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| August 2007 »
On my way into work this morning, I heard Pam Altmeyer, president and chief executive officer of Gleaners, the state's largest food bank, on the radio talking about her weekend. Thieves stole copper pipe from the state's largest food bank over the weekend, knocking out the freezer and cool rooms and potentially spoiling thousands of pounds of food. Gleaners serves more than 300,000 needy Hoosiers through more than 400 pantries and charities in 20 Central Indiana counties.
After this weekend's theft, a 30,000-cubic-foot "cooler room" and two 40,000-cubic-foot freezers lost all refrigeration. Among the items lost: 3,482 cases of dairy products, 1,860 cases of half-pints of milk and 48,743 cases of produce. In all, 54,892 cases of frozen foods were in jeopardy, including 233 cases of deer meat and 63 turkeys. The cost of the theft could reach $464,000 in food, plus at least $20,000 for immediate repairs being made Monday to get just one of the freezer rooms back on line.
How low will people go? To steal from the most needy in your own community, who are mostly elderly and young children, is pretty low. But, these types of situations do bring out the best in people. Kroger is donating at least $70,000 and possibly as much as $80,000 to Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana. Also, three Indianapolis radio stations partnering with Marsh Supermarkets plan charity fund-raisers starting around 5 a.m. tomorrow. Marsh is donating food and refrigerated trucks so people can bring in perishables. They can also make monetary donations there or at any Fifth-Third bank branch.
If you'd like to help Gleaners with a monetary or food donation, call Darren Boyd at (317) 925-0191, ext. 108.
Harley & Dozer
I’ve never considered myself a “dog person,” but I do have a soft spot for them—whether they’re my boyfriend’s slobbery boxers, my mom’s giant bull mastiffs or dear old Barney.
Apparently, dogs don’t hold a very big place in Michael Vick’s heart. The star quarterback will be taking a trip to federal court today to face charges of participating in a competitive pit bull fighting ring. With PETA protests and public outcry, this is sure to be another PR nightmare for professional sports.
If you don’t know much about the severity of dog fighting, I encourage you to visit the Humane Society’s Web site to learn more. The consequences of it are brutal and often end in death for one of the animals involved. In January, our community learned about the hard facts of dog fighting firsthand. Eight severely abused dogs arrived at the local Humane Society after they were found running loose. They’d been forced to participate in a dog fighting ring. Some were used for training purposes only. All of their teeth were gruesomely removed so that they couldn’t injure the other dogs that would go on to fight competitively. Several of those dogs died—not in a fight, but because they had severe mouth infections and couldn’t eat.
If Michael Vick’s alleged participation in a dog fighting ring doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to you, please consider the animals involved. Why do you think people enjoy watching dogs brutally attack one another?
Who say’s Indiana is boring? Okay, I agree sometimes there isn’t much more than corn in Indiana, but this is not one of those times. Two major sporting events, the Allstate 400 and Indianapolis Tennis Championship, are going on this week along with several other events. If you like music, check out OAR on Wednesday and Incubus on Saturday - both at the Lawn at White River. If you love America’s favorite past time, check out the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field, Recognized as the "Best Minor League Ballpark in America", on both Saturday and Sunday. And, if you can’t wait until Sunday for a little racing, check out the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday at Raceway Park.
Attention NASCAR fans:
It’s that time of year again here in Indianapolis….that’s right, another auto race! This Sunday NASCAR rides into the Circle City with all it’s glory. The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard has taken place annually since 1994 and is one of NASCAR’s most coveted races. So, if you are into fast cars, country music, cold beer and sightings of trucker hats and sleeveless shirts - Indianapolis is the place to be this weekend. In all seriousness, the best drivers are in town this weekend including some of Indiana’s own Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. Gordon is looking to win his 5th Allstate 400 while Stewart his 2nd and Newman is still racing for that first win at the Brickyard.
And, Tennis Fans:
If racing isn’t your thing, head downtown to the Indianapolis Tennis Championship that will be wrapping up this weekend. Most people don’t think of Indianapolis when they think of tennis, but this tournament has been around since the 1920’s. Several of tennis biggest stars have played here including, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl. This year, James Blake will be in town to defend his 2006 victory against two-time Indy winner Andy Roddick and several other great players.
