Summer, summer, summertime...

Holy shit, friends. It has been way too long. Here goes with the update...

I think the last time I wrote was May-ish, so I'll begin with June. The first weekend of June I made a 5.5 hour drive to Charleston, West Virginia, to attend a wedding with Dave. The wedding itself was sort of lame, but it was cool to meet Dave's parents and see where he is from. The highlight was that we made shark tanks for his parents and ourselves. The Kruskas loved them. All in all it was a really fun weekend, and I came home stocked with some frozen fish, recipes for hummus and mojitos, a bottle of oil for my car, and a cd of pictures from the weekend. Too cute. The second weekend of June a group of us went to Fayetteville, WV, to go white water rafting with the one-and-only JJ Gregg. He is currently spending the summer being a river guide for a rafting company there. It was really interesting to see him in action. He seems especially calm in the wilderness, which is cool, but he's definitely become a "rafting dude," if you know what I mean. It was another six hour drive each way, but it was a really really incredible weekend. The thing I realized over these two weeks is that I miss the wilderness TREMENDOUSLY.

Which brings me to the second half of June, which I spent in ESPANA with my mom and aunt. This one's for you, Alicia. I'll begin by saying that my flights got completely jacked, and I almost didn't make it to Madrid, but the basic goodness of a couple of true Samaritans got me aboard that plane. We spent our first weekend in San Sebastian, in the Basque region, where my brother was studying for 5 weeks. It was a gorgeous little town with some absolutely beautiful beaches. This was the only time of the trip that we saw my brother, so it was especially cool to see him speaking the Spanish and showing us around. He introduced me to a new drink, the calimocho (kalimotxo) = Coca-Cola and red wine. It's a little gross.


After San Sebastian, we flew to Barcelona, my personal favorite of our main destinations. The highlight there was seeing all of the Gaudi architecture. That man was trippy. Also, we did a cheesy but really enjoyable bike tour of the city that concluded on the beach with lunch and beer (for me) and sangria (for my mom and aunt). I got a sweet painting from one of the vendors on La Rambla (which, truth be told, was a little too crazy for my liking). While in Barcelona, we took a sweet half day trip to Montserrat, home to a tiny little monestary tucked away amid some spectacular cliffs. It was really cool to get out of the city and see some of the Spanish wilderness (did I mention that I love that stuff?).



From Barcelona we went to Madrid, where we did a lot more museum-ish stuff (i.e. the Prado). Madrid was fun, but felt a lot more like a standard city than the other places we had been. From Madrid, we took a day-trip to Toledo, which I loved just because of the layout of the city and the fact that they have preserved the architecture for so long. This is an absurdly superficial recap of my trip, but that's all I can handle in blog format. My favorite things to eat were vegetable paella & Manchego cheese with bread, both of which I enjoyed on multiple occasions. Believe it or not, my mom and aunt drank more alcohol than I did. They were trying to order wine at every meal, and I was like, WATER, it's hottttt. I didn't explore the nightlife at all, since we were abiding by the "early to bed, early to rise" rule, which was fine by me. All in all it was a really great trip. Thank you Alicia for the tips!



Life after Spain has been good as well. It has been really nice to be in DC for a few weekends in a row, instead of constantly traveling about (see: June). The one-and-only Kate Holley came down for a 5-day visit over the Fourth of July, so it was super sweet to get to hang with her and enjoy a nice balance of outdoor activities and R&R. Work is really good, except for a couple of things: 1) my best work friend, Lily, had her last day of work on Wednesday of this week; and 2) because so many investigators are leaving this summer, we are down from 8 investigators to 4 until we can hire some replacements. So work has been a little off the hook, but I still love it. I'm off tomorrow (Friday) because I worked a ton last weekend, and we have the best weekend ever planned. Dan Flynn is here for a day, so he and I are grabbing some breakfast, and then Julia and I are going shopping at the outlet mall, and then a huge group of us is going to see Harry Potter. Tomorrow we are spending the day at the pool, and we're having an awesome house bash tomorrow night. And Sunday will be Sunday. Should be a good time. All of the roommates are doing exceptionally well. Danny Arevelo got a job in DC (!), so he's living with us temporarily until he can find his own place. So that's pretty much the news here.

I hope all is well with everyone. Keep up the good work at life and etc.

Love,
L.Staley

B-Day Plus 12....

Hola Tod@s,

You have no idea how much my title for this blog post cracked me up. Perhaps that makes me a nerd, but perhaps making puns on historical events is an art form, and I'm freakin' Monet!

I promised that I would update folks on my birthday happenings here in the NYC, so here it goes...

