Kiva Surprise

One of the fun things about Kiva is that nice little surprise of, "Your loan has been repaid!"  My last loan was made to a lady in Senegal who, instead of repaying in increments, repaid in one lump sum at the end of the lending period.

So I went back online to find a new borrower.  And there are plenty.

I started simply reviewing the list as Kiva has it sorted.  Then I sorted for women.  You might find it unreasonable that I am only want to lend to women, but empowering women is a big part of the reason that I participate and if you don't like it then you can go online and lend some money to a man.
(Incidentally, my other outstanding Kiva loan is to a man.  I wanted to jump in when Kiva started lending in the U.S. and the women in the program were already fully funded.)

Then I looked at different parts of the world.  My first loan was to a lady in Paraguay and the second was a lady in Samoa.  I found several that appeal to me in Cambodia and settled on a lady named Sophat.  Her husband is a teacher and she tends to their farm, planting vegetables to sell for a profit.  Her loan is for the purpose of purchasing a hand tractor to plow the land.

If you are interested in the work Kiva is doing, please visit the website.

P.S.  In the time it took me to write this blog, Sophat was fully funded!

First Groupon

I joined Groupon a few months ago, and just made my first purchase.  At lunch today, a friend asked me about the process, so I figured I ought to write about it.

Prologue:

You register at the website.  Then Groupon informs you, by e-mail, of deals with businesses in the area.  You can also search the website if you are looking for something in particular.  It seems to me that many of the best ones are for restaurants and other personal services.

Chapter 1:

I received an e-mail saying that Asha Salon and Spa has an offer.  One hour massage and half hour facial for $82.

Sold.

Asha is not my regular place by any stretch.  It is a very nice Aveda establishment, but rather pricey for my needs.  This deal was basically 50% off.  The catch with Groupon is that you pay for the service up front.  So there was no way I was waiting more than a billing cycle for my appointments.

After taking my credit card information, Groupon sent me an e-mail with an order number and redemption code.  It had a link to redeem it and was also printable.

Chapter 2:

I remembered that Asha is in Schaumburg, by my office (which is how I found it).  I hate staying in Schaumburg after work, so it was either drive out there on Saturday (rolls eyes) or take a half day off.

I chose the latter.

I went online to redeem the Groupon.  The instructions were specific that the appointment had to be made online - no phone calls to the salon.  Weird.  And worse, the website wasn't working for me.  I logged back on later and it was fine - I think it had something to do with the pop up menus.

Asha's web site asked me to pick three dates and times and they got back to me with which worked, and then I had to confirm the appointment.  All set.

Chapter 3:

I arrived 15 minutes early, per the instructions.  I was helped right away and led to the dressing room.  I had just stepped out the door when the aesthetician came for me.  Both appointments were great.  No one made me like less-than-a-full-fare-client, which I think is important.  (The travel industry hasn't picked up on that trick yet.)

When I checked out, the lady at the register asked for my Groupon certificate.  And that was it.  Pleasure doing business with you.

Note:  Tipping etiquette says that we should base our gratuity of the full price of the service, not the Groupon price.  I was familiar with the practice, but appreciated the reminder from Groupon.  However, by the time I got to the appointment, I had forgotten the full prices.  I knew the total was 50% off, but hadn't remember how much was for which service.  I may have skimped on someone.  Will know better next time.

Final Analysis:

I will certainly use Groupon's service again if the deal is right.  But I am still not inclined to go trolling the website searching for it.

I Love Patch.com

Patch.com is the best thing ever.  The Winnetka-Glencoe Patch just did a profile of Rich Weiner, the Executive Director at a Refuge for Saving the Wildlife, where I have volunteered for so long I don’t even remember.

And here is a link to the article.

How to Contribute without Spending a Dime

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about “donor fatigue”, which dictionary.com defines as, “a general weariness and diminished public response to requests for aid to needy people or donations to charitable causes”.

Between the natural disasters and the puppy mill raids and the increased need for services in this economy, it is easy to see how people might start to grow weary of the concept of “giving”.

The other day, Jacqueline, who blogs at 365 Give, reminded me that there are several ways to “contribute” online without shelling out the cash.  She pointed me to Click to Give, a website that supports six charities in different areas of need.  The concept is that all we need do is click a link, and the site’s advertisers make a small donation to the cause.  Clicking through the six links for the six causes doesn’t take much time, even when I am conscientious about looking at the advertisements.

