Over the Airwaves Straight to You

(Bicyle Times - A proud sponsor of Connor's Army)

Over the last year we've really been trying to push the presence of Connor's Army as much as we can.  Its hard because there is really only Amy and myself running this group.  Unlike a lot of other charities, we don't have a huge group of people behind us pounding the streets and soliciting donors or sponsors for us.  I really wish we did, it would certainly make all of this much easier and we would probably be close to our goal already.  I was having a "conversation" (I'm really not sure what you call it these days since so much of our communicating gets done cyberly) with Heidi Goodstadt Burian today and I was telling her how difficult it has been for us.  She and a few others (Danielle, Jason, Jamie, Melanie, My Beginning Acting Class, and quite of few of my ACTers current and past) have been helping get the word out and it certainly is reflecting in our numbers.  For instance, if you're reading this right now you have gotten us a step closer to 11,000 views!!!!!!  I'm sorry but that deserves a trumpet fanfare;

	Robert Paterson - Fanfare for Trumpet Sextet .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Okay, so maybe that's a bit of overkill.  And to be honest, I don't know if all of those views are people who actually read much of anything I write since I still only have 53 official followers and no one (except for Jason) ever comments.  But still, 11,000!!!!!!

Anyway, getting back to my conversation with Heidi, its been very discouraging becuase it has just been Amy and I pushing this project along.  We keep hoping and praying that someone will come along and say, "what you're doing is amazing, how can we help you!" and will help us get the sponsors and help us generate the donations that we're hoping to get.  As Heidi said, "just think of yourself as The Little Engine That Could" (WARNING:  THIS IS ONLY PART ONE SO YOU'LL HAVE TO CLICK ON THE LINKS TO WATCH THE WHOLE THING);



Don't get me wrong, we do have some incredible people who support us (Heidi being one of them) and we have some great sponsors.  But times are hard for lots of businesses still and although there are some companies out there that really have the money, we still have yet to find one or two that can help us raise the last $5,000 in sponsorship we think we'll need to make sure we'll be able to fully do this event right.  So we keep plugging along - "I think we can, I think we can, I think we can.......".

We've also not really pushed it too hard on the PR front yet though.  We've been using the social network (mainly facebook) to try to get the word out but as of December 23rd we'll be SIX MONTHS FROM THE START OF CONNOR'S ARMY'S RIDE ACROSS AMERICA or CARAAM as I like to sometimes call it.  So we're going to start sending out releases to papers, tv stations, magazines, everywhere we can get the word out.  For instance, the picture of the magazine cover that starts this blog entry is from the August issue of Bicycle Times.  And in that issue are two articles about Connor's Army.  Of course we were hoping that someone would read one of those articles and be moved to come forward to sponsor us but no dice yet.

That's not to say we haven't had some strong advocates pushing for us.  Jason Lederman has been one of the most "vocal" of our supporters.  Some of it has been in his vlog, "Late Night With Jason Lederman";

Here's one from our Victory ride 2010;




And here's a video that he did for Project for Awesome 2010;




And I try to take advantage of any chance I can to get the word out.  This past summer the family and I took a trip to Mystic Seaport in Mystic, CT and while we were there they had an attraction called "Tall Ships and Tattoos".  It was great time had by the entire family and at the compound was an exhibit about the development of tattoos as a mode of personal expression for sailors.  At the exhibit they were filming people telling the story about their tattoos and since Sarah thinks my "tat" is so cool, she insisted I do the interview;



And of course I couldn't resist the chance to plug Connor's Army.

And two years ago I relied upon the combined talents of Phil Rosenberg, Dan Kahn, and Daniel Incalcaterra (and I think Saleem Gondal may have had a hand in this) to create a video for Bicycling Magazine's "I Need A New Bike" competition.  Basically our whole gist was, I don't need a fancy carbon racer, I just need something that will get me from San Diego to Long Island in one piece without breaking down;




Unfortunately, it didn't win.  Although I have put the offer out to my brother in law that if he can find a way through his connections to convince Giant Bicycles to donate a cyclocross bike (or even a frame and fork combo) for the cross country ride, I would wear a NEW YORK GIANTS logo on my jerseys the entire 3600 mile ride!  Now for a die-hard DALLAS COWBOYS fan, that is a sacrifice but I will do it for the kids!  (Okay, so are there any big wigs out there with some pull that want to see me humiliated for 3600 miles?)

