by Peter Boyles | Mar 13, 2014 | Blasting with Boyles
April Fools Question
What do Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, John Hickenlooper and Lamar Alexander all have in common?
There’s gotta be at least a million answers to that question and counting. Of course the immediate reaction is “they’re all idiots,” and one way or another have managed to screw up your life. And, although it’s hard to believe, they can possibly screw it up even further by using Common Core as their educational guide.
Let me put you in a very brief time machine. Former Florida Governor Jeb (known as the smartest of the Bush brothers) may be eyeing a run for president in 2016 on the GOP bandwagon. On Friday, March 22, 2014, the big doofus made a speech in Florida, that revealed some of his stances on issues like immigration and — remember these words cause you’re going to hear them a lot — Common Core. Jeb (who’s starting to look more and more like Cousin Eddie) said those who oppose Common Core are supporting the status quo. And he wants to know how American society is going to be the winner in the 21st century. My real question for the 21st century is how are you gonna stop Jeb, his brother’s political party and the Democrats from eating everyone’s lunch?
And as an aside, Jeb says people who come here illegally are “risk takers.” With this logic if you’re living in rural Guatemala and you come here, you’re a bigger risk taker than those who are already here.
That kind of logic obviously produces a formidable candidate for the 2016 elections, according to the brilliant thinking of the GOP. This is just a reminder but he is the brother of former President George W. Bush, and the son of the other former president George H.W Bush, and older brother of Neil. All you folks in Colorado remember Neil. If Neil lost four more IQ points you’d have to water him once a week.
The Jebster then went to Nashville to join Tennessee GOP Governor Bill Haslam and former Secretary of Education currently GOP Senator from Tennessee Lamar Alexander. He quipped, “Trust me, I know there’s not a whole lot of people who are standing up to the avalanche of criticism.” Tennessee, along with Colorado and the vast majority of states, has adopted the standards developed for the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers by so called education experts.
Currently U.S. Education Secretary Arne, the Carney, Duncan is promising to improve education by pushing for the implementation of Common Core standards. This year 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted those standards. Carney doesn’t seem to care much for people who criticize Common Core. He has insisted that it’s all a bunch of white suburban moms who all of a sudden realized their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought and their schools aren’t quite as good as they thought they were. As you can plainly see this is the attack on soccer moms taking that hackneyed phrase “angry white men” and now applying it to white suburban mothers — gawd these people are becoming ever so predictable.
Now remember I can’t seem to do math or marriage but on everything I hold sacred this is a question that’s on that part of the Common Core curriculum. I think this used to be called word problems and as a youngster I would automatically tune out of any question that began with “two trains go out of a station…which one…” and then I go blank.
Here’s the question.
“Juanita wants to give bags of stickers to her friends. She wants to give the same number of stickers to each friend. She’s not sure if she needs four bags or six bags of stickers . How many stickers could she buy so there’s not stickers left over.” I kid thee not. Apparently there are any number of answers to this question.
This question appears in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt textbook on Common Core. On their website they promise to be “a partner who will share the responsibilities of Common Core.”
I find myself always returning to George Orwell and those of you who recall the ending of his novel 1984 when Winston Smith learns to love Big Brother. It’s done with math. When he leaves the Ministry of Love not only does he know that two and two are five, he believes it.
Also they are teaching fourth graders, i.e. nine year olds, how to put on condoms. And this one is my favorite. Teaching kids how to masturbate. Don’t you find that interesting? No one needed to teach me.
But in my vast reading so far I found nothing in Common Core to explain why the framers beat feet from mad King George, how the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence protect our God given rights. And Mark Twain doesn’t exist.
By the way, John Hickenlooper and The Denver Post roundly support Common Core.
I can hardly wait for the debate when Bob Beauprez has no idea what Common Core is and John Hickenlooper roughshods him.
The serious part of this is this process will bypass parents and state and local school boards.
Obama wants to fundamentally transform America by transforming education and what your kids and grandkids will learn or not learn. Of course the progressives will love this.
By the way, did anybody ever read Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer in a school library? Today it’s the equivalent of finding Barack Obama’s real birth certificate. See you on the radio.
— Peter
by Mark Smiley | Mar 13, 2014 | Feature Story Bottom Left
Why Do I Date?
Why do I date? Well obviously I’m a single, red blooded American male and of course I want to date. I mean after all, a man’s gotta eat, right? But why do I date? Does anyone else ask themselves this question or am I alone on this one? Just like Family Feud, let’s put the top five answers to
the question on the board! Here is what most people would say if you just pulled a single person aside and asked them straight out why they date and insisted on an immediate answer.
Try this experiment; it’s actually fairly telling. The first thing you’ll notice is that they will give you the dull stare of the dairy cow, not because they think the question is weird, they just genuinely don’t know. Next you’ll see them quickly regroup and regurgitate a manufactured response.
Without further ado, here are the top five responses that you’ll hear when you ask someone “Why do you date?”
