Running Journal 6

Day: Thursday May, 31st

Time: 6:30 pm

Duration: 25:05

Pace:  12'22"

Distance: 2.03 mi

Course: Treadmill - Reilly Center

Weather: Air Conditioned

Mood: Hokie-ish

Favorite Song(s) on this Run: "Magic (feat. Rivers Cuomo)" by B.o.B
                                    

Notes: Its been rainy all day.  So I decided to run at the Reilly Center.  I've been wearing a lot of Virginia Tech attire on runs.  I didn't bring a lot of other shirts.  As I was walking into the gym a guy yelled out, "LET'S GO!" and I replied, "HOKIES!" without missing a beat. That made me feel all kinds of Hokie Goodness.  Started my work out right. I don't really care for treadmills, but I'll give them a whirl from time to time.  Found a treadmill, turned the TV off, turned my iPod on and started jogging. There was nothing special about this run, it was in an air conditioned room with other people.  Here's why I'm not of fan of treadmills.  Nowadays every treadmill has a TV attached to it. Ugh.  This annoys me.  The only way to get lazy Americans off their couch is to let them exercise in front of the TV. Can we turn the TV off? Or even better, can we run outside?  With the breeze and the bird and the trees.  There's so much more than TV, you can spend an hour without it.  Anyway, after my two miles on the treadmill I did two miles on the elliptical and two more miles on the bike.  Then I walked home in the rain.  I probably won't go back to the Reilly Center, it makes me get on my soapbox.

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Lagniappe

Lagniappe?  I know a lot of my post have been French-inspired.  But that's what I'm around down here, so get used to it.  Anyway, lagniappe.  Pronounced LAN-yap.  It means "something extra".  There is a station in the LBC (student union) called Lagniappe.  It's the hot food station.  They'll serve you meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fried fish, fried chicken and the like.  Southern food...soul food.  Anyway.  They are known to throw in a little extra food from time to time.  You know, lagniappe.  This is commonplace here. You don't have to ask for it, though you can.  And in the end you win, because you get more food!  You know I love it!  Pause. So you pay 4.99 (or whatever) for two pieces of fish and a side, but you walk away we three pieces of fish and a mammoth side.  I feel like I hit the jackpot!  But, no...I lagniappe'd. Unpause.

So turning this idea on its ear.  In ResLife we ask out student staff members to give 110%.  Sometimes we ask them to do the best they can with the resources they have in the time given.  But in the end we are expect major results.  We're asking for lagniappe.  In addition to the stellar job they do, we want them to be the best.  My summer internship here at Tulane is all about RA training and selection and recruitment.  I LOVE TRAINING.  There's nothing more exciting than a room full of excited returning RAs and excitedly nervous new RAs.  This is where lagniappe begins.  The students aren't going to ask for it, but you darn sure better give it to them.

Our training processes are so long.  We take anywhere from a week to two weeks training our RAs on policy and procedures. Pause. Not saying the time isn't necessary.  What other job will you have that gives you a week to learn from professionals, other co-workers, outside consultants? Unpause.  We invite in guest speakers, show movies, go on retreats all so our student staff members know how to do their job, efficiently and effectively.

Here's where mistakes are made.  Some schools pick impressive and ostentatious themes.  They make sure everything is themed, from bedknob to broomstick.  While the actual training aspect is lackluster, they think it's great but it never is.  Other schools focus intensely on the training aspect, and themes are minimal.  Sessions last two hours because they want to make sure every question is answered.  All the while, RAs are droopy-eyed and tired. Neither of these are ideal.  Once you begin the school year with these types of trainings you will see gaps in job performance.  You can't ask for lagniappe if you haven't given the students 100% in training and orientation.

Training at 100% means you not only touched every aspect of the RA job, but you also realized your audience.  You asked RAs/HMs/DAs about their past, present, and future experiences.  You took heed of their advice and made contingency plans for most situations.  You're will to scrap an idea during training if it means your student staffers will benefit.  Students need themes to get excited about training, and sessions need to be engaging, energetic, empathetic, and timely.  You can use the theme to make the policy and procedure talk more bearable for returning staff members, and more memorable for new staff members. If planning training is easy...maybe you're doing it wrong.  It takes time.  Like with any good diet, all things in moderation...and occasionally...Lagniappe.