And jus the other day we started our latest barrage of PR work when Jason (and Justin Tasolides for a small while who admitted he loves my blog but it keeps crashing his browser) dropped by for a visit.  At the end of the visit Jason had managed to shoot some new video footage and using the geniurs editing skills that he has been developing while he's been away at Northwestern.  He really worked hard on it and even though we didn't get it in with enough time to really have people vote for it, it gets us out there and it shows what Connor's Army is about and what we're trying to do and every little bit helps;



What I think it all boils down to is that this process of finding people to sponsor us and to donate is a hit or miss process.  We just have to keep putting it out there and hope that someone will feel called in their heart to help us in some financial manner.  Heidi and the Burian clan have been truly financially generous as have many of my other friends and family members.  Syosset High School is starting to help with various fundraisers and with any luck we'll be able to raise $6,000 through the combined efforts of different student groups. That would be enough for ONE CAMPER FOR EIGHT WEEKS!

And my darling, wonderfully giving Sarah has decided that for her 13th birthday (yes, can you believe it, THIRTEEN!) she wants to to do a Mitzvah project even though she's not having a Bat Mitzvah.  And yes, even though her entire life seems to have been one large Mitzvah, she has decided she wants to throw a fund raiser benefit for Sunrise Day Camp and with any luck we'll be able to raise another $3,000.  She continues to amaze and humble me every day.

Jamie Blanch and her friends at UNO Fights Cancer have been incredibly supportive and have done a few bake sales to benefit Connor's Army.  I'm continuing to sell refurbished bicycles through my RECycle for Sunrise project.  I have a student who wants to sell bracelets for Connor's Army - its all adding up slowly but surely and I'm starting to feel hope that this might happen.

But Amy and I can't do it alone, we need help.  And no, this is not for my own narcissistic needs.  Honestly, if there were a way to get publicity about htis without ever mentioning my name I would do it.  If someone would donate the $50,000 to me to do this if I would do it without ever putting my name to it, I would do it.  If you could see what Sunrise means to the kids that attend it you would understand.  Its not about me, its not about you - its about them. 

So, if you've read this far I thank you.  I thank you for being supportive enough to "listen" to what I have to say.  I thank you for being supportive enough to help us get closer to 11,000 views, and I thank you for possibly passing on the idea of Connor's Army to others - who knows your mentioning it to someone else may be the spark that ignites a flame in someone's soul - a burning desire to help us help the kids.

And now, your reward for making it to the end, Freddie Mercury and Queen performing "Bicycle Race";



And there you have it - we're coming over the airwaves and we're after sending eight kids to camp!  Help us if you can.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Grateful Alive!

So I have to admit that I missed the Grateful Dead craze.  Musically I sort of fell into an in-between time and as a result my musical tastes are many and varied.  Because I moved from California to Georgia when I was in elementary school and I wanted so much to hold on to my California identity (can you blame me?) I listened to a lot of The Beach Boys.  Then when a bunch of the local boys and I started skateboarding I was really digging the surf scene, since grunge wasn't in yet.



Before I left Georgia for Germany I got into a lot of rock, especially Southern Rock.  Groups like Lynyrd Skynyrd;



Then when I moved to Germany instead of Disco, I found myself listening to groups like Queen;



Aerosmith:



The Kinks;



The Police;




The Ramones;



Pink Floyd;



And because I was living in Germany at the time I got a little into Kraftwerk, this clip is not really from the 70's, its from 1983 but if you watch it you'll know why I chose this song;




And there were many other groups that I listened to at the time that seminally influenced my taste in music but there are some that I notably missed out on - The Beatles (never really heard much of them until the late 80's), mainly because I just didn't have the interest or the exposure;  Bruce Springsteen, because they hadn't heard of him in Germany;  Billy Joel, because when I moved from Germany to Texas not many people listened to him down there - and a host of other popular musicians that people of my generation listened to.

