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I’ve made it an annual tradition to make my birthday not about myself each year, but about a particular cause to raise money for. In response to the crisis in Haiti, I decided I want to do something BIG this year. In order to do so, I’m  going to need more help from my friends and blog readers (i.e. YOU) this time :). I’m not asking you for money right now, but for feedback and ideas to start with.

Last year I was able to raise over $2500 for Room To Read, and I thought this year I’d at least up it to $2600. Then a crazy idea popped into my head: What if I could raise $26,000? It sounds pretty radical to me still, but in response to the situation in Haiti, we’ve seen some amazing fundraiser ideas out there (like this 7 year-old), It won’t be easy, but I think it’s possible.

As far as the cause/non-profit to support, I’m choosing an organization that has a long history of working in Haiti, and provided a lot of help following the hurricane in 2008. It’s more focused on middle-term and long-term recovery and sustainability, which is a big reason why I’m choosing it. I’ve given to and will continue to support immediate needs and disaster recovery, but since the earthquakes effects will be felt for years, I want to support something with a longer term impact. I’ll share the name of the organization in the next few days. Sorry for the suspense, but I think a little mystery won’t hurt the campaign :).

Above is a photo from Haiti, courtesy of World Concern.

Anyway, in order to even raise $2600, much less $26,000, I’m going to need a plan. As I’ve done in years past, I’ll have a celebration on my actual birthday (Feb. 21) where I will sell framed photography of my own and from my friends. I’ll also have a campaign online raising money through Facebook, Twitter and other places.

In order to really hit this out of the park though, I think I’m going to have to have a series of events and even as friends to help with their own events potentially.

Some initial ideas, all with the common theme of the number 26:

• Run 26K the morning of my birthday, potentially with 26 other people, who all pledge to raise money
• Maybe add a 26K or 26 mile bike ride to that
• My worst fear: swimming - maybe swimming 2600 meters, or feet, or… inches…
• Writing a 26 line poem
• Hosting a fishes+loaves event with 26 people (basically a dinner fundraiser)
• Any kind of eating contest/food event with 26 people or 26 items. Can someone eat 26 goldfish/cheez-its and swallow in under 26 seconds? Record the hilarity and post it
• Some sort of dance competition/performance? 26 dance moves?
• Can we somehow mix karaoke into an event? 26 songs in a row
• Writing handwritten notes to 26 personal friends/relatives about the cause and why I care. Also asking my close friends to do the same.

These are just things to help get the juices flowing. No idea is a bad idea. In fact, I know I’m going to need so many ideas, that I’ll issue a challenge: If I can get at least 26 people to give me ideas in the comments of this post and following posts, I will commit to raising $26,000, but not until then :). I’ll be following up this post with more details/progress in the next few days.

Also if you’d like to be more involved, whether you’re in Seattle or not, definitely contact me and we can talk more!

I have 26 days left. Time’s a tickin’, so post your ideas now, or share this post with a friend!

cupcake photo courtesy of wishymom.

I spent the past weekend in Vancouver, Canada as part of a trip with my community group from Quest Church. We usually meet for a few hours every Thursday night in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle to hang out, study the Gospel of John and pray together. We’re only used to seeing each other in a pretty specific context. Well, we did a volunteer project at a homeless shelter awhile ago - but on this trip lets just say we go to see different sides of each other that we never knew about.The plan was pretty simple: Drive the 2 hours to Vancouver. Eat. Eat some more. Walk around a bit. Eat again. Go out for the night, have a few drinks. Eat a late snack. Go to sleep, wake up. Eat a big breakfast. Do a little shopping. Walk around the park. Get coffee and desserts. Go out for sushi. Eat Gelato. Fall asleep on the way home.

That’s pretty much what happened. Of course we had a lot of good conversations, jokes, laughs, a few crazy stories, but mostly a lot of eating.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Of course we left on St. Patrick’s day and I wasn’t wearing any green outside of the crumbs on my face from my green bagel.

Lindsey and Han Mae are ready to hit the road.

Our first stop: Dim Sum.

Chris is ready to rock and roll.

Yeah, only one meal down and Linda and I already felt like exploding.

We definitely ordered alot, as Nick found out when he opened the check.

Of course the next stop was for some pearl milk tea.

We then proceeded to Granville Island where they had a nifty public market.

Inside they had all kinds of colorful fruits, vegetables and other foods.

Don’t foget about the arts and crafts.

Did I not mention that it was pouring rain all day? Here’s a shot of a metal table with a neon sign reflected on the surface.

Nick finds shelter under an umbrella.

A little rain didn’t ruin the gelato for Lindsey and Crystal.

For dinner we decided on Malaysian food. Here’s a sample of one of the eggplant dishes.

