Invasion of the middle schoolers...

Yes, it is the invasion of the middle school kids. The dining facility has been overrun by a middle school program that is staying here at PSU for a good bit of time. I think for the rest of my time here actually. What went from being a peaceful, relaxing, and tasty break from work lunch has not turned into an episode of ZOEY 101. Unfortunately, this show won’t be canceled due to teenage pregnancy. This past weekend in Portland the weather was pretty Portlandy. It rained a lot, not as bad as in Pittsburgh. My mom is still cleaning up from the flood. I saw some movies. I was disappointed in Year One. I ate some popcorn, but I was also disappointed in that. I did however eat some pretty good vegetarian General Tso’s chicken.

Enough about the food of the city let’s talk about work. Every day I learn something pretty unusual about PSU. I found out today that the Park Blocks, the best part about campus, is actually still owned by the city. The University maintains the grounds on University property, but the city still has control over the area. I found this out because of a protest that happened on Friday. PSU doesn’t have to ask the city to utilize the space, but PSU can’t stop the city from booking something on the grounds. This makes sense because of the Saturday Farmer’s Market being able to take over the park blocks. Hopefully, this weekend it doesn’t rain and I can check that out. It’s most produce, but it will give me something to do until I got see Tender Forever and Nurses at PSU radio station’s festival. I am pretty stoked about that.

I have been working on creating a blackboard page for Residence Life. This would allow the staff to access all of their forms and what not online and eliminate the paper waste. It also gives us the ability to post ongoing training information. I worked on something similar before at PPU, but I didn’t have to actually build the course. Here I am actually building the course. There was a little part of me that wanted to take some classes in instructional design, now I wish I had. That has been my biggest project so far. I am going to start researching what readings and documents would be helpful to post for the staff. I can get a jump start on my staff meetings by researching stuff now. DOUBLE WIN.

I just got the list of my staff members in Mason Hall. The fall term is racing towards me. Oh yeah, I just remembered this because I just saw all of them walk across the street. PSU has partnered with Intel and 30 Vietnamese students are here at PSU for two years learning engineering. Intel pays for everything and in return the students work for them for three years after graduation. On Friday I got to set up their rooms. Intel really provided them with tons of stuff. It’s pretty unreal. They always travel in their group. So it’s 30 students walking together all the time. It’s pretty funny. In the Housing office I have the best view. It’s actually pretty amazing most of the time. It would be better if it was on the 10th floor and not the second, but it still doesn’t suck.

The cleaning staff always confuses my room with a summer conference room so I get towels delivered once a week. I wish they would clean my bathroom. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but you never know.