I Ask For Your Money

Compliance Building is a free resource I publish for me, and share with you, to help the compliance profession. It will still be free, but I’m asking for money.

I should point out that the money is not for me; It’s for charity.

I’m riding the 2015 Pan-Mass Challenge to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
pmc-badge

Please support me.

If everyone who reads Compliance Building donated a few dollars I would exceed my fundraising goals. (Make a donation here.)

I’m really looking to the smaller group of loyal readers. A group that I think gets some value from what I publish. If you think it’s worth $1 a week. Then, please contribute $50(Or More)

The ride is 192 miles over two days from Sturbridge to Provincetown. If I hit my fundraising goal, I’m going to add on another 100 miles and a third day of riding from the New York border over the Berkshires to Sturbridge.

Why am I riding and raising money?

1. Cancer Sucks. I’m sure that someone you know has been attacked by cancer. We are winning the war the cancer. Your donation will help win the war.

2. My Dad. He just fought a battle with cancer. And won, thanks to help from the Dan-Farber Cancer Institute. It’s a battle that my aunt and uncle, his brother and sister, did not win.

3.  Action Dave. My friend was diagnosed with metastatic oropharyngeal cancer in November of 2013. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute helped him beat back the disease. I’ll be riding by his side during the PMC.

4.  Jack Ramsden. In 2005 I rode the Pan-Mass Challenge with Team Kinetic Karma. The Team’s Pedal Partner was Jack. In March 2004, a then seven-month-old Jack was diagnosed with Stage IV Neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer. This young boy valiantly endured treatments that have been known to kill grown men. With piercing blue eyes and a contagious smile, he defied the expectations of his doctors. But in the end, he could not overcome the disease. He passed away in December 2008.

5. 41 Million. That’s how big a check the Pan-Mass Challenge wrote to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in 2014. Every dollar you donate will help that check be bigger in 2015.

6. 100%. The Pan-Mass Challenge donates 100% of every rider-raised dollar to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through its Jimmy Fund. (I pay an extra fee to pay for the ride expenses.) The PMC raises more money for charity than any other single event in the country.

Please Donate

Please donate to my PMC ride at one of the following links:

Thank you for your support.

Doug

Happy Holidays From Compliance Building

 

2014 Holiday 2

I hope you have a happy and joyous holiday season. Whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Festivus, Feast of Winter Veil, Saturnalia, or New Year’s Eve, I hope you get to spend some extra time with friends and family.

I will be trying to spend some extra time with my friends and family so there will likely be no published stories until January.

Doug

Vote!

vote

The United States fought hard for a constitutional democracy, but came short by initially limiting the vote to white men. It’s been the voting since then that has resulted in a broader section of the population having the right to vote.

Exercise that right.

You may not like any of the candidates, but you should still make the trip to the polls and vote for the one you dislike least.

Evacuation Day and Compliance

evacuation-day

March 17 is more known for that other holiday where everything is green. You night not be celebrating today if it were not for the events of 1776.

In 1776, British forces had occupied Boston for years. The local militia and Continental army had been harassing the British soldiers, leaving them isolated on the small peninsula that was Boston at the time.

In May of 1775 American forces had captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain and its artillery. Colonel Henry Knox, Washington’s chief of artillery, suggested to General Washington that they bring the captured artillery to Boston. Knox and his men hauled tons of artillery over the rugged Berkshires, through swamps and along crude roads, for 300 miles.

Washington first placed some of the heavy cannons in Cambridge and Roxbury. They were effective to harass the British, but were merely a diversion. The batteries opened fire on the night of March 2. The British returned fire, without significant casualties on either side. The action was repeated on March 3.

It was repeated again on March 4. But this night was the true diversion. Troops marched to the top of Dorchester Heights hauling tools and cannon placements. Throughout the night the troops built earthworks overlooking Boston and the harbor. The artillery was in place to controll access to the city.

On the morning of March 5, the British saw the fortifications. It was a key date because March 5 was the sixth anniversary of the Boston Massacre.

Washington controlled the harbor and access by land to the Boston peninsula. The British were vulnerable and had to either flee or try to take back Dorchester Heights. British General Howe decided to preserve his army for battle elsewhere rather than attempt to hold Boston. Howe informed Washington that Boston would not be burned if his troops were allowed to leave unmolested.

After several days of preparation and several days of delay caused by bad weather, the British forces departed Boston on March 17 and sailed to Halifax. Hundreds of 1,000 loyalist fled Boston with the troops, afraid of the rebel forces.

This was the first major victory of the Revolutionary War. The citizens of Boston were not willing to comply with the British mandates. A city full of British soldiers was causing trouble, even for those were not keen on the rebellion.

Evacuation Day was declared a city holiday in 1901. The state made it a holiday in Suffolk County in 1938. Perhaps the large Irish population of Boston played a role in the establishment of the holiday that coincided with St. Patrick’s Day.

As you hoist a green beer today, remember this victory.

References:

Compliance Lessons From My Dog

Ghost and Doug

My dog has taught me a few lessons about compliance. (That’s me and Ghost taking a well-deserved nap.)

Start early. We started dog training early to focus on developing good habits at an early stage. (We did lose a few shoes while he was a puppy.) It’s never too late to unlearn bad habits, but it’s better to not have them in the first place.

He wants to do right thing. The dog does not act with malice. He just wants to be a loyal companion. He may stray from the right path because he’s presented with a new situation and doesn’t know how to act. Or he was presented with an irresistible temptation.

Remove the temptation. It would be great if Ghost didn’t grab food off the kitchen counter. He doesn’t do it when we are watching him. It only happens when he is unsupervised. We can blame the dog, but it was better to focus on removal of the temptation. We had to train ourselves to not leave food on the counter when the dog is not supervised.

Quick response. Our dog trainer taught us that we have only a few seconds to give praise for good behavior and to give a negative sign for bad behavior. Once too much time has passed the dog no longer equates his behavior with the reward or shunishment.

Appropriate Punishment. IMG_1163[1] Hitting a dog only makes him angry. If you have failed to mete out punishment quickly (see above) the punishment will not affect bad behavior. With one of my kids or one of my employees I could sit down and discuss the situation. Perhaps I could find an alternative way to get my point across.

What could I do after coming home to find a chewed up library book? It was too late for that book and it was too late for shunishment. All I could do is set a warning for others.

Consistency. Ghost is deaf so I rely on sign language and body language for communication. If I give him the “let’s go for a walk sign” I need to take him for a walk. If I give him the “come” sign, I expect him to come. If I’m half-hearted about the meaning of my signs, he’s going to be half-hearted about complying with them.

I’m sure there are more lessons to be learned from my dog.

Occupy Boston is Back…..

Occupy Boston - Not

No, it’s not.

“March 1st and March 2nd, NBC Studios will be in Norman B. Leventhal Park to film large crowd scenes for the pilot of their television series “Odyssey”. While filming will only be on the weekends, certain production work will take place during the week. Any set design or props in the Park are part of the “Odyssey” set.”

Apparently, the “crowd scenes” must be an Occupy Boston or Occupy Wall Street scene for the story.