Train on Campus

 

Today was another annoying day at work. I had to take some online training, and they provided a Word document with lots of places for notes, because there would be a final exam. There were quizzes in each module, and I did fine on those, but I took copious notes for fear of how detailed the final exam would be. Then finally I finished all the modules and got to the final exam... and it was one question: "Did you complete all the modules?" Who's going to answer No?? So I took all those notes for nothing. Sigh...

At least on my morning break there was a train, and I heard it coming so I could get into position to make a video. Now most trains that go through campus have about five cars, but only once I was committed to filming did I realize this was going to be a five-minute train. But, fear not! It's not just five minutes of train going by, because there's something odd going on that I didn't notice in person but realized once I watched the video on my computer: some guy seems to be taking photos of me! Now who would want to take a photo of a plump, middle-aged woman making a video of a train?? I am standing in front of Agriculture Hall, so it's possible he was just taking pictures of that, but it looks like he spots me and then decides to take photos of me from different angles. You can judge for yourselves. This is looking down Henry Mall at Engineering Hall.

It was a beautiful, sunny day, so ideal for taking a video of a train from this lovely vantage point. I just wish it hadn't been quite so long. And I'm sure all the cars you can see accumulating on the road had drivers that wished the same thing!

Famous Hat

Bucks Playoff Game

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a few days. Wednesday I was at an all-day conference that was very interesting; I went to sessions on bystander training for bad situations, nonverbal communication, and writing better emails. There isn’t much parking at the conference site, so I parked at work and walked over – usually an easy walk of about a mile and a half, but as I was walking it poured on me, and I was absolutely soaked. My shoes and socks were still wet twelve hours later when I got home from band practice! The wrap-up session got done early, and it hardly seemed worth going back to work for half an hour, so I went to the Arboretum to enjoy the blooming crabapple trees before band practice. Tiffy had wanted to stop by the Arboretum on Sunday, and the crabapples weren’t open yet, but that day we enjoyed the magnolias. We couldn’t find the one that smells like a cinnamon red-hot, which I have smelled in previous years, but we did find one I hadn’t noticed before that smells just like a birthday cake. Most of them smell vaguely lemony.

Yesterday I left work early so that Travalon and I could go to Milwaukee for the Bucks playoff game. It was the sixth in the series against Toronto, and they were down a game, so they had to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. I wore the Greek Freak jersey Travalon had won, and almost everyone else wore one too. Now I can see why – the Greek Freak was by far the best player on the team. He has a very long Greek (or maybe Nigerian) name, Giannis Antetokounmpo, which I have no idea how to pronounce. The rest of the team weren’t doing too much, so they were down by 20 points, and I thought the game was over. However, in the second half they went on a monster run and were actually up by two points with just a few minutes left in the game. Ultimately they lost by three, but the game was still a ton of fun. We all got towels to wave every time the Bucks made a basket or did something amazing defensively, and the halftime show was a lady called the Red Panda who rode a tall unicycle and kept tossing bowls on her head until she was balancing a tall stack of them. Coolest of all, a giant inflatable deer came out after her show and floated around the arena for the rest of halftime. I can imagine what a person from a hundred years ago would think if they saw such a thing! Basketball games are crazy; the Badgers always have random stuff going on too. Still, it’s really about the game, and that was very exciting. Maybe next year the Bucks will do even better!

Famous Hat

All Day Conference

Yesterday I was at an all-day conference and attended classes on etiquette, communication, personality traits, and body language. They fed us well, and it was fun to have a day off of work, but the classes really were the best part. I could use some remedial instruction in body language! The speaker told us if you spend two minutes in the Power Pose (think of Wonder Woman with her hands on her hips), you actually feel more powerful and your confidence soars. I am willing to try it – what do I have to lose but two minutes standing in a silly pose? And I’m passing this tip on to all my readers too, many of whom are women, since we women tend to stand and sit in poses that make us feel less powerful and confident. Another power pose is to raise your hands over your head as if you have just won an Olympic event. I could go on and on about the etiquette of handshakes and voice mails but will not bore my readers with too much detail unless it is demanded. The interesting thought I will leave you with is from the Communication class: you start with a set of facts, you tell yourself a story about it, that makes you feel a certain way, and then you act a certain way. You cannot change the facts, so the place to make the change is the story you tell yourself. That will change your feelings and ultimately your actions. As the speaker says, this isn’t an easy thing to do, but it’s worth trying.

Famous Hat

True Adventure: Training Day!

Sorry for the silence yesterday, but I was at Training Day all day. Wow, an entire day of "work" for which I was paid and all I had to do was go to classes where they explained that we can't help getting pissed off because of our brain chemistry, and we might as well improve what we are good at and to heck with the stuff we aren't good at. I'll take that kind of training any day! Plus they fed us well.

In one class they had us make a pie chart of our life outside of work and sleep (i.e., the supposedly 72 hours of free time we have every week) to see if it actually matched with our core values. Mine did, but to my surprise everyone else around me seemed shocked that there was no overlap. (One woman had one-fourth of her pie chart taken up with "Watching TV"!) My coworker who makes the beautiful cakes said she thought a venn diagram would represent my life better than a pie chart, since so many areas have overlap, so here is the venn diagram of my life:

Figure 1: Venn diagram of Famous Hat's Leisure Time

(HH=hedgehog)

Famous Hat