The Blizzard of 06

In honor of the Blizzard of 06 in NYC, which as of 8 am on 2/12, has given this city a foot of snow and is only a little more than halfway done, I will barrage my readers with a blizzard of what has happened since my last submission. It should not take long and I will not bore you with any mundane details.

A visit down to Maryland (late January)
I went to visit my sister down in Maryland for my niece's birthday. I took the Amtrak down the coast to their place. It was a quick weekend packed full. I didn't arrive until late on Friday, so I did not do anything that night except catch up with my sister and brother-in-law. The next morning I caught up with my niece and nephew. My brother-in-law's parents were also there for the weekend. I haven't seen them in a while. I have known my brother-in-law and his family my whole life. They lived four houses from my childhood home in Detroit.

After catching up, I went for a walk through my sister's neighborhood on an extensive path that passed through plenty of locations throughout their town. After that, I went with my brother-in-law to Annapolis. It was packed. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was an unseasonably warm Winter Day (almost 60 degrees). I was literally there for two hours. I walked briefly around the city, saw the Naval Acaedemy, and went to the Middleton Tavern had clam soup and a few beers and headed back to their place to prepare for my nieces party at a gymnasium, with a Madagascar themed party. After the party, I went with my sister down to Washington DC. We had dinner in the Capitol area and had a drink in Georgetown after walking around.

On Sunday, things were a little slower. I planned on going to see King Kong with my nephew, but the time he thought he it was supposed to play wasn't happening. So we wandered around the mall that was attached to the movie theater. It was a good time to continue to catch up with my sister. We returned in time to watch the Championship NFL games, at least until I was to leave that night. For dinner we had some Cornish hens. I look forward to going down there again and staying there a little longer.

The last weekend of January
I decided to push myself to be involved in more volunteer work. I signed up to work for the Yorkville pantry on that Saturday. It is a program that low income families recieve supplemental groceries for part of their week. All the products are donated by grocery stores or companies. They run a very efficient ship there. When I arrived at 9 am, we began packing the perishables into bags and placing out the canned and boxed goods that would be included in the groceries. After that was done, we were given a list of groceries that the families were given. The bigger the family the more groceries they received. After we had met our quota, there was a lull until the families started arriving at 11. From 11-2, the families would show up with their cards which showed the amount of people they were picking up for. I helped out the handicapped people who couldn't make it down the stairs. Beside the computer system shutting down, they ran a pretty tight ship. The volunteers came from all over the city and the surrounding areas and worked with a purpose.

Super Bowl Weekend
I will pass most of the discussion and pictures regarding Super Bowl weekend to my roommate Roy. Bottom line: We had a heart wrenching loss in our basketball tournament and a wonder Detroit-themed Super Bowl party.

I must say that I was a little jealous that I was not there, but I made sure to show my pride by creating the Detroit themed party. I had talked to my parents who had headed down both nights that weekend, received several late night calls/voicemails from friends and family with the loud sounds of crowds in the background. It was probably the best weekend in Detroit's history and hopefully aids in bringing Detroit out of the red and into the black. I wish nothing but love for my hometown.

I just talked to a friend this morning. We chatted about the Detroit. I had discussed my job situation out here and like some others, have expressed an interest in having me back in Detroit. I have a lot of pride for Detroit, but my career would not thrive in Detroit and thus I would not be happy being there. If I was to move anywhere, it would be somewhere warmer. I definitely miss my friends and family, but I know that even though we live about 500 miles apart from each other, I can call and feel like I am close to them. I miss the dinners, the long nights, and the hanging out for sure. It, however, could not make up for the things I would miss if I was working there. Sure, there are jobs there, but nothing that I would be interested in.

But enough sentimental stuff, I look forward to the day when Detroit thrives again like it did in the 1st half of the 20th century, especially right after WWII.