TheFind Blog

Super Bowl Revisited

I watched the Super Bowl in it's entirety this year. Typically, I only watch the ads, but I actually watched most of the game. I think I fell asleep before half time, there was so little activity. I was starting to wonder if the score would ever move again. Thankfully, the action started back up during the second half. I don't recall if it was during third quarter or not, but I know that the fourth quarter was very exciting! I have to say, I was pretty happy to see the underdogs pull up and win it. That was really cool.

The real reason that I watch Super Bowl is for the ads, but this year was pretty disappointing. There were only about a handful of ads that were at all memorable and that also deserved to be aired during Super Bowl. I don't know what happened, but it seemed like the ad writers went on strike along with the TV writers this year. Tragic!

For first quarter, the only ad that I really liked was the Bud Light flame thrower. Remember the guy that was allergic to the cat and started sneezing fire all over the apartment? That was pretty entertaining and Super Bowl worthy IMO.

During second quarter, I really enjoyed the Budweiser commercial featuring Hank who didn't get to work with the hitch team, so he trains with the dalmation and gets in shape to join the team. So cute! The Tide to Go commercial with the talking stain was entertaining. I figured out what they were advertising early into the commercial, so that was cool. I also enjoyed the Bud Light commercial with all the guys with accents trying to pick up women in the bar. It was funny, but it wasn't a new concept for Bud Light.

I found the Planters nuts commercial to be disturbingly funny. And I was sorely disappointed by JT's Pepsi commercial. That ad received a lot of hype beforehand and I don't think it delivered at all. So he did his own stunts, wow. I guess that was the big claim to fame for that ad!

For third quarter, I'd say that Vitamin Water with Shaq on a racehorse took the cake, along with the new ETrade baby - he was pretty cute. The Coca Cola ad with the Thanksgiving Day Parade inflatables was funny, but I thought the ending was a real let down. They could've payed that off in so many ways, but they just gave the Coke to Charlie Brown. What?!? I think I would've had a battle between the two inflatables end in one of them being impaled by a pole on a building or something exciting like that.

And finally, fourth quarter I thought the Toyota Sequoia ad with the big wheel races was lot of fun! And Amp Energy's dancing car jumper was disturbingly funny (almost as disturbing as the Planter's commercial). The Gatorade G2 commercial that had the really cute dog drinking out of the bowl left me asking WTH?!? Cute dog, but the commercial did nothing for me.

As far as the ads go, Bud Light wins the Super Bowl. Here's my favorite ad this year:

So, that's it. No gut wrenchingly funny ads this year. I hope that the ad superstars come back to play ball next year and make those multi-million dollar ad spots really pay off. It is the advertising Super Bowl, after all.

Happy Watching/Searching/Shopping,
Payton

Gifts for the Directionally Challenged

We all have someone special in our lives who's directionally challenged (translation: someone who gets lost frequently). I can write about this because I am especially directionally challenged! I get lost all the time and it's very frustrating. I probably shouldn't admit this, but I sometimes get lost even when I'm using GPS in my car. Don't ask me how, I guess I'm just ultra talented. Anyway, hopefully these new GPS gadgets will help steer your special someone in the right direction.

Trackstick is a cool gadget that won't tell you where to go, but it will show you where you've been. Plug it into your computer and see the results on Google Earth for free! This is a great tool for sports enthusiasts to carry while running, cycling, horseback riding, etc. It will track anything that moves. Perhaps you have a teenager that you want to keep tabs on -- find out where they were really at when they said they were studying at the library. I know, it's not a nice thing to do, but sometimes parents gotta do what parents gotta do.

Navigon GPS is the latest and greatest in GPS technology. This sleek unit is less than one-inch thick and displays 3-D images on the 4.3-inch (diagonal) color touchscreen.  Sounds like this is the GPS for me...the vocal prompter actually says street names (instead of assuming that you know how far 400 feet is).  "Turn right in 400 feet."  Say what?!?  You won't have that issue with this smart GPS.  Free traffic updates that work right out of the box. No set up and no fees.

