The past two days I've been training with my "real" trainer, Jeff. Yesterday was kind of boring. We didn't even get to go on the trucks at all except a tiny bit in the morning because we were opening them. Most of yesterday was spent inside with me memorizing random facts. Jeff would give me a stack of flashcards and have me memorize them. Then, when I did that, he'd give me another stack to memorize. This went on for a loooong time. I also had to read about 60 pages worth of "protocol" stuff from the training book. It's required that all new trainees read that stuff. I was falling asleep during it. Not really out of boredom, but out of sheer exhaustion. Working for Disney is tiring!
Anyway, I also went over the spiel several times yesterday and generally did a lot of memorization and such. Today was much more fun! This morning we went out and I actually got to do a lot of the land jobs. The "Land" jobs are the ones like standing at the front of the line answering questions, working the Fastpass machine, working the Fastpass line, working the disability area, seating, etc. etc. I learned all about the Fastpass machines, which was my favorite part of the Land. Plus, today was extremely slow and the guests were all very happy.
I nearly busted out laughing at the guests though at one point. When I was working the Fastpass line I literally had like five guests in a row come and ask me where the bathroom was. And by "in a row" I mean the first one wasn't even out of hearing range before the next one was asking. I seriously wondered if they were doing it on purpose to mess with me. Because I've done that with a group of my friends to certain cast members before. So funny!
After doing lands in the morning and memorizing a few more animal flash cards (there are seriously, so many of them!) I had a P&P meeting with the manager. They basically sat us down and said, "Okay newbies, if you do this, this or this, you'll get fired. Be happy. Have fun."
Then we had lunch and the rest of the day was driving! I spent three hours in the driver's seat today, but it literally felt like fifteen minutes. The first time I drove around the forest I nearly had a heart attack. I don't think I noticed a single animal the first time around. I was way too busy watching my turns and making sure to make "wide turns." They really beat the "wide turns" idea into our heads.
The second time I felt a little better and by the third time I was mostly comfortable. But I was scared to get too comfortable because that's when problems happen. However, by the third time I actually was able to look around for animals. By the fourth and fifth, and all other times (I lost count of how many times I went around, but it was probably about six or seven) I was trying to drive and look for animals. And, let me tell you, it is way harder than it sounds. Not only do you have to memorize the "speed limits" of the different zones (which they are ridiculously specific about... you can't go too slow or too fast, keep a solid 4mph in some places. it's really hard to maintain an exact and steady speed) but you have to watch for animals, do the spiel, make sure nothing's in front of you, keep the turns perfect, and watch for certain safety lights that may flash at you. And I didn't even have guests to worry about today!
I didn't "almost hit" anything because we were going so slow it simply wasn't possible. However, I drove insanely close to several animals including a giraffe, two ostriches, and a white rhino. The rhino scared the snot out of me because there's a place on the reserve where the white rhinos are basically always hanging out. At least, I've always seen them in the same place. When we went to that place, and the addax was there instead, I just figured the white rhinos had gone in or something. Then, later, at a place where I didn't even know the white rhino could get to, I went around a corner and there was a white rhino literally two feet from my truck, walking around. His nose probably came within inches.
Now, I know from training that white rhinos have very poor vision. I was watching him in my rear mirror and could have sworn he was about to walk right into my truck. Fortunately he didn't, and I was left with only a minor panic attack. Actually, I'm pretty sure my whole day was a minor panic attack.
Anyway, I love my job. A lot. In case you can't tell. I'm really, really enjoying where I work. I love all the people, I love the work, I love the animals, and I love Disney! I'm so stinking happy that I get this opportunity. This location may even, possibly beat EPCOT. Unless I get termed for getting into an accident in the truck. But I'm working really hard to make sure that doesn't happen. :) Ahhh, I'm so happy!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
First Day of OJT
OJT. On the Job Training.
I started at 8:15 this morning. This meant I would have caught the 7am bus. Except that when I woke up at 6am and got dressed, I realized that not only was my belt waaay too big, but they gave me the wrong belt buckle. Unfortunately, DAK is built in a terrible way (which is ironic because you'd think the later the park was built, the smarter they'd build it) because the costuming building isn't within walking distance of the park. I didn't have enough time to take the bus there, and then ride back to DAK before my shift started. So I had to drive.
Once at work, I found my trainer. He spent about five minutes training me, and then we realized that there were issues with the training schedules. Twenty minutes, a bunch of phone calls, and a lot of confusion later, we set it up so I was training with someone else. Which kind of stunk because I was then stuck with another trainee instead of getting individual attention. However, it was still a lot of fun, and I liked the girl I was training with.
We saw down at a table and my trainer started pulling out papers. "Here's the list of codes." "Here's another list of different codes." "Here's a map of the park." "Here's a map of Africa." "Memorize this." "Here's the trail map." "Here's the spiel." "Memorize that." Here's a list of safety rules." "Here's another list of codes." "Here's a bag of goodies. Yep, there's sun block and chap stick in there." "Memorize this." "This paper goes over The Basics again." "Have another list of codes." "make sure you memorize this."
After about three minutes I had a stack of papers in front of me. Just a little overwhelming. Then he pulled out another binder of papers. "Here. Read and learn pages 51-73." We ended up going through page 91. Yikes!
There were a lot of fun things we did too, though. We checked out the trucks, walked around Africa, learned about the trail, and rode the trail several times. I felt bad for some of the guests because there's a lot of trainees right now and we have to drive through the loading zone. So we drive up to the loading zone as if we're going to load, and then just leave. Empty trucked.
And then, at the end of the day, we actually got to drive the trucks! Those things are ENORMOUS! When I told people I was nervous they kept telling me "Don't worry. It's easy. They train you well." I think they talked it down so much that it freaked me out even more.
I pulled out of the spot. There's a yellow Mickey head on the ground you have to drive over to make sure the audio works. You have to drive over it just right, though, or nothing happens. I got it on my second try! It was so exciting when I heard the music start! So funny. We drove in circles backstage for a while, and then went on the track. Because of time, I didn't get to drive on much of the track. But it's kind of a good thing because I have yet to have been on the safari when there was an animal in the rode, but in the (ridiculously short) amount of trail I drove there were THREE animals blocking me. My trainer was joking that I must attract them or something. Fortunately none of them stayed long enough for me to report it, but still. Crazy!
The other good thing is I didn't go up on the curb once! However, I'm fairly certain I'm going to go up on the curb at some point because I've even hit the curb before in my car so it's bound to happen on the truck.
What amazed me most about the trucks, though, is their level of safety. I can't go into detail, but our safety standards are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than those set at the Rescue Squad I used to work at. That's a big deal. It literally did blow my mind as to the amount of safety measures we take. Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable that things still go wrong. But fortunately, there's also huge safety measures taken for things if they do go wrong, so there's like no chance of anyone with half a brain to get hurt on this ride. And those trucks are in tip top maintenance shape.
With that said, however, the ride actually did go down today! While we were at lunch we saw the trucks heading back into the parking lot. I probably shouldn't post why, but it wasn't a huge deal, and we were back up and running shortly after. The trainers we were with said the ride very rarely goes down like that. Like, maybe five times a year. If that much. But we saw it today! Maybe that means it'll be a long time before there's another problem. Then again, what are the chances that would happen my first day!?
Anyway, this got extremely long, but it was such a totally amazing day! I nearly cried out of happiness for my job and my life in general. So stinking much fun! I can't believe I'm going to be doing this daily!!! I can't even wait!
I started at 8:15 this morning. This meant I would have caught the 7am bus. Except that when I woke up at 6am and got dressed, I realized that not only was my belt waaay too big, but they gave me the wrong belt buckle. Unfortunately, DAK is built in a terrible way (which is ironic because you'd think the later the park was built, the smarter they'd build it) because the costuming building isn't within walking distance of the park. I didn't have enough time to take the bus there, and then ride back to DAK before my shift started. So I had to drive.
Once at work, I found my trainer. He spent about five minutes training me, and then we realized that there were issues with the training schedules. Twenty minutes, a bunch of phone calls, and a lot of confusion later, we set it up so I was training with someone else. Which kind of stunk because I was then stuck with another trainee instead of getting individual attention. However, it was still a lot of fun, and I liked the girl I was training with.
We saw down at a table and my trainer started pulling out papers. "Here's the list of codes." "Here's another list of different codes." "Here's a map of the park." "Here's a map of Africa." "Memorize this." "Here's the trail map." "Here's the spiel." "Memorize that." Here's a list of safety rules." "Here's another list of codes." "Here's a bag of goodies. Yep, there's sun block and chap stick in there." "Memorize this." "This paper goes over The Basics again." "Have another list of codes." "make sure you memorize this."
After about three minutes I had a stack of papers in front of me. Just a little overwhelming. Then he pulled out another binder of papers. "Here. Read and learn pages 51-73." We ended up going through page 91. Yikes!
There were a lot of fun things we did too, though. We checked out the trucks, walked around Africa, learned about the trail, and rode the trail several times. I felt bad for some of the guests because there's a lot of trainees right now and we have to drive through the loading zone. So we drive up to the loading zone as if we're going to load, and then just leave. Empty trucked.
And then, at the end of the day, we actually got to drive the trucks! Those things are ENORMOUS! When I told people I was nervous they kept telling me "Don't worry. It's easy. They train you well." I think they talked it down so much that it freaked me out even more.
I pulled out of the spot. There's a yellow Mickey head on the ground you have to drive over to make sure the audio works. You have to drive over it just right, though, or nothing happens. I got it on my second try! It was so exciting when I heard the music start! So funny. We drove in circles backstage for a while, and then went on the track. Because of time, I didn't get to drive on much of the track. But it's kind of a good thing because I have yet to have been on the safari when there was an animal in the rode, but in the (ridiculously short) amount of trail I drove there were THREE animals blocking me. My trainer was joking that I must attract them or something. Fortunately none of them stayed long enough for me to report it, but still. Crazy!
The other good thing is I didn't go up on the curb once! However, I'm fairly certain I'm going to go up on the curb at some point because I've even hit the curb before in my car so it's bound to happen on the truck.
What amazed me most about the trucks, though, is their level of safety. I can't go into detail, but our safety standards are SIGNIFICANTLY higher than those set at the Rescue Squad I used to work at. That's a big deal. It literally did blow my mind as to the amount of safety measures we take. Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable that things still go wrong. But fortunately, there's also huge safety measures taken for things if they do go wrong, so there's like no chance of anyone with half a brain to get hurt on this ride. And those trucks are in tip top maintenance shape.
With that said, however, the ride actually did go down today! While we were at lunch we saw the trucks heading back into the parking lot. I probably shouldn't post why, but it wasn't a huge deal, and we were back up and running shortly after. The trainers we were with said the ride very rarely goes down like that. Like, maybe five times a year. If that much. But we saw it today! Maybe that means it'll be a long time before there's another problem. Then again, what are the chances that would happen my first day!?
Anyway, this got extremely long, but it was such a totally amazing day! I nearly cried out of happiness for my job and my life in general. So stinking much fun! I can't believe I'm going to be doing this daily!!! I can't even wait!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
First Day - DAKlimation
First of all, DAK stands for Disney's Animal Kingdom in Disney speak. Just for all those who may not know.
Anyway, today I took the beginning class for DAK called DAKlimation. Now I've officially taken the intro class for each park except Hollywood. That'll have to come later. :)
So I woke up at 6 so I could catch the bus at 7 to get there by 8 to start training at 8:30. The bus dropped us off and I followed the crowd to the cast entrance gate. Normally, the cast entrance gates are manned by security guards and we go through security each morning. At DAK, it was like one of those giant turnstile thingy's that are more like a revolving door. I scanned my card like those in front of me, pushed on the door and.... nothing. It wouldn't budge. So I swiped my card again. Pushed. Nothing. Again. Shook the door. Nothing. Laaame. At this point the people behind me asked if they could go ahead of me. The next thing I knew, everyone I was following had gone ahead and I was stuck at the gate.
I wasn't really freaking out. I had plenty of time, and I knew very, very well that my ID was good and I was fine. But I did need to figure out how to get past the gate. Finally, I found the phone and called security. I explained what was happening. The guy on the other side looked my name up in the system, asked me some random questions, and then told me to walk back over to the machine, and simply tap my card on it. "Just tap my card?" I clarified. "Yep. It'll work." Then he hung up.
I didn't believe him. I wiped my card again. Nothing. Finally, out of desperation, and feeling foolish, I started tapping my card around the machine. Suddenly, the light turned green, I heard a noise, and pushed, and it worked!
Should have known that Disney would have more than one way of reading our ID. My card apparently has a microchip in it as well as the bar code as well as the magnetic strip. It's great!
Anyway, one of the girls in the group that went ahead of me stopped and waited for me to catch up. She noticed that we both went to the same school. I made tons of other friends too, who all work in DAK. We also got to ride the Safari, and now I'm even MORE excited, if that's even possible. Now I finally get to unpack, sit back, and relax until Tuesday when I start my first real day of training! Can't wait!
Anyway, today I took the beginning class for DAK called DAKlimation. Now I've officially taken the intro class for each park except Hollywood. That'll have to come later. :)
So I woke up at 6 so I could catch the bus at 7 to get there by 8 to start training at 8:30. The bus dropped us off and I followed the crowd to the cast entrance gate. Normally, the cast entrance gates are manned by security guards and we go through security each morning. At DAK, it was like one of those giant turnstile thingy's that are more like a revolving door. I scanned my card like those in front of me, pushed on the door and.... nothing. It wouldn't budge. So I swiped my card again. Pushed. Nothing. Again. Shook the door. Nothing. Laaame. At this point the people behind me asked if they could go ahead of me. The next thing I knew, everyone I was following had gone ahead and I was stuck at the gate.
I wasn't really freaking out. I had plenty of time, and I knew very, very well that my ID was good and I was fine. But I did need to figure out how to get past the gate. Finally, I found the phone and called security. I explained what was happening. The guy on the other side looked my name up in the system, asked me some random questions, and then told me to walk back over to the machine, and simply tap my card on it. "Just tap my card?" I clarified. "Yep. It'll work." Then he hung up.
I didn't believe him. I wiped my card again. Nothing. Finally, out of desperation, and feeling foolish, I started tapping my card around the machine. Suddenly, the light turned green, I heard a noise, and pushed, and it worked!
Should have known that Disney would have more than one way of reading our ID. My card apparently has a microchip in it as well as the bar code as well as the magnetic strip. It's great!
Anyway, one of the girls in the group that went ahead of me stopped and waited for me to catch up. She noticed that we both went to the same school. I made tons of other friends too, who all work in DAK. We also got to ride the Safari, and now I'm even MORE excited, if that's even possible. Now I finally get to unpack, sit back, and relax until Tuesday when I start my first real day of training! Can't wait!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Quick Little Update!
Sooooo excited to start my job. I'm having some issues because apparently my background check hasn't gone through yet, and I'm not allowed to work until it does. Also, my bank account that I set up said that with new account, checks are no good for 9 days. So basically I have no money for the next nine days. Except the chunk of cash in my wallet. But it's okay, because I have a full cupboard!
I'm super excited to take the classes I signed up for. I went to the education office today and got my login info for the classes. It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!!! Especially the Disney Heritage class.
I went on the Safari ride today as a kind of precursor to where I'm going to work. And I found my old coordinator standing outside the ride! So awesome! I sat and talked to him for a bit, and he's excited for me. He was explaining some details about training and the ride and basically making me even MORE excited to work there. But still, I'm pretty intimidated by all the stuff I have to learn. He basically said that the majority of my days will be driving the trucks. Also, the trucks? Hold up to 40 people. Not 20. Daaang.
I'm meeting Heather again tonight and we're going to play in Hollywood Studios. After that I'll have been to all four parks in the past two days.
This next paragraph was supposed to be about how I was worried about the background check thing, but then they just called me and said it went through and I can indeed go to work tomorrow. Why they freak me out like that, I don't know. But I'm glad it's all good. :)
And that is all for now! I'm still running around like crazy until further notice!
I'm super excited to take the classes I signed up for. I went to the education office today and got my login info for the classes. It's gonna be SO MUCH FUN!!! Especially the Disney Heritage class.
I went on the Safari ride today as a kind of precursor to where I'm going to work. And I found my old coordinator standing outside the ride! So awesome! I sat and talked to him for a bit, and he's excited for me. He was explaining some details about training and the ride and basically making me even MORE excited to work there. But still, I'm pretty intimidated by all the stuff I have to learn. He basically said that the majority of my days will be driving the trucks. Also, the trucks? Hold up to 40 people. Not 20. Daaang.
I'm meeting Heather again tonight and we're going to play in Hollywood Studios. After that I'll have been to all four parks in the past two days.
This next paragraph was supposed to be about how I was worried about the background check thing, but then they just called me and said it went through and I can indeed go to work tomorrow. Why they freak me out like that, I don't know. But I'm glad it's all good. :)
And that is all for now! I'm still running around like crazy until further notice!
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
How I Came To Find Out....
It occurred to me I never really wrote the story of how I was told I was working at DAK a few weeks ago. Lack of internet really ruins this whole blogging business. Anyway, here's a personal story to keep you entertained and my records of my life up to date. :)
It happened on July 23. Saturday. The day after I graduated from college. I was in the car making the three hour drive to our cabin in Dubois with my mom. As we went over a mountain, in and out of cell phone coverage, my phone rang. It was from an "Unavailable" number which in my past experience has always been calls from Disney. However, I didn't see why they would be calling me. I answered, and a cheerful, perky, Disney voice answered me back.
"Hello! This is 'Anne' from Disney University calling about your location of work beginning in August. Is this Dianna?"
"Um... yes..."
"Great! Yes, well I'm just calling on behalf of Disney's Animal Kingdom to inform you of your job beginning August 14th at the Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safari ride........... *click*"
"Animal Kingdom! Awesome!!! But... my contract doesn't start until the 17th! I shouldn't be working there until later! Do I have to come early now? What if I get fired!? But the Safari was my #1 choice in Attractions of where I'd want to work! That's with LIVE ANIMALS! But... why are you calling and telling me? I thought I wasn't supposed to know until later!? I'm so confused!"
".........................."
"Crap..."
The next ten minutes involved me freaking out about all the ridiculous possibilities my brain could come up with in such a short period... I have a talent for worrying. What if they fire me for hanging up on them? What if I'm starting the 14th? Will I have to show up early? How will that mess up my friends I'm supposed to drive? Will I have time to make it to the east coast? What if she's lying? What if she's just looking for info? I'm so confused!!!
We got to the cabin where we still didn't get cell reception, but we got a landline. Since I have a genius of a mom, she figured out how to use the landline to call and listen to any voicemail I had on my phone. Fortunately "Anne" (I'm not using her real name here) had left a message just after I lost reception giving me a number to call her back.
I called back immediately. When I did, before I could even finish apologizing or explaining, and even before I could tell her that my contract did not start until the 17th, she started talking about the job again. "It's fine. I'm just letting you know that your job begins the 14th... I mean... oh I see. No. You start work the week beginning the 14th. Your real first day of work will be that Saturday, the 20th."
Ahhhh, much, much better! I finished up a very pleasant conversation with "Anne" and we hung up. And then the excitement really set in! I'm working on a Safari!!!
It happened on July 23. Saturday. The day after I graduated from college. I was in the car making the three hour drive to our cabin in Dubois with my mom. As we went over a mountain, in and out of cell phone coverage, my phone rang. It was from an "Unavailable" number which in my past experience has always been calls from Disney. However, I didn't see why they would be calling me. I answered, and a cheerful, perky, Disney voice answered me back.
"Hello! This is 'Anne' from Disney University calling about your location of work beginning in August. Is this Dianna?"
"Um... yes..."
"Great! Yes, well I'm just calling on behalf of Disney's Animal Kingdom to inform you of your job beginning August 14th at the Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safari ride........... *click*"
"Animal Kingdom! Awesome!!! But... my contract doesn't start until the 17th! I shouldn't be working there until later! Do I have to come early now? What if I get fired!? But the Safari was my #1 choice in Attractions of where I'd want to work! That's with LIVE ANIMALS! But... why are you calling and telling me? I thought I wasn't supposed to know until later!? I'm so confused!"
".........................."
"Crap..."
The next ten minutes involved me freaking out about all the ridiculous possibilities my brain could come up with in such a short period... I have a talent for worrying. What if they fire me for hanging up on them? What if I'm starting the 14th? Will I have to show up early? How will that mess up my friends I'm supposed to drive? Will I have time to make it to the east coast? What if she's lying? What if she's just looking for info? I'm so confused!!!
We got to the cabin where we still didn't get cell reception, but we got a landline. Since I have a genius of a mom, she figured out how to use the landline to call and listen to any voicemail I had on my phone. Fortunately "Anne" (I'm not using her real name here) had left a message just after I lost reception giving me a number to call her back.
I called back immediately. When I did, before I could even finish apologizing or explaining, and even before I could tell her that my contract did not start until the 17th, she started talking about the job again. "It's fine. I'm just letting you know that your job begins the 14th... I mean... oh I see. No. You start work the week beginning the 14th. Your real first day of work will be that Saturday, the 20th."
Ahhhh, much, much better! I finished up a very pleasant conversation with "Anne" and we hung up. And then the excitement really set in! I'm working on a Safari!!!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Back In Virginia!
It's been a loooong time since I updated. In case you hadn't noticed. :)
In the past two weeks (and two days) I have felt very accomplished while not really accomplishing much at all.
First, I graduated. Graduating doesn't really take much of anything... it's really the work leading up to graduating that is accomplished.
Then I spent about a week with my brothers, sister-in-law (almost), and parents in Dubois, WY. There, we rode horses and ATVs, went to a rodeo, visited Yellowstone, and played games.
Then we spent another few days in Boulder, CO with my oldest brother setting up his apartments and going to the Denver zoo, which, by the way, is incredible!
Then my mom and I drove home from Boulder over Wednesday and Thursday. 22 hours in a car, 1500 miles, in 2 days! Yikes!
I've been at home the past few days figuring out my life and sorting through everything I own trying to figure out what I want to keep, and when I'll want to be keeping it. At the same time, I've been working out being my mom's slave to her extra house she rents out, sorting through stuff, figuring out computers (well, my own so far) and such. Really, it's not all that much, I just like to act like I'm working hard for her. :)
But now I'm in Virginia and I had totally forgotten how totally beautiful it is here! I love the variety of trees, the wildflowers, the wildlife, the people, the sunsets, the green, etc. etc. etc. We saw more wildlife within an hour of entering VA than we saw in Dubois/Yellowstone in an entire week! Plus, our mountains may be smaller, but they are so totally prettier. I love it here!
However, while I freely admit the Valley is prettier than Florida, I still prefer Florida and will hopefully end up there. I start my program on the 17th, and will start work on the 20th. And I can't even wait!
Also, I don't know why but I got a phone call over our trip telling me my location of work this next semester. I don't know why they did that since A) they've never done it before, B) they haven't done it yet for any of my friends who are doing the program this semester, and C) I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to do it because they can change your location up to the day you arrive.
We'll see what happens. And in case anyone's curious as to where I'm working, it's going to be in the jungles of Africa in the Animal Kingdom working the African Safaris ride! I am so stinkin' excited!!! (assuming this really does happen).
In the past two weeks (and two days) I have felt very accomplished while not really accomplishing much at all.
First, I graduated. Graduating doesn't really take much of anything... it's really the work leading up to graduating that is accomplished.
Then I spent about a week with my brothers, sister-in-law (almost), and parents in Dubois, WY. There, we rode horses and ATVs, went to a rodeo, visited Yellowstone, and played games.
Then we spent another few days in Boulder, CO with my oldest brother setting up his apartments and going to the Denver zoo, which, by the way, is incredible!
