FromClaygary

......have I mentioned how I'd forgotten how bad Christmas in retail is??

Yah.

luckiest1, hope good wishes AFTER the fact work as well!

Off to work....

Back from our first day of Wrapping this year...it was a great day! Lots of people and just a wonderful response when we tell them what The National Inclusion Project is about. We had a gentleman stop by the table who is a special ed teacher and he wanted information about The Project. Love that we are getting the word out!

Glad you had a good time and that there was lots of activity! Hoping for next year for us...

Hey, merrieee!!!

Can we watch the final battle between good and evil from your media room? Apparently God is going to strike down our fair city, according to some comments on cnn.com...

I think my eyeballs just rolled back in my head permanently....more importantly....is she going to be a good mayor, do you think? I'm with Fear....I'll be SO, SO glad when this is not big news.

But, congrats to Houston for pointing the way. From my experience in the big, bad west I'd say that's a huge milestone.

No, sorry...not a direct response to me. My twitter name is my screen name here. I wish it would have been direct to me!

You could pretend....

FromClaygary, meant to thank you yesterday for the pic of Clay in Germany!

New Twitter from...oh, about 30 seconds ago (love getting these on my cellphone when I have the phone CLOSE to me, heh).

clayaiken

Thanks for donating your time! RT @AmyWes: Wrapping 4 Inclusion 2day in Omaha 4 @clayaiken 's charity NIP

ldyj, was that response directly to you?? How very cool!!

....and now, of course, for the commercial: re Chase Community Giving

The time is running out for voting on this very important poll on Facebook. Please....if you are on Facebook...PLEASE vote for the Bubel Aiken Foundation (NB use of older name) at Chase Community Giving. It is very quick and simple to vote:

1. Become a fan of Chase Community Giving

2. Search for Bubel Aiken Foundation or go to BAF link

3. Vote!

If you are not yet on Facebook, but have been considering joining, this is a great time to do so! Please come join us!

Deadline is December 12, 2009 for the first round.

I have attached (I hope this works....) a very simple .pdf template for those of you who would like to encourage friends, relatives and co-workers to vote as well. This was created for us by Diane D. and I think it's a wonderful idea! It gives instructions and the name in a very simple format. The template is for Avery Business Cards #8371 but will fit most generic business card blanks.

votebaf.pdf

It's a new one from Reed's friend Sam Cahn, posted on Sam's FB, taken this last week sometime while they were in Germany.

Chucks!

Thought the same thing! ......and his fave cold-weather coat!

Wheeee, Saturday finally!

goldarngirl and I have put a Christmas present for y'all up on our site:

http://www.goldarngirl.com/jnt-vancouver.html

Remember when Clay was a black angel before he changed it to white?

These are also available in the CH, CV and CU vaults.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

That was awesome!! Great memories....thanks to you and goldarngirl!!

Thought I'd post this here as well....from one of my Canadian B/A folks in Nova Scotia, on Facebook....

I promise it'll bring a smile to your day.

Argh....I am gonna be the last twitter hold out, I swear.....I heard yesterday on the radio that the most popular word this year, according to some survey of media, was "twitter". Still makes me think of birds.

One more twitter holdout checking in! I set up an account for something or other we were doing to do with Clay and haven't used it at all. Those who "follow" me must be mighty disappointed!!

Facebook, OTOH, I love and am right addicted to....not a farmer or fishkeeper or cafe owner though...I have enough to do in real life.

Good luck, Couchie! I think that's a good option too. But my advice would be not to limit to ONE agency...register with several and see who keeps you the busiest. Not a violation of ethics at all, most agencies expect that you will do this.

One of the ha-YOOJ work websites in Canada has set up their own Youtube channel, and they have quite a lot of stuff up already.

Some of this might be useful for those still looking....

Workopolis on Youtube

Clayzy....doesn't matter how long ago it was....they are required to pay you for your work. Go get 'em!

JMHO, but I don't think we are going to get any pictures of Parker from Clay. I just don't.

Yes, I'm inclined to agree....but that doesn't stop me from "wishin' and hopin'"!!

