BUJerry's Blog

o.c.d.

BUJerry — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:10:00 GMT

so, i'm a bit of a dufus. that's been established. but for some, inexplicable reason, i decided during my first year of domestic student recruitment to take photos of all the places i visited. at first it started out as cities--flora, lebanon, peru, i'm talking to you. but then i realized there might be cities that i was speeding into at 70 mph, and, well, that might not work out so well. it's bad enough that i got pulled over twice for COMPLETELY random infractions, one of which i was unaware of and another that happened WHILE I WAS GETTING OUT OF THE WAY OF THE POLICE! thankfully, no tickets either time. but anyway, back to the story. cities quickly turned into school signs. a little safer. so now in my photos are shots of all the schools i visited this fall. see if you can find yours. and if you can't i didn't visit. give me some reasons to come and see you next spring or fall.......

breaking news: mouse roulette

BUJerry — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:05:00 GMT

ok, so i'm not exactly a state fair or carnival rookie. i've been to a handful or more. but at the local Cathloic church festival Friday night, this was new to me. as my 4-year old and i looked over our game-playing options, we happened upon this color wheel, set up like roulette. big wheel. bunch of colors. three colors for a dollar. out of the corner of my eye, i see the "ball" fall out of a box in the middle towards one of the colors at the edge of the wheel. so we hand over a buck, place out chips on green, pink and black. and to my utter joy and amazement, the fella opens the box and a MOUSE runs to the edge, scurrying down a hole representing a color. unbelieveable! who would ever think of such a fantastic way to gamble!! what's best is that my daughter plays four times and wins TWICE! beginner's luck? maybe. am i taking her to the casino next time? maybe....

epilogue: there was an escape. after our first win, the mouse managed to escape from boxes and the wheel altogether. after much scurrying, screaming by other 4-year old girls (not mine, papa proudly points out), a back-up mouse is called into duty. the first mouse eventually turns up later, according to the roulette attendant.

(almost) ready to roll

BUJerry — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:11:00 GMT

hiya....

survived the remnants of hurricane ike yesterday. what was left of the eye passed right over us in central indiana with some rain and soem crazy wind. i briefly thought about re-creating a weather channel moment and standing outside in it.

i am heading out at the end of this week after istep testing here. istep testing in indiana =lots and lots of visiting prospective students. and then friday i head to carroll county and to lebanon high school. i'm looking forward to this new chapter here at butler, seeing how all this us travel goes.

we're also looking to set up a facebook group for international students-current, alumni, and prospective students. i'm hopeful that this might be a good forum for connecting international students with butler, both forwards and backwards. we'll keep you posted....

one good outcome of my not traveling internationally is i get to go to the indianapolis irish festival this weekend. it'll be my first time, and i'm looking forward to it. for any of y'all who are from out of state, it's one of the cool things about indy. lots and lots of festivals: ethnic festivals, church festivals, etc.

all for now. hey to bumegan who's been out on the road for a week+ already!

a couple of points of business....pay attention

BUJerry — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:52:00 GMT

ok. i need to take a little break from updating all the behind the scenes computer stuff that enables international students to get emails and letters from butler. all those codes and dates are making me go cross-eyed.

there are two things you need to know right now. one is that my goal this year is to write more than i did last year. but even bigger than that, my goal is to have more stars than BUmegan on her posts. yeah, she's younger and more popular and all of that. but i'm gonna rally.

the second thing--pay attention--is about our little statuses on the blog page. i wrote yesterday that they are all going to be in code. whenever possible, that status is going to be a song lyric or title or something music related. (see i used to manage a cd store, when people still bought cd's. i walked into a borders a few weeks ago that i hadn't been to in a while and was shocked-shocked-shocked at how few cd's they stock now. it was like 1/5 of what they used to have. a tragedy, but i'll talk more about that later.)

so comment to me when you see them. see if you can guess what songs or artists they are. i'll be super-impressed and you will definitely get bonus points if your an applicant from my territories in the US (Michigan and west-central Indiana) or around the world.

oh, and i'll talk music, politics or weather with anyone, anytime.....

