Today, March 28, 2009 at 8:30PM you can join millions of others who are shutting down their homes, businesses, and in some cases, entire cities as a part of Earth Hour.

We did it last year and plan to do it again tonight. It's not hard to do. Just flip the breaker and hang out for an hour.

Anyone else planning to participate?

Labels: Earth Hour, green

Today, March 22 is World Water Day. You can find out more info about World Water Day on the official site for the day, http://www.worldwaterday.org/, but honestly that site is a little dry. You may get a better feel for what World Water Day is about from the folks at charity:water.

They posted the video above recently. There is a person on twitter @bcoz who is committed to donating $.01 for every view this video gets. That means 1,000,000 views equates to $10,000, which is enough for charity:water to drill two wells. So, be sure to watch the video.

An additional point of interest is that the people in the video shown drilling the well in CAR are from the same organization that Hope is working with to drill wells.

And lastly, here's yet another shameless plug for my water project. Go there and subscribe to the feed. I am going to have the site up soon.

What did you think of the video?

Labels: Dynamic Water, twitter, video, water, youtube

Here is where I am planning to have a well drilled.



I got this picture from Jason who was in Laisamis in July 2008. The lone building there is the Laisamis Missions Centre, which is used for a preschool, food distribution center, adult education, and medical center. Crazy huh?

And they do all that without clean water.

Go check out my site for my water project. Go ahead and subscribe to my feed. That way you won't miss anything when I finally get it up an running.

They look like they need some water, right?

Labels: Dynamic Water, Kenya, Laisamis, water

This week Facebook changed their layout and it has caused quite the stir. I thought I would weigh-in with some of my thoughts.

• The first thing I thought when I saw the new layout was "This is eeriely similar to Twitter." To me, this wasn't a bad thing. For the most part, I go to Facebook to see people's status updates.


• I have to say that I like the way they handle repies to updates better than the way Twitter handles them. Facebook lists all the responses, i.e. comments, directly below each update.


• I like that they place new photos in the feed. However, I do not like that things like quiz results, super pokes, bracket challenge updates, etc. are added into the feed. They give you the option to turn off a friends updates. I wish they gave you a way to turn off updates from a specific application.


• I like the right column that tells you what your friends are getting into. I just wish that once I respond to something listed there that it would go away, or that there were an X that I could click to make certain things go away.


• I haven't messed much with the options on the left. I see that they have set it up so I can filter the feed to just show people in a certain group. That may be cool, but I've only set up one group, thus far. The new change may make me move towards creating more.

I was talking to a new friend of mine about the new layout. He made a comment that I thought was worth sharing here. We were talking about all the compaining people are doing about the new Facebook layout, and Bill said something like this...

I wish someone would remind all these people that they are not sixty-five years old.

Though Facebook is spreading to older people, the primary user base for Facebook is under thrity. This is the generation that seeks out CHANGE. Just ask the President who preached change throughout his campaign while he tried to reach the younger demographic, which he did pretty successfully.

The layout changed. Accept it. Stop being like those guys on Grumpy Old Men, unless, of course, you are going to be like Gustufson.

What's your take?

Labels: Facebook, twitter

I have a book titled Fatherhood by Bill Cosby. It is a collection of anecdotes that come out of his experience as a father. Tonight, I read one called Beware, Your Foolish Heart. The last paragraph was this...

Yes, a baby is so powerfully appealing that people are even entertained watching it sleep. Just notice how grown people tiptoe to a crib and look down at a baby. Perhaps such a journey finally answers the great question about why people have babies who will soon start to saying, "I don't know" and "Mine! Mine! Mine!" and start walking around with their flies open. The decision to have such a thing is made by the heart, not the brain.

I had some people "suggest" that I upload some more Presley pictures. Suggest might be putting it lightly. Anyhow, we took some pictures tonight at our home group meeting and I have put them on flickr. You can see them here.

Enjoy.

Labels: Bill Cosby, Fatherhood, photos, Presley

I don't want to claim any part of my kids' cuteness. I'll take credit for any ability they have to remember random, mostly useless trivia. I might even take some of the credit for any athletic ability they may develop, but the looks they get from their mama.

People always say that Palmer looks just like Kim. I think only once, or twice, has anyone ever claimed that he looks like me and I think they were just trying to be nice.

Now, people keep saying that Presley looks just like Palmer. So, by using the transitive property, that means that she looks just like Kim, too.

You can decide for yourself.


She was sleeping on the couch like an adult.


You can't tell from this photo, but Palmer and I dresses alike on St. Patrick's Day. Yeah. I know. Cheesy.

If you missed the video I posted of Palmer a few posts ago, you should check it out.

Are these kids cute, or what?

