celebrate my drive--help my school win $25,000 or $100,000

Much of my life has revolved around Nebraska Christian Schools. First, I was an NC student (grades K-12!). I even lived on campus for six years during elementary school, as my parents were the boys' dorm parents. Then, after graduating from college, I got a job at NC as the superintendent's secretary. Nine years later, I'm still at Nebraska Christian, though my role has changed many times! Nebraska Christian is a special place to me, and I hope that if God blesses me with children, they will be able to attend NC, as well.

As a small Christian school in a farming community, Nebraska Christian's finances are often tight. One area where we seem to be perpetually "behind" is technology. Sure, things are better than they were when I was in high school, but if you saw our computer lab, you'd probably laugh. Or cry.

That's where State Farm's Celebrate My Drive comes in. This program, which promotes safe driving, is also a competition between schools. We are competing with schools with student bodies of 750 or fewer, and the schools with the most safe driving commitments from October 18-26 will win a $25,000 or $100,000 grant. If we're the top school in our division, we would also win a concert with Kelly Clarkson! If we get one of the grants, most of the money will go to updating the technology on campus ... which we desperately need!

Here's how you can help: Each day from today through October 26, go to http://celebratemydrive.com/RegisterStudent.aspx and commit to safe driving. You'll enter your email address and birth date first. When it asks you for the state, select Nebraska, then select Community Member, and enter Central City for the city. Then it will pull up a box where you can click Nebraska Christian Schools. You'll take a two question quiz and then check a box to commit to safe driving. That's it! All it takes is one minute of your time. (Well, I'm actually asking for nine minutes of your time, as I'd like you to vote each day!) Please vote!

Update: I just learned you can vote through Facebook, and it's a lot easier to find Nebraska Christian that way! Just click here and enter the requested information, typing "Nebraska Christian" in the school name blank.

snow day in april? yes, please!

We've been having some weird weather here in Nebraska recently. I mean, Nebraska weather is always a bit spastic, but the last few days have really been wild. On Monday, our high was near 70 ... and then things fell apart. Monday night into Tuesday morning, we had severe thunderstorms. My town didn't get hit nearly as hard as some other towns in the area ... but still, we had high winds, hail, and lots of rain. (Yay, rain!) Then Tuesday the temp steadily dropped, the winds were strong, and it rained, sleeted, and hailed. Eventually, there was a bit of snow, but the biggest issue was the layer of ice that covered everything.

Last night, I got the "late start" call. And this morning, 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, I got the "school is canceled" call! Roomie and I were both thrilled to have the day off! (She's student teaching at another area school, and her school was canceled, too.)

I had so much work I could have been doing ... but I didn't bring any of it home with me because I honestly thought we'd have school today. It only takes five minutes to drive to work, so I could have gone to pick some stuff up, but really, did I want to go through the effort of showering, drying my hair, and scraping off my car? Nope! So I decided to declare today a "me" day ... and let tomorrow worry about itself.

So today I spent my day

• baking bread. I used this recipe, which I found on Pinterest. It tastes great ... but the loaves look nothing like the pictures on the website!
• washing dishes. Becasue I baked bread.
• rescuing my cats from the dog next door. Don't ask me how I feel about that dog. It's not pretty.
• catching up on NCIS, Hart of Dixie, and New Girl. Plus an episode of The OC thrown in for good measure.
• reading Siri Mitchell's Unrivaled. I had mixed feelings about it—look for the review tomorrow.
• chatting with Blendy. (Maybe if I link to her enough times, it'll shame her into actually updating her blog ...)
• napping. I never nap ... but I did today!
• watching Cool Runnings with the roomie. I kept telling myself I wouldn't cry at the end, but I did. I swear, I'm turning into my mother!

All in all, it was a fabulous, unexpected, much-needed day off! 

myspace, frustration, and love

This afternoon, we were reminiscing at work. A few years ago, we had a principal (who also served as student council adviser, a role I've had for the past three years) who decided that each spirit day during Homecoming Week should have a spiritual application. Blendy was a student then, and hopefully she'll chime in with her thoughts in the comments.

