Obama girl?

so the famous bikini clad Obama girl, who sung about her crush on Obama and went viral on Youtube as she garnered huge support for him during the presidential campaign, has now stated that she's fallen out of love with him. Obama girl set a press conference to complain about how Obama has focused too much on reforming health care in the U.S. and she doesn't understand why and thinks it's pointless when money could have instead been diverted to strengthening the american economy...shoppers unite! Sorry, but what a dumbass. Anyone who voted for Obama because of Obamagirl deserves to be led by Crusty the clown.

leaning tower of visa

we finally got the visa for my colleague who's had a hell of a time with administrative lollygagging. More than a week late we're now book and paid to fly on thursday. see you all in bloggyville from a Caribbean IP address... It's a bit funny. When i mention to friends that I'm going to the Caribbean, most have no idea that I'll be sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag with mosquito netting, drinking water purified with chlorine pills, and treating the ailments of 41,000 earthquake refugees within a small secured area. I hope I can really do my part there.

the daily post...

As part of the agreement for sponsoring our flights to Haiti, I'm going to be responsible for some daily reporting of the situation on the ground and our work there. It needs to be readable by my work colleagues, so I'll probably set up another blog and will post a link here so anyone who reads my meandering thoughts and periodic fits of lovelorn anxiety can follow me in professional mode on the Haiti blog. Watch this space for a brand spanking new link :-)

i gotta feeling...

so everythings in place to leave for Haiti with one exception. We're waiting to receive Visa's for our colleagues in the phillipines who are joining us at a meeting point in the U.S. before we journey together to the dominican republic and then to Haiti. I'm supposed to leave on thursday.

finding the stress balls

Years ago I picked up a gift for my brothers in China. It was two beautiful little red boxes, embossed with traditional chinese designs, containing two perfectly round silver balls each. When you placed the balls in your hands you could turn them over and over with your palm and feel a light tinkling inside. The motion if handling the balls, the feeling of smooth, cold, metal, and the light vibration from the tinkling sound was supposed to bring relaxation and stress relief. Since my brothers were wrapped in asian martial arts culture at the time, I thought it might be an apt present. It was a little superfluous for them, to some extent, because the martial arts was the larger stress relief. But they did actually enjoy playing with them for a long while after I brought them as a gift.

I'm stressing today as the rain comes down and there's much on my mind.

Later tonight, I'm headed to a "Call for Action" roundtable on improving health for Arab women in Israel which will take place in Jaffa. I spread the word to many of my friends who will be attending sessions as well. I hope they have a good turn out for the larger conference because the planned agenda looks fascinating and is a perfect opportunity for civic mobilization in the furtherment of coexistance.

friends of ours?

The Israeli ZAKA (emergency rescue and first aid team) that handles recovery of remains, flew directly to HAITI after a mission in Mexico and has been working almost non-stop since arrival. their only break was taken last shabbat when they paused to break bread and drink wine with colleagues from egypt and qatar... Disaster breeds anarchy, chaos, and... cross cultural closeness?

esthers lesson

"For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?....."

so basically we owe it to ourselves and the world to do something and not sit idly by when things disintegrate around us. Even more so when we have a "royal position" ie. a skill set or a comfortable state in life that allows us to reach a little bit further.