Archive for July, 2008
JibJab strikes again
Brilliant work from the guys at
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=adc3MSS5Ydc]
I like the Hilary 2012 posters. Very inspirational.
JibJab does a nice job skewering both sides. Well done, per usual.
(h/t: Russell)
Update update
Well, things appear to be back to normal. I am experiencing some wierd sidebar issues. Sometimes it loads my K2 Sidebar Modules, sometimes it loads the widgets. Does anybody (I’m looking at you Brent) know how to turn off WordPress Widgets?
As much as I love K2 (and I truly, truly do), I’m wondering if perhaps I should just change themes. My blog seems to break every time a new version of WordPress comes out, and K2’s feature set is so expansive that there are bound to be issues. We’ll see. I don’t know if I have the time, energy or ability to start over.
At the very least, I would like to update my sidebar. I’m just not happy with the way things look over there. Does anybody have any suggestions?
Let me know if you see anything wonky happening with the blog today.
Dang upgrades…
I don’t know how things look for you right now, but all is not well in ToddBlog-land. Hang tight and we’ll get things squared away.
In the meantime, does anybody have any interesting books to recommend?
Please note that I intend for the beautiful graphic above to be a joke. I have not, do not and will not endorse the use of an “under construction” graphic in any serious capacity. Ever. Unless I am paid otherwise. Or somebody asks me nicely. Or I change my mind.
You take the good. You take the bad.
Last week, Sonia Greteman, our president and creative director, had a nice feature article in The Wichita Eagle, highlighting her outlook on a healthy work/life balance and Greteman Group’s new Altitude Attitude brand.
The afternoon the article was published, it attracted a number of positive comments – and a couple of false comments were also posted online. Being the gallant, honor-filled, truth-loving man that I am, it went against every fiber of my being to allow the rumors to go uncontested.
Fortunately, before firing off a retort, I talked it through with some members of our team. We eventually arrived at the consensus that there was very little to be gained by entering the fray.
Making this decision wasn’t easy. We didn’t want to start an online brawl. We just wanted to add our perspective to the conversation. We recognized that most people would probably never read those comments or automatically believe them, but worried about those who did.
As more and more companies enter the new media world and start paying attention to what’s being said about them, it’s going to be a constant challenge to discern when to engage and when to stay the heck away. I’m not sure there are any blanket policies that provide a simple solution, but here are three simple guidelines to keep in mind:
- Only deal in facts. If factual errors are leveled against your company, organization or person, address those facts logically, concisely and, when possible, with supporting evidence.
- Be careful when dealing with anonymous posters. If people aren’t willing to affix their name to their nasty comments, there’s a good chance fruitful, beneficial dialog isn’t going to happen. On a side note, one of the benefits of hosting your own blog is the ability to disallow anonymous commenters.
- Remember that opinions won’t be changed with a single, brilliant, logical, true comment. Be prepared for your thoughtful response to be met with hostility, ad hominem attacks or accusations of being an unbiased corporate stooge. When that occurs, you’ll need to evaluate again whether or not it’s worth your time and energy to respond.
So what do you think? What tips do you have for discerning when to jump in and when to stay away?
Should I do it?
I’m contemplating starting to ride a bicycle to work. I live about 1.4 miles from my office. There is an infrequently used shower at my office. I’m stupidly out of shape. I can’t afford a Vespa. I just spent $50 filling up my car. I sometimes find myself caring about the environment.
Those realities have come together to shape my thoughts about this subject. Unfortunately, I’m completely ignorant of the bicycle world. A brief investigation has opened my eyes to the numerous options available to me. Road bikes. Mountain bikes. Comfort bikes. Used bikes. New bikes.
So I’m turning to you blog-friends. I need your help.
- How much should I spend? I don’t want a huge investment as I might ultimately hate riding a bike to work.
- What type of bike should I be looking at?
- Is this a stupid idea? Either because it’s dangerous or too cumbersome with my job or some other reason I’ve never thought of.
- Anything else I should be considering?
Thanks in advance for the help!
Photo by Bern@t.
A church-sponsored butt kicking?
There’s this church somewhere that had their children’s ministry trailer stolen. This isn’t the first case of a church having a mobile storage unit pilfered, but the way Revolution Church’s pastor is dealing with it is quite interesting disgusting. Here’s what he said at his blog:
First let me say, God loves you. Second let me say we forgive you. We really don’t want to forgive you, but God says we should so we do. Third of all I want you to know that I think you are scum bags. I think you are lowlife degenerates who need a good butt kicking. Matter of fact I feel so strongly about the fact that you need a good butt kicking that I am volunteering to do it. I hope you believe in God because you should get on your knees and cry out to Him like never before because if we find you, I can promise we will kick the crap out of you. It won’t be pretty, it won’t be over quickly, and it will be very painful. I know that doesn’t sound very nice but I feel pretty strongly that is what you need.
I am curious what kind of lowlife you must be? Trust me, I have been around some pretty low ones before but never one that would be so low as to steal from a church. I understand you probably need some crack or something like that but stealing from a church would scare me. It would scare me more once I realized which church I stole it from. We are probably the only church you have ever heard of that will honestly break your legs once you are found.
Let me say again that we DO forgive you. But there are still consequences for your sin and your consequence will be toting a butt kicking. It is obvious you aren’t very smart so let me give you some advice. Get that trailer out of the county QUICK. As soon as I hit publish on this blog post a church of about 1000 crazy people will know that our black, children’s trailer has been stolen and I can promise they will be on the lookout for it. You would much rather me find you then one of them.
I suppose slapping the emoticon on the end is supposed lighten up what he’s saying?
I thought I had a pretty good sense of humor, but I can’t tell if this guy is serious or not. Either way, this post is a bad idea. It’s not funny – it’s creepy. It’s not loving. It’s not Christ-like. It’s not right.
He has already posted an “explanation.” He says he’s not angry, but he would like to punch the guy in the mouth. Right. He doesn’t sound angry. I sometimes punch people I’m not mad at too, just to make a point.
In moments like these, I just want to pack in the whole organized Christianity thing. It’s failed. We’ve failed. People aren’t being transformed. We act just like everybody else. Even the “leaders*” fail to act like the One they preach about. It makes me want to kick some butts.
But I’m not angry. 
Here’s hoping I read an inspirational story of inspiration about some church saving the lives of thousands of children today.
(h/t: Church Marketing Sucks)
*For the record, I don’t think that ALL leaders fail to act like Jesus, nor do I think Revolution Church’s pastor is representative of the whole of organized Christian leadership.