December 3, 2011--First Real Snow

So, I know it's been a long time since I've posted here, but I've been ridiculously busy this semester with my RA job and with my classes.  Plus, the weather had been remarkably good up until today.  We've had incredibly high temperatures for this time of year.  Thanksgiving was last week, and it was in the 60's and 70's in most areas of Nebraska.  Unfortunately, I knew it was too good to last, and I woke up this morning to see this:

Revolting.  Absolutely revolting.  I am so not ready for winter.  Ugh, I guess the only good thing is that the crappy weather will force me to buckle down and get some studying done this weekend.  This has been a pretty rough semester for me due to difficult classes, crazy professors, and juggling my schoolwork with my RA responsibilities.  I have three cumulative finals coming up, and I need to go hardcore if I'm going to pull off A's in some of these classes.

Anyway, if the snow gets any worse (which I bet it will), I will post updates.  I've never had snow on this blog before, so I figure it's a nice change-up.

October 3, 2011

Well, I haven't posted here for quite some time, so I thought I'd thrown in a quick update.  What you're looking at above is near-sunset through my academic year window.  It was taken with my new--well, new  to me--Canon Rebel XSi.  I've only had a few days to mess around with it, so I'm still figuring out many of the settings.  However, I'm very pleased with the shots I've taken with it so far.  Manual is still a challenge, but I'll do some Googling to learn more about the settings.

Anyway, life has been busy.  Very busy.  Being an RA has been stressful at times, but now that school has kicked in, the residents themselves are easier to deal with.  It was party, party, party until the first round of tests sobered everybody.  I have some difficult classes.  My first round of tests didn't go as well as I wanted it to, but it wasn't disastrous.  Just gotta keep on truckin'...

I've also been going to Husker games, but I have East Stadium student tickets this year.  In other words, I have better seats.  After watching the Wisconsin vs. Nebraska game, though, I'm not sure how pleasant the remaining home games are going to be.  Anyway, I know this post is fairly random, but I felt obligated to keep this blog alive.  I have to go on duty rounds pretty quick, so I'll wrap this up for now!

September 2, 2011

Well, I haven't posted since the first day that people started moving in to this building.  That actually makes perfect sense now that I think about it.  Since people started flowing in, I have had precious little time for blogging or photography.  Fortunately, now I've settled into classes and gotten into a little more of a rhythm.  It wasn't easy at first...  After training and move-in ended, classes immediately started.  I've had some mischief on my floor these first couple weeks, and it was getting to me, so last weekend I ran home quick to relax before I had a nervous breakdown and killed someone.  Family time REALLY helped, and my second week of classes was considerably less stressful.  I didn't get to see my brother (it's harder to cross paths now that we're both in college), but I got to see my puppy and the rest of my family, so that was nice.  It's Labor Day Weekend, so my brother is actually home right now.  We'll be home at the same time eventually!

Anyway, to explain the picture, this is the sunset from tonight.  Right as the sun was going down, a nasty little red spot was heading towards Lincoln on radar from the west/southwest.  Shortly after this was taken, it absolutely POURED.  The wind blew, the rain was intense, and there was a ridiculous amount of lightning.  We were never in a warning, but it was enough to disrupt a lot of people's Friday night plans temporarily.  As for me, my Friday night plans have included making a Jeopardy game for a hall activity, painting my nails red with white polka dots (I'll explain why shortly), and watching the U.S. Open on television.  Everything is very Husker-y tonight: my nails, this tennis match, and the fact that tomorrow is gameday.  Roddick (from Nebraska) is playing Sock (an 18-year-old also from Nebraska).  Roddick just won, but Sock gave him a fight.

Well, that's really all!  I'm going to finish my nails and then probably go to bed.  I'm excited to go to the game tomorrow, but I'm not excited about the extremely strong chance of rain.  Yikes.  Hopefully we don't get rained out!

August 15, 2011 Double Rainbow

Yesterday, all of the potential sorority girls moved in for RUSH 2011.  Immediately before they were supposed to move in, a line of storms swept through the area.  At 8 a.m. sharp, there was torrential rain, nasty lightning, and a small number of brave people coming in to check their daughters into the dorm.  Right before the storm, I ran back up to my room to grab something.  When I looked out the window, I noticed that the sun in the east was creating a sweet double rainbow on the storm clouds in the west.  I snapped a couple pics in my room.  I had to work the check-in, so I had no choice but to take it through the window and try to reduce the glare as much as possible.

Anyway, move-in was hectic, but at least now we have some people in the building.  I'm glad to finally have some girls on my floor.  The girls are kept busy during Rush, but I'm hoping to actually meet and talk with some of them soon!

August 14, 2011 Sunset

Well, this blog isn't as dormant as I was expecting.  Anyway, today was glorious.  I had the entire day off of training, and I had plenty of time to get stuff done before sorority girls start moving in tomorrow for rush.  I was able to completely finish decorating my bulletin boards, so I'm done with arts and crafts for a few weeks.  I also was able to pick up some odds and ends to make my room more homey.  I definitely feel like my room has more of a personal touch than when I moved in.  I still done have a "5 star" room with amazing decorations, but it works for me.  

