Now it's easy to add sign up buttons right to your website or blog and link directly to your sign up! After you build your sign up, look for the "Web Buttons" link in the navigation on your "My Account" page. Our simple wizard will help you customize your button and provide a snippet of code for you to post on your site. It's a great way to get more people involved!
Classic Tall Button
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Green Tall Button
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Classic Wide Button
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Green Wide Button
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COMMENTS:
Posted by Angel Rutledge on Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:50 PM EST
Great idea! I can't wait to use it.
Last night I was driving in the car alone… when I had one of those moments. One of those moments when God cuts through the clutter of life and sends a message. Just for me. And this one was through a song.
Now, I don’t talk too much in this blog about my spiritual beliefs, because I know there are many people from all walks of life that use our site. But one thing that is common to the coordinators and organizers that utilize SignUpGenius.com… is they are all leaders. Leadership is something I’ve been reading and thinking about and focusing on for the last year or so – and I know it is something that every event planner or church leader or teacher or sports coach that uses our site values. So whatever your spiritual beliefs are… maybe this was a message for you too.
So I’m driving in my car and a song from Sanctus Real comes on the radio that I’ve never heard. It’s a prayer from a husband and dad, who suddenly realizes how desperate his family is for his spiritual leadership. Powerful song. And I’m sitting there and I feel like God opened my eyes to all these moments in my day that showed how much the world around me was desperately crying out for me to stand up and lead. To protect, serve, shepherd, comfort, fight for what’s right – to show by example what’s important in life. I could suddenly see it in my sons’ eyes when I walk in the door from work and they rush to see me. I could see it in my daughter’s eyes when she asked me what I thought of her outfit. I could see it in my wife, who was exhausted from the day and asked if I could be the one to pick up the kids. And then I could see it at church… when I picked up my daughter from youth group and there was a mass of wild junior highers - all acting out – trying to figure out who they should be... and looking for someone… anyone… to show them.
Can you hear it too?
Our whole world is desperate for leaders.
For followers of Christ, leading involves pointing a hurting world to the answers found in a life of faith. That was a sobering challenge for me. But even if that’s not your belief… for all of us, it means recognizing the incredible responsibility that it is to be in charge of sports teams, school classrooms, small groups, and families. It is not something to be taken lightly. It is a task that requires our dedicated effort and attention.
So listen closely. Watch the faces of your group. Of your family. The cry for leadership is there.
So I was watching television recently and saw a commercial for the new Gillette Fusion razor. Have you seen this? This amazing new razor has FIVE blades on it.
A chill ran down my spine as I saw this thing. Like most men, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating and dreaming about how many blades could actually be fit onto a single razor. Until recently, I subscribed to the traditional thinking of the scientific community… that the natural laws of physics have created certain boundaries that cannot be broken and should never be pushed… like maybe 4 blades was all that was physically possible and that going beyond that would cause irreparable damage to the entire space/time continuum.
But this gigantic tech leap forward blows that assumption out of the water and leaves me thinking… how far could we really push this? Could we get 8 blades? 12? 20? Could I eventually just hold a razor up to my face, turn my head to the side, and complete my entire shave with one stroke? With this new development, almost anything seems possible.
It makes me proud to be an American. I can just picture our founding father, George Washington, shaving with a dull knife by the Potomac and cutting his face. I bet if he had only known that one day he’d have helped found a country that would create a 5-blade device that can smoothly glide over your face while “massaging the skin” simultaneously… all those wars and challenges of establishing the nation would have seemed worth it to him.
It also makes me wonder... who are the guys that have done this? MIT or Harvard prodigies sequestered in some ultra-secret government research facility? Could we get them to put down razors for a couple years and just cure cancer before they start working on six blades?
I know one thing. There's no way I'm shaving with three blades anymore. That's like... as old and outdated as MySpace.
Apple, the ultimate source of all things innovative, recently came out with a new product: The Magic Trackpad. Have you seen this? Basically... they have taken the finger-touch-pad technology that comes on many laptops and have made an accessory that you can use with a desktop to replace your mouse.
This cracks me up. Who are the people that want this device? If you have ever used a laptop with a trackpad, you know that trackpads are incredibly annoying! Most people that do a lot of work on a laptop buy a portable mouse so they don't have to use their trackpad!
But I do trust Apple.... and they always know what I should have and what I should be doing with my computer. So I guess I am going to buy a portable mouse to use with my laptop so I don't have to use the laptop's trackpad and a Magic Trackpad for my desktop so that I don't have to use the desktop's mouse. What do you think?
