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Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education – Inside Higher Ed :: Testing for Technology Literacy
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Beta Blogger Label Cloud
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23C3 – Lawrence Lessig – On Free, and the Differences between Culture and Code – Google Video
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Task List: Handy student app for tracking assignments
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Get Unstuck at ToGetUnstuck.com with Renaissance Soul Margaret Lobenstine, coach of Renaissance Souls in Renaissance Soul life design – Upcoming Workshop Information
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Blogger Beta – Fluid 3 column template
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Beautiful Beta: Adding a second sidebar to your template
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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | US watchdog defends Jackson fines
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FT.com / World / UK – UK report says robots will have rights
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It’s Not Just You: Exploring the causes of worker burnout | BlogHer
One of the most compelling things about reading faculty blogs is the way they provide an inside look into what faculty life is really like. I wish I could do the same here, but is it interesting enough? What would be an interesting perspective from the staff point of view? We get a good view of the administrative side–deans, provosts, etc.–from Dean Dad. I feel like those of us at a non decision-making level have little voice (and perhaps little to say). You don’t see stories about secretaries or other support staff in The Chronicle or Inside Higher Ed. Why? Are we that invisible? What would make us more visible and what would be compelling to know about the how we go about our jobs, what we think of our institutions and higher education? Let me know.
A few weeks ago, as I was shopping for Christmas presents on Amazon, I looked at my wish list and my recommendation list and lamented that I hadn’t had time to read for pleasure. Now that I’m not teaching, working full time and writing a dissertation, I can finally get back to reading. I thought I’d read what Amazon recommends and see if they’re doing a good job of picking books for me.
The first book they recommended was The Kite Runner
The narrator ages more than twenty years during the course of the book, and I was impressed by the way he seemed the same boy we met at the beginning of the book and also a completely different person who had been through two wars and a gruelling move to America. Also impressive were the descriptions of Afganistan during the reign of the Taliban when Amir returns to take care of some business of his father’s (so as not to spoil the whole book for you). Amir remembers the tranquil Afganistan of his youth and seeing so much destruction and violence is heartbreaking. As a reader, I, too, felt the sadness of seeing something that was described so beautifully at the beginning of the book completely destroyed.
My only problem with the book, really, was the resolution. It’s not that I didn’t like the way it ended, but it was painful getting there. There were so many mini-conflicts at the end, I felt like I was in a bad action movie at times. The conflicts make sense, but I think at least one or two could have been left out and the ending still would have worked.
I would recommend the book wholeheartedly. It’s a good read. You won’t be disappointed with the story or the writing.
The title is one of my favorite Bush quotes. I love passive voice. It lets us get away with all kinds of things. One of my professors, when explaining passive voice used the example of going out to dinner with his brother. When it came time to pay, his brother said, “My wallet was left in the car.” As if the wallet decided to stay in the car.
So, this evening mistakes were made. Tonight’s meal, Pork Roast with Three-Mushroom Ragout, was quite tasty despite the mistakes. First mistake, should have deboned the roast. Okay, before that, I should have checked the recipe more carefully to see that I needed only 1.75 pounds of meat and not the 6.5 pounds I ended up with. And I could have had the butcher debone it. What I need it one of these
The lessons? 1) Read the recipe carefully before going shopping. 2) Make do with what you have.
Barbara tagged me and I thought this would be an interesting thing for the new year. Is there anything you all don’t know about me? Of course. Here’s a few:
- I used to sing in a church choir. I even sang a few solos. It was the one thing I liked about church. I still enjoy singing in my car and in the kitchen while I cook. I used to sing the kids to sleep. They still remember it.
- I have a teddy bear that’s 37 years old. I used to bring him out every year for Christmas to celebrate his birthday. I haven’t done that in about five years. He’s alive and well (though decrepit) in the attic.
- I was once part of an all-women’s Quake team. I was 28 or 29 at the time. All the other women were 19-22. We used to regularly beat teams made up of teenaged boys. It was a great stress reliever.
- I had a dog named Boo (just like the song). Boo was an avid car chaser and was hit by a UPS truck when I was 11. Ten years later, my dad got another dog and named him Boo II.
- I changed my major 8 times in college. I started out as an English major, but I considered French, Business, Economics, International Studies and various combinations of those before returning to English again. At one point, I wanted to be an International Business Lawyer. Sometimes I wish I had majored in Computer Science, but they didn’t even have that as a major then.
Anything else you want to know?
