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Click the link below and search for Arizona Academic Decathlon

I'm Too Excited to go to Sleep!

I bought a car!!!!!!!!!!!!

After months of comparison shopping and narrowing down my options between a Honda Fit and a Nissan Versa...

I bought a 2010 Honda Fit Sport! (I cannot believe I own a brand new car!).

There was a lot of haggling with the interest rate and the payment, but this finally worked out to = me owning a brand new car!

This is me signing the paperwork


This is me getting the keys!



This is me with my car!


This is proof it was sold to me (it says Ms. C. Thomas on the top line)


This is me in the driver's seat!!!!


I look gooooood


Mom and Dad drove up from Tucson to celebrate! (That is my car salesman with them)


My best friend Michaela came to document everything - even the first drive!


Daylight pictures to come so you can see that beautiful blue color!

Fall Recruitment Trips!

Here are some photos from my Minneapolis and Salt Lake trips this last month.

Minneapolis!


Annie and me!


Mississippi River


Salt Lake City Fall Colors

Tyrone Wells part 2

Guess who saw Tyrone Wells in concert again?

This past Sunday my coworker (who I got hooked on Tyrone's music) and I went to Tyrone Wells' concert up in Scottsdale.

Remember him? - he serenaded me down in Tucson last time he performed in Arizona.

Anyhoodle, THIS time I remembered a camera!!



I got up to him and he asked if we had met before. I reminded him of the Tucson moment and he remembered and said it had been really fun (and since I am a crazed fan, I TOTALLY BELIEVE HIM, so don't tell me otherwise). He also said that song was going to be on his next album coming out in December! yay!


In other news a few of my coworkers and I tried to buy Garth Brooks tickets this weekend. It didn't work out, but since we know he is performing in Vegas for the next 5 years, I am sure we will get the opportunity.

Good ole' SLC

So I guess I should have updated a couple of weeks ago, but I just get so darn busy.

A week and a half ago (it wasn't longer than that?!) I flew to Salt Lake City to attend the same college fair I went to last year, only this time I made sure to spend the night so that I could get per diem (aka, my food paid for!).

The night I flew in I went to the Red Iguana. It was recommended to me by a SLC native and I had remembered that it was featured in an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. Well it is known for its mole sauce (no, not the rodent, the Mexican savory chocolate sauce). This will come as a shock but it turns out mole is not my favorite flavor. So I chose to go with the classic enchiladas. They were definitely worth the 50 minute wait to get in the door.

Then I found my hotel and got my room, I found an awesome deal and got a suite with a kitchen, fire place and master suite! The next day I got ready to use my GPS to get to a well known breakfast spot in town when the battery died! I probably would have panicked if I hadn't been so well prepared. I had printed out 3 maps before I left town. 1) from Red Iguana to my hotel 2)from the hotel to the college fair 3)from the African restaurant I planned to have dinner at, back to the airport.

I had to scratch going to the breakfast joint since now i had no way of knowing how to get there. I decided to drive to the school and found an IHOP near by. After the fair I had to figure out how to get from the school to the Africa Restaurant (yes, that is the actual name) to meet one of my high school friends for dinner. He attends BYU and oddly enough, did his mission in South Africa. In order to figure out which highway was going to get me up the the restaurant I had to piece together my maps like a puzzle to see where they overlapped (luckily they did!). But as usual my friend was running late and I had to cancel my plans in order to get back to the airport in time for my flight.

It was a pretty fun turn around trip. of course, I had to have little adventures!

Done!

Today was my last day of work in Minneapolis! I went to 5 different schools, and luckily wasn't RAINING! anymore, it was just misty (talk about 100% humidity) so I am hopeful that my flight will leave on time.

I spent my afternoon at the Mall of America, didn't really buy much but winded down and saw a movie, it was nice to kn longer be on a schedule.

I tomorrow I might go tour the U of M, we will see if I want to wake up early.


Edit: I just went to the UM website and the visit must be full because it can no longer be selected. Maybe next time.

rain rain...go away?

Today was RAINING! not rainy, RAINING! I drove on a highway in a torrential downpour! it was nearly a whiteout, it was like driving in a haboob but with water so the windshield was never easy to see out of. crazy. Oh yeah, and you can't just pull over and wait 10 minutes for it to pass - torrential rain for hours! It was scary and cool. Scary for not being able to see well, but cool because well, it is rain!

Luckily I am in the land of 10,000 lakes (now we know where the come from) so there is not actually much flooding. I didn't have to look for potential deep spots or flash floods as I drove. But it is supposed to be rainy (potentially RAINING!) through saturday - which could be ok or bad. Coincidently, Brett got laid over in Minneapolis tonight on her way to Des Moines, to visit her boyfriend at Drake, because of the rain so I hope that it lets up a little bit before my flight home on Saturday. I am ready to come home.

In other news the rest of the college fair went well, and I did not run out of any materials, although I did pretty much use up my contact cards so I am glad that I made copies of them to take to my high schools tomorrow.

Tonight was also my Sneak Preview event. that was fun! I got to do a 2 hour long presentation for students and parents (about 60 people total) with a powerpoint and dvd and everything. Even better, all the evaluations about the event were really positive. I also met a MN ASU alumni who was really nice and knows some of the same people I do.

Tomorrow is my last day (whew!) and I think I will head to the Mall of America afterwards. Do a little shopping and maybe see a movie and veg out. Anything to stay out of the rain :)

Just Keep Going and Going and Going...

Yesterday was much better than Monday! I went to a college fair with a steady stream of students at my table and then had high school visits with 20+ students.

Last night I met up with Annie McHale! She lives just south of downtown Minneapolis and showed me some of the local sights. We went to the Sculpture Gardens down by the Walker Musuem of Art and then drove around the chain of lakes in the middle of the city - standing water, crazy! Then we met up with some of her friends and had some pretty subpar mexican food, which I expected, but still wanted to experience to see how the midwest made mexican food. it was pretty bland, but the salsa was yummy.

Today started the national college fair at the convention center and after a weird first couple of days I got set up at the fair (350 colleges attending) and was ready for the first of the 3 sessions. Well I thought I was, but then an onslaught started! I went through 600 previews in the first of 3 sessions! I didn't have another 600 previews with me to get through the second and third sessions and started really worrying. Last year we went through 1200 previews total so I only planned for that many.

During the 4 hour break between sessions Annie came by to pick me up for lunch and we went back to my hotel to grab my last box of previews, and I tried to not to think about what I was going to do if I ran out of materials before my week was up!

Annie and I drove to the Northeast side of Minneapolis and walked across the Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi River! I have never been to the Mississippi and had totally forgotten that it starts in MN! There are pictures but I can't upload them until I get home.

I went back to the fair this evening when parents came with their students and it wasn't nearly as busy but there were better questions and longer conversations, and I did not go through my materials, thank goodness!

Tomorrow I should be fine, and may even get through the rest of the week in one piece!

It also was warmer the last couple of days - it was a whole 60 degrees!

Mini Apple

Try mini windy city! today was very windy (they projected gusts of 50 mph!) As I drove on the highways in my rented Hyundai Sonata a felt the wind pushing me as if I was pulling a trailer or something! Definitely thought of mom and dad and Don. Oh yeah and it is only in the 50s and frost could happen tonight. weird.