And one of those was the Grateful Dead.  I know that most "baby boomers" spent many hours listening to "The Dead" and many of us are closet "deadheads" but I never really got it.  I guess its because once again, I wasn't really exposed to it and by the time I started choosing my own music it was really more the driving rythms of punk and rock that turned me on.

And another seminal influence from that time period was cycling.  I've written in the past about how I spent most of my time getting around in the summers in Ansbach via my cobbled together bicycles that my friends Ed Trevarrow, Mark Pariseau and I all would put together.  We'd augment them by buying a few parts from the shop in the old city of Ansbach but we'd go traversing all over the countryside in the summers with our toe clips (check out the Kraftwerks clip again) and panniers exploring as long as our parents would let us.

And to be honest, The Grateful Dead scene never really fit into it.  The music, the drugs, the hippy love throw back thing wasn't really us - and personally, I was too grateful being alive than thinking about being dead.  Its kind of stupid to say it now but I think that's one of the things that turned me off about the band.  I would hear about them and think, "what a stupid name for a band!"

And now that I'm older, I find myself grateful for the smaller things that I come across in life as well as the bigger things.  I know that I made a list of things to be grateful for in my last post but in just a week and a half, so many more things have happened to add to the list; big things like my daughter receiving an award from the Long Island chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals;



And little things like my children performing their own rendition of an old Holiday Season favorite but with a slight twist that they like to call "Santa Clause is Stalking You Now";



Or just living in a town where this happens every year;




And I am so grateful for so many things that have been happening on the Connor's Army Ride Across America front.  So much has happened in the last week that I've been dying to share but facebook posts just aren't the right place because I can't add as much detail so for those of you who are keeping up, here goes;

We got a mini van!!!!!!  Yes, I know what you're thinking, "why in the hell would you be grateful for a mini van?!?!"  Well, to be honest, I'm not sure that Amy is.  But it is a necessary evil if I'm going to be able to do this ride supported instead of hauling everything by myself across the country.  It has the DVD player for the kids and the rest of the support team, a trailer hitch for a hitch mounted rack that can carry more than one bicycle, a luggage rack for "the hamburger" and to strap down spare parts, and it was at a price we could afford.  We're going to have to put some money into it and it doesn't have "stow and go" seating but it has everything else.  And its black with tinted windows so it doesn't look quite as dorky.  I'm torn between naming it Vanikin Roadwalker or Vanna Black.  I thought about giving it a Spanish flair and naming it Vanna Negro but I'm sure that's racist and let's not even talk about what I REALLY wanted to name it - The Black Hole, since so much will dissappear in there!  Of course, I could just go with my German experience and name it Vanna Schwartz!

Our Facebook Page has over 1200 likes!!!!!  Now, I know that in itself doesn't seem to be such a big deal but it is.  We're hoping that by gaining some sort of significant exposure on facebook we'll be able to attract some more sponsors to help us with underwriting the cross country event.  We figure we probably need about $5,000 more in sponsorships and we'll be set for whatever evenutality we hit on the road.  But the popular support on facebook is a big step.  For those of you reading this that have liked our page - THANK YOU!!!!!!!  Your support is truly overwhelming to me and I know that because of it a big difference will be made.  Please continue to invite your friends and let's continue to grow!

This blog has over 10,000 views!!!!!!!!  I don't know how its happened but since we debutted this blog way back in June 2009, we have (as of this writing) 10,284 views!!!!!!  A year ago (January 2011) we had about 2800 views but since then it has taken off!  To each and every one of you who has looked at this site, or read these posts I thank you!  You've been following my ramblings (or maybe you're just looking for pictures and videos) and that means I'm reaching more of you.  If you've read this far in this post, please take a minute to go to our facebook page (if you're a facebook member) and add us to your likes - help us spread the word even further.

