Building the Exploratorium Day 1: Spread it On

4 Mar

When the Boy and I first moved to the Boston area, we’d spend our weekends exploring the area, trying to get a feel for our new home.

It’s been a few years now, and while we’re more used to this place, we’ve gotten into our everyday routines and have forgotten to keep exploring.

I’ve decided to take a week and try something new every day. Whether it’s going to a new place or even taking a different route, I’d like to try to expand my world a little bit more and see what all is out there.

On Saturday I stopped at Samira’s Homemade, a place that makes Egyptian and Lebanese food. One of my friends has raved about their hummus. I’ve been on a bit of a hummus kick lately, so I decided to stock up a bit.

At Samira’s, I got my first taste of Ful Medammes, which simply put, is the Egyptian version of hummus. It’s made with fava beans instead of chickpeas, so it has a slightly different flavor. However, it’s equally as delicious, and I don’t think the container I got is going to last me very long. I also got a tub of sun-dried tomato and basil hummus, which makes celery sticks actually taste good to me.

Exploratorium Day 1 success. Here’s to hoping the rest of the week goes well!

Let the Bouting Begin!

22 Feb

This weekend I get the opportunity to don a pink polo shirt and take to the track in Connecticut to officiate my first roller derby bout of 2013. I’m so excited, especially since Boston’s season doesn’t get underway for a couple more weeks.

I haven’t worked a CT Rollergirls bout before, although I’ve worked with several of their officials, so with a new ruleset, some beta testing of officiating processes and the prospect of new officiating friends, I’m more than a little geeked.

What else is kind of cool? Being this month’s featured (non)Rollergirl for Boston. Nice way to start off what’s going to be a great season.

Stressing the Workout

15 Feb

workout

What’s been going on? What happened in 2012? A lot related to fitness.

I’ve been trying to lose weight for a while — joined a program, lost 23 lbs. Moved across the country, gained 13 of that back. I’ve since lost that 13 lbs. and a few more, and I’m down 30 lbs. from my all time high, which I bottomed out at nearly 6 years ago.

I’m still 15 lbs. away from my goal, and it’s been a frustrating journey. Don’t get me wrong–I’m proud of the fact that I weigh less. I’m proud of the fact that I look and feel healthier. But it’s been a slog–and whenever I see accounts of friends who’ve lost tons more weight in less than a year, it gets frustrating to stick with the goal and keep on keeping on, even though I’m moving at a snail’s pace.

Add to the slog was the fact that last year I sustained a stress fracture in my shin. This I earned from too much pounding — a decent amount of running, and a lot of jumping rope. I love jumping rope, and I’d worked up to being able to do about 23 minutes at a time. Sadly, the repetitive pounding took its toll.

Recovering from a stress fracture is–to be frank–a complete bitch. I have to be careful about how much pounding I do, to the point where I can’t wear certain shoes because the soles are too thick and it causes me a lot of pain. I have a lot of strengthening exercises to do too–those aren’t the problem. It’s the longing to run and jump that’s keeping me down. I’m allowed to do a run/walk program that’s supposed to slowly let me build up to 15 minutes of continuous running. I can’t do it as often as I’d like because the pain sometimes kicks in. I can jump rope–but only for 30 seconds at a time, lest the pain creep back in. I’ve had to find other forms of cardio, which are sometimes satisfying and sometimes not, depending on my mood. I love swimming, but I don’t always want to get wet, particularly in winter.

Still, when I’m careful, the healing continues. It’s required a lot of work, a lot patience with myself, and a lot of hope. Which might be what this year is going to be all about.

What Happened in the Last Year?

13 Feb

Whoa, Nellie! How did more than a year go by since I’ve last posted? I can tell you how:

Craziness.

My work picked up a bit in the last year (thank you, clients!), but I also invested a lot of time into my hobby, officiating roller derby.

Thanks mostly to roller derby, last year I traveled to 7 countries and was on 3 continents. I got Gold status on American. I got a few new cute outfits. I helped start a new committee. I wrote a lot of e-mails. And I did a lot of paperwork.

It’s been a blast, but this year I’m hoping to refocus on some creative endeavors that I started in 2011 and set aside for a while. This blog is one of them.

Over the next few weeks, I’d like to include some of the highlights from last year just to share how amazing it was, but I’d also like to keep moving forward and get back to what I like to do best: Entertain you with the written word.

Wait, It’s a New Year?

5 Jan

The last half of my 2011 can pretty much be summed up with this picture:

This is the year-at-a-glance wall calendar I referenced nearly every day, a Boston Derby Dames 2011 schedule, and the dates of the WFTDA 2011 Big 5 tournaments.

Sometimes simple tools are the best, and I really loved that wall calendar, which came as a bonus in an order of Field Notes (better than Moleskines!). I taped it to the shelf next to my desk and referred to it constantly. It was much quicker to reference it than my Filofax datebook or any online calendar. I bought the Field Notes 18-month work station calendar for 2012, but I’ve taped a different year-at-a-glance freebie right next to it, because I still find I need that quick day/date reference for events that are months down the road.

The Boston Derby Dames season ended well. Our July bout went from a doubleheader to a 4-bouts-in-3-days extravaganza that was a lot of fun, but challenging in terms of staffing Non-Skating Officials (NSOs) and moving people to different positions for each bout so that they got a lot of experience. The end of the season also marked the end of my time serving as Officiating Committee Co-Head. I learned a lot from doing that position and enjoyed building an officiating crew, but it’s time for someone else to lead the group on to bigger and better things.

The last little scrap of paper is the schedule for the 2011 “Big 5,” that is, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association regional and championship tournaments. Officials who want to work at these tournaments must apply months in advance and be vetted before receiving an invitation to officiate at them. I’d orignially applied to work as an NSO for Easterns, North Centrals and Championships, and I later applied for South Centrals as well. I ended up being a Crew Head NSO for Easterns and South Centrals and the Tournament Head NSO for North Centrals and Championships. Huge honor; ton of work; amazing experience.

