A couple days ago my Kindle keyboard stopped working. Sniff. I bought it in September 2011 as a gift to myself for my 50th birthday. I looked at new ones and learned that I am going to be disappointed because features I love have been discontinued. Bob said I could have his old one (he has a Fire which he prefers and he is not much of a reader anyway). It isn't a keyboard and won't fit in my case, but otherwise it is the same as my broken Kindle (screen size and buttons to turn pages). I have a Fire and a smart phone -- not to mention several computers -- but the plain Kindle served a different purpose. Last night I tried to get my Hello from Heaven book on Bob's Kindle without success. When he got it, he made an amazon account to set it up, because he was not an online shopper at that time. Since then he shops using my account. I was otherwise occupied today (writing a grant) so did not have time to troubleshoot. It's a minor annoyance but I am pretty upset I can't get a new one.

I have neighbors two houses away who are unusual. They live in a row house identical to mine. When I was on the village board people complained about them endlessly. They moved into the village from a more rural setting. They seem to be junk collectors. They also have a huge number of kids, mostly tweens. The kids are noisy and play constantly on the street. They have several dogs that they walk numerous times per day past my house. The bedlam causes all dogs in the neighborhood, including mine, to bark. The tweens trail by with the dogs on leashes, bouncing a basketball, skateboarding, toting a boom box. They are not on phones or tablets; they play games like tag. It is refreshing and joyful, even if it is also distracting especially while working at home and admittedly, annoying. Yesterday when the stream of tweens and pitbulls and basketballs paraded by, the image of a Dr. Seuss illustration popped into my mind. I'm not a proponent of cancel culture, even though I have always hated Disney and as a child I disliked cartoons on television unless they featured a dog character. But I must add that the picture in my mind's eye was not one of his canceled drawings. "...all the Who girls and boys, would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their toys! And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!"

 

 

A note about the prior post: when I shared similar sentiments on Facebook, many friends commented sympathetically -- as if I was mourning. I finally had to jump in and explain that I was not sad about it at all. Also, yesterday, I became eligible for the vaccine!

 

 This month I am eligible to retire, because I will hit 59.5 years old next week. Ironically, I am being considered for promotion in academic rank- my first since at the campus. And tomorrow those 60 or over become eligible for the vaccine; will miss that by 6 months!

 

 

We had the most beautiful basil this summer, and yesterday we cut it because of the threat of frost. It was bittersweet - but the yield was 8 cups of pesto, and that is awesome! Simple recipe from NYT: 10 c basil, 10 cloves garlic, 10 T walnuts, 2.5 c parm cheese, 2.5 c olive oil.

 

I turned 59 two days ago! I can retire in 6 months - or at least t the end of Spring semester 2021, but probably won't. Still, the thought is there.

We are in week 4 of the semester (hard to believe). It's going well -- my reduced schedule is much better. Toleration is majority freshman for the first time in years (and that's great). Two days ago was my birthday, and I turned 55. State retirement age! But of course I'm not retiring. I did something kind of radical and anti-social -- took my birth date off social media, and so did not get 200 Happy Birthday posts this year. I decided to do it not because of anyone on Facebook, but because I was in a crummy mood over village-related issues and I just didn't feel up to clicking all those "Likes" (LOL). It was a good day though. Ate dinner here, which was fabulous, and that's an understatement.

I turned 54 last Friday. It was one of those years where the number struck me. I'm not that hung up on age, have never been overly traumatized by milestones. But every so often a number doesn't seem like "mine" and it's never the ones ending in zero or five. Last time I remember feeling this way was 46.

This lovely wooden tub full of mums was delivered:

And here's what the card said:

LOL. Bob had a cold and the florist must have thought that's what he said (I don't call my father "Pop.")

It has been a good year for tomatoes, plants still going strong:

Also got two wonderful bottles of handmade Chardonnay:

In other news, faith formation starts tomorrow. Seventh grade this year!

This is my birthmonth. Last week was my birthweek. A week ago (almost) was my birthday. I maintain a tradition of celebrating on more than just the day. This isn't a milestone year (I'm 53) but that doesn't matter. I find that with my teaching schedule this semester I don't have much time or inclination for posting, but since we are on a short break (yay) due to the Jewish holy days, I thought I'd sneak one in. All is well...and when it is, that's something to celebrate.