The Greater Good Network is a group of websites that does similar work.  They have a “click to give” program as well as merchandise sales that support charitable causes, include many Fair Trade items that I am flagging for the holiday season.   According to their website, in 2010 they contributed over $400,000 to the Petfinder Foundation alone.  Not an animal lover?  They also contributed $579,000 to the National breast Cancer Foundation.

Finally, if you really enjoy wasting time on the internet, Free Rice is a website that has games to make charitable contributions.  There are six subject areas (when did they add Literature?!) with multiple choice trivia questions.  For each question that you answer correctly, 10 grains of rice are donated by advertisers.  That doesn’t sound like much, but I have cleared 600 grains just while fooling around for this post!

So if you are like me and spend too much time online, please visit these sites. Every click counts!

Also posted to Glenview Patch.

Adopting the Puppy

As I mentioned, we went nine days without a dog before we cracked.

As a rescue volunteer (albeit with exotic parrots), I am committed to pet adoption. I also understand that my home is not the best for every dog. What with the cat and an African Grey parrot. Not every dog can manage with other pets.

There is also a question of adopting a puppy or an adult dog. There are pros and cons with both. We just went through end-of-life with a senior dog, so I hope you won’t judge me for wanting a younger dog, but I have also had great experiences with adopting an adult that was already housetrained and could adapt quickly to my home environment.

I went to the Internet. Petfinder.com is a great website that pulls together information on adoptable animals from shelters across the country. It allows searches by type of animal (cat, dog, bird, etc.), size, approximate age and even breed. There are profiles on the available pets including any information the rescue has gathered (like whether a dog is known to be good with kids) and pictures. Most also have links to the rescue’s website.

I talked with two different rescues about different dogs and decided to go with Wright Way Rescue, which has an adoption center in Niles. Wright Way rescues dogs and cats from downstate shelters with very high euthanasia rates, including an awful lot of puppies.

The process was interesting. I put in my online application right away. Many rescues, including the one where I volunteer, ask people to complete the application before meeting the animal. This is particularly prevalent in rescues where pets are primarily in foster care, or don’t have open hours for the public to visit. I know it turns off some people, but I also understand why it is a good idea for some rescues.

In Wright Way’s case, the dogs are driven to Niles from downstate, so they look for some reasonable reassurance that a family is serious before putting the animal through the trip. However, the benefit offered in exchange is that Wright Way offers the option to “reserve” a dog or cat – meaning they will hold the pet for you while you are waiting for an appointment to meet. In my case, I reserved a puppy a week ago that wasn’t yet available because he was too young.

On the day of the appointment, Wright Way asks for a good 60-90 minutes of your time in order to meet the pet and go through their orientation video, with time for questions. In my case, the questions were about crate training, which I have never done before. They also have a supply shop onsite, with proceeds going to support rescue efforts. It is worth noting that Wright Way has lost the lease on their building in Niles and is raising funds to purchase a permanent facility.

At the end of the appointment, I had adopted the puppy.

There are lots and lots of rescues out there doing great work. There is a huge need for volunteers, fundraisers and foster homes. And I hope you will consider pet adoption as your first option.

Adapted Post for Patch.com

The Facebook Badge

So.  Over there on the right.  The parrot rescue where I volunteer has upgraded to an organization page on Facebook.  There isn't much content there now, but I expect the Merry Band of Internet Addicts will be pulling together soon to make it interesting.

Back in the day, I meant to make a habit of profiling adoptable birds on my blog.  Like, blog a story about one every week when I came home from the rescue.  Obviously, it didn't happen.  I hope to use Facebook for more things like that.

24 hours after launch, and we have 11 Likes.  Better get to work.

Architects of Change

In one of the many, many articles about the separation of the Schwarzeneggers, there was mention of the website Maria Shriver launched to talk about things that matter to her.  I hadn't heard of it before, so I clicked over.  Links to her books, links to her causes, links to her social media avenues.  And the blog.

It isn't just Shriver writing, but she authored a recent entry about the Situation Room Photo.  You know the one.  I remember when I saw the shot, my first thought was:

That's not what the Situation Room looked like on The West Wing.

