Seattle

I'm in Seattle visiting my sister and super cute nephew! And...I forgot to bring my camera cables, so no pics until I return to Houston. Monica (my sis) just picked up Bobby (my bro) from the airport. We're going to have a good family time! And I've gotten to babysit John Michael the last two days! Lots of quality auntie time. I'm lovin' it!

The Serpent and the Cyclist

Piqued your interest with the title?

So after a productive afternoon of watching the first two Bourne movies with my friends in preparation for seeing the third (hopefully tomorrow), I decided to go for a run before starting on what I am calling my first official order of invitations (for a birthday party! Yay!)


The trail I run on is through a swamp and ends at the beach, so there are signs aplenty warning of alligators and snakes (no, I haven't seen any gators). I've seen snakes twice. The first time I almost ran across one (I thought it was a stick...and then it moved...but I think I moved faster). I'm pretty sure it was just the garden variety. The second time, it was about 100 feet in front of me and just crossing the trail. Today, however, I rounded the corner to see two men standing in front of a bicycle that was lying in the path. The held up their hands for me to stop and called out that there was a snake under the bike. Seeing the snake, which looked suspiciously familiar, I asked if they knew what kind it was...the answer to my fairly ill-timed question was "the kind that hurts you" (and the tone implied I had asked a stupid question...well, I was just curious to see if I was right...and I was, I came home and looked it up...it was a water moccasin...longer than my arm and as big around as my upper forearm...yikes!)

It appears this poor unsuspecting cyclist also recognized the type of snake as he rounded the corner and hit the snake. I have a feeling he must have taken a flying leap off of the bike, judging by the bike's position. The bike fortuitously landed on the snake, pinning it under the rim. Fortunate, maybe, but the snake was now royally torqued off and the cyclist just wanted his bike back.

Well, a metal stake aided in the near decapitation and subsequent flinging into the swamp.
As I started running again, I made sure my headphone wires were securely tucked in...I could just see one of the wires brushing my arm and setting off a delayed case of the heebee jeebees and I would look like I was running to an Irish jig rather than the rocking tunes of The Bravery and Plumb.

And that ends today's excitement.

That's a wrap!

So here are some random last pics from Moscow, including the culprit of my newly oil painted shirt...

Wet paint...

Karen, Natalie, and me at American Bar and Grill (my last night)

One of Stalin's Seven Sisters (this one is going on the Wall)

Day off...

So today we had the day off...we haven't been officially told that there will be no BCC (Backup Control Center) due to Hurrican Dean, so I definitely took advantage of the respite. I woke up early (way too early...my poor body is still on the evening shift schedule, which means I didn't fall asleep until after 3am).

ВДНХ- (it's a park with a lot of gardens and fountains (which were actually on!))

The gardens have a space theme, at least the ones in the center garden section...look a UFO!

Recognize the botanical Sputnik?

Makes me want to see the Russian national anthem...

Lenin

The Kremlin

Hmm, what's that black stuff all over my arm and shirt..oh...yeah...that would be black paint. So in an attempt to get a really cool shot, Kevin had me go on the bridge in front of the church below, while he took the shot from the road level (the bridge crosses over the Moscow River). Well, I leaned against the railing and when I moved away, I noticed some resistance. At first I was like "oh eww, what did I put my hand in?" and then I look and lo and behold there were numerous hand and elbow prints in the paint. I had joined the ranks as well. What is up with the lack of "Wet Paint" signs? And, it wasn't like fresh paint, it was tacky paint. It took about 10 minutes of scrubbing my arm and hands with soap and Wet Wipes to get most of the paint off. I think my shirt (and it was new!) is a lost cause. It's soaking right now...although, it is kinda funny :)

I didn't mean to take this in black and white, but these two little girls were playing tag and I thought it was cute.

One of my favorite 'храм' (or 'cathedral'): Christ Our Savior church.

Undocking Celebration

Endeavor succesfully undocked yesterday, a day early than originally planned, due to the questionable track of Hurricane Dean. Per tradition, we celebrated with our Russian counterparts.

Wow! Look at that spread! MMC and SUDN definitely spoil us.

Alexander, Natasha, me, and Kevin (Grigory showed up right after the picture...I think he planned it that way ;-) )

Natasha in the middle of telling a funny story. We ended up chatting for an hour and half! Our interpreter was gracious to hang in there for that long, although we were definitely using our Russian!

Shopping time!

So I woke up early so I could head to Izmalova for some shopping. Izmalova is a huge, well, crafts fair, swap meet (flea market for you non-Arizonans), souvenir extravaganza. I actually got everything I was looking for, plus this awesome piece of artwork. It's made out of different pieces of birch bark. Birch bark has been used in Russia for centuries (if not longer!) for decorations, household items, gifts, and there are even Russian documents from the Middle Ages that were written on birch bark.

I can't post pics of the rest of my loot, 'cause most of it is gifts and that would just ruin the surprise! Oh and I bought the cheapest popsicle ever, 8 roubles! That's about 35 cents.

Just What the Doctor Ordered...

Chicken noodle soup, toast, tea, and Powerade...yep that would be a recipe for sickness recuperation. (oh and blue Powerade is really really disgusting...really)

I had to leave work early yesterday due to a sudden onset of some strange bug that the doctors (yes plural, Dr. Flores was baffled- pulled in another doc) still can't figure out. So normal WBC count is 4-10, mine was 20 yesterday! Lauri, I'd gladly donate my WBCs to you!

So after some fluid loading and a round of antibiotics, my WBC count was 7 today, much better, but still pretty high for me (mine's usually in the 2 range, due to some meds I take for other reasons). But, I am feeling much better than I was yesterday.

My diagnosis- high WBC count and sore throat... yet another chalk mark on the board of "Melissa baffles doctors". Oh well.