Then my mom and I drove home from Boulder over Wednesday and Thursday. 22 hours in a car, 1500 miles, in 2 days! Yikes!
I've been at home the past few days figuring out my life and sorting through everything I own trying to figure out what I want to keep, and when I'll want to be keeping it. At the same time, I've been working out being my mom's slave to her extra house she rents out, sorting through stuff, figuring out computers (well, my own so far) and such. Really, it's not all that much, I just like to act like I'm working hard for her. :)
But now I'm in Virginia and I had totally forgotten how totally beautiful it is here! I love the variety of trees, the wildflowers, the wildlife, the people, the sunsets, the green, etc. etc. etc. We saw more wildlife within an hour of entering VA than we saw in Dubois/Yellowstone in an entire week! Plus, our mountains may be smaller, but they are so totally prettier. I love it here!
However, while I freely admit the Valley is prettier than Florida, I still prefer Florida and will hopefully end up there. I start my program on the 17th, and will start work on the 20th. And I can't even wait!
Also, I don't know why but I got a phone call over our trip telling me my location of work this next semester. I don't know why they did that since A) they've never done it before, B) they haven't done it yet for any of my friends who are doing the program this semester, and C) I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to do it because they can change your location up to the day you arrive.
We'll see what happens. And in case anyone's curious as to where I'm working, it's going to be in the jungles of Africa in the Animal Kingdom working the African Safaris ride! I am so stinkin' excited!!! (assuming this really does happen).
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Online Classes
Being my final semester, I decided to take a bunch of easy online classes so I could finish easily. This plan has worked well, and I'm finding myself not in the least bit stressed right before finals week. All I have left for the semester is one exam and one presentation. I'm finished with four of my six classes, with an A in every single one. Thank goodness for online learning!
However, as I look back over my education, I think I've officially decided that online learning is inferior to classroom learning. I just plain don't learn as much, and I don't enjoy it as much. Sure, we have tons and TONS of discussion boards so we can "interact" with other students. But a lot of the discussion boards just feel forced. "You must post at least two new threads and comment on other posts." "You must comment on at least five other posts and each of your posts must be at least 250 or 500 words."
In class, this "interaction" is not "required" in any way. It just happens. In classes, it's fun to discuss ideas with the other students. I had so much fun in my little study groups and going to the library and searching through books with my group creating Powerpoint presentations and such. I liked that I knew at any time in any class if I ever had any sort of question all I had to do was raise my hand and BOOM, I'd get an answer or at least a "I don't know but here's something to think about as you search for the answer." Sitting on my bed trying to come up with some way to fake interest in some halfway attempt at a comment written by another student who couldn't care less about what they're doing either is just lame.
I've been studying for my Medical Terminology final today. It's also an online class. The lame thing about this is, there are questions I have that I just want to talk to someone who knows more. The problem with an online class is you're given the material you need for the test and that's all. But I'm reading about neurons and synapses and why injuries to the CNS are irreparable which totally fascinates me, and I'm coming up with all these questions that are too complicated to "just Google." And I feel too weird randomly emailing the teacher asking him to explain this random thing or answer a random question because it's the kind of thing I want to discuss in person with someone who actually knows answers and can explain things... and the teacher's not even in this state. I feel like my learning is slightly stunted.
Not that I think it's "bad" per se. I am still learning. A lot. I still LOVE reading my text books and many of our required discussion boards are good and fun. And I'm definitely learning the idea of "you get out of it what you put into it." It's definitely way easier to slack off and not try to learn in an online class than it is in a classroom class. But still. I've definitely decided, today, once and for all, that no learning can replace classroom learning. Online classes just aren't the same.
(Also, if anyone knows a lot about neuroglia, particularly oligodendrocytes and their functions and such, I would love to talk)
*steps off soapbox*
However, as I look back over my education, I think I've officially decided that online learning is inferior to classroom learning. I just plain don't learn as much, and I don't enjoy it as much. Sure, we have tons and TONS of discussion boards so we can "interact" with other students. But a lot of the discussion boards just feel forced. "You must post at least two new threads and comment on other posts." "You must comment on at least five other posts and each of your posts must be at least 250 or 500 words."
In class, this "interaction" is not "required" in any way. It just happens. In classes, it's fun to discuss ideas with the other students. I had so much fun in my little study groups and going to the library and searching through books with my group creating Powerpoint presentations and such. I liked that I knew at any time in any class if I ever had any sort of question all I had to do was raise my hand and BOOM, I'd get an answer or at least a "I don't know but here's something to think about as you search for the answer." Sitting on my bed trying to come up with some way to fake interest in some halfway attempt at a comment written by another student who couldn't care less about what they're doing either is just lame.
I've been studying for my Medical Terminology final today. It's also an online class. The lame thing about this is, there are questions I have that I just want to talk to someone who knows more. The problem with an online class is you're given the material you need for the test and that's all. But I'm reading about neurons and synapses and why injuries to the CNS are irreparable which totally fascinates me, and I'm coming up with all these questions that are too complicated to "just Google." And I feel too weird randomly emailing the teacher asking him to explain this random thing or answer a random question because it's the kind of thing I want to discuss in person with someone who actually knows answers and can explain things... and the teacher's not even in this state. I feel like my learning is slightly stunted.
Not that I think it's "bad" per se. I am still learning. A lot. I still LOVE reading my text books and many of our required discussion boards are good and fun. And I'm definitely learning the idea of "you get out of it what you put into it." It's definitely way easier to slack off and not try to learn in an online class than it is in a classroom class. But still. I've definitely decided, today, once and for all, that no learning can replace classroom learning. Online classes just aren't the same.
(Also, if anyone knows a lot about neuroglia, particularly oligodendrocytes and their functions and such, I would love to talk)
*steps off soapbox*
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Grad Fest
Grad Fest was today! It was like a little party thrown for graduates! I got some free stuff... mainly junk, but still. And I got to pick up my gown and TASSEL!!!
I've never had a real tassel before! That's kind of the only part I was excited for. That and the free grad cupcake that was packed with almond flavoring. My dad would have loved it.
Now I'm sitting in my room staring at the gown wondering if it's illegal to try on before graduation.
I kind of don't care. I'll probably do it anyway. :)
Next Friday I will GRADUATE!!!!!!!
Maybe I should have made announcements...
I've never had a real tassel before! That's kind of the only part I was excited for. That and the free grad cupcake that was packed with almond flavoring. My dad would have loved it.
Now I'm sitting in my room staring at the gown wondering if it's illegal to try on before graduation.
I kind of don't care. I'll probably do it anyway. :)
Next Friday I will GRADUATE!!!!!!!
Maybe I should have made announcements...
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Another Video From Last Semester
My old roommate Ashley made this video of our apartment last semester. I LOVE it!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15k8wseYrsw
And I'm actually kind of in this one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15k8wseYrsw
And I'm actually kind of in this one!
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Sugar City
Yesterday Stanzie and I went to Sugar City to ride bikes with my friend Kelly. She's lived there her whole life, so she knows this place like the back of her hand. Sugar City is just a tiny bit bigger than my town in Virginia.
Kelly borrowed two bikes from neighbors so Stanzie and I could ride. We rode out to the cemetary where Kelly had some friends/relatives buried. It was kind of sad for me to walk around, especially as we saw so many children/baby graves. Stanzie wasn't sad... she said it was just "melancholy."
Yeah, ask her for the difference.
On the way back we took pictures by this lady's house who just had tons of flowers out front. She actually left while we were taking pictures, and as she drove out of her driveway she had this giant smile on her face. Either she was glad we were enjoying her flowers, or she was leaving for the cops. Since she was super old, and we didn't see any cops, I'm guessing it was the first. :) We really did enjoy her flowers.
Sugar City started out as a town that made sugar and had sugar factories. Apparently, now this one is used to house potatoes, but it's not even used much for that anymore.
As for the above picture? You're welcome. (I have no idea what I was doing...)
Our final stop was to get milkshakes. They were great! I took a picture before this one and started making fun of how white Stanzie looked next to Kelly's dark tan. So Stanzie put on her sunglasses to try to counter it. I LOVE this picture! I just love it!
I have the greatest friends EVER!
Kelly borrowed two bikes from neighbors so Stanzie and I could ride. We rode out to the cemetary where Kelly had some friends/relatives buried. It was kind of sad for me to walk around, especially as we saw so many children/baby graves. Stanzie wasn't sad... she said it was just "melancholy."
Yeah, ask her for the difference.
On the way back we took pictures by this lady's house who just had tons of flowers out front. She actually left while we were taking pictures, and as she drove out of her driveway she had this giant smile on her face. Either she was glad we were enjoying her flowers, or she was leaving for the cops. Since she was super old, and we didn't see any cops, I'm guessing it was the first. :) We really did enjoy her flowers.
Sugar City started out as a town that made sugar and had sugar factories. Apparently, now this one is used to house potatoes, but it's not even used much for that anymore.
As for the above picture? You're welcome. (I have no idea what I was doing...)
Our final stop was to get milkshakes. They were great! I took a picture before this one and started making fun of how white Stanzie looked next to Kelly's dark tan. So Stanzie put on her sunglasses to try to counter it. I LOVE this picture! I just love it!
I have the greatest friends EVER!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Trips, Trips, and Trips
I call them trips because they're not vacation. Vacations are relaxing cruises with no worries or drama. Vacations are going to Disney World and not having to deal with problems. Vacations involve being free of life. Which is nice sometimes, as long as it doesn't involve pills or a razor blade, because that's not at all what I'm talking about.
But trips can be fun and amazing too! So let's see... In 23 days I graduate. In 24 days, I'll be on vacation in Dubois with my family. Then, in exactly 31 days, my mom and I will take off on a trip across the country! We will drive through Rapid City, SD to see Mt. Rushmore. Then we'll stop by Nauvoo and Kirtland and get home to Virginia in 36/37 days depending on traffic and whatever else gets in our way.
I'm not excited at all. :)
Then my next trip will be just a few short weeks later on my way to DISNEY WORLD!!! I'll get to see my grandma, and then check in at the Happiest Place on Earth on my dad's birthday.
Still. Not excited.
Just thought I'd update you guys on my totally awesome life!
But trips can be fun and amazing too! So let's see... In 23 days I graduate. In 24 days, I'll be on vacation in Dubois with my family. Then, in exactly 31 days, my mom and I will take off on a trip across the country! We will drive through Rapid City, SD to see Mt. Rushmore. Then we'll stop by Nauvoo and Kirtland and get home to Virginia in 36/37 days depending on traffic and whatever else gets in our way.
I'm not excited at all. :)
Then my next trip will be just a few short weeks later on my way to DISNEY WORLD!!! I'll get to see my grandma, and then check in at the Happiest Place on Earth on my dad's birthday.
Still. Not excited.
Just thought I'd update you guys on my totally awesome life!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Group Dynamics
I have been dreading taking this class since a year ago since I first enrolled in it and then dropped after being killed by the workload the first week (it was the semester after I took 21 credits, and I didn't feel like pulling that off again).
Our group of 6 had a meeting set for yesterday at 3pm. The meeting time had been planned for almost two weeks in advance. It was absolutely vital that every single member of the group be present for the meeting. Nothing could happen if we weren't all six there.
One girl forgot... happened to be the same one who didn't respond when we all gave each other our phone numbers. Another had an emergency where her car broke down and she couldn't make it.
I'm not the group leader, but for some reason everyone was calling/texting me wondering what to do. I got in touch with the group leader and asked her to send an email telling everyone to meet during out backup time, which was 8pm.
Except another person in our group had planned something during our backup time assuming we would all meet at 3pm as planned.
So now we're all scrambling around at the last second figuring out times and having issues with people not responding, answering phones, being unavailable, and generally being frustrated with one another. I passed the scheduling of the meeting off the Jessica, the group leader, and let her know that I have 100% availability (one of the good things about having only online classes). I really hope she can figure this out and I'm extremely glad that my two weeks of leadership is over and went smoothly.
Gotta love group projects! Especially when dealing with people across the country!
