Music Corner: Florence + The Machine

I think Busta introduced me to Florence + the Machine a while ago, but I only heard one song, and I wasn't a huge fan of that song. I forget why, but I wasn't convinced to hear any further. Then "Cosmic Love" came on the radio at work, and I think I pretty much fell in love. I love the passion and depth of her voice. Enjoy.

Charity of the Month: Online Volunteering

And so I come to you, dear readers, not only greatly delayed in my monthly entry, but also with another exception to our definition of "charity of the month." This organization isn't really a charity, per se, but I think it's a great way to put your skills and knowledge to use towards charities. And for people like me, it's a great way to get experience in something I'm interested in, without having to move to DC or NYC.

What is this organization I speak of, you say? Well, it's actually part of the United Nations, a program dedicated to mobilizing volunteers for development: OnlineVolunteering.org. And I quote: "the...service connects volunteers with organizations working for sustainable human development."

The greatest thing about this org is that you can volunteer from the comfort of your own home. You don't have to wake up at 8am on a Saturday, you don't have to make a monetary donation from that non existent savings account. You just volunteer your time, whenever that may be, towards something you're good at. Or something you want to get good at.

You can find a volunteer area by any one of three ways:

1) The kind of work you want to do:

• Research
• Writing and editing
• Translation
• IT development
• Project development and management
• Design
• Consulting
• Coordination and facilitation
• Training and coaching

2) The specific development topic you want to work on

• Education
• Youth
• Development advocacy and strategies
• Integration of marginalized groups
• Governance and human rights
• Health
• Culture
• Income generation and employment
• Environment
• Food and agriculture
• Volunteerism
• Gender

3) The geographic region you're interested in serving:

• Global
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Eastern Europe, CIS

Pretty cool, huh? I urge you to check out their user friendly website, and see if there are any online volunteer opportunities you find interesting. You may not only learn something new and interesting, but you'd also be helping a worthy organization or charity in achieving their development goals. Personally, I'm really excited to find some time to dedicate to some online volunteer work.

Eating and Living Healthy...and the Guilt that comes with it!

In walked Liz, holding a rectangular box I recognized all too quickly. Chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Oh. My. Goodness. I love chocolate. I love chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I think I love them a little bit more because I don't eat them all the time, kind of like ferrero rocher or almond roca. I love each and every one of those.

So what's the big deal? The big deal, is that as soon as I see that box, I start having an internal dilemma of massive proportions. If Liz had walked in with that box of chocolates a month before, I would have had that chocolate in the pit of my stomach before she put the box down on the kitchen counter. But a month makes a big difference.

In an attempt to lead a healthier life, and to possibly, maybe, look a little better for our upcoming trip to Vegas, we've been trying to eat healthier food, and we've been going to the gym and trying to get into a workout routine. For those of you who know me, this may sound virtually impossible. But I've actually been pretty good. I'm not crazy about food or eating, but I love eating whatever I want, whenever I want it. My body isn't perfect, but I've also been lucky enough to never have to really watch what I eat to maintain a decent shape. But I've also never had the body I want. I'm not trying to lose a crazy amount of weight, I'd actually be happy with losing maybe five. But I do want to tone up certain parts of my body, especially the belly. The belly that I swore I would get rid of every Summer in high school ("people won't even know who I am when I got back to school!"), but still have, haha.

Here's my beef with eating healthy and working out: it makes me feel guilty about everything I eat! Now that I'm seeing the changes in my body that healthy eating and a regular workout routine can do in a matter of weeks, I feel guilty every time I eat a piece of chocolate or a hamburger. And this is where Liz and her box come in: one month ago, I wouldn't have cared about calories, or how long I'd have to run on the treadmill to even that out. I wouldn't have thought twice about my desire to have one. I just would've had one. But back in present time, I feel guilty. Should I? Or shouldn't I? Should I be good, or should I indulge? Do I really deserve to eat that? Will I have time to go to the gym after this? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

I will confess: I had one that night. And then I snuck in another one. But it's ok, I still hadn't trained myself very well to resist the temptation. Jeff's mom ended up sending the box of chocolates to my house a couple days later...and I let them sit there. And there they sat, on our kitchen counter. Staring. Glaring. But I stood my ground. Out of an almost full box, I ate only one.

I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this going...but I'm gonna try to keep it up.

