Parties and Celebrations

Susan and I went out with a group of friends last night to wish a fond farewell to our friend Steph, who has resigned her position at the university in order to embark on a new career opportunity. Steph is feeling good about this transition, and the mood of the group was upbeat with lots of laughter. Some gentlemen, who were at the establishment for a bachelor party, sat down at our tables for part of the night and started visiting. Quotations from their conversation supplied a good deal of the laughter before we called it a night and left!

Tonight Susan and I attended another gathering of university folk, this one a general "thank God that this semester has ended" party at our friend Holly's apartment. Holly has a deck of playing cards that feature a different cocktail recipe on each card, and she chose three of them to serve her guests tonight--tasty! Everybody brought an appetizer or dessert item to share, too, ranging from a traditional Middle Eastern dish (made by an untraditional Middle Eastern professor) to s'mores (made using a torch supplied, along with the s'mores ingredients, by one of the guests). Holly is a generous hostess who invited entertaining guests, and we had a great time.

In between these parties was the 90th annual commencement ceremony for the university. We faculty wear our academic regalia and march in and out before the students, so I spent this morning on campus. Afterwards I went to the house of one of the graduates, Ryan, for his reception. Ryan was never my student; he and I became friends through his cousin, Chris, who is my friend and a colleague at the university. Not only Ryan but also his parents urged me to come over to their house for sandwiches, salads, punch, and cake and ice cream--and who am I to refuse homemade food?

Incidentally, Ryan and I are featured (photos and biographies) on side-by-side pages of the commencement program! He won an outstanding graduate award, and I was recognized for having won the Innovative Teacher of the Year award (remember?). I'm not sure who wrote the blurb that got published next to my picture, but it's quite flattering! Read it for yourself:

"KEVIN MOBERG, assistant professor of education, received the Innovative Teacher of the Year Award. Moberg has been with the Department of Teacher Education for two years, during which time he has transformed the technology course to truly prepare teachers for the 21st Century classroom. Many educational technology courses show students tools, but Moberg has his students learn by actually using these technological tools, such as PowerSchool, Moodle, IVN technology, and electronic portfolios. Moberg also has introduced his students to the concept of 'teacher as researcher,' requiring that they develop research questions related to their classroom observations, conduct a review of current research, collect data, and make decisions based on this data. This process is rarely done at the undergraduate level. He is truly preparing students to teach 21st Century learners, students who learn differently from those in previous generations. Moberg's students know him as a teacher who is intensely interested in their success and is always available to help. He is recognized by his peers for his ability to draw students into reflective conversation in a personable and approachable manner."

Food + Friends = Fun

Last Night
Our friends/neighbors Chuck and Reba and their kids Madeline and Jack came over for supper last night. We had Madeline and Jack over to play and eat supper with us a while ago to free their parents to attend parent/teacher conferences at school; and when Chuck and Reba came by to pick them up again afterwards, we decided that it had been too long since we'd all had a get-together, so we scheduled Friday's supper.

Susan and Abigail prepared a layout of crudités: radishes, cucumbers, celery, carrots, red peppers, yellow peppers, and orange peppers with ranch dip; and sliced pears and apples with caramel dip. Susan also made three huge pizzas, and the kids drank fruity beverages while the adults drank beer and wine. Susan made brownies for dessert and served them heaped with Schwan's vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.

The food was terrific; the kids had a great time playing together, as always; and the adults enjoyed visiting and joking (Chuck and Reba are hilarious). However, I had been under-the-weather all week as well as under-rested due to my staying up extremely late each night in an effort to get all my work done for school. My body must have decided that "enough was enough" by the time last night rolled around--at one point in the evening, I could barely keep my eyes open any more! When the host disappears for a span of time and his daughter reports that he's sleeping on his bed, the keen guest takes that as a clue that it's time to gather the kids and head home. I don't think I exhibited great hosting right there--how embarrassing. Thank goodness they're such close friends!

Tonight
Susan and I had supper with another set of friends, Deana and Jim. They invited us and several others over for their second annual pre-Thanksgiving deep-fried turkey potluck supper (remember last year's event?). Susan and I were the first to arrive, so we got to sample some homemade blueberry wine that Deana opened to share with us. After everyone got there with their dishes for the spread, we ate: turkey, ham, tossed salad, vegetable salad, coleslaw, cranberry fruit salad, fresh grapes, li'l' smokies in barbecue sauce, cheese cake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and blueberry coffee cake (you just never know what all will show up on the table at a potluck).

A lot of the other attendees are our friends by virtue of their being my coworkers, and several of them were involved in the recent community theatre production that Susan and I attended (remember?)--so we had plenty to visit about throughout the evening. They're an educated and humorous crowd; the topics that we covered in our conversation ranged from which English translation of Homer's Greek epic The Odyssey is the best to which male movie stars qualify as "hot" to which comes first in a relationship: friendship or love. An evening spent with those friends is always an interesting one.