Sunday: Nicole Graduates from High School -- CountyFest at the Festival Sells Out
Marilyn and I made it home from work by 10:45 tonight. Not bad, huh? Marilyn worked the concert (again), spending hours on her feet in the 100' (!!!) heat.
Yes, Portland made 100' today. Good grief.
The long-range forecast? Get this: It's supposed to RAIN next Saturday! Grand Floral Parade day, to be clear. Seriously, Lord? Can we have a talk? First you kill us this weekend with the ridiculously HOT weather. Now you're going to RAIN on our parade, huh?
I'm sorry if I sound a little bitter, but we work ALL YEAR for the festival that takes place during these weeks. And it's a shame the weather seems to frequently effect our efforts in a negative way.
TV news is showing a special on the parade right now, featuring Kendra (from SCi3.2 -- our official float builder). We've been trying to get volunteers to help decorate the floats recently -- and to carry banners in the parade. (One of my recent News items at the website focused on this.)
Marilyn and I managed to break away from work today to go to Nicole's high school graduation over at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 3:00 p.m. We were pretty surprised when it ran TWO HOURS (!!!) and wasn't over at that point. As soon as they announced Nicole and we got to cheer for her, we left to head back to work. (Her last name starts with O -- so you can imagine there were quite a few more students to get diplomas at that point.)
As we were leaving, the NEXT school that was graduating at the venue was waiting in their caps and gowns outside -- with family and friends -- in the TERRIBLE HEAT!!! I have to say, I felt very, very sorry for them! All because Roosevelt (Nicole's school -- and Dad's, Sue's, Marilyn's and my alma mater) couldn't get their act together and finish their graduation ON TIME. As people who work in the world of special events, I have to say this is WHY people need professionals to plan their events. And graduation is just another special event, after all. It was SHOCKING how many students and teachers (and other adults) were all allowed to speak, for one thing. (When we were in high school and graduating, they only allowed two students and two adults to speak!) They also had TWO long performances (???) by the jazz band. One teacher spoke for nearly 20 minutes! She started out very strong, but by the time she finished people were pretty sick of her.
You know, at the festival we deal with speeches ALL THE TIME. At events, on radio and TV and on and on. You stay on point, speak clearly and briefly. When I won my award in 2012 and spoke in front of the audience on stage at the convention, I was given THREE MINUTES to respond to the honor -- and I did it in less than that. Because that makes sense! Rambling on and on does not make sense.
Anyway, we were VERY PROUD of Nicole, and happy to be there to see her graduate. She's part of an amazing graduating class that did some pretty special things, I admit.
So we headed back to work and the terrible heat. Marilyn was very clear that she didn't want me to be outside working the concert -- but she certainly did that! (Not the best use of her time, by any means.) But tons of our staff was there working the event -- and others were there working in the park. And people were cheerful and funny and supporting one another! Very impressive!
I got the Starlight Awards up at the website -- and sent out an email about the information that had NOT been included in the Press Release. Normally Rich vets this stuff with me before sending, and I was sorry he hadn't done that this time. Oh well.
Marilyn and I did manage to eat Yakisoba noodles at CityFair for dinner.
After Marilyn finally stopped working the concert, she went back to the office and worked on the Coronation Script -- the one I helped her with by doing the first draft. She was pleased by what I'd done, so that made me feel good. (grin) She was working on the GFP indoor script, too. (There are actually three versions of the script: TV, PA and indoor for the coliseum.)
I know I'm forgetting things I should be mentioning, but it's late and I'm tired.
Fitbit Update: I got 10,000+ steps today. I don't know what Marilyn got.
My feet seemed better this morning -- not sure why! And my left ankle was more like normal. But sitting at the graduation nearly killed me. My left foot was in terrible pain, as was my right knee. I basically had to ignore the pain after that, because we had a lot of walking to do (clearly). Oh well. It is what it is.
We're trying HARD to stay hydrated in this heat. Everybody was drinking loads of water (plus other beverages). Marilyn and I tried out coconut water (which is supposedly good at hydration) -- we're not sure what we think. Hahaha.
Well, off to bed -- we've got another BIG WEEK in front of us! The weather should start cooling tomorrow. But RAIN for next Saturday??? Noooooooooooooo!!! Keep us in your thoughts and/or prayers, please.
Edited to Add: I can't BELIEVE I forgot to mention my NEW WATCH!!! Marilyn was kind enough to take me to Target and buy me a new Casio watch!!! I'm so happy! I've been wearing Casio watches since the late-1970's and still love them today. While at Target we found these cute hats that reminded us of our hats from the US Open Tennis Championships last year -- except that they had bright red bands around them. So we each got one and wore them today! Everybody loved them. They were only $5.
