A weekend to celebrate the new job

We decided that when Noah got a job, we'd take a mini-vacation to celebrate. And we are celebrating... on the Russian River... in a cabin called Blackberry Bliss.

We spent the morning eating breakfast on the patio and being divebombed by hummingbirds.





Then we went down to the river, which is right behind the cabin. Tag REALLY enjoyed this.













Then we went to the beach to wear the pup out.







After that we were pretty pooped, so we came back and took a nap. When we woke up we decided to take a walk down to the bridge.







Tonight we'll probably relax in the hot tub and drink some wine... a perfect way to relax before heading back into the mayhem of preparing to move at the end of the month.

One last thing... we got a new car this weekend! Ruby* wasn't going to make the journey across country again. So we got a 2009 Subaru Outback with plenty of room for Tag and any brothers or sisters he might acquire in the future. Her name has yet to be decided, but here she is!



*Note: for anyone who doesn't know, Ruby is my 1991 Acura Integra... she has 250,000 miles on her and has served me well for the past 8 years. Now she's going to go back to her previous owner, Good Friend Dan, who will lovingly care for her until the end of her days.

Change is in the air

Some of you are going to like this post... some of you are not... and there's no amount of explaining that will change that... but I will explain anyway for the rest of you... so here it goes...

We're moving! Again. To the Northeast! I can't even believe I just typed that phrase! Yeah. Noah has been done with his credits to graduate since last quarter. He should walk in June. Instead, we're moving!!!

We found out in March that Noah did not get into grad school. Thus endeth the path toward sustainable ag. Any jobs Noah wanted in that field required at least a master's degree. After some discussion back in December we had decided that if it didn't work out for grad school he would look for jobs in his former career again, and he seems to be glad of the chance to go back to something that he excels at anyhow.

He's been job searching for the past few weeks while taking some easy classes. And these two fantastic companies have cropped up to fight over him! They're both East coast... one in Manhattan, NY, the other in Westport, CT. We were a little surprised at these 2 prospects at first, but now we're excited! Needless to say, there are quite a few details that need to be ironed out over the next few weeks and we will be flurrying and scurrying to get our act together and all our ducks (not to mention cats and dog) in a row.

I'm sad to leave here, sure. Our time in Davis/Woodland has been full of pursuing passions that, had we stayed in LA, we would never have had the chance to pursue. And I've made some good friends here that will be sorely missed.

That said, I'm so happy for Noah to have this opportunity before him. He's amazing and such a hard working, supportive husband... it's nice for him to get some external encouragement like this!

I'm looking forward to the idea of being able to do something I like for a while, too, now... and not have to be so focused on being the breadwinner. Having not figured out my own personal path yet, it has been a stressful few years of working at a job I despise (albeit with people I enjoy and appreciated). I'm looking forward to trying out my skills elsewhere and seeing what I can make of them.

Our departure date is not finalized as of this time, but I will keep this blog updated as we go through the process of moving... again :)

Music soothes the savage beast...

I love this song... for reals... Regina Spektor rocks my socks off!

Consumerism/Fundamentalism/Idealism

This is an excerpt from my journal for the class I'm taking on Globalization and Gender... food for thought... not so eloquently executed... but it's a budding idea :)

During lecture on Tuesday, the professor mentioned Hezbollah and the reason it was so hard to extricate that organization from the communities it inhabits being that it provides much needed services to those communities, in effect taking the place of an impotent or weak government. Having read the article from Mother Jones on gold trade in the Congo, an unsettling thought occurred to me… If an organization like Hezbollah, albeit with ideals based on fundamental Islam, can command such loyalty from the community based on its willingness to provide basic needs for the people, why couldn’t… why DOESN’T a corporation such as Anglogold Ashanti attempt to cultivate the same kind of loyalty? And what would the ramifications of successfully doing so be?

If you think about it, the cost of providing those desperately needed goods and services is minimal in a country like DRC… say they set up a school that taught the kind of ideals/information that AA wanted to put forward. They could take over the world! I know it’s a bit of a stretch to think of consumerism and fundamentalism or idealism on the same plane like this, but it already works in the US. A current example would be the coal mines in West Virginia. Even with their horrible track record for safety and the fact that coal energy is grossly polluting the environment, people in the communities where the mining companies operate fiercely defend those companies… because without them, their communities would have no resources at all. They’ve convinced the communities that their lives depend on the protection of the mining companies’ rights to conduct business there, extract resources for a profit from there.

Character names

I'm trying to decide on a name for a character in a piece of fiction I have been working on... and I've come up with a few choices that are bearable... it's hard, because I've been calling her something else for so long that everything else seems wrong.

So here are the choices. If you read this, can you help me decide? I put her current name in as well... if you know what it is, maybe try to pick something else? If you don't know what it is and that's the name that get's the most attention, perhaps it's meant to be.

Muiel
Cadwyn
Lilith
Meridith
Morgaine
Wynnifred

And, I'm sorry... I'd give you more details on the character, except that I'm already horrible about following up on this project and the pressure would become intolerable :) I swear I will finish it and at that time, you'll understand more.

Tag in the snow

Here's the cutest dog in the world experiencing snow for the first time. :)



Isn't he so cute?

Bad book reviews

No time for a long post today, but in lieu of that, I thought I'd leave you with this little gem of an article from Salon.com

All I have to say is... "COME ON, people!"