Blogging FAIL.

Well, this has not gone as I'd hoped! I'm already missing days, so maybe a more realistic goal is to blog at least 2/3 of the days this month (or post at least 20 times?). I am really swamped with work and have really been forgetting that I wanted to post! I was also caught up in the election- I even stayed up until 2:00 on Election Night when I had to teach at 8:00 the next day! Last night was recovery time (I slept 10 hours!) and today is grading jail and catching up with other teaching and service (like a manuscript review that is already late!)

Ah, November. I have been enjoying the cooler than usual weather we're having though. It's been below freezing most mornings, then warms up to the 50s. I love having a real fall!! The trees seem like they are bare extra early this year, too (expect for our maple tree in the front yard).

Okay, back to grading jail!!

Already behind!

It's fitting that I missed yesterday since I feel so scattered and behind in real life right now. It's gotten to a busy time of the semester (only five more weeks!) and I have taken over the class I'm team-teaching. Plus there's more grading right now, I've gotten four manuscript review requests in the last few weeks, AND we had a campaign rally here in Small College Town which took up most of my day yesterday. We got in line around 11:00 and didn't get home until after 3:00- I didn't sit down for the whole four hours and was just wiped out last night. I did work on a lecture late last night, which I finished up today. I started laundry last night, went grocery shopping this morning, cleaned my bathroom... I like to be busy, but really hate being in putting-out-fires mode since I never feel caught up or ahead. I'm also obsessed/preoccupied with the election right now.  So much scary stuff at stake that shouldn't be.

I'll write another more substantive post for today's "official" post and this will just have to count for yesterday.

Planet Earth

NaBloPoMo Prompt from Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tell us your favourite quotation and why. 

“We travel together, passengers on a little spaceship, dependent on its vulnerable reserves of air and soil; all committed for our safety to its security and peace; preserved from annihilation only by the care, the work, and, I will say, the love we give our fragile craft.”  –Adlai E. Stevenson, 1964 

Maybe not my favorite quote (who has just one?), but I've always loved this quote and the idea behind it. I love how it links space exploration (which includes seeing the Earth from outside for the first time when the first Earth-observing satellites were launched and peopled-space missions began in the 1960s) to environmentalism. The idea that stepping away from the Earth makes one realize how fragile, precious, and unique it is.

I have the occasion to use this quote in class soon (it's actually in the textbook) and it reminds me of learning about the environmental movement when I was in college (20+ years ago!)  I wonder if it will strike the same chord with the students- or maybe they've already learned about the "Spaceship Earth" in other classes and won't really think about it. Either way, I've enjoyed re-learning and remembering things from classes I took myself.

NaBloPoMo 2012!

It's November 1st, so what better time for me to get back to this blog? It makes me sad that I've given up blogging. It's been taken over by FB for the most part, but lately I've been using Twitter more (my IRL account- this one has also been neglected!) There are a lot of things I would like to blog about- work, family, life- and I'll be visiting those topics as I get back to blogging and try to step back into being Addy N.

One thing that really makes me want to get back to this space is that it's been almost seven years since I started it- I was just about to begin my first sabbatical/leave semester when I started this blog in December 2005. I was in my fourth year on the tenure track, D was kindergarten (she's now in 7th grade and taller than me- just turned 13!). Next semester is my second sabbatical/leave (finally!) and a lot has happened over those years- a lot of it documented in my posts here. I guess I'm feeling nostalgic that way- and when I realized that today is the start of NaBloPoMo, I decided it was time to come back here.

I hope I'm still in your reader feeds! Leave a comment and let me know if anyone is still reading.

