lunar eclipse

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

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

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!!!

life's fullness

So much to say, so little time and energy to be spent on updates. I spend quite a bit of time on the computer, on conference calls, in the plane and out on playground build sites, and I sometimes forget that there is more to life that work.

Burning Man was a good reminder of Life's fullness! It was incredible out there. The sun, the wind, the high-pressure days and nights, the pocket of desert surrounded my beautiful mountains... The diversity of artistic expression spralled out in an organized fashion across a pre-historic lake bed. By day and by night, the playa's culture and ambiance would never cease to amaze me... the art installations, the art cars, the costumes, the music, the theatre, the dance, the theme-camps... the love, the openess, the positive sexual energy, the freedom... After just a few days, I felt more at home and settled than I've felt in a long time. It was liberating and inspirational.

Our theme camp was "WDYDWYD?" It means whatever you think it means, but we used the definition "why do you do what you do?" for our camp's "event." Basically, we took (and gave out) b&w polaroid portraits of people who would hold up their answer to the question on a piece of paper in front of them... soon, everything will be up online.

After Burning Man, I dove right back into work and began traveling all over again... visiting our playground manufacturer (the one KaBOOM! buys from exclusively), building a playground in Ottawa, Ontario, leading a Design Day in Tulsa, OK... Next week I go to Pittsburgh, PA, to lead my first build. That means that this project is mine, from start to finish. I'm the one that helps the community organize the entire thing, and I'm the one that will be running the show on Friday, Oct. 1... Yep, the playground is built all in one day! 200+ volunteers show up at 8 in the morning, and the playground is built in less than 8 hours! It's a great event because the community comes together with their funding partner in the project, and they produce an incredible child-designed public playspace in no time! (The planning process takes about 2 months--beginning with a Design Day with the kids and the adults of the community.) So, that's my job in a nut shell... or rather, that is the tip of the iceburg, so to speak. More to come later, I'm sure.

Lastly, my sister Heather came for a visit this last week. It was so great to spend time with her, especially because we're perfect partners in crime but also because we're such close friends. We had a great time out and about, exploring the city and meeting new people. I hope to find the time and energy to continue that on my own.

just moved in

Things have been really crazy lately. I definitely hit the ground running with this job... It's all good, though... It's nice to be outside a lot and to work hard, but it's very challenging to learn all the ropes and to deal with all the traveling (planned as well as spontaneous). For example, over the past month, I've only spent about 10 days at home in San Francisco. (I JUST moved into my new place, and I'm still living out of boxes!) Crazy, huh? If you're wondering where I've been, check out the list to the right... More to write later.

my first build as a second

My supervisor at KaBOOM! wrote this about my first playground build (San Jose)!:

San Jose, CA;
The Home Depot and Seven Trees Homeowners Association

And, last but not least, Tabitha led a build in San Jose, California. Hope was out there as a Second for the first time and did a ‘fabulous’ job. The build did come with its challenges as the volunteers (~60) from one local The Home Depot store did not come out for the day as they were mourning the recent death earlier in the week of one of their Associates. In spite of this sad news, the volunteers who did come out (100-125) definitely helped to make the day a success. In addition to building the playground, they painted the basketball court, built planter benches, and did a lot of landscaping including creating a butterfly garden. Sherry Caraway came out from The Home Depot. As with the other builds yesterday, there was a lot of media – Evening Magazine was out for the whole day and NBC and ABC also both were there. The kids learned how to plant flowers and then each one brought home a marigold to plant at home. Congrats to Tabitha and Hope for a job well done.

mural in the mission

Juana Alicia

There is this beautiful mural of La Llorona--painted by local artist Juana Alicia--on the wall outside of my brother Tony's apartment (over a mexican dinner/low-end burrito place at 24th x York) in the Lower Mission District of San Francisco. Check out http://www.juanaalicia.com/ for more info about it and the artist.

work begins

this is an email that i wrote to friends and family last thursday and that i thought should be shared with the world:

Subject : KaBOOM!

hello all!
apologies for the mass email, but i don't (and probably will never) have time to write you all individually about everything that's happening with me... so here it is.

the transition in SF, welllll... i only had 4 days there before coming back east (to DC) for training and a playgroud build. in my short time there, i visited some towns on the peninsula, met up with a couple friends of friends, and found a place to live (near where my brother lives)! it gave me a brief feel for the whirlwind that i'm just now entering with the new job... craziness.

the transition into my new job has been great, but my brain is beginning to overload a wee bit. the good news is I LOVE IT! and everything about it kicks butt! (except for the massive amount of anticipated conference calls and such). this week as been crazy: M-W & F have been training (i.e. learning all about the matrix of KaBOOM!) and today was a giant playground build b/w a public housing neighborhood and an elementary school in DC (300 volunteers from KaBOOM!, AmeriCorps NCCC, DC Housing Authority, Home Depot, and National Capitial Police Dept.)... so, yeah, i'm pooped (and sun-burnt). the trainings have been awesome, fun, interesting, engaging, and not really all that boring... not to mention, their office space here is so much fun!! it's huge (about 1,000 sq. ft. or something). it's painted all purple, orange, yellow, and white. the ceilings are high, unfinished and painted white. they've used some industrial venting (?) to divide some office spaces, while other spaces are roomed off. the main conference room is duely named the "garage" for its garage door partition. the kitchen is in the center and has B&W speckled cabinets, a nice metallic refrig. and dishwasher, and a big orange, oval counter top table in the middle. it's so much fun to come to! AND everyone is so awesome! unfortunately, i won't be in this office on a regular basis. in fact, i will only get to come here about 2 times a year. :( sad for me... maybe i should have picked DC to come to. oh well... SF will be AWESOME too! because I'LL be there! anyway, i'm MUST go shower and rest before we go out to eat. i'll write more when i can.

love, hope

http://www.kaboom.org

p.s. no cell, yet, but i'll send you contact info soon!

a creative name-sake

from a friend-of-a-friend. thanks, cliff.

fahrenheit

i have never felt QUITE the URGENCY that i feel right now to DO SOMETHING about the political (and selfish) state of our nation. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a must-see for ANYone and everyone who wants to know what actually went on, not just what our biased media filters out for us to see (including the right-wing's critical reviews on this "controversial" film). PLEASE read river's blog for some well-written commentaries about the film. then, let us harness our energy collectively and DO SOMETHING!! (besides VOTE--obviously)

inspired to return

I know, it's been an eternity since I've blogged, but I'm still here... and I hope to get back into the circuit again. In the meantime, check out my loving friend Ashley's blog. She is an amazing woman with an amazing talent for creative and inspirational blogging.