Friday, December 28, 2007

How Can I Contribute?

As I mentioned on my main page, I have committed to a very aggressive donation for this year's event. For fun, I'm also committing to a couple of incentives for those who choose to donate.

Donation Levels:

  • "Keep it up Derrick!" -- $50, recieves a picture of me taken at the summit of Rainier (I know, ouh-ahh).

  • "Top Performer" -- $200 donation receives a picture with me holding a banner with your company logo, or other picture of your choice. For those who own businesses, this picture showing your support for the ALA would make an interesting conversation piece for the office, OR your company newsletter.

    To contribute please take the following steps:

    Step #1: Please follow the following link to make your tax deductible contribution: Click Here To Donate! Don't forget that some of you may be eligible for an employer charitable gift match. If you are, please fill out your employer's form, send it to me and ALA will do the rest.

    Step #2: Subscribe for updates to this blog. To do so, simply submit your email address in the form to the right of this post. You will then receive an email confirming your address.

    Step #3: Take a quick minute to sign the guestbook so that I know you were here. Sign By Clicking Here!

    Step #4: Pass this on! The American Lung Association is the oldest volunteer health organization in the United States. Their advocacy programs fight several causes of lung disease including child asthma, tobacco use, and environmental health. These are critical issues which affect millions in the U.S every year. If you have friends or family affected by these issues please help me by sharing with them my fundraising goal and website. Email my site address to friends, attach it to your blog, any publicity will help!

    The preparation for this climb will be particularly intense. Including a "warm-up" climb of Mt. Whitney and Mt. Adams. My plan is to update this blog frequently with photos and news documenting my preparation.

    Again, thanks for your support!

    Derrick

    Read More...

  • Saturday, December 1, 2007

    Mt. Shasta Pictures June 2007

    Read More...

    Thursday, November 22, 2007

    Team Smith!

    A special thanks to everyone who has contributed! This is a great cause ... and I really appreciate your support.

    Derrick and Jennifer, Smith, WA
    Morgan and Melissa Ethington, OH
    Randy and Heather Curtis, UT
    Neal and Laura Smith, OR
    Dan Cryer, WA
    Kelli Davidson, WA
    Doug and Jaimy Carley, UT
    Paul Danielson, WA
    Bob Tippett, WA
    Apollo Inc. -- Keith Larson, WA
    Bryce & Hollie Logan, WA
    Conrad & Shellie Abrams, WA
    Bryan & Autumn Long, WA
    Linda Boomer, WA
    Holly Wilson, WA
    Gale Clark, WA
    Ruth Swain, WA
    Jeanne Jelke, WA
    Tim & Kelli Schauer, WA
    Jay and Ashley Lee, AZ
    Don Cushing, OR
    Dan MacKay, WA
    Al & Lisa Schauer, WA
    Rod & Cindy Christensen, WA
    Teri Miller, WA
    Mary Ruby, OR
    Joetta Ruppert, WA
    AJ and Tracy, Hill

    Read More...

    Wednesday, November 21, 2007

    Favorite Climbs!

    Here are a couple of the climbs we are planning, or have previously attempted:

    Planned: April 25th, 2008



    Mt. Whitney, CA
    Summit Elevation: 14,505 feet
    Location: California, USA
    Coordinates:36°34′42.9″N 118°17′31.2″W / 36.578583, -118.292

    Notes: Although this is the highest point in the lower 48, we anticipate that this will be a warm-up climb/hike for the season. We are still debating our route, however, the easier route is a Class 1 climb, meaning it is long, but not technically challenging.


    Planned: June 25th, 2008


    Mt. Adams, WA
    Summit Elevation: 12,276 ft
    Location: Washington State

    Coordinates: 46°12′08.68″N 121°29′27.22″W / 46.2024111, -121.4908944

    Notes: This is our home mountain, it is a fun climb. We've climbed this one twice before, but unfortunately never climbed beyond the false summit because of bad weather. Some pictures of past climbs are included here: My Adams Entries


    Planned: July 25th, 2008



    Mt. Rainier, WA
    Summit Elevation: 14,411 ft
    Location: Washington State
    Coordinates: 46°51′11.9″N 121°45′35.6″W / 46.853306, -121.759889

    Notes: For me, this is the big one and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm looking forward to more glacier experience, and getting some training from the pros. Should be a great end for the 2008 climbing season. Now for 2009 ...

    Check out other Rainier info I've collected here: My Rainier Entries


    Climbed: June, 2007




    Mt. Shasta
    Summit Elevation: 14,179 ft
    Location: California
    Coordinates:41°24′33.11″N 122°11′41.60″W / 41.4091972, -122.1948889

    Notes: We summitted this one in 2007. This is a great climb, especially since Mt. Shasta is so prominent as you travel in northern CA. I have several Shasta entries here: Shasta Stuff

    Read More...

    My Profile

    One of the reasons I thought I'd start a blog was so that my friends, family, and business associates could get to know me better. I also thought they might enjoy supporting me in my 2008 New Year's resolution, which for me is personally important (both for the charity and the personal challenge).

    I was told today that I should put something more personal on the blog. That sounded like a good idea (I'm new to this, so be patient). A couple of things about me:

    1.) I've done a couple of things really well. For starters, I married extremely well (she says, "I married above myself"). Jennifer is an amazing person and a great personal support, even when my ambitions have been inconvenient to her. Because of her, I also have three great kids; Rachael (9), Megan (6), and Ethan (3). I thought a picture montage would help introduce them:






    2.) As you might have guessed, I have over the past couple of years become passionate about mountaineering. I've really been bitten with the bug. I think its because it appeals to my aptitude for planning and research, my love of the outdoors, and my increasing need to find something big to motivate me to get off the couch (committing to a team for a climb 4-6 months in advance is a good motivator). I hate to be last up the mountain ... even though, as you might notice from some of my climbing videos, it seems that I'm often the exclusive subject of any video footage (the guys pull out their camcorders when they are waiting for me to catch up). This year I'm training hard ... hopefully I'll climb differently.

    3.) My other passion is our business. I'm fortunate to have been invited to become a partner with a great group of people (some of you who are reading this may be clients, community partners, etc). We run a very well respected consulting firm called MacKay & Sposito, Inc. (www.mackaysposito.com). We have a great team, do amazing projects, and are looking forward to continued long-term success. With more than 30 years of history under our belts, it is great to be associated with a group that is really concerned about doing the right thing.

    Read More...

    Tuesday, November 13, 2007

    Guestbook

    Please sign the guestbook by clicking on the link "Post a Comment" below. Make sure you leave your name with the comment.

    Thanks,

    Derrick

    Read More...

    Wednesday, November 7, 2007

    2007 Lone Peak, UT -- EveryTrail!

    Lone Peak, UT at EveryTrail

    Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

    Read More...

    Read More...

    Sunday, October 7, 2007

    Our Local Training Hill

    Badger Mountain Hike at EveryTrail

    Map created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

    Read More...

    Monday, October 1, 2007

    How do I subscribe to an RSS feed?

    Subscribing to an RSS feed is fairly straight forward. If you are using a relatively new version of Internet Explorer you should see an icon somewhere on the Explorer toolbar that looks like this:



    Click on the icon and a screen should appear that will walk you through the process of adding the RSS feed to your internet explorer. Alternatively, Outlook 2007 is able to read RSS feeds, which is convenient if you use Outlook frequently.

    Read More...