Summer.

OMG. It's almost November. Yet I've been so busy the last two months, and the weather has been so crazy, it kind of feels like summer is just over. So I got to thinking about what I did this summer.

I don't consider summer as starting until June 8th - when I could ditch my boot; once my foot got better. The Club Red Wine Social on June 9th was fun - especially since I was wearing two normal shoes. I sent pictures to Cincinnati Magazine and one of them ended up on the (15 Minutes) page.

June 20 - Family Feud on Fountain Square. What a great idea! I had a great time even though we didn't win.

June 21 - the first of several wine and chocolate tastings at Marble Hill. Oh yum!

July 14 - THE POLICE! Kathy and I got to see The Police. I WON tickets so it was especially good. It was also the first time I had ever been to Churchhill Downs, and not a horse in sight.
July 21 - The CincyUpdate team won Give Back's Amazing Race.

August 2 - Wild About Wine at the Zoo. A picture of me holding a python in Sophisticated Living magazine. I had never heard of Sophisticated Living magazine. Apparently, wearing a python around your neck at the Children's Petting Zoo while drinking wine from a plastic cup qualifies as sophisticated.
August 11 - Beth and I won the Mini Cooper Road Rally. Also in August, I played in my first ever golf scramble. It was the first time I had ever played golf. Good thing my team was not focused on winning. I then took some golf classes through Communiversity so next year I should be a little better.

September 6 - At Bold Fusion, Thane Maynard let me hold a (small) alligator!

September 22- Oktoberfest.

Last weekend in September - MidPoint Music Festival and the Downtown Tour of Living.

October so far - Reggae Run, Zoo Brews, quick trip to Ottawa, and the World Music Fest at Southgate House.
This is just the things that stand out. There were countless meetings, happy hours, plays, parties, dinners and other events too.

WHAT A GREAT WAY TO PROTEST.

http://www.pantiesforpeace.info/send-your-panties/

From The Irrawaddy (News about Southeast Asia and Burma)
“Panties for Peace” Campaign Wins Wide SupportBy Violet Cho October 18, 2007

The “Panties for Peace” campaign aimed at Burma’s military regime is gaining momentum, with the establishment of a committee to drum up support in Thailand.
The campaign began on October 16, with women throughout the world sending packages to Burmese embassies containing panties. Burma’s superstitious generals, particularly junta chief Than Shwe, believe that contact with any item of women’s wear deprives them of their power.
“Panties for Peace” campaigns have sprung up in Australia, Europe, Singapore—and now Thailand, where a Lanna Action for Burma committee has been formed in Chiang Mai to support the feminine protest.
Ying Tzarm, a co-founder of Lanna Action for Burma, told The Irrawaddy that the campaign was aimed at undermining the superstitious beliefs of the military regime.
Liz Hilton, a supporter of the Lanna Action for Burma and a member of the Empower foundation, said that by sending underwear to the men of Burma’s overseas embassies women would be delivering a strong message to the regime.
“The SPDC is famous for its abuse of women, so this can be a very strong signal from women around the world supporting the women in Burma,” she said.
“Many feel there’s little we can do. It is like living next to domestic violence when we see the military government brutal crack down in Burma. We can hear that fighting in the next-door house or in the same village. We have tried to talk, we have tried to do many things. But we need to express our feelings.”
In another unusual popular protest action, people in Rangoon are hanging pictures of Than Shwe around the necks of stray dogs. It’s a very serious insult in Burma to associate anybody with a dog.
Graffiti anti-regime messages are also appearing on trains and buses in Rangoon. “Killer Than Shwe” is a popular slogan.
“The people of Burma are doing what they can inside [the country],” said Liz Hilton. “We should do whatever we can outside. Most of us are not politicians, we are not powerful people. But women do have the power of their panties—let’s use that.”
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=9048