Overall today was very disappointing. I had 6 - count 'em 6! - high school visits today and never saw more than 4 students at a visit. One school didn't have anyone. I was hoping to clean up today! but now it is making me wonder if my visit letters actually got to the students - we mail letters to all the students we know have shown an interest to let them know we will be visiting, and that usually increases interest.

Then tonight I had a college fair that was only ok, and by ok I mean disappointing. They used their cafeteria tables, which are round, and were definitely not compatible with the rectangular table drape I have. No one could read the entire name of the school in just one look, they had to kind of circle the table. disaster. only about 50 previews got handed out when I was expecting at least 100.

No. 1 comment (as they walk by): Mom "oh, Arizona, I would come visit you there." mom and kid look at each other and smile at the absurdity of coming to Arizona.

Also my GPS is psycho. She (yes I use the female voice) told me to exit on a clover intersection between 2 highways, then to exit again (so go through 2 of the clover petal turns) then she said to "stay right" which I thought meant exit (3rd petal) which made her mad and I had to use the 4th petal exit to get to the exact same place I was when I originally needed to exit! So yeah, it was a comedy of errors - but the reason I needed to exit in the first place is because the GPS made me turn onto an Eastbound highway when She and I both knew I needed to go West, so then she literally made me do a u-turn (when not exiting at all would have made me go the correct way) which turned into a clover 4 way u-turn.

Awesome. My 7am college fair tomorrow better be better! I also have my top feeder school tomorrow (literally expecting about 30 students). if I have low numbers I will be convinced my letters didn't go out.

Time for bed.


PS: In an actually hilarious moment, I visited the high school with the counselor that wore the same outfit as me in the spring. She wore the exact same outfit again today! hahaha, She even remembered that I was the college rep that had that outfit but didn't think about it until she was at work. Luckily I had planned ahead and didn't bring that outfit as on option. And here I thought she wouldn't even remember the incident, too funny!

Moving up!

So I just spent the entire week in Tucson visiting high school after high school. Jen and I actually had a lot of fun together and she will be a great addition to the Tucson team.

When we came back we were told it was moving day. For the last month our boss has been saying that we would be moving out of our current office space into the main admissions space down the hall. for that entire month we had been trying to see which cubicle we would each get. I had had a great idea that Jen and I should get an office in the area that had two workstations in it and be the Tucson office. Well, it worked! my new mantra is if I really want something or believe in it I need to speak it into existence - so I told my boss weeks ago about my idea for the Tucson office and what do you know, Jen and I got it! So now I have a door...and a WINDOW!

The timing could have been better, you know either let us move next week or a month ago when we were supposed to, not the day we come back from an exhausting week in Tucson.

I can't really complain because it is fun to have an office and I love the window but it does make our office area really hot, so we have fans all over the room.

I also got my new glasses this friday! I have sunglasses that I can actually see out of - crazy! Pictures to come but I don't have my camera right now. My glasses actually look pretty much exactly like my old ones, why fix what's not broken?

Today I am off to the football game, there is a tailgate for everyone involved with the Obama program - free tix too!

My Goal in Life is to Replace My Soul With Coffee and Become Immortal

Title courtesy of typing "my goal is" into Google search. It is like my own magic 8 ball!

So This coming week will be my first complete week in Tucson, and my first time staying in a hotel in Tucson (weeeeeird!). I don't know if it is good or bad that I am already exhausted by the thought of this entire month! Travel season is in full swing.

Also, this weekend I am headed up to Cottonwood to help Margie and Dave move Grandma into their house. I am really glad Grandma decided to move, and happy to help! But weird to think that I won't be sleeping in my own bed for 7 consecutive nights. Like I said, travel season has started.

Life with the new coworkers is great! they are all my age! finally I am not the youngest by years, heck, I am not even the youngest anymore :) I had noticed that most of my college friends had graduated and moved away, so it is nice to have a new group of friends to come around, We have pretty much had a happy hour each of the last 3 weeks. (No word on it letting up either, haha). Some of us are looking at attending some concerts and football games together too!

Ooh, also, I am getting new glasses! a Laura Ashley pair that looks pretty much just like my current glasses (but my current frames would probably break if I had just tried to switch out lenses so the new ones are necessary) and a pair of prescription sunglasses! Coach sunglasses! Mom, don't worry about cost - I factored it into my flex account. It is like an early birthday present, I can't wait! Of course, they will come in while I am in Tucson, so I have to wait an extra long time for them. boo hiss.

silent auction

Tonight was the Decathlon fundraiser. It was pretty fun and there were about 30 different items to bid on as well as the opportunity to sponsor the medals and trophies. My coworker Nicole came with me and we bid on several items. I won a spa basket with a free facial. I also decided to sponsor the Ten-event medals for region III (good chance it will be my high school right?)

Overall I think it was an ok success. we definitely needed more people to show up, there were probably only about 30 people in attendance but for a first event it was pretty nice.

Today is also the end of the first week with a full staff at work. we have hired 5 new recruiters, and for the most part they are all really cool, and the best part is that about 3 of them are my age! So not only am I NOT the youngest anymore, but I have more people to relate to, I think we are all going to get along really well!

Happy Birthday Dad!

another year!

New People

So...remember when I was doing the work of two people and was singlehandedly responsible for a city of 1 million people? yeah, well not anymore! they hired a girl from Albuquerque (the Tucson of NM) who starts next week.

best part?! I got to pick which schools I kept and which schools she got :) she will have about 15 schools, and I will have about 20. much more doable!

I am so excited!!

Also, they ended up hiring someone for that scholars position I was interested in, but they are going to continue to include me in scholar events since now I am the only honors grad among my fellow recruiters.

Best of everything.

Proof

Just in case you didn't believe that i could have an organized closet and keep it that way for over a week. I took a picture!



It is unfortunate that you can't see my shoes very well because all 30 pairs are really cute. plus my tennis shoes - not cute but necessary!

(side note, I recently bought new running shoes because I started a work out routine. I can run 3/4 of a mile now! next week 1 mile!)

Academic Decathlon Silent Auction!

Donate or Attend!

http://www.azacadec.org/silent_auction.php

The state legislature cut our $82,000 budget - which is half our operating budget and without new sources of income Academic Decathlon will cease to exist :(

Movin' On Up

My office mates and I are moving! We have been in, what apparently is, an annex office in the same building as the rest of our recruiter friends, and finally they are kicking out the Upward Bound people (ironically I think they are moving to the floor above us, haha)(groan dad!) so we can move into their space and we can finally be the one big happy family we have always wanted to be.

In similar news one of our recruiters who deals mostly with our scholar students has left to work for our honors college. I have always thought her job looked fun and that it would be a good next step for me (were she to leave - I promise I didn't use my voodoo powers) so with the encouragement of my coworkers, I went to my supervisor to let him know I am interested in her position. My supervisor is great for this kind of thing. he really has a lot of faith in me and has said in the past that he can't help me move up if he doesn't know what I want. It was more of an FYI kind of conversation not a serious interview type conversation, but needless to say today I was given a list of scholar students to call.

We will have to wait and see what this means. either I just signed myself up for more work, or they are checking to see if this is something I am good at and some sort of transition will occur. Tooting my own horn: I think I am the best person to take this position because i am the only recruiter who was a scholar student herself - personal experience is great!