On the bright side, this will be such a great Christmas for him - Parker's a little older this year and I bet they'll have fun! And after the New Year he'll come back to us with all cylinders firing, right? RIGHT???? [small voice]Please be right[/small voice]

I bet Christmas will be a BLAST!! for them this year...Parker's such a great age for Christmas! Although, from reports of Clay's SUV's "trunk" last year, Parker had a great Christmas last year

I would loooooooooooove just one little picture of him...just one, Clay!....or Jaymes!

Oh my goodness LOL! I've been allowed to stay logged in for about 5 minutes..so let's see if I can post this.

Oooh how do people survive without health insurance. I had to quit paying my cobra and it's the first time in my life I've been uninsured. I went to pick up my prescription and she looked at me with a straight face and said $149. That was for 1 medication -- 50 pills. I think I choked on my spit. heee. I ended up signing up for their little prescription plan and that lowered it to 38.00. But damn! And here's the rub, nobody will give me health insurance. I tried to purchase some but of my pre-existing conditions they basically told me to go to hell. The good news is that my little part time turned full time life saving gig is now offering me health insurance and it's half as much as COBRA. HALLELUJAH!

In answer to your question.....not well. I had the same experience the other day, in the same amount ($140 actually). Unfortunately, there was no such solution for me. I love Canadian healthcare. Or not.

Re the COBRA...which I'm assuming is a health plan? :04: :04:

Sorry to have been so invisible the last while....literally...but I still can't remain logged in. I'm here many days...but I'm invisible as one of the "guests".

My part time job has turned into a 40-45 hr a week "part time", as we lost a keyholder and....it's Christmas in retail! I'm feeling very, very old most weeks.

Just a reminder:

BTW........has everyone voted on Chase Community Giving?

Simple to do....

1. "Become a Fan" up at the top of the page

2. Click on "Go to application" at the top right...."allow" the application to access your information.

3. Search and vote for the Bubel Aiken Foundation (not the National Inclusion Project, in this case)

You get ONE vote only per charity during this voting period prior to Dec. 11th. PLEASE do not dilute your vote for BAF by voting your other 19 votes (you are given 20 to start).

No dollars to spend....just your voting fingers...what are you waiting for?

Also please don't forget.....

Let's ALL Deck the Halls for Inclusion!

October 16 to November 23, 2009

Support the National Inclusion Project's mission of inclusion for children of ALL abilities while decorating homes and offices with beautiful, handmade Rockdale wreaths and other natural items this holiday season! Wreaths also make wonderful gifts for family and friends.

The National Inclusion Project will receive $9 per item for individual orders and $13 per item for bulk orders (8 wreaths shipped to a single address). Bulk orders also save the purchaser $5 per wreath on purchase price.

Purchases must be made from the Project's exclusive Rockdale store in order for the National Inclusion Project to receive funds: http://inclusion.rockdalewreaths.com

Buyer may designate any participating Beta Alpha chapter to receive credit for purchases by including the chapter name in the comment space provided on the order page.

Deadline for online orders is Monday, November 23, 2009. Prices include shipping & handling and the buyer may also select a preferred shipping date.

Please help by purchasing a wreath-or two-or even ten- this holiday season. Share the gift of inclusion. Inclusion works, and it is a gift worth giving.

NB For our Canadian participants in Deck the Halls for Inclusion: we have a separate store set up at Rockdale, in order to facilitate the different shipping.

The link is: http://www.rockdalewreaths.com/shopdisplay...amp;cat=Wreaths

I'm going out on a bit of a limb posting the above link.....sometimes it will work, and sometimes not, depending on your browser. If you do not see the National Inclusion Project come up in the .gif header, PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS LINK.....PM me and I will provide it.

This applies to the Canadian link only

Sorry for all the confusion with our shipping! It was more than Rockdale thought to work it out, but they have been most helpful.

The Controversey King strikes again...I love that outspoken man...his blog comments about the Wake County School Board made the N&O:

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local_sta...ory/190048.html

Kim

It'll give him something to read on his Kindle.

