Election Time!

So, being a new member of a public service agency, I am new to the world of "the measures on the ballot directly affect me" club. I'm learning, but this year, I still cannot vote in Oregon, because I am still a resident of California (this will be changing soon I hope!) So, for those of you close to me, who are reading this, and have yet to cast your vote, check this out. It is an article on how I will be directly affected by voting (not only temporarily with my internship, but also in the future). And make sure to VOTE!VOTE!VOTE!

Difficulties

Not to complain, but life is STRESSFUL sometimes! First of all, Monday's tend to be the rough days. And it just so happens that today is Monday. I am working hard on Project Sticker Shock, and it has come down to me calling every store in Corvallis to speak with their managers to see if they would like to participate. It proves difficult when managers of stores have better things to do besides hear my "shpeel" on the project, but it is even more alarming when managers are COMPLETELY opposed to putting up warnings to their customers about purchasing alcohol for minors. Many have expressed that they want absolutely nothing to so with prevention of underage drinking, and are "greatly opposed" to participating. Ugh. Lately it seems that people are mad, and are taking it out on people who are just trying to help others, like myself. I'm just trying to make a small change in the world. No big deal. But seriously, next time you feel like being rude to someone random and pointless in your life, just take a moment to think about it before you proceed.

Red Ribbon Week!

Starting on Thursday, it is National Red Ribbon Week, for awareness of underage drinking and excessive drinking. Since this is my current field of work, I am encouraging all to wear a bit of red from Thusday to next Wednesday. I'll have more infor later... I gotta get my homework done before 2! eep!

Too Busy To Handle!

WOW! If I thought that life was busy before, I don't know what I was thinking! I have so many areas of my life to keep track of right now that I have to break it down to keep track:

Home!

Erica caught some nasty sort of bug this weekend. I took her to Student Health Services yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, bu of course, they didn't do anything but give her a pain killer. She woke up this morning with a temperature of 102 so I got her in the car and took her to urgent care. She is feeling better now, but I am getting all OCD with the handwashing and I have been spraying every possible surface with 409. Neither Dave nor I can get sick right now. I'm still recovering from my wisdom teeth being removed... I have a check up Thursday to make sure everything is healing properly.

Health Department!
Busy with Project Sticker Shock. My first stickering is scheduled for next week, before Halloween and Homecoming... but we shall see if that happens. This weekend is our retailer training that we do for those who have liquor licences. Its a refresher course for those who serve or sell alcohol to the public. We talk about checking IDs and what the current laws enforce. fun fun!

Rainbow Health Resources
I'm getting the business cards printed today. I'm kind of glad that I waited becuase we found a typo-error on the back side. One of the local businesses recently changed management, and their name along with it. So we had that fixed. And the cards will hopefully be done by the time I leave for our monthly meeting tomorrow night at Roger's house. Really excited. We have lots of updates and things to talk about. I also just finished fixing the basket "decor" to have RHR's logo on it instead of the now gone MARS logo. Wheeehooo!

As for my personal life. Great, as usual. Alissa and I plan to go to Junction City Friday night for the Haunted Corn Maze and pumpkin patch that they have. Saturday is Reatiler Training, but then we will have a small get together for my BIRTHDAY! yay! Sunday is my b-day... and Dave told me not to make any plans for Sunday all day. But won't tell me any more.... sneaky boy! I'll let you know how it goes!

First day at Benton County Health Department!

Sooo... today was my first day as the intern for the subsance abuse prevention program at Benton County HD. It was really crazy how much it takes to even know how to get to the bathroom, but I'm sure that I will catch on fast. All of my co-workers, especially my supervisor Kelly and her assistant Ashley, are really cool people and make it all that much more fun. Today I started working on my main project, getting a few ideas down and filling up a good handfull of post-it notes with tasks to accomplish and things to think about. I'm really excited to get working on the good stuff and turn my ideas in to plans and then into actions. Public health is fun! I swear! haha. I'll keep you posted on that stuff. When I get a chance I'll post some photos of some of our visual pieces we will be using for our projects.

In Memory of a Cyclist

Last week, someone not close to me, but close to those I know in the cycling community here in Corvallis, was hit and killed by a logging truck in Philomath. The news shocked Dave and I, and the first thing that came to mind, before the emotions of sadness and anger, came a sense of duty. I felt like getting up from where I was sitting and going out and telling everyone that they need to be more aware of each other. And not just drivers being more aware of cyclists (although that is the MOST important lesson here), but just in general.

There were a few articles relating to the incident that are touching and inspiring:
http://gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/10/08/news/community/from_last_week/2aaa03_bikedeath.txt

http://gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/10/08/news/community/7aaa01_bomber.txt

The Family Blog
http://edbomber.weebly.com/index.html

Introduction

Since the end of last week, my life has suddenly gotten pretty crazy busy and I feel like it is hard to keep up with family and friends. I became a member of a blog for a class and decided that maybe it was time to do one of these things instead of keeping up with people on Facebook or MySpace. So here it is... a chronicle of my adventures in case you want to see pictures or you just want to check in.