Songs About Rain

10 Things I've Learned As A Cashier

2008-09-25T20:08:00.004-05:00

1)Busy Is Better Than Dead
A four hour shift that you don't do much seems longer than a seven hour shift where you are checking people nonstop.

2)Smile And Nod
If they use your name, they probably know you from somewhere. Smile and nod and pretend you know them even if you swear you've never seen them before.

3)Don't Assume They Don't Speak English
Just because they are Hispanic, don't assume they don't understand you. Treat them like every other customer. They appreciate it, even if their English leaves something to be desired.

4)Make Fun Of The Other Cashiers
It makes the day move faster and more fun. Extra points if you make fun of your managers.

5)I Hate People
The job wouldn't be as bad if it weren't for the customers.

6)If You Don't Know, Delegate
If someone asks you something and you don't know the answer, or know the answer is something they don't want to hear, send them to someone you don't know or, in the later case, to someone you don't like.

7)Audits Aren't Necessarily A Bad Thing
If your manager audits your register, it doesn't mean you did something wrong. They just need to audit a certain number a week.

8)5 Minute Conversations
Pick a new topic for every customer based either on something they say, something they are wearing, or something they are buying.

9)I'm Not Good At Names
People know me. I don't know them.

10)I'm good At Faking It
I can carry on a conversation without knowing the person, or without knowing the topic.

Wow, It's Been A While

2008-09-16T22:26:00.003-05:00

So about a week ago, I went to go see Mitch and James run in a cross country meet. In my honest opinion, everyone should see one in their lifetime. Just one. Anyway, here is me and James before his race.

Here is James lining up to start the race. Beside him you can see the Okaboji Jr High girls team who missed their race, and decided to run with the boys. You can tease James. Some of them beat him!

Here he is makeing a last minute sprint towards the finish line.

...And here he is right after he finished running. He got 7th! Much better than last year's second-to-last performance.

And here is Mitch running (posted due to the fact he asked me not to).

He didn't do too bad. Well, he didn't finish dead last...

Anyway, I'll try to post more often now. Of course, this means y'all shold post more too...

How To Do Long Subtraction

2008-08-31T01:09:00.004-05:00

Living Historty

2008-08-21T07:56:00.021-05:00

Living History Farms! I hadn't been there since the 4th grade.
Becky having fun at the Indian wigwam.

The 1800's farm. And the menfolk cutting grass.

James was scary with this thing. I thought he was going to let go and kill someone.

Exploring...

Mike doing women's work.

Moving forward in time. We were all happy about this except Mike.

Mom made a friend.

You can't see it, but this seat bounces.

By this point we were all tired and hungry.

If only Mike were this enthusiastic about mowing the lawn at home...

This one seems pretty self-explanatory.

The waitress advised against Mike ordering this because she didn't think he'd be able to finish it.

...but he finished it! Though, he didn't finish his fries.

At the blacksmith's, one of them showed us a knife blade and the wire used to make it.

Look at us good little kids excited to be in school.

I always knew Becka was a bad child...

Becky at the wood workers.

Mike and James spent so much time at the blacksmiths (read, they stayed there the entire time that the rest of us were exploring the village) that they were allowed to go behind the security chain, and Mike got to stoke the fire.

As per tradition, at the end of the day, your day pass sticker goes on some piece of public furniture outside. Not shown: the completely wallpapered trashcans.

Zoo: Part 1

2008-08-19T13:07:00.013-05:00

Car trips. When you leave early in the morning, people like to sleep.
Omaha Zoo. The greatest zoo in the world. Yes. I still like zoos. Here is me hugging the world. Here are us girls looking at...

the cute tigers!

Even though it was over 100*, there were those that were able to keep cool.

Meet Henry the Hippo. He eats people.

Henry was hungry enough to go back for seconds. High on a hill was a lonely goat herd... Becky was obsessed with the budgies.

And yet another pretty bird. That wandered around. Unfortunately we couldn't catch one and smuggle it home.

End part 1. But wait, there's more...

Zoo: Part 2

2008-08-08T14:07:00.012-05:00

Start Part 2: Sea Otters! Soooo cute!
Meercat! In the Desert Dome!

The cute rock dwellers.

The arrival of uncle Jim from Lincoln.

And his kids, Levi, Caleb, and the twins Grace

...and Micah.

'Allo. My name's Bruce...

Levi. The Shrimp.

Penguins! My favoritist animal!

Baby shark, do do, do do do do...

Move on.

Zoo: Part 3

2008-08-08T12:33:00.019-05:00

Begin the 3rd (and longest). Fishies, fishies, everywhere!
Look at the pretty, fragile creatures in the...

Flutterfly house!

Look at the monkeys!

The hills are alive, with the sound of music...

They're touching the snake! Oh, wait. It's a vine.

Are you having fun yet?

Awww.... You can tell why all the girls have a crush on him...

When you're not tall enough to look over the edge, improvise!

Ahhhhh!

Crikey! Look at the size of those things!

Cheese!

Pretty bird! Pretty bird!

Watch your step!

We enter yet another continent.

Charity, Charity, Charity of the Jungle. Watch out for that tree!

Reach high, to the sky, and you still can't reach the first branch.

Side B. Side B.

Zoo: Part 4

2008-08-08T11:59:00.017-05:00

Jim and the stroller stroll along the Amazon Trail.
Help! Becky's being abducted by aliens!

Peek-A-Boo! I see you!

We're being eaten!

All the little kiddies on the lions.

Becky and the twins riding Simba.

Caleb!

The boys on top of the world.

Don't fall in!

Advise posted next to the gators:

SOMEONE ignoring the warning.

Creatures of the night, come out to play!

High on the hill lived a lonely goat herd...

Taking a break from the heat in the aviary.

End Part 4. Please move on to Part 5.

Post # 100: Part 5

2008-08-08T11:35:00.012-05:00

Start part 5. Sea lions!
The fishes swarming. They like popcorn too, you know.

Me riding a rhino. Cool, huh?

Mike and his girlfriend.

Becky, dead on the turtle.

Gracie and the duck (swan?).

All of us cooled off in the spray by the elephants.

We weren't the only ones who were hot.A third of our group waiting for another third of our group to catch up to us while the other third went on ahead.

The newest fashion statement: 3-D Bug Glasses!

End. Go home. Sleep.

Rie

2008-08-03T16:53:00.003-05:00

I was looking through my last few posts, and I just realized that I haven't posted any pics of our Japanese sister. This is mainly because I haven't had my camera lately, and as such have not taken many pictures. So without further ado: Rie!

Pot Luck. Hooyer Style.

2008-08-03T16:28:00.008-05:00

We had a pot luck today. Of course, all who regularly read this blog (and are not in my immediate family) were not there. This made for a sad event. For all of about two seconds. Anyway, the pot luck was to remember Grandpa's birthday and also because some people who are related to us were here from California. I don't know them so I didn't pay them much attention.

The swings: no matter how old you are, they are still fun.
The line beginging to form for food.

Mike pushing his little brother, er, cousin Ethan.

Mike and Dexter learning how to share.

Heidi and Holly. James forgot who they were (Holly was HeatherHollyOrHannah and Heidi was HeyYou).

Probably the most intense game of Connect Four ever played. Thankfully Grandma was there to mediate.

Marco! Polo!

2008-08-01T10:07:00.006-05:00

We got ponies! And someone (dad) was complaining that we hadn't posted pictures of them. Here goes: James on his favorite, Polo... ...Becky on our second pony, Marco...

...me on my favorite pony...

...and here's Sarah on Polo.

They are cute and I love them. And when I say 'them,' I mean mostly Marco.

Work, Ponies, Cards, and Movies

2008-07-31T21:27:00.003-05:00

If your wondering why I haven't posted, I have a very good excuse: work. I miss a lot of activities because I work, and then when I do get to do the activities, I don't blog about them because I work right afterwords. The 4-11 shift translates to "you no longer have a summer."

We got ponies! Marco and Polo! They don't look like those shaggy hill ponies, but like miniature horses. My favorite pony is Marco. He actually listens (when he feels like it) and is cuter than Polo. Actually, everyone (but James) likes Marco the best (and let's face it, James isn't the crunchiest cookie in the box). Anyway, James and I took Marco and Polo over to Paul and Maria's one day. We get there and Dillon runs out of the place waving his arms yelling 'Ponies! Ponies!' I than realize that I have to be at work in an hour and it takes me 20 minutes to drive there. And I need to shower because I smell liked four-hoofed animal. So I call Sarah to come pick me up to drive me home, and to take Mike to take care of Marco. Thankfully, I made it on time.

Anne came over on Sunday night to play cards. We ended up playing rook. It was really fun. I haven't played rook in the longest time. It was made funner by the subsequent creaming of Mike and Dad by me and Anne. I think the final score was something like 230 to 850.

Also on Saturday we (all the kids minus Becky and plus Rie) went and saw The Dark Knight. I thought it was really good, though not as good as the hype said it would be. Rie thought it was really scary, but I don't really get frightened by movies (which is why I don't really watch horror movies), so I was fine. We also saw the X-Files movie today. It was ok, but it would have been better as a slightly longer TV episode than a full length film. But Skinner made an appearance, so all is forgiven.

Becky's Having Fun. I'm Not.

2008-07-18T09:28:00.004-05:00

I know dad has erratically posted pics of Becky's trip that he got from the tour sight. Here are some that he missed. I'm posting them because someone (coughsarahcough) told me I needed to have pictures on my posts, and as Becka has my camera...

First off, the group in front of the Heidelberg castle.
Becky, Paula, Elizabeth, Hannah?, and Brantner (the extremely cool teacher who made this all possible) in Venice.

And the last stop of the trip: Paris.

Fun Times!

