1,000,000 Hits and a Giveaway

WE DID IT!! Ronnie and I said FOREVER ago that we couldn't wait to see CysticLife reach 1,000,000 hits. Why 1,000,000? Because it sounds like a lot, but more so because of what it represents. It means that the thing we spent hours, upon hours, upon hours thinking about, dreaming about, and working on, was actually being USED. (Side note - social networks totally blow if no one uses them. Sites like CysticLife, where they're mainly user-generated content, absolutely TANK if no content is generated). I had many panic attacks picturing this skeleton of a site sitting unused...but that's not what happened at all (and I'm not surprised). The CF community has a way of rallying together, and is incredibly awesome at sharing, helping, discussing, and encouraging one another. We are just SO SO SO thrilled that people are using CysticLife as a place to help and love on each other. But I'm getting side-tracked, so let me cut to the chase.

When we realized that 1,000,000 (like that I write the number instead of just writing 1 million? I'll be honest, it just feels good to see the zeros!) hits was possible, we wanted to be sure to give back to the community a little of what they were giving to us. We wanted to spruce up and add to the site, so we gave it a facelift and added a new homepage. We also, wanted to move our mission offline so we launched the CysticLife Grant Program, where you can apply for an activity, medical, or educational grant. We are SO SO excited by this, and absolutely CANNOT wait to start seeing applications come in, so we can continue giving people the tools they need to be successful in their CF Life.

And here's where the whole point of where I'm going comes in (yeah I know, it took me awhile to get to the punch...that's typically how my stories are, just ask Ronnie). I know a lot of you guys are already members on CysticLife, but if you're not, I wanted to clue you in, incase you don't follow the CysticLife Facebook Fan page (where we'll be making this announcement). As of RIGHT NOW, the first 100 people (LIVING IN THE US) to register on CysticLife.org AND send CysticLife a message on CysticLife.org, will receive a free SideStream Plus nebulizer. Pretty awesome right!?!

So non-CysticLife members, here's what you do:

1. Go to www.cysticlife.org

2. Register (be sure that you receive the validation email, and finish the registration process by following the link in the email...sometimes the email can end up in junkmail, so watch for it)

3. Once you're a member, search for CysticLife.

4. Once on CysticLife's profile, click the little mail icon, and shoot us a message.

5. If you're one of the first 100, we'll send you a message back asking for your address so we can send you the nebulizer cup.

6. BOOM, it's that easy.

I am a HUGE fan of free stuff, so I couldn't help but pass on the good news to those of you in the CF community who follow the blog, but aren't CysticLife.org members yet. Didn't want you to miss out on the opportunity to win a cool new "toy" and a good excuse to get over to CysticLife to see why it got 1,000,000 hits, the new homepage, site design, and CysticLife Grant Program.

**If you are a member already, you won't be eligible for a free SideStream Plus, BUT you can head over to CL, check out the new homepage and site design to let us know what you think, AND be sure to think about how CL can help you be successful through a CysticLife Grant.

**Please note you must live in the US to qualify!

My Top Ten Most Frequented Websites

So I spend a lot of time on-line. Generally I will be working, but during my night treatment, I'm usually able to stop by some of my favorite sites to see what's going on in the real world! Here are my top ten most frequented site during the past six months:

1saleaday.com- I go to this site every night before I go to bed mostly just to check out the sweet deals on there. I have actually even broke down and bought a few things as well! I've gotten some Wii controllers for my little brother for free (just had to pay shipping) plus I got a Margarita machine for the Melin's that was 150 and I picked it up for 25. Check it out, you may just walk away for something.

Yahoo.com- For whatever reason, I've always like the way Yahoo presented there news, sports, finance, etc..I generally try to stop by at least once a day to check on the national/world news and the stock market.

Espn.com- I love me some sports. I generally read through as many box scores as I can during my last treatment (except for hockey) just so I can stay on top of team records and who's doing what.

