November 5th, 2008 by Chad

Hi!

I’m writing this on the day after our nation elected our next president, Barack Obama. What happened yesterday was a true measure of democracy in action. It was the result of millions and millions of people acting upon their hope for a better country. Regardless of which candidate you voted for, I have little doubt you felt they were the right person for the job. The fact that we are able to have a country where we are free to vote on who gets to lead us, in a peaceful and organized manner, proves yet again that we are the greatest nation on Earth.

I have never been as proud to be an American as I am right now, and I’m not alone. America has voted for hope, discussion, diplomacy, love, change, and peace. The rest of the world is watching, obviously, and they are now beginning to feel like their faith in America can be restored. It is my sincere hope that everyone I know and love can put aside our individual political beliefs and strive to improve the future of this country by accepting Mr. Obama as our president. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt do nothing but hold us back, and it’s clear America has had enough of those things. It’s time for positivity, progress, and tolerance.

If you were afraid of some of the things that you may have heard about Barack Obama during the election, I hope you understand that much of what you may have heard was said out of desperation, fear, ignorance, and misinformation. No, we are not going to be a Socialist country. No, we are not going to be in a situation where we are “sharing the wealth”. No, we are not going to be led by a “terrorist” or a “Muslim” or an “elitist”. No, we are not headed for “dark times”. No, we are not looking for “hand-outs”. If you ever thought any of those things, I really hope you remove yourself from those thoughts. They are not healthy and are simply not correct. They are negative. For too long, we’ve been a negative nation. We need to stop that. Be positive. Have hope. Wish the best for those around you, regardless of their race, religion, social, or economic status. Do not force your ideals on others if they are unwilling. Accept. Love. Tolerate. Educate. I believe we have finally elected a president who is capable of bringing people of all walks of life together. We must do our part as well.

Now that we have an incoming president who seems to have a good set of ideas on how to move America forward, it is up to us to ensure we keep on him and his administration to do their best to deliver on his promises. I have a strong hope that he will do his best. We also cannot allow partisonship and special interests have as much of an influence on our country’s policies as they have over the past 8 years. Regardless of your party, I hope you feel like I do, that we have a president who can unite us in ways we have not known for a very long time. This is why I’m writing this.

We as a nation must realize that this choice that we have made is probably the best choice we could have made, given the circumstances. Nobody is perfect, but we can strive to be. There is so much work to be done to get America back on track to prosperity. One man can’t do it. Millions of men and women CAN. We are now on the right track.

Thanks, and I hope you are doing well. Best wishes,
Chad

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November 5th, 2008 by Chad

I’ve quite frankly never been as proud to be an American as I am right now. We as a nation just elected Barack Obama as our 44th President. Thank you. Now, it is up to us to ensure that he does what we trust him to do, and that is to work as hard as he can to deliver on his promises. I happen to believe he will do his best. The world is likely celebrating with us.

I also believe in the power of hope. Let there be no doubt, we are in the midst of an extremely important time in our country. It’s up to us as a nation to do OUR part to help move this country forward. Electing Barack Obama was a FANTASTIC step in the right direction. Now, let’s get to work.

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August 7th, 2008 by Chad

We all know the BMV absolutely SUCKS! But did you know that they apparently carry on that tradition to their website? Here’s a quick example of the Indiana BMV’s website suckitude.

UPDATE: So, I just checked this again, and it’s apparently fixed. I recorded this video about 6 hours ago. Who knows when this will break again. It’s inevitable, knowing the BMV.

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August 5th, 2008 by Chad

Hey! It’s my first “video blog!”

In which I talk about online communication, community building, and a few of the online tools I personally use to communicate online. This is stuff I’ve been thinking about heavily for a while. Much of the stuff I talk about in this video is all pretty basic to alot of people who spend alot of time online, but I felt I needed to share with those that may visit and just not know about some of it.