2008-07-17T23:44:00.004-05:00

I bet y'all been wondering what fun things have been occupying my time so that I haven't been able to blog. Let me tell you, it's probably the most exciting thing you've ever heard of! I've been working! For eight days straight! And when I haven't been working, I've been sleeping! Cool, huh?

Oi. I am so glad that I have tomorrow off. One more day of glassy-eyed smiles and fake salutations and I would go bonkers. Insane. Three fries short of a happy meal.

Of course it won't be much of a day off, as all I'm doing is driving up to Minneapolis with dad and Sarah to pick up Becky from the airport. And then come straight back home. I'll probably be more exhausted at work on Saturday than I was today.

The Top 5 Reasons I Like Becka Being Gone

2008-07-12T00:47:00.002-05:00

5) She has my camera, so I have an excuse for not posting pictures.

4) Strawberry pie is cut into six pieces instead of eight.

3) The computer is not tied up with someone watching House episodes.

2) Her room will be free for when Rie (our Japanese student) arrives.

1) She's bringing me home souvenirs!

4th Part 2: The Hooyers

2008-07-11T09:29:00.013-05:00

Mwa ha ha ha.... The two reasons I love this holiday? Family and explosions. And not necessarily in that order.
Me going for the hot dogs. One package of hot dog buns was buttered! No one has claimed responsibility for this heinous act, but I'm pretty sure it was mom.

All the kiddies playing with explosives.

Me playing with fire! Ok. It's a parachute that I'm test lighting. I got to set off a lot of the rockets at night!

All us cool people playing Quiddler. Someone played with my camera settings and I didn't notice until after I took this picture that the flash was turned off.

Anika post snakes. You know, those black circles that you light on fire and then they grow...

Mitch trying to look smart with my glasses. Unfortunately I needed them back because I'm blind without them.

Kings and Slaves after the fireworks. Another almost-tradition. Notice Katie. She doesn't like having her picture taken.

...but I forced her to take a 'nice' one.

James having the time of his life.

4th Part 1: The Sandbultes

2008-07-04T15:33:00.021-05:00

Sandbulte reunion on the 4th of July. In Rock Valley. Every single year.

Becky shuffling the Old Maid cards. I haven't played it in a while. We also used the cards to play go fish. We didn't have any real cards.
Me lazing in the sun.

Katie. She had never been on a merry-go-round the correct way.

Everyone eats!

Me playing softball.

I hit a home run!

Ruth watching the game.

Seth from Michigan playing ball.

Me watching the games.

James watching the players.

Waiting for a ride on a horse drawn imitation Wells Fargo carriage.

Sarah and James inside.

Me imitating a dog in a car.

Exit carefully when the ride comes to a complete stop.

Ruth got to ride up top.

James and Seth go one more round.

Becka Beats Boyden-Hull

2008-06-27T19:14:00.010-05:00

Becky and the team Pow-wow before the play.
Ecker-Becker-Soda-Cracker waiting to bat.

Dad and Sarah at the game

The correct place for the ball to be released: at the hip.

Here is Becky at the plate.

The vid is of a Becky-Pitch. You can't hear it, but the ump called it a strike.

Ok. So that title really isn't true, but Becka Ties With Boyden-Hull just wasn't as alliterative. Becky did really well pitching. Except for an alarming tendency to lean forward. Sometimes. But they only had one true hit off of her (the only run they did score was on errors). Oh. This was the JV game. The varsity game is still going, but since it is unlikely that Becka will play any that game, I left early.

I Missed It!

2008-06-27T14:10:00.005-05:00

Arg! I just noticed that five days ago was my one year anniversary for blogging! And I missed it! I was going to throw a party. Balloons! Streamers! Music! Dancing! Cake! Everyone invited!

Ok. I was just going to post something that made a quick note of it. In honor of this, listen to Gary Allen's Songs About Rain sometime today.

I'm Bored

2008-06-25T01:24:00.002-05:00

Right now I am posting just for the novelty of posting at 1:25 in the morning. I'm having one of those nights that I'm not tired, can't fall asleep, but am not in the mood to do anything.

Not much has been going on with me. I sleep. I get up. I go to work. I go home. I sleep.

I don't see much of my family except in passing. I went all the way through today not realizing that Mike left for camp yesterday.

Wow. Short sentences. I must be tireder than I thought.

Another Late Update

2008-06-21T10:10:00.017-05:00

Ok. I realize that this month I am the poster child for posting long after events happen. That being said: here we go again. This was the Saturday right after VBS. The guy who donated a lot to mom's hospital just so he could get his name put on the sign threw a company picnic. Sarah and Mike didn't want to go so we took the leech instead.

We rode the rides...

...which were very fun...

...and James got a new girlfriend from Hartley.

Here are we four musketeers. Just like the book. Yes, there were actually four of them.

Mitchell's shoes suddenly had knots in them...

...which were probably put there by one of these two dirtbags.

Becky and Mitch dancing to the music in their heads.

James looked a little bored waiting for the concert to start.

The reason why Mitch should never grow a mustache:

Dad and Becky saving our spot while we went on a few more rides. Thank you Becka!

Sheryl Crow...

...and Rascal Flatts!

...and more Rascal Flatts!

In all, a very fun night. And the best part was it was all free! Thank you Mr. Sanford!

Day 5: Finally Friday

2008-06-18T10:51:00.019-05:00

Day five. Friday. Yee haw! First up: torturing Mitch during opening. We got his 'friends' to help us.
But you know we did more. We even made him come sit next to us helpers because he was a bad kid.

This is Jade, Brooke, Randi, Sarah, Eugene, and Scott. All helpers who forgot their name tags and had to go up on stage and sing a demeaning song. Randi actually had hers, but Sarah stole it. When Randi got called on stage she told them to have Sarah come up as well because she didn't have her name tag. It wasn't really fair for Euge to go up, because he was never actually issued a name tag. But they made him anyway.

Here is Becky and Mitch right after opening. Doesn't he look happy to be in the presence of his favoritist cousins?

Sarah, Rebecca, and I played Operation. We had been wanting to since we saw Iron Man (there is a scene that mentions it). Me and Becky tied.

Dillon and Andrew using my markers...

Randi dancing in a poodle skirt...

Me with a hat from one of the dancers...

...and Sydney with the same hat.

Horse rides!

Becky, Isaac, Dexter, and me waiting for our ride.

Isaac and Becky on the ride.

Me and Dexter next to the horse!

Becky was there too.

James with one of Phil and Judy's kittens.

Mike at the program...

...and Ethan sitting in the middle of the fellowship hall.

Day 4: Flash Floods

2008-06-05T16:48:00.012-05:00

Ok. It's been a while, but I still want to put up pictures from all the days of VBS. Day 4 (Thursday) meant that Sarah was again working, and I was again in charge of the monkeys. This first pic is of most of the girls writing a 'script' for me. Alexis chose to sleep.
...and this is my boys doing the same thing. They were messing around more than the girls so I didn't have high expectations. Their 'script' was better than the girls.

Becky and Dillon.

There were flash flood warnings, and it was raining hard during lunch, so we had to eat inside.

This is Mike right before it started raining. He was making something out of nails. I think it was a cross.

Because of the weather, all the kiddies came into the sanctuary and sang silly songs instead of going outside for the noon recess.

This is Kyler...

...and this is Trey.

Randi had left her car at Euge's house because she thought it would hail. She was taking Andrew and Cacey home. And she was supposed to pick up Ethan from daycare for Judy. And I had to take Becka, James, Mike, and myself home. Randi needed a ride to her car. I was nice. I had eight people in my tiny car.

Day 3: Cool Ceramics

2008-06-05T16:25:00.009-05:00

Wednesday had Sarah back in the saddle, making me a helper again. This is a job that calls for concentration and seriousness at all times. As evidenced by this picture.
This is me and Becky laying out in the nice sunny weather. Well, I was soaking up the sun and Becky took a picture beside me.

Mike got hit in the face with a soccer ball. I took him into the girls bathroom to get it cleaned up. And when I say "took" I mean "dragged." According to Derek, Mike "didn't want to talk about it."

Here is one of me and Becka's sidewalk chalk creations.

Sarah told me she was going to jump over the divider. I took this to mean hurdle style. Oh well.

We did ceramics. Here is Raelee and Alexis

...Kyler

...and Tanner.

Day 2: Teaching Terrors

2008-06-03T20:24:00.011-05:00

So. Sarah TG (the teacher for my fourth graders) was not here today (nor will she be here on Thursday) and I was coerced into being their teacher for the day. It was awful. Ok, it wasn't that bad. I will say though that 50 minutes is too long for fourth graders to sit still for a Bible lesson.

And now: More Pictures! First up: Andrew on the inflatable obstacle course. Next up is Andrew, Dillon, and Becky posing by the same inflatable.

...and Dexter on it

...and me, Becky, and Dillon by it.

Then all of the Hooyers (and one TG) in our music time. Also some random kid who jumped in the photo at the last second...

This is Becky untying Mitch's shoes that she tied together and forced him to walk around in because it's not a good day unless we torture him in some way...

Mike with a spider on his head. We think it layed eggs in his ear.

My little monsters working on their first ceramics...

And finally, Becky and Dillon at our last music class.

Day 1: Hot and Humid

2008-06-02T19:53:00.014-05:00

Ok. This is mainly pictures. First off: Becka and I are both in the skit at the beginning of every day of Bible School. I'm human. Becky isn't. Here is a picture of her as a squirrel.
Here is me in her rodent hat.

This is my class of 4th graders. Aunt Sarah is the teacher and Becky is the other helper.

This is Mitch's class. I was on my break and couldn't resist taking this picture.

Or this one...

This is Dillon trying to pull Becka down. He first attacked Randi, then me. Becka got him last.

During the lunch hour, some of the kids I had last year asked me to get a game of Too Late For Supper going. You know. The game Mitch broke his leg playing one year. We started out with about six kids and then it grew to about 30. This pic is of Becky running. During the afternoon, I have a break when the 5th-8th graders have music, so I sang with them. They get all the good songs. This is Mike and Mason VL.

