Ten Minute Post

Do you think I can do this? I'm trying to write a blog post in ten minutes. That means it will be full of mistakes and lacking in organization and entertainment, but I guess I'll just learn to be concise. We're learning about that in my business communications class.

Beginning with last week. Last week... super busy and difficult to survive. In fact, I would venture to say it was one of the most taxing weeks of my entire college career. I had two individual papers and a group paper to write, along with a major exam on Thursday. That's not to mention any quizzes or minor assignments to fill in the cracks. I survived, and the grades are beginning to trickle in so I'll see how much damage my week did.

I was super tired and exhausted when I got home on Friday. My brain had been constantly moving and thinking all week, and it needed a break. I fell asleep and didn't wake up until it was almost suppertime. That night the single sisters came over and we got to go visit some older sisters for awhile. Afterward we came back to my place for ice cream sundaes! It was a nice evening to spend with some of my favorite people! :)

Saturday was the open house for the new church in Mediapolis. Dad, Mom, and I helped as tour guides and Billy helped park cars. It was a great experience and wonderful to share our customs and beliefs with the community and show them around the new building. In the afternoon we had the open house for other churches so it was also great to see and meet others from across the country! Thank you to all who made the effort to come to our open house! As for the community, you are always very welcome to join us for services any Sunday or Wednesday night!

We kept company from Morris at our house Saturday night. They had four kids, and it was nice to meet them and we're glad they came to visit! Because Mom was so occupied during the day, we ended up going to Pizza Hut for supper so she didn't have to cook. Billy and I left to go to a singing, and then came back to spend the rest of the evening with our company and family.

On Sunday, church was very full for the dedication. The dedication service was held in the afternoon and there were many visitors here for that. It was a very nice service as we dedicated the building to carry out the work of the Lord. It is such a blessing to have a place to worship God where many others can come to find their salvation. We trust the new building will serve this intended purpose for many years to come!

I've written my ten minutes worth and now must head to church! I'll come back later to proofread. :) Have a good rest of the week!

Happy Birthday, Iowa!

Today marked the 166th birthday of the University of Iowa! How do I know that? It's something a person learns from looking at the ground long enough. On my way  from class today I was walking with my eyes on the ground when I noticed a round bronze-ish looking seal on the ground. It read, "The University of Iowa-Organized February 25th, 1847. I walked past and then stopped and stepped back. Wait...when was February 25th? With a few deductions, I realized TODAY was February 25th and consequently wondered why I hadn't heard a thing about this marvelous holiday. So in commemoration, I took a picture of the stone and then made my way to the bus stop.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO INCREASE MY KNOWLEDGE AND VALUE TO SOCIETY. YOU HAVE PROVIDED AN EXCEPTIONAL INSTITUTION FOR LEARNING AND OPPORTUNITY.

In other news, my car broke down again. There's another snowstorm coming tonight. And we had a great weekend but I'm much too tired to talk about it now. I just needed to say Happy Birthday before the day passed!

I'm still here, just super busy and trying to manage my time! Unfortunately, blogging isn't a part of my time-efficiency schedule. I'll write again when the phase passes! :) In the meantime, I would love it if my brothers would take over and post a bit! ;)

Have a good night!!

This Too Shall Pass

Oh wow...I don't even know where to begin. All I can do is sit here and smile at the spectrum of events that have unfolded since I last posted.

Before we move on to more exciting things, the series of events actually began with a major snowstorm (following that foggy Monday morning) that put me in terror as I drove to school the following morning before the plows were out. When I finally made it, it took great effort to get my tense fingers unclenched from the steering wheel. That afternoon I refused to get back in my car to go to Fareway, so I walked. Yes, in this day and age when we have cars to drive us through the city-I walked. Not that it displeased me; in fact, it was safer, better exercise, and not even very far or extremely cold. It was just the lady I met at the door who wasn't very impressed.

I don't know why she thought I was crazy.

The notable occasions seemed to be coming to an end as I went through that uneventful weekend. Of course, that was just a breather.

