On the Road Again

July 2-9, 2006
Well it is about that time again. Although I am still fully employed, the time came for me to leave Arkansas (including its humid weather) and head north for a little road trip. My first stop: Nashville, Tennessee. If you are thinking that Nashville isn’t really that far north, well you are right. And it did end up being more hot and humid than Arkansas, but like I said this was my first stop.

Why go to Nashville? Well, I’ll tell you. Nashville was the location for the 28th annual Wing Ding rally. My parents joined the Goldwing motorcycle club a few years ago. So really I just went to see them. But let me tell you, I saw a whole lot more that is really hard to express in words. But whenever you bring a large group of people together because of a common love for something you are bound to see things that you never imagined. The human race never ceases to amaze me!

Need an example? Okay, not only do these people spend all this time and energy making there bikes look good, but many of the husband and wife duos try to go all out in the matching outfit department. I know this picture is kind of small but you get the idea…

Another thing that amazed me was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel that the convention was in. If you ever go to Nashville just go in and look around. It is like a small city under one big roof! Plus there was this Di-vine Lady that walked around on stilts and would finagle her body into these positions against the wall to make herself look like ivy growing up the wall. She was pretty sweat!

Even though my parents don’t own a Goldwing any more, my Dad entered his trailer into a competition. He designed and built the trailer in about a years time. In Nashville he walked away with first prize. Nice job Dad!
Of course I couldn't leave Nashville without taking the Harley out for a spin. Too bad I don't know how to drive one, but I like to look like I do.

After Nashville, I headed up to Marion, IN to meet Lynette and Ginger. Last year the three of us decided that every year we would go on vacation together at one of our living locations. Last year they came to visit me in California, and this year it was Lynette’s turn.

To start the vacation off right, we went down to Indy to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory for my birthday. I went there last year for my birthday in Denver and thought I would try to make it a tradition. The rest of our time was spent doing what most people do on vacations in the summer: go swimming, get some sun, go shopping, eat an elephant ear, go to a movie, have a lot of laughs, eat, have some more laughs, eat again….you get the idea.

Because the location of this vacation was were we went to college, the whole trip revolved around eating. We had to go to all the places that we loved going to back then like Ivanhoe’s for ice cream and J&L’s for 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 eggs for $2.76 (every college students dream!). Lynette loves to cook so she cooked on the grill and baked up a storm (pumpkin muffins, homemade wheat bread, and strawberry pie). For those of you that know her, you know she’s got skill.

Before my drive back to Arkansas, I stayed with my friend Sheena in Indy. With Sheen there is never a dull moment and that is what I love about her. We had some great fun with some other IWU graduates that live in the area. But all good things must come to an end, or at least be put on pause until we meet again.

Marrwige is what bwings us togever today

May 30, 2006
Well, I hit my first wedding of the season this past Sunday. Cindy Darr, one of the former Soderquist Fellowship members, is now Cindy Crowder. I guess I better clarify that I didn't actually go to the wedding. She wanted a nice small wedding in her parents backyard with more of an intimate setting. So I just got to go to the party afterwards. No complaints here. Had some good with, had a few laughs and then got "jiggy with it" if you know what I'm saying. ;) I did manage to shock a few people from work with my moves and my dress. Most people only see me in shorts and a tee-shirt (the best part of my job!), so like I said it caught a few people off guard. People that weren't even at the wedding were stopping me today and telling me how nice I looked. I was a bit confused but then I did a little digging to find out that some of the pictures from the wedding were sent to everyone in the office. Nice... no not so much, so I thought that I would post the pictures to prove that they were just over reacting. Congratulations to Cindy and Tim Crowder!













