What I did over Thanksgiving Vacation

Played a lot of Scrabble, that’s for sure. Scott and I packed our travel set, and we started playing as soon as we got to the Petworth metro station. We continued the game on the bus to Baltimore and once we got to the airport. We played with his parents, we played at Rao’s coffeeshop, we played before we went to bed, and we played when we got home again. I’m still SLOW at putting words down on the board, but at least I’m getting better at finding good words!

Dinner was at Scott’s aunt and uncle’s house outside of Albany and included lots of his relatives. It was great to be welcomed by all of them for a second time. (I met them for the first time last July at the family reunion.) This is probably the biggest Thanksgiving I’ve been to since my first year of college when I met Kate’s family en masse, and it was terrific.


We spent the rest of the weekend up in Amherst with Scott’s parents. Besides playing Scrabble, we went to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. I loved it. His work (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) is gorgeous to see “live.” AND the museum includes an art studio, so Scott and I could act on the artistic urges inspired by the museum. Super fun. I’ll post the collages we made shortly…

The four of us went on a great hike through the woods along a little river. We had absolutely beautiful weather – sunny, mid-50s. So nice to be out-of-doors.

I met some of Scott’s high school classmates on Friday night. We started at The Amherst Brewing Company and eventually made our way to the Moan and Dove. I knew a few people, like Abby and Sasha (who play Ultimate in DC), and met a few more and had a pretty good time, especially considering we didn’t get home until 1 - waaay past my bedtime.


We got back to DC around noon on Sunday and got lunch from the Sweet Mango Café, which I’ve been smelling for over a year now. It used to be on my route home from Walter Reed, and whenever I turned from Georgia Ave. onto New Hampshire, I’d encounter a mouthwatering smoky barbeque smell. We got a large (huge) jerk chicken sandwich… which was really chunks of spicy chicken and strips of homemade bread. Not sure why it’s called a sandwich, but I’ll happily return for another!

A great vacation. Thanks, as always, to Scott’s parents for putting us up and driving us around and for the pleasure of their company! Oh, and an exciting thing. His sister Julie was not in attendance because she was asked to fly to ROME to be in a movie! Her mom gets to go visit, so I got to give sightseeing recommendations… and Scott had to put up with me reminiscing. I’m so impatient for Margo to go to Turkey so that I can go visit her there!

Scrabble!

Random photo

I just learned how to send images from my phone to my blog! This is Sky Mirror, which Jesse and I saw at the Rockefeller Center in October.

Zombie Bet

Some time back, I had a great dream about a girl turning into a zombie and me being really excited for her. Scott thinks I dreamt it sometime over the summer, but I maintain it was a month or two ago. Anyone remember? Sadly, I didn't blog about it and have no record.

1 day until Thanksgiving!
15 days until the Nutcracker!
29 days until I go home to Minnesota!

It's also 29 days until the solstice. The days will start getting longer after that.

I worked from home yesterday. It's so much more pleasant than the office, even if it gets a little lonely by the end of the day. There was lots of sunshine coming in through the living room and dining room windows. Today, the band of sky outside my little window is as dead white as my office walls. And it's raining. Blech. A good day for spicy lentil soup, which I conveniently happen to have with me for lunch today!

I had a bunch of weird dreams last night. In one of them, Scott had to remind me that I wasn't in high school any longer.

The weekend - described!

- Dinner at Ella’s http://ellaspizza.com/index.shtml with Scott and Jack - fantastic! Good enough that I didn’t miss Rome as much as I usually do after eating pizza.
- For Your Consideration – sold out. It’s Christopher Guest’s new movie. Maybe this coming weekend we can go see it at the newly renovated Amherst Theater.
- A Prairie Home Companion (the movie) – lovely. Scorned by the box office, Scott and Jack and I retired to Delafield and watched this. We’ve all been meaning to see it for some time now. Meryl Streep definitely got on my nerves, but I loved the rest of it. Fun to see the musicians whose names are so familiar. Tom Keith is great.

On to Saturday...
- Clique A tournament, game 1 – savage! We won.
- Clique A tournament, game 2 – dramatic! At half, we were down 8-1. But then we scored 8 points in the second half and lost 15-9. I was worn out.
- Food after the games - caloric. That's all that mattered.
- Nap - necessary. On the couch, next to Scott.
- Dinner chez Shamik and Anne - inspiring! I got the chicken recipe from Anne so I can make it for my friends. And the chocolate cake was so soft and moist and fluffy!

Sunday!
- City Bikes - educational. I test rode a bunch of different sizes and discovered that a men's 50 cm frame fits me best, better than women's frames in fact. With this key piece of information, I am a much savvier troller of craigslist bike postings.
- Madrid Restaurant - paellarific.
- Phillips Collection, Societe Anonyme exhibit - modern. I already know that I like post-WWI European and American art. I certainly enjoyed this exhibit. But I think it's getting time to expand my horizons. These didn't feel as exciting as they sometimes do.
- Mole - underwhelming. Scott and I made an Americanized recipe which was chocolatly and kind of spicy, but not great. Still, who can complain about a candle-lit dinner with the man you love?
- Scrabble - challenging. Because I was so tired. But we finished, and I didn't lose by too much!

Blue Sky Friday

It is so nice out today!!

Yesterday was stormy, with a flood watch that got upgraded to a warning as well as a tornado watch. It was dark at 2 pm, with 45º rain and lightning. But then at 4:00 the rain stopped, the skies cleared, and the wind died down. This made Scott's and my walk to the Woman's National Democratic Club much more pleasant than it would have been otherwise.

We arrived at 6:30, just as the Belgian beer tasting began. We were very lucky, because the night before, TasteDC (the hosts) had put on a cheese tasting event, and there was 100 pounds of incredible leftover cheese. It was one of the unhealthiest dinners I've had in a long time, but I certainly enjoyed it!

From there, we stopped by Buffalo Billiards to wish Taren a happy birthday (a quarter of a century!), drank some water, and indulgently taxied home.


It's been a good week overall! On Wednesday, Michelle organized a hockey evening, so I got to hang out with lots of BRDM-ers and sigh sadly when the Caps lost in a shootout. On Tuesday night, I went to a new exercise class (CrossFit DC) and loved it. The people were super friendly, I got a great workout, and I learned a bunch about my form and technique. Teammates of mine: I highly recommend it! It's even better than Steve's pilates class!

Not sure what tonight holds. Ultimate tomorrow, and a dinner party. So excited for this nice sunny weather!

Romance

Yesterday Scott bought Nutcracker tickets for us. Even though last year's balletic attempts were foiled (twice!), I still have high hopes for this year. And it was so sweet of Scott to get tickets. This, my friends, is the way to my heart.

NOT this way:

A conversation I had in VLB today:

HOTRaven: wanna make out?
Libby: no thanks
HR: please make out with me its alot of fun
L: I don't want to cheat on my boyfriend
HR: well we dont have to tell him
L: I'd feel bad about it nonetheless
HR: well you arent that hot anyway

Ah, teenage hormones!

Spies, Bibles, Polka Dancers, Busboys

Couldn't have asked for a nicer Veteran's Day weekend. Not only did we have gorgeous weather, we also had guests - Scott's parents came down to visit!

Friday was sunny and warm, and I left work at 2:30 to meet Scott and his parents at the International Spy Museum - a place I've been meaning to see for two years now. It's great. Dense with information and sensory experiences. I need to go back to see the last third, as two hours there was not enough to see the whole museum! I learned a lot and came away thoroughly convinced that I would make the worst undercover agent ever, mostly because I have very little to offer in the art of deception. (Anyone who's played Mafia with me will readily agree.)

Saturday was sunny and warm as well, and I spent five hours playing frisbee in a local tournament. We lost our first game by a hair, our second game by a slightly wider margin, and our third game by a bunch. I had lots of stupid drops. And we only had two subs for the entire team, so we were a tired lot. Besides all of that, it was great to be outside running around. Not sure when we'll sehttp://beta.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife this kind of weather again.

I got cleaned up and met Scott and his parents at the Sackler for an exhibit on Bibles before the year 1000. Very cool. Different languages, different bindings, different illuminations. Neat to see how this big mess of Christian writings slowly got amalgamated into today's standard version.

After a tea-and-toast break at Delafield, we all headed north to Blob's Park for LT's birthday party. Live polka band, good cheap beer, good genuine German food, and lots of good friends. There's nothing like line dancing to the accordion version of Sinatra's "New York, New York" right alongside a 70-year-old man.

Sunday was neither warm nor sunny. Sandy and Becky took Scott and I out for brunch () before they started the long drive back to Massachusetts. It was so nice to have the in town - not just because it gave us an excuse to play tourist, but also because it was a chance to repay their hospitality. I always have a great time visiting them. (And we'll see them again two weeks from now for Thanksgiving!)