The weather was gorgeous today: around 80, sunny, with a slight breeze.  I pretty much saw none of my RA coworkers today, which is totally fine with me.  I like all of them, but I've been around people all day, every day since RA training began.  Being the introvert that I am, I needed to fly solo for a day to recharge.  Other than finishing up RA work, running errands, going for a walk, etc., I went out for a photography walk right before sunset and got the awesome pics above.  The sunsets and sunrises have been really impressive lately.  I don't know if it's the weather, the time of year, or the fact that I don't have to work nights anymore...

August 13, 2011 Sunrise

Well, initially I thought my academic year room was going to suck as far as scenery goes.  I don't live on a high floor and my main view is a parking lot.  However, the past few mornings before RA training, I have discovered that I get to experience a decent sunrise view from my window.  Sunrise pictures from me have been extremely rare in the past.  I'm not exactly the type of person who gets up at 6 a.m. or earlier.  Today, though, I woke up a little early and glanced through my blinds to see this.  I was impressed, so I decided to snap a photo before going back to sleep for a couple hours.

Anyway, RA training has been hectic to say the very least.  I've never looked forward to class so much in my life.  I'm just ready to meet the girls on my floor, get the first weekend out of the way, and get a regular schedule rolling.  Today we had a slight break because we went to Mahoney State Park with RAs from the same complex.  I would describe Mahoney as a "city person's state park".   To me, a state park is a little more wild: less mowed lawns, no chlorinated pools, no driving range or mini golf, etc.  My favorite parts of the park were the observation tower and the paddle boats.  The waterpark was fun, but GI has a far superior water park and that's something you can do in town.  I would have preferred something a little more woodsy, but it was still a fun day.  Tomorrow we (thank God), have the entire day off to chill or work on things.  I plan to get all of my floor crafts DONE tonight and early tomorrow. I am so sick of cutting paper....

Beauty from the Walmart Parking Lot

I was running errands when I saw this view.  I was so disappointed when I saw this as I was driving to Walmart because I knew I would have time to get to the store and back to campus to take a picture from an elevated area.  I happened to have my camera in my purse, so I hopped out of my car and snapped the photo before I ran inside.  It would have been really spectacular if I could have gotten to a better spot.

Anyway, I just thought I'd make an occasional post to bridge the gap between now and next summer (assuming I do take the same job).  I've been completely swamped with RA training and preparation for the school year.  I have never cut so much paper in my life.  I have put together two bulletin boards and I'm in the process of completing "door decs" (a.k.a.-name tags) for all of my residents.  I should be able to finish the name tags tomorrow, but after that I have two more bulletin boards to take care of in the next few days.  Woo...  I think they should offer some kind of carpal tunnel insurance for this position...

August 5, 2011

Well, here is a nice gloomy picture to round out the second summer of the Lincoln "Skyline" Project.  I woke up briefly to go downstairs and clock out, and this is what I saw out the window.  On radar there was a ton of rain, which gave me even more incentive to go back to sleep for a couple hours.  I got up for good a couple hours later.  By then, the rain had stopped and I could move completely over to my academic year room.  I was completely out of there before lunch, but I didn't officially check out until after class.  Speaking of class, except for a couple little outside homework assignments, I am done with class.  I won't be able to attend the last four days due to RA training.  I can't say I'm disappointed.  I liked my teacher, but the class itself was a joke.  I'll be really annoyed if I get anything less than an "A" for a grade.

Anyway, after officially checking out of my old dorm and into my new one, I spontaneously decided to go home before training.  I had nothing going on today, and training doesn't start until 1 p.m. on Sunday, so I thought it would be a good time to fly home quick.  Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have been able to get home to see my family or my dog until sometime in September, and I didn't want to go 2+ months without a home visit.  So, I embarked on a bizarre journey home.  First, sudden downpour right outside of Lincoln obscured everyone's vision so much that we all had to slow down to about 35 mph.  Second, random closing of the right lane caused backups and near-accidents.  Third, a really annoying semi was tailgating me for about half of the trip home.  Fourth, I had to avoid a turtle--yes, a TURTLE--that was crossing Highway 281 on my way into Grand Island.  Fortunately, despite many of these strange obstacles, I got home in one piece.  Now, I have a brief break before heading back for hardcore RA training for the next ten days...

In conclusion, it was another interesting summer.  Unfortunately, there were not as near as many thunderhead or storm pictures as I expected.  I had hoped for some good cloud pictures or an occasional hail storm to talk about, but it was an extremely boring summer for severe weather.  So, I apologize for the lack of variety in my pictures and my constant complaints about heat/humidity.  I would have loved to complain about wicked storms or tornadoes instead, but that just wasn't possible this year.  Anyway, I won't be posting daily anymore.  My academic year view is of a somewhat unattractive parking lot, which is a step up from last year, but nowhere near as cool as my summer view.  I may post an interesting weather or landscape picture from time to time, but I'm not sure if this blog will return for a third year.  It all depends on my employment plans for next summer.

Well, it's been fun.  I'll be back next year (maybe).