NOT a good Fri. the 13th for me....was supposed to work 12-4; then someone was sick....so now I have to work a "split shift". 12-3:45 then go back again for 6:30-9:15. By the time I get home and then back again it gives me about an hour and a half in between, + I have to pay for gas back and forth twice.

Then I go outside to get something out of the car....and witness an accident between a friend of my neighbours and another vehicle. (She just SHOT out of our driveway without even looking to see if there was something coming...and there was!)

So now I have about half an hour. Crap.

I wonder why Clay would have to go to different countries to record orchestral music. Do they play with an accent? Seriously, it seems like we have quite a few adequate orchestras closer than England and Germany? This makes me think that there is some kind of clue in selecting those two countries. Or possibly cross marketing as they may also be part of Decca's artists.

Also he implied that the vocal tracks have not been layed down yet so why is Clay there? Is he exec producing or maybe producing his own album? I need to go to the question thread at the OFC and hope Clay shows up soon.

I think we will be getting some news soon and that is why Clay appeared today. The blog is on the public side again for some reason. I did get a real kick out of his blog. He missed us. I did see one nasty response to his blog. It was someone who just joined and had 7 posts. Strange-not.

Possibly Clay is going to other countries to work with the composer and orchestra together?

And I hope you're right, that Clay is taking a co-or producer credit on this CD. That would be awesome!

Can I start packing for the tour yet??

Oh! My!! GAWD!!! Best blog almost EVAH :04:

(with the possible exception of Parker's birth announcement)

I went to see This Is It 2 times the weekend before last. I was going to go one more time. Went to the Toronto cluncheon on Saturday. Was too tired and busy on Sunday. That left Mon, tonight or Wed. I was tired last night and felt more like having a nap than going to a show and after picking up my truck from the gargage ($450 later) and getting groceries it was too late for a nap before the 6:45 start time. Looks like I'll be waiting for the DVD.

It's still on at the theatres, and shows no signs of stopping....we went last night.

spikesmom, *waves below* :waves: I'm trying to wind up a number of projects and one of these is a striped sock sirens fundraiser. Would it still be ok to use the large bag (thank you!) of beautiful items you gave even if we end up with another format, e.g. a raffle instead of an auction? Please PM.

Thanks!!!

Scarlett, if funds from this fundraiser are being directed toward the National Inclusion Project, I have some things for you as well...PM me when you have time.

jmh123, so sad for you to hear of the passing of your Mom....and yet...happy for her to be at the end of her struggle. I know that you know you have friends here who are waiting to hear what you need.

So glad to have been able to chat with you Gala weekend!!

I'm v. sorry to hear the news, {{{jmh}}} Love and strength to you and your family.

See, to me "brother-in-law" seems to be more a technically legal term with regards to marriage. So while I found it sweet I also thought it a bit odd. I seem to be alone in this train of thought though so don't mind me

Well, I heard it as a term of affection, and a term for the place they really feel Clay holds in their family...so I didn't think it was odd in the slightest.

I did the same thing as clayzy....yah, so??

But for all we know.....perhaps he IS legally David's BIL....(I'll let that one sit out there for a bit).

I love the little hop-kickup he does after David mentions his clothes....

Another version of UM...you can see his face!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTugnsf3Cnk...player_embedded

AWESOME!! Loving these later versions, but loved the first ones too.

Is the elbow bump because of H1N1?

Apparently it's the newest thing in the Vancouver area...if it's because of H1N1...does that mean we're going to have to start sneezing/coughing into our knees now??!

I don't know if I can reach.....

Am I the only one who shed a tear or two when I listened to the clack this morning? I swear what that man does to me is beyond normal!

Absolutely not the only one.

Just got home from our Toronto Cluncheon....it was great to see and be able to chat with everyone once again!

Many had left home without realizing there was new and amazing clack, so they were told they had a treat in store.

Big thanks to clayitagain for the great job of organizing as always!

...and BTW, I would be very happy with UM, MR...and especially MEAY on a new CD

Which makes me want to say...thank you Jaymes!

I agree.

Donated to the Giving Challenge for NIP and also sent a small donation for this board.

Me too.

With all of the above.