Pepsi Commercial - Silence is golden

A Pepsi Commercial like no other is set to air on Superbowl Sunday . You can view the commercial by clicking on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrq6cUoE5A

Pepsi hopes silence is golden with Super Bowl ad
By Vinnee Tong, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Amid the wall-to-wall sound during next Sunday's Super Bowl, one commercial from PepsiCo (PEP) could send some viewers grabbing for their remotes to check whether they'd accidentally hit the mute button.

The pre-game advertisement features a joke that originates from the deaf community and will play out on screen over 60 seconds of total silence, a veritable eternity when it comes to the noisiness of Super Bowl ads.

"It's a popular story and we just turned it into an advertisement," said Clay Broussard, a supply and logistics manager at PepsiCo who proposed the idea for the ad. "This is the PepsiCo flavor of that joke."

The joke goes like this: Two guys are driving to their friend Bob's house to watch the Super Bowl. Once they get to Bob's street, neither knows which house is his. They sit in the car, arguing, until one of them has an idea. He starts laying on the horn, and one by one, the houses light up and dogs start barking. One house stays dark and quiet: It's Bob's.

Deaf people will be falling out of their chairs in disbelief, National Association of the Deaf president Bobbie Beth Scoggins wrote in an e-mail response to questions. Hearing people, Scoggins wrote, will stop what they're doing to see why there are no sounds. She believes it's a historic first for an ad featuring American Sign Language to get such prominent play."I was glad to see this part of deaf culture awareness shared in a most clever way," Scoggins, who is deaf, wrote by e-mail as she was traveling.

Broussard, who plays Bob in the commercial, has worked for PepsiCo in Dallas for 27 years. He got involved in the deaf community through a church he and his wife attended, where the services were conducted entirely in sign language. Broussard is not deaf.

The two actors who play Bob's friends — Brian Dowling and Darren Therriault — are also PepsiCo employees, and are deaf. Dowling works for Frito-Lay in Arizona, and Therriault works for PepsiCo in Chicago.

Broussard worked on the ad concept on his own time. "This was all extra credit," he said.It was 18 months before he showed it to senior managers, who decided they wanted it for the Super Bowl.

The ad was directed by Baker Smith, with creative help from BBDO-NY. A PepsiCo spokeswoman declined to say how much the ad cost.

Only Fitting

I found it only fitting that we order Ben a "Yo Gabba Gabba" t-shirt since the show is his first true love. It came in the mail on Monday and he looks so darn cute in it, I just had to share. I submitted one of the pictures to the NickJr website. The site has photo galleries of kids wearing apparel with their favorite shows!

Gtube Success!

I'm happy to report that we are going to get a Mic Key Gtube button in the mail this week. Hard work and determination does pay off this time!! Funding hasn't changed yet, but our supplier has had a change of heart.

My little mover!

Ben is starting to find ways to get around in his cast - which is definitely making things interesting and quite comical. I was able to catch him moving on tape (kind of). Has anyone seen the new movie "Cloverfield" - if so, doesn't this remind you of that!

More on the Gtube

So after lots of conversations yesterday with lots of people (GI, Pediatrician, Supply Company owner, Insurance, our Senator), we are still at a standstill on the Mic Key Buttons. Because of the change in coding through Medicare, ALL buttons are now only reimbursed at 30 some dollars each (they cost $110 each). I was told this is a country-wide thing and it went into effect last Monday. Even though our private insurance is the first payee for us, we still aren't able to get them because of this change - insurance bases their reimbursement rate on the government PICS (not sure if that is the exact name of it) code . Kimberly Clark, the main manufacturer of the buttons is working with the government to get the coding changed but it could take months. In the meantime, if I need a new one I have to go to the emergency room or get one from the GI clinic because of a "emergency gtube failure". Crazy, isn't it? I called our Senator to let him know how much this impacts our life. Hopefully the more people that call their Senators, the quicker this problem gets resolved.

Anyone else having trouble getting Mic Key buttons?

We received a letter in the mail today from our medical supply company saying that they will no longer be stocking or providing anyone with Mic Key button G tubes. The reason has to do with Medicaid only reimbursing 40% after the first of the year. I'm outraged! We love the Mic Key buttons and Medicaid doesn't even pay for ours, private insurance does. We had so much trouble keeping the regular gtube from pulling into Ben's stomach too far. We taped it, we put extra sticky stuff on it, we did everything but it still pulled in. And when it did, Ben would vomit (it doesn't take much to make Ben vomit). Not to mention how much nicer it is to be able to take the tube off for bath's, belly time and whenever Ben is on his window of not eating. I'm calling our pediatrician tomorrow to find out what options we have. I'm not sure if our insurance covers another supply company - plus other than this one thing, I really like our supply company. I hate not having a choice of what feeding tube we put in Ben's belly. Is anyone else dealing with this same problem? Has anyone come up with any solutions?

