My classes this semester are awesome! I am looking forward to a semester filled with bright lights. I have 33, 30, 26 and 24 students in my classes, and 6 in the independent study (classroom observers for my consulting project).

I tried some experimental things this first week. I didn't hand out paper syllabi on the first day. Instead, I emailed them a copy the day before class, with a few links to short articles. I made a powerpoint of the important bullet points in the syllabus. I handed out pieces of drawing paper and pencils. I had them brainstorm what they hoped to learn in the class, draw their impressions, write what the drawings were about, then asked for brave souls to share their drawings and their words.

I followed that in toleration with the same ice breaker activity that I have done for the past few semesters (writing 10 things about oneself on a piece of paper; taping to shirt; I time five two minute exchanges where the students have to circulate and discuss the 10 things). That class went pretty much as expected, but in foundations, the articles were about the recent study on limited learning taking place in college. (Also this and this.) We discussed whether that is true, and whether there are flaws in the study. It went great, the students seem very engaged and interactive. I'm extremely pleased!

On Friday, I received an email from my union, UUP, with the following attachment. The attachment was not directed at me personally, it was more FYI in nature. I had not, and still have not received the original email from S.O.S. (Save Our SUNY) proposing the walk-out.

I have been provided a copy of an email (with the subject heading of: “Draft of Open Letter to the Faculty about Walk‐Out”) and an attachment that was sent to you. Although that message was not addressed to me, I want to share with you my concern that the actions proposed are likely to be construed as violating New York’s Taylor Law. Therefore, I ask that you cease and desist from engaging in this type of activity.

A public employee violates the Taylor Law prohibition against strikes by “engaging in” a strike or “condoning, instigating or causing” a strike against a public employer. Additionally, a public employee may not “authorize, approve, condone or consent” to a strike under Civil Service Law §210. A “strike” can be “any concerted stoppage of work or slowdown by public employees.”

UUP‐represented members involved in planning, instigating and causing the concerted action proposed in the January 19, 2011 Save Our SUNY (S.O.S.) notice; that is, encouraging students to walk out of their classes and have faculty instead “teach in,” may be construed as condoning, instigating or causing a strike. Penalties resulting from a strike‐finding can include disciplinary penalties under Article 19 of our collective bargaining agreement and the loss of two day’s pay for every day or part thereof that the member is found to have struck.

The Taylor Law also prohibits the bargaining agent from condoning, instigating or causing a strike. Hence, I must formally state that UUP cannot support these proposed actions and urges its members to refrain from participating in them.

I fully understand the concerns that have been raised by the actions of administrators at UAlbany, brought about by decreased funding over the past several years. UUP has raised similar concerns through many venues. And, more importantly, UUP will continue to press and advocate for appropriate funds to support the operating budget of SUNY. I invite you to join us in our organized activities to bring such concerns to the attention of our governmental officials as well as the public. UUP has organized a number of Outreach Activities at which you would be most welcome. Please feel free to contact me [deleted contact information].

Then yesterday, I noticed this poster taped to the (newly painted!) wall in the hallway near my office (I also saw it in many other places around campus). It doesn't mention S.O.S., instead the sponsor is listed as the Student Crisis Committee.

No mention of faculty on the poster. I would not have interpreted "teach-in" as code to professors. Is it? If so, is that a relic from the '60s, and that's why I didn't get it? If I didn't get it will other instructors (some are younger than I am) get it?

If it was being held where most of the (pretty minimal) activism takes place on campus (it isn't), I would walk by the protest on my way to class. Maybe I could get a picture, if the crowd was interesting. But I would not have participated, even if the union had not copied me on the cease and desist letter. It isn't in my nature. I would never withhold my contracted services. I expect students to attend class, and in fact, attendance counts for ten percent of the final grade. So I would not encourage them to walk out, and I would not excuse them from class. Class time is precious.

Luckily my class is at 1:15, hopefully the walk-out / teach-in will be over by then. Although I don't think the students in my afternoon class are the type to attend something like this. No one has asked, anyway. In fact, it has not come up at all in class. I suspect it is too early in the semester for students to risk blowing off class, especially when I just let in several on overflow. My classes are much in demand.

Would I have participated when I was a student? Yes, if I was free at noon. I would have been very motivated and excited, maybe even would have made signs or worn a button. I'd have listened to the speakers and shouted the slogans. I would not have missed class to participate, however.

I am wondering what they hope to accomplish in Campus Center 375, though. I am not sure how big that room is, or even exactly where it is. I know it is cold outside and often it is snowing, but they are mostly hearty young folks of 18-22 years. Wouldn't they get more attention if they were on the podium, in front of Campus Center?

Yesterday, I watched about half of Dateline. It's a show I never watch, because it strikes me as only one notch away from EW, and I don't care for celebrity gossip. But TV was jammed with football, I'd just come in from shoveling (we got a very small amount yesterday) and I was defrosting myself near the electric fireplace.

The segment I watched focused on a woman who was shot three times in AZ. She's doing pretty well, although she was using a wheelchair. She was the woman who brought the little girl who was killed to the event. I felt a growing discomfort as I watched, sort of like rubbernecking.

First, she seemed way too composed and happy, to the point where I wondered if she was still in shock. Or maybe on sedatives? But her mind seemed clear, so I am not sure. Then, it seemed as if it was all about her. Her interviewer focused on the girl, but the responses felt very narcissistic. When she burst into tears, it seemed contrived.

That made me feel bad - here she has been through an awful ordeal, and I was feeling negative, judging her. What I finally landed on: enough. The media really is bloodthirsty. Parasites. Disgusting. And AHs like me are wasting our day, watching their crap.

Stop it. Stop the continuous, relentless coverage.

I am cold. And for the past couple of years, I am at that point in my life where I am never cold! So in a way it is refreshing, I guess...

I am just about ready for tomorrow, yay. The ice on the sidewalk is still an undone task, though.

This is a disturbing article. I'm afraid it might be true.

It's still Tuesday to me! Nice three day weekend in S'ville. We left the tree up! It is just like the day we cut it, probably because the heat is turned down low. Technically, it is supposed to be up 40 days after Christmas = February 3. We still have it up in C'ton, too. That one is more dry. It was fresh cut too, but we keep the house very warm for Sophie. The livingroom is particularly toasty, so I doubt we will make it the full 40 days here.

My first day on campus will be Thursday. I still have to revise my syllabus for foundations, but toleration, the online class and the independent study are finished. I don't have copies made to hand out in class any more, instead I email attachments to students the day before class. This saves paper, but causes me to procrastinate! If I had to have copies made, I would need to be done a few days sooner.

The storm today is a shoveling nightmare. I only got about 1/4 done, will have to work on it again tomorrow. It is so heavy - it slides down the snow banks (which are high, and now slick) so there is no where to throw it - and I'm afraid the sidewalk that I clear becomes very slippery because of the light drizzle. What a winter!

Sophie will be 12 next month, and we've had her for 11 years, having adopted her in December 1999 from MHRHS when she was 10 months old. She was a fully grown young dog, about 10 pounds underweight, with almost no hair. So pitiful. I know everyone thought I was crazy to choose her. (Doesn't help that besides her heartbreaking looks, she has a grumpy disposition.) The shelter had tested her for hypothyroid, I'm sure because of her hair condition, but that wasn't the problem.

When we brought her home, the only place she had visible hair on her back were two small, symmetrical, tear-shaped patches high on her neck. It was puppy hair, and it gradually fell out. At first I thought maybe she would grow hair once her diet was good and she wasn't under stress, but that didn't happen.

She has short hair on her legs and feet, and soft fuzz on her muzzle and parts of her ears, she's had an occasional patch of thin hair here or there elsewhere on her body at times, as well as few stray hairs in other places, but her underside seems to be completely hairless, and everywhere else is practically bald. She is bald with patches of hair, not furry with bald spots. In the summer, she gets rashes from the grass, she digs at her chest and chews her legs constantly. She's terribly allergic to bee stings.