Labels: Palmer, photos, Presley

It's that time of year. The time when productivity wanes in lieu of the study of all things bracketological. In honor of this season, I've created a couple groups in the ESPN Bracket Challenge for you to enter your brackets.

The first group is for those people in the Visio Dei community. If you are, were or want to be a part of the Visio Dei community, feel free to throw your bracket in the Visio Dei group. You can do so by going here.

The second group I started is for anyone that knows me. It is named People who know Shannon. It is a private group because it is such a select group of people. To join that group you need to enter the super secret password, which is Shannon. If you know me, you are obligated to fill out a bracket and enter it into that group. Go here. Do it. Do it now.

I look forward to the madness. We didn't plan this at all, but it worked out well. Our little girl was born last week and I get to take off a few days to bond with her, i.e. paternity leave. This Thursday and Friday we will be bonding while watching basketball.

Whose your pick to win it all?

Labels: basketball, ncaa, tournament challenge

Labels: basketball, Palmer, video

Tomorrow evening, a friend of mine is hosting a launch party for his non-profit, Help End Local Poverty.

The Launch Party will be an evening of live music, coffee, dessert, a time of story-telling and vision-casting. "Our passion is to create a movement of people who will deeply care about the issues of poverty, locally in Raleigh and globally throughout the world."

They have a couple bands lined up to play: Wahba and Silver. Silver, which you've read about on here before, will be playing an acoustic set, which should be great.

One really cool thing about this event is that I am going to get to talk about my water project, Dynamic Water. We will be partnering up with H.E.L.P. this summer to raise money to fund our first project, a well in Northern Kenya. I'm really excited about H.E.L.P. and what they are doing.

If you are in, or around, Raleigh tomorrow night, you should make it a point to come out to the launch party. The music will be great and you will get to hear about some awesome work being done to end poverty here in Raleigh and throughout the world.

The best part about this event is... It’s all free.

You can read more about the event here. You can RSVP on the Facebook event page.

The Details:

When: March 15th
Time: 5-7PM
Where: Visio Dei building, 524 E. Whitaker Mill Rd., Raleigh, NC

So, are you going to be there?

Labels: Dynamic Water, H.E.L.P., poverty, raleigh, Silver

After spending our required two nights in the hospital, we were discharged on Friday morning. We packed up everything and we were given instructions by the nurse on what to do when we got home. Then, we were sent on our way.

It's crazy to me that this is all the "training" we were given, or even offered. At least at Tallahassee Memorial, where we gave birth to Palmer, they made you go through an hour long class on how to know if something is worth calling the doctor about, how to take care of the baby's umbilical cord, etc.. It was also a chance to ask some last minute questions and get answers from the "pros".

Since we are second time parents, the nurse giving us the rundown was probably good enough. We just needed the refresher, but if we had not already had Palmer, I think I would have needed a little more direction. I remember being like deer in headlights when we left the comfort of the hospital for the first time. That was the first time that it sunk in that we were solely responsible for another human.

Anyway, Rex showed us the door at about noon on Friday and we were on our way home.

We got home and things were quiet for the afternoon. Around 4:30PM, I went to pick-up Palmer from day care. When we got home, the Baumann's were at the house. They hung out for awhile and got to witness Palmer opening his gift from Presley.

Then, later my mom and Aunt Jo came by to bring dinner and visit. It was nice visiting with them. They spent a lot of time with Palmer, which I think is great. His transition has been going really well thus far. He seems to like his little sister.

Overall, things have gone smoothly since we have gotten home. There have been a few hiccups, but nothing major. I may blog about a few "dos" and "don'ts" for what to do when you have a baby and/or our friends have a baby.

Let us know if you want to stop by for a visit.

Below you can see some of the pictures from our last morning at Rex and our first day at home. To see all of the pics, you can do here.

Labels: baby, family, home sweet home

Because Presley was born after midnight on Tuesday night (officially Wednesday morning), we had to spend Wednesday and Thursday nights in the hospital. This gave us two full days for people to come visit us.

In the previous post, I talked about everyone that came to visit on Wednesday. Thursday was a little more low key. The spacing of our guests was much better.

It was like a Visio Dei staff meeting on Thursday morning. Jeff came by first. Then, right after he left, Jason came by. While Jason and I were downstairs getting something to eat, Traci showed up.

In the afternoon, Bernie stopped by again to visit for awhile. Then, later in the evening, Mandy and Brayden stopped by with Palmer. It was another good visit with Palmer. I think he is okay with the idea of Presley being his little sister, at least at the hospital. We'll have to see how things work once we get her home.

Below are some photos from Wednesday. You can see the rest of the pics for that day here.

Labels: baby, family

My friend Jeramie, and his family, could really use your prayers.

