feeling like spring is here, on a Wednesday Willie was on Letterman last night, singing the title song from his latest album. It sounds like just more great music from Willie. He is such an amazing artist, unlike no other. His delivery on that song was unbelievable. Makes me miss the feel of an Austin summer evening. Like no place on Earth.

Today at work I got a lot accomplished, I think. Of course I was almost comlpetely alone at the office. I knew I would be actually, so I mentally prepared for a great day. And guess what...it worked. The only other people here were Lucy, our college intern, and Tawanna, who is always busy on her own projects. Lucy and I work in the back part of the office; she's from Colorado and as fellow westerners we put on Willie's Teatro album for most of the day. It was very soothing, man (plus she owned the album herself, so it's not like she minded--another added satisfaction. I'll play Willie regardless, but when everyone else around me enjoys it just as much, it makes the experience that much more liveable). It's nice to have a person not from Rhode Island to bounce the world around with during the day. Just...trust me about that. Also the weather was great today, I came in late because I worked until about 8:00 last night, so I had a quiet mid-morning walk into the office. The place was still, the windows were open, the lights were off since the sun was so bright...just a great work environment.


So I went to a Chamber of Commerce/Business Community "Meet and Greet" After Hours last night for the Volunteer Center. Wine and dine and network and smile and flirt and nod and hand out free rulers and keychains and sheesh! Is that not my crowd!!! I'm a little more 'Amazing Race,' they seemed to be a little more 'Apprentice'. I'm not saying any one is better/worse compared to the other, I'm just saying I know what direction I don't feel comfortable heading towards! I'm not that much of a schmoozer these days.

well the sun is setting, the office is getting dark and temperatures outsideare dropping. time to close the windows and walk on home.  ¶ 3/29/2006 05:35:00 PM 2 comments

  leave a trail of Civil Defense brand cracker crumbs and you'll be fine I was just reading more of the news out of Belarus. Just as with the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine, this is a very interesting story to follow. Remember, I was too young to realize the impact of the fall of Communism in the 1980's.
Well I want to explain the last few pictures I took (see sidebar). Saturday morning I attended a search and rescue exercise in Pawtucket. The event was sponsored by the local Red Cross Chapter and involved represtitives from local firsst responders and CERT teams. It was...interesting. If you've been following the news lately than you know the mess the Red Cross is going through right now, at a national level as well as at many local chapters. Rhode Island is in that (sinking) boat unfortunately. The drill was effective to me because it was the first search and rescue drill I had atteneded and I was able to attend and watch the event as an communications evaluator. I have an associate I work with who was asked to evaluate the communications throughout the event, and knowing my emergency management interest he asked if I wanted to help out, which I accepted without hesitation.

I'll be anxious to hear about the de-briefing and reports that come out of this event. I know through conversations and eavesdropping (I loved being an evaluator--I could do this job for life! Become really good at something and then evaluate others regarding the subject...fits my personality perfectly. Be a fly on the wall...) with individuals there (participants and evaluators) during and afterwards that there were many things I found going wrong that others saw as well.
So I'm interested to see if those things make the reports, as well as the (pages of) feedback I supplied from only my communications point of view.

I'm trying to be nice and level-minded about the event, however in my opinion the drill did not run smoothly; this is thinking from the perspective of the person who was lost. If I was stranded in the woods, I sure wouldn't want the search teams leaders to take an hour and a half to prepare (after arriving half an hour late) while volunteer teams sat around awaiting instruction before departing out to search. That's just me though. And maybe if this was an actual event it would have run differently. Still, don't you think that the true purpose of a full-scale drill is not to show up and compare equipment and ba back for lunch precisely at noon, regardless of the outcome of the drill, but instead to treat the entire event as if it were reality?

What's my point in all this: don't get lost. And if you do get lost, be prepared for survival. The Democrat in me believes in the power of a strong national government to support the individual in times of need; the Republican in me says the local areas should be even more prepared and focused...with monetary assistance from the Federal level, of course; and the realist in me says prepare yourself and be aware of the dangers of life. (warning: what follows are emergency management cliches and/or double talk. proceed with caution!) We need to move beyond a culture of dependency. We can't always control our hazards, but we can control our own vulnerabilities. Through education we can become aware; when we become aware we increase the chances of survival in desparate times. As crazy as that sounds, unfortunately after Katrina this is all too real. This should be the mindset of every American right now. I'm not saying build a bunker and stock up on supplies--although...  ¶ 3/26/2006 03:56:00 PM 0 comments

  I got my car back just now, and it didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Just a few fingers. But cost isn't important. Peace is.

