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United EVENTures

Together We Will
Help Us Name Our New Activity!
 Help Us Name Our New Activity! 1024 768 BRendine
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We recently had a brainstorming session and this was the result, but there is one problem – our brainstorming session ended before we had a name for this event. So we are turning to you for help!

The Event:

In this charity driven team building exercise, groups will be broken up into smaller teams with the goal of building a segment of a race  track which remote controlled cars will navigate as the final challenge. Each segment must match up to the other parts of the course, forcing teams to not only make their section challenging, but adding an element of collaboration amongst the competing teams. Teams will be using items that they will be donating after the event to build their race course. If you choose to work with a food pantry, then teams will use canned and boxed goods as their obstacles. Everything, even down to the remote control cars will be donated at the end of this event. Once the teams have completed their section of the course, they will then challenge their co-workers to a race through the course using remote controlled cars. This fun and engaging activity blends teamwork, competition and giving back to the local community – all while making your team bond stronger.

The Name: ?

Leave your suggestions below….

Why the Ball Costs 5 cents…
 Why the Ball Costs 5 cents… 1024 550 BRendine
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The ball costs 5 cents. If a bat and a ball together cost $1.10 and the bat is $1 more than the ball, then $1.05 plus $0.05 is $1.10. I was reading the book, Thinking Fast and Slow, where Daniel Kahneman explains that there are two systems to the brain. There is the fast thinking side of the brain, which relies on past experiences to give you the quick responses, like what is 1 plus 1 – you don’t have to use energy to get an answer. Then there is the slow side of the brain, which needs to work its way through a problem. The downside of the slow side of the brain is that it uses energy and wants to rely on the fast side of the brain. So it will default to reason if we do not sit down and force ourselves to think though a seemingly simple problem. Take our bat and ball question for example – this question is designed to see how lazy your brain is. A brain that heavily relies on the fast thinking side of the brain, will say 10 cents… $1.10 minus the dollar for the bat is 10 cents; however, the fact checking, slow thinking side of the brain, if given the chance to think it through, will stop us in our tracks and say “Wait a second, a dollar more than 10 cents is $1.10 but then we need to add those numbers together since we are buying BOTH the bat and the ball, which would total $1.20 and not the $1.10 total we were given.

It’s a good read…

Pathways

Bat and Ball Trivia Question – Warning, This May Make You Crazy
 Bat and Ball Trivia Question – Warning, This May Make You Crazy 275 183 BRendine
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Here is a trivia question that we often use in our Adventure Quests! You will want to check back later for the answer and explanation…

A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

link roundup, links, great articles, read, reading, articles to read
Link Roundup – Some Useful Links from Around the Web
 Link Roundup – Some Useful Links from Around the Web 1024 681 BRendine
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Need a Catchy Subject Line for Your Email? 10 Cool Ideas You Can Use

I was on Reddit the other day when this post caught my eye. How many times do you send an email to then call then person and say “Did you get my email?” Well here comes help! Take a look at this article to get the subject lines that will not only catch the recipient’s attention but also give them an incentive to open that email.

http://blog.bizzy.io/need-a-catchy-subject-line-for-email-10-cool-ideas-you-can-use/

 
The 5 Second Test

You have 5 seconds to capture a visitor to your website. Does your website stand up to the challenge?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/4y36hy/your_site_has_5_seconds_to_capture_a_visitors/

 

How to Grow Your Business Through Social Media

I was reading some articles the other day and came across this thread. It is a list of all the free tools out there to help you manage your social media outlets. Take a look, there are some really good comments in here..

https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/4ww3v4/how_to_grow_your_small_business_through_social/

 

6 Ways to Integrate Social Media and Influencer Marketing 

Ok, I’ll admit it, I went a little heavy with social media this week, but here is another great article about social media and different ways to leverage your marketing outlets.

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/6-ways-integrate-social-media-and-influencer-marketing

wine glass, wine festival, nj, what to do, nj events, events in nj, new jersey, new jersey events
What’s Going on in NJ? – an Open Forum!
 What’s Going on in NJ? – an Open Forum! 1024 1024 BRendine
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It’s that time of the week again, work week is winding down and we are all getting restless thinking of our weekend adventures. Here are a couple that I found while scouring the internet, if you know of some others, leave a comment below!

Thursday, August 25th – The last day of Hot Halloween at Jenkinson’s. Head on down to the boardwalk to enjoy some Halloween games, activities and some trick or treating a few months early.

Thursday, August 25th 5PM -8PM – Head on over to Hoboken for their Spaghetti Dinner Block Party! Find out more!

