I am exhausted.
Who knew that two days of being wined and dined in luxurious surroundings could be so tiring?
I am juggling multiple deadlines right now -- but am trying not to allow several days to go past without posting here at SoCal Mom (which is what usually happens when I get bogged down by actual WORK - even when it's work I enjoy). So I'm typing this all out very quickly, without a lot of thought. I will probably regret this in the morning, but so be it.
ALSO: My impressions of driving the car are under embargo until Monday - so this post will deal only with my first experience of participating in a major automobile launch event. Besides, that's the subject of my eventual post at AskPatty.com.
My day began with a 5:00 A.M. wakeup call -- and ended with a long communal dinner that concluded at 9:00 PM. And in between, I learned a lot about the new car and its technological features, drove about 300 miles (including some off roading), was fed way too well...
...and got to observe these guys:
Prior to our departure this morning, all the participants had to sign a release form, which is standard operating procedure when you're part of an event that a company may be photographing for publicity purposes. However, this release made mention of lions, and tigers and bears. I thought it was a joke.
Obviously, it was not. The off-road portion of the day was located on a preserve for rescued big cats (called: Lions, Tigers and Bears). They were feeding the big cats when my car arrived. I declined the offer to help with the feeding (I actually think they were kidding)...
...but after I'd finished my own lunch and my driving experience, I went back to take pictures of the cats and read their stories. Some of these poor animals had been badly abused before ending up at this compound, which is a state licensed non-profit charity -- and an expensive one to run. One of the volunteers told me that just feeding the animals costs $45,000 per month.
Now, as a member of the Yahoo! Motherboard, I am participating in their Ripples of Kindness campaign for the holidays. Just before I left for San Diego, I cashed a $100 check Yahoo! sent me, with instructions to use it to do something nice -- anything I wanted. Some of the Motherboard members have bought coffee and doughnuts for random strangers, blankets for homeless people they have met, books for children... basically, we can do anything we want in the effort to start a ripple of good deeds, and see where it leads.
I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what I should do - and after talking to the volunteers at the animal preserve, I had my answer. Those beautiful, rare, exotic animals were fortunate to have this home. I wanted to help them keep it.
I handed one of the volunteers my $100 in cash, and the look on her face made it so worth it.
It was a good day.
DISCLOSURE: I received no compensation for this post, other than the warm feeling I got donating Yahoo!'s money to Lions, Tigers and Bears.
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