does this thing still work?

good chicken's it's been a long time since this site has been active. i'm gonna try to do my part now.

my life in five {or less} sentences:
i'm teaching at parkmont with rich, he loves every second of seeing me in the halls.
my granny is very sick, been in the icu for seven weeks now, turns out she's a warrior.
i'm moving to san francisco. i hear there's gold in the hills.
after 11 years, i've finally suceeded in getting my step-mother to stop talking to me. blissful silence

the big flush

'Their job demands that they dream of toilets that never were and ask,
"Why not?"'
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/toilet_pr.html

Casey checks in

**Editor's note: Casey posted this as a comment, but I believe she intended it as a full post so I've recreated it here**

So, I've been gone from cyberworld a while. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this....

Houston is hot. Surprise, surprise. It's growing on me, slowly but surely. I'm starting to have good friends, etc., although to be honest, I've been picky and cranky about it given the friends I had in my former place of residence...

Went to Africa (Tanzania) to visit my brother over break--craziness, I tell you. But absolutely wonderful.

So, to prove to you I'm really in a writing program, two things: 1. Two weeks ago Jeffery Eugenides (Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides) bought me two glasses of wine. Very cool guy, and it's not everyday a Pulitzer Prize winner buys you drinks. 2. Attached is a recent poem (yes, they even have me writing poetry--not my forte, but putting fiction here would be difficult):

In a Writing Program without You

Obfuscation, as a word,
is weightless. As a concept too.
But I live in abstractions now—love,
mortality, or the musicality
of sadness.

Here, book. Here, soap.
Here, spoon. I touch each
twice to remind myself
that without them
there would be no gravity,

and no grave thing.

Yesterday on the telephone
you spoke to me of basics,
how to mix concrete,
the things we don’t see
beneath the earth.

You taught me a new word, rebar, which means:
a steel rod used to reinforce.
You told of sheets laced
through a trench, and pouring.
You told it all

like literature.

When the poets here
pontificate and pose
I think of the rows
of ridged steel that spin out
like hydras from our broken
sidewalks.

I think of your strong thighs and hands
and my waistline loosened in the night.
I never knew

how simple.



Well, that's all folks. Miss you. Terribly. Hope everyone is happy and safe.

Love,
Casey

PS Sas and Scott-- Your new place looks great!

Out West - Part II

When we last left our intrepid heroes they were battling Montezuma's revenge in the Mission. Usually I steer clear of gastronomic discussions on the internet and I can't imagine this is going to make more inclined to read the rest of this post, but the water in the San Fran Bay Area isn't always kind to the system of us, Eastcoasters. But I digress . . . so our last day in SF was spent seeing some of the city's more distinctive neighborhoods. We breakfasted in the Mission, lunched in the Castro, and thriftshopped in the Haight. Nick departed in the afternoon and Amanda and I picked up our rental car so that we could leave first thing the morning for Yosemite.




The next morning, we drove across the Bay Bridge at dawn, escaping all traffic. Despite Amanda's best internet-research efforts, we were unsure what we were going to do in Yosemite. We hoped to snowshoe thinking that hiking wouldn't be a possibility. We didn't know where we'd rent snowshoes, whether we'd need snowchains to traverse the roads, or if we'd have enough daylight to do anything.

Turns out, we were worried for nothing. The drive was an hour shorter than we thought, the roads were clear of snow, and we didn't need snowshoes to enjoy the park. After conferring at the visitor center, we set out on the trail to Upper Yosemite Falls. It looks kind of like THIS!!!




Yosemite was blessedly empty and the weather was great. After our hike, we rushed to a clearing in the valley for a view of Half Dome at sunset.




After the sunset we drove around some of the campgrounds and spied a wolf and, in the next moment, an elk in its path. We captured the scene here. Its very blurry but it has notes pointing out the animals. The next morning before leaving the park, Amanda and I did some more exploring and saw Mirror Lake and the Happy Isles.



Then we drove south towards Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks. The road out of the valley provided a fantastic view. And more wildlife right beside the road.

Out West - Part I

So I'm long overdue with tales of my trip to California with Amanda. I submitted my final grad school application earlier this week (I applied to business school at UNC and Duke and health administration school at UNC, fyi) and now I can resume everything I put on hold while I was procrastinating. Don't worry, you read that right.

Engage!

So Amanda and I took advantage of JetBlue's two for one promotion that landed us in Oakland hours after she finished her first semester. We spent the first few days in San Francisco. On Day 1, we worked the legs by hoofing it up and around the city's inclines. Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Sq, Lombard St, Big Ben, Parliament. Dov and Laura joined us for lunch. Our concierge at the Tuscan Inn (okay, it was a Best Western, but there was a hint of Italy) directed us to House of Nanking for a 'casual' Chinatown meal. Casual, efficient, fatherly, and tasty would be my description. As our group took its first steps towards the restaurants front door, the hostess burst from the door, "How many??", and shuttled us towards a table in the middle of the bustling room. Nanking had none of the usual overdone accoutrements of the Chinese restaurants, just cold white tables and chairs. As we puzzled over the menu in front of our waiter, he asked 'First time?" and told us he'd order for us, "I'm chef." Couldn't argue with that. As we devoured plate after plate of food, we noticed our waiter's picture on the wall. Dressed in a chef's coat and hat, he was wearing a medal, commemorating his excellent sesame chicken I'm sure. We turned to the other wall and there was the medal.






After lunch Amanda and I headed to the Haight for some window shopping. We made our way by foot back across the city and to Alamo Square which is known as Postcard Row because of the pretty Victorian houses, named the Painted Ladies, with the SF skyline above. For me its the "Full House" view. Later in the evening, we tried to confirm that we had in fact seen the Full House view and through Google came to believe that the view was at another park. Proof that the internet is stoopid.




Nick joined us later that evening and we double-fisted at the open bar in our hotel, which had wine, beer, and some finger food that looked and tasted like dog biscuits. After the free stuff was pried from our hands. We headed to a house party thrown by some lovable lunkheads I knew in college that was dominated by Two Buck Chuck and merengue. Well, actually we let the merengue dominate our nights, but we were better off for it.




