Useful email from Tony (feel free to argue about this, Cam!).  I'm also
appending a touching skating story.  See below.  --Danny

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 09 Dec 2004 10:13:03 -0500
From: anthony nicholson  
Subject: Buy Blue Current Campaign

Here's a page which helps you vote with your wallet when doing Christmas
shopping. Who knew that Borders gave 100% of its political donations to
the Democrats? Guess it makes sense, given that store #1 is in Ann
Arbor. Maybe they're not such an evil corporation after all.

 

-----

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Polish man traveled more than 3,000 miles on
rollerblades to Microsoft Corp.'s headquarters to ask Chairman Bill Gates
pay the medical costs of two disabled Polish girls, the company said on
Tuesday.

Krzysztof Dzienniak, 24, rolled into Microsoft's Redmond, Washington
campus on Monday after setting off from New York in late August to raise
money for 7 year-old Monika Mosur, who was born with hydrocephalus, and
Patrycja Bialkowska, a 10 year-old who lost a foot in an accident.

Although Dzienniak did not get to meet with Gates, who was out of town, he
did convince Microsoft executives to set up a special
employee-contribution fund for the girls, with donations matched
dollar-for-dollar by Microsoft.

Gates kicked off the fund, established in association with the charity
group SOS Children's Villages, with a $1,000 personal contribution and
encouraged Microsoft's employees to donate as well.

"We do respond to needs like this... and hope that we will be able to
raise the money necessary for the girls' treatment," a Microsoft
spokeswoman said.

Dzienniak, who lives in Warsaw and read about the girls' plight, decided
to make the trip after Gates visited Poland in 2003. He said he was
inspired to make the trip by the movie "Forrest Gump."

Dzienniak wore out three pairs of rollerblades, or inline skates, and
traveled about 32 miles a day.