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!