Idealist

Hal writes:

I have been teaching a section of "Intro to College Life" this semester at UWP. The basic premise of the class is to assist students in making the transition from high school to college during their first semester (which, in the end, helps with our retention rate). We cover topics such as time management, cultural competency, academic registration, health and wellness, and other topics.

This upcoming week I am teaching on personality profiles and learning styles. I am a big fan of Kolb's learning styles, which gives me great insight as to how my RA staff learn and react to situations. For a "homework assignment", I am having my students take the Keirsey temperament online, which is similar to Kolb's theory.

When I took the survey, I fit in the "Idealist category". Do you think this describes me?

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self -- always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Sound like me? Other famous Idealists include Oprah, Billy Graham, Princess Diana, Plato, and Emily Dickenson.

I think this a great way to learn about yourself, learn about other people, and learn how different personality types can work together.

If you are interested in taking the free survey, click here. When you get the results, post them as a comment on this blog. I would be curious to hear what you type is!

A Tale of Two Families

Hal writes:

The alternate title to this blog could be "A Residence Hall Thanksgiving". Anna and I have hosted Thanksgiving the past couple of years, but this is the first time our families have merged for Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving 2003, shortly after Anna and I were engaged. I have more photos than what is included below, but I can only fit so many on to the blog before I publish it.


We'll start off with a group picture. In the picture avoe you have myself and Anna (Platteville, WI), my parents (Two Harbors, MN), Lindsay (Chicago, IL), Beth (Springfield, MA), Dale (Suisun, CA), Sandy (Shell Lake, WI), Jay and Tabby (Twin Cities, MN), and Kat (Duluth, MN). We literally had people from across the country join us for the holiday.


Traditionally, carts like the one pictured above are used to assist with students moving in the hall at the beginning of the year. I used it to bring the food for the feast from our apartment to the multipurpose room.
Although the table cloth did not quite reach the edge of the table, we had enough space to eat from and Anna was able to use a lot of her china. Food was set up on side tables and it made for an easier "get up and get it yourself" buffet style for eating. In addition to the wonderful food, Dale brought some wine from California. (Don't worry, everyone was of legal age to consume alcohol and the RAs didn't have to stop by because we weren't being too noisy.)

Since Anna and I claimed our apartment to watch "CSI", the "Grey's Anatomy" group watched their show movie theater style in the lobby area on the large plasma screen TV.

Turkey make Jay sleepy...

Today we all went to Galena for some shopping (excpet Jay and Tabby had to go back home yesterday). The rest of my family went to Chicago and everyone else will be leaving tomorrow morning. That way Anna can get back to her homework and I can... well... I guess I can eat leftovers and fall asleep watching football this weekend.

New Viking song

Hal writes:

A high school classmate, Paul, e-mailed me about a friend of ours from THHS. Andy is on a quest to change the song that is played just prior to Minnesota Viking kick-offs. If you are not a Vikings fan, but are interested in football, Scandivanian affairs, or music, you should check out this article from Minnesota Public Radio.

If you want to sign the petition to change the song, sign up here.

If you want to know more about Andy's day job, where he and his wife create art from using coffee beans as the medium, you can find out more about their art here.

And finally, a picture of me dressed as a Viking. This photo is when I was "Chief Fun Hater" and "Director of Ridiculousness" for Tammy Jo's (jumping in photo) fake graduation ceremony at Wartburg. She was unable to attend her actual graduation because of her new job in Guam, so we put together a fake graduation for anyone who wanted to graduate with her.