Meeting Goals

Today I'm gonna talk about goals. When I was a kid, I don't know if I knew what goals were. Not really. I knew what my teachers thought were goals -and I knew what the President said fitness goals were supposed to be. Geez, I hated that physical fitness crap we had to do each year. That was dumb. I could do tons of situps, but when it came to running, I SUCKED. No one saw how many situps you did, but EVERYONE could see how slow you were at running. That in itself sucked. So I thought goals were stupid and made abstractly. I didn't have "goals", I had dreams or hopes of things to happen in the future.

So then I grew up and went to college and was able to work with a great group of people who not only taught me leadership and tolerance, but also taught me the importance of self-development and setting goals for oneself. I finally "got it". Still, my goals were mostly abstract.

When I started working at Norman County East, I found something to ambition towards. I decided I wanted to be a special education director. I was about 27yrs old when I figured this out and at that same age, I made a flexible 5yr plan and 10 yr plan. I started taking a graduate level class and the next year, I entered my masters program in ed administration, thinking to myself that I'd like to have my masters by the time I'm 30. My goal for special ed director's license was age 35-ish. My goal for landing a full directorship job was 40years old.

So, let's see how I've been doing. I got my masters in 2004. I was actually 31-1/2. I had my special ed director's license in 2008. I was 35.

I'm not 36 (almost 37) and I've got a specialist degree and an administration job. I have about 3 more years to get that director's job.

You know what?? I realized today finally, that if I stay here and things go alright and nothing strange or majorly crazy happens, I WILL be a director by the time I'm 40. Let me tell you the story.

My boss has been telling me for months that he is hoping I'll stick around for a long time here because he retires in 2 years. So next year 2010-2011 and the next 2011-2012 until he's done. He "expects" me to take over his spot. And I say expects not like figures I'll do that or just takes for granted that I will want that, he EXPECTS me to...he is deliberately counting on me to "take over"! I had been blowing that off all fall because I didn't believe him nor wanted to really invest a lot of time thinking about it because I wasn't sure I even wanted to stay here. -and it felt a little "dad-ish" to me for him to believe that...cuz really, who is he to tell me what to do! LOL His master plan is this: 2010-2011 I be offered an assistant director contract for the cooperative; 2011-2012 I be offered a director contract for the cooperative; and then when he's retired and living the easy breezy life (his words! LOL), 2012-2013 I be offered a director contract for the cooperative AND Grand Rapids (his district). The whole kit-n-kaboodle.

So today I was visiting with the superintendent who is the board chairperson and "in charge" of contracts/negotiations of the cooperative and he has similar ideas. When I was driving home it hit me -Holy God....I am going to be a REAL full director before or at the age of 40. I will turn 40 during the 2012-2013 school year. In three years. Wow. That completely snuck up on me. How often does that happen??

I think this goes to show how hard work, dedication, and being a good person pays off -and how it does so behind the scenes. I've been just trucking away dealing with this and that...I had a crazy fall and honestly my dear blog reader, I don't remember much of November. Or half of October for that matter...or the first few weeks of December. However, during this time my performance and my personality, I've been told, sealed my future with this place and convinced my board to offer me a contract for next year. That's a nice feeling. After Christmas, January was crazy, but still not as crazy as the fall, but I've noticed in myself that I've been making much more decisions and taking more "chances" I never would have been comfortable with in even November. All of a sudden I've grown and all of a sudden, I've realized the pay off and realize that I'm on the right track -I always was. Still, it feels like I've stumbled into a gift, an unexpected fortune.

Now, this all could go down the toilet depending on what this board offers me in an assistant director contract. They assure me it will be a "substantial increase" from my coordinator's contract...but MY idea of "substantial increase" and theirs is likely very different. So if it's not my idea, or close to it...then I'm doing some serious job searching elsewhere for a position with compensation that reflects the job more appropriately. That will push my timeline back a bit, but I'm much more flexible about that than I am fair compensation. However, I have faith that things will work out well here.

But wow. I'm on a path here: I WILL be a director, likely BEFORE I'm 40. That kicks ass.

Funny Bone Exhausted...NOT!

This has been a fantastic weekend. I got a lot accomplished and it's not even 7pm Sunday yet! I didn't make it out to Andy and Amy's but I did most everything else I had planned. I got some work done, I cooked, I cleaned, and I relaxed. It was awesome.

Today Comedy Central's been running standup comics all day and that's been on while I've been doing this and that. Holy cow are these people funny! I laughed more today I think than I have in a long time. It's been great!!! And there's more -SNL special tonight that should have a few funny moments in it. Wooo Hooo!

Tomorrow means back to work for me. No problem...I'm kinda sick of staying at home. Sometimes when I have weekends where I don't do anything or don't see anything I get kinda blue and crabby. This time I didn't. Must have been the funny stuff I watched today, or maybe it's the activity I did today -the cooking, the food prep for the week's lunches, the cleaning, the sorting out of junk.

Tomorrow is February 1st and a day of reckoning for me in regards to getting some exercise -some regular, planned, and deliberate exercise. Time to get back on the horse. I've got the food thing back on track again and now it's time for the working out thing. yeee hawwww!

