Wow - time and I have been flying. I am currently in Redwood City, CA - and I'm working again. Whoo hoo!! More about that in a later post, I just wanted to say I'm thoroughly enjoying being so crazy busy again.
A while ago I posted a request for help from Alex, in Munich. I'm thrilled to say that Friends of Burkina Faso won their fund-raising challenge:
Hello all, I am attaching the letter I received from FBF. If you click on “parade” link you will see the final amounts and tallies. I am so relieved to be able to thank you all for that extra help. We needed every single donation we could get to qualify for that $50,000 prize.
It was a hair-raiser.
I can pass on great thanks from Lacine in Burkina. He was so incredibly moved that so many people were involved in this effort. For a teacher in the third world to know that people all over the planet care about what happens with his projects---what an incredible encouragement!
Thanks so much.
Yours,
Alex
Dear Friends of Burkina Faso (and just friends in general!),
I want to share with all of you that the Lambs For School Project in Burkina Faso, for which we sought your support in December and January, has won one of the four international $50,000 awards through America's Giving Challenge!
Yes, it is official--after all of the tallies and discounting of multiple donations/donors, we retained our 4th place spot with 1598 donations. The charity in the number 1 spot received 1650 donations so again, this competition was very, very, very stiff and the results very, very, very close. We could not have done it without you, your persistence, and your many social and professional networks of generous family members, friends and colleagues!
See the results here: Giving Challenge
With your generous support and networking, we were able to generate sufficient funds to enable close to 1200 girls (300 more than our initial goal of 900!) to enter school in northern Burkina Faso over the next four years ... girls who would not have had an opportunity to attend school otherwise.
What an exciting day this is for all of us .... and even more so for NEEED, the community-based organization in Burkina which so effectively runs this project. Their work with village leaders and parents, their provision of school materials in a timely and accountable manner, their collaboration with rural primary teachers and their encouragement of the girls and their families is truly impressive ... and their success with this model is evidenced in both the increasing number of parents asking for support for their daughters through the Lambs For School Project and in the oustanding results the girls are achieving educationally.
So to all of you who went to bat for us and our project, a very warm and sincere thank you!
And I ask you one last time to spread our message far and wide to all of your contacts who also helped us to make this all possible!
Kristie McComb, President of the Friends of Burkina Faso
and
Suzanne Plopper, Treasurer of the Friends of Burkina Faso and Project Manager of the Lambs for School project
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
We saw this coming ....
When you give people 50 year mortgages, or interest only mortgages or any mortgage with a payment that's 3x their annual salary, whaddya thinks going to happen? Having lived through the dot com explosion and subsequent crash, it's clear to me that we make up money in our heads. And we're making up the current mood disorder. I couldn't have said the following better myself, thank you to Perry Marshall for his articulation:
This whole "recession" thing everyone's blathering about was merely fabricated by the media (you know, the people we trust to deliver the "news" to us) so they'll have more to, uh, g-r-i-p-e about while they assault us with election propaganda.
Did you know that ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN have predicted 40 out of the last 2 recessions?
Yeah, look out baby, cuz the sky is falling. We're teetering on the brink of financial disaster and you should yank all your money outta the bank and hide it under your mattress and retreat into a fallout shelter with your portable TV. We can all stand together holding hands in stark terror, as Katie Couric faithfully reports the demise of planet earth.
Whatever.
I'm not participating in the current recession and you don't have to either. Look, grow your business, buy your beer, go on vacation, live life as normal and ignore the prophets of misery. OK?
I'm dead serious about this. The recession IS a fabrication of the media, but becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Because of the talking heads and all their cheery news, the Mortgage biz is nearly in Intensive Care. Yeah, some people are being affected by this.
And some not.
So understand this: Whatever happens, whether it's a mild blip or bigger than that, there are two kinds of people:
1) Passive Victims (the 95%)
and
2) Alpha Warriors (the 5%).
Check out the whole article.
This whole "recession" thing everyone's blathering about was merely fabricated by the media (you know, the people we trust to deliver the "news" to us) so they'll have more to, uh, g-r-i-p-e about while they assault us with election propaganda.
Did you know that ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN have predicted 40 out of the last 2 recessions?
Yeah, look out baby, cuz the sky is falling. We're teetering on the brink of financial disaster and you should yank all your money outta the bank and hide it under your mattress and retreat into a fallout shelter with your portable TV. We can all stand together holding hands in stark terror, as Katie Couric faithfully reports the demise of planet earth.
Whatever.
I'm not participating in the current recession and you don't have to either. Look, grow your business, buy your beer, go on vacation, live life as normal and ignore the prophets of misery. OK?
I'm dead serious about this. The recession IS a fabrication of the media, but becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Because of the talking heads and all their cheery news, the Mortgage biz is nearly in Intensive Care. Yeah, some people are being affected by this.
