Tuesday, November 9, 2010

On the Subject of Hoopla!

So without as much fanfare as I would have liked it to have gone through with, I am registered for my walk.

Provided I raise my donation amount in the next year, I will be going to San Diego to take part in the 2011 3-Day walk.

It feels kind of incredible saying that.

So thank you to everyone who helped out and donated to the registration fund, you all know who you are and I am entirely grateful that you've done that. Thank you for believing in me and getting me started. This is gonna be totally RAD.

Friday, October 15, 2010

On the Subject of My Birthday!

Hey everyone!

So my birthday's on the 23rd, and here's what I'd like for my birthday... You don't have to buy me cards, you don't have to buy me cake or dinner or whatever else you might think I'd like for a gift.

All I ask is a one (1) dollar donation towards my registration fee for the 3-Day. You can go to the "Donate" button on my sidebar to make that, and all I ask for is a dollar. If you'd like to do more, that's awesome, but I won't expect that. Just a buck. :)

I'll personally be matching the initial $90 if that amount is reached, and if it isn't, I'll just close the gap between the final amount of donations and that fee.

So yeah. Next Saturday. :D Thank you all so much!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

On the Subject of Blog For Your Breasts Day!

Well, YESTERDAY was October 1st and due to some technical issues here at home I couldn't make this post in time. But I'm still going to because it's pretty important.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Avon's Army of Women has set out with prevention in mind. I've been a member for a little over a year and a half now and it's been really interesting to see their emails in my inbox. I want to talk about them for just a minute so that maybe you will decide to join!

The Love/Avon Army of Women is a very unique program of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation (a 501 c 3 non-profit breast cancer research organization. The program is funded through a grant from the Avon Foundation for Women. The AOW provides opportunities for women AND men to take part in breast cancer research studies aimed at determining the causes of breast cancer -- and how to prevent it! They are a groundbreaking initiative that connects breast cancer researchers via the internet with women who are willing to participate in a wide variety of studies. Their goal is to "recruit" ONE MILLION men and women of all ages and ethnicities, including breast cancer survivors and those who have never had breast cancer.

They ask that you are at least 18, though, and by signing up in the "Army" you are only signing up to hear about the research projects -- from there they give you the option to enter in to the studies you are interested in and may qualify for. There is NO cost to join and take part in this and they do not ask for donations. Participation in this and in the studies is completely voluntary, always. To review all open, current studies and possibly sign up and be a part of something incredibly important, visit the Army of Women website. :)

Another group I adore a lot is Keep-A-Breast. Through their Music For Awareness Program, they've been able to expand and get the word out to thousands of young ladies (and men!). You may have seen those rubber "I Love Boobies!" bracelets everywhere you go: That's KAB!

They team up with several bands that are close to my heart and do a wonderful job in packing up to camp out for two or so months every year with the Vans Warped Tour. They've been around for about a decade now and are only getting bigger, too! It was fantastic to see them on tour this spring with Angels and Airwaves, and the amount of interest their booths gathered was awesome to see. Tom Delonge, Matt Wachter, David Kennedy, and Atom Willard are HUGE supporters of the cause for awareness and it's also one of the many, many reasons why I love them so much.



I've linked to the bracelets in the photo via Loserkids, but I've been told that you can also get them at your local Spencer's or Zumiez stores, or head on over to KAB's website to see what bands they're out promoting with right now and get a bracelet at a show. They've also got a TON of information about non-toxic items you can get into your life to live it a little healthier, and their self-exam cards which are super handy -- I got one in a gift bag at Warped '08 and it's worn at the corners because I use it so often.

And ladies, I check MY ladies often. I have to, as big as they are! ;) Everyone should, though. Even you, guys! Men can get Breast Cancer too! Although it usually occurs in women, men have breast tissue and can develop breast cancer as well. About 2,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed in men each year and approximately 450 men die from breast cancer annually. Don't forget that!! If you don't have a card, you can get a quick print-out of KAB's newest version here. Or...

Here's my favorite, old video from Keep A Breast and Van's Warped Tour going through the steps on their exam card with members of Fall Out Boy, Valient Thorr, and MXPX.



