Much Needed R&R

Hallelujah! Within 24 hours, I am off to California for some much-needed R&R, sunshine, and quality time with friends. Ohhh how I have needed this. There is something good about getting away and taking time out for me. Work and adjusting to Rich being gone again have taken their toll as I have been extremely moody, unproductive, and all around not fun to be with. In the last three weeks I don't feel like I have been much myself.

I hope that this week away will bring me a little bit closer to me being me. I know I will be re-energized thanks to my friends Tina and Mandy. And I even hope that they will help me wrap my mind around this wedding planning thing and start moving my tail into high gear. We have a day of gown, bridesmaid dresses, and invitation shopping. . . so if that doesn't do it, I do not know what will! I am half expecting the two of them to plan a bridal intervention with me, hold me down and make me choose a location and a date. I will admit, I have missed having friends close by to help me in this process. In Ithaca I have felt rather alone. Planning a wedding solo is no fun indeed.

Over the weekend I will be leading a retreat for Cal Berkeley Greek students. It will be great fun. . . but this year will be a bit different without Tina there to play with. How dare she skip TEAM Cal! She has been a part of it since its inception in 1997-- and actually one of its lead designers. Sigh, I will miss her, and I know the program will too. But I know the retreat and its location will also be good for the soul by getting the opportunity to do what I love to do and doing it right in the middle of one of the most beautiful places in the United States.

How fortunate I am to have this time away from the cold Ithaca winter and from the routine. I hope that I'll come back refreshed and renewed. Its exactly what is needed in my life right now.

Three Minutes with "The Dean"

Yesterday provided a neat opportunity for me. As a part of Creating Chapters of Excellence (the fraternity/sorority program I oversee), I was able to coordinate a reception for Howard Dean in one of the Fraternity houses. Yep. . that's Howard Dean, former Presidential candidate, "Yeaaaaawwwwh" man, and newly elected leader of the Democratic National Committee. Pretty cool, I thought. . .for the students on such a "liberal" campus, and pretty cool for me too.

So, before I headed down to Sigma Pi, where the reception was held, I thought to myself, "Gee, if I get time to talk to Howard Dean what would I say? What questions would I want answered? What would I want him to know about that concerns me with politics and the Democratic Party today?" If you had three minutes with "The Dean" how would you spend it? After a bit of reflection, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. . .I grabbed what I needed, and off I went.

The reception went very well in my opinion. Howard Dean arrived on time and during the event made the expected jokes about life in a fraternity house. . . "Gosh its clean, does it look like this all the time?" "Where is the keg?", etc. Sigh. . . this is one of the reasons we are trying to have more events like this in fraternity and sorority houses more often. Get people though the doors at the right time and at the right event, people might actually start viewing fraternities and sororities as valuable organizations to have on campus. . . . but I digress.

I did get my three minutes with Howard Dean. And I chose to spend that time talking about Rich's experience in Iraq and what I am learning outside of the mainstream media thanks to Rich's blog. I know that Howard Dean's early presidential candidate support was as a result of technology, the Internet, and the growing number of blog users. Certainly, this was a man from Washington that could appreciate how Rich chose to communicate to us back home and his story of Iraq from an unfiltered perspective.

I encouraged Gov. Dean to visit Rich's blog site and gave him one of my business cards with Rich's name, unit, and blog address on the back of it. Shameless promotion for the man I love. . . absolutely! No doubt about it. He seemed genuinely interested in what Rich was experiencing and sharing with others. He mentioned that he connects with a solider in Afghanistan that has a blog on a regular basis too. First hand accounts are a good thing for all of us over here, he said. Exactly the point I wanted to make. In our conversation he thanked Rich and he thanked me for "our" service. That caught me off guard. . .I didn't expect to be in the list of his thanks. I was not the one over there actually serving. But it was nice to be recognized for what is a rather complicated life right now.

So my three minutes with Howard Dean were well spent. We did not talk politics; I didn't share my opinions on what he needed to do to "save" the Democratic Party. I chose instead to offer my story. . .and Rich's story. A good story can influence the hearts of men a lot faster than spouting off fact, figures, or debates about who is right and who is wrong. Personal stories are how change begins.

I also asked another favor from Gov. Dean, and he proudly accepted. Rich should be getting a fun piece of mail from one of his newest fans in the next week.


