Hey Guys,

I’m not really sure if you are interested in me blogging about this sort of stuff, but I thought I’d give it a go. If you are bored to tears, you can let me know and I’ll go back to posting recipes, etc.

Greedy or Needy is first and foremost a community. Yes, you can come on here and make a wish and potentially win a modest sum of money, but that isn’t the main reason why people keep coming back. It is the sense of community and real friendship.

When people first started using the web, it was a place where people could go to escape. They could have an online persona completely different from who they were in real life and it was pretty cool. Now, people want to use the web to connect on a deeper level with people in real life.

The web gives people the chance to find others with similar interests to themselves, regardless of location or socio-economic bracket. This is exciting! This connecting of people is what makes sites like GreedyorNeedy possible.

Knowing that, we need to think about how we are going to use the tools we’ve got to make the most out of them. How can we use this site to make amazing things happen? We have the opportunity to change things. No longer are you giving your $5 to UNICEF without having any idea what happens to it. You can make real connections with real people on here and see how that same amount of money impacts their lives. By the way, we refer to this as peer-to-peer giving.

We already have the Spare Change Fund, run entirely by you guys, what are some other suggestions for amazing things we can do on here?

The kids are all back to school after spring break, the snow is melting (for those of you that get snow), there’s a certain something in the air…

Spring is around the corner, can you feel it? I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions really, I feel it is just setting myself up for failure. However, I am all about making summer plans at the first sign of Spring. Here are my top plans:

-Bar-be-ques with Mojitos and friends

-lazy afternoons with Pimms

-team Lawnbowling (this is going to awesome!)

-hikes in the Rocky Mountains (Kananaskis Country and Banff National Park)

-hanging with my parents at their place on the Lake

What does everyone else have planned for summer? Any GoN meet-ups? You know I’ll totally come along if you guys are planning anything!

Fresh Salsa 

-8 roma tomatoes

-1/2 large red onion

-1 jalapeno pepper

-1 bunch cilantro

-1 lime

Chop tomato and onion into chunks, toss in a bowl. Take seeds out of jalapeno, chop finely and add to tomato and onion mixture. Cut up cilantro, add to bowl, then squeeze the lime juice over top. Mix everything together and let it sit for bit. Bust out some tortilla chips and dig in! You can also spoon this over fish, baked potatoes, eggs, anything you can think of! Get creative! You can add or change ingrediants as you see fit…throw in some garlic! Use mangoes and red pepper instead of tomatoes and onion! I heart exclamation marks!

Why is The Blue sharing a recipe?

I’m going to Mexico! That’s right, leaving tonight for Cancun/Playa del Carmen area. Do not fret, I will have my laptop with me and my trusty blackberry. I’ll check in every day, Laura and Bob will keep the home fires burning - so if anything goes wrong, they’ll be on it faster than you can say “Quiero un potro con mi cerveza por favor”

I’ll try and take plenty of photos to share with you upon my return. My flight home gets in early next Saturday morning, so if you notice your Private Messages aren’t being read, this is why! …and children, no misbehaving while mommy is out of town.

Huggles,

Blue

I’ve sorted all the feedback people have given me and prioritized it (who doesn’t like lists?). While it is a full time job going through my many emails of who isn’t getting along with who at the moment, I’ve taken the time to make a plan for the next quarter.

I think you’ll be pretty impressed with the upcoming changes to your profile section and the forums. I know, I said forums! Before you all start proposing marriage, I am not creating an ignore button. You want one! You want one so badly! I just don’t think it is the best way to handle the situation. Don’t worry, I have a plan. Of course, there will be global forums where everyone is welcome to the party. We are also adding something more like a living room. So…you can talk to your friends in a small environment where YOU set the rules.

It’ll take a little while to roll out, but I’m very much looking forward to it!

Everyone on here has people they like and people they can’t stand. It is just human nature. There is nothing out there that says you have to get along with everyone. Having said that, if I banned everyone that someone in the community didn’t like, I’d be sitting in the forums all day, all alone. Scratch that, I’d be one of the first ones banned and MightyMom would be sitting in the forums all alone.

I expect people to treat those they are not fond of the same way you would treat someone you aren’t fond of in real life. When I don’t like someone in real life, I do my best to avoid them. I do not run around like a bratty school girl, taunting the person I don’t like and gossiping with my friends. Take a moment to think about what you are doing. If you cannot imagine doing it at the Supermarket, don’t do it on here.

Having said that, often times, we often don’t like people because we don’t understand them. Take a moment to get to know your neighbours. You may find out you have plenty in common. Of course, you may also find out they are clinically insane. If you run into one of these people, give them space. Don’t poke an angry bear (words of wisdom from a Canadian)!

I would like to keep this site an amazing, inclusive place for anyone and everyone, but that can’t happen unless all of you are on board.

Keep on truckin’

Blue

ps One thing I do know for sure is that bitter women don’t get laid.

