l'année de l'amusement

thank-you l'annee de l'amusement

2008-01-04T07:50:00.000-05:00

i have been delying the end of this year as long as i could. i have considered just having l'vie de l'amusement but that seems silly. so i am going to hold to my commitment to make this l'annee de l'amusement stand on her own.

this means that this silly blog will have to go to sleep. if you go to teabelly.blogspot.com you can stay updated on my life. learn what the theme of 2008 is and get all my recipes ;). i think this new blog address will be easier for everyone to type...

bisous mon couer

OBAMA!!!!!

2008-01-03T23:45:00.000-05:00

too lazy to blog

2007-12-28T06:11:00.000-05:00

i am too burnt out and lazy to get these photos up on my blog. they will come. but great things take time. i have a letter to write to delta (i will share it here), a house to clean, bills to pay, parking tickets to fight, relaxing to do, jetlag to recover from, and I NEED SUSHI! and instead of doing all these things i have been catching up on my friend's blogs.

this awesome video below comes from lilypea. it is dedicated to all those who have struggled through trans-lingual love...

dianna reporting from des moines

2007-12-27T09:09:00.000-05:00

Election 2008

GOP's Des Moines Headquarters Flooded with Calls

by Dianna Douglas

Listen Now [2 min 45 sec] add to playlist

Morning Edition, December 27, 2007 · At GOP headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa the phone rings off the hook. Iowa's caucuses are next week and calls are coming from people wanting to participate, comment, or just rant. Calls have even come from Canada, where people are apparently watching election closely.

false promises

2007-12-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

so, the internet in mozambique is as slow as namibia and slower than the when it worked in zambia. so photos from the trip will be up christmas week. sorry for the delay. i know you all are on baited breath.

in other news, i think hillary is full of malarkey. as the staff of l'annee de l'amusement struggle with the final wrestle over who to endorse for '08 it is becoming clearer and clearer that it is NOT hillary. be ready for an endorsement before the iowa caucus.

here is some helpful video for those of you who think hillary is a straight talker and a uniter.

back from the internetless...briefly

2007-12-14T13:16:00.000-05:00

so i am back from namibia (which was beautiful! kinda like a more wild and rugged arizona. or arizona meets the sahara?) anyway... i am in jo'burg with mikki and it is nice to be where the internet is fast.

i have a million photos to upload and share, so hopefully mozambique will do me better than zambia or namibia. i am very ready for downtime and time with framily. it will be awesome. so hopefully there will be more soon.

here's to awesome internet service!

meetings of all sorts, a giraffe, and a charging baby elephant

2007-12-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

the view from my hotel room

the first day was meeting the VIPs. the US amb and US team, the zambian ministers

introducing the delegation... r to l
the permanent secretary for sport, youth, and children; praya; me; mike; minister of sport, youth and children; and susan

after a couple more meetings we were off to a candlelight vigil for people living with HIV/AIDS
(sat was world aids day, so this was the eve of world aids day)

the choir

this is ester. she told us about being married off at age 14 to a 41 year old man. how he would rape her and infected her with HIV and also other STDs. she got away from the marriage, and is now getting treatment for he disease and is back in school

the candlelight vigil

you can tell this guy was once an alter boy

my candle was more like a torch

saturday we went to the big World AIDS Day event.

there was traditional dancing

you can't really tell here, but traditional dancing is all about the booty

we had a break to get some errands done and then we were off for a gala celebrating good HIV/AIDS journalism

we waited for a long time for the awards ceremony to start.
we got there at 19:00 for and event that started at 18:30
it sat empty like this for another hour and a half

the lights in the lusaka convention center

we wandered around, hoping to discover something fun.
we did
this is art
art with dumpsters spewing out corn

who knew?

the gala finally started
it was not as exciting and you would imagine
the annual

photo essay:
boredom

after suffering through many official meetings
we decided that on our day off
we would take a safari
below is some of what we saw
the internet is shifty and i have to be up really early
i am catching a 6:am charter flight to luapula
so forgive the lack of captions

there is a warthog in the middle and the others are impala

mike and the impala

water buck

impala

cape buffalo

HOORAY GIRAFFE!
i got really really really excited

can you see him?

praya and the giraffe

this is the aftermath of me chasing the girafffe.
we had to leave and i LOVE to see these guys run so i asked if i could chase them
i ran like the wind in crocs
it was beautiful and super fun!

these are called zebra

this elephant started walking towards me and africa (our fearless driver) and i got scared

then the whole family arrived

the baby elephant decided it wanted to trapple over me.
i would squat down and look it
he would move his head up and down
and then come really close
this little guy was 300 kgs
about 800 lbs

this is not zoomed

a beautiful end to a wonderful sunday

whose afraid of barak obama?

2007-12-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

turns out i can't help myself. frank rich wrote the words i have been preaching for a long time. though he has more class and more facts. still my guy was right and he uses many of my same examples. sometimes i think i should quit my day job and be a story finder.

anyway...i welcome your thoughts.

December 2, 2007

Op-Ed Columnist

Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama?

By FRANK RICH

JUST 24 hours after Hillary Clinton mowed down a skeptical Katie Couric with her certitude that she would win the Democratic nomination — “It will be me!” — her husband showed exactly how she could lose it.

By telling an Iowa audience on Tuesday night that he had opposed the Iraq war “from the beginning,” Bill Clinton committed a double pratfall. Not only did he refocus attention on his wife’s most hazardous issue, Iraq, just as it was receding as the nation’s Topic A, but he also revived unhappy memories of the truth-dodging nadirs of the Clinton White House.

Whatever his caveats, Mr. Clinton did not explicitly oppose the Iraq war from the beginning. But Al Gore did unequivocally and loudly in a public speech before the beginning, as did an obscure Illinois state senator named Barack Obama. What if Mrs. Clinton had led an insurrection against the war authorization in the Senate? Might she have helped impede America’s rush into one of the greatest fiascos in our history?

That history cannot be rewritten in any case, by Bill Clinton or anyone else. But future history is yet to be made. In the year to come, it will be written by the candidates and the voters, not by those journalists who, as the old saw has it, lay down history’s first draft.

Election year isn’t even here yet, and already most of the first drafts penned by the political press have proved instantly disposable, from Fred Thompson’s irresistible Reaganesque star power to the Family Research Council’s ability to abort the rise of Rudy Giuliani. The biggest Beltway myth so far — that the Clinton campaign is “textbook perfect” and “tightly disciplined” — was surely buried for good by the undisciplined former president’s seemingly panic-driven blunder last week.

The Washington wisdom about Mr. Obama has often been just as wrong as that about Mrs. Clinton. We kept being told he was making rookie mistakes and offering voters wispy idealistic sentiments rather than the real beef of policy. But what the Beltway mistook for gaffes often was the policy.

Mr. Obama’s much-derided readiness to talk promptly and directly to the leaders of Iran and Syria, for instance, was a clear alternative, agree with it or not, to Mrs. Clinton’s same-old Foggy Bottom platitudes on the subject. His supposedly reckless pledge to chase down Osama bin Laden and his gang in Pakistan, without Pakistani permission if necessary, was a pointed rebuke of both Mrs. Clinton’s and President Bush’s misplaced fealty to our terrorist-enabling “ally,” Pervez Musharraf. Like Mr. Obama’s prescient Iraq speech of 2002, his open acknowledgment of the Pakistan president’s slipperiness turned out to be ahead of the curve.

Now that the Beltway establishment, jolted by the Iowa polls, is frantically revising its premature blueprints for a Clinton coronation and declaring, as Time’s inevitable cliché would have it, that Mr. Obama has “found his voice,” it’s worth looking at some campaign story lines that have been ignored so far. They tell us more than the hyped scenarios that have fallen apart. Indeed, they flip the standard narrative of Campaign 2008 on its head: Were Mr. Obama to best Mrs. Clinton for the Democratic nomination, he may prove harder for the Republicans to rally against and defeat than the all-powerful, battle-tested Clinton machine.

The unspoken truth is that the Clinton machine is not being battle-tested at all by the Democratic primary process. When Mrs. Clinton accused John Edwards of “throwing mud” and “personally” attacking her in a sharp policy exchange in one debate, the press didn’t challenge the absurd hyperbole of her claim. In reality, neither Mr. Edwards nor any other Democratic competitor will ever hit her with the real, personal mud being stockpiled by the right. But if she’s getting a bye now, she will not from the Republican standard-bearer, whoever he may be. Clinton-bashing is the last shared article of faith (and last area of indisputable G.O.P. competence) that could yet unite the fractured and dispirited conservative electorate.

The Republicans know this and are so psychologically invested in refighting the Clinton wars that they’re giddy. Karl Rove’s first column for Newsweek last week, “How to Beat Hillary (Next) November,” proceeded from the premise that her nomination was a done deal. In the G.O.P. debates through last Thursday, the candidates mentioned the Clintons some 65 times. Barack Obama’s name has not been said once.

But much like the Clinton campaign itself, the Republicans have fallen into a trap by continuing to cling to the Hillary-is-inevitable trope. They have not allowed themselves to think the unthinkable — that they might need a Plan B to go up against a candidate who is not she. It’s far from clear that they would remotely know how to construct a Plan B to counter Mr. Obama. The repeated attempts to fan “rumors” that he is a madrassa-indoctrinated Muslim — whether on Fox News or in The Washington Post, where they resurfaced scurrilously on the front page on Thursday — are too demonstrably false to survive endless reruns even in the Swift-boating era.

Part of the Republicans’ difficulty in countering Mr. Obama, should they have to, is their own cynical racial politics. For the most part, race has been the dog that hasn’t barked in this campaign despite the (largely) white press’s endless fretting about whether the Illinois senator is too white for black voters and too black for white voters. Most Americans aren’t racist, most Republicans included. (Those who are won’t vote for the Democratic presidential candidate even if it’s not Mr. Obama.) But the G.O.P., by its own doing, is nonetheless saddled with a history that most recently includes “macaca” and Katrina, Mr. Bush’s appearance at Bob Jones University in 2000 and the nonexistent black population of its Congressional delegation.

As the Republican leadership knows, this record is an albatross, driving away not just black voters but crucial white swing voters, too. Ken Mehlman, the former G.O.P. chairman, and Mr. Rove, as recently as in that Newsweek column, have implored their party to reach out to minorities. So have Newt Gingrich and Jack Kemp. But not even conservative leaders of this stature could persuade their party’s top 2008 presidential contenders to show up for a September debate moderated by Tavis Smiley for PBS at the historically black Morgan State University.

It’s not because those no-shows are racists; it’s because they are defensive and out of touch. With the notable exception of Mike Huckabee, most of the party’s candidates have barricaded themselves from African-Americans for so long that they don’t know how to speak to or about them. As sure-footed as these Republicans are in attacking the Clintons and Streisand — or in exchanging fire with Al Sharpton and hip-hop moguls — they are strangers to the mainstream multiracial and multicultural America exemplified by an Obama or an Oprah.

An Obama candidacy would force them to engage. Or try to. A matchup between Mr. Obama and Mr. Giuliani, who was forged in the racial crucible of New York’s police brutality nightmares of the 1990s, or between Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney, who was shaped by a religion that didn’t give blacks equal membership until 1978, would be less a clash of races than of centuries.

But there’s another, even more fascinating hidden story line in the 2008 campaign that speaks to the potential prowess of an Obama candidacy. Despite the thuggish name-calling of a few right-wing die-hards (e.g., Rush Limbaugh mocking “Barack Hussein Odumbo”), the dirty secret of a number of conservatives is that they are disarmed by Mr. Obama even though they know his record is more liberal than Mrs. Clinton’s.

The drumbeat of approval has been remarkably steady. Last year Mark McKinnon, a top adviser to both the 2000 and 2004 Bush campaigns, admiringly called Mr. Obama “a walking, talking hope machine” who “may reshape American politics.” Andrew Ferguson devoted pages in The Weekly Standard to raving about “Dreams From My Father,” Mr. Obama’s memoir, before dismissing its political sequel, “The Audacity of Hope.” Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, keeps trying to write anti-Obama articles but they’re so mild that they never really contradict his judgment of a year ago that the senator from Illinois “is the only presidential candidate from either party about whom there is a palpable excitement.” Even Tom Tancredo, the most virulent immigration demagogue of the G.O.P. presidential field, has spoken warmly of Mr. Obama.

Perhaps most striking is the case of Shelby Steele, the archconservative scholar who shares Mr. Obama’s mixed-race heritage. Though he has just written an entire book, “A Bound Man,” to argue (unpersuasively, in my view) that Mr. Obama “can’t win,” he can’t stop himself from admiring the guy throughout. Peggy Noonan wasn’t being tongue-in-cheek when she wondered in The Wall Street Journal last month whether Mr. Obama “understands the kind of quiet cheering he is beginning to garner from some Republicans.” In her view “they see him as a Democrat who could cure the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton sickness.”

Or at least they do in the abstract. Should Mr. Obama upend the Beltway story line by taking Iowa, the Republicans will have every reason to be as fearful as the Clinton camp is now.

zambia watch out

2007-11-29T17:35:00.000-05:00

it is a sad state of affairs when a 15.5 hour flight sounds relaxing. but it was. i was in coach and cramped. and i did do some work. but mostly i just watched a couple of movies (hairspray and talk to me) and slept. it was not too bad. though my ankles and feet got such bad edema i thought i might get stretch marks. we had a 3 hour layover in jo'burg so i got a foot massage which started to help work all the swelling down. my cankles were back as soon as we were in the air again.

not much happened. but here a couple of photos...

waiting to board my flight from jo'burg to lusaka i used the water closet a few times. this one had a special room. at first i thought it was a muslim prayer room.

but no...

it was a squatter toilet.
i was offended
i am not totally sure why
i do like these potties best! (for public going)it seemed like we were off without a hitch, but then susan's luggage didn't come
thankfully she had a good carry-on full of cloths for tomorrow

tomorrow is VIP day. we start at 8 with a meeting with the ambassador, then the country team, and then a bunch of ministerial visits. it looks like it may be the only "suit" day, so that is good. though i didn't bring one. i will just were my best dress. hopefully that will be good enough.

DC CSA

2007-11-25T22:21:00.000-05:00

yall know i like good food. the key to good food is fresh. that is why i love community supported agriculture groups. i am posting my welcome note to this years winter CSA in case any readers around here are interested...if you don't live in the area you can find a csa you might be able to find one here. only this site didn't have either of the csa's i participate in... though i am sure you can find some great stuff!

Spiritual Food CSA

4209 East-West Highway; Bethesda, MD 20814

301-654-4899 x5

www.SchoolOfLife.org; www.spiritualfoodcsa.org

spiritualfood@schooloflife.org

Dear Winter CSA Members:

Welcome to the Winter/Spring 2008 season of the Spiritual Food CSA. At this point, we have about 107 members between the 3 locations. Bethesda, Arlington and Capitol Hill and are expecting a few more this week. The season will be starting on Friday November 30^th , so please consider Wed Nov 28^th as the final day to register. We will decide later if there will be an option for late registrations but if you know people who are planning to join, please tell them the Nov 28^th date. It is so important to start at the beginning and much better for our organizing too.

Below is important information about the new season. Please read the whole letter. If you still have questions, please reply to this e-mail.

DATES: FRIDAYS

Nov 30 to May 23 (26 weeks)

LATE PICK UPS or OUT OF TOWN:

For Bethesda: If you know you will not be able to pick up the share during the pick up hours,

Ø You may have it packed for you and set aside which is the best option. But MUST call BY THURSDAY 301-654-4899, x5 and leave a message asking that we bag it for you (for a $2 courtesy fee).

Ø You may come on Saturday and choose from what is left which may be in covered bins out on the tables or in the silver milk fridge. By Sunday it will likely be packaged up for donation and gone.

Ø If you cannot come at all, have a friend come, or you may request that we donate it.

For Capital Hill and Arlington members: You will receive a message from your host (or volunteers) explaining the situation and options at your pick up site.

If there are dates you know you will not be able to pick up your share at all, you can try to sell it through the yahoo group or sell or give to a friend.

