April 16: Colleague BDay

A colleague who works in another office on campus brought in a cake today in celebration.  Oh.My.Goodness.  The cake was six layers of dark chocolate goodness with caramel in the middle and drizzled over the top.  Surprisngly it wasn't too sweet but rather the perfect chocolate cake!

November 13: IEW Dessert Reception

We held a dessert reception on Wednesday night honoring those students who completed our global leadership certificate, and who doesn't love desserts from around the world.  We purchased many of the  items and our students also contributed many of the selections you see in front of you.  I tried a bunch of them!  The plantain chips were maybe my favorite.  Yumm.

October 16: Favorite Things

I don't want to go into a picture a day post thinking I'll fail, but it is hard to think about a picture to represent my day. I may be over thinking this. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit, so maybe this will get easier as it goes.

Anyway, I'm going to attempt this picture a day thing... on October 16, 2013, I turned 33. The day was filled with lots of reminders that I'm loved. Moreover, my sister also came into town (both for work and for play). After picking her up in Atlanta, we went to dinner and then headed back to Athens where we picked up some ice cream cake bites for dessert! I do LOVE ice cream cake. Having her in town until Sunday is also a special treat.

Walking on Water (kind of)

On Friday, I arrived in Portland for the first stretch of my two week vacation. From here, I'll travel to northern California for a couple days with my dad and grandparents and from there, I'll head south to visit friends in SoCal. I've been looking forward to this time away and it finally came! :)

Portland Waterfront

Since I'm here for an extended period of time, I get to play tourist. On Sunday, my mom, sister, and I headed to the waterfront. Portland's east and west are separated by the Columbia river and the waterfront provides lots to see and do. The waterfront is one of these attractions providing endless entertainment for both the tourist and the local. You can rent bikes, walk, people watch, play in the Tom McCall fountain, or just sit on a bench and read a book and enjoy the warm summer breeze. We decided to make the most of our trip to the waterfront... we walked.

Although it's rather small, here is a picture of the area we (mostly) walked. I venture it was probably about 7 (ish) miles.

We parked on 13th and Hoyt (which means nothing to you, that's okay) and walked around the Pearl District. The Pearl provides a large shopping venue, museums, and lots of fun restaurants. For a lunch break, I partook of a traditional favorite of my mom and sister by splitting an appetizer and a dessert from PF Changs.

After lunch, we continued toward the water. Many miles later, having crossed many bridges, sat on countless benches and rocks, and having enjoyed the view multiple times, we made our way back toward to Pearl for dinner.

Henry's and Haydn's

Back in the Pearl, we met up with my friend Drew (who I met at Baylor and now lives/works in Portland) at Powells books. If you are ever in Portland you must visit the city of books, it's amazing. I could get lost for hours in there...oh wait, I have. Anyway, the four of us headed to Henry's for dinner and to Papa Haydn's for dessert. Although I have eaten at Henry's before, Papa Haydn's was a new experience for me. Their dessert was ... decadent. I had a chocolate cube (recommended by the server), a fabulous choice, but really, there were no wrong choices to be made at this place.

Drew had a berry cobbler, and he obviously didn't pause for the picture.My mom had a mint chocolate pie/mousse/thing.

My sister, Christa, had a Haydn cake; chocolate cake, raspberry filling, toasted marshmallow for a total of six delicious layers.

Doesn't that chocolate cube look fantastic?! :) It was a bit hard to break into, but the inside of the milk chocolate cube was a chocolate mousse. Yumm!

I would have to add this to the top ten things to do (or at least places to eat) in Portland.

Until the next adventure...

A birthday to remember

On Thursday afternoon, while having lunch with some friends a discussion of my blog arose. Essentially, my blog title is 'Shannon's Randomness' but it isn't usually that 'random' so some suggestions were made.

An entry in binary code

Entries in another language

Expletives

Well, although I'm not actually going to do any of those, this post may be more random than usual.

Sarah's Birthday

Thursday was Sarah's birthday and to celebrate we went out to Diamondbacks for dessert. From chocolate towers to banana's floster, the choices are all delicious. Sarah had never been to Diamondback's before and I thought it would be a nice treat for her 25th, momentous birthday.

The Ultimate Chocolate Tower was the choice. Pound cake, blueberries, orange enduced cholotae moose, and whip cream all inside a dark chocolate bag. It was decadent! It also looked a lot prettier, before the waiter cut it open; however, still yum!

This happy ending to Sarah's day, unfortunately, wasn't the happy ending it was cracked up to be. On the way home, Sarah got a phone call from her parents and it wasn't to wish her a happy birthday. Sarah's younger brother, Richard, had passed away. As I drove Sarah home, I heard bits and pieces of the story through the tears and utter grief.