Wednesday, June 10th: Se Hace Camino Nueva York (my non-profit) was having a benefit to raise money for our Youth Power internships this summer. The gala's theme was "Borinquen Pride" to coincide with the Puerto Rican day celebrations that are ubiquitous with the month of June in Nueva York. The gala had a variety of performers reppin' the PR--spoken word, hip-hop, traditional song and dance, etc. It was an awesome time. The space was also very cool, but perhaps a little too "hip" for my taste. The layout for the place consisted of booths and tables surrounded by pools of black water that you had to cross this mini-bridges to get to. It was aptly named "Galapagos"...

Thursday, June 11th: My office bought me a delicious ice-cream cake. True story: I've had ice-cream cake for the past 10 years on my birthday, once I realized that it is the most superior type of cake. After work, I met my roommates at a locale called "Burrito Bar" which aptly serves burritos and has excellent drink specials.

A quick aside: I don't get along very well with my roommates, so it was a bit awkward to have them be the only folks in close proximity to celebrate my b-day with me. However, it was not as bad as I had imagined, but three margaritas probably helped that some, too.

Friday, June 12th: I attended a rooftop party in Harlem with my friends in the other JV communities. This was my favorite of all the festivities listed so far. There was bbq, cake, dancing, and beer. All the crucial elements necessary for good times. I haven't had a "birthday party" like this since high-school because as you all know, my b-day falls in the summer and so since I'm not with friends my celebrations in the past few years have tended to be a bit more "low-key". This party, however, hearkened me back to Xavier days in a good way, and was absolutely perfect (except for the wicked hang-over the next morning and having to take a two-hour train ride home from Harlem...damn you local-only stops!).

And now here I am, with a little over six weeks to go in my JVC program. Truth be told, I'm feeling very ready for the year to be over. I know that I will miss my job very much--my co-workers and the clients that I see, but things are reaching a breaking point within my community, and I will not be sad to leave that unnecessary drama behind next year. I'm not sure yet if I will miss living in New York--I have a pretty strong love/hate relationship with this place, but I know myself enough to know that right now, living here is not what I need. I'm still looking for jobs (damn recession!), but I feel confident that I will find something relatively soon, and in the meanwhile I need to start prepping for the LSAT so that Law School: 2010 can become a reality.

Alicia: I hope things are going well for you in Texas (if that's where you are right now...I'm not sure. If you're not in Texas NOW then I hope things go well for you when you get there.)
Sean: Mall of America?!? I was puzzled and confused, but when you spoke about shoes everything was right in the world again.
Staley: Hope Espana is everything I hope it is and more. I also hope you're picking up ethnic handicrafts for a certain someone....(I mean me!)
Mikey: Thanks for all of your guitar help of late. You are my Eric Clapton.

Peace and Love,
Kate

Summer in the Cities

What's up? Time for an update from one of your Northern correspondents.

Let's start with....

School Stuff

This semester was better in almost every way than the one in the fall. Of course, it helped just being used to grad school, but I had other things going for me, too. Two of my classes were continuations from the previous semester, but with professors that I liked better and helped me learn better. And then I replaced my worst class from the fall with an Intro to Particle Physics, my first real class in what I plan on doing research in, so that was good (even if there was too much focus on experiment over theory for my taste).

I think that there were points during the fall semester that I somewhat doubted my abilities. I felt myself getting lost with the material. I think some of my classmates were better prepared than I was, at least in terms of the material that they had covered in undergrad. I was also a little afraid that maybe I didn't have it in me to really crack down and do the work that I had to succeed.

But passing the qualifying exam in January convinced me that I was smart enough, and that I could put in the work I needed to. That confidence was important, because my classes, while good, were tough, including the dreaded Jackson Electrodynamics, which is sort of a hazing ritual that all physics grad students go through.

The one way in which this semester was not better was in terms of sleep. I worked hard, but maybe not as efficiently as I could have, which led to far too many nights with five hours of sleep or less. But it all paid off, as I got all A's, after getting no A's last semester. And, not to toot my horn too much, apparently my teaching skills were appreciated, as I was awarded an Outstanding Teaching Assistant award.

Which brings us to...
Summer

This summer I am doing research, working on a project with one of the professors I had this semester and an older grad student. The short description of this project would be "The Frenetic Dance of the Subatomic Particles: Now in 5 Dimensions." More specifically, I have derived and am trying to solve an equation for the masses of some particles. If the masses match experiment, it would lend support to this model that they have developed. More details available upon request. Or maybe you'll get more details even if you don't want them ;) The research is going well so far, and I'm pretty excited for my work for the rest of the summer.