PAYMENT: Thanks to the post-dated check system and to the many who paid the whole amount at once, almost all payments are in! A huge thank you to everyone for your cooperation. If you have not completed payment yet, it is due by opening day. If special arrangements are needed, please call this week.

COMMUNICATION:

The website at www.schooloflife.org, >Spiritual Food for the New Millennium>CSA has a wealth of information on biodynamic food, recipes, membership, etc. or go directly to www.spiritualfoodcsa.org.

For communication among members, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU JOIN the Spiritual Food CSA Group on Yahoo. It is quite easy to use. You can exchange recipes or ask others about a particular food, coordinate driving, find a replacement for volunteering if needed, etc. Also, many messages go out from us, the coordinators, only on this yahoo chat line (because of computer logistics here in the office) so if you do not join yahoo you would not get the following messages:

Ø weekly share list which we usually goes out the day before pick up

Ø recipes and food tips on new or unusual items

Ø extra items available for sale

It is very easy to sign up by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualfoodCSA From this link, click “Join This group”. If you are not already a member of yahoo, not to worry, it's quite simple. Where it asks you to sign in, if you don’t already have a yahoo ID, click “sign up” and go through the form to register. You can choose to give as little or as much personal information as you like. You’ll be asked to verify your new account by checking your e-mail for a message from yahoo; then return to yahoo and you should be on the join a group page – if not, go back to the link above or go to www.yahoo.com, choose groups, and search for our group by typing in: Spiritual Food CSA.

You will be able to use this chat room to sign up for volunteering or to verify the date your have selected by clicking on groups, and the spiritual food CSA group should come up, and then choose the “database” link, or go straight to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualfoodCSA/database.

E-mail is the main means of communication from us at the School of Life along with signs or flyers left out. PLEASE READ THEM!!! If you don’t use e-mail be sure to read signs and pick up handouts and occasionally ask what’s going on.

QUESTIONS? Durga (shantiyoga2@schooloflife.org) , Lakshmi (spiritualfood@schooloflife.org) or Vyasa (gcfp@earthlink.net) Again, the CSA phone number is 301-654-4899, voicemail box 5. But before you call with general questions, check out the website.

VOLUNTEERING

While not mandatory, volunteering is necessary for the functioning of the CSA at all 3 locations. If everyone takes a part, others are not left doing more than their share.

Ø “Setting up” involves preparing the week’s food for pick up on Fridays.

Ø Bagging supplements can be done in Bethesda or at your home (even Arl and CH)

Ø Each location needs a volunteer coordinator to be sure the schedule is filled

Ø Each location needs a weekly reminder person to contact the volunteer for that week

We can also use help with

Ø cleaning projects like the van and bins

Ø occasional computer work such as website projects and “internet listings”

Ø Newsletter articles or layout

Ø RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS!!! Talk to your friends and foes about the CSA. We start planning in January for the Summer season.

Ø Recipe/food person(s) to pass on ideas for food use via yahoo

WE REALLY NEED SOMEONE FOR THIS FUN AND NOT-SO-DIFFICULT TASK. YOU DON’T NEED TO BE AN EXPERT – JUST INTERESTED IN HOW TO USE THE FOOD. WE CAN GIVE REFERENCES TO LOOK INTO OR YOU CAN ASK OTHERS. CAN DO THIS FROM HOME WITH COMPUTER.

If interested in any of these, call Lakshmi at 301-654-4899 x5.

If you cannot ever come on a Friday for set up, you can see there are plenty of other jobs available.

SIGN UP for volunteering takes place online and also in person the first week or two of the season until done. People will be there at pick up to show you around, answer questions and ask you to sign up. BRING your CALENDAR please. If everyone signs up twice during the season all will be covered and we can all relax and enjoy the community effort.

To view the sign up chart or to edit (which means find a replacement if you have to change your date) go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritualfoodCSA/database.

PARKING in Bethesda:

There is a pull-through driveway. Please park straight in (facing the house), and be sure not to block the exit even if you come on off hours and no one else seems to be around. This house is used for many purposes and we wish to be considerate of all visitors.

RAW MILK

CSA members are being offered the opportunity to have access to Raw Milk.

If you are interested contact Victor at gcfp@earthlink.net

SUMMER CSA

The season will run from early-June until end of November. Start thinking about this now. Registration forms will be out in early January.

Directions to Arlington and Capitol Hill will be sent by the hosts of those locations.

WaPo on the the new face of Mormonism

2007-11-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

i found this interesting for obvious reasons

The New Face of Global Mormonism
Tech-Savvy Missionary Church Thrives as Far Afield as Africa

By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 19, 2007; A01

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Outside Zion Osandu Ndukwe's one-room apartment, a naked toddler ran up and down a filthy hallway lit by a single candle. The power in the overcrowded slum was off yet again. The stench of urine from the communal bathroom overpowered the fragrance of spices in the bubbling soup that a neighbor stirred in the dark passage.

But this night, the misery all around Ndukwe -- the crime, the uncollected trash, the bathtub-size potholes, the dilapidated cars belching black smoke -- stopped at his door. It was a Monday evening, and because Ndukwe, 39, had been baptized into the Mormon Church six months earlier, that meant it was time to be with his family and sing God's praises.

"I am a child of God!" he sang, as he, his wife and their 4-year-old daughter celebrated in loud, joyous voices a faith once known for its all-white, all-American membership.

"I'm a changed man," Ndukwe said, sitting on a bed that took up most of his apartment. "I used to drink. I had girlfriends outside my marriage. I don't do that anymore, and I feel better. The Mormon Church contributed 100 percent to the change."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is formally known, now has more members outside the United States than inside it. The church's rise from its roots in Utah to a steadily growing global faith in 176 countries and territories has been aided by the Internet, including the popular Web site http://www.mormon.org, which seeks to dispel the mystery that still surrounds the religion; by a satellite system linking 6,000 of its churches worldwide with the Salt Lake City headquarters; and by tens of thousands of missionaries knocking on doors from Lagos to Lapland.

As the world's largest faiths -- Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Hinduism -- expand across the developing world, smaller faiths such as Mormonism are also gaining strength. The Mormon Church, which did not permit blacks to become priests until 1978, says it now has more than 250,000 members in Africa, including almost 80,000 in Nigeria.

Mormonism, which teaches that an American named Joseph Smith was a prophet who received visions from God about how to restore the true and original Christian church, had 1.7 million members in 1960. Today, according to church statistics, it has about 13 million, more than 7 million of them outside the United States.

The church's landmark six-spire temple in Maryland, along the Capital Beltway in the Washington suburb of Kensington, was its first east of the Rocky Mountains when it opened in 1974. Now there are Mormon temples in more than 40 countries, from China to Finland to Ghana, and more than 8,400 Mormon churches or meetinghouses abroad, with a new one built nearly every day.

As the church grows in numbers and diversity, it is gaining global recognition.

"A lot of people think nothing but polygamy" when they hear of the Mormons, said Rodney Stark, a religious studies specialist at Baylor University in Texas, even though that practice has been outlawed by the church for more than a century. But as more people acquire Mormon friends and neighbors, Stark said, Mormons "are no longer seen as a peculiar little sect. They are too big."

Jan Shipps, a Methodist scholar who has written extensively about the Mormons, said, "When a cult grows up, it becomes a culture."

'Happiness and Peace'

Early Sunday morning in the dusty Oshodi neighborhood of Lagos, before the tropical sun pressed down like a heavy steam iron, the noisy streets were teeming. Women carried bundles on their heads -- cans of paint or a sewing machine. Creaking yellow buses, missing doors, were overcrowded. Wealthier people drove past in ancient Mercedes sedans discarded by faraway owners.

Amid the seemingly endless shacks and open sewers on haphazard Llesanmi Street, one lovely place stood out: a gated, cream-colored compound with a steepled church. Inside the spotless chapel, about 170 people sat in neat rows under whirring ceiling fans as an organist played quiet hymns. Almost every worshiper was black, and every male worshiper wore a white shirt and tie.

One after another, adults and children walked to the microphone and professed their devotion to the Mormon faith. Their reasons for joining it were diverse, but nearly all had once belonged to a larger Christian church they found lacking. Perhaps most of all, they said, they were initially attracted to the Mormon belief that devout families stay together eternally, not just until death.

Joshua Matthews Ebiloma, 40, a sales manager for a power generator company, said the Mormons offered him "peace of mind" he had not found anywhere else.

Nigeria is half Muslim and almost half Christian, and proselytizing foreigners, from the United States to Saudi Arabia, are pouring millions of dollars into the African nation of 135 million to expand their faiths.

Ebiloma has sampled a range of them. He was born into a pagan family and still bears the scars of tribal markings carved into his cheeks when he was young. After attending Muslim schools as a child, he tried various Christian churches before finding what he described as "happiness and peace" in Mormonism.

Now, Ebiloma nodded and smiled as fellow Mormons told their stories. One woman described the joy of having her family "sealed," a ritual that Mormons believe ensures that families stay together beyond death. Another said she believed that tithing -- the Mormon practice of members giving one-tenth of their income to the church -- "would bring great blessings."

A third woman praised Gordon B. Hinckley, the 97-year-old church president in Salt Lake City, who followers believe receives divine revelations. "I know President Hinckley is the living prophet," she said, just as amplified clapping and stomping in a nearby Pentecostal church began drowning out more testimonies.

"It is quiet and more organized in here," Ebiloma said later. "In other churches, people are shouting at the top of their lungs, sweating so much they need a hanky. One thing I know for sure: God is not deaf."

there is more to the article, but i don't want this to take too much space. if you want to read the rest...click here.

wicked busy but good news for cassi

2007-11-18T21:52:00.000-05:00

the last month has been a whirlwind of work. i am burning out and resenting the fact that i feel like my work owns me. not to mention that i feel like i have so much to do that i can do none of it right. but...i have learned some lessons.

anxiety is a function of not living in the present. the best way to combat anxiety is make myself be in the now. i have been doing that by just doing the stuff i am worrying about. it is amazing how much less daunting things are in reality. my imagination makes everything horrible when i am anxious. also, on the few occasions i have not been able to do whatever it is that i am perceverating about, i have started journaling about what it feels like to be anxious. it brings me back to the present and makes the anxiety dissipate.
you can really only do one thing at a time. so i have just been picking the tasks that is due earliest and pushing through to get that done. then just moving on.
that vacations are NOT vacations if you are taking work. that is what i almost did. thankfully i have a wonderful friend in lindsay and a great boss at work who helped me to a) see that i was running myself ragged and b) not feel guilty about postponing st. lucia. so now lindsay and i are planning to go to st. lucia in january. there are many reasons this should be better, none the least of which is the fact that i won't have to work while i am down there.

lots of other cool things have happened that deserve their own blog.

holly, dianna, brigham, jennie, and i started a dinner club. we have been trying new restaurants around town. i will share a post with reviews soon (hopefully)
saw dc united loose a seat in the chapionship to stupid columbus fire.
went to slc to meet with the church on pandemic flu.

all of these will be posts soon... promise. as soon as all this work is done i am going to hold myself up and just clean, go to the grocery store, and do some blogging.

last, but certainly not least, i want to direct you all to the blog of one of my "sisters". i am lucky enough to have adopted two families as my own. the packards and the allreds. they are awesome and i really wish i lived closer. the oldest of all of the "sisters" is cassi. she is a dynamo! she can best anyone in a passionate debate on just about anything. smart as a whistle and adventurous to a fault at times. i love that she is always trying new things. we met up in cambodia a couple of years ago when lindsay and i were traveling through on our fateful trip in vietnam where we had "the accident". bekki (another allread sister) was living in singapore so cassi and jana (mom allred) flew over to hang out then they met lindsay, diane and i in angkor wat. it was awesome!

cassi started a blog that i think is really worth watching. it is called metamorphosis. tomorrow she is undergoing gastric by-pass surgery and she is going to share her experience on her blog. below i am going to paste her first entry. though i must say, that her second entry is the one that really got to me most: she lists her top 10 reasons for getting the surgery.

i am excited for cassi and i am humbled by her courage and humility. she is a wonderful example of what it means to take chances. i am praying that all goes well tomorrow, and that the all goes welledness will continue until she is at her desired weight.

love you cas! good luck!!!!!!

The game begins...

Where to begin? I was small when I was born (6 lbs, 6 oz) and that was the last time I remember being small. Okay, I don't really remember that. Which means, I cannot remember a time--ever--that I didn't feel overweight. Which is not to say I was always obese. My younger sister was naturally skinny, and I was naturally somewhat chubby. In my mind, compared to her, I was fat. I look back at my childhood pictures and say, "Wait a minute! I wasn't as fat as I thought I was!"

Fast-forward forty years, and I am exactly what I always thought I was. Fat. Very fat. If there were a category for super super morbidly obese, I'd be in it. The weight began creeping on during my high school years. I weighed 140 lbs as a freshman (age 14) and I thought I needed to lose 50 lbs. Granted, I'm short, but still, I wasn't as fat as I thought I was (that seems to be a theme). By my early twenties I was around 240-260. I lost 80 lbs at one point, just before I met/married my husband. But after baby #1, I was right back up to 260. After baby #2 (seven years later) I was up to 320. After about 10 years of rigorous dieting and vigorous eating (cuz you know they go hand-in-hand!) I found myself over the 350 mark. 358 to be exact.

The last 15 years have been a gradual climb of 100 lbs. It was so slow you'd almost not notice. And when you're already fat, it seems to all just "blend in". However, when I see myself in photographs, I now have the opposite reaction than I did as a child. It always surprises me to see how large I really am. Apparently, my sense of "what size I am" is rather warped. That is something I will have to deal with on my way down. I'm sure other things will come up as well. I am 100% convinced that extreme obesity has as many emotional connections as it does physical.So, after years of resisting the idea of weight loss surgery (thought I was giving up, wanted to do it on my own, didn't want to take the easy way out, etc.), I have finally learned that a) it's okay to ask for and/or accept help, b) it's NOT the easy way--but it's almost always the SURE way, and c) I'm pretty darn stubborn. Now I'm going to take that stubbornness, which we shall reclassify as determination, and put it to good use.

The game has begun...

no more novice travelin for me

2007-11-13T20:09:00.000-05:00

on wednesday i was on my way to SLC for a pandemic flu exercise (more on that later), i was sick and i was working like a banshee. i had to review 6 program areas of the botswana COP (country operation plan) for PEPFAR which meant i was spread all over the place with a HUGE binder of "sensitive" info AND my laptop. i had already written a synthesis of the india COP and i needed a break. (i am amazingly productive on a plane, but i think this was bugging my seat mates as i was stuck in the middle seat in coach). i fumbled thru my stuff only to realize that i had left my headphones (the free ones you get from your iPod) in my checked bag. the guy next to me had some fancy headphones and he was sleeping (or pretending to). so the minute he woke up i asked him, ever so sheepishly, if i could borrow his headphones. he agreed.

they were awesome. i didn't have to turn the volume all the way up and i listened without too much intrusion of the engine noise and crying babies. i talked to the guy about them. his brother had given them to him and though they weren't awesome, they were the best gift he had ever received. i decided right then and there i was done with being a novice traveler.

on friday i fly to st. lucia with lindsay for thanksgiving. and i will be turning over a new leaf. accompanying me will be my QC2s (see below) and a tempur-pedic eye mask.

as i will spend more 100 hours between now and the end of the year, i think my investment will pay off. better!!!!

i am way stressed out with work, so i might end up blogging will i am on my way to st. lucia. but i want to get photos from the LDS church site visit and more... stay tuned, but be cool because, i have too much work to do right now.