Just a side not and kind of a funny story, in the picture above, I hate to admits this but, I am actually standing on my tip-toes! The guy in the white shirt (John) is 6'4" and the other one (Michael) is just over 6' so I had to do something to try and even things out. As you can see, it really didn't help. The funny part of this picture is that neither John, Michael, or myself even know who the other girl is. We had to get our picture taken for the guest book. We didn't want here to have to get her picture taken all by herself, so we invited her to join our picture. I will just call her Wendy because then I will have had my picture taken with John, Michael, and Wendy and one of those lights in the background we can pretend is Tinkerbell. Next stop, Neverland. (Yeah I know what you are thinking.... and I will confirm it by saying that you are right. I am a dork!) Later

Clarification

May 20, 2006

I apologize for the delay and the confusion that seemed to arise from my last entry. It was ambiguous by design in hopes to gather some interest and cause you to believe that I was up to my old ways. But I am happy to report that all is well. I remain employed at the Soderquist Center and have moved up a step in society in terms of my living accommodations. I no longer live on campus but still remain with in walking distance. Although the walk to work is slightly longer in distance, I have come to enjoy its solitude and the opportunity it exposes to reflect on life. (pictured right)

Now allow me to introduce you to a new acquaintance. Laura Shank has agreed to share these new accommodations with me and, as I have discovered during this past fortnight, brings a great dramatic flare to our home. She will be returning to school in the fall by which time I believe we will have become good friends.

So as the world continues to turn and one day runs into the next, I hope that you will know that my door is always open to visitors. I can offer you a comfortable bed or couch, and if you are in need of warm weather, Arkansas provides intense heat and humidity during the summer months.

Although the summer heat can be quite ghastly, Arkansas has its charms and has brought about many new experiences. (After spending many days in the beautiful wooded Ozarks, I finally found my first tick. I am sure it will not be my last. I also happened to come upon two turtles doing all they could to ensure that the turtle population of Northwest Arkansas does not decline. I wish I could offer some visual proof, but I have none. Jason was also a witness and will testify to the shocking truth on what was seen.)

I hope that all confusion that might have come about concerning my present state has been put to rest. Life's adventures continue and as you may have guessed by my style of writing, I still manage to watch a quality Jane Austen film from time to time.

I am etc.,
Heather

Moving…Again

April 14, 2006 (Good Friday)
As of yesterday, I have been in Arkansas for six months. This has been a huge milestone for me. Believe it or not, I haven’t been at one job for more than five months sense I graduated college. If you doubt this statement, go back through my archives and you will see that I seem to be always on the go.

Those of you that know me best understand my need for change. Some fill that need by changing their hair color or rearranging their furniture, and others redecorate their homes. Well, options like that used to work for me, but I don’t have enough furniture to rearrange and my landlord would not appreciate it if I started pounding holes in the walls after applying a few coats of paint.
So the only option left is to move all together.

Some of you might think I am crazy, but I see this as a positive thing. I will have a new environment, encounter new faces, and have the opportunity to learn new skills. As soon as a I figure out my new address I will pass the word along. But not to worry, the city, state, and zip will remain the same. ;)

(Side note: The picture above really has nothing to do with anything. I took this out at Greystone in the kitchen. It is one of my favorites. Whenever I am having a day that makes me feel like what the picture is expressing, I will post it for everyone to see to serve as a warning. Watch out!)

Behold, Base Camp 2!

March 4, 2006
Well, March 3rd came and went and Base Camp 2 is up and running. We made the deadline with time to spare (like 12 hours). The first group of about 35 went through the course on Thursday. The overall comments were very positive. We have a few things that need a little tweaking, but that is to be expected with that number of people using it. No one was injured, no cables broke, and no boards snapped. The completion of Base Camp 2 is bitter sweet for me. I am happy to see it finished and I can come back in 10 years and say I helped build that. But building is something that I enjoy and will miss it. If I were a poet I would write a verse or two in honor of Base Camp 2. But alas, I am not. If that does happen (which I highly doubt) on some spontaneous, burst of emotion that I can’t control or hold back I will post it for everyone to see. Until then, all you will get to enjoy is the beauty of the finished product. Behold, Base Camp 2!

Base Camp 2 Update

February 6, 2006

Well, the new challenge course that we are building on the Greystone property in now officially called Base Camp 2 (the original Base Camp is at the John Brown campus). For those of you that are still wondering what I do for a living, here are a few more pictures to help you understand. It is going to be close but I think we will have this course completed by the beginning of March. Actually we really don't have much of a choice because we have a group coming out to use it on March 3rd. Talk about pressure!

