uuuummmmm i want to be a doctor....but can i drop chem 101?

I have not been eaten by freshmen. Though, if one more tells me "i have to drop my math class. i can't understand my professor. shouldn't it be a rule that they speak English?" I may eat THEM.

dude. seriously.

yes. they have driven me to resorting to "dude."

funny moments so far:

"do you define plagiarism as using 5 exact words in a row? I mean, is it okay if I use 3 exact words?" -- seriously over-worried boy

"ummmmmmmmmmmm.....like...........i want to be a doctor." very spacey young woman who came in to drop chem 101 (not the chem she needs for med school as it is the chem for non-science majors) because it was too hard and she doesn't like chemistry in response to my question about what she wanted to be when she graduated.

"can i take all my math and science at a community college where it's easier so i can pass?" another possible doctor.

"i don't understand why I'm in the exploration program, i already have a major."- very confused student
"oh? what major do you think you declared?"-me
"pre-med"-student
"umm....pre med is not an actual major.....you kind of have to major in something before you get to med school."-me.
"oh. crap.guess i'm in the right place then." - student.

"i can't wake up before 10, so i need all my classes to be in the afternoon."
**how the hell are you going to get a job and how did you survive high school????***-my inner monologue.

"i'll do anything to get back into engineering....can't you just back date the paperwork so that it looks like i dropped the class before the deadline?"

"can my mom just talk to you? she explains things much better than me." -phone appointment.


these, my friends, are the children of the future. those upon whom our hopes and dreams hang. our future doctors, engineers and politicians.

i think i may move to Canada.

i still love them. they crack me up.

3 things:

1-my amazing wonderful husband who hugs me in the grocery store
2- Catfish Biffs pizza.
3- Imperfect's post and her question about favorite dinner time memories. What a warm happy feeling to go to bed thinking about :-)

school days school days

Oh the freshmen are SO freaking adorable!!!!! I absolutely adore them. The are all wandering around campus with folded up and dog eared campus maps that they try to hide in the palms of their hands JUST IN CASE any upperclassmen might see them and give them grief. You can see the kids that are 'too cool for school' (my 830 a.m. class is like that) and then you have the kids that are just so very very very excited to be there (my 330 class is like that.) Now granted, the 330 class could just be a little more awake, but it seemed to go much much better. Also, the computer in my classroom for my 330 class did not eat my disk like the CD drive in the 830 class did. I hate technology. I'm pretty sure I lost a little credibility when my students could hear me say "oh crap" from behind the giant multimedia tower.

I digress. Back to the Freshmen.

They come in all shapes and sizes...some of them look like models and movie stars and have more outward sophistication than I could ever hope to have. Some of the girls are coiffed, gelled, teased and blow dried into perfection with designer name short shorts and mile long legs. Some of them are chubby and pierced and picked their clothes very carefully trying to look like they're not trying too hard. Some of the boys look like they're 15 years old with stress pimples, ball caps and shirts that they think are "cool" (have safe lunch...use condiments). Some of the guys make me feel like a dirty old women when I gawk because, dear sweet lord they didn't make'em like that when i was 18!! Clearly they spend more time in the gym than those of my generation. They are SO excited to see someone that they know in their classes or to hear the name of a town that's somewhere close to their hometown.

Some of them are very clearly used to being the smart kid with the tough academic schedule. They think their arts and humanities and literature classes are going to be too easy of a schedule and they think they should only be in organic chem, immunology and microphysicalbioastronautology. Then there are some that are just overwhelmed by the new-ness of it all and are filing into my office panicking afraid they wont succeed.

I love my job :-)

I made them do an ice breaker where they had to stand up and introduce themselves and answer a question from my zobmondo question book.

how would you have answered?

would you rather be clumsy or forgetful?
would you rather lick under the fridge or under the toilet?
would you rather drink a gallon of hot dog water or a shot of foot sweat?
would you rather be abducted by aliens frequently and have no proof or have your best friend be invisible?
would you rather eat a teaspoonful of wasabi or crushed red pepper?



PS. the picture is from the presidents convocation in St.John's the old basketball arena.

dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

survey classes start tomorrow.....


*quakes*


i hope they dont eat me alive.

Holland Typology

So for my survey classes, I have to prepare an activity that will help illustrate John Holland's Career Codes.

Basically Holland's theory was that there are 6 main types and any number of combinations of those types. The types are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic,Social, Enterprising and Conventional (RIASEC). Based on how you score yourself on the assessment, you end up being Realistic/Investigative, Artistic/Social, etc. etc. The core of Holland's theory that people of like personalities or career types find themselves in similar careers. Similar to other personality tests, each "TYPE" has lists of characteristics that are common to the type and thus have suggested careers that people with those characteristics may excel in.

So...before I get to my REAL question, let me ask this....What type are you? I'm not going to make you go through the assessment...but take a look at the descriptions and see which fits you best.