The next day began with clam chowder in a sourdough breadbowl and the growls, groans, and maybe even farts, of the charming sea lion population that basks in the sun off of Fisherman's Wharf.

Amanda and I took leave of the group for a bike ride around the city including stops at the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, and my favorite, the Palace of Fine Arts, which was built for a World's Fair but remains anchored in the public consciousness by its echoing of ancient times and its appearance in the Cage-Connery masterpiece, "The Rock".



The night belonged to margaritas and mexican food in the Mission. Dov and Laura departed for the real world and Amanda, Nick and I repaired to the hotel looking forward to another day in the city. More to come in Part II . . .

Spider Crew Does San Francisco

Fantastic few days here in SF. The first pics are on the picture site.

sarah, i'm alive

hi sarah my davidson,
it's been exciting to see all your photos and hear some about london. alas and alack, i have no news here. still looking for a job. i will NOT give in. i am looking in some other cities though. just plugging away. the families are coming to d.c, my sister and the texas gang are going to be in d.c. on wednesday, and my brothe,r with the asian mafia, get into the country then too and are making their way from l.a. to d.c. by car. ahhhh.
do yous have plans for christmas?
i'll pinch the nanny's waiter in the tush for you.
-separelli

Sarah

Sarah, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

Here are a few choice photos from Sarah and Dave's travels. I took great pleasure in liberating from the clutches of Kodak's Ofoto site where you have to be invited and then register.

Enjoy.

Our neighborhood again (SURPRISE!!!!! it's raining)

Our neighborhood again (SURPRISE!!!!! it's raining), originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

Sarah and Dave

Sarah and Dave, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

Crunchy Nut Red

Crunchy Nut Red, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

from Sarah and Dave

Amsterdam

Amsterdam, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

from Sarah and Dave

After all this time...

Hello, all! This is my very first time blogging, so please be gentle...but after seeing the photos of Rose back in DC, I realized I just had to write to say hello to all of you! Unfortunately, I'm writing with nothing too special to say, except that I think of the '1822 crew' frequently and often wish you were all here to share a dinner or a pint...although the truth is that most of what I do these days is read, talk about what I've read, or write about what I've read. If any of you feel like joining in on that, come on over to London! (ok, ok, I promise we can talk about other things, too...) Dave has some photos of our neighborhood, which is similar in some ways to U Street, appropriately enough, and of the mini-trips we've taken so far, so just send an email to my Gmail address if any of you are interested in seeing those and I can send you invite. Otherwise, just be well and take care of yourselves and each other!
Much love,
Sarah
p.s. Sepi, I wake up every morning (well, may be a slight exaggeration) wondering about your job situation...you have to let me know what's going on! :-)

Rose Returns

I SWEAR SHE WAS HOME!!

If only for a brief moment.

Sushi at Spices with boatloads of fresh fish and beers and MAFIA at the Brickskeller.

More pictures on the photo site. And some from Scott and Saskia's Halloween.

70,000 people in costume

Chapel Hill's biggest party -- Halloween on Franklin street

Let me set the scene: Franklin street is about a mile long street that borders UNC's campus. There are cozy little coffee shops and countless bars and stores that sell UNC paraphernalia. On Halloween night, everyone (I mean everyone!) comes from all around (Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Chapel Hill...) and dresses up to walk this street looking at other people's costumes. I had heard about this party from my friends who went to UNC and NC State, but I had never experienced it. I had told Nathan about it and had read on a few websites that they expected 70,000 people. Nathan did not believe me (and I was a little skeptical myself). However Sunday night Nathan and I, dressed as a plug and outlet (sorry Will and Ave - we stole your idea) headed down to see what the whole fuss was all about...

It was crazy!!! Everyone was dressed in costume, and although I'm not getting my degree in crowd counting... there very well could have been 70,000 people there. The whole street was packed.

However, I have to say although this was fun and crazy, I enjoyed Halloween at 1822 more...

DC in heels.

One, all...

The infamous Drag Race sprints down 17th Street tonight after work tonight.

If you are allergic to 6’3” men in drag, costumes, or a combination of both, running 3 blocks wearing a minimum 5” stilletto heel, then this is not the event for you. However, if you’re like me and find this to be great pre-halloween entertainment, a group of us are rallying at the Fox ‘n’ Hound around 5:30 or 6pm for a few pre-race drinks.

The weather is supposed to be damn near perfect, and the ballgame will have barely started by the time the race is done. Just for good measure though, Go Sox.

what the fuck?

so last night i'm up watching the red socks school the yankees, and to my amusment/horror, riot police are rushed in at the bottom of the 8th. i get pretty into these games,(let me clarify, only the red socks-yankee games, other than that i don't give a shit about baseball) but the arrival of the riot police depressed me. why, you may ask. well let me tell you. it's depressing to me that as a nation we can get so passionate about guys with pot bellies, bubble butts and dip dripping from their mouths, flailing their arms trying to hit a sphere with a chunk of wood, yet 80% of us won't bother to help decide the leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

i'm sick of people complaining that they don't like the choices. how often in life do people love the choices we're given? i certainly do not love that i am unemployed, sitting my fleecey robe at noon on a wednesday writing a ranting blog entry, but hey my other choice was to still work with a creepy old letcher who doesn't respect personal space. so i don't like my choices, but i made the best one that i could. see my point? allow me to continue.

i'm the first generation in my family to grow-up in a democracy. my family has lived through democracy overthrown by the u.s. government, replaced by a military dictatorship, replaced by a distorted religious state. members of my family have spent anywhere from years, to months of their lives in prision because they were fighting for the right to live in a world where they had a say in their choices. they couldn't get that at home, so here they are in the united states where they have that luxury. it is a luxury, which millions of people across the world are denied.

so what right do we have as the richest, most powerful, country on earth, to squander the lecgacy given to us by farmers who rose-up against an empire 228 years ago? such power should be treated with reverence, not apathy. of course part of living in a country with so many choices is that it's perfectly within your rights to choose not to vote. just remember, it's not only the people of the united states who have to live with our lack of interest. in my life, the u.s. has helped to undermine stability in guatemala, nicaragua, venezuela, cuba, hati, algeria, nigeria, iran and palestine. at least those are the places that i know of.

if you are one of the lucky few who can help change the course of the world simply by walking to a polling station, making a pencil mark next to the inbred monkey or the overbred robot's name, (can you tell that i don't love our choices) then why the fuck wouldn't you?