Time for a change

I have been neglecting this blog like never before and I miss it. I decided to update the theme to one of the newer blogger themes, but also think I'd like to change the name soon. I started blogging when I was an untenured assistant professor (in late 2005)- and just updated the name to include "tenured" when I did get tenure- but that was over three years ago (!) I miss the contacts I made over here, too. I realized I have missed out on some big events in people's lives, because I haven't kept up with reading blogs, either. So here's my plan: I'm going to try (again) to start posting more regularly over here and then I'll see what name seems to fit what I'm doing now. I'm also going to try to keep up with others- it may be time to cull my Reader subscriptions, because it's just too many to read them all. I know that FB has taken over what I used to do here, but it's not the same. I don't write long posts because of the format, so I just stick with the short ones. Those of you who've get up blogging all this time- what are your strategies for keeping it going? I'm sure I still have something to say, but I'm thinking about whether I want to keep this space for day-to-day things or pick a theme and post on that... We shall see!

It's been five years...

...since I started this blog! I love to think how many people I know (mostly still in a virtual sense) that I wouldn't if it weren't for blogging. I also love having this place to share my day-to-day work and life experiences in a format that isn't FB. I wish that I would write over here more, but I am making an effort to get over here at least a few times a month.

To reflect on the last five years, I wanted to think about where I was in December 2005:

• I was about to start my non-teaching semester (still don't know when I'll be getting another one of those!)
• D was six (now's she's 11!)
• I was still almost two years away from going up for tenure (now I'm in my third year as a tenured associate professor!)
• I was getting up early to work in the mornings (now I get up as late as I can!)

Professionally, I feel that I've grown and increased in confidence about my teaching and research, but still feel that I have no voice in my department. It's a source of frustration, but I'm not sure what to do about it (or if I even care right now). Personally, I get plenty of sleep these days- between tenure and having an older child, the only thing keeping me from sleeping is a rare night of insomnia.

It's the last week of the semester and super cold here in Small College Town, but I can't complain. On this 5th blog-o-versary, I am thankful for where this blog has taken me and the memories contained here.

A New Record!

For not posting, that is. I can't believe it's been THREE whole months since I wrote over here. I've been busy (as usual), so I'm not spending much time reading blogs these days and spending more time Facebook doesn't help either. So, what have I been up to for last three months? Let's see:

• I had a class canceled due to low enrollment for the first time. This was good for me in one sense, since I've been busy with research this semester for the first time in a long time (more below). Having two classes instead of three has given me more time for other things. But, I had to add an extra class next semester (to keep my course load at five for the year) and that caused some stress (more below) because of the possibility of that one also being canceled due to low enrollment (since it's an unlisted seminar that I may never teach again). I have plenty of people registered now, but I was worried.
• I got the reviews from that paper (that wouldn't die, but I finally submitted in over the summer) and made the revisions requested. I'm still waiting to hear back about it now. After submitting the revisions, I realized the journal has a pretty good impact factor, so now I'm really hoping it gets accepted.
• I submitted a proposal to our state education agency to get funding for working with local teachers. It's similar to what NSF rejected several times a few years ago, but our chances should be better with this one. We'll find out in January- fingers crossed!
• Teaching has been business-as-usual this semester, although I've been unhappy with some things. In my Big Freshmen Class, attendance has dropped off because I am not monitoring it. I go back and forth with this, because during semesters where I keep track, I always have some really annoying students that show up and talk the whole time. When I don't keep track, it gets pretty empty as the semester goes on. I am thinking of trying some more organized group work next semester (inspired by this). If you have tried this, please share your thoughts!
• I walked stormed out of a faculty meeting for the first time a few weeks ago. We have an acting chair this semester who needs to work on some serious people skills (in my opinion!) and I felt ganged up on by others, so I said a few things (I think I even used the word 'jackass') and just left. I skipped our meeting last week, too, and don't plan to attend any others until our usual chair is back next semester (not that this actually changes much, but at least someone else will be running the meetings). I am tired of having my concerns and thoughts ignored and don't see any reason to subject myself to that stress. So screw 'em.
• The day after that meeting (less than 24 hours later), D fell off a horse at her riding lesson, was knocked unconscious (had a concussion), and split her chin open. She had no idea where she was when she woke up on the ground, bleeding. I wasn't watching so I didn't see her fall, but ran over as soon as I saw she was on the ground. One of the other moms said she landed ON HER HEAD (shudder). D was remembering things by the time we reached the hospital (in an ambulance with her strapped to the back/neck injury board). Luckily, her back and neck were fine and she doesn't seem to have any lasting effects from the head injury (she was wearing a helmet). She had nine stitches in her chin (it was cut to the bone, so they had to stitch in layers- five were on the outside). The stitches are out now and the scar doesn't look bad (plus it's kind of under her chin, so it's not noticeable). She is not doing riding lessons any more. It was VERY scary and the fall didn't even result from anything dangerous (she was just walking and trotting).

