Is Anybody Out There??

Hi Friends,

This is a quick post. Apparently, today is "Official Blogger Delurking Day." I know that there are folks who read my blog, but don't comment! Today is your chance! And to steal an idea (and to sweeten the deal) from a blog that I've been lurking on (until today!), I'm going to donate $1 per comment to the local American Red Cross chapter to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Did you know that Haiti is the world's oldest black republic? It won independence from France in 1804 (thank you history class on French colonialism in college!). It's also the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The effects of the earthquake have been devastating due to the lack of infrastructure. The more I hear on NPR, the worse I feel and the more I want to help. They have no water, they have no hospitals in Port-au-Prince that are functioning. People have broken limbs (bones literally sticking out of their bodies) and Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) can't do surgery.

Have I convinced you to comment yet? No?

Well, here's a very poor quality video of Charlotte army crawling on New Year's Day. We have better ones, but we're having technical difficulties downloading/uploading the videos. For now, you'll have to deal with my iPhone video.



Comment and I'll donate. I know I've had people read my blog from places like Berlin, Germany!

*Minimum of $25, I'll donate above that based on the comments!
**I realize that the publish date is for some reason yesterday, the 13th. Actual delurking day is today, the 14th. I'll make my cut off tomorrow night!

Get Paid for Blogging about the Great Barrier Reef?

NPR, my favorite source for all news (including learning about the Flight of the Conchords on HBO), reported on what may be the most fun way of earning a lot of money in a short amount of time.



Apparently, the Government of Queensland, Australia is offering a short six month contract for exploring the islands on the Great Barrier Reef. You get to snorkel, scuba dive, island hop, and blog about your adventures -- all for $100,000 US! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

And for those of you who read Battered Suitcases, you'll see that Chris & I could already be on our way to earning money blogging about the GBR. In fact, friends of ours, based on our experience, are doing the exact same trip that we did this spring for their sabbatical. I think we deserve a finders' fee!

In any case, since NPR reported on this job (at the time only 150 people had applied), the "Best Job in the World Website" has reportedly become overloaded.