This is the representation of my character from the skit.

The third graders do everything at the same time as us. This is Andrew in the craft tent.

This is me and Dillon during our last activity, and also my favorite activity: music.

Blood and Tornadoes

2008-05-30T19:37:00.007-05:00

So a few days ago Becky had a game. I, of course, had to work. But for once I got off in time to see her play the second game. I rush to the time clock, clock out. Run to the parking lot. Speed across town to the field. Park the car. Run to the field. Yes! I made it just as the first inning was starting. Becka sees me and shows her appreciation for me coming: "Good, your here! I need your sweatshirt."

Anyway. I go through all of that and she doesn't play at all. Go figure.

Yesterday there were tornado warnings. It looked really bad around our place. Sarah and the boys were at Tykwando, but the rest of us went to the basement. And played cards. If a tornado had taken us, they would have found us in traditional Hooyer fashion: playing our last hand.

I gave blood today. It was not one of my better experiences. First off, they she pricked my finger wrong. She didn't poke far enough, or something like that, and though she squeezed my finger until I couldn't feel it anymore, she couldn't get enough blood for a iron test. Than, they couldn't find my vein. They thought they had it, but no blood was coming out. So I had to sit there while they jabbed the needle around to find it back. They finally got it, but about four times the blood flow stopped and they had to readjust the needle. Then they made me sit there for an extra five minutes while they iced the area, even though I just wanted to leave. Grr. But I'm a hero. I saved up to three lives.

Miscellaneous pic of James reading in his Tykwando uniform.

Aaaand I'm Back!

2008-05-24T11:20:00.006-05:00

Wow. A lot happens when you don't blog in a while. I need my pictures to remind me as to what all happened. Here goes. Tulip Festival happened. I only got to go the day Mike marched in the parade. I'm working too much. I never have time to do anything. I only get two days off a week and one of those is always Sunday, so I really only get one free day. For my one free day this week I got to see Becky play. They didn't do too well, but they didn't do awful either. Mitch was there for the first half of the first (JV) game. He was walking to Grandma's and he saw the pretty uniforms. We also had our first bonfire. It was a little too cold for it, but we survived. As usual, my pyromaniac of a cat was obsessed with the fire. Dad said he was worried that Tiger would catch on fire and run under the house and burn it down. My kitty may be the smartest kitty in the world, but his tail was only about an inch away from the flames.This is me and Becky singing along to the radio in the car. No reviews please. This was just for fun.

Final note: I will try to blog more often. Once a week is not enough.

Blue, Khakis, and a Car

2008-05-13T22:14:00.003-05:00

So I assume everyone knows that I am working at Wal Mart now. Fun, fun. Long hours. Repetitive works. False smiles. Mistakes. No freedom. Not all that good pay. Ah, well. It's a summer job, and the only chickens I run into are in bags and the eggs are already cartoned.

So, again, I had a little mishap with the little gold car. I was driving it and it started going krugh kachunk grugle chunk. And then it stopped. When I say stopped I don't mean it turned itself off, I mean you could press the gas but it wouldn't go anywhere. And the funnest part was that I was on my lunch hour at the time and had to get back to work in time. Then add to the fact that I didn't have a cell phone on me at the time and had to knock on a door to borrow a phone to call dad. Dad then had to come to get me in Sarah's car because mom was in Sioux Falls working, Becky was babysitting for Phil and Judy and had the white car, and dad's truck is in the shop. I don't like Sarah's car. The radio doesn't work.

One thing I've noticed while working at Wal Mart: Hooyers shop there. Sandbultes don't. I've seen Judy, Ethan, Tom, Marta, Heather, Holly, Anne, and Randi there, but no one I recognized from the other side of the family. Huh.

Random Pics From Who Knows When

2008-05-07T20:53:00.007-05:00

Ok. So some of these pictures have been on my camera for so long that I'm not quite sure when they were taken...

Here goes. The number one reason you should never agree to power-spray your dad's manure spreader:

Becka's cello, Cowboy Cash. At least I think that's what she's calling him...

Mike and his cat Spooks. If I had taken this picture, you can bet I would have pushed him off of there right afterwords...
Me and my new kitten Bandit:

And finally, me and my (still) favorite cat Tiger. The cutest, smartest kitty ever.

Ode To The Evil Fly

2008-05-04T20:48:00.003-05:00

You appear from nowhere
To buzz around my ear.
When I try to swat you
I hit myself instead.

O fly, you ugly thing!
Your eyes are bigger
Than they should be.
This makes you hard to kill.

Because you are resilient
I become frustrated.
Sometimes I think that
A nuclear weapon is needed.

One of these days, O fly
You will need to rest
And that will be the time
That I will exact my revenge.

I will accept nothing less
Than your guts, O Fly!
Your guts smeared
On my very own swatter.

The Game For Brains

2008-04-28T18:43:00.002-05:00

Did you know that the fluid inside of coconuts can be used as intravenous fluid (an IV) in emergency situations? Neither did mom (our resident nurse) and it put her on the slow track. If you're confused, we were playing Cranium. What can I say? I love that game. There is nothing funner than playing it three times in a row. Unless it's winning the first two games and coming back from 1/3 of the way through when the other team is in the center and only loosing by one card.

Me and Becky make a good team. For the first game it was me, Becka, and Sarah against Dad and Mom. Sarah and Mom switched teams for the second game, and then Mom joined Sarah and Dad for the last game. We now own the new version of Cranium and it has some cool new subjects, like Team Gnilleps (spelling backwards with each member of the team taking turns calling out letters), Mind Meld (two people write down the first three words that come to mind after hearing the topic and at least one of the words has to match), and one where you position a partner like a puppet so they can guess the word you are trying to convey.

Becky and I thought that we should change the songs in the Humdinger category, because there was not one song in all three games that any of us has even heard of.

Happy (Late) Birthday Sarah!

2008-04-27T15:27:00.003-05:00

Ok. So Sarah's birthday was yesterday. And I'm only just getting around to posting a 'Happy Birthday' to her. Don't sue me. Yesterday I was the first one to say it to her. Anyhoo, she's 21 now. Tell her Happy Birthday the next time you see her (or the next time you comment on her blog). Wow. I'm on my laptop right now and I just realized that I only have one picture of Sarah on here! I normally just load them on the family's computer because other people (Becka mainly) like to use them on their blogs, and they don't have access to my personal computer. Also, in case you were wondering, I have no idea why she has keys dangling from her ear.

HIghway 75

2008-04-25T08:13:00.003-05:00

There are 75 reasons not to drive down highway 75. Just because I don't know them all doesn't mean it's not true. You'll see at least 75 trucks hurtling past you going 75 mph, ready to crash into you. I once had a truck from the other lane pass (coming into my lane) when it was so foggy out that you couldn't see more than 75 feet in front of you. Add to that, and there was snow still on the road and you have a recipe for disaster.

75 bottles of rootbeer on the wall, 75 bottles of rootbeer!

Becka commented that she just counted 75 flies in the house. And she's named them all.

Ok. This post has no point except to point out that this is my 75th post. Hail to the queen!

Late Nights and Cranky Kids

2008-04-18T23:29:00.003-05:00

Sooo... I just got back from babysitting Phil and Judy's kids while they went to Sioux Falls. It went well. Just your usual Ethan upset with everyone and crying every half hour, Isaac getting really cranky and having a long crying fit, and Derek and Dexter playing quietly together in front of the computer screen. Oh. And one of their cousins was there. Or, more specifically, their cousin's son. He was a good kid. Didn't give me any trouble other than the occasional 'get Ethan to stop following me!'

As with all babysitting jobs, getting them to go to bed was the hardest part. Ethan and Isaac started out in the same bed. Than Ethan started kicking Isaac. Than Isaac started yelling at Ethan. Than Ethan started crying. Than Isaac moved to his own bed. Than they started arguing. Than I told them to be quiet and go to sleep. Derek and Dexter went to bed exactly when I told them to with no argument whatsoever. I find the contrast in their behaviors to be quite an interesting phenomenon.

What A Boring Life I Lead

2008-04-15T14:34:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I'm posting because I haven't posted in a while and I feel like I must. That being said, I have nothing to post about. Well, our rotation came up to eat at Grandma H's on Sunday (big deal because it only happens like once every two months). It was pretty fun, we ended up playing a couple games of Pitch with Tom and Anne. Than we introduced the two of them to Dirty Clubs. This is the only game that Becky will play with us. It went on For-Ev-Er! That's what happens when you have six people playing.

On a side note, it is really windy out today. I was driving our little gold Ford Contour and I was sure that I was going to be blown off the road! Thankfully my fourth accident didn't happen today. According to statistics, you are supposed to get into one accident every seven years (counting little fender benders). According to that logic, I shouldn't have another accident until I'm 39. Yeah. Right.

For Mitch

2008-04-10T11:08:00.006-05:00

This was the 'talent' that Mitch, Sydney, and Dillon did at the Hole in the Wall. It is hereby added to my blog by request from Mitch. It's not very long, but I took it on my camera, and videos take up a lot of memory. Ooh! I just remembered one of my favorite pics from the HitW! How many other grandmothers do you know who will look at a grandchild being tortured by other grandchildren and jump in to help them pull the first grandchilds hands together behind his back so that they touch? I love you, Grandma!

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

2008-04-09T12:38:00.016-05:00

I've decided that I'm just going to post pictures of our stay at the Hole in the Wall. Too much happened to actually write about. I will, however, say that my favorite aunt was sorely missed. Also, I gave up on trying to format the pictures so that they look nice. Ok, I give up. No more

pictures, although I do have many more of them. 301 pictures are way too many to post.

