I, Shane › Shane Adams’ personal weblog

As someone who has been a loyal Sprint user for many years, I have been really looking forward to the release of the Samsung Instinct, a phone that many are calling one of the first decent competitors to the iPhone. When the iPhone first came out, I was jealous, but it was way too expensive to even consider. Tack that onto the fact that I am a member of Sprint’s Friends and Family plan, which makes things all the more inexpensive.

I’d go as far to say that I was excited for the release of the Instinct…

Until today.

Today, my favorite company in the world released the second-generation of their industry-changing device. There are haters that don’t want to admit Apple’s greatness, but those people are kidding themselves. This is a phone that has sold 6 million units in ONE YEAR.

To put that into perspective…even though it was released mid-way through the year, the iPhone was the 2nd most popular smartphone in the U.S. (3rd globally) and outsold all Windows Mobile devices combined.

The iPhone 3G isn’t really a massive update overall. However, the fact that it is adding 3G wireless connectivity and dropping its price by half (the 8GB iPhone went from $399 to $199), combined with the best operating system a phone has ever seen…well…needless to say, I’m reconsidering whether or not I want to stick with Sprint.

So here’s what I’m proposing…those of you that helped me raise money to buy a dairy cow back in January…I’m giving you another opportunity to give.

If you donate enough money for me to buy an iPhone, I’ll give up red meat for the rest of the year.

You read that right…I’ll give up red meat through the holidays if you help me buy an iPhone.

Today was a good day for heifer fundraising, but we are still $70 short of our $500 goal. There are less than 7 hours left in this day…if that $70 is raised, I will be giving up red meat for 4 long months.

FOUR MONTHS.

As someone who has been craving a burger for the last 48 hours, there’s definitely a part of me that doesn’t want that last 70 dollars to be raised. The thought of giving up burgers, steak and barbecue for the until Memorial Day isn’t something I am too keen on.

But.

If you make the sacrifice and donate your money, I’ll make the sacrifice and give up red meat. It will suck, but I want to make sure you understand the full level of my commitment. I didn’t want you to give something for nothing. I get the added benefit of better cholesterol levels. You get the benefit of my suffering. Click below to donate.

The month of my red meat fast is almost over and I’ve raised about $200 of the $500 needed to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International. Many thanks to those of you who have contributed thus far. I’ve also received another $100-150 in pledges so we’re theoretically over halfway there.

So here’s my end-of-the-month push to close the deal:

If I can raise enough money for the cow before the end of this month (midnight tomorrow night - it has to be deposited into my PayPal account)…

I will remain red-meat-free until Memorial Day.

Believe me when I tell you that this is no small task. I’m really starting to crave a burger and our church’s chili cookoff is in February. To abstain from eating red meat until the end of May is not something I look forward to, but if that’s what it takes to inspire the blogosphere to contribute, I’m willing to do it.

Consider that my gauntlet being thrown down. Click the image below to donate.

Many thanks to the link and radio mention from Tony this morning.

I thought I’d give a little update on how we’re doing so far on the Buy a Cow project.

We are 30% of the way there!

In the comments, Chimpotle posed the question:

What if you don’t get enough money? Will you get the llama instead?

To answer the question publicly: No. The principle of the project started with a cow and I’m hoping for it to end with a cow. So either I will abstain from eating red meat as long as it takes to raise the money for 1 dairy cow or I’ll find a corporate sponsor or something like that to make up the rest of the money. I want to buy at least one cow. It would be awesome if we can buy more than one. To donate, click below:

Also, if you’d like to put a badge on your blog, go to this post for instructions.

On the first of January, I posed a challenge to myself and my little corner of the blogosphere. I vowed to stop eating meat for the entire month of January, and in return, I was going to attempt to raise enough money to purchase a dairy cow from Heifer International.

I’m kicking in the first $50 and I’ve received some verbal commitments from a few different people. Many thanks to each of you.

I’m holding up my end of the bargain. It hasn’t been easy, but I’ve steered clear of cheeseburgers, steaks, beef stews…anything with red meat. Even my precious steak burrito bol from Chipotle has become a chicken burrito bol.

I got a suggestion from meesha.v over at Kansas City with the Russian Accent to come up with some banners so people could put them on their sites. Ask and ye shall receive. They aren’t terribly creative, but I’ve got one for black backgrounds and one for white backgrounds.

