My In-Between Week

I had 10 days back in St. Louis between two annual conferences, what a crazy week it was: weather fluctuated from sunny skies and daytime highs of 78, to snow flurries and overnight lows of 31; I fought to recover from an awful 36 hours of food poisoning (or post-travel yuckies); and I felt like three weeks of tasks at work had been compressed into one. But I did my best to make it all worthwhile.

My first time eating a full meal at a restaurant counter inside a grocery store (thanks, Melanie, for introducing me to the "upscale" Schnucks) - thankfully, my appetite was back!

Even the lighting at the coffee bar in this Schnucks was cute.

At the Missouri History Museum...

...Taking in some of the great exhibits before the main event...

...Getting VIP treatment in the audience (it helps knowing the right people!)...

Hearing Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a great work of science writing that is about so much more than just science, and getting my copy personalized. (Thanks, Melanie, again!)

Yoga class, work tasks getting done, laundry done and the bags are packed for another conference trip: checking off that list and getting it done. It's been a good in-between week!

March Madness

When I left California and moved to St. Louis, MO, it was December 2010. Getting through that month seemed to be a very long challenge, and then Christmas and the New Year came and went. It's now March, solidly in the spring semester at SLU (this is midterm week for the undergraduates and next week is their Spring Break), and I passed the calendar mark of 3 months on the job. But I seem to have only settled into a whirlwind pace of constant work overload - that's the madness of acclimating to a new job while defining that job for the entire campus, I suppose. Luckily, I think I can still say that I am managing to keep my head above water...

Bathroom mural #1...

Bathroom mural #2...

Starter salad of spinach, blue cheese, and fruity vinaigrette...

...at Cheese-ology: a mac and cheese restaurant! Yes, please! (I had the vegan mac.)

Ceiling inside the Landmark Tivoli theater - a new local favorite.

I made a commitment when I started my job to try to support a variety of student organizations/populations and campus events in at least my first semester at SLU. So I have also been filling some evenings and weekends with progress to meet that commitment.

SLU's production of a Shakespeare classic: well done, and more beautifully styled in mid-century Italy (very preppy and cute).

I butch it up for the last home men's basketball game of the season...

With an amazing near-center court seat (SLU vs. Xavier) - it helps to have worked through some critical incidents with the Assistant Director of Athletics!

The "SLUnatics" - student cheering section!

Halftime show included Frisbee (TM) dogs. Aw, cute and fun, just like me!

So life is still fun, weather is still fine, work is still fulfilling, people are still nice.

I travel to Philadelphia for six days for a conference, then I'm back for a week, and then another conference in Baltimore. Presentations, workshops, social obligations galore. But if all I have to complain about is full days and full nights, then life is not so bad, after all.

Not so bad to bounce around campus meetings in buildings this pretty.

SLU's seal.

Pretty skylights on a bright early spring day.

I'm still fascinated by photos of stairs: maybe it's the Escher fan in me.

Gave a guest lecture for a class being held in the engineering building - with a memorial statue of this Apollo astronaut.

Give all the busy times, an evening's simple supper of pumpkin gnocchi in arrabbiata sauce is sometimes all I need!

Another rainy evening of errands after yoga class.

Will report back after the first conference...

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?

Firsts and Fourths - Bye, Bye, Birthday Month

Nameplate by my office door arrived - I'm official and my location is even in Braille.

It is the eve of the end of my 40th Birthday Month (unless I generously extend that to the official end date of February 4), and I find myself surprised by some friends asking me why I have not posted a blog update recently. Well, the academic year has been picking up quickly and is in full swing. So the workdays have been long, complicated, busy, fully scheduled (mornings into evenings), and with the entire campus population back, it is back to professional life for me in "adult day care," i.e., everyone around me is sniffling and coughing and sneezing and taking real sick days (as opposed to snow days). So it was inevitable that I would start to feel under the weather too. To recap the last few weeks as I sip my hot tea and medicine, here are some facts of my life in St. Louis to add to the blog update:

• First speech for all the Resident Advisors at the end of their spring training week. I thought I was under-prepared, but apparently I was a hit.
• First meet-and-greets with the Student Government Association, the Cultural Student Organizations, and several other campus departments - all continues to go well, and everyone has been pretty hospitable and gracious, and yes, my task/to-do list keeps growing every day.
• I was introduced to the entire campus in the school's newspaper, featured in its weekly "Let Us Introduce You" page 2 column (and then quoted again in the weekly highlights on the Op-Ed page 4) in its first issue of 2011. Let me explain the stern photo...the interview included me naming some favorite TV shows (including shows that are no longer on the air, like "The X Files"). The photographer saw the draft copy and thought I should give a spooky pose in addition to the dozens of "hi, nice to meet you" poses with me smiling. Unfortunately, the whole section of the interview about favorite TV shows was edited out in final copy, and the Photoshopped Mulder and Scully never appeared, so the introductory photo feels a bit more disconcerting than I would have wanted. Oh well. So far people have been OK with meeting me, so maybe the introduction was made well enough and I was not as scary as I thought I appeared. (Sorry, Tyra, I will not...be...America's...Next...Top...Model.)

After the continuation of decidedly wintry weather, I experienced my first practically balmy spring days in St. Louis since my arrival in December - two consecutive days of daytime highs that reached into the forties (40-43 degrees), a week after this screenshot. Phew!

• First time I was ousted from not one but four different San Francisco check-ins on FourSquare. I've made up for it by maintaining my "mayor" status at several St. Louis locations including "St. Louis," "St. Louis University," my building on campus, my office, my temporary apartment, the closest freeway exit ramp, the local gas station, my great tailor, the campus bookstore, my yoga studio, and even the Missouri History Museum. Phew. Take that, FourSquare ousters!
• First Sunday mass in St. Francis College Church: a big Gothic cathedral that felt cavernous but warm: full of happy Catholics (who all seemed Midwesternly tall - I was once again the shortest person in the room).
• First time eating in local places like Baileys' Chocolate Bar, the BBC Asian Bistro, Bissinger's Chocolates, and Spaghetteria Mamma Mia (the Italian food here was decent and cheap, but sadly no ABBA music piped in as the name may have suggested).
• First time seeing theater in the Missouri History Museum, and then a week later first time sitting in a packed audience to learn about urban decline, urban renewal, and local neighborhood history from a historian who characterized St. Louis as a city with the culture and demographics of the South but the organization and design of the North - a great lesson to me as I continue to apartment-hunt!

Impressive: very intelligent autobiographical theater (with original music and songs) in the Missouri History Museum.

First time in the St. Louis University Chaifetz Arena, and not for basketball, but for the touring Cirque du Soleil production, "Dralion" (also my first time seeing that particular Cirque show, so that is another one crossed off that list). I even survived the four clowns that mucked around throughout the show (yikes - scary)!

The first time I have ever known a campus bookstore to be closed during the first week of classes, due to snow and ice and wind that prevented a lot of people from coming to work, and over 900 schools being closed. So why was I in the office?!?

 

A typical winter day: snow blowing outside, as seen through an office window with the SLU fleur-de-lis.

Almost feels like I'm back in New York City with the wind and snow - the scene with a residence hall tower on campus.

• My first time refilling the in-office coffee machine that makes coffee, tea, lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and even a "Milky Way latte" (yum!). 50 cents in the coin can for each cup - just think of what I am saving on coffee runs from the dining hall or Starbucks!

My happy "fueling station" by the photocopier. A welcome oasis from the winter weather in an office building that stays notoriously chilly.

• My first time seeing the St. Louis Symphony perform in the gorgeous Powell Hall venue. And not just any concert, mind you: but my fourth time seeing the amazing Tony Award winner, Idina Menzel in concert performance, on the local stop of her orchestral symphony tour. And holy moly did my girl deliver: left the audience stunned with an a capella, off-microphone "For Good" from Wicked (and stopped the show cold with a rapturous double standing ovation for that number alone), she has honed her in-between-songs patter with more focused funny anecdotes than the last time I saw her do this show in San Francisco, she demonstrated her five-octave range and tremendous belting ability with everything from classic showtunes to new American composers, and yes, even her Lady GaGa number from Glee. Her presence just glowed to fill that space: absolutely resplendent in a shimmering purple dress, barefoot and fancy-free! Oh yes: she sang it, sold it, blew the roof off of it, tore it up, spit it out and left us all wanting more!

