Category: Acrchives

Check out everything from the first three years of Project Kinect

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Andy Rooney

As many people already know, Andy Rooney, writer and 60 Minutes commentator, passed away on November 4th.  I’ve been fascinated by him from a young age because of his straight forward, yet satirical point of the truth.  I always felt like he was speaking to me directly, as many of us probably did, and I respected his ability to throw out what he was thinking and not remorse over any consequences.  In life, we have to hear the truth in order to identify what we can work on and Andy Rooney told the truth so we could face it.  Those people are so important to us as a community even if we love them or hate them. They work as our calibrators and help keep us on track, looking at what we’re doing and evaluating it.   I just wanted to post a couple of my favorite 60 minutes moments of Mr. Rooney.

If you would like to read more about his like, here is the New York Times article on him as well as his Wikipedia link.

Andy Rooney on Sleeping

Andy Rooney on Finances

And Rooney’s final send off

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Monday Spotlight: Constant Change in Transportation

I thought for this Monday Spotlight it would be great to get away from the Occupy Wall Street movement, the American Jobs Act, and the Republican candidate race and focus on something I saw on Fox News last week.  I am not a normal viewer of Fox News, but as I was passing through the different stations, I came across a segment on the Shweeb human propelled monorail system.  It got me thinking about mass transit in general.  I am a huge fan of making mass transit as economically friendly, easily accessible and green as possible.  Being that I am currently in a small city without any idea of a public transit system, it adds an element of irony to this Monday Spotlight. 

The two large cities that I lived in were extremely different when it comes to mass transit.  Las Vegas just finished a huge ten year project on its freeway system but added a monorail that was really only for the tourists.  There are no current plans of adding on to it.  They added double-decker buses to their bus lines which I feel that they were only to add glamour to the aesthetics of the city.

 Los Angeles on the other hand is going in a completely different direction.  They are pouring money into their subway system and are currently working on getting a monorail through the southern LA communities out to Venice Beach and are finishing up the details to the new subway route that will carry the Wilshire train through Beverly Hills, Century City and I believe out to Santa Monica. 

City Transit is constantly evolving and as we have seen through my travels for Project Kinect, it is important to the evolution of any economy.  Whether it is like the free bus system I showed you in Baltimore, or Shweeb System here, transportation continues to be the largest possibility of our communities becoming more environmentally friendly.

Shweeb: The overview of Scweeb is this. By integrating the unique properties of monorail and recumbent cycle technologies, Shweeb delivers a personal, efficient, and cost-effective transport solution with applications for urban commuting, recreational and fitness markets.  Geoff Barnett, the inventor of Shweeb, had the idea while he was living in Tokyo.  With all of the densely populated area of the city, and the other space conscious pieced of the city, it just made sense to him to create a bike system that could go above the traffic.

The possibilities for this system are endless.  It could be used in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo that is densely populated or on a college campus for students to get around more efficiently.  It could be used just for recreation in a park or placed in a theme park as a way to get around a park such as Disney.

Here is an article worth the read about how Google is investing in Shweeb.

Daily Dirt:  As I was looking for articles on self-propelled monorails, I came across this article on Techdirt.com. Started in 1997 by Floor64 founder Mike Masnick and then growing into a group blogging effort, the Techdirt blog uses a proven economic framework to analyze and offer insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that affect companies ability to innovate and grow. The Daily Dirt has a wide range of topics and I have now put it on my routine of websites to check out.  It will definitely give you topics to think about that normally wouldn’t have come up in your thought process’.

StreetWise.Kittelson.com: On my journey looking for transportation articles to share in this Monday Spotlight, I came across this article from Streetwise by Kittelson & Associates Inc. (Transportation Engineering and Planning firm) This is a blog that is focused solely on all things transportation.  With offices all over the country, they really give some thoughts on what innovative changes are happening and how we are becoming more green with each step.