Goodbye room . . . fiddlebow!

Goodbye room . . . fiddlebow!, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

It was a little sad to leave 1822 behind. But I'm comfortable knowing that I will be visiting often. And that I have a wonderful new place of my own. And I'm not talking about the attic at my parents' place. I'm talking about this place.

ROSE!!!!! I found it

ROSE!!!!! I found it, originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

Are you kidding me?!? On my last night at 1822 I found the ball that Rose hid from Nick and me.

Genetic Manipulation

Have you ever thought of what it would be like to have the fate of an organism at your fingertips? Well, about once a week, I have that power in front of me.

While in graduate school, in addition to going to classes, I work in a lab. As first year students we have the task of choosing the lab we will work in for the rest of our stint in graduate school—where I choose will be where I will be working for 5+/- years (pretty big commitment). Right now, I am going through the daunting task of rotations where we “test out” 3 different labs to see who/what we want to work with.

Currently, I am working under Frank Conlon in a lab that studies the roles of different genes during heart development, ultimately hoping to solve some of the problems of human congenital heart disease. We use xenopus, a clawed frog from Africa, to do our studies. The frog is pretty cool (although Nathan would tell you that they are just ugly!) because they are a wonderful organism to work on to study heart development. First off, the females lay millions of external eggs after being injected the night before with a hormone.

History Lesson: The female xenopus’s on demand egg laying ability was discovered
in Africa where they used them as a pregnancy test. A female frog was put into a
bucket where as the woman would pee on the frog, if the frog laid eggs in a day
then the woman was pregnant (don’t ask me how they found this out! – it has to
do with the hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin) in the pregnant woman’s
urine). This test was used in the United States up until 1940’s when
hospitals used to keep populations of frogs for this sole purpose.

Secondly, after their laid we can fertilize them and then in a few hours this relatively large cell begins dividing. As it divides into two cells, I take the fertilized egg under a microscope, and with a very precise tiny needle, I inject a tiny amount of RNA into the two cells. This RNA will be passed down into each of the subsequent cells (all the cells of the animal) and will produce protein. Because we have purposefully made this RNA to have an effect on a gene that encodes for the heart after a few hours as the embryo starts to develop, we can test for the effects of this manipulation on a microbiology level (protein:protein intereactions, gene expression, and protein expression). And within a day or two the small tadpole has developed a heart, and we can see if what we injected has effected the development. This brings up another good point about the frog, because it lives in water and has gills for the first part of it’s life, it really does not need a heart to circulate oxygen, and because it lives off it’s yolk sac for many days, it does not need circulation for delivering food.

Two weeks ago my “mutants” (injected eggs) did not form a functional heart. It was eerie to see it. The heart was not beating properly as compared to the normal tadpole, and it was going so much faster. It was even weirder to think that it was me that made this frog become that way. I’m still wrestling with the fact that I have the power of life and death in my own hands. However, how will we ever know what goes on in the human body without seeing how it works in a model organism?

I’m not sure if this is where I’m going to work for the next 5 years. I’m definitely learning a lot, I love the people (I'm working with a guy from England. He's a great teacher and I love the way he talks- Sarah and Dave you can attest to that) and the lab environment is great, but we'll see where my next adventure takes me… and when I get there I’ll tell you all about it.

The axe drops

Today, I cancelled 1822's phone service. 299-0955 will get you a disconnected messsage read by the delightful computer voice.

I also cancelled our satellite TV. No more TiVo.

I've given up on the revolution. My cellphone number is 202-557-6328. It's also my work number for when I telecommute so don't be surprised if you get a office-esque message.

Nick has a new cellphone, too. I'll let him tell you all about it. He ought to be updating us soon on his trip cross-country.

I had a successful start to my telecommuting steelo last week. I worked from Chapel Hill Mon-Fri and spent both weekends enjoying the southern life. October will be a little crazy. We just hired a new employee and I'll be training him in DC Tues-Thurs most weeks and then working from Chapel Hill Mondays and Fridays, and staying there on weekends.

My little time in DC has let me get to know the new 1822ers. Both have that 1822 spirit. Dave did Peace Corps stints in the Ivory Coast and when the shit hit the fan moved to Madagascar. He has no furniture, loves his iBook, and works in int'l development. Alex is a Chilean lawyer getting an additional degree at GW. He's a fair ping-pong player, Beatles lover, and has several friends in Mt. Pleasant.

I still haven't met Erika, the friend of Scott and Saskia's who will be moving into my room in the middle of the month. When I do, you'll be sure to get the scoop here.

FEELING GUILTY THAT YOU'RE READING THIS AND HAVEN'T TOLD YOUR WONDERFUL FRIENDS WHAT YOU'VE BEEN UP TO? GOOD!

one little rag that aint been rung

So last night I made a solo trek up to San Fran to see Gillian (pronounced like the Island) Welch. The best part about this show was it was free. Strike that...

The best part about this show was it was free and in Golden Gate park. I still get chills going over golden gate bridge. It's all encompassed in this haze like the clouds are just spewing out fog. It's surreal until you get to the toll and have to shell out 5 freakin bucks.

Going into this show I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it was free and I knew Gillian was playing late afternoon. I also knew Emmy Lou Harris was closing the show up which was reason enough for me to go.

I parked pretty far away not really knowing my way around yet. As I'm walking there, an impish fellow with a white blue and red dyed mohawk goes skipping by. I reach an intersection where my impish friend looks confused.

