Mood:  caffeinated

Mission Statement: Macro Sea is a company created to do projects we find interesting.

Why not make a swimming pool out of a dumpster? This is so brilliant I just have to share. With all of our devotion to innovation and recycling, a swimming pool -- a sure sign of luxury -- combining elements with something most people literally turn their noses up at is a total hoot. Macro Sea, the company making the new pools, is involved in interesting projects of large and small scope all around the world.

Mood:  crushed out

This year's Burning Man event was an amazing display of creativity. Despite many projects being "smaller" than in years past, the 2009 event held the promise of said art being mostly AWESOME, which is a great change from the mixed bag typically wrought by such a diverse group of participants.

Patrick Shearn, The Flaming Lotus Girls, Michael Christian, Sean Orlando, Bill Codding, Christina Sporrong, Chassy Cleland and Laura Kimpton -- among others -- contributed a wealth of stunning beauty to the playa for 2009. I'm already looking forward to 2010, and am grateful to the Senior Staff for coming up with theme ideas that are easy to turn into art and camps that are accessible, interesting, and creative.

On a day marred by so much pain and destruction -- both on 9/11/01 and since that day -- I ask each and every one of you to think of one amazing thing you've done or witnessed this year, something that has reminded you of why it's worth it to hang on and keep working for peace, justice, and integrity.