Paix,

PTJ

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Running Journal 5

Day: Wednesday May, 30th

Time: 7:28 pm

Duration: 39:10

Pace:  9'52" <--this is more like it.

Distance: 3.97 mi

Course: Paved - Tulane Campus & Audubon Park

Weather: Sunny, At dusk

Mood: Young & Overconfident

Favorite Song(s) on this Run: "Upgrade U (feat. Jay-Z)" by Beyonce & "We R Who We R" by Ke$ha
                                    

Notes: So I felt good today.  I went to work and was on point.  I found a book I needed for class at the library.  I had Chinese food for lunch.  It was a great day.  So I threw on a VT shirt, laced up muh Nikes and hit the pavement.  I had to take a detour because there was a graduation at McAlister Auditorium.  So I took Willow Street to Calhoun Street.  This was a mistake because the sidewalk is all kinds of uneven.  I had to leap over things, run in the street, and backflip off a 2x4 (okay.  the last part is a little exaggerated.  I ran by a construction site. LOL). I made my way to Audubon Park grabbed a swig of water from the fountain and kept it moving.  So I told y'all earlier that I pace to music.  I use this as punishment...to myself.  If a song comes and I begin to pace to it, I am not allowed to stop moving at that pace until the song ends.  I realize this is only three to four minutes tops, but it keeps the run spicy.  The real punishment is that if I stop I have to repeat the same song until I make it all the way to the end.  Nothing makes me move faster than having to listen to the same song over and over again.  So when "Upgrade U" came on I found myself pacing to it.  Then I stopped.  "Darn it", I thought.  I started the song over and kept it moving.  Made it to the end and began to walk.  Passed by a water fountain.  Took a swig.  And began to run again.  Then I started pacing to "We R Who We R". "What the Sam Jam", I thought.  I kept going and made it through the song.  After that, I took the headphones out.  I couldn't take it anymore.  I walked to St. Charles Avenue, waited for the street car to passed and then jogged to Freret Street.  At which point I began feeling young and overconfident.  I'll say it.  I sprinted.  From Freret to my apartment is maybe 2/10ths of a mile.  I booked it.  I must have looked like a charging bull.  A lady with a dog scurried out of my way as if I were going to pummel her.  I'm not the Juggernaut, lady.  Sheesh.  Soon after I stopped.  I began to walk...with a limp.  What was my prize for running with speed and dexterity?  Shin splints and a slightly pulled hamstring.  I losed.  Then after a cool shower, I couldn't find my glasses.  "Why me?  Lawd?  Why me?"  They took about five minutes to find.  If you don't wear glasses you may not understand.  I might as well have been looking for my glasses in pitch black darkness...thats about how blind I am without them.  Anyway, I'm not fooling around with feeling young anymore.  Lesson learned.

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Le Terrian Neutre/ The Neutral Ground

Canal Street Neutral Ground

There are a lot of medians in New Orleans.  You know the grassy area in the middle of the street.  There are a lot of them here, on almost every street.  Pause.  This will be one of my first intentional, SA (Student Affairs) related posts.  I have had nothing to do but try to understand the culture and environment here.  This is one small thing I noticed, but I see it as having a big impact.  Unpause.

St. Charles Street Neutral Ground

So, like I was saying.  There are a lot of medians here.  But they call them "The Neutral Ground".  So here's the story I was told.  I'd rather tell it from the story I heard rather than Google it and give you a sterilized version.  On Canal Street in downtown New Orleans there has always been a neutral ground.  When Americans began to settle here they took ownership to one side, while the French-Creole people  had already settled on the other side.  The Americans and French Creole people didn't see eye-to-eye on about anything.  But if there was an issue that needed to be discussed between the two groups it would happen in the Neutral Ground.  The space was that important, that sacred, that it would bond differing opinions.  Today, Canal Street separates the CBD (Central Business District) and the French Quarter.  Two differing scenes, but both necessary in making NOLA amazing.

