Monday, June 30, 2008

Florida!

Florida was so great and I even have a little bit of a tan going on! There is a definite line between pale and pasty on my arms. Perhaps this weeks trip to Cedar city will help the line continue! So here goes my journal entry run down of the whole trip.

Wednesday
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Our flight wasn't until a little later in the afternoon so Brad and I went and looked at apartments first. We were glad when that was done and we were able to get on our way. I watched a bunch of food network on the flight over. It made me crave Macaroni and Cheese....... Dad Dimick bought me some easy mac the last day we were there as a joke. I still want some good deep fried macaroni casserole though..... Picking up our rental car proved to be a little more difficult than necessary. The girls were being silly and the guy behind the counter was being ridiculous. After standing around forever while everything got settled we finally got to our minivan. The windows in the middle rolled down! I was amazed and I think my mom should upgrade her minivan for this feature alone. (I'm easily impressed) We got out the gps but unfortunately it didn't know where the heck our hotel was. We finally called Jackie and got directions and tried to find where we were going. When we would call the number that we had no one would answer so we were worried that if we even found where we were going we wouldn't be able to get in. By the time we got to the condo complex it was about 2 am. We had to go on a treasure hunt to find the first condo which had a box and in that box was an envelope with our name on it which led us to our
condo. We were all sorts of confused and happy to finally get to some beds.

Thursday
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We had planned on going to the theme park the first day but because of our late night we decided it was a beach day instead. We started the day with some breakfast at IHOP. While we were there a balloon guy came up and tried to entertain us while we waited for our food. Scott hates the sounds of balloons squeaking so he just got out 5 bucks left it on the table and went and stood outside. The balloon guy was really not funny at all and he was slow. The best part was watching Devin and Josie trying to figure out his jokes. What they didn't realize was that there was nothing to get because the jokes just weren't funny. He made a friendship flower containing Josie and Devin's favorite colors, he also made a heart with 2 lovebirds for Brad and I.
After breakfast we drove west to check out the beaches on the gulf coast. We went to a beach in Clearwater. I saw some Dolphins swimming in the distance. Brad and Scott got in and had fun jumping the waves. Josie buried Devin and then everyone took some peanuts and fed the birds. Brad had the birds trained to hover just above his head and then they would catch the peanuts in their mouths.
After the beach we headed back to Orlando and we got some dinner at subway. We tried to go to bed early so that we could get to the theme park early the next morning. But of course having a room next to 2 excited 14 year olds makes going to bed early difficult.

Friday
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We got up early and got ready to go to Universal Studios. The forecast called for rain and so we wanted to hurry and do all the outside rides first before it began raining. I actually went on the Hulk roller coaster! I was so proud of myself. I got out of line at Lagoon once because I was too scared to go on Colossus. This ride makes that one look like a kiddie ride. We went on the Spiderman ride which was an awesome combination of a 3d show and a ride. That was probably my favorite. We tried to go on the new Simpson's ride but after we waited for an hour in line they came on the loudspeakers and told us that the ride was broken. "Sorry for any inconvenience." So after we were done going on rides we went home and showered. It never rained so that was nice. When we were ready to go to dinner the girls had fallen asleep and didn't want to get up to come with us so we went to TGI Fridays for dinner without them. We had a lovely cross-dressing waiter/ess who took over an hour to get our food. There was another balloon person but luckily they got pulled to a table on the other side of the room just as she was about to get to our table.

Saturday
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Saturday we went to the Kennedy Space Center. We had a blast! (pun intended) We took the bus tour and went around the complex and learned all about the history of NASA and space exploration and we got to see the things as we were learning about them. We sat a little too close during the 3d movie about walking on the moon and my head kind of hurt for a little while. We also got to go in a simulator that made you feel like you were taking off in the shuttle. Basically it just tipped you back in your seats and shook you around a lot. It was neat. While driving home we got to experience a good Florida thunderstorm. It was raining so hard we could barely see in front of the car. At one point we could smell smoke, probably from a fire that started from the lightening, but it was raining so hard we couldn't see where the fire was. When we got home that night we were flipping channels and we caught "When we left earth." We were excited to continue our space knowledge with a Discovery channel documentary on the very things we just spent the day learning about.

