Monday, September 19, 2011

Mother Nature Themed Giveaway


Hey Tribe! The time has come for you to win a SpiritHood as well as a 17×17 inch print of this amazing illustration done by Cryssy Cheung. Peep the rules to enter!
  • Visit Cryssy Cheung‘s Facebook fan page
  • Find the post with the picture above and the words “Mother Nature is dying. How do you show your respect for Mother Nature? Post your reply for a chance to win a 17x17in print of this piece along with a SpiritHoods of your choosing.”
  • Tell us how you show your respect for Mother Nature
  • Tag SpiritHoods in your post
  • Contest will end Oct 1st 12:00PM PST
Contest is now open to Twitter users too! If you have Twitter and Facebook, enter twice for double the chance to win (once on Facebook and once on Twitter). Here's how to enter on Twitter.
  • Follow both @CryssyCheung and @SpiritHoods on Twitter
  • Tell us your favorite thing about Mother Nature (eg trees, forest, desert, etc) and a brief description of why
  • Mention both @CryssyCheung and @SpiritHoods in your tweet
  • Include the hash tag #loveformothernature
  • One entry per person! Multiple entries will be disqualified
Be sure to follow her on Twitter for more updates on this contest and check out her website for more artwork. www.cryssycheung.com
Originally posted on SpiritHoods Blog 9/19/11

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Great night with a few @SpiritHoods


Wooooow! Last night I ended up going to Boardners which is turned into Club Moscow on Wednesdays.
Before I left the house, I decided to grab a couple of the extra SpiritHoods that were provided to us for just such events. Throughout the night I met tons of awesome people all in awe with how awesome these SpiritHoods are. Some guy from Australia even was trying to negotiate wholesale prices so he could sell them overseas! I gave him the SpiritHood business card and told him to talk to them. I'm just an avid supporter of the brand. Anyway, I was able to snap a few pictures of people in these SpiritHoods. There were some pictures taken by a professional photographer, but you'll have to catch those on my Facebook and / or Twitter. 
Originally posted on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com 12/16/10

Epic Night of Epicness


So, my Thursday night started just like any other Thursday night. Work work work. I was finishing up at work when I got a text from @TGumb: "Big plans for tonight and your coming" I'm always down for an adventure, so we met up at Backstage Bar and Grill..
So, I get there a tid bit early, but that's okay. I had my awesome adorable Spirithood on. Yeah, I made friends really quickly. I also discovered that they had $3 beers. It would have been fiscally irresponsible for me to not take advantage of said $3 beers, so I had a few. Tucker (@TGumb) showed up with his friends Lance and Mia and we proceeded to do some more drinking. We had a few extra spirithoods with us, so we were letting people try them on and just having a genuinely good time. Awesome. As the bar was wrapping up, the night was just getting started.
Tucker (the responsible DD) drove us downtown for the next part of the night. We had no idea what was in store for us. We end up at this Korean place called the Wi Spa. 
We walk in to the lobby and they give us all uniforms to put on. What? To put it lightly, I was not sober. At all. Poor Mia had to go to the ladies locker room while us guys went to ours. We changed and somehow in the process I got split up from everyone. I wandered up some stairs to the next floor. What did I find? A big open room with 50 people sleeping on mats everywhere. Like, what? Creepy. I go up another flight of stairs to the roof. Just some tables and a smoking area. I end up downstairs in the big open room and find Lance and Tucker. Now, on the outside of this big open room are all these doors to small saunas. The first one we go in is the ice sauna. ICE SAUNA. Yes, it was 40 degrees in there. We sat around cold as shit until I say enough. We found a couple of mats in the main room and lay down to wait for Mia. Might I add, that the tiles in the main room are all heated. Yep, hot floor. I had no idea what was going on. Oh, also. It was dead quiet. No one was talking or making any sounds. Being drunk makes quiet nearly impossible. Mia finally found us and told us horror stories that was the women's spa. She apparently didn't know where to go, so went and sat in the women's spa where they make you take your clothes off. Yeah, so you can imagine how awkward she felt. Some time during the night, we decided that we were hungry. By sometime, I definitely mean 3am. We called some random 24 hour food joint and had them deliver us sandwiches. Oh. My. God. We ended up staying there and exploring all the other sauna rooms until 8am. Can I just tell you that one of the sauna rooms was 240 degrees? Yeah, too hot if you ask me. This won't be a night that I'll be forgetting anytime soon.


