A year ago this week my friend Hollis Hawthorne fell into a coma as a result of a motorcycle accident she suffered in India. Her progress has been slow but steady and both her friends and her family have been blogging about it and documenting every milestone.
For instance, recently her friends blogged as of the beginning of this year, she’s been singing and humming to songs she listens to on her iPod.
In the blog that Holli’s mom keeps she reported that yesterday Hollis was being evaluated to see if she is a candidate for the Shepherd Center of Atlanta, one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the nation, specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury or brain injury.
These blogs are very poignant reads, so be sure to check them out by visiting FriendsOfHollis.com.
As a network of kith and kin I think we did a pretty amazing job of fundraising to get Hollis back home. However, her family is still burdened with out-of-pocket medical expenses recently such as the purchase of a new custom wheelchair and Botox injections in her right arm so they can stretch her arm out in order to place a brace on it to straighten it. There are other numerous costs as you can well imagine so fundraising for her medical continues. If you have a bit to spare, please donate to Hollis.
I first met Martin Bosworth (aka @martinboz) a year ago this month at the L.A. Tweetup, a face-to-face social networking meetup for Los Angelenos. So in a weird way it seems fitting that I learned of his recent death on Twitter.
Bosworth was a managing editor at the consumer advocacy siteConsumerAffairs.com. He also posted to his personal blog Boztopia. In the short time that I knew him, I found him to be an extremely intelligent and articulate man full of mirth and wonderful ideas to share. Upon reading his blog post entitled “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?” I discovered an in depth recounting of his fight against thyroid disease.
To me the tragedy in his passing is the fact that he had a long standing struggle with his insurance company to pay for his medical treatment because of a gap in coverage between jobs. He was only 35 years old. You can read more here.
Ensuring that health care reform isn’t just about providing coverage to the uninsured, but reforming the system to prevent excessive overbilling, medical errors, and other costly mistakes and bureaucratic snafus that only harm the patient and waste the provider’s time.
I have faith that my current issue will turn out okay. I’ve been through worse, after all. I think, in a philosophical sense, that I am going through this at this exact time in order to drive home how serious the need for better health care is. Listen to my story, share it, repeat it, and do everything you can to support real health care reform for all.
— Martin Bosworth
The passage of a national health care reform bill is more than an economic issue: it’s a moral one as well. To quote the late Senator Kennedy providing access to health care is a “fundamental principle of justice and the character of our country.’’ Please contact your senator today.
Goodbye, Martin. I will miss your strong smart voice pixelating out from my little neighborhood of the blogosphere. May you rest in peace.
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This clip featuring Twitterer @chaiguy and Bosworth was taken on 4 February 2009.
It was a super wet rainy day for a meet up with Aldrine Guerrero from Ukulele Underground who’s here in SoCal to attend NAMM. Since I don’t play the uke (and have no plans to) I thought I’d just come to see his live show on Tuesday at DiPiazza‘s in Long Beach. But then I saw that there was going to be meet up and since it was MLK Day which meant I was free I was like, well why not go? Eddie would! 🙂
Above is an audio recording of the review of “A Serious Man” with the only person to leave a comment on my blog to a Be My Guest screening of the latest Coen Bros. movie. The theater was not as full as some of the other previous screenings I’ve seen these past few weeks either. But I attribute this apparent lack of interest to the busy-ness of the holiday season and not so much the film per se.
Who wants to Be My Guest to a SAG Awards screening of the new Coen Bros. movie “A Serious Man”? It screens on Monday, 14 December at the ArcLight in Sherman Oaks located at 15301 Ventura Blvd.
As with all guild screenings this is sure to overbook so meet me early in line at 6:30pm to connect and play catch up before the holy day madness. Immediately following there will be a 40 minute Q&A session with Director of Photography Roger Deakins and Costume Designer Mary Zophres. Afterwards I ask that you hang out with me for just a few minutes to videotape your review of this film.
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below. I’d like to step things up a bit and ask you to tell me something serious and/or silly. Your choice. Limit is one entry per person and be sure to leave some sort of contact information (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, email, etc) so that I can contact you in the event you are the winner. The drawing ends on 13 December at straight up noon and the winner will be selected using the Random Number Generator at Random.org.
This video features the winner to the “Be My Guest” series special advance screening of Warner Bros. latest film “Sherlock Holmes” directed by Guy Ritchie that’s scheduled for release on Christmas day. What’s totally cool is that there will be aQ&A immediately following with the film’s star Robert Downey Jr.
So lucky winner, you, hit me on Facebook so we can plan ahead for our rendez-vous. It’s elementary, of course! 🙂
Leave a comment below to win a chance to be my guest at a very special advance screening of Warner Bros. latest film “Sherlock Holmes” directed by Guy Ritchie that’s scheduled for release on Christmas day. There will be Q&A immediately following with the film’s star Robert Downey Jr.
These screenings ALWAYS overbook and I anticipate this one will be no different. The winner should plan on meeting me in line beginning 5:30 pm at the Director’s Guild of America at 7920 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Since recording devices will be disallowed in the theater, I hope that you will consider spending a few moments following the Q&A to videotape your review of the film over coffee.
The winner will be selected using the Random Number Generator at Random.org later this evening sometime after 1:00 a.m. If your comment is there before I make the selection, your comment qualifies.
I can think of no better way to bring in the holiday spirit than with music. Except maybe cookies. Recently over breakfast a friend told me that he believed music was a gift from the universe. I think he might be right. As my gift to you is this free download of “Snow” performed by the von Trapp children — the great grand children of Captain von Trapp, father of the famous singing family whose story captivated the world in the musical The Sound of Music.
To get this freebie simply click on the orange arrow button above to download.
Blogging is an excellent marketing tool for any profession but especially for massage therapists who’s business it is to touch and connect with people in a personal and personable way. If maintained on a regular schedule a blog can help you stay in touch to your clientele and remind them about what you have to offer.
I created a massage therapy theme for Blogger based on a template by OurBlogTemplates to help professional bodyworkers sustain their practice during today’s challenging economic conditions. You can download the XML code and see a live demo by clicking here or on the image above.
Terms of Use: Since I did not actually design the template or take the photos, it very important that the credits must remain intact both at the bottom of this template and within the XML code. This is not just fair but also very smart because OurBlogTemplates may change the code and so you need to be able to reference them for any updates. It also required by them for using their template for free.
Live demo here. To download the template click here. To download the banner click here. For assistance on installing both the template and the banner click here and here.
I encourage you to become inspired to design your own custom Blogger theme using the same tools I have. Since I’m not skilled in web design or coding I am unable to offer support if you have any issues from using this template. I advise you to do-it-yourself with OurBlogDesign’s tutorial links I’ve provided above.