Ye Olde Weekende - thus far

Spent last night with these lovely people at the Chamblee High School homecoming game (obviously, it's a picture from a different event, as even Chamblee does not have statues). Chamblee skunked the opposition, so much so that it almost wasn't worth watching. The company was great, though, which made it worthwhile.

Today we volunteered for the middle school's Quiz Bowl tournament. (We could also call this event Geekfest 2008.) Since this is how I spent many weekends from, oh, 1992-1998, you could perhaps call me one of them. I will contend, though, that I was much better behaved. It is sort of funny to sit in a room full of kids who get mad at themselves for not remembering that the Sudan is the largest country in Africa.

We also achieved one wedding gift and one baby shower gift. I am clearly getting old and cranky, because my new rule is that even IF something appears on your registry, if I think it's junky or overpriced, I'm not buying it! There was an incident earlier this summer where I really had a hard time buying a gift because I thought the person's china patterns were too hideous for words. I think this means two things:

1. I am a snob, and I should get over myself.
2. I am a snob, and I should get over myself.

Noah's Ark tomorrow - there should be some quality Roy G Bivishness for Monkey!

Happy weekend!

32 years ago today....

These lovely people were married. I could lie and tell you that they were 15 at the time but then lightning would strike. ;) Normally, for an anniversary, one would post a picture of the married people together, but I can't seem to find one of those. Instead, I decided to post hysterically bad pictures of them from two Christmases ago. What's the point of having a daughter with a blog if she doesn't use it to embarrass you?

In any case, congratulations, and here's to 32 more. We love you!

It's getting closer....

It's getting closer....
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

Hi, it's me. Sarah. The girl who used to blog here. I'm officially at the halfway mark of my training sessions, and next week I get to sit and listen to other people instead of doing all the talking myself. That, friends, is exciting.

Tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday, we'll be up in North Georgia at a very nice meeting facility in the mountains. Monday night's activities include a bonfire - on the first day of fall, no less. It's very exciting.

I am not advanced enough at flickr to remove the big orange square from this mosaic, so instead we'll just call it an ode to Monkey's love of the color orange. That should be sufficient, I think.

My plans for tonight include some basic Halloween decorating. Juno has arrived on Netflix, so I'm going to watch that and, of course, You've Got Mail, while I work.

Just so you know that things don't ever really change, I also have piles of laundry to do tonight. :)

Happy fall!

And so it begins...

The training, the traveling...

Today was the first day back "on the road," as we like to call it, and things went pretty well - enthusiastic teachers are the best and totally make my job worth the (increasingly many) days spent starting at a computer screen. Here's hoping tomorrow goes well, too, since the show goes onto the road for real starting on Tuesday!

In other news, AARP has sent me a membership card - with my name and membership number on it! - and is harassing Petey. Since he is a month younger than I am, it is even worse that he's getting junk, too. HA!

If you're so inclined, you should visit Jeanetta's super cute blog to see what she's cooking up for Halloween, and enter her giveaway for a neat composition book cover!

This weekend I'll have cards and tags to show you - whoohoo!

Happy Thursday!

Grateful.

NOLA Reunion July 17-20, 2008 051
Originally uploaded by sarahblascovich

That most of New Orleans looks like this with a lot more wind.

That all of my Louisianans are wet & windblown but otherwise fine.

That things are much, much better than they might have been.

10 Years Ago.

I started college in New Orleans the last week of August, 1998.

Only, we started class a day late because of Tropical Storm Earl, that turned at the last minute, so instead we spent a beautiful day in the French Quarter. The skies were blue, it was about 75 degrees (unheard of for NOLA in August), and we decided that forecasters were silly.

A couple of weeks later, we waded to class in water a couple of inches deep thanks to Frances. We waded back from class in water up to our knees. Some courageous/idiotic people went canoing down the streets of our fair city. Okay, so sometimes the forecasters get it right.

A couple of weeks after THAT, we all went home or were sequestered on the upper floors of a concrete dorm because Hurricane Georges was headed to NOLA. The mayor (not the same one as today) was on TV telling us about things like hurricane protection levees and floodgates, and my father begrudgingly booked me a ticket home to Atlanta, because - hey! what do those forecasters know anyway? That hurricane hooked east at the last minute and hit the Alabama/Mississippi line instead, a much-weakened storm.

We had all (because we were good kids who followed the university President's directions) read a book called Rising Tide by John Barry, about the last great Mississippi flood, and we learned that New Orleans was a bowl - the levees on the River and the Lake hold water in, and it takes something called Wood Screw Pumps to take it out. The pumps (designed by the fabulous Mr. Wood, a fellow Tulane alum), can pump out an inch of rain an hour. Thus, the couple feet of water from Frances couldn't be pumped out fast enough to prevent accumulation.

Following the trifecta of Freshman Year Hurricanes, things were quiet. We graduated, and most of us moved away.

Three years ago, we all know what happened with Katrina - which, might I remind you, turned east at the last minute and made landfall in Mississippi. We were as shocked and horrified as any of you, except we knew that it could happen. We were shocked that no one else seemed to know, not just about the water, but about so many things that are, no were, part of New Orleans. Our friends Bear & Emily lost their house - the water was within two inches of their crown molding. For a month.

Their house is gone now, and they had plans to rebuild. I talked to Bear yesterday as he drove, again, away from his house with no idea what will happen next. He's not alone.

Neither is New Orleans alone. So, tonight, as I obsessively stare at weather.com, and selfishly pray that this storm won't turn east, I hope you'll join me in lifting up all the people of the Gulf Coast, because truly only God knows what will happen next.

Farewell, Vice President Nunn, we hardly knew ye...

Joe Biden.

Seriously? Joe Biden????

Just because I live south of the Mason-Dixon line doesn't mean I don't count, buddy.

And there are signs all over my neighborhood to prove it.

We all know Sam would've been a better choice.

:(

Sorry.

I meant to take pictures of the other stuff. Really. It just hasn't occurred to me to do it while it's still light outside. There's still hope - probably.

I am also spending all day at work glued to my computer, which makes me not want to use a computer at home - thus, no blogging.

Terribly sorry, to all 4 of my dedicated readers. ;)