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Showing posts with label program proposals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label program proposals. Show all posts

Monday, April 28, 2014

We ain't got no room for boring

For boring we ain't got no room.

Told you I'd be back.

So, this weekend was Motorcar-ing with the Boyfriend in Iowa: Take Two.

I don't know what my boyfriend's fascination is with Muppets and Motorcar-ing but apparently it's a thing.

Remember last year when we went and he kept singing Mahna Mahna?

Like literally, we're riding and we've got headphones on and all the sudden "mahna mahna...doo doo, doo doo doo..."

So this year it was "We ain't got no room for boring, for boring we ain't got no room."

Over and over.

Which, if you watch any TV whatsoever, you have probably seen at least twice in the past month.

If not, watch this.



Congratulations, you are now cultured.

There are actually multiple, but that's the most recent.

It's catchy. So much so that it was repeated...over and over...all over Iowa.

But it's true. We ain't got no room for boring.

And it's ironic because after I showed the Old New Guy a picture of what we'd be riding on his exact words were, "well, you'll never be bored with him."

And I don't think I ever will.

That said, this weekend was awesome. We always have fun when we go anywhere together, but he gets especially excited if it has anything to do with riding rails - whether it be motorcars or roller coasters.

It was definitely worth the drive, though our first run didn't go as planned. About quarter down the track the battery died and we had to get towed 'til it was replaced. Luckily it was an easy fix and we were back on by the afternoon.

It was nice cause it was a shorter ride so we could jump back in. If it was a day trip we would have been screwed.

I was grateful cause Donny came with so I wasn't the only woman there. She's always fun to jam with and it's so funny because men think that women talk a lot but apparently they've never met railroad men - who talk far more than anyone else on the planet. While us two women were just ready to ride.

And of course the boyfriend is the young gun that everyone has to tease and all that. Yeah, I think the average age for riders was probably mid-60's. So that means I get teased. I got called the "mrs" a few times and just smiled.

Another conversation we've been having a lot lately. Which is his fault cause he brought up ring shopping.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Here are a few of my favorite moments and some pictures to go along with.

-Walmart, the other hotel in town
::Let's just say a certain rider decided that he and his girlfriend didn't need a hotel room to stay in the first night cause Walmart parking lots are free and comfortable. Grateful that man wasn't my boyfriend. But I guess it would be sort of an adventure. That's how his girlfriend took it....so understanding.

-Big Rocks
::What is it with Iowans and the big rocks in their front yards? And when I say big I mean big. Like look at this.

And it wasn't just the one house. They were everywhere.

Any ideas? I'm wondering if they're actually decorative or if it's more like a giant rock monster died in their front lawn and they were too lazy to move them, though it's been added that they're also a deterrent to zombies so perhaps that's part of it.

-Breakdown
::While the breakdown itself was not enjoyable, the conversation that followed was. He taught me all about motorcar engines and how they work. I feel highly educated and could maybe repeat like a third of it...cause it was all technical. But I'll look smart when I do it... if you know nothing about engines. At all.

-Where are the face trees? 
::Yes, that is the technical term. I tried to take different pictures than last year but it's hard cause it's the same track. I did, however, have to take more pictures of the face trees cause they are super cool.




-Crash Boom
::So the day was awesome and after everything was loaded into the backs of trailers and trucks everyone was just kind of standing around and talking when all the sudden, *squeal* *boom* *thunk, thunk* Some idiot driver hit a pole right next to the station. We're thinking drinking was involved. They tried to drive away but couldn't so they just sat there for a while before the cops showed up (whom we called btw). We drove by the next day to see the marks and there was a big dent in the pole and tire tracks all over the grass.

Smooth.

So, we went out with a bang.

Here are more fun pics:



the line up.



picture of a picture of a picture of a picture...



around the curve.



bridge 1.



bridge 2.



no idea what that means. any translators in the house?

If you want to see more pictures from the route see last year's post here. Or check Facebook.

And that was Iowa. After we came back we did even more train stuff when we toured the historic Amtrak train at the Haymarket. Then got some lunch and he crashed on my couch for a few hours before he had to head into work.

I went in today and got grilled. They're jealous.

Plus I got Fun Dip. So I'm at the desk and Superwoman is like, the AD wants to see you. So I go upstairs dragging my feet, thinking I'm gonna get yelled at and she hands me a box of Fun Dip and says "I hear you like these." "Yep." "Okay. That's all."

Thanks.

