Author: Cup of Good

Love at Pre-K

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I saw a story last night that simply made me giddy: A couple who had been dating for a year just found out two weeks ago that they were each other’s pre-k “sweethearts!” According to People.com, Amy and Justin actually met each other online and at a later conversation in their relationship, Justin mentioned that he always liked her name since he had a crush in preschool named “Amy” also. As it turns out, Amy went to the same preschool and after some digging, they were able to find a photo of the two of them together, from 30 years ago! Justin’s crush have always been her after all! What?! Call it coincidence, call it fate … either way, I thought this is such a sweet story and if it made me smile, I know it will make someone else smile too. :) Check out the full story.

Yukio’s Pet Penguin

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Over 10 years ago in Southern Japan, Yukio Nishimoto found a badly injured penguin caught in a fishing net. He nursed him back to health, studied penguins, and built a special refrigerated room under their house just for him. Now Lala is part of the family and he even helps them do a little shopping! How cool is this?! Check out his video…

Drones to Plant One Billion Trees

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Drones have been getting a bad rep recently, but here’s a bit of news showing how we can use this technology for good!  Led by Lauren Fletcher (an ex-NASA engineer), BioCarbon Engineering plans to counter deforestation with large-scale reforestation through drones. By automating the process with aerial planters using a fraction of the cost, the company is aiming to seed 1 billion trees a year. It is currently just in its prototype phase, but I really like where this is going nonetheless! With so much technological advancement happening a mile a minute, let’s hope that this recent news not only helps rebuild our forests, but also inspire other inventors and entrepreneurs to use their talents for improving our world. Read the full article here.

Prison Bake

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Imagine you’re a prison warden and you forgot to lock up some inmates at the end of the night … what do you think they’d do? In Sweden, the Norrtälje inmates decided to bake a chocolate cake and watch tv! In translating the source website below, the article ends with: “It is still unclear whether the inmates used a recipe, or if they made the cake on their own.” (Important stuff!) Just an amusing piece of news from a while ago, that made me smile today. Source: Aftonbladet

Song of the Day: “I Feel Good”

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Mondays can be a challenge. For our group in particular, we start off with an early morning meeting where everyone commits to the work planned for the next two weeks. Saying that everyone had sulky, post-holiday blues is an understatement. However, as we went around the room and confirmed that we feel good about the work we are committing to, this song popped into my head. My turn came and after confirming that I FEEL GOOD about the work I’m planning on delivering, I played this song. Why not? I even included a little dance with it! Everyone lifted their heads from their laptop screens, laughed, and joked that I should share whatever drug I’m on. Someone danced with me too! A colleague also thanked me for the surprise to their gloomy Monday, while another sent me a message hours later: Not only did I feel good, I now feel even better. Thank you for brightening our day, James Brown! P.S. This was the song that my husband and I played when we entered our reception hall during our wedding. I’ve seen firsthand that it made …

They Have Books!

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Just a quick update: Last summer, I mentioned helping out some teachers via DonorsChoose.org to buy books for their students. I continued this support throughout the winter and just the other day, I received a wonderful update from a teacher with some photos of the kids enjoying the books we helped donate. I’m so excited to see the positive impact that my choice for that day has made. It’s only a few bucks on my side, but seeing the girls’ and boys’ enthusiasm over their new books, along with the teacher’s Thank You note encourages me to continue to make choices similar to these every chance I get. She even mentioned that we’ve helped create “a habit of reading.” I’m BEYOND thrilled!!! From the note: We are loving our books! Students have been raving to their friends and parents about the plethora of good books they’ve been enjoying day after day. Students are improving on their phonemic awareness, vocabulary and comprehension one book at a time. Students are enjoying their new books during silent reading, read alouds, and buddy reading. Many of them are …