I got home just now and decided to finish the last chapter of 'Blue Like Jazz.' You know what was cool about it? Everything. I'm not going to get into it, but it's a pretty cool read. Awesome non-religious standout from the text? The acknowledgement section, where he comments on the music he was lisneting to during writing the book: "Patty Griffin, the Pogues, Bruce Springsteen, Eliot Smith, Lyle, Whiskeytown..." Great music? Yes. But he identifies everyone by first and last name except Lyle, because...hey, it's Lyle Lovett. Maybe you've noticed in some past posts but I do the same thing. With Lyle, there's no further explanation needed. Don Miller realizes that also, which is awesome. Maybe it's because we're both from Texas.

I haven't shaved all week. Maybe that's kind of dumb. Maybe I'll shave tonight. Hey I'm doing something kind of cool tomorrow, but I won't tell you about it until after it's all over. I'm going to go for a drive now. Rob saw a "Tilt-o-Whirl" on his drive today. If only I could be so lucky!  ¶ 3/24/2006 04:58:00 PM 2 comments

  just FYI, it's overcast and chily up here today, but the sun did rise.  ¶ 3/24/2006 11:38:00 AM 3 comments

  the world ain't slowing down Well my car's in the shop again. Just yesterday I was talking to my co-worker Lucy about how strange it would be whenever I have to give up my car since it's been a major part of my life for the past 8 years. I've had her through thick and thin, moved the odometer from 12,000 to 142,000. We've seen over half the United States together...on top of plenty of other memories that would get all sorts of ratings, from PG and PG-13 and...well. I was out to lunch with Audra and I hit a pot hole and it died and so we called AAA, the guy messed with some wires and it started back up, only to die about a mile down the road. I tried in vain to re-create his magic but no dice so we called again and this time just had it towed to a shop right next to my office. I don't know what's going to happen. Guess we'll just see...boy I need her to last me just one more year! Then I'll join the Peace Corps and we can part on proper terms, rather than just trade her in for a new model.

The great thing about being stranded on the side of the road is the looks you get from passerbys. Girls don't turn their heads, but the guys all look. And as I am a male of the species, I know for a fact that they all are thinking "Boy, wonder what's wrong there?" Hahahaha. I just wish I had my camera today. Because it's always something.
Hey I saw in the tow truck just now that down the street here in Federal Hill they're filming a movie. RI gives great tax incentives for movies so watch over the next few years for a lot more movies and tv shows to be taking place in Providence.

Without a car I had to cancel on the VolunTeens this afternoon in Warwick. I had a lot I wanted to talk to them abaout too, I'm pretty bummed. I also have had to cancel all my meetings tomorrow. Throws a wrench in my week, you know? Just this morning I remarking to my co-workers that I couldn't believe it was already Thursday...and now I can't wait for tomorrow to be over.

Well ok, I guess I'm going to walk home now, do some talking to God. I think he's trying to get something through to me today. I think he's been trying all week, actually. *sigh* Car trouble might be the least of my worries.

(addition=one hour later)...you know, we're guaranteed a sunset everyday. No matter if it's hidden from view, everyday everywhere there is a sunset. Tonight it was brilliant...so many shades of pink, slices or orange and sheets of blue and gray clouds interspersing the light and roaming across the sky. In the distance past downtown, in the direction of the water, at about halfway up the horizon the line of clouds ceased and behind it was the orange sky created by the setting sun. Maybe it's hard to describe but it was a captivating image. As I watched the light change and reflect off the man-made artifacts around me I just was mesmerized. As it slowly dissapeared I said a prayer that tomorrow the sun would rise yet again. Because as long as that happens, we're guaranteed a sunset. Sunrises, however, we just have wait--and pray--for.  ¶ 3/23/2006 04:57:00 PM 1 comments

  a certain order to reality Sometimes I get the feeling that everyone is staring at me. Like this morning as I walked to work, it was like "is my face tatooed or something?" Then I realized maybe I was staring at them first.

