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Hello friends and fans and family - welcome to another The Eleven, my monthly e-letter. It's been a big month, hasn't it? Elections? Results? Yard signs, democracy in action, and the leaves changing color to boot. I just got back from a trip to the East Coast to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.
 | | Albert, Dan, Liz and Sophie |
We had a great time - gathering at our cabin in Sumneytown, PA, dining at the Kaufman House (a local restaurant, no relation :) and then returning by foot to the cabin for a large bonfire with s'mores, tiki torches and lots of good friends and family around. Special thanks to Charlie Juneau whose hospitality and general rock-staredness made much of our celebration not only possible but exceptionally safe and fun.  | | Dad n' Mom on their 50th |
Meanwhile back in Portland, I continue to work full-time at a website design company in Old Town, PDX. That's almost 2 months of full-time work, yeah! The work is interesting, I'm receiving a regular paycheck, and my Facebook addiction is wearing off some. The people I'm working with are smart and I'm learning new things every day. It's interesting to see how web is developing from within an organization that's helping to lead the way. I'm enjoying life in Portland and I think working full-time has gotten me more inspired to get other projects up and going. Lately, I've been supporting my friend Aaron Trotter's card deck/greeting cards/drawing business; Wileyware, of course, and getting more active around a neighborhood tree planting which will happen in my neighborhood, Irvington, with Friends of Trees on March 12th, 2011.
And, it's 11/11, isn't it! Hurrah! Both my half-birthday and a magical moment in time. You know you notice 11:11 on the digital clock both morning and night, and so this is the big one - 11/11 - is it special to you? I hope so. Feels like a special day - yes, it's Veterans' Day, and a reminder that the US is still actively engaged in two wars though I don't think anyone can come up with much reason beyond corporate welfare to justify why we're fighting, OK, maybe access to oil. But 11/11 to me is an opportunity to see beyond. To look through a portal to what can be.
And that's a cue to my action item for this month. I think part of what's going on, and what's going wrong in our world, is that we're becoming timid. We're not raising our voices when something is wrong. And lately, there's more and more somethings wrong. As my work as a software tester has shown me, it makes sense to raise our voices when we see or hear something that's not quite right. In software, that helps us deliver a better product. In society, it probably helps us avoid catastrophe. So, as we hear the Tea Partiers complain about this or that it makes sense to counter with our own thinking and not to let bad thinking and bad policy rule the day. So my action item to you is this: when you hear someone saying something that doesn't sound right, counter with either "that doesn't sound right" or "actually, you're not quite right about that, here are the facts". Here's a good example of how that might play out. Just a thought - moving us in a direction towards truth, clarity and perhaps making some sense and making progress on this planet.
 | | Steve Bennet |
Doing the right thing. I've also been thinking about this a lot as I've been helping a good friend, Steve Bennett, who is dealing with cancer. He's going through chemotherapy and a group of us are supporting him through this time. For more on Steve's situation, and ways to support him, please click here.
For a while I've been imagining bringing my community together for a healing evening of celebration. That seems to be coming together and we'll be gathering on Saturday December 11th at the Unitarian Church in downtown Portland. We'll be led by the divine Jaya Lakshmi and other local talents in an evening of healing, music, collaboration, and celebration and the proceeds will go to Steve to help him with health care costs which are significant. I hope you can make it and if you have something you'd like to contribute, please let me know. I see this as a chance for the community to gather and to raise money for Steve.
On a different musical note and in reverse order, The Happy Clam will be hosting Eugenian Rob Tobias and friends for a house concert on Friday, November 19th @ 6:30pm (Shabbat), 7pm music. Rob has a wonderful presence and can lead songs for hours and filling our house with song, with your voices, is a great pleasure of mine. I hope you can make it. Details here.
 | | Rob Tobias |
My good friend, Marcia Wiley, is about to turn 50 and Eecole and I will head to Seattle this weekend to celebrate the wonderful occasion. If you know Marcia, send her some love and raise your glass in her honor. And it's only a matter of time till I also reach that milestone next May. And I'm thinking about how to celebrate in 6 months.... rent a camp for the weekend? canoe down the Willamette... hmmmm
 | | Photo of Wileyware by Bill Fantini |
That's all for now. I hope you're doing well. I hope you're taking great care of your health - Eecole mentioned to me this morning that taking care of yourself takes time. Take the time. Eat well, rest well, love well, and dance well!
And Happy 11.11 - make a wish!
Love,
Albert | | What time is it? |
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eleven eleven
 | | 11 11 sculpture by Camp 11:11 Burning Man 2010 |
On 11-11, 2010, one million people across the globe will mentally project a unified vision of a new paradigm for our species... a new reality. The very real physics that connects human consciousness with molecular structure will be harnessed en masse during the largest scale simultaneous manifestation transmission in recorded history. |
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