We've been learning curriculum all week. Sigh. At least I've been learning a lot of new things. Like some history about Catalina Island today. Thus the title of today's post. Apparently, Catalina has had several names...starting with Pimu after the natives that originally lived there. Then, an explorer named Cabrillo named it San Salvador after his boat. And finally, another explorer (Viscaino) landed there on the eve of St. Catherine's day, thus naming the island Santa Catalina. St. Catherine is, among other things, the patron saint of single women. Maybe my prayers will be better heard from her island....just kidding!
Anyway, I've also learned about birds and fish and marine mammals off the coast of SoCal...did you know that the whale in Finding Nemo is a Mysteceti and not an Odontoceti? I don't even like science and I'm turning into a science nerd! I also can now tell you the difference between seals and sea lions or defining characteristics of Western Gulls, Cormorants, and Brown Pelicans. You might as well just stamp "Science Nerd" onto my forehead.
A quick recap of the end of last week...We headed down to Cabrillo Beach to finish up lifeguard training. It wasn't horrible, but waterfront lifeguard training is a big job...especially swimming in the ocean when it's FREEZING. We went in Thursday, and I couldn't breathe it was so cold. Thankfully we were only in for about half an hour learning how to rescue people with a rescue board. Oh...and we had to do the Baywatch run into the ocean with our rescue tubes. Totally BA. Haha. I felt like such a poser. We then finished our water training in a rinky-dink little RV park pool. 50 laps, swim underwater, learn how to rescue people. It's really hard trying to do a deep water rescue in 5 ft.
And this weekend my parents were out! We didn't do much...just kind of wandered around, but we had fun. Plus, now I have my car, so I'm less tied down than I was. :)
We were going to take a sailboat to Catalina on Saturday, but since it's supposed to rain, we are going in with the camp kids Monday morning. This is SO not ideal. Ah well, it'll work out I guess. I just hate most things that are last-minute.
Anyway, I'll let you all go for now. I miss you all and hope you are doing well. Until next time!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
First Aid!
So yesterday we started First Aid/CPR training...not exactly the most exciting thing ever, but we made it fun. Carlyn is certified as a trainer, so it's nice that we don't have to go anywhere to get certified. The Red Cross videos can be a little cheezy, but what else is going to make it entertaining?
So we were learning stuff all day, and let me tell you, it's a lot of information to remember. We made a flow chart of what to do, because there are a lot of variables, and I think I'm getting it down now. We also had to spend 2 minutes each performing CPR on the dummy. 2 minutes is a long time, and the chest compressions are hard work! You also have to count out loud as you do 30 compressions in a row, which just makes you feel out of breath. I'm hoping that I never have to perform CPR on someone. The whole time I kept thinking of the "Office" episode where they learn CPR: Michael sings I Will Survive instead of Stayin' Alive, and Dwight cuts the face off the dummy. Hilarious.
Last night we got the night off, and so we watched a couple episodes of Firefly, and then 7 of us played telephone pictionary. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard. :) I may be no good at drawing, but it definitely makes the game more interesting. I've never ever claimed to be good at drawing, so its kind of like water off a duck when people make fun of my illustrations. Now we have a whole new passel of inside jokes...I have been thinking of them and chuckling to myself all day.
In other news, every once in awhile I catch a Wisconsin vowel slipping out...I said "toasty" last night with a really Wisconsin "o." And got mocked. Most of the time I sound normal, but every once in awhile...gotta love the midwest.
That's about all I have for now. Lifeguard training starts tomorrow in San Pedro at the Cabrillo facility...hopefully I don't look like a complete weirdo. I think I said this in an earlier post, but I haven't done any legit swimming in awhile...I guess we'll see by this weekend.
Hope you all are having a fantastic week! Until next time!
So we were learning stuff all day, and let me tell you, it's a lot of information to remember. We made a flow chart of what to do, because there are a lot of variables, and I think I'm getting it down now. We also had to spend 2 minutes each performing CPR on the dummy. 2 minutes is a long time, and the chest compressions are hard work! You also have to count out loud as you do 30 compressions in a row, which just makes you feel out of breath. I'm hoping that I never have to perform CPR on someone. The whole time I kept thinking of the "Office" episode where they learn CPR: Michael sings I Will Survive instead of Stayin' Alive, and Dwight cuts the face off the dummy. Hilarious.
