What I've Been Up To

I've been up to a lot lately.  It's mostly been work, but there have been a few fun times as well...

Toy Story 3
I saw Toy Story 3 on opening weekeng, and let me tell you (if you haven't given in and seen it yet), it's the BOMB.com!  I'll be honest, I cried (HARD) several times.  It made me really nostalgic for my childhood, and it also reminded of how bittersweet it was to leave for college.  I highly recommend it.  Pixar has done it again!

Aeropostale Sale

Later that day I went shopping at the mall and ran across a sale that Aeropostale was having.  Just about their entire store was on sale.  I got a lot of cute polos and graphic tees to replace my crumbling old t-shirts.  Plus a super cute swim suit cover.

Fun, huh?

Census

Things have been wrapping up at the Census office for our big NRFU (Non-Response Follow Up) operation. We got an e-mail the other day that said Provo and Ogden were some of the last offices to finish it up, but that we had done a better quality job in several specific categories.  It was nice to hear some praise after weeks of being told to "just get it done." 

On Thursday, Davy Jones and I FINALLY finished up the last questionnaires from our big project!  It was a good feeling, but after that we sat around wondering what to do next.  Haha, guess we'll have to do some of the grunt work for a while.

Here are some of my buddies from the office:

Top: Soup Dave, me, Sammy, Dick

Bottom: Davy Jones, Nancy

And a comic on our bulletin board that is only too true...

Getting Ready for Eclipse

1. Read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. 

(Entire book is FREE online until July 5th at www.breetanner.com).  

It's really good! And it's a fast read, only 178 pages.  Thanks, Mom, for sharing.

Check!

2. Re-read Eclipse, since I forgot the entire story.  (Currently in progress)

3. Re-watch Twilight.

4. Re-watch New Moon.

5. See Eclipse!

Coming Up This Week:  Provo's Freedom Festival and Stadium of Fire!

Life Updated

Hey there.

Yeah, not much is going on in my life.

Working between 50 and 60 hours a week.  That's pretty much all I do.

I got called as an FHE group leader for this summer.  It's going to be really good, my group seems fun, and my 'husband' is from Chile.  Last week we combined with another group to play soccer (which, I realized, I'm absolutely no good at) and tonight we had an awesome spiritual thought then introduced ourselves to everyone, telling about our most serious or recent injury.  Good stuff.

I've been reading ravenously since I got hooked on Uglies last week, and so I'm itching to get my hands on more books.  If only I didn't have to work so much, I could read to my heart's desire!

I bought my plane ticket home for this summer.  I decided that since I'm working so hard Spring Term that I'm going to come home for a whole month!  I can not wait to party and hang out with all my buddies and go to the BEACH (that is, if they aren't slicked in oil) and go to theme parks (omgosh-- HARRY POTTER!!) and be hot in the wonderful humidity.

It snowed today.  It was an adventure riding my bike to campus in that.  I was completely soaked and didn't dry out until about 5 hours later.  Lame.  Tree branches broke everywhere from the weight of the snow on the leaves, and at work we got a call about a power line that fell on a car.  Yikes.  Plus, everyone's gardens are now nicely frozen.  Gotta love Utah (or not).

I got new shoes last week.  My old ones had holes everywhere, side of the foot, toe, sole, it was pretty bad.  I ordered some Vans online that I've wanted for a while.  Best thing was they were 20% off and free shipping!  Love!

Yay for new shoes!

Well, I think that's it for me.  Hope you are doing as wonderful as I am (or wonderful-er)!

Thoughts on Hypocrisy and Army Wives

Image source

I've been thinking a lot about some things after a conversation I had with a coworker, Garett, at my new job.  He's a really nice guy, funny, flirty, etc., and he's in the army.  I remember the first few days I met him, he was talking about basic and deployment and such, and because of that I automatically ruled him out as a potential romantic interest.  

Why?  Because my cousin is in the army and was deployed all of last year.  I saw his wife's daily struggles, how much she missed him and how hard it was to only get to see him for a couple weeks at a time very occasionally.  I just thought to myself that that's exactly how I would feel.  I imagine that I will want to see my husband everyday, have him around for comfort and security, and not worry about him all the time.  And so I silently vowed to myself that I would never marry someone in the military.  There were other things, too, like having to move around a lot and uprooting ourselves and our kids socially and academically.  I was convinced that these were all great reasons.

Then I was talking to Garett the other night at work, and I asked him about why he joined the army.  Later, he asked me if I thought a man in uniform was attractive.  I avoided the question, trying to figure out what I to say.  The conversation went something like this.

Garett: Does seeing a guy in uniform spark anything in you?  A military uniform?

Me:  My uncle gave me some of his old desert camo and I really like that.  [Avoiding the question]

Garett:  That's not what I meant.

Me:  What do you mean? [Stalling]

Garett: Like, is it attractive?  

Me:  Mmm, maybe the navy.  [This is true, I really like the navy uniform]

Garett:  Ah, the sea daaaawgs.  You know they're all gay right?

Me: Sadly, they're the best-looking.

Garett: Do you at least think something like, "He has a job, he's not lazy"?

Me:  Yeah, I guess so.

A few minutes later:

Garett:  So, what do you think about guys in the military?

Me:  I don't know.  [Yes, I do, I just don't want to say it.]  I mean, I don't think it's a bad thing, I think it's good discipline for a guy, and I support our troops and all...

Garett:  But you just don't know how close to home you want it?

[And THAT was the kicker that got me thinking.]

Me: Yeah... is that bad?

Garett:  No, I don't think so.

----------

Well, now that I think about it, I DO think it's a bad thing for me to have that mentality.  I've always thought it was wrong of people to be so selfish that they wanted to live in our free country but wouldn't be willing to have their family members sent off to war.  Let some other family's son or husband die for you.  I guess I just always thought that was what other people thought, and didn't realize I had pretty much the same mentality.  I felt like a total hypocrite.  

