Evil in the Next Room

Okay. I can do this. As I sit here typing, pure evil lurks in the next room. Waiting. Whispering to me. Telling me to come take one bite. Playing with all my emotions at once. Talking, then yelling for me to come. NO!

Today in the office, we're celebrating the last day at work of a ready-to-go missionary that leaves next week. He decided to bring doughnuts--sweet, sugary doughnuts--for everyone to share in this special day. Normally, I'd be psyched to dig in to a bavarian creme stuffed, chocolate-topped piece of deliciousness. However, I got back on the bandwagon this week. I'm determined to be healthy; to eat less junk; to lose weight that seems to come on with more fight every time. But the doughnuts are beckoning. Of course the only two left would be bavarian creme-filled and cake with sugar sprinkled on the outside...my two favorites. I did get past the craving for Pizza that came when Fran bought pie and breadsticks for the office. Now I just have to get past these evil doughnuts lurking in the next room. I can do it. I must do it. I WILL DO IT!

I'm leaving; going home to a bowl of sugar-free, fat-free chocolate pudding. Pudding loves me. Pudding wouldn't deceive me like those hideous doughnuts that add pounds faster than you can chew. Pudding and then dinner. Done and done.

Cogs

As I sat in my office working today, a thought came to me. This wasn't a horribly profound thought or anything life-changing, but it was interesting. I thought about how a University works. Weber State University has 21,000 students—the size of some small towns! Those 21,000 students all have some needs: the need for academic advising, the need for orientation, the need to have professors, the need to have books, the need for a computer network, etc. To cater to these students, WSU employs about 1,000 faculty/staff, including me. What I thought as I was working was the amazing ability such an institution (and larger ones at that) has of bringing hundreds of people together to educate thousands of people each year.

At work today, I composed a new pamphlet for a parent orientation for new parents (you know...they have to be orientated to ;-) ). Anywho...it came to my attention that this job is small. Of all of the students that attend WSU, about 30% attend orientation. Of those 30%, very few have parents that attend a parent orientation. In essence, very few people were going to see what I had spent all of that effort composing. Then came the real thinking...Imagine all of the people on this campus doing something small like I'm doing. All of these really small things make up the experience that is Weber State University. That's who we are: a large university with a small-town atmosphere. That's why I wrote that brochure: to influence the few parents that need to know their kids are going to be alright.

I am SO excited to continue a career in higher education. Education is one of the most rewarding career fields I could ever think of entering, and higher education is amazing. I hope to be one of the bigger cogs toward the head of a University Machine some day, but until then, I'll be the little cog that does a small job. I love it.