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…

• SEO Tips for E-commerce Sites
• Writing Google Places Reviews to Improve Rankings
• Google clarifies what isn’t changing with new privacy policy
• Firefox 10 out now: full screen apps, fewer crashes, disappearing forward button
• How Lanyrd Uses HTML5 for a Great Mobile Web App
• Firefox Adds Powerful New Developer Tools
• The Other 99% of Entrepreneurs
• Wunderkit Launches Beta For Its Wunderbar-designed Productivity Platform - I’ll definitely try this out, I love Wunderlist

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

I need to have a good day of coding today. My list of projects is in good shape, a few big ones that are moving slowly, a medium sized project with a short time to deliver, and plenty of smaller tasks to fill in the gaps. Those short little maintenance to do list items really do work well as a change of pace and help clear my head. Just gotta keep swimming…

Movie Reviews…

Warrior – this movie is formulaic and filled with cliche, but Warrior is also a pretty great sports movie.

Small Business/Tech Links…

• 7 Reasons Why Pinterest Isn’t Yet Ready for Tech Brands
• How to Start A New Business in Less Than 50 Hours
• 5 Signs of a Great User Experience

Funny/Interesting Links…

• 21 Must-Follow Pinterest Users
• 10 Hysterical Political Parodies on Twitter
• When high fives go wrong (Video)
• Beautiful Day at the Dog Park
• Do you still have somebody’s stuff?
• The Snowfield

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…

• Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book
• Data Privacy: What Bill Gates Said 10 Years Ago

Funny/Interesting Links…

• A car window decal that lets people know your sperm isn’t being used for creating a family
• Jeff Meadows’ funny painted shoes

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…

• Wat – thanks Justin
• Small Businesses Measure Social Success The Right Way: New Customers
• Ready or Not, You’re Getting Facebook Timeline
• Top 10 Safari Plugins and Extensions for Better Productivity

Funny/Interesting Links…

• Drunk Hulk Discusses the Oscars Plus 4 More Viral Topics
• What it would sound like if Bon Iver covered Bon Jovi
• I hate my job (26 Photos)
• Top 10 States to Raise Your Child - thanks Julie
• Books titles that make you wonder how they ever got published (35 Photos)

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…

• Is It Time to Finally Ditch Your Paper Business Cards?
• Facebook Apps: Highlights of the 60 New Integrated Applications
• Six Lessons in Entrepreneurship

Funny/Interesting Links…

• 9 Digital Ways to Become a Social Good Hero in 2012
• Signs full of ‘WTF’ (35 Photos)
• Filipino Traffic Cop Doing His Job Like A Boss
• The “unique abdominal dexterity” of Helena Vlahos
• 5 things I learned today
• Party Rock Anthem – Literal MS Paint – thanks Branson