Tornado and pinata

Hal writes:

Anna and I spent some time in the hallway with a few of my residents this evening. A tornado touched down near Platteville and Grant County was under a tornado watch for a while. Everything is fine in Platteville, but I am waiting to hear about the smaller communities that were in the direct path of the bad weather.

The campus police have the ability to send out a prerecorded message warning the residents of the halls via a speaker system. If it were not for the seriousness of the situation, I should have had a picture of me in the hallway. Decked out in clothing in anticipation of having to go out in cold weather, I had my apartment/office phone, cell phone, emergency weather radio, and police scanner at my feet, and I took turns listening to each of them as needed. (Typically I don't have a police scanner, but one of my residents brought it out to me in the hallway. It gave me quicker information than the radio stations or any calling tree in place to inform me of campus information.)

My concern for the evening was the number of residents who chose to ignore the warnings. A number of residents simply stayed in their suites looking out the window (instead of moving into the hallways of the first or second floor) and a few people went outside to watch. Each individual thinks that he/she can "outrun" the tornado (get to a safe location) if they "see" it, but they are unaware of the other people in the building that are thinking the same thoughts and who would ultimately get in their way before they can reach safely. My on call RAs attempted to get people inside, but in the end they are adults and they can choose to tempt fate outside if they wish. Unfortunately, it takes a disaster before students realize the possibility that their lives could be in danger.

Of course, my personal experiences with the Spring 1998 tornado that decimated Gustavus makes me extremely cautious in weather related situations. I found this picture, an aerial photo of Gustavus the day after the tornado.

In addition to having a weekly staff meeting, my staff has "staff dinner" once a week. It is an opportunity to spend time together without having to discuss housing business. This semester, however, class schedules have not allowed for us to share a meal together. Instead, we have "staff fun time" the hour prior to hall council. Each week a different RA gets to select the activity that we participate in. This past weekend, one of my RAs chose to recognize another RAs birthday. In addition to the cake (see staff photo below) my RA also made brownies and we went outside to take turns swinging at a pinata that she made.

Here is my staff playing "Human Pinata" after the real pinata was broken. The second game didn't last very long because their RD said it was not appropriate, but I'm a fun hater like that.

Anna's Study Nest

Hal writes:

In the guest bedroom/office of our apartment, Anna has been using the top bunk of the bunk beds as her study nest. Here she spends hours on end learning Physical Therapy, but if the opportunity presents itself, she could also use the area for a nap. My observations have been 15 minutes of studying, 20 minutes of napping, and then hours of studying. I took the picture below a few minutes ago.

*cough, cough* How did I survive the winter without being sick and then catch a cold yesterday when it was 77 degrees? Crazy. Tomorrow looks to be a fun filled day. It starts at 6:45am with the Chancellor's Breakfast. I have been invited to assist with facilitating dialogue with student leaders on campus. It makes for an early morning, but the catered "Executive Breakfast" features a "California Juice Bar, fresh fruit, assorted pastries, cinnamon french toast, scrambled eggs, country style potatoes, bacon/sausage, English muffins and bagels with assorted jellies/jams/cream cheese, and beverages". Then later in the morning classes are cancelled for our Distinguished Lecturer Paul Rusesabagina, the man who's story inspired the move Hotel Rwanda. All this before noon!

So, in that last paragraph I created a link for Mr. Rusesabaina that takes you to a Wikipedia site. I was reading a question and answer session in Time magazine with the creator of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales. A student asks, "How can I convince my teachers to allow me to use Wikipedia as a legitimate research source?" I really enjoy his answer:

I would agree with your teachers that that isn't the right way to use Wikipedia. The site is a wonderful starting point for research. But it's only a starting point because there's always a chance that there's something wrong, and you should check your sources if you are writing a paper.

I appreciate the information that is available online, but unfortunately we don't always teach students on how to evaluate information. I can't wait to use this quote in my Intro to College Life Class next fall.

I asked Anna if she would like to share with you how much she is enjoying studying Ortho. Here is her response:

Surprise surgery

Hal writes:

What started out as a brief check up with a nurse practitioner turned into a surprise surgery for me yesterday. My years of running have finally caught up with me as I had my first outpatient surgery on my foot. The jury is still out on whether my father or mother's genetics are to blame in the abnormality, but hopefully this will solve present and future problems. And as an added bonus my colorblindness led me to believe that the beodine used during the surgery was my blood and when I looked at the end of the surgery I had lost a lot of blood, but my wife clued me in to what it really was when she saw the look on my face. Needless to say, I won't be walking much this next week let alone running any time soon.

What brought Hal home after his surgery?
A toe truck!

What is the capitol of Canada?
Toe-ron-toe!

Why isn't your nose twelve inches long?
Because then it would be a foot!

What is the last thing you take off before you go to bed?
Your feet off the floor!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Aren't we cute in our green? Everyone dressed in green (except a colleague who was concerned his English relatives would haunt him from the grave if they knew he was participating). After dinner with friends at the only place in Platteville that can be close to be considered Irish, Anna went home to study and Hal went on to dominate an evening of board games. He bested everyone in Blokus and then correctly solved the puzzle for the first play of Clue DVD board game (it was Lady Lavender stealing the paperweight at noon from the hallway). As you can see, the crime has been changed from a murder to a theft and there are additions to the three categories (new persons, places, and objects) as well as a forth category (time of day). The DVD elements make it very fun to play and if you have had Clue in the past, your old strategies can still work to your advantage.

