Hump Day Open Thread

Feeling like posting news? Post it in the top thread here but lets try to use this thread to just have some fun!

I've been...

- Campaigning against the constitutional gay marriage ban that will be voted on in California in November. I recruited three volunteers. One of the campaign organizers is a native of Bainbridge Island, WA, and we talked quite a bit about Seattle stuff, including Pike/Pine area and the Wildrose lesbian bar (and by extension, other places I hung out at with DiAnne).
- Hanging out at Outfest, the gay movie festival of Los Angeles, where I met with some high-profile transgender actresses (who already knew of my own work on a transgender-themed novel). Some great movie features there - I am so glad I could go.

There was also a valuable panel on activist writing, sponsored by PEN USA, at a private residence in West Los Angeles, where I got some writing tips for the novel. Two of the panelists were my writing mentor Gayle Brandeis (of CODEPINK) and her own mentor Diane Lefer (who wore an orange jumpsuit to protest Guantanamo - and told me of many horrors the US government inflicts on detained immigrants and the mentally ill). I made sure to discuss, with Diane, the preferential treatment of some pro-W immigrants under the system.

I'm gonna pull back on my activities for now, but I'll pick up again around the end of August. The past week or so has been very tiring yet productive for me, personally.

Most importantly, I am thankful that I have enough income to still be able to afford to drive to all these events.

Hey Suz,

Growing a vegetable garden this year for the first time in the new house. First small tomatoes and big cukes this week. I LOVE that. I want to be a farmer.

ALSO -

Had a great visit with Karen and Richard as they headed toward the north country. It was great to see them and catch up a little. I imagine that by now they have set sail on this beautiful sunny and warm day in the northeast. I envy them their new adventure!

Ally,

Sounds like you had a great time and are really networking very well! I'm happy your family incorporation is doing well. I know my hubby incorpated in 2004 and it's been an interesting road.

Carol,

I wanted to get a vegetable garden going this year but I never made time for it. Frankly, given that we live with deer, rabbits, mink, and so on... I doubt I'd do more than feed the wildlife and have very few leftovers for ourselves!

We have some wild blackberries that grew next to the porch this year. I was looking forward to those little tidbits. But apparently so were the birds who built a birds nest in the eaves of our porch. They ate it and left me their digestive scraps. (yuck!)

Even so...

I love birds. We've got the hummingbirds, sparrows, cardinals, finches, bluebirds, and blue buntings. So I'm always happy to bird watch!

Also, the flower bulbs I planted a few years ago seem to have made a great meal for the bunnies. So...gardening is difficult here.

Regarding Karen and Richard sailing...I'm sure they're having a great time. When we went to DC for TBA a few years ago, Richard and Karen took us sailing in the Potomac. It was fun!

We have a boat and my brother has a jet ski, but I haven't made it out yet. And my hubby is swamped at work this summer, so he may not get the boat out at all.

I love the summer!

Oh...I have been taking my camera out on my hikes and have taken pictures of some amazing tree roots and animal homes. I also have some pretty pictures of the flora around here.

Did I mention how much I love warm weather?

Oh...and we've had some awesome rain storms. Love those too. (We sit on our porch and watch them and feel the breeze. If it's too wild out, we can watch it from inside with a clear window view.)

Suz,

Next year (or this year if there are any unripe ones lefts), cover those blackberries with cheese cloth to keep the birds away.

I love bird watching as well. I'd love to see those buntings! We have scarlet tanagers here, but we rarely see them. They are elusive, and like the woods.

I, also, am a summer girl, and am enjoying the warm weather and all that goes along with it immensely!

I'm thinking about taking a yoga class, but I haven't gotten there yet!

Carol,

I signed up for a dance exercise class, but I hate yoga.

Had a couple of pretty mellow flights - read half of Obama's Audacity of Hope. Caught some CNN in Dallas and thought it had to be Fox. Found a way to get into Austin from the airport for only fifty cents. It was steamy hot but had rained. Ran into future Congresswoman Darcy Burner (hopefully) in the elevator - impressed she made it here even though her house recently burnt to the ground. That shows a real committment to progressive politics and grassroots activism. Ran into Andrew Villeneuve of NW Progressive Institute and got our schedule together. Looks to be a good conference. Met an Obama delegate from Missouri and actually, the streets and the lobby of the Hilton are full of Kossacks and other netroots activists, such as the gentleman pictured below (who is blogging across from me in the lobby on a Mac just like this one.) Saw the C-Span truck outside. More tomorrow. Slugbug

see also http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com

You went this year? For some reason I thought you weren't going. I work Friday morning and can't go until after. I was tempted to try. (Not to mention that I just felt the convention itself was overpriced!)

I do wish I was there just to visit people again, though. And it does have a few seminars that sound interesting!

The level of negativity in the world anymore has caused me to check out from 24/7 mortal combat with the electorally illiterate, so while I still keep close tabs on what's happening, so I've decided for my own good to pursue with a vengence more of the things that I actually want to be doing ...

Music, food, friends, vino, good vibe, music, friends, vino, music, music, good vibe, more music... did I mention music?

It's my goal to share as much of THAT as possible with as many people as possible... it's at the core of a dream I've been tinkering with for some time now, and I'm in just enough of a "WTF" mindset these days to make it happen.

Stay tuned, it's kinda my "What I did on my bummer vacation" thesis...

Hey Monkey,

That sounds like an awesome plan to me. Looking forward to hearing about it.

BTW - are you familiar with the Iguanas from NOLA? They will be playing here this fall, and I listened to a clip and they sound great! I think we'll check them out.