Scott and I didn't leave the house for the rest of Sunday - it was just too icky outside. We played Scrabble, and I read while he worked on his applications. We practiced our swing dancing with the aid of a pedantic DVD. We cooked a great orzo and acorn squash dish with Peter and Bethany when they got home and enjoyed a nice dinner with them. And we watched Battlestar Gallactica. A completely satisfying weekend.

Hang with the Sheep on Wednesday night!

And now for some shameless self-promotion!

Tomorrow night (Wednesday, November 8th), the DC Future Salon is holding an event in conjunction with the Electric Sheep Company! Sibley and Jonah and a few other Sheep will be discussing Second Life and the Metaverse Roadmap Project. There's going to be a multimedia presentation with live in-world action. It's free and open to the public, so join us and feel free to invite others you think might be interested!

This website has more details: http://upcoming.org/event/112608/

Wednesday, November 8th
7 - 9:30 pm

1133 19th St., NW
9th floor, large conference room

- Libby Bo Peep
The Electric Sheep Company

Unpicked!

I arrived at the courthouse at 2 pm and got called up to the jury box around 3:30 today. "Juror number 661, please take seat number 14." Ack! My heart started pounding and my face flushed and I'm pretty sure I looked like a deer in headlights as I sat down and tried to find my place in the Sacha Cohen profile I had been reading. No use. The judge turned the "hush" on, the white static noise that lets the attorneys discuss things privately. I sat there for somewhere between 1 and 10 minutes, reminding myself that it really would be okay to serve as a juror, before the hush shut off with a click. Everyone pricked up their ears, waiting for the clerk to issue the next sentence. "Number 661, please take a seat in the rows behind you." I tried not to smile, but jeez I was glad to step down. On my way home, I felt lucky but also privileged. And free.

It was a beautiful ride home - mellow 5 pm sun, changing trees, wood smoke.

There's a good chance I'll forget all about this in a few days: the dread of potential jury duty, the sense of privilege and freedom, the wood smoke... I mean, that's one of the main reasons I blog - to help me remember. But here's hoping some of this experience sticks in my subconcious anyways and I learn from it. I hope it sticks around like the spicy Indian food you had for lunch that comes back with a burp when you're least expecting it. But less gross.

Libby: Frog Prince Extraordinaire!

Last night I dreamt that I got to dance the part of the Frog in the Minnesota Ballet's production of The Frog Prince. We were dancing to the overture music from The Nutcracker, and I was proud of my very very realistic frog hops.


I got a call from the judge at 8:30 last night saying that I don't have to go to the courthouse today! I have to go back on Monday afternoon though. After two days, they're still not finished selecting the jury. It's a relief to get to come into work today.

Some Sort of Surreal Nutcracker?

I had a crazy dream last night. Another one with a very cinematic feel - dark, intense colors, like an oil painting. In a house with lots of dark wood, there was an infestation of evil insects. They most closely resembled praying mantises, and they were strong enough to push aside the manhole cover in the floor and climb out. We, as audience members, know this, so when we see the manhole cover start to lift up, we are expecting the little beast that crawls out.

The exterminator is there, ready to spray poison down the hole. But before he can do that, the bug grows taller and taller until its head hits the ceiling. The exterminator immediately abandons his poisoning strategy and transforms himself into a terrier. He charges the 10-foot praying mantis and sinks his little teeth into its calf. The insect, suddenly aware that it has an audience, transforms itself into Santa Claus - a shameless attempt to appear to be the victim rather than an evil invader. The exterminator-terrier is still clamped on for dear life.

I stumble awake, not fooled by the bug's shenanigans but vaguely concerned that other people who walk in on this dream won't understand what's really going on.



And then I had a dream that J.J. was wearing my warm red socks on his arms.

More jury duty!

Day two at the courthouse has been nothing more than more waiting. They're still calling in jurors one by one. I got interviewed right after lunch; as soon as it was over, the stress set in - what if I'm selected to sit on a six-week long trial? The thought of this replacing my routine... An extra eight hours of unpaid work every day... How much will this hurt my bank account? I could work outside trial hours, but that's not fair! I have enough savings to carry me through a lengthy trial, but it's not fair! Then I feel guilty for thinking these things. I'm incredibly privileged to have a job, flexible hours, the ability to work from home, money in the bank, etc., etc. I guess serving as a juror is the least I can do as a service to my city, to other jurors for whom serving would be a greater hardship, and of course to the defendant. That said, I hope I'm not selected, for very selfish reasons.

Then there's the whole thing about deciding innocence or guilt. Weighing the evidence, deciding whether to believe witnesses... I don't feel qualified to do that. I feel too gullible. I feel nervous.

Potential upsides of being a juror - the life experience, the opportunity to learn about our judicial system, and the proximity to the National Gallery. (Today I spent 40 minutes of my lunch hour there.)

Jury Duty!

I got to be a petit juror today! Biked straight down Georgia Avenue, through Chinatown to the DC Courthouse. Checked in at eight o'clock sharp, failed to find internet access in the "modern business center" (they only had modem access!), so settled into the jurors' lounge with a good book - one absorbing enough to keep the TVs from being too distracting. We watched the beautifully cheesy orientation video, and around 10 am the clerks started coming in to call panels of jurists. I got called on the second shot, one of 85 jurors called. We filed out of the lounge into the atrium. The clerk lined us up in the right order. (I don't know how the order is determined, but it's very important. We always have to stay in this particular, random order.) We filed into the courtroom. We met the judge and the attorneys and the defendant and started learning about the case. Our judge speaks very slowly and not quite loud enough, which makes me sleepy.

The judge asked us 20 questions and we made notes on index cards if we felt we had a bias or an issue serving in this trial. By 12:30 the judge and attorneys were ready to start speaking to individual jurors, so those of us on the bottom half of the list got to go to lunch early. Noodle soup from Chinatown Express, consumed on the lawn of the Building Museum; a fruitless search for free wi-fi; a wander down to the National Sculpture Garden, where I finished my absorbing book; back in the courtroom by 2:10, where I sat until 4:30 reading The New Yorker. By the time we were dismissed, less than 25% of the jurors had been interrogated, so I have to go back tomorrow to witness the end of the selection process. Sigh.

I rode Georgia home again. I'd forgotten what a social road that is; I received two "ola"s and one "hey girl, you're gonna get run over" (which was NOT true). Biking on Georgia is yet another thing I never miss about working at Walter Reed.

Got home, powered on my MacBook, dove into 65 unread messages, coming up for air whenever one of my housemates came home. Scott just got home, so now I can go to bed.


I think it's funny that "petit" in "petit juror" is pronounced "pet' it" rather than "puh teet'." As in, "Go ahead, it won't bite. Pet it!"

Pumpkin Carving 2006

We got to carve pumpkins tonight!

Here's Jonathan's nervous-looking Bert.


Here's John's drooling cyclops.


Here's my snarling blind-in-one-eye beast.


And here's my electric sheep shooting laser beams from its eyes.

The Sheep Report

I get to go home tomorrow! It dawned on me this evening that it’s been a long time that I’ve been gone. Maybe it’s just the amount of stuff that I’ve crammed into 10 days that makes it feel like such a long time. In any case, I’m excited to be heading south to DC tomorrow.

This last leg of my trip has been great though. The Sheep gathered in upstate New York for a long weekend. We’ve done some good, collaborative brainstorming, discussing and working, but more importantly, we got to meet each other (we’ve hired at least five new people since our August meeting in California), hang out, sing karaoke, bond, and generally get to know each other. No trust falls or “Truth or Dare” though. Not even in Second Life. I had a little bit of the “little sister trying to hang out with the cool, older kids” feeling early on, but that happily evaporated by Saturday. It’s nice to feel necessary… or at least participatory.

One of the nicest things about being in this part of NY was the perfect fall weather we got on Friday. Bright blue sky, bright fall leaves, crisp breezes. It was rainy on Saturday and wet and windy today, but we seem to be amazingly free of cabin fever.

Another one of the nicest things about being here is the hospitality. We’re staying at the home of two of our employees’ parents house, and all weekend long we’ve been fed amazing made-from-scratch food: bread, muffins, soups, salads, birthday cakes. We’re being completely spoiled. Not to mention the abundance of sheets, blankets, mattresses, and towels (laundered daily). Amazingly generous. We are one lucky herd!

Brooklyn report

Another en route entry. This time I’m on the train from The City to Albany, in the good company of eight other Sheep.

