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…
Category: Travel
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…
A Fantastic Weekend with the Brooklyn Quakers up at Powell House
I'm sure I will have more coherent comments about the past three days once I've had some more sleep and time to think about it. For the moment, let me just say that this weekend totally rocked. I was up in the beautiful retreat center run by the Quakers called Powell House along with about…
Update on My “Bay Area or Bust” Plans in 2011: Roadtrip, Anyone?
It's slowly been floating around my social networks that I'm planning to move back to Cali in early 2011, after my original post about this in August. I truly appreciate everyone's concern and helpfulness through this complicated process. So I thought I should update you all on my thought processes and plans so far. It's…