I spent my morning preparing my portion of the team's de-brief that we will be presenting when we arrive back on campus. It wasn't too hard to do. Majority of it was what was already in the portfolio that I made last week. We just had to take the important parts, put it in a slideshow, and present it.
After work, we had our team meeting discussing fall break and a few other agenda items. We also had an ice cream party. Our team had quite a bit of money leftover from our budget so that's why we've been going out to eat recently and we also had enough leftover to buy ice cream. For those of you wondering why we don't save it, well, at the end of this round which is Nov. 20, all of our money goes away and we start a clean slate for round 2. So our team is trying to use as much of the money possible that we saved in our budget by buying non-perishable items for next round and going out to eat.
Day 127 - Tuesday (17), We had some not so nice weather today for part of the late morning and early afternoon. Some of our team went to Subway for lunch and we got caught in some pretty heavy rain so we waited our time out in Subway. As soon as it started to pour less, we made our way back to work. Probably about 25 yards away from the door to our office, it started to pour again so I ran those last yards. Didn't help me much for trying to stay dry.
After work, we headed to the gym and did PT. As usual, I did my weights in the gym for a bit, then went outside to play some basketball. It's was a little chilly outside due to the rain earlier, but it was still enjoyable.
Day 128 - Wednesday (18), Although we have one more day left, our team is starting to wrap up our first round. Liz took our team out to lunch with a couple other POCs. We went to a Thai buffet which was pretty good for a smaller scaled restaurant. The restaurant itself was small so we got some surprised looks when a group of 11 walked in all at once.
After work, we went to the gym one last time to do our PT. After PT and showers, I drove Kristina around town to do a few errands. Since we had food that we didn't have room to take back with us on campus, we donated those. After dinner, I started to pack my bags because we are loading up the van tomorrow night. I didn't get to bed until midnight and we have a busy Thursday ahead of us.
Day 129 - Thursday (19), Can't believe that today is our last day in Houston and also the last day of Round 1! I'm really looking forward to heading back to campus and finding out where Round 2 location will be!
Work dragged on a bit slowly today. In the morning we took some pictures with our POCs and bosses. As the afternoon wore on, we slowly started to pack up our desk area, clean up and say good-bye to the other FEMA staff that we had worked with. I had an incredible time having the honor to work with the staff and some were the nicest and sweetest people. I hope the Round 2 FEMA staff will be just as good as they are.
We headed back to the hotel and I packed a little bit more of my miscellaneous stuff. The fridge got cleaned out, pots and pans were separated and packed into a box, drawers were emptied and we loaded everything we had into the van except for a personal bag that we will keep with us during the ride back to campus.
After we packed the van, we headed one last time to downtown Houston. We had quite a bit of money leftover from our budget still, so we treated ourself to the Cheesecake Factory. It was very delicious. I ordered a veggie pasta dish (Evelyn's Pasta) and the Kahula Cocoa Coffee Cheesecake which both were very delicious. The Cheesecake Factory always reminds me of winter season and Christmas with my family because we usually eat out at the Cheesecake Factory on Christmas Eve.
We are leaving bright and early tomorrow at 6:00 am to return back to campus. It should be pretty fun! And the next time I write, I will be back in Vicksburg, Mississippi!
Day 130 - Friday (20), Early start to today. I woke up at 5:40 am to get ready and pack the rest of my stuff. We left the hotel around 6 and I slept for a couple hours here and there. We made a stop for lunch and switched drives a few times. I took the last shift back to Vicksburg.
We arrived on campus at 2:45 pm and were one of the first to arrive. We got our dorm keys and started unpacking the van and unloading things into our dorms. As we were unpacking the van, other teams started to arrive followed by lots of laughter and hugs. It was so great to see the other teams again! I spent a good amount of time chatting with other people and catching up before I returned to my dorm to started unpacking some clothes. The black box that we left behind with all of our misc. things we didn't want to take with us for Round 1, well we can't get that until Monday. So it made it a little bit difficult to unpack and organize because I have hangers and other things I need from that black box.
For dinner, our team ordered pizza from Dominos. Since we were all really hungry, it tasted really good. I took a few boys to Walmart so they could pick up batteries to play X-box. I had to get a couple things myself - hand soap and an air freshener for our room. I spent the rest of the night going to different people's dorms and hanging out in the hallway just chatting and talking how their first round went.
I stayed up pretty late and it was a long day for me. I'm heading to the gym early tomorrow to get a workout in so I'm going to get to bed! It feels a little refreshing to be back in Vicksburg for transition and Thanksgiving Break.
