Larry.org

Local Arizona has a great Golden Ticket Promotion

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:26:00 GMT

I’m a big fan of Local Arizona. I find local retail to be very important to my community and support locally owned and operated retailers whenever I can.

I just got an email from Kimber Lanning, the Executive Director of Local Arizona, promoting a coupon I, or anyone can use to get 20% off at participating local retailers from June 30th through July 6th 2008.

It’s called the Golden Ticket which I enjoy because I really loved Charlie and the Chocolate factory as a child.

So get out there and support your local businesses!

I bought a Flip Video with some Birthday Money.. It's pretty fun!

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:23:00 GMT

Here’s an example of how it’s fun.

So you’ll begin seeing more videos in my posts I think.

I am trying Mint for personal finance planning...

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:54:00 GMT

One of the things that I thought might be interesting is it’s ability to help me pay less in Credit Card fees.

So I was excited to see my first “offer” was related to a Credit Card deal.

It makes ZERO sense though.

I had to post it here since their “Help” comment form doesn’t seem to allow attachments.

I can’t tell you how many times I see this kind of wierd disconnect on website copy. I think this is one of the reasons I like the DIY websites better. You cook it yourself you have pride of ownership. Not to be too glib though, I’ve been a party to mistakes like this too. I hope they can fix it, as other parts of the app look worth sticking around for, but this “save money” feature may be just too noisy.

Fake Band Social Media Site - Figment is Live at http://www.figment.cc/

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:18:00 GMT

So for the last two and a half years a close friend of mine and I have been working on a labor of love that is finally live.

It’s called Figment, and it’s a game for people that like to make up fake bands.

It was certainly a lot of work creating it, and now that it’s in actual use, it’ll be nice to see where it goes from here.

Now I just have to get all my fake bands into it

What a friend of mine did for her Christmas Vacation

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:56:00 GMT

This visit to the lava flow on Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala was the highlight of her two week trip to Costa Rico and Guatamala.

I can understand how that would be a highlight.

Did you know that the liquid magma in this video is between 700 and 1300 degrees Fahrenheit?

A great video on the rate of change we are experiencing

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:25:00 GMT

Sometimes I’m struck by how poorly historic lessons fit the challenges we face today. Especially with regards to globalization, especially collaboration, management and staff/team development.

Here’s a great video

by XPlane that sums it up quite effectively.

Thanks to out to the folks at The Innovation Weblog for bringing it to my attention.

Yet another fundraising story about the power of social media

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:50:00 GMT

Sometimes when people ask me why I think Social Media is more important than traditional media, I ask them to find a story they like in social media. Most people don’t do that, it’s what they pay journalists to do for them.

The ones that do, usually have a hard time finding it because social media is “messy” and “there’s lots of noise”. Both of which are true, those are, in my opinion, the two most significant “cons”.

But when I ask them about the story they like, I really find out if they can see around the corners or not.

If you read what people write themselves, you can find some really interesting stories. But when you see how people are replying, commenting and riffing off each other’s stories, you start to get a clue that it’s not about reading. It’s about reading and writing. and recording and shooting video. and sewing and building. It’s about doing, creating and sharing rather than finding, buying and consuming.

It’s also quite cool to see the personal computer actually be used personally by so many people. The last three years are the first I feel the original vision for the personal computer have been realized. While it’s still a small a minority of people that are really getting it done, it’s a huge increase in the idea of what one person can do with an open and adaptable machine (the internet) and a phone or computer. Not “to” or “at” the machine, but “with” the machine, as they find it.

I’m really excited about 2008. I may even get commenting working again on my own blog.

Here’s a deservedly, popular story about what a woman named Susan Reynolds did with the machine when she found out she had breast cancer.

I’ve not been tracking this story very much, but It looks very engaging. It’s really not about what story I’m reading though. It’s about what story I’m engaged in, and there’s a bunch of them. The important part of that for you, dear reader, is social media isn’t passive. It’s dead boring if you just want to read it. You have to create when you find a thought you feel you can contribute to.

Putting all the ornaments boxes back in storage today.. I ran accross on of our favorite holiday cartoons

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:08:00 GMT

It’s always amusing to run accross this while we are doing our holiday decorating.

Phoenix Bach Choir nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, Phoenix seemingly unaware of

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:44:00 GMT

So I’m in a choir. The Choir Director and a few of our singers are in a group called The Phoenix Bach Choir.

They’ve just been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards.

So I figure, well that’s probably a pretty good record, and I can get it autographed too. So I’ll go to Border’s and pick it up.

Bear in mind Border’s is considered one of the last good places to shop for Classical Music. Turns out they have to special order it. So I’m going to see if Stinkweeds can get it for me. I’ll let you know which get’s here first.

I find this kind of amazing, and a little depressing. A lot of people are concerned that classical music as an industry may be dying.

This is kind of interesting for Phoenix because, as such a modern city, we have very limited social norms based on a local classical music cultural heritage. Nothing like this has ever happened to Phoenix. Classical Music, or any other form of music can’t really “die”, it just becomes less interesting to the point that it goes dormant.

Seeing an international debate about the genre’s struggles and viability while watching a local community figure out how to build on the phenomenal success of the Phoenix Bach Choir gives me whiplash. It’s kind of fun.

My First Draft of a church announcement

larry@larry.org (Larry) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 04:07:00 GMT

I’m hoping to speak at church today, but I’m not sure that I’ll get the chance. I’m posting this here so I can share it with my pastors and my friends.

It’s been an honor to work with a group of volunteers at (my) Church of the Beatitudes assisting a group of Refugees that are settling in Phoenix AZ. We were told we were given a family that they were sure would need some extra care becuase our church has such a great reputation for generosity, attitude and responsibility.

As Christmas approaches we’re seeing the family

struggling and persevering in their to transition into financial independence
working with us, their network of help, and the local community at large to create a sense of personal identity within a big strange city, and alien culture

I’ve been doing all I can to help, but with my hectic schedule and time commitments it never feels like enough. Still even the littlest effort has been rewarded a hundred fold.

The needs the family has now are many. In some ways fewer than they were when they first arrived. In other ways greater. I know that many of you have been wondering how it’s been going, and I’d love to expand on my very brief overview above, but in the interests of time I’ll refrain. it’s such an interesting story to tell that I urge you to seek out members of the committee to hear it.

Especially: Names

I’d like to finish by asking you all to consider helping out, because I know you’ll get as much reward for your effort as I have. The most interesting thing I can tell you we’ve identified as a need is a job coach that can help an ambitious and energetic 18 year old man, put together a game plan to get a GED, and a scholorship for a College Education basically on his own. What a wonderful difference can be made by someone. Is it that someone we know in our congregation? Outside of it?

We are also working on a special Christmas donation so that the family can enjoy giving each other presents. This is outside of our duties, but something special we want to do anyway. If you would like to help us financially, in addition to your normal stewardship of course, then please mark your contribution as “Refugee Family”, and either:

place it in the collection plate marked
mail it to the church office (the address is on your order of worship)
or drop it off at the reception desk

Thanks very much for your time today and have a blessed holiday season.