On My Last nERV

I generally post just once a week, but today needs its own entry. 

One of the most important Disaster Services that we provide at the Red Cross is the mass food distribution via Emergency Response Vehicles, commonly called ERVs. Here is one pictured below.

In order to drive this vehicle, one has to get certified and pass a driving test. The Mid Alabama Region does not offer this  course too often, so Mike, Dawn, and I jumped on the chance to take it in Anniston, Alabama, so that we can begin teaching it and driving the ERV ourselves. We met at 7:20 this morning in order to make the two hour drive in order to be on time.

The class had five people in it and began with us waiting fifteen minutes for them to print off enough workbooks for us. It's a good thing they did this since the teacher referenced the eighty-page book ONCE. He made us drive over to a different building to show another class what an ERV looks like. Then we all took turns driving a short route and backing into a parking space. On the way back to the chapter house, the ERV ran out of coolant, so he sent us to buy it at KMart. 

We were all certified without learning anything about the vehicles controls, functions, or proof of valid driver's licenses. On the way home, I read the workbook aloud and discovered the plethora of information he failed to tell us and all of the qualifications we were supposed to have in order to be able to take the course.

Overall, it was just a long day that accomplished little and wasted so much gas. The best part was the Mexican lunch at Girbaldi's in Anniston. When I got back to the office, I was only there for a few minutes, but in that few minutes I received an email from the regional office in Hoover. I recently offered to teach a few courses up there if they needed me to, and they scheduled me to teach HALF of their disaster courses for this quarter. I'll enjoy it, but it seems a little sad that Birmingham doesn't have enough instructors and teaches less courses than we do.

I'm so glad I have trivia to look forward to tonight. Today made me realize how on top of things our chapter is compared to others. West Alabama is a lucky service area. Roll Tide.

A Hecuba Week

So week two without a server was about as eventful as week one was. This was a good thing since I was feeling under the weather and I had rehearsals for a staged reading of Euripides' Hecuba almost every night.

Workwise I taught Disaster Services: an Overview to a few volunteers and coworkers Monday night. The classes are a lot more fun when you know the people and can be more candid. Tuesday I had a meeting with the Hispanic Service Providers, which was attended poorly. There was, however, and entire class from the University that filmed the meeting and interviewed the few attendees afterward. Thursday, Joe, Mike, and I spent a lovely afternoon in Vernon, Alabama, trying to generate volunteer interest for Disaster Services. Today I had to teach a Shelter Operations course in Birmingham and rushed back for James's birthday party this afternoon.

I don't know if I've mentioned James yet, but he deserves a spotlight paragraph. He is a now thirty-eight-year-old mentally handicapped man, who works at our office helping with random tasks so that he has something to do during the day. His job description should actually include making fun of me because that is the area in which he spends most of his time. I love every minute of it. He makes fun of me for but not limited to the following things: having friends, eating chicken everyday, not driving my car for work related tasks, having hair like a lady, and trying to be the boss. Today was his birthday, and we were able to surprise him with a few gifts, cupcakes, and decorations. He is by far my favorite coworker, and he surprised me with a random act of kindness today. Even though it was his birthday, he thought about me and moved a trash can to be by my desk since I am always getting up to throw things away. That's the closest I've come to shedding a tear due to a trash can.

In my world outside of the Red Cross, I participated in that staged reading of Hecuba on Thursday and watched plenty of television before that including RHOBH, Ringer, Glee, and Survivor. Three Alpha Psi Omega, the theatre honors fraternity, alumni came into town. It's always great when someone is older than you at a party, so thanks to Sarah Carlton, Katy, and Dianna for making that possible. I also got a ticket to the football game thanks to Sarah! Watching Alabama kill Arkansas was a beautiful way to spend my Saturday afternoon. I love to see that Woo Pig Sooie go down.
 No amount of coloring could have saved Arkansas. I was so glad to see Chik-fil-a and Red Diamond sweet tea become available in the stadium.

Saturday night, Molly and Jess had a small amount of people go to their apartment for a post game get together. It was spot on. I'm so glad I was able to make their wall of shame... There were great games and music along with a fun drive home including Natalie, Lindsey, and Collin. Then Sunday involved relaxing at home in Hoover with the Doctor (Doctor Who) and an evening viewing of Leslie Jordan's stand up story of his journey from a closeted Tennessee teen to an openly gay and sober man. Chris and I both really enjoyed it and laughed quite frequently. Tonight is the next episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Sarah and I are pumped to see how things progress. It has indeed been a Hecuba week. That's word lpay sounding like "heck of a." I want to make sure my humor is appreciated. Below is a picture of the 11th incarnation of the Doctor.

