Friday, March 30, 2007

Bark in the Park, 2007

Lexi, my middle dog, is busy working out on the treadmill, so she'll be in shape to walk at Bark in the Park.

Bark is an annual charity event benefitting the many dogs and cats that find their way to Anti Cruelty Society in Chicago, as well as those who live in low-income homes and need medical care. If they couldn't get it there, their owners might not be able to afford to get them the proper care they need!

I love dogs...I have three of my own (Cassy, Lexi and Shelby...see: http://www.mousetrax.com/Pets.html#chapmans for doggie pictures) and my grand-puppy, Odie, who comes over every Friday to socialize with my pupsters for a little Friday doggie-day-care.

I'm currently collecting donations from sponsors wishing to help Lexi and I meet our goal of $1,500. We're slightly over half way there as of today (3/30). If you would like to help, please visit our sponsorship site for Bark at: http://www.firstgiving.com/BarkerGang

And as a further incentive for those of you who may not have your soul touched by furry creatures with sloppy kisses and wet noses, I'll be holding a drawing from the names of all my sponsors. I'll spin my computer wheel and one lucky winner will receive a free copy of Microsoft Office 2003 Professional, which also includes a second disk that contains Microsoft OneNote!

So if the animals can't open your wallet, maybe the very good chance of winning over $500 in free software will help you dig into your pocket for the pupsters and kitties. You can donate whatever you want, but you must donate a minimum of $5 to qualify for the drawing, which will be held the day after the walk.

You have until the day before the walk, May 4, 2007 to make a donation and get in on the drawing. And thanks so much to those of you who do help Lexi and I meet (or even exceed) our goal!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Initial Dropping

Sure, everybody is doing it. But that's not a reason to jump into the Blog pool. For the most part, I find blogs useless and who knows, Mouse Droppings may become that way, too.

But as I rush to pack for my flight tomorrow morning to my 6th MVP Summit at Microsoft (since becoming an MVP in 1995), I've been reading other's accounts of the event. So I figured it was time to chime in with some details, too.

However, I hope to also use this space as a nice location for useful tidbits and link this site from my very popular, free ezine, TechTrax. You can find TechTrax and its many hundreds of free technical articles and video computer training lessons by visiting this page: http://www.mousetrax.com/techtrax.

Ahh! There's the ding of my dryer, so it's time to finish packing and also run to the store to buy all those tiny bottles of stuff so they don't kick me off the plane because I have more than 70 ounces of fluids with me!

Cheers!
Dian ~