StumbleUpon | fxmartini's blog posts

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/31721326/

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:16:21 -0700

Finishing up a redesign of Alex's Coupons. Still a few tweaks left to do (e.g. the Daily Hot Deals box), but overall I think it's looking a hundred times better than the old site. Let me know what you think... 8-)

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/28198765/

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:07:39 -0800

visited 38 states (76%)

Only 12 more to go!

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/3831008/

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:07:42 -0700

FXMartini's Sticky Menu

BLOG ENTRIES

Hunger - 10/1/07
Why I Hate Exercise - 12/30/06
The Beast with One Back - 12/3/06
My Definition of Precocious - 9/12/06
Alex's Coupons Temporarily Suspends Donation Program - 9/12/06
On Being Polite - 8/9/06
Alex's Coupons Donates $1000.00 to Camp for Children with Cancer - 7/31/06
Alexs Coupons and Onlineshoes.com Donate 20% of Orders to Starlight Starbright - 7/14/06
Man on a Medical Mission - 5/20/06
Haggis to Bagels - 5/11/06
Becoming an Adult - 5/9/06
The Ugly Duckling - 4/29/06
My Failure as a Parent - 4/27/06
Life is Strange Part 1 - 4/25/06
Life is Strange Part 2 - 4/25/06

I am the Twins - 4/24/06
Working Toward Normalcy - 4/20/06
Angel - 4/17/06
One Step Closer to Knowing - 4/15/06
Houston We Have a Problem - 4/13/06
F'ing Beautiful - 4/11/06
House of Wax - 4/9/06
I Believe I Can Fly! - 4/8/06
Thanks & Now for Something Slightly Different - 4/5/06
Ich bein Griswold! (I am Griswold!) - 4/3/06
Happy Re-Birthday Alex! - 4/1/06
Time to Exhale! - 4/1/06
Arrested Development - 3/31/06
Apple Martini - 3/29/06
There Was A Bug In The Pillow. I Got It. - 3/29/06
How to Hold Your Breath for 3 Days - 3/28/06
My Job Moment - 3/27/06

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/6781804/

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:07:31 -0700

FXMartini's Sticky Menu 2

FEATURED STUMBLES

Alex's Coupons

Alex's Place

AABB Blood Bank Locator

Camp Side-by-Side

Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life

Cascade Regional Blood Services

Corporate Angel Network

Evening Magazine Story (video)

Evening Magazine Story (text)

Martini with a Twist

My MySpace Page

PBMT Family Support Program

National Donate Life Month

Screamin-Banshee's Race for Life Page

Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation

Wayne Mangan's Personal Site

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/20070844/

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:24:04 -0700

Earth Day is only eight days away, so I contacted a friend at Ideal Bite to see if they had some tips to share. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, Ideal Bite offers light green living tips for real people who lead busy lives and want to make small changes that add up to big results. (In other words it's for all of us who don't have the time or the energy to reduce their carbon footprint to zero.) Their Daily Tips cover everything from energy saving gadgets to eco-pet products to saving money at the gas pump. In addition to their general Daily Tips newsletter, they also offer newsletters for eco-living in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.

Here's one of my favorite Ideal Bite tips from a couple of months ago - Energy Saving Gadgets. The Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player sounds especially sweet. Anyone out there have one yet?

What's underneath your trench coat?
Besides your birthday suit. Answer: gizmos that put Inspector Gadget to shame. Here are our energy-saving, waste-reducing green gadget picks. Now go-go gadget eco-tip!
The Benefits

Getting a clue about sustainability. Geeks (including girl geeks) love being on the cutting edge - and green technology that combines recycled and sustainable materials with usefulness is the newest wave of gadgetry.

Wowsers! These contraptions won over the gizmo-nerds on the Bite team.

Personally Speaking

Brett, who bikes to work on his tricked-out Surly Karate Monkey (even through the MT snow), mounted a HYmini on his bike and uses it to charge his cell phone.

HYmini - a portable charger for your cell or mp3 player that powers up using solar and/or wind energy ($50). (ThinkGeek has the HYmini for $49.95 and don't forget to use coupons).

Trevor Baylis Eco Media Player - video and MP3 player, radio, flashlight, and cell-phone charger all in one wind-up gadget (�130/$259).

Vers iPod Dock - 15-watt speaker with remote that amplifies music from your iPod or iPhone; made using sustainable wood and packaged in recycled materials ($150).

