Who the heck do I think I am?

As many of you know, I've been part of a giant HP website for almost 10 years: FictionAlley.

For years, we've had the luxury of a practically-free server host and we used to make a reasonable amount of money off Amazon partnerships and such - enough to essentially cover our costs. But recently that changed.

Our host was purchased by a larger company and our server hosting fees went from almost nothing to over $200 a month. We've done some fund-raising drives that just haven't worked well, and our staff members have contributed all they can (and in some cases more) to keep the site running for the time being. We've been aware for a few months, though, that the situation is really getting dire.

So we've been looking for opportunities to help achieve financial independence, including grants. Unfortunately, most of the grants out there don't fit our organization well, for a variety of reasons.

But we've kept trying. And this month we received confirmation that our proposal was included in the Pepsi Refresh challenge!

This is potentially the solution to our problems - but we can't win alone. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help us! Go and VOTE for FictionAlley. You can vote three different ways (and each counts as a separate vote) AND you can vote for up to 10 causes per day, so FictionAlley and nine others. There are some awesome proposals out there, both in our category and in smaller and larger request amounts.*

PLEASE vote. Every Day, Every Way. Set a recurring reminder on your calendar to go vote, pass this on to your friends and anyone you think would be willing to give us three minutes a day through November 30 to try to be one of the top ten proposals in our category.

You can vote on the site, via Facebook, and by texting (normal texting rates apply):

Vote three times a day! Yes, you're allowed to - we checked with Pepsi.
Vote at http://www.refresheverything.com/fa
Vote via Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/refafb
Text 103643 to Pepsi (73774) (standard text messaging rates apply)
Remember, you don't have to be in the US to vote.


Vote for FA, Every Day, Every Way! Help us get refreshed!



*Believe it or not we've already heard some objections of the, "But think of the children!" variety: i.e., that we are somehow taking money that could be better used elsewhere by trying to win this grant. I've done the research and I'm here to tell you that there are far more sources of funding available to traditional charitable causes than there are to fan-oriented websites, even ones with a clear educational component like FA. Our 501(c)3 is just as deserving as any other - and we've never said we're trying to solve the problems of the world. Just this one problem. And again, you can vote for 10 charities per day, so if you see a proposal that touches your heart, by all means, vote for it! But please vote for us, too!


ETA: an earlier version of this post got wanked. I apologize for the incendiary comments that got everyone's attention. It was useless hyperbole and was inappropriate.

Okay, so....

First off, I have purchased a knock-off brand of toning trainers for only $30 (instead of $80-100 for name brands). I have tried on virtually every trainer on the market that offers this technology, that doesn't have a mesh fabric (because going into autumn, I don't want a trainer that's going to soak through). I even got a blister from tightening shoelaces. But hey, $30 and new trainers and (one hopes) they will do what they're supposed to do as I walk.

Also, Bad-Ass Faeries now has a website, so watch for more information about that soon.

Also, FictionAlley needs money. We're looking into grant opportunities but we could use donations to tide us over (and if we don't get a grant soon), so go to FA and donate or at least use our Google Ads and links when you shop on Amazon and so on, so we'll get kickbacks.

Next, I finally received "Brotherhood of the Wolf" from Netflix. It wasn't in their library when I first requested it three years ago; they finally added it and I watched it this afternoon. Really rather good, though not particularly pithy. It's French (subtitled) and watching subtitled movies is always tricky owing to the lack of multitasking. My French is way rusty, so without the subtitles I'd catch about every third word. It's also notable because it features Marc Dacascos, better known as the Iron Chef America Chairman, in a super-hawt role. I kinda want this movie, though I'm not anxious to add it to the collection. Someday. It's not even that expensive - just not a necessary acquisition at this time.

I also recently watched "In the Bedroom" - Wow. That's a powerful film. Deceptively simple. Tom Wilkinson is in everything, man. And he's always fabulous.

Still nothing on the job front. I just need to keep applying.

And last but totally not least, etakyma and I went up to Manchester last week to have dinner with bekkio. We went up early to check out the Currier Museum of Art, which is quite a respectable little collection. They had three changing exhibits, the best of which was a kinetic sculptor named George Sherwood (www.georgesherwood.com). Wicked cool. And a retrospective on photographer Jerome Liebling, also impressive, but not as "woah" as the sculpture. It was a fun day.

I have some auditions coming up, have to prepare for those. And...I dunno. I guess that's it. Holiday weekends - pretty much the same for me as any other day. Only in some ways more boring.

A couple articles for you:

http://thephoenix.com/Article.aspx?id=43962&page=1

I'm in this one, starting on page 3. With picture!

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071807-hogwarts-it-director.html?page=1

This one's from chrystie99 - it's her company's maagazine. grouchyoldcoot, you'll be amused by that one!

Off to actually do some work...ah, who'm I kidding, I'm catching up on LJ. But I'm working too!