License Plate Watch 15

Seen on a Mazda today: "ZUMY ZUM"

License Plate Watch 14

Seen on a Ford Explorer today: "FXY MAMI" - which I was unable to verify. :-)

License Plate Watch 13

Seen on a Jaguar this morning: "TAK2BNK"

Cat meets bear. And the winner is...

It's a bear up a tree.............................and the cat that chased it up the tree:
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/06/10/picture_of_the_4.php

That photo is priceless!

Rocked and Rolled

Earlier this month I volunteered at a function related to the annual "Rock 'n' Roll Marathon" here in San Diego.

Specifically, I volunteered for the Health & Fitness Expo that runs the two days before the marathon, and which is where the marathon participants have to complete their registration process. This occurred at the San Diego Convention Center.

For volunteers each of the two days of the Expo was split into two 6-hour shifts; one could work both the shifts on a given day or just one. (Of course there were also volunteering possibilities during the marathon itself.) I decided to go for the second shift the Saturday before the race.

After myself and the other second shift people had checked in, the volunteer coordinator explained we needed to choose one of two assignments:

• Registration, which allowed for sitting, but would be demanding.
• The souvenir shop (I think that was what she called it) which would be more relaxed but would require staying on one's feet most of the time.

I decided to go with registration. I'’ll need to explain what all that involved. On the registration forms marathon participants had sent in with their entry fee, each one needed to write a prediction of what they felt their overall time for completing the race would be. Based on that, each person was assigned to a "corral", meaning an area behind the starting line. For instance, those who believed they would finish within 3 or 3.5 hours (don't remember which) were put in Corral 1, right at the starting line. At the opposite extreme, those who thought they'd need at least 7 hours were put in the final Corral, number 22, at the back of the pack.

Number bibs for each participant were assigned, again based on the predicted overall times. The bibs for each corral were then placed in a box and placed at the registration station for that corral. I was placed at the registration station for Corral 5.

Each marathon participant should have received beforehand a confirmation card that listed their corral number and bib number. They had to present that card at the registration station for their corral, along with a photo ID.

I would ask for the photo ID if it was not presented with the card, and also had to confirm the waiver statement on the back of the card had been signed and dated, and ask for that to be done when needed. After confirming the photo ID was for the person listed on the card and confirming the waiver had been signed, I would then find that person's number bib and pull it out of the box. I'd then give the person their bib and a packet provided by the firm that organizes and operates the expo and the marathon. I'd then explain that the packet included safety pins (for holding their number bib to their shirt during the race) and ties to use for attaching their timing chip to their shoe during the race. I would then tell the person to proceed down the hall to stations where the timing chips were assigned and activated for each participant. (These chips are triggered to start recording time when they pass under a device at the starting line, and are triggered again to stop recording time when they pass under a device at the finish line. Volunteers at the finish line take the chips off of the shoe the participant attaches it to.)

As the volunteer coordinator said, this was indeed VERY demanding, because my station (and every station) had people coming for their bibs almost continually through almost the entire shift, and frequently had people lined up waiting. And also because I was basically doing and saying the same things over and over.

The organizing firm did it's best to make sure the situation for registration volunteers was not impossibly stressful. They provided bottled water and provided for stations to be covered when one needed a bathroom break. For those volunteers who were there for both shifts that day, a free lunch was also provided, away from the registration area. They also had staff people who were more knowledgeable about the many details of the marathon than volunteers would be expected to be floating around the registration area to answer questions and help with problems.
I think I may have gotten in some photos, because I noticed several times when a family member or friend who was accompanying a marathon participant would produce a camera as I worked with the participant.

Overall, I don't regret deciding to do registration. It was extremely interesting to see from looking at confirmation cards and photo IDs how many different areas of the nation marathoners were coming from, and 99% of the ones I spoke with were very pleasant. But, as it was really demanding, when I left for the day I had a really bad muscle tension headache and felt tired.