Behind the Screen
The opinions, views, and insights stated within this Monologue are my own. The facts, fallacies, and errors, however, belong to someone else (see disclaimer).
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Went to Kings Island on Saturday to ride some roller coasters. I had a great time and enjoyed all of the rides, except for "The Beast," which is a wooden coaster. My date Janet and I agree that wood coasters are just too rough. I think I'll stick to the metal ones from now on.
I haven't really made any plans for this upcoming weekend. I often take advantage of three-day weekends to leave the country. Maybe I'll just stick around and play it low this weekend.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Last week was spent in training: learning Blackbaud's Raiser's Edge. Lambda Chi has been using RE for about 10 years now. We're getting ready to upgrade from version 6 to version 7. Sadly, I'm not very impressed with the upgrade. But we will put to use some of the new features.
Last Monday, my date took me to a Clay Akin concert at the Indianapolis State Fair. No, my date is not 14; she just love's Clay. Though I wouldn't choose to listen to him, it was a fun evening.
This weekend, I went to the national wakeboarding tournament, hosted right here in Indianapolis. The pros were very impressive, catching big air and peforming multiple stunts. It was a good time.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
What's your favorite color? If you don't know, Claudia Cortes' "Color in Motion" project will help you decide.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Last week, my personal listserve sent out an automatic e-mail that I programmed more than two years ago saying that if all went well, I would be returning from the Peace Corps in mid-August. Oops. Guess I forgot to remove that message.
It is, however, remarkable at how much has taken place in the past two years. I've lived in three states (NC, CT, IN); visited a few new countries (Japan, Thailand); saved someone's life; built several dozen web sites; bought an Audi; bought my first home (a condo); returned to work for my fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha); a made many new friends. Much of this wouldn't have happened if I remained in the Peace Corps.
I'm not saying that I'm glad my Peace Corps service lasted only three months. I'm just saying that my list would have been drastically different.
My three months in the Peace Corps, however, remains a very sustainable three months. Everything that I posted on my site two years ago still remains. It not only remains, but two of the top 10 most-visited pages of my site are regarding the Peace Corps: my close of service and the list of other volunteers who had personal web sites telling their Peace Corps stories. In fact, these two pages (out of 165) account for 7.5 percent of my site's traffic.
As a Peace Corps volunteer, we were trained to make sure that our work and service could be sustained after we left. Organizations we served were not to become dependent on the Peace Corps to provide free labor year after year. Our projects and work was supposed to continue long after we left. I left two years ago and people are still interested in my story.
Friday, August 06, 2004
It's been a good week. After a busy conference, the boss gave us Monday and Tuesday off. On Wednesday, the office went to an afternoon baseball game. That evening, 12 of us gathered to play my favorite Xbox game: Halo. Thursday was the only full day at work. Friday, I worked in the morning, went wakeboarding with Papa, Al, and Papa's brother Mike this afternoon, and tonight I'm at a truck race with Sean and Beth Barnett. On Sunday I head to the Brickyard 400 with Papa.
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Lambda Chi Alpha's 50th General Assembly was a success. It wore out me and the rest of the staff, but it was a success. Our 550 members had a great time, learned a lot, and debated a good deal of legislation.
The best description of my, and the rest of the staff's, involvement would be that of a duck. We looked calm and graceful on the surface, but underneath, we were paddling like crazy.
My chapter, Elon's Delta-Pi Zeta, sent two delegates: Craig Whitham and Daniel Hanson. Craig is the chapter president and Dan is the secretary.
I was impressed with them both. They were professional, involved, participated in programming, made efforts to visit with me, and seemed on top of their game. It was comforting to learn that my chapter is being managed by these two men. Elon was well represented.
After unloading the truck Sunday afternoon, I think every member of staff returned home and slept for 12 or more hours. The office was closed both Monday and Tuesday to give us a chance to relax. Tomorrow, we'll all attend a baseball game in the afternoon as a reward for our efforts last week.
Hard work, however, lies ahead. I have a website to build, our staff soon hits the road, and we all have to improve recruitment numbers. At least we will have plenty to do.