Tag: charity

Payback Time!

July 15, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

If I’ve ever done anything to tick you off (and that’s pretty much all of you), now’s your chance to get me back.

I’m doing the Space Coast Marathon again this year, even though I said I’d never do another marathon. I’m doing this to raise money for Miles of Love, which is a local charity a friend of mine started. The MOL mission is to provide support to local families who have sick kids. What I love about this organization is that it’s local, and it’s super-efficient. MOL has set up relationships with bigger organizations to vet recipients to help eliminate waste and fraud. They do all kinds of things for these families–anything from providing gas cards to help them get back and forth to the hospital to buying gifts for the kids themselves.

So the big question is, how can you use this situation to dole out punishment to me? Here’s how it works…

Every day, from not until ???? I’ll be doing a burpee* for every dollar I receive in donations. $20 = 20 burpees. $100 = 100 burpees. If you’ve ever done 100 burpees, you know that’s some serious punishment. I’ll video these and make long-distance dedications Casey Kasem style to those who help me raise funds.

So let me have it. You can click here to make a donation. Click early, click often.

* Burpees will be without the pushup at the bottom, but will include a jump and over-the-head hand clap.

I Made A Team!

April 8, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

Well…sorta.

I was the number 2 draft pick to swim for the Miles of Love relay team at the Cocoa Beach Triathlon this Sunday. Unfortunately, the top draft pick is having some health issues with her son. 🙁

I’m excited for the chance to get in the open water and give the wetsuit a test drive in race conditions. I’m also excited to see how fast I can do that distance without having to do any other events afterwards. It’s only 400 meters. Not that I can swim that very fast…it’s just that it isn’t a long course compared to the May half-iron distance swim.

Here’s where I’m a little nervous/intimidated though…

I’ve never met the other two members of my team. We’ve been coordinating packet pick up on Facebook, and I took note that our cyclists has a photo of him cycling for his profile pic. And our runner has a photo of her running for her profile pic.

Ummm….yeah. My profile pic most definitely does NOT imply that I’m any kind of swimmer. I’m happy to have people who are strong in their events on my team, but I hate being the weak link.

By the way, Miles of Love is a charity started by a friend of mine here locally. Its focus is helping local families who have children with life threatening illnesses. That could be anything from assisting these families get access to services offered by other organizations to paying for gas to and from the hospital to spend time with their child. We’d love your support in helping families in Brevard County out during their stressful and vulnerable times.

A Reason To Race – Annabelle’s Dad – Eleonore Rocks

March 8, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

I have some friends coming in to race Rocketman 70.3 with me–one from California, one from Tennessee, and two from North Carolina. Actually, I’ve never met one of the guys from NC, Adam.

Adam is coming down with Dirty Matt. And a friend of Dirty Matt’s is a friend of mine.

Just to stir the pot, I sent out an email asking how everyone’s training was going and where everyone logged/shared their workouts. Obviously, my only intention here was to get some trash talk and good-natured insults started.

Adam was the first to respond. Like just about every other triathlete, he has a blog.

But his blog is different. A lot different.

On October 31st, 2010 my beautiful wife and I became parents for the first time. That’s the day I became Annabelle’s dad. Annabelle was a beautiful, delicate, incredibly tough little girl. She was born with a neural tube defect called anencephaly, cutting her short life to a beautiful 41 minutes.

I had to stop right there the first time I read it. I’ve re-read it several times since, and it gets me every time.

That’s simply unfathomable.

Now Adam races to honor the memory of Annabelle. The charity he supports, Eleonore Rocks, provides rocking chairs to parents of terminally ill children. They aren’t engaged in a multi-year effort to cure anything. They just want to bring a little bit of comfort to families who have limited time with their kids.

Adam isn’t raising money for a free race entry or to win a new bike. His goal is to raise $4,100–$1 for each of Annabelle’s heartbeats he and his wife got to share with her.

Please consider sponsoring “One Minute” to honor Annabelle’s memory–more if you can. Adam is committing hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears.