August 4, 2011

Sorry this post is so late.  Starting on August 4, I became very busy with wrapping up my Spanish class, moving out of my summer dorm, moving into my summer dorm, and getting ready for RA training.  Fortunately, the weather went from ridiculously hot to somewhat normal just in time for me to start moving out.  I woke up to wet sidewalks and heavy mist (Pic 1).  The rest of the day was humid, but it wasn't as miserable because the temperature wasn't nearly as high.  By night (Pic 2), the mist had cleared somewhat, but I wasn't able to enjoy the drop in humidity because I was on my last shift of the summer.  I was on duty in my own building, so I was able to pack and clean during my shift.  Early in the day, I moved a bunch of stuff into my academic year dorm room, so I didn't have much left.  When I got tired of that, I watched "Seven Pounds."  My friend lent it to me since I had never seen it before.  It was a good movie, but I'm not sure if it lived up to all the hype it received when it came out a couple years ago...

August 3, 2011

Today was a go, go, go kind of day.  I was pretty much busy doing something from the time I woke up until now.  Here's the rundown of my day: woke up, packed a few boxes of my stuff, went for a walk, took a shower, went to the Corner Deli on East Campus for the first time (quite good, I highly recommend it), packed some more, went to class, went to an "end-of-summer" banquet with my coworkers, and went straight to a desk shift after that.  All in all, it's been pretty packed.  The one thing I enjoyed, however, was that it was MUCH cooler outside today.  There was actually a cool breeze this morning.  A cool breeze!  The humidity was low, the temperature was much lower (high 80's), and it provided a lot of relief.  When you think about it, though, it's pretty sad when 87 degrees is considered "cool."

Anyway, the nice thing about the banquet was that it went until about 7 p.m.  That means I shaved an entire hour off of my last desk shift of the summer!  I know I should be bummed that I didn't get paid for that hour, but at this point in the summer I'm beyond caring about my paycheck.  So, in about 3.5 hours I'll be done with working at a desk, and tomorrow night will be my last duty shift of the year.  After that, it's time to move and get ready for RA training.  Thinking about the upcoming school year makes me simultaneously extremely excited and extremely anxious...

August 2, 2011

Well, yesterday was rather busy for me.  I felt like I was running around campus all day picking up textbooks, printing out Spanish papers, and attending to a bunch of other random errands all afternoon.  It was quite hot yesterday, as well, so I was sweating profusely the entire time (nice, right?).  I was able to relax a little more yesterday night.  I walked around campus in the evening after it had cooled off outside and sat in my favorite "hidden" spot on campus and listened to my iPod for awhile.  I also watched a movie (Easy A) with one of my coworkers before bed.  It's not a bad movie, actually.  It reminds me of Mean Girls.  It's still kind of a dumb teen movie, yet the writing is considerably better than  most adolescent films and there's actually a decent message.  I guess you could say it's a higher quality teen movie and I wouldn't mind watching it again.

Anyway, today has been super busy for me as well, and I actually need to book it to class.  I work later tonight, so I'll make my August 3rd post during my shift.  TTFN!

August 1, 2011

I was so busy yesterday having fun in Omaha that it didn't even occur to me that it was the last day of July.  So, here we are--it's Monday and the first day of August.  To say that it was hot outside today would be an understatement.  It definitely got to 100 degrees (if not a little hotter), and the heat index was around 112 this afternoon.  I went for a walk around 11 a.m. and arrived back at the dorm absolutely drenched.  The heat was definitely impressive...  I think it's supposed to drop about 10 degrees and stay at around 90 tomorrow.  It'll feel like a major cool-down compared to the past couple days!

Anyway, besides my walk, I went to class, picked up some textbooks, and attended a Bachelorette watch party.  The end was pretty lame, but I enjoyed listening to my coworkers' comments.  I was only half paying attention the entire time anyway because I was trying to type up my final project for Spanish.  I managed to type up the entire thing in about two and a half hours, so all I have to do now is edit it.  I have to finish it early due to the fact that I'll miss the entire last week of class for RA training, so I wanted to get it done as early in the week as possible.

Well, that's all for now.  I'm going down for the count, so I'll probably head off to bed soon.

July 31, 2011

So, I know this pic is kind of crappy, but I had to snap it around sunset (or a little after) when I got back from Omaha.  Because I am typing this, you can tell that I survived my solo trip to Omaha.  It was an excellent day.  I managed to navigate the chaos of Omaha driving, got to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo, was able to fit in some swimming, and ride my friend's new moped.  It was a pretty sweet day.  The only thing that sucked was near the end of our zoo trip.  It was SO hot outside around 4:30, and my friend and I couldn't wait to get into an air conditioned area.

Anyway, I won't go too much into the details of the day.  The main point is: I'm ALIVE.

July 30, 2011

Sorry for the delayed post.  Last night I was on duty with a coworker who I'm a little better friends with, so we spent the whole time talking and hanging out, and I didn't have a chance to make a post.  Anyway, yesterday was a hot, humid, sunny Saturday.  I was happy to see the sun back in action, even if it was really freaking hot outside.  I have nothing out of the ordinary to share except that I'm happy that my duty last night is the last time I have duty away from "home".  My next duty will be on Thursday, but I'll get to sleep in my own bed.  I only have one other desk shift to deal with, as well.  I'm extremely happy that my work schedule is pretty much empty from here on out.  I have too much crap to think about: RA training, finishing up my class, moving into my academic year housing, preparing for fall semester.  If I had a ton of work on top of that, it would just be bad.