Sunday-
Sunday morning I woke up early (I can't help it anymore) and I went downstairs to eat breakfast and I turned on the tv while I waited for everyone else to get up. Our flight was in the early afternoon so we decided just to sleep in and not worry about getting in any more sightseeing. While I was watching tv I started flipping through the guest book and came across a page that had in bold red letters that checkout time was at 10 and that late checkouts would be charged. I ran upstairs because it was exactly 10:06 at that time. I got Brad up and he woke up everybody else and we all hurried and packed up our belongings. Scott went and turned in the key and it seemed like there wasn't going to be any problem so hopefully there wont be an extra charge. Our flight had a layover in Cincinnati so it took longer to get home. On the first flight the
TV's didn't work so we slept a little. We had exit row seats on all our flights and the flight attendant on this flight asked me if I was 15. (Enter my Napoleon Complex) Brad said he was more offended for his own sake because he didn't want people to think he was married to someone that wasn't even 15. On the flight to Salt Lake the TV's were working but the satellite was down so all we could do was pay to watch movies. I watched the Bucket List. I liked it a lot. We'll probably rent it and watch it again so Brad can see it. When we were getting on that flight I asked a flight attendant if the TV's were working and he said he thought they were but when he saw we had paid for movies because the satellite was broken he felt bad so he refunded us the money we paid to watch the movies! It was awesome.

Overall the trip was so nice! We are so grateful to Josie and Devin for getting good grades and to Scott and Jackie for inviting us and paying for everything! It's an experience that as newlywed students we would have never been able to do on our own. If anyone else needs chaperone's for vacations and you want to pay for Brad and I to go anywhere we will try our best to work it into our schedule!

PAZOOKIES!

Before I post about my awesome trip to Florida I must first and foremost post about my new favorite kitchen item that we purchased before we left. We decided that we needed to purchase some miniature skillets so we can make our very own pazookies. For 20 bucks we got 2 skillets and little skillet oven mitts. It also came with some Lehi Mills cookie mix. They were delicious and we felt like throwing up afterwards! In the future we will probably just share one but since we have 2 pans we'll need friends to eat the second! Any takers?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Summer Vacation!

I love not going to school in the summer. I think that may be a part of why I'm going to be a teacher.... I know it doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't I just not be a teacher at all then I would never have to be in school, but then I'd have a job that would make me work during the summer. I just love that there is something that sets summer apart. Since my father is a teacher my whole life there has been a different feeling during the summer. I've never understood people who do summer school. It's summer, that is not time for school it's time for getting so bored you actually want to go back to school! Growing up we would always go on at least one big trip each summer. This summer will be no different. We're leaving tonight and driving to Salt Lake and tomorrow afternoon we will be flying to Florida. I'm really excited! I haven't been back to Florida since we moved from there back in 1993. We are going to Orlando but honestly I have no idea what we're doing other than that. We aren't in charge of any of it so we're just going along for the ride. I'll take my camera and hopefully I remember to use it. I hope that when I'm all grown up we can still take the time to go somewhere neat each summer!

side note: as I'm sitting here working I can see kids gather for EFY outside (Especially for Youth). I was an EFY counselor last summer and it was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. It's making me nostalgic. Then I took a closer look and I can see one of my kids from my own group last summer sitting on the grass...... I love seeing kids continue to make good choices and continue to participate in things that are strengthening their testimonies!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Flashback: This past week

Ok so this isn't really a very distant flashback since I'm just going to talk about this past week but it will be great none-the-less! So this week I was able to attend a conference where we learned about the 3 branches of government and discussed civics education. It was offered to any social studies teachers and also to any Utah State student who was going to teach social studies. It was so much fun! They put us up in a hotel downtown for free and we did a lot of really neat things. Here is a recap by day:

Monday: The Drive
I drove down with 2 other people so that we could share gas money. We had to be there really early Tuesday morning so the hotel let us check in Monday night. We weren't sure exactly what to do next so we went for a walk around downtown Salt Lake and got ourselves oriented as to where we would need to go the following days.

Tuesday: The Legislative Branch
On Tuesday we learned all about how a bill becomes law and we were able to tour each part of the State Capitol building as we did so. We started out in a committee room where my neighbor Representative Chris Herrod sponsored a bill concerning immigration and education. We had some very heated debate. All of the teachers seemed to have strong opinions on the issue. It was really hard for me to debate because I could see the logic in both sides. That is when I decided not to run for congress. We agreed on some amendments and "tabled the bill." When that step was over we took it to the House for voting.
Melissa and I considering how to vote for the bill
After we debated whether to accept the bill and it's amendments a former Speaker of the House, Representative Ure, (I think he's an uncle to my friend Melissa....) we traveled to the Senate where we met with a Senator and he explained to us the next steps in the process of making a law.
Leaving the Capitol after a long day of making laws
After we finished the days activities we went to the Gateway mall for some dinner. We had been given vouchers at the Capitol for lunch and so most of us had really eaten way too much. (We had to get our free money's worth!) So for dinner I just had an Orange Julius and the cookies I had added to my tab at lunch because I could. I then got to spend some time with Kim Hines. Kim was my roommate when I lived in Alaska and I hadn't seen her for quite awhile so it was really nice to spend even just a few minutes with her as she was on her way into the city for a hot date.
Wednesday: The Judicial Branch
Wednesday morning were able to attend a Naturalization Ceremony where we witnessed 190 people become citizens of the United States. This was by far the most moving experience of the conference. I take so many things in my life for granted and one of them is for sure the fact that I am a natural born citizen of the United States and I never had to fight for the rights and freedoms that I enjoy.
The Ceremony
We were able to sit right among the new citizens. This gave many of us mixed feelings since the families of the people were required to sit in balcony seats above us. This was just one of the things that showed me the great respect that people actually have for teachers. When the oath was finished Judge Alba talked to the crowd and shared the story of how he too became a naturalized citizen when he was in college. He was studying to become a lawyer and learned that he needed to be a citizen to take the bar exam. He went from being a migrant farm worker to becoming a Federal Judge. His story was really inspiring. He then interviewed the audience and allowed people to take the time to speak if they had something to say. He asked them about their struggles to get where they are now and what this experience meant to them. It was moving. My roommate Melissa took video of some of the responses that people gave and I hope to get those videos from her. Our friend Randy had a really neat experience this day. As we were walking into the theater where the ceremony was held Randy ran into his brother. His sister-in-law was becoming a citizen in this very ceremony and Randy had no idea. Randy had lost his cell phone and his brother had been trying to contact him to invite the family but had given up hope of reaching them. It was really neat for him to be able to be there with his family without even knowing that was taking place on that day. After the ceremony we were able to talk to the judge and learn more about him. Turns out he just might be the inspiration for the character of Pedro in the movie 'Napoleon Dynamite.' He moved to Preston in the ninth grade and ran for Sophomore class president at the insistence of his friend. He's pretty sure he's the only Mexican to have done so from that Preston High so he claims a small credit for the inspiration.
After the mornings festivities we were able to go to the Matheson Courthouse and meet the Chief Justice of the Utah Supreme Court. She spoke to us and then we were able to go to a courtroom where we met another judge,
Judge Carolyn B. McHugh of the Utah Court of Appeals, and she presided over a mock trial that we held in the courtroom.
Part of the mock trial that we held with Judge Carolyn B. McHugh
We were also able to go to the Moss Federal Courthouse where we were able to learn about the different types of cases that are heard there. We ended that days lectures in the Utah Supreme Court chambers. It was an amazing day and we got to see and do a lot of really neat things.

