Bad Back

First of all, I finished 4 drafts of fire posters and sent them off to Brian. I still think they need a little touch up but at least we know the look I'm going for. Brian will be on vacation the next few days so I'll get feedback on that later.

Unfortunately, I spent my afternoon at the hospital here in Williamsport. I have a lower back infection that is getting worse and I went to see if they could do anything for it. They prescribed me some antibiotics and it's a wait and see thing. If it gets worse, they will have to perform a procedure. This has happened to me once before so I'm not too nervous. Just disappointed. Also, this probably spells the end of my Civil War Battlefield marathon I had planned for the weekend. The plan was to drive to Lynchburg, VA on Friday and over the weekend hit Appomattox Court House, Petersburg, Richmond, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, Fredricksburg, Manassas, Monocacy, The Antietam, and Gettysburg. I don't even know if I would have got to all of those but the chance is now very slim.

Work

Ever since Connections started, my days have been simplified. Instead of taking tours and bouncing around from place to place, I walk to my office and work on my projects. Although I value what the tours brought to my view and perspective of Penn College, it's good to sit down and just work on the projects I've been tasked with. I think the reference card is going to be approved. The fire safety posters are nearly done. We're making progress on the Recycling marketing and I've started a new project working on procedures. I also think this blog is going pretty well. I met with Brian before lunch and we had a solid conversation. I hope I didn't take up too much of his time as I ended up having a lot to say. I've started to think about various projects to end my experience and help Penn College attract another intern next summer. I'm learning a bit more about what I will be doing this fall in my assistantship. I'm getting a little anxious about where I will be but I'm confident things will be great!

Morning Walk!

So here's what I experience every morning when I walk to work. It's best not to watch it full screen as my camera is not that powerful for videos and you lose a lot of clarity. I made another video of my office but it is too big to load to the blog. Unfortunately, if I can't load large videos, my New York video may be a bust. Or I'll create a YouTube account which I reeeallly don't want to do. I'll figure it out.

Oh boy!

So I have discovered in my extreme laziness of the weekend that all that sitting around caused a possible pinched nerve in my lower back. It is really uncomfortable to sit. But I'm not complaining too much since Sara Hillis has a bulging disc in her back and feel that would be even worse.

As far as work today, I finished the draft of the reference card for RAs. It looks pretty good. Had a little trouble with the formatting but I think it should work out. Lee liked it and I passed it along to Brian and Tim. I then started playing with the information needed for the recycling posters. I'm not sure how it's going to work but we shall see! Here's to a better day tomorrow!

Post Weekend Review: Heat!!!

OMG! It was so hot this weekend that I threw all plans out the window. I watched the World Cup Soccer match between the US and Ghana, which was a losing effort on Saturday and did my laundry Sunday night. Those were the only times I went outside. I was perfectly fine staying inside, posting New York Pics on Facebook, and creating a New York Picture video for this blog. I also started researching a possible Civil War Battlefield Tour for the 4th of July weekend. Like the New York Trip, it's ambitious and I'm not sure if there will be time to cover it all.

Senior Visit Day!!

After a morning of putting together the GoogleWave tutorial for the Recycling project, I helped out with Senior Visit Day. Penn College invites students who are going to be entering their senior year of high school to come visit the campus. From what I understand, these are students who have already shown an interest in Penn College. I assisted with the tour of Rose Street Apartments, basically greeting and delegating visitors to one of our 5 tour guides. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the Summer RAs and Adam, a Conference RA. We also received pizza from Wegman's which was delicious!

As far as the tours go, most were really short tours. I did not go on one of the tours but I remember the tours I gave at Bailey Hall at Minnesota. I was always 20 to 30 minutes and I showed them everything and had time for questions. I will say I am a little bias as we had to really push Bailey Hall as a place to live since it wasn't on the Main Campus of Minnesota. From what I gather, the emphasis for this Senior Visit group was to see a room. Also, this group of "tourists" may not have started their research yet. It just seemed really short to me but short and sweet may work here!