Claiborne Avenue Neutral Ground

I want to take this idea at face value.  Where on your campus is a "neutral ground" for understanding?  We talk a lot about intentionality, and communication, but understanding is just expected to happen anywhere.  What if there was a place where students could understand faculty?  A place that neutralizes the power each group may have.  Now at Virginia Tech we champion our Honors Residential College (at East Ambler Johnston).  Because it puts faculty, staff, and students in the same building.  And it is a centuries old model that works.  But it doesn't necessarily neutralize, it allows for greater interaction which will lead to greater understanding.  I'm talking about a place that automatically brings people to the same level.  I have worked/attended three completely different institutions, and I cannot recall any place that allows this.  This is not to say it's necessary for a school to have, but can you imagine it?  Please let me know if you have experienced this?  So while I'm working at Tulane, and when I get back to VT I will strive to rip myself of a title to understand my students at the most rudimentary of levels.

Broadway Street Neutral Ground

There is another part of the Neutral Ground that you should know.  Most Neutral Grounds have places for U-turns.  This frees the left-turn lane from filling up and causing traffic jams.  But it also tells me that city planners were so intuitive in thinking about the mistakes of their citizens and visitors.  Driving around here can be confusing.  I have gotten lost multiple times.  But I always know I can make a U-turn in the Neutral Ground to correct my mistake.

I want to take this a step further.  The "Neutral Ground" was made for mutual understanding, but it also allows for making mistakes.  Working with students is made for mutual understanding.  Especially as the generations change and technology moves forward.  We can constantly be at a disadvantage as professionals if we can't keep up.  But, never fear,  we can leave room to take a U-turn if necessary.  This is intentionality.  We must constantly put ourselves in the position to be resilient with our mistakes.  They will make us quicker, and allow us to free up any "traffic jams" that may occur.

A Muffaletta

Sorry, I lit up when I understood the Neutral Ground.  I have to tell you I am starting to fall in love with it down here.  Now if someone would sell me a Muffaletta.







Peace & Understanding,

PTJ

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Running Journal 4

Day: Sunday May, 27th

Time: 5:16 pm

Duration:1:04:55

Pace:12'59"

Distance: 5.00 mi

Course: Paved - Tulane Campus & Audubon Park

Weather: Sunny

Mood: Fat

Favorite Song(s) on this Run: "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy 
                                                "On to the Next One (feat Swizz Beatz)" by Jay-Z

Notes:  I felt fat today.  The kind where you look in the mirror and say, "Ugh! Is this what I've become?" I didn't realize it was Sunday, which is when I usually do a long run.  So I planned to at least go five miles, but instead of a long run it would be more like a fartlek.  Fartlek is a Swedish term.  I forget exactly what it means, but you essentially take about an hour to run, jog, walk, skip (or whatever) in intervals.  So you are still training your body, but it doesn't have to be intense.  So I took off walking around campus.  Places I haven't seen before.  I should really take a camera with me.  I spent more time looking at architecture than paying attention to where I was going.  Then I started a light jog and made it around Audubon pacing in front of some other runners.  After the first lap I ended up jogging/walking most of it.  Then it happened.  While I was jogging I broke into a sprint.  I didn't realize it was happening until I started passing other runners.  I have problem with pacing when I'm listening to music.  I'll pace with the song instead of where my body is comfortable.  This sprint happened while I was listening to "Dance, Dance".  Thanks Fall Out Boy.  I rode that wave until the song was over.  Then my heavy-breathing, overly-sweaty self made a dash for the water fountain and the shade.  I made my way back through campus, mostly jogging and then I had to double back to make the 5 mile requirement.  Good run.  Good day.  I turn 27 tomorrow.  I think it will be a shorter run, old people like me deserve a break.  HA!

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Running Journal 3

Day: Saturday May, 26th

Time: 12:11pm

Duration: 34:25

Pace: 11'06" - Getting better

Distance: 3.10mi

Course: Paved - Tulane Campus & Audubon Park

Weather: Unbelievably Sunny

Mood: Happy

Favorite Song(s) on this Run: 6 Foot 7 Foot (feat. Cory Gunz) by Lil Wayne

Notes:  Today felt good.  It was so sunny out and 88 degrees.  But there was a nice breeze from off the Mississippi River.  I decided to get my run out of the way.  My body kind of ached after last night.  But nothing to stop me from running.  I stretched,  grabbed a bottle of water, and took off.  I got through campus pretty well.  I stopped at the Bead Tree. I'll take a picture of it later.  There is one tree on campus that everyone throws beads on.  There are more strings of beads than leaves on this tree.  I got to Audubon and that's when the heat struck.  I was pacing with couple that was in front of me.  They were slightly faster, but I was not trying to beat them.  Most of Audubon is covered by mighty Oak trees, but the parts that aren't were sweltering.  Instead of looping around the park twice like yesterday I only did once.  There was still a good amount of walking.  But my legs weren't fatigued, it was just HOT.  I ran out of water too fast.  So I made my way back through campus with a moderate to slow jog.  All in all a good run.  Better than yesterday.

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Running Journal 1 & 2

So I told myself, and others, I would begin running again once I arrived in New Orleans.  The first day I got here I failed.  I was too tired.  Excuses are tools of the incompetent, so I guess I'm not competent.  So here is my running journal entry for day two.

Day: Friday May, 25th

Time: 7:55pm

Duration: 1:00:25

Pace: 13'39"

Distance: 4.43mi

Course: Paved - Audubon Park

Weather: Sunny

Mood: Ecstatic, Disgusted, Strong, Happy, Tired

Favorite Song(s) on this Run: Energy by Keri Hilson & Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO



Notes:  This was my first day back running in a bout two months.  I was ecstatic.  The weather and atmosphere down here makes me want to run.  I expected it to be hard.  I expected to walk more than I ran.  I should have expected less.

My body completed rejected the activity.  I was going "good" for the seven-tenths of a mile.  Then every thing I'd eaten since Lord knows when began to fight with me.  Now you most runners know when you get that feeling there are only two outcomes.  Either you will digest it (we pray for this), or you will see your food again...in a slightly vomitrocious state.  Well, my body felt as if it was choosing the latter.  In these instances I embrace it.  I'd rather vomit and get back to running, than fight with it trying to digest. I would run maybe one-tenth of a mile and my stomach would stop me.  But nothing would come up.  Not even a burp.  OH CRAP!  MY BODY IT TRYING TO DIGEST.  This stinks.  My running was stopped every 30 seconds because of my stomach.  Very painful.  Very annoying.  I was pretty disgusted with myself...for obvious reasons.

Then it happened.  The belch to beat all belches.  It was loud, rumbly, full of machismo.  As soon as it happened I knew I had the green-light to really start my run.  So 30 minutes after I started running was when actual running began.  I felt strong.  The sun was still up and I managed to lap somebody (Okay the somebody was an elderly woman that was on a walk...but I still lapped her! #boom).  I looped around Audubon Park one more time before I ran through Tulane's campus and back to my apt.

But two songs pulled me from the pits of gastrointestinal distress.  Energy by Keri Hilson is not a typical running song.  The beat is slow and whiny.  But she says, "This love is taking all of my energy", and my love of running typical takes all of my energy.  Then after this song went off and I was heading back to campus "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO came on.  The beat of this one is too contagious.  I can't walk while this song is on.  I'm either going to run or I'm going to dance.  I did a little bit of both.  Jealous?  You shouldn't be, the running was less than par and the dancing was worse.  But I was happy, then tired.

All in all...this run showed me exactly where I was.  Circling the drain.  We'll see how tomorrow goes. #perseveranceiskey

Peace.

PTJ

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Bienvenue à la Louisiane

I left Atlanta at 2:30am.  I was too excited.  I was like a kid on Christmas Eve.  You know good things are coming, you just can't wait to see what they are.  I laid in bed pretending to sleep, but every few minutes I would peek one eye open to check the time.  So after about an hour of that I packed up and headed out.  Bad move, Patrick T., bad move.

For those of you that follow me on Twitter (for those of you that don't, please do @patrickterril) you knew I was on the road last night.  I was tweeting while driving (the law says texting while driving, I think they are mutually exclusive) just in case I got lost in Alabama.  I was unbelievably tired, obvi.  And every couple of miles I would see another car broken down on the side of the road.  I love Vye, but I wasn't sure if she was ready to make this 800 mile journey.  I'm not a mechanic or a car whisperer, so I never would have seen it coming.  For those of you that watched and commented on my progress, Thanks!  And for those of you that missed the hilarity...here's my tweet when I crossed into Mississippi.