Meet the FOKers

2007-11-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

for my birthday party, we invented a game called meet the FOKers (friends of kimberly) to help everyone get to know each other.
the rules: "find someone at the party who's done something on this list, and get their signature. you can only use kimberly once, so choose carefully."

has been issued more than $1000 in parking tickets
has contracted malaria
has skinny-dipped with a co-workers
has broken more than three bones
has broken into a stranger's home
taught at the MTC
made out at the MTC
had a french lover
REALLY loves costco
rode a century ride -- 100 miles
cultivates a garden
currently has a warrant out for his or her arrest
was born under libra
prefers mac/apple
is platinum on delta
has been on an african safari
has been on a shelfari
has been hospitalized in a developing country
has written a letter to mayor fenty
attended the colonial ward
doesn't own a t.v.
medaled in a triathlon
writes a blog
drives a crappy old car
has shopped at last chance in arizona.

no one won at my party. so now it's an internet game. write me back and tell me how many apply to you, too, and you will be rewarded with a cruelty-free, locally-grown, pesticide-free and all organic meal, ala kimberly.

here are some photos from the tea party

the party planning committee
which for this party
was combined with the "finer things club"

the finer things

maryjoy entertaining a happy throng

that is one heck of a profile eileen!

me and cheese

trunk or treat

2007-11-01T14:38:00.001-05:00

for some reason, around these parts kids don't say trick or treat all that much. they just show up, stick out their bag, and expect candy. i am either old, old-fashioned or both. but i just think if i am handing out candy i should get some song or dance. or at least some tradition following. but whatev

this year lindsay, dianna, and i dressed like a triathlon and hit the town...

swim, bike or run
take your pick

harried housewife and welder
brigham was trying to reconnect to our mission days
long live the GLBRM

princess lillie

princess diamond

a gangster dragon and his runner tiger brutha

she told me this stole her soul

daniel and desmond mixin' it up

grrrrrrr

taking a break from the exhausting work of handing out candy.

elena the macarena

ole!

he goes by the name luke,
but sure plays a mean yoda

for karis, halloween means face paint

gabby may look like daphne,
but really she is a genius

jenay

yw throw back

i don't know how this robin hood could save this maid marian
but they make a happy duo for sure

and she sings

the isaacs

scream it mar-king

the atkinsons!

laura jean all afright

jackie as cleopatra.
she wasn't quite sure who cleopatra was, tho

a witch, a swim, a bunny, and charlie brown

she can wiggle her nose just like a bunny!

proof that nursery is the best calling!

mayhem ensued
i think people realized there was fun to be had at the mormon church
and we were inundated with "neighbors"

with all the fun that the mayhem brought and having a tired biker, dianna and i headed off for east capitol street to see all the fun they do there.

this one house had a display of mannequins from the bush administration. this is condi rice as catwoman. her eyes glowed red.

rudy guiuliani as the riddler. behind him are the heroes, hillary and barak (batgirl and batman, respectively). it should be quite a contest between good and evil!

that fat penguin is dick cheney, and the wild joker is gwb. those two are having the time of their lives!

we're still puzzling over this riddle. throngs of people on the street were, too.

catwoman's kid sister, the orca.

a sampling of some of the insanely carved pumpkins around town on halloween. and only in dc would you see pumpkins carved with "McCain 08."

victory! a successful outing for team awesome.
dianna is probably excited because she stayed up past 7:30pm.
happy halloween, everyone!!

raisingdc update

2007-10-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

lindsay wrote a great recap on our raisingdc blog. the girls' parents signed papers allowing the girls to be adopted. check out the other blog for more info.

it is a wonderful ending to a pretty amazing saga. lots and lots of ups and downs. incredible highs and lows.

i keep thinking about the first time i met them. lindsay and i had been called to be their mom's visiting teachers (we visited her once a month). at the time we didn't know shelia at all and had no idea she had children. in the middle of our visit 2 little heads peaked around the corner (they we 7 and 8). their mom yelled at them to go back to their room. their curiosity wouldn't let them stay away and finally we convinced shelia to let them stay.

amazingly, lindsay and i both left with the exact same impression. our calling was not to help shelia but to help those girls. we were instantly in love with them. little did we know where that love would lead us. (i guess you never know)

i am really happy that they are given a shot a better lives. i am happy that God moved mountains so that they could find their new homes. i have so much hope for these girls. i have never met people with more promise. i have never met girls with a tougher road. but i think they will do it!

it is joyous indeed. and i think this is what i hoped l'anne de l'amusement would give to me.

everyone, the whole raisingdc cast, must be feeling crazy mix of emotions with all of this change. i just hope peace and happiness trumps them all.

year of the house?

2007-10-26T12:27:00.000-05:00

i like having a theme for a year. this year's theme, year of fun, has been awesome. i kinda want to do a redux next year. possible themes for '08 include:

year of visiting friends (i have friends all over this planet and i think that could be fun!)
year of the house (more on that in a moment)
year of productivity (to counter this last year)
jubilee year (a year to start new with all grudges and debts being forgiven... dianna don't get any ideas about those shoes)

so if you opinions send them my way.

the year of visiting friends would be fun. marc and michelle are moving to china. i am going to be so sad. they are going to take their sons with them which i just think is kinda unfair. trent and vanessa are in syria. kim and abe are in male, maldives. dianna's bro. is done with his mission in cambodia. alessandro in tuscany (friend from tunisia) invited us to see tuscany; something we have been planning on doing on our bikes. and then there are all my friends scattered around america. so it would be fun. i could use all my vacation time. and frankly if my work travel looks the way i think it will, i can probably get near to some of these places during a business trip.

year of the house would be completely opposite. i have always wanted to buy a fixer-upper house and fix it up. with the housing market the way it is, i think i can get a pretty good deal. i would like to buy a row house in a part of town where if i needed to i could rent it out. i would want a pretty messed up house. essentially something that has a solid foundation and solid plumbing, but everything else could go. because i want to make it a really energy efficient green house. there are all sorts of grants and tax incentives to make a house green, so i would love finding all of them and using the system to help me create a house i would enjoy. this would mean that all of my leave would be used to fixing the house. i wouldn't see any of these friends (well i would probably end up seeing a couple). but i would have to really be disciplined and use my leave to get the house fixed up. i think i would feel really responsible and that might be nice. there are all sorts of cool new materials (think bamboo floors, green roofs and insulation made out of old levis). it could be really fun. plus hopefully i could get some return on the investment.

the other 2 themes are definitely b tier ideas.

so you got an opinion. please comment.

butternut squash soup

2007-10-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

tonight dianna and i made this soup. it was awesome!

2 butternut squash (about 4 3/4 pounds total), halved lengthwise, seeded (keep seeds!!!)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 cups thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
5 cups (or more) canned low-salt chicken broth

bake the seeded squash face down on a cookie sheet at 375°F until squash is very soft, about 50 minutes. make sure to oil the cookie sheet.

while this is baking you can cook up the squash seeds. just a little bit of peanut oil in a frying pan. heat oil. place seeds in. salt seeds to your liking. cook, moving regularly until seeds are golden brown.

remove peel from squash (i just pealed it with my hands); discard peel. cut squash into 2-inch pieces. heat peanut oil in large pot. mix in onion, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and cinnamon (turn heat down to a slow simmer). cook until onion is tender, about 15 minutes. add squash and all the chicken broth. boil. reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes. use a hand soup mixer thing to puree the whole thing up. make sure to throw out the cinnamon.

garnish soup with roasted seeds.

enjoy!

Why Sports are Critical for Young Girls

2007-10-25T10:20:00.000-05:00

not very well written, but still cool...

Why Sports are Critical for Young Girls

Brandi Chastain

Posted September 18, 2007 | 05:54 PM (EST)

Read More: Brandi Chastain, girls and sports, sports, Breaking Living Now News

I have been involved with athletics since, well, before I can remember. If it wasn't kicking the ball, it was climbing trees, riding skateboard ramps, swinging on the playground bars, throwing the football, hitting homers over my neighbors' house, swimming in the neighbor's pool. And after all of this, some 34 years later, I still love to play. The pure joy, love, and passion have always been the underlying themes, albeit I didn't know that when I was six.

But now I have those same emotions for different reasons, and it is why I KNOW, not believe, sports are CRITICAL for young girls. I call them the 5 C's. Challenge, Communication, Competition, Community and Celebration. All these categories fulfill a life necessity.

One, Challenge. Learning to set goals, (short-, medium- and long-term) and figuring out ways to achieve them. Two, Communication. Becoming comfortable with your voice, and how to share it with others. Knowing that I can speak up no matter my environment, or how tough a situation. Three, Competition. Always hoping that the other team is tough, has its best players and putting myself up to the test to see what I am made of. Giving my all during training so that my teammates get better, and relying on them to do the same for me. Four, Community. Experiencing how teams work, succeed and fail. Teams are microcosms of real life (family, education, relationships, neighborhoods). Decisions, conflict, good times, and even bad happen in teams. Realizing that we all have to be leaders, workers, teachers, listeners so that we can all achieve. Five, Celebration. When we do something well (large or small), we should feel good about what we've done and cherish the moment -- we can express that without hesitation or embarrassment. A pump of the fist, a smile on our face, a leaping high five, or even a ripping off of the shirt. It should be a right, not a privilege.

Young boys and men have been experiencing these concepts almost from birth, perhaps since the beginning of time. The time has finally come that now encourages young girls and women to explore the depths of their psychological, physical and emotional components so they may too see how sports impact their person off the field. Dare to Dream is an amazing showcase how a group of women, over time, came together at just the most perfect era in history to explore, and express, all of the above. I hope everyone who watches, not only shares it with someone else, but uses it as a guide to all the could be possible in their own life.

Dare to Dream: The Story of the U.S. Women's Soccer Team is now available on DVD from HBO Video.

Read More: Brandi Chastain, girls and sports, sports, Breaking Living Now News

better late than never

2007-10-24T07:28:00.000-05:00

i haven't yet planted my fall garden yet...duh. but i just ordered all my seeds . . .

i am super excited!!! hopefully stuff is going to grow. maybe the warming of the globe will make my garden grow??

why i love walking to work

2007-10-23T09:57:00.001-05:00

yesterday i was inspired (i am pretty sure inspired is the right verb here) to walk to work. i had been riding my bike, but the weather was so nice blah blah blah so i walked. thank goodness!

walking out the door, i immediately noticed that there were 3 helicopters circling our neighborhood. never a good sign. thankfully it was due to the capitol is abuzz with protesters for the world bank meetings . this is what i saw.

this guy is from new mexico. he came to talk to his senator. he was really stoked. i took his picture and told him i would send him this photo if he emailed me. so i gave him by business card. as i was walking away he said "MSW? in new mexico we call them mexican social workers" i said, "i wish!" mostly because it is Country Operational Plan season for PEPFAR and anything sounds better. though maybe being a mexican social worker is the way to go? it is time for a change and all.

any time you see this on your way to work, you know the day won't be half bad!

so as i am meandering through the crowd i walked past the lady with the blow horn. when suddenly 4 cops came up and picked up this windmill made of bamboo and cardboard. the protesters had set it in the grass (they had asked permission) but these punk cops decided that it wasn't okay.

i really was disturbed by the machismo of this whole scene

the protesters started shouting "free our windmill"

the blow horn lady shouted "just like bush to steal beautiful and good things and treat them like crimes"
seriously, how do people come up with this stuff?

i think the cops got in trouble...i hope. i had to get to work, but i thought i saw them carrying the bamboo pretend windmill back...

World Bank Protesters Keep Police Busy on Capitol Hill
Monday, Oct. 22, 2007; 10:55 am

Nearly 60 people have been arrested this morning on Capitol Hill — and more arrests could occur throughout the day — as an array of groups hold protests for causes entered on the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Eleven people were arrested early this morning for unlawful assembly and incommoding at the Cannon House Office Building, and 10 more were arrested in the Cannon Rotunda. Police also arrested seven people on the sidewalk outside of Cannon.

Near the intersection of New Jersey and Independence avenues Southeast, protesters sat in the middle of the road shortly after 8 a.m., forcing police to temporarily divert traffic. Twenty-six people were arrested for unlawful assembly.

Just as police reopened the street, another group of protesters then took the road, forcing police to arrest an additional five people for unlawful assembly, including two minors. The streets have since been reopened.

Protests have taken place throughout Washington, D.C., in the past several days as officials gather at the World Bank and the IMF for annual talks. Several streets near those offices remain closed.

— Elizabeth Brotherton

Copyright 2007 © Roll Call Inc. All rights reserved.

the malaria monologues

2007-10-23T08:50:00.000-05:00

a few years ago (maybe 2003?), melanie, lindsay and i decided to participate in a malaria vaccine trial. melanie had just moved and thought the extra cash might be nice. i thought "getting paid to save the world? that is what i live to do!" so we did it. i felt very noble.

first we had to have a serious physical to see if we were up to snuff for the study. we all passed with flying colors. then we started the inoculations. we were given 3 dosages of either the vaccine pre addition of a protein, the vaccine with protein, or a placebo (no vaccine at all) over the course of 3 months.

each week we drove to walter reed medical research center in silver spring, md at 5:30 am to have our blood drawn and earn about $50 (? lindsay how much did each draw earn us?). the drive was about 45 minutes. the time was filled with very heady conversation. we decided we would write a book: "the malaria monologues." we didn't.

during one drive the conversation was so good that we missed getting on the capitol beltway and ended up turning around at BWI--a mistake that cost us at least one hour.

lindsay eventually dropped out because she got a fellowship to germany. melanie and i got to "test" the vaccine.

we were taken to a very different part of walter reed. way more lab coats. no windows. curious boxes etc. we were escorted into a part of the building with mosquito stuff everywhere. lots of malaria charts. there were boxes of caged mosquitos. we sat down at a table. we were asked to expose our forearms and place the meaty portion of our arms over a dixie cup with a screen over it. in the cup were 5 malaria infected starving mosquitoes.

we sat with our arms on the malaria dixie cups for exactly 5 minutes. the little buggers just went to town on our arms. then they removed the cup from our arms and examined the mosquitoes proboscis for both my blood and the parasite. my little guys all did their work well. melanie had to do it again. one of her mosquitoes hadn't eaten. so they put another mosquito (just one) in the cup and she sat again for 5 minutes.

it was really weird to sit there realizing that i inflicting myself with malaria. i had seen people with it in africa and i never wanted that miserable disease. but then, that is why i was doing it. i was hoping that i could help in the process of getting this vaccine so that less people were infected.

after 10 days we had to go to walter reed EVERY day to have our blood checked for the parasite and at a certain point they had all of the "human subjects" check into the hilton in silver spring so they could monitor us. we had to have morning and evening blood draws. melanie got sick about 14 days into it. she was really miserable. i took care of her a couple of nights but i felt fine.

at some point i decided i didn't want to stay at the hotel anymore. it was just a pain in the butt to commute and stuff. near the end of the trial: day 22 i had a HUGE meeting at HHS. so i skipped the evening draw and planned to skip the morning draw for the meeting. i seemed fine and didn't really want to lose the time driving.

you can guess what happened. in the middle of the night i started to feel like i had the flu. i called, but the nurse on duty was a temp and she didn't know me or much about what she was doing and told me just to come in the morning. i couldn't because of the meeting and i explained that to her. she didn't seem to care. i figured, must just be the flu.

by morning i was shaking and sweating. determined, i still attended the meeting. but during lunch went and had my blood drawn. they gave me some chloroquine and said they would call with results. soon i was bestowed the honor of having the highest parasite count of all the human subjects (i had the worst case). the chloroquine really tripped me out. driving home from my second blood draw of the day i called my friend katharine lost in my own city. i guess i said some crazy stuff???

i was sick for a long time. i was training for a "team in training" triathlon for denny allred who at the time was suffering with multiple myloma. the triathlon was 2 weeks away. the malaria really slowed down my time, but it was still fun.

anyway, the other day i read the following in the UN news and felt like all i had suffered had been more than worth it.

(btw, i made actually no money for the whole thing. i was taxed on my earnings from there and i think it took almost all of it) still this makes it all worth it!!!!!!!

Africa: Breakthrough in Malaria Vaccine Trials

UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
19 October 2007
Johannesburg

An anti-malaria vaccine offering improved protection to children could be registered for use in four years, potentially saving millions of young lives, new research conducted in Mozambique has shown.

Scientists announced this week that a clinical trial involving 214 infants had confirmed the safety of the RTS,S/AS02D malaria vaccine. More children die of malaria than any other disease - over one million every year, most of whom are African children under five - and it is a major reason why Mozambique still has one of the world's highest child mortality rates, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Research by Dr Pedro Alonso, of the Manhica Health Research Centre, in Mozambique, and the Hospital Clinic of the Universitat de Barcelona, in Spain, and colleagues, indicated that the vaccine could reduce the risk of new infections by 65 percent. A previous trial in 2004 indicated 45 percent effectiveness for the same vaccine.

