Cool happenings back home

Brag time! Can't help but be proud of my grandfather, dad and all the team at TRC for the great job designing and building such a great looking building for downtown Bremerton ... and of my two (younger!) cousins for starting, not just any business, but a new clean technology development company, Distributed Energy Management, to be headquartered there!

New downtown Bremerton building gets its first three tenants

By Rachel Pritchett

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

BREMERTON — The new red-brick office building downtown with its signature rounded corner — unofficially called the Sixth and Pacific Building — is getting its first tenants.They include Group Health, a new clean-tech company called Distributed Energy Management, and an Edward Jones investment office.The Sixth and Pacific Building was built by Tim Ryan Construction and is owned by Tim Ryan Properties. It is across Pacific from the Norm Dicks Government Center and next to the Admiral Theatre.

Group Health Bremerton Behavioral Health Services, currently located off Kitsap Way and Highway 3 near a Dairy Queen, will relocate to the 44,000-square-foot building by the summer.It will occupy 6,000 square feet of space on the second floor of the four-story building.A Group Health spokeswoman said the new space is more accessible to mental-health patients referred from its medical centers in Silverdale, Port Orchard and Poulsbo.

“It’s just better access for our patients,” Katie McCarthy said.It is a lateral move for Group Health. It will occupy the same amount of space now, and its current staff will relocate but not expand.That staff includes four doctors, seven counselors, a psychologist and a nurse practitioner.Current patients will receive notices before the move is made.

Distributed Energy Management, which will occupy the entire top floor, is a “smart-grid” business that monitors the flow of electricity both at the user end and at the utility end to achieve better efficiency. The company was started last month by local brothers Jason and Peter Crabtree, and Jimmy Jia.

“We are very pleased to conclude our lease agreement with Tim Ryan, and look forward to establishing Bremerton and Kitsap County as a leader in clean-technology development,” said Peter Crabtree, DEM vice president.

Brian Galvin, DEM technology officer, said upgrades of electrical systems are urgently needed around the world, and his company plans to work with others in Western Washington to make the region a smart-grid leader.A company statement said proximity to the ferry will help with commutes to Seattle.

The Edward Jones investment company will close an office on Kitsap Way near Arnold’s and move around May, according to Marcia Marx, the Edward Jones financial adviser there. It will occupy space on the first floor.

Representatives of all three tenants said they are excited to be part of the downtown revitalization.

“I just love the prospects of downtown ... and I want to be a part if it,” Marx said.

Give a little ...

...change a life.

As many of you know (ok, all 14 of you, just humour me here ...), I traveled to Rwanda several weeks ago, where my uncle and I were essentially carrying out "assessment mission", aka "checking out the scene to see if it's all good to go".

In short, we are working with a small, rural community in southern Rwanda, where they are hoping to be able to complete the secondary school - currently the only one in the area - which, today, goes only to the 9th grade. Unable to travel the long distances to reach the next closest secondary school and / or pay the tuition, most students today (many of whom are "genocide orphans") simply drop out of school.

So, we scoured the potential building site, spoke with local community leaders, local government leaders, Church leaders, teachers, students, parents, builders ... and we think we've got it all figured out - $530,000 USD, and we can have ten classrooms, a dining hall, a residence hall, restrooms, a computer lab, a library AND an assembly hall built ... given hundreds of kids - the future leaders of a truly inspiring country - a shot at a university education.

Now all we've got to figure out is just how to collect that much needed money.

We're thinking the "Obama strategy" might work. "If everyone gave just $1, it would only take ... " ok, perhaps I should be a bit more humble. Even adding in all my FB "friends" that I haven't talked to in nearly a decade, I still don't quite come close to reaching 530,000 friends. Hmm. Time for a new strategy ...

HUMBLY ASK FOR YOUR HELP. Perhaps if I spread the word to all of MY friends, who spread the word to all of THEIR friends, who then pass the word to all of THEIR friends ... we might just make it. Know of a foundation, a church, a community service club that might be interested in chipping in in some way or another? Please let me know!

We've put together a very simple website that tells a bit more about the project; please check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks a million.

www.futureleadersofrwanda.org

There's no place like home for the holidays

As the "world" (aka the Pacific NW) goes mad from being forced to slow down under a foot of powdry white stuff in cities and towns that are not "snow removal equipped", I can't help but be thankful A) that I was fortunate to have my travels plans beat Mother Nature home, B) that my shopping was done long ago, C) that I have an even more legitimate excuse to stay home and "do nothing" with the family. Which leads me to a few of my favorite things about being home for the holidays (in no particular order ...)

1. CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS - you know, the ones that have been around ever since you were a kid and which therefore incite all kinds of warm holiday fuzzies.

2. MY PARENTS' COUCH - The newly acquired one, which therefore holds little to no sentimental value at all, but which wraps you in it's fabricated softness nonetheless and reminds you that "there's no place like home, there's no place like home ..."

3. SLEDDING with the family at the first sight of snow ... and down hills that can hardly be considered more than slight inclinations, but loving every minute nonetheless.

4. BAKING and COOKING with the Mom and the rest of the crew, and chatting with anyone and everyone else hanging around aimlessly in the kitchen.

5. MY BED. If my bed in Geneva is the most comfortable bed in the world, my bed here at home must be the most comfortable bed in the universe. Especially with the amazing new sheets Mom supplied.

6. RUNNING INTO FAMILIAR FACES. I've been reminded that if ever anyone were feeling even the slightest bit lonely, all one need do is take a wander through good 'ol Central Market to see more friendly faces from "times gone by" than you ever remember knowing.

7. MORNING PANCAKE BREAKFASTS with the family. Or perhaps French Toast. No further explanation needed.

8. The excitement of getting HOLIDAY GREETINGS IN THE MAIL, staring in amazement at "how big everyone's gotten" and enjoying hearing what friends and family have been up to through "old fashion blogs" ... aka good 'ol traditional Christmas letters.

9. The annual RYAN CHRISTMAS BASH, gathering the whole gigantic crew around six different dining tables spread over two houses for a feast of food and laughter before being entertained by all the little ones' various talent performances, Christmas carols and Santa's arrival for the sharing of gifts beside the tree.

10. BASKING IN THE COMPANY OF FAMILY - rambunctious dogs, marshmallow fights, viscious Wii battles, movie nights, last minute shopping, sledding, gingerbread man assembly and board games included.

Indeed, there's no place like home for the holidays.

Keeping in touch in this brave new world

"Ever-more-real virtual encounters could make us forget what we are missing ... the smell of a grandmother’s cooking, the warmth of an embrace. In interviews, older grandchildren who video chat with grandparents say they visit them less, feeling that they have already “seen” them".

I read a great article in the paper (can we still really say "in the paper" if we read it on-line?) the other day by NY Times columnist Amy Harmon that I just can't quite seem to get out of my mind.

Quite frankly, as one who's far away from family at the moment, I love the latest (and greatest?) techno-communications "schtuff" ... Skype, blogs, Facebook ... Thanks to these "tools", I find that I feel closer than ever to the daily ups, downs, excitements and disappointments in the lives of close family and friends. I often feel terrible for being the "long lost stranger-sister" to my littlest sister in particular, and seem to think that somehow, "if we only used Skype", it would take the "M" out of big sister M.I.A. That said, I have always said that joining Facebook is the number one best way to ruin your high school reunion ... I mean, really, why go at all if you already know what everyone is up to, how they are doing, what their kids' names are and what their partners look like?

But are we heading into a brave new world of distinctly inhuman relationships? Is video chat, blogging, etc poised to be the beginning of an end? What future is there for a generation of kids raised on "digital grandmas". And when it really comes down to it, when you "see" each other over the computer, does it lessen your "need" to see your loved ones live and in person?

"Some veterans of the technology fear that the video cam has started to substitute, rather than supplement, actual time together. Jennifer Ray, 24, of San Antonio, and her brother persuaded their parents to get a new computer so they could all video chat with their respective toddlers on split screens from different states. Now the siblings commiserate about their mother’s unwillingness to travel".

As the stockings are over over the television with care

Perhaps it's one of those things best understood by college students and expats ... that regrettable "inability" to go all out with Christmas decorations and especially a Christmas tree, not least because you are running low on cash to do so, but even much more so because you leave home halfway through December, only to return halfway into January, leaving hardly enough time to enjoy the smell of fresh pine.

That said, Christmas would certainly not be Christmas without some inkling of tradition, and I came home the other day to find our palm tree cousin all decked out in Christmas bling. Slightly disappointed that the "branches" (read palms) were too weak to bear traditional tree ornaments, Marcel reverted to tinsel ... and of course, as no Swiss tree could possibly be complete without foil wrapped chocolate ornaments, he somehow managed to get a few of those on there as well. The rest were then craftily planted in the dirt, while the stocking were hung, not over the fireplace, but over the television ...