Last night we got the night off, and so we watched a couple episodes of Firefly, and then 7 of us played telephone pictionary. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard. :) I may be no good at drawing, but it definitely makes the game more interesting. I've never ever claimed to be good at drawing, so its kind of like water off a duck when people make fun of my illustrations. Now we have a whole new passel of inside jokes...I have been thinking of them and chuckling to myself all day.
In other news, every once in awhile I catch a Wisconsin vowel slipping out...I said "toasty" last night with a really Wisconsin "o." And got mocked. Most of the time I sound normal, but every once in awhile...gotta love the midwest.
That's about all I have for now. Lifeguard training starts tomorrow in San Pedro at the Cabrillo facility...hopefully I don't look like a complete weirdo. I think I said this in an earlier post, but I haven't done any legit swimming in awhile...I guess we'll see by this weekend.
Hope you all are having a fantastic week! Until next time!
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Coffee Bean
If my life continues as it has for the past few days, I will soon be good friends with the baristas at the Coffee Bean. I have been here three times in three days. Not that I'm complaining of course...a good caramel latte always has my name written on it.
Tuesday afternoon I came down with Melodie, Marcus, and Carlyn to get some work done using the internet...(and be on facebook, to be quite honest.) Wednesda night, Melodie, Marcus and I came down just to hang out, and I caught up on Community. And yesterday we were back to do more work.
I was on the phone with Annie (my boss) for about 45 minutes, running through how the whole Google Docs thing works. I was then given a small task list, although I feel like I am somewhat over my head. Google Docs is easy enough to use, but it would've been nice to have some time to play around with it before having some things to do. I tried to take some notes on what to do, but now I'm just hoping that I did everything right. If not, it's easily fixable and I'm sure that Annie won't mind, but I like to do things right the first time. All I can do is shake my head and laugh a little at how much I feel like I'm over my head. Doing work over the phone is never fun.
I went home with Mary again this weekend (third in a row) which is nice because it seems like everyone is going home again this weekend and I would hate to be all by myself. We are planning on catching up on Bones...thankfully I've had enough internet access to pretty much keep up on some things, although its difficult. I should probably just give up TV altogether.
Hopefully this weekend is nice. We don't have any plans other than sleep...it's been a long-ish week. Next week is going to be a little more physical since we will be doing CPR/First-Aid and Lifeguard training. Wednesday afternoon we are leaving Forest Home to go to Cabrillo for a bit to take the Lifeguard test and stuff. I'm a little intimidated since there is a pre-test and a final test and I haven't done any legit swimming in years. Fun.
Anyway, that's about it. Know that I am thinking of you all with fondness. Until next time!
Tuesday afternoon I came down with Melodie, Marcus, and Carlyn to get some work done using the internet...(and be on facebook, to be quite honest.) Wednesda night, Melodie, Marcus and I came down just to hang out, and I caught up on Community. And yesterday we were back to do more work.
I was on the phone with Annie (my boss) for about 45 minutes, running through how the whole Google Docs thing works. I was then given a small task list, although I feel like I am somewhat over my head. Google Docs is easy enough to use, but it would've been nice to have some time to play around with it before having some things to do. I tried to take some notes on what to do, but now I'm just hoping that I did everything right. If not, it's easily fixable and I'm sure that Annie won't mind, but I like to do things right the first time. All I can do is shake my head and laugh a little at how much I feel like I'm over my head. Doing work over the phone is never fun.
I went home with Mary again this weekend (third in a row) which is nice because it seems like everyone is going home again this weekend and I would hate to be all by myself. We are planning on catching up on Bones...thankfully I've had enough internet access to pretty much keep up on some things, although its difficult. I should probably just give up TV altogether.
Hopefully this weekend is nice. We don't have any plans other than sleep...it's been a long-ish week. Next week is going to be a little more physical since we will be doing CPR/First-Aid and Lifeguard training. Wednesday afternoon we are leaving Forest Home to go to Cabrillo for a bit to take the Lifeguard test and stuff. I'm a little intimidated since there is a pre-test and a final test and I haven't done any legit swimming in years. Fun.
Anyway, that's about it. Know that I am thinking of you all with fondness. Until next time!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Super Bowl Champs!
