One Vote Gives $2 to a Charity of Your Choice

~UPDATE: They received the 40,000 votes in a handful of days... far ahead of schedule and the results will be posted soon. Awesome!~

Squidoo has launched a campaign whereby they are giving $2 to the charity of your choice. They've created a list of all their partner charities and all you have to do is pick one. It will end October 15th or $80,000, whichever comes first. When I voted there were less than 8000 votes cast, so get on over there and vote.

WAM! You'll give two bucks to a cause and feel good the rest of the day!

Personally, I've nothing against animals or the environment, but I get more satisfaction from helping people. I've been researching charities for a couple of weeks and I'm a fan of Room to Read and that is who I voted for.

No need to sign up for anything or enter any personal information. So if you want to give today, then simply click here and vote.

Baaaaaa or Bacon?

Iconowatch reports that goat, yes goat, is beginning to show up in mainstream and upscale restaurant menus.

"The other red meat: Goat, which for years has been relegated to taco trucks and Jamaican joints, is now showing up on more upscale, mainstream menus" (NYMag.com 8.18.08).

Apparently, chefs have embraced "nose-to-tail" cooking... which sounds totally gross. I'll just have a hot dog, which already has all the good parts in it.

HALT! Departure on Hold

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the road trip to Chicago is on hold. I started not feeling well yesterday morning and I haven't quite recovered. Hey Chicagoans, I cracked open a Linne Calado "Problem Child" last night... so YUM YUM that it made me feel a little bit better!

However, I will be fully into the contest tonight when the CUBS take on those DODGER dogs.

Hit the Road, Jack!

After a really crappy 2008 of little traveling and lots of recuperation, I'm finally going to hit the road and head up to the Windy city tomorrow. Partly in payback for messing up our annual wine trip to Paso (because I thought I'd be smack in the middle of the Unity08 Online Convention) and partly because my fav Senior Circuit ball club is the best in the NL and they kick off their post-season tomorrow vs. the Dodgers.

Torre against Pinella. Go Sweet Lou!

I will arrive bearing great gifts: 3 Tobins, 3 Linnes and 1 Wild Coyote... still packed from when I was allowed to stuff a few cases of wine on the private jet from San Diego to DC (that's a story for another day). :) There are also 3 wonderful ports in that box, but I don't think we'll be pounding those back in Chicago.

What I really want to write about this morning is "the road." I love the road. I've never driven the route from KC to Chicago, so I look forward to the experience. Now, I've driven KC to STL a billion times and KC to Des Moines a couple of times, so it's the second leg of whichever direction I choose that will be the new experience. I have this thing with highlighting the roads I have traveled on a map that's been with me since one of the times when I rolled from KC to Cali.

It's a strange concept if you've never done it... striking out on the road on your own. I've struggled through two books recently (Steinbeck: Travels with Charley and Least Heat-Moon: Blue Highways) because they just don't have any continuity. They are about driving around the country, so they read like a series of short stories. I suppose they are examples of how difficult it is to write about being on the road.

The continuity is in the traveler and not the travels. Heat-Moon hits the nail on the head when he says (and I paraphrase here) that "the road forces you to know yourself for there are times when you have been without companionship for so long that you crave a passenger, a pub or a canine."

My trek to Chicago won't be that long, but being back on the road after practically 6 months of being in the same place will be nice. And maybe, just maybe, I'll meander my way back home on the Blue Highways instead of punching the accelerator on the Red Highways.

700 Billion (Un)Served

Nice week for McCain:

• Call off your campaign to focus on the economy.
• Wiggle-waddle about whether you're going to debate.
• Absolutely stink at the debate.
• Call for a vote on a bill that doesn't have enough votes to pass (and crash the markets, thanks for that).
• Take off on your plane without making a statement.

And you say Obama phoned it in? You went crazy last week talking about how we have to and you will get this done. Boink. Where are you going on your plane anyhow? Mr. McCain, you made this a presidential politics issue. Now, more than ever, leadership must get together and pass something! Turn that plane around, dude.

Basically, McPain, you suck ass.