screen printing adventure

tuesday night i went to AIR (Artists Image Resource) on the north side with melissa, who's a pro at screen printing xmas cards (she does it every year). i showed up unprepared, partly because i hadn't bothered to sit down and figure out what i wanted to print and partly because i was content to observe the process, since i figured i could go back to one of their many open studios on tues and thurs from 6 to 10 p.m. anyway, i ended up doodling some things and came up with a design that i felt deserved to be printed on a couple of t-shirts and on random sheets of paper. i may use this as the starting point for my valentines next year....
the process is pretty cool - basically you draw or print a black & white image on a transparency (see mine at left) and the negative space around the opaque parts of the design are "burned" into an emulsion coated screen by exposing the screen to ultraviolet light. the areas of the emulsion that aren't hardened by the light (because they're blocked by the black parts of your design), can be rinsed out  and you're left with a stencil.  then you use a squeegee to push paint through the open areas of the screen onto whatever substrate you want. it was really fun and i want to go back again and again. more pics of the process (some stolen from melissa) are here.

abu dhabi re-run (week 4)

hi all,
i'm back in pittsburgh, trying to get over jetlag and deal with a cold. here are some thoughts from my last extremely busy week in Abu Dhabi. photos to come...
-C

10/26/06
The WWF Living Planet report was published this week and it shows that the only country with a greater ecological footprint per person than the United States is... you guessed it... the United Arab Emirates! The UAE come in at almost 12 global hectares per person, and the US brings up a close second at about 9.5 global hectares per person.
Another interesting statistic is that the UAE's water withdrawal-to-availability ratio (the total annual water withdrawals against the annual renewable water resource available to it) is 1,533%, with total withdrawals of 800 m^3 per person per year. By comparison, the US w-t-a ratio is 16%, with 1,600 m^3 annual per capita water use (so obviously we have a lot more water available) and Peru's w-t-a ratio is 1% with 750 m^3 annual per capita water use.

Check out the report, it's really interesting:

10/29/06
Today is the first official day back to work after the Eid holiday, so the rhythm of the office has changed a little. For one thing, the "office boys" are back in full force. What is an office boy, you ask?
Well at first I thought it was just the guy who makes sure there's enough paper in the printer, changes toner and stocks the fridge with soft drinks and water (our office boy showed us the stash because he wanted to be sure we didn't die of thirst during Ramadan). When I saw him today, he was dressed in full caterer attire, with a vest and bow tie and asked if I wanted anything to drink, because he would serve it to me at my desk (I asked for OJ, he brought me some in a glass with a straw, with a bottle of water on the side). During meetings, another office boy (this is what everyone calls them by the way, even though they are all full grown men, so if you ask me they should be called office butlers instead) comes in to ask each attendee what he/she would like to drink. I am not sure whether I think this system is a great idea or if it just makes me feel weird.

10/30/06
We just completed 4 days full of meetings, one right after the other, so now is the time when we finalize our documents to include the input we received (sorry I can't tell you too much more - confidentiality requirements)... In any case, this is really the final countdown and I'm stressed but excited to have the assignment almost finished. I probably won't send the final round of photos until I get home (no time to upload and annotate them). For those who wanted to know more about the project, check out this link, which gives the official info about the project thus far:

abu dhabi re-run (week 3)

hi all,
this week has been a difficult work week, so my notes are not about recent and exciting discoveries, but primarily things that i have noticed but forgotten to jot down in the past two weeks...

10/18/06
skype is blocked by a firewall at my office and is not allowed in the cybercafe at my hotel. i get the impression that it may not be allowed at all in the UAE... so i apologize for incorrectly implying that i'd be able to call you easily while i'm here...

10/20/06
people are very trusting here. i have an informal deal with the guy at the internet cafe on the main floor of my hotel that if i don't have enough cash to pay on any given day, i'll pay him the next time i come. i wasn't so surprised by this because i go at least a few times a week, and he can find out what room i'm in so there isn't much danger of me trying to get out of paying him a few dirham for internet access. however, the same thing happened at a corner store close to the office. i was short .5 dirham and the owner said, "that's okay, next time." although we've been there a handful of times, this guy has no clue how long i'll be around and whether or not there will be a next time. i guess in this country people are used to functioning on an honor system...

taxi observation 1 - often if only one person is taking a taxi, he'll sit in the front seat. on most occasions i've seen men to this; a woman alone will generally sit in the back, but one or two times i did see a woman by herself in the front seat of a cab.

taxi observation 2 - there are NO seat belts in the back seat of cabs. the first few times i tried to dig out the buckle from under the seat, but was not successful, so i finally gave up. given that in dubai, drivers commit 157 driving violations per hour (i read this in the paper), not having a seatbelt to fasten is a little worrisome...

taxi observation 3 - all of them have stick shifts. imagine if nyc cab drivers had to shift while navigating through traffic on broadway!

