My new hybrid!

Driving down to town today I averaged 80 miles per gallon!! (Ok, it dropped to 46 mpg on the uphill way home, but still....)


With gas prices the way they are, I stand to save OVER $1500 in gas between now and the end of the year!!

Spring sprang, then winter sprung back

So April came in like a lamb, with warm temps in the end of March enough to have our crocuses in full bloom. Spring had sprung and we collected four five-gallon buckets full of winter dog poopies from the yard, which had completely melted through. The nicer part of spring is pictured above. These are what's currently under 2 feet of snow in our front embankment!

That's right...winter sprung back and in the past week we've gotten over two feet of snow and are back skiing in the woods and getting face shots of powder! Who would have thunk! Just goes to show you that global warming just has everything about mother nature's biological clock all screwed up! Whatever the reason, I LIKE IT!

What's out your window?

Out my window, all I see is white. Right now, the snow is over three feet high and covers the entire first pane of our first floor apartment windows! I particularly like this first shot, where you can see what the weatherman is showing us on the radar -- nothing but pow-pow-pow!

If the drifts get much higher, I may start getting claustrophobic. And windy it will be -- supposed to get gusts up to 40-50 mph tonigth and tomorrow!

A gift from Uller

Three feet and counting!

Today it's over Lucy's head deep with snow...

What can I say??? Thank you Uller for the snow we needed and so rightfully deserve...



Powder today -- deep, fun, and did I say deep???

The Smelt Story

Date: Sun., Oct. 27, 1996
From: John T. Halley
--------------------------

yes, its true, i was abandoned shortly after birth by my natural parents (an opera singing iron worker from detroit and a chronic cakebaker/pinball junkie he shacked up with for a while) when they were on holiday in antarctica. they threw me overboard from their cruise ship because they thought babies were weird. luckily for me, i landed on an iceburg and was soon taken in by a pair of penguins who, sadly, were unable to have children of their own. they loved me as one of their own for three weeks, but soon realised that they hated me and shipped me off to canadato a family of smelts that owed them a favor. while the smelts found me to be an inadequate example of a life form, the feelings of guilt they experienced due to their debt to the penguins compelled them to put up with me for almost six years. during this time I learned the subtle complexities of smelt society, learned to urinate, and even memorized the intricate dorsal fin-sniffing ritual of the sacred hen-teasing day festival. at teh tender age of 6, my smelt family told me that my destiny was to go and live among the bipedal halley clan, pass myself off as one of them, and grow to manhood so that I could learn the ways of man and how to scratch my bottom in mixed company without giving offense. this i have done, yet one day i shall return to my smelt brothers and lead the great smelty rebellion against humanity. i just wanted you to know the truth about me once and for all.
signed,
Oceanus smeltus uber alles
(john incubator halley)

New Years Day thoughts

So today starts another year. If I was the kind of person who made resolutions, there'd be a few to make -- write more, complain less, get in shape, create quiet space to appreciate life every day. But I shouldn't need a special occassion to make a commitment to myself, to try and improve on myself. That's something we should do whenever we need to. That being said, I am going to try to focus on some of the above items more than I have been lately.

Write more
... well, I'm writing right now.

Complain less
... I haven't said a thing about the crap-ass rain outside.

Get in shape
... despite the rain I've already taken the dogs on three walks today. I just couldn't bear going to the mountain to work out in freezing rain.

Create quiet space and appreciate life
... on a gray, dismal day, what else can you do? I appreciate the bond I have with my pups, the fact that I live in a place that can be beautiful even when it rains in January, and that my Chargers are headed to teh playoffs.

So there, some progress already!

Just updated the blog so as to add in the tags for posts. I like this feature. Will be interesting to see the categories in my life that emerge.

Rediscovery

SO, finally I am getting to where I can start writing more about what I had originally intended with this blog. When I first started, it wasn't actually my intention to post generic life updates and photos, so much as it was to post something of an online journal along the lines of the kind of journaling that used to be so central to my life.

Well, I recently rediscovered many of those old journals. See, for the past five years -- since I've been in my house -- my books and journals and many of my personal space things have been tucked away in storage (my actual apartment in the house is rather small and we just didn't have space for it all). So, alas, in the shed, my milkcrates full of books became mouse tenaments, and my journals sat collecting dust in big rubbermaid tubs. But with the completion of our garage, and my office space in the upstairs, I have finally been able to unpack the annals of my life onto homemade bookshelves in a creative space that I call my own.

It was something of a reflective process -- unpacking, cleaning up and organizing books and journals and files going back to grammar school. How thankful I am that my family has helped to save so much stuff from my past! After finally getting things taken out and put away, I was able to sit back and take it all in -- the books and tapes and titles that tell of times from my past. The many books that show just how deeply into certain things I dove. And the journals... To be able to read and reconnect with my own memories so vividly!

I spent the past week rereading my journals from when I studied abroad in Russia in 1991. I cannot express just how awesome it is that I was so faithful to journaling back then so as to capture the experiences the way I did. These were truly life-changing experiences, a witness to history. And I was smart enough to write it down, describe the sights and sounds and smells and fears and emotions and joys of experencing something so foreign from what I knew. There is so much richness and raw truth in those words that I need to make them more accessible. They need to find their way into print for others to share.

So now that I have a space, my history before me, I embark on a journey to relive, rethink and redefine myself. Maybe this is a midlife crisis? Even if I am too young for that, this is a moment of reconnecting with myself. A transition point. A chance to recommit to being who I want to be, who I think I am. What I might become.