Since that conversation I've been thinking a lot about the possibility that I could have to see my husband and sons sent off to war.  Conditions in this world most likely aren't going to get better from here.  What if full-blown war broke out and they were drafted?  That's something I couldn't control, even if they weren't enlisted in the military before that. 

I've finally come to the conclusion that  I need to have a less selfish attitude about the military.  After all, I've always believed that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" and that it is noble to sacrifice your life for your country.  How can I believe those things and not be willing to live them?

Sometimes inspiration really does come from unlikely sources.

Census Job

Image source: BCNN1.com

So, as I mentioned before, I got a full time job with the U.S. Census Bureau that I started yesterday (Wednesday).  I went in for training at 8:30 in the morning and had to wait about 45 minutes before there was an employee free to train us, they're that busy.

Training was one of those boring ones where you sit and fill paperwork out while the trainer reads a script.  Luckily, office clerk training is only a few hours long (unlike the enumerators--door knockers-- who have to train for 3 or 4 days).  I also got fingerprinted, which was an interesting experience since it was my first time.  It just seems like there's no easy way to do it.  The guy did notice the interesting groove pattern on my left hand index finger.  :)

Then we had lunch break, and then I started work.  They really didn't have assignments for us, so I was passed from person to person until I was in the area with the schedule I wanted.  Then they just kind of threw me in and said 'good luck!'  Happily, I was able to figure things out quickly, and a couple hours later I was walking around the office doing things like a professional. ;) Ok, maybe not quite, but I felt really comfortable.

The office was so busy that they called in enumerators to help out.  And, they told everyone in the office that overtime was open.  Sweet!  I ended up staying until almost 11pm.  Talk about making some serious money!

I spent the whole day doing QC (quality control) for the enumerator binders.  I got pretty dang good at it, too, after that long.  The hardest part was that we had so many different supervisors telling us to do different things, and we didn't quite know who to listen to.  There wasn't much of an order to things, so that gave me a chance to put my love of organizing to work.  I think this job is really going to satisfy that love.  And, I kind of like the hectic setting of the office because there's always something to do and that drives me.

I also had to learn a lot of acronyms like LCO, FOS, QC, EQ, LMR, NRFU, etc.  I think the government probably has more abbreviations than the Church!  Haha.  Good stuff.

Finals and New Job

BYU's finals ended yesterday (Wednesday), and I am so happy to be out of classes for the Spring term, and maybe Summer as well!  And I am LOVING this warm weather (despite the fact that it did snow this morning...hmm).

I'll be staying to work in Provo for spring and summer, and coming home for a couple of weeks to play!

In other news, I found a temporary second job yesterday.  I'll be working with the U.S Census Bureau in a clerical position, full time, for 8 weeks starting next Wednesday.  This is the third job offer I've received from them, and the first time that my schedule worked out for me to be able to accept it.  I'll still be working my other part time job with BYU Info, so it's going to be a crazy 2 months working 60 hours per week.  I definitely won't have a social life, but I'll be making some serious money, so I guess the trade-off is okay.  :)

Guess that's it for updates right now.  Did I mention I LOVE SUMMER?

Operator Retreat

A couple weeks ago my work threw a retreat.  They ahuled us up in vans to this cute little place in the mountains called Hatch Patch and we spent half the day up there doing team-building activities.

To be honest, I really didn't expect it to be much fun.  I'm not a huge fan of things like that.  BUT, it turned out to be a really great time, and I enjoyed getting to know my fellow operators.

Here are some pictures from the day:

Operator Olympics!

This is my team leader, Arron, running in the Olympic torch in his toga

Making a country flag

Our country name was "Determa," so we were the Determa-nation :)

That's me holding the stick

Our motto:  "Never give up!  Never surrender!"

I drew the stars-- skills!

Presenting our nation and flag

Playing  "hobble-ball";  we got saran-wrapped and then played volleyball

P.S. It was freezing cold- I was wearing shorts!

Hobble-ball

Every nation did skits at the end.  They turned out pretty funny.

Here's my group (we were synchronized swimmers)

Diving in to begin our synchronized performance

I got an award for these awesome balancing skills ;)

 

Arm waves

Awards ceremony

Certificate for Slaughtering Stars (drawing awesome stars on the flag) and Best Balanced (in the skit)

I got a JOB!

Ok, so this is a pretty spontaneous announcement, sorry to spring it on your so randomly, but it just got sprung on me, too. I got a job in Provo as an RA (Resident Assistant- I'm in charge of a building of girls living at BYU), and will be leaving in a week and a half.

There, I said it. :/

Yesterday I got a call from the manager of the apartment complex where I lived on campus at BYU last year. I had previously applied to be an RA for Spring and Summer terms this year, but turned down the job offer when I decided to come home for my (non-existant) job at Regal. Of course, then, when I found out I really didn't have a job at Regal, I was all upset that I'd turned down the RA job. So, I called back the housing office, asking if there was an opening for summer term, possibly to continue Fall/Winter. That was about a month ago, and I hadn't heard back yet, so I'd pretty much given up on that. But then yesterday I get the call, and he offered me a position for summer term! I thought about it over night, talked about it with my parents, and decided to accept it. It's a great position and good pay, plus it will let me look for a job for the Fall out there, too.

The position starts June 19, and I need to be there for training June 16th. My flight leaves Monday, June 15th at 7 in the morning. I'm really pretty sad that I have to leave so soon, and just as I was getting used to the idea of being home. I have only about a week and a half left in Orlando. (So if you want to hang out with me, it had better happen soon!) You can be sure I'll be making the most of my last week and a half!

I'm sure going to miss you all again.