10/22/03
my favorite foods:

• omali - a bread pudding-like dish (dad i think you'd really like it) made with bread, milk, ground pistachios and raisins. it is REALLY GOOD.
• i LUUUVVV mango juice. they sell it in grocery stores in big jugs similar to the tropicana OJ you see in U.S. supermarkets. i can't get enough!
• fruit in general, but specifically dried figs and what i think is the middle east version of honeydew melon, which they serve in the fruit salad i eat at the hotel from time to time.
• hammour - a white fish (a type of grouper from what i understand) that appears on most menus because it is typical to the Persian Gulf
• honey balls - i think i've had this dessert in indian restaurants before, but i've seen it in every iftar buffet i've been to in Abu Dhabi, so i'm not sure what the origin is. i could eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner, except i'm pretty sure doing so would speed up my path to getting diabetes. basically it's some kind of pastry soaked in warm honey (although i've seen it served cold too)... itpractically melts in your mouth.
• pita bread - i've always liked pita, but i especially like that it costs less than 30 cents a package at the grocery store, and tastes MUCH better than what you buy at giant eagle! even in bay ridge i couldn't get pita for less than a buck per bag.
• date bars - like fig newtons, but made with dates and a harder cookie outside. YUM.

10/23/06
Eid mubarak! Today (or tomorrow, depending on whose moon sighting panel you rely on) is the first day of Eid el Fitr (Celebration of Breaking the Fast), which means the holy month of Ramadan is over.

It is a time when Muslims celebrate and give thanks for their blessings, family and community, among other things. It's also traditional to give to charity/the poor so that they can celebrate the Eid as well. The day starts with special prayers early in the morning, a sermon, and then a celebration with friends and family. my understanding is that most people have at least 3 days off from work during which they have the opportunity to travel (hence the empty streets on our way to the office this morning).

Steve's only concern is that from now on he can get a cup of coffee mid-day and I, too, am relieved that I won't have to rely on a granola bar as my entire lunch anymore. However, beyond that, peace, understanding, charity, brotherhood, and forgiveness are all things we could spend some time thinking about today (cheesy, perhaps, but true)!

my photos this week aren't as exciting as last week's but i'll send them along shortly anyway! now i'm in the home stretch. expect one more update before i get on the plane at 2 a.m. on Nov 1.

xo,
Cat(herine)

abu dhabi re-run (week 2)

10/10/06 Tuesday
Last night I ventured to the carpet souk after dinner... I was told that the market was active in the evenings because of Ramadan hours, but as it turns out there were few people other than the shopkeepers, my colleague Steve, and me, so we got a lot of attention.
There were about 50 small shops, all of which looked essentially the same from the outside and inside, until of the vendors started unfolding rugs and laying them out on the floor. Everyone wanted us to come inside to see *their* rugs (hand made, machine made, silk, wool, afghani, kasmiri... the works, and all "very high quality"). All the shop keepers kept calling me sister (as in "Come inside, sister. Take a look, sister.") which made me smile. Using the best of my bargaining skills, I ended up purchasing two rugs.
I think I did pretty well under the circumstances (I drove a *really* hard bargain for the second rug), paying less than half of the originally quoted price for each one... This was in line with some advice that I had been given about the way price negotiations work in this kind of market (including the fact that regardless how low I feel the final price is, chances are the the vendor is still probably making a pretty penny off of me!). Now I just have to figure out how I plan to get them back to the United States. Why didn't i bring an extra empty suitcase with me?
As an aside, I noticed an article in the NYT this morning about an interesting competition for young Muslims that took place in Dubai over the weekend. I attached a .pdf of the article to this message if you're interested in reading it.

10/11/06 Wednesday
I've gotten some questions from you all via e-mail, so I thought I'd answer them here so everyone can read...
Q: You don't have to wear a head scarf?
A: The UAE is one of the less conservative countries in this region, and with expatriates making up 80% of the population, there are fewer restrictions on dress here than in other middle eastern countries from what i understand. I've seen a bit of everything, from women dressed in black from head to toe, to women in mini skirts and low cut blouses (obviously the latter are not observing Ramadan). Generally though, out of respect to the Muslim population (and especially during the holy month) it was recommended that I avoid tops that expose my shoulders and arms, and that skirts, if I choose to wear them, be at least long enough to cover my knees.

Q: Are you having trouble communicating?
A: Not really, because most people speak English. The most trouble I have (and it really isn't much) is when the street names on my map don't match the street names that taxi drivers know (there are some nicknames, like airport road, or passport street, because that's where the passport office is). So from time to time there is confusion when I'm telling a taxi driver my destination, but otherwise, communication hasn't been an issue.

In other Abu Dhabi news, I checked www.weather.com and determined that the reason why it's felt cooler to me recently is that it actually *was* cooler (imagine that). :) Instead of a high of 104 degF (from last week), the 10 day forecast only shows the temperature going up to 99 degF. It's a cold spell!