What a good weekend!

You know there are some weekends where you just feel accomplished. this is one of those weekends.

Yesterday Michaela and I spent some much needed time together doing some serious bargain shopping. We only went to stores that had sales where we either got 30% of or $30 off our purchases. I even replaced my NY&Co purse that got stolen. We had a lot of fun!

Then last night one of my work friends called me to see if I wanted to see a movie at the Fashion Square. of course I did, and we decided to eat dinner at PB Loco - the peanut butter bar (12 types of peanut butter can't be wrong). Well, turns out the movie was sold out so we just walked around the mall chatting. It was such a great day and I was just glad to be out of the house having fun!

Today has been "clean out closet" day. Because I feel like for every new item of clothing I buy, I should get rid of something else. So far it isn't really tit for tat (buying new shoes doesn't mean I have to get rid of old ones do I?) plus the clothes I am getting rid of are all my old college t-shirts that don't fit anymore. Unfortunately I can't give most of the clothes to Michaela (we love to swap!) because she gave them to me in the first place hahahaha. She is bummed about that, but I am constantly on the lookout for clothes for her. It is so nice to have a shopping buddy that I can share clothes with. Plus I have turned into her stylist. she came over yesterday and saw a pair of my shoes she liked. in minutes I had dressed her in matching accessories - so cute! then at the stores if she found one think she liked I had to tell her what she already owned that would go with it. It is fun.

The biggest news though is that my handywoman finally came over with more locks for our back window and door!! We are safer now!

Break In

A couple of hours ago, my roommate called me to tell me our house had been broken into. Seems to have been a grab and dash, and the cops think the person may have still been inside when Anthony came home.

My roommates lost their laptops, an ipod, and a purse. I am currently thanking my stars that Greg encouraged me to by a desk top computer 5 years ago when I was in the market. It actually doesn't look like the burglar had time to come into my room at all but I am pretty sure they grabbed one of my purses, luckily I had just taken everything out of it because the strap was breaking - suckers!

Anthony is at the hardware store right now buying stuff to reinforce our downstairs sliding door and window.

I called our property manager to get an extra lock installed as well, and it turns out even the cop said this probably wouldn't have happened if we had had a back gate (something we have been asking for for two years and the owner hasn't wanted to spend money on) so I think we will get a gate now too. Would have been nice to have prior to today, but I will take what I can get.

There was no property damage so I don't feel as violated as I probably would if the house had been ransacked, but I am still uncomfortable. Once we have reinforced locks I will feel better - oh yeah, and a back gate!

RIP Walter Cronkite

I am of course sad that Walter Cronkite as passed away, but also honored to graduate from his school and actually get to meet him as a mere freshmen!



check out the school's coverage of his legacy Here

I won the Wicked lottery!

So, the smash musical Wicked is at Gammage right now. It is here all month long and it is based on a book of the same name. The story is about the history of the Wicked Witch of the West from her birth to how she became wicked and goes all the way through to her death by Dorothy. It is a great story because it has an explanation for her greenness, her friendship with Glinda the Good Witch, how her sister (the wicked witch of the East) came to own the slippers, how the scarecrow, tinman, and cowardly lion came to be, and even how she got all those flying monkeys.

Well every night of the show, there is a ticket lottery of 20 first row tickets. All you have to do is show up between 5-5:30pm the night of the show and submit your name. Then at 5:30 they call names until the tickets are gone. You can have up to two tickets and you have to pay $25 per ticket in cash (considering these are $70 tickets, it makes it even cooler!). I haven't ever read the book or seen the play, but that is a great deal and I couldn't pass it up!

My coworker Marc and I decided to submit our names yesterday, since we were on campus at around the right time (remember we have all month to do this, as many times as we want). A couple other coworkers went too and they both put my name in as well. we were a little worried that it was against the rules, so Marc and I decided if my name was called we would rush up and get the tickets in case they called my name again, haha.

Well, turns out, I was lucky number 7 of 10 names called out! Marc and I screamed like little girls when we heard my name and were as excited as if it were Christmas morning! We were seats 27 and 29 in the front row!! It put us a little to the left, but they were great seats! Everyone I knew who had seen the show was obsessed. I thought I would enjoy the show, but not go crazy or anything. Yeah...by intermission I had to remind myself to breathe because I had been holding my breath during the last 10 minutes! It really is an unbelievable show - and sooo funny! Glinda is an over-the-top naive, perky girl used to getting her way - who reminds me a lot of Elle Woods from Legally Blonde. (Side note: turns out the guy who played the male lead, Fiyero, actually played Warner - Elle's ex-boyfriend that she follows to law school - in Legally Blonde the Musical).

The big twist of the whole story is that the wicked witch is not in fact wicked, but a bleeding-heart equal rights activist (in Oz the animals could talk and be part of society, until the Wizard dictates they no longer speak there minds and become separate from humans because "every society needs a good enemy"), who has been ostracized her whole life for being green. She and Glinda are college roommates, and the scarecrow and tinman are actually humans named Fiyero and Boc who have tragic relationships with the wicked witches and Glinda. Accidents happen, and it seems that once a spell is cast, it cannot be reversed, so to keep Fiyero (her love interest) from being killed, the wicked witch makes him immortal...a scarecrow.

The other cool thing is that the wicked witch has a name: Elphaba. It is an homage to L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Also, she becomes the wicked witch after she refused to help the wizard make all the animals subservient, and he decided to libel her name in a smear campaign.

It was sooooooooo good! I am glad Marc and I got tickets the very first time we tried, and I really do think I could go back and see it again in a week or two. Oh yeah, and for winning the tickets we get a green button that says "I won the Wicked lottery."

Training!

So this week is training. It is actually like a working vacation because i don't have any access to my computer or phone, but I am having to go around all the campuses and learn about all the colleges all over again.

It is actually a lot of fun because all of the recruiters (including our CA people) and financial aid people, and transfer recruiters are together for training. it is about 40 people so there is always someone new to sit next to and get to know or laugh with when the presentations start to lag or someone asks another question about something the presenter already covered twice!

Today we were at West and Downtown. Fun but HOT! It is supposed to be 110 degrees all week. gross.

I had a fun surprise today. I was in a meeting and my phone started buzzing. It was Margie. I couldn't answer until the end of my meeting 20 minutes later. She left a message telling me she and Dave were in Tempe for about an hour and wondered if I wanted to get together for something cold to drink. I called her back to let her know that I was actually at the Downtown Campus but was headed towards Tempe. She said they were almost Downtown for the D'Backs game! So instead of riding back to Tempe with my coworkers, I just hitched a ride on the ol' lightrail and met them at the ballpark. We got to chat and catch up for about an hour, and then they went into the game and I rode the lightrail home.

Turns out they came to town early and had lunch with Scott Thomas and his family, then drove around Tempe, and headed to the game. Happy Birthday Margie!

4th of July

So this three day weekend was full of doing as little as possible! it was awesome

Friday, I lounged around, then saw Public Enemies with a friend of mine. The movie was ok - made great by the presence of Johnny Depp in just about every scene.