Random Video Fun

2008-04-09T12:21:00.002-05:00

This video was taken the first night of our stay at the Hole in the Wall.

Mr Policeman

2008-04-04T11:27:00.004-05:00

I found a new favorite song today. Well, yesterday. Click on the link below to listen. The video shows the lyrics as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZruXBTUAzA

Points to whoever know the song that the last lyrics come from and which George Clooney movie it is in.

Dad has admitted that he once outran a cop. Anyone else have any good police stories?

Stop With The Snow Already

2008-03-31T13:08:00.003-05:00

It snowed again today. See two posts ago for my complaints.

Anyway. Becka and her friends had fun. They drove around to see all the sights in SC. It took them all of about half the morning. Also they apparently liked holding the baby pigs at my grandparents house. I thought it could go either way. Either they would be repulsed and refuse or they would absolutely love them. Apparently it was the later.

At our house they played Pit and Mad Gab. They played Pit wrong. I was on my laptop not three feet from them, and with my music playing on my headphones I couldn't even hear them. They were louder when they came back hysterical after jumping on the tramp and swinging on the trapeze at Eugenes.

Saturday night I stayed up to about midnight with James and Michael (who had been kicked out of their room by the invading horde) playing the Farming Game. It was pretty fun. Everyone thought James was going to win (he had all the fruit and all the lucky spins) but I beat him by $30,000! Again, I shouldn't be so proud of the fact that I beat two boys who aren't even in High School yet.

Mud on the Tires

2008-03-29T11:20:00.002-05:00

So for about a month we have been planing a surprise for Becka. Three of her friends came down from Wisconsin yesterday to spend the weekend. The way it was supposed to work was for them just to show up and Becky be all surprised. Things never work as planned.

First off, Becka asked (about two weeks ago) if she could go to a sleepover this weekend. "Um... No..." "Why Not?!" "Um... We can't tell you but you just can't." This of course raised her suspicions. Yesterday was bad. She knew we were doing something, but she didn't know what. We were like, well it won't be a total surprise but it'll be fun to see her face when they walk through the door. Then we got the phone call.

These nice city kids followed their Map Quest directions right onto the Level B road a mile from our place. Needless to say, they got stuck. We had to pull them out with one of Dad's tractors. The road was so bad that dad didn't even trust his big 3/4 ton pickup on it. According to the dad who drove the girls down (although the girls did all the driving) they saw the sign and were laughing at it: "Level B road. Her her her... Enter at your own risk. Her her her..."

Anyway, by the time Becka finally got to her 'surprise,' she had already guessed (and had her guess confirmed) what was going on. In her words: "No one who lives around here would be crazy enough to take one of those roads this time of year."

Snow. In Late March.

2008-03-27T12:56:00.004-05:00

It snowed last night. Or this morning. I'm not sure. Because of this the roads were very slick. On the gravel roads (and on our driveway) it was wet gravel (or mud) covered by snow. This made it both slick and sticky at the same time. It is kind of weird to get stuck in the mud in your driveway when it looks all snowy. It only took me five minutes to get unstuck. The highways were snow covered ice. At least I didn't drive into the ditch this time. You can't make fun of me anymore Becka.

I hate it when it snows this late in the spring. It was just getting warm and the grass was turning green. Now everything is white again. Grr...

Evil Genius

2008-03-25T12:29:00.004-05:00

I'm trying to post once a day to make up for my not posting for almost a month. Unfortunately, I forgot to post yesterday so I have already fallen. Ah well.

Yesterday we (Dad, Mom, Sarah, Becka, James, Mike, and me) went to Sioux Falls to eat for my birthday. I love the Olive Garden. Well, I love their Chicken Alfredo. Anyway, Mike sees his plate and goes "this looks good even if it is a small amount." He barely ate half of it. I don't think he realizes that pasta is filling.

Afterwards, because this is my family, we went to Barnes & Noble. I got a really good book that I'd never heard of before. I was attempting to help Becky locate a book when I saw it. I don't care what they say, I always judge books by their covers. In this case I am happy I did. The book is called Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. I'm only about 70 pages into the over 500 but I already love it.

Shoot Low Boys, They're Riding Shetland Ponies

2008-03-23T19:57:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to me! Yes, you all have been blessed with my presence on this good green earth for 19 years now. Well, everyone older than me... Some of you have had the good fortune of knowing me all of your life. Aren't you lucky?

All in all a good day. Presents. Cake. Church. Grandpa and Grandma S. More Cake. Home. Relaxing. Blog.

Lucy, I'm Home!

2008-03-22T17:09:00.005-05:00

Ok. I haven't posted in a while. Don't shoot!

I'm sorry I took

So long, but I still posted

Before my sister!

Break is fun. I didn't do anything. Hence, no posting.

Today we ate at Grandpa and Grandma S's house. Jim and Carla from Nebraska were there. Jim had brought up his old computer at set it up there, giving my grandparents their first computer ever. Apparently they will use it for e-mail and not much else.

Tomorow's my birthday!

Becka's Bendy Back

2008-03-22T16:54:00.004-05:00

This is Rebecca doing a back-bend at Grandpa and Grandma's house today. She had to do it three times before I finally caught it on tape. Or more accurately, on memory card. You can see half of the second time and the third time here.

Boring Games and Interesting Books

2008-02-29T13:26:00.003-06:00

So, for like the 50th time this year, my Internet connection is not working in my room. I would think something is wrong with my computer, but when ever this happens, Shantry can't get on either. Grr... Some one needs to do something about this problem. As of right now, I am stuck using the computers on the third floor.

Last night, with nothing better to do with my time I was forced to play games that I normally ignore. Examples: Minesweeper, solitaire, spider solitaire, chess, free cell, hearts, and 'ink ball.' Needless to say, I found these games very boring after about 20 minutes and had to find something else to do with my time. (I would have done homework, but I'd finished it already.)

Than I found it: a copy of The Princess Bride sitting on my desk begging to be re-read. Who was I to refuse? So in the hour and a half before I went to bed, I read in the study lounge. I got to the part where the man in black killed the Sicilian and than is pushed down the ravine by Buttercup. I've forgotten how unintelligent she really is. As always, my favorite character is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

ZZZZ

2008-02-27T22:13:00.002-06:00

I've been really tired of late. I don't know why. This post will be short and uncomplicated because I am ready to go to bed. Yes, I do know what time it is. No, I don't care. The thought of crawling into bed and not finishing this post is very appealing.

Someone is playing a violin in the hallway. I have a feeling it is some one who has never played before and is just dragging the bow across the strings.

"Good night little girls! Thank the Lord you are well! And now go to sleep," said Miss Clavel.

I'm Just Sitting Out Here Watching Airplanes...

2008-02-21T19:04:00.004-06:00

...take off and fly-aiiii...

Ah... Things are looking up. Both Andrew and Casey are better, though Casey stayed home from school on Tuesday (he stayed with Brenda while I was in school). Yesterday was great. They were only at home for about an hour before they had church. Andrew tried to instruct me on the "fast" way to get to their church. We got lost. I've gone that way before, but not with all the new housing that has gone up. Or in the dark. Some how we ended up next to their school. There I decided that we would take the "long" way. Which took less time than the short way if you take into account the getting lost thing. Then it was Casey's bedtime and Andrew had basketball practice that I didn't have to take him to, and then Andrew went to bed. After being in their presence all day every day for days on end, it was nice to have some me time.

...Trying to figure ooout which one you might beeee on...

Still, I'm pretty much ready for Mark and Sarah to be back.

...and whyyyyyy you don't love me any mooore...

The Babysitter vs. The Evil Flu

2008-02-18T18:56:00.002-06:00

I'm babysitting this week for Mark and Sarah who are in Mexico this week. When I accepted this position, I didn't think that it would be that bad. I mean, I only have Andrew and Casey (no high-matinence Jolee), and they have school and afternoon activities for most of the day, and with a bedtime of 8:30 I don't have to do much with them.

The week started out great: I came over to their house at about five thirty on Friday, was fed homemade chicken alfredo (made by the wonderful chef Mark), watched a movie and went to bed. Mark and Sarah left sometime during the night.

Things went bad that next day. They had a real-estate agent looking at the place so we were supposed to go to Grandma's house, but because Andrew was sick we went to my place instead.
Andrew was sick and cranky the rest of the day, and he ended my day with a bang. First he threw up all over the floor and then decided it would be fun to wake me up at three in the morning. If that wasn't bad enough, I am now also sick because of him, and by waking up that early, I got this huge headache and I couldn't get back to sleep.

To make this job easier, Casey also is sick. I've been in charge for three days, and already it seems like three weeks.

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Sing In The Rain

2008-02-12T18:46:00.000-06:00

Ha! I think I have you all beat for any title length! Shantry, Elecia, and I ate supper right before Elecia's Film History class tonight. She mentioned that would be watching Singing in the Rain. Of course I got excited because it is an awesome movie. Neither of them have ever seen it. This of course made me depressed. Attempting to make me feel beter, Shantry said she doesn't like old movies. I scoffed at her and informed her that everyone likes Dr. Strangelove. "Huh?" Um... Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb? "...."

Of course I than informed them that it is only the greatest movie of all time and that they had to see it. Pronto. And if they watched it with me, I'd watch any movie of their choosing with them. Me and my big mouth. They have already begun plotting to find the mushyest romantic movie of all time. Oh, the pain.

On a brighter note, I didn't have economics today!

Finals

2008-02-07T17:11:00.000-06:00

I found this and thought it was hillarious.

Final Exam
Instructions: Read each question carefully. Answer any five questions you choose.
Time Limit: One hour. Begin imediately.

1. HISTORY- Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating expecially, but not exclusively, on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.

