It starts today, join me in telling Cancer to @#$#$@#$@# OFF!
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What Gives!?
My Favorite Charities
Ditto ;-)
I'm standing for you Lisa
I've never been good with death. I have been fortunate in recent years that death was not part of my life. That all changed a few weeks ago when my friend, colleague and "always at my party" attendee, Lisa, passed away from her battle with colon cancer.
When I moved from Salt Lake to the Bay Area last year, I lost track of Lisa. It was hard for me to talk to her and preferred to get updates of her condition through our mutual friends. I was scared of what was happening. Now I have a heavy heart not remembering the last thing I ever said to her. I used to think cancer sucked, but now I can honestly say that I F@$#$@#$ HATE CANCER.
It's seems almost appropriate that I am part of a team here at eBay that is helping with our participation in the Stand Up 2 Cancer event. Over the course of the next few weeks, the eBay community will be helping kick cancer's ass. You can also contribute in this "ass kicking" by donating, buying, or listing an item that benefits this movement.
I will be posting more information next week about how we're participating, and specifically how YOU can do so as well.
I am listing a Stand Up 2 Cancer T-shirt signed by Jennifer Aniston, Terrance Howard and Sidney Poitier. This goes live on Monday morning, 8am PST.
I am doing this as I "Stand Up" in memory of Lisa.
To learn more about how you can STAND UP, please visit the Stand Up 2 Cancer website.
Changes abound
Even though our blog is owned by eBay Inc, we hardly ever get into commenting about changes or news in the corporate world of eBay. We focus on the heart strings, while my colleague Richard focuses on the news. Its like Nightly News and Access Hollywood ,you can get a lot of info from both ;-)
But I have to say that I really enjoyed this video that was posted on this new site (created to help our community understand all these announced changes). So I'm re-posting it here for you to view :)
Celebrating 5 years of GOOD!
I don't want to spill the "beans" on everything just yet, but...
eBay Giving Works is turning 5! And unlike most traditional birthdays, this is not a celebration of one. We are celebrating millions, and you are likely one of those millions! Throughout the next few weeks, we are "Celebrating 5 years of GOOD"and hopefully you'll join in the festivities.
We just got this birthday wish from Matthew McConaughey; so we thought it would be cool to show everyone. I'm sure Matthew would appreciate it if you listed an auction for the j.k. livin foundation as well ;-)
Check it out!
Helmet of Hope
About two years ago I started working on the eBay Giving Works team. And one of the first nonprofits that I created a solid relationship with was the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. Now what's funny about this is that 2 years ago; I had seen a total of "ZERO" NASCAR races. I knew who Jimmie was (though I'd misspell his name asJimmy in emails), but I had no idea whether he was good or not (HE IS).
I started following NASCAR because of Jimmie and the great people at his foundation. Last year his foundation Director (Mary) and I had a running joke that I was a good luck charm as every time I watched, he would win! And sure enough, he repeated as the Cup Champion!
I've been a total slacker lately, but I did watch his win at the Brickyard and plan to be cheering in person at the Pepsi 500.
So speaking of the Pepsi 500. A little over a month ago, the foundation launched the Helmet of Hope initiative. The helmet is meant to recognize nonprofits (both big and small) that are nominated by fans and the media. There will be a total of 12 nonprofits who's logos will adorn Jimmie's helmet during the Pepsi 500. And the best part is that YOU can win the helmet!
Bidding for this race worn helmet started at .48, and guess who's the highest bidder at the time of this post? ;-)
Here's to the Helmet of Hope! Oh, and Jimmie...I promise to get back to my "good luck" ways soon enough.
Listing of the day
I'll be the first one to say that no one should buy a truck. Sure, it was fine when gas was $1.89 a gallon, but now its bloody murder when you go to the pump. Though I'm occasionally persuaded to think otherwise (about many things), and today I changed my mind. NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne (and overall nice guy from what I've heard) is auctioning off a custom Dodge to benefit his foundation on eBay Giving Works
The Kasey Kahne Foundation raises and donates funds to charitable organizations that care for chronically ill children and their families.
So in a way, buying this truck is really about karma and doing a "GOOD" thing. In addition to bidding on the truck (or not), you can donate as little as $5 to his foundation to help.
Now if I only had money to bid on a truck, even a Tonka one...
Utter to the world...
For those of you not familiar with Utterz, it's a mobile blogging platform. What does that mean? I guess in simple terms it means that you can communicate to the world (on your blog) through your phone. No more spending Friday nights blogging up posts in a hermit-like state (as I do). I'd recommend checking it out! You can check out my personal utterz here. Stay tuned for a What Gives!? utterz player ;-)
Mayhem ensues, it's the JONAS BROTHERS!
I'll be the first to admit that I had no idea who the Jonas Brothers were a few months ago. I DID KNOW they opened up for the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana tour, but they were kinda overshadowed by Ms Cyrus ;-) So now I can't turn on a TV or radio without hearing them. I must admit, Camp Rock...rocked! And "Tonight" is sugar pop goodness!
So I'm pretty excited about the fact that the band has an auction on eBay Giving Works, and it's quite the auction:
2 tickets to their show in NYC on August 11th at THE GARDEN (duh!)
Winner and a guest meet the band
A copy of their new cd which actually comes out the day after the NYC show!
100% of the proceeds of the auction benefit City Of Hope, which is dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
So all you overachieving Dads and Soccer moms, what are you waiting for?? Because not only will your child LOVE you for it; your neighbors will probably hate you for getting the title of "COOLEST PARENTS ALIVE!"
