Category Archives: cultural experiences

tired of trying to NOT keep up with the Jones’

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I decided to participate in the aday.org project on May 15th.  Here’s the project description off the aday.org website:

On this one single day we ask you to pick up your camera and help us photograph daily life. What is close to you? What matters to you? We will connect your images to images from all around the world, creating a unique online experience where photographs will be shared, compared and explored. Your view on life will be preserved to inspire generations to come. 

Admittedly, my life has been too busy lately and I really don’t have the bandwidth needed to participate in anything like this.  In a very apathetic mood, I set out to photograph a few things from my day.  Of the ten photos I was allowed to submit, I submitted 9.  Photos that anyone would look at and say, “There’s nothing really great about these photos.  They’re just normal people doing everyday things.  Bor-ing.”

There’s nothing really great about these photos.  They’re just normal people doing everyday things.

Initially, that’s what I saw too.  I almost didn’t submit anything.  I guess that’s the good thing about social media.  It’s an accountability group, whether you want it to be or not.  I publicly said, “I’m going to do this!  You should too!”  It would be awkward to not do it and have to say that I’m trying to achieve some sort of greatness with this that I couldn’t even remotely come close to.

You can view all of my submissions here.  My pictures might suck, for lack of a better word, but my life doesn’t.  I totally can relate to Donald Miller right now with Blue Like Jazz.  Take a look.

School Project

What I see:  A messy coffee table with a kids’ school project that is finally done.  You should see the rest of the house!

What this means in my life:  There are so many things this means in my life.  Boring photo?  Yes.  What does it say about my life?

  • I have a house.  Not just a shelter, but a really nice shelter.
  • I have 2 kids that have the opportunity to go to a great school.
  • My kids are creative and have a place to use those skills.
  • My wallet… I have money to feed myself and my kids without having to struggle day to day.
  • I have a great job that allows me some flexibility to work from home sometimes so I can be with my kids.
  • I get to spend time with my kids.
  • I have great friends.

I could go much deeper than this, but I’ll spare you some of the details.  My point is that there are so many things I take for granted.  I think I probably speak for all of us when I say that.  I posted this quote on my Facebook page a couple of days ago:

“Sometimes I just get worn out being a square peg in a world of round holes.”

When I wrote this, I just felt tired.  Tired of trying to not keep up with the Jones’.  Tired of trying to just keep my head above water in getting everything done that I feel I need to do.  Tired of the responsibility of being the head of my household.

If I made a list from each of the photos of everything good that’s represented, this would be a really long blog post.  My point?  I need to take the time to look at my life through a different lens sometimes and appreciate all of the goodness in it.

A day without…

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Tomorrow is TOMS “one day without shoes” event.  An event to create an awareness of the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child in need.  Yes, I’ll be barefoot tomorrow.  So will my son Joe, who has school tomorrow.  I’m thinking his elementary school is not going to allow him to stay barefoot for long though.  Knowing I don’t have time to leave work and bring him shoes, he’ll have a pair in his backpack.  At his age, he’s probably doing this more for the attention he’ll get for himself instead of the attention he could create for a world in need.  But that’s okay.  This is still a good learning process for him and I’m proud of him for doing it.

As for me, I get more comments about my shoes when they match as opposed to when they’re mismatched.  I’m guessing I’ll get less inquiries about my bare feet than any other people would walking around with no shoes on their feet.  So what is TOMS trying to accomplish with this?  They’re doing great work through selling shoes and I’m sure they would like to sell more shoes.  That’s not a bad thing though.  When they are selling shoes, it’s good, because many children in need are also getting shoes.  I support TOMS, maybe more than I should since I have 4 pairs.  (One of those came from Freecycle)

