Arizona Trip

Hal writes:

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Arizona visiting Anna. She also had Monday off and we made the most of our three day weekend. All the photos that I have in this post are from our adventures in northern Arizona. During our 12 hour trip, we only spent five hours in the car, which meant the other seven were hiking or climbing. I still have red rock dust on my shoes now that I am back in Wisconsin.

Our first visit was Chapel of the Rock, a church that is associated with the Phoenix Catholic Diocese. Frank Lloyd Wright consulted on this project during his later years while living in Phoenix. I also saw a church designed by FLW, but was unable to get a picture of it.

Here is Anna outside the Chapel.After visiting the Chapel, we went to climb Chapel Rock just outside Sedona. The climb was steep (as indicated by the photo of Anna about halfway up the mountain) and is listed as a 1.5 mile trek with a 600ft change in elevation. It took about two hours to go up and about the same time to get down because of the steepness. But when we reached the highest point that it was safe to climb, a park ranger was at the top to answer any questions about the geography.

Here's a picture of Anna and I near the top. In between the two hills in the distant background is the Chapel of the Rock. We were able to get a better view of it by using the camera to zoom in on it.

Our next stop was Walnut Canyon National Monument, near the Flagstaff area. At this national park are ruins of cliff dwelling houses built in the 12th century. The dwellings have remained due to their placement 600 feet up in the canyon. The picture below shows some of the ruins across the canyon.

There were more than 10 dwellings that we visited along the end of the canyon. It was very cool to touch and see the actual rocks that were placed there over 800 years ago. Some of the dwellings had black marks on the ceiling from old camp fires (which, through carbon dating, allowed archaeologists to determine when people lived here). My favorite part is that in the mud that was made to hold the stones together, there are still finger prints from the people who built the structure set in the mud. I had taken a picture of my hand next to some of the hand prints, but it did not turn out well.

Perhaps the original inhabitants were smaller than me... Or perhaps this is middle earth and hobbits once roamed these canyons.

Other fun adventures in Arizona included eating at a fun restaurant called Claim Jumpers, having a cookout with an old friend Jess who was living and teaching in Arizona this past year, and spending some time in the swimming pool. The low points of the trip are when the airlines try and fit me into an airplane seat. At least the SkyMall catalogue kept me amused for a while, including my all-time favorite product that they sell.

I'll be returning to Phoenix at the end of June. But until then, I'll be working.

Hal's birthday recap

Hal writes:

My birthday has typically come at a time of year where other events (namely graduations and final exams) have overshadowed my day. But with the advent of Facebook, a number of people who never would have known it was my birthday were able to leave me messages all day long. And I kind of liked it. I also appreciated those who called to sing to me as well as those who sent me e-cards. Better still, the cards that I will be getting in the mail. I use the future tense because there is a lapse in mail services due to nobody sorting the mail on campus now that it is summer, but some students have been hired and I hope that they will be getting the mail to me soon.

So, the tradition with my coworkers is that the birthday boy or girl gets to pick what they wanted to do. I wanted to eat lunch at a favorite of ours, Frank's Place in Shullsburg, but it was closed. So we walked down the street to Brewmeisters. The service was slow, but we were not in a rush to get back to work and enjoyed the time. I had two of my four birthday desserts: a malt with my meal and then a the wait staff brought me a hot fudge brownie with ice cream. Pictured below are some of us behind the bar next to where we sat.

Later in the evening people came over to my apartment and we sat out on my patio. Stef brought over some root beer and ice cream for root beer floats (birthday treat #3) and we chatted outside. Later on in the evening, one my RAs who is known for her baking skills stopped by with another RA with a cake they had made (birthday treat #4). We had a few pieces and I brought the rest to staff meeting this morning.

At staff meeting, we found out our summer assignments. Since I am only working three out of the eight weeks this summer, the number of projects that I am participating in are limited. The biggest project I have is preparing housing for the summer orientation and registration days, which I enjoy doing. After that, we started preparing for RA training. I think I took on a few more things than I wanted to, but everyone got to select some things they enjoy.

One of the traditions that we have in my department is when we have a meeting that falls within a week of your birthday, you get "Happy Birthday" sung to you. But the birthday boy/girl gets to select the style of song. For example, we have had rap, heavy metal, country, pig latin, Louis Armstrong, polka, and other stylings of how to sing the popular song. Well, they forgot my birthday last year, so I have been thinking about what I wanted for two years.

I selected "interpretive dance". It was me who sang the song, but with each of the six words (happy, birthday, to, you, dear, Hal) each person had to strike a pose about how they best felt they could interpretive dance each work. I took some pictures while I sang and they danced.

Pictured below is some of the group with their interpretive pose of "Hal". A majority went with the height aspect. KJ is pointing at her big foot while Kelly is amidst her "Halllllll-agator" impression. I'm not sure why my boss is looking so scared or why Jen decided to impersonate herself and not me.

