Saturday, January 16, 2010

January 2010 Update

Happy TWENTY-10!!!! Hope you all enjoyed a happy, safe and fun holiday season. Hard to believe we’ve already closed the first decade of the 2000’s. In our Profitiviti blog (http://profitiviti.wordpress.com) I asked the question, “What’s in your highlight reel?” Here the exercise was to reflect on your accomplishments, learnings and experiences to relive the year and decade through a virtual memory book. From me, it was a great couple hours of un-plugging from work to mentally review some amazing and challenging times. Additionally, the beginning of the year is a great time to focus on your positive impacts your will have in the future.

In this “Friends Doing Good Things” update there are a ton of great things to share! I continue to be amazed at all of your awesome accomplishments, despite some of the most challenging economic times of our lives. As always, I urge you to support the efforts of your network of friends and pass forward their contact information within your own network of friends and family. All the best for a life-changing 2010!!!!

1. YEARN FOUNDATION – (http://yearnfoundation.org) – Brent Dance is a friend that I met while he was a member of a very strong Deloitte Strategy team that we were working with at Herbalife. He and his wife recently welcomed a new baby into their family and it’s been a pleasure keeping in touch with him over the years. I’m inspired by his new organization: the Yearn Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to improving the lives of Russian orphans. Yearn is based on the principle that what we yearn for, we can achieve, no matter our circumstances. Yearn's mission is two-fold: (1) provide for the material and medical needs of children and (2) implement life skills education and career development programs in orphanages to help orphans adapt and succeed in society once "emancipated." Recently, Yearn experienced small success. Just last month, Yearn raised money for Kostya - a small boy with spina bifida and hydrocephalus - to pay for critical medical operations allowing him to walk again. Yearn was also recently selected by Lost Lake Creative to be featured in the documentary film the Identity Project. Currently they are raising funds for an orphanage in Eastern Siberia. They are excited for what the future holds and encourage you to join our Facebook and LinkedIn groups to stay connected and help them create some serious Yearn!

2. FRESH CONSULTING – (http://freshconsulting.com) – Keeping the accomplishments in the family for a bit, Fresh Consulting was founded by Brent’s cousin, Jeff Dance – another strong team member from Deloitte that we enjoyed working with a few years ago. Fresh Consulting is a team of strategic business consultants that focus on emerging web technology to deliver business results. Their capabilities in strategy development, website design/implementation and social media are second to none. Jeff also helped launched another great resource to discover the best of the web by evaluating a comprehensive list of capabilities and services available online, www.web2review.com.

3. PAMPERED CUSTOMIZED SKIN CARE SOLUTIONS – (Studio: http://www.skincarebylaurie.com/) – Debbie Luscomb Figuredo is a good friend that moved out of the corporate world to follow her passion of helping clients with their skin care needs. She is a member of the Associated Skin Care Professionals and has set up her studio in the South Bay, on Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance. She is currently offering all of her services to you and your extended family and friends. What that means to you is a $20 referral discount off your next appointment, and for them a locked in low rate on all services offered: Microderm, photo-facials and peels. Her rates will be $50 per hour for a limited time through June and all treatments can be customized to be completed in this time frame.

4. PREP & LANDING – (http://disney.go.com/partners/prepandlanding/) – A good and long-time friend from elementary school, Ian Cooney, was the EFX Supervisor on the recent Disney holiday program, Prep & Landing. A great, family show that we enjoyed – great job Ian and team. For additional information, see their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PrepandLanding.

5. iPHONE VOICE BAND APPLICATION by WAVE MACHINE LABS– (http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/) – While working for Andersen Consulting and living in Chicago for two years back in the mid-1990’s, I met Tracey Coldewey. She has been a good friend ever since and is now married to Rim Buntinas, a very talented musician, artist and entrepreneur. Rim is President of WaveMachine Labs is proud to announce Voice Band 1.0 for the iPhone. Voice Band turns your voice into a musical instrument, allowing you to create complete songs by simply singing a melody into your iPhone. A built-in recorder lets you create songs one instrument at a time. Voice Band works in real time as you sing, and includes ten instruments: two electric guitars, bass, saxophone, two synthesizers, organ and drums. Check out this YouTube link to see Rim and Voice Band in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QxN1u7KWDM. WaveMachine Labs, located in Chicago, IL has been producing music software for over ten years. Its flagship product Drumagog, a drum replacer, has won several critical awards and is used worldwide in recording studios.

6. NATIVE CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPES – My cousin’s Dave & Brenda Matea are inspiring in their efforts to conserve water, but also they are making their home and community more attractive through their installation of a native California landscape (http://gallery.me.com/dmatea#100003). Their slogan is, "Changing the environment, one landscape at a time!" In order to pass along more information if you are interested, here are some links for their landscaper (http://www.calown.com/) and an upcoming Native Plant Garden Tour (http://www.theodorepayne.org/Tour/).

7. BOOK RELEASE: “COURT REPORTING: BAD GRAMMAR/GOOD PUNCTUATION” – (http://www.ncraonline.org) – I’ve known Margie Wakeman for around 33 years and her son Tedd has been a good friend since our days of U5 AYSO soccer. Margie has been teaching for 46 years, of which 34 have been spent teaching court reporting. She has taught over 300 seminars all over the country on English grammar and punctuation. Her book, Court Reporting: Bad Grammar/Good Punctuation, is a textbook/reference book on how to punctuate the court reporting transcript. It is being published by the National Court Reporters’ Association and will be available in March at the online bookstore at ncraonline.org. There will be a book signing at the NCRA Midyear Convention in San Francisco

8. JOSE CORRAL APPOINTED TO PROTOTYPES NON-PROFIT BOARD – (http://www.prototypes.org) – PROTOTYPES was featured in our “Friends Doing Good Things” blog back in February 2009. This is a great organization providing treatment services in the areas of mental health, substance abuse, trauma, health issues, domestic violence, and reentry and prevention, outreach, and education services to women, children and families. A friend from Pepperdine grad-school is the CEO of this organization and another good friend from Pepperdine was just appointed to their Board.

Jose Corral serves on the Board of Directors of PROTOTYPES whose mission is to rebuild the lives of women, children, and communities impacted by substance abuse, mental illness, and domestic violence. PROTOTYPES’ programs ensure that children have a place where they feel safe and nurtured as their mothers receive the residential counseling and treatment they need. To learn more about PROTOTYPES, please visit www.prototypes.org to see testimonials from alumni, take a video tour, donate to the cause, and learn more about their treatment programs. PROTOTYPES relies on financial support from people in our communities. Help them spread the word about their amazing work by becoming a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/PROTOTYPES/199789313132.” I know that Jose, Cassandra and the rest of the Board of Directors thank you for anything you can help with in supporting their mission.