Aprigo wants you to win one of 5 free passes to #Tweetsgiving Boston!

Posted on November 23, 2009 by Gradon

Want to go attend Tweetsgiving Boston? Want to meet, network and socialize with some of the best, brightest minds in social media, marketing, and philanthropy in Boston? Want to help support a great organization, in a beautiful room, and spread gratitude at the start of the holiday season? Want to attend for free?

Aprigo‘s got your back.

Nathan Burke, Marketing Manager for the SaaS Data Management company, has generously offered to pay for five people’s tickets to Tweetsgiving Boston. How’s that for something to be thankful for!

To win one of the tickets, simply leave a comment below. The first five comment win – pretty simple, huh?

Big thanks to Nathan and Aprigo, and I look forward to seeing you at Tweetsgiving!

This #Movember’s for Bill

Posted on November 18, 2009 by Gradon

My father called me tonight. This isn’t a normal thing. Normally, if someone calls, it’s my mother. But Dad’s not home, he’s in Ossipee, New Hampshire, hunting.

And that’s not normal either. He was supposed to leave New Hampshire and head back to Florida on Monday. But he got a phone call from his friend Bill’s wife.

Bill passed away on Saturday night.

This was no surprise. Bill had been suffering with cancer for some time; it had spread throughout his body. My father visited Bill in North Carolina on his drive up a few weeks ago, expecting it would be his last chance to see his friend.

On the phone, Bill’s wife told Dad that his ashes would be split and spread in his three favorite locations: North Carolina, where he grew up; St. Croix, where he lived for twelve years; and Ossipee, New Hampshire, his favorite hunting grounds.

My father is going to stay in New Hampshire. He and a few of their hunting friends are going to spread Bill’s ashes in the same woods they spent every November in since long before I was born. He’s going to miss Thanksgiving at home with his wife, but this is something that means much more than honoring an American tradition – this is honoring a lifelong friendship.

I’ve been complaining about my mustache, counting the days until I can shave it off. But from now through the end of the month, I will proudly wear my Mo, and every dollar I raise will be in Bill’s honor. This Movember, it’s for Bill.

If you would like to help me raise finds for cancer research, please consider making a donation on my Movember page. And thank you.

I’m Thankful For NERD #TGBos

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Gradon

Fairly under the radar (until now!), Rob Baker and I have been working on hosting the Boston TweetsGiving event.

TweetsGiving is an annual event for Epic Change, an organization that helps “hopeful people in need share their stories to acquire resources that will improve their lives.” It’s not just another fund raising event, though; the Epic Change founder Stacey Monk‘s higher goal of TweetsGiving is to spread gratitude, thankfulness for all there is to be thankful for.

That is definitely an idea I can get behind.

TweetsGiving 2009 from LittlePurpleCow Productions on Vimeo.

The first and hardest part of organizing the event has been accomplished: we have a location! Microsoft has graciously offered to host Tweetsgiving Boston at their New England Research and Development (NERD!) center. The event will take place Tuesday, November 24, from 6:30 to 9:00.

But wait, you say, that’s the week of Thanksgiving. Exactly, we say! And it’s the Tuesday before, which means you’ll still be in town – so join us! You can register for #TGBos (as we’ve dubbed it on Twitter) on the Boston group of the Tweetsgiving community.

Interested in supporting Epic Change beyond an event ticket? You can be a Top Turkey or an Event Sponsor. For more information, check the Tweetsgiving Boston group, or email me – gradon AT gradontripp DOT com.

Over the next week and a half, on top of me pushing this great event, you’ll be hearing more about what makes me happy. Think Meg Fowler‘s Friday Love Lists, but from her less-wordsmithy half.

But it’s not just about what I’m thankful for. What about you? Maybe it’s your zombie kids, or your parents, or big shaggy dogs, or all those mustaches in November, or (if you’re Mike Germano) the Yankees. Let us know what you’re most thankful for, on your blogs, or on Twitter (make sure you include #Tweetsgiving in your tweets).

Thanks to YOU, the Boston community. Without all of you, none of these great events could take place. We’ll see you on the 24th!

Fighting Cancer by Growing a Mo

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Gradon

gradonn pringles Fighting Cancer by Growing a Mo Two and a half years ago, I got a call from my mother. Nothing unusual about that, right? After the typical chit-chats and how-do-you-dos, the real purpose of her call was revealed: Dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

This, obviously, hit the family hard. I’ve written about him before, so you may have an idea about what he means to me. The idea of losing him had never entered my mind before, even though he was in his late 60s.

Now,we were all worried about what the diagnosis means, what impact it will have on his life, and the family. All but my dad, that is. From the minute of the diagnosis, he held his head up and declared he was going to beat the cancer. And beat it he did.

Not every man is my Dad, though.

This year, over 192,000 men will be affected by prostate cancer, and more than 27,000 will die from it. One new case occurs every 2.7 minutes and a man dies from prostate cancer every 19 minutes. Right now, it’s estimated that over 2 million men are living with prostate cancer. That’s the equivalent of every man in Los Angeles.

The social media men of Boston are doing something about it.

Actually, we’re doing something by not doing something. A group of us have teamed up (as TeamBoston, of course) and promised to not shave our top lip for all of November to raise funds for cancer research. That’s right, it’s Movember.

The Movember Foundation raises funds for the Livestrong: the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Prostate Cancer Foundation, two of the leading organizations fighting prostate and testicular.

And just to make it more fun, we’re competing against Austin to see who can raise more money.

We’ve set up a TeamBoston Flickr group to share our progress. Right now, we’re 10 days in, and things are getting a bit awkward. I get odd looks when I’m out in public (which is a lot). My coworkers have said I look creepy; a new coworker thought this was just what I did.

It’s for a good cause, so I let my vanity take a back seat for a month.

What you can do

Support my Mo by donating on the Movember site. Learn about the signs of prostate and testicular cancer. And if you see a man with an awkward mustache, give him a smile – he’s probably suffering for someone he loves.