Burt on Oprah

My wife called me this afternoon from home saying I would never believe who was on the Oprah Winfrey Show: my old friend Daniel Burt. Daniel lived in Searcy several years ago, and we were members of Fight Club together until he moved to Nashville (I could tell you what Fight Club was, but then I'd have to kill you).

Last I had heard, Daniel and his wife Amanda were blogging about their faith and their very cheap lifestyle. Looks like he got Oprah's attention. Below is a screen-shot of Oprah's website with Daniel in the preview video. Congrats, Daniel!

Rhonda Frasier - See you on the other side

I just learned today that a good friend of mine from my post-college years in Denver has passed away. The following is from the Harding University alumni newsletter:

Rhonda Frazier (’94)

A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, at the Church of Christ in Prineville, Oregon, for Rhonda Gaylene Frazier of Madras, formerly of Lane County, who died Dec. 8 of Alzheimer's disease. She was 34.

She was born Aug. 23, 1972, in Heidelberg, Germany, to Doug and Dawn Kimball Frazier. She worked in fashion merchandising. She was a member of Chi Omega Phi and the women’s track team at Harding University.

Survivors include her parents; a son, Clay; a grandmother, Azalea Kimball Hatfield; a sister, Janelle Strong of Prineville; and a brother, Justin of Eugene.

Arrangements by Autumn Funerals in Redmond. Remembrances to Clay Frazier Trust Fund at Mid-Oregon Credit Union.

Rhonda and I were buddies when I graduated from Harding in '96 and moved back to Denver. She had also made the move to Denver after graduating from Harding, and she lived in the same apartment complex as Mark Story, another good friend of mine. I was probably at either her place or Mark's at least once a week.

I lost touch with Rhonda after I moved back to Searcy and she moved to Oregon. One Christmas she sent me a Christmas card with a photo of her and her son, but I haven’t talked to her in years. She was a Christian and a very thoughtful friend, and I pray that the Lord takes her home and provides comfort to her family.

Here’s a photo of Rhonda and I playing in a mud volleyball tournament in 1996.



This photo was taken at a Christmas party in 1996. Rhonda is on the far left.

Nothing for sale

When my friend Timo Kosonen emailed me back in January 2006 about his website http://www.nothingforsalesite.com/, I emailed him back saying that he was crazy- who would pay something for nothing? His idea roughly mirrored the http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/ idea where people spent one dollar per pixel for on-screen real estate. Although it worked out well for the million dollar guy, I wasn’t so sure it would work out the same for Timo.

Well, Timo got some press out of it and was able to make a few hundred dollars (which he applied to his wedding). Not bad for a Harding grad. ;)

• http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200603/1141196874.html
  
• http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Internet/An_Entrepreneur_Sells_Nothing_for_220_58739.html
• http://www.digg.com/tech_news/A_Finnish_Entrepreneur_Succeeds_in_Selling_Nothing

Way to go, Timo!