No, I've not dropped off the face of the earth

I've merely been on the East Coast since Jan. 16. For future reference: A ten-day trip is a bit much, even when there are so many friends to see and good places to eat. My article about the Inauguration should go live at Jew-ish.com tomorrow, and once I get home and upload my pictures, I'll post them here. In brief, let it be said that New York has the best vegan food ever; my toes felt as though they'd freeze and fall off as I waited for Obama to swear the oath; and for the first time in a long while, I'm relatively excited about getting back to Seattle, and not as fixated on moving to New York as I used to be. I credit the Kibbutz (which is to say: my fantastic housemates and the wonderful community they've created), my new job at Childhaven, my challenging and rewarding freelance gig at Jew-ish.com, and my upcoming 30th birthday, which I'm much more in the mood to celebrate than pout about.

I should be back soon with Oscar predictions, but for now, here's a Wall Street Journal piece about star ratings for movies brought to my attention, naturally, by Michael.

A nice weekend out of town

I spent this past weekend in Long Beach, Wash., with my friend Elana's family. We hiked, played Taboo, swam, played water basketball and tetherball, grilled veggie skewers, chicken, and veggie dogs, saw two lighthouses on Cape Disappointment, splashed around Waikiki Beach (so named, supposedly, because a Hawaiian sailor once washed up on its shores), and just generally had a nice time. It was exactly what I needed after a tough week. The picture above is of Ari, the lovable Kupor dog.

I'm in San Francisco this weekend

Back next week.