Dear Mr. Driver...

Good morning!  Hope that you have had a nice weekend.  Mine has been very productive.  I was able to spend time with Sarah and Myles, I spoke at an IUPUI event to promote IUPUI and Housing to students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, cleaned up our place, and responded to some key emails.  Yeah!

Every now and then, maybe once a month, a driver on the road will honk at me, wave me down, or yell at me for running on the side of the road.  Today, this happened again.  I was running on the road where the old baseball field is located, there was not another vehicle in sight from either direction, and this guy drives past me, points at me, mouths something that I could not hear because he was in a car, and swerves his car like he's going to hit me.  What a JERK!  Seriously, it's Sunday morning, there is no traffic in sight, and this yahoo wants to cause a scene.  So...after he passed me I turned around, smiled the biggest smile possible, and waved like I thought he was just trying to say hello.  Ha!  This sort of behavior is something that I'll never understand, but it happens frequently.  Runners and grumpy drivers just don't always get along.  And...I sort of get it.  If you've never run then you have no idea what it's like and why we prefer the road to sidewalks (road is softer on the knees).  But...as a driver I do find it annoying when people run out in front of you or walk across a busy street--so I get that.  In this situation, though, I was well out of his way and there was no need for the drama.  No need at all. 

This past week was a busy one as I attended our departmental retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the Graduate Student Recruitment Outreach for HESA (Higher Education and Student Affairs) in Bloomington on Thursday and Friday.  It was awesome to interview high quality candidates from all over the United States.  I spoke with candidates from coast to coast.  We will have an extraordinarily difficult time deciding on who to offer our positions.  The HESA Program is going to be loaded with talent and that's great for our department and great for Indiana University's highly rated HESA program.   Now...I'm off to Philadelphia in 10 days to recruit full time Residence Directors.  Recruitment for Housing positions in the Spring is a four month deal from January until May.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post.  I hope you have an outstanding week.  Happy running to you!

Nightmare City...

Myles is ALIVE & WELL!

Good Morning.  I was able to get in a very nice 5 mile run this morning before heading to Bloomington for Outreach Weekend two (where we recruit graduate students for our HRL Program).  Wow, did I need a run to process the absolute hellish nightmare I had.  I woke up crying and upset. 

So...yesterday was the 24 year anniversary of Bob Knight throwing the chair against Purdue.  Just keep that in mind as you read this.

So...I had this dream that I had to take Myles in for a routine vet visit.  For some reason I had to take him to a substitute vet place instead of our vet.  When I went to pick him up they said something went wrong and he was dead.  I was like WHAT!?!  I got real upset and they brought him out. I was freaking OUT.  I vividly recall picking him up, holding him, and taking him to my 4Runner.  I just sat in the parking lot of the vet sobbing and wondering what in the heck I was going to tell Sarah.  Then...I just lost my cool, ran back inside the vet, started screaming at them, picked up a chair, and slammed it repeatedly against the desk until it broke.  As I looked up, it was actually the nasty, horrible woman from Pro Tow (long story about the worst business in America--look up Pro Tow Indy and you can see my review), and she was the one who killed my dog.  I was FURIOUS and just lost my cool again and tossed the broken chair across the room.  I ended up getting back into my car and driving home.  On the way home, to my surprise, Myles just jumped up, got on my lap, and he was ALIVE.  What the heck!?!?  Yes, he was alive.  So...then I went to our real vet with Myles to have him checked out and he was fine.  Wow...What a crazy, crazy dream!  No more starburst before I go to bed.  Where is the real Myles right now you ask?  He's sitting on my lap chewing a bone while I type.  Whew.  I love my pup so much and that dream was WAY TOO DISTURBING.

I'm off to go to work.  Busy day ahead in what has been a very active work week.  I love it.  I cannot lie.  And...in the spirit of being a good sport:  Congrats to Purdue.  It pains me to say it, but you played a nice game.  Happy running to you...

