Trying to take the Spotlight

Yesterday a wonderful resourceful site and facebook page were headlined in a prominent manner.

(Full article can be found here)

Gary James and A4CWSN somehow think that by having the a4 page literally scrolled over, and shown for a grand total of about two seconds, that it's been featured or was in the spotlight as well.

Sorry James, you weren't featured, or in the spotlight.  Though I know you seem to think otherwise.

The a4cwsn website will never, ever come close to being that of the website that was featured. There's a big difference between helping special needs families and taking their last ten dollars. I'm pretty sure most can figure out which is which. 

He couldn't just let this wonderful site and owner bask in their glory for actually being featured in this. Nope, he knows himself that he's in a sinking ship. Grasping at straws to say he was featured and in the spotlight of this article.  

Technology in Education is an amazing, wonderful resource for parents, therapists, and well, everyone.  

Here's the link to their facebook page where the most amazing Appy Parties are hosted, and the link to their website. 

Don't worry Mr James, I'm sure you'll make headlines, someday soon too. Though I doubt they'll be similar in nature to this wonderful site that was featured!

My Dreamy Repairman Hero

Sunday afternoon, I wanted to bake a cake.  Some of you may know that I absolutely adore baking. For those of you who didn't, guess what?! I love to bake!

I mixed everything up, and it was all set to go. Then I ran out of time. We had to go pick up the two kids from the in laws.

So I covered it and stuck it in the fridge.  When we finally got home, after ear piercing hours of being in the van together, finally the kids were in bed. I turned on the oven and waited for it to preheat.  And then I waited some more... and some more.. and some more.

Shit. The oven was dead.

Tried the burners and they worked.  Off I went to search on Dr Google.

With a process of elimination and my master google search skills, I figured that it was most likely the igniter that was dead.

Of course at some point before figuring out that it was most likely the igniter, I did curse and swear, mostly direct at my husband in frustration, begging him to freaking fix the damn thing. He asks do I really want him to do that? He's got a good point.

So I send off an email to the landlord, and get met with a reply that basically says, hahaha, you suck. Pay for it yourself.
Back to google I go (where I live it's illegal for a landlord to try and pull this stunt) and I send off a great witty reply and he agrees to pay for the repair.

I found a repairman and set up the visit. Don't worry, they called the landlord and got his credit card number first!

So this afternoon, Steve, came over to fix the oven.

I have to say, I sincerely appreciate that Steve knows how to buy pants that fit, also that he wears a belt. I mean, it's a cute butt and all. Butt cracks just aren't that appealing to me though.

Dr Google treated me well. It was indeed the igniter. Thankfully, Steve brought one with him, and replaced it in what I can only assume is record time. I'm pretty sure between having all four kids home, crowding him out and watching him work his magic and the dog growling when he first knocked on the door enticed him to get the work done, and get the hell out of here.

Within no time at all. Voila. A repaired oven, and I can now bake my cake. Yum. (uh, yum to both Steve and the cake).

PS, Anyone have suggestions on how I can break it so I can have another visit from Steve?

PS, I know this blog post isn't exciting. Forgive me. I just really wanted to share the pictures I was able to score of this guy with the rest of you! (Don't hate, you know he's cute!)

The Adventures of moving a Couch

Picture this..

You go with your husband and buy a new couch set. It's lovely.
Kids haven't destroyed it (yet) and you'd love for it to stay that way for at least a week, two if you're freaking brilliant and the stars align just so, and your kids aren't out to get you for something. (Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about.)

    

^ Love Seat                                                            ^ Couch

You bring it home, and you make the big mistake of forgetting about the hell you went through to bring the first set in when you moved in.

You do in fact manage to get it inside the house. On the main floor. Where your kids go ape shit bat crazy and destroy things.

So, you plan your attack for a few days. Did I mention that you managed to convince your in laws to take two of the kids for the weekend?

Well, it's obvious the weekend is over. That set needs to get out of harms way before it's too late. The baby has already managed to pee on it. (Sigh).
You need it to get into the den and pronto.

