kiva

My friend, Abbie, turned me on to a cool non-profit, Kiva.org, so I thought I'd share it with you too.

Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, individuals like you provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

It's a new, direct and sustainable way to fight global poverty, and the way I see it, I get a higher return on $25 helping someone build a future than the interest my checking account pays.

Anyways, if you have a minute, please check out the site: http://kiva.org. If you need more "reputable" validation than my recommendation :), know that they have received great press in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal to NPR to BusinessWeek.

Thanks for reading!

a lot to be thankful for...

Many of you may have noticed that I suddenly took a little hiatus from the blogging world for a couple of weeks. A lot has happened, some good, but more not so good. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but it's during this period that I've had a bit of time to ponder and reflect what was around me.

Love lost, and when I look close enough, love found, in people, in family, in life, and in the world around us. As a friend told me recently, we were given this amazing gift to love others, and for that I'm thankful.

a milestone of sorts

As I was entering in my miles from my Garmin, I just noticed that as of last Friday, I've logged in 1,000 miles of running this year. Not bad. Let's see if we can log in another 500 before the year's up.

a super belated "birthday run" post

I know that this is a very late entry, but I think that it is worth posting.

A couple of weeks ago, Skip and Wendy from OCTR organized a birthday run for me. The posting on the OCTR message board read...

E-Rod's Birthday Rumba at Crystal Cove
Running on the beach in Crystal Cove in celebration of E-Rod's 29th birthday. A Birthday drink (Adult beverage or fruit juice) on the beach @ the Beachcomber afterwards. We run a total of 6 miles on the beach to El Moro tunnel and then return back.

29th, hah! Now that's a good one. But I'll take it. The run and post-training drinks were attended by about a dozen runner friends–Wendy, Skip, Tracie, Jessica, Kayla, Julian, Mala, Sue, Ryan, Eric KP, and Jenn G. It was a great late afternoon run on the beach. The Patron shots and Coronas that followed weren't bad either. Thanks, guys!