Like many others, I’m hoping to get back to some healthier habits in the new year. To help with that, I went through the Cooking Light website and found some recipes I thought would work. They have a handy shopping list too, so that you can send your recipe to the shopping list and voila! instalist. Tonight’s meal was this broccoli and cheese soup. I also made a small salad. I think bread would have been a good addition as the meal didn’t feel quite filling enough. I’m always hestitant to have bread since I want to eat a lot of it and usually dripping with butter. The soup itself was really tasty, almost buttery. Even Geeky Girl claimed to like it a little, though she did eventually resort to a peanut butter sandwich. I cheated a little and used the full fat version of Velveeta because I couldn’t find the light version. That’s one thing that I always have to think about when choosing recipes–will I be able to find the ingredients? The stores around here are generally well stocked and there are plenty of specialty stores around as well, but I’m not one to galavant around town finding specialty ingredients for a regular meal. I did actually have my first conversation with a butcher that wasn’t just “I need two of those.” I’m actually thinking about finding a good butcher nearby (apologies to the vegetarians in the audience). I’m also thinking of joining a CSA, something I wanted to do last year, but thought of it too late in the season. I’m hoping for an adventurous food year!
So the resolutions. Last year I didn’t make resolutions, though I did make them for the beginning of the school year. I take my resolutions pretty seriously. I like the fact that on New Year’s Day, we’re encouraged to reflect on the past year and make plans for the new. Otherwise, I feel like I’d careen through life and not notice everything that’s passing by. This past year has been somewhat difficult. I’ve had some setbacks both professionally and personally. In the midst of those setbacks, however, I managed to write a dissertation. The last few months, especially, have been good ones despite my being extraordinarily busy. I still felt like I hadn’t lost track of what’s important. So here’s what I want to do this year:
- I want to get back to exercising, at least three times a week. I was doing pretty well with this last year, but by summer, had quit keeping up with it. I have to think about when to do this. Right now, either in the morning or at night, it’s dark out. I could certainly do something indoors, but walking is the easiest exercise I can do, which makes it more likely I’ll keep it up. I’d like to do some yoga with that. Once the weather gets better, I can play tennis and do other outdoor activities.
- Along with the exercise, I’m planning to eat better. This past semester has been one of convenience foods. And most of those have been fairly unhealthy. I’m sure there will be a few of those still, but if it’s only every once in a while as opposed to every day, it won’t be a big deal. Mr. Geeky has resolved to cook more, so we’ll see how that goes.
- Reinstitute family game night. We have a ton of board games and got some new ones for Christmas, and it’d be fun to get back to having at least one day a week when we do something together as a family.
- Reinstitute date nights. Mr. Geeky and I were going on a date twice a month, but in December, we just couldn’t get it together since I was working constantly on the dissertation and we just generally had too much other stuff going on. I just don’t want this to fall completely by the wayside.
- Quit complaining about work. I think this is going to be a hard one. I have had some frustrating things to deal with at work. It’s hard not to let that stuff get you down. Plus, two of my favorite colleagues resigned just before the winter break. Mostly, I just want to focus on constructive solutions as opposed to railing against perceived injustices.
- Related to the above work resolution, I want to follow my passions at work. I have enough freedom in my job that much of the time I can pursue my interests as I see fit. For me, that’s going to mean more reading and research and more writing about that research. It’s also going to mean finding a way to share my knowledge and expertise with my immediate community as well as the broader community. And, I want to find ways to connect people who are interested in similar issues.
I think that’s enough to tackle in one year!
Update: One other resolution I had was to make some blog changes. As you can see, I’ve upgraded. Mainly I was waiting for haloscan. Finally, they have got it working with the new blogger. There will be more changes later, but I need to run off to the grocery store for some healthy food.
Happy New Year! I helped empty the bottles to the left there, along with about 19 other people, so this post won’t be terribly long. The Geeky family traveled out of town to attend a 1920s style soiree. We had loads of fun. We not only rang in the new year, but we very nearly saw the sun rise. I think Mr. Geeky finally ambled to bed around 5:30. I had preceded him by only fifteen minutes or so. He’s now in bed. And I will be too before too long. Unfortunately the kids return to school tomorrow, so we’re all in for a rude awakening in the morning.
I’m returning to work on Thursday, so I get to slide into it slowly. I still have grading to do and calculating, but I suspect I’ll be done with that fairly quickly. Grades are due Wednesday. I do have resolutions and some reflections on the past year, but no energy to deal with those for now. I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday and I wish you all the best in the new year.
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