Cool things about my job

Most days work is pretty routine, but the past 2 weeks I've got to do some pretty cool things...

On October 21st, I hung out with Katie Hnida (blonde in the middle), the first woman to play and score in a Division I football game.  She came to campus to talk about sexual assault.

On October 27th, my class helped out with a Halloween party for children from a local after school program.

On November 2nd, I went with another one of my classes to the Greater Boston Food Bank where we helped sort 6,198 pounds of food which will provide 4,760 meals.

Today, I went with my class to the Naval War College in Newport, RI to tour the USS Buckeley.

All in a days work!

Stolen?

This is the registration sticker from Kenny the rental car that we used while Consuela was in time out due to her temper-ature tantrum in VA. 

Good thing we didn't do anything to get pulled over or we may have been in a whole heap of trouble!

road trip recap (uno)

Meals: $162.58

Souvenirs: $1,203 (rental car + new radiator for non-rental car)

Tolls: $60

Spending 8 days in the car with your BFF: priceless


Having safely arrived back in Wollaston - we are in the process of catching up on our posts. This post has three parts titled: "things that suck", "things that don't suck" and "essential questions".

part one: things that suck

108 degrees outside while dealing with a cracked radiator in 4th of July traffic on I64 in Newport News VA

vaccuum cleaners

cash only establishments that fix cars

wideload trucks

rainbow twizzlers

Connecticut

a 93 degree apartment

traffic

people with straws

part two: things that don't suck

the Zingraff Thomas family, the Ryan Clan, the Pulliam family, the Waldron Koloff collective and the McKenna Egbert family.

Listening to the Boss sing "Born in the USA" in NJ

shimmy shake shimmy shake

cherry twizzlers

a personal bag carrying sherpa

a personal drink sherpa

free meals (and complementary adult beverages)

pop-up books

curious children

neighborhood 4th of July parades

The Deadliest Catch ( just to be clear this is on KBWs list not CLCs)

free laundry (but "Free Willy" sorta sucks)

Richard (aka 'Dick') the Tom Tom (except when he wouldn't shut up - then he goes in the other category)

part three: essential questions

What, do you think I'm stupid?

What's a footlocker?

Why do you think you don't see any of my college friends here?

Is ice a condiment?

What ring is your hand on?


And lastly:

A Banjos & Brastraps Game

Throughout the trip there have been several interesting things said -- can you guess who said what - Carrie or Kristina?

If you say that one more time I'll hit you in the head with this GPS! (that's an easy one if you read the blog)
I don't care where you stop, I just need to get out of this car!
What would you do if I threw up all over you?
What would you do if I cut off your head?
Who would put BBQ pig on an Acura?
Just in case you are a little sleepy, the speed limit is 65 and you're only going 60.
What would you do if I fell asleep at the wheel?
After you climb over the front seat, how do you get back?
Consuela needs a time out!

Are you going to stay up with us all night?
If by all night you mean until 11pm then count me in!

A 2 cent raise again?
For what?
Stamps.
That’s why I buy the forevers.
Yeah, but they’re ugly.
I don’t care, I’m not getting jacked around by the post office.

A Tale of 2 July 4th Celebrations

We celebrated the 4th in both Cary, NC and Norfolk, VA. After waking up at Kim and Drew's house, we went to a celebration sponsored by the social committee in the Cary, NC neighborhood we were staying in that day. The celebration was in the cul-de-sac with a kiddie parade, ice cream and tattoos - our friend Kim is head of the social committee. Kristina was in charge of working the crowd and I was in charge of placing the patriotic tattoos on the crowd. Below is a picture of Kristina with her new friend Rose.

