I want to update everyone on the Drink-a-thon and once again ask for your support.
First, a big thank you to all of you who have already pledged or donated money. I sincerely appreciate all you can give or have given, whether it is $1/drink, $10 lump sum or whatever. Remember, the money isn’t going to me, it’s going to all the people in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi who have lost everything – so every little bit counts.
Second, word on the Drink-a-thon has hit our local media. The Rocky Mountain News’, Penny Parker, mentioned us in her column last Friday. Here is www.katrinadrinkathon.org. If you click on “Make a pledge”, that will allow you to make either a pledge or a lump sum donation. (Donations and pledges will be collected after the event)
So this is my final plea to you – please pledge or donate money. Please.
If you have already given and can’t give any more, great! Please don’t feel guilty, the point is to help the needy, regardless of it’s through the Drink-a-thon or some other charity. Also, if you can’t afford to give, don’t feel guilty, I totally understand.
For everyone else, anything you can spare would be greatly appreciated, $.25, $1.00, $5.00.
Thanks so much for your support!
Bill
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Drink-a-thon
So the reason I haven't written in a while is because I have been busy trying to figure out the best way I could help our Americans who lost everything because of the hurricane. As I wrote before, I was tremendously saddened by the destruction that Hurricane Katrina brought to the Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. So longing to do more than chip-in a few bucks and keeping them in my “thoughts and prayers,” as everyone likes to say; a few of my resourceful friends and me have decided to organize a fundraiser to collect donations for The American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.
On September 24, we will be holding a drink-a-thon. This event will operate like any other "a-thon" type event. We will be collecting pledges on a per drink basis. Your total donation will be the amount you pledge times the number of drinks I consume on the night of the 24th. 100% of the money we collect is going to the American Red Cross. The overhead costs of this fundraiser (i.e. drinks, web site, etc) are being donated by the participants.
Our goal is to collect $10,000 dollars.
I am sure that at his point you have several questions regarding the safety of this event. I assure you that all of the bases have been covered. There is a list of rules posted at www.katrinadrinkathon.org that will govern how the event will transpire. Everything has been considered; from how will we account for people who don't want to drink, to how we will be getting home after the event. "Sober spotters" will be present to ensure that good judgments are made even in the later hours of the event. To be honest, this will probably be the safest night out we have ever had.
Your next thought is probably, "Why not do something more productive than drinking?" The answer to this is simple. It's easier to motivate people my age to participate in a fundraiser where the activity is something they enjoy. How many people do you think would have signed up for a Hurricane Katrina Weed-pull-a-thon? The response to this idea by my peers has been overwhelming, and I think it is because they get to do something fun while doing something else they know they should. The real work here is in gathering pledges before the event and collecting the donations after.
I would also like to invite you to peruse the Questions page at http://www.katrinadrinkathon.org/4.aspx for more information about this fundraiser.
Hopefully I have convinced you of the validity of this fundraiser, so now comes the sales pitch. I would like to ask you to sponsor us. I understand that a lot of people have already given and if you have then great! But if you haven't or can give a little more then I would really appreciate it. If you don't like the idea of sponsoring drinking, then we can also accept a lump sum donation for a fixed dollar amount.
Thank you for at least taking a look at the site. We were informed this morning that our local paper, Westword, will be doing a story about our fundraiser sometime during the next week.
I would like to ask you to ask anybody you know for pledges on our behalf. The goal we set is very high and the only chance we have of achieving that goal is if we can get lots of help!
On September 24, we will be holding a drink-a-thon. This event will operate like any other "a-thon" type event. We will be collecting pledges on a per drink basis. Your total donation will be the amount you pledge times the number of drinks I consume on the night of the 24th. 100% of the money we collect is going to the American Red Cross. The overhead costs of this fundraiser (i.e. drinks, web site, etc) are being donated by the participants.
Our goal is to collect $10,000 dollars.
I am sure that at his point you have several questions regarding the safety of this event. I assure you that all of the bases have been covered. There is a list of rules posted at www.katrinadrinkathon.org that will govern how the event will transpire. Everything has been considered; from how will we account for people who don't want to drink, to how we will be getting home after the event. "Sober spotters" will be present to ensure that good judgments are made even in the later hours of the event. To be honest, this will probably be the safest night out we have ever had.