The Syosset High School Fashion Show!!!!!  And this is HUUUUUGGGGEEEEE!!!!!   After a hiatus of a few years the Fashion Show is making a return to Syosset High School.  Two of the most energetic young ladies I know are instrumental in making sure it happens and they are both counselors at Sunrise Day Camp.  They are going to use the fashion show as a fundraiser for Sunrise with the money going towards the $50,000 we are trying to raise in the Ride Across America.

Sunrise Syosset!!!!!  There is a group of students at SHS who are also counselors at Sunrise Day Camp.  They are going to meet with me on Monday to brainstorm how we can get the other students groups of Syosset High School involved in helping us with raising the money we're trying to raise for the ride.  The idea is that if a good percentage of the student groups at SHS (there's about 100 of them) can do some type of fundraising for the event (we're looking at it as a Team Sunrise event) then we might be able to raise enough at the school to send one child to camp for the summer.  That's $6,000 and for the school to come together to do that would be amazing!  However, if you're reading this and you would like to contribute on your own, you can go here and donate safely and securely!

My back!!!!  A lot of things could have happened when I had the encounter with the car door back in July 2010 but so far I seem to be doing well.  I didn't break anything and the only permanent reminders I seem to have are my scar and my tattoo!  We're not sure what the herniated disc issue is from but the one injection I had seems to be holding steady.  There's a little bit of pain but I'm going to set up another injection soon and with any luck I'll be ready to roll all 3600 miles!

RECycle for Sunrise is taking off!!!!  What started out as a way to try to raise more of the funds I need to underwrite the costs of the cross country trip has started doing so well!  Just today I sold three bicycles and two of those were from people who contacted me.  Folks are donating bikes for the effort (thank you sooooooo much Andrea!) and I know that the bikes are going to great homes so they'll make people doubly happy - those who'll get to ride them and the kids at Sunrise who'll benefit from the sales!  I'm not going to be a bike mechanic full time but I'm learning a lot and I know if something happens on the road I'll be ready for it.

So, its been a week and a half full of great things for Connor's Army and I thank you all my readers for believing in me, reading my words and for supporting something that I truly believe in my heart of hearts will make a difference in the lives of eight children far beyond what we can imagine.

So for now I'll leave you with this cool little picture that I found online.  I just thought it was funny and it shows some of the problems that cyclists face now are nothing new under the sun.  Oh, and if you made it this far, feel free to leave some comments!!!!

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!!!!

I'm Not Worthy!

(I genuflect before your kindnesses)

For those of you who are new to Connor's Army I want to thank you for believing enough in us to have made it this far.  If you're reading this I'm going to assume (of course we all know that its a dangerous proposition to do so) that you are here because of the post on facebook.  You may have added us to your likes becuase a friend of yours invited you.  You may have added us becuase you saw a post I placed on another page's wall.  You may have added us because your a friend of mine and you responded to the event I placed on facebook.  You may have added us becuase you are one of my Thespians, a family member of one of my Thespians, or a friend of a Thespian.  Or, you may have added us becuase you saw the ad I placed in program for The Complete History of America (abridged).

However you got here I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  I wish there was a way that I could see each and every one of you and let you know how much your support means to me because I was beginning to lose hope.  To those of you who are new to Connor's Army - thank you for joining our fight.  For those of you who have been a supporter from the beginning (yes, I'm talking to you Justin Tasolides who started the first facebook group so long ago) thank you for staying with us!

Now, for those of you who have read my posts in their semi-regularly schedule you know that I sometimes tend to ramble and go off on stream-of-conscious tangents or I insert lots of amusing (at least I find them to be so) youtube videos and music clips.  For instance this one;



And that's truly the way I'm feeling right now because if you're reading this from one of the above mentioned sources, you're one of (as of this writing) 1,121 people who like our Connor's Army facebook page.    Of course, if you're not one of the 1,121, why not?  You can click on the link above and add us to your likes right now.  Go ahead, I'll wait;



Did you do it?  Thank you!