i'm boring

BUJerry — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:46:00 GMT

i think that's why i don't write as much as i should. i think my life is pretty plain. it's not really, but it's certainly not exciting. but i think a lot....lots of random thoughts. like today, i was awake at 6:00am and kirk cameron of 80's sitcom fame was preaching to me on tv about his faith. (occasionally, billy baldwin has done the same.) i'm just not sure what to do with that. clearly, the religious programming must think that those folks must carry some sort of cache, and that i'm more liekly to stop and listen to them becasue, well, they are them. i suppose that's true, because i stopped. (but then kirk cameron told me my heart was "dirty," and i moved on.

i was selected along with about 10 other staff and faculty to serve on a workshop about faith and its role on Butler's campus organized by the center for faith and vocation here. i like cfv, or more specifically, like judy cebula who heads them up on campus. she's got a great attitude, and the cfv is a great resource for any future bu students of any--or no--faith. anyway, we met two weeks ago, and we talked a lot about the role that a "secular" or non-religiously based campus has in issues of faith. it was pretty interesting how bu is not affiliated, but has this huge undercurrent of faith among its current students. that's good, in general. the bad thing is that i hope students don't hold to their faith so strongly that they don't take advantage of the very notion of college being a time of exposure and exploration of ideas.

i struggle with my beliefs--was raised Catholic, went to Catholic high school, until i left for college. i have a very hard time reconciling my political beliefs (generally moderate to liberal) with re-connecting with an organized religion. what the point of believing unless you are going to belive and follow all a church's teachings, and if you can't believe all, what's the point of subscribing? friends of mine have referred to it as a la carte, or drive-thru Catholicism.

any way, just a random thought. cfv: good, jerry: conflicted.

what's missing?

BUJerry — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:52:00 GMT

the weather here has been unusually cooperative lately. it's felt a lot like the beginning of september. i'm sure september will feel close to hell temperatures. but it has definitely felt like something is supposed to be happening--but it's not. for the last six years, i've travelled to latin america in september. so for six septembers, i've prepared and looked at flight schedules and packed boxes and everything. that's 1/6 of all the septembers of my life, and i'm going through serious withdrawal. no mate in quito, no ceviche in lima. i am honestly not sure what to do with my thoughts.

this september, i'll be heading to michigan and western indiana to recruit there. it's exciting in a "holy cow this is different" kind of way. i'll still be recruiting international studnets, but you are going to have to work with me--i won't be seeing you in person.

¡viva españa!

BUJerry — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:31:00 GMT

i've been thinking lately that i'd like to watch more soccer, so i had the euro 2008 match on yesterday. to my utter amazement, my 4-year old watched nearly the entire match! she was pretty much tuned in, watching, commenting to me while i was out of the room. pretty funny stuff. she's also completely obsessed with the video for the beastie boys song "intergalactic." we have an interesting child....

i'm heading out to vacation later this week, and then on to east lansing, michigan for a conference with international guidance counselors. i'm from michigan, but it's been a long time since i was in east lansing where michigan state university is located.

summer is quiet here on campus, except for all the construction equipment building a new section on to our college of pharmacy building. you can check some of that info out at: http://www.butler.edu/absolutenm/templates/?a=708&z=16. i'm not sure if they are going to have a webcam or some photo updates on the progress.

if i don't see you, you're not there....

BUJerry — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 16:10:00 GMT

i'm just going to ignore the fact that i haven't posted in, well, just about forever. i'm sure our blog administrator is this | | close to revoking my priveleges. so. i'm ignoring it.

while ignoring it, i went to latin america again in april. great fun, visited some new places like guadalajara--hey leo--and san pedro sula. got way sick in quito, i think from an arepa i ate in colombia (but as it was much discussed with a colleague from bogota, i don't hold it against you!)

i am disappointed in the numbers of international students starting this fall, and very few from latin america. i feel like i'm working hard to get a good group here, but just seem to be falling short. but....

i'm hoping to do some new things this year online, maybe some videoconferencing and other new stuff. we've already started one thing: live support! on go.butler.edu/international, you can now look for me when i'm online at my desk, or even at home at night (at night here :) ). basically, it's an on-again, off-again chat with yours truly.

so, i am newly inspired to keep up with this too. til next time....