Our group of 6 had a meeting set for yesterday at 3pm. The meeting time had been planned for almost two weeks in advance. It was absolutely vital that every single member of the group be present for the meeting. Nothing could happen if we weren't all six there.
One girl forgot... happened to be the same one who didn't respond when we all gave each other our phone numbers. Another had an emergency where her car broke down and she couldn't make it.
I'm not the group leader, but for some reason everyone was calling/texting me wondering what to do. I got in touch with the group leader and asked her to send an email telling everyone to meet during out backup time, which was 8pm.
Except another person in our group had planned something during our backup time assuming we would all meet at 3pm as planned.
So now we're all scrambling around at the last second figuring out times and having issues with people not responding, answering phones, being unavailable, and generally being frustrated with one another. I passed the scheduling of the meeting off the Jessica, the group leader, and let her know that I have 100% availability (one of the good things about having only online classes). I really hope she can figure this out and I'm extremely glad that my two weeks of leadership is over and went smoothly.
Gotta love group projects! Especially when dealing with people across the country!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Working Out
If you want to screw up your legs, just go up and down the stairs at a local stadium about a hundred times.
No, seriously. Today, instead of the gym, I went to the stadium and went up and down each individual stair at least twice. Which doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you, stadiums are HUGE and have gazillions of stairs.
My legs started shaking uncontrollably and they felt a little like jello as I walked around for a while. Weird...
No, seriously. Today, instead of the gym, I went to the stadium and went up and down each individual stair at least twice. Which doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you, stadiums are HUGE and have gazillions of stairs.
My legs started shaking uncontrollably and they felt a little like jello as I walked around for a while. Weird...
Friday, June 10, 2011
Messy Children
My old roommate's 18 month old recently put a purple crayon in the dishwasher. (Yes, my roommate is a mom... Weird...) She posted the pictures on Facebook. For the record, it turns your dishwasher purple and creates this weird foam and looks really, really cool! But kinda messy to clean up.
Her other mom friends were discussing how to clean up messes their children make.
In case you ever need to know, WD-40 is apparently really good at getting crayon off of a dishwasher.
But they also mentioned how one of their kids took an ink pen and colored all over their couch. Apparently, hairspray is magical in getting ink out of cloth.
Now I want to draw on my clothes with an ink pen and then put hairspray on it to see if it really does work. Cuz if so, that's stinking awesome!
Her other mom friends were discussing how to clean up messes their children make.
In case you ever need to know, WD-40 is apparently really good at getting crayon off of a dishwasher.
But they also mentioned how one of their kids took an ink pen and colored all over their couch. Apparently, hairspray is magical in getting ink out of cloth.
Now I want to draw on my clothes with an ink pen and then put hairspray on it to see if it really does work. Cuz if so, that's stinking awesome!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Disney Memories...
The awesome thing about being a cast member, is that you get to take pictures like these:
As opposed to pictures like these:
As opposed to pictures like these:
Monday, June 6, 2011
Story of My Life
Why is it so easy to write on here, and yet so impossible to write college papers sometimes...
I found this while procrastinating writing a college paper--
How to write a paper in college/university:
1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.
2. Log onto Facebook and Gmail. Check your email.
3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.
4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.
5. Check your email.
6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee. Just to get settled down and ready to work.
7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place in front of your computer.
8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.
9. Check your email.
10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.
11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.
12. Grab some mp3's off of itunes.
13. Check your email.
14. Facebook chat with one of your friends about the future.
15. Check your email.
16. Listen to your new mp3s and download some more.
17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory remarks about your professor, the course, the college, and the world at large.
18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out.
19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.
20. Check your email.
21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV.
22. Play some solitare.
23. Make sure you're sitting in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
24. Wash your hands.
25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either.
26. Look through your roommate's book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is.
27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.
28. Check your friend's blogs. Check your email again, just in case.
29. Do some light cleaning of your room to help you focus.
30. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
31. Read over the assignment one more time, just for heck of it.
32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.
33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.
34. Punch the wall and break something.
35. Check your email.
36. Mumble obscenities.
37. 5am - start writing on the paper without stopping. 6am - paper is finished.
38. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.
39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap.
....Maybe I should get back to that paper I'm supposed to be writing. Well, all three of them, actually. :)
I found this while procrastinating writing a college paper--
How to write a paper in college/university:
1. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a well lit place in front of your computer.
2. Log onto Facebook and Gmail. Check your email.
3. Read over the assignment carefully, to make certain you understand it.
4. Walk down to the vending machines and buy some chocolate to help you concentrate.
5. Check your email.
6. Call up a friend and ask if he/she wants to go to grab a coffee. Just to get settled down and ready to work.
7. When you get back to your room, sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place in front of your computer.
8. Read over the assignment again to make absolutely certain you understand it.
9. Check your email.
10. You know, you haven't written to that kid you met at camp since fourth grade. You'd better write that letter now and get it out of the way so you can concentrate.
11. Look at your teeth in the bathroom mirror.
12. Grab some mp3's off of itunes.
13. Check your email.
14. Facebook chat with one of your friends about the future.
15. Check your email.
16. Listen to your new mp3s and download some more.
17. Phone your friend on the other floor and ask if she's started writing yet. Exchange derogatory remarks about your professor, the course, the college, and the world at large.
18. Walk to the store and buy a pack of gum. You've probably run out.
19. While you've got the gum you may as well buy a magazine and read it.
20. Check your email.
21. Check the newspaper listings to make sure you aren't missing something truly worthwhile on TV.
22. Play some solitare.
23. Make sure you're sitting in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
24. Wash your hands.
25. Call up a friend to see how much they have done, probably haven't started either.
26. Look through your roommate's book of pictures from home. Ask who everyone is.
27. Sit down and do some serious thinking about your plans for the future.
28. Check your friend's blogs. Check your email again, just in case.
29. Do some light cleaning of your room to help you focus.
30. Sit in a straight, comfortable chair in a clean, well lit place.
31. Read over the assignment one more time, just for heck of it.
32. Scoot your chair across the room to the window and watch the sunrise.
33. Lie face down on the floor and moan.
34. Punch the wall and break something.
35. Check your email.
36. Mumble obscenities.
37. 5am - start writing on the paper without stopping. 6am - paper is finished.
38. Complain to everyone that you didn't get any sleep because you had to write that stupid paper.
39. Go to class, hand in paper, and leave right away so you can take a nap.
....Maybe I should get back to that paper I'm supposed to be writing. Well, all three of them, actually. :)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Classes
I signed up for two classes yesterday. This was either a very good decision, or a very bad decision.
Yes, I'm still set to graduate in July, for all you worriers (even though I'm probably the only one who reads this who's truly freaking out about something coming up making it so I can't).
Disney sent me an email reminding me about the classes they offer during the College Program. I took one my first year, "People Management." I didn't learn a whole heck of a lot. I was given a lot of networking opportunities, though, that I didn't take because I'm so stinking shy and I didn't see the point because I didn't actually plan on staying with Disney this long.
So I didn't take any classes last year because I wanted more time for play and relaxation.
But now I'm on this "You are more than you have become" kick (see The Lion King... the part where Simba sees his dad in the clouds... I love it!). And I'm trying to be more productive with my life (which is why I totally slept in until 11am this morning... we'll just skim over that fact. In my defense I've been up by 8am each day this week).
So, anyway. I signed up for "Disney Heritage." It's a super fun, and free, class where we go around the parks and learn about all the inside fun facts and stuff. There's so many rumors about "fun facts and trivia" in Disney World that I don't even know what to believe anymore. If I don't see it with my own eyes, I don't believe it. But taking a class registered through Disney is probably the best way for me to get my fun random knowledge through a reliable source. I'm excited! Four out of the five classes were actually already filled up when I went online to register. And that was the first day of registration!
The second class is actually a real class. Meaning it's accredited through ACE and most colleges will give you 3 credits for it (except my school cuz my school's dumb, but I had a LOT of friends last year who took these classes and got all kinds of credit from their schools) I think it was called "Organizational Leadership" or Management or something kind of class. I don't actually remember. But this class will have homework and projects and group work and stuff. It cost $30, but to have an intense class like that on a resume through Disney for only $30 (and that includes the textbook and "materials", which we all know are always super expensive)... I'd say that's a pretty good deal. It used to cost over $150 for any of the collegiate classes. That's why I didn't take any my first year. This class includes field trips to the parks as well. I think. (I know the Heritage class does). And, at the end of my program, if I pass, I'll get my Ducktorate!
I already have my Mouster's from my first year in the program... cheesy, I know. But that's Disney for ya!
So yeah. I'm teetering on the edge of how stressed out I want to be next program, and if I want to actually have fun, but I think I can do it. Both classes are on the same day each week... I think it's Tuesday? Maybe Wednesday? And I go from 8:30-12:30am and then 4pm to 6pm. And, I'm allowed to change my mind all the way up til the end of the first week of classes (September 23) and still get a full refund, so that's extremely convenient.
Gotta love Disney! I can't wait!
Yes, I'm still set to graduate in July, for all you worriers (even though I'm probably the only one who reads this who's truly freaking out about something coming up making it so I can't).
Disney sent me an email reminding me about the classes they offer during the College Program. I took one my first year, "People Management." I didn't learn a whole heck of a lot. I was given a lot of networking opportunities, though, that I didn't take because I'm so stinking shy and I didn't see the point because I didn't actually plan on staying with Disney this long.
So I didn't take any classes last year because I wanted more time for play and relaxation.
But now I'm on this "You are more than you have become" kick (see The Lion King... the part where Simba sees his dad in the clouds... I love it!). And I'm trying to be more productive with my life (which is why I totally slept in until 11am this morning... we'll just skim over that fact. In my defense I've been up by 8am each day this week).
So, anyway. I signed up for "Disney Heritage." It's a super fun, and free, class where we go around the parks and learn about all the inside fun facts and stuff. There's so many rumors about "fun facts and trivia" in Disney World that I don't even know what to believe anymore. If I don't see it with my own eyes, I don't believe it. But taking a class registered through Disney is probably the best way for me to get my fun random knowledge through a reliable source. I'm excited! Four out of the five classes were actually already filled up when I went online to register. And that was the first day of registration!
The second class is actually a real class. Meaning it's accredited through ACE and most colleges will give you 3 credits for it (except my school cuz my school's dumb, but I had a LOT of friends last year who took these classes and got all kinds of credit from their schools) I think it was called "Organizational Leadership" or Management or something kind of class. I don't actually remember. But this class will have homework and projects and group work and stuff. It cost $30, but to have an intense class like that on a resume through Disney for only $30 (and that includes the textbook and "materials", which we all know are always super expensive)... I'd say that's a pretty good deal. It used to cost over $150 for any of the collegiate classes. That's why I didn't take any my first year. This class includes field trips to the parks as well. I think. (I know the Heritage class does). And, at the end of my program, if I pass, I'll get my Ducktorate!
I already have my Mouster's from my first year in the program... cheesy, I know. But that's Disney for ya!
So yeah. I'm teetering on the edge of how stressed out I want to be next program, and if I want to actually have fun, but I think I can do it. Both classes are on the same day each week... I think it's Tuesday? Maybe Wednesday? And I go from 8:30-12:30am and then 4pm to 6pm. And, I'm allowed to change my mind all the way up til the end of the first week of classes (September 23) and still get a full refund, so that's extremely convenient.
Gotta love Disney! I can't wait!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Our Bike Ride
Last Thursday, in the middle of the night, Stanzie woke me up. "Hey. Dianna... you awake?" "Wha?" "I know what we should do on Monday. For Memorial Day." "Wha?" "We should rent bikes. And then bike to Idaho Falls." "..........okay. Sure." "It's gonna be awesome!"
For the record, Idaho Falls takes about 30 minutes by car on the highway to get to. It's not fair to make me agree to things like that in the middle of the night. Stanzie says it's okay, though, since once I woke her up to tell her that it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska than it was here in Rexburg (this has since happened numerous times, including yesterday when it was a nice 70 degrees in Anchorage and less than 40 degrees here with a wind chill on top). In my defense, this fact totally disgusts me, and I thought Stanzie should know.