The great thing about the summer research is that I have no homework. So that means that when I leave work, my time is my own. What a concept! I've enjoyed this strange new experience of being able to do fun things on my nights and weekends. Recently, these have included playing basketball with my fellow physicists once a week, going to several end-of-the-year parties with Alicia's fellow program members, and catching up on the Harry Potter saga with Alicia. (Yes, I'm a little late to this phenomenon. And yes, I am taking the cheap way out by watching the movies, but I want to be caught up by the time the new movie comes out. I'll read them eventually.)


This week, Alicia is out of town for a retreat with her program. So I did what any guy would do when his girlfriend goes out of town: I went to the Mall of America to go shoe shopping. Okay, maybe I'm unusual in this regard, but you guys know how it is. It had been a long time since I had even been in a shoe store, and I can't begin to tell you how exciting it was to walk into the first of SIX shoe stores with a 100 dollar bill burning a hole in my pocket. I was like a head chef inspecting the local market for the best ingredient for his dish, inspecting all possibilities. Although the shopping was fun, I eventually had to settle on a choice: Nike Air Force Ones, Olympic edition:

A classic with a fresh twist. For the side items, I picked up some sneaker protectant and some socks, plus a couple of nerd rap CDs for good measure. Quite a spending spree, but let me put it in some perspective: the 100 dollar bill that I spent was a graduation gift... from high school.

Well, that's the end of my haphazard thoughts for tonight. And just before the official summer solstice! (12:34 AM CDT, I believe) Time for bed. I promise that I wont take as long for my next update.

Love you all!

Summertime!

Hello Mis Amigos,

I figured it was about that time again...the time for a KATE HOLLEY BLOG POST! Try to calm your rapidly beating hearts from the excitement they are feeling.

Many things have been happening in my life of late, so let me just go through a few of them. I don't know if I will be doing this chronologically because although I was a history major, my mind doesn't necessarily always work in a chronological fashion. I will try my best, though, so as to not be so confusing.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I took a mini-road trip (everything is "mini" on the East Coast) to Portland, Maine. The Portland JVC community throws a party every year over the long weekend, and I had it in my head that I must attend--mostly because who the hell goes to Maine? To answer my question, apparently MANY PEOPLE because Maine's nickname is "Vacationland".

The ride was not as enjoyable as road trips have been in my past. I went with two JV's from the Newark community--JV's that I did not know particularly well beforehand. I guess it could have been more hellish than it was, but not by much. Firstly, my driver just got a new Blackberry Storm (I know the name because she continually referenced it...) and proceeded to text people/check facebook/send e-mails whilst driving!!! She swerved into other lanes at least 5 times before her roommate asked her to stop. I, not knowing what was happening, clutched at the dashboard for safety (a classic "mom" pose). Oh and the music they made me listen to...I heard the entirety of the Brittany Spears "CIRCUS" CD. I also heard all the back stories behind the different songs. Apparently these women know their Brittany.

Once I got to Maine, though, it was wonderful. Portland is a beautiful city, and the JV's were incredibly hospitable. I went to downtown Portland, the fish market, and a brewery where I bought a t-shirt to document that I indeed DID go to Maine. We had a kick-ass BBQ and party on Saturday night, including much dancing and even a little guitar playing. Mikey, it was nothing compared to you, but it was fun and definitely made me feel nostalgic.

The next weekend, I visited the Xavier folk in DC. It was, as it always is, an excellent time. We did the traditional visit things: wine, episodes of M*A*S*H, and delicious brunch. I look forward to seeing them again on my next visit around 4th of July times...

Rob and Molly visited the weekend after that and it just so happened to coincide with the peak of my luckiness. Let me explain...the Friday that they came, I managed to school three reserved tickets for the Daily Show. THAT NEVER HAPPENS! The Daily Show books up months and months in advance, and it is incredibly rare to just stumble onto their website and acquire three tickets, but I did! Woot. I also scored front row lottery seats for my favorite musical, In the Heights! It was magical. I laughed, cried, made crazy faces that Rob mocked me about for the rest of their trip. We also went to the Museum of Natural History, which was very enjoyable because you can looked at a vast array of stuffed mammals and dinosaur bones. I think it would have been more fun if I was 7, but it was hilarious to watch the 7-year olds enjoying themselves.

Hmmm. I've written a lot already, so I guess I'll save my b-day stuff for the next post. Perhaps I will write it tomorrow, while I'm up at our office in Queens and have nothing to do. At least I'm hoping I don't have much to do...keep your fingers crossed!

