Today I learned about something gives me more hope for the future of mankind than I've had in a very long time.

Having lived for many years in Louisiana, I was very affected by the this year's Gulf oil spill disaster. My obsession with news about the spill led to the discovery of a lot of disturbing revelations about the oil industry, which quite frankly disgusted and depressed me on a very deep level.  

Considering the tragedy of the spill, and now the explosion of another offshore rig in the Gulf today, I've been frustrated by a lack of clean energy alternatives available to average consumers. I know that if the option to purchase cleaner and safer energy were avaiable, millions of people like me would choose it. 

UNIQLO, a really cool  (and very affordable) Japanese clothing store that I love shopping at when I've over there, does something to make me like them even more.

They run a program called UNIQLO Recycles. Simply put, you can take your old UNIQLO clothing into any store and they will distribute them to needy people around the world. Very cool.

I probably have 20 UNIQLO t-shirts. The other day Quicken Loans President Jay Farner said to me "Clayton, you have a lot of t-shirts. I've never seen you wear the same one twice." Now you know my secret (though I admit I do wear them all more than once).

Here's one of my least favorites in the pic above, but I still like it (or I wouldn't be wearing it).

UNIQLOhas one U.S. store in New York City (on Broadway in SoHo), so American's can get their UNIQLO on while hanging out in the Big Apple.

This is amazing and proof anyone can do ANYTHING.

Lui Wei is a 22-year old who lost his arms in an accident.

That didn't stop him from becoming an amazing pianist. I've never seen anything like this in my life.

Not sure I've ever seen a better video for this blog.

Enjoy!

Leave it to the Japanese to take something as uncool as a 300 sq. ft. home and make it very cool.

I guess that's what happens when land is at a super premium.

It's hard for me to imagine that, coming from Detroit, where land is pretty much as cheap as it gets.

But evidently, Japan is a little different than Detroit and the good people there make the best of a difficult situation.

Recently, NPR.org ran a very good article on Japan's tiny homes, In Japan, Living Large in Really Tiny Houses. Here is a bit from the article:

Great article today in the WSJ about Michigan Corps, a non profit intent on boosting Michigan's ailing economy. Michigan Corps was recently started by Rishi Jaitly, a New York native and former Google executive.

Here's some info about Michigan Corps and Mr. Jaitly from the article:

The New York native and former Google executive this week launched Michigan Corps, a national nonprofit intent on boosting Michigan's economy and creating wealth for its residents. Founding board members include Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt, CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, author Jeffrey Eugenides and former Digg CEO Jay Adelson.

As you may or may not recall, I am an active member of a vintage scooter club, The Rovers.  This weekend marks one of my favorite times of the year.  Our scooter club throws its annual scooter rally in the city of Detroit.

A post by guest blogger Jill Scapelliti

If you have a pet, then you know how fulfilling it is to get that perfect picture of him/her doing something cute or goofy or literally just sleeping (you just can’t help yourself because it’s so darn adorable). You show off the photo to your friends, post it on Facebook, even frame it and put it on your desk at work. These photos make you smile during your longest days.

If any of the above hits home with you, then please take a second to read about our great Calendar Contest where you can show off your “Hollywood” kitty or pooch and also give back to homeless furry pets in need of love and help this summer.

I am a dedicated volunteer at Almost Home Animal Rescue League in Southfield. The economy has really hit us hard over the past year, and the number of homeless cats and dogs has skyrocketed. We are a true 100% No-Kill shelter, meaning we keep our animals until we find them a new forever home. We are overflowing with cats and dogs, and our volunteers are exhausted. Just when we start to feel great about finding two little kittens a new home, another litter is dumped at our doorstep. It’s never-ending, but our volunteers are tireless and determined to make a difference in each and every animal’s life.

History's most famous baseball team owner, of the most famous team in history, has moved on to the ball game in the sky.

George Steinbrenner has hung up his kleats (well, not sure if he every played) and he'll be missed. Love him or hate him, he was good at what he did and he built an empire. The Yankees are the most successful and recognized team in baseball (if not sports) history and he's a big part of the reason why.

