He's the DJ, I'm the MC

Hal writes:

My sisters gave me a book for Christmas that I really enjoyed. It is written by Mike Veeck and is entitled, "Fun Is Good: How to Create Joy and Passion in Your Workplace and Career". For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you can see it on the virtual bookshelf I have recently started of the books that I am reading.

Taking the philosophy to heart, I looked for a way to keep our students entertained while waiting in line to sign-up for a room for next year as a part of our housing sign-up process. I asked a resident of mine who does some professional DJing to set-up his equipment and have a little dance party for the people who were waiting. Not only was it entertaining, but the lines have moved faster than in previous years (there has to be a psychology paper on this somewhere) but my resident got to promote his services to potential clubs, organizations, or for future weddings.

My song requests for the evening included: "The Waiting" and "I fight authority (authority always wins)" to be funny and "Hey-yah" and "Livin' on a prayer" just for fun. Unfortunately, he did not have any Manilow.

The picture below shows my joint roles as officiant (as evidenced by the stripped shirt) and MC (as evidenced by the microphone). Similar to my Dodgeball post... I get paid to do this? :)

End of the lull

Hal writes:

I know that it has been a while since I have written. Last week was the busiest week of the academic year for me, but I knew long ahead of time it was going to be so. In addition to interviewing, reviewing files, and hiring RAs for next year, I also coordinates the sign-up process for my residence hall (which also contributed to some nightmares that I had last week). Because my building is a hot commodity, I do a sign-up process earlier than my colleagues. Additionally I had Senate responsibilities because of the Governor's new mandates, normal work load, and a few surprises that needed my attention. At the end of the week, Jen and I took a delegation of RAs to a conference, so that consumed my weekend. The photo below is Jen and I with our friend Kelly who happened to be advising a group of RAs from another school.



Next week is Anna's last week in Indiana. She completes her internship there on February 22 and then has a week off until she goes up to Duluth for her final rotation. Amidst the record snowfall we've had in Platteville, she hasn't had very much in Indiana, but there will be some left here by the time she gets back for us to either ski or snowshoe in.

Dodgeball

Hal writes:

Finally some Dodgeball pictures made it on to Facebook. During RA mid-year training I was in charge of the evening social activity I reserved our athletic area to play Dodgeball, Basketball, and Volleyball. (People could also walk around the track and chat or watch a movie in one of the classrooms if they were not interested in althletic competitions.)

The method of getting these pictures on my blog is a method my colleagues and I have dubbed "Faceburglaring". This is where, if you are in need of a photo for some, you copy and past or save a photo from Facebook. The problem is, the quality of photos is not good when you do this, so the images are not clear in the photos below.

Here we have the RD team (with one extra guest, the guy with the beard is one of the RD's fiance). Don't we look intimidating? RAs lined up to face off against us in groups of 11. It was so fun, we played for two hours straight without realising how much time has past. But, we did need an update on the "rules" as some things had changed since the RDs placed this game in grade school. (i.e. "Headshots" are now legal whereas that would get you in trouble in elementary school.)

This pose I am employing in this picture is "Couching RD, Hidden Dodgeball". My signature move was to put a Dodgeball up the back of my shirt when the other team wasn't looking and wait for the opportune moment to unleash a pseudo-powerful throw. Although it worked a few times, this move is considered illegal in a formal Dodgeball game.

Why am I smiling? Because I've been smacked with Dodgeballs all night and my arm is sore from throwing the Dodgeballs? No, I'm smiling because I get paid to do silly things like this.