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Moving

25Jan09

Yes folks, I’ve moved.

You can follow me over at Make it Happen

It’s been rad. I will miss my About me and Quotes pages. Perhaps I’ll find a way to take them with me.

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Tags: moving, wordpress

Lessons I’ve learned after 58 hours

12Jan09

I went to Nashville over the weekend. It’s amazing what you learn when you get in a car with three of your closest friends and stay with them 24/7 for 58 hours. I’ll do a “why we went to Nashville – here are my pics” post later. Until then, here’s what I learned while I was there.

1. Drink more water
2. Learn to say no and when to say yes.
3. Try something new and do something different whenever you can.
4. Be more active.
5. Treat my body well – my stomach is still jacked up from this trip. I can’t wait to get back on a routine and I’ve seriously considered some sort of juice cleanse.
6. Take more photos of every day things.
7. Grab memories and snippets of life whenever you can before it fades away.

We were on the road for over 17 hours yesterday unless you subtract the countless bathroom breaks and gas stops and the hour or so we spent in Asheville.

While I love my friends, I can’t tell you how good it is to be back into my routine a little bit and have some time to breathe and get lost in my own thoughts.

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Oh Rats!

05Jan09

If this doesn’t make you laugh, I don’t have any hope for you.

This past week has been an incredibly slow week at work. To the point where on Tuesday and Wednesday there was nothing going on. Just returning calls and emails and trying to get things set up for next week. On Friday, I returned from a blissful New Years Day off and my editor called me in.

“Don’t laugh,” she said, “but I have a story for you … this woman called in. Her 12 year old daughter’s rat had babies on New Years Day.”

She was, un-doubtably greeted with a blank look. I was found the woman’s number and we arranged for me to go out to the house at 3 that afternoon. I was told to look for a yellow Cavalier and given directions that involved “a T in the road” and finally asked her to just give me the address. I looked it up online and it sounded simple enough until I actually got out there. I was grateful for the “yellow Cavalier” reference because that is the only way I found this trailer.

I walked in and for the less 30 minutes I was there, I was exposed to the simple life.

I asked the 12 year old what her rat’s name was.

“Penelope,” they told me. I jotted the name down on my reporter’s notebook.

“Maybe she can tell you how to spell it,” the mother said. I didn’t respond.

I asked if they bred the rat or if they had another rat. There were several cages in the living room but it was too dimly lit to see what was in them.

“Well, we  were in the market for a hamster,” the mother said. “And we got a rat instead and then her dad wanted one too. So we got two and I asked him if we were going to get a separate cage but before we could, she got pregnant.” (That was paraphrased.)

“I say that his rat raped her rat,” she went onto say. And that’s a direct quote.

Before I left, they told me about their other four pets in addition to the rats and explained why they did or didn’t want a cat. It was one of the most unique stories I’ve written and will forever be remembered as the first article I wrote of the new year.

We’ve gotten several reactions from it. From people commenting that it was in poor taste, others saying that it must have been a slow news day (right on the money!) and others saying they enjoy animal stories. I’ve also gotten several phone calls about people interested in purchasing the rats. However, they call the article an ad instead of an article.

You can read the story here.

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The holiday where days run together

02Jan09

As of yesterday at 12:30 p.m. I had no New Year’s Eve plans. I had 12 hours to find someone doing something worth partaking in while still maintaining my dignity. An hour later, I was signed up to be a chaperone at a middle school and high school New Year’s house party that was sponsored by my church. I wasn’t sure what I could expect, but the evening was full of playing Rock Band, Apples to Apples and laughing at middle schooler’s antics and high schooler’s over reactions.

We brought in the New Year watching the ball drop, hearing Jesse McCartney’s Leavin’, and Natasha Bedingfield belting out “Pocket full of Sunshine.” You know … all those hits and a couple misses from 2008. It was also filled with noise makers, sparkling apple cider and firecrackers. It was a different experience being with complete strangers, knowing literally none of the people in the house until five hours before the clock struck midnight.

After a round of Apples to Apples and trying to convince the kiddos to stretch out their sleeping bags and watch Wall-e, I finally crashed in the family’s youngest daughter’s room, whose name happened to be Jillian, while she was staying with a friend for the night.

This morning, I woke up before anyone else and a few minutes later Jean, the mom came out and we began cleaning up Solo cups, putting away chips and getting breakfast items ready for the teenagers that were still fast asleep in the basement below. The view I woke up to though had to make the morning for me though. As I exited the hallway where the children’s bedrooms are, I realized that when they said the house “down by the river” they weren’t kidding. The waterfront property overlooks the Potomac and I was up in perfect timing to see the sun crest over the mountains and reflect on the water. While my New Years plans were nothing of what I was expecting, it was a simple affair filled with lots of laughter, good people and brushing up on my Rock Band skills. And I couldn’t ask for more.

I retreated home a couple hours later, changed out of yesterday’s clothes and crawled into bed for two hours of shut eye. The rest of the day my schedule was thrown off. I got “yesterday” “this morning” and “last night” all confused because everything ran together.

The new year was spent getting a head start improving the state of the economy and bonding with a new old friend. It was nice to go to a real dinner that wasn’t just Sonic and talk about parents and friends and plan a road trip.

