Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

OK Steve,

Celiac Disease?
I think you will be pleased with
Gluten free cookie



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Vincent Wilcox (a.k.a. KRAKR)
Drummer
My band: Letters Make Words

Let me clarify. A package a week for a year.

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Mmmmm...cookies! My son would just love you Steve...no really...LOVE YOU!!! You don`t happen to make those in a sugar free version do you!?

Dear TJ...although I truly believe in and very much support the Make-A-Wish Foundation (please visit my site if you don`t believe my intentions  www.snrn.org)  I think maybe you have forgotten that many of us...although we would love to give our children the gift of the Make-A-Wish Foundation...the wait list is enormously long...and many of us will never make it to the top before our children pass. Do I want a vacation for me...yes...very much so...but I believe the trip was for 4 (am I incorrect in that!?). Obviously I would not be going alone on a trip for four...I would very much love to bring my son and my husband and maybe my mom who has also had a rough few years with the loss of my step-father to cancer. Not to mention...sometimes it isn`t such a bad idea to look at ourselves in the mirror and make a wish for ourselves for once. I tend to be a giver...I give 200% of myself (as I am sure Chris does) every single day to my child and my family and to those who I can help...and as I stated in my original sometimes it isn`t such a bad thing to finally learn the courage to ask for something for me for once.

TJ...please don`t take this as an attack...that is hardly what I wish to do. I understand your desire to give a very deserving child a fantastic vacation to Disney...but what makes those children anymore deserving than say my child...who unfortunately is so far on the list for Make-A-Wish that it is highly unlikely we will ever see our turn. You also mentioned using sympathy to win this contest...and I am a bit confused...how do you write "Why I need a vacation" without invoking some sense of sympathy towards your particular situation. I think it is wonderful what you would like to do with the vacation should you win it...but you too have even used sympathy in your plea for this vacation...the only difference is that you are using someone else`s troubles instead of your own.

I would truly like to see someone win this and enjoy their well deserved time off...for whatever the reason that they need this time...whether it be their last request for someone else...or the very first they have ever made for themselves.

Regards,
Leah

PS: No...seriously, Steve...cookies...sugar free version (maybe with slenda)...my kid would make you his "best-friend" forever (or at least until he decided on something/someone else as a best friend)

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Leah Tucker

Oh...and Steve...I would be forced to just pay for them...cuz...well...I can`t do poetry...even Haikus....no really...horrible....you all would "boo" me out of the room...it would be horrible!!! Has anyone ever read "The Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy"? Yeah...it would be Vogon bad!!! HA!!

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Leah Tucker

Leah,

Send me a personal message with specific dietary restrictions or requests.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

Remember, Make a Wish doesn`t have a patent on granting wishes.

Steve



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At first it was fun.

Then the music became sad.

 Now my dancing`s done.

Holy Poetry, Batman! Haiku!

I think I may want to take my marbles and go home. What began with the potential for a great romp has lost some of its sparkle. Since I`d really like to win, is this where I should amend my submission to mention that I spent my 20th wedding anniversary July 12 at my husband`s bedside in ICU? (By the grace of God, he`s home now and expected to recover fully.) Want more? The list is long, and most of it`s not pretty. But I don`t see my life as a series of struggles; rather as a series of overcoming obstacles, and what a heady feeling that is! You are only a victim of your circumstances if you allow it. The very best antidote for my crappy childhood was to become an adult who grasps that one can literally choose to be happy. Come on, folks, it may be a cliche, but if life has handed you some lemons, make lemonade. If you picked some of those lemons off the tree yourself by virtue of choices you`ve made, learn from the experience and move on; there are cherries and plums out there, too. I look forward to getting back to the supportive, unified community I discovered on my first visit here, that which inspired me to join StartUpNation in the first place.

I`ve heard it said that if all the problems in the world were to be placed in a huge pile from which each person had to take an equal share, most people would be happy to take just their own and go home.

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TJ,

Since the other people on here are too nice to say what I`m sure everyone (or at least most) are thinking. 

You are a hypocrite, you slam people for twisting words when you do the same. You lambaste people for using sympathy to win votes, when you are using a charity to gain sympathy. You are a crybaby, who wants to take their ball and go home because you were not winning the poll right from the beginning. From what I can read with my own two eyes it`s "Why I Need A Vacation". If you weren`t smart enough to list the reasons why YOU need a vacation in order to win the contest you shouldn`t have entered. Your an embarrassment to the Northeast and New Jersey.

In case you haven`t figured it out LIFE is nothing but a long popularity contest of which you are sure to lose based on what I`ve read from your posts. The point of life is to make friends and to try to make it to the end with at least a few good ones, but maybe I can search the internet and find a quote to make my signature tag line (like you) instead of using my own words.

