Encounters with “STarS”

New Orleans / Operation Katrina
Meeting Ann Curry (The Today Show)

 

 Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink (or bathe in).

I have to give Ann her props for wanting to stand by me for this picture.

My reserve unit was deployed to New Orleans to assist with the rescue/recovery/security operations in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Upon arrival we set up “camp” at the Convention Center after first cleaning out the huge bay areas to set up our cots and command center. We had to seal off the doors that opened into the lobby area from our living area due to the “stuff” that remained on the other side. I will leave what the “stuff” was to your imagination. You name it, it was there…baking in the heat.

Our first mission was to secure the perimeter of the Convention Center which we did and unfortunately found several deceased still in the building but could not effect an evacuation due to there not being anywhere to accommodate them. So they remained in the same building where we lived for at least two more weeks. The entire grounds of the Convention Center was covered by the trash and “stuff” created by the thousands of people that crowded there prior to evacuation. It was just an incredible sight to see and very overwhelming that this could happen in America.

                   

So that is the backdrop as to the how/why I was there in New Orleans and had the opportunity to have my picture with Ann Curry of the Today Show. Earlier that day, I was out with a small team from my unit accompanied by a few NOPD officers familiar with the area on a mission to search and extract any remaining residents of the flooded neighborhoods of Gentilly. The water we travelled through nearly swamped our vehicles and was a toxic soup of just about everything you can imagine a toxic soup could contain. (More to the imagination)

    

Everyone we found that day were survivors and we were able to get them out safely and transported them to an evacuation area. It did take some convincing to get them to leave, I understood why they wanted to stay in their homes but realistically, within a few days, there would be no more food or water for them and their survival chances would be greatly reduced. We returned to the Operations base located at what was the Harrah’s Casino complex downtown and that is where I saw Ann Curry, Ted Koppel, and the late Ed Bradley. This was the operations assembly area where all of the available military and law enforcement were dispatched throughout the city for rescue/recovery operations.

As I said before, it was hot and was further exacerbated by having to wear our full compliment of Kevlar while outside our camp as the city was not secure at the time and all safety precautions had to be followed. To say that I was a little drenched in sweat is an understatement and I must have been a messy sight as I walked up to ask her for a picture. Not that I was seeking to have a picture with a “star” in that situation in New Orleans, it just happened. There were others there as well, like Ted Koppel and the late Ed Bradley, but they didn’t seem as approachable as Ann Curry. She was very gracious, even though I probably smelled like an old potato at the time, making the effort to have one of her own cameramen take the photo as requested.

I thanked her and returned to the line to pick up some more bottles of water. It was hot and I had dropped a few gallons of sweat that day. Ted and Ed would have to go without having their picture with me. As I look back at it, the “Stars”that I met that day and each day after that in New Orleans were my fellow reservists, the police that stayed behind and the volunteers that came to the city to give aid and assistance. You also have to recognize the people of New Orleans that did what they had to do to survive until help would finally arrive. I can only imagine what it was like there during the storm as I stood in the aftermath.

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Dinner at The Rocks

1/13/2008 12:36:00 PM

AP Photo

On the day of our arrival in Sydney it was time to venture out to The Rocks for dinner. Being avid seafood fans, we recognized ROCKPOOL immediately as it was listed in The Rocks guide as being an award-winning restaurant. I have since found that it is also UK’s ‘Restaurant’ magazines “Top 50 Restaurants in the World” listed at #30 and climbing. Ratings and accolades aside, we were just famished from the long flight from the U.S. and ROCKPOOL was a sure bet for fresh fish.
 
I wasn’t really expecting to dine in such luxury and failed to call ahead for reservations. That was not a problem as we were seated right away by “the man at the host stand”. Little did we know that the “he” was Neil Perry and is regarded as Australia’s leading and most influential chefs (we are talking Paula Dean/Wolfgang Puck/Rachel Ray…folks). That fact became apparent to us when we mentioned our meeting Neil Perry to Scott McWilliam, sixth generation winemaker of the world renowned McWilliam’s winery. His reaction was a mixture of wow and humor, which I guess was prompted by our being obviously oblivious to our “brush with celebrity” as we sounded more interested in our appetite than the meeting of such a renowned international celebrity. We received the same reaction from Neil of Tennis Channel as we retold the story to him during lunch at the Crown Towers in Melbourne.
 
As we were eating our meal at Rockpool, I mentioned to our hostess that we had won a trip here via Tennis Channel and were keeping a travel blog complete with photos. I asked her who the man was that seated us and if he minded standing in a picture to document our dinner for our blog. She told us it was the owner and would relay our request as soon as possible. Within a few minutes, Neil returned to our table and said that he would be very happy to have a picture with us and would be available when we completed our meal.The night couldn’t have been better, a great meal with wonderful atmosphere and a meeting with Neil Perry. I guess if he is good enough to be one of Martha Stewart’s favorites…he was good enough for The Coker’s from Brenham, Texas. Just another wonderful experience resulting from our winning Tennis Channel’s sweepstakes.