Oh Christmas break... that glorious time in which I can read a book for the sheer joy of reading it rather than to glean ideas for a research paper or as required reading for a class. Dad gave me a book by S. Truett Cathy for Christmas. He came and spoke at Harding awhile back as part of the American Studies Distinguished Lecture Series and I found what he had to say very interesting. He was a witty old man; the type that made you feel comfortable and wish he was your grandpa. He was selling books after his speech but I didn't have any money with me so I asked for some of them for Christmas. "How Did You Do It, Truett?" (Copyright 2007) is the story of how he made Chick-fil-A into such a successful business. It's a short read - only 95 pages with pretty big font - but I found the following passages of interest:
"When we're fully committed to something, we're not likely to give up or be discouraged...When you're fully committed, you see strange and unusual things happen that otherwise wouldn't if you were not committed. That's been a key to my life, a key to success. When you're fully committed, you're not likely to fail."
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"Closing on Sunday turned out to be the best business decision I ever made. We generate more sales in our restaurants in six days than many other chains do in seven. So I tell our customers, 'You eat with us six days a week, and I'll give you permission to eat somewhere else on Sundays'."
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"We gradually become a part of those people we associate with, whether good or bad. If you want to be a great preacher, you associate with other great preachers, and something rubs off on you. If you want to be a great businessman, you associate with other great businessmen, and something rubs off on you. For instance my sons have been associated with me all of their lives, and look at them. Both of them are going bald."
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Let Me Rephrase That
*another humorous email from my Uncle Bill*
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogical researcher, discovered that Stephen Dion the leader of Canada's Liberal Party great-great uncle, Robert Dion, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Quebec in 1889.
The only known photograph of Dion shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription:"Robert Dion; horse thief, sent to Quebec Provincial Prison 1883, escaped 1887, robbed the Canadian Pacific Railway six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted, and hanged in 1889."
Judy e-mailed Stephen Dion for comments. Dion's staff sent back the following biographical sketch:
"Robert Dion was a famous horseman in Quebec. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave in 1887 to resume his dealings with the railroad. Subsequently, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Dion passed away during an important civic function held in his honour, when the platform on which he was standing collapsed."
Judy Wallman, a professional genealogical researcher, discovered that Stephen Dion the leader of Canada's Liberal Party great-great uncle, Robert Dion, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Quebec in 1889.
The only known photograph of Dion shows him standing on the gallows. On the back of the picture is this inscription:"Robert Dion; horse thief, sent to Quebec Provincial Prison 1883, escaped 1887, robbed the Canadian Pacific Railway six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted, and hanged in 1889."
Judy e-mailed Stephen Dion for comments. Dion's staff sent back the following biographical sketch:
"Robert Dion was a famous horseman in Quebec. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to service at a government facility, finally taking leave in 1887 to resume his dealings with the railroad. Subsequently, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Dion passed away during an important civic function held in his honour, when the platform on which he was standing collapsed."
Friday, December 26, 2008
I'm the Mom, That's Why
Check out this link for an excellent rendition of the William Tell Overture. This lady has got some talent and a great sense of humor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw
Jewels from Papa
I found these quotes saved on my laptop. Both were made (by my tall but gentle grandfather who wouldn't hurt a fly) when looking at a picture of a guy he didn't find all that attractive...
"He's pretty in two ways. Pretty ugly. And pretty apt to stay that way" - Papa
"I've seen better lookin' heads on cabbage" - Papa
Oh Papa, you crack me up!
"He's pretty in two ways. Pretty ugly. And pretty apt to stay that way" - Papa
"I've seen better lookin' heads on cabbage" - Papa
Oh Papa, you crack me up!
Fondue and Family Time
Well I got over missing Matt the other night and had a nice pork chop dinner and then decorated cookies. It was so much fun! There's pictures of the puns and hilarity that ensued on Facebook.
Christmas Eve I got to sleep in and Dale got home from work early. We did the gift thing and I got some really great stuff. And I love watching my family's reaction to the presents I got them... it makes me smile! After that we started the long but delicious process of a fondue dinner. We had 2 pots of regular oil and then a pot of beef broth w/ mushrooms and onions. For food we had: beef, pork, shrimp, salmon, onions, peppers, mozza sticks, and jalepeno poppers (the latter 2 have to go in their own pot because they are battered and chunks of batter fall off into the oil). For dipping sauces we had: marinara, seafood cocktail, orange ginger, teriyaki, thai, sweet & sour, BBQ, and ranch. MMMMMMMM good! To let our dinner digest, we then played the game of Life. I ended up 3rd (which is better than the last place I've been getting in all other family games as of late). I was a married college-grad-turned-Superstar making $70 000 and living in a mobile home with twins. Oh my! It was fun to play though... I don't think I've played that game since Jr. High or maybe early High school. Then we busted out the grapes, bananas and strawberries for a chocolate fondue... MMMMMM that was tasty too! Fondues = very high on my favorite meal list right now! Dale took Ev to his mom's and then brought me here to Dad's. I visited with him for a bit over a cup of hot chocolate and then went to bed.
Today was a good day too. Did the gifts thing with Dad this morning and then used my Best Buy gift card he got me to buy the camera I wanted online. It should be here by the 5th :) I could have gone to the store to get it but they are having a sale that ends on the 4th and I don't know if I'll be in the city shopping before then so I might as well order it now. Also, I got a web-only deal that if you buy a camera you can have an 8 GB memory card for only $9.99! Now THAT'S a sweet deal. Went to Uncle Bill & Aunt Norma's for the rest of the day. Uncle Don & Aunt Linda are out from Ontario and my cousin (their son) Brett is out from Victoria. After a little gift exchange with all them, Brett & I played with Aunt Norma's new Wii. Dallas joined in when she got home from her bf Matt's house and Dad even came downstairs for a couple tennis matches and a quick game of baseball. Then we had a big dinner with everyone. Matt, Dallas, Brett & I just chilled on the couches downstairs and watched 3 episodes of Season 1 How I Met Your Mother. Came home and sang a few Christmas songs with Dad and now I'm chatting online to my boy.
Yep, it was a good Christmas :)
Christmas Eve I got to sleep in and Dale got home from work early. We did the gift thing and I got some really great stuff. And I love watching my family's reaction to the presents I got them... it makes me smile! After that we started the long but delicious process of a fondue dinner. We had 2 pots of regular oil and then a pot of beef broth w/ mushrooms and onions. For food we had: beef, pork, shrimp, salmon, onions, peppers, mozza sticks, and jalepeno poppers (the latter 2 have to go in their own pot because they are battered and chunks of batter fall off into the oil). For dipping sauces we had: marinara, seafood cocktail, orange ginger, teriyaki, thai, sweet & sour, BBQ, and ranch. MMMMMMMM good! To let our dinner digest, we then played the game of Life. I ended up 3rd (which is better than the last place I've been getting in all other family games as of late). I was a married college-grad-turned-Superstar making $70 000 and living in a mobile home with twins. Oh my! It was fun to play though... I don't think I've played that game since Jr. High or maybe early High school. Then we busted out the grapes, bananas and strawberries for a chocolate fondue... MMMMMM that was tasty too! Fondues = very high on my favorite meal list right now! Dale took Ev to his mom's and then brought me here to Dad's. I visited with him for a bit over a cup of hot chocolate and then went to bed.
Today was a good day too. Did the gifts thing with Dad this morning and then used my Best Buy gift card he got me to buy the camera I wanted online. It should be here by the 5th :) I could have gone to the store to get it but they are having a sale that ends on the 4th and I don't know if I'll be in the city shopping before then so I might as well order it now. Also, I got a web-only deal that if you buy a camera you can have an 8 GB memory card for only $9.99! Now THAT'S a sweet deal. Went to Uncle Bill & Aunt Norma's for the rest of the day. Uncle Don & Aunt Linda are out from Ontario and my cousin (their son) Brett is out from Victoria. After a little gift exchange with all them, Brett & I played with Aunt Norma's new Wii. Dallas joined in when she got home from her bf Matt's house and Dad even came downstairs for a couple tennis matches and a quick game of baseball. Then we had a big dinner with everyone. Matt, Dallas, Brett & I just chilled on the couches downstairs and watched 3 episodes of Season 1 How I Met Your Mother. Came home and sang a few Christmas songs with Dad and now I'm chatting online to my boy.
Yep, it was a good Christmas :)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Home Sweet Home
My complete exhaustion from 2 days of traveling and a whole semester of busyness and stress, combined with some rather icy roads in Edmonton led me to believe that staying home Sunday morning and getting some rest was in order, despite missing out on church. I slept in a little and then woke up in time to see Mom's reaction to the new dining room table that Sandra (her partner from It's A Crock Country Store) had given her for Christmas. Mom was out that morning doing a consultation for a show home with Sandra and Dale & Evan had set it up while she was gone. At first she was too busy talking to notice the new table and then she stopped mid-stride and mid-sentence and for one of the few times in her life was speechless. It was marvelous. Oh how I wish I woulda been at a better angle to get a picture of her face.
Once she recovered from the shock, we had a big brunch on the new table. Bacon and eggs and Dale's famous french toast. Then we played Yahtzee (I got last place) and then I had a shower and went to town with Mom to get a couple groceries and got to drive our new car...2008 Impala SS... HOTT! Then we started baking. We baked butter tarts and pecan tarts and got the dough ready for gingerbreads and sugar cookies. We then had a nice big dinner with roast & the works and started playing Rummoli. Dan stopped by to say hi and have a visit with the fam before he disappeared to Thailand for 3 weeks. It was good to see him again. When Dan left we started baking cookies. After Operation Cookie Sheet was completed and the missing pan was found, we had a blast cutting out the shapes and getting flour all over each other and fighting with the rolling pin. It was by far the funnest (yes, funnest) sugar cookie baking experience ever. Then we finished up our game of Rummoli (which I also got last place in... it was not my day for games I guess). It was the perfect day of family stuff.
Yesterday Dale had to work and Mom and I took Evan back to his Mom's cuz he had hockey practice and then I got my hair done. I got bold and changed colors! Pics soon to come on FB and maybe one on here... Then we ran errands and just chilled at home. I went over and visited with the neighbors for a little bit and got to play with their little 1.5 year old daughter Faith before she went to bed. Stayed up late chatting online and adding pics to FB of the baking adventures.
Today was some more errands with Mom and then wrapping presents. We're gonna decorate coookies since we have Evan again now (Dale brought him home after work). I'm looking forward to it but I'm missing Matt a lot tonight...
I made a goal for myself to BE where I am over the break and enjoy the time at home. Allison, I remember talking to you about this before... it seems when you're at school you just can't wait to get home but when you're at home, you miss people like crazy. I told myself I was not going to complain about missing people over the break but just enjoy the time at home. And don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it A LOT. It was just hard when I was texting with Matt earlier and he was going snowmobiling this afternoon (which he wanted to do with me over Thanksgiving but there wasn't enough snow). And then he's going out with some friends from high school tonight and he said he wished I was there too...
However, I am off to enjoy the time with my family since it is so short and I will have a whole semester (and probably a lifetime...) to be with Matt. *Did I just say that?*
Pork chop dinner here I come! :)
Once she recovered from the shock, we had a big brunch on the new table. Bacon and eggs and Dale's famous french toast. Then we played Yahtzee (I got last place) and then I had a shower and went to town with Mom to get a couple groceries and got to drive our new car...2008 Impala SS... HOTT! Then we started baking. We baked butter tarts and pecan tarts and got the dough ready for gingerbreads and sugar cookies. We then had a nice big dinner with roast & the works and started playing Rummoli. Dan stopped by to say hi and have a visit with the fam before he disappeared to Thailand for 3 weeks. It was good to see him again. When Dan left we started baking cookies. After Operation Cookie Sheet was completed and the missing pan was found, we had a blast cutting out the shapes and getting flour all over each other and fighting with the rolling pin. It was by far the funnest (yes, funnest) sugar cookie baking experience ever. Then we finished up our game of Rummoli (which I also got last place in... it was not my day for games I guess). It was the perfect day of family stuff.
Yesterday Dale had to work and Mom and I took Evan back to his Mom's cuz he had hockey practice and then I got my hair done. I got bold and changed colors! Pics soon to come on FB and maybe one on here... Then we ran errands and just chilled at home. I went over and visited with the neighbors for a little bit and got to play with their little 1.5 year old daughter Faith before she went to bed. Stayed up late chatting online and adding pics to FB of the baking adventures.
Today was some more errands with Mom and then wrapping presents. We're gonna decorate coookies since we have Evan again now (Dale brought him home after work). I'm looking forward to it but I'm missing Matt a lot tonight...
I made a goal for myself to BE where I am over the break and enjoy the time at home. Allison, I remember talking to you about this before... it seems when you're at school you just can't wait to get home but when you're at home, you miss people like crazy. I told myself I was not going to complain about missing people over the break but just enjoy the time at home. And don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it A LOT. It was just hard when I was texting with Matt earlier and he was going snowmobiling this afternoon (which he wanted to do with me over Thanksgiving but there wasn't enough snow). And then he's going out with some friends from high school tonight and he said he wished I was there too...