2. MEDICINE- You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have 15 minutes.

3. PUBLIC SPEAKING- 2,500 riot-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

4. MUSIC- Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

5. PSYCHOLOGY- Based on your knowledge of their words, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

6. SOCIOLOGY- Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

7. ENGINEERING- The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in a box on your desk. You will also find an instruction manual, printed in Swahili. In ten minutes, a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take whatever action you feel appropriate. Be prepared to justify your decision.

8. EPISTEMOLOGY- Take a position for or against Truth. Prove the validity of your position.

9. PHYSICS- Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

10. PHILOSOPHY- Sketch the development of human thought, estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought.

EXTRA CREDIT- Define the Universe. Give three examples.

E-mail and Songs

2008-02-07T16:14:00.000-06:00

The entire campus is giving up e-mail for Lent. And it's not voluntary. Just kidding, but it feels that way. NW's e-mail service has been down since yesterday with no sign that it will be back online anytime soon. Here at NWC e-mail is very important. All anouncements are sent out this way, both general and private. For example, my economics teacher told us on Tuesday that he would be leaving for a funeral today and to check our e-mail yesterday night to see if he would be planning to hold our morning class today. Needless to say, we couldn't get the message either way.

Shantry has just become comfortable enough in my presence to along to her music (which she plays nonstop). Now, I normally don't mind, but she sings like Dad... No, more like Michael. It's starting to get on my nerves. For those of you who have had the privilige of never hearing Michael sing, let me expalin. He likes to sing. He does. It's just that he sing monotone. One note. No variations.

"I'm an equal opportunity offender." -Dr. Elder, proffessor of Economics

Ash Wednesday and Super Tuesday

2008-02-06T10:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was Super Tuesday. For all those who are ignorant, it was the earliest day when caucuses can be held without penalties. This of course does not include the 4 states (one from each region) who are sceduled to take place before that. Because they wanted their states' caucus to be more important, some states decided to move their primary up to the earliest possible date. Of course this backfired because the candidates were not able to campaign in all of the 20ish states extensively.

The one good thing to come out of Super Tuesday is the fact that you can start to see the leading candidates of each party. Well, at least on the Republican side (kudos to Dad who stated way back before the Iowa primary that McCain would be the Republican candidate). Of course this is not set in stone, but it is probable the he will be running in November.

One thing I did think was extremely hillarious was how Huckabee won West Virginia. In WV, all the delegates go to one person, and it is a two tiered vote. After the first vote, the top three contestants (McCain, Romney, and Huckabee) were the only names left to vote for. Because all indications were that Romney would win (he had about 45% of the votes to McCain's 30ish%) McCain and Huckabee (15ish%) made a deal for all of his delegates to vote for Huckabee so that Romney would not gain momentum from an early win. All except 12 die hard McCain supporters voted for Huckabee and he beat Romney by about 2%. Ah... Politics. Coming from the words "poli" meaning many and "ticks" meaning blood sucking creatures.

Also remember that today is Ash Wednesday. Remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.

Red Umbrella

2008-02-01T10:33:00.000-06:00

Today in chapel we had a band come in instead of having a speaker. It was pretty fun: no one slept, they sang mostly songs we know, and also had a few participation songs. They are also having a free concert tonight. I'd go, but I'm not.

I have a friend on my wing who is in my stats class, and my roomate has a different stats class but with the same teacher so her assignments are very similar (they use the same textbook). Because I am better at math than they are, I have become the defalt tutor. Normally I wouldn't mind, but sometimes I don't know what's happening. Oh well. They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it to somebody else. Or in my case, two other people.

Random quote from my econ prof: "We don't worry about Canada invading North Dakota.... We might let them have it if they did...."

Also: Happy Early Birthday to the Little Groundhog!

Random Ramblings

2008-01-30T16:53:00.000-06:00

So... Nothing new. Chapel. Classes. Stats test. Potato soup.

I did run into Heidi today after chapel though. This is news because in the semester and a month that I've been here I think I've seen her a grand total of 6 times. That's including when I saw her today. As always we said we should hang out sometime (though we probably never will) and spent an hour reminiscing about our shared childhood.* All this took place in the middle of the education office area. I think we were a little to loud. Especially since others were having class as we spoke.

We normally write Mitch the Midget together, but if Becka e-mails me with ideas I can type the next chapter as soon as I get it (hint, hint).

*cricket steps, hay bales, saddles, big Sunday dinners, laundry shoots, cards...

Post # 50!

2008-01-24T18:59:00.000-06:00

This is my 5oth post!

Ok, not much has happened since yesterday. My wing was going to go to Danielle's hockey game in SC Monday night, but it got canceled because of the weather. Classes are boring. Except macroeconomics. And managerial statistics. And sometimes theology. OK, FINE! They are not boring.

After supper, Shantry, Elica, Laura, and I discussed books in our room. They all claim to like books but none of them have ever read The Princess Bride! Their reasoning being that they've all seen the movie. Grr. Of course they all have read (or in Shantry's case is 100 pages to being done with) Jane Eyre. Which they all read voluntarily! Of course they are all into mom's type of badly written romance novels, so I can't judge.

Random quotes from my theology prof to make us think:
"Would Jesus eat in the caf?" and
"What am I like as a sheep? Am I a good sheep?"

April 4, 1979 - January 22, 2008

2008-01-23T20:18:00.000-06:00

Don't Worry: I'm Not Dead

2008-01-23T20:03:00.000-06:00

Ok. I haven't posted in a while. Yes, I know. I always get after you to blog. I'm a hypocrite. Get over it.

It's hard to summarize more than a months happenings in one post, especialy if that month covers the entire holiday season, but I will try. Hooyer Christmas party. Very fun. Bowling. Games. Fun people. Favorite Aunts. Christmas Play. Unruly sheep. Shepherds beating each other up. Me in charge of the sheep and their herders. Moving the party to Mark and Sarah's house. Getting second place in Cranium (even when the first group got first place me and Mitch were only a quarter of the way done and on the slow track and the other team was 3/4 of the way done and on the fast track: take THAT Becky).

Sandbulte New Year's party. Only new 13 people well (including the six members of my immediate family), but I did know 3 other people who were there so it wasn't a total loss. I did get to go ice skating. It was pretty fun. Uncle Cal even attempted it, and the guy who was in charge of the game room for the Hooyer party two years in a row was there as well. I kind of felt sorry for him: two years of being in charge of the young cousins bowling and fighting.

I also got my wisdom teeth removed. It wasn't that bad. It was the first time I have ever been put under, and apart from having a slightly slower than normal reaction time I was fine. I was eating chips the day they were removed (you're not supposed to have solid foods for a couple days to a week after they are removed). Sarah had hers removed a few days later. She got really sick from the medication.

New semester at school. Fun, fun. This is getting kind of long so I'll stop.

Finals Week!

2007-12-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

Ah, the end of the semester. When college students everywhere start wishing that they paid more attention in class, the dorms don't sleep, and evidence of cramming is everywhere.

Poor saps. I love this part of the school year. I pay attention in class. I never study for tests. I only have to go to school 3 days this week! No class, only four tests! I am told that I am one of the only people who feels this way. Mwa ha ha... After Thursday, I have no more school until January!

Shameless plug: go down two posts and read the first chapter of me and Becka's story!

Explanation

2007-12-10T19:30:00.000-06:00

I was in a weird moment today, and I had this stupid idea: I should write an epic adventure making fun of my favorite cousin! The idea stuck, and as I 'washed' dishes tonight I proposed the idea to Rebecca, and she agreed to be my cohort.

The first chapter is posted here on my blog, the next one, whenever that is completed, will be posted on Becka's. It will be a ever growing story with each chapter being a mini story with one larger goal in mind: rescue the princess. If you would like to propose an idea for a mini chapter (who does Mitch meet, and what happens to him) please comment. The idea is for each character to be named after a relative. If you are not related to us, leave your name and we'll try to integrate you into the story as we see fit.

Important Author's Note: This is fiction. This is satire. We mean no offense.

Signed Charity & Rebecca

The Many Adventures of Mitch the Midget

2007-12-10T19:28:00.000-06:00

An Epic Adventure Of True Heroism
Based on True Events

Chapter One
Or, How It All Began

Mitch was a midget of midget proportions. Red-headed, and known to the few who knew him as a simple man. Not too smart, not too handsome, not too brave. He made his living by playing the war drums for the village warriors.

Isaac the Destroyer was the greatest warrior that the village had. He had raided the most villages and captured the most donkeys. Mitch the Midget didn’t like Isaac the Destroyer. Isaac had stolen his drumstick. He could not play without his drumstick. It was his lucky drumstick. It was made out of rabbit fur and the tooth of the most feared quontron. Isaac didn’t like Mitch either. He played the drums too well, and it took away from his fierceness when people watched the drummer and not him.

Isaac the Destroyer turned the village people against Mitch. “He is not one of us. He has not joined us on any of our raids. He cannot defend us against any one who attacks us! He must go!” The villagers backed their hero, and Mitch was banned, and tossed out without a quib to his name. With nowhere to stay, Mitch started out on the faint path leaving from the village.

Pointless Post

2007-12-03T13:04:00.000-06:00

I was playing hearts on my computer (yes, I know, not the greatest opponent, but still) and I beat my previous high score! 423 games played, 203 won (47% for all of you that were wondering), and one high score of 0. Or maybe it's called a low score.

Snow. Ice. Whatever.

2007-12-01T18:13:00.000-06:00

What I miss most about Wisconsin: roads in winter. In Wisconsin, snow might not blow off the highways, it also snows more, but Wisconsin has something that seems to be beyond the deepest imaginations of Iowans: snowplows.

In Wisconsin, there are more snow plows on the road than cars. They work 24/7 to make sure most roads are cleared most of the time. They don't wait until the snow has stoped. And even after the weather is nice again, they are always around to clear the roads one last time and to put sand/salt on all the roads to prevent ice. I feel comfortable driving in the middle of a snowstorm there. Not here. If it is absolutely necessary for me to drive this winter, bring the flowers 'cause I'll be in the hospital. Chocolate and funny cards are also appreciated.

