Chris McIntyre

Misty Earns Masters in Social Work – Legally Authorized to Kick Your Ass

May 13

Hats off to my sister, Misty, who just graduated from the University of Utah College of Social Work with her Masters Degree. She makes us all proud with all her book smarts, and helping people, and loving everyone no matter what, and on and on.

With all sincerity, she is one of those people you have no option but to respect and love because — to the bottom of her heart and to the deepest parts of her soul — she is truly striving to make a difference in peoples lives. Without judgement and with true compassion, she helps anyone who is in need. She is like a modern day Mother Theresa… only louder, and funnier.

Tags: family, graduation, masters degree, misty, misty mcintyre, mother theresa

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11 Seconds of Glory – 22 Hour Time Lapse of Seeds Growing

Mar 16

Posted by theFerf in The Garden

Just because I think this video is super sweet, I am posting it here to my blog. This is a time lapse I started last night and it ran until tonight for about a total of 22 hours. It snapped a photo every 5 minutes and then created the video. I would love to do a lot more, but not sure I have the equipment to do it for a full growing season. In any case, enjoy this time lapse of a handful of green bean seeds growing for 22 hours, compressed to 11 seconds :)

Tags: green bean, seeds, seeds growing, square foot gr, stop action, time lapse

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The McIntyre Square Foot Garden Begins

Mar 15

Posted by theFerf in The Garden

Amy and I decided that if we were going to be back in Tennessee we would do one of the things we have always wanted to do… and that is grow a garden! We strive as best as possible to eat healthy (and organic when possible and applicable) and growing our own food and using our own compost bin seemed like the next logical step. So here we are. Embedded below is a slideshow of pictures form our garden. We are growing everything from seeds (with the exceptions of strawberries which we bought roots and blackberries which we bought a 6″ plant).

I will post more photos as we go, but this is pretty fun so far :) We created a square foot garden that is 8 feet wide, 4 feet long and 1 foot deep (separated into 32 squares). We will be planting something different in all of the different square feet (hence the name).

For those of you who are interested in some of the details, here you go:

We made our own soil using peat moss, vermiculite and 3 kinds of compost (commonly referred to as Mels Mix)
We created our own gardening plan and will have a mix of around 25 fruits and veggies and 5-10 flowering plants and herbs rotated through out the growing seasons
We will also be using my dads Topsy Turvy Upside Down tomato growers to grow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and green peppers (you should buy these!)
You can see all the photos as we go in our Square Foot Gardening Photo Set

Subscribe to my blog now to stay up to date on the garden, and with our family :)

Tags: garden, home garden, mels mix, square foot gardening, topsy turvy, vegetables

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CNN Uses change:healthcare to Show People How to Save Money on Healthcare Expenses (video)

Mar 6

Posted by theFerf in Healthcare, Life

Finally people are starting to catch on! The place I work, change:healthcare, is on a mission. That mission is to add transparency to the confusing world of healthcare and to help normal people like you and I make better decisions regarding where we spend or money for health related expenses. The truth is, you know more about a local pizza joint from the internet than they guy who delivered your child or prescribed your latest medication. That is just wrong… not to mention that there is a good chance that you paid too much money. This is where change:healthcare steps in.

Cant See the Video? Click Here to watch it on YouTube.
CNN found our website and understood the value immediately. Then, they featured us on their national CNN News program telling people that healthcare is confusing and you should use our site. Sweet! Checkout the video clip below for more information.

Where to find out more about Change:Healthcare

Tags: change:healthcare, cnn, cnn news, colonoscopy, cost of medical procedures, cost transparency, negotiate cost

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The New Terminator Salvation Movie Trailer

Mar 3

Posted by theFerf in Life

This is an extremely well done trailer. Action packed, sexy and most importantly… makes me want to watch this movie. I am SUPER excited about this after watching it. Now you should watch it now (embedded below).

Tags: movie, movie trailer, terminator, terminator salviation, trailer, trailer b

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The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus come to Nashville

Mar 1

Posted by theFerf in Life, Life is Too Short

I swear I have never been to the circus, but who knows… I have an awful memory. Truth is, I am going to be an awful old man. I am not going to be able to remember any of the cool things I did growing up. That is the point of this blog… to let you, my friends, have a peek into my life and to be a reminder as I get older of the things I have done.