We never deeply explored it, although we took her to the vet right away after adopting her (she had kennel cough), and she has had routine exams every year and some exotic bloodwork over the years. We've gone to three vets in Sophie's lifetime, the current one (a holistic and conventional veterinarian) for the past five years. None has figured out what is wrong, although as I mentioned, we haven't really pushed the issue. I'm sure it would be a costly process to figure out, and that assumes it could be figured out and treated at all, which is not a certainty. We give her benedryl when she has an allergy flare, she eats a homemade diet and takes calcium and fish oil. She wears a coat on very cold days, and we keep her out of the sun on very hot days. She's not much for the outdoors anyway. When inside, she is usually wrapped in a blanket.

She's been otherwise (relatively) healthy, until she developed hair follicle tumors a couple years ago, and had to have surgery in November. Bassets are prone to hair follicle tumors, and I imagine Sophie is even more susceptible with her hair issues. In preparation for her surgery, our vet prescribed a supplement regime starting in August. In an effort to discourage growth of the tumors (she has many more besides the two that caused problems and had to be removed), we added some new supplements starting when she had her stitches out, so since December 1 (ironically, her "Gotcha Day" :-) she has been taking about 10 different supplements, at total of 18 pills plus some powders and liquids. (Luckily Sophie's a voracious eater and happily takes anything I give her.)

For the first time in her life, Sophie is growing hair! It is filling in very quickly, from her hindleg area and moving forward. It's almost up to her shoulders at this point. I don't think it will be a normal coat, or that she will ever grow it on her chest and underside, and on her back it is still sparse in places, but it is really coming in. I always thought if she could grow hair, she would be a Red and White Basset. Her skin has a sort of color pattern - and that is how it looked to me, that she would not be tri-color, but two colors, mainly dark brownish with a white chest. But now that some is growing, I have discovered that she is Lemon and White! Such a pretty girl!

The Honey colored hair that is coming in is very fine, like puppy hair. Just like the two little patches that she had when I adopted her. The white hair is coming in wiry, more like I would expect a hound dog's hair to be. I wonder if her alopecia was why she was dumped at the pound all those years ago? She was a cute Lemon puppy who promptly lost her fur? Maybe the product of a puppy mill or other disreputable breeder?

Armed with new information, I found this site that discusses the reasons dogs lose hair. I can't find anything exactly like Sophie's problem, but a couple of the hormonal ones sound similar. Or the dilute nature of Lemon coloring may have something to do with it. Some of the treatments I've read include melatonin, which is one of the supplements Sophie has been taking. Miraculous! Wish I had known about it sooner.

She has a cool white stripe on her back!

This story reminded me. The news coverage of people stranded in airports really annoys me. I don't have one iota of sympathy for these whiners. Oh boo hoo. You can't go on vacation right now to someplace warm because it snowed in the winter. What a tragedy!! What a crisis! What an outrage! How dare the weather do this to you! How unfair!!

Took me less time to shovel than after the Christmas weekend storm. It was the same type of snow but it hadn't drifted, and the task was made more pleasant by no wind! So my toes were fine (I suspected two pairs of socks made my shoes too tight so I only wore the wool ones).

My classes start on the 20th, and so I have started to get ready. I am really hoping to not have to use a cane on campus this semester. As long as it isn't icy, I will be OK. Fear of falling is more of a concern than my ankle holding up. (I think.) I wonder if it would look too strange to wear a pair of ice grippers on my shoes? Would that add to my dorkiness? More than my cane?

If the winter continues to be a snowy one, I think I will have to find someone to shovel. It isn't the workout that bothers me, but my poor left foot. After the Christmas storm I couldn't feel my toes, and I was wearing two pairs of socks (one wool, one cotton), a plastic bag over my foot, and great shoes. Once I got inside the pain in those toes was terrible for a few minutes. Really freaked me out.

My right foot wasn't a problem, but my left foot will never be the same after the ankle sprain, and it already wasn't very good from the metatarsal arch problem that I've had since I was a teenager. I have enough trouble not falling, don't need to exascerbate my problem with frostbite. Unfortunately, the teenagers that used to live nearby have all grown up, and when we tried to hire an adult to do snow removal (as we do with the major part of lawn work), it didn't work out to be reliable enough.

But none of that matters for this storm. Today I will be doing the shoveling!

LOL. I believe the offending comments that sparked this post were removed, although this isn't directly said. I don't like the negative tone of some blog comments either, but I am never sure how moderators draw the line, and I doubt it can be unbiased. I've been called worse too, btw. Why do I feel a Nileston News coming on?

Now, I know this is judging a book by its cover... The photos are everywhere so there probably is no need to link, but do you notice that the preferred picture being used of the guy who shot up Safeway in Arizona went from one of a nondescript, normal-looking college student to a terrifying crazed lunatic? The first time I saw the current picture accompanying the story I thought it was a mistake, or that the photo related to something else.

Whenever one of these sprees occurs, naturally we all think of the situations in our own lives where something like it could happen. The 24/7 of the parasitic media (I am so glad I don't have real cable or satellite TV) makes it seem as if these are common or likely events, when that really isn't true. But still, they make a splash when they occur, and I think awareness, or even fear, crosses our minds. It is true also that there is something riveting about it, pondering what goes through the mind of someone who would do such a thing and trying to figure out what sort of person would do it, if we have ever met anyone who fits that description.

College campuses are one place where similar incidents have happened. I've been teaching for 11 years this semester. Since 2002 I have taught about 100 students per fall and spring semester, and 30 over the summer. Have I had any weird students in my classes? Yes. Or this one, although it wasn't scary. When I was teaching the urban education classes in the mid-'00s, there was a student who failed the class more than once who kept showing up the following semester, disrupting and demanding a permission number. My memory is a little fuzzy (the classes were team taught) but I think public safety had to get involved.

I also remember a student from five years ago whom I do not seem to have written about here; she wrote disturbing, hostile things in her journal, blamed others for her own shortcomings - and she was very fond of the word "hate." She contributed to a class atmosphere that was not as successful as I'd like. I commented on her entries, tried to be soothing and discourage so easily using the hate label, without much success. I was so glad when the class was over that year!

Any upsetting incidents? Yes. Here's another, although again, not scary. And then there was this, a difficult time in my teaching, scary too, but not in this way...students were sad, felt vulnerable and wanted answers. But the crime didn't occur on campus and the perpetrator wasn't a student.

These were nothing even remotely like the crimes that make the news, or the behaviors reported in this story or in VA a couple years ago. Still, would it surprise me to hear that among the tiny handful of odd or angry students I've encountered...there was someone who had a psychotic snap? Hmm. UA did have a student who flipped out. I wasn't on campus, it was during my System years, and it wasn't on a day when I had class, but I remember it very well. Maybe not, in the case of the "hate" woman or "worst movie" guy, although I think it is a stretch. Would any of the others be violent? Not so much. If anything, self-destructive behavior is more common.

Did I do anything "official?" Yes, I did what seemed appropriate in each situation, which in most cases wasn't a lot. If it was referred out of my hands, was the student's problem addressed? I don't know, but I doubt it. But I think that if a young man went from perfectly ordinary looking to off the charts scary overnight, I just may have noticed and done something, although I know that's much easier to say than it is to do.

Wow! Great post.

Had fun yesterday - probably more than if we had been able to attend the SoS. We watched it on the Internet after we got home from Lee. I was impressed! Loved the graphics, saw some painful truths and there were even a couple of laughs. Having said that (and I hate to admit this), I (and lots of others) have become so alienated and dispirited about the entire political arena that it is going to take a big lift for me to feel differently. But then, setting the bar low may lead to an unexpected pleasant surprise. Too many people become naively infatuated with the flavor of the day -- and are wildly disappointed when achievements fall short of their rosy expectations.

Added: this irritated me when I read it in the "paper" but I forgot to look for it and link. Is he for real? Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address? A speech during the Civil War, at a battlefield opening a soldier's cemetery = NYS SoS speech circa 2011? Hey Casey, 1980 is calling. It wants its overhead projector back.

I spent the afternoon at a professional development meeting, part of my consulting. At the end, a teacher who was seated next to me mentioned Huck Finn being censored to strip out the N-word. I had noticed a story link somewhere on that subject this morning, but did not have time to read it, and so I thought there has been discussion of editing the book, not that the sanitized version will actually be published. You might say that I am a big fan of Mark Twain, almost obsessively so, in fact. I immediately reacted negatively, without thinking. Not that thinking it through would change my reaction, just that when I am in my professional role, particularly when wearing my consultant hat, I always filter what I say very carefully. She said "I can see both sides" and so I didn't elaborate much. I guess I can too, but I still am annoyed by the editing. How dare you?

