Mostly Game

I’m trying to drum up new recruits for Project Valour-IT today. The daily report from Villainous Company is not surprising — we are ahead of the curve on our fundraising goal, but the rate of donations is dropping off as the initial wave of people recruited have done their good deed. We need more websites and blogs so we can get more donations to our worthy cause.

So, I’ve done something today that is pretty out of the ordinary for me. I’ve solicited other bloggers to join the cause, and I’m not just talking people I actually know. I’ve also contacted some (relatively) well-known gaming bloggers that don’t know me from Adam. Hopefully, I’ll get a few recruits and even more donations out of this effort.

If you are reading this and want to join the cause, here is the link for the Marine team sign-up: http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=join-marines-team

Edit: heh, I submitted a form to Olivia Munn. She’s an Air Force brat and has mentioned supporting the troops in the past. If she or Bob Parsons comes through, we’ll be rocking. Unless she joins the Air Force team. Well, bad for the Marine team, awesome for our injured soldiers

Great marketing, money sink for consumers, heh. The razor blade model was invented by Gillette, of Gillette razors fame. Also popularized by the phrase, “The first hit is free,” in reference to drug pushers. Basically, give something away for free or very low cost, that will then generate repeat sales in the future, either via a disposable/consumable component or (in the case of drugs) addiction. I’d never heard of the kerosene lamp deal before reading the Wiki article — that’s diabolical, heh.

Anyway, razor blades are frakking expensive. We used to use the Atra II a long time ago, but within the last few years switched to the Mach 3 for some reason. Well, I went to buy some blades recently and, for whatever reason, thought the Atra II blades were compatible with our Mach 3 handle, and were considerably cheaper — something like $11 for 10, compared to $25 for 15, at Wal-mart. Well, they are NOT compatible. So I had 10 useless razor blades, and an expensive Mach 3 habit.

Why not check Ebay? Apparently, the Atra II has been discontinued (probably why we switched in the first place) and actually commands a good price online; I saw some going for as much as $18 for a handle. Reviewing the online razor market, however, revealed the Gillette Contour as supposedly compatible with Atra II blades, and going for much less. I thought what the hell and ordered one for less than $5 shipped, from Singapore of all places.

It arrived this week and it works! I now plan to buy my blades online as well. I saw auctions around $20-25 for 100 Atra II blades — more than 80% cheaper than my old Mach 3 blades.

Woohoo! Go me!

(It probably helps that I only shave about once a week and am not known for a wooly beard, so the dual-bladed Atra II works fine for me compared to the tri-bladed Mach 3.)

You know, say what you want about the dude and his marketing strategies, but the fact remains that Bob Parsons knows how to build and run a business: he grew Parsons Technology from his basement business into a $64M sale to Intuit in 10 years, and GoDaddy has grown from a new registrar to the market leader, three times as big as its nearest competitor. I really appreciate his no-bullshit demeanor and the fact that he takes the time out to produce his informative, entertaining video blog. Yes, it is also self-marketing, but it’s obvious he’s having a good time while providing the lessons he’s learned in business over the years.

Check out his current video blog entry: http://www.bobparsons.me/Blog28.html?watch=1; and I’ll paste his “16 Rules for Success in Business & Life In General” here, too:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
2. Never give up.
3. When you are ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
4. Accept the worst possible outcome.
5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
6. Take things a day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward.
8. Be quick to decide.
9. Measure everything of significance.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
12. Never let anybody push you around.
13. Never expect life to be fair.
14. Solve your own problems.
15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
16. There’s always a reason to smile.

He’s a Vietnam vet who gives a shout-out to the USMC on its birthday every year. I don’t even agree with a lot of his politics, but he I think he’s pretty cool.

/thumbs up.

We are also sending you – and all the other folks who submitted the same names as the finalists (because yes, it seems great STRIDE® minds thought alike) – custom packs of Nonstop Mint™ featuring one of the ten final names that most resemble yours. Those custom packs (there will be 12-packs of Stride gum in a box) will be ready in about six-to-eight weeks.

That’s from a second email I received from Stride. That would be cool to get some Permamint packs of gum, even if I don’t win anything else. Of course, $25K would be cooler.

/me crosses fingers.

Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm around our Rename Nonstop Mint™ contest. We appreciate your participation, but we had a technical glitch in connection with the selection of the finalists and therefore, had to close the voting and the contest. We are really sorry about this, especially after we saw such energy for the contest, from you and all our STRIDE® fans.

We are still going to give away great stuff and money – and more than you thought. We will be conducting a drawing among all those who submitted names, and five people randomly selected each will get $25,000. Yup, you read that right – everybody who entered a name has a shot. Stay tuned, and we will reveal those people shortly.

Because you took the time to participate, we would love to offer you a coupon for a free pack of STRIDE® gum*.

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, and now I have a chance to win cash still, woo! I think everyone who voted also got an email similar to this with a coupon for a free pack of gum.

I’ve since discovered that duplicate entries only count for the first one received, and that the ten finalists were all notified of the fact. Thus, that’s not my Permamint up for voting, it is someone elses.

Bummer.

A month or so ago, Stride Gum ran a contest to rename one of their flavors. They weren’t too happy with Nonstop Mint (rightly so, I might add). Anyway, the voting has just opened up and one of my entries is in the top ten: PERMAMINT.

http://www.stridegum.com/#/nonstopmint/

So, go register and vote for me*, please! (Limit one vote per person.) I can’t remember what the top prize is, something like $1000 or a pack of gum. Anyway, it doesn’t matter – vote me up! I was in third place when I voted.

* – at least, I hope it’s me. I don’t know what happens if more than one person submits the same name. Hopefully it’s not first come, first served (or if it is, mine was first, heh).