Otherwise, I am just trying to catch up with grading and looking forward to a break over Thanksgiving. Now that D is healthy again, we enjoyed some family time this weekend running errands and seeing the Vienna Boys Choir. In a couple weeks, we are also going to a live show of Prairie Home Companion- it should be fun. We aren't planning any trips this Christmas, so we'll be here in Small College Town. If you have any thoughts on Team-Based Learning- please share!! I hope everyone's semesters are going well.

Crickets.

Wow. I can't believe that my last post spawned ZERO comments. Either nobody is reading this blog any more or, well, I can't think of another reason. I didn't explicitly mention it, but I feel like a lot of the mistrust of President Obama is based on racism- whether people know it or admit it. I've had so many conservations with H (who is Black) about this and we both come to the same conclusion.

Anyway, it seems that a LOT of bloggers- particularly the science bloggers- have been shutting down their blogs lately. I wanted to let you know (if there is anyone still reading), that I have no such plans. I don't feel obligated to blog over here (so it's not a source of stress), I'm not worried about being outed (I am tenured, after all), and I still love this outlet for writing longer pieces than I can on FB and the fact that it does still give some tiny bit of anonymity compared to FB (as in my relatives don't read this- not to mention about half the people I went to high school with!) I do miss the culture of bloggers from a few years back, but I actually interact with a lot of bloggers on FB now, anyway. If nothing else, I love this space as a personal journal. I sometimes look back through my archives to see what I was worried about or doing during the last few years. That aspect of it makes me want to blog more often, actually. I started a professional blog under my real name (link is on my FB profile), but I only blog there about once a month- and I am VERY careful, since my students and colleagues may read it. I don't blog about ANYTHING personal there at all, but I like it for what it is.

Anyway, maybe people don't feel like talking about politics and that's fine. I just get too much flak over on FB if I post anything about politics, since I have former students and relatives who are conservative- my own mother watches Glenn Beck for pete's sake. I just wonder how many others see this racism creeping into attitudes toward our president...

Heading South & Goodbye 2009

Grades are in (since Saturday night) and we are headed to Warm State tomorrow to stay with friends for Christmas. It should be fun, but I always get stressed before traveling (my OCD tendencies convince me that I'll forget something crucial) and we have a LONG drive ahead of us. We are taking two days each way to drive down Boring Interstate. It will be fine, but I think I'll feel better once we hit the road tomorrow. I don't know if I'll get the urge to blog while we're gone, so I'll likely write again when we get back.

So, I guess it's time for an end of year post. I did this last year, too:

January 2009: Happy new year and goodbye to 2008- you won't be missed.

February 2009: Wow. I have not been blogging.

March 2009: I hope, anyway. I really hadn't meant to be so quiet over here.

April 2009: It's been a year since this happened, and I have totally come to accept it and feel like I have moved on, but it still makes me sad to think about it.

May 2009: It's finals week here at Small College Town U and I'm giving my only in-class exam today.

June 2009: Ah, summer. No teaching. Small College Town is peaceful and quiet except for the few students around taking summer classes and coming for freshman orientation.

July 2009: I don't mind, actually. We have no plans, so it isn't spoiling anything for us to get rained on today.

August 2009: We are canceling our end-of-summer vacation to visit friends.

September 2009: So much for getting back to blogging more regularly.

October 2009: I have been in Adopted Home State for the past few days on an unscheduled trip.

November 2009: ...to get me blogging again! Yes, I'm still here.

December 2009: OK- now things are getting pretty pathetic if I missed my own 4th blog-o-versary!