On a much more important matter now, the order of M&M's by which one tastes the best goes as follows: Christmas, Easter, then Peanut, then Regular, then Peanut Butter, and last but not least Almond. This is the truth and there shall be no objections.  ¶ 3/20/2006 10:21:00 AM 2 comments

  dirty old town yesterday I had lunch with a few of my fellow VISTA's Heather and Kathleen up on the Hill. It was a Friday during Lent and also St. Patty's Day, and although none of us were Catholics we still stuck to the cheese pizza. It's Federal Hill, I mean come on, pizza's just what you order. Then last night we got together again along with one of Heather's friends' (Tom) from her home in W. Warwick and hit up a 'real' Irish pub in my neighborhood. It was smooth man, live Irish music, cold Guinness. I was a little uncertain about going out at all but while there I realized I was glad I did. After all this would probably have been one of the only St. Patrick's Day I will experience in a true Irish neighborhood in an old American city like Providence. Today we had a parade on Smith Street right near my house. It was fun to watch...the crowd. The parade was pretty typical.

Then tonight I went over to a party on the East Side. It was being thrown by one of the guys I've met from church. It was celebrating a year to the day of his living in the same location and in the same town. That'ts the thing about us young folks, we feel we should celebrate when we stay in one location for more than just a few months. Some of us, anyways--hahaha. But it was nice, low key, relaxed conversations in a mixed crowd. Funny side note: I feel like thanks to conversations I had tonight I understand a lot more about the Republican Party than I ever understood before. Interesting how I had to leave a "Red State" for that to happen. I can see things from a new perspective now, a little more well rounded view of politics in America. So that's kind of cool, and an intriguing way to end my week.  ¶ 3/19/2006 12:30:00 AM 0 comments

  my appoitments at work were cancelled so I can stay in today and actually hopefully get a lot accomplished. i won't bore you with the details but instead provide this for your enjoyment. on a work break just now I read this awe inspiring news report. outer space is so amazing.  ¶ 3/16/2006 11:04:00 AM 0 comments

  "medium"-rare This morning, or maybe yesterday, I read the headline of news story about another recent study that talks about how anything in your car can be a deadly distraction. The cynic that I am chunked this immediately into the "duh" file of my brain and skipped right along to who died in Hollywood. So this afternoon I almost killed a few elementary school kids. I was just driving along the street, on my way down to Warwick to work with the teens, wrapped up in a radio call-in show, and I see the school bus stopped, I even think about the stop-sign that is sticking out at my car, but only until he starts honking loudly at me do I slam on my brakes. The driver gets out and escorts the kids across the crosswalk. I avoided eye contact, naturally. The sad thing about it all: a few kids almost died, and it would be just another fallout from the steroids in baseball scandal.

Speaking of Warwick...the past two days I have found myself driving along the streets of Warwick and seeing images of disaster and devistation. The scary thing is that these occurances have happened quite often in the past; throughout my life I have experienced wicked deja vu. I know many of us do, so it's not that much of a big deal. Still I can't ignore the fact that I've been driving around and looking at areas and realizing that should a hurricane hit--when a hurricane hits--the area it could be a huge mess up in here. Homes completely lost, swept out to the bay. Roads washed away. This area is so developed, so compacted, it really really scares me. Add in that a big storm is predicted sooner than later and the equation just gets more frightening. I chalk it up these feelings/experiences to one half deja vu, one half disaster paranoia. I just see that place becoming another New Orleans. Asked me a year ago where you should never move and the emergency manager in me would have said without missing a beat: New Orleans. Today it just might be Warwick, RI.

Rhode Island is a funny little state. Many, many small-owned businesses. And Warwick is the capitol. My favorites? "Johnny Cash's Check Cashing". Or then again there's "Little John's Pizza." I love anything that names itself Little John's, be it pizza or manure sales. It's just a great name: Little John's!  ¶ 3/15/2006 08:13:00 PM 2 comments

  a few changes. yea? nea?  ¶ 3/14/2006 07:20:00 PM 1 comments

  finally tonight, I went to a screening of a documentary called Invisible Children. it was held at the church I have been going to. There was a pretty large crowd there. It's more of a movement than a film. There is terrible injustice going on in Northern Uganda. I highly reccomend everyone spend some time and read about the sad plight of the children who are kidnapped and murdered and/or forced into a life of violence. Children who are raised to know no fear because fear is so beyond their comprehension. It is terribly sad. April 29th across New England we are going to sleep outside in the middle of our urban centers. It's not only in the NE that this is going on...it's all over the country! It's the least we can do to recognize the children who do this every night to escape kidnap by the LRA.

