Sprenzy Shopping Blog: Category General

Raffle for Free iPhone - Menu for Hope 4

Chuck — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:09:00 -0500

Through my food blog, Sunday Nite Dinner, I’m participating in the 4th annual Menu for Hope charity raffle, which brings together food bloggers from around the world in the fight against hunger. Bloggers offer prizes that you can win by purchasing a $10 raffle ticket. The proceeds of the charity raffle goes to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP).

I was amazed to learn that in the last decade the number of people suffering from hunger and malnutrition rose from 791 million to 854 million. The WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency: each year, WFP gives food to an average of 90 million poor people to meet their nutritional needs, including 56 million hungry children, in at least 80 of the world’s poorest countries.

The number of people suffering from hunger is staggering. We have seen it first hand in our travels to Africa and Southeast Asia. Participating in Menu for Hope is one small way to help people much less fortunate than us.

The charity raffle runs from December 10th - 21st with raffle winners announced on January 9th. Prizes vary from homemade cookies to touring the elBulli laboratory with Ferran Adrià. Since I’m a complete gearhead, I have donated an Apple iPhone 8GB (US) as a prize in Menu for Hope. I use my iPhone all the time to keep track of shopping lists, find restaurants while out and about, get directions, take pictures of delicious dishes, and surf for new recipes on my favorite food blogs and forums. It’s the perfect phone for the on-the-go cook or food lover.

The prize code for the Apple iPhone is UW27. Shipped within the US only.

How to Enter/Donation Instructions

1) Choose a prize(s). For a complete list of prizes offered worldwide, visit Chez Pim. For a list of prizes from West Coast food bloggers, visit Rasa Malaysia.

2) Go to Firstgiving, the online fundraising company used to manage the Menu for Hope charity raffle, and make a donation.

3) Specify the prize you would like to bid for in the ‘Personal Message’ section of the donation form. Every $10 donated will get one raffle ticket toward a prize.

For example, a donation of $50 gets 5 raffle tickets, which can be distributed between different prizes, such as 3 tickets for UW27 and 2 tickets for UW33. This would be entered as 3xUW27, 2xUW33. Important: Check the box marked at bottom “I am happy for the page owner to see my email address …”! This will allow the organizers to contact winners.

Please spread the word to your friends and family to help in the fight against hunger! Let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance for your generosity.

Back To Blogging

Chuck — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. I’m back to blogging. If you have any product suggestions for me or need any product advice, drop me a note using the feedback form.

Change a Bulb. Change Everything. 18Seconds.org

Chuck — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 01:29:00 -0500

Last week, a broad group of companies, government agencies and Yahoo! launched the 18Seconds movement. The environmental initiative is named for the average time it takes a person to change a standard light bulb to an ENERGY STAR labeled compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL).

Lawrence Bender, the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, stated in a Yahoo! press release…

“This movement is about empowering the individual – to say to every person in America that with one easy step, they can become part of a movement that will literally change the world. I believe the CFL is the Trojan horse into the minds of the American public. Once you get somebody who feels good about making a difference and at the same time saving money, you have them thinking about what else they can do.”

In conjunction with the 18Seconds movement, Yahoo! created a site, 18Seconds.org, which ranks states and cities based on the number of CFL bulbs purchased since the beginning of the year. From 18Seconds.org…

“A compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) is a light bulb that uses less energy than a standard bulb to provide the same amount of light. Those bearing the government’s ENERGY STAR label use 1/3 the energy of a traditional bulb, can last up to 10 times longer, and save $30 or more in energy costs over their lifetime. You can find ENERGY STAR CFLs most anywhere you currently shop for light bulbs.

What kind of difference can one CFL make? Consider this: If every American swapped just ONE bulb for an ENERGY STAR labeled CFL, it would collectively save more than $8 billion in energy costs, prevent burning 30 billion pounds of coal, and remove 2 million cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions from our atmosphere. Just imagine the difference we could make if we replaced all of the lights we use most!”

18Seconds.org has additional information on why and how to switch to CFL bulbs and more importantly, how to recycle CFLs, which contain a small amount of mercury. On the site, you can also spread the word by creating a badge like the one shown above right.

Currently, San Francisco is only the 83rd ranked city in the number of CFL bulbs purchased. So I’m calling on my friends and neighbors in San Francisco to do our part and make the switch to CFLs. We can do better than 83! It’s a simple step to help save our environment and it only takes 18 seconds.

Happy New Year!

Chuck — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:51:00 -0500

From everyone at Sprenzy, we want to wish you a Happy 2007! We hope you had a great 2006 and have an even better 2007. So whatever your goals or dreams are for the new year, we hope you realize them.