From the Detroit News:

For more than 30 years, Steinbrenner lived up to his billing as "the Boss," a nickname he earned and clearly enjoyed as he ruled with an iron fist. While he lived in Tampa he was a staple on the front pages of New York newspapers.

"He was an incredible and charitable man," his family said in a statement. "He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports. He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again."

Read the full article in The Detroit News

Goodbye Mr. Steinbrenner.

A man gets very excited when he sees a double rainbow.

So excited that it's a mega viral video and we thought we'd share it here.

And when I say "he's excited" - you have no idea. I recommend you join the over two million folks who have watched this video.

Enjoy!

Everybody's favorite British drummer, Ringo Starr, is 70 today.

He's still a great performer, by the way. I saw the Ringo All Star Band a few years back and it was a super fun show. Sheila E. was the main drummer for the band that year and despite the fact she is obviously 100x more skilled as a drummer than Ringo, he's still Ringo and that means he's awesome.

I've loved the Beatles my entire life and I really love Ringo's songs. I love his deadpan vocals and I love his drumming style. Nothing fancy. Just that strong back beat that every Beatles song is known for.

Doug Peeples and I just had a violent argument that Tupac was as globally influential as the Beatles. What? Tupac in the same category as the Beatles?

How silly.

Happy birthday Ringo!

Quicken Loans and the DIFF Blog team wish all of our readers a very happy 4th of July. It's a great day to be an American and we're so proud we wanted to share a video Amber Hunt sent out to the team last week.

It's approriate for the 4th because there is a big old American flag in the background and because the drummer is absolutely on fire. I embedded this version that has 500k views, but the original has over 5 millon and that qualifes as viral (the original doesn't have an embed code that is working for me).

We hope you enjoy today as much as this guy enjoys drumming.

Quicken Loans new home was once again featured in the Detroit Free Press today! This time the main focus wasn’t the move into the Compuware Building downtown, but rather, the employees themselves and how they will acclimate to the transition from Livonia.

As everyone is preparing for the big move, some will even choose to pick up their lives and move downtown with the company.” Go big or go home,” right!? Some Quicken Loans employees have recently toured downtown lofts and apartments to possibly make their new home. With the development of fresh, innovative real estate buildings downtown, there many options to choose from.

What do I think about this?

I love it! I think living in a unique loft downtown Detroit would be awesome, especially when work is right around the corner. Living in the city puts you at the heart of everything and the possibilities are endless in Detroit. People who aren’t from around here may call me or anyone else crazy for even considering this, but Detroit seems to hold a bright future in its hands. As a recent college graduate, the career and life decisions I make right now will affect my life forever. I see the decision to move downtown Detroit as an exciting opportunity to take advantage of taking part in its re-birth. It may be taking a chance, yes, but you will never know what might have been unless you take these chances.

By Nikki Stellini

Quicken Loans is proud to announce that its Data Warehouse team is the co-winner of a Best Practices Award in Operational Business Intelligence from The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), a leading association in the industry. The award recognizes the team’s excellence in creating and maintaining software that reports, gathers, secures, and analyzes up-to-the-minute data, keeping our business running efficiently and fostering growth each year.

The Quicken Loans Data Warehouse team is a group of dedicated engineers and database administrators who write the software programs that tie all of the company’s important data together in one location.
 “The team is really excited and proud to win this award,” said Steve Brennan, Quicken Loans Data Warehouse team leader. “We use business intelligence to stay on top of our game. It’s an honor to be recognized for our hard work in the industry.”

Pretty cool video suggested to the DIFF by marketing genius Ryan Sills. Check it out. Pretty inspiring.

We've got a BIG announcement! Literally...

You may have already heard that Quicken Loans will be moving to downtown Detroit this year.  But if you somehow missed the message, we hope that this GIANT BILLBOARD will make it clear.  We're Quicken Loans and we're coming to Detroit!

So how many people hate the idea of garage/rummage sales? And think that they are a place where junk is found or hoarders go?!

I absolutely USED to.  About 2 weeks ago, before I started my internship here at Quicken, I was visiting my thirty-one year old sister in St. Joseph, Michigan on the west side of the state. I went to visit her on my way home to my parent’s house in Farmington Hills.