Side note: I picked out new frames for my glasses! They are petty much the exact same size and shape and color as my old ones!

More Cheep Thrills

2007-11-29T21:35:00.000-06:00

9:30 PM. The silence is broken by someone screaming bloody murder in the hallway. This is ignored for the first full minute. As the shill sounds continue, I decide it will be worth my time to check it out. Joining the crowd of about six laughing girls standing by my door, I look down the hall about ten feet to see a girl pinning another girl to the ground. This is funny for the simple reason that Shayla (the girl on top) is about half the size of Sarah (the one pinned to the ground).

At first I am unsure what they are doing, but other's comments make it clearr that Shayla is trying to spit in Sarah's mouth. Why, I don't know. And as Becky (from accross the hall) commented, it's kind of sad that we were all amused by this. It is also interesting to note the psycological situation known as crowd mentality, which states that in a crowd, most people will not help out someone in trouble. However, comments were made like "mom, make her stop" and pictures were taken. Unfortunately, my camera is at home so none will be posted. :(

Help! It's a New Semester!

2007-11-29T15:12:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I finally went and talked to my very helpful advisor, the very cool Australian/Canadian/New Yorkian Dr.L. He was very helpful, and suggested classes that I actually wanted to take. He was also helpful with choosing who to take classes with ("you don't want to take that class: you'll hate the professor;" "I've never met anyone who appreciates his teaching style;" "you should take it with him, he's kind of absentminded, but he's fun").

Let's play Guess What Classes Charity Is Not Taking! Your choices: Intro to Christian Theology, Western Civilization, Introduction to Literary Studies, Concepts of Physical Fitness, College Writing, Principles of Managerial Accounting, Principles of Macroeconomics, Applied Statistics for Management.

I am not taking three of these classes. Can you guess which ones?
Cyber Cookies for the winner.

Halloween's Over, Casper

2007-11-26T18:14:00.000-06:00

More Random Dorm Life Moments...

Ok, only one random moment. Elecia, Shantry, and I just finished supper and were taking the shortcut back up to our floor. For those of you sad fools who have never attended Northwestern, most people exit the caf to the west. Over here lies the main enterence into Fern and the lunch line. On the east side there is another exit. Most people don't use this door. It leads out to a side sidewalk that is not heavily populated. But before exiting that door there is a stairwell that goes up the east wings. Since we all reside on Second East, this is the quickest way for us all to return to our rooms. It seems as if very few people ever use these stairs and you never run into anyone else.

To move up one floor you have to go halfway, make a 180 degree turn, and than continue on the rest of the way. As the three of us rounded the corner, I saw two shapes out of the corner of my eye. People. Two people. Leaning back squished against the wall. Not for long. Sarah and Shayla, our wing tricksters jumped up and yelled BOO! Elecia and I were a little out of it and didn't react, but Shantry let out this shrill scream. It was pretty funny. According to Michelle (Sarah's roommate) who had been hearing "people screaming all night," this has never been done before. Which is a shame. Cheap thrills are often the most fun.

Poultry Weekend

2007-11-26T13:19:00.000-06:00

You know what's sad? Becoming elated after creaming a 10 year old at chess. In my defense, Mike's really good. For his age. Really.

Ah, Thanksgiving. No school Wednesday. Sandbultes in Minnesota on Thursday. Kind of boring, I know no one. Spent the entire time talking to the Hooyers (Heidi, Dad, the sisters) and playing cards. The Grandparents Sandbulte on Friday. Jim, Carla, and the kids were also there. Because they live in Nebraska we HAD to watch the Nebraska-Colorado football game. Apparently it is this big rivalry. I got bored and left before the game was over. Saturday was the Hooyers. Much more fun. Better food. People I've met more than twice in my life. Dirty Clubs. Pitch. Kings and Slaves. Fun With Drawing. Soccer. Spoons. Mitch. Mad Gab. By the way Becka, I still have a lump on the back of my head!

The funnest day was, of course, Sunday. I got to pack eggs! Than they let me look for dead chickens! And then (I had to beg) they let me wash out sulfuric smelling five gallon buckets that had broken raw eggs in them all day. You can't beat that.

Oh, Sunday night this quartet came and sang at our church. They were really good. Think Oak Ridge Boys mixed with the Statler Brothers singing cool church songs! As always, my favorite singer was the guy that sang bass. Daddy sang bass, Mama sang tenor...

Titles Are Not My Strong Suit

2007-11-16T13:57:00.000-06:00

I love getting things in my mail box! (Hint! Hint!)

It was Natural Beauty Week (at least for us ladies here a NW). Basically, a lot of people gave up something that they thought makes them feel beautiful. Example: makeup, perfume, contacts, etc. Also as a result of this, all the mirrors are covered up.

Anyway, for D-Groups this week we didn't have a lesson from the bible, we had a What Makes You Beautiful discussion. Then we passed each received a blank card that we put our names on, and passed them around the room with everyone writing something positive about that person inside the card. Then we got donuts. Amy attempted the Waiter Showing Off The Food One Handed and almost dumped the sticky pastries on the rest of us. Anyway, the donuts were very good.

Back to my original statement, we didn't get to read the comments on our own card Tuesday until they got mailed to us. I picked mine up today. :) Happy Happy Happy! :)

This is Not a Wal-Mart

2007-11-12T17:07:00.000-06:00

The new Wal-Mart super center has opened in Sioux Center. Ticker tape! Parades! Speeches by politicians! Money given away! Parties!

Excuse my sarcasm. I finally decided that I was bored enough to tour the place (an we were out of cat food), so Becka and I stoped by to sneak a peek. After seeing the place I say in complete certainty: this is not a Wal-Mart. Wal-Marts don't have that wide of aisles. Wal-Marts are industrial and warehouse-like. I lost my train of thought. This is why dorms are not the best place to be when you are trying to do something. People stop by to chat.

Anyway, At first approach, it looks like a Wal-Mart: security cameras in the parking lot, arrows pointing the way you should drive, those shopping cart return places, real live automatic doors that seem like there are on the wrong side (watch sometime: most people enter through the 'exit' door). Do Not Be Fooled! This is someones diabolical plan to take over the world! If you walk through those doors you will never be the same!! BRAIN WASHERS!!! Don't do it!!!! Don't let them take you over too!!!!!

Wal-Mart is the greatest store in the universe. Go. Spend money. Look at the fishies.

Didja Miss Me?

2007-11-02T09:32:00.000-05:00

I had my post almost entirely written, and than my stupid laptop highlighted and deleted everything. And than this web page helpfully saved my progress.

Ok, lets try this again. *Authors note: I don't feel like typing it all out again.* I haven't blogged in a while... blah blah blah... DON'T SHOOT!... blah blah... I didn't feel like it.

I'm not caught up in all my classes... blah blah blah... took some tests... blah blah... didn't quite know the material... blah blah... Proffessers have been very understanding... blah blah... they will grade differently... blah blah... Don't worry, I'm not completely stressed out.

Ok, back to where I was. Wednesday was Halloween. Children in cute costumes came and cried for candy. Laura broke the lightbulb in the hallway outside her room. Apparently tossing an empty candy bowl up and down is not a good idea. Also, this wing's vaccum is possessed. It moves when no one is touching it!

Elecia, Shantry, and I than went to V. This is the improv team. (If you're wondering, it's pronounced Black V.) It was really funny. My favorite one (as with all improv shows) was the one where they send members out of the room and than have the audience shout out phrases which are written on slips of paper (example: "shun the non-believer" or "I want you, I need you, Oh baby, Oh baby" or "our pet's heads are falling off"). When the team comes back in they are each given the slips of paper which are stuffed in pockets. Then a location is chosen by the audience and the team has to make up a story at that location (for us, the moon). Every once and a while, a team member will pull a sip of paper out of their pocket and read it like it is part of the story, and things take off from there. It was very cool. If you ever have the chance, go watch improv.

Grandpa

2007-10-19T11:06:00.000-05:00

How can I express my love,
When I don't know what to say?
How can I unveil what's lost,
When he's not yet gone away?

He was the rock
That we all leaned on,
Though he spoke
Very few words.

I know I cannot change a thing,
Though now I wish I could
Go back to when I was a kid
And spend more time with him.

I'm sorry for the small ones,
Who don't really understand;
I wish they could know him better,
Though they probably won't remember.

I want him to be here forever,
Though I know it's selfish of me;
He belongs with Jesus,
Who he's going home to see.

Hooray For Tech Geeks

2007-10-12T08:48:00.000-05:00

So I went up to the computer lab to see if my Cisco Clean Access (we sign on and it lets us use the Internet) was working in the lab. It was, and I posted the previous post. Than I realized that I don't have accounting today (don't ask: I don't know), so I brought my laptop over to the tech geeks who reside in the basement of VPH. I have not been able to get on for the past two days. The amazing Jon fixed it in literally two seconds. Apparently it wasn't my Cisco, it was my Internet settings.

I had to go to the dentist yesterday. Apparently I have good teeth. "What's your secret?" Uh... I forget to brush, I despise flossing... "Um... I don't know..." Then the dentist comes in. "You have both the Hooyer and Sandbulte teeth." Hygienist: "So thats you secret!" Anyway, I need to come in again to get a few fillings, and I also need to get my wisdom teeth out. : (

Oh! I was the first one to pick up one of the new kittens! He's grey, and I named him Ares!

Short

2007-10-12T08:26:00.000-05:00

My internet here at school is all wacky. I'm trying to get it fixed, but I can't get on in my room yet. Will blog either this weekend or when I get the tech geeks to fix it.

Titles Are Not My Strong Point

2007-10-09T19:05:00.000-05:00

So I have this project for marketing. I won't go into details, because I can't remember all the details. Suffice to say that this project requires too much information, too much time, and there is no point to it.

