8.24.03
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• 8.24.03 - You Want an Update? I'll Give You a Friggin' Update: Here are some statistics on what's happened since my last update nearly 3 months ago...- 42: Combined number of times Aaron , Andy , John , Rua , and Sean updated their websites. (I would have included Ryan , too, but I can't find an archive on his site. Andy had the most updates at 18. At only 3, Sean had the least...besides myself of course. I win!)
- 2: Number of long weekends taken for vacations. (see below)
- 125: Over 10 days, the approximate number of applications I received for board operator positions opening for the Fall semester at WOI .
- 4: Number of new board operators I hired.
- 1: New board op who decided before he even worked a shift that he didn't want to work for us after all, forcing me to hire another new person on extremely short notice. At least I had 121 other people to choose from.
- 1: Number of job interviews I myself have had. I may not find out anything until the end of September. But don't worry, I'll post any news on this website the next time I update...in January.
- 1: Ingrown toenail I had removed.
- 8: Out of 10, where 1 is "I don't feel a thing." and 10 is "Holy Cat Stevens, This is Uncomfortable!", the rating of how uncomfortable it was--even with anesthetic--to have the ingrown toenail removed.
You may now consider yourself overinformed.
As mentioned above, Kim and I have been able to get away from Ames and Des Moines to take a couple of mini-vacations this summer. The first was a trip to the Kansas City area, where Kim and I visited my aunt, uncle, and cousin who live in Shawnee, Kansas. We also spent a day with Sean and Sonja, who agreed (albeit relucatantly, I think) to go to Worlds of Fun with us. We also visited the TV station where Sean works and a great place to eat called Mongolian Barbecue. I've now changed my religion to Mongolian.
Our other trip was to Estes Park, Colorado . We met my mom, dad, and sister in Omaha and followed each other out there to visit another aunt and uncle of mine. They have a beautiful home on the side of a mountain at about 8,700 feet. Through their windows, you can see a gorgeous mountain range that is part of Rocky Mountain National Park .
We went down to Denver for a day where we went to Six Flags Elitch Gardens and saw a Colorado Rockies baseball game. A thunderstorm--complete with high winds, lots of lightning, and hail--forced a 2-hour rain delay. Aside from that it was the most entertaining game I've ever seen with something like 20 runs (several of them home runs), 20-some hits, and 4 errors. I don't even like baseball, but this was a good game.
The next day we drove up Trail Ridge Road in the park. It's the highest continuous U.S. highway in the country, 12,184 feet at its peak. Several feet of snow force it to remain closed for about half the year. We got out of the cars to do some hiking near the top when we started hearing thunder and seeing lightning. We ran for cover to avoid being struck by lightning and got hailed on at the top of a mountain. As scary as that might sound, it was kind of funny and was actually a good time.
The next day on our way home, Kim and I stopped to spend the night with her parents in Walnut, Iowa, where a thunderstorm came through--complete with high winds, lots of lightning, and hail. All in all it was a good trip, but I'd never seen so much hail over a 3-day span in my lifetime.
It's hard to believe, but Fall has unofficially arrived. Kim goes back to school tomorrow. We're going to the ISU Football home opener against UNI next Saturday, and Labor Day is just a week away. Farewell, Summer 2003. We hardly knew ya.
Oh yeah, apparently another sign of Fall is Halloween candy and decorations in the grocery stores in AUGUST. Can't wait to see the Christmas decorations when they go up on Labor Day.