Originally posted on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com 12/18/10

@SpiritHoods Visits @TeamCoco


It all started off as just another Wednesday in the office. I stumbled in, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, desperately trying to remember the events of the previous evening when Alexander stopped me. “Morgan,” he said as I prepared for a lecture, “We’re going to Conan O’Brien!” This quickly snapped me out of my AM stupor. “YES!” I screamed in his face, forgetting he was a foot away from me. Before Alex could recover from his perforated eardrum, I was off making phone calls and seeing who we could get together to go visit everyone’s favorite ginger. Alas, the super team was assembled. From left to right, myself (Morgan), Olympia, Alexander, and TalkNerdyToMeLover.com‘s Jen Friel.
For those of you that missed the fun last month on Conan, here’s the picture recap.
I was stricken with the gorgeousness that was the guest lineup. Just beautiful people all around. Jon Hamm, Miranda Kerr, and Ke$ha.

Mmmm. Our super group muscled our way onto the screen. We had a very serious talk with Conan’s people. Alexander even threatened to streak. After some yelling, crying, and pleading, we reached an agreement. Here’s the outcome.

That’s right, we were on Conan. After the show, Ke$ha put on a private performance  just for us. We were kind enough to invite 500 of our closest friends. We rocked and rolled and clapped until our hands bled. With a sigh, it was all over. The fun, the glamour, the excitement; all done… for today.

Originally posted on the SpiritHoods Blog 5/20/11

@maniacalmorgan's job hunt... the happy ending


 
A little over a month ago I decided enough was enough. I was working my dead end retail / customer service job and had been for 4 years. I decided it was time to make a drastic change in my life. It was time to find a new job! Now, as of today, I work for SpiritHoods doing Social Media Marketing and PR. How did this come about? Well, let's revisit this last month.
December 14th, Jen and I had the opportunity to go down to Spirithoods' offices in downtown LA. This is where I got my first glimpse of how awesome the company is, and not just the product. We sat down with one of the owners and were able to learn about the company. They are also fans of talknerdytomelover! Go us! They gave us some extra Spirithoods to go out and document life with. I'm sure you guys have seen plenty of posts of all kinds of people in Spirithoods. That is compliments of those amazing folks at the offices.
Through some hard work and a little sweet talking, Jen and I were able to talk them into interviewing me for a position in social media marketing. The first interview went extremely well. I got an inside peek at how creative everyone from Spirithoods is and how amazing of a work environment it is. On Christmas Eve, I took over Spirithoods Twitter. So, if you've @ replied their Twitter account, you were talking to moi! 
January 5th, I sat down with two of the other owners, including the CEO, for my final interview. We touched on a number of ideas and I was able to get a feel about the direction of where they want everything to go. I was already in love with the company and the brand, but that just sealed it.
My life has changed for the better. I am part of an amazing company with an amazing product. My first day is going to be the 31st. I am like a little kid on caffeine and chocolate the night before going to Disneyland. I have no idea how I'm going to sleep before then. I'll figure it out. I am so very fortunate for this opportunity. I wouldn't call it luck. As Jen would say, there is no luck. It's opportunity meets preparation. Through the power of social media, anything is possible! Get out there and live your life. Be awesome! On behalf of Jen, here is a permission slip to go out and be awesome.
Originally posted on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com 1/20/11

Surprise, You're Adopted (part 2)