Thursday: The Executive Branch
Thursday was spent discussing the Executive Branch and when I say discussing I mean listening to. Turns out the Executive Branch doesn't have any fun activities where you get to role play anything. This will be the branch I struggle to most with when it comes to teaching. It is the most visible branch but it sure was the least fun to talk about. It was still great though and we got to spend the morning sitting in the City County Building in Salt Lake which just might be my favorite building in Utah now.
Those aren't alien lights above it.... This picture was taken out of the window on the 5th floor of the courthouse so it's just reflection. It is such a neat old building. I wished we had more time to learn about it while we were inside. I guess I'll just have to request a tour someday. We also got to have lunch at the Governors Mansion. It was a very interesting experience and MaryKay Huntsman seemed like a lovely lady. It was some good times and I'll have more pictures on my facebook account for anyone who has facebook and cares to look at my pictures. It makes me excited to become a teacher and do these kinds of things more often. The best part about it is that everyone invited us to bring our classes to do the same things we did. They even offered to send someone to any school if we just asked. Our government is so open and really isn't secretive at all, we just have to make the effort to be involved and to participate. We got contact information from every person in every different agency we worked with and with every different level so now it's just a matter of making it happen. I'll leave you with a picture of 5 of the 7 pre-service teachers who participated in the conference along with all of the seasoned teachers.


Monday, June 16, 2008

This week

This week I am going to my first ever conference. I am going to be staying at a hotel in Salt Lake (paid for by the state office of education) and I will be attending Seminars for 3 days. The seminars are on the 3 branches of government and we get to spend one day on each branch and learn about different ways to teach about that branch and participate in, or witness, some actual duties of that branch. I'm really excited and I hope I learn a lot! I'm kind of sad though because it will be the longest that I will have been away from Brad since we've been married but I'm pretty sure we will both survive since it's just the 3 nights apart. I'm not sure if I will be posting at all but I do plan to take my laptop and chances are I will get semi bored at night. We have classes and such until 5 and then we are free for the evenings so if anyone in the Salt Lake area wants to play just let me know.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Flashback Fridays

My friend Kirsten does something cute with her blog where on fridays she writes about things that have happened in her past. I really like that idea. Especially since I don't have any journals and so most of these memories aren't written down anywhere. So I thought that today I would start my flashback Friday tradition with some stories of past birthdays since I just celebrated one yesterday. So here are a few of my birthday memories from years gone by.

Age 3- My mom had her gallbladder or appendix or something removed on that birthday so my grandma threw my party for me. I don't really remember that but I do remember I got one of those dolls that has a dress that flips up and makes the doll a cupcake.

Age 5 or 6... I don't remember which year it was but my good friend Rebecca Kesler gave me a Belle barbie doll which she had already cut the hair off of.

Age 12- My friends and I planned the party on our own and we decided to decorate my basement. We walked to the grocery store (Days marketplace) and looked for balloons and crape paper. They had balloons but no other decorations and so we bought a case of toilet paper instead and we went to town on my basement. That is when my love of toilet papering the insides of houses began. (That will have to be another flashback story.... someone remind me some day)

Ages 13 thru 16- My mom didn't throw us parties once we reached a certain age and it seemed as I got older all of my friends began to plan their summer vacations on my birthday and so it was hard to find a time when everyone would be around. So for birthdays 13 - 16 my friend Caroline Wessel and I would walk to the grocery store, buy a cake and 2 cartons of frosting and then make the cake while we ate the extra frosting. After we had finished the cake we would then continue to eat most of the cake as well. To make my 16th birthday special, we drove to the store to buy the cake!

Age 16.5- After school had started (November to be exact) some of my friends realized I didn't have a sweet 16 party. So in an effort to make up for that and as an excuse to invite over some boys we had a make-up birthday party where we played all the games we'd played as kids at my birthday parties and I think I may have even received a present. The night was finished off with a cake fight.