Into The Wind...

Happy Sunday Morning to you!  I just finished up a nice 7.25 mile run.  This week I ran 30.75 miles and really got back on track with my training.  This was probably my best week of training this year.  Now it's time to keep it rolling.

Today the second half of my run was directly into a chilly wind.  Usually, I try to run into the wind first and then with the wind on the way back.  Today, though, the wind was blowing in a way that made that impossible.  As I was running, though, the wind made me think about challenges in life.  I write all the time about challenges in life and how running helps prepare me to tackle challenges.  I also thought, "hey, Josh, how many times can you write about the same thing."  But...it got me thinking a bit.  Being a positive person and believing you can overcoming difficult situations is not something that one can just think about just every now and then.  Rather, it's something that you have to think about every day.  It's got to be an ingrained mentality that you rely upon all the time.  Sure, I could dedicate a blog post once or twice a year, and then and tell some story about how running helps me tackle a challenge.  However, this philosophy is one that I practice daily.  You have to be willing to run into the wind on a daily basis in order to achieve what you really want.  You have to be willing to run into a difficult situation if you ultimately want to experience success.  In my professional, personal, and running life I have gained the most by being willing to tackle the most difficult obstacles because in times of great challenge lie great opportunities.  That's not my line, but I can attest to the fact that it's true.  If you are willing to step up and help at work, at home, or where needed during tough times, then you will really be in a position to seize an opportunity.  For me, running into the wind is just another way that running helps prepare me for real life difficult situations.



Josh being a "Poophead"



On a different note I'd like to send a shout out to my wife, Sarah, who put up with some of my nonsense on Friday.  We were playing "Words with Friends" and she was kicking my butt and I was a bad sport.  If you recall a few blog posts back I wrote about being competitive and not liking to compete against my friends and loved ones because I can be a jerk.  It's true.  Sarah and I usually play on the same team in games.  But...we like to play Words with Friends against each other.  So...I say thank you to my wife for forgiving my poor sportspersonship on Friday.  I have a wonderful wife who appreciates the raw, unedited Josh on a daily basis.  I love her for it.  The picture to the side here shows what she had to deal with.  :-)

Have a great week and Happy Running to you!  I have an intense work week so I may only be able to post a short blog on Wednesday or Thursday...

Time Trial Saturday...

Good morning.  Last week I wrote about my running times goals for 2011.  After much internal contemplation, I decided that I had two goals:  Break 5 minutes for the mile and break 17 minutes for the 5K.  Today, I ran a one mile time trial to set a baseline for the mile goal. 

I had no idea what I would be able to run for a mile on the track (4 laps equals a mile).  I've not attempted to run at race pace since September when I ran in The Ripple Effect 4 Mile race in Broadripple.  I felt like I could break six minutes, but had not idea I'd run as well as I did.  I went out and hit 82 seconds for the first quarter mile and then was at 2:49 for the half-mile.  On the third lap, I knew that I could put a mile in the 5:30s if I kept running at the pace I was running.  I finished the third lap and my time was 4:15.  I knew I'd have to break 85 seconds for the last lap to hit under 5:40.  I ended up throwing down a 79 second final lap and hit 5:34 for the mile.  Not too bad.  I would have been happy for a mile in the 5:50s and elated to be in the 5:40s.  So...I'm super duper pumped up to have hit a 5:34.  I just have to shave off 35 seconds over the course of the next 8 months to meet my 10/24/11 goal.

This week was exciting, as IUPUI HRL (Housing & Res Life) was in Bloomington recruiting graduate students to come and join our team.  We interviewed some outstanding candidates and it's very clear that if we can land them on our team that we will be loaded with talent.  We hired our undergraduate student staff this past week and that 40 person team is deep in talent.  Our next big step is to recruit and hire four new members for our Res Life Supervisory Team as we lose three outstanding grads to graduation.

