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.

One Weekend Down, Only 30 More To Go

Ok so it's not 30 more, just 13 more. Actually just 2 more weekends and then 11 weeks, but you get the point. I have officially survived my first weekend of volleyball tournaments. Getting to play against someone other than each other is always exciting. We left Thursday morning for Oxford, Mississippi for the Magnolia Classic at the University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss. This was one of the few trips we had to take a travel bus, but for those of you who remember my days at Texas Tech, the 7 hour bus ride to Oxford was nothing compared to the trips I made with football. When we arrived on Thursday we practiced, ate supper and then my roommate, Stephanie, and I watched Top Gun and crashed. I must say Steph is pretty awesome. Like I said in a previous post she has worked with volleyball the previous 2 years and has been a God send to me. She already knows what our coaches expect and knows how to keep me sane when insane situations arise. Friday was pretty slow in the morning and then we had serve & pass practice, ate lunch, and headed back to the gym for the 1st match. Steph & I were very mad that we didn't think to spend Friday morning going through the shops downtown on the square. Oxford is a very beautiful place and has a really neat square area. We did get to go to a few shops, but they were definitely the higher end ones. One department store is famous for being the oldest department store in the south. It was pretty neat to go in there, just to say we had been there. Sadly I have no pictures, I kept forgetting to put my camera in the bag I was carrying. We didn't really see much of campus, but the athletic complexes were nice. We did drive by The Grove, but it was night and we couldn't see anything. The houses there are AMAZING though. I found several that I could live in. As for the tournament, we opened up with Ole Miss. We definitely had some first game jitters, but for the most part those were expected, especially with 7 newcomers on the team. Unfortunately we lost to Ole Miss in 5 games after 3 hours of playing. It was definitely a hard fought battle with the scores being, 28-30, 30-27, 32-34, 30-13, 13-15 (Mizzou scores listed first). Saturday didn't prove to start much easier. We started with Jacksonville State and beat them in 5 games. Apparently this was becoming a trend of the whole tournament. At this point in time 3 of the 4 games had gone into 5 games. Scores against Jacksonville State were 30-16, 28-30, 27-30, 30-23, 15-12. Thankfully match #3 at the tournament was much shorter. We played Arkansas State and beat them in 3. Scores were 32-30, 30-20, 30-13. After that game we headed back home. Coming back to CoMo was exciting becuase I knew my parents would be here Sunday afternoon. They flew in Thursday to St. Louis and spent some time with Emily & Kyle and then came over Sunday to spend some time with me. Mondays are very busy days, so we actually haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, but it has definitely been great getting to see them. Sadly they must leave in the morning. I am already excited about them coming back in October for the Mizzou-Tech football game. We also play Texas in volleyball that day, so it will definitely be another one of those busy days. Personally I am hoping for a night football game so that the volleyball game will be in the morning and I can actually enjoy the game, but everyone keeps telling me it's Homecoming and they will more than likely have a day football game. :( Oh well, I can still hope for the ideal situation. Well I better go enjoy my time with the parents. I will try to be better about posting on a more regular basis I promise--I know I say this every time, but I am finally getting into more of a routine. I'll be in San Marcos next weekend if anyone wants to come visit! :) Sorry this post is somewhat boring as well. I keep meaning to write a post about "The Things I Have Learned Since Moving to Columbia," but time keeps slipping away from me. I'll just leave you in anticipation for that one.

Volleyball & Stuff

Once again it has been a while since I have posted. So sorry, volleyball consumes my life right now. We had physicals last Tuesday night and it has been a whirlwind since. We are practicing twice a day everyday and needless to say it keeps me busy. Breakfast at 7, get things ready at 7:30, practice at 8:30, cold tubs at 11:30, lunch & treatments, setter practice at 2, practice at 2:30, cold tubs again, treatments and dinner about 6:30. Repeat. We have Sundays off as far as practice, but still have to do treatments. Some time after that is all done, I find time to hang out with the other GA's or Casey, Neisha & Harper. Tomorrow will be a VERY busy day though and definitely longer than usual. The morning will stay the same, but in the afternoon we are hosting a youth clinic (there are over 200 little girls signed up already) and then we have our annual Black & Gold game. I am a little excited about the Black & Gold game because practice is beginning to get a bit monotonous and I am excited to actually watch a game :)

Even with our busy schedules -- me at volleyball, the boys at football, Tara at soccer -- we have still found time to hang out and have a good time. I am destined to get 2nd place in EVERY poker game we play. And y'all know I hate to lose and getting 2nd place continously is definitely not helping my competitiveness. We went bowling one night and had a great time. We ended up bowling 5 games that night and I think we all felt it for the next 3 days. Once again my team got 2nd, do you notice the trend here??? I am not dealing with this very well. Karaoke night has become a common occurance though. I am proud to say that I am still the reigning champ at both County Karaoke & American Idol (finally something I don't get 2nd in). We have slowly integrated Guitar Hero into our festivities. Tak & Adam also play the "real" guitar, so some nights they put on mini concerts for us and we sing along. They have even recorded some songs on to Tak's computer...we are a talented bunch if I must say so myself.

Well I must go check on the cold tubs...I don't want them to overflow!

Just a Quick Update

I haven't posted in a while, so I decided I would give everyone a quick update. I officially started work this week and I am loving it so far. We had our first staff meeting on Tuesday and then the students reported on Wednesday for some basic orientation. Wednesday night we had a staff dinner in Fayette (which is about 30-45 minutes away). My boss Rex surprised us all and rented two limos to take us there. We had a black Hummer and a white Chrysler 300. Both were VERY nice. Below is a picture of a bunch of us in the Hummer. Football started yesterday, but I am not working that. I am sad, but they have already decided to move practice from 8:15 to 7:15 on Monday-Wednesday becuase the temperatures are so high and we are in a heat advisory. So I won't miss opening the training room at 5 and will appreciate the cold gym. Volleyball starts on Tuesday with a meeting & physicals and then we start 2-a-days on Wednesday. We have 2-a-days every day until the 20th with Sundays off. Thankfully I have Stephanie as my student athletic trainer! :) She has worked with volleyball the past 2 years and basically knows how to run the show. She will also double as my "interpreter". We have 2 assistant coaches who are Chinese and 3 players. I have already been warned that I will not be able to understand them and they will never understand my Texas accent. In the meantime I am trying to enjoy my last few days of freedom!