Anyway, in just about ten or fifteen minutes, I will be taking off for Omaha to visit my friend.  I've never driven there by myself, so I'm a little nervous.  I don't have a GPS, and I really don't want to miss my exit.  I've studied the route and prepared sticky notes for my steering wheel, so I'm hoping that's good enough.  Pray for me...this should be interesting.

July 29, 2011

I am so freaking bored.  I have two more hours in my desk shift, so even though nothing happened today, I'm going to stretch this post out as much as I can just to kill time...

I seriously didn't do much at all.  Woke up, clocked out, went back to bed, woke up again, screwed around, did laundry, ate lunch, went for a walk, sat around, went to class, ate supper, and went to work.  Really exciting stuff...  The picture above is what it looked like this morning.  It pretty much looked like this all day.  It was cloudy, cooler, humid, and rained lightly from time to time.  I noticed that it finally started clearing up around sunset.  Tomorrow, we should be out of the clouds and back to super hot and humid.  I like cooler temps, but I'm looking forward to the sun being out again.  Clouds are so depressing and gloomy.  I'd much rather have the sun beating down on me.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this weekend.  I only have one duty shift this weekend (tomorrow night), and then on Sunday I'm going to drive to Omaha to see my friend.  The driving to Omaha part makes me a little apprehensive.  I've never done it alone, and I've only done it once before with people.  It should be interesting...  Assuming that I get there in one piece, it should be a fun day!

July 28, 2011

I woke up this morning to wet sidewalks (shown in the first pic), which is fairly unusual for the weather lately.  It was a little cooler, humid, and rainy early in the morning.  I didn't bother going on a morning walk.  I slept like a rock last night, so I woke up fairly late (for me) as it was, and I didn't feel motivated to exercise that early.  I ended up going after lunch, which meant it was quite stuffy and hot.  It never got extremely sunny today.  There were always quite a few clouds in the sky with random patches of blue here and there.  Some storms and showers started popping up to the south this evening (see the second pic), but nothing in Lincoln yet.  There's a decent chance of showers overnight, but so far there's nothing on radar that's set up to hit the city.  We'll have to see how it turns out.

Other than that, my day was really pretty boring.  I'm currently working a duty shift, and I'm just chillin' up in the duty room.  I have only two more duties after this one and two desk shifts (one of which I am trying to ditch).  I'm pretty excited.  I'm really just kind of over my job at this point in the summer.  My mind is too occupied with my upcoming RA position and the fall semester.

July 27, 2011

This morning, I decided to go for my walk a bit early and break in my new tennis shoes.  The new Nikes were great, but the weather was not.  I probably left around 8:45 a.m. and got back around 10 a.m., and I was drenched in sweat.  The heat and humidity was unbelievable for that early in the morning.  The rest of the day I spent indoors.  I know it was quite uncomfortable at times, but I avoided the hottest part of the afternoon.  I skipped class because of my staff meeting (the last of the summer!) and now I'm working the desk in the dorm where my coworkers and I live.  I'm already about two and a half hours into my shift, and it has been going pretty quickly.  The nice thing about working in this particular dorm is the fact that you're guaranteed to see someone you know at some point, so things don't get quite as boring.

I've been entertaining myself for the past couple hours by brainstorming about floor themes and door tags that I will need to make for my floor fairly soon.  My family suggested a "Survivor" theme, so I've been designing a modified logo for one of the bulletin boards.  So far, it's just an idea, but I'm seriously considering it.

July 26, 2011

Hey, look--clouds!  That's somewhat rare these days.  Today was another lovely day off for me.  The weather was about the same as the past couple days: around 90, a little humid, and sunny.  The only obligation I had was Spanish class, which has yet to challenge me.  I didn't think it was possible for Spanish 304 to be easier than Spanish 303, but obviously I was wrong.

Other than the usual routine, I spent a couple hours tonight making the monumental and painstaking decision to buy a new pair of [expensive] tennis shoes.  I've been buying the same cheapo, ShopKo Nike tennis shoes (in varying colors) for the past couple years.  They're great except for the fact that they wear out and get holes relatively quickly.  I decided to buy a nicer pair of shoes (still Nikes) in an effort to not have to buy shoes so often.  The ones I bought tonight weren't outrageously high-priced, but they're more expensive than what I'm accustomed to buying.  They better be worth the money!

Well, I'll wrap this up for now.  I'd like to focus on watching Conan. :)

July 25, 2011

Well, I don't have too much to share about today.  It was a typical Monday: clear, hot, and in the lower 90's.  I did the same things I usually do, so there's nothing much to tell there.  I didn't have to work tonight, so I went over to another building to watch The Bachelorette with a couple coworkers.  It is the dumbest show ever, but it is absolutely hilarious.  I only watched the last half of the season, but I feel invested in the outcome now, so I will be watching the finale next week.  I honestly don't care who wins. I don't like Ashley (the bachelorette) and neither of the guys (Ben and JP) seem that great either.  I'm one of those people that watches the show purely to make fun of the cheesiness.  It's so entertaining!

