Almost Arrested

Working at Enterprise this summer has brought back some memories of past experiences in the car rental world. We were talking today about weird instances we've experienced while renting cars, and it reminded me of this story.

I started with ERAC (Enterprise Rent A Car) five years ago. At first I was really good about putting my driver's license in my pocket. Everywhere I went, I took my cell phone and my driver's license. As time went on, I got out of the habit of grabbing my license. I actually lost my license in a rental car once because it fell out of my pocket, so I just stopped bringing it with me when I had to go pick someone up. The chances of me getting pulled over and getting in an accident were small, so I took the chance.

About six months into my job, my manager sent me and another co-worker to a customer's house to pick up the rental car. Typically we asked the customer to return to us and we'd drive them home, but this was a little old lady who didn't want to drive to our office, so out of courtesy for our customer, we told her we'd come get the car at her house. For whatever reason, I grabbed my purse. I NEVER took my purse on an errand like this, but on this day I took it with me.

I was driving, so I followed mapquest to her house. She lived directly across the street from an elementary school, so I was going slowly through the neighborhood. We found her house, so I pulled up next to the house on the street to let my co-worker out of the car. Once he was out of the car, I pulled up alongside the curb to make sure he got the keys and wasn't left stranded. I probably sat the curb for a total of two minutes.

My co-worker gave me a thumbs up, so I started to drive back toward the office, again going slowly. As I was driving past the school, a police officer turned the corner and came up behind me. He was following pretty closely, so I, of course, made sure to keep to the speed limit. After about 20 seconds of following me, the officer turned on his lights. I knew I wasn't speeding, so I thought maybe he needed to go around me. I pulled over, and he pulled up behind me.

At this point, I had a weird feeling. I wasn't speeding. I wasn't doing anything illegal. I was in a business suit for goodness sakes! I did not look creepy or drugged out in any way, shape or form. I rolled down my window as the police officer approached. He didn't come directly to my window; rather, he stood by the back window and was talking to someone through his radio.

"I've got a white female pulled over who's been roaming through the neighborhood."
I couldn't quite hear the response from the other end.
"We got a call from someone in the neighborhood that there was a car that has been driving by the school. I have her pulled over now. I'll find out her story.


There was some more chatter from the walkie talkie that I couldn’t understand, and then the officer came up to my window.

“I’ve gotten a report that you’ve been wandering through the neighborhood. More specifically, the person who called said you’ve been driving slowly past the school, and this is reason for alarm. Can you please explain to me why you’re interested in this school?”

I was flabbergasted. I had only been in the neighborhood less than five minutes and someone had called the police on me! Not only that, but I was working. Yes, I had been driving slowly through the sub-division, but that was only so I could find the house I was looking for.

In my calmest voice I could muster (I was nervous and upset), I explained to him my story. I figured we would both get a good laugh out of it and I’d be on my way.

BUT, he didn’t believe me! He thought I was lying to him.

“That’s a great story, but I’m going to need proof of that tale.”

Of all the days that I actually did grab my purse, this was the day I actually needed it. I grabbed my purse and started looking for a business card or something to prove that I worked for Enterprise. As I was searching, he was back on his walkie talkie telling them that I was claiming I worked for ERAC. I finally found a business card (it was my one and only card in my purse, so again I lucked out). That still wasn’t proof enough for him. He actually called ERAC and confirmed that I was an employee there. Once my co-workers verified this information, he was confident I was telling the truth. He told me I could head back to work.

He still must have been a little suspicious because then he actually followed me back to the office. He waited for me to park and walk into the building before he went on his way.

Once back in the office, my co-workers asked why an officer had followed me back to the office. I told them the story, and they thought it was the funniest thing they’d heard all day. The guy who confirmed I was an employee said he ALMOST told the officer I didn’t work there because he didn’t realize what was going on. Thank God he didn’t do that because I probably would have been arrested on the spot.

Ya Ya's

I rented a car today to a family with three small children. They were 4, 3 and 2 years old. While the parents struggled to put three car seats in a mini van in the rain, I tried my best to entertain the children. The girl warmed up to me right away. She was three years old, and her name was Emily. She was very talkative and had no problems chatting away with me.

She said, "I'm a girl."

I said, "You're right, you are a girl."

Then she said, "You're a girl, too."

"Yes, I sure am a girl," I agreed.

"You have Ya Ya's like I do."

I chuckled.

"But your Ya Ya's are much, much bigger than mine."

I'm sure her parents would be mortified if they heard our conversation. I'm still laughing about it now.

