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List:       quanta
Subject:    [Quanta] We need sponsorship help!
From:       Eric Laffoon <sequitur () kde ! org>
Date:       2006-03-25 20:56:51
Message-ID: 200603251256.51312.sequitur () kde ! org
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Hi all,
Sorry to have been inactive on the list for a while. I will be much more 
active soon. Right now we have a pressing need for funding. Several 
circumstances bring this up. For one, we have had six (6) donations this year 
outside of our sponsorships. For another I have been ordered to bed rest by 
my doctor and have not been able to make up the difference. The new funds 
transfering mechanism we use limits how much I can pay Andras every month so 
I need to get more funding before the end of the month. As a final note it's 
my birthday monday. I turn 49 (shudder) and that's pretty much on hold due to 
illness and doctor bills. To add to my sadness our best efforts were unable 
to prevent the untimely death of Max, our oldest cat, who died just after 
midnight the first day of spring. You can see Max at http://kittyhooch.com. 
The address below is where you can make a difference.

http://kdewebdev.org/donate.php

If you would like a little more personal information read on. Some of you know 
this time 2 years ago I became ill with what appeared to be typhus but by the 
time all the tests were in I tested negative. Late last year my dentist said 
my blood pressure was too high for a dental cleaning. When it happened again 
this year I went to see my doctor who promptly sent me to the emergency room. 
After a few hours I was sent home with a prescription and I went back to my 
doctor, a naturopath, and we set up a nutritional regimen along with a 
mandate for bed rest. I bought a blood pressure monitor and now I believe 
that I suffer from "white coat syndrome". My blood pressure measures 
substantially higher in a doctors office. So it's not like I'm minutes away 
from a heart attack or stroke, but it's still in the risk zone. Prior to this 
I had gotten too busy to go to the gym last year and I had trouble with 
concentration and stress. In the last month I started getting headaches, 
which I never had before, and I was not able to do much work or deal with 
much stress. For this reason I stopped reading a lot of my mail but I had 
problems sleeping which contribute to things. In retrospect I felt wonderful 
after aKademy last year and within two weeks of getting home I felt like I 
needed a vacation. After a week and a half under my doctors care I'm feeling 
better. I can concentrate to program for an hour or two at a time whereas I 
was finding it difficult for 30 minutes after which I had a headache and 
could not continue.

The outlook for my health is good. It's possible I'm suffering from something 
known as "syndrome X" where a collection of numbers spiral out of control by 
feeding back upon each other. In such a case normalizing these numbers 
neutralizes the problem. No matter what I know I have no internal damage and 
a competent doctor committed to a nutritional approach to my health. It's 
just a matter of time. The objective is a non prescription result.

The down side to this has been the additional stress of this year. We are 
forced to relocate part of our business and since it's seasonally sensitive 
there is a great deal of urgency. If all goes as we hope it will we will see 
10-20 times more raw materials for a several fold increase in income. I can 
use that to expand my role in free software development because it's a cause 
a believe in. I hardly expect our users to support my business, but at this 
time I think it's important my business not risk it's ability to better 
support my family and this project. I need our users to help me at this time.

There are several things we're trying to get done that will be exciting for 
Quanta as well as Kommander. Obviously it's been difficult for me to do my 
part. I hope to see that change as my health improves. Along with this Andras 
and also Michal have additional expenses and responsibilities coming their 
way. It's important to me to be able to create a better mechanism to fund 
their work. That will require me to have time and money and I'm working on 
that. For now if you could help me to get Andras paid up on time and maybe 
have something left over to celebrate getting even older that would be great.

Thanks again to all who have contributed and wished us well.
-- 
Eric Laffoon - Quanta+ Team Leader 
http://quanta.kdewebdev.org
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