You know...well I don't know. I'm not going to go there. But check out the site, read some stories. This isn't a company who is putting all this together, who is motivating American youths and adults alike to go to Uganda and open schools and who are creating jobs for Ugandans...this is a bunch of kids my age, no older than 29 who are behind this movement. They take trips as often as they can to Uganda, they devote their time at home here in the U.S. to a cause they feel is so very important in a part of the world we so easily can forget is a part of our own. I find it very inspiring.  ¶ 3/13/2006 10:41:00 PM 3 comments

  run away!!! run away!!! ...hey but why create a new species of bird when you can create a silly walk? God is beauty to the definition and the birds and the universes are his showing us that...but you know He has a sense of humor.  ¶ 3/13/2006 05:31:00 PM 1 comments

  I found this nearby Bird Sanctuary and its' website while searching through the agency database on our website. I created a bird. I call it Island Hopper. Nice to know I'm still amused by the things designed to amuse little children.

Also...have you seen Google Mars?  ¶ 3/13/2006 03:35:00 PM 2 comments

  Coastal confessions, smelly feet, and the (painless) fleecing of AmeriCorps I just bought two tickets for the Jimmy Buffett concert up here in August. I got out easy and still spent too much. But what the heck?

So this Wednesday I headed on down to Newport for a few days in VISTA training sessions. We stayed in a Mariott along the water that was under construction. Brown water, sawdust, dry chicken, all that. Right away the VISTA's were pulled together for an afternoon session about conflict mediation. ("I didn't need it, but I know plenty of people I interact with who did!" lol.) Sitting there I realized however that in my hurrying to pack that morning I only threw in one pair of socks. Naturally I pointed this out to the group that for the next three days I was facing survival on only one pair of socks. I figured I could make it work.

The next day we had an innnnnnnnteresting work session that lasted all day. It was led by Burt, one of the persons who founded AS-220 here in Providence and also by Adam, a former VISTA and current doctoral student out in Berkeley. (among other things). I won't go into to much of what we discussed, but the overall point was to tell our story, our motivations regarding where we are (in geography and in life), who we are, and why we are doing what we are doing. It built on that and everything from Henry 5th to the more modern day realities within ourselves and one another. Maybe some of us even bonded. awwwwww. Maybe some of us didn't. aww.

The conference yesterday interesting on some different levels. Morning came early, I'll put it that way. The morning session the AmeriCorps members attended was more or less for us to tell the guys in charge what they should do to make the program better for the future, what we didn't like, and what we would like to change, etc etc. We really didn't get much out of it specifically, but maybe some connections were made individually, so maybe it wasn't an entire shear. Plus we split into small groups and my few took a stroll down along the Cliff Walk, resting at a point on the bluffs in front of the Breakers' Mansion. That was cool.
Over lunch we explored some more and talked about the fleecing or not that happened in our morning session. And then several VISTA's skipped out early, hahaha. I don't blame them really, and might have joined them had it not been for the fact that I had to lead an afternoon session. It turned out to be small ("intimate and intense" I told my executive director) and we hald a in-depth discussion for a few hours about emergency planning and disaster worse case scenarios. If I had processed it completely, I would have been scared shitless. Sorry for the cursing, but it's the truth. This country is not prepared, from New Orleans to Newport to Newhart (well, maybe Bob has some bottled water and a manual can opener kept away, I dont know) and the small turnout at my session made me realize that maybe no one really cares (past saying so) that much about being so. It's hard, yeah, but it's important. Educate yourself first, face reality that it might be you and your family alone first, then help comes later. But know how to be ready now! And I know the images from Katrina resonate among some of us daily, so we press on. It was inspiring and overwhelming all at once but the joy of talking with people about these issues really made the afternoon pass rapidly. Afterwards for presenting the Volunteer Center gave me a gift...turned out to be a sweater. Interesting choice as a gift for a conference presenter, right? I totally didn't expect that...a few free meals was more than enough! (plus well...it is my job). But I would never complain, it's a nice gesture, I understand their side and all is well. So we cleaned up, I stayed behind and explored the area a little, snapping off some pictures, watching surfers.
Then I dialed up some Buffett and hit the road back up to P-town. Upon arriving home it really hit me...my feet smelled bad! I started out w/my windows rolled down, but I rolled them up to make a few phone calls. Big mistake. BIG mistake.  ¶ 3/11/2006 10:41:00 AM 2 comments

