i see the fnords

if you missed listening live (to the taped show) this afternoon, Sound Focus is available for re-listening here. woot.

This:

is a face worth $1085.

Yes, thanks to everyone who donated to the 826 Seattle Mustache-A-Thon, I and my mustache partner Julie were the top fundraisers! And...

As of 10-10-07, we have raised a total of $15,199.47.

Go go mustache power!

Greetings, internets!

As some of you might have noticed, I have once again shaved off my luxuriant beard for the Mustache-A-Thon for 826 Seattle.

If you were not around for last year's Mustache-A-Thon, you may ask, what is 826 Seattle, and what is a Mustache-A-Thon, and most importantly, how may you contribute to this noble cause? Read on, and all will be explained.

First, 826 Seattle. Cleverly hidden behind the teleporter at the back of the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store, 826 Seattle is a non-profit writing center dedicated to helping students aged 6-18 develop their creative and expository writing skills. They offer writing workshops, publishing projects, drop-in tutoring, and help with English language learning. All of their programs are structured around the belief that "great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention and that strong writing skills are fundamental to a young person's success." Or, as one of the 826 students puts it, "On a scale of 1 to 10, it's like infinity. It's like a library, but all personal and stuff."

In 2006, an 826 Seattle volunteer came up with a rather kooky fundraising idea: Get a group of fearless men to put their naturally occurring facial follicles to good use, grow a very fashionable mustache, and gather financial support from family, friends, co-workers, ‘stache fans, and complete strangers. Though the twenty-six mustache farmers were a bit trepidacious at first, once the money started rolling in, they embraced the event -- and their mustaches -- with gusto.

In less than six weeks, 826 Seattle, the brave mustache farmers and their female fundraising teammates helped meet and exceed the $10,000 goal. Seattle Metropolitan wrote a follow-up article documenting the trials and tribulations of such lofty hirsute pursuits, and two other 826 chapters (Valencia and Michigan) were so taken by the idea they launched their own Mustache-A-Thons.

This year, 826 Seattle is doing it again! This year, we are aiming for $15,000! Every penny helps!

With $15,000, 826 Seattle can accomplish one of the following:

• We could publish the first-ever anthology of the best writing projects by 826 Seattle students, with an audio CD of the students reading their work. Funds would also cover a bang-up publishing party with special autographing pens for the authors, and classy refreshments.
  
• We could host 1,500 Seattle Public Schools students on 60 field trips, demonstrating that a writing field trip can be just as much fun as going to the zoo!
  
• We could finance 40 workshops. This would cover volunteer training, publicizing the workshops on our web site, sending out flyers, and publishing 600 students’ stories in-house, the lead in the pencils and the electricity to light the way!
  
• We could pay the rent at our 3,500 Square foot tutoring center for 4 months.
  
• We could buy 15,000 Clif Bars to distribute to tired students arriving for drop-in after a long day of school, providing each student with a much needed energy boost.

So what I'm asking for is your sponsorship of my mustache. All donations are tax-deductible, and can be made either to me or at the official Mustache-A-Thon web site. Also, if you happen to work for a company which matches charitable contributions (Microsoft, Boeing, Starbucks, etc.), that will help even more. More information on 826 Seattle can be found at http://www.826seattle.org, or by stopping by the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store at 8414 Greenwood Ave N.

I thank you, my mustache thanks you, and most importantly, the kids of Seattle thank you.

i've switched my personal blog from blogger to livejournal, for a couple of reasons.  first, i like the commenting scheme of lj much better - the hierarchy of comment responses just makes more sense to me than a flat list of comments.  and second, i can screen who reads my posts a lot easier on lj than on blogger.

so - welcome to iseethefnords.livejournal.com, new home of truthagainsttheworld.blogspot.com.

most entries on here are private, so if you want to read them, and you're not on my friends list, comment on this entry and i'll add you.