Easter Bunny Gets Suspension

The World Easter Egg Association announced today that the Easter Bunny who's real name is Aphinius Fuributt was officially suspended and banned from participating in any Easter Sunday activities. Details are sketchy but my crack team of Ripple Reporters went underground and have uncovered some incredibly shocking charges alleged against Easter Bunny.

White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland fame shared with us under the condition of complete anonymity that "Easter Bunny had recently been caught partying with the former Miss Nevada Katie Rees. Pictures of their alleged incident have been spotted on the Internet and let's just say it isn't pretty! Fur and hair are everywhere! This very well may be the end of Easter Bunny as we know it!" Calls to the Donald Trump Furry Dollar Division, the owner of the World Easter Egg Association and the Miss USA Pageant have gone unreturned.

Brer Rabbit most notable for his portrayal in children's stories in recent years had a totally different perspective. According to Brer Rabbit Easter Bunny had been linked to Britney Spears and the W.E.E.A. has learned that the DNA test has officially linked EB as the father of Britney's two adorable rabbits, Druggie and Rehab.

Rosie Rabbit the annoying host of The View in a telephone interview between feedings was quoted as saying that her sources have told her that EB was responsible for Global Warming. There are unconfirmed reports that Barbara Wabbit, the host of The View and part owner of the show is likely to fire Rosie on Monday.

Al Gorbbit couldn't help but get on the Rosie bandwagon and blamed EB was the reason the planet "has a fever." Gorbbit told our reporter that "You see it's really quite simple. Easter eggs are plastic. Plastic is bad. Easter Bunny delivers to our innocent children then those children rip them in pursuit of the yummy treats inside and millions upon millions of little plastic eggs end up in the landfill. So you see Easter Bunny is responsible our planet is going to burn up. I say lynch the no good fury son of a rabbit!" Gorbbit was so incensed that he had to be whisked away in his carbon spewing private jet.

Honey Rabbit who has been reportedly linked to Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and most recently EB came to her lover's defense. "You see all the reports out there are simply false. This is all a big misunderstanding. You see EB was trying out for American Idol and was attacked by a drug crazed Paula Abdouabit. EB missed a critical planning team planning session but I am here to tell you that it was not his fault. He should be reinstated immediately. EB is very upset and has hired the law firm of Forget the Stick Give Me The Carrot and lead counsel F. Lee Baileyit is considering legal options against the W.E.E.A. and Ms. psycho fur Paula Abdouabit."

Bugs Bunny who we caught at home had this to say about all the rawkus, "Mmmmm what's up EB? You have the cushiest job in the world spreading joy to children all over the world one day out of the fricken year and yet somehow manage to muck that up. You are a disgrace I tell you! You are miserable excuse for a hare! You should have my life. I am on television seventy-five times a day working my white oversized feet to the bone and yet you, you little dweeb...the kids love you! They have always loved you!"

BREAKING NEWS........

Bugs Bunny has apparently shaved his head, gotten a tattoo and has admitted himself in and out of rehab six times in the last hour all due to the stress of EB being liked more than him. Stay tuned for more details.

BACK TO YOUR REGULAR BLOG REPORT

W.E.E.A. just moments ago had this to say....

"This situation with EB is certainly unfortunate. However, I want to assure the children of this fine country that we have located a suitable replacement. Someone that despite having his own holiday has largely been ignored. He has graciously agreed to step in and take the basket. Mortimer the often unrecognized mascot of Great Aunts Day (GAD) will step in to help make sure no eggs go undelivered. This is a temporary replacement but if Mortimer aka GAD MAN works out, we may look to replace EB permanently. Until such time, please go about your business and have a very Happy Easter!"

Well our team of crack Ripplers will stay on this case and report any new developments as they happen but we have just uncovered this shocking new video which may explain a lot!!!

Evil Easter Bunny Videocrazy video

Have a Happy Easter...GAD Day!!!


Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

Be The Ticket Guy

I think you may know that I also BLOG for a service called Execublog which was developed by the leaders of a company called Execubook. Their company takes best selling business books and breaks them down into bite sized summaries for busy executives. It's a very cool service and something I have enjoyed utilizing myself this past year. It has given me some great exposure to books I might have otherwise missed at Amazon or at my local bookstore.

Anyway, last year the folks at Execubooks decided to start a BLOG and have some leading business thinkers chime in with their opinions and thoughts about a new book each week. Someone how they got the impression I was a leading business thinker (shhh don't laugh) and invited me to join in and share my thoughts. It has been great fun and I have made some unbelievable connections through this service.

I was humbled to receive a request last year from one of my fellow Execublog brethren Phil Durado to use one of my posts on his website eCustomerServiceWorld.com. I was honored to be included in their Fast Guide Section and if you are so inclined you might take a ganger at what I wrote. Read the post here.

To be perfectly honest I had sort of forgotten about Phil's request until I discovered a link back to his article earlier this week. Thanks for including me in your very robust and incredibly informative website Phil!

Would love to hear how you, my loyal readers, are being "The Ticket Guy" for your customers.

Ripples On!!!

Steve Harper

Ripple Connection Question of the Week

SO WHAT ARE YOU GREAT AT?

Oh this is such a good question when you are trying to build or strengthen your connections! You learn so much about a person by asking them their own interpretation of what they are good at. You see their eyes light up and a smile sneak through as they recall their own personal memories of what they consider what they are in fact good at.

For me it is soccer. I love the sport and was a great player as a kid. My knees on the other hand weren't apparently a fan of the game and decided to hold up my professional career by stopping me dead in my tracks just as I was set to begin high school. A complete reconstruction of my ligaments in my knee left me depressed for years about missing out on playing the game I loved so much.

