Our First Brand New CAR!!!

What a rollercoaster ride today has been! Good grief!

As most of you know, my poor little 2000 Malibu has been quite the guessing game lately. I named her "Peggy" long ago, so from here on out, that is what I will refer to her as.

Well, for quite some time now, Justin and I have known that Peggy was on her last leg. Each time I took her out, I was more and more nervous as to whether she was going to make it or not. So, Justin and I made the plan to search for a new car.

We started looking on Labor Day. We had our hearts set on a Honda Accord. We were reserved to buying used because you get more for your money. Well, turns out, the Honda dealers do not want to sell on Labor Day. So we window shopped instead.

In the meantime, Justin started thinking that maybe we should get a Civic because they rate the same as an Accord and they are quite a bit cheaper. Since he is the one that will be driving it the most, I wanted him to be happy with the car. So, after some discussion, we decided to look at both.

Now to the good part. We got up this morning to go look at cars again. We had no intention of buying today but I kept reminding Justin that we needed to at least be open to buying today should the opportunity present itself. It just so happens that the Accord and the Civic are selling like hotcakes now because of their longevity and awesome gas mileage. So we might have to act fast in order to get what we wanted.

Well, the second lot we looked at (Honda World in Conway) had this lovely little silver 2006 Civic that only had 22,000 miles on it. So we went in to ask to test drive it. The salesman was very helpful and honest with us, first off. His name is Chad if anyone needs a new Honda. Anyway, he was straight with us and said, "I would love to sell you this car. I would. But right now with the popularity and the mark-up, there is only a $1000 difference in that one versus a brand new 2008 Civic." After more discussion, we found this to be true. And personally, I think a new car less 22,000 miles is worth an extra $1000.

So we went and looked at the new ones, and sure enough, they were darned near the same price as the used. They had a tan one and a beautiful apple red one. (For those of you concerned, its that darker red that isn't quite maroon, but the color of a red delicious apple, AKA beautiful). We test drove it and fell in love! This car is wonderful! It is not over the top with leather seats and moon roof and blah blah blah. But it is all the car we need and it gets 36 miles to the gallon! And did I mention it was pretty? And safe? And amazing?

Anyway, as I said, we were not expecting on buying and our salesman was not pushy in the slightest. He was very upfront and honest with us from the get go. Well, we started asking questions about the buying process and what not... just getting ourselves prepared... and everything just fell into place.

Well, if any of you know me well at all, you know that spending money stresses me out! I was great while we were talking. I was great while we were drawing up the papers. Even when we got the trade in value on Peggy... still... cool as a cucumber. (Of course, I should be here. I kept saying if they offered me a pack of gum and a handshake I would take it. But regardless... still cool.)

Then it came time to make the down payment and sign papers.

DUM DUM DUM!!!!

I thought I was going to throw up right there at Honda World. I was in a weird mood the whole way home. I'm trying to be excited and Justin and the salesman and trying to get me excited and all I can think of is... "where will this money come from?" and "I've never been in debt before" and "what will this do to insurance?"

Well this is the part where God is good. Justin and I thought we would have to re-allocate some funds in our budget to be able to afford this car. But, after looking at our budget tonight, we are able to pay $200 extra on the car EVERY MONTH!

So right now I am on cloud 9 and a half! God has blessed me with a great marriage, a great home, a great job, a great family, great friends, and now great security with our auto situation and peace of mind financially. I could not be more blessed and I am so very thankful right now.

And now, I'm off to cuddle with my husband and/or play Rock band in celebration of our first major purchase in life. :-)

And in case I you haven't heard, I still miss you all a great deal.

Ah to dwell in the past...

Hello everyone! The title to this entry is much unlike me, as Adaptability is my highest strength according to StrengthsFinder 2.0. But, last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to go back to Conway and have dinner with the girls from last year's staff of Conway Hall.

Now up until this point, I have to be honest, I hadn't realized how much I missed them. I mean, I knew I missed them, but I think I had so much to do and was so overwhelmed with starting somewhere new, that it just didn't hit me. And better yet, I don't think they realized how much they missed me either. It was just so nice to see everyone. We joked, ate pancakes, and laughed so hard and loud that my face was hurting and every other customer in the place wanted to hurt us.

But we didn't care. When Gena and I left, we were so happy and yet so sad at the same time. And it got me thinking about where I have been and where I am going.

