Whaaaaaaaaa!

The following is a true story.

This afternoon, I was sitting at my desk, actually being productive (which hasn't happened so much these days). I was working in Word to develop an artistic invitation to the Peer Advising retreat that is coming up around the corner, checking my email, and ok, facebooking.

A sudden and extremely loud wailing blared from near my end of the office. I looked around, somewhat annoyed, and assume that the fire alarm had gone off in an absurd, solid tone wail. I continued to work until I noticed that people were beginning to gather around my desk.

A few seconds later, Heidi had grabbed my laptop off of its docking station and began wildly hitting any button and unplugging any cord she could find. I did what anyone would do in that situation: I said, "What the heck?!?" and then got up and walked away. Upon a manic shutdown, the wail had been silenced, and it was confirmed that the insane noise was indeed from my little laptop. Seriously. It was as loud of the fire alarm.

Turns out, sometimes your internal microphone in your laptop can turn itself on without any touching of microphone controls. And if said microphone happens to be turned up loud enough and the accompanying speakers have also somehow been turned up loud enough, the result is a "WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAA" that very closely resembles a fire alarm.

Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed, but I could only be so embarrassed because the IT guy that came to rescue me had no solution to my little problem. I can only assume that he must have been just as embarrassed. All I'm saying is, watch out. This could inexplicably happen to you. Keep an eye on your seemingly well-behaving laptop; it could revolt and try to blow itself up.

"Hello, this is OnStar."

I feel that I will forever pay for the OnStar system for my car, as I discovered this weekend. I managed to lock my keys in my new car while visiting my grandma, and my spare set was in my house in Belmont. The rest of the incident went something like this:

Dad: What's information's number?
Me: 411
Dad: *dials 411* OnStar, please.
Me: *grabs phone*
OnStar: Hello, this is OnStar... ... ...Alright, ma'am, I'm going to unlock your car for you now. Have a great day.
*click*

What a sweet feature! I will pay pretty much whatever it takes to keep that little ditty around. :)

Beautiful Sunny Day

All day today as I was in my cubicle, the sun shone through the giant windows that are at my back. And all day, I wanted nothing more that to get outside, get some healthy color, boost my vitamin D, or whatever, but I couldn't. Then, the very instant I get home, when I have every intention of going outside to revel in the aforementioned sun, it begins to rain.

I'm glad Monday's over.

Cushioned Landing

When I really should be working, at 2:40 in the afternoon, I am instead enjoying...or should I say trying to enjoy a Butterfinger Bar. The building that I work in has a sole vending machine that requires a nearly half mile walk of shame to get to, but it does contain good things such as Snickers, Butterfinger...well, who really needs anything else. But there is a predicament with having Butterfingers in the third row up in a vending machine. They are, in fact, fairly brittle and breakable. And when dropped from the third row of a vending machine, they tend to, well, shatter. And this afternoon, this all led me to ponder why vending machines don't have a padded tray for goodness like Butterfingers to fall into. It would avoid the whole trying to lick up shards of chocolate and peanutbutteriness from my desk action altogether. Your thoughts on the matter?

It Had to End This Way

Go figure. I should have even called it or bet money on the fact that my travel season would end in a most unusual way.

First, this week I had the privilege of driving fleet car #12. For those of you not familiar with fleet car #12, let me elaborate. Fleet car #12 is one of the oldest cars in the fleet, and as a Taurus, as most of the fleet are, it would usually be considered reliable even at 160,000 miles. And I will admit that fleet car #12 has never stranded me anywhere, it has had some hiccups that I would prefer not to deal with while dealing with Chicago traffic. For instance, the gas pedal sticks at the top, so most often in situations where one would be required to accelerate, nothing happens until *bam!* you're catapulted into hyper-drive. And a problem that is fantastic to couple with acceleration challenges, are the brakes. The breaks are the opposite of touchy, and practically standing up in the driver's seat is required to make a full and complete stop. Besides that, fleet car #12 smells something terrible...it reminds me of rotting food, but from a distance...the smell of approaching a dumpster from a half mile away, downwind. And finally, fleet car #12 has a strange bar or cord that I would imagine is holding the driver's seat together, but it is on the person side of the padding rather than the inside. Most days after driving fleet car #12 I feel a slight bruise on my spine...quite uncomfortable.

