Holy Moley!

I'm blogging!

That's right friends, I'm still here.

I'm sorry to hear that you don't feel like you have much to do Jess. Want me to send you some of my work? Haha. But seriously, that's frustrating. I have days (not many) that I feel like I don't really need to be at work, and it's tough. You should have a talk with your boss about it. Who knows...it could actually be really rewarding!?!

And I talked with Megan tonight, which was great...so I know how her job is going.

I wanted to apologize in writing how sorry I am that those pesky ATO boys (yes, BOYS) treated you with such disrespect. But I am glad that they have an advisor will be supportive of you. YAY Greek Life professionals!

Things here are going well. Work is...well...it's work. Let's just say that I'm THRILLED for the students to come back. As you may know, Joe left our office (he and Amy are out in CO) and it's been pretty quiet since. James quit his job (I'm not sure his plan...I'll keep you both updated), which was also a change. And I'm pretty sure that a couple more will disappear before my birthday.

But...I've had a good summer other than all of that!

I even have pictures to prove it!!!


New York: L to R- Jenny, Anna, Cambria, and ME! We found this awesome sign outside a bar...and knew it was made for us.


Colorado: L to R- Kim, Shannon, and Dani. I had a good time visiting with Shannon (whose mannerisms remind me so much of Megan). And the best news...she has two kitties and I didn't have an allergic reaction to them! (Just one claritin a day did it!) So there's hope for me!

So, yeah, that's basically it. I'm just working and keeping myself out of trouble. (well...trying to at least!)

When are we all planning a reunion? I will probably have money if we plan for say...January? Haha. But really...

Aww

Silly staff....want me to come beat them up??

School started today! Crazy traffic!!! I guess I thought since I was in Utah that 20,000 students would seem like a smaller number.  It's still a lot!

I start Spanish tomorrow woo!!

I am SOOOO bored at work! I think I'm going to email my boss and ask if there's something I should be working on.  I feel bad doing that cause I feel like they might not know what they want out of my position yet, but if I don't get more things to do, I'm totally going to start applying to doctoral programs.  Gah!

Naptime! Miss you guys!

Boo.

I don't want to be disappointed in my staff already.

I realize I have high expectations for some people, but I should especially have them for a staff. And when they're shrugged off... sad day.

:(

Random Thoughts

1. My staff has already named me Cookie Monster. So we kind of have a Sesame Street theme going on. There's a little kids sweatshirt at the bookstore that says "Brought to you by the letters S-T-A-T-E" and has all the characters around it. Adorable, and I'm super excited to get it!

2. I've already gotten to use a bit of my confrontation skills... with a dozen Alpha Tau Omega men. Good times. Ask for the story, 'caus it's long.

3. Doug's coming next weekend!! YAY!!

4. I think I found the puppy I want. Oh, she's so adorable. She's a shepherd/collie mix, so appears to be not too big, which is perfect. And I think she'll enjoy the water. She's 6 months old... and I'm getting hung up on her, so I hope she's not adopted in the next week. Damn pay day.

5. I heart my staff.

6. Miss you!!

Sick. Seriously? Seriously.

1. Kim sucks at updating THIS blog. Geez, slacker.
2. I jinxed myself. Seriously. My staff and I were talking about sicknesses on Thursday morning at breakfast, and I started getting into the story of how I get sick in October and February, for like six weeks at a time, yadda yadda. The next morning, I woke up at about 3 with this lump in my throat (you know, that initial oh-boy-a-sore-throat feeling?) and felt like it was so hard to breathe. Greaaaaat. And since then, it's been my usual steady downhill roll into Megan's-hardcore-sickness.

3. OPENING IS in FOUR DAYS. And wtf? I'm sick? Hells no. Only yes. :(

4. Opening is in four days! Omg, so excited, so scared, so nervous, but sooooo excited. Ha. I have 409 residents, 10 of which move in on Monday, a handful on Tuesday, and the vast majority on Wed/Thurs (new student days). Exciting!

5. My staff is awesome. They already give me a hard time, like they've known me for months. And I kind of like it. Because I can give them a hard time back. Woo! But my three returners are helpful, certainly, and definitely appreciative of some of the changes I've made from last year. Always a good sign, I think! My new staff members are energized, excited.. and nervous (like me!). But so far, all nine (instead of 10... one to fill) get along so well and are working together to get things done as they should. Yay!

6. Also... nearly EVERY RD here calls their STAFF "kids." UGH! And that trickles down to SOOO many RAs calling their residents "kids." Ew, no. I told my staff I was going to start charging them a quarter every time they did that. Same for using the d-word. No other RD seems to realllllly be irked by it, which I find interesting. So maybe I'll have enough by the spring for you both to fly out here... paid for by my RAs. ;) Grand!

7. I got elected the Traveling Leadership Consultant (TLC) for this district of OPA. YAY! I'm super excited. It covers the University of Texas, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and Oklahoma State chapters. I get to help serve as a liasion between them and nationals, in addition to helping plan their annual district rally weekend (maybe in Oklahoma this year--I can add a new state!). So I'm super excited. I totally failed at the Alum Convention Coordinator (thank you, job searching), but I think this is a fairly easy and less of a time commitment that I am prepared to make. So I go to Atlanta at the end of September for training and then I'm on my way! Neat.

8. I didn't think I had this much to say.

9. Hooray Michael Phelps!

10. Silly Chinese gymnastics program.

11. Our roll call on Monday night is a spin on Sesame Street and taking a little poke at the amount of constructioni and re-building on campus. It's going to be amazing. I'm Cookie Monster. Pictures to come! :)

Love you, miss you both. <3

Blog, blog, blog

Hiiiiiii!!

So, I'm sitting at home on a Saturday night looking at my computer screen wondering what in the heck possessed me to tell my boss I'd have this book chapter done by this weekend.  That though= unreasonable.  However, I'm going to try really hard to get it accomplished.

My car decided to have a hiccup today.  By hiccup I got my oil changed, went to walmart, and on the .8 miles back from walmart my car decided it wanted to overheat.  So, I played mechanic for a lil bit and now I'm debating quitting my newfound career as a race car driver to become a mechanic.......maybe not :)  I think it's a happy car now though...I'll update you more on its progress later.

Work is good.  On Tuesday at the kickoff banquet I'm dressing up as "scary mary poppins" (see youtube for further information)....basically they're saying I'm a big scary assessment person (so true so true). :)  I'm excited about the book deadline approaching on Sept 1st-ish; however, I hope I have new stuff to entertain me at work by then.

It's so nice outside today!! Like 75!!! I hope that doesn't mean it's going to get cold soon!  I start my Spanish class on the 25th (so excited!!!), and we're still trying to hire people like crazy before school starts (and they're still considering moving my office...weirdos) :).  

I should stop procrastinating now.  Have I mentioned I have new elephants who live above me?I'm totally renting a house next go-around.  

Love you guys!!!! Miss you sometimes too!!! :)