Shaving Gel

I am happy to tell you a story that did NOT happen to me. Although this sounds like something I would do, it actually happened to my friend Michelle.

Several weeks ago when I graduated with my Master's, my friends April and Michelle drove from Kearney to stay with me. They arrived Friday evening; Katie, Michelle, April and I met at our favorite Thai restaurant for dinner. Wild Ginger is outstanding food; the only problem is their consistency with mild, medium and hot. Sometimes their medium is so mild we wished we had gotten hot. Sometimes their medium is so hot we wished we had gotten mild.

The four of us ordered medium Pad Thai. The waitress warned us it was hot, but we all waved her along and said that would be fine. Well, on this particular night, she was right; the medium was HOT. It was so hot that we had to order a plate of white rice to help tame the fire in our mouths. The four of us joked that it was not going to be pretty coming out. If it's spicy going in, it's bound to be spicy coming out!

After dinner, we came back to my place to play some games and have a drink. April was the first to hit the bathroom. As she came out, she was giggling. She said that she had almost used my shaving cream as an air freshener. She had grabbed it from under the sink, looked at the bottle, saw the flowers and thought it was air freshener. Right as she was about to spray, she saw SHAVING GEL on the bottle and realized she had almost made a big mess. As April came out of the bathroom, Michelle was ready to head in. April joked, "There's some stuff under the sink if you need it." Michelle shut the door, and April told us what she had almost done. We all laughed and told Michelle we were headed upstairs.

About 10 minutes later, Michelle met us outside. By this time, we had all had a drink and had begun to wonder if Michelle was OK. "Are you OK?" Katie asked Michelle. "You were down there for a really long time."

Michelle was laughing as she told us her story. She had done her business in the bathroom, and heading April's advice, she looked under the sink and saw the same bottle April had seen. Thinking it was air freshener, Michelle grabbed the can, looked at the pretty flowers on the bottle, and then sprayed with all her might. As we all know, it wasn't air freshener at all but rather shaving gel, so as Michelle sprayed, a white rush of foam came spraying out of the bottle.

She got the toilet, the shower curtain, the wall, the sink; everything in the bathroom was covered with shaving gel. As the shaving gel game out, it turned into a thick foam and continued to expand. Michelle had made a giant mess in the bathroom. The reason it took her so long in the bathroom was because she had to clean up her mess. It took her almost 10 minutes to clean up all the shaving gel, but I must add that she did a great job because we couldn't even tell she had sprayed gel all over the bathroom.

Gas Pump Mishap

Some of you saw this story on Facebook, but this story is too funny to NOT blog about. I have been working at Enterprise since June (as a part time job). They needed me full time this week, so I dragged my booty out of bed at 5:30am yesterday to make it to work by 6:30. Once arriving in the office, my manager (Kole) told me to go stage a car at one of our body shops. When I got into the car, the gas light was on, so I ran back inside to get the gas card.

Kole, being his sarcastic self, gave me a hard time about being late and how I needed to hurry up. I drove across the street to the gas station, put the pump in the tank and inserted our gas card. I entered my driver ID, and it came up as "Please see attendant." So I ran inside; the attendant swiped the card, I entered my numbered, and it once again came up as invalid. There was a line of people behind me, so I stepped aside and called Kole.

Kole gave me his number, so I got back in line to wait my turn. Once again, the attendant swiped the card, I entered the number and it came up as invalid. By this time, almost 10 minutes have passed, and I know I'm already late. I tell her I'll be right back with cash, so I ran out to the car, turned it on and floored the car. As I drove away, I heard a ripping sound and then something dragging behind the car.

I looked in my mirror only to realize that I never took the pump out of the tank. As I drove away, the hose was ripped from the gas pump and it was trailing along behind me with the pump still in the car.

I was horrified. I stopped and got out to access the damage. I fully expected gasoline to be spraying everywhere, but there were no leaks and no damage to the rental. I put the pump back in the unit, and I ran inside to make my confession. With a red face, I told her what I did. She kind of chuckled and said, "Oh, honey. That happens all the time. They actually design it so the pump comes off in order to avoid damaging the entire station." I asked her if she was sure I hadn't damaged the entire unit, but she said I should be fine.

I went back across the street and got cash. I then had to go back into the station to pay for my gas. I was still horrified at what I'd done, but she had already called the repair people and put an "Out of Order," sign on the pump.

I didn't tell anyone in my office until later that afternoon because I was so embarrassed, but now it's the office joke. If only they knew some of my other stories (tanning, wrecks , car washes, massages, rings)...

Karaoke-Volume Needed

Kari and Sonya both have July birthday's, so we all went out to celebrate. We started the night out at Vita in the Highlands. It's a roof top bar overlooking beautiful downtown Denver. Sonya, Dan, Chandler, and MeAmy, Me, Nick, and Amanda
Then we ended the night at The Music Box, a Karaoke bar. It didn't take long for me to hit the stage. This is Chandler, Joseph, and Me signing Tim McGraw: "I Like It, I Love It."Kari, Dan and I did a little Jimmy Buffet: "Margaritaville."
Other songs we sang included: Journey (Don't Stop Believing), Gretchen Wilson (Red Necked Woman), and Carly Simon (You're so Vain)

The tacos at 3am at a shady taco stand on Sheridan and 44th later that night did not boad well and equaled a tummy ache at 10am the next morning.

This night brought back some memories of Mexico, and while I'm sure Abby and Kari are going to hate me for putting this on my blog, I think the below video deserves some attention.

NEVER BEFORE SEEN FOOTAGE!!!

Back in 2007, Kari, Abby and I took a fabulous trip to Cancun, Mexico. We literally did nothing all week. We sat at the pool all day, and then we spent our evenings enjoying the night life. On one particular night, we decided to sing Karaoke with our new friend, Joyce.

It's not pretty, my friends. I advise you to turn your volume on high, but be prepared to plug your ears because none of us are on tune.

4th of July, 2009

I can't believe I almost forgot to blog about my 4th of July. It was a REALLY quick trip up to Glenwood Springs/Aspen. I left Saturday morning at 7am and made it to Aspen by 10am, just in time for the annual Aspen parade. Carson and Kye had a blast collecting candy and toys that were thrown at them. This is how much Kye loves getting his picture taken! But, he sure did love that cotton candy.

The 4th of July holiday is spent in Glenwood/Aspen every year because my mom's cousin, Connie, lives in Glenwood. My Grandma Van's sister, Lindy, had four children: Christy, Connie, Cara Lee, and Jeff, so they are my mom's cousins. Usually, everyone but Jeff is able to come visit for the 4th, so my family makes sure to visit, too, so we can see cousins that we only get to see once a year.

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Connie, Steve, McKenna and Kellin live in Glenwood. Connie and I kind of look alike, huh?

Steve is a fun-loving guy who has yet to grow up. He loves to have fun!

Beautiful Kenna is going to be a Senior this year.

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Christy, Dick, Aaron, Becca and Jordan come from Cedaredge (Becca is married to Brian, and they live in Grand Junction. Aaron is married to Hailey, and they live in Phoenix).

Hailey is holding the umbrella and Aaron is crouching in black. I didn't get a picture of any of the others :(

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Cara Lee, Bobby, Jason, Jenna and Jessica live in Phoenix.

Jessica is going to be a Junior, Jenna goes to school in Virginia at Liberty, and Jason just graduated from college in Phoenix with a degree in business. Bobby and meJessica, Cara Lee and me
At the top of Independence Pass with Jessica, Cara Lee, Jenna and Jason.
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After the parade, we all headed up to the Grotto's, which is a cool hiking/picnic area half way up Independence Pass.

Kye teaching Case how to spit.

Mom and dad on the bridge. Great picture!

The entire Nichols/Anderson family, minus Corinne. She was sleeping off in the woods.

Katie helping Carson climb some rocks, while Shan, Jeff and Case watched from above.

The Nichols girls. Shan always will be a Nichols despite her name change.

Kenna helping Kye and Case climb some rocks. Kye was pretty excited to be up there.

Carson refused to go down into the cave with the rest of us, but he looked down on us from above.

Kye and Case loved the cave, though!

My three little boys. So cute!

Word Cloud

Thanks to my friend, Rob, he found this cool program called wordle.net, which takes the most common words on your blog and combines it into a word cloud. Check it out!



Click on it to make it bigger!

Vail Pass

Amy, Kari and I decided to ride UP Vail Pass. In previous years, my family and friends have always ridden DOWN Vail Pass, which as you can imagine, is a lot of fun! It's about an 18 mile path that starts at the top of Vail Pass and goes through Copper Mtn, Frisco, over the Lake Dillon Dam and into Silverthorne.

