A little bit of work

So I love MACURH! But in the real world, I need to work and make money and cannot devote every waking breath to the region (which is truly sad). With that being said, I have spent the entire weekend at work. Literally I worked all of Friday night, all day Saturday, and I have been here since 8am. That's just too much, but I love my staff, which is what prompted me to write this blog.

My staff is fantastic, but I don't think they can compare to everyone in the region, especially around conference time. There is just an energy about the region that nothing else in the region compares too. In planning for the conference, I have my entire weekend mapped out. I have my time split between boardrooms and other business (also sleep - in case any of my advisors are reading this). I'm really a little nervous about how much there is to be done at conference, but that's not what I'm most nervous about.

I want to hang out with the delegates and boardroom reps. I want to get to know everyone. Have conversations, discuss their campuses, eat some snacks, those types of things. I know in a perfect world this conference would last forever and I would never have to say goodbye to any of them. This isn't that. So I need to make sure I am cherishing the moment and not letting it pass me by, and I urge all of you to do the same. It's like Ferris Bueller said "The question isn't "what are we going to do," the question is "what aren't we going to do?" Do as much as you can at conference. Push yourself to the limits, you never know, you may end up having the time of your life.

Elevators, Jason Bateman, and a little bit of baseball

So there was just a commercial on tv staring Jason Bateman. I don't tell many people this, just all 962 of my Facebook friends. But he was talking about baseball in a crowded elevator. He then decided that he liked using his legs and would take the stairs. Now, I'm not a baseball fan, as all 962 of my friends could tell you, but I really liked this commercial. It was one of those fancy elevators with dark wood and shiny gold bars. The buttons looked fancy, and not boring like the ones found in most modern elevators. It would be an elevator I would want to ride if I was wearing fancy clothes. Even though this elevator was possibly the perfect elevator, I would take the stairs in hopes of seeing Jason Bateman. 

Moooory

Well, I think I mean to say Sorry! I completely forgot I had a blog. Well maybe not forgot. I knew I had it and then I realized that I had some other things that I had to do and just never got back to it. Yes it means that I have  neglected one part of my bid, but it also means that I have been doing so much for MACURH.

But before we get to MACURH, I just had dinner with the Assistant Director of Education, and well, found out that the man who invented the Heimlich Maneuver is still alive. I guess I never thought about it before, but that's gotta be nuts thinking that you are indirectly saving lives every day.

Anyways, just a random thought. But back to MACURH! Well MACURH 2011: the power is you is in a month!!!!! I'm so excited to see everyone! but there is so much to do before then. I have some legislation coming out - be ready MACURH! Also I'm trying to create an efficient and fun boardroom for the Presidents! (it's the econ minor in me, I hate wasting time, especially when there are so many other things that could be taking place)

Also, the website. Yep, it's redesigned. On that note, today in class we were talking about SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) Goals. Well when setting out this adventure I knew I was doing the redesign with a template from the same website the old design came from. I knew how to tell if I got it done, and I had to finish it before I started classes - it was about a month after the RBD retreat where I set this goal. I have very little technological background. I can pick things up pretty well, and I'm great at reading books that tell me how to do things (I've been doing it since I was in kindergarten after all) But after hours spent in the library, there's a new website. I know there still some kinks, I'm waiting on the library to get some more books in (jk, I have a friend and were working on it, I promise!) But that's all the updates I can think of now, but don't worry I'll post more often from now on!

wooooo!

So after watching the episode of How I Met Your Mother where they mocked girls that go wooo! when they're excited. Well... wooo!!! I'm okay with being one of these girls, especially when I'm really excited. And right now I'm really excited. This weekend is the first RBD retreat!!! I've been working on preparing a presentation to show the rest of the RBD exactly what goes into updating MACURH.com and how the listserves work.

Another thing to go wooo! about - Stacy is coming to stay with me Thursday night! So we will be having a girls night and expect another blog post probably Thursday or Friday, and I will keep you posted on what's happening this weekend.

So little life update, because well I need to type it out for my sanity (I give you permission to skip this if you feel like it, I will not be offended in the least). Freshman (first year for some of you) Orientation is finally over, one wrap up meeting and I will be free of it! It's been a long 6 weeks of orientation and I am definitely ready for this. But with the end of orientation comes the beginning of special projects. I'm working (with Ms. Amanda Passmore :)) on putting together a guide for our RAs to Hall Senate (what we call our hall councils), RHA, NRHH, OTMs (and how the OTM database can help them) and conferences!! It will also contains lots of resources from around UNI! It's going to be a lot of work, but it's going to be awesome!! Check back later for more deets!

