The Color Purple

Call me Barney

Despite my occasional whining about some of the headaches I deal with at the office over parts and people, fundamentally the company's heart is in the right place.  Part of our mission statement is “To improve the lives of people with Epilepsy” and, while it might make for a great marketing slogan or catchy PR phrase, they really do “walk the walk”.  It’s one thing to say you support the patients, actually doing something about it is another.  And it hasn't always been that way.  I've been around here long enough to see the pendulum swing in the opposite direction.  The company used to be all about growing the business, capturing the greatest market share, increasing profits.  I participated, contributed but, honestly, I didn't think that senior management really bought into the mantra.  I did several Epilepsy walks and did not see the CEO or half the senior  management participate.  In my mind,  they never really lived the mission.  That all  changed when the new senior management came on board 5 years ago.  The new CEO is heavily invested  in the mission and the people of the company.  From charities, to corny contests, to holiday notes, he has really inspired people to go above and beyond. 

That said, we got this message from the CEO last week (below).  Tuesday was officially Purple Day.  A day where everyone is to wear purple to increase awareness about epilepsy worldwide.  We were encouraged  to wear purple for the day as a show of support and roughly 2/3rds actually participated including moi (yes, I have a purple shirt – well, actually it is more lavender ).  It was a nice show of support but I have to admit that purple is NOT  one of my primary colors.  

Cassidy Megan is the Founder of Purple Day.  Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness. Last year, people in dozens of countries on all continents including Antarctica participated in Purple Day!

Purple Day was founded in 2008, by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada, with the help of the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia (EANS). Cassidy chose the color purple after the international color for epilepsy, lavender. The lavender flower is also often associated with solitude, which is representative of the feelings of isolation many people affected by epilepsy and seizure disorders often feel. Cassidy's goal is for people with epilepsy everywhere to know they are not alone. To learn more about Cassidy and Global Purple Day Partners EANS and The Anita Kaufmann Foundation (AKFUS).  


Go to http://purpleday.org/  for additional information, including helpful resources and links….

Thanks to Kim for the idea of encouraging participation and providing this information.

Best,
Dan

Chili times

Sorry for the lack of insightful comments (or meaningful comments on everyone's blogs) but the past two weeks have been wild.  Work has been uber busy (what's new?).  I spent last weekend over at the in-laws on various repair projects.  Much like others, the in-laws are in need of some of the basic repairs and I volunteered (got drafted).  I am slowly making the rounds to catch up on everyone else's posts.     

I sorta opened up Pandora's box this week by giving an inkling that we are looking for a new set of wheels and, OMG, I am now friends with half the dealers in south Texas.  It has been 13 years since we last bought a new vehicle and I am feeling a bit rusty.  Normally, I don't like dealing with car salesmen, but my role as purchasing manager has me dealing with people everyday trying to sell me something I really don't want or need.  This time is different.  I've gotten a more cynical approach.  It's my money and you need to convince me why I should give it to you.  I am heading out this afternoon to talk turkey with a dealer and may wind up with a new ride.  Nothing is set in stone, yet.    

This week at work as been very hectic.  Many deadlines, reports due.  This is our financial end of year and we are doing budgets for next year.  Despite those challenges, we had one of our fundraiser events again - the Chili Cook-off   5th year for this gig and people are going all out for chili and themes.  Everyone works to amp up the event and drum up votes for the best theme and best chili.  My group did a Gypsy Fortune teller theme and they won for best chili.  The Finance group did a "down under" Australian theme and took top prize for best decorated booth.  I really thought it should have gone to the IT group.  They did the Carnival Triumph theme complete with live preservers, captains chairs, port holes and a mocked up display of the bow of the ship as well as the flying orange "Y" smokestack (signature of the Carnival Cruise line).  What made it even more funny was the manager who was actually on the Triumph when it broke down dressed up as the the captain.  He wore his "complimentary" Carnival Bath Robe (most of the passengers were given them when they left the ship).  I talked with him at length and he indicated that it was not as apocalyptic as the media made out.  On top of the booths and chili contest, we had a jalapeno eating contest (same guy won it last year) and root beer chugging contest.  All-in-all, a pretty good time.  And they managed to raise a bit over $14k for the Epilepsy Foundation.  Not to bad.  

    

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!

Another one in the bag.  It’s that time again for the after action report from the Epilepsy Walk.  Each year my company conducts numerous fundraising events from a chili cook off to a tailgating party to Superbowl squares to a gold tournament to various raffles to charity donations tied to the marathon to sneaky jeans passes to silent auctions.  All of those efforts culminate in one donation to the Epilepsy Foundation that we hand over at the annual fundraising walk/stroll.  Every year in spring, they hold the walk in various locations throughout Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Houston) to spur donations to Epilepsy research and treatment.  Last few years, the walk has been held in the Houston Zoo.  It is not really a walk, but more of an amble/stroll/saunter as you mosey the zoo grounds for a couple of hours until the big wrap up event at 1100 where they announce the results and have the drawings for the big prizes.  We did pretty well this year in twisting arms for donations.  Through the efforts of many people, the company was able to hand over one of those Publisher’s Clearing House sized checks for – (drum roll, please).............$100,000.  Not too bad for a year's work. 