USBCell AA Batteries - batteries you can recharge hundreds of times using your computer's USB ports ($17.50/2).

Dynamo Illuminator Flashlight - get a forearm workout and a lotta light with this wind-up flashlight ($7.50).

Make - DIY instructions for making everything from furniture to an LED bike helmet.

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/17864467/

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 23:15:48 -0800

Alex's Coupons will be donating two thousand five hundred dollars to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation at the 4th Annual "Oscar Night America" dinner, which will be held at the Triple Door in Seattle Washington on February 24, 2008.

Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation is one of our favorite organizations as they see how important it is for kids with serious illnesses and their families to be able to relax, laugh and enjoy special experiences together. From diagnosis on, they are there for the kids and their families, both in and out of the hospital. When our daughter Alex was going through nearly six years of treatment for Leukemia, Starlight Starbright was always there to help us get through some of the darkest times.

Starlight Starbright has built playrooms and teen lounges, and donated portable gaming stations and computers to hospitals across the country. They have even written software programs so that kids can play games that relate to their particular illness. While out of the hospital, families are able to participate in special events such as zoo outings, harbor cruises, special parties, musicals, concerts and more. When families are going through treatment, things like this more often than not, go by the wayside. If not for financial reasons, then for a lack of time to plan something like getting theater tickets. When your child is going through treatment so much is going on and you never know when you will be in or out of the hospital.

So when you get an email saying that tickets are available in two days for a show that's been sold out for months and you happen to be out of the hospital, you feel like you've won the lottery! A chance for your child to put out of their mind for a few hours all the stress and fear that surrounds them on a daily basis. A chance for you to see your child that works so hard to be brave during treatment and faces so much pain on a daily basis, laugh, joke around, watch with baited breath and then at the top of her little four and a half year old lungs scream "Go Beast!" right in the middle of watching Beauty & the Beast on the stage! Then when you think she's done, hear her yell even louder and more exuberantly, "Yea Beast!" This was definitely one of our favorite Starlight memories!

Please take a moment to visit the Starlight Starbright website and make a donation. And if you live in the Seattle area we'd like to encourage everyone to come out and support Starlight Starbright by buying a ticket to their Oscar Night America dinner. Thanks in advance for your help.

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/13036191/

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 12:00:57 -0700

Quick Update on Alex 9/29/07:

Alex started HGH (Human Growth Hormone) shots yesterday! All of the CT scans came back negative for tumors, but her growth has definitely been stunted by the steroids and radiation she received during her transplants. Went to the hospital yesterday with Alex's Mom and we both learned how to give the shots, which are really easy to give. I've got the kids this week, so I got the honor of giving her the first shot. 8-)

Hope everyone is doing great. Take care...

-- Todd

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/12206180/

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 19:25:54 -0700

Just a quick update on Alex's condition. She is going to have a CT Scan of her abdomen later this week to determine if she has a tumor on her adrenal gland. If that comes back negative then it's probably some sort of hormone deficiency caused by the radiation she had during her 2nd transplant, but even that is a guess. It may seem crazy but I'm actually hoping for a benign tumor. At least then we'd know what's causing the problem!

Thanks to everyone for the positive thoughts. 8-)

-- Todd

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/11776515/

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 17:30:55 -0700

Got good news/bad news a few days ago. Good news is that all of Alex's labs came back normal, so it doesn't appear she has a tumor or Cushing's. Bad news is that the doctors are now stumped as to why she isn't growing and has gained so much weight lately. To top it off we found out on Friday that she has bronchitis. Once she gets over that she'll go in for more extensive hormone testing. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this soon.

-- Todd

http://fxmartini.stumbleupon.com/review/11571452/

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 22:12:25 -0700

Haven't been stumbling or writing much lately. There's been a lot going on and not much of it good. It appears that Alex has a tumor in her Pituitary Gland, which has resulted in her developing Cushing's Syndrome. She had an MRI a couple of weeks ago, but so far they've been unable to find the tumor. Her endocrinologist is still certain that one is there though. She's on a cruise with her Mom right now, but when she gets back she'll have another MRI. The good news is that Pituitary Gland tumors are almost always benign, but as you can imagine I won't relax until we know that for sure! ;-)

Other than possible tumors, divorce settlements and some business/financial setbacks, I'm still keeping my head above water. I can only hope that someday my life gets a lot more boring! ;-)

-- Todd