Jason asked that I put this on the family blog for all to see.
Dad Risser
MOVEMBER is coming!!
That's right I said MOvember. What is movember? Movember (the month formerly known as November) is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men's health. I came across this organization about 8 months ago and decided "This was it!". I've been wanting to help with a charity for several years now but didn't know what to do or where to begin. I came across http://www.movember.com/ and realized quickly that this was the one. I even have the perfect wife for the fund raiser...she LOVES when I have a moustache! haha
I've joined a team to help raise awairness and funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. All proceeds will go to the PSF and to the Lance Armstrong foundation, LIVEStrong.
Some facts I think you should know about prostate cancer:
1 in 6 men in the U.S. will be diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
Every 2.7 minutes a man is diagnosed with Prostate Cancer
Every 19 minutes a man dies from Prostate Cancer
And one of the hardest for me to believe but was on cancer.org is:
A man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with Prostate Cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
The fact that really hit home with me is the first one I stated. Now I know that stats are just that and they don't mean that every 6th man you come across will have PC but it said to me that the odds may be against us.
There are six boys (men) in this great family of ours. As I said, stats are stats, but I want to do everything I can to prevent one of us from becoming a stat.
That first step is simple! We need to follow our sisters examples and simply get checked! The amount of deaths frrom Breast Cancer has gone down IMMENSLY since 1990 because women have taken that first step of getting checked so serious. Although only 1 in 10,000 under age 40 will be diagnosed, the rate shoots up to 1 in 38 for ages 40 to 59, and 1 in 15 for ages 60 to 69. In fact, more than 65% of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65. If prostate cancer is caught in the first 5 years the chances of being cured are huge compared to several years further down the road. So please, if you know somone that hasn't had their exam and has any signs of PC or is within the more "dangerous" age groups, push them to get that exam.
The next step is what I am doing now. We need money to continue research and look for the cure! If all you can afford to donate is a dollar that's a dollar more than what they had before.
I'll be starting my "MO" (that what a moustache is called in Austrailia where the fundraiser began) on November 1st and growing it through the month. I'll be sure to post updates of how it's looking and if things are coming along with the fundraiser.
Finally, there are mutiple ways to donate but i think that the two most convienent are as follows:
My donation page: http://us.movember.com/mospace/102977
Check: Make payable to - MOVEMBER FOUNDATION and be sure to write my account number in the "memo" space. #102977
Send check to:
THE MOVEMBER FOUNDATION, PO BOX 2726, VENICE, CA 90294-2726
If you have any other questions please ask me or click the link to my donation page. Thank you all for any help you may give.
Love you all!
These are some of the figures put up near some of the shrines. Most of them were about 8' tall. Lots of craftwork
This is a live woman sitting behind the drap, made up to look like a portrait.
This was a large puppet with someone inside controlling the hands. 
These young women had the most , as Syd said, exquisite costumes that we had to get a picture of them. We kept running into them as we walked around. They never said a word and everyone was taking their picture.
If I remember right the Dia de los Muertos celebration is a mixture of Aztec and Catholic traditions. There were a number of people in Aztec costumes and most were very involved and very interesting. Look closly at the man above - zoom in and you'll see he has whte contacts so all you can see are his pupils. Kind of creepy, but really a good addition to the overall effect
Jeremy and Adam paying their respects at the tomb/grave of Johnny Ramone of The Ramones.
The entrance to the Mausoleum. These figures are about 9 to 10' tall. These were really professionally done and the smaller ones inside were works of art - see below. I think Sydney said Rudolph Valentino is buried in this one.
A sample of the crowds and the booths. 
