I'm learning all kinds of wonderful things as a VISTA. Here are a few:

-There's no end to the good you can do when you are connected to the right individuals in a community.
-Follow every lead, and take every opportunity to help.
-Money runs everything (the title of "grantee" should come with a set of handcuffs and a box of kleenex).
-Traffic police have never heard of VISTA, and don't care how little money you make.
-If you want to play in the snow during the summer, you've got to walk an awfully long way up some awfully steep hills.
-LASER = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
-Post-participation, praise your productivity-prone volunteers verbally, vociferously, vehemently, and vocalize their value before they bounce back to business as usual.
-Coolness comes in strange packages.
-No matter how bad things get, at the end of the day, the only person who can lick your wounds is you.

I'll update if I learn more.

Chase