Weather...Or Not (Again)

Air traffic over St. Louis on a clear blue weekend afternoon: this really must be the center crossroads of the country.

As the local residents predicted, February has brought a welcome thaw into spring weather (no more ice/snow and temperatures in the 50s and 60s). But then a cold snap struck again and overnight rains became a mess of icy highways that resulted in tragedies greater than my weeks full of meetings at work.  When I started here at SLU in December, everyone I met kept asking me, "Are you OK [in this winter weather]?" Just short of my three-month anniversary here, that question seems like a distant memory.

balm·y
adj. balm·i·er, balm·i·est
1. Having the quality or fragrance of balm; soothing.
2. Mild and pleasant: a balmy breeze.
3. (Chiefly British Slang) Eccentric in behavior.

In the nearly-spring balm, I don't have to wonder if I am OK; I feel just fine, eccentricities of weather and work and all.

Penguin postcard from "Just Say Julie" in San Francisco - but these better not be Antarctic penguins because it's not that cold anymore!

A friend asked me about my job, by way of my job title recently, "So how goes student development?" Well, it's as balmy as the weather, I suppose. The student stuff has taken a bit of a slow turn while I do more staff development and colleague development. And although I sometimes do feel like tumbling out of bed and stumbling to the kitchen, the days have been much longer than 9 to 5.

Touring production with Dee Hoty, Diana DeGarmo, and Mamie Parris was light and fluffy on the book, but still made for a good night out at the fabulous Fox Theater.

On some days, I am lucky enough to get almost a full hour to eat lunch at my desk; some days are just packed with back-to-back meetings that have me zipping from one campus building to another (hence my growing list of SLU-location mayorships on FourSquare). My guest lecture in my colleague's class went well enough for me to be invited back (next week) for a co-presentation and when graduate students from that class have seen me on campus, I have been humbled by their praise that at the very least, I did not put them to sleep lecturing with PowerPoint slides in the dark for over two hours, and at the very most, some of them are still referencing my presentation.

Thank you, New York Times editorial cartoon.

Even February 14 was just another day at work. Some of the meetings have included that collegial relationship-building that I know will pay off in the long run. I'm meeting good people at work and learning abut the local theater scene, discussing art, pondering philosophy, questioning organizational politics, wondering about social justice and systemic changes, and every once in a while collecting tips for places to see, things to do, and restaurants to try. I even joined two staff members from the department of Campus Ministry at an annual dinner of the Abrahamic Faith Traditions, sponsored by a local non-profit foundation and hosted at a retreat site on the SLU campus (all delicious vegetarian food, by the way).

SLU's Human Resources office gave out lollipops in every parking garage. Aw...sweet.

Potted mini roses from a "secret admirer" - thanks, Friend (you know who you are)!

No other Valentine except the card from my sister (thanks, Ana-Liza!) - no problem: there's an app for that.

Last weekend was a visit/interview weekend for prospective scholarship students and their families. I sat in on the first Q&A panel for families and then spoke on the second panel of the day. Normally, I love that kind of thing, but having been here for such a short time, I was nervous. Thankfully, all these years of higher education work must have paid off: three parents, one uncle, two alumni, and four staff members from the Office of Admissions thanked and congratulated me, so maybe I'll be invited back for another gig. Oh wait a minute. I am invited back. Already. For another prospective student/family weekend this Saturday. Both panels. Let's hope I know some good answers once again.

In other work, I feel I am having good influence in some committees by asking questions or coordinating follow-up with critical incident interventions, strategic planning, assessment, diversity and inclusion initiatives, etc. I've had good conversations with graduate students and professional staff, hoping I am mentoring as I am meeting and learning. I accepted an invitation to give another keynote address (with more advance notice this time - for a student awards event in April). The administrative assistant for my boss, the VP, is out on vacation for two weeks and I got "tapped" to coordinate the weekly report for the division that goes from my VP to the President. (Well, that was rather comical: me and the two other AVPs meeting with the VP and the subject of the administrative assistant's vacation comes up and all three of them turn a knowing look to me, so I didn't really get tapped to do anything; it was more like "let's dump this project on the new guy." OK, fine. I'll take one for the team.) I was even invited by a student organization to do a yoga demonstration for their Hinduism Awareness Week. Yeah, wish this beginner luck with that one (I'm banking on being able to talk my way through some basic explanations in my allotted 20-30 minutes)! There is even an undergraduate student who is quite involved on campus and insists on calling me "Dr. Quirolgico" every time he sees me. Half the time I wonder whom he is naming and the other half of the time, I gently demur and smile and ask him to call me "Ray" (even after I received the copyright registration for my dissertation I'm having a hard time with the title). With all of these experiences I feel that I am developing a more public presence on the campus.

Yup: that would be me, scheduled for the first part of the "Yoga and Meditation" event - yikes!

That increased publicity has made me much more protective of my privacy - and I don't mean I am becoming secretly reclusive. I mean I am becoming more aware of needing, locating, cultivating, and preserving some time and space for myself. So although I may not have a lot of leisure time, I am finding some outlets: movies, dinners cooked for myself, coffee with friends, and even drives around unexplored neighborhoods. The introspection has also given me more helpful pause as I continue to apartment-hunt so that I am now taking some patient solace to keep looking until I find something really appealing, and not rushing to settle for anything "decent" out of desperation.

One of the displays inside the Landmark Tivoli movie theater.

Triumph Grill (bar and restaurant): good for happy hour; conveniently close to the campus.

My first professional hockey game (St. Louis Blues 9; Anaheim Ducks 3): I must be good luck!

A belated birthday celebration with Melanie at Jilly's = Sunday brunch buffet that included hot and cold foods, bottomless coffee, and yes: a dessert buffet with make-your-own mini-cupcakes. Did not need to eat again all day!

Because I have been plugging along with work, including hours at home, I have been keeping myself company with Netflix and Hulu. So my two latest documentary film recommendations are: "Objectified" (how smart product design is also good product design) and "Food Matters" (the failure of modern medicine to acknowledge the power of nutrition in its myopic adherence to the value of pharmaceutical drug therapy).

And that, my friends, is my segue to the end of this post. Next post: Academy Award predictions, guesses, and commentaries! Do you have your guesses marked on your ballot?