Barefoot, Wine and Sand
This past Saturday, I joined about 300 other volunteers at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The day was part of an on going initiative by Barefoot Wines and the Surfrider Foundation to help clean up our favorites beaches in the U.S. The "beach" gods must have been shining down upon us because there could not have been a more perfect day! It was sunny and nice (a rare thing for a summer day in SF). After all the volunteers turned in their bags of ocean treasures, we crossed the street to the Chalet and enjoyed some nice wine provided by Barefoot and a performance by up & coming singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman.
A couple of things struck me that I thought was really worth blogging about, so thus why this is up :)
First, the cause marketing idea behind this is GOLD. Encourage people to participate in an activity they may likely do on their own (clean up after themselves). But tie it in with a relevant product, in this case; wine that you may drink at the beach (Barefoot Wine, get it?) and then you have a social mixer all in the name of GOOD. The PR firm that organized this event needs to throw my birthday party!
The second, which is definitely not as cool as the first is that some people SUCK! Period! My colleague Libby pulled out so much glass and nails from the beach sand that I honestly thought "why am I wearing sandals right now?"I have no idea why people would want to bury their broken glass in the sand. I also was really discouraged by the amount of cigarette butts in my bag. Are we that lazy that we can't bring along an empty can, fill it with sand (there's tons around you) and dispose of your cigarettes in there? You can then empty out your cigarette butts in the trash and still have your butt container when you go home. Perhaps think about it next time?
Coldplay/Oxfam Tour
It's a Sunday night and I promised myself I would write up quick post about the Coldplay show that Tiana and I attended (different cities/shows). If you want the setlist of the San Jose show, you can check it out here. But the really great thing about the show IMO was the presence of Oxfam America. They had hundreds of volunteers signing up people who want to learn more about how to eliminate poverty around the world. One of the volunteers mentioned to me that they had a running blog about the tour, and it's really insightful in an altruistic and "concert attending" manner.
So I encourage you to sign up if you attend the show, and to actually speak to one of these volunteers. They signed up for the cause, not for the show :)
Oh, and Coldplay also rocked!
Adios! The Police
So in the world of rock-n-roll, almost every band breaks up, makes up, and then does a 300 date tour to celebrate. And though I admit that I'm still waiting for the original GnR line up to do the same; this stuff tends to happen ;-)
So all things must come to an end, and The Police's final swan song will be at The Garden, arguably the most famous arena in the world. And this historic last show will be a fundraiser with proceeds benefiting the production of arts programming for Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 New York. Now how many bands DO THAT?
In conjunction with the August 7th concert, the band has thrown in a nice little "memory" for the person who's willing to be the highest bidder. This once-in-a-lifetime experience auction on eBay Giving Works includes(for two):
• Directly interacting with The Police during an intimate Meet n’ Greet (under 20 people total).
• Receiving a group or personal photo with The Police.
• Attending the final Sound Check by The Police.
• Front row Sec 2 tickets.
• Pre-concert dinner and cocktail reception hosted by Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21.
• Limited edition final concert souvenirs.
So if you have the cash, and the desire to live history, then go place your bid!
Love Is Noise
Remember the idea that this site is all about GOOD? And how we each can define/craft an idea of what GOOD is. Well, The Verve's new single is GOOD to me. I've always considered The Verve "mine" because while living in Phoenix; I only ran into about 4 people who knew who they were when their first album came out (one was an ex-girlfriend, so doesn't really count). I also remember about a million people saying "You mean the Verve Pipe?" The Verve will be releasing their new album next month (August 19th), and...it can't come any sooner for me.
So if you're not familiar with the band, or need a "refresher", I'd suggest buying their singles, part of the proceeds of this eBay for Charity auction benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust.
I also would like to "invite" the band to contact us, so we can create an eBay For Charity or eBay Giving Works auction to coincide with ANYTHING they want :)
EPIC can be defined as this video, so enjoy:
The Verve - Love Is Noise
Get your Tickets here, Hot, Fresh Tickets!
photo provided by PR Photos
I am a concert aficionado, I have been to over 300 concerts in my lifetime. If you give me a few hours and a pot of coffee, I can name them all. I am the type of person that prefers to wait 'til the last minute to decide whether I should attend a show or not. Did you know that on any given day, there are hundreds of tickets that are listed to benefit charity? And we're not talking about tickets to your nephew's elementary school's adaptation of "Sweeney Todd " either! All the hottest tours this year, and we're talking prime seats as well!
So next time you're looking for good seats and want to do something good at the same time, look for the ribbon in the Ticket section of eBay. I have my eye on a Coldplay ticket with that ribbon, I was on the fence...but thanks to Tiana, I am in :)
Hope you had a good weekend
Sometimes a picture says it all. I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did. Bring on Monday and all the GOOD in the world!
ESPN's Mike & Mike in YOUR living room!
I hardly ever get super jazzed about most auctions, because I've seen just about everything and I'm generally happy that all these auctions are benefiting nonprofits around the country. But when the folks at ESPN started giving me the scoop about the fourth annual Don't Give Up ESPYs V Foundation Auction, I got pretty excited. You can't have the word "sports" without ESPN and morning commutes (or your sofa) are just not the same without Mike & Mike in the morning. So what if they were broadcasting from your home? Well this year's auction gives you that opportunity, and it starts at .99 cents!
You can ALSO bid on your chance to roam the sidelines at a Monday Night Football game, or hang out with the Baseball Tonight crew!
100% of the proceeds benefit the V Foundation, and that is the BEST reason for bidding (in addition to wanting the items). I remember watching Jimmy V's speech at the ESPYs and crying and feeling inspired/moved at the same time. Thus another reason why I love this auction.
This year you can also DONATE DIRECTLY to the V Foundation to help their goal to someday find a cure for cancer.
The fun starts July 6th! SO BOOKMARK IT!