And some not.
So understand this: Whatever happens, whether it's a mild blip or bigger than that, there are two kinds of people:
1) Passive Victims (the 95%)
and
2) Alpha Warriors (the 5%).
Check out the whole article.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Late Rochester Winter
The weather here has been so weird - the past few days it's been clear, beautifully sunny. Only a few bits of snow here & there. The grass is green. And it's been 10 degrees! SO cold.
Luckily, it was much warmer back in late December when we went skiing. I had a great time, and progressed rapidly. Did fall a lot, but nothing really bad. I'm so glad that I'm in good shape - the skiing was not too hard, but walking in the boots carrying the equipment, and repeatedly poling myself to the chair lift was exhausting. Greg & Gavin took snowboarding lessons, and Andrea tried it on her won. Nancy & I stuck with skiing. I was a rank beginner, but she kept discovering skills she'd gathered that helped out, like rollerblading and surfing.
Greg, Gavin, Andrea & Nancy.
Me and Nancy, the last day - still smiling!
It want to go again, but with no snow around here it's a bit difficult. Maybe we'll have snow in February.
Luckily, it was much warmer back in late December when we went skiing. I had a great time, and progressed rapidly. Did fall a lot, but nothing really bad. I'm so glad that I'm in good shape - the skiing was not too hard, but walking in the boots carrying the equipment, and repeatedly poling myself to the chair lift was exhausting. Greg & Gavin took snowboarding lessons, and Andrea tried it on her won. Nancy & I stuck with skiing. I was a rank beginner, but she kept discovering skills she'd gathered that helped out, like rollerblading and surfing.
Greg, Gavin, Andrea & Nancy.
Me and Nancy, the last day - still smiling!
It want to go again, but with no snow around here it's a bit difficult. Maybe we'll have snow in February.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Alex has asked for help
So, one of the excellent women I met in Munich is Alex Koch. She is an art historian, taught in Manhattan, and leads the ladies groups in Munich on the most amazing tours of the museums and exhibits. She studies languages (in her -ahem - spare time; she's got 3 growing, lively boys and a husband who frequently travels for work); in her French class she met a man from Burkina Faso, in West Africa. A teacher. ... Much discussion ensued over time, ALex got involved, got her husband's company to get involved and her campaign raised enough money to build and fund a school for girls in Burkina Faso. How cool is that?
Just got an email from her:
Hello all you dear friends , it’s Alex here, writing from Munich.
We are up for another competition for money for our projects in Burkina Faso. This time it will mean 50, 000 dollars to fund the lambs for school project -- a little girl receives a lamb with her first years school supplies, and that means she can husband that lamb and generate the funds for her continuing education right on into high school at our Collège Moderne de L’Amitié in Ouahigouya. If we win it means 900 more girls will start school in our region.
We need 10 dollar donations from different sources, as many as possible. Global Giving has a secure web site, so don’t fear using your credit card. And it works quickly online. 10 dollars is enough, don’t feel like you have to give more. It is really the numbers of donors that is key. Better to encourage your friends to donate another 10. The more the better. Send this on to friends who will help. Explain to them that they can get in touch with me if they want more information about our work building schools and getting children educated in Burkina.
We have won these giving challenges before with your help and it means amazing resources for us. So click and give. It won’t be a hassle I promise.
Click here to donate.
Kisses and love from me and Max and the boys,
Alex
Just got an email from her:
Hello all you dear friends , it’s Alex here, writing from Munich.
We are up for another competition for money for our projects in Burkina Faso. This time it will mean 50, 000 dollars to fund the lambs for school project -- a little girl receives a lamb with her first years school supplies, and that means she can husband that lamb and generate the funds for her continuing education right on into high school at our Collège Moderne de L’Amitié in Ouahigouya. If we win it means 900 more girls will start school in our region.
We need 10 dollar donations from different sources, as many as possible. Global Giving has a secure web site, so don’t fear using your credit card. And it works quickly online. 10 dollars is enough, don’t feel like you have to give more. It is really the numbers of donors that is key. Better to encourage your friends to donate another 10. The more the better. Send this on to friends who will help. Explain to them that they can get in touch with me if they want more information about our work building schools and getting children educated in Burkina.
We have won these giving challenges before with your help and it means amazing resources for us. So click and give. It won’t be a hassle I promise.
Click here to donate.
Kisses and love from me and Max and the boys,
Alex
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Goals, Intentions, Managing My Life
I have been thinking about the above a lot, with the turning of the year. And there is a flood of advice/information/books and other products coming at me, now that I'm attuned. I am sorting my way through it all, developing a system that works for me. It includes a daily written intention, weekly time for myself to think, monthly goal setting, yearly goal setting, theme and overall intention. I am starting to differentiate 'intention' from 'goals'. An intention is for me and my lovely sis-in-law Andrea to work together in a profitable business that we run. Dunno how or when. A 'goal' is to finish filing the paperwork in my office.