We called it a day at 2pm. Plans for the weekend: I'm probably going to head north and see the Baseball Hall of Fame, maybe up to Lake Placid to see Herb Brooks Arena, and then work on the pictures I took in NYC! Definitely taking it easy tonight though.

Recycling

This morning I met with Katie, Krista, and Kyle Baker (Summer RA) to discuss recycling ideas. I did a bunch of research on what other schools are doing and also discovered RecycleMania, which is a nation wide recycling competition. There were a lot of great ideas that we could totally "borrow", although Penn College is registered as a team.

Once we got into the meeting, there were a lot of ideas but Kyle had a great idea keying on the statement "What's Your Number?" Plastics with numbers 1-7 can be recycled, it's kind of humorous and we can take it several different ways. Krista also had the idea of "Go Green with Penn College Blue!" which the recycling bins in the rooms are blue. Both are solid ideas. Then I started talking and things got confusing. There was some sort of communication issue going on but it was hard to identify and fix. From my perspective, Katie, Krista, and Kyle were focusing more on what they can do with those two examples while I continued to look for more ideas. At one point, I switched over to talking about what we could do with their ideas but that might have made things more confusing. I'm not sure if there are different philosophical things going on or if there was just too much trying to be discussed at once but hopefully things will go a little better next time. I definitely need to take some time and figure out how I can better communicate.

I continued looking at Recycling information the rest of the afternoon. Kyle passed along some information and ideas and I had the idea to use GoogleWave to communicate and share information because I can see our in boxes being overloaded. Brian and I have been using it and it has worked out but I think for the recycling project to be sustainable after Krista and I leave. or even Kyle, someone can see what we've done and picked up where we left off. I'm not sure if this will help communication but at least we can keep information organized in a single space. I'll see what they say.

Went to Wegman's to pick up some food supplies. Two things I am missing from Midwest grocery stores: microwavable bbq pulled pork and cheese curds. I can't find them any where in Wegman's and I'm thinking about branching out to a different store in my quest.

Surprise!!!

So Friday is Ashley's birthday and the Residence Life staff have been working on a surprise party. Apparently, Ashley loves celebrating office birthdays, organizing some elaborate extravaganzas in the past. The staff decided to have a surprise lunch at LeJeune Chef! The rest of the staff arrived at the restaurant early and we strategized how to surprise her. This was kind of funny to listen into because we kept changing what we were going to do. We finally decided on something and when Ashley arrived we unleashed the surprise! She was totally surprised, quote "I'm not even in birthday mode!" (This tickled my funny bone all afternoon!) The lunch was delicious. I had some beef dish, the name of which I cannot pronounce.

As far as the work day goes, I'm getting close to completing the RA reference card. I'm having trouble getting things lined up but have the bulk of my information. In the evening, I went to the Connections dinner, which was delicious. However, I had not seen the Links in a while. So, they razzed me a bit for that. I also showed up in shorts and a t-shirt, which they razzed me for not looking professional. I informed them my work day ends at 4:30 but they were hearing none of that! Haha! Good day!

Rainy Day

It's raining really hard here. Good day to be inside. The ResLife staff is interviewing another candidate for a coordinator position, I think. I had a short meeting with Brian. He wanted to check in on how I'm doing here, which I'm doing great. I think he feels a little bad that we haven't spent more time in conversations as he has had a busy summer with building a new residence hall, interviewing candidates, handling the end of the year closing, and preparing for next fall's opening. He's a busy guy.

I think part of having an intern is so they can continue to move forward with projects or ideas they had over the course of the year. I'm not sure who would work on these things or who would have the time if they did not have an intern. Basically, even if it wasn't me as their intern, I'm glad they have the opportunity to host an ACUHO-I intern.

Connections!!

Connections has officially started and the campus is buzzing! Nearly every employee is wearing a connections polo. The Residence Life staff is helping with check in. Since Link training is over, I no longer need to have a schedule printed for me by Barb. It's kind of sad that I won't be making my daily visits to the ResLife office and I won't hear the awesome/funny/weird conversations they have. However, it also means I won't wonder each day what my schedule is going to look like and I can plan my work week more efficiently. I really hope the Links' video went over well!

