Community

Hi there -
online survey time!!!
What does community mean to you? Email, facebook, comment - I would love to know. For real. All you non profiters out there I have an idea what you'll say - though I will probably be surprised and intrigued - but what does community mean to all of ya'll outside the non profit world? (I will LOVE your answers)
Thanks
k

ooops

stuff that is meant to be on helping people help people is on this blog - oh well! It is late - I have to go to bed - so for all you readers out there that read the following couple of entries... well - sorry! I will transfer them onto the other blog next week 'cause we're headin to Kimberley!
YOW!

1% for the Planet

There is no business to be done on a dead planet
David Bower

That is a straight to the point quote that is for sure - 1% for the Planet is an initative that I have just come across that asks businesses around the world to donate 1% of their sales to the natural environment. A crazy amount of businesses have signed on.
Yvon Chouinard (I know you love him!) says - Every time I've done the right thing for the environment, I've made a profit. He is obviously a member and a supporter. Check it out and encourage business owners that you know.

http://www.onepercentfortheplanet.org/

The Executive Exodus

I was at a conference in Edmonton last weekend and had a whole bunch of thoughts and insights and inspirations - but the one thing that is really sticking with me is that the CEOs and EDs of today all know the other EDs and CEOs of today - they have typically worked together or at least have known of each other for 20 years. Everyone (at least here in Calgary) is networked to everyone else. So what is going to happen when new people take up the reins in one great big wave? My concern is that all of these leaders in the np sector intuitively know what each other are up to, and what kind of organization they would be running because they know each other so well. This is an issue way deeper than mere succession planning - this is an issue of having a mass exodus of important knowledge leaving the sector. Will organizations have to rebrand in order to be better understood now that their EDs and peers are no longer around to intuitively know what they are all about. This would not be an issue at all except for the fact that stats are saying there is going to be an incredibly high turn over in the next ten years (those baby boomers! Off to 2nd homes in BC and golf courses.) I think this begs for some thought and planning. Unfortunately I work 800 hours a week so am only able to put this blog up to put the idea out there. Would love to know what you all think about this.

Zero blogs...

The complete and utter lack of any blog communication is because I am EXHAUSTED!!!! I forgot that working 5 days a week really does kick your ass. I mean really - it is almost too much to make a salad for dinner before I fall into bed!
I have some people in my life - like Mr Nenshi, who not only work 4 billion hours a week but then sit as the Chair on boards, volunteer in other capacities and has a consulting business on the side and is still - yes - I'll say it here, completely (more or less) sane.
And then there is a mom that I work with who has a full day before she even comes into work - just getting her kid up and dressed and fed and to day care before she starts her day - wow. Super heros.
K - so I have an ask that I have to put out there to all you moms - is it really a joy? Really all pleasure to have a screaming, crying bag of human? Cause I need to know before I have babies ... ladies who don't have kids please comment. I would love to hear from you all about this baby thing. I love being able to do whatever I want whenever I want - I love the freedom of our life now - is it worth it to change? hmmm - these are the questions I ask in the 2.4 seconds before I go to sleep and occasionally on my walk to work right through downtown Calgary.
Thanks for visiting yo! Facebook me - email me - whatever!

Our new palace

Welcome to our Kimberley home!
We can't wait to see everybody there this summer! For SURE
We are still stuck in ol Cowtown (it is -15 and snowing here) so we made a pact that we would find a place to go and enjoy. We found this beautiful little house.
Super stoked!
J and K

more ED

'

More Exploding Dog - this is called 'I stop lying NOW'

Exploding Dog

This is entitled Guess its not all about you, huh?
Explodingdog.com
Check it out. fun

Launching Helping People Help People Consulting

Hi there!
We have been staying at mom and dad's in Bragg Creek taking care of the best dog on the planet - so it has been hard to get to my blog... if you can believe it there are still some areas that can't get hi speed internet!!! Bragg Creek is one of those special places...
SO while we've been here I have been very slowly working on an online resource blog for the non profits I work with. I have started a consulting business!
Helping People Help People Consulting
(yes I realize that is a REALLY long name... but its all about how cool the website is going to look with that name - and I think it is somewhat obvious and memorable.)
I am working with non profits on strategic planning including connecting evaluation methods to mission, succession planning, code of ethics documents etc, as well as fundrasing (but not event planning!), public relations, membership development and governance issues. Exciting, huh? Well, Jay and I think so!
So here you go - check it out.
helpingpeoplehelppeople.blogpot.com
It is brand new and this is just a sneak peek at it - it will fill up nicely once we get back to our house in Bankview.
FUN!!!

