Snow snow and more snow

So...Wednesday morning when we woke up, it had apparently been snowing all night. And...it hasn't stopped since then. On Wednesday morning, one of the team leaders came to our dorm to tell us we had a snow day. Then, about 10 minutes later, we found out they took it back and said we still had to go to Unit Time at 8:00. When we got there, we got new teams again. This time, there was a little activity to find out the new teams. They passed out little pieces of paper with our names and a line from a song on them. You had to find who else had a line from your song, and that was your team. When they finished passing out the papers, I hadn't gotten one. I went up to the front where the team leaders were to ask about it, and found 11 other people who hadn't gotten papers. Guess who my team was? The team leaders didn't know why they had lost one whole team of little papers. After that, we had free time, so my new team and I all went back to our dorm and watched The Sandlot in the lounge. What a great movie.

After The Sandlot we had to go to Media Training. They said AmeriCorps people get interviewed a lot so we need to be prepared with how to talk to the media. And something that has already happened to most of us is that people see us in public with the uniform on and ask what we're doing, so really everyone needs to know how to explain the program. Also, something I haven't mentioned before: Once we get our permanent teams (10-12 people), there are about 12 team roles that need to be filled. Heather, who was leading the Media Training, is in charge of Media Representatives, Corps Ambassador Program Representatives ("Cappers"), and Yearbook Representatives. Yes, we will get a yearbook at the end of the year. They also like to give the previous year's yearbook to Cappers to use as a recruitment tool. I had already seen a list of the team roles before I came and had thought that Media Rep might be fun, and now I'm more sure of that. At the end of the training, Heather gave us a little quiz with prizes for people who answered questions first. I won a handy dandy little NCCC flashlight key chain.

After Media Training was lunch and after lunch was...nothing. Snow canceled the rest of our day, which was supposed to be some PT (physical training) and something about Service Learning.

Today was probably the most important day of training so far, but we had a snow day because it just won't stop snowing. Disaster relief is the main focus of NCCC, and today was supposed to be disaster relief training from the Red Cross. I really don't understand why everything shuts down because of snow. We're in DENVER. Denver natives say this much snow is unusual, but still. Public transportation was still working, so several of us went downtown and had lunch at Noodles and Company, which was fantastic. Fact of the Day: Steel-toed work boots can also be used as snow boots. Very few people brought snow boots with them here, so most people have been wearing their warm, waterproof steel toes everywhere. It works surprisingly well. The snow is probably close to two feet deep by now, and my feet stayed nice and toasty all day. I had been thinking of having my parents send me my snow boots, but now I'm not sure I take up my already small amount of space with them. Going downtown and getting off campus was nice, especially after being in exile all weekend, but it was really cold. I think the high today was like 24 degrees but it was definitely worth it for eating non-cafeteria food.

Freedom!

Monday morning, my other quarantined friend found out that she was free even though it had not yet been 10 days. I had to see the doctor who comes to campus for us before I was allowed out. The doctor said she didn't think I had any kind of flu, swine or otherwise. She even checked my lung function, and it was fine. So basically, I was quarantined for a cold. Oh well. The rest of my unit was starting their baseline tests right as I was going in to see the doctor, so I guess I'll have to make that up at some point.

That pretty much brings us to today, Tuesday. 8am-noon, we had Safety Training. It started outside in the cold with a game that was a metaphor for how our projects would be. We were in a circle, and Kevin, the safety guy, handed out a bunch of random stuffed animals and balls. We had to throw them to people, and if we drop one, we're out. The most important was the Safety Pheasant, which you can imagine was a ridiculous stuffed...something. The Safety Pheasant was never to touch the ground. No matter how many balls you have in the air, safety is always first. Get it? Yep, love those metaphorical games.

Next was hours and hours of safety training which could easily have been gone over in about 10 minutes. "Don't be stupid" is the main gist of all these hours. Although, from some of the pictures he showed, I will now always be paranoid of a nail gun being shot through my hand or getting bitten by one of those pesky brown recluse spiders that like to hide in dark places like OUR BEDS where some of our project housing might be. I don't know how I'll ever sleep again. Thanks Kevin!

After lunch, our schedule said 1:30-5:00 Tool Safety Training. Wouldn't you think this would be for things like chain saws, drills, routers, etc.? Nope, it was for things like shovels, pick axes, and rakes. Good thing it only actually took 45 minutes.