Until one day I decided to pick up the phone and call my local soccer league and volunteer to coach. Forget being a player, I found that I still had some skills left that my knees apparently didn't mind me showing off occasionally as a coach. And for an old guy, I could do still do some pretty awesome moves and impress the kids and make them want to do what they saw me doing. I was a good soccer player but found that I became a great coach.

Use this week's Ripple Connection Question to learn something you might not have known about a friend, colleague or complete stranger. Watch how people transform when they talk about what they are good at. If they are like me, the will transform before your eyes!

One last thing....we just discovered a case of books that had apparently been damaged in shipping. If you haven't yet purchased a copy of The Ripple Effect now's your chance. We have made these slightly damaged books available for a heck of a discount. Check out our DANG THOSE SHIPPERS SALE by CLICKING HERE.

Ripple On My Friends!!!


Steve Harper

Yo Yo Yo...You Sounds Like A Mo!

As I watched the NCAA Men's Championship game last night I couldn't help but wince at the way the winning Florida Gator players acted and spoke during the post game interviews. I know these guys are young and were excited about winning and I congratulate them for a job well done! But do they have to act like they just fell off the proverbial vocabulary turnip truck minus a sufficiently operable tongue and intelligence?

You see this all the time in sports and I just don't understand nor like it. I think if I was the head coach of any college program that I would make it mandatory that my players take a speaking and communications course so that any and every time they were to conduct an interview they would represent themselves (and their school) appropriately. What is more embarrassing than having players who represent your school get on national television and flash gang signs and talk like they have no sense and have the vocabulary of a third grader? I mean seriously, does it bode well for the level of education your school is offering when your star players can't seems to put together a cognitive sentence?

Makes me want to line up and have my kids go to college there doesn't it you?

It begs the question of what your level of expectations are when you are out in a professional setting? Though I suspect that you don't have television cameras on and play like someone hit you with the retard hammer, it does give one pause to be mindful of how they act, what they say and how they say it. Or at least it should! I mean a professional businessman standing at a mixer who busts out with a bunch of Yo, Yo, Yo Jim-dawgs probably won't garner your respect much less demand your attention to be taken seriously.

So why then do these schools and professional sports organizations let their players say and do whatever they want on camera? Look no further than the sad state of affairs when Terrell Owens commands such attention from the media and yet rarely says anything productive or intelligent that is worth listening to. You would think that the Dallas Cowboys one of the cornerstones of the NFL would make it a priority to shut Terrell up or teach him to not embarrass himself or the team. But no....he just gets more ridiculous and more negative focus and then wonders why everyone thinks he's an idiot. Click on the link above and listen to his rap....it says a lot.

Perhaps what I saw last night was a sign of the times. Gone are the days when athletes could get on television and truly inspire people like me to want to be like them; to admire their skills, their grace and dignity. Maybe I am behind the times but I don't care. It bugs the hell out of me and I admonish the television networks and these schools for putting these idiots on television and allowing such ridiculous crap to permeate our society. It takes nothing more than a school, a sports organization and the networks to eliminate this problem by insuring their players, coaches and representatives don't continue to make it a problem. Imagine the message they would be sending to these athletes if only those who knew how to act like proper men and women were allowed to be on camera?

Mr. or Miss Athlete do you want attention? Go do something to get attention and then act like a professional when someone asks you about it. Novel fricken concept or at least it used to be.

One thing is for sure, I was glad my son wasn't allowed to stay up for the end of the game to see what those kids thought was an appropriate display of their excitement. Furthermore, I know that if any one of those kids were mine today their excitement would have been replaced with my size 10 Nike Cross Trainer Deluxe up their you know what.

At any rate, I hope it serves as a lesson to us all to be mindful of who we represent and how we represent them so we don't look like Mo, Mo, Mo, Morans!

Ripple On!!!

Steve Harper

Twitter, Connection, Mickey....As If We Need More Distractions

Happy April Fools Day!

A couple of weeks ago while at SXSW I started playing with this new service Twitter. As if I need another attention distractor! Anyway, it's a new way to keep your friends and colleagues engaged and aware of what you are doing and to see what they are doing through instant messenger, on your cell phone or via their website. It's kind of a cool little service though I haven't figured out how to NOT be annoying with it.

Messages that you can post include:

I need a beer! Anyone game? Meet me at NEEDABEERBAR

I am working and I hate working. Can anyone else feel my pain?

Does everyone at Best Buy have to be 20 and with an attitude?

I have a headache (as if anyone cares) and I am not saying my kids gave it to me...but I am not saying they didn't either.

My wife is in one of her moods (that isn't mine I swear!)

Why on Earth did God not make wives with volume control (hmmm....still denying)

Does anyone know where the hell we are? (Great for when you lose someone at a concert or a conference)

Did anyone else smell that?

Is it a requirement that every dumb ass on the planet has to drive on the exact road I do? (again not mine...I love all (most) people......)

You get the point? You can put most anything out there for your friends to read and either empathize or sympathize with. Like I said, I haven't quite figured out how to use the service yet so as I am not an annoying my pals all the time.

Anyway, check out Twitter and if you want to add me, feel free to do so my user name is what else....but Rippleon

Drew with Drew's Marketing Minute (one of my favorite BLOGS) has a humorious post this morning about how Mickey Mouse might use the Twitter service. Read it here.

Drew references another funny post about what Jesus would Twitter. Read it here. Not necessarily appropriate on Palm Sunday so if you offend easily don't click AND don't blame me!

Enjoy your Sunday!!!

Ripple On!!!

Steve