So many of you may have joined the Connor's Army facebook page but you don't really know much about us and that's really what this post is all about.  You may have joined because you're good friends with someone and they said, "hey, my high school theatre teacher has the facebook page and you should like it becuase I do" or something to that effect.  And because of your friendship with that person (or one of my entreaties) you've joined but you're not sure what we're about.  Well, I think its about time you knew my story.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been riding bikes and enjoying the freedom they give me. I wish I could say I still ride the old faithful cruiser of my youth but, alas, it has gone the way of most of the other bikes I’ve owned in my life – “lost in transit.”

You see, I grew up traveling around the country and the world as an “Army brat”. Although we did enjoy one long spell in California, as a career Army man my father received moving orders every three years. Inevitably in the move things would be lost – electric basses, favorite clothes, stamp collections, books – and most often it was my bike.

In 40+ years of riding (and who knows how many miles) I’ve only owned two brand new bikes. One was a golden Italian five-speed that gleamed in the California sun and that I promptly crashed into a parked car on the first day in a “look at me, I’m riding a big bike” moment. The other was a black 1989 Peugeot hybrid I bought for myself to get around my college campus, which was stolen after only three months of owning it.

Fast forward to six years ago.  Stilly mechanically minded and still not living in the lap of luxury (I’m a high school teacher with three kids) I found myself needing a bike.  As it turned out I found a discarded Diamondback Allure frame in a pile of garbage by the side of the road.  It had flat bars, the derailleurs and shifters were trashed, the rims were bent and the seat was missing.  Suddenly, I had a mission, like the bionic man we could make it faster, stronger, better than it ever was.  I began commuting from my home in Northport to Syosset where I work - a distance of between 13 and 20 miles each way - depending on which route I take. 

I started doing this fairly regularly and then I found I needed ankle reconstruction surgery.  As part of my rehab I hooked my bike up in the basement and rode for hours on end trying to get my ankle strength and stability back.  And then everything changed.

Until 2005 my life, I guess like so many other people’s, had been touched by cancer in only distant ways - a grandmother who died when I was a toddler, a rarely seen great-uncle, my Amy's mother’s friend.  Even when my biological mother went through her own bout with cancer it was before she re-entered my life in my adulthood, so I learned of it merely as a past occurrence.

Then my wife’s Grandmother Mina died of cancer … and his uncle … and his wife’s aunt … and a close colleague.

And then what I thought would be unthinkable happened.

In 2005 my sister Winona, a single mother raising two children, was diagnosed with cancer. Soon afterwards my sister Angela was diagnosed with a different cancer. In 2006 I got word that my youngest sister TaMara had cancer at the age of 28, and just before Christmas that same year my mother developed a rare and aggressive form of melanoma.  To say I was overwhelmed and more than a little pissed off would be an understatement.

Now all of my instincts as a big brother and a son were to fight the enemy and beat it for them - to do something, anything but sit on my ass.   But I couldn’t - this was a battle they had to win on their own.  And they did.

Nonetheless, I felt helpless and impotent as they struggled valiantly to conquer the disease. I just felt like I needed to do more than simply sit by and wait for news to come that things were going to be alright. I needed to do more than just offer emotional support. I needed to do more than wish that there was something I could do.  I needed to take action.

So I turned to one of the things I knew best and began plans for his own kind of war - a peaceful one waged on a bicycle.  Yes, I suppose I could have organized a benefit dance concert.  Something that would happen once or, if I were lucky, could happen on a yearly basis.  A dance concert for life as it were.  As someone who has been dancing since my late teens I first thought of that option.  But I also realized that in fighting this disease my loved ones had indeed gone through a lot of pain and suffering - in order to truly help them I needed to also go through something to feel what they were feeling.

From the time I was a teenager facing the constant displacement of an army brat, my bicycle had always been the place I felt most at peace, the place I could really think through whatever life threw at him. Now I decided to use it fight the disease that was attacking MY family.

