Break.

Located in California, I say Hello! :) Well, a few nights ago I went to my school's neon spring techno "tell me when to glow" dance. I brought my cousin, who happens to be one of my best friends, and we had a blast. Strobe lights and neon colors everywhere; it was INTENSE!

&& now...now it's break. Spring break has finally come. 2 weeks of freedom, 2 weeks of stress free wide open road, 2 weeks of breathe in that fresh air, 2 weeks of no madness. awh, oh how I am looking forward to these next 2 weeks.

So, what I am doing now. Well with my sophomore research project, I am getting a lot of information and facts. I'm using my behind the scene knowledge to give the best opinion/research paper I can provide. It's tough because rafting isn't a large industry so many of the things I find on the internet contradict rafting. It's quite interesting but, I'm still working through it all. I still have a lot of work to do.

My dad just finished labeling all the 2008 photos. He is trying to get them all sorted so that we can get all the pictures out to each person who rafted last season. check out our web for many photos and video that most likely has you in it. http://www.actionwhitewater.com (AWA: Action Whitewater Adventures)

I just finished watching a brilliant movie called Blood Diamond. A student at my school decided to do Conflict Diamonds as her sophomore project and surprisingly to myself I was so blind to the fact that the world needs serious help. So, when she did her presentation on these Conflict Diamonds in Africa I was literally in tears. I couldn't even imagine living the life of one of those kid soldiers or the families in the camps or even the men in the mining camps. So much hardship that these people have to live with everyday. How ignorant "man" is. It is sickening. Can you believe what we have created; our own people turning on each other. This is chaos.

So here I am thinking about that movie and listening to Adrenaline Rush, The Flobots, Sweatshop Union and Eightrack Mind, just trying to get in another zone. Listen to them and their opinion on the world. Every time I watch or hear something that makes me stop and think, I like to put myself in that mood even further and listen to music that expressing life and hardship or watch a movie such as Blood Diamond or Pride and Glory something that gets me thinking and gets me to remember that we don't live in a fairytale. We have life so good sometimes you just forget that the world doesn't revolve around you. There are others out there fighting for us and for themselves, creating war and havic for something as simple and yet so complicated like money and power, greed and lust. We fuel the fire, the war that is surrounding us. People who are blind do nothing but help the war live on. && it's sickening to think about.

I think this is important and anyone who can help...should. Also you can do other things to help such as before purchasing any jewlery, you can ask your seller if they diamond comes from a conflict area or not. Ladies and gentlemen...be aware.

Well it's late!

Well for those of you who don't know me, I'm Dylan Sharee. My dad owns a small white water rafting company located in the small town of Coloma, CA. The name of out company is Action Whitewater Adventures. We specialize in summer kids camps. (rates and dates on our website at http://www.actionwhitewater.com). My dad has owned the company for right around three seasons now and we both love it very much. Rafting, in my opinion, is one of the best most calming activites to do. I love meeting new people, hearing new stories and seeing all the smiling faces.
Before rafting came into my life, I was strictly a basketball player. I play on the Sacramento Country Day Lady Cavaliers; I am the starting varisty point guard. I have been playing basketball since I was in second grade so it's something I truly enjoy!
This year I started something new, I am now on the Lady Cavaliers Varsity Softball team as the starting pitcher. I have never played softball before but I am having so much fun learning everything. My team mates are fantastic along with our positive coaches. We just had our second game yesterday and even though we lost, the team turned it into a positive experience and we all learned from our mistakes. This is the first year my school has had a softball team in over twenty years, so we are all very new to this.
So, I'm sporty. That's what we have gotten out of this entry so far. Well I'm not just sporty. I love to read. I should read a lot more than I do but when I get into a good book no body can stop me. My dad was a literature major in college so his love for English rubbed off on me.
I am also a big sister to a 19 month old boy. :) His name is Gabriel Townsend. He is amazing and sweet. Every day he learns something new, today I believe it was sirens. He sat with my dad on the computer all day listening to Firetrucks and Ambulances over and over again. It was so cute. He knows all his animal sounds like a donkey, a mouse, a dog, a pig, and a cow. He also knows where his elbow is, his chin, his head, his hair, his wrist, his arm, his knee, his chest and his foot are. He can also point out where your various body parts are as well. He is a joy to have around!

I also love culture. I love the Spanish language. I can sit all day and listen to Spanish and not get tired of it. It fascinates me along with dancing. Dancing is amazing to watch. Both the language and the dance are probably the two things I want to learn how to do the most before I die. I want to be fluent in Spanish and I want to be able to ball room and hip hop dance. :)

Well, now you know a little more about me! Keep reading for more updates. If anyone has some answers for me on the post below this, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

-Dylan

At The Moment

At the moment I am at my high school working on my year long sophomore research paper. I chose my topic to be on larger companies vs. smaller companies, specifically why larger companies seem to be more successful. My dad owns a small rafting company (Action Whitewater Adventures aka AWA) on the South Fork of the American River down in Coloma, CA (http://www.actionwhitewater.com). Now from my point of view my dad runs a tight ship; he seems to care about his customers and tries to give them the best trip possible and yet he is still one of the smallest companies on the river. This got me to thinking; what makes the large companies so large? Are they more successful? If so, what is meant as the definition of success? Are they run better than smaller rafting companies? If not, then why are they continually getting boosted above all and pulling more numbers annually? What are the operational differences of smaller rafting companies and those of a larger company? Is one clearly more superior to the other? Maybe you guys could help me with this being as to I'm stumped. All the research I'm doing hasn't lead me anywhere. I still don't understand how little companies such as my dad's who seem to go above and beyond for their clients seem to get jaded in the end.

In this post, by The Regeneration Station, it is said that "One of the biggest differences between these two environments is the amount of resources available. And not just money, but availability of up-to-date equipment and expert consultants. Large companies have very deep pockets, and money is committed to provide scientists with the best and most up to date technologies to perform their work. There are also a wide variety of experts in various fields that you have access to if you need niche expertise. In contrast, small companies don’t have the capital to buy much large equipment, and even nice fluorescent microscopes can be hard to justify let alone a new confocal. There will be many tasks that you will need to learn how to do yourself, as there aren’t as many hands available to perform the work. In small companies you need to be very resourceful, and make contacts at the local university to gain access to up to date equipment or expertise. Advantage: big company" (http://regeneration-station.com/2008/01/25/large-vs-small-companies-pros-and-cons/ -Direct Quote)

This might be true in most other businesses but it seems in the rafting industry that that is quite the opposite. It seems that the larger companies to want the cheaper way out while the little companies want to get to the top, so the little companies are buying some nicer equipment, trying anything and everything to get on top.

Have any ideas, insights, facts, opinions....anything and everything would be greatly appreciated!

-Dylan