Ben knows a hit show when he sees it

Ben is one hip kid. This was in the NY Times...

Family Values
By ROB WALKER
Published: January 20, 2008

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Yo Gabba Gabba!” began appearing on the cable channel Nickelodeon in August, and with remarkable speed it has acquired fans who are preschoolers and fans who are old enough to be their parents. Whether this is because of business strategy, cultural factors or both, you can gauge the transgenerational appeal through the ancillary merchandise: by December, hoodies and T-shirts — for children and for adults — were available from the trendsetting boutique Kidrobot and at Barneys New York. Charles Rivkin, the president and chief executive of Wildbrain, which produces the show, says, “I challenge you to find another preschool show that four months after going on the air is actually selling adult apparel at Barneys.”
With a host in a crazy orange outfit called DJ Lance Rock (“equal parts Jimmie Walker and Bootsy Collins” as OC Weekly put it), “Yo Gabba Gabba!” stars five cute creatures and features dancing children, animation and upbeat messages in a somewhat campy and surreal setting. If the title reminds you of, say, “Yo! MTV Raps” and the Ramones’ chant “Gabba gabba hey,” that may not be a coincidence. The show was created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz; each has young children and each is in his mid-30s. “They were thinking, What would inspire our generation of dads?” Rivkin says. The answer included recurring segments in which rapper Biz Markie offers kids a human-beatbox rhythm of the day and Mark Mothersbaugh, a founder of Devo who also composed the music for “Rugrats,” gives drawing lessons. Musical guests have included current indie rock heroes like the Shins and Cornelius.
While plenty of shows for children have also appealed to adults — “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” “H. R. Pufnstuf,” even “Sesame Street” — “Yo Gabba Gabba!” updates this idea for a generation that, it has been argued, is ambivalent about letting go of its own youth. In a 2006 book called “Rejuvenile,” Christopher Noxon argued that there is “a new breed of adult, identified by a determination to remain playful, energetic and flexible in the face of adult responsibilities” — skateboarding dads and tattooed moms downloading cool new ringtones and so on. This is the audience that appreciates Dan Zanes (formerly of the Del Fuegos) and They Might Be Giants releasing palatable children’s music that Salon.com once called “kindie rock.” No wonder, then, that grown-up(-ish) “Gabba” fans include the “Alternadad” author Neal Pollack. (Something about this corner of popular culture seems to demand vaguely grating neologisms.)
Of course, while “Gabba” is a TV show — one of the 10 best of 2007, according to Time magazine — the idea of simply creating “a show” is antiquated. What is created now is a property, a platform, a brand, a multimedia idea, which obviously has to be Big on the Internet. And indeed, Advertising Age recently pointed out that “Yo Gabba Gabba!” clips have attracted 17.8 million streams from Nickelodeon’s Web site, compared with about 4.4 million viewers of a typical episode of the actual program. Jacobs, one of the “Gabba” creators, is also a founder of Aquabats, a cult ska-rock band that performs in superhero costumes and has an elaborate (and kid-friendly) mythology that includes some of the creatures now on the show. When he and Schultz produced two pilot episodes and posted clips online, Aquabats fans helped stoke buzz that led to Nickelodeon — which in turn hooked the pair up with Wildbrain.
And this is what really turned “Yo Gabba Gabba!” into a property for both “hipster parents,” as Rivkin puts it, and their offspring. Back in 2006, Wildbrain acquired a majority interest in Kidrobot, which makes and sells high-end “designer toys” and apparel that appeal to fashionable young adults (who may or may not be parents). Thus “Gabba”-related products arrived in exclusive retail settings much faster than usual, demonstrating consumer demand to other merchandise partners. By the time the word came that the show was being picked up for a second season, deals were in place for DVDs, CDs, toys, bedding and other items. Rivkin suggests that this is “just a taste” of how a creative-product shop with an adult following and a company that makes cartoons can feed off each other — especially in a world where the lines between age groups are as blurred as those between media forms. If you watch “Gabba,” you may even notice that a couple of Kidrobot’s own characters have already popped in.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I am truly overwhelmed with our generous CHARGE family! We received a ton of wonderful dinners from "My Girlfriend's Kitchen" (www.mygirlfriendskitchen.com) today compliments of our CHARGE friends. I am touched and so thankful. It was so sweet of you guys and I can't thank you enough. I feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing and thoughtful group of people. Thank you, thank you! I was actually dragging frozen chicken out of the freezer when Leslie arrived with our food. I was thrilled to put it back in the freezer and have something much more delicious instead (and I have so many dinner options to choose from).