And my second thought was:

Isn't is it cool that the President isn't the Center of the Universe here?  

Shriver posted her thoughts on that.

I like her.  I realize that she is a public person and we're all going to speculate about what happened in her marriage.  But while I am doing that, I think I will also read her blog.

The $1 Movement

Vonate.org is another organization attempting to Harness the Power of the Internet (or something) in order to do some good. The mission is:

"To socially enable change in the world with one individual and one dollar at a time."

Taking from the idea "if we all gave one dollar", Vonate picks a couple of worthy organizations each month and member pick which to send $1. One becomes a member by registering online and paying the $15 fee ($1 per month for a year plus $3 to support Vonate's expenses.)

So here I am thinking, "This is cool, but am I overextending? Shouldn't I be focused on the places where I volunteer?" I was going to discuss it with my mother, but her response would be, "I don't even want to talk to you about $15."

So I signed up. Then I went to look at the two organizations for the month of April.

This is how they get you. How do you choose between The Starlight Children's Foundation and the Walkabout Foundation?


Anne's Answer:

You flip a coin. Then blog about both.

Look me up if you decide to join. My profile is here.

Crowdrise

As I have become more active volunteering, I am more aware of how much time, effort and money are required to keep charitable organizations going. I am not good at this fundraising stuff – this asking for money.

At the same time, my family has gotten better at charitable giving. My grandfather in particular has made an effort to make Christmas less commercial. When, for my birthday, I asked for dontaions to the Refuge, he was very happy to contribute. But two things went wrong:

1. Whatever P.O. Box my mother sent him was no longer active; and
2. The Refuge, as an all-volunteer organization, isn’t exactly speedy in acknowledging gifts.

Such that, if not for the first problem, I wouldn’t have know the gift existed. Enter a new tool:

Crowdrise.com is a website that is part social networking and part fundraising tool. I can set up all of the groups that I support and point people to it if they would like to sponsor the efforts. This is particularly awesome for me because I rarely have an event like a walk/run (although the Refuge is trying to pull one together for this year) or a food drive as an excuse to spread the word around. Crowdrise spotlights the efforts of the average volunteer. They also run contests and have some kind of point system for the competitive people. So that’s fun.
I like that one can use a credit card to make a donation, and get immediate documentation.  And I as the participant can also record donations that I receive offline.

I set up my page, which you can find here. I have some more building out to do, but I think this is a good start. If you are using it, please let me know so I can check out your profile!

Shout Out for Project Linus

William, who blogs at Philanthropy in Motion, took the lead from Carlo Garcia and is writing about daily donations to worthy organizations.  His angle is a bit different.  First, his focus is primarily on children's charities.  Second, he takes inspiration from the honorary days (and months) celebrating different causes.

He posted today about Project Linus, in honor of Stress Awareness Month.  Check him out!

Putt's Pet Portraits

My mom's friend Miss Gayle is a semi-professional artist specializing in pets.  She just launched a website

http://puttspetportraits.weebly.com/

so I thought I would give her a Shout Out.  This is the piece she did several years ago of my Late Great Dog Dallas:

It is particularly precious to me because Dallas died far too young and I don't have many pictures of her at all.  It is painted on a wooden plaque from a digital picture that my mother, Kay, took and e-mailed to her.

Side Note:  Kay wants you to know that you will not find this work featured on the web site because it was Miss Gayle's First Commissioned Portrait.  Christmas of 2004, I believe it was.  As though I should put it in a vault to sell when she hits the Big Time.

As if I would ever sell a portrait of my dog!

I think the better point there is that if you think this is good, you know that six years later her work is even better.  Now if only Kiwi the Grey would sit still for five seconds...

Blogging Communities

I like Blogging Communities, because that's where you find..you know..people that like the same stuff that you do.  Since Thirty Something Bloggers seems to have gone inactive and Chicago Bloggers seems to have disappeared off the face of the Earth, I started looking around.  I have an account with Blogher, but that community is a bit..intimidating.

Miss Busy pointed me to Book Bloggers.  I can't really call myself a "Book Blogger", since I write about lots of other goofy stuff.  But several of the people on Booking Through Thursday participate, so I signed up.  Badge to the right.

