It's funny how the most random things can make you homesick.

At home there is a huge gardenia bush on either side of the stairs leading up to the front porch. They bloom in the summertime and I've always thought that they smell horrid. The flowers are really pretty. They have nice, big, white petals. And a very strong scent. My mother loves them. A lot of people who would come to our house and walk past (more like through, because they were so overgrown that they draped onto the stairs) them would comment on how they liked their scent and my mother would insist that they take a few of the flowers with them to scent their car or kitchen or whatever location they chose. Meanwhile I would gag in the background complaining about the egregious stench.

Today I was working at the Cluff, the greenhouse building on campus. As I was locking up I was walking through one of the greenhouses and a familiar bush caught my eye. I approached it and inspected it more closely, and sure enough there were those pretty white flowers indicating that it was a gardenia. I bent close to one of the blossoms and inhaled deeply. Though I would still never choose to scent my house or car or anything with the smell of gardenias, there is something oddly comforting about that smell. It made me ache for my childhood home, if only for a second.

Let All Things Be Done In Cleanliness

So today was a normal day. I got up and went running. Somehow kept myself busy all morning. Oh, I cleaned out the refrigerator and rearranged the tupperware. Among other things, of course. I headed off to work around 2.

My boss is currently out of town, so because of this I have to go to the building where the area supervisor's office is and clock in there so I can then take the lovely Yukon that we use to transport the crew to our various buildings with me to the ITB. Not that any of that is really important for the purpose of the story, but it explains why I had a conversation with the area supervisor. I entered his office to get the key to the Yukon and he stopped me to tell me about some requests that were made by the people out at KBYU. He said that they asked if we could clean out the microwave tonight. He explained that technically it's vending's job to make sure that the microwaves are clean and functioning, but they obviously fail to do that most of the time. We both agreed that it would be best for everyone to make the sometimes whiny people at KBYU as happy as we can and clean out their microwave.

I decided that since I don't fully trust anyone on the crew that was there tonight to get the job done and do it right, I would clean the microwave out myself. That would take what, five minutes? And then I could retreat back to the Cluff where I have been spending many hours by myself over the past couple weeks.

We got there and went straight to our custodial cage. I had to search high and low for a dang squirt thing for a new bottle of glass cleaner. After finally finding one that worked I grabbed a rag or two and headed for the break room. And this is what I found:



Sadly a quick snapshot using my phone doesn't quite do the scene justice. It was the most filthy microwave I've ever seen, which I think is saying something, being a college student. Needless to say I retreated back to the cage to gather about 5 more rags and the Tough Duty. Twenty minutes later I had it looking considerably better, but it was still pretty stained and kind of gross.

What made me kind of scoff at the situation was the sign hanging above the microwave. It said something to the effect of "Please wipe out the microwave after each use. You wouldn't let your own microwave get this dirty, would you?" with a picture of a microwave not nearly as dirty as that one. I know we all get a bit lazy at some times, but really, is it that hard to grab a paper towel that's right there and wipe out the little bit of splatter your food just left inside?

It reminded me of the time that I was at my dance studio when I was 13 or 14. We were at an all day rehearsal one Saturday and our director came in all upset at us because the trashcan in the locker room was overflowing. She spent ten minutes lecturing us about how if we had any respect for the studio we would try to take care of it better by doing obvious things like emptying the garbage when it's spilling over the top. "I'm sure none of you let that happen at your house!" I remember sharing a glance with my friend that obviously said, "Well, actually...yes."

So I guess I'm basically a hypocrite.

Why is it though that we are generally so lazy that instead of exerting the little bit of effort to clean a tiny mess we let it build to a huge mess that takes forever to clean up? I guess it's just one of those mysteries of life. I'd like to think that I'm not always so bad at it, but from today forward I will make an extra effort to not be lazy in my cleaning. You should do it too. It will make some custodian's job much easier.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Nepalese dumplings are phenomenal.

Facebook Stalking...Just Having Some Fun

You know we've all done it. We meet someone and we're curious about them. So...we turn to trusty old facebook.

You type their name in the search bar and search through the results till you find the right person. Some people have so many privacy settings though that when you can't see more than their name and profile picture you quietly curse that person for blocking you out of their life. I mean, seriously, how annoying! When you are able to enter their profile you glance at their "about me," "favorite quotes," "likes and interests," and so on.

Then you get to the pictures. You have to admit it though, a person's profile picture says a lot about him or her.

Are they flexing without a shirt on or is it some kind of head shot?

They think they're beautiful and want to show off how hot they are.

Are they making out with their significant other?

One thing on their mind.

Is it a posed picture with a friend or two, maybe a larger group?

They obviously love their friends, but it's possible that they
can't function without at least one person attached to their hip.

Is it a goofy shot of them making a funny face or something?

They like to laugh at themselves and show that
they're not too above always seeming perfect.

So you study the profile picture and then move on to every picture that this person has ever been tagged in. This number may range from 100 or less to 7 or 8 hundred. But it doesn't matter how many there are, you look at every. single. one. You go through all the Halloween pictures, snow fun, birthday parties, holi festival, football games, end-of-the-year saying goodbye, weddings, babies, etc. etc. You count how many pictures there are documenting this person associating with attractive members of the opposite sex that could be potential competition. Or scope out and see if there's any hot friends you could go after. Sometimes you even make fun connections where you see people that you know in the background, not even aware that they're in a picture.

Sometimes after the pictures you'll move on to see if there are any interesting videos. Perhaps you just peruse their wall, seeing how often they update their status and how profound the updates are, what their friends and family have to say to them, what kind of interacting they do with others, and what youtube videos they found funny recently.

Probably about now you call it a day for stalking this particular person and then say to yourself, "Hmm, who can I look up now?"

Some people think that this is ridiculous and look down on others for participating in such an activity. True, it is very ridiculous, but really, what is the purpose of facebook if not to stalk others? Why else does it post on your wall every single little move you make for the world to see? Why can you tag people in pictures and videos and notes so they can be tracked down any number of ways? Why else is there an easy place to click if you want to look at every single picture ever taken of this person? Why else do they have you list your favorites books and movies and music and your cell phone number and email address and jobs and school and on and on and on? It was obviously meant to be the tool of a stalker.

Question: Have you ever facebook stalked yourself?
Confession: I have.

I mean, come on. Aren't you curious about what people see when they're stalking you? Because obviously it happens. Don't you want to make sure there aren't any potentially embarrassing pictures that you're tagged in that strangers, or friends for that matter, could find and judge you for? You don't want people to be able to make misconceptions about you for what's posted on your wall, right? I think it's a legitimate concern and you should be allowed to stalk yourself once in a while, just to make sure that the image that your facebook is portraying you as is alright with you.

You know what I love best though? Is when you log on and it brings you to your home page and your news feed pops up with a bunch of junk that it thinks you'll be interested in seeing. Some of it I accurately find interesting, but a lot of it is junk. But, sometimes there's something that catches your eye for some reason and you click on it. And then you're sucked in for some reason, looking at pictures from a wedding that your cousin that you haven't seen or spoken to in over ten years went to in Arizona. She was only tagged in two pictures of the 274 picture album, but for some reason you find yourself scanning through the entire album. And then halfway through you're like, wait a second, who are these people? And why on earth am I wasting away my life looking at their wedding pictures?