Sunday, March 29, 2009

3-Day Info

Several people have asked about 3-Day and it's efficiency. I just got an informational report at:

http://www.the3day.org/site/DocServer/BC3D_Report_Card_for_08_series_Final.pdf?docID=341&autologin=true

The several walks in America raised a NET investment of almost $80M for breast cancer research. 3% of their budget goes to costs for running the events. That's amazing given the kinds of resources (buses, portable toilets, portable showers, and traffic control and who knows what else). 25% goes to advertising, and while I admit that seems really excessive, if it wasn't for that advertising, how would be ever get the cooperation of so many thousands of people who raised that money?

So many charities work so hard just to get a few million. The fact that mostly women, have raised nearly $80M for research just this year, is amazing. Every dollar is a dollar closer to knowing more about what causes and treats this terrible disease.

I also encourage all women healthy or effected to join the Army of Women an initiative of Dr. Susan Love. This effort is pretty amazing by getting the participation of all kinds of women for various studies, many of which don't require much effort at all from a participant. Please consider being a part of this effort.

And for those wondering why the heck I haven't been posting much lately, let me just say, Georgia High School Graduation Testing is all-absorbing! I also have some interesting developments going on in my life that I can't really post about just yet, but it's all good.

Ireland is about two weeks away, and I'm quite excited about the prospects. I spent a considerable part of today researching what to do and how, while in New York City on the 11th of April. I'm thinking very likely that I'll go visit Trinity Church in Manhattan. I'd like to visit the grave of Alexander Hamilton and some other famous folks there. This is the church that George Washington retired to after his inauguration for worship and guidance. There's a cool museum close by, Federal Hall, that I might be able to visit as well. I have about a 12 hour layover between arriving at LaGuardia and leaving from JFK. NYC scares me a just a tad, but I can do it!

I'm very uncertain about my energy levels when traveling my first big trip after treatment. I don't know how much I'll be able to do in any one day or how the jet lag will effect me. At this point, I'm planning to ZONK myself out with very legal, prescribed to ME drugs and see if I can sleep on the flight. I've never been able to do that before, but I've never thought about using major drugs to put me out before either! I'm hoping if I can genuinely rest on the flight and not sit next to the screaming baby or the woman with leg cramps that has to walk the aisle every three minutes, that I can rest some and arrive refreshed. So much more likely too, if I wear myself out in NYC!

Life is busy. Good but busy. It's hard teaching all day and trying to get things done for my one-half of my special education caseload. It's a tense time of the year for those of us doing Special Ed. It's always a RACE to see if we can actually finish the paperwork before the end of the school year. No different this year.

No comments: