Shake Things Up

I thought I'd shake things up and update you all a little early this week. I had a seriously productive Friday and Monday at work, which has given me 20 free minutes to do with what I please before my next meeting at 3. We'll see how far we get before then.

I've packed a lot in my life in the past few days. I had to work last weekend. So, Friday, Jeff and I went to a quick sushi dinner (after I begged to have my "weekly fix" twice in one week) and then caught a 7:00 screening of Where the Wild Things Are. So, I think I built my expectation up a little high. It just wasn't that fabulous to be honest. It had great music, decent acting, and some cool visual effects and moments. However, it just has some really long stretches where nothing happens. And, I know the end is supposed to be happy and cheesy (and I love it in the book), but for some reason in the movie when the monsters all start howling on for 5 minutes straight because they'll miss Max as he floats there in a rickety boat, I just kept thinking, "Come on already...you're really dragging this out." I'll give it a 6/10.

After the movie, I headed back to work for late-night stuffs for a bit. It was karaoke at the Outpost (smaller venue down on the greek court). So, I just had to help them get started and I could leave since there wasn't any alcohol or anything at the event. Gotta love easy nights.

Saturday, we headed to Spartanburg to watch the Appalachian State/Wofford football game. It was very chilly, but we were relatively prepared (just picture fleeces, scarves, hats, and a blanket). Too bad I didn't think about the fact that my toes would freeze in my cute little gold ballet flats. The first part of the game went really well...i.e. we were winning and looking really good. Then, things started to go downhill with this atrocious half-time performance by the Dorman High School Band. Well, the band was okay musically, but they had some kind of pirate theme (giant wooden ship on the field, fake waves, fish flags, and all). I just felt bad for the dancers because they were dressed like wenches and it was just not cute. I did think of my lovely Irmo girls though because they did break out some rifles. I almost texted you all when one of them whacked herself in the head with one, but I restrained myself. And, then of course, we started losing in the 4th quarter and the rain started going strong. So, that was a bust. But, Wades dinner afterwards with Jeff's parents (who came down for the game) made up for it. Yummy fried chicken and double macaroni! Mmm... southern home cooking.

Then, we headed home, where I barely made it back for work on time. I eked in around 8:44 for my 8:45 arrival time. In order to make it that fast, I dropped Jeff off on the corner where I turn for work and made him walk the last block and a half to our house. He's so kind to do that in the freezing weather. But, I made it. Two showings of The Hangover later, I headed home thoroughly entertained.

Sunday, we were relatively lazy. Jeff cooked breakfast/lunch around 11:15 and then we took Midas to the dog park. We looked at some condos up for sale in Davidson/Cornelius which we thought were pretty cool in the afternoon. I'm still not sure that's the route we want to go as opposed to a single family house, but we'll decide that next spring/summer some time.

Meeting time...to be continued later...

I'm back.

So, later Sunday evening, I headed out to the Lake Campus to help one of my students with a new Sunset Yoga at the Lake event series she's trying to get started. It went really well even though it was freezing (recurring theme for the weekend). 

Monday at work, I got great news! My boss and I submitted a proposal to go to a national conference to present, and our proposal was one of the 900 proposals submitted for the conference. Supposedly, first time submitters don't get accepted, but we did! In March, Jason and I will be presenting "MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? One campus’ efforts to overcome the odds and create a campus-wide scheduling solution……that everyone will like" at the ACPA national conference in Boston. I'm presenting on the political issues facing liberal arts institutions when it comes to implementation of new policies and Jason, my boss, is presenting on the technology piece and the process at Davidson. Should be interesting, and a good resume builder. But, it's super exciting because we are still on a travel freeze and I wouldn't have been able to go to any conferences this year unless we were able to present. 

Other than that, the week's been pretty typical... consoling students with personal issues, going to a professional development staff meeting where we talked about Baxter Magolda like it was a brand new Student Development Theory (came out in the 90's), trying to get everything ready for 1700 students' families to flood the campus this weekend, etc. But, it's all fun!

Other than that, the cough is officially gone. Yay! But, my ears are all blocked up now and I can't really hear. But, they don't hurt. So, I'm not really sure what's going on there. I just kind of feel like I'm in a tunnel and I'm not sure how loud I'm talking to people. I'm starting back at dance class again tonight even though my back still isn't happy. But, I'm pretty sure it's a bruised something in there instead of a pulled muscle now. The icy hot has helped a lot and I'm fine during the day now. But, at night, it's still really painful. Basically, I can't lay on either side or my stomach. So, sleep is a little off right now. That's about it for me! 

Tomorrow, the first real SYTCD posts will begin. Get pumped.