The 12 days of Christmas.........movies

One thing my girlfriend and I have come to find while living down in Arizona is that, except for the inundation of commercials and a few lights up around town, it's a bit hard to tell when the holiday season is upon us.  Growing up in the north we could always tell the most wonderful time of the year was upon us by a chill in the air, falling snow and a trek to get the perfect tree.  Since, here in AZ, December is marked with temperatures in the mid-70s and trees of the cacti variety, we felt the need to start our own tradition to help remind us that we are frolicking down the path of wassail and cider.  We have decided to have "The 12 Days of Christmas.......Movies".  That's right my friends, instead of lords a leaping and maids a milking we will have Four Christmases and It's a Wonderful Life.  We will be replacing swans a swimming with National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and a partridge in a pear tree with A Christmas Story. 

So here we go down the path...

On the first day of Christmas (movies) my true love (@mdcrews) and I watch - The Santa Clause.  We decided to start off our tradition with a movie that came out in the midst of our formative teenage years but we had never seen.  So here's to Tim "the toolman" Taylor growing in the waistline while growing in the spirit - and here's to Melany and I starting our new tradition.

And to you my friends, here's to finding your own traditions to keep your holiday season merry and bright.  Stay tuned to my blog as I share our adventures navigating TiVo, Redbox and our collection of assorted holiday movies!

And to all a good night!

It's 3am, I must be lonely...

Alright, so I'm not even close to lonely (Melany's sound asleep in the other room) but whenever I'm up at this time (which is rarely ever) I tend to get the song by Matchbox Twenty stuck in my head.  I've been up for about two hours now waiting for a situation to come to some sort of closer for the evening and am fighting the sleepiness as I type.  Lack of sleep and I are not best of friends.  In fact, I get very grouchy when I don't get sleep (ask Melany and those that work with me) but I can't help but think about how lucky I am to have the job that I have.  Here it is 3am, I've been up since around 12:45, and I have one of the best jobs in the world. 
In fact, during this time of year I am just very fortunate to have a job at all.  I think about all of the times that I get a little worked up over things at work, or right now being aware of the fact that I am massively sleep deprived, but you know what...I have a job. I need to remind myself that, even though I don't necessarily like the circumstance that I'm currently in, there are many out there right now who would be very grateful for the opportunity to do what I do or, even more so, who would be grateful for the fact that they can provide for themselves or their families.  So as I get ready to close up this case, and work to fall back asleep, I will do so knowing that I will count myself to be a lucky one!

Where does inspiration come from...

So I have a spare moment to catch my breath here at our annual AIMHO conference - the strange thing it is only day one :-).  The full conference has been in full swing since about 5pm last night, but just in that short amount of time I've been nothing but impressed with how much the people around me continue to help move me forward.  It doesn't take much to find joy in what I do, but it is continually enhance by the interactions I have with others - they continue to inspire me on a daily basis.  Last night I got the chance to meet my new AIMHO Mentee (Sarah Horn from Washington State University - a little NWACUHO action!!!).  I've been blessed with outstanding AIMHO Mentees in my time working with the program (@mrvic85 and @shawnbrackett) and I look forward to learning just as much from my new Mentee as she will from me (maybe a bit presumptious, but I like to think I've learned the art of fully harnessing the AIMHO Mentee program). 

The other form of inspiration has come in listening to our outstanding ACUHOI President, and AIMHO Sage, Jill Eckardt share words of wisdom with us.  Her words were too good to keep to myself so I wanted to share them with all of you so that you too can be inspired by her vision and leadership:

10) The little things do count
9) Be visible
8) You are not too good to do any job
7) It's ok to look foolish and have fun on the job
6) Take time for yourself
5) Keep learning and growing
4) Be passionate about your job; if you're not - get it back or leave (LOVE THIS)
3) Be nice and courteous to all:
2) Remember it's all about your students
1) Try new things and take risks: I want you to make new, bigger and better mistakes.

Thanks to my outstanding friends and colleagues in AIMHO for continuing to inspire me and I look forward the rest of our time here in Coeur d'Alene.

You can go home again...

Living in Tucson, AZ I don't see a lot of rain.  Excluding the monsoon season, which is full of semi-regular torrential downpours, the number of gray days and rain is pretty minimal.  Don't get me wrong, I really do like it, but having grown up in the Pacific Northwest I'm pretty used to rainy and gray.  So the days in Tucson that are gray and rainy I feel a bit grounded.  Thinking about it now, it makes a lot of sense - it's part of who I am.  When I lived in the PNW I grew frustrated with the number of baseball games that were rained out, got sick and tired of walking to school and getting wet, and just grew to expect that there would be a little bit of the wet stuff on a regular basis. 