How can we cure something if we don't know what we're curing? By enlisting ourselves and others in participation for research, we'll be enabled to finally find the causes of breast cancer and ultimately figure out how to prevent it altogether -- take the research out of the labs and look at real women. We were able to discover that cervical cancer was caused by a virus: the human papilloma virus. The way we discovered that was by studying women. With a lot less money and in a lot less time, we now have a cure for it because we now know WHAT to cure. We need to follow the same path and move breast cancer beyond a cure. And as it's been said, "Prevention IS the Cure!"

Become aware - become educated - become a source for others. Know your body, know your breasts! Check out all of these pages and get a good idea of terms, news in the medical community, and what you can do to help! Be sure to add AOW and KAB on Facebook or Twitter as well, lots of good facts coming your way daily this month and every month. :)

Love you all and thanks for reading.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

On the Subject of Spare Change.

I've turned my spare change jar into a collection jar. It's one of the giant Gallo wine jars, and it's still got the sticker on there from when it still held Chablis instead of my loose coin - haha, no, I didn't empty it myself, thank you!

Anyhow it's got a lot in there right now and it'll only keep growing through the year. Today I put the change from my lunch in there:

A dime.

Not much, right? At some gas stations nowadays you'd be lucky to get a couple pieces of Bazooka gum or a Fireball. Or if you find yourself at a Cracker Barrel, an old-fashioned Peppermint Puff, or a sugar stick (if you buy ten of them, that is).

It's that time of year again where the pink comes flying out of seemingly out of nowhere - in some parts of the country some cities have done or are gearing up for their 3-Day walks. Our local craft store has scrapbooking supplies, feather boas and blank shirts, foam visors, and bandannas ready to be embellished and personalized with glitter glue and fuzzy pom-poms and anything and everything a very craft-gifted person could think of to work with. Cards, cookbooks, jars, and fliers start popping up on message boards in various places around town - other runners/walkers pushing for final funds (or like myself, getting a jumpstart on next year!) and support. I've been sparingly checking the internet the past few weeks as I've been super busy with the new job, but I've been averaging about 2 or 3 new emails from all the awareness organizations I've been following now, and it's like this every year! (It really should be like this year-round but I'll spare you that tirade and say one day I hope we'll get there.)

But anyhow I found time to do a little bit of grocery shopping this week (where the pink reusable shopping bags are now out, too for just a buck or two!!) and to my surprise, one of my favorite  annual fundraising events has started: the Yoplait "Save Lids, Save Lives" run!

I don't know what it's like around the rest of the nation but these are limited time runs in our grocery stores where the distributor, Yoplait yogurt, decks out their yogurt cups in these pretty pink lids. Peel them off, clean them up, stash them until you're ready to mail them off, and lick that stamp like it was covered in Mixed Berry or Key Lime Pie. Each lid sent in generates a donation of ten cents to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. Yoplait has pledged to donate up to $1.6 MILLION dollars (they guarantee at least a minimum of $500,000 anyways, which is still really awesome) through these little pink pieces of foil.



For more information, head on over to the Yoplait website. :)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

On the Subject Of Being Adaptive.

Good morning and I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. This is just a quick entry, I'm on my father's laptop right now.

I'ts been a very interesting week with the new job as they've got us sent out of town and shacked up at a hotel. This coming week will be the same deal. I was curious to know before hitting the road to see what kind of walk/run-friendly routes the town has and if the hotel had a workout room. To my happiness, yes it did, but the town's main route is a long strip of free-/highway that I don't feel comfortable walking or running along, even in the bike lane. My only other option would be going off into the hilly desert brush to get a good session in.

The only problem I have nowwwwww is the age of the equipment and the fact that there's one machine and I do have to share it with a coworker but other than that I was able to get a lot of miles in when I returned to the hotel from my training site during the week.

It also helps that my position at work is a very active one; I had originally been wearing the last shoes I'd gotten for my previous job - cute little black, sporty, work-appropriate sneakers, but after my first full day on that hard concrete I switched to my running shoes and it was an extremely good thing I did. This week I'm going to pack a pedometer because I don't see myself spending as much time in the office doing computer-based training as I know I am going to be out on the floor being active with my future staff's counterparts at this store.