However, I am off to enjoy the time with my family since it is so short and I will have a whole semester (and probably a lifetime...) to be with Matt. *Did I just say that?*
Pork chop dinner here I come! :)
Happy Trails
After celebrating Nikki's birthday Thursday night and then packing and cleaning, Friday morning we left for the airport. I dropped Nikki off and made my way towards Ft. Worth. Between some hilarious text messages (thanks Dan!) and some good tunes, the drive actually didn't seem that bad. Traffic didn't get bed till about Bedford/Hurst and the 820 was pretty slow going but other than that it was great. Luckily I got there before rush hour so that helped. Nana let me do some laundry at her house and I'll even have clean towels to pick up on my way back through! Visited with them and went to bed early. They took me to Uncle Lyle & Aunt Carrie's for a short visit and then Uncle Lyle took me to the airport. My flight was delayed but I wasn't too worried. I read my book and watched the cute antics of a little girl that looked quite similar to my cousin Karli. Read a little more on the flight from Dallas to Albequerque where we briefly touched down to let some passengers off and a few more came on. I made friends with a Southwest flight attendant named Keith and we chatted most the way from Albequerque to Phoenix. He was super cool and we're even facebook friends now haha. I was too early to check in for my WestJet flight to Edmonton so I took advantage of the wireless and checked FB/email/chatted on MSN. Went to check in and there was a slight glitch with something regarding payment for the flight so while I waited to hear back from Mom I talked with the WJ ticket agents. The one, Lori, was running on the conveyor belt like a treadmill and then actually got out from behind the counter and did some cartwheels. They were totally bored but so was I so it was a good combo. They even gave me this little rubber pencil topper shaped like a plane and signed it for me. I guess it was a good day for run-ins with airline employees (and it helps that Mom is one so I kinda know their lingo)! My flight to Edmonton was a few minutes late leaving but nothing compared to some passengers who were trying to get to Calgary. Going through customs didn't take too long but waiting for my bags took some time since there were 3 flights that came in around the same time on the same carousel. Oh well, I made it through that last customs guy and through the double doors to see Mom, Dale, Evan and even Phil & Jon waiting for me! It was a happy reunion and despite my complete exhaustion, I ended up staying up excitedly chatting with Mom & Dale until almost 2. Wow, it was good to be home!
My first 2 days at home have been great but I shall save the description of that for another post... there's pics on FB tho!
My first 2 days at home have been great but I shall save the description of that for another post... there's pics on FB tho!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Relief
1) Turned in my take home final to Dr. Oliver and I am now officially done with my first semester of my senior year!
2) My rim got here on time (and it's the right one!). The guys at the tire shop just charged me for the used tire not the labor so I got a sweet deal there. Everything is mounted and balanced and glorious. Hooray!
3) Today is Nikki's birthday so I'm taking her out to dinner and then we're playing games and taking fun pictures on campus tonight
Today is a good day. Minus the having to say goodbye to Matt a little while ago.... ugh, I hate goodbyes... Oh well, only 3 weeks! ;)
2) My rim got here on time (and it's the right one!). The guys at the tire shop just charged me for the used tire not the labor so I got a sweet deal there. Everything is mounted and balanced and glorious. Hooray!
3) Today is Nikki's birthday so I'm taking her out to dinner and then we're playing games and taking fun pictures on campus tonight
Today is a good day. Minus the having to say goodbye to Matt a little while ago.... ugh, I hate goodbyes... Oh well, only 3 weeks! ;)
Smilin'
I'm about to head to bed but I'm going to bed smiling. I got a Christmas package in the mail from Matt's mom today - she's so sweet! Mylah made it back this afternoon earlier than expected and we finished the group section of our final. I got my Christmas date with Matt after all and it was wonderful. I have one of the sweetest boyfriends in the world! I finished the individual part of the final after our date. I just have to turn it in tomorrow morning and I'm done for the semester - whoa! And according to the UPS website, my new rim is on it's way from Little Rock to Searcy tonight so it should be here by tomorrow as promised.
Things are looking up.
Things are looking up.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The good: Finished my POM final (he said it would take up to an hour but I finished in 20 min!)... I got my process improvement project back and aced it!... Matt and I got to study IB together, play pool and grab a bite to eat at Arby's
The bad: The ebay seller emailed Matt today and said they didn't get our email (with confirmation that we wanted the expedited shipping) in time so they just sent it out ground. It SHOULD be here Thursday morning but I'm really worried w/ the holiday rush (and my luck) it might not get here in time.
The ugly: Mylah (girl in my group for the 440 group take home final) has been in Corpus since Friday for her sister's graduation and was supposed to be back this afternoon. We had planned to meet tomorrow afternoon to work on the last little bit so we can turn it in Thursday morning (which was an extension already because originally it was due this afternoon). Matt and I had planned to have our Christmas together tomorrow night. We were gonna do dinner and exchange gifts and stuff. Well, with all this crazy weather, Mylah won't be back till sometime tomorrow and she'll call us when she gets in so we can work on it. But if she's coming all the way from Corpus, it'll take her awhile to get here. So I have no idea when we're gonna work on the group final and it'll probably have to be tomorrow night so Matt and I can't have our Christmas thing. He has a final on Thursday and we will *hopefully* be getting my rim mounted at the tire shop and then he works from 4-12 and I leave first thing in the morning on Friday. So... I don't know if we can do our Christmas thing. I'm kinda bummed...
The bad: The ebay seller emailed Matt today and said they didn't get our email (with confirmation that we wanted the expedited shipping) in time so they just sent it out ground. It SHOULD be here Thursday morning but I'm really worried w/ the holiday rush (and my luck) it might not get here in time.
The ugly: Mylah (girl in my group for the 440 group take home final) has been in Corpus since Friday for her sister's graduation and was supposed to be back this afternoon. We had planned to meet tomorrow afternoon to work on the last little bit so we can turn it in Thursday morning (which was an extension already because originally it was due this afternoon). Matt and I had planned to have our Christmas together tomorrow night. We were gonna do dinner and exchange gifts and stuff. Well, with all this crazy weather, Mylah won't be back till sometime tomorrow and she'll call us when she gets in so we can work on it. But if she's coming all the way from Corpus, it'll take her awhile to get here. So I have no idea when we're gonna work on the group final and it'll probably have to be tomorrow night so Matt and I can't have our Christmas thing. He has a final on Thursday and we will *hopefully* be getting my rim mounted at the tire shop and then he works from 4-12 and I leave first thing in the morning on Friday. So... I don't know if we can do our Christmas thing. I'm kinda bummed...
Auto Parts, Freezing Rain and Finals
Well I must say things are lookin' a little brighter than they were a few days ago (minus the weather to be discussed shortly). Went to the tire shop and they told me I needed a new rim. We went to the dealership and a new one would be 300. After a little searching, Matt found a rim on eBay and they can have it here by tomorrow. The guys at the tire shop had one last used tire that would work and they will mount & balance everything for me on Thursday so I can still leave on Friday as planned. What a huge relief!
I was supposed to have an 8:00 POM final today but it is moved to tonight at 6:30 due to some nasty freezing rain yesterday that has made all roads complete skating rinks with a couple inches of ice. I managed to get to the tire shop yesterday before the really ridiculous weather kicked in but there was still quite a layer of ice on my windshield. My ice scraper is at home (thinking I wouldn't really need it in Arkansas). So, being the somewhat creative person that I am, I put the defrost on full blast for a few minutes and then used a CD cover to scrape off the ice. I later used the same CD cover to help Matt scrape off his enough to see so we could go to AutoZone and buy a scraper. I crack myself up sometimes... but hey, at least it got the job done!
I took my SBM final yesterday morning and feel pretty good about it. There were some I was unsure of but I calculated it and I only have to make a 53 on that one to keep my A so I think I'm gonna be just fine. We also got our business plan projects back and between the written plan and the oral presentation we made a 95% overall! It was so nice to see that all of our hard work (group meetings EVERY week and lots of individual work outside of those meetings) finally paid off. Frazier & Emerson said that with some polishing we can definitely make the Top 12 in the Governor's Cup competition next semester!
I was supposed to have an 8:00 POM final today but it is moved to tonight at 6:30 due to some nasty freezing rain yesterday that has made all roads complete skating rinks with a couple inches of ice. I managed to get to the tire shop yesterday before the really ridiculous weather kicked in but there was still quite a layer of ice on my windshield. My ice scraper is at home (thinking I wouldn't really need it in Arkansas). So, being the somewhat creative person that I am, I put the defrost on full blast for a few minutes and then used a CD cover to scrape off the ice. I later used the same CD cover to help Matt scrape off his enough to see so we could go to AutoZone and buy a scraper. I crack myself up sometimes... but hey, at least it got the job done!
I took my SBM final yesterday morning and feel pretty good about it. There were some I was unsure of but I calculated it and I only have to make a 53 on that one to keep my A so I think I'm gonna be just fine. We also got our business plan projects back and between the written plan and the oral presentation we made a 95% overall! It was so nice to see that all of our hard work (group meetings EVERY week and lots of individual work outside of those meetings) finally paid off. Frazier & Emerson said that with some polishing we can definitely make the Top 12 in the Governor's Cup competition next semester!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Twelve and One
Twelve pages. One night. Done everything but finals for the semester! HECK YES!!
(see previous post)
(see previous post)
Thursday, December 11, 2008
What A Rollercoaster
I can't even begin to describe how crazy this week has been. It's been so up and down it's ridiculous. Monday night we met to run through the business plan presentation. Despite getting a late start, we ran through it a bit and agreed to meet one more time on Tuesday to polish it up. Tuesday was class all day, another run through of the presentation (this one much better) and then doing a big chunk of my POM project. Those 2 days were busy but pretty standard... but then Wednesday rolled around...
Talk about a rollercoaster day. We presented our business plan idea first thing in the morning and the first words out of Dr. Frazier's mouth during the question/comment period were "I must say, that was by far the best presentation yet!" Which felt pretty good considering a) we've been working on this business plan stuff all semester and b) we were the 6th of 7 groups to go so he had quite a few to compare us to. Felt pretty good about knocking that one out. I celebrated by taking a nap since I had been up late the night before and then had a quick last meeting with my SAM case team to figure out our schedules for next semester and when we can meet. Since my POM project was due today, the next big thing on my list was to knock that out. However I needed a break part way through and decided to go to Staples to get ink for my printer. Before I even got off campus I got a flat tire. I managed to pull into the parking lot by the GAC to assess the damage. It didn't appear to be punctured anywhere but I have had a history of air leaking out around the rims on this car and I guess one finally had enough. Matt came and helped me change it which I was grateful for because I was cold and frustrated almost to the point of tears and probably woulda taken twice as long to do it. Dad's not gonna be happy about that one, especially b/c I'm probably going to have to get a new wheel. And I don't think he tries to, but he always manages to make me feel like I'm irresponsible when it comes to car stuff so I'm not looking forward to telling him about it. When I got back on the road and got my ink, the guy at Staples short-changed me a buck. It was just a buck but it was still annoying. Then I came back and ended up finishing my POM project before 10:00 (Booyah!) Managed to clean for H&S and squeeze in a walk through the Christmas lights on the front lawn with Matt before curfew. It was chilly but the lights were pretty and the company was wonderful. Then when I got back to the room I ended up having a great convo with him online before we went to bed.
Today I turned in my POM project with a sense of satisfaction and went to chapel to hear the 4th-6th graders from the Academy sing. But then I got some wicked cramps and all the fun that goes with that. However, some ibuprofen took the edge off that and Matt and I got to hang out in between classes and I found out that I won a $25 Best Buy gift card for taking an Aramark survey a month ago (Sweet...I never win contests like that!) Went to 440 and got our group take-home final and right after class met with my group for THREE hours to work on it. And we're still not done. Luckily Dr. Oliver extended the deadline for our group because one girl is going to be gone to Texas for her sister's grad and won't be back till Tuesday. We now have till Thursday morning to turn it in. Came back to the room excited to be done with classes for the semester (I don't have class tomorrow). I was also pretty exhausted but knew that I have a 12 page Code of Ethics due tomorrow that I had started ideas for in my head but at that point had nothing actually written down. Except for a quick break for dinner, I worked solid from 5-9. I now have about 7.5 pages...
I need to get back to writing because I would like as little to do tomorrow as possible (although I have till 5 pm if I need it). Just felt the need to rant about how up and down my week has been. 4.5 pages are standing between me and freedom... well, and finals... but let's not count those right now... :P
Talk about a rollercoaster day. We presented our business plan idea first thing in the morning and the first words out of Dr. Frazier's mouth during the question/comment period were "I must say, that was by far the best presentation yet!" Which felt pretty good considering a) we've been working on this business plan stuff all semester and b) we were the 6th of 7 groups to go so he had quite a few to compare us to. Felt pretty good about knocking that one out. I celebrated by taking a nap since I had been up late the night before and then had a quick last meeting with my SAM case team to figure out our schedules for next semester and when we can meet. Since my POM project was due today, the next big thing on my list was to knock that out. However I needed a break part way through and decided to go to Staples to get ink for my printer. Before I even got off campus I got a flat tire. I managed to pull into the parking lot by the GAC to assess the damage. It didn't appear to be punctured anywhere but I have had a history of air leaking out around the rims on this car and I guess one finally had enough. Matt came and helped me change it which I was grateful for because I was cold and frustrated almost to the point of tears and probably woulda taken twice as long to do it. Dad's not gonna be happy about that one, especially b/c I'm probably going to have to get a new wheel. And I don't think he tries to, but he always manages to make me feel like I'm irresponsible when it comes to car stuff so I'm not looking forward to telling him about it. When I got back on the road and got my ink, the guy at Staples short-changed me a buck. It was just a buck but it was still annoying. Then I came back and ended up finishing my POM project before 10:00 (Booyah!) Managed to clean for H&S and squeeze in a walk through the Christmas lights on the front lawn with Matt before curfew. It was chilly but the lights were pretty and the company was wonderful. Then when I got back to the room I ended up having a great convo with him online before we went to bed.
Today I turned in my POM project with a sense of satisfaction and went to chapel to hear the 4th-6th graders from the Academy sing. But then I got some wicked cramps and all the fun that goes with that. However, some ibuprofen took the edge off that and Matt and I got to hang out in between classes and I found out that I won a $25 Best Buy gift card for taking an Aramark survey a month ago (Sweet...I never win contests like that!) Went to 440 and got our group take-home final and right after class met with my group for THREE hours to work on it. And we're still not done. Luckily Dr. Oliver extended the deadline for our group because one girl is going to be gone to Texas for her sister's grad and won't be back till Tuesday. We now have till Thursday morning to turn it in. Came back to the room excited to be done with classes for the semester (I don't have class tomorrow). I was also pretty exhausted but knew that I have a 12 page Code of Ethics due tomorrow that I had started ideas for in my head but at that point had nothing actually written down. Except for a quick break for dinner, I worked solid from 5-9. I now have about 7.5 pages...
