Southern Illinois has a 20 plus year tradition of an event called River-to-River Relay. It’s an 80 mile distance from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River, in which 8 runners run approximately 3 mile legs throughout the distance. Each runner will run three legs. The distance may not sound intimidating, but the fact that it is spread over a long time period AND it’s incredibly hilly causes some major distress.  Each runner carries a  baton and then hands it off to the next runner.  The exchange zones were a pretty exciting area on the course.

Runing 10 miles in a day isn’t a major problem.  At one time I was quite the long distance runner. But age has crept up on me.  Thirty years and 40 pounds later (at least I still have my hair!) running is still enjoyable but a much harder task for me.   I must be careful not to overdo my workouts…occasionally my knees ache, but I still occasionally have the competitive juices flowing–especially in an event such as this.

One must first picture being in a van with 8 other people (7 other runners and one driver) for up to 12 hours.  First, the odor becomes overwhelming.  Fortunately it wasn’t an unusually hot day, but nonetheless people still sweat.  The accumulation of 8 sweaty runners  in an enclosed place for up to 12 hours made even a Port-A-Pottie as an pleasant experience.

Second, we are running through some major rural and wilderness areas.  But I gotta tell you…there were some parts that I was wondering if we would see the Deliverance Banjo boy playing…some of us couldn’t get a cell signal–not surprising…some of these places probably didn’t even have land line capability.

Altogether there were about 250 teams…the start was staggered from 6:30 am to 8:15.  Our starting point was 7:45…not bad…BUT we had to finish in 12 hours and 15 minutes (8:00 pm) to qualify for a t-shirt. We had to GET a t-shirt.  Imagine every shape, conditioned and style of runner and they were here.  We had a team of ladies wearing tu-tus.  We all called them the ‘tu-tu’ team (yes we are very clever in the names we give our competitors).  There was a team of pregnant women–nobody wanted to be passed by one of those runners (after all we are guys with some egos).  There was a guy that sounded like a rooster…I kid you not.  He was at every relay exchange making rooster sounds when somebody handed off their baton.

I ran three legs…the first one was just three miles…but the first mile was uphill.  By the time I got to the top I was in such oxygen debt that I couldn’t recover the remainder of the two miles.  I was dog tired when I finished and I had serious reservation whether I could even do the other two.  The humiliation of not running my other two legs was just too intense.  Plus, the rule of the van was that if you didn’t complete your legs you couldn’t drink any beer when it was done.  Enough said…I’ll finish my other two legs.  I decided that I would start extra slow for the next leg (about 4 hours away).

The route of my second leg was relatively flat and true to my plans I started slow and progressively picked it up.  I felt tired but comfortable during this leg and was already planning my third leg…the dreaded downhill component.  Prediction of rain never materialized during the day EXCEPT during this particular leg.  It was a nice rain though but I was pretty soaked when I got through.

The third leg was about 3.35 miles with about a 1.25 mile steep downhill section…just what my legs needed–the pounding of a downhill for over a mile.  I can’t complain though.  The previous runner had to run UPHILL 2 miles…I get the baton and for the first mile I am on level ground and I’m carefully monitoring my pace (I didn’t have a watch with me but I think it was around 4:45 mile pace–I may be off on that time a little).  The downhill was an opportunity for me to ‘let it fly’.  At that time the rain started again (once again only on my leg).  I do the downhill stretch pretty good…catch a guy that was far ahead of me, and I started the last mile of a series of short up and down stretches.

The last 800 miles was uphill and I struggled but was able to push to the exchange zone to hand off to the last person.  The chants of my teammates helped…”beer…beer…beer”.  I was pretty spent after that leg but I felt that I had run well (considering my age and weight).  We piled back into the van (not a good idea for a person finishing a run to do–but we did it after every leg) so we could meet our 8th running at the finish line.

We managed to finish at EXACTLY 12 hours…we BEAT the tu-tus and the pregnant ladies.  Most importantly we got those valued t-shirts.  After celebratory hugs, photos, and adult beverages we climbed back into the van for the 90 minute drive back to Carbondale.  Fortunately we had a woman who was our driver throughout the entire day so we didn’t have to worry about paying attention or staying awake.

The next day I went out for my daily run…I looked like the Arte Johnson character of the 1960s TV show Laugh-In.  I’m sure people who saw me thought I escaped from some sort of asylum.  My legs felt like cement.  I felt 30 years older…but hey, I had a new t-shirt.

Time to start thinking about next year’s relay…

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a) Make a million dollars, b) Attain a power position in government

And now I have a clear understanding of how to achieve that ideal… Just 3 simple things I need to do.