Although the fact that driving fleet car #12 was not especially pleasing, that was not the most strange part of my day (note, it is only 10:00). I began my day by picking up said fleet car #12 at 6:45 and got on the road to head to my last school visits of the semester. By 8:00 I had two voicemails on my phone. I would have caught the calls had I not been singing extremely boldly in said car. Within fifteen minutes this morning both of my last two schools had called and told me not to bother showing up. No students were signed up, and it wouldn't be worth my while. By doing some quick mental math, one can gather that I had already driven for an hour in the south and easterly direction. An hour. So, with an exasperated, "What the heck!" to Tara, I turned around in Nora, Illinois, where the local (there may only be one in that town) was walking to get his mail and provided me with a curious look while I was making a u-turn near his house.

So, now, at 10:00, I have already been "working" for three and a half hours and I have accomplished absolutely nothing but wasting gas. But hey, gas is cheap, right? Welcome to my daily life in recruitment. The spring travel season had to end this way.

'Cuz We Need a Little More Rain...

So I found myself in Peoria, Illinois yesterday. I just ran down there quick to visit a few stu-well, schools. (I didn't see any students, so I guess that's not what I went to visit.) But while I was there, the strangest thing happened. The weather turned bipolar. I had never seen anything quite like it. One minute it would start to rain, and because it was so chilly out, it would quickly turn to sleet, then hail. That would last about ten minutes or so, and then the sky would clear and the sun would shine for fifteen minutes or so. Lather, rinse, repeat, and that's what happened all day long.

And as I drove back north to Platteville, it continued to rain, and streams and rivers continued to be well out of their banks, and fields continued to sit with water. I can say with certainty that we don't need any more rain. But if you read enough reports and almanacs, or listen to wise and knowledgeable Tara, you'll learn that this growing season is supposed to be too dry to grow good crops. I guess I'll have to see it to believe it. And if this is indeed true, why aren't more people scurrying to collect all the excess water to utilize later when everything dries up? Something to think about.

And the forecast for the week doesn't look promising. Thursday and Friday are projected to bring more rain and thunderstorms. So get your rain coats and goulashes...and maybe you're small fishing boats propped up in the street...the fun's not over yet.

And in Late Breaking News....

And in late breaking news tonight...

I went waaaay over my cell phone plan this month. And I do find that weird considering that most months I don't even come close. It makes me wonder what the heck I was talking about this month that was so much more pressing that any other....

Holy I'm-a-Month-Behind!

Wow, it sure has been a long time since I have given an update on life...unfortunate because the few of you that may have read this a while back (say a month ago when my last posts were happening) have by now certainly given up on me. Sorry about that. Hopefully you come back and read eventually.

And the saddest part is that a lot of things have happened since I wrote last. I have been working to finish up my travels in the Illinois. I have made several trips...and there have been weeks that I made several trips in a single week...This week for example. But I'm getting pretty good at being a truck driver of sorts and driving without really thinking about it, so it has been pretty easy just to "run to Chicago" a few times a week. It sure is one heck of a commute.

In other news, I've been job searching. I'm pretty sure that's common knowledge by now...at least that's what I hear around the water cooler. I've gotten to the point where I guess I don't care too much who really knows. So anyway...I've been searching and hopefully eventually finding. And it's not that I hate my job, don't get me wrong. There are many parts of my job that I truly love. But there are just so many more things that I am passionate about...and isn't that where we all want to be in our lives? Pouring ourselves into our passions one way or another? That's the goal anyway. I'll keep you posted on that front as updates become available.

Probably the biggest news I have to report is my first truly adult purchase (outside of purchasing my education) and that would be my beautiful new baby: my Saturn Aura. I haven't taken pictures of her yet...but I hope to in the next few days...maybe once I figure out how to get it registered. No one has really explained that part to me yet. I'm sure eventually the excitement will wear off, but frankly I hope not. It's kind of fun.

And on the hornet front: there have been none to kill since Wednesday. Wednesday! Let me tell you, that is good news! Let's hope the pattern continues.

And that will do it for news this evening. I promise to make a better attempt at keeping you updated and such good things more often. :)

Dang it!

Well, a few days above freezing not only gained a few hornets crawling around the snow, but today I have killed the first live one in my apartment. I guess it's time to turn out the super sensors of hearing and seeing out of the corner of my eyes.

Looks like I will be calling my landlady on Monday morning for a little chat. I can't live on the edge of sleep and sanity for a whole nother warm season out of fear and anger from those stupid bugs. Because something tells me this little guy that I whacked today didn't come alone, and I'm not really in the mood to meet his friends.

Just like last year, I tend to be a little jumpy for the first couple that I kill...or over-kill. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I killed this first one fourteen times or so. And so it will go until I have once again mastered the skill of killing them with a single swat in mid-flight. But it looks like until I make friends with the exterminator, my best friend with be the fly swatter that will live in my right hand until sometime next November.

