I've done a lot of random things over the last couple weeks.  I don't even know how to tie it all together so I'm just going to give you some highlights:

• Last week, tropical storm Nicole passed through leaving a lot of E City under water.  Luckily, my apartment is on the 3rd floor so I didn't have too much to worry about but I was a little worried about my car.  No damage done, though.  Unfortunately, a lot of the houses and businesses were flooded. 
  This is what a lot of people's backyards looked like.  It rained the hardest I've ever seen and for the longest time.  I was starting to think, um...where is that sunny North Carolina weather I was hoping for??  Guess I forgot about a little thing called hurricane season.  Oh well.  Hopefully the worst is behind us.

• I spent a weekend in Raleigh which was a very pretty town.  We tried to check out a football game - NC State vs. Virginia Tech.  How naive we were to think any one would be selling their ticket to this game.  I actually had never even heard of NC State before this weekend so I had no idea what a big football school it was.  I think theire tailgaiting was more serious than the football though.  There were cars parked for miles in a sea of red and black (school colors).  We walked around and marveled at the effort these people put into this - people rented UHaul trucks so they could bring couches, benches, and bars to the parking lots.  Tables of food and more beer than  I ever saw at UNH...and that's a lot.

• I went to Norfolk this past weekend for an Oktoberfest celebration.  This has been one of my favorite places so far.  Normal people, civilization, scenic park on the water front.  I never thought these things would be hard to find!  It was refreshing.  It also didn't hurt that the town was swimming in sailors.  As soon as we drove in this is what we saw:

 As Grammie would say, what a country!  Thanks, America, for continuing to make our young Navy men wear these wonderful little uniforms.

• Kylie and I tried a cooking class.  It was Thai themed...well, as the chef put it, red neck thai food.  This is because instead of ground pork, as the recipe called for, we used Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage.  Instead of wonton wrappers, we used puff pastry.  It was a lot of fun though.  We made wontons, some little scallop delight, and lettuce wraps.  I was surprised how easy it was to make some really good thai dishes from scratch.  Once you know what ingredients to use, it's not that hard to make the sauces and spices.  If you're interested in the recipes let me know and I'll email them to you.  The "red neck wontons" are on the left (puff pastry style) and the more authenic ones are on the right.  Don't let them fool you though...Jimmy Dean's all over that.

• I checked out the library today.  I was asking to apply for a library card and he was telling me that I needed proof of my address and I was like, are you guys part of the CLAN?  He's like, um...what?  What I was referring to, as you good library patrons of RI know, was the universal library card used in all the public libraries at home.  What I quickly realized however, was that I was asking a southern North Carolina man if he was part of the "clan".  I quickly changed the subject.   What a yankee I am.

• My patients chew tobacco.  In their rooms!  And I'm not talking just about the old men.  My little old ladies come to therapy with a cup of spit in their pockets.  Ga-ross.

• I tried to go for a run outside and before I knew it I was on a dirt road.  I wasn't too far into the run so I didn't want to just turn around and get back on the pavement so I followed the road thinking it was going to loop around.  It didn't.  Before I knew it I was running through a soy bean field.  I tried to jump onto the road but was stopped by barbed wire.  I had no other choice but to run through the field up to my waist in soy beans.  I just kept thinking, please don't let the farmer shoot me!  I'm just a city girl!

• I went to a State Fair this past Sunday in Suffolk, VA.  Actually, it was called a peanut festival.  They take their peanuts very seriously down here.  Nothing too out of the ordinary...minus the confederate pride table and the camoflogue purses for sale.  Other than than, just some good old mullet flapping, tractor riding, come see the biggest pig in the world fun.  Here's me at the candy factory enjoying some American grown peanuts:

 So as you can see, I'm still trucking along down here.  Until next time...