I Got A Feeling...

..that tonight's gonna be a good night!


It's been another little while since I posted.

I am still alive. I am still having a great time, and I've got updates!

(I liked the "Adventures in..." format of last time, so here goes nothing.

Adventures in Work
Working was a long haul this past week. Most of the week was spent in my office trudging away on the large portions of the Programming Database. After a pretty frustrating Thursday, debugging annoying code, Friday was spent re-implementing most of the code from Thursday on different pages, making it much more enjoyable (and less frustrating.) I guess what is beneficial for me is that I know my tools. When I'm writing code and I know that it is taking too long, I look for simpler ways to achieve my task. Two tools I have been using on this project have been Protoype and CodeIgniter. These tools are "frameworks" for both the Javascript and PHP programming languages.

If you want to use a really simple cooking analogy...frameworks are a lot like Stove Top Stuffing. They aid the process in making the same food, but it's just simpler. Yes, you can make stuffing from scratch, but if are looking for something (most of the time) just as good at half the hassle, you reach for the box.
Similarly, in programming, there are some things that I could code and recode or just keep in my toolbox of utility code (yes, I have one of these, it's something I've accumulated over the years....) but why? When Prototype and CodeIgniter can do the job just as well by just adding a simple line of code -- I use those instead.

Friday afternoon, I had the misfortune of having to have my office carpets cleaned, which forced me out of my neat little tangerine space (yes, the walls of my office are tangerine...or cantaloupe colored), and out into the wild halls of the HSU Housing Office. Oddly enough, in my moment of despair, I got invited to a meeting by one of the RLCs, telling me that my input would be wanted.

The meeting was about the CA (think, RA) evaluation process they were going to adopt for the year. They were trying to pair down what was really important in the job, and seeing as how I know all about that...and was the only available student for giving input, I got roped in. It was cool again to hear the perspective of another university and what they expect out of their students in that role.

My time as an RA focused almost wholly on the needs of my residents. Getting them information, connecting them to campus, etc. etc. But as time went on, the needs changed to helping them develop as people. Engaging them in conversation and giving them safe opportunities to evaluate their beliefs were part of the norm. Such is not the case here.

At HSU, much that effort gets piped into programming. Programming is a big deal on this campus, potentially more so than it is at Marquette. Part of that is because there just isn't a lot to do in this town, but part of it is that is what the residents expect. I've found that in many cases the "hats" of the CA's focus a lot on programming and conduct and not as much as a "personal developer/friend/growth agent" that we tried to be at Marquette.

From a professional standpoint, I think that is probably a healthy view to adopt for this campus. But in some ways, it is also more challenging to be in the peer advisor role at HSU. I think I took forgranted how easy it is to program in the midst of a large city. Taking residents to sports games, music/arts events, dining/restaurants...it's a very easy way to program. Here, that luxury does not exist. Programming becomes more challenging, and maybe that is why I could adopt that extra "hat" I spoke of....hmmm, things to ponder.


Adventures in Leadership.
Many of you know this already, many do not. In addition to my awesome job at MUSG next year working for the Program Board, I will also be serving the Wisconsin United Residence Hall Association on their Directorship (this Executive Board). WURHA is an organization I've been involved in for a couple of years now. They are most well known for their big conference every February (or March this coming year...), but they do a lot more than that for students in the state of Wisconsin.

My role for the coming year is the Communication and Technology Chair. I'll be in charge of updating their website, improving the organization's communication through technology and just in general being awesome. It is the first time in about 5-6 years that someone from Marquette is in such a role, and it will be a really great experience for me to have as I prepare to enter the Student Affairs world.

One reason why I think this role will be so positive for me is that I'll be able to get involved with Residence Life not necessarily at Marquette. Not that MU ResLife is too small for me, but I feel like I could use a new challenge. I'm lucky enough to have two great experiences for that in my senior year.


Adventures in Crabs.

Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man. EPIC.
First off, this is real. The local baseball team here is called the Humboldt Crabs. They are a team for college guys to play on during the summer, so it's random mish-mosh of players from all over the West Coast (mainly). The park is relatively big for the size of the town. For those of you who were wondering....305-347-305. (A little bit smaller than Pohlman Field in Beloit...)

The game this afternoon was a fun one. I ended up sitting by two really different groups of people. On one side, I had this older couple who were consistently amazed at how efficient the park was run, not necessarily about the game. On the other side, I had two girlfriends of the players. These girls knew surprisingly little about baseball and would refer to their boyfriends as "boo" from the stands, which I'm sure made them very happy.

One thing that made this game so unique was that the Humboldt Crabs have a pep-band. Yes, my friends, a legitimate pep-band. The band is made up of mainly older people playing for fun (I'm guessing they don't have to pay to get in...but that they aren't compensated for their service). Everything from the National Anthem, Roll Out the Barrel, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, to The Grinch Theme Song, Pink Panther, to everyone's favorite Black Sabbath favorite -- Crazy Train. They were very entertaining and quite good. They've been practicing.

I did not buy my "got Crabs?" / "We do!" shirt today, because I'm hoping to start volunteering at the park which 1) gives me a set something to do. 2) gives me some volunteer hours over the summer...which I need. and 3) gets me into games for free...hopefully.

Updates on the Crabs will continue. They won today in 10 innings, which puts them 3-0 on the season, starting with a homestand sweep.


Adventures in Roommates.
I have a roommate. For real. His name is Damien, he drove here from Ohio. It took him a long time but he made it and he's a pretty cool guy. His undergrad work was at Iowa State, but he is currently a grad student at Ohio University. He is HSU's NODA Intern for the summer. Basically, he'll be working with the Orientation Program on campus all summer. (The NODA Internship program is very well known and respected in the Student Affairs field as well as mine through ACUHO-I...if that helps your understanding.)

It was fun showing him around town tonight and meeting some more Student Affairs people from HSU. Updates will ensue as Damien and I get to know each other some more.


Adventures in Cooking/Entertainment.
I have a meal plan in one week. It's time for that to start...I forget how annoying it can be to have to cook every meal. But life is good. I made another trip to Safeway, so not to fear, there is enough food in the apartment to last me for at least another week.

As far as other entertainment...I've started watching this show, Dead Like Me on Netflix. It ran for two seasons on Showtime, but it is about a group of Grim Reapers...which sounds really dumb, but it provides a good character development setup for the main character who is killed in the first episode and becomes "undead" and must take the souls of people as they die. She is constantly fighting her want to be alive again with the pressures of trying to make it on her own....It's quite the entertainer.


Adventures in Chinese.

Oh, another installment in Chinese food craziness. Tonight, on our tour of town, I was introduced to another Chinese Restaurant in town...the Hunan Plaza. This place was smaller, but actually more legitimate than the last place I tried. Good food, big portions but too legitimate for Arcata's Two-For-Lunch!! I think our last hope is in the New Fortune. I hope so...this town cannot fully exist in my eyes until the Two-for-lunch spot is found.


That's all I've got for now. Should be a pretty easy week at work, more website building. My supervisor is back tomorrow from Hawaii...I think, so it will be fun to have him back in the office.

Also, WWDC Keynote is tomorrow. I'm thinking a new iPhone, video capabilities but not with video chatting. Once AT&T rolls out another round of upgraded cell-service that will be a standard. I'm also thinking that there will be no price drops, but improvements in models. We'll find out tomorrow! I'll be live tweeting most of it.

Until later,
M