Day 131 - Saturday (21), First full day back on campus! This morning was a productive day for me. I did an early run to the gym this morning to get my morning workout out of the way. When I returned, I took a shower, and did my laundry. It felt nice to not have to put coins into a laundry machine to wash clothes.
I ate a quick lunch and drove a couple people to Downtown Vicksburg to get some coffee at Highway 61. Since the weather here is starting to get cold and windy, I order my usual caramel macchiato, but hot instead of my usual iced macchiato. I also got Kristina an ice tea. I made a quick stop by the library to get a few movies for movie nights.
When we returned back onto campus, I went down to the soccer field with a few friends to watch the soccer tournament that was taking place. It was cold and windy outside so all of us were bundled in sweatshirts and jackets and we even had a blanket wrapped around us. The games were pretty fun to watch and I think the championship game is taking place tomorrow so I will probably head down for that also.
While part of my team went grocery shopping, I spent a couple hours talking to Alex, who is the team leader for Summit 2. When my team finally returned home, I ate a canned lentil soup they had purchased. It wasn't bad, but definitely not close to home. I spent the rest of the night hanging out in peoples' dorms.
I also started watching Mockingjay Part 1 with Kaitlynn as a refresher because Mockingjay Part 2 is out and I wanted to see that in theaters, but we ended up getting tired while watching it so we'll finish that tomorrow.
Day 132 - Sunday (22), Today was a very slow and relaxing day. The morning started off slow. I slept in until about 9 am and just wandered around chatting with other people from different teams.
At 1:30, a couple of my friends and I went down to the soccer field to watch the championship game. Thankfully it wasn't as cold and windy as yesterday. The sun was out, but there was still that chill.
I spent about 2 hours in my dorm finishing watching Mockingjay Part 1 with Kaitlynn and then I attended a two hour team meeting. We have our debrief presentation first thing tomorrow morning so we had to practice our parts for that. Based off of tonight's practice run, I think it will go alright tomorrow. We still needed some more practice. I stayed up until midnight just talking to myself practicing my lines over and over again until I got the majority of it down.
After our meeting, I ate dinner and spent a few more solid hours hanging out with Summit 2 just chatting and telling stories. We were joined by 2 members of Gulf 2 so that wass also nice because we got to hear about their team and what they did.
It's getting pretty late tonight and we have one day of work tomorrow before we go on break!
Day 133 - Monday (23), I know today is Monday, and this blog entry is a day late and I apologize, but Sunday night was a little busy for me with the preparation for my team's debrief presentation and all. Here's the start for today -
We had to present our debriefing presentation this morning to Chris, our Unit Leader. The presentation went much better than I had anticipated. A lot smoother than it went last night and I'm proud of my team for pulling it together. I know it wasn't quite as easy for some members. We also had the ability to sit in for Summit 2's debriefing presentation so it was really interesting to hear all the great work they did in South Carolina for the flooding.
After presenting our debrief and sitting through Summit 2's debrief, we picked up our black box that contained all the things we left behind. The box was much lighter than I had remembered. It didn't take to long for me to unpack the box as I only left behind a few things and shared the other half of my box with another one of my teammates because I had extra room. I was finally able to hang up my clothes and retrieve my bed sheets.
In the afternoon, we had a quick meeting to attend to and then a nice break. After break, we had a community meeting with the entire corps. We had a really fun relay race in which the unit leader(s) of the losing teams got slimed with neon yellow goo.
After the community meeting, I had my specialty role meeting for media. We went over positives, negatives, and even better ifs of Round 1. The specialty role meeting was quick and short. I then attended another meeting after that because I am staying on campus for Thanksgiving Break. I was chosen to be the Assistant Team Leader for my unit, which is Summit and one of the larger units. So I am responsible for helping with the food, making sure everyone get fed, in charge of the van keys and delegation, and the main point of contact for my unit. So it was pretty cool that I was chosen to lead my unit over break
The night went by pretty fast. I hung in in Kaitlynn and Ashley's room for a couple hours and then I moved onto Kristina's room for another couple hours. It was nice to be able to chat with Kristina since she's been really busy and I don't see her as often as I did when we were in Houston living in the same hotel room.
It's about 12:30 as I'm wrapping up this last entry. I am responsible for being a shuttle driver and taking a group of people to the airport tomorrow so I need to be functioning tomorrow not only as a driver, but a responsible ATL for my unit!
My coffee cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory
A really cool bathroom sink I found during a bathroom stop in Louisiana
Really beautiful fall weather view from my dorm room. Although it looks sunny, it was chilly. It's definitely sweater and blanket weather.
1 comment:
I'm glad you are back in Vicksburg and with the whole gang again!
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