Websites to check out

I thought I'd do a quick feature on two websites that I want to help promote because I know the people who run them:

1) TVBigBoard.com - Their about us section says it all: What happens when three guys with various addictions to television, games, gambling, and the internet get together? The answer: TVBigBoard.com.

Basically, TVBigBoard is a site which allows you to bet on TV shows with play money. Prizes are then awarded to top earners.

From the site:

What is TVBigBoard?

TVBigBoard is a free, interactive entertainment site that allows you to bet tokens – which we call “BigBoard Bucks” - on the plot twists, character developments and other results of your favorite TV shows.

For each show on this site you will find questions, as well as potential answers to those questions, about things that may happen in upcoming episodes.

Definitely check it out and let me know if you end up as addicted as I am (even though I suck at it lol)

2) MyDrobe.com - from the site: mydrobe is a new and easy way to organize your wardrobe, share your style with others, and find new fashions!

MyDrobe.com was started by a guy named Kevin...the same guy who started the website DressKevin.com. Kevin was tired of figuring out what to wear, so he created a website to let other people decide for him. MyDrobe.com allows everyone to do the same. You upload pictures of your clothes and have people in community help you decide which outfit works best.

Check out the BurnTees MyDrobe page here - mydrobe.com/burntees

On a completely separate note, I'm actually having a conversation right now about the new show on Fox - Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. All I have to say is that if I was on the show, I'd be making a fool of myself.

Carl thinks these people are idiots, but only Carl remembers that the area of a triangle is equal to 1/2 its base times the height. Let's ask these 5th graders to do some work in excel (because that's the only thing I know anymore) and see who's smarter then!

Some Videos to keep you entertained

It's Friday!

I just came back from a meeting and returned to this from Crazy Carl:

"Did you notice Britney Spears on the cover of the Daily News today? Boy, is she a psychopath! one of my girlfriend's friends said that she felt bad for Britney's kids, and that they were going to grow up messed up. but, given the choice between being Jayden Spears- Federline...and being mike jones, born in a public housing project in detroit, to a drug addicted 12 year old mother living in poverty...Call me crazy, but i'd rather be Jayden Spears Federline any day of the next 65 years. In fact, I'd rather be the son of someone who's rich and crazy... than the son of someone who's extremely poor and noble. Then again, I'm just Crazy Carl, What do i know?"

Thank you Carl.

On nother note, we are proud to announce our new line our Anna Nicole Smith apparel - click on the images to see all the shirts available:

New York City Sidewalk Olympics

Am I the only one who walks down the street thinking "nice move!"? Each day I walk to work and if you live or work in NYC, you know that walking on the sidewalk could be its own sport. Personally, I think I'm quite good at it...good to the point that this morning when I got off the subway, I made a slick move and immediately thought "I KNOW someone saw that and they were definitely impressed with my walking skills". I'm not kidding.

If there was an Olympics for New York City sidewalk walking, I'd definitely be on the team. Again, I'm not kidding. I really think I'm that good.

Most people walk and react. Not me. I'm always three moves ahead, planning my route, predicting people's movements. The door to the shoe shine place swings open?! I saw it coming. Old lade stops to do whatever it is that old ladies stop to do? I'm already by her.

The trickiest obstacle? Tourists. You just never know when they'll stop, turn, speed up, slow down. And you're not just dealing with one person...by rule there's always at least 2 tourists together at any one time, so your obstacle is at least twice as wide as you're used to. That's how you can spot tourists by the way. In the morning, every one's traveling by themselves, but the tourists are in packs (of course, you can also spot them by the map, the backpack, the confused look, the slow walking, the head pointed straight up at the buildings, and the look of "pretend like you live here...that's what the book said...pretend like you live here").


Today's T shirt site of the day: kaptainmyke.com (click the banner below)


More great news! Carl IMed me this morning with this:

"This is from the Department of Misplaced Priorities. a few weeks ago, there was an article in USA Today about how murderers are learning from TV shows like CSI and Law and Order how better to get away with their crimes. Now, the idea of hardcore sex on network television would shock Censors, Network Executives, and the Christian Coalition, but they have no problem airing shows which can help people literally get away with murder."

Thank you Carl.

Crazy Carl

For those of you who already know Carl (aka CJ, aka Crazy Carl), you know that he's crazy. How else do you end up with a name like Crazy Carl?

