Daddy Dan

There is an article in today’s New York Times that just had me shaking my head.  Is this what our nation is becoming, a big group of whiny, spoiled brats?

Read the first two paragraphs of the article:

Come Christmas, McKenna Hunt, a gregarious little girl from Safety Harbor, Fla., will receive the play kitchen and the Elmo doll she wants. But her mother, Kristen Hunt, will go without the designer jeans she covets this season.

For Ms. Hunt and for millions of mothers across the nation, this holiday season is turning into a time of sacrifice. Weathering the first severe economic downturn of their adult lives, these women are discovering that a practice they once indulged without thinking about it, shopping a bit for themselves at the holidays, has to give way to their children’s wish lists.

Heaven forbid that mom has to give up her new designer jeans to be able to buy Christmas presents for her child.  Should we take up a collection for her?

Why is this even a story in the New York Times?

I’ve always thought that Christmas (beyond the whole Jesus’ birthday thing) was for the children.  I know my wife and I could care less about gifts for each other.  The whole magic of Christmas is to experience it through The Babito’s eyes…..just like that Gloria Estefan Christmas song.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I first heard about this devastating news on The Bloggess’ twitter page (it’s where I get most of my news - and you should too), and Katelin also mentioned it (she’s where I get my entertainment news).  I can’t believe the Southern California fires, economic crisis, and election are getting more publicity - - -

Mother’s Cookies Are Going Out of Business!!!!!

You all know Mother’s Cookies, right?  They’re the ones that make the fabulous circus animal cookies covered in pink and white frosting with the little sprinkles on them.

Here’s a picture to refresh your memory:

I guess this economic crisis is a little bigger than I thought…..

And not one word from either Obama or McCain on this.  Where’s the leadership?

Did you hear the announcement on CNN this morning?

If not, you can read all about it HERE.

Got an idea that could change the world, or at least help a lot of people? Google wants to hear from you — and they’ll pay as much as $10 million to make your idea a reality.

To help celebrate its 10th birthday, the ambitious Internet giant is launching an initiative to solicit, and bankroll, fresh ideas it believes could have broad and beneficial impact on people’s lives.

Called Project 10¹⁰⁰, Google’s initiative will seek input from the public and a panel of judges in choosing up to five winning ideas, to be announced in February.

To submit your idea to Google, go to this website.  Ideas are due by October 20th, so you don’t have a lot of time.

Google asks that your idea meet the following criteria:

• Reach:  How many people would this idea effect?
• Depth:  How deeply are people impacted?  How urgent is the need?
• Attainability:  Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
• Efficiency:  How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
• Longevity:  How long will the idea’s impact last?

The submission form asks just six simple questions pertaining to your idea:

1. What one sentence best describes your idea?
2. Describe your idea in more depth (max. 300 words).
3. What problem or issue does your idea address?
4. If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?
5. What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
6. Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented.  How would you measure it?

I think it’s great that Google is using a portion of its vast resources to fund some ideas to help the world.

I’d like to help too.  If you have a great idea but just don’t want to take the time to submit it, let me know what it is in the comments (please answer all six questions above) and I’ll be happy to submit it! 

• Is it just me or are college football games so much more fun to watch than NFL games?  Maybe it’s just that we don’t have a team in L.A., and I don’t really have a favorite team anymore.  I used to be a major Rams fan, but those days are over.  The Chargers-Broncos game was fun to watch.  The Chargers got completely screwed on that late fumble call.  They should have won the game, but now they’re 0-2.
• I love the new Genius feature on iTunes.  Genius creates a custom playlist for you based on a single song of your choice.  You pick the song and Genius finds other songs that go well with that song.  You can pick 25, 50, 75, or 100 song playlists.  These custom playlists also help you discover songs you didn’t even remember you had on iTunes and also help you rediscover songs you haven’t listened to in a while.
• Did you hear about the girl who’s auctioning off her virginity to help pay for her masters degree?  She’s hoping the bidding reaches $1 million.  If she gets that much they’ll be a lot of poor guys waiting a little longer to lose theirs.  The story, including a picture of the girl, is HERE.
• Lastly, on a very serious note, my heart and prayers go out to the people (and their families) who were involved in that terrible Metrolink accident in L.A. on Friday.  I ride the Metrolink to work most days (on a different route) and I can’t imagine the horror they went through.  Stories coming out today say that the engineer driving the train may have been sending text messages (to a group of teenagers he befriended?) just a minute or two before the trains collided.  Despite a little trepidation, I’ll be back on the train tomorrow.  I’m curious to see if ridership is down because of this accident.
• In case you care, you can follow my mindless drivel (and also be updated when I post something new here) on Twitter.