Your next thought is probably, "Why not do something more productive than drinking?" The answer to this is simple. It's easier to motivate people my age to participate in a fundraiser where the activity is something they enjoy. How many people do you think would have signed up for a Hurricane Katrina Weed-pull-a-thon? The response to this idea by my peers has been overwhelming, and I think it is because they get to do something fun while doing something else they know they should. The real work here is in gathering pledges before the event and collecting the donations after.
I would also like to invite you to peruse the Questions page at http://www.katrinadrinkathon.org/4.aspx for more information about this fundraiser.
Hopefully I have convinced you of the validity of this fundraiser, so now comes the sales pitch. I would like to ask you to sponsor us. I understand that a lot of people have already given and if you have then great! But if you haven't or can give a little more then I would really appreciate it. If you don't like the idea of sponsoring drinking, then we can also accept a lump sum donation for a fixed dollar amount.
Thank you for at least taking a look at the site. We were informed this morning that our local paper, Westword, will be doing a story about our fundraiser sometime during the next week.
I would like to ask you to ask anybody you know for pledges on our behalf. The goal we set is very high and the only chance we have of achieving that goal is if we can get lots of help!
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Collaring Some Observations
After two consecutive sad, gloomy and joyless posts, it’s time for some non-melancholy observations!
- I know this is going to sound really vain, but I recently Google’d a sentence out of one of my postings and when it came up on Google, I got really excited and proud! For some reason it feels like a major life accomplishment.
- I don’t know if this is a product of getting older or what, but I hate the fact that I am a more emotional person now than I was 3 years ago. I was watching Nine Innings From Ground Zero on HBO this morning when I was getting ready for work and eating Cocoa-Puffs, and it almost made me cry! Seriously it did. What the hell is wrong with me? And last week I was watching this 9/11 show on the National Geographic Channel and I almost cried that time, too. I don’t understand where all this emotion is coming from?! Has this type of transformation happened to anyone else or am I turning into a pansy? I need to know.
- What’s the deal with Texans and their obsession with their state flag? They put that freakin’ flag on everything and anything possible. Does any other state have a bigger love affair with their flag than the state of Texas?
(Do most people, besides Texans, even know what their state flag looks like?)
- Speaking of states, I saw a commercial the other day that suggested Mississippi is the hardest state to spell. I’d have to respectfully disagree. I would say Massachusetts (I needed spell check to get that right) is by far the hardest, followed by Pennsylvania (easy to confuse s-y-l combination) and then maybe Connecticut, Illinois or Tennessee. I would think Mississippi is easier than all of those states to spell.
- Yesterday I was eating a bag of the new cheesier Nacho-cheese Doritos and the color of these new and improved Doritos can best be described as “radioactive orange.”
- Speaking of food, I hate chop-sticks. I think they’re stupid - besides giving you something to play with while you wait for your food. Other than that, they are outdated and less effective than silverware, so why the heck do we still use them? Actually, I think I know why, because there is some weird romantic attachment to chop-sticks. Give it up, people. You still use all the other modern conveniences of dining, stop unnecessarily clinging to archaic eating utensils.
- Why do we teach little kids to call trains choo-choo trains? We don’t call automobiles, frooom-frooom cars or planes errrrr-errrre airplanes – it seems strange to teach kids to label locomotives in such a descriptive fashion. Not to mention the eventual disappoint the child will experience boarding a train that doesn’t go choo-choo (since most don’t anymore) or the confusion of stepping onto a Monorail at Disneyland.
- Attention all men! The flipping-up of your collar thing makes you look really stupid. And it’s just not me talking here, I have yet to meet a women who is a fan of this recent style trend. Next to white men getting both of their ears pierced, this is one of my least favorite fashion trends of the last 10 years. It has to go, so please stop. Please. You look ridiculous, like those two guys from the Bacardi commercials.
- And finally, the topic of cell-phone etiquette has been written about time and time again, so I am not going soapbox over an already saturated topic. But it’s hilarious how when in a social setting, i.e. – a bar or a restaurant, people can’t sit alone. If you and a friend are out, and your friend leaves to go to the bathroom, you have to pull out your cell-phone and text message someone, or check the time, or play a game on your phone or call someone, or check your voicemail. Happens all the time, you just have to do it. It’s almost like you are a loser if you are sitting by yourself, not having some sort of social interaction (or the appearance of a social interaction) – and the cell phone makes you look popular and wanted.