Here's his description of himself off his myspace page: "I'm random, eccentric, intelligent, pseduo-intellectual, funny, and confused. I'm off the charts. I know I'm searching for enlightenment, but other than that I have no clue. I have issues. I'm just trying to enjoy the ride that life is. I have a highly addictive personality. Right now I'm addicted to the Jack Bauer Power Hour and Pop Candy **What I'm reading: Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse by David Jay Brown and Paper Lion by George Plimpton ***Recently Finished: Welcome to the Homeland by Brian Mann and Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris"

Anyway, Carl comes up with crazy ideas and crazy theories and he feels that it's necessary to instant message me each day with these crazy crazy thoughts. And each day I say "Carl, instead of IMing me with these crazy thoughts, why not start a blog?" Well, up until this point no blog exists, so I'm taking it upon myself to share with the public some of the crazy things that Carl says to me.

Here's today's:

"lets pretend for a moment that i'm not the most cynical asshole on the planet. on E! network this weekend, there was a show called "anna nicole smith- an unfinished life". an unfinished life? was she just about to cure cancer or AIDS? or end world hunger?"

I hope you enjoyed today's edition of Crazy Carl.

We Need More Money!

That's our new motto....We Need More Money!...what do you think? I think it's like an entire motivational speech in one short sentence.

The problem is, of course, how do we make more money? That's where you come in. Leave comments on what we can do to make more money. If your idea is the best, we'll use your idea to make more money while you sit back and do nothing...and get nothing in return.

Now for today's t shirt site of the day: - T Shirt Fetish

click the link or picture to check out the site.

Have a great weekend!

Thought i'd leave you with something fun for the weekend (from http://www.explosm.net):


THANK YOU JEFF!

Paula Update!

In case you missed it, here's Part I

I guess it worked because today, out of the blue, I received an email from Paula:

"hey...I got your emails and I am aware that you have yet to receive any pictures and honestly, I don't want to worry about it anymore. I am not a bad person, I just have been dealt a bad hand with personal problems lately and have not had the right oppotunity to get out and promote your items. But know you are tired of the excuses and I am trying to put my life back in order. So Please send me the bill for the shirts and I will just pay for them then this matter will be done with. Again I love your shirts, they are amazing and so are you but I just can't set a date for pictures so this is the easiest way for me to settle the matter. once you receive payment, I will consider us even. I appreciate your pateince and kind manner. You are very kind.

Sincerely and with regret

paula

ps..please ask your friends not to harrass me on myspace. thanks"

I love the PS - guess enough people read this blog and said something to her. I love it! Thanks!

She's given a million excuses, but I'm a nice guy...and a somewhat of a sucker, so here's what I wrote back:

"Paula,
I do not want the money. Just a word of advice - When you enter into an agreement, you should keep up your end of the bargain. That's what any responsible person would do regardless of their personal problems. All I ever wanted was a picture or two to put on the site to help promote my shop...I really didn't think it would turn into an issue.

I hope that you are able to get your life back in order and I wish you all the best in the future."

Nice right? Yea, I think so too.

Here's what I WANTED to write:

"Paula,
You had just as many personal problems when you first emailed me that you put on tv for the world to see. I'm very sorry you're so unstable. However, do me a favor...next time you plan on getting arrested, could you at least wear the t shirt I gave you because the mug shot would be priceless. "

But I didn't.

Anyway, she wrote back right away:

"i completely agree...I totally want to help promote ur site and business too...can I help by puttting a logo or banner or anything of burntees.com ? Also I am going on springbreak with a company for like 5 weeks where the weather is warm and there will be tons of people and opportunites for pictures....from amrch 3-april 7...i know its late but hopefully that will be my way to help with your business and my end of the bargain.

things are starting to settle and i have just moved and unpacked so fingers crossed the future and the new year should bring us both success...

thanks again for being so kind"

I am kind aren't I?

So I wrote back telling her where she could find banners (here) and that any pictures she does send at any point would be appreciated. I also told her that if she meant what she said about liking the shirts, anything she could do to help promote the site would be great.

So, that's what's going on right now. I guess all we can do is wait and see what happens next right? In the meantime, take it easy on her on MySpace lol.

The Real World's Paula Meronek (Paula Walnuts)

Meet Paula. In case you don't know who Paula is, I'll tell you. Paula was the blonde anorexic girl from MTV's The Real World : Key West.

