Thursday, October 28, 2004

lunar eclipse

did you catch a glimpse of one of the many marvels of our galaxy, today? how the world turns. it's beautiful.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Motorcycle Diaries, houseparty and the Bridge School Benefit

last weekend, i went (with a co-worker, her roommate and my brother's fiance) to the Clay Theatres on Fillmore to see Motorcycle Diaries ... what a powerful testimony of how traveling (off the beaten path) can change someone's worldview dramatically. this film is very moving and definitely a must-see, especially for fellow Latin Americanists. noteworthy elements: the beautiful South American landscape (from Argentina to Colombia), the social commentary, the inspirational humanitarianism, the reality, the eye-opening experiences of Ernesto "Che" Guevara and the cast of actors. brilliant.

also, my roomies and I had our first houseparty on Saturday. despite the rain, there was a pretty good turnout. I made margaritas and ended up having one too many. :-( after a successful recovery Sunday afternoon, I joined my brother Tony's friend at the Bridge School Benefit at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. (it was very random that I went... I had no idea that it was even going on until I got offered the ticket on Sunday at 12:30!) I was able to catch Los Lonely Boys, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tony Bennett, before I had to leave due to cold toes.

that's all for now... I'm procrastinating at work, mostly b/c I don't have a lot on my plate right now. I can't complain. it's a nice break.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

you deserve this!

here's an old link that a friend sent me a while back. i just came across it again and thought i'd share it with the world. type in your name at in the window that pops up. it will make smile.

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

a couple must-sees

I'm home in SF this week, but the weather is a bit miserable. (The commute was terrible this morning!) The winter is beginning to creep in, and it's cold and rainy here. Thank goodness I'm able to borrow my brother Tony's car this week, b/c otherwise I'd probably get sick from biking in this weather. I'm not looking forward to the time that I won't be able to borrow his car this winter.

This past weekend I went to see the Broun Fellinis at SF's the Boom Boom Room. They are incredibly eccletic and talented. Influenced by the traditions of jazz, funk, Afrocentric Hip Hop, Dub, film music and African/Indian trance sounds, this trio is a must see!

Last weekend, I went to Bruno's to see the Jessica Lurie Ensemble--an excellent "avant-jazz" solo project of Jessica Lurie.

Also, I watched the first DVD of the series "Angels in America". (Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Winner of the 1993 Tony Award for Best Play.) Also a must see... if you haven't already.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

my second build

here's what my supervisor (and the director of project management) said about my second playground build as the lead project manager:

Date: Friday, October 15, 2004
Subject: (KaBOOM!) Build #716 - Congrats Hope and Tabitha!

Hope, with Tabitha as a stellar second, led a great build on a cold and rainy day (well, after lunch, the rain finally started to give way to the sun) in London, Ontario with the Boys and Girls Club and The Home Depot. In spite of the weather the volunteer turnout was good with 130+ people from 7 different The Home Depot stores and 50 people from the community. The day began with New PL, a local news media station doing live segments for their morning show “New Day”. During these segments, both Hope and Tabitha were interviewed; from The Home Depot, Kelly McNamara and the local project lead Terry Wallace (the store manager) were interviewed, and Don Donner the Director of the Boys and Girls Club was interviewed. The volunteers did a morning stretch led by Good Life Fitness. After the stretch, guest speakers at the kick-off included Pam Joliffe, the National Director of the Boys and Girls Club; Terry Wallace, a store manager, and Tom Mitchell, Director of the London Community Foundation. Throughout the day, volunteers did a lot of landscaping, including weeding, replanting trees, putting in a walkway, etc.; they also built 2 picnic tables and 3 planter benches; and of course, they built an awesome playground. The build captains were awesome! The volunteers enjoyed the barbecue lunch donated by Montana’s. The activities moved quickly although attaching the components to the structure and leveling and plumbing everything took longer than expected. Nevertheless everything was completed just in time for the 3pm board cutting . Steve Savoie from The Home Depot spoke at the board cutting as did Paul Keane, the president of the Boys and Girls Club. Other media at the build included a reporter from The Free Press and someone from a local Fanshawe College, a local college which broadcasts on a cable channel. (They did an extensive interview with Hope.) Congrats to both Hope and Tabitha for doing an awesome job on the build and also for making great connections with potential future partners (both Pam from the Boys and Girls Club and Tom from the London Community Foundation want to partner again with KaBOOM! and The Home Depot).