July 24, 2011

Today was a lovely Sunday in Lincoln, NE.  For the first time in what felt like forever, I was truly able to sleep in and take my time in the morning.  I went for a walk in the early afternoon (something that was impossible during last week's heat wave), and it was hot, but nothing unbearable.  I filled the rest of the afternoon by getting out the dorm and going down to the Westfield Mall to buy some decent body spray.  I went to Bath & Body Works first and left reeking of about 20 different scents.  They were having a sale, though, so I got away with three different body sprays for a reasonable price.  Other than that, I didn't have any specific items in mind, so I mostly browsed in a few stores before heading back to campus.

Now, I'm working a desk shift until midnight.  I don't mind working so much because I've had so much of a break this month.  My workload hasn't been as nearly as bad, so when I do work, it's actually kind of nice and gives me something to do.  Well, it was thundering earlier, but now I can see light coming through the window, so whatever rainstorm came through must have passed.  As long as it's not violently storming when I have to leave here, I'll be happy!

July 23, 2011

Yesterday, I was not actually in Lincoln for much of the day.  Early in the morning, I headed for Omaha with my mom and sister.  There's a possibility that I will be visiting a friend there in a couple weeks, so I wanted to have at least a little experience before taking on that challenge.  I know it sounds pathetic, but before yesterday I hadn't been to Omaha for about five years and I had never driven there myself.  The exits and extensive use of Interstate was definitely new to me. Besides my intense confusion while first entering Omaha, it wasn't horrible.  It's definitely a place you have to drive around in a lot before you fully grasp what is going on.  Anyway, continuing the story, while we were in Omaha, I had the opportunity to visit with my cousins and uncle, and to have my uncle drive my mom and me around various parts of Omaha.  I saw UNO for the first time, got a sense of where my friend's apartment is located, and got to walk through the Old Market (which is basically a larger version of the Haymarket in Lincoln).  Overall, it was a really nice, informative day.  It was really nice to see so many family members and to get to Omaha for the first time in so long.

I'm not sure what the weather was like in Lincoln yesterday, but I would assume that it was similar to Omaha.  It was supposed to be clear and reach 99 degrees yesterday, but cloud cover and showers kept it cool for much of the day.  Around 3 p.m. or so, it became a little sunnier and hotter, but it was not as near as bad as the forecast had predicted.  Even around 4:30 p.m. when we got back to Lincoln, it was cloudy with lingering showers.  After my mom and sister took off for GI, it actually cleared off quite a bit.  I took the opportunity to walk around campus (I didn't dare venture downtown on a Saturday night), and it was actually fairly comfortable.  I even had a chance to take the sunset photos shown above.  They're nothing spectacular, but it was the first decent sunset I've had a chance to photograph all summer!  

Finally, the night ended with me hanging out in my dorm room, watching 100 Greatest Artists on VH1, and going to bed.  All in all, it was a productive, fun day off of work/class!

July 22, 2011

Today was very similar to yesterday when it came to the weather.  When I woke up to clock out of my duty shift (see picture), it was somewhat clear in the east with clouds in the distance.  I went back to bed for a couple hours, and when I woke the second time it was somewhat cloudier.  I went on a morning walk, and I didn't even need my sunglasses on most of the time.  However, by the time late morning/early afternoon arrived, it was sunny and starting to feel hot.  It was somewhat uncomfortable during the hottest part of the day, but not awful.  There was a breeze and the temperature topped out around 90, so it could have been much worse.

As for the rest of the day, I didn't have to work (thank God), and I had class.  I had a chance tonight to wander campus a bit before dark, and there was a decent sunset.  There were some cool pink clouds, but it wasn't spectacular enough for me to rush back to my dorm room for my camera.  At least I got to view a sunset for once.  I feel like I haven't had a chance all summer!  Anyway, tomorrow should be fun.  I'm going to Omaha with my mom and sister for the day.  I haven't been to Omaha forever, so I'm looking forward to it!

July 21, 2011

And just like that, the humidity is back...  Today was a slight break in the streak of super high temperatures (it only got to about 90), but the humidity returned thanks to overnight storms.  I--and pretty much everyone else I talked to--was woken up by some seriously loud thunder around 3:30 a.m.  I'm not sure how much it rained or how long it stormed, but the the noise was pretty impressive.  When I woke up again around 7 a.m., the sidewalks were drying, but it was very blue to the north.  I went for a walk anyway, but a few times I feared that the blue clouds were getting closer and that I was going to get drenched by a random downpour.  Fortunately, that did not happen, and my walk was fairly cool and pleasant (albeit a little humid).  Eventually, it did get hot and uncomfortable again, but it took awhile to get to that point.  Even around 1:30 p.m. it was still cool and breezy compared to the past few days.

Anyway, I honestly have nothing else fascinating to share.  I'm on a duty shift at the moment, but I'm happy because it's the last shift I'll have to work until Sunday night.  I'm really glad my work schedule has slowed down because ight now I'm "over it" when it comes to my current summer class/work.  I'm glad to get in a few days to myself before RA training and the beginning of the fall semester arrive.  Welp, I that's all for now...