What is funny, is that earlier that day, I had a little bonding moment with my new staff. Some of them were hanging out in my office and we were just joking around, not doing anything in particular. Up until this point yesterday (right before I left to go have the reunion dinner) I hadn't really showed them my smart-ellic/sarcastic side, at least not to its full capacity. Apparently, I unleashed it during this hang out time. It was a lot of fun. We all just kind of relaxed and bonded as fun people instead of being clouded by "our roles". Which, to those who know me well, you know this meant A LOT to me.

So anyway, when Gena and I were leaving the dinner, while I was sad that those wonderful ladies are no longer a part of my staff, and that is terribly sad seeing how close we were, it is exciting to know that I will probably get something similar with this new staff. I remember the beginning stages of the last staff when we hadn't bonded and the breakthrough times we had where we slowly but surely became close friends. So it was a bitter sweet thought process on the way back to Little Rock.

Which brings me to today. I have really been missing members of my cohort lately. More than I anticipated doing actually. I desperately want to have updates from everyone. I'm trying to figure out who will be at the same conferences I will be.

While trying to do a favor for one of my RAs, I stumbled upon the foreign languages website. And the pictures on the front page are....

The square in Belgium and the Eiffel Tower!!!!

Ahhh... Europe. It just brought back so many memories. I'll list a few for those who know what I'm talking about...

The crazy elevator that tried to eat my good friend Brandi.
The first time we saw the toilets in Amsterdam.
The bicycles being meaner than the cars in Amsterdam.
Dr. Ness in the Red Light District.
Titanic in French.
The club in Maastrict (did anyone get that website?)
Michael and the swans that were infected.
Banana pizza.
The first time we saw the Louvre.
The Arc at night.
Our hotel a couple of blocks down from Moulin Rouge.
The pimp bus the brought us there.
Dr. Ness's face when he ate the "butt candy".
Nu'Rodney's elevator music.
Peter.

And so many more. But I'm making myself warmly sad thinking about them. If any of you have anything to add, please do.

Know that if you are reading this, I more than likely miss you a great deal. And would really like to hear how you are doing.

RA Training and Opening

Hello everyone! I was worried it might be a bit longer before I got to update but, alas, the time is here.

First off, RA training was tiring, but a blast. We started by doing the strengthsquest test and discussion which went amazingly well. It seemed like everyone enjoyed it and might have given some people some inspiration. We then went on the retreat to the 4H center in Little Rock. This was a blast! I am a very interactive trainer, so we did some interactive ethics and diversity activities the night we arrived. The next day we got up for breakfast, then started the team building activities. Before I go on, I should digress for a humorous story.

When we arrived at the center, no one was at the front desk to check us in. So myself and another RA started roaming the place looking for someone to help us out. The only person we could find was the lunch lady. So, we asked her to find someone to check us in and she did. Well we have dinner and do our activities and people started to go to bed. Apparently, throughout the night, some of the RAs and CAs decided that it was creepy that there was only a lunch lady around when we arrived. They also thought it was weird that there was all this nice equipment around and there are people staying the night, but no security and the doors were not locked. Finally, they thought it odd that there were no peepholes in the doors of our rooms. Well that was the final straw for them. They spent most of the rest of the night comparing our experience to a horror movie and watching under the doors for people walking in the halls.

So, I found out about this the next morning. While we are at breakfast, I decide to have some fun of my own. After everyone got their food, I stood up and made an announcement. It went something like this...

"Can I have everyone's attention? I just wanted to give you guys an update on what happened last night. I don't know if the sirens woke anyone up, I asked them to keep quiet but some of you may have heard. I also didn't want you guys to be freaked out today when the police come and ask us some questions. Does everyone remember the lunch lady from last night? Well, apparently when she left work last night, she stopped at the town down the road and murdered an old man. The police do not know where she is or why she did it, but they are asking anyone who was here last night for any information they may have. So, if a few of you get called out while we are doing activities today, I'm going to ask that you be very cooperative with them."

There was a long silence. Then, one of the CAs who was freaking out the night before exclaims, "I told you guys!"

I then said, "Everything I just said was a lie. I just wanted to mess with your heads!"

It was really funny. Some found it more funny than others but, I think everyone appreciated the joke.

The ropes course was fun, but somehow not what I imagined it would be. I came out looking like a battered woman because some of the obstacles are meant for the longer legged person. So I found myself dangling by my arms in between ropes a few times. But it was fun. I wasn't as scared as I thought I would be. I went down the zip line... and screamed at the first drop. But it was worth it. It also rained but I think that just added to the challenge. It kept us cool also.

Finally, training came. It went really well. Some of the food did not go over well because the kitchen got kind of fancy and we were just hungry. But I think it was a good experience. The Behind Closed Doors went extremely well. This was the first year that the police had been involved here. I believe that will continue in the future.