Side Positioning

Ben's femur break is healed enough that we are now able to position Ben on his sides for small periods of time to alleviate pressure on his back side (it wasn't easy considering that HUGE bar between his legs). This is our first attempt at putting Ben on his side. He handled it pretty well for 10 minutes and still found a way to pull on daddy's hair in this position. This may give us a little more options with toy play.

You're probably wondering why Ben isn't wearing a shirt in any of these pics. The cast makes him so hot and sweaty, he only seems comfortable shirtless. And, we are even keeping our thermostat at 69 degrees all the time too. He is freezing us all out, but his comfort is more important. Ben also loves to have his arm pits tickled and in this picture he is trying to pull my hand over to tickle him.

Second Follow-Up

Ben had his second follow-up with Ortho on Thursday. We received a call back from his doctor saying that she wanted some more xrays. I called originally and expressed concern because I really felt the pictures from before looked just like the pictures currently. After further review and discussion with some other doctors, she decided she wanted to follow Ben more closely until she saw some new bone growth (usually starts two to three weeks after the break is reset). If she didn't see any growth this time or if the angle of the break had drifted any more (it was on the border of being ok or not ok), she would go back to the OR and realign again. Thankfully, she saw some new growth and the angle isn't any worse. We go back on February 7 for our next appointment. Wouldn't that be wonderful if the cast came off then? Unlikely, but wonderful! I'm expecting it will be on for seven weeks, but hoping for five.

Three weeks down...

and hopefully only three weeks more to go with this dreadful cast. I can't even begin to explain how bored both Ben and I are. He usually only gets to watch one 30 minute TV show a day - and now that he is in this cast and can only play with a few toys on his belly while I hold them, he is watching over 6 hours of TV a day. I feel like a horrible parent, but I can't find anything else for him to do that he actually wants to do.

Ben has become a huge fan of this show on Nick Jr. called "Yo Gabba Gabba". Figures, he likes one of the worst kid shows out there for parents to watch. This show makes "Barney" seem like some kind of blockbuster hit. Has anyone seen it before? YIKES! I taped about 10 different episodes on our DVR and it is all he wants to watch. He's become obsessed with it! When I go to the screen with all of our saved shows, he starts panting really loud (his only way of making noise and communicating) so I know that he wants to watch his show. If I pick something else, he continues to pant until his show starts. He doesn't do it when I go to the Guide button (the one that shows what's playing currently on TV) only when I go to the List button with our saved shows. Isn't he cleaver?!

I just hope and pray that these six weeks don't set him back dramatically with development -I just have a feeling they will though. Anyone have any ideas on things I can do to keep the little man entertained and help him learn? Keep in mind that he can't do anything but lay on his back and grab things propped on his belly with a pillow. Any suggestions would be helpful - I never knew doing nothing could be so exhausting!

Tag

I have been tagged by one of my CHARGE friends to share five things about myself that others may not know... so here goes.

1. I was born in upstate New York and lived there for the first six years of my life. I then moved to northeast Ohio (Warren) and lived there for 9 years. After that, I've lived in Piqua OH (2 years), Cincinnati OH (4 years for college), Columbus OH (1 year for my first job out of college), Centerville OH (4 months), Vandalia OH (2 years), back to Cincinnati OH (3 years) and since 2005 I've been in Mason OH. Phew, I'm tired just thinking about all these moves!

2. I love to shop, play cards/games, scrapbook and play tennis. When I was in high school, I placed 2nd in our division for tennis.

3. BB (before Ben), I worked in Marketing for U.S. Bank - however I originally went to college to be a pharmacist but changed majors going into my second year. Organic chemistry was NOT my friend!

4. I am a neat freak! Everything has its place and if it isn't there then I'll be sure to put it there immediately.

5. I tend to like the same movies/music/TV shows that 13 year old girls like. I like to think I'm young at heart!

And even though I was only asked for five, I had to add a sixth fact.

6. When I was 13, I was in the circus. In one of my most popular acts, my cousin juggled me on his feet while I spit flames out of my mouth and threw knives at a bulls eye. Below is a picture of me in one of my more basic acts... the pyramid. I'm on top.

