just laura

OMG! Tonight was 80s dancing at Neighbors in a combined girls night with Steph and Samantha, and a birthday dance party for Andrew’s big 3-0! And BTW, it was fantastic fun! I used to go dancing so often when I was younger. It started with Paradox (where they’d let me in without an ID), then continued in college with the 404 (love me my gar bars). From there we did lots of Poly Esters (I’m a sucker for cheesy 80s) and then by junior and senior year of college dancing was a weekly affair and was always a great time. Anyone remember our weekly Thursday night party at the less-than-fancy and now defunct Club Austin?! Ah, the memories of Bri and Criag and the Firestarter. In Houston we did Riches, and the goth dance club (name currently escaping me), and after moving to Seattle I did Neighbors. However, it’s been over a year or two since I’ve been there and I think another Thursday night tradition has been reborn! Dancing is one of those events that works best with lots of friends… definitely the more the merrier. So, if you’re up for some dancing, please join us next week!!

Today was productive. I helped Dieter move. Gave away stuff on freecycle. Cleaned and vacuumed and did laundry. Watched a movie (save your money by not renting Open Water). Now I’m off to fall peacefully asleep with my new heavier down comforter. :)

I’m rather biased, but I think Friday night’s group gallery show was a success. :) I wanted to see people take new pictures and get more active in our photo group, and I think both happened. We had a great turnout (crowds of people the whole time) and we had lots of new folks show up who weren’t active in the monthly group meetups. Shawna brought a fisheye lens and even let me play with it for a while (new toys are FUN!). After the show, John, Jeff, Samantha, Caroline, and I all hit Dragonfish for their latenight happy hour to debrief and hang out. All in all, a lovely night!

Visit www.seattlethreads.com to connect with folks on all things Seattle…

I’m hungry and at a dead end with the grant I’m working on. It’s the third due in one week, and all three had turn around times of less than two weeks. All of this makes Cat a very tired and overworked young lady. On the bright side: my morning conference planning meeting was in the Central District, mere blocks from my favorite Ethiopian restaurant. I got lunch there today before heading back to the office. (I’d hate to think of how much earlier I’d have burned out today if I hadn’t gotten lunch there today). Let’s hear it for Mesob!

Cat & Dot in Seattle (March 2005)

After spending barely three months in Seattle, my old college friend Dot moved away last week. I think she and Bruce are currently in Northern California, but one can never be too sure. She might be on her way back to the Texas sun, though I’ve also heard rumors of Athens, GA. Either way, it was fun having her here while it lasted! Anyone else up for a few months in the great Northwest? Ask Dot or Beal… it’s fun!

Anyone go to camp as a kid and sing lots of camp songs? Songs that 10 or 20 years later are still indelibly carved into your brain? Today I have a fun little ditty in my head from Girl Scout camp in elementary school. It goes a little something like this…

I am slowly going crazy. 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – switch.
Crazy going slowly am I. 6 – 5 -4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – switch.

It’s a repeating song that you keep singing over and over and over, getting faster and faster and faster each time. As you can imagine, it’s a rather painful song to have stuck in your head while trying to write grants.

Someone please save me!

Yep, that’d be me. If you didn’t notice yet, I just updated my links last night (long overdue) and finally added friends to my index instead of a separate page. If I’m missing some of your sites, let me know. I admit I’m tired and it’s nowhere near a complete list of online folks I know and love.

I’m super excited about the just announced 2005 lineup of Summer Nights! :)

Series Favorites And Newcomers To Christen New Venue

Summer Nights at South Lake Union Park is pleased to announce our 2005 concert series lineup! Veteran Summer Nights performers Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Buddy Guy, John Hiatt, Chris Isaak, Indigo Girls, B.B. King, Susan Tedeschi, and Blind Boys of Alabama will help us break in our new venue at South Lake Union Park. We’ll also welcome newcomers to the Summer Nights series, such as Ann Wilson, Clint Black, Aimee Mann, Los Lonely Boys, Ozomatli, Keali‘i Reichel, and Trio! (Stanley Clarke, Bela Fleck, Jean-Luc Ponty).

One of the great things about short grant deadlines is that they’re often accompanied by shorter than normal deliberation periods. I just got a call awarding me on of the grants I applied for last Friday! That’s a three day deliberation, the fastest I’ve ever seen, and it’s pretty damn exciting! Yay! Let’s hear it for hard work paying off!

One of my employees called this morning and said she couldn’t be in at 9am because her apartment building was surrounded by SWAT teams, her car was blocked in my police trucks, and armed police men were blocking the enterance to her apartment. It sounded like a creative excuse if you ask me. ;) However, she had KIRO TV backing up her claim, so I guess it was okay to show up late. (You don’t really expect apartments in Magnolia to endure the wrath of the SPD and local SWAT crews, ya know?) Anyway, if you’re bored and have free time, check out the video to see the Police Arrest Suspect In String Of Robberies. Yay excitement at 8am.

I just got a call from a friend living in Korea! She’s been teaching English there since Sept and this is the first phone call I’ve gotten. That’s pretty cool! :)

Congrats to Captain Mike & Elizabeth on the birth of their new baby William Loring!! I think this shot of father and son napping together is pretty fantastic! I’ll be out in St. Paul in a few weeks and hope to see the parents and baby in person!

Yesterday was John’s birthday! (And Caroline’s studio show for First Thursday Art Walk!)

And last weekend it was Andrew’s birthday and Alex’s birthday! And next week it’s Suzan’s birthday and Marwa’s birthday! Yay getting another year older and even more beautiful!

I just got notification that I won a SECOND grant this week for work… another one that had a short turnaround time that drove me batty and forced me to work late getting it done on time…. but it worked! We got the funds! Yay us!

I’m now the proud owner of 3 pairs of the “world’s softest spa socks” and 6 pairs of “no shows.” If anyone would have told me 4 years ago that someday I’d enjoy buying socks and would do it for fun, I’d have told them they were out of their minds. I guess that’s something that goes with living in the Northwest or in a place with seasons that extend beyond warm and ridiculously hot. The cold and rainy weather here just isn’t conducive to my sandal habit.

Also neat-o: My massaman curry last night turned out fantastic, and dancing with Caroline & Samantha at Neighbors was just as fun as dancing a few weeks ago! Highlights: One pretty boi asked if Samantha was my girlfriend, the bartender calls me sweetie and doesn’t charge me for drink, and some drunk girls wants to touch my breasts (not okay but still entertaining). Gotta love Neighbors.

Also neat-o and kinda scary: Yesterday I finally committed to attending my high school reunion. That means

1. I need to join a gym rather than talk about joining a gym (or just go dancing more often).
2. I need to be okay spending the time and energy and vacation days and money to go to Texas twice in three week’s time (the reunion is in July and Charles’ wedding is in August). Plane tickets aren’t cheap, and neither are reunion tickets or wedding gifts or eating out lots and lots.
3. I need to figure out how to look hot one of these days so I can impress old classmates I don’t care much about.
4. I need a date. :)

Hope y’all are well! My internet is working again after days of living without, and I’ve got a movie in the DVD player calling my name! Take care!

Work keeps moving our meetings around, and this year instead of doing our winter meeting in Baltimore, we did it in DC. And now instead of doing our spring meeting in Baltimore (sorry Sameer), we’re doing it in NJ at some tiny town on the coast. I’m pretty content with the coast, and while I’ll actually kind of miss visiting friends Baltimore, I’m excited to come up a weekend early and hang in NYC to see Suzan and Laura! So, to recap… I’ll be in MN and WI in April, then NY & NJ in May, then Austin in both July & Aug. :) Yay hectic spring schedules!

I’m using Word Press these days, and disabled “trackbacks” from the beginning, but somehow still get tons of “trackback spam” on a daily basis despite my settings that don’t allow it. Anyone have ideas on how to really turn it off and avoid the crap?

And while we’re at it… anyone have ideas on how to avoid the comment spam? I have a long list of blocked words that keep stupid comments from showing, but it still clutters up my DB on my server.

If you know these things, do consider sharing your wisdom! I’d greatly appreciate it!

Turns out I DO actually own the helio sequence CD… and it turns out it is pretty good! The first track is “harmonic song” and that just makes me happy. I saw them in concert last Wednesday at Chop Suey and their CD cover looked familiar though I didn’t know the music. It turns out I own it but never listened to it. The CD and the show were both really good, though opening band Mercier left something to be desired. Good times were had by me, Samantha, and all of the Philly kids (Dave, Steph, Lawerence, and Ryan-kind of). :)

Today is my parent’s wedding anniversary! They’ve been married for 36 years! (Did I get that right?) Congrats Mom & Dad!

I used to think Meetup was a cool free site to meet new people. (I like cool free sites… like craigslist.org, freecycle.org, groups.yahoo.com, and gmail.com). Anyway, I thought Meetup was cool so I even volunteered my time, energy, and money to help organize a group. And now they’ve announced a new required fee. Do the members pay the subscription fee? Nope. Only the volunteers, who are already workin their butts off for free, are required to pay. That’s right. They’re not paying us to do the work, we have to pay to work for them! Check out the news about this, or visit the Meetup boards to see thousands of angry messages.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=meetup

I think we’ll likely switch our photo group over to Yahoo groups…

Everyone send your finest birthday wishes to the finest of them all: Miss Suzan in NYC is turning another year older and another year more beautiful!

Not so much a post as a snapshot of my life this week…

• Hung out with KEXP folks
• Went dancing at Neighbors (again). This time got hit on by men instead of women. Am starting to recognize regulars.
• Did 20 interviews at work! (ie. crazy busy week!)
• Won another grant (this one to increase my staff size by 11 new employees!)
• Went to the photo meetup
• Did some cooking including another attempt at homemade spicy black bean burgers (they worked better than the nut based burgers I’ve tried before, but I think I’ll try the lentil burgers recipe again next)
• Had a couple of friends over last night for dessert (we made creme brulee, fondue, s’mores)
• Got dinner with Erin
• Bought my plane ticket to NY & NJ
• Called my brother and talked (for a long while) at 4am
• Went on my annual shopping trip for my once a year jeans purchase
• Went up to Mount Vernon to see the 22nd annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (there were pretty flowers but it was really cold, windy, and rainy)
• And maybe best of all, I started reading a new book, The Kite Runner, and am really enjoying it!

Hope y’all are well! I’m off to socialize on a busy Saturday! Take care!

I’ve been in denial since Friday when I thought I was just reacting to the cold, rainy day tromping around in the tulips, but yesterday my sore-achy body and runny nose confirmed it. I went to two parties last night… one corrupt spelling bee and one wig party for Max’s 30th… but couldn’t muster up much energy at either even though both were highly entertaining events. Today I’m even skipping brunch… and you know how much I love my Sunday meals with friends. Being sick is lame.

BTW, I am still hoping to make a road trip to Crater Lake or Glacier National Park sometime this spring or summer. Anyone interested in joining me?

I’m still sick. And I haven’t had much time to write lately (as you may have noticed by my slow blog and unreturned emails). I think I even forgot to mention surprises from last week. Thursday night was social night (dinner with a friend, drinks with others, and then dancing with yet another friend). Entertaining tidbit: I’ve been asked out twice by guys I met last week. Less than entertaining tidbit: Some stupid kids broke a storefront window where I was parked in Capital Hill, and also kicked over a metal trashcan onto my (feels like brand new) Honda. The trashcan dented in the entire side panel and left long blue scratches from where it traveled on its way down. Lame. Not sure if I want to claim it on my car insurance, or if I should just leave the big dent and scratches in my (until now) lovely car. It’s barely two years old… just a baby really.

…until I leave for MN and WI! :)

Ask and ye shall receive. :) (This was passed along by Samantha)

1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Do you mean, what book would I want to burn? I’m not really into burning books (which might be surprising considering I’m from a conservative small town in Texas). I remember back in high school when some local parents were trying to ban I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I think that was around the same time the Bible thumpers were trying to keep Apple computers from moving to town (we could’ve used the jobs and economic boost, but the religious zealots didn’t approve of Apple offering benefits for same sex partners). Anyway, I digress.

