Tuesday, January 10, 2006, 12:36 PM - Friends
Angela and Erik had their baby yesterday (Monday) morning!!! 6:42 AM - she's 8 lbs. 4 oz., 20 inches, has lots of straight black baby hair, is long and lean and the softest thing in the world. No name as of yet - so if you've got strong feelings (some of us are still hoping for La'Beija) get to lobbying. Mom and baby are both doing fine - after a quick and very intense labor, BG made a dramatic entrance (taking after Ang already) and of course they barely made it to the hospital in time (not like Angela would be EARLY for birth, or anything...). They will probably be heading home tonight (Tuesday), maybe tomorrow. The best birthday present I could hope for, even if she was one day early. We are one step closer to Capricorn world domination. 
Saturday, January 7, 2006, 03:30 AM - Politics, Food
So today I had a lunch meeting with Megan (the brain behind The MMOB and my favorite co-conspirator on Leave My Child Alone), and she brought along Joan Blades! It was great to meet her- she's just the combination of grounded strategist and slightly ethereal presence you'd expect from someone who's changed organizing forever- through technology. She's starting a new, very large-scale project centered on women's issues...I hope I'll have the opportunity to contribute to it. (And in addition, I got to snack on those onigiri from the Japanese deli that take me right back to department store basement food heaven in Tokyo). Really an unexpectedly superlative lunchtime, all things considered.Wednesday, January 4, 2006, 06:41 PM - Politics, Technology
We'll all have to get our assfucking fix from the new Wonker (?) David Lat, erstwhile faux-babe blogger of Underneath Our Robes....
Nice job for Nick to snag him, although I bet his life as a prosecutor had become a little, um, complicated?
Tuesday, January 3, 2006, 05:57 PM - Politics
So it seems like I'm taking the leap into the world of GCI where I'll be working on MoveOn's 2006 efforts as well as developing progressive voter outreach strategies and a West Coast client base. I'm not sure that I'll be able to give up on the other fun projects I've been working on this fall, though, so it seems like it will be another round of balancing acts....Plus I'm still having meetings with people about my ideas for engaging social workers and other nonprofit sector staffers in civic engagement strategies. And my word, I live in San Francisco, shouldn't I be developing some technological solution that will save the world?? I am loathe to close off any possibilities, but could probably do with a bit more focus in the short term...more soon.Tuesday, January 3, 2006, 05:49 PM - Sex, Friends
Today I found out someone I know just got a positive HIV test result; a frighteningly horrible way for him to start his new year. I never know whether to be more angry, sad, or astonished when this happens...I get angry that all my nagging to be careful didn't work, I am sad that so many of my friends have to have sex in a world where this is still such a risk, and astonished that we haven't made more progress (personally, socially, culturally). Did I mention the viciously angry reaction to people who deny their own reality or are too cavalier to protect their partners?? I'm frustrated at the way our efforts seem too often to leave the responsibility to NOT infect other people out of the discussion. All our work in HIV prevention, while I know to have had significant impact, is meaningless when it fails at the individual level, and all my social network disease theory and epidemiology wasn't enough for him. And for all that medicine offers growing hope to (first-world) people living with HIV, it can't touch the pain my friend is going through today.Friday, December 30, 2005, 07:14 PM - Travels, Art
;)
I had a blast at this show in Chelsea. LA artist who searches out really strange extracurricular activity photos from yearbooks, recreates them and extrapolates short videos and installations. There are maybe 35 of them running in seemingly random sequence in the gallery, beautifully sideshow-esque and cacophonic. He and many 1970s high school students is/were apparently fascinated by vampires, but my favorite piece was the operatic performance by the chick in the bedazzled 'Fresno' overalls, on the porch of a weirdly modernist representation of a farmhouse. Great fun....
;)
Thursday, December 29, 2005, 02:19 PM - Books
I really have to hand it to someone who gets me to read (and sometimes delight in) 980 pages and 400 footnotes and refuses to provide more than tiny little hints of narrative closure. (Well, OK, I guess Orin was effectively closed out). There's some similarity between my reactions to this book and to Confederacy of Dunces - strangely more side-splittingly funny in retrospect than during the experience of reading....the hilarity of the premises is sometimes drowned out by the form. I loved the dead Incandenza patriarch and the mind-numbing drug detail and enjoyed how Wallace anticipates the (valid) criticisms of his novel by developing the critical debate about said dead patriarch's entertainments. I am such a sucker for hypercomplex novels, how could I not enjoy it? Thursday, December 29, 2005, 01:59 PM - Travels, Friends
I am freshly back from the east coast, and while I did have some ridiculously wholesome holiday times with dear Dad, there's nothing like NYC during a transit strike to make you realize the true beauty of human nature. (In truth I was comfortably watching MNF with George when the strike was called, but trust me.)
Favorite parts of my trip:
Watching Andrew in his triangular Italian army jacket pick up a hot blonde on the F train by discussing her ability to suck Ruper Murdoch's cock.
Suprising Gaby at a Hanukah party (thanks Nick!).
Brunch at Prune with Claire and Heather.
Spending Friday night at a black tie event thrown by artsy Brooklyn artists scraping to afford NYC, and Saturday night at a White Trash Xmas party thrown by a bunch of Wharton private equity rich kids. And the bare-chested bartender at the gay hedge fund party, did I mention him?
Watching my hardass friend Rachel transform into a cooing blissful mom when she holds brand-new Ulisse.
Thursday, December 15, 2005, 02:20 PM - Travels
For the second night in a row I was on my way back across the Bay Bridge, and by chance ended up again at Uno's toll booth (yesterday, #15). He had already offered to marry me the night before, which made for a much more pleasant bridge experience than usual. Last night he was all prepared with his phone number and he paid my toll himself. Such gallantry! Although I don't see a lot of future in our relationship, it's tragic to think about EZPass forestalling toll booth romance for a whole generation.
Side note: it made me so happy that when I looked for a toll plaza picture, the best one was from the Groove site....
;)
Tuesday, December 13, 2005, 05:49 PM
just asked for revisions for an article I submitted a while back, so it looks like I may be joining the ranks of real academics. A geeky little article on the use of GIS mapping in public health planning - it's actually nice to be able to revise it so I can add some things... using Google maps, etc. that are making that type of analysis even more accessible.Back Next
