[PICS] Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 6)

February 14, 2013 4 Comments

Dave and I sit in the parking lot of this Starbucks and talk.

Dave and I sit in the parking lot of this Starbucks and talk.

On Wednesday of last week, Dave and I meet in a Starbucks parking lot, a 10- minute drive from home.

“Come on, let’s sit in the car, it’s cold,” I tell him, motioning to my wife’s car.

We get inside, and I ask him how it went with his kids.  Because of your kindness, he was able to spend a night in a hotel, get cleaned up, and feel somewhat human in advance of seeing them.  This small luxury was a huge blessing for him.

“It was amazing … so, so good!” he says, repeating his words with emphasis and emotion.

“But my older boy, I think he’s got something on his mind about me,” he says, somewhat sadly.  I nod, wanting him to continue and share.

“I think he feels I left him, that it’s my fault we’re not Read more of this post

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[Video] Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 5)

February 9, 2013 15 Comments

Dave & Dave!

Dave & Dave!

Earlier today, I met Dave for lunch at Panera, in the same shopping center as the Target we first met.

I brought paperwork from the OC Rescue Mission, including a Program Agreement, Application, and Policies Handbook.  He’ll review them over the next few days in preparation for his interview.

Since I took a tour of the location earlier in the week, I also showed him pictures (you can see them here), which he was excited to see. His mental image was much different than what I showed him; he’s pumped!

Last time we spoke, we made plans for him to read the posts I’ve written on this blog, and I wanted him to see your encouraging comments.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous of what he might think as he read the posts, especially because of the pictures.  As we sat eating our sandwiches, I told him that I feel he’s great about sharing his feelings, and that I wanted to follow suit by telling him that I feel a little vulnerable sharing the stories with him — but he responded positively, and was extremely encouraging.

In fact, part way through the first post, he was emotional and Read more of this post

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Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 4)

February 9, 2013 4 Comments

At the corner of Hope Drive ...

Hope Drive!

Earlier this week, I visited the OC Rescue Mission, which happens to be about a stone’s throw from my office.

As you know, I’ve been spending time with some homeless in our area (click here to see the rest of the stories about Dave, in order), and through this experience, have started to make myself familiar with available services.

The OC Rescue Mission is built on the site of the Tustin Marine Base, which has two gigantic hangers you’ve probably seen if you’ve been around Orange County (which, by the way, I’ve heard you can see from outer space; is that true?).

This is what I’m talking about … if you’ve been to Orange County, chances are you’ve seen them:

This is the hanger I was talking about. It is gigantic.

If you live in Orange County, you know this landmark.  This is where the OC Rescue Mission is.

My hope is that Dave (and Joey, who I wrote about here), can gain admittance to the program.  Dave is in the midst of waiting for his California ID (which will take 4-6 weeks), so I’m praying that there is some divine intervention and it gets here more quickly, as the folks at OCRM indicate there are openings.

I met with Kristin Bruce, an energetic, Read more of this post

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Costa Mesa Homeless: Dave’s Story [Start Here]

February 6, 2013 16 Comments

Dave & Dave

Me on the left, Dave on the right — a day after your gift of a night in a hotel.

Dave is 40 years old, and homeless.  He lives under a bridge with 2 friends he met on the street.

I met Dave in a Target parking lot, and have been sharing his story on this blog. In response, you’ve showered him with an amazing outpouring of love and support.

If you’re looking to jump to these stories in sequence, here’s where to start:

  • Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 4):  Since readers have entrusted over $1,200 in donations to Dave and his story, I decided to take a tour of the Orange County Rescue Mission, which is where Dave intends to live.  I’ve included some pics — it is an amazing place!
  • [Video] Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 5):  Over sandwiches at Panera, Dave reads everything written about him on this blog (including your comments), and writes a thank-you note.  Also, he decides to film a short video!  See the man whose life you are changing.

