Did someone say "snow day?"

It's not just the students who enjoy snow days-I am happy that the weather changed my plans today.
I was going to drive into the city to get my hair cut. 

Instead, I'll stay at home, finish marking the last of my final exams (given a week early so that we can use the time scheduled for the final for final project presentations) and put up the Christmas tree.

And the best part is that today is a "study day" which means that the snow hasn't interfered at all with classes or final exams, which is perfect.

Here's what my driveway looks like at 8:15 AM-and it's been snowing for about 45 minutes.
Looks like we might get the three inches Brysen Van Eck promised!

So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Summer!

Ah yes, a life geared to the academic calendar.

I survived the spring semester, my first teaching semester in four and one half years.  I forgot 1) how much work teaching is and 2) how much I love it (the work and the teaching).

And now the summer.  My "to do" list is incredibly long.  In addition to taking two courses towards my education to become a Commissioned Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church, USA (more about that here) I'm taking fiddle lessons AND I promised myself that this would be the summer that I finally got my website up.  So I'm taking a class from Tom Antion on-line that will teach me how to use Wordpress.

Oh, and I'm going to learn Evernote, and I'm taking Meggin McIntosh's Workshop Business 101 four month course to get myself set up to deliver workshops.

You should see the piles of books in my office at home.  In fact, you are seeing the piles of books. 

They are arranged into meaningful piles, but perhaps only for me.  There's the meditation pile, the workshop 101 pile, the CIS 101 pile (did I mention that another summer project is reworking our gen ed computing course, the one that every student has to take and hates?).

They are piled on the floor because there is no room in the bookcases, which leads me to another (perpetual) project which is to CLEAN UP THIS OFFICE!  Sorry, I didn't mean to shout.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer-time to go back to whatever important thing it was that I was doing.

Happy Holidays!

Hard to believe but the semester is over and most of us have turned our thoughts to the holiday season.  I have always found this a perfect time to reflect on the past year and set an intention for the upcoming year.

I have been very influenced by Meg Wheatley, a scholar who has been applying systems theory to organizations.  I highly recommend her book, Perseverance.  In it, she helps to answer the question, what makes some people, even with failures and setbacks, keep doing work that they care about, that they feel is important.

I recommend it because all of us have failures, setbacks, disappointments and obstacles to overcome.  All of us.  And we need to learn to persevere, to "keep on keeping on."  Sometimes school is like that-I know it was for me when I returned at the age of 40 to begin working on my doctorate.  Sometimes work is like that-in the words of Jim Croce, "some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you."

We all just need to keep showing up, to remember that each day is a new beginning.

And so I wish for you and your families and your friends a peace-filled holiday break.  I look forward to seeing you all in the new year, a new beginning of a new semester.

Graduation!

This is what I've been looking at ALL DAY! Cleaning up e-mail, marking papers, posting grades.

The semester is over and now I can look forward to arguing with students about their papers and working on plans for the Doctor of Professional Studies program.

Oh, and maybe being interim Dean-that will be different!

I love it when people ask what I do all summer. This summer will be no different from earlier summers. I'll work like a dog trying to "catch up" only to realize that I can never catch up. Oh well, I should know better but "hope springs eternal."

End of one semester, beginning of another

I was having a brief conversation with a woman during the coffee hour at church, about where this supposed "break" that we have goes.

I've already been back to work-reading Darren's dissertation, trying to figure out what I'm doing with my database class for my doctoral students, trying to figure out what will happen now that my dean is stepping down. And hoping that next year we get a raise, however small-my health insurance increased by 50%, our heating bill is outrageous, our taxes are going up (again!) and both of us are living on "fixed incomes" which is not how it was supposed to be-I at least was supposed to be getting some kind of raise. Oh well. At least I have a job. But as I'm fond of saying, if I knew that I was going to work this hard for this little money I'd probably have stayed in corporate America. Now it's too late-I'm too old for them to take me back.

I am thinking about what else I can do to supplement my salary-maybe revive my consulting practice, maybe do some corporate training, something so that I don't feel as though I'm falling behind.

It's going to be an interesting year, that's for sure! I wish all of us peace, health and happiness in 2008.