Things I Have Learned Since Moving to Columbia, MO

1. High temperatures mean nothing.
The saying "The weatherman is never right" has a whole new meaning. Throughout August I learned that it doens't really matter what the "high" temperature is going to be for that day...always check the heat index. That's what is will really feel like outside and what really matters when getting ready for the day. When they say the high will be 95...that's just what the thermometer measures, but it could feel as hot as 116 degrees. Not a lie, they tested it everyday at football practice during two-a-days. Adjusting to humidity has been different, but it's still not as bad as Houston. I am going to go ahead and make an assumption that this works both ways, come winter time I am already prepared to only care about the wind chill.

2. Cracking your car windows is a MUST.
This ties into the fact that the heat index is usually at least 10 degrees above the actual high. Several times in August I forgot to crack my windows...I thought I might melt when I got in my car. It's the end of September and I am still having to crack my windows. If you forget, your car is rather toasty when you get in.

3. Always scope out the terrain if you decide to go run.
I live beside a golf course. My apartments are called the Country Club Apartments and behind my apartments are several nice houses. One day in July or August I decided I was going to go run a little bit through the neighborhood, because it is what I would consider a nice neighborhood. First of all I waited until about 8 pm to do this--see high temperature comments above. I had recently gotten home and drove through the neighborhood to see how far it was. I think it was about a mile, so I thought oh that won't be too bad, I will survive. So as I take off running I realize that I am running slightly downhill and the thought crosses my mind, if I am running downhill now...I must run uphill to get back. Well I survived that, barely, but then decided that my running through that neighborhood quickly came to a stop. Just because in your car you don't seem to be going through hilly land, when you start running, you quickly realize this. This was NEVER a problem when I decided to go running in Tulia, Lubbock, or Sunray.

4. Road names are subject to change at ANYTIME.
When asking for direction to some place, make sure you are positive which street/road you are supposed to be on. Roads are CRAZY around here. They can change names randomly in the middle of the street. For example, one road that is near my house has at least 5 names, there may be more, I just don't know them, yet. When traveling from east to west, it starts as New Haven Road, then changes to Route AC, then to Old 63, then to Grindstone Parkway, then to Nifong. Those are the ones I know so far, I am sure there are more names. This can be very confusing when you first move here...and that is just an example of one.

5. Schools get out early ALL THE TIME for high temperatures.
I was AMAZED one day. I hear on the radio that all Columbia Public Schools are getting out at noon because of the high temperatures. Apparently quite a few of the schools don't have air conditioning in them (this is craziness, hello we are in the 21st century, pay some money to get AC) so when the heat index gets to high, they don't go to school. I understand this is a safety issue, BUT hello, this is obviously something that happens quite often so why would you not put in air conditioning units or find some way to help this situation other than just cancelling school....don't you have to make up those days. My question about the third day this happened--do they have heaters or do they not go half the time in the winter either. I know last year school was cancelled for at least a week becuase there were 2 inches of ice and 14 inches of snow on the ground. Pure craziness if you ask me. In Texas, it's hot outside, you still go to school, whether you have air conditioning or not...cause we HATE making up days later!

6. Common courtesy while driving doesn't exsist.
I miss the waves. Plain and simple, you meet someone on the highway, wave. Whether it is your whole hand, a few fingers, or simply the index finger wave, just do it. It's not that hard. That doesn't happen at all around here. One that really drives me nuts though is at times around campus traffic is very busy. If I let you change lanes into my lane in front of me, or I let you turn onto the street I am on...WAVE. It's a simple thank you. You let me in someone I am going to wave and you and make sure you see it. These Missourians apparently don't believe in this. I guess they just expect you to let them in. I don't get road rage, but when you don't say thanks for letting me in, it really makes me mad. (Sorry I had to get that rant off my chest).

7. These people just don't understand Southern.
Daily I am made fun of the way I talk. Half of the time I have to repeat myself because people don't understand me. I am from the South, we all talk like this. Nobody down there thinks I talk funny. Yes I am "fixin" to do something. I've been here about 2 1/2 months and people still make fun of me for "fixin" to do something. That's just one of the things that they think is strange. I love my southern accent and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I'm Texas born and bred and I am proud of it! :)

Well those are just a few of the things I have learned since living here. I am sure I will post more later.