When It Rains, It Poors

On Mike's way home from work tonight, he was in a car accident. It was raining and some of the traffic lights were out. A car flew through the flashing yellow and hit a shuttle bus which was right next to Mike. The bus was hit so hard, it was pushed into the side of Mike's car. He isn't hurt and the other people involved didn't seem to have any major injuries. The person who ran the light was cited and now we are just waiting on a police report so we can get her insurance information and start the process of having them pay to fix Mike's car. UGH! Is our bad luck streak EVER going to end? On a side note, the car in the accident is NOT the same car that was hit by the deer. That would have been too easy!

No changes - See the doc in 4 weeks

Ben had his 10 day follow-up with Ortho at the crack of dawn this morning. Since the appointment was early, we didn't have to wait very long. He got an xray first, then saw the doctor and finally had some minor cast touch-ups done (We wanted his toe out so we can put his Oximeter probe on it at night since wearing it on his thumb hasn't been working out. The doctor also wanted some of the cast trimmed around his bottom since it was cutting into him). Ben was NOT a fan of the saw used to make these adjustments. I think the vibration was too much for him.

The doctor didn't make any modifications to his casting angle and Ben didn't need recast! Hooray!! The xrays looked exactly like they did after surgery and personally, I think they look exactly like the break before it was set and cast. The doctor is comfortable with it though and said it is close enough to mend back on its own... so I guess I have to trust their judgement. Below are pictures - doesn't the break look the same before surgery and now??!?

We are to follow-up with another appointment in 4 weeks. If things are healed up , they will take off the cast then. The doctor really emphasized how things need to be completely healed before the cast comes off since there isn't any kind of brace or splint to put on a break like this once the cast is removed. So everyone, send some quick mend vibes our way!

BEFORE

TODAY

Doing Great!

I am pleased to announce that Ben is doing great today. No vomiting and only a few gagging episodes. He has been so happy and even wore his cochlear implant all morning (first time he put it on since he came home from the hospital). He's been giggling a little and has been playing with his toys... he has only needed one dose of Tylenol too. Kids are amazing! It just warms my heart to see him feeling better today and I have a new found sense of confidence for the next five or so weeks. I can't express how glad I am that the new feeding schedule is working. If it wasn't, Ben and I would both be checking into the hospital (him for vomiting, me for a nervous breakdown). Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support.

SMA Syndrome??

So, I talked to Ben's GI doctor and he suggested to go even slower and continuous with Ben's feeds (same thing some of the CHARGE parent's suggested - thank you). We are now feeding him 50 mls (1 1/2 oz) an hour 24 hours a day.

Ben could have a very rare thing called SMA Syndrome. It is also referred to as "cast syndrome" and affects even typical people in a body cast. What happens, is a part of the digestive system gets pinched from being cast a certain way and from the lack of mobility. Laying on your back worsens the problem (Ben's only way to lay). People have to be admitted for this because of dehydration and eventually anorexia because they don't want to eat since it makes them so sick. They are then given a feeding tube with continuous feeds until the cast comes off. Because Ben already has a feeding tube, we have an advantage and can do this at home (finally, a perk to a feeding tube). There is no cure for SMA other than slow, continuous feeds and keeping the person hydrated. Once the cast comes off, the problem goes away. Let's hope we figured it out!

Hopefully this helps.

Vomiting AGAIN...

Ben is vomiting again. UGH! I just can't seem to figure out why. He was good for a day when we stopped his Tylenol with Codeine, but now he is back to it. He isn't as bad as he was last Wednesday, but still having trouble with every feed. We are giving him LOTS of little feeds throughout the day and night because Ben has trouble tolerating feeds when he isn't in a cast. The pump now takes 45 minutes to push 80 mls (2 1/2 oz) into his belly and we run his pump 15 times a day - but that still isn't working. Ben is fine when he isn't eating, only when he is and his feed gets towards the end does he start gagging and vomiting. If I sit by him and notice the look in his eyes right before he throws up, I'm able to keep him from vomiting by quickly suctioning his trach and then his mouth. I don't know if the one dose of Valium he is getting at night is causing him nausea or if the regular Tylenol every 4 hours is doing it.But, it seems to tie in with his trach secretions. As soon as he makes a little gurgle, he needs suctioned immediately or the vomiting cycle starts. Any ideas anyone? I'm grasping at straws right now. I will call his GI doc today when they open to see if they have any thoughts. I'm also going to see if I can do without the one dose of Valium tonight - I figure it is the best night to try and cut it out since we don't have a night nurse and either Mike, my mom or I will be the one with him and we know him the best. But any suggestions would be appreciated!!

