The target market for my book was intended to be people over the age of 25 or so. It looks like my marketing plan will need to be adjusted a bit, in order to accommodate the growing need for 7-year-olds to Escape Adulthood. That's right, second graders. A recent article by Dave Murphy of the San Francisco Chronicle highlights the growing problem of parents pushing their children to excel. Apparently, adults have so direly messed up their own lives with hectic schedules, unrealistic expectations and catering to peer pressure, that they are passing Adultitis on to their children. …
Maintain Perspective
An Extraordinary Wish
How cool is this: The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Wisconsin has a wish child with an extraordinary wish. He wishes to train and participate in a large charitable bike ride to raise money for cancer research so other children do not have to go through what he has. David will be raising funds for the Lance Armstrong Foundation and riding in its Ride for the Roses in October. In preparation for his participation in the event, he is participating in two training rides. …
Childhood Vegas
Last November, Kim and I got to fulfill our Wishgranting duties through the Make-A-Wish Foundation® by helping to arrange a party at Chuck E. Cheese's for a cool little boy named Gabe. I hadn't been to a Chuck E. Cheese since I was a kid when it was called Showbiz Pizza. The gyrating musical robots have lost a bit of their luster since I've grown about three feet, but it IS still the Vegas of childhood. As usual, Kim and I got to take a disproportionate amount of the credit as far as the wish is concerned, as the people back in the office do all the "heavy lifting." It's just such a cool thing …
Introducing Shington
I've known Hal since he was five. I've seen him grow up – really up. I've kept up to date on his progress in school and have had some of his drawings on my fridge at home. I've read letters from him, telling me what he got for Christmas, and how he enjoys playing soccer. Hal has been a part of my life for over seven years now. But I've never met him. …
Looking On The Bright Side Of A Bad Ecomomy
Well, the Lemonade Stand was down the entire month of March due to "technical difficulties." But it is back online and fully functional, so I don't I have to move to Haiti now to live out the rest of my days as a recluse away from technology. Good news for Kim, I think. It turns out that March was probably the best time for it to be down if it had to be, what with everybody glued to Fox News, or CNN, or what have you. Hopefully with the worst of the war behind us, the economy will rebound and we can get out of this three-year tailspin. I started this company just as the economy began it's …
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Of Tests and Technology
I love technology. Especially cool gadgets like the new computer I'm waiting patiently for FedEx to bring me. ( http://www.apple.com/imac ) But sometimes technology can cause me to want to throw things out the window and scream like a school girl who's just seen a daddy longlegs. I have been going back and forth with tech support for the past three weeks (it seems like three million), trying to get The Lemonade Stand back online. I'm pretty good with certain technological things, but this issue has been completely over my head, and I'm at the mercy of said tech support. Through many fits of …
A New Year, A New Perspective
Well, it's nice to be through with 2002. Not that there was anything horribly wrong with it, although I spent an unwelcome amount of the final days near the toilet compliments of the flu. As you shuffle that to the "Too Much Information" file, I'll move on. We did fall short of some of our goals for last year, which can get one down and cause one to ask oneself, "Were we too unrealistic?", "Am I a horrible leader?" or "Should we have sprung for that Super Bowl commercial?" Being ever the optimist (I'm a Cubs fan), I have decided to learn from last year and look ahead enthusiastically to the …
The Egg and the Tadpole
"That's pretty neat." Those were the words of my niece when she heard over the phone from my brother that she was officially a brand new big sister. Hours later, as I held Kerrigan Helena for the first time and inspected her tiny eyelashes, I said the same thing. My profession is creative in nature. In fact, that's my favorite part of what I do. That's what enthralled me so about the Star Wars movies as a kid, and even more so as an adult - the enormous amount of creativity unleashed to make that universe come alive. The worlds, the characters, the story, the minute details of props and sets; …