Friday night I went out on Mill Ave with Brett and some friends because our college friend Cortney came to town! On Saturday, Brett and I went to Cortney's boyfriend's parents' house in Fountain Hills. it is brand new and unbelievable! lets just say it had a castle "motif" (read: size of a castle) and the kitchen island was the size of my living room - and you all know how big my living room is. it was a two story house with an elevator and flat screen TVs everywhere. There was even a TV behind the mirror in the master bath. there were also 3 kitchens, and an outdoor patio with an infinity edge pool! oh yeah, and built in misters along the patio. Needless to say, Brett and I had a blast! we hung out on the patio and in the pool all afternoon - which was impressive because of how hot it should have been but wasn't (see above about pool and misters).

We did pull ourselves away to come home and have our own BBQ and party, we could even see the fireworks from our house! After the party a few of my friends and I decided to see a late night movie, so we headed over to The Proposal. it was cute, but definitely odd as a midnight showing. I haven't been to a movie that late in a long time, and here I am going to do it again in a week. Harry Potter 6 comes out on the 15th! (Yay for being a kid!)

Now it is time to go back to work. This week, and in two weeks, we have training for the new recruitment cycle. it is hard to believe it is time to start looking towards the next year already. I don't feel like I am done with this one. Turns out we might get another Tucson person so maybe this year will be a little easier.

I finished one grad school class this summer and start another one tomorrow. This last one was the hardest one I have had, and the first that really felt like grad school. Let me put it this way, I have been driving to work the last 2 weeks and parking in the visitor lot ($8 a day). I got free parking for 5 of those days because I didnt leave the office before the lot closed at 9pm because I was working on my project. so, the 4th was also a welcome celebration of finishing that class!

Photographic Evidence

Ok, I finally got Picasa to make it easier to upload pictures and share. These are the pictures from my trip to NYC. (If someone could tell me how to add a link to my pictures along the side of my blog the way Greg has it, that would be super)_

New York June 2009

New York was a lot of fun! I never really got to tell you about my day in the city or the Letterman show (which aired friday, if you missed it that is ok, Greg and I didn't get any air time - we were edited out).

I went into NYC on Monday around noon so I could do some shopping before it was time to go to Letterman. I had done some research about some good discount places around town and the best subway routes to get everywhere. I never got a subway map, so I had to memorize which stations I knew I had to get to, then look at the wall maps to remember which train I wanted. I was pretty proud of myself! I got everywhere I needed to and never really felt like much of a tourist. Although I did have to by an "I <3 NY" shirt from a street vendor for one of my friends. I also ate some pizza and a bagel for one of my New York native friends from work - oh woe is me, right?!

I got to New York & Co, H & M, Filene's Basement, the CBS Store, and a couple other places. I even made the trek to a couple of places that were closed - which bummed me out, but it was still fun to navigate around the city.

I got to Letterman about an hour before I was supposed to meet up with Greg, and noticed that there were some barricades people were standing behind across the street from the theater, and there were some paparazzi near a back door. With nothing better to do I figured I should stand around and see what happened. Emeril Lagasse got dropped off to do the show, I got a bad picture of the back of his head, but I did see him. I was a little surprised he was showing up at 3:30 pm for a show that wasn't going to tape until 7pm but whatever, maybe he had some cooking prep to do.

It wasn't until I met up with Greg outside the theater that he told me they tape the Monday and the Friday shows on Mondays and we were actually going to be going to the Friday taping. Which means, I thought I was seeing Samuel L Jackson and Emeril, but really was seeing someone else! We got in line for the tickets at 4:30pm. at 5:30 they started moving the line and we got our numbered tickets and were told to return at 6pm and get in line in the order of our ticket numbers (Greg and I were 69 and 70). We toodled around Times Square for a while and used a bathroom (since the show won't let you use theirs)and made sure we didnt bring any food, drinks, or gum into the theater with us. We got back in line and were brought into the lobby. Some of the Late Show pages went over the rules 1)no gum chewing or going to the bathroom 2)no "woo"ing when you were excited or agreed with something Dave said, or when your hometown or favorite team was mentioned 3)everything Dave says is the funniest thing you have ever heard 4)laugh heartily! a chuckle or grin doesn't cut it 5)the more you seem to be enjoying yourself, the more likely Dave will use better jokes because the audience is responsive 6)no photography before during or after the show - hence I have no pictures of it.

after what seemed like forever in the lobby, they finally filed us into the theater, and Greg and I were in the 4th row near Dave's desk's side of the stage. the stage itself is tiny! there is maybe 12 feet between the band and the guest chairs and the whole stage is only 30 or 40 feet long! the band came out to pump us up and a warm up comic also came out to tell us we would be seeing Martin Short and Regina Spektor would perform.

Dave came out about 5 min before the show started just to meet the audience and let us answer questions. then he got backstage and they immediately started the show at 7pm sharp (it was over at 8pm sharp). Because of the tight hour timeframe for shooting the show, and the fact that they really do take the commercial breaks so it seems to be taping live, when I actually watched the show, they had edited the episode and cut out one bit (the audience participation part that Greg and I were in the backgroud for). they even edited a joke Martin Short said. He made a joke about calling his one man show "Sunday in the Park with George Michael" and they dubbed out the George part. I don't know if the joke was too risque (does anyone care if George Michael is made fun of?) or if it was copyright infringement to say Sunday in the Park with George and thought it better to make it sound like he said Sunday in the Park with Michael? andhoo, Martin really was hilarious! Regina on the otherhand (like most late night musical guests) sang a really bad song. it was the type of song I would expect a singing comic to write. the lyrics were all about how "nobody is laughing at God in a hospital/nobody is laughing at God in a war" but the chorus was "but God can be funny/God can be hilarious ha ha" yeah, the ha ha's were part of the song. it was weird.

the show ended at 8pm and they opened the exits and kicked us out, there was zero time to hang out, see the stage, or talk to anyone. But it was still really fun! and I am glad we got to go.

My entire trip was so fun and I can't wait to come again. I even want to get tickets to Late Show with Jimmy Fallon. I have the bug! I am going to become a serial audience member! If you watch Jimmy's show then you know I want to go on a shared experience night ;)

PS dad, during the commercial breaks, Paul Schaefer and the band played songs to entertain the audience, and Alan Coulter just disappeared for most of the show since there isn't much for him to do. although I did find it funny because we would write notes on his script - like there was a lot for him to remember, or he was adding lines. he literally introduced the show then did a commercial teaser. not much to make notes about.

Dave and his executive producers and writers would confer, pretty nonchalantly even though they were still making last minute decisions about jokes. the cue card guy was the only person working hard getting things organized or rewritten.

Also, Dave hates suit jackets. during every break he took of the jacket. He is also full of energy. he literally ran out to the audience before show, and he ran across stage to get to his entrance marker at the start of the show. much more energy than he shows on the show.

New York!

I made it safely to New York on Friday, in fact I even got in early! after another hour of travel to actually get into the city I ended up just outside Greg's office building (even though i didn't know it). I got up to his office and got to meet a few of his coworkers as they were winding down for the evening (i.e. Wii tennis tournament - My team beat Greg's team - but I am sure he was letting me win, at least that is what he will say). We then raced to catch the next express train to White Plains and made it home safely.