I let more time than usual go by from my last post (13 days). I had a draft saved for a week or so, but did not have the inclination to finalize it until today. "Inclination" because really -- lamenting "no time" gets old. I've been wondering lately why I allow myself very little time off from the to-do list? I've been working away on my fall syllabi, even though my second summer class ended on Friday and the grades are not due until tomorrow. So today (and tomorrow) had to be devoted to evaluating. Then back to the fall preparation. I'm hoping to be all ready for classes so that the Beagle proof fence can be finished 8/23-24. Only the gate (and staining about 2/3 of it) to go. I also want to enjoy the trip to Syracuse. I guess it's not completely true, the "no time off" thing. I don't work most weekends. But a weekday off...rare.

I haven't been writing much about my garden because it hasn't been a banner year. Not hot enough and it has rained to much. The stuff is growing, but it's late and I doubt there will be the quantity I'd hoped and that I had some years. I like 80 and comfortable better than 90+ and humid, but tomato plants don't! Some flowers have done well, and herbs of course, but that's it. As a result, a few weeks ago we went to Shaul's Farm in Fultonham and stocked up on bushels and pecks. I made some refrigerator pickles.

Afterwards, we drove out to Oneonta, drove through campus and the city, went to Autumn Cafe and Brooks. We decided that our old dream of retiring there someday (abandoned long ago) is back on the table.

On Thursday, we went to see Jackson Browne at the Palace, and ate dinner at Yono'shttp://www.yonos.com/.  The concert was all acoustic and fabulous. His voice sounds the same as it did 30 years ago. And he had about 25 guitars lined up, switched for almost every song. We had awesome eighth seats. Bob joked that the mean age was 57 -- not a person under 40 was to be seen, aside from a few teens with their parents'.  The highlight of the evening (not) -- the drunken woman who spilled an entire glass of red wine on Bob's sleeve (a brand new LL Bean dress shirt)!

I can't believe it is this cold on the last day of February! There is no let up in sight, so March will be coming in like a lion. The cold is what's most memorable from this winter, but it looks like another snowstorm is on the horizon too. But Spring will surely come eventually!

Yesterday was Rosie's 2nd Gotcha Day.

Since I'm all about equal opportunity

Once again, I have had some pent-up things to post but just haven't gotten to it until today. In faith formation (where the kids have been awesome after the email about their behavior a couple weeks ago), I brought in the Bible I used when I was in catechism to show them. One boy looked at the battered little New Testament of the Jerusalem Bible and asked incredulously, "how old are you?" I laughed and said "I'm 52." "You're old!" he said. "Yes, I am old," I responded, "and believe me, you will get there someday. It seems like only yesterday I was your age." He won't understand this for many years, but maybe someday he will remember and it will resonate as the wisdom of elders often does.

I gave both my foundations classes a talking to about their use of electronics in the classroom, and that how apparent it is that they are not reading (the latter was mostly directed at the evening section). The evening section was perfect afterwards. In the day class I still had to call out a few students for nonstop texting, but on Thursday they shaped up.

We did an exercise called "the five most important events in American educational history" that I started using last semester, inspired by this website. The activity is similar to the new fad known as "flipping the classroom." Students individually do a scavenger hunt through this comprehensive online resource to find their five, then work in groups of 4-5 to come up with consensus lists that they write on the board and present to class. At the end I suggest events that might be missing. (Yesterday I added the Old Deluder Satan Act, the Morrill Act, the GI Bill.) Students are engaged by it and it works really well.

Twenty-one years have gone by since then, but they have had absolutely no effect upon my spiritual constitution; they have left not a single trace upon it; on the contrary, I seem to feel several years younger than I felt then. When a man reaches fifty, age seems to suddenly descend upon him like a black cloud. He feels immeasurably old—very much older than he is ever to feel again, I am sure. I doubt if any person ever crosses his fiftieth parallel without experiencing what I have just described. (Mark Twain, 1906)

I'm basically all ready for the semester to begin next week. And...I learned I will be teaching grad classes instead of one of my foundations sections starting in '14-'15. Yahoo! This means I may make it to 67 without getting burnt out.

I’m fortunate to be able to wear clothes to work that are pretty much always in the “business casual” arena. Besides that, my usual garb consists of tattered, roomy tee-shirts and shorts or sweat pants when I am home, or jeans and a “nicer” long-sleeved tee when I am out.

Trying to find clothing to wear to a “fancier” event is a chore. This is definitely complicated by my hatred for shopping. I buy nearly everything I wear online, from LL Bean or Hanes. I have some more formal clothes that I have worn a few times or bought for a special occasion and wore once. Yesterday I tried on numerous items in the closet in an effort to find something decent to wear. Studying my reflection in a few of the outfits reminded me of a hilarious Mimmie-ism: “Looks like a burlap sack of potatoes with a string tied around the middle.”

