AG for Sheriff

The Daily Show did a report recently on the local Sheriff's race in Platteville. Click here to watch.

UNI RA Conference

This weekend Trapper and I took 10 RAs to the University of Northern Iowa RA Conference. There were 9 different states represented and over 700 students, plus their advisors, at the conference. The bulk of the activities took place on Saturday. In addition to getting to know some of the RAs better, I also had the chance to run into some old friends from other schools and meet some new friends.

Now, housing a large group was school is in session is a challenge. My RAs were split into study halls that had mattresses added for a sleep space. The advisor accommodations were slightly more appealing. The photo below is where Trapper and I stayed with other advisors. We were in a basement room (notice the pipes I had to duck under) and we actually had bed frames to go with the mattresses. Yep, living the luxury life of an RD.

Since the conference was geared to RAs, there were not a lot of programs for me to attend. I spent my time during the program sessions chatting with other advisors. My former supervisor from Wartburg, Pete, and I found some rocking chairs on the second floor of the building we were in and chatted with other advisors. I did get roped into being a case study judge by someone who recognized me as the Masters level case study winner at UMR (the price of fame I guess).

One of the last activites was an awards and recognition night that included a slide show of pictures taken at the conference. Trapper and I won an award for the Best Program at the conference. Since there were about 70 programs, I was really excited. Pictured below is Trapper and I at the social following the awards ceremony.

Sorry the posts are few and far between. This is a busy time of year. This morning we had our Senior Assistant selection process and this week is RA interviews. This upcoming weekend I will be traveling to Two Harbors and when I return next week it will be the (first ever) Southwest Hall sign-up process. After that it's time for RA selection. Is it bad that I am ready for spring break?

Mid-year training and a new Spanish friend

Hal writes:

This past Friday and Sunday I have been busy with RA mid-year training. After both of those long days I am now checking in 40 new students to begin the semester today. I enjoy the RA training, but it makes for a long day. Pictured below are some of my staff members in between training activities in the student center.

This weekend Anna brough home a friend from Mayo. Her name is Sonia and she is from Spain. It was fun to have her around for the weekend. On Saturday we took her up to Madison to show her the capitol, State Street, and Lake Mendota. Pictured below is Anna and I at Ella's Deli where we had lunch.

Things that Sonia learned from her trip to Madison: Leaving my car with the keys in the ignition to warm up the car while I am not in it will not equate to it being stolen (in Barcelona that is a different story), not only can lakes freeze, and not only can you walk on them, but strange people actual drills holes in them to fish (see photo below of Anna and Sonia), Americans buy vegetables frozen (she was leery of eating them), and oil and viniger are not standard at restaurant tables.
Things that I learned from Sonia about her country: Bullfighters are not welcome in Barcelona, most people will live in one town their whole life, people stay up late at night to watch live coverage of NFL and NBA games, Spain produces good wine and olive oil (but are not well known in the United States because the country does not marken them well), a semester at the University costs about $1,000, and how to demand my wife bring me a beer in Spanish (that didn't go over very well with Anna).

Other exciting things: I got an e-mail from Jim about his upcoming wedding (time to go get sized for a tux), Kevin finds out what synod he will be placed in within the next month (February 20), Jay and Tabby continue to work on their new house (I hear they picked Vikings purple as a color for one of their rooms), and I am taking a group of RAs to a conference this weekend.

2nd MLK Jr. Letterboxing Day

Hal writes:

For the second year in a row, the RDs at UWP have gone on a letterboxing adventure on MLK Jr. Day. (I don't like to use "annual" with an event unless it happens at least three times. My pet peeve is "First Annual".) The purpose of letterboxing is to find a hidden box based on clues found on the internet. (For more on letterboxing, which is a low tech version of geocaching, visit www.letterbox.org.) I had a trip planned to three different Letterboxes in Wisconsin and Iowa, but we are having our first snow strom of the season and were not able to travel on county roads very well. We decided to go look for one relatively close, at The Worlds Largest "M", which is a few miles out of town but considered UWP property.

This letterboxing adventure began by climbing the M. You can see the snow that has fallen within the last 48 hours. Needless to say, the parking lot at the M was not plowed, so we had to leave our cars on the road side.

The clues led us through the woods, using various landmarks as guides. I have some more pictures of landmarks that go along with the clues but they are not as exciting. Below is a picture of Jen and I with the Letterbox journal. The box we found was a plastic, waterproof container. In the box is the journal that you see. We all left a message in the journal saying we had been there. This particular box was placed in the woods last December and one group found it before we did.

Stamping is a big part of letterboxing. We each bring a rubber stamp to leave our mark in the journal. Mine is an ichthus (Chritian fish symbol) and my letterboxing handle is "Gustie Hal". Also in the box is a rubber stamp that stays in the box. You then stamp your own journal with that stamp. (I just bring scraps of paper to stamp and then scrapbook the adventures later on.) Below are RDs Kelly and Kelly Jo stamping.
A view from the top of the hill, overlooking a snowy farm. When we drove past the farm, there were sheep-dog puppies, Collies, that were saying hello to us from their pen.
Jen liked the snow hanging on the berries, so I took this picture.
If you want to see more pictures from the Letterboxing adventure, they are posted on my Facebook account.

Also, this is our 100th post! Yea for us!

Happy brithday to Dad and Kelly

Despite the possibility of bad weather, Anna was able to return for the weekend. Her internship at Mayo is halfway over and she is continuing to enjoy the experience. Not too many have an opportunity to say they had an internship at Mayo.