July 20, 2011

I knew I wasn't imagining the drop in humidity.  Today was another baking hot day, but it just didn't feel as bad as the weekend.  I'm pretty sure it got over 100 degrees, but, like yesterday, it wasn't as unpleasant.  It's about 7:30 p.m. now, and I just checked the weather.  It's about 98.5 degrees, but the heat index is 93 and the humidity is 11%.  For a while there, I thought I was just getting used to this wicked heat and humidity, but it as it turns out, the weather really has "improved."  

Anyway, I have little else to report.  Today was like any other, except I skipped my class.  I have staff meetings on Wednesdays that force me to leave class after only 15 minutes, and the stuff on the syllabus didn't seem too important, so I just didn't go.  The class is a joke as it is, but I hope the teacher (who is pretty laid back) didn't mind too much.  It's the first time I've missed a class of his this summer, so he has no right to get overly upset...  Well, that's all I've got.  Tomorrow we're supposed to have a chance of rain and a massive cool-down ("only" 90 degrees!), so that might shake things up a bit.  The forecast still calls for nothing below 90 for the next few days, though, so summer isn't going anywhere yet.

July 19, 2011

I'm about to go for a morning walk, but I figured I better not delay this post any more than necessary.  Yesterday, weather-wise, was pretty much the same as every other day for the past week.  It was clear and it was hot.  The only difference I noticed was that it seems a lot less humid than a few days ago.  The heat index is still high, but the heat felt much dryer than previous days.  You felt like you were in an oven rather than a tropical rainforest...

As usual, I went for a walk, went to class, blah, blah, blah.  The main difference was that I had the opportunity to talk to a friend I hadn't seen in long time.  She transferred from UNL to MIT back in January, so I haven't had any contact with her other than Facebook since she left.  I had an excellent time catching up with her and hearing about MIT/Boston.  Other than that, the only other anomalies in my day were when I saw Prince Amukamara by Memorial Stadium on my morning walk and Bo Pelini in the Parking and Transit Services Office.  Since Prince is a big shot who's been drafted by the NFL now, I wasn't expecting to see him in little ol' Lincoln, NE anymore.  Bo Pelini I just haven't seen that close before (within about ten feet).  When I walked in he was being kind of a jerk to the lady working...  Hmmm.  I can't say it would surprise me that he's a rude person, but I walked in during the middle of the conversation, so maybe he had a right to be annoyed.  I don't know...

July 18, 2011

This morning I woke early, but due to the fact that I went to bed around 10:30 p.m., it wasn't a problem. I felt rested and fully alive for the first time in many days, so I decided to go on a walk before the temperature rose too ridiculously high.  The rest of my day was nothing too fascinating.  I showered, went to lunch, hung out in my room, went to class, ate, and now I'm working.  I honestly don't feel bad about my unremarkable day, though.  It was not a good time to be outside.  This morning/early afternoon was bearable, but when I walked to class around 2:15 p.m., I felt like I was in Hell...  The only upside is that I'm pretty sure that the sun and the lack of precipitation recently has burned off a tiny bit of the moisture in the air.  It's still humid, but I don't feel like the air is quite as thick as a few days ago.

Well...I'm working at the Arctic desk until midnight, and I have nothing else to share.  Perhaps when I leave my shift, the temperature outside won't be so unpleasant.  This heat has gotten really old, really quickly, and I don't know how everyone is going to survive another week of this BS.

July 17, 2011

As you can tell by the date of this post, I got this post up quite late.  Why?  Because my new Spanish class gives very little homework, and I'm bored to death at desk shifts now.  If I know I work later, I purposely save posting for those six hours of dead time.  Anyway, yesterday was another scorcher.  I worked from noon to six at the same desk where I'm working tonight (on a six to midnight shift), so I avoided most of the afternoon heat.  The only thing that sucks about this particular desk is the fact that it's like the freaking polar ice caps here.  The A/C blows on you the entire time.  You know it's bad when you have a blanket over your legs and a space heater on when it's about 100 degrees outside...

As I mentioned before, my family was in town again.  My brother had to play another couple tennis matches at the Cornhusker State Games (consolation rounds), but I believe he won both of them this time.  My dad came to Lincoln with my mom and brother this time, so my sister got to hang out in the air conditioned house with my dog back in GI.  I'm sure it was perfectly miserable sitting out there all day.  Adding to the misery, the US Women's soccer team lost in the World Cup finals.  So frustrating... Fortunately, it's soccer, I'm American, and I forgot about the loss so quickly that I didn't remember it until I began typing this post.

Since I was working all day, my parents and brother met up with me after my shift.  They hung out with me for about an hour in my dorm room and cooled off. My dad said that the inside of my room looked exactly the same as when he attended UNL, which does not surprise me at all.  They also brought me a digital camera that we got off of Amazon for about $40.  It's a DSLR-like camera that's used and an older model, but otherwise works perfectly fine.  The only problem is the USB cable we were given does not match the camera, so I could not get any of my test pictures off of it.  We're in the process of getting that figured out.  Until now, I can't compare the results to my other camera.  Finally, my family decided they needed to head back, so they took off to head west down Interstate.   I spent the rest of the night doing absolutely nothing in my dorm room, and I ended up going to bed around 10:30 p.m.  All of these duty shifts recently have been killing me.  I'm a picky sleeper, so not being able to sleep in my own bed doesn't work out well for me!

