Friday « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

Friday

Getting things done

I think I spent all day in either a productive and good committee meeting, or working on a syllabus and an outline for my new class. The latter is a bit of a slog. The good news is that, after however long I’ve been working on it, and for the last four months or so that I’ve been thinking about it, I finally got it into a shape I like, this new class.

There’s still work to do. a lot of it, but six weeks of layout are now in the can. I can do the next two with my eyes closed, if I have to. There will be some great guests after that, and then a series of group presentations after that. And, by then, we’ll be in the home stretch for the term.

Tonight I even figured out the midterm paper and two options for the final.

It was a productive day, then. It should all be mapped out on paper this weekend. Hopefully the rest of the details will click into place in a satisfying way.

Then I have to build the Canvas site for it.

And then I have to prepare lectures and presentations and deliver them, of course. But, here, in January, I found the path to May.

If I can sell the students on following along this could be an interesting journey.

That’s pretty exciting for me, even if a day spent pecking away at keyboards and looking for good resources to use in the class isn’t the most exciting thing to talk about.

Perhaps, then, the most exciting thing today was this. I set my cup on the countertop in the kitchen and went into another room to do … whatever it was, I forget now … and I heard the sound of something falling. Because we have two cats, you have to put things in just the right spot, or chaos gets created, and almost right away. You come, too, to know all the sounds. So I knew what it was, from two rooms away.

One of the cats was playing flip cup.

And someone won.

I wonder who it was.

There’s new art on the front page of the site. It’s a nice eight-image presentation, this is the general premise.

So go to the front page and check it out. I’ll wait for you.

It’ll probably stay up until the end of February, unless something really blows me away between now and then. By then we’ll be past due for something that makes us feel warm.

Also, I started making new buttons for the front page. There are plenty of updates coming. But I’m just doing a bit here and there, because there’s a lot of regular work to be done. And, as ever, the Want To Do list, is crammed full of items. Maybe I’ll have some of those done by May, too!

cycling / Friday / photo — Comments Off
3
Jan 25

A furry Friday

New year, still the same features which we will start easing back into in the coming weeks. Of course, we can never overlook the site’s most popular weekly feature, checking in on the kitties.

I caught Phoebe here in a little moment of silly. She has three speeds — affectionate, intense relaxation, silly — and it’s that last one that’s perhaps the most difficult to capture. It’s a little fleeting, and she doesn’t show it off except in just the right circumstance. This, I guess, was one of those moments.

I’ve come to think of it as the cats are petting me back when they do things like this.

And, as Poseidon is demonstrating there, they do that quite often. There’s a lot of affection around here.

I made myself get on the bike this evening. That’s the right verb for it, too. Finally I got talked into a little round of a light spin, and then see how it felt. And, after about 11 miles, it felt pretty good. So I started pedaling a bit harder and faster. I did nine more miles and stayed ahead of everyone who was likewise in the Zwift virtual world.

Nothing of them knew we were racing, but that’s really their fault, isn’t it?

So I’ll probably sit around like a slug this weekend and watch football and do a little work and then get back to spinning the back wheel of my bike and going nowhere fast sometime next week.

Already, I’m behind on my mileage spreadsheet.

family / Friday / photo — Comments Off
27
Dec 24

The godfamily Christmas

We had parents with my godparents-in-law today. (Just go with it.) My godsisters-in-law (just go with it) were there, and so were their husbands. And all of the god-nieces-in-law and god-nephews-in-law. (Again, just go with it.) These are long, long, deep family ties.

My godparents-in-law met at my in-laws wedding. The godfather has been my father-in-law’s best friend for seven decades. The godmother went to nursing school with my mother-in-law. So each is the godparents of the other’s children. And my wife and the two god sisters basically grew up alongside one another.

When I first started coming to this Christmas party there were just 10 people. Now, it’s 15 people, including the children aged 4-to-16.

The kids are great. The next to youngest was sent to school one day with Christmas money and a shopping list, because this is how we’re teaching commercialism these days, I guess. We were on his list, for some reason. Only, he didn’t come home with any presents, or any money. He bought our gifts, and then gave them away to his friends, and the money, too. He wanted them to be happy.

That was the best present of the year, honestly.

So this sweet-hearted boy got sent back to the school store again, new list, more money, and instructions to bring the presents home. And don’t you know what I found in the bottom of my little gift bag were the best presents of the year. Two years in a row he’s bought me something. It was a little toy last year. He saw this thing and thought of me for some reason and he was so excited and proud. This year, the present was from him and his little sister. I looked down and could see it was a drink, so I pulled out this bottle, made a big show of reading the tea label and was very excited.

This, he said, was more from him, and not his little sister.

I reached back in the back and pulled out this bag of pretzels. Again, I made the big evaluation, and deployed the charmed reaction. How did you know? These are going to be so good!

This, he said, was actually more from him, and not so much his little sister.

He’s six.

Meanwhile, his sister is opening presents and holding them all up like she’s auditioning for The Lion King, or just won the greatest history of sport. Every gift a triumph.

We’re trying to talk this particular Christmas party down to just getting gifts for the kids, because the rest of us are impossible, but the 6-year-old is shopping for the olds.

In a few days, I’ll send his mother a picture of me eating these pretzels and drinking this tea — because, somehow, he knows I like tea — and brag on him some more.

I made the mistake of asking one of the kids how many Christmas parties they had been a part of this year. This one, today, was party number five. There were two more to go.

Nobody else was getting pretzels and tea, though. Just me.

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20
Dec 24

Writing around the cats

We have not checked in on the kittehs this week, which is of course, my contractual obligation, and a serious oversight, considering they are the most popular regular feature on the site.

I haven’t taught site analytics in a while, but if I did, I could use this place’s humble numbers, and the bump the cats generate, as an example. Anyway, it’s a lazy day around here. Phoebe needs to catch a snooze. Just about any foot would do.

Poseidon is back to taking his afternoon naps on top of the armoire. Sorry to disturb you there, pal.

Yesterday, and today, we were in Connecticut. Now we are back here. And the cats, of course they noticed.

Last night was the Special Church Christmas party. My dear sweet mother-in-law runs a weekly program for people with various developmental disabilities. They do crafts and music therapy and all sorts of fun social stuff. At the Christmas party, Santa always shows up. And he was there last night, too.

After the party we went to their favorite Italian restaurant with some of the Special Church volunteers and the music therapist and had a lovely time. Today, we had a meeting with a friend and colleague at another university for an upcoming event they are hosting in February. We’re going to try to take some students and so we hashed out a few details over pizza.

It was an excuse to see our friend. And have pizza. We also discussed work a bit.

This evening we had a quiet dinner with the in-laws, and then they sent us packing. So we got back here just before midnight. Now this, and this weekend, and forever after, more grading.

I think I have the first two classes done. I’ll go through the scores one last time probably tomorrow. I have two other classes that wrap up on Monday, and their grades will be due by the end of the week or so. Happy holidays, students, I hope you earned the grade you wanted this year!

After that, there will be time for precisely four deep breaths, and then back to work.

Maybe five deep breaths. And possibly a nap. Just not on the armoire.

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13
Dec 24

Sentimentality

Since it falls on Sunday this year, I’ll just go ahead and acknowledge the date today. Sixteen years ago, Sunday, this happened.

It took place right under this tree. That’s Our Tree, in Savannah. Every time we go there, we go back to the park and sit right there, beneath it’s beautiful branches.

(Click to embiggen.)

I hope Our Tree is having a season of it. I hope we go back soon, and the sun is warm, the breeze is a delight and the ground is dry enough to lay upon all day.