I know this event is to create awareness and I also know that to do that effectively, one must communicate their cause in culturally relevant ways.  I have to be honest here.  I’m struggling a little bit with all of the advertising paraphernalia that accompanies this particular cause.   I don’t want to wear the t-shirts, I don’t want to stencil this on the street and I don’t want to use the phone app.  I’m not offended at all if people want to use these tools, but I want something a little different.  I want to experience what it’s like to be without shoes.  Better yet, I want to spend my day thinking about all of the things I take for granted.  What is it like to be without?  Without shoes?  Without clean water?  Without enough food?  Without shelter?  Without my iPad?  Without my car?  Without my ____________?  There are pages of words I could use to fill in this blank.  I’m ashamed to say it, but I take all of this for granted.  Continue reading →

If it’s the thought that counts, think about it.

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I wasn’t going to do much blogging on holiday shopping, but people keep asking me what kind of stuff I’m buying for Christmas gifts or what are good gifts to give that give back to people in need?  So here it is… my brain dump on Christmas shopping.  Yes, I call it Christmas shopping, not holiday shopping.  I suppose we could also call it Black Friday shopping.  It seems as though that’s become a bigger holiday than the actual Christmas holiday we’re shopping for.

Now that I think about it, these principals could apply all year long and to any holiday where it is customary to give a gift.  Birthdays and Christmas are the two big ones.

So what gift shopping is considered good?  Shopping in and of itself is not bad, it’s some of the things associated with it that are bad.  Debt is bad.  Buying gifts for people you don’t want to buy gifts for because you’ve succumbed to the cultural purchasing pressure is bad.  Buying people stuff they don’t want or need is bad.  Spoiling kids with a bunch of stuff they don’t need is bad.  If it’s the thought that counts, then let’s think about it.  There are many positive ways to shop, supporting good for humanity, the environment and for your pocketbook.

Service, not stuff.

You might believe our country is using up most of our planets’ resources and you might be trying to lower your carbon footprint as much as possible, or you might even think that’s all an bunch of hype.  No matter which end of the spectrum you’re on, buying services versus physical goods is, well, all around good.  Why?

  • You’re supporting a skill or a trade.
  • You’re helping the economy without physical stuff.
  • You don’t have to worry if the recipient likes your gift, and the best part? No looking around their house to make sure they’re using the item you gave them and no getting your feelings hurt when they tell you the dog broke it.
  • Maybe the gift recipients will get this concept too, then they won’t give you anymore giant golf ball candles, Chia pets or Santa figures that poop candy.
  • Most service places have gift cards or gift certificates.
  • It takes less time to shop because you can shop at places you do business while everyone else is in line at W*%#@!t.
  • There’s a better chance they’ll have a need for a service than a need for more stuff.  If you need something, or even want something, you go buy it, right?  Why would your giftees be any different?  Well, they could be unemployed.  If that’s the case, they have needs, not wants.

So what are good services to buy?  There are many choices here, some more practical than others.  Some of these services could be provided by you, which means no cost to you other than your time.   Continue reading →

…customers will form a line outside the store…

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I love reading and making fun of the Black Friday ads, but better than that, reading the fine print can be quite entertaining.  I started this last year on black friday.  I got to do it this year with my friends Jason and Carrie.  You can read last year’s post about this or just read this year’s insanity.  Get out your reading glasses…

Let’s start with the big stuff.

ACADEMY.COM OPEN THANKSGIVING DAY!  Wow!  What a great idea!!  Have your online story open on Thanksgiving day!!  Why didn’t anyone else think of that???  LOWES.COM says you can start on Thursday.  Sure glad they gave me permission!

Guitar Center:  They have happy returns and surprise protection.  And you can shop from your smartphone!  Again, why didn’t I think of that???

Kohl’s Early Bird Deal:  For $19.99 (regularly $49.99) you can get a motion-activated candy dispenser.  (a) It’s plastic crap nobody needs, (b) do you really want candy spilling out on the floor every time you walk by this thing?  (c) It probably takes batteries, and really big ones.  (d) Does your family need candy?  You probably still have leftovers from Halloween.  (e) Candy not included.