I got to JFK right on schedule on Tuesday and subwayed my way to Brooklyn. I tried to get some work done, but it was mostly an exercise in how wireless cafés can fail you. The first-choice café, the one Jaime recommended to me, was closed. Number two was full of mothers and infants and didn’t have a working outlet. They did have excellent food, though, so I ate there and worked until my battery ran out. Number three, Barnes and Noble, had neither outlets nor a free network, so I wandered back to #2 and drank coffee and read. Happily, Jaime finished work at 2:30, so I really didn’t have too much time to kill. She and her brother and sister and I went back to the apartment where I got to meet Scarlet!

I spent most of today at Tea Lounge in Brooklyn where the wi-fi was free, and the cappuccino was frothy. I got some work done, and I got to juggle some last-minute travel plans. Crossing my fingers that everyone makes it to Lake George this weekend without incident. There will be 19 of us there by Saturday!

Yesterday I worked from K & J’s apartment in the morning, and then I headed up to Union Square and met Jesse for lunch at a great vegetarian-asian place (Zen Palace, I think?). We spent the afternoon wandering north through the city, catching up. Good times. I met Kate when she was done with work, we went to her gym, we went home and ordered in Thai food, we watched lots of TV. (My apologies to K & J for keeping them up late!)

Today I worked from the apartment until my caffeine addiction sent me out in search of coffee. Tea Lounge, which had failed me on Tuesday, was open and had plenty of outlets to support its free wi-fi. Good coffee, good atmosphere, good thing I was on-call, as there were a few last-minute Sheep travel arrangements to be juggled. I took off at two, met up with Sheep at Penn Station and successfully boarded the Lakeshore Limited with service to Albany. The route is right along the Hudson, which was glowing with reflected fall leaves and late-afternoon sunshine. Beautiful!

DC Future Salon presents...

Second Life Metaverse Roadmap with the Electric Sheep Company
If you're free and in DC on November 8th, stop by the Sheep offices!

Description
The Electric Sheep Company is one of the most interesting and innovative companies in DC right now. Come see how this 3D web developer for Metaverse Worlds is leading the entry into the 3D web.

Details here.

Pictures!

By the way, I just posted a bunch of Baudette photos here. They're mostly for the benefit of my family, but they may be of general interest!

Northwoods Departure

I'm on the plane headed from Minneapolis to New York. I got to witness the most amazing sunrise during the ascent. The sky above the horizon was intensely red, and the clouds that we flew into were pink and violet. Once we arrived on top of the cloud bank, the scene was silver and blue; heavenly enough that I wouldn’t have been surprised to see choirs of angels hanging out.

It’s a bittersweet departure for sure. Sad to be leaving my family and Duluth, excited to be visiting Kate and Jaime for a few days. Wishing I could go home and see Scott after that, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the Sheep meeting once I’m there and get something out of it.

Scott’s corner – He got to go to El Salvador over the weekend and hang out on the beach and drink coconut milk. He’s back in Sanarate now for a few more days of research, and then he’s coming home on Wednesday. Sounds like it’s been a successful trip; things are on schedule and they got some good interviews.

Grandma’s corner – Her 80th birthday party was a success! She doesn’t like to draw attention to herself, doesn’t want people to fuss over her, but we all wanted to do this for her, and she ended up enjoying herself. Her six children, their six spouses, and 13 of her 18 grandchildren plus one grandson-in-law took her out to dinner on Saturday night. We dined at the Borderview Resort, where one can, in fact, view the US-Canada border: the Rainy River. There are fishermen out there all the time, as long as the river is open enough for boats to navigate or icy enough for snowmobiles and ice-fishing houses. Even this weekend, in the cold, windy weather, the river was filled with boats. Not my cup of tea, but I’m glad so many others are enjoying it, I guess. I had walleye for dinner… so at least I’m enjoying it in that sense.

After dinner, we retired to my Uncle Neal and Aunt Diane’s house for birthday cake. We were joined by the extended family. My mom has 12 cousins. I’m not sure how many of them were there, but the house was certainly lively. The party broke up around 11, only to reconvene 10 hours later for brunch. (Huge props to my aunt and uncle for hosting all of it.) And then the Twin Cities families started the five-hour drive home, and the Duluth contingent started our little four-hour trip.

I’m excited about the prospect of spending Christmas in Baudette this year. We haven’t done that in a long time, but this weekend reminded me how great it is to be up there with everyone. It’s raucous, good-natured, woodsy, wholesome.

A funny work related note from the weekend: some of my cousins were watching the Laguna Beach marathon on Saturday morning, and they saw commercials for VLB! I had been talking about it earlier, so they were excited to tell me they had seen ads for “that virtual thing you do.” Neat!

Happy Mole Day!

I know I’m such a Minnesota nut, but I just can’t help it. Duluth is beautiful. Today Mom and I went down to the Lakewalk for a walk, and the lake was absolutely gorgeous. Deep blue under an ominous cloudscape, the city and hillside lit up by honey-colored afternoon sun.

Northwoods Arrival

The drive up to Baudette this morning was great. Nothing like four hours in a car to catch up with the parents. The tamaracks are golden and absolutely beautiful. Under a grey sky, they were practically glowing amid the black and white birch and spruce trees. Should have taken a photo. Even Grandma remarked that they look more brilliant this year than usual. And we saw six bald eagles. They hang out along the highway waiting for roadkill, which we unintentionally provided for them in the form of a rabbit.

We arrived just before noon, unloaded the Volvo, and ate lunch around the big pine table. We drank some coffee, and caught up on the local news:

The big news is that a hunter and his buddy’s golden retriever went missing on Monday, and the extensive search efforts haven’t turned up any trace of him. They’ve done ground sweeps and infrared fly-overs. Even the canine units haven’t come across anything. There’s not much chance that he’s still alive, since the nights this week have been cold any rainy and he wasn’t wearing adequate clothing. Sad.

The other story is of a school principal over in Indus. He lived next to the school where he worked, set a trap for a skunk, but caught his cat in it instead. Faced with the problem of having two motherless kittens at home, he decided NOT to keep them himself, NOT to ask if any of the students wanted to adopt them, NOT to bring them to the humane society. He decided to shoot them. With a 12 gauge shotgun. During school hours. Understandably, students were upset. Gunshots on school grounds, plus their principal blasting away kittens?? The nutcase has since resigned.

We headed out to the family hunting cabin that my grandfather and his two brothers built. It’s a big old log cabin with a generator and an outhouse. Genuinely rustic. Everyone in my family calls it the Yukon Palace, but no one knows why. I haven’t been out there for years, but it’s one of those places that doesn’t change. We rolled in around 4, brought our potluck donations to the kitchen table, and were immediately instructed to take a plastic cup out to the fire outside. That’s where the wine was. Several hours of good old-fashioned socializing ensued. Dinner was squash, calico beans, macaroni hotdish, potatoes and gravy, with apple crisp for dessert. No Jell-O salad, just good food for cold weather. After a brisk after dinner walk with Mom, some aunts and some cousins, we headed back to Grandma’s house, counting a dozen or so deer along the way.

I'm off!

Good-bye DC!
Hello Minnesota!
See ya soon New York!

Rhapsody on Telecommuting

I like having an office to work from. It’s nice to arrive at a place, do work, and then leave that place and not do work. I missed that when I lived at work (St. Stephen’s School, 2003-2004) and when I worked from home (earlier this year). It’s nice to have coworkers, water-cooler-chat, a supply room with envelopes and a printer, etc. But all week long, I’ve been giddily anticipating today’s sunny 75°F weather. And I knew that I’d hate the office today, that it would be nothing but a big computer in an undecorated white-walled, one-windowed cell adjacent to the mechanical room and its incessant, grating-on-your-subconscious rumbling noise.

Today I worked from the living room couch all morning, with the front door wide open and fresh breezes and neighborhood noises coming in. This afternoon, I’m working from Open City, a Woodley Park café. It was bustling when I arrived, but I managed to grab a small table next to a wide-open window. My computer connected to the internet seamlessly, and I logged into Virtual Laguna Beach – a place much less idyllic than my current surroundings.


Also, life at the Electric Sheep Company has been exciting lately. Skim through our company's blog, We the Sheeple, for much more articulate and in-depth accounts of what's been going on with ESC and with Second Life. In short, we just launched Reuter's island, and it's been getting tons of press (not surprising), which in turn is driving tons of people to Second Life. Giff says that "Google news tracks 164 stories related to all of this." Uf da! The Sony/BMG island is open, and Ben Folds is coming to the party on Thursday night! There are celebrities in VLB too. Last night, a Laguna Beach cast member met fans in-world, and two more are coming in next week. This is huge and fantastic!


And... my new pink phone arrived. It's fully funcitonal, even in the the deepest darkest parts of Delafield's basement.

