Ok people...it's time to make the buddy blot a reality! I want to hear about what all of you are doing...all the time. I can't get enough, seriously. In honor of it being the first week back to school (was it really 4 years ago we all met??), I thought no better time than the present to start...
Not much to report now, other than it's wedding season for me! 2 this weekend...Grubes, I'm sure you've done 2 in one weekend, any advice?
Diga me...
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Monday, May 25, 2009
Paul, yo, y 38 ninos en Espana
So...a few weeks ago Paul and I spent 11 days traveling around Spain with 4 other very awesome teachers and a gaggle of kids from Arlington High. It was just indescribably beautiful. We went to Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla, Estepona, Granada, Valencia and Barcelona. It was kind of a crazy whirlwind, with
only one or two nights in each city, but we saw a TON. 
To the right here is Madrid. Totally amazing city - I could move there tomorrow. Practically the second we stepped off the plane, we were herded i
n to the Prado museum, and the next day we toured the Royal Palace. This next photo is our group in Plaza Mayor. This plaza is OLD...they used to burn witches in the middle of it. Today it's a nice place for tapas and tinto verano.Now, a person can be a vegetarian here and still eat really well, but they generally eat a LOT of pork. The Spanish really like their jamon. The view below is pretty common - yes, it's says Museo del Jamon.
El Palacio Real, to the right. Below, an awesome statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
The next picture is of me and Paul standing in the Plaza Mayor, post tapas.
We were sad to leave Madrid, but we were off for more adventures. Day 3 was a bus trip to Coroba to see the great Mosque of Cordoba, La Mezquita-Catedral. This is an incredible structure that was once a mosque...during the Reconquista a cathedral was not-so-culturally-sensitively built right inside of it. The orange trees planted throughout its courtyards smelled amazing. Sort of like really strong jasmine perfume. This is the entrance to the mosque - the bridge crosses over the Guadalquivir river. Check out the sky. The interior is full of amazing tile mosaic and painted walls in incredible detail.
After touring the mosque, we boarded the bus again and went down to Sevilla. We visited the Alcazar, the Cathedral, and the Plaza de Espana, clockwise below:
The cathedral is this totally massive Gothic thing that lights up at night. The bats that are always flocking around it really completes the picture...And the picture below shows the view of Sevilla from the top of the cathedral. It's much bigger than I'd realized.
After two days in Sevilla, we boarded the bus again and headed down to Estopona, near the Costa del Sol. This is the southernmost part of Spain, and we could see the Rock of Gibraltar on the way to our hotel. This was a point at which most people going on this trip (it's a package tour run by EF) go to Morocco for the day, but our tour gui
de skipped this part, which we were sort of glad about, since we were pretty exhausted by now. Though seeing Morocco would have been incredibly cool. Anyway, we took it easy in Estepona for two nights, spending the day at the beach. The water was like the Cape in June, but everyone swam anyway except for me. The beach was hot, though...it was lovely. There were all these beachside restaurants that serve fresh seafood right there, and we had lunch there that day.After Estepona, we were back on the road to Granada. Like Sevilla, there was beautiful Moor-influenced architecture everywhere. We visted the Alhambra, below:
After Granada, we left Andalucia headed up toward the northeast. Valencia was our next stop. The scenery along the trip was pretty amazing. Outside the cities, there really is no development with the exception of a few tiny mountain villages. Mostly, all you see is farmland. There were lots of solar fields and wind turbines in the open areas between cities too. As we approached Valencia, all you could see were orange and lemon orchards.The city itself is really interesting. It's the third largest city in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona. It's a combination of gorgeous old baroque and gothic architecture, with a really modern part. In the seventies, flooding of the river became such a problem that they decided to divert it around the city; the old riverbed is the site of a massive modern redevelopment into a series of museums, an aquarium, a new opera house, and a greenway. Reflecting pools are there to symbolize the river that once defined the space. The picture at the above left shows the old part of the city. Below is the new:
And just when we were starting to get comfy with our Spanish, we enter Cataluna, where everything is spelled with an "x." Anyway... Barcelona was our next and last stop. I had been to Barcelona once, 10 years ago, and it has a very special place in my heart. It was amazing to go back. We visited are a few of my favorite sites...La Boqueria, the madre of all outdoor farmer's markets; Las Ramblas, a touristy but nev
ertheless really cool and beautiful avenue; the harbor; and a bunch of modernista buildings, a really wacky neo-gothic style that sort of defines the city's architecture. The Gothic quarter was a beautiful tangle of narrow, dark streets full of Arabic-style tea houses and cafes. I didn't really get pictures of it because my camera was out of batteries by then...but here's a photo of Las Ramblas. All the photos are here:http://picasaweb.google.com/paulmcknight69
/Spain2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJLr1qbqiPuGuAE&feat=email#
Anyway...hope all my buddies are well...post soon!!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Earth, I love you. And I love my buddies, too.