Now for some fine print.

Old Navy:  Customers will form a line outside the store.  I guess it’s good to be prepared.  It’s kind of presumptuous though.  And they’re giving out cameras.  If they’re a clothing store, why give out cameras?  I just don’t get it.

Burlington:  *Savings off other fine department stores.  Great!  they’re cheaper than Neiman Marcus!  I’m getting a deal!!

Dick’s Sporting Goods:  Something about a cash bonus.  Here’s a picture of it, because I cannot read it easily and it would take so long to figure out what this deal really is that it’s just not worth it.  The one thing we know is that your $99 purchase must be all the same brand, even though they have 3 brands pictured.  Don’t even think about mixing and matching!

 

the 7 shopping holidays

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Black Friday:  So I didn’t go out for Black Friday like I did last year… to make fun of people shopping.  Here’s the video from last year.

Small Business Saturday:  Why is this after the big retailers get all the money (applied credit card debt) the day before?  Seems like people supporting this cause may want to skip Black Friday.  I like supporting small businesses whenever I can, and I also like supporting service based businesses.  Less buying stuff, but it still keeps people employed without creating more waste for this planet.

Cyber Monday:  Is there really any money left for this?  Lots of credit I guess.  It seems as though you would want to start with this, as you don’t have to fight crowds and drive around.  If I was going to shop, this would be the way.

So there’s still four more days in the week that are not associated with shopping.  I would like to take this opportunity to use and name all of them now.

No Shopping Sunday:  Just don’t shop.  Do you really need the stuff you’re buying?  Take a break.  Spend some time with friends and family.  Take a long bubble bath.  Do a staring contest with your dog.  Clean your car.  Fix that loose door knob you’ve been ignoring for a year.  Stay out of stores.  Your bank account will thank you.  This particular shopping holiday can be applied any day of the week.

Service Only Tuesday:  Instead of buying stuff, use services.  Get your nails done.  Get your car washed.  Get a massage.  Support people that use their skills for a living instead of filling the planet with more stuff.

Resale Wednesday:  Buy used stuff.  Shop at a thrift store or resale shop.  Buy on eBay or craigslist.  If you buy it with door dings, you don’t have to worry so much about it looking perfectly new.  A lot less stress.

Benefit Others Thursday:  Buy something that benefits other people with your purchase.  Buy a pair of TOMS or a pack of gum from Project 7.  If you just need to spend money, go give a Kiva loan or support a cause through micro lending.

Okay, so I’m being a bit snarky, but at what point do we say enough is enough?  You can try and keep up with the Joneses, but let’s be real.  You really think they paid cash for all that stuff?  I wouldn’t want to be sitting on their nest egg.  Did you notice all of this is based on Christmas, yet I didn’t even have to mention that word.  Did you miss it?

the eco-awesome business model

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I found a place of business a few days ago that models everything I believe in.  The Grass Roots Eco Cleaners & Market is a wonderful place in Frisco that everyone should know about.  So why is this place so great?

  • The cleaning is eco-friendly
  • The fixtures and decor are all repurposed materials
  • The market features gift-style items that are made by local artists and crafters, and mostly from repurposed materials.

Their slogan is “clean green & shop local.”  I not only love this because it’s great for the physical environment, it’s also good for the mental and humanitarian environment.  Choosing to support local artists is a great way to build community.  As for the mental part?  I could tell from the minute I met Courtney that she loves what she’s doing here.  This place is not close to my house (relatively speaking from my ‘I want to walk there’ mentality), but I’m sold.  I don’t do much dry cleaning, but when I do, I will be taking it here.

What if all small businesses did something like this?  Even on a small scale?  Now I’m aware that the first thing you learn in entrepreneurial business school is to do one thing, stick to it and do it well.  Don’t deviate.  But what if that one thing was a broadened horizon of meeting several community needs in one place?  Yes, Grass Roots has done well here!  There’s a lot to learn from this business model.  Being different is good.  Supporting local community is good.  Repurposing materials is good.  Doing something you love is great.  Doing all of it together is priceless.

