Adventures in Bell Ringing

This morning Jess and I rang the bell for the Salvation Army at the Marsh in Carmel. I may need to add this to my list of great ways to observe people and their behavior. 

We were signed up for a two-hour shift. About 30 minutes into our shift, an old lady came, dressed in her Salvation Army apron with her own bell and kettle. She said she would go to the other set of doors, but she came back shortly thereafter, saying it was too cold at that end. Plus, there was no stand for the kettle. She asked if she could sit on the bench that was next to our kettle. So she sat there for an hour and a half... every once in a while, she would ring her bell a little. Or tell us what to do. Or provide us with random facts, such as, "a kettle this size holds $1,000. The larger ones hold $1,500." This is a little perplexing to me. Wouldn't it depend on the denominations of the bills in the kettle?

People are funny, and I love watching them. Here are a few highlights:

• Several people pointed out that we were inside the doors rather than out in the cold. This wasn't our choice - we went where the kettle was. One man even clucked at us. Really? At one point, I said to Jess, "I wish we'd been keeping track of these comments." To which she replied, "Five so far."
• Sometimes, people walk by with no intention of giving, then you say hello, or wish them a merry Christmas, and then they stop and dig for money. 
• I said "Merry Christmas" to one lady, who told us she was half Jewish. She then said, "Did you know there are Jews who believe in Jesus? We meet at 72nd and Keystone on Friday nights at 7:30. I play the tambourine and dance. And I'm 80!" We loved this woman.
• There was a man with two young kids in a cart. He said, "See this nice lady? I want you to talk to her while I run to the car to get the grocery list." So we were not only bell ringers, but also babysitters. I looked at Jess and said, "What if he doesn't come back?" But no worries, he did. We let the kiddos ring our bells. And they didn't even donate any money!
• Another man sang the praises of the Salvation Army and said he donates to them instead of Goodwill, because Goodwill sells things instead of giving them away. He obviously hasn't seen that commercial explaining how Goodwill works to create jobs...
• We saw one guy walking in from the parking lot and Jess said I needed to talk to him. I didn't... and he walked out with a dozen red roses. Totally proposing today, I bet!
• One older man commented on how full the kettle was getting as he squished his dollar in. I told him it was because we were doing a good job. He said that's why they send the cute girls instead of the old men...

The moral of the story? Watch how you act around the bell ringers! They may blog about you later. :)

Standing Out Among the Masses

I don't think I can begin to count the number of electronic holiday greetings I have received at work over the past couple of weeks. It seems like every hotel, CVB, and AV company wishes me a "holiday season of peace and light" or something like that. And don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't appreciate their sentiment, but when you get a lot of these they all start to look the same. 

This afternoon, I received a rather unique one from Tony in Anaheim. (I met Tony in March when I was there for a visit. We had an enjoyable lunch, and discovered we both have an affinity for Spree candy.)

Here is what I received:

Dear Hershey...

It would be really nice if you could sell unwrapped Kisses for baking purposes.

Love,

Steph

Seven Days of Cable Knit

Yesterday, I successfully completed Meghan's "Seven Days of Cable Knit" challenge. "How does such a thing come about?" you ask. Meg saw me last weekend wearing cable knit on both Saturday and Sunday and said, "I bet you could wear cable knit for a whole week." So I did. No one would have noticed at work had I not told them what I was doing. 

I have at least two more that I didn't wear this week, so I guess it really could have been "nine days of cable knit."

I would like to give a special shout out to the Gap Outlet, which was along for the ride with me, furnishing 3/7 of this week's sweaters, plus the two that could make days eight and nine a reality. Thanks also to Target, Banana Republic, Carson Pirie Scott, and Kohl's, without whom this would not have been possible. And to God, of course, the creator of cable knit. (Sort of.)

Update

Well, friends, it is finished! With five and a half hours to spare! Those little marks coming out of the top are the extra half page I wrote. Yep, ten and a half pages! Check me out, going above and beyond.

School and I are on a break now. And I couldn't be happier. I am going to sit in front of the television for the rest of the evening, and not feel guilty about it.

Paper-Writing Essentials (Or: I am a big dork)

I'm not sure why I dread writing papers so much. I like school. I really do. And I like writing. But there's just something about reading things that ten other people have written about a subject and then summarizing it into my own paper that just drives me nuts. I guess I'd prefer to write about my experiences rather than writing about what other people have already written about and researched.

That said, when it comes to writing papers, I am a major procrastinator. Tomorrow at midnight, I have a 10-12 page paper due. I started writing this afternoon...

As you can see, I have some essential items on my table. First there's the Mac. I spend more time with the Mac than with any person in my life. Is that pathetic? Maybe. You can also see my giant Figment coffee mug. In addition, I have a bowl of popcorn (not too buttery or it would upset Mac), a Fannie Farkle's cup full of Fanta, plenty of dry journal articles, and one more thing...

I decided to make a thermometer tonight. I used to make these when I was raising support for summer projects, but I'd never made one for writing a paper. As you can see, I added some motivational messages. As you can also see, I am only at 4, and still have a long way to go. My favorite might be what I wrote at the bottom. I wanted to be able to color it in as soon as I made it, so I even added "title page." Yikes. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And finally, what's a blog post without an unflattering photo of me? (Thanks, Photo Booth.) This is very reminiscent of Meghan's photo when she was studying for boards. But my paper is way less hard than boards!

Big-Haired Flight Attendants

I'm currently sitting at the food court in Chicago's Midway Airport. (DELAYED is a word I've seen more than once this week.)

As I contemplate the ins and outs of travel, I wonder... are flight attendants told during training that big hair is essential to the job? Don't get me wrong - I respect these people. They have a job that's often crappy and most of them are a lot nicer than I would be if put into the same situation. But I'm pretty sure that about 49 out of every 50 flight attendants have both enormous hair and too much make-up. Any idea why?