lunch with our neighbors (holiday party #6)

Second Helpings prepares 2900 meals every day that we send to 50 other social service agencies. We don't charge the agencies for the service, so they can use their money for their program. We deliver the food hot and ready to eat, and the agencies serve it to their clients. I always say that we serve the people that are serving the people. Today we got to directly serve our neighbors.

Horizon House is one of my favorite other agencies and is right across the street from us. They are a day shelter for homeless people. They offer medical, dental and mental health care, clothing, showers, laundry facilities, literacy classes and employment counseling, computers, telephones and a place to store your stuff.

When I managed the coffeehouse in our city market, I would let people stash their belongings and use our telephone. Can you imagine how hard it would be to find a job when you're carrying a trash bag and have no contact information? And can you imagine leaving all of your worldly possessions in the hands of a stranger?

Today we served our neighbors lunch. One of our graduates did a great job coordinating the meal for 400 people. Our staff served the food and our volunteers joined the staff and clients of Horizon House for dinner. It is heart wrenching to hear the stories of the neighbors. I ate lunch with a man who had a degree from Purdue, lot his job, was in a horrible car accident, had no insurance or family support and lost everything. He was trying to scrape up money for a bus ticket to Lafayette where he still had friends (I have it from a credible source that he has the money to get there now). I also sat next to a very charming guy that told me Jesus told him to leave the Dominican Republic and come to Indiana, things were a little fuzzy from there.

It was an honor to share lunch with them everyone.

nuvo winter celebration (holiday party #5)

The NUVO party was a blast, I'm just sorry I did not get there sooner. I was home working on three pieces that were due for the paper and trying not to touch my new iPhone.

Yes sir, I did it. The Apple store at the fancy mall makes it so easy. There is a concierge dude that greets you at the door. I told him what I wanted, he steered me to a desk stacked with the magical phones. I handed him my debit card, he swooped it on his hand-held scanner and asked if I wanted a paper receipt or to have it emailed to me. I chose email (save a tree), he punched my email address in to his scanner, handed me the bag and I walked out. I think the whole transaction took three minutes. It was so easy it felt a little dirty. I ran out to my truck clutching the bag to my chest and drove home. Then I made myself not open the box. Do you know how hard that was?

The one thing that launched me back out to the cold night was knowing that Kim would be there. It was fun to see her and she's thoughtfully saved me a seat - and a brownie.

The program featured a talent show. When we were all asked a few weeks ago to participate, I didn't think that I had anything to offer. Too late, I got the idea to do an old fashioned 4-H demonstration - how to make toffee or something. I think that Kim and I could do a kick-ass home ec. presentation. Next year, watch out!

JP the editor of NUVO performed a great classic piece. Of course I have no idea what it is called. My education is seriously lacking in that area. I can show you the proper way to measure a cup of flour, but could not name an opera song (aria?) if my new iPhone depended on it -did I tell you that I got an iPhone? Anyway, Jim did both parts - the woman and the man. He did an amazing job and the costume was fabulous.

Here is a photograph of Wayne (Kim's BF) with a six pack of party favor beer. Of course I had to juggle my bottle of wine and brownie to get the shot.

I'm glad that I went - the party was in the spirit of the paper. Quirky, chock-full of talent and outside the box.

merry mingle (holiday party #4)

The Ad Club's Merry Mingle party benefited Second Helpings. I've never been to this event, because, well, I'm not in advertising. As it turned out I knew plenty of folks there. I had a good time mingling and being merry. Pictured is Ken Honeywell, founder of the Tonic Ball, KL, from the radio show and her amazingly beautiful and nice friend JH. I bought a year's worth of Arni's pizza at the silent auction. Yummy, that will be good for my diet.

I've had serious iPhone fever for about a week. I really wanted one when they first came out but made myself wait. KL got one a couple of weeks ago and now that I've gotten to hold one in my little mitts the fever is worse. Several people at the party had one, which did not help my not spending money resolve. I'm justifying the possible purchase with a couple of things; I've never paid for a cell phone, always gotten the freebies (my current phone has no camera or fancy features) and I don't have an iPod. So really, I've been saving up for this moment - right?

I did the same thing with a camera and a computer. Crappy, out-dated stuff to excellent new-technology-and both of those purchases have worked out well.

How late is the Apple store open?

guild holiday meeting (holiday party #3)

I am a Guild member, and no one is more surprised than me. The Guild supports the programs of this community center. I love the center and everything it does.

The Guild was established in 1908 and has a rich history in the community. The House was the first settlement house in the city, started in 1905. The Guild gave the House over $90,000 last year to help with utilities, repairs and general expenses. As you can imagine, this unrestricted gift is a huge help to the running of the House. The members also put a lot of volunteer time in at the House. I love it that Second Helpings provides food for the senior program.