And Connor’s Army was born.

Of course, I'm not a pro. At the time I was riding for fun and exercise, occasionally joining the local Huntington Bicycle Club for weekend 50-milers or their annual century. I also knew that I couldn’t afford to leave my job to do a several thousand mile fundraiser. So instead I pledged to ride my bike to work and dedicate this daily commute to raising funds for the American Cancer Society in gratitude of the fact that it was through research and tests that came about as a result of ACS funding that allowed my family to win their battle with this damn disease.

I rode in all kinds of weather, got hit by a van (on the same day as the prom - which I was attending as a chaperone), and did a lot of thinking. People kept thanking me, often telling me about someone they loved who was also fighting cancer; and I began keeping a list of all the people I was riding for as the miles slowly added up.

By December 31, 2007, with 53 names on what we now call The List, I'd cycled 2,154 commuting miles and raised a bit over $12,000 for ACS. In addition my eight-year-old daughter Sarah had started her own fundraising campaign, Connor's Army Junior, and raised an additional $1,000 for ACS.

In the fall of 2008 Syosset High School dedicated their annual homecoming week school walk-a-thon to a place I had never heard of - Sunrise Day Camp.  I became intrigued by this camp and what they were doing for children.  Unfortunately, by the time I found out all about the camp I had already made plans to work at another day camp as a drama specialist.  However, I kept finding myself drawn to this camp and what they were doing.  I found that it's a very special place where children with cancer and their siblings can come free of charge to enjoy a summer filled with fun, friendship, and activities - things often denied them by the demands of their medical condition. At Sunrise they can escape the waiting rooms, the lab work, the check-ups, and the chemo-therapy; and simply be children in the sun.

And finally, in the summer of 2010 I began working at Sunrise Day Camp.  Working with the children there and getting to know their families has affected me deeply.  Seeing the joy these children feel at just being able to be a regular kid, not "the kid with cancer".  Being able to attend a camp where no one gives them a second look because they've lost their hair or because they have a stint in their chest.  Having a five-year-old kiss me on the head on my last day of dance class with her and thank me for playing with her for the summer. 

Watching these children go through a battle even adults find it difficult to face is both heartbreaking and inspiring. But I have seen with my own eyes the difference this special place makes in lives filled with pain and uncertainty. I have seen the joy spread across the face of a fourteen-year-old who has never really swam before finally (after weeks of constant, daily and frustrating work) being able to go up to "the deep pool" with the rest of his teenage friends.  I have seen kids who have never acted before find their dramatic voice and discover they really are good at this drama thing. 

And by the end of that summer a plan had begun to form in my mind - and now as a result we are well on our way an even more ambitious ride than the first one.  To help this camp I'm going to do one of the things I do best.....ride my bicycle!

	Queen - Bicycle Race .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

During the summer of 2012, with my family as my support team and (HINT, HINT) the occasional riding partners, I'll be cycling 3,600 miles across America to spread the word about Sunrise and help raise much-needed funds to keep up their year-round programming.

My fundraising goal? $50,000!  Enough to send eight kids with cancer to eight weeks of camp!

I'm not naive - I know I can’t compete with people who raise millions of dollars for cancer research, but this coming summer I'm doing what I can to fight the war against cancer one mile at a time ... all 3,600 miles of it between California and New York!

I'm looking for sponsors and I'm hoping to connect with people who can help me raise the funds to send these kids to camp.  Anyone interested in helping can go to the Connor's Army Ride Across America link on the Sunrise web site and contribute online.  Or sponsors can contact us through our web site at http://www.connorsarmy.org/.    Any money that sponsors give us to underwrite the cost of this event will be used only for gas, lodging and food for me.  The support team will be paying their own expenses.

