Tag: friends

Geoff Graduates

Some of you may have heard that Geoff graduated yesterday.  He finished school back in December, but like a lot of his classmates, he finished his internship a day or two too late to walk in December.  So he and a bunch of his compatriots from his NCIS class at Lincoln Tech in Somerville got their Diplomas last night.

I shot video from our seats which were back halfway in the auditorium just past the middle.  Before you scroll down and click, there are some things you should know.  There were a LOT of people there with no concept of how to behave in public.  Many of them talked through the whole thing until it was time to award diplomas.  There were probably hundreds of infants and children, many of whom cried, fussed, or otherwise made noise.  There were friends and family of the graduates as well as the graduates themselves who were arriving late to the ceremony right up to and through the awarding of the diplomas, so there were people wandering into my shot, completely oblivious of what I was doing.

The most important part of the ceremony was that Geoff was selected as the student speaker.  Out of all of the graduates, he was the only one who was selected to give a speech and it was the only speech that actually got the attention of the audience enough that they quieted down and more or less stopped talking.

I’ve embedded the videos below.  His speech is there in its entirety along with the various processional, recessional, line up, and diploma stuff.  He’s going to blog the whole text of the speech and write about his own experiences at a later date.

And here are the photos of Geoff in his regalia at the podium and with the head of his program and favorite teacher, Jay.

Geoff & Jay at Graduation
Geoff graduates, again!
Geoff behind the podium
Geoff "speechifying."

~Kelly

Recent event roundup

I’ve had some interesting things happen lately and I’ve meant to blog them but I haven’t.  So I thought I’d just write everything up in one fell swoop.  Lucky you, readers.

1) I have been a shopping NINJA.  I’ve been questing for some summer suit jackets or suits to wear to interviews.  Up to this point all of my jackets or suits except for one and possibly two were decidedly winter affairs and some were actually velvet and 100% wool.  So, for interviewing in the summer I needed something less heavy.  Last week I hit Filene’s Basement and got a Marina Rinaldi white cotton sateen blazer, a cranberry linen Marina Rinaldi shell/tank, a sapphire blue Calvin Klein satin cocktail dress, black-brown SPANX tights/pantyhose, and 7 hand painted greeting cards with various letters of the alphabet on them that are so beautiful they could be framed.  Every single item I bought was marked down either 50% or 75%.  For all that stuff I paid $88.88.  Filene’s puts a little line on your receipt telling you how much you saved which always sort of amuses me.  Basically, they list as a total how much all of your discounts and their markdowns saved you from the original price.  My line, which nearly made me fall out of my seat on the T, said I’d saved over $1,200.00.  Seriously, I have a black belt in shopping, people.

2) Last week I was running some errands in Central Square when I noticed that a great thrift shop from JP had opened a new store in Cambridge.  Boomerang’s is an excellent shop and because I’m almost never in JP anymore, I hardly ever get there.  Also, all proceeds go to AIDS research.  I had to go to Radio Shack to look for a watch battery, but as soon as I was done I went into the new Central Square Boomerang’s.  I totally scored.  I discovered a cache of American Brilliant Period cut glass and a Towle Sterling Silver tray.  I got 4 highball glasses, a port glass, a toothpick basket, and a gorgeous candy bowl.  The tray is solid sterling silver and is about 10 inches in diameter.  The tray and the bowl were $4 each and everything else was $2 each.  Including tax I spent $20 and change.

3) All of this Rockstar Shopping led up to last Thursday’s interview.  I interviewed with a music related company.  The woman I met with would be my boss.  She was great.  The salary would be good, the commute would be fine, there is an on-site gym, and this company is big on work/life balance.  The only snag, which they didn’t mention in the ad, is that the job requires someone who can drive.  As I can’t do that, not now, not ever, she’s going to check and see if that is something that can be worked around.  The fact that she’s willing to actually do that is a good thing, I think.  Hopefully I’ll hear something this coming week.

4) Our friends from church choir, Tessa and Brian, got engaged this weekend.  Yay!

I have more great jobs to apply to, so I’m back to application land tomorrow.  I hope you all are well and have a restful and quiet Memorial Day tomorrow.

