• Add a book to your inventory: get 1/10th point
• Send a book request to someone in your country: get 1 point
• Send a book request to someone outside your country: get 3 points
• Give feedback upon receipt of a book you requested: get 1/10th point
• Request a book from someone in your country: spend 1 point
• Request a book from someone in another country: spend 2 points

Over the course of a year I have received a total of 68 books via Bookmooch and successfully sent around 67 books to other people. That has saved me quite a bit of money I might have otherwise spent on new books. And the majority of books I have received were in excellent condition. The only cost to me was the price of postage to send books out to other people. And, it makes me feel good to know that the books I no longer wanted found new homes instead of being thrown out.

Now I’m taking it one step further;

Now I’ve taken my BookMooch obsession to new levels and started saving others peoples books from destruction. I’ve been buying books from various library sales for pennies (1 box for $5), and getting some free books from friends and craigslist. I know, most people would ask “Why bother?” Well, I don’t have a great reason other than the fact that I feel good about it, and I’m happy to send books I’m done with to people who really want them. It’s a cheap recycling method that doesn’t really cost much and let’s me get books I’m looking for.

So if you’ve got a bunch of old books you were just going to throw out, consider signing up for BookMooch. And if your looking to mooch some books check out my inventory.

Thank you to my aunts who gave generous pledges to support my ride.

362 Days till the next ride. I think I need to keep ridding so I can do the 44 mile ride next year.

Here’s the music that was played on my iPod while I rode:

Iron Maiden – Heaven Can Wait
John Mellencamp – R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.
Guns N’ Roses – Mr. Brownstone
Tears for Fears – Cold
Nine Inch Nails – Sin
Honeymoon Suite – Wave Babies
Iron Maiden – Wasted Years
John Mellencamp – Jack & Diane
Jimmy Eat World – Polaris
Def Leppard – Rock of Ages
Bad Religion – I Love My Computer
The Cult – Fire Woman
Rush – You Bet Your Life
Joe Satriani – Surfing With the Alien
John Mellencamp – Paper in Fire
Jimmy Eat World – Work
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Def Leppard – Gods of War
Honeymoon Suite – Other Side of Midnight
Android Lust – The Want
Disturbed – Prayer
Halloween, Alaska – Drowned
Foo Fighters – Breakout
Tears for Fears – Dog’s a Best Friend’s Dog
Spineshank – Slavery
Sloan – The Other Man
Foo Fighters – Times Like These
Honeymoon Suite – New Girl Now
Honeymoon Suite – One by One
Def Leppard – Don’t Shoot Shotgun
Revolting Cocks – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?
Bif Naked – Moment of Weakness
Joe Satriani – Back to Shalla-bal
Brother Love – Summertime
Lush – Single Girl
Rik Emmett – Big Lie
Billy Idol – Mony Mony
Joydrop – Swan Song

This annual ride is held to help raise funds for the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, an organization dedicated to the eradication of cancer. The donations raised at The Ride For Roswell support research, education, and treatment programs at Roswell Park Cancer Institute such as:

• Providing supplemental funds for RPCI studies approved by the National Institutes of Health as the best cancer research in the nation;
• Purchasing or maintaining state-of-the-art medical equipment and laboratory core resources for patient treatment and diagnosis, and for research;
• Funding programs that help transfer research outcomes into new treatments and/or prevention approaches;
• Enhancing Roswell Park’s compassionate care programs through Quality of Life initiatives to help patients and families at their time of need.

To read more about how the funds raise are used, click here.

I have had several family members fall prey to cancer including my mother, who so far remains in remission.

If you would like to help me raise money for cancer research please consider donating online. Any amount you can give is graciously appreciated.

Donations can also be sent to:

Timothy J. Finucane
P.O. Box 229
Depew, NY 14043

I met Jonathan when I started working for Algonquin Studios in July of 2001. He was only there for a short time after I started, because he was shipping off to join the military. I did not get to know him very well, but I did have the opportunity to converse with him. He was a very energetic and lively individual. I wish I could have had the opportunity to get to know him better.

A few days ago it was announced that the body of Jonathan Cote was found. This was very disappointing news, though not unexpected; weeks earlier they had found the bodies of his fellow contractors. Still, those who knew him held onto hope, myself included.

I may not have had the opportunity to know Jonathan well, and I can’t imagine what this is like for his family, but my heart goes out to those who will miss him.

May you rest in peace Jonathan.

I work for an exceptional company, Algonquin Studios. Every day is full of lessons on leadership and what being a real leader means. My CEO is a man to look up to, to view as a mentor. And the other people around him are also to be looked up to. So when I see people in the business community doing very crappy things, I take notice. They become my anti-mentors.

The other day my wife had to go to a funeral for a co-worker, an unfortunate victim of cancer. It has been an extremely rough time for this persons friends and family.

Now here’s where I get mad. The direct supervisor of the person who passed away and the CEO of my wifes organization could not be bothered to show up to the funeral. The supervisor even gave a lame excuse that she does not believe in stepping into any church other than a Catholic one. Ridiculous. Unacceptable. Shame on you. I don’t care what your belief system, you should show compassion for people in pain. You should be there for them. Anything less is pitiful.

And people within the organization who know damn well this is wrong, refuse to call them out on it.

Real leaders are there for their people when they need them. They don’t even think twice about reaching out to help.

How do organizations like this, that clearly have a lack of leadership, continue to survive? These people run in the same circles as some real leaders in Buffalo. Why aren’t those leaders of business calling them out on the carpet for their indiscretions? And mentoring them on why they need to care about their people.

