I'm Practically a Boy Scout

Isn't making someone happy just a lovely thing!?  Today I was walking to Broulims (local grocery store) when I came across a purple phone in the grass right next to the sidewalk.  I picked it up and decided I'd call someone to figure out whose it was once I got to the store and the wind wasn't blowing me across the parking lot.  Well I had only gotten across the street when someone called the phone...so I answered.  I said "Hello, I just picked this phone up from off the sidewalk."  Lovely greeting, wouldn't you say?  I heard the wind blowing from her side of the conversation so I turned around and then saw a girl across the street talking in a phone.  I then asked her if she was wearing a purple coat and proceeded to wave at her so she knew where I was.  It took some time to cross the street because of cars and stoplights and all those things that keep pedestrians safe but I finally got her phone to her.  She was so excited!!!  And I was excited because I "did my good turn daily."  The only thing that could have made this story cooler was if she had been a millionaire that wanted to give me a huge reward and not a college student that was just lucky she lived in a town with good people such as myself :)

Life is good!

This is Abigail, How Can I Help You?

I wish I knew exactly how many times I've said the phrase "BYU-Idaho Admissions Office, this is Abigail.  How can I help you?"  Probably a thousand.  Since work is the only time I use a landline anymore, when I go home I sometimes have the urge to answer the phone like that instead of my usual "Hello, Tucker's"

Have I blogged about how much I love my job?  If I have, it hasn't been recently and I love it so much that I'll write about it again!  I am so fortunate to have a job I love.  Especially since it is my first "real" job.  You know, not babysitting or watering the neighbors plants.

Why do I love my job so much?  For one thing, the people I work with are FANTASTICALLY AWESOME (times a million).  The full time employees are extremely helpful and fun to be around.  They come and talk to us when they aren't busy, give wonderful advice, help us solve problems, and are just a blast to work with!  There's not a single person in the office that I wouldn't feel comfortable going to with a problem or question.

Now, I don't even know where to begin with the other students I work with.  There are eight of us that work the front desk and I work with all but one.  We have so much fun and every week we become better friends.  That's why work is awesome.  For 15 hours during the week I get to hang out with friends.  It's mandatory friend time!  We give each other all sorts of relationship advice, help each other with homework assignments, and just talk about life.

Why else do I love my job?  Well, I get to talk with hundreds of prospective BYUI students and their families and share with them what I love about this university.  I feel like people don't really know what goes on here and how much fun it is until they actually come and experience it.  It's not like any other college experience you will find.  I love meeting people from all over the country and world (I gave a tour to a family from South Africa last week).

When I'm not giving a tour, I'm taking phone calls and answering more questions than you can imagine about the admissions process.  Seriously, I don't know how some people come up with these questions.  With policies always changing there's never a point where I'll know everything and be able to answer all questions.  I still have to ask someone for help half of the time because if you give someone the wrong information it could mean them not getting into school...and then they are not happy with you.  Not happy at all!

Some days I wear a neat little headset (see picture below).  This makes me feel like I have authority.  So does my sweet nametag!!

This job has also made me a more aware customer when calling somewhere with a question.  I have more patience when put on hold and I try to be friendly.  (A little side note- we really like it when you call us by name.  It makes us feel like you recognize we're real people too!)  The only thing that bugs me is when I am finishing a call and tell them to "have a nice day!" when they should be telling me that.  Habit, I guess.

If you're ever in Rexburg (specifically near the Kimball Building) you should stop in and see me!  I love it when people come to visit :)  You don't even have to have a question...but if you do, I'll have the answer!

I'm being a Real Student...Finally

I realize that Sunday isn't exactly opportune to blog about school but I haven't yet, and there's nothing like the present!  Deep breath, and here goes...

Classes are so easy after suffering through last fall!  I honestly can't complain about homework or class or anything.  My two culinary classes are pretty stressful during lab times but there's not much homework associated with it.  Besides those 6 hours during the week I don't worry much about them.  The only class that's fairly difficult is my class on diseases because there is so much new information.  The good thing is that I love learning it!  It's a 90 minute class late in the afternoon but I rarely find myself staring at the clock watching the seconds tick by.

Time for a funny story...My first Culinary Fundamentals lab was a few weeks ago.  I was doing a knife skills lab where I had to julienne carrots and cut some potatoes in cubes.  Sounds easy, right?  Well I spent an hour trying to get 15 carrot slices looking decent.  When I thought I had done a pretty good job I had my professor come and check them.  She bundled the carrots together and looked at the ends because they had to be square.  The ones that weren't square she picked out.  Then she flipped them over and did the same thing on the other side, picking out the ones that weren't square on the end.  After she finished she handed me back TWO carrots.  I spent an hour cutting and only got two good ones?!?!  Sheesh!  And that was only one of four things I needed to have passed off.  Yeah, I was a little stressed after that.  But I completed my tasks!  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to cut five pieces of potato into the same size cubes.  Try it.  I dare you.

