I said I was going to mention it more than once, so here goes again…

These guys have developed a charity called Child’s Play. It’s designed to donate toys and games to several children’s hospitals around the country. It’s a good cause, and they were incredibly successful last year. Any time a charity is for children, well, I guess I have a soft spot there. I did even before Cindi was born. Because the thing is, children need looking out for. It’s not like they’ve got the resources to help themselves on this sort of thing and I’m reasonably certain that they haven’t done anything to deserve being in a children’s hospital. Most of you know that I’m not always the biggest fan of people, but children still have the potential to grow up to be good, useful members of society (once they get older, THEN I can not like them).

So, okay, anyway I got off on a tangent there. The bottom line is that this is a great cause and it’s so incredibly simple to donate. Go to their website, click on a star on the map for which hospital you want your donation to go to. Then you’ll be taken to an Amazon.com wishlist. From there, it’s just like shopping on anyone else’s wishlist at Amazon. Make sure you change the shipping address to be the wishlist address and that’s it. It’s that easy. Given how easy it is, I’ll be somewhat disappointed if I can’t count on everyone who reads this weblog (I mean, there’s about 8 of you, so it shouldn’t be too hard) doesn’t go and donate something. There is stuff on the list for a variety of budgets, ranging from full video game systems to children’s books. They greatly expanded the list this year to include more toys and not just video games, which is good. The entire point is to give these sick kids something to DO while they’re there.

Okay, enough preaching. Just a plea. PLEASE go and donate. I’m not huge into charities, but this one I can really get behind.

I’m pretty proud of the business I’ve created. Maybe fiercely proud. I’ve talked before about how annoyed I get when people imply that I don’t work or that I don’t have a real job, so I’m not going to go into that again. Suffice it to say, I’m very proud of the fact that I’ve built up a business that this year is set to make almost a quarter of a million in gross sales. I think that’s pretty impressive for one guy over the course of 5 years, only 1 1/2 of which have been full-time. Also considering that I’ve never taken a loan out and have only built the business upon a small amount of credit card debt and a small start-up contribution from my parents. I think I’m doing pretty well for myself. And I’m proud of it. I know I can do better. I know I can do a lot better. But to anyone who belittles the “job” that I do or seems to think that things are so easy for me…well, like I said, I won’t go into that again.

I’m not sure what my point is here except to say that I’m proud of what I’ve done. I guess it was because I was thinking about the fact that I just bought a bunch of merchandise with my logo on it. There were a few different jackets, a couple of bags, things like that. I was trying out a bunch of different things to see what I might like and to see if I wanted to order more. I love wearing a jacket that has my logo on it. I’m very proud to be wearing that. But what struck me even more was that Ali specifically requested that I get a fleece for her with my logo on it. I also got her a tote bag with my logo on it (because, hey, teachers love tote bags). And she wears the fleece and uses the bag. I guess I realized the support there. I like to believe that she’s proud to have that logo on the things that she carries, too. That makes me feel good. That makes me think that it’s not just me doing this. That makes me realize that there’s someone behind me. I always knew that. She’s always been my biggest suporter. Sometimes I just need a reminder.

I was just watching Fargo and do you know what I realized? Except for the first scene where the kidnapping plot is set up, none of the movie actually takes place in Fargo.

But then, as the Coen’s pointed out in an interview that I saw, the choice was to either call it Fargo or Brainerd. I think they made the right choice.

I suppose I’ve been a bit of a slacker, lately. Not posting and all. I’d say that I’ll try to remedy that, but I’m sure I’m lying. I don’t know if it’s because there hasn’t been anything to say or because I’m just too lazy to come out here and talk to you people.

So, what’s new? Well, I just finished up a proposal for Trim Spa and delivered it yesterday. It’s big. Very expensive. Hopefully I’ll get it, but I’m not holding my breath. I may keep my fingers crossed, though.

I’ve gotten to play poker a bit more lately (at least, a bit more than not at all). I really love that game.

Cindi’s first birthday party is coming up. Well, coming up meaning it’s in January, but, y’know, by the next time I post it may be after that.

I guess things were really busy for me for the past month or two. A lot of shows and work for Lockheed Martin and meetings and whatnot. It all stopped very abruptly and not I’m in something of a time-off/holding pattern. Which is fine. I’m sort of looking forward to next week where there is nothing on my calendar. It hasn’t kicked in yet that having no work scheduled means no income for that week, but maybe that’ll be okay. If I could just get two or three of these installs that I’ve put out bids for, everything will be great. Okay, maybe I am crossing my fingers, but I’m definitely still breathing…

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I actually meant to post something last week, but Blogger kind of sucks and it was taking forever to load up the page where I get to write new posts and I got impatient and just didn’t post anything.

Anyway, I finished my first theme CD for the topic of “Mundane Activities”. You can see the song list (and the graphic for the CD) over here.