The Extraordinaries

How much good could you get done here?

Just back from a run to the Post Office. Wow. Look at this line. What a great opportunity to do some good with The Extraordinaries! 

waiting for a passport photo

Taking inspiration from Jacob's "waiting series"... Photos from places where you are waiting and could potentially volunteer using The Extraordinaries.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

5) waiting for Obama... perfect time for social good!

I definitely just stood here for two hours, next to a million other people waiting for the concert to start. Everyone was talking about service and a renewed America, and snapping photos with their camera smartphones.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

3) waiting for a haircut... perfect time to do some good!

In part three of "when to use The Extraordinaries" I explore the time we spend waiting for haircuts.

My usual place to get a haircut closed for inauguration weekend, so I swallowed my pride and went to the fancy place next door. Nevertheless, once again I found myself with some spare time...

The blow dryers run, the clippers make clicking sounds as the metal ends connect, and I wait for my turn with my smartphone in my hands.

The music is significantly more trendy than ABBA at the eye doctors, but still a perfect time to do some social good, at least this time while tapping my foot to a good beat.

Tags: extraordinaries, extraordinary, hour, hours, mobile, mobile volunteering, nptech, social good, volunteering, volunteer, hair, haircut, cycles, cut, spare

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

2) Waiting for the doctor... perfect time to do some good!

In part two of my mini-series on "when to use The Extraordinaries" I explore... The doctors office!

In this particular case, the eye doctor.

I've been sitting here for at least twenty minutes, and so have three other people. The four of us are listening to a rather bad pop music station, staring off into space, waiting for our name to be called.

If I hear ABBA sing "dancing queen" one more time, I'm going to flip (thanks to the app called "shazaam" for telling me who sings that song).

To occupy my spare time while I wait, my choices are:

1) Read a wrinkled magazine called "town and country weddings."
2) Try on the latest Oakley glasses that I couldn't afford in my wildest dreams.
3) Chat with the cute assistant (she's really busy though, and running around like crazy, not to mention married).
4) Help NASA explore space and advance the knowledge of mankind.

What would YOU do?

Mobile Blogging from here.

Tags: extraordinaries, hour, hours, nptech, mobile volunteering, mobile, volunteering, spare, time

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

1) Waiting for the metro... perfect time to do some good!

In part one of my series on "when to use The Extraordinaries" I explore the commute to work.

As I am waiting for the train, I am looking around me and seeing at least five people -- bored, and staring off into space -- holding their phone in their hands!

Ask anyone of them if they would like to help people and feel good while they wait, and I'd be surprised to hear less than four say yes.

There are so many times in the day when this scenario repeats itself, and these observations confirm that we are on the right track.

I challenge all of you to note similar situations that YOU observe throughout your day, and to email them to us. We'll post them to the blog! (email to Jacob@theextraordinaries.org)

Mobile Blogging from here.

Tags: crowdsourcing, distributed, hour, nptech, social good, time, train, value, volunteering, volunteer, wireless, mobile volunteering, spare

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]