WORLD MUSIC FEST

Were you there? The Southgate House was packed last night for the first annual (we hope) World Music Festival. World music was playing continuously with three different stages all night long. I got there a little late and missed Mohenjo Daro :( But I arrived during Baoku & The Image's Afro Beat show in the ballroom. I found Clara Matonhodze and her friend Simba, who are both from Zimbabwe enjoying the Afro Beat. After their set, I made my way up to the Parlour and ran into Gina Elliot listening to Made In Brasil. Gina was also escaping from all the Halloween parties this year. I agreed being transported to Rio and channelling Carmen Miranda was a much better way to spend the night than pushing through a crowded beer-soaked Halloween bash.
Back down into the Ballroom for West African Drum & Dance with Sogbety Diomande. I wish I had brought my camera! The drummers were excellent and the dancers encouraged audience participation. Clara dragged me onto the dance floor to learn some West African dance moves. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.
When Sogbety Diomande ended, we went up to the Lounge where the Reggae band Selecter was jammin. These guys are great! And, according to Clara and Simba, I have the moves! The lead singer of Selecter is an average-looking white guy who you would expect to find cheering at the Bengals game on Sunday. If you met him on the street, you would never guess that he could belt out the Reggae songs like Bob Marley. Crazy!
I looked out the front window at Newport on the Levee right across the street and considered the contrast between the Fest at the Southgate House and the pre-packaged, corporate entertainment available at the Levee. Don't get me wrong, corporate entertainment is fine from time to time, but I would bet most people at the Levee that night probably have no clue what happens at the Southgate House. I'm sure a lot of my friends don't. Most of them would never think of missing the Keimland Halloween party to go to a music festival.
One of the many wonderful things about last night was the diversity of the crowd. There were truly people of all ages and nationalities, and why not? There was such a diversity of music, you were bound to find something to like.
Back to the Ballroom to end the night with Salsa Caliente who, of course, did not disappoint. It's hard to sit still when that Salsa music is all around you.

Since you probably missed the World Music Fest, you can get a little taste of it at Stanley's Pub on Wednesdays when Selecter plays their Reggae music. See you there!

LUSH...
is scheduled to open in the Macy's at Kenwood Towne Center on NOVEMBER 2!!

Someone left a comment on my last post. It had nothing to do with the post. It was spam. A spam comment! What the heck?

IMMIGRATION

The WorldView radio show that aired tonight featured a very interesting panel discussion on immigration. In particular, the immigration of science and computer professionals, both as students and as workers. Why can't America fill its own needs in these areas? Is it a sign of weakness? You will be able to listen to the program at the WorldView archives at www.globalcincinnati.org.

The show reminded me of an interview with Philippe Legrain I recently read on the Freakanomics blog. Some parts that I found interesting (emphasis added):

A Rand study of recent immigrants to the U.S. finds that the typical immigrant ends up $20,000 per year better off. And it’s not just the migrants themselves who gain — it’s their countries of origin, too. Already, migrants born in poor countries and working in rich ones send home much more — some $200 billion a year officially, perhaps another $400 billion informally — than the miserly $100 billion that Western governments give in aid. These remittances are not wasted on weapons or siphoned off into Swiss bank accounts; they go straight into the pockets of local people. They pay for food, clean water, and medicines. They enable children to stay in school, fund small businesses, and benefit the local economy. What’s more, when migrants return home, they bring with them new skills, new ideas, and the money to start new businesses that can provide a huge boost to the local economy. For example, Africa’s first Internet cafés were started by migrants returning from Europe.

Some immigrants bring exceptional skills that American companies need if they are to compete in a global marketplace. Also, immigrants’ collective diversity and dynamism helps spur innovation and economic growth, because if people who think differently bounce ideas off each other, they can solve problems better and faster. Just look at Silicon Valley: Intel, Yahoo, Google, eBay, and others were all co-founded by immigrants who arrived in the U.S. not as highly-skilled graduates, but as children.

Who knew?
You can read the rest of the interview at:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/17/the-case-for-open-immigration-a-qa-with-philippe-legrain/#more-1915

LUSH update!
I've been checking the forum discussions on the LUSH website and here is one of the latest posts:

"Babette Joined: 07 Jan 2007Posts: 65Location: Michigan
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:48 am

Kenwood Macy's is only weeks away! I'll be there next week hiring, if anyone is interested. email kenwod@lush.com with your cover letter and resume pasted into the body of the message, no attachments, with your name and ft or pt in the subject line! best of lush! "

Weeks away!! That sounds like soon to me! I have to get out to Kenwood and see if I can scout out the location or any developments. The discussion boards seem to indicate that it will be in Macy's. This seems to be the trend with LUSH stores. They have been opening new stores like crazy lately. If only they could give us a DATE!

The 20/20 festival wrapped up last night, but there is still a lot going on this weekend. I would like to check out: The Green drinks meeting on Thursday, but I can't because my golf class was rescheduled from Wednesday. One more week of golf left.

On Friday I will definitely be at the McAlpin on 4th Street downtown for Music and Martinis with CincyUpdate. $15 gets you an open bar, music in the lobby and on the outdoor rooftop balcony and some munchies.
http://www.cincyupdate.com/calendar/calendar.asp?DoAction=Calendar&Q_DATE=10/19/2007&View=Event&IDEvent=6637 Afterwards, I hope to make it to the Southgate House in Newport for the Jackson Roast, featuring several local bands covering any Jackson song - the 5, Michael, Janet. www.cincyupdate.com

I'd like to be able to squeeze in a quick trip to Andy's Mediterranean Grille to see Myrrah belly-dance. She's not there more than once a month usually and she is the best!

