Oh my gosh, you guys.
Back in January (it’s early April as I write this), I arrived at ClickerExpo and found that one of my favorite stupid props had not made the journey with me. I have a Batman toy from an old McDonald’s Happy Meal merchandising tie-in which I use in a silly-but-pithy demo about setting criteria and knowing when I’ll click during a shaping session. I like silly props; I think we can often absorb a concept better if we step out of familiar territory and experience something in a new way. But Batman had not come with me to sunny southern California, either because he’d fallen out of my bag or had been misplaced or just because the bright weather was not conducive to his usual dark brooding about crime and dead parents.
In a fit of “it can’t hurt to ask,” I mentioned my loss to Rachael Ryan, one of the fantastic administrative team. I didn’t expect her to have a spare Batman toy, exactly, but I thought there might be another silly toy in the assorted conference gear which I could press into service. Nothing quite fit the bill, so I made do without.
When I got home, I found my AWOL Batmobile sitting in my bedroom exactly where it wasn’t supposed to be, so I had it for the March ClickerExpo and the moral of the story should be something about being better organized. Except Rachael saved it and turns this into a much better story about having an awesome team.
I picked up my mail today and found a small package from the head office in Boston. Inside was a Happy Meal Batman Batmobile toy, with a note:
Unfortunately I don’t think this is the correct one. But maybe you can still find a use for it. Enjoy! Rachael
So now I have TWO Happy Meal Batman toys, and oh yes, I am totally going to come up with a teaching use for the second one.
So here’s a big shout-out to Rachael, and stay tuned at future workshops or conferences for the debut of Second Batmobile!