PENN-sieve

On August 7th, I had to go to an all day Orientation for new employees. The second half of the day featured a long, boring presentation on the benefits that I am entitled to as an employee. The presenter was very dry and if I did not know the basics of retirement plan and medical plan selection, I would have been lost (as many of my new colleagues were). After the presentation, I was asked to fill out an evaluation in which I was quite frank. Little did I know that I would pay for my comments later.

Two days ago, I received a copy of my paycheck stub for my first Penn State payday. The Human Resources Office did not take out any deductions for my benefits. I called my HR contact who told me that they didn't take out any money because I did not register for benefits until August 28th. I was still enrolled in benefits but just would have a double deduction from September's paycheck.

Now I ask anyone who really knows me - does waiting 21 days to sign up for benefits sound like something I would do???!!! Of course not! I signed up for benefits on August 8th! So I forwarded the enrollment confirmation email I received on August 8th back to HR because if they think I signed up on the 28th, what do they have me signed up for? I haven't heard anything back but I know from now on when I fill out evaluations I won't say anything if I don't have anything nice to say.

When I went on my campus tour of Penn State when I came here for my interview, the guy giving me my tour said that for the right amount of money Penn State would sell anything. He was refering to the Center of Student Leadership which is named the MBNA Center of Student Leadership. I am beginning to figure out just how prominent corporate sponsorship is at Penn State and how it effects me.

We are a Pepsi school which means we can never have Coke products at a program and the campus big wigs are discouraged from drinking Coke at any time. I can drink Coke products in my apartment if I want to but I am never supposed to have a Coke in my office. We even have to drink Pepsi water (Aquafina) which I seriuosly dislike because it often tastes funky. I so prefer Coke's Dasani. Thankfully I can just bring a Nalgene bottle of filtered water to work.

I remember when I was at Northridge and how it was often so hard to get donations from big firms because they choose to donate products, services, and money to UCLA and USC. It was so frustrating because CSUN did not have a budget anywhere close to the big schools so we really could have used corporate sponsorship. At Penn State, the intramural sports program is sponsored by Nike; leadership and community service programs receive assistance from Bank of America, and the list goes on. Being at a large school where so many resources are available because companies are willing to lend a hand is nice (it's one of the reasons I wanted to work at a big school) but it still makes me sad for the little schools where the assistance would mean so much more.

Today I was taking pictures of my RAs for the duty board. I was using a Polaroid camera and an RA on another staff asked me what kind of camera I was using. LOL!

My RAs arrived on Thursday. For those of you not in the field, the dynamics of your RA staff can really make or break your first year. My first year at USI was a bit difficult because a lot of RAs resented the fact that I did not know as much about USI as they did. Having only been at Penn State for three weeks, I know very little. While my training has covered many procedures, it really is hard to learn how things really work without seeing them. I was full of mixed emotions when it came to meeting my RAs - Excited to jump into a new school year, hesitant because they might not like me, worried that I wouldn't know the answers (I like to know it all!), and unsure of what I should do (it is good to have knowledge of how things were done in the past; I don't have complete knowledge).

Overall, the group is great. They tend to be on the quiet side so I have to coax discussion from them (so not used to this since my staff last year was full of strong, vocal leaders). I have a campus big wig on staff - G. was the campus student government President. One staff member has already taught me a valuable life lesson (this is what I love about my job). During one of our icebreaker activities, he shared that he had a daughter. He's 19 and I rushed to stereotypes about him. Later that night during the Door Tag party, he said "That's so gay" so I had even more stereotypes form against him but luckily I was soon challenged to rethink. After his comment, we went to have a "chat" and before I could say anything, he apologized for his inappropriate comment. He said "that's so gay" is just a phrase that is used so commonly but he is learning not to use it because it realizes it has more hurtful meaning. His brother just "came out of the closet" and he wants to be respectful to his brother. Then he told me that he thinks his daughter was the best thing that could have happened to him during his freshman year. He is now focused on doing well in school because he has to have a better future because of his child. He has a 4.0 and is so focused. Shame on me - doesn't he seem like a great guy!