Post Weekend Review: New York, NY!!

So, this weekend I went to visit Tim and Lindsay Amundson in New York City. Tim is one of my best friends from the University of Minnesota and I was the best man in Tim and Lindsay's wedding. We had been talking about a possible visit to NYC for a long time but I've never had the money or time to go. Tim and Lindsay are moving back to Minnesota at the end of June so I had to go! Plus, it was my birthday weekend, so NYC was my present from me.

From Williamsport, I drove 2 hrs and 45 mins to Dover, NJ where I caught the Amtrak. Tim met me at Penn Station and we went to eat. After that, we went to their local pub where Lindsay's friends threw her and Tim a surprise going away party! Good times were had by all. The next morning, Tim and I hit the ground running with the touristy spots. In order, this is what we accomplished over the weekend:

Saturday

First New York Subway ride

Chrysler Building (outside, plus my first NYC taxi ride!)

Grand Central Station

Chinatown/Canal Street (Lots of replica stuff, I heard "Oakley, Rolex, Gucci" a lot)

Walked over Brooklyn Bridge

Grimaldi's Pizza (New York Style Pizza, delicious!!!)

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Boat Tour of the Hudson (aka view Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, USS Intrepid, Chelsea Pier)

Battery Park

Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian (George Gustav Heye Center)

Wall Street Bull

Outside of New York Stock Exchange

Outside of Federal Hall

Ground Zero (Lots of construction here, tough to see and understand what is what)

NHL Pro Shop (Lot's of Blackhawks stuff, aka awesome!)

Outside of Radio City Music Hall

Sunset at The Rockefeller Center (Amazing view, probably better than at the Empire)

Mexican Radio (It's a restaurant, amazing food!!)

Times Square at Night

Sunday

John Lennon Tribute in Central Park (Went early to get pics before tons of people showed up)

- Strawberry Fields

- Dakota Hotel (Across the street from Central Park)

Shake Shack (Great little burger place!)

Columbia University Campus (One of the original colonial colleges! Beautiful campus!)

Grant's Tomb (Pretty awesome little museum, got some sweet pics and video)

Central Park (Took some pictures, tossed a baseball around, there is so much to see there!)

After Central Park, I was beat. I'd been in the heat all weekend and decided to throw in the towel. We went back to Tim's, I gathered my gear, and pushed west to Williamsport. I got home about 10pm. I may have been exhausted but it was well worth it.

I will recommend two things: 1. make sure you have an extra camera battery with you at all times and 2. you can do so much more with someone who knows the city and subway really well. I would not have seen half the things had it not been for Tim. I'm not sure how I'm going to post the pictures. There's kind of a lot. Maybe a movie? We'll see. Overall, great weekend! Thanks to Tim and Lindsay for their hospitality!

End of Links Training

In the morning, I stopped in to the ResLife office to pickup my schedule for the day. While I was there, Barb, Erin the Friday Work Study student, and I followed up on the bulletin board project. Jerikah apparently had a ball cutting out little pictures of items to have and not to have in the Residence Halls. Erin, who was previously in Graphic Design, had the duty of posting everything. They picked my brain a bit more for the project and we also talked a little student affairs.

Eventually, I had to leave and help with with the last portions of Links training. The students made an awesome video to introduce the students to Penn College. The administration really liked it, saying it was the best ever! They had a little work to do on the closing but overall sweet video!

Then we went back to do some scenario training as a wrap-up to all the things the Links have learned. I played the role of student and asked about going to class and getting Penn State tickets. I must say all of these students are really prepared to help the new students with orientation. They all gave great answers to the scenarios and they have retained a lot of information. Penn College has a solid orientation leader training process!

After that we unpacked some linens and called it a day! I'm off to New York!!!

