Secret Memo

If you are using the photocopier and it stops and tells you to load paper into a tray, do as the machine suggests. Don't just walk away. Because when you do this, your copying job doesn't get deleted. It stays in the machine's brain. This is true even if you log out of your account. Then when someone like me comes along who is willing to put paper in the copier, your job automatically gets completed. If, say, you were photocopying documents that you wanted to be confidential, well, they're not confidential any more, since they are streaming out of the machine and it is hard for me not to notice them.

Halfway to Summer?

We're at the midpoint of spring term. So in some sense we're halfway to summer. I'm looking forward to it. I will be traveling less than usual, and so will get to settle in and hopefully enjoy summer in Maine. I'll have some major work to do, but it still should be nice.

Spring term is slugging along. I'm enjoying my classes, but things are really busy. Much busier and a little weirder or something than they should be. I'm not sinking, but I'm working really hard and just barely staying above water. There is a growing number of things that I'm behind on and it's starting to get troubling. I owe some grant reports and am behind on some correspondence. I just haven't quite had the time or energy to deal with it all and get caught up. Nor have I had the time to sleep as much as would be healthy.

And things are just odd. COA is in the midst of a strategic planning process which is at times surreal. Lots of people are on edge about it. The draft documents we've received have been less than inspiring. It's hard to know how to engage in the process, whether or not I should engage, and whether or not my (or anyone's) input is welcome.

The last two months have been the warmest on record in Maine. And the oil spill in the Gulf sounds horrific. It's hard to imagine how much damage and destruction will follow.

But the warm weather has brought spring to Maine very early. Flowers are about two-three weeks early. Lilacs will start blooming next week. Today was achingly beautiful. Warm and sunny and summery. Made it hard to get a lot of work done. I bought a bunch of plants for the garden and did some yardwork and laundry and went for a short and very slow run. I continue to slip farther behind, but it was a wonderful Saturday.

The stupid, it burns

So I was driving in to town today and I was listening to a Red Sox pre-season game. Kinda odd since it doesn't feel remotely spring-like, as it I think the high temperature today was 32. On the other hand, it does feel like spring in that spring term starts the day after tomorrow. And I'm already so far behind it's pathetic. And frustrating.

Anyway, I heard an ad on the radio for "burn flavored doritos." They are apparently super spicy. Too hot? Not to worry, just wash them down with "pepsi max cease fire." This is diet pepsi that is specially formulated to go well with the burn doritos. Specifically, pepsi cease fire "cools the burn" associated with burn doritos.

My head hurts. First of all, "burn" is not a flavor. It's just not. Something could taste burnt. But burn flavor doesn't make sense. And to the extent it does make sense, it's gross. Second, what's up with the diet pepsi? I suspect that a carbonated beverage would increase the pain, not reduce it. Sour cream or yogurt would be much more soothing.

There is a lot that is horribly wrong in this world.

Halfway

We're exactly at the half-way point of our ten-week term. My class is moving along nicely, I think. I did a bunch of grading tonight so now I'm no longer criminally behind.

The cold weather is starting to get tiresome. It's been a bad year for skating, so I haven't been spending that much time outside, except for hauling wood in from the wood pile. The days are getting noticeably longer, however, which is nice.

There are all sorts of things I'm behind on. Large and small tasks are piling up. I'm starting to get a little stressed out about it all, which I think actually is good. I work better when slightly stressed out. So ... I'm hoping for a moderately stressful, and very productive week.

Cats

From Cats Winter 09-10

Three cats in front of the woodstove on a cold February evening. Left-to-right: Ancho, Monster, Apple.

Staring at the Sea

I've got this song stuck in my head. I like it a lot. Staring at the Sea by DJ Eco. Delicious, rich, energetic trance.

It was warm today. Almost 40 degrees. It felt like spring. I went for a short run outside for the first time since November. The run was pathetically slow, but it was nevertheless nice to get moving.

I cooked a reasonably tasty batch of spicy tofu and seitan. And Doreen just made some very good green tea ice cream. Yum. All in all, not a bad Saturday.

The invisible high school or the invisible college?.

Some thought-provoking ideas about what the internet means from the always interesting Clay Shirky:

Given what we have today, the Internet could easily become Invisible High School, with a modicum of educational material in an ocean of narcissism and social obsessions. We could, however, also use it as an Invisible College, the communicative backbone of real intellectual and civic change, but to do this will require more than technology. It will require that we adopt norms of open sharing and participation, fit to a world where publishing has become the new literacy.

Read the full essay here.

Research Experiences for Undergraduates

I just posted some advice for undergraduates interested in research experiences. I feel like I've had the same discussion about research internships many, many times, and so it might be a good use of time to write some stuff down. Hopefully it will be of use for students.

If you see anything I've missed or have anything to add, please let me know, either via email or by commenting here.

Thanks.

Ready for Winter Term

Winter term starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. I think it will be a mostly manageable term. I'm just teaching one class, and it's one that I've taught eight times before. I'll have plenty to fill up my time, and no shortage of things to work on. But it should be less hectic than fall term, when I was teaching two classes, one of which was very large by COA standards. And, I wrote five grants between August and mid-December. (Technically I only wrote four, since one was a re-submission of the August grant. But the resubmission was a complete re-write, so I think it counts as a new grant. And neither grant came close to getting funded, which is incredibly annoying.) But the grant that I liked the most did get funded, which is quite exciting. It's for almost $50,000 a year for two years. My portion of the grant will be to help develop and teach a class on sustainable energy.

Winter break has been nice, although except for the last three days it hasn't really been that much of a break. In some ways I was working as hard during the break as during the term. But it was a good change of pace. But it will also be a nice change to be back in the rhythm of teaching.

I feel I should offer up some year-end pithiness, but I don't have much to say. The academic year is more meaningful to me than the calendar year. I don't really make new years resolutions. If I did it would be to be more productive, exercise more, do a better job of staying in touch with friends, and so on. But I basically resolve these things every day. Results are mixed. I also might resolve to start brewing beer and make my own kim chee.

Chilling Out

For the first time in our long winter break, I feel like I'm actually on break. Between grading, writing evaluations, pushing very hard on a writing project, and also writing a grant, I've been keeping busy. Doreen and I went away for a few days before Christmas, but I had work with me and although it was a nice change of pace, it didn't quite feel like a break. I now have a few days to chill out before winter term starts. I've still got stuff to do, of course, but I feel like I can let up for a little bit.

Currently I'm enjoying an insanely good beer while watching the cats try and get into trouble. The woodstove is hot, and while the house isn't exactly warm, it is rather cozy.