I have also learned how to cut up a whole chicken and make stock from it's bones!  I doubt I'll ever make my own stock for home use but it was kind of fun to cut the chicken up.  Thankfully I didn't have to pluck feathers or anything.

Ready to cook!  (This was the day of the royal wedding so I wore my tiara to work as well...)

I am almost done with my foundations classes now!!  I'm taking two of them this semester and then I only have the capstone left in the fall.  I'm trying to finish my associates degree by December so getting those out of the way has been my goal.  The bad thing is that once those are done I will not have any easy classes left...just upper division major and minor ones.  The good thing is that I won't have any of them left and get to take classes that are interesting and applicable to what I enjoy.

Ahhhhhhh school.  I actually have missed you and I actually do enjoy you...most of the time.

Because it's Sunday I feel like I should write something spiritual as well.  A few weeks ago I started reading The Miracle of Forgiveness by the former president of the LDS church, Spencer W. Kimball.  I've always heard how great the book is and have wanted to read it for quite a few years but never found the time.  Then, for one of my classes I had the opportunity to set a goal and I made reading the book part of it.  Now I don't have to feel like I'm taking homework time to read a book because it's homework too!  So far I have enjoyed it immensely and have learned bucketloads.  I would highly recommend it and I'm sure by the time I actually finish the book my recommendation will be even higher.

Life is so good :) 

Saturday is a Special Day

Today was so productive and I love it!  Plus it was sunny and warm most of the day!  I woke up at 7:30 this morning because I had a group meeting at 9:00 and needed to shower and put my part of the presentation together before then.  After my meeting I stayed at the library and worked on homework until 1:00.  I got most of my Monday homework and some of the Tuesday stuff done, though I left my HUGE cooking book at home and have yet to finish that reading. 

I did SPRING CLEANING all day.  It was wonderful!  I finished three loads of laundry including some sheets and blankets I should have done a few weeks ago.  I rearranged my closet to fit some more stuff in, packed away my winter sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, and boots and whipped out my swimsuit, towel, shorts and flip flops.  I fished out some pictures that fell between my bed and the wall using a bread knife with a piece of chewed gum on the end.  Whoever invented that little contraption was a genius.  I Febreezed the entire apartment.  I hung up a towel holder Whitney sent me (she got it at a garage sale in AZ) in the bathroom without asking any roommates...I don't care if they don't like it.  I finished off a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I walked in the rain during a thunderstorm (Idaho thunderstorms last like 10 minutes...one thing I miss about Ohio).  Oh, and to top it off, I've been jamming to my summer music the entire time!!  Ipods are a wonderful thing.  So are roommates that put up with me blaring music all day.

My summer drawing on the hallway whiteboard :)

Just My Type

Is there such a thing as having a "type?"  Like the type of person you'd be compatible with.  I always hear "he/ she is just not my type."  Does this even mean anything?  The more I think about it the more I think it's just an excuse to not like someone.  An excuse to let someone down easy when we aren't interested.  Sorry, you just aren't my type.

But who's to say we even know what our type actually is?  AND even if types exist, how can we be sure that a certain person is that specific type.  A type is just our perception of people.  So aren't we making people whatever type we want them to be?  I'll admit, I judge people.  I like to categorize people from the moment I meet them.  Sometimes this is a good thing (stranger danger, you know!).  Most of the time I'm sure it's a bad thing.

My type is probably what I've told myself it's going to be since I started making "future husband" lists when I was twelve.  All of those qualities I wanted created "my type".  So now if someone isn't exactly what I pictured I'd end up with they are automatically not my type.  How wrong is that?!  It's kind of prideful of me to think that at twelve years old I knew what I wanted...or what was best for me.  It's kind of prideful of anyone to think they know best, isn't it.  We don't know what's best for us.

What makes this worse is that people usually end up with their type.  Not because they actually have a type, but they never gave anyone else a chance.  I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  It's just a thing right now.  Maybe all of those awkward couples I see on campus and wonder to myself "how the heck did those two people end up together?!" are the real heroes.  The ones who didn't care what type another person was.

Sadly "he's not my type" is not completely out of my vocabulary quite yet.  I'll try to keep an open mind if you promise to keep yours open though.