October 2007

Thursday, Oct 4 2007 in Boston was a warm day. For me it was a busy day that started with a plumber knocking on my door at 7:30 AM. It was supposed to be an hour long appointment to clean and check our 50+ year old furnace in our new (to us) house. Of course this went 3x longer then it was supposed to, involved at least 4 people (I’m not sure - we saw at least 3 trucks come and go) and cost me 2x as much as the estimate.

Sigh.

I rushed in to work and managed to prepare a shipment of samples that had to be in Chicago the following morning, and then dashed out to Waltham to look into an imaging system that we are considering adding to the lab. That went a half hour longer than I had wanted, which meant I would not be making it to Boston Common for 5 PM as planned.

We arrived to the Millennium registration tent around 5:45 and signed up for everything, receiving a laundry load of T-shirts in the process, and our balloons. They gave out two colours: red ones for those who had friends/relatives battling cancer, and white ones for cancer survivors. Some of the members on my team carried white balloons - I had no idea what to say to them, so I’ll say it here: I am so glad that you are here with us. I like the term ’survivor’, because cancer is a disaster, albeit one that happens in slow motion that we can do something about.

The balloons had lights inside of them, so that as dusk fell to dark in Boston Common the park was filled with thousands of floating red and white lights. A beautiful site indeed.

Ok - so how about some totals? We raised $1572, just shy of my $1727 goal $1727 thanks to a final large push donation to put me over the top.

Well, at the top.

Whatever.

I’d originally set a goal of $1027, but I blew past that in 3 days so I figured with over a week left I could try for something a little higher - I’m glad that I did! About 98% of that online through this site (you can still donate there if you wish). My team (Millennium Pharma) raised ~$20,000 (and I suspect gave more, as they were the main sponsor of the Boston event), and the Boston Common event as a whole raised ~$310,000 (they were shooting for $400K). Every donation, no matter the size, goes towards that number - so thank-you to everyone who gave. You are part of the search for a cure, you are part of making those who are facing cancer more comfortable in their fight, and you are a part of educating our society about leukemia and lymphoma.

The rest of the story I will tell with photos:

A view of the field while it was still light outside.

Dusk falls on the Boston Common Light the Night Walk

One of the obstructed view seats. No complaints from him - there were plenty of treats at the sign-in desk to compensate.

The balloon for my sister. At the end of the walk I cut the string and let it fly away into the night so that she could see it from Vancouver. A poetic thought, but luckily we have this technology so that she can really see it.

Starting line.

Walk underway.

My family along for the walk - Barb and Tyler.

Me and Tyler pose mid-walk.

I’d planned to get more night-time photos. Unfortunately, my photography skills/equipment aren’t exactly top-notch. This was about the best of the lot. This shot is about 2/3rds of the way through the walk.

Ok - that’s about it. Thanks again for your support, and thanks to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for organizing such a great event to battle such a nasty disease.

Inspired by the contest over at Problogger.net, I want to share some of my experience. I’ve been blogging for approximately 3 years now, here are a few things I learned -

1) Write what you know. Just starting up a blog to make money may work for some, but I know it wouldn’t work for me. Blogging is a pleasure, not a job. There are plenty of corporate blogs staffed by journeyman writers being paid to write about stuff they don’t know. You can recognize them on the spot - if you are like me you move on before you are halfway through the first paragraph.

2) Lower your expectations on ‘blog income’. I make a modest income from my blogs, enough to pay for things like trips or tickets to Red Sox games (go Sox!) but definitely not enough to quit my main line of work. Since I don’t depend on the day-to-day income to feed my family or put a roof over my head, I don’t get stressed about things like traffic and page ranking. I don’t want to be stressed about something I take pleasure from.

3) Become part of an on-line community. Blogging is an easy access hobby. If you have a computer and an internet connection, you’ve paid all of the access fees you have to pay. The technology is push-button stuff now, anyone can blog if they wish. On-line communities are not terribly different from real world relationships. Be courteous, apologize when your not, and make as many friends/connections as you are wired for. Being part of a community means linking into other people’s work, or at the very least mentioning their names now and again! Comment sections are a great way to keep a discussion running amongst dozens of people across multiple time zones and life schedules.

4) Make efforts to connect face-to-face with members of that community. Ok, not really a blogging tip, but it will actually keep your desire to blog alive. The blogscape is littered with blogs that were started with enthusiasm and then quickly abandoned. Non-virtual connections (I won’t say ‘real’ since despite the actual defination, virtual relations are real relationships) are important for keeping your interest. It is how we are wired - we want to interact with friends.

5) Blogging is writing. A lot of blogs run on bullet points and very short observations. For a few moments distraction, these do the job. The ones that keep my attention are the blogs that stick to writing standards that were taught to all of us or that the more talented (e.g. not me!) writers somehow draw upon naturally. Make no mistake - being a good writer is work for everyone. How do you get to blog about Carnegie Hall? Practice, man, practice.

Mom (Grandma) and Dad (Grandpa) Staley are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year, so all the kids and grandkids gathered in Venice, FL to help celebrate.

 

The Whole Clan

One More

Grandpa, Grandma and the two big grandkids

 

The littlest one puts in an appearance

 

The cake doesn’t quite make it into the picture, but it’s the best pic of Grandma and Grandpa!

 

Quality cousin together time on their Leapsters!