Fire Safety Poster and Avation Tour

It was tough to go to work after an awesome concert last night but it had to be done. In the morning, I continued to work on Fire Poster Research. I reviewed Brian's comments on the Google Wave for the fire safety poster/video. Apparently there is already a video used so I am anxious to see that. I put more ideas to paper as far as a poster goes, I really want to find or make a fireman's cross logo. We'll see if I can find that or accomplish that.

In the afternoon, we had a tour of the Aviation Center. What a cool tour! I'm glad I brougt my camera to take a few pics. The Aviation Center is connected to the Williamsport Regional Airport and is part of the school of transportation. They work on planes, engines, study the aerodynamics, and all sorts of stuff. It was awesome! This is the last of our academic tours. I would say we ended on a great note! Here are some pics:

Bryan Adams!!!

So, I'm sitting in the Residence Life office and Elliott Strickland walks into the office and asks if I want to go to the Bryan Adams concert at the Community Arts Center. I hesitated for a moment because I have a lot of homework to take care of before my New York trip this weekend. Then the moron truck hit me and I immediately said yes, receiving a free ticket!

The concert was amazing!!! It was an acoustic set on a nearly empty stage. The tickets were on the floor, about 13th row. He played a lot of songs I recognized, told a few humorous stories, and took a couple requests. He came out for a 4 song encore and was about to leave the stage but the crowd response was so strong, he stuck around to play 3 more songs! To add a little twist, he informed us that they have been recording their last few shows to possibly make a live acoustic album and would record this entire show!!!! I really hope he uses the Williamsport recording cause I would so buy that CD!

Directors Meeting and a New Project!!

This morning we had a meeting with the student development directors. I worked on a little fire safety research before that. They discussed some reorganization of the "Awareness" weeks and talked about having one group take care of those instead of trying to recruit a whole new group. They also talked about Penn College Promotion and really keying in on the Blue Crew, which apparently started out as a tshirt fundraiser. They're also thinking about using that with the alumni. Elliott Strickland, who was leading the meeting, went on a weird email tangent but it was really about using Penn College signature lines properly. It was kind of one of those "just kidding" moments.


After working on some more campus fire safety research, I met with Kas to discuss check out procedures. I had asked Tim if he had any information and he provided a diagram, which was kind of confusing:

Kas and I really looking to improve this process. I was very involved in the University of Minnesota's process and believe I know it pretty well. Kas and I had a great conversation about this and I think we're going to solve the issue.

Recycling, Tours, and a Surprise!

After looking up more fire safety information, I went to General Services with Katie, Krista, and RA Kyle. This is the team that will be tackling the Recycling programming in the Halls. We spoke with Don Luke and Rick Shaffer about the single stream recycling program. He told us about the things that worked, what didn't work, and we all brainstormed for a bit on educating the students on recycling. We also talked about how Dauphin Hall changes some things. I think this is going to be a fun project!

Centered around lunch were two tours, one of Construction and Design Technologies and the other was Transportation Technology, mostly focusing on the Automotive part of the school. Both of these tours were pretty awesome. Stuff like this always sparks the "I wish" syndrome in me, like I wish I knew how to be a stone mason and lay my own bricks or I wish I knew a lot about cars so I could restore one. Again, students are really getting practical experience in their schooling.

Once that was over with, the Links were off to Diversity Training with Brian Johnson. I assumed it was my supervisor Brian Johnson and went with the Links to touch base with Brian. I then discovered it was not ResLife's Brian Johnson but Campuspeak's Brian Johnson!!!!! I read about him in a Campuspeak magazine and thought his message would be really cool to see but I've never had the opportunity to see him. I stuck around for his diversity session and it was awesome! I love the way he uses movies to help reach his audience. It's what I want to do in the Greek Leadership Class I am co-teaching this Fall. There were a bunch of things I could have accomplished this afternoon but I had to jump at the chance to hear Brian Johnson speak. So Good!