But I digress. So yes, yesterday Stanzie and I went to the ORC and rented bikes. And then we rode. And rode. And rode.
We prepared well. We printed the directions on Mapquest so we wouldn't be on the highway. We told everyone where we were going and when we'd be back. We checked the weather and saw the rain in the forecast so we dressed appropriately. I used a lot of ziplock bags and packed towels and such in them. We also packed snacks like fresh veggies and peanut butter. We brought plenty of water, of course. We were soooo prepared. 70 mile bike ride, here we come!
Neither one of us had ridden a bike more than the typical bike riding years of childhood. It had been two years for Stanzie and about four for me since either of us had been on a bicycle. We walked to the ORC and got everything we needed. The first five miles were by far, the hardest. In fact, after the first one or two miles I was wondering if this was going to happen.
On miles 5 through about 20, I felt great! I thought for sure this would happen. This was also the most interesting and fun filled part of the trip. For one thing, this was the sky we were looking at and riding into. We planned for rain in the forecast. But about two minutes after I took this picture I felt something coming out of the sky, but it was definitely not rain.
"Ouch... ow!... OUCH! Stanzie... is it seriously hailing on us!?"
Yes. Indeed it was.
It only hailed for a little while and it wasn't totally terrible. It mainly just stung my face. We both found it more amusing than anything. I mean, seriously. Hail?
Then there were the dogs we had to deal with. The first set of dogs were tiny little yappers. I don't have pictures because despite how tiny they were, we still rode away fast because they were aggressive to the point that I didn't want to learn how aggressive their owners were.
We had actually made a wrong turn for those first dogs. Or, should I say, failed to make the right turn. I was the navigator. In my defense, roads in Idaho all have two names. They have their "number" name, like 4200 South, and then their "real" name, like "Miller Street." Sometimes, my directions would only say "4200 South" and the street name would say "Miller Street" so I just had to guess for the most part. But I will say we didn't go more than two miles out of our way due to these problems. I'm proud of this! There were a LOT of turns.
Anyway, we went back and found the correct road and went down that one. The scenery was gorgeous.
And then we saw the next dog. He was much bigger and actually stalked us. We saw him stalking us. At first we thought he might not attack and then he was right by my tires barking and growling. I was scared out of my mind and pedaled as hard as I could. We rode down about a mile and the road was named "400 South" or something. We were looking for "Archer Highway." However, this road was about where it was supposed to be. Stanzie wanted to ask someone for directions, and I wanted to go back the way we came and look again. We compromised and did both. As we rode back we realized we'd have to cross the evil barking dog again. We pedaled as fast as possible and sure enough he came to attack again. My legs were getting tired and I was wondering how many more dogs we'd have to out run and why owners would let their evil little dogs run wild.
Just past the evil dog's house we saw a little old man by the side of the road. As we got closer, we saw he was picking asparagus. He didn't look too creepy, so we pulled over to ask him. I asked if he knew of the road we needed and he said that the road we were just at (400 South or whatever) was the one that would take us where we wanted to go. Then he started telling us about how he met his wife ten years ago and asked if we wanted some cinnamon. "I've always carried cinnamon in my pocket, just for times like these!" He told us with a smile. Such a cute old man. I still have my cinnamon candy he gave us. There's no way I'm eating it. I'm keeping it forever as a memento of the coolest bike ride EVER!
We told the man our fears about the horrible outdoor dog and he explained a different route we could use that would mean we wouldn't have to go by it a third time. So we did, and shortly thereafter we were in Ririe!
The scenery reminded me a lot of Virginia (except for the insanely ice cold air, disgustingly gray mountains and lack of rolling hills). The things that were similar was the wide stretches of beautiful farmland, green grass, cows, numerous tractors, and farmers out working. We even saw some llamas and a camel!
We rode and rode some more, stopping every now and then for water or to look at something cool. The final turn we made was a bigger "highway" (it had a bike path) that would last 10.8 miles. Then we would be in Idaho Falls. The first few miles were fine. Then, suddenly, it just got harder and harder. My butt hurt more and more, mainly. And the wind on this road was unlike any wind I've ever experienced before. Stanzie and I agreed that had we not been pedaling forward, we'd have been moving backwards. It was soooo hard.
I actually enjoyed it when the cars went past literally two feet away from me because their wind would pull me forward for just one second and it felt sooo good. We stopped for some breaks and the main issue was that of our butts hurting from the bike seats. Neither one of us have biker pants and those seats we tiny!
We knew we were close to the end of this insanely long stretch. My bum couldn't take it anymore so I got off and walked while Stanzie went ahead. She waited for me in a chair at an old antique shop by the side of the road. I caught up to her and sat beside her and we began eating. This is when I told her there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to Rexburg. My bum just couldn't take the pain and the wind was extremely painful both in my ears, and in freezing me. I knew she was in pain, too.
I knew we were close to the Mall (which was our ultimate destination). We were definitely in Idaho Falls. We talked about our options and I eventually made the call to my friend's dad to see if he could come get us. I didn't know the names of the roads, but as I described what I saw around me he knew where we were. Fortunately, he's lived in this area his whole life.
I wanted to go all the way to the Mall and get picked up there. Stanzie wanted him to just drive us back to Ririe so we could bike home from there. Both of us could have gone more miles. I could only go probably about 5 more. Stanzie could have gone 10 or 15 more maybe. But it was ultimately easier for us just to stay put. Kelly's dad doesn't have a cell phone and he was worried about the weather since it was pouring in Rexburg. Plus, if we had gone to the Mall it would have been farther for him to drive. We later found out we were literally two blocks from the end of our 10.8 mile stretch and less than five miles from the Mall.
We had ridden over 30 miles on our bikes in five hours (8:30am until almost 2pm). I, for one, have never been so proud to accomplish half of a goal in my entire life.
As we entered Rexburg the rain was absolutely pouring. Craig drove us not only to return the bikes, but then drove us home. I paid him for the gas and his time. I couldn't even say in words how grateful I was for him. He's so stinkin' sweet!
Neither one of us was tired, or even sore... yet. Our butts just hurt and I was absolutely freezing. I had been frozen the whole time, actually. But I kept telling myself that riding would warm me up. Unfortunately, I think it was the wind, but I never, ever was warmed up. In fact, when we used the bathroom at a gas station we found, I lifted my shirt and saw that the front of my stomach had this blueish/redish splotchy rash on it and when I felt it, I realized it was because it was so cold. Crazy!
Later when I got home, my legs from the knees up were purple as I got into the shower. Purple! I couldn't tell if it was because I had worked them more than they had ever been worked before, or if it was because they were so stinking cold. The purpleness lasted for a couple of hours, though.
Some of the purple color never left and I have random bruises on my knee. Stanzie says it's from that one time I fell off my bike. Yes, I fell off once. Or maybe twice. But it was mainly on purpose. Those were the worst bikes to get on and off in my life and they had these horrible little stirrup things you had to slip your feet into that held them in place. I hated them!
Anyway, we got home around 3pm. We took our showers and I stretched for a while. Then we crashed on the couch and watched Disney movies. The longer I sat still, the more my legs started to hurt. More and more... and Stanzie's too. By the end of the night we were both in so much pain. It was unbelievable and I was even happier I decided to quit when we did.
30 miles is one heck of a bike ride! And what made me feel better was that in the school newspaper today, there was an article about the school's biking team. They do 8-10 miles for beginners, and 20 for the advanced riders. Sometimes, they go up to 30.
Yep. The Stanz and I are pretty much amazing. :)
For the record, Idaho Falls takes about 30 minutes by car on the highway to get to. It's not fair to make me agree to things like that in the middle of the night. Stanzie says it's okay, though, since once I woke her up to tell her that it was warmer in Anchorage, Alaska than it was here in Rexburg (this has since happened numerous times, including yesterday when it was a nice 70 degrees in Anchorage and less than 40 degrees here with a wind chill on top). In my defense, this fact totally disgusts me, and I thought Stanzie should know.
But I digress. So yes, yesterday Stanzie and I went to the ORC and rented bikes. And then we rode. And rode. And rode.
We prepared well. We printed the directions on Mapquest so we wouldn't be on the highway. We told everyone where we were going and when we'd be back. We checked the weather and saw the rain in the forecast so we dressed appropriately. I used a lot of ziplock bags and packed towels and such in them. We also packed snacks like fresh veggies and peanut butter. We brought plenty of water, of course. We were soooo prepared. 70 mile bike ride, here we come!
Neither one of us had ridden a bike more than the typical bike riding years of childhood. It had been two years for Stanzie and about four for me since either of us had been on a bicycle. We walked to the ORC and got everything we needed. The first five miles were by far, the hardest. In fact, after the first one or two miles I was wondering if this was going to happen.
On miles 5 through about 20, I felt great! I thought for sure this would happen. This was also the most interesting and fun filled part of the trip. For one thing, this was the sky we were looking at and riding into. We planned for rain in the forecast. But about two minutes after I took this picture I felt something coming out of the sky, but it was definitely not rain.
"Ouch... ow!... OUCH! Stanzie... is it seriously hailing on us!?"
Yes. Indeed it was.
It only hailed for a little while and it wasn't totally terrible. It mainly just stung my face. We both found it more amusing than anything. I mean, seriously. Hail?
Then there were the dogs we had to deal with. The first set of dogs were tiny little yappers. I don't have pictures because despite how tiny they were, we still rode away fast because they were aggressive to the point that I didn't want to learn how aggressive their owners were.
We had actually made a wrong turn for those first dogs. Or, should I say, failed to make the right turn. I was the navigator. In my defense, roads in Idaho all have two names. They have their "number" name, like 4200 South, and then their "real" name, like "Miller Street." Sometimes, my directions would only say "4200 South" and the street name would say "Miller Street" so I just had to guess for the most part. But I will say we didn't go more than two miles out of our way due to these problems. I'm proud of this! There were a LOT of turns.
Anyway, we went back and found the correct road and went down that one. The scenery was gorgeous.
And then we saw the next dog. He was much bigger and actually stalked us. We saw him stalking us. At first we thought he might not attack and then he was right by my tires barking and growling. I was scared out of my mind and pedaled as hard as I could. We rode down about a mile and the road was named "400 South" or something. We were looking for "Archer Highway." However, this road was about where it was supposed to be. Stanzie wanted to ask someone for directions, and I wanted to go back the way we came and look again. We compromised and did both. As we rode back we realized we'd have to cross the evil barking dog again. We pedaled as fast as possible and sure enough he came to attack again. My legs were getting tired and I was wondering how many more dogs we'd have to out run and why owners would let their evil little dogs run wild.
Just past the evil dog's house we saw a little old man by the side of the road. As we got closer, we saw he was picking asparagus. He didn't look too creepy, so we pulled over to ask him. I asked if he knew of the road we needed and he said that the road we were just at (400 South or whatever) was the one that would take us where we wanted to go. Then he started telling us about how he met his wife ten years ago and asked if we wanted some cinnamon. "I've always carried cinnamon in my pocket, just for times like these!" He told us with a smile. Such a cute old man. I still have my cinnamon candy he gave us. There's no way I'm eating it. I'm keeping it forever as a memento of the coolest bike ride EVER!
We told the man our fears about the horrible outdoor dog and he explained a different route we could use that would mean we wouldn't have to go by it a third time. So we did, and shortly thereafter we were in Ririe!
The scenery reminded me a lot of Virginia (except for the insanely ice cold air, disgustingly gray mountains and lack of rolling hills). The things that were similar was the wide stretches of beautiful farmland, green grass, cows, numerous tractors, and farmers out working. We even saw some llamas and a camel!
We rode and rode some more, stopping every now and then for water or to look at something cool. The final turn we made was a bigger "highway" (it had a bike path) that would last 10.8 miles. Then we would be in Idaho Falls. The first few miles were fine. Then, suddenly, it just got harder and harder. My butt hurt more and more, mainly. And the wind on this road was unlike any wind I've ever experienced before. Stanzie and I agreed that had we not been pedaling forward, we'd have been moving backwards. It was soooo hard.
