November 7, 2007

Sometimes wishes come true

We’re not overly fond of shoes in Hawaii. Well, not the regular closed-up kind that you maybe have to wear socks or (ugh!) pahtyhose with. We like our toes to breath. Since we don’t wear our shoes in the house, slippahs are what we wear most. Yeah, rubber slippers. Shower thongs. Zoris. Flip-flops. Whatever you call them in your part of the world, over here they’re slippahs. They’re easy to take off when we get where we’re going. We step out of them at the door and it’s sometimes comical when lot of folks get together. They go to leave and have to paw through a mountain of slippahs to find the ones they came with, and maybe someone accidently took theirs becasuse they looked kind, sorta alike. Or they end up going home with one green and one black slippah because someone else stuck their feet in the wrong ones and never looked to see that they didn’t quite match. Kids are the worst for losing slippahs. They take them off at the beach or the playground and never think about them again until they come home barefoot and someone asks where’s their slippahs. It’s too late by then most of the time. The slippahs are gone, wherever it is that slippahs go. Sometimes there’s no money to buy new ones, so the keiki go around barefoot for a while until someone can save a few dollars for a new pair of slippahs for them to lose.

Auntie Pupule was thinking about kids and slippahs a few years ago when someone asked about Christmas wishes. She had noticed that a lot of the keiki who live in the Mayor Wright Homes didn’t have any slippahs, so she said “I wish for all the children of MWH to have a pair of rubber slippers so they won’t have to go barefoot.” Now Auntie Pupule is an activist and she doesn’t sit around and wait for things to happen. She started stirring things up and soon the MWH Slippah Fund was born. By the time Christmas rolled around in 2005 she had 500 pair of slippahs and some other gifts for the kids at MWH. They threw a big holiday party and all of the kids got gifts. Last year it was even bigger. This year it needs to be bigger still, because folks from some of the other housing projects would like Auntie Pupule to bring the Slippah Project to their keiki, too. You know she couldn’t say no!

Sometimes little things can make a big difference. Slippahs are little things, unless you don’t have any. Not having slippahs - that’s a big thing. I buy several pair a year for myself, and whenever I know someone is coming over to visit me from the mainland I ask them their shoe size. I buy them some slippahs and put them outside my front door so my guests will know they’re welcome. I don’t have a lot of money, but it’s a little thing I can do, so I do it. I can help the Slippah Fund too, so I did that. Now I want YOU to help, too. Like I said, I don’t have a lot of money, but if we do this together we can help Auntie Pupule buy a lot of slippahs for the keiki. Here’s what I’ll do. Go make your donation to the Slippah Fund. You’ll get a receipt via email. Forward that to me (you can take out your real name and any other sensitive info first.) I’ll match the donations my readers make, up to $100 above the amount I’ve already given. Donations need to get to the fund by November 29th so Auntie Pupule will have time to go shopping, so get your notification to me by November 28th and I’ll send the matching funds. Let’s get together and help the kids have a great party this year, with slippahs and gifts for all!

Technorati Tags: charity, children, Christmas wishes, Hawaii, rubber slippers, slippahs

October 15, 2007

IndieMV teams with UNICEF against AIDS

UNICEF has been improving the lives of children around the world for over sixty years. I first learned of them when, as a school child in the fifties, I was asked to “Trick or Treat for UNICEF.” Children today still support that effort on Halloween, and numerous other campaigns also support this important work. Facing the problems of today with todays technology, UNICEF has partnered with IndieMV to raise funds and awareness in a campaign that is sure to appeal to young people and adults alike. IndieMV - Music+People, along with UNICEF, will present the United Against AIDS benefit concert on November 28, 2007 in Montreal. You’re invited to browse a selection of music and video clips and use them to put together your own video to help promote the concert and spread awareness for the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” campaign. My own brother died of AIDS shortly before he would havbe been fifty. How much more tragic it is that this terrible disease afflicts thousands of children around the world. Your video-editing skills can be put to good use as you combine music, video footage and your own thoughts about AIDS and children with HIV/AIDS. Details are in the press release below. Take a look, then follow the link to use INDIEMV’s tools to make and upload your own video. Let your voice and your artistry shine as you do your part!

IndieMV.com Launches and Partners With UNICEF for Upcoming, Star-Studded, ‘Unite Against AIDS’ Benefit Concert

Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlan and Others to Perform at UNICEF AIDS Benefit Concert as IndieMV Provides Music-Video Based Contests to Promote Awareness

NEW YORK & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–IndieMV Media Group announced today the official launch of the Company’s web site www.IndieMV.com and shared details about their recent partnership with UNICEF to provide music-video based contests surrounding the upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert on November 28, 2007.