When I got home, I noticed several articles and blog posts on the subject. Commentary about the editing is mixed. Many are offended, as I am. Some think it is no big deal. It strikes me that it is one more nuance of the language of cultural disrespect, which I wrote about after being called the C-word in comments. A response to the Heslep article that I wrote about is from Wagner (1996) in Tolerance and Intolerance: Gricean Intention and Doing Right by our Students: we should all lighten up until we understand speaker intentions. Twain wasn't insulting African Americans, quite the opposite, in fact. Is there a scholar who disagrees that Huck Finn is one of the most important pieces of American literature? That its impact was profound and positive? We think we know better than Twain how to engage audiences? That sanitizing his language will make his writing better? So we need to baby students and avoid challenge, because they are sensitive and stupid? Or are we just too lazy to really make an effort and teach?

It's interesting to me too that I just wrote about reading Twain's autobiography this intercession. It was the #2 bestseller recently. He continues to make the news 100 years after his death!

Happy Birthday to Bob! He took the day off, and we are going to Lee, MA.  We'll stop by the outlets, and then have dinner at the Salmon Run Fish House, which is amazing. It isn't a fancy place, but we routinely go to fancy places. This is casual, with great food. We did the same thing for my last birthday, sans the outlets; I hate shopping, but it is something he likes. The outlets are way more tolerable than the mall or a big box, but there is great risk of buying a shirt that's appealing in the heat of the moment because it is so cheap and from a famous designer, and then getting it home and discovering you hate it, because it is a really weird color of fits just a little funny.

Anyway, this will be a fun day in a spell that is my unwind month. Once grades are done and the holidays over, I resolve (not really a New Year's resolution, since I also do it in the summer - more a semester's over resolution) to do a bunch of things that have to keep during the semester. When classes are not in session, I have to recharge my batteries. Somewhat means relaxing but most of it is turning my attention to things that are different from academic work. Teaching can be very draining - that sense of always being "on." It's necessary to replenish energy during breaks.

I always do a little more exotic cooking than usual, bake a few of my standard apple pies, try a few new recipes. In the summer, I garden like crazy. Maybe entertain a little. Read some books. This intercession, that last one involves reading Mark Twain's autobiography, which will be quite a challenge even though he is my favorite writer, because it is 663 pages of the smallest type imaginable, and I find I don't read as voraciously since I have to wear reading glasses. Also must try out my new set of acrylic paints. I have artistic impulses, but I'm not a painter of my sister's talent, never have been, never will be. So no Hudson River School landscapes for me! The next Nileston News that's brewing, perhaps? Try cartooning with a new medium? 

During every break I always resolve to write more, and I generally accomplish that goal, but this month I had hoped to pitch an idea, maybe to a market that's a reach - maybe to a comfortable one, not sure - and then work on the story since I am certain it is a winner, a sure sale. However, the big nor'easter (we got 18 inches I think, although it was hard to tell since it drifted so badly...I was shoveling forever) meant we had to come back two days early from the Christmas visit to S'ville, and that meant I had to cancel the interview I'd scheduled. I have to get busy and re-schedule it, hopefully before the break ends. Time's a wasting!

I have several consulting days lined up this month. That will divert my attention from recharging I guess, and it is in the academic arena, but the arts flavor can be very inspiring. Then, it will be back to semester's planning in no time. Time's a wasting again! Get busy on relaxing!

I was discussing my recent nasty comment at dinner with Bob, who has no patience for such foolishess. He doesn't appreciate the world of blogging, or even of the print environment, where stating opinions can cause one to be attacked. It has happened to me a few times, and he doesn't like it at all, can't see it the same way I do.

This made me think of Heslep's (1996) The Moral Presuppositions of Multicultural Education, which is a journal article I assign in toleration class. Heslep asserts that because of multicultural education’s limits on tolerance, some of its advocates have tried to restrict hate speech, politically incorrect speech, and other “linguistic modes of cultural disrespect.”

I always get a lot of appreciative laughter when I explain what this means in a real-world way. I use the ethnic example of 1940s intermarriage between a quiet, reserved family - such as my maternal side, rural upstate farmers of northern European descent, and an exhuberant, warm family, such as my paternal side, urban ethnic folks of southern European descent. Did one side view the other as cold, distant, judgmental? And the other perceive vulgar, loud aliens, because of the different body language and communication styles?

I go from that example to a more contemporary one, purely cultural - that the "F" word is almost as common as "the" for many downstate folks, while to my ears it is grating, offensive, obnoxious, lazy, along with its four letter compatriots - such as the "C" word, and the longer swear words, for instance the "C-S" word.

I close with the "N" word, a racial example, commonly hurled among friends within groups of young people of the same culture, males in particular, yet taboo when said by an outsider or even "insider outsider" - the ultimate put down, with ugly overtones that go far beyond a simple insult. The students all "get it" at this point.

According to Heslep, cultural respect is a virtue in multicultural society. Cultural disrespect is a vice because it is the opposite of cultural respect. Disrespect is also bad because it is offensive to individual members of targeted cultures; being offensive, it also is antagonizing, thereby encouraging cultural discord, another vice for multicultural education.

He argues that the use of a linguistic sign of cultural disrespect might offend members of the involved cultural group regardless of the innocent intention of the user of the sign. Such is the case with youth - sometimes they absorb elements from popular culture and don't understand the context of the words they casually use.

Then, some cultural groups have language of cultural disrespect as one of their features. Think of my "N" word example, or the swear word one. Teaching intolerance of the language of cultural disrespect might be self-defeating in that it might promote cultural disrespect. Outsiders may judge users of those linguistic signs as being offensive, when the insiders do not mean each other harm. Heslep writes that multiculturalists answer that such intolerance is simply a necessary socially therapeutic act. A multicultural society cannot exist in harmony if any of its cultural groups are inclined to speak ill of each other.

How to remedy? It is not enough for multicultural educators to instruct their students to be intolerant of linguistic signs of cultural disrespect, explains Heslep. Students must be taught discernment - how to determine what the user of a linguistic sign actually intends in using it. Both speaker and listener are important. It is one thing to be intolerant of ethnic jokes whose users intend to be culturally disrespectful in telling them; it is another to be intolerant of such jokes when their users do not mean to be culturally disrespectful. They may be innocent, or ignorant, or mean-spirited.

I was thinking about this in reference to Bob's feelings about my obnoxious commenter. I see posters on blogs, mostly anonymous although occasionally not, use that word and others like it rather casually. Lefties use it to describe women like Palin, and righties use it to describe Hillary types. Do the users intend it to be culturally offensive? Is it a purposeful, gender-based insult? I think so. Did my commenter? Oh, definitely.

So is it OK to be sensitive to the slur? Or is there something special about the medium of the Internet that waters down the offensive nature of the linguistic sign of cultural disrespect? Or is it nothing more special than simply that anonymous cowards are comfortable with invective?

This dude probably got tickets to the SoS, while we didn't. It seems he didn't land a job (or wasn't able to keep a job) with the TU after all, as had been reported in May. (He does get occasional mention in Cap Con though.) You may wonder why I link? Explanation here. I occasionally check in on his journalism career. I'm objectivist that way! I can't find any headlines in his blogging for Gannett that mention the governor's ethics training requirement for executive staff. Probably couldn't bring himself to type such a title. Seems to me the media could use to attend a few sessions as well.

Added: I think I know who my foul-mouthed commenter is. Wow, I do drive some guys over the deep end. Get help, you need it.

We entered the lottery for tickets to see tomorrow's State of the State, but today an email arrived saying we hadn't been selected. Oh well. It's Bob's birthday, so we'll have to plan something fun instead.

My year in review. (At least the parts of it where I took pictures.)

A thousand paws up! This says everything I have been thinking - minus the four-letter words.

Back in Castleton early due to the snowstorm! Here is a picture of the Samsonville tree, cut in the yard on 12/23, a big Charlie Brown:

And here's Castleton's, cut by the boyscouts on 12/18:

How sad.