I actually enjoyed it when the cars went past literally two feet away from me because their wind would pull me forward for just one second and it felt sooo good. We stopped for some breaks and the main issue was that of our butts hurting from the bike seats. Neither one of us have biker pants and those seats we tiny!
We knew we were close to the end of this insanely long stretch. My bum couldn't take it anymore so I got off and walked while Stanzie went ahead. She waited for me in a chair at an old antique shop by the side of the road. I caught up to her and sat beside her and we began eating. This is when I told her there was no way I was going to make it all the way back to Rexburg. My bum just couldn't take the pain and the wind was extremely painful both in my ears, and in freezing me. I knew she was in pain, too.
I knew we were close to the Mall (which was our ultimate destination). We were definitely in Idaho Falls. We talked about our options and I eventually made the call to my friend's dad to see if he could come get us. I didn't know the names of the roads, but as I described what I saw around me he knew where we were. Fortunately, he's lived in this area his whole life.
I wanted to go all the way to the Mall and get picked up there. Stanzie wanted him to just drive us back to Ririe so we could bike home from there. Both of us could have gone more miles. I could only go probably about 5 more. Stanzie could have gone 10 or 15 more maybe. But it was ultimately easier for us just to stay put. Kelly's dad doesn't have a cell phone and he was worried about the weather since it was pouring in Rexburg. Plus, if we had gone to the Mall it would have been farther for him to drive. We later found out we were literally two blocks from the end of our 10.8 mile stretch and less than five miles from the Mall.
We had ridden over 30 miles on our bikes in five hours (8:30am until almost 2pm). I, for one, have never been so proud to accomplish half of a goal in my entire life.
As we entered Rexburg the rain was absolutely pouring. Craig drove us not only to return the bikes, but then drove us home. I paid him for the gas and his time. I couldn't even say in words how grateful I was for him. He's so stinkin' sweet!
Neither one of us was tired, or even sore... yet. Our butts just hurt and I was absolutely freezing. I had been frozen the whole time, actually. But I kept telling myself that riding would warm me up. Unfortunately, I think it was the wind, but I never, ever was warmed up. In fact, when we used the bathroom at a gas station we found, I lifted my shirt and saw that the front of my stomach had this blueish/redish splotchy rash on it and when I felt it, I realized it was because it was so cold. Crazy!
Later when I got home, my legs from the knees up were purple as I got into the shower. Purple! I couldn't tell if it was because I had worked them more than they had ever been worked before, or if it was because they were so stinking cold. The purpleness lasted for a couple of hours, though.
Some of the purple color never left and I have random bruises on my knee. Stanzie says it's from that one time I fell off my bike. Yes, I fell off once. Or maybe twice. But it was mainly on purpose. Those were the worst bikes to get on and off in my life and they had these horrible little stirrup things you had to slip your feet into that held them in place. I hated them!
Anyway, we got home around 3pm. We took our showers and I stretched for a while. Then we crashed on the couch and watched Disney movies. The longer I sat still, the more my legs started to hurt. More and more... and Stanzie's too. By the end of the night we were both in so much pain. It was unbelievable and I was even happier I decided to quit when we did.
30 miles is one heck of a bike ride! And what made me feel better was that in the school newspaper today, there was an article about the school's biking team. They do 8-10 miles for beginners, and 20 for the advanced riders. Sometimes, they go up to 30.
Yep. The Stanz and I are pretty much amazing. :)
Sunday, May 29, 2011
The Closet*
There is a coat closet on the right just as you enter our front door. It's been packed to the brim since the day I moved in here with boxes and other random junk. Well last night, we decided to clean it out since all four of us were here (Cassie wasn't around, but we knew none of it belonged to her since this is her first semester ever). We found a lot of neat treasures! It was like Christmas!
This is Stanzie getting some of the boxes out of the closet.
This is Stanzie, Katie, and Ashley (L to R) going through the random stuff we found.
Among the junk we found a box full of men's stuff. Including two pairs of shoes, several pairs of socks (we think some were even dirty) and some bank statements and receipts. That guy had $1,830 in his bank account as of a year and a half ago! We still have no clue who the dude was though, even though we have his first and last name.
We also found this map of Seattle.
So we put it on the wall. I bought duct tape a year ago to pull a prank on a friend. The prank never happened, but my duct tape has come in handy soooo much this year. We literally use it all. the. time. And it's lasted forever, too. I'm very impressed.
Ashley looks like she's about to punch me in the head from both sides... I'm pretty sure that wasn't intentional... I hope. :)
We also found this 72 hour kit. It actually wasn't very well stocked. It had a lighter, some toilet paper, breathing masks (random!), latex gloves, candles, wet wipes, and other stuff.
We also found this awesome blow up pool toy. I blew that whole thing up myself. It took a looong time.
We also found some fun little masks.
The most awesome thing we found were a bunch of Michael Jackson DVDs and music and such. Ashley thought this was just awesome.
We put the movies in the DVD player and watched for a while. The best was the Thriller. Stanzie was utterly freaked out. In fact, I sure everyone jumped for some parts. I caught that on film though. :) I think I was the only one in the apartment who had ever seen Thriller before which is weird because normally I'm the only one who hasn't seen stuff like that.
The music videos were in chronological order from his life and the first few were completely awesome. Unfortunately, his later work made it so we ended up throwing the whole DVD away, but the first few songs were fun while they lasted! Overall, a totally awesome night, even if it meant I didn't fall asleep until after 3am.
*My first title for this post was "Midnight Activities" since this whole thing took place in the middle of the night last night (or this morning I suppose). But I want this blog to remain G rated and I didn't want people getting the wrong impression. So yeah, there ya go.
This is Stanzie getting some of the boxes out of the closet.
This is Stanzie, Katie, and Ashley (L to R) going through the random stuff we found.
Among the junk we found a box full of men's stuff. Including two pairs of shoes, several pairs of socks (we think some were even dirty) and some bank statements and receipts. That guy had $1,830 in his bank account as of a year and a half ago! We still have no clue who the dude was though, even though we have his first and last name.
We also found this map of Seattle.
So we put it on the wall. I bought duct tape a year ago to pull a prank on a friend. The prank never happened, but my duct tape has come in handy soooo much this year. We literally use it all. the. time. And it's lasted forever, too. I'm very impressed.
Ashley looks like she's about to punch me in the head from both sides... I'm pretty sure that wasn't intentional... I hope. :)
We also found this 72 hour kit. It actually wasn't very well stocked. It had a lighter, some toilet paper, breathing masks (random!), latex gloves, candles, wet wipes, and other stuff.
We also found this awesome blow up pool toy. I blew that whole thing up myself. It took a looong time.
We also found some fun little masks.
The most awesome thing we found were a bunch of Michael Jackson DVDs and music and such. Ashley thought this was just awesome.
We put the movies in the DVD player and watched for a while. The best was the Thriller. Stanzie was utterly freaked out. In fact, I sure everyone jumped for some parts. I caught that on film though. :) I think I was the only one in the apartment who had ever seen Thriller before which is weird because normally I'm the only one who hasn't seen stuff like that.
The music videos were in chronological order from his life and the first few were completely awesome. Unfortunately, his later work made it so we ended up throwing the whole DVD away, but the first few songs were fun while they lasted! Overall, a totally awesome night, even if it meant I didn't fall asleep until after 3am.
*My first title for this post was "Midnight Activities" since this whole thing took place in the middle of the night last night (or this morning I suppose). But I want this blog to remain G rated and I didn't want people getting the wrong impression. So yeah, there ya go.
cloudNINE Winter 2011 Video!!!
Because I still can't figure out how to put movies on my blog, here's the link to the video I made.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V03tD9AQXvI
Yeah, I even made a Youtube account to go with it! Enjoy! (this is mainly for you, Ashley!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V03tD9AQXvI
Yeah, I even made a Youtube account to go with it! Enjoy! (this is mainly for you, Ashley!)
Friday, May 27, 2011
One Gone and One Coming
After a cuh-razy week of packing, my roommate moved out Wednesday. She's officially in Texas now. It's kind of sad she's gone. There is waaaay less stuff in our apartment now. I mean, it feels so empty. I kinda like it, to be honest! But still, I miss Natalie.
This morning, however, I got a phone call from my old roommate and friend who said she's moving back up here next Wednesday! I'm super excited! It's only been just over a month since I last saw her, but I already miss her. She actually graduated, but she's coming back up here for my graduation!! Well... I think there may be other reasons too, but I like to say it's due to me. :)
This morning, however, I got a phone call from my old roommate and friend who said she's moving back up here next Wednesday! I'm super excited! It's only been just over a month since I last saw her, but I already miss her. She actually graduated, but she's coming back up here for my graduation!! Well... I think there may be other reasons too, but I like to say it's due to me. :)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Mini Heart Attack
I got an email from "Graduation" today. It told me there was a "Hold" on my account. I freaked out. Because I'm Dianna.
Then I read the email. They said that because I plan to graduate this semester, they're putting registration hold on my account for future semester so I can no longer register for classes.
Whew. I guess that's okay, then.
Also, I applied for graduation Monday! Hooray!
Then I read the email. They said that because I plan to graduate this semester, they're putting registration hold on my account for future semester so I can no longer register for classes.
Whew. I guess that's okay, then.
Also, I applied for graduation Monday! Hooray!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Trickery
Every week in my Photojournalism class, we have a quiz. Well, every class day but class is only held once a week. Anyway, this last Wednesday I got to class and started asking the students about what we learned last week because, as far as I knew, we didn't learn anything new, really and I was definitely in class. We mainly reviewed what we had already gone over and then went outside and took pictures. We were all trying to figure out what questions he would ask and then finally decided maybe there wouldn't be a quiz since there was no material to quiz on.
The teacher entered and told us to pull out a piece of paper for our quiz. I pulled out my paper and put my name at the top hoping that they were just simple review questions of what we had already learned. He asked something about lenses. We haven't gone over lenses! Every question on the quiz was completely foreign to me. I didn't even understand the language he was using! All the students were looking around at each other completely confused. Finally, one of the students called out, "Are we really supposed to know this stuff? Cuz I'm so lost!"
The teacher chuckled, "Oh, oops. I forgot to tell you. This is the pre-quiz to what we're going over today. We haven't discussed any of this yet, I just wanted to see how much you knew. Pass in your papers with your name on them and you'll get attendance credit today."
That was sooo not funny. And they wonder why we have heart attacks young!
The teacher entered and told us to pull out a piece of paper for our quiz. I pulled out my paper and put my name at the top hoping that they were just simple review questions of what we had already learned. He asked something about lenses. We haven't gone over lenses! Every question on the quiz was completely foreign to me. I didn't even understand the language he was using! All the students were looking around at each other completely confused. Finally, one of the students called out, "Are we really supposed to know this stuff? Cuz I'm so lost!"
The teacher chuckled, "Oh, oops. I forgot to tell you. This is the pre-quiz to what we're going over today. We haven't discussed any of this yet, I just wanted to see how much you knew. Pass in your papers with your name on them and you'll get attendance credit today."
That was sooo not funny. And they wonder why we have heart attacks young!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Moose
My roommate made moose for us for dinner tonight. She brought it back with her after visiting her family in Alaska a few weeks ago (along with some fresh fish, too). It was ground moose that she made into sloppy joes.
Well, I came home from class (which has another story in and of itself) and grabbed myself some of her moose sloppy joes and started to eat. As I was about halfway done, I asked Stanzie if she was the one who killed the moose. I was slightly afraid of her answer, because I find it disgusting to eat something you've killed yourself (yes, I have done that before with a chicken). When she answered no, I sighed with relief. Then she made it worse by saying, "No, we didn't kill it. It was road kill."
I dropped my fork. I just ate road kill! Ewwwwww! I was torn between laughter and utter disgust as I imagined eating that deer that I hit with my car almost four years ago and went through all the "West Virginians eat road kill" jokes I've told all my life.
