Monday, October 23, 2017

glowing pink for the second year!



That's me, having crossed the finish line at 12:58 AM on Saturday night.
Or should I have said Sunday morning?
(smile)
Well, I had not yet been a-bed, so it was still 'night' for me.
That photo was gleaned from the video of the race finishers.
I can be seen starting at marker 39:55 and beyond.
Of 123 participants, only 96 completed the race.
That made me 88th of the 96 finishers.

What race was this?
It was the "Glow The Mall Pink Midnight Madness 5K at Oglethorpe Mall.
This is my second year of participating in this event that benefits breast cancer charities in the Coastal Empire.
Last year was my first time - and its first time here, too.
Then, I had waited until race day to register.
This year, I was officially to be a runner by the end of July.

I admit - last year, I had thought I had completed the race.
When I had circumnavigated the course, the folks at the finishing line had waved me in, so I went.
I had been so very proud of my finisher medal!
Then, with my time of 33:32, I had won third place for my age group - woohoo!
Silly me.
I realized later that I had only completed half of the course. They had waved me in so as to not delay the start of the awards presentation.
So, this year, I was determined to finish... and I did.
(smile)

I wore the wrong pants (too knobby)
and wrong shoes (too loose) -
but I did the whole walk!
As I said, there's a video of the finishers.
Look for me at 39:55 and beyond!
I think this just may become a regular event for me.
(smile)

Saturday, October 21, 2017

long live ad-free knowledge!


A few days ago, I received an email that inquired about my willingness to donate again.
The sender did not try to guilt me into doing so, but simply was asking if I might want to.
And so I did, just a few moments ago.
Justthatfast, my gift was acknowledged.
Why not check out the speed of repply for yourself?

****----****----****----****

Dear Faustina,

Thank you for your support of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation. Your contribution of $ 20.00 supports Wikipedia and helps secure the future of free knowledge for everyone.

Wikipedia is possible because of a powerful idea: that people, like you and me, can participate in building the world’s knowledge and making it freely available to everyone, everywhere.

Today, thanks to the support of millions of volunteer contributors and supporters, you can wander Wikipedia for hours. With more than 40 million Wikipedia articles and 35 million freely licensed images, Wikipedia can answer almost any question, and take you places you’ve never been.

Your donation supports the creation and sharing of free knowledge in real, practical ways. It helps us make Wikipedia fast, secure, and accessible to everyone in the world. It helps us bring free access to Wikipedia in places where high mobile data costs prevent people from going online. It helps us support people who are digitizing knowledge currently locked away in analog archives. It protects Wikipedia from threats to free knowledge and the open internet.

Your support means that you can find the information you need now, wherever you may be—to settle a bet with a friend at a dinner party, or to understand the world around us.

Donating to Wikipedia makes you the champion of a powerful idea.

Wikipedia will continue to evolve, grow, and meet new challenges. We’re excited and eager to meet these and more. Your donation will help us get there. We can’t thank you enough for your support. On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation, thank you for investing in our future and taking this journey with us.

Katherine Maher
Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation