Spring Break!

My spring break began on Saturday, but I haven't found time to write anything until today. On Saturday the wedding invitations were prepared and are now ready to be mailed out. That night, Nick and Shawnta invited us over to their apartment for dinner. The dinner had a "skewer" theme with main course being shish kabob and the dessert being fondue. We also had fruit skewers, shrimp skewers and sausage and cheese skewers. Yum! It was wonderful!!

Sunday and today, I have been slowly cleaning the apartment, but I have distracted by my newest purchase. I figure the XBox 360 will keep me busy while I am resting from having my wisdom teeth pulled.

OPE is Over!

Despite one of the worst storms I can remember in Oshkosh in recent memory, the Transportation Center kept to its task and shuttled people to and from Oshkosh hotels and the Gruenhagen Conference Center.

Saturday provided for some wonderful opportunities:

• I got to see Christa play with members of the jazz band. She even did some solos and she sounded really good. I have much respect for jazz solos, they can be very difficult and it puts a lot of pressure on you.
• My good friend (and wedding usher) Hal DeLaRosby came up from Platteville for the OPE social. He stayed over at my place and joined Christa and I for church on Sunday.

I am glad that OPE was over, and am also glad I was able to reconnect with many folks I have not seen in a long time.

Scandal at Algoma

Last night, I attended the Ash Wednesday service at Algoma Boulevard United Methodist Church. It was a joint service with First Church. I let Jocelyn Crist, friend and fellow RHD, know about the service so we decided that we would go and sit together.

Sadly, the majority of folks in attendance were Algoma folks. However, a few First folks did attend and sat around us. As they sat down, they would look at Jocelyn and I and their glance would take a little longer than usual. Jocelyn picked up on it, too. It was not just one stare, it got to be passing glances and other stares.

I should point out that Christa has a Wednesday night class and knew in advance that Jocelyn and I were going. There was no scandal (sorry). I just found it amusing that if I hang out with a female that is not Christa, it might elicit thoughts and rumors.

Or, I'm just paranoid.

WURHA 2007 Reflection

Although I had to leave WURHA right after the banquet, I still feel like I had something of a conference hangover for most of Sunday. As such, I didn't really feel up to writing an entry yesterday.

So, WURHA 2007 was a good time. I had the opportunity to present two programs on Saturday morning. One programs was about listening to music; the other program discussed more effective leadership behaviors. If a program is highly rated, it has the opportunity to be selected as a "Top Ten Program." I found out that advisor programs were not eligible for top ten.

At first I was a little frustrated about that. If my program was in the top ten, it should be in the top ten. It took my friends and colleagues Ryan and Peter to put things in perspective for me. They helped me to realize that my program possibly being in the top ten would keep a student out of the top ten. The conference is for the students.

I enjoyed being a conference guest at WURHA. I appreciated having zero responsibility and just enjoying the sights and sounds of WURHA. I also was awarded a WURHA Star Pin by the WURHA president, Kaitlin Connor. That was cool as well.

This was Christa's first leadership conference; it was nice to share the experience with her.

Relationships U

My friend Ryan Bronkema had created a website to launch his career as a speaker/presenter. I was very excited to see the Relationships U website last night. It offers some great perspectives about relationships for college students. He also offers other topics for presentation. I encourage you to check it out.

It's only a matter of time before Ryan becomes famous. I am just glad I knew him before he got all famous :).