TeddyPuppy in Manti

TeddyPuppy is my number one fan here in Manti. :-)

A perfect day in California

I got to see my Draper family a couple weeks ago when Mom, sister Mel, super awesome friend Jennifer and I took a road trip over Memorial Day weekend. Jennifer's parents let us stay with them for a few days and treated us really well. I love Jen's family!

My "perfect day" was Saturday. It started with biscuits and gravy, continued with a trip to the Sacramento LDS temple and Nathaniel's baptism, and finished with fun at the park by the Drapers' and homemade Mexican food. (Jennifer's mom and dad are THE BEST cooks!)

Keeping busy in Manti

I have two months before my mission. Looking for a temporary job was never in my plan. But a couple weeks ago, an opportunity landed in my lap that was too good to pass up.

I've always wanted to be part of a small-town newspaper staff. I guess I thought working on a small staff in a small town would be as close, professionally, as I could get to the old feeling of working on the UCAS Ascent, my high school newspaper. The Ascent is where I really caught the journalism bug. I loved watching the staff come together and create something tangible. I loved being involved in every step of the creative process. I loved that the all the members of the staff were friends. Man, we had some good times.

The Sanpete Messenger has turned out to be sort of like that, but with a constant cloud of stress and busyness hanging over us that comes from having too many things we want to cover and too few hands to do it. Counting me, we have four regular writers. Sanpete County has 13 cities and two school districts.

I'll only be here for a month, and although I like Manti well enough, I find myself counting down the days. The first paper I helped put out gets delivered tomorrow, and I can't wait. Getting published is really one of the biggest things that draws me to this job, and to boot, one of my stories will be on the front page!

I like my coworkers. I especially look up to the grumpiest and most inappropriately humorous one of the lot- John. He's a drama king, has a colorful vocabulary, and drinks too much coffee, but he's never unkind, has a quick wit and is a darn good reporter. I don't think anything scares him.

The other writer, Bryon, is also the managing editor. He's a much softer kind of nice and less loud than John.

Terri, our receptionist/advertising biller, is like a female version of John. She's very entertaining, to say the least. Nikki, who keeps the phone book updated, is typically pretty quiet, but has a dry humor that plays well with John and Terri. Out of everyone, I'm probably best friends with her. Alison is an intern from Snow College who's very quiet and keeps to herself. I'm not sure what she does- I think she might work with Terri.

Suzanne, the publisher/reporter/advertising seller, is talkative, easily distracted, very quality-driven, generous and thoughtful. She's letting me stay in one of her townhouses for free, and has been giving me rides to and from work.

Yesterday was what John calls Newspaper Day, when all four writers (John, Bryon, me and Suzanne) work writing, editing and laying out the paper. I started work at 9, took a two-hour break at 5 and then helped out in the office until 10:30. It was the first time I saw the amazing view Manti has of the stars. I was TIRED, though. On the way home that night, Suzanne told me stories about staying in the office as late as 3 am- and then getting up at 7 the next day! Thank heaven Monday only comes around once a week.

Discovery of my birth Day

Have you ever flipped through a calendar at the store to check what picture is on your birth month before you decide to buy it? Well, when you work at the Chemistry Department and one of your jobs is to update a "Did you know?" slide daily, you get the added bonus of having a picture specifically for your birth DAY. My bosses really bent over backward to give me today off, and I appreciate it. But I realized Friday morning that because I won't be at work, there might not be anyone to update the digital signage. Soooo as my birthday present to myself, I'm posting the May 13 Discovery of the Day slide on here.

Happy birthday to me!

"Hey, Jessica? NPR is on the phone."

National Public Radio called the Chemistry Department today! (Just now, actually.) They talked to Stacy, one of the student secretaries in the front office, wanting a picture of one of the professors to post online with their article. Apparently the migraine paper Dr. Emily Bates just published is a big deal.

Anyway... Stacy came back to the corner office where I work (it has the best view in the whole building, if I do say so myself) and said, "Hey, Jessica? NPR is on the phone. I know Bryce usually has the best pictures of faculty, but do you have a picture of Dr. Bates?"

For NPR? Yes, yes I do. ... I'm a little starstruck right now.

----added later----
Check out NPR's stellar article about Dr. Bates' research. It's really interesting!

A Sleep Gene Has A Surprising Role In Migraines

Tyler's failed cooking attempt

Breaking news- I'm not the only "challenged" cook in the family!

Tyler obviously enjoying his "cookies and gravy"

It was a simple mistake, but HILARIOUS. He added WAY too much milk when making buttercream frosting and ended up with soup instead of frosting. We didn't have any more powdered sugar, so he decided to experiment and put melted marshmallows in it instead, but the marshmallows hardened as soon as he got them out of the microwave and after trying to add the two together, he was afraid he'd break Mom's mixer if he kept going. Next he tried mixing them in the blender until Mom came into the kitchen after a walk with Dad and said, "You're making frosting in my blender?!"... So he settled for pouring his sugar soup and cookies into a bowl and eating it with a fork.

When our Italian exchange student Agnese saw that, she freaked out. "That's gross, Tyler! Get away from me while you're eating that!"

Brilliant. hahaha

Ode to finals week

Dear finals week,
I won't miss you.

Love,
JMH