Between my regular deadlines and my derby work, it meant that a lot of other stuff–like blogging–got pushed to the wayside. Still, that’s no excuse, so I’m hopping back on the wagon and hope to write here a little more frequently.

2011 was a great year in many respects, and  in terms of professional work, I was able to expand into new outlets, which has given me some more confidence, especially when you’re used to getting rejections. I’m hoping this confidence plus some hard work will make this year even better.

 

An Awesome Acceptance

13 Jul

It’s been a busy summer here in my little office (now declared a socks-free work zone for the summer). I’ve become a contributing editor at Avisian Publications, a trade publishing group that focuses on identity and authentication. I’ve been writing more fun pieces for HowStuffWorks.com. I’ve got a couple of other things in the pipeline. And I still don’t seem to have enough time to work on some ideas that are brewing in my head.

However, I wanted to share one specific story that published today. Ideally, I’d be writing a lot more humor, fiction, and essays, and I’m definitely trying to–it’s just that those markets are extremely competitive. Still, I’m pleased to announce that my humor piece “Business Plan for Slutty Dresses” was picked up by McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

I wrote that piece in an attempt to capture how I felt walking down the Las Vegas Strip during a recent trip. I didn’t want to write a straight travelogue, so I came up with the idea of the ultimate business for that part of the world. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you take a minute to read and enjoy it!

Rolling Through the Year

21 Apr

Yesterday I spent a little time updating the “Experience” portion of this website, and I noticed I hadn’t written a blog post in months. Months! Talk about a way to trigger some Calvinist guilt!

I spent a little time pondering about ways to rectify this situation. Because this is the place for my professional life, I don’t always know what to say beyond, “I’ve published this article!” or “I’m still working on that novel!” or “Another rejection?  That’s OK!!!!!” That gets a little boring (and like many writers, self-promotion is a little difficult for me).

I have been working though, which is nice. I’ve written a few more articles for HowStuffWorks.com and a trade publication for RegardingID. I’ve been pitching more ideas, which has kept me busy, but doesn’t necessarily give me any immediate bylines. Overall, the writing career is chugging along.

The other thing I’ve been focusing on is roller derby. I’m what they call a non-skating official for the Boston Derby Dames, a member of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Roller derby has skating referees and these non-skating officials (NSOs) who keep track of everything–score, penalties, lineups, etc. If you go to a Boston bout, you will most likely see me in the center, tracking or wrangling penalties. It’s crazy and hectic and fun. I love being an NSO–I love the tracking, the organizational aspect of it, the stats. I get to be the harmonizing aspect in officiating, and that’s what keeps me jazzed.

I’ve taken a pretty big leadership role within Boston’s officiating team, and that’s held my attention a lot this year. We have a bout every month, and I have to coordinate with Head Refs on staffing, staff the NSO side, make sure NSOs are properly trained, and do some of the post-bout data entry. It’s work, but I love doing it. I love the sport, I’m with a great league, and I get to work with some great officials. It’s incredibly rewarding.

Last Saturday, we had a doubleheader, with one bout against Philadelphia, and the other being two of our home teams. From an officiating standpoint, things went well, so I’m still riding that derby high. Hopefully it will last up to our next bout (May 14!  Shriners Auditorium! Wilmington, MA! Get your tickets now because all of our bouts this year have sold out!) and throughout the season. Ah, derby!

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Book of the Year

28 Dec

End of the year means it’s time for the traditional “best of” lists, and while I’ve been pouring over them, trying to figure out what to buy with my Christmas Barnes & Noble gift cards, I thought I’d join in and share what book made the most impact on me this year.

That book happens to be the delightful Booze Cakes by Krystina Castella and Terry Lee Stone.   I found a copy at my local library when I went on a little cake baking frenzy this year.  The recipe for Rum & Coke Whoopie Pies?  Has changed my life.  I’m building quite the reputation on these babies.

Needless to say, I had to buy my own copy of the book (and a couple for friends), and I’m more than pleased with it.  The authors also have done a really good job of laying out the book in a user-friendly way, and it’s written in a really fun tone.  I never really have gone for specialty cookbooks that focus on one subject, but this book has made me rethink having a shelf of general cookbooks.

If you like baking, and you like booze, this is the book for you.  Or if you like whoopie pies, find the book for that recipe alone (the authors give a booze-free version that makes it a kid-friendly treat, and believe me, kids LOVE this recipe).  Plus, it allows you to change the words in this song to make a fun “Booze Cakes” song:

Finishing Is Just the Beginning

3 Dec

Wheeeee!!!!  I finished a first draft of a novel, but that’s probably the easy part.  Now, it’s time to start editing and shaping it so that it’s in decent enough condition to send off to agents/publishers.  Even though I’ve taken a few days off to get some distance from it, I’m really looking forward to jumping back in and working on it.  And that is a very, very nice feeling.

Losing Work

22 Nov

The last couple of months have been interesting work-wise.  I’ve done some ghostwriting, picked up a an assignment about new mobile technology, and I’ve gotten a couple of fun assignments from HowStuffWorks.com.  I’ve also been participating in NaNoWriMo and will hopefully finish up a (very) rough draft of a novel in–oh–eight days (yikes!).

The one work-related bummer since my last post is that the Pieces site got hacked, and pretty much all of its content  is gone.  Sadly, even through the WayBack Machine and Google caching, I’ve been unable to recover the articles I’ve written for them since June.  It’s a little frustrating, but it’s a lesson in backing up your work.  If anyone has any other ideas on how to get those articles back, I’d appreciate it.

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