As for that, I love the crew where I am training and I wish I could pack them all up in my back pocket and take them home with me because they are a wonderful group of people and do their jobs very well. I'm grateful for this opportunity I've been given and I love the atmosphere of the staff at this place and it gets me very excited to hope that my store, when it opens, will be about the same. I may see them during the final construction stages of my store and some words have been going around that we may actually get to keep some staff transfers. They are excited for me as well both in my new store and my personal ventures and I love the support they've been providing me during this short time I've been there. It's just been a really enjoyable week, getting a lot of learning in and I've been keeping busy off the clock as much as I can and getting some good rest in as well.

...It also helps that our hotel has a jacuzzi so when I get out of the weight/exercise room I can go soak my feet. ;)

This next week should be about the same so if you don't hear from me until next Saturday please don't be alarmed!

:D

Sunday, September 5, 2010

On the Subject of Random Acts.


So I'm a big fan of the television show Supernatural. I only started watching it a couple of months ago, and I'm ready to get caught up on the 5th season before the 6th starts. There's this character on the show, an angel, Castiel, who is pretty much one of the greatest characters ever aside from the brothers Winchester themselves. Cas is played by the incredible Misha Collins. I remember him as Bret from ER back before I stopped watching it, and I think he was in Girl, Interrupted too. Misha and the rest of the cast of Supernatural are very, very in touch and hands on with their fanbase, and it's really a very beautiful thing.

Well anyhow, today, Misha took a run for his non-profit organization, Random Acts... raising money for three orphanages in Haiti and flood relief in Pakistan.





He ran for 83 kilometers - about 51.5 miles - in 11 hours, and the total amount raised through this moment in donations is nearly $30,000, and that's not including all the pledges-per-km that are being calculated and collected and what not, though I have heard in a few places the combined total is somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 (one pledger put forth $50 per km!!!!). We may not have the actual, complete total raised for a few days because donations are still pouring in and so are a few pledges.

I'm awfully impressed at the speed and effort put forth into the Random Acts project, from the initial donation effort for the earthquake victims in Haiti to the now world-wide effort by everyone involved. It's an overwhelmingly fantastic and uplifting movement.

Misha inspired me today to continue with my effort for this run and Tuesday when I report for my first full day of work with my new job I'm going to be asking the HR directors and my hiring staff what I can do to be a part of giving back to the community further than the store's service, and how they might be able to help me with my own run. Every day has been getting easier and more exciting for me to work towards my own goals and simply being able to see (and be a part of) a cause like Misha's gives me this ridiculous amount of courage and determination. I hope that you'll take a second to give the organization and what it stands for a look, and decide to do some random acts of your own.

:)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

On the Subject of a Pledge.

On October 1st I'll be making a special blog post about Avon's Army of Women. So stay tuned. And if you want to participate, check it out here: http://www.armyofwomen.org/thepledge

On the Subject of How to Donate.

For the time being I will be collecting any donations through my Paypal account; it is linked to a separate savings account with my credit union specifically for the purpose of this 3-Day Walk fundraising event.





My current goal is to make the registration fee by or around my birthday this year towards the end of October. That fee is $90. I'll work on getting suitable counters for this site up in the near future for each goal that gets set, including the great big one for the 2300 total minimum amount to be raised (so I can actually participate in the walk at the end of all of this)!

Any amount is welcome, even if it's a dollar at most. I'm counting on a lot of people for help with this so if it can get passed around as well, that would be awesome. Your friends, your coworkers, your family, please let them know! Thank you so much!!

Monday, August 30, 2010

On the Subject of My Soundtrack.

So this is Private First Class Lavernius Tucker, or Tucker, for short:
 
He's a happy little 16gb iPod Touch.

Tucker keeps me going when I'm out on my walk/run (2 miles up to Buffalo Park and 2 miles back). Here's a few things I've put on my playlist, music that gets me pumped and helps me keep that energy!

Great stuff. I've got a lot more by a lot of different artists but this is just a taste. It's so awesome to have that personal motivation through music, and pretty much all of the artists I listen to when I go out mean something to me. They don't just bump my heart rate up with their music's bpm, but they push me to get up and get going in life and in what I want to do. :) I'll go into that more, in later posts. For now, I'm hitting the pavement. See ya!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

On the Subject of the New Shoes.