My man Mr. Myles is laying her next to me while I type my post run blog.  This little guy is so cute.  However, when he wakes up at 3a and starts licking my ears and chewing on Sarah's hair, then he's not so cute.  But...we are crazy about our little guy and it's worth being awake at 3:15a even though it's somewhat disruptive to the sleep cycle.  Go Hoosiers today against Northwestern.  Happy running to you...

Mid-Week Check-In

Whew.  Don't blink or you may miss my life going by in a hurry.  That's what I feel like these days as life is action packed with work, running, IU Hoops, and good home life.  The pace is fast and aggressive, and I like it that way.  On my run this morning and then in walking Myles this afternoon I was thinking about where I was two years ago--working in a job that I just was not feeling and where they were just not feeling me.  It was not that it was a bad job, but it was a bad job fit for me.  I'm a Housing and Res Life person, not a HR person...And there is nothing wrong with that.  They wanted procedures and decisions and I wanted to ask how people were doing and have everyone do ice breakers.  It just was not a good fit.  I told one of my Grads, Drew, today that "I get up and live my dream every day."  And it's true, my dream is to influence lives in a positive way, to make a significant difference, and to have fun doing it.  I'm very fortunate to be living the dream I had in mind when I earned my college degree and subsequent Masters Degree.  I'm a lucky guy.

Two years ago I was down and nearly down for the count.  It was about this time that I made some significant moves to change my life's direction, the most significant being my attitude.  See, it was not my boss at the time's fault that I was in the wrong job.  After all, I took the job and she gave me a shot.  I just let being so down about not being in Res Life and Housing change my attitude.  For my life to change in the spring of 2009, I had to first change my attitude.  And...I did.  I scheduled a meeting with Vicky (who eventually became my boss) about getting involved in Housing.  I presented at a campus leadership conference to students.  I volunteered to help with Student Staff Interviews and then to lead some Spring Training sessions.  Then...a job opened, I applied, and earned a spot on the HRL team.  Now...I am so very happy and truly fortunate.  And...it all started with accepting the reality that I, Josh Skillman was responsible for my attitude and for putting myself in a position to get where I wanted.  Good things that you want don't usually just drop out of the sky.  I've spent 13 out of the last 14 years working in Housing (RA, GA, RHD, AC, AD) and I've learned a lot, but the lesson I learned in the one year I did not work in Housing may rank as life's most important:  It's not how you respond when things are going well that defines your character.  Rather, it's how you respond when things are not going your way that truly defines who you are.  I'm thankful for that experience, although at the time I was miserable. 

Running is a funny thing as this particular series of memories continue to bubble up on my runs.  It was two years ago this month that I changed my attitude--thus changing the course of my life.  So...I guess it's probably the time of the year that brings it back.  For those who read my blog, I once again will reiterate what I stated a few weeks back:  My hope for you is that you find something that you love and just cannot wait to get up and go do.  I'm lucky to have found that in work, running, and in my personal life.  I hope you can find that too.  Happy running to you...

Goals Before I Turn The Big 35...

Hello elephant, it's Josh.  Yes, I've been ignoring setting running goals for the year.  I'm not quite for sure why, but I've been ignoring it.  If I know me, and I do since I am me, then it's because once I set a goal I'm hell bent on achieving it.  Over the past few weeks the idea for a goal for this year has been evolving.  Today, I committed to it.



Jack Rabbit 10K in 2007.  Great year of running!



I turn the Big 35 this year.  Ouch, that sounds really adult.  I work with college students every day and I sometimes forget that I'm in the my 30s.  Running, however, reminds me sometimes.  The annoying aches and pains that did not used to be there are now present.  But...I still have a good 10-15 years left where I can really compete and run some amazing times.  Over the past few years I've been focused on half-marathons and full marathons and I've had some good luck with it (2:48 Marathon at Eugene in 2008).  However, I've struggled to run a good half-marathon as I've not been able to crack below 1:19.  I used to run 1:15 halfs and I know I can do it again.  I just think I've been going about it backwards.  I've been building by running a lot of distance.  Maybe, I need to add speed first and then distance. 



