Changes...

Hey Team!
So remember how I was working at a law firm. That sucked. So I don't anymore. Instead a small non-profit you may have heard of called OMSI hired me! Yay! I work at OMSI! I'm, guess what, a volunteer coordinator. They have 3 of us V.C.s.
So that is super exciting. But on top of that, Gus and I rented a house last week. So now I'm packing up my little apartment and driving it over to a lovely home in South Tabor a little at a time. I'm totally a grown-up and I have a vegetable garden! Woohoo!

Life is good. Hope yours is too.

yes, it's true

first, sorry for the delay. hope it was a tantalizing wait.
second, i saw myself on tv whilst attending the daily show with jon stewart! it was pretty awesome. tiki barber (ex running back for the new york giants, now national morning news show puppet) was the guest. i didn't grace the camera for a long time, but it was long enough for me to be able to spot myself at home! i posted a picture below for your viewing pleasure. p.s. i'm the guy with the gray headwrap on. word.

so yea, i've been out on the east coast for quite a while now. about 6 weeks now. i'm settled in and have explored my neighborhood of "bonkers" (inbetween yonkers & bronxville), new york. not doing anything too ambitious or extravagant. i've started working at trader joe's while i continue to look for something more career orientated out here. it's pretty similar to the stores in portland except for the fact we don't sell wine or beer out here, so it's not really that special. i've also been looking and visiting a couple of grad schools out here. so i hope that pans out well.

aside from that it's really beautiful out here. not as gorgeous as portland, but in it's own right. often times i feel like i'm on a movie set. lots of cool things to see and do here. lots of historical american/colonial influences. the architectures and fall colors. lots of small towns and bizzaro road lay outs. amazing varieties of people. the manic traffic behavior. although it's crazy, i have found it makes you more assertive and confident of your skills.

so yea, that's about it in a nut shell. looking forward to halloween (what are you guys dressing up as this year? my girlfriend is hosting a "dress as your favorite historical woman themed halloween party --scary, right? just kidding. -- for her graduate program and i'm going as either bea arthur or sally ride. i can't decide...) and carving my pumpkins later today. i feel really stereotypically american out here and it's kinda nice. go america, go freedom!!

take it easy and hope to hear what everybody else is up to as well !
eric


apparently i'm having trouble loading photos onto this blogs, so i just linked them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34251467@N00/1778580721/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34251467@N00/1778581781/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/34251467@N00/1779431796/

p.s. if you have the time...
i think i've found the world's saddest and depressing news story, ever:

http://www.ksat.com/news/14413827/detail.html

and sorry ashley, but the people have spoken about philly, pa: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071022/od_nm/philadelphia_unattractive1_dc

word!

holla holla everybody.
i'm a little pressed for time right now, but wanted to let y'all know i'm alive and well.
i'm also still on "vacay." holla!
so, i got some pretty cool news to update with but unfortunately do not have a lot of time right now.
i'll just leave it at...i was on t.v.
more to come. promise.
hope everybody is doing well.
peas and carrots,
eric

Hi, you all..

Thanks for the reminder to blog, Kandi. Your first few weeks sucked! I could imagine packing up what few belongings I had left and heading north in a hurry. I admire you for your resilience.

I had some truly sucking weeks, too. Although I feel pretty wimpy compared to Kandi's travails. I told you all about the stressful crisis job I had? Well - I didn't last very long. I cried and/or vomited every single day. I was starting to hate my wonderful life.

There were a few events that made it impossible to stay at that bizarre job. One beauty was when I was told by my supervisor to tell the father of a son who had just had a psychotic break his first week at college to hang up and have his son call the crisis line because "if he keeps enabling his son, he's never going to get well." Too many appalling "therapeutic" interventions to bear.

So.... I'm in private practice. Life and Career Transitions. I have a little office and 3 clients in my second week. woo hoo. It will be a while before I can do much more than pay my office rent - but my decision couldn't have better for my overall well-being. I think I'm a lot more useful for my loved ones, too.

Oh yeah, and I was voted onto the Board of Directors of SCRAP. So that's cool.

Kandi -- you can expect a holiday care package from the Carmichael-Caseys.

I'm looking forward to reading about the rest of you all - so I hope you BLOG!

xoxoxoxo

Kelley

Hey ?!?!?-ers,

I didn't forget about you. It took me awhile to get my footing in the Eugene area, but I'm finally getting into the swing of things. Just in case any of you forgot about me.....here's the deal.

I finished my Ameri-stuff and moved to Eugene, OR for graduate school. After settling some things and working on some basic school logistics, I took a quick trip to the lovely island of Oahu and came back to the craziness of my life. When I got back.....

I found out that my new home was robbed. My instruments, craft box, and collection of two dollar bills disappeared from my life (along with a bunch of other stuff). I ended up having to move again, but just before I found a new place, my car got towed from behind the house by a very shady towing company that I wish I had enough money to sue. $250 dollar later, I piled everything into my car and found a new- less cursed place to live. Then the first week of school hit, my financial aid got messed up, the school tried to charge me $1500, and I got an awful cold. You know, life was looking pretty sad there for a second.

But alas, I hung in there.....although my dream of being an Amtrak stewardess was looking better and better. After so much hype about going back to school, it honestly was a slap in the face for the first week. I forgot how much it sucked sitting in a classroom and talking circles around "what it means to be post modern" and having people grade my thoughts. I secretly longed for the days where me and the mob were "getting things done."

But things did get better....I swear.

I finally remembered, after a long night of caffeine induced insomnia, why I decided to go to graduate school. I remembered all the things and people I met in the last year, and how much I wanted to do a better job of helping my community.....how I wanted to be more equipped to help my community. Yeah, some shitty life things were happening, but it didn't deter from the fact that I got into a really good program, and I have the opportunity to do some really cool stuff. I essentially got over my funk and am back to saving the world.

Whew, it was looking bleak for a second.

Anyway, I'm interested to hear how the rest of you are doing.

Just in case snail mail is your thing.....and I can't tell you how much I love holiday cards......my address is 70 N Cedar St. Eugene OR 97402

Kandi

Hello L.O.

Hello, my name is Alia Johnson and i am the Natural Resource Technician and Volunteer Coordinator for the City of Lake Oswego. In my term i will be mapping and monitoring invasive plants, organizing volunteers in restoration projects, education and outreach for our natural area parks. I also will helping develop resource managment plans for the City's parks by assessing the natural resources within our parks, aiding in restoration project plans. I am replacing Greg Creager who was the last AmeriCorps member her at Parks and Rec. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or project ideas.

Where's the love???

Looking at our blog, it occured to me that our last post was August 10th ... sad, really, when you think about all of our blogging potential! Vacations, new jobs, new schools, new homes! So here's my post:

Where have I gone?
135 Montello #1, Hood River, OR (studio apt, baby! no more crazy roommates)

What am I doing?
Teaching 5th graders all about their local ecology through the Columbia Gorge Ecology Institute by dressing up as trees, flowers, etc.

Do I like it?
Yes, but it's been a tough transistion. I'm excited just to spend a lot of time sleeping.

Are the people cool?
Yes, though I'm surrounded by AmeriKids and I haven't (yet) made any friends outside of AmeriCorps

What am I doing after work?
Sewing like mad to get my sister's salsa dance costumes done in time (think lots and lots of sparkly blue spandex)

What is my favorite color?
Green, like plants!

I hope everyone is doing really well, and please do stay in touch! Kudos to Bojana, who I ran into at the small local grocery store in Hood River last weekend.
Hugs,
M