What I Taught Myself....February 26, 2011

Hey everyone!  How you doing?  Good?  Good.

In case you were wondering, surgery went well and I'm recovering like a chance.  And the beard is coming in pretty crappy but thats what happens when you haven't completed puberty at age 22.

I am completing my Conflict Management class in the next week. For one of my assignments for the class was to share a conflict that I encountered that was influenced by my culture and environment.  It was a pretty easy assignment for me because we had a debate about a subject in my own family.  I'll share what I wrote with you:

My own family has been pretty open to other cultures since I once dated a girl adopted from Romania.  Although I grew up in Plymouth Iowa (which has a very Bohemian background- Peshak is Czechoslovakian- and 99% white), I believe that my family taught me to be an open minded person and accepting of others' culture.


An example of a conflict that my own family had encountered in the past year:
My brother started dating a girl over a year ago.  When we were in Des Moines (where they live) she invited our family over to her house for supper.  When we went inside her house she asked us to remove our shoes before walking on her carpets.  Growing up, my parents never ever ever asked their guests to remove their shoes before walking into the house.  And I began thinking about that after this event occurred.  None of my neighbors, grandparents, or other relatives and friends in Plymouth ever asked me to remove my shoes.  When I dated (now my ex) girlfriend, she said that my house was the first she'd been to that didn't care about removing shoes.  Our carpets are clean (vacuumed once a week) and only replaced once in 30 years.


Where I'm going with this is that other people from different areas view this as a rude event.  Why track in dirt?  What about snow?  Its just the way I, my father, his father, have been raised.  
We're laid back and easy going.  Nothing much bothers my family and we're very open.  Yes my brother is married to a person who hates shoes and he's okay with it.  And I know I'll have to adjust to it.

How does everyone else feel about this subject?  Are you open to shoes in the house or not?

What I Taught Myself....February 18, 2011

We're over halfway through February and I have yet to post anything.  Well, I would like to apologize to those of you who have been waiting. The last thing I would want to do is let down my friends who read this blog.

So what have I been teaching myself?  As many of you know, I've been taking an online class this term (conflict management) which includes a group project.  First off, why should we do a group project?  Group projects are probably my least favorite thing in the world.  Especially when in a face-to-face class where I'm always the youngest person in class and all the "hotties" have gone through menopause (Hey! I wouldn't have to deal with the bitchiness every 28 days).  Another thing I dislike about group projects is that when doing them, I don't really know what is going on and show it by just agreeing with people.  Sometimes I end up in a group that includes numerous people who don't pay attention in class.

In this online class we have to read a book (which I have yet to open) and apply the "rules to negotiation" to a case study that involves a divorce, which I have never gone through (maybe if my brother would get his head out of his butt he could hurry up and help me with that). But lucky me, I volunteered to make the presentation with information gathered by the other people in my group.  So really, I'm the smart one in this group.

With this particular group project we had to volunteer for tasks during the project (leader, reviewer, scribe, presenter).  The first person to ask for a position was an older woman who said that she works as a library director, in charge of making as she should, bookkeeping, conducting board meetings, and public relation.  She also said she was married, mother of six, and grandmother of two.  So she sounded like a good choice.  The problem is that we hadn't heard from her for two weeks and the project is due next Sunday.  Luckily we had a woman start setting up chats and getting the ball rolling.  She said if Lauretta (the original leader) is no longer in class then she would take the position.  We had a chat on Wednesday and Lauretta joined us.  She had no clue what was going on and tried to somewhat take charge, like George W. Bush (HAHA).

I just don't care for when people volunteer to be in an important position when the won't fulfill the duty.  Its like letting a baby drive a car because he asked to (thanks Dad) but we all know how it will end (we didn't need that tree anyway.....or car).  Online group projects don't work.  When a group gathers in person, the members fall into the position.  Someone will feel as though they need to take charge.  Someone else will take notes (which I do...with cartoons!).  And a few will just sit there looking dumbfounded.  Just because online classes work, doesn't mean that group work will also.

That's it for me!
Bobby P.

Shout out to Bill K.! (I kind of missed doing that.)


*Have a topic you want my opinion on?  Just email Bobby P. at bobpeshak@gmail.com*