Fondue Farewell

Hal writes:

Typically, the housing department gives me money to spend to feed my RAs dinner on the last day of finals and breakfast the next morning since there is no meal service on campus. The amount of money is good for a little meal, but my RAs wanted to go out with more of a feast. In additional to the departmental funds, the RAs saved up their lockout money to use for a Fondue Party for their last dinner on campus in my apartment. (When a student gets locked out of their room, they get let back in the first time for free, and then they are charged $3 each time after that. The RAs pick what to spend the money on.)

It took me two hours to prepare all the items, mostly on my own. As my staff showed up for dinner, they helped out where they could. One area was the cheese fondue area. This was made with three different types of cheese, a variety of spices, and a little bit of white wine to thin out the mixture. To my RAs amusement, it was a little thick to begin with, so I kept adding more white wine once the mixture was in the crock pot. This was served with cut up loaves of french bread and pretzels.



The "main course" was the meat fondue area. I had two pots (because of the number of people I had, you don't want more than six per pot) to cook the meat. I had defrosted and cut up a few chicken breasts and had cut up three different types of steak. You can see around the edge of the table the different types of sauces for dipping. As an experiment, we deep fried some bratwurst as well. (Only in Wisconsin...) This was the first fondue experience for many of my RAs.

And last, but certainly not least, the chocolate fountain. I had borrowed the machine from another RD and mixed my own chocolate for the fountain. There were marshmallows, angel food cake, fresh baked brownies, pretzels, bananas, apples, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries to dip in the chocolate swirl.

Now that I have confidence in myself to put something like this on again, just let me know if you would like me to come and help you host a fondue party. (Limited to 12 people, I need 2.5 hours of prep time...)

Closing Time

Hal writes:

For the past week it has been very busy for me as I closed down the hall for the year. It is now eerily quiet. Hard to believe that a week ago I was living amidst a vibrant community of 350+ people as they were finishing their semester. Now without the normal buzz of the building, I can hear plastic bags scraping across the pavement outside whenever there is the slightest breeze.

I had hoped to add some pictures of my staff during closing, but all of the rechargeable batteries are currently with a charge. So later on I will talk more about that.

One of the difficulties with my position is that it is difficult to bring closure to the year. Everyone is leaving at such a rapid rate, you don't have an opportunity to say goodbye to everyone, or at least have more than just a quick hug before someone leaves. When I got up Sunday morning, I look around an empty building and ask, did this just happen? Did 380 people just leave?

When a campus pastor retired from Gustavus at the end of my junior year, he did a strange thing. After his 30+ year of sitting on the stage during commencement, he left the graduation ceremony, got into his car (filled with belongings and his wife) and left to drive to their retirement home on the east coast. Back when that happened (I new about it ahead of time) I watched him leave almost immediately and drive away with very few goodbyes. I thought that action would be pretty difficult, without taking the time to linger around and bring closure. But this weekend I finally figured out why he did it. He didn't want to face the prospect of his last time on campus as one being an empty environment. His memories, particularly his last moments on campus, are ones filled with happiness and a vibrancy that comes with graduation day. To leave the next day, or even an hour later, would leave one feeling alone and empty. Perhaps on the day that I retire, I shall leave an hour earlier than anticipated, so that I can leave with the feeling of life surrounding me and not the emptiness of that comes from an empty building. (Now I have a song from Les Mis in my head: "Empty chairs at empty tables..."

As an ENFJ/Accommodater (for you non-CSP people, that means I am more likely to use emotion than logic in my decision making) I tend to have emotional reactions to change. And I have already had several moments in my life time when I was one of the last to leave an empty place. I was one of the last people to turn in my gown and get my diploma at high school graduation, I was the last person to check out of the FCA House my junior year (I still remember praying that the decision for our group not to return was of God's will), I was the last person to check out of my apartment after graduation from college, and there was more than one week that I worked at camp that after an exhausting, energy filled week, the camp was silenced on Friday early evening when campers and counselors alike were gone for the weekend. Now as I hall director, this is my fourth year going through a crazy check out process to be left as soul occupant of an enormous building. (And this year, the distance between my building and those of my colleagues makes it feel even more aloof.)

But now, the transition to summer begins. After going through my end of year RD check-out with my supervisor, I am given today and tomorrow to recuperate from the last couple of weeks. On Wednesday, those RDs who choose to work during the summer will be given their summer assignments. Since I am only working for three of the eight weeks this summer, I can't imagine my list will be very long.

So anyways, I'm glad to be back and in touch with the outside world once again.

A rare post from Anna....

Hello from Phoenix! After a REALLY busy semester, I thought I'd take a minute to write a quick note. As Hal has mentioned the last few weeks have been crammed with studying for practical exams and then comprehensive final exams. It's always nice to get settled in on clinicals because the evenings are free from books and studying. This is my Orthopedics rotation...which isn't the area that I enjoy the most in class. Hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise and I'll love it in the clinic. That's usually how it goes...things are alot more fun with real patients.