Now that Kari and I are bikers, we thought it was due time to try our hand at going UP. So we started at the Dam in Dillon and began our trek up. The first 13 miles was a matter of finding a good pace. It was a relatively slight incline, and while it was a workout, it was doable for anyone. Once we hit Copper Mtn, we knew the hard part was about to start. The sign said 6 miles to the top, and we knew it was going to be steep. Sure enough, it was. I made it about 4.5 miles before turning around. Kari and Amy both made it to the top.

Next time (yes, I'll give it another go), I WILL make it to the top!

We happened to choose to ride on the same day as the Triple Bypass, which is a ride that covers 120 miles and goes over three Passes. We were not part of the ride, of course, but we rode in the mix along with several thousand other riders. We got smoked by rider after rider, but it was cool to semi be a part of the Triple Bypass

He's Ready

Can you believe this? I'm actually getting request for blog posts! My friend, Rich, sent me a special email that said: "It has been 4 days since your last post, I am jonesing for another on your seat post from the great Shiloh." His memo said, "I'm Ready!"

No joke.

The problem is I don't really have anything to blog about. I did have a fabulous night last night with friends, but I didn't want to write about that until I got pictures from Kari. Friday night I was in bed at 9:30, so obviously nothing too exciting happened that night. Today, I took a two hour nap, so nothing too exciting to report from today.

I'm out of things to talk about, Rich!

The good news is summer school is over this week. I took tomorrow off (I get paid for one sub day, so I figured I would take advantage of it). Thursday is our last day with the kids, so I just have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then I am done!

Friday after work, I'm headed to Lake McCaunaghey in Ogallala, NE, to go camping with my girls. We're going to spend the weekend swimming, chatting, sleeping and playing games. I'm really looking forward to it.

That's about all I have to report. Sorry this blog post isn't more exciting, Rich, but I'll post pictures from last night once I receive them from Kari.

We Did It!

Team Thunder From Down Under

Me, Dean, Dave, Collin, Ben, Kari

I am so proud of my MS 150 team. Every single one of us completed the ride, and I know at some point every single one of us had to overcome some difficulties to make it to the finish line. No matter how good of shape my team was in, or no matter how many miles we put in before the ride, there were parts of the ride that sucked. While the thought of giving up crossed each of our minds, we all pushed hard and made it to the finish line.
Congrats to Kari, who rode for her sister, Amanda. She was a solid rider and encouraged me to finish the last 15 miles.
Congrats to Collin, who of course rode for our dad. He beat his big sister by several hours each day. Congrats to Ben, who rode for his mom, Pam. He rode alongside Collin, and even waited at the finish line for Kari and me.
Congrats to Dean, who rode for his sister, Kristi. Dean had a dislocated shoulder and pulled hamstring, but he persevered and made it to the end despite his pain.
Congrats to Dave, who gave riding tips to Kari and me throughout the entire ride.Congrats to me, who may have come in last from our team, but at least I came in. This ride has the most amazing people, both participating and volunteering. You can hear shouts of encouragement all around, and people are willing to stop and help out if needed. As I struggled up some long hills that I thought would never end, the shouts of encouragement I received brought tears to my eyes. These people, despite their own personal struggles, took an extra breath to cheer me on.

I made a few friends along the way, too. One man could see I was struggling up a hill, so he slowed down and talked me through the hill. As we neared the top, he looked me in the eye and said, "You, my friend, are my inspiration. You're going to finish this ride because you care for those with MS." He continued on his way without even realizing he gave me the strength to carry on.

On the next big hill, another lady my age rode alongside me for a ways. She told me the story of her friend with MS, who up until this year had ridden the MS 150 for seven years. This was the first year he couldn't ride because of his disabilities. As we neared the top of the hill she said, "Remember that we ride for those who can't. Remember that we ride to help raise money to find a cure. Remember that the pain you're experiencing now is only for a few short days while people with MS have a lifetime of suffering."

My final friend was a lady with MS. She wore her jersey with pride that said, "I ride WITH MS." She was struggling up the final five miles of hills, and she was all alone. I was also alone, so I rode with her for the final stretch. She was all smiles as she neared the end, and I couldn't help but think to myself, "She is MY inspiration."

Who is YOUR inspiration? You may not know someone with MS, but you know someone with cancer or you know someone who has lost loved ones or you know someone who has lost a baby or you know someone who is hurting financially or you know someone who is sick or you know someone who is living in so much pain they can barely get through the day.

And yet that person with MS wakes up every morning despite the pain. That person with cancer lives on despite having no hair or being brutally sick. That person who has lost a loved one wakes up and goes to work despite that void in their life. That person who lost a baby will never forget but they keep smiling despite their empty arms. That person who is hurting financially works just a little bit harder despite being so dog tired. That person who is sick pushes through the pain and makes dinner for their family. That person who is living in so much pain, whether it be emotional pain or physical pain, puts on a brave face.

