Summer University

The winter semester is officially over and the summer one hasn't started yet. This means that campus is completely dead, which has its pros and cons. Pros: no line-up at Tim Horton's, no pushing through throngs of people in order to get to your meeting on time and staff tend to be more relaxed. The main con is that the place seems to have no energy. One of the best things about working here is the energy that the students bring with their constant chatter. My office is next to "The Pit", a popular hangout for students. On any given day there will be a card game going on, someone playing a guitar, a game of hackey sack and of course lots of studying and group discussions about course material (at least some of the time I am sure).

Summer is a much quieter time than Fall and Winter, there are still students around but it seems more relaxed. It is a great time for the staff to destress before the busy fall hits. And it is great for students taking classes.

I did a full semester of summer classes and I absolutely loved it. The classes were very small, around 15-25 students each. This is ideal for class discussions and I got to know everyone in my classes very well. I also had a couple profs who taught at other Universities but were spending their summers at the U of R as sessionals. They brought a great new perspective and taught courses that wouldn't necessarily be offered in other semesters. Also, the summer semester is broken down into two two-month periods, which means that you are learning at an accelerated pace. I liked this because it seemed like you didn't have to review the material as much because there weren't any breaks in learning it, classes are often every day. But the absolute best part of it was studying by Wascana Pool.

The U of R is offering more and more summer classes all the time through Summer University. If you are interested check out:
http://www.uregina.ca/cce/creditstudies/summer/

Think Regina and NEWS!

Well today I am off to "Think Regina" in Edmonton. The Regina REDA puts this even together for Regina businesses and services to attract Albertans back to Saskatchewan. So if you are in the Edmonton area and have any questions about the U of R be sure to come out and see me tomorrow at the Edmonton Shaw Conference Centre (Hall C). More information can be found at:
http://www.thinkregina.com/



One of the great things about my job is it takes me to cities like Edmonton. I have a couple of friends there I am going to visit and of course I will take advantage of the shopping in the West Edmonton Mall, and probably make a trip to IKEA too! I am actually very excited about this trip. I need to get some maternity clothes.



On that note, I would like to let all of you know that I am expecting a baby on September 4. Those of you who have seen me at UR Ready Workshops and such would already know this as I have quite a noticeable baby bump. I had an ultrasound last week and would like to share it with you.


Isn't he/she cute? I am getting pretty excited to be a mom. The baby moves around quite a lot, especially in the evening, and it is a really cool feeling. If all goes well I plan to work until August 15 and then take a year long maternity leave.

Personality

I have noticed many similarities in the personalities of recruiters. It must be that the type of job it is attracts like-minded people. I especially notice this when I meet with other recruiters. For example, today was our SUTIL Annual General Meeting. Now this meeting doesn't work like most general meetings. It appears not to have much structure or logic. However, we seem to be able to make decisions, and really great ones at that! And this is all due to our personalities. Here are some common traits I have noticed:
- We are outspoken, but not in a bad way I hope
- We have spunk
- We tend to have many ideas and be very creative, but this sometimes means we don't have time to process all of our ideas
- We like to get things done, and this is more important to us than analyzing things

Now of course all recruiters don't fit all of these things and it is a mass generalization. But it got me to thinking about my personality type. I have done the Meyers-Briggs test and a few others, and know that I am generally an extroverted, people person. But for fun I decided to do some quick tests online. Here are some of them and the results. They are fun, you should try some when you are bored!

http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/personality-colors-test.html
This is a simple test where you choose which shapes and colours make you feel most comforted. Apparently smudges of yellow, blue and orange mean I am extroverted. My second choice was a fuschia turtle which apparently means I have "low social motivation" and I don't care what others think.

http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~chua/test/test.html
This is similar to the first test. This time I am romantic, dreamy and emotional! Second choice - introspective, sensitive and reflective. Hmmm, these are quite different from the first findings!

http://web.tickle.com/personality/?sid=2005&supp=search_personality&test=personality
This is 50 questions, and at the end they make you register at the end. it turns out I am a Socialite! It sounded bad to me but I liked the description they gave:
"This means you're confident, dependable, and goal-oriented — and when you make a plan you stick with it. Your natural friendliness and charm mean you're great at meeting people. And chances are you handle this popularity with grace since you take your personal life very seriously."

So the outcome of the personality test story? Well, I like all of the descriptions and would like to think they all apply to me in some way! Now, I better go see which car I am most like, what my beauty aura is and which movie star I most resemble.