It has been rainy off and on since I got here. Which means it is humid! but it hasn't been overly hot so there is a bonus. Yesterday Tomoko had to work all day so Greg and I spent the day with Ariana. I brought her a new toy hammer and peg set (a wooden board with holes that you hammer colored pegs through, I am sure you know what I mean) and although she doesn't quite hit the hammer hard enough she has been really enjoying fitting the pegs into the holes or watching me build a tower of pegs that she then knocks over while laughing (maybe she should be called Mizukisaurus because she is a mini Godzilla). We also discovered that she is bossy. Greg was trying to get her to take a nap by lying down on the pillow next to her, but she would pull his arm or neck to get him to sit up, then make him stand up and follow her around their ottoman - anything to keep from having to nap. it is pretty cute.

She also has several key phrases: uh oh, bah bye, and please (pronounces pls, because she says it very fast and pitifully - to maximize the cuteness). She says bah bye to anything she doesn't want anymore, so besides saying goodbye to people she will say bah bye to toys and food and anything else she wants nothing to do with. She also says "up up" but only in reference to going upstairs never to be lifted (that can be accomplished with mere hand gestures). She is a pretty happy toddler.

Today, has been a lazy day around the house. Tomoko had to work this morning so Ariana and I made father's day french toast for Greg. Ariana mostly helped by staying in the other room the whole time :)

We are having a lot of fun!

David Letterman!

About a week ago I put in to get tickets to the Late Show with David Letterman for the Monday while I am visiting NY. When I filled out the request form I had to put a guest's name, so I added Greg.

Just now I got a phone call from the show and I had to answer a trivia question in order to win the tickets.

"Allen Coulter is the announcer for the Late Show, what color is his hair?"

RED!!

So then I had to call Greg to see if he really was available to see the show (I had just filled out the request form, I hadn't actually discussed it with anyone - I didn't think I would get tickets). Apparently if he wasn't available I could not change the name of my guest. so I would have to go alone.

I called him and he is available! So Happy Birthday Greg! We are going to see Samuel L Jackson, Emeril Lagasse, and Iggy Pop!

Plumbing

So this weekend, I took a shower and Brett knocked on the door and said I needed to see something. I came out and apparently downstairs under the shower the ceiling was bulging and water was dripping from the vent.

That is not a good sign.

This morning the plumber came over to see what was causing the problem. he cut a whole in the dining room ceiling (size of a piece of paper) and then started the shower.

Turns out the problem was not something horrible like a pipe bursting. it was our shower head. Right after moving in I had a hand held shower head installed (by a friend of mine) and it had adjustable settings and was way better than the original shower head. And for two years it has worked perfectly. cut to about 2 months ago, when we finally had our leaky bathtub faucets fixed (they dripped constantly since the day we moved in) and suddenly there was more water pressure coming into the shower head, and it started leaking out of the hose.

We didn't think anything of it, because why would you? turns out the water leaking from the hose was running down the wall of the shower and getting behind the faucet fixture and into the wall, and subsequently the ceiling below ("ceiling below"?! Dad is right, English is weird).

anyhoo, this is why I love renting! I would have hated to have called a plumber and had to pay a plumber only to find out I need to buy a new shower head. He put our old shower head back on, and this weekend I will go out to get a new and improved shower head. (Good thing I have a bed, bath & beyond gift card from Uncle Pop, from graduation!)


of course, now we have to call the handyman to come patch up the ceiling downstairs. so many repairs!

June is such a busy month - for being my down time

This month has started out very busy. I made over 500 phone calls, started a summer school class, had several meetings, went to the dentist, started a new workout routine, and started watching So You Think You Can Dance! and we are only 6 days into the month!

This is supposed to be my down time! no more school visits, fewer students to help complete applications or acceptance information. and yet, I feel like I am busy all the time.

Work has been weird. my mornings are spent answering emails and getting coffee with coworkers until it is late enough in the day to make phone calls, then I call between 50 and 70 students to see if they still plan to attend the university, of course most of them aren't - it is June after all, I would hope they have made up their minds by now, but you would be surprised how many are shocked they have anything to do after being admitted, like their fall classes are just going to appear or something.

My coworkers and I have been taking the slower work days to be a little more health conscious. we are bringing our lunches and getting better drinks at starbucks. I realize that sounds like an oxymoron but their black tea is really good - and you get 50 cent refills if you bring your same cup back in the afternoon. which means I get two 20oz teas for less than the price of one 16oz mocha. it is physically and economically sound!

In other news I have started my summer school class. it is called applied inquiry and we are split into groups and have to design a research project. the best part is we only need to design the project, we don't have to actually do the research or find results! and all of our research projects are based on a real world problem some university department needs help with. My group is working on a social networking issue. This is perfect for me because my boss at work knows I have a facebook for work specifically for my high school kids to friend me on and he wants me to talk to some of the other recruiters about starting one and what they can do for it. So now I just happen to be in a group that will be working with the people at the university running the university's facebook page! I will make a couple of great contacts as well as learn some stuff that can help me at work!

The class is going to be a lot of work because we will have to do a literary review and a lot of research on why our particular assessment is the best for this particular issue, but at least we can delegate the work.

This week I also ran into an event the honors college was a part of. I met up with an assistant dean who asked how I was doing and said they missed me. I told her i would be interested in coming back to the college if any new and exciting opportunities started up. and she said they might have some. I will see what that leads to, if anything, but at least I put my name out there.

What else? oh yeah, I did start a new workout plan. I found a workout playlist online at itunes. basically it has 4 tracks and it is going to train me to run a mile in 4 weeks. each week I play a new track and it tells me when to walk and when to run. it works for a treadmill or outdoors. I do the workout three times a week and this was my first week. it is 20 minutes long and i only run a total of 2 minutes in the whole thing, but it is definitely a workout. probably the coolest thing is that the treadmills at the student rec center have individual TVs attacted! so I can watch whatever I want while i run. it is perfect.

At home, Meg has moved out, which is sad, but for some reason Brett and I have started hanging out more. when I come home from working out after work she is usually in the living room watching TV. so we have started watching I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here and So You Think You Can Dance together. I'm a Celebrity is horrible and quite the guilty pleasure, somehow I can't turn it off. but So You Think...is one of the best shows on TV! the things these dancers can do is unbelievable! next week starts the actual competition! everyone in my office watches the show and we all talk about it the next day.

This week I was able to see Up and The Hangover as well. both are really funny movies, I mean seriously funny! but only Up is family friendly. It perfectly captures the attitude and behaviors of an 8 year old and a crotchety old man. hilarious! The Hangover is a move about a group of guys who can't remember anything that happened the night before at their bachelor party. It has so many funny parts you miss some of the jokes because you are laughing at the last one. definitely a movie that has to be seen more than once to truly enjoy. but I am still laughing at some of the parts - I will be quoting it for a very long time.

On Monday I get to go to Michaela's classroom and talk to her 8th graders about going to college and what to do all through high school to prepare themselves. it's going to be so fun to see her teach!

The rest of june is going to be pretty busy too - what I am looking forward to most is visiting Greg and Tomoko in about 2 weeks. I get to stay with them over father's day (I am sure Ariana is busy planning the perfect father's day). It will be a really fun vacation for me!

Watch Obama's speech for yourself!

