Friday, May 23, 2008

Post Graduation AkA the Art of Saying Thank You

After a week of Birthdays, Graduations, Graduation, Birthdays I am back in Indy and starting my 4th month of service as a VISTA.

I have a lot to be thankful for, all the family that attended my graduation, the congratulations I received, the education I ‘officially obtained’, and the opportunity to continue to learn everyday as VISTA.

I'm really bad at writing thank you notes that don’t sound generic, boxed, and plain. This is probably because I ‘luv’ cliques.

There really is an art to writing the perfect thank you, and working in development I feel like I write an awful lot of thank you’s so I really hope that I’m improving in some way. I just sent one out to one of the sponsors for the Bill of Rights Celebration; it included pictures of the event and everything. Ooo doesn’t that sound glamorous.

All my grad thank you’s are going out in the mail tomorrow and I truly appreciate everyone who’s supported me through my 3.5 years of college as well as everyone who listens to my experiences in Indianapolis. I wouldn’t be here without you!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Get Service

Today I chopped 8 turkeys, covered 24 serving pans, and wrote out 3 days of community agency order forms. I reek of thanksgiving, and it’s May. Gross.

I do have a warm fuzzy feeling inside that I spent my day in direct service. Today might be the day I start my 29 days of giving challenge (http://www.29gifts.org/).

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Things I learned in College

As I prepare for my official college graduation I thought it might be fun to share some of the important knowledge I gained throughout the past 120 credit hours, 40 classes, and 4 years.

  • It's ok to eat McDonald's everyday if you get out of the car to get it.
  • Textbooks bought on Amazon are cheaper but won't arrive till after the first exam.
  • There's no need to spend the whole 300 dollars on an ipod, a 10 dollar pair of apple headphones will suffice.
  • Professors eat, drink, and have children, and sometimes you might run into them with any one of those components, its OK.
  • No matter what class you have in the animal science building you will still smell like cow by the end of it.
  • Extra credit is rarely worth the effort.
  • Never attack Russia during the winter.
  • Watching desperate housewives on previously mentioned ipod does not constitute paying attention in stats class.
  • All reporters are shady, even the good ones.
  • Poetry does not need to rhyme, sound good or make sense.
  • The most interesting information on any given day can be found written in chalk on the ground.
  • Always take clothes with you to the shower, in case of a fire drill.
  • If you lose your keys, don't lose the spare. If its the keys to your dorm room, you are really stupid.
  • It's not possible to become friends with classmates in a political class during a presidential election.
  • People used to live in underwater colonies.
  • Vinegar, honey and tea will cure migraines, tonsillitis, the chicken pox, dehydration, athlete's foot, strep throat, pink eye….
  • If you remove 32 doors, put all the screws in one box.
  • If its 13 degrees outside do not jump in the lake.
  • Save early, save often, save save save.
  • There are few things more important in life then proper comma usage.
  • Four girls need more then three closets.
  • When the final is building a 2 foot tall stage flat there are some very excited puppet theatres nearby.
  • If you watch a movie about a bouncing ping pong ball it will be on the exam.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Americorps Week '08

This week is Americorps week, a week designed to recognize active and alumni Americorps while actively recruiting fresh blood into the service world.

Personally I really like the "Rosie the Riveter" esck style logo.

In celebration of my service today I got a deliciouso chocolate pastry from my supervisor that was absolutely amazing with my morning coffee.

Theres also a group of VISTA's, myself included, who are going to push back from our normal task of capacity building and do some direct service with a poverty serving organization. We are volunteering for a shift at Second Helpings, an organization that accepts extra food from restaurants and turns it into meals for other poverty serving agencies. They also provide free lunches to VISTA's when ever we are in the area and this is our way of giving back to their organization.