Snowpocalypse 2014

Last week on Friday it sleeted. In Florida. Granted, this is lower Alabama, but it typically doesn't sleet here. I joked about wanting a snow day. I didn't intend for it to happen. Especially not three. I definitely did not want it to happen while I was on duty. So let's talk about Snowpocalypse 2014.

University announced on Monday that the campus would be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Well great. Sleet, freezing rain, and snow were all in the forecast along with icy roads that the state is not prepared for. Naturally, being from the North, I was not worried about these conditions. Tuesday I venture out for dinner (Mellow Mushroom... delish) and then to a movie. Well the theater was closed. Fail. Thanks Pensacola. At least MM was open. In the end it all worked out for the best.

Wednesday gets here, and I get myself out of bed to watch Good Morning America. Well apparently this crazy weather is big enough news that the local news stays on and they don't play GMA. Instead I'm subjected to pictures of ice and icy roads and listening to people who have never witnessed such a phenomenon. Highly disappointed. So I looked outside, found that it was super pretty, and decided to go on an adventure. Campus looked awesome. I walked around for two and a half hours. Then I ventured out to Panera for lunch. Roads were slippery, but it was nothing new to me (I was more worried about other drivers).

As I'm walking out of Panera, I hear the infamous (and cringe-worthy) duty phone ringtone. Burst pipe and a ceiling issue. Been there done that. No heat. Well damn. Let's open shelter. A whole lot of other issues and a night full of rounds (still ongoing). Well it's been fun. I got nearly every major issue all in one day. Record. And learned some awesome code speak... 'Tony has the torch'.... still don't know what that means.

Needless to say, it's been one interesting day. Another snow day tomorrow (which is really today now). These are things I didn't expect to happen in FLORIDA. I realized I love weather like this so I definitely need to move north (where they're better prepared for this weather. Well, just prepared in general). I also never thought I would need a jacket or gloves in Florida. So I have neither and mostly I wish I had gloves. Thankful I have a hat, and glad I look cute in it. I also enjoyed my photo adventure today and realized I've missed taking pictures. So I leave you with this photo evidence of snowpocalypse 2014:

If you're wondering about the DG Photography... it's a long story dating back to high school.

Stay warm, Florida. By which I mean, get warm because I'd like to sleep instead of dealing with issues.

My Hawaiian Alaskan Adventure

A lot of people have never been to Hawaii or Alaska. A week ago I was one those people. Now, I can say I've been to both. I never would have imagined that in one week I would go to the two states that are not part of the continental US. I'm very blessed to have had these incredible opportunities. Both trips were for interviews, one with the University of Hawaii Manoa and one with the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Last Tuesday I left Pensacola and went to Honolulu. Thursday I left Honolulu, arrived back into Pensacola on Friday morning, and 3.5 hours later (seriously) left Pensacola for Fairbanks, AK, and returned yesterday. I had a total of 10 flights (all with Delta) in only 7 days. I am completely exhausted between all the traveling, interviewing, and time changes, but it is unbelievably worth it for the adventure I was able to have. Both trips I had some time to explore and it was pretty incredible. The interviews went well, and I'd be completely happy working at either place.

Ready to take on interviews.

My first night in Hawaii they took me out for curry (delicious) and then for dessert where I got to try mochi covered ice cream (incredible). After my interview day we went down to Waikiki Beach and got to walk around down there. We ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking the water. Pretty amazing. For my 'fun day' they took me to Pearl Harbor, which was incredible. It was very meaningful and educational. The weather was also amazing! After Pearl Harbor we went and got lunch at a diner. Then went and got shaved ice (at Obama's favorite shaved ice place) which was incredible. It's probably not what you expect, but trust me it's delicious.  After that we checked out a couple less tourist-y beaches which were gorgeous. Then it was back to the airport. Hawaii is now the furthest west I've ever been.

Mochi covered ice cream - green tea, mango, and chocolate espresso flavors

Got a lei for my interview day!

The view from the housing office

Waikiki Beach

The Japanese garden on campus.

USS Arizona Memorial

Kailua Beach

Lanikai Beach

I was back in Pensacola for 3.5 hours. Useless. I had a friend pick me up and take me to breakfast. I switched out my suitcases and it was back to the airport. I was exhausted by that point and had so much more to go still. So I got some caffeine in me and kept going.

