Only in Higher Education

I got an email the other day about volunteering to serve on campus committees. There was a list attached so that you could make a choice about where you wanted to serve. I took a picture so you wouldn't think I was making this up.

There is a Committee on Committees!

I often compare my job with my mother's (She works for the VA) and what leaves me speechless is the bureaucratic red tape and layers of management that can be encountered in both the federal government and higher education. So maybe I should have titled this post "only in higher education.... and the federal government".

Wordless Wednesday 4-6-11

Yesterday my Ag342 class participated in some leadership activities. Enjoy the camera phone pics :-)

I only need to learn 4 chords

I have been trying to learn the mandolin. It turns out I could save some time and just teach myself four chords. Enjoy!

25 Things I want

Part of the 'Conversational Skills' seminar included making a list of 25 Thing I want. This is different than a bucket list... and has less specifics than a truly developed goal list.

Here is my unedited 25:

1 Keep the blog going for a whole year
2 Be the aunt my nieces and nephews can count on
3 Visit Ireland and Australia
4 Find a fella to share my life with
5 Write a book
6 Be debt free
7 Read 35 books a year, every year
8 Finish the scrapbooks I have started
9 Stay in one job for 7 years
10 Spend a day with just my brother and my sister
11 Hit my goal weight
12 Attend an NFL game
13 Learn to play the mandolin well
14 See live music twice a year
15 Learn to cook
16 Be happy
17 See the beach once a year
18 Continue to stay connected to those folks in life I consider mentors
19 Either parent/adopt or mentor a child
20 Buy a home
21 Find a church home again
22 Ride a Double-decker bus in London
23 See a lava flow and a waterfall in the same day
24 See the Grand Canyon
25 Visit all 50 States

What item(s) on this list surprise you? What should be on this list that isn't? What's on my list that is also on your list (maybe we could do it together!)?

Thoughts I am still processing....

I have been in a Conversational Skills course (by Paul Axtell) for the last two days. Paul says insights last from 5 minutes to 5 hours and, if you don't do something about them, they are gone. You either capture it, or lose it.  In an attempt to capture some of the insights and information gained from the course, I am putting some thoughts here.

• Either everything matters... or nothing matters.
• Accountability is assigned. Responsibility is a context you choose.
• Some thinking is better alone. Find 45 minutes to be alone with your thoughts everyday (no radio in the car; no TV in the background). You mind will immediately set to solving the unsolved problems. 
• Some thinking is better done with another person listening. These include: debriefing. venting. goals setting.
• Human nature means we are hardwired with certain responses. These include: we take almost everything personally; we have a desire to avoid being dominated; we want to look good/avoid looking bad; we want to be comfortable; we want quick answers now; we judge - to make sense of a very complicated world in quick time; we resign or settle; we have a desire to be right/ make others wrong; 
• If you wait until the last minute to do a task, there is compromise.
• A large project needs a milestone every 2-3 weeks. These milestones allow you to lay out the project, to check progress and the intermediate deadlines create a sense of urgency you need to make early progress.
• Conversation has a half life of about 40 minutes. It is disappearing.
• The future only exists in conversations.
• Two people can dream bigger than one (the reason we need coaching - or a friend to hold us accountable).
• Whatever future you are thinking about is less than what's possible.
• It's all about awareness. The moment you become aware, you are back at choice.
• A dream is just a goal that burns so brightly you don't have to write it down.
• If your context is not sufficient, find a new one. Change your perspective... and everything else changes.
• What if a relationship is just a series of conversations? Think about the last 5 conversations you have had with friends or family. That is what your relationship has become. If you want a different kind of relationship, change the conversation.
• All it takes to have a relationship is to talk about something that matters. And, listen.
• Life is not causal. It is correlational.(this one appeals to my dorky research side) Anytime you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else. Saying yes to a project at work means saying no to something in your personal life.

I hope to revisit this list later.... as I continue to chew on them.

Reposting...lame I know

My life is nuts-o. I know I say that a lot, but this week has been particularly so. Therefore, I have no time to write. I am linking to a phenomenal post I read yesterday. Go read it....especially if you are like me and don't have TIME to read it. Ironic, I know.

This weekend I will be writing a last minute article about time management. The irony continues.

Side note: My calendar (I keep it in Outlook) is very neatly color-coded. Red for research, blue for teaching, green for advising, orange for OSU campus stuff, yada yada yada. Anyway, it is so hectic and so crammed full, this must be what it feels like to get thrown up on by a rainbow. :-) Hopefully life will return to normal soon.

Currently Feeling: Overscheduled...and underproductive
Currently Anticipating: 'The Conversation Skills' course with Paul Axtell that I am doing from 8-5 for the next two days. Should be good stuff.
Currently Dreading: The looming ALE submission deadline on Friday. Why do I procrastinate?!?

Wordless Wednesday 3-30-11

Signs like this are why I think it is complicated driving in Oregon!

