I Got Tagged

Have you ever got one of those email forwards that asks you to answer a bunch of questions and then forward it onto all of your friends who then send it back to you and a bunch of their friends. I'm not sure of the point other than to get an email.

Well the trend has hit the blogosphere. My friend Matt blog tagged me last week and I'm just getting around to doing it. I'm not one that would normally do this but my wife really wants to me to tag her (love you sweetie).

But the questions in Matt's tag were lame so I'm breaking the tag rules and answering questions that I would actually like to know the answer to. Some of them I stole from Ross's tag. Sorry Matt, it isn't that you aren't cool, or that Ross is cooler than you, though I think Ross is cool. You are cool, just keep telling yourself "I'm cool."

I'm then allowing the option for my taggees to answer my questions or to create new ones they find more interesting. See, isn't this just a better game!

1. If you could change one thing about a major event in your life what would it be?
This one was easy for me (but I made up the question). The funny thing is that it happened on a day that was perfect. Can a day be perfect and want something different? The major life event was the day Chrystal and I got married. It was awesome. The one thing I'd change was paying for a wedding planner. Here's why...

There were lots of little things that we didn't think about, but also one big thing. Right as the wedding started my dad asked me if I was going to walk my mom down the isle. I looked at him clueless and said with a shrug, "I guess not?" It hadn't even crossed my mind, which makes me feel like a bad son but we were so engrossed in trying to figure everything out. It is something I wished I could have done. Sorry Mom. But she never once has made me feel bad about it even though I know it was something she really wanted.

2. What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire? (I stole this one)
1. Pay off all my debt and the debt of friends and family.
2. Buy a bunch of property in Santa Barbara and offer my family and closest friends free homes so we could live near each other in my favorite place in the world.
3. Pay Josh Gustafson to figure out how to invest some portion so we could live very comfortably but not outrageously. I'm not going to lie and say we'd live meagerly, because we would travel often and we'd fly first class.
4. Give a huge chunk of change to Westmont College but specifically allocate a portion to buy the freakin' coolest athletic facility you had ever seen and name the track and field stadium after coach Russell Smelley. Smelley Track & Field, can you dig it!
5. Establish a foundation to figure out all the places the money needs to go and hire a staff to help manage it.

3. What are your three worst habits?
1. Not listening. Lord forgive me but I talk too much, day dream too often, and listen too little. Ask my wife.
2. Pointlessly surfing the Internet and too often entering "Kevin Sturm" in Google or Technorati just so I can see if someone loves me enough to put my name in a blog.
3. Quietly judging someone based on how they talk, how they dress, or what they do. If anyone knew how often I did it no one would be my friend.

4. What are the three things you have to have within reach at all time (think bedside, car, etc.)?
1. My iPhone. This could mean I need to add another worst habit. I freak out if I don't know where my phone is, and having an iPhone only made it worse.
2. A book. This is not saying I read all the time. I just always want a book near for when the urge arises. On the night stand, in my laptop bag, near the man throne.
3. I don't really have a third. How about Love?

5. If you could have any job what would it be and why?
Professional athlete. I'm open to almost any sport. Though not gymnastics, or curling, or billiards, or boxing...you get the point.

There is a sixth question. What five people do you want to tag.
Chrystal (My Love) - Will do it because she is waiting for me to tag her.
David Jay - Eventually will get around to it if he reads this and lots of girls will find it cute.
Tessa McCook - Stay tuned it will be funny.
Gabriel Ryan - Have no idea if he'll do it.
Tim Halberg - Maybe will do it.

Two Things I Hate

I'm generally not a negative person, but yesterday was not a great day for me. I endured two of my most hated things simultaneously.

First hated thing...sickness. I had a sore throat that was ripping me up. I hate being sick, but really hate being sick when I'm trying to get something done. I had planned to clean out the garage yesterday and all the dust and dryness was not helping the throat. Not sure why I was so stubborn to finish it versus wait for another weekend. But the reason I did it was it was clear of all sorts of stuff...leading to the next hated thing.

Second hate thing...garage sale. Having a garage sale is in my top 5 hated things (I'm not sure of the other 4, but I'm sure garage sale is in the top 5). We had a huge multi-family garage sale where a bunch of people, most of whom I didn't know, got to put the stuff they don't want anymore and are too stingy to just give away in my driveway so strangers could loiter around and take something home to store in their garage. And most of the stuff was junk.