Considering how light my blogging has been, I'm happy that I at least posted once in every month! There are actually a couple of months with only one post. Sad. 2009 has been fairly uneventful (in a good way). Although, I still feel like I need to get going on some research things (looking for new opportunities) since The Big Grant ends in 2010.

I hope everyone (who celebrates) has a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope that 2010 brings you all the things that you hope for. Peace to you and yours.

Happy Belated Blog-o-versary to Me!

OK- now things are getting pretty pathetic if I missed my own 4th blog-o-versary! Of course, I haven't been writing over here that much lately, so I hardly feel like like I've accomplished something with this milestone. However, I am not willing to give up on this space. Even if my posts are rarer these days, I don't feel like I want to abandon this blog. I actually have ideas for posts swimming around in my head some days, but then don't have the motivation or time to actually write those posts. As much as I love Facebook, I still like having this pseudonymous space to write, too. There are plenty of things going on at work that I want to post about (some of which are escaping me right now!) and I could never write about them on FB in the same way.

Maybe my lack of writing here is also linked to my lack of writing in general. I have not been very productive in my research lately, despite being in the last year of my first Big Grant. I am thrilled with RA this year and have high hopes for making some good progress during our last year of funding, but I have been so swamped with teaching that I haven't done much work myself. I'm starting to wonder how I managed to get tenure, because my teaching load is the same as it was during the 2004/2005 through 2006/2007 academic years. I was getting research done, writing papers, writing proposals AND teaching my full load. Now, I can't seem to do much more than just teach and do grading and class prep. So, maybe that's part of it. I have not been reading blogs much lately, either, though. And that's even more sad, since I am not as connected with many of you. However, I am friends with lots of you on FB now, so I am in touch in that way at least.

So, here I sit, four years after starting this blog. I am sitting at the same desk, but typing on my MacBook instead of my desktop PC (which I still have!) I'd like to get back into the groove of writing for research, and maybe writing over here is a good start. You've all heard that one before, right?

Day in the sun

Am I pooped! Today was Field Day at D's school, so of course it was 80s and humid (thankfully some clouds rolled over occasionally to provide some relief!). I was there for the whole two hours doing activities, then stayed for the picnic lunch. D was able to do about half of the activities with her sling on, but sat out some others. She is over playing at a friend's house for a couple hours now, and I am just in no shape to do anything but sit here. I just watched last night's Conan O'Brien and can't bring myself to do anything else. I doused myself in sunscreen this morning and wore a big hat, so I think I avoided a sunburn, but being out in the heat just wears me out.

I've been thinking about some of the comments from yesterday's post about summer working and think I particularly like EcoGeoFemme's idea of planning small chunks of work time, rather than trying to work a full day. I always like making lists and scheduling my time, but just can't seem to get organized this summer so far. I will try easing back into better schedule- I should really get back to getting up early and working in the morning for a few hours, then I won't feel so bad if the afternoon ends up a wash. I also want to get back to more consistent blogging. I am in touch with a lot of you on Facebook these days, but it just doesn't provide the same kind of outlet for writing that blogging does. I have also started blogging under my real name- it is work-focused and links from my professional website, so I am sticking to work-related topics. It will be interesting to see how keeping two separate blogs works out- will I stick to more personal things here (I'm not writing anything personal over there) or will I end up with some overlap on the other blog? We shall see.

I better go unload the dishwasher- D will be home around 5:00 for an early dinner. I have to take her to a Relay for Life meeting tonight (I am going to accompany our team captain) and want her fed before we go.  If you know me IRL, check out the work blog- I am kind of aiming it as a way to elaborate on my work in more detail than you would find in a CV, but also include more of the day-to-day things.

Can it really be different this time?

