Hey, how are ya

If you look at the large photo above in the header of this blog you will see a picture of Dana Dean, a young woman who competes in Special Olympics Maine. Look to the right and you will see an old photo of her at Winter Games. Just thought this was a cute photo. Reminds me of how old I am...birthday was last Tuesday. Ughhhh!!!!!

Anyway, Christmas is coming and I am thrilled. Macy's sent us a coupon for 20% savings this week in their store and online so if you would like one let me know and I can forward it to you right away.

I still have plenty of Clynk bags available for anyone willing to fill one for us. Let me know. Also still looking for dippers for the upcoming Lobster Dip. Call now...I mean it...right now...879-0489!

Hey, Karen Matthews...our Area Manager in Knox/Waldo county is retiring as of next week. A huge thank you to her for all of her years of hard work and dedication to our program. And a big thank you to the co-area managers taking her place Tammy Joy and Delisa Morong.

Still looking for old photos of SOME and also video please and favorite SOME short stories. Share soon. Thanks. Time to head home. I have a bad cold.

Congrats

Good Morning. I have a few congratulation wishes to send out. First, our 4 World Games athletes have left for their Olympic training camp in Colorado. They will be there all week and I am sure it will be an awesome experience. Also, congratulations to Jordan Shiers for being selected as the new Miss Maine Teen. She is an assistant Special O coach in Gorham and her brother is a Special Olympic Maine athlete. Way to go Jordan!!!! Jordan and her mom Lisa, as well as Special Olympics athlete Holley Beaumier were also recently selected to represent Maine at the Global Youth Summit in Idaho in February. They will join 152 other youth from around the world to discuss Special Olympics and how to get teenagers more involved with the program and with people with intellectual disabilties. This is an awesome opportunity and we are very excited that they were chosen.

It's so darn cold...let's make a plan to jump in the ocean

Did I mention it's Lobster Dip Time!!!!!!! Start your fundraising now. Go to our website to get your registration forms and get going. This is Maine's original and largest plunge in to the icy waters of the Atlantic. Dippers needed...individuals or teams. Incentives available. $100 minimum donation to dip. Call now! If you are too chicken to dip you can still raisie money but when you get to Old orchard you can enjoy yourself by the fire in our chicken coop. Costumes welcomed. Post Dip showers, and party. Lot's of food and live music and televisions in the bar.

Wow, is it cold. Brrrrr!!!!!! 22 degrees this morning. My office is freezing!!!! send blankets.

Is anyone out there? I would love to know if anyone actually reads this blog EVER or if I am just wasting my time so send comments.

Clynk

Just a quickie. I wanted to let everyone know that I have signed Special Olympics Maine up for Clynk! Yay! Not familiar? Well, Clynk is a bottle/can recycling system that is in many HAnnaford stores and other locations. They have special green bags that have stickers on them with a barcode. You just fill it up and drop it off at any Clynk or here at the office and that's it. You don't even wait for them to count it. You just leave it. They scan the barcode and we get the money. If you like recycling and like helping a great cause this is perfect. I have bags here in the office that you can pick up or if you want some I can send them out. You could put them in your work place or use them during a family gathering. Let me know if you want one. Thanks so much!!!!!

In honor of our recent Halloween holiday I thought you might enjoy this photo of 4 of our dedicated members of Law Enforcement at our Victory dance!

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Today is the day! Historic vote in progress. Very exciting. Our lines were not bad at all so get out there and be heard.


Speaking of being heard...you should hear the latest A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS CD. All proceeds go to Special Olympics Worldwide. The album series was started 21 years ago and each cd includes various well known artists. You can get one at Target or Borders or on Amazon and several other locations.

Lobster Dip is fast approaching. Visit our website now to sign up and start getting your pledges. This is such a "cool" event. Think now about what your New years resolutions are going to be. You will probably want to give more to charity...(Special O. Maine), you will probably want to do something unforgetable...(jumping in the ocean on January 1st), maybe you want to visit the beach more...(Old orchard Beach in front of the Brunswick Hotel) and get more exercise...(like running down the beach, jumping in to the ocean, swimming, running out even faster than you ran in, and shivering for a good 30 minutes.) I think this is really a win, win event so sign up now. www.specialolympicsmaine.org or call us at 207-879-0489. All are welcome. Teams, individuals etc. Costumes encouraged!

