PERSONAL NEWS #208

Tuesday, May 1^st, I had an appt with my foot doctor, and then afterwards I headed up to Union Square to participate in the awesome MayDay Occupy rally and march.  When I got home I listened in on the monthly Peace Alliance conference call at 9pm.

Thursday, May 3^rd, I participated with other BFP members at a great event yesterday evening at the Brooklyn Brewery on North 11th Street in Williamsburg. This event was hosted by "Brooklyn for Peace" [BFP] and United Community Centers [UCC], and was titled "Brooklyn Spring Blast for Peace & Justice". Being a proud member of BFP, I assisted at this event / fundraiser. Free food and music was on hand after paying for event fee, plus one received a free beer. Everyone had a great time, and Mukti gave a delightful Indian cooking demo. There was also a raffle for several terrific prices. A good time was had by all. J

Friday, May 4^th, after getting therapy for my back at the chiropractor, I headed down to Atlantic Avenue to see the screening of a really good documentary [ie: Coffee Strong] at The Common in Brooklyn. Heard about it via BFP and glad I went. If you are a veteran or know a veteran, please, share this film with them. Vets helping vets!  Also, check out http://groundsforresistance.com/ for more info.

Saturday, May 5^th, I attended an evening performance of “Tragedy of Macbeth” at the Holy Trinity Church in Inwood.  My friend TJ Glenn was the director, and fight coordinator, of this entertaining production.  The only down side was the sky was too overcast in the evening, and missed out on seeing the Super Moon.

Sunday, May 6^th, I participated in a Hatha yoga class in the morning and in the afternoon had an acupuncture appt with Dr Tan.  The annual Five Boro Bike Tour was ambling along through my hood, which made for a colorful sight.  That evening I joined some friends to celebrate Thom Kulsea’s birthday at O’Lunneys on West 45^th Street.  A good time was had by all  J

Tuesday, May 8^th, I had an appt with my lung specialist, and all seems stable.  I don’t have to see him again until mid-July.

Thursday, May 10^th, I attended and participated in a “follow up” meeting to the 2012 PF with other PF committee members.

Friday, May 11^th, around 2pm the BFP A&C committee had a follow-up conference call regarding the annual Peace Fair.  Then, after work, I headed down to Union Square farmers market to start another season of volunteering with City Harvest.

Saturday, May 12^th, I attended the 2^nd Annual Brooklyn Food Conference in the neighborhood of Fort Greene.

Sunday, May 13^th, I joined CodePink, Granny Peace Brigade, BFP and others in the 6^th Annual Mother’s Day Peace Stroll.

On Wednesday, May 16^th, so far this week at work, I’ve been assisting with the City Harvest “Skip Lunch Fight Hunger” campaign, plus volunteered at the E&Y town hall session at the Marriott Marquis.

Early Friday evening, May 18^th, I did volunteer work with City Harvest at Union Square farmers market.  Afterwards, I stopped by an OWS table in Union Square to chat about latest developments.

Sunday afternoon, May 20^th, I stopped by the Halloween shop to see Wendy and we started work on the pattern for the first HP theme costume/outfit.  In the morning I participated in the Hatha yoga class in my neighborhood.

Tuesday evening, May 22^nd, I attended and participated in an “in person” BFP A&C committee meeting held at Wild Ginger restaurant in Cobble Hill.  It was very productive and much to do on our agenda.

Friday, May 25^th, we had the day off from work as part of the Memorial Day weekend.  I had an appt with Dr Tan for acupuncture treatment, and this is the first time in about 3 weeks.  I was doing pretty well and then the allergies came back this past Monday.  Afterwards, I did abit of shopping at Pearl Paint for watercolor items and then back home to attend to errands.  At 6pm I volunteered with City Harvest at Union Square farmers market.

Saturday through Tuesday, May 26^th / 29^th, I headed upstate NY to visit with the parents for a nice, relaxing holiday weekend and car rental from Enterprise.  It started off with bus leaving 30-minutes late from NYC, abit of weekend traffic, and getting to Albany at 11:35am.  I couldn’t get a hold of Enterprise, so when I got off the bus I walked to the car rental location.  Another chap was there waiting to drop off his car rental and location appeared closed.  WTF?!?  Sign said they’d be back around 12pm.  I called the 800 number and their reps were of no help.  I called my parents and vented abit, plus called Steve’s Taxi.  Then Ryan from Enterprise came up to the door and finally got things resolved.  Whew!  He upgraded me to a nice Mitsubishi Endeavor, but at the cost of a smaller car, plus another discount.  Sweet!  Rest of the weekend with the vehicle went very well, though it is abit of a gas guzzler.

Then I find out that the new laptop I have from work won’t cooperate in modem mode at my parent’s home.  Meaning no internet!  WTF?!?  So Sunday and Monday evening, along with Monday morning at the Memorial Day parade, I was able to hook up to free WiFi in downtown area were my parents live.  This meant I was able to deal with emails, FB, and 365 Project.  Rest of the holiday weekend was spent relaxing, noshing, shopping, cable tv, hair salon, photo ops, drive to Hildene in VT, Memorial Day parade, painting, assisting around the homestead, etc.  Weather the whole time was warm [ie: 80 to 85 degrees] and humid, with no rain in sight, plus there was pollen everywhere.  OMG, my allergies and asthma were not happy about all that.  Overall it was a good weekend.