Incomplete and Insecure

"i haven't finished a thing since i started my life
i don't feel much like starting now
walking down lonely has worked like a charm
i'm the only one i have to let down

but watching you makes me think that that is wrong

i can go on with my insecure nature
i can keep living on sympathy
i can tell all the people that all of the success
is a direct reflection on me

but watching you makes me think that that is wrong

what is important
what's really important
am i not to know by my name
will i ever know silence without mental violence
with a ringing it might go away"

 Image Credit

The Avett Brothers are genius.Seriously. They are not defined by typical music genres...which means I can listen to something of theirs no matter what mood I am in. And, their lyrics speak to my soul.  Love it - the whole album!

Spring Break Part 2

I am mourning the end of my Spring break. It was amazing. It started with 4 days of State FFA Convention. (If you want to see photos, check out the amazing work by Hannah O'Leary.) Once I got back from State Convention, the real fun began. I made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish.

Tuesday - I stayed in bed until 8, then went to work for a while. I got that NAERC review done. I had lunch with Betsy and then got my haircut. I went to Bible study and managed to get the DVR down to around 79%. I finished the night reading to fall asleep. It was great.

Wednesday - I again went to work, but I slept until 8 first. I mailed a postcard to both my niece and nephew. I started my curtain project in the afternoon while watching "The Great Outdoors" and spent the evening having dinner with some of my Dox friends. It was a delicious way to end a great spring break day.

Thursday - my lazy day. I didn't get out of my PJ's until noon. I did work, but I didn't go to the office. I read. I worked out. I called and changed my cable plan (the trial offer I got when I moved here had expired so it was time to actually choose the channel package I use). I weighed in and was down again. :-) Joy! I got the DVR down to around 53% and attended my first Office Night in Oregon at Michaela's house. Michael proposed to Holly and it was great :-)

Friday - was my mini spring break. I started with getting an estimate on the damage I did to the front end of my car (read about my dumb moment here). I decided to do it on a day I had something fun planned....so as to not be depressed. I went to Portland and got a Voodoo Doughnuts. That was an experience. I waited in line for over an hour. Yup...for a doughnut. It rained the whole hour and a half I was driving to Portland but when I started standing in line, the clouds broke and it did not rain the entire time I stood in line. Perfect! It is not in the best part of town and transients were everywhere. In fact, when I got inside, this was the sign.

I survived the homeless gauntlet. I got inside (it is cash only, btw.. useful information!) and took in the culture. It is tiny. There are random things on the wall. The employees are, um, interesting. When I got to the counter to order my maple bacon bar (the whole reason I came!)... they had just sold the last one to the guy in front of me.Dag. Seriously. I had to make a quick choice. And there menu is not exactly clear.

I ordered a voodoo doll and an Old Dirty Bastard. The voodoo doll has a pretzel stick in it (the pin for the voodoo doll) and is filled with a raspberry jelly that makes it look like it is bleeding when you pull it apart. The Old Dirty Bastard is chocolate glazed, covered in crumbled Oreo's and drizzled in melted peanut butter. OMG! Delicious. I made good choices.

I took my super special doughnuts to Powell's - A bookstore that takes up an entire city block in Portland.

I picked up some books - 13 to be exact. Summer reading here I come.

I spent the afternoon shopping Bridgeport.I have wanted to shop this area since arriving but it is an open air shopping area... in the part of Oregon where it rains half the year. Since I was lucky enough to have a break in the weather, I shopped! (I am also counting this as my rain-free walk - check one more thing off the list!) At about 4:30, I realized the only thing I had eaten all day were doughnuts and coffee. Opps. So, I had a burger and fries from the Joe's Burger kiosk and kept shopping. I ended the night shopping Keizer Station. I got some new candlesticks (I needed them after my visit to the Reece's!) and a new jewelry tree and earring storage from 'The Container Store'. (Note. If you are a tad-bit OCD like me, going to The Container Store is like visiting Mecca.) This was a glorious day.

Saturday - I woke up, cleaned house, and made curtains.The curtains aren't bad if you don't look closely. :-) I watched Sherlock Holmes and, by the end of the day, had my DVR down to about 41%.

Sunday - I went to church, dropped off the things I removed from my closet at Goodwill, had lunch with Melissa and Trina, and finally got my taxes done this afternoon. I ended my break with a long phone chat with my mom.... and, of course, some blogging.

I didn't finish my book (but it is a long one). I didn't get to Happy Hour. I only got the curtains done, not the pillows and I didn't find time to play Wii. All-in-all, I accomplished most of the things on my list.

Although I miss my family terribly, I will admit it was nice to spend this spring break checking things off my list rather than my typical car, airport, plane, airport, plane, car of a spring break routine. I am getting enough travel in the next 6 weeks to make my head spin.

Wordless Wednesdays 3-23-11

In celebration of the fact that my "little" brother had a birthday on Monday.... a photo of him with his newest daughter

and one of him with his whole family...