Added: the unsuccessful lobbying effort.

Also: My earlier post. She is as much to blame for this as anyone or anything else.

In memory of April, who died yesterday. My mother had her since 1981. I took this picture in August. RIP beautiful horse.

Added: This Christmas, donate to the Catskill Animal Sanctuary, Ulster County SPCA, Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society or Maine Coon Rescue.

I'm done with fall grades! Something alarming, ten students failed (out of the total 100 students), the highest number ever. There were also two incompletes, but that is not unusual. Now I am waiting to see if any student with outstanding issues responds to my emails (from last week) before I post them to the system. My deadline is midnight, but I don't plan to wait that long.

Only one assignment left to grade, and more than 24 hours to do it!! I think I am going to be done earlier than ever before, probably about lunch time tomorrow. YAY.

Yesterday, 15 members of my family met at Dinosaur BBQ in Troy - what fun!

I couldn't agree more. Difficult time explaining to the kids, eh? Oh boo hoo. That means he still isn't taking responsibility for his actions. No dogs for Vick, not now, not ever.

When I read this today, I remembered this post from a few days ago.

I'm not the sort of person who doesn't see the downsides of technology. I was very skeptical of computers thirty years ago. I was troubled by things like "efficiency" and "economies of scale." Certainly one can look back on how much television has changed life, and wonder about how bad the impact has been. In the last foundations class this semester, when we were discussing educational technology, I told students that in my grandfather's day, everyone knew how to play a musical instrument. The radio changed that.

It is possible to ask questions without being a detractor, or a supporter. For instance, was the invention of the car good or bad for people? Surely you can make a list that has both pros and cons.

I believe hysterics over the changes in communication - email, texting, and social networking are the equivalent of "if man were meant to fly he'd have wings." Now, I am not exactly an air travel enthusiast, and plan to never fly again unless absolutely necessary. But standing in the way of the march of "progress" was worthless in terms of planes, and is futile when it comes to e-communication.

It isn't just a fad. Sure, technology will zip on by, and a new innovation will come along. That doesn't change the fact that this is how it is now, and it is interesting to think about what that means.

This sounds like a story from the Depression. Wish I could write more, but grading is my focus.

I am happy to report that both the "unabashed fan" and I were wrong!

First line, eighth paragraph of this story (even worse, it is the lead line in the story under "breaking news" on the home page for some reason) "To find Bailey guilty of the first-degree charge -- which carries a possible sentence of life in prison without parole..." What a careless error!

He's known for his powers of prediction? Duh. I can predict it won't be murder in the first degree, and I am not a retired cop, lawyer, or crime novelist. I'm sure the DA knows it too. So this jerk is an "unabashed fan" of hers? (I think maybe the TU is also.) What would have to be wrong with you for you to be anything other than repelled by her, someone who is clearly a morally challenged individual? Ugly on the inside and out, the deal she made didn't even preserve her exterior, the way Dorian Grey managed to pull off. The best there is indeed; the best what is the question.

Don't believe me, watch the Frontline she appears in. What a refusal to take responsibility!! I don't write this because she is a defense attorney. (Although I wonder who is paying her fee for this case? But we don't have the right to know that.) How about having to resign as judge over the Halloween costume photo and her behavior at the TU Center (it was the Pepsi, formerly the Knick at the time)? Even that is spun as if it was her quirky (translation charming) personality. If any of those things had been done by someone the TU didn't like, they would throw it up in every recent article on this case where her name appears.

It better be at least murder in the second degree though, or I am going to lose all faith in humanity. Do you see how they are framing it? To make it appear that second degree will be a victory for her and her client. Just reading the articles about the case makes my blood boil. Why do I pay for a subscription when 90 percent of the paper is unreadable? My heart breaks for the young man's parents.

Added: the only other time I have written about this sad case.

One of the recently highlighted blogs on the TU site has something to do with midlife. Seeing the link, I remembered that quite a while ago I read this post and was perplexed.

It says to answer "Yes" or "No" to the 16 questions.

Then it says that you score 1 point for each “yes” on 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, and 16 and 1 point for each “no” on 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15.

So I went down the list. My score was twelve. I consulted the key, and it said:

"If your total is:
0 to 4. – You are in the flow, in the zone, on automatic MOJO! You should have your own blog about how to live a well-adjusted life. Or feel free to contribute to this one on a regular basis!
5 to 9. – You have a healthy outlook most of the time with the occasional self-questioning fest. Spend a little more time in the self-help section of the bookstore or library or get a life coach – shameless plug.
10 plus. – Welcome to Making the Most of Midlife! Boy! Are you at the right place. Be open and willing to be open and willing and know that you can change your life!"

What? I need to change my life? Why? The quiz is indicating I am in a crisis or something? I carefully went through every question, and checked the tally to be sure. OK, maybe there were a couple that could have gone the other way, but I'd still be in the least self-actualized category. Let's go through each question: 

1. I am more open minded today than I was 10 years ago.

I would say No to this one because I have always been open minded. That didn't get me a point, so didn't increase my score, so I guess no argument there. It is a weird question, since someone could say No to it because they were closed minded ten years ago and still are now, or they could answer it that way for the same reason I did - because they were always open minded. But why would someone who answered Yes to it get a point? Why would growth over your life result in a higher score on the "not living a well adjusted life" scale?

2. I haven’t been able to reduce my stress levels.

Well, I think I have never been a very high stress person, but I do remember having more money hassles and time conflicts in younger days, so I believe I have been able to reduce my stress levels. Leaving administration and finishing my doctorate ten years ago had that result.  It's a poorly worded question, but the No answer got me a point. Why? Why is being able to reduce one's stress levels an indictor of maladjustment? Because I never should have had stress in the first place?

3. I know who I am.

Yes, I think I do. I get a point for this? It is better adjusted to not know who you are?

4. I feel like I am running out of time to do all of the things I want.

No, I don't feel that way about life. I get another point? Why? Because it means I am in denial? I assure you, that is not true. It's just that I am an optimist, and I do the things I want.

5. My work life is no less satisfying than before.

It is true that my work life is no less satisfying than it was before. I earn another point for the Yes? Why? I have had quite a few jobs in my career. Many I have liked, a couple I haven't, and I love what I do now. I am supposed to hate my job and want out of there? Be dreaming of God's waiting room in Florida or something?

6. I often say to myself “How did I get to be this old?”

Funny, I do occasionally say that. It's more of a joke than anything else. But the Yes answer here is the one that doesn't get a point, so it's all good, I guess. Still, why does the No answer get a point? Someone who thinks of the years of there life differently, perhaps has reckoned with their age, is not well adjusted?

7. I now pay more attention to my self care than before.

Another one I didn't get a point for, this time with a Yes answer. I am not sure it is possible to not pay more attention to self care as we age. There's a reason they sell nose hair clippers, you know.

8. I resent the effort it takes to be fulfilled in my life.

No, I am generally not a resentful person. Why does that get me a point? Because it isn't an effort? In that case, it is a trick question. But frankly, I am beginning to suspect that this entire quiz is a sarcastic joke. If it is on the level, then maybe the scoring categories are backwards.

9. I feel good about my future.

Yes - another point. Huh? Feeling bad about the future translates to being more well-adjusted?

10. It’s hard to maintain a proper work-life balance.

No, it isn't hard...although sometimes there has to be juggling and that's OK (so maybe it could have gone the other way). Predictable, another point if I keep the No.

11. Just making ends meet wipes me out.

No, plus one again. This is getting old. This quiz was written by a life coach? Life where? The land of misfit toys?

12. I daydream more than I used to about all kinds of things.

I could go with No here, because I have always daydreamed and had a strong imagination. That gets me a point. Or I could go with Yes, which would have gotten me no point, because recently I have recaptured some creativity. I go through spells of very imaginative, and other times when I am focused elsewhere. Either way, this is a bad question.

13. My life so far has been great.

Yes - again, the satisfied optimist. You guessed it, score another point. So if you perceive that your life has sucked, you don't get a point? I guess because disatisfied pessimists are more well-adjusted.

14. Overall I consider security to be more important than I used to.

Yes, I think so. Again, with aging, it is almost a given. Whoa! Didn't get a point for that. Do people with low scores on this quiz have a disassociative personality disorder? Because the answers that do not yield points are wildly inconsistent.

