John Brown University, Part I

We made it to Siloam Springs, AR this afternoon. It was a beautiful drive! I'm going to take some pics on the way back north to post -- the cliffs and rocks and rivers are breathtaking! It's nice for this farm girl to get out of the city and into the great outdoors!

So far...

*great chat on relationships with Bess, my travel companion for the week, during the drive
*learned of Heath Ledger's death via text from our pop culture guru, Mary Beth during the drive (so sad)
*interesting chat on achieving a more "designerly look" with Bess (followed by more discussion on this topic at dinner with Todd, Heather, Neal, Neil, and Joel)
*checking into our hotel and going to see the fitness facility (which is across the street at Aloha Tan-a first for my travels!)
*a nice dinner with JBU peeps at Callahan's Steakhouse
*got an answer to our question, "Who is John Brown?"We learned that he is NOT John the Baptist nor is he a Biblical character at all, he is not to be confused with Joseph Smith, and he is actually a famous radio-evangelist who started JBU. The third generation "John" is now running the place, just like the third generation Hall is now running Hallmark...kinda cool.
*had lots of "get to know you" conversation RE: JBU culture, classes professors, our schedule for the week, and don't worry, we chatted on some "non-businessy" stuff too -- apparently Neal is "hard to control" and can only be controlled by one person, his wife; Neil is going to shave off his goatee while we're here, to complement his already bald head; Joel is Mr. Armstrong, but is Joel to we Hallmarkers; 3 out of the 7 dinner attendees are Millenials, and all of the JBU people have traveled abroad, some extensively (Trans-Siberian Railroad? and Korea? Yeah, that's extensive!).

I am working on my presentation for tomorrow night -- 7:30pm in Art 112 -- come join us!! It will be fun, and we're going to feed you and give you free stuff. I'm excited!

I'd better head to bed -- Bess and I are going to get up and head over to Aloha Tan for our 6AM workout, and then we're headed to campus. Man is it going to be nice to feel like a student again! See y'all tomorrow!