People sometimes get an interesting look on their face when we say we are headquartered in Indianapolis and we can tell they are hiding some snide remarks. Hopefully, those people can see that this city has a lot more to offer than just one of the best PR firms in the country! :)
We've had a pretty exciting week at BLAST! First, I want to extend a BIG San Francisco welcome to Katie as she's now joined our West Coast office. We're so excited that she's come out West (mostly because she shares my passion for a strong cup of coffee). We've been exploring the city together, and in the short week that she's been out here, we've already seen some pretty amazing things (it's not every day you see a cat on the street asking for your spare change).
But, the biggest news out here is this morning's earthquake. The earthquake had a magnitude of 4.2 and hit this morning at 4:42 am. Had I not experienced a similar earthquake a couple of months ago, I probably wouldn't have even known what was happening. Thanks to everyone who contacted our office out of concern. We're happy to report that the earthquake didn't bother our neck of the woods. In fact, nothing even fell off our desks. The earthquake's epicenter was close to Oakland and there was relatively minor damage (only a few broken windows here and there).
So, now that she's experienced her first earthquake, I suppose Katie's move is now official.
Late last week my friend Sara and I embarked on the great American road trip, and after about 10-12 hours of driving a day, I didn’t have time to blog from the road but wanted to share some of our adventures. I was relocating from Blast’s Indianapolis office to join Sabrina at our new office in San Francisco. We couldn’t think of a better way to get to California than to drive out west.
We left Thursday, July 12 and were a couple hours into the cornfields when we decided to stop at the Beefhouse for lunch. Despite its name and creepy cowhead logo, the actual food was really tasty (I recommend). However, before we found the restaurant we ended up in a catering hall attached to the front of the Beefhouse. Parking next to it were rows of Cadillacs and Lincolns, which made us curious. Could a restaurant advertised on a billboard along I-74 be that expensive?
The moment we opened the doors and stepped inside, all the fancy cars suddenly made sense. We were surrounded by a sea of purple and red; by what up until that point I thought of as mere legend- the Red Hat Society. There must have been hundreds of them, women all wearing purple outfits and red hats listening to a country band. I’ve never seen anything like it.
As soon as we crossed over from Nebraska to Wyoming, the scenery really started to change. From green hills and fields to sun burnt rock stacks and dirt walls. Friday the 13th found us staying in a sketchy Heartland Inn in a small Wyoming town with themed rooms. Unfortunately, we didn’t warrant entrance in either the Jungle room or the Liberty room and had to settle for taking a picture of the door.
Saturday we drove through beautiful Utah- the fields of white are salt, not sand- as we discovered by pulling over and investigating; and made it to Reno just in time for dinner. Ah, the biggest little city in the world. Or as Lindsey G. stated, a poor man’s Vegas. We stayed at the hotel/casino Circus Circus Saturday night and made it our mission to find a bar not attached to a casino. There was only one, and after two beers and a chat with a careful hitchhiker, we called it a night.
Sunday brought us to California- an awesome drive around Lake Tahoe and through Sacramento. Finally after 40 hours of driving and over 2,300 miles, we crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. I already love it and can’t wait to make it my home!
I had the pleasure of going to The Police concert in Louisville this weekend - and man, what a show. The Police are currently on their reunion tour, complete with all but two of their original band members. Sting, of course, was the main draw. This guy is incredible - his sound is amazingly unique...and he isn't too bad on the eyes, either. The Police played all their classics and played them well.
What was most impressive to me was the fans that were there. The concert was held at Churchill Downs, the racetrack that is home to the Kentucky Derby, and I've never seen such a diverse fan base at a concert. Tens of thousands flocked from all over the country to see the classic 80s band. There were kids, teenagers, yuppies, hippies and grandparents - all singing along as soon as the concert opened with "Message in a Bottle." Strangers were putting their arms around each other, high-fiving, dancing and toasting their beers at the beginning of each familiar song. More so than any concert I've attended, the mysterious, haunting sounds of The Police really seemed to take people back to a certain time in their lives - back to the 80s - and it was a solid 1.5 hours of uninterrupted rockin' out. It's a concert tour that needed no PR, no marketing, no advertising and no hype - it sold out on its own. This concert goes down in the books for me as one of the best - what concerts make your list?
