August 23, 2023

by Dr. Plastic Picker

One of my friends once told me, after I told him some of my grandiose plans, that he said “my grand plans are to clean the house and do something in the garden.” That really was cool. And because I respect this friend, I’ve been often thinking to myself “My grand plans are to . . . ” And today my grand plans are to do my taxes.

Our son has COVID for the first documented time ever. The entire pandemic none of us were known to have had it (excepting my mother-in-law) but I’m sure at some point we had it? We are fully vaccinated including the bivalent boosters. My son hopefully is having a mild case, but he is missing the first 5 days of college due to being quarantined. Orientation was mixing thousands of students, so it makes sense that he got COVID. I mean, he lives in a triple! We are monitoring the situation and I texted some of my doctor friends for advice. They were so great to reply.

And then my grand plans today are still to meet with all the different entities and loving souls that made H3SD possible. I sent emails off to friends at UC San Diego. Mr. Plastic Picker and I will meet with my friend Dr. Luis Castellanos. That is always a highlight to chat and have brunch. I have changed my schedule to be able to meet with County of San Diego, and I’ve invited the Kaiser entities that might be interested. I hopefully will meet with the ground level people that all made this happen, like the wonderful volunteer project manager Sed. There were so many personalities and loving people involved, but I was honest with my friends and home institution. We have to have a project manager for the next iteration and it has to be a team. It was half parts insanity and this unexplained joy and curiosity that enabled me to help make this major thing happen. I can’t be replicated, but the model is sound.

My activism has always been about what many of us in climate work talk about, the intersection of

And what brings me joy is a lot of fun and different new projects that are in the back of my mind. It’s usually working with people I find interesting. But I also need to do the work that needs doing, and the work that needs doing that also brings me joy is – doing my taxes. We’ve paid up our quarterly, but just need to gather everything together.

I’m also going on a kind of date with Mr. Plastic Picker tonight! We are going to walk around UTC Westfield as our daughter has a leadership meeting she has to be at. So when she’s at this meeting, I’ll get to walk with him around the mall. And honestly, for me? That’s super exciting just to get to hold his hand. I’m a romantic at heart. And that was ultimately what half enabled me to get the summit across the finish line, because I believe in happy endings in every aspect of our lives.