Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Reflections of the Summer

It has been one long and crazy summer.  Here's a list of events:
1.  Niagara Falls - Tribal Utility Summit
2.  Cherokee NC - Tribal Fish and Wildlife Meeting
3.  Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians - Biodiesel Training
4.  Poarch Band of Creek Indians (Alabama) - Rural White House Round Table meeting
5.  Michigan - Wedding
6.  Tunica - Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana - USET Semi-Annual Meeting
7.  Athens, GA - EPA Water Program Training
8.  Nashville, TN - Pesticides Workshop
9. Mystic, CT - National Plant Board Meeting
10.  Seminole Tribe of Florida - Producers Meeting
11.  Washington DC - Council of Native American Farmers and Ranchers meeting
12.  Niagara Falls - RTCAC Regional Tribal Conservation Advisory Committee

Now I have 5 weeks off until I go to Connecticut again for our Annual Meeting.

What I have learned:
1.  I prefer to eat alone in restaurants
2.  How to make small talk
3.  How to ask questions to get to know someone
4.  The importance of ironing all your clothes for the week on the first night of the trip
5.  How to pack light
6.  How to drive somewhere unknown and not be afraid
7.  How to pick out the fastest moving lines in airports (no old people, no families, no groups of women who aren't paying attention to their surroundings)
8.  How to survive off nuts, instant grits, tuna packets, and dried fruit for a week.
9.  Beer is an acceptable dinner if you only have 2 but no more
10.  All meetings are required to have coffee.  If coffee isn't provided:  lame ass fail of a meeting.
11.  Constant coffee intake is to relieve the boredom, not to keep me awake

Favorite Moments, no specific order:
1.  Meeting Chief Commander from one of the Maine Tribes at the Fish and Wildlife meeting
2.  Touring the swamps in an airboat and then swamp buggy at Seminole, FL.  I saw an Osprey dive into the water and catch a fish.  I saw a wild boar! (it had the biggest balls I have ever seen)
3.  Eating the best food I've ever had at Tunica-Biloxi LA
4.  Touring the Hydroponic green houses at the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana
5.  Touring Monsanto Seed Changing Laboratory
6.  Touring the Cherokee Language Immersion School at Cherokee
7.  Touring the trout farm at Cherokee
8.  Talking to Elder Smith at Poarch Band of Creek
9.  "Watch out for snakes!" - a woman said when we were touring the trout farm
10.  Eating traditional American Indian food at the Museum of the American Indian in DC
11.  Dancing with Chuckie at the Semi-Annual Meeting
12.  Meeting Rene (from Mashpee Wampanoag) at the Semi-Annual meeting and eating dinner with her, Chuckie, Christina and one of the speakers outside of the casino in a restaurant and it was sooooo busy (but not actually full) that the server had a break down. But don't worry, she got super large tips from all of us, I'm sure.
13.  Watching the Trail of Tears video about walking the Trail backwards for healing from the Culture and Heritage committee
14.  Driving home from Georgia - I had to go a different way and it was super beautiful and I stopped at a grocery store for beer for Josh (he wanted a local one) and it was just so homey and nice there
15.  Driving through the swampy areas and around the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reservation with the local conservation officer and seeing all the different USDA projects happening there - it's also when I saw my first wild alligator!
16.  Experiencing the fire alarm drill while in a meeting in the Museum of the American Indian
17.  Coming home to a clean house!  Thank you Josh!!!




Monday, August 13, 2012

Yesterday Florida, Today DC

Well well well. I was a little tipsy in my last post, wasn't I?  We shall all blame Josh for leaving me alone with the internet.  When I woke up and remembered in the morning, I would have sworn my list was only 9 items long.

Where am I today?

Today I am in the capitol of our great nation.  I forgot jewelry to wear this week, so I went out and decided to find a place to buy some earrings.  I crossed the street, and in the middle I looked up and BAM  Capitol Building, just sitting there facing me at the end of the street.  I decided that the closest and best place for earrings was the Smithsonian Art Museum across the street.  (And, if you can believe it Mom, I only had 30 min. until they closed!).  It was pretty sweet, but I lacked the funds to buy the actual pretty pieces of art ($200+) and the cheaper stuff wasn't that great.  Yoeu'd think there'd be better artsy jewelry there.  I picked out some earrings that are dangles that are unpolished silver magnolia leaves.  I had seen a woman wear a similar pair a while back and liked them a lot.  These are cheaper looking than hers, but I'm just going to trust in the idea that I have a more refined palate for exceptional jewelry, and that no one else will notice that I have cheap earrings on.