Everyone has that special something to help them navigate the cubicle maze and survive office life. There’s a guy down the hall from me that religiously gets a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee every morning. And one of the women in our office decorates every inch of her cubicle as if it was a historical family album. I even have one friend that is in love with a pen.
Now, me… I’m addicted to gloves.
When I got out of grad school, it was the height of the internet boom and I was running my own web development company. The demand for web services was insane and pulling long days and nights coding was standard. My body held up a little while… but the pain in my wrists and back soon notified me that ergonomics was key. I started trying wrist creams and special chairs and ergonomic keyboards… anything that promised relief.
That’s when I discovered the SmartGlove. And you have to be desperate to try these things, because when you see them in a picture… it looks like a terribly awkward thing to wear. But not so. They actually are incredibly comfortable and instantly relieve any wrist stress from typing. There is a semi-hard foam brace that helps keep your wrist contoured properly and a palm pad that keeps your hands curved naturally for the keyboard. Typing was never this enjoyable.
I honestly won’t work without these. I could, but I don’t. Which is great for my wrists and productivity. The only downside is I look like a complete idiot everywhere I go. Cause I wear them at home, in coffee shops, in our office, anywhere I get on a computer. The gloves only come in black, so it always appears like I’m about to enter an intense boxing match.
Our little Skylark media team is in the corner of this big office floor and we have a lot of gadgets (cameras, editing workstations, etc.). So when someone new comes to the company next to us, the conversation usually goes like this:
“Wow… who are those people in the corner with all the cool toys? And why does their leader always look like he’s getting gloved up to give me the smack down?”
Yes, I boldly endure laughs and giggles in order to advance SignUpGenius.com and complete our various video projects. But we never have to worry about the safety of all our equipment. Cause everybody knows that if someone ever tries something, I’m gonna unleash a big ol’ can of kick-butt typing on their head. And it won't even hurt my wrists.
COMMENTS:
Posted by Jack Lugar on Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:23 AM EST
That guy who loves his pens sounds really amazing.
I would travel to NC to see you in the octagon doing a little MMA. In fact, I think the gloves actually make you look a little cooler.
Remember The Jetsons? In the closing credits, George would always take his dog Astro for a walk on a space treadmill. Astro would start running after a cat and the treadmill would cycle out of control… leading George to yell “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!”
These days, I feel that way about life.
It seems like the treadmill of busyness has been cranked up to a breakneck pace… and none of us can get off. The intensity has seeped into every aspect of society, especially our families:
SPORTS: Remember when playing a sport meant you participated during one season at school? These days, playing sports means a year-round regimen of training, travel teams, camps, and tournaments.
CHURCH: It’s no longer enough to have a nice elderly woman teach our kids with a flannel graph. They now need to have a rock band, drama team, laser light shows, and be involved in at least 4 different small groups.
SCHOOL: It’s never a good sign when your elementary school has to send home a thick newsletter each week just so parents can keep up with all the fundraisers, science fairs, homework assignments, and field trips.
FAMILY: Today’s kids don’t have a chance to engage their imagination as we book them up solid with play dates, birthday parties, and mommy-and-me classes.
Technology plays a funny part in all this… because it can make life easier… but also accelerates the craziness. While it’s a heck of a lot easier to write a report for your boss using a word processor than a typewriter… now that we all have computers, your boss raises the expectations for how many reports you can write. With digital cameras and smart phones and color laser printers and home DVD burners… the expectations are now off the charts.
So I helped found SignUpGenius.com because I was pulling my hair out with the busyness of organizing. And as thousands around the country have found… it makes coordinating events a LOT simpler.
But…
The danger is that I now think I can plan and organize more things! Personally, I’ve struggled taking on too much now… and I’ve also seen activities grow in some organizations that use our site. Yikes! Is SignUpGenius.com just another tool that will completely destroy our society?
Man, I hope not. So, please… go out and organize your event with SignUpGenius.com and then promise me you’ll take the time you save and go take a bike ride with your kids.
If you really have to… you can take along your smart phone.
COMMENTS:
Posted by Jack Lugar on Wed Jul 14, 2010 2:33 PM EST
I'll admit I've placed a few phone calls while biking. I haven't mastered texting and biking yet.
Posted by Dan Rutledge on Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:57 PM EST
Yeah... if only it weren't so hard for FourSquare to figure out where you are on your bike!
