Fun Video

I was in Minneapolis this weekend for an AAP meeting and caught a video parody of Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man video, called (I guess) Ain't No Weather Man. Maybe this "video interpretation" thing is hot or whatever but since I don't get out much it surprised me and I thought it was clever enough to post here and share.

Avenue Q

We went to see Avenue Q, the other night at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago. For those who don’t know, this is a Broadway musical that’s basically an adult-themed Sesame Street, with puppets and actors teaching “lessons” about sex, racism, etc. We knew the songs and they are hilarious, but the show hadn’t toured yet so we hadn’t seen it. It was SO FUNNY. Better than I expected. Even though we knew all the jokes in the songs, the script was really good and there were some surprises that kept it interesting. My favorite parts - which were not on the album so they were totally suprising - were when the “Bad Idea Bears” showed up – two cute puppets who encourage characters to make bad decisions – “You could buy beer!” "Why buy a 6-pack if you can save money buying bulk? Yaaaaaaaaaaay!” “You could play a drinking game!” “Take her home – she’s wasted!” Very fun.

Opening Up the Trailer

Steven, Kathy, Jim and I opened up Poplar Tree Bay this weekend – no dead mice or fallen ceiling tiles (yea) but crappy weather all weekend (boo). Saw Bev, Jim, Diane and Chris and family for a barbecue. Trying to figure out when this summer we can go back since right now we are only really planning to go in late August/early September.

On the way in (we fly to Buffalo and drive, since it’s cheaper than Syracuse) we stopped in Rochester for lunch and stumbled upon the transgendered district. At least that’s what I’m calling it. We were eating lunch and two very butch women walked by the window – you couldn’t help but notice them and think they were men, either in drag or before the surgery. A nearby bar had a rainbow awning, so later we looked it up online and found out it hosts meetings of the Rochester transgendered society or something like that. We also hit a used book/CD store and found a cheap copy of Liza Minnelli's "Results" album – this was late 80s dance music mostly written and produced by the Pet Shop Boys and it’s actually pretty good. But it IS Liza Minnelli. We already had it on vinyl but it skips. (Yes, we now own two copies of Liza Minnelli’s disco album. Jealous?)

But the best part of the trip was a rare find at an “antique” store in little Governeur, NY, which we hit upon while driving aimlessly around on a gloomy day. We found a vinyl copy of Leonard Nimoy’s 1968 masterpiece “Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy” – where he sings one side as Spock and one as himself! It plays really well, too. Hard to find., and hilarious – especially the songs “Highly Illogical” (Spock) and “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” (Nimoy the nerd). Another blogger has a shrine to this album posted so read it, it’s funny.

Happy Birthday, Jim!

Brother-in-law Jim had a birthday in early May and Steven and I bought him a big jar of pickled eggs dyed pink. We saw it in Meier’s and I had to buy it. Here’s Jim at Fernando’s, trying them. Of course, fart jokes abounded. Kathy wrote in an e-mail “Giving Jim beer and eggs - never knew that Scott was repressing such deep hatred for me.”

Puerto Rico!

Our birthday present to me was a quick trip to Puerto Rico. We stayed in Rincon, which is 2 ½ hours west of San Juan, at the west edge of the island. Can’t say much about the towns, and the stray cats and dogs all over were very sad, but our hotel was great – very reasonable, sort of open air, with a cute bar and a great (really great) restaurant (we ate every dinner there), and a nice pool right on a large, very secluded beach. We thought about doing touristy stuff like seeing the glowing bay or whatever it is, but ended up just sitting on the beach all day. Photos (of course) of the hotel and beach, and me wading (my favorite thing to do on a beach).

Calvin wants cake

This is Calvin sitting suspiciously close to one of the cakes on my birthday, looking very evil.