Me post garage sale sitting on couch that didn't sell.

I'm a terrible garage sale salesman. My goal isn't to make money, but to just get someone to take the stuff out of my driveway. If someone barters I counter with a lower price then they offered. I'd just as soon put a huge FREE sign on the corner and then enjoy the glorious possibility of a humorous rush of people fighting over junk, versus just touch everything and ponder if they really need a chipped shot glass. A rhubarb between two middle aged women over an ugly plate sounds way more fun. But alas, I married a woman that LOVES garage sales. Going to them, having them, bartering at them...she thinks it's great.

The wife told me to go wash the car after I complained enough, which I actually enjoyed. I'd have washed every car on the street versus sit at the garage sale.

But what I can say for garage sales is the people watching. I believe there are two types of people that d0 garage sales. The first is a deal seeker looking for entertainment, which is the category my wife falls into. They most likely will buy nothing but enjoy the process of looking.

The second is the person that can't leave without buying a cart full of crap it doesn't appear they can afford. They hand you somewhere between $5 and $20 and leave with the junk you were sure was going end up in the throw away pile. I want to feel sorry for these people, but at the same time want them to show up just to watch them. I suppose that makes me a bit mean...Lord forgive me.

All-in-all we made $124 for about 6 hours of work. That is the other reason I hate garage sales...the return just isn't worth while.

How Far Should I Take It

Out of curiosity to where it would go I responded to the French email I received. Here is what I wrote...

Dear Mr. Majeed,

It took me a while to understand your message, but I was able to translate it. I think maybe you didn't mean to send this to me since I'm not French, but since I was able to understand the message WOW! $20 million! Lucky you...and now lucky me for maybe accidentally receiving your email. I think you are looking for americans to help you invest the money. If so, I am definitely interested! I mean even if I only get 1% that is a lot of money. How do I go about helping you and me make a bunch of money?

Kevin

This morning I received this message back. (Click on the picture to open a more readable version.)
This kills me because who would honestly believe this?! But now I'm intrigued because I'm curious how far this could actually go. What do you think, how far should I take this?

Next Gen Dads

I posted about launching Next Gen Dads and while back and I've got enough of the layout done that it was time to launch. No sense waiting till it's done or it will never get launched. Next Gen Dads is a Daddy Blog about raising kids as a work-from-home-dad that believes dads and moms should share raising kids as an equal partnership. It will be my thoughts, and hopefully the thoughts of others, on marriage, parenting, and the successes and failures that you experience as a husband and dad. You will need to read the blog to find out exactly what all that means.

For those of you that read k.sturm blog to find out about my family related stuff, the majority of those posts will now appear at Next Gen Dads. This blog will be 99% dedicated to "Ramblings on business, entrepreneurship, consulting, technology, and other topics I'm passionate about." I will be migrating all existing family related posts to Next Gen Dads over the next few weeks.

If you would be interested in co-authoring on Next Gen Dads leave a comment and we'll chat!

Somebody Has a Funny Sense of Humor

Last Saturday Brody and I went to breakfast together. We walked past a small construction area where the below drawing was on the sidewalk. Somebody has a funny sense of humor...

My Celebrity Morph

Okay, after the last post this had to come next. I'll get to a business post in a few but Chrystal and I just laughed so hard. Chrystal was looking at a blog that had a Celebrity Morph, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Apparently my celebrity look alike is Sinclair Lewis. I don't think he was known for his looks...

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb

I'm a Stock Model!

I switched to a local bank recently after major frustrations with Wells Fargo. It's pretty awesome because two of the employees know me by name now when I walk in and I don't even have to give them my account number! (As a side note it's Wescom Credit Union and I would HIGHLY recommend them for your money.)

Yesterday I walked in to make a deposit and Jessie asked me what kind of consulting I did. I told her hospitality technology consulting and she says, "I only ask because I was on this site and there was a guy that looked exactly like you." I asked her for the site and last night remembered to go look. I don't think there is much similarity other than the hair style, but even Chrystal said the resemblance is pretty close. She is always saying I could be a model which is a load of bologna...but I love her for it!

Insurance for Your iPhone

Three days ago I dropped my iPhone for the first time. My hands were full and in an attempt to slide it into my pocket I dropped it on asphalt. I cringed as it hit and then bounced, landing screen side up (whew!). As Apple promised, it withstood the drop well and came away without so much as small scratch. But a nerve had be pinched and I wanted...no needed insurance. For me it is really more than a phone. It is almost a mobile computer away from my computer.