As with the past events, there was a very good turnout.  Hard to determine the exact number of participants.  From the website, our team had over 700 people signed up for our team alone and there were supposed to be 2000+ people total signed up for the stroll, but it did not look anywhere near 2k there yesterday.  Our team wore red shirts – a good call since we could easily identify everyone in the zoo with that color.  No matter where we went in the zoo, you were always seeing red.  We even had a number of former NFL players there signing autographs and you could have your picture taken with a couple of Texans Cheerleaders.  All for a good cause.

Prestroll registration pandemonium

Up with the chickens

Future cheerleader

You lookin' at me, bub?

Hanging around the water cooler

Bored Leopard

An old married couple?

Looking at him reminded me of Abby's picture

Albino Alligator

Hanging out with my litter mates

Now, I have said before, I am not a big fan of zoos.  Something about lions and tigers and the larger animals caged up in pens has always seemed slightly depressing to me.   The Houston zoo has done a nice job of developing areas for the animals that is supposed to simulate their natural habitat, so it is not the old tiger in the cage venue of the past, but I still can’t help but thinking they would be much happier, if not hungrier, in the wild.  It may be that I no longer have kids to accompany me in the zoo.  Something about seeing all those exotic animals up close and in person brings out the kid in a lot of people. 

And it what's a zoo without a pirate? 

And, in keeping my winning streak intact, NO, I didn't wind the $!@#% i-Pad3 (again).   

Mind if I play through?

Despite my concerns, it was a pretty darn good day on the golf course.  I was able to get in early, knock out my report, get consensus in both meetings, and take care of a few tasks before I skied out around 1030 to head to the course.  Weather looked like it was going to turn bad, but we only had a lot of wind on the course and the rain stayed away until this morning.  


I used to play golf regularly back in the 80s.  I got a set of knock off clubs from a golf shop and a nice bag and even played in a regular Wednesday league with other Engineers on courses around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  I was really into the whole golf thing back then.  I recall a few days where I would leave work early and would change into my golf clothes (at the stop lights) while driving up to the course to allow us more time on the course before it got dark.  I thought I was doing pretty good, but I never really got the knack.  I could play OK, but never broke into the lower scores (never broke par).  I kept at it for a while after my son was born, but with his activities kept me busy off the course.  Scouting pretty much killed any of the remaining free time I had, and, since I was never destined for the PGA, I kind of let it go.  I would play in the occasional tournament at work, but nothing serious.  The last few years, I was more disappointed in my play (or lack of skills) that pretty much put a stake in if for me.  Golf is one of those tricky sports.  If you are halfway coordinated or have some athletic abilities (neither of which apply to me), you can play a decent game.  I got tired of playing with other, more talented players and had pretty much retired.  Three years back when I dislocated my shoulder, I figured I wasn't going to hit the links again.  Last year, I was out on an audit and didn't have time to play (that's my excuse), even though I cajoled a number of my suppliers to play.  This year, I got my arm twisted to play, even though I knew it wouldn't end well.  

I I was teamed up with several co-workers who have played before.  They've played pretty good and have always had a good time.  Their fourth player had signed up with another team, so they asked me.  I tried to put them off several times, but they were persistent.  I figured it was going to be ugly but I was quite surprised at the outcome.  Was a pretty darned good outing.  We didn't burn up the course, but we did decent.  I muffed more than a few shots, lost more balls than I found, put several in the water/woods, and even managed to nit a ball backwards (once) but still had a few solid drives.  After missing a lot of shots you finally connect on a solid hit and drive the ball straight down the fairway for serious yardage and it gives you hope.  I really sucked on most of my drives but I was hot on my short game.  On several holes, I sunk the long putt (pure luck) to save the team score.  I wish I could say it was skill, but that would be a lie.  Still, with our combined foursome, we did well enough to come in 2nd, even with my help.  Of course, playing in south Texas, you always encounter some interesting obstacles.  Can anyone identify the object in the picture below near my ball (hint:  center left)?  Is this what they would call an "improvable lie"?  Needless to say, I did not recover that ball.     

See the water "hazard"?

The entire tournament was a huge success.  I think we cleared a lot of money, but we won't know until everything has been tallied.  There was one hole where we hired a guy who is this longest drive champion.  He plays exhibitions where he shows how to hit the ball long.  He set up on 14 and, for a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation, he would drive the tee shot for your team.  He could drive the ball over 400+ yards.  His hole alone cleared $11k for the charity.  And that doesn't include the money collected at the Jello shot and Margarita holes.  All-in-all, it was a very good day.  IMHO, way better than sitting in meetings all day. 

Four!

I'm off the grid today.  Well, sort of.
  
I'm signed up to play in the charity tournament today.  I'm not expecting a great deal.  It's been over 2 years since I have picked up a club and I haven't played full round since I dislocated my shoulder 3 years ago.  I did make it out to the driving range to hit a couple of buckets over the weekend.  I only hope the rest of my foursome can put up with my play today.  I hope my putting game is on cause my driving sucks.  I hope not to kill anyone (that's frowned upon).  Weather report is dicey (warm & wet).  Supposed to be a round of storms roll through this afternoon/tonight, so it may be a wet course.  Of course, the old saying is:  A Bad Day of Golf is Still Better Than A good Day at Work.  We're on track to have a full crew out on the course today.  Over 120 golfers and we are looking to pull in a lot of $$$ from the event, after the expenses are paid.  


Of course, I do get the day off, even if I have to pay for it.  I just have to run in and finish my weekly report and update a few files and chair two meetings.