a day in the life (and then again not really)

I was visiting my sister in boston over the weekend and after talking with several of her friends about "what it is exactly that I do on a daily basis" and "what a day in the life looks like," I figured I should probably explain those questions to the blog world as well. working in queens in the hazard mitigation area of FEMA, we've been working on collecting data on properties that have either filed claims for flooding or are located in certain flood zones. the hope is that all of that data will be compiled to create a database to send to the state of new york which will then help residents of new york figure out what to do regarding elevating their homes, etc. in hopes that they can mitigate (or best prepare) their homes so that they won't get flooded the next time a storm or heavy rain comes. so we've been going out to areas such as breezy point, the rockaways, and staten island, to collect data on certain properties. we're not inspectors and don't go inside people's homes or even on their property; we merely collect data based on the observations we can make about what we can see of the outside of their property (such as whether there is a basement versus a crawl space, one or two stories, elevated machinery on the outside, etc.) 

BUT that "day in the life" description isn't so relevant anymore, seeing as how we've been deployed to illinois for the flooding that has been happening there. in the middle of a training today at the office, we found out we'd be leaving for chicago tonight (but won't be getting there until wednesday seeing as how it's not exactly next door to long island and we aren't allowed to drive our 15-passengers across several states throughout the night...go figure) so we finished up with training, headed back to our extended stay immediately, and packed away our duffels and our small neatly contained khakified lives back into the van within forty minutes and left for chi-city. 

as far as we know, we'll be registering applicants via the ipads we've been given (temporarily of course) in the counties that were declared in illinois and working to help those with flooded properties register for assistance. but more on that once we arrive.

in the meantime, I'll be hiding in my small corner of the van under my ever stylish americorps nccc hoodie (the only one I currently own...) and listening to pitch perfect til we arrive in our next city for the night!