Worthy Cause

Being a former member of the United States Navy and having family members and friends in the military I think the Cell Phones for Soldiers program is a very worthy cause. I also really admire the fact that it was started by teenagers. The link and info about the program are below for anyone who might be interested.

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

About the Program:

Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas in 2007. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers expects to collect 15,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – on average, each phone represents 60 minutes of talk time for our troops.

“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, “with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer. Most people don’t realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers.”

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

“Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show our family’s appreciation for the men and women who have sacrificed the day-to-day contact with their own families to serve in the U.S. armed forces,” says the teens’ father, Bob Bergquist. “Over the past few years, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of others. But, we have also seen the need to support our troops continue to grow as more troops are sent overseas for longer assignments.”

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones with prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.

Junk TV

Well, last night was the finale of Search for the next PussyCat Doll. This show was pretty much a waste of time from the very start and stayed the same with the finale. Despite that, I couldn't help but watch the entire thing. Yeah, I'm lame. Anyway, I'm not happy with the choice. I pretty much knew from the start they'd pick her, and to be honest, out of the 3 that were left she was the better choice. However, based on the clips they allowed us to see she seems like a real bitch and will probably have a hard time getting along with the other members. I guess time will tell. I am certain about one thing though, I will NOT be following what happens with her. Actually, this is all kind of cracking me up because I say I don't care but I'm taking the time to post about it. Hmmm... What the heck does that say about me? OK, OK, I enjoy a little mindless TV now and then. So what? Speaking of mindless TV, I just read that Rosie is leaving The View. You know what I think of that? Goodbye and don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya! I used to soo like Rosie, but she's just too much for me now. I am all for people giving their opinions, but I don't like the way she does it. Now, I don't want to keep being a Debbie Downer so I will say that I admire that she started the Gay Cruise. I think it's fantastic that Gay families can go on a fun vacation and not have to be judged. Other than that, I'm not sure I think she's really done much good.

I am now stepping down and off of my complain box! :)

Have a great hump day!

-C

Happy Monday!

Well, this post is a little late as for most of you it's probably already early Tuesday morning or close to it. Sorry for the lateness! My weekend seemed to just fly by! I swear I leave work on Friday and 5 minutes later the alarm is going off on Monday morning. Some days I sure wish I was independently wealthy!!!! We saw a pretty good movie on Saturday night. It was Hot Fuzz. It had the same main characters from Shaun of the Dead (http://www.shaunofthedeadmovie.com/splash.html) in it. When I first heard about Shaun of the Dead I really didn't even think twice about it, but we rented it when it came on video and it was so funny. Hot Fuzz is just as funny in my opinion. I will say that it would help if you enjoy British movies and humor to like them. I also want to see Disturbia. I'm not usually a fan of scary movies but this one looks good and I like the kid in it who used to be in Even Stevens. Has anyone seen it?

This past weekend was a little quieter than the previous weekend. We decided to go out and party on Saturday night of that weekend to celebrate my birthday early. Holy Mother of God! I am not used to doing that. We got a room in Waikiki so that we could both party and not worry about having to drive home. Let's just say that it took pretty much all we had to get up and drive home the next morning and then we spent all day in bed recovering!!! It was fun but I'm not sure I want to do that very often. ;) Funny how when you are in your 20's you can go out and party, get a couple of hours of sleep, go to work, come home and take a nap, and then go out and do it all again. I'm not sure I'd want those days back, but feeling like crap all day isn't so great either! Do any of you have any funny party or hangover stories?

Hope you all have a Fantastic week!!!

-C

Where has the time gone?

Today is the second day of the last year of my Thirties. I can't believe I'm already 30-freaking-9! It seems like just yesterday that I couldn't wait for my 18th birthday and all of the "freedom" that came with it. Yeah right. Then, I remember that I used to think people who were 21 were so grown up. Frankly, at 18 and 21 I was such a dumbass! It's hard in some ways to admit that but it's true. Hell, some days I still am a dumbass! Anyway, I feel like I'm going to reach a milestone next year and there are things I want to accomplish this year. I don't want to be sitting here typing this on April 19, 2008 and not have accomplished a damned thing! I don't think I'm really ready to put out for public viewing all of my goals, but here's to reaching them!!!!

-C

Perception

OK, so today I got hit with a whammy. I'm sorry that what follows is going to be semi-vague but I need to just get it out with specifics. Perception is a bitch no matter what. Is it really fair to judge someones character based on an incident? Does that mean that a person can be good and do good things 99% of the time and that it's OK for them to be judged on that 1 time that something happened? Especially if the something that happened really had extenuating circumstances? And once someone has a certain perception of you how can you change that? Can you really change it? In my situation I'm going to try my best to change it, but at what point do I just say "f" it, stop beating myself up and move on? I know you can't truly change what others think. You may be able to change your behavior(s) that cause a perception but I don't think you can ever change how someone else thinks about you.

OK, while I'm in a crappy mood I'm want to also add the following:

Dear Mr. Loud Stereo,

I'm sure you enjoy your music in your car. Hell, I like that song too! However, is it really necessary for you to blast it as you are driving down the my street at 2:00 in freaking morning? Seriously, you are shaking my windows! I know that you probably spent a lot of money so that your "system" would do just that, but can you have some consideration for those of us who can't be out partying at 2:00 am on weeknights? I really don't want to be a jerk and call the police on you, but seriously, I'm extremely tired of being woken up by this.

Thanks for your time,

Sleepy and Grumpy in Hawaii