Latino Connection

So, in the 3.5 years that I worked at Butler, I befriended several Latino men that work in the grounds maintenance department. I met them at a Butler Clean Sweep event (a volunteer effort to clean up campus) and ever since then, I have been a favorite for them to wave and say hello to whenever they would see me on campus. I hadn't seen them since I started working at IUPUI, but saw them today as I was on a beautiful spring walk (blue skies, 60 degrees with every flower in bloom you can imagine...on trees, bushes, etc) through Butler campus. Things I like about my "Latino Connection" (my endearing name for them):

• They are always excited to see me.
• They smile and wave at me even if I'm almost a mile away.
• As I approach, they happily yell out Spanish greetings to me, only half of which I'm familiar.
• They call me 'Monita,' which I love!

Today was a special day. I got a traditional Hispanic greeting from one of them (a quick cheek to cheek touch with a kiss that doesn't actually kiss your cheek) and he gave me his card for his jewelry business. Apparently I'm to call him to get rings whenever I get married. We'll see about that one.

Back to Denver!

I bought my ticket to go back to visit Denver! I'll be visiting from May 24th through the 30th. It looks like I'll be spending the weekend in Estes Park with Emily, Jeff (their kids) and Megan. Then, Monday evening, there will be a transfer of some sort....me going to Jen and Silas' house or going to Megan's place. The rest of the week is me splitting up time between everyone until my plane ride home on Friday. Then I will have the weekend to relax in Indiana before having to go back to work. I'll definitely take pictures to share. My Flickr photos have been a bit neglected lately.

I voted!

I read on Barack Obama's website last week that early voting had started. I checked the location for my early-voting site and it was just a little over a mile away from where I work. So, Melissa and I decided to take a jaunt yesterday at lunch to go vote early. The site was at the County Clerks office, which is quite an interesting environment. You have all sorts coming and going in that building. In our room alone, you could vote, get a marriage license and set a court date! So, anyway.....I'm done voting!

What the hell is that????!!?!?

I'm finally fast asleep after a 3:30 rousing to use the bathroom. It's now 5:38 and the bed is shaking from the cats play-fighting on the bed. I sleepily use my legs to usher the cats off the bed. The shaking continues, so I start kicking my legs semi-violently to get the cats to stop. The shaking continues. I sit up. "What the hell!?!?" I look around the bed to see if the cats are still play-fighting, bumping into the side of the bed. I turn on my lights. The cats are nowhere to be seen. I take my earplugs out (I sleep with earplugs due to the semi-busy street next to my house) and hear the cabinets of my dresser shaking along with the shaking of my bed. "Are we having an earthquake????!" The shaking subdues, but continues for another several seconds. "I think we're having an earthquake!!" I text my friend Melissa. She felt it, too. WOW! Never really experienced that before!

Note to those who experience an earthquake for the first time: Always open cabinets carefully. I had a tupperware avalanche occur after opening a kitchen cabinet. It was not cool.

Job Firsts

This week has been a week of firsts for me with my new job. I had my first classroom consultation with a faculty-member who teaches an undergraduate course. He has taught the course in the regular 16 weeks of a fall or spring semester and was trying to figure out how to fit the course into the fast 7 week summer session. So, I had him send me his syllabus and looked through it, jotting down notes and ideas before we met. The consultation went great! I was able to give him a lot of ideas and we figured out a schedule that will work well with his current method of teaching.

I also have my first own classroom observation coming up. Faculty come to the center to ask us to observe their classes so we can let them know what they are doing well and areas in which they might make some changes. I've sat in on observations before, but I've not done one myself, yet. This week was the pre-observation meeting and next week I will be observing his class. So far so good.

A lot in June

I have a lot going in June, it appears...

• I hope to have my car paid off
• I might go on vacation to an island
• James is returning (maybe)
• I have my birthday

By the way....

I think Barack Obama is pretty cool.