jason urn:uuid:21698335-adda-8d66-5ff3-2c3432ba1855 2009-06-05T12:17:40-04:00 jason testing urn:uuid:d312e616-481d-d0bd-6a7d-94a777ebdc69 2009-06-05T12:17:14-04:00 MS150 in memory of Sydney urn:uuid:6c3a5b36-a974-f36b-1ed0-404683944064 2009-05-25T09:51:04-04:00 Lalligal)

One of our members (DouglasMB) will be riding in the event in her memory and is make a great effort to spread the word about MS and raise money for the cause.

Please take a few moments to read through his first post here, and to read through another post about helping spreading the word here as well.

Please visit the MS150 in memory of Sydney page to find out the current status of the fund raising efforts and make a donation if yiou have the ability to do so.

Thanks everyone, one love :)

Ben]]> New Feature: Profile Messages urn:uuid:f0cbce81-7c1e-4c40-7fd1-20441cfc0d0b 2009-05-07T15:15:05-04:00
This one allows you to leave short messages for someone on their profile page.

For example, I just left one for Jim at
http://www.thoughts.com/scotslad60

Whenever you visit a person's profile, you can leave them a short 100 character message.

The profile owner can delete any message they don't want.

The profile owner can also Edit their Message Settings to determine the rules of who can post on their profile page.

To do this: click on the "Edit Message Settings" link in the Messages section on your profile page.]]> One Love Policy urn:uuid:1c25476d-acd4-fc59-3b8d-2738f7db5a1b 2009-05-07T13:06:41-04:00
Please take a few moments to read through it here:

http://www.thoughts.com/one-love-policy

Thank you all for respecting this concept, getting involved and making a difference.

One Love,

Ben


<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8onbDZmAwhE&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8onbDZmAwhE&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>]]> New Feature: Related Blogs urn:uuid:df11c20e-05f5-e02d-6a29-da9303ee2f76 2009-05-07T09:31:21-04:00
You will notice at the bottom of this post a section of Related Blogs with links to 5 blogs that are somehow related to this one

To enable this feature on your blog:

1. click the "Profile" tab in the top navigation menu
2. click the "Settings" link in the gray sub-menu under the Profile tab
3. click "Enable Related Posts"

you have the option of showing related posts from the entire community, or from only your friends and your own blogs.

I have mine set to allow related posts from the entire community.

This will be another great way to help our members find interesting posts that they might not otherwise have read, so I hope that you will enable this feature on your own blogs as well.

Thanks!]]> Welcome New Members urn:uuid:95eabadd-5034-7a75-01f2-bae13e1425f5 2009-05-06T11:00:28-04:00
Well, we have a new feature that displays the first few blogs of our new members.

Please go there are read the posts of our newest members and leave a comment if you have a thought to share with them. Thoughts.com is a welcoming and supportive community and now we have a cool new feature that makes doing this even easier.

To find the first blogs posts of our new members:

1. click on the "Blogs" tab in the main top navigation
2. click on the "New Members" link in the right side of the gray sub-menu

It will bring you here:
http://www.thoughts.com/blog/newuser

This will be a great way for us all to welcome new people and help them to feel at home.

Originally posted on the forums at:
http://www.thoughts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20451]]> Thoughts.com Office urn:uuid:597330c2-4c32-a702-2282-22a1e539e87d 2009-05-04T09:39:00-04:00
Even though we have been developing thoughts or 2 years now and have made great progress along the way, I sometimes felt I was not doing good enough because I‘ve been involved with so many projects, and we’ve had 2 different development teams since our beginning. Now that we are opening up an office, I love the idea of having an in house team, dedicated to making thoughts the most useful conversation tool on the web. I know that this will be the right move to keep stepping it up, and bringing you the site I see in my mind.

So with that, I thank you for being part of our community. Thoughts is made up of great people that really care about each other and share their most intimate thoughts with the rest of the world. We are working hard behind the scenes to create new tools and to make the site easier to use, so you can get down to what really matters, your thoughts.]]> The Web 2.0 Summit urn:uuid:5b7edaab-174d-7f65-282d-098073556618 2008-11-09T11:37:58-05:00 The web 2.0 summit was great this year. We attended some excellent sessions and heard some ideas from brilliant minds that express how the world will be operating in the not too distant future. Its amazing stuff that I just wish I could bottle up and show to everyone here on thoughts.com. Unfortunately, we’ll still have to wait a few more years until these technologies are a reality in our daily lives, but just seeing the concepts that they are working on right now was simply mind blowing. I can’t wait until the day comes when we can travel to China with a digital device similar to a mobile phone, that can automatically scan a Chinese written language and translate it for us into our language of choice. There is so much more, but I am short on time and now going to the airport to head to Las Vegas. See you all soon :)

]]> Blogging for Vegas urn:uuid:4d14ea24-a7aa-ba82-12dc-917bf3c2dc19 2008-10-27T12:37:45-04:00
In my last test post here:
http://www.thoughts.com/jason/blog/testing-the-new-site-132840/
Rose made note of the fact that I rarely posts on thoughts.com. I would love to post more often, but the fact is I am very busy building the site and working.