10/12/06 Thursday
I have come to expect the spurt of brown water that comes out of the bathtub faucet each morning before the water runs clear. However, the structural engineer in me was shocked to see a large diagonal crack in the wall behind my bedroom door, which was exposed when I closed the door for the first time tonight. Let's just hope it's not a load bearing wall... :)

10/13/06 Friday
The first time we actually left the office at a reasonable evening hour, we had a lot of trouble finding a taxi to take us back to the hotel. In fact, there were virtually NO cars on the road compared to the usual hustle and bustle, and the streets were strangely quiet. Soon we realized that it was because it was IFTAR time and everyone was EATING.

10/16/06 Tuesday
We took one full day off last weekend and took a desert tour, complete with camel riding and dune driving! Will send the pictures shortly...

Until next week, Cat

abu dhabi re-run (week 1)

i'm finally getting around to re-posting the weekly emails i sent out during my 2006 abu dhabi trip... here's the one from week 1 (accompanying photos are on picasa):

hi all,
here are some thoughts about my first week here in the UAE. Desolee pour ceux qui ne parlent que francais... je n'ai pas eu le temps de tout traduire...

10/05/06 Thursday
i arrived safely in abu dhabi on tuesday evening after approximately 18 hours of travelling, and a reasonably decent night's sleep on Emirates air, and then quickly jumped into work on Wednesday morning. the last two days have been long and tiring, but the weekend here starts on Friday, so tomorrow will give me a bit of rest. this means that i can sleep until 8:30 a.m. instead of getting up at 7:30, because even though the client won't be there, we have a deadline on Sunday, so my colleague, Steve, and I still have to go in to the office (!)
my exploration of the city has been limited so far, but the two things that have struck me are the extreme weather conditions and the interesting hours that the population keeps during the muslim holy month of Ramadan. first: the weather: it is too hot and humid to walk the less than one mile from my hotel to the office, because carrying my laptop and wearing work clothes, i'd be drenched by the time i got there. everything inside is air condidioned (almost too much), and the difference between the indoor and outdoor climate is so extreme that my glasses fog up when i go outside. in the evenings it cools off a little, but it's still quite warm (like being in the nyc subway on a seriously hot and humid day).
as for the Ramadan schedule, most shops and restaurants are closed during the day, and reopen for Iftar, the evening meal that breaks the daily fast (around 6 p.m., or whenever it starts to get dark). then everything stays open (grocery stores, cell phone shops, malls) until about midnight or 1 a.m. so people are milling around every night really late. we went to the Abu Dhabi mall to wander around this evening, and aside from all the people in traditional Islamic dress, I would have thought I was in New Jersey or something.

10/06/06 Friday
tonight, for some reason, i'm feeling a lot of affection for this city despite the fact that i know little to nothing about it... even though Friday's are officially the weekend here, Steve and I had to work anyway, but the day went well (after the first two pretty rough ones), we got a lot accomplished, which made me feel good. even after a mediocre fish and chips dinner at a pub across the street from our hotel, i am in a good mood. i am looking forward to tomorrow, when i can sleep in, and maybe even see more of Abu Dhabi than the road between my hotel and the office. i've taken some pictures, which i'll upload to kodakgallery sometime in the next couple of days to send to you all...

10/07/06 Saturday
finally today I got out to see more of the city than what lies between my office and my hotel. I think I'm getting a little more adjusted to the heat, because I don't start to sweat as soon as I walk outside anymore. Steve and I ventured to "Heritage Village, which is supposed to be an open air museum which shows the traditional ways of Bedouin life (before oil was discovered in the region and all the development that ensued). unfortunately, as might have been expected due to Ramadan, it wasn't open, but we still wandered around the outside and caught a glimpse of some barasti (traditional huts with palm leaf roofs) and fishing boats. There were also great views of the Arabian (i.e. Persian) Gulf looking toward downtown Abu Dhabi.
There was another mall nearby (surprise surprise), so we checked it out… and then headed to what is supposedly the most extravagant hotel in the city (the Emirates Palace Hotel). Rooms start at 2,900 UAE Dirhams ($800) and go up to 51,000 for the 6,000 sq. ft. "Palace Suite" (roughly $14,000). I think the cost of the hotel I'm in for a month is equivalent to only a few nights in the cheapest of rooms at the Emirates Palace. They have a movie theater, and an auditorium where they present broadway shows, a couple of pools, golf course, etc. I guess I'll stay there on my next visit!

Facts of the day:

• Abu Dhabi means "Father of the Gazelle"
• The city had the tallest unsupported flagpole in the world (123 m) until Jordan erected a taller one (126 m) in 2003.

Tonight I wanted to check out the souks (markets) along the north side of the island (the carpet souk, the fruit & vegetable souk, the fish souk, etc.), which are presumably open late, but we were pretty pooped so we just went out for pizza (and it was really good!!). now i'm off to bed (tomorrow's another work day).