And more importantly it is the worlds best toddler distraction when in the car, grocery store, hardware store, or (insert location here). Brody (who is not quite 3) knows how to start the iPod and watch Cars or some other movie, and has just recently figured out how to use YouTube. In preventing him from watching whatever he clicks on I've bookmarked a bunch of YouTube cartoons for him. He still never fails to end up watching some strange cartoon clip with graphic rap lyrics a full volume. It's like he knows exactly how to find it, crazy.

Seriously though, let's get to the point. After searching the web I found some insurance companies will cover the iPhone. I quickly emailed Jayme (my all star All State agent) and asked how much it would be to cover my iPhone, laptop, and a few other ancillary items that I carry in my mobile office. Get this...$79 bucks per year. I already feel a sense of comfort.

I couldn't get less than a $250 deductible, but $250 is better than paying $400 for a new phone (or $2000 if it's my laptop). $79 is pretty cheap for peace of mind.

Excercise Your Privilige - VOTE!

Chrystal, Brody and I went and voted today as a family. Give a prayer of thanks that today you get to exercise that privilege, and then go vote. Whether Democrat, Republican, or Independent voting is important.

Check out Seth's Lessons from voting for some interesting insights into voting.

How Do You Shower?

Okay, this isn't original but it is so funny. I first had this sent to me a long time ago, but Chrystal just got it and sent it to me again. I'm not sure who first wrote it, but they are ingeniously and genuinely funny. They also must be married.

How to Shower Like a Woman

• Take off clothing and place it in sectioned laundry hamper according to lights and darks.
• Walk to bathroom wearing long dressing gown.
• If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.
• Look at your womanly physique in the mirror -- make mental note to do more sit-ups/leg-lifts, etc.
• Get in the shower. Use face cloth, arm cloth, leg cloth, long loofah, wide loofah and pumice stone.
• Wash your hair once with cucumber and sage shampoo with 43 added vitamins.
• Wash your hair again to make sure it's clean.
• Condition your hair with grapefruit mint conditioner enhanced..
• Wash your face with crushed apricot facial scrub for 10 minutes until red.
• Wash entire rest of body with ginger nut and jaffa cake body wash.
• Rinse conditioner off hair.
• Shave armpits and legs.
• Turn off shower.
• Squeegee off all wet surfaces in shower.
• Spray mold spots with Tilex.
• Get out of shower. Dry with towel the size of a small country.
• Wrap hair in super absorbent towel.
• Return to bedroom wearing long dressing gown and towel on head.
• If you see husband along the way, cover up any exposed areas.

How to Shower Like a Man

• Take off clothes while sitting on the edge of the bed and leave them in a pile.
  
• Walk naked to the bathroom.
  
• If you see wife along the way, shake wiener at her making the woo-woo sound.
• Look at your manly physique in the mirror.
• Admire the size of your wiener and scratch your butt.
• Get in the shower. Wash your face.Wash your armpits.
• Blow your nose in your hands and let the water rinse them off.
• Fart and laugh at how loud it sounds in the shower.
• Spend majority of time washing privates and surrounding area.
• Sing the National Anthem like you are at a baseball game and love how it echos.
• Wash your butt, leaving those coarse butt hairs stuck on the soap.
• Wash your hair. Make a Shampoo Mohawk.
• Pee.
• Rinse off and get out of shower.
• Partially dry off.
• Fail to notice the water on floor because curtain was hanging out of tub the whole time.
• Admire wiener size in mirror again.
• Leave shower curtain open, wet mat on floor, light and fan on.
• Return to bedroom with towel around waist. If you pass wife, pull off towel, shake wiener at her and make the woo-woo sound again.
• Throw wet towel on bed.

My wife and I were laughing out loud reading this together.

New k.sturm blog

I got tired of a blog that looked like 90% of blogs in the blogosphere, so I thought it was time to waste time and customize this one. After spending days figuring out html for hospitality technology made simple customizing this layout only took me one evening. Let me know what you think!

Is There a Past Tense of Except?

I was reading my friend Tim's blog (he's an awesome photographer in Santa Barbara) and found this picture. He took it while in a WalMart in Torrence, CA. Seriously, how does this happen?

I love my wife!

It was my birthday this past Friday. I turned 32 but I still feel 28. 28 is a good age I think.