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
I have crushes on all kinds of characters (books, movies, real life, you name it)! Sharif Basha-al-Baroudi (in the book Map of Love), Johnny Depp (in the beautiful film Finding Neverland), and Patrick Fugit (in the funny movie Saved) to name just a few.

3. The last book you bought is:
Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim. I picked it up in Cairo on Marwa’s recommendation and it was fantastic! It was a powerful and tragic story, and was more than educational with lots of news clippings thrown in for good measure.

4. The last book you read:
The DiVinci Code by Dan Brown. All of the cool kids were doing it and I felt the peer pressure. It was a fun page turner…

5. What are you currently reading?
I just finished the The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It’s a really beautiful story about a place that’s got an anything-but-beautiful recent history. Anyone have recommendations for my next book? I got on a plane on Sunday and will need a new book before then…

6. Five books you would take to a deserted island:
1,000 Places to See Before You Die
GRE Prep (finally… there’d be no distractions!)
Meg Wheatley’s newest book (I haven’t had time to read it yet)
Teach Yourself Spanish (always a good idea)
My diary
(No idea really… my reading list is always L-O-N-G and growing)

7. Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? Muse, astoria lily, and One Donkey Out of Many. :)

In less than desireable news… My grandfather was readmitted to the hospital again last weekend (he got an infection from one of the IVs… not good!). My dad flew out there to help take care of him and is sending updates. Grandpa’s scheduled for surgery, but all of the hospitals in the Phoenix area have a waiting list. And, very sadly, his girlfriend was also admitted to the hospital last weekend. Couple those with my week of sickness and it’s really not a good health week in my family…

However, on the bright side (literally), today was probably the most gorgeous day of the year! It reminds me of last year’s first perfect day… I think it was over Easter weekend when Jens was here visiting. Jacob came in town and he and I spent the day at Gas Works Parks, sitting by the waterfront, soaking up the sun, enjoying the splendor of a glorious, blue sky, sunny, 80 degree day in Seattle. For today’s perfect day, we did a service project at a low income housing community, and I spent the morning, noon, and afternoon sitting outside on a sunny patch of grass. There was a taco cart involved, some ice cream sandwiches, productivity, companionship, and the most blissful rejuvinating sunshine you can dream of. It’s the kind of day you hope will never, ever end. The kind of day where I almost convince myself to quit my job so I can just lay around in parks for the rest of my life. The kind of day I can look back at years from now and know that, regardless of the ups and down, I had a really good life.

This is what Seattle’s sky looked last night when I was heading to dinner at the Morrocan place on Capitol Hill. Cotton candy pink, a gentle amber glow, with the mountains silouetted against the sky. In a word: Perfect.

Today I spent the day working from 8am-7pm, then had dinner with Dieter, and now in 12 short hours, I’ll be in the air on my way to Minnesota. :) It’ll be the first of many consecutive weekends out of town, but I’ll be back in Seattle the weekend of May 21st. Btw, anyone going or wanting to go to Sasquatch? I’m debating heading out of town that weekend too… I’ve never been to the Gorge and thought that’d be a good first concert experience. Any thoughts? Any advice?
Sasquatch Mainstage
: Pixies
: Modest Mouse
: Kanye West
: Wilco
: The Arcade Fire
: Ray Lamontagne
: Jem
: Bloc Party
: United State of Electronica
Wookie Stage
: Matisyahu
: The Frames
: Joanna Newsom
: Bobby Bare Jr.
: Be Good Tanyas
: Benevento Russo Duo
: A.C. Newman
: The Dears
: Menomena
: Aqueduct
Yeti Stage
: She Wants Revenge
: Crystal Skulls
: Visqueen
: Blue Scholars
: Smoosh
: Parks and Recreation
: Math & Physics Club

Hi all… conference in MN is going well. Am staying with Jens’ old roomie Lucas who is taking good care to make sure I’m getting lots of good food at good cafes. :) Got to see Mike and Eliz and their beautiful boy William! He’s a sweet, sweet child and didn’t cry till the very end of the night! Also ran into Jens and his girl friend and baby, randomly, at the place we were eating. Talk about crazy world! For now, I’ve got to get back to a workshop. Hope y’all are well!

