photo by sonofgroucho
Monthly Archive for October, 2008
Page 2 of 2
You know the economy is tanking when even monkeys are picking up side jobs.
Is such “work” exploitive of monkeys? Can a monkey be a consentual employee? What is fair pay for a monkey?
graphic by gi
Success:
To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and
the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find
the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know
even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to
have succeeded!
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve blogged on several occasions about my fondness for Step Up Women’s Network.
Over at Shakeville, I’ve shared Step Up’s successes working with underserved teen girls (90% live below the poverty level) in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City.
You’ve learned about new skills I developed through my volunteering with Step Up.
And I’ve also shared the power of networking via Step Up’s events.
Now’s your chance to get in on the action! If the networking, community service opportunities, and professional mentorship program aren’t enough for you. . .
Join, renew, or upgrade your membership in Los Angeles by October 15th and be entered in a 10th anniversary sweepstakes featuring a variety of prizes valued at over $9000. Same deal if you refer a friend who joins; make sure she puts your name in the referred by box, and you’re entered too.
They’re offering 12 randomly prizes and will randomly select winners for each.
The Sports Club/LA
Get fit with a one-year health membership to The Sports Club/LA in West Los Angeles or Beverly Hills. Recognized as the finest sports and fitness complex in the world, The Sports Club/LA features over 40 different sports and fitness options under one roof. Value: $3,300
Linnea Lenkus Fine Art Portrait Studios
Experience a creative studio portrait session with Los Angeles photographer Linnea Lenkus and receive a 24” x 30” framed portrait. Value: $2,100
Make your skin glow with a signature Ultimate Kate treatment package and Glow Kit from Kate Somerville Skin Health Experts. Value: $635
A stunning MAX&Co. shiny black leather hobo bag with a $300 gift card to splurge at the MAX&Co. boutique located on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, CA. Value: $775
Spa-tacular Package: Accommodations in a deluxe guest room for one night. Choice of 30 minute massage for two guests or 60 minute massage for one guest. Special spa welcome amenity included. Value: $699
Those dreams of an organized closet, pantry or garage will soon be realized thanks to elfa® and The Container Store! elfa® is the premier wire shelving and drawer system and will help you gain control of the clutter in any area of your home or office. Meet with one of our design experts in-store to create a customized storage solution for your home with $500.00 in elfa® products. Value: $500
Tote your laptop computer around in style with the fashionable “Domenica” Laptop Brief by THERESA kathryn. Perfect for travel, the Domenica Bag is smart, sophisticated and sure to turn heads. It includes all the features a woman needs to stay organized. Value: $350
Hotel Angeleno
Set the city of angels aglow with a one-night delux accomodation at the Hotel Angeleno including dinner for two at WEST. Value: $400
Pamper yourself with an anti-aging Iduna Signature “Golden Veil Facial” and a basket of skin products. Value: $300
Enjoy a private S Factor class for you and 10 girlfriends. Learn a groundbreaking movement technique that will help you discover a great new way to workout and an inspiring body attitude. Value: $550
Tiffany & Co.
Dazzle in a gorgeous pair of silver earrings, accompanied by a classic Tiffany crystal box. $450
The Los Angeles Conservancy’s award-winning tours explore the historic architecture and history of the city of Los Angeles. Enjoy a private 2 ½ hour walking tour of the city for a group of friends led by knowledgeable, enthusiastic docent. Value: $150
Note: 90% of dues are tax deductible!
The fine print:
*Sweepstakes Rules: Only current Step Up members are eligible to win. Each woman is only eligible to win one prize. Contest runs between September 9, 2008 – October 15th, 2008. Winners will be notified on October 20, 2008. No purchase necessary to win. Women will be automatically entered to win after each online transaction. Others may mail a business card with the word “sweepstakes” on the back to the Step Up national headquarters.
Andrew Sullivan embedded the heartbreaking piece on what happens to foreclosed homes.
Though I’ve been reading about “jingle mail” since last winter, I never realized that people abandon their homes fully furnished. Not only are they losing their largest and most expensive (bad) investment, but many people leave behind closets of clothes, computers, family pictures, children’s toys, and even grandpa’s ashes.
Worse, the companies hired to clear out the homes have been unable to find a charity that can take perfectly usable furniture and clothing for resale on the low-end charitable sales market because the timing doesn’t work out. (Part 1, Part 2)
Where do people wind up after losing their homes? They downgrade to apartments, stay with family, and some wind up in tent cities that are springing up across America.
For those of you dreaming of being a hit reality TV star, pull it together.
An opportunity was passed along via a yahoo group that I’m part of. All the details I have are below, use the contact info below to follow up.
I am currently casting a show for a major television network. We are looking for groups of women (friends, coworkers, club members, etc.) in their 20s and 30s who have a list of goals they’d like to accomplish before turning 30 or 40. The show will focus on self-discovery and empowerment. It will have a very positive and inspirational message. Because the show will require a minimal time commitment (possibly just a few days of filming), all of you are welcome to submit. Also, I would be very grateful if you could forward my casting to any of your friends or colleagues that might be interested.
We will be visiting San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington DC but are accepting video submissions from all over the country!
