A couple of weeks ago, Ohio Wesleyan sent out the first mass e-Solicitation in the school's history. Within 6 minutes, there were seven unsubscribes, one sarcastically mean e-mail (don't worry about me- I can take it), and one gift. Since then, there have only been 10 more unsubscribes, but 25 more gifts. I knew you guys would love technology.

Back to the sarcastically mean e-mail: because e-mail is an instant and free form of communication, people are more likely to respond. I wonder how many people would write sarcastically mean letters to me about my Direct Art Series® if it wasn't such a pain to write, address, and stamp a letter?

Who am I kidding? Probably no one, since the mailings are always so awesome and stimulating.

Get Ready
Many readers (all three of you) have asked how I come up with blog material. It baffles you that I can be this entertaining every week. "How do you do it, Jason?" you may ask. "You're like the Bob Newhart of Annual Fund blogs."

Well, the answer to your question is right here. Click and see.

Don't Look Back (or Life Lessons with Jason)
It was early spring during my junior year of college; the earth still soft from digesting the melted snow from the winter. It was late, probably 2 a.m., and my fraternity brothers and I were having a get together with about 100 of our closest friends. The gathering was dying down, but there were still a good number of people in the house.

I was in my room, speaking with a couple of friends about the state of the economy and the weather when one of the younger members entered into the conversation to let me know that a Westerville police officer was at the door. I was confused, not because there was an officer at the door (this was somewhat of a weekly ritual for myself and the Westerville PD; I knew a majority of the officers by name), but because, for once, the noise emanating from the house was actually low.

I excused myself from the conversation and made my way to the front to meet the officers. After an exchange of pleasantries (as I had never met this particular officer), he asked if I was the president of this social fraternity. I answered "yes," and then he made a statement that I will never forget:

"Your yard is full of $#*!."

I assumed he was talking about trash and empty cans, so I apologized and assured him that we would clean them up.

"No," he replied. "Your yard is full of $#*!. Apparently, a sewer line broke in front of your house and is flooding your yard and the street. We’re just letting you that a crew will be out to fix it in the morning."

I looked past the officer the see a small geyser of sewage spewing up from the ground. The yard, just as he had said, was indeed covered in sewage. The party ended because of the smell- the first and only time that has happened.

I learned a valuable lesson: sometimes, you can jump to conclusions and think that you are right just because you think you've seen everything when really what you need to realize is that your yard is full of $#*!.