Friday, August 26th to Sunday the 28th at the Wildwoods Convention Center is the 2016 Sports Card, Toy, Comic and Collectibles Show. “Featuring over 125 tables of the hottest collectibles on the planet! Sports cards – old and new – sets, autographed memorobilia, posters, supplies, toys, coins, beanie babies, comics, jerseys, videos and much more!” Find out more!

Saturday, August 27th from noon to 9:30PM – Long Branch Jazz and Blues Festival. There will be music, crafts, kids activities and a lot of sun on the beach. Find out more!

August 27th and 28th – “WINE DOWN SUMMER AT RIVERWINDS COMMUNITY CENTER ON AUGUST 27 & 28, 2016 IN WEST DEPTFORD, NJ. Featuring the best of the Garden States wineries, fabulous live bands, unique artisan crafters and delicious food. Bring your family and friends to this end of summer bash.” Find out more!

Sunday, August 28th at noon – “The 2016 Grapestomping Festival offers guests free admission! Come out and celebrate the end of Summer with featured vendors and crafters from all over South Jersey! Stomp grapes for just $5! Enjoy delicious snacks and meals prepared by our head chef and drinks from our cash bars! You don’t want to miss out on the end of summer celebration!” Find out more!

 

 

Finish line, healthy living, setting goals, goals
What is your finish line?
 What is your finish line? 800 531 BRendine
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I was going through a bunch of questions on the internet the other day, starting to ramp up the interview process for our Fall Intern Program (which, by the way, you can apply for on our Careers page) when I came across this question: “What is your finish line?” In other words, what does success look like to you? As the pace of life tends to pick up, we are more focused on making it through each day rather than defining and heading towards our finish line. So, I asked Will, “What is your finish line?”….

Success can be determined by many different factors. First and foremost a desired end result must be set. If we are talking about a successful business I would refer back to a book I just read called “Profit First” by Mike Michalowicz. Where he was asked that same questions as a entrepreneur but in a couple different ways….”How big is your business? How much money does your business gross? How many employees do you have?” But the real questions is “How HEALTHY is your business” You could have a 5 million dollar gross revenue business but have a 4.9 million dollar operations/payroll expense therefore only have a $100,000 dollar business, which to me is not a successful business. Yes, you have a $100,000 net profit but that means if you have one bad month in sales you are on the verge of going bankrupt.

So getting back to that initial question about what does success look like….To me, as a new business owner, successful is determined by a happy work/life balance. If you can run your business without it running you and it effecting your personal life, that is success. I started United EVENTures with the idea that “if you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.” Not sure who came up with the quote but it’s something I live by every day.

30 day challenge, morgan spurlock, matt cutts
Try Something New for 30 Days
 Try Something New for 30 Days 1024 317 BRendine
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I have two questions for everyone reading this article. First, have you ever tried anything new for 30 days? And if not, what would you try new for 30 days?

I like to give it a try from time to time. I’ve done the one where you take a picture everyday on your way to work or take a picture of your work station. I have also tried to challenge myself with giving a stranger a compliment everyday for 30 days. This one falls along the idea of my post from yesterday and the app Happify. By complimenting a stranger everyday, I took myself outside my comfort zone but also was focusing on the positives of all the people around me to make it easy to talk to these strangers and even more so, compliment them.

So, let’s get a discussion going and what have you tried for 30 days? Did it go as you expected or did it change your life in some small (or large) way?

health, emotional well being, happify, stress, reduce stress
You Should Download the @Happify App Today…
 You Should Download the @Happify App Today… 1024 459 BRendine
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Challenge Accepted!

I then was asked a series of questions – presumably to gauge how Happy I am (or with some people – am not). Am I in a serious relationship – How many kids do I have – do I work – Is my life boring.

Now I am hooked but I have to sign up.

Once you are in, you choose a track. I’m not sure how to take this, but my suggested track is “Cope Better with Stress”. I’m now on my way to changing my mindset to make myself happier! The first game that comes up for me is a hot air balloon game where words appear on the hot air balloons and I have to click the positive words. This makes me take a step back and ask myself, do I normally focus on positive or negative words in life?

The next thing I do is check in on my weekly accomplishments. “You’re always obsessing about what you didn’t get done, but what about what you did pull off?”, Happify asks me. I then have a chance to list what I am grateful for from this past week.

Overall, with a variety of different tools, Happify challenges me to put the emphasis on the correct syllable` or syllable. It reminds me of a tool I took away from the book Mind Gym by Gary Mack. He tells his readers that the mind does not understand the word “NOT” and to prove this, he uses the following example: “Do NOT think of a pink elephant.”

I like the challenge that Happify has set for me and I think it is a great tool for the workplace to make sure that both you and your employees are putting the focus where the focus needs to be.

