Sunday, May 27, 2012

A Benevolent Professor

The reason I'm leaving for this trip in late July is because I am taking some intensive graduate courses this summer.  These courses run from 8:30 till 1:00 everyday except one for a week and a half.  On the last day of class, a Wednesday, I am planning to drive to Louisville, KY after class.  The only problem with leaving on a Wednesday and not getting to Louisville until the wee hours of Thursday morning is that there are a bunch of things I want to do in Louisville (Wagner's Pharmacy for breakfast, Louisville Slugger plant and museum, stop by Churchill Downs, and the Jim Beam Distillery) before heading down to the Jack Daniel's Distillery on my way to New Orleans before getting to Houston for a Saturday night game.  More on all of that later.

A few days ago, I started emailing the professor that is slated to be the instructor of the course I'm taking right before I leave to see if I could get an early start on any major assignments.  She told me not to worry because the major paper wouldn't be due until a week or more after the course is finished to give everyone sufficient time.  I sent her the following email:

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"The idea of working after the course is not going to work for me. I am leaving from class on the last day for a 28-day road trip across the country. I literally will have a rental car packed and in the parking lot. I want to get to Louisville, KY that night. Full disclosure: I was going to ask you if I could leave a few hours early that last day . . . or the ultimate, a homerun, my own personal Pièce de résistance would be to leave a day early because I have to be in certain cities on certain dates and it would make the first four days of the trip more relaxed. In return, I was going to offer to write an extra paper, come over and cut your grass, give free math tutoring - I'm open to other options. I'm sure it's usually a no-no to miss a day of these concentrated courses, but I was going to appeal to your sense of being an intelligent, thoughtful Educational Leader who prides herself in being a creative out-of-the-box thinker that works with her students to reach their personal, educational, and professional goals."

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My wife would say that I'm a charmer if I used a line like that on her.  I don't think the word "charmer" fully appreciates the beauty and the depth of that sentence.  If I may be so bold, I think it's some of my best work yet as an evolved bullshit artist.  I'll explain why:
  1. It starts out by stating that I recognize the problem with what I'm suggesting.  Later, I talk about "out-of-the-box" thinking, which suggests let's be creative in working together to solve this problem.
  2. I've never met this woman.  All I know is her name and email, which I got off of Lehigh's website.  This is only my second or third time emailing her about the same issue.
  3. It complements her many times in all the ways a graduate professor would want to be complemented.  My father is the master at telling people what they want to hear.  I'm not in his league, but I got the basics down.
  4. The fact that I've never met her and am throwing out all these complements about her personality, which obviously I know nothing about, communicates to her that this email is typed with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
  5. Since I used the phrase "but I was going to appeal to your sense of . . . ", it says to her that I had thoughts of pulling a fast one and this is how I would have done it, but I have respect for you, so I'm just going to be honest with you. 
  6. Beyond communicating to her that I have respect for her, and more importantly her position, it shows that I recognize that this is a professional situation.  Lehigh University is a serious place and in this program of prepping you to become a principal, how you act is important.
  7. You have to know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em.  In trying to smooth things over to miss the final day of class, I think that the plan of attack with the greatest probability of success was this one of full disclosure ahead of time rather than trying to find the right moment after class or during a break to work it into a conversation.  Plus, by putting everyone's cards on the table now, it helps in planning for the trip.
  8. It shows her that I have a sense of humor.  Before I hit "send" I pictured her reading this and I like to think that she smiled the further she got along in the email.  This could come in handy during the course.  She has a sense of who I am and what I can bring to the class before it starts.  That might not sound like much for a lot of college classes, but there might only be three or four American students in the room.  These concentrated classes are primarily designed for international students.
  9. In this principalship program, I think it's important to be who you are.  These professors aren't just dispensing information.  There's a lot of back and forth.  They're sizing you up to see if you're up to the task of being a principal.  So if you're a dry person who excels in organization, be that man or woman.  In my case, I think it's a man that can control a room and get stuff done, while being able to laugh at myself or the situation once in a while.  In some leadership styles, having a sense of humor can be a great asset.
  10. That email was in the mist of me simply trying to get a couple of the assignments early so that I could fulfill the requirements of the course.  I'm not trying to get out of doing work.  I'm just trying to find a way to do the work within certain constraints.  Again, it communicates professionalism in trying to do the right thing and planning ahead.
The email had one more paragraph at the end:

"But I'm getting off the point. Doing work after the last day of class will not be possible due to my trip. Despite taking some other courses this summer, I'd be happy to do some work ahead of time for your class to meet the requirements for this course."

The Benevolent Professor responded that she now understands why I was asking for the assignments early and thought that she would be able to work with me in missing the final day.

Woo-Hoo!  Party all night long!  In leaving one day early, I'm going to have the time to do everything I want to do in the beginning of my trip and not feel rushed or that I have to drive until 1:00 every night in order to see everything.  I'll get to do everything at the top of this email, plus have almost two full days and nights in New Orleans before spending a lazy Saturday getting over to Houston to see my friends Mark and Christy for the Astros game that night.

Things are coming together.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

In preperation for my trip, I decided to watch the greatest road trip movie ever made.


While I doubt Melanie and I will see the world's 2nd largest ball of twine, Im sure the rest of our trip will go just like the movie.