Well, it's Earth Day and while a lot of us "celebrate" Earth Day every day, I thought I'd use the occasion to "blot". And besides, Buddy told me too...and I always do what she says. :)
So...now I just have to come up with something to say. Let's see. Nothing too exciting to report about work. I'm still at City of Cambridge DPW (The Works!) working as Energy Specialist part-time and then working part-time for Peregrine Energy Group. For those of you who have been asking, yes, I finally got to drive one of the bright orange WORKS trucks. Very exciting.
It's Red Sox season now. Woot woot. Love it. Celtics and Bruins are in the playoffs. Woot! So much wooting...so little time.
This weekend it's supposed to be summer weather. We're talking 80 degrees, people. It also happens to be Corwin's birthday. This means, Chicago, West Coast...come visit please. Thanks.
Hmmm...what else? Oh, I'm going to my 5-year Smith College Reunion next month. Wow. 5 years already. I will be spending several days with my crazy college roommate and chatting with people I haven't seen for awhile. But at least explaining what I do will be easier now that this whole "green" thing is catching on.
Let's get the ball rolling on starting up Just Green, shall we? Corwin, you have the business plan drawn up yet? I propose the following timeline:
Tomorrow: Give notice at our jobs
Friday: We trip over a big pile of money.
Saturday: We have drinks, on Corwin's deck of course.
Sunday: We hold a planning meeting...over brunch.
Monday: We invite Parmilly and Rapapilly to co-chair the board.
Tuesday: Get to work.
OOOOOOOOKKK. I'm done. I have nothing else of interest to share, not that any of this was of interest either. Oooooh. It's one-year reunion of last year's Senior Month. Can everyone come to Boston and we'll do it all over again? Please?
So...now I just have to come up with something to say. Let's see. Nothing too exciting to report about work. I'm still at City of Cambridge DPW (The Works!) working as Energy Specialist part-time and then working part-time for Peregrine Energy Group. For those of you who have been asking, yes, I finally got to drive one of the bright orange WORKS trucks. Very exciting.
It's Red Sox season now. Woot woot. Love it. Celtics and Bruins are in the playoffs. Woot! So much wooting...so little time.
This weekend it's supposed to be summer weather. We're talking 80 degrees, people. It also happens to be Corwin's birthday. This means, Chicago, West Coast...come visit please. Thanks.
Hmmm...what else? Oh, I'm going to my 5-year Smith College Reunion next month. Wow. 5 years already. I will be spending several days with my crazy college roommate and chatting with people I haven't seen for awhile. But at least explaining what I do will be easier now that this whole "green" thing is catching on.
Let's get the ball rolling on starting up Just Green, shall we? Corwin, you have the business plan drawn up yet? I propose the following timeline:
Tomorrow: Give notice at our jobs
Friday: We trip over a big pile of money.
Saturday: We have drinks, on Corwin's deck of course.
Sunday: We hold a planning meeting...over brunch.
Monday: We invite Parmilly and Rapapilly to co-chair the board.
Tuesday: Get to work.
OOOOOOOOKKK. I'm done. I have nothing else of interest to share, not that any of this was of interest either. Oooooh. It's one-year reunion of last year's Senior Month. Can everyone come to Boston and we'll do it all over again? Please?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Transportation Justice
Hello Illies,
Given that I've had some sudden changes in my life I take the time to post a blog about what's happening with myself.
As most of you know, I have been leading a pretty nomadic life since August...Puerto Rico, Vermont, Boston, Vermont, New York, Vermont, Boston, Puerto Rico, Boston, New York. I have to give special thanks to all of those who gave me a place on their sofa/bed. Shout out to the Blue House 2 (Kari, Emily, Kim, Cristine), Cupcake (Corwin), B. Parmilly, Buddy Boy (Jason) and the Letorney family up in Vermont. After a somewhat frustrating job search time during October and November I vacationed it up in PR and had an excessive amount of good times. You can visually see that in my photo album @ www.picasaweb.com/cuchicheo (I hope these convince you to come some day to PR. Josh accused me of not being personally invited so: You are all invited to come to PR and hang with the best tour guide in town. That is, when I'm in PR, which I'm not).
