Ending ISU Career

Greetings!

I am indeed the owner of this poorly maintained blog. :( To be fair, a LOT has gone on since my last real post, but still... I deserve a slap on the hand for this! Let's see... since April, there were a few fun events that happened down at ISU. I'll throw a few pictures in here with the events!

Passing of the Gavel
I've written about ARH's Passing of the Gavels before. This year I was invited as an alumni! Talk about funny feeling, but it was great to catch up and see some people I haven't seen in awhile. Shannon came down and we went together... and caught up with Glenn and John! We had a blast sitting at a table together reminiscing. Of course it was a little awkward at some moments, but let's not talk about that anymore. I'm over it!

Roommates at their fourth Passing of the Gavel!


Last year's President and Vice President


Part of the 2009-2010 ARH Executive Board. So sweet!

Another really special moment was being inducted into the AAFN. That stands for Association of Alumni and Friends of NACURH. What does that mean? Well, the current ARH executive board decided to induct someone into the AAFN to represent ISU. The AAFN are a group of people recognized for their support and activity within NACURH. I was very honored to be nominated, let alone chosen to be inducted from ISU. (Because let's face it... 1/2 of this year's board doesn't care for me.) At Passing of the Gavel, they announced I was selected!

Maureen (director of UHS and the last person ISU inducted) presented me with the selection


She had some very sweet things to say and it was very cool!

Finally, I got to see a good friend of mine, Angel, become the new President of ARH. I am very proud of him and look forward to what he can do! I remember when he was just a small freshman, running for president of West Campus... :) Regardless, I am excited for him and Kayla, the new Vice President. I'm always here for you two!

Angel giving his presidential remarks!

It was awesome to catch up with Kim and Shannon and Glenn. We had so much fun remembering good times and making plans to return to ARH's Passing's for many years to come!

End of Contract
Well, I did other things between Passing of the Gavel and my contract ending, but it fits into this blog post better than any other ones. Plus, I don't really want to write its own post. Honestly, I very excited to finish and start another opportunity. I was counting down the days... but right at the end, I got very sad. Looking at my empty office and empty apartment was very rough. Some employees and coworkers came forward to tell me how much they were going to miss me. That meant a LOT because a lot of the time, I didn't feel appreciated at all. My last service area meeting (with all 55 of my employees) was very touching. Some came forward to hug me, while others verbally told me how much it meant for them to have me around.

I'm getting teary thinking about it...

Even though I didn't really come out and tell any of them, they were probably the number one reason I stayed, next to my loyalty to my boss. Some of my coworkers, higher administration, and the extreme demands of my position pushed me farther and farther away. Some days that I wanted to throw the towel in... an employee would say something, do something, or show that I was needed for that moment. Now, having 55 people to supervise is a lot, and keeping track of them all was tough... but in most of them, I saw some sort of improvement. Whether it was in organization, reliability, respect, or job pride, they all took small strides. I couldn't leave that or them for me. I started the job and wanted to finish it. Some days I wonder if I stayed another year, what difference that would continue to make in their lives.

I'll never know, but I can thank them for a nice "goodbye" experience at the end. VERY few coworkers said goodbye or made an effort at all. It was very tough to put in the extra hours I did at the end, do summer training that was not required of me, and empty my office without anyone really caring. However, the outpour of facebook friend requests, letters, and emails that came in were really amazing. And once again, those crazy kids kept me going. :)

My office the night before I moved out. All empty.
No more of my color or spunk. :( Good times in there!

And with that.... that is all I have to report from my ISU experiences. On Wednesday, May 11th, my parents came to pick me up, and I turned my keys in for the last time. As I drove away from Atkin Colby, I did tear up and I knew this was an experience I'll never have again, and I did learn A LOT. But here is to new beginnings! :)

BREAKING NEWS!!!!

THERE IS ACTUALLY AN OWNER TO THIS BLOG.

Her name: Amy.

We have located her. She is indeed still alive and does accept full responsibility for the lack of updates of her blog. Slacker.

Please stay tuned for ACTUAL UPDATES regarding the end of her ISU employment, her trip to New York, her new job, and... of course her poor finger.

Regrets and apologies are passed along from Amy.... if there's actually anyone left!!!

25 Years in the Future

When I was an undergraduate student, I served as the president of Central Campus and the name of our organization was Central Campus Residential Government (CCRG). Sadly, when I was elected, it was the last year for Central Campus, as the long range plan called for it to be replaced by a new recreation center.

One of the things I did with the CCRG executive board was put on different programs to help celebrate the 50 years Central Campus was around. Our most exciting project was creating a time capsule to be opened later by the students who use the fitness center. We worked on the time capsule for a few months, and when we were done, we gave it to Housing to hold onto until the Rec Center was finished.

Well, three years later, the Rec Center is up and functioning, and Housing decided to plan a ceremony installing the time capsule we created. I was invited to serve on the planning committee and we planned things from the invitation list, the location, the program, and the speakers. I was so excited to have some say about the ceremony that would put my project into the foundation of the Rec Center! But that's not all - the director of Housing asked me to be a speaker at the ceremony!

