Kokochi

Tesla sliding down

Tesla sliding down

An online offline encounter

I've been busy preparing for BM so this is a day late, but on Thursday, I had one of those moments that made me smile and grin for quite some time. I was paying for food at Trader Joe's thinking nothing other than what I was going to make for dinner, how I needed to get home, and how Burning Man was just around the corner. Then, a women with a super cute baby and her husband called out to me, "you're Kokochi, aren't you?" I was at first worried that I didn't recognize someone I had met, and tried to jiggle my memory, but was relieved when she explained that she found Kokochi via a link on SFist (what link?? I'm curious now), and had been following. She knew me as Kokochi, knew about Tesla, and knew Tesla's 2nd burn was around the corner. Some might find such an encounter odd or spooky. But I love it. After all, I yap on and on about the mundane daily stuff that matters to me, and to meet someone who actually reads and knows me? Awesome! I of course instinctively thought of asking for a picture, but she was leaving with her cutie baby and husband, and I had a baby waiting at home too, so I let it go. It is powerful though, to have an offline confirmation that what I do online is real to someone. So thank you, Jennifer. (I'm absolutely horrible about names...I hope you remind me your baby and husband's name.) I am very very glad you introduced yourself. Totally makes me happy I blog with full public access.

Schools for Humanity

Today was an inspirational day at work. We had the founder of Schools for Humanity, David Brown, come visit to discuss blogs, and how a blog could help his cause. It was the kind of meeting that almost brought tears to my eyes to hear about such amazing work this person and his organization are doing. Like Habitat for Humanity, they are building, but they are building schools. David was working with Habitat for Humanity in Ethiopia, and although many houses were successfully built, he discovered there were no schools for the children. So he began this project. I know having a blog to get his message out and gain more support will make a definite difference. We are very excited to help out. It was one of those days that made me appreciate working where I do. At the moment, the current site really isn't engaging, is quite awkward, and doesn't communicate the "story." Plus, donating isn't simple or personalized. You can sponsor a student for $20 a month to go to school, including material and lunch (and David provided touching stories about how excited these kids were to have the chance to go to school). $100/month supports a teacher. And everyone at Schools for Humanity is a volunteer, so every dollar donated goes directly to the project. I would not have realized that from the site. Big missed opportunity since I think people are looking for, even crave for, opportunities to make a difference. One person in the meeting from 6A really wants to join on one of the trips there to help. I wholeheartedly support her. All of us can't wait to get them up and running, and hopefully see an online community grow from the blog. For example, check the Malawi Windmill Blog. Blogs rock!

Digital Wake - My brother's proposed panel at SXSW

If you are what you eat in the offline world, what makes up “you” online?

My brother over at MyBlogLog submitted a panel proposal to SXSW. Check out his description. Back in 2004, when I was a lucky duck to be on a panel about moblogging, I had a blast. Lots of energy. I think my brother's panel should be picked, don't you? Wouldn't it be pretty neat to hear from a digital criminal forensics professional?

pjs and a fairy skirt

Last year sweet Raven sent this blue fairy skirt to Tesla. Again, this was something too big back then. Now that I'm packing for BM, I'm going through all of Tesla's stuff and finding perfect things for the playa. Here she models the skirt over her long-john pjs. She seemed more curious about what the hanging blue stuff was than anything, but I think she's cute!

growing into

This is a super cute winter jacket set that Granny Marie gave to Tesla at the baby shower before Tesla was born. Back then, it seemed giant to me. It's still a bit big, but I think Tesla can finally use it. I'll be bringing it to the playa for sure!