Links' Residence Hall Training

Today was the big presentation of Residence Hall training for the Links. I was up bright and early to get to Student Activities so I could laminate and cut out the Reference Cards for the Links. It took forever and we started our morning a little late. Once we got started, we went around the room and talked about our best on-campus or residence hall experience. People shared some great stories. I was a little worried about going around due to last week's events but it seemed to get people energized. Joe Worth gave a good talk about facilities, although I think he made the Links a little nervous about overflowing toilets. He is right though, water can be very damaging! We then had a little break, which I ran over to the ResLife office and turned my time sheet in. I keep forgetting that thing. I'm so used to being under contract with Western.

Tim talked a little more about Housing policies, using my reference card for the Links to refer to. Ashley then came over to talk linens for a bit, check in and check out procedure, and when to call the RAs or Conference Assistants. We tried to provide some time for them to ask some questions and talk about fire drill procedure but maybe when they got the reference card, their questions were answered. Not sure.

There were a lot of questions about Dauphin Hall and what that looks like. I think some learning style issues were being played out. They had a hard time visualizing the way Dauphin Hall is going to be set up. "Who was going to use what bathroom, are there people cleaning those bathrooms, what about guests, is there a door that locks people out of the common area in the pods?" It was endless. Tim did a great job answering their questions and I, personally, think they could have figured it out. However, what they were really after was a tour of the new building. They weren't going to be satisfied until they got a tour and continued to ask crazy questions in their pursuit. Granted, some of the questions were very valid, we didn't provide visual substitutes to accommodate different learning styles, and I'm close to this training. However, they're all smart students and it's been the only point where I wanted to raise an eyebrow at them and ask "Really?" It's good to see they're thinking about it though.

We broke for lunch a bit and then came back for the Quiz Show, where I got to utilize my game show host voice. However, the remote to the screen was dead and the computer tower had no screen. It was one giant technical malfunction, so we had to abandon the game show aspect of it and simply go through each question. It was disappointing but at least they did a good job of answering the questions and raising good questions for Tim and I. After that, the new Links went to tour Delaware Hall at College West and the returning Links and I prepared for our behind closed doors session. I liked each of the scenarios. It gave them a good taste of what they might experience. It was a little hard to change around the script I had but it was still fun to participate. Each Link group had a different approach to the issues they faced. After the Dauphin Hall stuff in the morning, they really stepped up and used their talents. Again, a very impressive group. We wrapped up a bit and then called it a day.

Overall, great training. I think the reference cards will help them. I think we broke up the day with enough stuff to keep them active and we covered the things we needed to. Maybe for next year incorporate some more visual aids and double check technology before using it. But, still great training!

Post Weekend Review: Good Times

I got off to a lazy start, sleeping to about 11:30 on Saturday morning. However, things took off from there. It was the opening match for the US in World Cup Soccer against England. Krista and I went with Erin and Keith to Rivals to watch the game. They had some good wings and the match was a well contested tie. I thought about being lazy the rest of the day but Link Bryann Bingaman and his girlfriend Jess were looking for something to do, so Krista and I went to dinner with them at a great bbq rib place and then we toured around Bryann's home area, especially going to the awesome river shore park (can't remember it's name). It was a great little evening.

On Sunday, once I confirmed a New York City trip, I solidified a list of places to go. I also made a large push for on my homework. Since I was going to be gone much of the next weekend, I needed to get ahead cause I know I won't want to do homework next weekend. Great little weekend!

Thursday and Friday: Race to the Finish

Thursday and Friday consisted of two things and two things only: the slide show and the card. Everything kind of blended together. Tim and I continued going through the slide show and replacing questions and answers. Once that was done, Tim emailed them to me and I proceeded to clean the slides up. In testing the slides, I noticed the last two sets did not progress or function the same way the first set of slides. It took me a considerable amount of time to fix this but I got it done. I then had to finish up the reference card. I waited as long as I could for Brian's approval, which he did, and I arranged the printing with various colors. Printing and cutting them definitely took some time. Unfortunately, I did not finish in enough time to to go laminate the cards at Student Activities. I will have to do that on Monday.

Thursday was the memorial service. I was definitely thinking about Liz, Amanda, and Brian. Not to sure what the weekend will bring!