Tweeted while driving. #beimpressed and scared for your safety

I got really excited when I got into Louisiana!  I've never been here before.  Hashtag newadventure.  I stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center to take the touristy pictures and to change my clothes.  There's nothing better that having your first impression be in Hokie sweatpants and a raggedy Francis Marion t-shirt.  Although, they were very comfortable driving clothes.  Hashtag youknowimright

Lake Ponchartrain

Before I could get to New Orleans I had to cross Lake Ponchartrain (No I can't pronounce it either).  The bridge over this lake should have come with a sign, or an nonobligatory troll.  I would have appreciated being told by sign or troll, that this bridge was long.  Very long.  I felt like I was on it for 5 five minutes going 70 mph.  Since I had so much time, I took a picture.  See?  Pretty.  After that, I passed the SuperDome (Greaux Saints), whizzed by the French Quarter, and made my way Uptown.  Pause.  The street here are horrible.  I need to buy a bike cause I will not mess up Vye's suspension.  I have to drive through Alabama to get home.  Unpause.

I coulda been a contender!

But y'all.  Y'all.  Sans the road situation, Uptown and Tulane are beautiful.  I have a strong affinity for Charleston, SC, but this city is a major contender.  Marlon Brando reference, hashtag solid.

I got to Tulane and immediately got lost.  From Freret street to Audubon, to Zimple, to Willow.  Who knows where I was.  A student worker guided by simple self to the HRL office where I met my supervisor, who helped me unpack into Phelps House.  This building has character, spunk, moxie.  Mostly because of the trees that are around it.  They are strung with Mardi Gras beads.  Most things down here are laced with them.  I like it.

Mardi Gras Beads in Tree

After the sweaty move in.  Pause.  It was 92 degrees when I got here.  Fahrenheit. 92.  Degrees.  Unpause.  We headed into the city to grab some lunch.  The Rum House is a Jamaican-inspired restaurant.  It doesn't hold a candle to my former supervisor's native Jamaican cooking, but it was awesome.  I had jerk chicken tacos with mango salsa, jalapeno cole slaw, and mac and cheese.  What?  What are you thinking?  Oh yeah, I said, "Jamaican-inspired".  They had oxtails, plantains, and Red Stripe.  I just didn't order any of those things.

After some tour of New Orleans from Uptown to the Business District, the French Quarter, and avoiding Tchoupitoulas Street ( I can actually pronounce that one) we made our way back to Tulane did some paper work, and I headed back to my apartment to unpack.  This was at 4 pm.

At 8pm I was awaken by a text.  I'd crashed so hard.  I was horizontal across the bed, legs hanging off the end, and a considerable amount of drool on my arm.  But the text was about dinner.  So you know I popped up quickly, hashtag hungry.

But that was my first day at Tulane.  More exciting adventures to come.  #GOGREENWAVE #tulanehereiam

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Strengths

So there is a member of my cohort that is all about StrengthsQuest.  I'm sure he is interested in many other things, but he is truly fascinated by how our strengths play out in our everyday lives.  We call him, Daykota, but he is Dakota.  His passion an excitement for certain things always intrigues me.  The only thing I have seemed to passionate about this first year of grad school is food and sleep.  Am I right?  Anyway, I am channeling passion from Dakota to truly jump on the StrengthsQuest bandwagon, Thanks Daykota!

StrengthsQuest is an assessment that follows the notion of positive psychology.  You can take the assessment for a nominal fee and it will give you your top five strengths.  Click here if you want to know more of if you want to take the assessment.

Anyway.  These are my top five strengths and a little blurb about how I see them.


1. Self Assurance.  Anytime I tell people this is my number one strength they all say, "Wow, you don't here that one often."  Or they'll say, "Good for you, I wish I knew myself that well."  In most instances my 'self-assurance' wants them to walk away and leave me alone.  This strength does deal with knowing myself, but it also deals with have a strong inner compass.  I don't care to participate in Groupthink, and rarely am I the victim of peer pressure.  I am me.  No one can change that.  But this strength also deals with knowing all of you.  Because my personality can be a little crude, I need to know where you are at so I can meet you there.  There is no need in my flaunting my self-assurance around when others aren't comfortable in their own skin.