My World

My world has not ended.
It will be there tomorrow.
Just as I left it.
I'll find it back.

My world is not over.
It does not sleep.
There is something better.
I'll find it yet.

My tears do not break me.
They just show my soul.
My eyes dry tomorrow.
I'll find new strength.

Tomorrow's a new day.
The horizon is bright.
There's only the new world.
I'll find with joy.

My world is still here.
Unshakable faith.
Smile a little bigger.
I'll find it. It's there.

-LK

Disappointment

dis·ap·point·ment (dĭs'ə-point'mənt)
noun

1.	a feeling of dissatisfaction that results when your expectations are not realized; "his hopes were so high he was doomed to disappointment"
2.	an act (or failure to act) that disappoints someone

-----
Today I feel disappointed. And you know, disappointment is a funny thing. It can just sneak up on you from out of nowhere. It can take you from extremely excited to pretty much crushed in a matter of seconds.

I'm disappointed for a lot of reasons right now. I'm disappointed that I'm too naive, too green, to much of a kid to know what's really up. I don't know important things that I should know...like a giant placement exchange that is coupled with one of the biggest conferences of the year for student affairs. I don't even know what questions to ask or when to ask them...like, "NASPA...what are you going there for?" or "How can I find a great job today?"

I'm disappointed that I don't have a professional mentor and that I underestimated the necessity of one. I really need someone there beside me guiding me while I'm still too stupid to know anything on my own. To tell me things that I can't learn without them.

And I'm disappointed that I don't have enough initiative on my own to learn things without asking questions or a mentor. I could have found the information I needed online or in a pamphlet somewhere. I just didn't. Once again, it seems I'm a day late and a dollar short.

All this disappointment comes, hopefully a little prematurely, but I doubt it. I applied for a job yesterday, which I was very excited about. I thought it sounded like a great fit, and it had only been listed on one of the higher education job websites for a few weeks. Today, Alisha was in my office and I was telling her about it. She mentioned that they had probably listed it at NASPA last week. And that was the first I had heard about NASPA as a placement exchange rather than just a conference. At that point I still had hope that maybe the school I had applied with hadn't been there. It was, after all, in Boston. But then I looked. And it was. Dang.

So now, I figure I'll never hear from them because they've already interviewed probably thirty or so people before I ever applied. And that's disappointment for you at its finest. I can't wait for this day to be over.

The Art of Calm

As it turns out, calm is an art form that I am quickly, and happily learning.

Growing up in a no-stop-light town, where two cars at any given intersection can be considered a traffic jam, there isn't much to get one excited or upset. Everything has a simple, quiet rhythm. Outside of that very-near-fantasy world, the pace is somewhat different. Take Suburbia, for instance. This is a strange world where towns have a border but never end, where someone's always going somewhere typically at a fast pace. It's a place where one could get frustrated if not used to the environment.

But I've realized that there is an art to keeping calm in the chaos, a handy tool when so much of my time is dedicated to participating the chaos. One mechanism that I have developed, much on accident, is taking joy in the survival. What I mean by that is recognizing, at nearly every destination, that I've made it and done well in doing so. It's a little celebration dedicated to still being alive. Another little mechanism is physically relaxing in the car. Do you ever notice how tight random muscles get if you're not paying attention? For me, it's my whole driving leg, from toes to hip. It requires some focus to be able to relax it, but in doing so, I somehow manage to relax everything else.

In a world of road rage and race pace, it's nice to know that I can get in my car and not be a part of the chaos around me...at least in my own mind.

They're Back!

Welcome to a few minutes above the freezing point. This is what happens at my house when the temperature, even for a day, reaches above thirty two degrees:





So far they've all decided to stay outside. Hopefully that trend will continue rather than coming inside my house. Because, frankly, they don't make good pets.

Happy Spring?

Feeling Inspired

There's this new show out there called QuarterLife. Well, it's more than a show really. It's a blog, a vlog (video blog), a social network...a movement. And although I don't think I'll be joining this little movement (check it out at www.quarterlife.com), it has inspired me. Lately I've been so busy that blogging and other hobbies have been put on the back burner. Ok, so pretty much everything outside of work and class have been put on hold. It can't go on like this forever.

The show QuarterLife is all about twenty-somethings and their lives after college. All of the characters are frankly pretty self-centered and their actions have very few consequences as far as the scope of the show reaches. I don't know how accurately that it reflects real life. But in some ways, I still identify with some of them. None of us really know yet what we want to do when we grow up, we're not sure where we fit in the world (but we know we do somewhere), we're not quite sure we want to admit that we're grown ups just yet...

