KC Cache Dash: A high-tech scavenger hunt where charities are biggest winners

KC Cache Dash: A high-tech scavenger hunt where charities are biggest winners

Ford Flex Weekend

When Rachel Young from The Social Media Group asked if my family would like to test ride and me test drive the Ford Flex a few weekends ago, we jumped at the chance. My family loves the look of the Ford Flex and I am a Ford girl at heart as my very first car was a 1978 Ford Thunderbird. As a mom, my first van was a 1999 Windstar.

The Whats and The Weists
What we noticed immediately is, this cross-over is truly a head turner. The unique boxy design with the grooved door panels, 3-bar chrome grill with fun two-tone, vista roof makes ya look twice. Everywhere we went, we were getting double takes. What surprised us the most was how roomy the Flex is. Our family of six, with car seats and all, traveled down and back to my parents' home (almost a four hour round trip) very comfortably. In our Flex, we had bucket seats in all three rows. The Weists could get used to this roominess.


And as you see in the following videos, there's plenty of room in the cargo space for our weekly grocery store run (and also how easy it is for a younger child to get into the third row.)





The retro look of the dashboard appealed to me and my husband as well as the luxury interior including the tech-savvy, SYNC voice-activated system. The reverse camera option thrilled my kids and came in handy for Mom.

What we were extremely impressed with was how well the Flex handles the road. This cross-over drove like a luxury sedan and it was such a quiet ride (well, the road noise was nil the kids kept the chatter going inside.) The responsiveness was a night and day difference from my van. I actually enjoyed driving! I mean the experience of being behind the wheel. I was so glad we decided to visit my parents so I could drive on the highway for awhile. I never thought I'd say that about a cross-over!

Oh, and what was the kids' favorite feature? This was a toughy between the one button "pop and fold" second row, the "hidden" refrigerated console, and the absence of step bars (the little ones didn't need to step up on a running board or step bars, they could just slide right in.) After much debate, the frig in the second seat console won out!


The Ford Flex is a blend of comfort, safety and sleekness. For a girl that grew up on Ford Thunderbirds and has moved into the utility of vans with our young family, the Flex cross-over provided me a silver lining SUV. It was fun to get back behind the wheel and enjoy the drive again...all with plenty of room for my family of six.

Yanni Voices in Kansas City

More about the Music, Less about the Man


I have to say my husband and I are Yanni neophytes. We certainly know of Yanni and his new age instrumental compositions but can't recognize a Yanni song. Lucky for us, One2One Networks provided us with the opportunity to see the Yanni Voices concert at the Sprint Center in Kansas City last night.

We walked into the Sprint Center with an open mind...not really knowing what to expect. It was obvious to us from the first note, that this concert was a hand-crafted Yanni experience composed of talented artists. The best musicians, vocalists, composers, and producers were on stage in front of us. And like a fine art piece, the composition speaks more about the creator than anything else.

The orchestra was beyond phenomenal. The instrumental, virtuoso solos, including a unique Paraguayan harp by Victor Espinola pictured above and dueling violinists Anne Marie Calhoun and Samvel Yervinyan seen below) brought the house to a roar.

Yanni has assembled an amazing group of young vocal soloist. These artists are multi-talented and passionate performers. All are in their early twenties! Youth and Yanni, I know, you wouldn't put the two together but the well-known composer naturally melds with the young artists accentuating their strengths. Each artist has taken at least one of Yanni's instrumental compositions and created their own lyrics highlighted below.

Leslie Mills (@Leslie_Mills) has confident, gentle rain voice that is a sweet Colbie Caillat and Carly Simons blend. Leslie performed her amazing Before The Night Ends with Yanni's composition.


Nathan Pacheco is a powerful, operadic tenor whose voice aligns with the legendary Pavarotti in Viv il Tuo Sogno. This was a "Susan Boyle moment" for me in that I was blown away by this "unknown" young man's range and power. We'll be hearing a lot more of Nathan's rock solid vocals, hopefully in the operatic pop vein. And the dude hails from DC, ya got to love that!


Chloe Lowery, has a presence that took over the stage and amazingly an even stronger voice. She powerhoused Change (her poetic lyrics) with Yanni. She is truly a seasoned artist performing on stage since she was three.