And finally, I can take a few moments to catch my breath. I have been telling my RAs all week that my husband is going to leave me if he doesn't get a homecooked meal soon. There is a dodgeball tournament tonight but after that, hopefully we will get back to normal.

Tonight we have our first floor meetings and a surprise. If you are in housing, you probably know what the surprise is, but for all others, I can't tell you until after it happens on the off chance that a resident reads this before the surprise occurs.

In private, I'll have to generally tell you guys about my opening day experience. There were some awkward moments that could have gone really, really badly. But I handled them like a pro and nothing was blown out of proportion. Give me a call if you want to trade opening stories. :-)

I miss everyone and very badly want an update from you.

Before the RAs Arrive...

Hey guys! Thanks to my lovely friend, Brandi, I've been inspired to give a quick update before I begin work.

The RAs arrive Saturday so I'll be working a full 19 days without a day off. That sounds nasty, especially to people who work in factories or jobs they hate, but I doubt I'll notice much. I'll miss my husband. But that's about it. I live for RA training and move-in. How dorky is that?

So, before they get here, I should not be on my blog... lol. This is how much I love you guys. :-)
I need to finish putting together their RA manuals. When I started going through the manual to look for things that needed to be changed, I saw that they had information from 1994 in there. And it seemed like a lot of handouts that were from other schools and it didn't match. It is a lot of great information, but you all know me and how OCD I am, so I'm retyping and citing a lot of stuff to make it look uniform.

I also get to plan training from SCRATCH! How pumped am I?! Very pumped. Very. Here are some things I get to do.

First, I get to introduce a true Behind Closed Doors to the university. In the past, they had acted out some minor scenarios but nothing really critical and they police were not involved. This year, I get to involve the police and build that relationship and I get to introduce them to some major scenarios.

I also get to do StrengthsQuest 2.0 with my staff! After learning about this program at SACSA two years ago, I've been hooked. I was super jealous when some of the GA's last year got to do it during a staff meeting. Then I heard Steven got to do it with his staff at his new school. So, I had to pitch it. I'm so excited about it.

I also have a good budget that is flexible enough to do some really cool stuff. My RAs don't have to worry about wanting to do a really cool bulletin board or cool door tags and not having the money. We can go shopping and get their supplies that they need.

Finally, since I was a wee little tot, I've wanted to do a ropes course. I've done the low ropes course, but when I did that I was under the impression we would get to do the high ropes. Boy was I disappointed. So... I'm taking my RAs on a retreat and we are doing the Ropes course! I could not be more excited about it. I have 10 RA's and only one of them is a returner. So we are going to need some intense teambuilding. I know it is kind of scary being new at a university and having almost a whole staff that is new, but I'm really excited about it. I have so much flexibility with all the newness.

Anyway, this is what's going on now. It may be a bit before I get to update again. I hope to get some pictures of my apartment up soon. That takes initiative on my part and that's not my strong suit when I'm at home.

Would you like the red pill or blue?

Ok, so I have to share a story that really happened to my husband but it affected me. And, let's be honest, it's pretty darned funny.

I am in a meeting all day and my husband is at home. Justin hears a knock on the door. He opens the door. There is a man in a very nice suit standing there and he says, "You must be Justin Turner."

He says, "Yes."

The man in the nice suit then opens his laptop and says, "And this must be your wife, Rikki."

Yup, my picture is on his laptop. Justin, now completely freaked out says, "Yes, that's her."

Man in nice suit then says, "Can I come in?"

Now what would any sane person be thinking right now? I told Justin I'm surprised he didn't offer him the red pill or the blue pill. Justin doesn't know what to think, but allows him to come in anyway.

This was the problem....

We had a wireless router plugged in. Man in nice suit had already taken the liberty of disabling it from his office before he came over for the chat.

Apparently, at my current university, we have an FBI ballistics lab and some other random things that requires the network be ridiculously secure. It is for this reason they have software that only detects wireless routers. Then it shuts them off. Then you get a visit from Morpheus. If you plug it back in after Morpheus leaves, they will fry your router from their office rendering it useless.

This also applies if your Wii is connected to the internet playing Rockband with your friends in Illinois... as a purely hypothetical example. So... no Rockband... no shooting Germans (Medal of Honor)... none of this with our friends from afar.

Its not as bad as it sounds, or I'm making it sound. But after the guy left, my husband was freaked out for a good two hours afterwards. He was extremely cordial, not rude in the slightest. But something happens to a man when a really well dressed man shows up at your front door with your wife's picture on his laptop.