Waves of Torrey

So, the perks of working at Regis is that we have all sorts of creative and wonderful people who want to share their passions. "Miss Laura" is one of them. She is of Scottish heritage and has danced Irish step and ceili dancing for 12 years. She is this adorable 50ish woman, with short salt and pepper hair, big eyes, and a smile that makes you feel like you have known her forever. Miss Laura teaches a beginning and advanced Irish step dancing class during the summer over the lunch hour. I promised her (at a party, after a beer or two) that I would join and knew I had to keep my promise. I roped my co-worker Rick into going as well and he has been totally dedicated. Other co-workers participate, and we have the best lunch hour one day a week! I actually think I am somewhat talented in this area. We danced an Irish dance called Waves of Torrey-inspired by either the waves in the water or by a few Irish whiskey drinkers at a local pub.

Kristi

So I mentioned Kristi, my teacher, before and I wanted to dedicate this blog to her. I have been in a bit of a funk, not being able to finish my coursework for my last M.ed course for the adult learning certificate. We have had some changes at work where I feel a little less inspired-mainly, more remote leadership and lack of overall direction in our department. I had a much needed phone call with Kristi. Mind you, I have met her once in person, otherwise all we do is email each other. Talking to her, though, is like a cool breeze on one of our stifling summer days. I told her my issues, and we discussed how to make my final assignments related to me and not related to the workplace. We discussed the importance of what I study needing to not be Regis specific but "me" specific. It was nice to look at this outside of the workplace and more as self-supporting. And then the best news of all came...we were accepted to present at the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) conference this November, here in Denver. We are presenting on guiding adult learners toward self-efficacy and our proposal just got approved. Thanks to Kristi, I got a fresh spring in my step. I did a little dance at my chair, visited colleagues and shared the news, and overall had a smile on my face. So, thanks Kristi for giving me a little inspiration. I will get those assignments done soon!

Our trip-Pictures Below!

We got back Friday night from our trip to San Francisco and boy, it was a much needed vacation! I think both Mike and I appreciated being away for a bit, gathering a fresh perspective on life by walking all over San Francisco, eating at some great Italian North Beach restaurants, going to a Giant's game, and ending up in Carmel-by-the-sea. It was a great trip. We both love California-the ocean, the cities, and all the people watching. What is great about San Francisco is that it is a West Coast big city, so while there is hustle and bustle there is also the open water to gaze out on, and views such as those from Coit Tower to take you away from it all. We missed the dogs a ton when we got to Carmel, a dog friendly town, and stayed at The Cypress Inn, a dog friendly Inn owned by Doris Day. We wished our boys were with us, but then we realized that Stan would probably bark all night and Chester would make quite an entrance into the hotel. So, we waited for our big hello when we got home.

Carmel-by-the-sea

San Francisco

California here we come!

Mike and I leave tomorrow for San Francisco! We have some free tickets from Frontier for our mileage program and decided to go to California again-we seem to love the west coast. We get in late tomorrow night, and have a whole slew of stuff on the docket-a Giants game, the Golden Gate Bridge, Berkeley, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, and jazz clubs. We are staying downtown at The Chancellor hotel, where we stayed on our honeymoon. At the end of the week we drive to Carmel and enjoy a little sun and beach. So, when I get back next week I will post some pictures.

Teaching

I was given the suggestion by my current teacher Kristi that I need to start building my teaching portfolio. I finished with teaching one class last week and this fall I plan to teach at a few locations. The class I just finished teaching was a computer class at Morey Recreation Center on 14th and Emerson. It was targeted toward adults in the community. There were a lot of challenges-most students were in different places as far as knowledge goes, so I had to teach a whole spectrum of topics. Also, I had taken over the class from a woman who moved out of town, so I had to take her teaching style and see how I could adapt my own. These challenges were fundamental to me seeing what it is like to teach and learning how to be flexible.

The second class I hope to teach this fall is Conflict and Anger Management at The Conflict Center, a non profit that teaches conflict resolution to youth and adults. First, I have to take the course and then I go through a "train the trainer" workshop to learn how to teach the course. I started last Tuesday and it goes for 6 sessions. Not only did I view the class as a potential teacher, I am able to grow from the class as just a human being, living and working in a world with other humans. Conflict is inevitable, so the important part is how I deal with conflict. Do I escalate conflict by acting or saying something, or do I de-escalate conflict by saying or doing something different? What I am eager to learn is the methods of communication-what can be said to de-escalate a situation, because it is easy to escalate conflict. A lot of it is about decision making, but a lot of it is about "honoring yourself" and how you feel. I can't wait to go through the next 5 sessions and will keep the blog updated with what I learn.

I got this card at the Center and I have it my office:
Ten Tips for Creative Conflict Resolution
1. Respect everyone's ideas and needs
2. Turn problems into possibilities
3. Listen so people will talk, and talk so people will listen
4. Focus on the problem, not the person
5. Build "power with" instead of "power over" others
6. Express feelings without blaming others
7. Own your part of the conflict
8. Strategize to reach mutually agreeable solutions
9. Create options...one way always creates losers
10. Solve the problem and build the relationship

Hmmm...maybe I should send this card to our political leaders when it comes to foreign policy? I am considering studying conflict management in more detail once I take this class and see what I think. I feel as though the topic brings together many of my interests, and I see it being something I can do in the community as well as in higher education. It feels so good to find something that I am really, truly interested in!

For more on The Conflict Center, visit this link (like the PR plug?):www.conflictcenter.org

Partied like it was the 1860's

Saturday we spent some time seeing what it was like to live, cook and eat in the 1860's. Thanks to Meg's desire to live like Laura Ingalls Wilder, and some willing friends, we went to the Littleton Historical Museum and participated in communal living for the afternoon. Among other activities, Mike, Amy and I chopped vegetables, Andy churned ice cream, and Meg and V made vinegar pie. It took a few hours for the full meal to be created-smoked chicken, vegetables, bread pudding, cheese, pies, bread-and so we chatted while listening to Rex the banjo player. The guys snuck us bottles of hard cider (women weren't allowed back then for fear of corruption) and we sat down to eat around 5:30 or so. It was a delicious meal! All in all, it was such a fun day and a shout out to Meg for her creativity.