My cable Internet connection is down and I haven't been able to fix it, so I've decided to try waiting it out by using the old machine to dial in. Since upgrading to AOL 8 (install problems from months ago have been fixed) the dial up connection seems faster. But that might be just a fluke since I haven't dialed in from here in a long time and I don't do it enough any more to be certain. Regardless, roadrunner is too expensive to be down!

Missed another entry, but that's OK. I am very, very sore and tired. We worked on the kitchen all weekend. (Still too much ice for poop patrol.) It didn't seem like there was a lot left undone in the kitchen but even after doing some on Saturday and a lot on Sunday, I estimate that there is another weekend of work to do. Bob stripped wallpaper from the stairwell. I finished tiling the pantry, and the doorway area from the kitchen to the utility room, which includes a wooden platform that goes to the kitchen crawl space (jjk: this is probably the source of the spiders. I had to electrolux a few). It is such a hassle to get the supplies out and then put them all away every time work is done, but I can't tolerate living around the mess all week. I stayed up really late again to finish up as much as I could. Now the only area left to tile is an under the stairs closet, which will be a big project.

Tomorrow I am participating in a presentation/workshop on online learning. I am doing my best to be prepared, which is a challenge considering the labors of the weekend left me less than alert. I've abandoned any thoughts of a "Powerpoint" and instead will have to rely on my charm. I find that since I have been teaching, I get a lot less worked up about presentations. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing!

A few things I have come across as I get ready: the Chronicle of Higher Education is full of interesting tidbits; here is an article (and it's free !) about the Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act (or Teach Act). I am a supporter of copyright law, and unlike many who write online, I don't believe in opposing something that protects freelance writers because it also benefits Disney. This Act sounds very common sense to me, and these are basically the guidelines I follow in my online course.

Print is really more my concern. I don't use clips, but not because of the copyright issue. I'm not big on television in the first place, but I do have an excellent video I show in class, it is the PBS three hour special Only A Teacher. Fortunately, PBS has an great website devoted to the special, and so rather than seeing the film, the online variant gets a link to the site.

Then, the New York Times has a story, New Online Guides Rate Professors. This is something the Chronicle covers from time to time, and I wrote about it here.

The play on Saturday was wonderful! See, the weekend wasn't 100% work. We had a casual dinner before the show. This was the second performance we've seen since I became a subscriber to Cap Rep. Neither had intermission; Driving Miss Daisy was 90 minutes long.

We both enjoyed the play a lot, and this only diminished the experience a little, but sitting that long in a cramped seat was hard on Bob, as rheumatoid arthritis means he needs to stretch or he gets stiff. He said he looked at his watch when he noticed the discomfort and it was 65 minutes into the show. My less troublesome problem is that I generally have to use the bathroom. If we could have taken a break after 45 minutes, both of us would have been more comfortable.

In the past, I have been to performances there where they did have intermission, so I am hoping this is not a new policy or something, and the next show we see (The Blue Room in May) will have a break between acts. If not, I will give them some subscriber feedback and maybe they will take it into consideration for the next season. I can't see why the choice should be to disturb those around us and miss some of the play, or sit there and suffer.