Youth No Obstacle for this Volunteer

Here is a great story that I'm proud to say is from my area - I found this in my local paper yesterday:

Through a calendar in his iPod touch, Alex Rosencrance easily tracks when he needs to call volunteers, order groceries and write newsletter articles as part of organizing a monthly meal to feed about 80 homeless in Madison.

The 11-year-old Waunakee boy reliably reminds the mostly adult volunteers of upcoming shifts and some say his involvement has reinvigorated the monthly meal program that was hurting for participants.

“It comes kind of naturally for me,” Alex said of the leadership role.

Alex’s main duty is organizing about 17 volunteers needed each month, and while he doesn’t always help make the meal, he does like cooking at home.

> Read the whole inspiring story at the Wisconsin State Journal

There are a number of cool things about this story -

1. I like how he is leveraging technology for a good cause
2. When I was eleven, I spent most of my free time playing Nintendo!
3. Reading stories like this remind me that "Hey, if an eleven year-old kid can do something as awesome as this, why can't I do more?"

Related Sublime Goodness posts:

• Boy Asks Friends for Food, Not Toys on Birthday
• Teen Shields Boy from Bullet
• Boy, 5, Saves Dad's Life
• Kids' Letters to President Obama

The Sublime Goodness Mixtape

Every Sunday for the past twelve weeks, I've been posting sublime songs (uplifting, moving, beautiful songs...) for your listening pleasure. Well, after I posted last week's I thought, "Hey, that's the twelfth song - an album is usually about twelve songs...OH YES, it's mixtape time!"

I took the twelve songs and came up with a nice playlist (so I think). It starts off slow, and then builds up in pace and tempo to the end. I also threw together some front and back cover art that goes together with the music (a tracklist is on the back cover).I'm very pleased with how it turned out and very excited to share it with you. It's a great mix to chill out to.

Here is the tracklist (with links to the original blog posts)

1. "The Shining" by Badly Drawn Boy
2. "Knot Comes Loose" by My Morning Jacket
3. "Into the Mystic" by Van Morrison
4. "These Arms of Mine" by Otis Redding
5. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World by Israel Kamakawiwo'le
6. "Love" by John Lennon
7. "Dear Someone" by Gillian Welch
8. "If I Can Dream" by Elvis Presley
9. "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve
10. "Love & Happiness" by Al Green
11. "Star Guitar" by the Chemical Brothers
12. "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips

DOWNLOAD the mixtape:

> Click here to download (68.5 MB)

Click the "Download Now" button at zShare and the download will begin after a bit. The mixtape zip file above includes all twelve songs in mp3 format (192kbps) and front/back cover in jpg format. Close your eyes and listen. :)

Need some free "zip" software? Download 7-Zip here which is what I used. Your Windows program most likely can unzip this mixtape file with no problems - just double-click it and click "unzip!"

Disclaimer: I own all the CDs for which these songs came from - if you like any of the songs, please go buy the albums. I am offering them here for "sampling" only.

Where the Wild Things Are - Movie Trailer

One of my favorite books when I was a child. I still remember first seeing it featured on Reading Rainbow when I was five or six and rushing to the library soon after to take it home. That book enchanted me with those illustrations. At night in my room a forest grew and I was Max, and waited for a private boat just for me....

Being a parent now of two little girls brought the book back into my life and of course, they both love it. It's one of the few books I don't mind reading to them over and over.

So you could guess my exhilaration at finding out that one of my favorite directors, Spike Jonze, and one of my favorite authors, Dave Eggers, have been working on the first live-action movie adaptation. It was the first time that "Where the Wild Things Are" author Maurice Sendak gave the green light to a movie after all these years...which gives me faith.

The trailer for the film was released this week and I wanted to share it with you:



I can't wait until October when I can take my little ladies to see this movie!

Fireman Dresses as Spider-Man to Rescue Boy

This was already posted in one of my favorite blogs, Operation Nice, yesterday, but it's such a great story that I couldn't resist sharing here. The fact that I used to be (used to? wink, wink..) such a big comic book nerd makes this story even better for me:

A Thai firefighter dressed as Spider-Man to rescue an autistic boy who climbed onto a third-floor balcony and dangled his legs over the side because he was nervous on his first day of school.

