DR 364-12

This week has been a long one. The majority of this post will be dedicated to the Red Cross disaster relief effort after the tornadoes early Monday morning and other work related occurrences. I honestly can barely remember anything else I did anyway, but we’ll begin with the events leading up to DR 364-12, as it is officially called in Red Cross Lingo.

Wednesday, Maggie and I joined the rest of our team for another successful week at trivia. We were “Not the Droids You’re Looking for.” It’s one of my favorite team names ever. I’m going to vom if “Furburger hold the Ketchup” shows up again.

Thursday was crazy fire case day. We had two fires affecting three families on the same street within two hours of one another. Also, the second case was all kind of ridiculous. I can’t share personal details due to client confidentiality, but let’s just say that of the few people that had residence verification all of them used subpoenas.

Friday was the West Alabama Chapter’s Boston Butt sale. That morning I drove over to Bibb County to do casework for a fire and then returned to pick up some butts to take to Hoover. These are the greasiest hunks of meat I have ever seen. We had to double bag all of them just so people could take them home. At least they taste good.

This weekend was my first rehearsal for Hamlet. Sunday we blocked Acts IV and V. I think I’m really going to enjoy this production because everyone acts so professional. They all have fun, but we’ve been getting things done without any drama or childish behavior. It’s very refreshing. I also got to revisit Mafioaza's, a restaurant I worked at. Jeremy and I had a great waitress and a good meal even if it was loud and super crowded.

After rehearsal I stayed up until 5 am watching the weather just in case it affected any of my counties. Luckily it missed us, but it did cause a significant amount of damage in Jefferson, St Claire, and Chilton counties. I was in constant contact with my supervisor, and she told me to report to Hoover the next morning to get to work on the DR (Disaster Relief).

I got to the state office at 9 and was quickly assigned to the Disaster Assessment group. The five initial actions of the Red Cross after a disaster are Feeding, Sheltering, Disaster Assessment, Fundraising/ Publicity, and Staffing Local Government EOCs. Disaster Assessment has to be done quickly because it provides information used to create mobile feeding routes, to choose shelter locations, and to determine the amount and type of assistance the Red Cross. During the morning, we took calls from teams in the field as well as fire departments and the sometimes unreliable person who was actually affected by the disaster.

After getting the area assessment done, we sent out multiple two person teams to the affected areas to begin the Detailed Damage Assessment. This involved going door to door and putting each residence damaged into one of five classification categories based upon certain criteria. I was partnered with John Greco from Cullman, who oddly enough took a Disaster Assessment course that I taught. For the next three days, we did DDA between 20th and 25th Avenues NW in Center Point, AL. We were not in the area of the heaviest damage in the state, but we still saw some homes in terrible condition. Most streets were impassible to cars so we had to walk over debris and trees just to get down once busy streets. John took over 50 photos, so I’ll share some with you.





That was the worst house we saw. It's on 23rd Terrace NW, and it was pushed completely off of its foundation.

After the tornado in Tuscaloosa, I felt so useless. Anywhere I volunteered, I only did meaningless tasks like sorting and directing parking lot traffic. Now I see the true value in being a trained volunteer. The work I did meant something. Not only was I getting necessary work done for the Red Cross, but I was also out there interacting with the people. I was someone they could talk to about what happened, and I was able to give them information about where they could get food and shelter. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life even if it drained all of my energy.

Some recent James quotes:

“I got a bone to pick with you.”

“Ah, no! Don’t do karate on me.”

“I’ll laugh at that.”

“That cheese gonna stop you up.”

Since Brevity is the Soul of Wit

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I've Never Seen So Much Pizza!

There were many titles this blog could have had. This was the only one with a G rating. This post will include very little about Red Cross since both very little happened and also New Orleans will take a while to describe.

First, though, I had to say a temporary "Good-bye" to two friends last week. Jenae and I had our last night at trivia and did pretty well for ourselves considering we were missing teammates. If only we knew our Bruce Willis movies better, we could have placed. Maggie and I are going to play again tonight at a new location, and Jenae will be greatly missed. I'm so jealous that she's getting to do an internship in DC. I want to live there at some point just on the off chance that Barack can be my friend.