I, also, have checked out of the 24/7 combat, but am still keeping tuned in here to read what you all are saying. And watching Olbermann, of course. Maybe I'm just recharging before the battle royale in the fall.

Sparrow
Sadly, a member of NW Progressive Institute died suddenly, age 42. The Director called me and asked if I wanted to go and I'd have a free registration but would have to cover some of the expenses myself and I was able to arrange it with work.

I ran into Terri Buchner in the elevator and she said to tell you hi and she is rooming with Lynn Stutz.

http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com

I live in China now, summer is a blast especially this year as Olympics are here. Everyone is pumped up and ready for national celebrations.
Will be a great show, opening ceremony here should knock the socks off the rest of the world. I am signed on as guide and protocol advisor for certain groups, should be a lot of fun.

My friends back home are in tight situation due to economy, but hopefully Obama will bring the Nation back from the edge.

Its alot of fun here as kayaking, camping, hiking, mountain climbing, etc are just taking off and everyone packs up and heads for the massive reserves and parks here. There are parks and reserves everywhere, just fantastic.

The Lurker's Caucus, room 11B - except no one showed up to facilitate .. they said to get into a circle .. so I left .. as it would be hard to do that and truly lurk .. maybe I can catch it on C-Span LOL

Carol... The Iguanas are one of my favorite NOLA bands, was also the first concert I took my daughter to (she was 5 at the time)_, it was a small festival, and I tool her backstage to meet the guys, several of whom I know, and they treated her like a queen! she still has the tshirt which was way too big at the time.

They are definitely worth seeing.

slugbug,

Thanks for the updates from n.n.

I'm at work. Will peek in later.

The Vote for Change bus pulled up at the park across from the Hilton, with the head of the Texas Democratic Party, the Vice President of the Univ. of TX Republicans (voting Democrat for the first time) and Howard Dean. There were alot of diehard original vintage Dean fans and it was a nice melding of Democracy for America with Vote for Change. Howard screamed out the names of the states they were going to go to and the states the Democrats are going to win, and we all screamed together in the hot hot sun!

Toolmaker,

Sounds awesome that you're getting to work/visit China. Though, for me, I guess I feel a little nervous about the safety there. I suppose the Olympics make it better.

Regarding the Olympics, my hubby was in Atlanta during that Olympic year--though no where near the you know what! He brought home pins and stuff for us as souvenirs which we still have.

He was actually working down there, so I'm not sure what he saw. But still...there is something exciting in the air during the Olympic years.

PS...Toolmaker, that's odd. I thought you were in W.Mich all this time. We had a different person who was "China Tool"....Hmmmmm...were you by chance he?

slugbug

Enjoy Netroots Nation! Too bad I had to pull out (I'm stuck at home/work due to my father being in Alaska and New York all month).

Toolmaker

I loved Beijing when I was there in 2002. The Olympics should be fantastic - despite China's harder crackdown on dissidents because of it. At least this isn't the first time that a tyrannical government got the Olympics to further its goals - I can also remember Moscow '80 and Seoul '88 in recent memory.

It would be great to see some of Toolmaker's pictures!

So..hey..are you feeling a little ADHD to have to bounce between three threads?

Actually my fine little feathered friend, I always feel ADHD when I'm bloggin here, no matter what thread I'm on!

Sybill Disobedience

Monkey,

You crack me up!

I thought you'd look at it more as "swinging from branch to branch" sort of way. "cuz monkeys like to swing.

oops!

I should add...I DON'T mean that in the negative way! (Get your head out of the gutter!)

O.K. It feels like people are at a pause to see what happens next.

My life style is changing at a rapid pace, and I'm not particularly thrilled about it.

Richard and Karen sold and got out of Dodge just in time, I think.

Went to grocery store yesterday for a "few" items, nothing major, just some purchases like lettuce, tomatoes, dairy, etc. I didn't even have the bottom of my cart covered, and I went to check out and the checker said "That will be $65.19." I figured twenty nine maybe but not $65.00. I said "Are you kiddin' me?" When I got home I noticed one of my items (Lysol spray) has gone from last year's price of $4.00 (which I thought was too high) to $5.37. For one can of Lysol. Can you imagine?

I found myself purchasing the tortilla chips that were on sale instead of my favorite brand because I got twice as much for the same amount of money. Then I found myself buying store brands instead of name brands, and I haven't done that for quite a while. Not that I mind, but it just took me back to when my kids were small and I had a tight food budget. Every single thing is up, and it's pushing past the $4.00 an item mark for most items and encroaching $5.00 an item. eek.

Then, I went to the gas station and spent the rest of my money on gas. eek.

Hobbies? Oh, yes. I will have to go back to my hobbies since I am not going to be getting out of Dodge much any more, at least not for a while. I did some gardening this year myself. I used to oil and water color paint but don't have any supplies with me. I took a Chinese cooking class and learned how to make really awesome Cashew Chicken, Spring Rolls, etc.

O.K. I took a calligraphy class and could get a couple of calligraphy pens and practice. I'm rusty.

I love to cook and entertain. Am planning a big summer BBQ in a couple of weeks to celebrate summer, and have started inviting people.

I love to read and love movies and anything pertaining to the arts. (Music, orchestra, dance, ballet, plays, etc.) Only problem is that in this town, there are NO arts. So I guess I will read and do movies.

That's all, folks......see other thread for news I saw this a.m. before work. eek.

Great pics, Slugbug. You haven't changed much.

See you knobbing with Howard Dean. Thank God for him.