01/07/13 - Day 13 - Create A Pepper

Create a pepper!  Yeah!  It sounds weird because it is.  It's for a good cause though and I actually created a beautiful pepper.  Chili's (the restaurant) set up a program on their website so everyone can have a little fun decorating a chili pepper and to share their pepper they must donate at least $2 to St. Jude's Childrens' Hospital.  They have a very lofty goal of 50 million dollars in 10 years.  Chili's is actually donating all their profits on September 24th to St. Jude's so even if you don't go out to eat very often that would be a good day to patronize Chili's.  I am a poor do gooder so I only donated $2.  But something is better than nothing right?  Right.  Here's my pepper by the way:

I call it "Butterfly In The Sky."  Like Reading Rainbow?  Get it.  Yeah.  I'm pretty good.

Create your own:  Create A Pepper

There is another super awesome opportunity on the job front.  A chance to work at a local animal shelter just opened up and I would be absolutely pumped to have a job there.  I love animals.  I love this particular shelter and have visited the animals there numerous times.  It is really an awesome force for good in my community.  I doubt the job would pay very much knowing that it is a small nonprofit organization.  The job description did say full time employment so I hope that would include some type of benefits and steady hours.  It would be great to feel able to make a difference at work every day and to do something I actually believe in.  The amount of days I have gone to work and felt like I actually did something worthwhile totals zero.  That shit has gone on long enough.  Even if this isn't the job I end up with I still feel like that is definitely a new goal I want to follow. 

Money spent so far:  $68.89

01/06/13 - Day 12 - Human rights watch and thank you cards (free)

This was a bit of a recovery day.  I had a super intense birthday party last night and some of the intensity from the party carried over to this morning in the form of a hangover.  Any night where an arm wrestling contest leads to a leg wrestling contest is definitely a good one.  I didn't win either of those contests by the way.  I don't have the type of friends that will let you defeat them in a contest of strength just because it's your birthday.  Honestly I wouldn't want it any other way. 

I decided today to send an email to the president.  I sent this email through the website Human Rights Watch.  I am not really a person that has typically been involved in "causes."  So when I first logged on to the website I wasn't expecting to be instantly moved to action.  I was wrong.  There are so many issues where the United States is woefully behind the times.  Even America's own stated objectives from the past get ignored or forgotten.  Then we are in a situation like what has happened with the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.  If you want to read more about it the website is here:

US Ban Landmines

You don't have to dig very deep into this issue to see it for what it is.  An uncomplicated lapse of action towards a stated objective.

I don't really know if my email is going to spur the president to action.  I doubt very much that the president reads his emails.  If he did he wouldn't get anything else done.  It sort of seems like a sending a message in a bottle.  But if enough people send out enough messages eventually one of them may be answered.  Doing something is always better than doing nothing. 

There is only one part to this anonymous attack of kindness that I felt a little weird about:  the Human Rights Watch website trying to make me an evangelist for their cause.  "Send an email to your friends about this issue."  It makes sense why they would want to do this.  They have someone that just sent an email to the president and this person should also be willing to tell their friends about it.  I just don't want my friends to automatically delete my emails.  Does this make me an asshole?  Maybe.

Today was also another day for writing thank you notes to everyone that gave me a birthday present.  I know my friends and family are going to think I am making up for lost time or something.  I can honestly say that I have never sent thank you cards to people for my birthday.  I'm not sure if it's even something that is expected.  I had some downtime during commercial breaks watching the Ravens destroy my Colts.  I hope I didn't let my disappointment with the outcome of the game shine through on the cards. 

Money spent so far: $66.89

01/05/13 - Day 11 - Sparked on my birthday (free)

Today is my birthday.  I am now 31 years old.  I plan on getting pretty drunk tonight.  When my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said "Jagerbombs, vegetarian chili and cornbread, and friends over to play board games."  So that's what we're going to do tonight.  Pretty awesome.  We asked people not to bring their kids so everyone could get drunk and not leave super early.  I didn't tell people not to give me presents because I always think that's sort of a weird rule.  I honestly don't expect anyone to get me anything but I also don't want anyone to feel like to give me a gift they would have to do so against my wishes.  Hopefully everyone will have fun.  I'm going to try to pace myself and not be drunk in the first five minutes and then ready to pass out after an hour.

I sparked today.  Sparked.com is a website that offers companies, mostly start ups, independents, and nonprofits, a place to get feed back and help.  They bill themselves as social business solutions.  It's a pretty cool website.  I was interested in what they call "micro-volunteering."  Businesses (again mostly charities) post tasks they would like completed.  They encompass a vast range of things but the website narrows it down for you when you build your profile. 

When you first log on to create your profile it asks you to choose "which causes really get your fired up?"  This isn't easy.  I chose animals, poverty, youth, arts, food, and the environment.  Then it asks you "what skills do you have to offer?"  Hmmmm....even harder.  I chose a bunch of things they had listed but my favorite was "brainstorming."  I love brainstorming and when I started looking at all of the tasks people needed help with I was pumped. 

