AmeriProm and close

Well, this is the last week. It is Monday and I only have a few days left. Last Friday we had a little dance called AmeriProm (we "Ameri" everything). I just wanted to share a couple photos from the event.


Anne, Myself, and Ashley


Hannah and Chris in prom zombie fashion


Hannah and Chris dying for flesh


Chris going for the neck


Myself and Cory having a moment on the dance floor

As always all photos and more can be view at Flickr

Au Revoir

AmeriCorps- It's almost over

Hello to those of you who actually still look at this thing. It's been 10 months, kudos to you. If you are wondering, everything is going great. The round in Okefenokee NWR ended very well. I am back in Maryland now preparing for graduation. I have completed most of my member exiting and team closure junk. All that is left is to go through the actual ceremony and walk on to the plane. NOVEMBER 13 is the big day! I will be back in Des Moines that evening. I am ready to come back like you would not believe. Don't get me wrong this is (at times) a very fun thing to do, but it's time for a break. There are people I need to see.
I'm just going to wrap this up quick, there isn't much to say. I'm going to miss doing this and I am going to miss my team, but I have a future to look forward to and made a lot of connections in the meantime.

Some of the last pictures I took with commentary:


Me and Ashley as Bear and Gator


Tiny frog on leaf


The sunset at a distance through binoculars


The sunset close up through binoculars


Sun rays bursting through smoke and trees


The beautiful Northeast autumn color


Me and Chris post jumping into the Chesapeake Bay at midnight
Look at my mountain man beard... nasty!

Goodbye and see you soon

week 3; camping on the swamp

This week we camped on the swamp. We drive an hour by boat out to Jacob's Island to work and camp for a few days, this time two. This was my first time out and let me just say, it was a lot of fun. Middle of nowhere, secluded, no electricity... camping. Jackie Carter came out with us. Jackie reminds me of Terry "Hulk" Hogan. He has white hair and a white moustache. He is tan and muscular. Like I said, Hulk Hogan. Did I mention he hunts and wrestles alligators? You may be able to spot him in one of the pictures below. Anyway, Jackie has a great story to tell and he is a good chef to boot! Jackie cooked the first night and prepared alligator bites for us. Given the circumstances of the way the alligator was dispatched, I ate some and it was very tasty. We worked from the boats cutting down brush and I spent most of the time in waders standing chest deep in the swamp. There was an old cabin and we slept outside in tents. We had a roaring fire and told ghost stories, or rather we listened to Jackie tell true swamp ghost stories. That was pretty much all we did last week. This week we are going to prepare for the festival and design a float for the parade. Exciting... Oh, story time. On the way out to the first camp week a tree fell from the sky and landed on Gracie's (our site sponsor and supervisor) head. The tree messed up a bunch of the vertebrae in her neck. Now with Gracie out we have nobody to tell us what to do so we might have to leave this project early. Bummer, because it is great working here.
Picture time.


The cabin


Tent city


Fire talk


Banana spiders everywhere

Movie Stars

This last week Tamra and I were in Baltimore for the AmeriCorps NCCC Recruiting Video shoot. We shot close up lines against a white screen and action shots against the green screen. We worked at Renegade Studios where we did all the shooting. It was pretty nerve racking and we were working with other Corps members from all over the country. We also had a photo shoot outdoors at a local park. Reciting lines in front of a studio and 11 other members about made me piss my pants! But I got things done...
Though I don't have any pictures of me from the shoot (yet), I do have some pictures to give you the general idea.