And I volunteered for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (or DCCC, pronounced "D-trip" if you're in the know) last night. Aaron's responsible for convincing me to do it. Liz gets the credit for organizing those of us who went. And I got to see Ali, Megan and Sam down there - quite the Ulimate crew! We called Floridians and tried to encourage them to vote for Christine Jennings. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I'm glad I got out of my comfort zone and did a good pre-election thing.

And Scott arrived in Guatemala safe and sound! I got to talk to him today as he was on his way from Guatemala City to Sanarate. He says to say hi.

It's grey and drizzly here today, and Scott left for Guatemala this morning. I wish I were joining him.

Pet Shop Boys, Deepest Darkest Maryland

We got to the Daughters of the American Revolution Constitution Hall just before eight, picked up our free tickets and complimentary CD, and found our seats - front row of the first tier of the balcony. Fantastic location. In the Hawaii section even! Made note of the male to female ratio, somewhere around 2:1 or 3:1. Idly wondered if they were a gay band. The show began: two guys in white jumpsuits tore away the brain image to reveal a pair of silhouettes, from which emerged the men matching those silhouettes! Applause. Then two MORE men matching the silhouettes emerged. Um, more applause. Huh? And then a third pair of men matching the silhouettes emerged, and there was tons of applause. Aha! These must be the real Pet Shop Boys! (Turns out the first two were backup singers, and the second two were backup dancers. Sneaky...)

Our next clue that this might be a gay-friendly group came during intermission, when Scott and I tore open our CD. It's pink! Neon pink. And there's a track entitled "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show." The second act brought us a pronouncement from Neil Tennant: "DC, you are so flamboyant!", a song of the same nature, and a number of dancing cowboys wearing gold lamé, head-to-toe. Gay. Yep. Got it. Fabulous!

A fun show overall. It didn't overwhelm me, but I had a good time and am certainly glad that I got to see them. And now that I've listened to their album Fundamental a few times, they're really growing on me!

So that was the very end of the weekend, Sunday night. I was tired on Friday night, so skipped out on a happy hour and a going-away party in favor of lying on the floor reading New Yorker articles for an hour. When Scott got home, we watched Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, a documentary that

interweaves the stories of four obsessive men, each driven to create eccentric worlds of their dreams, all involving animals: Dave Hoover, a lion tamer who idolizes the late Clyde Beatty, and who shares his odd theories on the mental processes of wild animals; George Mendonça, a topiary gardener who has devoted a lifetime to painstakingly shaping bears and giraffes out of hedges and trees; Ray Mendez, who is fascinated with hairless mole-rats, tiny buck-toothed mammals who behave like insects; and Rodney Brooks, an M.I.T. scientist who has designed complex, autonomous robots that can crawl like bugs without specific instructions from a human controller. As the film proceeds, thematic connections between the four protagonists begin to emerge: the lion tamer and the topiary gardener look back at ways of life which are fading from the scene; the mole-rat specialist and the robot scientist eye the future, envisioning creatures that may someday replace the human race.

This one gets the Scott and Libby seal of approval. Not as good as Bubba Ho-Tep, I think, but worth watching.

I was up early on Saturday morning and got to read and drink coffee for a few peaceful hours. Then I made ratatouille (to use up the 2 eggplants and 6 zucchini that were threatening to go bad) and played Scrabble with Scott (where I got lucky with letters so beat him soundly). We headed out to Maryland in the afternoon and met up with my aunt and uncle. We stopped at a farm store for apples (honey crisp! Yum!) and pumpkins, went for a walk with their Newfoundland Winston in the nature preserve across the street from their house (which my uncle refers to as deepest, darkest Maryland), sipped wine and looked at pictures from my uncle's and dad's recent kayak trip before heading out for dinner at an excellent Italian place nearby. Nice dinner, nice chatting at home, sound sleeping, tasty fresh-out-of-the-oven coffee cake in the morning. They dropped us off on their way to church, and we went home and played Scrabble. Scott won this time, but I was close!

MJ, Pet Shop Boys, Ben Folds

I made great strides in my cultural literacy last night. A bunch of us went to Heaven & Hell for their weekly 80's Dance Party. Super fun companions and super fun music, but highly educational as well. I saw Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video for the first time. So many cultural references (like the weird little zombie dance) finally have roots! And wow, MJ is something else, isn't he? We also got to watch a video of him in a rhinestone sweatsuit.

Also at Heaven & Hell, Scott entered me in a drawing for tickets to a Pet Shop Boys concert, and I won! Not terribly surprising, since the place was pretty dead. I'd never heard of this band before, but a brief googling brought positive results. From Wikipedia:

The longevity of their career is generally attributed to their ability to create melodic pop/dance music with intelligent lyrics and striking style. They are one of the most consistently successful duos in pop music, particularly in Europe.

Finally, check out my coworker's blog post about exciting Electric Sheep Company launches coming up on Thursday the 19th. Ben Folds is going to be in world for both of them!! Way cool!

Taking care of business

The mundane things of my life this week:

I got my first-ever jury summons! This means I'm an adult and a District resident. Yay! Except that it's jury duty... Stay tuned for Legal Adventures in early November.

I signed up for a Verizon account, and I'm getting a pink RAZR phone (free) to go with it. No more Cingular for me.

I practiced violin last night. Cannot wait to get my shoulder rest back. Less than two weeks now until I'm in NYC visiting Kate and Jaime (who have my shoulder rest). Cannot wait to see them, apart from the shoulder rest business!

Here's a picture from my office window. I like how I can see the sky reflected in the building across from me. I wish I could open my window - it's gorgeous out today.

The Wedding Weekend!

We had a wedding at Delafield last weekend! It was easily one of the best weddings I've ever been to. I think that's because it was as much about us, the family and friends, as it was about Peter and Bethany. Yes, we were celebrating their commitment to each other, but we were also celebrating the strength of our community and our commitment to supporting each other. The couple was sharing their union with us and asking for our support rather than standing in the spotlight and asking us to be happy for them.

Things started on Friday night with a dinner for family, housemates and close friends. We had a sort of Quaker meeting, where we all sat around the living room and offered thoughts, blessings, advice, etc to Peter and Bethany. Hard to describe how good and meaningful it felt. Certainly a case of the whole being more than a sum of its parts.

Saturday morning was low-key, with people stopping by for brunch around 10:30. The Delafield kitchen was at its finest - too many people given the limited counter space, but everyone finding a way to do their part - dicing fruit, beating eggs, washing dishes, etc.

Around 1 we mobilized and brought all the wedding stuff (food, plants and flowers for decorating, people) down to the conference room of our office building. They had hoped to have the ceremony outside, but chilly, drizzly weather forced us to fall back on plan B. Plan A would have been lovely, but plan B turned out just fine. Peter and Bethany read their vows to their community, to their families, and to each other. Beautifully written, beautifully spoken. We stayed downtown and ate picnic food until 6 or so, and then took a break before the evening festivities.

Those took place back at Delafield - hors d'ouevres, cocktails, then dancing, then cake, and then more dancing. Super fun dancing - Peter put together a great playlist, and there were easily enough people enthusiastic about dancing to keep the floor going all night long. Things wound down around 3 am, with the last guests helping to clean up the place - always appreciated.

Another low-key morning on Sunday. I didn't wake up until 9! A rare occurance. Brunch for a few more family and friends, floor mopping, furniture arranging, tranforming the place back into everyday Delafield. (We left the white lights up though. Yay!)

A very successful wedding. I'm so happy to have been a part of it, even though I've only known the couple a year or so. Best wishes to them!

Rain rain rain rain rain.

It started during our bike home last night from a yummy Ethiopian dinner. By the time we got home, we were cold and wet but upon entering Delafield, were instantly welcomed into a warm, bustling house. Peter and Bethany’s wedding preparations were in full swing – good smells coming from the kitchen, parents in town, white lights and white tulle everywhere. We spent a few hours decorating, while others set up the sound system for the weekend’s dance party (!!!) and baked chocolate cheesecake.

We fell asleep to the sound of rain and listened to it all night long. I decided not to get on my bike at 6:30 and ride down through the cold, dark wet city for pilates. I decided I could work from home until the rain let up.

But… then I broke the internet. Well, I reset our modem instead of just powering it off and on again. So after fruitless putzing, I hopped on my bike and rode through the cold, wet, no-longer-dark but now-traffic-congested city to work. Blick. Just like Wednesday was the perfect day to work outside at Mocha Hut, today would have been the perfect day to work from under an afghan on the couch.

I have a feeling there will be more rainy DC days to come, so I’ll get my telecommute on another day.

