"sloppy joes aren't fun"

Unwinding tonight, I threw in a Simpsons DVD and came across a quote that made me laugh almost immediately. From the episode "Bart's Inner Child":

Homer: OK, the trampoline was a bad idea. But you know what? At least I'm out there trying new things. If it were up to you, all we'd ever do is work and go to church.
Marge: That's not true.
Homer: Name one thing you've done in the past month that was fun.
Marge: I can name ten things! Uh...I made sloppy Joes!
Homer: Pbbt...That's not fun.

(Quote courtesy www.snpp.com)

I don't know which is funnier - the fact that Marge thought making sloppy Joes was fun, or that Homer didn't! Simpsons comedy at its finest. And just what I needed to relax.

It's been a crazy weekend. New student orientation was Friday and Saturday, and today was the first day of classes. It's difficult not to get a little nostalgaic at this time of year, seeing the new faces and remembering my own first days of finally being on my own at school. By and large, I think things are going well. We had scheduled two orientation sessions with the new students on Saturday, to get them logged into their accounts and get them started with email, that sorta thing. However, we had so many students show up that Paul and I actually led four sessions instead of two! All told, we probably presented to roughly 150 students, out of an entering class of perhaps 350. Not bad.

Friday night Jud Laipply gave his inspriational comedy routine, which I always enjoy watching, even though I've seen it several times now. Jud's main two points for new students are "life is change" and "power of choice". They may seem like obvious and/or cliche concepts, but his presentation is really well done, and it's perfectly appropriate for the students, most of whom will be on their own for the first time. Life is change is self-explanatory, while the "power of choice" bit addresses the privledges of freedom, and the responsibilities that accompany it. A genuinely nice guy with a great message. His website is here: www.colemanproductions.com/laipply.html

Saturday night the Student Activities office hired a company to set up a huge inflatable movie screen in the quad (yes, you read that right!) and we watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I personally love the book, but wasn't sure how broad the appeal would be (or how well the book would make the transition to screen). The Movie Club (which I advise) voted for the movie, however, so it was ultimately their choice, not mine. And unfortunately, it seemed like we had a lot of students walk out during the movie - we had perhaps thirty students left by the credits. While I wasn't crazy about the movie, I think the problem was that the movie's appeal was limited, i.e., towards people that appreciate philosophical, English humor in a science-fiction context! I'm all for expanding the students' horizons with independent and foreign titles, but the new student orientation probably isn't the best time to do that (noting that Hitchhiker's was neither independent nor foreign, but limited in appeal nevertheless). We'll have to discuss this at our next meeting. Two of our other choices were Sahara (which I would've voted for) and Kicking and Screaming.

guitar amps and burritos

I'm starting tonight just a touch after 9 pm, which should allow me to dump the contents of my brain well before midnight, unlike last night!

Something I realized last night as I was writing - something I remembered, actually...writing is helps me process. When I'm writing, I can turn something around in my mind, examine it, and make connections in a way that I can't do otherwise. And when I don't write, I forget that this is true.

I occasionally wake up with a particular word repeating itself in my mind. Yesterday the word was "festoon". More often than not, the word I wake up with (that sounds kinda strange) is something that I only know the vague definition of. Festoon, I'm guessing, means something like "decorate" or "decorated"... I haven't bothered to look it up yet, needless to say. But why the Sam Hill was my subconscious kicking this word up? I haven't the foggiest idea. If you believe in fate and/or a higher power, you might believe that the word was brought to my attention because it was something I needed to know at a particular time and place. But so far I've had no occasion to dust the word off and throw it into a sentence, and I haven't been invited to any parties where I might conceivably use it in a manner not completely out of context. Take that, Owen Meany!

Back to today. Nicky and I went to Panchero's for lunch for the first time. Panchero's, for those of you who may not know, is a chain restaurant specializing in large burritos made fresh to order. It's kinda like a Mexican Subway (i.e., Subway the restaurant, not subway the public transportation system!) The place bears a resemblance to Chipotle Grill (one of my favorite fast food restaurants), but - in my opinion - suffers by comparison. First of all, it's all about the rice, people! Chipotle uses a delicious cilantro-lime rice in all their burritos. Pancheros uses...I don't know what. It reminded me of Spanish rice. Their brochure *advertised* cilantro-lime, but I'm here to tell you that it resembled nothing of the sort! Second, Pancheros doesn't wrap their burritos in foil for handy and efficient plate-to-mouth delivery. I had juice running down my hand - not a pretty sight! And finally, Panchero's lacks the spicy corn salsa you can get at Chipotle. So, in a nutshell, the place just isn't as funky, or tasty. I'm making a Herculean effort not to make some snide comment here about Dubuque. And by making said comment, I have hereby failed. I should appreciate the fact that we now have something in town that caters to the "big burrito" craze. But as scary as this sounds, I think I'd rather go to Taco Bell!

On another, non-food related note, tonight I went to Rondinelli's to pick up a speaker cable for school. Tomorrow is the first day of new student orientation, and it is, for all practical purposes, the first real day of school. The students will be moving in and I will be running around like a madman, setting up equipment and making sure everything's working. In any case, while I was at the store tonight, I noticed a small Fender guitar amp that had a used sticker on it. It's a Blues Junior tube amp, which is exactly what I was drooling over a couple years ago when I bought my Ibanez jazz guitar.

For those of you who are not guitar geeks, there are basically two kinds of amplifiers: tube and solid-state. Tube amps are, as far as I know, the original technology for amplifiers (think of your grandparents' stereo or TV), and are a big deal for musicians looking for a "warm" tone. Solid-state, on the other hand, seek to reproduce various tones (including the "classic" tube tone) via circuit-boards. Which is better? Depends on what you're looking for, I suppose. I love bright, clean notes - at least when I'm playing. And so when Denny offered to let me take the Blues Junior home for a night to try it out, he didn't need to offer twice.

Keep in mind that I haven't even played my guitar in about 18 months! I was getting burned out on lessons, and had lost my drive to play somewhere along the line. So when I took out my guitars tonight (I own one acoustic and one electric), I was surprised to find that my acoustic was almost completely in tune - incredible - and the electric needed only minor adjustment. I set the amps up side by side and plugged into both. The differences were not dramatic at first. My original amp, a Crate, sounds heavier on bass. When playing scales, the notes on the Blues Junior ring out clearer. The Crate does have a more mellow tone, but that doesn't bother me like I thought it would. It's strange, but the Fender actually sounds louder, even though it's only 15 watts, compared with the Crate's 30 (both have a 12" speaker).

So after farting around with the amps for a good hour, I've decided to buy the Blues Junior and sell the Crate. While I do think it sounds a little better, I also have to admit that I'm a sucker for the idea of a genuine tube amp, and actually seeing the tubes inside gives me a thrill! The amp also has a vintage look and feel which complements the Ibanez (my electric guitar) perfectly. It's superficial, I know, but if there's one thing that's true about me, it's that I'm big on design. Now I just have to find someone to sell my old amp to!

Will this spur in me a renewed interest in playing and practicing? Hard to say. But I DO know that my fingers feel raw!

being a bridge

It's almost 10:30, and I'm just starting to get my second wind, exactly when I SHOULD be getting ready to go to bed! Ever since I purchased my iMac and DSL connection, I've found myself staying up later and later. Normally I'm doing stupid things...checking my email, reading the New York Times, or adding new items to my ever-expanding wish list on Amazon.com! With Blogger, at least, it feels like I'm doing something somewhat creative for a change...something more than simply clicking and processing, passively receiving. Well, I suppose putting books and CDs in my wish list is an active task, but the only thing it's really stretching is my checkbook!

Anyway, on to more interesting topics. Today was a good day. Second full day of faculty orientation at school, and I received several complements from various teachers regarding my presentation yesterday. I spoke for about ten minutes to the entire faculty about nothing very exciting - policies and procedures for the AV equipment, and updates regarding classrooms I will be upgrading this semester. But the funny thing was, I enjoyed it! And what's stranger yet, it seemed like the *faculty* enjoyed it, too! (at least some of them!) It was the first time I had the opportunity to address ALL the faculty, and considering that they are the people I serve (even more than the students, who benefit indirectly), I was elated to have the opportunity to speak to them directly, all at once.

Anyone who knows me knows that communication is a passion of mine, and I feel especially strong about how a department or an organization provides information to the demographic or public it serves. Or, to put it in other, cornier terms, creating bridges between people, departments, and groups where a gap currently exists for lack of information or understanding. I don't want to brag - and those of you who know me, know I rarely do! - but I really feel this is one of my gifts.

Along the same lines, I'm proud of the fact that I have successfully managed to help facilitate tecnnology orientation sessions for several student groups that have not had any formal orientation in the past, including seminary students, MBA/Masters of Commnication students, and student athletes who have arrived on campus early. There's no good reason I can think of why these students didn't receive training in the past. I think it's just a matter of everyone being so busy and up to their ears in work. And it IS a lot of work to coordinate schedules between departments! But all it takes is one person who cares (and can motivate a lot of other people along the way!) Paul and I gave a training tonight to the MBA/MAC students, and I really enjoyed myself. I get a real charge out of helping the students get on their feet, at least as far as technology is concerned, and answering their basic questions. Lord knows that I am far from the most skilled or technically inclined when it comes to hardcore tech issues. I leave that to the experts - the programmers, network admins, and PC specialists. I'm just a bridge. In any case, I hope that my enthusiasm comes across. Every time I give an orientation, I feel like I get just a little bit better...figure out what's important, what's not, what works, and what doesn't. And the more comfortable I get, the better I become. I hope.

This passion of mine extends to other interests which seem unrelated at first. Take, for example, my interest in writing reviews...just another way of sharing some information about a topic with a group that presumably is seeking some guidance or advice. I've posted several mini restauarant reviews on CitySearch.com, which was a blast. I blew an entire Sunday morning thinking of my favorite restaurants around the country and posting a few comments about each one. It sounds geeky, but it was totally addicting!

Dream jobs I'd take in a second if money were no object: graphic designer, architect (for residential homes or public buildings), travel writer, map-maker, photographer, writer for the New York Times, explorer, business owner (for a creative firm), griller par excellance, movie director, painter/illustrator/artist.

This sounds odd, but I think it takes courage to dream. I think, growing up, I lacked the audacity to really dream. Don't know why. But I do know that I limited my aspirations to that which I felt was practical and feasible. Sensible. I don't feel that way so much anymore. Having limited expectations of the world lead to limited returns. I feel that the world only asks of me what I expect of myself. Having curtailed my expectations, I have suffered from what I feel is a lack of energy directly related (in retrospect) being disconnected from that which I feel passionate about. Of course, I was also naive in thinking that simply "following my bliss" (a la Joseph Cambell) was going to lead to my bliss. Wrong. It's not quite that simple. My new recipe for success is to heed my interests while keeping in mind my skills. It has to be a marriage of interests AND abilities. Maybe it sounds self evident now, but I wish to hell that someone would have taken me by the shoulders before I enrolled in graduate school and told me that. Not that I regret my time in grad school. I loved every minute of it. But if I had been thinking clearly, I would've known that I was not destined to become a museum curator or administrator. I knew this, and yet I didn't heed that knowledge for various reasons. I'm thrilled to be in a job now, where I can experience moments of real excitement and gratitude, like today.

I was wondering how I was going to tie this all together. Kinda cool how these random thoughts came full circle, huh?

Disco Fever, or the power of iron-on t-shirt slogans

Welcome to my inaugural blog! I don't actually know if that's the correct use of the word "inaugural", or even if I spelled it right, but I liked the presidential zip that it gives my post. A good way to start, don't you think?

