Catching Idle Butterflies

Muush!

My brain is muush today, and has been for the last several days. Allergies, sinus headaches, sneezing so hard I can feel my heart been pressed out through my spine, the real fun stuff. Luckily these attacks only last a few weeks at the beginning of the summer and then again in the fall. Down a Claratin, and I'm peachy again. *Searches desk for pills* Ah, ha!! Oh, dang, that's not a Claratin, that's a Midol! I don't think that'll help . . . except my mood maybe!

Oh look, a chicken! Sorry, kinda got lost from my original intent of this entry.

My apologies to everyone if it takes me a while to catch up on your blog today. I've already discovered I'm behind two days on some, 'cause you done sneaked them in when I wasn't looking!

But onto a more interesting subject, since I know my bodily functions and my lack of proper medication are not what you come here for!

This email came yesterday:

Dear Andra,

Good afternoon, this is Jessica Richards. On behalf of the ATP team, I would like to invite you to become an instructor for the AUGI Training Program.

Attached you will find a proposal form. Please fill this out, and send it back to me. This will give us information on the class name, a description, skill level and when you are open to teach a class.

If you are not familiar with how the ATP classes are broken down, here's a rundown.

The classes run in three segments. You will provide material (around 1500 words, but if your point's across, that's good enough!) in .doc format. The second Monday of the month is when the classes start. You will have your own AUGI forum dedicated to you and your students. If you accept to be an instructor, I will then give you detailed information on how to post, and reply to questions. It is VERY simple. Once the classes start, you just answer questions as they are posted. You typically won't really see that many, but, the students do ask them.

The material is due two weeks prior to the start of the class. This gives the team enough time to process the handouts, convert them to .PDF, and to post them to the website.

You will receive a not for resale (NFR) Autodesk product of your choice for compensation.

Please feel free to ask me ANY questions you may have, and I hope to hear back from you real soon!

Thank You,
Jessica Richards
ATP Recruiter

A little background. Don't worry, susanL , I'm keeping the "big picture" people in mind, so I'll make this short!

AUGI stands for Autodesk User Group International, and for those of you who don't yet know, Autodesk writes computer aided drafting software and is the industry leader.

I think AUGI solicited me because I wrote an article for their magazine, “AUGIWorld” a few months ago. I didn't get paid, since they're a nonprofit, but for now I just want to get my work out there. Money is less important than publication right now.

I would like to participate, but coming up with a subject, writing it down, and then keeping up with any questions on the forum as well as grading any assignments I create, that takes time I don’t really have right now.

Those are the cons, now for the pros.

I get a program of my choice! That’s the best incentive, because some AutoCAD programs are quite spendy – we’re talking in the thousands of dollars! I like to teach, and I know there are many things about AutoCAD, simple things that would make a user much happier and more productive I sometimes find lacking in AutoCAD users. Plus, this will exercise a part of my brain that hasn’t been used in a while, something to concentrate on other than my writing, or lack thereof. Besides, I can choose the time to teach a class, a time when I’m not so busy.

This weekend, I will give this more serious consideration, perhaps even test-run a few class ideas using the templates attached to the email, and see if they would make sense to a prospective student.

Happy Friday !

It is Friday, right?