Renegade Studios


Storyboard


Park photo shoot


Green screen walking


Green screen walking


Actor/Actress coordinator


Green screen turntable

Okefenokee Week 1

Our first week in the swamp has been fun. We were trained to use power gardening tools, proper motorboat operation, and some basic "we live in a swamp" classes. The power tools are fun but extremely strenuous on the arms and lower back. The motorboats are fun too! We have miles and miles of trails to ride. We mowed a lot of grass the first few days. Our lawn mowers are a blast to drive. After work we can rent bikes, kayaks, and canoes as well as take out our own boats. Anne, Barry, and I took out kayaks one evening. I live in a camping trailer and grill my own food on the weekends so its just like one big vacation. The heat and bugs aren't too bad out here this time of year, but they are both still present. Every week from here on out we will be working on trails miles away from our campers so we will be tenting out on the swamp. Unfortunately, this first week I will be missing out because I was chosen to be involved with the first official NCCC recruiting video. I am going to fly to Baltimore tomorrow morning and will be shooting the video in a studio the next few days. I'm mildly nervous about it, but I will have Tamra with me at the shoot so it will be easier having her there. It's going to be funny and awkward! On the weekends when we aren't working we are only an hour away from Jacksonville, FL. The first weekend we went to the beach and this weekend we went to a speech by Obama.


My camper


My grill; corn dog, burger, and sweet corn


A prairie on the swamp


Cooter Lake


Anne, Jeff, and Me on the swamp tour


Me kayaking


Me in the ditch towing out trees; sweet waders


Barry and I wielding our weapons


The gators; our local friends


Barack Obama delivering his speech in Jax

The Big Apple part 2 and last round

So during break a few of my Iowa teammates and I went to NYC for 5 days. We traveled in via Greyhound. We missed the first bus so we caught the next one putting us two hours behind schedule. We stayed at Jazz on the City Hostel and enjoyed ourselves there. During the days we visited The Met, The MoMA, The Museum of Natural History, The Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island, Ellis Island, The Guggenheim Museum, The World Trade Center, Central Park, Times Square, China Town, and Little Italy. At night, we walked around, toured the subway system, and shared drinks on our 6th floor terrace.

For my final round I will be traveling to southeast Georgia to the Okefenokee swamp. We will be doing trail maintenance on over 30 miles of trails. Our duties include traveling the swamp on canoe and motorboat! Two nights a week we will be tenting on platforms on the swamp. Should be a good time.

Here are my NYC photos


Cory, Me, and Rae on the steps at The Met


Planetarium at the Natural History Museum


Me, Cory, and Sarah at Liberty Island


Dinosaur fossils at the Natural History Museum


Me sitting in front of the Statue of Liberty


The Statue of Liberty herself


View at night from the top of the Empire State Building


Panoramic shot from The MoMA rooftop

As always full size photos can be viewed, downloaded, and printed at Flickr

See you in a while

New Orleans in a week

So after Iowa ended I traveled down to NOLA (New Orleans, LA) to rejoin my team and finish off the St. Bernard Project. Louisiana was great. The weather was extremely exhausting, high 90's in the sun and 200's in some of the attics! I have never sweat from so many body parts all at the same time in my life. Things went well down there. I lived in Camp Hope which is a haven for volunteers. I slept in a big room on a bunk bed with my entire team. During most of my time off I worked at the St. Bernard Animal Control Center cleaning out kennels and walking dogs. At one point, I saved the life of a small brindle pitbull puppy. She had a laceration on one of her "toes" that was down to the meat and was extremely infected. Had I not pointed this out to the vet she may have died of infection. One good dead taken care of! Other times I found myself working in the Camp Hope kitchen with a different AmeriCorps team. We cooked, cleaned, yada yada. When we had time off during the week or weekend we went out on the town. We saw Tropic Thunder one day, went to the Superdome for a tour one evening, then wrapped up the trip with a final hurrah on Bourbon Street. Now that I am back in Maryland I have had plenty of down time to relax. We have another week long break going on as we speak. Tomorrow I am taking a bus to NYC again for my vacation. I am going to do the tourist thing again with a few of my Iowa team members. Expect new pics following this vacation. Right now I am packing and getting things ready to go. Here are my NOLA pics-


Me at Camp Hope


St. Bernard Parish


Through a hole in the levee


Water canal through town with the levee in the distance


The puppy that owes me her life!


Louisiana Superdome


Louisiana Superdome


Standing in line for Saints tickets


Saint's field from the balcony


Bourbon Street


Bourbon night life


Giant mural painted at Camp Hope before our teams left


Eerie cross hanging over rear entry of abandon home