Birthday Fun

I had a great birthday this year, I must say. I began the day by traveling with a couple friends (Becky and Karla) to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the western part of North Dakota (near the Montana border). We went to go hiking. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, but still sunny. We hiked the back country, so there wasn't really a trail. We also had to wade across the Little Missouri River. It was great! We headed back after a few hours because we saw storm clouds coming in and didn't want to cross back over the river in a rain/thunder storm.
After finishing our hike, we got ice cream in Medora. Ice cream is great no matter what the occasion.
Then we headed back to Bismarck. When I got back, I met up with another friend, Colette, and she took me shooting. I shot a shotgun for the first time. We used a 12 gauge automatic shotgun and shot skeet. I must say that I really sucked, but I was happy to hit a couple, especially considering it was my first time. Colette did a lot better than me, but considering how long she's been shooting, that's not a surprise.
After shooting, we came back to my place for my birthday dinner: BBQ! That is my favorite. Unfortunately, I don't have a grill, so I used my griddle instead. It was yummy. My sister, Elizabeth, spent time while I was gone to make the sides: a cherry version of Clarence's salad and potato salad. In addition to that and the main dishes of hotdogs (all beef of course) and hamburgers, we had olives, green beans, and baked beans. It was a good meal, and I found myself getting full quickly. For dessert we had home-made pistachio ice cream. Yum!
But besides all that, it was nice to have so many people remember my birthday, so thanks to everyone who did!

My cat is huge!

I've been told for a while by people that I have a big cat. He's been a little overweight for most of his adult life, but that is only a part of his size. In fact, I don't even think he is that much overweight. He is just HUGE! I looked up average cat sizes because I was curious, and this is what wikipedia says:
Height: 9-10 in
Head/body length: 18.1 in
Tail: 11.8 in

Well, knowing that didn't tell me much, so naturally I had to measure Gizmo. These are his dimensions:
Height: 12 in (maybe taller, he scrunched down because he didn't like me measuring him)
Head/body length: 24 in
Tail: 13 in

With that, you can see that my cat is nearly 6 inches longer than the average cat, 7 if you include his tail. I wonder if he's part maine coon . . .

Only in North Dakota . . .

Only in North Dakota can you go through 4 seasons in one day! Ok, it wasn’t really that extreme today, but it was crazy and bipolar. This morning was just overcast, then right before I was to leave for lunch from work, it started pouring. (Left - If you look closely at this picture, you can see the puddles that are remnant from the pouring rain) And I mean pouring! If I had gone outside at that time, I think I would have been drenched by the time I got to my car. As it was, I waited 10 minutes, and even with the rain lighter, I still was nearly soaked by the time that I got to my car.
By the time I got home, it was no longer raining. By the time I was headed back to work, not only was the sun shining, but the skies were blue. It looked like a completely different day! Not long after, it got stormy again. I’ve been convinced for a while that the weather up here just can’t make up its mind, but I’ve never seen anything like that before.
So, in other news . . . I passed my Russian test! That means I should be moving up the register . . . and hopefully that means I will have a place in the next orientation/training class! Woo hoo! I sure hope I hear something soon!

A Conference Weekend

I just got back from a YSA Conference in Rochester, MN. It was good, and I’m glad I went, even though it wasn’t great.
Friday, Colette and I left early in the morning. We both wanted to stop at the Mall of America (see Right) because we had never been there before. We found our way there (though it was a lot more difficult than anyone let on) and went inside. I was shocked and amazed to see a Ferris Wheel inside the mall. I had no idea that there was an amusement park in the center. We walked around, went into some stores . . . were tempted by cute shoes, but restrained from buying anything. Then we went to walk around the Nikelodeon Universe (apparently it used to be Camp Snoopy, but not anymore). We found out that we could get a ticket just to ride one of the roller coasters, so we decided to do that. We chose Spongebob Squarepants Rock Bottom Drop. It was a good choice. It was quite thrilling, especially for a roller coaster inside a mall. (Left - Colette in front of the ferris wheel, to the right, the bluish green track is the roller coaster we went on, obviously you can only see part of it) I think the girl sitting next to us had a lot of fun because of it. I was a little surprised that people were so quiet on the roller coaster. For some reason, screaming makes it so much more exhilarating . . .
When we got off the roller coaster, I felt something slipping out of my pocket. I tried to grab it, but I couldn’t and dropped my phone. To my surprise and great disdain, it broke! I guess it must have hit in just the right spot to break like that. The girl directing us off the ride said that if I went into the Verizon store, they would fix it for free. Since I was in a mall, I decided to check. Well, they didn’t.
Colette and I walked around a little more. We went to the Lego store, which was pretty cool. (Right - traveling with our torches) We also traveled all the way to the top, and as far down as we could go without going into the Aquarium. Then we left.
We made it to Rochester early, so we decided to get some food. We saw a Fazoli’s right off the interstate and since it had been several years since either of us had eaten at a Fazoli’s, we decided to stop. It was pretty good.
Next we went to the church where the conference was to begin. We were a little early still, so we sat in the grass and laughed (yes, we really did laugh pretty much the whole time, but I guess we were a little tired and easily amused). Finally it came time to register.
First on the conference agenda was get to know you games. (Left - me with my torch) We used a combination of a fruit basket game and conversation circles to get people to talk to someone new. We had pie, and then went out to a different location for a bonfire. That was pretty cool because we all carried torches. If we would have had pitchforks, we could have been in an angry mob, storming a castle. Or, as someone else suggest, just been going through a dungeon in the Lord of the Rings.
Saturday, we had workshops right after breakfast. They were really enlightening. Then, following lunch we had one last speaker who talked about service. I guess that was fitting since we had our service project directly after. We actually had three service projects going on: writing letters to soldiers overseas, quilts, & puzzle blocks. I wrote a couple letters and then worked on a puzzle block. (Above - me, Heather, Amanda, Chris, and Jacob in front of the wall) That was pretty cool.
After service, we had free time before dinner. I wanted to do something in town, so I asked a new friend, Amanda, what there was to do. She suggested we could go to the nature center if it wasn’t raining. We checked, and even though it was cloudy, it wasn’t raining. We got a few other people (Chris, Heather, and Jacob) to go with us. As we were leaving the church, it was sprinkling. We decided to go anyway. I’m glad we did. There was a little building there that we went in to at first, but we only had 15 minutes before they closed. For what it was, it was good.
We went outside, and it was only misty, so we walked around a little. It was really pretty, and they had limestone walls that were used as retaining walls when the area was a quarry. (Left - me climbing the rock wall . . . in sandles . . . yes, I AM that good) Now they are used for students to practice rock climbing. So, naturally, we climbed them ourselves.
After dinner, we had a dance. The dance was alright, but definitely not great. The music selection wasn't very good, and the guys only danced with girls that they already knew. Still, I had fun because I like to dance.
Today, after church, Colette and I ended up meeting a friend at Cabella's. Those two are both in to guns, so I got a short lesson on guns & ammo. We also looked at the animals that had been stuffed and placed around the store. We had lunch at Famous Dave's before heading back to Bismarck. It was a good weekend, and I don't regret going.

