Month: November 2013

Happy Soul Food Friday!

This week:

Don’t Stop Believing… EVER

A Once in a Lifetime Father Daughter Dance – Make every moment count and create the moments you want on your schedule while you can

Dreamt up by Leonardo da Vinci, then manifested 500 years later: This amazing instrument combining a piano and cello has finally been played to an audience more than 500 years after it was imagined by the master

Some Dreamy Pictures from Around the Globe to Quench your Wanderlust: “Don’t go there girlfriend!

”Thanks for staying soul-filled and wonder-ful!

Love,Neville

Don’t Stop Believing by Robin Sharma:

This past weekend I watched a pretty inspiring documentary that I’d recommend to you so you round out 2013 in fine form.

It’s called Don’t Stop Believing. And it’s all about a poor kid from the Philippines who made his wildest dreams come true.Here’s the backstory…A few years ago the ’80s supergroup Journey was looking for a new lead singer after legendary vocalist Steve Perry left the band. The guitar player Neil Schon spent weeks surfing the Net hoping to find someone to at least get them through the big tour they’d planned. He watched video after video but no one even came close to the mastery they needed to forge ahead.

Late one night, seriously ready to give up, Schon went onto YouTube. He happened to see a video by a young man named Arnel Pineda who was singing Journey hits, belting them out like his life depended on it.

Pineda had experienced a rough ride:–His mother died of heart disease when he was just 13 years old.

–The family couldn’t afford rent so he lived in the streets.
–He worked odd jobs and often suffered from hunger.
–He was close to giving up on his career as a vocalist.

Mesmerized by the performance on YouTube, Schon sent an email to Pineda’s friend who had posted the video. His friend thought it was a joke. But then Schon followed up a little later with a personal call to the singer, inviting him to an audition in Marin County, California.Pineda was speechless.The first day of the audition was a mess. Pineda was jet-lagged, disoriented and outright scared to be singing in front of his heroes. The next day was a bit better. Something shifted. The members of journey thought maybe Schon was actually onto something as Pineda stepped up his game. The kid was pretty good.Day 3 magic filled the studio. The musicians were blown away by what they heard. And Journey offered Pineda a chance to go out on tour with them.

Get this…
…Arnel Pineda’s first performance was at a concert in Chile that was televised to 25,000,000 people.

In the documentary Pineda said that the stress was so severe before he went on stage that he lost his balance and everything seemed to be in slow motion.But as you know so well, what makes mastery is not being fearless but experiencing your natural fear and doing what needs to be done anyway.Within minutes of being in front of that audience, Pineda started having fun. He stopped being scared. And he proceeded to rock the house.Through the tour, his humility, work ethic, willingness to learn and passion to win wowed the members of Journey.

At the end of it, Pineda fully expected to be thanked. And then to return home, satisfied that he’d lived his dream.

But his band mates had another plan in mind…they offered him a permanent role as Journey’s lead singer. He became a full member of the legendary group (80 million records sold) and would receive 1/5 of all profit–exactly like the others. (Yes, the world has lots of decent, generous and good people in it).

Pineda continues to tour the world with Journey and has recorded a number of successful records with them. He has bought a home for his family, become a famous rock star and lives a life he never could have imagined.The lesson for us: don’t stop believing. Ever….The impossible is generally the untried.
Sending you a ton of best wishes…Your partner in success,

A Once in a Lifetime Father Daughter Dance – Make every moment count and create the moments you want on your schedule while you can https://vimeo.com/79951077

Dreamt up by Leonardo da Vinci, then manifested 500 years later: This amazing instrument combining a piano and cello has finally been played to an audience more than 500 years after it was imagined by the master. Da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance genius who painted the Mona Lisa, invented the ‘‘viola organista’’ – which looks like a baby grand piano – but never built it, experts say. The viola organista has now come to life, thanks to a Polish concert pianist with a flair for instrument-making and the patience and passion to interpret da Vinci’s plans…http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/music/leonardo-da-vincis-wacky-piano-is-heard-for-the-first-time-after-500-years-20131118-2xpqs.html

Some Dreamy Pictures from Around the Globe to Quench your Wanderlust: “Don’t go there girlfriend!”

Click here!

Thanks giving to ALL and this week’s contributors Robin S, Ron M, Ann S and Larry H.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest
appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Happy Soul Food Friday!

And happy birthday to my son Arman who turned sweet sixteen this week. Kind of looks like these guys 🙂

This week:

• Ever Make Mistakes?
• Lou will Inspire You- He Made Me Cry!
• Take YOUR News IQ Test- The Results Might Surprise You
• Love Birds for the Zany
• Stain Removers for the Neat
• Trust the Pilot for Thee of Little Faith!
• Samsung v. Apple Corporate Payback is a B!+ch
• Historical Photos You will Want to Share

Love is all you need…

Neville

Ever Make Mistakes?