Just so you know, I hate using the term "foster." My mom and dad are the ones who put their blood, sweat, and tears into raising me. I might not be theirs biologically, but they are and will forever be my mom and dad.
Oh my goodness. I know there's been a relatively large gap between this post and the last. This last week has been an emotional roller coaster like you can't believe. Let's just say the root of it lies with a girl. Sounds about right, eh? So, let's get to the story at hand. I'm adopted and this is how I found out.
If you haven't read part one of Suprise, You're Adopted, you can check it out here. So, I got the message in my Myspace inbox with my two closest friends sitting there with me. I finished reading the message and was just in awe. I didn't know what to believe. I still thought it was just some crazie messing with me... but, what if it wasn't? My two friends and I went out for dinner. As soon as we got our table, I went outside to call the number enclosed in the message. *ring ring ring* I can tell you, I felt like I was going to have an anxiety attack. I didn't know what to expect. This couldn't be real. She picked up the phone. The second I returned her "hello," she burst into tears. She knew immediately who I was without me even having to say anything. I told her "I'm sorry if I'm skeptical, but I don't know if I believe all of this." She began to tell me what time of day I was born, how much I weighed, she knew I had my appendix taken out when I was 12, and that I recently had laser eye surgery. Holy crap. She told me that my mom had sent her a few letters over the years, filling her in on what had occurred. Holy shit. I ended the phone call, still unsure of what was going on. My head was swimming with all of this. Was it true? What does it mean? I shrugged it off and tried to enjoy the rest of my dinner.
The next day, I had lunch with my uncle. We go out from time to time and already had this planned. We ate, chatted, and had a good time. He's awesome and I love him. He's a total nerd, so we connect :p. Anyway, towards the end of lunch, I told him I needed to ask him a question. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach. Ohmygodohmygod. I almost didn't want to know the answer to the question I was about to ask. "Am I adopted?" Surprised, he just kind of looked at me. "You need to talk to your parents," was his reply. That confirmed it for me. I wasn't angry, sad, or even upset. I can't explain the feelings I was having. At that moment, my life changed. Drastically. 
Working the night shift, I left lunch and went straight to work. I kept busy to try and keep my mind off of recent events for the sake of work, but that was nearly impossible. I took a break to call my dad. "Hey dad, I need to ask you a favor." My parents are the early to bed type. They are in bed at the latest by 9PM. This was a Thursday. My mom had a girlfriend weekend planned and was leaving the next day. My mom has always been the super sensitive type. I didn't want to bother her before she went on her much-needed vacation. "Could you wait up for me? I'll be home by 12:30AM. And don't worry, no one is pregnant." I felt a wave of relief wash over his voice as he agreed to stay up and wait for me.
Alright, so this is another breaking point for me. This is going to be a long story. I'll try and give you the next part sooner. Again, there's so much going on in my personal life, it makes it hard. I just haven't had the motivation to write, as this is an emotional story for me. I can only take so much! Anyway, I'll be continuing soon!

Originally posted on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com 4/11/11

Surprise, You're Adopted


Social media really has changed my life. It’s a huge part of who I am today. I found my current living situation through Twitter. I’ve reconnected with friends I hadn’t talked to in over 10 years through Facebook. My current job, which I love to death, is because of social media. Shit, I’m the Director of Social Media Marketing. Boom! “That’s great, Morgan. What the eff are you getting at?” It’s story time.

A little bit about me. I’m 24 years old. I was born September 24th in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, but raised in Los Angeles. I grew up in as an only child in an amazing family and love my mom and dad to death. I spent some time in public school in my early years, but was privileged to spend the majority of my schooling in private schools. I did spend the last 2 years of high school at an all boys military boarding school called The Marine Military Academy. I wasn’t a problem child, my parents just wanted me to get into a good college seeing as I was slacking in the academic department my first two years of high school. I was far more interested in sports and girls. After dropping out of Texas A&M: Galveston, things with my parents got rather rough. I fought all the time with my mom, as she had high expectations of me. Both of my parents are smart and successful, so seeing me drop out of school was a disappointment. I get it now, but that time period was rough. Although I could write a book about all of my life experiences, I’m here to tell you the story of one specific event.

So, I touched on the fact I was born in Missouri. My parents both lived in Los Angeles at the time, so when I found this out, I figured I just popped out early- while they were on vacation or something. I’m a guy, we’re not known for asking those kinds of questions. Or maybe, it’s just me. Either way, that’s what I thought. So, let’s rewind to the late 2007, early 2008. Myspace still hadn’t been completely dominated by Facebook. I had Cape Girardeau listed as my hometown because I found it cool that I’m not entirely an LA native. Anyway, I got a friend request from this older lady (37 years old if I remember correctly) who was from the same hometown. My thought process was that she was probably new to Myspace and was just adding people who had things in common with her. Alright, I accepted her. We were friends for a few months and she would send me the occasional nice message. I would reply back and just be friendly. Cool. One day (February 22nd, 2008 to be exact) I was chilling with two of my friends. Oddly enough, these are the two friends I’ve known the longest in life. My friend Matt who I’ve known for nearly 15 years and my friend Andrew who I’ve known for 10. Matt had informed me that this girl we went to grade school with had become a porn star. Immediately, we ran to the computer to find her on Myspace to see if it was true. I got to the computer first, so I logged into my Myspace. I had a message waiting for me in my inbox. It was from the nice older lady. Interested, I opened it with my friends hovering over my shoulder and this is what it said:

