goodguygrady

Social Media for Social Change

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:54:48 GMT

*tap-tap-tap* Is this thing on?

Long time, no, uh.. LJ.

What have I been up to? Working, spending time with E, design blogging (I have a new site!), and getting more involved in the social media community.

I joined Facebook. And Twitter.

And, most recently, I've started organizing Social Media for Social Change, a fundraising event to benefit Jane Doe, Inc. It's going to be held Friday, October 10th, at the Harvard Club on Comm. Ave. in Boston. Here's the basic idea behind it:

The social media world has proven that, though still a young and small community within a multitude of industries, we have the power to exact great change.

Social media has broken down walls and created conversations. IBM does product testing in Second Life. Old college classmates reunite on Facebook. Zappos does intra-office communication via Twitter. All great, paradigm shifting events.

But what about change for the greater good?

Social Media for Social Change was born of the idea that the social media community, these “agents of change” can get together for one night, to support one cause.

The only form of payment I'm getting out of this is knowing I set up a kickass event that raised as much money as possible for a great and worthy cause.

My friend sekala has set up sm4sc, an LJ feed of the SM4SC blog, and sm4sclj, an LJ community. Yeah, she rocks.

I'm helping Micah Baldwin become the #1 douche bag in the world

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:36:47 GMT

Blogger Micah Baldwin is on a quest. You see, anyone with a website wants to rank well on Google. I want to make sure I rank well when someone searches "Boston design" or some such info. Well, Micah is already #1 when you search his name (I'm the only Gradon Tripp in the world, according to Google). So he's decided to dominate another search term.

He wants to be the #1 douche bag in the world.

Right now, he's #5 for douchebag. And #4 for douche bag. He's all the way to #3 for "douche bag" (including quotes). By adding links to his request, other bloggers are helping him reach his lofty goal.

Won't you help Micah, too?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:55:09 GMT

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:11:45 GMT

TV Reviews

Does this say something about me, or what I have to do to get you to understand what I say? ;)

Radical Islam - What a Blast!

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:09:11 GMT

Created by Roy Blumenthal, an artist from South Africa. Check out his description.

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:36:45 GMT

My downstairs neighbor is smoking so much weed that it's seeping up through the floor into my room. If this keeps up I'll get a contact high pretty soon - although the music just turned off, so maybe he's gone to bed.

Boom Shacka Lacka

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:17:40 GMT

Has anyone else checked out Pandora? It's simple: you pick a group or song, and it will play music that matches it.

I created Gradon's Hippity-Hop Station with "seeds" like Brother Ali, Run DMC, De La Soul, and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, among others.

It's great, and plays a lot of music I've never heard, or haven't heard in years. Right now Boston rapper Edo G. is playing. Earlier, Lords of the Underground.

Awesome.

Super Tuesday Post

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:38:45 GMT

Barack's my man

Pre birthday wish

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:41:59 GMT

Alright y'all...

my birthday's coming up in T-minus four days. I don't want any of you to buy me anything. No, no spending money on my account. What I'd love for you to do is to help me make a little!

You see, on my blog, designboston, I've set up Google Adsense. For each clickity-click that a visitor makes, I gets about $.20. So if you could be kind enough to go over there and click once or twice or fifteen times, that'd be swell.

It's way too late or I'd actually have a real update. Maybe tomorrow!

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:28:36 GMT

Story of Stuff

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:00:12 GMT

Maybe Christmas Eve isn't exactly the best time to remind you of the evils of our consumer-driven economy, but here goes:

And yes, somewhere between a few and several hundred dollars were spent on Ethan and Devon this year. =/

Work... ach!

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 07:05:33 GMT

I quit the valeting gig to save enough time to work on my school stuff, so I switched to waiting tables. How's that working out? Well, I'm making a ton more money (not a ton of money, just a ton more than I was as a valet), but so far this week, I've pulled in 40 hours, with another 10 or so to go. While I take 4 classes. And the next 6 weeks are going to be CRAZY busy. Great for money, bad for sleep.

Damn it feels good to be a pirate.

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:31:10 GMT

I just dowloaded Daft Punk's "Homework" album. Now I'm jammin' out to "Around the World". Oh, the joys of French techno with minimal fuss.

John Stewart on A-Rod

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:31:40 GMT

"He's the Dick Cheney* of baseball."

*a good performer that weakens the team

More UK hip-hop love: Kid Acne

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:12:16 GMT

You know some guy named Kid Acne can't put out the same pretentious, cars-bitches-and-bling music.

"Worst Luck"

"Reality Raps"

"Roc Roc Radio"

"South Yorks"

"Eddie Fresh" (I dig how they edited out the F-bombs with "Oi!"... it works)

I'm giving away an AppleTV on my blog

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:19:09 GMT

I went ahead and set up the first contest on my blog. Tech Superpowers is sponsoring the contest, offering up a free AppleTV to the winner. Check it out.

The Streets

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:24:49 GMT

Yet another post of videos. I find it amazing that, as the quality of most US hip-hop has gone steadily downhill, there's a burgeoning scene coming out of the UK. The Streets is probably the most successful UK rapper since Slick Rick (although most US hip-hoppers haven't heard of him).