Note: for those of you who forgot, Rich's blog address is: http://richbrowntod.blogspot.com/ And maybe we need to start looking for some kind of comments made by a Dr. H. Dean!

All Hail Jon Stewart

If I ever wanted to know what mattered in the hearts of the Cornell students all I would have to do is simply walk outside my building and see the line that has grown overnight to buy tickets to see Jon Stewart. About 250 students camped out overnight and more joined the mass as early as 4:00 AM this morning. They did so because they wanted to see Jon Stewart. The line has grown. . . .four to five people wide. . . stretching clear across the academic quad and to the Art Museum. Hundreds. . . maybe even a thousand people skipping classes, avoiding the library, rescheduling meetings all because THIS is where they want to be. You see, in college, when Jon Stewart speaks, these kids listen!

Jon Stewart. . . who is he? Well if you are at Cornell and didn't know, you certainly know now. He's the anchor on Comedy Central's, The Daily Show. Half comedy, half news, half talk show (wait, I am not so sure I can split things up that way) all blended into one. This show has been the talk of the college campus for several years now. And as I have begun watching I have become a fan too. This guy is brilliant. Stewart is never one to take the news or the media's spin on the news seriously, and I have to say that I appreciate this refreshing perspective. Of course there are all kinds of naysayers out there about the show and how terrible it is-- not real news, etc. But the college population is making a statement today about that. They just don't care. This guy is great. And in a day in age where we have CNN (the liberals) and FOX (the conservatives) why not have one more that speaks to the younger generations and all those that want to laugh. Damn. Sometimes the news is just way too serious and full of itself.

I have told Rich once before that he would never have to worry about my eyes going astray so long as I never meet Jon Stewart face to face. And sweetie, still no worries on this one. He comes to campus in early March and I will be out of town. I will admit I am sad that I will be away. Seeing him on campus live would be great. . . . but I am also not about ready to stand in line with all of the other crazy fanatics. And well, as one other student has said, "I get to see him every night on TV, so what's the big deal seeing him again packed in to Barton Hall with four thousand of my closest friends?" Well, I guess to those four thousand Cornell students willing to camp out in line, it is a big deal. And that is quite telling. The tickets sold out by 2:30 PM

All hail Jon Stewart!

There is Grass Under that Snow!

OK. . .so there are all kinds of things I can say regarding my last post and all of the angst I feel regarding work and my general mood right now, but for now I am going to offer a happy post.

The 8.5 inches of snow is melting! Ithaca is seeing green again! First time in 2005 that I have seen what lays beneath the snow. Over the weekend we had incredible weather. . . we are talking sunshine and 50 degree temperatures. And for anyone who has been to Ithaca in the winter, you know how rare this is.

So now there are patches of green grass amongst the white piles of snow. But many of us know up in these parts that mother nature is a tease and we will see blankets of white again soon. In the mean time it is nice to be reminded of the Spring and all that is to come.

Overworked and Underpaid

I am swamped! Help! Work is crazy. There is way too much going on and such an unrealistic expectation placed on me that I can do it all. This month and the next few months are going to be hell (sorry mom, but it is time you knew that I swear). My life will be consumed with attempting to sell our model of chapter improvement to the many different fraternities and sororities at Cornell. So far this week, I have logged a total of 52 hours at work and it is only going to get worse in the weeks to come.

Now one of the things I have learned about the culture of higher education is that it is expected for people to work more than 40 hours a week and work late hours (students hold a lot of their meetings at night and events happen over the weekends). And I have never really had a problem like this. I do not typically count my hours. But there are times such as this that I get curious.

In addition to preparing for this huge presentation on February 12th and then other countless presentations to individual chapters after that, we are also in the middle of a major office staff reorganization process. There is a huge potential that my job will change significantly. . . and right now I am not ecstatic about the changes. Quite truthfully, they do not make a whole lot of sense.

So right now I am feeling very overworked and underpaid (or maybe undervalued) and hope that there is a happy ending to all of this maddening effort I am putting in. Sure, a good outcome would be for this program to receive rave reviews and go off without a hitch but I know the likelihood of that is slim to none. We will always have our critics.

I guess more of what I am looking for is an acknowledgement that I am a valuable player within the university and within this task and that future job descriptions and pay increases reflect that. Right now . . .. it's really not that clear.

But I work anyway until the task is done. Overworked and underpaid.