The view of the lake from the third platform in the circuit. I would say that I am about 20' in the air.


Here are some shots of Jason cutting cable and braiding rope. I know that these pictures make it hard to believe that I do anything at work. Just remember that I had to teach Jason and now I am working on improving my delegating skills ;)












Gary working hard on a platform up high. (pictured right)

I have such a horrible expression on my face in this picture (below) because Jason just tried to cut off the top half of my index finger with the swedger! Just kidding about the finger. You can only blame that expression on bad timing by the photographer.

This (to the right) is what is known as a Burma Bridge. You just walk across on the cable holding onto the ropes on either side.








This (above) is the 2 line Bridge. The first element that we completed at Base Camp 2.

Gary's Angels

January 30, 2006
It is amazing where this job is taking me. Well the latest adventure took me back to Denver. Much of my time there was occupied with the Association of Challenge Course (ACCT) conference. That was the job aspect of my five days in Denver. Don't get me wrong, it was a great learning experience but for me the best part was having the Gary's Angels clan back together again. For those of you who don't know the story, Gary (my current boss) was also my former employer at Indiana Wesleyan University. I worked for him two summers and my last summer I also worked with Rudy and Dawn (who I lived with in this past summer for a bit). Well by the end of the summer we became known as Gary's Angles. Lynette (my roommate in college) later too became apart of the Angel clan. The ACCT Conference brought Gary, Lynette, and me to Denver because of our occupation. Denver just so happened to be the place of residence for Dawn and Rudy. So on Friday night, all of us and Laura (my old housemate) and Chris (Dawn's man) went out for dinner and had hours of laughs! (Let me tell you, with that clan laughter is unavoidable!) Pictured Left to Right: Gary, Lynette, Me, Rudy, Dawn, and Chris.

The Latest Shocking News Update

January 16, 2006
The New Year has brought about two new changes in my life. The first has been an answer to prayer. I was in the market for a new place to live at the end of last year. It was a long trail of people saying “we just filled the spot but you can call this person…” but it finally came to a temporary end. I didn’t find a new place to live but I did find someone that was willing to share my humble abode with me. Thus helping with the cost of rent and making life a bit more interesting. Her name is Sarah and is an undergrad student. This is her last semester so that is the reason this is just a temporary fix. So far all is going well. It took me a while to adjust to someone sleeping in the bed above me.

The Second change is more of a shock. This past Saturday my head lost a little weight as I got 10 inches of my hair chopped off. Here are the before and after pictures to prove it. This isn’t the first time I have done this so I think I handled it rather well. (It is a good way to keep vanity in check.) I donated my hair to a great organization call Locks of Love (http://www.locksoflove.org/). It is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children 18 years and younger suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

What a Job

January 15, 2006

Well, I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a little inside look at my job. Currently we are building another ropes course (both high and low) out at our Greystone Facility. Base Camp 2 is its official name. We are still at the beginning stages of construction of the high ropes course. The first stage is clearing. This is quite a long process when you start with the area that we did. (see picture below)

The clearing is pretty much done and we drilled all the holes in the trees to install blots that serve as the connecting points of cable and rope. All of our bolts haven’t come in yet, so to continue moving forward with the project we started construction of the platforms that participants stand on at the beginning and the end of an element.

As the course progresses, I will post more pictures to give you a better understanding of what I do. Hopefully by the end of the week the course will really start to take shape.

Happy New Year

January 3, 2006

Well, after one flight being canceled and another delayed I finally made it back to Arkansas. Two thousand six is already underway and I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you to the team at the Soderquist Center. To highlight a few people, Don Soderquist (who founded the Center along with his wife) is the older gentlemen sitting in the center of the photo next to his wife Jo. My boss Gary Swyers is in the front row in the white shirt. Andy Wilson (the CEO) is next to me in the front left and Jason Pollack (the grad student that is part of the Experiental Learning team) is 3rd from the left in the back row (with the beard). So now you have some faces to go with the names of the people that I work with. Happy New Year!