After staying the night she decided to wake me up bright and early, for what I thought was a trip to drop off my four year old niece at preschool. Little did I know that we were going “garage sale-ing,” as she calls it, for three hours after we dropped off my niece.  At first, I was angry with my sister because I was out a little too late the night before and all I could think about was jumping in the guest room bed and taking a nap before my “diva-licious” niece came home and I was going to be asked to play all afternoon.

R. Kelly has not lived in his former Lakeview home since 2002, but the house is still making headlines.  The Chicago home, a former church that has undergone several renovations since its purchase from Kelly 8 years ago, will be listed on Monday for $4 million dollars.  The home features a 1,500 square foot roof top terrace, an indoor pool and a 1,600-gallon fish tank where R. Kelly reportedly once kept a shark.  A SHARK!

If you're not interested in this home, there is another piece of history that was left in this house that is up for grabs.

Image via The Burton Theatre's Facebook Page. 

The Burton Theatre is a prime example of what makes Detroit so great.  The theater is the product of four friends who wanted to open a movie theater in Detroit, and decided to do so in a vacant public school.  It's a really cool story and you can read more about it here.

Over the holiday weekend, the Burton decided to up their game.

Quicken Loans is a great place to work.  There is always something fun going on and yesterday was no exception.  The IT teams had a post-it note mural competition!  They created post-it note murals all over the 4th floor of the Quicken Loans office and they results were really cool. 

A few of us were talking today about doodling during meetings.  Some see this as a time-waisting habit or assume that the doodler is not paying attention to the Very Important Meeting taking place.  However, a 2009 study by Jackie Andrade shows that doodling actually helps keep your brain engaged and doodlers actually retain more information during meetings than non-doodlers.  The study suggests that doodling helped prevent people from daydreaming, which not only distracts the mind from the task at hand, but it also uses and focuses the brains energy on the daydream.  So doodle on, doodlers! There's even a flickr "office meeting doodles" group where you can upload your meeting "notes".

Photo by Flickr user mrmatt

Oh, Lost.  You've teased us for 6 seasons and it's all about to come to an end.  Fans are preparing for the end of an era this Sunday.  I am one of the many fans who is planning a Lost finale party and I want to send the show off in a different way.  There are a lot of great resources for Lost parties.  You can find everything from Lost-themed cupcakes and Dharma Initiative labels and those are all fine and dandy.  But let us not forget that with all of the entertainment this show has provided over the last 6 years, there's been a lot of pain as well.  My party will celebrate that pain.  Here are five foods I will serve to pay tribute to some of the show's most enraging moments.  Click through for the list, but warning, some *Spoiler Alerts* are found below...

This weekend marks the 4th Keith Hamm Foundation fundraiser. It's a great cause and proof that every penny raised in the name of a cause can make a difference.

Keith Hamm was the life partner of Mark Miller, a senior leader here at Quicken Loans.  When Keith succumed to cancer in 2006, Mark decided to celebrate his life with a party and a fundraiser.

To date the foundation has raised over $90,000 for lymphoma and leukemia research in Michigan. That's awesome and I'm glad I can do my part to chip in a little toward making that amount larger.

Cancer has touched everyone I know. My father died of cancer a year and a half ago. Several of my friends also have had loved ones die of cancer. Cancer sucks.

I salute Mark and the other volunteers who make the effort to help others. That's what this is all about. Celebrating the love of one great person by helping many other great people.

And that's a great thing.

The Keith Hamm Foundation 2010 event is this Saturday at the Rock Financial Center in Novi Mi at 7 pm. Come if you can. Ticket and event info is here. If you can''t make the event, consider a donation. It's a great cause.

Tonight I shall embark on a new journey in my silly life.  One that hopefully is filled with more laughs than embarrassment.  Tonight is my very first Intro to Improv class at Go Comedy in Ferndale, MI.  I'm really excited to try this out!  I think I'm about 56% funny, so the chances that I will be good at this are slightly in my favor. 

What led me to want to do something as crazyambitious as improv? 

Facebook fans - we're back with more free stuff!

In the spirit of the Cleveland Cavaliers playoff run, we will be giving away a $50 Cavs store gift card in a random drawing of our Facebook fans today (5/13/2010)!