Sunday, October 10, 2004

love parade and BM decompression

this past week i actually spent at home in SF! it's the first whole week i've had here! and just shy of a miracle! so i had to live it up! i went to the first Love Parade in the US (originally held in Berlin), the Bluegrass Festival in the Park (for free!), a bar in the Lower Haight for Indian house/techo, a lounge/bar in the Mission near me, and the Marin Headlands (Center for the Arts)... there is an endless amount of things to do or places to see here. it's incredible.

i'm beginning to meet more people, but it's slow... i've reconnected with a friend from my church youth group in CT. she and her husband just moved out here from Philadelphia, and i'm super-glad they did. they and their friends are very good people... also, at the love parade, i ran into a couple that i met at Ann Dupre's wedding in Black Mountain, NC, a couple of years ago, and i met some awesome guys through them! the best part is these guys are avid music-goers, and now i have them to explore SF's music scene!... oh, how the world rotates and brings people together! God is so good.

today, i'm going to the Burning Man Decompression party in Potrero Hill. ($10 with a costume, $20 without.) i'm going with my brother Tony, his fiance Mardie and some of their friends... and i'll be covered in pink! it'll be grrreat!... more later.

tuesday through saturday this week i am building my second playground (as lead project manager from start to finish!) in London, Ontario! it should be awesome but cold! it's supposed to get down to 40 degrees F on the day of the build! hopefully volunteers will still come out for it... more later.

Sunday, October 03, 2004

my FIRST build!

Here is what my boss--the Director of Project Management--wrote about my first playground build (as a lead project manager):

Build #102 this year:
Today, Hope led her first build ever – woo hoo – this was another Week of Service build with The Home Depot. The build was with Northside Leadership Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. The day started with Hope and Whitney arriving at the site at 5:45. During the kick-off, Hope led the hokie pokie – (by the way one of the Associates wrote in her evaluations that something very memorable from the day was the hokie pokie!). A women from N-S-Leadership Conference spoke at the kick-off and nearly cried. Then two HRMs (Jim Marks and Mark Kociubinski) said a thank you to everyone for being there and Felix Fusco led The Home Depot cheer. There were 130 people from The Home Depot, 20 high school students from the community, and 60 from the community and from Northside Leadership Conference (including 10 residents who helped throughout the day). They built the playground, moved 165 cubic yards of mulch, created a little walkway; built 10 adult size picnic tables and 4 child size picnic tables and stained them (with a solid green tint), and mulched the trees near the playground; they did weeding, and moved a huge mound of dirt to backfill the end around the border timbers. Pete Jeffrey came out for prep day 1 and he was there first thing this morning and his son Chris was the lead during the installation. Chris was awesome! He was so good with the volunteers and was really on top of the equipment – he was easy to work with and on top of it.

CBS came out briefly (and a couple associates spoke with him); Fox News came out and Tony Kennedy (a The Home Depot Associate) was interviewed; Fox News was there at the mid-day ceremony; NBC came at the end of the day after all was done but they still filmed the structure and she interviewed Donna Alison, the main community partner point of contact. The Northside Paper came out as well. The mid-day ceremony was a huge success– Hope raffled off a variety of KaBOOM! items and ones from the community and The Home Depot. The Councilman from the City, Luke Ravenstahl, came up and read a Proclamation for Pittsburgh’s First Day of Play. Then Tony Kennedy spoke about The Week of Service and what it means to have 250,000 Associates doing service this week. The mid-day ceremony ended with a beautiful event -- a woman from the National Aviary (was located just around the corner from the park) led a dove release – 25-50 doves came out of 3 crates and the doves flew away.

The board cutting was at 2pm. Tony Kennedy read the letter from the President. Felix Fusco spoke; the Executive Director from Northside Leadership Conference Deborah McClain thanked everyone for their help support, and leadership. Donna Alison presented a 3D color poster of the drawing with “Thank You Hope” written on it and signatures from a large number of community and associate volunteers. Then Donna Alison cut the board and people sprayed Silly String and they took a group photo. The day ended with The Home Depot Cheer which ended with “Improve Everything We Touch”.

Special thanks to Whitney who was an awesome Second! She anticipated a lot and was great! Congratulations to Hope who did an awesome job on her first KaBOOM! build!!!