So...when I think about wanting to still be able to run a good half and still wanting to feel studly at 35 I think that there is one thing I can do to achieve both.  The Mile and 5K.  So...my goal before I turn 35 is to run a 4:59 or better mile and a 16:59 or better 5K.  It's not that far fetched.  In the summer and fall of 2007 I ran a 4:55 mile on the track and a 16:47 5K on the road.  It's been four years, but I know I can still get back to those times.  The closest I've been to a sub 5 mile is 5:19 both last year and the year before.  The closest I've been to a sub 17 5K is 17:15 last summer.  However, I've not trained to really peak at either in a long time.  So...look out. I am committing to running a sub 5 mile and a sub 17 minute 5K by October 24, 2011--my 35th birthday. 

Once the track clears I will set a baseline in both and report back on the blog.  I'll keep you all up to date on my progress--including my training and how I'm going to attack it--as I go.  Of course, I'll continue to blog about my daily musings, but for those of you who love to read about running and training you'll not be disappointed.  Have a great Sunday morning!  Happy running to you...

Nice Saturday Morning Run...

Good morning.  Quick entry here before I head off to our Group Interview Process this morning.  I had a very nice run this morning.  Yeah, I ran at 6:30a on a Saturday morning.  Sick, I know.  But...I cannot run this afternoon because IU plays at 4p and Group Process ends at 3:30p.  So...If I want to watch my beloved Hoosiers, then I had to run early.

Speaking of my beloved Hoosiers...It's so much fun watching Indiana Basketball again.  I love what Coach Crean is doing in Bloomington and I love the players on this team.  These guys are getting better every game, they are working their tails off, and they are really developing into a nice unit.  Our record will not reflect improvement, but if you watch the team then you know they've gone from having zero shot to win two years ago to having a real shot in every game this season.  We've had the lead or been within 3 points with five minutes to go in 7 games that we've lost.  We are 12-13, but could easily be 19-6 or 18-7.  Heck, if we had just pulled out the MSU and Iowa games we'd be 14-12.  None-the-less, games that we lost by 25 two years ago and 18 last year, we are now in and can win.  I fully expect next year to be very special for this team.  I'd love Verdell Jones and Tom Pritchard to lead this team back to the NCAA Tourney in 2012.  Heck, I'd love for them to do that this season in the Big 10 Tourney.  I digress.  Anyway, these guys love IU like I love IU.  At Indiana, we have a way of doing things:  hard work on the court, attend classes and perform well academically, and represent off the court.  These guys get it and I'm so proud.  I'd rather have a team scratching and clawing to get to .500, than have the Kelvin Sampson team that was very good but a disgrace off the court and in the classroom.  Indiana Basketball can never just be about winning--there's a right way to win, the Bob Knight-Coach K-Roy Williams-Tubby Smith-Coach Crean way.  I love it and I'm so dog gone proud of this team and so fired up to watch them today.

Happy running to you!

Taking time for moi...

Happy Friday afternoon to you.  This afternoon I do something I rarely do.  I went home early from work.  There are two people to thank for this:  My wife, Sarah, and my co-worker and friend, Dee Dee.  I have been working a great deal lately and to be honest it is starting to get in the way of my outside work time--less time with Sarah and less time running.  So...today I left at 3p.  It was weird, but nice.

I had a great run this afternoon.  It was in the 20s and the 20s felt so much better than when it was 5 degrees.  The ice is still on the ground in spots so I had to watch my footing, but all in all it was a fantastic run.  The sun was out, my legs felt fresh (and they should since I've not used them in two days), and the music was pumping.  Speaking of music, I hate to admit it but I love that song, Firework by Katy Perry.  I have to confess it started playing at the end of my run and I just danced in the parking lot next to where we lived and sprinted around laughing and jumping.  It felt GREAT!  And...I know I looked silly and strange, but I love the song and love the message of the song.  I know it makes me cheesy and a dork, but loving that song and it's message is also what makes me...me.  Anyway, I'm one happy camper right now. 

