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I decided today to start with a small project. I have a large one on my plate already that I’m ready to dig into once the time is right, but until then, I’ve decided to start rebuilding a site I started a few years back and then stopped. Christenhusz.com is a site for my family. My family is not large, but we are all spread around the world and I think it’s time for us to all unite.

Any ideas on what we could have available?

I found this a few minutes ago and thought I would share it.  It’s something that I have fallen into many times, and I know a lot of guys have dealt with the same.  It’s an ode to the guys out there who care about a woman’s feelings, the “nice guy” as apposed to the “bad boys” that many women seem to want.  Most women don’t see how it effects us guys to always be the friend and never the lover. Fu-zu Jen, I salute you.

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beau… «Read The Full Article »

Thanks to Rajesh J Advani for posting this link (Yes, I know it was posted 5 years ago).

Published by Seattle-based game company Hidden City Games, Bella Sara began as a trading card game that has since expanded into an international product line.  Originally created by Gitte Odder Braendgaard, a social worker in Denmark, Bella Sara is a card game and online world dedicated to promoting a pro-social dialogue and inspirational thought with positive messages.  Not long after its introduction in the United States in March 2007, Bella Sara quickly gained steam with trading cards, a virtual world, miniature horses, collector’s tins, books, PC and Nintendo games, puzzles, arts and crafts.

So, what is Bella Sara? To put it simple, Bella Sara is a world.  The actual game is based around trading cards such as Pokémon or Magic: The Gathering.  Within many of the trading card packs (purchasable at nationwide stores, but more on that later) are Gold, Silver, or Copper Ticket Cards that contain codes, redeemable on the Bella Sara website which allow the owner to care for their magical horses in the online world of Bella.  What really sets Bella Sara apart from other trading card games is the base idea of the game.  Unlike most other card games, Bella Sara is directed towards young girls, ages 5 and up, and unlike other games, it promotes less in the way of competition and more in the way of respect.

Where can I find Bella Sara cards for my child? Bella Sara cards are available at the following regional chains: Dover Saddlery, Five Below, Fred Meyer, Fry’s Food and Drug,  Kroger, Meijer, NEXCOM – Navy Exchange, Quickie Convenience Stores, Shoppers Drug Mart, Stop & Shop and the following nationwide stores: Blockbuster, KB Toys, Kmart-Sears, Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart.

Trust me folks, this game is worth buying for your child.

It’s another sad day for entertainment.  Over the past week, the world has seen the loss of four great entertainers.  Ed McMahon (86) on June 23rd, Ferrah Fawcett (62) and  Michael Jackson (50) on June 25th and now Billy Mays (50) on June 28, 2009, better known for his “As Seen On TV” infomercials.

Mays was found unresponsive on Sunday morning by his wife and officially pronounced dead at 7:45am.  The reason for death is not completely clear at this time.

During a flight the day before, Mays was struck in the head when his plane made a rough landing, he told Fox 13 of Tampa, FL.  U.S. Airways has confirmed that Mays was among the passengers of the aircraft whose front tire blew during the landing.  Mays’ wife, Deborah Mays, told investigators that Mays had complained about not feeling well just before he went to bed not long after 10:00 the night before.  An autopsy is expected to be finished by Monday afternoon.

No memorial service has been publicly announced.  Mays’ wife told reporters today, “Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times.”

William “Billy” D. Mays, Jr., you will be miss, and your memory will live on.

Alright, I wasn’t going to post anything on this because frankly, I don’t care. Michael Jackson was a child molester and regardless of the outcome of his case, there was enough proof to show that. But on this day, I do give sympathy to his family and friends for their loss, and I do give the music industry sympathy for their loss of a man who helped completely revolutionized the industry.

