Europe-based HSBC bank offered some revealing insights into the future of your interaction with banking.  As many know, more and more banking can be done remotely or even through branch ATMs, reducing the demand for in-person branch tellers for all but the most complicated banking transactions.  Artificial intelligence and mobile technologies are fueling the progression.  Because of this, HSBC is investigating new technology roles within the company to carry tech-fueled banking forward.

Police have long been relied on to stop crime - either by their presence discouraging would-be criminals, or by putting their efforts into solving crimes and handing the responsible parties over to the courts.  With an endless to do list of police work, it'd seem that departments around the world would embrace as much technology as they could to help fight and solve crime.  However, that doesn't seem to be the case, especially in the UK.  Why?  Policing is a "human business" that relies heavily on face to face work, and technology hasn't been so easy to utilize out on the beat.

Alexa, the popular smart home speaker, is moving into new verticals - like your hotel stay.  The recently introduced Alexa for Hospitality program is partnering with leading hotel chains to place customized Alexa devices in hotel rooms to aid guests with front desk needs, local restaurant and attraction suggestions, and even ordering deodorant because you left yours on the bathroom counter at home.  The devices can even control room lighting and other functions, keeping you from fumbling for a light switch as you enter your room.  Alexa for Hospitality's launch partner is Marriott Internati

Last weekend, I helped to assemble survival bags to be passed out to members of the homeless community. These bags contain food items like nuts and apple sauce as well as toiletries like toothpaste and wet wipes. I started off on the assembly line putting toothbrushes into the bags, and then moved over to help seal and organize the completed bags.

Last year I took a part in two volunteering events that help families in need. The first event was with Feeding San Diego. Feeding San Diego is an organization that focuses on fighting hunger in the city of San Diego. They do this by accepting food donations and distributing them to families in need. For the event, local grocery stores donated a huge amount of fruits and vegetables. Our task was to separate the rotten fruits and vegetables so the good ones could be donated to local families in need. The second event was with Harvest CROPS.

This month I had the opportunity to oversee and help the teens of my church congregation organize an annual Valentines dinner for the "empty nesters" in the congregation and their friends. We use the term "empty nester" to describe anyone who's raised a family and whose kids have left the nest and moved on, so to speak.

My son Hunter and I were lucky enough to participate in the Wreaths Across America event held at Fort Rosecrans national cemetery December 16, 2017.  It’s a special event that has people help put wreaths on the graves of service men and women.  It was a great turnout, and there was a beautiful service beforehand that went through the history of the event.

I recently had the opportunity to volunteer at a mental health forum organized by Community Alliance for Healthy Minds. The forum consists of dozens of local outreach programs focused on helping people who are struggling with mental health issues, or have loved ones who are. There are booths set up to give attendees a chance to speak to some members of these various groups. Throughout the event, there are two keynote speakers and two chances to engage in a breakout session, which sets up multiple small groups focused on certain issues being faced.

My wife and I went up to the local animal shelter near us and spent the day helping. We helped to feed some of the animals, took a few out in their yard to play, and spent some time just giving some love to a few who were in much need it seemed like. This was something new for me, as I haven’t volunteered at a shelter before, but it was awesome to see the dogs especially light up to get to play with someone new. This is probably not the last time we will volunteer here was we both found it very rewarding and fun.

I volunteered a few weeks ago for a church up in my area to take donated computers and wipe their hard drives and reinstall windows. What got me really interested in this was that the donations are set to go to schools to help get computer programs focusing on hardware and programming into schools in the Riverside and LA areas. I thought this was a great idea, as that’s how I got into computers was through classes in high school.