Life is good and I'm looking forward to my evening with Sarah & Myles and possibly a couple bottles of Fat Tire--tied for best beer in the world with Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.  Have a great evening and happy running to you...

Mile 23 at Big Sur...

Good morning.  This will not be a very long entry.  Just wanted to jot down some thoughts.  I had a very nice run this morning at 5:45a.  Another day of ice and temps in the teens, but I ran through it.  The ice now, at least, is not falling but rather deeply embedded into the sidewalks.  Anyway, it was a nice 4.5 mile run.

At work things have become very busy lately and we are down three key staff members.  Much of the workload falls to our Res Life Supervisory Team--and a good deal falls to me.  I have been asked if I'm going to get tired, warn out, or burned out.  My answer is always, "no."  My "no" is generally met with the shaking of the head and some disbelief.  But...I know I won't get tired.  I know it as sure as I know we need oxygen to breathe.  My capacity to handle fatigue is tested daily when I run and I have learned so much about handling fatigue through running.

In April of 2006 I ran in the Big Sur Marathon (that's me in the red hat).  This was my comeback marathon after being out of running for about three years.  Big Sur is beautiful, but also extremely hilly.  Extremely.  It generally chews people up and spits them out.  At mile 23 of Big Sur I was hurting!!!  My quads felt like someone was slamming bricks on them and I just wanted to quit.  I stopped for a second, regained my composure, and devised a plan of walking and running to the finish so I could make it.  And...that got me through mile 23, and then I was able to run all of mile 24, 25, and 26.  I mention Mile 23 because that was my wall in the race and I had to figure out how to get around it.  Sure, it would not have mattered in the scheme of life if I hitched a ride back to the finish, but I was not about to do that.  Similarly, if I hit a wall at work, and hit them I have and will, I'll find a way around it or a way through it.  I do it every day when I run.  Consequently, I'm ready to do it everyday in my work.  And...at Big Sur I gave my absolute best effort on the course and finished in 3:08--qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which is tough to do on the Big Sur Race Course. 

Have a great day.  Get out there, go for a run, and practice breaking through walls.  If you practice everyday, you'll never run out of steam (NOTE:  you have to allow yourself an appropriate amount of rest, patience, and common sense as well).  Happy running to you...

Competitive...

I've seen a lot lately about people using a word or two to describe themselves.  It's a cool concept, although I've not really participated.  I'd have a difficult time coming up with a "few" words because I'm so long-winded, but one word I know would be there is "competitive."  Being competitive helps me be very good at my work and a pretty good runner.  If unchecked, though, being competitive can also be quite maddening for those around me.

Since I can recall, I've been extremely competitive.  As a kid I HATED to lose and I always wanted to be first or the best.  In youth baseball I can recall a time where I was so mad about striking out that I threw my bat, tossed my gum, ran to the dugout and tossed my batting gloves on the roof.  I was competitive with a capitol "C."  In fact, I once skipped a nice family vacation to Dallas when I was 13 so that I could play in a rec league baseball tournament.  Thinking back on it, that was crazy, but I worked on my parents for weeks to let me stay and play. 

When I was a junior in high school I finally found a very positive way to channel my competitive energy when a cross country and track coach, Coach Rowe, finally convinced me to use my running talent to actually run instead of just sitting on the bench as a basketball player.  I immediately loved running because running allowed me to channel my competitive nature in a more positive way for two reasons.  One, running is about being a member of a larger community that is peaceful and kind.  Chest thumping and trying to simply beat another person is not really valued.  Two, Coach Rowe did not allow for us to lose our cool or to act like Bob Knight.  I respected (and still respect) Coach Rowe so much and he would have never allowed me or any teammate to lose our cool like I used to do in recreational baseball.  One time I lost my cool after a race, and you better believe Coach Rowe had me running stairs in the stadium.  At the time, I needed that type of caring discipline.  I still think of Coach Rowe to this day when I start to lose my cool. 