We’ll notify the winner by a message through Facebook. If you are currently a Quicken Loans Facebook fan, good luck! If you’re not a fan, you have until 5:00pm EST today to become one and get a chance to win! Please spread the word!

Spotted this on Josh Linkner's Twitter feed.  I'd love to go fishing with David Lynch.  We'd set out on a rickety old pirate ship, he'd be eating a banana and whistling the theme song to "The Love Boat".  I'd only be able to speak backwards yet he would somehow be able to understand.  Small goats would wander around the boat and every so often one would do a cannonball into the black sea on which we sail.  Then I would catch a little fish.  The little fish would open his mouth and a stream of fireworks would shoot into the air.  David and I would embrace, and I would know that all is right in this strange, strange world.

via Museum of Weird Art

There's something about spring in Detroit.

Snow melts and everything around you turns from gray to green. When I was young, I never noticed. Nowadays, I get excited about the first tulip bud and hint of color in the trees.

It's also the time that our beloved Detroit Tigers pick up their bats for the season. Opening Day is the greatest holiday between my friends and I - a day to get downtown and soak it all up. We rarely ever go to the game - being downtown around other fans is enough for us.

But when I was younger, I knew nothing of the parties and Friday night fireworks. Instead, we had the radio and a soothing, southern voice to narrate our summer nights.

It was always so warm, so relaxed and with just a faint static of radio. Perhaps you would otherwise occupied, but then you'd hear a loud "crack"  and then the familiar voice who'd make your head turn when he said, "It's loooooooooooooong gone!"

His name was Ernie, but he is Detroit. He may have grown up in Atlanta, but he's ours. Sorry, Atlanta.

Ernie Harwell coached Detroit Tigers fans through 40+ seasons of ups and downs. He was let go for about a year in the early 90s, but brought back by heavy fan demand. He retired in 2002 on his own terms and really....who were we to stop him? Ernie called the shots. 

He announced he had incurable cancer in September of 2009. Just a few short weeks later, he gave a sort of farewell address before a game at Comerica Park. Watch the video of that below.

One of my favorite home & product design blogs, Design*Sponge has a recurring feature that I just LOVE.  It's called "Living In" and it utilizes some of the most notable films ever to grace the silver screen and showcases products that would allow you to convert your surroundings into their world.  Today they featured a quintessential film from my childhood, Stand By Me.  I love this movie and the inspiration boards she created using various screenshots made me swoon.  I want everything!  Well, except the blueberry pie...

During my freshman year of college I decided to use some of my student loan money to buy a vintage Vespa.  I’m pretty sure that’s what the government wanted me to use these funds for.  My friend and I jumped in his pickup truck and headed to Baltimore to pick up the scooters.  It was a great weekend full of adventure and many firsts (first road trip, first time trying sushi and my first Vespa).  The scooter, a 1976 125TS, was in pretty good condition aside from the engine being covered in road grime.  We loaded the bikes into the pickup and headed back to East Lansing, MI.

I wouldn’t see my scooter again for four years.

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”

French poet Victor Hugo’s words are an inspiration to all creative minds looking to discover that new idea. From college graduates to local entrepreneurs, each is seeking to make the next big breakthrough. Whether that breakthrough is launching a business or finding a better way to do things, the creative spirit is alive and well in Detroit.

Scotty Simpson's Fish and Chips - my favorite fish and chips place of my entire life turns 60 today. And for today only, the prices are the same as the day they opened in 1950.

Scotty's story is a cool story. It's a story about a small business lasting a lot longer than anyone thought it would. It's a story of the last business still standing from the old days in Detroit's Brightmore neighborhood.

The Detroit New wrote this great piece about it last week.

  I remember years of my childhood spent at the ballpark watching my dad play baseball. Those days are marked in my mind - the sun on my face, running around under the bleachers, eating as many hot dogs as I wanted and sticky orange Faygo in a glass bottle, the crack of the ball on a wooden bat, my dad's white uniform stained with clay brown dirt from sliding into home.

I remember summer afternoons, my grandpa carrying a small radio in the front pocket of his button down shirts with Ernie Harwell's soothing voice calling out the Detroit Tigers hits and misses. To me, baseball has become synonymous with some of the best memories I can muster, and I'm sure it's the same for thousands of kids - young and old alike - across America.