If you find yourself down or facing an obstacle, remember to take the advice from our theme song, Shopping, by the Barenaked Ladies…

“Everything will always be alright
When we go shopping”

“When the going gets rough
Just shop with somebody tough.”

We are excited about the new year and look forward to enhancing Sprenzy.com to help you in your shopping endeavors. Again, Happy New Year! And take a listen to Shopping…

SHOPPING LYRICS

[CHORUS:]
Well you know that it’s going to be alright
I think it’s gonna be alright
Everything will always be alright
When we go shopping

Well you know that it’s going to be alright
When we go shopping
It’s always lalalalala…
Shopping spree begin
It’s always lalalalala…
Everybody wins

So shutup
And never stop
Let’s shop
Until we drop

[CHORUS]

It’s always lalalalala…
Shopping never end
It’s always lalalalala…
Shopping with our friends
Shopping once again

It’s always lalalalala… [x4]

It’s never enough
Until you’ve got all the stuff
When the going gets rough
Just shop with somebody tough

[CHORUS (x2)]

It’s always…
When we go shopping [x3]

It’s always lalalalala… [repeat to fade]

What Up Blawg? Need Product Advice?

Chuck — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 02:40:00 -0500

I have spent the last several months writing blog posts on products that I thought were interesting, had a lot of buzz or on products I own and enjoy using. So I want to take this opportunity to find out what products you are interested in buying. If you need assistance looking for a gift or just conducting research on a new product, let me know and I’ll help out by conducting some research for you.

The more information you provide me, the more relevant my advice will be. For example, if you are looking for an HDTV, let me know your budget, screen size, brand or any other requirements you have. Pose your product advice question in a comment below and I’ll respond with a post.

SHOP (RED) - Help Eliminate AIDS in Africa

Chuck — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:24:00 -0400

Last Friday, (RED)/(PRODUCT) RED launched in the U.S. In case you missed the announcement or Bono and Oprah’s shopping spree,

“(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)^RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)^RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

What’s the meaning of the parentheses or brackets? Well, we call them “the embrace.” Each company that becomes (RED) places its logo in this embrace and is then elevated to the power of red. Thus the name – (PRODUCT)^RED.

You, the consumer, can take your purchase to the power of (RED) simply by upgrading your choice. Thus the proposition: (YOU)^RED. Be embraced, take your own fine self to the power of (RED). What better way to become a good-looking samaritan?!”

There has been debate whether (RED) is a good idea or simply another way for corporations to sell more products, as seen on Read/WriteWeb and MetaFilter blogs. I can understand why some people are cynical about (RED) and large brands perpetuating consumerism.

For better or worse, we do live in a consumer-centric culture driven by large brands. As a complete gearhead, I am guilty of contributing to the consumerism issue. However, when I do buy products, I am conscience of purchasing from stores and brands that are socially or environmentally responsible, for example, REI, Patagonia, and 1% for the Planet.

Getting back to (RED), I think it’s a great awareness building campaign for the AIDS epidemic and poverty issues in Africa. Consumers are going to buy products in our society. If (RED) can capitalize on our consumer-centric culture and divert money to The Global Fund, I say more power to (RED), Bono and Bobby Shriver. I would rather see $10 go to The Global Fund from a purchase of an iPod Nano (PRODUCT) RED, then no money and no awareness raised from a purchase of a normal iPod Nano.

If you want to Shop (RED), the current (PRODUCT) RED partners are:

Motorola - Red Motorola RAZR (US) and Motorola SLVR (UK)
Gap - Red clothing
Converse - Red Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers
Armani Emporium - Red clothing and accessories
Apple - Red iPod Nano
American Express - Red credit card with 1% of purchases going to The Global Fund (UK only)

To learn more about (RED) and Bono’s One Campaign, I recommend reading Bono’s note. Also, the (BLOG) RED is a good way to stay abreast of (RED) news. I have been to Tanzania and have seen first hand the extreme poverty, lack of educational services and lack of infrastructure. So personally, (RED) is a very important cause, which I plan on supporting, as well as donating directly to The Global Fund.

Welcome to the Sprenzy Shopping Blog!

Chuck — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:34:00 -0400

With the launch of Sprenzy.com, we would like to introduce the Sprenzy Shopping Blog. The shopping blog is where you will find product advice, online shopping tips, cool products, new gear/toys or anything we think would be interesting to avid online shoppers.

Occasionally, we’ll provide tips for using Sprenzy.com or new features that we launched. But the majority of the time we’ll keep you up to date on the latest and greatest products and shopping trends.

To learn more about the online shopping gurus posting on this blog, visit our gurus page.

If you have any feedback on the site, the shopping blog or want advice on a particular product, send us note via Feedback or just leave a comment.

Ok, let’s get our shopping sprenzy on!