Time for Holidat shopping. Visit Charityblast.com for all of your online shopping. Type in Special O Maine as your charity of choice and then shop from all of the stores you would regularly shop at. You will even get some discounts and we will receive donations and it's no extra cost to you. You can't beat it.

That's it for today. Vote, vote, vote!!!!!!

Velcome to the 90's Mister Bahnks!

Okay, unless you have seen the Father of the Bride with Steve Martin, this title probably means nothing to you but if you have then you will recall when the wedding planner, played by Martin Short, used this line. Well, I have been saying this to myslef all week long because I have been working my butt off trying to bring Special Olympics Maine up to date in the world of internet communications! I was pretty impressed with myself last year when I started this blog. You have no idea how computer illiterate I am. (If you only knew!) Well, in the past two weeks I have taken us even further into the depths of the internet. I have created...wait for it...a Facebook page! Yes, I know, it's about time. Anyway, if you are on facebook please search for Special Olympics Maine and visit me there, join my friends group, subscribe, comment etc.
Also, I have set up a channel on YouTube! (www.youtube.com/SpecialOMaine) We can now share Special Olympics MAine videos with the world. I only have a couple up there so far so if you have any video footage of any Special O Maine events or fundraisers like the Lobster Dip or the LETR or anything pertaining to us please email it to me and I will post it on our youtube channel. LBIRD@maine.rr.com Could this be anymore exciting? Yes, it could...I am also working on a MYSPACE page. This one is not going quite as well because I really don't know what I am doing but I'm working on it. I will keep you posted.

Now, to show how computer savvy I am, I am about to upload a video to this blog so hang on just a minute...hum the jeopardy song...you know the drill...

Wow, I did it. SOME might actually ask me to be their new IT girl!

You have to check out this video. It was produced by ARC of Virginia and it has an awesome message!

That's it for today...would someone please let me know that you visited this blog...anyone...

Yard Sale for SOME

Hey Gang,
I wanted to let you know that there is going to be a huge yard sale on the 25th and all proceeds go to SOME!!!! Big thnaks to Mari Smith from Freeport PD for organizing this. Very cool! Here are the details...
Huge cook book and yard sale with a collection of over 2000 cookbooks and assorted treasures. All proceeds benefit Special Olympics Maine. Saturday October 25th from 9-3 at 1613 US Route 1 Freeport-Brunswick town line.


We need more items to sell. . If anyone has something to donate to the cause please drop it by the Freeport Police Department. Thanks so much!


In other exciting news we have a winner for the Harley Raffle! The drawing was held on Friday at Noon at our state office and the winner is Ticket #665
Jeff Brusso
Buxton, ME
Meghan Brunell from Saco PD sold the ticket.
Congratulations Jeff. Enjoy!!!!

Drawing will be held on Friday for our Final Leg Runner for the Winter World Games in Idaho next Feb. I'll keep you posted.
That's it for now. Have an awesome day.
BTW some of you have asked about our band which has nothing to do with Special O but we play three songs every Sunday at 9 AM and on the first Sunday of every month we play for a full hour from 9-10 during Praise and Bagels. You can listen to music and eat free bagels/coffee/juice and fruit at Cressey Road United methodist Church in Gorham, ME! This Thursday we are playing at the Root Cellar and in November at His Place Teen Center in Oxford.
Another question was about my son Noah's hockey team. You can keep up with them and also see their game schedule by searching portland junior pirates. All info is right on the web site.

See ya!!!!!

New photos

Hey Gang, Just wanted to check in and say hello. Dave allen graphics of Presque Isle sent me some awesome pictures from the Northern Maine soccer tournament in September and I wanted to share them with you. There are over 250 of them so I won't be sharing all of them but I have added a couple in here.

Looks like a really fun day. The Central Maine soccer tournament took place today in Old Town and this Saturday is the Southern Maine tournament at Gorham High School. Here is an inside scoop...could be just office gossip...exclusive for my readers. There is talk of a Fall festival next year that may include soccer and bocce. How fun would that be!!!! I'll keep you posted if I hear anymore. Speaking of exciting Fall sports, our state equestrian competition was last week and despite the rain it went off without a hitch. What an awesome sport. I recently heard someone mention that the Equestrian event is actually a unified sport because of how the horse and rider work together as a team. I thought that was so cool.

