It’s that time of year again, when the twain of the festive and the athletic meet. It’s time for the Jingle Bell Run. For those unfamiliar, “The Jingle Bell Run & Walk Event consists of a 5k Run, 5K Walk and 1K Children’s Run with the Elves. The Jingle Bell Run & Walk is an annual fundraiser to benefit the Arthritis Foundation.” Put another way, it’s a festive and fun way to demonstrate your Christmas Spirit and get some exercise.

I did the Jingle Bell Run last year and had a great time! Just like last year, I’ll be running in the second wave “Dasher’s Dashers”. Unlike last year, I’ve created a team – “Jingle Nerds”. So now you can join my team. I look forward to seeing everyone. One last thing, if you’re a particularly festive person, you are encouraged to dress the part.

The election of the next U.S. President has occurred, and the results are in. Barack Obama is now the President-elect. Now is the time when he will be narrowing down his choices for who will be in his administration and work with for the next four years. He’s already begun the process, as evidenced by his new site Change.Gov. On this new site, he describes his agenda and lays out the key positions to be filled. I have an idea on how to do the latter – POTUSCamp.

POTUSCamp is a BarCamp-style event where President-Elect Obama would hear presentations from prospective personnel. It starts by selecting and inviting a large group of businessmen and politicians. Over the course of the event, each attendee prepares and delivers a presentation on why they want the job and how they’ll add value. They would describe what they want to achieve pertinent to their desired position. Their goals should comply with 2 directives:

1. Should make America better 4 years from now than it is today
2. There can be no budget increase

The presentations should be about 30-45 minutes. Barcamp typically has multiple tracks. However, since Obama needs to see every presentation it needs to be run as a single track event. Obama understands the power of the internet, as he made good use of it throughout his presidential campaign. So, it only makes sense to me that he should continue. So I’d like, and expect, to see POTUSCamp streamed over the internet. The American people would be able to post comments. If everything goes well, all the attendees will hear alot of great ideas and information, It’ll save Obama time since he’s not reading political TPS reports, everyone will have fun, and the American people will be enriched by it.