"You know which way to get to the bluegrass festival?" he asks.
"I'm just gonna follow my ears."
"Sounds good."
"By the way," mes asks "where did you go to high school."
"Oh I went in Baltimore."
"Beth Tfiloh right?"
pause

"Yeah" says he "for middle school."

Now keep in mind I went to a middle school with maybe 50 kids...total.

We chatted for a bit and at one point I said
“This would really blow my fuckin head if it didn’t seem to just be the way life goes.” (Does that make sense?)

All I remember about him was he was fresh from Russia had horrible dandruff and never wore deodorant.

Now he owns his own company and skips down the streets of San Fran.

We enter the festival together actually traversing some rough terrain to get into the valley called Golden Gate Park. Upon arriving I see there are 4 stages tons of people and food and I see someone selling ice cold Tecate. The more things change the more they stay the same.

The music was great. My favorites were Gillian and Del McCoury, and Emmy Lou Harris. Though everywhere I went I heard great music. The most amazing part was there was no corporate sponsor attached. We are talking a full on production with top names and the only sponsor I found was this booth giving out water. The security guard I was talking to said it reminded her of the 60’s. To me it just made me happy to know there are certain things money can’t touch and one of those is a kick ass day in the park.

And music. It made me think about how much big money is involved in music. The only reason we accept it is music makes everything better…hell even tolerable (like sitting for 5 days a week in an office…hollah if you feel me.) It’s just refreshing that there is music out there that remains true and pure as a spring running through a Kentucky meadow (I’ll give you a hint it’s not Linkin Park or Brittney ((though it was amusing to see her live)) but it’s not also just bluegrass ((I just read this Damien Rice interview where he described how little attention he pays to anything besides the music and the audience ((ie no bling)) it was nice to see ((on a side note he did say he had a laugh at the pictures of Brittany and her hubby making out at his concert (((see how I tie it all together))) )) .) My point is I love music and I breathe it and it makes me feel….well it just makes me feel and that’s enough these days.

east or west, home is best

i just got back from a fantastic weekend in nyc. it is infact the first time i've truly enjoyed a trip there. i saw good friends, ate good food and bummed around brooklyn. but the best part was coming home. i've been feeling a little stir crazy in d.c. lately, ready to run away for a while, but as i was in nyc, i realized, damn i love d.c. i know many of yous disagree, but it's clean, it's simple, it's pretty and it's my home. the best part of coming back this afternoon was stepping off the train at union station and finding my dad,aunt, grandma,dad's cousin, her husband and mom all waiting to pick me up. i guess the two days was just too much for them. i wonder who'd get me if i left for a week?

cough cough ugggg

so i drive my non-existant ass out to great falls on wednesday to pick up my portfolio for thursday's interview. when i get there i feel tired, so i lay my sweet little head on a pillow in my dad's living room, thinking that i'm absurdly tired and my throat hurts. as it turns out i have the flu and strep throat. i've never had strep before and i've not had the flu since highschool. right about 9p.m wednesday night i'm thinking that death is the only way of the misery. luckily some advil and antibiotics are doing the trick. apparently i also called rich. uhhh sorry, don't know what i said to you. so i spend wednesday and thursday out at my dad's house. the interview was postoned because quote "we don't want your germs here." uuhh okay, cough cough. the entire time i'm out there i don't have to lift a finger. it was wonderful. "do want butter with your toasted bread?" "i'll get some juice and some water and put them here on the table by the bed." "i made some chicken soup from scratch, let me know when you're done with this bowl and i'll get you some more." though it causes me sharp pain in my heart i have to admit that my step-mother was extremly nice.
i'm just wondering why no one waits on my like this when i'm not sick? is the key to being doted upon being sick. if so, does anyone out there have mono and want to kiss me?????

Farewell to Visions...

Sent out today by Visions Bar Noir (the closing party will be this Sunday from 6pm to 2am and is free)::

To all of our Friends, Neighbors and Founding Members:

Recently there have been many rumors circulating that Visions bar noir is going to close. Sadly, we must now confirm that the rumors are true.

Visions will be closing its doors this Thursday at midnight after four amazing years of operation. While our financial success in the last year and half was not what we hoped, we are proud to have played an important part in the renaissance of intelligent, independent film in Washington, DC. Our continued artistic success and the support you have shown for our many innovative programs proves that Washington cares about quality, value-added programming. THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE VISIONS FAMILY!

To celebrate our dear staff, customers and investors and the special role that Visions has played in the community, we would like to throw one last party to thank everyone whose hard work and commitment to the arts helped us to make a go of it in the first place.

We hope you will join us this Sunday night, September 26, from 6 pm to 2 am, as the Visions community comes together for one final blow-out party at the theater. This party is free and open to the public. In typical Visions style we will be having special events -- we will be selling movie posters, our cool film reel chandeliers, our curtains, and we will even auction our bar noir sign to the highest bidder in order to help cover our final payroll.

Please plan to join us Sunday, share some fond remembrances and say farewell to our unique venue. And again, on behalf of all of us at Visions, thank you!

Sincerely,

Andrew Frank, President

Jonathan Zuck, Vice President

Andrew Mack, Vice President

Liz Matheos, General Manager

The Visions Staff: Samina, Sarah, Adam, Sean, Matt, Tim, Paul, Tony, Jessica, Deysha, Eduardo, Brad, Lauren, Jose, Whitney, Tristan and Angele

NYTimes.com Article: Flight Is Diverted to Detain Former Pop Singer

The article below from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by nhmarvelle.

Flight Is Diverted to Detain Former Pop Singer

September 22, 2004
By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 - The Department of Homeland Security
ordered a United Airlines jet flying from London to
Washington rerouted to Bangor, Me., on Tuesday afternoon so
it could intercept a passenger, Yusuf Islam, the musician
formerly known as Cat Stevens, two government officials
said.

