After Dark

Ryan, Ryan, BB, Katy, and Lisa were the opening act in 'After Dark', a variety show at Baylor University. They beat out lots of competition to make the show, let alone start it. They sang in incredible harmony and sounded amazing. They wowed the crowd, and Lisa's inner black gospel singer trapped in a white girl's body made quite the appearance. I was thrilled to be able to attend. It did mean a late night's drive and 3 hours sleep before working again the next morning at 7AM, but hey, what good sister wouldn't rally? Lisa, do you. love. this. picture.?


Lisa showed off her perfectly decorated apartment. I can't imagine having gone to college in such style. Her interior design creativity, flair, and expertise was showcased beautifully.


Lisa's budreau


Dad and Lisa in the living and dining rooms.

How do you like this long arm? Mad skills I tell you. Dad, Mom, Lisa, and me.

FEMA U in Herndon

Sandy, me, Dawnlyn, and Kari outside training at the Marriott Suites. Dawnlyn, Sandy, and I worked together on Katrina in Biloxi. We just met Kari in Herndon, but she fit right in.


Kari, Dawnlyn, me, and Holly. I sat next to Holly in my training course. She's from Austin but headed to Houston to help with Ike. The five of us comprised nearly the only women in an environment dominated by old white haired men, many with hearing aids. Oh how familiar.

Baltimore

I was so excited to see Sandy, who I worked and lived with in Biloxi. In fact, I first ran into Rick who we both worked with in Illinois. Being at FEMA U in Herndon was really good for reuniting with friends from past disasters. I ran into about a dozen people I'd worked with previously.


Sandy and I headed to Baltimore Tuesday night to see her son Austin, who I'd met in Biloxi three years ago and who's going to Johns Hopkins.


After picking up Austin at his dorm, we headed to the harbor for dinner. Baltimore reminded me a lot of Boston (in the few hours I saw it at night), with the row houses, red brick, and architectural style.


We tried to go to the 13th floor at the Bulvedere, but it was closed so we headed across the street to The Brewer's Art.


We went to the dungeon level which had a very cozy feel to it. We had the tasty Ressurection home brew.

Night Tour of Memorials

Saturday night I met up with Kelly Huck and Ben Foster from the Austin URS office who are in DC for FEMA training. We hailed a cab to the metro and made our way into the city for a night-time tour of the memorials. We started at the Capitol, and found it interesting that the grass was all blocked off for construction of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Site.


We came across the freshest, most delicious mexican food just a couple blocks off the mall at an award winning restaurant called Oyamel. Their margaritas were among the best I've ever had, and the made-at-our-table guacamole and unique gourmet tacos in corn tortillas were divine. Now I have been seriously missing authentic mexican food in Australia, but even the native Texans with me were shocked and impressed.


For the first time ever, I visited the World War II Memorial, from where I took this picture of the Washington Monument, the memorial to our first President, George Washington.


Kelly and Ben dance in front of the Pacific Tower at the World War II Memorial.


Each star represents 100 lives lost in battle during WWII.


This memorial was dedicated in 1922 to honor President Abraham Lincoln. Thirty-eight Grecian columns surround a statue of Lincoln seated on a ten-foot high marble base.


This impressive statue is surrounded by engraved readings of the Gettysburg address, Lincoln's Second Inaugural address, and murals by French painter Jules Guerin.


The Korean War Veterans Memorial honors those who were killed, captured, wounded or remain missing in action during the Korean War (1950 -1953). The statues are supported by a granite wall with 2,400 faces of land, sea and air support troops. A Pool of Remembrance lists the names of the lost Allied Forces.


Nineteen figures represent every ethnic background.


This dome-shaped rotunda honors the nation's third president, Thomas Jefferson.


The 19-foot bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson is located on the Tidal Basin, surrounded by a grove of cherry blossom trees.

I will walk 500 miles...and I will walk 500 more...just to be the one that sees every single monument in Washington DC...nana nana, nana nana, nana nana nana nana nana na. After we walked for ages, we hailed a cab back to Herndon and had a very short night's sleep before another early morning of training. Priorities.

Washington DC

I'm in the U.S.! I didn't abandon Australia just yet. I'm back for a few months to help with Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and will then return to Melbourne. FEMA was looking for experienced people and besides enjoying this type of work, the timing was really good to get me back home for Christmas. Life is so good. I flew into San Antonio Monday, literally slept all day Tuesday, cuddled up with Jack, shopped til I dropped, and enjoyed some great time with the fam. I flew out to D.C. Thursday for a week of training prior to my FEMA deployment to....AUSTIN!!! Could it be any more perfect?!

Friday I did my FBI fingerprinting at my hotel in Herndon and made it to the National Mall by 4 pm for a little sightseeing. First stop was the Washington Monument.

Then I strolled by the Smithsonian on my way to the Capitol.

Here I am in front of the Capitol during an exciting time in US history, in the midst of the bailout bill being approved in Congress and just before this major election.

One of the highlights was getting to catch up with friends from Biloxi. The crazy thing about FEMA is that you keep running into the same people all around the country. In this case, Dana and Stephen actually live in DC, and Trevor and I were passing through for training. Here, Dana's hospitality dawns true style. I must say she was the one who insisted on 'making' the blog. Here's to you, D!!

Trevor, Dana, and I took Jackson for a quick stroll around her beautiful Woodley Park neighborhood, just a block from the free National Zoo.

Dana, me, Stephen, and Trevor worked our way through this amazing platter of Ethiopian cuisine and beer at Dukem on U Street.