On Saturday, I'm thinking about the Fire Ball to benefit the Cincinnati Fire Museum. From the looks of the host and hostess list, it should attract a diverse crowd.

On Sunday, I was thinking of the Japanese tea tasting at Essencha, but I might head to Findlay Market instead for the Harvest Fest. Of course, any weekend is a good time to head to Findlay Market but I always seem to forget about it when the weekend comes. http://www.findlaymarket.org/news.htm

Next Saturday, Oct. 27, is the World Music Fest at Southgate House. I think I will have to skip the Halloween Parties and go to that instead. Which saves me the trouble of scrounging up a costume! www.worldmusicfest.org

Thanks to some last minute airfare specials, I took a spur-of-the-moment trip to Ottawa last weekend to visit my brother, sister in law, and niece. I flew on United, which meant a layover at O'Hare. Nothing ever goes smoothly in O'Hare. A few years ago, on the same route to Ottawa, my departure gate change 4 times! But this time, all my flights went off without a hitch! Both on the way to and the way from, my flights out of Chicago left on time! And there were no gate changes. Leaving Ottawa on Tuesday morning, we were slightly delayed, by about a half hour, but luckily I had plenty of time in Chicago, where my flight left on time. Everything went according to plan. Through O'Hare. Ah-Maze-Ing!!

LUSH is still 'coming soon' to Kenwood. No infomation on an expected opening date.

Here we go again.

I've lost count of how many cool things are happening this Thursday. I'm going to Zoo Brews. I hope they bring out a cheetah. If I wasn't going to Zoo Brews, I would go to the Women Lawyers Society's fashion event at Saks, and then the CCM Night Lights at Lightborne studios, or RetroFittings, or the Global Center's Great Decisions dinner. Then a friend offered me a free movie pass to see Elizabeth II on Thursday and I just got an email about a MidPoint Music Festival volunteer happy hour on Thursday. Why is it all on the same night??

Warren Buffett in Berkshire-Hathaway's 1998 annual report: "Writing checks to the IRS that include strings of zeros does not bother ... me. Berkshire as a corporation, and we as individuals have prospered in America as we would have in no other country. Indeed, if we lived in some other part of the world and completely escaped taxes, I'm sure we would be worse off financially and in many other ways as well. Overall, we feel extraordinarily lucky to have been dealt a hand in life that enables us to write large checks to the government."

Yeah, I don't always agree with my government or like the way they're spending our tax money, but we have it pretty good here. If you pay a lot of taxes, it is probably because you're making a lot of money. No, the system isn't perfect, but show me a country where it is perfect. There are other wonderful places to live, and there are a lot of hellholes too.

One World Wednesday

Last night at the Cincinnati Art Museum, I met a man from Rwanda. He seemed pleasantly surprised that I knew where Rwanda was (next to Uganda) and something about the country. I told him that I went to see Paul Rusesabagina when he was at the Freedom Center earlier this year. He was impressed that I'm really interested in that area of Africa. Of course I am. I've been to Tanzania on safari and my Aunt is living and teaching in rural Uganda. At one point he asked if I know why he is here in the U.S. He is a refugee, but I did not ask if he was Hutu or Tutsi. Luckily, I bit my tongue because I actually thought about asking, "You're not a genocidaire, are you?" Because, what would I have done if he had answered "Yes"?

What I like about Cincinnati is that it has a lot of the offerings of a big city (as far as I can tell, I've never really lived in a big city) but it's more accessible. There is always something going on. There is always theater and music. You can look at Karen's blog (http://deime.blogspot.com/) for more about the music scene. There are constant sporting events and even if the Reds and Bengals aren't playing well, we have exciting college teams (Go Miami! Go XU! Boo UC! Hee hee), and really great high school sports. From spring to fall there is always a competitive race or 5k for runners. Check with Bob Roncker's Running Spot for info on that. Although we don't have any mountains, we have plenty of nice parks to wander through and the Loveland bike trail to ride on. We have a really nice zoo, and several no-kill animal shelters if you want to help animals.

Best of all, there are so many opportunities to get involved if you want to. Whatever your passion or cause, there is sure to be a group, charity, or club supporting it. Even if you just want to do some random community service project, there are groups who organize those.
You just have to look around and be aware. (I have a friend who had lived here for 6 years without knowing about the Flying Pig Marathon.) Read CityBeat, CinWeekly, CincyUpdate. Check the United Way website and be persistent.