It is a shame that some people just don’t understand how to run a winning organization; that they don’t understand having a core set of values, and holding everyone in the organization to them, is essential to create a vibrate, thriving community around you.

And this issue I have highlighted here is just one of many such examples in my wife’s company. And it’s always the same few people at the top. These anti-mentors are creating tremendous lessons for those paying attention and being critical of them. Because of this I have strongly recommended to my wife that she find a new job, and to be very critical when asking questions in interviews

Leadership matters; caring about your people matters. Are you a leader? Or are you my anti-mentor?

We started out our new year a bit rough. Shaun seems to have caught another bug and has thrown up twice this morning. Mostly flem and juice since he is not eating food well. So far little Teagan doesn’t seem to have caught it, but the last time this happened it went through everyone in the family. So, I’m bracing myself for the inevitable. But while I wait for that I’ll just have to keep comforting a sick little boy. He even went down for his nap without a fuss. That NEVER happens.

With the new year Teagan has really taken to standing, a lot. I’ll give it no more than a couple of months before she is running around this house. She is just absolutely determined to catch up with Shaun. And getting her fair share of bumps and bruises to prove it. She’s also improving her dad’s eyesight. I getting much better at spotting all the things she’s going to put in her mouth before she does.

Like many people I set some pretty lofty goals for last year, and failed to meet most of them. Primarily due to a new family member. But, even though I hadn’t listed it as a goal, my wife and I managed to raise a very happy, very healthy little girl. That was hands down the biggest priority for 2007.

Going forward for 2008 we have some new and old goals to accomplish. The kids obviously continue to be a priority. But my wife and I have become determined to work harder toward financial freedom. This year we are both starting new business ventures and I am learning a great deal about real estate. We already have one rental unit and I hope to find a couple of new duplexes before the years end. I have begun a network marketing business with Bookwise and started up a blog to follow my first experience with network marketing. I’ll give you my honest opinion on how it proceeds, good and bad. And I’m also going to try and bring back the Grape Soda Records business I wanted to start a couple of years ago. I’m going to start with a couple of local bands and branch out from there. Eventually I’ll probably start a blog for this as well. All in all, I expect this building of businesses to take at least 2-3 years before it improves our cashflow. The bottom line for us is that we can’t keep doing 9-5 for someone else. We need more flexibility with our new family.

And, while I’m not sure where I’m going to find the time I am also hoping to resurrect Radio.Speljamr this year. We’ll see how it goes. It takes a good deal of time.

We end our 1^st day of the new year by watching the NHL’s Winter Classic hockey game between the Sabres and the Penguins. The Sabres lost in the final shootout, but it was still a very exciting hockey game. The players were like a bunch of kids on a frozen pond in the first period, and the aerial shots were one of a kind. I hope they try to do this next year.

Well, it wasn’t a perfect day, but I still think we’re heading down the right path. 2008, here we come!

I didn’t speak to a single person today…I thought of calling Bob Timmons, but why should I ruin his Christmas? I guess I’ve decided to start another diary this time for a few different reasons…

1. I have no friends left.
2. So I can read back and remember what I did the day before.
3. So if I die, at least I leave a paper trail of my life (nice lil suicide note).

Merry Christmas…it’s just you and me, diary. Welcome to my life.“

So begins one of the best rock biographies to come out in 2007. A couple of weeks ago I finished reading the Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx. The story was so engaging that this book was read in record time for me. I took it to lunch; I read it while following my wife around the stores in the mall; I kept reading it during every spare moment I could grab. It was that good.

The Heroin Diaries is the story of Nikki Sixx’s addiction to drugs, and just how low one can sink. It consists of diary entries he made over the course of a year, primarily during the Girls, Girls, Girls tour. At times it is funny, and other times just shocking; but it is always from the heart. Sixx bears his soul in a way few other musicians have. You see the real grit that was Nikki Sixx and Mötley Crüe. To give a complete perspective the diary entries are mixed with feedback from the people who were around Sixx at the time. The honesty from these contributers is real, and at times brutal. No punches were pulled.

And I almost forgot to mention: the book is an fantastic work of art on its own. A lot of creative work went into putting this together.

But things don’t just stop with the book. Nikki, together with some of his closest friends has put together a new band called Sixx:A.M. and created a soundtrack to go with the book: The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack. This CD took my excitement about the book to a whole other level.

The CD is hands down the best project Nikki Sixx has ever produced. Plenty of hard rock goodness with a dose of progressive rock mixed in, all to tell a truely heart wrenching, emotional journey. It’s hard not to be moved by the emotional ups and downs of the music, especially if you reading the book at the same time. My favorite songs off this album include the single ‘Life Is Beautiful’ and ‘Pray For Me.’

And the best part about buying the book is that proceeds will be donated to Running Wild In The Night, a fundraising initiative for Covenant House Of California started by Nikki Sixx. Its objective is to give kids an outlet in music and try to keep them from going down the road that Sixx traveled. If even 1 person reads this book and makes the choice to stay away from drugs, then Nikki has done some good with his book.

Learn more about Sixx:A.M. and watch the ‘Life Is Beautiful’ video at http://www.sixxammusic.com/

And if the food wasn’t good enough, the conversation gets even better. Eclectic Buffalo shines through in it’s people. While at lunch today I heard everything from Business talk to theatre discussions to some rather strange conversation about aliens building pyramids on Mars. Like I said, eclectic.

If your in Buffalo and like to check out the local diners, this is one place to stop for lunch.