Global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, with the help of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative by PATH, an international, non-profit health organisation, are developing it.

The children were randomly split into two groups, one assigned to receive three doses of the vaccine and the other to receive a hepatitis B vaccine as a control, at ages 10 weeks, 14 weeks and 18 weeks. Initial findings were published in the British medical journal, the Lancet.

Researchers said the candidate vaccine was "safe, well-tolerated and highly immunogenic [evoked a strong immune response] in young infants living in a rural area of southern Mozambique", and that the study had provided evidence of a strong association between vaccine-induced antibodies and a reduced risk of malaria infection.

"We have shown that a vaccine can reduce the risk of malaria infection in young African infants exposed to intense transmission of P. falciparum," the researchers said. Plasmodium falciparum is the most lethal of the four strains of the malaria parasite that infect humans: an initial severe infection can kill up to one in four victims unless they receive medical help.

The parasite has developed resistance to many of the older and cheaper drugs being phased out in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, but only a tiny percentage of African children are treated with the new, more expensive and effective combination therapies.

First steps

The complex life cycle of the parasite, and its ability to remain undetected by the human immune system, means a long-lasting vaccine that is close to being totally effective is still many years away. The parasite also undergoes various changes as it develops in the mosquito - the vector, or main carrier, of the disease - as well as in the human liver, blood system, and red blood cells, making it difficult to target.

Vaccines in development tend to target different stages of the parasite's life cycle in humans, and the RTS,S/AS02D candidate vaccine aims to reduce its ability to infect and proliferate in the liver.

Repeated malarial infections result in a natural immunity if the person survives the first bouts. Adults and older children living in endemic malaria areas can show no clinical signs of the disease, even though they may be infected with the parasite. Older children may be more able to survive their first attack of malaria, which can damage the liver, kidneys and central nervous system, including the brain.

There is no easy way to fight malaria, but until the development of a vaccine that can totally prevent infection, preventing deaths by deferring infection among young children and reducing the severity of the disease are the best strategy.

According to the researchers, the vaccine would be effective as part of a layered strategy against malaria, including the provision of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) and spraying insecticides to protect people against mosquitoes. According to the WHO, if used properly, ITNs can cut malaria transmission by at least 60 percent and child deaths by a fifth.

facebook

2007-10-22T22:15:00.000-05:00

i joined facebook. hopefully i won't have a spamming extravaganza with it like i did stupid shelfari. i just wasted 3 hours surfing around. it was pretty fun. i started looking for old friends and i think i might have even found some. i sure hope so.

anyway. i fear that this might be a major distraction during this COP season. i have loads and loads of work to do the next month. and it is kinda dreadful work. i wonder if i joined facebook so i could have some distraction from all the mucky work?

hooray for meters in DC cabs

2007-10-18T17:49:00.000-05:00

i am so happy to see this latest move from mayor fenty!!!! if you haven't lived here you won't really appreciate how many fights you can get into with cab drivers who are trying to weasel extra money out of you. now if they will just quit driving the gas guzzling huge sedans and switch to a prius we will be in good shape!

News Release for Immediate Release
October 17, 2007

Fenty Mandates Time and Distance Meters for DC Cabs

Today, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that he will sign a Mayoral Order requiring District of Columbia taxicabs to switch from the current zone fare system to time and distance meters. The system, created by Congress during the Great Depression, makes the District the only major city in the country with taxis that operate on a zone system instead of meters. Fenty made the decision to change systems after a thorough investigation of best practices across the country as well as input from the residents, taxi drivers and the hospitality community.

“As we work to become a world-class city, it is essential that all aspects of District government are user friendly, fair and efficient for residents and visitors alike,” said Fenty. “District residents are overwhelmingly in favor of modernizing and simplifying the fare system. By switching to time and distance meters, we meet the needs of the residents and standardize the experience for every taxi passenger.”

Time and distance meters calculate the fare based on a standard rate for distance traveled as well as time spent stopped in traffic. The current system is based on the number of zones crossed during the trip. The zones are not a standard size or based on major geographic landmarks.

The meters will allow passengers to see how the fare is calculated, while currently passengers have to rely on a vague map and visitors to the District have to rely on the taxi driver to calculate the fare. Meters also enable the District to more accurately track the number of trips, collect taxes based on the number of rides and gather information about usage patterns.

The Fenty administration will work with the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission to create a timeline and transition plan for all District taxis.

2007-10-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

i can't decide which of these "types" i am. i am not sure i am one. also, i am not sure i totally get why we need to know our body type. but for whatever reason, this stuff is interesting to me.

Trinny and Susannah reveal 12 women's body types - which are you?

Last updated at 13:35pm on 18th October 2007

Comments (22)

Well dressed: Susannah and Trinny show how to transform yourself

It's always hard to find clothes to suit you.

But now TV style gurus Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine say they have found the formula that will enable every woman to transform herself.

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is daylight savings time saving anything?

2007-10-17T11:33:00.001-05:00

personally i LOVE daylight savings time and HATE daylight standard time. in fact i don't know why we don't just make the savings time the standard time. and if we are going to move at all in the winter we should more our clocks ahead NOT back.

i grew up in arizona where we didn't do this silliness. we just had noon. noon was always at noon. we didn't play with it. i have never gotten used to people playing with the time. i think the first time i experienced it, i was kinda excited. then i realized that i would miss an hour of sleep. STUPID!

the truth is it seems like we actually LOSE daylight when we "fall back". the sun goes down so early that i have a hard time exercising or even seeing the light of day. there are a few weeks in december/january where i don't see the light of day. i get to work when it is dark and go home in the dark. it really sucks.

i think we would all be healthier if we could have daylight savings time all year long!

ben franklin came up with the concept when americans were agronomists. not many of us do that anymore. and many of us that do are part-timers. Ben hoped to provide more daylight in the mornings so that people could get the milk out and the cows fed etc in the light. saving daylight meant having more in the morning.

things have changed significantly since then. now saving daylight means having more in the evening, when much of america comes home from their cubicles.

some options to this antiquated system:
go back to doing it the way the romans did. they had 12 hours of sunlight no matter what. in the summer those hours were longer, in the winter they were shorter. but 12 hours nonetheless. maybe loosening up on our stringent perceived control of time would also reduce the anxiety produced by missing things by one minute etc. we would all just become more flexible as we calculated time differently?

lindsay heard an interesting proposal on cartalk awhile back: DAILY SAVINGS TIME.
i wholly support this.

"Daily Savings Time"
Peter Kallin
Dear Click and Clack,

The clocks would be set forward by an hour every afternoon at 3:30 p.m., immediately making it 4:30 and almost time to quit work. Every business would immediately save an hour's worth of energy costs every day, a roughly 12% savings. Workers' morale would immediately improve and productivity would soar, since not much gets done after 3:30, anyway.

But wait! There's more. The second part of my plan is to move the clock back an hour every morning at 4:30 a.m., immediately making it 3:30 a.m. This would allow nearly everyone to get an extra hour of sleep every night. Since studies show that the typical American is sleep deprived, this would have immediate health benefits. People would awaken every morning well rested, and in a good mood — even teenagers!

I think that you guys have the technical background to truly appreciate what great savings are available with this straightforward concept. With your support, we can make this happen!

These are just a few of the benefits of Daily Savings Time. Granted, there would be some minor inconveniences, especially for those who work at night. However, the overall benefits far outweigh these minor inconveniences.

In closing, I quote Ben Franklin: "For the great benefit of this discovery, thus freely communicated and bestowed by me on the public, I demand neither place, pension, exclusive privilege, nor any other reward whatever. I expect only to have the honor of it."

Peter Kallin
Doylestown, PA

I have to say, from a public health perspective this only seems beneficial. incredibly beneficial. the loss of the hour during work would have very limited impact on our productivity. peter, you are a genius, my friend!

if you love daily savings time, write your congressman. for some reason, that circus full of monkeys is in charge of our clocks.

of course iraq was about oil

2007-10-16T10:50:00.001-05:00

Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’

UPDATE: The Stanford Daily, which originally reported on the round table, incorrectly attributed some of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s comments to Gen. Abizaid. Though Abizaid did say “Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” it was Friedman who said “We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations.” The Daily has posted a correction.

During a round table discussion on “the Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet” at Stanford University on Saturday, Gen. John Abizaid (Ret.), the former CENTCOM Commander, said that “of course” the Iraq war is “about oil“:

“Of course it’s about oil, we can’t really deny that,” Abizaid said of the Iraq campaign early on in the talk.

“We’ve treated the Arab world as a collection of big gas stations,” the retired general said. “Our message to them is: Guys, keep your pumps open, prices low, be nice to the Israelis and you can do whatever you want out back. Osama and 9/11 is the distilled essence that represents everything going on out back.”

Abizaid has previously argued that the U.S. would need “to keep a long-term military presence in Iraq” in order to protect “the free flow of goods and resources” such as oil, but his Stanford comments go much further in pinning oil as a prime motivator for the war.

The Bush administration, however, still denies any connection between the war in Iraq and America’s geopolitical interest in Middle East oil. Just last month, after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote that “the Iraq War is largely about oil,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates rejected the notion, saying “I just don’t believe it’s true“:

“I wasn’t here for the decision-making process that initiated it, that started the war,” Gates said. But he added, “I know the same allegation was made about the Gulf War in 1991, and I just don’t believe it’s true.”

“I think that it’s really about stability in the Gulf. It’s about rogue regimes trying to develop weapons of mass destruction. It’s about aggressive dictators,” Gates said.

Though Abizaid says that Bush’s Iraq policy seeks to keep oil “prices low,” the per-barrel cost of oil has risen dramatically since the U.S. first invaded. In March 2003, the price of oil was roughly US$35 a barrel. Today, prices reached “above $85 a barrel for the first time.”

photos of the engine

2007-10-11T12:35:00.000-05:00

for people who read my blog with a reader, i thought you might like to know that i posted some photos of the engine. they are really cool. i just decided to keep it with the original post for continuity. but then i did this so...whateve. there are not rules to blogging.....

the engine that will change the world

2007-10-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

a few years ago i went to sarah and tomicah's for lunch and before i knew it tomicah was showing me slides for a engine that would change the world. it was an engine that his brother (younger brother corban. at the time i think he was 17) developed, but that he had contributed to. it was fascinating. being the mad scientist that i am, i didn't really get it. but i got that it was a huge improvement from the regular piston action we are used to in our combustion engines. it also tapped into this crazy thing i have thought for a long time. my dad and i used to work on his car and motorcycles together (mostly i would be in the way, but i liked to think i was helping.) he explained to me how inefficient the combustion engine was and how there were better carburetors developed but that evil selfish auto and oil industry leaders wouldn't let these carburetors out to the market. suddenly, here was an engine that so completely improved upon it that it might mean we could no longer be dependant on foreign oil and we could also be free from exorbitant CO2 emissions.

here are some photos of what i saw....

the engine open

the engine closed

a cut away

this explains the whole cycle, but you have to click on it to really get the gist of it.

later that day i was asked to sign a confidentiality agreement, because i had been shown things that were protected until the patent was obtained. well the patent is in hand and now i can talk about it. they are talking with some serious investors and are applying for a grant a NASA that will hopefully attract more attention and then more investors. apparently one of the criteria the judges use when scoring applications is how many views the concept got. please click on the link above in an effort not only to help tomicah but also to help us all have better engines.

the first paragraph looks like this:

Despite skyrocketing oil prices and mounting worldwide energy concerns, the vast majority of internal combustion engines we use for transportation and commerce run at approximately 25% efficiency. Current designs waste 75% of the fuel we pour into them. How to allocate energy resources among a rapidly expanding global consumer base is one of the defining challenges for this generation. Tendix LLC developed a new family of engines that promise to be part of the solution, dramatically enhancing fuel efficiency, effectively prolonging the viability of global petroleum reserves and significantly reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

check it out, and then please pass it on and put it on your own blog ... you know i love terracycle, but i think this has the potential to be way bigger than even worm poop: if you can believe that!

reeling around my mind

2007-10-09T19:48:00.000-05:00

many of you might think it is scary in here, but really it is just full of this

on continuous replay

biking in dc and the eastern shore

2007-10-08T22:37:00.001-05:00

to say i've caught the cycling bug would be an understatement. i realized today that the reason i was feeling so yucky had nothing to do with my spider bite on my shoulder and everything to do with a lack of protein. i have ridden about 175 miles in the last week and a half and haven't really been monitoring my protein intake. this is a mistake for a pescatarian like myself. today i was wanting so badly to go on a ride, but just felt miserable and achy and then started craving chicken (chicken???!!!) . so i grabbed dianna, who also wasn't feeling good and we went to chicken out and pigged out on chicken. and i did feel better. though the truth is, i don't really like chicken.

dianna and i have been on some beautiful rides during this indian summer. here are a few photos...

preping for a ride to mount vernon

@ mt. vernon
dianna is talking to lindsay. this makes her ecstatic.

the river on the way home

on saturday, we decided to do a early morning ride on the eastern shore. i guess i was the only one who decided; dianna stalled all day. she later confessed that she really didn't want to go. at 4:pm we headed out for the eastern shore. at 5 we mounted our bikes for a 33 mile ride.

we had to take this ferry during our ride.
it was gorgeous and fun
but please note the angle and color of the sun light
we are smack dab in the middle of the ride at this point

we waited for about 20 minutes

the whole ferry thing took about 45 minutes. we didn't really pay attention to what we were doing and our cue sheet had us take a long detour into a quaint little town called st. michaels and then turn around. long story short we should have just gone straight back to the car from the ferry. we ended up riding in the pitch black night. there was no moon, no streetlights, and we didn't have reflectors, lights, or even bright clothing. it was a harrowing ride. dianna and i couldn't see each other. cars couldn't see us. we couldn't see obstacles in our way. i am sure that God protected us on this ride. i cannot believe we didn't crash.

hanging out with vint, toby, and truffle

2007-10-07T18:57:00.000-05:00

my birthday weekend in norfolk, ct was a relaxation extravaganza. vint got dianna and i massages from the most gifted massage therapist, melanie. not only is she a heck of a massage therapist, she conceived and gave birth to triplets naturally. WHAT???!!!! now they are 8 and she has taught them to do massage and they have weekly spa nights. how awesome is that?

i found a frog!

everything i need to relax: water bottle with tea, laptop, new orange jacket,
and norfolk sunshine

dianna and vint. at one point he said to her: "that's an interesting way of wearing clothes." those of you who know how all sorts of dianna's undergarments can be showing at any one time can appreciate.

vint and his lovely, tho stinky, dogs took us on a couple of long walks. he entertained us with vietnam war stories of his work with the hmong in laos when he worked for the cia.

annie and vint told us toby pond would be warm and that we should bring our swimsuits.
we brought our swimsuits, but getting in the water was a real challenge.

debating a swim.
dianna and i decided that riding for 3 days straight might be enough.
lindsay finally got in.

the perfect stroke.
(we'll later discover that this is what the early stages of hypothermia look like)

babushka! freezing to death!

vint offered to take us for a spin in chichibu, a 1931 model a. it belonged to his grandparents who took it to tour japan on a boat named chichibu maru (or something)

the engine wouldn't start, so we pushed chichibu out of the garage to get it rolling.

lindsay riding shotgun in chichibu. vint furiously trying to get the engine started.

well. we rolled all the way down windrow road and the car never turned on.
we towed it to a garage rather than push it back up the hill.

tying chichibu up to the truck.

we're clearly not much help here.

but are having the time of our lives!

i drove chichibu behind the tow. it was scary! the car is super old, rare and priceless!

the garage where chichibu will spend the winter.

with chichibu out, vint still wanted to show us the gorgeous forest that his family holds in a perpetual trust. it was so beautiful.

they all used to make maple syrup from the maple trees in the forest, but with climate change, the maple trees that produce syrup don't grow here anymore.