Later today we leave for the overnight RA retreat. We are going to a place called Golden Pond. Woo Hoo for bonding time!

Today in the mail, I received my new credit card (not a new account, just a new card). I was able to personalize it with a picture of Italy. Now whenever I use it, I will be happy. I just hope I don't want to use it more frequently so I can look at the picture!

Dr. Phil said that a newborn baby costs about $10,000 during the first year of its life. If you save $200 a month, you will only have $5000 after 25 months!

My RAs move-in tomorrow because their training starts Thursday afternoon. I made them each a "Success Can" - an empty soup can with a new label that says "Success comes in cans not can'ts" and other statements about the power of positive thinking. Normally, I would attach the labels with a glue stick, regular glue, or a hot glue gun. All of these methods have downsides such as burning your finger, making the paper get icky, or not really sticking. Penn State Residence Life is big on rubber cement. It's amazing - it adheres well and you can put a ton on the paper. It dries clear and doesn't make the paper wrinkle. In otherwords, rubber cement rocks - and it smells good too!

Today was one of those days where you know that everything is going to be different from this point on. Whenever you are at a new place of employment, you have to determine who is friends with who, who has the power in the department, and who not to trust. Usually, I try to just observe people and their interactions for awhile until I decide where I want to fit in. Choose the wrong alliance and your work experience can be miserable (And people say reality TV is not real!). I have only been working at Penn State for three weeks but I have been able to determine who is the leader among the colleagues that work in my office. I think we have conflicting personality types but my plan was just to let her do her thing and not rock the boat until I needed to - at least that was the plan until today.

In my line of work, I am frequently called to assist students who have poor body images that result in eating disorders. Counseling students with anorexia and bulimia is tough - it's emotionally draining (especially if your own body image is shakey); it's time consuming, and unfortunately it does not always resolve itself positively (very few students actually get help). Eating disorders are so prominent in college students and it's not something that I think is funny or appropriate joking material but today in the office, one of my colleagues, let's call her Power Trip" said she was going to become anorexic. I just ignored her and let another Coordinator, a nice guy that reminds me of the mailroom guy on Just Shoot Me so that shall be his codename, convey that he was concerned that she would think of taking any drastic action like that.

"Power Trip" then said "Fine, then maybe I will be bulimic". Picture me in my office shaking my head. "Or maybe if I just starve myself for 5 weeks" That was it for me and I said, "You know this is not really something you should be joking about. You never know who can hear you and what they are struggling with. It's not appropriate." Um, yeah silence in the office and then "Just Shoot Me" apologized!

There are 25 Coordinators at Penn State - it's a big Res. Life program with 13,000 residents - so I have a large pool of colleagues (one of the reasons I really wanted to move to a large school). They have created a social committee called HEAD - Higher Education Administrators Drinking - and boy do they go out and drink. Spam (his nickname; his real name is Emil) is the Social Committee Chair and he takes his job very seriously. Everyone receives an email with details about the next gathering and if someone does not attend 3 events, they are removed from the email invite list! On Monday, HEAD went for Martini Happy Hour and last night we had a 40s party. From what I have been told, the group is big on theme parties. When I first heard about the 40s party - I wondered what was big about the 40s - nothing in that decade seemed to stand out; what a weird theme party. Thankfully someone explained it was a 40s party like in the container of beer.

Shopping for alcohol in this state is an interesting endeavor. Grocery stores do not sell alcohol. Wine and liquor has to be bought from the Wine and Spirits stores. Beer and malt liquor has to be bought from a bottle shop or a beer distributor. Neither of those places sell mixers. So if you want to make Pina Coladas, you have to get the rum from one place and the mix from another. Pennsylvania also limits the number of ounces of alcohol a person can buy to 192 ounces. While that is a lot of alcohol, it is still weird for it to be limited. We can buy alcohol on Sunday; something you could not do in Indiana.

Firts off, I guess a disclaimer is needed - Erika is my pick to win BB - has been from day one.