10/08/06 Sunday
when i'm in the office i feel as if i could be in new york, pittsburgh, paris, or anywhere, considering i don't have a view, and even if i did, there's a Pizza Hut opposite our building. globalization...harumph!
other general observations about Abu Dhabi (then i promise i'll send the darn e-mail!):

• the taxi to resident ratio must be similar to that of new york. little white toyota corollas with green taxi lights on the roof must outnumber the other cars on the road!
• men hold hands with men in public as a sign of friendship/affection
• people here are crazy drivers... pedestrians beware!
• restaurant and hotel staff are *extremely* polite...ALL the time. "sirs" and "madams" abound.
• lots of (very vocal) stray cats

MORE NEXT WEEK!
xo/bisous, cat

malaysia debrief

now that i've been home for a little over a week and i think i'm finally over jetlag, i thought i'd share some fun facts, anecdotes, casual observations, and trip highlights from my short trip to kuala lumpur.

1. first impression: when we were going through immigration at 3 a.m. on tuesday morning in an eerily empty airport, the officer was listening to guns and roses and happily singing the lyrics to sweet child o' mine as he examined and stamped our passports. hilarious.
2. food: i ate pretty much everything in sight and it was all sooo good. a simple (but probably not 100% accurate) way of describing the food is that it's a cross between indian and thai. my favorite was otak-otak (or otah-otah). the literal translation is "brain-brain," but it's actually a very yummy spicy fish cake wrapped in banana leaves and grilled or steamed.
3. agricultural products: rice, palm oil, and rubber. i read in the paper one day that there are plans for a new convention and exhibition center (the largest one in the country apparently), which will be shaped like a rubber seed.
4. artisinal products: batik fabrics and pewter objects. we took a trip to the central market on wednesday morning and with a little more time and a larger suitcase i probably would have come home with way more stuff!
5. government: constitutional monarchy, where the king changes every five years, as it rotates among the 9 sultans of the Malay states. the king is the leader of the muslim faith and the head of state, while the prime minister is the head of government. the current king is relatively young (in his thirties, i believe), so he may have the opportunity to be king a second time before he dies.
6. other random facts:

• malaysians have a thing for desserts - the dessert buffet at the hotel was almost as big as the food buffet.
• borneo contains 60% of the world's species of flora and fauna.
• the petronas towers, aka the KLCC, were the world's tallest buildings when they were completed in 1998. now, at a mere1,483 ft they're tied for 4th and 5th place behind Burj Dubai (2,684 ft), Taipei101 (1,667 ft), and the World Financial Center in Shanghai (1,640 ft).
• it costs $1.75 to let little fishies eat the dead skin off your feet for ten minutes at the "cute fish spa" at the kuala lumpur central market. it tickled like crazy at first but then it felt like a massage. i have since read up on this topic and it turns out that the fish are actually called doctor fish (officially Garra Rufa) and not only can they exfoliate your heels, they can also alleviate the discomfort of psoriasis and other skin diseases. a fish spa pedicure or manicure in the u.s. can cost up to $60!
  

vacation album!

posted pictures from my vacation on picasa. click here if you'd like to see!

you are here

yes i am here, in kuala lumpur, that is... although the picture at left is from the shanghai airport where my coworker and i had a 5+ hour layover before hopping on the last of our three flights which arrived in malaysia at the lovely hour of 3 a.m. today, Tuesday (or 2 p.m., Monday for those of you on EST). i've been awake since then: first i took the essential shower (after 30 hours of traveling it was about time), then put finishing touches on my part of the presentation that we were giving to malaysian public works people at 9 a.m. now that the presentation is over, i'm just regrouping... it looks like i'll be visiting the Petronas towers this evening with some locals if i can stay awake until dinner time. if you look closely you might succeed in vaguely making one of them out in this picture, looking out from my 15th floor hotel room. the sky is surprisingly clear, since it's monsoon season and usually rains all of the time.
when we were being driven from the airport to the hotel in the wee hours of this morning, i couldn't see much, but in the dark, the city reminded me of Florida because of the building shapes and the types of vegetation. in the daylight mountains appear as a backdrop to the cityscape (definitely *not* Florida) and from the limited view my hotel room window offers, it looks like a moderately sized, relatively modern city. the burnt orange colored roofs of the residential scale construction that appears scattered among the big buildings remind me of mediterranean france or italy. i can see five tower cranes from this vantage point, but i bet that if i were closer to the center city (i believe i'm about 8-10 km southwest) i'd see more. more cultural ruminations after i take a nap, or perhaps tomorrow... think i should probably rest considering 30 seconds ago i was literally falling asleep on the keyboard.

abu dhabi re-run

some co-workers of mine recently traveled to abu dhabi in the united arab emirates, and it reminded me that i had kept a trip journal of sorts during my month-long stint there in 2006 which included my impressions of the city and culture accompanied by a weekly photo album. as i've mentioned it to some other people too, i figured it would be relatively easy to republish it here, SO as i have the time i'll post the narrative and photos for y'all to read...

