furiousBlog - in my diatribe » family

Every 38 Seconds…

furiousBall — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:13:54 +0000

Today, I wanted to dedicate my blog to an awesome family that lives right around the corner from me, Charlie Haughey and his family. I’m going to let his mother, Julie tell you guys what they are up to…

“I am writing you today to ask for your support of an incredibly important organization, CureSearch for Children’s Cancer. As you may know, my son Charlie was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma on December 24, 2009. Three days later he celebrated his 3rd birthday and began 14 months of very aggressive treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Your generous donation supports CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, a national non-profit foundation whose mission is to fund and support children’s cancer research and provide information and resources to all those affected by children’s cancer. CureSearch raises funds for collaborative research conducted at more than 175 hospitals across the nation, including CHOP. These hospitals participate in National Cancer Institute sponsored clinical trials conducted by the Children’s Oncology Group. In the last 40 years, collaborative research has increased the overall survival rate for children’s cancer from 10% to 78%. At CureSearch, our goal is 100%.

Two years ago, I ran the New York Marathon with Team CureSearch. This year, I have chosen to join CureSearch in their fight for a cure by participating in The CureSearch Walk. The CureSearch Walk celebrates and honors children, like Charlie, whose lives have been affected by children’s cancer, while raising funds for lifesaving research. I have set an aggressive fundraising goal, because all children living with cancer and those who have lost their fight deserve it. Please consider making a donation to my campaign – there is no gift too big or too small.

Thank you for your support. I can promise that you are making a difference in the lives of all those affected by children’s cancer. Together, we can Reach the Day when every child with cancer is guaranteed a cure.

With hope and gratitude,

Julie Haughey”

To donate to CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, please use this link.

Do something good today folks. A Child Dies From Childhood Cancer Every 38 Seconds. Who is ready to stand with this brave family? Make a difference today.

Movie Reviews…

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – there’s only two reasons you want to see this movie… either you’re 12 or you would pay money to watch Johnny Depp do anything. Or both I guess.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

OK, Sonic you might be on to something here… the guys from the real TV commercials have filmed a response video to Giorgio’s I Love Sonic video (posted yesterday). If Sonic puts Giorgio in a Super Bowl commercial, I (and lots of other folks) will suddenly become big Sonic fans.
Is LoMoing the New Tebowing?
Old Spice’s Terry Crews Crashes a Bounce Ad
How to ward off a mental disorder during a meeting
What every woman wishes her ex-boyfriend’s dating profile looked like
Sh*t Barefoot Runners Say - thanks Bill!
Tea Party Jesus

Susan G. Komen for Women’s Health?

furiousBall — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:14:06 +0000

I am really saddened by Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s decision to stop funding breast screenings to Planned Parenthood. I would like to hear more from Komen on this issue. But it appears that politics played a role in a group (albeit, a private one) that is supposed to promote women’s health cutting off funding to cancer screenings. I am not donating to Susan G. Komen until further notice. They are a private organization and I am a private citizen that can also choose where to put my hard-earned dollars.

I posted this on Facebook last night with a fairly simple statement, I am not donating until I hear more – the screenings they are going to be denying women could help save women’s lives against breast cancer. And what I got from friends was pure politics due to PP being an abortion provider.

I am looking at this as the father of a daughter, the son of an amazing mother, a future husband, and an ex-husband. And all of those women in the roles I just mentioned – all have incidents of cancer in their families. I ran 40 miles about a month ago to fight cancer with Team in Training. And I have no time or money for anyone or group that stands in my way to fight that disease.

To me, this is about fighting cancer, not congressional investigations (which seriously, there is zero legal requirement for an investigation to be started by Congress, so skip that – that IS purely political). And OK, if SGK’s motives were political, why not find a right wing cancer screening group of hospitals that you could donate those funds ear-marked for PP to provide those screenings for women in need?

SGK has made waves previously for their lawsuits against other cancer fighting non-profits for using the “for the cure” slogan. While legally they were fully acting within their rights, I have to ask, are you really fighting cancer or just spending the money you are raising to pay attorneys and talk to right wing lobbyists?

