Southern California is on fire...

Imagine losing everything in a fire and starting over. Imagine the exhaustion of the fire fighters. Like Katrina, the aftereffects of this disaster will be with us for some time. Please consider making a donation to the American Red Cross.

2007 United Way Campaign

Every year we make fools of ourselves to inspire others to make generous contributions to the United Way campaign. The company matches every dollar raised. In the technology group, our silliness involves zucchini car races....I am dressed this year in one of my Princess of Darkness costumes and here going head to head with corporate information security....

By the end of the month, my team had raised over $4,400 via raffles and other ingenious fundraising efforts, which the company will match. And over 55% of the folks on my team pledged a 2008 gift to United Way out of their pockets, which will also be matched in 2008-- proving once again that you always get back more than you give.

Nick Gallo, Writer and World Traveler

We learned yesterday of the sudden death in Athens of our friend, Nick Gallo. Nick was a travel writer who, with his wife Laurie Brown, lived just a few blocks away from us. The Gallo Browns have two boys, the oldest of whom is James' age exactly, and are very close to Kathy Merwin, another old friend of ours, who took care of James with her three boys when he was in elementary school. The connections among our families are still present, though we see one another less frequently since the boys all went off to college. Laurie presented James with one of her prints as a college graduation present when she and Nick and Alex were here this summer for his party. Nick died in Athens of an inflammation of the heart, after falling ill during the plane trip to Italy on assignment. He cut a wide swath across many kinds and types of people, and he will be deeply missed. For more about Nick, see ttp://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/dempsey/archives/123710.asp

Ghostly Colors

The colors of trees are changing, nowhere more apparent than in the fog at Green Lake. I fight off the urge to stay under warm covers in the morning when it is cold and dark. I walked later today, and this was my reward.

Hearts and Minds

Jeff Kulawiak took this photo of the team at the American Heart Walk: on the left in the fuschia jacket is Lauren Graf. Joseph Magd and his mother Orchid are in the center of the photo. Tracey Graham and myself are wearing the WaMu shirts. About 10,000 people walked last Saturday to raise money and awareness for heart disease and stroke research.

Below, a photo from the Coronado conference held earlier in the week, where I led a panel on interweaving public and private sector pandemic plans.

The theme of the conference was "When Failure is not an Option." Here I am with Apollo 13 lunar module pilot, Fred W. Haise, who offered the keynote address. You may not remember the story of Apollo 13: despite constraints on power, cabin heat, and potable water in the main module, the crew used the lunar module as its "lifeboat" in space, deactivating the command module to preserve its ability to return to earth, while the ground crew literally created a means to get them home -- an ultimate expression of a business continuity plan. My pandemic flu readiness panel followed Mr. Haise, as lively and unscripted as I hoped. Six panelists, each a leader in his sector, represent the best minds focused on catastrophic planning.

Coronado Vistas

I'm in Coronado, at a conference. I had great walks yesterday and this morning at the Silver Strand State Park, which adjoins the hotel.

This morning I got to read about the estuary and the dunes as I walked. I saw any number of jackrabbits, each as large as a dog.

Still waiting for the matching funds to come in and show the actual amount raised for the 3 Day Walk. From what we can count, it should be a bit over $27,000.