I didn’t really ask for permission to write a guest column in Tiana’s blog, but since I’m her tech support, have her passwords and set up her blog … I decided to hijack it. Oh, for a good cause though.

Tiana was in Portland for about a month and we sure enjoyed having her even if she blew in like a sand storm (whirling around from one interview to another, one award event to another and one friend’s house to another). While in the Rose City, she was interviewed by every major station and those that didn’t interview her weren’t in her league anyway and thus not worthy of her time. She also was featured by her old alma mater, University of Oregon, as a spotlight winner. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but found it impressive nonetheless. Kari, one of Tiana’s friends, gave a fantastic speech that made our favorite 40-something gimp both real as well as admirable.

Because of all the PR work she did for MercyCorps, it seemed she hardly had any time left over for her actual vacation. I think she spent a total of two days doing virtually nothing and may be one of the only people I know who needs a vacation from her vacation. I felt tired just listening to the laundry list of things she had to do each day.

It’d be good to have her back soon. Thanks for coming, Tianer!

As an update, she’s apparently back in the Middle East, safe and sound in Kuwait waiting for friends to join her for a visit.