Dancing with the King of the Ages!

Greetings from Cebu! I've been here for two and a half weeks now and I figure it's about time I showed off some pictures of things I've done. For the most part life consists of going from my hotel room to work and back. However, I'm trying to use my weekends well and get out to see the city. Last weekend I went to the Ayala shopping center, twice. I went on my on on Saturday and then Sunday my coworkers wanted to go, so I joined them again. Other than being a shopping center, they're several yummy looking restaurants and a beautiful garden in the center. Here's a self portrait showing off the garden. This fountain is at the mall too. Just a fun water feature. My favorite discovery so far... Gelatto! The first time I tried mango. It was SO good! I am absolutely loving the mangoes. They're fresh and taste so yummy! I have a mango shake or mango juice any chance I get :) I've started "collecting" the Starbucks mugs that are specific to the region ...

Can I just say, I love my job! I was just struck today by how amazing God has been to me. I was just sitting poolside at a grill restaurant in the hotel I'm staying at, in Cebu Philippines, eating molassis and pecan crusted salmon as this great tropical breeze blows by and I just have to be amazed. All of this is being paid by work, and all I have to do is my job, which I love! Never would I have thought three years ago that I would be on my second oversease business trip with this company. I dind't think I'd be there longer than 6 months and this month marks 3 years! I have been so blessed to be able to travel and do what I love. I've been to Asia 4 times in the last 4 years. A testiment to God's sense of humor since I never had any desire to go to Asia :) But if I'd gone to work anywhere else, my opportunities to travel probably woudln't have been available. So, things that happened today to make me write this... I had jumbalaya and fresh, as in I co...

"We're kidnapping your bike... The lock's in the way though." Was the text I received from my roomies tonight when I got off of work around 11:30pm. They're so fun :) As I stepped into the lobby I saw them sitting in the dark, on the couch waiting for me to come out. They'd been out for dinner and thought to come pick me up from work. How sweet! We got home and as I went up the stairs I checked the time, 11:56pm. Brie disappeared into the kitchen and Eron blocked the entrance. "What time is it?" he asked. I told him. "Well, we'll go off of mountain time!" and he and Brie burst into song, singing Happy Birthday. Brie had made me homemade, Giradelli chocolate brownies with homemade caramel sauce on them! Mmmmm, they we're delicious! I love my roomies!

It seems like I get the urge to blog about once a month :) Or maybe it just takes that long for things to change at work just enough for me to write about it. I'm not sure. Either way, it's been a while and things are on the move, again. Not a whole lot has changed recently. At least not concerning work, but I'll get to that... Stess and I are thinking about living together again, but it probably won't happen until the end of summer, maybe. She's teaching out in Sandy as a temporary sub for the rest of the year. It's nice to know she's got a steady job, but that's causing her some stress since she now has to plan a lesson every day as well as get her school work done. We don't see each other as much anymore since we're on the opposite ends of town. We're making up for it during the weekends though. Last weekend Mom, Dad, Stess, Crista and my Aunt and Uncle all came up to Portland to see Cat's the Broadway. I think we all agree tha...

I enjoy my job. I like working with the agents I work with. I like the other Seniors I work with. I really like training new classes. I currently have a good schedule and for the most part, I'm happy with my job. I would however, like to have more responsibility. When I'm training I'm in charge of 20-25 agents, making sure they understand what is going to be expected of them. I get the opportunity to work with them for four weeks and by the end of that time, I've developed pretty good rapport with them. Lately, when I'm not training, I've found myself a bit bored at work. When I'm working as a Senior, I'm wandering the floor helping agents, and I like it, but I'm ready for more. That's why, when about three weeks ago and email came out saying they were hiring three new managers, I figured I'd apply. At first I just thought about it. But soon I had a few managers ask me if I was going to apply. And not the managers that I necessarily...

Well, my trip to the Philippines is still a go! No, I'm not excited... Not even a little ;p I fly out around 2pm on Wednesday, July 29th. It's quite a long flight, but I honestly don't mind. I love flying! In fact, I was at the airport on Friday night, to catch a shuttle to go to Corvallis, and got excited seeing the planes as they land! I've always been that way though. I remember when I was growing up, my family lived near the airport and we knew all sorts of missionaries, so it was quite common for us to go to the airport to pick up people. This was all in the days of guests actually being able to wait at the gate and see the plain coming in. We have pictures of my sister and I standing at the big windows watching eagerly as the plains are taxing in. So, as long as I can remember, driving up Airport Way in Portland, headed to the airport gets me excited. There are so many possibilities! Anyway, I'm getting off track... I haven't written much lately,...