  here comes the sun...and the dripping water some days you just come home and want to dissapear. i can't explain why i felt that way last night. I got the long-awaited package my mom had mailed last week (that included black slacks for my presentation this week--as well as Little Debbie Fudge Rounds, which cannot be found in RI!!!); I finally finished the book I was reading; Scrubs was on; I had a productive day at work. i don't know why i felt that way, but I did. No real dinner, just leftover pizza and flat ginger ale. then I wound up crashing about 10:00...and woke up this morning to water dripping from the exposed pipes in my room from the bathroom upstairs. at least it was over the floor and it wasn't over my bed! should be minor repairs but still...Good Morning!

anyways I'm leaving for the rest of the week. Heading to beautiful Newport for a few days inside a Radisson Hotel ballroom. Yeah, that's right. then Friday afternoon I have to lead a session at the Annual Conference that my Volunteer Center is putting on...also in Newport. So far I have 3 people signed up to attend. but all in all-- hey who's complaining? not I, for I get out of the rest of my workweek. And what a week it's going to be...40's...50's...the temps will be increasing as the days go on. A good week to head down to the beach. Newport, anyone?  ¶ 3/08/2006 07:03:00 AM 3 comments

  it's (getting warmer) out there for a pimp I haven't seen all the movies nominated for Best Picture Oscars last night, just Crash and Munich. Still I think that Crash was a well deserved win.

Windows open today at the office, it's starting to slowly get warmer outside. Up on the third floor looking out onto busy Atwells Ave. I am constantly hearing the traffic drive by, sirens speed through the stoplights, trucks making food deliveries. Usually because of the Itallian neighborhood and subsequent restaurants around there's a repetitive soundtrack of Sinatra and Louis Prima that plays throughout my day. But today there was a heavy amount of rap music in the air. Is it because a rap song won an Oscar last night? Yeah, right. It's because Spring is right around the corner. It's because the sun is shining, and drivers can roll down their windows as they cruise through town. This is just a slice of America today, in the city. At 38 degrees Fahrenheit (hey, it's above freezing).  ¶ 3/06/2006 03:39:00 PM 1 comments

  I'm fighting off becoming sick, so it looks like this will be an indoor weekend (except church tomorrow). I picked up a few flicks from Blockbuster and a there's a book I meant to finish last month, so it won't be too bad. And you care because...haha.  ¶ 3/04/2006 11:40:00 AM 1 comments

  I was supposed to head out tonight to the East Side to meet some folks at Tealux, but it snowed today and it's icing over now, so it looks like a no go.
So I'm in for the night. My current position finds me eating peanut butter from the jar and watching SVU. I should take advantage of this night by doing one of many things on my To Do List, but...well we'll see. Might as well clean my room, although tomorrow will be spent cleaning the office at work. Trust me, that is going to be an all-day event.  ¶ 3/02/2006 07:00:00 PM 0 comments

  Head about this survery on NPR yesterday while driving back to work. Can you?  ¶ 3/02/2006 09:11:00 AM 2 comments

  The EM-50, Homeland Security version If I had won the 365 million Powerball Jackpot last week, this is what I would have done. I would move to the Montana, buy a big house with a lot of open land, make some lucky lady my bride, and we'd head out for our honeymoon in this. We'd go to Oregon, because we've both always wanted to see the Oregon coast. Then we'd drive the open roads of the country, tracking and tormenting the Oscar Meyer Weiner Mobile. It would be a fun marriage. Eventually one of us would probably go back to grad school. And I'm sure there's a kid or two that might make an appearance. And then one day I would meet Harrison Ford in a rural cafe along I-90 and he'd ask me about the wheels. Of course, I'd take hime for a spin.

I'd hybrid it out, of course (think green, then I'd paint it green just like in Stripes.). We should remember that protecting the environment is just as important as protecting ourselves from the Soviets...er, terrorists. And yes, maybe even add a few machine guns, just for kitch. So that's my sidetrack for the day.  ¶ 3/01/2006 10:14:00 AM 3 comments