This is one of the best and truly viral videos I've seen in a while. Sent to me by the former DIFF Ninja.

It's from a group that did a study showing that behavior can be changed with fun.

In this case it worked. They made walking stairs (one of the least fun things in the world) fun.

See how they did it.

Thanks DIFF Ninja!

Very interesting short movie I wanted to share. I won't spoil it (takes about 18 mins to watch), but here is a short synopsis from the film's site:

This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. Along the way, it encounters strange creatures, experiences love in the sky, grieves the loss of its beloved maker, and tries to grasp its purpose in the world.

In the end, the wayward plastic bag wafts its way to the ocean, into the tides, and out into the Pacific Ocean trash vortex — a promised nirvana where it will settle among its own kind and gradually let the memories of its maker slip away.

Also, here's 3 tips for a greener home from Quicken Loans Mortgage News.

Every year Quicken Loans sponsors a table at the annual Bow Wow Brunch- a charity event that benefits the Michigan Humane Society. This weekend was their 21st annual brunch - held at the Ritz Carleton in Dearborn - and I was honored to represent the company, along with several others, for a cause that is close to my heart. Several local personalities were on hand to lend their fund-raising celebrity to the function, while silent and live auctions also raised money for the nonprofit. Especially enticing for the pet lovers in attendance were the sweet kittens and pups that graced the foyer, auditioning for new homes.

The auctions featured items donated by local businesses, craftspeople, and artists, as well as some specialty experiences, such a private breakfast with the giraffes in the Detroit Zoo, and also a thrilling ride with GM's Vice Chairman Bob Lutz aboard his private J-39 Soviet jet.

I have a dog from MHS, who was surrendered to the Huron Valley branch at the age of 3 weeks, barely responsive and suffering from dehydration, malnutrition, and urine burns on his paws from unclean conditions. A foster care provider working with the shelter nursed him back to health with lots of care and attention from her family. When I took him home at 9 weeks, he was happy and healthy and loving, and instantly fit right in with my other pets. He's been a loved and valued member of my household ever since. Because of him - and because every animal in my home was once in the care of a Humane Society - I feel indebted to MHS. (See comment in epilogue for correction! MHS is NOT affiliated with HVHS.) I was very happy to be able to attend and contribute, and was very pleased with what I heard during presentations at the brunch.

This dates me and I don't care.

In Living Color was one of the greatest (if not the all-time greatest) TV comedy shows ever. I loved it and watched every episode. It came on Fox TV's Sunday night after the Simpsons and that fact I was in college during most of the years it ran, meant the party continued through Sunday night.

In Living Color debuted on April 15, 1990 and ran for four seasons. It was considered groundbreaking for a variety of reasons (check out the Wikipedia page linked above for the full scoop), but most of all, funny as all heck. I laughed really hard almost every episode.

Among the stars who appeared on In Living Color and later became household names:

• Jim Carrey
• Damon Wayans
• Jamie Foxx
• Keenan Wayans
• Jennifer Lopez
• Carrie Ann Inaba
• David Alan Grier
• Rosie Perez

Today, Detroit’s Bizdom U entrepreneurial bootcamp was featured on CNBC’s Power Lunch program.  The segment, which features interviews with Dan Gilbert and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, focuses on the need for a strong entrepreneurial core as part of Detroit’s recovery.

Bizdom U teaches entrepreneurs everything they need to know to start a thriving business in the city of Detroit.  While undergoing four months of intensive training, the entrepreneurs develop a plan for a scalable business that must be located in Detroit.  If the business plan is ultimately approved, the entrepreneur receives funding and continued mentoring along the way. 

Check out the Bizdom U video on Youtube.

I heard about this on NPR coming into work today and I found this article on Yahoo! News that I wanted to share.

For the first time in human history, there are four female astronauts in space. Here's a bit from Yahoo!:

Space is about to have a female population explosion.

One woman already is circling Earth in a Russian capsule, bound for the International Space Station. Early Monday morning, NASA will attempt to launch three more women to the orbiting outpost — along with four men — aboard shuttle Discovery.