2. Strategic.  I share this strength with a lot of other Student Affairs Professionals.  I feel like this one should make me a better chess player.  And yet I have been consistently beaten by a 6-year old at the game.  This strengths deals with seeing the bigger picture and advancing accordingly.  When I first got my strengths I remembered them by this acronym S.S.A.C.A.  because I wouldn't have simply remembered them. My Strategic strength is best seen when I am driving.  To maximize my fuel and get to all the places I want to go I am always actively thinking about the best route, and the right time of day.  Unless I'm purposely wasting time, which is why my next strength is...

3. Adaptability.  I can be the go with the flow kind of guy.  I'm not a micro-manager. I am rarely pushed to a limit that frightens me.  My previous supervisor once said I was so relaxed while doing a conduct meeting with seven students.  He said I put them at ease, because I was so relaxed.  I guess this is because I was not in trouble.  Ha.  But I believe there is nothing on this earth to fear, and there is nothing that I cannot handle...but I won't get on that soapbox.

4. Command.  This strength is about taking, earning, and maintaining control.  I over-used this one during my undergraduate career.  I lost this one during my first year of grad school.  There were too many new things happening at once.  My Self-Assurance, Strategic, and Adaptability were all working at high efficiencies so my Command took a back seat.  But I'm sure it will find it's way back next year!  This is what makes public speaking fun.  Center of attention, probably builds up my Self-Assurance.

5. Analytical.  This strength is interested in finding clues, putting them together, taking them apart and finding different answers.  This one is always at play.  I love being analytical.  I love being over-analytical.  This blog post was supposed to be short.  But then I got to thinking, and well my Analytical nature ran with it!  When my Strategic and Analytical play together I can be a huge nerd.  But that's okay because my Self-Assurance doesn't care what you think.  HA!

These are my strengths, love them or leave them.  I'm just trying to make them work for me!

Over the course of this blog I may reference these...so, fyi.

This is me riding a poorly painted duck.  I was 26 when this was taken.  Self-Assurance.

Peace,

PTJ

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The One About the Megabus

 I’ll preface this with the simple fact that I dislike buses.  I had the same bus driver from first through eighth grade.  She stunk.  While she got me to school on time, she always managed to hit potholes, islands, and curbs successfully.  I never should have taken the Megabus, but I digress.

My New Sister (Britt)

My Sister, and my typical shenanigans

My Sister and New Brother

So, I planned on packing my stuff up on the 16^th, piling it all into Vye (my car) and taking more than a week to get to NOLA.  As usual, my plan did not come to fruition.  My sister, and my new sister decided it would be more fun to spend time with them in DC.  Pause.  Let me explain.  My sister is my biological sister.  She’s awesome and amazing in any number of ways.  I love to visit her.  Even more so is her husband (my new brother, well not so new anymore), they are about equal when it comes to amazingness.  Love visiting them both.  My new sister is Britt.  She is not impressive in any way, shape, or form, (LOL).  She's a pretty cool kid sister.  But she has attached herself to my family like a leech, and well…we don’t care enough to rid ourselves of her.  Un-pause?  So I headed to DC with my new sister and spent a week bumming on my sister’s couch.  Pause…again.  This couch is also amazing.  Being almost six feet tall it is hard to find a couch I fit on, and I fit on this one…and it’s comfy.  Un-pause…again?  So I hung out with Britt a little, I got to do the fun DC touristy stuff, and I got to eat at Crisp and Juicy && the most amazing Oreo cupcakes (See Britt’s blog for a picture).  This cupcake is only one reason I like to visit my sister.  She likes to cook.  She likes to blog.  She like to blog about her cooking, and you can follow her blog here.  Anywho, this amazing weekend had to come to an end, a tragically bitter end.

Smash cut to…

The Megabus.

