I have been blessed with a new Elizabeth Street Brewery hat! This is the only hat I have worn for the past couple of years because of the sentimental value (and, it’s an awesome hat). A giant thank you to both my wife and Richard from the ESB for this wonderful gift.  And to all of you who didn’t believe me when i said this hat used to be black… check out the photos below.

Oh yeah, in case you missed it, the ESB was christened San Franciscos “Best Secret Spot”. Check out the video below.

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This morning was very exciting. I went to take my new dog Ari outside and pulled the door shut behind me (since it is like 15 degrees out today). The one thing I had forgotten, though, was that I had just changed all of the handles and locks on my house this past weekend. New locks, deadbolts, and the whole nine yards on all the doors and they had a special feature — the inside handle always twists to let you out EVEN IF the outside handle is locked. You see where this is going already.

I was locked out of my house, in my pajamas, with a 9 week old puppy, in the cold winter morning, no phone, no nothing. What is a grown man to do?

I thought about calling a locksmith, but he would just come to my house and drill out a lock. That option didn’t work for me because like I said, I JUST replaced all the locks, handles and deadbolts on all 4 exterior doors with matching keyed locks.

So What Did I Do?!

With items found within 10 feet of a window on the back of my house, and no more than 30 seconds of work, I popped the lock on the window. I used a spade from the garden and a stone from the landscaping to hit the underside of the lock until it bent the lock and popped the screws. I was back in my house within 30 seconds.

What Next? Im buying an alarm, immediately.

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MSNBC Nightly News just published a story on the price variability between cities all across the country, something change:healthcare has been trying to spread the word about for years! Check out this great 2 minute video (embedded below) that describes the scenario pretty well!

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Because of sky-rocketing drug costs, people are looking everywhere for ways to save money on medicine they need to live. And what better way to connect with people than through the tools they are using already. Twitter is that tool! You have Twitter open all day and are watching tweets from friends come across, why not use Twitter as a free health care savings tool too?

How Do I use @ASKch to Save Money on Prescriptions?

change:healthcare has made it so easy, it should be illegal! Simply follow the steps below, and you will be finding ways to save on prescriptions, definitions for medical terms and health conditions and more… all delivered via private direct message using Twitter!

1. Follow @askch on Twitter
2. Send a formatted question via direct message
3. Get a fast, automated answer. That’s it!

What Info Do I Send to @ASKch to Get Info Back?

We took the most common questions people ask about their healthcare, and created a way for you to get the answers, via Twitter, in 60 seconds or less. Below are examples of questions you can get answers to!

• Cost of [drug name] near [zipcode]

  example tweet: “d askch cost of lexapro near 37211“

• Generic for [drug name]

  example tweet: “d askch generic for plavix“

• What is [drug name]

  example tweet: “d askch what is lipitor“

• What is [health issue]

  example tweet: “d askch what is diabetes“

• Generic discounts for [drug name] near [zipcode]

  example tweet: “d askch generic discounts for pravachol near 37221“

This simple tool for saving on prescriptions basically provides you with the following information. If you send it your prescription name and zipcode, it finds the cheapest pharmacy where you can buy that prescription and sends you a link to find out more information. But saving money on prescriptions is more than just finding a lower price. If you ask @askch how to save money by switching to a generic drug, it will send you all of the known names of the generics for your name brand prescription. Generics are the same thing (guided by the FDA), but are much cheaper. Finally, generic discounts are available for 100’s of prescriptions too. Generic discounts are typically available for $4 for 30 days or $10 for 90 days from most pharmacies and grocery store pharmacies. If you ask @askch if there is a generic discount, it will tell you yes/no and if yes, how much it costs and at what pharmacy!

Saving money used to be complicated. Thanks to ASKch, it’s much simpler now.

BTW, if you know me, you know I work for change:healthcare and helped develop this tool. You should use it, it rocks. :)

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1. Confused About Generic Drugs? You Could be Paying 70% too Much!
2. President Obama’s Speech on Healthcare Reform – Could Use More Details

In an article written by TechCrunch this evening, a very interesting observation was made about building a company you believe in that really struck with me. There is no way I could say it any better than they did, or more detailed than they did… but let me tell you what the most important part of the story is for me…

You should not be working for the paycheck, you should be working because you believe it and because you love it. When you believe what you do is awesome, it is awesome.