I've been mulling over the idea of posting a blog for a while, but finally got up the gumption to do it when I learned one of my cousins has been posting his own for the last month. Stuart is at least ten years older than me, and someone I revered growing up. Well, revered may not be the right word. But there was something about Stuart, and Doug and Ann (his brother and sister) that I gobbled up. They were like the older, cooler brothers and sister I never had (I'm the oldest of two). On several occasions when I was younger (much younger), Doug and Stu (and maybe even Ann!) would chase me around the hour or the yard, taunting me and nipping at my heels until I was completely wasted and breathless. Then, having utterly exhausted me, they would proceed to give me an atomic wedgie of epic proportions. I was humiliated and yet strangely enjoyed their attention.

When I was seven or so, one of my birthday presents was a maroon iron-on t-shirt that I was immensely proud of. This was a t-shirt that I customized and designed myself at the mall, as was the fashion of the day. The decal on the front of the t-shirt was a roller skate, viewed from the front and appearing for all purposes to be on a collision course with the viewer. The graceful arc of a rainbow floated over the skate. Underneath this image was a slogan - Disco Fever, I believe. My name, in the form of big iron-on letters, was emblazoned across my back. And the detail that absolutely made the t-shirt for me - the reason I loved it - were a pair of white, majestic wings that stretched from either side of the skate like a bird in flight. In retrospect, what a surreal detail! But at the time, it was perfect. I loved the t-shirt, not so much for the disco sentiments, but because I was an avid roller skater at the time, and that winged skate captured my passion in a way that nothing else could or did.

And so it was, one day, that my family drove to Madison to visit the family. It must've been shortly after my birthday, because I was proudly sporting my maroon t-shirt. And please understand, I was proud of the t-shirt, but I was not about to go bragging about it to anyone...I was content to let the incredible image of the winged skate underneat a rainbow speak skating's virtues for itself. But no sooner had I walked through the door than Doug or Stu, I don't recall which), took my t-shirt in with a glance and asked me, in that older-brother, slightly bemused way, "Hey, Mike, you like disco?" It wasn't a question so much as an accusation. As soon as the words were spoken, it occured to me that I hadn't given more than a moment's thought to this phenomenon called disco. And yet, there it was, sallying forth from my shirt like some battle cry -- Disco Fever! I was immediately caught off guard and embarrassed. I don't recall if Doug or Stu actually said that Disco SUCKED, although the implication was certainly clear. I was simply left to rethink the wisdom of my iron-on selection, and to ponder the implications of wearing slogans one did not properly heed.

On another, more current note, tonight Nicky and Stephanie and I went to Eagle Point Park to grill some burgers and chicken breasts. The weather was perfect - cool, with an utter lack of humidity. The sun was starting to hit that particular angle where the light slants through the trees at such an angle that the grass looks brilliant green and the light itself is warm and inviting and everything looks like a postcard. I brought some home-made guacamole, which all three of us devoured as we waited for the burgers and chicken to cook. And as we waited, and nibbled on appetizers, it occured to me that the time spent waiting for the meat to cook was always the best part of the meal. At least when we're grilling. Because it's that time when you're focused, and yet free. Focused on a task I enjoy, and yet free to socialize, or shoot the breeze, or whatever. I'm I'm too consumed in a task, I can't socialize. It's not in me. But if I have nothing to focus on, I get crabby. And so grilling, it seems to me, is in some way a weird Zen-like thing for me, by which I can focus and not focus, relax and concentrate at the same time. Is this complete crap? Probably. Do I know anything about Zen? Absolutely not. But it makes a certain kind of sense to me!

And beyond all this zen hocus pocus, I just love Eagle Point Park. It's one of my favorite places in Dubuque, and certainly holds a special place in my heart. Maybe in another blog I'll actually elaborate on what I like so much about it. But not tonight. Suffice it to say that good friends, food on the grill, and Eagle Point Park = happiness. Simple pleasures.