I'm sick of this

I'm sick of this phrase. Almost as much as "Wall Street vs. Main Street".

I guess I come in 6th in buddyhood

Jason, thank you for playing both the role of comic and black sheep, they go together so well.

I am a bad buddy - especially when it comes to staying in touch. I'm sorry, and so I promise you all I will be better. To atone for my sins I offer pretty pictures that I take while I'm "in the field" at work.

One of the good things about my job is that I get to walk around the woods and see pretty things. I figured I should share all of that with you - so this is first in what will be a multi-part series of "scenes from a small New England town".

Let's start with something cute and furry shall we? Below is a bunny seen in July. It was adorable.

Below are some other random wildlife shots - the first is swans and ducks at a horse farm, the second is of a pretty fall scene at the local cranberry bog with swans in the distance.



Speaking of cranberry bogs, the shots below show the actual bogs, aren't they lovely?

Ok. The last stop on the tour will be Wompatuck State Park. The shots below are of two of the many small ponds.




as usual Wes leads the way

That is all for now. There will be more pictures coming soon. And I will bore you all with recent pictures of Luna who is finally FINALLY doing better (yay! clap! happy dance!)

I miss all of you, even those of you who live in Boston. <3

Over and out.

nhiiiiilllllllllllly

Hello?

Man, this is just like a party.

As soon as I walk into a room and say somethin, everyone leaves.

News items:
- Sarah Palin is evil, boo!
- Sole is coming back for a few weeks in September, yay!
- Milly and Lilly up and left, with no explanation/reason, boo!
- Abey and Danielle win award for Best Conservation Asians/Agents, yay!

um, that's all i got for now. Thanks folks...

[crickets chirp] [tumbleweed rolls by]

Let's Talk About the Weather

Hello Buddy Diaspora.

First, I would like to say: Thank You! for allowing me into your buddy-dom. Its been a great ride and a real privilege to know you all. It has warmed my cynical heart to know there are folks like you all in the world. I thought that after undergrad, I hit my limit on meeting good folks. But no. You guys are awesome and I love you all.

Why am I speaking like this? A) because its true. and B) When lightning strikes right in front of you twice in one week whilst hail is pouring down and you see reports like this:

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...PREPARE IMMEDIATELY FOR DAMAGING WINDS...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL... AND DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. PEOPLE OUTSIDE SHOULD MOVE TO A SHELTER... PREFERABLY INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING BUT AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS AND LARGE DAMAGING HAIL. SEEK SHELTER NOW INSIDE A STURDY STRUCTURE AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

in a place like Boston, you get a little sentimental. I know its no hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or earthquake but again this is Boston.

This is more of a response to Amelia's weather forecast from earlier.

Good night and good luck.

-jason-
elevato.org

Worky work

OK Amelia, you win on the contest of Who Has the Most Horrible Commute. Mine is sucky, but only 5o minutes in the morning and about 70 in the evening! Sounds like you made a great choice for the summer nonetheless! I can't wait to hear about what it's like working with the kids.

As you read, Loj was awesome, though I sadly had to miss the wonderful hike because Paul and I had tickets to see R.E.M. on friday, which was fabulous, however.

Some updates on my life...work has gone from being this weird new thing I'm trying to being the focus of my life very quickly! It's really busy and I'm now totally immersed in learning a million new things every day. I'm learning a ton, and overall I'm enjoying it.

Our newly renovated town hall is a beautiful, old historic building a short block from the ocean, and it's been really lovely to be located there (we were in a temporary space for a while). At least when I have to kill 3 hours in between the end of the work day and the start of a night meeting, I can chill on the beach. Here are some pictures - not taken by me - of Town Hall and the area surrounding it along the beach. As you can tell, the beach is more of an urban-style one than the larger, white-sand beaches further up the North Shore. We have four beaches, and the one across from Town Hall is the least "nice," though it's wonderful to be near the ocean in spite of the seawall and railing. (The photo at the beginning of my post is another of the public beaches on the other side of town.):

You can see the seawall up close in these - it's falling apart in a lot of areas, and during really bad storms it has in the past broken up into giant cement chunks and ended up on the beach. It's an issue...