I hope all is well with all of you. I have plans for visiting all of you in your respective cities at some point in the next year--some sooner than others, of course, but I am really going to TRY HARD next year to get up to Minneapolis!

Peace and Love,
Kate

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello my wonderful A-Team,

It has been much to long since I wrote an update on here. Although it has been even longer for Sean. Tsk tsk. :)

Hmm...let's see. May highlights include my birthday week. That was really nice, because with all the different celebrations it turned into nearly a week. My housemates and I (and Sean) had a cookout on a nice Saturday evening as my birthday dinner, which was a lot of fun. Except for the pesky neighborhood kids who wouldn't leave us alone to eat in peace. But anyway, there was beer and burgers and grilled veggies and all sorts of goodies. Yummy. The staff at Holy Rosary also made our staff lunch on my actual birthday in my honor. (As is custom to celebrate birthdays at our monthly staff lunch.) It was even complete with a Bratz tablecloth. Classy, I know. Sr. Margaret gave me some really pretty flowers though that sat on my desk for the week as I was playing secretary that month. I'm quite glad that the playing secretary was over once it came time to give that spot up again, but it was nice to have a set of rather mindless tasks to do. Anyway, then Wednesday night Sean took my out to dinner for Indian food, yum yum! Oh, and he bought me a bike for my birthday, which I absolutely love. I've been riding it ever since, and it is light-weight and fast and just stupendous. :)

Then not too long after that I went home for nearly a week because my sister Kaylin graduated from high school. That made me feel old, to think that was me five years ago. Plus it was weird seeing people from my high school class (who also had graduating siblings) that I hadn't seen in those five years. It was nice to be home though and just relax. I got to see some of my good high school friends, and I helped my mom set up for and throw my sister's graduation party on Memorial Day. Our house was PACKED. I guess hers was the only party on Memorial Day evening, because everyone showed up. She really had a good time. I also had the chance that Saturday to see Miss Christine Klymko. Melinda had a soccer tournament in Dayton, so I drove her down for her game on Saturday, and since Christine was in Cincinnati for her cousin's graduation, we met up in Dayton at the soccer fields. It was a really good, although rather short, visit. It made me miss Xavier and good times just spent hanging out quite a lot. The rest of my visit home was good, although I did not enjoy the two full days spent traveling. The Amtrak ride wasn't bad, and the Megabus is a good value (even if it does bounce you around a lot), but it takes a lot out of you energy-wise.

My last day of work at Holy Rosary was last Friday. It was kind of weird. I don't think it quite hit me until Friday. I don't think my head knew what to think or feel. In some ways I was happy to be going. I'm really excited for what is to come, and the work had been getting kind of tedious. But in other ways I will really miss that place. The fellow staff are fantastic to work with, and I will really miss working with the people.

I think the greatest thing that I will have taken away is more of a cultural awareness and respect for what is. When I first arrived, the nuns really indoctrinated us with their charism, the main statement of which is "loving God and neighbor without distinction". (Hence why they ditched the habit many years ago - it draws a distinction between them and others.) Anyway, having this charism makes them really big on what they call ministry of presence, as in going into people's neighborhoods, living with them, and just being. Kind of like solidarity, although even that still carries a connotation of being separate/unequal. I think that aspect of ministry and work has really been churning in my mind, and I'm still trying to work through what it means for me. I'm sure I will get a lot of it when I go to Texas in a few weeks, as part of my "job" is just being around the house and talking to people. But this idea of being present is why my house is in the neighborhood that it is in. Not only is it convienent because it is close to our work sites, but we are also in many ways living among the people we are serving. Anyway, I have many musings about this that would take forever to type, so perhaps instead we should have a conversation about it at some point.

Oh, last Thursday for the last day of the after-school program we took the kiddies to the zoo. I think they really enjoyed it, even if it was super crowded!

I will for sure miss them. It's never a dull moment being around kids!

This week I've got the Power Summit camp that we've been preparing for high school students. The theme is ironically immigration, so it should be interesting. The planning thusfar has seemed rather vague to me, so I haven't really been able to get to excited about it, but hopefully when I dive in tomorrow morning I will enjoy it!

I guess that is all for me for now. I'll leave you with some evidence to prove that Minnesota is quite beautiful this time of year. (so you should visit..cough cough) :)

Peace and love!!

That video is scary...scary...stuff!


But also funny.

Peace to all,
Kate

Nostalgia...

I was thinking about the events of the year past and purusing through my old photos. I stumbled upon this video from January of 2008. I thought you would all enjoy it. :)

Much love!!!