Fat is cheap

What if Charities Refused Your Money?

What if they would only take your time/talent?

Sure you could bring money to help buy things etc. when you show-up.

I checked out the girl effect and watched the video, toured around the site and got all geeked up!  I was excited to see the video bring up the point that "money" wasn't going to change the world.  Then I got to the end...and they asked for money...just send money.  No way to donate time/talents...just money.

Alas...

Does anyone else feel this way?  Sure we give money...but I want to give more, my time and talents.  

How do I start a charity that really helps people without relying solely on money?  Real people helping real people in the "flesh".  

Anyone have any ideas?

It wouldn't be easy...and it sure ain't cheap!  Have a good one!

Alive!

I love spending time with my daughter.  She is three.  I love playing with her, reading books, watching movies, cleaning the house or car, fixing something...the list goes on and on.

I always thought it was because she was my daughter, flesh and blood, some internal motor that drives me to spend time with her.

It is not.

It is because she is so alive!

Everything...everything she does is just bubbling with life.  Her eyes jump out of her head and scream "I am alive and it is great!"

Why do we grow up and lose that?  Where does it go?  Why do we let it go? 

I looked at my eyes in the mirror...they aren't even interested in standing up, much less jumping out and they are saying "you look tired."

I compared that to a picture of several years ago...I looked a lot more alive several years ago.

It is not age...I have met people 2.5 times my age that still had that spark in their eyes.

What are your eyes saying?

Be Alive and have a good one!

Amazing Love

This makes me speechless.  Humbles me beyond all measure.

Be speechless, be humble and have a good one!

Facing Life's Unpleasantness

We found out yesterday that a former neighbor (and a current friend) lost his wife to cancer.  We received the notice in an e-mail.

Boy I didn't want to deal with that.  I didn't want to let it affect me, make me cry, have to think of an appropriate response.  Life was too busy, we had a lot going on.

I am glad I did 'deal' with it.  Took a moment to empathize, shed a few tears, be a virtual shoulder to cry on and offer some words of encouragement.

In this stupid rat race that we make out of life, it is moments like these that true me back to humanity and the important stuff of life.  Not the 'good' things.  Not the easy the things.  It is the difficult things, the things that take strength of character to do.

It isn't cheap and it sure ain't easy.  Have a good one!

One Word

What is the one word that describes you?  One characteristic/attribute/whatever that best defines who you are?  The one thing that you would choose to keep about yourself if you had to give up everything else?

For me it is passion.

It is my greatest strength and my greatest weakness.  Everything done well in my life is done with passion.  Passion as a husband, father, friend, employee, brother, son, athlete (cough, cough!), fan, musician (I can load a mean MP3 player!), ...everything.

Life is too short to do things without passion.  If I am not doing it (whatever "it" is) without passion, I believe I should either find the passion or do something else. 

So tell me all about it...in one word and have a good one!

"That Guy is an Emotional Roller Coaster!"

How did this phraseology come to have a bad connotation?

Roller coasters are fun.  They are fun because they go up and down...especially when they go down.

Roller coasters wouldn't be much fun if they were flat...or if they only went up.

Roller coasters are the most fun when you enjoy them (kind of obvious, I know).  Eagerly anticipating the drop, hands up, yelling your fool head off while you go down.

Maybe it should be the same with our emotions.

Of course, roller coasters have limits...limits that keep people in the carts and the carts on the track.

So ride with your hands up, give a good yell if you like, and have a good one!

Have You Cried Today?

Have you been so connected to life that you have cried?

Okay so maybe not cried, but have you been overcome by emotion?  Happiness, humbleness, gratefulness, sadness, etc.  Are you paying enough attention to life and living it to the fullest so that each day something in this life grabs hold of your attention and demands you to stop what you are doing and be overcome?

We easily get caught up in things that really aren't important.  We become so consumed by them that we stop paying attention to life as it happens around us.  We often miss the roller coaster (yes roller coaster!) life that is so thrilling. 

This picture got me the other day.  Made me want to hold my little girl and never let her go.  Suddenly remembering to mail the bills wasn't that important.

I feel if I go through a day and haven't cried, I haven't been paying enough attention.

So I ask you again, have you cried today?  If you have, I would love to hear about...leave us a comment and have a good one!

Do the Duh!

Kathy Sierra had a great post the other day about "duh."

It is written from a business perspective, but works in life too.

Life is not about finding the secret formula, it is actually doing the obvious ("duh") things that bring our life quality.

Go check it out.

Do the duh and have a good one!

ps Be sure to check out David Goodman's comment on the post (3rd one down).  He has a great comment on customer satisfaction being overhead for most companies.

Highs & Lows

The other day I heard a caller give a great piece of advice on the radio.  She shared with everyone a practice that she and her husband had instituted in their relationship.  At the end of each day they tell each other their high point of the day and their low point.

I think that is a great practice.  I don't think it is just for married folks either.  I think it works with good friends, children/parents, etc.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

Keep it real and have a good one!

Croc Hunter: Better off dead?

Of course he is not.

But let me pose this question:  Would it have been better for his family for him to have stopped being the crocodile hunter and started selling widgets door-to-door (or any other less-adventurous job that he would loathe)?

I don't think there is anyone who would doubt that this man's passion was chasing around, holding in his hands and calling "gorgeous" the world's most dangerous creatures.

Steve Irwin loved what he did.  What he did made him come alive!

It is very unfortunate that Steve has died.  His children and his wife will miss him sorely.  But would they rather he sold widgets for a living and have a shell of the husband/father that they had for the short time?

Some would say "yes", the wife and kids would rather he be alive and miserable than to die so early doing something that he loved.

I am compelled to believe otherwise.

Do what you love and have a good one!