So, lately my life has been kind of turned upside down and upon introspection I found that although I think I have been doing the right things, I seem to have only been doing the right thing for myself. Quite often I think about my grandfather who passed away a few years ago, and I remember how much he gave to everyone around him, and decided that maybe I should follow in his footsteps if I hope to be a decent man at all, and as such I decided to challenge myself physically, and do it for a cause.

So, soon I will be running my first ever Olympic length Marathon in the Waddell and Reed Kansas City Marathon in order to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a part of their Team In Training program and I’m asking you to help by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. I am hoping to not make this not just a one time thing, but a ongoing event that I use to help people with these illnesses.

Please help others by using the link below to donate online quickly and securely plus learn more about my progress. You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/kc08/rdavis

Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. I am hoping that my participation in Team In Training will help bring them hope and support.

On behalf of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, thank you very much for your support. I greatly appreciate your generosity.

Link To My Fundraising Website Again

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MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

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Lip Dub - Need You Tonight by INXS from sarahlane on Vimeo.

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The red and white stripes of the barber pole symbolize the bandage used during bloodletting, which in addition to cutting hair, was a service used to be performed by medieval barbers!

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Besides an 80’s movie, according to Wikipedia:

St. Elmo’s Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo’s fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo’s fire has its name.

Hit the video below for a glimpse of St. Elmo’s fire lighting up an airplane as it is flying through a bad thunderstorm over Iraq.

If you never knew this was anything but a movie until today, how bout you reminisce to John Parr’s music video for “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)” which is one of my personal favorite cheesy 80’s songs.

Or if you are sappier, you can try the “Love Theme”…

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So, some of you may know about them and some of you may not but I thought I would ask all of you guys what podcasts you listen to. Some of the ones below in my play list are awesome and if you ever get a chance you should listen to them.

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I surmise that many of you are perplexed by the title of my post and therefor do not know what I am referring to… in this case I refer you to exhibit A. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury who may not be able to log into Facebook, that is Ed, wearing a scarf. A MUFFLER SCARF! Words cannot describe how aghast I was at viewing this image. I was befuddled. What is this I see before me? Could this just be an advertisement for the Banana Republic? Could I be confusing him for someone else? Oh, I assure you, this photo is real. If you doubt this, then I direct you to exhibit B. Again, the surprise, that is a knitted cap on his head. Lest we think that this was just a simple case of a bad choice of wardrobe one evening, I shall direct you to exhibit C. It is him, wearing a scarf again, on a different evening. Oh, do not be deluded dear reader. It was only in the low-fifties to low-forties in New York on the days of his visit. Not nearly cold enough for his humble neck to become frost-bitten. Wait, there is more? A different coat? He brought two light jackets on a 2413 mile flight, as the crow flies, for a weekend tour of Manhattan?

Good people of the internets, I only bring this to your attention not to lambaste my dear friend Edward for his choice of accoutrement. Nay, I myself am known to prefer a more urban and refined look contrary to my Midwestern brethren. However, I have suffered much torment from his and others verbal lashings toward my metropolitan preference in clothing, and it is only necessary that I call attention to his double-dealing. So here, before god and all it shall know that Ed is inching ever so much more close to hipster-hood. I warn you all that indulgence in such dark gratifications can only lead to high revolving credit balances and brimming closets. I know, for I have been in recovery now for a few years now. Unfortunately for my friend I feel he has fallen prey to this illness as he has lived in the Pacific Northwest much too long, and I fear it is too late. Godspeed dear sir.

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From Wikipedia:

The ballot text reads “Do you agree with the reunification of Austria with the German Empire that was enacted on 13 March 1938, and do you vote for the party of our leader Adolf Hitler?,” the large circle is labelled “Yes,” the smaller “No.”

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A language… based on whistling?

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According to the website Mashable it finally appears that all of us will be getting what we wished for. Hopefully soon (as in May 21st) Facebook will get music customization features which will finally give no one reason to stay on MySpace except for the fact that they hate themselves and have astoundingly poor taste.

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Well, just in case anyone was wondering why I have been posting weird messages to Twitter and Facebook it is because I have been in Sunnyvale, California since Sunday for work. Yes I am in the heart of Silicon Valley, considered to be “Nerd Mecca” going through vendor specific training on Juniper Networks equipement.

Just in case you were wondering and actually cared I have been taking Configuring Juniper Networks Routers on the M/T Series Routers that we operate. I haven’t been doing very much here other than classwork and a little sight seeing as my classmates this time are fairly mellow and I will most likely be taking the Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate Certification Exam shortly after I get back. The class is very cool. The only thing is that it crams so much in at once that you start to get afraid that that knowledge is just going to evaporate as soon as you leave.

I always feel better when I learn this much and it empowers me in my career so that I don’t feel like I am stagnating.
I wish I could do one of these every few months. Unfortunately our work training budget is only so big and I certainly don’t make enough to pay for these myself. I really wish I could.

Maybe I will post a list of training events, certifications, and books that I am working on to further my knowledge in my field but I wonder how many of you out there will be interested in it. If you are… let me know.

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TechZo » Cool Cakes [Via Digg]

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