Deborah

Deborah was in town again. What a treat. She was in SF for a conference so although she stayed with us, she was busy, as I was busy with T and Burning Man prep. But even in between all that, we got to reconnect. Actually, she came home Friday night after a full day at the conference to find our neighbors M & J over while our babies slept. By the time she walked in the door, our party was in full swing, and we sat Deborah at the table and made her join in the fun. I think we went to bed grudgingly at 1:30 am. We had some good talks though, so all was worth it. The next morning, she was supposed to go in by 10am, I think. I enticed her with breakfast, and she left a bit later :) I'm such a bad influence! She slept in T's room. I was initially worried that Deborah wouldn't get much sleep, but T has been sleeping pretty well until 5 or 6am. And even with a few cries, Deborah said she never heard. It was cute to see Tesla wake up and eye this new roommate in her room. She was curious but didn't seem to mind. One of the mornings T was playing in our bedroom while we delayed getting up. Usually T runs between her room and ours, bringing toys to play with. But with Deborah snoozing in her room, she somehow understood she shouldn't go in there even though the door was ajar. Sweetie! We realized Deborah lives close to where Dav's mom is buried. I've been bugging Dav that we really should pay a visit to his mom since he got married and has a kid and all. I value paying respect to ancestors a lot, so it's been on my mind. Now we have even more incentive since we can also drop by Deborah's. Soon...

Hit again!

I know I'm not a great driver, but what is it about me that gets me hit by others, and it's not my fault? My 1st hit was when I was in San Diego a long time ago, stopped at a red light behind an SUV. A youngster hit me from behind when he failed to see the light in time because he was changing a CD. I was squished between the 2 cars. Came out sort of OK, but that was the biggest hit. Then there was the jeep that was hit when I started going through an intersection when the light turned green. A car (which I think was running a red) hit a motorcycle, and coming out of that, hit me (and Tesla) in the jeep. I did drive out of our driveway once and hit someone driving down our street. That was totally my fault, so I should mention that. But then yesterday, again I was rear-ended on hwy 101. Luckily, traffic had just slowed down so it wasn't at high speed, but the woman behind me somehow failed to stop. She claims her breaks weren't responding. Again, Tesla was with me. The impact wasn't too big, but still a shock to the system. Tesla started crying. She perked up as soon as she saw me smiling, singing songs, and pretending all was good even though I was shaking and calling Dav to have him walk me through what to do. I was in the fast lane, so we were stuck on the hwy until the police came to stop traffic and we could drive to the other side. Dear auto-accident angels: Can I have a break? [update] Went to the auto car place and it turns out quite a lot of damage is underneath, not immediately noticeable. 2+ weeks to fix! Dav and I thought I could still totally drive the car until the place could fix it quickly, but the guy said, nope. No more driving. I have a rental now so it's not bad, but my goodness. Shows how good the Subaru Outback is. Didn't feel that much, and it really absorbed the impact well.

A meeting on Saturday at 8:00 am

Hmmm. I wonder who scheduled that in....Looks like a Tesla-concocted-meeting to me. First, it's in baby talk. Second, the schedule was made sometime during this weekend for a time that had already occurred.

real eggs

I work with wonderful Jane. She has chickens in her yard running around. And she gets fresh eggs from them. From time to time, if you bring in an egg carton, she will come back with fresh eggs for you. I've been meaning to bring a carton in forever, but always forget. Today, coming out of a meeting after Jane had left, I found a carton on my desk with the following note:

From Frisky, Wiskey, and Margarita, and the hens across the street. Enjoy!

I sure will. I've heard about Frisky, Wiskey, and Margarita. And now my family and I will enjoy their hard made eggs. Thank you! How special to have such a close connection to what I'm eating. I love that we can live in SF, and I can work with someone who has hens, and names and loves her hens! And her neighbor has hens too! I'm so glad that the demand for cage-free, organically fed chicken eggs is so much on the rise that demand is outgrowing supply. And I'm very happy that there are a lot of organic veges I can buy easily. [update] I had not just one, but TWO eggs this morning. I cooked one, and it was delicious. Compared to the organic cage-free ones I buy at the store, the shell was much harder and the yoke thicker and a deeper color. The taste was amazing. I want to have chickens now, but I guess they don't make good indoor pets, and the cats would be terrified ; )