this is the sort of thing that keeps me up at night.

vint giving us a lesson in botany.
the difference between hemlock and queen anne's lace.
firs, maples, and more trees.

we were driving out of the forest when lindsay "eagle eyes" workman saw these two porcupines.
she is now enlisted to join me on my next safari
seeing thru the bush is the most valuable of all safari skills.

this is the road that we traveled thru the forest.
reminds me of what the road less traveled might have looked like

on the way home, dianna and i drove a little out of the way to travel down some of the roads we'd biked up a few days earlier. it was ALL uphill!!!

i took this picture because i'm a total nerd and love to know about fish in the rivers.
and for my friend mike.
but i kept seeing these and thinking i might have found mike's heaven.
biking through fly fishing spots

lindsay flew out from hartford the day before so she could get back to work. dianna and i drove the car, our bikes, and all the goodies that vint gave us back to washington. vint's goodies included tomatoes, raspberries, homemade apple cider, and sport-tea. we stopped on the side of the road and picked up wild little tiny apples. they are SO good. we ate some tonight. nice and tart!

on the long drive home, we listened to annie's book naked in baghdad on tape. she is an awesome storyteller, and lanneedelamusement officially endoreses the book. it is creepy how spot on the iraqis were about how this war would turn out. it REALLY makes you think about what why we should have known better BEFORE invading. thanks for what you do annie!

thanks again annie and vint! you are lifesavers!!!!!

b-day bike tour

2007-10-04T10:10:00.001-05:00

on the heels of the smith mountain like tri debacle, i had a birthday. i am at the point where birthdays feel more like an event to mourn that something to celebrate. i asked dianna and lindsay to go out of town. i had initially thought paris and rome. then we bought tickets to buenos aires. we ended up planning a cycling tour from providence, ri to norfolk, ct where we would hang out with our favorite man in the berkshires, vint lawrence. this wasn't the ideal plan because our favorite reporter from the berkshires, annie garrels, is working in baghdad so we can get a more realistic view of what is happening in iraq, the effect of the surge, and what can be done. we missed annie immensely, but were looking forward to spending time with her delightful husband.

the night before our anticipated departure, thru a means i am not proud to admit, so won't, i found that jennifer's new mother, bobbie, emailed lindsay after my horrible conversation with debbie and dave. in an email with the subject line "we still love you," bobbie outlined how she and debbie had come to believe that i am "the problem". she suggested that lindsay hadn't said much over the past few months (though it was lindsay who wrote a 17 page letter detailing how hard it was to be accused of all these crazy things and explaining in detail what we had done). she said many hurtful things about how i am mean and selfish and how she feels sorry for lindsay.

it was devastating, tho that word isn't strong enough.

lindsay and i spent much of the night talking about this. she said she nearly vomited when she received the email and was incredibly hurt. not only by the accusations against me and the mischaracterization of me and how destructive she knew it could be for me, but also that she had not been heard.

it was like a log falling on an overburdened camel. i crumbled. i felt betrayed, hurt, and despised. nothing could comfort me. i didn't sleep.

we had planned on leaving at 10 am. then 1:30. then 3:30. lindsay came home from work, and dianna and lindsay packed my bags. they packed the car, and then, headachey and exhausted (all of us), we started out at 5:pm towards providence. 5:pm is a parking lot on the bw parkway, but we made it through. as the sun set, and the moon came up we finally started moving. this is about one of 20 photos i tried to take of an amazing harvest moon.

we got to woodbridge, nj exhausted and hungry. we ate at wegmann's, our usual haunt. lindsay thought we might be best off staying in new jersey since we were still at least 4 hours away, but my face fell as i thought that the situation with the girls would have the power to ruin another one of my birthdays. in one of the greatest acts of love and friendship, lindsay took over the wheel. she soldiered on so that we would all have the pleasure of waking up in providence. dianna and i slept most of the way. lindsay sang to the iPod, and was most dear.

because of her, we woke up here.

providence from our hotel window

we walked around but soon realized that it was time to ride
i needed to blow off the lingering steam and cities aren't the best place for that.
so ride we did.

this is our ride

some of the scenery
this really doesn't do it justice
we saw: lighthouses, boats, fall foliage, and revolution aged homes

we forgot to take photos, but we ate a clam shop in bristol after we returned.
it was delicious
and i felt like a new woman
lindsay then again, in an act of pure love
drove us to mansfield center, ct where we had reservations at the
the fitch house

we had an compulsory tour of the house
drank this yummy birch beer soda
and got to our room just in time for the session premiere of the office

we woke up to this breakfast

it was super cute, and totally delish

and headed out

this is our path
this is what a 45 mile ride looks like

our ponies

we started near mansfield
and we should have taken photos of all these towns we went thru but didn't

climbing up one of the hills in the nathan hale state forrest

at the connecticut river in hartford
unfortunately, this part of the ride was kinda ugly
through the burbs of hartford
a forgotten town

if you can't tell, this is the connecticut river

we had to climb up an incredible hill just at the end (avon mountain)
dianna got dehydrated
i had forgotten to keep my watch on so too much time had passed between food stops
and her tea bag broke in her camleback.
we stopped at a farmer's market and got water and bananas
dianna's color turned from green back to normal and we headed out
as we kept making the ascent up the mountain we pulled over for a break,
i was worried about dianna
lindsay passed and saved the day
i rode the last 5 miles to the b&b alone
we ate the most delicious meal ever at amelias american bistro in simsbury, ct
it is worth the drive to get there
the next trip to norfolk will mean a trip to amelias

we stayed at the linden house
it was delightful
the breakfast of quiche and bread was wonderful
the irish innkeeps so sweet

here we all are suiting up.
lindsay preping as the best sag in the world, and dianna in a clean cycling shirt
lindsay left in a rush for a hair cut and a surprise makeover at cvs

here i am on the phone with aimee
this is my actual birthday and it was nice to get all the calls that flooded in

about 20 minutes in, dianna was about to die.
we had been going up another mountain the whole time
and she wasn't sure she wanted to do this anymore
we ate a cliff mojo bar
and confirmed that this was not necessary
she bravely decided to keep going
despite her better judgement

and we started seeing all sorts of stuff like this

who knew that in connecticut they make castles in the middle of lakes?

my gas station birthday lunch
please note that the egg is wrapped in plastic
why in the world is this necessary?
eggs come with their own awesome packaging

here i am talking to my grandma

my grandma always makes me really really happy

we road up the american legion state park and the peoples state forrest
we spotted this eagle
he hung out long enough for us to really get a good look
then dianna yelled at him because she wanted to see her fly
she was exquisite

it was a gradual ascent the entire day!

more of the beauty we were surrounded by

we used the connecticut state bike map which lead us to these beautiful untrafficked roads

this is colesbrook, and it is here that we saw the first sign for norfolk!
it was a wonderful site to behold

the ascent made us really burn through our lunch
we stopped here and ate apples from the ground, they were AWESOME
dianna says this photo doesn't even capture how she felt

lindsay found us near the top of our second to the last hill
it was great to see her
she told us how close we were and encouraged us to keep going
so we did
and we wisely gave her the camera
here we are on our last leg to annie and vint's

coming down the last decent

dianna met lindsay were we planned on stopping
now that is real happiness

i decided to just keep going up the hill
they came right up behind
it was so great to finally arrive!
i was starving!!!!

here is our route.
you can see i forgot to hit start a couple of times on my watch
my watch tells me i burned 3500 calories this day
rode for 40 miles
and climbed almost all of it

see
gray = elevation
red = heart rate

we went for pizza and lindsay got busy making elaine's present
we order 3 small pizzas
a salad
and bruchetta
we ended up taking an entire pizza home

we returned to jakes where i openned presents from my grandma and my trip mates

my sweet grandma gave me jewelry from her sister and lots of fun photos
dianna and lindsay gave me a crossword puzzle and a drill
i have been thinking about buying a house to fix up and they thought
this drill might come in real handy
i love all the research that went into getting this drill
and how supportive they are of any of my crazy ideas

my shock and dianna's thrill at the birthday drill

altruism and the smith mountain tri

2007-10-04T08:51:00.000-05:00

life is not something you can control. official decrees and years dedicated to fun and healing doesn't make it so. you can control blogs. i choose to include only those aspects of this year that are fun. and it is nice, because when things are crazy or yucky i can write on this blog or re-read and remember that life is not all bad.

but i am, just for a moment, going to write about something more serious. so forgive the intrusion on this catalogue of fun. if i am ever going to paint a picture of how wonderful my friends are, i need to acknowledge this muck. i hope that this will explain what happened at the smith mountain lake triathlon and on my birthday weekend. it should also help you appreciate how wonderful lindsay and dianna are. they have shouldered much of this burden and even when the attacks are pointed directly at me, they share in them, protect me from believing them, and insist that i get out and do something fun.

i have for a long time wanted to write something about this, though i planned on writing it on raisingdc. it seems more appropriate here. i will somehow link, so that readership will know what is going on. the title of that entry was to be "is altruism dead?" i have written it a hundred times in my head. who knows how it will turn out here.

as many of you know, last year lindsay and i took on the herculean task of saving two girls who we loved immensely from the dc foster care system. the story is chronicled at raisingdc.blogspot.com. i will spare you all the gory details here and in fact you are spared the most gory there as well. the long story short is that lindsay and i loved these two little girls for 4 years. they eventually were abandoned by their family when their mother became so incapacitated she could no longer take care of herself (she was never much able to care for them).

jennifer and paulette's aunt asked us to put them in the foster care system because she was unable to. dc figured an aunt stable enough to call should be able take care of them. the system is really overtaxed. i protested putting them in foster care and they ended up living in our house for about 7 months. jennifer for 5 and paulette for 7.

it was hard (an understatement). it was the most noble work i feel like i have ever done. i did what i did out of pure desire to help them; for them to know they are loved; and for them to have a chance at the world. i felt good believing that i was doing what God would do if He were here. WWJD? this! both of them are INCREDIBLY gifted and have all of the promise of young talent. i want them to be able to make the world better in their way. i believed in them and i believed that given a chance they would become a force for good that could not be stopped. (i still believe all this, though i am starting to see that there are unbelievable hurdles still to jump).

we thought the story ended with God parting the red sea twice. thru no small feat of divine intervention, God led us to a family who wanted to take care of jennifer and one that wanted to take care of paulette. we believed they were Godsends, and in part, still do.

things got ugly a few months ago when jennifer's new family decided to put her in the arizona foster care system to expedite their ability to adopt her. we were not consulted before the decision was made, but arizona state needed to hear from lindsay and i, and essentially wanted our consent for the action. we didn't give it. we feared it would prohibit paulette from ever being permanent. we feared that somehow jen might end up back in dc and out of her current home. we just felt like it was a disastrous move, and said so.

this led to an onslaught of accusations and pain. the fiasco with the az foster care system ended up costing us quite a bit in legal fees. we had an amazing lawyer, kim viti fiorentino, who we found through another act of God and paid for her by the mercy of loving friends and family. for months we were being counseled to get a lawyer, but we refused because of cost. when our landlord threatened to kick us out, because we had the girls living in the house and a police officer said that if paulette ran away again (and got icked up by the police) that someone would have to be charged with neglect and it would be us, we decided that maybe we should ask friends and family for financial help and get one. she was another godsend and really help us alot. i still feel like she is a friend. our friends and family were also angels of mercy. many of them felt like we were in over our head, but supported us nonetheless.

we had told both of the families that if there was money left over after we sorted our legal situation, we would split it evenly among the girls. it could be used for any additional legal fees, therapy, or college. the well ran dry, and when it did, it unleashed a fury of accusations.

to skip some of the ugly, lindsay and i were accused of stealing this money from the girls and of deceiving the families regarding the amount of time that the girls actually spent living in our homes. these accusations were shared far and wide. they told the girls that we had stolen their money. it took months before we knew what was being said. once we did, we sent a detailed accounting of all of our money to the two families. we explained what we had done. we also sent names of people they could contact who knew what was going on (bishops, friends, therapists of the girls, etc) and we asked them to read the blog so they could get an idea of what was happening while they were living with us. the families have yet to do any of this. but the accusations still fly.

this leads me to wonder if altruism has become so uncommon that people can't believe it exists. in graduate school, i took a class with phd clinical psych students called "philosophy of psychology" where we discussed altruism at length. people questioned if Christ's atonement was really an altruistic act. i was appalled! how could this act of love be seen as anything other than that, an act of love. but people suggested that Christ did this for His promised station with God the Father if he did it, etc. that he was set to get great gains. i was shocked. all these mormons suggesting that Jesus was nothing other than someone out for a better position. COME ON!

this has stuck with me. not that i believe there is a word of truth in it. however, when people believe that altruism is either impossible or completely dead, they form a worldview that is quite different from mine. with such a worldview, the work that lindsay and i performed, or any act of kindness, is broken down into what is to be gained. where is the selfish motive? it breeds suspicion, and i think eventually snuffs out love all together. all i got was fat, abused, and hurt, so it stands to reason that people would start turning pillows over to see what else might have been gained. introduce some money and viola: we did it for the money.

no amount of money would ever convince me to do what i did. now, i can assure you that if i wanted to earn the amount of money we are talking about i could have decided to start doing therapy again, consult part time, etc and make MUCH more with FAR less pain. and i think that is what hurts. those who know me know that money is not much of a motivator. so the whole thing is ridiculous!

the night before the smith mountain triathlon, paulette's new mother debbie called to tell me that she forgave me for stealing money and lying about how long paulette lived with me. she just wanted things to go back to the way they were. the conversation didn't go well, since i felt accused all over again. i explained that it mattered to me that the lies that had been told to the girls be straightened out. she yelled at me, then her husband yelled at me. he later calmed down and begged me not to erase the legal and financial responsibilities i still have for paulette. i assured him that i wouldn't. not because he asked, but because i want what is best for paulette.

i was so upset that i couldn't sleep and decided not to set an alarm to wake up for the triathlon. dianna and i hadn't trained as much as we had wanted. she has been working the overnight, and is always worn out.

so instead competing in an olympic-distance triathlon, we slept in a sweet little condo on the lake. here is smith mountain lake, looking at where were would have swam had we done the race.

dianna and i as we are about to embark on our 4th trip to smith mountain lake

sometimes a girls has to do what a girl has to do

in this case both of us did
please just remember that we had to ride in a car for 5 hours to get to smith mountain lake.

the view from our condo

some swimming race for boys
it was really fun to watch!
for obvious reasons

we did some cycling, since we'd brought our bikes all the way down there..
we rode the 25 rtn trip to booker t. washington's birthplace (we forgot the camera), up some very hilly roads.

as we drove home, we stopped by Appomattox where lee surrendered. i have been told for years that i am a direct decedent of gen. robert e. lee, and have always found a family resemblance. i thought he looked just like my uncle jim. turns out i was confusing grant with lee. we look like grant, and i am not sure we have any relationship. so...who knows what side i was on.

APPOMATTOX
the desk were lee surrendered

grant's side of the room during the surrender
i am surprised that this southerner is so happy to be here

so who am i related to???
the one with the frizziest hair

just a couple of tea lovin girls in the country where the civil war ended

i am glad that through this yuckiness my friends help me have a good time. we ended up having fun and relaxing. something i think we both really needed. it is always fun to do a triathlon, but there will be more. it actually felt kinda healthy and grown-up to just decide not to.

taking on the beauty industry

2007-10-04T08:28:00.000-05:00

i saw this thanks to my friend k8. thanks katie!

as a woman who has never felt very comfortable with the way she looks, seeing this message makes me feel better. i have often wondered where the american ideal of femine beauty came from. my grandmother has told me that it has changed quite a bit.

as i have traveled i have learned that beauty is often very culturally defined. it is indeed in the eye of the beholder, but part of what makes that eye is his/her sociology. walking through a market in bulawayo, zimbabwe with my friend kim a few years ago i was taught a powerful lesson. she was at least 5 inches taller and probably 10-12 sizes bigger and in this market, she turned heads. everyone wanted to touch her. they wanted to look at her. women came up to her and touched her bum; telling her that it was a perfect ndebele bum. she was a phenomenal car stopping beauty in this market. i was a scrawny looking american. i was told that i looked like i didn't have access to enough food etc. i looked ill to them. i think we both learned that day, that no one really can define beauty any better than to say it is truth. and when it comes in the human form, we all are beautiful somewhere. in fact, we are all beautiful. not always easy to remember, but gosh it feels good when you can.

eastern market: top 10 neighborhoods in america

2007-10-03T08:32:00.000-05:00

Eastern Market Washington, D.C.