Up for tomorrow: Media training and our first Physical Training session. It is snowing right now and is supposed to continue all night, then a high of like 33 degrees tomorrow, so PT should be interesting. Interesting and super fun for those of us who are still a little sick and can't take deep breaths without coughing.

Day Three

Day Three of my confinement. The days have started running together now. I have to make marks on the wall to keep track of the time.

...Ok, not really, but I'm pretty tired of this room. I am now 99% sure that it wasn't actually swine flu. I feel much better than I did on Thursday and Friday. I'm still coughing and sneezing a little, but it really seems like a cold. Most likely, I'll feel pretty close to perfect tomorrow and will be let out.

In other news, tomorrow on the schedule for the sun unit are our baseline tests (how fast you can run a mile and a half, how many push-ups you can do in a minute, and how many sit-ups you can do in a minute). There are no minimums for this, it's just to measure our own progress. I think we repeat the test every time we come back to Denver between projects. Since we will have physical training three times a week, AmeriCorps wants us to know if our fitness level is improving. So if I do get out tomorrow and have to do my baseline after sitting and doing nothing for three days, my improvement will be AMAZING when I have to do the test again later.

On the plus side, I have had plenty of time to catch up on every TV show I have ever watched...when the internet works. The internet was totally fine on Friday, but it went out Saturday morning. I called my dad (who has forty-seven hundred Microsoft certifications and always helps me with computer problems), but there was nothing we could do. My other quarantined friend's internet was out also. Luckily, it was only out for a couple hours, but it's been spotty since then.

Guess I might as well end with pictures.

My window. The blinds don't open all the way, so I have to brace them on the open windows to hold them back. I don't think you can see it in the picture, but it's snowing. No, Denver doesn't realize that it's October.

The room from the doorway. Yes, I have bunk beds. This means that when I am sitting on the bed with the computer, like I am right now, I am huddled in a cave.

The room from the window. Don't judge me for the mess!

This squirrel appeared on my 2nd floor window sill yesterday, the only visitor besides team leaders bringing us food. Since we're not allowed out to the cafeteria (obviously, they wouldn't want us spreading The Disease to innocent dinner-eaters), team leaders have to come bring us meals.

Ugh...

Hi everyone. I write to you tonight sitting in a room by myself in a different dorm building. Why is that, you ask? Well, that's an interesting story.

Remember when my teammate got diagnosed with swine flu on Wednesday? On Thursday, I woke up with a really sore throat. Even though I had gotten almost 7 hours of sleep, I was also really tired all day. And I was coughing. And I was kind of having chills. I made it through the day, then at about 4:30 I went to Christina, my team leader, and told her that I hadn't been feeling my best today, and that if I felt the same or worse in the morning, I would probably call her and stay in for the day. (On the agenda for today was that everyone in the sun unit was going to a middle school, then each team would do something different. Dig trails, plant flowers, all outdoor physical stuff that I probably shouldn't do if I'm sick.) She said no, I'm going to the doctor. I didn't think it was that bad, but she insisted. She said she had to go to a meeting, but that I should call her at 6:30.

I called at 6:30, and first she said that I wouldn't go to the doctor, but that I should definitely stay in on Friday. Then we started talking about my symptoms, and she said she had to call Vaughn the unit leader then call me back. Well, she called me back and told me to pack a bag with everything that I would need for 10 days because I'm being quarantined. Without a diagnosis. It could just be a cold, and yet - quarantine.

So I had to pack up and wait for Christina to come get me to take me to my new room. She had to bring me a mask to wear in the hall. So, off I go to another dorm. I packed everything I could think of that could possibly entertain me, but it's been less than 24 hours and I'm already tired of it. My day was spent sleeping, eating, sleeping, watching TV on the computer, and sleeping. I also talked to Swine-y #1 a little. She's two doors down from me, and we're allowed to talk from our doorways. I'm only allowed out for the bathroom and shower, which is right across the hall.

I talked to Vaughn a few minutes ago, and he reassured me that it was only precaution, which I totally understand. We all live so close together, and share bathrooms, and spend ALL THE TIME together, so it would be really easy for it to spread really fast. So I understand, but it's no fun. Vaughn said that we could monitor my symptoms, and if I'm not better by Monday, I could go to the doctor. So I guess I definitely have three days of confinement. Or to use the official term, "isolation." I used to word quarantine with Vaughn, and he said they didn't like to use that word. I'm not sure which is worse.

