Monday, October 25, 2010

Amy is 14


We've been a bit busy but I didn't want too much time to pass without sharing some photos from Amy's birthday... She turned 14 on the 14th, which seems pretty special - but not quite as special as her Uncle Bob celebrating his 55th on 10/10/10! Happy Birthday, Bob!


Amy had a party with 8 of her friends at our neighborhood Clubhouse - we served them dinner - vegetarian lasagna - they decorated pumpkins - had feathers put into their hair (the latest fashion craze) - and had a fun game of outdoor hide & seek with glow sticks. She has a great group of friends - we're very thankful for that!



Halloween is coming and we are almost ready - bought our bags of candy for the trick or treaters today. Just have to finalize Amy's costume - Odile, the black swan ballerina from "Swan Lake". I'm sure we will have pictures to share!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Question:
What do the Bend Bulletin and the Albany Times Union have in common?

Answer:
They both featured articles on Dan Olson within the last 3 weeks!

It all started in mid-September when our local newspaper, The Bulletin, became aware of an announcement by InnoCentive of it's 2009 Top Solvers.

InnoCentive is where organizations—corporations, large and small, not-for-profits and governments—turn when they have important problems that need solving.

Dan was interviewed over the phone and also in person, then we had a staff photographer come to the house to take his picture. The article was in the next days paper and the reaction took us quite by surprise. He was recognized on the street, in downtown Bend, on our hikes, in church, just about wherever we would go. It was a bit overwhelming - mostly in a good way.
We did find that there is truth in the saying, "not everything you read is fact". In this case, the article leads you to believe that Dan holds the patent(s) for thin lenses in eyeglasses. It's a little more complicated than that...
Needless to say, it was a very nice article.

Last week, as Dan was reading the online version of our old paper in NY, the Times Union, he came across an article about NY's property tax nightmare - a subject near and dear to his heart! In this particular case, there was an opportunity to comment on the article and Dan did just that. His was comment #105, so it was clear that the article had touched a nerve. The next day, a reporter from the TU emailed Dan to ask if he could interview him for a story he was working on - following up on this previous article. They talked, by phone, for quite a while - the reporter asked for a picture of Dan & his family and a picture of our home here in Bend and told Dan that the article would be in the Sunday edition. We certainly did not expect to be on the front page!

What next??