Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.
Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.
Thanks! :)
Some of you may have noticed that right now you cannot add books from Amazon to your Vox library. Giving people a glimpse into what's on your night stand is important to many of you, so I just wanted to reassure you that we are doing our best to get this bug fixed. I'll keep you posted.
So sorry for the inconvenience.
Hope you have a great weekend!
daisy
Sometimes, the last thing I want to say is "No."
We're having a Sample Sale at work tomorrow morning. Before I started working here, the proceeds from the sale went right back to the company and paid for miscellaneous department expenses. (It was a good way to make sure we, as a department, remained within budget.)
Anyway, the next time we had a Sample Sale, I asked the department head if we could donate a portion of the proceeds to the American Heart Association in sponsorship of our team at the Orlando Heart Walk. That was in 2007, and since then, we've agreed that at least one sale's proceeds would go towards what has become our department philanthropic event. And so 15% of what we collect at every sale goes towards a charity; the remaining 85% covers department expenses.
Earlier this year, our department head approached me, suggesting we support Coventant House with our first Sample Sale. I spearheaded a jeans drive to coincide with the sale, and we raised $1000 in cash (the most we've ever raised) and an additional $3000 worth of clothing. The initial plan was to have a sale each quarter, but this has been an exceptionally busy year for us (a poor economy means more work for me as an analyst) and we didn't get around to a second sale until now.
When the flyer went out, I noted that a portion of the proceeds would sponsor our company's team at the Orlando Heart Walk. Afterwards, I received an e-mail asking if we could also donate some money to the Pink Dragonboat Racing Team, which would benefit breast cancer research. (Never mind that the company as a whole donates several hundred thousand dollars to various breast cancer foundations each year.) I responded with a non-committal, "Not this time, but maybe next time if we have another sale before the race."
Just now, one of the directors was approached by one of the maintenance crew who knows a family with a handicapped child in need of an operation, and the family does not have insurance, nor a way to pay for the operation. Heart-wrenching, no? I ultimately sent him to the department head who said we couldn't help because this isn't a registered charitable organization (or an employee in need) and we, as a company, don't randomly hand out money to people. (There is an employee fund, though, to which we've contributed in the past.) The director had already referred him to St. Vincent de Paul, an organization that specializes in cases like that.
As awful as this is going to sound, I think it's incredibly ballsy to approach someone for money like that, even if it is for someone in need. There are sob stories everywhere I turn. A good friend was just unexpectedly laid off earlier this week and has been nursing horrible dental pain for several months, a coworker's self-employed husband has had no clients for the past 3 months (and they're starting to default on loans), another good friend (who is a single mom) has taken her son to the hospital more times in the last three months than I have been in my entire life and has had her hours at work slashed by more than half, and the stories go on. Everyone's life has static, and there aren't a whole lot of people feeling particularly flush these days.
And so, I have to be selfish and heartless and say, "No, I'm sorry, we can't help your cause."
No matter how much I can logically justify my decisions, I still feel really bad.
He did it! He did it! He did it he did it he DID it!!!
In case you missed the big announcement on Facebook yesterday (as many of you may well have, since I'm not FB friends with many of my Vox neighbors):
THE BOY SAT ON - AND PEED IN - THE POTTY!!!
(Pause for Happy Dance.)
It happened at school, so now we need to witness it at home. And, given the option, he's prefer to wear diapers over training pants, but that's okay. My baby peed in the potty! It's such a HUGE deal!!!
That concludes this major announcement. We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Generally speaking, I'm a very trusting person. Some might even say I'm too trusting.
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. I like to believe the best about people. I like thinking that people have genuinely good hearts and generous souls.
So, why, then, am I starting to reevaluate my opinions of people?
I have a number of acquaintances whose company I enjoy (most of the time), but I draw the line at calling them "friends" because I don't trust them. There are other people I know (many of whom I prefer to avoid) whose words and actions I carefully weigh because I can feel another purpose behind what they may say or do.
And it's exhausting.
I'm blatantly honest when I tell people my motives. I interviewed a coworker last month, for example, to write an article about her. I wanted to write a "Working Mom Spotlight" and asked if she would mind being my guinea pig. My goals, I clearly explained, were to (a) brush up on my interviewing skills, (b) write a decent article for submission and (c) have her pass the link to my article on to everyone she knew so that I could earn a bit of money from it. It was a very nice article, if I may say so myself, and I painted her and her side business in a very positive light.
I have another friend who is mad about fitness. So I offered myself as a guinea pig while she works on getting certification as a personal trainer. After all, I'd like to be a little more fit, and I like hanging out with her. In the interim, she's also helping me declutter my house by taking career clothes out of my closet and a few other odds and ends, too.
I don't think people mind my honesty when I explain the real motives behind certain actions. Maybe that would be a different story if I called up a friend and said something like, "Hey, I just want to gossip about so-and-so and want you to tell me all the bad things you think of her so I can later tell her what you said when she and I get together to gossip about you."
But I'm not that kind of person, anyway.