A few good quotes for today

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

"Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you."
Richard Bach

"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they are yours."
Richard Bach

"Here's to the future! The only limits are the limits of our imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in, dream out loud, at high volume."
Bono 1/1/90

Media, politics and the search for truth

Taking an evening to do some reflecting on the world around me tonight. Seems as though when you work for a non-profit, it's hard to find time to step back and reflect on the world in which you are engaged on a daily basis. There is an emotional trade-off for having a job you feel good about at the end of the day -- you are totally emotionally and mentally drained. So the last thing you have the energy to do is to come home and write about how the world is going wrong.

I miss doing that. Seems as though when you are in high school and college (at least for me) you had hours each day to sit in your room, listen to rebel rock, and talk with friends about how the world would be better if they listened to what you had to say. I don't seem to have that time anymore. When I do squirrel away a few moments to reflect, though, my perspective is pretty harsh.


I have a few sources that I count on to help de-spin the news. It really does take a lot of effort to find REAL news anymore. What I find more interesting is the real news about how fake so much of our news really is. The PR machine and spin factories that create news products for us to consume...it's quite a business. A reliable source I'd recommend to keep you in check is the Center for Media and Democracy, who puts out PR watch and SourceWatch. You've got to respect a source that accepts NO GOVERNMENT or CORPORATE money. How rare is that?!?

Speaking of taking money from the government, this administration has pushed me to my limits. Having worked for a small international non-profit that has historically been 99% funded by the US Department of State, I have had to straddle the divide between what the government has wanted to fund and the real needs of communities where we work. That was my job -- spin the real need so it sounds like the public diplomacy work priorities. In many cases, we've had great partners in overseas embassies who were closer to the source who "got it" and gave us more room than DC would have to innovate and be responsive in our programming. But with this administration, there has been a marked change. Never have I felt the pressure to be the mouthpiece of the administration pushing policy, rather than a representative of the American people doing good and helping others. I didn't get into this field to spew rhetoric and coopt potential enemies. And for that matter, Congress is no better. They just want to know about the numbers -- make it quantitative and look good on paper so they can have something to show.

Somewhere between the Berlin wall coming down and 9/11, US public diplomacy lost its way. I need to get back into the non-government-funded realm of real assistance and real activism. More time doing what I do for Amnesty International and other groups whose moral compass hasn't gone totally askew.

Thinking and living winter

So it's time to start thinking and living winter! No better way to get psyched up for it than to look back at the first run of the best day of our heliskiing adventure in Alaska last April. That's Seth there ripping the line.

So my body is really not ready for the mountain yet. After the first 3 day sor so snowboarding, I've had thigh burn like I've never had before. I guess pushing 34, maybe I'm getting old? Nah, I just work too much behind a desk when I really should be outside living life.

Even the dogs haven't been doing their job of nagging me to exercise with them. This morning when we let them out, they immediately wanted to come back inside and hop in bed. You can't blame them -- it was MINUS 9 DEGREES! You gotta love high pressure systems. At least we'll be able to see the stars well from the hot tub tonight. But if you ask me, I'd rather we get a dumping of snow. That's supposed to come Friday...just in time for John and I to be getting in a car and heading down to Jersey for our pre-Xmas visit. As Seth said, whenever I leave, it snows!

Actual Vermont snow pix soon to come.

Life Post-Vertigo

Well, after four shows in spring and seven this fall, my time touring with U2 on the Vertigo Tour has come to a close. Back-to-back nights general admission inside the ellipse dead center just off the rail wrapped it up for me. My body couldn't take another show, even if I could afford one (which I can't!). Two evenings sleeping outside on line in bitter December cold was enough for me. Yes, many of you think I'm crazy, but I'm not the only (didn't Lennon sign about that?). Anyway, the last two shows were great -- for me, they didn't top the second fall Philly show or the last MSG show, but they were good, and well worth it. Thanks to the lady with the voucher who helped me scan into the ellipse on the first night, to Jen for the fun from Philly to NYC to Boston, and the girls who swapped out stubs so we were ellipse the last night as well. Most of all, thanks to the boys for the music that moves me.

The real question is, now, what to do with all the free time now that I won't be driving many hours to the next show every few weeks?!? Well, time to catch up on home life. My husband and dogs have been so patient and tolerant of my U2 habit. It's fair time I give them some attention they well deserve. Plus, it's winter... there's snow out there and powder turns to be made!

Dreaming out loud

Well, here I go. It's been months -- ok, years -- since I last updated my website or posted something new. I just can't keep up with that. But I have been inspired by the whole blog movement as of late. It's a constellation of small fires of people observing and reflecting, communicating and finding voice. This is something I value and appreciate. And so follows the 20+ years I have dedicated to human rights work...

Dreaming out loud... it's a concept from U2 (no surprise for anyone who knows me, as they have defined so much of the direction of my life with their music). ...

"Here's to the future! The only limits are the limits of our imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in, dream out loud, at high volume." -- Bono 1/1/90

I'm wrapping up a few months filled with U2 concerts. One tour, two legs, 11 shows, MANY memories. If you haven't seen them, SEE THEM. It's more than a concert. It is a spiritual experience. A chance to connect with yourself, with others, with who you want to be and what the world can be.

And so I begin to recommit to my writing, and publishing, for all those who care to reflect on the world, for those who are struggling to not give in to cynicism, who dare to dream out loud...