Christmas, unwrapped - Part 2

Time/Date: 1655, 28-Dec-10
Location: I didn't move too far since posting Part 1 an hour ago...

As some of you might have read here before, I'm not really a big fan of random, useless stuff and clutter.

I'm going through a phase in my life where I'm trying to live a little simpler & frugal, opting to focus on meaningful experiences, such as travel, fly fishing and becoming more financially secure. Did I mention fly fishing? I like to do that.

Of course, unfortunately for me, this does not coincide with what Christmas has become for an increasingly large part of society.

DJ B-Ray posted this video from Bill Maher a few days before Christmas. It is definitely worth paying attention to.

That provides a really good explanation for most of my Christmas shopping (& wish list) in 2010 (though, being as awesome as I am, I had most of my shopping done long before I watched the video).

I wanted to get useful gifts for the important people in my life. Not just 'stuff they might need' but actual, put-to-good-use types of things.

For some close friends & family, I took it a step further.

They received donations made in their name to Kiva.org. Kiva provides entrepreneurs in developing countries with micro-financing to help them get their business off the ground. It isn't 'just' a hand-out; those receiving the loans are required to pay them back. And most of them do. 98.91% of them, to be precise.

As for my 'wish list,' I didn't ask for much and was very lucky with what I received:

- my gorgeous gf picked me out a really cool book (Four Fish, by Paul Greenberg) and added gift cards for a bookstore & coffee shop.
- the folks & my brothers picked me up some very useful odds & ends (coffee, Esso gift cards, iTunes gift cards, etc).
- my roommates picked me up Fishpond's super-cool Southern Cross Fishing Journal.
- Chris & his fiance at Fredericton Outfitters gave me a classic salmon fly (pictured below), tied & mounted by Scott Doncaster.

All said & done, a pretty good haul for a quasi-minimalist :)

Thanks to my friends & family for the wonderful gifts; more importantly, thanks for being my friends & family.

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Christmas, unwrapped - Part 1

Time/Date: 1515, 28-Dec-10
Location: snowy F'ton

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

My holidays are going quite well, though, like most people, it's been a little hectic. Made apparent by this being the first post I've written in eight days.

I was very happy to make it to the family homestead, if only for ~22 hours. I got to see my folks and grandmother, and my younger brothers both made it home from school. I've only been home for Christmas twice over the past five years; it was nice to be home.

On Christmas Night the entire Nicky Zees complex (of which Lava Vodka Lounge is a part of) held its 8th annual charity night. A portion of bar sales & cover charge was donated to the Fredericton SPCA for the second year in a row. Last year, over $2000 was donated to the SPCA.

This year, I went with a little side-venture for charity in addition to the SPCA: I decided a few days beforehand that I would donate all my tips & wages from working the bar at Lava on Christmas Night to charity: water.

charitywater.org

My preference for charity: water comes from their policy of 100% of a public donation goes to field operations. If someone was to donate $20, all $20 goes to a project. No portion goes to administrative costs (one charity in Ontario was spending $61 to raise $100, a net benefit of $39 per $100 donated. Not cool, in my mind).

I am very pleased to announce the fundraising went extremely well. I set an (overly ambitious) goal of raising $500; when all was said & done, $495 was raised. I threw in the extra $5 to make it an even $500. Cheating to reach my goal? Perhaps. But who's going to call me on it?

With $500 raised, 25 people will now have the ability to drink clean water for the next 20 years.

Many people came in to Lava & tossed some extra money into the pot; without them, this wouldn't have been possible (for more info on how the night went & who helped make a difference, check out Lava's Facebook page). All things considered, all it took from me was a little typing on Facebook & Twitter and going without an income for one night.

I think that's an acceptable cost.

Music time:
This is one of the few overplayed songs on the radio I enjoy hearing 6 times a day. Enjoy!

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