Would you like to pay an extra .25 cents for a locker?

A week ago from yesterday, on the 8th of February to be exact, I was scheduled to watch my co-worker's kids for the night. It was really cold and snowy and his in-law's flight got canceled so I found out they no longer needed me to babysit. Joe Heeb was supposed to go visit people from the ward with the Elder's Quorum Presidency and because it was cold and snowy, he also found out he no longer needed to. So naturally when Joe and I don't have anything to do, we make something happen.

I asked him what he wanted to do and he suggested sledding, swimming, or going to see a movie. I thought for a minute and decided swimming would be wonderful because I could sit in a hot tub and warm up since I was freezing all day long. Also, I missed swimming since it is normally a summer activity for me. We invited others and nobody else wanted to come but some were still thinking about it.

We went to the Westminster Rec Center and payed. I got a locker to put my things in and Joe did not. I said, "Joe, you're not getting a locker?" Joe replied, "No. I just set my stuff in another locker and it's always fine. I feel like I'll have to get something stolen for me to start getting lockers." Unfortunately, we found out that these lockers did not allow you to do this so he just sat his stuff under a bench. You had to have a key just to open them. Joe and I went and swam, sat in the hot tub and played tag with his water torpedo with this kid Lalo who followed us around the whole time. Periodically, Joe would leave and check his phone to make sure nobody had called him who wanted to come. We were ready to leave and Joe came back and said, "My stuff is gone..." Knowing Joe and the comment he said earlier about getting his things stolen I just laughed and figured he was kidding. He said that he was serious and I started to panic just a little bit.

We looked all over for his things and even asked the staff to help. In his backpack were the following items: his clothes, his cell phone, his wallet, and his keys (containing the only set of keys to his new car.) I immediately though, is his car still here? We kept calling Joe's phone over and over while I went outside to look for his car. I went row by row and started to freak out when I didn't see it. Luckily, it was still where he left it, phew! I went back to Joe and told him the good news. We left a description of the items with the front desk and went out to my car. PS Joe still had on his swim trunks and was wearing his towel. Reminder: It was SUPER cold outside which was mainly the reason I wanted to go swimming in the first place and he was wet still so I gave him my hoodie.

After much deliberation, we decided to call a tow truck just in case the theft came back for the car. We sat in my car with the heat on high for about an hour with Joe still soaking wet. He got a Book Of Mormon out of the glove box and said, "Wouldn't it be cool if I opened to a verse that was applicable?" He did, and it didn't work. He tried several times and then just went to the Bible dictionary under lost. He read about how things were lost because the people did not repent so we kept saying "repent" randomly while we were waiting.


 Eventually the tow truck came and I took Joe home after. It has now been a week since this and Joe has just about replaced everything he lost and it's been about a $500 mistake. Moral of the story? Don't go swimming in winter! haha, just kidding. When faced with paying for a .25 cent locker or risking your stuff, just spend the quarter! It's not worth it to go through all that unless you want to learn a "valuable" lesson. Oh and I've found that sucky situations are a whole lot better with friends. They're almost funny....

Letters from the past, to the Future

I was talking with one of my best friends last night and before we hung up he said, "Lisa, I have something to tell you." Wondering what he could have to say, I said, "What, what is it?" He replied, "It worked..." I thought for a minute and had NO idea what he was talking about. He continued, "I got an email the other day from you." I thought some more and was confused because I hadn't sent him an e-mail the other day. Then it hit me, the time capsule!

Okay, let's re-wind a few years. My friend Tiffany and I were on bored.com taking quizzes like how tone deaf are you and rhythm tests. It was fun but sometime during those tests we found a link to send e-mails to the future. Intrigued, we looked into it. It was this website that would send e-mails to whomever you wanted and whenever you wanted.. We were skeptical at first but tried it. I sent an email to myself for the next day and sure enough it appeared the next day. I then thought of who I should write an e-mail to. I wrote one to myself, my friend who was with me the previous day, and to my friend mentioned above.

After we talked a little bit about it, he forwarded me my message. It was written on August 27th, 2007.like 3 1/2 years ago. I categorized the e-mail in 3 different sections: The Past, The Present, and The Future. In each category I wrote about things we did, things we were doing and things I hoped we would still be doing. It was sooo much fun to read it and remember the things we had done together and the friendship we had and how things had played out over the years.

I've been thinking about how cool it was that he got the e-mail and how much of a welcome surprise it was for him and me. I thought the idea of sending an e-mail to the future was cool back then but now that I've seen it play out, I think it is even more brilliant. Imagine getting an e-mail from a friend or family member just to say they love you and what fun things you did together. Imagine getting one from yourself (which I am still awaiting) and seeing how much you've grown and where you would see yourself. I went to work today and though, how cool would it be if someone sent you an e-mail and you got it after they passed away? How cool and comforting would that be? Some might think, why not just hand write a letter or make a physical time capsule? I have done both and they are fallible. I found one that I wasn't supposed to open until 2015 but curiosity got the best of me and I opened it. I also had a time capsule I made in Young Womens and all I put in it were lame handouts from church. Haha, I think an e-mail is better because you can't go look at it. You don't have access to it. You can't put lame things in it like handouts. All you can do it put words and tell stories and write about your hopes and dreams. The only thing that would ruin this e-mail being sent is if the person you send it to changes their e-mail. I still check the one I don't use anymore like every 3 months so think I would still get it.

Anyway, I just think this is such a cool concept. I challenge you to pick someone and send them an e-mail to the future. I mean, what do you have to lose? Nothing! Oh and here’s my e-mail just in case you choose me…  lisagrr@gmail.com
Here’s the link: http://www.bored.com/emailcapsules/

Wanna hold an eyeball?

