Three Years...Done

You know, I think even weirder than being graduated is going to be not working in the Admissions Office.  I started working there Fall 2010.  THREE YEARS AGO.  Holy cow!  I've been there seven semesters plus two summer breaks.  That's about 2000 hours.  I wish I would have kept track of how many tours I've given but I estimate it's around 500...and total people I've given tours to is probably around 2000 on the low end.  That's a lot of people!

I have loved this job so much and can't imagine where I would have been without it.  I have met so many wonderful people and have been blessed to bless the lives of hundreds of students and prospective students.  I've also had my fair share of angry students/ parents and breaking their hearts, but they aren't common.  Although, it is awkward running into a student on campus that ripped you apart over the phone and has no idea who you are but you keenly remember their name and exactly what they said to you.

I've also talked to some characters.  We all have.  This post is to give you all a glimpse of what the admissions office looks like from our end.  We come into contact with a lot of wackos and weirdo's and just plain funny people.  I hope you find these as humorous as I do.  I sure will miss this job.

We got these two postcards four months apart and they are EXACTLY the same except for the last line of the second postcard which is...and interesting addition and the name.  Maybe we didn't send them everything they wanted the first time they sent the postcard...

The following is an excerpt from a letter written to BYU.  They weren't accepting any more for the desired semester so they forwarded the email to us....poor guy.

This one just confuses me...

And this is only a TASTING of what work is like on a daily basis.  I love it.  Aaaaaand I'm going to miss it!

Name that Tune

Friday's at the office are great.  Some are greater than others.  Some are hilarious.  Some are just slow and boring.  Today was a mixture.

I went into the committee meeting today where all the counselors make decisions on appeals (like for track changes).  Let me tell you, committee meeting has got to be the funniest thing ever.  Unless you've been in a committee meeting, you wouldn't believe the stuff that is said.  Not about students or anything related to what we're supposed to be talking about...just random stuff.  I could write a non-fiction book and everyone would think it was fiction.  It's that funny.

Well today there were only two appeals and I guess no one wanted to go back to work so we stayed and played "name-that-tune."  I.completely.fail.  Reason #1) They were picking songs from the 80s and 90s.  Reason #2) Even if they picked recent songs, I never listen to music and wouldn't know those either.  Case and point: They played Party Rock Anthem.  Didn't recognize it until quite a ways into the song.

HOWEVER, I did get ONE song (title AND artist) right off the bat before everyone else.  Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne.  You wouldn't believe the looks I got for knowing that song and that song only.  Thank you high school football game band music.

Are They Really Family??

I think I may have promised not to put this on facebook.  But this is my blog soooooooo I'm not breaking any promises.  Even if they're weird...they're my weirdies.  

An Object Lesson

As part of my job, I am in charge of monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) trainings for the other student employees.  Usually we just spend time talking about new policies, doing case studies blah, blah, blah.  They probably aren't very fun.

This past training was a little different.  We got a little creative.

We split the group into two smaller groups.  One came in another room with me and the other group stayed in the first room.  The first room group did 20 minutes of the "boring training" while the other group and I had a little fun.  

I assembled funny little sculptures ahead of time and handed one to each person.  They then had 20 minutes to write instructions on how to assemble the sculpture from raw materials.  They couldn't use pictures, only words.  Here's what the two originals looked like...

After 20 minutes we had them switch rooms.  Those who were writing instructions went and did boring training and the others came with me.  They then got a bag full of raw materials and the instructions from the others and had 20 minutes to assemble them.  This is what they came up with...

It was quite humorous.  They were all similar but none were perfect.  We had them all come up with ideas on how this applies to our office and they came up with some things that we hadn't even thought about.  It doesn't do any good to try to describe those here but I think everyone walked away with a very practical view on why how we do what we do is important.  

Also, please look at the above picture again.  We have a whiteboard in the back room with funny things people have written in their entrance essays and the one in the middle says "The whole essay: I can solve a Rubiks cube in under 30 seconds."  That's it.  Their essay to get into college.  They can solve a Rubiks cube in under 30 seconds.  This is why I love my job.  Today someone from Bangladesh emailed us a copy of a certificate showing that they achieved 3rd rank in the shot put.... not sure how that qualifies them for college but I sure am glad they want to come here!

Christmas Shenanigans

Just a normal night at the Tucker home...trying to get something out of a light socket WAYYYY up high.  Eli and Nathaniel are holding the ladder up using ropes...Dad, Mom and Meredith are the base stabilizers.  I just documented it.

(from Christmas break 2012)

What's a Pummelo? (And Other Strange Fruits)

I asked myself this very question last week as I perused the aisles of Broulims grocery store.  A large, green-yellow fruit caught my eye.  No one knew the answer.  Since they were only $0.99 per pound, I decided to buy one and give it a shot!  It kind of reminded me of Peru.  We would buy all sorts of fruits we'd never seen before and then try them.  We had hits and misses.  Sadly, some fruits I still never learned the name of.

Me and my pummelo...my pummelo and I???

Pummelos have very thick skin!

