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In the last year, I’ve been shell shocked by the amount of people in my life suffering through illness, cancer and other conditions. In the last four years, I have been fortunate enough to make positive changes, taking control of my life and body, and have devoted myself to not taking my health for granted, with the hopes of inspiring others through my actions.

Recently, my dear friend John Reinhardt has begun his second bout with Leukemia at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York, after recently relocating to a new job with his husband Greg. With a fantastic set of doctors, he is remaining optimistic and in the face of illness.

My DC friends have embarked on a half-marathon with to help show our support during this time, and I somehow convinced myself that I could take part!

Obviously, taking on in under two months what takes others four months is ambitious, but I am applying myself to achieve.

In fact, before two weeks ago, I NEVER once ran a mile outside. This past weekend, I ran 7.5 miles! In the cold! Uphill! While I am a long way from crossing the 13 mile mark, I am committed to achieving this new goal, as well as giving myself some meaning and purpose in the face of all of this darkness.

We will be holding a fundraiser in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) with other friends/colleagues of John with lots of games and entertainment beginning at 7pm on Thursday, February 16th at The Blaguard (2003 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20009; www.theblaguarddc.com).

If you can’t make it, you can feel free to (In fact, I’d adore you for it!) place a donation to my individual page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/halfnyc12/kjseaton, or via our team page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/halfnyc12/teamjohn. Whatever you can manage is much appreciated!

To my NYC friends and family, you can feel free to cheer me on Sunday, March 18, 2012! Thank you so much for your support!

This is my first blog post after moving the site over to WordPress. Feeling pretty good about making the move after years of updating the site with endless HTML pages. Still moving over the contents of my portfolio and fleshing out errors. Stay tuned, and thanks for visiting.

This post originally appeared in the Bivings Report on June 3, 2010.

Can the Internet Fix Politics?

That question is the theme of the 2010 Personal Democracy Forum, a two-day conference that merges technology with politics. Another theme that continued to be mentioned during the opening event of PdF was the ongoing disaster in the Gulf Coast, and the inability of the government and private industry to solve the crisis.

Micah Sifry noted during his welcome remarks that the real time viewing and public reaction of the oil spill is a metaphor for our times, where people can stare at the images and video, but are slow to take action. Sifry also posed the question: Will the websites, networks and tools being built facilitate long-term growth and solutions?

The event began with an impressive list of speakers, including Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, who spoke of his websites’ ability to offer not only access to data, but also facilitate dialog. He mentioned 9/11 and the Haiti earthquakes as examples of being able to provide people an outlet in a time when broadcast news offers wide coverage but little in the way of real information or details.Interestingly, while Wales sees the value in his own website and its transparency, he expressed concern in the value of having the home value of a neighbors’ home or the myriad of details found on sex offender websites. He remarked that in government, there are some things that need to be private simply so that business can be completed.

Next, the legendary Daniel Ellsberg spoke of how he would have released the Pentagon papers of 1971 in today’s times, mentioning the immediate value in scanning the documents and simply posting them online. The conversation then questioned whether that action would have had the same effect as it did during that time, when more attention was paid on the fact that the government learned that they could not stop the exchange of information.

Ellsberg was joined on Skype by Julian Assange from WikiLeaks , whose website publishes and comments on leaked documents alleging government and corporate misconduct. Ellsberg spoke of the fact that his website “makes whistleblowers the heroes” and that courage it takes to expose wrongdoings encourages others to do the same, creating more transparency in government.

Video from PDF is streaming live at http://personaldemocracy.com/live .

You can also keep up with the latest Tweets. Check out the PdF Twitterslurp at http://personaldemocracy.com/twitter , powered by The Bivings Group.

Event hashtag is #pdf10.

This post originally appeared in the Bivings Report on May 7, 2010.

Members of The Bivings Group had the pleasure of attending the White House Correspondents Garden Brunch on Saturday, May 1.

The annual event, considered one of the major galas related to the WHC weekend raised awareness for two organizations, Mothers Day Every Day and CURE Epilepsy, a cause dear to Susan Axelrod, who spoke about the need to find a cure.

While the opportunity to mingle with luminaries was high, so was the chance to reflect on some of the work The Bivings Group has done of late, ranging from the Pickens Plan to websites for Haddad Media, and Jayni and Chevy Chase’s Green Community Schools Initiative.