Home For Christmas

December 26, 2005
Well this year I got to go home for Christmas. It has been good to be home. One thing about living in Arkansas is that I have been missing the winter weather. So I was happy to hear that Michigan was getting a lot of snow the week before Christmas. Well, unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to enjoy it. The weather warmed up and the snow is melting away. I was hoping to post some pictures of my home town under a beautiful blanket of freshly fallen snow. Well, not this year. That’s okay, there is always next year.
Despite the weather it is always wonderful to spend time with my friends and family at home. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!
Merry Christmas!

Snapshots from England

The Classic telephone booth picture. A must have!











Hilary and Lynette on the train to Derbyshire County.


Mark being Mark :)

Lynette and I tried on some helmets in the castle armory. I think they were just a hair to big.

It’s Go to Work with Your Brother-in-Law Day!

November 26, 2005

You might be wondering why I would go on a vacation to England just so that I could go to work with my brother-in-law. Well, if your brother-in-law worked at one of the finest castles in England, I think you would go to work with him too!

Warwick Castle is its name and Lynette and I spent a whole day exploring every nook and cranny that we could. And man did our muscles feel it at the end other day. There was one passage way that took us up and down three towers totaling 530 steps.

The view from the top of the towers was wonderful. The town of Warwick is a cute town that seems to be the perfect size. Lynette and I also got to walk around town a bit and go into some of the shops. For lunch we found, we could not go any where else besides a bakery called Greggs. This place was an ongoing theme throughout our stay in England. They have these things called pasties that cost about 80 pence and range from veggie to ham and cheese. Man they are so good! So filling too and for a little less than a buck sixty you can’t beat it.

An Evening at the Races

Novemeber 25, 2005
On Friday night, it was decided that we would go spend an evening at the races, the greyhound races that is. Neither Lynette nor I had ever been so why not give it a whirl.
I am not much of betting person. Mark likes to have a little fun with it, so every now and then he will place a pound bet on a dog. Well, race 3 came along and the fellows decided to head downstairs to get some food. Mark wanted to place a bet so he gave a pound to Hilary and told her to go and place a bet on Badger Bait (I don’t remember the actual name of the dog so Badger Bait will have to do for now) Hilary had never placed a bet on a dog before so she somehow conned me into going up there with her.

We reached the booth and Hilary said to the man, “I would like to place a bet on Badger Bait.”
“What number is Badger Bait?” the man asked.
“I am not sure,” Hilary replied.
Just glancing at the roster before we walked up, I said, “I believe it is # 3.”
The bet was placed and we walked back to the table. Looking at the program we were struck with horror realizing that I said the wrong number. Badger Bait was # 4. Not knowing what to do, the music started indicating that all bets were closed. The only thing that we could do now is either hope that # 3 wins and pray that # 4 loses.
They were off and # 4 was leading out of the gates. # 6 however was catching up fast and eventually passed dog # 4. By this time we realized that # 3 had no chance so all we could do now is hope that # 4 didn’t win. The race continued with the leader switching back and forth between # 4 and # 6. The suspense was agonizing. The dogs crossed the line, and both Hilary and I were sure #6 had won. Well, the dogs were so tight that they had to do a photo finish to find out the true winner. And the final result, number four won by a stinkin’ nose!
“I can’t believe that just happen!” was all we could think to say. And as those words passed our lips, all we could here was Mark’s approaching voice shouting, “I won! I won! Yes!”
Well the moment of truth came and we confessed the mix up. Knowing that it was my fault, I gave him a pound to replace the one that I lost for him. He was still rather upset by the series of events that I just told you. In the end he might not have won anything but he didn’t loose anything either. So the moral of the story is ….To avoid this from happening to you, refrain from gambling!

A Day of Thanksgiving

November 24, 2005
Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on how we have been blessed, a time to spend time with family and friends and fellowship with one another. Thanksgiving originally was celebrated by the Pilgrims that came to the Americas from England seeking religious freedom. The first winter came and many Pilgrims didn’t make it to Spring. Fortunately, the Native Americans came to the aid of the Pilgrims. Because of their help, the Pilgrims had a bountiful harvest that year. A celebration was help where the Pilgrims and their Native American friends.

