Wear the green and share the blue

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today also happens to be my anniversary. I've been married for 13 years now. In honor of the occasion, I decided to let my husband choose the subject of today's blog post, and he wanted me to tell you all about the UNICEF Tap Project.

If you've got a smartphone, you can be a part of the project. The trick is to see how long you can go without touching your phone. If nothing else, you can tap in overnight while you're asleep. Once you've connected your phone to the project, a timer begins counting how long it's been since the phone was moved. For every ten minutes you can keep your hot little hands away from the phone, a day's worth of clean water to a child who lives where clean water is hard to get. The water is paid for by corporate sponsors, such as Giorgio Armani.

Here's what to do. Grab your phone and open the browser, then direct it to http://tap.unicefusa.org. Follow the on-screen directions to stabilize your phone and join the project. That's it - there's no registration, no need to give your name, nothing. And UNICEF is a highly respected charity so you know that the money will be used properly. Kevin's phone has gone untouched for over thirty hours now; at six days' worth of water for every hour on the project, you see how quickly it adds up. All to the benefit of people in need of something many of us take for granted.

Now, this will drain your battery, so it's best to keep your phone plugged in while you do it. Also, it requires an internet connection, so I'd recommend only doing it in places where your phone can connect to a wi-fi signal. Otherwise, your bill might explode at the end of the month.

Of course, you can also donate. If you're a very busy sort of person whose phone is constantly blowing up for one reason or another, you can make a donation to do your part - just $1 gives 40 days' worth of clean water.

I don't know what we're going to do for this oddly-numbered anniversary exactly, but we're already celebrating it by doing two things that mean a lot to us - spending time together and helping other people. So it's a win-win situation no matter what. Hope you enjoy your day too.