Old Crow Opportunity Missed

The band was great. The venue was not. I felt claustrophobic and hot, and my body hurt. When I could concentrate on the band, when I caught a glimpse of the fiddler, it was really wonderful. But I couldn't focus on them enough of the time, so I left after their first set, only to have Scott tell me that the second half was absolutely incredible and that I probably could have found more space upstairs. So I sent to sleep disappointed in myself for not sticking it out, I tossed and turned, and I woke up feeling sad and vaguely angry.

Which is silly. I made a mistake. Today's a new, beautiful day. Come on, Emotions, get with the program! Shape up!

Soaking Up U Street

We've been enjoying knockout weather these past two days. Right now it's sunny and 80°F, so I've been working on the patio of Mocha Hut all afternoon long. I started out in Dupont Circle, but the free wifi kept disconnecting, so I pushed north to U Street. Mocha Hut (13th & U) was the obvious choice because it's not Starbucks, and it has outdoor seating. Not quite the same as enjoying a late afternoon coffee and crossword puzzle on the patio at home in Duluth... but the fact that it reminds me of being there is good enough. Pretty good people watching. Darn good toy dog watching.

In an hour, I'm meeting a crew one block over at Ben's Chili Bowl (12th & U), and from there we're headed to the 9:30 Club (8th & v) to see Old Crow Medicine Show.





By the way, Old Crow Medicine Show says:

We will be returning to A Prairie Home Companion this Saturday as part of the 33rd annual Season Premiere Broadcast, Meatloaf Supper, and Street Dance. Bring your appetites and dancing shoes, or tune your radio to your local NPR station.

http://www.crowmedicine.com/

other stuff...
1. Cingular is sending me a new phone due to a desperate desire that their device works at Delafield and I won't leave them for a different service!

2. I registered a new VLB avatar today. A guy named Lion.


He came with black eyebrows, but I bought him a nice pair of camel-colored ones. Can you believe that eyebrows cost more than sneakers? I paid 97 MTV$ for those suckers, versus only 85 MTV$ for his new shoes (also in camel).

3. Here's a picture of a lion attacking a camel.

Why is the girl lion just lying there?
Is she a pacifist?
Is she playing dead, waiting to launch a surprise attack?
Did the camel driver put a spell on her?

Good to be alive.

Two Ultimate players were killed in a car crash on their way home from Regionals last weekend. And we held a moment of silence before our first game last Saturday to remember another player killed in a crash over the summer. And yesterday there was yet another school shooting.

What a gift to be alive on such a beautiful, ordinary day. I will not take it for granted. My health, my family and friends, our love for one another, our safety.

Regionals!

We were seeded 11th and finished 9th. Rock on! Our most exciting game was against Germ Circus - they took half 8-3, we traded points to bring it up to 12-7, and then we pulled away and won 16-14. Incredible! I feel okay with how I played, but I felt out of shape. So I'm determined that next year will be a different story. I'll do my track workouts religiously, I swear. I'll figure out how to jump and catch higher discs. Maybe I'll even convince myself to layout.

First, I should learn to keep my eyes open when I catch.



Really, the most important part about the weekend was being part of such a wonderful team. They make me smile.

Pics from VLB

Click on the images for larger versions.



I bought a hoverboard today - only 8,000 MTV$. I opted for the low-end model, because they offered cooler patterns. Mine is the "Klimpt." It's hard to see the design in this picture, and actually, it's pretty hard to see the design when I'm riding it around. But it's pretty.

Here I am at the hoverboard race track! My best time was 54.2 seconds. Woo hoo!



I also bought a dog, a yellow lab. We went to the dog park together.



Even virtual dogs need training. I taught mine how to sit, come and jump.





You can feed your dog. But despite the signage, you don't actually have to clean up after him.


I stopped by the cinema to watch some LB reruns, but my computer doesn't have speakers, so it was less than engaging.



Back outside to play with the big red Feelium and a waist-high soccer ball...







That's it. I'm off to Regionals.

A neat machinima, shot in Seccond Life by Pierce Portocarrero.

And here are Mark Wallace's comments on the piece.

Regina Spektor!

Regina Spektor (who I blogged about briefly in July) is coming to the 9:30 Club next Tuesday! Let me know if you want to come along.

Beautiful blue ride to work this morning. Very cloudy, lots of ambient light, so the sky was a solid blue, tangible, not clear watery blue. Chilly out.

Something's bothering me, but I can't put my finger on what it is.

Frisbee stuff

Regionals is only three days away! Another tournament! Rock on!

I felt good at practice last night, but I was crabby. My apologies to my teammates, especially in the scrimmage. Many thanks to whomever put a snake in my bag. Seriously - I love him!

One of my Clique teammates posted this video of our games from last Sunday. Nothing exceptional... lots of little tiny players running around on a big green field. But it's the first time I've seen myself play, and it's a relief to know I don't look silly out there. (If you take the time to watch, I'm wearing blue shorts and a pink and blue striped shirt.)

I'm going to go try out a lunchtime pickup game tomorrow. I rarely leave the office during the day, unless it's for a trip to FedEx, so I'm excited for this.

Unrelated to frisbee...
I bought socks this week for the first time in ages. I forgot how nice it is to have soft, new socks on your feet. I'm enjoying them much more than expected.

The Empty Nest

Well, young Frederick is off at school. He and my parents drove out to Eugene last week, and then my parents drove back. The last one to leave the nest. It's exciting - Fred's been looking forward to school for at least a year now - but I have this vague sense of concern surrounding the whole affair. He's off on his own now, a young man in the big world. Of course, he spent the entire summer driving himself around the country fighting forest fires... but going to college is different somehow. There's now turning back, no returning to being a kid. And I'm vaguely concerned about my parents - they must be sad, they must miss him. (Funny that I didn't have these thoughts when I went off to college. I was about 10 times less independent than Fred at that age.) I guess I didn't expect the empty nest to affect me too.

In other home-related news, I just booked another flight home to Duluth. My grandma just turned 80, so the whole family is celebrating over MEA weekend. I haven't been up to Baudette (where my mom grew up) for a long time, and I haven't seen my cousins up there in ages. I'm looking forward to: sitting around the kitchen table, squished on the bench between extended family members, drinking coffee, eating Grandma's cinnamon twists and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm; going for long walks down perfectly straight east-west and north-south roads, smelling the pastures and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm; helping out with big family meals, making hotdish and Jell-O salad for the masses, so no matter who shows up when, they won't go hungry, washing dishes and listening to gossip and stories about growing up on the Farm.

Many, many good things

A gorgeous ride to work this morning. I don't get quite the same views as I did on the ride to Walter Reed, but biking during sunrise is hard to beat. The days are getting shorter and cooler. I'm sad that summer is ending, but I'm suddenly excited for fall. We have two tournaments coming up. Regionals is in two weeks, and then Pada Mosh is in November. We had Sectionals last weekend, and it was a great tournament for us. We went 3 and 1 on Saturday, winning (and losing) our games decisively. We went 1 and 1 on Sunday and had much better, closer, tighter games. We came in 3rd overall, which is awesome; we broke seed. Our roster is big enough that no one gets a ton of playing time, which is pretty frustrating. But I'm happy with how I played, and I'm happy with how our team played, and I'm happy to be a member of such a positive, enthusiastic, supportive team.



Look, I can catch!
(Many thanks to Kevin and Caryn for taking pictures this weekend!)

More good stuff on the horizon: Scott and I bought our Christmas and Thanksgiving tickets yesterday. I'm spending Turkeyday with his family, and he's coming to Duluth for a few days after Christmas! I get to spend a solid 10 days at home this winter. Yay Duluth!



(One of my favorite photos from northernimages.com.)

Other stuff I feel like reporting...
Liz and Scott and Grant and I saw This Film is Not Yet Rated on Monday. Pretty good; it makes me want to go see more independent films. Like Jesus Camp. Has anyone heard of this?

I was thinking of doing a track workout last night, since I haven't done one since sometime in July... but I practiced my violin instead. It felt wonderful, even though I still don't have a shoulder rest. Arrgh.

Yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARRRGH!

The sign at the church by my house says "Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is." Hear hear. But which limb?

VLB!

MTV fianlly had gave a press conference about Virtual Laguna Beach! Yay!

No sticker for me.

I went to the dentist yesterday, and as I was getting up to go, she told me that I made her day because my teeth are so nice and healthy! That, in turn, made my day. I didn't get the traditional bag of treats. That's ok, because I don't need a toothbrush or floss right now. But I really wanted a sticker to flaunt!

I didn't vote today. I was planning on doing it on my way to work, but we left too early, and I didn't get a chance to go back up to Columbia Heights during the day. And I'll be at BRDM practice until after the polls close. So I didn't get an "I Voted" sticker like Aaron. I should be (and am) ashamed of myself.