Did I also mention how I found this place?  They were already supporting projectwarm.us by collecting coats and blankets for the homeless.  On this one, they’re supporting a community in need.  I just can’t say enough good things about Grass Roots, but I can say, “thank you!”  Grass Roots is a drop spot for project warm us.  Stop by and check out their place.  Also, get 10% off your dry cleaning by making a donation.

“We are taking donations at our store! When you donate, we will give you 10% off your dry cleaning bill and big “High 5″ for being awesome and making someone’s life a little better! We are at: 5999 Custer Rd @121 next to Starbucks!”

blogging for good… elsewhere

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Over the past week, most of my blog efforts have been going to launching projectwarm.us.  It might be crazy to try an collect 5,723 coats and blankets for the homeless by Thanksgiving, but that’s not going to stop us from trying!  I started this with my friend Lin, and since then, my friends Amy and Elizabeth have come on board as major players in this effort.

We have collected 61 coats and blankets so far.  That doesn’t seem like a lot, but we’re still setting up the drop points and getting the word out.  We do not count a coat or a blanket into our total until it’s in our hands.  We have lots of pledges though!  Would you like to help?  Although there’s a comprehensive list of ways to help on the projectwarm.us website, I would like to share 3 of my favorites with you.

Trick-or-treat, help our feat!

An idea on collecting coats and blankets on Halloween night!  If you have a wagon or a bin with wheels, follow your kids with it.  After they ‘trick or treat’, go behind them and give out one of these little mini-flyers…

Once you hand it to them, ask for and old coat or blanket.  They’re already standing next to their coat closet!  They might actually give you one right then and there!  If not, now they have the little flyer.  Let them know you can come back by and pick them up at a later time or where they can find the drop points.  Not only is this a good way to get people involved, but it also gets your kids involved and you get to meet some more of your neighbors.

Waste time for a good purpose.

Utilize social media to spread the word.  We hear “Facebook is a time waster” or “Social media takes too much time”.  If you’re on there at all, blast out the projectwarm.us website and ask your friends to participate.  So blast this out on your selected social media sites…  Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Friend Feed, Readit, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, Google…  Tell your friends you are collecting coats and blankets for the homeless.  Contact us when you have your stash and we’ll come pick them up!

Involve your kids.

This is a great teaching opportunity to teach your kids the value of helping others.  Some Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops can get credit (badges) for this type of thing.  The world will be a better place for our kids if they understand the value of giving.

Thanks for your help!!!!!!!!

rethinking good 5,723 times

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My friend Lin called me a few days ago and asked me a simple question.

“I have a few coats I want to donate.  Do you know a good place where they can maybe help someone in need?  Maybe a homeless shelter?”

Well, if you’ve ever met Lin, she’s my sister from another mother.  So that question turned into this…

“How about if we both start collecting coats from everyone we know, see how many we can get and bring them down to Dallas in early November?”  Of course, we couldn’t stop there.  The it evolved into, “Let’s set a radical goal of 5,723 coats and blankets!  (The 5,700 is the approximate homeless ‘point in time’ count in Dallas and 23 is the day we started this idea)  We can get businesses, churches and individuals to help us out.  We’ll blast it out on social media and tell everyone we can!”

Thus projectwarm.us was born.  Here’s the skinny…

What is projectwarm.us?

Project Warm Us is just a way to get some much needed warmth to the homeless.  Our goal is to collect 5,723 coats and blankets to be distributed to the homeless population in Dallas.  We will be passing these on to ourcalling.org for distribution on Thanksgiving day.  See below for all our distribution partners.

How can I help?