A moment of silence for Wisconsin being knocked out of the NCAA tournament. I suppose I can cheer for THE Ohio State (only Big 10 team left) but I will probably have more fun cheering against Florida. Noah who?

Spring Break - Schaumburg

Hal writes:

If you thought my painting adventures during the start of my spring break were exciting, than this post should be a real treat. Yesterday some of my colleagues and I spent the day in Schaumburg, IL (a short three hour drive away from our campus). It was a fun time to get off campus and enjoy some laughs with coworkers. We started out with shopping adventures at the Woodfield Mall and then went to IKEA. The picture below is me "testing" some IKEA furniture while waiting for the group to finish shopping. (I do have to say that the Twin Cities IKEA has a much better layout than the Schaumberg IKEA.)

But enough about shopping, on to the glorious event. For the evening meal we feasted at Medieval Times. This was my third time attending (first time in Toronto with a high school choir trip, the second time on my honeymoon in Myrtle Beach), but the first for everyone else in the group. It's difficult to explain this "dinner theater" without many visuals, but please visit the web site to get a better idea. Pictured below is part of the group when we first entered the castle.

We were seated in the section of the Cleric Warrior, the Black and White Knight. Below Kelly and I are preparing to eat our meal while we cheer on our knight in the competition. My voice was a little scratchy on the ride home from yelling so much, but it was a great time.

Here's a picture of the Knights getting ready for the Jousting competition. You can see the Blue Knights cheering section behind them.

Anna had a long week of tests this past week, but more papers and tests are still to come, so she will be studying a lot this weekend. I have been catching up on some scrapbooking which keeps my mind of work (after all, it is my spring break). Isn't it great to have a job where you still get spring break? One of the perks of being an RD.

And my NCAA brackets are not going so well. I'm always a sucker for Arizona, but was also disapponted by loses of GWU, Oral Roberts, and GA Tech. Oh well... ON WISCONSIN!

Spring Break painting

Hal writes:

Anna and I, once again, did not have matching spring breaks. I took Thursday and Friday off last week so we could spend four days up north. The main project was to repaint, rearrange, and re-everything else to the living room in the house of Anna's parents. Most of the pictures below are for family members who live far away but want to see the new look of the living room. The first picture is Anna and I starting the painting process. As you can see, we each found a brush that was the right size for us.

Here is Anna getting ready for the process by pushing all the furniture to the middle of the room.

The photo below shows the old paint color (left) with the new paint color of "Woven Basket" (with satin finish) (right). I have been told that this creamy look of a buttery texture brings a warm and welcoming feeling to the living room.

The next few photos will spin you around the room in a clockwise fashion. The shelves remained in the same place, but the hutch was moved to the corner of the room on the left.

A couple of photo frames returned to about the same spot on the left, but some new ones appeared on the entertainment center. The shelf on the left is from the kitchen. Inside the entertainment center is the 5.1 surround sound CD/DVD player along with the other entertainment items.

Above the chair are three wedding photos (Dale and Sandy, Hal and Anna, Brian and Kristine) and on the other side of the door way is a plate from Russia.

Matching frames were purchased to place pictures in above the piano. Next to the piano, a decorative piece of furniture was added.

The door was painted with the rest of the walls, but the windows were left white. The couch was moved below the window (across from the entertainment center) and another set of photos was framed above the table with lamp. I realize now that we did not take a picture to show how much space is in the room now, but there is a lot!

Hal's spring break 2007: "Watching Paint Dry", a self-portrait.

OPE

Hal writes:

This past weekend was the Oshkosh Placement Exchange. Held at UW-Oshkosh, this event is a large residence life job fair where employers and candidates come from all over the U.S. to hold interviews. Although I wasn't part of the interview team, I went up on Saturday to see friends and help support the interview team. On Saturday night there is a large social that everyone attends and is a great opportunities to catch up with old friends. Just prior to that event, our school holds a social for candidates who interview with us as well as alums of our housing programs to stop by.

It was so great to see friends at the socials. What a great opportunity to catch up with people and tell them what you have been up to. It's like going to a class reunion and the only people who showed up were the ones you wanted to see. I was able to spend some time with Jim. In addition to him allowing me to crash on his couch and went to church this morning with him and his fiance Christa (I'm an usher in their wedding this summer). The friend who came from the farthest distance would be Rachael (former Wartburg coworker) who is now at Eastern Carolina University. Also said hi to WIU classmates Michelle, Craig and Angie. Former students of mine now involved in student affairs attending included Julie, Ben, and Jenni. And there were a host of other people that I have crossed paths with at other points in my life (it's a small student affairs world after all) that I got to share some hugs and brief life updates with.

Recently Two Harbors created a new 6-12 high school. The school board has been trying to sell the "old" high school (where my siblings and I graduated from and my parents worked at for many years). But after two years of nobody seriously interested, the decision has been made to demolish the high school. True, it does look like a jail and there is enough asbestos in the walls to warrant a number of hazard signs when they knock it down, but it still holds a lot of memories for many people. I'm hoping to see the school one more time before it is taken out. Perhaps I can get a brick or some other souvenir when it gets taken down. I was trying to find a picture of the school on the Internet, but could only find the logo. But, I did find the all time best THHS boys track and field records. You can look for my name in the 400, 4x400, and 4x800 results.