Independence Day is one of the most important days of remembrance we recognize each year.  Please take time this year on July 4th to stop and observe the sacrifices made to create our free way of life.

The signing of the Declaration of Independance was more than a simple drafting of a statement of incorporation.  It was a risk.  A HUGE risk for all who believed in the American Experiment.  To admit belief in this new nation and it’s ideals of a self governing free people was to subject onself to persecution including torture and death under terms of treason against the king of England.  With this knowledge, our founders still saw it fit to risk all and in many cases give all for the opportunities we now enjoy.

So, I receive a coupon in the mail yesterday for Breakfast at Taco Bell.  Looking at the images, it was clear that I would either love or hate the options offered with no middle ground as an option.  Within seconds my mouth watered at the thought of a breakfast burrito from a place that specializes in Mexican food rather than some lame attempt made by a burger joint.  Jump the time frame to 2 minutes and I’d committed to breakfast at The Bell this morning.

This morning, I headed out the door excited for my breakfast burrito and iced coffee and my mind was obviously thinking “outside the bowl” (cereal bowl).  As I pulled into the Taco Bell parking lot at a few minutes after 7am, there were only 2 cars in the lot and an empty drive through line.  My mind questioned whether people hadn’t heard about breakfast at the Bell yet or if they’d been here yesterday and knew better than to return before noon again.   I whipped my new geek mobile up to the drive through speaker and was greeted with a bright sign promoting the breakfast I was about to order.  Continuing to read while waiting on the robotic drive through voice, I saw something that made Taco Bell fail at their attempt to gain a breakfast customer.  

Breakfast 9am – noon. What!  9-noon?  You mean the Earliest I can eat breakfast on a Thursday morning is 90 minutes before most places begin serving lunch?
I guess they were up partying with the 4th meal folks they stay open late for.  In my opinion, cold pizza in the morning can be considered breakfast.  However,  just because you serve a mixture of traditional breakfast grub in your tortilia doesn’t make it breakfast.   Eggs, served at noon, is lunch.

I don’t know if this time choice is a franchise decision, or corporate.  I hope the execs at Taco Bell will lay off the hooch their pimply employees are toking in the back while serving 4th meal, set their alarm clocks, wake up while there’s still dew on the grass with the rest of world and realize that many of us eat breakfast before we go to work in the mornings.

Had to share this video.  I like this girl.  I’ve shared similar sentiments in past posts such as Educational Waste, My Kind of Teacher,  and Why Does the Answer Exist.  You just have to hear this girl’s comments.  Listen closely.  So, without further explanation…

If you have kids and are like me, every year you dread the first day of school. Not for the same reasons that kids do though :~) Though most parents are worn out from a summer of rearranging their schedule and playing referee when your kids could use a break from each other, the first day of school is an event of reflection. I can’t believe that my Halee is entering the fifth grade. Her last year in elementary school before she dives into the pressures of “big kid” environments. Not to mention my baby girl Ruthie starting Kindergarten. It’s crazy and causes me to think back on the joyous moments when I held them in my arms for the first time.

Use the next few days or weeks that you have left of summer break to build memories with your kids. Take off work early and play in the sprinkler with your kids, go to the dog park, take an evening walk at sundown, stay up late watching a movie or playing games, camp out in the backyard. Also, spend some time praying for them and the new adventure and people they’ll meet over the next school year. I know work is important, but you first responsibility is at home and when you seek God in leading your family, He will make sure other things fall into place.

Share your ideas below on how to make memories while there’s still some summertime left.

Now, if you’ll excuse me…. I’m headed home to have lunch with my wife and daughters.

My friend sent me this video.  I thought it was one of the funniest things I’d seen in a long time.  This describes nearly every parent I know.  I’m headed to buy a Sienna now.

I don’t quite understand the reasoning for most school fundraisers.  It seems there should be two reasons for holding a fundraiser for a group or organization.  One being the creation of a team building experience, and the other being the obvious: to raise funds.

So, if the previous statement seemed obvious, why then is it that most fund raising events, especially school fund raisers accomplish neither?

Fundraiser Quota & Parent Info

Last week received a dreaded packet from the school my girls attend, alerting me to the fact that we’d be responsible for selling $15 cookie dough.  You parents know what I’m talking about.  Do you know anyone who bursts with joy at the site of this.  I’ve uploaded an image of the flyer to the right which can be enlarged by clicking on it.  They came home pumped with propaganda and visions of being rewarded by wonderful gadgets and toys rivaling those which require thousands of tickets at any Chuck E. Cheese.

