Is Anybody Out There?

As Isa enters the TP Auditorium to welcome everyone and to present the next installment of the Our Two Cents Worth... Foundation blog, she trips on the stairs... "How very odd", she thinks to herself, "The auditorium is dark and there seems to be no one in the audience. Did I get the date wrong and it's really Cheap Trashy Horror Night at the TP Movies?" Isa leaves to find the light switches then quickly returns to the stage to wait for awhile.

Suddenly, the entrance door opens and a head peaks in. "Are we in the right place for the TP Foundation presentation?" "YES! Contestants, ermmm, I mean members, come on down!" replies Isa (sounding a bit like Bob Barker on the Price Is Right morning game show). Slowly the members file in and find their seats. "Alrighty, let's get this party started, shall we?!" With that, Isa begins the presentation...

Once again, I welcome everyone to the monthly installment of the TP Foundation's blog. I have good news and I have bad news. Which would you like first? (A call for bad news first echoes through the auditorium.) Okay, bad news first, it is. Always a good choice - get it over with and then move on. I like your thinking! The bad news: Our membership has remained unchanged since April. Where is everybody? Hello... Can anybody hear me?? This is a great cause, people! I don't mean to be pushy but... (With that, Isa now decides she better rephrase her comments and find a way to bring more members into the Foundation's fold. So, here goes...)

I have been trying to come up with creative ways to entice more members to participate in the Foundation program without violating the Terms & Conditions of both AdSense and TP itself. Unlike the Photo Competitions, we can't offer hotel accommodation vouchers nor travel logs nor even upgraded photo space. Frequent flier miles would have been an option had the airlines been cooperative - they weren't. So, given those "can not do" items, what can I do? I need some input from you. To help out, here is a short list of what we (again) can not do:

• Contests - nope - out of the question.
• Advertisements on every page - nope.
• Mass PMs/e-mails - nope.
• Holding members for ransom - nope again.
• Giving the Overlords lots of code to write - good luck with that.
• Threatening to break TP - been there, done that to no avail.

If anyone has suggestions that do not go against the (AdSense/TP) T&Cs or the list of "nope" things, please contact me via PM or at [email protected] I have contacted Bono and Eric Clapton about a benefit concert (they owe me some favors) but it seems they are incognito at the moment. Go fig...

For those of you who are new to the foundation blog and would like more information about it's workings, please see the In For A Penny, In For A Pound and For What It's Worth... entries. Also check out the Travellerspoint Foundation wiki page and the Join the Travellerspoint Foundation thread.

Oooohhh, almost forgot the good news!!! As of right this minute, we have $89.16 in the Foundation account. We are so close to our first $100.00 goal!!!! Rather like the Timex watch that just keeps on tickin', hopefully, our members will just keep on clickin'!

So, I now leave you with our entertainment for this evening... Please give a round of applause for the Derek Trucks Band performing I Wish I Knew!!!!!!! (And, that's just my two cents worth...)

I wish I knew how it would feel to be free
I wish I could break all the chains holding me
I wish I could see everything I had to see
Sing it loud, sing it clear, for the whole round world to hear

I wish I could share all the love that's in my heart
Remove all the bars that keep us apart
I wish you knew how it would feel to be me
Then you'd see, and agree, everyone should be free

I wish I could give all I'm longing to give
I wish I could live like I'm longing to live
I wish I could do everything that I could do
Though I'm way overdue, I'd be starting anew

I wish I could be like a bird in the sky
How sweet it would be if I found I could fly
I'd soar to the sun and look down at the sea
And I'd sing 'cause I know
I sing because I know
I sing because I know
I sing because I know everyone should be free

Guess what? It's graph time!!!!