BagOfNothing.com

My 16th Christmas card arrived today.

It’s from Judy who is BON’s biggest fan in East Texas.  She was even nice enough to include a donation to help fight lupus.

Thank you Judy for the card, donation, and helping to fight lupus!

So that’s nine cards from Texas, two cards from NY, and one from North Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Canada.  

With a total of 16 cards, that’s $16 I’ll donate to help fight lupus.

A small recap of the experiment of me trying to see if any of you are willing to send me a Christmas card:

Option 1:  You can make a direct donation to the Lupus Research Institute in memory of Kim Geeding.  Have the acknowledgement sent to my address, and I’ll consider that my Christmas card.  I’ve done some research, and out of all the lupus organizations I feel most comfortable with the Lupus Research Institute came out on top.

Option 2:  If you just want to send a card and no money, then I will total up all the cards received before Dec 25, and for each card donate a dollar (up to $50) to the Lupus Research Institute.  If you include any money, I’ll make sure to donate the funds directly to the Lupus Research Institute. 

Send all cards to

Keith “BagOfNothing” Geeding
421 Vista Noche Dr
Lewisville, TX 75067-8345

Please be sure to include the “BagOfNothing” in the name so I know the card comes from a reader and not the dentist or plumber.

Ken Hendricks, 66, was checking on construction Thursday night on the roof at his home in the town of Rock when he fell through, Rock County Sheriff’s Department Cmdr. Troy Knudson said.

Hendricks suffered massive head injuries, according to his company, ABC Supply Co.

Hendricks’ wife called authorities and attempted CPR on her husband, Knudson said. Hendricks was taken first to a Beloit hospital and then transferred to Rockford Memorial Hospital in Winnebago County, Illinois.

He was pronounced dead there early Friday morning, Winnebago County Coroner Sue Fiduccia said. An autopsy was planned for Friday.

Hendricks was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of ABC Supply, which describes itself as the nation’s largest wholesale distributor of roofing. The Beloit-based company does about $3 billion in business a year.

Hendricks had a net worth of $3.5 billion in September, according to Forbes magazine. That made him the country’s 91st-richest person, according to the magazine’s ranking of American billionaires.

Full Article

A U.S. military dog whose handler and best friend was killed in Iraq gets a new assignment on Friday — retirement with the late Marine’s family.

It took months of lobbying by the family to get the adoption approved by the military.

Lex was beside Cpl. Dustin Lee when Lee was killed in a mortar attack in Falluja.

In spite of his injuries, the dog didn’t want to leave Lee’s side after the attack, according to the Marine’s father. Other Marines reportedly had to pull the dog away from the young man’s body so medics could reach him.

Lex attended Lee’s funeral in March, playing games with the 20-year-old Marine’s younger brother on the sidelines.

Although some shrapnel remains in his body, Lex recovered from his wounds and returned to duty at the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Albany, Georgia.

Friday, he’ll move to Lee’s family home in Quitman, Mississippi, where the 8-year-old bomb-sniffing German shepherd will live out the rest of his life.

Jerome Lee, the late Marine’s father, lobbied hard for months to adopt the dog. Marine officials initially told Lee that it would be no problem to get the dog. But persuading the service to give up Lex before the dog’s mandatory retirement at age 10 proved to be a challenge.

Full Article