Here is a link to the website where you can watch Obama's commencement speech

http://asunews.asu.edu/20090513_commencement

Enjoy!

The Historic Commencement

So, where do I start? How about with Monday.

On Monday my coworkers and I got an email saying our schedules had been checked and we were free to volunteer the day of commencement so our boss signed us up. yes, we were volunteered. no choice. And we were given notice that there would be training on Tuesday night at 7:30pm. None of us could attend because we are all attending high school awards nights this week.

So Tuesday, I get to my office and I have a voicemail and an email telling me I have been chosen as a lead volunteer. I find out that I have been selected to be in charge of a group of about 8 people and will be responsible for one of the main entrances into the event. Again I mention that I can't attend training and therefore might not be the best choice for being a lead, but they assure me one of my volunteers will attend training and fill me in. Ok cool.

Now it is Wednesday, and I have to be at the stadium by noon, to start leading my group at 1pm because guests start showing up at 1:30. I made sure that I was prepared for the sun, and the long hours. hat? check. cool clothing? check. Water? check. sunscreen? check. check me out!



I was in charge of the Rio Salado/Packard Drive intersection, which was definitely a main entrance. I told my team that our main duty was to welcome everyone to the university and thank them for attending. We were also to answer any questions and keep an eye out for any blatant contraband that people might be asked to throw away at the entrance (things like umbrellas, stadium seat cushions, big bags, etc).



my group was really great! we all had a lot of fun, and from about 1-6pm we were working our intersection, drinking as much water as possible, and reapplying sunscreen. For the most part people responded well to our cheery dispositions, but more than a few guests were cranky from the very beginning.



Yes it was very hot, and tiring, and hot. but check this out! I got to see Air Force One as it landed!



And once I got to get into the stadium I saw the motorcade as it drove up.



and secret service and SWAT teams keeping eagle eyes on the event



Here are some pictures from the largest graduation ceremony in the history of the US!




















The only sad thing was that after Obama's speech, the stadium cleared out and the event wasn't even half over.



I stayed until almost the end because Obama even commissioned all of the ROTC officers from all of the in state schools! and our Army ROTC commander is retiring this year, and his son is one of the cadets being commissioned in this pictures. so so cool!



At the end of the night we all had to wait for the motorcade to pass before we could leave the stadium parking lot



My camera isn't good enough at night, but I promise those are the remnants of the lights of the president's car!



It was such a cool event, and Obama had such a great and inspiring speech. he was even really funny. he poked fun at our lack of an honorary degree saying he learned a very important lesson: he will never again pick another team over the devils in his NCAA bracket, and the university will soon know what it is like to be audited by the IRS. hahahaha

Obama!

It was ah-mazing!!!!!!!

but I am exhausted, and have to be up super early tomorrow, more later.

Obama T-Minus 8 hours

Today is our historic commencement with President Obama! We are expecting over 63,000 people to fill out stadium. the bad news, everyone has to arrive between 2-5pm with 101 degree weather for a program that doesn't start until 7:30pm.

I have my ticket so I will be there snapping photos and soaking in this amazing opportunity! Actually I will be one of the first people there. I have to show up at noon because I was volunteered to help with commencement by my boss. not only that, I am a lead volunteer, so I get to be one of the first there. what am I in charge of you ask?! Getting people from the parking lots to the security checkpoints. yep, I am will be outside in a parking lot from 1pm to 7pm.

Don't worry, I have my survival kit: water, snacks, two visors, a bandana for my neck, shorts, tennis shoes, oh yeah, and sunscreen, which I will be applying liberally every hour, on the hour.

I am super excited actually, and I cannot wait to post pictures!!

Home Again

So even though I have been home for a while I guess I should officially post that I got home.

After Yellowstone we drove to Montana and went down a mountain in a snow flurry in 16 degree weather. that is a first for me. When we finally crossed into Canada, it was just was we expected no fun and humorless. that homeland security show on TV made it look a little more exciting, but some people take protecting a country from rogue tomatoes (and my dad's imaginary gun collection) just a little too seriously.

Once in Canada it was a lot of flat farm land - growing oil wells, haha. On Friday we went to the West Edmonton Mall. Supposedly one of the largest in North America. It has 800 stores, a water park, amusement park, and an ice rink. although it had some nice stores it really ran the gamut from a Coach purse store to Zellers (Canadian Walmart) and dollar stores. some of the clientele seemed kind of seedy too. It was still a fun evening, and we went to a great dinner place called Brewsters. We all cleaned our plates and mom and I enjoyed the local brew.

On saturday mom and I tried to clean up our infected computers. we both got infected with different viruses, so by the time we were done messing with computers I only had a couple hours until my flight home. So I suggested we play a few games and then go to A&W for lunch. We got out the dominoes - an Alaska vacation must have! - and Uno. We got very competitive and silly and couldn't breathe because we were laughing so hard. A&W was also delicious and then it was off to the single terminal international airport.

I walked to the ticket counter and the woman greeted me with "going to Phoenix?" yeah, that is how busy the airport was - it was the only afternoon flight the airline had that day. coincidently a different airline was boarding a flight to Phoenix at the gate next to mine. Apparently it is a very popular destination for Canadians, who knew!?

The flight was nice and I ended up sitting next to some young canadian guy who was vacationing in AZ for a week of golf. he was quite the world traveler and we talked the entire flight. he told me about cool places in canada to vacation at and I told him about the phx area.

I finally got home and spent my entire sunday lounging around catching up on my DVR. then hung out with one of my old college friends, Ryan. he came back for the weekend to see everyone - it was good timing too since he is a grad student at UCSD now and they had 100 degree weather last week.

now it is back to work and 16 voicemails, and 5 school visits. woot!

Wildlife Bingo

Today we went to Yellowstone! After a couple hour detour back through Idaho, we entered Yellowstone from the western entrance, which is actually located in the tip of Montana - before we even saw any animals in Yellowstone, we had gone from Wyoming to Idaho to Montana to Wyoming! All in about 3 or 4 hours. It was all snow covered with some green patches and lots of hot springs and geysers to heat things up!

Once in Yellowstone we couldn't go 20 minutes without seeing some sort of wildlife! So we decided to play wildlife bingo! First person to see five of the following: deer, elk, bison, wolves, grizzly bear, black bear, or a moose got to yell bingo


Mom or dad was first to see elk and buffalo eating together right at a pullout. We took pictures and the animals were so oblivious to us (or just didn't care) that they seemed tame. Although I have no desire to touch wild animals, I can definitely see why some people are stupid enough to try - they are right there! without fences!

We went up the road and I saw two coyotes. at first we thought they were wolves but upon binocular inspection they were in fact not. We went up the road and lo and behold more buffalo. more elk. buffalo in the road. more buffalo in the road. some elk. It became clear to us that the buffalo and the elk had been told it was their time to be on parade and they took every opportunity to be seen.

We then headed to Old Faithful and waited about an hour to see her blow! the sign in the visitor center said "we don't schedule we only predict. next eruption 10 minutes of 3pm" So we figured that was a 20 minute window. We headed out to the geyser - which is just outside the visitor center (how convenient of them to put the geyser right by the buildings, haha) and there is a boardwalk and benches in a half moon shape around Old Faithful. It was obvious that in the summer time this place was a tourist madhouse. all day long we were thankful we came to the park at this time of year - not everything was open, but there weren't any crowds and we saw everything we wanted to.