Mr. Islam was "denied entry into the United States," said
an official, and was in the custody of Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement. The plan on Tuesday evening was to
deport Mr. Islam, who is a British subject, the officials
said.

The officials, both of whom said they could not be named
because this was a security issue, said Mr. Islam was a
financial supporter of groups believed to be linked to
terrorism. Mr. Islam's Web site lists him as a supporter of
many charities.

Since converting to Islam in 1977 and renouncing his former
identity as a pop singer who sold 25 million albums, Mr.
Islam has been quoted making contradictory statements about
various issues in the Muslim world.

At one point he appeared to support the death sentence
pronounced by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian
leader, in 1989, against the author Salman Rushdie for his
novel "The Satanic Verses." Though he said at another point
that he did not support the ayatollah's edict, his
anti-Rushdie comment drew wide criticism.

After the interception of Mr. Islam on Tuesday, one of the
government officials said, "He is not on a watch list for
making verbal threats."

Mr. Islam was deported from Israel in July 2000 because he
was believed to be a supporter of Hamas, the terrorist
group.

On Tuesday Mr. Islam was on a Boeing 747-400 with 249
passengers aboard. After it was diverted, the plane was
kept on the ground for more than three hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/politics/22flight.html?ex=1096858248&ei=1&en=737751c37615d589

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

we have contact

well kids, it's finanlly happend. after months and months of slacking and folding cloths and wallowing in self pity... i have an interview. other than the sf moma or smithsonian, it's one of my dream jobs. they're a firm here in town and they do museum desgin AND they're four blocks from my house. sweet. so i gots to buy me an interview outfit, brush my hair [my mom's kind advice] and practice my strut. of course nothing may come of it, but it's exciting to even get a bite.

It's Fall!

So today I walked outside and it felt like fall, for the first time since last year in DC. The air was crisp, the sun was shinning, and it took me back to that day when a group of us went apple picking. We had so much fun running around the orchards, picking apples, and tasting more apple varieties than I ever knew existed. We spent the evening playing questions and drinking apple cider. But unlike last fall, this fall is different- I don't have anyone to share those types of experiences with. Not to say I'm not making new friends, because I am, but it is still really hard to go from something to so comfortable to something so awkward and lonely. I know Nathan will be coming soon, but right now I'm experiencing Chapel Hill fall for the first time and I'm doing it alone- it is kind of sad. Not to say it's not exciting and fun, but it is hard.

I guess a lot of us will be able to relate to this. So in response to Nathan's post about this blog dying... I am making a plea to all of you involved: Please, keep in touch! As we all start our "new" lives we will become more distracted and busier with school, new jobs, new friends, new houses, new cities, new cultures, and everything else life puts in front of us, but even though these things will take up a lot of our time, we need to remember that we had something pretty great in DC and that it would be horrible to lose that (and I'm even an "outsider", per say, looking in, so I know that those of you who grew up together and who were friends for many years have an even closer bond.)

So to sum it all up: HAPPY FALL! Wherever you may be and wherever you may be heading...

I gotz to

So it seems like this blog is slowly dying. Oh well. I like writing here. I'd love if any of you 1822ers joined me.

But no matter.

Here are some cool spots on the internet I've run across recently.

Wes Anderson, director of Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, and Bottle Rocket, has a new movie starring Bill Murray as a Jacques Cousteau-esque figure who does . . . funny stuff. Here's the trailer. And if you haven't seen Bottle Rocket, the little-known first movie of Anderson and Owen Wilson (of movie star at Ladies Night in Georgetown, dog-walking fame) SEE IT!

The US gets a bad rep for our ignorance of the rest of world. Well, here's our chance to show everyone that we can find Suriname on a map. Play in the Geography Olympics and have your score count for the good ol' USA. My high score is an 80% but let's just say I'ver hurt our team more than I've helped it.

Rich has found 3 new roommates. I haven't met any of them yet, but the first one to arrive will be Dave, a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa, who described himself in one word as "bling" and listed his only group house living experience as a brothel in Madagascar. Here's the craigslist ad that brought 30 people to an open house, all of whom filled out the questionnaire indicating they wanted to live with us in our awesome pad. Let's hope Rich posts with info about the rest of the roomies. Or perhaps they'll post themselves?!? For the curious, we're staggering the exodus: Nick leaves 8/19, Laura 9/30, and I'm out 10/15.

Rich, with good intentions, also posted a City Paper ad. Because Craigslist is self-publishing and constantly updated we got immediate responses. The City Paper takes its sweet time in comparision. It goes on the web on Tuesday of a given week, and then in print on Thursday, Since this Tuesday, 1822 has been inundated with phone calls asking about the room. YES, that's right Rich put our telephone number in the ad instead of an email address as we had done on Craigslist. Now our answering machine is no longer accepting messages because we have too many on there. This pisses me off. However, everyone will be happy to know that Rich has lead the fight against Roses's Republicans and what seemed like a permanent infestation is now a gleaming porcelain counter of sterility. For this I am grateful.

If you can't get enough blogs in your life, then check out DCist. I've linked to a post where they explore those Masonic buildings where no one ever goes in and no one ever comes out. And I find another DC blog,why.i.hate.dc, to be pretty entertaining. And I know why he hates DC. He lives in Virginia.

Sweet Jebus

Sweet Jebus Graffiti, originally uploaded by gruntzooki.

This photo was taken in Toronto by author and blogger Cory Doctorow. He publishes his photos on Flickr, a unique photo sharing website. On Flickr, you can 'tag' your photos so that they can be grouped and viewed outside of traditional albums. For instance, Cory tagged this photo 'graffiti' and 'toronto.' Visitors to Flickr can see all photos tagged as 'graffiti' or 'paris' or 'blue.' Moreover, you can check out my Flickr photos and see all my photos of 'nick' or 'europe' OR you can see my latest album.

I'm thinking of making it my primary photo site, but Amanda hates it so far. I've got to work on her.

Guess who else has a blog?

Quentin Tarantino, a Bad Motherfucker, answers fan mail on Blogger.

