Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Ed Week Wednesday

Holy cow, I don't think my brain is big enough to comprehend all of this. I already gave up trying to implement everything, I'm in this for survival now. I can't believe there's still two more days of this to go. (I mean that in a good way, lest Ryan think I'm volunteering to stay home. I'm still going.)

I learned some things at Ed Week that wasn't taught by an instructor. Here are some of my lessons:

Don't even bother looking at close parking lots for a spot. It wastes time and there isn't going to be a spot, anyhow. I ended up driving around for 10 extra minutes before giving up and going back to the Marriott Center lot, parking in the exact same row I parked in yesterday.

No one is ready for Provo's advanced "lagging left" turn signal system. They give you a left hand turn arrow at the end of the green light, after the light has already turned red, so no one is looking and therefore they sit there during the left arrow. Then I honk, kindly of course, and the car slides through the intersection as the now-yellow arrow turns red. It's a great idea, Provo, but we're just not ready for it yet.

Avoid the Wilkinson Center classes at all costs. I kept wondering why people would be all stressed out about getting a seat in a class - all of the classes I have attended would slowly fill up, so as long as you didn't dawdle you could find a seat. Not so at the Wilkie. Maybe I just picked the wrong one, but when I headed for "Becoming a Woman of Destiny" the line was hundreds and hundreds of people long, wrapping around and around the building. Eventually I ducked through an empty crossing hallway and found another classroom that was not full ("Drawing on Powers of Heaven") and attended it by default.

Comfy shoes! I see some women in heels and I think, what the heck are they thinking?? I've been wearing fairly comfy shoes, and I have a searing pain in my right shin and an ache in my left thigh. (Why the uneven distribution of pain? No idea, just to make a stronger point, I think.) No need to suffer for fashion at Ed Week. If you're under thirty, you're going to get noticed no matter what your footwear. And if you're over thirty, no one cares. Just my opinion, of course. Feel free to disregard it. But don't come whining to me with your podiatrist bill.

It's worth skipping meals, gorging on Fiber One bars (although may I suggest, not on a morning where you ate All-Bran for breakfast, that's just way too much fiber for a 31-year old), inhaling bbq chicken sandwiches while you run from one building to another - I would do any of those things not to miss a class. Although the 4:30 hour has been kind of a bust both days - I'll be trying another new class that hour tomorrow. But other than that hour, there's not a single class that I'd rather eat a leisurely lunch than be there. It's all so good.

I updated these classes:
Being Enough, Doing Enough
Writing a Personal History (dad, you have a cameo in this one)
Speaking the Language of Faith

I've dumped Inviting Heaven into Marriage, Rock Solid Family Relationships, and Strengthening You in Your Family. In all of those cases, the information was good but the teaching style didn't do it for me. Here are the replacement classes, new for Wednesday:

Calming the Storms Within and Progressing Towards Happiness
Building Relationships that last a lifetime or longer
Parables of Redemption
Drawing on the Powers of Heaven
Making Marital Adjustments

I'll do all of these again tomorrow, except the "Drawing on Powers of Heaven" class. Maybe I'll have a late lunch, ha ha. (More likely I'll be in the bookstore, a dangerous place for me in general but lethal when I'm in a learning mood.)

Hope you enjoy it, sorry about all the typo's. I spend an hour doing a spell check, but anything the spell checker doesn't get, doesn't get fixed. I can't believe I'm so lucky to do this. This is completely freakin awesome!!

2 comments:

Michelle said...

I can't wait to read all your posts about education week. As it turns out it is a good thing I was not planning on going as both Grady and I ended up getting really bad colds this week. So I will just enjoy the fruits of you going so keep taking good notes! Talk to you soon -Michelle

Pancake said...

those are true tips FOR SURE!!!