Firefighter Somchai Yoosabai was called in after the 11-year-old boy's teachers and mother failed to coax him off the ledge on Monday, he said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"He was nervous about the first day at school, and he was asking for his mother," Somchai said. "He cried and refused to let any of us get close to him."

Overhearing a conversation between the boy's mother and his teachers about his love for comics and superheroes, Somchai rushed back to the fire station to change into a Spider-Man costume before swinging into action.

"I told him Spider-Man is here to save you. No monster will hurt you now," Somchai said. "Then I told him to walk slowly toward me. I was very nervous that he might have slipped if he got too excited and ran."

Somchai, who keeps costume of Spider-Man and a Japanese superhero Ultraman to liven up fire drills at schools, said the teary-eyed boy broke into a smile and started walking into his arms. (from MSNBC)

News Anchors Dance During Commercials

This is a cute story that most likely falls in the "uplifting" category.

I think it would be far too easy to be in a bad mood reporting so much awful news all the time, but some anchors find a way to keep things light. What tickles me the most about this story is that I grew up watching WGN in Chicago, so I'm glad to see them highlighted for something so neat.

Enjoy:

> Watch the video on CNN (wouldn't let me embed!) - it's a good piece to watch for background.

Here is the original YouTube video that generated the interest - WGN Reporter/Weekend Anchors, Jackie Bange and Robert Jordan, bring you "The 2-Minute Drill.":



From WGN's website - What is "The Routine?"

"The first moves are from "The three Stooges," followed by reaching into the air. The reach came from the night I tried to swat a fly not realizing that Jackie was still on camera. The "fist bump" comes from Barack and Michelle. The shotgun comes from the incident involving Dick Chaney. Following a John Travolta movie -- Saturday Night Fever -- we added that move. After a Cubs game we added the baseball move. Other movements have lesser significance and just keep the flow going.

We don't add another move until we have a smooth routine. For that reason the entire act took around 10 years to perfect. Even so, we still forget things and seldom have a flawless routine."

- Bob Jordan, WGN News

The World's Greatest Music Collection

Here is a story I came across via Twitter today that moved me - it's about a guy with the biggest record collection in the world. Yes, I love music and this piece made me want to bust out all my vinyl, but more than that, you really want to help Paul by the end of this video. If I only had three million dollars...

Here is the intro:

Paul Mawhinney was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. Over the years he has amassed what has become the world's largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.

This is the story of a man and his records.

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

> Visit Paul's website to learn more about his collection.

The Key to Happiness...But You Won't Believe It

I came across this intriguing article and had to share it with you. At first the notion of "talking to strangers" seems obvious when reading it, but upon further reflection...how often do you really do it?

A Harvard professor says he knows the secret to happiness and is ready to share it with the world.

Unfortunately, nobody believes him.

The secret, according to psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, is to ask a total stranger.

"In some common situations, surprisingly, the best way to know what will make you happy is to find somebody who is already in the situation you're contemplating and see how happy they are," Gilbert told CTV.ca in a recent interview.

"Obviously, you and other people are different but the differences between people seem to be relatively small."

....he said people should trust their own imagination less and trust other people's experiences more.

"Don't fall for the mistaken idea that you are so different from other people that their experience has little to teach you," Gilbert said.

"You and other people have a lot in common."

So, if you want to become a lawyer, stop daydreaming. Instead, go find a lawyer.

"All you have to do is find one person who is a lawyer and you're already going to have more information about what it's like to be one than you could ever generate on your own," Gilbert said.

"That's not just true for being a lawyer, it's also true for moving to Cleveland, eating apple pie, marrying Andrea, and every other thing that you can possibly name."

But what if nobody else has been married to Andrea?

"Well then you're out of luck aren't you?"

> Read the full article

You might also like these related Sublime Goodness posts:

• More Secrets to Happiness
  
• The Secret to Happiness: Seven Ways to Savor Life
• Happiness Habit: Routines to Make Your Life Richer & More Productive
• Five Surprising Happiness Habits that Could Change Your Life

* Hat tip to Happytweets for the tip on this story