If this doesn’t put me at the top of your friend’s list, I don’t know what will. You say jump, I say HOW HIGH, my friends.

If you have over 85% participation, click around your account for an exciting surprise.

A community member’s daughter recently experienced bullying at school. Not cool. The funny thing about bullying is it is so far removed from the real world. Can you imagine someone at work telling you to hand over your lunch money or you’ll get a punch in the face? No. The bottom line is, as we grow older, it is easier to see why people bully: insecurities, jealousy, an embarrassing lack of intelligence… 

I remembered one time at work, someone pulled a co-worker aside and told them I was stupid. Have you ever had a stupid person call you stupid before? You just don’t quite know how to take it. As hard as I tried, it still hurt my feelings. We all have to deal with situations like this sooner or later. My approach is usually to call people out on it. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the topic. How do you tell your children to react to such behaviour?

Do you tell your child to fight fire with fire? Don’t hit first, but be ready with a good upper cut. Do you tell your child to “talk it out?” Let us know what you think!

I’ve been making a few observations about people’s wishes lately.  You know what I notice most? Poor writing. I mean, we’re not all born Hemingway, but a little click of that ol’ spell check button works wonders for everyone. Also, what’s the deal with grammer? I thought it was standard high school curriculum, but alas, maybe that is only in Canada.

Right or Wrong, people will not be able to empathize with your wish if they cannot understand it. If you put a little effort into making it awesome, you’ll notice a difference, I guarantee it. Promoting your wish is no different from selling a product. Would you buy something if you couldn’t understand the label?
Don’t stop there! Making your wish easy to read is just the first step! Tell us a story. Weave us a tale. It can be funny, it can be sad, it doesn’t matter. The key here is to get us to relate to your situation. Obviously, this isn’t about making something up, it is about sharing who you are as a person, so we understand the “why” behind the wish.

…and you betcha, I will put my money where my mouth is. If you have a wish you’d like me to review before it goes live, send me a private message or email me: blue@greedyorneedy.com Alternately, you can approach someone else in the community that you believe to be a good writer and have them review your wish. GoooooooooOOOOOOO Team!

Something about this wish just struck me as awesome. Thanks to some great community members, the wish has already been granted. If it wasn’t, I’d tell everyone to vote for it or risk the wrath of The Blue. What sets this wish apart from other wishes? I’m not sure exactly, but I do know I’m excited to hear about Justin’s progress in school. Findingmyfriends, keep us posted as to how the headphone experiment goes!

Justin to be the next Einstein

Justin has a very hard time blocking out noises around him. He works much better when it is completely silent. In school, there are 20 other students. At home, there’s a little brother and a very loud big sister. He is extremely intelligent, but isn’t able to accomplish the smallest school assignments because of the noises.I found some headphones online that are called noise-cancelling headphones. They block out ALL noises. He can wear these while doing homework, he can wear these when he is having a meltdown and just needs quiet time, he can wear these when he reads a book (which he loves to do). They range anywhere from $30.00 up to $200.00. I feel sure I can find him a good pair for under $50.00 (shipping costs included). If this wish wins and I find some cheaper, I will use any left over and let him purchase a good astronomy book.

Interesting Wishes

There certainly are some interesting wishes this week, mostly thanks to Woody’s call for Quirky and Unique Wishes. I thought I’d start blogging about some wishes every week, as well as highlighting some stuff that is happening in the community. If anyone has any suggestions of what they’d like to see in here, let me know!

This week in Wishes

There’s some pretty fierce early competition this week between DawnRN’s wish for Digger to visit her sister and Pauly’s wish for some help to pay for Back Rent and Car Payment. Both are super worthy of a little attention. Stop by and let people know how you feel about them!

Some other wishes that caught my attention included:

Metsjetscanes’s wish for Duct Tape for her Mouth - haven’t we all wanted something like this every so often? If sticking one’s foot in one’s mouth were an Olympic sport, I’d be a medal holder, guaranteed.

Rebelwithkidz’s wish for Nacho Cheese! - Seriously, this has been one of my favourite jokes for years. We love eating fake cheese at the office. Everytime it comes out, I always ask, “What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?” Fake cheese and that line go together like Peanut Butter and Jam!

Frustrated_dad’s wish for a Fun Weekend with his Daughter - This is just a nice wish. There’s been a lot of talk about Disney’s Princesses on Ice show. Unfortunately, Frustrated_dad can’t win in time to take his daughter to that, but hopefully he will be able to come up with something else exciting for the two of them to do.

Everything other than Wishes

I posted a thread on how to get some extra participation points. Keep those toolbars on your browser! Fame, Glory and a more heavily weighted vote!

The GoN community just loves themselves some drama! Keep it coming boys and girls! Cause we all couldn’t fill up our boring work days by getting along.

Inspirational Quote of the Week

If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame. -Anon