IndieMV.com, is a video-based website that has been designed to connect independent music artists, fans, and labels through social networking. The website is not only a video marketplace for musicians but also a social networking service for students, music lovers, and users that simply want to connect. Services to users are based around networking tools such as video blogging (or ‘vlogging’), private web-cam messaging, photo sharing, as well as access to music videos, interviews, and much more. Services to musicians include digital distribution with revenue share on video downloads along with access to all user-based features.

IndieMV also offers users a new technology called ‘Sliders’. Sliders are an advanced tagging system that allows users to easily search content on a more personalized level. It is a filtering system that each user can customize to their personal interests and preferences.

Concurrent with the website launch, the Company is also pleased to announce their new relationship with UNICEF surrounding music-video based contests that have been organized to help promote their upcoming “Unite Against AIDS” benefit concert in Montreal, Canada on November 28, 2007, as well as promote independent music while spreading awareness for the “Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS” campaign. IndieMV will be hosting a music-video contest in conjunction with UNICEF. It has been designed to give youth the opportunity to share their impressions and thoughts on issues regarding AIDS and its effect on the world. UNICEF will provide audio tracks and visual footage, and IndieMV will provide the platform for uploading, viewing, and voting for the music videos. Over the next couple of months, the Company’s campus development efforts will carry the UNICEF message and encourage thousands to support the campaign and to build their scene on IndieMV.com.

Confirmed feature performers already include headliner Avril Lavigne, Grammy Award winner Sarah McLachlan, Corneille, Marie-Mai, Angelique Kidjo, and DJ Dino Lenny, as well as the winner of the IndieMV “Unite” band contest. Net proceeds from the concert will benefit UNICEF’s international ‘Unite For Children, Unite Against AIDS’ campaign, which is the largest ever mounted to bring the world’s attention to the global impact of HIV and AIDS on children and young people. Please visit www.IndieMV.com for more details surrounding the contests and concert.

Technorati Tags: Children with HIV/AIDS, contest, indie music, IndieMV, UNICEF

September 27, 2007

Buy a calendar, help a family

My friend Drew has been taking a photo a day, every day, for several years now and he posts them at The BenSpark. He’s compiled of them into a calendar and is selling them to raise money for a family that is having a rough time. Becky and Mike Machinski have both battled cancer. Becky is cancer-free now, but Mike continues with treatment. They can’t get medical insurance (Isn’t the insurance industry grand? If you’re sick you can’t play ball with them. I’ve been trying to get private coverage for eight years now and no one wants to sell coverage to anyone who is sick.) Mike has been battling Advanced Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for over three years. He has had numerous in-patient stays, operations, radiation treatments, over 120 chemotherapy treatments and a stem cell transplant. The costs for such care are astonomical. Throughout it all he and Becky have tried to maintain a normal life for their three daughters. They could use some help, though. Drew is helping to raise funds for them by selling his Photo-A-Day Calendar. They sell for $15.00 each. After production costs Drew is only making $2.97 per calendar, but he’s donating $2.00 from each calendar sold to the Machinski family. The photos are stunning and the calendars will make wonderful gifts for your family and friends this coming holiday season. I hope you’ll consider buying one (or more!) of them. There is also a PayPal donation button on Drew’s site if you’d like to help out that way. Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much!) for considering the Machinski family and doing what you can to help.

Technorati Tags: calendars, cancer, charity, photo calendar

August 22, 2007

The Giving Hands

For all of the diversity in the blogosphere, one thing that bloggers do really well is to come together for a common cause. Bloggers from around the world united last month to raise money for various charities. They all solicited sponsors and agreed to post at least once every half-hour for twenty-four hours. My friend Pelf kept her committment to Blogathon ‘07 and raised $778 $810 USD in pledges for Eden Handicap Service Centre. This was no surprise to me as I know Pelf to have a tender heart and a giving spirit. She has raised awareness and encouraged her readers to donate to several worhty causes in the few months that I’ve known her. This recently led her to establish The Giving Hands, a new blog dedicated to charitable causes.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Pelf is already moving forward with her next big project. Did I say big? Make that huge! On September 15th she’s kicking off a month-long campaign on issues relating to the environment. It will all culminate on October 15th, Blog Action Day, when, once again, bloggers will unite with a single focus, the environment. Pelf is looking for guest bloggers to help out. If you have a favorite environmental cause or a special area of knowledge, check out The Giving Hands, then contact Pelf and let her know you’d like to contribute. She’s already written a number of posts supporting environmental awareness. With your help she can fill her blog with the stuff we all need to know to make this world a better place.