My favorite entry:

I fucking despise CGI. If I wanted that shit in movies I wouldn't be watching movies -- videogames are fun because they're interactive, at least. Movies packed with CGI is just lame. Ain't no fucking fun watching cheap-ass Hobbits jumping about in front of lava.

He's just like us! sort of

Monkeys Monkeys Monkeys

uhoh
Originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

A professional photographer turned her lens on primates for some extraordinary pictures

Nick loves lawn jockeys

Nick loves lawn jockeys
Originally uploaded by nhmarvelle.

Pics from Valeria's housewarming party are up on the site. Hope you enjoy them as much as Nick enjoyed his little friend.

Gone to Carolina

We've posted pictures of our new apartment on the photo site.

We're almost done setting everything up and it looks great. Amanda has already begun her orientation and is enjoying herself. I'm just counting the days until I get back to Chapel Hill.

You're on Target

If you're down with free stuff, and who isn't, check this out! 25 free digital prints from Target. What's the catch? You have to use it by August 22.

yo pass the shnitzel

These are house shots mainly I took them for Laura to see how little stuff she should bring. This is only of the main room there are also 2 bedrooms a bath. In the backyard is my prized orange tree.

The other shots are from Bodega Bay which is just beautiful and there are some shots from Monterey.


If you're lucky you might even catch Caitlin in one shot lookin all snazzy!

http://public.fotki.com/NateMarvelle/old_albums/dovs/norcal/

insert witty title here

Pictures from the Greatest Day Ever i.e. Sepi's birthday are up on my photo site (to the right, to the right, (not) to the left, to the left, now SLIDE). I'll let others post about that. Too much scotch for me to remember.

Also new on the photo site are a few pics from our voyage to Va-va-va-Virginia this weekend. Shenadoah is pretty wonderful. Nick, Amanda, and I took a kayak trip down the river with a family friend of mine. We were un-molested by obese sunburned tubers. Always something to be thankful for.

Afterwards, we attended a party thrown by Kevin Kraditor, one of Nick's co-workers that many of you have met. Kevin and his wife are converting a hotel that was built in the 1800s that has been used as an apartment building for 50 years into a bed and breakfast. The demolition of much of the building begins today so they threw a party to mark the occasion. Their bed and breakfast, Hopkins' Ordinary, will feature much of the original architecture and historic purposes. Their professional kitchen will use local ingredients almost exclusively and on occasion will host cooking classes, wine tastings, etc. Sounds pretty cool. I'm hoping to go back after they finish the renovation next June.

Amanda and I had drinks with Ethan last night. He has returned safely from his trip and he did make it to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. He said is was the scariest place he'd ever been. He has photos somewhere on the web, when I get the link I'll post it.

You know you're in Norway when . . .

An email from Alex Klose who isn't blogging yet but would be dynamite at it:

Subject: You Know You're in Norway when . . .

....everybody's naked!!!

I hate to perpetuate stereotypes, but today presented a moment too perfect not to share with you all. The summer in southern Norway has been cold and rainy, until now. With temperatures finally high enough to enjoy being outdoors for long periods of time most Oslo folk have taken to sunbathing in parks throughout the city, quite a natural phenomenon. Today, however, I discovered an even more natural phenomenon as I was walking in the woods north of the city.

Coming to the edge of a small lake, Walden Pond sized, I saw several sunbathers on the opposite shore and after a few seconds noticed their nakedness. OK, I thought, perhaps just a bunch of hippies communing with the sun god - might as well be Vermont. But as I scanned the shoreline I discovered more and more naked people, and recognized at once what a decidedly un-American scene I had just stumbled upon.

To my right a family was picnicking on the rocks, the father and his teenage son just hanging out and talking together, sharing a sandwich. This would never happen in the US of A. To most American teenagers family outings and parental chats are tiresome enough, that they be conducted in the nude is simply unfathomable.

Trying to mask my incredulity I turned to my left only to find a man standing stark naked by the water as if he were waiting for the bus. This aimless standing seems to be a fairly common Norwegian practice, and what's so strange to me is that they seem so ill at ease, as if they're unable to decide on some pressing question. Anyway, this particular man kept turning in circles as if unsure of whether to sit down or walk to another spot. He chose neither of these options in the full hour I was at the lake, but his mobile phone did ring and he dutifully answered. I'll never forget the image of this naked man and his mobile; the brawny Scandinavian heeding at once the call of the natural and the material. Could make a great sculpture some day, Michelangelo's Sven.

I guess this behavior is only logical given the drastic light changes in these northern climes, but I think it'll take many more dark winters before I develop a taste for extreme sunbathing. In the meantime, I've finished my seven month stint as The Manny and have now begun "working" in a kindergarten, playing guitar and singing Norwegian children's songs to sixteen boisterous toddlers.

To those now gathered at EVF, enjoy the brook and please send me updates of relevant meetings, etc.

Love to all,
Alexander

Waste of Time

But a fun waste of time.

This pic is from one of Worth1000.com's photoshop contests, If Modern Celebrities Were the Subjects of Modern Art.

I know it's North Carolina . . .

So I'm back in DC after leaving Amanda up to her ears in boxes and just purchased items. I can't wait to get back to NC!! Our apartment is big with lots of windows. It has more closets than we know what to do with. We have a small deck that looks out to a small shady stretch that separates us from the road. Our cable is on, the internet is humming, and the new washer and dryer are sparkling in the closet. No phone. We're going wireless. Now I just have to get a cell phone.

We went to Walmart THREE TIMES!! It was only fun on our third trip when we printed out some of our digital pictures on 8x10 photo paper that we later framed in those silver frames that used to be on the 1822 dining room wall. The Walmart employees were admiring our pics as we printed and cut them. And when the Indian woman cashier took a look at my photo of Buda castle, she exclaimed 'Awwweesome!"

