A very Indiana thing to do

Today while I was working the main Residence Life desk, the students and I were talking about things that I had to do before I left Indiana if I really wanted to say I had a true "Indiana experience". The conversation was spurred by the John Mellencamp concert I saw last night.

The concert was great. Little Big Town opened the concert and though they are a very new country band without a lot of well known songs, they sounded great live. Mellencamp put on a great show - everything I expected. He gave a few liberal speals (which I loved but did get a boo or two in this crazy red state), he cursed (to be expected), and he smoked on stage (I do not like smoking- nasty habit - but I do have to say he does smoke like a man: cigarette between the middle and ring finger, doesn't hold on to the cigarette when he is inhaling. Definitely not effeminate like most men who smoke!) The songs were great though Mellencamp kept whispering to his band members - hope he wasn't chewing them out - I heard he can be quite a mean guy. Anyways, Mellencamp played a lot of great songs but he forgot to play "Dance Naked" which is one of my faves. He did play a few blues songs which I didn't like. I understand that as an artist it might get boring playing "Jack and Diane" every time you are on stage but he has such a vast collection of songs that he does not need to be playing songs he never covered before especially when he doesn't play all of his popular songs! I didn't get to buy a concert shirt because they did not have my size in any of the shirts I liked (talk about poor merchandising!) Mellencamp did earn some bonus points though when he did not play an encore. I so dislike bands that "pretend" the show is over and then come back for another song or two - really, play all your songs and then end the show. Whoever thought of the first encore is stupid and thankfully Mellencamp didn't do it (neither does one of my favorite bands - SoCo!!!!).

Anyways, back to my conversation with the students, when I first moved to Indiana everyone said I would get to see Mellencamp because he plays all the small towns in Indiana since he is from Seymour, Indiana and sings about small towns. I almost didn't get to see him but thankfully he went on tour just at the right time! I had a student that told me last summer I would need to do three things before I left Indiana:

1. Almost hit a deer
2. Watch a Indiana High School basketball game
3. Get struck by lightening

Um, yeah, sorry Anthony, I haven't done any of that crazy stuff!

The students today decided I should go to a Demolition Derby and visit a meth lab. Apparently they think that demolition derbies and drug usage are specific to only the state of Indiana. I did attend a demolition derby out here last August and it wasn't any different then the one in Yucca Valley that I saw like 10 years ago. And I don't know why I would go to a meth lab...I have known enough people whose lives have been f*ed up by that stuff (there but for the grace of God go I) so I don't need to see anymore.

It is funny though to hear what everyone thinks is unique to this area. I would like to eat dinner at an Amish restaurant (Kourt and I are going to do this in a couple weeks) and I think I should see an Indy race sometime this summer.

Motivation

Cross your fingers!

I am off to my job conference - please keep your fingers crossed and send me all the good vibes you can. Quite a few of you are a bit confused by how this job search process works. In case you have not figured out yet, this student affairs field is different from all other field. Hopefully this will make it a little easier to understand.

Every year there are about a dozen or so job conferences for people in Student Affairs. Three years ago I went to a conference called OPE (Osh Kosh Placement Exchange that was held in Wisconsin). That conference is largely geared towards entry level professional (those without experience). This year I am going to ACPA which is a convention for people in Student Affairs - usually those with advance degrees and/or experience. During the convention, they also have an event called Placement where I hope to find a job.

I, along with 700 other job seekers, registered to attend Placement in November. I was able to post a resume and create a profile that described who I was and what I was looking for in my next employer. Because I was a registered candidate, I was able to search through the open positions that the 600 or so employers list on the website. Each employer has on average 1.5 positions available. I sent my resume packet to schools that I was interested in and was able to preschedule interviews with schools that were interested in me.

As of today, I have 11 prescheduled interviews. Not all schools preschedule so I expect to add a few when I get to the conference which is in Indianapolis (just about three hours away). Each interview will last about half an hour. Some schools will ask me to schedule a second half hour interview with someone else from their school. After the conference, the schools will take all the files from all the candidates at this conference and any other conference they attended and decided who they think will "fit" best with their institution. Those people will be invited to an on-campus interview which lasts about a day and a half.

Hope this clarified some of the confusion. Happy St Patrick's Day!

Melly is a mommy!

Melodie and Jared welcomed little Garrett Carson into the world today. Everyone was expecting a girl so Garrett was a bit of a surprise. Congratulations!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my friend Chelle's Birthday!
This picture is from when she came to visit me a couple years ago and we went to Turtle Park in St. Louis. I can't wait to move so she will come and visit me again. Hanging out with her is super fun!

I don't make my bed for health reasons - HA!

Why an Unmade Bed Is Healthier

(FROM http://channels.netscape.com/homerealestate/package.jsp?name=fte/unmadebed/unmadebed&floc=LIV-1_T)

Neatniks, cover your eyes. New research from Kingston University in the United Kingdom has concluded that an unmade bed is not only unappealing to the eyes, but also unappealing to house dust mites, which are thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

The average bed can be home to as many as 1.5 million house dust mites, and when a bed is made up, it traps moisture in the sheets and mattress--ideal conditions for those mites. But the bugs apparently have a harder time surviving in the drier conditions of an unmade bed, reports the BBC News.

The big takeaway: Since dust mites are a leading cause of allergies and asthma, keeping your bed unmade could keep you healthier.

House dust mites are less than a millimeter long and feed on the scales of human skin. They produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep. When we sleep, the bed becomes warm and even damp, conditions that help the house dust mites to grow and multiply. "We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Pretlove told the BBC News. "Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die."

Job search update - Oh, happy day!

Woo Hoo - today before lunch I received two interview offers. Stress is now happily contained.