Today was the inauguration of President Barack Obama.  I sat in Meiley-Swallow Hall with about 150 people and saw the whole ceremony unfold on a projector in the theater.  As a student of history, it was a unique feeling to know the magnitude of this day.  I had shivers running down my spine from Jimmy Carter’s introduction all the way through the Benediction.

This day will not be forgotten.  All of us will remember where we were on this day.  When asked in 10, 20, 30 years down the road, we will be taken back to that place to relive noon (eastern time) on January 20, 2009.  This is a momentous day, one for the history books…

This past weekend I spent my time at the national conference for the Blue Key Honor Society.  It is an honor society dedicated to leadership and service.  The motto is “Serving I Live.”  At North Central we have a brand new chapter, but Blue Key has been on some campuses since 1924!!

Most of the conference was looking at leadership and how to lead effectively.  Also, there was a fine speaker about the differences between effective managing and effective leading.  They tuly are two different aspects of a supervisory role!  Beyond all of that, it was fun to talk to other people from other schools and get their take on Blue Key, service and what their campus community is all about.  The North Central chapter is going to be planning some cool stuff for underclassmen in the coming year…

Now, I really do love to travel, but have so little time (and funds) to do so!  When I heard of this opportunity, I jumped at it because I could learn something AND get out of Illinois!  In Golden, the temperature was in the 50’s!  A stark difference to the negative degree weather we had up in these parts…  In all honesty, I really loved strolling around Golden.  It is a town comperable to Naperville with a WAY better mountainous view!   But really, it is a fine city and a great state!  Golden, I approve.

Mean time, I have been a bit disconnected from sports, but I just checked the tables and it looks like the Hawks are ten points behind the Red Wings in the division.

After student teaching, it is back to school for me.  I really miss the classroom and would love to be back teaching.  I knew the transition back would be tough, but I did not figure it to be this hard!  I like the work of planning lessons over the standard college work!  Either way, I only have 19 weeks left…

Over break I was doing a bunch of research on the theater program at NCC since 1956.  The whole project is to write a history of the last 50 years of the college for the 150th anniversary of the institution (the previous 100 years were already documented).

For classes this term I am taking my last eduction class, the history and philosophy of education.  I also am taking a Japanese history class and my history capstone.  The focus of the capstone is do the work of a historian, utilizing primary sources and crafting a rather large paper from those sources.

With the Fire into the off season and the Bear puttering out on their season, I have been watching alot of Blackhawks hockey!  They have been playing well, although Detroit seems to be the one team they can’t beat…