Anyway, we were remembering how this guy was super serious and conservative (like when it came to assigning spirit days), but every once in a while, he'd let his guard down. That made me think of the time I "confessed" my love for him. I knew I'd blogged about it, so I decided to find the post when I got home. Easier said than done!

I soon discovered that I'd written the post while I was still blogging on Myspace. Here's what happened when I went to log in (this is how I put it on Facebook):

So I'm trying to log into Myspace for the first time in well over a year, and I can't remember my password. I try to reset it, but the reset information goes to an email address I haven't used in three years. I can't remember my password there, either, and the password recovery email goes to an account that no longer exists. Then I see this nifty "log in with facebook" button on the Myspace home page. I click it, and suddenly I have a brand new Myspace account! That wasn't the result I was looking for. I just wanted to access one of my old blog posts, but I protected them so that only my friends had access ... sometimes technology can be so frustrating!

A couple of my friends offered to log into their own Myspace accounts to help me out, and Melissa found the post I was looking for! Here it is, from October 20, 2006, for your reading pleasure:

embarrassment at the office

Current mood:embarrassed

Fact 1: I love listening to music in the office. We have probably 25 cds to choose from (most are mine)--most of them are instrumental or contemporary Christian.

Fact 2: We have a new principal at NC this year. He's 26, single, and very conservative. Things between us have been awkward at best, and most of our conversations consist of : "You have a call on line three."

This morning, we were listening to a cd of 90's-ish pop hits played by an orchestra when Robert (aka the principal) asked me to help him find something in the files. Suddenly he stopped looking through the files, looked at me, and said, "I don't know what song this is."

I, of course, did, so without thinking, I said, "It's 'Have I . . .'" And then it hit me: Oh, crap! Now I have to say the rest of it! "'. . . told you lately that I love you?'"

He smiled (or maybe smirked) and said, "No, actually, you haven't."

My face turned five shades of red, and I wanted to sink through the floor. Fortunately, my mom walked back in from lunch at that moment, and we were able to move on.

The more I think about it, though, the more I think that he knew exactly what the song was, and I just walked right into his trap.

Think, Becky, Think Before You Speak!!!

A few thoughts: 1) I'd totally forgotten that Myspace let you pick a mood for each post. 2) Six years ago? Really? I can't believe I've been blogging that long! 3) It's fun to remember the good times ... 'cause goodness knows, most of my memories involving this man don't make me smile like this one does!

just call me handy

I love assembling things. I'm not sure when I first realized this, but I do remember feeling so powerful and independent when I fixed the desk chair in my dorm room. (I wasn't assembling anything per se, but I was putting it back together.) My absolute favorite part of moving is assembling the new furniture. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to put something together at work—my new desk chair!

Can you see how happy I am?

Putting the arms on. This was the easy part—getting the back on was a bit more difficult.

The finished product. This is so much nicer than my old chair, which was one of those $15 Walmart task chairs.

So if you ever need a bookshelf, chair, or other furniture assembled, just give me a call. I'd love to help you out!

mock not, lest ye be mocked

It has been a long running joke in our office that the business manager talks to himself. His office is situated just off the main office entryway, and throughout the day, we can hear him talking. It's frequently difficult to discern if he's talking to one of us secretaries or to himself, and it has taken me years to learn it's safer not to respond to him--if he's really talking to me, he'll say it again!

Tom is now on vacation, and I'm using his office while he's away. I've learned a very valuable lesson: what goes around comes around, and it's now my turn to be mocked. Tom's office seems to have some sort of sound amplification properties because everything that I say can be heard by people in the main office.  Throughout the day, my mom has often burst into giggles. Why? Because I've said something--quietly--that she heard. And apparently, I talk to myself a lot more than I ever thought! I'm now hyper-conscious of what I say. I feel like I'm stifling myself.

To top it off, apparently the magic office amplification doesn't work both ways, and I can barely hear the people in the main office. When someone talks to me, I respond quite loudly, thinking that because I can't hear them, they can't hear me. My volume makes my mother laugh even harder.