So this weekend was totally awesome. :) Friday we came down the mountain and Saturday morning most of the staff went to Knott's Berry Farm. If you are unfamiliar with Knott's, it is America's first theme park. While I am not a huge fan of roller coasters, it was definitely a fun day and I did end up riding a few pretty crazy rides. (One of them, called the Xcelerator, shoots you forward, then takes you straight up 205 feet, and then straight back down (literally 90 degrees - if you don't believe me, look it up on Wikipedia.) I was terrified, but definitely felt exhilarated after getting off.
And Sunday. Glorious Sunday. I was seriously freaking out during the entire game, but seeing Green Bay win was the most exciting thing ever. I loved it. I was also in good company with several other random Packer fans in the room. Mary's sister Sarah is a hard core GB fan, and so we decorated a cake together.
And Sunday. Glorious Sunday. I was seriously freaking out during the entire game, but seeing Green Bay win was the most exciting thing ever. I loved it. I was also in good company with several other random Packer fans in the room. Mary's sister Sarah is a hard core GB fan, and so we decorated a cake together.
Awesome right?
Anyway, yesterday was full of more training...gets a little boring, but oh well. And today, four of us headed down the mountain to do some work. Speaking of which, it's 10:45 and I need to get back to work and call my boss. Always something to do.
Hope you all are well. Love and miss you! Until next time!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Week 2
So this week has been a little more interesting. We had campers Monday afternoon through Thursday around 11:30. They were great, even if most of us didn't get to interact with them much. Mostly we just shadowed the classes so we would know what a normal class would look like. We all have camp names, so the kids don't know our real name. My official camp name is Bandit. Not totally sure how it came about originally, but I think it's awesome. :)
Food has been a bit of an adventure - we eat a lot of the same stuff, and none of it is very healthy - frozen burritos, grilled cheese, frozen pizza, etc. But apparently next week we will be in charge of budgeting meals, so our team can make something a little better.
I feel like I am already in better shape, what with climbing up a mountain three times a day. We are about 5000 feet up too, so I'm now accustomed to the altitude. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a head cold, so when we headed down the mountain last night, my ears weren't popping and my head was majorly stuffed. It seems like the worst of it lasts for about 24 hours...at least that's how it's been for the rest of the staff.
I definitely feel like I know these people a lot better, so it's a lot less awkward and my homesickness has subsided somewhat...especially hearing about the huge midwest blizzard! Yikes. Although you should all be happy to know that it did snow here Sunday night in the mountains as well. It's been pretty cold all week (a.k.a. 40-ish) but it's gotten warmer today and I'm back to a light jacket. Plus, when we are out of the mountains it's up to about 60.
We're still doing some training, and there is still a bunch of sitting around, especially now that the kids are gone, but we have fun. Saturday most of us are headed down to Knott's Berry Farm this weekend...I'm not the biggest fan of amusement parks, but hey, we've got something to do. And Sunday of course we'll be watching the Packers win the Super Bowl!
Anyway, that's about all for now. Hope you all are staying warm!
Food has been a bit of an adventure - we eat a lot of the same stuff, and none of it is very healthy - frozen burritos, grilled cheese, frozen pizza, etc. But apparently next week we will be in charge of budgeting meals, so our team can make something a little better.
I feel like I am already in better shape, what with climbing up a mountain three times a day. We are about 5000 feet up too, so I'm now accustomed to the altitude. Unfortunately, I have a bit of a head cold, so when we headed down the mountain last night, my ears weren't popping and my head was majorly stuffed. It seems like the worst of it lasts for about 24 hours...at least that's how it's been for the rest of the staff.
I definitely feel like I know these people a lot better, so it's a lot less awkward and my homesickness has subsided somewhat...especially hearing about the huge midwest blizzard! Yikes. Although you should all be happy to know that it did snow here Sunday night in the mountains as well. It's been pretty cold all week (a.k.a. 40-ish) but it's gotten warmer today and I'm back to a light jacket. Plus, when we are out of the mountains it's up to about 60.
We're still doing some training, and there is still a bunch of sitting around, especially now that the kids are gone, but we have fun. Saturday most of us are headed down to Knott's Berry Farm this weekend...I'm not the biggest fan of amusement parks, but hey, we've got something to do. And Sunday of course we'll be watching the Packers win the Super Bowl!
Anyway, that's about all for now. Hope you all are staying warm!
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