So we (my sister and I) were running late to Union Station, but still managed to get to the bus five minutes before it pulled off.  We took a fair amount of grief from the bus driver about being late and other crap I wasn’t listening to…blah blah whatever.  I climbed the tiny stairs, I can only assume these stairs were made for elves, and found a seat next to a woman who had an affinity for biting her nails. Who makes seats this small?  My big self was not made to ride on this bus.  The bus takes off and loops around the city and goes back to Union Station.  “Why are we back?” asked one girl to someone on her phone.  Which was dumb.  The person on the phone didn’t know why we were back.  At this point I texted my sister the following:

Please note "Sister-Woman" a classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Reference

 We proceeded to sit at Union Station for 20 minutes.  Because some passengers arrived late.  Please remember the bus driver yelled at me for being five minutes early. Yeah.  Lame.  **Over-exaggerated eye-roll** Then we finally got on the road and I learned quickly that I didn’t belong on the bus.  Everyone fell asleep at the same time.  Not me.  There was a pain in my side.  I'm not sure if a nerve was pinched, or my fat was being pinched by the armrest, but it lasted the entire trip. My back was hurting, my knees were crammed into the seat in front of me, and the lady next to me kept kicking me.  **Side-eye** Then I realized there were still four hours left.  I tried to make myself more comfortable.  I tried to make myself fit in the seat.  I tried and tried.  I failed.  However, the lady next to me managed to contort herself into various positions while she slept.  She looked too comfortable.  Show off.  No one is impressed by you, lady.  To help relieve my jealousy, I texted Britt this:

Notice the Sadface.  I was feeling sad, so I used a sadface.

But what made me even more "sadface" was that after getting of the Megabus I would have to get on the SmartBus to get me back on campus.  I feverishly tried to find someone to pick me up.  I would have literally cried if I had to get on another bus. Not. A. Fan.  But my Knight-ess in Shiny Nissan Rogue came to pick me up.  THANKS SHANOYA!!!  Pause.  Riding in Shanoya's car was so comfortable for the following reasons:

1. I fit in the seat
2. Shanoya did not yell at me for being on time
3. We did not have to wait for people that were late
4. There was no pain in my side
5. Shanoya was not kicking me
6. Shanoya is a fun conversationalist.  Never a dull moment

This is to say I won’t ride the bus again.  I am not against public transportation.  I love people watching on the Metro.  Next time I go to DC I’m going to try just train hopping.  That sounds fun!  I will have a comment for everybody.  I did see a pair of loafers on the Metro that I liked. Hmmm, glad I remembered that.  They looked like this:

Me likey.  Me want to buy-ee.

Anyway, I made my way back to Blacksburg before making my way to NOLA.  But that’s a story for the next blog.

Peace,

PTJ

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Stretch First

Hey Y'all!

My cohort last day of class 2012

So for those who don't know, I am currently a 2nd year Masters student at Virginia Tech.  My cohort has made it through our first year, and I now consider us all second years.  Congrats y'all!  Now that I am done with that I am moving on to new experiences in my internship.

What internship?  Good question.  I am so blessed to be able to work with the great Student Affairs (SA) professionals at Tulane University in New Orleans.  But that doesn't begin until May 29th, so I have time.  I am spending sometime with family in Maryland before I make my way to NOLA.

My residence halls at Virginia Tech closed last week, and my RAs slowly left campus.  Keys were audited, and then I existed as an auxiliary on campus.  Hanging around, but severely not needed.  HA!  I was left alone to clean out my apartment, pack for Louisiana, then unpack and pack for Maryland and Louisiana simultaneously.  This was a big task, I have too much stuff.  Plain. And. Simple.  But I can't throw it away (cough *packrat* cough) I made it work, and made my way to MD.

Currently bumming on my sister's couch.  I am insanely close to DC but I am unbelievably content lying on the couch watching TV and avoiding the beltway.  At least a week of relaxation before summer classes start.  Essentially, I am in a stretching phase.  Preparing for the drive, the workload, and the classwork.

Speaking of running, I would probably consider myself...what's the word?  Slacking.  Yeah, I purposely left all of my running clothes at VT.  My training will commence when I arrive in NOLA.  If it doesn't I will be in trouble.  These adventures will probably be the funniest, because I do not take myself seriously when it comes to my running.

My 2nd Years

Speaking of things "commencing" I have to mention the newest group of SA professionals to graduate from VT.  I will always call them "My 2nd Years".  They are dynamic, energetic, hilarious, serious, candid, and will be exceptional in our field.  I am so glad to have known them and I hope to keep in touch with them over my lifetime.  Congrats again ladies and gents!

Welp, I guess that's all for now.  I will be chronicling my entire summer here, so please enjoy my typical insanity.

Peace,
PTJ

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