Game

September 4, 2009

I got out of the habit of posting and recognizing great folks who have chosen great verbs in honor of Erin. Earlier this week I received an email from Janine Rodriguez. In part, it said:

I am going to be taking part in the Extra Life fundraiser for the Texas Children's Hospital-more specifically, to benefit the Texas Children's Cancer Center (More info on the fundraiser:
http://extralife.sarcasticgamer.com/ ) and am doing this in honor of Erin.

We exchanged a few more e-mails to decide the most Erin-esque name for her team. In the end, we chose Erin's PPR Club (I think in this case the PPR stands for something like Power Players Rule, not the original slightly scatological meaning. And, in case any original PPR Club members are wondering, I don't think this makes those games members of the official, real PPR Club.). Here's the full skinny:

"Extra Life is a 24-hour charity video-gaming marathon to raise money to fight pediatric cancer. Every penny of the money raised will go directly to benefit pediatric cancer treatment and research at Texas Children’s Cancer Center at Texas Children’s Hospital. TxCCC is one of the largest pediatric cancer and hematology centers in the WORLD, and sees kids from all 50 states and over 80 countries. Every child gets the same ground-breaking treatment, regardless of their family’s financial situation.

Extra Life begins on October 17th at 8am and ends on October 18th at 8am. During this time gamers from around the world will pull together at the same time and play video games for 24 straight hours. All games and gaming platforms qualify from Nintendo, to PS3, to poker on your cell phone. Each gamer can raise money individually or as part of a gaming team, and the goal is to find at least 4 people who are willing to sponsor them at $1 an hour to raise a minimum of $96.

I have created a team (Erin's PPR Club) in honor of Erin. We will have an Erin power hour about 18 hours into the game-a-thon where we will play all the Wii games that Erin loved so much. Our team is open to anyone who wants to join in on the fundraising/gaming so pass this info along to any Erin fans you know who might be interested."

Once again, I'm amazed and honored that Erin has inspired people like Janine to go the extra step and do more. Thank you.

It also gave me a new experience, since I don't think I have often had the chance to use "game" as a verb. For people my age, "game" has served great as a noun for decades, and I believe it's useful to expand my horizons and stretch from time-to-time.

On the whole the semester got underway without too much unpleasantness. I admit that I was out of teaching shape, and tireder than I should have been at the end of the day on Tuesday and again on Thursday. I have had a little time to continue on various projects, and am slowly putting together a website devoted completely to the Erin's Dream Lanyards (and Manyards) project, with the build happening as I can squeeze it into my schedule. It's a work in progress, so I would appreciate feedback of any sort.

In about an hour I am headed to Dallas for a combined family visit and soccer weekend. I hope some of the rain I am driving into makes it down to the Brazos Valley. If I have weather the storm, I think my yard and gardens should too.