The other person that is leaving Tuscaloosa is one of my pledges Molly. She's transferring to a school in Nashville that seems to be a better fit for her. I'm happy that she made that decision for herself, but I hate that this will limit the amounts of time I see her extremely. My pledges really helped me get through last year by eating with me, putting together ridiculous puzzles of the world in my apartment, and watching Into the Woods and Heavy Weights together at Wesley Foundation. I'm glad I was in town for her last hurrah. We just played this crazy game in which everyone writes down four things on slips of paper and place all the slips in a bowl. Then each member of the two teams takes turns going through all of the strips getting their teammates to guess using first words and motions, then just one word and motions, then only motions. It's really fun, and I am so glad I got to spend that time with Molly. She is a great person, and I wish her the best.



Now we move on to the madness that was New Orleans and the National Championship. Some things will stay with in the confines of the French Quarter, but I'll share what I can. The car ride down there consisted of many different conversations ranging from excitement about the game to ponderings about the sex lives of friends and even to Eryn's wedding that we planned to happen over the weekend to a man she hadn't met yet.

When we arrived at Dianna's house after picked up some Daiquiris to go (only in Louisiana), Dianna's dad made some of the best red beans and rice I've ever had. He and his wife drove the seven of us over to our hotel on Loyola in the business district of the city. It was only about a mile walk to the main area of the French Quarter. I was being really intelligent when the only pair of shoes I packed were heeled boots... My legs look great now.

The weekend was a little long for my taste, but it was filled with great times with wonderful friends and amazing food. I had this Lobster Bisque at Jax Brewery that I will get every time I return. We wandered around the mess that is Bourbon Street trying drinks and more importantly people watching. I have to spend this time warning anyone who will listen against trying a hand grenade jello shot. It comes in a syringe and you push it into your mouth while your lips are wrapped around the tip and it shoots into the back of your throat. I described it that way for a reason. It's disgusting.

Saturday night Nina and I stopped at Arby's on our way back to the room. It took a very long time just to get our food and sit down. There was so many drunk and annoying people around while I was trying to quietly enjoy my mac and cheese. One group of guys, in particular, were yelling something about camel toe, and another drunk man started yelling at them about the starting point of the line. Before they could actually through a punch, the order caller jumped between them and kicked half of them out. In New Orleans, even fast food restaurants have bouncers.

Sunday was a lazier day. I was all about taking naps since my space was sleeping on the floor. Naps meant quality time with an actual mattress. My room woke up at 8:30... Then we left at 10:30 to go get brunch at a place called The Ruby Slipper Cafe. I had a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich along with a biscuit with chicken sausage. It was too good and not very expensive if you ordered the right thing. The wait was pretty lengthy, but I think that had everything to do with it being a busy weekend.
 

Monday was game day. After a second night of floor sleep and a late night toilet paper run during which I had my sleeping shorts on backward, we woke up for yet another brunch at Huck Finn's Cafe in the French Quarter. They wouldn't let me order off the lunch menu, so it wasn't my favorite. I really wanted their lunch quesadilla but had to settle for steak and eggs. That was definitely a first world problem. We made a quick appearance at the Carousel Bar which slowly rotates followed by a nap while my friends gambled.


After my glorious nap, I took a hotel pen and the USA Today crossword with me to meet my friends at Jax Brewery near Jackson Square. As I did my crossword and other puzzles, I ate that amazing lobster bisque and a chicken cordon bleu sandwich. Some very nice LSU fans (comparatively) sat at a table with us in the downstairs of the restaurant. They were the only non Alabama fans downstairs. There was a private LSU party upstairs. They got a little upset during the first half and spilled some drinks onto out table not that anyone at our table noticed. For the most part, they were far too intoxicated or into the game to pay attention. One of the LSU girls vommed on the floor. #klassy The game was amazing to behold. The tornado pictures at the beginning caught us off guard causing many to tear up, and it reminded us of what this championship meant to the city of the Tuscaloosa. It was much more than number 14, or 9 depending on your counting. It was coming back from tragedy to lift up a community that desperately needed it. I had never imagined it would be a shut out or that LSU would have less total yards than Trent Richardson or that they would only get 3 first downs and across the goal line once. I know people are tired of the SEC, and I guess I would be as well if I were a fan of another conference. It's unfortunate for them that Nick Saban will probably win a few more before his career as a head coach ends.
  
