Tuesday, January 20, 2009

January 20, 2009: A Notable Day

1. I watched Barack Obama take the Presidential Oath of Office with somewhere between 150 and 300 students, staff, and faculty here on campus. That was special. There was clapping. Much clapping. I love having a president who uses words to inspire and lead. I would love to print off his speeches and go over them with a Writing class to show them how words can be sent forth to change The Way Things Are.

2. We got an ID scanner for our sign-in computer. That's a big deal and we're thankful for it. I don't think people outside the Pima institutional behemoth will understand. We asked for this (officially) at the beginning of the Fall 08 semester. Mary Beth Ginter was our temporary VP of Instruction and, apparently, she moved things along so much so that today, the first day of Spring 09 classes, I unlocked the door and found a new computer complete with a new Accutrack program and a new scanner. To Dr. Ginter and Whoever Else Made This Happen: Thankyouthankyouthankyou. We anticipate this making the procedural part of our job much easier.

3. I overheard a conversation between Writing tutors that centered around the new film JCVD, which invovles Jean-Claude Van Damme playing Jean-Claude Van Damme, and then bloomed into a discussion of the films of Mr. Van Damme, as well as the acting prowess of Mr. Van Damme, Chuck Norris, and Stephen Seagal.

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