15. Sometimes I feel I need more excitement in my life.

No, my excitement level is just fine. And guess what? I get another point.

16. I had more excitement in my life when I was young, but I’m okay with that.

Yes, that is true. Add on another point...I guess if my young life was boring, or if I was pining away for clubbing, I'd be more self-actualized?

So I wrote a comment on the blog. I didn't write this much, nor was I as critical as I am here. I just asked about a few questions, why a No or Yes would get a point, and for a better explanation of the categories.

My comment remained in moderation for a long time, and then was deleted. No surprise there, I guess. My high score means I shouldn't contribute to the blog, get it? I'm just too darn lacking in mojo.

He's on a roll. Another LOL funny post.

End of semester hijinks.

Calgon take me away...

Last day of classes! It was a good day teaching-wise. Not a good day otherwise...

Same dude that I described here is hassling me.

It's a harbinger. I have a feeling I am going to get attacked in tomorrow's meeting. But luckily I have already planned to not go.

Also good fortune,  I have already received my appointment letter for Spring. So I am safe until September 2012, whatever happens tomorrow.

Catching up on some things I wanted to comment on:

I clicked on this story link because I thought "B" stood for Bishop, and I wondered why anyone would send her a nasty letter. Then I read that "B" stood for Benjamin, and I thought, "well, duh."

Why the Record is worth every penny of its price. This actually made me LOL. 

I finally read this post and remembered that I had been meaning to write something sparked by this story.

On the tenure issue, I can only say that I don't have tenure, and won't ever have it in my current position. I am not complaining about that, I have plenty of protections and do not see all that much firing even of the nontenured (although in the current environment that is very likely going to change). I quit my job at System once I achieved tenure so you might say that it isn't an issue for which I would go to the mat.

About hassles with tranferring into different classes due to the teacher, I can sympathize. When I was in eighth grade, I was put in a class called Math 8E. It was basically honors math. I was also permitted to take high school level art classes instead of eighth grade art. My school was a centralized 7-12. (It still is, although now the junior high kids are somewhat more separated from the students in grades 9-12.) All of my other classes were regular eighth grade level, the upper track intended for students who would eventually be taking the Regents in high school.

There was not a big AP or honors program at my school, although I believe there were some courses. I did not take any AP or honors in high school, but I remember that a few social studies teachers were considered to be teaching classes that were not labeled that way, but I believe had kids in them who did eventually take the AP exam. I did not have any of those teachers. Even though the social studies classes I was placed in were not labeled any differently, the atmosphere was often bedlam, kids throwing stuff, swinging on the door and jumping out the windows of the classroom, and otherwise acting out. I didn't care or agitate to be moved, instead I just did my homework for other classes during social studies.

When I was in eleventh grade, I entered a contest that had to do with writing an essay on American history. I entered on my own, without direction from anyone in the school. It turned out that I was chosen as my high school's winner, and had to compete at the county level. I went to meet with the teacher who would be my mentor for the county competition. He was one of the social studies teachers who taught the kids who eventually took the AP exam. I recall his surprise at meeting me; although I knew who he was, he did not know me. He said, "why aren't you in my class?"

Back to the real reason for this anecdote, I'd always done well in and liked math, so the placement wasn't a surprise. Unfortunately the teacher was terrible, possibly the worst teacher I ever had in K-12.  I remember when we were learning pre-algebra, he would write an equation on the board (you know, of the 10x + 4y = ? or labeling triangles and other shapes variety), but the letters he chose were always drawn from his own initials and a boy's in the class. They were scrambled, so that the equation was not just a string of his and the boy's initials in order, but once we worked it out, the result was always his three initials plus the boy's.

He never used a girl's, not that any of us would have liked this better. Most of the boys targeted were extremely uncomfortable over it, too. He was a very strange guy, and had a reputation for having inappropriate relationships with the male students, that sometimes continued until they were alumni. The graduates would come to visit him during our class, and he would dismiss us immediately whenever that happened. But then questionable involvement with students was not uncommon, and it didn't result in headlines, jail terms and lawsuits as it does today.

I suffered through his class, making so-so grades, never failing, just not doing well for me. I think I wound up with a low B in the class, rather than my usual A. The weird initials in the equations wasn't the sole reason, the overall atmosphere was unpleasant, I just didn't "click" with the teacher or how he taught, did not do well on homework or exams in his class, and I started to dislike math.

Imagine my horror when the following year (which in those days meant Algebra), I landed the same teacher. I immediately made an appointment with my guidance counselor, asked to be switched to another class. You'd think she would have compared my math grade in seventh and eighth grades, been alarmed, and figured out that I had a point. Maybe she thought 8E was just too hard for me, and that was the source of my decline in grades, but she refused to change my placement and I was stuck with the creep for another year.

The result was essentially the same, I did not like math and did not do well in the class. At the end of the year, I believe I again had a B- or C+. Then I took the Algebra Regents exam, and scored a 96. Which I guess says either that the Regents wasn't very difficult, the teacher actually did teach me something although I did not demonstrate it in class, I taught myself Algebra, or someone at the school doctored the Regents results.

I had much more competent math teachers for the rest of high school, but it isn't a surprise that I did not pursue math in college. I drifted to the social sciences, and landed on history...guess the bedlam was better than the romantic strings in equations.

Toleration class ended last night. During the discussion, a student asked for my opinion on something. I try to be vanilla, but if directly asked I will share. He is a very good student, a bit older than traditional aged, works full-time and takes one or two classes per semester. He was in my foundations class last semester. He said he was discussing his courses with family, and some of his older male relatives (sounded like uncles) "went off" when they heard about toleration. He said he tried to explain and defend it (charmingly he said he was not as articulate as I am), but he wanted to know how I would respond.

So I said, "I'm assuming you mean that they thought it was ridiculous, a joke?" He said yes. I said I try to be thick skinned about criticism, but since people rarely say such things to my face, the only time I am confronted by that attitude is when I read blogs on the internet, where I quite commonly find people expressing all sorts of opinions about education programs at colleges, many of which are rather nasty and a good proportion are also uninformed. Things such as John Dewey being one of the most destructive influences in the 20th Century, that education courses are uniformly worthless, that education faculty should all be fired, that education students are morons, that schools of education should be burned down. I'm not exaggerating about that last one at all, I read that last week.

It seems people really have an axe to grind on this subject. I suppose because we all went through the system, and are familiar with it. Some, perhaps most, have had at least one negative experience. As a system it is compulsory, and it is expensive. There are frequently unflattering stories in the press, and there is no denying the mixed outcomes, whether you are a champion or a detractor.

I have to admit that when I read those things it does sort of upset me, but I do my best to ignore it, and I never, ever engage in the comments of blogs on that subject. There is no point. One time when I tried I was so viciously attacked that I gave up. I am not the type of person to get into a flame war.

I shared a personal anecdote, of one time when someone did say something along those lines to my face. I was at my local watering hole, and saw a woman whom I slightly knew, but had not seen in a while. She'd quit her job at a state agency, moved to California to find herself, then came back. People always want to ask me questions when they hear I teach college students. She asked me what I teach, so I told her, foundations and toleration. There was a pause, then she said "no offense" (ever notice when someone says that it is always followed by one of the most offensive things imaginable? And they seem to believe that prefacing their remarks in that way inoculates them from your being offended?) followed by "isn't that just bullshit?"

I laughed and wrote it off to her having one too many glasses of wine, and I asked about her background. She told me she had an undergraduate degree in English, and had taught high school for a few years in Pennsylvania before coming to Albany to work for the state. She hated teaching, and seemed bitter on the subject. I was itching to say "no offense, but you think I teach bullshit courses because you sucked as a teacher?" But of course I didn't.

I told him that I know my courses are not the most difficult in the university, but I also know that they aren't pieces of cake either, that portfolio assessment keeps students continuously working and gets the best results. It's structured so students can't procrastinate, and don't have to cram. I don't rely solely on theory, though there is a good dose of it in my classes, I also try to impart some skills, such as planning, making presentations, writing, research, assessment of yourself and others. I use a wide variety of measures to evaluate students, from multiple choice to essay to hands on projects. I know that many students look back on my classes and remember them, they really do learn. I lecture, I show video, students discuss material within small groups and with the entire class, blended between online and on campus. I get a lot of thank you notes after they graduate. I pour my heart and soul into my teaching, and I would hold up my credentials and achievements against anyone's.