It will be the most women in space at the same time.

Men still will outnumber the women by more than 2-to-1 aboard the shuttle and station, but that won't take away from the remarkable achievement, coming 27 years after America's first female astronaut, Sally Ride, rocketed into space.

The world is changing and that's a pretty darn cool thing.

What a cool story.

Amy Prior, the former DIFF Ninja, sent this to me and I want to share with you all.

Hans Smith, a 22-year old college student with cerebral palsy, has never set foot on a baseball diamond. He's never held a bat or thrown a ball.

He can't.

But he can play virtual baseball using Sony's PlayStation, and that he does well. He loves it so much he wrote Sony and letter telling them how grateful he was for the opportunity to experience baseball, even though his physical limitations prevented him from playing.

Sony employees were so moved by the letter that they modeled a team player on the virtual Cardinals after Hans Smith.

You can read the entire story here on ABC News.

Props to Sony for making a normal guy feel like a hero. I'm proud to say I own a PlayStation.

Sometimes words are best left to the experts. That's why I'm going to re-blog a bit of information I feel our DIFF readers need about World Water Day from their website:

What is World Water Day?

Water affects every aspect of our lives, yet nearly one billion people around the world don't have clean drinking water, and 2.6 billion still lack basic sanitation. World Water Day, celebrated annually on March 22, was established by the United Nations in 1992 and focuses attention on the world's water crisis, as well as the solutions to address it.

This year, a collaborative of US-based organizations have joined to raise awareness and call for stronger commitments from governments, the private sector, and US citizens for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) initiatives in low-income countries.

Regis Hadiaris is the man when it comes to web marketing. He writes about it often, as well as leadership, on his blog Dot Connector.

Yup, Reg knows his stuff.

But that's not what this is about. This is about Reg's other passion. Curling.

See, Regis is one of those strange guys who LOVES cold weather. He lives in Duluth and looks forward to days in the single digits. I don't get it. Never will, but that's beside the point.

He does get it and he also gets curling. He loves curling so much he is taking part in the House of Hearts Charity Bonspiel. Bonspiel is a word curlers use, by the way.

The House of Hearts Charity Bonspiel features 24 of the best curlers in the world (you may have seen some oof them recently in the Winter Olympics). Proceeds from the event go to the St. Luke Foundation in Duluth.

They are facing off against Reg and his team starting tomorrow and here's where you come in. You can help them raise money by helping Reg with a small donation (or a big one if you got it). Reg's goal was to raise $600 and he's already past that, thankfully. All donations still help a great cause and why not help Reg double his $600 goal? Seems like a good idea to me.

Bonspiel Reg.

Ok Go, is a rock band that I have been in love with since first viewing their “Here It Goes Again” performance on the MTV Music Awards in 2007, which was done entirely on treadmills. It was amazing to say the least. Since then the band has produced and performed a series of outstanding videos for their songs.

However, none have been truly as amazing as the “Here It Goes Again” performance, until now. Ok Go has just released two videos to their latest hit song “This Too Shall Pass”. The first video is the official one and was filmed in a two story warehouse with a machine that was designed by the band and members of Synn Labs. The next video although unofficial, is just as amazing and was filmed live with the Notre Dame marching band. I have posted the first one below and have attached a link below to the second video. After watching both please comment to let me know which one you like better. Personally, it’s a tough call, but I think I like the official one with the machine. Either way the song is great!

To view the second “This Too Shall Pass” video click HERE or to see the “Here It Goes Again” video click HERE.

Welcome to what we hope is the first of many posts to feature the launch of a new Bizdom U business. For those who don't know, Bizdom U is an entrepreneurial school in downtown Detroit from Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert.

You might remember us mentioning Guffly before - they're another Bizdom business which is about 6 months old.

So, without further ado, here is the first pitch to you, our dear DIFF readers from one of the newest Bizdom grads - Roger Williams of Launch Learning Group:

In these economic hard times chances are you know someone out of work or looking for a new career path. If so, a career in insurance may be right for them.  There is an unlimited income potential, flexible hours and it’s an industry that is still growing even in this economy.