That night I saw EVERYONE I knew to celebrate general Roll Tide feelings. When I got back to the room passing bloodied drunkards, Dianna had ordered two large pizzas for the room from a number given to her by the front desk that we are pretty sure was a personal home number. Eryn got back and watched the game again on ESPN with me to go to sleep. It was worth a second viewing. We didn't have our room cleaned all weekend, so the next morning was rough in terms of smells. Eryn had eaten a greek salad and left a box of olives out which mixed with four pizza boxes, spilled drinks, street grime, and beads to produce an interesting odor. When Eryn woke up and saw all the pizza boxes she exclaimed that she had never seen so much pizza even at her pizza party. We quickly got ready as everyone else in the room discussed how they lost their dignity over the weekend. For some it was in vomiting behind a Wendy's dumpster. Others gave random men lap dances for the Alabama win. Some wandered around alone ending up on a boat. Either way I'm glad I was able to spend the weekend with Sarah, Dianna, Nina, Eryn, Emmie, and Jho. I hope their livers recover soon.

2012: Year of the Parvin

Happy New Year! It definitely doesn't feel like a new year, but everything has had a muted feeling for me this holiday season. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I need to do something to adapt to the nine to five type of life. We'll see if I adjust before I do something completely different after June.

Before I left for Atlanta, there was a multi-year IB reunion for all Hoover High School graduates. While we were shoved in a tiny room at Beef O'Brady's, it was still a good time. There were only six people from my year out of the twenty-two that were in the program my senior year. It was really fun to catch up with them and our old teachers. Everybody is being all adult now, so it's weird to hear about their next steps in life. I don't know how long it will be until we see each other again, and for some of us it could be never. Thus making this a special occasion. I just wish it happened somewhere not named "Beef O'Brady's."

Afterward, Kevin, Sarah, Danny, and I were able to drag our former math teacher Mr. Kustos a.k.a. Paul to the Waffle House on Morgan Road, which was one of our many high school haunts. We shared food and stories of the ridiculous things we did. This included my math teacher pretending to fall out a window to freak out the chemistry teacher that we all had ten years later.

The next day my supervisor took me on a wild goose chase to find a meat and three to eat at for lunch. It turns out that they were all closed, so we just ent to Roly Poly. After we got back, I had a fire case during which Holli ate my wrap. It was a blessing in disguise because her Buffalo Chicken one was even better than the Santa Fe Chicken I had ordered.

After a long night of Lego Harry Potter with Will, Jenae and Ben picked me up in Hoover to being a trek to Justin and Karissa's in Atlanta. Before we left, Jenae had made her status 2012: Year of the ______. People had a lot of funny answers, and it became a running joke of the weekend to fill in the blank.

While in Atlanta, the five of us went to an excellent dinner at Raging Burrito. It was very much like a sit down Moe's restaurant with some slightly more exotic choices, but I went with the very safe chicken tacos. I had to eat well considering my resolution to become more physically active.

After dinner we got prepped to go out on the town. We stayed in the Dectur area and hit up a couple of cool bars that catered to the young professional crowd with us being on the very young end of that. We had to really cool cab drivers one seventy year old, who tried to convince us he was over 100, and an Ethiopian playing the best music ever.

It was an amazing way to bring in the new year with some great people. I can't tell what 2012 holds yet. I hope a few less pounds, and excellent second half of my job at the Red Cross, and a new career as a tour director in a new city are included. So Happy New Year! I hope that 2012 will be your year of the _______.