Im really not sure how to say this or even if I should. Ive tried so many times to tell you and every time I would get scared because Im not out to try to change ur life. I hope that I dont overstep any bounderies that I shouldnt overstep because thats not why Im here.
Did you ever wonder why I found you on myspace and that I was from the same hometown as you? well, the reason is because I'm ur biological mother. All your life (21 yrs)I have waited for you to be old enough to contact me or to contact you and without sussess on my end, it took me this long to find you. I want you to know that Ive never stopped loving, caring or wondering about you. Ive always wondered what u looked like, what ur personality was like, was you happy..ect..when I found u online, I couldnt believe it, after all this time, I finally found you. I sat and cried my eyes out and then wasnt for sure what to do from there. So, here I am.
Please know that it is TOTALLY your choice if you would like to persue this any further and the decision that you make, I will respect. I love you son, always have and always will no matter what! I just want you to be happy in life and for you to know that you are very specially loved.
I have pics up on my profile of my side of the family if you are interested, please feel free to take a look at them. I want you to know that you also have a little brother (full blood) thats 9 yrs old. Atleast you will know what some of your background is. You are amazingly beautiful, which I always knew you would be. 


At this point in the message, I started laughing. There’s no way I was adopted. I would have known something. I mean, I have blonde hair and blue eyes just like my mom. No way! I closed the message and proceeded to look up my old classmate. Sure enough, she had become a porn star. Hilarious! I had this feeling in the pit of my stomach in regards to the message. I couldn’t shake it. I went back to the message and finished reading it with my friends still sitting beside me.

Your parents, **** and ***, have been wonderful over the years, writting to me here and there, letting me know a little about your life. They are wounderful people and I love them with my heart and sole. Im not sure how much your parents have told you and I dont want to upset them and Im not here to start a fued between you and your family, please believe me when I say that.
Im not here to make you feel obligated to talk to me, I just want you to know that the option is there. (with open arms and an open heart)Im sure your curious, I know I am and I would be honored in answering any questions that you have. If you ever want to contact me, you can reach me by email, here, phone, or write to my home..heres all the info..
1) email.: *******************
2) address: *****************
3) Cell phone: ***************
I hope that our lives will one day unite but until then, please take care of yourself and be happy Morgan, and know that my heart is always open for you. Feel free to contact me anytime...
Ive always loved you
love,
*********


I hate to do this to you amazing people, but I will have to continue this story later. This is a very emotional story and a pivotal part of my life. I’ve never actually shared the message with anyone and reading it brings tears to my eyes. I am surrounded by love in my life, and I’m very lucky to have discovered even more people that love me. Stay tuned for the next portion of this tale.

Originally posted on TalkNerdyToMeLover.com 4/3/11

My #E3 Experience


For those of you that don’t know what E3 is, it’s the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Once a year the biggest video game companies get together and showcase all of the big projects on the horizon. Now, I’ve been a jock, I’ve been a musician, but one thing I have and always will be is a nerd. I remember walking up to the TV screen for better aim (yeah, some would call this cheating) with that horrible orange-plastic gun for Duck Hunt. So yeah, I’ve been playing video games for a while.
Wednesday, the 2nd day of E3 started just like any other day. Wake up, run 25 miles, do 1,000 push-ups and sit-ups, and then take my private helicopter to work (I wish that any of this actually happened). I did work-ey stuff as soon as I got there. I might have danced a little bit, but that’s a normal occurrence around the Den. After a couple hours of slaving away, Ashley and his assistant Jenny saved me. “Let’s go over to E3. We have passes waiting.” Little did Ash know, but I was already in his car by the time he finished the sentence. I can move pretty quick when I need to. Fast forward through $25 parking and trying to figure out where to get our passes and you have us walking into E3, me for the first time. I was like a little kid in a candy shop. I didn’t even know where to begin. It was like Vegas, but you don’t have to worry about strippers stealing your wallet. Here was what I saw when I walked in.

Ashley, the seasoned E3 vetran in our group, was cutting his way through the crowd while Jenny and I were stunned at the lights, the crowd, and all the awesome video games waiting to be played. We fought our way to the Nexon booth to meet with some of our business contacts. We made custom hoods for Nexon’s game Vindictus. Last year Nexon just tossed hoods out into their audience and as you can imagine, people went crazy. A little bit too crazy in fact. Punches were thrown, names were called, and I think someone’s finger got bitten off. Madness. They had their own stage where they held raffles twice a day. Here’s Jenny and I hanging out with one of the booth babes modeling the custom Polar Bear we made. 