The mid-day assortment of individuals mingling made the brunch seem more like the main event rather than an undercard. Where else could you find T. Boone Pickens conversing with the Jonas Brothers? Or notables such as Rupert Murdoch and David Axelrod in the presence of TV hostess Wendy Williams and the ubiquitous Kim Kardasian?

In fact, the whole event felt as if the worlds of entertainment, politics and news had collided. There is indeed a reason why the White House Correspondents weekend is affectionately referred to as either the “nerd prom” or “Washington DC’s version of the Oscars.” News personalities such as Greta Van Susteren, Chris Matthews, David Gregory, Ed Schultz and Gwen Ifill were spotted alongside television and film favorites Chace Crawford of “Gossip Girl,” Matthew Morrison of “Glee,” Joe Mazzello of HBO’s “The Pacific,” Sherri Shepard of “The View,” Omar Epps of “House, MD,” as well as funnyman Marlon Wayans and Oprah BFF Gayle King. Other actors in attendance included Rosario Dawson, Elisabeth Shue, Steven Weber, Cheryl Hines and tween star Demi Lovato.

We at The Bivings Group would like to extend a special thank you to co-host Tammy Haddad for including us in the weekend festivities.

For more photos and videos from the WHC Garden Brunch, we encourage you to visit http://www.whitehousecorrespondentsweekendinsider.com/ and check out photos on TBG’s Facebook page.

This post originally appeared in the Bivings Report on April 15, 2010.

Trying to hide shenanigans? There’s an app for that.

For those of us prone to fits of word vomit, a new application eliminates the possibility of your text messages coming back to haunt you later. (After all, not all of us have the ability to organize a television mea culpa.)

For a fee, the sender is able to determine the length of time the recipient is able to retain the message before it is permanently deleted from both users’ phones and the server they exist on. Features even include a super-spy style “delete on read” setting.

Similar to the advent of the pager (which used primarily for medical industry), it is only so long before a private sector communication device becomes available to the general public.

While I could understand the usefulness of an application such as this for incredibly sensitive business materials, I’m wondering about the legal and social ramifications this could bring. Clearly, while this aids in maintaining privacy, the function could lead to less honorable people being able to deceive. Then again, if you have ever texted someone after the hours of midnight, you could wake up praying for a do-over.

The appropriately (or unfortunately) named product, called Tiger Text is available for iPhone, BlackBerry and the Android. The creator, Jeffrey Evans claims that the name was in place before the Tiger Woods infidelity (and texting) scandal broke last fall.

For people who aren’t fans of their words being taken out of context or being used against you later (I’m looking at you, Mel Gibson), your day has come. While I’m certain that nothing is ever truly deleted anywhere, have fun while you can.

In other words? There is no way this could not end badly.

This post originally appeared in the Bivings Report on March 24, 2010.

In the world of website and graphic design, image is everything, and with it, the art accompanying the project just as significant. While businesses frequently face the challenge of finding images that appropriately represent their organizations and/or services, it is not to say that success will be found 100% of the time. Surprisingly, the most important aspect of their presentation can often times appear rushed, or other times under cooked.

The entire concept of image retouching is similar to that of a magician: The viewer should never be in on the trick.

Image manipulation is truly an art, and nowadays when a 15 year-old can remove a lingering pimple before posting party pics to Facebook, everyone is in on the act, albeit with mixed results.

I am always on the search for examples of what I’d like to call “photostopping,” where both the photo and reality end, leaving you wondering why an effort was made at all.

I find myself endlessly entertained by the website Photoshop Disasters, featuring examples of poorly implemented designs that actually make it past the cutting room floor. Viewing the site, you would be surprised at the epidemic of models missing limbs in advertisements.

This example comes from the Polish edition of the Microsoft website. While it is not uncommon to come across websites using the same stock images, it would seem that there are only so many of the standard “diversity” business shots available.

In the image, one businessman is clumsily swapped for another, going as far as neglecting the color of the replaced man’s hand. While you could potentially excuse other companies for shoddy design, please remember— this is MICROSOFT!

And I haven’t even touched the subject of the obvious white MacBook prominently featured in the center of the shot.

Source: Photoshop Disasters

Further reading: Joe Wertz: The Politics of Photoshop — 10 Historic Doctored Photos