It reminded me of the home branch when Space Cadet came up to me all straight-faced and was like "I have a question for you."
"Okay."
"Do you like 7-up?"
I was all freaked I did something wrong. "You looked all serious!"
"I am serious, I gotta get rid of this 7-up!"

Also, remember how I was writing two different program proposals for work? I finally said "screw it" and combined them. Perhaps it'll actually get approved if I put forth all my effort on one project instead of worrying about dividing it up into two.

But baby steps. Gotta polish the proposal first. Then comes the approval process.

Alright, on to the music.

Tonight's rec is pretty recent.

Me and My Broken Heart - Rixton


Another British invasion. I think they're kind of One Direction wanna-bees, but it's a good song.

However, the first time I listened to it it drove me nuts cause it sounded exactly like something else. And it has for weeks so I finally gave up and googled it and came across these two.

What do you think?

Lonely No More - Rob Thomas



Unfaithful - Rihanna


Feels a bit like a mix of both.

Ah, apparently Rob Thomas helped write it.

Well that explains it. But not the Rihanna part.

Alright, I'm out.

Will hopefully be back at some point this week.

Let's go places.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Maybe I'll break hearts and be as fast as you.

I'm back.

So....Easter.

I was bit of a Debbie Downer.

Actually that's an understatement.

And over-used, let's try Pessimistic Patty.

Melancholy Melissa.

Somber Sandra.

Bereaved Brenda.

Dismal Denise.

I could do this all day.

Weepy Wendy. Oo, I like that.

I was a bit of a Weepy Wendy - scratch that - I was a lot of a Weepy Wendy.

Which, apparently, isn't very festive.

Especially when surrounded by family.

I've lost all self-confidence.

Usually I'm good with the fake it 'til you make it - especially at work, but I had no energy so it didn't work out so well.

I don't even know what happened, but for like the last few months I'm just not me.

No faith in my abilities whatsoever, gave up writing, stopped hanging out and corresponding with friends outside of the boyfriend and work - just not me.

Coincidentally the start of all that happened about the same time I gave up the blog.

Well, not gave up, but let go. I went from posting every day to posting twice a month and now look at me.

Must have some correlation so, as a step toward more self-confidence, the blog is back.

Probably not full-force posting every night, but every few nights would be good.

Though it also coincided with me giving up pop so perhaps that's a factor as well.

Eh, we'll go with the blog. I miss the blog.

It's a step.

That aside, Easter was excellent.

Church was good - I did actually break out into laughter in the middle of the sermon because I was all Weepy Wendy and I look down at the bulletin and right on the cover in big capital letters it says "WHY ARE YOU CRYING?"

Hmmm...it's like he knew.

Anyway, excellent food, fun with family, enjoyed the mad storm that took place the second my dad yelled "go!" so the kids could find the eggs.

It was ridiculous, we were playing baseball all afternoon and it was perfect out. Then we decide to the do the egg hunt and suddenly WOOSH major wind. And then the second they find all the eggs it starts to rain.

So I guess it could have been worse.

I got my token snickers bar.

King size.

And a cadbury.

So I was good.

That's part of hiding the eggs, you know where to find all the good stuff so you know exactly where to head when he yells go.

We used to hide all the good stuff in the mailbox but we were confined to the backyard while the frontyard was being hijacked by all the baseball.

But it worked. Same as every year by the end we were just walking and dropping eggs on the ground cause we ran out of spaces to put them.

That's the joy of my family - far too much candy. Didn't really matter though, with all that wind everything ended up on the ground anyway.

And speaking of the ground - I mowed the day before and you know how like, when you mow or you're driving or whatever you kind of zone out and go into your own world? I'm like jamming in my headphones, trying not to be Weepy Wendy and all the sudden the ground starts moving ahead of me and I look and there were like freakin' six snakes in front of me.

Needless to say I screamed a bit.

And then ran over them a few times just to make sure they were dead.

Second Sister said she would have paid to see that footage.

Thanks for the moral support.

But it worked, I didn't see any at all on Easter.

After all the family fun I stopped by to see the boyfriend who's prepping the motorcar for our trip.

Did I mention we're going motorcar-ing again?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about - which most of you won't and don't feel bad because 2 and a half years ago I would have been right there with you - go here: Nothing says romance quite like riding motorcars in Iowa.

Yes, we ride in them on the railroad tracks. No, we won't get run over by trains - they book the tracks ahead of time.