On June 13, 2006, we received an email from Paula. The deal was that we'd send her some free shirts, and in exchange she'd wear the shirts in public, but more importantly, she agreed to send some pictures of her wearing the shirts so that we could put them up on the website. Did she ever send the pictures? Of course not. Here's the whole story:

June 15, the shirts were in the mail.

A month later, this happened:

"A cast member on MTV's "The Real World" was arraigned on a misdemeanor assault charge after police said she bit her boyfriend during a domestic dispute.

Paula Ann Meronek, 25, allegedly bit her boyfriend several times when he refused to let her into their home early Sunday morning, police said."

Ok, the girl was arrested...I figured I cut her some slack. I mean, she's anorexic and she bit her boyfriend...that had to be hard for her right? Sure it's been a month, but obviously the girl's going thru some trouble. I'm a nice guy right?

On July 25, 2006, I wrote the following to Paula after not hearing back from her since sending the shirts:

"Paula,
I understand you've been going thru a lot lately, but I'd appreciate it if you could please at least confirm if you've received the shirts. I'm not pushing you to send pics right away, but I would at least appreciate a response."

Surprisingly, she wrote back right away.

"oh i am so sorry, yeah i have received the shirts and i appreciate your understanding and no worries, it's not as bad as the media is makin it all out to be....but just want you to know, i will be sendin pics as soon as i am able..and once again, thanks so much for them, they are freakin awesome...hope all is well with you, take care"

Great! so, she received the shirts and she'll be sending pics soon. Perfect.

A month later, still no pics, so I wrote to her again asking about the pics. I figured a month was enough time right? Right?

September 1, 2006, wrote another email asking for a follow-up. No response.

On 9/15/06, I wrote the following:

"I really don't think it's fair that I have to keep emailing you asking for those pictures and you don't even have the decency to respond. We had an agreement that in exchange for shirts you would send pictures. I kept up my part of the agreement, but you have yet to keep up your part. Please email me back asap. "

Amazingly enough, I get a response....the same day!

"You are correct and I absolutely apologize...I have been dealing with many issues within my personal life which has put my travelling on hold, in turn leading to lack of chances to wear your shirts out and about...you have been great with holding up your part of the agreement and I am embarrassed that i have not held up mine yet. I understand your frustrations and would like to get you the pictures as soon as possible...but if you would rather have me return the shirts back to you, i completely understand...I have yet to wear them, otherwise you would have the pics already...if you can wait a tad long i will send them over as soon as possible..but if not, i will mail back the shirts to you...again my apoligies, life got a little hectic for me recently...let me know how you wish me to proceed. thanks and again i am sorry for my lacking of professional behavior."

Again, I have hope. Could it be? Could I really finally be getting the pics?

I wrote back telling her I don't want the shirts back...all I want are the pictures I was promised. Ahh, all is well with the world.

But of course, no pics, no emails, no nothing.

On 1/26/07 (2007!!!!!!) I wrote one last time just saying how disappointed I was that she never sent the pics. But, I gave her an opportunity right? I think I was more than nice enough to her...sent her some free shirts, gave her over 6 months to send pics.

Obviously Paula won't respond to me, but maybe she'll respond to others.

Here's her myspace: http://www.myspace.com/paulawalnuts - feel free to leave rude comments and nasty emails.

I'm thinking about providing her personal email address as well, but I'm not sure if that's illegal for any reason. If it's definitely not, I'll be sure to edit this post.

Also, please help spread she word. I figure either it'll push her to send the pictures, or just make her look like shit. At this point, I'm not sure I care which one happens.

Please digg this story here - http://www.digg.com/celebrity/The_Real_World_s_Paula_Meronek_Paula_Walnuts

UPDATE! - check it out in Part II

The life of me

Yesterday was a pretty nice day. Went to the gym, did a little shopping, went out with friends...fun times right? Just a few things that I thought I'd point out....

Yesterday my girlfriend and I went to Macy's because I need new undershirts. The woman who helped us was telling us about some of the crazy stuff that she encounters working in the men's underwear section. As you can imagine, men are clueless when shopping. I don't know if you've ever been to the Macy's in Herald Square, but it has to be one of the largest stores in the world and it can be a tad overwhelming for even the greatest shoppers. Men in general are not those people. Now, picture men shopping by themselves, in Macy's Herald square, in the underwear section. It's almost like watching the tourists in Times Square. They kind of just wonder, eyes darting everywhere, completely lost. The woman who helped us said it's quite interesting working there as some men have even asked her to look in their underwear to find out what size they wear. (Reason #4309 why you should go to college).