My wonderful wife Chrystal (and my parents) surprised me with an iPhone. This is my 3rd PDA phone and it is by far the best. I'm a recent mac convert (switched when they went dual core processor) and I love the experience. Apple knows how to deliver an unparalleled experience.
Thanks sweetie for the best phone ever made!

Word of Mouse Marketing

My friend DJ always talks about word-of-mouse marketing. The power of the web in marketing is that if you do something unique it can get passed all across the world in hours. WHAM! You have gajillions (yes it's a word) of hits. Check out this website and watch what happens.

My friend Paul posted this. He got it from a friend I'm assuming (as Paul doesn't speak anything but English), and that person got it from someone. I'm betting I am way down in the chain of people to see this and I'm passing it on to all the people who read my blog (maybe 6) .

Reaching the Masses

One thing I love about blogging is that you can reach a bunch of people without being "published". It also means that you don't have to be a great writer to submit your ideas and opinions. And most importantly it's easy. But that doesn't mean that people will read your blog.

I was recently introduced to The Blog Readability Test by Justine Ungaro's blog. It is a service that analyzes your blog and tells you what the reading level of the person must be. I thought cool, I'll try it out on this blog.

It came back that my blog was at the reading level of college undergrad. I ran it on a few of my favorite blogs which include friends blogs and business blogs. The highest reading level I came back with was Junior High.

I have no idea how this score is calculated, but I'm going to make an effort to make this blog easier to read. Chrystal is always telling me I say things in overly complex ways. Which just goes to prove that my wife is right again.
___________________
I also ran it on the blog I'm working for my business (currently unreleased) and this is what came back. But I'm not as concerned about it for this one because it's written for a very specific industry.

Cash Advance Loans

Dinner of the Traveling Type

Sometimes when I travel the thought of airport food just isn't appetizing, so the free food in United's Red Carpet Club turns into dinner. Crackers and cheese with carrots and ranch dressing washed down with a Coke. Chase it with a chocolate chip cookie...who could ask for more?

If You Can Read This You Are Blessed

I was whining the other day about all the ash that I keep having to wash off our patio. Our bathroom had a thin film of ash on it because we left the window open, which I also was bummed about because I had to clean it all up.

Then yesterday I got this email from one of my friends in San Diego and was brought back to the reality that I'm blessed. On my worst day I'm blessed because I have opportunities that at least 60% of the world does not.

If you're having a crappy day or are feeling like things are not going your way, remember that if you have the Internet and can read this you are blessed.

I'm So Bummed!

So I'm sitting hear tonight and went to check my bank account and make sure things were in order...and this is what I see. Oh jeeze! Nothing like getting information that you don' thave access to your bank information for 48 hours.

Before a bunch of people tell me I should be banking with an established brick and moter bank, I've had an account with Netbak for over seven years and loved every second of it. If I had a problem they resolved it immediately and they had the best bill pay program I've ever seen. I'm so bummed. Given current circumstances and that every bank now has online bill pay I'll probably switch...but we'll see how ING handles the transition.

Here's the kicker, your bank has no responsiblity to inform customers that they are in trouble and will be shut down by the FDIC. I understand why but it still sucks!

If things do go South I'll be creating a blog to raise money, so everybody be reading!

Time Lapse Photography Is Awesome!

A while back I posted a video of ash falling on our front yard from the Zaca Fire. Well, it's still burning and still dropping ash on Santa Barbara.

Here is a link to a video from the police department on 8/14 at 1:00 pm that shows the mushroom cloud grow over a period of one hour.

Don't Miss the Runway

Yesterday I traveled to a client location in Loleta, CA...which is almost in the middle of nowhere. To get there I had to first fly from Santa Barbara to San Francisco and then Arcata, CA. The airline announced when we got on the plane in San Francisco there was a thick fog cover over the airport in Arcata and we may have to land in Redding or San Francisco if the fog remained.

Well, we got over the airport and there was still a really thick layer of fog, but we had this awesome pilot that went for it anyway. We entered the fog and I was scrambling to get out my camera and grab a quick video because I couldn't even see to the end of the airplane wing, but was too slow.

It was crazy because we were in the fog for about two minutes, and then "poof" there was the runway about 10 feet below us when we cleared the fog. By the time I got my camera going we had already landed, but you can see how low the visibility was.

Picture taken with my Cingular 8525

After landing we all gave the pilot a cheering ovation!