Flood of 2008

As many know, Iowa experienced some terrible flooding in the past few weeks. While much of the water has gown down since then, there are the remains of the destruction the flood caused. Because I was gone for much of that time (Florida), I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures. But I did want to share a few of the old railroad bridge in downtown Waterloo.

Before I left for Florida and before the worst of the flooding, Ken and I went downtown Waterloo to look at the high water in the Cedar River. The water was at the very bottom of this railroad bridge. By the time I had arrived in Florida and called home to let Ken know I'd arrived, the bridge was gone. Here is a shot of the bridge as one drives across the 6th street bridge in downtown. At first all looks fine, but then...

You can see how the high rushing water pushed the bridge over and it is now sitting in the river. The picture doesn't do it justice really. It's much more impressive when Ken's driving over the bridge and I'm gawking out the passenger-side window.

To the left you can see the view looking directly across the bridge. Of course, the entrance to the bridge is completely barracaded. Overall, much of downtown Waterloo is fine now. There was some flooding in the area, and many of the downtown John Deere buildings had to be evacuated due to water, but I think things are mostly returning to normal now.

Things go on as normal here as well. I'm back to work after two weeks off. Ken and I had our garage sale a week ago Friday and made some good money (over $200). We're pleased and are ready to now look at what we can get in terms of a lawn mower with that. Hopefully something decent. We still have some items left (I did end up donating some items to a friend who works for a new parents' organization who could use certain items) and we'll probably have another sale sometime soon. I'm beat though and not in the mood to sit outside and do that again anytime in the near future. We do know now, however, that we have a good location for such sales. We threw up a couple of signs on nearby corners, but really didn't do any other advertising.

In other news, the new furnature we ordered on Memorial Day weekend was supposed to arrive last week, but didn't because of flooding and transportation problems. I've bet Ken that it doesn't arrive before the 4th of July. He thinks I'm wrong. I guess we'll wait and see.

Well, the week's just hitting her midpoint which means I still have to go to work 3 more days. I'm beat. I need a vacation. :-)

From Florida to Iowa

I'm back from the AP Reading in Daytona Beach, Florida. This was a hard year to be away as while I was gone most of Iowa was flooded something terrible. I would like to get a picture or two from downtown Waterloo, but as I just got back, I haven't had time to do that. Thanks to all of you who've asked me how we're doing. I'm happy to report that we're good. Ken and I have no water in our basement or home, and all of our family is dry too. I wish I could say the same for the others in Iowa.

I have 1-2 pictures of Florida on my camera to get off yet, but I thought I'd share a couple of fun ones from Ken and my Memorial Day weekend camping trip to Backbone State Park with Mom, Melissa, Jeff and Audra.

These were taken in the few days before the big Parkersburg tornadoes hit. Here you see Ken (ever the child himself) playing with my neice Audra in the sand at the swimming lake. Ken was trying to make a small castle and, for a short time anyway, Audra was helping. Then she discovered it was more fun to let him build it and then she would smash it. The next picure shows her demolishing the castle as Ken tries desperately to save it. It's a good thing he likes rebuilding. And no, the man in the background is not passed out or dead...that's my brother-in-law Jeff, Audra's dad, enjoying some downtime while Ken entertains Audra.

In other news, Ken and I are going to try to have a garage sale tomorrow. In the process of unpacking, we've discovered so much stuff that we really just don't need. And so, we're going to try to make a little money in the process of getting rid of it. Everyone says were' crazy and it's so much work. Well, yes, they're right, but We're going to try it. We may never do this again. More news on the garage sale and Florida trip later.

Here's a final shot of a big strawberry in the small town of Strawberry Point, IA. And who said Iowan's aren't fun?

Communication Specialist

That's my new title. Apparently I am now supposed to be a specialist in the art of communications. Well, only time will tell on that one, I guess. It's mid-week and I've had three full days of work. The biggest adjustment so far? Not being able to surf the internet, read & update blogs, and check my non-work email during work hours. You see, we're not supposed to go off the Deere intranet really. That's considered getting away from work. Welcome to the corporate world. I mean, it is ok to do this sometimes and it's necessary in some cases to do work-related work by researching things online. But the company actually monitors how much time people spend on the internet and will talk to you about things if they get out of hand. I've been watching other people though and it seems like no one else is surfing the internet. Everyone I meet or see at their cubical is always very busy, so I guess I should be too.

So far my first three days have been good. I was exhausted the first two days, but am feeling pretty good tonight. This was the first day I got to try my hand at some of the tasks I'll be doing pretty regularly. This includes updating the Waterloo Works intranet site and editing/writing articles for various publications. Having real work to do made the day go a lot faster. We also had a division lunch meeting at a really fancy new restaurant in Cedar Falls. One of my sister Melissa's friends (Shelly) was there and sat with me, so that was a lot of fun. She's the one that passed my resume on to the Deere people in the first place.