Age 18- I had just graduated high school and had already moved most of my belongings to Logan. I had said goodbye to most of my friends because I knew I wasn't staying around for the summer. Orem was having summerfest so there was going to be a parade and fireworks and a carnival all for my birthday! Unfortunately the girls I went with decided they wanted to spend the evening at a girls home that I wasn't invited to. (I probably could have gone but I didn't have a really good history with this girl) Since I drove I had to take them to the party and then I thought I would just have to go home and be sad all by myself. Instead my best friend Emily saved the day and called just as I was driving home to tell me she had come home a day early from Disneyland to surprise me for my birthday. I drove up to her house and was able to watch the fireworks from her living room window. We then went to our friend Tylers home where we continued the night according to the well thought out and written down plan that Tyler had brain stormed on his own. He really typed it out and everything. This was the plan. "Go to Wendy's because Tyler is hungry" So that's what we did. Later that week Emily and I took 2 friends and we went to a movie and roller skating at Classic Skating so any let downs from the actual day of my birthday was completely made up for.

Age 20- This will be a long one cause it was probably the best birthday ever, plus I was old enough to remember it. I was living in Alaska on my 20th birthday and I had told my roommate all I wanted for my birthday was to see a bear. The 12th happened to fall on a monday which was my day off from work anyways so I didn't even have to ask for it off. My roommate and I decided to sign up to take a bus trip into Denali National Park since that was the most likely place for me to see a bear. My roommate Kim was amazing and I love her to pieces. When she found out that I had never had a surprise party she talked to a bunch of our friends that were from Utah and invited them all to a surprise party at exactly 12:00 the morning of my birthday. Most of my friends were working as housekeepers at the hotel and so they had to be to work early in the morning but they set their alarms and they woke up to welcome in the day and to celebrate with me. I knew something was up when Kim forced to sit in the lobby in a certain chair with my back to the stairwell that led to the rec room of our employee housing. She was acting all strange and I could tell she was looking at something while she sat directly in front of me not letting me move. Then at midnight she had this sudden need to go up to the rec room right away! so we ran up there and all of my sleepy friends were sitting up there with their pajamas on. They were so nice. They sang and handed me a package of candles... we had no cake so they just gave me candles and then they gave me food they had stolen from the lunch room as my gifts. Food was hard to come by so every bag of chips and small box of cereal was greatly appreciated. The party lasted about 10 minutes before they had to go back to bed. It was wonderful. The few of us who didn't work in the morning stayed up till 2 talking and laughing and then Kim and I went to bed.
We got up the next morning at 5 so that we could be ready to catch the 5:45 bus into the park. We made it into the tour and we ended up on a bus full of a tour group from Australia. They were the nicest people and they even sang to me when they found out it was my birthday. We saw lots of great stuff including 13 bears, a herd of caribou, a herd of Dahl sheep, and Denali herself . I was not disappointed one bit! Below is a picture of Sassy, the bear that we named because she just sat and ate by the side of the road and didn't even care that 3 tour buses were stopped feet away from her.
Age 21- I went and had a free Cheeseburger from the bar in town because I was 21 and I could. Plus the White Owl has the best burgers around! I then got taken out to dinner every night that week by different people who either owed my apartment dinner (my bishop) or people who loved me. (my family)
So all in all I've had some really good birthdays and now they can be remembered forever! Yay for me being born!