Technorati Tags: Blog Action Day, Blogathon ‘07, charity, environment, environmental awareness

August 10, 2007

Memory Walk

Being my father’s caregiver during his last year was a mixed blessing for both of us. When I first brought him here he was able to walk using a cane or a walker. He had multiple strokes over the following months and each robbed him of some mobility. He did not lose his speech until very near the end, though, so we spent our days talking. He told me about his boyhood in the cotton fields during the depression and talked about serving in the Pacific during World War II. Sometimes there was an air of melancholy because we both knew his time was running out, but I’m so grateful we had the opportunity for him to share the stories of his life. I’ve always thought that Alzheimer’s is the cruelest of diseases because it robs it’s victims and their families of those same precious moments that Dad and I shared.

Over five million people in the US have Alzheimer’s Disease. There is not yet a cure, but there is hope. The Alzheimer’s Association Memory Walk is the largest fundraising drive contributing to the support of people with Alzheimer’s and the search for a cure. People across America will participate in a two to three mile walk this fall to raise funds and generate awareness of this devastating disease. You can locate a group near you by going to the Alzheimer’s Association Fundraising website and putting in your zip code. If there’s a group near you, you’ll be given the information you’ll need in order to sign up. If your community isn’t yet involved, you can be the one to start the ball rolling. The website will talk you through becoming a Team Captain and provide you with all of the tools and information you’ll need to organize and manage your group. You’ll even be given a free website to use as your fundraising headquarters. If you can provide a little determination, they’ll help you with the rest!

Each of us can do our part. If you are unable to participate in a walk, I hope you’ll consider supporting Memory Walk with your generous donation. This is a disease that can be beaten in our lifetime.

Technorati Tags: Alzheimer’s, Alzheimer’s Association, fundraisers, Memory Walk

June 30, 2007

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

The Harry Potter story is coming to an end. Soon we’ll all be reading Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling’s long-awaited seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series. Fans around the world are speculating on where this final book will take us, and where it will leave Harry. The only secrets Rowling has given away are that the final chapter will tell us some of what happens to Harry and his classmates after they leave Hogwarts, and that a secret about Harry’s mother, Lily, will be revealed. Oh, yes - we also know there will be deaths. Will Harry find and destroy Voldemort’s remaing Horcruxes? Will we finally know for certain whether Snape is good or evil? Who will die? The answers will come on July 21st with the release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.

Order Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows now, support two charities

If you haven’t ordered your copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, yet, I hope you’ll consider using one of the links in this post to do so. Your copy of Book 7 will cost just $17.99 - that’s 49% off of the full price of $34.99. Your order will be processed through Amazon, so you know it will be handled reliably. But here’s the best part - your order will be helping to support two great charities. One of the charities supports the needs of children around the world and the other promotes global literacy. One dollar will go into the charitable fund for every book sold through the site. The goal is to raise one million dollars for these charitable causes. Performancing, a well-known and respected weblog written by and for professional bloggers, is managing the charitable project.

Write your own ending to Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

If you’re a hardcore Harry Potter fan (aren’t we all!) you’ll want to check out the writing contest after you order your copy of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. Two winners will be selected. Submissions judged to be the best ending and the most accurate ending will each win $500. Entries must be submitted by July 20th, so get those creative juices flowing!

Order your copy of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows today! You know you were going to anyway!

Technorati Tags: books, charities, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter Book 7

June 28, 2007

Honu or honu’ea?

My friend Pelf is a grad student. She works with turtles every day, and is involved in a project to help save and protect critically endangered river terrapin. She thinks the photo I published yesterday of a turtle in Waianae Boat Harbor might be a Hawksbill instead of a Green Sea Turtle. She knows a lot more about turtles than I do, so I’m publishing another photo taken the same day that may help her clarify the issue. I assumed it was a Green Sea Turtle because they are very common in the shallow waters of my coast. I’ve gotten in trouble in the past for assuming, so it’s very possible I was wrong this time, too.