I need to get back to writing because I would like as little to do tomorrow as possible (although I have till 5 pm if I need it). Just felt the need to rant about how up and down my week has been. 4.5 pages are standing between me and freedom... well, and finals... but let's not count those right now... :P
Monday, December 8, 2008
A Break, At Last!
I normally have class from 6-8:30 but we got out a few minutes to 7. I thought for sure we'd stay the whole time because I knew there were a few people who still had solo presentations to do and then we had to finish lecturing and discuss what was on the final. Little did I know that last week when I skipped class to work on IB presentation stuff, she announced that we're not having a final! I wasn't really worried about that one anyways, but it's nice to have a small break in the system regardless. And it meant that after the solo presentations tonight, we were done! Which means that I have time before my meeting at 8:30 to get caught up on some stuff. Finally, a break in the craziness!
After my previous post today, I did however do 2 loads of laundry so I can now happily report that I have clean socks (and a bunch of other clothes) again! I figured out basically what I'm going to say for my part of the presentation too.
Update on the SSN/Birth Certificate fiasco: Matt was able to fax the forms from the office on Friday. Now I wait to hear back from them... and hopefully it's to hear that they've processed it and it's in the mail and not that something else is wrong with it!
Anyways I gotta go make use of my extra time!
After my previous post today, I did however do 2 loads of laundry so I can now happily report that I have clean socks (and a bunch of other clothes) again! I figured out basically what I'm going to say for my part of the presentation too.
Update on the SSN/Birth Certificate fiasco: Matt was able to fax the forms from the office on Friday. Now I wait to hear back from them... and hopefully it's to hear that they've processed it and it's in the mail and not that something else is wrong with it!
Anyways I gotta go make use of my extra time!
Going Out of My Mind
Or so it feels like. Actually I'm doing a little better right now than I was about half an hour ago. That is because I just got back from running some errands on campus and feel like I've actually accomplished something with my day. I cashed a check at the Bus. office, checked my mail (and had xmas cards from my cousin Dallas and the wonderful Maass family... hooray real mail and holiday cheer!), mailed some cards of my own (a sympathy card to a family friend who just lost her elderly mother, a bday card to my mom and an xmas card to Matt's family), and stopped by the ASI office and talked to Dr. Reely about my POM project. I feel a lot better about which direction I'm taking it... now I just have to get it finished by Thursday at 8:30 am!
My weekend was pretty low-key. Matt took me out to dinner at Boston's in Little Rock. They are somehow affiliated with Boston Pizza back home but they're not quite the same. Oh well, it was still neat to see some resemblance of something from home. Then we played around in Best Buy... checking out the huge flat screens, playing with the stereo equipment and trying our hand at Rock Band. Then we just drove around and talked and had a nice relaxing evening. It was fun. Saturday I slept in, went to Walmart for some groceries and then we just vegged most the day. Nik and Katie and I watched movies and played Catch Phrase. I had previously wanted to go to the basketball games but didn't really feel like going anywhere when the time came. Sunday was church, lunch, nap and then workin' on my POM project which led to some major frustration (which has now been resolved thanks to the aforementioned meeting with Dr. Reely) and I worked a bit on our presentation of our business plan.
So it sounds like things have been decent right? Why am I going out of my mind? I have class tonight from 6-8:30 and then a meeting at 8:30 to practice our business plan presentation. Which means I have to figure out my part of the presentation before 6. And we have a POM quiz tomorrow that I have to study for at some point. Before Wednesday we have to perfect our bus. plan pres and that POM project is due Thurs. Luckily I figured out my little issue but I still have a lot of work left to do. Then I have a 12 page "Code of Ethics" due by 5:00 pm Friday that I haven't even started. And I only have 2 pairs of socks left so I seriously need to do some laundry but don't really know when that's going to happen. Ahhh, I hate the end of the semester crunch. If I can just make it till Friday... then I have to study for finals but finals generally don't stress me out as much as the projects and presentations that are always due the week before.
To end on a good note: Mom said she's saving some of the Christmas baking to do when I get home so I can feel more a part of the holiday.... YES!! :)
My weekend was pretty low-key. Matt took me out to dinner at Boston's in Little Rock. They are somehow affiliated with Boston Pizza back home but they're not quite the same. Oh well, it was still neat to see some resemblance of something from home. Then we played around in Best Buy... checking out the huge flat screens, playing with the stereo equipment and trying our hand at Rock Band. Then we just drove around and talked and had a nice relaxing evening. It was fun. Saturday I slept in, went to Walmart for some groceries and then we just vegged most the day. Nik and Katie and I watched movies and played Catch Phrase. I had previously wanted to go to the basketball games but didn't really feel like going anywhere when the time came. Sunday was church, lunch, nap and then workin' on my POM project which led to some major frustration (which has now been resolved thanks to the aforementioned meeting with Dr. Reely) and I worked a bit on our presentation of our business plan.
So it sounds like things have been decent right? Why am I going out of my mind? I have class tonight from 6-8:30 and then a meeting at 8:30 to practice our business plan presentation. Which means I have to figure out my part of the presentation before 6. And we have a POM quiz tomorrow that I have to study for at some point. Before Wednesday we have to perfect our bus. plan pres and that POM project is due Thurs. Luckily I figured out my little issue but I still have a lot of work left to do. Then I have a 12 page "Code of Ethics" due by 5:00 pm Friday that I haven't even started. And I only have 2 pairs of socks left so I seriously need to do some laundry but don't really know when that's going to happen. Ahhh, I hate the end of the semester crunch. If I can just make it till Friday... then I have to study for finals but finals generally don't stress me out as much as the projects and presentations that are always due the week before.
To end on a good note: Mom said she's saving some of the Christmas baking to do when I get home so I can feel more a part of the holiday.... YES!! :)
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tie Me Up In Red Tape
"and stick a tag that says 'ANNOYED' on it" is how the rest of the title should read...
So I'm not sure if I've blogged about this yet but I've decided to get my MBA when I graduate. I'm getting it here at Harding so the plan is to come home for the summer as usual, then come back in the fall and get an apartment and take my MBA (approx a year and a half.) It'll be cool cuz Matt is staying here too to work for Public Safety for another year or two so I'll still get to see him on a regular basis. I have also decided to do the GA program. You work 20 hrs/week in an office here on campus and instead of a paycheck you get 3000/semester towards tuition. I figure it's a pretty sweet deal. I have already applied for the GA program and apparently won't hear back until late spring for an interview. I'm in the process of applying for the MBA stuff right now. Dr. Frazier has already agreed to give me a recommendation so I dropped off the form to him the other day. Now I just need one more. I'm thinking Dr. Sloan but I still need to talk to him... Anyways...
So I realize that if I'm going to work here in the US that I'm gonna need my SSN. I have dual citizenship but we left the States when I was 2 and therefore I never had a need for a SSN for working purposes or anything. So I look on their website for an application and it says if you're over 12 and applying for the first time you have to do it in person at one of their offices (which I was surprised to find out there is one in Searcy!). So I get Mom to mail me my birth certificate, fill out the form and take it and my BC to the SSN office one afternoon before break. They were a little confused at first about me being a dual citizen but once they figured that out they thought they could process everything using my American BC and my Canadian passport. Then they tell me that they need a "state-issued" BC and mine was "hospital-issued". They tell me to get a state-issued one and bring it back and they can process everything I need for my SSN. A little discouraged, I go back to my room and look up the NY state dept of health's website and figure out how I'm supposed to do this. My options were pay $30 for regular mail and they will process within 6-8 weeks of them receiving it. No thanks. Next I could pay $45 for "priority handling" which was still regular mail but they would process it within 2-3 weeks of them receiving it. My 3rd option was pay $53 to do it online and they would process within 5-7 business days! So I talk to Mom and ask her if I can do it online and put it on the credit card. After she said I could, I went online and had everything filled out except for the last step and then it was like "to verify your identity and protect you from identity theft, please input your DOB and SSN here". I was like WHAT?? The whole reason I'm applying for this stupid BC is to get my SSN!! So I click the help tab and none of the FAQ's answer my problem so I click "ask us a question". I send them an email explaining my situation and then have to wait to hear back from them. I hear back right away saying "thank you for your request. we will process it within the next 3 business days". Fortunately a guy replied the next morning saying that I needed to fax or phone it in instead and attached the fax form. I filled it out and today I used Nik's scanner instead of photocopying my passport. I gave the forms to Matt and he said he would fax them for me when he's at work tomorrow so I don't have to pay for it.
So now I wait. The shipping address had to match the billing address which is my home address so I'm hoping that they send my BC to my house while I'm home over break or else Mom is gonna have to mail it to me AGAIN. Then I have to go to the SSN office and wait for that to be processed. Oh how I love red tape! Luckily the lady in charge of the GA program said I can submit my application w/o the SSN as long as they have that info before I start working in the fall. It better be processed by then!!
So I just realized all of my paragraphs started with "so". Anyways, my contacts are drying out so I'm going to take them out and maybe go to bed early...
So I'm not sure if I've blogged about this yet but I've decided to get my MBA when I graduate. I'm getting it here at Harding so the plan is to come home for the summer as usual, then come back in the fall and get an apartment and take my MBA (approx a year and a half.) It'll be cool cuz Matt is staying here too to work for Public Safety for another year or two so I'll still get to see him on a regular basis. I have also decided to do the GA program. You work 20 hrs/week in an office here on campus and instead of a paycheck you get 3000/semester towards tuition. I figure it's a pretty sweet deal. I have already applied for the GA program and apparently won't hear back until late spring for an interview. I'm in the process of applying for the MBA stuff right now. Dr. Frazier has already agreed to give me a recommendation so I dropped off the form to him the other day. Now I just need one more. I'm thinking Dr. Sloan but I still need to talk to him... Anyways...
So I realize that if I'm going to work here in the US that I'm gonna need my SSN. I have dual citizenship but we left the States when I was 2 and therefore I never had a need for a SSN for working purposes or anything. So I look on their website for an application and it says if you're over 12 and applying for the first time you have to do it in person at one of their offices (which I was surprised to find out there is one in Searcy!). So I get Mom to mail me my birth certificate, fill out the form and take it and my BC to the SSN office one afternoon before break. They were a little confused at first about me being a dual citizen but once they figured that out they thought they could process everything using my American BC and my Canadian passport. Then they tell me that they need a "state-issued" BC and mine was "hospital-issued". They tell me to get a state-issued one and bring it back and they can process everything I need for my SSN. A little discouraged, I go back to my room and look up the NY state dept of health's website and figure out how I'm supposed to do this. My options were pay $30 for regular mail and they will process within 6-8 weeks of them receiving it. No thanks. Next I could pay $45 for "priority handling" which was still regular mail but they would process it within 2-3 weeks of them receiving it. My 3rd option was pay $53 to do it online and they would process within 5-7 business days! So I talk to Mom and ask her if I can do it online and put it on the credit card. After she said I could, I went online and had everything filled out except for the last step and then it was like "to verify your identity and protect you from identity theft, please input your DOB and SSN here". I was like WHAT?? The whole reason I'm applying for this stupid BC is to get my SSN!! So I click the help tab and none of the FAQ's answer my problem so I click "ask us a question". I send them an email explaining my situation and then have to wait to hear back from them. I hear back right away saying "thank you for your request. we will process it within the next 3 business days". Fortunately a guy replied the next morning saying that I needed to fax or phone it in instead and attached the fax form. I filled it out and today I used Nik's scanner instead of photocopying my passport. I gave the forms to Matt and he said he would fax them for me when he's at work tomorrow so I don't have to pay for it.
So now I wait. The shipping address had to match the billing address which is my home address so I'm hoping that they send my BC to my house while I'm home over break or else Mom is gonna have to mail it to me AGAIN. Then I have to go to the SSN office and wait for that to be processed. Oh how I love red tape! Luckily the lady in charge of the GA program said I can submit my application w/o the SSN as long as they have that info before I start working in the fall. It better be processed by then!!
So I just realized all of my paragraphs started with "so". Anyways, my contacts are drying out so I'm going to take them out and maybe go to bed early...
Productivity Report
The 2 weeks after Thanksgiving break and before finals are always known to be crazy. However this year it seems especially true. Must be that whole senior year thing...
However, I am pleased to announce that today I accomplished the following:
-aced the POM quiz
-turned in the 20-30 pg group paper for IB
-gave our 15 min group presentation in IB
Major academic pursuits left to do before finals:
-another POM quiz next Tuesday
-presentation of THE business plan for SBM next Wednesday
-Process Improvement project due in POM next Thursday
-12 pg Code of Ethics due for... Ethics (how'd you guess?) next Friday
Here's to pluggin' away...
However, I am pleased to announce that today I accomplished the following:
-aced the POM quiz
-turned in the 20-30 pg group paper for IB
-gave our 15 min group presentation in IB
Major academic pursuits left to do before finals:
-another POM quiz next Tuesday
-presentation of THE business plan for SBM next Wednesday
-Process Improvement project due in POM next Thursday
-12 pg Code of Ethics due for... Ethics (how'd you guess?) next Friday
Here's to pluggin' away...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A Slight Glitch In The System
So before break I had gone over my schedule with my advisor, registered for spring classes and turned in my "request for degree" form to the registrar's office. I had checked, re-checked and double re-checked everything and thought I had it all figured out. Then I get this lovely email from the registrar over break saying that I'm missing 2 hrs of the 128 needed to graduate. I was rather frustrated/freaked out about it over break so I went and talked to the registrar Monday afternoon. Turns out when they originally told me that my ACT score got me out of taking Stats (3 hrs) they didn't bother to mention that I needed to take something else to make up for those hours. I had never even thought about and figured that getting out of it meant I was out of it and didn't have to worry about it anymore. I took Honors Human Situation (3 hrs) in place of Music Appreciation (2 hrs) so I was +1 for that but when you net it all out, I was in fact, as they said, missing 2 hrs. I was kinda worried how I would fit another 2 hrs into my sched (I only had 14 hrs scheduled for next semester but Dr. Frazier said to treat SAM case team as another class so I was thinking it'd be about right). However, after some figuring, I realized that the Bible class I was in was variable credit so I changed that from 2 to 3 and added a Kines activity class for an easy credit hour. Which one you ask? Get this... Beginners Basketball! I played basketball for 6 years (7th-12th grade)... If I can't make an A in Beg. Bball then I don't deserve to play ever again! Here's what my sched looks like for next semester. Still should be pretty decent. I kinda wanted to avoid an 8:00 for my last semester but beggars can't be choosers (and I have that nice 2 hr break after chapel if I want to go take a shower!)