From "Original Pirate Material":
"Has It Come To This?"

"Don't Mug Yourself"

"Irony Of It All" - (likely the most intelligent pro-weed rap song I've heard)

From "A Grand Don't Come For Free"
"Fit But You Know It"

"Blinded By The Lights"

"Dry Your Eyes" - (probably the worst possible song to be released the same week my ex-wife and I broke up)

From "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living"
"When You Wasn't Famous"

"Never Went To Church"

How good goes bad

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:20:46 GMT

Compare:

Black Eyed Peas before Fergie:

Black Eyed Peas avec Fergie:

My question: Do you think there was a conscious decision to bring in an attractive female with limited talent and start making bubblegum pop?

New job

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:02:27 GMT

The valet gig didn’t work out (who can survive off of $400 a week?), so I found a new job. I an currently in training to be a server at Bouchee, a French brasserie on Newbury Street. I started on Monday, and have already worked 26 hours, while still going to class! Once I'm done with training and making tips (instead of minimum wage), I'll work less hours and make more money (the guy I trained with tonight was complaining that he only made $100 today!) Let's hope that happens soon!

Mood Swings

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:17:51 GMT

I think the Simpsons is the one reason why I'd ever buy a TV again.

No hacking, thank goodness

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:17:11 GMT

My email wasn't hacked. Apparently, more than six months after we moved out of our old apartment, goofeelee decided it was time to delete my account from her PC. When she went to do that, something came up, she typed and hit enter, and it changed my GMail password. Weird, but it's all better now.

Back in school

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:05:08 GMT

Classes started up again yesterday. I'm taking 5 classes - Drafting, Building Materials, Textiles for Interiors, Drawing and Perspective, and Humanities through the Arts.

I have the same professor for Drafting and Building Materials. He's an architect; when I told him I wanted to go for architecture after ID, he asked "Why, you want to make less money?" Apparently, the whole deal with designers selling furniture and products helps them make a good amount of money. hmmm...

The professor for my textiles class didn't show up. After a half-hour or so (it was our first class, so we waited longer than normal) we took off. I'm sitting here waiting for my next class, at 12:30.

In other news, it looks like my main email account has been hacked. It wouldn't take the password that's been in place for months. GMail said they were going to send a password change to my "alternate email adress", but I have no idea what address that is. I'm thinking it's probably my AutoTrader.com email from 3 years ago. So I emailed them, and am waiting to hear back. Fun.

Summer semester grades are in...

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:44:08 GMT

Yes, it's been a LONG while. Since I quit Teletrac and returned their laptop, the only time I have access to those rascally internets is when I'm at one of my friends' houses (I'm at my friend Chris's apartment right now).

Anyhoo, the grades for my first two classes at NEIA are in. How do you think I did? Straign A's. That's right, I'm a smarty pants.

I hope y'all are having a good August. I'll be online more once I'm back in school in a few weeks.

Mid-Terms

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:13:48 GMT

I'm in two accelerated half-semester classes. Been in school 4 weeks now, but we already did mid-terms this week. I haven't gotten either of them back yet, but I want to, just to confirm my suspicions that I aced them.

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:56:28 GMT

Last Sunday, I sold my car to bdashrad. My bike is getting a tune up and converted to fixed gear next Tuesday, so in the interim bdashrad let me borrow his bike. For the past four and a half days I've been biking nearly everywhere I go - school, work, wherever.

It was raining when I got out of school yesterday. I could have pulled my bike onto the Green Line (it stops right behind my school), but decided to ride home in the rain. Other than the water, it was a beautiful not-too-warm day. I rode from my school to Orchard Skateshop, about 5 minutes away on Tremont St on Mission Hill. I wanted to check on the status of a helmet I ordered for Ethan; it wasn't in yet.

I hopped back on the bike and made my way back to Huntington Ave to get to the Jamaica Way. As I turned onto Huntington, I discovered that the width of my front tire was just slightly smaller than the gap in the road for the Green Line tracks. My front tire jammed into that gap, and I went over the handlebars. My shoulder, the palm of my right hand, and my right hip area met the ground. I remember hitting my head, but there are no bumps or scratches or anything to prove it.

After that, I decided it was more important to get myself a helmet than to get home. I rode to Bikes Not Bombs in JP. On the way there, on Centre St, the front wheel did it again, but I knew better and let the bike fall. I got to BNB about 15 minutes before they opened, so I got some lunch and went back. I bought not only a helmet (skate style so I can use it when I skate with Ethan), but also a pair of gloves. They look "retro" with mesh on the back of the hand, but there is kevlar right at the bottom of the palm where I have holes in my hand from the gravel.

After I left there, I went home. By the time I got home, I was soaked. Well, the front half of me was. That whole forward motion thing keeps your back from getting rained on. I peeled my clothes off and went to take a shower. My shoulder has a bright red abrasion about the size of one of those gold dollar coins:

As I mentioned, my hand has a few small holes from gravel on the road, along with several scratches. My hip has a few more scratches, but nowhere near as bad as my hand.

bdashrad, sorry, but the extensions on your handlebars are scratched up. =/

Knowing the way people drive in this city, it's only a matter of time before I get hit by a car. At least with the helmet, my noggin will be a little safer.