We all know someone who inspires us, who helps us get through the day, who gives us that extra little push to make it to the top of the hill. Have you told that person they inspire you? Three little words, "You're my inspiration," can give someone just enough strength to make it to the finish line. Without my three new friends I made along the way, I'm not sure if I would have made it this year. I will admit, I wasn't in as good of shape as last year, and if a SAG Wagon would have come along between the 16 miles right before lunch, I honest to God think I would have quit.

But then I thought of my inspiration: my father. My sweet, precious father who inspires me and gives me the strength to live even though some days I would rather stay in bed. Four years ago he heard the words, "You have MS." I haven't heard a single complaint come from his lips, so you, dad, are my inspiration. I ride for you, dad.

Truth

Sometimes the truth hurts.
Sometimes the truth sucks.
Sometimes I don't want to hear the truth.
Sometimes I would rather skip the truth and move on to the subjects that don't hurt as much.
Sometimes I wish I could close my ears and my mouth and not hear the truth.
Because I've learned in my 28 years of life that the truth isn't always very nice to me or others around me.

There have been times when I have spoken the truth to someone I love, and it ruined friendships.
There have been times when I have spoken the truth to someone I care so deeply for, and I never heard from that person again.
There have been times when friends have spoken the truth to me and it cut me so deeply I wanted to throw them across the room.
There have been times when I spoke my heart, my most secret thoughts, my deepest desires and the person beside me ran away.

It is times like those when the truth hurts. When the truth sucks. When I wonder if I should have ever spoken at all.

But then I remember, "The truth will set you free" (John 8:32). Jesus spoke the truth and he was not well liked among many people. I am not striving to be hated, don't get me wrong, but I am striving to be more like Jesus, so it goes without saying that I must continue to speak the truth, accept the truth and listen to the truth.

Master Shiloh

The month of June has been a whirlwind for me. First was my reunion, then my graduation, then the MS 150, then the 4th of July. I haven't been able to sit still long enough to post pictures, but I have a TON of pictures. I did post pictures of my reunion, so now it's time to share my graduation photos with you.

My graduation weekend was such an amazing weekend. I am so so so very blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who love me enough to drive to Denver to help me celebrate. April and Michelle came up Friday afternoon. April lives in Kearney and Michelle lives in Omaha. I was still at work when they got here, so they went shopping. My friend, Katie (who lives in Denver), met us for dinner, and then we went back to my place for a few drinks. Jeff and April took on Michelle and me at horseshoes. Jeff and April won!April and Michelle

Saturday was my graduation. There was lots of family and friends around, so I was kind of sad to leave the house to go the ceremony, but the ceremony proved to be fun, too. Yes, it's signed!Mom and dad screamed really loud when they read my name. My good friend, Courtney, who has been by my side through the good, the bad and the ugly.Courtney and Rich, my two good friends from the program. Our other friend, Rob, was MIA for the picture. Tiffany was my cooperating teacher for student teaching at Columbine High School. She taught me everything I know, and even better, we've become good friends. A party isn't complete without good friends. I've talked often about Kari and Abby. Abby married Corey in August and moved to Kansas. She just happened to be in Denver this weekend celebrating her niece's birthday, who was born two days before Case in the same hospital. I was thrilled to have her at my party!Sonya, Kari, Abby and MeSome of my very dearest friends: Tiffany, Sonya, Kari, Me, Abby, Michelle and AprilMy grandparents came from NE. These are my dad's parents, Leon and Reva.My aunt and uncle (Kevin and Ginger) came all the way from Wyoming. This is my dad's sister, Ginger. Some people say we look alike. Any resemblance?Thanks to my family for making my day very special. Mother and son.

(Not pictured: my dad's brother and his wife (Jan and Dallas) came from NE, and my mom's sister and husband (Lisa and Jimbo) came from Thornton, which is practically another state away from Littleton).Case turned two, so Shan made an awesome M&M cake. Kye is looking a little mischievous

After my party, April, Michelle and I went and did a little country dancing.

Everyone packed up and left the next morning. I, on the other hand, had another party to attend. I drove to Castle Rock to celebrate with my fellow classmates.

Erin and Courtney in front. Rich, Me and Rob in back. Rob has a 1966 Jag, so he took me for a cruise around Castle Rock.

Thanks to family and friends for making my graduation weekend so fabulous!