J and K make it in the Big Smoke

Thanks to Ambler Mountain Works - they make great hats. Go there ... check it out
(http://amblermountainworks.com/main.php) and Andrew Querner (http://www.restless-planet.com) for the pic.

This is... well ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfKfPY-0VPg&eurl

Thanks to Amber for this little gem
Love it

India's flight schools

So, Jay's school is bringing some students from India to get their commercial pilot's license here in Calgary.

This was one of the powerpoints that the company in India was using to convince students to get educated in Canada.

It sure would convince me...

Check out engrish.com (thanks Keeley) for more.

'k - so it has come to my attention that some people don't get this and don't find it funny at all. It took me days to stop giggling. So if ya don't think it's funny... well I will try to post something else funnier - though it is going to be tough.

k

Oh George...

So... Old George doubleya has LESS support now than Nixon after the Watergate scandle.... Yowza.... that is baaaaaaaaaad. As of Jan 30 President Bush has the worst rating EVER in American history - 28%.

Love that, "President Bush says America must diversify its energy supply and reduce gasoline usage." in his State of the Union address today.

Riiiiiiiiiight.... wow - maybe Al Gore did win that election in the end.

Would you trust this man?

Everyone have a sip of champagne!

Give a toast - you are looking at the new Operations Manager for Springbank Air Training College - a job with lots of responsibility, enough hours of flying to keep a passionate pilot satisfied, and a healthy dose of challenge. Jay still gets some students to teach in the mix!

Apparently they don't know that he magically turns into a hippy, river runnin, sun worshippin, beer drinkin yehaw in the summers ... we'll try to keep that from them for now.

We are super stoked

Dancing King

My favorite person on the planet - we were hoping for a 70s party on New years. Hence the gold polyester. Hot hot hot.

Robbed for Xmas

Well... just wanted to pass on a little heads up that EVERYONE should make sure they:

1. Have insurance - renters or owners
2. Have an alarm system in their house

We got ROBBED while we were skiing POWDER!!! The injustice!!!!

We came home on the 28th of December after a LOVELY day of skiing to find our little place absolutely tossed - underwear and furniture EVERYWHERE. They got all of our good stuff including Jay's videos that he made of the yearly boys paddling extravaganza - the Stein tapes gone, the summer tapes gone - which is kind of alright at the moment because his computer and camera are gone too - so we have nothing to watch them on anyway.
What a trip - wedding rings... yup that’s right - GONE

The up side is that we did get a visit from some of the best people ever with some baked goods. Jonovan is in town! He and Ali helped us put it all in perspective - thanks! And... we have good insurance coverage. Phew - disasterous if we didn't.

So... we decided to take ourselves to Kimberley for a little ski vacation to forget our woes - it worked! We had a great New Years in the knee deep powder.

I hope all yous guys had a great New Years too...

If you see someone walking around with my wedding ring, will you tackle them for me? Thanks

K

What on earth am I doing for heavens sake?

I grew up at the foot of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. I spent every season camping, hiking, skiing, acting as a horse guide for week long forays into the mountains, paddling and climbing. I saw beauty, saw bears stroll through the bush and cougars sneak through a meadow as the sun was rising. I heard woodpeckers knocking on my teepee poles at sunrise – I had made life decisions by watching which way a raven flew. The mountains, and by extension, oceans, lakes, hills and skyscapes were the basis for my whole life, my whole existence.

Before working for the Central Rockies Wolf Project, I had spent my life traveling the world as a climber, a photojournalist and a small business entrepreneur. I had pulled myself away from traveling for just one year in 1998 in order to get a Photojournalism diploma from the Western Academy of Photography in the beautiful city of Victoria, BC. The idea was that I could travel, write, climb and still make money – every idealistic hippy’s dream. And I was, indeed, a hippy – and always - idealistic.