Pakistan vs. Haiti

Photograph: Reuters

A week or so ago I was wondering to myself why the Pakistani floods where not having the sort of attention and international response as the earthquake in Haiti. It was more of a rhetorical question in reality. I don't think it takes a genius to figure out that the lack of response has a lot to do with politics and religion. I did a quick google search to see if I could find any articles on this exact topic, and came across an article entitled "Why are we less generous towards Pakistan than we were towards Haiti?" I really had high hopes that the article would touch on the root causes of the differences in response, but the only truly relative point was: "But I suspect it runs deeper than Zardari’s spectacular stupidity. The image of Pakistan in this country has never been lower. The 7/7 bomb attacks of 2005 and the foiling of numerous subsequent plots has inextricably linked Pakistan with terrrorism. Could this have led people to turn a deaf ear to appeals for help?" And that's where the analysis ended. The author never touched on religion, politics, or anything else really.

Then I read the comments. HOLY HECK! I truly don't understand how there are human beings who write shit like this:

• "To hear we (UK) have donated only 5 million pounds is a disgrace. Indeed it is, no one asked me if my hard earnt taxes should be squandered in this fashion. Truly appalling!"
• "Why are we less generous towards Pakistan than we were to Haiti? Because Haitian people have not organized themselves to try and kills us, that's why. Because Haitian people do not put their women in bin liners, that's why. Whatever may be the problems that Haitian people have inflicted upon themselves over the last two centuries, they have kept themselves to themselves and not tried to export them. That's why."
• "It's madness to expect infidels, us Brits, to give money to a country with a nuclear programme that's headed up by a corrupt president.?
• "Because since 1947 their medieval male dominated culture has irresponsibly increased the population from 31 million to an unsustainable 117 million ensuring continued poverty. It's because normal Pakistanis refuse to join the 21st century, preferring to give their corrupt dynastic leaders a free ride on a flying carpet of corruption, intolerance and ignorance rather than the boot. I could go on, but that would be ungracious."
• "Pakistan is much richer than Haiti and has the resources."
• "Seriously, if you are able to make a nuclear bomb, you should be able to help your people in a time of a natural disaster."
  

I agree that providing financial support in Pakistan provides more challenges than other countries such as Haiti, but I don't think it qualifies as turning a blind eye to the millions of people who will be suffering the consequences of these floods for years and possibly decades.

As to Pakistan being a richer country than Haiti--what matters is whether it is helping their people or not, regardless of what resources they have available. Ideally, yes, every country that has the resources to take care of themselves should, but if they chose not to, are other countries relieved from their moral responsibility to help? I'm sure you can argue both ways, but I think it's no excuse. I'm sure people hate 70-90% of what their taxes are spent on. I would be stoked if my taxes were going to save lives rather than to pay for half the things it actually goes to.

As for religion, terrorism, and politics, I don't think this is the time to use politics and religion as an argument. People are people, regardless of their faiths. And how can you tell who is a terrorist and who isn't? Are you going to let all people die from starvation because you think some of them may be terrorists? Humanity at its best.

And as far as making sure contributions go to aiding victims and not militants, it's the challenge of every disaster stricken country: corruption. Haiti has been dealing with corruption way before the earthquake, but it didn't keep people from contributing. Maybe it's because Christian missionaries have been in Haiti for decades, whereas Christian missionaries might not have a place in Pakistan, who knows. Again, not an excuse: find a solution, create a way to track donations, a way to ensure that donations reach those in need. Easier said than done, I know, but I don't understand why it's impossible.

As for the magnitude of the event, there may not be as many dead as other disasters, but I think it's actually worse that there are so many more people who are or will be affected in the long run by these floods. Fields have been lost, not to mention cattle. People in Haiti were already reliant on food aid, people in Pakistan have lost their source of livelihood and will likely be affected for years to come.

Another ridiculous argument against providing aid to Pakistan is that it's their own fault for being over populated because of their birth rates. Umm...really?! So yeah, maybe they should keep the household numbers down, but again, you're going to let millions suffer because what? they brought it upon themselves by having too many babies?

Ugh I dunno, this entry isn't nearly as organized or as well thought out as I wanted, so I'm sure my "arguments" have plenty of holes, but I wanted to at least put something out there for thought.

Copies and Inspirations

I was at Fed Ex Office earlier this week (I kinda miss that it's not Kinko's anymore, kind of like Costco always really being Price Club) printing out some donation letters I was working on, and I noticed an older gentleman trying to make some copies at the copier next to mine. He seemed thoroughly aggravated with the lack of success he was having at making his copies. I would be too, if my copies were coming out as blank pages. Part of me wanted to help him figure out what was going on, another part of me was saying: the Fed Ex guy can see just as clearly what's going on, and this guy was trying to get the copier to work before I got there...so Lord only knows what's been going or for how long. I think my reluctance, sadly, also had to do with the fact that I was getting charged by the minute to print out my stuff...and those minutes rack up pretty quickly when you have to wait for each document to open. Needless to say, I decided not to play good samaritan, shame on me.

