So like I said in my previous post about February: It's freakin' crazy!
Here's the rundown:
1. I run the staff selection process for our office. This means advertising, scheduling, and selecting the Housefellow and Floor Governor staff for the next year. Last year we had just enough candidates to fill our vacancies and this year I wanted to make sure that wasn't a problem. I did gorgeous 11x17 posters, did four info sessions and handed postcards out to our current staff to hand to people that said "I think you'd make a great HF/FG!" This resulted in over 100 candidates for 62 positions. I was amazed and excited and panicked. We hadn't expected this many candidates and didn't have enough interview slots scheduled! It was a mad house, but everyone got an interview and we ended up doing two FG group process sessions and one HF session. We know have a kick ass staff for next year and a sizable waitlist as well. Needless, one of the best problems to ever have with selection, but it was crazy. I ate at my desk during lunch more times than I can count.
2. Unfortunately, staff selection was not the only stressor during February. In March 2010, my Uncle Gerry was diagnosed with cancer. He was a fighter and had been fighting for a very long time. We had really started to reconnect again and we were talking pretty frequently. A few days after my last post, he called me to let me know that he was going home and they were starting hospice. It was devastating, because we knew the end was coming, we just didn't know when. Matt and I made arrangements to drive down to Lebanon that weekend and I will be forever grateful that we made that trip. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I would have regretted it forever if I hadn't had that opportunity. He died the next Saturday with his family around him. The funeral was the next week and it felt like I was just fighting to keep my head above the water. I know that he is in a better place and no longer in pain, but that doesn't it make it any easier that he is gone.
Here's the rundown:
1. I run the staff selection process for our office. This means advertising, scheduling, and selecting the Housefellow and Floor Governor staff for the next year. Last year we had just enough candidates to fill our vacancies and this year I wanted to make sure that wasn't a problem. I did gorgeous 11x17 posters, did four info sessions and handed postcards out to our current staff to hand to people that said "I think you'd make a great HF/FG!" This resulted in over 100 candidates for 62 positions. I was amazed and excited and panicked. We hadn't expected this many candidates and didn't have enough interview slots scheduled! It was a mad house, but everyone got an interview and we ended up doing two FG group process sessions and one HF session. We know have a kick ass staff for next year and a sizable waitlist as well. Needless, one of the best problems to ever have with selection, but it was crazy. I ate at my desk during lunch more times than I can count.
2. Unfortunately, staff selection was not the only stressor during February. In March 2010, my Uncle Gerry was diagnosed with cancer. He was a fighter and had been fighting for a very long time. We had really started to reconnect again and we were talking pretty frequently. A few days after my last post, he called me to let me know that he was going home and they were starting hospice. It was devastating, because we knew the end was coming, we just didn't know when. Matt and I made arrangements to drive down to Lebanon that weekend and I will be forever grateful that we made that trip. As hard as it was to say goodbye, I would have regretted it forever if I hadn't had that opportunity. He died the next Saturday with his family around him. The funeral was the next week and it felt like I was just fighting to keep my head above the water. I know that he is in a better place and no longer in pain, but that doesn't it make it any easier that he is gone.
3. The one thing that did distract and bolster me through that week was V-Week and the Vagina Monologues. We had an awesome week of events: teach-ins, panels, speakers, roundtable discussions, open mics and culminating in two glorious shows. We raised over $7000 for the Women's Center of Southeastern CT and made a difference in so many lives. There were over 80 women in the cast and it was so inspiring to see them all together for one cause. It is weeks like that I am so grateful for my job...it makes the small annoyances petty and easy to forget.
We are finally back to normal. We'll be dealing with lottery and working with our new system, but I'll be in much more of a supportive role then a lead role. I do need to get started on Spring Give 'n Go, but I have great students to work with this year to make it much easier!
Matt and I are headed to Altoona on Wednesday to see his parents and then heading to Pittsburgh on Friday to see Mike, Katie and the kids and spend time with our friends and other family members in that area. I'M SO EXCITED! We haven't seen the kids since the wedding and I miss them terribly. AND I get to see awesome W&J folk that I have also missed terribly! I told Marci the other night that I'm going to be the nerd who cries when I see those yellow bridges come into view....what can I say? I'm a Pittsburgh Girl through and through! One of my student's families just moved there and I was telling her about all the stuff to do in the city....she called me a human guide book :)
Tomorrow, I'm going to work on this little blog o' mine and update you on the fun things I've been cooking and the great things I've been reading. Yay for vacation!
We are finally back to normal. We'll be dealing with lottery and working with our new system, but I'll be in much more of a supportive role then a lead role. I do need to get started on Spring Give 'n Go, but I have great students to work with this year to make it much easier!
Matt and I are headed to Altoona on Wednesday to see his parents and then heading to Pittsburgh on Friday to see Mike, Katie and the kids and spend time with our friends and other family members in that area. I'M SO EXCITED! We haven't seen the kids since the wedding and I miss them terribly. AND I get to see awesome W&J folk that I have also missed terribly! I told Marci the other night that I'm going to be the nerd who cries when I see those yellow bridges come into view....what can I say? I'm a Pittsburgh Girl through and through! One of my student's families just moved there and I was telling her about all the stuff to do in the city....she called me a human guide book :)
Tomorrow, I'm going to work on this little blog o' mine and update you on the fun things I've been cooking and the great things I've been reading. Yay for vacation!