The Problems:

1. My 5yr old pre-k daughter came home telling me she was supposed to go door todoor andsell cookie dough. – No Way! Not safe or polite.  Everyone in our neighborhood has kids or knows kids in that school & can only buy from so many of them.  Duh!  And, I’m not sending them door to door in a strange neighborhood.
   

   Fundraiser prize sheet

2. We have to sell the stuff, then, deliver it all later? – Why not ship the stuff to the customers?  Your sales force is serving on a volunteer basis.  Why not cut them a break on tracking down all the people they hounded for money and are now busy avoiding them.  That’s what UPS and Fed Ex are for.
3. How much money does the PTO or organization actually make off of this anyway? – Couldn’t we go to the local supermarket and buy some $3 cookie dough to sell for $6 and accomplish two goals.  Giving better value to the customer as well as making a higher percentage of the sale back to the organization.
4. More and More from the parents – After asking the parents to sell all this crap, we’re also asked if we’ll donate pizza and soft drinks for class parties afterward.  Who ended up buying the freaking cookie dough anyway?  Parents.  Why the heck do I want to celebrate the fact that I was conned into buying nutritionally void junk food at a rate of 400% the market value?
5. Why a party anyway? – This makes the kid who doesn’t sell their quota (yes they’re given a quota) feel horrible.  If their class doesn’t get a party, they feel as if it’s their fault.  If they do “earn” a party, the kid feels like he or she is mooching on someone else’s  accomplishment.
6. More prizes.  The flyer says that students selling 10 items are entered into drawings for more super prize giveaways – OK so you poor kids with parents who didn’t buy $130 of cookie dough don’t get a chance to win but rich billy does.  ?  Think about it.  The parents are who ends up buying most of it.
7. Back to the quota.  The flyer states that students selling 3 items or more get invited to the magic show coming to the school.  “Don’t miss out!” it says. – Are you freaking kidding me!!  Once again, the kids in the section 8 housing in the school district get the shaft.  My kids get out of class to enjoy Marvin the Magnificent while the kids in families where the parents were unable to buy $39 PER KID in cookie dough are forced to allow their kid to make the “walk of shame” to study hall and be made to feel lesser to their peers.  Wow.  We wonder how kids get the attitudes of alienating people of lesser financial standing.  I know crap like this can’t help.  Wake up people.  Think about how this stuff effects everyone.  Not just your household.

The Solutions:

1. Think it through.  Think about the goals of the fundraiser and who it effects and how.
2. Try a team building exercise.  Car washes and marathons seem corny on the outside, however, they can be arranged so that nobody is left out.  The event itself is the reward and all the team or students participate in completing the goal.  Not to mention nearly all of the money raised goes toward the goal.
3. What about just asking for a one-time gift?  Once again, I’m not sure what percentage of a sale goes toward the fund raising goals in most fund raising sales campaigns.  But, I bet, that I’d be happier about being asked to donate $25 per kid I have in school rather than asked to sell $39 of crap per kid.  Not to mention, the entire $25 would go toward the goal and probably be more in the end.  So, every family can’t donate $25 per kid.  They’re probably the same ones that can’t buy $39 of junk per kid.
4. Mention filling the gap.  When sending the fund raising letter to families asking for cash donations, mention that some families may not be able to give, so if you’d like to “sponsor” another student, you can for $25 above your $25 per student.  I know I’d happily cover mine and at least 2 or 3 more.
5. Be sure to show purpose.  They flyer set home did mention the reason for the fundraiser. (technology for our classrooms)  However, it was mentioned only briefly and with no detail as to what technology it was.  Don’t assume others get the vision and are as passionate about it as you are.  Share it and make them feel it.
6. Utilize your group’s contacts.  Heck, I run an internet business & may be able to donate a portion of what’s needed.  If not, I may have a contact that would.  Many parents will pitch in if they were kept in the loop.  Just because I’m not on the PTO doesn’t mean I don’t care about what happens in my kid’s school.  By the way, I’d also be willing to join & pitch in with the PTO if it seemed like something other than a group who’s always asking me to sell crap.
7. Tell me your reason for choosing this fundraiser, not just why you’re raising funds.  I know if I got a letter that offered a chance to pay $25 per kid and not have to guilt my parents into buying stuff they don’t want or need at astronomical prices.  I’d send my money in yesterday!

