U-Haul Truck-It Challenge

At the end of this month, my family and I are moving to a new house.  My wonderful and amazing wife has handled almost all of the painful crap associated with buying a new house (dealing with the bank, setting up utilities, dealing with Realtors, getting our daughter’s school switched, and a million more things).

My primary responsibility is the move itself – getting things packed and making sure they get from House A to House B with minimal breakage.

Originally, my plan was to call some movers to handle the actual loading and transportation of all of our stuff.  Why?  Well, a) it is easier than trying to line up people and trucks to help us move, and b) I’m not a 20 year old kid* moving into a new apartment.

*No friends, I am not 20.  But, in the immortal words of Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy, I am a man.

On the surface, hiring movers seems like a slam dunk choice.  Instead of spending the day lugging boxes, couches, and appliances up and down stairs, you pay somebody else to do it for you.

Moving Day (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But there is a problem:  movers are not cheap.  They charge ridiculous hourly rates, and the amount of stuff we have means they’ll be working for many hours.  Maybe I should find some friends willing to help us move in exchange for pizza and beer.

Then it hit me – the perfect way to get us moved to the new house without breaking the bank – or alienating our friends who likely have better things to do on Labor Day weekend.

My inspiration?  The 1,200 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge videos I’ve seen in the last week.  What if I applied the success of that campaign to my move?  Here is how it will work:

<start shaky cell phone video>

“Hello!  This is Dave and I have been challenged by FeitCanWrite.com to participate in the U-Haul Truck-it Challenge.  As you know, moving eight years worth of crap from one house to a larger house is a challenge that nobody should have to face on their own.  Dave has had two back surgeries, and his poor mother worries about him carrying heavy objects.  If he has to move everything by himself, there is a good chance that he might miss the Nebraska football game against powerhouse Florida Atlantic – and we cannot allow that to happen.  That’s why I’m here to help.

“Here’s how the challenge works:  you have 24 hours to volunteer to help Dave move or he will come to your house or place of business and dump ice water on your head.  If you don’t want to volunteer, you can donate $10 towards hiring movers.  Once you complete the challenge, you nominate three more people to participate, giving them 24 hours to act.

“Since moving sucks, I have chosen to donate $10, <holds up ten dollar bill> but I want to know what my friends will do.  That’s why I’m challenging Sammy Sucker, Jane Hasatruck, and Marty Movington to participate.

“Guys, you have 24 hours!”

<cell phone video cuts off awkwardly>

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There are many of my friends and readers that I have helped move over the years.  Now is the time for payback.  Consider yourself tagged in the U-Haul Truck-it Challenge.  You have 24 hours to donate toward my moving expenses or share this post on Facebook/Twitter.

 

Rejected ALS Challenges

If you have ventured on to any social media platform in the last few weeks, you know that pretty much every person in the world is participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness (and maybe, just maybe generate a donation or two) for ALS.

If you are one of the few people on the planet not familiar with the challenge, it breaks down like this:

1. Person speaks directly into a cell phone camera and gives some spiel about being challenged by somebody higher up on the social media food chain.  Viewers resist the urge to fast forward to the good part.
2. The participant challenges three friends, family members, or random celebrities to do the same thing within 24 hours or pay a bribe…sorry, I meant “donation”…to get out of it.
3. A bucket of ice water is dumped over the participant’s head.
4. They shriek and scream like somebody who just had icy water dumped on their head.  Hilarity ensues.
5. Participant uploads the video to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, MySpace, Geocities, and/or some random AOL chat room.

The viral popularity of the Ice Bucket Challenge is greater than anything anybody could have anticipated.  Donations are through the roof, awareness is off the charts.  I’m not sure if it could be going any better.

Or maybe it could…

Just imagine if the folks at ALS had decided to go with one of the other challenge finalists:

• Lukewarm bucket challenge
• Dry ice bucket challenge
• Rice bucket challenge (fried or steamed)
• Ice Ice Baby challenge
• Show me a receipt for your donation challenge
• Boiling water challenge
• Colonel’s 10 piece bucket challenge (original or extra crispy)
• Mice bucket challenge
• One big ass block of ice challenge
• What else will you do to avoid giving money to charity challenge
• Lou Gehrig challenge (have a descendant of Wally Pipp dump 2,130 of any item on you)
• Lucky Bucket challenge (Mmm….Lucky Bucket….)
• Ice Dixie Cup challenge
• Feit Can Write U-Haul Truck-It Challenge
• Lice bucket challenge – oh wait, that’s an old Fear Factor episode.
• Harlem Globetrotter bucket challenge
• Tell me what “ALS” stands for challenge

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 Author’s Note:  I figured this was a pretty good entry in the WordPress Daily Challenge “Breaking the Ice”.