Streetwise.org: In my education of what Streetwise from Kettelson was, I stumbled onto this gem of an organization from Chicago.  StreetWise is an organization in the greater Chicago area that focuses on “A hand up, not a hand out”. It’s mission is this…

To assist Chicago area men and women, who are facing homelessness, achieve personal stability by providing them with a combination of supportive social services and immediate access to gainful employment

I know this doesn’t have much to do with transportation, but I came across the organization and from what it looks like, the organization has been successful.  Even thought this is an extremely young organization, the team at work is appears strong and their list of goals, both long term and short term, seem obtainable.  Definitely keep an eye on them because they will be someone to model community development after.

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Starbucks Bracelets

Today Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks announced that he would like us not to donate to Washington and to find a different way to donate for the growth of our country.  He has started a drive with bracelets at each Starbucks that 100% of the profit will go to a nonprofit that will provide small business loans.   In another interview this morning with Howard Schultz, I heard him say “the old way of doing business just to make money is selfish and unacceptable today”.  I feel that this is just the beginning of us seeing how some of the wealthy CEOs will be attempting to make our society better with the tools that they have. That really inspires me, and I hope it inspires others to further use the tools that we all have to better our country and our community. 

WE ARE ALL INVOLVED!!!

I acknowledge my love for Starbucks and here are other stories that Project Kinect has done on Starbucks.

Starbucks and Family

My team at Starbucks

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Monday Spotlight: Starbucks and Family

In life, our connections and our family isn’t necessarily what we planned or what is expected in our paths forward.  When I moved back to LA in 2008, I took a job with Starbucks.  As I started Project Kinect, I mentioned my dedication to my team in my store that made my two and a half years with Starbucks so memorable.  What I haven’t talked about though was my team of managers that became urban family members. 

Yesterday our boss posted a number of pictures that she had from different events, gatherings and training events that we had.  Our district in Beverly Hills has become a spotlight district in the entire country because of her commitment, focus and dedication to the development of her managers and the vision she saw for the entire company.   Due to the great integrity of the company and the focus on the product and the customer, Starbucks in my opinion is the prime example of how a corporation can still make money and continue to have social awareness of how it is helping out a community. 

With this group of managers though, greatness happened.  The most simple way to put it is with some simple math.   Each of the 12 managers had an average of 12 employees. That right there is 156 happy, motivated, contagious people.  Each of those stores passed their great energy off to about 1000 people daily.  Now you have 12,156 people happy, motivated, and contagious every day.  If that is sustainable for even an hour after they leave the store, how many people does that influence?    This is why I have a personal belief that amazing customer service can change the world.  I know is sounds like a pipe dream, but it has some truth.

This Monday Spotlight is dedicated to those thirteen colleagues and all of the greatness that they put out into to world every day.  You really had a great influence on me and will forever be called family by me.  Thank you.

This video was my very first for Project Kinect.  It was taken when Whitney and I went downtown to visit Lui at her new store downtown in a new district.  Until the move, the three of us were considered the Century City Sisters: Mabel, Agatha and Bernice.

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The Necessity of Others

Unfortunately circumstances were that I could not make it to my friend’s, Steven and Brenna, wedding yesterday.  The wedding was in Buffalo, Kansas and I am here in Wisconsin.  This was due to me causing a human error and I am extremely sad because of it.  I don’t often make clerical mistakes and this one cost me. What it did do was give me an emotional calibration to how much I really do love the people in my life and that even though we can deal with not being able to see them all the time doesn’t change how much you really care for them.  It also doesn’t replace the fact that sometimes you really do need to have contact with those people.  There is no substitute for actual human connection and we can never forget that.   We are an animal that travels in herds and needs constant love and human contact to survive. 

This is just a reminder to know who you want and need in you life and let them know.  Connect with them.  Listen to them.  Love them.  Most importantly though, be open to the people around you that you are unfamiliar with though because they sometimes will turn out to be of great value and weight in your life.  Project Kinect is about how we work as a community and need that human connection to move our community forward in a positive direction forward.  WE ARE ALL INVOLVED!!