And then there's this whole blogging thing that people said wouldn't last. What is our fascination with revealing parts (or all) of our lives to people we may or may not know. I mean, think about it, you (one of maybe three or four people) are reading about little snippets of my life, and even with a tiny little audience, I still feel the need to share with someone, something about me. But for what? To prove I exist? To prove I'm of worth? For my own entertainment rather than yours? I guess I don't really know.

But nonetheless, I feel a little inspired with this whole video blogging thing. If I have a few spare minutes next week, I may give it a try....whether you will enjoy it or not.

Happy quarter life (those of you in that age bracket). Go find yourself. That's what I think I'll work on for a while.

It's the Little Things...#5

It sure has been a crazy week....and it's not near over. One of these days I'm going to take a nap. In the mean time...

A little thing that makes me happy #5: I'm glad to be young and full of energy and health.

With times as crazy as they are, sometimes even crazy enough to forget meals or loose track of bills or due dates, it's nice to know that no matter how much I feel like I'm dragging, I'll still have enough gusto to get out of bed tomorrow (even if it is at 4:00 am, yikes!) and keep on kickin'. Well, back to work.

The Little Things....#4

Today sure was awfully snowy.

A little thing that makes me happy #4: Having a friend with four-wheel drive that lives in my town.

Even though today was nearly history-making with the university closing early for the first time in a long time, I have a brave friend that lives just a few blocks away who shared her car and bravery as she delved into the drifts on the highway with her Jeep.

I didn't mind going home early, but it's strange. It doesn't seem at all that I got all that much more work done. Why is that do you suppose? I guess there's always tomorrow.

The Little Things....#3

A little thing that makes me happy #3: Keeping my two plants alive.

Anyone who knows me, knows the color of my thumb...brown. Wrinkly, shriveled, burnt up brown. The secret to hiding my brown thumb is to usually keep buying the same variety of plant over and over and over so that no one notices how often my plants are dying. (Pretty tricky, right?)

But, I would like to proudly announce that I have managed to keep the same two plants alive (and at least somewhat healthy looking) since moving into this apartment. Perhaps the massive windows facing the correct directions has had something to do with it, but I would like to think that maybe, maybe, my thumb might me showing a hint of green? It may just be in the creases, but I think I'm beginning to see a hint of color. So, it turns out that it makes me very happy to see the same plants in my apartment for the past nine whole months. (Having said this, I sincerely hope that I have not jinxed myself just yet.)

The Little Things....#2

Having given my new series some thought, I have reconsidered it's title. I will now call it "The Little Things...." and give you a little insight into the little things that make me happy. Yeah, that just feels better.

A little thing that makes me happy #2: The car ride home.

I really have learned to love my ride home from work in the afternoons. For that ten minutes (providing that there are no crazies on the road that day) I am alone with my thoughts, with songs that I love, with my loud singing voice that doesn't get to come out near often enough. It's a chance to unwind, leave work at work, and even laugh at myself every now and then. I have learned in this year of commuting seven miles each way that road range is a waste of energy that I used to be wasting all the time. Since I drive for a living it's probably good that I learned that lesson early. So, save some energy, forget the road rage. Use your drive home to learn something new about yourself.

Little Known Fact #1

So, due to extreme lack of interesting things happening in my life lately, I've decided that it is time to begin a new series. It is the hope, that this point, that anyone at all is reading this at all. But for the most likely two or maybe three people that are reading, you'll get to know all the little known facts about me. Some are funny, some may be sad, or weird, or lame, but they are what they are. So, without further ado, here is my first little known fact:

Little known fact #1: Loading and unloading the dishwasher give me a great sense of satisfaction.

I especially unloading a completely spot-free load while it is still warm. The shiny and clean dishes make me appreciate the fact that I have things like nice dishes, a nice and warm and safe home, and it makes me happy. I'm sure there are other things in life that give me more satisfaction than this little act, but it's just one of those little things that maybe I'm not alone in feeling?

Chagrinagains and the Flip Side

A few chagrins to say about today:

-My boss got to leave at noon...I did not.
-My car needs gas...don't those things ever learn to fill themselves up?
-I opened a new container of cottage cheese today for dinner (I know, the epitome of health for an entire meal) but the seal was broken under the lid...it was bad. And I'm still hungry.

Despite these few and tiny disappointments, today was overall, a beautiful day. Think of all the great things that did happen:

-Friday is finally over, and I have all weekend to relax.
-It didn't snow anymore today, and it is above zero.
-I think instead of rot-tage cheese for dinner, I'll go down to the BP and pick up some Ben&Jerry's variety with massive amounts of chocolate and unnecessary candy additive goodness. Mmmmmmm....

And that right there makes today a great day.