My only picture from the Allentown Art Festival

Someone stole my driving school.

Gulf of Mexico oil spill ...onto the politics

Here's the link. It's not about ducks. Watch the video and skim the article like I did.

BP now claims the siphon is capturing as much oil as they first claimed was gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. This oil threatens millions of families and their livelihoods with health complications, economic repercussions and our fragile world for years to come. BP is a London-based company. Don't get me wrong, I love a global world. I think we learn so much when we respect each other's differences. We grow. We innovate. We live healthily. However, I take an isolationist stance when it comes to the response to this catastrophe.

America now has the chance to stand up and say - we can do better. American companies should take this opportunity to rise up and dedicate themselves to respecting the communities in which they operate. The same communities provide their profits. As a message to the world, we should expect any company operating within the United States to value those markets, their valued customers and their homes. It should be a "cost" of doing business. It feels capitalist to me.

Yes, we are addicted to oil right now. I think we are starting to realize we need to find better ways to get our energy. BP won't even estimate an amount of oil flooding into our home. Independent experts (in the field of evaluating the amount of fluid flooding through a broken pipe) lowball the estimate at 84,000 GALLONS each day. BP is an expert in profiting from oil sales, lobbying your elected officials, paying public relations departments and marketing themselves.

No more. America can do better.

(climbing off my soapbox)

The fortune cookie is never wrong

My very first set of curtains ever

So it's just a link but I blog for work too. The pic is in my kitchen. I had the fabric for about 8 months before I actually broke down and learned to use the sewing machine. And how to attach grommets. Here's the link

A very tasty Tuesday, April 20

It's (finally) warming up in Buffalo.  That means grill time at my good friends' house.  Julie, Chris and Christine treated me to the feast you see above.  They made steak, chicken, potatoes, couscous with mushroom gravy, asparagus and broccoli rabe.  That's Sriracha hot sauce on the veggies.  I feel like I missed something but I ran out of room on my plate.  Yes, it was as delicious as it looks.  And yes, my friends are awesome.  Happy 20th day of April!

Apparently it's inevitable...

...change, that is.  Change is the theme of my very hectic worklife these days.  I have been privy (my very first use of the word, thank you very much.  i had to google it.  i would have thought 2 v's but i digress...) to big news at work for months now.  It's an ownership change, and the news will be broken on Saturday.  Rumors have been flying amongst coworkers, and I have been keeping my mouth shut... At least for the most part.  At the same time, I have been working on materials for the launch of the new company.  It has been a stressful situation.

I have been thinking a lot about change management.  Before the last 2 months, I laughed at the concept of the management of change.  With this latest experience, I am picking up what they're throwing down.  I am amazed at the absolutely ridiculous things coworkers will talk about to one another, which seem to be real concerns.  At the same time, no one will bring up their concerns to any person who is in a place to address them.  Anywho - no great life-altering realizations here.  Just that people say they embrace change and want it (hello - look at Obama's campaign strategy).  Deep down, it scares the hell out of everyone.

I borrowed the chart from http://changingminds.org/index.htm.

My first post and its a quickie

Hey look at me posting to the blog.  I hope to make this a rather regular thing but I'm no good with regularity.  A couple of noteworthy things about me:  (1) sometimes I use capital letters; sometimes i don't.  (2) I can get a little political.  If you don't want to read my thoughts or disagree with those thoughts, leave a comment or go away - You don't have to be here.  (3) I can be harsh.  See #2.  (4) Onto the good stuff...

I went to Buffalo's Botanical Gardens, which are/is in the picturesque town of Lackawanna.  Last Sunday was my first trip there since moving here nearly 5 years ago.  I kept saying to Micah how I need to take frequent trips there during the long winters.  The gardens are amazing - truly one of Buffalo's better kept secrets.

(I'm having trouble figuring out to how to put pictures where I want them so here they are randomly...)

Heres a picture of Micah taking a picture.  As you can see, I'm very clever.

Beware the Gigantor Koi

Rain forest exhibit

Yep, a pig!

Ho Tai, the laughing Buddha