MellowYellow

Hooray for the blog! Boring post from me. I’m extremely happy but doing absolutely nothing of consequence.

We need updates from you Nic! I’m assuming that you’re still loving your new job. Post stuff about your field. I know nothing about it. It’s interesting. So is Miami. I still want to move there. Try to get people to expand the legal market down there.

I’m at the Stone Harbor house with Matt’s family until Sunday. I’m currently on the top (a.k.a. “beer pong”) deck. I’m just came back from the beach because I’m waiting for my new school laptop to be delivered, I can’t print out the “just leave the thing” notice bc there’s no printer here. I’m really enjoying being with Matt’s army of waspy cousins. And pudge, the 2 year old yellow lab that Matt’s family is completely obsessed with. We all went down to the dog beach at dusk to watch him fetch balls in the waves. I also really like Matt’s little cousin Lee, who is 8. I’ve never really had a relationship with a child like this before. We have a lot of the same interests and I really like the gimp bracelet that she made me. I think we’re going shopping for best friend necklaces in town tonight, depending on what her mom says.

The weather has been awesome. I love SH and we found a new wedding venue where we can have an outdoor tent right next to the beach. I think it will be peachy. We have to talk to them about dates. We’ll be here until Sunday at which point we’re returning for Becca W’s party!! We also might return Saturday for Phish at merriweather… depending on what we feel like doing. I’m leaving it up to Matt. Matt's friend Pete has two extra tickets in case anyone is interested.

I quit my job on July 29 and left right after my goodbye happy hour for NYC, and eventually Montreal and Quebec with Mattie. We stayed with his cousins in the city, and various B&Bs throughout Canada. It was rockin. Except that we didn’t end up being able to meet up with Lizzie due to her fam’s amish ways.

I have orientation on the 19^th. I don’t want to start, I’d like to continue my current occupation of drinking beer and playing travel scrabble. Once the lt comes I’m going to drink mini bottles of white star (a “thank you for cleaning up after my party” gift from Bec Z) and watch the sunset at the point with Matt.

The photos are

1- This little auberge called Cafe Krieghoff where we stayed in Quebec city.

2- Me at the chute Montemorancy.

3- Me and Matt on the ferry to Levis.

I hope you're all having wonderful wonderful summers. I miss each of you, as well as the group as a whole.

TILLEY: COME FOR HALLOWEEN.

Anyone interested in going up to Ithaca in the autumn time??

xoxo

OMG. If I come back for Halloween...

...can we get together and dress up like this:
Harajuku Sewing Night by Bluelily

I want to go to there...

Laduree - Paris, France

Music for Lazy Sunday(s)

Hola! Been neglecting this blog :) So here are several Sunday videos all at once!

From Becca/Abby/Abby's Dad:

Hello,

As some of you may know, I am involved with a non-profit that links schools in Africa with those in the U.S, with the goal of improving lives through improved education and increased understanding across cultures. The Mpambara-Cox Foundation (mcoxfoundation.org) has begun by linking 21 schools in rural southwestern Uganda, home of the founder and president, with primary schools in Maryland and Kentucky.

In one of the Ugandan schools, Kengoma, a building with two classrooms recently collapsed and is now unusable. The Kindergarten and Primary 1 classes met there. Fortunately, it happened on a non-school day and no one was injured. But students have been forced to meet in a church around 2 kms away, and the daily meal the Foundation provides through its "10:30 Porridge Program" (which has increased attendance dramatically) has not been available to students due to a lack of adequate kitchen facilities in the new location. Ugandan government assistance is essentially unavailable - involving difficult bureaucratic channels that take inordinate amounts of time and often end up with unfinished, low-grade buildings.

So I have taken on the challenge of spearheading an effort to rebuild the school. I'd like to invite you and others you know to be partners in the project. The cost of rebuilding the collapsed building is estimated at $5,000 US. If you are interested in helping, please donate $10 (yes, only $10!) and/or forward this request on to a few of your friends who might want to help. We hope to reach the 500 or so people needed (factoring in processing fees) through one another's network of friends. Pictures of the pre-collapsed school and its students can be seen at http://mcoxfoundation.org/index.php/photo-gallery (click the Kengoma link). And the online donation can be made at http://mcoxfoundation.org/index.php/donations. All contributions are tax-deductible. Please be sure to check the KENGOMA School box to ensure the donation goes to that school.

All contributors will receive pictures of the collapsed school building and eventually the new one, along with a simple final report. No contributors will be put on mailing lists. The MCF director will be in Uganda from mid-July to mid-August and I hope she will be able to announce in person to the Kengoma community that funds for the classrooms are available and construction can begin immediately. It will be a very big deal for them.

This is also an experiment of sorts to see if social networking can be used as effectively for humanitarian purposes as it can for spreading jokes and urban legends. So, you can further pseduo-social science research while helping meet an important community and educational need in a very poor country. What more could you want for $10? The research results will be included in the brief final report sent to contributors. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Jim Rotholz