Half the Sky

I just finished reading a book called Half the Sky. The book was recommended to me by a friend and it focuses on issues/problems that affect women around the globe and ways to solve these issues. I've heard about some of these issues before, but this book was eye opening. I am very blessed to have been born in the United States of America, and not just because of the freedom that we have, but because of all the places in the world to be born female, this is one of the best. Sure, there are still some inequality issues in America, but when compared to the problems facing millions of women living in Africa and Asia and other third world nations I have nothing to worry about.
Truth be told, I don't really feel oppressed. I've been told my whole life that I can do anything, be anything that I want to be. I believed it then as I believe it now. No one and nothing can stop me but obstacles I put before me. But that is one of the greatest things about America: the American dream. Although some think that the American dream means getting rich, it is more than that. It means that if you work hard, you can "change your stars" (as the movie A Knight's Tale puts it). In other words, you don't have to be constrained by the circumstances of your birth. Sure, it is much easier to be successful if you are born in a wealthy, or even middle class family, but it is not impossible to escape poverty in America if you have the work ethic and intelligence/skill. In other countries, that is not always the case.
For example, some girls are at the top of their class, but because boys are seen as more important in some cultures/societies, if there is not enough money to send both sons and daughters to school, the girls are kept home.
Some of the other isues that are addressed in this book are truly horrific and mortifying: human trafficking and sexual slavery, rape, genital cutting, female infanticide, forced abortions, so-called "honor" killings, and acid burnings. In some nations of the world there is a significant disregard for the life of females, even by females themselves. In those countries/societies, mothers value sons over daughters, and so sons are fed while daughters starve.
After reading the book, the problem seems so large that it feels insurmountable, but very specific solutions are proposed. The key for each individual who feels moved to act, is to find one solution to support, and focus on that. We can't fix everything, but we can fix something, and together we can fix everything.
Here is a quote from the book that I found particularly moving:
“While the main motivation for joining this global movement is to help others, the result is often to help oneself. As Sir John Templeton said, ‘Self-improvement comes mainly from trying to help others.’ Social psychologists have learned a great deal about happiness in recent years, and one of the surprises is that the things we believe will make us happy won’t. People who win the lottery, for example, enjoy an initial spike of happiness but then adjust and a year later are not significantly happier than those who haven’t won. Our happiness levels seem to be mostly innate, and not markedly affected by what happens to us, good or bad. People in end-stage dialysis, for example, turn out to be no different in their moods throughout the day than a comparison group of healthy people. And while those who suffer a crippling disability are initially deeply unhappy, they adjust quickly. One study found that just a month after becoming paraplegics, accident victims were in fairly good moods a majority of the time. Other research found that within two years of suffering a moderate disability, life satisfaction fully recovers to the predisability level. So Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist at the University of Virginia who has studied happiness, advises that if you are hit by a truck and end up a paraplegic, or if you win the lottery, remember that a year from now, it won’t make much difference to your happiness level.
Yet Professer Haidt and others advise that there are a few factors that CAN affect our happiness levels in a sustained way."(Pg. 249) One of those is to become involved in something. Those of us who are religious understand that one way to help yourself is to serve others. And so, I would ask all of you to get involved in whatever way you can. Start small, and when you feel more able, increase what you give and what you do.
Half the Sky suggests 4 things you can do:
1. Go to www.globalgiving.org or www.kiva.org and open an account. Through these sites you are linked directly to a person overseas who is in need. You can also try www.givology.com.
2. Sponser a girl or a woman through Plan International, Women for Women International, World Vision, or American Jewish World Service.
3. Sign up for email updates on www.womensenews.org or www.worldpulse.com.
4. Join the CARE Action Network at www.can.care.org.

I would like to add, 1. check this book out from the library and read it, 2. Check out www.charitynavigator.org to find a charity you would like to donate to, 3. Look in your community for ways to donate time or money, and 4. When you see a need, fill it. After all, studies have shown that the more you give, the happier you become; the happier you become, the more productive you are; the more productive you are, the more successful you are; and the more successful you are, the more money you make (see a previous post of mine).

Well all, I hope that this doesn't come off as preachy, but I really do believe in the power of service!