cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, Lloyd and Luana Warner, Diane Cluff, Maxine Shirts via mail.
"Nathan, thanks for the nice note and reminder to look at your work on the Pam Pace Foundation. Everyone should go look at the site Nathan has created: http://www.pampace.org/. For over a decade I have had a conversation going on with my lawyer, Ed Rogers, about the formation of the Walden 3-D Foundation. Big time corporate lawyers can easily scare one away from taking the first step in starting a journey. The tax implications, the issues with getting set up as a non-profit organization, the ongoing maintenance commitment, the means of raising money so it becomes a living organization and not just a flash in the pan, and all of the other issues with creation of a new entity have kept me away from my goal. Someday I hope to be as brave as Nate and to take the first step on this journey.
For those who do not have access to the World-Wide-Web, Nate writes:
I have assumed, since my Mom had her stroke, someday the Walden 3-D Foundation will build a new building for Southern Utah University and name it the Pauline H. Nelson Business Building. Buildings like this are expensive and it takes a lot of ego to make this kind of assumption. It is very easy for some of us to get caught up in living in the past or in the future, and to not focus on the present enough. One of my biggest concerns with this idea has been related to ongoing funding. I have a stong aversion to fund raising based on someone paying a charity for me, or someone else, to walk or run or bike ride or do something else which is burning energy and only really benefiting the person burning the energy. I feel much more comfortable with charities like Habit for Humanity, where there is something tangible at the end of the activity. One of the reasons I am so attracted to the concept of dynamically replenishing oil fields is because finding and retaining an override or ownership position in one of these perpetual energy machines (at least it is perpetual within mankind's time framework), and then transfering ownership to a charitible foundation, creates an economic basis for achieving the goals set out by the Pam Pace Foundation.
The World-Wide-Web does provide an alternative fund raising mechanism. Straight donations can be solicited on the web. There are a lot of folks who donate to some pretty seedy operations, like some of the televangelists. The idea of a percentage from an Internet based business going to the foundation has similarities to my dynamically replenishing oil fields. Nate, naming it Nathan's Mall will be perceived by some as a conflict of interest, especially since your Board of Directors is Nathan and Heather Pace. One of the things the big charities are very careful to do is to create a chinese curtain between different entities, removing even the appearance of a conflict of interest. I'm very impressed with Nathan's Mall. I don't buy much, yet I can see as people use this medium to make purchases, it has the potential to be a significant source of cash. Anyone in the family wanting to buy anything on-line ought to look at Nathan's Mall as a first stopping place (http://www.newharmony.bigsmart.com/live/). I did not take the time to try and understand everything behind the group behind Nathan's Mall, bigsmart.com, yet I looked deep enough to be very impressed with their technology and their business ability. It is a little too much like a ponzi scheme for me. Although Andrea assures me Amway is not a pyramid ponzi scheme, someday I intend to write a book or a movie and name it `I married an Amway Distributor.'
I must admit Andrea is very good about not living in the past nor in the future. We had a family meeting yesterday with Matt, Rachel, Audrea, Andrea, and myself, and we each agreed to write out our goals for the summer. This is very much living in the present. My goals for Summer 2000 are:
This week has been another quiet week. It is amazing how time can stretch out when you are waiting for others to make up their mind. I have been striving to use this space to think through my versions of the Pam Pace Foundation, and specifically to get caught up on everything at work and at home. Matt had a playoff baseball game on Monday evening for Family Home Evening. They won by 10 points. Tuesday evening I had a meeting with the Vpatch guys. They are in business, and are confident of getting jobs (and their plan is not that different from bigsmart.com or GroceryWorks.com [0020.html]). Maybe this will turn out to be my ticket to create The Walden 3-D Foundation.
Wednesday we had the planning phone call for the RC-SIG, and it is turning into a big deal. We will have broadcasts of some presentations and probably of demonstrations, so there could be a lot of folks tied into the meeting in London, Onterio on September 14th and 15th. Later in the afternoon there was a key demonstration for a customer/potential investor. It is exciting to see their reaction and buy in to what we have been able to accomplish. Wednesday evening we did not have a formal activity because of finals. We simply had to count the chairs in the Stake Center for Stake Conference. I came home early and watched the second half of the special on Jesus. It is sad to see parts of the story sensationalized. It is good to see most of it accurate. It is sad to see people, including myself, taking the story for granted because we have heard it several times. I believe repetition and boredom are ways Satan uses to trivialize the this most important story. About 11:30 we got a call from Sara telling us the alternator went out on the Grand Prix, and Rachel, Audrey, Justin Packard, and her were stuck at Highway 249 and the Tollroad on their way home from a concert at Cynthia Woods Mitchel Pavilian in The Woodlands. By the time I got there at midnight there were two tow trucks waiting. I weakly attempted to negotiate from $75 to $50, and quickly gave in to the $75 towing fee. Got the last of the kids to their houses about 1:00 AM.
Thursday's sales forecast meeting was less than dynamic, yet there are good things happening in Continuum's London, Perth, and Houston offices. Gary Crouse picked me up for a Vpatch lunch meeting at Guadalajara's. Jim Conners and his two daughters gave me a ride home because the Grand Prix was still in the shop. Shannon, one of the girls in my Primary Class with Melanie years ago, mentioned how much she appreciates the dictionary I gave her for High School Grauduation and how it is the dorm room dictionary. Stake Leadership Thursday evening was based around different testimonies of Our Savior, including several of the Apostles from the tape released at Conference. Several times during the evening I felt the spirit and found tears in my eyes. I so much want to share these type of spiritual insights and knowledge with each of you, yet I feel like I push too hard or don't say the right things when I try.
Friday's developer's meeting was exciting to me. We are getting close to being able to use CoReExplorer, and the potential applications are staggering. At 11:00 we had our first Collaborative CoReExchange between Houston and London. I spent the evening reading and writing. It rained real hard durning the night. Saturday morning Matt and I went fishing for an hour and did not catch anything. We had our family meeting at 11:00 AM. Audrey, Matt, Andrea, and I went to see Walt Disney's new movie Dinosaur's at 5:00 PM. It is my kind of movie and I highly recommend it to each of you. The visuals are stunning. Andrea and I went to dinner afterwards and used a wedding gift coupon given to us a year ago by Les Denham and his wife. It was a nice dinner. I finished reading two books on Saturday: Smart Exercise, which Roice gave me for Christmas, and Mormon's Map, which Andrea gave me last week for our first anniversary. And this morning I spent some more time looking at and thinking about the Pam Pace Foundation, and being very impressed and proud of my son-in-law Nate for his innovative way to work on his struggle with his Mom's early death and to stay involved in now. May we all do this well in facing the trials of our life."