Missy, What a wonderful cause.  The statistics are so high for Autism and these people need so much care; I believe one day down the road they will find out if the vaccines are contributing to it and be able to help the children more.

Missy - This sounds like a wonderful way to draw attention to a terrible disorder.  Autism was a phantom disability for so long, and now it's getting the attention it needs.  I hope that this effort provides a medium for even more research and advances.

Missy, I had heard about this situation and glad to hear the fundraiser has a new home.

Cool story Missy. Zak has got the right stuff. Seems like I'm following you around tonight. Just visited Neal and saw you just left right before we got there.

Rock on...

Missy,

Getting those 'at the periphery' involved in the community is always admirable!!! Thanks,   Fran

Missy~ 

I have clients whose life's work has been to enhance the quality of life of autistic children. I am going to send your-post on over to them! THANK YOU so much.

Missy, I hope this event will raise a lot of money for this worthy organization.  Hope that your blog will highlight the need for involvement. 

Zak sounds like an amazing young man.  I bet the Halo Tournament will be a huge success!  My boys certainly would have gone to it.

Way to go Zak! What an incredible person he is. I can see this exploding across the country as well. His parents must be very proud of the son they raised.

Missy my grandson in Indy would be all over this he is an avid halo player. What a great idea get them out of the house meeting real people and still getting to play the game they enjoy.

Missy, this is fascinating!  I went to all of the links and still don't quite understand all of the gaming itself but what an incredible young man and a great idea for a way to help others.  I will keep it in mind for my non-profits!

Missy - My son was going to be part of that first tournament, and was angered when it was cancelled.  But, that's water under the bridge.  He's happy now that the tournament has a new life.

While reading the history of Zak's trials last year with his permit being pulled at the 11th hour. It really made me mad that some grand stander could and would step in and have a hand in something like that. However after some thought and cooling off, it seems that if this incident did'nt happen the gamers for giving outreach may never have been started. Kudos to Zak, keep up the good work.

Missy,

I've missed reading your stuff, but here I am again.  Your site takes 15 seconds to load, and then each page takes another 10-12 seconds.  When I submit this comment, I'll wait that length of time again before I can go on to another site.  I'm wondering if Snapshots is the reason.  I have the same problem with other bloggers who use it.  Love your content, but hesitate to show up when I'm in a time crunch.

Mike in Tucson

Missy, okay I read your blog. Zak sounds like an awesome kid. You have motivated me to post a story I wrote before Christmas. Wish me luck.

Missy:  What a wonderful story of a truly amazing Zak and a fabulous cause.  He is an exceptional kid with a spectacular vision and spirit.   I hope this event will raise awareness of a spreading disorder.  My grandson who lives in California was diagnosed with this when he was 4-5 years old.  I pray that a cure will be found soon.

Missy, pretty awesome. My son's friend is one of the top Halo players on the circuit, and he's a Michigander. Watched him grow up playing pac-man when they were 6 or 7 years old, now he travels the US playing tournaments and making a great living at it.

Duane, that is very cool. Is he going to be in Michigan. I doubt it if he is professional. I didn't even know they had professionals in Halo. Man, talk about a way to do what you love and make money, this is a perfect example.

Mike, I'm sorry, I have taken off so much and what  I thought were the culprits, blogoshphere and the cluster map and many chicklets. 

Jan, even a difinative answer on what is causing the increase would be nice, then it would stop growing.

Rob, so agreed.

Vance, is he playing at EMU? 

Andrew, thanks for sharing your personal story.  

Missy, Dave still lives in Grand Rapids area. And runs a business here as well. I watched his tournament on TV before and it get pretty intense. My son as been to some of them, he said it's even better in person. The pay is real good (cars, etc) but the big bucks are in sponsorships.

Missy, Google:      walshy halo

Dave, I did, he even makes Wikipedia!  I may go out to the event and get photo's. I offered to pay for my son as it is a good cause and he plays all the time here and online.

Missy, I use to watch Dave and my son sit in-front of the TV playing video games all day long. I would tell them to go outside and enjoy the sunny days. Now Dave makes a good living at it. Your son will enjoy it, plus it's for a good cause. Did your son know of Walshy?

Missy, here's a little more about Dave:  http://www.redbullusa.com/walshy#page=ArticlePage.1162579682704-1103747174.0  He's like the Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan of Halo right from our home state. Red Bull is one of his sponsors, this is on the Red Bull site.