1) Change my party affiliation to Democrat

2) Make it known that I would like to have a powerful position in Washington and ask my friends to tell people I am the best person for the job.

3) Quit paying taxes!

From the heart of the rockies

TDub

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An SIU Committee asked to draft a policy on plagiarism have been charged with plagiarizing their plagiarism report.  Apparently they copied their report from a paper created at Indiana University.  You can read the entire story by clicking the link below:

http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2009/01/30/local/27946321.txt

Note, I am not on that committee.   I am the interim chair on a committee to assess the prevalence of interim positions at the university though.

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I went to pricegrabber.com and typed in IPOD Nano and sure enough I see a number of good prices.  Now, I’m not exactly sure of the protocol but IPODs have different generations.  They’re at the 4th or 5th generation, so for those places that have a 3rd generation Nano, they’re screwed.  There’s nothing wrong with a 3rd generation…it just doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles that a 4th or 5th may have.  Hell, my wife just wants to listen to music…

I saw a 4 GIG 3rd generation IPOD Nano for $79.90…now, that’s a deal.  I did all of the investigation and decided to pay for it.  I used my Paypal account to pay for it (BIG mistake–soon to be explained).

I get the Nano in a few days and noticed that it was a ‘Refurbished’ Nano.  I immediately called the company and they said sales are final.  I told them that they did not state that the item was Refurbished…I wouldn’t have bought it.  Still, the sales representation (apparently from Pakistan) wouldn’t budge.  Apparently through Pricegrabber there’s a middle man who does it.  So I contact him…nothing.

I filed a complaint with Paypal basically asking for my money back and I’d ship the product back.  Within minutes I get a response (from Brian) who indicated that he couldn’t do that, but that he would reimburse me 1/2 of my money for my inconvenience.  OK, a reburished 4 gig 3rd generation nano for $39.00?  DEAL!

I responded back on the Paypal complaint form that I would accept his offer.  He indicated he would reimburse my Paypal account within a few days.

A week passes, nothing.  I sent him an email and he indicated he had forgotten so he’ll get it done within a few days.

Another week…nothing.

I escalated the complaint with Paypal but since I did receive a product they couldn’t do anything about it.

So, basically, I’m screwed.

Now, I don’t like getting screwed.  Had I paid with a credit card I could have had better luck…not with using Paypal.

I’m a firm believer in not getting mad…getting even.

So here is what I’ve done.

I first found out that the HEDIR has the capability of registering people and prohibiting them from posting.  So I registered Brian for the HEDIR.  Henceforth he’s going to get all HEDIR messages.  But wait…it’ll get better…I’ve reconfigured the HEDIR so that all error messages from the HEDIR will now go to Brian.  There are about 1600 people on the HEDIR…anytime you send a message there’s a good chance that about 100 won’t receive it (due to some temporary technically).  Each time an email is processed to send to the ‘owner’–me, informing me of that.

In the past I created a dummy email to direct these…imagine getting 100 error messages on days in which we have 10-15 messages?

So effectively immediately, Brian is now getting all error messages sent from the HEDIR.  I hope he chokes on it!

So, how was your Christmas?

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Where Our Governors Make Our License Plates

New License Plates for Illinois reflecting George Ryan (governor of IL from 1998-2002), now serving 6 years at a federal prison for his conviction on corruption and on the right current Governor Rod Blagojevich–currently under investigation for attempting to sell Barack Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder. This will replace the license plate showing the non-criminal Abraham Lincoln.

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I have done some considerable thinking over the past 2 weeks.  My thoughts started at graduation last week.  We had about 40 or so graduates… all of which had been in at least one of my classes (many of them two).  There were 6 of these students who took an additional elective that I teach; international health.

While watching these fine young people walk across the stage, I thought to myself how sad it was that so many people did not have the chance to go to college.  Many because of circumstance, others because they just don’t want to jump through the “hoops” of college, even others because they don’t want to put in the additional effort despite the clear benefits of completing a college degree.

According to the census bureau only 24.4% of people 25+ have at least a bachelor degree.  To me that is amazing!  A USA today report in 2002 reported that lifetime salary of a college graduate is nearly $1 Million more than a high school graduate.  Anyone use an extra million bucks?

So to the point of my blog.  How can we get more people a college degree?  Of course reduce the cost, improve access by accepting more into schools or make the degree compulsory like primary and secondary school.

But I am not sure anyone is thinking about this solution.  I think it is a great one!

I conducted a little summary of the credits of some of my graduates.  (Keep in mind that our university gives students only 1 semester past 140 credits to complete their degree… other programs will allow students up to 200 credits).  The average college graduate earns at my program has 136.5 credits.  Only 120 credits are required for a degree.  Therefore, each student has an EXCESS is 16.5 credits. 

