theblanchard [dot] com

Isaiah 61:1-3

john.blanchard — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:06:14 +0000

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion — to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

Love you guys.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

theblanchard — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:27:34 +0000

This may come as a shock to some, but my family and I are leaving Oklahoma. We’re moving back to California in July. Don’t know when we’ll be back again.

We told our families around Mother’s Day through a surprise video and lots of people already know what’s going on. Check it out:

California, Here We Come from theblanchard on Vimeo.

It will be a tough transition back with all the great relationships we have made here, but one I think most of us knew was inevitable. It’s been the best 1.5 years of my life coming our here and while it has been tough at times, I wouldn’t change a thing.

The good thing is, we are all connected through this wonderful thing called life and you haven’t seen the last of us by a long shot. But, we really don’t know when we’ll be back again. It will probably be around the time of little DeLisle’s birth…

P.S. If you need a house, ours is up on the market. Check it out at 19rockypointdrive.com. Just don’t try to use my address to steal my identity. It’s already happened before and now I’m LifeLocked.

Pongizzle

theblanchard — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:38:02 +0000

You may have heard of the game we play during our “team building” time at the Internet Campus. We call it pongizzle (HT: Terry Storch) and it is an extreme sport.

We put together a little video to try and explain it better to everyone out there. Check it out:

Pongizzle Challenge! from theblanchard on Vimeo.

What do you think? It’s definitely a game that has to be seen in person to fully grasp the concept of what is going on.

If you want to experience it for real, come by the offices sometime and we’ll play a game with you. We’re professionals, though, so don’t think we’ll go easy on you…

Twitter Over Capacity?

theblanchard — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:00:56 +0000

That’s a new one…At least it’s not the blanket “Something Went Wrong” page I’m used to seeing.

I really love twitter, but I’m getting tired of the downtime…

Site Update!

theblanchard — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:43:54 +0000

I just finished the complete overhaul of theblanchard [dot] com. This is the first time I have designed it (or any site in the last 10 years) from the ground up.

I started with a photoshop mockup and went from there. It took a lot of work, but after many hours of coding and some great help from css-tricks.com, I’m really happy with the way it looks.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the new look and if anything looks strange or out of place to you. I’ve tested it in a few browsers but you never know…

Take Back Your Comments!

theblanchard — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:41:10 +0000

I just finished adding the Disqus comment system to the blog. It adds a lot of features I didn’t have previously, as well as allowing me to do away with plugins I don’t need / want any longer.

Disqus adds threaded commenting, support for Gravatars, comment by email responses, ability to follow people’s comments, twitter integration and much more. It really makes commenting on blogs much, much easier.

I’ve been seeing it around the web on some other sites and thought I’d give it a try here.

If you could be so kind, leave me a comment using Disqus and let me know how it works for you. I’ll be forever grateful!

My Saturday Afternoon

theblanchard — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:08:07 +0000

The Donaldson’s had their final adoption class on Saturday, so we had the chance to watch their kids, Merrick and Ethan. They had a great time playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Check it out:

Merrick & Ethan Playing Mario Kart Wii from theblanchard on Vimeo.

We love those kids and always have a great time watching them. They’re also really good with Malachi and love playing with him.

It’s great when your kids get along with your friends kids…

Malachi vs The Floor

john.blanchard — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:00:56 +0000

Sunday afternoon Malachi looked over at a magazine on the ground and thought to himself, “I want that”. Check it out:

Malachi vs The Floor from theblanchard on Vimeo.

Time to do some serious baby-proofing. He has already destroyed some pictures, ripped up a bunch of paper and pulled a ring off the outside of our wedding photo album…

YouVersion Mobile

john.blanchard — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:09:32 +0000

If you haven’t checked out youversion.com yet, you’re missing out. Not only is it a great online bible, but it now has a brand new mobile version (launched today!)

I’ve been using YouVersion as a tool for my daily bible progress, as well as in a personal blog journal where I can link to verses I go through. While it’s been great to use on my laptop, I do have to say, the new mobile version is great.

It has a clean interface, it’s simple to use and it looks sweet. Check out the screenshots below:

Standard Mode still looks great on the iPhone:

If you have a mobile phone with internet / data access, check it out at m.youversion.com. It’s a great resource for all your bible needs. I even had the chance to use it at a bible study last night. Pulled up Proverbs 18:21 on my phone before anyone else in the room could get to it in their bibles!

Branded

john.blanchard — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:59:09 +0000

I was thinking about brands lately, and how many we use on a daily basis. How many we even have on our person, all the time.

Myself, right now, I have the following brands:

Express Men, Mossimo, Titanium Era Jewelry, BL , Liquid Body Jewelry, Apple, Incase, Cross Pens, Prestige Alarms, Scion, Blockbuster, LifeChurch.tv, Disney, Bank Of The West, Wells Fargo, MasterCard, Visa, Starbucks, Sam’s Club, Chevrolet, Promise Keepers, Axxess, Kwikset, SC1 and Cal-Royal.

That is everything, down to my keys and zipper.

These businesses spend plenty of time and money to get you to invest in their brand. Many times, though, I think we don’t realize how much time we put into our brand.

Not just the way you dress and how you look. It’s also about how you act. The company you keep. The things you do.

Too often, I can see myself investing in the wrong “brands”. I think many of us need to adjust our thinking. It’s not about what you have. It’s about what you do.

I hope one day, I can look back and say I did the best job I could with my “brand”.

What about you? What brands do you have on you right now? How does your brand look?

[HT: I think I originally got the brand idea from Joshua Blankenship, but I couldn’t find the original post.]