Cake AND Death, Part I

Trying to plan and execute an event right after Christmas is never a great idea. Scheduling TWO events right after Christmas is not so brilliant, either. In fact, the only thing dumber is thinking you can coherently work on TWO events DURING Christmas while ON VACATION three states away FOR A WEEK. In a house filled with grown brothers, a baby, and a fully stocked liquor cabinet.

Cranking up my workload just before going on the longest Christmas vacation I’ve ever taken is exactly what I did in December. Because this has worked for me so well in the past, and I’ve been such a well-adjusted person while doing it.

To quote my uncle, (who I think was quoting Einstein) “Insanity is the act of repeating the same thing over and over again – and expecting different results.”

Still, I set my jaw and went to work producing two events in the sum total of five weeks – each with a potential attendance of 100 people. Because I am INSANE. And possibly stupid. Definitely lucky. (Like a freakin’ leprechaun.)

Windtree Park Ground Breaking
January 12, 2008

It all started when I went to a Newcastle Parks Commission meeting and they said, ‘we want you to do a ground breaking for this new park, ok?’

‘OK,’ I said, ‘I can do that. Any ideas on what you want it to look like?’

To which they said, ‘it should involve the kids and have toys and be fun.’

And I said, ‘ok.’

So I ordered 200 plastic trucks and shovels and a big pile o’ sand.

nine kinds of cookies, two tents, three speakers and LOTS of hot cocoa;

I slapped Newcastle logo stickers on everything that stood still, and made MORE foofy bows (Really, I’m getting the hang of it now).

but what stressed me out the most was writing the news articles and programs. It was important to inform people about the relevance of the event, but beyond the obvious ‘we’re building a park, people like parks, parks are fun, hooray!’ – I was a bit short on material. Mainly because I wasn’t around when most of it happened.

Turns out, this park is a HUGE deal to the residents of Windtree neighborhood. They’re pretty much the reason it’s getting built at all, having proposed the project and been involved in the development of it every step of the way. The Parks Commission spent a year holding extra meetings with the public. People put a lot of time, opinion and patience into this. When their work was questioned and the funding threatened by a couple of guys who didn’t appear to be involved at all, those people showed up yet again and told those dudes exactly what they thought about that (Oct. 2, 2007 City Council Regular Meeting).

Now THAT’S my kind of community powah. Can I get an ‘AMEN’, my ePeeps?

Here’s a video about the importance of Windtree, in the words of our Parks Commissioners and City Council.

It was a little bit cold and we had a little rain, but we drew a great crowd (about 40 or so) considering Seattle was playing the Divisional Playoffs right then. Everyone had a good time, and the Commission loved the event.

Which is all a crazy-person like me needs, really. Give me great reviews, a nap and a scooby-snack and I’m good to go again.

Me, the Parks Commission, City Council, City Manager, Maiya and a kid just begging for a lamp pole to lick.

Lessons Learned

• Write the phone numbers for everyone you work with and all the VIPs on the back of your lanyard badge. Then toss it. Because you will only need the one number you don’t have. Swear to god, everything was coming together fine. Fifteen minutes after we were supposed to start, we had NO IDEA whether our second speaker had forgotten us, was kid-wrangling and five minutes out, or trapped under a bookcase being held hostage by an angry mongoose. Thankfully, he walked up with his family about thirty seconds after I desperately started dialing 411, crossing my fingers he was listed and I wouldn’t have to barter my liver for his number.
• DO NOT try to make cocoa using donated hot water and individual packets of Swiss Miss. Apparently, caterers do not ‘do’ cocoa. I searched for two damn days for someone who would deliver hot cocoa, because, dude, who has that kind of time? But no. I found NOBODY. So I rented two 100 cup coffee makers and bought 30 boxes of cocoa mix, figuring “1 packet per cup”. Just before the groundbreaking, I dumped six pitchers of hot water into a coffeemaker and started filling 6 pitchers of cocoa mix when Maiya came over, diplomatically asked, ‘Are you SURE that’s right?’, and took over before I gave everyone diabetes. Hey. It made sense TO ME.

Up next in Episode Two: Wait. What Was That? I Said I Was Fine? Excuse Me While I Go Over Here and LOSE MY DAMN MIND.