Donation!

I have been listening to WVXU (my local NPR member station) for about a year now. Before WVXU I often listened to nothing in the car.

Now, I'm not sure how I would survive without the station. That is where I get my news-- I do not watch news on television (no cable, and I am not watching local news if I can avoid it), and I do not read the news on the web (I get about 60 items per hour through my feed reader, so I don't need any more). As a direct result of WVXU I have become more political, more aware, more interested, more broadly horizon'd.

They're currently in pledge drive mode, and today was Two-Hour Tuesday. Apparently what this means is that they have two hours (8-10am) where if they make $x, they will stop fundraising for the entire day. Say whaaaaa?

But I'm broke, which has been my defense on this blog as to why I haven't made any philanthropic donations this year. Just as I was getting out of my car this morning, Maryanne Zeleznik said these words: "It doesn't matter if it's $25 or $250... every bit helps."

So I rushed into work, logged on, and spent two minutes and $25. That's what I can afford this time around... maybe during the next pledge drive I can contribute a little bit more.

*hugs her little piece of NPR*

Dump

Lewis gave me a bit of a guilt trip about blogging here. ;) And though I don't expect you to take my word for it, I am not a lazy blogger-- the fact of the matter is, I've been having an unexpectedly hard time with this project and specifically blogging about it. Whenever I do some random act of kindness, I really feel like I would be canceling it out by posting it here. Isn't philanthropy about doing something good without the "hey, look at me" factor? It's something I didn't really consider before starting this project.

But I'm not quitting. I just won't be posting as much minutia as I would have predicted. And to get back on the right track, I finally got rid of my thrift store pile!

For months... and months... and months (well, since January 1st actually, so 4+ months) I have had a growing pile of items that I wanted to give to the Salvation Army. As time wore on the pile grew, and as the pile grew, my motivation to MOVE the pile dwindled. Imagine that. ;)

But my dad, who is one of the best examples of a caring and generous person that I could ever think of, mentioned off hand that he was headed to the Salvation Army to look for something. And dad has a truck. So I piled an entire hallway of stuff into the truck-- if you've ever seen an episode of Clean Sweep, it felt a little like that.


This is small potatoes, but anytime I can give up anything, it is a big deal to me. I am Queen Packrat of the Highest Order-- just ask anyone who knows me. In FACT, here's a bit of a conversation that happened this very morning, to help illustrate my point:

ME: (watching some kid's claymation show about a blue dragon)
DAD: Aw, he reminds me of this little stuffed dragon that you had when you were little.
ME: (running upstairs, returning with the dragon)
DAD: I cannot believe you still have that.
ME: Dad. It's me.
DAD: ...Good point. Not really surprising at all.

And what's interesting to note about this point isn't that I have junk from my pre-walking years, but that I know where all the stuff is. Things, and memories associated with those things, are incredible and tangibly important to me, but I am not the girl with boxes of photos that she has never really looked at. I am the girl with tons of boxes of photos who would notice if a photograph went missing.

Anyway, blah blah blah, enough about me. The point is, I worked really hard to get rid of Stuff. There are tons of clothes in that pile, some of which I still love but never wear. There are more toys from my childhood, knickknacks from around my room, blank journals (*pain*), etc etc etc. And they will make someone very happy. And the Salvation Army, who has supplied me with so many awesome artifacts that god knows I will lug around for the rest of my life (see Catfish Purse, below), will make some money with my Stuff and keep people employed and probably start some crusade against homosexuality that I will eventually have to acknowledge.

More blood from turnips

I know, I know. It's been a while. I have plenty to talk about but I've been out of time lately. Today, however: a mitzvah!

It has been eight weeks since I last donated blood, which means it's time again to bare the ol' arm. But this time I was not alone in my endeavor-- my brother Bradley has been old enough as of January, barely weighs enough, and has been excited to jump on the Year of Philanthropy train.


We've been prepping since yesterday... chugging water and taking iron and whatnot. On the drive to Hoxworth I gave Bradley the run-through of what to expect when we were there.

My appointment was a little earlier than his, so I went first... no problems in screening, even with iron. Yea! And when I got to The Chair, of course there were problems finding a vein. Of course there were. But they called in a woman nicknamed "Radar" who can supposedly always find a vein, and a few awkward squeezes and jabs later, I was all hooked up.

And here's where it gets funny: Bradley wasn't even hooked up until I was already in the middle of my donation, and still almost beat me to being finished. He has been taunting me all day with how he's a better blood donor than I am... but if you've been following this blog at all, you know I'm already the worst in the world anyway, so it pretty much rolled off my back.

So that is two successful blood donations today! And for myself, three this year! Next one should be at the end of June, but I'll make sure to post here before then. ;)

Poll

I've been working really diligently on cleaning out my room. I am a major packrat and accumulate a lot of stuff, and now I have a sizable pile of great-quality, donate-able goods sitting outside my bedroom.

I figured that this weekend I would take it all to the Salvation Army, which I so frequently patronize. However, in the mail yesterday we received one of those "donate to the Vietnam vets" things. So, if anyone is reading this... where should my stuff go?

1. Salvation Army
2. Vietnam veterans
3. Divvy the stuff up

Earth Hour 2008 update

Thank you to everyone who supported Earth Hour 2008! (And, um, to a lesser extent... thanks to the people who sent me disparaging articles about how useless Earth Hour is. That's... awesome.)

I had planned on being at home on Saturday night, but I ended up driving to Columbus and spending time with friends. Those friends, however, were totally down the Earth Hour... they shut down all the computers in the house, all the lights and even their cell phones (we went a little nuts). We played Spades by candlelight for an hour and a half or so, before returning to our regularly scheduled energy-guzzling.

Thank you Jared, EricaB, Mark, Bradley and Bill (who was very confused when he came over around 8)... and to anyone who played along at home!

Earth Hour 2008

I've been amiss with my posts lately, which is unlike me, and I apologize. Things are just a little hectic right now!

But I've been "supporting thrift stores" like crazy lately... which is to say, doing a lot of thrift store shopping. Salvation Army is still my fave, but I hit up Goodwill from time to time, too. And as much as I like the eclectic stuff I come home with, I really do think about the difference it makes to reuse things... these clothes aren't being trashed, they're finding a new home with me. I'm also supporting good causes through both S.A. and Goodwill.

This weekend won't see the giant post I was hoping for, but I do want to at least put the word out about Earth Hour 2008. The basic gist: everyone turns out their lights for one hour (8-9pm) as a statement about climate change. I was introduced to the project through my friend Krystan, and I gave her my word that when March 31st rolled around, I'd shut off my lights proudly.

I'll be out of town, so my friends have agreed to have a "candle party" with me... which is great, because it has suddenly gone from 2 people (me + my brother) to 5 or more people involved with Earth Hour.

Anyone else on board? It's a very simple endeavor...

Vote!

If you're in Ohio (or Texas... or Vermont or Rhode Island...), vote today!

It's not philanthropy so much as civil liberty/responsibility. But that's kind of a buzzkill, isn't it?