After shopping all day, we took a little nap and got ready to go out for the night. This particular night would take us to Hoboken, NJ where we used to live but don't frequent that often. In order to get from NYC to Hoboken, you have to take the PATH which is basically a subway from NYC to Hoboken. We got on the train and were able to snag seats which is CLUTCH when riding the PATH since it is a 15 minute ride not counting the actual wait to leave.

While we were waiting to actually pull away from the station, this older couple was giving us dirty looks like they wanted us to give up our seats. When I say older, I mean 50. Now, I'm all up for giving up my seat when need be, but I think 50 is pushing the "give up your seat for the elderly" thing, don't you? I turned to my girlfriend and said "Unless a really old pregnant woman comes by, I'm not giving up this fucking seat." She thought that was hysterical, I was just being honest. 50 years old? Not pregnant? I think not.

I used to ride the PATH from Hoboken to NYC everyday when I lived in Hoboken, so I'm quite familiar with the etiquite of the PATH. I cannot tell you how many times girls my age have walked onto the PATH and given me dirty looks for not giving up my seat for them. Who do you think you are?! I'm sorry, but the days of guys giving up their seats for girls is OVER. Equal rights only when it's convenient for you right? (that would be a great t shirt lol).

So, back to yesterday. We arrived in Hoboken and walked a few blocks up to a new bar called Nine. Now, here's the thing about Hoboken. Over the last few years, there have been many bars that open up that try to be what we call "city bars". They try to go for the hip, loungy, overpriced feel of an NYC bar, but to be honest, it just doesn't work. Why? Because it's still Hoboken. Nine is one of those bars.

We knew we were in trouble when the guy at the door told me that I couldn't wear my converse sneakers next time. There hasn't been a single time in NYC that I have been told this and I wear my converse almost everytime I go out. Meanwhile, my friend is wearing a sweatshirt, but he's wearing shoes so that's ok. Nice dress code.

Strike one Nine

The shmuck who designed this place is an idiot...that's all I have to say. The front room is a long and narrow room with a bar along the left side leaving the right side for patrons. I'd say there's about 12 feet between the right wall and the bar...not a ton of room, but more than enough. What Nine does is puts a bench along the right wall (taking away 2 feet) and tables in front of those seats (another 2 feet). Now we're down to 8 feet of room for patrons. Needless to say, when this place gets even a tad full, it's impossible to move anywhere and there's nowhere to stand. In addition, the bathroom is on the third flight. THE THIRD FLIGHT!

Here's how I imagine that conversation taking place:

"Hm, we're going to need a bathroom somewhere in this place"

"Yea, but where?. The first flight is designed incredibly well with our long narrow bar and nowhere to stand. No room for a bathroom there!"

"You're right. Back room's out of the question because we actually have two rooms with space for people because there's no bar back there. What shall we do?"

"I know! Ya know that third floor that looks like it was originally used as storage and has the really narrow stairs going up to it?! We can convert that into bathrooms!"

"Genius!"

"Genius!"

Yea, genius my ass. I could barely walk up these stairs sober. After a few drinks and the flood gates were open? Forget about it. I was holding on for dear life thinking "I'm going to die at Nine? You've got to be fucking kidding me"

Strike two Nine.

Even though putting the benches where there's no room was a dumb thing to do, not taking the seat if it's open is even dumber. We grabbed a few seats and set up home base. About two hours into the night, the manager came up and told us that we'd have to move over a few seats because the table was reserved for bottle service. BOTTLE SERVICE?! You've got to be shitting me. Talk about the ultimate "we're trying to be a NYC bar" move.

In case you dont know, a lot of nicer bars and clubs in NYC offer bottle service. What this means is that if you want a table, you have to order a bottle of liquor. Sounds ok right? No, not ok. These bottles are insanely overpriced. I'm talking at LEAST $250 for a bottle of Grey Goose. However, if clubs want to guarantee the highest level of clientele, this is what they do.

