PROJECT365.ORG

Well, well, well. Mr. Fancy Pants has created a website. Take a picture of yourself in a bathrobe and all of sudden anything's possible, right?! Start the wave at Safeco field in Seattle, dressed as an umpire, and all of a sudden the world is your oyster? I got news for you pal life is hard. You can't just have anything you want. You gotta earn it. Trust me I know. You should see my life!

Just one of the more amazing exchanges with yours truly. And I don't even disagree with any of it. All I wanted was a dollar and a cup of tea.(fortunately I have tea at home) The website is now owned and being configured as we speak.(well actually as I write, I'm not REALLY speaking...well actually I am but once again it's to myself)

Me and my bathrobe

So now you know what that looks like. In case you're wondering that's Jane Fonda kissing Robert Redford in the background. (You weren't really wondering were you.) As I sit here at my desk, undoubtedly moving towards carpel tunnel syndrome, I think to myself I really need to reach more people. Without a doubt this project captures peoples interest. Just yesterday a guy named Rice gave me $6 even though I only asked for one.(like I said I accept counteroffers) But if I'm really gonna succeed I really need to have more people become aware.

I'm thinking website. I'm thinking more media. I'm thinking. I'm seeing when I don't do anything nothing happens. I'm also getting how easy it is to stop myself. The only thing that makes it difficult is me. The only thing that prevents me from getting what I want is me.(well that and a certain barbed wire fence, but that's another story) So.............LOOK OUT! It's time to start playing real big in case there isn't a tomorrow. Thanks to all of you so far. Thanks to all of you yet to come. Thanks for your support.

CanadianAthelesNow.ca

So I'm sitting at home in my bathrobe(I mean it only 10a.m.?!). I look on my 'To Do' list and remember I have to call a certain charity to follow up on a certain missing tax receipt. Admittedly, I go into the conversation slightly annoyed. I come out of it with a tax a receipt and a dollar. Not only do I leave the conversation having unexpectably shared the project, but inspired by what's possible.

Jane Roos, a former heptathelete, founded what has now become CandianAthletesNow.ca from her hospital bed at age twenty-seven. She was in a car accident in which a girlfriend of hers died. She herself sustained injuries ending any hope she had at competing at the Olympic level. She got that life is short and can change in an instant. She had an idea. Since inception,(some twelve years ago....sorry Jane I guess people are gonna know your age now) this "idea" has now raised over 8 million dollars to support numerous Candian athletes(both abled an not) in need.(that must have been some i.v.) She's just been named to the Globe and Mail's 2009 Power List Top 30. She's coming to Vancouver. She's giving me a dollar.

Having just spent twenty monutes on the phone with her, it's easy to get why she's succesful. She's dedicated. She's committed. She's lit up. All of a sudden I find myself fired up. It's like I've had three cups of coffee and I don't even drink the stuff. We discussed the fact that people want to make a difference. We talked about contributing to someone's dream. Although I don't think we said it, I think she would agree anything is possible. Thanks Jane. That was truly a "podium" conversation.

A funny thing happened...again

So it's cinqo de mayo. Not that that has anything to do with anything but it was that night's excuse for drinking red wine. A "special" friend of mine comes over and we proceed to have a "good" time. Somewhere in the middle of our "time", my "project" pops up. She thinks it's a totally great idea and wants to give me a dollar. I tell her unless her dollar is going somewhere, why don't we wait and get it "later". I share with her my thought of the fact that I get to "be in her presence" AND get a dollar out of it?! We both start laughing hysterically. This thing is just keeps getting better and better.

Ah life....

So I go into the interview this afternoon worried about saying the right thing. I'm sitting in the waiting room chewing what nails I have left. All of a sudden I spot the receptionist. Rather cute, I decide to ask her if she would give me a dollar. She looks at me with trepidation, or was it fear? Either way by the end of the conversation she's given me a dollar. Fortunately, another woman has happened upon our conversation and she too ends up giving me a dollar. Then a third woman "pops in" because she had a won a prize from the station. She doesn't even know what we're talking about but figures whatever it is, is a good cause and ends up giving me a dollar. It doesn't end there.

I go in and do the interview. I'm still nervous and in fact now sweating. This is evident in the fact that Lake Eerie has now appeared on my otherwise crisp white t-shirt. We get going. It's going well. The hosts are saying what they're saying and I'm wishing for nothing more than a bottle of scotch. All of a sudden Patrick(one of the hosts) says I'm gonna give you whatever folded bills are in my wallet. He proceeds to open his wallet and sure enough hands me forty bucks?! Art, the producer, and Kate, co host, also chip in. Unbelievable.

1410 AM

Today at 4:15p.m. I'll be on the radio(1410 AM) talking about this very project. I phoned them up asked to be on the show and they went for it. I find myself nervous and excited.(kind of the same feeling I get when I go to Las Vegas) I don't really know what's gonna happen, let alone what I'm gonna say.(that's the nervous part) I don't really know what's gonna happen, let alone what I'm gonna say(that's the exciting part). Off to physio....and probably a drink.

Earth Hour

"Earth Hour is a compelling and dynamic chance to illustrate the power of us all doing something small, but doing it together, and changing the world.”
(ecostore founder and ambassador of Earth Hour Malcolm Rand)
I came across this by accident. I didn't even know Earth Hour was happening this weekend, never mind what it really entailed. I was basically scanning my hotmail account and something about this e-mail had it stick out between offers for Viagra. I'm glad I opened it. Google Earth Hour or simply cut and paste www.earthhour.org/ I find it very inspiring to be able to do something so simple and easy and know that it's making a difference. I am also inspired by the fact that people around the world at an exact time will be in solidarity for their earth.

I am also inspired to think that someone(s) came up with Earth Hour. That once upon a time it was merely an idea. And here we are some two years later and people are being given an opportiunity to vote on global warming vs. the Earth. That this idea will now be influencing official governemnt policy against global warming, replacing the Kyoto Protocol. Just amazing the difference a person with a stand on something can make.

I am not gonna lie to you. As exciting as this project is, it also has moments of terror and doubt. When I see something like Earth Hour happening and when I really get the difference we as human beings can make I am moved and inspired. As my friend Donny always says,
"Onward!"