That is the question.

Whether ’tis nobler to stay awake or get a few hours of sleep. 

OK, so… I am in Boston and heading back to Michigan in the morning. VERY early in the morning. I couldn’t find a non-stop flight from Boston to Detroit sunday night so, for the first time I decided I would fly out monday morning.

I have to be back on campus by noon and it was either get in at 11:30 or 9am. I didn’t want to take a chance on coming in late, so I opted for the earlier flight, which leaves at 7am. I ordered a taxi which will here at 5:15am.

So,…Here I sit at 12:52am trying to deicide… get a few hours of sleep before the 4:30am alarm or just stay awake and sleep on the plane (which I |ill probably do on the flight either way).

The choices…the choices.

I la la la love my nieces but whew!

It was an incredibly busy day today! First thing was breakfast, then volunteering with EJS [and I will tell you all about that another time, so very proud of her!] 10am-12pm, then home for lunch, off to a play date at 1:30, then movies at 4:15, which got pushed back to 4:50, then home and a visit.

I got home about 10pm and I don’t know about you, but I am B E A T!

If I had the energy, I would give you more details, but I just don’t! and 7:45am will be here before I know it and I think this may be one of the few ways to get me to sleep more than 4-5 hours in a night! I have already re-typed this post a few times because apparently my fingers don’t work so, I will say…

Goodnight

I had a glimpse of Spring today in Boston, it got a little above 50, ahhh.

There have been a few days in Colorado that were lovely, I got to drive with the top down to and from the airport, high 60’s, low 70’s, what could be better?

In Michigan and Boston, Mother Nature hasn’t seemed to have received the memo that Spring is here, even though there have been slight glimmers. There werew a few days in the high 40’s in Michigan, hold yourself back, but then snow the other day?! And as I mentioned, today it was up to 50, but tomorrow is supposed to be cold again.

I have no problem with winter, but there is a limit to how much there should be! I’ve had enough long sleeves, sweaters, longs socks, boots, winter coats, gloves, hats and scareves. I love skiing, but let’s leave that in the mountains, the cities should be warmer. I’m ready to keep the top down on the car.

There I’ve said it, bring on Spring!

Do you ever wait and wait and wait and wait?

The waiting really is the hardest part. Isn’t there even a song? Tom Petty, right?

There is build up, here it comes and then you wait and wait and then the big day comes and the event starts and then you wait while it’s happening and you wait and you wait and you wait. Then it’s over and the next period of waiting starts. Then finally, there’s the relief, ahhh.

Then it starts all over again.

Yeah, that’s it.

Part of the training I am doing starts with what is called CT Bootcamp.

CT is for Credentialed Trainer and the Bootcamp is the training I am receiving to become credentialed prior to teaching the end user in a few weeks. We have been doing sessions called teach backs, this is when we teach each other what we’ve learned; maybe Monday we have one of the ID [Instructional Designers] go through a lesson and the next day, we teach it back to the group: teach backs.

Part of the credentialing process is to do a teach back for a panel and take an assessment. The panel teach back is for several people from the software company, people from the project team, instructional designers and one or more clinicians from your track. The other part of the credentiatling process is to take an assessment, this is an online test.

Today, we had our panel teach backs and had to teach one lesson that we decided on yesterday. I selected something I know well, feel confident and knew I could blow them out of the park. That was the good part. The bad part, I was number 6 in the group and they started at 1pm. By the time they got to me, I was lucky they were awake! I kid, but you can imagine what it’s like sitting there hour after hour lisenting and possibly not following along! So, there I was in the lobby area, waiting and waiting and waiting.

Finally it was my turn, I walked in and turned it on! I was engaging, energetic, enthusiastic, these are all words they used when giving feedback. There were two criticisms I received and one was right on point…I talked to fast! I know I talked too fast today, we had a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time. When my time was up, I heard duck quacks, that was the timer going off.

When I was done, they gave me feedback, then I left and headed downtown to Bar Louie with ET to meet the rest of the group. We all exchanged stories of our experience and the great part was as each person came out, they gave feedback and some advice for the next person and so on, that was stellar!

I was pumped when I finished and left the room, headed to Bar Louie and then the fun began. Happy hour specials and $1 burgers, can you believe it? Yes, even veggie burgers!

Best part? While we were sitting there, we all started to get emails…We had passed this portion of the credentialing process…WAHOO! We didn’t have to wait a week for the results. Next, we take the assessment and once we pass..We are credentialed trainers! I can add Willow to my resume, I am credentialed in two other modules.

Go Willow Team! We rock!

Transition covers so many things.

Transition can be good, it can be bad, it can be subtle, it can be non-existant, it can be over-the-top; transition can be so many things. I was watching something on a tv show and there was a transition for one of the main characters to a new job, that sparked sadness for everyone involved, even though she was told it was for the best.

We transition from season to season; the clothes in our closests, class to class, school to school, home to home, maybe we change jobs, redecorate the house, change to a new vehicle.

Life is made up of transitions and how successful those transitionas are depends on how we handle them. How do you handle change/transition?

I’m inspired tonight to talk about nicknames because apparently I have a new one.

Nicknames can be terms of endearment we give each other or maybe they are to mask the name of the person you are talking about. They range from the sweet like honey, sweetie, sugar lips to the strange like goober and well, some more inappropriate than others.

So, you know me as JJ, for my grandkids, Peaches was from the wasband, George is from high school and now Auntie George for Miss A and Auntie J for EJS and MGS and all the other kids who honor me with that title.

In grade school, I was part of “The Giggle Twins”, then because I wore those round “John Lennon” spectacles, both sunglasses as well as prescription, I started to be known as Lennon. The funny thing is, with some of these nicknames, I had friends who didn’t know my real name, they would just refer to me as one of the others. I had a cute experience with a dear friend from high school, she had told her daughter about me and how I was called Giggles and her daughter had a speech quirk at the time and called me “Diddles”, that made us chuckle.

When I got here, one night I wore that hat that SDL’s mom gave me and for some reason, one of the other trainers called me Smurf and someone else called me a gnome, not really my favorites, in the least. I know I’m short, but come on!

The reason for my post today is that apparently, I have a new nickname, T-cup. I have a wee bladder and after every section that we learn or teach, I take a bio break, it allows me to continue to work and teach for long days. I also just have to pee a lot! I can take T-cup, it’s cute and I can live with it.

So, what’s your nickname? Do you love it or loathe it?