The BIG ANNOUNCEMENT on a Lifestyle Change

The blue cap and gown; a tassel swaying in my face... The lights shining in my eyes; walking across the stage; fidgeting through long speeches; getting my picture taken a thousand times like a celebrity... The grasping of the president's hand as I am awarded my Associate of Arts Degree... For the rest of my life, I will fondly remember being done forever with Pikes Peak Community College. As it was jokingly suggested at the after-party: I managed to cram two years of study into eight years. Haha! So funny...! NOT! >;o/

The funniest thing about the whole day was one part of the president's speech where he actually --get this-- thanked the parents for their sacrifices! I was laughing so hard that I peed all over the auditorium floor! In reality, my parents are proud of me because I accomplished this myself, without their help. And it wasn't easy. And yes, it took me eight years.

So, where am I headed to next? I would prefer to study at the prestigious Colorado College, but the cost of attending such a school has me clutching the sides of my chair in terror. Unfortunately, there are no full-ride scholarships given to those who have butchered their GPA's by making full-time employment their first priority ever since high school.

Needless to say, someone like me, who loves to learn and dreams of scholarly pursuits, really needs to have a Bachelor's Degree in order to get away from a demeaning future in the service industry. But how does a high school dropout do this in a timely manner at my age? While married? With a mortgage among other bills? In addition to starting a family??

There are many theories on this. I could give myself to the military... or demand that my husband take on a second job... I supposed I could start saying I'm black and demand a full-ride from UNCF... But let's face it -- none of these options are ME! Then, how shall I pay for this endeavor? How do others in my financial situation do it? I refuse to cram two more years of study into another eight.

It is now time for the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT (are you ready for this?): Education is my first priority. That means I am determined to become a "traditional student" in order to get a Bachelor's Degree in three years or less. Here is my plan:

1. I can attend The University of Colorado for 10% of the cost of attending Fancy Schmancy Colorado College. Which is good -- because I didn't want to go to CC anyway. Those people are snobs.
2. I have chosen to enroll in Spanish, a recession-proof major that will open doors in all fields of work.
3. I will go with the teaching option, and begin to force my love of learning onto the kiddies.
4. Here is the scariest part: I will quit working a job [gasp!!!] so I can focus on my education. Going into debt is always scary... but the whole idea of debt is to worry about it later, right?!

The goal here is to approach my education as I have been treating my job. I have a tremendous work-ethic. By never calling in sick or being tardy, by always doing what's expected of me with a smile on my face, I have charmed my employers for 13 years (that's half of my life, by the way). Yes folks, since I was 13 years old, I have been focusing 100% on making money to pay immediate bills. And for the next three years, things are gonna change! I am about to make the biggest lifestyle change of my 26 years out of respect for the future me, in order to earn that BA Degree and secure employment doing something I really love.

The City Lights

Here is the promised view of Colorado Springs from the road leading up to our home.

The unlit areas in the right and left foreground are the two largest city parks: Red Rock Canyon Open Space (to the right) and The Garden of the Gods Park (to the left).

A reason to thank big media?

Our modern big-name all-day-long news networks...

Fox, CNN, etc... are never benign.

They stay busy reporting the horrific, gruesome, shocking, and tragic events unfolding anywhere they can get a reporter to. They heighten our fears and raise our awareness of the ugly side of human nature and most terrifying natural disasters. They lend credence to those who wish to believe human behavior and nature's occurrences have "never been this bad."

Today, the swine-bird flu originating in Mexico is the top story on every network. Thanks to the aggressive nature of the modern media, every nation in the world has quickly responded to this event. What might have been a deadly pandemic, if we hadn't been aware soon enough, is being contained before it has a chance to spread.

Imagine how long it might have taken for us to discover its origins if we did not have 24/hr communication around the world...

Vacation

I can't remember who said it, but I read this quote in the Potty Mouth (a restroom stall publication at Pikes Peak Community College):

A vacation is something you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking.

Ready for a break and willing to drive 4000 miles in the name of heirloom family furniture, Dusty and I took to the road last month. We saw a lot of beautiful country, got to know our new vehicle better, and caught up with many relatives along the way.

In the last week of March we set out across Kansas. It was a sunny day, the sky was a pristine blue, and I finally got a chance to love the cruise control mechanism.



We drove through the night. And when the sun had risen, we were somewhere in the Midwest, splashing through the spring rain puddles and speeding by hundreds of little towns, sprawling farms, and giant cities.







We finally slept once we arrived at Dusty's grandparents' home on the border of Virginia and West Virginia.



Wishing we could have stayed to visit longer, we said goodbye to our gracious hosts and promised to come back again.



Colorado just doesn't have this kind of H2O sitting around. Sure, we have a few human-made reservoirs and trickling streams here and there... but nothing like the Bluestone River - yes, this is a RIVER! The water looked so deep and luscious, I just wanted to jump in!



I took a rock home from beneath this waterfall. The rocks in West Virginia look so different from the rocks in Colorado. I think they are more sedimental or something like that... I don't know, I nearly failed that online Geology class. But the Appalachian Mountain rock now sits in my Rocky Mountain front yard.



America is such a beautiful place. We have beaches on both coasts, and in between we have rugged mountains, rolling mountains, open prairies, and tons of farmland. I mean lots and lots of farmland.



See the farmland beyond the Appalachian Mountains? This picture was taken within the Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Drive.



I can't say that the Appalachian Mountains count as mountains (having just purchased a home at roughly 8,500 feet), but I was in love with the variety of vegetation and the friendliness of the folk we ran into along the way.