About two months ago, an email went out at work. It went something like this on a Friday afternoon, "I (being my boss' boss...) am looking for a list of volunteers who would go to the Philippines for three months. There would be no time to come home for a break during this time. I need an answer to give to the Company by Monday." Being the somewhat reluctant traveler that I am (NOT!) my response was "something" like this... "I'LL GO!!! When is it?" Unknown to be was the fact I had accidentally hit respond to all, so every manager and every senior, saw how "un"willing I was to go... That was Easter weekend. I told my family, got all excited about the possibility, and moved on. Again, being the "reluctant" traveler that I am, I didn't get online and look at flights to the Philippines and I didn't try to find where I would be located. Of course I didn't look up World Venture Missionaries in the off chance that I...

I love my hair. I know, odd way to start a blog, but I'm sitting here at work eating lunch and a comment made about my hair made me laugh. I'm going to tell you about it, but have to preface it first... My hair is naturally curly, and I love it, but I got it cut a while ago and it looks really good straight too. So, on any given day, it will be curly or straight. No big deal right? So back to my lunch. This guy leans over my cube wall and asks, "Is that a wig?" WHAT!!!??? He proceeded to say that my hair is always changing, he thought it was brown last week, and that he was just curious... It made me laugh... "Is that a wig?" I give him props for asking...

This came to me in email form and we had a blast laughing through it. Hope it brightens your day! KNOW THE SYMPTOMS Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder. Somehow I feel better even though I have it!! Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is on...

For several years now my parents have really gotten into riding bikes. We've always had bikes, mountain bikes to be exact, and made much use of them when we went camping throughout the summer. I even remember one winter in Portland where we pulled them out and rode in the snow! My mom's sister and husband got a tandem bike and Mom and Dad took to the idea and bought their own. They loved it so much they started doing tandem rallies and riding all the time. Dad's on the front and Mom on the back. Well, apparently dad got tired of looking at the white line on the road while mom pointed out all the deer and about two years ago they bought a recumbent tandem. Since they've gotten into riding my sister has and, to some degree, I have as well. Stess is much more into it and two years ago Mom and Dad got her a street bike, an upright one. Last summer Stess and I joined Mom and Dad on a tandem rally and it was really fun. I rode with Dad and Stess with Mom. The only th...

Yeah, I've not been that consistent with this blog. What can I say, life's been busy. I worked over 7 hours over time last week. Needless to say, I was a little tired. I did make that up on the weekend though and went to see Wicked again! I showed up two and a half hours early and put my name in a lottery for a $25 ticket. And I got one! It was a ton of fun and I'd do it again but alas, Wicked has left Portland... This weekend Mom, Dad and my Sister are headed up here for Easter! They're coming to my church and I'm "hosting" dinner! Oh the responsibility! We're having ham. We've had it before so there's not much I can screw up. My roommate is out of work and has been since December. She's an accountant and is looking hard but no luck yet. Her brother moved out here from Boston a few weeks ago. He's living with us for now. He's also unemployed... Last night I think he applied for a job where I work. I don't think he's plannin...

Wow it's been a while since I updated this! Sorry! Life is rolling along and I'm doing good. Last Friday Stacy and I, along with Madre, Bonnie, George and Cindy, went to see Brad Paisley in concert at the Rose Garden! It was tons of fun! Stacy has pictures on her blog... A coworker asked me to go to teh Blazer game on Sunday afternoon. They won and scored over 100 points, so everone got cupons for free chalupas at Taco Bell! It was a good game too, so lots of fun there. This Saturday Stess is coming up to Portland! We're going to see Chris Tomlin!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I'm excited! I saw him several years ago and loved it, so I'm really looking forward to that this weekend. And seeing Stess is always wonderful. I'm still without a car, but have been getting around on the public transportation pretty well. Once it gets sunnier, or less rainy, I'm going to try and ride more often. Work is going well. I was in training for the past week and a half and learne...

I've been training a new hire class for going on three weeks now and I thought I'd share a bit about my class. I am teaching 20 men about how to be a technician on my contract. That in itself is a feat. Me, someone with very little technical experience (that's a step up from none), teaching 20 guys with varying degrees of technical ability, most of which probably have much more experience than I do. However, even with this being the case, the class is going really well! On the first day I did have one woman, but she bailed and never came back. I can only assume she was intimidated by the daunting task ahead of us. So, now I've got these guys in a classroom for 40 hours a week, three weeks long. It's been fun. I've got the older gentlemen who vary from not knowing anything about "modern" computers to knowing more than their fair share of information. I have the guys who transfered from other contracts and those who are new to my workplace all to...