DO YOU HAVE A LIST OF THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU TURN 30 OR 40?
A MAJOR NETWORK WOULD LIKE TO GIVE YOU AND YOUR 3 GIRLFRIENDS A LIFE CHANGING TRANSFORMATIONAL OPPORTUNITY.
Are you excited or nervous about turning the big 3-0 or 4-0? Do you have a vision of life at 30 or 40 and what you want to achieve before that happens? Tell us what the top 10-15 things on your “To Do Before 30/40″ list are and a major network may help those dreams become a reality. Send us:
1. Name, Age, City, Current Occupation, Phone number and email address
2. Top 10-15 Things you want to do before you turn 30/40 and why?
3. Recent picture of you and two or three girlfriends you would want to participate in helping you complete your list and their contact info.
If you are interested in participating, please email angie500things(AT)gmail.com ASAP or by THIS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD with the above information, and someone will be in touch. We will send you a formal application after receiving your response if we would like to move forward. We are coming to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, and Los Angeles to conduct interviews!
I love this video. The celebrities aren’t taking a stance on any issue in particular. Instead, they press the importance of voting, period.
A bunch of celebrities are demanding that you don’t vote because voting is stupid. No one cares about education, health care, abortion, polar bears, the economy, etc.
But then celebrity after celebrity point out that what you care about might matter. From social security to Darfur to the AIDS crisis at home and abroad, the 2nd ammendment, war on drugs. “This is really only about your future.”
They remind you that you need to REGISTER to vote and insist they’ll wait for you to register before moving on.
It’s completely non-partisan, but it reminds people of the issues at stake (regardless of the position you take on those issues), the need to register (the deadline is October 4th in some states) and the necessity of voting.
And of course, they ask you to take the message viral and share it with 5 friends.
PS. Maybe it leans left. But much of Hollywood is pretty liberal. The point is non partisan — vote!
I’ve tried. Repeatedly. I even went out to dinner with a Republican to attempt to make sense of the conclusion so many McCain-Palin voters have reached — Sarah Palin is a great choice for VP.
I’ll be the first to say that I wish I had her schmoozing skills. Palin has a way of gift wrapping words that drives the Republican base wild. She’s that colleague at work that you love going for drinks with because she tells the funny stories and relates to everyone at the office. She’s the big sister you want to confide in. I could look past her political orientation and be frenemies with Sarah Palin. Yes, frenemies. Because I have no doubt she’d stab me in the back, and the front, if I stood in the way of an opportunity she wanted to pursue.
But being personable is not a qualification for being Vice-President; it’s a qualification for getting invited to a hot-ticket dinner party. And it’s incredibly short sighted of voters to want the “girl next door” to reside a seventy-two year-old’s heart beat away from the Presidency.
Sure. She’s just like you and me. A mid-September poll by the NYTimes and CBS found that “77% of Republicans said they had a favorable view of Palin.” The adjectives brought to mind by Palin:
But when asked what specifically they liked about her, their top five reasons were that she was honest, tough, caring, outspoken and fresh-faced. . . (By the way, her intelligence was in a three-way tie for eighth place, right behind “I just like her.”)
So you need to ask yourself, are YOU qualified to be Vice-President? Would you be comfortable being thrown on a national stage handling the Wall Street melt down with the leader of your political party? Or the next terrorist attack by foreigners (since we like to avoid labeling the home grown variety as such)? How would you make health care affordable for uninsured, high risk Americans?
If you possess or are working towards a degree in political science, economics, public diplomacy, international relations or history, you are over qualified and exempt from this line of questioning. You know way more than the average American about internal and external forces and policies that shape the current political and financial climate of America to answer.
I suspect most Americans would not want to shoulder the burden of a national economic crisis, let alone be determine the best course of action from the myriad he or she is offered. Surely, you don’t want the girl next door, who cruised through 5 schools in 6 years (more evidence of her short attenton span?) before graduating with a degree in journalism influencing those executive decisions. The clean up of 8 years of a Bush administration in charge is not the job of light weights or those who agreed with Bush 90% of the time
Jay of Ill Doctrine shares his take on what voter need to do in light of the current economic crisis sucking up Wall Street, with Main Street already stunted.
That feeling that you’re feeling right now, hoping and praying that you leaders are actually smarter than you. Please remember that feeling when you go in the voting booth. Because just this once, I think we really need to vote for the annoying smart guy.
I know how you feel. He’s always got this smug look on his face, and it brings up all our esteem issues from high school, but we need him right now. As soon as this crisis is over, we can give him a wedgie and lock him inside his locker. But this is his moment.
I know this is not an easy choice. But this moment in history is a time for courage. It is a time for change. It is time for a nerd we can believe in.
Out of all the people I know, I can think of one person, I’d trust to make hard decisions with global ripples. And he’s not the guy next door. He’s an arrogant know-it-all that has spent years reading up on economics and politics, both domestic and foreign. He makes me feel really dumb a lot, but I keep going back for more because he inspires me to be better. He’s a cut above the rest, and it’s that quality I want in the leadership that represents my country. It’s a quality that’s sorely missing from both halves of the Republican ticket.
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