Stanzie went on. "Yeah, when someone hits a moose, they call the police, and the police call the charity organizations! They send someone out to harvest the moose for meat and then they give most of the moose to charity and the harvesters get to keep some. We kept the leg!"
Then she proceeded to tell me, in detail, how it hangs up in their back shack and dries out and... well... and then I stopped listening because my gag reflexes were kicking in.
Earlier, I was just proud of myself for getting out and eating a new food, moose! But now? Now I just ate road kill!
Excuse me while I puke, and Stanzie continues laughing at me and telling me I'm ridiculous.
Well, I came home from class (which has another story in and of itself) and grabbed myself some of her moose sloppy joes and started to eat. As I was about halfway done, I asked Stanzie if she was the one who killed the moose. I was slightly afraid of her answer, because I find it disgusting to eat something you've killed yourself (yes, I have done that before with a chicken). When she answered no, I sighed with relief. Then she made it worse by saying, "No, we didn't kill it. It was road kill."
I dropped my fork. I just ate road kill! Ewwwwww! I was torn between laughter and utter disgust as I imagined eating that deer that I hit with my car almost four years ago and went through all the "West Virginians eat road kill" jokes I've told all my life.
Stanzie went on. "Yeah, when someone hits a moose, they call the police, and the police call the charity organizations! They send someone out to harvest the moose for meat and then they give most of the moose to charity and the harvesters get to keep some. We kept the leg!"
Then she proceeded to tell me, in detail, how it hangs up in their back shack and dries out and... well... and then I stopped listening because my gag reflexes were kicking in.
Earlier, I was just proud of myself for getting out and eating a new food, moose! But now? Now I just ate road kill!
Excuse me while I puke, and Stanzie continues laughing at me and telling me I'm ridiculous.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Disneyland: The Extended Version!
I had to drop my Auto Mechanics class. Sad but true. It required resources I didn't have and money that doesn't exist in my world. BUT I still downloaded some of the Powerpoints and tutorials so I can still learn about cars... hope that's not illegal...
Also, I went to Disneyland last week! Here are some more pics of that trip.
Easter Sunday. The day we left. Heather M., Me, Heather H., and Whitney. We left around noon-thirty (after church), and got to Anaheim around 11:30 (California time, so 12:30 Utah time which means it took us right about 12 hours to get there...)
The reason the trip took so long was because we hit traffic about ten miles outside of CA. Everything was perfect up til then. The weather had been beautiful and there was no traffic, even through Vegas! Then, BAM! Traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! Seriously. As far as we could see, in every direction, there was nothing. Except cars. Lots and lots of cars.
I started to get nervous about gas (despite my AAA card and awesome insurance-thanks parents!) so after a while of moving 20mph we finally found a gas station. I pulled off and it was fairly busy. I think the other cars had about the same idea as we did. We wanted to fill up because we didn't know how much longer this traffic would last and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The ONLY thing at this exit were two gas stations across the street from each other.
I pulled into the Chevron and Heather M. got her card out to pay while other Heather and Whitney went to find a bathroom. They came back shortly saying that this gas station didn't have a bathroom and they were going across the street. In the meantime, Heather M.'s card stopped working after about $5 of gas. We pulled the car up to a different pump and it started working again. We filled up the car and then waited.
After a minute or two, we decided to drive across the street to where the others were so they wouldn't have to cross the busy street twice. We drove over there and waited a few more minutes. Nothing. Heather got out to look for them and came back a few minutes later. She went inside and saw there was no bathroom anywhere. Still couldn't find them.
So we called them. BOTH girls had left their cell phones in the car. This is when I got a little nervous. We drove back over to the last place we had parted, hoping they'd be there. Still nothing. So we parked as close to the gas pump as possible, and waited. And watched. And waited. Heather got out to look around again. There were some drunk teenagers (or at least they were acting drunk, but sometimes teens don't need alcohol to act drunk). Just as Heather and I were talking about how we were going to react when they got back (we had a great, long, loud lecture planned) and how we would react if they had, indeed, been kidnapped (we tried to avoid that topic), we finally saw their bright, smiling faces coming towards us from across the street. We, however, were not so happy to see them alive and in good condition. "ARE YOU SERIOUS! YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF US! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AGAIN! NOT AT A CREEPY GAS STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! AHHHHH!!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what we sounded like. Anyway, the truth was I was extremely relieved and happy to see them fine. They said the bathroom was outside the gas station and around the corner. They had to wait in line AND they had to wait for someone to clean it so it took a while. Meh. Excuses excuses. I was still scared.
This is looking back down Main Street towards the train station. We were some of the first people to enter the park... we got there 50 minutes early to be a part of this crowd. Really, it was pretty empty. We picked a great time to come!
Itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's castle. I now know why I always had guests asking me where the walk-through in Cinderella's castle was. For the record, Cinderella's castle doesn't have a walk-through. There's a super ritzy restaurant up there and a Cinderella Castle Suite that rich and famous get to stay in! That's it.
If you look carefully, you can see they have a Partner's statue in front of this castle as well (the Partner's statue is of Walt and Mickey... they're partners)
This is me seeing the castle for the first time ever. I'm sooo happy Heather took this picture. I LOVE it! This is me, Heather and Whitney. Morning of the first day! I was so stinkin' excited!
I especially love this picture of Heather because it shows her personality perfectly. Map in one hand (although pretty soon she'll just have the map as a souvenir), video camera in the other, sunglasses on her head, and backpack full of snacks, water, etc.
Heather and I on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Their Big Thunder is very similar to the one in Florida, although it did feel a touch faster. Space Mountain also felt faster. Maybe it's because I don't have those tracks memorized, though. Heehee...
This is Heather on the (Not So) Fun Wheel in California Adventure. You can see my hand. And from my hand, gripping the walls for dear life, you can probably imagine my facial expression. I was pretty much curled up in the fetal position crying the whole entire ride. I'm not even lying, Heather, being the awesome friend that she is, filmed me. Worst. Ride. Ever!
Me, Whitney, and the Heathers meeting Duffy. I officially decided last year when I first met Duffy that I will someday own one, or at the very least, my children will have a stuffed Duffy. First, I'm a fan of stuffed animals. Second, Duffy's story is adorable and I LOVE to travel. Don't know the story? Look it up. :)
Heather H. and I in Minnie's house. Heather's going for Minnie's "diet" chocolate chip cookies. They're holographic. Good one, Minnie. Good one. They sure taste like air though...
This is my new favorite ride. The Storybook Canals Tour. You get to ride in a boat with a skipper and they tell you stories. Disney stories, of course.
The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 premiere is taking place this coming week. (Yes, they made another movie!) It costs like a thousand dollars to go on that day. Crazy! But they were doing a kind of "pre-premiere" trailer kind of showing while we were there. So we went. The pirates were hilarious!
At one point they were getting the crowd all excited as we were waiting to begin. One of the pirates yelled, "All the children, say 'Yo-ho!'" And they shouted, "Yo-ho!" Then he said, "All the women, say 'Yo-ho!'" We did. Then he shouted, "All the men, say 'Yo-ho!'" They shouted Yoho as well. Finally the pirate yelled, "Everyone else, say 'yoho!'" About a third of the crowd shouted. The pirates looked around confused. "So to all those who just yelled.... I'm confused... what are you?" Another pirate responded, "Probably French..." Buuuuurn!
At the end we got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica (she'd from the new movie, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly aren't coming back for the fourth one).
Toontown in Disneyland is way better than Florida's Toontown. I'm still not really a Toontown freak, but I'll admit it was fun to spend a while there, especially since Disney World's Toontown is about to disappear to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion.
This is my favorite picture of the four of us. This was in California Adventure. And it's a construction wall. But still, I like it!
I had also never had so many fastpasses at one time before. I mean, I get them, but usually in Disney World I can do the single riders line or I know when to go when there's no line anyway.
The first set of fastpasses is from our day at California Adventure. The second is from Disneyland. And we had way more than this, too. This just shows how many passes I had at one time.
And, of course, no post of Disney a Disney trip is accurate without the fireworks. I actually didn't take many pictures of the three awesome shows we saw (Wishes: Disneyland Style; Magic, Memories, and You picture show; and World of Color water show). All were amazing!
Such an awesome trip. I can't say which park(s) I prefer, the one's in Florida or California. But I will say it was a totally awesome week. Worth every penny I spent and every second of worrying.
Also, I went to Disneyland last week! Here are some more pics of that trip.
Easter Sunday. The day we left. Heather M., Me, Heather H., and Whitney. We left around noon-thirty (after church), and got to Anaheim around 11:30 (California time, so 12:30 Utah time which means it took us right about 12 hours to get there...)
The reason the trip took so long was because we hit traffic about ten miles outside of CA. Everything was perfect up til then. The weather had been beautiful and there was no traffic, even through Vegas! Then, BAM! Traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! Seriously. As far as we could see, in every direction, there was nothing. Except cars. Lots and lots of cars.
I started to get nervous about gas (despite my AAA card and awesome insurance-thanks parents!) so after a while of moving 20mph we finally found a gas station. I pulled off and it was fairly busy. I think the other cars had about the same idea as we did. We wanted to fill up because we didn't know how much longer this traffic would last and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The ONLY thing at this exit were two gas stations across the street from each other.
I pulled into the Chevron and Heather M. got her card out to pay while other Heather and Whitney went to find a bathroom. They came back shortly saying that this gas station didn't have a bathroom and they were going across the street. In the meantime, Heather M.'s card stopped working after about $5 of gas. We pulled the car up to a different pump and it started working again. We filled up the car and then waited.
After a minute or two, we decided to drive across the street to where the others were so they wouldn't have to cross the busy street twice. We drove over there and waited a few more minutes. Nothing. Heather got out to look for them and came back a few minutes later. She went inside and saw there was no bathroom anywhere. Still couldn't find them.
So we called them. BOTH girls had left their cell phones in the car. This is when I got a little nervous. We drove back over to the last place we had parted, hoping they'd be there. Still nothing. So we parked as close to the gas pump as possible, and waited. And watched. And waited. Heather got out to look around again. There were some drunk teenagers (or at least they were acting drunk, but sometimes teens don't need alcohol to act drunk). Just as Heather and I were talking about how we were going to react when they got back (we had a great, long, loud lecture planned) and how we would react if they had, indeed, been kidnapped (we tried to avoid that topic), we finally saw their bright, smiling faces coming towards us from across the street. We, however, were not so happy to see them alive and in good condition. "ARE YOU SERIOUS! YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF US! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AGAIN! NOT AT A CREEPY GAS STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! AHHHHH!!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what we sounded like. Anyway, the truth was I was extremely relieved and happy to see them fine. They said the bathroom was outside the gas station and around the corner. They had to wait in line AND they had to wait for someone to clean it so it took a while. Meh. Excuses excuses. I was still scared.
This is looking back down Main Street towards the train station. We were some of the first people to enter the park... we got there 50 minutes early to be a part of this crowd. Really, it was pretty empty. We picked a great time to come!
Itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's castle. I now know why I always had guests asking me where the walk-through in Cinderella's castle was. For the record, Cinderella's castle doesn't have a walk-through. There's a super ritzy restaurant up there and a Cinderella Castle Suite that rich and famous get to stay in! That's it.
If you look carefully, you can see they have a Partner's statue in front of this castle as well (the Partner's statue is of Walt and Mickey... they're partners)
This is me seeing the castle for the first time ever. I'm sooo happy Heather took this picture. I LOVE it! This is me, Heather and Whitney. Morning of the first day! I was so stinkin' excited!
I especially love this picture of Heather because it shows her personality perfectly. Map in one hand (although pretty soon she'll just have the map as a souvenir), video camera in the other, sunglasses on her head, and backpack full of snacks, water, etc.
Heather and I on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Their Big Thunder is very similar to the one in Florida, although it did feel a touch faster. Space Mountain also felt faster. Maybe it's because I don't have those tracks memorized, though. Heehee...
