Countdown is on

My friends, a package containing 2,000 postcards arrived on Friday. 2,000 PostcardsThat just so happened to start the clock ticking-the official 4 week countdown has now started. When they arrived I had a total rush of excitement. Wow, this is really going to happen in just one month. I remember how astounded I was last year-giddy and delirious from just 40 days of planning.

While I don’t feel like there is a moment to spare, I also don’t feel panicked. Fortunately, worked ended for me on Monday. I have now joined the ranks of broke Peace crusaders.

Things are coming together in quite an amazing way. Definitely want to thank everyone who is dropping by to check out the page. Wondering how people are hearing about it? Sadly, a few people have written to tell me I’m missing their town/state. I know, I know. The U.S. map is a bit unwieldy to create a peace sign and visit every state. My apologies to those whom I won’t meet, but stay tuned through the website and let your friends/family know about it.

Of course this year I’ve enjoyed having months to plan ahead. While many sponsorship requests have gone unanswered, some very fine people have jumped on board to donate needed supplies. Today my community Whole Foods sent me a letter confirming their willingness (and joy) to prepare me a care package. This means that I can save expenses on food, but most importantly, I can keep eating healthy. Last year my nutrition suffered a little, so their gift is a great comfort. They have generously offered a $100 gift card, coffee, soap, lotion, trail mix, multi-vitamins, and Liquid Braggs. It’s exciting news!

I might as well go ahead and announce that raffles will start next week. One of my main sponsors, Scooterworks, has agreed to provide prizes once a week, more than half the money raised will be donated. Don’t forget that P.E.A.C.E Scooter 08 has a goal to raise $1 per 1 mile driven. New raffles will go up weekly, starting Monday. Winners will be drawn every Sunday, the ENTIRE 12 weeks that I am riding! Now the raffle that starts next week will run for 2 weeks and there is a variety of prizes in the mix. A sneak peek you ask? Sure.

A garmin GPS, but that’s the only surprise I will unveil as of yet. Trust me, there are some sweet prizes that have been kindly donated from a few people-even from a swell guy all the way over in Brussels.

Big thanks to those offering places to stay and to all the lovely town folk here in Cville trying to contact their friends around the country. The past week I’ve stopped often to reflect on just how great my hometown is. Many people have come forward with encouragement and big hugs that just set me blushing.
And they’ve come forward with press and donations. Big donations. To be continued…..

Polarized

CLAW 3 Tonight, 8pm, Blue Moon Diner

CLAW

 

Don’t miss CLAW 3, Return of the CLAWs, this Tuesday, April 8th, from 8-10 p.m. If for some reason (other than you don’t live in Cville) you haven’t heard of CLAW, then click here. I’m very excited to cast aside my pacifist tendencies and well, flex my mongo muscles for some entertaining arm wrasslin’. Tonight is a special night, I am both a wrassler and a charity case. CLAW has kindly decided that funds raised tonight go towards P.E.A.C.E Scooter. You give, they give to me, I give to others. Great David-that’s a lot of giving…..

Get to the diner early, y’all, buy drinks and food and don’t forget to bring cash for betting, bribing, and merchandise… Without further ado, here’s the lineup:

Cowgirl Sady-istic (Alix Bryan)
The Prim Reaper (Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell)
The Banana Blitz (Jenni Case)
The Sidewinder (Ros Casey)
The Homewrecker (Kara Dawson)
Kaity the Harrible (Kaity Harr)
Bunny Hampton (Amy Noelle Ferguson)
The Amazon (Maria Manzione)

We’ll keep the first round matchups a secret until the tournament, though. Start the betting!
Video link from some press CLAW and myself received. What a way to break all the news to my mom, huh?

Martin Luther King


Look, this isn’t funny. Three great leaders were assassinated within 5 years of one another. What this says to me is that the idea of change scares people, and people will act out of fear and bigotry to subdue the brighter light. According to the campaign news, our country, is hungry for change. Obama has built most of his campaign on the mantra of CHANGE. Perhaps now is the time we do question what our convictions are, and how love will help us cultivate these convictions. It is not enough to just look toward a leader to do it. As we’ve seen from the assassination of three great leaders in our history-one person can not spearhead change for us. We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
On this 40 anniversary marking MLK’s assassination, I am listening to Marianne Williamson. The following is a passage from a speech she gave at the Omega Institute, where I lived and worked for 3 years.

