Make A Wish Brings Batkid to San Francisco

By now, many of you may have heard about San Francisco turning into Gotham City on November 15th?! Make-A-Wish Foundation rose to the challenge so this real life hero, 5-year-old Miles can embark on a series of crime-solving adventures and will get to live a day in the life of Batman! Amazing!

Miles’ crime-solving day is part of the foundation’s mission to turn dreams into reality for sick children. Miles has leukemia.

Miles will set across the city to accomplish tasks ranging from rescuing a damsel in distress from the Hyde St. cable car tracks in Nob Hill, capturing the Puzzler in the act of robbing a downtown vault and will of course have to take a break and stop for a burger at the Burger Bar. While at Burger Bar, he will get a special message from the Chief of Police to go to the window – where he will look down and see a huge group of volunteers jumping up and down asking for Batkid’s help because the villainous Mr. P. will be kidnapping a famous San Francisco mascot!

The getaway car will be visible on Union Square (a convertible so that everyone can see what is happening), and the chase will be on! After catching Mr. P., Batkid will make his final stop at City Hall, where the Mayor and the Police Chief of San Francisco will thank him and give him the key to the city. We’re in tears!!

Make A Wish encourages volunteers to show up at certain points throughout the day to cheer him on! If you would like to participate in this epic event, be sure to RSVP.

We know we’ll be there to encourage Miles and we hope to see you there too! Let us know if you’ll be joining in the fun in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!

Event Spotlight: Project Inform

At ABCey, we are always on the lookout for the BEST events here in San Francisco, even if they aren’t our own! Tomorrow night, Project Inform is hosting their annual gala, Evening of Hope – A Night of Lifesaving Fashion at the City View at Metreon. Come sip champagne overlooking the San Francisco skyline as you see their stunning “Condom Couture” designs come to life!

For those of you that haven’t heard of Project Inform, they are a San Francisco based non-profit that provides information, Inspiration, and Advocacy for People with HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis C.

A limited supply of tickets is still available, but this event WILL sell out, so get yours now while you still can!

This event is San Francisco’s must-attend fête complete with cocktails, culinary delights, VIP designers and after-party. If helping others out and having a great time aren’t good enough reasons to go, Project Inform’s Facebook page lists 10 reasons not to miss!

10. You simply MUST know what all this #condomcouture buzz is about!
9. You absolutely HAVE TO see Heklina own the runway.
8. You are literally COMPELLED to move to the beats of djDCM & Dj Kidd Sysko!
7. You CANNOT go on living without that McQueen steam-punk pump custom-printed on a My Trick Pony t-shirt.
6. You are OFFICALLY obsessed with winning one of the incredible live auction prize packages!
5. You can CLEARLY visualize a tarort card reading in your future.
4. You really REQUIRE a Macy’s gift bag with Ghirardelli Chocolate Company goodies & the latest scoop from San Francisco Magazine.
3. You kinda NEED to cry out “Lights, Models, Guest List!” as you sip on a glass of Korbell.
2. You TRULY cannot survive without seeing hotties from City Model Management, Inc. serving sweets at the VIP After-Party “Eye Candy Bar”
1. You are SERIOUSLY committed to Project Inform’s vision for a generation free of HIV and hep C (seriously.)

For more info on Project Inform, please visit their website, or follow them on Twitter @Project Inform. #eoh2013 Can’t wait? Click here for photos from last year’s event.

Let us know your thoughts on Project Inform in the comments below or Facebook & Twitter!

Thumbtack To The Rescue!

How many hours have you spent online, researching a local service? What if, instead of finding a few possible places, looking up their numbers, calling and leaving a few messages and hopefully hearing back from them in a few days, you could get up to 5 quotes from interested, qualified professionals within 24 hours?! Cue Thumbtack.

Thumbtack is a San Francisco based company (yay!) that offers a free program that allows you to find professionals in your area – and quickly! Thumbtack verifies all of it’s professionals to ensure you are getting the quality of service you deserve AND they receive no advertising money from service professionals, so there is no room for bias. Each provider is qualified through a rigorous checkpoint system, guaranteeing your selection of a safe and qualified professional. All you have to do is send out a request with your needs and within 24 hours you will have interested experts ready to review and choose from!

This website is great for personal use as well as for businesses! Event planning is all about bringing together so many different services and putting on a seamless event that incorporates them all. This group is great, because they do the background work for you and you are guaranteed experienced professionals that will get the job done – well! It takes the guesswork out of hiring someone which can make the difference between a good event and a great event!

How cool is that?! At ABCey, we love almost anything that saves us time! We’d love to hear some of your experiences with Thumbtack or similar groups! Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter & Facebook!

5 New Apps & Gadgets That Keep The Flu Away

It’s February and flu season is in full swing. If you haven’t been hit yet, you know at least a handful of people who weren’t as lucky. Whether you’ve got the 24 hour bug or you’re in bed for a week, being sick can cause some serious conflicts in your schedule! There’s nothing worse than falling behind in your weekly to-do list, so we’ve gathered a few apps and gadgets that can help you defend your immune system and ensure attendance to all of your important events.

1. Help, I Have the Flu is a new Facebook app that allows you to figure out who might have given you the flu or who to stay away from if you haven’t yet caught it. The app scans your friends’ Facebook profiles for keywords such as “coughing”, “sneezing”, “medicine” and “nurse.” It monitors suspicious check-ins which include checking in with other users they suspect to be sick, as well as late-night check-ins (sleep deprivation) that can cause you to be more susceptible to catching a cold.

2. f.lux allows a user to sleep better after computer and cell phone use by making the color of your screen’s display adapt to the time of day. We all know that sleep is an extremely important factor in staying healthy, but we also tend to take our laptops and cell phones to bed with us before getting some shut eye. Designed to reduce eye strain during the night time. This way, your body is being exposed to the right kind of light and will not inhibit the secretion of melatonin during night time. Pretty cool, right?

3. VitaDock is an app that can be used to track your health and wellness goals. It connects with a suite of modules designed to measure and track vital functions. You can mix and match a few of the modules in order to create the best tracking method for your own health goals, such as the ThermoDock to record your temperature and the CardioDock to track your blood pressure.

4. Proteus BioMed has invented a pill that will change the way you keep track of daily vitamin and medication taking! Taken at the same time as your daily medication, these harmless sugar pills have an implanted microchip inside them that sends a low-power electrical signal to an adhesive sensor patch placed outside your body. The patch records the date and time that you’ve taken the pill, and texts you if you forget to take it.

5. Sharecare has been called “Facebook with health info,” and is the newest way to do your own online medical research. It’s become increasingly common for adults in the U.S. to use a search engine to get answers about their ailments, and now they can share what they’ve found with others. Sharecare allows users to find health experts, connect and share stories, and get information on topics ranging from the flu to autism. It’s bringing together the convenience of Google, the facts from WebMD, and professional opinions of real doctors. Learning how to prevent your illness from worsening has never been easier.

Looks like missing your upcoming event is out of the question with these tools! Can you see yourself using any of these apps, gadgets, or sites? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook & Twitter!