No Snow

BUJerry — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:55:00 GMT

howdy.

one handed post...the other hand is holding my sleeping 10 month old, conor, a.k.a. "bubba." he's kinda big....

the snow seems to keep missing us here in indy, so i went at found it in michigan last weekend...and promptly got stuck there for an extra day. complete blizzard conditions, couldn't see more than about 25 feet and 50-car accidents!

first, did anyone notice this....from the indianapolis star?

Butler schedules Stanford

Butler has scheduled a home-and-home series with Stanford for the 2009-2010 and 2010-11 seasons. Stanford's aim is to play opponents from similar academic institutions, according to Butler's coaching staff.

The Bulldogs are to play at Stanford in November 2009 before participating in an ESPN-sponsored tournament at Anaheim, Calif. Stanford would play at Butler the following year.

stanford! awesome! but probaby even cooler is that stanford--stanford--sees butler as a "similar academic institution!" if that doesn't get you confident in choosing butler, well, i don't know what will.

also this week...the very first meeting of the butler muslim student association. word is that it went well, and that a decent number of students attended. i'm very happy that this group of students are now represented on campus.

just bought my plane tickets to latin america for april. i'm excited to return for the 8th time. i'll be making recruitment visits to guadalajara, mexico; san pedro sula, honduras; quito, ecuador; bogota and barranquilla, colombia, and lima, peru.

more updates soon....

M.I.A.

BUJerry — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:11:00 GMT

wow it's been a while since i posted. i kinda suck. but, at least megan has only posted a few times over the past couple months too, so i don't feel so bad. kinda shows how busy we have been. for anyone who doesn't know december is nutty in admission offices, and for me, the nuttiness kinda flows well into january. international applications tend to hit the most a little bit later than u.s. kids' applications.

i've already read some amazing applications: ridiculously smart kids (nearly perfect sat scores? seriously?), kids that i met out on the road last year, and even some brushes with "fame." so it's been busy.

christmas and new year's was great. it was nice to have some time off. got some new music for christmas. i'm kind of obsessed with the thievery corporation these days. if you've never listened to their "cosmic game" cd, you have to check it out.

obsessed--i think i'm obsessive compulsive. with butler's hoops team powering through their schedule, i'm obsessed with rpi. for anyone who doesn't follow, the rpi is a strength measure of college basketball teams, and helps determine who gets invites to the ncaa tourney. we are 22nd right now. i find myself looking at where we are, who we played, where they are, who beat who......it's a little ocd. thank god the team just goes out and wins and doesn't pay attention to this crazy crap!

i also find myself obsessed with heath ledger news. it's not even that i've seen all his movies. patriot, maybe, is the only one until yesterday when i watched ten things i hate about you. but i get super sucked into breaking news stuff. he just seemed like a cool guy. the clips of him as the joker in batman look just awesome.

anyway, i'll be back sooner rather than later.

Thanksgiving Day and More

BUJerry — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 18:14:00 GMT

Ok, so posts seem to be pretty scarce, I suspect because students and staff are on Thanksgiving break. So here's a little bit of a howdy as I sit and watch the traditional Detroit Thanksgiving football game, this versus the Packers. The Colts play tonight. Hopefully the short week (they played only 4 days ago) will not hurt them too much.

First, some business: if you haven't applied yet, please do so before December 1 so that you can be eligible for all the scholarships and benefits of early admission. If you have any questions about this stuff please let us know. I've been trying to get in touch with anyone who has applied and even your high school counselor too. And look for your admission decisions in late December.

I cut my hair. I no longer look like the goofy guy in this picture. I'll have to get Brad to take a new one. After almost two years, I just decided I looked a little....silly. Disagreement is welcome, though my hair is now about 3/8 inch long, so it will take a while if you want to see it long again.

