A Happy Ending

So, this involves a happy ending. A real happy ending, not some fake one with lots of smoke and mirrors to hide the fact it isn't really a happy ending. This ends happily for me.

While I was down in Mississippi I had a day off. It was quite a thrill, this day off. I'd been working for more than 2 weeks and things were getting testy in the kitchen. At that point we were feeding people that did not need to be fed, but we were feeding them anyway because the higher ups (in Headquarters) were telling us we couldn't pull any feeding routes. And I couldn't get away from anyone. Sleeping in a warehouse with 1400 other people with no private time. Except in the porta-pots, but I couldn't be in there for more than a minute before the smell became unbearable. So I took my scheduled day off.

I told the boss I didn't want to take anyone with me, I needed some alone time. So I took the truck and left at about 10 in the morning and headed to Dauphin Island in Alabama. It's on the coast, a barrier island to Alabama. I took the east side and toured a Civil War Era fort (I know, I know. I'm a nerd.) and walked along the beach. It was great, no destruction. I was at a nature reserve so there were no people, it was just me. Well, me and the dozens of oil rigs that were dotting the horizon. And I don't mean just dots. Dots you can explain to your party guests as ships. No, these were really freaking close. In fact, I think I saw the fire on one of the flarestacks.

But on to my little story. So I was on the island. And I had gone for a walk along the beach, in through the wooded nature area. It was quite a nice walk. Sunny, 90 degrees. I had no shoes on, I left them in the car. (Chelsea, you would be so proud of me.) As I was walking back to the car I decided to take a picture of it on my phone. Took picture one, saved. Took picture two, saved. Closed the phone. Or tried to. The phone fell out of my hand and into the Gulf of Mexico. Damn. So I picked it up and started to dry it off. At this point it's vibrating constantly. And yes, I have heard the jokes about what a woman could do with it. In fact I had someone demonstrate what they would do with it if they could have a few minutes alone with it.

So I took the battery out and started to dry it off as I walked to the truck. Got to the truck, wrapped it in an extra shirt and took off. Did I go back to the base because I was 100 miles from anyone I knew without a phone that worked? Hell no. This was my day off and I wasn't going to let a little thing like non-communication get in my way. So I started driving towards Mobile. Not a very good walkable city. So I drove through it and went back west towards Gulfport. Only I took a different exit and just went for a drive. Something else one should not do when they have no lines of communication.

But, back to the real story, I got back in the kitchen the next day and tell the story. They tell me salt water is not the best thing for a phone because of the salt. So I take some fresh water and rinse the phone out. Then I let it continue drying. At one point I turn it on and it looks like it's working. Hurray! I let it dry some more. And a day or two later I take it out from it's nesting place and put it on the dashboard of the van and let some air go over it and get some more drying done. I get out of the van (I am the driver, mind you) to get the others that are waiting for me. I get back in the van and my phone is sitting screen down in a cup of hot chocolate. My hot chocolate. Damn. So then I wash it out, again, in fresh water and set it up to dry. Again.

As I was leaving in a few days I just decide to keep the phone wrapped up and in my carry on all day Friday into Saturday. Saturday when I turn it on it works fine! Like nothing had happened. Except for the fact it has water on the inside screen. But it works. And that's all that matters.

But as I'm charging it on my way to LVC disaster hits. The LCD screen doesn't work. And it won't work for good now. I can receive calls, send calls and dial, I just can't see anything on the screen.

So I deal with that for a few days, until I realize I have a text message. I can't read it. So I finally go to Verizon on Thursday (a week after I got back) and tell them the story. The guy at tech starts laughing and tells me he'll give me a new phone. For free.

What? For free? Yep, because I was doing some good when it got all wet. I would just need to buy a new battery for a measley 40 bucks. Hell, a replacement phone for 40 bucks? I'll take that. Normally, because it got wet (4 times) I would have to pay for a new one. But the guy was nice. And the store manager. Can't forget that. Even the girl that was there and did all the paper work for me told me she would have made me pay for a new phone. But he was the store manager and could do things like that. Glad he was there.