I'll be heading back in two weeks at which point I'll take pictures for a 360 view of TT04, Archstone Poplar Place. (All the buildings are labeled with double letters, AA, SS, TT. TT is kind of embarassing, but as Amanda said, at least its not PP).

Our experience with U-Haul is worth mentioning though. Tips to remember: 1) Ask to have your U-Haul a day before your plan on loading it. 2) Don't use U-Haul.

Amanda reserved our truck starting Friday. U-Haul said they'd call on Thursday night. They called and said they didn't know where our truck was going to be but that they'd call back in the morning. No call. Amanda waited all day on hold, calling various offices, getting the run-a-round, until they told us to pick up our truck at 3 pm. And that was JUST the beginning.

Our truck was at 26 K St, NE. The employees were definitely more interested in taking personal calls on their cell phones and walking around in wife-beaters than they were in helping us. It made me think that even in our service-based economy filled with so many choices you can still find yourself held hostage by a poorly run business who've got what you need at the right price.

We got our truck after a while and drove ready to start our journey. I pulled next to a huge parking spot in front 1822 and prepared to parallel park. What a ridiculous idea. U-Hauls go backward but only with the windows down shouting commands to and from various assistants wearing orange vest and waving orange lights.

Once I found a way to pull straight in, we stopped the engine at which point a deluge of fluid came pouring out from the underside of the engine. Not a good sign. I called U-Haul, they us to bring it back. Of course when we stopped the engine this time there was no waterfall of fluid to show the U-Haulers. Probably just overfilled the coolant tank, they said and sent us on our way. At a stop-light on the way home, a pedestrian crosses in front of us, looks wildly at our truck, and then signals and exclaims as we roll down the window that there is fluid pouring from our engine. Guess they REALLY overfilled it. As we turn around to head back to U-Haul, the temperature gauge rises into the red and the 'Check Engine' light comes on.

Back at U-Haul, we ask for another truck. Another truck they don't have as they are already overbooked this weekend. All those trucks in the lot need to repaired. U-Haul calls its mechanic, who replaces the thermostat, and says we're all fixed. We idle the truck in the lot for 20 minutes to be sure and another hour lost, we head back to 1822.

Another stoplight, another pedestrian looking suspiciously at our truck, Amanda jumps out and again fluid is coming out of our engine. An unbroken streak of fluid wets the pavement, marking our path up the block. Waterfall when we stop the truck in front of 1822. What a NIGHTMARE! By now its 8pm, five hours after we first picked up the truck.

With some expert advice from Amanda's father, we decide that if something is wrong with the radiator, it probably can be fixed without a tow. So we decide to call 1-800 roadside, order a mechanic for the morning, and pack the truck.

Next morning, mechanic doesn't call at 7:30am as promised. So we call. It'll be an hour. Hour later, another call. Just got the request, it'll be another hour. Mechanic arrives and after much investigating and repeated insistence on our part that there is something wrong, he says there's nothing wrong. Of course, the fluid that was alarming pedestrians doesn't pour forth in the presence of the mechanic.

So we head to Amanda's to pack her stuff and the truck runs fine. And when we get on the road six hours later than we had planned on leaving, the truck drives like a dream.

Amanda's family met us at our apartment and helped us unload pretty quickly. A HUGE relief. And, I have to give some love to Dave and Laura who tried to help us pack but were thwarted by the U-Haulers.

Oh, and then as I dropping the U-Haul off the next day. I found a $50 bill in the lot.

you knew it was just a matter of time

The Subservient President

Some fun commands to try (FYI - sometimes you may need to retype for it to register):

"Find Osama"
"Drink a beer"
"Dance"
"Balance the Budget"
"Cut Taxes"
"John Kerry"

(via fark.com)

I know it's California...

but DRIVE damnit. The people here they don't drive they float. They la-le-dah their way over the road. Now i'm not one to get in agressive driving mode but I am so sick of people not DRIVING. Seriously I can't explain it any better.

PS I'm really quite happy and everything is going super well!

Leave Ricky alone

*warning sports content ahead*

I am so sick and tired of the bad press Ricky Williams has been getting due to his decision to retire. Ricky Williams has always been one of my favorite RBs in the NFL and to me he has just raised a notch. He decided to quit because he no longer had the desire to play. What's better for the Dolphins a young new guy on the feild desperate to make a name or a uninterested Williams? You know what finally a ritch person doing what I would. He's going to Asia, going to see the world, he's smokin doobie with Lenny Kravitz. I like this guy. You know what Ricky wants to do with himself now? Finish school, maybe teach first graders. But we hate him because he left his stupid NFL team right before camp????  Who cares. The dude has enough money to finally be able to do what he wants. I hope I get to meet this cat someday. Pat him on the back say hell man...you're an inspiration. You make me want to be ritch.

and you thought you'd gotten rid of me

i'm alive. the program is doing well, it's almost over. the weather here is something fierce. i think it's it's own creature, affecting the way that everyone behaves. that's what i'll blame my episode of shouting expletives at a bunch of 15 year olds on.
other than that i'm kickin' it cincinnati style. going to the best bread shop in the world on a daily basis, visiting the coolest fabric shop that i've ever found and buying cd's at my favorite record shop. those are the things that i'll miss when i come home to our little district. i won't miss the dealers on the corner offering to sell me heroine EACH time i pass them. and i pass them a lot 'cause i live on their street. i also won't miss the old lady who muttered as she passed me yesterday "ooooh you ugly." i'll kick her geriatric ass.
rose's visit was fun, she got to meet some of my cincinnati staple people. we also got soaked in a great rain storm.
ya'll have to stop eating sushi now so that you're ready for my sushi kereoke (spelling? give me a break, i'm a designer, i don't have to spell, that's what copy editors are for) birthday on the 6th. oohhh yeah.

Plays and Plogs

Amanda spent her last full week in DC busy busy. Now, she's vacationing with her family at Myrtle Beach so I'll recount the happenings. We had a big and very sentimental Chinese dinner at 1822 on Thursday. The menu included Oyster Beef, Hoisin Chicken, Watercress Soup, Kao Shan Green Beans, Sesame Spinach, Hunan Eggplant and Asparagus with Oyster Sauce. Thanks to all the cooks and attendees.