Minnesota has been cold and rainy since I’ve been here, so I thought this was an appropriate photo. :) Last night was a quick trip to the Walker Art Museum and sculpture garden, and then Indian food at some yummy place called Taj of India. Conference has been great. I’m off now! Take care!

Yesterday was a fun day for me! I don’t generally get to hang with little kids much, so when I do it’s awlays fun. I know it’s not generally relaxing for a mom to cart around three little kids, but it’s fun to step into her shoes for a day and help out. Mary and I watched the Wiggles with the kids, saw Bear in the Big Blue House, and saw some cartoon about stackable toys whose name I forget. We then took her 20 month old twins (Mya & Malinda) and 4 month old baby boy (Owen) out to breakfast, then up to Milwaulkee to the Children’s Museum, then to visits at both grandmothers’ houses, then to a rummage sale, then back home by dinner time. While some might not think it’s much of a relaxing vacation, I had lots of fun and there will be pictures posted when I get back!

In other news, this morning I bought a new laptop! I’ve had hand-me-down computers since I was in high school, and this is my first ever purchase of a new computer. My current laptop is hand-me-down from my college ex-boyfriend Droopy (yes, the laptop is that old). It’s a trooper but it’s way past its prime (screen flickers, keyboard quit working months ago, no cd burner, hard drive full, etc). I’m not excited about spending the money for a new one, but I think it’s time… especially since my brother gets a discount from his work. (Thanks Charlie!)

And in final news, tomorrow I head to Beloit, WI for a friend’s wedding. She used to work with me in Seattle a few years ago and is now back in the midwest near her family. I haven’t seen her in three years and I’m excited to finally meet her family! It’ll be a long day… drive there for the wedding at 2pm, drive back in the late evening, then get up early Sunday for the 5 hour solo drive back to the Twin Cities so I can then catch my flights back to Seattle.

Hope y’all are well! Take care!

My friend Alan is riding in the AIDS LifeCycle again this year. If you’ve got $5 or $100, feel encouraged to donate a little to this great cause. An explanation from Alan:

Join me in a journey of a lifetime.

This time last year, I decided to participate in AIDS LifeCycle 3, a fundraising bike ride benefiting the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. The ride gathers money to raise awareness of this insidious disease and to raise money to support critical services provided by the foundation for people living with HIV/AIDS. As I was training for the ride, I remembered asking myself, Why am I doing this? Dragging myself from bed in complete darkness and riding 60-80 miles in chilly San Francisco weather was not my idea of fun. But I had to do it, because HIV/AIDS is still here.

As I look over pictures from last year’s ride, I can remember the sheer exhilaration to be among 1,200 riders working towards the same goal and the sense of accomplishment that we made a difference in the lives of many.

I remembered last year how riders like myself had a direct impact on communities through spreading HIV/AIDS awareness and education where, previously, it had been limited. Neighborhood kids in their bikes and skateboards gave us high-fives as we passed through. Families in rural California came out to cheer us on and learned about what we were doing. The whole town of Bradley welcomed us with hot dogs and chips. And school children interviewed us for their class projects on HIV/AIDS. Our very presence demonstrated that HIV/AIDS affects everyone.

So the decision to ride again this year was simple. The AIDS pandemic is still with us. And riding my bike 585 miles to raise funds for education, prevention, and hopefully a cure someday is something I can do. And I would like you to join me in a journey that gives people hope and life.

The ride this year is a special one, as I am dedicating this ride to my friends who are living with HIV. This year, I have set a personal fundraising goal of $3,500. To achieve this goal, please donate generously by clicking here.

With your support, you give someone another year of hope, life, and love.

Thank you for your support and continued inspiration,
Alan