I am hoping that this summer can be different in one way from all other summers since I was hired into this tenured track job: I would like to accomplish some research. I usually start out with good intentions and have even been quite productive during the month of May (while D is still in school), but it usually all goes to hell in a hand basket once she is home for the summer. And I can't blame her- she is very independent and self-sufficient (she IS an only-child), but I just tend to lose focus. Either my mother-in-law is visiting (which has really been only two out of the previous six summers since starting this job), or we take a trip (we take at least a short trip every summer), or I am teaching (only two summers). Let's face it, I squander my summers away with going out to eat, shopping, getting caught up in household chores (cleaning out closets, or putting the house on the market like last summer). We have been officially done less than a week, but I did two days of service with third and fourth graders who came to visit our department. I don't high hopes for the coming week, because H is getting ready to leave for Very Distant Country (on Memorial Day). My only hope is that I will be productive while he's gone- although I will be depressed that he is not here. D has three and half weeks of school left, followed by a week-long all day camp (H gets home at the end of that week), then half day camp the following week. Hopefully, I can get myself in gear.

I am going to be advising a summer research assistant who arrives when H leaves, so I will have some contact time with her, need to decide what she should work on, etc. I also am supposed to be helping with a collaborative proposal (with too many collaborators!) that is due in a couple of weeks. Otherwise, I need to set some goals, make a plan, and stick to it. I also need to start exercising again- I'm hoping that will fall in line with my research plans and discipline.

In other news, we were totally screwed over by an appraiser (we wanted to refinance and combine our first and second mortgages). The guy appraised our house BELOW the tax-assessed value and used a comp that is not really a comp and not in our neighborhood as a gauge. We are still trying to see if we can just do the first mortgage, but the whole thing just pisses me off. This makes our remodeling plans pretty much impossible and we're even talking of just moving (we can qualify for a much more expensive house, but can't get money to fix this one up). I am wondering if we should file a racial discrimination suit, because the value is so unreasonable (it's almost the same amount we purchased the house for in June 2003, BEFORE the real estate bubble). I'm sure that would be a huge hassle, so for now we'll just see what else the mortgage person can do.

One other thing- I recently revamped my website for my real self and iWeb had an option to add a blog. I added one and decided I will try to keep a professional blog updated on there. Considering what a bad blogger I've been over here, I may end up scrapping it, but we'll see. That blog will focus on work stuff and I will be keeping it professional- no ranting like I do over here! It doesn't allow comments yet, but I may change that. If you know me IRL, check it out!

New month. Now with more blogging!

I hope, anyway. I really hadn't meant to be so quiet over here. I do place some blame on Facebook, but whenever I go back and read some of my old blog posts, I miss this place. So, I'll use this new month as a good time to get back to blogging. 

Things are just dandy here in Small College Town. We are in our last week before spring break right now and I am so thrilled to have that break from teaching coming my way. My classes aren't too tough, but the big freshmen course is more work than usual since I changed books (and am wondering if that was a good decision or not). I am having stupid annoying discipline issues with them, too. Last spring when I taught this class at 8:00AM, nobody was awake enough to chat with their friends, but at 11:00, they can be a real pain in the ass. Some days, I feel like they are so bored and I wish that I hadn't made participation part of the grade. Then the non-engaged students could just stay away. There's always next semester, I guess. My other class is OK, but it's a technical one (that includes some basic physics), so there are always some students who really just don't get it. It's times like those that I switch back and forth from thinking I am a terrible teacher to thinking that they never do the reading or they are just not up to the task. Sigh. 

Research? What's that? I have not done any research lately and am just thankful to have been on grad committees of students who are publishing and I am a co-author. At least my annual report had three papers in review- two from students. You may remember my RA saga from last spring and fall and how I have a total disaster on my hands? Well, I have told this student that s/he will not be working for me next year and the department has reserved a TA for him/her (which I think is a mistake). I am now in a mess, because we have a TA shortage and I want to offer my RA to a new student. So far, this is on hold, but far from resolved. All year, I keep second guessing myself and thinking that maybe my RA is really OK and can do the work I need. Well, we finally got to some basic tasks and s/he even messed that up. In a way, I am glad, because it shows me that I was not crazy to question his/her abilities, but I am also annoyed that my grant money is being wasted to pay this person for the whole year and I have no way to get out of it until May. Sigh.