vacation highlights!

i can't believe i've been out of town for a week+ and that i'll be resuming work tomorrow (albeit at a conference so i'll have a bit of a transition back to being full-time in the office). pending a complete photo album documenting all of my adventures in Washington and Oregon, here are a few of the highlights:

1. halloween in Seattle(!): my friend dave's industrial designer buddies at general assembly threw a kickin' party and everyone had sweet costumes, including jake's and mine, if i may say so. much dancing (and roller blading for some) was done by all, my head hit the pillow around 4 a.m. (i *think*) and i still made it to the train station by 7:30 for my train to portland the next day (thanks dave!)
2. my nephew's fifth birthday party in Beaverton, OR: i can't believe he was born that long ago, that he corrects my french, and that he can play wii tennis almost as well as i can. his pirate themed party (see previous post re: the cake i made) was a hit! the younger of my two nephews is now a year and a half old, toddling around, and wrestling with his brother as if he could actually rough him up a little despite their significant difference in size.
3. trip to Bend, OR to meet ella boyd: i got a chance to see melissa and aaron's new abode and their new bundle of joy. we wandered around downtown bend, checked out the obsidian flow, shared great home- cooked meals (yay for pineapple upside down cake!), and lovely conversations. i also discovered that some small town bus stations are found inside the local bowling alley! who knew?
4. road trip to La Push, WA w/jake: the olympic peninsula is like nothing i've ever seen before and the logs that have washed up to shore (some of which get carried back out at high tide) are enormous both in length and diameter. we stayed in a "resort" on a native american reservation that was cozy and serene. the sound of the crashing ocean waves and the majesty of the fallen trees reminded me how small and powerless i am in the grand scheme of things.

treasure chest

my nephew's 5th birthday was on sunday. it was a pirate themed party, so my sister printed out instructions for a treasure chest cake and it was my job to assemble and decorate it. here's the final product and here are pictures of the process. you can be the judge as to whether or not it turned out the way it should have.

artsy craftsy

since it's likely in the coming months that i'll be spending a fair amount of leisure time indoors (my penchant for being outside for extended periods of time in cold weather is more or less non-existant), i've started to devise ways of keeping myself occupied this fall/winter. last night was the inaugural lawrenceville game night (highlights from the pictionary game were my tambourine, both teams drawing uneven breasts during an all-play for the word "lopsided" and a very artistic drawing to depict the action "flick") and i anticipate many movie marathons, bowling outings, and karaoke nights to ensue.

BUT when the group thing isn't happening, though, i've made a promise to myself (and now the blogosphere) to get back into my habit of making things and by "things" i mean candle holders and belts and magnets and and valentine cards and whatever else comes to mind and can be fabricated with the various materials i've collected/salvaged/hoarded over time.

i also finally got some zippers and fabric to make good on a long-standing statement that eventually i'd attempt to replicate the peruvian-made purse that everyone always comments on (you know, the orange one with flowers that people ask me about everywhere i go?). that bag has undergone a lot of abuse over the past year+ so i think it's about time i replaced it with something of my own creation (and perchance made some $$ if i can produce more than one decent product?). stay tuned for documentation of that process; we'll see how it progresses...

first, however, in the here and now, are some pics of mosaic-ed objects i completed this past weekend while i was holed up in my house trying to get over a week-long cold (which still hasn't left me entirely...) still have to give the bottle and jars a final polish to get excess grout off, but you get the idea...

punkin carving

a week ago sunday people came over to carve pumpkins or, more accurately, people came over and watched me and one other friend carve pumpkins after the steeler game. mine turned out more traditional-like, with a dragon hairpiece courtesy of yun-ha, while we dubbed nicole's the "can you hear me now?" pumpkin. this is what they looked like the morning after (with a little frost around the eyes, mouth, etc.) and the two of them a week later. incidentally, this is the state (death and decay) of most things in my garden right now.

small world big world

my dear friend maria returned to pittsburgh for a week's visit from madrid for the first time since we graduated in 2006 and it was as if she had never left. i find it amazing that it's possible to have a friend across an ocean with whom the connection is strong enough that we can see one another incredibly infrequently and each time feel as if nothing has changed (maybe it's also that we/i would rather ignore the passage of time because it means i'm getting older).
still, she's leaving today and i have this really melancholy feeling because despite all of the wonders of modern technology that give us the ability to communicate virtually and our capacity to jump right back into a friendship after much time has passed, i still wish a 7+ hour plane ride weren't necessary to share a drink or give her a hug. that day-to-day contact even if it's to go grocery shopping together or wave as we run into each other by chance on the street is lost. i'm grateful to have friends and family in far reaching places, and to have the chance to visit them when i time and money permit, but i also wish i could shrink the geographic distances between us so all we'd have to do is walk down the block for a monthly dinner party. :)

late blight

garden update:

• okra (my pride and joy): is still growing like a champ, can't get over how tall it is! it also has incredibly beautiful flowers that bloom from time to time, and then usually fall off after a heavy rain.
  