Well, this Thanksgiving we did our best to represent that first Thanksgiving. We had a little pumpkin soup, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn, rolls, corn bread, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and lemon cheesecake. Oh wait, according to history books they most likely ate fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums. Well, we enjoyed each others company for a good three hours. Shoot. The original Thanksgiving lasted 3 days. Man, maybe we should have done a little more research before the event.

Hold Up! There is one aspect of thanksgiving that we definitely got right. Around the dinner table sat Paul, Jane, Dave, Jeni, Mark, Hilary, Lynette, and me. So if we break this down we have 5 people from England practicing their religious freedom and 3 people from America helping the English folk prepare the food! Oh yeah. And to top it all off, each of us wore an authentic garb representation that was hand crafted by Hilary and me out of top quality construction paper.














I would have to say that this Thanksgiving definitely beat all!

Mr. Darcy, Are You Home?

November 23, 2005
Well, Arkansas has been good and all but it definitely was time for a change of scene. So with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching, I though this would be the perfect opportunity to take a little break from work and take a trip over to jolly ol’ England. I hadn’t seen my sister and brother-in-law in almost a year, so it was high time I made a little hop over the ocean. Well, this time Lynette (my roomie and friend from college) got to be a part of the adventure. (Her first stamp in her passport!)

So we arrived and spent the first couple of days helping Hilary and Mark move in to their new home. If you have ever been to their old kitchen, the one in their new house is like 7 times bigger. I mean you could have a little square dance in there.

Anyway, Hilary, Lynette, and I are all huge fans of Jane Austen so we decided to treat ourselves with a little trip up to Derbyshire County. In the book Pride and Prejudice, this is the county the great estate Pemberley is in which is the home of Mr. Darcy. Derbyshire County is full of many great estates, so in honor of Jane Austen we went and visited one called Chatsworth. To our great luck, this very house was the one used in the latest movie version of Pride and Prejudice. It was used to represent none other than the great estate of Pemberley. Chatsworth is a splendid representation of Pemberley. I could not agree more with the book when Mrs. Gardner say that the house is a “fine house richly furnished. The grounds are delightful. It has some of the best woods in the county.”
Keira Knightley's Dress (who played Elizabeth Bennett) from the movie Pride and Prejudice.

A Whole New World

November 5, 2005

Well it is truly amazing how time flies when you have a job. Yup that is right; I am still a working woman. I have been for over three weeks now. When I first got here, I definitely hit the ground running. Quite honestly, I haven’t stopped running. There have been many groups, programs, course inspections, and training that have been keeping me busy.

So let me bring you into the world of Northwest Arkansas, Siloam Springs, and the Soderquist Center….my new world. My new position as the Experiential Learning Coordinator (fancy title I know) has brought along many firsts. The 1st first is that I have my very own name plate and the 2nd first is that I now have a business card. (pictured to the right)And the 3rd first (and a bit smaller than the other two) is that I have a really nice, shinny gold magnetic name tag. I know these don’t seem like very significant things, but let me tell you when I approached my desk on my first day of work and saw my name plate I was totally thrown off balance.

I don’t have my own office which is just fine by me. I am not that high on the charts and don’t see myself being up there for a long while. I am quite content with my desk space. It is joined with some of the graduate students that work in the Center. There are 10 graduate students (aka Soder Fellows) currently; all of which I have enjoyed working with and hanging out with outside of work. They have been such a blessing by being so welcoming. Working with Mr. Gary Swyers (my old boss from college) again has also made my transition period significantly easier (and full of laughs).

It is funny to think that I have only been here for three weeks. It seems so much longer than that in so many ways. That to me only can signify that this is where I am supposed to be. I definitely feel that I am a part of the Soderquist family. I still have a huge learning curve ahead of me, but that will get smaller with time.

So I thank all of you for your prayers. A few highlights outside the office… I went to Tulsa, Ok of the Oktoberfest with most of the Soder Fellows. It was a lot of fun and think I managed to do the chicken dance about 6 times. Last night, I went to the JBU’s guy basket ball game to witness an interesting tradition. When JBU scores their first basket (that is not a free throw) everyone throws toilet paper on to the court. It definitely is quite the tradition and quite the sight.