Inside This Issue...
Shannon Hill, Ph.D.

I know it is spring because it snowed five inches at my house just a few weeks ago; my climate control systems are continuously going back and forth between air conditioning and heating; and it is raining almost every other day. It's the unpre-dictable time of year. For behavioral researchers, the goal is to learn to "explain, predict, and control." So, unpredictability can be disconcerting for people like me. However, I have learned one thing in my career and in my life; we might be able to predict on a large scale but so far we just can't make predictions on an individual level. Sometimes that makes trouble for us, but since I was an English major before I discovered psychology I can also say, "that's what makes life interesting."

So, you may have guessed by now that this edition of the newsletter contains information about surprises we've had at The Baddour Center this quarter. First, in our training report, you'll see that our staff attended a session called, "Communicating with Persons who Have Limited Communication Skills." While there, they learned that we all have communication deficits and that most communication doesn't require you to talk anyway.

Last quarter, I advertised a 2-day seminar on Aging and Future Planning. I was surprised to learn that our first presenter would have to cancel after all of the printed materials had been mailed. That was embarassing, but it happens. The Future Planning session went on as planned and was not only informative, but surprisingly entertaining. Who would have thought a law-and-money presentation could be fun?

In Meet and Greet you'll get to know Ricky, a Maintenance worker best known for his carpentry work. I'll bet he was surprised to find after 27 years of service that the factory he worked for was closing, and that the next company he worked for would close due to buyout, leaving him job hunting again. But maybe he was more surprised to find himself joining a family when he took his next job, right here.

Well, I could go on about the surprises you'll find in each article, but I'm out of space and that ruins all the fun anyway. So, happy reading!