The reason for this post is a comment I found while looking for stuff to write about. By the way, yeah, I lied, I am going to update before Sunday night. For the life of me I can’t remember which site it was on, maybe Fox News or something, but someone left a comment on a “Michael Jackson dies at 50″ article stating that he had a $400 million dollar debt. Though this is true, the comment went on to state “he probably died to get away from it”. “Hey heart, do me a favor… I owe this dude a lot of money, would you mind stopping all of a sudden and hopefully killing me? You will? Awesome, thanks bunches!” Somehow I don’t think that’s how the conversation went… I’m sure there was a conversation, but maybe not to that degree.

A $400 million dollar debt. I can understand suicide, heck, maybe it will come back in the autopsy that it was poison or something (although I’m pretty sure if it did come back as that, they would refrain from releasing that information), to be honest, it would make sense. But to make a comment regarding him going into Cardiac Arrest, unprovoked, to get rid of a debt is just stupid. That is all.

As I posted in a prior entry, I am going camping. The trip is this weekend and we are leaving early afternoon tomorrow (Friday). I will thankfully not be near a computer for the weekend, which means no updates, no rants, natta from me. I’m pretty sure that I will have enough to rant and vent about when I get back, so stay posted Sunday night or Monday for an update.

Also, it was brought to my attention that people are not receiving the email response from registering to the site. I will be taking a look at that once I get home on Sunday and hopefully I can fix it… ah, the joys of using a crappy free host. If anyone wants to donate to the “Randy needs to get back to a good paid host” fund, let me know!

Our friend Randy came over today and not long after he got here he got a phone call from his mother asking him to come home and help with an injured dog. This brings me to a good point (knowing the back story), and of course brings in another one of my not-so-world-famous rants. The topic of this post is negligence and ignorance, if you couldn’t tell by the pretty obvious title.

The back story of this poor animals is simple. He was purchased from Family of Pets at Oakland Mall here in Michigan by Randy’s sister Amy. I’ve noticed something about his sister… she’s an impulse buyer. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with impulse buyers, it’s their money, not mine. The problem I have with this purchase is that a living being is in the mix. He was purchased for a hefty amount of cash, $1200.00 to be exact and was purchased for the sole idea that he would be a companion for Amy’s son, Eddy, while he is not at school. Eddy is 4 years old. The dog fits in my hat. Literally.

This past Thursday my fiance and I went to a barbecue Amy was putting on at a park just down the road from the house. Seeing this dog for the first time I instantly fell in love with it. It’s only three months old and in no way is old enough or strong enough to be wailed around by a 4 year old. Unfortunately, the first thing we saw was Eddy holding the dog in his arms running around and swinging it back and forth. I’ve been around small dogs my entire life and know the ins and outs of how they should be treated by anyone… they need to be treated as you would a baby. I would hope there is no way you would allow a 4 year old boy to hold a 3 month old baby unsupervised. From the moment I got there, I did my best to protect the dog; held it, let it sleep and played with it.

Although it wasn’t my dog, I felt somebody needed to be the responsible one and let the dog have fun and not be tugged around on a leash, yanked when it wasn’t going fast enough or tried to stop to pee. I had a bad feeling about the situation, and tonight verified what I felt would happen.

From my understanding, tonight was a situation of pure irresponsibility. Eddy was dragging the dog, the dog being unwilling as always, and decided to tug him, sending him tumbling down a step or two… breaking his front leg. I might be wrong here, but it’s instances like this that make it completely unnecessary for a 4 year old to be caring for a 3 month old animal of any kind. Because of the lack of supervision, they will now have to spend an extra $550.00 to repair his leg. It’s unnecessary money that could have been saved and an animal that could have not been in pain by broken limbs.

This next weekend my fiancé, our friend Randy, and I are going camping. I thought, because of this, I would put up a list of things we’re bringing and just talk about basic camping stuff.

I’ve been camping for 25 and a half years (since I was six months old). I’m completely for camping in the middle of nowhere, bringing a tent and the basic supplies and roughing it for a weekend. Spending three days hiking to a destination and pitching a tent whenever needed. The feel of nature and the idea of removing myself from the busy and stressful city life; it makes me feel calm.