 

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vegetarian, vegan, health, healthy living, eating, food, reasons why
3 Reasons to Reduce Your Meat Consumption That Benefit Humans, Not Animals
 3 Reasons to Reduce Your Meat Consumption That Benefit Humans, Not Animals 960 517 Emilie
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In recent years more and more of the United States population have been adopting vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. However, according to Forbes the U.S. is also the second most eat-meating country in the world. Many who choose “veg” lifestyles do so to fight animal cruelty, or to maintain a healthier diet. In fact, a British study cited by Choose Veg shows that eating vegetarian can reduce your risk of heart disease by over 30%. However, although many people understand why animal-lovers adopt these lifestyles, few realize the impact that a meat-heavy diet has on mankind. Here are three crucial reasons why every human should be embarking on Meatless Mondays.

It Helps the Economy

A recent article from The Atlantic called attention to a study found in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that analyzed the economic effect of various dietary choices. You can read the article in its entirety here, but we will explain the gist. The study demonstrated the vast costs to our country for maintaining so many meat-heavy diets. The reason that meat-heavy diets cost the U.S. so much is three-fold. First, meat-heavy diets have extremely detrimental effects on our environment (explained in the next section), and thus it costs a lot of money to try to counteract these effects on the environment. Secondly, meat-heavy diets are correlated with diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and many other health issues which lead to increased health care costs. Finally, producing energy and protein from animal products vs. plant-based products is far more costly. In fact, the study estimates that it will cost the U.S. $1.6 trillion by 2050 if current meat-heavy diets continue in our country, whereas if everyone switched to more balanced reduced-meat diets, it would save the U.S. $191.7  billion (even more for those who become vegetarian and vegan). Even vaster economic savings would occur worldwide if other countries increased their plant-based eating, but the U.S. would benefit more than others due to its greater-than-average meat consumption. Other studies have also shown side benefits from less meat consumption in the U.S., like reduced costs for corn production.

It Helps the Environment

Ever wonder what meat production does to our environment? The Guardian has a great article that discusses these many impacts. In the U.S. most of our animals are bred simply to be killed and eaten. Having such a vast number of these animals on earth results in increased greenhouse gases and methane. In fact, emissions from meat-centered farming exceeds the amount of emissions resulting from all forms of transportation combined. Such methane and greenhouse gases come from animals farting, their manure, and the destruction of their carcasses (among other factors). Farming animals also uses a great amount of the planet’s oil, and factors such as fertilizer contribute to pollution. You may think that these issues will result from any type of farming (including that of plant production). However, the environmental impact is far greater for animal farming because farmers must produce grain which is fed to the animals, which we then eat. Thus, factors like fertilizer impact the environment for years as the animal is raised, and as grain is produced for the animals. Producing soy protein uses 8% as much fossil fuels and 7% as much water as producing the same amount of protein from animal products.  Meat production leads to increased deforestation (even much of the rainforest has been destroyed for pasture), use of water (that animals drink over their life), air and water pollution (from polluting gasses and animal waste), flooding (from overgrazing), and soil erosion. In fact, eating a vegan diet actually results in a reduction of carbon emissions twice as large as that from driving a Prius.

It Reduces the Extreme Amount of Resources Used by First World Countries

World poverty is always a critical issue to keep in consideration, especially with increased population growth on the planet. Meat production uses far more resources than plant-based food production. Why? Because in order to consume animals, we must first produce plants and grains to feed these animals, which we then eat. In fact, 70% of the grain produced in the United States is used to feed animals, not humans. Additionally, 30% of the world’s land is used for farming animals just for meat consumption. This does not include farmlands for grain or plants. Thus, the way in which we currently eat in most first world countries uses an imbalance of precious resources that far surpasses what we need to use. Another article from The Guardian explains the need to manage our resources better. Due to the massive increase in world population over the years, we have minimum resources that must be used wisely to feed everyone on planet Earth. We cannot simply increase food production to handle population growth, we must be aware of the way we are using the resources that we have, and the truth of the matter is we could feed far more people if we used some of that grain for feeding people directly instead of feeding cattle which are later eaten. You can read this entire article by following this link.

To learn more about how to incorporate vegetarian meals into your diet, check out ChooseVeg.com.

"Get Ready to Save the World." ChooseVeg.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Aug. 2016.
Lusk, Jayson L., and Bailey F. Norwood. "Some Economic Benefits and Costs of Vegetarianism." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 38.2 (2009): 109-24. Web.
podcasts, listen, drive to work, new, the nerdist, limetown, stuff you should know, myths and legends, how stuff works, chris hardwick
What to Listen to on Your Way to Work: Top Podcasts Reviewed
 What to Listen to on Your Way to Work: Top Podcasts Reviewed 960 640 Emilie
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I have to admit that I’ve never been interested in the idea of podcasts. It always seemed like an odd form of entertainment to me. If I was home, I would watch TV. If I was on a run, I would listen to music. And if I was driving, I would turn on the radio. But recently I had been struggling to motivate myself to go for my regular runs, so my one friend convinced me to try podcasts.

