Last week was my trip to the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee to present my Business Blogging 101 Workshop (full day format) at the UWM School of Business Center for Technology Innovation. The hospitality of the faculty hosts was superb, the room was terrific and the audience totally engaged. I enjoyed most of my trip. Especially dinner at Mader’s German restaurant the evening before the seminar. YUM.
The only bad part? And the reason why this blog has been silent all weekend, a time I normally post? Around two in the afternoon on Friday, I got really sick. Flu sick. The kind of sick where you want to curl up and die sick. I toughed it out and finished the seminar (a bit early) and dragged myself to the airport to wait for the flight home. But I was not a pretty sight, trust me. I didn’t get home until midnight, and it took most of the weekend to get my equilibrium back. So I went ‘net-less until I checked email late yesterday afternoon.
What did I do instead? Besides sleep you mean? I read an absolutely terrific book, Labyrinth by Kate Mosse. It’s the legend of the Grail, but told from a female perspective, with dual storylines, one modern, one medieval. I highly recommend it. Think about it — it was so good, I didn’t miss my blog reading….
It must be a Grail period for me — tomorrow we are going to see Spamalot. From the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous!
To a more serious matter: World Water Day, March 22, 2006. Brought to my attention by blog buddy Yvonne DiVita. Yvonne has always helped me get the word out about charities I have been involved with, and I am more than pleased to be able to return the favor, and for such a worthy cause to boot!
Some facts from WaterPartners International, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping fight unsafe and inadequate water supplies.
- In 1992, the UN General Assembly designated March 22 as “World Water Day” to draw international attention to the critical lack of clean, safe drinking water worldwide.
- The Global water crisis is the leading cause of death and disease in the world, taking the lives of more than 14,000 people each day, 11,000 of whom are children under age 5.
- The average distance that women in Africa and Asia walk to collect water is 6 kilometers. More than 200 million hours are spent every day by women and girls walking to collect water from distant, often polluted sources—time that could be better spent on more productive endeavors such as work and school.
Why hasn’t this problem been solved? Mostly because people just aren’t aware of the crisis. Those with the money to help aren’t touched by it. In the developed world, the biggest water shortage we typically face is whether we can water our lawns in the summer. We buy water at the store, to which we drive in our cars….
And with my most cynical hat on, it’s about water, women and children, not oil and WMDs…. It just doesn’t get the play, in our politics or our policy, that the more macho issues do.
So we need to make people aware. I urge you to check out the WaterPartners Web site. Their common-sense approach seems to be making a difference. Make a donation if you can. Blog about World Water Day. Help spread the word however you can. Even if you just tell one other person.
Because we can do without a lot of things in this world. Safe drinking water is NOT one of them.
And after you do a good thing, treat yourself to the new Dr. Who!!! Yes, the good doctor is back, in his 9th incarnation. The new series debuted last year on the BBC and now US viewers can see the episodes on Sci-Fi channel. Premiere was last Friday, with 2 episodes, Rose and The End of the World, but it’s Sci-Fi — if you (or your TIVO) missed it, the shows will repeat two or three times before the next new episode this Friday.
Tags: business blogging, Dr.Who, World Water Day, Grail, Labyrinth
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