A few weeks ago I saw a notice at work for a position opening up on my contract. It's a position that I've been kinda doing for a while. I'd applied about 3 months after I got hired, didn't get the job, but have been training for it since then. I decided to apply for the job again. I'm very happy doing what I'm doing now, but figured why not get paid more and have it look good on a resume? So, Friday I had my interview. Before then, I spoke with my manager and he encouraged me, with no intention of discouraging me, to not give up if I didn't get the job. I went into the interview confident that I was qualified to do the job and do it well, but aware that other very qualified applicants had also applied. My interview went well and I was told that out of20 who applied, I was 1 of 6 to be interviewed! I was told that I'd probably know by Monday if I got the job or not. Well, Monday came and went and I figured I hadn't gotten the job. Today, jus...

One year ago today, I walked into a classroom, sat down with about 20 other people and felt really overwhelmed. I was one of three women in the class. My instructor asked the class how many of us had built our own computer. I was one of three who didn't raise their hand. My instructor then went on to explain the process the others went through to research the parts needed, search for the best price, wait for them to arrive, then set up the pc. All this was to convince the others in the class that buying a pc, for the average person, was actually a really good deal. After eight hours of this stuff I went back to my Uncles thinking, "What have you gotten me into God?" Well, today, is my one year anniversary! I can't believe I made it this long. I honestly didn't think I'd be good at my job. I didn't think I'd like it, and wasn't very confident in my ability to assure the customer that I knew what I was doing because I didn't. I also didn't ...

I know, it's been a while since I last posted anything. I've been trying to come up with something really great to write about, but nothing's coming to mind. So, instead of some wonderful pearls of wisdom, you get the mundane. Well, maybe not mundane, but my life as it pertains to: ...Living quarters. I'm pretty settled in to my place now. Last Sunday I got home from church and shortly after both roomates did. We had a chance to sit down for lunch together, not planned, it just happened. It was a fun, non-stressful time. We actually had a neighbor come by and give us a welcome gift! Later we went to the park and threw a ball for Brandi, our friendly dog, and played on the swings. All in all, a very relaxing time just hanging out. Later Jamie and I went to Target, with 2 stories! Jamie was really funny, being from a small town, Target with an escelator that you can put your cart down was quite an adventure. ...Church. I'm still trying to find a...

This week has been very interesting, and today was great! I've been training again at work, however not one class with the same people. Instead, I've been training everyone on my contract during the day in groups of 5 or 6. This past week I was trying to catch up on those who've been gone or for one reason or another weren't able to be in class the first two weeks. I've also been going around and having those who didn't pass the first time re-take the test and try to pass it the second time. A few highlights: Being told by an agent that she wasn't confident in what she was being tested on, proceeding to pass (100%) the test and then tell me at lunch she was very grateful to me for taking the time to make sure she understood what was going on. Very encouraging! Having another agent tell me in a similar way that he appreciated the time I was willing to take to make sure he passed and understood the information. On top of training, this week I've been ...

Some adults are such crybabies! I've been teaching a new product training class these past few weeks and it's amazing how some people are flat out crybabies when it comes to doing their job. This class has a test at the end, 12 questions. True, some of the questions aren't that great, and there are a few that are wrong, but for the most part, the test is fine. This week I'm working on having those people who didn't pass the first time. They are a bunch of babies! Now granted, there are some great people who know it's a test, know there's not a lot they can do about it and know that I'm just the messanger. However, it's the people who come in griping and grumpling about how they're just stupid tests and they've never passed one before so why worry now that really frusterate me! It's not my decision to test you. I didn't write the test. I didn't decide to make the product work, or not work, the way it's designed. Just...

Since I got back from Mongolia life has been pretty hectic so I appologize for not posting more pictures (still to come) or telling you more about my trip (also, still to come.) When I got back I realized I had 2 weeks to find a place (Praise the Lord, He provided!) and move (this weekend). On top of that, last weekend was a big family gathering, and stuff at work is changing along with my schedule. But, in an effort to at least give you something, I thought I'd tell you about one story from Mongolia that wouldn't have happened last year. Stess, Kate and I went evangelizing in the countryside with Pugi (the pastor) and Oyuna (our translator.) We ended up at a home with three generations all living together. They were all there and invited us into their home. Pugi spoke with them first, telling them what he did and why we, the Americans, were there. They asked what we did for work in the states. Kate works as a manager in a hotel and Stess is a teacher. Both those seem to t...

Praise the Lord! I found a place to live as of last night! I've been looking hard for a week, just after I got back from Mongolia and realized I only had two weeks to find a place. I didn't really want to move to Beaverton, cause I love Portland! And I didn't want to move any further east because the commute would be aweful. The place I found is closer to 205 and even better, about 3 blocks away from the Max station. Now I'll really have no excuse other than pure laziness, to not rid the Max to work. I'll be living with two christian women and a chocolate lab that is just sweet. The house is owned by one of the ladies and it's really cute! So, thanks for your prayers. They've been answered!