I finally came across a couple possibilities for a skirt, pants or blazer, but no shirt was right. So I entered the black hole of searching online. It was frustrating to say the least. It seems in younger days you can look good in nearly anything, but I don’t think clothing manufacturers are considering the middle-aged with some of these styles. I finally found what I hope will be a suitable shirt (on amazon!). I’ll know Wednesday whether to bring a hoe or a handbag with me as an accessory.

Happy Birthday to me! But...52! How can that be? We're going to go on a dinner cruise on the Dutch Apple.

My classes start tomorrow. Feeling a little blue today. The end of summer break is bittersweet and it is particularly so this year.

Toleration class ended last night, and foundations ends Tuesday. Then grades are due May 21 and Spring 2013 comes to an end. Last night, I did my best to "motivate" (assuming the stick approach works, I've nothing left in my toolbox at this point) students to put more effort into writing the final paper.

I've been with SUNY (as an employee) for 25 years, and teaching at UA for 13. If you include my time as a student, SUNY has been a part of my life since 1978, minus five years in the mid-1980s.

It's hard to finish up this Spring's high priority tasks, when my imagination is already focusing on my blended learning class, which starts officially on May 28, but becomes accessible May 14.

And of course there is the glorious weather calling me -- I think I will fire up the weed whacker this afternoon for the first time this year. I should plant the potatoes too (which are now vying for second place to my annual tomacchio tomatoes in the Little Shop of Horrors competition).

And, of course, the remnants of my cold conspire to make justifying procrastination easy on those allegedly high priority tasks...

Added: I made a faculty webpage.

Last night Bob stopped at Barcelona while he was waiting for me to finish class. A man was sitting next to him at the bar who was exclaiming about his age (50), in that way people do when they perceive you are considerably younger. Bob's blessed in this way, he appears a decade younger than his actual age (53). He chose not to disabuse the man of the notion.

This led us to talking about age, retirement, etc. Sometimes I wonder how I'll manage to continue teaching for 15 more years, but the alternative, administration, is not more attractive. The problem is that the students keep getting younger (it can't be that I am getting older, LOL)...the challenge is to figure out how to stay relevant, in sync.

The woman who teaches in the same classroom before my afternoon class is teaching a writing-intensive course. We've chatted a few times about the decline in students' writing and critical thinking skills. I'm generally more of an optimist, but then my classes aren't writing intensive. They aren't absent writing requirements either, though, and on Thursday, with this semester's performance on my mind, I mentioned SED's proposal to her.

We are in agreement that it's a good idea, and she said the proposed requirement -- four pages using four sources -- is what her students are up to right now, and they grouse about it. She also said she'd attended some forum with corporate employers who shared that they refuse to hire recent graduates because they are so lacking. Tough message in an economy that already is not friendly to the inexperienced.

On the other hand, Bob is having a hard time finding experienced  architects and engineers to hire. Really illustrates what I've anecdotally heard, that there is a shortage of candidates for skilled jobs.

I've been thinking that I have to make an effort to change some of the requirements in my classes, to intervene sooner and teach more about writing. The timing is good, since with the creation of the new reader, I will have to transform some of the curriculum and assignments.

I've been busy keeping myself from falling behind in grading so that I can spend time on course development for summer and fall. So far, so good. It hasn't been easy to avoid distraction given what's been going on in the news, but on Friday I evaluated all the essays I had pending, and today I managed to create a reader and e-reader for fall.

Speaking of essays, there have been a very large number this semester that aren't very good. I don't notice anything particularly different in student behavior or demeanor this spring, but in all classes, the writing just hasn't been meeting expectations. Why don't students read the guidelines?

We spent a second weekend in a row in Samsonville, something we don't usually do this time of year, but Bob's brother is turning 50 next week, and he had a dinner at Carmine's on Saturday. It was allegedly a surprise party, but he wasn't surprised.

We drove to Poughkeepsie from Samsonville, and took Metro-North to Grand Central.  I used to take the commuter train to NYC from Brewster when we lived there in the 1980s, but I had not been on Metro-North since then. What a sensory experience! It brought back a lot of memories -- most not pleasant ones. When I go to NYC now, I take Amtrak from Rensselaer. Although I prefer Grand Central (Amtrak goes to Penn), Amtrak is way better: nicer, cleaner, faster, smoother ride. Smells better too!

Anyway, it was a nice party and we had a good time, chem toilet "fragrance" on the train or not.

1) Great column today.