I'm not perfect by any means and I learn that daily.  At work, I'm not only competitive and want our department to be one of the best around, but I'm also a perfectionist.  When you put those two together, look out.  While I don't  have Coach Rowe in my daily life, I have the best wife in the world, Sarah.  Sarah often reminds me that I need to cool it and relax and she extends a great deal of patience when I'm in a tizzy.  I love her for it and I"m extremely lucky to have her. 

Being competitive is something I love about me and it's something I hate about me too sometimes.  It drives me to get up and run a 5a when it's 10 degrees outside, but it also causes me to lose my temper over an email that I probably won't even care about next week.  My competitive nature helps me achieve great feats in running and in my profession, but it also causes me to be frustrated with a bad race or mistakes by myself or others.  When in balance, my competitive nature is a wonderful asset.  When out of balance, my competitive nature can make me insufferable.  Fortunately, I spend most of my time in balance.  However, when I'm feeling out of balance, I'm fortunate that I have three things that bring me quickly back to reality:  Sarah, Myles, and Running.  This morning I was feeling a bit restless and agitated and I went for a run.  I came back much happier, calmer, and with the perspective I needed. 

We all probably have strengths that are good and bad for us and we need some forces to help balance those.  My hope for you is that you have that, and my really hope that running can help.  Have a great Sunday.  I'm wearing my Peyton Manning jersey and going to watch the Superbowl.  Go Colts!  I know that they are not playing, but I love my Colts!  Happy running to you...

A snowy run...

Happy weekend to you!  Today I was able to run for the first time all week.  Believe it or not, I finally found something that prevented me from running:  Ice Storm.  Amazingly, the ice coated everything and it would have done more harm than good to run.  Couple the conditions with my responsibility in my position for emergency response and it was just impossible to run.  Today, however, I was able to get out there for about 4.25 miles.  It was snowing and probably snowed about an inch during my run, but I loved it.  Running when it's snowing is actually quite fun.  So happy to be out there running again.

Yesterday, we conducted our undergraduate student staff interviews and I was just blown away (positively).  Our focus this year for our student staff (RA's, LYFE Leaders, Social Justice Advocates) has been about connecting to their residents.  We focus heavily on knowing who lives in our communities and making sure that the students who live on the IUPUI Campus know that we care, that we are there for them, and that they are valued.  Heck, we even track it through our weekly reporting system.  Our 40 student staff members reported having over 2600 Resident Interactions (significant conversations with residents) last semester alone and that's not counting just the times they said hello to someone.  It's really paying off.  In six out of eight interviews I heard, "I am applying for this position because of my RA" and a couple went on to comment on how they wanted to be in a student staff role so they could help new students next year just like their RA helped them this year.  And...they also mentioned our LYFE Leaders and SJA's and could articulate that there was a difference between those two positions and the RA position.  I was astounded.  And...it was just not in my interviews.  We interviewed 75 candidates yesterday and the supervisory team reported they heard these sorts of comments all day long.  I'm so proud of our staff.  There are very few things more important in the Res Life business than making sure your undergraduate staff connects with residents and I'm so proud that our staff is out there implementing one of our major goals.  Our HRL staff had a great week when you think about dealing with the ice storm that put us in emergency operation for about three days and then conducting student staff interviews.   I'm just blown away by the effort and so appreciative.  Kudos to Kat Dennehy and Allison Loyal--selection committee co-chairs. 

Sarah, Myles, and I are enjoying a nice weekend together.  Myles and I posed for a new picture together, as you can see.  I want to send a big GOOD LUCK out to my cousin Tracy who will be running in her first half-marathon tomorrow.  I was able to talk to her on the phone last week and it was awesome to hear about her training and preparation for the race.  Running a half-marathon takes a ton of time and it requires dedication for several months.  Tracy is new to running and I'm so impressed by how quickly she has decided to tackle the half-marathon.  She's going to rock it out.  No doubt about it! 