It’s a very similar phenomenon to when two people are sitting together, and one gets a phone call, and the other person inevitably pulls-out their cell-phone and calls someone or checks their voicemail or text messages someone. Certainly you can’t look like the unwanted or lonely person in the group, either.
And the best part of this law is that it doesn’t only apply to groups of two. If two people in a group of three are on their phones, you know what that third person will be doing before long.
For the record, women are far guiltier of this then men.
- I know this is going to sound really vain, but I recently Google’d a sentence out of one of my postings and when it came up on Google, I got really excited and proud! For some reason it feels like a major life accomplishment.
- I don’t know if this is a product of getting older or what, but I hate the fact that I am a more emotional person now than I was 3 years ago. I was watching Nine Innings From Ground Zero on HBO this morning when I was getting ready for work and eating Cocoa-Puffs, and it almost made me cry! Seriously it did. What the hell is wrong with me? And last week I was watching this 9/11 show on the National Geographic Channel and I almost cried that time, too. I don’t understand where all this emotion is coming from?! Has this type of transformation happened to anyone else or am I turning into a pansy? I need to know.
- What’s the deal with Texans and their obsession with their state flag? They put that freakin’ flag on everything and anything possible. Does any other state have a bigger love affair with their flag than the state of Texas?
(Do most people, besides Texans, even know what their state flag looks like?)
- Speaking of states, I saw a commercial the other day that suggested Mississippi is the hardest state to spell. I’d have to respectfully disagree. I would say Massachusetts (I needed spell check to get that right) is by far the hardest, followed by Pennsylvania (easy to confuse s-y-l combination) and then maybe Connecticut, Illinois or Tennessee. I would think Mississippi is easier than all of those states to spell.
- Yesterday I was eating a bag of the new cheesier Nacho-cheese Doritos and the color of these new and improved Doritos can best be described as “radioactive orange.”
- Speaking of food, I hate chop-sticks. I think they’re stupid - besides giving you something to play with while you wait for your food. Other than that, they are outdated and less effective than silverware, so why the heck do we still use them? Actually, I think I know why, because there is some weird romantic attachment to chop-sticks. Give it up, people. You still use all the other modern conveniences of dining, stop unnecessarily clinging to archaic eating utensils.
- Why do we teach little kids to call trains choo-choo trains? We don’t call automobiles, frooom-frooom cars or planes errrrr-errrre airplanes – it seems strange to teach kids to label locomotives in such a descriptive fashion. Not to mention the eventual disappoint the child will experience boarding a train that doesn’t go choo-choo (since most don’t anymore) or the confusion of stepping onto a Monorail at Disneyland.
- Attention all men! The flipping-up of your collar thing makes you look really stupid. And it’s just not me talking here, I have yet to meet a women who is a fan of this recent style trend. Next to white men getting both of their ears pierced, this is one of my least favorite fashion trends of the last 10 years. It has to go, so please stop. Please. You look ridiculous, like those two guys from the Bacardi commercials.
- And finally, the topic of cell-phone etiquette has been written about time and time again, so I am not going soapbox over an already saturated topic. But it’s hilarious how when in a social setting, i.e. – a bar or a restaurant, people can’t sit alone. If you and a friend are out, and your friend leaves to go to the bathroom, you have to pull out your cell-phone and text message someone, or check the time, or play a game on your phone or call someone, or check your voicemail. Happens all the time, you just have to do it. It’s almost like you are a loser if you are sitting by yourself, not having some sort of social interaction (or the appearance of a social interaction) – and the cell phone makes you look popular and wanted.
It’s a very similar phenomenon to when two people are sitting together, and one gets a phone call, and the other person inevitably pulls-out their cell-phone and calls someone or checks their voicemail or text messages someone. Certainly you can’t look like the unwanted or lonely person in the group, either.
And the best part of this law is that it doesn’t only apply to groups of two. If two people in a group of three are on their phones, you know what that third person will be doing before long.
For the record, women are far guiltier of this then men.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
A Loss For Words
Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes it’s hard to find the right way, the right context, the right approach, to express emotions when something happens that is beyond words. It’s easy to crack jokes about how a restaurant labels its men’s and women’s restrooms or pros and cons of certain gambling strategies, but it’s far more challenging to wrap your heart and mind around ending a relationship or what has happened in New Orleans.