Schedules being what they are, we were also "forced" to celebrate Christmas a bit early this year, taking on a new tradition by celebrating St. Nicolas Day together. And amid news stories from US media about the holiday shopping flurry and tales from friends and family of waiting lists and desperate searches for those "gotta have 'em" trendiest gifts, I have to admit how much I treasure the European approach.

While stores in the States are open nearly 24/7 this time of year, there's a huge to-do when a handful of stores in the centre of town here open on one single Sunday in December. And those unfortunate souls at a select couple of stores who have to work late - until 21h - the three days before Christmas? They are all given cute little handmade holiday corsets that say "thank you for working late tonight".

And while Christmas markets in the States means crowded craft fairs jammed inside school gyms and fair pavillions, Christmas markets here are outisde, where it's cold and wet, but where there's space to move, wonderful smells of hot mulled wine with schnapps and roasted chestnuts to warm you up, and Christmas carolers and musicians strolling along between. Gone are crowded malls filled with half-useless things and grumpy people with a half dozen plastic bags at their sides ... Christmas here means strolling amid the quaint market stalls filled with beautiful handmade jewelry, pottery, woodwork, soaps, wines, cheeses, sausages, candles, laughing in the company of close friends and loved ones ... before heading off to make a fool of yourself at the ice skating rink.

I am SO excited to see my wonderful family over the holidays and be able to bask in the wonder of Christmas with them, but I have to say, I'm not at all looking forward to walking back into the shock of the holiday consumerism craze. What would happen if, just once, we returned, not to gifts of the latest and greatest electronics made in some far off land and destined to crash in two years time, but to crafts that demonstrate the talent and beauty of human creativity; to photographs that allow us to capture life's greatest memories for eternity; to events, outings and priceless time with the people we love; to experiences, classes and travels that will encourage us to stretch our horizons ... to the practical "things" that we seem to somehow now give such a lesser importance. If it were anything like the Christmas markets, that would indeed be a very merry, very peaceful, very inspiring Christmas.

So what is it about mothers and staples?

So what is it about mothers, that when they discover that their ingenious, highly practical children have decided to skip the time consuming (and therefore inherently less practical) process of hemming their trousers "properly" and instead go the instantaneous and highly practical route of grabbing the nearest hand held stapler for a two-second pants shortening ... they go bezerk? They give you the you-didn't!-did-you?? smirk/glare, suddenly take on a horrifically embarrassed/apologetic role if anyone outside of the family happens to be around (as if such ingenious is somehow reflective of them!) and they quickly take your pants out of your hands only to run off and ever so kindly hem them "properly".

I think the first time I observed this phenomenon was when my younger brother had his pants stapled ... and somehow ended up at the hospital getting x-rays taken. X-ray + metal staples + questioning lab technicians = sheepishly embarrassed/apologetic mother. Daughter, however finds this strategy quite ingenious, having upgraded from duck tape to staples and continuing to prefer this tactic to"real" hemming even at the ripe old age of 25. I mean, really, how else can your pants be the perfect length whether you are wearing them with heels, tennis shoes or flip flops? We're talking versatility, adaptability AND convenience here, folks.

Enter Marcel, assigned to dress as a bit of a preppy geek as auctioneer for his sister's birthday charity auction. What does Yours Truly advise? Of course! A preppy geek auctioneer MUST have geeky short pants and no way better to arrange that than with your trusty ol' hand held stapler. Party was fun; auction was a success; short pants were definitely geeky; short, geeky, stapled pants lie to rest for weeks thereafter on the back of the chair in the kitchen.

So now, what happens when loving mother finds a pair of stapled pants lying on the back of a kitchen chair at her son's apartment? She does what every mother apparently does at the sight of a staple hem ... she gets the "I-can't-believe-you-did-this!!" smirk and eye roll, silently dies of embarrassment and takes them away for a "proper" hemming" while son is away for work ...

... And as son returns home to find the lovingly hemmed-to-Singer-perfection folded perfectly on the table, he thanks his lucky stars for wonderful mothers ... and for the fact that his new found high waders were not borne of a favorite pair of jeans!

Any way you slice it

If ever there were something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, it would most definitely be Marcel getting home from his most recent job in Hong Kong a full week earlier than expected ... in the name of his own health perhaps as much as anything else.

In a nutshell, he was blessed with the experience of sucking on more parts of poultry over the course of the last month than most people would care to suck on over a life time, including, for example, the chicken feet (see above), which, in his words, you simply ate by going "scchhlllooooooooooopp" ... delicate toe by delicate toe (though it seems they were kind enough to remove the claws beforehand).

