What's The Diff?

The things Quicken Loans team members care about and want to share with the world

Christy Brewer

Cedar Point weathers the storm for roller coaster riders

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Cedar Point Sandusky StormsYes, that’s the nasty storm we rode out while at Cedar Point on Monday. This was no typical rainstorm. The lighting was intense, and the downpour was pretty extreme. And, yet, it was this storm that made Cedar Point the DIFF for us this week.

We had driven from South Carolina back to Michigan and then on to Cedar Point to ride some roller coasters. It’s one of our favorite places, and we were willing to make the trek. Oh, yeah, and we managed to stop by to see family for a couple of days and stumble by the Red Wings Stanley Cup parade, too.

This was our one shot at visiting this particular amusement park in quite a while. So, imagine the disappointment when these storms rolled in at about 7 p.m. on our big day. Of course, we had planned on staying until the 10 p.m. closing, and went back to the hotel to nap. We had returned to the park just in time for the storms. Thanks, Weather Channel.

Continue reading “Cedar Point weathers the storm for roller coaster riders” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Quicken Loans marketing still thinking green

Monday, June 09, 2008

Chevy Volt by whatsthediffblog, on Flickr

A few weeks ago we posted our commitment to shake off old ways and find more ways to save energy. Many of us have been working from home one or two days each week to save gas, and Jen R has been bringing her lunch to save cash and eat healthier. We’re still thinking about this, and still making changes.

In fact, a couple of weeks back we discussed whether or not it’s worth it to jump now and buy a Chrysler vehicle to lock in $2.99 gas. In the end, the idea of giving up my great MPG for one with much lower fuel economy was not appealing. I’m not giving up my 35 MPG Vibe just yet, even though I’ve racked up 95,000 miles on the poor thing.

But, this is one car I will jump at: the Chevy Volt.

Continue reading “Quicken Loans marketing still thinking green” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Painless giving with Non-Profit Shopping Mall

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Non-profit shopping mallTarget will donate 5% of what I buy online to The Hunger Project. Not just limited stuff, but anything I can find and order from the Target web site.

The Apple Store will donate 5% to Autism Speaks.

Urban Outfitters will give 2.5% to Inner-City Arts.

But, don’t just go to these web sites and shop away! Start at www.nonprofitshoppingmall.com first. "Your brand. Your cause. Our world." That’s the tagline of this non-profit portal that benefits a whole host of non-profit organizations that you know and love.

Read on for what you need to know…

Continue reading “Painless giving with Non-Profit Shopping Mall” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Quicken Loans Marketing — Blogs that make us laugh

Thursday, May 29, 2008

You know you do it… someone is telling a story or talking away, and they flip the "air quotes." Yes, just like us, you snicker, too. Only a certain, privileged few can get away with using air quotes, and it ain’t us! What on earth is more funny than air quotes? Mis-used quotes. Yes, when those smart sign-making people allow quotes around things like "quality service" and "we care," we laugh.

A tip of the DIFF hat goes today to The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotes.

And, of course, because there are quite a few of us on The DIFF Team that really get geeky about how we all use our words, we’ve been sharing posts from Apostrophe Abuse. If we’re not groaning from flashbacks to our grammar lessons, we usually get a good chuckle out of how some of those mis-placed apostrophes either seriously change the meaning, or just end up making no sense at all.

But, when all else fails and we still need a laugh, we still have those silly LOL catz.

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

The DIFF honors great companies to work for

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Since everyone at The DIFF is a huge fan of Fortune’s Best Company to Work For list, we figured we would share a clip from Good Morning America. This clip highlights "the DIFF" between working for just anyone and working for someone who values you as an employee.

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

AfriGadget: Doing more with less

Friday, May 23, 2008

African IngenuityIt seems that when things get tight, solutions get more creative. If when budgets shrink, people find ways to squeeze the money for things they love to do. When time runs short, simple solutions just seem to magically appear. I’m a big believer in the idea that creativity grows when constraints shrink.

