1. I’m still working on a series of posts from a trip we took earlier this month, except that this has already been a very long year and my spoon supply is dangerously low even before the semester starts so it has not been going quickly or easily. But we had a lovely time of it and I do want to write things down so I don’t forget, so the posts will be made eventually. Watch this space! It may make sudden moves.
2. We’re also still working on our Christmas cards, which by now are New Year’s cards and may well end up as Groundhog Day cards or possibly St. Patrick’s Day cards depending on how things go. I’d like to get them done as we had an eventful year worth commemorating in 2023, but we’ll see how it goes.
3. It has continued to be Winter with a capital F around here of late, although we did reach positive temperatures in Fahrenheit today so that has to count for something. The additional inch or two of snow last night just made driving that much more adventurous, of course.
4. We’re gearing up for the new semester down at Home Campus and it’s already been a doozy, with staffing changes taking up a great deal of time and energy – when you start with an operation that’s already understaffed and then subtract people who retire or get new positions, things get hectic in a hurry. Fortunately I was not promoted into a position a genuinely did not want, though I will be taking on a fairly steep increase in workload in my current position. That I don’t mind, though at some point I really would like to enjoy the kind of sponge-like high living and relaxation that right-wing politicians insist us academics do with our lives. Clearly I’m not doing something right. Nobody else on campus seems to be either. Could it be that said right-wing politicians are simply making up lies to con their base into misplaced outrage? Maybe.
5. So I look up and it appears that the Flyers are actually doing well this year? Who knew! Oliver and I watched most of the game last night, and not only did the Flyers manhandle one of the best teams in the league (a team that has a better record than they do even after last night), but also they scored one of the most astonishing goals I’ve seen in a long time. This cannot last, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can.
6. The Eagles, however, completed a late-season collapse worthy of the 1964 Phillies and are out of the playoffs after a fairly supine performance in the wild card game. As a Philadelphia native I am never surprised by this sort of thing, but it really was a shame to have started that well and ended that poorly. My only consolation is that the Cowboys also got unceremoniously tossed out – by the Packers no less – so I don’t have to listen to braying Dallas fans.
7. Today would have been my dad’s 85th birthday. It still feels strange not to have him around. He would have had some choice things to say about the collapse of the Birds this year. This was my mom’s favorite picture of him, from back when they were both in high school. She kept it in her purse for years.
2. We’re also still working on our Christmas cards, which by now are New Year’s cards and may well end up as Groundhog Day cards or possibly St. Patrick’s Day cards depending on how things go. I’d like to get them done as we had an eventful year worth commemorating in 2023, but we’ll see how it goes.
3. It has continued to be Winter with a capital F around here of late, although we did reach positive temperatures in Fahrenheit today so that has to count for something. The additional inch or two of snow last night just made driving that much more adventurous, of course.
4. We’re gearing up for the new semester down at Home Campus and it’s already been a doozy, with staffing changes taking up a great deal of time and energy – when you start with an operation that’s already understaffed and then subtract people who retire or get new positions, things get hectic in a hurry. Fortunately I was not promoted into a position a genuinely did not want, though I will be taking on a fairly steep increase in workload in my current position. That I don’t mind, though at some point I really would like to enjoy the kind of sponge-like high living and relaxation that right-wing politicians insist us academics do with our lives. Clearly I’m not doing something right. Nobody else on campus seems to be either. Could it be that said right-wing politicians are simply making up lies to con their base into misplaced outrage? Maybe.
5. So I look up and it appears that the Flyers are actually doing well this year? Who knew! Oliver and I watched most of the game last night, and not only did the Flyers manhandle one of the best teams in the league (a team that has a better record than they do even after last night), but also they scored one of the most astonishing goals I’ve seen in a long time. This cannot last, but I’m going to enjoy it while I can.
6. The Eagles, however, completed a late-season collapse worthy of the 1964 Phillies and are out of the playoffs after a fairly supine performance in the wild card game. As a Philadelphia native I am never surprised by this sort of thing, but it really was a shame to have started that well and ended that poorly. My only consolation is that the Cowboys also got unceremoniously tossed out – by the Packers no less – so I don’t have to listen to braying Dallas fans.
7. Today would have been my dad’s 85th birthday. It still feels strange not to have him around. He would have had some choice things to say about the collapse of the Birds this year. This was my mom’s favorite picture of him, from back when they were both in high school. She kept it in her purse for years.
8. I got an envelope in the mail from the people who did my taxes last year, with an appointment already set up and ready to go. Honestly, this is slick. Whatever they’re charging me to do this, it is worth it.
9. I will never understand the moral, intellectual, and patriotic bankruptcy that allows supposedly grown adults to continue to support an indicted insurrectionist already convicted of sexual assault and soon to be convicted of sorts of national security violations that we used to execute people for back in the day. The Founding Fathers understood that a republic was a temporary thing, dependent on the virtue of its citizens, and clearly we have run out of that quality in recent years. Watch your back and have a backup plan, folks.
10. I should get back to my genealogy project. I should get back to reading more. I should clean my office, organize the basement, deaccession all the books that are already in boxes waiting to go, get my computer situation straightened out, exercise for a change, get some rest, and do any number of other projects that will likely also be on the back burner for the foreseeable future. Ah well. Someday.
2 comments:
1. Spoon supply? Elucidation required. š¤
3. There are no Fs in the word ‘winter’. Oh, wait…
4. “Maybe” is a rather wishy-washy summation. You can do better - I know because I’ve been here way too long.
7. Who’s he running from? š³
8. Turbo Tax started spamming me the day after I filed last year.
10. At some point in the future, we should get together to compare and edit our “should get back to” lists. There appears to be an inordinate amount of crossover here - one or the other of us needs to get a little more creative. Either that or get more done … š§
Lucy
1. There's a lovely little metaphor for how difficult it can be to get through the day called Spoon Theory, created by Christine Miserandino to explain chronic illness but applicable in general life as well. The gist of it is that you have so many spoons at the beginning of the day, and everything takes a spoon. Getting dressed. Going to work. Answering emails. Cooking dinner. And when you run out of spoons, nothing else can happen. Most people have enough spoons to do what they want with spoons left over. But if you're sick, or tired, or just overextended you run out of spoons, and if you've normally got enough spoons but then something gets added to your list you can also run out. And then things get left undone. I've used this in my First Year Seminar class to help new college students think about time management skills (even though it's more about energy management), and I've found it a helpful metaphor in general.
There are all sorts of variants out there, my favorite being "Spell Slot Theory," which sets tasks by levels. For example, you have so many Level 5 spells and so many Level 2 spells, and you can use a Level 5 spell to complete a Level 2 task but not the other way around, and then you're short of the big spells if something comes along.
It's just a helpful way to think about time and energy, I find.
4. Just practicing my understatement skills. ;)
7. The guy at the starting line with the gun.
8. TurboTax has been spamming me for years and they've redoubled their efforts since last year when I found an actual professional to do my taxes. Spam away, TurboTax! You'll never get me back.
10. We should! I did manage to start cleaning my office last night (I got the left half of my desk straightened out, which is a victory of sorts), and I did get both the new backup drive and powered USB hub set up for my computer. It's a start. But the semester starts Monday it is looking like it will be more stressful than usual (rather an achievement, really) so we'll see how much further I get. Sigh.
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