So, that was my day. Comments, emails, phone calls, etc. are more welcome than ever. I can pretty much guarantee I won't be busy. :)

Service! Finally!

Eventful day today. We finally had our first service project! Not just boring classroom type stuff! My team went to the Habitat for Humanity Home Improvement Outlet. On our way there, my team leader Christina said that she fell on her arm yesterday during the death hike and that Vaughn, our ex army nurse unit leader, looked at it and said she should get it X-Rayed. And also, a girl on my team was feeling a little flu-y, so she needed to go to a doctor also. So Christina said she would drop us off at the outlet and take herself and the other girl to urgent care. It turns out that Christina's wrist is most likely sprained, not fractured, and that my teammate has swine flu. Yes, for real. She had to move out of her dorm to be quarantined in another dorm building. Someone has to wear a mask and bring her meals to her. Everyone has already been really paranoid about getting sick, and I'm sure it's about to get much worse.

The Habitat Outlet was cool. They collect donations of home improvement-type items and sell them for less than half what they're worth. I think they also sometimes buy stuff to sell for cheap. When we first got there, they split my team up. Five of us on my team were there all day, helping to organize the warehouse, which is quite large. For most of the day, a teammate named Marie and I organized floor tiles. If we found any tiles that didn't belong to a set of at least 60, they were trash. That means we had to go through hundreds of 4-inch ceramic tiles that had many many many different textures and SO MANY shades of white and off-white. Some would look the same, so we'd put them in a pile together, then discover that one was 1/4 inch bigger than another. It pretty much scrambled our brains. After a while, we couldn't even tell if they were the same color or not. The most satisfying part was that the hundreds of tiles that were trash would go on a cart, which we would take to the dumpster. The dumpster was right outside the door, so we would wheel the cart to the door and then have to grab the tiles off and literally throw them into the dumpster. Why is breaking things so satisfying sometimes? I don't know, but it was fantastic. The other people who weren't there all day went out to a home restoration project. I think they gutted a kitchen or something. They came back all excited with all these demolition stories about how cool it was. I sorted tiles. No fair!

On the plus side, we were told to bring our brand new AmeriCorps-issued work gloves. Interspersed with all the excited tile sorting would be the arrival of the Habitat truck that had been out collecting furniture and appliance donations, so we would go help unload it. My brand new work gloves don't look so brand new anymore. They're real work gloves now, after one day of use!
Remember how I'm a huge dork? Here are my gloves on the left, and my roommate's still new, still attached-by-the-plastic-tie-thing gloves on the right. I felt bad that I didn't take any pictures today. Have I mentioned how I'm a huge dork?

Oh, and I almost forgot about lunch. While the five of us who were working in the warehouse were eating lunch in the break room, this giant grizzly man with one of those shirts with the sleeves cut off and scary tattoos came in to eat. He told us in an awesome slightly Hispanic accent about how he got his undergrad degree in electrical engineering, then hated electrical companies, then got a masters in psychology, but also hated that because his boss always tried to make him give his patients prescriptions. Apparently, psychiatrists get a percentage of the money people pay for their prescriptions. Then he starts talking about how most people's problems come from worrying about what other people think. Then he tells us about how people wouldn't expect that with all his education, he also spent 12 years in prison. Then he tells us about his time in Vietnam. Then he tells us about how we should never let other people control our happiness, fear, etc. The five of us combined said a total of about 15 words for like 20 minutes. It was awesome and terrifying at the same time.

And also, it snowed today. Just flurries in the morning, then it turned to rain in the afternoon, then snowed pretty heavily in the evening. I volunteered to drive the monster van back to campus from the Habitat outlet. I thought that if I could drive through heavy snow in 5pm traffic, I could drive through anything.

Tomorrow: Wearing the steel-toed boots for the first time to try to break them in. I'm nervous!