Last week was likewise busy, which is why I had Billy post about the Robodogs for something exciting on our blog. Within a week, that post has gotten the most page views of any in this blog's history, besides the Christmas post. I told Billy that means he is an awesome blogger and needs to keep posting to keep things interesting. He told me ha ha ha.

Yay for the Robodogs!

The spectrum of events continued with our single group mystery traveling dinner, which I can now reveal was to Congerville. Since people didn't know where we were going until we got to each place, it was rather entertaining. We ended up  having courses at homes of several couples with Oakville connections, and went to church in Congerville Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend and great to see everyone!

The food they served was more delicious than the best pancakes you ever had! (I didn't take a picture of their meal so I had to find the next-best thing.)

But the best is yet to come. We stopped to eat in Burlington when we got back, and as we were getting ready to leave, my car (the Alero) wouldn't start. From my previous similar experiences, I was fairly certain it wasn't the battery and that there was nothing we could do about it. I felt completely helpless because I had to get back to college! I ended up draining the battery and then having a kind friend jump start it for me. I drove it all the way to Mediapolis, but my parents advised that I leave it there so they could fix it (it was the starter and has since been replaced). I took the Buick back to school.

Yep-that's the Buick. Parked in front of our tropical North Liberty condo.

The end? No. My evening of unfortunate events had only begun. When I got back to my place, I pulled into the garage and tragedy awaited. And it was not a crocodile.

How tragic! A crocodile in the garage!

Remember, this car was the Buick. It got stuck coming into the garage! Yes, it was apparently too big and I got stuck. The left side of the car was wedged up against the siding and I couldn't move any direction without making loud screeching noises and threatening to tear off the siding or drive through the wall in front of me.

Yeah. No comment.

At this point in the evening, it was 11:00 because of the previous circumstances. I was exhausted. I knew nobody within a 45 minute drive. Everyone was asleep at the apartments. And my car was stuck half-in, half-out of my garage. I don't typically get emotional, but I was way too tired to think of any more positive thoughts. I just started crying and called my mom.

The security cameras got this classic picture of me when I got out of the car.

The story could go on with much detail, but basically we ended up calling the dispatch and a cop came and got me out of my sticky situation. "Hope the rest of your night goes better!" Right. Me too!

At 11:45 pm on Sunday night, I finally got started on my homework. :) I had never been so happy for Sunday to end.

Ok, so the above illustrations are not an entirely accurate demonstration of the sad distress I was really going through.

That day's lesson: There is one positive thought that can remain with you through almost any circumstance: This too shall pass. And when it has passed, I can look back and see that God never left my side! He protects me and provides for my every need, no matter how grim the day may appear. I am so thankful that He has kept me safe thus far during my time at college.

So, that too did pass. The rest of my week has gone considerably well, despite the absence of my roommate. She should be home by next week, and in the meantime I have been productive until now.

I haven't much to add. Hope you have a good week!

Mediapolis RoboDogs

This is Billy here. Stephanie wanted me to do a blog post about Johnny and I's FIRST Tech Robotics Challenge, which we have been working on since early November. The FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) is a robotics competition where you make a robot to perform a certain task and then bring it to compete with other schools. Each year, they have a different objective, and this year, we had to make a robot that could pull a ring off of a peg, then place it on a 3x3 rack of pegs. There were a bunch of different, confusing point bonuses that we could get, so I won't go into the points system at all. Also, there was a certain amount of points given if you could lift another robot.

Anybody that wants to know the "Ring It Up" game in detail, watch this video:

The Robot (at the first competition, before adjustments): Proudly sporting the HawkeyePedershaab decal...

For anyone with a curious mind, we made a steel scissor lift and used a 3-D Printer for the ring-holder at the top.

Anyway, we had two competitions this year, one on January 26th and another on February 2nd. This being the first year our school has had a robotics team, we didn't do very well in the first competition, coming in at 21st out of 24 but we did learn a lot. We made a few adjustments for our next competition, and we made it to the semi-finals in that one, a major improvement from the first. Both Johnny and I had a lot of fun building the robot and playing at the competitions, and it was definitely a good experience.

The Robot places its first ring!!

Billy, Jonathan, and the rest of the RoboDogs.