I plan on only bringing basic supplies when we go camping… the supplies that will not make me feel like I’m bringing too much, while at the same time not make my fiancé, who has rarely been camping in her life, feel like she’s camping too rustic. The camping supplies are as follows:

• Tent – For pretty obvious reasons, a tent (in this case two) is needed. I generally have no problem sleeping in the wide open air of nature… but in many cases you will need to contend with various people (campgrounds), or bugs and wild animals (in the wild).
• Sleeping Bags – It always helps to have a sleeping bag when camping. The simple bag makes it easier than lugging around a full set of blankets.
• Cot / Air Mattress – When I was young, I’d go camping and would have no problem having my tent, bag and the ground. I was happy. I’m sure that now days, I couldn’t manage that. Many of those mornings I would wake up sore and would spend hours trying to recover from being sore. A mattress or cot isn’t needed per sé, but it’s definitely suggested.
• Clothes – For some reason, it’s still illegal to walk around naked in the state of Michigan, so i truly think these little articles would be good to bring. I will generally pack for 150% of the days I will be camping. For instance, I went to Virginia Beach at the end of May. We went camping for 4 nights, yet I packed 6 nights worth of clothes. While camping, you can never predict what kind of weather will happen, so you’re better safe than sorry.
• Cooking Supplies – Pots, Pans and the like are a good thing to bring, even if you’re not roughing it out in the middle of nowhere. Campmor makes a decent set of camping cookware. In large part, the reason I suggest these is the fact that they fit into each other. The less room you need to take up when camping, the better it will be.
• Bath and Shower Supplies – I’ve met many people over the years who refuse to shower while camping, fortunately, I’m not one of those people. I don’t mind getting dirty while camping, but I’ll shower at least once every two days depending on how bad I get. These supplies should include soap, shampoo/conditioner, toothbrush/paste, and a towel. To be honest, that’s all that’s really needed. Other things such as shaving supplies, etc are completely optional.

Overall those are the necessities of camping. Depending on how extreme of a camping experience you’re going for, probably not state park as we are, the necessities will change. We will be bringing other supplies such as campfire supplies, space heaters, first aid kit, etc.

About a week ago I was searching the internet and came across an article posted by “Bob” from the TSA.gov blog. This article is interesting for the fact that it points out the generic camping equipment, and tells you whether or not it is acceptable to bring it on a plain, how to pack it so it doesn’t get caught up at customs, etc… Very interesting stuff if you plan on traveling.

To be honest, I can’t wait to go back to camping. Hopefully I can eventually begin backpacking in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada as I’ve always wanted to do.

David Ashby, at the age of 14, began his summer vacation unlike any other. He began it on June 15, 2009 with a walk, a very long walk, from Orlando, FL to Washington D.C.. This walk, which will take an estimated 57 days and 1,100 miles, began to raise awareness for the homeless; specifically the 1.3 million kids that are homeless in the United States.

During the near three months that Ashby will be traveling, he will force himself to live homeless. Shelters and the streets will be his home, his food will consist of only food given to him for free. His ventures will be documented on his journal for all to see, and I for one will be following the entries.

I truly hope this trek brings awareness to the growing homeless population as intended by Ashby, and I, along with many others, salute you and respect you for this great feat.

Former Myspace CMO Steve Gold has finalized the first round of financing for his new social media business dubbed Cocodot, which is said to launch this coming September. Not much is known about Cocodot at the moment, but Gold has referred to it as a “style-driven communication and guest management platform for people and brands to create celebration”. Steve Gold’s Google profile refers to Cocodot as “a social marketing advisory based on influence mapping technologies”.

During its first round of financing, Gold was able to secure seed funding from investors like Anthem Venture Partners and William Morris’ Mail Room Fund to a tune just shy of $1 million dollars. We’ll have to wait and see what is released in the near future about Cocodot, I’ll keep you informed.