I am currently working on the second edition of the e-newsletter. It should be done in a few days so if you have anything you would like to add to it please let me know. Another one will not go out until January. Recaps of events, photos, and promos for upcoming events would be great. Also, I would love to highlight some athletes, coaches, volunteers so let me know if you have someone you would like to include.

That's it for today. Hope all is well out there. BTW...I signed up for that Goodsearch that I mentioned yesterday and in one day I have already raised 50 cents by myslef. If we all switch to it this could be pretty successful. goodsearch.com See Ya!!!!!

effortless ways to raise money for SOME

Okay, seriously. These are the easiest, most effort free ways to raise money for Special Olympics and you don't have to pay any type of membership fees or dues and you don't have to do anything that you aren't already doing. For about 5 seconds of your time you can raise money for our athletes daily. If you are reading this blog than you have access to a computer.

Here's a new easy way to raise money for Special O. Maine. Just start using Yahoo! powered GoodSearch.com as your search engine and they'll donate a penny to your favorite cause every time you do a search! In addition, do all of your shopping through their online shopping mall, GoodShop.com, where you can shop at more than 700 top online retailers and a percentage of your purchases will go to the charity you choose...US! You pay the same price as you normally would, but a donation goes to your cause!
Here's the web site — http://www.goodsearch.com. You can also read about GoodSearch in the NY Times, Oprah Magazine, CNN, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.

I just changed my search engine to goodsearch. I am computer illiterate and it honestly took me less than one minute. After that I proceeded to search for 25 police departments and in just ten minutes I have already raised a quarter. With the amount of searching that my husband and kids do everyday for homework, hockey, WWE, Pokemon, Bass guitars and water powered SUV's we will be able to raise a ton of money for SOME. You can too.

In addition to Goodsearch we are also signed up with Charity Blast. charityblast.com is a web site with like 1000 businesses that we shop at every day and they have sales for people who shop through them and then portions of the money goes to SOME...if you chose us as your charity of choice. The holidays are coming and the economy stinks. It is recommended that you start your shopping now and do a little each week so that you don't go broke in Decmber and plus we can all use the discounts. Both of these web sites have no catches and no special fees. We all win. Life really is good!

Okay, where are the fans?

Greetings from my little dark office at the Special Olympics Maine state office. Yes, I am back in the office. After ten years of working full time in my home office, I have returned here and am working daily 9-3 and finishing my day at my home office. I will be here following the school calendar and home when the kids are home. I have to tell you, it is pretty strange. First of all, you have to look nice to work in an office. Ughh! No more sweat pants, and and makeup is now a must. Also, it is so quiet. I am used to working in chaos with two little boys screaming in the back ground. I have been thinking about maybe bringing in a spongebob video to play while I work so it feels more familiar. Anyway, enough about me. Let's talk about all of the exciting things happening out there in Special Olympics Land.

First of all, most of you have heard by now about the controversy surrounding the film Tropic Thunder. Before making a statement I actually went to see this film the day it opened. Controversy aside, it is still a bad movie and not worth the money. Tom Cruise was funny in his bit role and that was it. The rest was so foolish and rude and and actually boring. The controversial scenes were definitley just that. They depicted persons with intellectaul disabilties in a very demeaning way and they used the word "retard" over and over. anyone who cares about persons with I.D. would be greatly hurt and offended. If anyone wants to read my full review of the film just let me know and I will forward it to you. Anyway, we here at Special Olympics Maine do not condone the use of any terminology that is considered demeaning, dehumanizing, insulting or hurtful and we will do our best to educate others on the harmful effects of the usage of the "R-Word" if you would like to join us in our fight to end the use please visit http://www.r-word.org/ and take the pledge to put an end to it.

So, what else. It's been 9 months since I last posted. That is horrible and I apologize to those of you who have actually been following this blog. (I think there are 2 of you that I know of!) :)

Winter and Summer games rocked. Everything went really well. On Friday of Summer Games we did have to cancel portions of Opening Ceremonies due to rain but other than that things were great. The state swim meet took place in Lewsiton in the Spring. Always a very exciting event. Motor Activities took place at Yamouth academy. Now that is an event to see. Wow! Incredibly inspiring. The kids from NYA run the entire event which is very cool. There was actually this one kid there named Josh who had helped last year and loved it so much that he spent $200 of his own money to purchase equipment for the event. That is amazing! (I posted a photo of him with one of our athletes at the top of this entry.) In addition to these events we have completed our golf and sailing program (see photo of athlete Peter Brewster above as he prepares his boat for a sail) for the year and are heading in to soccer season and of course our annual Equestrian competition which is coming up this weekend in Skowhegan. Another incredible event.