Then we headed to one of Dana's favorite hangouts, Busboys and Poets, which was hosting part of the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival currently underway.

We moved onto dessert at Coppi's where we severely over-ordered. That's Sean cozying up to Dana on the left. It was incredibly great to see old friends and catch up with everyone. I must note that I was bragging to this table of marathon runners, mountaineers, and triathletes extraordinaire about having run two 12-minute miles that morning. They were duly impressed.

Return to San Antonio

I slept all of one hour on the 15 hour flight from Melbourne to L.A. The screaming (and kicking) two year old behind me was quiet for two hours at most. A layover and flight to San Antonio later, my dad picked me up at the airport. We went straight to the high school where my mom and sister both teach to surprise them. Then...we went to surprise Jack.


Jack's unconditional love and excited greetings never cease to amaze me. Of course, I'm not sure he could be any happier than he is with my family, three walks a day, and filet mignon for dinner. Hotel Sorenson is top end, let me tell you. Psycho Mom and Katie leave for the gym at 4:45AM. When they return, hot breakfast is on the table. While they eat breakfast, Dad prepares their lunches. Then dinner awaits them that evening. Any requests? Just give it a day.


The paw, Katie's favorite position. Jack looked lean as ever and even taller than I remembered.

Wicked

Dan and I went out for a night at the theater to see Wicked at The Regent. Dan had only been to one musical (Phantom) when he was 8 years old, so it was high time for him to return to the theater and I'd been hearing good things so my curiosity was peaked. Ozmopolitans in light-up martini glasses were all the rage inside the theater.


I treated Dan to the show as a thank you for his generosity in keeping me looking good. He cuts and colors my hair and it is so great having a hair stylist housemate. Ironically, he also cuts the hair of the lead actress in this musical, Eltheba, the wicked witch. He said she has green paint inside her ears every time she comes in for a cut. That's right...Dan, hair stylist to the rich and famous...and me.


The show was very entertaining, telling the story of the Wicked Witch Eltheba and Good Witch Glinda leading up to their making as the wicked and good witch of Oz.

Footy Finals

Footy finals are the Superbowl of Australia. This Saturday marked the biggest and final footy game of the season between the Hawthorn Hawks and Geelong Cats(two Melbourne AFL teams). Geelong was the grand champion last year and had only one loss all season. Despite their favored position and initial lead in the game, Hawthorn came out kicking and won by an impressive margin. All over Australia, backyard bbq's were hosted to cheer on the game. I went to my favorite new hangout at Mel and Waz's.

Mel and Waz have been working furiously to finish off the patio in preparation for this bbq to usher in the warm weather and start of beautiful Melbourne summer. He even set up a TV outside to watch the game in the glorious sunshine.

Ian, me, Mel, and Bel warm the wood benches between the nearly completed planters lining the perimeter of the deck.

Grill Master Waz cooked up satay chicken, chili shrimp, chicken wings, homemade burgers, and sausages...and Mel worried there wouldn't be enough food.

The serious footy viewers collected inside to view the big screen without glare from the sun. I was outside.

We celebrated Mhairi's 29th birthday with a chocolate mud cake full of sparklers.


Here's the Hawks celebrating their big win.

I played the didgeridoo for the first time Saturday night. The didgeridoo is commonly claimed to be the world's oldest wind instrument and originates from Aboriginals in northern Australia. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet, "drone pipe", or aerophone. It's a 1-3 m (3-9 ft) long hollowed wooden instrument with a low bellowing droning sound. The trick to playing it is that you have to master continuously blowing into it while breathing in at the same time.

Riverland

I met up with Fi and Raf at Riverland Bar after work on Thursday. It's located beneath Federation Square on the Yarra River, and it was completely slammin'. I'm slacking on the picture front, so I ripped these off the internet but the place was completely packed out - wall to wall people. And when we're paying $15/pint, that's saying something. Location is everything.


There's the brown Yarra River in the front. All the wood balconies are lining the edge of Riverland Bar with Federation Square in the background and more city behind that.


One of the balconies overlooking the river.


After a few drinks at Riverland, we went for dinner at Time Out in the middle of Time Square (under all the orange umbrellas).

Taken Out

Jade had her own podium just like this, but I had to rip these pics off the website because they didn't allow us to bring in our cameras or phones.


Hottie host James strutted around right in front of us all night.

Tonight Luke, Dan, Brendan, and I went as Jade's guests to Studio 5 to watch the taping of a Television show called 'Taken Out'. Taken Out is a dating show in which one guy is surrounded by 30 women, who have a choice to stay in the game or reject the guy at key intervals after he reveals information about himself. In the end, he selects three from the remaining women to ask deep and meaningful questions and then be 'taken out' on a date.

Jade and Dan both auditioned for the show and were both asked to participate. Both I must mention are happily in LOVE with their partners. So...not exactly the typical contestant profile. Jade went for the fun of it under the proviso that she was not allowed to actually go on a date.

Jade was absolutely the hit of the show. Her dramatic flair, wild sense of humor, and nonchalance kept host James coming back to her for more and more. She first stayed in for a surfer hottie and when asked why, responded something about "it's just a date, it's not like he has to have a personality". The host responded with a question of if it could be a long lasting connection to which Jade said, "yeah of course - it could go 2 or 3 weeks". When she later rejected him, her explanation was that he looked like someone who smells like cabbage. She somehow managed to expound upon this statement and it became a focus of the show - what would this guy or that guy smell like. She had a way of drawing in the guys, the host, and the crowd. The girls in the audience behind us thought she was hilarious and wondered how she could possibly be single - this as we sat next to her boyfriend Luke.