AN EXPERIMENTAL LIFE
One way of giving on behalf of colleagues and other professionals during the Holidays, is to give something related to their field of endeavour. For instance, for a training and education professional, you might give on their behalf to a school in Cambodia. Organizations like globalgiving.org and givemeaning.org make it easy to target a sector of charity (medicine, education, justice and human … [Read more...]
This is an excerpted letter of response I wrote to the COO of globalgiving.org -- she'd written to thank me for participation, mention some web traffic coming from my site, and ask how I'd learned of their organization. I responded to explain how, personally, I select the charities that suit my interests. Hi Donna, Here's the deal: It was a process. Like many people, I've gone years wanting … [Read more...]
I'm not political. But recently, I sent letters to each of my senators, and the representative for my district. This is an example of one such letter: Representative Fallin, I've lived in your district for about three years, but I'm less familiar with your work than I'd like to be; I'm writing to find out what you're doing about two things in particular - Sudan and Burma. And I'd like to urge … [Read more...]
For now, anyway. They fixed the power on my street this evening, so we're finally off the generator and can turn on all the lights. We took quite a hit - this area lost so many old trees, literally ripped out of the ground in some cases, by the ice storm - it was a mini Tunguska. Oklahoma gets hit with an ice storm usually every December and February, because it's not cold enough for the water … [Read more...]
I bought a memory foam mattress and built a platform bed. Instead of getting one of those expensive mattresses, I got one on ebay - instead of the 3 parts (memory foam, medium foam rubber, firm foam rubber) being fused, we just put them in a mattress cover. Savings over $1000. I paid less than $300 for the queen. The nice thing about this stuff is it's exactly the same stuff in the high end … [Read more...]
Instead of gift cards this year, consider giving a charitable donation in the name of each recipient to kiva.org or oxfam.org. With kiva, you can print the photo and information about the recipient (and it will indeed be that exact person who receives your help) - it makes a wonderful card insert, and they will actually see your profile next to the person you helped when they go to the site. With … [Read more...]
Kiva is one of my new charities. [Global Giving], Give Meaning, and Oxfam are the others. Except Kiva is not a charity, not really. It's a way each of us can loan a small amount - $25 - and the amounts are pooled into a microloan to someone trying to pull themselves out of poverty or improve their situation by entrepreneurship. A lot of these businesses are already solid, growing concerns, that … [Read more...]
My garage needed to be a workshop. After all, if I'm going to be doing all this work on the house, I've got to have a command center from which to make it happen. I invested in a table top mitre saw (mounted it on an old microwave cart), a portable table saw, cordless power drills (one for shooting screws, one for drilling holes), and I decided I need shelves. Plus, the garage was just studs. So I … [Read more...]
The bathroom had only a pair of flourescent shop lights on either side of a really long school bathroom mirror (you know, just a piece of mirror glass screwed to the wall). There was a hole in the wall where an old light fixture once was, over the mirror, no bathroom fan, and a dismal vanity with water damage. The drawers and cabinet door someone added to the former water heater closet (could one … [Read more...]
The former add-on closet had been added back when the previous home owner got her first washing machine or dryer (maybe in the 1960s?). The closet isn't the best construction, but it's secure enough for the patio room. The main problem is that the separate roof for that closet leaked when we moved in. The closet roof just doesn't have enough pitch to it. It was almost flat, so I have to bring … [Read more...]
We have this really long "room" that runs the length of the house, because it's really the back patio, and they built a room around it. The floor is the cheapest, vomit-colored lineoleum tile (the kind you see in old elementary schools) that's been held down with a red concrete sealant. The dog peed out there a lot when we moved in, and soon the ammonia interacted with the sealant, and up came … [Read more...]
I can't stand the slimy, wet look of the dark stained kitchen cabinets. Add to that bubble-gum pink counter tile ringed with chocolate brown bullnose tiles, and dingy white walls, and it's just hideous. The cabinet doors are good old birch plywood with fur-core, from the days when plywood was sturdier and made w. hardwood cores. I sanded the cabinet frames and drawers (under the … [Read more...]
Radio Transcript Host: Daniel DiGriz Guest: Batman DiGriz: We're back with tonight's guest, the unmistakeable and always enigmatic Batman. <applause> DiGriz: So... what's the deal with this whole bat thing. Why not Aardvark Man or Gopher Man or Koala Man? Why bats, specifically? Batman: I... you're making fun of me. DiGriz: No, no, I'm not. I … [Read more...]
Radio Transcript Host: Daniel DiGriz Guest: Jason Voorhees DiGriz: OK, our next guest is Jason Voorhees. You may know him simply as Jason, notably from his work at Camp Lake Crystal, his tour of Manhattan, and his well publicized recent fight with Freddy Kreuger. <applause> DiGriz: So, Jason, welcome back. <audience laughter> Jason: It's … [Read more...]
New Futures orphanage in Cambodia [some more info]. Dazzline Stone School in Chennai, India [more ]. Warm Hearth orphanage and group home in Armenia [ more]. Others of our brothers, the poor. globalgiving.org and givemeaning.org: Promoting direct giving to the exceedingly poor kiva.org: Promoting direct, responsible microloans to raise the working poor out of poverty oxfam.org: … [Read more...]
Teach us to be responsible for one another. Enrich us with opportunities for compassion. Demonstrate for us the basic dignity of human survival. The poor are the orphan, the widow, the neglected, the enslaved, the kidnapped, the tortured, the trafficked, the impoverished, the abandoned and alone, the sick, the imprisoned, the immigrant (the stranger), and all who anywhere suffer or are in … [Read more...]
“Money is good for a few things: protect your family, liberate the poor, and make more money.” — Daniel DiGriz … [Read more...]
Image via Wikipedia I decided to get a reel mower. You know, the silent ones where horizontally spinning blades cut the grass as you push it. They've changed a lot since the old days. No more lead-weight models. Compared to gas-powered mowers, these are: quieter - the animals don't leave when I mow, and I can do it at any hour safer - you can mow barefoot, and it doesn't fill the air … [Read more...]
