So Fun!

I have just had two great and fun-filled days with my friends Tammy, Lara, and Amy. They flew from Sioux Falls and Cedar Rapids to Seattle and then drove to Spokane to spend two days here. It has been so great! And so fun to have people living in my little apartment with me!

Monday, they arrived in the afternoon and after showing them my home (which took less than 5 minutes), we got in the car for a tour of Spokane. Since it was cold and rainy, I also took them on a driving tour of the Whitworth Campus. I drove them past the Milk Bottle (a diner with a front shaped like a milk bottle) and my favorite coffee shop (The Rocket on Garland). Then I drove them through downtown, past Riverfront Park and the Bloomsday Runner sculpture, and then we went up the steepest hill in Spokane so they could see a bit of the South Hill and the view from High Drive. Then we went to the Steamplant Grill for dinner (we even went into the smokestack, which was full of suction and very scary). Oh, and then we went to REI and looked around. I don't fit in very well in REI. It's like being in a foreign country.

Tuesday, I took them to the HUB to show them the place I spend most of my days. They got to meet a couple of the other RDs (because, well, most of us are there most of our days). And I showed them all of the facilities...the RD office, my mailbox, the student mailboxed, the espresso stand, the smoothie bar, and then.....we had lunch in the dining hall, which is always fun for visitors. Then I drove them to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where we spent the day. We went to shops and looked at the antique stores for lunchboxes (no luck, boohoo), and we bought candy at the penny candy store, and we had coffee at the cute coffee shop, and we had happy hour at the Coeur a'Alene Brewing Co., and then, in the cold wind, we walked the pier onto the lake. It was cold but pretty. Then we drove back to Spokane and had pizza and then hung out for the rest of the night.

Today we had an early lunch, got some froyo from the new "sweet treats" section of our smoothie bar, and then we went to take pictures on campus. While it was snowing. It was a fun adventure.

And now they are on their way back to Seattle to hang out with John and Marissa for a bit. I am sad they had to leave but I guess it's good since I do have a ton of e-mails to get through, students to meet with, and RAs to hire (we start Thursday night). It was a good compact 2 days of friend time. Yay! Thanks for coming to visit! It made my spring! :)

Weekend Festivities

This has been a productive weekend so far. I got all of my meetings moved yesterday so that I actually get a 3-day weekend, so I took it really easy yesterday. Mainly because I have just gotten a cold (cross your fingers that it's not the flu again!) so I wanted to try to get rid of it before Monday.

Today, I took a bunch of boxes to Goodwill and then have devoted a large part of the day to finishing my resume. I even purchased more paper and envelopes. I'm sending it out to a couple of schools and we'll see what happens. The job openings are picking up, so I'm hoping I can find a good fit!

Tomorrow is devoted to cleaning my apartment so it is ready for my guests who arrive Monday. It is mostly clean because of all my hard work during Spring Break, but now I need to clean out all the dust that I've missed in 4 years; otherwise they may die from allergies. :)

I'm getting excited to have visitors!!

Post-Spring Break Shock!

Wow. I cannot handle going from a schedule of "hmmm.....let's see.....what do I want to do today" to "11am meeting, 12pm meeting, tour of my apartment with RD candidate, 3pm meeting, meeting meeting meeting every hour of the day until midnight". It's a little like syllabus shock!

Yeah, we have RD candidates on campus this week: 8-10 hours of my week. And we have 2nd year RA interviews: 4 hours of my week. Do I even have 14 hours free in a normal week? I doubt it!

Needless to say, my poor RAs and Senator have their one-on-ones with me cut to 30 minutes so that I can stay sane.

On a lighter note, in one week, I will be hanging with my friends from the midwest. woohoo!!

TurboTax

Might I recommend TurboTax to all of you for ease of filing your taxes? I have used it for the past 3 years and it has made life so much easier--no more "if the number you entered is greater, go to line 15, if the number you entered is less, go to the next line." That's too confusing. I am very glad I got it this year because I had to file a 8880 for the money I've started contributing to my retirement. I know, it's sad that I waited until this year to start contributing, but at least I've done it. Yeah, so anyway, all I had to do was enter the numbers that TurboTax asked me for.

I am going to review this tomorrow and send it off in the mail. I get a refund for once, and it's going directly to my savings account for the anticipated unemployment funding I'll need starting in June. If only I could get the actual unemployment money....silly unwritten "rule" that we can only stay in this job for 4 years that means I resign and they don't fire me.....grrr......

Bono Launches Socially Conscious Clothing

Yay for Bono continuing to try to make a positive dent in this world!

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Bono Launches Socially Conscious Clothing

Man, I have GOT to do my taxes. I am enjoying this spring break thing so much that I'm having a tough time doing the stuff I don't want to like my taxes and finishing my resume. Tomorrow. I must.

Loss

Sad news. Stan Grenz, a great scholar of our time, has passed away. Many of us have read his books for classes and gleaned great wisdom from his thinking. I even got to play with his kids when they lived next to our friends the Ohnstads.

I am sure he is basking in the presence of our Savior!

You can leave a note for his family on his website: Stanley J. Grenz Evangelical Theology

IT'S SPRING BREAK!

Napoleon Dynamite

You are Deb and you could drink whole milk if you
wanted.


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
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RA Retreat

IMG_479
Originally uploaded by schmann.

Here's a pic from our RA Retreat last night. We were all dressed as someone famous. The Warren team likes to make a scene wherever we go.

We spent most of the night making a movie. It's pretty funny. Then, we watched Saved! and spent the night in the Chapel. Unfortunately, my reservation of the Chapel didn't make it as far as it needed to so a custodian came in at 4am to clean and discovered us sleeping!

The retreat was great fun....we laughed so much.

Shoes!

Good news: I am making progress on getting rid of clutter. It helps to have a former student coming to stay with me tonight which means I had to get all my new sweaters off my bed.

I now have 5 boxes of items to donate to Goodwill when I have time (ha, what's that?). So I counted my shoe donation. I am donating approximately 20 pair of shoes. Twenty. 2-0. That's a lot of shoes that I don't really wear or want that have been taking up space in my life. But guess how many pair I still have in my closet. 40. Forty. 4-0. What? And I actually wear all of these shoes. There are the birkenstocks that I've had for ages but don't wear very often, the sneakers I wear twice a week, the sandals that are for beach days and sunbathing only, flip-flops for slipping on as I trek around the building, my black and white shoes that are just like Sandy's and the reason we are soul friends, my Puma collection that I have started...the list could go on.

What can I say? I need variety! Is that bad for me to have 40 shoes? I have a shoe addiction.

OK, I must go back to some cleaning before I head to the airport to pick up Karen. Woohoo!