You Got Serv(er)ed

This past week at work we did not have access to our server, the place where all of our documents are saved. This meant that a lot of work couldn't get done because we couldn't get the necessary documents to do it. Thus the week involved a lot of online crosswords and sudokus.
In actuality, it proved to be a busy week at times. I was called 3 hours before the regional office wanted me to teach a class in Hoover to a group of thirty-five, which is rather large for a disaster course. The class took place at a church on Valleydale. They were all nice and helpful, but as soon as my class was over, which they forced me to cut down thirty minutes, they all scattered, leaving me alone in their sanctuary to clean up.
I spent the rest of the week managing volunteers, a large majority of whom are here for court mandated community service. I like to say that it is Misdemeanor Season.

Along with class on Monday, I finally got my email to get access to Pottermore, and I'm proud to say that I was sorted into Ravenclaw. I was really nervous during the sorting quiz, but it rang true, for me at least. My two friends Sarah both should have been Hufflepuffs and were sorted otherwise. #TotalHuffMove

I was also able to make it back just in time to watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with Casey and Sarah. Sbansty, Case Face, and I only got to watch the first half, though, because as Brianna said, "It was too trashy for even the T.V. to handle." So we watched East Bound and Down instead because it's not trashy at all...

Tusday was the premiere of Sarah michelle Gellar's new show Ringer on the CW, and it was fairly good. I think the cheapness of the network ruined some of the special effects as did the network's insistance on playing popular music in the background of important scenes. Chris brought up the point of how could I possibly know that the music was popular. I just figure if the CW's playing it then some circle of people must enjoy it.

On Wednesday, the Donner Party pulled out another top five finish at trivia at Brown's Crown. We also got our third incorrect but funny answer for points. I've never seen anyone else get this honor. If we can't win, at least we're funny. Here's a list of teams I hate: Trivia Newton John, Red Elephants, and Chico's Bail Bonds.

Thursday was trivia night for the Chudley Cannons, and we did pretty well. We could have placed had we known when the Cranberries released their first album. Both nights we had a sporst question for halftime, which is pretty much the worst of all possible scenarios concerning trivia.


I'm stealing this multimidea idea from Sarah Langcuster. I think it makes the blog more readable when the dense text is broken up. Friday, I had dinner with Sbnasty and Brianna at Los Calientes and met up with them again hours later at the Gray Lady for Sarah's redemption for getting thrown out of the same bar on my 21st birthday a year and a half ago.

Saturday was filled with tailgating, promises of watching the game, and a walk from Laura's house to the Subway on 15th Street. There was also a 40 minute drive with a carful of people to go a distance less than 10 miles due to game day traffic and road closings.

Sunday was dedicated to Hecuba as I had a readthru and basic blocking rehearsal for the staged reading that I am doing this coming Thursday. I'm playing the role of Talthybius, a Greek soldier who tells the story of Polyxena's death to her mother, Hecuba. I think it'll be a lot of fun, but it is making this week busy already.

I'm teaching a Disaster Services: an Overview course this evening at University Mall at 6. It's FREE, and I would love it if all of you were there. It's more fun when there's a class to which to teach. Until then, I'll just be hanging out at the office still without a server.

Cupcakes and Cheer

This week was not the most eventful, especially when compared to the extreme busyness of last week. Most of our time this week was spent doing damage assessment from the large amounts of rain over the weekend. It was hard to believe that it actually rained enough to cause this much damage, but a shelter had to be opened in Birmingham because there were over seventy displaced people. The damage wasn't as bad in Tuscaloosa, but on e of the places that flooded was out own building. Half of it is missing a roof from the storm, and it rained enough to flood the covered half of the building flooded ruining anything touching the floor.
Mike and I also taught our first disaster course on our own. It went over pretty well for the three students. I'm excited that we are actually doing what we were hired to do. We also had our third community day in Livingston, Alabama. It was kind of sad that this was our most successful one because the people of this poor community were friendlier and more giving of their money than the people we came into contact with in Tuscaloosa the week before.
In non work related news, The Donner Party got their first top 5 placing at trivia with a spectacular team effort. Friday night was Nick and Will's birthday celebration at Midnight Sushi at Surin with a mess of an afterparty at Molly and Jess's apartment. It seems as though "I haven't a pulse" is an inside joke now. Saturday was the first Guerrilla Theatre of the semester, and it was wonderful. Not all of the acts were amazing, but you could definitely tell that everyone put time into their performances.
Natalie and I did a scene from a play that I hope to resubmit for Alpha Psi Omega to produce next semester. Brian Sloan's WTC View explores the varying ways in which people cope in a post disaster life as the main character Eric searches for a new roommate ro fill a bedroom that once held a view of the World Trade Center in the days following September 11th. This scene was perfect for Natalie, and the relationship between the two characters was very similar to our own. Even though it deals with a different type of disaster, it is still very meaningful to me as a Tuscaloosan in a city torn apart by torandos. The scene was done after midnight on Saturday, which caused the performance to occur on the 10th anniversary. I think the arts can be a beautiful and helpful way to cope, and for me at least it was the most meaningful piece of theatre that I have done.
After a Saturday like that, Sunday was pretty lazy. After schooling Wozniacki, I watched Serena just fall apart playing Sam Stosur. Maybe Cyndi Lauper's terrible performance of the national anthem, Serena lost the motivation to play. I have my fingers crossed for Djokovic this afternoon because watching him beat Federer two sets down and at one point two match points down. After my own tennis match with my roommate Drew, I got to finish the weekend with a nice Mexican dinner with Abby and Alyce and a movie night enjoying Sarah Michelle Gellar's Suburban Girl. I'm pumped for her new show Ringer that comes out this week.
I have to go now because I've just been handed some kind of report from the Bankruptcy Court of Southern Ohio because the executive director can't figure out what it means... Looks like Kim Glass is getting a call.