Last night I went the the library to work on said project with my group. Meet the group. Travis, 20, Freshman. Coming to Northwestern for orientation is the first time he has traveled outside of Nebraska. He also likes to draw. Maggie, 21, Senior. Good student, no creativity. Andrew. Don't know anything about him because he has not come to any of our group get togethers. Than there is our group leader Will. He's a senior. He looks like he's in his early 20s. He's not. I found out last night that he is 32, married nine years with a seven year old son. He does not look that old. It's funny though. He wanted to show us a picture of his wife (on his cell phone) but he didn't know how to get to it, so he called his wife so the picture would pop up.

Apparently they are going to tear down Heemstra Hall (something about it starting to sink), so today the guys who live there staged a silent protest in front of chapel before it began.

Pictures

2007-10-06T19:51:00.000-05:00

Truck... and Car

Tractors, Trucks, and Three Legged Dogs

2007-10-06T19:22:00.000-05:00

Ah, Saturdays. The day of relaxation. Unless you help your dad all day.

So I went with dad to try to find some replacement piece for his spreader. It looked kind of like a little screw a quarter inch long with a little ball thing at the end. Apparently it is important. First we went to Boomgars. They didn't have it in the right size. Than we tried Franken Implements because, according to dad, the definitely would have it. They didn't. So dad drove to the field that he was spreading in, and sent me off to find the piece. First stop, SAC. They didn't have it. Apparently not many people need the part in metric. Last stop, AWS in Hull. They had it.

Then I had to stop in SC to get dad lunch (2 Big Macs) and water (six bottles) and a bottle of mountain dew. The next time you are at a convenience store, I challenge you to try to carry eight bottles of liquid by yourself to the counter without dropping anything. The next two hours were boring. I sat in the tractor and watched dad drive it. On the upside, I learned how to use a payloader. Than I decided I was going to go home. Not going to happen. The front, driver's side wheel was flat. Not just slightly flat. Oh no. This was the-rim-is-almost-touching-the-ground flat.

First things first. Call Becka. Ask her to come to the field with the air compressor. Receive a call a few minutes later. The green car is dead. OK, jump it. Receive a call shortly after. She couldn't get the trunk popped. She got out of the car to try to get it opened. The door closed behind her and the door locked. With the car still running. Call mom. Tell her to leave Sarah, James, and Mike in La Mars and come pick me up. Get bored. Call mom and ask where she is. She had left La Mars and had to turn back around because she had their money. Get picked up 15 minutes later. Go home. Unlock the doors to the green car. Which is still running. load the air compressor into the white car. Drive back to the field. Inflate my first flat tire. Drive home. Sit down. Relax. The rest of the day is mine!

Unfortunately not. Dad called. He needed something. I couldn't find it. Mom had gone back to La Mars. Becka had gone to babysit. I had to take the gold car to Franken to get the stuff. *Side Note: The gold car's tags have been expired since June.* I got the stuff, drove to the field. Dad then sent me straight back because he needed something else from them. I drove back to the field, gave dad his part, he realized he needed something else that he had in his truck. Which was at this point at home with a flat tire. He said I could drive back, and he would follow with his tractor. I was ecstatic. Until I started fish-tailing, lost control, drove into a ditch, into a corn field, spun around, and than stoped the car by driving back into the ditch and colliding with the grassy embankment.

I called dad. He said he would be there shortly, and radioed back for someone to bring a chain. I waited for him with only a three legged dog to keep me company. We pulled the car out, and found the only damage to be... a flat tire on the front driver's side. And a missing license plate.

None of this is made up. And the best part? I got paid $7 an hour while all of this was happening! I mean, who else gets paid for crashing their car?

Happy Friday

2007-10-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

Today feels like a Friday. Not the I'm really happy feeling, just It Needs To Be Friday So I Can Go Home feeling. On a high note, I'm listening to White Lightning at this precise moment. Ooh... now its Kaw-Liga!

Any-hoo. Nothing much happened today. Dad woke me up at 6:30. I showered. I did nothing for a few hours. Sarah took me to class. I did nothing for a while. I ate lunch with Shantry at about 1:45. Still! Though you broke my heart... Still! Though we're far apart... I looove you still! Than I did nothing for a while. Than I blogged.

Ok, so was I the only one who was completely surprised that Becka's friends are coming down? I thought for sure that they wouldn't get permission, or that it wouldn't be until summer. Who da thunk. Ah well. I guess I should write out the directions for them some time soon.

Side Note: Does anyone else have trouble thinking of good poll questions? Oh... that gives me an idea...

Knock on Wood

2007-10-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

Around campus everyone is getting sick. In Fern alone, every single hall has at least one person with mono. Every single hall but mine. Knock on wood. Hopefully it stays that way, but in these confined living quarters it is hard to keep sickness from spreading.

Ah well... I had my first econ test today. Because we hadn't had any before, I didn't know what to expect. The material we are learning is difficult, so I assumed that the test would be hard too. I assumed right. Hopefully I did better than I think I did.

"I always use the bathroom in Second South. They have good reading material." -Laura at D-Groups

Happy Day

2007-10-01T14:34:00.000-05:00

As of about an hour ago, I no longer have any more speaches to give for Public Speaking! After memorizing and presenting 624 words, I will never memorize anything for anthing ever again.

Open your bible (or go to biblegateway.com). Look up Psalm 107. Now imagine memorizing the entire thing! Oh, than present it in a way that "establishes your passion for this passage," and create the "feeling of the first time." Oh, and you'll be doing this in front of the entire class. And the Prof. And if you're still feeling good about yourself, just remember that the Prof has the text in front of him waiting for you to make a mistake.

It wasn't all that bad. I was absolutely certain that I'd forget something, but I didn't. And I only messed up word order twice. I got a 97! My best one yet (according to him).

Jeff (my Prof) has handwriting that no one will ever be able to decipher. Some comments include: "What a mo[squigglesquiggle]te t[squiggle]k!" and "You've t[squiggle]k[squiggle]d one of the toug[squiggle] memory [possibly d][squigglesquiggle]s [squigglesquiggle] is!" These comments are meant to help and to inspire. And they might if they were legible.

"You can't look hot and play dodgeball." "It's kind of hard not to." -Laura Beth and Jenni

Making Money

2007-09-27T19:29:00.001-05:00

This is the greatest book to be released this year. And yes, I did consider the book written by that other British author when making this claim. Gasp! She made it to seven books! Big deal. In the Discworld series, this is number 36.

Watashi no Uchi

2007-09-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

Grr... For some reason, I was unable to sign on to this sight for the past few days... Not like anything has really happened to me, but...

Yesterday I was up in my room and the phone rang. I was confused. I do not communicate by this medium, and Shantry has a cell phone that she uses exclusively. I picked up said instrument of terror and was surprised to hear Becky on the other end of the line. She was in the lobby downstairs. No, she did not come to see me like other loving siblings do, she was just there to pick up a book that I had finished reading and that she wanted to read. *Side note: the book (Terry Pratchett's Making Money) was awesome and everyone should read it!* Because she was there anyway, I decided that I would go home with her for a genuine home-cooked meal.

My plan was foiled, however, when it was brought to my attention that mom was, in fact, working in Sioux Falls. Sadly my much anticipated home-cooked-meal became a me-cooked-meal. Macaroni and cheese with hot dog chunks. Blame Becka: "I haven't had mac and cheese for a while. Just don't make it Dad Style."

Anyway, I was going to go back to my dorm later that night, but it got late so I spent the night. The next morning I had to drive to pick up dad from way out in the country past Rock Valley. He drove his tractor there for tomorrow. Than he drove me back to NW. He was going to stop in SC for gas, but I told him that's to bad, because I was late as it was. By the time he dropped me out in front of my dorm, I had just enough time to grab my books, run to class, and sit down before the class began. Oh well, who needs to finish their homework.

On another aside: I can't watch CSI here! That time slot, the TV lounge is "reserved for Grey's Anatomy." Grr...

The Normal

2007-09-20T19:12:00.000-05:00

Once more, a random piece of nothing. The day started out pretty boring. That's when the martians attacked. What do martians look like you may ask. Well, I don't know. I never actually saw one; that being said, I know they were here. How else do you explain the mystery meat in the caf? More proof of their existence is the fact that my marketing test was switched to one on putting together super computers working from instruction manuals written in Latin.

If that wasn't enough, they conspired with my Bib Studies Prof and forced him to plan a huge, intricate, monstrosity of an exam for Tuesday. I believe that it is their diabolical plan to take over the earth while the best and brightest the world has to offer is slaving away at this torture device. That being said, don't plan anything past next week Tuesday. The world won't be here. That is until some genius finishes her test and figures out that the martians' heads explode when cowboy yodeling is played. Just think, you will be able to boast to all your friends that you actually know the heroic savior of mankind. For a small fee, I will mention your name at the ceremony where all countries give me absolute power over all for my large role in saving everyone. Comment if at all interested.

National Talk Like a Pirate Day!

2007-09-19T18:03:00.000-05:00

Avast, me hearties! Today be National Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrg...

Dinosaurs Ate My German Shepherd

2007-09-17T18:03:00.000-05:00

WARNING! This blog has no direction. I have No Idea where it is going, and nothing will be deleted after it has been typed.

Nothing much happened today. I got up a seven. I did my accounting homework. I went to accounting. I came back to my room, picked up Shantry, and went to chapel. Chapel was boring. I decided not to listen, and just repeated the first nine verses of Psalm 107 over and over and over and over and over. There are a little over 40 verses, and I need to have them all memorized by Friday, but I only had the first nine memorized, so that was all I could repeat. Then I went to Economics. It was marginally more interesting. Instead of sitting in my normal seat, I sat in the seat directly to the left of it. It was intense. We learned about price ceilings and price floors. Hint: price ceilings go on the bottom of the graph, and price floors go on the top of the graph. Then I ate dinner.