And I'm not doing it on some super fancy bike like the one the writer from the New York Times used on his recent trip.   No, I'll be riding on a steel frame bike I dug out of the trash six years ago.  As time has gone by I’ve engaged in more dumpster diving, e-bay purchasing (much to the chagrin of my wife) and online mega bike stores to create my current “Frankenbike”, affectionately known as Black Pearl because she’s completely black and, like the ship in the “Pirates” movies, she’s not pretty but she’s fast.   She’s my main commuter bike, and I would say in the last six years I’ve probably put on 7,000 miles on her commuting the 25 mile round trip between my home and school. 

(Steel is Real - and Black Pearl is going to make it 3600 miles!)

And I won't be staying in fancy hotels.  We're hoping to get Motel 6 or someone like that donate some nights.  We're hoping to sleep on the couches of friends (and maybe facebook supporters?) along the way.  We'll stay in hostels and we'll camp out in our tent - whatever we need to do to keep the costs down.

Because whatever we get from sponsors that we don't use - we're going to add it on top of the pledges we get for Sunrise - sort of like the cherry on top!

So that is my story.  Again, I want to thank you from the bottom of my soul for liking us, supporting us, believing in our mission to help these kids and for making more of a difference in my life than you will ever really, truly know.

Stay well and I'll see you on the road!

Far Too Long - The Long and Winding Road

So all I can say is I'm sorry!  Looking at my blog I see that June 8th was the last time I wrote anything.  Tha'ts not to say that so much hasn't been swirling in my head, its just finding the time to sit down and put it down on paper, er, cyberspace.  I think part of my issue is that I feel like EVERYTHING I write has to be meaningful when in reality the purpose of this blog is not to provide enlightenment but rather information.  This blog was really conceived as a way to keep those of you who support Connor's Army updated on how things are going with our various fundraising efforts in fighting cancer.  Somewhere along the journey I got it into my head that if I wasn't scintillating or incredibly entertaining people would read my blog.  I think in the last few days I've realized that although we only have 52 OFFICIAL followers (and you incredibly special people know who you are), chances are there are many more people who do follow our blog (or at least did) and just didn't sign up.  Maybe some of you check periodically but have seen that nothing much has been going on.
Well, that is all going to change today.  First of all, A LOT has been going on in the last six weeks.  Too much to put all into one large blog entry so I'll break it up in installments as the days/weeks go on.  If you are new to our reading this blog, you can catch up on where we are by reading some of the older postings.  There are a lot (though not as many for 2011 as I really should have) and they can really tell you a lot about who we are and where we've come from.

Secondly, you can now sign up to be notified by e-mail whenever a new entry goes up so you don't have to keep wasting your time checking back to see if there is a new update - but of course, if that has been your personal cure for insomnia, I don't want to deprive you of that simply joy.  Speaking of which, here is a nice recording of it for those of you who missed it when I posted it before;

	Beautiful Small Machines - Simple Joys - MASTERED .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

A little electronica remix by the group Beautiful Small Machines - check them out if you've never heard of them at their website.  They describe themselves thusly on their myspace.com profile;

Beautiful Small Machines may be synthetic, but they’re not stupid. Caught somewhere between the 70’s, 80’s and deep space, this electro-pop duo (Bree Sharp, Don DiLego) learned about comedy from adult swim and heartache from Philip K. Dick and they’re spewing it all back out at you like a bunch of mandroids on whiskey and psycho-pharmaceuticals. Fun, Sad, Creepy and Clever – Beautiful Small Machines is the retro-future.

But I digress - which, if you've followed my blog is not that uncommon - my friend Danielle and I (actually she's a former student whose become a family friend now) usually go into these long rambling stream-of-consciousness correspondences so I think I've discovered that my brain just works that way - I make connections and my mind follows.  It might be a Gemini thing, I'm not sure.

Anyway, back to the point.  An incredible amount of exciting things have happened in the Connor household since my last blog entry.  The first is that (as it is for most everyone) it is summer vacation!!!!!!!  Now I love my job and I think I'm one of the luckiest people in the world to be able to do what I do with students who are so passionate about creating art and to be able to raise a family doing it.  But I do enjoy the (only slightly) more laid back pace of summer.  I don't have to worry about attendance or schedules or grades - I can just enjoy the days.