Yes, Portland made 100' today. Good grief.
The long-range forecast? Get this: It's supposed to RAIN next Saturday! Grand Floral Parade day, to be clear. Seriously, Lord? Can we have a talk? First you kill us this weekend with the ridiculously HOT weather. Now you're going to RAIN on our parade, huh?
I'm sorry if I sound a little bitter, but we work ALL YEAR for the festival that takes place during these weeks. And it's a shame the weather seems to frequently effect our efforts in a negative way.
TV news is showing a special on the parade right now, featuring Kendra (from SCi3.2 -- our official float builder). We've been trying to get volunteers to help decorate the floats recently -- and to carry banners in the parade. (One of my recent News items at the website focused on this.)
Marilyn and I managed to break away from work today to go to Nicole's high school graduation over at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 3:00 p.m. We were pretty surprised when it ran TWO HOURS (!!!) and wasn't over at that point. As soon as they announced Nicole and we got to cheer for her, we left to head back to work. (Her last name starts with O -- so you can imagine there were quite a few more students to get diplomas at that point.)
As we were leaving, the NEXT school that was graduating at the venue was waiting in their caps and gowns outside -- with family and friends -- in the TERRIBLE HEAT!!! I have to say, I felt very, very sorry for them! All because Roosevelt (Nicole's school -- and Dad's, Sue's, Marilyn's and my alma mater) couldn't get their act together and finish their graduation ON TIME. As people who work in the world of special events, I have to say this is WHY people need professionals to plan their events. And graduation is just another special event, after all. It was SHOCKING how many students and teachers (and other adults) were all allowed to speak, for one thing. (When we were in high school and graduating, they only allowed two students and two adults to speak!) They also had TWO long performances (???) by the jazz band. One teacher spoke for nearly 20 minutes! She started out very strong, but by the time she finished people were pretty sick of her.
You know, at the festival we deal with speeches ALL THE TIME. At events, on radio and TV and on and on. You stay on point, speak clearly and briefly. When I won my award in 2012 and spoke in front of the audience on stage at the convention, I was given THREE MINUTES to respond to the honor -- and I did it in less than that. Because that makes sense! Rambling on and on does not make sense.
Anyway, we were VERY PROUD of Nicole, and happy to be there to see her graduate. She's part of an amazing graduating class that did some pretty special things, I admit.
So we headed back to work and the terrible heat. Marilyn was very clear that she didn't want me to be outside working the concert -- but she certainly did that! (Not the best use of her time, by any means.) But tons of our staff was there working the event -- and others were there working in the park. And people were cheerful and funny and supporting one another! Very impressive!
I got the Starlight Awards up at the website -- and sent out an email about the information that had NOT been included in the Press Release. Normally Rich vets this stuff with me before sending, and I was sorry he hadn't done that this time. Oh well.
Marilyn and I did manage to eat Yakisoba noodles at CityFair for dinner.
After Marilyn finally stopped working the concert, she went back to the office and worked on the Coronation Script -- the one I helped her with by doing the first draft. She was pleased by what I'd done, so that made me feel good. (grin) She was working on the GFP indoor script, too. (There are actually three versions of the script: TV, PA and indoor for the coliseum.)
I know I'm forgetting things I should be mentioning, but it's late and I'm tired.
Fitbit Update: I got 10,000+ steps today. I don't know what Marilyn got.
My feet seemed better this morning -- not sure why! And my left ankle was more like normal. But sitting at the graduation nearly killed me. My left foot was in terrible pain, as was my right knee. I basically had to ignore the pain after that, because we had a lot of walking to do (clearly). Oh well. It is what it is.
We're trying HARD to stay hydrated in this heat. Everybody was drinking loads of water (plus other beverages). Marilyn and I tried out coconut water (which is supposedly good at hydration) -- we're not sure what we think. Hahaha.
Well, off to bed -- we've got another BIG WEEK in front of us! The weather should start cooling tomorrow. But RAIN for next Saturday??? Noooooooooooooo!!! Keep us in your thoughts and/or prayers, please.
Edited to Add: I can't BELIEVE I forgot to mention my NEW WATCH!!! Marilyn was kind enough to take me to Target and buy me a new Casio watch!!! I'm so happy! I've been wearing Casio watches since the late-1970's and still love them today. While at Target we found these cute hats that reminded us of our hats from the US Open Tennis Championships last year -- except that they had bright red bands around them. So we each got one and wore them today! Everybody loved them. They were only $5.