Random and occasional thoughts on

Sometimes a stranger can bring great meaning to your life. - fortune cookie After walking around in the rain for awhile, I decided to grab a quick bite to eat from McDonald's. Not the healthiest choice, but once in a while it's not too bad. I was partway back and I felt the bag shift a bit. Before I knew it, my bag was torn and most of my fries were on the sidewalk along with my napkins. One friendly passerby chuckled and said something like "sucks to be you doesn't it" which was in line with a fair number of people I have encountered here this week. [Side note: Before all you Bostonians jump all over me, I have encountered a fair number of sociable and friendly people here as well.] This brings me to the point of my fortune cookie. The whole incident could have ticked me off and ruined my afternoon, but it didn't for two reasons. One is that I try to not let minor things (people cutting me off in traffic, spilled milk, lack of casual dress-codes, etc....

Have you ever lost your wallet or purse? I think most of us have at one time or another. If so, you know the sick-to-the-pit-of-your-stomach feeling that hits you when you realize it is missing. The flip side of losing your wallet is finding it again. Or finding something else. It feels great to find something of value. Finding 25 cents while I was out on a run one day brightened my day. Finding a coupon for a favorite restaurant can make someone happy. With that incredibly long, but hopefully not too boring lead-in, today's news story is about a movement to help more people feel the good feeling of finding something. Burger King is dropping real wallets in Chicago and Orlando with real money and real gift certificates in them to brighten people’s lives and make things better for people... More recently, some other folks have taken this idea and run with it. Nina Hershberger and Daiv Russell have launched a Pay It Forward campaign . Instead of real wallets, which would be a...

After a couple of Tuesdays without a dedicated Good News Tuesday, it is about time for another edition. I ran across the first one today, but the story is from last week. It is a story of how people from all over the world heard about a family in need of financial help to keep their house. They needed $10,000 (US Dollars) in 2 weeks to keep their house from foreclosure. That was their financial situation after mechanical problems, health problems, job loss and an unexpected pregnancy. A friend posted an entry on her blog about the families situation and word spread. Read the story for a great tale of Christmas spirit. I read another story about some folks that anonymously paid off layaway items for some Sears customers before Christmas. I think this another great story because the donors are not doing this for publicity, but just to help some people have a little better Christmas. They chose to payoff necessities like children's clothes, shoes and even some toys. Read the ...

Half Full: 100% of the votes in last weeks poll about making regular "good news" post every week said YES! Half Empty: There were only 2 votes. So am I an optimist (half full) or a pessimist (half empty) kind of guy? Well, I like to think of myself as an optimist, but in this case, I am going to choose a middle ground. I will not commit to posting a dedicated blog every week about a positive story, but I will post a dedicated blog about positive stories every time I find one. I know there are positive stories all around. With just a little searching, I found this one: Woman buys foreclosed home for stranger. And talking about this next one always chokes me up a bit. You see, my youngest son was born with a cleft lip and pallet and while we are blessed to have had good insurance and were led to a great surgeon, many people do not have that chance. Operation Smile goes around the world donating the medical care needed to provide many kids with the surgery they need to ha...

The news is all too often negative and it sometimes seems like there is not a whole lot of good left in the world. The only purpose for today's entry is only to point out a few of the good people out there trying to make a difference. The neat thing is that I consider both of these people friends as we are fellow members of a close-knit online running community called the 30-something's. Lucky for me they don't enforce the 30's part of the group. Case Number 1 Larry is a volunteer firefighter. That makes him an example of good people right there by being willing to take personal risks to save others. That is not all. Larry is raising money to support his volunteer fire department department. That's right, he not only does NOT get paid to be a firefighter, but he is raising money to meet a need his department has. They do not currently have enough radios for each firefighter and that can pose a safety risk if all firefighters do not get a message in time or are...