That's all I know for tonight and Tosh.O is on so I have to go ( I have a tradition of watching it with my residents, we're kinda adorable like that). Have a great night!!

With MACURH love,
Jill

A busy bee kind of Saturday

Hey MACURH! 


I know it's been a while since my last post, well over a month, but it's been a great month. First, I started as a summer RA and I absolutely love my residents. Most of them are doing a summer internship at John Deere so it's really great getting to know people from around the region. Second, NACURH was a fantastic weekend! I met so many great people and got to see some great friends! Third, I officially took over as the RCC-Tech!! It's great officially being in the role and I'm really excited to continue to work for MACURH. 


So a few updates that I have: I have been working on getting some new forms of social media going. I'm not going to spill any details now, but just be excited! Also, my inbox is cleaned out and organized! I began working on the first newsletter from your new RBD so be excited to see what we have all been working on. List serves will be getting updated as soon as I receive the information from the schools. I have been making a list of what needs to be updated on the MACURH website, but the RCC-Tech laptop doesn't have the necessary software at the moment, so were working on getting that so we can keep the region up to date! 


That's all I have been working on for the last week and I can't wait to continue working on things next week. But for now I have to head off to work (there's two big weddings at UNI and yours truly gets to cut cake for them! Yay catering!).


And on other big exciting news, my baby sister is now a senior in high school. It's crazy to think how fast time flies and I know that in one year I will be saying the same thing about MACURH. But since tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and hot I am heading to Dubuque, Iowa to hang out with my sister on the river. 


I know I will enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope you do too!


With MACURH love, 
Jill 

Procrastination and Productivity

With next week be finals week at the University of Northern Iowa, I decided to take a nice study break to think about MACURH in more detail. I recently led my first President's Chat. It was exciting. I was really nervous thinking people were watching me, which is a tad bit ironic.It went fantastic, and this time I didn't end up in the minutes talking about bathroom issues. We talked about what was going on at our respective institutions and so many schools have great things going on. We also talked about how people are transitioning and some advice for transitioning. It was great to hear about what each school is doing to transition such as passing binders down, planning summer retreats, planning transitional meetings, and generally sharing tricks of the trade. 


As far RBD stuff. We had our first chat last night and talked about the Sustainability ad-hoc committee. We are getting feedback currently and will look into what is going on with the ad-hoc committee in the near future. We just gave updates of what we were all doing, and much like RHAs across the region we are working on transitioning as well. I had another phone call (and Skype chat when my phone died :( ) I learned a lot about sustainability initiatives and we talked about some of my goals for next year. I also have a few ideas for President's Boardroom that I'm really excited about. 


Other than that nothing too exciting going on in my life. I found out that my summer RA staff is living together for the first couple weeks of the summer. It will be weird, I haven't had a roommate in over a year so I'm coming up with rules for myself while I'm living with people. As soon as I figure them out I will make sure to let you know. I know one of them will be to limit use of permanent markers and hairspray, don't wanna make the suite too smelly. 


I also have been studying a lot, leading to the discovery that our library serves Caribou Coffee!!!! I absolutely love Caribou Coffee and it is my new favorite place on campus!! That and it is the one place that is open past midnight for studying right now. 


Well I am off to continue procrastinating writing an ending to a paper with a comedy show!  Enjoy your last week or weeks of classes everyone!! And good luck on finals! 


With MACURH love, 
Jill 

I should be studying... but MACURH is cooler!

So this post is going to be filled with everything that is blowing up my Facebook page right now: information about delegation meetings and finals.

First finals. Um, they're coming up so don't expect many posts, not that I have been posting a lot at this point anyway. I will be posting as much as possible, but we all understand how crazy this time of the year can be.

Second NACURH!! I am so excited for NACURH! We had another delegation meeting and I am really excited to be part of this amazing group and wish I would have more time to see them at conference. Other than that I have submitted a few NACURH U programs so I'm just waiting to see what gets accepted! I have been working with Jacob going over some transitioning information about the Sustainability Committee and working with Presidnets. I have also put together a binder and I'm starting to figure out my strategies for accomplishing my goals so I have a plan when going into this.