Colorful streetscape. Courtesy of Pepper Watkins.	Entrance to metro stop. Courtesy of Pepper Watkins.
Eastern Market festival after 2007 fire. Courtesy of Yufeng Guo.	View of parking access in alleyways. Courtesy of Pepper Watkins.
Pedestrians enjoying a lazy stroll under tree-covered sidewalks. Courtesy of Monica Groh.

Civic Activism Enduring Staple of Neighborhood

Sitting in the shadow of the nation's Capitol, the Eastern Market neighborhood has retained its unpretentious, charming nature for more than 200 years. As a result of its original design and the community's commitment to local preservation, the area has weathered many political and economic storms to emerge today as a thriving residential community with a strong sense of its history as well as its future.

The American Planning Association has selected the Eastern Market neighborhood as one of 10 Great Neighborhoods in America for its continued success in balancing the demands of growth and change, while preserving the fundamental values of the community.

Pierre L'Enfant's 1791 plan for Washington, D.C., with its wide and open avenues, circles, parks, and public squares, continues to define Eastern Market to this day. Here, tree-lined residential streets — replete with 19th century manor houses, federal townhouses, small frame dwellings, and ornate Italianate homes — open out into pulsating commercial districts with their own eclectic mix of tenants.

While densely populated and fully developed, Eastern Market retains much of the open space visualized by L'Enfant. The neighborhood's commercial district stretches for several blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue. Populated by a mix of locally owned businesses and some franchises, the broad avenue is busy nearly round the clock. Pedestrians — many arriving by Metro rail — window shop, run errands, or grab a bite to eat.

One of the more important structures of the neighborhood is Eastern Market itself, which was been in continuous operation since 1873. The market serves a diverse and broad cross-section of people, promotes community involvement, and operates as a hub for social activity. It easily accommodates the transportation needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, drivers, and transit users, and it meets the needs of its community for a local market. Residents view the market as a town square of sorts, queuing up early on Saturday mornings for blueberry pancakes at Market Lunch then strolling through the South Hall to purchase prime cuts of meat, seafood, poultry, and cheese. Outside, local farmers set up stands offering locally grown fruit, vegetables, cut flowers, and homemade breads and jams. It is the heart, and maybe the soul, of the neighborhood.

Several attempts by the District of Columbia government to close the Eastern Market, most recently in the mid–1950s, spurred residents into action to sustain it. By the 1970s, residents had acquired a reputation for civic activism. Among their successes was the defeat of a proposal to transform East Capitol Street into a boulevard of federal office buildings and plans to erect the city's tallest high rise on Pennsylvania Avenue. In the early 1990s, a group of residents derailed a proposal to renovate the market for fear that modifications might compromise the building's historic character. Renovation plans progressed after the establishment of a citizens advisory committee in 1999.

Although an April 2007 fire caused businesses in the market to be temporarily relocated during rebuilding, citizens have demonstrated their commitment and tenacity to sustaining their special neighborhood by pressing city officials and others to create a vision and plan for permanent restoration of the 134-year-old structure during the next two years. Although the market operates in temporary quarters, the spirit and commitment of the neighborhood's residents remains indomitable.

Another significant example of the neighborhood's investment in communities of value is the Barracks Row Main Street program, an economic revitalization effort that seeks to restore small businesses and make the neighborhood more self-supporting. Barracks Row, which runs from Pennsylvania Avenue south to the Navy Yard, has emerged as a prime shopping and dining destination.

The Eastern Market neighborhood is a thriving example of the spirit and commitment of its residents. Their civic pride and dedication, combined with the centuries old vision for this community, sustain this neighborhood's unique characteristics.

Live music at Eastern Market. Courtesy of Monica Groh.

terracycle wins. sort of.

2007-09-26T06:36:00.000-05:00

the folks at scotts-miraclegro seem to have caved entirely in the face of overwhelmingly negative press coverage of their lawsuit against terracycle, our favorite worm poop kings. they all but dropped the lawsuit, even tho they're spinning it like a settlement.

i like to think npr's feature was the rock that broke scotts' face.

i secretly wish that the lawsuit would have gone to court, so that tom szaky and team could come out as the clear winner. but this is a good consolation prize: they won't spend millions of dollars on litigation, and instead can invest in developing more worm poop products.

speaking of worms, my own are doing well. they eat a lot and make lots of highly nutritious fertilizer for my houseplants and garden.

i know my readers are riveted to this story, so i'll keep the terracycle updates coming!!!

yougurt containers for smarter kids

2007-09-24T22:38:00.000-05:00

as you may know raisingdc loves KIPP!!! so we have signed up, and hope you will too, to collect yogurt containers and soda bottles and ship them to terracycle. terracycle will give $.o5/soda bottle and $.05 or $.02 for yogurt containers depending on the size of the containers. when you sign up, just choose KIPP DC. just think if the colonial ward decided to do this, how much waste would be saved and how much cash could start flowing into this awesome school.

Program Statistics:

269 spots available

31 total participating locations

This program is only available in CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT and WV

the bottle brigade is hurting:

The Bottle Brigade Needs Your Help to Survive!

The Bottle Brigade™ needs a sponsor and we need your help in finding one! The Bottle Brigade has been hugely successful. So successful, in fact, that our small start up company can barely support the costs and labor needs associated with running the program. Recently the Bottle Brigade reached an amazing 4,000 locations in a little less than a year and a half! We never imagined it would become so popular, so fast. We were doing really well until a change in shipping policies caused by rising gas prices and shipping companies switching to dimensional weight this year. The shipping of our boxes has tripled in cost and because of this we are forced to scale back.

The Bottle Brigade is designed to help teach children about the importance of saving the environment and conserving resources. More then half of our locations are primary schools and teaching these young kids to "reduce, reuse and rethink" is a vital mission of our program. However we simply cannot continue to grow this great program without financial support. With a sponsor we can continue to sign up locations. Sponsorship would help us clear out our waiting list of hundreds of locations. It could also help us to develop an entire recycling and reusing curriculum to send to participating schools!

So we need your help to save this program and allow it to reach its full potential! Here are just a few of the benefits of a sponsorship. The sponsor's name and logo will be on every one of the 10,000 plus boxes we send. The boxes are usually located in high traffic areas. In addition, the sponsor would be credited in every press release that it single-handedly helped save the Bottle Brigade program. This year to date TerraCycle has been mentioned in hundreds of articles (Audited Bureau of Circulation of over 66 million impressions). Most importantly a sponsor will know it's helping America's children save their future. If you are interested in the sponsorship or know someone who would be interested, please review our proposal and press release in the following links.

Word document detailing the sponsorship opportunity
(please be patient, this is a large file)

Sponsorship Press Release

what i do when i go on business travel

2007-09-24T08:13:00.000-05:00

Healing body & soul

Christian clinics expand to include outreach program

By Amos Maki

Friday, September 21, 2007

Three years ago when 60-year-old Juanita Fields was plagued by persistent low energy, she sought help in the emergency room.

The multiple ER doctors who treated her couldn't diagnose her problem, but on a visit to the Christ Community Health Services clinic in Orange Mound, doctors determined Fields had diabetes.

"Right away, they started treating me and giving me the right medication," Fields said. "I'm still following my directions and my diet."

Since its founding in 1995, Christ Community Health Services, a nonprofit focused on fulfilling the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of the poor and under-served, has helped thousands of people like Fields.

Now, Christ Community -- which has four clinics that offer services ranging from adult, newborn and pediatric care to obstetrics, gynecology, dentistry and pharmacy -- is extending its roots in Memphis by buying a new building near the fairgrounds that will house the agency's community outreach program.

"I think we're really pleased that we're able to serve more people and we're gratified by the support we've received from people in the business and philanthropic communities," said Burt Waller, executive director of CCHS. "Our first seven years in existence were really lived on the edge of financial ruin, so that makes us feel a great sense of humility about our success."

Christ Community is also drawing the interest of federal officials who think it could serve as a model for other faith-based and community health organizations that receive federal funding.

"This is a stellar community health center," said Kimberly Konkel, associate director for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, who recently toured two Christ Community clinics. "I wish we had more like it."

Unlike some other health care providers to the poor, there is nothing poor about the services offered at Christ Community, Konkel said.

The experience begins when you walk in the front door, Konkel said. The bright, clean center in Orange Mound resembles a clinic you might find in the suburbs, not one that caters to the poor and uninsured.

"When you walk in here, the clinic doesn't look any different than a normal, full-service clinic," Konkel said. "Everything is nice, and that's not always the case when it comes to community health centers."

Konkel said appearances can be crucial when it comes to getting people to come to the doctor for diagnosis or treatment.

And if they're more likely to get care at a community clinic such as Christ Community, Konkel said, they're less likely to go to an emergency room.

"The people in this demographic are usually going to emergency rooms," she said. "We hope we can allay those costs with this kind of preventive medicine."

Konkel and Mike Costigan, director for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at HHS, said Christ Community has done a remarkable job leveraging federal funds to attract more funding from the private sector.

"We're trying to teach these groups to develop these kinds of partnerships," he said. "How do you build those relationships and fund-raising so you don't have to rely on us?"

CCHS receives about $1.2million in federal funds each year to support the operations of its health centers and another $600,000 per year to support its outreach programs.

Leveraging the federal funds was crucial to opening the Orange Mound clinic. In 2005, CCHS used the federal funds for operations to win a grant from the Assisi Foundation to build the clinic.

"We had the funds and capacity financially to operate a center that would break even financially, but what we lacked were the capital funds," Waller said.

They also use private donations to attract federal funds. For instance, the Baptist Foundation funds the organization's mobile clinic, and CCHS used that funding to attract federal grant money for an expansion.

"It works both ways," Waller said. "We're very opportunistic and creative and that has resulted in us being viewed positively locally and nationally, which gives us the ability to do a lot of leveraging."

Christ Community's outreach programs also have been recognized nationally.

In 2006, along with institutions such as Yale University and Columbia University, Christ Community was awarded a $150,000 grant by the Office on Women's Health in HHS to enhance its Heart of a Woman program, an educational effort focused on preventive heart health care for African-American women. Christ Community was the only community-based primary care program to receive funding.

"It is a very positive commentary about how we do our work and how our work is regarded," Waller said.

-- Amos Maki: 529-2351

turns out i'm into sensitive

2007-09-19T17:35:00.003-05:00

you?

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?
	You would fall for the sensitive guy. You'll find your future man wherever turtlenecks are sold. He will have depth, introspection, and a disturbing knowledge of musical theatre. And he may be a little weird. But hey, while your girlfriends cry over broken hearts, you'll be having Shakespeare read to you every night.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE

2007-09-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

20 years ago i snuck around aimee's house with lots of toilet paper and wrapped it around trees with some friends to tell her happy 16th birthday. who knows why that is a "nice" gesture but i did it. she was becoming a good friend. i had taught her some chess, she had taught me some mormon doctrine. we were as different as night and day, black and pink, mod and preppy. but our friendship continued. a year later i became mormon. we took off to byu. then we went on missions. she fell in love quickly after returning from her mission (or maybe sooner :)) and i have yet to fall in love for the long haul.

when best friends marry it is scary. you either get to add a new great friend OR lose your best friend all together. thankfully, i got a new wonderful friend curt. aimee has gone on to rear a family of soon to be 5. we are still pretty different. i live in dc. she lives in gilbert. i am a fed. she is a mom. i am liberal, she is conservative. etc. but we are still wonderful friends. the best of friends. our friendship is wonderful because it has lasted so long, though so much change but we are always there for each other.

thanks aimee for being you. for being 36 while i am still 35. for sharing so many wonderful moments and being someone i can always share the cruddy moments with too.

here's to another 20 years. hopefully by then we will have thrown in a couple of extra ferris birthdays. here's to bocce balls and flag burnings (and their constitutionality); trips to the river; closing our eyes; babies being born, break-ups, sickness, health, and on and on.

loads of love to you!!!!!!

Dare to Give Washington a Vote

2007-09-18T22:07:00.001-05:00

September 18, 2007

Editorial

Dare to Give Washington a Vote

It’s time to end the embarrassing servitude of Washington, D.C., which is denied true democratic representation. The city of 550,000 taxpaying Americans currently elects a member to the House of Representatives who is allowed to debate each and every issue, yet is denied the right to vote on the fate of any of them. The House has approved a bill that would give the D.C. shadow delegate voting power, and it now faces a make-or-break decision in the Senate.

The bill — the product of classic political horse trading — would enlarge the House by two seats: one for D.C., a likely Democratic representative, the other for Utah, whose population growth justifies a seat that probably would go to the Republicans. Opponents continue to raise constitutional issues about the district’s not being a full-fledged state; proponents offer counterarguments about Congress’s long history of dominating, even dictating, the city’s precise political freedoms. This will likely end up in the courts, but what could be closer to the ideals of America’s democracy than giving D.C. taxpayers their long-denied representation?

The Senate will vote today on whether to clear the measure for debate by invoking cloture to block a filibuster by opponents. A minimum of 60 votes is required, and it would be a grim echo of segregationist history if the Senate denied this opportunity to advance the district’s voting rights. No less relevant is the current history of the Iraq war waged in the name of promoting democracy overseas. President Bush has threatened a veto of the measure, so a 60-plus vote would be a potent signal that Congress is determined to promote American ideals in America’s own front yard.

but then this....

Senate Republicans Kill DC Voting Rights Bill

from The Huffington Post | Raw Feed by The Huffington Post News Editors

A bill that would have given District of Columbia residents their first-ever member of Congress died in the Senate on Tuesday, dashing hopes of finally gaining full voting rights after a 206-year wait.

Senators voted 57-42, just three votes short of the 60 needed to move the measure forward. The bill would have created two new House seats: One for the city of about 600,000 people and one for Utah, which narrowly missed out on a fourth seat after the last census.

more from flight of the conchords

2007-09-17T21:10:00.000-05:00

i can't stop watching these so i am subjecting my blog to more of my favorites...

THINK ABOUT IT!

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

la double quincenera de dianna

2007-09-17T07:29:00.000-05:00

the douglas' arrived with 3 suitcases full of decorations for the party
not little carry on suitcases
big huge suitcases full of stuff
like:

a suitcase full of plastic coconuts, palm trees and pineapples for drinks

becky and lindsay in action.

lindsay was in heaven with all these decorations.

jolanta and lindsay making a plethora of cupcakes

becky, john and michael cleaning the backyard.

i won't let anyone sleep at my house without working, apparently.

once the backyard was cleaned, the lights went up. notice that the lights are pineapples and plam trees. there are also chili peppers and sunshines.

people even risked their lives to get these lights up.

michael in a tree
becky working like a banshee

daddy and daughter taking a break.

check out how interested joda is in michael's pontifications.

between mike and tom, there was never an awkward pause in a single conversation all weekend.

the house is coming together
please note all the drinks behind michael

lindsay made the most delicious chocolate cupcakes with beets
it was so so good, i was going to put the recipe, but i don't have it
so if you want it, let me know

we then ran out to get pinatas
(you know it is a good day when you are running out for pinatas)
please note how much nicer that tree's planter box is
thanks john!

the pinata getters
olivia, dianna, and me

the douglas clan that came to the party
4 brothers and in-laws and nephews are missing.

who knows why we are smiling! perhaps because we know we'll get a 3 hour break while the guests are actually at the party. then, it's back to work.

the quinceanera, or birthday girl.

then the party began. we decided to really feed our guests
with:
root beer
yummy juice
herb tea
shredded beef*
shredded pork**
salmon***
refried beans
tortillas de arizona (thanks mom)
and lots of fixin's

this guy kicked off the party

holly and ben, most likely discussing how super-clean our backyard is.

cupcake mania

please note isaac's awesomeness about cupcakes

sarah's mom came all the way from seattle for this party

tomicah and ando always slip into hungarian every time they're reunited.

i'm glad we brought them together again

todd, jenn, olivia and kari in the psychedelic green doorway.

bethany, simone and camille.

the pinata gets attacked by a rusted metal rod covered in duct tape.
no one would let us spin dianna around because there was too much potential for injury

even with the blindfold off she can't get the thing to break

at least she has good form and looks like a model doing it

tom douglas, bearing ice cream cake

how cute is this cake?

then the clean-up.... this is only 1/5 of the mess in the kitchen, not to mention the rest of the house and yard.

dave and kimber stayed to help clean

they deserve a badge of honor,
free meals,
and respect for the rest of their lives for staying
dave's hands were total prunes from washing dishes.

the festivities died down today after the douglas' left for home. it was an awesome weekend. i am really glad we could celebrate dianna. she celebrates so many people all the time, i am really happy we could take a moment and let her know how much we love and appreciate her sunshine-y take on things. we need more diannas in this world for sure.