My RD friend Kelly shares a birthday with my dad. We hosted her birthday party in Southwest. Her RAs created a three layer caked (meaning that they cooked three cakes and stacked them on top of each other). Their original plan was to have eight cakes stacked on each other, but time constraints and a limited number of ovens in the hall limited their original plan. Kelly is shown below blowing out all 28 candles.


After cake eating, multiple board games ensued throughout the apartment, with most choosing the "Apples to Apples" game.

My brother called to say that everything went well with his first home purchase. He now owns a house in Farmington. There is still some work to be done (painting, adding appliances, etc.) but he has some time before the lease on the apartment runs out.

Trail Walk to Badger Game

Hal writes:

Tonight we gathered in Jen's hall to watch the #5 Badger men's basketball team take on #4 Ohio State. The direct path between my hall and Jen's is literally over the river and through the woods. For the most part, it was a pretty amazing walk. It was cold, so the stars were out in full force. (One of the reasons I know I am a Wisconsin man is that the boots I was wearing were camouflage, the only style in my size at the Farm and Fleet... or was it the Fleet and Farm?) There is construction to build a bridge between my hall and the residence hall side of campus, so I got to inspect that up close. One of the disheartening aspects is that a number of trees keep disappearing; not only for the bridge, but for the machines to create the bridge as well. Additionally, some of those trees were of significant value. As evidenced by the photo below, some of the trees that were taken out were specifically labeled as part of a trail walk. (The beam of light is from my dork light which I needed on in order to center the camera.)

The Badgers won the game! Pictured below was the fan base that was in badger apparel (the other 10 didn't get the memo). One nice thing about living in Wisconsin is that the Badgers do very well in athletics, so it's fun to cheer for winning teams. My apologies for the blurriness. I originally blamed Jason for it, but realized that I had the camera on an incorrect setting. But you get the idea...

Thanks for the memories

Hal writes:

Anna took this picture of me with the hot glue gun after we returned from Christmas. Perhaps it is the inspirations of having HGTV in the cable line up (with all the shows about flipping houses) that I was interested in doing my own craft project to brighten up the room. So, I picked up some corkboard, fabric, ribbon, and buttons to create a card holder.


You can't see the fabric well, but I was able to put up all the photos we received in Christmas cards. I really enjoy getting all the letters/cards/photos during the holiday seasons with updates from everyone. Now I'm able to enjoy the pictures hanging on our wall instead of just putting them in a basket somewhere.

Here is a photo from my trip to the cities last week. KW and I at BW3s. Pretty intimidating, eh?

Luther Seminary and Anna Internship

Hal writes:

I was able to spend the last couple days with Kevin at Luther Seminary. Pictured below is his efficiency apartment. You're looking at about 90% of his living space except for the "kitchen" (located on the wall to the left, not in picture), bathroom, and futon that I got to sleep on.

In addition attending Kevin's J-Term class, I also watched him lead worship for daily chapel with a fellow "soon to be pastor" Renee.

In addition to eating lime chips and watching movies, Kevin and I also met up with Warken-man for dinner (but he is in the middle of flipping 5 houses, so he had to go to bed early). We also shot a 3-minute video for a reality show that we are applying for. I will hold off on the details until later.
Lastly, I spent some time wondering in Rochester yesterday while waiting for Anna to finish up her day of internship. She is working primarily out of the building pictured above (Methodist Hospital) as a part of her Mayo internship. I'll let her type out more of her experiences, including run-ins with some current famous patients (i.e.: the elder Pres. Bush in for a bum knee and the conjoined twins from North Dakota).

Do I look more like Tom or Clay?

Christmas "wrap" - up

Hal writes:

Anna and I returned from "up north" on Friday after a week away. I still have another week until I start working, but Anna begins her internship tomorrow, so we returned in order for her to pack clothes for her clinical. I still don't know what I will do with myself this week, but perhaps I will journey to the cities for a couple of days.

Things were pretty hectic towards the end of the semester (as it is for all RDs) and we had family staying in our guest room/office, so I wasn't able to get much time to blog. Here are some stories from the past couple of weeks. Anna and a friend hosted a holiday party for all the PT students at Clarke after their finals were over. Typical games were played with a PT twist: "Guess the Goni" (estimate the angle of the goniometer) and "Pin the femur to the pelvis" (I think you get what that means). In the photo below you can see some of the decorations that Anna put together, including my santa hat on the skeleton.

Anna and I had different upbringings when it comes to presents. When Anna was growing up, shaking of presents were encouraged and she has a hightened a ability to shake, sniff, and listen to her presents in an effort to guess what they are. (It also helped that her mom was known to leave the Christmas shopping list out in the open with check marks next to items purchased.) In my house, there was a "No Snooping" sign under the tree and if you were caught touching a present, you would lose one (or so the story goes). Needless to say, I have become patient in waiting for Christmas to open presents and my wife, well, not so much. But she was able to convince me that it would be better to open our presents for each other together instead of hauling them in our car. In the photo below, you can see some of our decorations, including my "360 tree". With an outlet in the middle of the living room, I was able to put a tree over it and plug the lights into it and you can view the tree from all four sides. This was also our first live tree since the silverfish ate the fake one we had in storage.

After leaving Platteville, we went up to Anna's parents house for her birthday, which was celebrated at my favorite steakhouse. In addition to the steak and choice of potatoe, you get fresh baked bread and a huge salad. This place is also known for mixing wonderful cherry cokes (Dale opted for a local brew called "Dihm Whit"). Picture below is Anna and her sisters Kat and Kristine.
Since when it is 40 degrees and no snow for Christmas?