The Grand Re-Opening

I was just getting ready to post about the re-opening of the Library - Saturday, 1pm - when the director of the Used Book Store sent me a link to an article.  Patch.com is a website that does local news and Glenview has its own page.  They wrote us up as The Best Used Books in town.  (Never mind that I am pretty sure we are the only used book store in town.)

So.  The Library.  Here is the invitation from the website:

I don't normally join in to the Happy-Joy-Community-Spirit stuff, (and I have no idea how many people are actually going to show up) but I actually worked for this one so I am all there. 

Being Thankful

This morning, my friend Maile was posting on Facebook about being grateful.  Then, the Trib linked to this blog on Chicago Now that has the same daily theme.   The author, Jennifer Fernicola Ronay, just wrote about 8 Reasons to Look Forward to Fall.

I agree with every one of them.  But just to be participating, I'd better find three reasons to be grateful, too.

I have said before that except for those few horrible weeks in late winter, I don't actively wish for seasons to change.  I generally appreciate them all.  I can be grateful for that.

The bright side of the latest library delay is that now, those three weeks that I was going to miss for work-related reasons don't matter.  Grateful.

It is only Sunday and I am not working again until Wednesday.

Sassy: Where Are They Now?

After finishing Season Two of True Blood, I went back to my DVDs of Daria: The Complete Series.  I am on the one where Daria meets Val, the magazine editor.  The episode is poking fun at Jane Pratt, founder of the long lost Gen X magazines Sassy and Jane.  Now, Jane sorta lost me before leaving Jane, if you follow that.  Actually, the entire magazine industry, save Vanity Fair, lost me around then.  But as I loved her once, I wondered what Jane is doing now, so I hit Pause and Googled.  She is on Sirius Radio.  But what's this?

http://www.janepratt.com/

She is launching a web site of some sort.  Cool.  'Cause I don't do talk radio.

Then I thought about a couple of other names from the old Sassy days.  It seems Christina Kelly launched a blog about five minutes ago.  And Karen Catchpole has a web site chronicling her chuck-it-all-five-year-roadtrip.

Just in case you were interested.  Now I'm going back to Daria.

Austin

My friend Austin is a Cancer survivor.  Several years ago, in the thick of treatment, he started using the blog tool at Carepages, a great website for patient outreach.  It was a way for him to express himself in a safe forum, as well as keeping his friends and family up to date on his progress.  The posts tapered off as his active treatment wound down.

But he still has stuff to say, so he started up a page on Blogger.  And stalled out.  But he was still writing and even participating in local readings.  Every once in a while, he would write something and post it on the Notes app in Facebook.  And every time, I would be all:

Dooooooode......you have a real blog.  Why are you tooling around on the Facebook???

And now he is back on Blogger and I am plugging him so he will be forced to keep up the thing.  Thank you for your attention.

Maile

Three weeks ago, Maile, a friend from high school, posted a rather cryptic Facebook update. Then a rather shocking link: an Amber Alert on her son, Max. He was last seen with his dad, Conrad, on his way to school that Friday morning. She was afraid that Conrad was suicidal, but didn’t believe that he would hurt Max. Nonetheless, they were missing. She asked us to spread the word.

It went out like wildfire. We all posted it in our updates and those of us that have blogs posted there, also. Within a few hours, we had word. Her Facebook update read:

thanks to all. they are dead.

Their car was found at the bottom of a ravine.

Of course, there are no words. We all know there are no words. But Maile is a writer. Certainly at heart and sometimes by trade – the link to the left is the book she wrote a couple of years ago. So the first time I “spoke” to her, it was to offer condolences. Pretty weak since I hadn’t met her husband or her son. I haven’t seen her since high school. In the second note, I said that I enjoyed the stories about Max on her blog and I hoped she would keep writing.

She didn’t need me to tell her.

She has been posting nearly every day. It is raw and honest and vivid and heartbreaking. Like the day before the interment, she said:

“…Like I’m heading toward a terrible, long-lasting catharsis, like I’m falling off a cliff and it’s such a long way down I can look down and think, “Wow . . . this is really going to hurt.” And I’m stuck in that terrifying freefall, but it’s slow, a slow fall every day. Just a little further down, a little closer to the bottom, a little worse. And while everyone tells me how brave I am, the fear accompanying the part of me spiraling downhill grows each day.”