* the beef recipe
6 lbs of organic grassfed sirloin tip roast
8 cloves of garlic
3 cans of green chilis (diced)
adobo seasoning
salt
1 C water

peel garlic cloves and shove into the meat. heavily dust the meat with adobo seasoning. place in crockpot. add green chilis and water (with about 2 tablespoons of salt). cook on low in the crockpot for about 10 hours

separate beef and juice. reduce juice to about half volume. shred beef. pour reduced juice over beef. serve.

**the pork recipe

1 organic grassfed pork loin roast

½ can apple juice concentrate (in frozen section)

1 liter Dr. Pepper
1 jar chipotle sauce (preferably La Victorian brand)

*put these 4 ingredients in crock pot on low all day (10-12 hours)

when pork is done cooking, transfer to a bowl then shred with a fork. cook the juice down so that some of the water evaporates, to about half of the volume. pour over meat

*** the salmon recipe

big hunk of wild salmon filet
2 cup fresh lime juice
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
whisk together lime juice, salt, and pepper and add oil in a slow stream, whisking. then whisk in cilantro. if you can, let sit overnight.

wrap fish in aluminum foil but don't seal it off, leave the top open. pour on the vinaigrette...be generous. bake on 350 for about 35 minutes. until fish flakes. serve

dianna is 30!

2007-09-17T06:00:00.000-05:00

we had quite a fiesta the last few days celebrating our dear dianna's 30th b-day. i am going to give you a play by play and will include some recipes. if you have requests for recipes that aren't here, please let me know. i found this recipe for chocolate chipotle cakes and thought it would be the perfect combo of deliciousness and utility, seeing as how i have about a million tomatillos. i wanted to have them at the party, but lindsay wisely assessed the difficulty of the recipe and decided that it should not be attempted at such a large scale. she made them last sunday, and they were delicious. however, i think there was a slight (read: huge) misunderstanding about how much an "ounce" of chipotle powder is. so we had REALLY hot cakes. they were tasty and would have been awesome if the kick weren't so intense..

they are pretty, but deadly.

boca negra chocolate chipotle cakes
ingredients

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing ramekins

1 cup sugar plus additional for dusting

6 medium dried chipotle chiles* (1 oz)

6 tablespoons fresh orange juice

10 oz Valrhona semisweet chocolate (56%) or fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

4 large eggs

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: 8 (4-oz) ramekins

Accompaniments: sweet tomatillo sauce; vanilla custard sauce

Preparation

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 325°F.

Butter ramekins and dust with sugar, knocking out excess.
Toast chiles in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, turning, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard stems, seeds, and ribs, then soak chiles in hot water to cover until softened, about 30 minutes. Drain, reserving soaking liquid. Purée chiles in a mini food processor or a blender, adding 2 to 3 tablespoons soaking liquid as needed to form a paste. Force paste through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Set aside 1 1/2 tablespoons chile paste and freeze remainder for another use.
Bring juice and 1 cup sugar to a boil in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour hot syrup over chocolate in a large bowl, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter and stir until melted.
Add eggs 1 at a time, whisking after each addition, then stir in chile paste, flour, and salt. Divide among ramekins and bake in a hot water bath, uncovered, until just firm and top is starting to crust, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer ramekins with tongs to a work surface and let stand 2 minutes.
Unmold warm cakes directly onto dessert plates (they will be difficult to move once they adhere).

Cooks' notes:

• Cakes can be made and unmolded (while hot) up to 2 hours ahead and kept at room temperature, uncovered.

• If you have limited counter space and are baking cakes ahead, unmold cakes onto a baking sheet lined with a nonstick bakeware liner (such as Silpat) and transfer to dessert plates.

Makes 8 servings.

we all had to recuperate from the cake for most of the week ...

thursday
dianna's actual 30th b-day.

she had to work the overnight...freakin' npr! so at 9:30 she came over and we opened presents.

included was a calendar with photos of tunisia, that can also be found on this fine blog.

phone calls poured in with well wishes for a new decade

we decided to go shopping. it was dangerous!

this is nordstrom where this guy sang an american idol version of "happy birthday."

they didn't give her a birthday discount on her shoes, and they're uncomfortable.

i am not sure what message nordstrom is trying to send?
but the soulful singing made dianna happy

we then went to vietnamese food then for mani/pedis at my favorite spot on columbia pike ($35/mani-pedis with the best massage chairs ever), then to rei for some cycling gear.
we were supposed to eat sushi, but dianna had been up too long and started getting really tired. we ended up at pizza--it was good, but not as good and lindsay missed sushi again

friday
dianna and i have been training in our heart rate "zones" ever since taking a vo2 test this spring. we're supposed to get retested every 3 months, but it's expensive and we're lazy. we finally got retested on friday.

dianna getting tested--this mask is measuring how much oxygen goes in and out of her lungs. her heart rate is also being monitored.

notice those blurred legs. she's really flying!

me and my bike getting VO2 tested.

that is sue at the computer. i'm thinking that she may be my new coach.

i am so excited about my test! this is the warm up--no oxygen-measuring mask, yet.

the 15 minute test begins.

it is very rigorous, because you have to reach your maximum heart rate..

grrrrrr

we went on a 50 minute ride in virginia in our new zones

it totally changed my riding -- i think it will be tough but great.

then we went to costco to get stuff for the party and i, like a genius, locked us out of the car.

we lost an hour of our perfectly timed day--we missed the play we were planning to see and kinda got crazed from hunger.

we spend friday night deep cleaning my and dianna's houses--her parents were staying with me, and her brothers mike and tom and her sister jo were staying with her. they were delayed 3 hours in atlanta, and didn't get in until 12:30
it was good to have extra time to clean, but we got super tired we didn't get to sleep until 2.

back up at 7:45 to make more food for the quinceanera.

my computer died

2007-09-12T10:27:00.000-05:00

i was writing last night when suddenly my computer made this fritz noise and shut off and won't turn back on. i am trying to get apple care involved. but i fear i might be offline for awhile. i am sad!

my hummus recipe

2007-09-10T22:27:00.000-05:00

i served some of my hummus at the shower. it was a big hit, and a couple people asked for the recipe. here you go.

in some circles, i am known as belly, so this recipe carries my name.

Belly's Hummus Recipe
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 t salt (flaky sea works best)
2 cans of chickpeas, drained
1/3 C tahini (sometimes i just do a couple of tablespoons)
juice of one regular lemon or 2 limes (about 1/4-1/3 C) or so to taste
1 C extra virgin olive oil (the better the evoo the better the hummus)
cilantro
a little more extra virgin olive oil
pinenuts

mince and mash the garlic to into a paste with the salt.

in a blender/food processor, puree chickpeas with the garlic paste, tahini, lemon juice, evoo and some water. if you need more moisture add either water or oil depending on what you think it needs until it is the desired consistency. if you are watching your weight, you can cut some of the evoo down and replace it with h2o. the better higher quality the oil the better the hummus.

put that in a bowl.

then get about 1/2 C of cilantro leaves. put them in the blender/food processor with about 1/4 - 1/3 C olive oil. until it is all pureed and blended together. pour this over the hummus.

if you want add some toasted pinenuts or marinated beans. but this ain't that necessary.

serve with pita, red or yellow peppers, carrots, or just about anything else that sounds good to you.

makes a nice spread on sandwiches (as if you didn't know that)

i promised and i delivered. whew...i can check this off my list.

there were two...

2007-09-10T22:12:00.000-05:00

last week we had a baby shower for katie and elaine. they are due one day apart and share many of the same friends so they figured why not? i think it is more fun to do it this way.

here is the crew
at least part of it

the mommies-to-be

one happy momma

and another

jane , our amazing relief society president,
knitted/crocheted, i have no idea what
these blankets.
nothing beats handmade gifts

a fearsome duo if i ever saw one

kimber!
say it as tho a tree were falling

i am not sure why elaine looks so scared
maybe because there is someone inside her stomach that could wear all this
and maybe because that someone is going to have to come out

meredith, ever thoughtful and japansese loving, found these cute books!

kim said, "because every girl needs one"
she knitted both baby girls black dresses
and then later told me she decided to do it on monday
who are these people?

i sucked at taking photos at this party. i was too distacted, surprise, but it was as fun as elaine looks in this photo.

and as katie looks in this one

i saw this quote on a birth announcement the other day and thought it apropos for this post, in more ways than one.

“There were two and now there's a third human being, a new spirit, finished and complete, unlike the handiwork of man; a new thought and a new love . . . it's positively frightening. . . . And there's nothing grander in the world.” -- dostoyevsky, the possessed

love, congrats, and good luck to both of you!!!

ED in 08

2007-09-10T09:50:00.000-05:00

in support of holly, my temporary roommate and new friend; KIPP schools; my mom who was an educator while i was growing up; and children all over l'annee de l'amusement wants to call all readers to check out kayne west promoting, kinda ridiculously, the ED in 08 mission.

holly was at the filming and staffed kayne the whole time. while they were in the hotel they ran into vanna...holly instigated the following photo

holly is on the vanna's left. i am more interested though in who the guy is next to vanna who like to think he is ED. he is cute. i can't believe you never mentioned that.

anyway, go voters. no matter what you think about troop withdrawal, surge, deficit spending, universal healthcare, green energy etc. i think we all agree that education is super important. so check it out...

waking up in amsterdam and working in dc

2007-09-07T18:52:00.001-05:00

the other day i eastern market was all aflurry with activity. turns out they are filming a movie "body of lies" in the dc area. the movie is aptly named as it supposedly takes place in amsterdam, but is really at eastern market.

they were filming a car bombing terrorist attack. so on my way to work i passed by the body of lies...
notice they are in coats. it was about 90 with a humidity of abotu 40%. so miserable even summer clothes. more lies

i got bored because they wouldn't let us really onto the set; imagine that. so i decided to go to work. i spotted this bus on the way.

then there was this protest
more like france than holland
i don't think they were striking though, so maybe holland?

on the way home from work there was a helicopter hovering over my house
at least that is what i thought
it was filming

in light of eastern market rescently burning down,
seeing all this smoke and stuff was actually kinda troubling

you can see some of the market wherein i got flowers and veggies for free

dead dummies
guess that is what you get

filming from the roof top

so i will have to see this movie now. lindsay committed to seeing it even if it is R rated.

wow! this is some serious business!!!

segs in the city

2007-09-07T12:05:00.001-05:00

a couple of weeks ago ali called and announced that she had a free ticket that needed to be used. she asked if she could come visit and i of course said yes. i explained my travel schedule and suggested either november or march to which she responded: "how about next weekend?" i was planning to go to corning again to visit diane, but i couldn't say no to ali. we had the most delightful and delicious weekend. she needed a break from h 3 boys and one man. so, for the first time in 8 years this little ali came to see me and got a break from all of her men. she says she loved it and is going to recommend it to all of our mommy friends. so for those of you like aimee, mikki, bekki, et. al. get out here.

here is ali and dianna hanging out
turns out they are the same height and that ali was able to
ride dianna's bike and wear her cycling clothes

thanks lady d.

these 2 crazies are about to leave for london here
ali and i took them and then started the shopping and eating extravagganza

here is fizzy kimmy drinking a grapefruit fizzy izzy
ali's got the grape one
they are to die for

i got ours at marvelous market
delicious

we also got some half price sushi at marvelous and ate caprese sandwiches
we then stayed up late talking and watching
arrested development!

the next "morning" we woke up an went on a bike ride
we road through rock creek park to the temple
it was super fun
ali really like the smooth ride of dianna's ultra awesome bike

after the ride we showered up and walked around eastern market.
peaches and nectarines are in season
we were really loving our lives!

we shopped a bunch at anthro so much that we started getting hungry....
really hungry
and that is never a good thing for m
so we left in a rush to go get sushi
and then saw heritage india and decided that indian sounded better than sushi
go figure
so i over ordered so much that we later had another FULL meal

then it was time to hit the mall
this is ali next to some people representing the poor of the depression
at the FDR memorial

this was an artsy shot that didn't work

nerds near lincoln
i have to say that even though i have been to these monuments 100s of times
and i kinda think they are ostentatious
the quotes in them are super inspiring
and i always end up crying at least once

i tried to awaken this injured soldier with a kiss
the photo of the first kiss didn't work
then there were people with kids walking by
so we ended up abandoning my princesses charming moment
i think we could have had something

we went to the garden everyday to water
here i am standing on my compost bin
watching over my kingdom where i alone have dominion

after church on sunday ali and i took a segway "safari"/tour of embassy row and the cathedral.
check out the segs in the city website
you will get to watch a short video about what we did

here is ali learning from our safari master bill how to ride a segway

here i am, ready for anything

us, our segs, and the mahatma

rock creek park

the iranian embassy
it has been like this since 1979 when diplomatic relations were cut off
they own this building, but their assets were frozen
so it just sits there empty

a moment of silence for iraq
they are the newest kids on the block
but the embassy is not that cool looking

we road up mass to the cathedral
shortly after this photo was taken i drove my segway right into a pole
it made a very loud noise
and i felt kinda dumb

if you look closely you will see that there is a different color of roof on the cathedral
it is by design
apparently people that this cathedral was SO perfect that they had to make it flawed
or it would be an insult to God, the only Being able to make perfect things
i think it is kinda silly, because i can assure you the building isn't perfect.

ali and churchill
churchill has one foot in america and one in england
we think it is because he misses his mother who was an american
roast on england!

then we slept in until noon, well ali did
i was moving around, albeit slowly

we eventually left and ate at:
because we are

see

there must be more photos. we though were pretty lazy on monday. but we had an AWESOME time, at least i did. i am so glad ali came. please come back soon!!

free shoes anyone

2007-09-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

you have to be a girl first.

my friend katie works for ryka. she is was awesome during the mason deal to hook them up with some shoes. they are doing a shoe giveaway this fall to get people into their product line. all the stuff i have had from them is super good quality and i LOVE their shirts.

she sent the following to some friends

My company, maker of women's athletic shoes and apparel, will be giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance fit tee-shirts EVERY DAY for 50 days starting tomorrow. We have two running shoes and a walking shoe to choose from.