Now, my enjoying the days is different than someone elses.  Of course, given my own devices I would be either riding my bike all day or reading (right now I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in preparation to see the last movie and in case you - like me - are wondering why Tobuscus hasn't done a parody of the trailer yet, here is a fairly good substitute).  Or watching movies like this one;




But I am fortunate in that I do have a great job for the summer as well - one that rejuvenates me and reminds me what life is all about - working at Sunrise Day Camp!  To see the difference this camp makes in the lives of these campers is truly a humbling experience.  This year is a little different in that I'm only teaching drama instead of dance and drama but in doing so, I work with EVERY single camper in the entire camp from ages 3 1/2 (the Acorns) to 16 (the CIT group) and to see these kids have fun with drama and see them create and play really reminds me of why I do what I do during the year!  It makes next summer even more important.

And the second reason for the title of this blog now becomes clear - it is going to be far too long before we get on the road!  It will be a long and winding road to get to where we need to go and I appreciate all of you that have supported us.

For those of you new to reading this blog, we have had a few "missions" over the years since Connor's Army was created.  We've raised $13,000 for The American Cancer Society, we've held a few Victory Rides (the most recent one to benefit Sunrise Day Camp) and we've even enlisted Sarah to help in our efforts.

Our latest mission is our most important one yet - we are going to raise $50,000 for Sunrise!  It won't be easy and we still have a lot of underwriting sponsorship we need to procure to make it completely happen but we're well on our way.  We have some supportive sponsors already, we have 780 followers on our facebook page (yes, you can click on the blue to add us to your likes or just click on the button in the upper right of the page), and today we just had our first article in a national bicycling magazine - Bicycle Times.  They are now one of our sponsors and we're hoping to reach even more sponsors now.

Why "far too long"?  Because as of right now we are not scheduled to leave San Diego until June 23rd, 2012.  Its a long way off and there is lots of work to be done but part of me can't wait to get started with the riding.  This past year we lost three of our Sunrise campers to this damnable disease.  I've lost another couple of friends to the disease and one of my colleagues, Jeff Rozran, is now fighting his own battle with lung cancer.  This journey cannot begin soon enough for with every pedal stroke I'll be fighting this disease for my family, my friends, my colleagues and my campers.

We have a little less than a year now and we still need sponsors.  We keep hoping that a few more "angels" will step forward and offer to help us.  Its become very frustrating becasue we keep reaching out to various businesses but we never receive an answer.  Not even a "no" just silence.  And although the sound of silence can sometimes be a wonderful thing and can help you reach that state of inner peace;



(Everybody say Ommmm)

or maybe yours looks more like this;

(Everybody say Kung Fu Panda)

However, the sound of silence has not brought any inner peace to us.  It has really perplexed us and left us wondering what we have to do to find the truth of the matter is that we need help to be able to make this happen.  If any of you reading this have any ideas, let us know as we are willing to try any angle to help us raise the funds we need to make this happen.  We know that now we are starting to make the PR connections the donations to the camp can start to flow into the camp.  Our hope is that people will see what we are trying to do and will open their hearts and their purses to these children.  I mean, if we could raise $12,000 with me just commuting 2,000 miles in an entire year, we should be able to generate $50,000 for me doing the same thing in just 70 days.  But we need to find an angel (or two).

	Thrice - Send Me An Angel .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And that is part of why this is far too long.  The mileage doesn't bother me - I know we can do it.  I just want us to get started, to get started in fight and to get these campers the funds that will make an incredible summer possible for them.

And now one last song to get us all in the mood.  Every day as they cross the camp, a group of campers called the Timon Boys sing their own version of a classic Queen song, "We Will Rock You".  Instead of "We will" they sing "Timon Boys" will rock you!  So bear that in mind as you listen to an oldie but goodie;

	Queen - We Will Rock You .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Stay well and I'll see you on the road (and in this blog MUCH more often)!