Our system for checking and double checking projects before we go to print (or live online) helps us avoid errors—like typos.

But, what do you do when one accidentally slips by? There are many ways to handle it.

You could cry. You could jump up and down angrily and yell.

Or, you could create an awesome sticker admitting to your mistake, but letting people know the environment is more important to you than your pride. That’s what Stone Brewing Co. did…

The box:

The response:

PR Weekend– Lou will Inspire You- He Made Me Cry!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=242536055

Lou singing Formidable

Take YOUR News IQ Test- The Results Might Surprise You

This is a terrific test that indicates that the majority of Americans don’t know what’s going on.

It’s astonishing that so many people got less than half right.  The results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn’t have a clue, and that’s pretty scary.
There are no tricks here — just a simple test to see if you are current on your information..
Test your knowledge with the challenge of 13 questions, then be ready to shudder when you see how others did: If you get less than half correct, please cancel your voter registration as have already had one mayoral debacle in San Diego J

Click here: Test Your News IQ – Pew Research Center

Love Birds for the Zany

 Stain Removers for the Neat

Genius Stain Removing that works

http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/20-genius-stain-removing-tricks-that-really-work-214234958.html

 Trust the Pilot for Thee of Little Faith!

The last one is the most amazing …………………………….

1. Tioman Island , Off the coast of Malaysia

2. Wake Island,  Pacific Ocean

3. Macao International Airport 

Kuujjuaraapik , Quebec 

5. A rock, off the coast of Greenwood 
(Canadian Military Labrador Helicopter)
Outstanding job by a great young pilot from Pennsylvania !

Can’t add anything else to this ………………… the next picture is worth 10,000 words!
If you don’t think military pilots earn their pay, you need to take a look at this picture.

This photo was taken by a soldier in Afghanistan of a helicopter rescue mission.
The pilot is a PA National Guard guy who flies EMS choppers in civilian life.

Now how many people on the planet you reckon could set the tail end of a
chopper down on the roof top of a shack, on a steep mountain cliff, and hold
it there while soldiers load wounded men in the rear. If this does not impress
you …………………………… nothing ever will!

Samsung v. Apple Corporate Payback is a B!+ch

http://thebladebrownshow.wordpress.com/2013/11/13/lawsuit-paid-in-full-samsung-pays-apple-1-billion-sending-30-trucks-full-of-5-cent-coins/

Historical Photos You will Want to Share

Some are amusing and delightful and some are very haunting and sobering….

Click here!

Thanks this week to Heidi D, Bryan K, Larry H and Lovebirds everywhere!

Love,

Neville

Happy Soul Food Friday!

What a week. Feels like a dance with a three headed cobra…

• Mission Fed is awarded the 2013 Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation Award  from the Association of Fundraising Professionals
• Our CEO Debra Schwartz wins one of the 2013 Women Who Mean Business Awards on its 20^th Anniversary sponsored by the San Diego Business Journal along with an amazing group of women leaders in San Diego
• We launch our 6^th Year of our I’m Thankful for My Teacher campaign for local teachers
• We successfully host & run a traditional martial arts camp on Mindfulness at UCSD for black belts in our organization from as far away as Oxford England, Toronto Canada, Upstate New York, and Delaware, and as close as La Jolla 

Enjoy details on some of the aforementioned, followed by interesting tidbits about the amazing city that we love- San Diego, as well as, some photos of other beautiful creatures to kick off your weekend!

2013 Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation Award:

Mission Fed was just awarded the 2013 Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation Award! We received this honor from the Association of Fundraising Professions (AFP), San Diego Chapter, who presented eight awards to individuals and organizations. Over 1,000 community, civic and business leaders joined the awards celebration and shared in the great feeling that comes from caring about our community. Mission Fed is the first credit union to win–and we find ourselves in very good company. Some of the impressive past winners include QUALCOMM, San Diego Gas & Electric, Vons, San Diego Chargers, Jack in the Box, Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Cox Communications. What makes this award even more special is that the nomination was written by a group of our community partners:  Junior Achievement of San Diego County; San Diego Zoo and Safari Parks; ArtWalk San Diego; Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego; and Radio San Diego/XX Sports Radio/Walrus FM Radio, that worked with us on a wide variety of events and programs over the years.

The Mission Fed community was represented by (L-R) Neville Billimoria,
Dr. Lupe Holguin-Buell, Debra Schwartz, Ron Araujo and Sherry Special.