So, what if we were to take away the excess credits from college graduates (after all they don’t really need them) and GIVE them to people who would like a degree.  We could call it a surplus bank… For every 7 graduates we would be able to get one person a college degree that would like to have one.  That is an increase of 13.7%!!!  And it would cost VERY little to implement.  We would be helping those that need assistance in getting their degree.  What do you think?

If you agree, let the new education secretary know you would like to get this program on the first 100 day agenda.

And if this works, maybe it would work with other social programs… Like Taxes.

Thanks for listening… From the heart of the Rockies

T Dub

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I’m always amazed at how things have started and how we allow tradition to dictate what we do…even if it makes no sense.

Now I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I have many, many shortcomings. I’m probably a sexist (when the behavior is not intended to be). But for the life of me I cannot understand something that we do in this society (and perhaps in the world)—why does a woman ‘take’ a man’s last name when they get married?

Now, I think at one point women were considered property and literally ‘sold’ to suitors for some tangible product (i.e., cows, horses, land). I also understand that these practices still exist in many cultures—I’m not worried about those cultures at this time. I am concerned about the practice here in the U.S. The fact that we didn’t allow women to vote until the early 1900s is incredible and for decades in the history of this country women couldn’t own property individually.

So I could somewhat understand that if women were considered property (a concept that I can’t accept or fathom) they would be given the husband’s name. But in the 21^st century, when women are suppose to have all freedoms that men have, why do we continue this practice?

To make this even more complicated, here in Illinois (and I can’t say for sure this exists in other states—but it probably does), when a women marries she AUTOMATICALLY takes the man’s name. If she wanted to keep her maiden name (another interesting term) she would have to petition the court to change her name back. WHY would a state mandate that? What is the logical sense for that?

I state this for a number of reasons:

1. The idea that a woman takes a man’s name somehow indicates that the male is master of her destiny
2. I find that it can be a terrible disadvantage to women in certain professional careers. For example, we have some amazing women in our PhD program. As many of you know, they work hard during their PhD years, often presenting at various conferences, publishing articles, and making a name of themselves at the national level. Suddenly they get married, change their names, and that name recognition is no longer there. Imagine if Larry Green changed his name to Larry Jones. Obviously, Larry Green is going to be the same person as he always has been but when people are talking about Larry Jones, they’ll refer to him as the former Larry Green (much like Prince did when he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol—they would always introduce him as the ‘Artist formerly known as Prince’). Now, if we’re in the entertainment business this might be cute…but in a professional career I find it very difficult.
3. This is more a personal reason, but hell, I have difficult remembering most people’s names…I’m just tired of having to re-learn their new name.
4. With the continuing increase in the percentages of divorces, often time these women drop their ‘married’ name and go back to their ‘maiden’ name…even more confusing.

Now, some women use hyphenated names. That helps a little, but I find it amazing that the males do not use the same hyphenated name. Why should women bear the brunt of changing their name?

Folks, I guess I’ve always known this, but it’s truly a man’s world (and a white man’s world at that).

Now, I speak from some experience in this. My wife kept her last name she was given at birth…no hyphenation last name. She is well known in the area and ‘taking’ my name would have been a definite drawback. There is a major advantage to this. When I get a solicitation call and they ask for ‘Mr. Clark’ or if my wife is called ‘Mrs. Kittleson’ we know they don’t know us and they just want to sell something. We simply tell them there is no Mr. Clark or Mrs. Kittleson living here.

On the other hand, I’ve learned to suck it up when a repair man comes to the house (based on my wife’s request) and they proceed to call me Mr. Clark. I just nod my head—I just want my garbage disposal to work…call me whatever you want.

Now, children are different. I believe hyphenated names are appropriate. The big advantage of this is that the PE coach doesn’t call the kid by their last name (it’s too complicated—‘Hey Clark-Kittleson, get your butt over here’. Instead, they use the child’s first name…somehow having a PE Teacher yell at you using your first name isn’t as intimidating.

Anyway, I regress. Let’s move into the 20^th century (since we are in the 21^st) and start treating women as true equals.

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For most not familiar with Illinois politics, it’s as corrupt as it comes—and it’s predominantly due to the Chicago influence. Over the past 40 some years 4 governors have been convicted of felonies and have served time—currently the Governor prior to our current one, is serving 6 years for corruption in his role as Secretary of State (the position before he became governor).