~Kelly

The first of the Brimfield posts

It’s that time of year again, the May Brimfield show has come and gone.  Geoff and I took the dogs and spent Thurs – Sun walking through the fields looking for treasures and getting a little too much sun.  This year was slow going, we got a LOT of attention because of the awesome little red wagon my mom got us and because of the dogs who were often riding in it and begging for attention or walking near it and looking for food.  But, we did the whole show and found an unbelievable amount of fantastic treasures.

We got home late yesterday afternoon, unloaded the car, and took a serious nap.  Today is laundry and sorting the loot and we’ll eventually photograph everything that isn’t destined to be a gift and post it here with descriptions.  For now, here’s the link to the photo library from Amanda.  We met up with her and Beth for a marathon day of antiquing on Saturday followed by dinner at the Thai place near our hotel which is totally yummy.

More photos and descriptions will follow.

~Kelly

Some Alabama Photos

Our friends in Limestone County have provided us with a Flickr feed that includes some maps and photos of the storm devastation in their area.  There are some before and after pictures, ground scarring, uprooted trees, etc.  Essentially you’ll get to see up close what happens when a huge F5 comes through.   Make sure you read the captions.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22006172@N08/sets/72157626485034463/with/5669959671/

The people who provided this are OK.  Their home was spared and all of their possessions and their animals are OK.  Some of their neighbors were not so lucky.

~Kelly

Storm update for North Alabama area

I talked with both my sister Maddie and her husband Mark in the last couple of days and they filled me in on a lot of things.  They have no power, and most of North Alabama has no power.  Their phones are working, and most of the time I have been able to get through to them.  There are problems with landline phone lines in a lot of places, though.  Most cell towers are no longer working due to the power loss.  Internet connections seem to still be up, at least depending on who the ISP is and how long they can run their generators.  One of the tornadoes (probably this one  – http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=HUN&issuedby=HUN&product=PNS&format=CI&version=8&glossary=1) knocked down the main transmission lines from the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, which knocked out power for a LOT of people.  There are now something like a million people in central and northern Alabama with no power, and power will likely not be restored for much of them for 5 to 7 more days, although parts of Huntsville should have power restored by Monday.   The church near their house in Madison has lost its steeple, and there is a lot of visible damage in their area.  There is now a dusk-to-dawn curfew for all of Madison and Limestone Counties, and for other areas of Alabama as well.  Several thousand National Guard have been called up, since many small towns are overwhelmed and there are already problems with looting.  There has already been at least one incident in Huntsville of someone shooting and killing a looter who broke into a gas station.  Most people are unable to get gas for their cars or generators because so many gas stations have no power to work the pumps.  Most schools are closed until at least Monday, and some may be closed longer.  UAH is closed.  All non-essential personnel from Redstone Arsenal have been told to stay home.   Most businesses are closed, although some (like Publix) are open with reduced hours as they manage to keep their generator running.

This site shows you before and after of some of the damage, as seen from the air. http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2011/04/alabama_tornadoes_close-up_sat.html

The total casualties for this are still unknown, but the official count for the state is now up to 254 dead (remember, that is just Alabama) and the number of injured is almost certainly into the thousands, as I have seen reports of hospitals in the Tuscaloosa area alone taking in 900-1,000 injured.

So yes, although it is quite a mess and I have not spoken with all of the people we know, at least immediate family and friends are ok.

Reports from Alabama

Just posting quickly to let everyone know that we’ve heard from just about everyone and so far the news is good.  Minor damage to homes, people without power, but everyone is alive and has a roof over their heads.  People who were without water have it more or less back.

Our friends who were close to the F4 wedge in Limestone county were REALLY close.  It is only because of a miracle that they still have a home.  There is storm damage, visible tornado tracks, dead animals, and wiped out subdivisions within 6 blocks and less of their home.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts and prayers.

~Kelly

Alabama devastation

Hi folks,

I just wanted to take a moment to thank those of you who have called, commented, emailed, etc.  Geoff and I really appreciate it.  So far all family members are safe and accounted for.  For that we are truly blessed.

We can’t say the same for our friends.  Many of them don’t have land lines and cell towers and power lines are literally gone.  Some of them live in the hardest hit areas of AL.  We’ll let you know when we know what’s going on.  We’re keeping calm and making calls and hoping that they, too, have been spared, but we just don’t know yet.  Please keep them and everyone who is suffering in your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks.