Hey--did you catch Butler basketball absolutely dominating the U of Michigan late last night in the Great Alaska Shhotout? Man they looked awesome! Check out the story at: http://butlersports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/112207aaa.html. There's a great blog about BU basketball being written by an Indianapolis Star reporter--I encourage you to check that out; there's some great inside info. Go to: http://blogs.indystar.com/butler/.

jfd

Mid-November and Up-to-Date

BUJerry — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:38:00 GMT

Ok, I feel really bad about not posting lately. I had all these great intentions of posting while I was traveling, and as I stated, it didn't quite turn out that way. For anyone who doesn't know, doing international recruitment is just a blur--lots of airports, buses, etc. But it's also lots of fun. I get to see great students who can often be very, very smart and very well-prepared. So after Latin America, I was back for a few days and then off to Canada. As always, Toronto and Ottawa are great places to be. Then I was back for a few days, and in Mexico for a spell.

Unlike Megan, I have not returned to a very large stack of applications. Some, but most international students seem to work on a little different timeline, that's a bit later. I'm hoping that all of my internationals out there are--or become!--aware that our scholarship deadlines are earlier than they have been in the past. Hopefully, this will be a good year!

I was watching the news last night and they announced yesterday that a Fogo de Chao, a swanky Brazilian barbecue place is opening in Indianapolis. In case you have never been to one, check out the details of how one of these places works at http://www.fogodechao.com/dining.htm. Every time we're in Brazil, we go to one of these types of places and just gorge ourselves on cuts of meat. Yum.

So anyway, from here on out, I'm going to use this blog to throw stuff out there--some of it relevant and interesting about BU, some it random and useless. Stay tuned....

Hello Honduras 9/22/07

BUJerry — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:35:00 GMT

Ok, so if you've never flown into Tegucigalpa, you have to. If you do not know what I'm talking about, go to YouTube or Google and type in Toncontin Airport or Tegucigalpa Airport. It's apparently one of the shortest runways and most difficult landings in the world.

We had a crazy and short time in Tegucigalpa. We had 4 school fairs/visits plus a large college fair all on Friday. But we saw the most amazing studetns and lots of them. We were fed and played a little basketball (yes, in our khaki's and school polo shirts--we're lame) while visiting at the American School. Visited Del Campo, Macris and the International School. It was super rainy the whole time we were in Central America, and Teguz was no different.

To any and all at the International School, I'd like to call your attention to Seitu's blogs. Seitu is from Trinidad, but check out the pictures of our most recent Honduran addition....http://go.butler.edu/cs/blogs/seitu/.

Tegucigalpa was where I left Central and South America for this year. I hope to be back in April. I love and hate travelling. When I'm there, I love being there but also miss home and want to get through the visits....quickly. But then when I get back home, I'm always wondering how I could spend only 36 hours in a place like Bogota or Tegucigalpa. I guess my hope is that we eventually get enough students that it makes my visits to these places a little more rich: I can meet with alumni and parents and really get more out of my visits.

Panama 9/19/07

BUJerry — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:41:00 GMT

Oh, Panama, how confusing art thou. Every time we come here, it seems like lots of the other schools I travel with don't want to come back, saying it's not a good market. We somehow seems to get students from Panama (though fewer recently).

This used to be the hottest (literally) place I have ever been, though it was replaced this year (read more later to find out who's #1.) Great things about this visit: an always busy visit to Academia Interamericana de Panama. We've been doing these things this year where we (the 20 or so schools visiting y'all) do presentations about the American education system. I think they have gone pretty well. Feel free to fire any and all questions to me about the process, even if Butler isn't at the top of your list.

Other great things about Panama--the food. We went out to eat and had some great typical Panamanian food: plantains, ceviche, sancocho, arroz con guandu. And, another group of universities were travelling through as well, and I got to see one of my best travel buddies while crossing paths in Panama.

San Jose, Costa Rica 9/16/07

BUJerry — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:18:00 GMT

Ok, so call this what you will: sucking up to Costa Ricans in order to get applicants? Maybe. But I am really fascinated by a country that has NO army! Being a political science major, the fact that Costa Rica has done so well for so long in a relatively stable democracy is really interesting to me. I've had the luck to be in Costa Rica almost always on Independence Day, September 15. All the little kids get dressed up for the day--one of the great things about our school visits is that most schools are K-12, so we see all of them too!

Had some great visits including Country Day, where I learned what a "golden" Birthday is (17 on the 17th!)

And the British School....

And at the International Christian School and Lincoln (where my pictures did not turn out so well...)