Karen and I were fortunate to get to see Connor (he’s in the green sweatshirt in the middle of the picture) and Luke (his head is touching the 48 yard line) (two of Karen’s cousin’s children) Valenter play on Team Revolution, that today won the Washington State Championships — was really impressive how good they all are. Was also a good reminder of how competitive/stressed-out parents can become (not Karen’s cousin… rather, the fans who were around us) — I definitely will not be enjoying that as a parent.
Learning more about Unitus
I spoke with an ex-amazon person today who is now working at a non-profit called Unitus — Unitus acts as a sort of venture capital firm that invests in microfinance institutions in third world countries. All I can say is that it is incredibly inspiring to think about the impact organizations like this have on the world.
Some scary statistics:
– 6 Billion people on our lovely planet
– 3 Billion (yes, half) live on less than $2 per day (yes, $2… less than the cost of a latte)
– 1.3 Billion have no access to clean water
– 3 Billion have no access to sanitation
– 2 Billion have no access to electricity
– Literacy Rate – 97% in US, 30% in Poor countries
– The USA gives a smaller % of our GDP than any other developed country
What microfinance is, in a nutshell, is lending of small amounts of money (less than $300) to individuals to allow them to invest the money to improve their quality of life. The repayment rates on these loans averages >95%, which is nothing short of amazing.
It was an inspiring conversation.
If you want to learn more, please visit Unitus, or email me.
Early Retirement Dot Com Guy Podcast
Below is a link for my first experiment in podcasting… enjoy! If you don’t know what Podcasting is, just Google it.
I called it Early Retirement Dot Com guy, basically because I’m all over the board right now with what I’m going to do next. Figure that I’ll muse a bit about technology, new companies, the different things I’m considering, recent events, etc.
Topics Covered:
1) Introduction to me
2) Discussion of how Overstock.com Auctions is encouraging spam, and how the President/CEO of Overstock.com (Patrick Byrne) called me a ‘Sanctimonious Ass’ in an email exchange – amazing!
3) Plug for my favorite radio station, which is also available for online streaming, KEXP (90.3-Seattle, 91.7-Tacoma)
Basically, I’ll be competing quite strongly for the title “most boring podcaster”. Good news is that from the sound of things, I’ve got plenty of competition 🙂
Makes me wonder what I’m really a specialist in.
Dave Schappell quote of the day, “Entertaining people is hard.”
Organic Home Delivery and Cooking Classes
One of my snivels over the last few years has been the dearth of healthy food choices (and my need for cooking classes!)available for folks who don’t have a lot of time for cooking. Well, we’ve fallen in love with Whole Foods on Roosevelt; however, it is a bit out of the way when the hunger’s already set in and you’re ready for dinner.
This week we had our first delivery from Delicious Planet, which allows you to order organic pre-cooked meals and have them delivered to your door in cooled containers. Suffice it to say that we’ve absolutely loved their service. The food has been delicious (Salmon-Veggies-Potatoes; Fish Tacos; Salad Bags) with all of the vegetables being deliciously crunchy. While the prices are a little on the steep side (average $13 for a dinner), you can get free shipping with a reasonable order, and honestly, if we avoid one eat-out dinner per week, I think we come out even. And the food is more healthy without a doubt.
We’re ordering from another similar service called Organic To Go this week, with food to be delivered on Monday March 7th — if you’re interested in learning which we like better, let me know. I can say for certain that Organic To Go has the better website by a long shot — their ordering/shopping-cart process is much more fluid.
Seattle’s 2005 Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards
I’ve been investigating some socially-inspired career alternatives and my friend Barbara recommended that I attend Seattle’s 2005 Fast Company Social Capitalist Awards ceremony. It was held at the University of Washington (I am always surprised by how beautiful their campus is) and awards were presented to:
– Grameen Technology Center – The Center’s director, Peter Bladin, talked about their focus — they are an initiative of Grameen Foundation USA, whose mission is to empower the world’s poorest people to lift themselves out of poverty with dignity through access to financial services and to information. Was a great reminder about the power of microfinance. Another attendee reminded me of another local microfinance organization, Unitus.
– PATH – Their President, Chris Elias, talked about their focus — PATH is an international, nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions that enable communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. By collaborating with diverse public- and private-sector partners, PATH helps provide appropriate health technologies and vital strategies that change the way people think and act.
– Social Venture Partners – Tom Donlea, Director, talked about their focus — SVP seeks to develop philanthropy and volunteerism to achieve positive social change in the Puget Sound region. Using the venture capital approach as a model, SVP is committed to giving time, money and expertise to create partnerships with not-for-profit organizations. SVP is a dual mission organization, seeking to be both an engaged grantmaker as well as a catalyst for smart giving.