July 16, 2011

So, yesterday was a nice break from my usual routine.  My mom, brother, and sister were in town for the Cornhusker State Games, so I was able to see them multiple times throughout the day.  My poor brother had to play in the ridiculous heat three times yesterday.  I believe he ended up changing his sweat-soaked clothes three different times throughout the day, and he stank to high heaven both times he came to my dorm room.  He'll have to face the heat again today because he has a couple consolation matches to play this afternoon and evening.  My sister and I were a little better off than my brother and mother because we got to spend the hottest parts of the day in air conditioning.  My sister was dying to get to the new Harry Potter movie, so we went over to the Grand Theatre in downtown Lincoln.  It's sad, but even though I'm going to be a junior in college, yesterday was the first time that I've been there.  I had no idea it looked so impressive inside.  It's definitely a lot nicer than any of the theaters in Grand Island.  Anyway, it was a great movie, and my sister and I were emotionally wrecked for the rest of the day.  My sister was more upset about sad events in the plot of the movie, but most of my emotion was nostalgia.  I turned 19 over 9 months ago, but I've never felt like such an adult as I did after the movie was over.  My childhood is gone. :(

Anyway, after seeing off my family, I headed straight to a duty shift in another building.  It was extremely uneventful due to the fact that there were only two people in the entire building.  I didn't do much except hang around and watch Hulu.  I did snap a shot of the sunset (seen above).  It didn't translate very well into a picture, but the sun looked pretty awesome.  Usually, without a couple clouds in the sky, sunsets are pretty lame, but yesterday the sun was just a giant red ball sitting on the horizon. Well, that's really all I have for now.  I'm currently working a noon to six desk shift, so I won't have to face the afternoon heat.  I'll get to see my brother, mother, and father (my sister is taking her turn dogsitting at home) again today after my shift, so I'm looking forward to that.  My father hasn't been to one of my dorm rooms since the day I moved in freshman year, so it should be interesting.

July 15, 2011

Today was pretty similar to yesterday...except hotter.  Once again, I went for a walk late morning/early afternoon, and by the time I got back, the t-shirt I was wearing was a completely different color due to my profuse sweating.  I'm not sure exactly how high the actual temperature got today, but I know the heat index was around 115 to 120 late this afternoon.  Fun.  Unfortunately, there is no end in sight.  Looking at the extended forecast, it's supposed to be near the triple digits and humid for at least the next week.  I hope we don't all melt.

On the bright side, today was Friday, meaning I don't have to go to class tomorrow.  It's not that my class is hard, it's that it's at such an annoying time of day (right in the middle of the afternoon).  It's nice to not have my day broken in half for once.  I'll also get to sleep in a bit and see my family tomorrow, so that's always a plus.  Anyway, I have about 30 to 45 minutes of my desk shift left.  Hopefully, it won't be raining on me when I leave.  There have been some nasty little isolated thunderstorms in random spots of Nebraska tonight.  Nothing too severe, but still not something I'd be happy to walk home in.  Even if it isn't storming, it's still uncomfortable outside.  I just checked a few minutes ago, and now (after 11 p.m.) the heat index is still about 108!

July 14, 2011

I got off my duty shift yesterday morning and walked out to see an overcast sky and feel the thick air (Picture 1).  It had rained and stormed a tiny bit the night before, which is probably why the humidity was so ungodly high.  A couple hours later, the sun broke and everything started heating up (Picture 2).  It didn't feel as awful as it could have because the temperature stayed in the high 80's to lower 90's.  That being said, I was still drenched with sweat after my walk.  The rest of the day pretty much consisted of me staying in the air conditioning as much as possible before going to another duty shift.  Otherwise, it was a quiet night, and I really have nothing else to report.

One last thing, some people have been noticing the sudden construction in the parking lot in front of my dorm.  I honestly don't know what the construction workers have been doing, but they've been digging up much of the parking lot and putting in long pipes underground.  I'm not sure if that's the extent of the project or not.

July 13, 2011

Today was another cloudy, cooler-than-usual July day.  It was very cool in the morning, so I chose to go for a walk early.   The sun came out partially when I was halfway through, and that was necessarily a good thing.  It just made the humidity feel worse.  It was only in the 70's and I was sweating.  The rest of the day stayed humid, but the sun came and went.  There are storms in the region tonight, but I don't know if any of them will reach Lincoln.  I'm kind of hoping they don't...  We don't need any more moisture in the air, especially not immediately before the massive heat wave they are forecasting for the next week or so.

Anyway, the rest of my day consisted of going to class for about 15 minutes before I had to run to my mandatory staff meeting.  We had staff evaluations today, and (much to my relief) mine went well.  I got five out of five stars!  :)  Now, I'm on a duty shift hanging out in my assigned duty room.  I spent the majority of my shift watching the ESPYs in one of the TV lounges and neglecting my homework.  I think I'll save my homework for the morning.  There's no way I'll be able to bring myself to do it tonight.  I could barely motivate myself to write this blog post!

