Giving Statistically Proven

I read an article a few days back. It was about giving and why it's important. The article piqued my interest.  We all know that giving makes us feel good.  What's different with this article is that the economist, Arthur C. Brooks, quantified how giving benefits us financially.  Here's an excerpt from the piece:

"Say you have two identical families—same religion, same race, same number of kids, same town, same level of education—everything’s the same, except that one family gives $100 more to charity than the second family. Then the giving family will earn on average $375 more in income than the non-giving family—and that’s statistically attributable to the gift.

... I ran the numbers again and looked at volunteering. I found the same thing: People who volunteer do better financially. I ran the numbers on blood donations. Think about that—giving blood. You’re not going to get richer if you give blood, are you? Well, yes, you are.

... If we were to increase our private charitable donations by just 1 percent, which is about $2 billion a year, that would translate into a gross domestic product of about 39 billion new dollars."

How's that for an economic stimulus?  

It's always interesting to find that a researcher has proved something I already knew was good.  Take a look at the full article, Why Giving Matters.  It's worth the read.

image from Shel Silverstein's, The Giving Tree

pH balanced

The other day, Jess left the house wearing my deodorant. He returned home to exclaim with surprise that my cucumber & green tea stick proved to work quite well throughout the day. He has since used it more than once (It took us a while to re-up his stock).

I, too, have been known to use Jess' deodorant. There have been times I've been out of my own. I recall thinking once, when talking with a coworker, "Do you think he can tell I smell like Old Spice Sport?" That's when I decided I probably shouldn't do it any longer. I liked Jess smelling like his deod, not me.

This brought me to thinking, are we the only people using each others' antiperspirant? It's all the same stuff, right? With different scents.

Hello There

Picture courtesy of my sister.

It feels like, well, today

What is it today, the 7th?  I have to admit, I'm really not on top of the dates these days.  At work, I lived by the calendar.  Outlook kept me on schedule.  Meetings tomorrow, 9am and 2pm.  Launch of system on June 1.  Documentation complete by the 25th.  Requirements out next week.  You get the picture.  

It's a little different these days.  It's a good different.  Ollie and my schedule goes something like this, in no particular order: wake up and talk a bit; eat some; sit outside and feel the wind on our faces, watch the neighbors, stare at the leaves; eat some more; take a walk up the street; sleep some; stretch; sit with family.

The boy's growin' and he's really cute.  Is today the 7th?  No matter, it will be a good one.