AmeriHike

Before I came here, I knew that the whole Denver campus was divided into four units, and each unit was divided into four or five teams, but I thought it was all pretty random. It turns out that at the end of this month of training, called Corps Training Institute or CTI, the team leaders from each unit get together and pick their teams. During CTI, we are switching teams and team leaders around about every three days or so. This is so the team leaders can observe people's communication and leadership styles and to see who works well with whom. So today, my team that had bonded pretty well had to split from Sarah, our awesome leader, to go to other teams. My new leader is Christina, who I also like a lot, and my new team seems pretty good.

This morning we had more Unit Time. The Sun Unit hopped in our vans and drove like 1.5 hours away to Mount Falcon Park to go on a hike. It started off pretty nicely:
Doesn't that look like a lovely trail? I could see it heading into the woods, but for some reason I (a very inexperienced hiker) assumed it would all be this gentle. Little did I know, it would soon turn into this:
This wasn't even the worst of it, this is just when it occurred to me to take a picture of the trail. We hiked about 45 minutes, downhill most of the way, then stopped with our team to eat lunch and fill out our Individual Learning Plans (our goals for after AmeriCorps, what we want to get out of this, etc.). We then turned back the way we came. That's right, now it's uphill most of the way. I'm not going to lie, it was very difficult. I live in Illinois, where hills don't exist. Two other people from my team were having an even tougher time than I was, but we all made it eventually.

After that, we had Community Mapping. This is where we were supposed to go to a community and try to determine things like its strengths and weaknesses, what it needs, how we could help, etc. My team went to a Boys and Girls Club on the other side of Denver. We managed to talk to the director, Rich, about what they've been doing. It sounded like they were doing some really great work. He told us several stories about kids who come from horrible backgrounds who go to college with scholarships. Rich seemed amazing and really passionate about his work. I think my team might do some ISP hours there soon. (NCCC requires 1,700 hours of service for successful completion of the program, and at least 80 of those have to be Independent Service Project hours, where corps members have to set up projects on their own).

And now for a few don't-do-it-justice pictures of the view from the death hike.

Scavengingless Scavenger Hunt

This morning started off really exciting. We (the Sun unit) had a Campus Standards meeting. Vaughn, our Unit Leader, basically just went through the handbook with all the rules and disciplinary procedures and everything. He is super nice and pretty funny, but even he couldn't make this fun. (I just remembered that sarcasm doesn't work well with words on a page. Seriously, it was extremely boring.)

Then we had a scavenger hunt in downtown Denver. I had heard the point was to get us familiar with the train system, which I used Saturday and Sunday, and to familiarize us with the 16th Street pedestrian mall area, which I went to Saturday and Sunday. I never heard the first "clue," but the answer was to get off the train at the same stop I used Saturday and Sunday. The next clue was to go to the building with the large gold dome, which is the Colorado capital building. It turns out we had tours scheduled. How convenient! Our guide was named Simon, and he started out the tour by saying that he doesn't usually give tours, and he only does it when he has to. Um, awesome. He was pretty much the most awkward tour guide ever. The capital building was pretty nice, and we got to climb lots of stairs to go into the dome part.

After that, I guess there were supposed to be more clues, but our team leader (Sarah, who is awesome) just showed us the stuff we were supposed to see. Then we came back to campus. Not the most exciting day ever, but not bad.

Simon (right) the awkward tour guide

Why does every capital building have a dome like this that makes people go in and take pictures, no matter how many they've seen?

Model of the capital made of canned goods. Biggest waste of food ever.

View from the dome.

View from the dome.

View from the dome with the giant pink breast cancer ribbon on the capital.

Drug Free and Baby Free...

...and also TB free, blindness free, deafness free, and I guess unhealthyness free, according to the physicals we had yesterday. There were stations set up and we had checklists to go around and check our vision, hearing, and vitals, give tetanus shots and TB tests, do a drug test, then have a final evaluation by a doctor. It was actually really efficient given how much there was to do and how many people were there.

After that, the Sun Unit went to Washington Park to have unit time. There were a few ice breaker games, and it felt like I was back at Elmhurst during orientation. Then we just had a couple hours of free time in the park. I took a walk around the gigantic lake then played my first game of Ultimate Frisbee. How I made it through Elmhurst College without ever playing a game of Ultimate Frisbee, I don't know, but it was fun.