So I got a new phone, I feel better, and I have all my contacts back. Ahh, the sense of freedom. Kinda. At least it has a happy ending.

A Few Frequent Questions

This is only a small post, not going into details (I hope) about what I did during my time with the American Red Cross (ARC) in Mississippi.

I worked on an Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV). My main goal was to feed anyone that came up to the window asking for food or drinks (or snacks). Usually it amounted to me feeding lots of people that did not need it, but that is another story.

I was stationed at a kitchen at the Pass Road Baptist Church in Gulfport, MS. The Baptist church sent kitchen workers who would cook food and deliver it to us to place on the ERV so we could have something hot to serve to the residents ( and contractors, Mexican laborers, guardsmen, et. al.).

Although at training they told me I would be sleeping on a concrete floor, that was not the case. I was sleeping in a warehouse (hangar?) on the Naval Construction Battalian Center with close to 1400 people at it's peak. That's a little misleading. There was 4 seperate rooms to this warehouse, each about 60 yds. by 60 yds. I slept in Div. C with about 800 Red Cross volunteers. The other 600 were seperated amongst the other 3 remaining rooms. They included a Fire Response Kitchen team, an Incident Management team, Corps of Engineers, Church of Scientology members, Forest Service members, FEMA, FEMA firefighters, PRC and a few other groups. ARC was by far the largest represented group there. By far.

Also at training they told me to be prepared to eat MREs for all three meals every day. Lets see, 21 days, times 3, thats 63 MREs. I ate exactly 0 MREs while I was down there. They had a Fire Response Team come in and serve food from a mobile kitchen. These people are used to feeding firefighters battleing forest fires in remote areas of the west. They serve 5000 calories a day. I didn't go hungry. That and working at a kitchen. The food wasn't that bad. Almost like college. Well, the forest group had good food, the church kitchen had college food. Did you know Salisbury Steak and Meatloaf look very similar? Almost the same.

And I met a lot of people. If I planned to travel across the country, I could stay at people's houses for free and make it to almost every state. Although I met a lot of people from Maryland, so that would be quite a few day trips. But I could make it from San Diego to Maine and not have to pay a cent in lodging costs. I'd pay an arm and a leg in gas, but I wouldn't have to pay for a room. And I'm sure they would offer some meals to me, so there goes the food bill. So someone get me a large map, I'm planning a trip.

And those are just a few of the answers to some of the questions I have been asked. Granted most of the people that would care have already heard it directly from me, but I thought I would write it down anyway.

Oh, and I loved it. As soon as I landed at BWI I wanted to go back down. Or go to Florida. It is something I will do again and again.

What a Trip

That was the most amazing trip I went to, ever. Forget Orlando, Costa Rica doesn't come close and Cooperstown isn't even close. Biloxi/Gulfport, Mississippi was an amazing experience. The sights, the sounds, the smells (ewwww) and the people, I will not forget them.

I had started a journal down there. Every couple of days I would write something. I don't know if I want to add those journal entries here, or if that is going to be my own private journal. But I will use this as a way to let you know about my time there. And from here you can see my pictures. Just click on the mini-pictures to the right and find the appropriate folder. I don't know when they will all be up, we shall see. Flickr takes time to load them, hopefully I can get them all up in the next week or two.

Till then.

I'm Back!

Well, I'm back in Maryland and kinda tired. I'll write more later. Just letting everyone know I got back from Biloxi safely.

This is Where I Am

Just to let those that have bookmarked this, I'm in Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi. I am staying at the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport and working out of a kitchen in Biloxi. It's at the corner of Jody Nelson and Pass Roads. I get to take money out to the people in the community that lost their homes. I get to see the areas that have been hit by Katrina and took lots of pictures. I'm having a good time down here. I'm posting at Red Cross HQ where the computers are. But I am still alive, if a little tanner.