Heifer Ark

I have a bit of a project I am working on. I am trying to raise money to buy an ark, not for me but for people around the world.

A Heifer International Ark is an extraordinary gift and an opportunity to help change the world.

The Ark goes around the world – Latin America, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. Wherever there is hunger, poverty or hopelessness, Heifer delivers help with animals and training.

What does the Ark mean? It means…oxen, donkeys and water buffalo; cows, sheep and goats; even bees, chicks and rabbits; and so much more; healthy, hardy animals that will go forth and multiply, improving lives for countless families and children who will pass on the spriit of charity over and over again.

The Heifer Ark includes:
2 cows that bring milk and income to a Russian village;
2 sheep, to help families in New Mexico produce wool;
2 camels to help families in Tanzania earn income by transporting agriculture and industrial materials;
2 oxen to pull plows and carts in Uganda;
2 water buffalo to help in Indonesia in rice production with draft power;
2 pigs for families in Arkansas;
2 beehives so families can earn money through sales of honey and beeswax;
2 goats to help Haitian families provide milk for their children;
2 donkeys to help in Peru,
2 trios of ducks will help families in Ghana and generate income through the sale of eggs and birds;
2 trios of rabbits will provide food and income in Guatemala;
2 trios of guinea pigs will add protein to families in Ecuador;
2 flocks of geese will go to China and help families nutritional needs with eggs and meat;
2 flocks of chicks travel to Nepal will also help with nutrition and generate income through egg sales; and 2 llamas tagged for Bolivia which will help improve livestock bloodlines, produce wool and income for families in Bolivia.

I am starting things off with $300 and my hope is to raise the rest of the $5000 to buy the Ark within the next two weeks.

Click here to help me reach my goal.

Thanks!

Even a Jew can play Santa!

I have for the past 10 years or so! And this year, I am once again playing Santa for four kids who wrote these letters asking for rather simple gifts that will brighten their holiday season.

I made Black Friday a bright day by doing all the shopping for the kids!

Gobble Gobble!

Wishing you all a filling Turkey Day!

This year I am thankful for all the support I have received from so many people. And my murphy bed that hosts out of town friends.

What are you thankful for?

Rutabaga

Who has ever eaten a rutabaga? Up until about three weeks ago, not me! But then I had some roasted rutabaga soup and have a whole new appreciation for this rather ugly, yes Lisa, I have once again labeled something ugly, root!

Not only that, but I am making roasted rutabaga soup for the Thanksgiving meal with my family.

New Prismacolor package

On October 6, 2005 I told you about a drawing I own called "Two head lights, a bumper, Jayne Mansfield and a squeeze" by Rich Kryczka.

It now adorns a new package of Prismacolor Premier's Graphite Drawing Set. I do not know who designed the package or why they decided to go vertical with it, but they did!

Woosh woosh

That was and is the actual sound of my heart. I heard it today. I had an echocardiogram, essentially an ultrasound for your heart. Nothing major, doctor wanted me to have one along with a pulmonary function test.

The image above is an echocardiogram of a normal heart. It is not mine but I am hoping to get a copy of my actual echo!

I heard my heart today. Woosh woosh, Woosh woosh, Woosh woosh.

Organic veggies!

Alison* asked if I would like to join her organic veggie delivery for their winter crops. I said sure. It seemed reasonable to support local organic growers for $60, my portion, for the four months, maybe three, I keep forgetting and am afraid to ask Alison!

I am now a part of CSA, Community Sustainable Agriculture! And this was my share after dividing up between Alison and myself.
This month our box included: a head of bib lettuce, 3 large leeks, a generous bag of say 12 carrots, 2 red and one white onion, about a 5# bag of potatoes, 5 sweet potatoes, 2 golden acorn squash and another green round squash-like thing (they say it is a buttercup squash), a bottle of honey, and we got a dozen eggs!

* Yes, "chocolate-face" Alison who insists I refer to her so in all posts! She gets quite the chuckle out of it!

Evita LIVE!

This post is going to sound totally gay, but I do not care!

I just got home from an evening at Orchestra Hall. My friend Alison, who works at the Chicago Tribune and is the gate keeper to many a great event scored tickets to the 2006 Benefit Concert for the JCC (Jewish Community Center) of Chicago. Patti Lupone performed her new concert, Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda which were parts she could have played, would have played, should have played or one day will play.

The event took place at Orchestra Hall and featured Patti Lupone and Members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I had really hoped she would not sing Evita, how cliche would that be?! Well, she did. And it sent goose bumps though me, and a chill down my spine! It was amazing, chilling and more than I had imagined it would be. It was a true Broadway moment right from 1979 hearing her sing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina."

Oscar worthy. . .

NOT!

But it was quite a show. Plenty of things make you squirm, others make you sad for the country we live in. But many moments will make you laugh regardless.

The first place Borat went to in the US and A was the Wellington Hotel, 55th and 7th. There aint no way you can get a room there for $117.87 let alone $85 what Borat offered. I know cause I stayed there more than once, the first time while in grad school! Though I do not recall ever staying in room 311.

Sacha Baron Cohen is quite a committed actor, FEARLESS, as Alison, my "chocolate-face*" friend, put it.
* Done with permission and encouragement from Alison herself!

Vuja de

Tom Kelly from IDEO explained this concept at the GAIN Conference. Everybody has heard of deja vu, right? It's the distinct feeling you've been here before. In his book The Ten Faces of Innovation, he explains that when you go out to do field work in anthropologist mode, you should aspire to the opposite or "vuja de." Vuja de happens when you enter a situation you've been in a thousand times before, but with the sense of being there for the first time.

As French novelist Marcel Proust said, "The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes." So if you want to find untapped innovation opportunities, watch the world around you with "fresh eyes." Go for a sense of vuja de, and then ask yourself why things are the way they are. Why do people wear a watch when their cellphone keeps perfect time? Why don't movie theaters sell soundtracks as you exit the film? Why do we all have answering machines to record messages from telephone callers, but nothing to record a message from someone who stops by our home or office? Why don't business guys wear hats in the winter, even when it's below freezing?

Once you start asking the right vuja de questions, you might find that the answers can lead to big opportunities for your business.

Thanks Tom!

Gain Gang!

Dave, me, Craig and Angie

While in NYC recently for the GAIN Conference, a little ISDP reunion happened!

Fire's aftermath

This is what currently remains of the historic Dexter building designed by Adler and Sullivan. The Chicago Landmark Commission called the loss "an irreplaceable link in the chain of work of one of the nation's most important architectural partnerships."

The fire of October 24 brought the roof down which then took out all six floors. The resulting building debris, filling the basement and the first floor, was found to be pushing out the walls. The city determined that the buidling had to be brought down in a controlled way before it came down on its own.

For Lisa…

…and all those who think ketchup goes on hot dogs!

A tree grows in New York City

Actually many did in the Urban Forest.

185+ designers, artists, illustrators and photographers created banners that were hung through Times Square. My friend Craig of Go Welsh! even had one right next to Milton Glaser (shown in picture)! They are actually bigger than they look, just everything else in Times Square is soooooo big that a 4 x 8 foot banner looks small!

Sky Mirror

From September 19 - October 27, New York was treated to Anish Kapoor's Sky Mirror. Three stories in diameter, it is a cousin of Chicago's Cloud Gate, known as The Bean, in Millenium Park. It was a treat seeing the two very different sides of the mirror, one concave and the other convex!

p.s. October 29th was two years of being smoke free!