One last time, I get that SGK is a private organization and they can make their own choices. Just like I and millions of others can as we make our donations this year and in the future.

UPDATE: A petition has started, sign and share please if you care to do so.

Movie Reviews…

Cave of Forgotten Dreams – this was a pretty impressive documentary. Cave art that goes back 32,000 years filmed by Werner Herzog in 3D, awesome.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Top 10 Racist Cartoon Moments - thanks David
Peavey Builds An Auto-Tuning Guitar
T-Rex trying things (11 Photos)
How the 7 deadly sins look when applied to your workday
Shockingly wise kids’ answers to questions about dating
How to let your coworkers know you’re one cup of coffee away from an office rampage - this really doesn’t mean much to my officemates, Ziggy (cat) and Titan (dog), but I still love it
The World of Corporate Logos as Seen By a Five-Year Old
Breaking Bad as an 8-bit RPG

playing back and hard work

furiousBall — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:11:23 +0000

БогородицаBubs, Abbe, and I took Titan over to Freedom Park for a nice romp with a bunch of doggies. We dropped our pup off at home and then headed to the rink for his game. Bubs did a really good job, he decided he wanted to play a little more defense this game and he responded well. He still needs to keep his skates moving when an opposing player gets by him, but he did seem very comfortable with playing back. Some of us are good scorers and do better forcing the issue, and some of us are better protectors. Bubs has lots of years of playing ice hockey in his future, but for now, this really suits his personality.

On top of Bubs having a great game this weekend, he also very well may be on the edge of getting his second consecutive straight A’s report card. He has an 86 in math, his only B and if he gets a high enough A on his Divisibility Rules Chart project, the boy could pull it off!

And it’s up to me to make sure Bubs not only enjoys this time where he is not only handling the schedule of being an ice hockey player and doing well in school, I want him to understand the satisfaction of working hard.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Reinforcing a good deed…

furiousBall — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:07:45 +0000

Vivienne opening her own thank you card for her donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Yep, Abbe and I stamped and mailed Viv a thank you card along with our other donors. Might be a waste of a stamp, but I hope this helps a good soul find good stuff to do for this world.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

credit music, black lab stick handling drills, and singin’ in the rain

furiousBall — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:52:31 +0000

This is pretty cool. A group of IT guys (ITidiots) post video podcasts and they happen to use one of my tracks (title – So Funky It Stinks) as their theme music (it’s in the beginning of the videos). I wrote this song nearly 10 years ago, they moved the videos to a YouTube channel and wanted my permission to continue using the track. No money involved, but hey I never made much playing/writing music anyway!

Here’s Titan helping Bubs with some stick handling drills…

And this was pretty sweet, the reminder note on Viv’s bedside table reads, “finish watching Singin’ in the Rain with Abbe”. So glad Abbe introduced Viv to that musical last night. Hearing Viv and Abbe laugh so hard during “Make ‘Em Laugh” should be bottled. No one would ever be sad ever.

Movie Reviews…

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – if you spend a fuckton on a movie, no matter how shitty the script, no matter how unlikeable every single character in the film may be, no matter if you regurgitate the same script up on the screen – people will line up like cattle to watch it. Moo.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

the evil clown will teach you math now…

furiousBall — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:11:02 +0000

Well, we got some bad news last night, pig stomach night has been postponed (hopefully for next weekend). So Viv is already pretty bummed, but I am glad that I will get to see Bubs play ice hockey this weekend and also get a lot of work done on a project with a very rapidly approaching deadline.

Bubs really did a great job on his Divisibility Rules Chart project for math last night. He had to stay up late finishing it off, but it looks pretty good and I love seeing him show some of his creativity… (check out those evil clowns)…

Movie Reviews…

Apollo 18 - although I do like both found footage (Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity) and sci-fi drama films (Moon), this movie was a pretty solid miss.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Going to Pincalvanya

furiousBall — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:03:37 +0000

So Viv is quite excited to be heading to Longswamp, PA with Abbe and I for the Meck’s annual pig stomach night this weekend. In fact, she made it the subject of her “Guess What Mrs. Terruso?” writing in class…

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Happy happens.

furiousBall — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:49:48 +0000

This little girl right here has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. And I am perfectly fine with that.