The tasks can be somewhat involved so I just chose to complete one.  I went with someone looking for ideas for a "like drive" for their facebook page.  The organization is called GatherWell and they are trying to help people, through education and different ongoing projects, to live greener lives.  Here is the organization's website:

GatherWell

And their facebook page:  (like them!)

GatherWell on Facebook

After I read what I wrote I was actually pretty impressed with my ability to brainstorm.  Maybe not all of my solutions are going to work but it may generate some even better ideas.  Unfortunately my email couldn't be verified on Sparked.com for some reason.  (I think it's a problem with my email's spam filter or something.)  I just ended up sending it to them over facebook and I got a reply back right away thanking me for my suggestions. 

Good stuff! 

Money spent so far:  $66.89

01/04/13 - Day 10 - Squidoo and found money (free)

Today I squidood.  Or squidooed.  I set up a lens on this site squidoo.com.  It's a pretty cool idea.  Once you have an account you create lenses.  These are little web pages about anything.  It's pretty open to interpretation.  You could write a lens about film critiques, top ten lists, pictures of your kids, personal ramblings, European history, physics, whatever.  I set one up about songwriting.  The reason setting up a lens on this website is a good thing is all royalties earned go to a charity.  You try to make your lens be something that people would want to use.  All the ad revenue generated goes to a charity of your choosing.  (I chose ASPCA.)

Although the website makes it super easy to navigate and set everything up I found the writing of the lens to be pretty tough.  I think I know what it takes to write a song.  Maybe not the best song in the world, but certainly a song that is complete with a beginning, middle, and end.  When I actually started to try and figure out how to put that into words it wasn't so easy. 

What I have so far is listed here:

Wanna write a song?

I don't pretend that it's the best lens ever put on this website but I hope it will generate some "lifetime royalties" for the ASPCA.  If it doesn't do that hopefully it will help an aspiring songwriter get out of writer's block.  As of today it is just a skeleton of a lens.  I'm going to try to expand upon what I know about songwriting and include that in there as I go.  So far so bad.  No visits and no lifetime royalties. 

Awesome random bonus good thing today.  I went to the local dvd rental place tonight.  We had to cancel the satellite tv, so we recently went back to renting dvds like a couple of hobos.  I saw a guy leaving the parking lot as I was entering.  I get out of my car and spot three dollar bills folded up lying right by where the guy was parked.  I'll admit my first thought was "Awesome!  Free movies for me tonight!"  Then I actually got more excited because I could do an extra anonymous kindness attack.  A legitimately anonymous one!  I asked the person working to put the three dollars back on the previous customer's account (it was obvious he was the previous customer because the place was empty except for me.)  Maybe that guy won't even notice that three extra dollars is on his account but I don't care.  It was his and he will get it back so long as he returns the dvds he rented.   

Money spent so far:  $66.89

01/03/13 - Day 9 - Sent Long Lost Friend a Gift

Today was a productive day.  Felt sort of crappy while I was in the middle of it but now towards the end I can say that it was, in fact, quite a productive day.  Woke up with ten minutes to get to work on time and somehow managed to do that.  Left work and picked up a few things.  Got home went for an hour long run. 

I think it was about seven miles or so.  My arms and shoulders started to really hurt while I was running.  Not my legs or my guts.  My arms and shoulders!  We have workout club (weights and strength training) on Wednesday nights so that could explain some of it but still...I need to run more. 

I don't think that finding a long lost friend is that arduous of a task anymore.  With the internet and facebook you can pretty much stay "in touch" with people even if you haven't seen or spoken with them for years.  But of course that's not really staying in touch.  It's more a gossip newsletter.  You can see who got married, divorced, pregnant, moved, fat, bald, old, etc.  I wanted to try to get a little more personal with a friend of mine I haven't seen in nearly five years. 

I actually sang at his wedding and that's the last time I saw him.  I was able to sort of meet his fiance/wife then but not really.  I think I remembered her from high school although she was a year or two younger than me.  My long lost friend is a guy that I was really close with during a super awful time in my life and he really helped me through it.  After I had my head on straight again we didn't hang out as much.  We still talked pretty frequently when I lived closer to him (like in the same state) but once I moved away for college we really lost touch.  We hadn't talked for almost two years when he asked me to sing at his wedding.  I remember saying we needed to stay in touch and now here we are having not spoken five years later. 

