Census 2010

Well,
Life has kind of been crazy, mostly due to the census. I have learned that you never really know what to expect with the census. In fact it is quite a quirky operation. I mean, what do you expect when the majority of the work is done once every ten years by thousands of temporary employees?
Anyway, I started off being a QAC Rep., sitting at Lake Erie College, waiting for people to ask questions about the census, how to fill out the questionnaire, or asking for a Be Counted form. Nobody really came. I think I talked to 5 people about census-related topics in the 3 weeks(?) I was there. Then I got called to be an enumerator, for which the training would start this week. The next day Kassie got called to be an enumerator, and I got called again, this time to be a crew leader instead for which the training started the week following the phone call, which was also supposed to be my last week at the QAC. They said I could just close the QAC (Questionnaire Assistance Center...I know you've been dying to know what that stands for) early and do the Crew Leader training. So, I did. At the end of the training, I was told they had no spot for me as a crew leader but that I would be a Crew Leader Assistant with a crew that was currently working on the early enumeration. The early enumeration was slightly different from the normal enumeration and was done so that off-campus college students could be counted before they left for the summer. So, I did that for a week and finished it up.
That was last week. This week I have been as Kassie calls me 'a government gopher.' Basically visiting training sites and taking paperwork back to the office and stuff. When I am not running errands, I have been doing office work. Until...
Today I went into the office because they didn't have any errands for me. I did a little office work. Then Christine, one of the office people (I don't know her exact title, but I think she is somewhat high up there) told me she had a job for me. If I hadn't heard her talking on the phone earlier, I wouldn't have thought anything of it because she had been the one assigning jobs to me all week in the office. When I was working earlier, though, I had heard her asking about possible people who could do a replacement training next week. As it ends up, I am the person to do it. Which means, for the rest of this week I am preparing to train enumerators.
This is a little bit different from the normal enumerator training though for a few reasons. First of all, it is in the evenings rather than the day. Secondly, since it is a replacement training, I won't be their crew leader after the training. Instead, they will be placed with other crews that by that time will have already been working for a week and may need more people. And I...I don't know what I will do after next week, but I am assuming I will probably be assigned as a CLA with one of the crews, possibly the same crew I worked with for the early enumeration.
So, it's been an interesting few weeks, not knowing what I will be doing from week to week or sometimes day to day or hour to hour. But it has been a blessing to have a job, not only as a source of income but for something to do each day.

Not Just A Review

I realize I haven't been posting much other than book reviews lately, but here is a real post.
As some of you know, I have been working for the Census Bureau. Last week I had training to become a crew leader. Basically, the enumerators are the ones who go out and knock on people's doors to get them to fill out the questionnaire. Crew leaders supervise the enumerators. Field operation supervisors (FOS) supervise the crew leaders and so on.
At the end of training last week i was told that I was going to be a CLA (crew leader assistant) rather than a crew leader because there are already two crews out in the two districts we live on the border of. They started in the Early Early Phase (official name, no joke) to try to get the college students before they leave since LEC (Lake Erie College) lets out at the end of April.
So, they won't need a new crew leader in those districts, but I might be joining one of those crews, which actually might combine, as a CLA, meaning I would have some enuerator duties and some supervisory duties. I don't know for sure yet but my FOS is supposed to call me tomorrow morning to let me know.
Crazy census stuff.

In other news, the band I am in, Broken Buildings, played acoustic versions of some of our songs at an open mic night this past week and it went really well. I am excited for the May 28 concert.

Today, I went to a rally/march to raise awareness about human trafficking. It was at OSU in Columbus, OH. I went down with people from Annex and met up with my good ole pal Rebekah Benish. It was interesting. It was a good trip overall, although I didn't get a whole lot out of the actual event. I would like to maybe use our band to raise awareness about human trafficking or something though.
Also, I randomly met up with a couple friends from Cornerstone, Jesse ... and Ben Rezendzian or something like that. It was cool to see them unexpectedly. THey both go to a private college near Columbus.

Kassie is doing pretty well in Arizona. I miss her a lot. She is supposed to be coming back on Tuesday. Things have been a little rough. Please pray for her brother and his family. Thanks.

Amnesia

I have had a couple incidents with amnesia lately. I haven't personally had amnesia, although I can't say I'm not a forgetful person. Rather, I both read a book and watched a movie dealing with somebody who had a blow to the head that caused temporary memory loss.
Here, I'm going to focus on the book. Forget Me Not is quite a thriller with a twisted plot and an intricate web of connections. As you read, the plot unwinds and parts of the web are revealed.
A woman is running...you don't know from what, and she doesn't even completely know, but she lives her life running from something, somebody, some group of people. She has lived that way for a few years and is getting tired of picking up and going. Through it all, though, she is helping others by creating safe places for them to go and get help. Until one day, she is caught. She wakes up barely alive, not knowing who she is or where she is.
All she has are hunches, feelings that tell her what to stay away from. Somehow she seems to have escaped, or actually, it is more like she was let go by her captors. As she recovers at a crisis center, she starts remembering pieces and her past comes back to haunt her, the things she was running from catch up to her, and she has to face them. Only by the grace of God does she stand a chance.
This book is a captivating mystery novel that weaves faith into fiction. It kept me interested and wanting to read more and more. I would recommend it for anybody who likes this genre or anybody who would be willing to give it a try.
If you want a copy, go to http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601422057
This book was provided free for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Review of This Little Prayer of Mine

