Marc’s Musings

Here’s my first attempt at a baked bried. Very tasty Pampered Chef recipe with brown sugar, almonds, and a touch of dijon.

It didn’t last very long!

I’m in the process of brewing a new batch of beer. This time it’s a Bock. Bock’s have a cool liturgical history. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Bock is a strong lager which has origins in the Hanseatic town Einbeck, Germany. The name is a corruption of the medieval German brewing town of Einbeck, but also means “Bock” (male deer or goat) in German. The original Bocks were dark beers, brewed from high-colored malts. Modern Bocks can be dark, amber or pale in color. Bock was traditionally brewed for special occasions, often religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter or Lent.

Bocks have a long history of being brewed and consumed by Roman Catholic monks in Germany. During the Spring religious season of Lent, monks were required to fast. High-gravity Bock beers are higher in food energy and nutrients than lighter lagers, thus providing sustenance during this period. Similar high-gravity Lenten beers of various styles were brewed by Monks in other lands as well (see Trappist beer). It was rumored that Martin Luther drank this beer during the Diet of Worms.

What should I call it? There are a lot of ideas from the Wikipedia article.

“I’ll be Bock.”, with a nod to the Terminator, is an option.

So are names playing off of Johann Sebastian Bach.

I’m sure there are even more. What would you name it?

Gotta love it when your mayor says things like this in support of your nonprofit.

Here’s a taste of the comments quoted in the newspaper:

“It means we put all our eggs into Inland,” he said. “As the mayor, I will fight like hell to make Inland a strong community hospital for Waterville.”

And he is.

It’s hard to be really excited. The other hospital is the leading employer in our community. This is just like another mill closing–not a pleasant thing in this former mill town.

But it is nice to have advocates as enthusiastic and generous as he is!

Last Saturday, I presented my own full day fundraising seminar for the first time ever.

I’ve given seminars and trainings for years, but I’ve always been invited in to someone else’s event. Someone else did the PR. Someone else took care of the logistics. Someone else did the registration. It’s a different ballgame when you do all that and create the content.

But I loved it!

Fortunately, the participants loved it too. I got this email the very next day:

I enjoyed your seminar so much, as did Danielle. We walked away very excited, and have already increase the number of people that will be at our next meeting, as well as more businesses coming on board to add to our fund raising. We have incredible things going on, and now adding what we have learned from your seminar has just motivated us even more.

Thank you so much for the gift you have given to us.

One of the most surprising was their repeated thanks for my offering this training in my community, to groups that could be seen as “competitors.”

I hadn’t even thought of it that way. And I hope I never do!

I just know that I love training and helping people get comfortable with fundraising!

I once heard that the average book sells only about 500 copies. With the ease and variety of publishing options, and the ever-increasing number of bany books being published every year, this number seemed credible.

And as an author with a new book coming out, it was quite sobering. So I set a goal to sell 500 copies in my first year.

Today I get to say, “Thank you!”

My publisher just told me that Ask Without Fear! has sold 590 copies in it’s first four months!

With no major PR budget or ad push, I know this has been selling by word of mouth. Thanks for helping get the word out!

From the comments of readers, I know that the material in this book is:

• helping “normal” people get excited about fundraising and, even better,
• giving them the tools do it.

I know many of you have purchased a copy. And many more have recommended it to your friends. So once again, thank you!

[If you haven't had the chance, would you encourage Starbucks to use "Ask Without Fear!" in a celebration of National Philanthropy Day? Just send an email to bookbreak@wma.com or read my FundraisingCoach.com blog post. ]

I just baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies. But I think I used 1/4 cup less sugar than the recipe called for.

So I’ve been brainstorming ways to make them a bit sweeter now that they’re baked. My favorite so far is use them to make an ice cream sandwich.

What would you recommend?

I heard about this site while listening to MarketPlace on NPR today during my 4-minute commute.

http://sorrygottago.com/

In an annoying phone call? Or just having trouble bringing a call to a close? SorryGottaGo.com/ is here to help! The many sounds include:

• crying babies,
• barking dogs,
• mowing cows,
• honking horns,
• simulated fire drills,
• and even the starting music to your favorite TV shows!

  Their motto?

  When you absolutely, positively, have to get people off the phone.

  This could quite possibly become one of my favorite sites. But now that I’ve blogged about it, I guess my secret’s out.

From Misc

Last week, I twittered a request for help finding Statler and Waldorf quotes, the snide-yet-funny remarks those guys in the balcony made during the Muppet Show.

I got so much help that I decided to post links for your reading:

• IMBD
• MuppetCentral.com
• Google Search

And, for your viewing pleasure:

Thanks to all the contributors:

• Scott Stratten (unmarketing)
• Patrick Griffin
• Fred Currier
• Anne Jolly (for the hand puppet picture- these were on sale at a tiny hardware store near her in SC!)
• Staci Bennett
• Joede
• Paul Bruce

My wife posted an exchange my three year old and I had last week. I suppose it is funny…if you’re not me. It all started with:

Sofia came into our room this morning while we were having our morning coffee.

“Daddy, are you staying home today?” Big eyes looking up hopefully.

Check out the results of this exchange at her blog in the post called Sugar Daddy.

Today has been a l-o-n-g day. Really long.

But my best friend (my wife) encouraged me to grab a beer and go out on the patio to read. So with a Smithwick’s and a copy of C.S. Lewis’ Prince Caspian, I came across this quote:

“Lucy went first, biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan. But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan.”

And I was undone.

I needed to be reminded of that.