Ender Thomas has a passion for entertaining with his voice as you can see with Ritual de Amor. He commands the salsa-style lyrics with rigor...and his eyes hold you in the palm of his hands. I've heard him likened to Fabio but this boy has one heck of a set of pipes so ya know, Fabio doesn't hold a candle to Ender in my book.

The orchestra and the singers have an incredible energy that kept the audience going. You could tell each performer was enjoying living in the moment. It was definitely a magical moment that we were thrilled to be a part of.

We left the Sprint Center blown away by the Yanni Voices experience. And we're craving more orchestra-style music because of it.

Photo credits: Anirudh Koul, taildragger46 and Yanni's Gallery.

Yanni Voices Tour in Kansas City

Yanni Voices 2009 Tour is heading to Kansas City in a few weeks on Tuesday, June 9th.

The Yanni Voices website is jam packed with more details including specific tour dates.

Thanks to One2One Network, my husband and I are going to Yanni Voices in KC. And I have wonderful news for one of you: One2One Network have offered me two Yanni Voices tickets for the Kansas City show to giveaway along with after show meet & greet passes!

Here's the quick and easy rules on the Nothin' but SocNET Yanni Voices giveaway:
1) Leave a "Why I Gotta Go to Yanni Voices" comment on this post spelling out why you should get the two tickets to Yanni Voices in Kansas City. Also, please include your preferred online way of me contacting you (email, twitter id, etc.) in your comment.

2) You must be available to pick up the two Yanni Voices tickets and meet & greet after show passes before 7:30p on Tuesday, June 9 at the Kansas City Sprint Center Will Call window.

3) The contest will close at 10am CDT on Saturday, May 30.

4) I'll pick the winner from the comments on Saturday, May 30 before noon. I'll notify the winner personally and post the winner via a comment on this post sometime Saturday afternoon pending my Saturday mommy to-dos.



Best of luck! I'm looking forward to reading your "Why I Gotta Go To Yanni Voices" comments and seeing at least one of you at the KC concert.

Twestival - Kansas City

Twestival is a worldwide fund raising effort that is occurring this Thursday, February 12 organized 100% by volunteers around the world via social media - mainly twitter. 100% of the money raised from these local events will go directly to support charity. Specifically - water projects.

Why water?
One in six people on earth don't have access to safe, clean drinking water.



Why Twestival?




The Kansas City Twestival volunteer team (@KCTwestival) has done an amazing job putting together and getting the word out about our local tweetup with a cause including this fantastic video from Ramsey Mohsen:

Twestival, Tweet. Meet. Give.



All the details on the February 12th Kansas City evening event are at KansasCity.Twestival.com. I'm looking forward to taking part in this worldwide charity event with my KC friends. Hope to see you there!

KC tweetup

(photo courtesy of @riebschlager)

Kansas City twitterers got together for our maiden happy hour (in Twitterspeak "tweetup") last Friday night. Having conversed over Twitter for months, Friday evening's tweetup was the first time for most of us to meet each other IRL.

It all started with the following tweet from @QueenofSpain:




After a few more tweets looking for a sponsor, Barkley came through. And a week later, we were enjoying each other's company at the first KC tweetup! Mark Logan (@mlogan) and Celeste Lindell (@average_jane) hosted the primordial event at Barkley's Mile High Club and Rooftop Deck. Thank you, Barkley! Celeste, a special mia cuppa to you for your efforts on pulling off a fun evening with such short notice!

About 50 Kansas City locales along with our special guest, power blogger Erin Kotecki (@queenofspain), discussed interactive trends, swapped shop talk and enjoyed putting real faces with twitter ids.

Mingling with other social media passionates was the highlight of the evening for me. It's great to see the interactive pulse is beating strong in the heartland. Youngest and most adorable KC twitterer attending goes to @tatertini hands down.

Here's a partial list of attendees from the RSVP tweets received (I'll add to, as ids come my way):
mlogan
average_jane
QueenofSpain
tatertini
3rdmartini
rabbittini
banky
adamcoomes
joeysvenska
myspyderweb
eH
twig1gy
caylorb
aquariusmoon
worleygirl
cadykansas
jpgardner
mglundgren
kaylovesmusic
marypace
wrytir
katematlock
pprlisa
riebschlager
maryhand
steveruschill
silverzippo
diabolicalpnthr
zenaweist


If you are interested in attending the next KC tweetup (looking for a sponsor as well), please let me know.