NFL Build

Today was an amazing day, even from the start. We went out to get in the van to head to our work sites, and our neighbor, who is one of the 8 sheriffs who lives in our neighborhood, was outside with his 2 year old son. He said hi to us and was asking how we were doing, when 2 stray dogs came over to our yard and started barking really loudly at us. Mr. Sheriff immediately ran over and yelled at them to leave, which obviously didn't work, because they don't speak english...they bark (duh). So he proceeded to spray them with pepper spray/mace! I know that this is not a nice thing to do, but at the time (7am) I found it hilarious and could not believe what I had just seen! Throughout the day when I told people this story, though, they didn't seem to find it as funny as I did...whoops! So Today was also the NFL Build day, where some current players, former players and hall-of-famers, and their crews came to help build houses with the St. Bernard Project through a partnership with United Way for all of 3 hours this morning. It was pretty cool, but of course they had to work on the house we were working on, so we had to do other work this morning so they could have the house to themselves and their numerous camera crews. We were excited, but also bummed, because we weren't actually going to get to see them, but then we got invited to a "homecoming" party for a family whose house just got finished being build by the St. Bernard Project, and the NFL crew was all going to be there too! So since we couldn't be at our normal work site, we got a tour of the levee and swampy, but beautiful area near the 9th ward. I took some awesome pictures and learned a lot about the area. After that, we went to help organize stuff in the warehouse, including measuring their collection of doors, then moving them and organizing them all into their appropriate areas by size and interior/exterior. After that, we finally got to go to the homecoming party where there was a world-record sized "po-boy" which is a huge sub-like sandwich with shrimp and seafood in it. This was very exciting to everyone else there, who love seafood, but kinda gross to me, not only because it had seafood in it, but also because there were a million flies around it and a couple people trying to swat them away! EWW! So we got to meet Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, who I hadn't heard of until today, but I was psyched when he came up and shook my hand and asked my name :) and we also got some pictures with some other people. For players and former players,
I didn't recognize anyone, but they were: Marcus Allen, Tim Brown, and Thurman Thomas.
After all of that excitement, we went back to our work site and worked on the baseboards for awhile, and I got to use an automatic nail gun! Oh man, it is the coolest tool ever! I am usually afraid of those kinds of things, but this is soo cool I love using it! We also got to hang out with Johnny, the owner of the house, who was given a free ticket with club seating to the home opener Saints game tonight by Roger Goodell! He was so excited about it that it made me really excited for him, and instantly turned me into a Saints fan! I want to go out and buy a t-shirt now so I can feel like a local and truly belong in this amazing community!
I finished the night out by taking an adventure walk to the gas station with some teammates where I got Ben and Jerry's ice cream and ate the WHOLE PINT! Oh man, I loveee my ice cream!
Overall, it was an awesome day, and I am so excited that it is almost the weekend! Eventhough we have to work like every saturday from now on...oh well, it's for a good cause!