Sure enough at 2:55pm Old Faithful erupted! it was pretty cool and amazing to think that we were mere feet from a hole in the Earth's crust. Just like any tourist attraction, within seconds of the eruption's end, everyone got up to leave. We stayed behind to make sure there wouldn't be a second show, the same way you might sit through the credits of a movie to see if they put bloopers or a last scene after the credits.

As we headed out the north side of Yellowstone (since only the west and north sides were open) we came across one of the main attractions - a Grizzly Bear! We knew something was around because there were about 15 cars pulled over with people sitting with telephoto lenses. There was the bear, not 70 yards away! the funny thing was that while we were at Old Faithful, one of the park rangers said another ranger saw a grizzly at Roaring Mountain that morning. Sure enough, 3 hours later we see the sign for Roaring Mountain and immediately see the train of cars pulled over and there is the bear.

We definitely started thinking maybe the animals were in a union or something and had specific times they were to be out near the road (and always by a pullout - they are so polite) so that the tourists could see them. in the morning it was bison and elk, in the afternoon bears and wolves. who knew, but we saw so many animals, so often it defintely seemed like it was all orchestrated to be the perfect visit.

After the bear we saw a lone wolf out in a snowy meadow hunting mice. again, upon closer inspection it seemed eerily like a coyote, but dad was insistant that it was a wolf. perhaps more out of desire than truth? as we left the park we figured a moose would round out our Yellowstone bingo quite well! here moosey moosey. After all we had seen elk, bison, bears, and wolves, a moose would really be the only other thing we couldn't really find back home. but alas, I guess the moose were on a union strike or something because we still haven't seen one.

As we drove out of Yellowstone it was almost dusk (about 6:30 but with DST it was going to be light for another 2 hours) so we kept seeing elk and deer everywhere! the elk were literally in people's front yards and the deer where in huge herds in fields like cattle. in fact most of the time they were in the fields with the cattle! hahaha.

We were amazed that by the end of the day we had seen at least 1,000 deer - and none of them had been inside the park! they were all north of the park in the farmers' fields. in huge herds too.

Today we are camped in southern Montana, and may even cross into Canada tomorrow. Dad says it depends on the time of day. if we get to the border in the early afternoon we will cross, but if it is after 5pm he just wont have the patience for their lack of a sense of humor. (I am paraphrasing his reasoning, but I am sure that is why).

We will have to see. only a couple more days before I am back home. but I have enjoyed being cut off from the internet. I am much less likely to answer work email, so it is much more of a vacation from everything!

playing catch up

Ok, so no updates for 3 days because we have been dry camping or been without WiFi. And so much has happened! I will try to recount what I remember.

Monday
We left Flagstaff at around noon and headed north! We saw the Little Colorado River, and the actual Colorado River! Then I finally started my vacation, because it didn't seem real until we crossed a state line. We got into Southern Utah and noticed all the church steeples in every town! Ward after ward of LDS, so we were surprised and happy to see Big Rock Candy Mountain! Although not the original mountain, it was still a very nice restaurant and RV park as the only patrons of the restaurant and the RV park we definitely saw that 3 was a crowd for them! hahaha, we never saw anyone but the staff the whole time we were there.

This was also the day we experimented with me sitting in the passenger seat and mom sitting in the back seat of the truck. We had mentioned trying that out since this trip was originally a father/daughter road trip and mom's presence meant I no longer got the passenger seat! (I have never ridden in the front of a car on a road trip with my family). If you know me at all, you know that as a passenger I am very easy going - you can listen to whatever music you want, have the AC at the temp you want, and I will sit quietly in the back reading a book, or listening to my ipod.

Well, we put mom in the backseat and it was nonstop "turn the AC down" "change the balance on the speakers" "Turn the AC vent off of me" "Turn up/down the volume" "let me see the ipod" "can you hand me this" "will you take this and put it there?" It was funny but we all realized that mom was not a backseat passenger and after a couple hours we put her back in front. She claims she was content back there and liked all the room, but you would never know it because she never stayed quiet. It was really funny, and the next morning mom offered to sit in the back again but dad decided she would be a better hood ornament than backseat rider.

Tuesday
We left Big Rock Candy Mountain (we didn't have any candy but the cinnamon rolls were yummy)and headed north! again! This time we got through Provo, Salt Lake, and Ogden - it definitely felt like a megalopolis and it was the only time we stayed on interstate. We got out of Utah and entered Idaho - this was also the day we saw our first deer, and maybe elk, so it started to feel like vacation. We saw lots of snow capped peaks and even started driving in some very snow covered areas! we saw vast open meadows of snow that were covered in snowmobile tracks and it definitely got cold! I think we even saw it dip into the 40s in the afternoon. We were laughing all day long and were glad to have a bathroom attached to the truck.

We left Idaho and got into Wyoming, spending the night in a podunk town named Alpine. Dad looked at the map and called the Yellowstone road hotline to see which roads were open. Turns out we were planning to enter from the south entrance (which would let us go through the Grand Tetons too!) but it was closed. So Wednesday started with a detour back into Idaho to come into Yellowstone from the west entrance.

On the Road Again...

I am updating simultaneously as my mom creates her first blog entry (so check it out under Peggie & Bill's Adventures)

We left for our road trip today - well for me it is a road trip, for my parents it is a 6 month summerbird trip. I am only along for the ride for a week. and of course the adventure started last night when my parents realized we would already have an "adventure" (read: delay due to repairs) because part of our air suspension broke. so we are chillaxin' in Flagstaff until tomorrow when the truck gets fixed. Hopefully this is the only setback, since I only have a week and I want to be out on the open road.

We had lunch today with the extended family and friends. it was really nice to see everyone! of course, now that I have a car to use, I can see everyone whenever I want, but mom and dad will be gone for so long I guess they figured they are worried everyone will forget what they look like if they don't get one last get together in there. no, actually, we are just close with the family and it will be a long time not to see them. I am actually planning on coming back up to the verde valley to visit Jerome with a friend of mine - hopefully we will stop by my grandma's house, she isn't quite over the river and through the woods but she is through old town and past the moose lodge, so that is still and adventure right?!

I just want you to know the last time I made this trek with my parents, not only was I nine years old, but in order to communicate with friends, we either had to use a pay phone or mail a letter, and here I am blogging on my laptop accessing the free wifi from the RV park...talk about a hard life out on the road.

We will see what tomorrow brings. hopefully we will be in Utah for the night and not stuck in Flagstaff - I am not sure it is a true road trip until we cross a state line.

more later.

End of Trip - with Pictures!

Here are all the photos!

My last work day in Minneapolis was pretty uneventful. the news the night before had said it might snow a bit in the morning and then be rainy in the afternoon, so I woke up an extra half hour early to make sure the roads wouldn't be covered in snow.

I drove down to Rochester, and it was significantly smaller than Minneapolis, I mean, I couldn't even find a Caribou Coffee! I had to get Dunn Bros. and it was awful.

in Faribault I ended up talking to one girl for over an hour, but she is very excited about coming to the university now.