Then I went to Public Speaking. On my way out of my dorm, I came across Jenni (from my Public Speaking class). It turns out she lives in Fern too. On my floor. It took us four weeks to figure that one out. We spent half of our hour long class period 'exercising.' This means stretching out our jaws and saying tongue twisters. Than I went back to my dorm, and found out that Nicki (also from Public Speaking) also lives at Fern on my floor. As you can see, I'm very observant.

Than I did nothing in my room until about 5:30 when Shantry and I went to eat. Than I came back and typed this up in an attempt to avoid my homework. An aside to Sarah: See! It is possible to blog when you have done nothing with your life since your last post!

Added at 9:50 PM: I just ate seaweed. It tasted like fish and soy sauce. It was gross. If someone ever walks into your room and shoves brittle green plant material into your hands and tells you to eat it...DONT! You will regret it!

School Motto

2007-09-14T14:10:00.000-05:00

I don't know what Northwestern's motto is, or if we even have one, but I believe that I have the perfect one. Good mottos should all be in Latin. The reason for this is that it makes us appear smarter than we actually are. They should also be short and to the point. And it has to have a repetitive sentence structure.

Imagine:
Northwestern College
Aut Disce Aut Discede

First person to figure out what this means wins.

The Weirdest Thing Just Happened...

2007-09-13T22:24:00.000-05:00

So I was sitting in my dorm room playing hearts on the computer. Suddenly a guy ran in the room, turned around as if looking for someone, and than ran out again. If this wasn't weird enough, he was dressed in a black wrestling outfit. Complete with black ski mask. Shantry and I were confused. Neither of us knew who he was.

Things quickly got stranger. Two more guys ran in the room. Both were also dressed in black; one with a ski mask, the other with a stocking hat. They turned and knelt down looking out the door black-ops style. There must have been more of them in all the other rooms, and as one, they yelled "Area is secure" and ran out.

Stunned silence.

All of 2nd East flocked to our doors and looked out. The guys were nowhere to be seen. No one knew who they were, or what they were doing, or why.

Maybe it was those charming gentlemen in our brother wing.

What's Wrond With This Picture?

2007-09-12T14:07:00.000-05:00

I just got back from my public speeking class. I gave my first original speech (teamwork). At the end of the hour we got our evaluations back. Sometimes I don't think the Prof knows me as well as he thinks he does. Note his comments:
-Cool topic.
-Great engagement of audience. Bravo!
-You are so comfortable up there. Awsome. What a gift for speaking you have.

First person to notice 3 things wrong with these statement wins.

Two reasons to watch soccer games: Body Slams and Red Cards.
And yellow cards, and tacleing other players, and watching the other teams coach get kicked out of the game, and one of our players grabbing the neck of one of the other teams players and yanking him off his feet, and fights almost breaking out, and players arguing with the ref...

In Memory...

2007-09-11T19:17:00.000-05:00

September 11, 2001

We will never forget.

Blah.

2007-09-10T19:21:00.001-05:00

Not much has happened since the last post. The weekend came and went. I worked. I watched 'The Lost World.' I went to church. I went to the grandparents. I went home. I went to church again. I came home again. I returned to my dorm room. Life as a whole is boring at this moment in time.

Fire!

2007-09-06T07:34:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, pretty much right after I posted last, I was in my room when I heard this really loud sound. It didn't sound like any alarm I had ever heard before. EENH EENH EENH... Than Laura Beth comes running down the hall yelling "Fire alarm! Fire alarm!"

All of us that were there gathered at the stairwell and went down together. Downstairs it was really smokey, and we all went and waited outside. Right when we got outside a police car raced up with alarms blaring. Soon after that the first fire truck showed up. That's right. The first fire truck. Eventually 5 fire trucks showed up, and all the firemen with their little oxygen tanks went inside. By now we were getting kind of bored because we had been standing outside for about half an hour, and we couldn't even start our all hall picknic (which was held outside) because all of our food was inside. And also there were people like Tina (just down the hall from me) who was in the shower when the alarm went off, and had to come outside in a towl. For some reason she didn't want to join us at the front of the building.

Anyways, there was no fire. The Caf just got really smokey. After the firemen blew out all the smoke with big fans, they let us back in. Apparently this happens a few times a year.

Argh...

2007-09-04T14:10:00.000-05:00

Tonight is our All Hall BBQ. It is pirate themed. I stole-excuse me- borrowed a bandana from Becky... Hopefully I'll have it back to her before she notices or reads this post. All week our hall had to complete tasks to earn our food/utensils/drinks. Some were really simple (like designing our hall flag) and others were not so simple (fit 10 people inside a phone booth and have a stranger off the street take a picture of it, and than get the picture of the stranger). I helped out with two of the activities. 1: I played Bocce Ball with 7 other people at 10:30 last night because our wing likes to procrastinate, and than I completed two and a half sudoku puzzles that were supposedly difficult... I think it took me about 8 minutes. By the way, which pirate joke do you like best?

The pictures are of Becka and Mitch fighting for the (gross) water in my hall.

Quick Comments

2007-08-31T14:16:00.000-05:00

I'm typing this quickly, becasuse I'm going home soon. Thank you God for the weekend!

This week went by really fast. In fact, it feels like it hasn't even started yet! In comparison, it does feel like I've been at NWC for months!

Yesterday Shantry and I went for a walk in downtown OC. It was a really nice day (think room temperature outside) so we walked past the library (Shantry works there and wanted to see how long it would take to walk there) and than we played in the park. Who says that the playground is just for children? Unfortunatly there are no pictures, because it was a spur of the moment decision to take that walk.

I had my first memorized speech for Public Speeking today. It was awful. I "memorized" an excerpt from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. After the first sentence I started shaking, and forgot where I was, so I had to ask Professer Barker to tell me where I was. The rest I kept forgetting too, so I paraphrased a lot, but he only caught me doing it twice! That being said, I only lost 2 points for paraphrasing and 5 points for the "obvious loss of memory," which left me with 93/100! I was dreading this class all day, and actually spent the hour before in the park next to Hospers going over it out loud, but I guess it didn't turn out too bad...

Slime Fights and D-Groups

2007-08-29T21:01:00.000-05:00

Friday was the beginning of the Clash of the Classes. The activity for the day was the Slime Fight, which, according to Heidi, is the best part of the entire school year. Basically, it was every class against each other, all fighting for the privilege to fill a water trough full of slime using only small plastic cups and childrens' sand pails with holes punched in the bottom. (whew... that was a long sentence...) It was extremely messy. One time after dumping the slime from my cups into the tank I turned around and found myself facing to guys running right at me with a bucket dripping between them. I couldn't get out of their way, and they couldn't get out of mine, so I ducked down and let them go over me. This of course led to the slime coming out of the bottom of the bucket to cover my head. It was fun though... I was actually envious of the students inside the troughs where we had to transfer the slime from. There were three troughs in the center of the field, and each had a member from each class inside it. They were the only ones who could fill up the cups/buckets, so their always was a line to get slime. Funny moments occurred when people would wipe out because much slime got on the grass making it very slick. All in all it was very fun... Even though the freshmen only got second place...

D-groups (discipleship groups) started last night. D-groups are the bible study groups accross campus every tuesday night, with each hall having their own leaders. It was pretty fun. We had a 'get to know eachother' activity that was very enjoyable (if you were stranded on a desert island and could have only three things, what would they be?). I think I'm going to have fun with this.

New Room

2007-08-24T17:08:00.001-05:00

Well, its not exactly a new room, but Shantry and I finally moved the furniture to where we wanted it. The top picture is my area (bed on top of the book shelves which are on top of the dresser and desk) and the bottom area is Shantry's stuff. We moved it all ourselves, and it only took us about 15 minutes. Which, incidently, is about the same amount of time it took for me to remake my bed...

Is There a BAT in Here?!

2007-08-23T22:08:00.000-05:00

Last night we had the All Hall Meeting and Fire Safety Talk. This means everyone from all 9 halls showed up in the gym to listen to all of the rules of dorm life. Because the actuall information was boring, the RA's tried to make it interesting. Some ways they did this was to have 3 RA's write a Hall Anthem and sing it to the tune of O Canada. Than all the RA's rapped all the rules.

Than Lisa (our RD) went through some other rules and than she started reading us a divotional: "...and carrying the yoke of service is there a BAT in here?!" Somehow a bat got into the gym and spent half of the hour meeting flying over our heads.

Apparently Lisa is very into dress up days. No, you don't leave those behind in High School. In about a week, we are having an all hall picknic. The theme: pirates!

Happy (Late) Birthday

2007-08-21T20:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was James Marster's birthday. Because of the internet problems I was unable to post my best wishes. So anyway, Happy Late Birthday!!!

O-Serve and the Evil Internet

2007-08-21T08:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we had O-Serve, which was a volunteer service project. Shantry and I signed up for picking up trash on some city park path. For half of the time it was almost like being in Wisconsin again (trees on both sides of the path)! For the rest of the time we looked at corn fields (we were on the edge of town). It was kind of fun. We had too many people walking down the path looking for trash, so I didn't have to pick up a lot of stuff. I met another girl from Whitewater (between Eau Claire and La Crosse). I aslo talked to a Laura from Blue Earth (about an hour from Worthington), which was exciting because I actually know where that is. The two of us actually left before everyone else. They were just standing around looking confused, and we got bored and took off. It was ok though, I talked to Shantry after she got back 45 minutes later, and she said they didn't do anything else after that.

The internet here is not the greatest. Yesterday I tried to get on but it wouldn't let me. About 2 hours later, I tried to get on and it let me for about an hour. Than it didn't work the rest of the night. I thought it might have just been my connection, but Shantry's worked/didn't work at the same time mine didn't. Grr.