I shared the reason the course was started, that what with ethical scandals such as Enron, Jayson Blair, etc., it seemed a good idea to expose freshman to the importance of academic honesty, and the perils of cheating and plagiarism. Yes, we cover moral education, and I discourage things like stereotyping. I don't hide my bias, that I am an objectivist on some issues, although I am more of a constructivist in my teaching style.

I said that I don't advocate for or against issues such as gay marriage, whatever my personal beliefs are on the subject, but in a world where a college freshman jumps off a bridge because his roommate has bullied him over his sexuality, I think there is a need for college students to understand toleration. It is just putting up with things that you don't like, in the social, political, or moral arena. I explained that many of them will someday be teachers, and have to deal with all sorts of situations in schools.

So I said that he should ask the critics "what is tolerance?" and "what do you think the course is about?" I told him that I doubted they would know the answer. They would say something about celebrating diversity, something drawn from a college's mission statement. They probably think I am pushing a political agenda, attempting to indoctorinate students, that I try to convince the women to burn their bras and that I want to castrate the men. I believe people of opposing views should have freedom...Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or Greens should be able to debate and that makes me an extremist of some sort?

I asked if he thought they would say anything about political toleration? Would they know we cover free speech and freedom of assembly? That we read works by John Locke and Benjamin Franklin? Would they understand the history of toleration, and list religious toleration as a subject we study? That we learn about and discuss the Holocaust, character education, good samaritan laws, the Amish and compulsory education, Utah's outlawing Mormon polygamy to become a state, the legacy of Dutch toleration in New York, and the controversy over the Mohammed cartoons? Or do they suspect I have students hold hands and sing kumbaya?

I also told the students that it is funny to me that an outsider would have that perception of my classes, since my actual views are a mix of left and right. So much so that conservatives think I am liberal and liberals think I am conservative. Despite not favoring relativism, I am fond of Aristotle's idea of a golden mean, that virtue lies between the extremes. I clearly remember from my own school days, and observe right now many things about schools that are in need of reform, and I do not march lock step with any lobby group. I am really endeavoring to be one ingredient in a recipe that makes a great teacher, because that is more important than budgets, unions, class size, resources, privatization, etc. Yes, we read Dewey, Holt, Kohlberg, Piaget, Banks, Kohn, Macedo, etc. We also read Hutchins, Adler, Finn, Lickona, Famularo, Hess, Whittle and others. I don't stamp out dissent. One of my favorite messages is "ask questions."

Naturally this was resonating with students, and there was also a lot of laughter at some of my remarks. I am always pretty entertaining and funny in class. I closed by saying, "does that help? Did I answer your question?" He nodded affirmatively.

Sophie got her stitches out! Yay! She was such a good girl. She doesn't have to go back for another check up for 3-4 months.

Yesterday, my on campus PC was fried when I arrived in the AM. A widespread electrical problem happened on Monday. The woman who has the office on the other side of my wall heard a "pop," her machine shut down, and soot came out of the surge protector. A campus electrician checked it out but initially found nothing wrong, and her PC worked when she turned it on. 

There was an electrical burning smell in my office, but no other indications of a problem (aside from the broken PC). So the computer staff took away my CPU, and the electrician checked everything again, this time finding the problem. The GA office was the source - their computers were on and were fine but mine was off and was dead (go figure). So I used the student lab downstairs which was OK but I don't have access to the network and can't print from there. Productive day! (Not.) And right at the end of semester. If I was capable of it, I'd have been in a panic.

They swapped out a power supply from a computer in the student lab to my machine and I should have been back in business, but the woman who originally reported the problem on Monday turned on her desk lamp, the bulb burned out and soot came from the outlet again. So we unplugged everything while they re-checked. They also swapped out the power supply in her machine, just as a precaution. By 3:30 everything was back to normal, but I unplugged my computer before I went home last night, just to be on the safe side. I have to get to my last day of classes before losing the machine again! After that they will have until January 20 to sort it out. (I am just remembering my computer crashed right at the beginning of this semester and needed a new hard drive...)

It's amazing to think how dependent we are on these machines, to the point where it is a waste of time to be there without one! I had my blackberry, so although I could use email, it was not my work account.

Enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend. It's so hard to get back into the swing after having several days off. I didn't check my work mail or course sites at all, I really needed a break, but resuming routine is harder than not taking days off, I think. Now there is only a week and a half left until classes are over! Where does the time go, and my usual end of semester question arises: how will I fit in everything I have to do?

We have a gas fireplace in Samsonville, and although Sophie is not crazy about that house (for two reasons, it is on a slab so the floor is cold, and we often have visitors, while she is Kathy Bates' character in Misery! She likes to have us all to herself), she loves the fireplace. She had a small setback as a result of being there, on Saturday night after we got home, the incision on her leg started to weep a little, where the drain used to be. She goes to the vet to have her stitches removed on Wednesday, so we'll have it checked out then. Maybe she needs another round of antibiotics, or some other treatment, or maybe it will heal eventually and just needs more time. I hope so.

Anyway, it looks OK today, but we broke down yesterday and bought her an electric fireplace. We aimed it at her futon in the livingroom. She loves it! Sam and Teddy seem to like it a lot too. What a life they have.

Baking apple pies for Thanksgiving! Bob will be traveling to see his folks, and I will be with my side, so one for each family.

Later: Let me add that I absolutely detest the recent trend of calling Thanksgiving "Turkey Day." Stop it.

Today is my first day of working back upstairs, in my office. Sophie still has stitches (she gets them out 12/1), we still have the stairs blocked with a baby gate, and yesterday when I had to be at my consulting site, she had to wear the elizabethan collar. But I am becoming so crippled up from using the laptop in the living room that I decided to come upstairs today. I have so much work to do at this point in the semester, can't cut productivity due to ergonomics! I don't have the collar on her, because she has been about 95% compliant when one of us are here. I heard some licking just now and ran downstairs (my ankle is doing so well at this point! Power walked a good distance yesterday) only to discover Sam was the one grooming (himself). So far, so good.

We let her go downstairs to the yard now when we are here and can watch her go up and down, she doesn't have to be leash walked, and she is doing great. Last day of antibiotics will be tomorrow. She hasn't taken a pain pill in several days, although I considered giving her one in the middle of last night. She was very restless. I think with more activity, comes a little more discomfort. Tomorrow night we head to Samsonville. That house is a ranch so it will be easier, but the ride and the yard there will be a challenge. I think I will have to put the e-collar on her so I can have Thanksgiving dinner, since she is always more anxious in Samsonville.

I had a Murphy's Law kind of day yesterday. There were more reasons than this, but I'll just detail a couple. I was exhausted Sunday night, went to bed a lot earlier than usual. Shortly before falling asleep I remembered I had a major deadline in my online class that I had completely forgotten. I'd been so distracted by consulting work that it completely slipped my mind, something I don't think has ever happened in the 10 years I've been teaching online. But I had to attend to a meeting in the morning and I was so tired. So I resolved to update the course site in the morning with a brief note saying there would be a delay of a couple of hours. I also had to print some documents for the meeting. I hadn't done it earlier in the weekend because I was waiting for feedback (which never came).

I planned to be at the site at 8:15 AM - really, really early for me. But I got up! Victory. Shortly before I had to leave I ran upstairs with my flash drive to print the documents and update the online class with that note. I hadn't used my printer in a while - since I started working downstairs. The light was blinking that said it needed paper and a print job of Bob's was partially done. (He said it was from three weeks ago.) I loaded paper and it started to print. After about a half page it stopped and started "thinking." Then all sorts of error messages started flashing - "carriage error" "paper jam" etc. getting worse each time I tried to correct it. Finally I gave up and turned off the machine. I took my flash drive and hoped that I could print on site, if the documents were needed. In the car as he was preparing to drive away, I asked Bob to email me the documents, so that I could review them on my smart phone before the meeting. Uh-oh. He deleted the email where I shared them (without reading them, I might add...). So I ran back inside with my flash drive, emailed them to myself. Going to be late! Never fails.