After dinner, a group of 8 of us decided to go see what downtown Denver was like. The plan: Hop on the #27 bus that stops right in front of campus and takes us to the light rail station, then use the free transfer from our bus tickets to take the light rail downtown. Easy, right? What actually happened: While waiting for the bus, we saw it stop about 100 feet down the street from us, then sit there for 10 minutes. When it finally started moving, it went right past us without stopping, and we could see inside it was packed with AmeriCorps people. They had gotten on at the stop right before us. So, we started walking to the train station. One of the team leaders had told us it was only like a 30 minute walk, so that's not too bad. Well, apparently we got lost, and it became an epic journey. After walking about an hour, we came across a Super Target and movie theater. There are shuttles that go there from campus, because it's too far to walk. When we saw the theater, we tried to call a cab to pick us up there and take us to the station, but the cab company didn't know where it was. (By the way, if you're ever in Denver and need a cab, call 303-111-1111 or 303-777-7777.) So we got directions to the station in the theater, and it was still really far. Turns out we had walked so far, we were closer to the next train stop over from the one closest to campus. We had walked to the next town, basically. We walked almost an hour and a half.

Half the group, finally on the train. From left, Susanna, Erin, and Nick.

When we got downtown, we found a few cool places, including a European cafe/bar place with live music and interesting people-watching opportunities. The #27 bus between campus and the station stops running at like 8pm, so when we got back to our station, we had to call a cab. Then stand huddled in the cold for an hour waiting for it. The gods of transportation were not our friends last night.

Today was our first day off and the high was like 78 degrees. I went downtown again with a different group. We successfully managed to take the bus to the train this time. We pretty much just walked around all day. It was pretty uneventful, except for this that I saw at Barnes and Noble, which I think I find disturbing:

There was a display table of Twilight books and related paraphernalia, and at the end, I saw this. Pride & Prejudice, Romeo & Juliet, and Wuthering Heights, all with covers to look like Twilight covers. Why? Why must they make me think of those classic books and Twilight in the same thought? That just makes my brain hurt. I guess if it makes teenagers read those books then it's a good thing, but I think I find it slightly disturbing.

So today was pretty much just walking around. I really like Denver so far. I think I'll end this longest post ever with a few pictures.

This is an interesting stair formation thing. It had a sign that said No Wading, so apparently it's sometimes a fountain. Someone else has a picture of our whole group here, so I'll post it if I ever get access to it.

I don't know what this tower thing is, but I think it was supposed to be lit up pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Sorry for the bad lighting, but we saw these metal buffalo things on our way to a train to take us back to campus.

AmeriVan

So I haven't mentioned this before, but whenever the teams go anywhere, it is in a giant 15-passenger van. That means that as many people as possible on each team should become certified to drive it. You're not allowed to drive more than two hours at a time, and the person in the passenger seat is the Assistant to the Driver. The AD helps look for cars in your blind spot and since the driver isn't allowed to ever mess with the radio or AC or anything, the AD does it. A driver can't be an AD right after finishing a driving shift, and vice versa. So if we drive from Denver to Missouri or something, having a lot of drivers would be helpful. Also, anytime the driver needs to back up, someone needs to get out and be the Ground Guide and use some fabulous arm signals so they don't hit anything.

So needless to say, I volunteered to be a driver. There was a 2.5 hour driving safety class thing that everyone had to take even if they didn't have a driver's license. In 2.5 hours, I learned that the vans are top-heavy (therefore easy to roll), they take longer to stop, and you need to make wider turns. Then there was a multiple-choice test with questions like "If you are driving in the rain, what should you do?"
A. Drive faster
B. Slow down and keep a longer following distance
C. Turn the radio up
D. Stop watching where you're going

Then it was time to drive. I was randomly chosen to go first. It's not nearly as scary as I though it would be. I mostly just drove around residential areas around campus. The instructor said I did really well. Other people had to drive on the highway, or in the downtown area, or in the mountains, so I guess I got off easy.

Frustration of the day: As I was getting ready to leave my room this morning and loading up my giant BDU cargo pockets with necessary things like my room key, phone, license, Burt's Bees, and pen, I thought to myself, "Hmm. Should I bring my camera? No, we're just driving around all day. Nothing exciting about that." EPIC FAIL. We drove up into the mountains to Red Rocks to eat the lunches we had packed. Don't know what Red Rocks is? It's this amazing amphitheater set between two giant red rocks. Sitting in the audience and looking past the stage, you can see miles and miles. Here's what Google Images provides:

These don't even begin to do it justice. After eating lunch and watching several hardcore exercisers running up and down the hundreds of super tall steps of the amphitheater, we got back in the van and drove to Lookout Mountain. You can probably assume how beautiful that was. Oh, hey, thanks Google Images!