I’m a Master of Science, and 40

I completed my Master’s Degree – surprise! (I didn’t talk much about being in school – sort of embarrassing to be in school and nearing 40). Although I wasn't really looking forward to it, I had many reasons to do it - nearly all positions I hire for are "master's required" so it was odd that I didn't have one, and I was sick of people assuming I did because I work with lots of MDs and MPHs. And I was feeling like I should do something for myself, since all I pretty much do is work, and I thought "if I'm going to do this, I want to do it before I'm 40" (and I almost made it). Oh, and I guess I wanted to learn something. But that was totally secondary. :)

So I looked into three programs in Chicago for my field (nonprofit management) and chose the cheapest and (assumedly) easiest - it was one night a week for a little over two years, plus a final project (or more classes, but I chose the final project). I didn't really talk about it since I literally wasn't sure I was going to do it - I went to the orientation and before I knew it I was well into the classes, and it was pretty easy so I figured I'd finish. I actually finished the classes last year but dragged my heels on the final project - seems it was much easier for me when I knew I had a class coming up and a deadline. Once the classes were done, everytime I told myself I needed to work on the project, somehow I just ended up doing work work instead.

But I finished! With an A or A+ in every class. So now I have an MS - technically an MSNM (Master’s of Science in Nonprofit Management) but I'm just using MS since that's more common. It's from Spertus College, which is small and really only has two programs - this one and one on Jewish Studies.

Also, in April, I turned 40. Mom, Dawn and Lisa came over for the weekend to help celebrate. We went to see a show – The Drowsy Chaperone, which was really good – and had dinner at our house with Jim, Kathy, Cindy and Mike. It was perfect – no need for 80+ people, drunk at a bowling alley like my 30th.

This is a cake my staff gave me - during a meeting, so I had to transport it home (with boxes, signs, etc.) and it didn't make it too well. Still tasted good and was a nice surprise.

Also, on my birthday, I had to be at one of our conferences for Reach Out and Read (a program we do) and we invited the Mayor and he came. Sort of fun to meet the Mayor. He has a photographer who follows him around all the time and takes pictures of everyone he meets, then they send them to you signed afterward. I'd post the picture but for some reason when they sent the electronic version as a PDF and I don't know how to upload it.

March 2008 Work - McDonalds and Cher

Our association started doing an Annual Meeting again and this year it was in March at Hamburger University in Oak Brook, IL. This is the McDonald’s offices and training center (and also a Hyatt and conference rooms). Actually a very nice property, but it’s very odd to be surrounded by the Golden Arches and to have your coffee breaks at self-serve drink stations like in the restaurants. Here are some pictures - a display on the history, a sign that says "Hamburger University," and a display with all the old uniforms.

Also in March, I had to moderate a conference for other AAP Chapter Executive Directors – about 50 of us come. It’s a great group of people and so much fun, particularly since we are all doing the same thing (basically) but we are spread out pretty much one per state – so it’s a blast to get together. Last year as an ice-breaker we had a dinner and “talent show” – no I didn’t sing or anything. But this year I had a really good idea for an “act” – I took head shots of nearly all the other Executive Directors (they are posted on the AAP Web site) and used this Web site, http://www.myheritage.com/celebrity-face-recognition, to upload them and find their celebrity “matches.” I had the idea to do this and then one of my staff, Jana, told me about this site, which made it much easier. Then I did this long (and complicated) PowerPoint that showed the pictures and unveiled their matches one by one. Very fun and hopefully it wasn’t too embarrassing for everybody. A few matches were really good, but most were just silly – the Web site is pretty bad. I uploaded two pictures of myself - a good one matched Harrison Ford and Oded Fehr (of the Mummy movies, below), mainly because of my goatee .... and then a really bad photo of mine matched Cher's photo, below.

Quick NYC Trip February 2008

I had a quick trip to NYC this month. We applied for a grant from The Commonwealth Fund and after it receives one level of approval, they fly you out to “present” it to their executive team, which includes their President Karen Davis (VIP) and other important people. I was pretty terrified but I think it went well and feedback from the CWF VP who is shepherding the proposal through their process, Dr. Schor, was good – so keep your fingers crossed (I think we’ll get it). But the most important thing is I found time to squeeze in a show – Curtains, which is the “last” Kander & Ebb musical and stars among others David Hyde Pierce. It was good, actually – better than I expected.

And I also snagged two very rare vinyl showtunes – the London casts of Valmouth (a flop starring Cleo Laine) and Little Mary Sunshine (a 50’s parody of the Canadian Mountie musicals – “when I’m calling you-ooo-ooo-ooo, ooo-ooo” etc.). The off-Broadway version starred a very young Eileen Brennan, and the London version starred Patricia Routledge, who some people might know from “Keeping Up Appearances” which we see on BBC or local public television. Score!