My Mom, the Rock Star

Having finally gotten around to uploading some pictures, I want to share from a great weekend I had about a month ago. My mom came out to visit me. It was awesome to have her here and to explore a little more of the city with her. Reprising our first trip to DC about twelve years ago, we did some paddle boating on the tidal basin.


My housemates and I also introduced my mom to Rock Band. This is her playing some Aerosmith - definitely a natural rocker.



We also bought me a dresser and chair from Ikea, the assembly of which consumed an entire evening.

I can't wait for her to come back!

Atlantic City!

Woo-hoo! I'm in Atlantic City. I'm here to attend a conference for work. We have a small event tonight, but most of the day has been spent getting here, gambling, and checking out the city. I'm staying at the Tropicana - the "most exciting casino in Atlantic City". That's according to them, however, so I'll wait awhile before I concur. It is looking promising, though. It's pretty nice to be right on the beach, although I feel like I would enjoy that a lot more at a different time of the year. So far I've checked out the boardwalk, some Trump Casino, Caesar's, and the Wild West Casino. All very spicy.

What exactly do I do?

Before I even got this job I was discussing with my good German friend Raphael what exactly "technical assistance" is. He could not conceptualize the use of the word "technical" to mean anything beyond having to do with technology. He made a good point. However, as a technical assistance specialist, I do very little with technology, and still manage to fulfill my job description.

So far I would say that my job takes on two major functions - helping states implement crisis counseling following a disaster and improving how we do crisis counseling. The latter being a fairly lofty goal that I certainly won't fulfill on my own.

Did that clear everything up?

Ikea

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing some of my favorite cousins while eating sweedish meatballs and shopping for scandinavian modern style furniture. Amy, Jonathan, and Chelsae all made the trek to Virginia to shop at Ikea, where I joined them. It was so good to see them! This is the closest I've lived to any cousin in a long while.

Besides that, the job is going very well. I'm still in the pretty steep part of the learning curve, but getting there. It's really interesting, and hopefully that will continue.

Ultimate Frisbee

So I joined an ultimate frisbee team. Seemed like the thing to do. Today we had our first game. The team got together last weekend to meet and practice, but I was in Denver, so I was unable to go. Our game was held in Anacostia, a neighborhood in DC.

Wikipedia reports:

Anacostia, today, is primarily known for its excessive crime rates that reached a peak in the 1990's. After decades of neglect, crime has been a major problem in this area of the city.

My friends report:

Don't go there.

Fortunately my game was held in the middle of the afternoon. The neighborhood was definitely not driver friendly. With lots of construction and one-ways, MapQuest quickly outlived its usefulness. I got incredibly lost, both on the way there and on my way back. Funny how you can't get on the interstates in the same places you got off. Besides my lack of directions, however, the neighborhood did not seem problematic and the park was actually really great. There were tons of teams of all sports playing everywhere. I had a great time playing frisbee, although it has been quite some time since I have played that particular sport. Additionally, the parameters of our game were either two hours or the first to 15 points. One game took over an hour and a half. That is a lot of running! I am very sore, and anticipate being even more so tomorrow.

Ah, the adventures of DC!

Employment!!!!

Yeah! I have a job! I am going to be a Technical Assistance Specialist for SAMHSA DTAC. I am really excited about the position and the work. I start Monday, so I can't wait to see how it goes!

To the Boats

So I left Denver, and in the middle of my move across the country I stopped for a delightful weekend on the farm. One of the highlights of this stay was a trip to the boats with my Aunt and Uncle, cousins, and cousin's boyfriend (always a fun addition - probably more for us than for him).

Steph and I got in the mood for gambling and increased our luck by singing some Kenny Rogers at least four times on the way there.


I guess it didn't help our luck all that much because Steph got a speeding ticket, and wasn't very happy about it. Fair enough.



We played a bunch of paigow. My luck was enough to break even at the tables, and come away with 15 extra from video poker.

All in all it was a splendid day.