WildAboutAZCats.com- I may love sports, but I love Wildcat sports even more! My beloved University of Arizona will always have my heart, especially the basketball team. Basketball isn't even my favorite sport (football is), but I've always felt emotionally invested in our Basket Cats. This site talks all things Arizona sports and is a great resource for what is happening with our teams.

Twitter.com- I'm not on my Twitter account as much as I used to be, but I still find it a very valuable resource for keeping up with what is going on in certain communities. I stay up with many in the CF and running communities through Twitter and I also tweet many of my blogs and CF news.

Facebook.com- I've met many of you through my Facebook page and I'm very thankful for this wonderful site. It's a great way to keep up with some in the CF community as well as flip through photos until your heart is content. There are also a bunch of good groups out there that serve the CF community that have pages on Facebook. One of my favorites is CysticLife's fan page :)

Movoto.com- I've been looking for a house lately and this site is simply one of the best for how much information it has on it. You can find out just about anything and everything about a house that peaks your interest and they generally have good pictures of the property as well.

TinyURL.com- I post a lot of links to interesting articles I find onto Facebook and Twitter. Since I usually don't want to take up a ton of space with a long URL, I'll shorten it with this free service. One thing I like about them is there is no account and no signing in necessary.

RunSickboyRun.com- Yeah, guilty. I spend a lot of time on this site. I probably should be spending more, but I have a little project going on right now that is taking quite a bit of my time, focus and energy. I really enjoy writing for this blog though and I really hope that it can serve as a source of education, inspiration and hope to many of you!

CysticLife.org- Believe it or not, this site has been taking up most of my time the last six months. We launched yesterday, so it feels real good to "release the site to the wolves" (that would be you guys)! If you haven't signed up for a profile yet, please do, over 300 people in the CF community did yesterday!!!

What are your favorite sites? Any that I just need to add to my daily list?

Who Wants to Dream With Us???

Today is the day that Ronnie and I have dreamed about for what feels like forever. We have dreamed big and it feels so incredible to see our dream coming true. I could not be happier or more excited than I am today, to see where else our dreams will lead us. What am I talking about you ask? Let me back up and give you the full story so you can join in on our dream.

As most of you know, Ronnie and I have worked together for the last 10 months. In April of last year, Ronnie was asked by an incredible couple, the Gettels, to create a web site for the CF community. The charge was undefined, but the possibilities lit a fire under Ronnie unlike anything I have ever seen. His love for the CF community and his desire to support and encourage them fueled his imagination. Our life became one huge brainstorming session. This dream became a reality with the formation of an organization called CysticLife. And we were well on our way after assembling a dream team that consisted of Ronnie, two brilliant web developers, and his beloved (this would be me, Jezzabel prefers unemployment) to write, design and spread the word.

To us, CysticLife (CL) has become a dream not only for an organization, but for a community. CysticLife isn't just a new organization; to us, it's a new movement. We want CysticLife to be a place where people can come when they're down to be picked up, and a place to share your accomplishments when you're riding high. It will be a place to gain knowledge from your peers who have lived it and get it. CL is about becoming comfortable with who you are and what CF means in your life. It is about transforming the CF community into being their own cure. We want to give people the skills to manage their CF and take care of themselves. We want people to go through life with a smile on their face, a can-do attitude and the confidence to take on whatever challenges might come their way.

We have taken our first steps to making our dreams come true. Today, we launched CysticLife.org, a social network (like facebook) made specifically for the CF community. On CysticLife.org people can post blogs, ask questions, maintain a profile, contact others, and search members by age, location and relation to CF. This is going to be an incredible resource, and the best thing is...this is only the beginning.

We are super excited about this site and would love for you to check it out, and hopefully share in our excitement. We truly love and value each of you and your opinions. You never hold back on RSR when it comes to sharing what you think, so we're hoping you do the same for CysticLife.org. We know if you think it's terrible, you'll tell us like it is, and that if you think it's great, you'll join in our on dream. We're really shooting for the latter ;-) !!!

Oh yeah...in my excitement I forgot to give you the link. Here you go: www.CysticLife.org