Green Sea Turtles - honu - are quite abundant on the Waianae Coast. It’s hard to go to the beach, and even harder to spend time in the water, without seeing them. Their numbers have increased greatly since they came under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, and they are currently listed as “threatened.” The honu themselves make it hard to follow the rules and not get within ten feet of them. They’re curious and playful and have become acclimated to humans in their environment, especially in popular diving and snorkeling sites. There’s an old, friendly guy at my favorite dive site who is affectionately known as “Old Tripod” (missing one flipper.) He likes to hover just above divers’ heads and “eat” the bubbles that ascend from their regulators. FYI, for anyone who swims or dives here, or for anyone planning a trip, let the turtles control the situation. Never place yourself over them. They need to surface regularly to breath. Do not approach, feed, harrass, chase or attempt to touch them. If you see fising line or nets in the water and can remove them, do so. If you see abandoned nets and can’t remove them yourself, report them so that someone else can. Turtles and other sea creatures drown or become maimed from entanglement in nets. It appears that the fellow pictured above is missing a flipper, though it could be tucked out of the way and hidden from the angle I was able to photograph. Fishing debris is one cause of missing flippers (sharks are another.) EDIT: I just looked at the picture of this same turtle from my previous post, in original size. His other flipper is visible. Did you notice the white line near the front of his carapace? Damage? You can see it in both pictures. In the picture I’ve just added below it looks like it’s just a clearer margin between scutes. No so much algae obscuring it.

Hawksbill turtles - honu’ea - also occur in the waters around Oahu, but in much lower numbers. They are listed as endangered. Nesting occurs on the Big Island of Hawaii, with less than thirty nesting turtles identified. It is possible that a Hawksbill lives in the waters of Waianae Harbor, especially if it’s missing a flipper and is protecting itself from larger sea creatures by staying out of the open ocean. The bottom of the harbor is quite mucky, and I can’t imagine sponges living there for a Hawksbill to feed on, but I’m not an expert in turtles or sponges, so I’m merely speculating. I watched the fellow above nibbling on the bottom, but could not see through the murk to tell what he was eating. I do know that there is seaweed in the harbor that honu could eat. Hawsbill’s have a serrated edge along the rear curve of their carapace, while with Green Sea Turtles you can see a bit of a scalloped edge sometimes. The photo above clearly shows serrations near the tail, but they are not as numerous or clearly defined as I’ve seen in photos on other sites. There are also scallops along the rear edges in my photo.

So there you have it. Is my guy a honu or honu’ea? Either way, it’s a joy and privilege to have such magnificent creatures as neighbors. You can help support their protection and recovery by educating yourself before you enter their environment. More tangible support can be provided through donations to any of the numerous conservation efforts listed at turtles.org. WE are the turtles’ greatest enemy. Our past hunting habits and our carelessness with their environment are the primary causes of turtle population declines around the world. The least we can do is to help bring them back, now that we know better.

Edit: I found this identification key, which, coupled with the larger view of the turtle’s head in the photo below, seems to solve our mystery! On the keys, look at the picture on the right, then click on the link below to go to the next page.

Technorati Tags: Green Sea Turtle, Hawaii, Hawksbill Turtle, honu, honu’ea, photo, turtles, turtles.org

May 19, 2007

Help the working poor, win a prize

I’ve been through some pretty rough times in my life, financially speaking. I think most single moms can relate to just how difficult it is to stretch a budget to include all of your child’s needs. My former husband chose not to contribute to our son’s support and even managed to block us from getting dependent benefits that should have been available to us through the Army. I’ve always worked, but there were many years when even three simultanious jobs didn’t bring in enough to cover the basic neccessities. I got through the most difficult of those times by relying on family, and will be forever grateful that they were willing and able to help. Still, the thing I wanted most was to be able to provide a home of our own and to support my son. We finally moved permanently out of my parent’s homes when he was twelve. We still had to scrimp, save and do without, but I was proud of finally being able to provide for us.

I understand the burning need to achieve self-sufficiency. My experiences have given me a special appreciation of people and organizations that are willing to invest in those still trying to navigate the same obstacles that I once faced. A few months ago I learned about Kiva.org, a group that encourages one and all to make a small investment that can bring a huge improvement in someone’s life. Rather than providing a handout, Kiva.org provides a leg up by making loans that can be used to start small businesses. For the price of a sewing machine and a small supply of fabrics, a mother can begin to provide for herself and her children. A goat and the means to use her milk to make cheese might be the key for someone else. I like this method of helping people help themselves. I have no regrets about the life I’ve lived, but the idea of making the path easier from someone else is one that makes my spirits soar.