1. To find the love of their life.
2. To have fun and adventure with someone.
3. They want a family.
4. They like the companionship of another person.
5. Hit it or quit it.
Of course there are a ton more responses to that question but I think you’ll find those are the top five. Believe me, those are fine responses to the question and each and every one of those replies could be very valid. Could be, but on the flip side of the coin they might not be.
Here’s the problem with dating: the majority of people have no idea why they are going out on dates. Most people set up and go out on dates just to see if there is “chemistry” or to see if they “like” the other person. But who really has time for that? Not me.
Here is where it gets a bit confusing but if you can follow my thought process here I think I can save you a lot of time, money, energy and aggravation while you’re weeding through potential dates. Let’s just say you’re a guy that is just dating to have fun and you make plans to meet up with a woman who is looking to get married and start a family. Well there is a good chance you may hit it off with her, have chemistry and you may even continue to date because of that chemistry but what have you accomplished? Well in my eyes nothing. You’ve inevitably set yourself up for failure and sometimes that failure won’t rear its head until the shine wears off the apple. Now you’re saddled with broken presumed expectations, potential heartbreak and starting the dating process over again until you stumble onto someone who is looking for the same thing at that point in their lives. Again one of the most confusing parts of this equation is even if someone tells you why they are dating they might just be telling you what they think you want to hear in order to further their own agenda. Whatever it may be, people are sketchy that way, especially when you’re dealing with strangers.
So how do you go into a date with someone and know their purpose for dating? Do you flat out ask them before you agree to meet up with them and take that stranger’s word that they are being forthcoming and that they have actually put some thought into why they’re dating? Do you wait to actually go on a date and have the conversation over drinks and/or dinner? Do you just play it cool and let it play out and hope by getting to know them you will eventually find out why they are dating? What do you do, or do you even care?
Personally I am the type of person who prefers the path of least resistance. I don’t have time to toy around with my personal life and leave my romantic life to hope. You know, “I hope I meet the right person on tonight’s date,” “I hope my date and I have a lot in common,” “I hope I meet the one tonight.”
Here is what I suggest you do. First, look out for yourself and control what you are able to. You are able to have a real long, meaningful talk with yourself about your own purpose for dating. Establish your answer in your mind — the answer to the question, “why am I dating?” Be honest with yourself, this will help you. This will help you become a dater with a purpose. Next, don’t rely on anyone else to be as mindful about why they are dating because truthfully most people haven’t got a clue why they are in the dating rat race other than just seeing what’s out there. Put the onus on yourself and be a proactive dater and communicate your purpose for being on the market. Using that approach does a few things.
1. It takes the pressure off your potential date to have to answer an awkward question that they may or may not have the answer to.
2. Knowing your purpose for dating and telling that person up front leaves no room for cloudiness in their mind about what you’re looking for and now the choice is theirs to stick around or bail.
3. There are no future surprises or let-downs once you’ve initiated your agenda, especially if they agree they are on the same page and down the road you have to cut it off because things aren’t developing in the fashion in which you set forth to find while you’re dating.
In conclusion, know why you’re dating and be up front about it. People’s lives and feelings are at stake here. There is nothing more heartbreaking to me than to see couples in relationships that have to end in months, maybe even years later because neither person laid out how they envision their futures up front. This is the elephant in the living room when it comes to dating and most people don’t want to address it in fear of scaring someone off that they initially have chemistry with.
Dating is filled with emotional decision making but please, use logic and truth when you take the time to ask yourself “Why do I date,” and don’t be afraid to tell people. Goodness forbid you may actually find someone on the same page as you right out of the starting gate. Let the dating begin!
— Sheik
by Mark Smiley | Mar 13, 2014 | Feature Story Middle Left
What’s A Selfie?
During the Academy Awards, Ellen DeGeneres’ photo with Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper and others was retweeted 1.3 million times. It “broke” Twitter, which wasn’t able to handle the amount of tweets. The next day, my mom had to ask me, “What’s a selfie?” After I stopped laughing, I had to describe a selfie. There’s a conversation I never thought I would have with my parents. I noticed a number of my selfies had the same pose. My arm was always extended in the photo. There must be a better way to take these photos. Of course, someone came up with an app to make selfies easier, Selfie Cam. The traditional way to take a selfie is to extend your arm and take a few pictures with the hope that there is one decent image. With Selfie Cam, the camera will snap based on a timer, when everyone smiles or when someone winks. This allows you to place the camera down without holding it. The images can be saved to your device or uploaded to any of the social networks.
The amount of artwork that Toddler App comes home with from school is pretty amazing. He comes home with at least 2-3 pieces each day. Toddler App isn’t Picasso, sorry buddy, but there are a few pieces of art that I’d like to keep. Here’s the challenge, I keep everything! Using Artkive, an art storing app, we can take an image of the artwork and upload the art to the app. The app keeps a history of where, when and Toddler App’s age by piece. At some point, we can weed through the best images and create an art book. No, we don’t throw everything away, but the box of artwork has dwindled down.