To assist people in breaking into the insurance industry, my partner Antonella Solomon and I just launched our business out of Bizdom U to help prospective insurance agents acquire their license by training them to pass the State exam on the first try.  Our business, Launch Learning Group, has a new training model and we have broken the old mold of insurance training which is typically traditional, lecture based and boring.

We love you, DIFF reader. Do you love us back? Check yes or no.

If you haven't heard about the special Time Inc./CNN Money project about Detroit, it's definitely "time" you check it out. Their mission?

"It's a city in crisis – but with potential for a big comeback. Despite an ailing auto industry and the highest jobless rate in the nation, Detroiters are determined to make their hometown thrive once again. For the next year, CNNMoney will focus on that challenge."

One of their latest articles includes a feature of Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert and his vision for our company and our move to Detroit. It's called "Making Detroit a tech hub - One mogul's vision".

But in the video above, you'll see a glimpse of what needs to happen in Detroit to make it a place to attract even more businesses. Listen in as Randall Charlton (Executive Director, TechTown), Chanell Scott (QL friend and Co-Founder of Guffly) and Matt Cullen (President of the QL mothership aka Rockbridge Growth Equity) discuss the kinds of things entrepreneurs are looking to find when considering the Motor City.

What else do you think Detroit needs to attract successful businesses?

Quicken Loans is part of a huge effort to raise money for those suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and to support research for an eventual cure to this devastating disease.

As part of the Michigan ALS Association's fund raising efforts, Quicken Loans is supporting the 2009 ALS Walk in Detroit. Here's why we care (from the ALS Society's site):

Often referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neuromuscular disease that slowly robs the body of its ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. The life expectancy of an ALS patient averages 2 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis.

Every 90 minutes a person in this country is diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes another person will lose their battle against this disease. ALS occurs throughout the world with no racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic boundaries.

This crippling disease can strike anyone. Presently there is no known cause of the disease though support is bringing researchers closer to an answer. In the mean time it costs an average of $200,000 a year to provide the care ALS patients need. Help make a difference and donate or join a walk today.

Here's where you can help. The ALS Assocation needs your support and a dollar will do. Just go to to the ALS site and give a buck. That's it. If you have 5 bucks to give, that's five times better than one, but one will do.

Help us help those who need our help. Isn't one lousy buck worth it?

I know what you're thinking. Another video, Kelly? Too easy. GIVE US THE GOOD STUFF! WE NEED THE DIFF!

Well, my people, this is it. Over the weekend, I became more than slightly obsessed with this video from Chow.com. It's not new, not cutting edge, fancy schmancy technologically-advanced or even celebrity dance-y pants. This video? THIS.VIDEO.IS.PURE.AWESOME.

There are times in life when you come across someone with such a zest for life that it leaves you scratching your head. They're that happy? Can't be *that happy* all the time. They leave you questioning their motives or even the source of their unapologetic energy (whatever they're on can't be legal).

by Meghan Dryzga

Want a family-friendly, kid-tastic weekend adventure? Go to Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, Missouri.

For Father’s Day 2009, the kids (kid-at-heart husband and real kid) and I all hopped in the car and drove to Silver Dollar City, the old-fashioned Western/Southern-themed… well… theme park. I’m more of an observer than a participant when it comes to rides so the kids had a great time while I manned the camera. (Sweet jimminy, I hate rides.)

So, a bit about Silver Dollar City. The roller coasters. While they're fun and certainly thrill-worthy (according to Daddy and Daughter), they don’t quite measure up to Cedar Pointe in quantity or in thrill quality. However, Silver Dollar City kicked Cedar Pointe's butt in every other department. Let's just say, they understand and embrace the idea of a "theme park": Pick a theme; go with it. Every single detail of Silver Dollar City's Old Time Southern theme was tended to. Sun washed wood slats formed every edifice. Uniforms were reminiscent of Laura Ingles. Michael Landon would've felt very at home. Rides were named appropriately: The Barn Swing, Wildfire, Powderkeg, Fire in the Hole. Water rides were a riot. Consistent with the theme. The park maps were titled "Public Notice." And, in case you're not sure what it's like to milk a cow, you can give it a whirl on their udder-squeezing simulation. Squeezable udders!