I did, however, get a free red calculator from Safeway when I bought my Primo Taglio turkey from the deli. It even has a handy carabiner clip, so I can bring it climbing with me!

Ah, Minnesota!

I got back from Minnesota last Thursday, but it feels like it was much longer ago. It was a lovely visit! Brief run-down:
My parents picked up Scott and I from the Minneapolis airport, and we proceded to the Science Museum for the Bodyworks exhibit, to lunch with my Uncle John, to the Walker Art Center for a Diane Arbus exhibit where Alissa joined us, to the Spoonriver Cafe for a gourmet al fresco dinner, and finally to the Guthrie for an inaugural performance of The Great Gatsby. Each piece was wonderful and made all the better by sharing it with people I love!

On Saturday morning, we drove up to Duluth, repacked, bought groceries and then drove over to the cabin. One of the best things about that place is the fact that you can be away for a year but return and feel settled in within 10 minutes. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday there reading, eating, napping, and occasionally exerting ourselves. (Scott kindly helped Dad haul downed trees out of the woods and split them for firewood.)

We got back to Duluth on Monday afternoon. We spent Tuesday wandering around downtown and Canal Park. We stopped by the ballet, which was fun because I haven't been there in ages. In the afternoon, we swam and sunned at my favorite beach. We had gorgeous weather. Fred got home from Bemidji, where he had been fighting fires, and debriefed on what the work is like. Pretty interesting stuff, except the parts where you're sitting around waiting for something to start.

On Wednesday, we went up the north shore of Lake Superior to Gooseberry Falls and spent a few hours hiking around. We had lunch at Betty's Pies on the way back, and stopped at Marshall to show off my high school and say hi to my teachers. We got cleaned up so that my parents could take us to a wine-tasting and dinner. Delicious!

Fred drove us back down to Minneapolis on Thursday morning, and we were back at Delafield by 3 pm. I was homesick and felt like I had left MN too soon. I think part of me was mourning the end of summer too. But a good BRDM practice and then a nice communal dinner made me feel better.

The theme of this past week has most decidedly been Old Friends. In each and every case, it was wonderful to catch up. Writing and calling works... but being present with someone is so much more powerful. It's similar to, but even better than, seeing original artwork or hearing live music or going to the ballet.

Without further grandiose ado, here are the fabulous friends I got to see, live and in person, this past week. It all started in San Francisco.
- On Saturday, Chad came up from LA for the SL convention, so we got to catch up during dinner that night.
- On Sunday, after the the convention was over and all the Sheep had scattered, I headed over to Mavis and Nia's house. I can't remember the last time I saw them, so it was wonderful to reconnect.
- On Monday, I met Sue for lunch and then she and Mavis and I took in Telegraph Hill and other parts of SF.
- On Monday night, I BARTed out to Pixar to hang out with Mike, who I've had almost no contact with since he left DC last year. Lovely to see him enjoying his job and his surroundings so much.

I got back to DC on Tuesday morning, and on Tuesday afternoon I had coffee with Abby!
- Tuesday night was my first BRDM practice in ages, so it sort of felt like I was reuniting with long-lost friends.
- On Wednesday I reunited with Delafield over a leisurely dinner on the front porch.
- On Thursday, I had lunch with Beth - we were fellow math majors and HPs at Wellesey. I don't think I've seen her since graduation.
- On Friday, I went to Jazz in the Garden for the first time in a loooong time, and then a bunch of Wonderbredders went to see the Capitol Steps. I don't get to see that crew much anymore, so they sort of count as old friends. At least for the theme of the week.

The only old friends of the weekend were inanimate, but still exciting.
- On Saturday, I stuck the hard drive from my old, dead laptop into an external enclosure, plugged it into my lovely new MacBook, and found all kinds of music that I haven't listened to since I was in Rome. Rock on! There were a bunch of photos from Italy that I haven't looked at for ages.
- Today, I picked up my violin for the first time since Kate and Jaime's wedding. They're still holding my shoulder rest hostage in Brooklyn (which I suspect is a wiley plot to get me to go up and visit them), so my posture was a little awkward, and my fingers were clumsy, but it felt good nonetheless.

Good-bye CA!

I couldn't have had a nicer last day in San Francisco. I forgot how tired I was!

I woke up to Abby's voice inviting me to lunch, as she's in DC these days! Still muddled with sleep, I tried to tell her about my crazy Spinal Tap dream, and then we figured out a coffee date. I can't wait.

I left the house around 8, made my way to Berkeley no problem, and met with an admissions officer in the Information School. Good, informative stuff. But at this point, I think I'd rather just keep working for the Electric Sheep than take time off for school.

I met Sue (my former boss from the Wellesley Library Conservation Lab) for lunch at noon at the Ferry Building, and we got each other caught up on our jobs. Note to self: must remember to send her some machinima of Second Life; she was pretty curious about it all.

Mavis joined us after that, and we went up to Coit Tower. We got to take an Italian streetcar there! I guess San Francisco uses all kinds of historic streetcars from cities around the world. Very cool. And what a cool job it would be to be a streetcar mechanic in SF! So we got to see the amazing views from the tower, which made me homesick/impatient for Enger Tower in Duluth, and then we wandered down some lovely staircases and back towards the center of the city.

Bus delays diverted us from seeing the Palace of Fine Arts, but we had a nice walk though the Civic Center area of town instead and got to check out the nice public library. Sue headed home after that, and I picked up my luggage from Mavis's apartment and took off for Pixar to visit Mike. Mike who is still listed in my phone as Mike Beer, because when we exchanged numbers at Bohemian Caverns ages ago, he told me his middle name was beer. I think it's true.

I got to Pixar shortly before six (and got a snack from the proverbial milk and cereal kichen! Way cool.). I got the personalized tour of the building, which is filled with great movie- and non-movie-related artwork, and kicked myself for not having seen The Incredible or Cars. I even got to see the server room. Boy do their graphics take a lot of computing power! We got dinner, we tossed my frisbee around on the lush lush lawn, we convinced me that San Francisco really is a fantastic place to live. Now I'm at Oakland airport waiting for a delayed red-eye back to DC. Tired and happy.

Thanks so much to all of my hosts this week - Sibley, Mavis and Nia and Maya, Sue and Mike.

The Second Part of the California Report

Time for a wrap-up of the rest of the week.

Wednesday was the day the rest of the Sheep descended on Santa Cruz. I finally got to meet DNA, Cory and Mak, Mark and Flipper and Jennyfur. The flights worked out, the rental cars worked out, the hotels (mostly) worked out; it was nice to see the logistics fall into place. And I was even feeling healthy enough to go for a run in the afternoon! We all gathered into one non-virtual place for dinner. We ordered pizza and drank beer and celebrated the launch of the project. Not too late though, because there were a bunch of people who were worn out from traveling.

Thursday was the first day that I felt like Sibley's vision for this company meeting finally came to fruition: Every one of the Sheep came out to his house, and we spent the whole day together. A big part of the day was spent on introductions. Instead of asking each person to talk about himself, Sibley gave a brief introduction to each one and then asked others to add information. It ended up taking a long time, but being entirely worth it. We heard about their strengths as employees, their characteristics as friends, a handful of funny stories, interesting personal histories, etc. It made me realize what an amazing group of people I work with.

We took a break at noon to tour The Mystery Spot, which is quite close to Sibley's house. It was wonderful. Our tour guide was nice and ironic about the hokiness of it all, but the illusions and experiments were still super fun to see.

In the afternoon, we broke up into smaller groups. I really would have liked to stay for one of them but did grocery duty instead. Fortunatly, Mark went with me, and his company made the trip much more enjoyable/less lonely. We got back to the ranch around 6, and Sibley and I started cooking up a nice big batch of Groundnut Stew: rice, vegetables, peanut butter, spice. I was a little disappointed that I wasn't on the porch drinking beer with the rest of the flock, but only a little. I got to talk to Scott, ate my stew, enjoyed a massage (Sibley hired one of his massage-therapist tenants to come over for 3 hours. Brilliant.), and then headed up the hill for a company campfire. Sibley talked about our mission/vision/direction, and then we all told jokes and roasted marshmallows. I have a pretty good job, don't you think?

We left Santa Cruz on Friday morning and stopped by Yahoo! HQ on our way to San Fran. They had invited Sibley to come in for one of their regular Friday lunchtime talks, and he asked if he could bring 18 people with him. They obliged. As a result, we got to hear Sibley and Giff and Jerry wax eloquent on what Second Life is about and what our company is about, and we got to watch DNA, Cory, Mak and Giff build things in-world. It was incredible. Inspiring. I can't wait to get in there and try to build something cooler than a pair of cubes stuck together.

