Rick's Journal

We went up to NH Friday night with intent to go to dinner and spend some time with Monique's mom.  Unfortunately, things came up for Monique and we ended up getting to NH really late.  This meant we didn't get much time with her mom, especially since we had to leave her mom's house by 9:00 Saturday morning for me to get to the NHAB walk-a-thon on time.

I was the last team member to arrive but still on time for the start of the walk.  It was hot and sunny in spite of the call for thunder storms.  The walk wasn't as bad as I feared.  My ankle held up pretty well and I enjoyed the company of my team.  Our team came in first for dollars donated.  Yay!

Thank you to silverhare , jbradshaw666 , agraitear , tressum , arianhwyvar , silway , marcus_sez_vote , stableyr , outlawblade , noradannan , last_real_angel  and quentarielf for your monetary support and to all my other fine friends for their encouragement.  You helped me personally raise $380 for the cause.

We went to Randy's bardic last night.  It was a small and very diverse group.  There was a greater diversity in the music than usual.  I thought it was a fun night with the poetry and music mixed in.  I wasn't mentally prepared for a performance.  I forgot my flute and just wasn't feeling up to singing, though we had a Tom Lehrer theme going for a couple of songs and I was sorely tempted at that point.

Monique and I visited with both my parents today and then headed back down to CT for the final flute choir rehearsal of the season which didn't happen due to too many last minute cancellations, so I spared the few members that would have driven a fair distance for no real good purpose.

As most of my gentle readers (and even my less-than-gentle readers) know, my brother is blind.  He's one of the most amazing people I know and I do everything I can to support him and the cause of the blind.  Fittingly enough, Randy supports the NH Association for the Blind.  This year will be their 7th annual Blind Awareness Walk-a-thon and I have agreed to walk with Randy's team to raise both money and awareness of the cause.  Yeah, I know it's kind of dumb for a guy with a lousy ankle to walk in a walk-a-thon; the things we do for love.

If you can spare even a couple of dollars it would be the best birthday present I could hope for.  Yeah, I know, it's a shameless plug, but how often does a guy turn half a century old and use it to raise money for a good cause?  ;-)

So if you can, go on over to this link and make a pledge for a blind guy who walks like a champ and a sighted guy who's going to do everything in his power to limp through it for his brother.  The link is here:
http://nhab10walk.kintera.org/rickpierce

If you'd rather support Randy directly instead of me (*sniff sniff*) you can go to his link instead of mine:
http://nhab10walk.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=319881&team=3608655

BTW, this is going to happen on Saturday June 5th.  If anyone wants to see me that night (sitting painfully off my swollen ankle), I will be at Randy's house for a Bardic.  I know a lot of you will be at various LARPs, but if you're not and want to share in the celebration and the fun, poetry and music that is one of Randy's Bardics in Nashua, NH, let me know.  I'd love to see you there.  You don't have to perform to enjoy it.  The music is fun even if you just listen and if you want to come and participate, even better.  Just let me know in advance so I can RSVP for you to Randy.