On Saturday I was determined to spend the day in the Mall of America. I had gotten through the first floor on Thursday, but I had all day to get through the other two. then I had lunch with my middle school friend Allison! we just both happened to be in Minneapolis for various events and got to meet up! I hadn't seen her in a couple of years and we have both graduated and gotten jobs since then. totally random, and really nice! I didn't realize how much time I had spent alone not talking to anyone, it was great to have a friendly face.

I am really glad to be home and back into my normal routine, but it was fun to be on a business trip for the first time!

Fair Day

Today I had two fairs to get to on the other side of town - by 6:45am. The funny thing was that all the college reps had to meet at a mall and there were buses waiting to take us to the first fair - seeing about 60 adults professionally dressed on buses is pretty funny, but the funniest part was when we arrived and we all piled out of the buses got our rolling suitcases out and swarmed towards the gym.

The fair was pretty successful but way too long. all the reps were starting to drag and then we all remembered we had another fair to get to! we piled back on the busses and got to the second school and it felt like an eternity! 5 hours of hundreds of students asking you the same questions can get very tiring. "what is your school known for?" "do you have sports at your school?" "you're the number one party school right?" "I don't know what I want to study - I want to play baseball"

but I did see several students in maroon and gold! turns out they have a really good baseball program and we actually have been recruiting them, so they proudly wore sun devil gear.

after the fairs I pretty much just wanted to sleep, but I decided hanging out in my hotel room was a waste of a week in a new city, so I went to the Mall of America! I was very tired, so I only walked around the first floor (there are 4) and had dinner and went to see "He's Just Not That into You". The food was good - I had a cheese burger, but the best part was the salt and vinegar french fries, they were definitely puckering. Also, the best iced tea I have ever had was there. it was black current, and it was a really subtle berry flavor, so it just took away the bitter taste without really adding too much fruity flavor. The movie was really cute too. I am going back to the mall tomorrow and saturday for the other floors, no need to tire myself out too much just for shopping.

Workday/Vacationday

Today I had 5 schools again but no fairs so I got the afternoon to myself!

I decided not to eat at the hotel breakfast buffet today because it costs so much, and I tried to find a Caribou Coffee (the local starbucks-like chain, but starbucks is everywhere too) to start my day, but somehow the directions I looks up didn't work, and I wasted all my breakfast time driving around and I still had 20 miles on the highway to get through, so I ditched the idea and headed to the school.

My first school didn't have any students waiting for me, so I got to leave early and the front desk lady gave me great directions to the local hot spot cafe for breakfast. it is called Keys Cafe and Bakery and boy was it worth it! best french toast of my life and the hashbrowns were so crispy! I got a cinnamon bun for the road (aka for breakfast tomorrow when I have to be on the other side of town at 6:45 in the morning and dont want to think about breakfast) and went to the rest of my schools. I had several really good visits with about 8 kids each.

Then for the afternoon I headed to downtown Minneapolis to check out the worlds biggest target and the nicollet mall area (a nice pedestrian street downtown). Parking was a nightmare to find, but once I did find a place to park I got to use the skywalks! they really do connect every building like a maze so, although it was still almost 50 degrees and windy, I didn't have to walk outside.

Turns out the target isn't the world's largest. bummer. but it does have a 3 story front entrance and it is a two story store - it has an escalator called a vermaport which is a dual escalator for you...and your shopping cart!

The rest of the street was pretty fun too, many of the tall office buildings had retail stores in the bottom couple of floors and the skywalks went right through some stores! You have to walk through the men's department at Macy's just to get through the building! talk about prime real estate, hahaha

I ate at a place called the Newsroom. it was kind of a sports bar kind of place, but it did have good food.

I left downtown around 6pm and for the first time have been able to lounge in the hotel room without having to hurry up and answer email so I could go to bed to wake up early the next day. yay!

Days 2 and 3

I passed out last night before updating on my first work day in MN.

I visited 5 schools and attended a college fair. of the school visits, the first couple didnt have any students show up, and then the 3rd one had 8 students! then one or two for the others. My GPS was not quite as friendly as i wanted it to be and it caused me a lot of u-turns. luckily I wasn't late to any visits.

I found a place called Cristos for dinner before my fair. It is a greek restaurant with excellent hummus, but the pita sandwiches are stuffed inside the pita (like a pocket) instead of the pita wrapped around it (like a taco) so all the meat was on top and all the lettuce was in the bottom, good food, but that was weird. I got baklava to go and it was delicious!

I got to the fair and don't see my name listed. the organizer comes over and says he got an email that was sent to all the fair organizers that said we had cancelled all our fair visits for the week!! I thought he was joking, but he wasnt. So I called work (it was still before 5pm at home) and told them we had been cancelled for the week, and they got on it right away to get me back on.

The organizer was so nice, he had given me a table in the back (fairs always put the schools in alphabetical order) so I was near West Point, but then he moved my table all the way to the front of the A's so I would at least be in my part of the alphabet. it was perfect! I was the first table every student saw! I even made contact with an alumni that would love to help. Over all it was a great day!

Today, I had four schools and a fair. the school visits in general had better turn out but the most embarrassing/funniest thing that could happen did. I walked into my second school and the career counselor had the exact.same.outfit.on. I am not joking. we had the exact same sweater vest on (from NY & Co) over a white button down shirt and black pants. the students all had to comment on it, and it was kind of hard to laugh it off, but what else are you going to do?! it was so crazy.

Then I get to the fair tonight and the woman at the table next to me had a sweater on that was exactly like my sweater vest again but it was a full sweater. Still it was noteworthy for the other reps - how did that happen to me twice in one day! this fair wasn't nearly as busy either.

I ended up eating at a chain restaurant here called Leeann Chin - it is like Panda Express, but not as good. Tomorrow after my schools I am either going to the Mall of America or downtown Minneapolis. I haven't decided yet.

Minnesota!

I have officially landed in Minneapolis! and luckily for me, it looks like a warm spell has come with me so it will be a balmy 40 to 50 degrees for my whole week here. Just to put it in perspective, I just watched the news and they said the low tonight is going to be 38 degrees - which is the average daytime high this time of year, apparently for MN this is May weather. For me it is the nighttime low in January. hahaha, crazy.

my flight got in late so I didn't get to Minnesota until 4pm. I had planned to drive around town and aclimate myself for my schools tomorrow. Instead, I decided to pick one school to try to find today using the GPS i brought. it works pretty well, but sometimes didn't give me enough time between telling me I would need to turn and the turn coming. So part of me is a little nervous about using it tomorrow when I have to go to five schools and a fair, but overall I think i just need to get used to it.

my hotel has a display of brochures on restaurants, so I perused and picked up a couple. After I felt comfortable with my GPS I made it take me to Rudolph's. it is a bbq place near downtown minneapolis (I couldn't tell you exactly because I missed a couple turns from my GPS and had to loop around the freeways a little bit). The food was great! they brought my cole slaw out before the meal, like a salad, which was weird but it was so gooood! it was like KFC cole slaw but much tangier, almost burning. and the ribs were excellent too. This place even serves Carnegie Deli cheesecake! My goal is to eat at as many places I don't see at home as possible, so I am looking forward to it.

I have taken some pictures, but will have to wait to upload. I will update again tomorrow!