BLACKHAWKS!! STANLEY CUP CHAMPS!!!!

What a game! It looked as though the Blackhawks were going to run away with it but once again the Flyers tied it up in the final minutes. A few minutes into overtime, Patrick Kane slips one by the goalie and it's pandemonium!! 4-3 in OT! Former University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and Blackhawk captain won the Conn Smythe Trophy too!! Chicago Blackhawks are Stanley Cup Champs! Great night!!!

Reference Card and Gameshow

A lot was accomplished today! Since I was gone all day yesterday, I just started mocking up the reference card with the information Tim gave me on Monday. With the information I had, I was able to knock it out in a couple hours. I sent it to Lee and he liked it so much that he asked if a new copy could be made for his RAs. After looking at all the information, I determined that a different card should be made for the RAs because they have a little more authority than the Links do. A couple other things will take priority before I actually look at reworking the card.

Once we had a mock-up of the card, Tim and I went to work on editing the PowerPoint for the game show. A couple of policies have changed so we needed the slides to reflect that. It was kind of slow going. I had read the policies beforehand but I had a lot of questions on why things the way they were. Although I'm sure they have a specific procedure to follow when doing this, I can tell Brian and Tim have a good amount of authority to change the policies when things come up. Tim told me that any policy changes usually happen as a result of a student doing something wrong. Even though it was an entire revision of the policy, there were a bunch of steps to go through when editing the social function policy for Greek Life at Western Illinois. We barely made it through the first two sets of slides and there is still one left and we have questions to replace. We'll have to get them tomorrow. I also experienced my first Residence Life Staff meeting. Once again, the staff get a lot done in a meeting and cover a lot of topics but it is a lot of fun being in the room with all of them together!

Morgan Valley

Today was our diversity day with the Links. Penn College owns land up on this mountain and there is a cabin for people to host retreats. It has a really cool deck over looking the valley. And the temperature was nice and cool!!!

The Links had been working on a privileges journal and a few questionnaires on how diverse they are prior to going up there. During the day, we had several activities to help them recognize their own privileges and diversity. In many of the activities we (or maybe just I) found out a lot of things I did not know about people. My hopes were probably a little high for the talk I thought we would have. Some people opened up, some didn't. I tried to open up some gates by talking about my own experience but that worked to an extent. I think they are still a little nervous talking about those subjects around each other, afraid of saying the wrong thing. That's ok though. I was probably the same way when I was 20-22 years of age. I did have a pretty awesome conversation with Bryann Bingaman about Fraternity.

Remembrance

Upon arriving to work, the rumor I heard over the weekend ended up being true. A student of Penn College died in a car accident over the weekend. The whole campus is feeling pain right now. She was a really involved student and close with a lot of people, including the Residence Life staff. I never met her and didn't know a thing about her but I can relate to what the campus is going through as I had three friends pass away from smoke inhalation in a house fire.

I couldn't find the original article but here is an article that remembers the incident. Here's the story how I remember it:

During my First Year of college in 2002, I lived on the 3rd Floor of East Wing at Bailey Hall on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. The people I lived around were all different but a lot of fun. Over the course of the year, everyone seemed to have a connection with each other and we seemed to be like one giant family, not always happy, but a family no less. We all went our separate ways after the year ended, some people living in Bailey again, some to off campus housing. I returned to Bailey Hall with 2 of my neighbors from 3East, John and Tim.

September 20th, 2003 did not start out to be a normal Saturday. John usually spent his Saturdays in the Fall out hunting but for some reason he decided to stay. Tim usually spent the night with his girlfriend but he did not on this day. John and I had plans to attend the Gopher football game against Louisiana Lafayette later that night. The three of us were watching some football pre-game that morning when our neighbors, Kellen, Joe, and Eric (all three residents of 3East with us), knocked on our door and asked if we heard what happened. We said no and they told us Liz Wencl, Amanda Speckien, and Brian Heiden, members of our family, had died in a house fire. They were visibly upset as they were much closer to the three of them than John, Tim, and I. Between that moment of shock and going to Liz's funeral, everything is a blur. I remember bits and pieces but everything happened so fast.

