Tales from RIS...and NKOTB

It's raining...again. We've experienced some pretty interesting weather over the last few weeks, to say the least. Last Thursday, those of you in the Columbia area may remember the 'unique' hail storm we experienced. I would like to explain to you how everything unfolded at our humble little office. Some words have been changed in order to procure a G rating...

Kelsey: "Wow. It's thundering a lot, but it hasn't started raining. Weird."
Jenny: "That's the way it goes sometimes I guess."

About twenty minutes later, Kelsey, Phil, and I are all in the 'kitchen' which is in reality a small storage place for donations we receive. A local school had held a drive and collected quite a bit of items, so the three of us were organizing everything. There are no windows in the kitchen/storage area; suddenly, we heard this dramatic downpour.

Jenny: "It's raining now."

Enter Senad and Dan, who had been in Senad's office. They run into the kitchen with these wild expressions on their faces. Both looked like they were caveman who had just discovered fire and assumed the typical fight-or-flight response.

Senad: "Explicative! Explicative! Explicative!"
Dan: "We got hail here! We got hail everyone! We got hail!"

To which we all dash to the side door, fling it open, and promptly drop our jaws. The responses from everyone:

Jenny: "Nooooooooooo! My new car! Stop, please please please stop!"
Phil: "Yes, pour baby pour! I need a new car! Come on!!!"
Kelsey: "This is crazy. Oh my gosh, it looks like snow."
Dan: laughter
Senad: "Explicative! Explicative! Explicative!"
Martha: "Can you guys shut the door? It's cold out there."




For those of you behind in the news of pop culture, New Kids on the Block, affectionately called NKOTB by their adoring fans, are making a comeback. This precursor to the modern day boy band (N*Sync and Backstreet Boys ain't got nothin' on them) earned their popularity when I was in 2nd grade. My neighbor and I were obsessed with this classic band- so much so that we actually performed to their song Step by Step for our variety show at school. I'm relieved to say there is no incriminating evidence of this performance (at least to my knowledge). So my husband and I took a trip down memory lane last night and watched some NKOTB videos on YouTube last night. As I told my students this morning, "Watch these videos; they'll change your life...or at least give you a good laugh." So, do yourself a favor: visit YouTube on your lunch break and watch as many NKOTB videos as you can. I promise you, you'll feel better.