Birthday Blog

So yesterday I turned the big 2-2. It was a wonderful relaxing day. I woke up early and went to work. I figured I might as well get paid since I wouldn't have been doing anything super exciting before 10:30 am anyways. Brad woke up and drove me to work. USU has horrible parking and so when I work early I have to park at a church that is close to campus and then walk to the labs which takes almost 10 minutes. So Brad sacrificed a little sleep and drove me up saving me the walk. He then went home and slept until I was done with work and called him to come get me. After work we relaxed and watched some tv and I took a nap. Grandma Ginny stopped by and gave me a present. Moms present had come in the mail the day before but I was good and didn't open it until it was actually my birthday. I had asked for an apron so I knew that's what her present was. It's a really cute black and white print with black bows on the pockets. I'm excited to wear it. While I was taking my nap I heard a knock on the front door. Brad was sitting in the other room and could see out the open window as someone would have been walking down the stairs so he said "it's for you. I think it's Stephanie." So I got up and I answered the door. It wasn't Stephanie at all. It was a male delivering gerber daisies, my favorite flowers. I laughed because I thought Brad had lied because he knew that the flowers were coming. But when I turned and looked at him to tell him he was funny he had the most confused look on his face. I signed for the flowers and then opened the card. They were from my cousin Ashley. I got on facebook to write her a message and her status on there said "happy birthday Amy!" I was laughing so hard. After our relaxing afternoon Brad and I went to the mall where I picked out my present. I got a really cute shirt. We then went grocery shopping because we have both been pretty busy and we were running out of food. I don't mind shopping at all if someone comes with me, so I didn't care that I had to do the grocery shopping on my birthday. I picked out a movie and we bought it so we could watch it later. Then we went out to firehouse pizza for dinner. They give you a free pazzookie when it's your birthday. (Pazzookies are warm cookies made in a skillet with ice cream on top.) It was a nice little date and the pazzookie was amazing. I think I could live on those if it wouldn't kill me. We then went home and watched our movie and Brad rubbed my back. I always ask him to rub my back but he hates to and doesn't always do it so I figured I had better get one in on my birthday. So all in all it was just a laid back relaxing day which is just what I wanted, and what I needed after chasing children around all week at summer camp.

sidenote: Don't tell me that it sucks that I had to pick out my own present. Birthdays have never been a big deal in my family and Brad wanted to make sure I liked whatever he got so he just had me help him choose. :)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Volunteering and movies

So today we started a new schedule at work. This month I have opening shifts EVERY DAY. That means that every day I either work at 7 am or at 8am and I am always done by 11. I wasn't really sure what I would do with myself with all that time during the day if I didn't work. I decided I should volunteer somewhere to give my resume a little something. I thought I could help out at a school but it's summer so that wasn't going to work. I thought that maybe I could help out at the hospital but I thought that might make my terminal hypochondria flare up so maybe that wasn't a good idea. So I talked to my uncle who works at the local gym and asked if he thought their kids summer camps would need help. So today was my first day of working early and then spending my afternoon herding children ages 6 to 12 around while they learned useful things such as how to make rice crispy treats, and making sure they don't drown while they swim. It really was such a blast. I'm for sure going to wear sandals from now on though cause sitting by the pool in tennis shoes and jeans wasn't much fun. I think I will really enjoy it but I feel a little badly that some days Brad doesn't work all day. It might end up that I will just volunteer on the days that he works but we'll see.

Lately we have been wanting to watch movies but none of our movies sound fun anymore. We've seen them all already so we're always trying to think of other movies we want to watch. I've been talking about Phantom of the Opera a bunch lately and Brad always reminds me that he's never seen it. I also have brought up "The Importance of being Earnest" a couple times. We went to Hollywood and rented both movies and Brad agreed to watch them with me. I was kind of nervous cause I really like both movies a lot and I didn't want him to hate them. Turns out he really enjoyed them both and he even admitted to having Phantom songs stuck in his head at work the next day. I am so blessed to have a husband who not only tolerates the things I like but he actually enjoys them!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Fondue trial run