How You Can Help

Many of you have asked how you can be a part of writing Dave’s new life story, and here are a few things you can do:

  • Share this story.  Send it to your friends, post it to Facebook, send links via email.
  • Leave Dave a comment on this blog.  Tell him where you’re from, and how you heard about his story.  I’m going to show him these posts soon.  If you have words of encouragement, leave them here.  He’ll love reading them.
  • Please continue to pray – not only for Dave, but also for me to discern what to do with the energy and momentum these stories have created.  Where is it leading?
  • If you have physical donations, I can arrange to pick them up.  If you have questions about what Dave needs, leave those in the comments.

Dave’s life is being changed by people he doesn’t even know, from across the globe.  Will you join in making a difference in his life?  Every amount counts, no matter how small.  Donate here.

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Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 3)

February 5, 2013 18 Comments

It’s Thursday, January 31st, around 5 PM, and I’m running to a meeting when my wife texts me: “I need u to come home and help me”.

I step out and call her.  I can’t hear a thing she’s saying, but I get the point: stressful day, I’m needed.  Now.

I step back into the meeting, apologize, and run to my office.  I remember that I’m ready to publish a post about the prior week’s experience with Dave, who is 41 years old and homeless (see part 1 here, part 2 here).

I wrote the post while flying home from Vegas.  On the flight, I decided to try something that weighed on my heart: asking you to get involved.

I felt that asking you to help Dave get his ID, and providing him a gift of a night in a hotel would touch his heart.  This is why I included an “ask” at the bottom of the post, being faithful to the prompting but unsure of what to expect.  I connected the “ask” to a PayPal account, and configured it to allow donations of any size.

But my wife needs me, so I set the post to auto-publish at 5:30, and make a mad dash down the stairs.

I get home.  My wife is feeling overwhelmed with work (her first week back after a 9 month maternity break).  Plus, I’ve been out of town for three days.  Abby’s been a handful.  We talk, and things calm down a bit.

At 6:44, I remember I haven’t promoted the post, so I make a few status updates on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  I feel a little self-conscious about asking you to help, but I’ve learned this discomfort is usually a good sign.

At 7:19, a $50 donation comes in.  I can’t believe my eyes.

By Saturday morning, $176 rolls in.  What the…? Read more of this post

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Blog Traffic Monthly Report: January 2013

February 1, 2013 4 Comments

Welcome to the second monthly traffic report, where I share the blog’s metrics (you can see last month’s report here). My purpose is to give insights and ideas that may help in your own blogging journey.  In the comments, let me know what other data are helpful to you.

Before we begin, here are some things I did differently in January 2013:

  • Added Pinterest as a sharing option (before, it was only available behind the “More” button).  Content started to get “pinned” almost immediately.
  • Started posting every few days, as opposed to once daily.  You’ll see the results of this experiment below (you might be surprised).
  • Completed my Google Authorship, which I had started in December 2012, but for some reason didn’t finish.
  • Revised the “About” page to be less formal.  Instead of referring to myself in the third person, I modified the text to the first person, and intentionally made it more personal.  My intent was for you to feel we were sitting down over coffee and chatting about our lives.  This page was the 5th most requested in January.

Let’s see what these changes did to traffic.

Read more of this post

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Costa Mesa Homeless: My Time With Dave (Part 2)

January 31, 2013 12 Comments

Starbucks

Starbucks: Our agreed upon meeting place

I arrived at Starbucks at 8:20, 10 minutes earlier than agreed upon.  I parked and started pacing.

At 8:30, it occurred to me to check inside Starbucks, but not finding Dave, I left and continued searching the parking lot.  As the minutes rolled by, I wondered if Dave had a change of heart.

Then, out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone rounding the outside of the building.

It was Dave, waving a newspaper and smiling.  “Sorry, my alarm clock didn’t go off,” he said, quickening his pace.  “No problem, glad you could make it!” I replied, making our way to the car.