So, I accepted a position with a EJ organization in Brooklyn called UPROSE (www.uprose.org) the same day I recorded a TV commercial for a Shopping Center. Indeed...i was that broke. I was supposed to be an extra and ended up front and center. No I do not have a copy of this nor have I seen it. If I ever do have it I will NOT let you see it.
Last week I got some buddy time and I feel like and idiot cause I did not take a picture of all of us at the blue house. Speaking of which...why are there no picture of Lizzy's B-Day around and/or a post about it? Here is a picture I took when Buddy Boy took Carolyn, Courtney and I for a walk in Franklin Park. He's a good tour guide...ask him to take you on one of this death marches. This here is inside some creepy cages of a long gone zoo.
So I am now in Brooklyn and today was my second day of work. I am officially a Transportation Justice Coordinator. The organization is community based but super active in the general NY EJ community. They are doing all kinds of projects: Creating a Brownfields Opportunity Area in Sunset Park; negotiating with power plants that want to expand; participating in the creation of Solid Waste Transfer station for recycling; Brooklyn Greenway; all types of youth organizing and workshops; Climate Justice; Tree Planting, Hybrid buses etc. etc. The organization is super small, Exec director and 5 other staff members including me.
I've been assigned anything transportation related but 65% of my work is related to this still unnamed NY Transportation Equity Coalition that is creating a platform and organizing to 1) Lobby in the Hill for transportation equity in the soon coming transportation reauthorization bill 2) Educate the public on the complexities of this stuff to empower them and give them necessary info so that when and if this stuff goes through they can all participate in making sure that the state distributes and uses these funds 'correctly'. UPROSE and 3 other organizations: WE ACT (http://www.weact.org), Tri-State Transportation Campaign (http://www.tstc.org) and Empire State Future (http://www.empirestatefuture.org) are the steering committee for this coalition. I won't bore you with the details but you get the idea. The rest of my job is following up and implementing community projects which include the Brooklyn Greenway and making 4th ave. more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
I suppose it's ironic that with no EJ or transportation courses I have been thrust into this but I guarantee you that this is the best crash course ever. I'm also doing a lot of independent studying to get on track but right now its more about advocacy and organizing more than anything. I am completely lost in NY politics...already learning about the good and bad legislators, reps, senators and such....lots of politics.
So, that's a summary of whats up with that. I still do not have an apt. but when I do you are all invited to visit. I hope this blog inspires you folks to post something as well.
Love and miss y'all,
Silly Gilly
Given that I've had some sudden changes in my life I take the time to post a blog about what's happening with myself.
As most of you know, I have been leading a pretty nomadic life since August...Puerto Rico, Vermont, Boston, Vermont, New York, Vermont, Boston, Puerto Rico, Boston, New York. I have to give special thanks to all of those who gave me a place on their sofa/bed. Shout out to the Blue House 2 (Kari, Emily, Kim, Cristine), Cupcake (Corwin), B. Parmilly, Buddy Boy (Jason) and the Letorney family up in Vermont. After a somewhat frustrating job search time during October and November I vacationed it up in PR and had an excessive amount of good times. You can visually see that in my photo album @ www.picasaweb.com/cuchicheo (I hope these convince you to come some day to PR. Josh accused me of not being personally invited so: You are all invited to come to PR and hang with the best tour guide in town. That is, when I'm in PR, which I'm not).
So, I accepted a position with a EJ organization in Brooklyn called UPROSE (www.uprose.org) the same day I recorded a TV commercial for a Shopping Center. Indeed...i was that broke. I was supposed to be an extra and ended up front and center. No I do not have a copy of this nor have I seen it. If I ever do have it I will NOT let you see it.
Last week I got some buddy time and I feel like and idiot cause I did not take a picture of all of us at the blue house. Speaking of which...why are there no picture of Lizzy's B-Day around and/or a post about it? Here is a picture I took when Buddy Boy took Carolyn, Courtney and I for a walk in Franklin Park. He's a good tour guide...ask him to take you on one of this death marches. This here is inside some creepy cages of a long gone zoo.
So I am now in Brooklyn and today was my second day of work. I am officially a Transportation Justice Coordinator. The organization is community based but super active in the general NY EJ community. They are doing all kinds of projects: Creating a Brownfields Opportunity Area in Sunset Park; negotiating with power plants that want to expand; participating in the creation of Solid Waste Transfer station for recycling; Brooklyn Greenway; all types of youth organizing and workshops; Climate Justice; Tree Planting, Hybrid buses etc. etc. The organization is super small, Exec director and 5 other staff members including me.