In Hoboken? 5 dudes rolled up for their bottle service table, saw that it was the exact same space I was sitting out without bottle service, turned around and left with the manager following saying "this isn't the only room! there's more! there's more!"

Strike three Nine.

Of course, we had a great time. We love the people we were out with and we could have been at a Nazi bar in the trailer park and still had a great time. Oh, and Happy Birthday Lisa!

So, now I'm going to go back to being hungover and back to being mad at myself for having McDonald's last night (SO FUCKING GOOD).

New Products Available!

Today CafePress (the company we use to print our t shirts) announced that there is new merchandise available. It's going to take us a while to update the entire store, but here's a sneak peak at what's available:

Click here to view new products

I've already set up some of the new products in our "I Never Finish Anythi" section, so you can see what some of the new products actually look like with an image by checking out this section

Some new features that are available:

New V Neck Shirts for Women.

New Colors available on products that were previously available (this is just one example, if you look thru the page, click wherever you see "more colors available" to see the entire selection).

When you zoom in on an image, it shows the actual color of the shirt in the background instead of a white background

I hope you like the new products as much as I do and I'll make sure to update this posting with new information as it becomes available.

Edit:
This just posted by CafePress in the forums:
Hi Shopkeepers,

We’re excited to announce that new merchandise is online and available for you to add to your shop NOW!

We’ve got a new women’s style and more colors! Here are the new items:
• Dark T-Shirts: Red, Royal, Brown, Charcoal
• Light T-Shirts: Natural, Light-Blue
• Women's Dark T-Shirts: Red, Caribbean Blue, Violet
• Women's Light T-Shirt: Light Yellow, Light Blue, Light Pink
• Women's V-Neck T-Shirt: White
• Women's Dark V-Neck T-Shirt: Black, Heather Grey

With this merchandise release, a few changes include:

• Transparent images now work for all products: Before, transparent images could only be applied to “dark” apparel. The ability to apply transparent images to all products means that there is less of a need to have one image for “light” shirts and another image for “dark” shirts.

Please note: The color white will still only be supported on “dark” apparel. When printed on “light” apparel, white will appear transparent/clear – meaning the shirt will show through instead of the color white. For example: if your image is using only the color white, it will appear to have no image. Depending on your image, you may need to make adjustments for “dark” apparel vs. other items.

• More Colors Available notification: To let your customers know that they can choose from a group of colors, we’ve included “More Colors Available” text under apparel with more than one color option. Please note: This is not a dynamic feature. This will show up for all apparel with more than one color option.

• Additional Product “Action” Photos: We are now reducing the number of product action photos for all products from 4 to 1.

• Colored Background Display: When you zoom in on a product image the background color will match the color of the item being currently viewed.

I know, I've been lazy

I apologize. I'm a naughty naughty blog writer. I'm sorry :(

Ok, now that that's out of the way...what's new? Let's see. It seems like since the last time I posted, 500,00 new t shirt sites have opened up and we're still chugging along somehow, which is great! Long Live BurnTees!!!

So, what's on my mind...

It seems like everyone I know these days is attempting to write either a book or a movie. I didn't know that all of my friends were so talented! Let's see if anyone actually FINISHES their book or movie.

You know why I haven't written anything in a while? Cause I can never think of anything to write, which is what's happening right now.

So, St. Patrick's Day is coming up and it's one of my favorite times of the year for two reasons. One, it's an excuse to hang out with friends and drink all day which is always fun. And two, because it's a t shirt holiday (a t shirt holiday is any holiday in which people feel the need to buy holiday related t shirts), which is great for us! I always go to the St. Patrick's Day celebration in Hoboken, NJ, but this year I'm going to be branching out and attending the Morristown, NJ celebration as well. We'll see how well this old man handles two straight weekends of drinking all day. However, it's not all fun and games. BurnTees will be hittin the pavement promoting our site, so keep an eye out for us! Last year we handed out St. Patrick's Day buttons to our fellow Hobokenites and we'll probably be doing the same this year.

(make sure you check out our St. Patrick's Day section! we have lots of new stuff - St. Patty's Day Shirts)

I'd like to end this wonderful blog session by pointing out some of my current favorite CafePress t shirt shops. I'll try to do about 3 per post from now on:

Fat Guy Shirts

NJ Slogans

and Clothesline Company

Thanks for reading, and I promise that there won't be such a long break until the next post!