Just a quick check-in from the Taipei airport, where I have a layover before the last leg of my flight to Bali, Indonesia. I will be vacationing in Bali with my friends David and Kim for a week, taking in the sites, sunning at the beach, and hopefully snorkeling / scuba diving. I might even…
Category: Travel
Worshipping with Quakers in Palo Alto : Red Means Ministry!
This morning I continued my "spiritual tourism" of the Bay Area, visiting the lovely Palo Alto Quaker Meeting. A number of Friends recommended this community to me, knowing of my plans to relocate to the Bay. While it's probably too far to be my main Quaker home here, I thought it was still worth a…
Mole and I Chillin’ in Cali: From Snowstorms to Sunshine
So my cat Mole Negro and I took a fairly smooth and drama-free trip from Brooklyn to my mom's place in the Bay Area yesterday. Mole was a trooper, even when he had to be carried through the security scanner, suffered through a long and bumpy plane ride, and then a short drive to my…
Rik’s Absolutely Brooklyn-Biased “Best of New York” List
As the final days in New York City for me wind down, I'm thinking about all of my favorite things that I've enjoyed in my 15 years here. I think I've learned a few things about how to live life to its fullest in gotham city. So here's my very subjective "Best of New York"…
Bally’s Casino and Yehoodi Host $5K Swing Dance Contest: UPDATED
I'm excited to announce that this Thursday, January 13, Saturday, January 29 in Atlantic City, Bally's Casino in Atlantic City, in association with Yehoodi.com, will be hosting a swing dance contest and dance with $5,000 in prize money on the line! This event is completely unbelievable but true. Here's what you can expect: Six hours…
Visiting the San Jose Friend’s Meeting… and an Unexpected Memorial
The problem with memorial services is that the person being honored is not able to appreciate all the nice things that people are saying about her or him. At least, that' usually the way it goes. Today I visited the San Jose Friend's Meeting, a Quaker community that meets in the oldest Meetinghouse in California,…
Update on my Cali Move: January 28 Departure Date
The details are coming together about my big move to California in eary 2011. First off, I have a final castoff date: Friday January 28, 2011. That's when Mole Negro and I fly with the last of my stuff from NYC to the Bay Area.* Other news: Yes, there will be at least one send-off…
Awesome Picture of the New Global Kids OLP Team!
I love this photo of the new Online Leadership Program team at Global Kids! It was taken last Friday during our staff retreat up at the beautiful Dia Center for the Arts in Beacon, NY. That's of course our fearless leader Barry on the left, then Daria with one foot in the air, followed by…
Visiting the Kennedy Space Center, aka Heaven for Space Geeks
I’ve been a space geek for as long as I remember. When I was a child I had a book called Our Galaxy or something like that, with cool facts about planets, stars, galaxies, black holes and other astronomical phenomena. I read it like a million times. I had glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on my…
Resting and Recharging with the Brooklyn Quakers
This weekend I got to enjoy the company of 40-some Quakers in upstate New York for the 2010 Brooklyn Quaker Meeting Retreat, which I helped organize. It was one of those times that reaffirm everything that I love about Quakers as a community. The locale was the historic and quaint retreat center called Powell House…