I have wanted to write about both of those events over the last week, but I have had a hard time finding the right voice to do that successfully. I guess I am afraid of not being able to find the right combination of words that would give each of those events their proper due. Now don’t get me wrong, my own personal loss pales in comparison to what has happened in New Orleans and Mississippi, but I don’t want to accidentally detract from the significance of either of those of things by throwing out a half-hearted effort or saying the wrong thing or not saying enough.
Even though I have received great response from Friday’s post, I can’t shake the feeling that I didn’t pay proper tribute to a person and a relationship that has meant so much to me over the last few years. I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night to see if I could gain some sort of perspective, but instead, all it did was confirm in my mind that I didn’t do enough to commemorate how much this person touched my life. So now what do I do? Do I try to write more? Do I let it be?
I have watched in horror as the tragedy in New Orleans unfolded (by the way, that is the proper use of the word tragedy). I am not an expert in disaster planning or recovery, but it seems like more should have been done last week in response to the hurricane, and more should have been done the 24-48 hours before the hurricane hit mainland. Hurricanes aren’t tornadoes or earthquakes, in the sense we don’t know when and where they are going to strike, but I remember reading and watching CNN days in advance about how serious the hurricane was. So why didn’t more people evacuate? Well, New Orleans isn’t Beverly Hills and a lot of the residences couldn’t afford to flee. Understandable. So why wasn’t the mayor, the governor, FEMA and Homeland Security, sending in boats, buses, additional planes, whatever, to get these people out and brace for the worst? If we can’t properly respond to an event that we got a few day notice on, how can we properly respond to an event, like 9/11, that we don’t get any? Since 9/11, aren’t we suppose to be more prepared for the unthinkable? Judging by the response so far, it doesn’t look we are. Scary.
I think one of the problems we have in this country is that we rush to judgment. We don’t allow enough time for things to set-in and for us to have the proper time to evaluate what has happened. That being said, I think all of the criticism being thrown at the government, both local and federal, is justified. There is no reason the people of New Orleans should have waited for help as long as they did. Remember, after 9/11, President Bush was at Ground Zero, standing on the rubble, talking to firefighters the very next day. President Bush played golf in California and attended an Astros game before touching down in New Orleans days later and ending his vacation early. Maybe there was nothing practically he could have done, but at least make an effort, or appear that you are doing something, heck anything (just like he did in NYC). I guess I am just disappointed that those in power didn’t do more for the people of New Orleans.
So I have these two events in my life that I wish there was more I could do. I wish I lived closer to New Orleans so I could drive down there and help. I gave money, but that seems so impersonal and easy, even though it’s probably what they need most at this point. And then I have this loss of a relationship. I wish there was something I could do, even though I know the prudent thing to do is to do nothing. But just like giving cash seemed easy and impersonal to the people of New Orleans; doing nothing and writing a short post comparing my situation to Joel’s and Clementine’s in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, seems easy and uninspired.
I guess in both instances, I need to take my own advice – and don’t rush to action or judgment. For someone as impatient as me, who demands actions and results on my timeframe, not someone else’s, that will be a difficult task.
I have wanted to write about both of those events over the last week, but I have had a hard time finding the right voice to do that successfully. I guess I am afraid of not being able to find the right combination of words that would give each of those events their proper due. Now don’t get me wrong, my own personal loss pales in comparison to what has happened in New Orleans and Mississippi, but I don’t want to accidentally detract from the significance of either of those of things by throwing out a half-hearted effort or saying the wrong thing or not saying enough.
Even though I have received great response from Friday’s post, I can’t shake the feeling that I didn’t pay proper tribute to a person and a relationship that has meant so much to me over the last few years. I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night to see if I could gain some sort of perspective, but instead, all it did was confirm in my mind that I didn’t do enough to commemorate how much this person touched my life. So now what do I do? Do I try to write more? Do I let it be?
