12 Cents

The other morning I woke up early to finish some homework.

I still had to print out an assignment and just write the answers onto the paper copy.

I don't own a printer and so had to walk to campus in order to print it out.

I got to campus about 15 minutes early and went to print out my assignment.

When I got to the printer I realized that I only had 11 cents on my card.

I needed 12.

This meant that I was unable to print out the assignment that I had worked so hard to complete.

I knew that I could go to the library and put more money on my card.

However, I wasn't sure I would be able to make it back to class in time.

Luckily for me, a guy in my class noticed that I was leaving and asked where I was going.

I answered him, telling him my dilemma.

He then told me that he had 12 cents and that I could use his card.
I attempted to politely decline.
But he insisted.
Because of him I was able to finish my assignment and make it to class on time.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Road Trip Adventures

I am back at college.

This last weekend I decided to make a trip back home.

I mainly decided to do this because there was a career fair going on at a school close to home.

I have realized that I will be graduating in about a year and a half.

And I should probably figure out where I would like to work afterwards.

I left early Thursday morning before the sun had risen.

And it was cool to both see the world wake up and change before my eyes.

I actually took this picture about a year ago, but I love it.

Anyway, I had been driving for about 2 and a half hours when my temperature gauge went far too high.

And by far too high, warning lights turned on and everything.

So, I pulled over onto the side of the highway.

I then proceeded to sit there for 5 minutes while I watched smoke rise from under the hood of my car.

I then took a deep breath and called my dad.

Because who else are you supposed to call in these situations?

He told me to open my hood and tell him where the smoke was coming from.

Apparently I'm not that great with cars.

Because the only thing I could tell him was that it was coming from the passenger side.

I should really work on that.

While I was standing on the side of the road with my hood up and cars flying by, a pickup truck pulled off in front of me.

A man from Montana got out and asked me what was wrong.

I simply answered by telling him I thought I had overheated.

He then asked if he could help me with anything and offered me a ride to the next gas station.

I politely declined, thanked him for his help, and he drove off.

I waited for the smoke to stop coming and then slowly drove to the next exit to a gas station.

This gas station was the only thing around for miles.

And then I sat there.

Because I had absolutely no idea what to do.

And then it started raining.

Ironic right?

My dad kept trying to help me, but I couldn't figure out what he was trying to get me to do.

So here I was, alone, standing in the rain, outside of a gas station in the middle of nowhere, the hood of my car up, and absolutely no idea what I was going to do.

I closed the hood of my car and got back in the driver's seat to warm back up a little.

As I was about to burst into tears, a trucker walked over and asked what was wrong.

He said that he'd seen me with my hood up and I looked a little distressed.

I told him that I think I had overheated, but I really had no idea and I didn't have a clue what to do.

He opened my hood, took a look, and told me exactly what I should do.

I thanked him and then he left.

I did what he told me to do and then called my dad.

My dad then said that my Aunt was an hour away and was going to come follow me the rest of the way home.

This way if something else went wrong I would at least have somebody there with me.

I waited until my Aunt showed up and then managed to drive the rest of the way home.

My car didn't overheat again the rest of the drive.

I did take it in to the mechanics and it turned out I had a slow leak.

I had been slowly leaking coolant for a while and that's why I had overheated.

I am so grateful for the kindness of strangers.

The fact that they saw someone in need and took a few minutes out of their day to help them.

If it wasn't for them, it probably would have taken a lot longer for me to get home.

Go out and make the world a little better.

To Those in Charge

This blog post is a shout out to all those people who manage to be parents.

Or who are guardians.

Or who otherwise have helped or are helping the next generation.

Because that's a tough job.

I know because I'm one of those being helped.

And sometimes I'm a handful.

Yeah, I'm technically considered an adult, but that seems to be easily forgotten in my mind.

Especially since I don't normally act how people think adults should act.

I think my parents are terrific.

This doesn't mean that I think they are perfect.

But I love them and I love the things that they have done and continue to do for me.

They laugh with me.

Help me make life changing decisions.

Teach me the value of hard work and saving money.

They push me to be my best.

They tell me 'no' more than I would like.

They support my decisions.

There are a number of incredible teachers who have helped me become who I am today as well.

They teach me, challenge me, and are there to help where needed.

So, to all of those out there who manage to stay so patient (most of the time) while helping teach people like me,

Keep up the good work because you are doing great at a hard job.

There is no manual showing you how to do this.

Thank you.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Fire

There are fires all over Utah right now because of lightning.

There have been some that have been close enough to homes where people have been evacuated for their safety.

A red sun has been seen for the last couple of days because of all the smoke.

I can't even imagine how hard it would be to stand back and just hope that your home will somehow be spared.

However, there have been countless firefighters helping to fight the flames and save homes that otherwise would have burned down.

Many of them are volunteer firefighters.

I would just like to thank these people for being so willing to help.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Helpers

I've realized that when I'm looking for someone doing something good, 

I can see it almost everywhere.

And I mean everywhere.

I challenge you to take a look around today and notice just one nice thing that someone has done for you.

Or for someone else.

I finished another semester of school and still had people doing kind things for me.

Even though the end of the semester is highly stressful for everyone involved.

Mainly due to one thing: finals.

Probably the worst thing in college history.

And it repeats itself.

Anyway, one morning I was running late.

(This happens a lot more frequently once the semester is nearing the end.)

I didn't have time for breakfast and was running out the door.

My roommates knew I hadn't eaten breakfast, but I told them I was done with classes in 3 hours and would eat then.

However, one of my roommates decided to make lunch for me.

That way I would have food right when I got home, before I had to run to work.

It was so sweet and thoughtful.

Also, before we are able to move out of our apartment we have to clean everything from top to bottom.

It's called 'White Glove.'

And it takes forever.

Especially when you are in charge of cleaning the kitchen floor.

Have you ever seen the floor in a college apartment?

Try not to.

Seriously.

And we even mop ours once a week.

But I had scrubbed about a third of the floor and had it sparkling white again.

That alone took me about an hour.

I then figured I should wait until most everything was out of the kitchen before I finished the floor.

That way fewer people would be walking across it before we moved out.

So I went out and partied my last night figuring that I would come back and finish cleaning after everyone else had gone to bed.

But when I got back the entire floor was finished.

Sparkling white.

I started getting after one of my roommates because I thought that she had done it for me.

However, she told me that one of our friends had come over and finished it.

I sat there stunned.

And then got extremely excited that I didn't have to finish cleaning the floor.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Cancer

It was two years ago today that my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Cancer is a word that no one wishes to hear.

And it's also something that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

These are the things I remember from going through this:
1. I remember my parents didn't tell me until a couple weeks later, because I was just about to go through finals at school and they didn't want to distract me.
2. I remember being upset that they didn't tell me, but I was so terrified of losing my mom, I couldn't be mad.
3. I remember lots of doctor appointments.
4. I remember multiple surgeries.
5. I remember that every time we seemed to have made progress something else would come up.
6. I remember neighbors bringing over food for my family.
7. I remember my mom getting countless letters from all sorts of people wishing her luck and letting her know they were there for her and were praying for her.
8. I remember people taking the time to ask me how everything was going.
9. I remember kind doctors.
10. I remember seeing my family become closer as we pulled together to make it through this.
11. I remember a neighbor giving my mom a note every single day to help lift her spirits.
12. I remember being thankful for the little things that would go well.
13. I remember the relief of hearing that the cancer was gone.
14. I remember countless people being happy for us.

It was an incredibly difficult time,
But people made it easier by being kind and willing to serve.
I will forever be thankful to those people who took the time to ask how things were going, who gave encouragement, who made us food so there was one less thing to worry about, who would simply give a hug, who sent cards, who prayed for recovery, and who were simply there to be a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Gifts

While at school I continue to work for Deseret Digital Media.

I absolutely love that they let me work remotely from school.

I also work with quite a few other students.

Since I don't have a car, I usually bike to the office.
This is completely fine since I only live about a mile away.
Except when it rains, or snows, or hails, or I'm running late.
Then I realize yet again just how much I want a car.

I was at work one day,
When one of the girls I work with asked me if I wanted her and her husband's old moped.
I asked how much expecting a number I wouldn't be able to pay.
However, she told me that her and her husband just wanted to give me the moped.
They wanted to 'pay it forward.'
And she knew I biked to work because I didn't have a car of my own.
I was stunned.

I told her that if they were sure I would love to have it.
A couple weeks later I became the owner of this beauty.

I absolutely love it.

And I'm still so humbled that someone would do something that nice for me.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Friends, Angels Without Wings

I am officially back at school in Idaho.

Now, I love school.

I love to learn new things and accomplish new challenges.

However, it is often incredibly hard.

Especially when you're trying to juggle classes, homework, a social life, work, food, and sleep.

If any of you have ever done this, you know what it's like to go through the good days and the bad days.

One day I was having a bad day.

And I mean a really bad day.

I was overly stressed out about everything and was worried about how my future was going to turn out.

I won't go into the details, but it was rough.

At the end of the day I finally broke down and told my roommate how I was feeling.

She was incredible.

She simply listened to everything I had to say.

Then, after I had gotten everything off my chest, she managed to tell me exactly what I needed to hear.

The next day after classes, I got to my apartment.

When I walked into my room there was a card on my bed with one of my favorite treats.

The card just had a simple message encouraging me.

It turned my week around and helped give me the strength to keep going.

True friends are hard to find, but being a true friend is even better.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

I am a complete sucker for food.

In fact, I think the fastest way to win my love is ice cream and Chinese food.

Just for future reference.

A couple of days ago I was working at Olive Garden.
We had one large party that was waiting to go back and had no clean tables.
A couple walked in and said they'd need a spot for two.
I told them it would be about 5 minutes for us to get a table cleaned off.
Right then I heard over my headset that one of the booths was clean,
So I turned to the couple and said, "Actually we just got a clean table and can take you back right now."

Now, this was the first day I was running everything at the host stand,
Because the other two hosts I was working with were even newer than I was.
I was trying to hear what was going on over the headset, talk to the guests coming in, and figure out where I was going to stick the party.
So I'm assuming I seemed a little frazzled.
But I was doing my best.

A couple minutes after we had sat the couple, the lady walked back up to me, handed me a box, and said, "Thank you for getting us seated so quickly. I want you guys to have these."
I thanked her and then she sat back down.
Inside the white box were chocolate covered strawberries that she had obviously bought.
They were absolutely delicious and I was astonished by her kindness.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Spiders

I don't like spiders.

They are creepy, fast, and can appear out of thin air.

I have this theory that spiders used to kill millions of people.

That would explain why so many of us don't like spiders.

We have this fear ingrained to keep us alive.

Like instinct.

It's a theory I don't think will ever be proven.

Anyway, I have a couple of rules when it comes to exterminating these killers.

1. I refuse to kill one when it's above my head.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to kill a spider on the ceiling and had it drop. 

Sometimes on me.

2. I refuse to kill one when it's in an enclosed space.

This is because I know that once I reach into that enclosed space it will have been a trap and another spider will appear from nowhere and ambush me.

Today I was working like normal at my desk for Deseret Digital Media.

I was hitting my stride when I saw something drop out of the corner of my eye.

It was a spider.

Not just a little one either.

Naturally, I shoved back from the desk and watched as it darted back into a crevice.

Now, I know that there are spiders almost everywhere.

And I'm completely fine with that, as long as I don't see them.

But once I see one, I have to know where it is at all times or soon it will be crawling on me.

I just know it will be.

I searched for a while before I realized I was never going to be able to find it.

I returned to work, making sure to keep an eye out for any movement.

As soon as I thought it had simply ran off, it darted back onto my desk.

I shoved back from the desk (thank goodness for rolling chairs),

And decided I was not going to let it out of my sight this time.

I also wasn't going to kill it because it was in an enclosed space.

So, I very calmly said, "I know this is going to sound really strange, but there's a spider on my desk and I don't like it."

One of my co-workers came over to see, then grabbed a tissue and attempted to kill it.

Unfortunately his attempt failed because it crawled back into the crevice.

But at least he tried.

I also found one of the silver linings about sitting in the developers section at work,

I sit by only men who are completely capable of killing a spider in an enclosed space.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Reminiscing

Do you remember your high school prom?

Did you go?

I almost didn't go to mine.

In fact, the only reason I was able to go was because one of my neighbors was kind enough to ask me when he learned that I hadn't been asked yet.

As kind and incredible as this deed was, it isn't what stands out to me the most.

What does is on our date, after dinner, we were walking back to the limo, and passed a homeless man who asked everyone in the group if we had any money to spare.

We all answered in the negative and continued walking.

All of a sudden my date turned back around, took some money out of his pocket, and handed it to the man.

When he came back I must have had a puzzled expression on my face,

Because he simply shrugged and said, "If that was me, I hope someone would be willing to help me out a little."

Now I'm not telling you to go out and start handing money to all the people you see out on the street begging for money.
Because I don't necessarily think that's the best way to help people.
But I loved how completely nonjudgmental this young man was.
He simply realized that, had roles been switched, he would have liked a little help too.
Such is the golden rule.

Go out and make the world a little better.

It's the Simple Things

To the man who opened the train door and then gestured for me to go first...

Thank you.

Thank you for showing me that chivalry is not yet dead.

To the woman who took a few extra seconds out of her morning to hold the elevator doors open until I made it in...

Thank you.

Thank you for being patient enough to show kindness to a stranger.

Finally, to the young man who offered his seat to an elderly gentleman on the train...

Thank you.

Thank you for showing that there is still hope left for my generation.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Smiles

For my main job, I work in Downtown Salt Lake for Deseret Digital Media.
It's a pretty sweet job.
I sit at a computer and test various websites for them.
And that's about as far into my job description as I'm going to go, because most people get bored or don't understand what I'm talking about.
But I'm currently working on this site.
It's a place where people like you and me can rate movies we've seen, this way we don't have to wholly depend on the MPAA ratings.
I think it's a pretty cool site.

Anyway, for work every morning my mom drops me off at the Trax station.
I then take the train to work because I don't have a car of my own.
Taking public transportation is an extremely eye opening experience.
You see people from every walk of life on those things.
And you get to eavesdrop on some completely random and often bizarre conversations.

But I've noticed that there are mainly two different types of people on the train.
The first type belongs to those who talk to anyone and everyone they are sitting next to.
The second, and more common, belongs to those who are either reading or have headphones in trying to drown out the world.
I belong to the second group.
I pick a seat right next to a window, put everything on my lap, pull out a book, and enter a different world.

However, one morning I was running late and forgot to grab my book, so I did the next best thing.
I decided to simply people watch.
Most of the people were completely absorbed in a book, their music, or the outside scenery,
But every once in a while I would make eye contact with someone.
I would then smile politely and look away.

As I looked around I made eye contact with a boy with down syndrome.
When I smiled at him, he gave me one of those ear to ear grins.
You know, those smiles where someone's whole being brightens up?
Where you can see the light of pure joy in their eyes?
That's the kind of smile he gave me.
And at that moment I knew I was going to have a good day.

It may have been something small and seemingly insignificant, but it made a big impact on me.
I'm a believer that small acts of kindness can change lives.
So go out and take the time to truly smile at someone.
Let the light shine through your eyes.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Olive Garden

Currently I'm working two jobs to save for school.

For my second job I work as a hostess at Olive Garden.

And let me tell you, nothing can make you lose faith in humanity faster than working in the food industry.

People tend to get cranky when it comes to food.

But they never cease to amaze me.

One night I was standing up at the host stand talking to my coworker.

We were waiting for a table to be cleaned off so that we could seat the next couple.

As we were waiting, a man that had already been seated came up and asked if he could talk to us.

Naturally, I assumed something was wrong.

Because that's the main reason people talk to us after they've already been seated.

Either that or they want to know where the bathroom is.

But as I was standing there expecting the worst, 

This man pointed to an elderly couple that was eating and asked if he could pay for their dinner.

I was completely blown away.

I had heard of this stuff happening, but had never actually seen it happen before.

He gave my coworker his credit card, paid for their food, and then left.

I never got to see the look on the couples' faces when they found out their dinner had been paid for,

And I don't know what happened to the man that paid,

But it turned my whole day around.

One day I hope to be able to do that to someone else.

Go out and make the world a little better.

Pilot

I am jumping on the band wagon and starting a blog.

This is my first blog post ever!

Well, actually I think I had one in high school, but that doesn't count. Does it?

Because I don't think it should.

And I really hope that has been deleted forever...

But I digress.

I want this to be somewhere people can come to hear stories that restore their faith in humanity.

Somewhere with feel good stories.

You know those nice things you see people do for someone else?

Or maybe the kind things you do for others?

Those kinds of stories.

Maybe I'll even throw in a funny story or seven.

(Because who doesn't like a funny story?)

Anyway, that's my goal.

Have a great day!

Go out and make the world a little better.