Day 2 (my first day) of E3 was a lot of fun. We met all kinds of cool people as well as some of my Twitter friends. As day 2 came to an end, my energy was at its end. It was time to go home and get rested up for another day filled with adventures.
I didn’t want to miss any E3 action on day 3, so I showed up bright and early before the actual expo opened with a few extra of the Vindictus hoods, hoping to figure out how to make good use for them. After meeting with the peeps at Nexon, we decided I would run around and hand them out to deserving people wearing Nexon t-shirts. Oh boy, what pressure! I met up with my friend Adam (@violent_gamer) as I needed a partner in crime. We frolicked, skipped, and even did some walking throughout the day. We got some hands on time with a lot of the games. We played with confused pets, blew up helicopters, manipulated the force, and destroyed Alien hordes. 


It was a pretty busy day considering it was Thursday. Nexon ended up announcing that someone from SpiritHoods was at E3 and that they were going to be handing out hoods to people wearing their t-shirts. Holy crap, they are talking about me! I felt like I was famous! Not because people asked for my autograph or anything. It was more because I had people stalking me the rest of the day. I have to give a shout-out to the final guy I gave a hood to. The announcement that I was at E3 was made at 1:00PM. Immediately after, I had people asking if I was the person from SpiritHoods. One gentleman in particular came up to me wearing an inappropriately tight t-shirt. He explained that he was wearing his girlfriend’s t-shirt because he wanted the hood so badly. 4:30PM rolls around, and I run into this gentleman still wearing his girlfriend’s t-shirt. He suffered a day of asphyxiation just so he could win a SpiritHood. I was so impressed I couldn’t say no. E3, I am going to miss you. Until next year, adieu.

Originally posted on the SpiritHoods Blog 6/13/11

Hello #NewYork: My First Time in the City

Sometimes, life throws you for a loop and all you can do is hold on and enjoy the ride. This is a little story about how my first time in NYC turned from a 2 day trip to a 14 day trip.


I've spent the majority of my life on the West Coast, save for a few years in Texas, but there has always been some sort of attraction to New York. It spoke to me... whispered to me in my sleep even. One of my very special friends happens to live in the city, so I decided it was adventure time. Time for this little cub to get lost in the Big Apple.


*insert random traveling montage*


7 hours of traveling, 6 beers, and half a season of Modern Family later, I find myself in New York City... or as the East Coasters call it; "The City." Met by my friend, she proceeded to drag me around the city, giving me the grand tour. It's a lot to take in, especially for a California boy. Cross walks are more of a suggestion and if you don't keep up a decent walking pace, you're going to get run over by an angry business man running late for a meeting on the other side of town. Everyone is constantly on the move... it's like the city was alive and I LOVED IT.


Having friends in the city is nice because I didn't get stuck doing the touristy stuff. It's all about submerging yourself in the local culture. Sure enough, one of the first nights out I found myself in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Skinny jeans, Cons, t-shirts with cliche sayings, and Ray-Bans knockoffs. Oh yeah, hipsters galore. My kinda place. A few drinks and some good music, people couldn't even tell I was from LA. I think hipster is a universal language. Definitely a memorable evening.


Alas, it was Sunday and time for me to leave. I huffed, I puffed, I pouted, but alas my flight was going to leave and I had to get aboard. All was well, as I was going to come back the following weekend for some more NYC fun and the NYC Meet-up. This is where the story gets interesting. As soon as I got to the airport, it started raining. This isn't the drizzle us West Coasters are used to. It was pouring and my flight was cancelled. YESSSSS... wait, I mean Oh No! With my return trip to NYC only 3 days later, I made the executive decision to stay... for another 7 days.


I got to spend some quality time roaming the city and seeing/experiencing all kinds of crazy things. Between earthquakes and hurricanes, there was nothing I didn't see. That's including this character...


This guy was totally boss. My hero. This has to have been one of my best trips ever. Between shopping in SoHo (and finding SpiritHoods at the Quiksilver store), sushi in St. Marks, bars in Hell's Kitchen, and meeting old and new fans, it was a blast. My 3 day trip to NYC turned into 14 days, and I loved every second of it.


My body is back in Los Angeles, but my heart very well might still be on the East Coast. New York, I'll see you again soon!








Originally posted on the SpiritHoods Blog 9/2/11

Just a welcome

Hello and welcome! This site is currently undergoing updating to bring it up to speed. I leave you with a picture to quell your thirst.