My friend Investorblogger also supports Kiva.org and wants you to know more about them. He’s putting his money where his heart is and is offering a $25.00 incentive for you to get involved. He’d like you to write a post about handling financial difficulties and provide a link to back to his blog. You’ll help him publicize the good works of Kiva.org and you and he will be helping each other improve blog traffic and ranking when you participate in his contest. Since he did me a good turn recently, I’ve decided to pay it forward by telling you about his contest without entering it myself. Go learn about Kiva.org from him, then spend a little time reading his recent posts. You’ll learn about a nifty tool for orgnizing your archives and how he recently threw down the gauntlet to another blogger who critiqued his blog. There’s something to learn on every page, so be prepared to spend a little time with Investorblogger. Just make sure you read about Kiva.org and the contest before you get distracted by all of the other good stuff!

Technorati Tags: blogs, charity, contests, social responsibility

April 27, 2007

Let’s help Adopt an Angel!

I know that y’all know all about the Bloggers Choice Awards (which I’m losing badly & it’s all your fault because you forgot to vote!) One of the entrants ran into a little problem, and they’re such a worthy cause that I thought maybe you would help out. ANJOS PARA ADOÇÃO (Adopt an Angel) is an animal rescue organization doing very good things in a poverty-stricken area outside of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The site is written in Portugese, but the pictures tell the story of animals rescued, nurtured and cared for, and then put into loving homes.

Adopt an Angel was nominated for a Bloggers Choice Award, but had to be disqualified. Rules stipulate that each person can only vote once for each blog in any given category. This is monitored by checking IP addresses. There was also no original conisderation given for blogs that are not in English. The entire community around Adopt an Angel was very proud of them for being nominated, and they all rallied in support. Because it’s a very poor comunity, there are few computers. Supporters flocked to a local internet cafe and a few other public computers and the vote was going really well until it was noticed that they were all coming from just a few IP addresses. The Bloggers Choice Awards committee, thinking it had detected fraud, disqualified the blog and erased it from the ballots. They were not being heartless - they were just trying to be fair to all entrants.

Now that the situation has been fully explained, Bloggers Choice has created a brand new catagory, Best Foreign Language Blog, and put Adopt an Angel back on the ballot. Still, with limited access to computers, their biggest fans can’t vote. That’s where we come in, my friends! It will only take you a brief moment to help restore this communy’s pride. Since they can’t vote, we need to do it for them. You’ll have to register for the site in order to vote, but that only takes a moment, I promise, and it’s a secure site that will protect your information. Once you’ve done that, vote for Adopt an Angel. Here’s their badge:

Remember, one vote per IP address! Do this good thing, please? Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much!)

Technorati Tags: animal rescue, Sao Paulo, Blogger’s Choice Awards, blog awards

April 26, 2007

Clutter update

Not much to report, really. I’ve made some progress, though, courtesy of the mouse invasion. I no longer have an over-abundance of scented soaps and candles and have managed to resist the urge to relace the ruined ones that I tossed out. The pantry has a lot more room since I was forced to throw away fully half of the food that was in there. I haven’t done a total restock of staple items yet because I haven’t replaced the destroyed Tupperware containers that didn’t deter the mice. Hope springs eternal, so I’m sure that the replacement containers will do their job next time I’m overrun with beasties. Quite a few kitchen linens have been demoted to lesser duties like car washing and are out in the shed. A few (not nearly enough!) books have been distributed to other readers.

The office remains my biggest problem area. Files are stacked haphazardly on top of the file cabinets and work table. Junk mail is mixed with bills and payments. Books I’ve used for research lately are crammed into the corner of the computer hutch. I’m beginning to think that I need to hire one of those heartess organizing companies that comes in and gets things in order. You know, the ones that throw away all of the crappola that’s smothering me but I can’t seem to let go of? Yeah, those people. Not becuase I can’t do things for myself, but because I don’t. Maybe they could also install some consolidation software to get my business applictions and files more organized in my computer, too.

Had I gotten rid of the old phones when I last updated? Can’t remember if I mentioned it here or not, but I filled a large box with phones, caller ID boxes, an old answering machine and various cords and cables. That went to United Cerebral Palsy last time they picked up. I also gave them my excess bed linens. I live alone and rarely have houseguests. Why in the world did I have two hall closet shelves filled with sheets and pillowcases, in addition to the ones in my own closet and the one in the guest room?

Actually, seeing it all like this I have made considerable progress. Hold on while I pat myslef on the back. {brief pause} Still a lot to do, but I’m getting there, a little at a time. My son still has not come for his visit. I know I’ll get scads doen in the days leading up to that. Can’t have him being too ashamed of his old mom’s housekeeping, can we?

[tags]clutter, disorganization, organization, mice, United Cerebral Palsy, charity