Alaska was pretty spectacular. The view from campus was pretty breathtaking, as you could see the Alaska range, including Mt. McKinley. I got to see a baby reindeer! After my interview dinner they gave me a driving tour of Fairbanks. After that I met up with a friend from college who lives in Fairbanks and a friend of his. They showed me the town. I got to see what they called "Fairbanks Beach". Not much of a beach. We went and saw the pipeline (I touched the pipeline!). Ended the night up at this place called Murphy's Dome where we watched the start of the sunrise, and on the way up we saw a couple of moose. We met some people up there and joined by their fire since it was chilly. Then the next day we got brunch at a place on the river, played mini golf, checked out Pioneer Park, wandered about downtown, drove up to Chena Hot Springs, went into the ice museum, drank appletinis out of ice glasses, and then grabbed dinner. Alaska is now the furthest north I've ever been.

The view from campus. It's hard to tell, but you can see the Alaska range.

I was pretty exhausted, but going strong.

Possibly my favorite part of the ice museum.

Me and the pipeline

This is "Fairbanks Beach"

Had brunch here and played mini golf.

Pioneer Park.

The sunset just before midnight and rose just before 4am. It was weird and difficult to adjust to. It never really got dark, just dusk-like. It was pretty cool. The view of the sunrise at Murphy's Dome was incredible and totally worth it.

The view from Murphy's Dome.

This was as dark as it got.

The next day it was back to the airport and back to Pensacola. It was one heck of an adventure and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go to both Hawaii and Alaska. Now it's back to the waiting game until I hear from the schools.

Stick Figure Stories

I know you're getting tired of me saying this, but I'm tired. Seriously this week is taking a toll on me. And tomorrow it gets crazier. Tuesday it will reach a new level of cray. And Wednesday? Wednesday my life will reach insane. So I won't even bother going on.

30-Day Challenge #1: TED Talks
Day 21

This one's just fun to watch. It's a talk by Marco Tempest. Really it's just him bringing a stick figure to life. It's really cool though. Like I said, fun to watch.

And sadly, for some reason I can't embed it so you'll have to go watch it on Ted: here.

Go watch it. It's worth it.

Oh and Snowtober update: It's nearing the end of darkness. My parents got power back, but then it went out again and is still out. But there's hope. CT should be fully restored in terms of power by the end of the weekend.

Neverending crazy.

Ohmygoodnessthishasbeenacrazyweek. Got that? Yeah, so if you didn't notice, I've been having a bit of a crazy week. Sadly, my life won't stop being crazy anytime soon. The beginning of this week was a bit crazy because I had this massive paper due Wednesday at five and I was really struggling to get it to the point that I'd be satisfied with. I think it ended up being a really good paper, but it definitely took a lot of time. Plus it was a pretty intense topic and needed to be extremely detailed so it took a toll on my brain. On top of that, I started my new job yesterday. I'm working at Panera Bread. It's a new Panera Bread that is opening next week so it's been crazy training and stuff. Next week will definitely continue to be crazy because it will be the opening. It will be busier than a Panera normally would, it will be mostly new people working who aren't 100% sure of what they're doing, and there's going to be far more employees working at once than it would normally have. So that craziness will continue next week. Not to mention that I still have classes and assignments too. Fun fun. I'm also likely to be opening some days which means I'll start work at 5am.

30-Day Challenge #1: TED Talks.
Day 20.

So, in honor of my overloaded brain this week, I found this TED talk by Iain McGilchrist about the brain. He explains the division of the brain. It's pretty interesting, and it's an animated drawing tyoe video which is cool. It's a Best of the Web talk, so it's embedded from youtube. Enjoy.




Oh, and for a Snowtober update, my parents are still without power, as is about 42% of my hometown. Should have full restoration by the end of the weekend. Insane. Unacceptable, CT, unacceptable.

Crazy Unproductive.