I've been assigned anything transportation related but 65% of my work is related to this still unnamed NY Transportation Equity Coalition that is creating a platform and organizing to 1) Lobby in the Hill for transportation equity in the soon coming transportation reauthorization bill 2) Educate the public on the complexities of this stuff to empower them and give them necessary info so that when and if this stuff goes through they can all participate in making sure that the state distributes and uses these funds 'correctly'. UPROSE and 3 other organizations: WE ACT (http://www.weact.org), Tri-State Transportation Campaign (http://www.tstc.org) and Empire State Future (http://www.empirestatefuture.org) are the steering committee for this coalition. I won't bore you with the details but you get the idea. The rest of my job is following up and implementing community projects which include the Brooklyn Greenway and making 4th ave. more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.
I suppose it's ironic that with no EJ or transportation courses I have been thrust into this but I guarantee you that this is the best crash course ever. I'm also doing a lot of independent studying to get on track but right now its more about advocacy and organizing more than anything. I am completely lost in NY politics...already learning about the good and bad legislators, reps, senators and such....lots of politics.
So, that's a summary of whats up with that. I still do not have an apt. but when I do you are all invited to visit. I hope this blog inspires you folks to post something as well.
Love and miss y'all,
Silly Gilly
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Andy Samberg & The Lonely Island "J*** in my Pants" on SNL
Since I've constantly been mentioning this, I figure I'd make it easy and just post it here (as well as on my own elevato.org). I just can't stop. I'm sorry.
I proudly present Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island's new SNL Digital Short, "J*** in my Pants". It just might take the #1 ranking from "D*** in a Box", or at least be a close tie. The song is just so brilliant a take on something I can only call "Euro club rap" and a rather heightened version of an unfortunate premature male affliction. I thought the humor would die down for me once the twist of the song (the effect of which I'm trying to keep for you that haven't seen it by the asterisk censorship) wasn't so surprising as the first time I heard it. But no. Its so seriously done. Even things which don't tie in to the theme of the song are funny.
So again, I must say to watch it if you haven't:
Some bonus jams:
And the perfect anthem for white college dorm rastafarians: "Ras Trent"
and fundamentalist love song "Iran so Far"
I proudly present Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island's new SNL Digital Short, "J*** in my Pants". It just might take the #1 ranking from "D*** in a Box", or at least be a close tie. The song is just so brilliant a take on something I can only call "Euro club rap" and a rather heightened version of an unfortunate premature male affliction. I thought the humor would die down for me once the twist of the song (the effect of which I'm trying to keep for you that haven't seen it by the asterisk censorship) wasn't so surprising as the first time I heard it. But no. Its so seriously done. Even things which don't tie in to the theme of the song are funny.
So again, I must say to watch it if you haven't:
Some bonus jams:
And the perfect anthem for white college dorm rastafarians: "Ras Trent"
and fundamentalist love song "Iran so Far"
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Whatup my Illies? Oh, how I miss you so. However, there will be a mini illy reunion at Leah Jacobilly's place this weekend with guest appearances by Silly Gilly and a Milly. Woot woot. And I'm countin' down the days till Lilly Grubes' 30th Birthday Extravaganza/East Coast Buddy Reunion 2009!!!! Can I get another "woot woot"?!?!
Ok, so now, to update you on my life. After a dreary time swimming in the pool of unemployment during a crappy economic downturn, things started to look up again almost literally as soon as Barack Obama got elected. Who knew that his election would benefit me so directly and immediately? But yes, the very next day, I was offered a part-time job (although temporary) working for City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). I owe Nadler big time for hooking me up with this job. There I am helping a very strange man who runs the Loan Department look at the history of their Boston Cooperative Initiative and looking through old housing finance documents (yes, I've had to learn fast and thanks, Em, for the intro to housing literature) to determine what to do about projects that are supposed to turn into full-fledged coops any day now. Don't ask me...I don't actually have any answers yet.
ALSO, part two of good news came right before our Day of Thanks when the City of Cambridge offered me the position of Energy Specialist at the DPW. There I will continue the tradition of taking over jobs Lizzy Grubin no longer wants. :) It is also a part-time position, but with benefits and I will get to do really cool stuff dealing with energy efficiency and conservation in Cambridge city buildings. Woot woot! (This is all pending approval of the Cambridge City Manager, of course.) But I will likely start either Dec 15 or right after the New Year, depending on the speed of paperwork...what else is new.