Having thus overcome any potential poultry fears, the "let us give thanks that you've made it home with all your inner gastric tracks in order" celebration was necessarily carried out in accordance with traditional American Thanksgiving requirements, namely a bird - a very large bird. Having succeeded in Thanksgiving challenge #1: locating a turkey in Switzerland and being the gourmet chefs that we are, we successfully roasted up the best 7lb rosemary, basil and thyme bird you ever done had ... (don't mind the bite taken out of the top, that would be courtesy of the western-food-starved traveler).

There were, of course, the obligatory side dish mashed potatoes and stuffing as well, but we threw all apple and pumpkin pie traditions out the window ... all we were really concerned about were the not-so-traditional chewy American chocolate chip cookies -perfectly done ... a real rarity seeing as American brown sugar is not an easy bit to come by and without it they just don't turn out quite the same. Three cheers for a great boss who was generous enough to think to bring some back from his latest trip Stateside.

The real essence of the annual American gorge-and-give-thanks-you-only-have-to-eat-this-much-once-a-year-fest, however, is most certainly in the leftovers. While it took searching in no less than four grocery stores to find the one and only turkey available (meaning we wouldn't have cared WHAT size the thing was ... all in the name of Thanksgiving tradition!!), we really didn't mind that it happened to be a 7 pound beast for the two of us. I mean, really, we all know that Thanksgiving is hardly worth it without the turkey-swiss sandwiches for days on end afterwards. And thus, along with several packs of ever-so-meltable raclette cheese for open-faced sandwiches, we also made one of our all-time fav recipes, Thai pull-apart stirfry ... the only recipe that is distinctly better when made with leftovers.

Chicken feet, roasted bird, stirfried mix-mash ... any way you slice it, give thanks!

Closed lips, heavy hearts

There are, of course, all kinds of philosophical discussions about why bad things happen to good people (in fact, not I'm not sure it quite counts as philosophical, but it also reminds of of the little tricks they used to teach us in school for learning math ..."when bad things happen to good people, that's bad", though I can't quite remember what that applied to.  Was it working with negative numbers??)  ANYHOW ... it seems that life goes in bouts ... a string of all kinds of great, exciting, on-top-of the-world things, and then a string of all kinds of frustrating, saddening, the-world-is-falling-apart things.

Lately, there seems to be a lot of the latter, with close family and friends' friends being diagnosed with Alzheimers, pancreatic cancer, brain hemorrage, rare blood disease, thyroid disorder ....  While certainly not easy news to swallow for anyone, it's heartbreaking to me to see the extent to which everyone involved is fighting their own battle to accept the news, the grief, the fears, the uncertainties - on their own, rather than openly shedding the tears and wiping them off each others' cheeks in a collective time of need. 

Is it really normal to put on a smiling, it's-all-going-to-be-alright face when we're in each others' company, then let the avalanche of tears begin as soon as the bathroom door is closed?  It is really normal to be afraid to call and see how your hospitalised daughter is doing because doing so might risk having to speak with your estranged ex-wife? Perhaps it's what society has taught us is "normal", but it's times like these when we most need to see - and share - raw emotions with the people around us, who are so very much in need of the same.

Daddy's girl

It endlessly strikes me as ironic (though perhaps not entirely illogical) how many people assume that if you're living far away from home then you must not get along well with your family ... that you must have suffered a troubled childhood, been thrown out of the house, run away, etc, etc, when I think in fact in most cases, it's those who've had the BEST family relations that are the ones that can successfully thrive away from home. Whatever the case, that's certainly the case for me and, in case there's any doubt, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of my beloved family!

Being away also means that you aren't making new memories together ... so you are constantly reflecting on your favorite goldie oldies. Being Father's Day as it is (or at least I think it is? I don't know why the dang date has to change in each country ... can't we all just celebrate at the same time??), and being Daddy's girl as I am, I thought I might share out loud some of my all time favorite memories with you, Dad:

** All the endless hours with the steers ... picking them out, halter breaking, feeding, grooming - remember the time we had the crap scared out of both of us when we took one of them out of the chute after clipping him in the garage and he was "skating on pee" to the point I was sure he was going to break a leg?