• lettuce: has started to go to seed, and when friends tried to harvest some for a salad on friday it tasted pretty bitter.
  
• cherry tomatoes: are ripening bit by bit, but what i think is late blight is starting to take over, even though i have been trying cut off affected parts of the plant when i see them. seems like now i'm not doing so quickly enough...
  
• herbs: the dill and cilantro never really worked out, unfortunately, but the basil, thyme, oregano and sage are still very happy! i may start to dry some of those out for winter use, in case they don't make it through the cold months.
  

green wall

PNC is putting up a green wall on one of its buildings in downtown Pittsburgh and it looks like the plants are almost all installed. The first photo shows when they were just getting started in mid-August. The second one i took this a.m. I'll get a better quality close-up once they take the scaffolding away... and once i figure out how to fix error E21 on my camera (lost the manual!)

why?

i noticed the other day that someone ripped off part of the shepard fairey mural at the corner of 37th street and penn. just seems silly that people do stuff like that.

obey

yesterday Shepard Fairey (Obama HOPE poster artist) installed a mural on the wall of Astorino's building. It was a very cool process to watch... there are several (20+ even) other murals 8, 12, and 15 feet high that are being put up all over Pittsburgh (i've heard brillobox has one, the sprout fund building, the former rosa villa restaurant, and i'll add to the list as i find them). i'm pretty sure it's to generate discussion and interest in Fairey's upcoming show at the Warhol in october, called Supply & Demand.
a coworker and i want to put together a bike tour to see them all... if anyone wants to help scout out all the locations and plan the route let me know!

Vermin Rathouse

yesterday my neighbors (the sweet, strange boys that they are) built a "scare rat" in their front yard, accompanied by three evergreen trees dressed in ponchos and sombreros. this makes (at least some) sense if you have seen the sign hanging in front of the house which gives their abode the moniker "rat manor," which has been the source of much curiosity among passersby, who wonder whether it is a store, a haunted house, or simply a place were rodents run free.
to further people's confusion, a couple of the guys decided to put an "OPEN" sign at the base of their walkway and at the corner of butler st. a couple of weekends ago while they (and i) watched from the roof as people walked by and stared with puzzled looks on their faces. only a few ventured up the steps to read the list of services available... the ones i remember are "kisses/hugs, legal advice, manicures, nature walks, gold digging, tax preparation, carnival games... (i wish i could think of more, they were pretty hilarious), each for $5.
now one of the mexican trees has turned into a PILOTbush... who knows what will be next :)

garden!

day 1 (may 23) - before
this is the first time in my adult life that i've lived in a house with a yard. in brooklyn my apt building had a fenced in concrete "patio" which was great for cookouts and parties (but technically it was shared by the entire building and we either had to climb out the back window or go through the basement to get there) and in my second pittsburgh apartment i had some luck growing herbs on windowsills...
day 1 - after (and more progress pics from that day)
so when i decided to plant seeds in the ground for things that can actually be eaten as part of a meal rather than just used to season it, i didn't want to get my hopes up, but things are actually growing (!!) and i'm pretty excited about it. anyway, this is what i have in the herb department: cilantro, basil, thyme, sage, and oregano, but the rosemary decided not to sprout. otherwise, there are tomatoes of several varieties (none full grown yet), okra, and lettuce. now that i've listed it out, it seems pretty measly and i have friends whose gardens are WAY more impressive, but i still feel pretty good about this first effort!

watering with my nephew (july 11)

current view (early august)
here are some more recent garden images

chi-town

i was in chicago for a sustainable design leaders' summit last weekend and was reminded how much i like it there - the buildings, the lake, the neighborhoods... and one thing that i had not seen before, although i'm not sure how i missed it because i have been to millennium park before, is THE BEAN!
there is a lot of public art in the park but this thing (officially called "Cloud Gate") definitely draws the crowds - i mean, who wouldn't enjoy looking at one's reflection and the chicago skyline in a polished steel sculpture shaped like a legume (it's actually meant to resemble a drop of mercury that is about to land on the plaza)!
other highlights of the leisure portion of the trip (because the work part was awesome too but would take too long to recap) were a run along lake michigan on saturday morning (the whole length of the lake is dedicated to parks and bike/running/walking paths and it was packed with people, even at 7 a.m.), having a frozen cocktail on the beach (yes there's sand) with my roommate, and dipping our feet in the water next to (potted) palm trees :)
[will add photos, stay tuned].

seems like summer's almost over

i had a sinking feeling over the weekend that the summer is flying by, when in fact it's really only one third of the way through, but either way it seemed like a good time to report on the progress of my ten activities under $10 list from a couple of months ago.