Have an outstanding day.  Happy running to you...

The Bomb Yo...

Wow.  It's been a crazy few days here in Indianapolis.  Like much of the country, we have been subjected to this wild winter storm.  For us in Indianapolis, it meant about 1.5 inches of ice and a campus wide and state wide emergency.  When you work in Housing and Residence Life, this means you are on stage and should be ready to perform.  This, my friends, was our Superbowl.

For the past year our campus has been thinking about emergencies and really preparing for handling one.  Our staff has been trained, drilled, and prepared for a variety of scenarios.  We have "command centers" and "incident commanders" and "communication plans" for just about any scenario.  You hope you don't have to use your plans, but on a week like this one I was so glad we had one. While we all deal with winter weather, we were facing the possibility of losing power and heat for our residents spread through three different communities.  We do not have dining halls on campus, so we were facing the possibility of running out of food as well.  We were all hoping that we would avoid that, but as the storm approached it looked like a strong possibility.  I ended up staying in one of the apartments on campus and eventually Sarah and Myles joined me.  Our RA, Dillon, even made us a door decoration and welcome sign (see photo).

The storm hit, and hit hard as ever.  To put in in perspective, the campus has been closed for three days strait.  I don't believe the campus has been closed three days in the last 20 years for weather.  Anyway, very quickly our plan was put into effect.  I attended the campus emergency meetings, then I contacted our Res Life Supervisory Team and met with them, and then they met with their staff.  Really, part two and three is where the magic happened.  Our student staff--both graduate and  undergraduate--went door to door to check on students to make sure they had food, they planned events so that students had something to do while stuck in the buildings, and they just did a great job making sure that our students on campus knew we were here.  We had pizza parties, dance nights, pancake breakfasts, Zumba, a Grilled Cheese Night, and Hot Chocolate and movies.  The Student Staff came through in a HUGE way and it was just so amazing to watch (see pictures).  They even created a "Situation Room," which absolutely cracked me up.  We are in day four here of the emergency response with today being the last one as campus reopens at 5p today.  This week has been one of those weeks where it was constant monitoring to make sure we were good in the present, but also good for the future in case we did lose all power and utilities.  While the worst case scenario did not occur (thank goodness), the staff implemented our plan to perfection.  Yesterday, I was walking to our 4Runner getting ready to go home for the first time since Monday and I overheard students from Ball Hall saying, "wow, we have a dance tonight and more pizza and wings...I just cannot believe they are doing all this for us."  I could not be any happier with our staff effort and it was nice to hear our students recognize that we were taking care of them.  I'm so proud of them because when the big moment came, they just did it.  In the words of Randy Jackson, they were "the bomb, yo!"   em

I would be completely and utterly remiss if I did not mentioned our Service and Maintenance Staff in Housing.  While 99% of employees did not report to work on our campus because of the weather, our SM staff had to be here to help clean off the entry ways, take care of the trash, and clean up the ice and salt in the lobby areas.  They worked tirelessly in the bitter cold removing up to 1.5 inches of ice.  It was hard, thankless work and they just did it too.  No complaining.  They just did what they do.  Tony Dungy talks a lot in his book Quiet Strength about doing the common things in an uncommon way and our SM staff did that.  They were outstanding and you just have to love them for that.  To quote Randy Jackson again, they were "the bomb yo!"

As I sit her on this Thursday morning I am humbled by the efforts of our staff.  At the end of the day in emergency type situations you are judged by how you perform no matter what the conditions.  Our staff was simply outstanding and that will keep me smiling for days.  Happy running to you (as you may imagine I've not been able to given the ice)...

Pancakes at Park Place & Pizzas at Ball Hall