Donate your new or gently used coats and blankets.  Any gender, any size, adults, kids, it doesn’t matter.  We need them all.  The drop-off locations will be posted as we arrange the locations.   Continue reading →

dear fast food places, I miss you

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For the first time in several months, I missed fast food.  I was craving a Wendy’s chicken sandwich and fries.  I was craving the food itself much more than the convenience of it, however that would be nice sometimes.  My anti-fast food thing is more about the paper waste.  I think we need to become less wasteful in our ways and this is my contribution to that.  It did make me think though…

  • What if I brought my own packaging?  Yes, this would be weird, but I wonder if the fast food places would use the things I brought?  They have strict rules to follow, not only corporate rules, but health department rules.  This might just be my next mini-challenge.
  • What if fast food places provided non-disposable options?  They would need more labor costs for washing dishes, but would save on paper supplies.
  • Is recycling enough?  No.  Most of these places don’t recycle, although they say their stuff can be recycled.  ??!!?  Look at us!!  We’re being green because this is biodegradable!  Great.  Huge landfills with lots of stuff that will still take many years to disintegrate.

Just a few thoughts.  Fast food is not evil.  Without my challenge, I might partake once or twice a month.  Every time I have, I feel terrible that I’m supporting something I don’t believe in.

Dear fast food places,

Please put those top CEO’s to work on coming up with some non-wasteful ways for you to do your business.  Our entire world will benefit from it, and you will too.

Sincerely,  A person that missed your food

$206 was my highest electric bill this hot summer

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Yes, that’s my thermostat.  It’s reading 92°.   No, I don’t want to turn my air conditioner back on.  One cool day is all need to motivate me to turn it off until the heat is needed.  I’m tired of the high electric bills.  I’m fine in the low 90′s down in Mexico, why not here as well?  Honestly, for the record breaking hot temperatures we had, my utility bills were substantially lower than many people I know, even with similar sized houses.  How is that?  My highest bill this summer was $206.  That’s with a non-efficient 1,780 square feet.  What I mean by non-efficient is that I have 18′ ceilings with a loft floor plan, cheap windows with broken seals, exterior doors that don’t fit properly and crappy insulation.  So $206 isn’t bad at all really, but it could be better.  How did I achieve that low bill?  Here’s a few things:

    • Programming the thermostat.  I keep the programs high, like 82°.  Sometimes that’s comfortable, sometimes I turn it down.  If we’re not home, at least it’s not cooling the place to low temperatures.  Good to change your filter each month too.
    • Involve my kids.  Their incentive is any utility bill under $50, they get $10 each.  No doable in the summer, but it is in the winter.  I also charge them for leaving lights on.  Sounds mean, but it works.  Sometimes they turn off the lights, other times, they’re willing to contribute to the cost of the utilities.
    • Cook all at one time & outside.  Cooking several meals to freeze and microwave works well.  We limit the oven use too.  Sometimes we use one or two burners on the stove and rotate pots off the already heated cooking elements.  We also use the outdoor grill much more than cooking inside.
    • Laundry limits.  We do laundry after dark when it’s a tad cooler.  Full loads only with a partial dry cycle.  The damp clothing dries very quickly in the heat, but the clothes are still soft to the touch.
    • Use fans.  Only when in the room.  I don’t run them unless we’re in front of them.  I also added a fan in the kitchen, which helps while cooking.
    • Energy-efficient lighting.  90% of the bulbs in my house are the energy-efficient type.  This costs a bit more, but well worth the conversion in the long run.
    • Fix the ridiculous stuff.  The attic access in my house was putting out so much hot air, you could feel it when you walked under it.  I spent $6 and added weather stripping to it.  And even though my doors fit terribly, I replaced the weather stripping around them.  $40 made them a lot better until I can afford to replace the doors.  I sealed and caulked the large gap under the door that goes to my garage.  It cost me nothing, as I used leftovers found in my garage.

These are a few simple things we did that must have worked, because in the past, I’ve had electric bills well over $300 when the heat wasn’t near as bad.  Every little bit helps.  :)