MWF
9:00-9:30 Chapel
10:00-10:50 Prophets: Jeremiah-Malachi
11:00-11:50 Management Information Systems
12:00-12:50 Strategic Policy
TR
8:00-8:50 Beg. Basketball
9:00-9:30 Chapel
11:30-12:45 Consumer Behavior
1:00-2:15 Human Resource Management
MWF
9:00-9:30 Chapel
10:00-10:50 Prophets: Jeremiah-Malachi
11:00-11:50 Management Information Systems
12:00-12:50 Strategic Policy
TR
8:00-8:50 Beg. Basketball
9:00-9:30 Chapel
11:30-12:45 Consumer Behavior
1:00-2:15 Human Resource Management
Wish I Had Time To Update
I have a lot to say but not any time to say it. Tomorrow is going to be crazy but if I can survive it then I will be able to breathe a little easier and probably have time to update like I want to. Until then... here are some crazy pics I did in jr. high/high school that I found on Dad's comp when I was home last...
Homestarrunner that I drew on a piece of scrap paper from Dad's work
Some graffiti I made in Paint
Friday, November 28, 2008
I Could Get Used To This
"This" being spending time with Matt everyday. "This" being staying in the same house. "This" being hanging out with his family and friends. "This" being falling in love with him more and more everyday...
Too sentimental? Think what you want, but this week at home with Matt for Thanksgiving has been great. We got in at 5:30 am Saturday morning (drove all night) and then slept till mid-afternoon. We went and saw the "It's a Wonderful Life" play with his brother (kudos to Ryan for the free tickets). Sunday was church and then we went for a drive to see his old stomping ground. Monday we went snowboarding and then Terry met up with us for dinner and we went to his house at WMU and watched Iron Man. Tuesday we just kinda vegged and Wednesday we took Ryan, his sister Allison and her friend to see Bolt. Then Matt and I went to devo and talked with Carmen a little after. Yesterday was the big Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of his family. Mmm, mmm... I was stuffed! We kinda just relaxed after that and then when everybody left we went to his other grandma's to visit. We went with his mom to K-Mart for a little while and then met up with Terry & Alisha to see Twilight. Then we went back to Terry's parent's house and played Trouble, talked, watched Hook and didn't get home till 6 am. Today we're meeting up with a bunch of people to see the Grand Rapids Griffins play hockey. Tomorrow is our last day here. I'm kinda sad about that. It's been so great but I guess it can't always be this perfect. In amongst all of our activities, we've had some time to just be together and have some great conversations and I feel myself falling harder everyday.
Yep, I could get used to this....
Too sentimental? Think what you want, but this week at home with Matt for Thanksgiving has been great. We got in at 5:30 am Saturday morning (drove all night) and then slept till mid-afternoon. We went and saw the "It's a Wonderful Life" play with his brother (kudos to Ryan for the free tickets). Sunday was church and then we went for a drive to see his old stomping ground. Monday we went snowboarding and then Terry met up with us for dinner and we went to his house at WMU and watched Iron Man. Tuesday we just kinda vegged and Wednesday we took Ryan, his sister Allison and her friend to see Bolt. Then Matt and I went to devo and talked with Carmen a little after. Yesterday was the big Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of his family. Mmm, mmm... I was stuffed! We kinda just relaxed after that and then when everybody left we went to his other grandma's to visit. We went with his mom to K-Mart for a little while and then met up with Terry & Alisha to see Twilight. Then we went back to Terry's parent's house and played Trouble, talked, watched Hook and didn't get home till 6 am. Today we're meeting up with a bunch of people to see the Grand Rapids Griffins play hockey. Tomorrow is our last day here. I'm kinda sad about that. It's been so great but I guess it can't always be this perfect. In amongst all of our activities, we've had some time to just be together and have some great conversations and I feel myself falling harder everyday.
Yep, I could get used to this....
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Late Night Editing
Business plan: we met Monday night... I typed up the Critical Risks section Tuesday night... I typed up the Executive Summary today... we met again tonight and put everything together... Matt worked on formatting tonight... via chatting online I helped him edit the whole thing... Sketch is modifying something on the financials tonight/tomorrow morning and sending them to Matt... get the whole thing printed off and bound at the media center tomorrow afternoon... turn it in on Friday morning. Whew.
I was pretty excited when I came back from the meeting tonight because I thought my part of the plan was done. But here I sit at 1:30 am editing it with Matt online. (Oh the joys of technology). Anyways, we're done now and I'm going to bed... so much for going to bed early tonight...
I was pretty excited when I came back from the meeting tonight because I thought my part of the plan was done. But here I sit at 1:30 am editing it with Matt online. (Oh the joys of technology). Anyways, we're done now and I'm going to bed... so much for going to bed early tonight...
Monday, November 17, 2008
You Ain't From the Country Are Ya?
Got this in an email from my uncle... growing up in rural Alberta, I thought it was amusing...
Travelin' at Twice the Speed Of Light
Ok so the title is from a good Sugarland song, but it's pretty much true right now. Life is a little nuts. There's only one week left till Thanksgiving break (hallelujah!) but there's so much to be done between now and then. I'm doing 3 loads of laundry right now and really should be doing some homework but I felt the need to update this thing. First some exciting things...
-Saturday night I got to see Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson in concert. I've pretty much been a Reba fan since I was like 3 and always swore that if she was playing anywhere near where I lived that I was going to go. She's been in my general area twice before but the deck was stacked against me and I was never able to go. When I found out she was playing in Little Rock I decided I HAD to go. Nikki and I went and it was AMAZING. Like I said, I'm a huge Reba fan and I like Kelly too so it was quite the dynamic duo. I thought we were never gonna get there (we got to Beebe before I realized I had left the tickets on my desk... and then we encountered some serious road rage when we were leaving Carino's and I thought we were gonna get shot... yeah it was quite the night) but we eventually got there and it was totally worth it.
-Last weekend I got to go to ATL with Nikki and meet all people she worked with/for at the church there this summer. We got there late Friday night and pretty much just crashed at Sarah Lee's house (who I quickly became friends with - she's so much fun!). Then we went shopping on Saturday afternoon on The Avenue and I bought a cool AE hoodie (on sale...yes!) Then we went back to Sarah Lee's and got all dressed up for dinner downtown (Atlantic Station). We were going to take some fancy pics afterwards but the wait was so long for dinner that by the time we got done, we weren't really up to taking pics and just wanted to go home. We went back to Sarah Lee's and had a fantastic time just hanging out and laughing a lot. Then at church Sunday morning I got to see J.D. & Lana Partain which was great. Perhaps even greater was running into fellow ARWC-er Kristen Phipps who just happened to be up from Florida College visiting them on the same weekend I was there. We figured it out and the last time we saw each other was like junior high. It was so wonderful seeing her again!
-Phil called me last nite with some incredibly exciting news... her and Jon are expecting!! I must admit it's still taking some time to sink in that my best friend is having a baby... but the news of her getting married (and me being maid of honor) sunk in eventually so I'm sure this will too! I'm so happy for them - they will make such a cute little family. And I told her that before I graduate I'm buying a baby t-shirt from the Harding bookstore. (I'm pretty sure I'm like an honorary aunt or something so I gotta support the new addition to the Stewart family!) Congrats Jon & Phil! :)
Those have been the highlights of the last little while. Other than that... we worked our butts off for our sample case for SAM case team and we presented last Tuesday night. Frazier and Emerson were pretty hard on us but I was still proud of how much we got done in 2.5 weeks. And now we get a break until January. I started feeling gross after the presentation and ended up spending the next 2 days in bed with the flu. I still felt a little weak over the weekend but I'm feeling much better now. Our final copy of the business plan is due on Friday so we have a lot of work to do this week to polish everything up. Room inspec is tomorrow at noon so we have to clean hardcore tonight (it's the dorm mom doing this one, not the RA). We have a 20-30 page group paper and 15 min group presentation due in IB the Tuesday after break so we pretty much have to get most of our stuff finished for that this week too. And we have an IB test tomorrow. Needless to say, this week is a little crazy... I'm so happy I get to go home with Matt over the break and get away from all this craziness for a week!
-Saturday night I got to see Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson in concert. I've pretty much been a Reba fan since I was like 3 and always swore that if she was playing anywhere near where I lived that I was going to go. She's been in my general area twice before but the deck was stacked against me and I was never able to go. When I found out she was playing in Little Rock I decided I HAD to go. Nikki and I went and it was AMAZING. Like I said, I'm a huge Reba fan and I like Kelly too so it was quite the dynamic duo. I thought we were never gonna get there (we got to Beebe before I realized I had left the tickets on my desk... and then we encountered some serious road rage when we were leaving Carino's and I thought we were gonna get shot... yeah it was quite the night) but we eventually got there and it was totally worth it.
-Last weekend I got to go to ATL with Nikki and meet all people she worked with/for at the church there this summer. We got there late Friday night and pretty much just crashed at Sarah Lee's house (who I quickly became friends with - she's so much fun!). Then we went shopping on Saturday afternoon on The Avenue and I bought a cool AE hoodie (on sale...yes!) Then we went back to Sarah Lee's and got all dressed up for dinner downtown (Atlantic Station). We were going to take some fancy pics afterwards but the wait was so long for dinner that by the time we got done, we weren't really up to taking pics and just wanted to go home. We went back to Sarah Lee's and had a fantastic time just hanging out and laughing a lot. Then at church Sunday morning I got to see J.D. & Lana Partain which was great. Perhaps even greater was running into fellow ARWC-er Kristen Phipps who just happened to be up from Florida College visiting them on the same weekend I was there. We figured it out and the last time we saw each other was like junior high. It was so wonderful seeing her again!
-Phil called me last nite with some incredibly exciting news... her and Jon are expecting!! I must admit it's still taking some time to sink in that my best friend is having a baby... but the news of her getting married (and me being maid of honor) sunk in eventually so I'm sure this will too! I'm so happy for them - they will make such a cute little family. And I told her that before I graduate I'm buying a baby t-shirt from the Harding bookstore. (I'm pretty sure I'm like an honorary aunt or something so I gotta support the new addition to the Stewart family!) Congrats Jon & Phil! :)
Those have been the highlights of the last little while. Other than that... we worked our butts off for our sample case for SAM case team and we presented last Tuesday night. Frazier and Emerson were pretty hard on us but I was still proud of how much we got done in 2.5 weeks. And now we get a break until January. I started feeling gross after the presentation and ended up spending the next 2 days in bed with the flu. I still felt a little weak over the weekend but I'm feeling much better now. Our final copy of the business plan is due on Friday so we have a lot of work to do this week to polish everything up. Room inspec is tomorrow at noon so we have to clean hardcore tonight (it's the dorm mom doing this one, not the RA). We have a 20-30 page group paper and 15 min group presentation due in IB the Tuesday after break so we pretty much have to get most of our stuff finished for that this week too. And we have an IB test tomorrow. Needless to say, this week is a little crazy... I'm so happy I get to go home with Matt over the break and get away from all this craziness for a week!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Did You Know?
I couldn't get this file to save properly so check the link out yourself. This is pretty crazy and kinda ties into what I was writing about in "Change is the Only Constant"...
http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF
http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=x7aVOMrlfkkijQwcLllwk6WjB5JE0zrF
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Hitler: An Effective Leader?
I believe I have previously mentioned the journal entries we are assigned in my Business Leadership class. He gives us a list of topics to choose from but says we can also come up with our own. I have no idea what made me think of it, but this morning in church I thought it would be interesting to write one about Hitler's leadership... this is what I came up with tonite...
Could an argument be made that Adolph Hitler was an effective leader? Skimming the surface of the history books, I think such an argument could in fact be made. For one thing, a leader is supposed to have experience in the field that they are leading in. Hitler served as a soldier and later the Chancellor of Germany before he took over his ultimate power role of the Fuhrer. He understood military operations and political strategies. Therefore he must have been a good leader, right? Let’s examine it further. Another quality of leadership is the ability to provide people with a vision. Hitler and his book Mein Kampf appealed to those who were dissatisfied with the outcome of the First World War and gave them an outlet to express their discontent. He blamed the nation’s problems on the Communists and the Jews. He gave the people a vision that Germany could once again be great. Hitler could be considered a visionary and therefore an effective leader, right? Let’s continue. A leader needs to be committed to their work and their cause. Hitler was perhaps the most dedicated leader Germany had ever had because he didn’t stop until his missions were accomplished. What’s wrong with a real go-getter? Doesn’t that make an effective leader?
I submit to you that on the surface, someone could suggest that because Hitler possessed some key leadership qualities, he was an effective leader. But there is only one problem. I have found many websites that consider him to be “the most evil person in the world”. That certainly doesn’t sound like the poster boy for leadership. So what went wrong? Hitler did possess some leadership characteristics but it was the way in which he used them that puts him on the very bottom of my “inspirational world leaders” list. Hitler used his power to rid the population of those who didn’t agree with him or didn’t fit into his vision of the ideal Arian society. He killed and tortured millions and brainwashed countless others. Therefore Adolph Hitler’s rule as the Fuhrer of Germany was perhaps the worst abuse of a leadership position in the history of the world.
