Wednesday


2
Mar 11

About being out

Churned through the remainder of my stack of papers to grade today. I’m now all caught up, which seems a small miracle when I considered the pile of things to work through.

Also had a sit-down with the boss today.

Had a meeting with the editor-in-chief of the paper this afternoon where we critiqued this week’s edition of the Crimson and started thinking about the last six issues of the year. They go by so fast, but I’m always proud of how far the staff progresses in that short amount of time.

Had a meeting with the sales manager, too. She’s selling things that need to be sold. That makes everyone happy. As a salesman friend of mine says, though, you can always sell more. Sales: not for the faint of heart.

All of these things seem safer than my errands of late.

Know what else isn’t? Walmart. I went there late last evening and, I can’t recommend it. I like to compile a short list of things to seek out, lest I feel I’m braving that parking lot for only one item. Two things — a garage door switch and a particular type of bottle — I could not purchase there last evening. A third I decided against. That worked me down to cards and candy. This is why I sat at that weird light and made an almost-unprotected left turn.

Also it means I’ll have to visit a home improvement mega center later in the week. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, because it might be worth a full-length essay all of its own. Come back Thursday or Friday for that.

Just as fun, though, was taking my life into my own hands tonight. I’m walking from a parking spot across a lane of parking lot traffic to get from car to the door at Jason’s Deli. A car is coming through the parking lot lane and accelerates toward me. This was shocking to me as I am not in a drama/action film, but merely a mild-mannered professor carrying a book about the history of the House of Representatives. (Really, this is the person you’re aiming at, dude?)

Fortunately his aggression was all for naught. He was driving a Volkswagen. If he had more than four cylinders that could have become messy.

Which makes you think, high speed accidents will decrease when we all inevitably buy those magic unicorn cars. Incidences of road rage will skyrocket because it’ll take you four minutes to clear an intersection, but there are always trade offs in life.

Like this. I’m going to end this now so I may begin watching The Tudors. I’ve just finished the first two discs of Rome, Season Two (see how I deftly avoided the Roman numerals there?) and am in a television period piece frame of mind. I’m so comfortable with the notion of period pieces I won’t even mind when they obviously veer from history to try and tell a tale.

(But I’ll surely tell you about the egregious oversights. For example: Henry isn’t this young when these things happen. But look at those clothes! It must be legit!)


23
Feb 11

Three down

Took my cognate question today, and wrote 3,001 words on 11 pages discussing the various methodologies that one might use to answer particular questions in a political campaign.

I started this one with a fairly solid outline in mind and wrote into that. At first blush I like how it turned out. We’ll see in a few weeks.

Keep ’em crossed!

(Just one more day, please?)


16
Feb 11

Trees at Toomer’s Corner poisoned

Out came the news today, some pathological deviant decided to do dastardly deeds. As of this writing the police are reportedly near an arrest and the fate of the trees is uncertain, but the situation is very grim. The best forestry specialists and horticulturists around work just down the street. If the stately old trees can pull through, they’ll be the people who make it happen.

But let me tell you a more important thing about my alma mater: Auburn and her family are stronger than oak and more sturdy than history. We’re going to say “Meet me at Toomer’s” for generations yet. The power of dixieland is going to be just fine.

War Eagle and plant a tree.

“I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.”


9
Feb 11

Space, the modern frontier

Today was a day. This video was one of the nice highlights.

Also I had great conversations with two students, one just to chat, and the other to encourage. Those kinds of conversations seem to happen outside of the classroom, in a hallway or office. I really enjoy having that opportunity.

Otherwise things got accomplished. I am now only one phone call and one online form away from having all of the important small things off my To Do List. Lots of meetings and ponderings and talks and cameras and other things that somehow, remarkably, fill up a day. But that’s all mostly done for now.

Which means I can return to the important large things on my To Do List.

Also it snowed this evening over half the state. I’m just going to flip the calendar to March if that’s OK with everyone.

Just for fun: I’m having my lunches with Robert Remini’s The House, which is a history of the House of Representatives. I’m to the point now where Kentucky legend Henry Clay has come to Washington, but there were a few entertaining passages just before he arrived. One section noted that church services were held in the original, temporary parts of the capitol building. The Marine Band played along as church goers sang hymns. But that was discontinued because, as Remini quotes Margaret Bayard Smith, “it was too ridiculous.”

In Washington.

Also, he lists the congregations that worshiped there for a time. “Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, an Anglican, a Unitarian (that caused an uproar).”

Oh, to be glib in history.

Tonight was a doo-wop night for my listening pleasure — the iPhone, when you get a good song, sounds like a good and proper transistor radio — but first I heard Linda Rondstadt. So we’ll end with a video, much as we began. We’ve marveled at science, we should wonder at art:


2
Feb 11

You did not see your shadow

Also, it was National Signing Day. I (re-)wrote this piece for The War Eagle Reader and received a few nice comments.

I must be doing something right, even the spam comments that come into this site are complimentary. I guess the plan of attack has changed: kill ’em with kindness. Better than ads for pills and bank notices. Not as good as the fake Rolex ones, though.

Lots of meetings today. Had a long sit-down about our website. I wrote a two page memo on all of the changes we’re about to make. And then there was a newspaper meeting, where we marked up pages of newsprint. This is the first paper of the new semester, which is always a difficult thing. How does one write about things that happened days or even weeks ago with a new angle?

The next two weeks of the paper will surround Step Sing, the song and dance revue that features about 20 percent of the student population. At least they know what they’ll be writing about.

Met with the boss, did a little reading and a little writing. A lot of grading.

The students in the class I’m teaching refine their resume over the course of the semester and I’ve been compiling notes to help with the task. Resumes are both tedious and important, of course. I talk about clarity, brevity, accuracy, consistency.

Many of the resumes I looked through tonight were quite good. Now the drum beat will grow louder. “Get involved. Work at the campus paper, the campus television station, or the magazines or radio.”

This is an introductory class in our curriculum, of course, but it is fun watching students realize the importance of that idea. Journalism and public relations and broadcasting are careers built on examples of quality, so we encourage students to get involved early and keep working on campus until they graduate and move into the professional realm.

Which is why I graded resumes until almost midnight.

The groundhog says there are 13 more weeks of that.