Battle Stations Ready

Last Wednesday morning I completed my most recent interview for the MWP.  The woman is a captain in the Air Force, currently stationed in South Korea. She is inaccessible for long periods of time and had a one day window of availability between assignments, so I had only 24 hours' notice to write questions and figure out the technology to conduct the Skype interview online. We use an Internet-based digital recording system and I've always done my interviews over the phone, but because the she didn't have any phone access while on a humanitarian mission in the Philippines, we had to set up a different type of recording. My brother in Bangkok was kind enough to be my Skype guinea pig and helped me work out the kinks in the hardware so everything would flow smoothly. Because of the 12-hour time difference, I set up a little workstation in our unfinished basement to do the interview at 6 a.m. before the kids and Andy woke up. At the appointed hour, I plugged in my little headset and we went to work, conducting the interview from her hotel room in the Philippines. Her viewpoint and experiences as a woman in the military were really interesting. It kind of looks like I'm in a bunker - fitting for the military themed interview. It also looks like my basement could use a little tidying. :) I forwarded the picture to our editor and she posted it on the MWP Facebook page. 

In Other News:

Andy got back a week ago from his annual boys' golf trip. This year they traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to golf part of the Trent Jones Trail. The group consists of Andy's dad, our brother-in-law Randy (pictured above - L), Andy's best friend from college, Steve (above - R), Andy's good friend from work, and a colleague of his dad's and the colleague's son.  In the four years since they started the tradition, their adventures have also taken them to St. George, UT, Orlando, FL, and Birmingham, AL. This year Andy's uncle also came along. They had a fabulous time, as you can tell from the mile-wide grin on Andy's face. He said four days wasn't enough, but it was plenty for me flying solo. :)

 On Thursday we got a new cousin when my sister Nanette had her baby. This man of the hour is named Gehrig Shaun Blackburn. If you're a baseball fan, you might recognize his namesake. Little G has a bit of jaundice, so he's spending most of the day working on his tan, but got a minute to snuggle.

Finally, although Ben was sick yesterday and spent most of the gloriously beautiful day inside, we did get to have some St. Patty's day fun with our annual green dinner. Then he promptly fell asleep at 7 p.m. Lucy, on the other hand, was up until 9:30. She still naps, but I'm beginning to reconsider the wisdom of that as she's not tired for bedtime. Any advice?