Could an argument be made that Adolph Hitler was an effective leader? Skimming the surface of the history books, I think such an argument could in fact be made. For one thing, a leader is supposed to have experience in the field that they are leading in. Hitler served as a soldier and later the Chancellor of Germany before he took over his ultimate power role of the Fuhrer. He understood military operations and political strategies. Therefore he must have been a good leader, right? Let’s examine it further. Another quality of leadership is the ability to provide people with a vision. Hitler and his book Mein Kampf appealed to those who were dissatisfied with the outcome of the First World War and gave them an outlet to express their discontent. He blamed the nation’s problems on the Communists and the Jews. He gave the people a vision that Germany could once again be great. Hitler could be considered a visionary and therefore an effective leader, right? Let’s continue. A leader needs to be committed to their work and their cause. Hitler was perhaps the most dedicated leader Germany had ever had because he didn’t stop until his missions were accomplished. What’s wrong with a real go-getter? Doesn’t that make an effective leader?
I submit to you that on the surface, someone could suggest that because Hitler possessed some key leadership qualities, he was an effective leader. But there is only one problem. I have found many websites that consider him to be “the most evil person in the world”. That certainly doesn’t sound like the poster boy for leadership. So what went wrong? Hitler did possess some leadership characteristics but it was the way in which he used them that puts him on the very bottom of my “inspirational world leaders” list. Hitler used his power to rid the population of those who didn’t agree with him or didn’t fit into his vision of the ideal Arian society. He killed and tortured millions and brainwashed countless others. Therefore Adolph Hitler’s rule as the Fuhrer of Germany was perhaps the worst abuse of a leadership position in the history of the world.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Change Is The Only Constant
My goal this weekend was to finish reading "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" by Lee Iacocca. I have to write an 8-12 pg. paper over it by Nov. 6th and figured that with my busy weekday scheds as of late, it would be a good idea to get the book read this weekend while I had the time. I'm proud to say that I was successful in accomplishing this goal. I had started it during the first few weeks of the semester but then hadn't touched it for weeks. I read the rest (another 163 pages!) this weekend. Iacocca presents some eye-opening views on leadership and while I was kinda shocked at how blunt he was sometimes, it was still a rather interesting read. Here's a particular passage I liked:
-----------------
Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?
Answer: Princess Diana's death.
Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scotch whiskey, followed closely by an Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This is posted by an American, using Bill Gates' technology, and you're probably reading this on a computer that uses Taiwanese chips and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by Mexican illegals. That, my friend, is Globalization!
I'm not trying to make light of Princess Diana's death. But it kind of makes your head spin to consider how interconnected the world has become. Some people are nervous about globalization. And some people are just in denial. But it's impossible to escape it - the way the world seeps in. You can't fence the world out, and you can't fence yourself in. Technology knows no borders. As one of the first computer geeks stated, "Information wants to be free".
To fear globalization is to fear change, but like it or not, change is a constant in our lives.
Now I don't know about you, but every time in my life I got secure and complacent, God threw me a curve. Looking back, I now see that it wasn't a curve, it was a challenge. A challenge I needed. I had to shake off my complacency and change. Whenever you hear anyone saying, "Let's keep doing things exactly the way we've been doing them for twenty years," watch out. A shake-up is coming.
The seasons change. Summer follows spring, and night follows day. Life is full of ups and downs. Business cycles go round and round. Events happen that rock your world: People in the family die. You get a divorce. You get fired. Your business goes under. I've been through all these changes, and each time I've had to wake up and try something different.
Before you can deal with change, however, you have to see it. Then you have to accept it. Sometimes that's the hardest part - acknowledging and then accepting that the way you've always done business or lived your life just won't work anymore.
"Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (copyright 2007 by Lee Iacocca & Associates, Inc.)
----------------
I thought his globalization point was very valid. The dialogue about Princess Diana's death only further drove home the point that as Thomas Friedman has said "the world is flat". On one hand it's kinda scary to think about having to compete with people all over the world for jobs in today's global marketplace. At the same time, I find it rather exciting to think about how interconnected the world has really become. For example, I'm wearing a t-shirt made in Haiti, sweatpants made in China, and a watch made in Japan. I'm blogging on a computer with components made in Malaysia and anyone around the world can read this post with a click of a mouse. I've chatted on this computer to people everywhere from Germany to Guatemala.
I also appreciated his comments on change. Just yesterday I wrote a journal entry (one of 6 that I have to do for an assignment in the same class that I'm reading this book for). The topic was "Recall a life experience that you feel you learned a major life lesson from". I wrote about how my parents' divorce affected me. Now I didn't go into the messy details of everything that happened but focused instead on what I learned from it. The biggest point I tried to address was learning to adapt to change. In a world where change truly is the only constant, I believe that this flexibility is a crucial skill. I'm nowhere near being perfect in that category but I really do think that my experiences have helped me in that regard. I think Tracy Lawrence pretty much summed it up in the following song:
Time marches on, time marches on.
South moves north, North moves south
A star is born, a star burns out.
the only thing that stays the same
is everything changes, everything changes...
-----------------
Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?
Answer: Princess Diana's death.
Question: How come?
Answer: An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was drunk on Scotch whiskey, followed closely by an Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines. This is posted by an American, using Bill Gates' technology, and you're probably reading this on a computer that uses Taiwanese chips and a Korean monitor, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by Indian lorry-drivers, hijacked by Indonesians, unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen, and trucked to you by Mexican illegals. That, my friend, is Globalization!
I'm not trying to make light of Princess Diana's death. But it kind of makes your head spin to consider how interconnected the world has become. Some people are nervous about globalization. And some people are just in denial. But it's impossible to escape it - the way the world seeps in. You can't fence the world out, and you can't fence yourself in. Technology knows no borders. As one of the first computer geeks stated, "Information wants to be free".
To fear globalization is to fear change, but like it or not, change is a constant in our lives.
Now I don't know about you, but every time in my life I got secure and complacent, God threw me a curve. Looking back, I now see that it wasn't a curve, it was a challenge. A challenge I needed. I had to shake off my complacency and change. Whenever you hear anyone saying, "Let's keep doing things exactly the way we've been doing them for twenty years," watch out. A shake-up is coming.
The seasons change. Summer follows spring, and night follows day. Life is full of ups and downs. Business cycles go round and round. Events happen that rock your world: People in the family die. You get a divorce. You get fired. Your business goes under. I've been through all these changes, and each time I've had to wake up and try something different.
Before you can deal with change, however, you have to see it. Then you have to accept it. Sometimes that's the hardest part - acknowledging and then accepting that the way you've always done business or lived your life just won't work anymore.
"Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" (copyright 2007 by Lee Iacocca & Associates, Inc.)
----------------
I thought his globalization point was very valid. The dialogue about Princess Diana's death only further drove home the point that as Thomas Friedman has said "the world is flat". On one hand it's kinda scary to think about having to compete with people all over the world for jobs in today's global marketplace. At the same time, I find it rather exciting to think about how interconnected the world has really become. For example, I'm wearing a t-shirt made in Haiti, sweatpants made in China, and a watch made in Japan. I'm blogging on a computer with components made in Malaysia and anyone around the world can read this post with a click of a mouse. I've chatted on this computer to people everywhere from Germany to Guatemala.
I also appreciated his comments on change. Just yesterday I wrote a journal entry (one of 6 that I have to do for an assignment in the same class that I'm reading this book for). The topic was "Recall a life experience that you feel you learned a major life lesson from". I wrote about how my parents' divorce affected me. Now I didn't go into the messy details of everything that happened but focused instead on what I learned from it. The biggest point I tried to address was learning to adapt to change. In a world where change truly is the only constant, I believe that this flexibility is a crucial skill. I'm nowhere near being perfect in that category but I really do think that my experiences have helped me in that regard. I think Tracy Lawrence pretty much summed it up in the following song:
Time marches on, time marches on.
South moves north, North moves south
A star is born, a star burns out.
the only thing that stays the same
is everything changes, everything changes...
Saturday, October 18, 2008
This Day Just Keeps Getting Better
Charlie Walker (our former SA president) managed to convince the admin to give us a long weekend once a semester so we had the day off class. Matt and I took advantage of it and went to Blanchard Springs Caverns and surrounding area for a wonderful day. The weather was perfect, the sights were amazing, and it was great to just be able to spend a whole day together. (More pics of the day are on facebook but here is a sampling for your viewing pleasure...)
The "cathedral room" of the caverns
Hilarious tour guide: "What do you see up there? If you are newlyweds you see a love boat. If you've been married awhile you see a battleship. If you see the Titanic... your marriage is probably sunk!"
After the cavern tour, we walked up to the actual spring. 
Matt found this really cool rock when we were down by the water in the campground area.After all of our outdoor adventures, we went for dinner at Colton's in Batesville. Then we watched Fast and the Furious on my laptop in his blazer. I can't stop smiling when I think about our day. It was just so wonderful! And to top it all off... I came back and checked the Oilers' website to find that we beat Calgary 4-3 tonight. This day really does just keep getting better!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Eating Up The Competition
I wonder what reaction I would get if I randomly stuck this on a slide in one of the many presentations that I'm forced to give this semester...?
Everything's Funnier at 37 000 Feet
A friend had the following pics posted on her facebook and since I am the daughter of a flight attendant (let me hear it for WestJet!) and a frequent traveler, I found them rather amusing...
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
When Going Green Goes Too Far
Please watch the following video before reading the rest of this post...
It's sad to me that a movie about saving the environment wins over a life spent saving innocent people. I have nothing against the idea of saving the world we live in because we definitely have put a strain on our planet with all of our advancements. But where do people fit in? At what point do those created in the very image of God even matter? Congratulations Al, you won a prize for trying to save the planet. But what's the use in saving the globe if nobody cares about the people living on it?
R.I.P. Irena... you still have my vote.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving! (Canadian Style)
It's kinda sad being away from home on family holidays. I talked to Mom yesterday afternoon and she was busy cooking a big dinner for Dale's side of the fam that was coming over for the celebratory meal. After I got off the phone I wallowed in self-pity for awhile because I was not only away from home on Thanksgiving... but everyone in my suite was gone and I felt all alone. I quickly fell into a reparative cleaning mode and got a lot done but that's a whole other story. Matt took me to Dixie Cafe yesterday for dinner, hoping they would have their turkey dinner on special but the special hasn't started yet. He was like "mann, that's the whole reason I brought you here!" It was sweet of him to care that I was missing home that much tho :) So despite the fact that I was gone for the holiday, I was still there in spirit and this picture really made me smile...
Saturday, October 11, 2008
You Can Only Pick 2
This last week held 2 presentations, a test and a huge section of our business plan that was due. I survived the week (just barely at times but still) and am now in the middle of a rather relaxing weekend. However, I found this bumper sticker on facebook and thought that it was rather fitting to describe my week...
Monday, October 6, 2008
I'm Pressing On...
...the upward way... new heights I'm gaining everyday?
Well if you consider new heights to be more assignments due and more meetings to fill up my schedule than... sure. I'm not gonna lie, school has been kinda stressing me out as of late. Last week Dad was here for Lectureships (which was great) but it made for a tight schedule. I tried to take in some of the lectures, spend time with Dad (playing tennis, going out to eat, hanging out at a park... all of which were great), and still balance my school sched. I had a project due on Tuesday, a big test on Thursday and outrageous amounts of reading to do in between (one prof assigned 130 pages to be read in 2 days!). I got it all done but I was a little stressed by the end of the week. This week is even worse. I had a test this morning, I have 2 presentations due tomorrow and the next section of our business plan is due Friday. After a great weekend away with Matt (more on this later), it was a real let down to come back to school and get back into the never-ending to-do lists and a planner full of meetings, projects, presentations and tests.
Ok I'm done venting. I better get ready for class (6-8:30), a POM presentation meeting (8:30-9:00) and IB presentation meeting (9;00-??). Sigh...
Well if you consider new heights to be more assignments due and more meetings to fill up my schedule than... sure. I'm not gonna lie, school has been kinda stressing me out as of late. Last week Dad was here for Lectureships (which was great) but it made for a tight schedule. I tried to take in some of the lectures, spend time with Dad (playing tennis, going out to eat, hanging out at a park... all of which were great), and still balance my school sched. I had a project due on Tuesday, a big test on Thursday and outrageous amounts of reading to do in between (one prof assigned 130 pages to be read in 2 days!). I got it all done but I was a little stressed by the end of the week. This week is even worse. I had a test this morning, I have 2 presentations due tomorrow and the next section of our business plan is due Friday. After a great weekend away with Matt (more on this later), it was a real let down to come back to school and get back into the never-ending to-do lists and a planner full of meetings, projects, presentations and tests.
Ok I'm done venting. I better get ready for class (6-8:30), a POM presentation meeting (8:30-9:00) and IB presentation meeting (9;00-??). Sigh...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Life In The Middle
Blogging is the last thing I should be doing. In fact even reading the book I'm about to share an excerpt from is probably the second last thing I need to be doing. This reading isn't due till Tuesday and I have a project that I have to finish typing up that's due tomorrow. However... Here's an interesting excerpt from John Maxwell's book "The 360° Leader" (emphasis mine):
-------
"How many kids say, 'Someday I want to grow up to be vice president of the United States'? Probably none. If a child has political aspirations, he wants to be president. If she has a bent toward business, she wants to be a company owner or CEO. Few people aspire to reach the middle. In fact, several years ago, Monster.com, an online job search service, poked fun at this idea by running a television ad showing children saying things such as, 'When I grow up, I want to file all day long' and 'I want to claw my way up to middle management'.
Yet the reality is that most people will never be the top leader in an organization. They will spend their careers somewhere in the middle. Is that okay? Or should everybody play career 'king of the hill' and try to reach the top?
I believe that people should strive for the top of their game, not the top of the organization. Each of us should work to reach our potential, not necessarily the corner office. Sometimes you can make the greatest impact from somewhere other than first place."
--------
I found this to be rather refreshing. In a world where everything seems to be saturated with "look out for #1" and "here's how you can get to the top of the corporate ladder", it's nice to know that reaching your potential may not mean you are the top dawg. You can be just as influential from the cubicle next to the water cooler as you can from the corner office with a view. Just something to think about...