1. been to one bucs game (they lost, sniff!), hope to see a few more
2. still have not made it to unblurred - next one is aug 7
3. took pretty good advantage of the 3 rivers arts festival, saw the zany umbrella circus twice, caught a fair amt of live music, ate a corn dog, what more could you want?
4. water related:
• kayaking: have been once and plan to go again
  
• tried out dragonboating in june with Venture Outdoors (see photo)
• public pools: have decided that polish hill is about the scene and bloomfield is all about the lap swim (and the blue mushroom). still want to check out the highland park pool which is supposed to be big and beautiful
  
5. did not make it to the mattress factory community garden party (blame the wailers)
   
6. still have to try pick-up soccer, but feel like i need to practice my passing/dribbling skillz first
   
7. caught the WYEP summer music festival - don't think i had ever seen schenley plaza so full :)
   
8. still time to catch cinema in the park or a weds walk in the woods
   
9. no dance classes as of yet but might be honing in on hip hop at dance alloy for the fall...
   
10. went on a bike ride from ohiopyle to confluence - super fun, now i just need to get a bike of my own so i can zoom around town!

doing things for yourself isn't the same thing as not sharing your toys

inspired by a convo w/a friend this a.m., i would like to come up with a word or phrase that means selfish in the good way that we all should be - a word that means investing real effort to take care of oneself physically and mentally, not putting up with hurtful/insensitive/inappropriate behavior from people who claim to care, paying attention to one's instinct, saying no (politely but firmly) to unreasonable requests at work/otherwise, spending time pursuing passions and hobbies (mosaics!) that feed the soul, not focusing so much on taking care of other people that it becomes detrimental to one's own health and well-being, not molding oneself to meet social expectations, and being able to prop oneself up when the actions or words of another person tear you down.
maybe the word exists already and i just don't know it. either way i want to learn how better to be that word.

going back...

generally i cringe at the thought of wearing orange and black (on non-halloween occasions, anyway), but i sucked it up last weekend and traveled back to that place in new jersey where reunions are a production like no other... despite bad cover bands and mediocre costumes, or 'outfits' in non-princeton speak (see photo), i actually had a great time!
so, as was to be expected there were lots of babies (apparently i am not following the schedule) and beer (but no babies drinking beer) and most of the people i ran into i was actually pretty happy to see and find out about what they are doing. of course there were also the people i'm in touch with regularly anyway, but who live in various corners of the country so just seeing their faces and being able to give them hugs was really nice... the only disappointment was that the weekend was so short and hectic that quality time with people was hard to come by.

i was reminded that by a very smart friend that even though i'm not a rah-rah school spirit kind of person and it did take me a while to find my niche in college (nerding it out in the e-quad, singing a cappella under 1879 arch, "studying" on nice days on a blanket in the junior slums, dancing the night away at terrace - wow maybe i'm more nostalgic than i thought...), once i found that sweet spot, it was amazing - partly due to the place, but mostly thanks to the people and my outlook on life at the time.

i don't buy the idea that college was/will always be the best time of my life - there have been many moments since then that have rivaled that feeling of freedom, comfort, intellectual curiosity, joy of discovery, and inspiration. and as much as i feel like i'm still 22 and i look at my friends and they don't seem to have changed drastically in 10 (yikes yes, 10 years!!), there is still definitely something unique about that place, time, and age that is impossible to re-create. this left me with somewhat of a melancholy feeling at the end of theweekend, but on the flip side it gave me a mental kick in the ass to make sure that i'm paying attention to what the heck is going on around me *right now* without dwelling too much on the past or projecting into the future.

i also realized (for the umteenth time in the past few months) that if i were on facebook i probably wouldn't feel as out of the loop about what's going on with people as i do, but for some reason i'm still holding out. am i shooting myself in the foot here?

je n'ai pas le temps de perdre la tete...

...and even less so now that i've put together a list of cheap (<$10) stuff to do this summer. sent this to a few friends because somehow i feel as if i'm more accountable to follow through if i put these things in writing. we'll see how much i actually end up doing (will try to report back):

1. june 1-4 (next week on non-penguins game nights!) - bleacher seats mets-pirates game ($9), or another game later in the season
2. fri june 5 (or july 3 or aug 7) - unblurred - either game night at attack theater or just gallery hopping (free!)
   
3. june 5-14 - 3 rivers arts festival, lots of music (some of the acts that look cool: the black keys, the krunk movement, formula412, toubab krewe, meeting of important people - but i am open to anything) (free!)
   
4. water related (what kind of list would this be without some subtopics?):
   
• kayak pittsburgh daily until dusk ($20/hr/tandem)
  
• sat june 20 - venture outdoors intro to dragonboating ($10)
  
• swimming at the public pools!! ($3/day or i'm thinking of getting a family pass)
  
5. june 14 - mattress factory community garden party (free admission 12-5pm)
   
6. sat mornings - pick-up soccer, don't know exactly where but i'm trying to figure that out... also am curious to see if i remember how to play. :)
   
7. fri june 26 - WYEP summer music festival (free)
   
8. in the parks:
   
• july 1 - cinema in the park - "taken" OR july 15 "dark night" OR aug 12 "hulk" (free!)
  
