I just saw the movie Garden State, which I loved, and felt the need to pay tribute to my state again.
I thought Natalie Portman was so good, and it made me think that the Star Wars prequels are a waste of her talent. And after watching Zach Braff, I'm looking forward to the start of Scrubs again.
I wonder if that was a real quarry in Newark?
I had a really weird schedule over the last two weeks -- a few day shifts and random days off. So I got to watch a lot of the Olympics. My favorite sports are the swimming and gymnastics, but I found myself also watching beach volleyball, polo, track, judo -- sports I usually wouldn't be interested in. It was cool to be off and see so much of the games, which I haven't been able to do since '96,when I wasn't working.
These postcards are from Greece, but not Athens, but in the spirit of the Olympics, they'll have to do.
I've been back from the UNITY convention for a few weeks, and haven't gotten around to writing about it.
The week started out with an 8-hour trip through lots of traffic. The next day we were up early to set up the booth, but the booth wasn't ready for us. My sleeping schedule, needless to say, was all screwed up and I don't think I've recovered entirely yet. My feet hurt so much from all the walking around and standing in the booth and dancing and walking.
On Tuesday, Rue and I couldn't find the bus that was supposed to take us to a rally at Gannett headquarters. Luckily we ran into some of our co-workers who were driving over. After that rall, Unity opened with an opening town hall meeting, that featured an interesting debate between Doug E Fresh and Little Foot over Outkast.
The week was filled with some really great workshops, receptions and parties. I ran into lots of friends from Targum and school, a few friends from former workplaces and the folks from DJNF. My picture (a larger than life version of me) was hanging up in our booth, and I was actually recognized by a few people.
I didn't get up early enough to see John Kerry in person, but I got to hear him in the spillover room. Then the next day, I made it through the metal detectors and got to see George W. himself. I went into it open minded, but couldn't agree with much that he had to say, but I still didn't think it right that people in the audience laughed at him.
On Saturday, I took a walk around D.C., toward the National Mall where I saw the White House (all boarded up), the new WWII memorial and the Korean War memorial. I also talked to a very nice older couple from Maryland, who were asking me questions about the band that was playing at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial (it was Tito Puente Jr., who had played at a party I was at the night before).
The last party was incredible. Three rooms - karaoke, a hip hop party, and a salsa and funk band.
It was 10 years ago when I went to the first UNITY as a student, and it was so cool to go back and experience it as a professional.
Well here I am all dressed up at the reception for Betty and Fernando's wedding. (not such a great polaroid shot) ... I think everything went perfectly. Food, DJ, guests, wine, flowers, chocolate cake ... all good.
Betty's family has dubbed Khoder the "crazy tall guy" and everytime I've called them this week, they keep asking about him. He was his typical whacky self on the dance floor and got everyone else to discover their own whacky selves.
And the "black" cake was the best!