Lately, much of the work has been about the upcoming Las Vegas trip. So, I guess it’s about time a made a post about what's going on. We (my Wife and I) have been planning all the little details for quite some time now. The trip is coming together nicely and I am really excited about meeting everyone in person in just 2 weeks from now. I hope that we can top last year, which will be tough because everything went so well in 07, but I am optimistic that we have an excellent trip planned.

Anyway, a VERY big thanks is due to Valentina for all of her help in making this trip a reality. She puts forth so much effort into the details and coordinating everything that the trip would not be the same without her efforts, so Thank you baby :)

I can't wait to meet everyone, see you all real soon :)
It’s going to be a blast

One Love,

Ben
]]> Question of the Day urn:uuid:37dae9f2-199d-3be4-cc58-479e4ec77751 2008-06-28T00:18:07-04:00
Thank you for asking me to participate in the question of the day. I am very excited about this. Sorry for not getting in here any sooner. We have been working very hard on the new thoughts.com website, which will be launched very soon, and it’s been keeping me very busy. You are going to love it!

Thanks to everyone that has come before me with the question of the day. You all are very cool people :~)

Now it’s time for my question of the day. I noticed many of the questions have been 2 parts. I feel I should step it up a bit so I am coming at you with a 2 part… eh, make that a 4 part question ;~)

Here goes...

1. If you could travel safely through time without knowing at what time you would end up, would you do it?

2. Whether you would or not, if you could travel through time and had a choice to pick the time you would end up, what time would you like experience?

3. If you could travel safely through a wormhole without knowing what place you would go to, would you do it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole

4. Whether you would or not, if you could travel through a wormhole and had a choice to pick the place you would go, where would you like to visit?


My Answers:

1. I am not sure if I would. In my current world I would have to say no because I have a wonderful family that I love very much. With that being said, I love the idea and if I was a single man my answer could possibly be different.

2. If I could travel through time I think I would like to go into the future. 1,000 years from now must be a pretty amazing time.

3. Again, I have a family but the concept of a wormhole fascinates me.

4. If I could travel through a wormhole I would like to visit another planet, in another galaxy that has friendly life forms different than our own. I can imagine what some other planets must look like and to think that earth is the only planet with natural beauty does not make sense. I would love to see a beautiful planet with multiple moons and friendly life forms that is habitable.

Finally, I will pass the baton to the awesome brainstormer… I look forward to reading your posts

One Love
]]> Anonymous War On Scientology urn:uuid:e6954c71-8b39-dac5-c2d9-4b063affd84b 2008-04-09T10:43:03-04:00 Anonymous War On Scientology - Project Chanology over in the thoughts.com forums and would like to hear more about what you think of this current phenomenon. There is an interesting debate centered around freedom of religion, and whether or not Scientology is a religion, or is it a Tax Free Cult.

Please visit http://www.thoughts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5949 and share your thoughts...]]> Love is not so simple urn:uuid:ede88a6d-3014-0e85-8b62-cb4e9aa52617 2008-02-04T22:26:24-05:00 A Lesson Learned

My friend Wayne replied and said that "Love just may be to simple of an answer"

Well buddy, I think it’s actually the opposite. You being a married man of so many years must know this.

Love is not easy. There is one universal love that we all share, but those you love are also those that you can get quite upset with.

I really believe that we can overcome the fighting, war and hatred that exists in this world. The way to do this is though love, but this is by no means an easy answer.

Got Love?
]]> Baby Jason's 1st Birthday urn:uuid:648cba7e-61e6-7544-4eed-01cbe3c3f06d 2008-02-04T22:11:58-05:00
Jason's 1st birthday was yesterday on Superbowl Sunday. I can't believe he is one already. The last year has just flown by. I love being a father, and I think he is the best baby in the world. I am sure that many parents feel this way, but Jason really is. All of you that came to Las Vegas with us have met him and know just how great he is.

Anyhow, a bunch of his little friends came to his party. It was great. We had family, friends & neighbors all there to celebrate his first birthday. Jason has a wonderful time, running around with a big smile on his face and clapping his hands at every chance he had. I took some great videos of the party and hopefully will be uploading them sometime soon. Don't hold your breath because I am so busy with the planning of thoughts.com development that I have not been posting or uploading very much. At least I made this post, right?