Shockingly enough, I fell in love with them. I now listen to podcasts every time I run: most likely looking like a lunatic to onlookers as I laugh along to each episode. I have learned to love podcasts because they provide a great and fun way to learn something new. Why not learn a little something extra as you go for a run or a ride in the car? Here are some top podcasts that you may want to listen along to during your next drive to work.

Limetown. Limetown is a fictional sci-fi series about the sudden disappearance of 300 people in Limetown, Tennessee, 10 years ago. The series bears resemblance to War of the Worlds, in that the show appears as a radio broadcast, produced by an American Public Radio (APR) reporter named Lia Haddock. The broadcast aims to sound as real as possible, and includes supposed tape recorded interviews, leaked 911 calls, and donation requests from the radio station. The show has great attention to detail in this regard, with lots of background sound effects and recording techniques, causing the listener to become very engaged in the story. The best part about Limetown is that it’s far more addicting than many other podcasts, and the fast paced nature of the story keeps you looking towards the next episode. Early in the series you learn that Limetown was built for vague and suspicious business purposes. Under threats on her life, Haddock seeks to learn more and more about Limetown to uncover survivors and the truth about the disappearance of an entire town. The downside of Limetown is it becomes less intriguing as the series progresses, losing some of the momentum of earlier episodes. However it is definitely a highlight of the various fictional podcasts. Check out the Limetown podcast here.

The Nerdist. The Nerdist is a podcast hosted by Chris Hardwick who has a blog by the same name. Soon after the podcast aired, The Nerdist TV show was also started, which was hosted by Hardwick and his two other frequent podcast co-hosts, Matt Mira and Jonah Ray. The show airs each week, and interviews incredibly interesting people like Tatiana Maslany of BBC’s Orphan Black, Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory, Sir Patrick Stewart and Gary Oldman. Take a look at The Nerdist’s recent podcasts and interviews here. The show talks about essentially everything nerdy: from the most recent superhero movies (like Suicide Squad), to Pokemon Go, to fantasy TV shows like Game of Thrones. Hardwick, Mira, and Ray are all exceptionally funny, and can talk forever about pretty much nothing. The show is great whether you’re looking for your nerdist news, interviews of your famous comedians and actors, or simply some funny back and forth between these amazing hosts. Definitely the funniest podcast on this list, The Nerdist is also great for long car trips with its many lengthy episodes.

Stuff You Should Know. Stuff You Should Know is a podcast that was created by HowStuffWorks.com, that talks about every random piece of information that you may want to learn more about. Podcasts include explanations of Chaos Theory, Underground Mining, Gene Editing, and more. The podcast takes these complicated ideas and simplifies them to make them easily understood for all listeners. However, the podcast deals with less scientific ideas as well: such as mermaid lore and even unsolved murders. The best part about this podcast is it provides information about so many things: so that you truly feel like you’re gaining more information about the world around you. Additionally, you do not need to watch episodes in order for them to make sense, so you can pick and choose which topics appear more interesting to you. The podcasts’ hosts- Josh Clark and Charles Bryant- are actually learning about each of these topics before episodes (they are not bringing in experts) which means that they are forced to learn and reteach the information in a way that even non-experts can understand. The only downside is that the episodes can become a little long and rambling, and Clark and Bryant tend to get off topic. However, the podcast is  amusing, and the hosts do their best to understand the various topics. If you are naturally curious and love to learn random and interesting facts and theories, this is definitely the podcast for you. Learn more about Stuff You Should Know here.

Myths and Legends. The title of this podcast summarizes exactly what the show is about. Myths and Legends is a weekly podcast which teaches you the truth behind common myths and legends that you thought you knew. Episodes include information about the Knights of the Round Table, Aladdin, Thor, Hercules, Greek mythology, West African folklore, and much more. Episodes tend to be around 20-40 minutes long, although many of the stories are split between multiple podcasts. This makes it easy to listen to episodes when you have the time, without trying to listen to an hour long podcast in each sitting. The host, Jason Weiser, is clearly genuinely interested in these stories, which makes the listening experience far more rewarding. It also means that he provides small pieces of information about each myth that you wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. Weiser reports each episode in a very laidback, narrative tone, making it all the more entertaining when he makes small jokes throughout the episodes. Myths and Legends is perfect for those looking to learn a little more about the common stories that are still prevalent in the world today. Check out more information about Myths and Legends here.