The Garmin Forerunner 301 is worth more than it's weight in gold. This is the perfect gadget for sports enthusiasts. Take it with you when cycling, running, hiking, etc. to track where you've been or where you're going. There's even a multi-sport setting for triathlon! Comes with a bike mount and heart rate monitor. Upload mileage, stats, maps, and heart rate to motionbased.com. I own one of these and use it when cycling and horseback riding and it's awesome! I can see the elevation gains and losses, the weather and wind speeds and much more!

GPS to get you where you're going or tell you where you've been and how you performed. What more could you ask for for Christmas? I can think of a few things...stay tuned! More gifts to come. :o)

Happy Searching/Shopping,
Payton

TheFind User Success Stories

We hear about a lot of shopping success stories here at TheFind. What do we consider a success story you ask? Anything that people have searched for elsewhere and couldn't find until they search on TheFind.com. Read on to learn more. If you have any success stories or if you've heard of any, please let us know!

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My son is an avid soccer player and was in the market for a specific pair of Nike soccer cleats made with genuine kangaroo leather. We visited the local store and found nothing siutable. 

So I showed [him] TheFind.com. Within minutes he learned how to query with adjectives, filter by brand, and narrow down by price.  In the end he found a great pair of soccer cleats by Nike from a little known shop in LA (his was the only size available in that design). In addition we also managed to get him compression shorts, shin guards and underarmour too.

His next quest is to get an MP3 player and recorder!
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All of the women in my family like to use a facial abrasive called Brasivol, that contains a fine sand mixture, that used to be found at Long's drugstores, but Long's has discontinued it and it has been very hard to find any other store locally that carries it.  Just to see if TheFind could help us out, we did a search... and found a whole page of it!  My mother ordered several containers and gave one to each of us.  Now we all know where to find it when we run out.
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I went to the eye doctor last weekend for an annual checkup.  As I sat in the waiting room, I watched other people picking out glasses and listened to the prices (“these frames are $250”, “these are $325”).  I love nice glasses but want a deal when it comes to the designer frames.  When I finished with my doctor I asked for my written prescription so I could shop around for glasses elsewhere.

I looked online and found a site that carried a lot of different styles.  I found a Prada frame that I loved for $152 which was about 30% less than at the doctor’s office.  I looked at a couple of popular online eyeglass stores and found all of the prices were similar for this particular frame.

Well, then I came to TheFind and typed in the model number (Prada PR 07E).  Up came four products, and one of them was for $108!  I ordered my glasses and with lens/shipping, the whole thing came to less than $200 … the cost some people pay for just the frame!

I should have the glasses in another week or so, fingers are crossed that I like them in person!
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I was talking to an editor of a magazine last week and she said she was working on a story about engagement rings, but couldn’t find heart shaped engagement rings anywhere. I typed “heart shaped engagement ring” into TheFind search box and found 429 results. She was shocked! She wasted hours searching for heart shaped engagement rings and found nothing and by searching TheFind, she discovered amazing results. She was so excited she couldn’t wait to go home and play on the site to discover more things.
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The last success story was my own, but all the others were sent in. It's very exciting to hear about people's successes and we'd love to hear your's. It doesn't matter if you're new to the site or if you've been using it since we launched. I'm convinced that everyone has a success story to share. If you'd prefer to email instead of comment, you can send your story to talk@thefind.com

Happy Searching/Shopping,
Payton

Fun Things to Do at Work

Do you ever have moments during your workday when you can't do anything until several other people complete tasks that are necessary for you to move forward? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess that we all have experienced this at one time or another. Let's just say that you have some downtime as I mentioned...what do you do with that time? You could organize all the emails that you haven't had time to file. Speaking of filing, you could go through the huge pile of papers on your desk and file them. You could surf the internet and catch up on your favorite blogs (oh wait, you're already doing that ;o). Or, you could play some silly little games. Sound like fun? Read on!