One of my favorite stories told was the origin of the phrase "Consolidate and Garnish." Back in the early days of 1822 things were a little quieter. Nick and I were interested in making new friends (read: desperate). Whenever we met someone cool, we would "Consolidate" meaning we would meet their friends, introduce them to our friends, sort of bring them into our circle and push ourselves into theirs. And "Garnish" meaning we would do our best to become better friends with them which often took the form of inviting them for Chinese dinners. Explaining what the phrase meant doesn't do it justice. Rather, it was an expression of our optimistic outlook about the people we were meeting. And the results have been some of the best friends and best experiences of my life.

On Saturday, Amanda and I attended the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, WV. My mother went last year and encouraged us to tag-a-long this time. When we planned it we didn't know that it would fall on Amanda's last weekend in DC (aside from the last days of July when we'll be driving a UHaul around for our move to Chapel Hill). In fact, she drove straight from West Virginia (okay, its just across the Potomac) to Myrtle Beach.

Shepherdstown is the home of Shepherd College which may explain why it has a cute little downtown littered with creative restaurants and expensive art and furnishing stores. Certainly, the theater festival brings the right kind of clientele. It was nothing short of an invasion of theater-going city folk. I bet the town population increased by half during the festival.

We stayed in a Bavarian themed hotel complex where the waitresses at breakfast wore outfits you'd expect at a Oktoberfest. I didn't get it. We were in West Virginia!

We saw three plays: Rounding Third, Homeland Security, and Flag Day (listed from my favorite to the one I wish I had been able to walk out of). My general impression was that these plays weren't ready for the big time. Some of the writing was strong but most of it was full of shortcuts, and forced developments. The authors chose to rely on cliched plot twists rather than allowing the very talented actors to convey the subtlety and complexity that the themes were due.

And if you've been reading this whole time wondering what a plog is, then thankfully you've reached my answer. Amazon.com now treats its customers to their own p-ersonalized b-log, or plog when they visit. Its mostly a plug for the products they think you'll be interested in based on your past behavior. Well, somtimes they make funny suggestions like the I received that's pictured below (Click to enlarge and see the joke).

(Note: I've taken the liberty to make a few minor edits to others' posts. My changes have been almost exclusively dealing with links. For example, I added a link to the review of Scott and Saskia's play in Rose's last post. Casey sent it out via email so credit is due to her. So I'll edit from time to time but never anything substantial. )

Click to Enlarge
Posted by Hello

Updates and Reviews

Hey all!

Casey, thanks for sending out that wonderful review of the play. It made my day! Rock on S&S...

Columbus continues to be challenging and extremely fun. We have just moved into our new office just north of campus. actually having a large space with desks, chairs and internet is making our jobs a hell of a lot easier. It just amazes me now that we were doing all the things that we were without an office.

It is a bitch of a day out....very hot and humid....DC like. I am moving a ton of "new" furniture into our new office, which is very, very exciting...except for the moving part and the hot part and the fact that we live on the 2nd floor. ARG.

We are still plugging along with contacts and registrations. Well over 15,000 contacts in Columbus and about 1000 new registrations. Folks at Board of Elections are becoming good friends. While the hours suck I still really love the job and especially the people that I am working with. There is so much energy here especially after Kerry picked Edwards. I almost feel like there is nothing stopping us now!

Other exciting news: we are putting together some free concerts right before the voter registration deadline. Some big names have been thrown out including White Stripes, U2 and Snoop? We are also teaming up with Ani's "Vote Damnit" tour...too funny. Somehow I am in charge of all of this, but I have no idea what I am doing, so this should be very interesting. The cool thing is that there are SO many groups out there that want to work in a battle ground states and since Ohio is on everyone's radar screen as the biggest of battleground states, I think that we could pull off something very cool. More to come later....

Been to visit folks in ASP-land twice and to Cinnci to see Sepi for "the best day off ever" other than that I am working my ass off and trying to have fun in the middle.

There are rumors going around about a "Labor Day gathering" (who would start these?). Is anyone going to be around? I think that I might try to make it home for a stretch. Email me and let me know what people are doing.

Miss DC, miss summer in DC and miss you all in DC. Love ya!

Zipping along.

It began as a brainchild of a few Cambridge, MA entrepaneurs - park rentable cars around the city that can be instantly reserved by Joe Anybody on an hourly basis. Throw in gas and insurance for one lump sum and spice the mix up with some of the more fun rides to roll off of the assembly lines around the world et voila!! These days Zipcar is used by individuals and businesses alike who live and operate in the East coast's biggest cities - Boston, New York and Washington. (Aside: What has two thumbs and loves Zipcar? Me.)

Add to that list, Chapel Hill, NC?!? My NCAA loyalties aside, don't you think that a company offering this type of service would be better suited by expanding to locations where most of their target clientelle don't already have their own cars on/near campus?

To be fair, they are rolling the service out slowly - only 4 cars currently available. I haven't heard if the city's newest additions are going to take advantage, but at the very least they should be able to enjoy the option of taking a spin every now and again in a new VW Beetle for only $5 an hour.

also also...

Architect Frank Gehry among next season's Simpsons guest voices
Playing with bamboo at NYC's PS1
Liquid Stone at the National Building Museum in DC: a-mazing
(all via Archinect)

B.L.T.s

The Ali G show starts its second season on Sunday. I'll definitely watch after reading this NYTimes interview with the comic behind the show, Sacha Baron Cohen.

Truth be told, I love it when intelligent people make fun of the rich, powerful and/or bigoted. That's how I get my kicks.

Tease yourself with some of the videos on his website.

If you don't get HBO, you might remember Ali G from Madonna's 'Music' video. God, that song was awful.

That subliminal kid...

check out this new DJ Spooky review...

http://popmatters.com/music/reviews/d/djspooky-celestialmechanix.shtml