Once I was on site and observing, an assistant to one of the people I was meeting with found me and announced the meeting was canceled! So on the good side, I didn't need those documents, but on the bad side - I'd missed my online class deadline for no reason. Also, I thought it was pretty rude, some of the participants travel quite a distance and the meeting was on the books for a long time. Oh well. 

When I got home, the printer was still "shutting down." Uh-oh again. I killed the main power switch and forgot about it until today. When I turned it on this morning, it was fine. Or at least I think it is, I haven't tried to print anything yet. 

Lesson 1. Something I already knew. I can't really go into details on the situation, but afterwards I was thinking about today’s meeting being canceled, and how it was done – and it occurs to me that the conclusion I had in the program evaluation that was my dissertation (that the reason innovative programs do not succeed as well as they might has little to do with goal achievement and positive results, or even with enthusiasm of the participants - and more to do with lack of broad support from policy makers) is true for the object of the consulting project as well. Administrative leadership is not interested.

Lesson 2. Something I should have known already. Real job is higher priority than consulting.

Lesson 3. Something I didn't know, but should have suspected. Don't leave your printer flashing an error message for three weeks.

I clicked this blog title for what should be obvious reasons. I don't like people who don't like dogs. I like them even less when they get one and then give it away. Yes, I respect them more for finding a new home than people who dump pets at the pound, but in this sentence, respect doesn't imply "like" or even "approve of." Not just liking them, but having dogs is a dealbreaker issue for me. The kids couldn't talk about him for a decade indeed. I'm surprised they come home for the holidays at all, rather than just sending an edible arrangement with a "love ya" card while they dine with co-workers and their dogs.

I suppose this post is supposed to be all heartwarming because of the end sentiment and photos. Agreed, the dog is a cutie-pie. Sophie is a Basset so naturally I am especially partial to them. And I love cross-breed dogs. And hounds generally. But all that text that precedes the Hallmark moment just made me irritated. I'd be ashamed to write a post that is entitled "No Dogs." But I think among some of the TU lifestyle blogs that is considered a positive attribute.

Finally watched Julie and Julia. Or was it Julia and Julie? Doesn't matter, either way it gets two paws down. I'd heard the Julia Child part was good, but the Julie part was not that interesting, and that's the reason I hadn't bothered to watch it before this. But, the netflix queue was getting thin, so I added it. Shouldn't have bothered. The Julie part is so trite that it makes the Julia part trite as well, because there isn't enough time to really explore Julia's story. What was Julia's childhood and younger adult life like? What about when she was famous? In an effort to make the two stories parallel, only one segment of Julia's life is the focus. As always, Meryl Streep is awesome, but that isn't enough to balance out the tedious story of Julie. Really, who cares? Certainly not worthy of a biopic, which are difficult even when the person focused on is fascinating. The movie is too long because of the Julie segments, but long as the movie seems, Julia's portion is unsatisfying.

I am not sure if I've ever written on this subject here before, but I have a knack for detective work. Years ago, in my Oneonta days, I worked at a gift shop. It was a strange operation, run by a hippyish guy who made his living outside of the shop at flea markets. He spent little or no time in the store, basically I was there most hours it was open, and paid myself every week from the cash register. He had a "harem" and a teenage son who very occasionally worked with me, or relieved me when the shop was open late. One of them took whatever cash was in the drawer, less my pay, when they stopped in.

One day when I arrived to open up I found the door pried open, and several state BCI cops inside. Turns out the guy was running a major scam, and the police had been investigating him for years. He had several phony businesses and one real store. He made up fake wholesalers, and used them to vouch for the credit of the stores. He got deliveries on credit, sold the stuff below list price at flea markets, dumped the remainder at the shop, and never paid any invoices or sales taxes. Turns out he had members of his harem sign for everything, so they were on the hook. He hired an expensive private lawyer for himself, and they were stuck with the public defender.

I'd been suspicious for a very long time, but never dreamed how big a scam it was. I cooperated fully with the police, helped them box up the seized merchandise, and told them what I had observed.

Anyway, the point of this anecdote is that afterwards, the cops tried to convince me to take the state trooper exam. They even stopped at my apartment and dropped off an application. They felt I would make a great detective and assured me that the beat cop aspect of patrolling in a car would be short-term. But although I was flattered, I am the farthest thing from a jock, I don't drive, and I am afraid of guns, so I didn't go through with it. I could have aced the test and the academics, but I would never have gotten through the physical stresses of the academy.

Regardless, I do find detective work fascinating. So I've been doing some thinking about who the emailer from the prior post could be...and have arrived at six possibilities. I won't list them, since I don't write those sort of details here. But the translation of the French name and email address is "The Lord High Steward of the King's Household."

Why am I among the CCs of this "high importance" email that I received yesterday in my university account?

I've removed all the names, aside from the book's author:

From: (name of someone I don't know)@earthlink.net
To: (email address of reporter for Capital District Business Review)
Cc: (vp student success); (vp student development); (lowly me); (u prez); (u avp); (assoc prof biomedical science); (vp athletics); (vp nanoscience); (affirmative action officer)
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 5:04 PM
Subject: Beer & Circus - A Must Read for SUNY Albamy's President
Importance: High

Name of reporter:

Your article today on the vote of the Faculty Senate, has made me feel the need to highlight the devolution of SUNY Albany as an institution of higher education.

As SUNY Albany's President (deleted name, which was wrong!) prepares to cut programs like Foreign Languages and Classics to balance his budget and chart the growth of his institution, maybe he should tread carefully, and seriously contemplate the ramifications of directions previously taken by SUNY Albany to "promote" the institution, (and himself, and all the other testosterone-high, "Jock-Sniffer" Alum's and media), by jumping into expanding athletic programs, which now seem immune to the budget ax!!!

He, (and a lot of other Capital District college and university presidents) should read Dr. Sperber's book as a vaccine against this insidious disease! SUNY Albany once was acclaimed as an academic institution promoting higher education for the citizens of the Empire State. Now its a Jock Joke!

Sincerely,

Name of someone I don't know

The scene today. Really makes me feel like sleeping too! And what doesn't help is that I am working at the laptop, so that I can monitor Sophie. I am not used to typing lots of text on the keyboard, much prefer my desktop in the office upstairs. Very tempting to accomplish nothing! (But I can't give in - so much work to do at this point in the semester.)

There was a cancellation, so Sophie had her follow up visit today, rather than Friday. She is doing great, walking almost normally. While she was in the car, she managed to lick it a little, which is something that she has not been doing at all. Dr. Tina said the incisions look great, she took the drain out, and Sophie was good! She will have the stitches out on December 1.

I had to leave her for the first time today to go to campus, so she is wearing the elizabethan collar while I am gone. Poor weenie :-(.

The lab report came back - they were trichoepitheliomas, cystic tumors of hair follicles, which are common in Basset Hounds. They are generally benign, or rarely, low-level cancer, of a type that does not spread to organs. She wasn't able to completely remove the one on her leg without compromising muscle, so it may grow back. However, she is so much improved already that I am not going to focus on that.

Overall Sophie is doing great - no fussing with the incisions, so no need for the elizabethan collar which is a relief since she hated it. We have not made her wear it since the first day. However, I am not sure what will happen when I can't be here to watch her tomorrow. Playing it by ear at this point.

She slept pretty much straight for about the first 24 hours. She peed, ate some chicken, drank water, took her pills, went outside very briefly on her leash. There has been an improvement every day, her appetite is almost normal and she is very interested in going outside, but starting on Saturday night, we noticed that something was making her pant and be anxious. We were concerned, called Dr. Tina, who said she could have up to 6 pain pills per day (she had prescribed 3 per day). So we gave her an extra pill. She didn't seem to need another one until after dinner yesterday, when she seemed to be in pain again, so we gave her one.

Then last night, we noticed the panting and anxiety again - and concluded that while the pain meds may take away the pain, they are giving her anxiety. She doesn't need more pills - she needs to be weaned off. In some ways the anxiety is worse than soreness, she gets really scared and does things that might cause her to hurt her incisions - jamming herself in tight spaces, won't lay down, etc. So I decided to try going without them. She had her last pain pill at about 2 am last night, and she was OK until about noon today.