Apple, Twitter, Facebook, Zappos… they all prove that loving what you do will pay off in the product you develop and your overall happiness in life. Below is a video of Apples recent keynote speech where an editor sliced together the positive word patterns from the presentation. Oh yeah, make sure you read the article too about the importance of enthusiasm to understand more what I am talking about.

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Last night, President Obama spoke on healthcare reform at a joint session for Congress. While I love a great presentation, which Obama always delivers, I was not completely sold on everything he was saying… but mainly because I could not personally review the documents :) If you did not see it, check out the NY Times video replay with a timed breakdown of talking points to catch up.

President Obama delivered some tough news to both parties saying essentially that he was not going to take shit from anyone, and that he was not leaving office until a healthcare bill was in place. He tried hard to combat all of the oppositions major problems with his proposed reform: not covering illegal immigrants, not covering abortion, giving coverage to all Americans as well as who was going to pay for the public program. For me, since I work for change:healthcare, a company that helps people save money on doctors visits and prescriptions, I would love to read the details of the reform documents.

You see, there are a lot of problems with healthcare. Most of them, in my opinion, exist because we Americans do not know (or care most of the time) what healthcare really costs! I hate to tell you, but your office visit to the doctor for your yearly physical does not cost $20. It probably costs more like $90 – $150 — and if you don’t have health insurance, or you have a high deductible, your cost could be $150-$200 or more for that office visit. And even that cost only covers the visit. If you have bloodwork or other tests, the cost is even more. Never is it $20. I could rant all day about this, but I will save you the pain.

The point is, healthcare reform is needed, and hopefully Obama is the guy to do it. but we need to know the details of what we are getting into, and that we will not be selling our souls to pay for it. Obama, shows the details!

What did you think about Obama’s Healthcare Reform presentation last night? What did you think about the GOP response? Were you happy with what you heard, or concerned? Please leave a comment and let me know.Similar Posts:

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• New Job Official > I Have Joined Change:Healthcare
• Did You Know 20% of Every Dollar in America is Spent on Healthcare?

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Well, we have done it again. It has been almost a year since we ran the Portland Marathon, and Amy and I decided to sign up for another race. Only this time, it’s a 1/2 marathon. More posts soon, but this is the official mark of the start of our 12 week training program.

You can follow all my training on daily mile here, or you can subscribe to my updates on twitter.

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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 :)

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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:

1. We made our own soil using peat moss, vermiculite and 3 kinds of compost (commonly referred to as Mels Mix)
2. 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
3. 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!)
4. 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 :)

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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

• change:healthcare on CNN, teaches you how to save money on health expenses
• Visit the healthcare information site at www.changehealthcare.com

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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).

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Just found this video commercial from when I was working at PodShow. It was a lot of fun to be a part of (even though I was just behind the scenes). This I believe was for GoDaddy UK in cooperation with Mevio in the UK. The video is the “I want to be a GoDaddy Guy” spoof and features Candice Michelle, the GoDaddy Girl. Enjoy!

BTW, if you want to see some of my behind the scenes photos of the event, click on over to my flickr set to see them.

GoDaddy, OJ Borg, Candice Michelle from Wonkles on Vimeo.Similar Posts:

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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.

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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.Similar Posts:

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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

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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

• The official Press Release of My Joining change:healthcare
  
• The Change:Healthcare Website
• The Nashville Post Coverage of My Joinging the company

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Thanks Joe for the Link!

I will be doing a more in depth blog post soon, but wanted to get the photos out ASAP. Amy and I are moving back to Nashville, TN and these are the photos of us and our friends at the going away party. Enjoy :)Similar Posts:

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9 years ago today, Tim & I celebrated his 21st birthday (and 3 days later we celebrated mine). And as was par for the course, we had to wear our party hats. There were very few times that Tim and I went out together that we would NOT be wearing hats. Some of the best memories I have from growing up were with Tim, and I am so glad I have these photos to remind me of him always. Wish you were here, Tim.

See below for a few more images of Tim and I – all wearing our party hats :) As you know, You can see all the photos of Tim over at www.timmcgovern.us.

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