Sunday on BB7, Erika won HOH but the buzzers were faulty and some of the players were eliminated unfairly so BB decided to hold another HOH competition. The players who were unjustily eliminated (Howie - mainly) deserved a redo but to allow all of the competitiors a chance to play again was so wrong. Janelle gave a wrong answer that caused her to be eliminated from the first game so why she got to play in the redo baffles me. Of course, now Janelle is the new HOH and she put Erika on the block. I am sure Erika won't go home but I do not think the producers were fair in their decision to redo HOH and they should be ashamed!

Hey - I take reality TV seriously!

I typically use Redken All Soft shampoo and conditioner but with the move and all, I have been using other products to try and pinch a few pennies. Redken conditioner costs $30 a liter so for the last three months - my hair has been dry and tangly and damaged! Yuck. The other day I bought new bottles of Redken and this morning I rejoiced for my soft, soft hair! And as a bonus, Redken liters were on sale for $18! I may continue to pinch pennies but it definitely won't be in my hair care purchases!

When I moved to Indiana, there was always the possibility that I would run into Jamey when I went somewhere in public. From my first day in E-ville, it was possible to see someone I knew. In Pennsylvania, this is not the case. For the first week I lived here every time I went downtown or to the grocery store, I would look for a familiar face in the crowd. It was weird to be somewhere where I didn't know a soul. I walked the streets in pure anonymity but even then it seemed that I would recognize a face in the crowd - the student coming out of the Science building sure looked like one of my CSUN RAs; the guy at Target looked like someone I took a class with. I am not sure if these people truly looked like the faces from the past or if my need to connect with another human was in overdrive but on my first day of work we went to the dining hall for lunch and the cafeteria worker asked me if she knew who I was because I looked vaguely familiar to her. I just laughed and told her I get that all the time - someone is always saying I look like someone they used to know, the lady that lived down the street, their best friend's older sister, etc. Today, my colleague Kadian (pronounced K-D-N; isn't that a cool name - apparently it is super common in the Bahamas), on our way back from lunch said, "I don't want to make you mad but you remind me so much of my old friend." I guess this is a good thing as long as they don't hate the person of whom I remind them.

I am finally connected in my apartment. I thought I was going to die without the ability to be online at night. I have a desk and an internet jack in my living room but for some reason they connected the jack in my spare bedroom which I suppose wouldn't be a huge deal except that right now it is mainly the room where I store my empty boxes and other items until I get storage this weekend. Thank goodness I have a laptop so I can be online until they get the correct jack fired up (hopefully next week!)

In State College, the thing to do is get your buddies together and have a drink at every bar downtown. Some college students take bar tours very seriously - they create t-shirts for their whole group and map out a course of the bars to hit so they can maximize the drink specials they can partake in. State College has A LOT of bars - it is a true college town and downtown is located directly across the street from campus (this can be a plus since you don't have to worry about who will be the designated driver!).

Since my birthday was yesterday and another Coordinator's birthday is today, a lot of the Coordinator staff hit the bar scene last night to celebrate. We started off at Mad Mex (a Mexican restaurant attached to the Days Inn). I thought everyone was calling it Mad Max until I got to the bar. The drink special was Big Azz Margaritas for $6. They weren't that big but since they tasted like tequila, I suppose it was a good deal. Mad Mex had half price food (except desserts) after 11pm so we were there for quite a long time.

Afterwards, we went to the Saloon. There was supposed to be an 80s cover band called Velveeta playing but instead we paid a $3 cover to listen to karaoke. Now typically when you listen to karaoke, there is a mix of people who can sing and those that cannot but this was not the case last night - absolutely no one could sing! Maybe it had something to do with the fact that everyone was drinking out of a pitcher instead of a glass or maybe they partook in the house specialty - monkey boys (I didn't have one so don't know what it is - AT LEAST NOT YET!).

Overall, it was a fun night. I was glad not to spend my birthday alone and I got an introduction to the local bar scene. I am ready for you to come out and visit so we can do a real bar tour!!!!

A surprising thing happened today, my little bro Ricky called me to wish me a happy birthday. He's NEVER done that before! I guess you know you are getting old when your little brother grows up and becomes responsible!