-------
"How many kids say, 'Someday I want to grow up to be vice president of the United States'? Probably none. If a child has political aspirations, he wants to be president. If she has a bent toward business, she wants to be a company owner or CEO. Few people aspire to reach the middle. In fact, several years ago, Monster.com, an online job search service, poked fun at this idea by running a television ad showing children saying things such as, 'When I grow up, I want to file all day long' and 'I want to claw my way up to middle management'.
Yet the reality is that most people will never be the top leader in an organization. They will spend their careers somewhere in the middle. Is that okay? Or should everybody play career 'king of the hill' and try to reach the top?
I believe that people should strive for the top of their game, not the top of the organization. Each of us should work to reach our potential, not necessarily the corner office. Sometimes you can make the greatest impact from somewhere other than first place."
--------
I found this to be rather refreshing. In a world where everything seems to be saturated with "look out for #1" and "here's how you can get to the top of the corporate ladder", it's nice to know that reaching your potential may not mean you are the top dawg. You can be just as influential from the cubicle next to the water cooler as you can from the corner office with a view. Just something to think about...
Monday, September 22, 2008
The Front Fell Off
(yet another email jewel...)
On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public. This actual interview is so funny, you'd swear it was a 'Saturday Night Live' or 'Monty Python' skit. It just proves... Once a politician, always a politician! Enjoy!
On August 19th 2007, an oil tanker off the coast of Australia split in two, dumping 20,000 tons of crude oil. Senator Collins, a member of the Australian Parliament, appeared on a TV news program to reassure the Australian public. This actual interview is so funny, you'd swear it was a 'Saturday Night Live' or 'Monty Python' skit. It just proves... Once a politician, always a politician! Enjoy!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Simple Home Remedies
(got this in an email forward and thought it was amusing...)
1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
1. AVOID CUTTING YOURSELF WHEN SLICING VEGETABLES BY GETTING SOMEONE ELSE TO HOLD THE VEGETABLES WHILE YOU CHOP.
2. AVOID ARGUMENTS WITH THE FEMALES ABOUT LIFTING THE TOILET SEAT BY USING THE SINK.
3. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE SUFFERERS ~ SIMPLY CUT YOURSELF AND BLEED FOR A FEW MINUTES, THUS REDUCING THE PRESSURE ON YOUR VEINS. REMEMBER TO USE A TIMER.
4. A MOUSE TRAP PLACED ON TOP OF YOUR ALARM CLOCK WILL PREVENT YOU FROM ROLLING OVER AND GOING BACK TO SLEEP AFTER YOU HIT THE SNOOZE BUTTON.
5. IF YOU HAVE A BAD COUGH, TAKE A LARGE DOSE OF LAXATIVES. THEN YOU'LL BE AFRAID TO COUGH.
6. YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE DUCT TAPE.
7. IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
When the Lights Go Out
12:50 PM Sunday:
I’m currently sitting in my living room typing this on my laptop. I’m not connected to the internet and I’m not sure how long it will be before I can be. My computer is not plugged in so I only have as long as my battery will last before I lose use of that as well. Thanks to Hurricane Ike slamming the coast, we had tornado warnings last night. We were just sitting down to watch the movie “Hitch” when we were told that we had had to hang out in the middle hallway area of our apartment for the duration of the storm warning. So we dragged our couch into the middle hallway and 4 of us crammed on the couch watching the movie from my laptop on the bathroom counter. The storm warning didn’t last very long but we continued to watch our movie there since we had gone to the trouble to set everything up. Then in the middle of the night we had a huge thunderstorm and the power went out. You wouldn’t think you would really realize the power going out in the middle of the night but we did. The fan we usually have going in our room stopped and the telephone made a bunch of beeping noises and then shut off. I tossed and turned the rest of the night because of the storm and when the alarm went off to go to church this morning I said no way. The power was still off so I would have to get ready in the dark and I wasn’t up to that challenge. I decided getting some more sleep was more important. Turns out I had crazy dreams for the rest of the morning and didn’t really feel too rested when I finally woke up anyways. I tell you all this to tell you that we still don’t have power. I didn’t think it would be that bad. I mean it’s during the day and sunshine is now coming through the windows so we have natural light. But then I began to realize how much we really do rely on electricity. I can’t get online to check my email or facebook. I can’t check to see if my IB prof posted Thursday’s exam grades yet. I can’t make toast or microwave anything. I can’t make coffee. I can’t have a shower in the dark. I have to do my homework on my laptop and hope that my battery doesn’t run out before I’m done. I’m saving things to my jump drive so I can go work on them in the library if I have to (I was told not all of campus power is knocked out). We’re worrying about all of the groceries we recently bought that are in our fridge and freezer… hopefully the power comes back on soon or we’re gonna be out a lot of money and food.
I guess I never realized just how blessed we are to have electricity on a regular basis. It’s boggling my mind right now to think that some people don’t even have electricity on a daily basis. But in my head I think, well at least they’ve never had it so they don’t know what it’s like any other way. However I was reading an article online yesterday about the coastal residents of Texas that were nailed by Ike… it suggested that it could be weeks before their power is up and running again. Weeks? WEEKS?? I’ve been dealing with this for hours and it’s driving me crazy! I guess the old saying holds ridiculously true… “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone!”
(you'll be happy to know that after I typed this up in the living room , I worked on some homework and then went out for lunch with Nikki... by the time we got back the power was up and running again which means I'm typing this part right now in my room connected to the internet... HOORAY!)
I’m currently sitting in my living room typing this on my laptop. I’m not connected to the internet and I’m not sure how long it will be before I can be. My computer is not plugged in so I only have as long as my battery will last before I lose use of that as well. Thanks to Hurricane Ike slamming the coast, we had tornado warnings last night. We were just sitting down to watch the movie “Hitch” when we were told that we had had to hang out in the middle hallway area of our apartment for the duration of the storm warning. So we dragged our couch into the middle hallway and 4 of us crammed on the couch watching the movie from my laptop on the bathroom counter. The storm warning didn’t last very long but we continued to watch our movie there since we had gone to the trouble to set everything up. Then in the middle of the night we had a huge thunderstorm and the power went out. You wouldn’t think you would really realize the power going out in the middle of the night but we did. The fan we usually have going in our room stopped and the telephone made a bunch of beeping noises and then shut off. I tossed and turned the rest of the night because of the storm and when the alarm went off to go to church this morning I said no way. The power was still off so I would have to get ready in the dark and I wasn’t up to that challenge. I decided getting some more sleep was more important. Turns out I had crazy dreams for the rest of the morning and didn’t really feel too rested when I finally woke up anyways. I tell you all this to tell you that we still don’t have power. I didn’t think it would be that bad. I mean it’s during the day and sunshine is now coming through the windows so we have natural light. But then I began to realize how much we really do rely on electricity. I can’t get online to check my email or facebook. I can’t check to see if my IB prof posted Thursday’s exam grades yet. I can’t make toast or microwave anything. I can’t make coffee. I can’t have a shower in the dark. I have to do my homework on my laptop and hope that my battery doesn’t run out before I’m done. I’m saving things to my jump drive so I can go work on them in the library if I have to (I was told not all of campus power is knocked out). We’re worrying about all of the groceries we recently bought that are in our fridge and freezer… hopefully the power comes back on soon or we’re gonna be out a lot of money and food.
I guess I never realized just how blessed we are to have electricity on a regular basis. It’s boggling my mind right now to think that some people don’t even have electricity on a daily basis. But in my head I think, well at least they’ve never had it so they don’t know what it’s like any other way. However I was reading an article online yesterday about the coastal residents of Texas that were nailed by Ike… it suggested that it could be weeks before their power is up and running again. Weeks? WEEKS?? I’ve been dealing with this for hours and it’s driving me crazy! I guess the old saying holds ridiculously true… “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone!”
(you'll be happy to know that after I typed this up in the living room , I worked on some homework and then went out for lunch with Nikki... by the time we got back the power was up and running again which means I'm typing this part right now in my room connected to the internet... HOORAY!)
Friday, September 12, 2008
We No Longer Need You...
One day a group of scientists got together and decided that the human race had come a long way and no longer needed God, so they picked one scientist to go tell him.
"God," the appointee said, "We've decided we no longer need you. We can cure diseases, clone people and create life, so why don't you just go on your way."
God listened patiently while the scientist explained this, then said, "Very well. But first let's have a man-making contest, doing it just like I did back in the old days with Adam."
"Sure, no problem," the scientist said, bending down to scoop up a hand full of dirt.
"No," God admonished. "Get your own dirt."
"God," the appointee said, "We've decided we no longer need you. We can cure diseases, clone people and create life, so why don't you just go on your way."
God listened patiently while the scientist explained this, then said, "Very well. But first let's have a man-making contest, doing it just like I did back in the old days with Adam."
"Sure, no problem," the scientist said, bending down to scoop up a hand full of dirt.
"No," God admonished. "Get your own dirt."
Thursday, September 11, 2008
"I Never Honk My Horn"
Today Nikki and I were in the drive thru at Arby's... I had paid for our meal and was waiting to be handed my food when all of a sudden the guy behind me honked his horn. I was kinda wondering "what the heck? I'm just waiting for my food!" but then I heard him yell out the window "Sorry!" and I saw that he was leaning over and realized he had probably just hit the horn by accident when trying to reach for something. I waved out the window and said "No prob!" and didn't think too much else of it. The Arby's lady handed me our food and I drove away. We decided to park in the parking lot and eat it in the car. So we were sitting there enjoying our curly fries and Beef & Cheddars when I look up to see that guy had parked his truck and was walking towards me. He looked rather non-threatening so I rolled the window down a bit and he was like "I just wanted to apologize. I never honk my horn. I was trying to read something on the gauges and had to get close to it because I'm getting old [pointing to his glasses] and when I leaned over, my elbow hit the horn. I'm so sorry. But seriously, that's one of my pet peeves. Horns are for safety - if someone is doing something dangerous or something where somebody could get hurt you give it a little beep-beep but it's not meant as a way to be rude to people. So I'm really sorry". I assured and then reassured him it was not a problem and I wasn't offended. He apologized one more time and then smiled and told us to have a good night and walked back to his truck. Nikki was like " haha i bet that would have never happened in New York!"
It's nice to know there's still some good people in this world... :)
It's nice to know there's still some good people in this world... :)
Significant Digits
Today was 9/11 (in case you were living under a rock and didn't have a calendar today) and of course the day was filled with little reminders of the tragic day 7 years ago. Sitting in my Production and Operations Management class this morning with my incredibly-patriotic-retired-air-force-vet professor, Dr. Reely, we observed a moment of silence. But before we sat in silence and had a prayer, Dr. Reely made a very interesting point. Before we got to class he had written a number on the board... 3381. He asked if we knew what that number meant. None of us knew. He informed us that was the number of people who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks. He said it bothers him when people say "we lost over 3000 people that day". He circled the last digit of 3381 and said "It's not just 'over 3000 people'. I think this one person matters. Because he had a wife and kids. Or she had a husband and parents. It wasn't just 3381 people that were affected by the attacks... those people had families that will never forget that day." He then, being a retired vet, of course went on to discuss the war on terrorism, etc. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the war and the politics and the world events and the whole rigamarole (sp?) surrounding that issue but I do think we should at least remember the families of the victims and if nothing else, take a moment of silence to think about their loss. I was impressed that Dr. Reely was willing to remember that one person... that last digit of 3381.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
What Love Means
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 'What does love mean?' The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined...
-'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca - age 8
-'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4
-'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5
-'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6 'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4
-'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7 'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss' Emily - age 8 'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7
-'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' Nikka - age 6
-'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7
-'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6
-'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8
-'My mommy loves me more than anybody don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' Clare - age 6
-'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5
-'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7
-'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4
-'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4
-'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' Karen - age 7
-'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.' Mark - age 6
-'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.' Jessica - age 8
-And the final one: The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
-'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.' Rebecca - age 8
-'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.' Billy - age 4
-'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.' Karl - age 5
-'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.' Chrissy - age 6 'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.' Terri - age 4
-'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.' Danny - age 7 'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss' Emily - age 8 'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.' Bobby - age 7
-'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,' Nikka - age 6
-'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.' Noelle - age 7
-'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.' Tommy - age 6
-'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.' Cindy - age 8
-'My mommy loves me more than anybody don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.' Clare - age 6
-'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.' Elaine-age 5
-'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.' Chris - age 7
-'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.' Mary Ann - age 4
-'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.' Lauren - age 4
-'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' Karen - age 7
-'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.' Mark - age 6
-'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.' Jessica - age 8
-And the final one: The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, 'Nothing, I just helped him cry'
Friday, August 29, 2008
Life According to Bill Gates
Got this in an email recently...
Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
If you can read this -Thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English thank a soldier.
Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2 : The world doesn't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault , so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 : Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 : Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
If you can read this -Thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English thank a soldier.
2 girls + 4 Days in a Car
= random quotes that probably no one else will think are funny:
Day 1
Day 1
Nik: "Loud noises hurt my stomach"
Cole: "Oh my gosh I want to eat my hands!"
Nik: "It's weird to think that we have eggs"
Day 2
Cole (somewhere in North Dakota): "Why does everything smell like crap every couple miles?"
Cole: "This is what I would look like without a pinky"
Day 3
Cole (reading a sign): "Rapid City"...... Nik: "They do everything fast there"
Day 4
Nik: "Do you think the gym will be open?" ....... Cole: "Are you really gonna go to the gym after you carry in all your boxes?"