At about 11, I fed her lunch, and then leashed her up and we went outside. She hadn't pooped yet. I guess that is nothing to be concerned about, it often takes 4-5 days after surgery for that to happen, and the pain meds are constipating, so that is another good reason to take her off of them. I mixed pumpkin in with her food at lunch to see if that would help, and it did. She went!

After we came inside, she was fairly restless all afternoon. I managed to get her to come in from the porch and lay on her futon by using a trail of cookie pieces, one at at time every few inches, to lead her to it. (Sam was so good, he did not take them.) That made her sleep for a while, and she even wrapped herself and covered her head, but after a while she got up, and was wandering around, anxious, going to the door, trying to go behind furniture, etc. So I fed her some cookie pieces and made the decision to give her a Tramadol, which she had at 3:30. She is now laying on the floor, sleeping, by a chair. I covered her. There is such a delicate balance between alleviating pain, and dealing with side effects.


Her incisions are huge, and with one on each side it can be a challenge for her to find a comfortable position. The one on her hindleg has a drain, which Dr. Tina will take out at her follow up on Friday. She walks mostly on three legs, although she can use it somewhat. When I first saw her on Friday, I got tears in my eyes. She is pitiful enough without having to go through surgery. Poor Sophalina Wegalicious Hotdog.


Sam and Teddy have been awesome. They both insist on staying in the same room as her - which means that I have to play door man since we have a baby gate in front of the stairs and Ted's catbox is downstairs in the utility room, plus Sam has to go to the yard through the kitchen. I'm working at Bob's convalescing space, on our laptop in the living room so I can be near her, but I am not used to the keyboard so may not be very productive. Will be very glad when she is more independent, I feel like I have been a nurse for the past two years!

Sophie came through her surgery fine.

We can pick her up tomorrow morning.


It's a relief...but I'm missing her tonight!

So many things, so little time! Hard to pick just a few...

AOL mail had been taking forever to transmit mail. I know, because I get my mail in so many places, on so many devices. Sometimes it sends more than one copy of the mail. I wonder what is up?

The first unit I was observing as part of my consulting just ended. I spent all day at the school on Monday. It turned out the session was canceled due to the weather (we had our first snow storm of the season!) but I stayed at the school, observed classes, and had lunch with teachers to get feedback.

My afternoon class this semester is a challenge. Texting and chatter is constant. I've had to call out (not single out) students on more than one occasion. A couple of times I just lost it, and ranted for a while. Sometimes in a funny way, sometimes not. One time I had to scold them for the revolving door during a video, too. That  time it worked, and it hasn't happened again, but the texting and chatter continue unchecked. I am considering being disruptive during the worst offenders' presentations next week to teach them a lesson. I hate to do this, and I hate having to call them out and rant, but their antics interrupt my train of thought and annoy other students. I haven't had a class that was this rude in about five years.

Sophie is having surgery tomorrow. It isn't a life-threatening condition, but she is 11, nearly 12, which is pretty old for a Basset. I am going to be a nervous wreck. After all his surgeries, Bob is very optimistic. Me, not so much! I guess because of Ande this past summer, and Rudy five years ago. Not that they had surgeries, but they didn't get better no matter how much I hoped they would. (Edna's was what I consider a "good death.") I think I do believe the outcome will be good, her quality of life will improve, and I will be so happy that we had it done once it is over, but it is very hard for me to not worry and have flashes of pessimism anyway.  

She's having two of those awful cysts she gets removed, the ones that we had aspirated a couple of years ago to check for cancer (they weren't). The one on her leg is impacting her mobility, and the oldest one, on her side, also never heals up right. She gets around OK, although she can't jump up on furniture any longer, and all our stairs in Castleton are a challenge for her. Even in Samsonville, she was having trouble getting up from the ground to the deck walkway. With her short legs and long body, she doesn't need any other barrier to getting around. She is too heavy for me and now Bob to carry, and not all that cooperative even if we could.  

She will have to stay overnight at the vet's, and maybe wear an Elizabethan collar when she comes home. Not thrilled about those two things either! She had pre-op tests and we scheduled it a while ago, it was harder to nail down Dr. Tina than if it was being done at Albany Med! 

Please send a good thought and a prayer Sophie's way.

Something I didn't mention in my post about Waiting for Superman is that a big target is tenure. The documentary attacks it as being too easy to get and as a roadblock to getting rid of incompetent teachers. The unions are criticized primarily for these two issues: unwavering support for tenure, and knee-jerk opposition to merit pay.

Came to campus today. My cold is better, although not over. Bob and I have what we call feeling "home good" v. "work good." On Tuesday, I didn't even feel "home good." Today, I am feeling "home good" but not really "work good," yet I am here. I have an easy day teaching-wise, so I just have to hang in there until about 6.

I've been meaning to write a bit about the documentary Waiting for Superman. It's very intense. It has a POV for sure. Avoids some issues, overemphasizes a few others, over simplifies to some degree, and it doesn't offer much hope. It was heartbreaking at times (and the emotional aspect was one thing that was maybe unfair), it was definitely thought-provoking, although there were not a lot of surprises to those of us familiar with the education scene. However, it hits more than a handful of issues like a bulls eye. It was painful at times. Definitely worth going to see.

Something that struck me in the very beginning was that one of the filmmakers was talking about education, about how he always was a big champion of public schooling. But that turned out to be "in theory." When he had to make the choice of where to send his own kids to school, he wound up sending them to private school. He passes three public schools on the way as he drives his kids to their school. He remarked about something that I was struck by several years ago. He didn't use these exact words, but this was the sentiment. When it's "one of your own" who is impacted, who is at risk, who may fail, who is bullied, overlooked, disengaged you don't have time to wait for policymakers, bureaucrats, politicians, "the system." Your idealistic theory kind of goes out the window, as you scramble to snatch "your own" from failure. The options of charter, private secular or religious schools or homeschooling don't seem like the province of the homogeneous, the elite, the brainwashingly religious, or the socially weird any longer. They seem like attractive choices you wish you, and other people, really could explore, without lotteries, income litmus tests, and second mortgages.


The other issue that came up in the documentary is the idea of merit pay. Students in my classes debate the two sides of this issue, whether it takes a dark view of motivation, whether it would harm morale. After doing this consulting work, the idea strikes me as worth trying. I know I am motivated by incentives, even though I am not a materialistic person. Why is it wrong to wonder if teachers would be too?

Got dressed and dragged myself to vote, even though I felt like crap. I felt bad exposing the poll workers to my cold, but what can you do? There was a bakesale and we bought some cookies and brownies. I haven't been eating white flour much for years, but I am making an exception tonight. Can't feel any worse from eating gluten than I feel now, and the comfort food aspect may have the benefit of making me feel all cozy.

I am "NE" (meaning I am not enrolled in a party) so I didn't vote in the primary in September. I say I am independent, but since there is a party that calls itself that, I have reverted to NE, which is what my parents always called people who were neither Democrat nor Republican. They both worked at the polls over the years and that was the listing on the sheets of registered voters for those who were unenrolled...NE.

So this was the first time I used the new process. I don't like the new scantron paper ballots at all, they are confusing. I can see why so many people screw them up. They are not stupid, scantron forms just are not user friendly. I especially don't like that quasi-privacy has replaced privacy. I could see people being intimidated. It is sort of like using a dressing room with an inadequate curtain in a store that only has one or two and they open up into the store. You just know people can see your underwear.

I guess this change is so that they can have a paper trail because there are so many recounts, and so many lawsuits since Y2K? If that's not it, then why? Seemed like I was scanning a lotto ticket or something, so much less official than the click of the little metal lever and the noise of the curtains closing and opening. RIP old lever machines. I'll miss you.

Had a busy and productive weekend, saw Waiting for Superman yesterday. There were about 20 trick-or-treaters this year, up from last year (two? zero? can't remember) but down from a couple of years ago (40) and definitely from several years ago (over 100).

I started to come down with something last night (it's no wonder considering all the places I went yesterday), but didn't let go of denial until just a little while ago, when I accepted that I have cold. :-(. I'm a bad patient.

So I planned to write more here today - and to accomplish a lot more than I have so far today, but oh well. Waiting for Superman will have to keep waiting.