Here’s a great example: AfriGadget.

The web site says it best, "It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges." The concept is a web site and blog that feature African ingenuity — products made with the most innovative methods, simply because many places in Africa lack things we take for granted, and doesn’t have a fraction of the resources that we do in the U.S.

Continue reading “AfriGadget: Doing more with less” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Ikea bags: Required in every home

Thursday, May 22, 2008

ikea-bagsOur hot water heater broke over the weekend. It was a slow leak, but we had to drain the pan every 12 hours or so until we could find and fix the leak, or replace the hot water heater. Of course, when we moved in I just had to have my pantry shelves installed close enough to require moving them to get the water heater out. Time to empty the shelves, and we had to do it fast.

You may remember last week when Cora called out her love of recyclable bags given by Macy’s and Whole Foods… and of course Kelly reminded us all (in the comments) of the wonders of Ikea’s brilliant strategy — buy their reusable bag or carry your stuff out on your own.

I share these two bits of information because if you haven’t yet purchased Ikea bags, you’re missing out on a huge time-saver. I’ve used these bags as laundry bags, for moving stuff about the house and from apartment to apartment, and hauling groceries.

And, of course, I used them to clear my pantry shelves in about 15 minutes. Thanks, Ikea!

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Talking about mortgages: too boring? too personal?

Friday, May 16, 2008

no-word-of-mouthOh, Seth, you’ve done it again. I think you have our office bugged. We’ve been pondering something here on the Quicken Loans marketing team: With a 94% client satisfaction rate, how can we encourage people to share the love with others?

Well, we know mortgages aren’t the most exciting topic in the world, unless you’re buying your first home. But what about everyone who let us help them refinance their mortgage? Seth came up with lots of good
scenarios where word-of-mouth
may not be happening. Hoo boy, did these hit home.

Continue reading “Talking about mortgages: too boring? too personal?” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Gas for $2.99: Does it make you want to buy?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Chrysler offers gas for $2.99The other day a friend of mine offered me a special deal on buying a new Chrysler car or truck. (Of course, the Viper, Challenger, Wrangler 4 Door and Grand Cherokee SRT8 are excluded, and I really can’t blame Chrysler for doing that.) I really appreciate being included in this offer, and just might take them up on it.

But, a couple of things have come to mind. First, I must like the hybrid or flex-fuel options on any car or truck I choose. My car is five years old, so it has lots of life left. I’m not going to trade my 35 mpg small car for a Charger, as much as I want one.

The bigger question, though, is in the $2.99 gas deal. At first glance, this sounds really cool. The folks at Freakonomics, however, are casting a bit of doubt on the value of this offer. Clearly they didn’t have my gas bills when I was commuting to work every day. So, let’s do a little math, and then I’d love to hear your opinion.

Continue reading “Gas for $2.99: Does it make you want to buy?” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Quicken Loans Marketing team talks about saving energy

Friday, May 02, 2008

Quicken Loans Loves RecyclingEvery week we come to our team meeting with three things:

  1. One big thing I’m working on
  2. One thing I’m going to change
  3. One big, "what if"

Today, Nicole proposed a really big "what if" for our team — calculate the energy savings we could realize if we each worked from home just one day a week.

Many of us work from home from time to time, to focus on a project or figure out a problem, or just change up the pace to re-invigorate our energy. But, we’ve been thinking about how this can really impact our overall energy consumption and jump-start our own environmentally conscious changes.

This turned into a great discussion this morning. We’re all obsessed with "going green" and being not only good corporate citizens, but also how we can grow as individuals. We talked about how working from home can save energy: not driving to the office, not starting up the computers in the office, eating the food that’s already in our fridges.

But that’s not where it stopped.

Continue reading “Quicken Loans Marketing team talks about saving energy” »

Post Metadata

Social Bookmarking

AddThis Button

Secondary Navigation:

Promotional Information:

Partner Links:
Site Feeds:
Copyright:
Today's Date:
Monday, May 21, 2012