What a Week!

Good morning! I haven't posted in a week. I guess you could say I've been rather busy. The weekend brought a snowstorm, first we got ice, freezing rain and sleet on Saturday and Sunday it turned into snow. It still snowed a lot more on Monday. All in all I think we got about 5-7 inches of new snow, depending on where it was measured. It sure was messy though!! I'm incredibly thankful for my tires, though, because I don't think that I would have been able to get around without them. Literally, I don't. So hooray for that!!!

I've been all over the cooperative this week doing various things: presenting to teachers about pre-referral interventions, child study meetings, IEP meetings, and paraprofessional analysis investigations. I also did a shift at the homeless shelter as well. Then on Wednesday evening, I was sooo tired and felt like just going to bed. But right when I was going to watch the State of the Union address, I started throwing up. Holy cow. I threw up all night! So Thursday I stayed home from work and slept most of the day. I stayed home Friday as well and felt much better. Now I'm up at 4am because I must have slept way too much over the past two days and am "done" sleeping.

Friday I ventured out and picked up some groceries and got some movies. I watched 4 out of 5 of them. So today I don't have much on my agenda. I think I'm going to make a roast beef with potatoes and carrots. Hopefully I can get up to Andy & Amy's and deliver some christmas presents and still stay rested so I can get back to work with both guns blazing on Monday. That flu really knocks the energy out of a person.

What is Success??

I watched the last Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien today. He's not my favorite late night host -I'd rather watch Craig Ferguson and even Jay Leno, to be honest. I think that Conan's funny...sort of, but he kinda creeps me out for some reason and I'm not sure why. HOWEVER, when he's got Andy Richter on there, that creepiness kinda evens out a bit. I like Andy and actually USED to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien when Andy was on there. When he left, it got very stupid, tedious, and creepy so I quit watching unless it was on and I had nothing better to do or someone I was interested in was a guest.

But last night, towards the end, Conan said something that boosted my respect of him a little bit more. I wish him well in whatever endeavor he finds next, but I'm pretty sure I won't be watching it unless it's amazing (and Andy is with him!). He said, "Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen."

I agree. I know this is true. Completely. I would never be where I am nor on the path that I am if I did not believe this and know this is true. There are no handouts. There is no room for cynicism. Everything you need is all in your own power. In the end, it might not work out exactly as you had envisioned in the beginning, but if you have been working hard, have been kind to others (and hey, face it, that means being kind to yourself...FIRST, in a healthy way), and are genuine in both your work and your kindness, things literally fall into place and what you've got is amazing -maybe even better than you had originally thought you wanted. Even if what you've got is a nice, stable, small, quiet little family -isn't that as amazing as earning a bazillion dollars a year with 5 houses scattered among the globe and a private island? Happiness is perspective and I really think that success is as well.

Success is the result of working hard and being kind to your fellow human beings -and your world. And also, I think that success is FEELING that sense of accomplishment, that sense of how far you've come. It's intensely personal. So maybe one could say that "success" is both a transient feeling and more of a personal perspective than a tangible "thing". There are some people who would say that I am successful in some areas of my life that I don't agree with -that's because I know what more I want to do, but to the outside world, I'm "successful". There are others who look at my life and say I'm not successful because I don't make a lot of money -their definition of success is earning lots of money. Here's my take on that: I COULD make 30% more money somewhere else, so to me, the mere potential I have for earning that is success enough. I don't need to earn that to feel good to feel like I've "made it". I make enough to support myself and not get myself into situations where I need to rely on other people to bail me out or worry how I'm going to get to the next payday. That is success to me. And, people respect my knowledge about several topics. That's success to me as well. And, I've got great friends who would do almost anything for me if I needed something. That's success to me too. All of that reflects my hard work, my kindness, and my persistence.

So now I feel bad because I totally talked about myself this entire post, but that's how it goes on blogs. I'd rather talk about myself than talk about other people because I like to respect people's privacy. Unless I get mad. Then all bets are off. HAHA!

Today I've got a roaring fire going and I'm catching up on my DVR programs from the week. I'll be making chili this weekend as well along with pretty much doing nothing. Oh yeah, I'll indulge in my dirty little secret (see previous post) as well on Sunday and I will probably get some housework done as well because I have company coming next weekend.

Thanks for checking in and reading! Be nice to people and work hard...you never can tell when it pays off. But remember to work equally hard at being good to yourself and taking care of yourself; that pays off too.

confession

Ok my faithful blog reader, I have a secret. Two actually. I need to confess. Ok, here it goes. I've been watching football. Vikings games, actually. That's secret number one. Secret number two is this: I am really, really looking forward to watching the game this Sunday.

AM I SICK OR WHAT? I know! I HATE professional football! What the heck is wrong with me??

So, you two or three people who actually know me who actually read this, you know my secret. And you people who just happen to come upon this site by accident or whatever, you know it now too. Whoopee!!

Here's my predictions for Sunday: Saints will win. However, the Vikings will be ahead going into halftime. But, like the Twins, the Vikes will choke when push comes to shove.

UNLESS they can keep their heads out of their ass and play hard. So yeah. Play hard or go home. That's the ticket.

