Planning Ahead

Yeah, I've been MIA for a while. Time passed, things happened. It's probably better for everyone involved if I don't explain it further than that. On to present matters at hand...

Over the weekend, Zappagirl gave me the heads up that Blogathon 2006 has been scheduled for the weekend of July 29th. This gives me a little time to plan ahead. On my to do list:

- Pick a charity. I'm currently considering Planned Parenthood (my charity of choice in Blogathon 2002), World Wildlife Fund, Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., Sierra Club Foundation, and Amnesty International USA, Inc.. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated to help me choose.

- Open a Flickr account (or another online photo management site) and become more familiar with my digital camera. After the Skeleton Fashion Show in 2002 and the Impromptu Pirate Party in 2003 (in which I was able to participate due to being doped up on Percocet), the insanity must be recorded for posterity and shared. Besides, I've been meaning to do this for some time, and now I have a reason to do so.

- Talk friends and family (and complete strangers) into sponsoring me. I have to get a minimum of $20 in pledges to participate, which shouldn't be that difficult. Just in case, though, I'll probably find a way to shamelessly bribe... I mean reward folks who choose to help out. I'm thinking possibly a MyoMix CD, but that's something I'll need to think about as well.

- Select songs and burn MyoMix CD. Also select music to blog by.

- Buy coffee. Lots of it. Also plan snack food.

- Find comfortable yet presentable clothes to wear. I'm going to spend 24 hours hunched over a computer in a small room with at least two other people. Granted, this is isn't all that differnet from how I spend many weekends, but we don't usually have photo documentation.

- Try not to show up hungover on the morning of Blogathon. Yeah, the fact that the annual employee party was the night before back in 2002 probably didn't help. The fact that a group of us decided to continue the party at Daniel's Pub definitely didn't help. Lesson learned.

- Find something to actually write about. Of course, this is one of those things that seems to work itself out. I'd made a list of things to write about in 2002, most of which I never touched because we got sidetracked on dressing up Ignatius the skeleton. That's the fun of the event - going off on strange tangents and just following along wherever the day takes you.

The official signups begin on July 1st. The shameless begging for pledges will begin shortly thereafter. You have been warned.