Last Huzzah!

Last Saturday, Joey and I had a little get-together at our place as a sort of "going away" party.  It was wonderful to have so many caring and generous friends join us.  A special shout-out to our friends Josh and Gloria for bringing not just one, but two grills over for the food!  You two are amazing people!  Of course, thanks to all that attended as well!

One of the highlights of the evening was when we had a visit from Walter Cronkite, the cat.  Walter is one of the neighbors cats and he is adorable and sweet, but he decided, since we had our door open, he could just waltz right in and join the party too.  He was shortly chased out after he was making moves to spray... bad kitty.  We played "Pin the Mandy-Face on Alaska,"  and much like "Pin the tail on the Donkey," atendees had to take a Mandy-Face and tape it as close to Prudhoe Bay as possible after being spun in circles whilst wearing a blindfold.  The winners received a Sports Illustrated calendar, with a Joey and Mandy "twist."  Congratulations to Matt and Eli for winning, we hope that you enjoy your prizes.  We sure had fun making them!

I set up the Reconyx camera that will be part of our research in Alaska, in the house to try to get some candid shots of friends.  I figured this would be a fun way to use it, especially since I will not be allowed to share pictures in the field as they belong to WCS.  I told most people that we had a "Robot Photographer" in the room and did not tell (most) where it was hidden.  The truth is, all those candid shots were pretty boring, and the more interesting ones were when people noticed the camera and made faces at it.  Below are a few of the ones I really liked. (Click images to enlarge!)  More will be on Facebook.

Joey in action! 

Misech playing it up for the camera. 

Talking about how Walter Cronkite attacked Matt. 

Gloria making kissy-face at the camera. 

Gloria playing with my goggles. 

Drew with a turtle on his head. 

Matt sneer. 

Cute Dan, real cute...

Skyra and I dancing it up for the camera. 

More dancing. 

Skyra and Dan cute before they left. 

What's on the ceiling Chris? 

Matt cuddles Dee Dee. 

I tried making this gif for Matt of him dancing but it didn't work out too well...

It was either too fast, or too slow...

Here are a few cute ones of the cats, and some that were outside, to demonstrate the difference between normal and infrared.

It is so sensitive that it even picked up a crow across the way.

The elusive Joey monster. 

Neko!

Dee Dee!

Dee Dee monster. 

Aaaaahhhh! She found the camera!

Well, I fly out tomorrow.  Today was pretty emotional.  The realization of leaving didn't really hit me until yesterday, and I will miss all of you!  Keep an eye out here for all the adventures (as much as I can post at least) and see you in August!