For our wedding we got a fondue pot from my uncle Robert. We were REALLY excited to try it out. But of course we were scared to try something we'd never done before. We'd decided with our friends Ann and James that we were going to have a fondue night sometime soon. Well Brad and I got talking and we decided we were really scared to try the fondue pot with friends before we knew what the heck we were doing on our own. Oh man.... Ann and James you should be thankful we decided to try it first. Brad found a recipe for a cheddar ranch dip that sounded pretty good. So we went to the store to try to find the ingredients. The first thing on the recipe that we wanted to find a substitute for was the white wine. I know, I know, "it burns off the alcohol". But the last time someone in my family decided to put wine in something that I had to eat just the flavor of the wine ruined my mashed potatos and gravy and that's my favorite part of almost any meal so I wasn't going to use it. We found some alternatives and decided to go with that. The next problem was it called for white cheddar cheese. Walmart doesn't carry that so we went with good ol' orange cheddar. So we got all of the things that we would need gathered together and we started cooking. Brad had the recipe so he was in charge of handing me the ingredients and I would mix them in. We got to the flour and he hands me 1 1/2 cups of flour. I pour them in and the food immediately becomes as thick as playdough and there isn't even any cheese in the mix yet. I thought........ "hmm this doesn't seem to be right, how can you dip into this?" I went and looked at the recipe and sure enough it was 1 1/2 TABLESPOONS of flour not cups. So we went back to the grocery store because we had already added the ranch powder and didn't have a second package so we bought another one and we tried again. It came out ok the second time around. We did learn a few things though. First of all being that the recipe we used could feed an army and we should have cut it down. And secondly we learned you can only eat so much cheddar cheese dip before you become sick of the grease. All in all though it was fun to try something new.
So Ann, my vote is chocolate or caramel dip and we'll call it desert when we have dinner how does that sound?

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Work Stories

So most of my blogging friends from work have posts that complain about the little things that happen at our job that we find annoying. Since nobody who doesn't work here cares about those things I'm not going to repeat them, but I do have a story that demonstrates the high intelligence of the people we serve while working in the on-campus computer labs that everyone should enjoy.

I work in the computer lab in the Taggart Student Center a few times a week. In the labs we have a no cell phone policy and we just ask that the students take their calls into the hallway outside the lab so that the other lab users don't have to listen to their conversations. During a recent shift I heard someones cell phone go off and then I heard that person begin a conversation and I did not see anyone getting up to take the call out of the lab. I got up to go find the person on their phone so that I could invite them to take their call outside. For all of you who don't work in the labs let me give you an idea of the layout of the lab so you can better understand the story.
What you can't see is that there is an alcove of computers off to the right that can't be seen from this camera angle. The person on their phone happened to be in this section. Because it's a little pocket of computers I didn't feel like I needed to walk all the way back in there to tell the person to take their call out so I stood about where the boy is standing in the picture and I just motioned to the person on the phone that phone calls needed to be taken outside. He nodded his head in understanding (everyone knows the rule we just have to remind some people to be polite). I decided to continue to the back of the lab where there is a drinking fountain. I went and got a drink and started back to the consultant desk. When I was coming down the aisle I could still hear the man on his phone. "You've got to be kidding me." I thought to myself. But when I got to the opening of the section I couldn't see him. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. I thought this was strange so I went back to my desk and brought up a second camera that we have in the back of that alcove for situations such as this one.
This is that back little area of computers. The man on his phone was pictured front and center of this photo on his cell phone, bent in half, hiding under his desk. I wish I had saved the photo so that I could show you all how ridiculous he looked. But unfortunately when I refreshed the photo so that all the employees who were there could enjoy the show, he got off the phone and sat back up in his chair, so the pictures were lost. I walked back to tell the guy the reason I had asked him to leave and his face when I was walking towards him was priceless. He was probably almost 6 feet tall but he looked so afraid of me like I was going to beat him up. I just laughed and told him that in the future he would need to take calls outside because we have a policy. I did also tell him that hiding under the desk doesn't work because there are webcams everywhere. He mumbled something about his phone dying as I walked away, not a good enough excuse for looking as silly as he did if you ask me.