So, you attempt to move it through your upstairs livingroom, into the landing and down the stairs. Shit. The couch is too wide to fit through the damn door at the top of the stairs at the landing.

Plan B comes into action.  You remove the front door AND the side door. You bring the couch back through the livingroom, and forget how you brought it in through the front door to begin with. You stand and ponder for twenty minutes or so. (Really, you're already exhausted a need a break. You really aren't thinking anything but F&CK ME, is this over yet?!)

You finally manage to get it back outside the house, in one piece.  (Insert round of applause here, please).

This is the point in the story where your husband tells you that it won't fit through the side yard door. You have to lift it over your head. (This is where the cursing your husband happens)

So, you get it over the fence, into the yard.  You're now at the door leading inside to the landing with the door thats too small, and a tight corner leading downstairs.

Again, you try to regroup and plan an attack.

And fail. Miserably.

And that's when you realize you could have squeezed that couch through that doorway that was too small half an hour ago. You round the corner and end up back in your livingroom.

Where your new couch set is destined to be destroyed. Within the week.

True story.

Let's talk about money.

At the beginning of the year, a friend of mine created a PDF of all the a4cwsn status updates (minus the deleted ones of course) dating back to mid June.

I took four days and read the 900+ PDF and documented all tangible donations.

Here's pics (2 parts) of the PDF that was sent to the Attorney General- Consumer Protection Dept Investigator. Click on the pics to enlarge.

Keep in mind, recorded donations are those that are tangible. So, items not included would be:

• Paypal Donations
• Cash donations/Cheque Donations
• Percentage of sales from App Developers
• Affiliate links
• High value promo codes from Developers
• iTunes widget (5% of all sales)

The above post was made in August.  Imagine how much came through that iTunes widget as the page numbers grew.

Oh but hey, A4CWSN says only 43K...

Obviously, these aren't all the financials. This is just a small glimpse of the financials that we put together.

I have to ask, why would it be so difficult for A4cwsn to diclose the paypal donations records? Or the iTunes widget information, or the percentage received from sales from developers. Why is this considered such classified information to him? Why does he boast about everything else, but he won't show the community what wonderful things they accomplished? Why not give developers due credit?

He has said all financial information is public, to look it up on giveforward.com, but we know that isn't the only source of donations.

There is so much money that has gone unaccounted for. That a4cwsn refuses to acknowledge. The biggest question is why?

Yep, he went there, again.

The other day on twitter got interesting again.
A4CWSN decided to post more personal information. Albeit not all correct information, personal information that wasn't out there on the internet before, is now out there.

The following pictures are a series of tweets that A4CWSN sent out. I opened each tweet and you can see what he's replying too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I have no problem if someone wants to use someone's name online when it's readily available.  Aside from one of these tweeters, their names are NOT public on twitter. Most likely for a reason. Probably a damn good reason.  For him to then turn it around and blame it on the "hatters" for having to do that? To think that it's perfectly a-ok to post personal information, it just baffles my mind.

What shocks me is that his 'supporters' see absolutely nothing wrong with these actions, and neither does he. In fact he excuses the actions easily. He says we pushed him to sink to this level? No.  Everyone has free will. What they personally decide to do is their own choice. No one is forcing him to do anything.

I also find it interesting that he's been thanking Twitter, Facebook, etc for their assistance but when he posted his 'proof' of information, he posted links for Spokeo.  Which in my opinion, isn't the most reliable source for information. Hey, whatever floats your boat though!
(Hey, did you know you can opt out of Spokeo creating a profile for you? Click on their privacy link at the bottom of the page and follow their easy directions!)

If he does have a lawyer, don't you think they would be telling him to stop typing? To step away from the keyboard? To let the legal system deal with these issues?

Of course, this isn't the first time that he's posted personal information. I  highly suspect it won't be the last.  I am always surprised at the new levels of low that he'll sink to, I know I shouldn't be, but I am.
All in the name of intimidation.