I know this post will probably get me slammed with emails about how I don’t know what I’m talking about.  How I’m just rude.  Or, how under informed I am.  That’s just the point.  If you’re asking me to sell crap for you.  It’s your job to inform me.

I do want to point out that it’s not just this fund raising campaign that I have a problem with.  This just happens to be the example in hand at the time.  99% of the ones sent home with my kids are on the same premise.

I’m sure the parents and faculty involved and charged with these have only the best intentions and are only doing their best to help.  I don’t want this to be seen as hate mail to the school PTO but merely as a chance to awaken them to the perception of a parent on the outside looking in.

One more thing.  I’ll be contacting the PTO of my neighborhood school so that I may offer my services and get involved.  Please do the same.

I meet with a group of other men each week.  While enjoying our morning coffee, we discuss scripture, family, work, and anything else life has brought to our attention that week.  Last time we met, the topic of fellowship was brought up.  I don’t mean fellowship as in, eating a casserole with some people you see for an hour each Sunday.  We were talking about real fellowship.  The kind where two people share an empathetic bond.  David and Jonathan kind of fellowship.

Everyone needs this.  Someone who celebrates your successes with the same enthusiasm as you do.  Someone who feels the pain of your struggles and can help pull you through.  My mind began to wander durning this conversation as I thought of a quote by a friend of mine who once said “The older I get, I realize I have many more acquaintances and less true friends”.  I began to take inventory of my own relationships.  I’ve met many people and my wife can attest to the instances of rarely going someplace in public when we don’t meet someone who I know from someplace else.  I have a vast network of contacts, a small pool of true friends.  By true friends, I mean someone who I could call when in need, that would set aside their plans to aide me even at their own inconvenience.  But, what about true fellowship?

I was quick to realize the blessing I have of two people with whom I share true fellowship.  I’ve been blessed with many siblings, two of which I share that special bond.  Frank and Rusty are the two guys in this world that I feel the freedom to share anything with and receive only wisdom and encouragement in return.  Free from judgement or ridicule.  Oh, they’ll set me strait, but out of love, not distain.  I truly feel they celebrate with me and are joyous when I’m experiencing some sort of success in my life.  I can count on them for a partner through battle or for a hug in sorrow.  I also feel them hurt when I’m battling some struggle.  I too gain great joy from their accomplishments & morn their hardship.  With them to turn to, I have true fellowship and am truly blessed.

Thanks guys.  Love ya.

Great little bit of viral video from Reebok & the NFL promoting their Fantasy Files. Not sure when or where it aired, but my brother sent this to me a couple of days ago. That’s the important thing. Not when it was scheduled to show and during what slot. The best thing is that we’re two months past the Super Bowl and months from the new season and people are still voluntarily sending this to friends and spreading the Reebok name. That’s Viral Marketing.

O.K. So, I know we’ve all heard jokes about the frail French military.  Well, this was in the March 2010 issue of Readers Digest.  It seems that in March 2010, the war in Afghanistan becomes the lengthiest military conflict in US history.  In reflection, Reader’s Digest featured at it’s center, photographs taken by photo journalists over the years accompanied by snippets by Kim Barker about what the photograph is and why the particular photo is special to the particular photographer.

Right there on page 119 is that sure made me chuckle.  I’ve scanned it in for you to see.  As if the use of little plastic army men by the French in their teaching of Afghan soldiers wasn’t comical enough, I’ve highlighted my favorite part of the caption which reads…  “Here a French soldier was teaching the Afghans how to retreat from the enemy”.

Most of these photos and their descriptions were pretty touching though.  It was a good article and I’ve included the a link where you can download a .pdf file of the article I found online by Clicking Here.  It’s much clearer and easier to read than the scanned .jpg of my print copy.  It’s definitely worth checking out & I bet you chuckle when you get to page 119 too.

French Teach Afghan Soldiers To Retreat

Thanks to American Idol for bringing this guy to national television.  I hope I’m as cool, energetic, and flexible as this guy when I get to be his age.

He’s here to tell the younger generation that they look like a fool with thier pants on the ground.  I’ll be downloading this from iTunes as soon as I can find it.