I know not everyone has the means to make a contribution. But you can still help:

Share Adam’s story with your friends and family using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, email, fax machine, whatever
If you have healthy children of your own, never forget how fortunate you are.
If you are physically active, take a minute during your next swim/bike/run to appreciate your own health.
If you aren’t physically active but have been thinking about getting started, do it. Today.

I’m reading– December 22nd through December 29th

December 29, 2010 / Scott / 0 Comments

10 Things We Learned in 2010 – Thanks to Mr. Dave Ramsey, I learned these things in the early 1990s. Almost 20 years ahead of the curve! Matters not…most people will forget this stuff in 5 or 6 years.

Track flight prices and check for airline refunds – Who was I talking to about doing something like this a while back? Oh yeah…emailing this to him immediately.

Will 2011 See App Makers Thinking Android-First? – Now I don't feel like as much of an idiot sitting here at Android 2.1 waiting for a Honeycomb phone to surface.

When the Diagnosis Is ‘Dead Butt Syndrome’ – Wait…so the contrapositive of this argument is that if I don't run I don't have to cross-train either, right? FTW!

How New Entrepreneurs Are Taking Advantage of the Great Reset – In front of and behind the firewall I might add.

Payday Lending Booms as Credit Cards Become Less Available – Two not-so-bold predictions. (1) Politicians will "do something" about this, probably at the state level. (2) As a result, payday lenders will be hurt, and lone-sharking at the street level will become a booming industry.

People always have and always will borrow money with outrageous terms. It's just a matter of whether they are going to lose their car title or the use of their thumbs when they don't pay.

If the market exists…

Hosting a Kid’s Christmas Party? Include a Book Swap!

December 10, 2010 / Ana / 0 Comments

If you are hosting or attending a Christmas party geared towards kids this year, consider having them do a book exchange as gifts. You can set a limit on the cost of the books, or even make it a “used only” swap that let’s the kids exchange books they’ve either read the requisite 1,000,000 times or haven’t been that interested in. You can do this with several variations.

For mixed ages, you can do a name draw beforehand and let them exchange books “Secret Santa” style, making sure each child gets an age appropriate book they’ll be interested in. If all the kids are older (i.e. mature enough to handle it) you can even do a White Elephant gift exchange, allowing gifts to be stolen as the game progresses.

If you’re having a party for pre-schoolers, have each child bring a wrapped book to the party and attach letters to the packages with post-it notes as they arrive. When it’s time for the gifts to be opened, let each child draw a letter from a hat and match it to their gift. Opening all of the books at the same time instead of individually may help you avoid some meltdowns since they’ll more than likely be focused on their own book and not on what someone else has.

For a twist, have each child bring two books to the party–one for their friends and another to be donated to a local library, book drive, or other charitable organization.

Delicious Link Dump– December 6th through December 8th

December 8, 2009 / Scott / 0 Comments

Women linked to Tiger Woods – At least he has a better eye for talent than Bill Clinton.

Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power – If this is true, please explain to me why chicks always dig the guy who can beat up everyone else.

Surf’s up as biggest waves in five years come to Hawaii after North Pacific storm – Sick.

About Those ‘Tax Cuts for the Rich’ – I guess it's time we start paying our fair share after all. And I'm not rich.

More Regulation to Help the "Underserved"? – If a man was smart he would try to figure out where this will create a bubble, invest there, wait for the bubble to inflate, then get out before it bursts. If I man was smart…

Changes hit home for appraiser – Hooray for regulations! Increased cost to the consumer AND reduced income for the service provider! Yay!

America’s Best Bang-For-The-Buck Cities – Cool…we unwittingly moved form the #22 city on the list to #18. Look how smart we is.

Apple’s Lala Acquisition – I have high hopes for what is possible here, but my hopes for an Android app are diminishing.

An iPhone App to Track How Badly AT&T Sucks – But it works right out of the box. And if it stops working, you can pay someone else to fix it.

16 Reasons Why We Might Unfollow You On Twitter – A pretty good list here. I can't say I disagree with any of it.

Sentinels Of Freedom Golf Ball Drop – Great Idea for a great cause!