Links mentioned in this video:
My Facebook profile (friend me!)
My Twitter profile (let’s follow each other!)
My Flickr photostream (friend me!)
Wine Library TV.com
garyvaynerchuk.com

Links to some of my various other online profiles not mentioned in this video:
My Last.FM profile (see what music I’ve been listening to, and compare with your own! Discover new music!)
FriendFeed - a “one stop shop” for all my various profile updates! (it comes in handy)

Sorry about all the weird edits. The original version was almost 10 minutes long. I cut a bunch out because it just seemed too long. I wanted to keep it under 5 minutes. I cut out a bunch of of ranting about how Myspace has become an “online community cesspool”, about some of the benefits of using Facebook, why I like Twitter, finally, and lots more. I think I wanted to talk about too much. I promise subsequent video blogs from me will be more succinct and consistent. :-)

Let me know what you think! Anything you’d like me to talk about?

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July 3rd, 2008 by Chad

I hope everyone in the U.S. who reads this has a great, fun, and safe holiday weekend. Please keep in mind that although the original purpose of celebrating Independence Day is great and noble and all that, we are not actually “independent” - but rather, VERY DEPENDENT - and it sucks. I’m surely guilty as any for our continuous oil dependency. I have been thinking alot about it lately though, and have taken some little steps in helping my personal oil dependency. Every little bit helps. I should do more though. Something to think about. Maybe I’ll finally buy that vintage Lambretta I’ve been wanting for about 7-8 years now….

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October 10th, 2007 by Chad

There are many things in society today that I deem ridiculous, over-used, stupid, and/or lame, and they need to be gone. Here are three:

Over-sized sunglasses
Oversized shades are stupid.
Seriously, people, you look like an idiot in them. What is this, the freaking 70’s? While I’m at it:

Dance-pop
I’ve had it. Ever since Franz Ferdinand got big with “Take Me Out”, the music industry has gone to great lengths to push copycats, like they always do. Stop it - right now.

“owned”/”pwned”
Ugh.

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September 4th, 2007 by Chad

This is kinda cool. I just wrapped up development on a site we’ve been working on called getidsmart.com. The site contains lots useful free info on identity theft prevention. Anyway, The site launched last Wednesday, and it already has been featured in the Indianapolis Star, as well as WRTV 6 (local ABC affiliate). This is the first time any site I’ve been involved with creating has been on TV. I think it’s pretty cool.

Anyway, be sure to visit getidsmart.com. Some good info there.

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August 3rd, 2006 by Chad

It’s been a while, eh?

For the past month or so, I’ve been using up a ton of my spare time with a sort of experiment. It may be a great thing for me, but it also may prove to be a bust. It’s taken alot of time and effort, and I’m only about 25% of the way through to the goal. The project? Rebuilding a prominent music website from the ground up. That statement doesn’t sound too hard by itself, but trust me, it ain’t been easy. (more…)

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June 4th, 2006 by Chad

People who know me know I don’t really talk about politics or “political pundits” very much, unless it’s just something that rubs me the wrong way. Today I stumbled across a video clip of Bill O’Reilly getting a very much deserved and stellar, if not pretty moving, verbal ass-kicking by Keith Olbermann. I am now a big Olbermann fan, and now even less of a fan of that smug, lying, condescending asshat O’Reilly. I mean, seriously, this just proves (yet again) what a jackass he really is, and anyone who watches him and follows him is equally douche-ey, in my opinion. Oh, and hey, Fox News, F you in the A for changing the transcript after the fact to cover his ass, and F you both in the A for never issuing an apology. This is not about “Right” vs. “Left”. This is about right vs. wrong. And I hope few people think Bill O’Reilly is right. This is also why I so rarely watch TV anymore. It’s just sad, really.

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April 16th, 2006 by Chad

OK, This guy in Oklahoma who (allegedly but admittedly) killed the 10-year-old neighbor girl is most likely a sick bastard, and if found guilty should pay dearly for what he has done.

BUT, why does the news media have continuously feel the need to include useless facts with no connection to the actual story, while trying to make that fact sound as if it really IS part of the story?

CNN.com - Suspect blogged about cannibalism - Apr 16, 2006

He said one of his main interests was the online role-playing game “Kingdom of Loathing,” in which stick figures battle one another.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I love this game. Millions of others do as well. It’s funny as hell and a good time waster when you need to do that. Why did CNN.com feel the need to even mention this game?

I know, because fear of “video games” is all the rage these days.

Grand Theft Auto doesn’t kill people, people kill people.

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