Maile’s blog feels a bit like reading The Year of Magical Thinking – in real time. In Didion’s book, we know that she survived. We know that things got worse before they ever got better. We know that now. I imagine that it is like living in a fog in that there moments when it is so thick you are afraid to move and moments when it breaks up and you can see things very clearly. And maybe breathe.

Maile felt, feels, all sorts of people reaching out to her. Some, like Lara, physically going to be with her. Some, like me, on the WiFi and cheering her on every day. She made this observation:

“We lose touch with people so easily when things are the status quo. When they’re shaken up, it’s like a jar of jelly beans, and suddenly I’m right up next to someone that I wasn’t close to at all before.”
I don’t know how long it takes. I don’t think she will ever be, or should ever be the same again. But I know this person, this lady writing her way through it, impresses the hell out of me and I am proud to know her.

So why am I telling you this? First, because it’s been sitting in my head for three weeks. Second, because I think you should read this blog. But also, I wanted to write down before God and my mother that Facebook can do some profound things. When you ask it nicely. (Now go fix your Privacy Settings.)

Student Microloans

I was watching that episode of Community that utter_scoundrel recommended on hulu.com and saw a commercial for vittana.org.   It said that a young woman in Peru could pursue her dream with a college education if she had the $700 for tuition.  I looked it up and found an article from 2009 in the New York Times:

"It uses a model similar to that of Kiva.org, a nonprofit organization that funnels loans to individual borrowers through microfinance institutions. The method is to solicit individual lenders for money that will back loans to young adults seeking college educations."

So I went to Vittana's website.  And while the organization's partners are a bit more faith-based than the groups that I generally support, they seem to have their act together.  I can contribute to that.

P.S.  Community was pretty funny.  But that Chevy Chase character...

Monetizing

I am home from Seattle and really tired and feel like I should write something, but I have nothing to say.  So I am looking at Blogger and see that they are partnered with Amazon.com to allow for some monetizing on my little blog.  There is even a tab called "Monetize" on the Blogger dashboard.  So I start fooling around with it.  Then I set up an account.  They have a tool in the Posting that allows a search for an Amazon product.  Pretty cool.  So when I post my 50 Book Challenge stuff, I can use this feature and it is way faster than copying images over from Librarything or wherever.  And if someone happens to click and purchase, there is some kind of commission.

When I set up this blog, I said that if my Google Ads ever made any money, I would donate the proceeds to the two places where I volunteer: the parrot rescue and Friends of the Glenview Library.  I will do the same if Amazon ever sends me cash.  In the 2+ years I have been writing here, I think I have about 20 bucks banked from those Google Ad clicks.  Google doesn't pay up until I reach $100.

So here I am testing...Ragtime.  Last book I read.  Hm.  Not as easy to move as a picture.  I wonder if I can use this in What I'm Reading Now.  Going to check.

Custom Trail Mix

A few weeks ago, at my neighborhood Fresh Market, I was in the bulk food section and saw an interesting trail mix. It involved dried cherries, pistachios and cashews. I bought a container.


I loved it so much that the next day I went back and bought another container. And then my mother discovered it, too. This was going to get expensive. Then I remembered nutsonline.com, the website from which I order almonds and pine nuts for Kiwi the Grey. I wondered if they had something comparable.

Boy, did they. It’s called Custom Trail Mix.

Basically, you can take your pick of all of the stuff they sell and have them mix it together in a five pound bag. How much stuff is that? Example:

There are 11 kinds of nuts listed, plus a “mixed nuts” option. I clicked on “Almonds”. There are more than 45 options listed just under almonds. Prices vary depending on the items you choose.  I picked:

2 parts dried bing cherries

1 part dried cranberries

1 part roasted, salted pistachios

1 part roasted, salted cashews

1 part mixed nuts

As always, the order processed quickly. Once it arrived, we filled an airtight container, then put the rest of the bag in the freezer. So far, I am very pleased.

It should be noted that in the end (meaning, after I paid shipping), this was more expensive than buying five pounds of the original trail mix in the store. But seriously. Custom trail mix.