Happy Fourth of July! I hope you have a great time with friends and family this weekend and that your dog makes it through all the fireworks without too much emotional damage! In honor of the holiday, here's 30 more reasons to celebrate! Check out these new looks you can give your sign ups!
So you’ve probably heard of the iPad… unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month. And even then, the rock probably had an Apple advertisement painted on it.
Yes, the iPad is here. Three million people have already shelled out $500 to say that they desperately need this electronic device, even though a few months ago the product category of tablet computers didn’t really exist.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Apple is an innovative company and this thing looks incredibly slick. It plays music and games, runs apps, shows movies, and is perfect for browsing the web and checking Facebook. Look, if someone wants to gift me one, I’m not going to complain or anything. And I’m not saying no one should get one. But I personally won’t be spending any money for one. And here’s why:
First, this thing is the definition of “toy.” Tons of fun, but basically doesn’t do anything I already can’t do with a more practical device… my laptop. I need a laptop for work as it has a better processor, larger storage, solid keyboard, and more advanced applications for getting work done. Yes, the iPad would be nicer for chillin’ on the couch, but I can’t see dropping $500 for that kind of difference.
Secondly, for me, the iPad would be an unhealthy addiction machine. The last thing I need is some new ultra-portable device that enables me to spend MORE time on a computer. Seriously… if I had to make a list of all the things the iPad does best and all the things that I really need to be doing less of in my life… it would be the same list!
THINGS I SHOULD BE DOING LESS:
Reading about sports
Watching movies & TV
Checking Facebook
Playing video games
Browsing the web
Honestly, what we all need much more than an iPad is a little unplugging! Is it just me or has our society gone a little overboard with “always on” tech devices? I have all these cool communication/entertainment devices, but am I really more connected to people? Am I more happy? Here’s the kind of stuff I really need:
THINGS I SHOULD BE DOING MORE:
Going to dinner with my wife
Playing basketball with my kids
Visiting my parents
Going to coffee with a good friend
Playing board games with my family
Ok, you get my point. Maybe it’s a little stretch to call the iPad a symbol of all that is wrong with our materialistic, web-connected, tech-worshiping, entertainment-focused society. But it's close. And besides -- if you disagree, you can always buy me an iPad to change my mind. Preferably the 64GB version, ok?
COMMENTS:
Posted by Jack Lugar on Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:57 PM EST
I'm not getting one because I don't have a pocket big enough. Oh, and I'm assuming you're getting OJ with a good friend.
Posted by Dan Rutledge on Fri Jul 2, 2010 7:43 AM EST
Jack - I always miss those orange juice mornings in Burbank! I've gotten into coffee lately, which is probably not a good switch... but I can now sometimes stay up later than 9pm.
Hello everyone! Our panel of judges has finished laughing through the entries and has now picked the winners in last month's "Funniest Kids Quote" contest! Thanks to everyone that submitted - we hope that it provided a fun break to the end-of-school scheduling chaos!
FIRST PRIZE: $100 Target Gift Card
At my son's 5th birthday party, he asked "Where are the Popsicles?” I told him… ”In the house, be a good boy and go get them.” 5 minutes later I noticed he gave everyone a tampon while I was grilling burgers. He said, " Daddy, what flavor are these?”
- Tim Blesser
SECOND PRIZE: $50 Target Gift Card
Once I had to take my little brother to my work to pick up my check. My brother was only 3 at the time and so everyone stopped to talk to us. Well when we ran into my boss who started talking to my little brother about everything and my little brother looked up at him and said "it's okay, sometimes hair sticks out of my nose too!" I felt my face turn bright RED!
- Emilee Vuksta
THIRD PRIZE: $25 Target Gift Card
After my son's fish died, we buried it in a box in the backyard. One day, while washing dishes, I see through the window my son digging at the grave site. I called him in and asked what he was doing, he said, "I wanted to see if he left for heaven yet."
- Becky Bibeault Van Volkinburg
Honorable Mention:
I taught a 4yr. old preschool class and was greeting children and talking to parents as they arrived one morning. As I was talking to a parent a child asked me, "Are you going to have a baby?” Being overweight, I understood the question and said no, I wasn't. The child insisted and said, "You are having a baby!" to which I replied, “No, honey, I'm not, now go play.” I continued my conversation with the parent when I felt something on my leg. The child had laid down on the ground and was looking up my skirt! I quickly asked what she was doing when she replied, "I'M LOOKING FOR THE BABY!"