While visiting with my dad's family in Maryland, I had the privilege of getting to know his side of the family a little better. Below is my dad and his little sister some time ago.



After reluctantly leaving my relatives behind and promising to meet up again soon, we traveled to another part of Maryland to meet with Dusty's relatives who were kind enough to give us the family dining set that belonged to Dusty's great-grandparents, and show us around the area where the family has lived for hundreds of years.

This home, previously owned by Dusty's ancestor, has a civil war cannon ball lodged in the side.



While taking photos of the gravestones of Dusty's Maryland ancestors, we ran across a Civil War reenactment group camping out. They offered us what meager rations they had, and we graciously partook of their coffee and hardtack.





This cute little soldier must have been on Spring Break or something, because he was just too happy!



After visiting with our relatives in Maryland (and desperately wishing we had more time to spend with them), we were back on the road heading west.



Delicate spring flowers were already blooming in the fertile farmland of Ohio.



While we were in Ohio, we made sure the load of furniture was secure and safe from getting wet on the long journey back home.



We visited with Dusty's parents, cousins, aunt and uncle before leaving them behind and starting down the road again.



The weather was clear all the way home.



We drove through the night, arriving in Colorado Springs the next morning.



We waited a day or two, letting our furniture sit in the driveway before unloading it. We needed to sleep very badly.



We unloaded it eventually, but you'll have to come back later and see what the furniture looks like in our dining room.

A Night Auditor's Intuition

I received a call between 1 and 1:30 this morning from a man who wanted to rent two adjoining rooms. I took the necessary information: his name, phone number and address (first sign of something amiss: he couldn't give me a proper zip code), and then he gave me a number to what he claimed was a Discover card. I didn't worry about the wrong zip code, but I told him I would hold the two rooms until he arrived.

Then, he asked an unusual question (second warning sign): "Did the card go through?" Typically, I don't run a purchase on a card until the guest arrives. And normally, guests don't worry about their card going through unless I tell them it has been declined. This man however was concerned even as he was making the reservation. I went ahead and ran a purchase transaction on the card for the total amount, and told the man his card had been accepted. He then asked "so, I just show you the card and I can have the rooms?" I affirmed with a "yes" and he said he'd be right in.

No less than a minute later, the man walked in the lobby and came up to the front desk. He said he had been the one who just called (apparently he had been sitting in the parking lot the whole time). He was a rough-looking man in his 30s or 40s. I asked for his ID and credit card, and suddenly he was looking at the ground and telling me a story about the card belonging to his mother in Oklahoma and how she really wanted to help him since he had "just gotten out" (of prison or jail I assumed, but he did not specify, and I did not ask). The wheels were turning in my head, as I knew he must be trying to play me for a fool. People normally don't stare at their shuffling feet unless they are uncomfortable.

I don't believe that all who "just get out" are up to no good, but I get suspicious when given a reason to be, regardless of a person's past. I have been in this line of work long enough to know when I'm being lied to by people of the night. I acted as though I did not suspect anything at all, and I apologized repeatedly, explaining it was "company policy" that I have a signed authorization form from the credit card holder before I can charge a purchase amount. I said it might help if his mother could call me. The man then left the building (third suspicious sign) to call his mother.

Less than a minute later, I received a call from a very young sounding girl who said simply "I'm calling on two rooms?"

I asked "are you calling to reserve two rooms?"

And she repeated, "I'm calling on two rooms?" She sounded very unsure of herself.

I knew this must be the "mother" who was supposedly calling from Oklahoma, so I prodded her, asking "are you calling on behalf of someone else?"

"Yes," she replied.

I really wondered how foolish they thought I was. So, I said in a friendly and unsuspecting tone "ah, you must be calling from Oklahoma to verify your credit card information."

"Yes," the young voice replied.

I apologized for the inconvenience, saying "I'm sorry ma'am, but I will need you to fax me a signed authorization form, giving me permission to charge your card. Do you have access to a fax machine?"

No, she did not have access to a fax machine, nor did she sound like she knew much about anything.

I explained that without the card holder's signature, I could not charge the card. I apologized again, repeating the "company policy" mantra, and then the conversation was over.

However, the girl had not ended the call and I could still hear her on the line, so I didn't hang up just yet.

I decided to keep listening, for any other possible clues, when I heard the man's voice in the background asking "what did she say?" I recognized his voice, it was the same man who came into the lobby hanging his head at me in a guilty fashion! I heard the girl say "she needs my signature; I need to fax my signature." Then, the call was ended, and I hung up the phone, laughing.

A short moment later, the phone rang again, and it was the man calling to say that his mother just called him from Oklahoma "all upset" because she doesn't have access to a fax machine. I smiled to myself and said "I'm sorry sir, but without the proper forms I cannot process your mother's credit card."

I reversed the charges on the card, only then learning that it had been a Visa and not a Discover as the man had initially claimed. I chuckled to myself, calling him a lying sack under my breath, thinking that either he wasn't trying very hard tonight, or else I am just too good at spotting his kind.

Be careful with your sensitive information. Keep it safe and be suspicious. These are not the first credit card fishers I've come across.

Good night.

Twilight!

(Does Robert Pattinson paint his eyebrows or something?)



These are the stars of the awesome movie: Twilight. They look cute together, no? The characters are easy to love, and the location is gorgeous. Besides, who doesn't enjoy a good teenie-vampire romance?! The movie is filled with the kind of beautiful imagery that I never can seem to get enough of. I recommend it for it's dark and mysterious yet modern portrayal of forbidden vampire/human love. I'm really excited to see the second film (in the making right now!), and eventually I will get my hands on the books by Stephanie Meyer.

New Glasses!