REALISTIC people are characterized by competitive/assertive behavior and by interest in activities that require motor coordination, skill, and physical strength. People oriented toward this role prefer situations involving "action solutions" rather than tasks involving verbal or interpersonal skills. They like to take a concrete approach to problem-solving rather than relying on abstract theory. They tend to be interested in scientific or mechanical rather than cultural and aesthetic areas.
INVESTIGATIVE people prefer to think rather than to act, to organize and understand rather than to persuade. They are not apt to be very "people oriented."
ARTISTIC people value self-expression and relationships with others through artistic expression. They dislike structure, prefer tasks involving personal or physical skills, and are more prone to expression of emotion than others. They are similar to investigative people, but are more interested in the cultural-aesthetic than the scientific. SOCIAL people seem to satisfy their needs in teaching or helping situations. In contrast to investigative and realistic people, social types are drawn more to seek close interpersonal relationships and are less apt to engage in intellectual or extensive physical activity.
SOCIAL people have high interest in other people and are sensitive to the needs of others. They perceive themselves as liking to help others, understanding others, and having teaching abilities. Social people value social activities, social problems, and interpersonal relationships. They use their verbal and social skills to change other people’s behavior. They are generally cheerful, scholarly, and verbally oriented.
ENTERPRISING people are verbally skilled and use this skill in persuasion rather than support of others. They also value prestige and status and are more apt to pursue it than conventional people.
CONVENTIONAL people don't mind rules and regulations and emphasize self-control. They prefer structure and order to ambiguity in work and interpersonal situations. They place value on prestige or status.

I tend to be Social/Enterprising which stands to reason given the satisfaction that I've found in the helping profession of student affairs. I do think that the social and enterprising are slightly conflicting and I've found that to be true in my daily interactions with my students. For example, the social side of me wants very much to be able to help someone figure out their life...the enterprising side of me wants to convince the student that i'm right about what they should be doing. Most of the women in my office fall under the same primary category of Social with smatterings of the other 5 types as secondaries.

So here's my REAL question. My idea for an activity to illustrate these types is to use movies and tv show characters and play clips and have the student guess what type that character might be.

So far, I have Dwight Shrute from The Office as Conventional. I could use Tim the Tool Man Taylor from Home Improvement for Realistic....but I'd like to find a more modern character. So, based on the descriptions above...what characters stand out in your minds that would fit the definitions of the Holland Types??

windy week

The remnants of Ike blew over Ohio and knocked out powerlines all across the state. Trees are down everywhere. It looks like a tornado passed through. Good news though! My roses that were in pots in the front yard did not blow away and the tree outside my office window is intact! I can't imagine living in a hurricane or tornado prone area. The wind was bad enough for me! My thoughts really go out to those who have had their lives turned upside down by the storms.

I am busy at work prepping for the 5 survey courses that I have to teach, making sure that I have all my supplies and syllabi updated and prepared. I got everything into a binder and made some lists yesterday so I feel a little more organized. I can't wait to get the first week over with. P's about going nuts with his job. It's the first time he's ever really worked in a student affairs type job and it's hard for him to get accustomed to the fact that you have to really sit down and think through each step of each event in a logical order rather than just doing it all at once. He is so anxious to do a good job that he's having a hard time understanding that it's okay to block out some office time on the calendar to sit down and make a list of things to do or something for yourself. He feels like any time the phone rings, he HAS to answer it...even though he has a perfectly good voicemail system. So essentially what's happening is, he sits down to work on a project, the phone rings, someone walks in and he gets 10 emails. I told him he needs to start laying some ground rules for his staff and trying to get people onto his schedule a little bit more rather than him running around on 20 different people's schedules. He is, afterall, the director. I think it's funny that the things that now come naturally to me, after working in the haphazard student affairs environment for so long are not second nature to him because usually he is FAR more organized and logical than I am. His prior jobs have really been positions where he had so much autonomy and so little contact with others that he was able to just blast through projects and work on them with little to no interruption. It's quite the culture shock for him I think. I helped him organize his thoughts a little bit last night by taking each event that he has coming up and making a to-do list for them. Then we sat down and looked at what his two student assistants could have delegated to them. That's another area that P is having difficulty with....delegating. Ohhhh my love, it WILL get easier...I promise, I promise!!!
I'm kind of bummed because next week is going to stink. We're hardly going to see eachother because he has an event each night of the week and I'm going to be going to bed early so i can get up and be fresh for survey class and the craziness that is apparently our Autumn Quarter Start.

I bought bright green pants at Old Navy to wear with a navy blue shirt...and while I really liked it in the store, I'm not so much thinking I like it in my office. I'm feeling more self concious! They are REALLY green.

Ah well, time to go to staff meeting....be well all!

Hello, my name is Ann and I'm a buckeye-holic.

It's now 5 minutes into the 3rd quarter....and it's getting worse. How depressing.

This is the extent of my obsession...and the reason for the frantic posting from 10 minutes ago. My husband and I are "that" couple. You know, the cheesy ones that incorporate their favorite football team into their wedding? The ones that everyone shakes their heads over and goes "oh my.....well, they ARE unique." Yep. That's us. Check it out.







In no particular order....


my aunt made our cakes.



We changed into jerseys for the reception.
Please note, he did not actually smash the cake into my face. :-) good boy.







Our colors were indeed scarlet and grey.





The grooms cake was the stadium.

We had pictures taken at the stadium after the wedding. The handsome and studly boys.

and the girls... weren't my bridesmaids gorgeous? The one on the left is P's sister. Then there's Chuck, the one who married the guy in the LA national guard, then Llama...she's the amazing one who just had her heart broken, and then my sister, The Pig. You can see why I call her Pig. She's such a fatty ;-)

That nickname actually came about because on occasion she snorts.

pa-freakin-thetic

it's half time...this is what my QB looks like.

i mean...he's just standing there! waiting for the giant pulverizing semi truck of a d-line to flatten him into road kill! what the HELL Sweatervest!?! you're killing me!!!!!!!! i THOUGHT we'd lose. I did NOT THINK that at HALF TIME i'd need PROZAC!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh freaking freaking bad.

unless the 2nd half is better.....tomorrow's gonna be rough.

OH and why does Brent Musberger have to sound so damn condescending????? At least kirk herbstreit's looking good today.