Communication

What a week! I had the great joy of getting to see Kohly and actually meet his wife on Monday. That was really great. It was slow enough when he was here that we could actually talk for awhile. And during that lovely chat we, of course, discussed our blogs. I think we came to the conclusion that we check each other’s (our little group here) more than we actually write. It’s very true.

Now, from my perspective, my life doesn’t change a whole lot and I feel like sometimes my blog just becomes venting. But really, what else is it for? It’s a weblog, essentially an online journal. This can be a good thing though sometimes boring to read. (I’m not as eloquent as K). Our initial thought was to keep these as a way to track folks’ first year of ministry and compile things together, as a support network for each other. From my seat here in the ‘constant’ section, I think it has helped. I know I enjoy reading and keeping up on what y’all are up to. A lot of shop talk doesn’t happen via emails or on the phone, since those are times we just catch up and talk about our lives, but not necessarily about work.

Okay, I feel like I’m rambling here, but I guess my thought is for myself, a reminder as they say, is that I need to blog a bit more. There’s nothing wrong with using this as a venting post or to talk about what’s going on in my life. That’s kind of the point, I guess.

So, here’s a little update on my life:
I’ve been back to work 2 weeks now since the AK trip. I’m still not settled back into a routine, but I’m getting closer. I was stupid last week and agreed to take on a mailing project to help out the Pres’s wife – that has become a total nightmare. Talk about communication. Whoever did the project last year must have NO clue about mail merges and easing the process of multiple letters asking the same thing. the disc I was given had letter templates set up, sort of. There were about 50 individual letters, many saying the same thing (with the exception of to whom and asking for what – but even the latter was often the same), but all set apart for different people, all separate files! The spreadsheet connected to it also was not in any order, and didn’t make any sense. For example, there are letters that go to area associations – condos, apartments, etc – and there was one letter labeled ‘landlords 500’ but the spreadsheet had no indication of who the letters should go to! I spent 15 minutes on the phone with the lady whose project it is trying to sort it out and she had a great way of making me feel about this | | big because I didn’t know who these folks were, or that they ask Pepsi for 2,000 drinks for their participants (there was no letter for that), etc. So I’m finishing that project today, and fixing the damn disc because I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. Whoever does this next year deserves to have a little more order because this is just awful. And the lady didn’t understand why I didn’t get it done in one night – uh, duh, ‘cause it doesn’t make any sense lady! Oh yeah, and by the way, I have a life! Grrrr.

Otherwise, let's see...a friend and I have been talking back and forth lately – talk about communicating. This seems like no big deal, I know, but our method is a little odd. In lieu of email and the phone, we’ve been talking to each other into a tape recorder – those microcassette recorders journalists use – and then send tapes back and forth. It’s kind of fun because we can talk to each other like we’re sitting together but no one talks back. And we can also listen and laugh and comment without interrupting. It’s kind of fun. The only drawback is that we do still email and occasionally talk on the phone so our conversations sometimes overlap. Oh well. It’s different and unusual, which is fun. I’m sure I look like an idiot sometimes though as I drive to work talking into a tape recorder. Of course, I used to just talk to myself, so maybe this adds a note of sanity to my life.

Graduation is this weekend at LS and Events is taking a stronger role this year. NS left LS in April to go to Augsburg Fortress and so her office handed off graduation to us. Crazy because we don’t have a clue of what’s supposed to happen, and trying to figure that out in less than a month is more than a little insane. Plus I’ve been gone so CH has been taking on a lot of it, and going crazy in the process. :) But I’m sure it’ll be fine. It’ll all go well and next week will be much better. Should be an interesting time.

So that's me so far. I'm going to try to blog more often. I don't care if anyone reads but I need to be writing. See y'all on the 'net!