Chandeliers in the lobby of Powell Hall - used to be a movie theater.

Interior house ceiling of Powell Hall.

Sadly, no meet-and-greet for a Celebrity Sightings photo, but as Kathy Griffin would say, "Sold out, motherf*&$@#s, sold out!" That's how we do it.

• First time seeing a show at "The Rep," The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (which doesn't actually do shows in repertory - go figure). It was no Vanessa Redgrave on Broadway (very intimate small studio theater and I felt the emotional and intellectual pacing was uneven in delivery), but quite good nonetheless.

Joan Didion's genius acted out in a solid one-act, 97-minute, one-woman show.

So that's my update for now and my recap of the final half of my 2011 Birthday Month. I'll end with these ever-poignant lyrics from Jonathan Larson's RENT because Idina Menzel encouraged the entire Powell Hall audience to sing along with her to this number and I have found myself humming it to myself every day ever since - a nice mantra to face the new year, to deal with new challenges, and to greet each new moment.

There's only us
There's only this
Forget regret - or life is yours to miss.
No other road
No other way
No day but today

There's only yes
Only tonight
We must let go
To know what's right
No other course
No other way
No day but today

I can't control
My destiny
I trust my soul
My only hope
is just to be

There's only now
There's only here
Give in to love
Or live in fear
No other path
No other way
No day but today

The campus will thaw soon enough, but for now, this is a typical serene still of the place.

Cool and Cold: Birthday Month, Week 2

Maybe every week of Birthday Month should end with a cupcake? This one came from Jilly's.

The full pace of work is an ever-growing reality that hit me hard this week, leaving me mostly exhausted before it was even over. Oh well, so much for easing into the new job. The transition period is all gone; now it's clearly all job. But luckily the job is still all good: no complaints, and I'm still smiling.

I guess this makes it all official.

Sometime during my all-day workshop on Monday and my half-day planning meeting (that I facilitated), my first box of SLU business cards arrived, blue fleur-de-lis and everything. Oh, how I've missed working at a school where blue is one of the official colors! Forget green and gold, orange and black, or even "blush and bashful" - blue is my signature color! (Quick: name that play/movie.)

People are still asking me if I am doing okay with the winter weather. On Monday, as I walked between buildings on campus, snowflakes tickled my nose. How can that kind of weather possibly be bad? Sure, the wind was fiercely cold on Tuesday and Wednesday, with overnight lows in the single digits and daytime highs barely hitting the high 20s. But I really have missed the winter season, and I think I've even missed bundling up for it.

I also gave my first "speech" at work this week. Well, nothing major: just remarks at the end-of-training dinner for the RAs and professional staff of Housing and Residence Life. I had the general narrative mapped out in a burst of inspiration a few days before but incidents stole my preparation time away from me on Thursday so I only started typing out my notes about an hour before my scheduled time at the podium. I trusted the worthiness of my storyline and found myself referring to my notes only once or twice and managed to easily fill the 10 minutes of pre-dinner time speaking mostly off-book. Moments after my applause, I greeted each student coming through the buffet line, and I was happy that several gave me great feedback about the speech: "smart," "funny," "lively," and best of all "cool." Already double the age of these students? - Sure, I'll take those compliments. Thanks. I've still managed to be cool (in the cold and dark St. Louis winter).

After work one day, I was greeted back at the temporary digs with a new doortag - the handiwork of one of the RAs.

I knew that if I could just make it past Thursday evening's speaking engagement and into a relatively lightly scheduled Friday, I would be fine. And so it was that I got to the end of this second week of the month, and the university campus is slowly coming back to full life with a growing number of students, faculty, and staff returning. I got through some tasks, carried some over to the next week, scheduled some meetings and rescheduled some other meetings, but overall still felt quite productive and thankfully still useful. That giant vanilla cupcake was a happy surprise afternoon treat at the end of the week, as was the grocery run to Trader Joe's that ended up costing me a whopping 26 cents (thank you, holiday gift card)!

Halfway through Birthday Month 2011 and everything still feels fully fresh, alive, new, challenging, social, and yes..."cool."

Ending the week with pROjECt hApPine$S syrah - thank you, TJ's!