After that we headed off to Norfolk, VA to see Linda, Chris and Ella Rea. At this celebration we went to a neighborhood picnic where the locals were playing corn hole. We brought Ella Rea some tattoos from the other party -- here she is with them and her Cars pjs.

better than pop-tarts or cheerios

We forgot to note our fabulous breakfast at Le Farm Bakery today. We highly recommend this cafe in Cary NC. We both had a dish with the word 'Madame' in the title. It consisted of homebaked bread, ham, gruiere and two fried eggs on top - very fresh and yummy.

ps. Mardi Gras

Chez Ryan

We've been having a grand time with the Ryans and other pals in the Raleigh-Apex-Sanford NC area.

Carrie with Lee Anne and Tia after dinner at Daniels

One of the highlights yesterday was having yummy local ice cream - between the four of us we had mint chocolate chip, coffee, black cherry and coconut nut. Clearly we're on vacation since the first thing I'm noting is food. Oh, and the weather is totally beautiful here right now.

Kristina with David and Lucy

In addition to all this visiting, we have multiple new phrases to shout out - here's the story of two of them.

We were hanging out with a few of our friends as one of their Mom's is ill and they were telling us a story about the impact of the meds and her illness on her mind. When she was in the hospital she was halucinating a little bit and one night was singing. The songs are all church songs - she's been singing in the same choir for a long time. While she was singing she suddenly stopped and shouted "Kenny!" and then kept singing. Of course my friend was confused as they don't know anyone named Kenny. We weren't sure if this was the Kenny on South Park but guess it's probably someone different.

She kept singing and then just stopped and started knitting (mind you she didn't have anything to knit with). This went on for a short while and then she started singing again. Sometime later she stopped and talked about needing to go help one of her daughters - in a very concerned way. This was a little distressing to my friend but she felt better when her Mom relaxed and returned to singing. As things settled down her Mom suddenly shouted in a very excited way: Mardi Gras!!!

Of course we couldn't resist randomly shouting Mardi Gras in the middle of our conversation that evening and sometime over dinner my friend just blurted out: "Balloon Boy". Needless to say we are now adopting these two phrases to intersperse (sp?) throughout our conversations.

Today Carrie is going to the wedding which prompted this whole gypsy adventure. We also leave Chez Ryan for another sweet friends' home just down the road from us. I am going to [shout here: Balloon Boy!] do some work while she's at the wedding and perhaps pop into a bookstore.

Clearly not too much to report except having fun with [time to yell: Mardi Gras! here] friends, eating good food and relaxing a bit.

Future post to look forward to which we guarantee is way more [Balloon boy!] interesting than this one: "Musings of a Four-Year Old".

Ailment update: in addition to new bruises from running into things at friends' houses, the poison ivy is growing and now a cold sore has started.

ta ta for now "Mardi Gras!"

We made it!

After numerous hours in the car, several changes of control over the music, and a night in VA with the Zingraff-Thomas family, we made it to NC. So far on the trip here are some things that we have learned:

1. You should always eat somewhere with truthful advertising - we may check this out later to rate it's yumminess...




2. If you have an ugly roof with stains there is a company out there that can help you regain your status in the neighborhood --- roofshampoo.com

3. If you turn the seat warmer on because it's cold when you leave you should try to remember to turn it off when it starts to get warm -- otherwise your BFF might think she's having a hot flash when it's 85 degrees outside and she is now sitting in the seat - which I have to admit was pretty darn funny.

4. Some states take refreshments more seriously than others, the picture below is one where we feel they hit the mark --




5. Chick-fil-a did not in fact buy out all the Panera Bread restaurants in an evil plot to get us lost everytime we looked for one.
And finally ..
6. In the great Mt. Jackson demolition derby when you pit a Saab against a rock wall -- the Saab can make it out alive with only a minor bumper scratch.

i wanna get on the road.....

we got people waiting for us for dinner, if you type this into that blog i'm going to kick you under the table.

help! i'm being assaulted at panera bread somewhere near Richmond VA - send an ambulance or beer or something.....

{"you shouldn't put that on the internet, someone might think you're serious or something" - insert heavy impatient sigh here}