I wanted to post a few pictures from the semester:

First, in my Integumentary PT class we had to practice applying Unna Boots, a type of wound care dressing that dries hard like a cast. As you can see, it was fun and we gave the obligatory BIG smiles.

Second, these are my co-workers at Badger Brothers Coffee. We have SO MUCH FUN. I love working there, but had to take a "sabattical" for the end of the semester and summer. I'll start working there again in August. In the meantime, I already miss our fresh roasted beans....

Well, today I'm getting acclimated to the city. I'm going to drive out to my clinical site, find a Walmart to see if I can get a wireless card, and of course, find a Starbucks with WiFi. I think I'll probably lay by the pool some, too. :) Yesterday it was 102 outside, and for a minute I thought the thermometer was broken. Then I remembered I'm in the desert. It's supposed to be abouve 100 all week...

Happy Mother's Day

Hal writes:

For those of you who knew us when we were growing up, click below and guess which one is Hal and which one is Jay.

Happy Mother's Day photo

"Come out of the bathroom!"
"Put down the yard stick!"

Anna on Internship

Hal writes:

Anna completed her finals this past week and left for her internship today. She will be spending the next two months in Arizona. It was not an easy task to say goodbye in the airport, especially with all the recent rules and regulations at the airport. I can see myself someday telling some young children that once upon a time, anybody could go through security and wait until the passengers boarded the plane before saying goodbye. Now a days, a couple of security guards make sure goodbyes are said 30 minutes prior to boarding the plane in the main terminal. The airport used to have more emotion, but now that emotion has been regaled to either the curb side drop off or the baggage claim for people returning.

This next week should keep me distracted since it is finals week and my students will begin checking out of the hall. Some have done so already after graduation today (many seniors have the option of not taking finals). In the end, I will have to check through all 95 suites (380 bedrooms, 190 bathrooms, 95 living rooms, and 95 kitchens) before my RAs can leave, and knowing them, they will want that done quickly.

My goal for Sunday? To find activities NOT related to work that can distract me and keep the stress level down prior to the chaos of next week.

There's a new sheriff in town

Hal writes:

Guess who was elected as Chair to the Academic Staff Senate this afternoon? I think I shall wear this around campus next year... (not that this is going to my head or anything...)

Don't think a little photo can do a lot of damage? Click here to read about a woman who was denied her teaching degree from her college because of a photo on MySpace.

The Farm, Goats, Growing Old, the Trifecta

Hal writes:

Saturday morning started out at "The Farm". We used to do some fall training activities with RAs out there, but our group got too big for the space. So in the spring we do some pre-training activities with staff hired for next fall. My big task was to do an hour's worth of ice breakers so they get to know each other and have some tools to use when they become RAs next fall. I loved every moment of it. Too bad there isn't an opportunity to run events like this full time. Well, I'm sure there are, but I have to wait until Anna has a steady job before I seek these opportunities out. Our RA training theme for next fall is "Come On Down!" (a game show theme) so we are trying to relate all the material to game shows. You can't see my name tag very well in the picture below, but it is based off of The Price is Right name tag. I'm holding some foam dice that I found in a back storage room that I invented a game for. If you want to know about my new game, ask me about Name Dice Survivor.

On the way back for the training, I stopped at another farm that had kids (baby goats). There had to be at least 100 of them. I rolled down the window and called out "goatie goatie goatie" and they all called back to me. Unfortunately, they thought I was calling to them because it was feeding time, which is not the case. The goats belong to an Amish family that also makes money doing shoe repairs. I think I want to own a goat when Anna and I get our own place, which will probably preclude us from any urban environment.

A tell-tale sign that I am growing old: my friends and I had a garage sale. The night before, as we were joking, pricing items, and argue about the format (i.e.: whether or not to organize clothes by size or by type, to charge 25 cents or 50 cents for books, etc.) I realized that this is what my parents did for many years as I was growing up. They had the multi-family garage sale with their friends. I had to laugh about this "I'm getting older moment" and share it with everyone, which turned into a night about "things we remember" (especially when we looked at some of the clothes and CDs that we were selling). I had another moment this evening when I called my mom in between watching a special about Saturday Night Live in the 1990s. For the Variety Shows in high school, we got our material from SNL. Hal and Brooke as the cheerleaders, Kylie as Mary Catherine Galager, daaaaaa bears! Pictured below is a part of the group involved with the garage sale.

Today was our end of the year banquet for housing. Pictured below is "the trifecta" of The Legend, The Giant, and MA. These two guys were my RAs in Dobson and they came over with me to SW this past year (and are currently the only two males on my staff). Now one is graduating and the other is on internship this fall, so the trifecta is dissolving. This was the smile picture, but we held it together long enough to take a "serious" picture which I will add to facebook shortly.

Anna has been studying for finals this entire weekend. Sometimes with a group in our apartment (when I am banished to the side room) or by herself. Last week she had her practical exams. She has one final a day between Monday and Thursday. On Saturday she will leave for Arizona and start her internship a week from Tuesday and will be there until early July.