a visit from the governor

Florida's Governor, Charlie Crist, came to OWC (the college I work at) to sign the new state college bill into law. Well, technically he already signed it...this was just for show. This bill turns OWC and 8 other community colleges in Florida into state colleges. State colleges still offer 2-year associates degrees; they just can now offer bachelor's degrees. OWC already offers three, but this new law will make it easier for us to add more. The reason the state did this was to increase the number of bachelor's degrees awarded in FL. Currently we rank pretty close to last.

Anyways, when we heard the bill would be passed, the speaker-elect of the FL House of Representatives (who is from Destin) asked for the Governor to sign the bill at our school. The governor obliged. So today was the day.

The event went well, except for the Governor changing his schedule at the last minute and arriving an hour early. So we had to scramble and alert the media and community, but got it taken care of.

I didn't actually get to meet the Governor, but I got really close to him (see the above picture I snapped). He's extremely tan - like fake & bake brown. I stood about a foot away from him at one point and he asked me where the college president was. Other than that, that was my only interaction with him. I really wanted to say, "hello, gov'na", in a really cheesy British accent, but I didn't think that would be very professional.

After 30 minutes his motorcade swept him away to his next destination and the event was over. I was bummed that I didn't get an official Charlie Crist blue sharpie. That was his ceremonial bill signing pen...a blue sharpie with his name on it! I guess I thought it would be something more executive looking. Only the legislative delegates and college presidents got them. I hate being a peon!

So that is about the most excitement I've had lately. That, and playing Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. For some reason Chip and I were talking about that game the other day and remembered how we used to play it a lot as kids. We googled it and sure enough they still sell it! You can even download it so you can have it right away (for those of us with no patience). It's not the same version I had when I was twelve, they've fancied it up a bit, but it is still fun. Writing this made me think of the old TV show of the game they had on PBS. It has a catchy theme song by Rockapella. I found a video of it on YouTube...enjoy! :)