The wedding is coming up soon (!) and of course I will post pics when I have them for those who can't be there :(. Three weeks off work is going to be wonderful...though we still don't know where we're going on our honeymoon! Either Barbados or St. John. We think.

Anyway, that's been my life for the past month! -D

Loj-tastic Birthday

(Warning: Some parts of this blot might be boring for those who went to Loj....bear with me for Amelia)

The original idea was group camping but apparently half of Massachusetts is also excited about summer (I wonder why) and there was no space. I wanted something nature related....so Loj seemed simple and cheap.

In typical buddy fashion we had an endless coordinating email conversation. We ended up using an excel spreadsheet to coordinate rides, drinks, money matters and things to bring lists.

Jaime took up the cooking and organized and intensive labor camp resulting in an amazing veggie dinner and two desserts. It is official, Alison is now the Key Lime Pie master. Jess's allergic skin reaction is recuperating from squeezing limes into the Tabbouleh.

Friday afternoon: Abey, Jaime and I....were supposed to leave at 3 to get there first. Of course, we ended up being the last to arrive. After Harvard farmer's market, Market Basket in Concord, Vinnie's Pizza and the disillusion of not being able to buy the Pigs Ear Keg, we arrived to big fire and s'mores.

(At the Woodstock Inn...Abey realized how used to the city she is when she found the locals to be "very white", this coming from a girl who grew up in New Hampshire. It must of been the effect of seeing too many dudes in a bar dressed the same.)

Saturday: Josh did research on the trail I wanted to hike and very skillfully convinced everyone to come along! It was beautiful with lovely waterfalls and a steep climb toward the 'Shining Rock'. Only today did my muscles recover from the climb. Others called it quits after the Cloudland Falls and went on a Tramway up to Cannon Mountain. (I have not seen any pictures of this....what up?)

Not only can I testify to Kari's moment when she missed her hiking buddy but I have a picture of it:
The link to all of my pictures is: http://picasaweb.google.com/cuchicheo/LojTastic30thBirthday

Also, for a good laugh check out the delightful faces my camera caught:

(Quality not to good...guess I'll have to publish it on picasa)

Ok. So that was the Loj recap.

In other news:

• I'm 30 and feel great.
• I have to finish this damn thesis (it's coming along).
• Jaime is leaving on Wednesday....traveling and moving back to PR. I'm anticipating that I will miss him but you know how it is....ch ch ch changes...
• Uncertainty is scary and exciting. I have a plan that goes up to mid sept. not sure what happens after that.
  
• My best friend who canceled a wedding scheduled for last December(realized in time that it was a bad idea) is know getting married (to someone else) in Vermont. I am the bridesmaid. Yay Vermont!...I've never been.
  

Nuff ramblin'....
Who's next?

California Dreamin', Boston Livin'

Buddy! Thanks so much for keeping the blot blog going. Also, let me be the first to tell you (ok maybe somebody else already has) that we are officially starting to plan our first UEP reunion. And get this...we actually have dates and location in mind. Columbus Day weekend, San Francisco. Woot Woot. Get ready.
The Holy Moly Sole's and Oldie extravaganza at the Loj was so much fun. We made fire. We drank Pig's Ears. We hiked (some of us better than others). We played games. We had amazing dinner. Mmmmm. In Corwin style, I haven't uploaded my photos yet and also don't have many since my camera battery died partway up the mountain...but others should post theirs up on the blog soon! And let me just say...there were witnesses, Buddy. I had a moment on the mountain when I REALLY missed my Buddy...water Buddies and all. :-(
As for me...most of you know already, but whilst in pursuit of a more permanent and benefited position, I have taken on a summer gig at Second Nature. They are also the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). I'm helping them develop their carbon offsets protocol. While I still have debates in my head, I am feeling ok about being part of developing offset strategies because we're doing it in a way that emphasizes offsets as a last resort and trying to ensure that they are high quality, etc. The job is downtown and commuting in and out with all the Suits can be weird sometimes, but I do get to work from home a lot, which is really nice.
Ok, I think that's all I got that's worthy of Buddy Blog posting. Love you all, Kari.