The only question now is what will I do when my DND contract runs out. For that I am open to any and all suggestions from my Buddies about how I can make myself a more legit consultant and/or find more part-time work (that pays well) to supplement Cambridge. If any of you are hiding a stash of start-up money you want to give me, I could just use the time to start Just Green for us...eh? eh? :)
Anyway, I guess that is it from professional life. Oh, except that, I was still sort of working part-time for Second Nature/ ACUPCC, which has finally launced the offset protocol and guidelines I was working on all summer. Check it out if you're interested: http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/offsetprotocol.php
In the meantime, I continue to live in the (new) Blue House with my awesome roommies, Kim, Emily, and Christine. I'm also having a great time with my gf, Ashley (aka Skippy), who is awesome for those of you who haven't met her yet. And there's the cats who, as we speak, have been "playing" and now sit staring at me, begging for cuddles because...well, it's cold here, damnit.
Ok, so now, to update you on my life. After a dreary time swimming in the pool of unemployment during a crappy economic downturn, things started to look up again almost literally as soon as Barack Obama got elected. Who knew that his election would benefit me so directly and immediately? But yes, the very next day, I was offered a part-time job (although temporary) working for City of Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development (DND). I owe Nadler big time for hooking me up with this job. There I am helping a very strange man who runs the Loan Department look at the history of their Boston Cooperative Initiative and looking through old housing finance documents (yes, I've had to learn fast and thanks, Em, for the intro to housing literature) to determine what to do about projects that are supposed to turn into full-fledged coops any day now. Don't ask me...I don't actually have any answers yet.
ALSO, part two of good news came right before our Day of Thanks when the City of Cambridge offered me the position of Energy Specialist at the DPW. There I will continue the tradition of taking over jobs Lizzy Grubin no longer wants. :) It is also a part-time position, but with benefits and I will get to do really cool stuff dealing with energy efficiency and conservation in Cambridge city buildings. Woot woot! (This is all pending approval of the Cambridge City Manager, of course.) But I will likely start either Dec 15 or right after the New Year, depending on the speed of paperwork...what else is new.
The only question now is what will I do when my DND contract runs out. For that I am open to any and all suggestions from my Buddies about how I can make myself a more legit consultant and/or find more part-time work (that pays well) to supplement Cambridge. If any of you are hiding a stash of start-up money you want to give me, I could just use the time to start Just Green for us...eh? eh? :)
Anyway, I guess that is it from professional life. Oh, except that, I was still sort of working part-time for Second Nature/ ACUPCC, which has finally launced the offset protocol and guidelines I was working on all summer. Check it out if you're interested: http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/offsetprotocol.php
In the meantime, I continue to live in the (new) Blue House with my awesome roommies, Kim, Emily, and Christine. I'm also having a great time with my gf, Ashley (aka Skippy), who is awesome for those of you who haven't met her yet. And there's the cats who, as we speak, have been "playing" and now sit staring at me, begging for cuddles because...well, it's cold here, damnit.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
illies coast to coast!
i miss you guys soooooo much!
i want to watch love actually on the couch at the blue house
i want to go to johnny d's and be confused by the bill
i want to walk olive and slide across ice
i want to be surrounded by brilliant and passionate people and talk about how we're going to save the world
i want to be around people who know what a PPP is
i want to go to panther pond
i want to run into buddies on campus
i want to go to parties where the bday girls where blindfolds, dance the limbo, and give emotional speeches
i want to stake out the best room in the library
i want to hear jokes about LMJ
i want people to throw parties at other peoples' houses
i want loj
i want to hear rusty stammer
LOVE YOU! a real blog will come soon with pics!
xoxoxxoxoxo
i want to watch love actually on the couch at the blue house
i want to go to johnny d's and be confused by the bill
i want to walk olive and slide across ice
i want to be surrounded by brilliant and passionate people and talk about how we're going to save the world
i want to be around people who know what a PPP is
i want to go to panther pond
i want to run into buddies on campus
i want to go to parties where the bday girls where blindfolds, dance the limbo, and give emotional speeches
i want to stake out the best room in the library
i want to hear jokes about LMJ
i want people to throw parties at other peoples' houses
i want loj
i want to hear rusty stammer
LOVE YOU! a real blog will come soon with pics!
xoxoxxoxoxo
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