CHAP

On 2 May, the Community Health Alliance of Pasadena celebrated its tenth birthday. Happy Birthday, CHAP!

The big birthday bash was at the Westin in Pasadena. Thanks to all of you who attended, and thanks to all you donors out there as well.

For those who aren’t familiar with CHAP – It is a community health clinic (medical and dental) offering care to low-income and uninsured people. CHAP also sends a team to Union Station (homeless shelter/services) twice a week.

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You may have read that I am going to England. You read right. I am going to England on Monday (as in cinco de Mayo). Preparing for the trip has got me in a dither. I’ve bought train tickets at this site – they are very reasonable when booked in advance. Much less than a Britrail pass.

I love to do research. I love it so much that I’m borderline obsessive about it. I can’t just read about a few hotels and make a decision. I’ve damn near read about every hotel in London. This is not an easy feat, and it is tremendously time consuming. Let’s face it, it is just not feasible to read about every single hotel in London before making a decision. The past few days have seen me spending countless hours on TripAdvisor. I’ve read gadzillion traveler comments. The most helpful ones say a few words about the hotel, and then say something like “try the Indian food at the restaurant opposite the hotel.”

We’re staying at the Victory Services Club. My dad was in the service and they let family members join too, so I’m a member (though this will be my first time staying there). Let me know if you’d like to stay there and I can arrange it. They are fully booked on one of the nights we needed, so we’re going to stay here at The Commodore. You’ll get my full review on it when I get back. But so far, I’ve just saved you a good ten hours of research.

Sir John Soane.  Every first Tuesday of the month they have a special candlelit opening at the Sir John Soane Museum.  Thanks for the hot tip, Lonely Planet.

In my dither, and in the crush of yesterday trying to get stuff done so I could go to the CHAP shindig, I managed to flake out on my commitment to guest post over at Rattling the Kettle. My apologies to Pa Kettle (who is tanning his buns in Hawaii).

You see, I didn’t make the connection that the password could be case sensitive. Seriously. I know this useful information was covered in How to Use a Computer 101, but you know that whole stress-makes-your-IQ-go-down thing? Well, yesterday I went from three digits in my IQ to two. I know this for a fact because I ended up on the dance floor at the CHAP event alone. Dancing. Alone. Because the DJ was paid for and I can’t let a good DJ go to waste. Even if he played this a-bit-slow-for-dancing Prince tune when I asked for Prince. Prince’s I Wanna Be Your Lover – now THAT’S a dance tune.