Cole: "You have the paranoid look of a speeder"
Monday, August 18, 2008
Summer is Winding Down
Not sure if winding down is the proper phrasing. Winding down kind of implies a slow, gradual process. The last couple weeks have been anything but slow and gradual. As always, it's the end of the summer crunch to squeeze in appointments and last precious time with family and friends. This past week I was doing something every nite after work. Monday was a chiro appt and bowling w/ Natalie. Tuesday we had Evan for the nite so we played basketball and foosball after a big roast dinner. Wednesday I went for dinner and tennis at Dad's. Thursday I went for dinner and a movie w/ Chris. Friday nite we went to Zeke & Red's and sat around the fire. Saturday I finally got a day at home. I slept in, watched some Olympics, finished watching a movie I had started Tuesday after work, and shelled enough peas to possibly make me wanna revoke the post entitled "Just a Regular Green Thumb" (haha). Yesterday was church and then a big group of us went out for lunch at BP as a kinda "goodbye" lunch for me and Melissa who are both heading back to HU this week. Helped Mom with a few things around the house and then our neighbors came over for a visit last nite. Today I have to do some serious packing and then I get to pick up Nikki at the airport. This afternoon will just be packing and no doubt a lot of talking (with her being gone in Atlanta this summer we didn't talk nearly as much as we usually do so we have lots to catch up on). Hopefully I can take the quad out for one last spin too. I think we're having a big dinner w/ Mom and Dale and then going to Dad's for dessert/air hockey/say goodbye. Tomorrow is a busy day. Chiro appt at 9:15 (eww) and then drop my car off at the dealership to get an oil change while I have a hair appt at 10:00. Come home and finish packing up the car and then spend the nite just hanging w/ Mom and Dale. We head out Wednesday morning and will hopefully make it to HU Saturday.
It's kinda hard to believe how fast the summer went... but at the same time, it was a good one. I got to do a lot of cool things and the memories will be cherished. I have grown a lot closer to people and really strengthened some relationships this summer. At first I was only excited to get back to school to see everyone (esp. my man!) but now I'm getting excited about classes and everything too. I can't believe I'm a senior! The future hold a lot of exciting (and scary!) things but I think I'm ready for the challenge... at least I hope I am...
Anyways, better get packing and showered so I can pick up Nik at the airport!
It's kinda hard to believe how fast the summer went... but at the same time, it was a good one. I got to do a lot of cool things and the memories will be cherished. I have grown a lot closer to people and really strengthened some relationships this summer. At first I was only excited to get back to school to see everyone (esp. my man!) but now I'm getting excited about classes and everything too. I can't believe I'm a senior! The future hold a lot of exciting (and scary!) things but I think I'm ready for the challenge... at least I hope I am...
Anyways, better get packing and showered so I can pick up Nik at the airport!
I gotta write that one down...
Here are some funny quotes that I've felt the need to write down during conversations over the past little while:
One Sunday at church Garth was preaching about how Jesus could have called ten thousand angels. Kyla Stienwand (6) leaned over to her mom and says, "Did Jesus have the angels' phone number??"
While watching the Olympics and eating dinner with Dad, I asked "Did you ever do hurdles?" He replied, " Mmhmm. I didn't like them in high school. I could never get over them."
Playing I Spy w/ the twins on the way back from the farm, Kyla decided it should be "with my big eye" of "little eye"... it was her turn to go and she said "I spy with my big eye something that is... black And you're gonna miss it so I'm gonna tell you. It's the ducks"
Found this in a joke email when I was cleaning out Dad's comp: "What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other? A speech impediment."
Can't remember where I saw this next one. I have heard the first part numerous times but the ending was a bit of a twist: "Whenever God closes one door He always opens another... even if it's hell in the hallway."
One Sunday at church Garth was preaching about how Jesus could have called ten thousand angels. Kyla Stienwand (6) leaned over to her mom and says, "Did Jesus have the angels' phone number??"
While watching the Olympics and eating dinner with Dad, I asked "Did you ever do hurdles?" He replied, " Mmhmm. I didn't like them in high school. I could never get over them."
Playing I Spy w/ the twins on the way back from the farm, Kyla decided it should be "with my big eye" of "little eye"... it was her turn to go and she said "I spy with my big eye something that is... black
Found this in a joke email when I was cleaning out Dad's comp: "What would you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other? A speech impediment."
Can't remember where I saw this next one. I have heard the first part numerous times but the ending was a bit of a twist: "Whenever God closes one door He always opens another... even if it's hell in the hallway."
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Just a Regular Green Thumb
Last Friday nite before I went to the farm I partook in a task that I have been doing every summer since I can remember...
I shelled peas.
Now normally most kids would groan at the assigned garden chore but I always enjoyed it. In fact I have several fond memories of just getting the peas picked before it rained and then sitting on the covered deck with Mom shelling peas and listening to the thunderstorm around us. Some peas would fall from our bowls and land on the deck... and were from then on seen as a playtoy for the cats. They would bat the little rolling vegetables around until their newfound toys either rolled right off the deck or they lost interest and decided to instead have a nap under one of our chairs. There were always jokes and good conversations had over those bowls of peas and of course we snacked on a couple along the way. Our thumbs would turn the color of the green pebbles in our bowl and we didn't care. We would usually shell the peas into these big stainless steel bowls and the ping-ping of the peas landing in the bowl harmonized with the pattering of the rain around us.
It wasn't raining on Friday night. In fact it was about a 100 degrees outside so I opted to sit in the basement instead of out on the deck. But the pinging peas hitting the bowl still took me back to all those summer memories. I guess I'm just a regular green thumb...
I shelled peas.
Now normally most kids would groan at the assigned garden chore but I always enjoyed it. In fact I have several fond memories of just getting the peas picked before it rained and then sitting on the covered deck with Mom shelling peas and listening to the thunderstorm around us. Some peas would fall from our bowls and land on the deck... and were from then on seen as a playtoy for the cats. They would bat the little rolling vegetables around until their newfound toys either rolled right off the deck or they lost interest and decided to instead have a nap under one of our chairs. There were always jokes and good conversations had over those bowls of peas and of course we snacked on a couple along the way. Our thumbs would turn the color of the green pebbles in our bowl and we didn't care. We would usually shell the peas into these big stainless steel bowls and the ping-ping of the peas landing in the bowl harmonized with the pattering of the rain around us.
It wasn't raining on Friday night. In fact it was about a 100 degrees outside so I opted to sit in the basement instead of out on the deck. But the pinging peas hitting the bowl still took me back to all those summer memories. I guess I'm just a regular green thumb...
Monday, August 11, 2008
Dilbert's Rules of Order
(something else I found when cleaning out the computer...)
1. I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is not looking good either.
2. I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.
3. Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get along without it.
4. Accept that some days you are the pigeon and some days the statue.
5. Needing someone is like needing a parachute. If he /she isn't there the first time, chances are you won't be needing him/her again..
6. I don't have an attitude problem; you have a perception problem.
7. Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky, and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling?
8. My reality check bounced.
9. On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.
10. I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier.
11. You are slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter.
12. Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, because you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
13. Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
14. Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience.
15. A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the butt.
16. Don't be irreplaceable--if you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
17. After any salary raise, you will have less money at the end of the month than you did before.
18. The more crap you put up with, the more crap you are going to get.
19. You can go anywhere you want if you look serious and carry a clipboard.
20. Eat one live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.
21. If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
22. When you don't know what to do, walk fast and look worried.
23. Following the rules will not get the job done.
24. When confronted by a difficult problem, you can solve it more easily by reducing it to the question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
A Good Pun Is Its Own Reword
(I was cleaning out some old files on Dad's comp and came across this...)
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
What's the definition of a will? (Come on, It's a dead giveaway!)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I'll show you a flat minor.
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN down under.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted. It taint yours and it taint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
A plateau is a high form of flattery.
The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture is a jab well done.
Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.
The poor guy fell into a glass grinding machine and made a spectacle of himself.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
What's the definition of a will? (Come on, It's a dead giveaway!)
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist, you get repossessed.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I'll show you a flat minor.
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia: the LAN down under.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted. It taint yours and it taint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
A plateau is a high form of flattery.
The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture is a jab well done.
Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.
The poor guy fell into a glass grinding machine and made a spectacle of himself.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Celebrate Good Times, C'mon!
The theme for camp this year was celebration. I still haven't gotten around to posting about the amazing week at ARWC but here is a small list of things to celebrate recently:
-I was the model for Dallas' make-up class final (which was way fun!) and she totally aced it. Congrats on becoming a certified make-up artist!
-Just found out today that Uncle Bill's cancer is back in remission!!
-Having a blast shopping and then finding sweet deals at La Senza (and then coupons and a 10% off card-thanks Phil!)
-chillin' at Kate's house and watching Brian Regan & Larry the Cable Guy... oh the hilarity!
-having some of the most AMAZING conversations with Matt lately (more on this later, hopefully). The vulnerability and openness has just been indescribable and I'm so excited for our future together. I love you! (Can't believe it was 15 months on Tuesday!!)
All for now, I will hopefully post again when I get back from the farm this weekend...
-I was the model for Dallas' make-up class final (which was way fun!) and she totally aced it. Congrats on becoming a certified make-up artist!
-Just found out today that Uncle Bill's cancer is back in remission!!
-Having a blast shopping and then finding sweet deals at La Senza (and then coupons and a 10% off card-thanks Phil!)
-chillin' at Kate's house and watching Brian Regan & Larry the Cable Guy... oh the hilarity!
-having some of the most AMAZING conversations with Matt lately (more on this later, hopefully). The vulnerability and openness has just been indescribable and I'm so excited for our future together. I love you! (Can't believe it was 15 months on Tuesday!!)
All for now, I will hopefully post again when I get back from the farm this weekend...
Monday, August 4, 2008
A Weekend Getaway
After all the chaos of having family stay at our house, combined with the emotionally and mentally draining process of planning and attending a funeral, we all needed a break. So in light of that... Mom, Dale, Evan and I went out camping to Joseph Lake this weekend. We shared a site with our good friends Lorie & Shakey and despite some cool/windy weather, it was a great weekend. We played a few rounds of croquet, had a round-robin bocce ball tournament, ate some great food (why does food always taste SO much better when you're camping??) and sat around the campfire gazing up at the blanket of twinkling stars and talking till late into the nite.
There were some tense moments when emotions would flair up and attitudes would be in need of adjustments, but all in all it was a fun weekend of family time. I guess maybe with Debbie's death so fresh on my mind, I really cherished the memories with family... helping Mom with the dishes, winning bocce ball games with Dale, wrestling and goofing around with Evan... it was great. Perhaps one of the coolest times of the weekend was Saturday nite sitting around the campfire. Evan sat on my lap and kept my legs warm. It was getting late and he literally was dozing off to sleep in my arms. I don't get to spend a ton of time with my little brother because he lives most the time at his mom's house and I'm gone 8 months out of the year at school. But the time we do spend together is usually a ton of fun. There was just something special about having your 12 year old brother sprawled in your lap and just about drifting off to sleep.
And the fact that I had him pinned on the ground not once but twice when he wanted to wrestle me didn't hurt my feelings either... haha
There were some tense moments when emotions would flair up and attitudes would be in need of adjustments, but all in all it was a fun weekend of family time. I guess maybe with Debbie's death so fresh on my mind, I really cherished the memories with family... helping Mom with the dishes, winning bocce ball games with Dale, wrestling and goofing around with Evan... it was great. Perhaps one of the coolest times of the weekend was Saturday nite sitting around the campfire. Evan sat on my lap and kept my legs warm. It was getting late and he literally was dozing off to sleep in my arms. I don't get to spend a ton of time with my little brother because he lives most the time at his mom's house and I'm gone 8 months out of the year at school. But the time we do spend together is usually a ton of fun. There was just something special about having your 12 year old brother sprawled in your lap and just about drifting off to sleep.
And the fact that I had him pinned on the ground not once but twice when he wanted to wrestle me didn't hurt my feelings either... haha
Sunday, August 3, 2008
We'll Miss You Debbie
(Mom was asked to give the eulogy for Debbie's funeral. We had some input from her husband and friends on the stories, Mom picked which points she wanted included, and I put it all together. This is what we came up with...)
We are gathered here today to remember a loving wife and mother, an awesome sister and an incredible friend. Debbie has touched everyone gathered here in some way, shape or form so it is today that we come to celebrate the life and the memories she left with us all.
Debbie Marie Polei entered this world on June 18, 1974 as a screaming bundle of joy; the 4th child born to Leonard and Arlene Polei of Wetaskiwin Alberta. Debbie always appreciated a good laugh even at a young age and her humorous antics as a child brought laughter into the lives of those around her. When her sister Joy would babysit, Debbie and her brother Kevin loved playing dress up. Debbie’s sense of humor apparently started early because she was known for always dressing up as a boy and yet Kevin would always dress up as a girl.
Her sense of adventure led her to the pool and before long she was on the team and swim meets took up every weekend of her time. Debbie didn’t seem to mind the time commitment and her hard work and fish-like skills landed her numerous medals and awards.
In her high school years, Debbie tried her hand (and quite frequently her elbows) at basketball. Good friend Dan recalls watching her games and, in keeping with the competitive and somewhat aggressive spirit of Polei athleticism, Debbie was a force to be reckoned with on the court.
Debbie never shied away from a challenge and was always up for anything to do with the outdoors. She loved quadding, fishing and true “roughing it” camping. Hiking and mountain climbing were right up there on her list as well and the mountains held a special place in Debbie’s heart since it was on top of a mountain that her sweetheart Brad Adam proposed. Sharing a mutual appreciation for sarcastic wit and challenging adventures, Brad and Debbie were married July 24, 1999.
There was never a dull moment at Brad and Debbie’s house. Their door was always open to visitors and it was often a central meeting place for friends and family alike. It wasn’t uncommon for people to just start showing up at their door on the weekends and they were always welcomed in with open arms. The house was always full of laughter and although Debbie was at first hesitant, she quickly joined in on all the teasing and jokes. Her sharp wit made for some excellent comebacks and she definitely dished out her fair share – with good friend Don often being the one to catch the brunt of her pummeling. According to Don, Debbie was also a towel-whipping champion. Rarely did the dishes get done without a towel fight breaking out, often resulting in Don hiding in the pantry.