No Man is an Island by John Donne

No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as a manor of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

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Occupy Wall Street

Since the middle of September, we have seen the entire nation taking on different charters of Occupy Wall Street.  While Occupy Together and Occupy Wall Street are the central hubs for this movement, I will be posting different stories, videos and events that  are happening on this page as well as different posts that I write.  In the New York Times today, the article on the non-violent protests shared a quote from Michael Kazin, a professor of history at Georgetown University. He said, “it was unclear if the current protests would lead to a lasting movement, which would require the newly unleashed passions to be channeled into institutions and shaped into political goals.”

Like the rest of the country, I have no clue to what the political goals or the right avenue for change is at the moment, but as this gains momentum, and leaders of this movement are chosen throughout the country, we will begin to see those needs and goals appear.  That is if this has the kinetic energy and the fuel to keep going the length it needs to make an impact and ignite the motivation from millions of others. 

October 4th:

 

 

  • CNN iReport: This video is fantastic of what happened on the Brooklyn Bridge this weekend.

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An Update from the Disaster Assistance Program

Tracy and Mike stop for a picture in between making lunches for locals and volunteers. By the time Alyssa, Tracy and I left Tuscaloosa, there had been over 36,000 lunches served out of that motor home

I like to pass these emails on to the website from time to time to just share what else is happening and how are other ways that we can all connect and help in each other’s lives.  I met Mike Baumgartner while we were in Tuscaloosa helping out at the Church of Christ food and distribution center.  He and his motor home have been all over the country since we last saw them at the end of June.  Currently Mike is in Bastrop, TX helping up with the clean up from the wild-fires that burned over 1554 homes at the beginning of September.   This fire, coming from one of the worst droughts that Texas has ever seen where some are mentioning that it could last up to fifteen years.   The Disaster Assistance team from the Church of Christ is always on the move and even if you aren’t from that particular church, it is still beneficial to take note of what other individuals are doing to help out in other communities.  I know when we helped out with them in Tuscaloosa, we weren’t the only volunteers there that didn’t have an affiliation with the church.

Here is Mike’s latest email….
Many thanks to the thousands of volunteers that have and are helping us. We feel your efforts are much more than a minimum wage estimate. We know that weather you help 1 hr, 1 day, 1 week or more that the time you give is PRICELESS!!!!!!!!

At the present time here in Bastrop, TX at the Bastrop Church of Christ there is only two full time mission groups that are he…lping. Disaster Relief(Nashville) is providing part of the supplies and Disaster Assistance CoC is working onsite 24/7 with the Elders on all phases of this relief effort(homeowner fire damage cleanup, meal prep, supply distribution and all volunteer coordination for these efforts). Like at our past mission works we plan on being here as long as the Elders of Bastrop CoC feel we are needed.

I also want to thank the Elders and the members here at Bastrop CoC for all there help and support. So many of them are here everyday to make sure things are running smoothly. Also many other churches have sent volunteers, supplies and funds to help this work Thank You Thank You Thank You.

As always we still need three things:

Your Prayers
Volunteers
Funds

To Volunteer or Donate go to: www.disasterassistancecoc.com

—
Mike Baumgartner
Disaster Assistance CoC
Combating Natural Disasters with Acts of God
281-881-1876
www.disasterassistancecoc.com

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Occupying the Country

Today is day fifteen of Occupy Wall Street.  This is a small movement that is growing exponentially not only in Manhatten, but through the whole of our country.  Here is a list of what I could find for times and places for different protests throughout the country today and I will attempt to keep this updated frequently.  This isn’t about politics, race, gender, sexual orientation but about the well being of the majority of our country.  The more you get active, the more you learn about the entire situation and the more you can make your own decisions on what actions you take. 

WE ARE ALL INVOLVED

Protests set for October 1st  

Washington D.C.: McPhearson Square.  I couldn’t find a time but I imagine people are already there.  Occupy D.C.

Boston: Dewey Square, Occupy Boston

Chicago: I couldn’t find anything yet but my guess is near Michigan and Congress, Occupy Chicago

Dallas: Federal Reserve Building 2200 North Pearl Street.  Occupy Dallas

Los Angeles: 10:00am Pershing Square, Occupy Los Angeles

Seattle: 10:00am-7pm, West Lake Center Plaza, Occupy Seattle

San Fransisco: Occupy San Fransisco 

Also keep checking Occupy Together for the most up to date information for the entire country. I will keep adding as I can.  Here is the footage from Susan Surandon. I really appreciate her sharing her views on how change starts from the bottom, not the top and that she is confident that we have “the tool kit to do this non-violently.”  Thank you to bYarlboro for putting this video up in its whole.