Now I Have to Blog, Feeling Terrible about My Body

Thanks to Kris Jenner for the inspiration for the title.

This past week was a busy one. Mike and I worked at two separate Get on Board days at Shelton State Community College and the University of Alabama. We helped to sign up over 700 possible volunteers total. How many of these people will actually end up helping? Probably not too many, but any amount makes a difference. I loved getting to be back on campus and talk to people. Also, I had Jake send all of the pledges of Alpha Psi Omega over to me in order to get a point. I'm so excited for all of the new pledges, and I'm not even a member anymore. The best part of the day had to be at the very end when I stepped in the mud hole that is always located by the Ferguson Center Parking Deck. When I pulled my foot out, my sandal flicked mud all up my back. This was the state that I had to go to Steve Burch's office to audition for his staged reading of Hecuba. I doubt I could have looked more professional.

The rest of the week wasn't too eventful. Thursday I twiddled my thumbs as Mike and Haley got to go to meet Nick Saban at the Habitat house dedication and right as I was about to go home I got an interesting phone call at work. The new centralization of the Health and Safety department has resulted in a few snags. One of these being that two of our instructors were not informed that they were teaching classes Thursday night. Thus, I taught my first two Red Cross courses in First Aid and Adult CPR/AED. It's really starting to feel like I have an actual job, which is just too odd.

Thursday night involved a rousing bit of trivia with Michelle and Nina, Leah's surprise bar crawl, and the first pledge dance rehearsal. It's a passion of mine to watch awkward dance rehearsals but not to participate in them. I'm so excited to see the final product at Guerrilla this weekend. Drey and Corey have done a great job choreographing.

Friday included a flop of a community day with the higlights of Sarah Jones stopping by to catch up and Wen bringing Mike and me sweet teas because he thought it looked hot outside. Then Sarah and I continued talking at El Rincon for a long dinner and Margarita venture joined by Marianne and others.

Saturday: Game Day! I'm so glad college football has started back up. There are few things that I would wake up at 8 on a Saturday for. Tailgating is one of them. Sarah Michelle Gellar and traveling are the others. Sarah and I watched the game from the rooftop restaurant The Bear Trap and were glad to be sitting in a nice breeze as opposed to the hot bowl of the stadium. It was too bad that Auburn pulled that one with Utah State out. I had my fingers crossed for a bit of an embarrassment.

That night Morgan (Morgy Porgy) and I got to have some quality time at a porch party at Michael and Garbiel's downtown. It's always great when someone makes you look less awkward by comparison. That's what friends are for.

Sunday, I just watched Away We Go and an episode of Buffy with Chris before coming home. I loved the movie and the free homemade pumpkin soup, chocolate chip cookies, and rosemary bread that accompanied it. It was a much more enjoyable experience than the last movie we watched... After watching "Hush," I got the extreme pleasure of driving Chris to a party in the Altadena area of Hoover. Google maps made this trip much longer than necessary.

Monday, Sarah, Jake, and I got reacquainted with our favorite housewives in Beverly Hills. It seems like things are going to get pretty heated this season if anyone is looking for a trashy reality show to watch. Natalie and I also had our first rehearsal for our Guerrilla scene from WTC View by Brian Sloan. We are so pumped to work on it and show it this weekend. So come to Guerrilla Saturday at 11! Doors open at 10:30, and people get in line ever earlier outside of the Allen Bales theatre in Rowand Johnson hall.

Obviously a lot happened last week. I'll try and keep a low profile so that there's less to read next time.