Back to the point. The circus came to town here in Nashville and Amy found dirt cheap tickets. This thing had everything! Acrobats, high wire acts, tigers, fire, elephants dancing, clowns and so much more. It really was a blast and I am glad to have taken photos. They will remind me that I have been to the circus and that I should go again, because it was fun.

With that said, enjoy my photos from that night.

Tags: 2009, barnum and bailey, circus, clowns, Nashville, ringling bros, tigers

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The Year was 1996 I Believe…

Feb 13

Posted by theFerf in Life

This Photo taken by theFerf

While cleaning up some old backup CDs I stumbled across some classic photos. This one is from back in high school, my good friend Tim and I hanging out in the hallway of the school. I must say that this is a CLASSIC outfit on myself. Just for the record, I always wore that t-shirt and pajama pants on the day of a cross country race.

I know I shouldn’t post photos like this (it only enhances my nerd persona) but I could not resist, it just made me smile. Plus, I promised Tims sister I would post stories of us with photos from time to time. Hard to believe this was almost half a life time ago for me.

Tags: 1996, chris, high school, old photo, tim mcgovern, tlhs

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Confused About Generic Drugs? You Could be Paying 70% too Much!

Feb 2

Posted by theFerf in Healthcare

Generics Guide

As many of you know, I am new to healthcare. I’ve never really cared much about the costs or prescriptions or doctors visits because I worked for companies that paid for most of the expenses if I were to ever need them. But in light of everything going on in the world today with small business owners being less and less able to afford health benefits for their employees, it is more important now then ever for us as educated citizens to be conscious of what prescriptions cost us.

Thankfully the new company I have come to work at, change:healthcare, has started taking the steps to educate us, the consumers, on how to work with our doctors to save money. One of the easiest ways (and the way that concerns most of us) is on prescriptions. The truth is, most name brand prescriptions are EXPENSIVE, yet many of them have generic alternatives. Here is a link to the change:healthcare field guide about how to ask your doctor about generics and about how you could save up to 70% on your prescription costs by switching to generics.

If you do nothing else, talk to your doctor about generic drugs to start saving money. The field guide tells you how to talk to your doctor and what questions to ask. Also, if you are interested, you can go the prescriptions section of change:healthcare and look up the drugs you are on to see how much others are paying for them, and where you could them cheaper too.

Links to Resources to Save Money on Generic Drugs:

Free field guide describing generic drugs and cost savings
Visit change:healthcare and see how much you can save on generics

Tags: change:healthcare, doctors, generic drugs, generic prescriptions, generics, money tips, pharmacies, pharmacy, save money

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New Job Official > I Have Joined Change:Healthcare

Jan 20

Posted by theFerf in Healthcare, Life, Social Networks & Web 2.0, Work

Well, the news is official now. I left Mevio about 5 weeks ago to move back home to Nashville, TN and to start a new career…this time, in healthcare.

Through my early days of podcasting I was extremely fortunate to meet tons of great people. But in 2005 I was contacted by a gentleman by the name of Christopher Parks. At that time he was just a lowly podcaster to me (jab), host of a show called the BizCast (don’t look for it, you won’t find it. He pulled all the links down). Turns out he had a lot more to offer to the world than just a small town business podcast.

Christopher started the company I now work for as Product Manger, change:healthcare, out of frustration with the healthcare industry, and all the medical bills resulting from both of his parents unanticipated deaths within 1 year of each other. While this seems like a sad story (with no disrespect to Christopher or his family), it truly is a blessing to Americans everywhere who struggle with healthcare, related costs and confusion every single day of their lives. Because of this tragic event, Christopher was driven to make sure no one had to suffer through the confusion of paperwork, rejections and health jargon while dealing with sick and dying loved ones like he did.

You will no doubt hear more and more about this rising star, change:healthcare, in the coming months & years. We are growing explosively, releasing robust bill management tools and helping people save TONS OF MONEY on their healthcare costs every single day. But I will save the details for a later post.

For now, let me just say I am proud to be working with this company. They epitomize everything a company should strive to be: energetic, proud of their offering, revolutionary in their product and services, leaders in their field, and making a difference that is monumental to the growth and education of our nation as a whole.

If you are interested, you can read more about change:healthcare and the products and services offered here.

Links of Interest for this Post

Tags: change:healthcare, chris mcintyre, healthcare, medical costs, mevio, podcast alley, podshow, press release

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