I've been back home in Washington for the past couple days and true to form I've seen my fair share of gray days.  But, you know what, it's been great.  It's what we do up here in the PNW and it just feels right.  As I was flying into SEA I could see the clouds and got a little excited.  I knew in that moment that when I was here they became second nature, but now that I've been away for some time I kind of forgot what it was really like. 

I found some of the same feelings when I went and got a warm Starbucks coffee.  I grew up north of Seattle when Starbucks was making it's rise to global coffee dominance.  I took for granted every venti irish creme mocha I drank when I lived here.  The no longer carry irish creme and I'm still miffed, but that's another story (it's one of the holy grails of coffee flavorings, I'm just saying).  I've been to many Starbucks elsewhere (they're everywhere) and the coffee is good.  The one I got here in the cold rain of a PNW morning this past tasted just like it was meant to be!!! 

Much of that can be said for our daily personal and work life.  We grow so used to the daily routine we forget to find or see the things that make us happy and content.  The fact of the matter is that it's there all along, but we allow it to get lost in the monotony.  We charge along through life and fail to recognize that within every daily ordinary are many of the things we find extrodinary if only they occured in another situation or setting.  Those warm fuzzies you get mean something, but you could be experiencing so many more if you just let yourself go home again.

A lot of times we take for granted some of the things that are everyday occurrences in our lives.  Going home helped me realize some of that.  I have been missing some of the things in my life because I just cast them off as the normal or the routine - but guess what, they are part of who I am.

It's not me, it's my communities - a global thank you.

This morning I had the chance to speak with an RA from a school I used to work at, she was struggling with some issues regarding her choice of internship and her "career path".  When the conversation was over she let out a huge sigh of relief and simply said "thank you so much for listening to me and helping me in my journey".  It was one of those moments that just gave me the downright warm fuzzies. 

After processing the discussion and her heartfelt thanks to me I realized - it's not me, it's my communities.  Any time I've been given the chance to impact someone or a group of people and they take the time to thank me I need to stop and say - it's not me that's been of assistance...it's the me generated by the wonderful community of people I associate with.  In my current position I don't get as many chances to have those impactful moments, but when I get them, boy do they feel great.  As a younger professional I would bask in those moments as if me, and me alone, just did that...as I've matured a little bit I've realized it's not me, it's my communities.  So the real question is when someone says thanks how do I say don't thank me, thank my community - the answer is that would be really awkward.  But I can take the time out of my morning to send a thanks out to the communities who have helped shape me and have blessed me with the opportunity to help others.

Professionally I need to give a big shout out to:  My AIMHO peeps (yes it's a real region).  They have been my professional home as long as I've been a professional - can't beat that consistency.  My ACUHOI peeps and my NHTI Alumni "support group" - who knew there were so many others out there just like me.  The greater #sachat community (both their website and on twitter) - thanks for opening my eyes to the broader horizon and giving me an avenue to discuss ideas with a large audience. My colleagues and staff from all of the places I've studied and worked (Eastern Washington University, Montana State University, the University of Arizona) and going way back to my time as a young "buck" growing up and working for the Concrete School District.

Personally I need to give a big shout out to: My wonderful partner in crime Melany (@mdcrews) - she shares the same passion for the profession so knows that warm fuzzy feeling all to well.  On the flip side she also knows, all to well, the struggles and frustrations of the profession.  She keeps me grounded, keeps me modest and keeps me moving forward towards being a better professional and person.  My family - my labor of love has led me to jump ship and travel around the country, taking me far away from them.  Fortunately they understand my passion for what I do and know that it's a must.  The distance from them is tough, but the connection I still have with all of them is just as strong as when I lived down the street.  My friends - they have no idea what I do or why I do it, but they still are there to give me a laugh and keep me sane.

I guess the goal of all of this is say that when I get a warm fuzzy feeling for helping someone out I need you all to know that you deserve to share in that - so let this serve as my warm fuzzy thank you back out to you.

My first musings

I have been thinking about setting up a blog for a long time.  I've known family members who have had one to keep people posted to what is going on in their life.  I've also known friends who have had them for the sake of randomly getting out information.  It hasn't been until recently that I've realized that I have a lot to say and want to find a way to get information out there.  I'm not saying that the information I'll be putting out there will be monumental or earth shaking but hopeful people will find it useful, thought-provoking, funny and enjoyable.  I've grown a lot as a professional through the dialogue created by blogs such as The Student Affairs Collaborative and the ACUHO-I Blog.  I've also found a lot of enjoyment by stopping in on other peoples blogs just for some of the humor that presents itself through their "verbal vomiting".  I guess my hope is that this blog of mine can do a little bit of all of that for those who read it. 

I guess the other hope is that I find a way to be consistent with blogging.  I usually start projects such as this and then slowly fade away as other shiny objects take my attention, but maybe this is the kind of shiny object that will feed my ADD in the other realms of my life.

Here's to hoping!