Chris and Laurel, our resident married couple on the trip, at the dinner table.

Me, Mark and Jeff anxiously await our food. No, we aren’t falling asleep. Our eyes are just that small.

We had some fun stuffing 15 people into an elevator.

Later that night we headed out for some drinks. I chose the Granville Island Honey Lager - and highly reccommend it if you’re ever in Canada.

The girls chose a little classier wine.

Lindsey and Robin with their drinks. Props to Robin for knowing how to enjoy a good dark beer.

Nick and Linda chose mojitos.

Carrie and Jeff share a Pina Colada.

At some point that night, Nick, me and Mark decided we were too cool for school somehow.

The whole group outside of the hotel on Sunday morning. Luckily the weather had dramatically improved.

Tina and I were feeling particularly gangsta before breakfast.

Han Mae eyes her french toast hungrily.

Our hotel.

Boats from Stanley Park, with downtown in the background.

I caught a sea plane taking off from the harbor.

There’s a Chevron station on an island in the middle of the water. It’s a gas station for boats!

The coast with a lighthouse in the background.

A family admires the crashing waves.

There was a small totem pole exhibit in the middle of the island.

I stood at the base of the lighthouse until I caught a bird flying overhead.

Me, Tina, Lindsey and Esther pose by the waterfront.

Another group trekked around the island on bikes. The trouble with bikes is that I tend to fall on my face while trying to ride them and take pictures at the same time.

Another shot of the coast with downtown in the background.

You can see the convention center with its cool looking roof.

A fountain framed by cherry blossom trees in downtown.

Someone supporting the http://www.freehugscampaign.org/ cause.

Mark looks a bit disappointed with his chocolate dessert.

However, Lindsey is quite excited about her sweet treat.

Nothing like some chocolate and coffee to keep you going.

We stopped for more gelato before heading home.

It’s apparently so delicious that Nick can’t take his eyes off of it.

I think this is my favorite shot from the trip. I spotted a bird flying towards me and had to whip my camera out and take a quick shot. It ended up a bit crooked, but I kind of liked the effect so I left it that way.

Overall this trip was a lot of fun packed into less than 48 hours. There was definitely a lot more that happened than these pictures (by that I mean we ate a lot more but I was too busy stuffing my face to take more pictures.) But, you can see more pictures from Sunday here. I have a feeling that our C-group will have a few more fun outings before the year is over…

When I was booking my flight to the Philippines, the travel agent told me, “Well we have this flight for you, but it requires a 8 hour layover in Taipei.” Normally, spending 8 hours in the airport would be pretty boring, but I had no intention of doing that. I told the travel agent, “That sounds perfect.” You see, last summer I participated in a summer program through the group Volunteers in Asia (VIA) where I was a host for foreign students from Taiwan and Japan as part of the American Language and Culture (ALC) program. Basically, I got to know about 70 different students from Japan and Taiwan during their one month program at Stanford. I thought that this layover would be a great opportunity to see some of the students again.So I stepped off the plane in Taipei around 3pm and proceeded to customs and then the information desk where people thankfully spoke passable english. I asked how to get to Nationa Cheng Chi University, and they guy handed me two maps. I was supposed to take a bus and and then a train to the Taipei Zoo, which was very near the university, and then I could walk or take a quick cab ride. My other option was to just take a can straight from the airport. However, it’s over an hour-long drive to Taipei and the cab would cost about $50. Besides, doesn’t navigating the public transit system in a place where I can’t read any signs nor speak to anyone sound like a fun idea? I thought it did.

I managed to make my way there through a lot of pointing and grunting, nodding and shaking my head. The info desk guy circled a couple key places on the map he gave me so I just kept pointing at those places to the different drivers, and the MRT station had some English on it. The train system wasn’t quite as complicated as the one in Tokyo where I spent the summer of 2005, so I was able to figure it out. I called my friends from a pay phone once I got on campus and they proceeded to give me the grand tour.

First stop was to pick up some authentic pearl milk tea. Quite good if I say so myself.

In front of the main library with my many tour guides.

This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Eating lots of fresh, hot and delicious Taiwanese food. I’m not even going to attempt to explain all that I ate, but it was basically awesome.

At this point the only other guy Alex had to take off and it left me in a rather interesting position as the only guy at a table of girls. This defintely doesn’t happen at Microsoft.

Sadly, the night came to an end all too soon. They walked me to the bus station and Nicki, Yvonne and Tina were gracious enough to accompany me all the way to the airport. This was supposed to be a “tough Jedi” pose. But Nicki isn’t looking so tough. It’s okay though.

Overall, it was fun end to a trip that was altogether too short. I am going back to Japan and Taiwan at the end of June though (all the hosts are visiting together as part of the program from last year). For anyone from ALC2, I miss you guys!