It never occurred to me that homeless people wake up to an alarm clock. Read more of this post

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What Happens In Vegas …

January 30, 2013 2 Comments

I’ve been in Las Vegas the past few days, attending the PODi conference.  Focused on print and marketing, the conference is an intimate gathering of a few hundred industry members.

I flew in Monday morning, and except for accidentally shaving (the second time this has happened on the road — the razor’s piece that keeps my 5 o’clock shadow trimmed fell off during the flight, and I neglected to make sure it was on the razor before diving in — oops), everything has been smooth.

View from my hotel window

Vegas from my hotel window

We’ve had some great speaking opportunities.  On Monday, Joe and one of our Clients spoke at a 3-hour session about marketing automation and our Client’s real-life examples; it was well received.  Yesterday, I participated on a panel centered on the evolution of marketing automation; with me were a few industry friends from XMPIE and Pageflex.

Throughout the show, I’ve had some amazing conversations, many of which are blog-worthy material to share in future posts.

For example, I had an interesting conversation with the CEO of a company who shared a model to understand a person’s “time horizon”, and how the concept can help you better lead and manage your team.

In a nutshell, the idea is simple: everyone is different in how they think, and one such area is the time range they tend to think in.

For example, at a construction site, the carpenter thinks about today’s work, whereas his supervisor is thinking about today’s work in the context of the entire job site and other sites s/he is managing.

The carpenter’s time horizon is in days or weeks; the supervisor’s is 1-3 months.

The theory argues that once you understand your own time horizon and those of the people on your team, it becomes simpler to arrange your people in a way that maximizes their ability.

Any ways, more on that later.

This past weekend I spent some time with Dave on both Saturday and Sunday.  I’m eager to share more of his story and keep you involved with how this is unfolding.  I’m in the midst of writing about our time together and will share that soon.

On that topic: it is interesting to see how many people at the show know about Dave and J.  I see lots of pageviews for these posts (about Dave — about J), but it is difficult to discern who is reading.  However, I’ve met many people who have been touched by the stories.  It is encouraging.

I can’t wait to share that with my homeless friends.

Cheers!

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MLK Day Photo Dump

January 25, 2013 Leave a comment

Monday of this week was a holiday here in the United States, honoring Martin Luther King.  I actually forgot about the holiday until the previous Friday, so it was a nice surprise to get an extra day with the family.

We started the day by making our to-do list. My wife and I are fairly task-oriented, so on days we want to get crap done, we make a list.

Our list included updating our finances (we recently started using Mint.com to automate our finances, which you can read about here), writing a post about my time with Dave (homeless), who I met in a Target parking lot, and doing some work.  On weekends or holidays, I love the feeling of being in the flow while I work, especially if I’ve gone for a run, had a nice shower, and eaten a good breakfast.

Another item on our list was to finish a home improvement project: we decided to add some stepping-stones to our front lawn, which meant making a trip to Home Depot (which also meant planning around Abby’s nap schedule).

Abby loves driving her cart!

Abby loves driving her cart! This outfit killed me — so cute!

Abby loved being in the cart, and squealed with happiness as we rolled her around.  Read more of this post

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Elizabeth: Homeless, But Not Voiceless

January 23, 2013 16 Comments

Elizabeth: This is me outside of Mary's Kitchen in Orange.

Elizabeth: This is me outside of Mary’s Kitchen in Orange.

My earlier posts about spending time with Dave, 41, who lives under a bridge in Santa Ana, and J (who lives under the same bridge), have generated a lot of feedback.

I’m overwhelmed by your response, and see that many of you have a heart for the homeless.

Their stories seem to reach you in a tender spot.

Earlier today, Elizabeth contacted me via Facebook.

I’ve never met her, but she sent me a message that I found powerful and moving (included with her permission in its entirety below).

At present, she’s homeless — but certainly not without a voice.  

In her own words … Read more of this post

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