It is also ironic that the current Governor also instituted a lame-ass attempt to bring ethics back into the state by mandating all state-employees go through an annual web-based tutorial on ethics (however, politicians are exempt from going through this training). This is a worthless activity that three years ago caused a great stir around the state because several faculty at SIU (around 50) completed the training but the training was negated because, according to state officials, they completed the training too quickly. It’s typical of Illinois—a very anti-higher education state—to accuse people of being too smart. For those in education, have you ever questioned anybody who finished too soon? These 50 individuals were threatened to be fired because they completed a typical 30 minute tutorial in a time less than 12 minutes.

I took this test (I completed it in 18 minutes and I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer)…apparently 18 minutes was acceptable. One of my colleagues finished in 14 minutes…he was one of the 50 ‘smart people’.

Although the Blagojevich acts were incredibly stupid and arrogant, it does make one pause to think of the possibilities associated with his idea. Maybe universities can use this approach to raise funds. I propose that we sell ‘administration’ positions at universities for a fee. Obviously, one would need to be qualified, but we would get them to pay for a seat. For example, a chair would have to pay $100,000. We’d even allow them to pay this over the course of let’s say 10 years. OK, we hire the poor smuck for $120,000, have them kick back $10,000 a year for ten years (under the guise of a ‘donation’), to the university. We do that for all the chairs, the university can create some decent funds. Of course, the fees would go up according to the position…perhaps a Dean’s position is at $250K, Provosts at $500K, etc. Again, all the money would go back to the university. Heck, we could even format this so that the money could be sent back as a ‘donation’ from the person—a tax-deducted ‘gift’.

The difference between this and the Blagojevich plan is that it’s out in the open and the money wouldn’t go into an individual’s pocket but back into the institution. I betcha if Blagojevich would have used the money received for his senate appointment to go back into the state coffers (instead of his pocket) that the people wouldn’t have been so upset.

My second option is for Illinois to only allow felons to run for governor. Have them get the crime out of the way prior to entering office so they can actually spend time running the state. But, that’s for a different day.

Oh, by the way, if this is read by any state official or attorneys who do not have a sense of humor (I assume most), let me finish by saying ‘I’m JUST KIDDING!’.

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1)  Providing OPPORTUNITIES for students to gain and hone skills and abilities that are necessary to be a competent professional.  Sometimes that includes providing them tools (skills), sometimes it involves creating the environment for them to “find” their own skills.

2)  Teaching them how to learn.  There is no way possible to teach a new professional everything they need to know to be a specialist in health education over the course of 120 credits.  Learning content, and improving skills is a lifelong endeavor and so we should emphasize the ability to learn more than what is on the next test (BTW, I stink at this right now).

But, if one more senior walks into my office and says “I’m graduating nest semester, and I was wondering… what can I do with a degree in health science” I am going to SCREAM!!  Shouldn’t you have thought about this a little earlier?

Why do some young people expect others to do the foot work for them on important life decisions?  It is just a pet peeve I guess, but shouldn’t a person who has invested 3-4 years of their life in an educational pursuit have some idea of what the end game is? 

I have taken some steps to better prepare these neoprofessionals in their job search.  You are all welcome to see our compilation of job search sites at http://www.byui.edu/HealthSci/EmphasisWebsites.htm .  I put this together after my first year because I thought it would help (many who come and ask about the above question have not even attempted to look at this site)… and I hold a seminar once a semester to talk about the job search (we have almost 1000 majors… about 6-10 come to the seminar).  I want to help them, but perhaps more help than this is not helping but hindering their progression…

Maybe I’m becoming too cynical… Then again, maybe I’m not doing my job and preparing them to recognize all one can do with a degree in Health Science.

Thanks for listening… From the heart of the Rockies

T DUB

Many of you know where I work.  The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Brigham Young University-Idaho or its Parent affiliates.

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In addition, we’ll try to post weekly updates of major discussions that took place over the HEDIR.

I would encourage you to click on the RSS link (in the upper right hand corner….so that you can have these updates sent directly to your email or highlighted in your browser.  Because there are different strategies for differing software, you’ll need to do what is best.

If you use Microsoft Outlook 2007, you can add an RSS directly to your email…

Follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings.
2. On the RSS Feeds tab, click New.
3. In the New RSS Feed dialog box, type or press CTRL+V to paste the URL of the RSS Feed. For example, to sign up for the HEDIR blog type http://feeds.feedburner.com/HedirBlog.
4. Click Add.
5. Click OK.

For those who use Outlook 2003 or Outlook Express you’ll need to download an add-in.  One of ones that seems best can be found at http://rsspopper.blogspot.com/2004/10/home.html

For those using other email systems such as GMAIL, Hotmail, and Yahoo, check to see if you can activate this RSS into that account.

Kittleson

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