Getting Back on the Wagon

April 13 seems like forever ago, but in reality it has been a quick 4+ months since I have updated this blog. Let's recap, and set some goals for the new school year, shall we?

Summer went incredibly quickly. Jess and I went to Disney World in May for our basically annual trip. It was a great time. We took advantage of a promotion that allowed us to stay and play for 7 nights for the price of 4, so this trip marked our longest adventure in "the World." It was both the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival and a Star Wars Weekend. Highlights included:

• Being in Florida for the statistically rainiest May ever. Orlando got about 14 inches of rain during the week we were there (Daytona got even more). We did not allow the rain to ruin our good time, though. With ponchos in hand we took advantage of smaller crowds. There wasn't anything we could do but laugh. It certainly made for a memorable trip!


• Some really awesome meals. We took advantage of the Disney Dining Plan, and although it is certainly an added expense (and we could make sure not to starve for cheaper) it is a lot of fun to try out all of the different restaurants at Disney. We had a phenomenal meal at the California Grill (maybe our best Disney meal ever?), had a very good time at 'Ohana, and in general ate like royalty throughout our stay. When you are having a hard time deciding where you had the tastiest steak, you've had a pretty good week of eating.


• With more time in the parks than we were used to, we had no issues taking advantage of all of our favorite attractions. Some of our big-time favorites we did many times (Toy Story Mania, Soarin', Tower of Terror), and we got to check out a few attractions we hadn't done before, or hadn't done in years (Spaceship Earth, American Idol).

The rest of the summer was something of a blur. I worked for Conference Services this summer, which was very easy. Jess and I took Rashaad to see Kathy Griffin in Baltimore for his birthday. We visited my folks in Erie and saw a drum and bugle corps show. There was some hanging out with Caden and Kenzie. We saw some Pirates games. In short, summer was spent doing the best things with my favorite people.

We are back to work, and I am excited for the year. I have a good supergroup with a great sense of humor. I have a good supervisor (something I am appreciating more and more each day) and I think that for the most part the student leaders I am working with are good people who want to do well. North Halls is a good place to be (even if I have 3 additional staff members and a grand total of 860 residents this year)

Let's set some goals for the year, eh?

1. Success in my doctoral program. Specifically, I would like to get A's in all of my classes, and at this time next year I want to have a specific vision for my dissertation research.
2. I want to run a 5K in the next 6 months or so. To that end Jess and I have bought a treadmill, and I am following this plan to get ready.
3. I want to use my reusable coffee cup everyday, instead of accumulating wasteful paper cups.
4. I will blog more.

That's good for now. Thanks for tuning in!

Power to imagine, courage to act.

This past week, Jess and I (along with some of our colleagues) went to the ACPA Annual Convention in Metro D.C. To say the convention was in Washington D.C. is a little bit misleading.  Despite being in the hazy midground between Maryland and Virginia, the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center is just barely conveniently located to Washington and all of the good things there are to do there.  This didn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves and taking in some of the springtime traditions of our nation's capital.

Things I Liked About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Jess, Laura, and Kate presented.  ACPA is one of our profession's biggest stages, so to present there is something of a big deal.
2. I went to lots of good sessions, and I left the conference with some new ideas.  Even though for the most part these new ideas aren't in line with what I am able to do in my current position with the university, eventually I may be able to apply them.
3. Sightseeing in D.C. was fun.  For some reason I really enjoy navigating public transportation when we travel.
4. My interview with GWU went well.  
5. I got to see some old friends I do not see very often.  It was great to see Josh, Shandol, and Kristen in particular.
6. I helped with mock interviews at placement, which was a lot of fun.  When I signed up to help I did not know that I would actually be facilitating the interviews, but I did and it went well. I like helping people with those sorts of things.

Things I Liked Less About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Things were expensive.  For instance, a cup of yogurt with granola at the Gaylord was $5.00.  Jess and I planned for this, however, by packing our own snacks, beverages, and breakfast foods.  Take that, Gaylord!  The hotel was expensive, conference registration was expensive, parking was expensive . . . attending was certainly an investment in your professional development.
2. There were almost too many options when it came to sessions during each time period.  There were page after page of sessions to choose from, which made it very difficult to choose just one for each timeslot.
3. Although there was wifi in the hotel, I couldn't get it to work in the conference center side of things.  I had visions of using Evernote to keep track of what I did at the convention, but that did not happen.

As you can see, the things I liked outnumbered the things I did not.  As of now, we are planning to attend the 2010 Convention in Boston, which is great because it is in a wonderful, accessible location. I am not really a big-city person (a Facebook quiz actually suggested that I should live in the country), but Pittsburgh and Boston are two legit cities where I think I would enjoy living.  

Jess and I are both on the doot this weekend.  Here's keeping our fingers crossed that it is a quiet, uneventful weekend!

It is suck.

This weekend, Jessica and I are both on call.  In addition to the typical weekend hijinks, it is also "State Patty's Day."  A little historical context may be necessary for those who are not from the Centre region.  Three years ago, St. Patrick's Day landed smack dab in the middle of Penn State's spring break.  In order to make sure that local pubs made their money, and also to ensure an additional drunken blow-out of a weekend, students took it upon themselves to reschedule St. Patty's Day for a time when they were in town.  Thus, State Patty's Day was born.

Three reasons it is wildly unnecessary this year:

1.  St. Patrick's Day is not during spring break.

2.  St. Patrick's Day is in March, and it is still February.  If you are going to make up a holiday, at least have it in a month that kind of aligns with what you are trying to do.

3.  Students get drunk and make bad decisions every single weekend.  Why formally encourage this bad behavior?  Yes, State Patty's Day is organized by bonafide student organizations on campus.  

In typical "Kovals On-Call" style, Jess and I watched a DVD this evening.  I'm not sure what to say about Hancock.  On one hand, I appreciate that they were trying to tell a different type of superhero movie.  On the other hand, it wasn't very good.  So, B+ for effort, C- for execution.  It does make me more excited for Watchmen next weekend.  Today I ordered tickets for an IMAX showing in Pittsburgh while we are in town for spring break.  I am very excited, needless to say!  If Wil Wheaton likes it, it must be good.

GTD

Ever have one of those days where you feel like you are getting a lot of things done and making a difference? Today has nearly, but not quite, been like that. A student thanked me for bending a flexible rule (reserving a kitchen on short notice) by bringing me homemade cookies and brownies. The co-curricular meeting I was in this morning was actually quite productive, and I've started working with my supervisor to plan something really cool for next fall. On the other hand, one of my students blew me off for an appointment (over lunch, no less), and I am blogging from work, so it is obvious I have a free minute or twelve.

Today I logged into the library's website and reserved a couple of books. I requested Junot Diaz's book of short stories, and the first two volumes of John Updike's Rabbit series. Reading all about Updike's unfortunate passing inspired me to read some of his classic novels. When I was in 12th grade, we read the short story A&P in class. It is a great story about a teenage clerk in a grocery store who sticks up for a female customer whom the manager wants to throw out of the store because she is not dressed appropriately. What I remember best about this story was that I read it out loud to the class, and it was a little bit risque so I got to ham it up a little.

A confession about my library usage: I am so terribly lazy that even if a book is sitting on the shelf in Patee or Paterno, I always ask to pick it up at the Arts and Architecture library in Stuckmann Building, even though that means I get the books 2 or 3 days later. Ha!

Today's work

One of the buildings in my residence hall area is being renovated, so this bulletin board shows the paint colors, carpet samples, etc. Exciting stuff!