So, on April 6th, a bunch of people gathered to celebrate Central Campus for the last time and to install the time capsule.

Vice President of Student Affairs beginning the ceremony


The director of Housing introducing the project and ceremony

Mary, an alum of Central Campus, speaking of her memories

Speaking my part of the ceremony - introducing the parts of the capsule and giving my memories

The director inviting me and the current Association of Residence Halls president to the front to unveil the capsule

The director of the Rec Center promising me that she will pass on the legacy that CCRG started and will keep the time capsule safe until it is opened.

Posing with the Central Campus Time Capsule cover!

The cover close up

Ok, this may have been a bit picture heavy, but I wanted to show all of the exciting parts of the ceremony! It was such a precious moment and I am honored to have been apart of it!

Wait. Does sugar come from a bush?

My all time favorite event at Spring Valley would definitely have to be Sugar Bush. It's an event that they hold to show the sugaring process of making maple syrup out of sap. Did you know that maple syrup is made out of the sap that flows in trees? It is basically another reason why trees are awesome.

Since I was like... 14 I volunteered at the Sugar Bush festival. I started out mostly doing the puppet show for young children. I did this for like... 5 years! It's a cute little show that teaches kids about how trees are tapped for sap. I loved doing it, but after awhile, the thought of moving puppets around on a stage and memorizing the dialogue did not sound exactly appealing anymore. So, I graduated to the interpretation stations out by the cabin and food tents.

I fell in love with the boil down station and have done it for quite a few years. I did it again this year! Luckily, I was able to apply for travel and it was granted. So this year, I relived my station again!

The evaporator that the sap sits in

Basically, my favorite station involves putting the raw sap, straight from the tree, into an evaporator and boiling off about 75% of the water. Sap is primarily water, and in order to get the color and taste that we all know, it needs to be boiled off.


We do that at Spring Valley by using a wood burning stove with an evaporator on top, as seen here. That chamber in front in where the wood is put in to keep the fire going.

Part of the interpretation is to discuss the different grades of maple syrup. Aaaand, here is an awful picture of me showing the different grades. Yikes!


Throughout the weekend, we had tons of visitors (I think upwards of 1500 people) come and learn. Here is me telling this little girl what I was doing!

I know, I know, another awful picture. I'm no good good at candid shots :)

So, all and all, it was a pretty awesome weekend! I love Sugar Bush and can't wait for it next year!!!!

Nature and Me = :)

Over my spring break I decided I needed a few healthy doses of nature to make up for how much I was missing by my job. First place I went - Spring Valley of course! It was a warmer day, so I didn't mind trekking around. The week was pretty chilly and rainy.

Salt Creek

I went to my favorite spot - Salt Creek first. It was definitely flowing as the snow was melting steadily. For some reason, I just love sitting on the bridge watching the water flow and the small creatures running around. :)

Me in the creek

Yes, I know how silly this picture is. But I saw a bottle in the creek and wanted to pick it up. So, I set my autotimer and was going to pose with to prove my awesomeness. Well, I underestimated how long 10 seconds is, as well as how soupy the creek bank was. So, my camera has about 10 tries of me trying to get it out, as well as me having fun with the autotimer in general. Haha...

Pond

I went from the creek to the cabin and took a look at the frozen pond. It was oddly peaceful sitting on the bench. There was a little breeze, but other than that, it was completely silent. A very rare moment in this spot!

Hay field

I wandered over to the farm and took the back paths to see what was new back there. This view is the back of the hayfield. On my camera lens, it looked like that light colored grass was smoke. I thought it was sooo cool!

Horse and Engel

I ended up walking all the way to my car by the time I realized that I never to got to see the livestock. I went back to the farm and caught Engel and one of the draft horses outside. I'm horrible and have no idea which horse this is! It's either Price or Duke. Ooops! I had fun watching them and sitting on the wagon seat.

Later on during my spring break week, I decided to finally go and check out the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I have never visited the gardens, and that felt silly, especially given my major, my passion, and that I wanted to apply to work there. I finally decided to go and at least see what the major attractions were, so I could sound semi knowledgeable if I got past the application stage.

I loved the saying above the door in the visitor center. Everyone here was SO friendly! And of course, there was a sweeeeet gift shop in here ;-)



This is what I saw as soon as I walked outside of the visitor center. It took my breath away and it was still technically winter! The blues were so blue and the yellow in the tree was just as beautiful. I knew from the minute I left the center that I could love working there.


I also wandered over to a huge set of greenhouses that were connected. I learned that there were different types of plants/environments in each greenhouse. I LOVE working in greenhouses, especially show/educational greenhouses. I didn't want to leave! It reminded me of working in the greenhouses during my undergrad!


This little guy is a young ginkgo tree. I do what I can to subliminally hint to my dad that we should plant one in his backyard. :) I love this tree!



Well this sure was enough pictures huh? I'll keep the pictures and/or nature to a minimum has I post in the next few weeks. Thanks for suffering through it. :)

I like to slam my fingers in doors

I just got back from a week off of work - it was ISU's spring break. It was a pretty amazing week! i got to relax, hang out with my parents, see Stephanie, and go to Spring Valley and the Botanic Gardens. It was a perfect break from all the ISU craziness.