Cheap.  That's frustrating too because I still had to pay $18 for them!

I'm not complaining though, just exasperated.  I'm staying in an apartment rented by my work so when people visit DC from work they can stay here.  I'm having gluten free pizza delivered with cheesy fries.  Ever since I've gone gluten free, my love of fries went from "eh, if they're in front of my I'll eat them" to "FRIES! YES!".  It's the closest thing to giving me the same feeling of being full like bread.

Washington DC is one of my favorite places because there is so much history here.  It's place that our government puts in money for our culture.  All of the Smithsonian Museums, the memorials, the gardens, the architecture!  I love seeing all of the old buildings blending in with the new and the streets are at strange angles, so you get really interesting textures of buildings.  I know textures is a strange adjective, but that's the best I got.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I spend the day at public meetings at the National Museum of the American Indian.  Can you believe I remember when it opened and wanted to go see it?  Before I even started working here!  On Wednesday I have to give a 3-5 min presentation on my organization. 

There was no tax on my earrings.  How can that be?


Friday, August 3, 2012

Well. Thanks. Best. Lindy

Hello world.  Hello Internet.

You are special to me.  Thanks for tolerating my awesomeness.

I've had a new boss at work lately.  The director for my department finally started and has been working.  For a month now.  Only it doesn't seem like it because I was gone for two weeks straight.  Two weeks.  There are things that happened in May, like the Pyro Update for Team Fortress Two (Josh's video game) and the release of Diablo III, my video game, that I think happened last week, but really it was two months ago.  Sometimes I tell Josh things and he's like, Yeah that was in June and I'm all, well I thought it was recent news.  And that's a summary of my life.  I like the new boss.  We talked about cowboy boots and the differences we face when working with The West while we are in The East.  I'm not intimidated by him. 

I've gotten tons smarter in two weeks.  It's like, everything I've been worrying about for the last 6 months to one year have finally untangled in two weeks...maybe one week, I can't remember when I got back at the moment.

Tonight, I have spilled the wine, the beer, and the water.  I've been informed that I am worse than the cat.  I don' think so because the cat spills it all on his tummy.  My tummy is dry.  Except for the humidity sweat.

I had so many revelations this week.  One, I finally, FINALLY, figured out what my job is, and it turns out, I've been doing a super job for the past 6 months.  Also, I have a banner I can display.  It's pretty awesome knowing you have a banner.  I was sent the Eastern Oklahoma one at first and Eastern OK was sent the Eastern banner.  I finally got mine in the mail and it's pretty awesome.  Only my supervisor doesn't think I can set it up too well because I'm short.  Really it's because I wasn't patient and didn't put the tiny supporting part in place well enough and I let it drop and fall.  I represent the Eastern region, which is the eastern part of the US but not the midwest part. I don't represent Ohio, Indiana or Michigan.  I wish I did, but some granola guy from Wisconsin does.

I lost in Yatzee to Josh.  It's one of our favorite games because we can cheer for each other.  There is no actual skill to the dice rolling.  It's mostly chance.  That's why we like Yatzee. 

I want to make a list of happy things:

Happy Things:

1.  Monarch Butterflies
2.  Ackabar
3.  Stress rocks
4.  Skipping stones
5.  Woop Woop Wine
6.  Josh
7. Costco Furniture
8.  Getting things right the first time
9.  Delivery dinner outside
1o.  Cleaning
11.  books that teach you things
12.  Not the internet
13.  Parts of the internet
14.  Cheesy poofs
15.  Puffy dog tails
16.  artwork
17.  Not being a teenager...If you are one right now...keep on going..it only gets more awesome1
18.  a well tied knot and you know the name of it
19.  Seeing veterans in the airport and people respecting them
20.  YOU!!!!


I'm just so sweet.  Aren't I?