And it's pink inside!  The perfect fruit for any real girl.  It kind of tastes like a sweeter grapefruit and a hint of pomegranate...yeahhhhhh whatever it tastes like, it's good!

Peru fruit memories...on film. (Please don't judge our appearance...I apologize to Noelle and Breet for posting these without their consent.  I figured after a year we can just laugh about what we looked like....)

 What we learned to be passion fruit...but we called it the booger fruit.

Tuna...yes, it's a fruit.

The forever nameless fruit...  And even though Noelle says at the end that she really likes it, she didn't.  I don't think she ever ate it again but Breet and I would always buy them. 

This is mostly a tour of our kitchen...I find it appropriate for now.  Also, it is our first Peruvian mango.  The mangoes were DELICIOUS.  I hated mangoes before Peru and still don't love the ones that are in the states, but Peruvians know how to eat a good mango.  PLUS, we could get like 5 good size mangoes for an American dollar.  It's a steal!

I love watching these all together because twice we describe them as mushy apples and pomegranates.  Also, I just cracked up laughing at how funny we are.  Funny looking, funny sounding, funny everything.  It was all so new to us and I'm so glad it's all captured on film!

My Ugly Un-Uggs

It's that time of year again!  The time of slush and snow and puddles and more slush and snow!  Since it's getting colder, I will be transitioning from wearing skirts and dresses to work to dress pants.  Sadly, my dress pants are a little long so I practically have to wear heels everyday and they still get soaked.  Just in case you are unaware, heels are not practical to wear in the puddles, slush and snow.  So....I have a solution!  I wear the lovely boots (picture below taken earlier today) and just tuck my pants into them so they don't get all wet on the bottom.  Then, when I get to work/ class, I take out my real shoes and wear those.  I probably look like a certified freak, but at least I am 1) warm and 2) comfortable.  You can't convince me to change my ways.  I've been doing this far too many semesters...

The White Elephant Bowler

I received this email from work a few days ago:

"Mandatory After Work Bowling Extravaganza

Hey Guys,

Because you work for the best office on campus you’re invited to a bowling party this Friday, July 13^th from 5:30 to 6:30 PM at the bowling alley in the MC.  We’ll have bowling, fun, white elephant gifts, and Jason Meldrum promised to perform a musical number for us as well.  I think he said it was Party Rock Anthem or Call Me Maybe or something like that.

Spouses are invited, so bring them along.  (Unfortunately, Hilary you can’t bring your missionary).

Please RSVP to Jordan, Jeana, or Jason before Friday.

For the white elephant gifts, we need everyone to bring one so that we can exchange gifts. Jason wanted to clarify the definition of a white elephant gift.  Here are some examples to help you:

Jason Meldrum Action Figure

Basic rules of thumb:  Don’t spend more than one or two dollars at the most and ask yourself ‘Would any normal human-being want this as a legitimate gift?’  If the answer is ‘no’, then get it.

Thanks"

***

Do you now have a better understanding of the atmosphere in the office?  We really aren't a bunch of stiff, boring office people.  We're hilarious.  PS- Jason Meldrum is the counselor over all the students...aka Boss.

Well the party was a success!  I bowled a 104 WITHOUT bumpers.  Pretty impressive for me.  I had 4 spares in a row :)

Here's some pictures of the fun and of the white elephant gifts given....

Hillary, Kevin, Christina, Kaylani, Heidi

Loren, Jill (Loren's wife), Mari Ann (full-time counselor)

Bowling in a skirt...that's how I roll.

Award for top score (some random award Jason found who-knows-where)

My Little Pony??

Really creepy picture of a cat/dog/person/thing

"Doesn't anybody want to take my picture?"

Anti Monkey Butt

Indian doll?

Fake nails...good thing a girl got those

Workout videos

Of course the child picks the noise makers...his parents loved that.

Giant flyswatter

An award for putting up with Loren at work.  Kind of funny that Jason randomly got this one.

 I should also mention that I got an email on Friday detailing an office arm wrestling competition that had taken place that morning.  Apparently I made it to the semi-finals!!  Woot woot!

Funny and Not So Funny

Funny- I can be an extremely awkward person who sometimes does things without totally thinking them through.  Some stories are too funny to share on a blog though.  They will go in my personal journal where they will stay secret until I have an awkward child one day who needs to hear my awkward stories to give them hope (assuming I grow out of awkward...).  If I don't grow out of awkward I will share them so they have someone on which to blame their awkwardness.

Funny- Another story that is way too funny to write about.  And it's not about me so I don't feel like I can share it with the world.  Just know our apartment has had good stories this week.

Funny- Tall socks!  They must be lucky because our volleyball team is 4-0!!  The picture is missing three people from the team but it's the only one I have.

Not-so-funny- This strange rash that is on the back of my entire left hand and the knuckles and wrist of my right hand.  I think this happened last year too...

Not-so-funny-  Noelle, Brittany and I were on the phone with the project manager from Peru and he informed us that there is some pretty intense protesting happening in the city we're going to.  The entire city is basically shut down...no public transportation, school etc.

Funny- Those hats

Not-so-funny- Those swords and clubs

He assured us the protesting would be done by the time we arrived....