This year, I’m looking foward to possibilities. There are so many options and well … possibilities. I’m anxious to see how it unfolds. I have no specific goals that I’m going to commit to, but may I strive to do what is right for both myself and those around me, become more independent financially and personally and may I finally finish Paris to the Moon.

Happy 2009 folks; I hope it’s happy, positive and full of possibilities.

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Yes we can!

31Dec08

yes we can, originally uploaded by fitchaction.

This year held many milestones. I didn’t just graduate, start working full time and move out; I took a lot of back roads to get where I am at the start of a new year. I’ve learned a lot about what I’m capable of and who I want to be.

January: I started my internship at The Herald-Mail. I’m not sure if doing a third internship the semester I graduated was the wisest, especially in addition to being editor of The Picket and trying to graduate. Despite that, it was a great, great learning experience and I’m glad I was able to work there.

February: I discovered the Passion: 268 Generation. I think I’m a better person because of it too. Passion showed me the value of living for God; for making his name famous.

March: Oh March. In addition to a cross country trip with 21 of my new BFFs for a week in San Francisco, my dad had a risky back surgery that was a long time coming. It was a stressful time personally, but that trip to San Francisco was one of the best experiences of my life and the best spring break I could ever ask for.

April: I said good-bye, I finished my internship and I closed chapters.

May: Graduation! Moved to Martinsburg, started at The Journal. Big month.

June: First real paycheck and adjusting to the single life living all by myself. Not a whole lot to report.

July: Summer in Shepherdstown with late night dinners with friends and tubing in the Potomac. Fun times.

August: I took my first solo cross country trip. I went to San Francisco all by myself, switching planes, layovers, etc. It was the first vacation that I initiated and followed through with. It was worth it, even though I had been there just a few months before. I met some amazing people, watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Union Square at an impromptu outdoor theater, hiked in Muir Woods and walked along the beach before taking a red eye flight back the the East Coast. August also involved more creepy run-ins with the maintenance man.

September: I committed to being the publicity director for Covenant’s Christmas production, took a road trip to Morgantown for the first time and got better adjusted to life in the Panhandle.

October: Homecoming, fall in Shepherdstown and turning over a new leaf. I also met this interesting character.

November: A time to give thanks.  Adventures in Bethesda and Frederick to take the GRE. I moved back to Shepherdstown and into a bigger place with a room mate who makes life more interesting (in a good way). It’s never a dull moment. More milestones personally. Good month overall.

December: I’ve finally become content with who I am and where I’ve come from. I’ve learned that anything is possible and you really can change who you are, with a little discipline and dedication.

I’m planning a very low-key New Year’s Eve and I’m looking forward to the day off tomorrow. I wish you all a happy and blessed new year filled with possibilities. I’ll be back tomorrow with my “forecast” for 2009.

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REI vs. Ikea

29Dec08

This morning I had a great appreciation for my bed. I seriously did not want to get up and I don’t think I moved at all throughout the night. I was out. Probably because I had 12 hours of ongoing fun on Sunday, finally ending when I got home at 11 p.m. and emptied my car from my Ikea trip.

Last week a friend of mine invited me to go with him to an REI store to exchange a pair of shoes and I could decide the location based on wherever else I wanted to go while we were making the trip. I voted for College Park for two reasons. One, Ikea and two, so I could visit the campus for the University of Maryland, the graduate school where I applied to.

REI wasn’t what I was expecting in terms of location or size, but inside, I enjoyed watching the passionate outdoors-types trying on backpacks, looking at shoes and that gleam and sense of determination in their eyes of finding exactly what they were looking at. The ratio of men to women wasn’t surprising, but I thoroughly enjoyed just people watching.

While I waited for Tim at REI, I walked around and checked out the winter coats, the Smartwool socks and the camping gadgets. In the fall, I finished “A walk in the Woods,” by Bill Bryson and I couldn’t help but feel I was with Bryson as he was getting ready for his adventure on the AT. While we were looking at a wall of backpacks, I saw a Gregory, the same name brand that Bryson took on his hike.

I hadn’t even heard of REI until the past year when I started hanging out with boys who like to hike and my interests started to change. Although I’m still too cautious and my footing isn’t as confident as my trail mates would like, I still love hiking. REI was a whole other sub-culture; it’s where you go when you want a quality bike, a good backpack or sleeping bag, or need the perfect gift for the hiker/backpacker/skiing addict in your life, such as skiing themed Christmas tree ornaments.

After a yummy Indian lunch where I had some delicious lamb curry and naan bread, we drove JUST. DOWN. THE STREET! To the University of Maryland at College Park where we got a little lost and finally found the Journalism building (photo to come). It was exciting. We walked the main drag of campus, looped around by the visitors center and the chapel and then set off for Ikea.

Ikea was just like REI only different. I knew what to expect in Ikea, but it was similar in the regard that it was a bustling place of like for the same thing. Consumers at REI and Ikea love and know their product. The know what they want, how much they’re willing to spend and where to find it. They’ve done their research and know where and how often they’ll use it.

I spent the majority of my time dodging carts and making sure I wasn’t in anyone’s way.

I left Ikea with a large picture frame, a magnetic bulletin board to post random snapshots and mail on, two bud vases and two very sore feet. Ikea is not the place to break in your new $10 Ann Taylor Loft flats.

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