Volleyball Update

My life currently revolves around volleyball so that is about all I have to update about. We beat UMKC in 3 games; 30-19, 30-17, 30-8. This was a big win for us considering it was our first game since we found out Jules won't be returning this year and it put us on a good note going into conference. Our trip to Texas was a quick one. All of the returning girls from last year were excited about the new plane. In the past they have flown on a 19 seater prop plane, but this year we have upgraded to a 30 seater jet plane. So now instead of making two stops on the way to Austin from Columbia, we made it in an hour and 45 minutes. It was GREAT!!! Conference play hasn't been going that well for us. We lost to Texas in 3 games, 22-30, 24-30, 24-30. We played pretty decent, but Texas is just good. They have some amazing players. My parents connected the computer to the tv and watched the match on the internet. Dad was very impressed by several of their hitters. One of their players is also the NCAA National High Jump Champion, so she definitely can get up when she's on the net...oh and she is just a sophomore. Wednesday we hosted Kansas in the Border Showdown. It was a tough loss in 5 games; 23-30, 30-26, 30-20, 28-30, 7-15. This brings our overall record to 7-4, 0-2 in Big 12 Conference. We are currently in Ames, Iowa where we play Iowa State tomorrow. Hopefully we can go home with a win.

Other than that not much is going on. I survived my first round of tests, but they weren't that hard at all. One was a take home test; the other was an open notes & book test. Harper (Casey & Neisha's daughter) did army crawl for the first time on Wednesday so that was exciting. She hasn't quite figured out how to get her belly off the floor, but she is actually getting pretty quick at the army crawl. When she wants to go somewhere she gets really excited first and starts kicking her feet then she scoots away. She will be 6 months on October 2nd and I am amazed at how much she has grown since I moved up here. Here's a picture of her watching the football game against Illinois and another of her before church last weekend.

Craziness

It's only Wednesday and this week has already been crazy. I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off everyday. Between rehabs, doctor appointments, making sure my girl on crutches gets everywhere she needs to be and practice I have no idea where most of the day goes. Monday my volleyball girl had an MRI done and we found out she did in fact tear her ACL. She is handling it very well and is ready to get her surgery done and rehabing to get back. Her attitude is great, which makes my job so much easier. She does get a medical redshirt though, so she doesn't lose this year, so that is also a positive. Our team is still adjusting to playing without her, but good news, we won in 3 tonight versus UMKC. We definitely needed that win. Conference play started tonight, but since only 11 of the Big 12 teams play volleyball this was one of our two open weeks, therefore we picked up a game. We open conference Saturday at Texas, so if you are in the Austin area, you should come see me :)

Other than that not much has gone on. Football has their home opener this weekend, but I won't be here to watch. :( This makes me very sad because y'all all know how much I LOVE college football. I only actually get to see 1 game for sure hopefully 2....still praying for a night gave vs. Tech. They are 2-0 right now so that is exciting as well.

Well I guess I better get some homework done. Hope everyone is having a great week!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy

So I still haven't gotten any better about posting more often. I really am trying, but things have been crazy around here. Last weekend we hosted our tournament and that definitely kept me busy. We had a team drop out a week and a half before it, so we ended up only playing 2 games, but the tournament was a 3 day tournament. We beat Notre Dame in 3 games, then lost to Florida Internation in 5. We won the tournament by the tie breaker rules, but it was still a long weekend. This past weekend I got to visit the greatest place on Earth, yes I got to go to Texas. Our tournament was in San Marcos. We won this tournament as well. We beat Cal State Fullerton in 3 games, Houston in 4 games and Texas State in 4 games as well. I did have an athete hurt her knee this weekend against Houston, so please say a little prayer that everything will be ok. She did get the tournament MVP though and didn't even play on Saturday, needless to say she is a key player for us.

Other than that nothing really exciting has happened. Just trying to keep up with the daily routine. We play Wednesday at home against UMKC and then open up conference at Texas on Saturday. So once again I get to go back to Texas, only it will just be for Saturday because we will start chartering flights. The girls on the volleyball team, especially the foreigners, are finally beginning to fully understand how big Texas is. They always say, "You get to see your family this weekend!" and I say no, "They are 6+ hours aways still." We travel there 5 times this season and I will only get to see my family once, when we play at Tech. Football is 2-0 so that is always exciting. I just wish I could go to more games. I know I will get to go to 1, possibly 2, but that is it. I definitely miss Friday Night Football in Texas though. I do always check the paper for scores though. I still hope to get better about posting more often in the future.