Ok. That's it. I've been watching football. A lot. I still have absolutely NO idea what anything means and I don't get what the extra point kick is for or what the hell a conversion is or what all the calls are and stuff. AND, I still think that they are a bunch of cheaters with far too much communication capabilities and control over how the players play the game on the field. I suppose that's not much different from all the signs in baseball. Oh well.

But yeah. I will never tell anyone and I'm pretty confident that only like 4 people in my life read this thing -and those that do, don't care about football anyway, so my secret's pretty darned safe. :-)

WINTER!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............ thank you winter weather! So if you've been reading my posts, faithful blog reader, you know that I was planning on going to a workshop in St. Paul this Friday. That's been cancelled because of the weather! Yay! Now tonight I'm not doing ANYTHING but watching tv, burning wood in my fireplace, and drinking amarettos and whiskey waters on the rocks. Plus taking Facebook quizzes, browsing my friends' profiles (i.e. catching up on their lives!) and doing a little bit of cleaning, sorting, or just plain "puttering around" my house. AWESOME. Then, tomorrow, since I was scheduled to be gone, I have nothing on my schedule, so for all intents and purposes, I am out of the office and I can actually GET STUFF DONE in the office without being bothered!! OMG...I think that's probably too good to be true, though. I can get a BUNCH of stuff done and won't have to take ANY work home!

AND THEN! It's gonna be very crappy weather all weekend! I can't wait. I can have my fireplace going and watch movies, and just be a BUM all damned weekend!!! I freakin LOVE it. *sigh* how wonderful!

Anyway, now for some substance. Nah, just kidding. I've been in "work" mode rather than "reflection" mode lately. Much to do. Much to accomplish. Much to make happen right now. Later I'll decompress. :-) But, I will say, I had another conversation with my director today and wow, he and the superintendents are incredibly serious about keeping me around. However, that's all talk. I'll believe it when I see the contract come across my desk and the numbers inside it. Wish me luck. As a friend of mine in the banking/mortgage regulations industry told me the other day, I should be making more money that HE does because of all the education I have. Unfortunately...that's not how the education "industry" works. :-(

Winter Winter Winter???

There's a ton of talk about there being a winter storm this weekend again. Hot Damn!!! I LOVE snowstorms! :-) I've got my snow tires and plenty of junk in my trunk (in the form of 300lbs of sandbags), so I'm good to go!!! I do have to find gloves though...I need mittens or something. I should really work on that. :-)

I like Tuesdays. I have absolutely NO idea why. I think that if I were ever to get married, I'd get married on a Tuesday. If I ever got to choose when I would give birth to a kid (cuz let's face it people, if I ever give birth, I'm going the C-section way...ain't no way I'm passing through a watermelon!!), I would choose a Tuesday. Tuesdays are usually the best days of the week for me. Thursdays are actually a close second. There is nothing really special about them at all. It's just how I think. By the way, Tuesdays are yellow -a sunshine, bright, sparkly, SHINING yellow -hardly a color at all, but bright light with a yellow hue. Thursdays are a rust-ish orange-ish brown-ish color. Yep, I know, I'm weird.

So today I had my board meeting. It went very well and I really think that I have gained a whole lot of credibility with my board. Each and everyone of them have been positively affected (in a fiscally way, actually) by a change or influence I've done this year already. When you are dealing with superintendents, that is a very good thing. I was informed that I'm being offered a contract for 2010-2011. Hooray! But now comes the tricky part: negotiating them up to my price. So essentially, all the money I've saved them already to this date, I'll ask for in a raise. HAHA!! Let the dance begin.

I have a project I'm working on at work. I'm trying to streamline some of the office work we do. I have two secretaries and while I do need both of them for various reasons, their work could be streamlined and the data they collect could be managed much more efficiently. That being said, I'm in the process of exploring HOW I'm going to do that. I know what I want in my head...or at least, I know the process I want to have in place and I know what I want for my end product...I just have to find a way to get there. Not only that, I have to find a way to make my board want this to and find value in it. So I've got a friend who's a freakin whiz at this kind of stuff helping me out, giving me some direction, and possibly doing some actual consulting for me to create this vehicle. AND, I've got a board who wants to move the cooperative into a different sort of entity in a couple years which means whatever I create and implement now must be both adaptable and salient enough to weather that kind of transition. AND, most importantly, I have to get all of these things together in a room and get them to want to hook up with each other. Again...another dance.

At the end of the week I'm in St. Paul for a New Leader's training at the Minnesota Administrators of Special Education (MASE) headquarters. I "get" to stay at the Radisson again. I HATE Radissons. I used to like them or think they are ok. But I've really learned to hate them. I think they are just a bunch of fluff and fanfare and absolutely no substance. I hate them. But I love my MASE workshops, so it will be worth it. We're going through budgeting stuff and that will be very good. So I'm hoping that this fantastic "Winter Storm" we're going to have will wait until Saturday or LATE Friday to hit anywhere because I'll be done around 4pm Friday.

Anyway, I'm told we're getting 1.5 mn more of sunlight per day. That's great! Groundhog day is coming up, folks! I hope it's a good one. :-0