This is Heather on the (Not So) Fun Wheel in California Adventure. You can see my hand. And from my hand, gripping the walls for dear life, you can probably imagine my facial expression. I was pretty much curled up in the fetal position crying the whole entire ride. I'm not even lying, Heather, being the awesome friend that she is, filmed me. Worst. Ride. Ever!
Me, Whitney, and the Heathers meeting Duffy. I officially decided last year when I first met Duffy that I will someday own one, or at the very least, my children will have a stuffed Duffy. First, I'm a fan of stuffed animals. Second, Duffy's story is adorable and I LOVE to travel. Don't know the story? Look it up. :)
Heather H. and I in Minnie's house. Heather's going for Minnie's "diet" chocolate chip cookies. They're holographic. Good one, Minnie. Good one. They sure taste like air though...
This is my new favorite ride. The Storybook Canals Tour. You get to ride in a boat with a skipper and they tell you stories. Disney stories, of course.
The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 premiere is taking place this coming week. (Yes, they made another movie!) It costs like a thousand dollars to go on that day. Crazy! But they were doing a kind of "pre-premiere" trailer kind of showing while we were there. So we went. The pirates were hilarious!
At one point they were getting the crowd all excited as we were waiting to begin. One of the pirates yelled, "All the children, say 'Yo-ho!'" And they shouted, "Yo-ho!" Then he said, "All the women, say 'Yo-ho!'" We did. Then he shouted, "All the men, say 'Yo-ho!'" They shouted Yoho as well. Finally the pirate yelled, "Everyone else, say 'yoho!'" About a third of the crowd shouted. The pirates looked around confused. "So to all those who just yelled.... I'm confused... what are you?" Another pirate responded, "Probably French..." Buuuuurn!
At the end we got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica (she'd from the new movie, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly aren't coming back for the fourth one).
Toontown in Disneyland is way better than Florida's Toontown. I'm still not really a Toontown freak, but I'll admit it was fun to spend a while there, especially since Disney World's Toontown is about to disappear to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion.
This is my favorite picture of the four of us. This was in California Adventure. And it's a construction wall. But still, I like it!
I had also never had so many fastpasses at one time before. I mean, I get them, but usually in Disney World I can do the single riders line or I know when to go when there's no line anyway.
The first set of fastpasses is from our day at California Adventure. The second is from Disneyland. And we had way more than this, too. This just shows how many passes I had at one time.
And, of course, no post of Disney a Disney trip is accurate without the fireworks. I actually didn't take many pictures of the three awesome shows we saw (Wishes: Disneyland Style; Magic, Memories, and You picture show; and World of Color water show). All were amazing!
Such an awesome trip. I can't say which park(s) I prefer, the one's in Florida or California. But I will say it was a totally awesome week. Worth every penny I spent and every second of worrying.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Numbers...
6 classes to get ahead in. 6 hours spent doing so on Saturday morning.
4 Disney fanatic friends.
$200 dollars (of my money, I'd say we did a dang good job).
1200 miles. 22 hours travel time. 5 stops for gas.
3 magical days in Disneyland.
6 princesses met.
6 hours of sleep each night.
5 times we rode California Screamin'.
2. The amount of travel hours we lost sitting in traffic Sunday night trying to get into California in the middle of nowhere. Apparently, they have agricultural inspections in that state. After we got in, though, I don't know why the traffic had to continue for another hour at 11 o'clock at night.
5 different beds/couches that I've slept on over the past week.
150 Disney songs sung at the top of our lungs.
80 degree perfect sunny weather.
1 viewing of World of Color. 2 Fireworks viewings. And 1.5 viewings of Magic, Memories and You. (the half is because it broke down the first time).
3 tries before we could actually get all the way through the line to ride Indiana Jones without it breaking down.
22 Cast Members that confused me by dressing and looking identical to cast members I worked with in Florida.
999. The amount of times I was completely confused at the similarities, but yet extreme differences between Disneyworld and Disneyland.
3. The amount of times I ended up back at the Gumbo shop in New Orleans Square walking in circles looking for Indiana Jones to get fastpasses for our group.
2 sunburned feet.
1 INCREDIBLE trip.
More to come later. For now I'm catching up on sleep in preparation for my four hour drive the rest of the way home tomorrow morning (yep, I'm still in Provo).
Thursday, April 21, 2011
What Do You Mean By "Text?"
I'm taking several online classes this semester. This week, being introduction week, has felt very overwhelming. But then again, the first week of school always feels overwhelming because you're introduced to the insane workload that will be posed all semester but it always feels like I need to get everything done right now. Especially since I'm going on a vacation next week.
Anyway, most of my online classes (and by most, I mean all) require me to take a syllabus quiz proving that I've read through the syllabus. Two of these classes had the same question on their syllabus quiz and that's why I'm writing here today.
The question was: This class requires text. True/False
Simple question, right? WRONG!
Neither class required a textbook. However, both classes had text within the course that needed to be read. Things like articles, bits from other books, stories, etc. etc.
On the first quiz, I interpreted "text" just as it is and answered "true." Because there was indeed "text" written on my page at that very moment. The answer was false.
So I went to the other quiz with the same exact question. I even checked the syllabus to see if it said anything about text. Then I took the quiz and answered "false." The answer was true.
This is just plain not fair!
Anyway, most of my online classes (and by most, I mean all) require me to take a syllabus quiz proving that I've read through the syllabus. Two of these classes had the same question on their syllabus quiz and that's why I'm writing here today.
The question was: This class requires text. True/False
Simple question, right? WRONG!
Neither class required a textbook. However, both classes had text within the course that needed to be read. Things like articles, bits from other books, stories, etc. etc.
On the first quiz, I interpreted "text" just as it is and answered "true." Because there was indeed "text" written on my page at that very moment. The answer was false.
So I went to the other quiz with the same exact question. I even checked the syllabus to see if it said anything about text. Then I took the quiz and answered "false." The answer was true.
This is just plain not fair!
Monday, April 18, 2011
Random Thoughts on Stress and Vacations
Sometimes I look back at my time spent on Disney and remember the nastiest people I encountered. I wonder, sometimes, if they realize the impact they had on me and my life. I wonder if people realize how much it hurts to have a stranger scream in your face when you're simply trying to do your job and keep everyone safe. I remember the lady who attacked me and the man who held up his fist threatening to beat my face in. Do they realize, right now, today, the impact that had on me? How angry that made me feel, how my friends would go home crying, how horrible a position that put me in... either I get fired from my job or I get my face pounded. Thanks, dude.
I sincerely feel the majority of angry people I encountered were not always such horrible, beastly jerks. They were probably perfectly decent people who were under a lot of stress with screaming children and more expenses than they may have planned for this trip. They may have been working off only a tiny bit of sleep because they didn't want to miss anything. They may have been working so hard to make sure that their vacation was perfect, that they were causing their own problems without realizing it.
This is why I've officially decided that cruises are the best way to vacation. At all. Ever. When we went on our cruise, the only bit of stress I felt was getting to the boat early enough to eat lunch there! And the fact that one of Heather's bags made it to the room a few hours after the rest of our luggage and so we spent a couple of very nervous hours scared that Heather had lost her most valuable suitcase. Even then, Heather kept it together very well, and we certainly weren't angry, just scared. On a cruise, everything is paid for beforehand so there's no extra costs (unless you want to buy all the extras, but we had no problem turning those down). Also on cruises, all entertainment is pre-planned. You don't have to freak out making sure you plan enough time to get everything in. Everything is on one boat and everything can be done, easily. The whole point is to not stress and to relax. It's pretty much amazing!
Well, this next week will be the first time I've ever planned a vacation on my own, before, other than the cruise. And honestly, the cruise doesn't fully count since all we had to plan was how to get there and where to park. Heather and I are working together to plan this, and, fortunately, it's working out beautifully. We have our transportation, parking, lodging, food, and attractions planned. I'm hoping this won't be a terribly stressful vacation. Heather thinks we're going to do it for less than $150 a person. I'm thinking it's going to come out to more like $250-$300/person. That's still way better than the original figure I had, though, of $600. It's probably because we got more people to go, so more people to split the cost with.
Next Sunday (yep, Easter Sunday), Heather, other Heather, Whitney, and I will leave from Utah for Anaheim. We'll check into the hotel that night (already have reservations), and sleep. We'll spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the parks. We're planning on walking because a)our hotel is super close and b)we're not fully confident that we can get free parking at Disneyland. We have one or two (two I think, but that's Heather's job so I don't really know) nice dining reservations for dinner, but we'll be eating breakfast at the hotel and packing sandwiches for lunch (our room will have a fridge, too which is pretty convenient, plus we have a cooler for the car snacks). Thursday we're waking up early and driving back home. Whitney has a GPS which will be super convenient to have since I've never been anywhere that we're going.
I've preplanned my classes and today was spent figuring out exactly what work I have to get done before leaving and what homework will have to be done the day I get back. The beauty of online classes is that I'm going to be able to pull of something like this!
I, however, will be leaving Rexburg Friday probably. I found some people to go with me on the ride down so I can split the cost of gas. Thank goodness cuz it's like $35 to get to Provo in gas alone.
I'm super excited for this trip and hope to goodness that everything goes as planned. Can't wait til Friday!
I sincerely feel the majority of angry people I encountered were not always such horrible, beastly jerks. They were probably perfectly decent people who were under a lot of stress with screaming children and more expenses than they may have planned for this trip. They may have been working off only a tiny bit of sleep because they didn't want to miss anything. They may have been working so hard to make sure that their vacation was perfect, that they were causing their own problems without realizing it.
This is why I've officially decided that cruises are the best way to vacation. At all. Ever. When we went on our cruise, the only bit of stress I felt was getting to the boat early enough to eat lunch there! And the fact that one of Heather's bags made it to the room a few hours after the rest of our luggage and so we spent a couple of very nervous hours scared that Heather had lost her most valuable suitcase. Even then, Heather kept it together very well, and we certainly weren't angry, just scared. On a cruise, everything is paid for beforehand so there's no extra costs (unless you want to buy all the extras, but we had no problem turning those down). Also on cruises, all entertainment is pre-planned. You don't have to freak out making sure you plan enough time to get everything in. Everything is on one boat and everything can be done, easily. The whole point is to not stress and to relax. It's pretty much amazing!
Well, this next week will be the first time I've ever planned a vacation on my own, before, other than the cruise. And honestly, the cruise doesn't fully count since all we had to plan was how to get there and where to park. Heather and I are working together to plan this, and, fortunately, it's working out beautifully. We have our transportation, parking, lodging, food, and attractions planned. I'm hoping this won't be a terribly stressful vacation. Heather thinks we're going to do it for less than $150 a person. I'm thinking it's going to come out to more like $250-$300/person. That's still way better than the original figure I had, though, of $600. It's probably because we got more people to go, so more people to split the cost with.
Next Sunday (yep, Easter Sunday), Heather, other Heather, Whitney, and I will leave from Utah for Anaheim. We'll check into the hotel that night (already have reservations), and sleep. We'll spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the parks. We're planning on walking because a)our hotel is super close and b)we're not fully confident that we can get free parking at Disneyland. We have one or two (two I think, but that's Heather's job so I don't really know) nice dining reservations for dinner, but we'll be eating breakfast at the hotel and packing sandwiches for lunch (our room will have a fridge, too which is pretty convenient, plus we have a cooler for the car snacks). Thursday we're waking up early and driving back home. Whitney has a GPS which will be super convenient to have since I've never been anywhere that we're going.
I've preplanned my classes and today was spent figuring out exactly what work I have to get done before leaving and what homework will have to be done the day I get back. The beauty of online classes is that I'm going to be able to pull of something like this!
I, however, will be leaving Rexburg Friday probably. I found some people to go with me on the ride down so I can split the cost of gas. Thank goodness cuz it's like $35 to get to Provo in gas alone.
I'm super excited for this trip and hope to goodness that everything goes as planned. Can't wait til Friday!
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