If you’d like to put either of these banners on your blog, here’s your code to copy and paste:

For the black one:

<a href="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/2008/01/01/red-meat-reduction/" title="Help Shane buy a cow for Heifer International as he steers clear of red meat in January"><img src="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/wp-content/uploads/heifer-banner.gif" alt="Heifer International - Ending Hunger. Caring for the Earth." style="border:none;" /></a>


For the white one:

<a href="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/2008/01/01/red-meat-reduction/" title="Help Shane buy a cow for Heifer International as he steers clear of red meat in January"><img src="http://topfivedesign.com/shane/wp-content/uploads/heifer-banner-white.gif" alt="Heifer International - Ending Hunger. Caring for the Earth." style="border:none;" /></a>


So spread the news around the blogosphere. I’m trying to collect enough to purchase a dairy cow through PayPal, but if you’d like to purchase part of a cow yourself through the Heifer International website, feel free. If you’d like to donate $5, $10…whatever amount, I’m trying to collect smaller donations that Heifer can’t take through their site. To make a donation, click below:

Each month this year, Alli and I are going to participate in a “fast” of sorts. Each month, we will give up something we love until the last 5 days of the month with the hope that we’ll start to break some of our bad habits and move towards healthier living.

For January, besides soda, I’m giving up red meat. Those that know me know that I love cheeseburgers maybe more than any other food. Giving up red meat will be an amazingly difficult task for me, but one that I’m looking forward to.

As a show of support for me, I have a proposition to you, my readers:

Buy a cow with me.

Heifer International is one of the world’s leading charitable organizations for meaningful gifts, providing communities around the world with sustainable gifts that help them become self-reliant.

The largest donation on the Heifer International website is a dairy cow.

A good dairy cow can produce four gallons of milk a day - enough for a family to drink and share with neighbors. Milk protein transforms sick, malnourished children into healthy boys and girls. The sale of surplus milk earns money for school fees, medicine, clothing and home improvements.

And because a healthy cow can produce a calf every year, every gift will be passed on and eventually help an entire community move from poverty to self reliance. Now that’s a gift worth giving!

To put my money where my mouth is (or isn’t, I guess), I’m going to put forth the first 10% towards the purchase of a cow. That’s $50 of my own money to start the process. I’m putting a challenge to my readers (and I know you are out there) to come up with the rest. Any money raised will be put toward purchasing animals to help communities around the world. 100%. No less. If you’d like someone to vouch for me to prove I won’t be putting it toward anything else, I am sure someone will do it in the comments.

Click the logo below to donate.

I hope that everyone participates. Even if no one does, I’m planning on putting my $50 towards at least a share of a cow.

Will you join me?

If you can’t read the image, it basically says that if you buy a burrito, tacos, salad or bowl at a Chipotle in Kansas City, Chipotle (the King of Burritos) will donate the proceeds up to $10,000 to Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics.

So there’s a good reason to have a burrito this Saturday…

Do it for the kids.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears mentioning again. I LOVE the company that I work for.

We have a dodgeball court.

This past weekend, we held our first annual charity dodgeball tournament. It was awesome.

Since I was gone two weekends ago, I couldn’t volunteer for the event, but I was able to get there this weekend. It was a lot of fun and I got my serious dodgeball ref whistle on.

My company co-sponsored the event with a local sports radio station and we ran it and hosted it in our official “dodgeball arena”. We had 56 teams participating, over 450 players, and we raised over $10,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Union Broadcasting Foundation, which benefits local Kansas City charities.

The outpouring of support was fantastic. What surprised me was how so many people are completely into dodgeball. And they were seriously competitive. We had two “almost-fights” that had to be “almost-broken-up”. And I’ll tell you something else…being a dodgeball referee is freaking TOUGH. Too many things going on at once. We had 5 referees watching the game at once and there were still calls that were contested. Players wouldn’t leave the court unless we told them to.

But for the winners (the Klown Punchers), it paid off. They received:

• $1,000 cash
• Entry into the National Dodgeball Championship in Schaumburg, IL
• 8 free tickets on Southwest Airlines, and
• 8 Richard Petty Driving Experiences from the Kansas Speedway

Not a bad prize. And a great tournament. We are probably going to start planning for next year’s tournament a lot sooner.

Good times.

BlogAid.org.uk

I know that it isn’t much (particularly with my readership), but I am pledging that all of my earnings from Google Adsense or Amazon Associates will go to aid efforts for the areas affected by the devastating tsunami and earthquake in southeast asia.

Credit goes to Andy Budd for thinking of this. As of my pledge, there are 123 bloggers who have pledged to give their advertising and affiliate dollars earned to the tsunami efforts. While that may not seem like a lot, every little bit helps.

The devastation that has been brought to that region is incomprehensible. There is much to do, but more than anything, faith can restore hope. I pray for the people who have been affected by this tragedy.