Here is my haiku:

TJ is a tool

Never such a tool been born

I hope TJ loses

Sincerely,

Dante

I apologize if I came off as trying to amend my original post...I was merely trying to make a point to TJ regarding his choice for his original post and his comments regarding our decisions to use "sympathy" as our way to win. As I have already mentioned...I believe we all should have a beautiful vacation to Orlando...I am no more deserving than anyone else on this board. I truly have taken my lemons, plums, peaches, prunes, you name it...and made a damn fine cocktail (add a little rum...a tiny umbrella). I don`t feel sorry for my "lot in life"...I feel blessed everyday...and like every other blessed person on this board I would just like a vacation.  No one person`s issues are any worse than another persons...it all depends on the perspective. I could just have a broken nail...and that could be the very worst thing to ever happen in my life and I would be completely distraught and devestated...or I could have the worst hand dealt to me and feel distraught...or blessed! It is all about perspective.

As far as the fun being over...I think that is a personal choice! I actually admire TJ for being honest (even if I don`t agree with his approach). Much like Dante or Chris...or myself (which I am sure TJ doesn`t agree with). I am enjoying the debate to be perfectly honest...I think you learn a lot about a person when you begin a heartfelt debate with them. We are all entitled to our opinions...and we may all have been dealt a tough hand in this life...but like you said...it is how you play that hand that makes all the difference.

I am sure that SuN never intended a contest for a fabulous vacation to turn into a debate of any kind...but it sure is interesting to read the responses as this unfolds. I think it adds a dimension to our personalities that we otherwise may not have seen without an opportunity such as this one. I really don`t believe that by tomorrow I will have enough votes to win the vacation...and I never even thought I would make it to this point in the contest...so I really don`t care if I win...I am still showing up for the wonderful debate! I didn`t have a vacation planned before the contest started...so if I don`t have one planned after it is over...I assure you my day will go on as normal.

(I am currently picturing my cocktail in hand...little umbrella atop...nice hawaiin themed tank-top...shorts...sandles...and sand between my toes...who needs a vacation...I got my imagination to run away with.....maybe next I`ll have a cold corona....anyone got a lime!?)

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Leah Tucker

My fellow Sun`ers : you have totally missed the point from the very beginning.

Contests winners are designed for WINNERS. Not for someone that spills their guts lissting all the tough things that have happened to them over the past year or so.

An Observation: If everyone that is a finalist had the wherewithall to purchase a vacation like the one that is being offered .... would you at this time and moment leave your staert-ups for such a vacation?

In other words, unless you have succeeded YOUR businesses can`t afford for you to take a VACATION away from  the business.

Your business doen`t say ... "I`m tired .. I`ve worked hard for the past year ... I deserve to take time off away from you".

You expect your business to perform day in and day out ... 7/24/365 !!

So why is it so unrealistic for your business to have the same expectations of you ??

Folks, unless you have the resources to afford such a vacation .... you can`t afford to be away from your business!!

Staying on focus ... like a laser beam ... is essential to success. Mild diversions are great ... but the "brass ring" was designed to be just that ... THE BRASS RING. The sign of success, triumphing over adversity ... not just showing up.

I wonder if any of the finalists have realized that this vacation just may end up costing them more than they can truly afford ... financially for their business. Its a trip to Orlando, (air and hotel). Ok now you have meals, transportation, tips, gifts, ect.

After reading a number of the finalists submissions ... I doubt if they could afford cab fare. (I`m not poking fun here ... I`m being serious) Folks, vacations are great ... but in order to be successful .... a price needs to be paid.

Is a few days of self-indulgence and distraction worth it ... when you look at the big things in life? Or could some of us really use those precious monetary resources in a better way to further our dreams of success in our business?

I`m not saying never to take a vacation ... but only after you`ve had a successful campaign. And the money that you would spend (even if you won a vacation .. there are expenses) could not be better used to further your business.

SouthWest Airlines and SuN need to be thanked and commended for offering a great opportunity to a member here at SuN. I just wonder .... maybe it should have been better thought out. (We have a finalist that lives in the Philipines. I truly enjoyed reading her submission. But, SouthWest Airlines doesn`t fly to the Philipines. After reading her submission ... has anyone at SuN thought about how she would ever be able to get to the U.S. to use that vacation, given her current circumstances?)

As I stated in another thread ... I truly think that we should all agree to give it the son and daughter-in-law of gelmtree2006.

I`m not sure if anyone has read her profile ... but these are type of things that define a true WINNER. And to me the signs of an individual that has realized that GIVING is much more important than receiving. Her son learned well from a great Mom.

[quote]In the spirit of giving back and encouraging others to pursue their entrepreneurial dream, I present `JA in a Day` programs in elementary schools as a volunteer for Junior Achievement, plus serve as a board member. I also enjoy being a volunteer counselor for SCORE, and was just elected to chair the local chapter`s advertising committee.[/quote]

Since her son served in Iraq, helping to make sure that you and are free and safe from terrorists ... those are 2 folks that truly have shown the SuN way of self-sacrifice, duty, honor and country.