As promised... blogging info from my travels! :-)

ok- so for all of my out of state readers, I want to first admit, I know Indiana is not a big state. :-) But, for as big or as small as it is or isn't, my life is full of small world stories. Today is no different.

I am in Indianapolis to present at a state-wide conference for computer educators. Indiana's definition of a 'computer educator' is quite broad. Pretty much if you work for a school and have ever even seen a computer, you are a computer educator. :-) So, this conference draws many people from many different backgrounds- teachers of all grades, subjects, all over the state; computer coordinators; technology advocates; principals; and pretty much anyone who wants away from the school for a few days to amass a collection of pens and post-it notes from the exhibit hall vendors.

So today, I was presenting a workshop on Alice (if you haven't ever used it, go to www.alice.org and download it- it's awesome! ) There are a variety of workshops during the conference, and multiple sessions going on at the same time, so it honestly DOES surprise me when I enter our workshop and I know 3/15 of the participants. That doesn't seem like a large number, but for such a large conference, with limited enrollment for the workshops, that's huge!

This is my 6th year to present at this state conference. And pretty much every year, I run into SOMEONE I know. Typically it's my former high school teachers- they see my name in the program and want to come see the small town girl making it big working at the university in action. One year, one of them even took pictures of me. (yes, it did creep me out- and not quite sure where those ever ended up- perhaps they created a shrine back at the school :-) ) Or sometimes its some college or camp acquaintences. But let me tell you who they were this year-

1) ok- she wasn't in my workshop, but I noticed in the list of presenters a girl who invited me to her cult in college. :-) No worries, her brother goes to church with me now in Lafayette, but when I was an undergrad, they were members of a church that our church considered to be quite extreme and somewhat cultish. Her husband also worked for me at camp one summer... but I haven't decided how to approach her yet. Do i just go to her session tomorrow and act like she should know who I am right away (i mean, we did study together for our History final using Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire"- we have history. ;-) ) We will see how I do.. maybe more blog fodder for the weekend..

2) one of the ladies in my workshop is the teacher of a girl who won our poster contest last year. WEll, wait, she's the mother of the girl who won our poster contest too. :-) So why did she choose me and my session? Maybe because I'm just that cool, or she was hoping for a way to win another ipod shuffle?

3) The second one in the workshop was my biggest fan. Seriously, this lady loves us. She has us at her school every year for multiple days- and hangs on every word I say. It's some what endearing- much like a stalker is endearing. :-) But, I'm pretty sure I could tell her the sky is yellow and she might believe me.

4) And then the third one is something I have never encountered before. It's the lady that has my old teaching job at Marquette. Apparently, I'm legendary. :-) She saw my name, and knew she should come to my workshop because of how good I am. Or rather, I was highly recommended by her co-workers that knew me. :-)

But as much as it makes me sound like a braggadoccio, I really am not comfortable with all this recognition. I mean, I just do my job, and I try to do it well, but it's not anything that I strive for excellence of recognition for. (ok- those of you who have heard me talk a lot about my job are raising an eyebrow right now- recognition of actually doing a job period is different than the type of recognition I am talking about here. YEs, I want my department to remember they have an outreach coordinator and have a clue what I do. Unless, they are going to micromanage what I do... that's blog for a different day though....:-) )

But the question occurred to me- what makes anyone choose anyone for anything. Why did these people choose to come to my workshop? why not go explore other people that can give new insight? go on an adventure and step outside the realm of what they know? (ok- yes, it was a kickin workshop and I'd have chosen it too :-) but on paper, it sounds just the same as everyone elses! ;-) ) Is it as simple as familiarity? So maybe this is a call to assess other areas of my life- why do I choose to sit in the 5th row at church every week? Why do I order chicken fingers at every new restaurant I visit? I don't know... I'm not a risk taker- I do know that. But why not venture outside the realm of 'normal' and see where it gets you. I think that's my challenge for the upcoming week. :-) I'd love to say I'm going to start with becoming a morning person instead of chosing to hit the snooze a bazillion times.. but that would be a plan bound to fail. :) So I'll think about it.. and maybe report back in the next couple weeks about choices I make and the cognitive thoughts going into it... or y'all can hope something more interesting happens and gives me something better to blog about! :)