Soccer Balls not Guns

A parent at the University of Richmond has a son serving in Iraq and he has a request for our help. She said she has always asked him how she could be helpful to the troops, but he has never had a request until now. The military is trying to reach out to the children of Iraq through our wonderful game of soccer, but they are badly in! need of soccer balls. CVSRA would love for you to help fill this young soldier's request. We are hoping to send 200+ balls as soon as possible. They will take new or gently used balls (as long as they hold air) and any ball pumps we can come up with.

Premier Soccer at 9320 W. Broad, Richmond VA has set it up so people can call in by phone to purchase balls with a credit card for $12.00 per ball. Call 804-217-9191, please ask for Chris.

If you have used balls you can donate, please deflate them and send me an email (SBRUT@AOL.COM) or call 804-363-6553 and we can set up a collection place. You can also drop them by Premier Soccer and they will hold them for us.

If we can stop one young child from picking up a gun against our troops through this bond it will have all been worth it!! Our soldiers are counting on us!

Please know that there is no expectation for you to give if you choose not to. Please forward this email on to anyone you think might be able to help.

Yours in soccer,

Christie Bernas

CVSRA High School Commissioner

School Project - Gwyneth's Life so far

The other week, Gwyneth was named 'Student of the Week', which basically meant that it was her time to shine. Her main duty was to create a timeline of her life so far. Here it is...

Sunset over Tampa (Airport)

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit a client outside Tampa, on the way back, while sitting in the airport waiting to board, I saw a rather nice sunset...

Save Now

Curious George visits for the weekend

Gwyneth's teacher has a Curious George doll that she sends home for a weekend with each child in the class. The child has to write what they got up to with George that weekend. As you can see Gwyneth decided to teach him some Tae Kwon Do.

Recap of the last 3 months

Wow, it's been 3 months since I last posted here. Why has it taken me so long? Well, I've been busy... really busy.

On October 28th I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in a time of 4 hours 48 minutes and 3 seconds.
In November I spoke at a Search Marketing conference in London on the topic of Reputation Management.
Later in November I spoke at another conference in Los Angeles on Pay Per Click best practices for Local Search Marketing
In December I spoke at another conference in DC on Social Media for NonProfits
In December I spoke at another conference in Chicago on Dealing with Difficult Clients.

In the middle of that was actual work, family, completing my first 10 speeches at Toastmasters, running my fastest ever 5k, finally getting round to setting up my Bowflex, moving offices at work, rebranding the company, writing for the other blogs that I write for, etc, etc, etc.

While I don't intend this blog to go for months at a time without updating it, when everything else builds up, this is going to be one of the first things to fall by the wayside.

So there it is.

Lol cats take over Gwyneth's school

Take a look at this flyer that the people at my daughter's school sent home with her. This is allegedly an institute of learning. If you can't read the bit in red it says "Wear your costume. There will have a costume parade."

Do you Believe in Reincarnation?

Since the Dalai Lama is in town, and I was sent a link to an interesting website, the title of the post popped into my head. The Buddhists believe that the new Lama is born when the old Lama dies, so they go looking for a child born at that time, and if they pass the tests, they anoint them as the new Lama.

Today I was sent a link to the site "The Death Report" by my friend Rhea. What this site does is to give you all the details of who died on the exact date of your birth, and who has died throughout the years on your birthday. So tying the 2 thoughts together, that would mean that I am the next incarnation of...


Harold Lloyd.

Well... ok... maybe I'm not a Hollywood action star who does my own stunts, but we do both wear glasses... coincidence??? ;)

Problogger birthday bash

The excellent blogging site - ProBlogger - is currently running a series of competitions to give away over $54,000 worth of prizes. The way to enter these contest varies from as simple as leaving a comment, to writing a post on your own blog linking to their blog (such as this post). ;)

Coming Home to Blighty

Yes, I'll be heading back to Blighty for a short trip in November. The plan is to get into Hadfield on the 10th, maybe get up to Driffield on the 13th, before heading down to London on the 14th, where I'm speaking at a conference on the 16th. Then, that night I'm going to head to Swindon for a couple of days before heading back to the states on the 18th...

Claytime Cafe Manassas, Poor Customer Service Ruins Party

Today was Gwyneth's 6th birthday party. Going for something a little different it was scheduled for the 'Claytime Cafe' in Manassas. Their 'thing' is that you children paint pottery before the pizza & cake. However, the place has an attached cafe, so pizza and cake were the only outside items you were allowed to bring in. Prior to the event it was confirmed that we'd have some parents there that would be painting too, and at the event it was confirmed with a member of staff that they wouldn't mind the party running over a little while, as they didn't have another event scheduled.

The party went well, up until about 6.15. Admittedly this was 15 minutes beyond the time paid for, but still, a staff member had said not to worry about it. The pottery had been completed, and the cake had just been served. The owner of Claytime Cafe then came up and rather than saying in a polite manner that we needed to wrap up, started in with an attitude quoting the contract, and complaining that she'd not been told about the adults coming. She forced the party to disband, and made the party guests take their cake to their cars. In the process, she managed to convince the parents of 9 small children that they should not return to her establishment.

Her poor customer service skills also included not admonishing a member of her staff who decided to hold her personal belching contest, and then be rude to the guests when they complained. So the staff of Claytime Cafe are both rude and crude.

What could the owner have done better? If she had merely come up to the group and politely mentioned that the party would have to wrap up as the alloted time had completed, then everything would have been fine. Instead she chose to start out in a confrontational manner with the people that had just given her over $300. Oh, and she also complained that the pizza had been set up on a table outside the party room, as the contract clearly stated that the pizza had to be in the party room at all times. Again, this was where a member of her staff had said to place the pizza...