If you need to be discreet (as in, you don't want your boss to know), you could play a round or two of desktop dodgeball. It's not as rough as the real game, but it is pretty fun to knock all the little people over. Get a co-worker involved and it's doubly fun!

If you like the concept of dodgeball, but think it's too silly then try mini bowling instead. You can knock pins over instead of little cartoon kids.

Do you prefer quieter games? Then you might like the mini desktop sandbox. This is also a good thing to play with when you're stumped or need to change your pace so you can be more productive while writing or working on project.

Or, you might opt for a good "old fashioned" Rubik's Cube. They're all the rage again like they were in the '80s! It's something that's easy to work on for a few minutes or a few hours, depending on how determined you are to solve it.

I guess now would be a good time to make a note to myself to buy my boss a desktop toy to try to balance out all the toys I have on my desk.

Happy Playing/Searching/Shopping,
Payton

March Maaaaadness!!!

I admit, I don't know a whole lot about college basketball -- team rankings, who's who, team colors, yeah pretty much nothing. But I do know that tomorrow, all the March Madness office pools go into full effect! The sports fans are all buzzing about it. I'm participating in our office pool, but I don't know what I'm doing. I randomly chose schools based on name and/or current standing (based on what the ESPN website told me). We'll see how it goes. If I win anything, it will be a strange miracle.

I do know how to play basketball, so I'm not completely in the dark. (Haha!) I know that playing in high heels or regular sneakers is a bad idea. Remember the old Easy Spirit TV commercials?!? The gals in the ads played basketball in heels.  The right choice for actually playing basketball are basketball shoes, of course! There are so many colors, styles and brands to choose from. After taking an office poll, we came up with the following favorites:

Nike Retro Jordan Sneakers

Adidas Basketball Shoes

Retro Basketball Shoes

Converse Mens Wade

Jordan Sneakers

Do you have a favorite basketball shoe? How about a favorite team? Is that team playing March Madness? We'd love to hear from you! Let us know what you think. Best of luck to you if you're gambling in any March Madness office pools!!!

Happy Searching/Shopping,
Payton

Fun Friday: Super Extravagant Gifts

This one's just for fun, unless you're a billionaire. :o) It's time for some Neiman Marcus super extravagant gifts!  You can't buy these things online folks.

The Virgin Galactic Charter to Space  --  this fabulous trip could be yours for only  $1,764, 000.  Could you imagine?!?

If the trip to space is too extreme for your taste, try Sports Celebrity Dream Package for a starting bid of $250,000.  It's for charity, how can you resist?

What do you get when you cross a motorcycle with a muscle car? A GG Quad, of course! And, for $56,465 you can run this baby up to 115 mph. Be sure to wear a helmet.

Here's to hoping you find just the right gifts for the ones you love.

Happy Searching/Shopping,
Payton

Techy Gadgets for Under $50

There are only 26 shopping days left until Christmas. I figure I'll do what I can to help guide your shopping decisions until the very last day. Have you started shopping yet? Have you devised your gift giving plans yet? I admit, I'm behind the curve on this, but I plan on doing all my shopping online. I have been shopping around and planning though. Have you tried "My Finds" yet? You can easily save a product that you're interested in buying by clicking the "Save In My Finds" link located directly under the product. My list is getting long! How 'bout yours?

On to the subject at hand...I enjoy giving cool techy gadgets to people. It's fun to watch someone's face light up when they a) figure out what the gift is or does and/or b) realize it's something they really need and/or always wanted. That brings me great joy! For today's picks, I refer to New York Holiday Guide

I found the Gifts Under $50 to be pretty valuable. My top picks (mostly because they're techy and affordable) are as follows:

1. CellStik

2. Smartball

3. Nike + iPod Sport Kit

***Chime in and share your favorite techy gifts for under $50. I'd love to hear about them!***

Happy Searching/Shopping,
Payton