Today was without doubt the busiest day at work we’ve had so far. Jessica and I were scrambling to get everything done we needed to but it was almost an impossible task. We were swamped with constant phone calls. I spent a lot of time setting up for different things like arrangements. Not to mention there were about 300 people who came into our building today with about 30 people in the lobby at the most which happened two different times. Because of this high traffic level, I made a whole lot of coffee and had to keep it coming which is my least favorite task On days like today, we get pretty overwhelmed and would usually be frustrated at the event that happened next, but it was too odd that we couldn’t help but laugh.

In the midst of all this commotion, a man walked through the front doors saying, “Where is the woman who stole my 865 dollars?” As we inquired what he meant by this statement, we figured out that the man had a pre-arrangement with us for his own funeral and it had cost him 865 dollars. Jessica was going to search the contracts to see who he had met with previously so he could tall with them. She asked his name and he asked her which one she would like. After several tries, he gave her a card and said that she could use that one. She looked up the name and he indeed did have a pre-arrangement with us. She was about to go downstairs to look at the file and he told her not to bother. At this moment we were wondering why he was even in our office if he didn’t want to talk with anyone or didn’t have any real questions. He then said, “When you cremate me, make sure not to include my big finger.” He then pulled out his hand from his pocket and had placed a giant finger on his middle finger so was basically giving us the bird in a really obvious way. At this point in time, I am still not sure if he was aware of what finger he had placed it on. He went on, “I also don’t want this little treasure cremated. It’s my friend’s false eye. This thing cost him 5 grand. Here, hold it.” He pulled out a fake eye and gave it to Jessica. She was apprehensive at first but took it eventually. Then she handed it to me. It was a weird shape. When I handed it back to him he looked at my name tag and called me Lisa the rest of the time.

He said, “Lisa, how was your New Years Eve?” I told him it was fun and that I went to a dance. He made a drinking gesture as if to say that is why I had fun. I told him I didn’t drink and he said that he didn’t either. He told me that he also went to a dance but the average age of everyone there was 72 years old. He couldn’t tell if the woman’s faces or dresses were more wrinkled. He then asked how my boyfriend was doing and was disappointed to discover that he did not exist but wasted no time with “helping me out.” He told me about his handsome Navy nephew who is currently in Hawaii but is coming home soon. He assured me that he would send him my way. I tried to be polite. He then said, “What are you, like 29?” I said I was a “little” younger than that. He said his nephew was 40 and asked if that was too old to which I replied, “yes.” Disappointed and defeated he said, “Well ladies, my time is running short,” and pulled a measuring tape out about 2 feet from his pocket. He continued, “It’s been a pleasure, thank you for your help.” We were confused as to how we had helped him really but said goodbye.

After he left, Jessica said, “What the heck was that? This place is getting weirder by the minute.” We were so stressed but just had to laugh at how obscure this even was. I am still trying to make sense of it myself. My conclusion is leaning towards; he is a lonely old man who likes to try to make people laugh and just wanted someone to give him attention for 5 minutes. Maybe the fact that he had a plan with us was reason enough to drop by at such a busy hour. All in all, next time an old man walks into your office with no real reason, watch out; you might get an eyeball out of the deal!

Raindrops on Roses?

I made a list in the back of one of my journals once upon a time and called it "Things I Love." I would write down things that made me happy. I tried to think of things that not everyone might like and that were specific to me. I found this today, looked over it and added some recent things. So here are my raindrops on roses...

• A clean pair of tight socks
• Waking up without an alarm clock
• Flip flops
• Having painted toe nails
• Foggy, rainy, cloudy days
• The smell of clean laundry
• Being prepared
• Being punctual
• Laughter
• Staying up and sleeping in late
• Dad’s chipotle/ black bean burritos
• Clean mountain air
• diving for a Volleyball
• Mellaluca’s berry chap stick
• My last name; Baer
• Sundays
• Jokes
• Down blankets or down anything really
• Stories from my childhood
• Singing (especially A’ Capella)
• Performing in front of large audiences
• Silver rings
• Cadavers
• Yellow/blue personalities
• Beating boys at things, especially when it annoys them
• Falling asleep hugging a pillow
• Electric blankets
• Guys who can sing bass and have a low speaking voice
• The sound/ feeling of snow crunching under your feet
• Being the first person at a red light
• Crossing things off my Bucket List
• Having a clean room
• Black and white pictures
• Walking faster than everyone else
• Playing piano with my eyes closed
• Ultimate Frisbee
• The color Kelly green
• Black pens
• Bass
• My GPS
• Accelerating quickly
• Sleeping without socks
• Tigers
• Sharks
• The kiss at the end of the movie Leap Year
• Joe’s basement
• My teeth/ smile
• The smell of Old Spice, pure sport deodorant
• My green and yellow sign that says, “Baer Xing Grrrr” that Aaron Carson made for my Birthday
• Matching really well, like shirt, shoes, purse, earrings, eye shadow, etc…
• Sour patch watermelons
• Vanilla tasting anything (especially tootsie rolls)
• Happy babies
• The character Jo on Little Women
• The character Al on Wild Hearts can’t be broken
• Gilbert Blythe on Anne of Green Gables
• Running barefoot in the snow
• Rachelle's sugar cookies
• Black frames
• Fake glasses
• Wearing black
• Exploring Colorado
• Graveyards
• Playing Lava Monster
• Finding my name in movie credits before the person I'm with finds theirs
• The texture of Pomegranates 
• Bridges

Well there you have it. I can almost guarantee that nobody else would have the exact same list as me and that is why I like it. The fun thing is I'm sure that many people have some things in common. That way I can still be different but have fun with others doing the things I love and learning the things they do as well.