Liz's funeral was first and time seemed to slow down. I had been close with Liz. We had a couple French classes together and I talked her a couple days prior to the accident. She always lit up a room and made everyone feel like they would always have her as a friend. Amanda's funeral was a couple days later and on the same day as Brian's. I went to Amanda's so I was unable to attend Brian's funeral. The finality of it all was unlike anything I had ever experienced. All I knew was how much I would miss them.

I can't claim to be their best friends like others can. I don't know if they considered me a friend. What I do know is they had an impact on my life. We shared the common experience of living in the Residence Halls of Minnesota and the trials of navigating our way through our first year of college. They taught me not to take any friendship for granted. I strive to make everyone feel welcomed, even if I know nothing about them. I strive to live life to the fullest, just as they did. I continue to remember.

There is no comparison to a fire and a car accident except that both are tragic. However, I can't help remembering what it was like. I feel for the faculty, staff, and students here at Penn College for what they are going through. I hope their wound will heal with time. Take care Penn College.

Email again??

So the days of me having a Penn College email address were short lived. I got to work to check my email and found I could not log on to a computer. I couldn't log on to anything. Turns out they switched my email address without telling me so I was quite blind for a while. I should say, they tried telling me but sent the notification to my new email of which I did not have knowledge of. Anyway, it made a lot of sense since I hadn't received an email since Wednesday last week. Hopefully everything is squared away with that.

In the late morning, we toured the School of Business and Computer Technologies. We spoke with the coordinator of matriculation and retention, who actually graduated with a master's degree in student affairs. Students in the School of Business and Computer Technologies will learn info about business and tech, but they will also work with the health and legal fields as well. This tour was also different as we spent the majority of out time in a classroom with a PowerPoint presentation, which most of our tours have been through all the different technical classrooms.

In the afternoon, I met with Erin, Ashley, Kas, and Krista to go over the Morgan Valley Retreat info for tomorrow. I'm excited about this as it is on diversity and I haven't had the opportunity to talk about diversity with a large group of students. I've had discussions one on one with students but not a group, other than my classmates. After that, Tim and I went over some procedural stuff for the Links reference card. On initial glance of the information, I think the information will fall under a few main categories that I can organize on the card. I have to jump on the project quick as there is only a week before the actual training.

Post Weekend Review: Hockey!!

Friday night was Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs!! Unfortunately my Blackhawks were not victorious. They got handled for most of the game and started making a comeback but they were down by too much. The series is tied 2-2. Sad face.

I didn't do much Saturday morning but I spent Saturday night with Krista. Neither of us had plans so we went to the Bullfrog Brewery and had some great food. Highly recommended! We then decided to have an mini Office marathon, watching 4 of our favorite episodes. It was good times!

Sunday was Game 5 of the Stanley Cup and the Blackhawks dominated! I went shopping before the game started, picked up a few new clothes but I was super focused on the game. Byfuglein finally woke up and Pronger is finally wearing out! The line changes worked out really well. One more game. Victory is in our grasp!

Free Friday Afternoons

I worked on some more campus fire safety research this morning. Nothing too special. I've tried to save what I can on another Google Wave. Much of it is repetitive. I then with the Links to the School of Health Sciences. This was an interesting tour. Like other tours, they point out the equipment because it is similar to or the same equipment used in the real world. Again, these students are getting a lot of practice in their work. The programs are also extremely competitive. Although this makes the programs tough to get into, it probably makes them more prestigious. Our tour guide also took us into the cadaver lab. We didn't actually see a body but it was freezing in there and definitely had a distinct odor. After that, it was a little fire safety research wrap up and then the weekend. Big hockey game tonight, Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Go Hawks! Past that, I don't know what the weekend holds!

Email Day!!