I felt even more shameful after what happened next. As I was gathering my flash drive, papers, folders, bag, etcetera, the man walked past me...apparently he had been walking past me a few times to a set up he had at a table on the other side of me, which I had barely noticed. As I was starting to walk away, his demeanor changed completely, from completely frustrated to way happy! Then he said to me something to the effect of: "you've got a lot of money around you!" or something like that. I laughed and said "I wish." Then he mentioned how every time he walked by me, he got a very good feeling about me. Now, I know what you're thinking: CREEPER. But actually, there was something so genuine about this guy, like he was honestly just happy for ME and for the happiness he sensed for me. He said he had a good feeling, and that good things were coming my way, I just had to keep doing what I was doing, "believe me, I'm always right about these things."

I'm not sure what he meant by "keep doing what your doing," unless he means to just keep trying to figure out what I'm doing with my career. In that case, I will keep trying to figure it out, instead of throwing my hands up in defeat and frustration, as I've felt like doing multiple times in the past few months.

Whether he is an escaped lunatic, a fortune teller, or a divinely inspired being, alls I know is that I walked out of "Kinko's" with a huge smile that was not on my face before, and a sense that indeed, good things could be coming my way. So thank you for that.

Some Armstrong Updates

We have had and have coming up some pretty exciting things this Summer. My coworker Rama got married, followed by our good friend Abby, and coming up in a couple weeks, Julian and Erika will tie the knot! Jeff and I also got to meet up with Aaron and Dana, who we hadn't seen in forever. Dana and I met in college, and I'm glad that we've kept our friendship going through the years. I think the best part of meeting up was noticing how well Jeff and Aaron got along. I just wish they lived closer!

In other exciting news, Jeff started working! He was able to get in touch with an old manager from Diedrich's, and is now working at a different coffee shop with that same manager. It's not a dream job, but it's definitely going to help us out a lot. Direct Loans is going to be happy, at least (sigh). What sucks, though, is that he's going to be working closing shifts. This means that when I'm leaving work at 5pm, he's leaving the house to go to work. When I'm getting ready to go to bed at 10pm, he's closing up the store, when I'm getting ready to leave to work at 7:30am (ok, let's be realistic, 7:40-ish), he's sleeping. Our real challenge will be this week, his first week working nights: he'll be closing Monday through Thursday.

Looking at the positive: I'm excited to come visit him at work (much like he used to do for me when I was working at Starbucks when we were first dating), and maybe work on some side projects I have going on. I honestly miss taking my lap top to a coffee shop and accomplishing work, both of which I don't do very much anymore. I usually come home to Jeff and am content to just sit on the couch, go for a walk, figure out dinner, and lounge together. Going to visit him and maybe take him dinner will get me more motivated to get back on my lap top and work on fundraising and research ideas I've had for the past several months.

Here's to a new and challenging time of our lives.

Week nights and Friends!

So you know when you're having a shitty week, and it's barely Tuesday? You know what keeps me going on weeks like those? Knowing that tomorrow is Wednesday. Known to most as "hump day," to myself and a small group of very special people, Wednesday nights are TV Nights ("TVN" for short)(disclaimer: the actual night may vary depending on everyone's schedules).

It all started four years ago. We were all talking about Family Guy and decided we should all get together to watch it, and it just so happened to be on a week night. We had such a good time that we decided we should do it the next week, and the week after that....and here we are, four years later, still getting together in the middle of the week for a few good laughs.

So let's see, we started with Family Guy, and then graduated to Arrested Development (during which TVN was actually ADN). Best. Show. Ever. It may be only three seasons...but that's why everyone should watch each season at least three times. At least. We've dabbled in a few other shows, most notably Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock...and currently, Modern Family. Since the show's been on hiatus, we haven't really decided on what to watch for the Summer, so the last few weeks we've just been hanging out, which has been A-MA-ZING. TV nights become much more social when you're not trying to pay attention to the telly!

Anyhow, the purpose of this post is to encourage you all to have TVN's of your own. You won't regret it. Gathering some of your closest to drink a glass of wine or beer (or two), and share in some good laughs and conversation in the middle of the week, is the best way to make it through the mundane realities of the work week.

Of interest, Jeff and I had dinner with our friends Dana and Aaron last night, and they have their own twist of TVN: bad movie nights! Dana is even working on a website to...wait for it, wait for it...encourage people to have their own BMV! haha, sadly for TVN's around the world, this post is as far as my encouragement goes, and although Dana is still working on the site, you should check out The Rules to get some general ideas.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, go off into the world, gather your friends, gather some drinks, and help the week go by!