• wednesdays 6:30 p.m. - walks in the woods
  
9. any tuesday @6pm - zhumba dance class at your inner vagabond ($5) or does anyone know of cheap hip hop classes?
   
10. and my last, albeit vague, idea: a bike ride somewhere, sometime. i don't have the "healthy dose of death wish" that i've been told is required to do serious city street riding but i'd be up for a journey where there are few to no cars and a destination appropriate for a picnic.

LEED CATastrophe

As part of my job I help my coworkers prepare for the LEED AP exam, and there's a big push right now because the exam format will be changing soon, so people are trying to pass before it's updated for LEED v3. One of them sent me a photo of how her kitten was thwarting her ability to study. As if the material weren't dry enough already...

unsettled

i hate it that just one bad dream can mess up my entire day... i wake up with this weird feeling that just sits there in my gut and won't move for a while.

franktuary fridays

i am trying to become a regular at the franktuary, a hot dog joint on the ground floor of trinity cathedral on oliver ave downtown (4 visits in so many weeks apparently isn't enough since the cashier still spells my name with a "k") and in order to facilitate this process my coworkers and i have instated Franktuary Fridays, which we've done for two weeks in a row. coincidentally franktuary was featured in the Post-Gazette this week (see Munch goes to Franktuary). i'm partial to the wurst combo with keilbasa (served on two buns) with a side of peirogies and today my drink was a tasty san pellegrino aranciata. the best, though, is the gummi hot dog which comes with the meal (see photo, left of fork).

be my valentine

people are finally starting to receive the valentines i mailed out last friday (here's randy with his!). this year's design was inspired by the unfamiliar and sometimes overwhelming emotions i've experienced in recent months, meeting amazing people, beginning to understand that pittsburgh could become more to me than a geographical location where i happen to live right now, rediscovering activities and passions that i had ignored for a while, trying new things i've always said i wanted to do... to the point where i just thought my heart might just explode at times (and still could!). for the most part i mean that in a good way, but there have also been moments when managing all of the love has been really difficult (sorry to those who've been subject to my outbursts!) and i've had to learn how to handle the tremendous ups and downs that accompany the intense feelings i've been having lately about the people and the world that surround me.
although we should all express our affection and appreciation to our friends and family all year round, i still think that vday is an awesome occasion to reflect on those who are important to me and to remind them of how their presence, near or far, touches my life in a meaningful way. happy (belated) valentine's day!

ten things i can't live without

at my office they've been selecting one employee a month to interview and post the ten things they can't live without so naturally i started to think of what i might say if they every picked me (pick me, choose me, love me!). here's what i came up with (in no particular order):

1. music: for some reason at some point i stopped listening to music as much as i used to, didn't by any cds or go to shows for over 2 years... but recently i discovered pandora and have re-awakened to all sorts of stuff i hadn't paid attention to in a while and began to hear amazing artists/songs i would never know how to find on my own. i feel like a part of me has been restored.
2. gmail: i'm on it all day long, it's my main means of communication and i just realized i could change the background so it reflects the weather outside, which is so cool.
3. my new yoga pants: i don't even *do* yoga and they're so comfortable that i want to wear them all the time.
4. dancing: as those who know me well are aware, i am never afraid to act the fool when i'm feeling the groove. i think dancing is sometimes better than therapy.
5. hugs and foot massages (okay that's two, but there's a reason they go together): having recently found a group of friends that is heavy on the touchy feely, it's amazing to realize how long i went without daily hugs (and how much that sucked!). plus it's certainly nothing to scoff at when one of said friends is a trained massage therapist and generous with those skills.
6. cheese: i had cheese for dinner last night... morbier, manchego, buche de chevre, gouda, you name it i love it... with bread, with jam, all alone with a little glass of red wine... i'm getting hungry just thinking about it!
7. public radio: my current pittsburgh stations are WDUQ and WYEP depending on whether i want an npr heavy broadcast or the morning traffic jam.
8. public transit: i've been lazy lately, driving to work more than i should for obvious reasons but also because i just *love* the bus... love reading, snoozing, people watching, or just zoning out to transition from home to work or vice versa. not to mention the great bus ride i had recently with friends heading to the southside to watch the super bowl!
9. my new roommate: she was the catalyst for some major healing i've done over the past few months, and i am extremely grateful for her presence in my life.
10. faraway friends and family: even though i've had trouble communicating a lot of what's going on with me lately to people who are not in pittsburgh, i miss them a lot and appreciate their support and interest. i also don't see my utterly adorable nephews nearly enough.

note: i reserve the right to add to this list... but right now i'm tired.