I had planned on being super productive today. I was going to write two papers that I have that are due tomorrow. Well I wrote one. I do however have plenty of time tomorrow to write the other one (which is only a first draft anyway so it doesn't need to be perfect). So how did I end up being so unproductive today? Well my day started off pretty early. I was awake around 6 (might have something to do with me being in bed at 9pm). I went to Church for the 8:30 mass. After that I ran a couple of errands. Then I met some friends for brunch at The Fish House. I had a delicious vegetable frittata (I love that word) and a bottomless mimosa (which at some point I had to let it reach the bottom). After that I ran back to my apartment to change into my Batman costume. Yes, my Batman costume. Then I went and met some friends at the Gulf Breeze Zoo for a fun day of "Boo at the Zoo". Had a great time there. People loved my Batman costume. One kid asked his mom if I was the real Batman (success!!). There was a little girl dressed as Batgirl who asked me if I was Batgirl. I told her I was Batman and she said I couldn't be Batman because I'm a girl. Well I'm wearing the Batman costume so deal with it! I did not say that, I just laughed and said 'Okay, I'm Batgirl.'

30-Day Challenge #1: TED Talks
Day 16

So that was the majority of my day. I came home and wrote my one paper in just a couple of hours. Made myself a quick dinner. And then made this delicious chocolate chip cheesecake dip for our Halloween party in class tomorrow. It's delish. I must resist eating it all before the party. So as my day was not nearly as productive as I intended it to be (which I'm fine with because I had a GREAT day) I decided to find a TED talk that was totally irrelevant to my life and maybe just a little crazy. I think it turned out to be a whole lot crazy and I really can't even begin to discuss it in depth. It's a talk by Joshua Walters on being crazy. It's crazy, it's funny, and you can definitely get something out of it, but I'll just let you do that on your own. So enjoy. (It's another short one too.)



Oh and as for Snowtober back home, it's not going so well. Connecticut is now faced with it's worst power outage in history (beating out the record set by Hurricane Irene not so long ago). I know that 99% of my town was without power, and it's now down to 97%. The power companies have said that it will be up to a week before full power is restored. My parents have borrowed a generator from my brother so they can at least have the necessities. It's pretty rough up there though. So for any of you up in the Northeast, I hope things get better for you soon. Stay safe.

Halloween, Snow, & the World Series.

With Halloween less than a couple days away it is looking like it's going to be a White Halloween back home. That's right. It's been a snowy day back in CT. Now, I'm enjoying the weather here in Pensacola (the high today was 69 degrees F). It's not all the crazy for there to be snow in CT in October. When I was a kid we had to buy or make my costume so that it could fit over the layers of clothes you had to wear to keep warm. So snow in October in CT is not crazy, but it doesn't happen every year, and it's usually not as big of a storm as this was. Apparently a good portion of the state is out of power (including my parent's house and most of our hometown). So as much as I am loving the gorgeous weather down here, it would be nice to be home for some snow.

30-Day Challenge #1: TED Talks
Day 15 (Halfway there!)

So in honor of the snow back home, I tried to find a TED talk about snow. I found very few options. So what I did find was this talk by Ray Zahab about his journey to the South Pole, on foot. It was a record breaking trek that took 33 days. He's very enthusiastic to share his story and it's very amazing that he and a few others did that journey together. I don't think I could ever do it.



So that's the snowy tale of the day. Who watched Game 7 of the World Series last night? I sure did. I headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings, and grabbed a seat at the bar to enjoy the game. It was a pretty good game, although not as good as Game 6 was. I was super excited that the Cardinals won. I was disappointed in the way baseball is not a big deal down here in the south. The place wasn't even packed and most of the people there weren't even watching the game. I know football is the big thing down here (don't get me wrong, I love football too) but there could be a little more love for football. While I was there I noticed there were 3 guys wearing Texas Rangers shirts, 2 with Cardinals shirts, 1 with a Nationals shirt, 1 with a Braves shirt, and 1 with an Orioles shirt. Even if you're going to watch the game, why bother wearing a shirt of a team who's not playing? Only in the south. It just would've been a better energy if there had been more people there to watch the game. Oh well, I still had a great time.

So in honor of the St. Louis Cardinals winning the World Series, their 11th WS win (#11 in '11) here's a picture of Busch Stadium from my most recent trip to St. Louis (and by most recent that means February).