THON 2008: Hope Finds a Way

I spent a good part of my weekend at the BJC in State College. Why? THON 2008! I was there to support our fine EMS dancers and the UChoir dancers (who happen to be EMSers as well!) I was so glad I went. THON is an absolutely amazing thing. I've been trying to explain to co-workers what it is all about, and you don't really get THON weekend unless you've been there.

I was there from about 3PM Saturday till 11:30AM Sunday, with about 5 hours out for food and sleep. I was able to get on the floor to see our dancers in the wee hours of Sunday morning, which was awesome.

The EMS THON dancers and their special delivery from Alaska. Smooch the moose! 7:35 PM Saturday

Our second EMS THON family, the Ws, was there on Friday and Saturday. Mariah and Lauren sang in the Talent Show again this year, and did a GREAT job. It's amazing to see how the kids have grown up over the past year...plus, they have a new addition to the family, baby boy Andrew! Michael finally has a brother to go with his 3 sisters :)

Mariah and Lauren singing for the Talent Show. 9 PM Saturday.

The line dance was really good this year...I can't figure out if I like it better than the '04 line dance. The stage was also set up in a really cool way: Four Diamonds! The floating Four Diamonds above the stage looked really cool too on the webcam.

The support from EMS was awesome. Our section of the stands contained no less than 10 EMS representatives the entire time I was there. The combination of alumni, EMSers I know, and the new faces of the freshmen was so encouraging, and I know it gave a big boost to the dancers.

EMSers in the stands supporting our dancers. 3:49 AM Sunday

Around 10AM Sunday, we spotted our first THON family, the Bs, wandering around the floor. It was so great to see them...we hadn't seen them in close to a year (since Julie's rockin' bday party). I couldn't stay through Family Hour or to see the final total, but I was so stunned when I got the text message from my friend (I was sleeping in the car on the way back to NJ). THON 2008 raised $6,615,318.04 for the kids. I can't even describe how that makes me feel. I am so proud of everyone involved. THON will always always always hold a special place in my heart.

For Michael. In memory of Troy. For the Kids.

End of London, Paris, Sweet 16 and SNOW!

I'm back in the US. I've been back since Sunday, but I've been catching up on everything since I've been back, and haven't had a chance to update.

The rest of London was great. Didn't do anymore sightseeing, but went to the pub a couple nights after work. It's fun talking UK vs US differences.

And then......



Paris was good. Montmatre, Sacre Couer, Tour Eiffel, Louvre (from the outside, it closed at 5:30 on Saturday), Notre Dame, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe. I hit most of the toursity things. Friday was cold and dark, Saturday was sunny and beautiful. I was worried about rude Parisians, but I did not encounter any. I learned that I'd really like a travel buddy when I visit another country where English is not the primary language. But, it was a good trip.

Sunday I got back and immediately headed up to PJ for Sierra's Sweet 16 party. It was a fun party...lots of food, dancing, and high schoolers :)

The fam, and the birthday girl looking beautiful

Back to work all week, but today was a work from home day because WE GOT 6" OF SNOW!!!!

Cade likes the snow

AND, THON is going on RIGHT NOW in the BJC!! I just watched the line dance on the live video stream, and I'm super pumped to be there tomorrow!! FTK!

London, Days 7-10

Friday, I went to the local pub (meaning the closest one to the office), The Walrus and Carpenter. I drank 2 beers (gasp, because I usually don't drink beer!), and had a fun time discussing cultural differences with co-workers from around the world. After that I went to a Spanish tapas restaurant with some more co-workers, and wandered around for dessert with another co-worker. It was a pretty entertaining evening.

Saturday I went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard (pretty lame), and then headed off to Greenwich, which was the highlight of my trip. I was in Greenwich Park, which is this huge expanse of green space. And I mean green, in February! The best part? I crossed the Prime Meridian!!! I am so nerdy, but I thought that was incredibly neat.

Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich

Look, I'm .00000000000000001 degrees east AND west of the Prime Meridian!

On Sunday I met up with a NJ co-worker and went to Trafalgar Square to see some of the Chinese New Year festivities. It was incredibly crowded, and they set off fireworks in the middle of the day in Leicester Square. Fireworks in bright sunny daylight are exactly what you think they might look like. Not very impressive. Following the fireworks, I wandered through St. James's Park, where everything was nice and green. It felt like spring this weekend. After that I went to Westminster Abbey for Evensong, which is the afternoon prayer service done mostly by the choir. Hey, it was a free way into the Abbey, which was beautiful. I am so amazed by the architecture of centuries-old churches.

Hi, I'm a crocus blooming in FEBRUARY in St. James's Park

Blue skies, Big Ben and a part of the London Eye

Following that I went to Harrod's, which is a HUGE department store. I can't even describe it. Think Macy's in NYC, but with only designer labels. In incredibly gorgeous, separated rooms (halls). They had A ROOM DEDICATED TO CHANDELIERS. Come on!!

Tonight a co-worker I met at Boot Camp invited me to go bowling in the Elephant and Castle district of London (which is apparently a shady section). The alley was pretty cruddy, and I bowled probably my worst games since I was 10, but the company was nice, and I had fun.