I have watched in horror as the tragedy in New Orleans unfolded (by the way, that is the proper use of the word tragedy). I am not an expert in disaster planning or recovery, but it seems like more should have been done last week in response to the hurricane, and more should have been done the 24-48 hours before the hurricane hit mainland. Hurricanes aren’t tornadoes or earthquakes, in the sense we don’t know when and where they are going to strike, but I remember reading and watching CNN days in advance about how serious the hurricane was. So why didn’t more people evacuate? Well, New Orleans isn’t Beverly Hills and a lot of the residences couldn’t afford to flee. Understandable. So why wasn’t the mayor, the governor, FEMA and Homeland Security, sending in boats, buses, additional planes, whatever, to get these people out and brace for the worst? If we can’t properly respond to an event that we got a few day notice on, how can we properly respond to an event, like 9/11, that we don’t get any? Since 9/11, aren’t we suppose to be more prepared for the unthinkable? Judging by the response so far, it doesn’t look we are. Scary.
I think one of the problems we have in this country is that we rush to judgment. We don’t allow enough time for things to set-in and for us to have the proper time to evaluate what has happened. That being said, I think all of the criticism being thrown at the government, both local and federal, is justified. There is no reason the people of New Orleans should have waited for help as long as they did. Remember, after 9/11, President Bush was at Ground Zero, standing on the rubble, talking to firefighters the very next day. President Bush played golf in California and attended an Astros game before touching down in New Orleans days later and ending his vacation early. Maybe there was nothing practically he could have done, but at least make an effort, or appear that you are doing something, heck anything (just like he did in NYC). I guess I am just disappointed that those in power didn’t do more for the people of New Orleans.
So I have these two events in my life that I wish there was more I could do. I wish I lived closer to New Orleans so I could drive down there and help. I gave money, but that seems so impersonal and easy, even though it’s probably what they need most at this point. And then I have this loss of a relationship. I wish there was something I could do, even though I know the prudent thing to do is to do nothing. But just like giving cash seemed easy and impersonal to the people of New Orleans; doing nothing and writing a short post comparing my situation to Joel’s and Clementine’s in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, seems easy and uninspired.
I guess in both instances, I need to take my own advice – and don’t rush to action or judgment. For someone as impatient as me, who demands actions and results on my timeframe, not someone else’s, that will be a difficult task.
Friday, September 02, 2005
My Spotless Mind
My favorite screenwriter (yes, I have one) is by far Charlie Kaufman. He has written two of the most creative screenplays in the history of the world, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I wrote a few weeks ago that I had to say goodbye to a close friend. Well, I had to say goodbye to someone else. However, this person just wasn’t just a good friend or someone I dated for a while, this person was one of my best friends and someone for whom I love. For a life-long commitment-phoebe, that’s hard for me to say.
Unfortunately, saying goodbye to this person at this stage in our lives was the right thing to do. (Though I’m not sure you can ever truly say goodbye to anyone who leaves such an imprint in your life) The Shakespearian-like tragedy of this relationship is that minus one substantial variable, we would have an amazing relationship and possibly even a marriage.
Anyway, without turning this into a session with Dr Laura, I’ve been going through a rough time lately. Between saying goodbye to a close friend and then having to say goodbye to a best friend that I love a short time later, I haven’t been this melancholy since KU lost to Syracuse in the NCAA championship game on my birthday two years ago. In all seriousness though, I haven’t been this sad since my mom died.
I have to admi
t that what scares me the most is how I will be remembered by this person. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, both Jim Carrey’s character, “Joel” and Kate Winslet’s character, “Clementine” have their memories erased after an unsuccessful and painful relationship. Halfway through his mind-erasing procedure, “Joel” starts having doubts about giving up his memories. Finally, as the last of his memories are about to be erased forever, he has this conversation with “Clementine” in his memory … JOEL
I still thought you were going to save me. Even after everything.
CLEMENTINE
I know.
JOEL
It would be different, if we could just give it another go around.
CLEMENTINE
Remember me. Try your best. Maybe we can.
Perfect.
In this scene, Clementine knows that “now” isn’t the right time for their relationship.
Clementine wants Joel to try his best to remember, to try his best in life – and everything will be fine.
Clementine realizes that life is strange enough, and that there is enough magic in the moonlight, that maybe someday they’ll find each other again.
Clementine’s last words to Joel are exactly how I feel right now.
I want this person to remember. I want her to try her best in her life and try her best to remember everything.
And when I wonder if I will ever talk to this person again, or see her big, blue eyes again, or laugh with her again, or hug her again, or wonder if we will ever get another go around - all I can say is ...
Remember me. Try your best. Maybe we can.
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