We had a pretty action-packed weekend. On Friday night, Doug had a boys-night-out poker party next door -- Ken's wife and kids were away so he hosted an evening for the neighborhood guys plus a few other friends. Its been a looooong time since Doug did anything like that, but he reports that it was fun.

Mom and I went to see the movie, The Hurt Locker -- excellent. The girls got together and had a big label-making/organizing session at Kate's apartment and I can't remember what Rob was doing.

Then on Saturday morning I got up way early, and went to the Pentagon at 6AM to help with an exercise -- a test to see what would be the best way to remove airborne biological agents. We all had special tags indicating where we should be, and they gave us certain accessories -- I had two blingy rings. Then we went to the Pentagon and walked around in a parking lot while the truck sprayed a harmless powder into the air. I never felt it or smelled it.

After the plume settled we were tested on various parts of our bodies -- they tested the rings I wore, plus face and parts of my clothes.

Then we went into two lines and they had different ways of washing you off. We all had swimsuits under our clothes, so the clothes were bagged and here is a pic of my line -- big fire hoses! That's a powerful spray! Fortunately, the weather was great. Then after that they took more samples. I think the other group did some kind of shower with soap.

I was home before 10, and it was fun to help in the exercise. They were super organized -- the Red Cross was there most importantly with hot coffee, but they also had a counselor in case anybody got stressed out. Always thorough, the Red Cross. I'll let you know if I find out any of the results.