I had a great three days in (or commuting to or from) Chicago, and it was much needed. I had been thinking about making a visit to the city itself for a while, but Emma drew me in last week with an invitation to a cocktail party (for the Young Democrats of America) and discounted Sean Paul concert at a bar called The Shrine, which opened a few months ago. She told me on Tuesday, and I decided to come on Thursday to beat some of the crowds and return Saturday night. I immediately had a lot of planning to do. It was a short trip, and I didn’t do or see everything I wanted to or spend too much time with Em, but that leaves more for next time.
I hope you were able to (and chose to) participate in Earth Hour on Saturday in some capacity. EarthHour.org says that 4,085 cities in 88 countries participated. WAY TO GO!
Check out some before-and-after photos from cities around the world. Click on each photo to fade from lights on to lights off. Very cool. There are some more great pictures at National Geographic.
Take part in what could be the largest international initiative of all time! Turn off unneeded lights for one hour on Saturday, March 28 at 8:30 PM wherever you happen to be, and participate in the third annual worldwide Earth Hour. Entire cities and organizations around the world, including UN Headquarters across the globe, are participating in this extraordinary event. Show your concern for the resources we share and our need to combat climate change caused by global warming by simply shutting down the energy-draining stuff you aren’t using for one hour on one day. And even better, download an Earth Hour poster, take it to your local coffee shop or café, and get others involved. Convince your local organizations, churches, and companies to raise awareness and do their part–what’s your excuse not to?
In the news…Bernie Madoff is some kind of sleazebag, obviously. He’s going to get some serious punishment. He’s “very sorry”…that he got caught. Good riddance. I’d be interested to see what they find out about others potentially aiding and abetting his so-called “Ponzi scheme” (soon to be called the “Madoff swindle,” I’m sure). It seems unlikely that something like this could go on for so long without another person knowing about it or actively participating.
I was delighted to recently learn about how doodling can help one concentrate on NPR; I may start doing it when I feel myself losing focus on something I’m listening to.
I’ve obviously been doing things other than blogging here (I used the word “blog”–and as a VERB!!) for a few months now. I have a lot of ideas for my little jewelry business but haven’t had much time at all lately to work on jewelry. It will happen, though, I promise. I’m going to make a purchase soon of some more basic materials on a larger scale and start putting stuff together that I think others will like.
I plan to move this site to another host and update WordPress and things like that on the back end–that’s one reason I haven’t been updating it lately. Anyway, this post is meant to catch you up on what I’ve been up to recently.