I decided in order to rectify the situation I would send him and his wife a gift.  I don't have a lot of money and I know my friend wouldn't want me to spend a lot.  Some people say this but my friend is the type of guy that means it.  So I bought his wife one of those screw-top reusuable washable water bottles.  I know that might seem sort of lame but I don't really know her that well and I figured this way at least I know it's something she can actually use.  It's a pretty decent one.  A name brand from Target.  For my friend I reunited him with a piece of artwork that he had left at my house a long time ago.  He may have never intended for it to even be considered artwork.  It might have just been a doodle.  But I know I held on to it for a long time.  It's probably been hung up in whatever man cave I occupied for the past 13 years.  He's a pretty badass artist and this picture was a little morbid but still pretty cool.  It was a guy that looks like he's being attacked by zombies.  I say "looks like" because the drawing wasn't finished.  It was more of a sketch really.  I sent that and a mix cd of all sorts of awesome songs.  When we were close I would be constantly making him mix tapes or letting him borrow cds and tapes and records.  It might be weird for a 30 year old man to send another 30 year old man a mix cd but I don't really give a fuck.  I think I would love to receive one in the mail so why not send one to my long lost friend?

Money spent so far:  $66.89

01/02/13 - Day 8 - Care Package for Soldier

I think some planning is in order for this project.  Because today I broke the bank, nearly tripling my total money spent in one day.  I have to plan my shit out at least a week in advance so I can budget.  Now is not the time to be spending money I don't have, even if it is on anonymous attacks of kindness.

Before I get to what I spent my money on I have noticed something about myself in that past week.  I have been keenly aware of how nice or not nice I am being to strangers.  I am trying to smile more, be more approachable, and seeking to be more kind in general to the people I see in my every day life.  It seems stupid of me to think that this wouldn't affect my every day actions but I really thought outside of the isolated acts that I had planned that it would not.  It's a good thing I think.  Although I had certainly perfected a sort of grumpy intimidation face.  Hopefully I can adjust that into a more friendly, "kill them with kindness" level of intimidation.  Not sure. 

Today I decided to send a care package to a random soldier serving in Afghanistan.  I did this through AnySoldier.com.  The website was up to date and easy to navigate and they had a lot of awesome letters and pictures from soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that had received care packages.  They also had letters from the soldiers stating what they would like to receive in a care package.  I settled on one that was for a whole section (11 individuals) of airmen and women.  I sent snacks (peanuts, almonds, beef jerky, dried fruit), reading material (magazines and comic books) and deodorant.  I know this doesn't sound like much but it was still pretty expensive for me.  Also I was trying to cater to both the men and the women and what they would like to get from home.  I put a women's health magazine and some women's deodorant but those were the only things exclusively female.  Of course everyone can enjoy the food.  I also enclosed a little thank you note thanking them for their service. 

I am a former Army Reserve soldier but I have never been deployed.  The most time I ever spent away from home was during my BCT/AIT at Ft. Jackson.  I know it has to be hard to be away for that long.  I hope these care packages can bring them a little comfort or take them away from where they are and transport them back home if even for a few minutes.  I know when I was at BCT anything from home (newspaper clippings, pictures, letters) was a relief.  Just to know that life was going on outside of that little place I had been living for the last 3 months.  I imagine that is only magnified knowing that you are separated from home by an ocean.  Oh and you live in a fucking war zone. 

I am ashamed it has taken me this long to send a care package.  I'm happy I did it, even if I did spend too much money. 

Money spent so far:  $55.43

01/01/13 - Day 7 - Designated Driver and Installing Printers (free)

It's now 2013!  Woohoo!  I had the day off today for the holiday.  Awesome!  I predict this is the first and last time I will have completed my random act of kindness this early in the day.  It was so early it was in the previous night which was new year's eve.  I actually was the designated driver for three different people (my wife and her friend and a buddy of mine.)  So there was no drinking for me for new year's eve last night.  I knew there wouldn't really be any drinking for me anyway because my band had a gig that night and there is rarely ever any drinking for me while I'm singing.  Regardless I did have quite a few chances to drink free booze and I rarely turn that down.  I knew the cops would be out in full force so I decided to not even have one drop.  It sucked at the end of the night when people were still hanging around and buying me Jagerbombs and having to refuse.  Being a designated driver really sucks ass.  You basically get to babysit your drunk friends all night.  Listening to drunk people all night is only fun if you're drunk.  Then you drive them all home and hope they don't puke in your car.

I knew that getting my act of kindness completed so early in the morning of the previous night would leave me open for the whole day (no work) without anything to do.  Something did come up.  My mother-in-law had called me the previous day asking for some help with a printer.  I have become her official computer guy.  I don't know how I earned this distinction (my wife knows as much and probably more than I do about computers) but it was a duty I tried to take seriously. 

She messaged me on facebook just as I was getting home from a run asking me if I had received her voicemail from the previous day.  I knew a facebook message was the signal that shit had gotten serious and she needed that printer working right away.  I went ahead and installed her printer software and loaded ink cartridges and loaned usb cables.  Victory!  Two kindness attacks for the day!

Obligatory Admission:  Neither of these were anonymous.  Bummer.  However, I was taking care of family and friends and ringing in the new year in a good way.  Still counts.

Money spent so far:  $19.87