The Maine Law Enforcement Torch Run is still going strong with members working hard for a big Fall sweep to bring us up to where we had hoped to be. It is amazing to me that they continue to work so hard for our program year after year. What an incredible group of people. The irving event was also very succesful despite the gas prices. Life is good. Really, it is.

Tomorrow most of our staff will be heading out to Camp Tall Pines for the annual Enterprise Golf tournament and auction. I will be spending the day at the Cumberland Fair selling tickets for a 2008, 105th anniversary edition Harley. (Only 2000 tickets printed and they are $20 each) I will be there from 9-2 if anyone wants to stop by, buy a ticket and bring me a cotton candy. (just kidding) We will have a crew at the Fryeburg fair next week as well. The drawing is october 10th so get your tickets now.

Thursday is the first day of our annual Celebrity Golf Tournament in Boothbay. Golfers can sign up to be on a team with a sports legend or hero. There is also a sports auction on Friday night and lobster bake which are open to the community. Call us for more info.

On a personal note, my boys are keeping me extremely busy. Jonah is in soccer, football, and cubscouts. (His team won their game this weekend 4-0 and Jonah got all 4 goals. Yes, I am totally bragging.) My 9 year old plays goalie for the Portland JR Pirates and recently won an MVP award at tournaments. He is also in Webelos. I am very proud of both of them. Isn't it weird, for those of you that know me, that I would have two boys who are so athletic and that I would be working for a sports program. Kind of makes you laugh.

Leave comments or let me know if you have something you want me to share on here. Have a great day. (I mean it)

SUGARLOAF, HERE WE COME!

Wow. It always amazes me how quickly time flies. Winter and Summer games are always great markers of time for me.

The crew has already headed to the mountain to start setting things up. Linda and I have stayed behind in order to take care of the office and any last minute details. It is such an exciting time of year for all of us. Winter Games is a great kick off to all of the sporting events we have to offer during the year. I have heard rumors of many exciting things to come in 2008 and can't wait to be a part of them. One that I will be working closely on is our young athletes program which will be sporting/play events geared toward children 2-8 to help prepare them to become future SO athletes. I also know that a coaches college is in the works which will be an awesome opportunity for folks to be trained and certified in several sports all in one weekend. It's going to be an awesome year.

So, Winter games are taking place Sunday January 27th through Tuesday January 29th. Our Opening Ceremonies are on MOnday at Noon in front of the BAse Lodge. Let's hope and pray for some awesome weather this year. We ahve 500 athletes who are very excited to participate so we want some sunshine, great conditions, no wind, and blue skies. Is that really too much to ask.

Did you know that this is our 26th year at Sugarloaf. Wow! And I have been there for every year. (no comments on my age please) I also fondly remember our many years at Saddleback Mountain. That is where I did my alpine coaches certification with Toby LeConte! Of course during those years I was more interested in the boys than the skiing.

Are you aware that 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of Special Olympics? I would love to hear stories about your fondest or craziest memories over the years. I would like to put them together in a commemorative type book. I am looking for written stories and also old photos that pertain to Special Olympics. You can send them to our state office and I will certainly return them when I am done.

That's it for today. I'll let you know how the games go...I'm sure they will be awesome.

Happy New Year

Wow! 2008 already. Where does the time go? 2007 was an awesome year for Special Olympics Maine, although it ended on a sad note with the passing of two beloved athletes, Marion Remick from UPLIFT and Conrad Bouley from LC Dill Center. They will be sadly missed.

2008 started off cool with our annual Lobster Dip at Old Orchard Beach. Nearly 300 dippers took the plunge to raise money for special Olympics Maine. The event even made it on to CNN!!!

Winter Games are just around the corner. Yay!!! see you at Sugarloaf.

BTW, we are going to be re-vamping our website and also adding an e-newsletter. Let me know if you wish to be added to the newsletter email list. Happy New Year!