Creative Playing

We have had to become very creative finding ways to keep Ben entertained. It has only been five days and he already seems bored (poor baby). This morning when he woke up, he seemed so sad. He wasn't in pain, just looked depressed and confused. It broke my heart! We are trying to prop him every way possible to allow him to play with his toys. He is already tired of TV.

While we were in the hospital, one of the wonderful inpatient surgery nurses told us about this new pillow that she learned about in a recent seminar. It feels like dough and we can use it to put under Ben's pressure points and to prop him. We borrowed one while we were in the hospital, but it was a loaner from the NICU so we had to give it back once we were discharged. We got a call from the nurse earlier this week and she said she called the rep who presented during this seminar. She told him about Ben and was able to get two of these pillows shipped to our house. Can you believe it! They are wonderful and help tremendously! She really went above and beyond the call of duty for us. We can't thank her enough. Also, a nurse from our home care agency recommended a bean bag chair. That too has been so helpful. Everyone has been so nice to us recently, it feels so good to know so many people care about Ben.

Below is a picture of our little guy playing with his toys the best he can. My mom likes to call this picture "The Prince and the Pea" for obvious reasons.

Feeling Better - FINALLY

Yes, you read that correctly! Ben is feeling better today. Hooray! No more vomitting and he is now playing with his toys (well, we hold them for him and he pushing the button to activate them). It was either the pain meds that were making him sick or a touch of the flu he possibly caught in the hospital. Regardless, it warms my heart to see him somewhat back to his old self now. It's amazing how much your mood and spirit is dictated by your child's health and happiness. Thank you to everyone for all of your support, words of encouragement and offers of help. We appreciate it!

Can't Keep Anything Down

Ben is having a rough day today. He woke up vomitting and hasn't been able to keep anything down all day - food or med's. We can't figure out why either. The doctor thinks he is getting sick from constipation, but I think it has more to do with the pain med's (they have him on Valium and Tylenol with codeine). We have tried EVERYTHING to get him to go the bathroom and so far nothing. In the meantime, we've switched to straight pedialyte and stopped all med's into his stomach. And to help with pain, I am just giving him a regular Children's Tylenol suppository - it isn't much, but I'm hoping it takes the edge off. My mom and I are keeping a close eye on him and suctioning his mouth and trach very frequently whenever he starts to look like he might vomit. So far, we've been able to keep it under control and he has only been gagging every 15 minutes. Ugh, I wish I knew what to do!

Sad News

On New Year's Day, we learned that Mike's dear grandfather had passed away unexpectedly. He was an amazing man, a wonderful grandfather/father/husband/great grandfather. We will miss him tremendously. Mike will be heading to Youngstown later today for the viewing and mass on Thursday and Friday. Please pray for him and his entire family during this difficult time.

Worst New Year's Eve Ever

Ben had a horrible, horrible day yesterday. A terrible accident happened at 9:30 a.m. while the physical therapist was working with Ben. Instantly, I knew something really serious was wrong, so we called his doctor and rushed him to Children's Hospital. Ben's right femur was completely fractured in half (his thigh bone). Because of the severity of the injury and his age, he was admitted to the orthopedic floor while we waited for an opening in the OR. I have never seen Ben in so much pain before. I can't even begin to describe how horrible it was as a parent not to be able to help your child feel better.

We are home from the hospital now and Ben is doing well considering (he is such a trooper). He is in a Spica cast, which is also referred to as a body cast. They were able to dip it down in the front to expose his g-tube, but the rest of his body is cast from his armpits down. There is also a metal rod cast between his legs separating them. He has to wear the cast for 6-weeks and I was told that kids with other issues tend to take longer to heal. He can't move and we need to reposition him every 2-4 hours to avoid sores - which is basically tilting him a little to the right, then to the left, etc. Diapering is a bit challenging. We have to tuck these pads into the cast opening they left between his legs, then tuck a diaper in, then wrap a diaper two sizes larger around the whole thing. Every 10 days Ben will need to get x-rays to make sure he doesn't have to be recast or manipulated again (which would have to occur in the OR so I'm praying that doesn't happen).

And as if our day wasn't bad enough, a deer ran into our car on the way home from the hospital with Ben. Luckily, it only left a small dent.

Hopefully we've already been through the worst of it and these next six weeks will go by quickly.