2) So incredibly happy about this. (More here.) Two of the four U-Haul dogs are recovered and up for adoption today at MHHS. The remaining two will be available once they gain more weight. And, it turns out two of the U-Haul dogs are the parents of the Railroad Puppies (not really a surprise). The father is one of the dogs available today. I know there will be many good folks there hoping to be chosen as the forever homes, hopefully the ones who miss out will adopt one of the other needy dogs in the shelter!

3) My personal email account receives so much crap on a daily basis. It isn't necessarily unsolicited spam. It's caused by the necessity of providing an email address for various reasons, with the result being 10 emails a day from the site or vendor. I try to remember to click don't send me email alerts but often that only prevents email from their "partners." It has gotten as bad as paper junk mail. Such a time waster.

4) Yesterday in my evening class, the (rhetorical) question was asked, "what was done in school before computers?" The student didn't mean what did we do before email or texting or google or GPS, ie, how did we live without them. She was marveling at the change in her experience between grades 3 and 12, and wondering how was the time filled, how was the curriculum taught, before K-12 students had computers in the classroom. 

I've sometimes discussed a similar question with friends and family. What did we DO (in offices) before the computer? Now we sit harnessed to machines, writing email, researching on the Internet, typing in word processors and spreadsheets, looking up thing in databases. When the machine is down, might as well go home. 

I remember an enormous amount of time spent on carbon paper. Whiting out and retyping. Hours spent looking thing up in filing cabinets, binders and print-out tomes. And a lifetime spent on the telephone.

5) I have to work on my website. Tweaking necessary...usually I'd spend this week doing things like that, because I'd have winter break. But the kegs 'n' eggs fiasco of '11 resulted in a March week off rather than a February or April break. I loved the old spring schedule, which was five weeks-break-five weeks-break-five weeks. Perfect. So this sucks.

6) My class has been chosen as part of this spring's sample of students to respond to the counseling center's survey. It's used as marketing to challenge the stereotypes of UA students. Here's the one that is plastered in my hallway right now:

You can see the others from this semester here. I've always thought the campaign silly and the research design suspect, but whatever. I'm OK with allowing my class to participate. However, right now I am thinking, if most students don't do these things...why am I losing my winter break?

7) I'm reading I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I've Ever Had by Tony Danza. I can't say that it is great literature exactly, but it seems sincere (if occasionally a bit sappy -- did he really cry that often?), despite his year as a teacher being the basis for a reality show. (The network pulled the plug after six episodes, but he continued to teach for the full academic year.) It's definitely an enjoyable read. Here's the article I found a while ago that made me aware of the book.

I'm the type of person who can be very undisciplined when I like a book. What I mean is, I will do nothing but read...slack on all else. Stay up until 3 am every night. Just one more page, just one more chapter, just until the end of this section. So I am forcing myself to be happy with one chapter per night, with maybe a few pages sneaked in here and there during the day. It's not easy, but so far I'm managing. I'm rationalizing that this way I can read more books, without having to wait until I have the time to do nothing else.

I finished reading The Lifeboat. It was almost a page-turner, an interesting idea and compelling story. I was impressed to learn that it was a first novel for the author, and that she is...wait for it...eight years older than me! Way to go! Gives hope to us all.

I do have a criticism, though. Maybe it's not a true criticism, perhaps this was the author's intention (and if so, good job!), but I disliked the main character -- intensely.

The clock is ticking on classes. I am going to campus briefly later today, and tomorrow Winter Session grades must be a wrap.

Almost forgot -- it is SO cold. Brrrrr. I'm not really complaining, however. Something about the deep freeze suits me!

So happy!! My father, Bob, my brother and sister made a trip to Boston today for the post-surgical follow-up. We all know he is doing well, but it is wonderful to have it confirmed by MGH. The best part of all, he does not need radiation! Just MRI in six months (and I assume routinely every so often after that).

I am still on campus. I went to campus center to get something to eat just now, planned to sit in Tim Horton's and have dinner. Alas, it was closed. So I brought the food back to my office. Couldn’t see myself sitting  at a table, everyone appeared to be at least two decades younger than me or even more. How did I ever get thru grad school? During the day time it isn't quite as obvious as there are others around who have seen more than eight semesters! LOL.

The low point of the day, a note informing me the suspension was lifted and now I have to work with the student (from yesterday's post) so he can catch up on the work he missed. WTF? Then, he blew off class anyway. But, who cares? Nothing can put a damper on this glorious day, not being a "weird lady," not wishing for maple pecan danish, not slackers in fake fraternities.