This Little Prayer of Mine is a cute, rhyming book that teaches children to pray. The illustrations by Mark Elliot do a good job of giving examples of the things that are prayed about.
I remember when I was little memorizing the book Green Eggs and Ham. While it was a fun book to read and easy to memorize, it didn't really have much substance, other than maybe teaching kids that it is good to try new things.
This Little Prayer of Mine, on the other hand, would also be fun to read and easy to memorize and is a good resource for parents and Christian educators to teach kids to pray.
I would recommend this book for any parents of young children as well as Christian educators.
I think it is an enjoyable little book that would be fun for parents and children to read together and would help teach a very important lesson.
If you would like to get a copy of this book, go to http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307458049
This book was provided free for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Life

I am starting to enjoy my job. It isn't always a barrel of fun, but it also isn't bad at all. I just sit at a desk for 3 hours. It is out in the open in the student center at Lake Erie College, so people pass through. Not a lot pass through during my hours. I work until 11:30 and it doesn't start getting busy until after 11. However, I have gotten to meet a couple people.
I have seen people from Annex, the Christian campus group meeting I have gone to a couple times. I have also met a couple others. In particular, I met a girl named Lisa. The first day, she was the only one around for a while. I went up to her and asked where a drinking fountain was. She didn't know but offered to buy me a water from the snack bar with the extra money on her meal plan. Since then, she has come by every day to chat. Yesterday, we got into a pretty lengthy and interesting discussion about Christianity vs. atheism. She calls herself an atheist, although she was raised Catholic. From what she has said, it seems like she grew up with an interesting/false understanding of Christianity.
I have been realizing more and more how incomplete or skewed many "Christian's" and others' view of Christianity is.
As I expected, she didn't right away turn from her beliefs when I shared my own, but we will have the opportunity to continue the discussion, and she seems interested in doing so.
It is good for me in that it challenges me to look for answers to questions I have dismissed or not thought about. As Paul said in Philemon verse 6 "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of ever good thing we have in Christ." Sharing our faith isn't just good for those we share it with...in fact, it might not have any significant impact on them, but it can definitely impact our own lives.
I also get to spend time on the internet and playing solitaire at work. Until yesterday, I hadn't had a single person come up to me legitimately asking me about the Census. Yesterday, I had 3! It was a busy day. In fact, I was going to post on my blog yesterday but had to postpone it until today. Until next time...think about Philemon verse 6.

Candles

You know those times when the electricity goes out and you have to get out the flashlights and/or the candles? Well, I hadn't ever really thought about what it would be like to live without electricity and to depend on candles for light, long-term, until I read the book Here Burns My Candle.
I must admit, this isn't really my favorite style of book, so my expertise in this area is definitely lacking.
This book by Liz Curtis Higgs portrays an upper-class, family in Scotland during a tumultuous time of revolt. The family consists of a Dowager (a widow whose husband was titled...Lord, Baron, etc.) and her two sons, Donald and Andrew, and their wives, Elizabeth and Janet, respectively.
The book focuses mainly on Elizabeth, who is from a completely different social status, and the development of her relationship with the Dowager. It is meant to be related to the story of Ruth, although this book does not go any further than the 18th verse of the first chapter of Ruth.
While the book was, in my opinion, longer than it needed to be and didn't cover much of the book of Ruth, it did give an interesting portrayal of what life was like in the society of the time, set in 18th century Scotland.
While it was not a book I would normally pick out, I did not dread reading it each time I picked it up. Rather, I found myself getting caught up in the story, going through the ups and downs, mostly downs, of the family.
Speaking of downs, the book was somewhat depressing. Many things in the family's life were falling apart, but it was encouraging to see the faith and hope of Elizabeth through all of the hard things she and her family were going through. It was also encouraging to see the changes in the Dowager, including her return to faith in God.
This book is definitely meant for a certain portion of people. I would recommend it to somebody if they generally read similar books. It is a good enough book for the type of book it is, but honestly, it is not my type of book.
If you would like a copy of this book, you can find it here: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400070015.
Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2nPMBA_rgM to see a trailer for Here Burns My Candle.
This book was provided free for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.

Review of Start Here

The Harris brothers team up for another book about doing "hard things." Start Here is a follow-up on their previous book Do Hard Things. Although they are just in college, the two have definitely done hard things for God with their lives, including writing books, doing speaking tours, and encouraging thousands of others to do hard things as well.
This book does a great job of encouraging people to do things that are difficult, big and small, rather than living complacent apathetic lives. The brothers recognize that doing hard things is not the basis for gaining salvation in Christ, but it is an important component of living for Him. They offer many examples of hard things that others have done, with letters from teens and young adults and their stories, as well as a list at the end of the book of hard things ranging from "[Writing] my parents a letter thanking them for all they do," to, "[Organizing] citywide baby showers for a crisis pregnancy center."
While this book is aimed at teens, I believe it is a valid and helpful exhortation for Christians of all ages. I have not read the first book and am not a teen, but I was encouraged by the book to make changes in my own life, and I think others will be too.
I would definitely recommend this book for teenagers, and I would also recommend it for people of all ages, especially those struggling with complacency or apathy or people who just need some encouragement to get off the couch.
I would like to thank WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for providing this book free for review.
If you would like this book, go here: http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781601422705