~Kelly

A very long but good weekend

Geoff here – Kelly and I managed to survive the very epic weekend, and what’s even better is that we actually had a pretty good time all around.

Kelly’s mom – Jo – arrived Thursday night and we picked her up from the airport.  After I got off work on Friday we went out to dinner at the Fireplace.  Jo had never been there, but she seemed to really like it.  The food was pretty fantastic, as usual.  I tried something different and got a special – hake.  Boy, it was good.  And Kevin, the awesome manager, actually donated some gift certificates to their “Fireside Chats” special events for us to sell at the auction.  It was very cool of him.  Stuff like that is why we like the place so much and are glad to have our rehearsal dinner there.

Saturday we had to split up as Kelly and Jo went off to do their own errands, and I had to run a bunch of my own before my police detail.  The detail ended up being a lot of fun, as we got to meet the Red Sox mascot, Wally, the Green Monster.  So I got his autograph for Kelly and then got some pictures with him.  I will post those as soon as I can.  After the detail was over, I ran home to shower and change and then the three of us went to the auction at our church.  Kelly and I had contributed several items to the auction:  a series of dog training lessons from Kelly; a few hours of IT tech support from me; and an entire home-cooked four course Portuguese dinner with table and dessert wines.  So together Kelly and I raised over a thousand dollars with our donated items.  It turns out that the family who bought the dinner from me is pretty interesting – the husband was the auctioneer for the church, and his wife is the one who kept bidding on the dinner.  I am looking forward to making them dinner.

Kelly has already talked about the concert, but I wanted to throw in my two cents worth.  I had a slightly different perspective, since I was running around at the front tables and doors while Kelly was running around inside and then performing.  We were quite pleasantly surprised when people kept showing up, even after the concert had started.  I think the last ticket I sold was at around 4:15, well over an hour after the concert started.  But people seemed to really enjoy it, and the reception afterward was a lot of fun too.  I got to watch one of the Deputy Superintendents talk with our landlord, who it turns out was in the CAPD himself from the late 1940s to the early 1960s.  Apparently they knew a lot of the same people.  And this couple from our church had nothing but praises for all of the help that they got from the officers on the detail.  So although we were pretty exhausted by the time we got home Sunday night, we were quite happy that everything had gone so well and everyone had such a good time.

Thank you!

I don’t even know where to begin, but I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks.  Today was the St. John Passion concert that I feel like I’ve been preparing for for months.  In fact, it felt like the least of my duties was nailing my aria.  I was coordinating with the St. Paul Adult Choir (SPAC), I was running everything relating to the Front of House, I was marketing my fool head off, arranging for flowers with the florist, proofreading the program book, the list just goes on.  It feels like this has been a really long process and now that it is over, I feel awesome.

Was the performance flawless?  No.  Live performances never are, which is something that we, as a CD listening society of studio perfected work have come to forget.  Was it spectacular?  Yes.  Do I feel like I left the best version of my aria in the room for the concert?  Absolutely.

As a concert manager did I learn something from this?  Oh HELL yes.  Did everything I organized run perfectly?  Of course not, it never does and it never will, such is human nature.  But that is ok, there were no catastrophes, no major fires, and everyone seemed pleased.  I can absolutely live with that.

So, in no particular order, to the Cambridge Auxiliary Police Department officers on our detail, to our crack Ushering Corps, to the Stage Crew, to the women of SPAC who helped coordinate everything with me between the two groups, to John, Jim, and most especially Jennifer, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.  The words seem inadequate, but there they are.

To our fabulous and supportive landlord Marvin who came out to hear this concert when I am sure there were a 1,000 other things he could have been doing and for being so generous as to take us out to dinner afterward.  Thank you, sir.  You are a true gentleman.

To Amanda, Leigh, Mackie, Donna, and every single member of COOS who braved Harvard Square parking to come out for this concert, and to my Mother and Liza who braved the TSA for this concert.  I thank you.  You have no idea how much it meant for me to see friendly faces in the audience.

And to my betrothed, my darling, Geoff, who was the Head Usher, the liaison with the CAPD, who worked his behind off all day and way above and beyond the call of duty.  I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that you’ve got my back.  Thank you and I love you.

Till next time,

~Kelly