Taking Care of Business

Obviously, Sarah wanted and need to be with her family. So we started making plans. Sarah called her friend Holly to take Tuck, Sarah's dog. Sarah began packing. I notified some people on Sarah's behalf and we began making travel arrangements. Holly came over and started in, right away. She helped clean the kitchen, got Sarah packed, and was there to love on Sarah. It was a beautiful picture of the family of God coming together.

If Holly was doing all that, what was I doing you might ask?! Well, I spent 55 minutes on the phone trying to book Sarah's ticket home. There was a ticket leaving Austin at 6:15 in the morning and arriving at 11:51am in Louisville, KY. Gene, the woman on the other end, was apparently having issues with my credit card number and my address. Airlines have special grievance policies for situations like these. With this airline, you could book a flight with a return date up to 60 days later. Sarah can call and change the return flight at anytime for no additional fee. This is nice in the midst of the chaos.

After an infuriating hour long conversation, we had a confirmation number for Sarah's flight.

I retreated to my apartment, called my own mom, and changed my clothes. As I spoke to my mom, she expressed her concern for my ability to drive Sarah to the airport on no sleep. I assured her I would be fine, however, she asked I bring someone along for the drive back. After calling a friend, Meredith, who was surprisingly awake, she agreed to venture to Austin with me.

A quick nap, and a cup of coffee later, Sarah, Meredith, and I were on our way to Austin at 3am.

I hate Northwest Airlines

Hate is a strong word, and I was taught not to use it. However, in this situation, the word may apply. And if there was ever a post that could make me use expletives, this might be it. After spending an hour on the phone booking the flight and receiving a confirmation number, I thought we were all set to get Sarah on that plane.

We dropped Sarah off at 5am, hugged, and sent her on her way with her confirmation number. According to Gene, Sarah was suppose to go to the counter, give the confirmation number and they would print her off a ticket.

Meredith and I drove away.

A few miles down the road, we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and a large soft drink. As I'm not accustomed to drinking soda, I thought the caffeine and carbonation would be a good idea in case I got tired :)

While in McDonalds, I receive a call from Sarah. She says the ticket counter wants the originally person who purchased the ticket to call their customer service line, talk to the originally person (Gene). NWA doesn't really say WHY, they want this but apparently there is some problem. Sarah let's them know that's probably not possibly and explains that they can call their own customer service people and find out what the issue is (go Sarah!).

After a few more minutes of talking, she says they are finally going to print her out a boarding pass. I wish her safe travels and we get back on the road.

At 6:41am, I get another call. It's Sarah. The conversation starts something like this.

Shannon: (Answers phone) Why are you calling me, what happened, why are you not on an airplane?

Sarah: Apparently, they didn't print me a real ticket

Shannon: WHAT?!

Sarah: I went to board and handing them my 'ticket' they said it wasn't a ticket.

Sarah then went on to explain that the ticket wasn't a true ticket. (How's that for security?!) And they proceeded to tell her that the information about the funeral home/phone number didn't line up. Sarah told them arrangements hadn't been made yet and that she would get that information to them at a later point. The customer service representatives from NWA then proceeded to ask her all sort of questions about his death. Did he die in a hospital, could we have the hospital's contact information to verify? When did he die? And other inappropriate questions. Apart from these NOT being their business, they were asked in such a way without any care or concern for what Sarah was experiencing.

Unforutnately, after all these questions, the jetway was pulled and Sarah wasn't on the flight.

A Northwest Airlines representative told Sarah that the flight had not been booked, but rather put 'on hold' thus they wanted the credit card information again. (Note: I gave that information to them over the phone 6 to 7 times, what to do you mean it was put 'on hold')

As Sarah was telling me this story, expletives began to come to mind... was this really happening?!

Sarah then threw her credit card on the kiosk and told them to book her a flight, she needed to get home.

So Sarah headed to another terminal to try and board the plane. Only, as Sarah looked down at her ticket she realized they had booked her on a flight to Lexington, KY not to Louisville, KY. Heading back to the kiosk, Sarah informed them of their mistake. Fortunately, there was a flight on their sister airline (Delta) that arrived at 12:30pm which they were able to get her on.

I couldn't believe the mess of Northwest Airlines. Nor could I believe the treatment they gave Sarah, especially in light of her situation.

I will be calling them and complaining at length about both the experience booking the flight and on behalf of Sarah's experience with their representatives at the airport.

And, I will never, ever, fly with Northwest if I can control it.

Texas Sunrise

In a previous post, I mentioned my love of sunrises. On Friday morning, driving back from Austin, Meredith and I experienced one of the best sunrises I've seen in a long time (maybe ever). Words won't do justice to its beauty. The oranges, reds, blues, and purple were vibrant and filled the Texas sky. The clouds looked like snow capped mountains outlined by the radiance of the skies color.

What a beautiful reminder of the newness of the day, of the beauty that can be, of the awesomeness of our creator, and that life is meant to be experienced.

Randomness

So how's that for a random post?! It was a long day for me, and longer for Sarah. I cannot imagine. My heart aches for and with her family as they go through this terrible loss.