Help Florence get a smile

Florence needs braces in a pretty serious way (potential future jaw and other pain) and now is the time that it’s best for treatment to begin. Unfortunately, it costs some serious bank.

Chiara started a Facebook group to help Florence out:

Florence needs braces as soon as possible to fix her overbite and avoid future messes such as head aches, neck and mouth problems and such.

she needs it now as her bones are still growing, and the treatment is much more effective that way.

and guess what? the treatment is 6,400 dollars.
there is no way i can do this by myself. if you can help please do, if you cannot that’s ok. if you know someone who can, let them know.

You can donate via the PayPal badge on Chiara’s Facebook page.  Contact me if you have any questions or would like to make a donation by check.

Family micro-lending in the U.S.?

The Northwest Airlines in-flight magazine has been a wealth of insight lately.  I read that Berry Gordy started Motown Records in 1959 on an $800 loan from te Ber-berry Co Op, a fund which family members each paid in $10 every month in order to make loans to launch new family business ventures.  With so many projects (and friends) being broke right now, I want to know how people are funding important work from their base.  This seems like one cool model blasting from the past.

San Francisco Trip

I’m on vacation in San Francisco with my family. It’s been a long time since we’ve been on a family vacation, and it’s crazy how, even at 27, and even if it’s been more than a decade since I’ve lived with my parents, how some of the roles and scenarios feel so repetitive or familiar when we spend time together. Maybe the best way to describe this trip is in the map that Tim and I have been using to navigate our way around the city and note points we’ve been to and points we want to visit.

Title: My Bay Area Map
Description: Map I made of locations relevent to my current trip to the Bay Area

View Larger Map

dim sum

My friend Patrick made blog post about the lack of good dim sum options in central PA and better alternatives in DC.

This is the comment I’d make if his neat homespun wiki/blog software would let me:

One very prominent childhood memory is eating dim sum at a frantic restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown with my Dad’s side of the family.  Relations with them always seemed tense, but they definitely smoothed over food.  My dad is the same way, I guess.  One time, my band went out for vegetarian dim sum in Philadelphia, along with my parents.  My father is typically stern and frugal to a fault, but during the meal, he was super-sociable and at the end, he paid for everyone.  This left one bandmate asking, “What the hell happened to your dad?”