The AFP presented awards in eight categories for individuals and organizations.
They include (L-R) front: Steve Eldred, the California Endowment, Outstanding
Philanthropic Organization; Pamela Wygod, Outstanding Philanthropist; Whitney
Southwick, Outstanding Celebrity Volunteer; and Debra Schwartz for Mission Fed,
Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation. Back: Keri Jucha, Outstanding Youth/Student
Volunteer; Joyce Glazer, Outstanding Fundraising Volunteer; Geoffrey Graham,
Outstanding Development Professional; and Susan E. Atkins, Outstanding
Organizational Volunteer.

Please spread the word about our I’m Thankful for My Teacher Campaign!

It is an easy way to pay it forward…

Click here 

San Diego is an Amazing City in More Ways than One!

Did you know these factoids about our city?

Open this!

Beautiful creatures!

See them here

Thanks this week go to all of you who give your time, treasure and talent to make your community better, the amazing Mission Fed team, my fellow karate-ka for modeling life-long learning, Popeh Z and Larry H

Pay it forward, backward and sideways!

Love,

Neville

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”- Cicero

Happy Soul Food Friday!

“An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly understood.
An adventure in an inconvenience properly considered…”

“There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh.  Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don’t.   Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.”

This week, reconsider some well-worn beliefs and open yourself up to New Possibilities…

• Reconsider how quickly we change our tune with John Darling
• Reconsider what it takes to sing with the experience of maturity featuring 10 year old Alex Pirvu
  Reconsider what really matters when it comes to Leadership
• Reconsider how sometimes success is created by adjacent opportunities with the Story of Trains & Watches
• Reconsider our inter-relationships with these Amazing Encounters

John Darling:

Alex Pirvu: 
http://www.flixxy.com/10-year-old-alex-pirvu-makes-jury-cry-at-romanian-talent-show.htm?utm_source=nl”

Leadership Imperatives:

http://blog.johnspence.com/2013/10/the-two-most-important-leadership-imperatives/?utm_source=Top+2+Leadership+Imparatives&utm_campaign=Leadership&utm_medium=email

Trains and Watches:
If you were in the market for a watch in 1880, would you know where to get one? You would go to a store, right? Well, of course you could do that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than most of the store watches, you went to the train station! Sound a bit funny? Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States, that’s where the best watches were found.

Why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad company wasn’t selling the watches, not at all The telegraph operator was. Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad tracks from town to town. It was usually the shortest distance and the right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.

Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad. They would know when trains left the previous station and when they were due at their next station. And it was the telegraph operator who had the watches. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.

This was all arranged by “Richard”, who was a telegraph operator himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station one day when a load of watches arrived from the East. It was a huge crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.

So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn’t want to pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell them. So Richard did. He sent a wire to every agent in the system asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.

That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the travelers. It worked! It didn’t take long for the word to spread and, before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to buy watches.

Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker to help him with the orders. That was Alvah. And the rest is history as they say.

The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.

Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to Chicago — and it’s still there.

YES, IT’S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880’s, the biggest watch retailer in the country was at the train station. It all started with a telegraph operator: Richard Sears and his partner Alvah Roebuck!

Amazing Encounters:

Click here!

Thanks this week go to Larry H, Debra S and “Re-Imagineers” everywhere…

Pay it forward!

Love,

Neville

“Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.”

— King Solomon

Happy Soul Food Friday Pumpkin

This week it is all about Promise and Purpose:

• A Father Daughter Lesson that Will Touch Your Heart
• A UC Promise in the hands of the people
• Gaudi and Dion in Barcelona in the Hands of God and the Will of the People that I wish I created
• Paws of Pets and Hands of Munchkins 

Enjoy this Soul Food Father Daughter Lesson that Will Touch Your Heart:

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/23/239814831/a-father-a-daughter-and-lessons-learned?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=share&utm_campaign=

One Way to Validate Volunteer Engagement:

Click here!

Gaudi’s magnificent cathedral and Celine Dion’s Ave Maria! 

The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is a work on a grand scale which was begun on 19 March 1882 from a project by the diocesan architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901). At the end of 1883 Gaudí was commissioned to carry on the works, a task which he did not abandon until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea.

The building is in the centre of Barcelona, and over the years it has become one of the most universal signs of identity of the city and the country. It is visited by millions of people every year and many more study its architectural and religious content.

It has always been an expiatory church, which means that since the outset, 131 years ago now, it has been built from donations. Gaudí himself said: “The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people.” The building is still going on and could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century.

Click here (it’s a big file, so it’ll take some time to download)

Paws of Pets and Hands of Munchkins:

Click here!

Thanks this week to my friends at KPBS, my peeps at UCSD, my tribe at Mission Fed, Larry H, & Andrea M for this spook-tacular pumpkin carving!

Love conquers Fear!

Neville

 “Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.”

— Usman B. Asif