We had lunch in the Yahoo! cafeteria (where all the espresso drinks are free!), and then continued north. We checked into the hotel (which took a little sorting out), relaxed for a bit (I finally cleaned off the last of my chipped silver toenail polish! Only to reveal bruised toenails underneath! Rock on!), picked up our fantastic glow-in-the-dark Electric Sheep Company t-shirts from Amanda, and left for the opening party of the second annual Second Life Community Convention. I spend very litte time in Second Life, and I don't have any non-Sheep friends in-world right now, so I didn't think I'd have much fun at the party. Au contraire, I had a great time. I got to meet a bunch of cool people, including some of the Lindens (who sort of like celebrities, because they actually work for Linden Labs, the creators of SL). Just about everyone I introduced myself to had something nice to say about the Electric Sheep... I felt like I was a part of a little celebrity clique too. It helped that a bunch of us were in our fabulous matching t-shirts, of course. The absolute best part of the night was DNA's DJing and the rest of the Sheep dancing. He plays awesome music, and we are a bunch of awesome dancers. Such a great bonding experience. When he was done, we all headed back to the hotel for pizza and beer and, quickly, bed.

We spent all day Saturday at the convention, mostly listening to various panels. And I got my first taste of networking! Nancy, the publisher of New Moon magazine, mentioned that it might be interesting to give new Moon a virtual presence, so I made a point of talking to Kim A. of The Magicians about her work for Global Kids in SL. Kim introduced me to Claudia Linden, who heads up the education stuff at Linden Labs. Both Claudia and another one of The Magicians had heard of New Moon and said very nice things about it, so it was neat to tell them that I was a founder. :-) Who knows if anything will happen with this; the SL teen grid is only open to kids aged 13 and above, so that cuts out the majority of the New Moon audience. But there are so many cool directions that it could go! In any case, I hope some of the older New Moonies get to check out the Global Kids island.

At the end of the day, we headed back to our hotel, met up with Chad, who had just flown in from LA, and all went out for dinner. It was lovely. I got to catch up with him, he got to meet a bunch of Sheep, we all got to debrief on the conference. Afterwards, I hung out with Sibley and Morton and Chad at the hotel while others hit up the convention afterparty. No regrets.

Today is winding to a wonderfully peaceful close. We got a late start, since most people didn't get to bed until 5 or 6 in the morning. We breakfasted at Lori's Diner, checked out of the hotel, and made our way to the convention only to discover that all the sessions we were interested in attending we either already over or all filled up. So we went to Starbucks, which quickly became our unofficial headquarters as more and more Sheep filtered in. We caffeinated, worked, gossiped, and designed quilts. (I'm working on designing one for Scott and I, and I got Morton interested in designing one for Kim to sew.) We all parted ways after that. Most people headed to the airport, and I headed to Mavis and Nia's house. Now the evening is winding to a wonderfully peaceful close. It's been great hanging out with Mavis and her roommate Maya. We had dinner, and now we're sitting in a very quiet living room.

I'm jealous of all the Sheep who will be home tomorrow. That's not to say I'm not looking forward to seeing more of San Francisco (and more of my SF friends) tomorrow, because I am. Absolutely. But it's going to be one more long day in a series of long days. That's not to say they haven't been long in good ways, because they have. I've learned so much about the Sheep and about SL, and I'm incredibly motivated to go home and work on ESC projects and spend more time in SL. I feel nice and invigorated in that respect. It's been a successful trip that way for a lot of people, and we're already trying to figure out when we can do it next.

But my headcold is on the offensive again, and for now I just want to go home to Delafield and the office and BRDM and my routine.

Tame Adventures in... Santa Cruz: The Surfing Capitol of the World!

Uf da, it's been a long week already. Between long flights, late nights, errand-running, crisis-averting, jet lag and a head cold, I'm beat. Sick too.

We're nearing the end of our second full day in Santa Cruz. The Sheep assigned to a particularly large and stressful project that's launching on Wednesday (tomorrow!) came out here on Sunday night so that they could all be together during the final push. Unfortunately, the working conditions have been less than ideal. Namely, trying to find adequate internet connectivity has slowed things down and sent Sheep wandering from library to coffee shop to, finally, the Comfort Inn. I don't know if it's bad luck, or if it's the result of so many Sheep trying to use so much bandwidth all at once, but whatever network they found eventually crashed.

Meanwhile, Sibley and I set up shop. Foiled in our attempts to buy a new generator, we borrowed a bigger, older, heavier one from one of his tenants and rolled it up the driveway to the main house. After the satellite internet connection was successfully installed, we drove into town, enjoyed a great lunch at the Saturn Cafe, and roamed around Santa Cruz, picking up flatware and silverware at the Goodwill, groceries at Safeway, towels, duct tape, and other sundries at various locations. We got home by 6, refrigerated the appropriate groceries, and napped. A seriously unconscious hour-long nap. We met the rest of the Sheep for an 8 pm Thai dinner and accompanied them back to their hotel for a few more hours of work. Sibley and I left them around midnight, after the internet inevitably "broke" and no one could do any more work.

I got lots of sleep last night - I was tired enough for a post-breakfast nap - and finally woke up when Sibley roused me at 10:30, saying the Sheep were on their way home. He taught me how to fire up the generator and then took off to buy the new one. The Sheep arrived, got all set up with power cords and internet, things were looking good (finally), and then we ran out of gas - no electricity, no modem. No internet, no work. Four poor souls went back to town to try their luck with the various internet cafes they had experimented with on Monday, Sibley returned and restored electricity, and an aura of calm descended.


Even though it's still pretty light outside, the living room has become pretty dim, and I'm ready to give my pressurized head, dripping nose and aching body another nap.

Before I do that, though, I should comment on what great people my coworkers are. Despite all the stresses they've been under, they've been overwhelmingly positive and optimistic. I was nervous about this trip, about fitting in with the Sheep. My work is generally unrelated to theirs, and during the company meeting in DC last month I felt like kind of an outsider. These days, though, whatever exclusion I felt has vanished, and I'm really enjoying the opportunity to get to know my coworkers (as well as their work) a lot better. Tomorrow, the rest of the Sheep will be joining us, including some I haven't met before. I'm excited. :-)

Friday morning state of mind.

From today's Writer's Almanac:

It's the birthday of short-story writer Andre Dubus, (books by this author) born in Lake Charles, Louisiana (1936). He wrote stories about regular people like bartenders, mechanics, and waitresses in collections such as The Cage Keeper and Other Stories (1989) and Dancing after Hours (1996). In 1986, after publishing several books of short stories, Dubus stopped to help a woman and a man stranded on the side of the highway, and he was hit by a passing car. He saved the woman's life by throwing her out of the way, but he lost one of his legs and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He said, "Some of my characters now feel more grateful about simple things—breathing, buying groceries, sunlight, because I do." He also said, "We don't have to live great lives, we just have to understand and survive the ones we've got."

I feel good today. Put-together. Scott and I spent last night unpacking and getting our room in order, and even though there's still a lot to do, it makes a huge difference. I feel like I belong there now. I went to pilates this morning, and it's only 71°F out, and Edith Piaf is on the radio.

Ta Daaaa!

All my stuff is at Delafield! We made great time - an hour to deliver the beds, two and a half hours to load the truck, and less than an hour to unload it. (Many thanks to Jay for his help!) We were in bed by 11.

It definitely feels like my stuff is invading Scott's room, rather than it being the case that our room needs to be unpacked. I'm definitely looking forward to getting things straightened out tomorrow and over the weekend.

I'd tackle it tonight, but I get to go to BRDM practice instead, in our *beautifully* cooled-down weather. It's gorgeous outside! We're starting to revamp our warm-ups at practice. The typical jog around the field followed by 10 minutes of static stretching just isn't very effective, so I led the team in an active warm-up (basically, the standard Crossfit warm-up), and it went over pretty well. Tonight I'm going to try leading one developed by a trainer in Boston specifically for an Ultimate team. It looks long and complicated, so I think we'll be learning it a few steps at a time. Fun stuff though!

Today's the Day!

After work today, Scott's picking up a moving van, and we're emptying out Chez Limon!

The first item on our agenda is to deliver the beds to a lovely woman in Georgetown who agreed to buy both of them. This is a huge relief. I could store them at Delafield, but selling them is much better. Hooray for Craigslist!

Next up is loading up the van with the rest of my (and Margo's) stuff. Here's hoping the van fits in the alley so we can take things out through the garage rather than through the akward front entrance.

And then we'll drive "home" and unload! It's weird to think of Delafield as "our house" and Scott's room as "our room."

I think that's enough for one night. I'll save the big clean-up for later.

Moving - progress report

Yesterday was good and hard and productive and disgusting and extremely satisfying.