- Stephanie Kiser
When my daughter was 2 years old she frequently misprounced words. We were shopping in the grocery store on a Saturday, when it was nice and crowded. Suddenly she yelled out "MOMMY WE NEED MORE PORN!!!" as we passed cans of corn...... and all heads turned....
- Erin Brooks Haag
My 6 year old proclaimed that he had solved the question of where babies come from. The second I heard those words, my mind started racing with how to answer his in-depth questions he always shoots my way. I interrupted him & started saying “Baby doll, when me & Daddy fell in love, we got married, & decided we loved each other sooooo much that we wanted to make a baby. He started yelling, “EW yuck, Mommy, what are you talking about?! No one ever told you where babies come from, Mommy?!! I can't believe Mawmaw never told you where babies come from, Mom!” So, at the risk of having no clue what he was about to say, I asked him where he thought they came from. He said- (rolling his eyes) “One of my friend's at school told me all about it today… he said he heard his Mommy talking about it with one of her friends... It comes from getting a back rub or a massage. His Mommy said- That dang back rub is what started it all... nine months later baby brother arrived.”
- Lacey Moore-Lewis
I was looking through my 4 year old son's scrapbook and he says, "Mom, is that my Facebook?"
- Tara Sansom-Hayden
My 5 year old daughter, Bailey, came running downstairs with no clothes on....it was her birthday. I told her to go back upstairs and put on clothes....she said " But Mom it is my birthday and I want to wear my birthday suit!"
Have you seen all the commercials and advertisements lately reminding you to remember your “Dads & Grads”? This marketing catch phrase really irks me. Since when did Father’s Day get lumped in with another holiday? So dads aren’t even important enough to get our own day now and we have to share?
Seriously, can you imagine this happening with Mother’s Day? If Mother’s day took place during music appreciation month would we tell people to celebrate Moms and Brahms? Or if it was near Veterans Day… Moms and Bombs? Not a chance.
When it comes to holidays, we really appreciate mothers. Mother’s Day is traditionally the day of the year when the most phone calls are made. The commercials for Mother’s Day are sappy, heart-warming flashbacks to a mom cooking a child a meal and bandaging up a knee. We are usually told we should get mom a nice big diamond necklace, or a spa treatment, or something to give them a break from all their hard toil and sacrifice they do for us.
With dads… it’s more like you can pick him up a gift on the way to graduation and save yourself an extra trip. Or if stores do advertise specifically for dads… they focus on the things dads do apart from the family. According to the marketing gurus… dads do only two things: they golf or sit around on their duff with other dads and watch sports on TV. The rare, exceptional dad… can both golf and watch TV.
Ok, so maybe it isn’t quite that bad. But I find that in general, society just doesn't respect fatherhood much or even expect much from fathers. And sadly, it’s often with good reason. Far too many fathers have been absent, unfaithful, irresponsible, and focused primarily on themselves. I have to admit that many more moms have been carrying the load of parenting and being the better spiritual leader in their families.
I think it’s time for us dads to step up… and finally be worthy of those incredibly fashionable “#1 Dad” t-shirts we seem to get.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Like you need another blog to read, right? Well this one is completely different than anything you've ever read before!! Um... not really. But you can read it if you want to keep up on the latest SignUpGenius news and the off-beat thoughts of our co-founder Dan Rutledge.
A chill ran down my spine as I saw this thing. Like most men, I’ve spent a lot of time contemplating and dreaming about how many blades could actually be fit onto a single razor. Until recently, I subscribed to the traditional thinking of the scientific community… that the natural laws of physics have created certain boundaries that cannot be broken and should never be pushed… like maybe 4 blades was all that was physically possible and that going beyond that would cause irreparable damage to the entire space/time continuum.
That’s when I discovered the SmartGlove. And you have to be desperate to try these things, because when you see them in a picture… it looks like a terribly awkward thing to wear. But not so. They actually are incredibly comfortable and instantly relieve any wrist stress from typing. There is a semi-hard foam brace that helps keep your wrist contoured properly and a palm pad that keeps your hands curved naturally for the keyboard. Typing was never this enjoyable.
Our little Skylark media team is in the corner of this big office floor and we have a lot of gadgets (cameras, editing workstations, etc.). So when someone new comes to the company next to us, the conversation usually goes like this:
Seriously, can you imagine this happening with Mother’s Day? If Mother’s day took place during music appreciation month would we tell people to celebrate Moms and Brahms? Or if it was near Veterans Day… Moms and Bombs? Not a chance.