Otherwise, H and D are fine. D went for her first sleep over this weekend and had a fun time. She is still loving her riding lessons and doing well with piano and reading at a 7th grade level (she's in 3rd grade) and sold LOTS of girl scout cookies. She seems to have some organizational issues with her school work, but hopefully she can work that out!

To end on a positive note, I was very pleased to have another brief (micro?) blogger meet-up last week. I won't mention who it was, since she has not blogged about this trip, but I will say that it was very good to meet her and I hope that she may even be coming back here soon! (fingers crossed!) 

Three FIVE posts for January

ETA: Wow, I can't even count! October 2008 was also slow.... 

This is my leanest blogging month since October 2006 (I checked). I guess it's a lot of things- Facebook being a BIG reason that I don't feel as compelled to write over here. I am also pretty busy and still feeling like I am "not working up to my potential" (to quote my 8th grade guidance counselor).  I am teaching the BIG freshman science course and I changed textbooks this semester. This doesn't change the content of the course, but the organization is different and I have to update and revise and make new lectures. In fact, that is what I should be doing right now. 

I am trying (at least in my mind) to get my act together in terms of research, too. Since I can't have my RA do much, lots of things are just sitting and waiting for my attention. I did tell her/him that s/he is out for next year, so I am now advertising for a new student. I am stuck advising this student, however, and I am not happy about it. Being in a small program, I didn't see any way that I could really refuse- s/he is here because of my RA, so even though I am dumping him/her from that, I can't exactly pawn her/him off on anyone else. Such a pain- I don't see how s/he will even get through the program. 

Personally, I am feeling pretty good. I haven't kept up with exercising as much as I had hoped, but it's more than I was doing before, so that's an improvement. I am relieved to be in a non-pregnant and no-chance-of-being-pregnant state, too, because I feel free to have a beer or take ibuprofen or whatever without being stressed about it. I can feel things are shifting with H, though. We were in a certain "mode" the past year, while trying and have to get back to how things were before- or at least a new way for us to be. It's a relief for both of us, but I know I am still a little sad (H never says if he is or not). We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this summer. So much has changed in the past ten years. When we first got together we were under so much external stress and came through it fine. The past year has brought about a lot of internal stress and we have to find a way to work through that. I am not worried about our future, but there are some issues (that have always been there) that have been bothering me the last couple of weeks. I really let him have it about something this morning and I hope he got the message.

It has been a sad week for other reasons, though. A friend's daughter has a miscarriage after trying for more than a year to get pregnant. I feel so terrible for them- I always consoled myself with the notion that I already have a child, so I can't imagine how horrible it would be to lose your first- especially after trying for so long. It's so sad- I hope they are OK. 

Well, I am in a down mood because of this morning, so this may not be an accurate reflection of what is going on in my personal life- so don't worry! Just yesterday, I was telling D that H is my best friend. She thought that was funny, but I told her that it's the best way to be. 

32 posts in 30 days

I haven't blogged this much in a LONG time- since April of this year, when I had bad news to blog about. I haven't had any big news this month (other than confirming that I don't have skin cancer) and I have written some posts that don't say a whole lot, but at least I managed to stick to it. It's been great to get back to blogging and I feel like I will be able to maintain my momentum- even if I don't blog daily next month.

I can't say as much about InaDWriMo, which I made 0% progress. I had hoped it would motivate me to get back to that paper I had abandoned, but it didn't happen. I have a lot of things in the works, research-wise so that is good, but I just need to stick to it and follow through. The next few weeks will be filled with grading, so I don't expect to accomplish any extra research then, either, but over winter break, I might have a chance.

On that note, I'm off to do some reading for class by the glow of our Christmas lights on this dreary, cold, rainy Sunday morning.

Excuses for not doing my homework*

• I had to watch the season finales of True Blood and Entourage
• I had to go shopping at IKEA
• I had to read the student-selected articles for today's class discussion
• I am lazy
• I was up until 12:30 as it was

I'll write another post later today to make up for it- I swear.

*yesterday's NaBloPoMo

Where has Addy been?