When Tom returns, I'll probably still chuckle when he says something to himself ... but I'll be chuckling with compassion, as someone who has been there!

catching up

Speech officially ended on Friday with the state meet. I had three students compete, and one, a freshman extemper, got fourth place! (I think extemp is the most challenging of all our speech events because you draw a topic one hour before you speak and write a speech about it, using articles you've previously clipped from magazines or printed off the internet. Most topics are political in nature. Almost all the extemp speeches I listened to yesterday--and I heard twelve--were on the US economy or the recovery efforts in Japan. Since he made it to finals, Scott had to write three 5-7 minute speeches yesterday!)

Here's a look at the people I've been spending countless hours with for the last three months!

I have been doing a few things other than speech ...

• I read my first non book review book since, well, I can't even remember when. I bought Dining with Joy a few months ago, but I always had just one more book review book to get through. On Tuesday, I read the last one I had, so then I picked up Dining with Joy. To be honest, I bought the book for its cover. I had read books one and two in the series, and while they were decent, I didn't love them, and I had no intention of reading any more of author Rachel Hauk's novels ... until Amazon started recommending Dining with Joy. It was the cover. Seriously, I've never been one to be influenced by a book's cover (though I've been embarrassed by one before--click on over here to see it!), but now it's happened twice--first with The Mountains Bow Down and now with this! Fortunately, the book was as enjoyable as the cover. I finished it yesterday ... the same day I got another book review book in the mail.
• Last week, I got an invitation to join the Amazon Vine program! This is Amazon's product review program, and you must be invited in order to join. I guess posting all those book reviews paid off :-) I've received and reviewed my first two products--a Jamba Juice energy drink and Lost and Found, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan. Here's a link to my review of Lost and Found. I may eventually start reviewing Vine products on my blog, but it's not a requirement of the program, so I'll wait for now.
• I now have five (yes, five) living plants! This is something of a victory for me, as you may recall. Granted, the aloe plant isn't looking too great, but it's still kicking. My newest plant I bought today--"Royal Hustler" Ivy. I've never had an ivy plant before ... let's hope it's pretty hearty!
• Thanks to Netflix, I've caught up on Parks & Recreation. If you ever enjoyed The Office, you'll probably like Parks & Rec. Many people (read: critics) say the first season is pretty rough, but I thought it was hilarious from the beginning. If you don't have Netflix, you can watch the most recent episodes on Hulu ... and I'll be happy to fill you in on any background you need!
• I've been asked to transition into a slightly different role at my job. I'll have more to say about it later, but I'm really anticipating the change!

I think that's about it! I'll have another book review coming in just over a week (the sequel to Hand of Fate, which I reviewed last year). I guess I've procrastinated long enough ... time to hit the taxes!

find us on facebook!

I spent the majority of my workday doing something that just a few years ago I would have found unfathomable ... I created a facebook page for my workplace! I had lots of fun adding old pictures and getting things set up. There's still a lot to do--as of now, we have virtually no pictures from the '80s and '90s because I still need to scan them in--but I'm looking forward to spending more time on it. Check it out!

Nebraska Christian Schools

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things that show up when cleaning out your desk

I got a new (to me) desk at work today. My old desk was nice but big and bulky. My new desk is much smaller and actually has more storage space. Plus, it's turned around so it faces the door, which is always a plus! I found a few unexpected things while cleaning out the old desk, which I've had since the spring of 2006:

• a wedding shower invite from 2007.
• Twizzlers twizted berry pull-n-peel. I don't even remember this stuff!
• an Administrative Professionals' Day card signed by all the administrators. It's not dated, but judging by the things they wrote, I'm gonna guess 2007.
• 40 cents.
• four boxes of Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea packets plus one box of the Walmart brand knock-off.
• leftover speech award certificates from when we hosted our district meets in 07 and 08. I'm pretty sure I was supposed to send those back to the NSAA office . . .
• "The Virtuous Woman," a laminated handout all the female students and staff received last year after the "virtuous woman" chapel. (Yes, there was a "godly man" chapel, too.)
  
• a Los Angeles postcard. It's not written on. Why do I have it?
  
• an unidentifiable piece of Asian candy. The picture on the wrapper looks like fish, so I'm not taking any chances!
• a hexagon-shaped piece of metal. I'm sure it was an important piece of something once!