Other news from my life. My sister leaves for Hawaii on Saturday, so that's exciting. My grandparents live there and she's going to see them for Easter. I received a Gold Star Award at our NRHH banquet. A Gold Star award is for the top leaders in our Department of Residence that have gone above and beyond their call of duty. That was pretty emotional for me. On Thursday I hand the RHA reins over to Dusty and I'm taking my Exec Board out for Ice Cream afterwards. And on weather related news,  it rained, snowed, hailed, thunderstormed, sleeted and there was slush falling from the sky. And its kinda chilly, but it's Iowa and this is normal.

That's all I know and now back to finishing a paper on CEO compensation.

With MACURH love,
Jill  

Tales from the couch in the ladies room

[21:29] MacurhTech: Jill is in the bathroom.
 [21:29] MacurhTech: Ok we will now move into our discussion for tonight.
 [21:30] MacurhTech: Sustainability intiatives!
 [21:30] Jill_Hohnecker: x
[21:30] Tyler_Winona State_Pres: X
[21:30] MacurhTech: Jill
[21:31] Jill_Hohnecker: I move that me being in the restroom be stricken from the minutes
[21:31] MacurhTech: Is there any dissent?
 [21:31] Jill_Hohnecker: n
[21:31] Erica_Fontbonne University: N
[21:31] UIowaARHPres: Y
[21:31] Tyler_Winona State_Pres: n
[21:32] Jill_Hohnecker: motion withdrawn
 [21:32] MacurhTech: Thanks Jill.




Yes that is an actual copy of the transcript from tonight's President's chat. There was dissent, so it will be in the minutes forever. Thanks, Jacob. 

A long, but yet AMAZING weekend!

So this past weekend in Fargo, North Dakota, the RBD and RBD elect gathered to share ideas for the rest of this year and get the "newbies" ready for next year. After the car ride up there (all 10 hours of it) we had a little bit of a break while we waited for everyone else to get it. We had a quick campus tour because Becky was in a banquet. We got to see many of the halls on campus as well as some of their classrooms, definitely nap-worthy rooms! They were some really comfy chairs especially compared to the nice wooden chair I am sitting on currently in the library at UNI. We had a great dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and got to know each other better. The night concluded with a hilarious dancing game on the Kinect. It was my first time playing and I thought I did relatively well (thankfully there is no video to prove me wrong). 


The next morning was full of fun meeting time, and a great breakfast. We began by discussing what current RBD members are doing. Then we moved to the MACURH assessment. That had many great opinions and suggestions for next year and I'm excited to begin working on some of the ideas through that. The biggest thing that I took away from it was just trying to get to know as many people as possible. I know I won't be able to connect with everyone, but I want to make sure people feel comfortable coming to me with  anything. 


We then went over a general timeline of what needs to get done throughout the next year. I realized that as soon as bids are ready to be posted that I am going to be ridiculously busy, but I am so excited for it. Jacob and I then went over the website and I was even able to make some updates!! I still have a lot to learn and lot of updates that I want to make to the website to make it more user friendly, but baby steps right?


The RBD elect talked about goals and expectations for the next year and played a pretty intense game of hangman. This was followed by lunch and the rest of the afternoon we talked about current legislation and NACURH U programs for NACURH (which is 50 days away!!!!). We also had a great dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. I asked for a playmaker and as a team we got first place in trivia for one of the games!!! GO MACURH!!!!


We finished our evening off talking about the committees and a few last minute details before the midnight business cutoff. After a few short hours of sleep, it was time to head out in the morning. The trip back itself is worth a separate blog post, so be on the lookout for that!


Have a great day MACURH!
-Jill 

Day 1

So today the official email went out and I was named RCC-tech for 2011-2012! I was completely excited and already in Minnesota on my way to our transitional retreat. After the lovely 9 hour car ride (shout out to Ryan and Stacy for making it awesome) we arrived in Fargo, ND. After a lovely campus tour through puddles of melted snow and mud all over the sidewalks we had an amazing dinner at a Mexican restaurant down town. The town and campus are both gorgeous and I love the all the buildings on campus. Tomorrow business begins at 8:30 and I couldn't be more excited to start working on things!! Well I'm heading to bed it has been an extremely long but yet exciting day. 

-Jill