I spent much of my day figuring out email stuff. I received my password in the morning and sent out mass emails, celebrating my email address acquisition! Penn College uses Microsoft Outlook quite a bit, something I had never used before. I can access my email from the web and set up a calendar but it does not have a lot of the features that the Microsoft Outlook program has. I was unaware of this and ended up wasting much of my time trying to figure things out. Barb was a great help in trying to help me figure things out and her questions helped me figure out the disconnect between having the program and not having it. I hopped on a different computer and opened my email via the Outlook program and everything was the way it should be. Barb then taught me how to share my calendar and hopefully I will be able to see where I'm going in the future to help me plan my time and work. Because I have an email address now, I started to play around with Google Wave a lot more. I had found a fire poster that was done by the National Fire Prevention Association and posted it on the Wave started for our fire poster. It's a good poster but I think we can do a better job of marketing and tailoring the posters to Penn College students. I come from schools where the mascot is used as a marketing tool inside and outside the university. It makes sense to me to try and capitalize on the Wildcat.

In the afternoon, the Links, Krista and I took a tour of the School of Industrial and Engineering Technology. This was a tour that was spread all over campus. We pretty much walked from one end to the other. The students here have the opportunity to use a lot of different technical equipment, some of which I think is pretty cool (like making plastic bottles!!).

The tours have become a little more entertaining with the Links, mainly because the fact that I hold open nearly every door. Some of the guys are complaining that it's making them look bad. They say it in a joking manner but it could stem from a angry thought. I was taught to do those sorts of things and I tell the guys that it is a good habit to get into. One of the Links has taken notice and has started doing the same when I am unable to catch the door. I just hope it's not playing too much into the "typical" gender roles dynamic that was exposed at the Ropes Course. That's all for now!

Knoebels

So, as a change of pace and scenery, I went with Ashley Smith Nicolas and her Conference RAs to Knoebels Amusement Resort. It was a good time! It's more geared to children, in my opinion, but there are some sizable roller coasters there. I hadn't been on a coaster for a while. I had a delicious Philly Cheese Steak for lunch and it was delicious! Ashley brought her sons, although only one was old enough to ride some of the rides with us. I think he definitely had a blast! Again, nice change of pace and a fun little day! I accessed my email this morning and I get to explore it tomorrow!!

NOOO!!!

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup was on tonight. The Blackhawks were looking great but those pesky Flyers came back to force overtime. Then in overtime, the Flyers scored right away! Game final: 4-3. What the heck! Chicago dominated road games throughout the playoffs. I don't understand. I hope I didn't disturb the neighbors as I was getting a little loud yelling at the TV. Hawks are going to need to take it to them on Friday night!

Directors Meeting and Tour

Today was really the first time I was able to dive into a lot of fire safety information. I initially started out in looking for ways other schools market their fire safety posters but didn't find much. There sure is a lot of information out there on fire safety though. Uffda!

At 9am, Krista and I had a Student Affairs Directors meeting. This was a very interesting meeting. Much of their topics were things I had no clue about and a bunch of updates. Elliott has a great memory but it's funny to hear him describe my path to Penn College, "Jack is from Grand Forks, ND, went to Minnesota, and is now at Western Illinois." Sometimes he'll switch things around a bit and throw in my VISTA experience or what I'm studying. However, there was a lot of talk about the Crisis Intervention Team and the ADA Classification of students who attempt suicide. Apparently, students who attempt or are about to attempt suicide are protected by ADA through mental illness. If I remember correctly, the school can excuse the student from classes and living on campus once they have a mental evaluation. However, between the attempt and the evaluation, the student could stay on campus and cannot be asked to leave due to ADA compliance. This has a lot of implications for Residence Halls as it is affecting the other students' safety living there. I'm sure there are a lot of grey areas with this but what an interesting conversation.

Shortly after the directors meeting, Krista and I hoped in Penn College vans with the Links for a tour of the Earth Science Center! The Earth Science Center is well off campus in a very wooded area. The building houses a bunch of different majors, which might fall into different schools, not too sure. We took a nice outdoors tour and ate lunch at the Pavilion. I did not know we were supposed to bring our own lunch so I waited till we got back. After that, I got my email address!! However, no password. I'll have to get that tomorrow.