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Friday, June 23, 2006
THE SECRET posted on 6/23/2006 06:57:00 AM by agentCB
MENTAL HEALTH DAY posted on 6/06/2006 09:00:00 PM by agentCB
last night after work, i discovered a long standing tradition among seattle activists...
busch garden.
my work happens to be next door to the infamous busch garden bar and grill in seattle's int'l district/chinatown. in the spirit of the old timer activists, a bunch of us program directors/coordinators got together to celebrate a successful year of working together.
unfortunately only 5 out of 10 of us showed up. no worries, with the fun the 5 of us had last night, we will be more vigilant in encouraging our colleagues to come through.
and a part of the reason for the amount of fun we had was partially due to the presence of an old timer activist who happens to kick it at the the busch on thurs evenings.
after reading his book and learning about the lore of the busch, i had the opportunity to see the old timer in action, hanging out, singing, talking to everyone in the room like he was related to them all. it was interesting for me because i got a taste of what activism used to be like. it wasn't just organizing, planning and marching.
it also included partying together.
unfortunately, my generation does not do this most important part. or at least for the time being. that will hopefully change. it felt good to let loose with people who understand the struggle of working for a nonprofit. these people understand and also are dealing with the same issues that i'm facing. it was exactly what i needed after a long week in the grind.
speaking of the grind, peep out my myspace (link is above) new song by one of our interns at WAPI...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
in my profession, it's good practice to take a day off once in a while. i had worked over the weekend with our students in their first hip hop show/battle. the event went well and we had fun while we threw our tobacco and drug free hip hop show. so since i had 2 work monday, i took today off instead. started off with doing research about this brake repair shop in the neighborhood. it got good ratings and was recommended by the car talk website. car talk is a radio show on npr. 2 brothers talk about cars and are pretty funny for 2 older white cats.
anyway i digress...
had a discussion with the people their because they wanted 2 turn my brake rotors as part of the service. for those of you who never changed their own disc brakes, machining or "turning" the rotors is a process where they level the rotor, which is the part that the brake pad holds on to when it stops the wheel. anyway, after doing some research, i've gotten two views about turning the rotors during a brake job. 1) turning rotors is an easy way to charge more; a scam if you will. it's something not really THAT necessary unless you chew out your rotors with worn down brake pads and 2) the "safer" way that mechanics choose to do it because it beats having clients come back and give the mechanics shit if their brakes pulsate.
after i dropped the car off, the guy was hella pressuring me to get all these other services. i don't like that shit. and instead of convicing me he was being curt and treating me like i didn't know shit. after years of helping my dad do my brakes ourselves, i was happy to let him know i knew a thing or two.
after i tried 2 get the rotor turning out of the service, i settled for getting them minimally shaved down so that i don't have to get new fuckin rotors the next time i get my brakes fixed. i looked at my rotors and they were smooth as eggs i tell you. there was no need for that shit. asses. they're lucky i had no time to get them done earlier and that i was really due to get that shit changed, otherwise i woulda drove outta there on general principle.
after that debacle, i headed over to your local corporate chain hardware/garden super store (no, not home depot) to pick up some more decorative stones for sunshines backyard. decorating her backyard has become my pet project as of late. being and office jockey, i have 2 use my brain all day and sit at a desk. working on the backyard was a throwback to my davis days when i did manual labor at the MU. i like doing handyman type of stuff and decorating a backyard also allows me to get jiggy with the right brain. a part i haven't been using as much since the music has been on hold as i make power moves at work (more on that later).
after finishing the backyard, played some 3-on-3 basketball at the infamous greenlake courts and took a walk around said lake with sunshine right after.
i ended my MH day with a taco time dinner in the new backyard with sunshine. easy like sunday morning. wish every day was like this...
minus the dealing with mechanic shark assholes.