“How come hatred has the human race hostage?
Every time you hear of a terrorist act…you always hear the President refer to it as an act of cowardice that won’t be tolerated.
Cowardice?
I will go with wicked, unconsciousable, I’ll go with so many words, but I’m not sure I’ll go with cowardly. The truth of the matter is that hatred has a perverse kind of courage…
Miracles arise from conviction. Manifest power comes from conviction.
Hatred is acting with more conviction on the planet today.
I can’t imagine a kinda, sorta, when it’s convenient terrorist…Terrorists are very clear about what they want, willing to do any training it takes to effectuate their cause and very willing to die if that is what it takes.
The problem on the planet today is that those who are committed to that which it is not love behave with more conviction than do those of us who are centered in conviction of love. It is most dangerous if you feel it and you don’t act on it…..”

How did this happen?

There was a chain of action broken in the 60’s. I believe that the American conscious was frightened, suppressed as it witnessed the execution of it’s great leaders who were acting in conviction, acting in the interest of building a better nation. Can you image the fear you might have as yours leaders, promoting Peace and Justice, are all murdered within a 5 year period?
John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy.
MLK and RFK were murdered within just two months of one another.
“We’ve had difficult times in the past. We will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.”
Ironically, RFK says the above on April 3, 1968, the day before MLK was murdered.

Ironically MLK speaks those words in the above video, the very night before he was murdered. It gives me chills. He is saying, “Like anyone, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But, I’m not concerned about that now.”

MLK was a man with love and conviction. He rallied thousands to proactively cultivate justice. Look at the seeds of this change that have flourished and then look at the garden and ask, How can I help tend it? What seeds do we need now. And how we water them with conviction?

It is not enough to quote these leaders, it is time to act in the same conviction, so that we don’t have just one leader who can be assassinated. But rather that we are a nation of individuals strong, all willing to eradicate hatred, bigotry,racism, and injustice.

*photo taken in 2007 at the King Center in Atlanta, GA

Tombstone

Riding with the Shield

Ladies and gents: I am very happy and grateful to announce the GREAT news that Corazzo is supporting P.E.A.C.E Scoot by providing three crucial items for the long miles ahead.

Corazzo never ceases to amaze me. This young company is skyrocketing because their product is “By scooterists for scooterists,” and because it has superior design that all two-wheel riders need. But you know what really finished it all off?? They are all around solid guys/gals. They scoot hard, work hard and have a lot of laughs.

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Each product they design raises the bar in style, function and purpose. If you are new to scooters or are considering buying a scooter, let me emphasize the importance of good gear.

Corazzo offers riding apparel that delivers “abrasion protection, CE rated impact protection and increased visibility while offering an award winning style. In short, our jackets are just as cool in the coffee shop as they are on your bike.”

And that’s a true statement….

I’ve worn my jacket to many a coffeshop…..
Oh and last summer, when I flew off the scooter and slid across gravel-there were no rips. (did I ever mention that to anyone?)

At the last minute before the trip last year, I purchased a 5.0 jacket from Corazzo. I fretted for 2 days that the size would be wrong, or that it wouldn’t arrive in time. No worries, they got it to me, they were encouraging and the jacket was perfect. I’m looking forward to another 9,000 miles in it.

Box of Goodies

I finally reclaimed the Corazzo box from a sketchy neighbor, who had actually OPENED it. While the jerk might have taken away the excitement about opening a package-I’m the one who gets to keep the AMAZING GOODIES INSIDE. Said items are Gloves, Underhoody and Messenger Bag. How did I survive without the messenger bag last year?? I’ll film a little video of me packing it up right before I leave-it has more room than I estimated!!!

The underhoody is excellently constructed. It’s lightweight, it’s soft and there are thumbholes in the sleeves-so it doesn’t get all phooey and caught up when you slip on your jacket.

It’s going to be so useful on those chillier days when the ride must go on. Like all the way up the foggy Pacific Coastal Highway…… all the way up an over to Portland to visit the shop again, hang out with some great peeps and give thanks. Oh, and to challenge a certain salesman to some foozball. Stay tuned for news about other P.E.A.C.E supporters, coming up soon. And ya know, some Genuine props are always in order-America’s Smallest, but Bestest Scooter Company!

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Animoto-domo arigato

Ok, I don’t do tech reviews. I spend enough time using gadgets in some half baked way that works well enough for me-the last thing I want to do is review said gadget.
Other people do tech reviews and there is plenty of worthy buzz going around about Animoto. According to their mission, they hope to acquire Google by next year. That’s bold and with that same zealous energy they created a program which uses Cinematic Artifical Intelligence to make your digital photos rock. Yep.

“Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology that thinks like an actual director and editor. It analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film.”

Below is an example of such supercharged videos. Thanks to Dave Mangano, who, as a bold explorer in the podcast territory, has begun using Animoto to promote his shows. Brilliant. If you haven’t listened to the podcast yet, go for it, it’s my very first……