Last weekend I decided to shock my body back into shape, and signed up for a Sprint Triathlon, which involves running, biking, and swimming. Not the smartest move I’ve ever made, but then again, I’ve never been accused of being the smartest guy on the block. A few summers ago I trained like a madman to prepare for a number of these types of events and actually had a heck of a lot of fun doing so. But not this time. Nope, I woke up on this particular Friday completely disgusted with my work out routine over this summer and marched into the office, got on the internet and signed up for the event (which was to take place two days later). Having done a few of these, I knew the absolute butt-kicking I was in for. And boy, I got what I was looking for....
But, that’s not what this blog post is about. Not really. A few of my buddies from our Lake had signed up for this very race months before. They had trained and were ready to meet the challenge head on. One of my buddies, Steve, is a high school basketball coach here in Indiana and is in really good shape. He’s a great runner and a pretty decent biker, but having grown up on a farm in rural Indiana, he’s not the most able swimmer. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure if he’d even been in water over his head more than twice in his life. Because of this, he has developed a serious fear of open water swimming. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten about this fact until an hour before the race. We were looking at the swimming course and he said, “Do you have any suggestions on how to get from here to there without drowning?” I tried to laugh it off and replied, “Take your time and stay on top of the water.”
It was an unusual swimming course as the route consisted of a swim from the beach, out and around a giant pier, and back to the beach. We started the race and I didn’t see Steve until that afternoon at about 4pm (the race started at 7:30am). Earlier that afternoon Steve’s wife relayed the story of Steve’s swim to me.
It seems that about 100 yards into the swim Steve had a panic attack in the water as swimmers were swimming over the top of him and the water went from 5 feet to 25 feet. Luckily the pier was only about 15 yards off of the course and he frantically made his way there. His wife was watching from the shore and ran out to the pier to lend a helping hand and voice her support. When she reached Steve he was completely panicked and was attempting to get out of the water. He told his wife, “I can’t do this...I can’t do this…there is no way I can do this”.
His wife calmed him down and began talking to him in a very hushed and calm tone. She said, “Steve, you can do this. You can make this. I know you can.” Steve was still in a panic and was fairly insistent on quitting. His wife said you can quit, but first let's seei if you can swim next to the pier for 20 feet and if you can’t make it, you can get out and call it quits. So, off Steve went for the next 20 feet -and the next 20 feet -and the next 20 –and then another 20 feet until he completed the swim.
Fear is a funny and powerful emotion. Those of you who have a fear of something know how powerful it can be. Overcoming a fear is not easy. Telling your brain you are going to do the opposite of what it wants you to do is one of the hardest things in life to do. How many times have you given in to your fears? Come on, we all do it. Facing your fear and telling it to “hit the road” is not something many of us do in a lifetime. You quickly find out what you’re made of when you encounter your biggest fear -and instead of running away- you face it head on. That’s when you are the most “alive.” Every sense, every nerve, every pulse and every piece of information coming from your brain is saying, “Quit, run away, stop” -and you keep on going. Steve had one of those moments. He could have climbed out of the water and told us all he just couldn’t do it and we would have understood. But he didn’t. He dug into the far reaches of his brain and took charge of his body.
I tracked Steve down that afternoon and he was really embarrassed about the race. I told him that of every person who competed in that race, he showed the most courage, the most gumption and the most intestinal fortitude. Steve conquered a demon and looked fear right in the eye and told it to “hit the road.” Now that’s living! Well done, Steve.
I’m sure everyone has heard about the torrential rains and subsequent flooding that occurred in our nations’ midsection this past week. Towns all over the Midwest have suffered greatly, many losing their homes and some of their most valuable possessions. In some cities in Kansas, an oil refinery spill added to the chaos and devastation of the flooding. However, in the midst of all of this tragedy, one of our clients has decided to lend a helping hand.
DriveSavers, a leader in hard drive data recovery has offered to help the flood victims in Kansas by offering them free hard drive data recovery. With the all of the personal loss taking place in these hard hit areas, DriveSavers wanted to help in any way they could. Nowadays, computers are an integral part of homes and offices, and many personal data was lost in these floods.
“When I saw that 42,000 gallons of crude oil spilled from the Coffeyville Resources refinery on top of the devastation of the flooding, I knew we needed to help.” said Scott Gaidano, president of DriveSavers. “Water and oil exposure are the worst conditions for electronic equipment. If you find your computer submerged in water, your safest bet for getting your data back is to call a professional data recovery company like DriveSavers.”
It is companies like this that give you faith in our communities. DriveSavers is giving peace of mind to many, knowing that they can recover some of their most valuable data. We here at BLAST are proud to work with DriveSavers.
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