** Lemonade breaks from painting the fence at the farm

** Tractor rides

** Endless, nightmarish, tear-filled nights of math exercises

** Breaking the ice in the water troughs

** Trips to CENEX

** Car shopping

** Crab pots summer crab fests at Grandma and Grandpa's

** The Beach

** The tree swing

** Tetherball until it was too dark to see

** The Kentucky Derby ... "would you like a ham'n'egger?", "come on, just put your toe down there by that fish"

** Building my tack box

** Your visit to Europe

** Curled up on your lap while you read to me

** Watching the evening news with you

** Sitting on the couch with the Christmas music just to look at the lights on the tree

** The jackrabbit postcard you brought back for me from one of your business trips

** The April's fools jokes you would call and play on us

** Going to visit you at your office

** Sunday brunches, Dad's Special BBQs and smores around the fire ...

I love you, Dad!

Proud sissy

All right, gotta take some time to brag, right?  Check out what my little bro did for his senior project ... there's some more technical explanation, but to my feeble mind it's making fire dance to music.  I can already see who'll be the rich and famous in our family!

A little R&R ... British Columbia style

Once upon a time, the Canadian marketing pros came up with the catchy line … “Beautiful British Columbia” … and for once the marketing peeps aren’t spitting out BS!! Luck was on our side this year and we managed to get the fam on the same schedule long enough for an escape to our beloved Rainbow Lake in north-central British Columbia, Canada – a place inaccessible enough it has become sort of a private haven for our family over the years.

Way back when, Great Grandpa GG and the crew found the lake when they went moose hunting through the area on horseback. Finally, some 42 years ago, they built a log cabin on the lake with the help of their local Native Americans hunting buddies. Today, the cabin remains the only sign of human life within reasonable proximity to the lake and getting there requires 2 days driving and a 40 minute flight in on a sea plane.

Sadly, a huge forest fire had swept though all of the surrounding area last fall, wiping out everything in the vicinity of the lake. Landing at the lake and seeing the total destruction was quite a shock … everything was gone. All of the once lush green trees in the area had been reduced to utter toothpicks and the scenery that had always been a gorgeous montage of greens was suddenly reduced to blacks and browns. The fact that the cabin in still standing is perhaps the greatest miracle of all, seeing as it was about the only thing left standing … there are burnt out stumps as close as 30 feet away from the house!!

Nature being as resilient as it is, however, it still proved to be as awe-inspiringly beautiful as ever, with phenomenal sunsets, foggy mornings, rainbows, thunderstorms, sunshine and starry northern nights … all set to the manical laughing of the loons, the splashes of jumping fish and the occasional ‘moos’ of the moose.

It is always great to get away from ‘it all’ and escape to a place where time truly stands still … if we weren’t out fishing in the ‘virgin’ lake (i.e. lots of fish), we were back in the cabin, battling it out in rambunctious games of Pit, Sequence, Uno and Catch Phrase, reading, making friendship bracelets, listening to Grandpa’s stories, holding target practice, roasting s’mores, battling off the alligator sized mosquitoes and attempting to make a dent in the 6lbs of bacon and 6lbs of butter (for popcorn, of course) that we had brought in with creative camping cooking J

So many laughs, many, many memories, much needed relaxation, pristine beauty at its finest, and a great reminder not to take electricity and running water for granted … Viva Rainbow Lake!

Por fin!!!

So I've finally caught up with the tech times and am ditching the mass emailings for the grand 'ol blogging ... we'll see how it goes.To be perfectly honest, the switch to 'diary style' also comes at a time when I've been reflecting on all that I've seen, learned, felt and been both frustrated and motivated by working in the complex world of migration and a particular need to share certain experiences with the people around me, many of whom - through no fault of their own - have no idea what is actually happening in our communities. Let's just say there's a BIG difference between what we think we know ... and what we really should know.

In the coming posts I hope to share more specific stories of the many wonderful people I've met along the way and all the adventures yet to come, but for the moment I'll leave it with an update of the present ....Perhaps the most exciting recent happening has been the parentals coming to visit!! Dad walked off the plane in full out zombie style while Mom was giddy and exhibiting a respectable case of nurpies.

Nonetheless, both recovered quickly and kept up the tourist pace quite well as we traveled through Barcelona (Spain), Girona (Spain), Cadaques (Spain), Geneva (Switzerland) and Annecy (France), keeping the wine and pictures flowing all the way. Despite the uncharacteristically bummer weather, fun time was had by all and it was wonderful to have them here in 'my territory'.Back to the 'real world', then, it's all about tying up the loose ends here in Barcelona before heading out for summer travels to Japan and the States and making the big move to Geneva in August. Still haven't had much luck with the housing search, but that's just another reminder that patience is a virtue, right????