Avery Akeman's Angels - $10,000 in 10 Days

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 Avery Akeman is a dear little girl in Texas who has been dealt what some consider a rotten hand in life. You can read a synopsis of her life on this site set up by friends of the family. In short, though, this 7 year old girl has spent over 400 days in inpatient care at the hospital, has endured over 20 surgeries, and has been to the emergency room over 20 times.

Her parents, however, don't hold to that rotten deal point of view. For them, she is a treasure and a blessing from God. Every trial, every tribulation is an opportunity to draw closer to Him. Every day, in every possible way, they show their trust in His plan, and what it means to fully rely on Him for everything.

Needless to say, medical expenses are a large part of the Akeman family budget. Friends of the family have issued a fund-raising challenge to help this family. They are asking for $10,000 to be raised in 10 days. The challenge started yesterday, 06/25/2012, and runs through Wednesday, 07/04/2012. As of this post, over $3,000 has been raised.


I know there are lots of worthy causes out there, and that most of the people reading this have no idea who the Akemans are, or what they've been going through. First and foremost, I ask that you pray for this family. Pray for Avery's health, pray for her medical team, and pray for her parents. Second, make a donation if you can. The donation link is at the top of the Avery Akeman's Angels page. Help raise $10,000 in 10 days for this family. It's only a drop in the bucket compared to their total expenses, but every little bit helps.

Firearms Bleg - Full-sized 9mm pistols

So, I have that happiest of conundrums. The wife knows I want a new pistol, and she only has one request. She wants it to be one that she can shoot too, so we can go to the range together.

This is my happy face.

She's not comfortable with the thought of shooting my S&W Model 28 hand cannon (yet), which I can certainly understand. It can seem a bit intimidating at first blush.

Say hello to my N-framed friend

I don't want to just get a .22LR pistol. I will at some point, but for now I want to get something that she's comfortable with, that she can operate and fire accurately, and that would be a serviceable self-defense weapon. Naturally, my thoughts turn to the first caliber of pistol other than .22LR that I learned to shoot, the venerable 9mm.

I have put together a short-list that I'm researching, and would love your feedback. These are all 9mm pistols, all full-framed instead of compact or sub-compact, currently in manufacture and frequently available used. I'm not hung up on metal versus polymer frame, striker-fired versus hammer-fired, or action type (SA/DA/SAO/DAO). I'm looking to spend under $600, preferably in $450 neighborhood if I can.

With all that being said, here's the list I've put together (EDITED to add the P226):

• Browning Hi-Power
• CZ-75
• Beretta PX4
• Beretta 92FS
• Smith & Wesson M&P
• Springfield XD/XD(m)
• Glock 17
• SIG Sauer P226

This will be used by myself as a range gun and occasional carry, and by the missus as a range gun and home defense. Any thoughts, insights, critiques or additions to the list would be greatly appreciated.

Follow-up on tracking RSS feed stats

On Thursday, I asked a question about tracking RSS views and stats via Sitemeter.

As I expected, nobody really knew anything. However, having done some research, I have stumbled upon the answer. I had previously noticed that a lot of people used Feedburner to provide their RSS feeds. I wondered about that, because most blogging platforms provided native RSS support.

Well, it turns out that Feedburner is for RSS feeds what Sitemeter or Google Analytics is for web sites. So, I've changed my feed settings in blogger to point to feed burner, and I've changed the RSS chicklet on my site as well.

I can now see how many subscribers there are to my feed, and which entries they actually click through on. So, if you already knew that, I'm sure you're chuckling and smirking behind your hand, but if you didn't, hopefully this is useful for you.

Sitemeter bleg

Okay, so I finally signed up for a Sitemeter account, because I wanted the better stats that they offer.

Here's my question: Do you include it in your RSS feed, and if so, how? Or, do you just accept that you'll only track people that actually click through to your site?

Operation Freakout Commences in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .

So, our HR department is apparently subject to clerical errors.  It's the only rational explanation I can think of. You see, my name has inexplicably been plugged into an open team lead slot on the org chart, and I now have direct reports.

I can now screw up more than just my career.

Oh happy, happy, joy, joy.

Seriously, I have been promoted and am now a team lead. I have 2(+) direct reports. I say 2(+) because there is one theoretical open position that I don't know if I'll be allowed to fill or not (it's complicated). The further complicating factor, however, is that both of my direct reports work in another office building, in a different state. Hooray for distance managing!!!

I am a bit apprehensive about this change in my career direction. It's something that I've wanted to happen for over 5 years now, so I'm glad it's finally started. And, to be honest, I think a small team like this is a perfect way to dip my toes in the water. It also helps (I hope) that I've worked with these guys for years, and that we all know the business area we're supporting very well. So, I don't have to learn a new business or technology, just a new skill set.

To that end, I have been poking around for various resources, and have found a number of podcasts. The one that I'm thoroughly enjoying right now is Andy Stanley's Leadership podcast. I've only listened to 3 episodes so far, but what he's selling resonates with me. So far, I can highly recommend it. I've also subscribed to some from the London School of Business and the Harvard Business School. I haven't really listened to those yet, so I can't offer an opinion.

All of that being said, I have a bleg for you as well. What are some of your favorite leadership training materials or resources? Is there a book that you really enjoyed, or is there a website you frequent? Do you have a podcast that is required listening each week?

I have a great opportunity in front of me, and I don't want to screw it up.