My time is running out in London; it's flown by, but I feel like I haven't been home in months! My hotel is booked for Paris, and I'm finishing up what I can at work.

Oh, and today is my sister Sierra's 16th birthday. Man, do I feel old!!

London, Days 5 and 6

Happy Chinese New Year! I went to Chinatown to see what was happening tonight, but there wasn't much going on. More tourists in Chinatown than Chinese. I think it's a family holiday. There's a parade and market this weekend that I'll probably be checking out, amongst other things.


Some more observations:

-I can see why they call bathrooms water closets. There is a full length door on a stall (or toilet cubicle, as they're called in the office). The ones in the office also have 2 different buttons to flush; one is bigger than the other. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between the two.

-The printed press is very...uh...liberal. I opened up thelondonpaper, a free evening (tabloid) newspaper. On page 5 was a picture of a topless dancer from Carnivale in Rio. Was NOT expecting that. Maybe from France, but not the Brits. TV is pretty liberal too; VH1 is one of the 10 channels I get in the hotel room, and I heard quite a few f-bombs being dropped while flipping through.

-The British really do love their tea. I think it's only little old ladies that take tea time nowadays, but it's still the hot beverage of choice.

-Had my first proper British meal for lunch yesterday: sausage and mash. And it was delicious!


The office is warming up a bit more...they don't ignore me or stare at me when I'm walking around, they actually say hi. Very happy about that!

London, Days 3 and 4

No pictures this time, but some observations:

-Londoners run on a 9-6 schedule, vs the 8-5 I'm used to
-The people walking around central London walk faster than I do, and I walk pretty darn fast
-Asking for a box for leftovers is frowned upon here (whoops)
-My favorite Warheads candy of my 8th grade year, Black Cherry (the ones in the black wrapper), tastes JUST LIKE Pomegranate juice
-Subway sandwich shops smell exactly the same here as they do in the States (only know that because I walked by 2 of them, which will force me to take a different street to work)
-It's really weird to have a friend in Alaska (wonder who that is) go to bed as I'm leaving for work and say hi again once she's up and I'm still at work
-Since London is a big city, I hear a whole mess of accents, not just the fun British ones

And, something I learned last week before I left. England, Scotland, and Wales make up Great Britain. Great Britain + Northern Ireland = United Kingdom.

London, Day 2

Went on the Tube today to Camden Town. There's a big market there, some of it open air, some of it in neat old buildings. Lots of clothes, jewelry, trinkets, and such. Too bad I'm not a goth, or know anyone who is, because that's what A LOT of the stalls had. Fun to walk through, because it's so huge and has some weird stuff.

After that I took the Tube again and got off at Covent Garden. Grabbed a burger and chips (!!) and wandered toward Leicester Square. I find out now that I didn't actually make it to Leicester Square, but I saw Chinatown on the way down to Trafalgar Square.



I went into the National Gallery and saw Sunflowers by Van Gogh, as well as Van Gogh's Chair. My grandma has my great-grandfather's painted replica in her house, and I didn't know until today that it was from Van Gogh. I always thought it was a just chair and a pipe. I'm so cultured. There was also a stained glass exhibit, but it was disappointing. I went into the National Portrait Gallery as well (thank you London for your free museums!) This was portrait photography, which I am much more interested in. I paid £1 to see the winners of the Photographic Portrait Prize of 2007. Really neat, and pretty inspiring. Just wait, you might be the victim of my attempts to become a portrait photographer!

Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery

After that I walked to Piccadilly Circus. It was dark by the time I got there, but that made the big flashing lights more impressive (or depressing, hooray commercialism??) It's a big shopping area, but a lot of the stores were closed because it is Sunday night.

I'm excited to see how the business district picks up tomorrow. Right now, there's NOTHING going on around the hotel. I'm also excited for my 5 min walking commute to the office!

Probably won't be updating much during the week, as I'll be working (that IS the reason I'm here). Again, take a look at my pictures to the right.

For the Superbowl tonight (which some pubs are showing), GO COMMERCIALS!

London, Day 1

I have officially left US soil for the first time in my life!

My flight got into Gatwick at ~8:30AM this morning. There were no more than 30 people on my flight (which was on a 757), so I was able to sleep 5 of the 6 hours in the air.

Work paid for a taxi to take me to my hotel in the City of London, in the business district. Gatwick is out in the country, and I got to see everyone driving on the left on the motorway on the way into the city. After I got in, I grabbed a quick shower and went off sightseeing.

Not London Bridge. That's Tower Bridge.




This is London Bridge. Or at least the most recent version.

I wandered across London Bridge to head to the South Bank area. I accidentally ended up going through the Borough Market. I had read about it, but didn't make any plans to specifically go see it. I just happened to run into it. It's basically a farmer's market on steroids. On Saturdays it's more food oriented rather than just fruit and vegetables.

I walked on the path following the Thames until I hit Westminster Bridge, where I crossed back over.



I wandered some more and crossed back over to look at the exhibits in the Tate Modern. It's Britain's free modern art museum. Some of it was pretty neat. Some of it wasn't. But that's art.

Now I'm back at the hotel. You can find more pictures in the links on the side. I'll make a map of my travels soon, but I need to be an old lady and start heading to bed before I fall asleep on the keyboard. Don't want to be a zombie tomorrow!