In my year at photojournalism school, all of my classmates seemed to have some big issue that they struggled with or that got them down. Teen pregnancy, heroin addiction, lost loved ones. Or they had big issues that they would argue passionately for. Veganism, socialism, feminism. I didn’t have any isms. When it came to my BIG issues, my secret demons that threatened to drown out my life, I came up blank. Was this a sign of a selfish person? A spoiled person? A lucky person? A strong person? Was I missing something important that made me less of a person? It made me think.

My mission in life up until late 1999 was, honestly, seeking Beauty, Love and Delight. In living and traveling to far flung places in Africa, Asia, Europe and closer to home, I found the beauty I was looking for in natural landscapes, in both the joy and sorrow of people around me, and within myself. I found beauty, to my surprise, in the concrete jungles of European or Asian mega cities as much as at Angkor Wat. I wrote stories, I climbed some of the most beautiful mountains, frozen waterfalls and cliff sides in the world; getting access to places few people will see, and I tried a few business ideas out.

In 2000, I came home to Canmore, Alberta – almost dead broke and prepared for a year I hoped would lead to more beauty and certainly more delight. In the Fall, I applied to a small ad for a job as Marketing Director for the Central Rockies Wolf Project. Marketing background? No. But a healthy amount of confidence and a writing background. I phoned and emailed the Wolf Project once a week until the end of February, when, as my boss said, it would be easier to hire me then have to hear my messages again and again. In the time between October, when I applied for the job, and February, when I finally broke them down, I had a lot of time to climb – so a lot of time to think.

I thought a lot about where I was in my life, what I wanted, what ‘giving back’ meant to me. All my life my mother’s favorite subject was giving back - I grew up playing under kitchen tables listening to the Junior Leaguers of Calgary roll through meetings and projects. When I was older and I was home for a visit, we talked about health care, international volunteerism and what volunteerism, international aid and non profit mentality meant in places like Mauritius and Japan.

Give back. Two words that when put together, encompass and are even bigger and hold more depth than Beauty, Love and Delight. – A whole new world was opening as I climbed through the last of 1999.

Through applying to work for the Wolf Project, I solved something that was a thorn in my side. I was going through a healthy period of doubt... I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right, if I was living life to the fullest possible. I wasn’t sure anymore that to love, see beauty and love my life was enough. By working to help conserve a species that was so important to the whole ecosystem in the Rockies, I would be giving back to the place that had nourished me, matured me and brought me so much Beauty, Love and Delight. With this idyllic mind set, I marched off into my new job as marketing director for the Central Rockies Wolf Project.

Now I am at the opposite end of where I was, pre 2000. I have given my life over to policies and procedures, the monotony of going through days up on days of years of work and school, of staying in one place.

I meander out into the bush and still feel the presence of the silence, the tiny creaks of trees and the cawing of Ravens. Where there was once a meditative peace, there is now a brain full of questions, of theories, of conversation, of doubt.

The concepts that were once so important to me, Beauty, Love and Delight, seem a bit embarrassing, though they were so formative to who I am now that I can’t just swat them away as the musings of a naïve hippy girl. They are the basis for every move I make now. Give Back – the words that have taken their place, are so deep that I will spend a lifetime trying to understand what they mean to me. They have propelled me into a world – business – where no one (especially me!!) would have ever guessed I would be.

There is balance between the two places - hippy and business consultant, I just have to spend the time to work on finding it. I love it.

Jammies - a very good hound.

An ode to Jammies

You are an amazing hound dog Jammies

one of epic proportions

your incredible patience waiting for hours... hours, staring up into that tree I could see from my treehouse, waiting for your friend, the red squirrel to come and give you a chance... your patience was astounding.

Hiking through bear country out at the Callaghan... just you and me and the boys sailing past at 100 miles per hour... infinitely chasable I would imagine. But you stayed... right beside me on that big rock.

Overnights in the Stein Valley - under the starry night sky, body in the tent and head and neck out - uncomfortable that we had camped near the rushing water so you couldn't hear the wind, the creaks in the trees, the paws sneaking by us.

You are a beauty Jammies, a good hound dog... yes you are! If anyone sees Jemma in the next couple of days give her a treat in my name. Thanks.