I can't find a good picture of the snow-capped mountains you can see from there, but you get the idea. And NO ONE in my van had a camera.

In case you were wondering, the new $6 pillow I got from Family Dollar yesterday is MUCH better than the bottom-of-the-pile one that I had borrowed.

Up for tomorrow morning: Physicals and drug testing! Woo! And also, I won't have to be anywhere until 9:50, instead of 7:50 like it was the last two days. Then after that exciting morning, we have Unit Time. Which is, you know, time with our unit. Yay for physicals and bonding!

AmeriGear

Well look at that, two posts in one day. Today, we got our uniforms. It was pretty exciting, let me tell ya. We got black and khaki BDU (battle dress uniform) pants, khaki BDU shorts, short- and long-sleeved T-shirts, short-and long-sleeved polos, a black belt with a buckle no one can figure out, a fisherman's cap, fleece vest, hoodie, work gloves (they actually had a size small!), bandanna, parka, and a horribly uncomfortable red backpack. Oh, and intimidating steel-toed work boots that apparently require special super-thick socks that I currently do not own.

*Begin rant*
Why does "unisex" clothing really mean "should only be worn by male figures"? And also, it's 2009. Not 1940. There are quite a few women in the military. Why can't BDUs be made in sizes other than small, medium, and large? Women have several different shapes and sizes. Why must women be forced to wear men's clothing when they want to serve their country?
*End rant*

So yeah, the uniform is not the most flattering thing. Well, really I only have a problem with the pants. And these lovely garments must be worn ALL THE TIME FOREVER when doing anything AmeriCorps-related (training, meetings, projects, etc.). But I guess it's not that bad. It's kind of nice not to have to think about what to wear. Just think about the weather and whether you want to wear short or long pants and sleeves, and you're set. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll post them after I take them.

The uniform was really the only exciting part of today. There was also the setting-up of a direct-deposit system for our living allowance and the discussing of health care. Oh! And dinner! I'm sure you know how I'm a picky eater, and dinner tonight was the best meal yet. Turkey and mashed potatoes which were really quite good, with some pretty good cookies for dessert. Turkey and mashed potatoes is one of my favorite meals ever, so that was nice.

After dinner, a little group of us found a dollar store nearby. I didn't have room in my luggage for a pillow, so last night I had to use one of the ones they had available for us. I got the last one. It was the last one for good reason. So I got myself a (hopefully) better one. And...that's it for today. :)

Hey, guess what?

I'm in AmeriCorps! Specifically, AmeriCorps NCCC (pronounced N triple C). If you already know what that is, this paragraph is not for you. In NCCC, rather than stay in one place and work on one project for our whole year of service like in other AmeriCorps programs, we will do four or five different projects, all in different places. It is only for people ages 18-24, and we are on teams of about 8 or 10 people. We will most likely be staying with the same team all year. I am based on the Denver campus, which is part of the Southwest region. Also in my region is Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas. Most likely, I will always be in this region, but we could be deployed somewhere else if there is a disaster we need to help with. Projects could be anything like disaster relief, infrastructure improvement, energy conservation, or urban and rural development. Most projects will be what we call spike projects, which are projects that are too far from our Denver campus to commute every day. For spikes, we will have to set up temporary housing in the area of the project which could be anything - apartments, tents, hostels, houses, barns, etc.

So. I got here yesterday. Yesterday wasn't very eventful, just paperwork and a meeting. The Denver campus people are split into four units - Sun, Earth, Fire, and Water. I'm in the Sun unit. As far as I can tell, the units mean nothing. They are just a way to keep people organized. We'll find out our teams later. The campus is pretty nice. We have a great view of the mountains from the cafeteria.

I wouldn't be Courtney if I didn't take horrible pictures out of various vehicle windows. This was my first view of Denver from the bus on the way to campus. Nice, huh? I wasn't expecting so much brown.

That's downtown Denver over there with the tall buildings.

Hey, I just finished my first blog post ever! Comments will always be welcome. :)