I think I have neglected my blog* recently, because I have been spending all of my time on Facebook instead and updating people on my life as my actual self. This is not bad, obviously, and some of you also know me over there. However, a lot of my blogger friends are not friends with me on Facebook (for various reasons, such as we don't know who is who), so you have been left out (if you could call it that!). I really like blogging and I feel free to blog about plenty of things that would never find their way into my Facebook status, so I am taking NaBloPoMo as a good chance to get back to this blog and my lovely bloggy friends.  For those of you still hanging around- thanks! I realize a lot of people use Feed Readers, so that helps to keep people reading, even in times of sporadic posting, so I'm thankful for that, too.

I am more than half way through my first semester as a tenured faculty member and I would describe myself this way: I am a total slacker. I did not change a thing for my classes this semester, I am not working on research the way I should, and I am watching lots of TV. I am enjoying myself, but I am also feeling guilty about it. I have plenty of research stuff to work on, but have not motivated to do much. Last Tuesday was the first day in a long time that I actually spent a good part of the day on research- and actually doing analysis and thinking about the results. It felt good and I hope to continue this. My work-at-home days this week are shot, though: Tuesday is election day, so D is home (no school), then Thursday morning is when I am finally getting those moles removed. I'm not planning to work much that day, although I could and probably should. We'll see. 

Right now, I've got to get some lunch for D and me before her swimming lesson. If I get a chance, I'll blog more tonight, but at least I will tomorrow for sure! It feels good to be BACK!

*and even Twittering as Addy

30 posts in 30 days

It's just after midnight here, but since we are turning our clocks back tonight, let's just pretend that it's 11:06 instead, OK? I'm going to try NaBloPoMo this time. I'm hoping it will get me back into blogging... More tomorrow!

Blogging my day (with updates!)

Today is a work-at-home day and it's not starting out to be very productive. Here's what I've done so far:

6:43 Wake up sneezing and decide it's no use trying to sleep for 15 more minutes

6:47 Read email/facebook/etc.

7:08 Wake up D

7:09 Come back downstairs to make coffee and D's lunch 

7:30 Eat breakfast with D (note: it is STILL dark outside at this time)

7:45 Go back to facebook/email procrastination while D finishes getting ready for school

8:20 Go to the bus stop with D

8:25 Walk back to the house talking with neighbors about how we are all socialists (according to the Republican party)

8:30 Unload the dishwasher, sweep the kitchen, etc.

9:00 Start making to-do list and sorting through forgotten grading in my backpack

9:35 Furnace guy shows up to do maintenance on our furnace

9:45 Continue thinking about work I need to do and making lists

10:10 Furnace guy leaves & I call back friend from work

10:28 I start this blog post

So, I've been up for almost three hours and the only thing I have to show for it is D's lunch, a pot of coffee, and a clean kitchen. What I need to do today is a whole bunch of grading, some work for a collaborative paper, class planning, figure out what my RA can do since s/he seems pretty much inept at the type of work I really need him/her to do, preview a class video, work on a paper review that was due last Saturday, etc. I think I'll tackle one grading task first. I'll check back in with updates...

10:35 Start grading!!

11:05 Finished first grading task and entered grades

11:10 On to the next set of papers...

11:42 Last set done!

11:43 Deciding whether it's time for lunch break or press on with last set for this class...

12:04 Grading done for that class. Time for a lunch break...

1:23 Holy crap! How did it get so late?? I think have fallen into a time warp, because I have no clue how that much time when by. I showered, ate lunch, cleaned up and just sat down to check email... I guess I better get back to work!

3:15 I finished another item on my to-do list and am now going to preview a video before D gets home.

Just not feelin' it

I'm still here- some of you know me on Facebook and know that I am fine. I really don't know why I haven't been blogging. We're three weeks into the semester and I have plenty I could write about it, but somehow I haven't been inspired to blog. I don't plan on giving it up and I know this dry spell will pass. I hope everyone has me subscribed so that when I manage to come up with something to say there will be someone to read it! I'm trying to keep up with reading blogs, even if I don't comment regularly, so I hope everyone is doing OK- especially everyone who is being flooded around the country (from Ike and otherwise). Take care.