To Jason: I love you. Thank you for changing my life. You are the best buddy

One LOVE Son]]> A Lesson Learned urn:uuid:7b15a8dd-68c5-417d-ca7a-74a339ec5fcb 2008-01-01T00:50:15-05:00
Happy New Year Everyone...

One Love
]]> just testing the new text editor urn:uuid:2e543d5d-4cb4-55e8-2c7a-cdf641eef50f 2007-12-04T09:32:56-05:00
test photo from photobucket:


<img src="http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/pbhomepage/kiss%20OR%20love/thkisses.jpg">



test video from youtube:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ce9f0JP6eks&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ce9f0JP6eks&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

one more test

]]> My Nephews & Halloween urn:uuid:dd9f0205-e9cf-7992-8c0a-e7c08c672e49 2007-10-30T08:01:55-04:00



Here is a cute picture of my nephews jumping around and playing. They are vey good litle boys. I hope we get to see them tomorrow for Halloween. This will be baby Jason's first Halloween and it would be nice for him to spend time with his cousins. My wife sent in a picture of Jason in a costume and it made it into the local paper. I hope everyone has a fun and safe halloween....

]]> Getting Ready for San Fransicso urn:uuid:b771e1c0-f1e5-a1da-242d-30188eb39b13 2007-10-14T12:10:55-04:00 Well... its about that time again. You know, time to pack up the suitcase and head back to the airport. I am one of those chronic traveler types. I feel like I just got back in the country, and now I am heading off to San Francisco for the web 2.0 summit. I am really looking forward to this trip. I think there will be valuable information to learn reading the future of the web and it should inspire me to continue bringing things to the next level with thoughts. I will post again from the convention and let you know if anything exciting happens. It might now sound exciting to you, but for me it I am really looking forward to it. ]]> Getting Home after Barcelona urn:uuid:70c60457-5f1d-f20c-4efc-e9b402e90cbe 2007-10-10T07:52:16-04:00 I recently traveled to Barcelona Spain with my Wife and 8 month old baby boy. The city was very beautiful and we had a good time there. The trip coming home was great. Baby Jason was so good on the airplane that many of the other passengers were commenting on how well behaved he was. The couple sitting next to us kept asking if they could buy him. I joking told them no, I think we're going to keep him. Anyway, its good to be back home. My mother in law gave us an excellent welcome home greeting as did our golden retriever Molly. Now its back to work double time...

]]> Champaign, Tango & Baby Jason urn:uuid:5090804d-46e1-0106-47f9-cf99e2190e7c 2007-09-03T20:57:33-04:00 Today we arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina after leaving Santiago Chile. It is our son Jason's 7 month old birthday today. We are fortunate enough to be staying at a wonderful hotel called The Faena. We got in just after 6:00 pm local time so there was not too much time to visit the city today. So, we checked in to the room, I got on the Internet for a while and we made reservations to go to dinner in the hotel and watch a Tango show.

It was fantastic. I did not think I could have such a great time with such an evening. First we went to dinner around 8:30. They made picking your meal easy by offering 3 choices for the appetizer, 3 for the entree and everyone gets a sample of all 3 postres (deserts). I had the salad and filet wrapped in bacon. It was delicious.

They kept the beverages flowing, which included wine and Champaign. I am not normally a connoisseur of Champaign, but this was smooth and nice, so I had a few glasses. The food was great and soon enough they brought the deserts. Having a taste of all 3 deserts was great, because what I would have picked if I only had one choice (chocolate with almonds) was actually my least favorite of the three. They also had a delicious lemon meringue pie like none I had ever tasted which was incredible. On top of that, their duce de leche was top notch, so at this point we were really impressed.


Now its 10:00 pm & time for the show. It started off with a 5 person band playing Piano, Violins, and accordions. These guys were good. When the Tango dancers came out I was impressed with the act that they put together. All in all this was a great show, much like you would see in Las Vegas. By the time it was all over, we were getting ready to leave and they broght us a birthday cake for baby Jason. Needless to say it was a wonderful and unexpected surprise. Tonight really was a great night!

 If you are ever in Buenos Aires, I highly recommended The Faena. Its pricy, but probably the best hotel I have ever stayed in. I am glad we still have tomorrow here.
]]> Baby Jason 1 Day Old urn:uuid:9b9b5eaf-fc09-d156-6b52-abc9a1938488 2007-08-09T10:57:53-04:00
http://www.thoughts.com/blog/photos/this-is-baby-jason-at-the-hospital-1-day-old-on-february-3rd-2007-55/

He looks so peaceful its amazing. Now he is full of energy and wanting to play lots of the time. they grow so fast!!!

Here he is at 4 1/2 months old on my first Father's day.

http://www.thoughts.com/blog/photos/jason-on-fathers-day-2007-172/ ]]>