SwimFinsSF

Katrina aftermath

Watching the news this week has been absolutely surreal. We spent last weekend in Houston and flew out as people were coming into Houston to get out of the hurricane’s path but I had NO CONCEPT of what was to come. There were no real signs in Houston that anything major was going on as I flew out and I guess I kind of assumed that people were just gonna hang out in town for a bit so they didn’t get wet and in case windows blew out or water came in. Now watching what actually is going on there is breaking my heart and has me really embarrassed for trivializing the potential damage in my mind. I had no concept of just how powerful a storm a Class 4 hurricane is or how vulnerable New Orleans and the surrounding parts of Mississippi and Alabama were. I know what a magnitude 7 earthquake is vs a Magnitude 6 but I have no frame of reference for hurricanes..

This is another one of those surreal events where I feel kind of at a loss as to what to do to help.. I heard of people hanging out on a dock on the coast of Louisiana waiting for a ferry to take them to shelter and the ferry sitting idle because there was no captain for the boat – but I can’t drive a ship. There are people without power and water in their houses – but I can’t fix power-plants or pumps. There are people without access to phones to tell their loved ones they’re alive – but I can’t fix downed cell towers or phone lines.. And there are people without food, water, and basic needs.. But that I can help out with and did and it was as easy as going to the iTunes music store and clicking donate – and 100% goes to the Red Cross…

As always the american red cross is accepting donations to help and thats at least a little something that I hope can help.. not much but something – and working with the red cross in the past I know for a fact that it has a very real impact and will help people… So if anyone else wants to help, and I really hope you do, you can donate on the American Red Cross web site or even via iTunes… and for those of you who would like to give to someone other than the red cross here is a partial list of other Relief Organizations and services that you can choose from.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone down there and wish I could do more to help…

A wedding in Texas

I’m sitting here in a hotel room relaxin in Houston and wondering if that crazy hurricane heading toward Houston is gonna mess with my flights home tomorrow… Kevin and I spent the weekend in Houston staying at the Houstonian for my cousin Carrie’s wedding.. The wedding was SO nice and we had a great time hanging out with my family.. Friday night we showed up in time for the rehearsal dinner which was really nice and a lot of fun. Met the groom in person for the first time and had great food.. After that Kevin, My sister Katie, her boyfriend Nick, and my cousin Paul all went out for drinks.. Next day we spent the day hanging out, going to the gym, swimming, and chilling… That evening was the wedding… SO NICE… Outside in Houston ( which was a little warm! 😉 ) followed by a nice meal at the Houstonian.. my kind of wedding..

Anyway … Pictures are here.. just wanted to share… Happy sunday…

Congrats to Jay and Craig

Quick congratulations on the birth of Avery Grant-Zodikoff – the daughter of our friends Jay and Craig… MAN – I have more friends with babies these days than I can even count.. I swear my mom is gonna SMACK me if I don’t join in on the fun..

Congrats guys… She is SO CUTE! 🙂

My FAVORITE Birthday Girl

My favorite little girl in the whole wide world turned 1 year old this weekend… Matt and Brian had a birthday party for Audrey today and I got to go… They cooked an AMAZING spread and a whole bunch of folks showed up to celebrate… My mom even came out to join us along with her brand new little yellow lab puppy.. Pictures are here… :):)

Novocain

MAN I hate Novocain… Just got back from the dentist and they numbed the whole top of my mouth. Now I feel like I got boxed in the face so I’m hiding in my office waiting for it to wear off

Shoot me now

Another Crazy weekend

Had a FANTASTIC weekend this weekend though I gotta say it made for a miserable work day yesterday.. I did go to work though – I”ve got this really bizzare personal standard of mine that I won’t call in sick because of things I did to myself. Instead I just kinda suck it up and deal – and yesterday I was just super tired..

Anyway.. Friday night I went for beers at the Pilsner with Jason and Kevin and then Brian came to get me and the two of us went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which was pretty good though I think I liked the plot of the original one much better – made more sense).

Saturday during the day was spent being pretty damn lazy.. hung around the house. Got my hair cut. Recovered the data from the hard drive on my powerbook that died.. That kind of thing… Saturday night we went with Matt and Brian to the San Francisco HRC dinner which was FANTASTIC. Kamala Harris gave an excellent speech at a moments notice, Alan Cumming one an award and gave a fantastic speech, William H. Macy gave Felicity Huffman an award for her work in Transamerica (which looks to be a VERY good movie coming out this year), and to top it off we got some good loot at the silent auction. I ALWAYS walk away from those things feeling inspired and wanting to get more involved – the HRC is a great organization and I highly recommend checking them out and giving them your support..

Then Sunday was Dore Alley Street Fair. There is something about that fair that I just love and this year was no different. Kevin, Matt, Jason, and I spent the day out the sun drinking beers and people watching. Even if you’re not into t hat whole scene I still recommend checking it out. Its definitely a little much but the people watching is fun, the people are really cool, and the weather is almost always amazing. We started off with brunch and then went to the Pilsner to shoot a round of pool while we waited for Jamie and some of his friends. We then hit the fair for a few hours (ok – like 4 or 5 hours) and then we went to the SF Eagle for sunday beer bust. By that point I’d had a few beers to many and Kevin and I went back and ate greasy Chinese food (which we’re both STILL regretting) and passed out…

I’ve posted the pictures from from dore. The pix aren’t of anything bad but not really good for work day browsing either – its my personal site after all.. why censor! 🙂

All in all a great weekend – very San Francisco weekend

Now back t o work… Later folks! 🙂