July 12, 2011

I never thought I'd say this, but yesterday I was GLAD that it was cloudy (Picture 1).  When it's clear and excruciatingly hot/humid for days on end, sometimes it's nice to catch a break.  It was still a little sticky, in the morning and early afternoon, but it was windy and much cooler (upper 70's to lower 80's).  At one point there was even a brief rain shower.  I was actually indoors for most of the afternoon.  I had to go to a meeting to sign a few papers to formally accept my RA position, and after that I headed to class until four.  Fortunately, after that I was completely open.   I ate, hung around, and even went for an evening walk.  While I was away, the clouds broke (Picture 2), and it started to feel a little muggier outside.  Fortunately, it was late enough in the evening that the temperature couldn't make it too uncomfortable outside.  To the south (in Kansas) there were storms, which are the thunderheads that you see in a couple of the pictures.   The final picture shows the skyline around sunset.  A cloud bank came in from the north, and there were some cool cloud reflections and colors going on for awhile.

Other than that, I have little else to report.  I don't anticipate my Spanish 304 class being a huge problem, and otherwise it's just work as usual.  Tonight and tomorrow night I'm on duty, but my workload this week isn't as near as bad as some other people's.  That's all I have to report!

July 11, 2011

It's Monday...  My duty shift last night was uneventful--no problems with campers, no storms, and actually no people on my floor.   However, for whatever reason, I slept horribly.  The bed was uncomfortable, the air conditioner was loud, and I tossed and turned for hours.  After that fabulous night of rest, I got up a little before 7 a.m. to clock out and eat breakfast.  Usually, I go back to bed after duty, but I opted to go for a morning walk instead (to avoid the afternoon heat).  Even at lower temperatures, the walk was somewhat uncomfortable.  The air was thick (though not as thick as yesterday), and the temperature climbed about 10 degrees in the time that I was gone.  The rest of my day consisted of hanging around in my room, going to the first day of my new class, and working.  I'm actually currently working at a desk, and my crappy night of sleep is finally catching up with me.

There's really nothing else interesting to say, and I'm too tired to think of anything creative.  To quickly explain the pictures, the top shows the haziness of late morning, and the second is a picture of a random cloud bank that was coming in.  It was hot and humid, but not quite as bad as yesterday.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the *gasp* 80's.  What a cool down...

June 10, 2011

Ugh, not the loveliest of weather on this Sunday in July.  It was in the mid-nineties, which isn't a problem, but the humidity was unbelievably high. You couldn't walk outside without breaking a sweat and feeling completely disgusting.  If you look at the afternoon and evening pictures above, you can even see the sick haziness in the air.  I went for a walk late morning/early afternoon and came back drenched.  I was glad to have to work for the rest of the day in order to stay in the air conditioning.  I had to work from 3 to 6 p.m., and now I'm on a 12-hour duty shift that will end at 7 a.m. tomorrow.  Between 6 and 7 p.m. I ventured outside quick to grab something from my room that I forgot, and I really wished I didn't have to be outside.  I think the heat index was still over 100 at 9:30 p.m. when I last checked the Lincoln weather.  Bleh.  There's a pretty good chance of storms tonight, so maybe some of that rain will actually take some of the heaviness out of the air.  It seems like the air (usually) less horrific after an overnight rain, as contradictory as that may sound.  I have a feeling that might not be the case this time, though.  When it's forecast to be 97 degrees tomorrow, it's hard to feel optimistic.  Summer has definitely arrived...

I can't say anything else too interesting about my day.  Woke up, goofed around, watched the end of the epic USA/Brazil women's soccer game, and worked.  Nothing too special.  I did find out that I got a 100 in my Spanish 303 class.  There's some nice padding for the ol' cumulative GPA...  Spanish 304 starts tomorrow and I have the same teacher.  I don't plan to slack, but I can't say I'm overly concerned about my grade in this next class either.

July 9, 2011

Well, we've reached the end of another day.  I can't say I have anything exciting to report.  I worked from noon to 6 p.m. today, so I don't know what it was like outside in the middle of the afternoon.  I was SO bored during my shift because there was no one in the building, and I didn't have any homework to do.  You'd think that there would be enough on the World Wide Web to entertain me for six hours, but that was not the case.  At one point, I was so sick of looking at the computer screen that I resorted to staring off into space and letting my eyes glaze over.  This was not a good choice.  Around 4 p.m. I almost started to doze off in the middle of my shift, so I had to get up and pace behind the desk to wake myself up.  Needless to say, I was happy to get out of there at 6 o'clock...

Anyway, what I can tell you about the weather is that this morning was hazy, hot, and windy (Picture 1),  and after work it was hot, hazy, and a little less windy (Picture 2).  I went on a long walk (thinking it would be cooler in the evening), but ended up sweating like crazy in the humidity.  By the time I got back to my dorm I felt so disgusting that I took a shower right away.  Now, I'm partyin' it up on my Saturday night by doing laundry and watching Jurassic Park on ABC Family.  Man, I have such a fast-paced social life...  I really need to slow it down every once in a while.