So my daily intentions include having success/fun in what I've planned or scheduled to do, and I'm adding in 'unexpected delights'. Saturday, I ran into Ray J from my MasterMind group and we chatted for 30 minutes in OfficeMax. Sunday, I finally went to the emofree website, got pulled in and started using the tool. Monday, Nancy from my MasterMind group invited me to come along to a personal development seminar in Toronto.
Today's first one was cool. I had gone to the gym to work out, and some musclehead put in an Ozzie Osbourne CD. Ugh, isn't this music, like, from the '50s? I worked to overcome my dislike of such dusty quaint old music. Then the 3rd track played, Ozzie doing "Pictures of Matchstick Men" - a song I love. And I liked his version. So that was fun. The next song ground into those old power chords of Born to Be Wild. Not the best version, Ozzie sounded kinda flat. And then I hear a falsetto voice making snide comments over the music - was it? ... Yes, it was - Miss Piggy. At some point Ozzie must have been on the Muppet Show. Delightful!
So my daily intentions include having success/fun in what I've planned or scheduled to do, and I'm adding in 'unexpected delights'. Saturday, I ran into Ray J from my MasterMind group and we chatted for 30 minutes in OfficeMax. Sunday, I finally went to the emofree website, got pulled in and started using the tool. Monday, Nancy from my MasterMind group invited me to come along to a personal development seminar in Toronto.
Today's first one was cool. I had gone to the gym to work out, and some musclehead put in an Ozzie Osbourne CD. Ugh, isn't this music, like, from the '50s? I worked to overcome my dislike of such dusty quaint old music. Then the 3rd track played, Ozzie doing "Pictures of Matchstick Men" - a song I love. And I liked his version. So that was fun. The next song ground into those old power chords of Born to Be Wild. Not the best version, Ozzie sounded kinda flat. And then I hear a falsetto voice making snide comments over the music - was it? ... Yes, it was - Miss Piggy. At some point Ozzie must have been on the Muppet Show. Delightful!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Whoo Hoo! 2008!
And I need to move my blog again. I thought I'd have oodles of time to get my act together and get it at my home site before the URL became outdated. Oh well, it will happen at some point. I'll link everything in when I do move it.
I've been thinking about goals, resolutions, intent for the year. Spent a quiet day home today in the company of the 3 borrowed cats, watching The Secret again and taking notes. I've evolved my theme for '08: Lavish Abundance; and my guiding principles: Be in Enlightenment, Honor myself, Love.
I just know Barb is gonna get the giggles at the seeming contradiction between my theme and principle #1. (She was very amused that I'd blogged about Being Peace and then followed that with I Love NASCAR.) But Abundance means to me
- spiritual teachers popping in to my life
- lots of time to meditate, think about what I want so I can intend it into being
- new friends (I am especially deficient in guy friends - I think they all got scrubbed off during the marrying decade and I didn't make any more)
- intellectual exercise (gotta meld Quantum Physics and Chaos Theory. (This summer a young punk of a U of R PhD Physicist sneered that they couldn't possibly meld as Chaos Theory is purely mathematical. Ummm, yeah ...)
and unexpected delights as well as increasing income. So, neener neener, they don't contradict.
I was up very late last night, Kathi's kids were wired and we were up til 2. So I'm sleep deprived and have to be at a business meeting tomorrow at 9. And it's snowing out - which means get up real early to make sure I have enough time to get where I'm going. Time to head to bed.
I've been thinking about goals, resolutions, intent for the year. Spent a quiet day home today in the company of the 3 borrowed cats, watching The Secret again and taking notes. I've evolved my theme for '08: Lavish Abundance; and my guiding principles: Be in Enlightenment, Honor myself, Love.
I just know Barb is gonna get the giggles at the seeming contradiction between my theme and principle #1. (She was very amused that I'd blogged about Being Peace and then followed that with I Love NASCAR.) But Abundance means to me
- spiritual teachers popping in to my life
- lots of time to meditate, think about what I want so I can intend it into being
- new friends (I am especially deficient in guy friends - I think they all got scrubbed off during the marrying decade and I didn't make any more)
- intellectual exercise (gotta meld Quantum Physics and Chaos Theory. (This summer a young punk of a U of R PhD Physicist sneered that they couldn't possibly meld as Chaos Theory is purely mathematical. Ummm, yeah ...)
and unexpected delights as well as increasing income. So, neener neener, they don't contradict.
I was up very late last night, Kathi's kids were wired and we were up til 2. So I'm sleep deprived and have to be at a business meeting tomorrow at 9. And it's snowing out - which means get up real early to make sure I have enough time to get where I'm going. Time to head to bed.
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