifetime" relationship that will end because the guy just proposed because of the pressure of national TV. No woman wants a relationship where the man is always thinking of another woman.

YET...Both girls are making demands. "Tell Me!" "Explain this!" It seems like they were wanting the celebrity status of getting a proposal in front of the world. I think they are both selfish. Based off what he is saying, Brad made a decision thinking of everyone rather than just himself. I thought his honesty was commendable. While both women wanted Brad to stand up and express his love, neither one had the guts to say..."I need more time with you Brad," "Call me," "I love you," "Don't leave," or "I propose to you"

The Bachelor is just stupid. You shouldn't find a wife in 6 weeks. It is completely about money! Nothing more. The Bachelor people tried to rub 1 marriage and 1 engagement. How long has this show been on? Statistically they aren't doing so good and the statistics that those relationships will continue...not so good. What a waste of time.

What do you think?

Hot Corner Has Been

An old friend of mine, who inspired me to start blogging for money, has an interesting blog you should check out. Hot Corner Has Been has some unique posts of all kinds covering a variety of subjects. Stop by and leave him a comment.

Life insurance for Every Need

My family is looking for a new Term Life Insurance Policy since our current policy is not adequate for our needs. We are looking for a way to save money on insurance through a policy that will reduce premiums. It is also important that we find a company that will provide accurate insurance quotes and an online insurance policy. Our family insurance is something we think is a necessity.

We are beginning our search and evaluating all insurance plans pros and cons. Someone should suggest a good corporate insurance plan for employers, to our employers. If they would have done their homework, we wouldn’t have to be searching now.



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Have You Seen This?

Since I travel outside the country frequently, I was intrigued by how I might charge my iPod when in 3rd world countries or places with irregular power. This video suggests an electrolyte solution and a white onion. What? I'm going to have to test this out to see if it really works. What do you think?

It used to be about the Palm

Once upon a time...about 4 years ago, I became a Palm fan. I had the Palm Tungsten T5 when it first came out. After a trip overseas and being robbed, I was forced to purchase the Palm Treo 650 smart phone. I have enjoyed the interface and usability for 2 years now. As I have started looking into new smartphones, I am a little frustrated. The Palm shows not major innovations in the past several years. Also in the last couple years, I have become mostly a Mac user. I need to find something that will sync with the Mac.

I'm hesitant to go with something on the Windows side, but I'm not completely opposed. I have just heard that it isn't as reliable.

I like the iPhone and would buy one tomorrow if it weren't for the $400 price tag. It surely has the most advanced features.

But, I have been looking into the Blackberry. The Curve and Pearl show promise. I'm just not crazy about the plain text interface.

Ring in, if you have an opinion. I used to be all about the Palm, but I'm thinking of changing.

Have you heard about Blogsvertise?

Recently I have discovered this amazing service called Blogsvertise. You can register with them and once approved, Blogsvertise will pay you to Blog! How? After the approval process, you are sent detailed assignments to blog about. The steps are simple...just register with Blogsvertise and follow their easy instructions. They pay via PayPal. It is just that simple. They have a very nice website that will guide you through any questions you might have. Please, go check it out and see if your blog qualifies!

Technorati

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SkipBo vs. Other Card Games

I just got finished playing a good game of SkipBo. The reason it was such a good game...because I won! I have to admit that I like SkipBo much better than some of the other card games. The reason is, the game can be played in such a way that it doesn't require hours and hours to finish. A good game of SkipBo will usually last around half an hour and then you are done. If you like to play games with your friends and family, I recommend SkipBo highly. You can buy it at ToysRus for $7.69.

Stop and Smell the Coffee

Have you ever stopped to smell the coffee? Just the other day, I had to sit through an excrutatingly painful meeting. The only thing that helped me make it through was a venti cup of coffee from Starbucks. As I sat there pondering the meaning of life and how coffee helps me maintian my sanity, I began to appreciate my Starbucks all the more. You know, the regular stuff they offer at the office and the cheap stuff they sell at the grocery don't even compare to Starbucks. Not only does it taste funky, it smells bad. A number of people criticize the commercialization and trendiness of coffee, but I have to tell you...they are wrong. Some people spend $60,000 on a car. Don't gripe at me if I enjoy a $2.11 cup of coffee during a painful meeting. Starbucks rocks! Don't hate on coffee. For all the cynics out there, I would encourage you to stop and smell the coffee. No wonder you are angry...get some good coffee.

Have you heard about The Ice Cream Truck Diaries?

This is a neat little blog about growing up on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Thought you might like to check it out! It is called The Ice Cream Truck Diaries.

The Container Store

By accident our family received a holiday catalog from the Container Store. It ended up being a blessing. I have now ordered gifts for my mother, sister and grandmother. For only $60 I was able to order a nice gift for each of them. The Container Store is in Coppell Texas so if you order from Texas you will have to pay sales tax BUT, it was very easy to purchase from the Container Store online. They also have several walk-in stores, I recommend purchasing online. You may have to pay a little shipping, but with the cost of gas and the hassle of going shopping during the holidays, I think you come out ahead. Check out the Container Store online!

More on the topic of Money

Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey? You should check out his website. He is a regular guy who became a millionaire, lost everything and then fought his way back. His advice is practical and his books are easy to read and understand. The entire premise of the program is...become debt free. Besides books, live events, Financial Peace University (offered all over the U.S.) and daily radio show, Dave is now on the Fox Business Network. If you have any debt, financial problems or a combination of the two, you should really check out Dave's plan. It has helped our family big time.

Saving Money

I think everyone likes to save money, however few people actually do it. We used to be like that. Living from paycheck to paycheck and spending more than we made. Recently my family has been hot and heavy into the Grocery Game. We use coupons for everything and constantly save 50-60% at the grocery store. Since we now have a toddler, it also helps when it is time to buy diapers. Just Monday, we hit a deal. We got 5 packages of Huggies Pull-ups for$3.50. How you might ask? We used 5 Huggies coupons we have been saving and a free gift card for transferring over a prescription (a later post). Our total out of pocket...less than $4. You cant beat that. It is really amazing what you can do, when you actually put your mind to it and use the resources available.

Blogging is Fun

Once upon a time, in high school, I was in creative writing class. I enjoyed it a great deal. It has been several years since then, but I still hold the same desire to write. Blogging has been around for several years, but I have only begun in the last year. I have several different blogs that are growing in success, but I wanted to start a new one as a commentary of random things in my life. Therefore I have started this new blog on Blogger.

After evaluating several different blogging platforms, I have found BLOGGER to be the best. If you haven't started writing down ideas, stories and commentaries that are going on in your life, I would encourage you to start today.

Good Luck.

Life's Little Commentary

Random thoughts...Random experiences...Random life...deserves a commentary. Experience the chaos, humility, fun, anxiety, joy and unpredictable-ness in Life's Little Commentary!