And this 100 pound black lab’s mortal enemy is a broom…

I knew it was going to happen. I even talked about how some normal, less hectic days would be welcomed – four days ago. The post-marathon let down arrived on me full force this morning. I have a full plate work-wise, but those self-actualizing seeking portions of my brain are thirsty for the next challenge. I need to get back to the routine that really had all of me feeling great – wake up with the kids, sun salutations and push-ups, breakfast, work, run with Titan, work, hang with kids and Abbe, read with kids, and then tell jokes to Abbe until boxed wine comes out of her nose. I think it’s good that I felt the wave of down coming and I can jump on it today. Happy happens.

In fact, here’s proof… I’m posting this as a reminder to myself. This was taken at 3am the morning of the full marathon. That is Abbe holding me on a day that I did not think would happen 24 hours before this was taken. There I was on the precipice of accomplishing probably the biggest athletic achievement of my life at 40 years old and I didn’t have my partner with me. But Abbe made it and was able to be there and she ran all 26.2 miles next to me. I am the luckiest guy ever.

In accordance with my own prescription that I give to others that feel down, I’m going to try to help others today. In fact, here’s a chance… did you know that you can still donate to Abbe, Bill, and my fundraising for LLS? Yep, donations are still being accepted until February 7th. So if YOU need to feel a little better right now, help someone that needs it. Please give if you can.

Movie Reviews…

A Better Life - Demian Bichir is one of the best actors I have seen in a long time. Without getting into the politics of immigration, this film was very good. When Bichir isn’t in the scene, the film definitely slows down. The final scenes of the father in ICE detention and his son screaming at him to come back for him. His father explaining to his son why he had a child – to want to see him become someone… as a father, oww. I want to go to my son’s school now and hug him.

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

Butch Walker’s Synthesizers with Matthew McConaughey – Wooderson returns!
Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut - thanks Adam
Now you can really love your iPad - NSFW
The Walking Dead Season 2 Alternate Title Sequence - thanks David
Horrible Cards for Valentine’s Day
Yer doing it right (33 photos)
Amazing acappella performance by Bobby McFerrin (Video)
How using white-out can make newspaper articles much more believable, interesting, and/or psychotic

lucky bounces and smiling when they don’t happen

furiousBall — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:47:17 +0000

Well, Bubs played pretty well in the first and second periods, but appeared to be gassed in the third. He came very close to netting his first goal, but a quick whistle sounded right before he lifted the puck over a sprawled out goalie. What I was very happy to see was that despite another loss, he came off the ice all smiles and in a great mood. Like myself when I was his age (and now), he hates losing. And his team has done a lot of that. But Bubs had fun out there despite the team coming up short and that is honestly, a great thing to see. I know he loves this game, I just don’t want him to lose interest because of his team’s record. This season has been a good lesson in sportsmanship, being a good teammate, and lots of hockey too.

And that right there is one of the greatest reasons to have your children involved in sports – learning to appreciate the game even when the score doesn’t come out in your favor. A lot like life for a lot of us. Every day, we don’t score goals and those lucky bounces don’t go our way. The truly successful people in this world can smile on those days too. And THAT is what I want for my children.

Bubs is on left wing in white (orange socks)…

Small Business/Tech Links…

Funny/Interesting Links…

The doctor has put me on “couch-rest” for the day. And by doctor, I mean me.

furiousBall — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:31:12 +0000

Today, I am going to do my best to not work. I already failed by installing phpMyAdmin on a client server, but that didn’t take long and I need that to do work this week. But that’s it. The doctor has put me on “couch-rest” for the day. And by doctor, I mean me. Bubs has an ice hockey game at 1:15 this afternoon and then I plan on just enjoying the conference championship games on TV for the rest of the day. ~~Dotcor’s~~ My orders.