Scott and I spent the morning cleaning up Chez Limon, straightening things up so it looks nice for prospective renters. I started some of the deep cleaning and packed up one big duffle bag full of clothes that I won't need for a few more months. Around two o'clock, I headed up to Delafield, where Scott and Jay were purging the basement storage spaces. They managed to extract a moldy old couch that had been stuck down there for years. They got to attack it with crowbars. Pretty cathartic.

Then we attacked the garage, which was full of past residents' moldy books, moldy furniture, moldy clothing, and plenty of evidence of rat infestation - scurrying noises, nests, feces, and a headless carcass. We pulled out tons of junk and organized the rest. It was a pretty amazing transformation. I wish I had brought my camera along for "before" and "after" pictures. The junk will all get picked up on Monday, as will two living room chairs, since we're replacing them with the chairs from my apartment. (Praise be to 1-800-GOT-JUNK).

I think we finished around 7:30, at which point I finally got to shower, and Scott and I sat down to a lovely salmon and curried vegetable dinner. We stayed awake just long enough to watch Steve Martin in The Jerk, and then slept soundly.

Today's the day to pack up my room. Monday night I'll do the kitchen. Tuesday night we're renting a truck, so we'll move things then or Wednesday morning. I think all of my furniture has a home, except for the futon. Seems like the market's saturated with futons these days.


A quick cooking note - beets are great! We included them in our dinner last night, and they dyed the whole dish red. It was beautiful, so I want to cook more stuff with them. Coincidentally, I got a letter from Robin last week that included a recipe for a beet pancake! I'll let you know how it is... when I get around to making it. It's not exactly a top priority these days.

Moving. Ugh.

The exciting work news of the week is that our DC office is moving to a new building at the end of August. We’ll be over on 19th Street, between L and M. I’m delighted! It’s a better location (1 block from my gym, 2 blocks from Scott, 3 blocks from Dupont Circle), and I’ll have real office furniture – i.e. drawers to put things in a desk to spread out on. Jonah and I won’t be working on top of each other anymore! My view won’t be as interesting – another building instead of the entrance to the Hilton – but at least I’ll still have a window and natural light.

First, though, I have to/get to move into Delafield. I’m excited, but I’m already feeling a little stressed by how much there is to do. And I don’t even have that much stuff! I just hate packing. I suddenly have a much greater respect for those people I’ve helped move in this past year.

Other stuff…
Last night was the first BRDM practice after a month-long hiatus. I’d only played once since Potlatch. My throws were rusty, and it was super hot out, but besides that I felt really good, and not too out of shape. My left hamstring felt too tight, but it’s better today. It’s just something I need to keep an eye on, warm up properly beforehand, and stretch out adequately afterwards.
We had a nice big group dinner at Froggy Bottom afterwards. We were sitting outside (under an awning) when the storm broke and our heat wave finally came to an end. Today is still warm, but much more comfortable than yesterday.

Tonight I get to have dinner with Team Dinner Party. I’m bringing the cold cucumber soup, and we’re going to grill things!

That’s it. Have a good weekend!

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Three minutes of four guys dancing on treadmills. Brilliant choreography. And great music too! Happy Friday everyone!

New Moon has a blog!

New Moon is the magazine I worked for when I was in middle school and high school. I'd lost touch with those friends for a while, but recently MySpace reunited us. It's really an incredible magazine; if you know any girls between the ages of 8 and 14, you should buy a subscription for her. Here's the website, www.newmoon.org, and here's a brief history of the magazine. (I'm quoted in the fourth paragraph!) And here's the blog!

Now New Moon needs an island on Second Life, eh?

Tidal River in Ogunquit

My back is to the ocean, and I'm looking across the tidal river at Scott's grandmother's house. I think hers is the one right in the center of the photo, obscured by trees. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Second Life on CBS Evening News

It's a fluffy story, but it's still pretty cool that CBS did something on virtual worlds. No mention of the Electric Sheep Company, but there is reference to Regina Spektor, the singer I wrote about last week! I'll have to look her up in-world.

The Maine Report

Maine was wonderful!
First off, the weather and the location were beautiful. Scott’s grandmother’s house is right on a tidal river, and you can see the ocean just across the opposite shore. The weather was warm and sunny, so even though the water was cold (56°F), it didn’t take much encouragement to jump in and cool off.

Next, the people I met are wonderful; everyone was so warm and welcoming. There were 40+ people there: grandma, 6 children, 16 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, and all of the in-laws and significant others. And don’t forget the 4 big dogs. But it didn’t feel overwhelming – it just felt fun. I’m sure it helps that I’ve grown up going to big family gatherings (my mom is one of 6 kids, and I’m one of 18 grandchildren), but there’s no substitute for warm hospitality and taking the time to reach out to “the new kid.” In particular, it was great to spend time with Scott’s parents and his sister Julie again.

Now for a rundown of the weekend.
We left on Thursday afternoon, but missed our flight to Manchester. Instead of flying out the next morning, we caught a flight to Hartford where Julie picked us up. We spent the night in Amherst and then drove up on Friday morning… which took us longer than expected because we had to (1) stop by the Manchester airport to pick up our checked bag and (2) change a flat tire. We arrived around 2 pm, just 15 hours late!

The first round of introductions started, we ate lunch, and then we hit the beach for some reading and sunning. A nice big pasta dinner, a little bridal shower for one of the soon-to-be-wed grandchildren and her fiancé, a game of Asshole, and then off to bed. (The family rented out the cottage across the street, and Scott and I got to sleep in the screen porch!)

The sun woke me up at 5:45 the next morning, so I took myself for a long walk on the beach. After breakfast and coffee, Scott and I went for a 4-mile run on the beach. We hung out, read, chatted, lunched, beached, fried, and got cleaned up for 5 pm family photos. (Incredibly efficient photos! I was so impressed! These guys were pros.)

At 7 o’clock, everyone gathered on the deck for a short grace and thanksgiving. Scott’s grandmother talked about how wonderful it was that her family all loved each other and got along with each other. I couldn’t agree more.

Then dinner began. First, steamers. Boxes of them. Scott said they’re some of the best he’s ever had. (They’re certainly the best I’ve ever had, but I don’t have much history to go on.) Then lobster! Robbie gave me excellent coaching on how to dissect mine, and I had a great time. Legs, tail, claws. Not too much spilling/spurting/dripping, at least no more than my neighbors.

By the time dinner was finished, I was exhausted. The combination of an early morning, 8 miles of exercise, all the sun and sand, and a full belly meant that I spent a few hours reading in relative calm. (Scott comes from a family of avid readers, so I wasn’t the only one retreating this way.) The evening ended with a stroll into downtown Ogunquit for ice cream sundaes. It was crowded with tourists and fun to see things so lively.

I slept in until 7 on Sunday morning and went on another morning run with Scott. We had perfect weather. Even though the sun was already starting to get hot, there was a cool ocean breeze and a little bit of (quite beautiful) fog. His parents and aunt took us on a walk to Perkin’s Cove, via a path called the Marginal Way that reminded me of a more dramatic version of the Lakewalk. While the landscape around the house was filled with sandy beaches, this walk brought us past the typical rocky Maine coastline. We spent some time climbing around on the rocks and examining tide pools. Scott’s dad gave each of us a dollar to spend at the candy store at Perkin’s Cove, and Scott wisely advised me to spend it on salt-water taffy.

Another lazy afternoon of lunch, reading, sunning, walking on the beach. At 5, it was time to go. It felt too soon.

Scott and I managed to catch our flight out, and got back to Baltimore safe and sound. A long bus ride to the District, a long metro ride to Columbia Heights, and what felt like a very long walk home to my apartment. Just as we were nearing my home, and the sense of relief at finally being home was starting to come over me, I glanced up at the sky. It was milky blue from the light pollution, and you could barely see the stars up there. Nothing like the black Maine sky with the Milky Way spread across it.

Impatient for Maine, and music I like.

I'm awfully impatient to leave the office. Only a few more hours, and then we're off to Maine!

In the meantime, I'm listening to Regina Spektor, whose CD I'm thinking of buying.
Here's an All Things Considered interview with her, and here's her MySpace page. You can listen to several of her songs on each site.

Or I might just buy the latest Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack...

I went for a long-ish run this morning. It's such a privilege to be able to casually jog down to the Reflecting Pool and take in the National Mall... even when it's hot and humid out. Sadly, I didn't stretch enough afterwards and am now feeling the effects. I'll just have to go for a long walk on the beach tonight to loosen up my muscles.

It's Official!

I'm moving in with Scott in August!
I'll be a bona fide Delafielder!

I'm not sure exactly when yet. But I'm excited. And sort of nervous. But happy that it's official. It's been vague and speculative for a while now. More details to follow.