You can only enter once but you get entered again for every friend you refer who signs up too.

click here to sign up: http://ryka.com/goodforyoursole/

terracyle on NPR

2007-09-04T07:59:00.000-05:00

the story finally hit the airways!

you can find it here:

Fertilizer Giant Scotts Sues for False Advertising

by Dianna Douglas

Morning Edition, September 4, 2007 · Fertilizer giant Scotts sues TerraCycle, a small company in New Jersey, for false advertising that sells fertilizers made from worm droppings. Farmers and gardeners have long used worm droppings but now they're sold by mass marketers alongside chemical fertilizers.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint

2007-09-02T06:21:00.000-05:00

i decided that i was going to do product reviews, hopefully once a week. it will probably not happen that consistantly. but there are some many things that i have/use that make my life better that i decided i would share them i feel kinda materialistic, though i think i already started with the "can-o-worms". i still love that contraption.

so the first official product review of l'année de l'amusement is of Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint.
i love the peppermint soap. it is so minty and clean feeling. though i am not sure it can live up to the claim that it will wash away dirt and sin, you are really clean afterward.

in the heat of the summer washing with this is better than walking into an ice box. the mint oils stays on your body and leaves a delicious cool. after working out, i shower with it and not only do i smell great but i get a little mint muscle massage. it is kinda tricky to use when it is cold, because it can make you feel even colder. so i usually switch soaps when it is really cold.

it is all natural and organic. and easily biodegradable and from sustainable ingredients. you feel like a champion of the environment when you use it. and it makes an AMAZING bath! i put a couple of squirts in my baths and just relax and reinvigorate. it is awesome.

some friends have used it to clean clothes, i haven't tried it yet, but i am thinking i might have to.

just take care using it...it can make some parts of your body extra tingly. ZING!!

also awesome, is that dr. bronner is kinda crazy. this is the label to the soap:
if you click on this it should open a window and you can read all about this man's crazy rantings. while writing this post is that i learned that there is a new documentary out about dr. bronner. here is a link to the trailer. it will be showing at the jewish film festival in december here is dc, so i am going to have to go see this... let me know if you want to join me. apparently he escaped an insane assylum and then started the company. he was more concerned with uniting the universe than anything.

npr's weekend edition did a story on him in july.

Weekend Edition Sunday, July 8, 2007 · Robert Smith speaks with Sara Lamm, director of the new documentary film Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox. Emmanuel Bronner, a chemist, escaped from a mental institution and developed his own brand of peppermint soap that has a variety of uses. He also covered the label with religious and philosophical sayings. Dr. Bronner's son Ralph also joins the conversation to discuss his father's mission and life work.

if you have never tried this soap, you should. you will LOVE it. i almost got a bottle for everyone for christmas because i knew, in the end they would love that gift most.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint receives a l'année de l'amusement 10 score. based on the efficacy and style of the product, the eco-friendliness of the company, and they get a couple extra points for being so interesting. there is nothing like this stuff.

muslims in america

2007-08-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

today i visited the UMMA clinic. UMMA stands for university muslim medical association. UMMA started with a group of muslim med students who wanted to do something to help the community after the riots in the early 90's. the video below tells their story. it almost made me a muslim!

Islam teaches its followers to serve and give. it is inclusive and compassionate. i am so happy to see an organization who can demonstrate a different view of muslims in america. their story is compelling. i hope you enjoy this video! if you double click on the video it will open up into youtube and then you can read the comments. the comments are from around the world and SUPER interesting...

skid marks

2007-08-27T23:49:00.001-05:00

i spent the day today on skidrow. thankfully it was for work and i didn't just end up there. though sometimes i am not so sure how far away from skidrow any of us are.

if you turn your head to the side you can see the L.A. Mission Health Center

elizabeth and mike and i are here to see more community health centers and get a feel for what we can do to increase american's access to health care. (i don't know why this photo is sideways like this)

this is the view from the roof of the the LA mission's roof to the east

this is what it looks like to the west
little tokyo lofts are on sell
they advertise that:
it's 12 miles from beverly hills
it's a million miles from beverly hills
they don't advertise that:
its 3 blocks from skidrow
but ignoring it like it is a million miles from skid row
with prices starting in the $300,000s.

here is the crew
the usual and herb and susan

mike is directing

he is looking down at this
the skidrow
please note the photos on the wall.

this doesn't capture all the activity that is buzzing around this center.
they provide overnight beds to 180 men each night
and about 50 beds for women
then they have residential programs that help get people out of poverty
about 200 men at anyone time
and about 80 women
and they are only scatching the surface

here are the people on skidrow
today i saw men smoking crack and shooting heron
one of the guys in this photo did it right in front of me
apparently there aren't as many people on "heroine road"
as there was a couple of weeks ago
the police were hanging out for a good long time and people left
but the professionals say, they are on their way back
the federal funded health center provides all sorts of primary care
they find tb, syphilis, and aids at 2 and 4xs the national average
people like to think it is a totally different world
but it is not
we are in the same world
blocks apart
they are americans
skidrow feels different than a thirdworld shantytown
because it isn't so distant.

we are at a VOA site where they are doing primary health care visits
this guy was once a "student" in the la mission
he is clean and now a health outreach worker

after work i hooked up with robin of the cheryl and diane family
we ate at this awesome japanese place that just opened called takami

this is the view from where we sat
it was even cooler because we got to see the sun set.
or at least the affects of the sun setting

here is robin on our way back to my hotel so she could hurry and get packed for some
crazy travel and work
thanks for hanging out tonight robin!
also, check out that moon!!!!

something about work

2007-08-27T09:11:00.000-05:00

so i thought i would just say a bit about work. as you probably know, i currently serve as the associate director for health in the center for faith-based and community initiatives at HHS. i split my time between domestic and international public health. my goal is to engage faith- and community-based organizations in all sorts of public health ways. religious leaders hold all sorts of clout in their communities and often can motivate behaviour change. i like to use this example: the surgeon general and the secretary of health and human services have been telling americans for about 5 years that they need to exercise for at least 20 minutes 5 days a week. not much has happened. but now imagine that your bishop, priest, imam, President Hinckley, the Pope, (whatever your flavor is) told you to do the same. i can tell you right now that if President Hinckley told the mormons to start exercising, there would be a LOT more exercising and lots of fat, middle-aged mormons would lose weight.

and what is cool about motivating religious leaders to do something for public health is that it is cheap. we, the taxpayers, get alot of bang for our buck. so this type of stuff goes on all over.

in memphis we were visiting community health centers. we saw christ community heath center and memphis health center. they are in different stages of organizational development, but it is always nice to see there are people geniunely concerned for the nation's poor and working hard to help people. it is inspiring. these centers are in rough neighborhoods and help homeless, uninsured, and working poor americans. it feels good to feel like we might be able to help them (and i think we can). you might ask how. well, it is mostly by liaising. the biggest barrier for people getting help from the federal government seems to be knowing where to go for help. i think i know where to point these folks, and i think that may turn into benefit for their communities. super exciting.

here are some photos:

this was just too awesome not to capture on film
a scene from the front doors of the memphis health center
not associated with the sign
please note the credit store in the back
it really troubles me that the poorer the area is, the more of these stores exist
i just think there is something sinister about making money on people's poverty

this is the building next to the memphis health center
this area is kinda like a ghost town
everything is boarded and closed
but that one store is for rent if you are interested

on our way to the airport we had about an hour to kill so we decided to stop by graceland
it was $25/person to get in so we didn't go inside
but man that place is a trip!
the demographic of visitors is like nothing i had ever seen
except when i went there with mandy and julie

this is what i look like at the airport coming home
dianna picked me up with my bike and cycling clothes,

so i went straight from the flight to an hour-long bikeride.

30 post landing
i eventually took the necklace off
we rode for an hour

dianna stopped to pee in the woods and got poison ivy on her right butt cheek.
then we ate delicious sushi at sushi taro--

thank heavens my barbequed pork sandwich days are over!

voila Foux De Fa Fa by Flight of the Conchords

2007-08-25T20:30:00.000-05:00

my friend katie had this on her blog and it is way to awesome not to share!

walking in memphis

2007-08-23T14:36:00.001-05:00

i am at the beginning of a series of work trips and i thought it could be fun to chronicle my work travels.

here i am on a cool august day in dc (WTH?), headed into the airport.
please note that i need a haircut and that my hair didn't handle the misty rain too well.
also note in my left hand: cute briefcase from tunisia.

we are in memphis to hear about religious health assets mapping
and to visit some community health centers.
this is a painting in the nurses' station of "christ community health center"
it is a cool modern/urban take on the parable of the good samaritan.
i think it is really cool

there was some press at this site visit and they really wanted to get some photos of us
luckily i looked so awesome (??)
we are feds and we are here to help!
elizabeth, me, and mike

we went to dinner after the site visit to rendezvous, famous for ribs.
this is my boss mike costigan - he is super excited about his meat!
gary gunderson is to his right and that is burt waller's shoulder
i should have taken more photos of the awesome people at that table

this is my dinner
what a HUGE mistake!
i rarely eat meat, but when i fall off the wagon
it is always with a real splash
i ate some pork shoulder and some ribs ...
it was good, i am not going to lie, but i have been paying for it ever since
it is now 20 hours since i ate and i still feel nauseated

i will never do this again

(i say this every time)
the word of wisdom tells us not to eat meat*
i am going to try and be more obedient!

travel is so tough on my body it is crazy.
i could really use a run today and i think i am going to do a juice fast.

from the doctrine and covenants 89
12 Yea, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly;

13 And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.

you wanna go on a shelfari with me?

2007-08-21T20:57:00.001-05:00

a couple of weeks ago a friend invited me to shelfari. it looked like a fun way to keep track of other people interested in reading and find new books. so i joined, invited my bookclub, and some other friends. i was fiddling around on the site one day and was asked if i would like to "find friends" using my gmail account. i thought it would scan my contacts and see who else was on shelfari. well it deceived me: shelfari invited EVERY SINGLE PERSON i have ever emailed.

the damage is extensive. every old boyfriend, boss, chief of staff of HHS, CDC researcher, landlord, all of my friends kids, are now invited to join my shelfari. "do we like the same books?" and AS IF THAT WASN'T BAD ENOUGH, shefari keeps sending reminders to people to join my thing.

here are some examples to give you a feel of how horrible and madcap this is:

recently my ex-boyfriend clement and i were having a brief email exchange that abruptly ended when his live-in girlfriend wigged out and threatened to leave him if he didn't tell me we could never communicate again. he obliged, and i got this horribly sad email from him, with his girlfriend cc'd, telling me that i can never email him again (with some subtle apology for his girlfriend's insecurity). they are now both being invited to shelfari a couple times a week.
someone joined who i did not know. she said she enjoyed the site and wanted to use it for her own bookclub but wondered who i was. i finally figured out that she was one of the women lindsay and i had talked to about adopting paulette when we were looking for a home for her. it was really nice to be reacquainted.
friends from frisbee, former interns, friends' 8 year old daughters, and other friends that i had fallen out of touch with have joined.
the chief of staff of hhs is getting annoyed with all of my email invitations to join... this is my great grandboss wondering what in the world i am doing at work all day.
anne garrels
tom szaky, ceo of terracycle
the wife of chris dodd, presidential contender
my landlord, who is a struggle at best joined. maybe we are supposed to be friends now?

anyway, the list goes on and on. i got an email from a colleague at the cdc asking me if i had sent this to him. i felt so ridiculous.

but now i am thinking maybe this is a chance for a community to start. we have all been brought together by this random event and maybe the best thing is to become friends with each other by exploring our tastes in literature. maybe people will fall in love via shelfari, maybe we can be a new version of the concord, ma in the 1850's? we will all become philosophers and, though not transcendentalists, we will create a new way of thinking. and it will all be because of this freak accident when i invited everyone i have ever emailed to join shelfari.

maybe it was fate and not an accident after all?

my last letter from rob

2007-08-19T21:51:00.000-05:00

IRONGIRL UPDATE

The Dream & Journey Become The... Reality

August 19, 2007

Aug 20, 2007

The Day After...

So you made a committment to yourself or a friend or family member months ago. You started on a journey to what you hoped would have a very happy ending. Yesterday near 1800 of you, became an... Iron Girl!

WE all want to say Bravo to you. To those pre entered who did not make the event, you did miss one very special day and one for the history books

The morning started out with a fine mist and light rain at 3 am when many of the team arrived at Centennial Lake. WE set out upon our tasks to insure all was ready to the big day to begin. WE parked 1200+ cars!! WE bodied marked all, you got ready and we could see many of you with that glare at the swim start corral, that many were nervous and anxious but ready to get it ON!! The start horn went off at 06:45 after our 83 'F Lake. There was barely a ripple on the surface!! You exited the swim and headed out of ther hilly bike route. The roads were a challenge. You survived that one... you got back , headed out on ther final leg, the 3.4 mile run. Yes it was not a true 5 K. You did more!! You came upon our Village People Team at the Gatorade Wall... Surprise!! WE hope you liked that touch and final inspiration to get you up that nasty climb. From there it was about a 0.5 mile downhill and flat rush to the finish line. You could hear the cheers and the music from afar!! As you came around that final turn and headed down that finishing straight, your name was announced and You became an Iron Girl!!

WE hope this was the beginning of the rest of your life. There were so many tears and so much joy at the finishline. The event was for us and all, a huge success... Just like we planned it to be and hoped it would be as well.

Now it is up to you to take that moment , that feeling ,and do something more with it. WE hope you will never forget being a part of this historic event and what it felt like to accomplish and achieve a Dream...A Journey.

Entry for Iron Girl Columbia 2008 will open later this year so watch for it. Be Ready

As a final touch and as I sign off this one last time, I want you to recall and remember the Tribute I played for you Race Morning , when many of you may still have been a bit asleep perhaps or were busy getting ready to perform at your best.

Here is a link to my opening Tribute to All of you.

It is from" Yanni, Live At The Acropolis", entitled Santorini.

I hope you have Windows or some other Media program to hear it as it is full of energy and will send some chills through you, I know. Close your eyes and imagine what Aug 19, 2007 at 06:20 am was like and tell all your friends what and how you felt!!

http://www.tricolumbia.org/images/Yanni-Santorini.mp3

Ohene Oh Ka La,( Until We Meet Again, in Hawaiian)

Rob Vigorito and The RYKA Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon Team

Columbia Triathlon EagleMan Ironman 70.3 Triathlon RYKA Iron Girl Columbia Women's Triathlon Annapolis Triathlon Blackwater Traverse Duathlon ChesapeakeMan Triathlon
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phone: 410-964-1246
email: events@tricolumbia.org

Click here to unsubscribe.

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l'année de l'amusement

thank-you l'annee de l'amusement

OBAMA!!!!!

too lazy to blog

dianna reporting from des moines

GOP's Des Moines Headquarters Flooded with Calls

false promises

back from the internetless...briefly

meetings of all sorts, a giraffe, and a charging baby elephant

whose afraid of barak obama?

Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama?

zambia watch out

DC CSA

WaPo on the the new face of Mormonism

wicked busy but good news for cassi

The game begins...

no more novice travelin for me

Meet the FOKers

trunk or treat

raisingdc update

year of the house?

butternut squash soup

Why Sports are Critical for Young Girls

Why Sports are Critical for Young Girls

better late than never

why i love walking to work

the malaria monologues

Africa: Breakthrough in Malaria Vaccine Trials

facebook

hooray for meters in DC cabs

i can't decide which of these "types" i am. i am not sure i am one. also, i am not sure i totally get why we need to know our body type. but for whatever reason, this stuff is interesting to me.

Trinny and Susannah reveal 12 women's body types - which are you?

is daylight savings time saving anything?

"Daily Savings Time"

of course iraq was about oil

Abizaid: ‘We’ve Treated The Arab World As A Collection Of Big Gas Stations’

photos of the engine

the engine that will change the world

reeling around my mind

biking in dc and the eastern shore

hanging out with vint, toby, and truffle

b-day bike tour

altruism and the smith mountain tri

taking on the beauty industry

eastern market: top 10 neighborhoods in america

terracycle wins. sort of.

yougurt containers for smarter kids

Program Statistics:

269 spots available

31 total participating locations

This program is only available in CT, DC, DE, MA, MD, ME, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT and WV

The Bottle Brigade Needs Your Help to Survive!

what i do when i go on business travel

Healing body & soul

Christian clinics expand to include outreach program

turns out i'm into sensitive

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE

Dare to Give Washington a Vote

Dare to Give Washington a Vote

Senate Republicans Kill DC Voting Rights Bill

more from flight of the conchords

la double quincenera de dianna

dianna is 30!

my computer died

my hummus recipe

there were two...

ED in 08

waking up in amsterdam and working in dc

segs in the city

free shoes anyone

terracyle on NPR

Fertilizer Giant Scotts Sues for False Advertising

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Pure-Castile Soap, Hemp Peppermint

muslims in america

skid marks

something about work

voila Foux De Fa Fa by Flight of the Conchords

walking in memphis

you wanna go on a shelfari with me?