And it's like a big thing now. They're basically retro railroad inspection cars which the railroad crew would ride in when they needed to go and fix the trains. Now they've been replaced by those pickups with the rail wheels, but there are still plenty of these around hiding in garages and all that.

So much so in fact that railroads host these organized runs all over the place and people line up to ride theirs down the tracks.

My boyfriend being one of them.

Me, being the supportive girlfriend that I am, decided to go with him on one last year. And...it actually wasn't that bad.

Not something I'd do every weekend like he would if he got the chance, but every once in a while would be fun.

Hey, it's not like trains are an unfamiliar concept to me. Did you see the house I grew up in or the model train layouts that my dad used to drive everywhere?

Anyway, we're headed back to Iowa soon to the same tracks. I'll attempt to take new pictures.

What else?

Oh, we finally finished the Matrix Trilogy.



Scale of Awesome puts this one at around a 7/10. Good, but not as good as the first of the series. And the ending made me sad.

What else?

Well, there's today.

I decided that today was gonna be rockstar awesome and it actually turned out to be.

Started off with a call from the doc. I got my blood tested last week and passed with flying colors.

Apparently she's jealous of my cholesterol levels....which is something to cheer about I guess?

Also I talked to Superwoman today about something I had proposed in the past....and shot myself in the foot.

But in a good way. I think.

The Library Director - aka my boss's boss's boss - gave a presentation and she had these handouts that talked about branch statistics.

Apparently the average age of our branch is 26.

aka Me.

And I think it's weird that we don't offer any programming for anyone of that age demographic.

I mean, we do have adult programs but the attendance is usually of the much older variety.

I tied that statement in with the fact that a bunch of teens are about to age out of TAB and want me to lead some sort of college-aged advisory board (but you can't call it that because then you're leaving out a key demographic so we're still working on a name).

The only problem is that if we did something of that sort it would be aimed more at the 18-24 demographic.

So, Superwoman assigned me the joyful task of coming up with not one but two different program proposals.

One for 18-24, the other for 25-30.

But, I got to pick my team the first time I asked about the TAB extension and I asked if they would be interested in helping again and they were all for it. Plus I added a new member - KT.

The thing about writing proposals is you have to pace yourself because if you use all your good stuff up in the first one, you're screwed in the second one.

Which is why I'm grateful I have a team.

Sent draft proposals to them, hopefully they'll get a chance to look over them soon after which I'll forward them to Superwoman and then hopefully in the fall we can start.

But, nothings a done deal yet. However, I am passionate about both of these projects and I intend on following through.

And that was today.

Well, that and The Voice.

Tuesday = Elimination Night

Lost one of my top 20, but still looking strong.


Voice Top 20
Christina Grimmie - Adam
Bria Kelly - Usher
Sisaundra Lewis - Blake 
Dawn and Hawkes - Adam - eliminated in second battles
Brothers Walker - Usher - eliminated in battles

Cierra Mickens - Shakira - lost to Emily, stolen by Usher - eliminated in second battles
Clarissa Serna - Shakira - eliminated in second battles
Audra McLaughlin - Blake 
Cary Laine - Adam - eliminated in battles
TJ Wilkins - Usher - eliminated in live rounds

Alaska and Madi - Blake - eliminated in battles
Delvin Choice - Adam 
Ddendyl - Shakira - eliminated in second battles
Sam Behymer - Adam - eliminated in second battles
Paula Deanda - Blake - eliminated in battles

Kaleigh Glanton - Blake - eliminated in second battles
Jake Worthington - Blake
Madilyn Paige - Usher - eliminated in second battles
Emily B - Shakira - eliminated in second battles
Kat Perkins - Adam

Top three are still in it, but I'm secretly rooting for my number 20 - Kat Perkins.

Ultimate rock chick.

Reminds me so much of Jordis who was my pick for season two.

And follows me on Twitter.

Though so do Audra McLaughlin and Bria Kelly. Surprisingly nice people...

Anyway, check out this clip. Kat is mad wicked.

Magic Man


she's gonna go far.

Alright, time for songs of the day.

Sledgehammer - Team Adam


I love Team Adam this year. Christina's my number one and Kat's my underdog plus Delvin is excellent in his own right.

Plus huzzah! Peter Gabriel.

Aaaannnd another flashback - Song You Know But Forgot You Knew It

As Fast As You - Dwight Yoakam


i love this guy. he and george strait are the epitomy of classic country.

Alright, that's all I got. I'm gonna crash.


I'm back to Lie to Me. Only watched the episodes once the first time around and forgot who's guilty already so it works.