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Monday Spotlight: Baking With Oil

Before I get into this week’s Monday Spotlight, I want to be absolutely clear that my personal point of view is not sitting in this.  I am just bringing these topics up because they are two issues that are extremely current in our country where people are standing up and making a point for what they believe and how they feel about what is happening with the changes in our country.   I feel that it is important that we look at people’s opinions objectively so we can hear what they are saying before we actually make an opinion.  This goes along with everyday life and can be exercised here with these two very opinionated and political subjects.  Take from them what you will and I openly invite you to share your thoughts on them.  This is a completely open, unbiased forum for anyone in our community we call the United States. 

WE ARE ALL INVOLVED!!!

UC Berkley Bake Sale:  If you haven’t seen in the news at all, tomorrow, September 27th, the UC Berkley Republicans group is having a bake sale to show a satirical example of what is happening in California.  The state is currently awaiting Governor Jerry Brown to sign a bill that will let race, gender, ethnicity and geographic origin influence your admission into the university system.  Both sides of this argument make extremely valid points but what I can see from the argument is that for some reason it is sounding more and more like a republican’s vs democrat’s argument when it has nothing to do with political party.  Coincidentally the college republicans sponsored the bake sale but the end product is this; either way how we admit people into college, are they graduating by completing the same expectations as everyone else?  All I want to know is that once anyone is admitted into any university, are they leaving with the tools and are competent to do what is needed in their desired career and can they constructively add to our society?  In a day and age where the University system has become more of a money making business and less of a structured education house, I have to wonder if the student’s best interest is even being considered when any of these decisions are being made?

Here are a couple links that have additional thoughts and opinions on what is happening with the bake sale.  After tomorrow, we’ll see how much thought these differently priced goods create on the subject. 

Bake Sale Facebook page

CNN

Huffington Post

New York Daily News

Keystone XL Pipeline: For some time now, there is a proposal sitting on Capitol Hill to allow a pipeline to carry oil from central Alberta, Canada down to Houston cutting right through the country and going right through the Ogallala Aquifer.  Since the beginning of August, there has been a group, Tar Sands Action, that has been protesting outside the white house trying to convince President Obama to not allow this to happen.  Since they have began protesting, there have been more than 1,250 protestors arrested including actress Daryl Hannah.  This is a huge deal to do with much of the country.  It states exactly how much our elected officials are really listening to their constituents and says tons to how we treat the face of our country.  This also makes people question the integrity of our country attempting to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. 

To say the least though, these activists are definitely taking initiative on something they believe in.  In November they will be putting together an even larger protest.  Maybe their story will inspire you to go to D.C. and cheer with them or maybe it will inspire you to go and protest against them because you think it is a good idea for this pipeline to cut through our country.  My goal with Project Kinect is that you took a moment to think about it, find out some information for yourself, and make your own decision.  Happy Monday.

Here are some more references for the Keystone Pipeline Project

TransCanada

The Washington Independent

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My Summer Community

For many of you following Project Kinect, you may know that when I returned from Tuscaloosa at the beginning of July, I found my pockets extremely empty so I picked up a summer job at Sprecher’s Restaurant & Pub in Wisconsin Dells.  Our community in the Dells is extremely diverse and represents the most modern form of the melting pot in our country.  I mentioned it briefly in this daily blog while I sat in Starbucks.

This video shares some of the lives of just a few of the amazing people that made my summer fantastic.  From a Project Kinect standpoint, we need to remember that we, with all of our different backgrounds, views and environments can still accomplish great things while getting to know each other.  The only way I can really say it is from the Project Kinect Mission:

 

A program that is focused solely on getting to know someone else:  Either through conversation, service, or swinging door education.

WE ARE ALL INVOLVED!

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