Wowee, I'm glad I made the choice I did to pick up a pair of these awesome runners... I feel like I've picked up a pair of Talaria instead (and by good ol' Hermes, these sure are a treat for my feets).



They're women's Nike Zooms, with what they call "structure". Meaning that they're going to correct my gait and strengthen my calves, improving my posture and weight distribution too. Ahhhhhhh, arch support! Took them for a trial around town running my errands after my job interview, and I'm glad to say that tomorrow I'll be getting a sure kick in the rear from them. I've upped my walking route from 3 to 4 miles already! Yeah!! Can't wait to get these shoes out on the urban trail.

Pretty excited about how this is going so far. I have already made (yes! handmade!) a slew of friendship-style bracelets and will keep making them;  I have some ideas on when and where I will start selling them and for how much as part of fundraising. More details on those as we go along, so if that interests you, keep an eye out.

Just thought I'd give a quick little update on things. Hope you have a great night!

Monday, August 23, 2010

On the Subject of Shoes.

So last year at about this time or so I was in Phoenix and Albuquerque, catching one of my favorite bands, Fall Out Boy, opening for another one of my favorite bands (the band I never thought I'd get to see live, ever), blink-182. The sheer amount of joy and happy that trip and those shows brought me will probably never be matched for me again, perfectly. It was an amazing week.

I blew my shoe out at the Phoenix show. LOL.

I've been wearing these shoes for the last year. Not like, everyday, as the job I held required me to wear nice, dressy shoes, so these I would throw on when I had to run out to the store or whatever, whenever I didn't want to bust out my support-less Converse (I did Fall Out Boy's first two shows on the BND2 tour earlier that year in my Converse and wowee, never taking those shoes to a show again ever; not that spending the entirety of the next day wandering around the Las Vegas strip aimlessly helped at all, yikes). I've owned this pair for quite a few years and while I love Sketchers, nearly every pair I've ever owned has busted out for me along the inside or the outside where the sole meets the rest of the shoe.

Today I have enough set aside that I think I'm going to hit the mall and see if I can find a good pair of shoes that will help me through the next year and possibly the Walk itself. I was going to wait until Wednesday but I am curious to see if the shoe store at the mall has the same pair I was looking at online for the sale price. If so, I have more than enough for it.

But uh. Yeah. :) These shoes have served me well for the years I've had them, but they're pretty unsuitable for walking much further than the 3 or so miles I try to fit in every day. I'm going to be expanding my walk route this week and next so I need some good support and possibly something that will correct and keep my gait balanced. Also I haven't bought new sneakers in forever so yay.

I was originally going to ask for donations to help cover the cost of these, or for someone to donate an old pair they don't use anymore, but my feet run super small and I have asked around a little, already, and the general consensus is that this might take longer and be a little more difficult. Also I'm not quite sure how I want to factor supplies or anything of that nature into my fundraising just yet, if I want to do that at all. I still need to sit down with Paypal and figure out a donation widget, too. Ahh, I'll get there. :D

I have a couple of other errands to run so I'm gonna get going for the day. :) Hope your week starts off well!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Testing, testing! 1-2-3 Day GO!

Hi and welcome! I've not got much up on this site just yet but that will change in the near future as I figure out more of the controls and options here on Blogger (until now I have only been using this account to post comments on other blogs I read that run off of this awesome site). So please bear with me as I get things up like donation buttons, counters, all sorts of goodies to help me and you, my readers and supporters, keep track of this undertaking.

I'll be 25 this year and 26 by the time I get to run the event, and I wanted to do something that would allow me to put my mark on the world around me. I enjoy helping others where I can and so this was the number one thing I could think of participating in. I'm a big fan of groups like Keep-A-Breast, the Dear Jack Foundation and 11:11 AM, and the Hurricane Olympics, and while it's awesome to be able to contribute to that I also had the need and want to prove to myself that I can organize and perform something like an individual 3-Day walk. I wanted to do something that will not only give me a personal goal of achievement, but one that will ultimately give back to a cause.

:) Anyhow. Please be sure to check back in; I'll likely be linking posts through my Facebook and Twitter account; and maybe in a few other places too, but we'll see what happens.

Right now I'm gonna throw some pants on and go for a walk!