Brad’s love for motorcycles rubbed off on Debbie and before long she was just as gung-ho about it as he was. They went on numerous trips all over Canada and the U.S. – loving the thrill of the open road and the time spent together. Debbie didn’t bat an eye at some of the rough accommodations they encountered on the road but took it all in stride as part of the grand adventure.
Debbie loved to have fun but she definitely knew the value of hard work. Vince Lombardi once said that “the dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success.” This couldn’t have been more true for Debbie. There were many years of studying, balancing night and weekend classes around work and otherwise busy schedules. The course was far from a cake walk but with Debbie’s drive to never give up and Brad’s patient encouragement all along, Debbie successfully earned the title of Certified General Accountant in 2004.
Debbie kept a busy schedule but she never lost sight of what was most important to her – her family. In addition to being a loving and devoted wife, Debbie was always involved in the lives of her extended family members. She was constantly going to hockey games, graduations, baseball games and anything else her nieces and nephews were involved in – always cheering them on and celebrating their accomplishments. Of course she never passed up the opportunity to poke a little fun at the kids and give them a hard time either.
Her deep love for children however was best displayed with their son James who was born on June 8, 2006. Debbie was an excellent mother, always going for walks or playing outside with James, and of course always available for hugs and snuggles.
Debbie truly believed in living life to the fullest. Even in the hard times, she maintained a positive attitude and managed to put a humorous spin on things. Debbie lived a meaningful life of love and laughter and it is those memories that I believe Debbie would want us to carry with us. Her love for her family and friends is something that will live on even though she is not with us anymore. It is natural for us to be saddened but I think Debbie would want us to follow her example and live each day to the fullest. Debbie is no longer with us in body but a part of her will live on in every camping trip, motorcycle ride and towel fight, and her smile will be in our hearts forever.
We are gathered here today to remember a loving wife and mother, an awesome sister and an incredible friend. Debbie has touched everyone gathered here in some way, shape or form so it is today that we come to celebrate the life and the memories she left with us all.
Debbie Marie Polei entered this world on June 18, 1974 as a screaming bundle of joy; the 4th child born to Leonard and Arlene Polei of Wetaskiwin Alberta. Debbie always appreciated a good laugh even at a young age and her humorous antics as a child brought laughter into the lives of those around her. When her sister Joy would babysit, Debbie and her brother Kevin loved playing dress up. Debbie’s sense of humor apparently started early because she was known for always dressing up as a boy and yet Kevin would always dress up as a girl.
Her sense of adventure led her to the pool and before long she was on the team and swim meets took up every weekend of her time. Debbie didn’t seem to mind the time commitment and her hard work and fish-like skills landed her numerous medals and awards.
In her high school years, Debbie tried her hand (and quite frequently her elbows) at basketball. Good friend Dan recalls watching her games and, in keeping with the competitive and somewhat aggressive spirit of Polei athleticism, Debbie was a force to be reckoned with on the court.
Debbie never shied away from a challenge and was always up for anything to do with the outdoors. She loved quadding, fishing and true “roughing it” camping. Hiking and mountain climbing were right up there on her list as well and the mountains held a special place in Debbie’s heart since it was on top of a mountain that her sweetheart Brad Adam proposed. Sharing a mutual appreciation for sarcastic wit and challenging adventures, Brad and Debbie were married July 24, 1999.
There was never a dull moment at Brad and Debbie’s house. Their door was always open to visitors and it was often a central meeting place for friends and family alike. It wasn’t uncommon for people to just start showing up at their door on the weekends and they were always welcomed in with open arms. The house was always full of laughter and although Debbie was at first hesitant, she quickly joined in on all the teasing and jokes. Her sharp wit made for some excellent comebacks and she definitely dished out her fair share – with good friend Don often being the one to catch the brunt of her pummeling. According to Don, Debbie was also a towel-whipping champion. Rarely did the dishes get done without a towel fight breaking out, often resulting in Don hiding in the pantry.
Brad’s love for motorcycles rubbed off on Debbie and before long she was just as gung-ho about it as he was. They went on numerous trips all over Canada and the U.S. – loving the thrill of the open road and the time spent together. Debbie didn’t bat an eye at some of the rough accommodations they encountered on the road but took it all in stride as part of the grand adventure.
Debbie loved to have fun but she definitely knew the value of hard work. Vince Lombardi once said that “the dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success.” This couldn’t have been more true for Debbie. There were many years of studying, balancing night and weekend classes around work and otherwise busy schedules. The course was far from a cake walk but with Debbie’s drive to never give up and Brad’s patient encouragement all along, Debbie successfully earned the title of Certified General Accountant in 2004.
Debbie kept a busy schedule but she never lost sight of what was most important to her – her family. In addition to being a loving and devoted wife, Debbie was always involved in the lives of her extended family members. She was constantly going to hockey games, graduations, baseball games and anything else her nieces and nephews were involved in – always cheering them on and celebrating their accomplishments. Of course she never passed up the opportunity to poke a little fun at the kids and give them a hard time either.
Her deep love for children however was best displayed with their son James who was born on June 8, 2006. Debbie was an excellent mother, always going for walks or playing outside with James, and of course always available for hugs and snuggles.
Debbie truly believed in living life to the fullest. Even in the hard times, she maintained a positive attitude and managed to put a humorous spin on things. Debbie lived a meaningful life of love and laughter and it is those memories that I believe Debbie would want us to carry with us. Her love for her family and friends is something that will live on even though she is not with us anymore. It is natural for us to be saddened but I think Debbie would want us to follow her example and live each day to the fullest. Debbie is no longer with us in body but a part of her will live on in every camping trip, motorcycle ride and towel fight, and her smile will be in our hearts forever.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Live Like You Were Dying
This song made me bawl the other night on the way home from the hospital... but it's such a good song...
He said: I was in my early forties,
With a lot of life before me,
An' a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days,
Looking at the x-rays,
An' talking 'bout the options an' talkin’ ‘bout sweet time.
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?
An' he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.
An' he said: Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
He said "I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn’t.
An' I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all of a sudden goin' fishin’,
Wasn’t such an imposition,
And I went three times that year I lost my Dad.
Well, I finally read the Good Book,
And I took a good long hard look,
At what I'd do if I could do it all again,
And then: I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?
Sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin'.
An' he said: Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
("Live like you were dying" - Tim McGraw)
He said: I was in my early forties,
With a lot of life before me,
An' a moment came that stopped me on a dime.
I spent most of the next days,
Looking at the x-rays,
An' talking 'bout the options an' talkin’ ‘bout sweet time.
I asked him when it sank in,
That this might really be the real end?
How’s it hit you when you get that kind of news?
Man whatcha do?
An' he said: "I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.
An' he said: Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
He said "I was finally the husband,
That most the time I wasn’t.
An' I became a friend a friend would like to have.
And all of a sudden goin' fishin’,
Wasn’t such an imposition,
And I went three times that year I lost my Dad.
Well, I finally read the Good Book,
And I took a good long hard look,
At what I'd do if I could do it all again,
And then: I went sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying.
An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
Like tomorrow was a gift,
And you got eternity,
To think about what you’d do with it.
An' what did you do with it?
An' what can I do with it?
An' what would I do with it?
Sky diving, I went rocky mountain climbing,
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu.
And then I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
And I watched an eagle as it was flyin'.
An' he said: Some day, I hope you get the chance,
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
To live like you were dyin'.
("Live like you were dying" - Tim McGraw)
Scrambled Thoughts
Saturday I was on my way back from ARWC (a post about this amazing week to follow hopefully soon) and called Mom from Calgary to figure out where we should meet up. I was informed that I should probably come to the hospital in Wetaskiwin because Debbie really wasn't doing well. I got Kate to drop me off there around 5:30ish and we left around 8:30. Sunday I went to church in Camrose, went out for lunch w/ Dad and then was at the hospital from just before 2 till just after 8. I came home exhausted and was honestly in bed asleep at 9:30. Monday we were swamped at the office so I pulled a 10 hr shift to try and get some stuff caught up. I left work at 6:30 and went to the hospital till about 10. Tuesday I went to work and got a call from Mom at about 2:30 that Debbie was gone. I left work a bit early and went to the hospital. Then I ran some errands for Mom in Leduc and came home. Dale's other sister Joy and her family were at our house for dinner. They left and we just kinda vegged. Yesterday I worked and then Joy & fam were staying at our house. We all had dinner and then went over to Brad's to sort through some pictures and music for a slideshow for the funeral. Today I thankfully got the day off and we have a meeting at the church w/ the minister to figure some stuff out. We have Evan for the weekend and he gets here tomorrow. Saturday he's got a provincial ball tournament this weekend in Beaumont so I'm going to watch his noon game and then go to Lacombe w/ Phil to see Cheryl and hang out for awhile. Sunday is church and practicing make-up with Dallas for her class (I'm gonna be her model for her final exam on Wednesday nite). The viewing is Monday afternoon and the funeral is Tuesday.
Debbie is gone. No more laughs and sarcastic comments. Brad is left to raise their 2 year old son by himself. She just turned 33 a couple weeks ago. Today is their anniversary. Something is just not fair about this picture...
The long hours of sitting in the hospital were eerie. She was on so much morphine that some of what she said was incoherent. The rest was random or heart-breaking. Calling out for a mom that passed away a couple years ago. Not recognizing Brad sometimes and asking him who he was. Moaning and groaning in pain... whether in her current situation or just memories from before, we will never know. Each breath was more labored than the last. Sometimes there were long pauses between breaths and then she would jerk awake with a sharp intake of breath and a haunting wide-eyed look on her face. I wasn't at the hospital when she passed but apparently it was peaceful. I'm glad for her sake. She's been through enough. She fought long and hard... at least her suffering is over.
It's been weird ever since. And I'm trying, but it's hard to not be selfish right now. I'm tired. I haven't really had a chance to relax and savor the memories of camp. I miss Matt like crazy but he's at camp so I can't talk to him. Nikki's in Honduras on a mission trip and I really wish I could talk to her too. There's people at my house, things are crazy, my room is a mess, my time is not my own anymore, I want to be strong for my family and help out as much as I can but part of me just wants to escape somewhere and sleep and relax.
Wow, this is probably the most disjointed post ever. I better go though, we gotta get to the church and get things figured out.
Debbie is gone. No more laughs and sarcastic comments. Brad is left to raise their 2 year old son by himself. She just turned 33 a couple weeks ago. Today is their anniversary. Something is just not fair about this picture...
The long hours of sitting in the hospital were eerie. She was on so much morphine that some of what she said was incoherent. The rest was random or heart-breaking. Calling out for a mom that passed away a couple years ago. Not recognizing Brad sometimes and asking him who he was. Moaning and groaning in pain... whether in her current situation or just memories from before, we will never know. Each breath was more labored than the last. Sometimes there were long pauses between breaths and then she would jerk awake with a sharp intake of breath and a haunting wide-eyed look on her face. I wasn't at the hospital when she passed but apparently it was peaceful. I'm glad for her sake. She's been through enough. She fought long and hard... at least her suffering is over.
It's been weird ever since. And I'm trying, but it's hard to not be selfish right now. I'm tired. I haven't really had a chance to relax and savor the memories of camp. I miss Matt like crazy but he's at camp so I can't talk to him. Nikki's in Honduras on a mission trip and I really wish I could talk to her too. There's people at my house, things are crazy, my room is a mess, my time is not my own anymore, I want to be strong for my family and help out as much as I can but part of me just wants to escape somewhere and sleep and relax.
Wow, this is probably the most disjointed post ever. I better go though, we gotta get to the church and get things figured out.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
It's hard to believe that a week with Matt has already come and gone. I dropped him off at the airport this morning and came in early to work. I'm running on less than 2 hours of sleep right now but I thought it was about time I wrote in this thing again. The week with him was wonderful... Highlights include:
-Introducing him to Canadian Football (Eskimos won their home opener 34-31 Thursday nite... WOOHOO!)
-Pizza, bocce ball and foosball w/ Phil & Jon
-Ft. Edmonton Park, dinner @ Joey's and bowling @ Gateway
-All the laughs had during dinner w/ Uncle Bill, Aunt Norma & Dallas
-An enjoyable evening of dinner, tennis and air hockey w/ Dad
-Getting to see Allison again (:D) and introducing her to Matt
-Being able to show him the office, where I went to school, where I played ball, and other little bits of my life
-Just in general getting to introduce him to people
-I loved how well he gets along w/ my family... and I thought it was super cool that he hung out and played games with my brother all day while I was at work :)
-Just spending time with him and being in the same house for a week instead of being 30+ hours apart
It was a busy week (I still had to work while he was here) but we soaked up every other minute together that we could... there were a lot of late nights... which probably explains why I'm so tired right now... especially considering the 2 hours of sleep I'm running on right now... haha. All in all, it was a great week and I wouldn't have traded the extra sleep for the world. However... now that he's gone and I get off work early today since I came in early this morning... can anyone say NAPTIME this afternoon?? :)
-Introducing him to Canadian Football (Eskimos won their home opener 34-31 Thursday nite... WOOHOO!)
-Pizza, bocce ball and foosball w/ Phil & Jon
-Ft. Edmonton Park, dinner @ Joey's and bowling @ Gateway
-All the laughs had during dinner w/ Uncle Bill, Aunt Norma & Dallas
-An enjoyable evening of dinner, tennis and air hockey w/ Dad
-Getting to see Allison again (:D) and introducing her to Matt
-Being able to show him the office, where I went to school, where I played ball, and other little bits of my life
-Just in general getting to introduce him to people
-I loved how well he gets along w/ my family... and I thought it was super cool that he hung out and played games with my brother all day while I was at work :)
-Just spending time with him and being in the same house for a week instead of being 30+ hours apart
It was a busy week (I still had to work while he was here) but we soaked up every other minute together that we could... there were a lot of late nights... which probably explains why I'm so tired right now... especially considering the 2 hours of sleep I'm running on right now... haha. All in all, it was a great week and I wouldn't have traded the extra sleep for the world. However... now that he's gone and I get off work early today since I came in early this morning... can anyone say NAPTIME this afternoon?? :)
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