In the fall of 1991, I was eleven years old. One afternoon, I was hanging out at my best friend Brian's house. He had to leave to go to football practice. I most likely didn't feel like going home, so I tagged along. I had never played football before and knew very little about it. If you know me very well, you may be surprised to know that we didn't watch a lot of sports at my house when I was little.

I don't remember exactly what happened that afternoon, but I came home with a permission slip and a desire to be on the 1991 Mebane Bulldogs Mite League football team. I had played baseball since I was around six and I had tried basketball out a few years, but this was a knew one for my mom and I'm sure she thought I was going to get my skinny, white behind broken in half, but nonetheless she agreed to let me play.

On that team, I started some friendships that I still maintain today. Most of the friendships have faded quite a bit since the high school days ended, but one has stuck around. Jeramie Mullis played on that team and, again, I don't remember the details, but we became good friends that fall and have been ever since.

Jeramie and I continued to play sports together through middle and high school. After high school we went our separate ways, but still kept in touch. After he spent some time in Texas and I spent some time in Florida, we both ended up back in North Carolina. Eventually, we both ended up in Raleigh. Now, we live in the same neighborhood.

We've been through a lot together. Most recently, our wives became pregnant around the same time. It was something in the water. Their due dates were only five days apart. If you've read the previous two posts, you know that our little girl Presley was born early Wednesday. Well, their son, Ethan, was born a few days before here on last Sunday, March 8.

Ethan was born with a few birth defects, the most serious of those being a life-threatening heart disease. He's been through a lot in the few days he's been here on Earth. Yesterday, he went through a seven hour open-heart surgery. He's now recovering "like a champ" says his proud daddy, but he could really use your prayers.

You can check out Jeramie's blog and Joye's blog for updates on his condition. As you can imagine, Jeramie and Joye, as well as their parents, could use some prayer, too. Please go check out their blogs and leave them some love even if you don't know them. Every bit of support helps get them through this tough time.



Thanks for showing them some love.

Labels: baby, football, friends

Before Presley was born, we knew that Palmer knew what a baby was and we also knew that Palmer knew that there was a baby "inside" mommy's belly. We tried to prepare him for the change that was coming by telling him that soon the baby was going to be on the "outside".

Sometimes, we would ask him if he wanted the baby to come on the outside and he would respond by saying "outside", which is his way of giving an affirmative answer. He rarely says "yes". He just repeats what you say in instances when a normal person would say yes (and yes, I did just insinuate that our child is not normal). Other times, when we would ask him if he wanted the baby to come on the outside, he would very firmly say "no".

This left us wondering how things would go once the baby really came on the "outside". Well, today was that day.

Palmer met Presley this evening and I think it went as well as it could've. He knew that she was a baby. He knew that her name was Presley. He sort-of butchers her name when he tries to say it, but it's cute to us. He says something like Pes-E. I'm sure he'll get it some day. If we would have named her basketball, he wouldn't have any trouble at all pronouncing her name.

Aside from meeting her big brother today, Presley met several other people. She met some friends (Bernie, the Smiths, Meg, Barry and the Enzors) and some family (the entire Alston Crew, Aunt Capri and Grandpa Smith).

Like yesterday, I'm going to post a few of my favorites below, but you can see all of the photos from today here.

Let us know when you want to come by for your photo op.

Labels: baby, family

Last night when I got home from work, we took Palmer to the park to play. While we were there, Kim started monitoring her contractions. She had been having several yesterday afternoon, but had not been keeping track of the timing. Turns out that the contractions were averaging between five and six minutes.

We went home and cooked some dinner. Kim laid down and continued to monitor her contractions. They didn't slow down, or go away. So, after two hours of contractions, I finally got her to call the doctor. He suggested we come in.

We got to the hospital about 9PM and about four hours later, Presley Kate Smith was born. There are a lot more, but those will have to wait. It is currently 4:30 AM and it is time to get some sleep. I imagine tomorrow could be a long day.

Feel free to tell my wife that she makes beautiful babies. I know I had little to do with the good looks.

I just wanted to get something up here with a few pictures, You can see all the pictures we took between 9PM and 2AM here.

Labels: baby, family

Tonight, I am planning to attend a Poker Night to raise money for an organization that is working to help clothe, feed and educate orphans in India.

I suck at poker. Anyone want to come out and lose their money for a good cause?

Labels: activism, India, orphans, poker

A couple weeks ago, I posted about the band Silver having a CD release party in Raleigh. Well, this weekend they are taking that show on the road. Silver will be having a second CD release party this Saturday at 'The Evening Muse' in the NoDa district of Charlotte.

So, if you have any friends or family that live in the Charlotte area be sure to send them out to see Pat, John and Brent this weekend.

Who are you inviting to come out?

Labels: Charlotte, music, NoDa, Silver, The Evening Muse