The first two days basically involved me shadowing the other two women in my department and taking notes of some of the things we do (web updating in particular). Thank goodness for that web experience at ISU!!! At least now I have an idea of what they're talking about. I don't know where'd I'd be if I hadn't created a teaching website or worked on the ISWP website for the time I did. I do wish now that I'd taken the Hypertext course like I'd originally planned on doing at ISU. Oh well.

I also now officially have my work badge that I have to scan each day to get in, and I have to wear it all day. I haven't had to do that since working at the Postal Service headquarters in DC. I have to confess that much of the working experience so far reminds mea lot of The Office. When you walk into the building, there's a big sign that states how many days different departments have gone without having an accident (remember that episode when Michael took the office people down to the warehouse and they had to change the once-good accidents sign?). And today at our lunch meeting, people were talking about the people who plan the Christmas parties and fall parties, etc. All I could think of was the episode of The Office where there was the Party-Planning Committee and the Committee to Plan Parties. Fun huh?

Time for dinner. More on the working world later.

Beginning a New Job

It's been a very crazy week. We spent Monday at Parkersburg helping in anyone in any way that we could. Then Ken worked the rest of the week while I was at home preparing for whatever it is I'm preparing for. Starting a new job I guess is what I'm supposed to be preparing for. I was supposed to start my job on Wednesday, but they called and asked that I come in on Monday (June 2) instead. It seems that the people I'd be working with would be in training and unable to work with me. So I got an extra three days of at home time.

We went back to Parkerburg on Wednesday night to help some more. All we were able to do was loan a wheelbarrel to Ken's friend to help clean up debris around his house. All the home owners now have to separate the debris from their house into wood and metal piles so that the clean-up crews can begin removing it. Ken went back for about 8 hours with his sister, brother, and other friends to take care of sorting the debris around Kathy's house. I went to lunch and then bridesmaid dress shopping with my friend Melissa and her other 3 bridesmaid for Melissa's November wedding.

Here is a picture we took on Wednesday night heading out of Parkersburg and back toward Cedar Falls. As you can see all of the power lines had been knocked out by the storm and here were the dedicated power company people all lined up fixing them at once. This was taken about 8:30 p.m. Now that's what I call overtime.

The tornado is all that anyone around here is talking about. I went to church this morning with my mom, sister Melissa, and her family. Tornadoes, bad insurance companies, and where to go in our own homes in the event of a tornado was the topic of conversation over coffee and cake. The truth of the matter is that everyone knows someone who was affected by this. We all have a story to tell.

In other non-tornado news, my post-graduation vacation is somewhat over. I begin my new job tomorrow, and I confess I'm a little nervous. It's sort of like the first day of college. I have a vague idea of what it will be like, but in reality I know it's going to be a whole different world than I've been used to. It's weird thinking about what I should wear, not knowing if I'll be touring the facility or sitting at a cubicle the first day. Should I take my lunch or eat in the cafeteria? What materials should I take with me? Where do I park? Oh, so many things to think about (read here "worry about" since I'm obsessing over all the little details I refused to think about all last week).

On the home front, we ordered furnature which should arrive in about 2-3 weeks or so. Finally...no more futon! We ordered a lovely light brown micro-fiber couch, loveseat and rocker/recliner over Memorial Day weekend. We'll at last be able to enjoy cable TV in comfort. The futon's been good for me these past 5 years and has accommodated many a friend and family member who's come to visit me in Illinois. She was a good futon, but it will be so much nicer to have a couch that people can sink into, lie down on, and stretch out on. Never the ones to throw good things away, we'll keep the futon in the basement for now.

Also on the homefront, we finally put up our living room curtains and Ken assembled our own little charcoal grill. Our Illinois friend Keely had given us a monetary present to purchase one when we had our Romeoville apartment, but we just never got around to getting one. But now we have it and we even tried it out on Saturday night. Here are pictures of Ken in our living room setting up, assembling, and then demonstrating the mechanics of the grill. This is the only real shot of the house I have for you right now. As you can see, we have hardwood floors in our living room but plan to get a large area rug soon to help protect them (hopefully we'll have time to get that when we get our furnature).

And so, just wanting a low-key night on Saturday, we invited Mom over to throw on some brats she had left from camping. She also put some yams in foil and steamed them on the grill. We contributed some chicken a noodle side. In all, a FABULOUS dinner. We hung around for a while after that, and I shared pictures of Parkersburg on the computer with Mom. Afterwards, we took a drive up the road to our little ice cream place called "Moo Roos" (has a great cow theme!) and enjoyed a cone. A delightful evening.

More on the first day of work after it actually happens. Wish me luck.