Now that Baby App has arrived, we’re managing medicine, doctor visits, nursing, bottles and taking Toddler App to and from school. It got busy real quick. We’re using BabyConnect to manage our activities. When Mrs. App nurses, I receive an alert on my device. When I give him a bottle, an alert is sent to her device. Using our device, we were able to show our doctor a dashboard displaying the number of feedings, diaper changes, interval between feedings and total time Baby App has fed. Additionally, we are able to track weight, height (they’re both guaranteed to be vertically challenged, welcome to the Zabroski family), head size, doctor visit notes, vaccines and medicine times. Yes, it has become busy, but this app is seriously making it easier.
Target is happy to hear about Baby App. We’re there way too much for diapers and supplies. Using Cartwheel, a Target coupon app, we are able to pick coupons without clipping them. The coupons are compiled on the app, which then generates a bar code. During checkout, the checker will scan the bar code from the device and apply the savings against the balance. The balance is always a $100 (I can’t be the only one), but the app makes coupon clipping easy.
I’m such a do it yourself guy, except everything I seem to do myself, I don’t do really well. My iPhone battery was horrible. It would die at 37%, and then would magically be at 70% as soon as it was plugged in. It became completely unreliable. The Apple Store told me to replace the battery because it has lost its charge. I can hear the Android users chuckling right now since they have external batteries. Rather than let the pros handle the battery replacement for $190, I opted to purchase a battery replacement kit from iFixit. For $40, I received a new battery and tools. The site has brief, easy to follow videos. I was successful in replacing the battery, but damaged the screen in the process. The site is helpful in offering information and supplies to fix devices. Suffice to say, I upgraded to the iPhone5S. Anyone looking for a broken iPhone5 with a great, new battery?
Do you have a favorite app you’d like to share? Contact Brian at brian@brianzabro ski.com, on Twitter @BrianZab or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/brianzab.
Brian has focused on helping technology companies grow their businesses for nearly 20 years. He currently serves as the Director of Channel Management for a cloud-based software business, which specializes in network monitoring, phone system usage analytics and mobile device analytics. Simply put, if your business’ network, phone system and corporate cell phones are slow, have issues and are expensive, then his software reduces and eliminates these challenges. The software is resold through an international channel of technology partners. He travels across North America educating technology companies how they can increase their business value nearly five-fold through his hybrid managed service selling technique.
by Mark Smiley | Mar 12, 2014 | Featured Articles, Travel
It’s no secret that families are busy these days. Between mom and dad’s careers, the kids’ school demands and extra-curricular activities, quality time together as a family is hard to come by. This busy lifestyle is inspiring a new travel movement, and 2014 is positioned for the grand rebirth of the family vacation.
If you want to take an unforgettable family vacation this year, the idea of planning might seem overwhelming. But travel experts agree that planning ahead and researching your options are important steps to ensure your trip is stress-free and full of fun.
Follow these five steps to plan a trip your entire family will love and remember for years to come:
Step 1: Make a travel wish list
Kick off your travel planning by talking to all family members about what they’d like to see and do on vacation. Keep it light-hearted and have some fun – chat with your 4-year-old over breakfast or text your teen after school. As you have these conversations, notice commonalities, such as location and experiences.
Step 2: Research, research, research
After your initial conversations with your family, it’s time to do your research. The Internet has made selecting a travel destination that much easier – or harder because there are so many options. Check out tourism organizations, such as a Chamber of Commerce or Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB). Look up online hotel and travel reviews – these sites can provide invaluable information for travelers. Many sites even have free online travel planners or visitor’s guides.
Step 3: Choose a destination for everyone
Perhaps the most important consideration when planning a family vacation is to select a destination that has something for every person in your group. Myrtle Beach, S.C. is a great example of a location that is great for all ages. The 60 miles of pristine beaches are just one reason to visit – foodies can indulge on the best Southern and low-country cuisine; cultural enthusiasts can experience beautiful art museums and plantations; golfers tee off at a one of the many championship courses in the area. From water parks to natural wonders, Myrtle Beach is a true gem for family vacations. Visit www.visitmyrtlebeach.com to learn more.
Step 4: Select your ideal accommodations
Whether you’re vacationing for a long weekend or multiple weeks, it’s important to choose the right accommodations for your family. For example, if you know you’ll be at the beach daily, stay at a shore-side resort. If you want to save on eating expenses, look into condos with kitchens. For big groups such as family reunions, consider a beach house that allows everyone to stay in their own room within one shared space.
Step 5: Create a fun-filled itinerary
This is a vacation, and while you shouldn’t plan out every hour of every day, having a basic itinerary gives direction to your trip and will help your group build excitement prior to your departure. Plus, planning ahead allows you to seek out deep discounts on tickets to shows and theme parks like the Alabama Theatre or Wild Water & Wheels in Myrtle Beach. You can even explore free activities like festivals and celebrations in the area that would be worthwhile to attend.
If you feel like it’s time for your family to take a break from the stress of everyday life, a family vacation might be just what everyone needs. Follow these steps to select a family friendly destination such as Myrtle Beach to ensure a vacation full of unforgettable memories.