But Amy, why didn't you blog AT ALL?

Oh, that would have a pretty simple explanation..... I slammed my finger into a door!

Haha, ok.... I will explain. I was helping close Hamilton Whitten because a co-worker was feeling under the weather. Closing a building includes checking every room to be sure the trash is removed, windows are closed, blinds are open, and everything is unplugged. The RAs do a majority of this, but professional staff needs to go through and recheck everything... specifically sign each window.

I decided to check Hamilton and was given 3 RAs. What cracked me up is all the boy RAs went with me and all the girl RAs went with the other helper, which happened to be a man. It's ok, they are very fun RAs! We started on the 10th floor and started doing our thing....

... 1 RA would unlock the doors
... 1 RA would follow me (to make sure I dont steal anything) and do a final check
... 1 RA would follow us and relock the doors

We had a great system going, and we were zipping through it. They are hilarious to listen to and they decided to play their own music, which was entertaining to watch as they danced around and sang. When we got down to the second floor, we got an text saying the building service workers suspected a cat living on the second floor. We decided to be extra thorough to see if we could smell or find any evidence. The boys started to spring ahead of me, checking the rooms. As I was done with my check, I would pull the door shut behind me so the locking RA knew I was done.

Well.... for whatever reason I was at one room and as I was pulling the door shut, I heard the boys laughing about something. I turned around the corner and simply did not pull my hand out fast enough! Plus... the door was randomly lighter than the rest of the doors!

I was INSTANTLY in indescribable pain. I felt my eyes bulge out of my head. Now, I've jammed my finger in a door before, but this was different. As I looked down at my finger, blood was seeping out around my nail. I wanted to fall to the floor in pain, but we were almost done and I didn't want to over react to something so dumb.

As I started to go into the next room, I could feel my finger swelling and throbbing. It didn't take long for the boys to notice something was wrong. I showed them what I did and got a unanimous "ahhh that looks like it hurts!"

The blue under my fingernail formed instantly. As we finished the rest of the building, I was struggling to hold back tears. I went to my apartment and wrapped my finger because touching my nail was incredibly painful. I packed up my car and was determined to still get home. As I drove, I had to keep my hand up on the passenger seat headrest to keep the throbbing under control.

I came home and showed my parents what I did. Of course, they started to laugh before anything... Amy slammed her finger into a door and it's semi-serious? Of course! After my 2 hour drive and packing and unpacking, it was feeling and getting worse.


I unwrapped my finger and noticed how much bruising developed on my ride home. I could barely bend or straighten my finger! Owie! The pain kept getting worse, and I honestly thought I was going to throw up after trying to shower with it. :(

The next morning, I was in just as much pain, if not more. My dad gently suggested going to the ER to be sure there wasn't a minor fracture anywhere. I agreed, maybe I would get an anti-inflammatory to help the unbearable pain under my finger nail!

Mom went with me to get her own situation checked out, and we split up. I was cracking up almost the whole time because it was a family trip to the ER on my first day home. Before long, my x-rays came back negative and the doctor told me (in not so many words), "Well, I can't do anything for you, this is just going to really hurt for a week or two."


She gave me this sexy, new brace and a pain pill prescription and wished me luck. Good news - it wasn't broken! But boy that pain under my nail is killer. Moral of the story, typing is pretty difficult to do over my break! What a break, huh? :) Luckily, things are getting better and the pain is not as difficult!

I'll put up some pictures soon of the rest of my break!!

Square

I haven't posted in a bit... but I can't think of anything to post about that isn't really wordy like my last post... and I can sort of tell I'm boring the few readers I do have. Hmm...

The only thing I can think of sharing is a few pictures of the square vase I've been using to make arrangements the past week or so. When I first got home from surgery, Mike, Adam, and Nicole gave me this really pretty arrangement.

It had gorgeous carnations and roses and orange and everything ! I absolutely loved it. It lasted for quite a long time, too. Once some of the flowers started to fade away, I decided to combine this arrangement with the one from my parents and grandparents. I ended up with something like that.

This is a bad angle and after I took the picture, I fixed the baby's breath so it wasn't sticking out so far. I had fun with the colors and working with flowers again! This arrangement seriously lasted another week and a half! This is ANOTHER reason that I LOVE carnations... they last so long and I just love looking at them. They are soooo pretty to me! I can't get over it. I don't like roses... at all. A few here and there are nice... but they aren't pretty to me, and what bugs me the most is how quickly they fade. I shouldn't hold that against the flower... but I do. :P



Once everything in that arrangement faded, I went out and bought a random bouquet of flowers from Jewel. I was loving the color and... they were really cheap. Haha... so I arranged them in the square vase. I think it looks fun! Don't worry, the random spiky green filler isn't there anymore... I thought it looked kinda dumb after I took the picture.

So moral of the story.... I am totally at a loss of things to talk about, and I love my new square vase!