Saying Goodbye to 2010

Here's to 2010, all the good times, fun and adventures it had in store for me....My New Year's Resolution for 2011 is to let go of the things I no longer need to hold on to.......

Thanks For The Memories

I have served as the Vice President of this fine organization, over the past year; and if the Main Street Board of Directors chooses, in 2011 I will serve as president. In 2010 Main Street has experienced times of joy and celebration.
While taking on the roll of president is both exciting and terrifying at the same time, I look forward to where we can go as an organization in 2011.
In 2010 the chairs of the organization, design and promotions committee have all worked their hardest. They have brought forth programs that have furthered the organization.
The promotions committee through months of planing and organizing established what will become an annul farmers market on the Roy Rogers Esplanade. As a result many people will be exposed to what downtown Portsmouth has to offer.
A search is ongoing for a market manager in 2011.
Recently the annual Tour of Lofts was held in conjunction with the opening of the Boneyfiddle Arts Center. The quilt that was used as a fundraiser was given away in conjunction with the two events.
The Economic Restructuring is in need of a chair. This committee servers a vital roll to the organization. Krista Clark, Program Assistant for Main Street Portsmouth has been serving as the chair of that committee until one can be found.
This year Main Street was awarded a $50,000 dollar grant from the city of Portsmouth. As a result of the grant oversized planters in front of the city building on second street that are watered and changed for the diffrent season. Also new this year with the help of the Paul Johnson Memorial fund there are some new planters that sit along front street, near the murals.
As a part of the grant from the city, Main Street will be awarding $25,000 in building improvement grants to downtown property owners.
Applications for those interested in the grants were solicited. There were a large number of applications turned in for consideration.
A committee of Main Street volunteers are currently looking over the applications to determine which should be funded. Work on the selected projects is expected to begin in 2011.
Main Street has turned in a request to the city of Portsmouth for continued funding in 2011. If funding is made available, more grants will be made available.
There are many exciting opportunities that await Main Street in 2011.
Without the ongoing efforts of many dedicated volunteers and new volunteers those opportunities are diminished. Also, to make the activities of Main Street possible financial contributions will and continue to be necessary.

It's kind of funny

For the last day and a half we have been without internet and internal network resources at work, so it has been interesting. This gave me some time to consider how dependent we are on the small things in life. The time we were without internet it seemed as if world had fallen apart and the only thing that would fix it would be a secure connection.
During that time I was able to catch up on quite a few small projects I thought I would get to someday. For some projects that someday was yesterday. Which is a good thing. As a result, some of those small projects have now become bigger projects.
I have an external hard drive, where I keep back-up copies of photos. As of yesterday there were over 6,000 photos on that hard drive. So I have undertaken the task of burning ALL of them to CD's so space can be freed up on the hard drive.
One the key things to this issue is that it's formatted to my work computer which is an iMAC, that does not have a DVD burner on it. My laptop is a PC. So my laptop does not play well with my work computer.
Also the photos I take are large format (an average of 17 mega bites per file). So burning all of those to CD's has turned into quite a task.....
I will get this project done some day......

I hope

One of the things I am hoping to start going again is blogging. So with any luck I will be able to blog on a fairly regular basis......Oh yea, Merry Christmas.

Lots of love,
-Wayne

The Daily Love

I am not sure if you all are aware of the daily love. It's something you subscribe to with your email. This group sends you daily emails full of inspirational quotes and reflections from the founder Mastin Kipp. It has provided such inspiration for me in the short time I have been subscribing. Granted, there are some days are better than others but overall it helps you get through the day. I would recommend this to anyone. The best part about it is that it's free.

Belief In Community

“Our belief in community is founded upon our sure knowledge that the God in me seeks the God in you and that it is when we have encountered that divine reality at the very center of our faith that we finally, truly, know one another,” Grant McMurray. This is one of the best quotes I have heard in a LONG time....