Our holiday meeting was held at this lovely home which is currently featured in a glossy home magazine. Okay, you've all see pictures of Chez Pez - my half of the house would fit into the kitchen of his house. As you can guess, I'm not the typical Guild member. Of the 68 active members, I'm the only single one and one of the few without children - or a home big and fancy enough to host a Guild meeting.

I've really struggled with my six year commitment to the Guild. I was ready to resign last year (my first year), but I decided to stick it out one more year. Then they made me a board member. Arrgh. I have a hard time making it to meetings, they are all at 9:30 in the morning which is smack in the middle of my busy time at work. Most of the members live in a suburb of Indianapolis, which is a good 45 minutes from work. So for me to attend a meeting I'm gone from work for at least 4 hours. A lot of times I'll take a vacation day to go to a meeting.

That said, I think the Guild does wonderful work - and I'm proud, albeit a little confused as to why, to be part of them. I've learning some valuable lessons, meeting some great people and getting a peek in to some swanky homes.

b&t radio show party (holiday party #2)

You can hear my friend KL every morning, all over the country on this syndicated radio show. She invited me to be her guest to their Christmas party at a comedy club on Monday night.

She suggested that I arrive as close to 6:00 as I could, since the party started right on time. I had a Tonic Ball wrap-up meeting at the same time, so I didn't arrive at the party until almost 8:00. The food was gone, but The Jazz Kitchen was the caterer so the owner Dave hooked me up with some delicious pasta and a chocolate covered strawberry. The JK and my old coffeehouse were good neighbors, sharing kitchen space and parking lots.

I took my plate in to the main room and squeezed in to a seat at K's table. It just happened that I was sitting next to the manager of the station. B and T were on stage thanking everyone and such. The guys mentioned some names of people that were no longer at the station and people were clapping for them. The station manager was sitting quietly during that. I leaned over and whispered"you fired them, didn't you?" He nodded "yes."

As you can guess, the entertainment for the evening was comedy. The comedian was very funny, I love his history stuff.

After the comedian the party cleared out - after all, they do have to be on the air by 6:00. I got a chance to talk to DM, the producer of the show. He was telling folks that I was his friend first, but KL stole me.

The party favors looked like fun, but I missed them - I did snag a cool B&T coffee mug.

I got a real glimpse in to KL world on Saturday night. She emceed the Bloomington, IN stop of the B&T comedy tour. I got to see the very swanky (ha) green room, chicken wings and all.

I got to meet the other comedians on the bill and hang out for the backstage "meet and greet."

KL kicks off the show with a 10 minute stand up routine. She did an amazing job! I loved sitting in the audience and hearing people laugh.

All of the comedians were good and they all had great bits. My favorite joke was from this guy:

Did you hear that Elizabeth Edwards was in a car accident?

She veered too far Left and ran in to Dennis Kucinich.

I might have been one of the few in to the political humor, the biggest laughs were reserved for this sellin'-his-boat-call-his-pager-ladies-man. Had I not known that he was the nice guy that I was talking to earlier. He and his lovely wife have four children. His character plays a well-intentioned redneck - swear to god, he does. I'll tell him right to his face.

After the show they all signed autographs in the lobby of the theatre. KL and DB had the longest lines. K signed photographs, talked on answering machines and posed for pictures.

santa otis (holiday party #1)

This month's posts will be dedicated to holiday activities. With four jobs and at least at many volunteer commitments I get to do a lot of celebrating.

I kicked off the month by attending a house concert last Friday. House concerts are a terrific way to see music. A house concert is, well, a concert in a house. All of the money goes directly to the musician. Everyone is there to listen, so you don't have to worry about bar chatter, smoke cappuccino machine or smoke. This series is run by Cary Alan Fields, who hosts a bluegrass radio show. Everyone brings a snack to share --I brought two cases of beer and Bad Influence Girl brought hummus and pita bread. Who's the bad influence, really? The woman who opens her house to all of us always makes soup. Any good concert needs soup.



My friend, Otis Gibbs was the performer this month. Otis told stories between songs, and he has some good stories - being mistaken for a homeless man in Germany, meeting folks at a hobo camp in the West, eating nothing but boiled peanuts for 14 days earlier this year during a Southern tour and standing on the Charles Bridge in Prague on Valentine's Day one year.

His music is even more amazing than his tales. Karlov Most, the song written about the Charles Bridge is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. He also played a good dose of his music from his Christmas album, Once I Dreamed of Christmas. Classics such as Lloyd the Reindeer, Crap for Christmas and Carl and Mavis. The songs are a fun look at the holidays. He also wrote some beautiful Christmas songs, Color Wheel about his grandmother's tree and Little Red Nose a sweet song about his girl.

Otis is starting a European tour this week, I'll miss getting my annual Christmas photograph with him. I have six Polaroid snapshots lined above the bulletin board in my office. Its a good measure of hair styles and weight gain (mine, not Otis')

It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.

See the video below to hear Otis singing Karlov Most. The sound quailty is not great.

santa otis (holiday party #1, part 2)

Otis singing Karlov Most