Reflection

This week has been a time of reflection. We have ill elderly relatives. Candi’s not mine. I am the elderly relative in my family. Candi lost her only remaining Uncle this week. Her aunt, his wife, is in intensive care in the hospital, but she is improving. Candi’s mother left the hospital two weeks ago and is still rehabilitating, but she is showing signs of improvement. These relatives are in their mid-nineties. We reflect back on their lives and how they were intertwined with ours. Her aunt and uncle were like grandparents to our children as they were the only relatives living close to us in Texas. In addition to relatives, I was reflecting on the fact they entered my family 50 years ago today when I married into theirs. The last 50 years have brought many changes, job changes, career changes, location changes, children, and grandchildren. I am thankful to have survived and often prospered through it all. We still have tomorrow to look forward to and the day after and after. Most of all, I am thankful for that wonderful girl who said, “I do.”

Where did the day go?

Did you ever stop in the evening and think, “I was really busy today, but what did I do?” I was really busy today. I made a list of everything I could remember doing today and then labeled them as activities or accomplishments. I got up and took a shower (activity). I helped make breakfast (accomplishment). Ate breakfast (activity). I put shoes on (activity). I put my jacket and hat on (activity). We drove to Home Depot (activity). Paid a bill (accomplishment). Purchased wall switches (activity and accomplishment). Drove to Dollar Tree and Candi purchased cards (activity for me accomplishment for her). We went to Lowes to look for an outlet and looked at planters (activity). We drove to Ace Hardware to look for an electrical outlet and metal tape (activity and accomplishment). We stopped for lunch at Shogun (activity and accomplishing a full stomach). I won’t go on. The remainder of the day was a continuation. It was filled with minor activities and a few achievements. Most of our days are like this unless we have a goal or objective. 

My days are lost in minutia unless I make a plan and stick to it. What do we want to accomplish? Do we have any grand and compelling goals? Have we written them down and created a plan to accomplish these goals? Have we analyzed what we are doing and eliminated (or at least reduced) the things that are preventing us from reaching our potential?

Yesterday there was no post. I drove eight hours to see my bride for our 50th wedding anniversary.

Mess with our pay!

The business school at OSU has decided to change the way they pay faculty for online classes and summer Face-to-Face (FtF) classes. The changes were presented as a fait accompli. No discussion, no recourse, we are in charge and you are serfs. It does not appear that the administration thought this through and considered the potential consequences. The first is that any reduction in pay for classes is not going to be well met. The faculty most affected are the lowest paid, instructors and clinical faculty. They also do not seem to have considered the increase in the number of administrators and staff over the last couple of years. It appears to the instructors that they are having money taken away so that the administrators can do less work. The increases in administrators and staff is seen as the reason the cost of college is uncontrollably increasing. Faculty have calculated the cost of teaching online and summer classes with this change. Many faculty will not be teaching online in the future. Many of us will not be teaching summer FtF classes. The change reduced my pay by approximately $8000 (it may be a contract violation). I now have no incentive to teach in the summer. The most important consequence is that the university is not the highest paying employer in the region or state. People do not like to change jobs and move but will do so if there is enough animosity. This change creates a lot of hostility. The good thing is that I will have the entire summer off. My spouse has already said that if I am going to be around that long in the summer, we need to have boundaries. Love her!

Loud Americans

Why do Americans speak so loudly? Several years ago, we visited Munich, Germany. The popular Hofbrauhaus was so noisy that you could not hear the person sitting next to you. Most of the people there were Americans. We went to Schneider Brauhaus, which is only a couple of blocks away. It was packed and most of the people were Germans. Even with the Brauhaus completely full, you could talk in a normal conversational tone. The beer and food were outstanding. I highly recommend it if you are ever in Munich. The thing that started this line of thought was was that one of my colleagues was down the hall and down a flight of stairs. He talks so loudly that I can hear him like he was sitting in my office, even though I closed the door. Not all Americans talk as loud as he does, but many do. When two or three get together, it is like a shouting match. I think part of the problem is that they don’t listen, only talk and talk as if it is a competition. Loudness persuades others of their viewpoint. It is hard to convince anyone when you don’t listen, think, and try to understand their position. This sounds very much like politics in the USA today.

Social Media

The social media platforms are changing. It was Facebook and still is for those over 50 years old. Obviously, those who think they are important and have important things to say use twitter. Twitter users seem to be either politicians or those commenting on politicians. It is realty difficult to understand how someone could think that firing a person through a tweet is acceptable, and yet he occupies the White House. This week I asked my students what social media platforms they used. The answers were Instagram, twitter, or TikTok. The latter was new to me. I Googled it. TikTok is a Chinese social media platform. I asked my 13-year-old grandson what social media platform he and his peers used. I was told Instagram and TikTok. I am not familiar with TikTok so I will have to join and understand how it works. It was interesting that teenagers do not use Facebook or Twitter. I am concerned that they use a social media platform that is controlled by China. Are you?

Getting old is not for wimps!

We have several close relatives that have health issues. They are all in their 90s. They are in hospitals and care facilities. We do everything we can to make them more comfortable. We go to visit. We replace their beds with ones that adjust so they can sleep more comfortably. We see them and think and wonder if this is our future?

You know that getting old is not for wimps. We do not feel that we are approaching old age. However, normal aches and pains are the way we know we are alive. Joints do not work as well or as smoothly as they once did. Our bodies do not respond the way they once did to stress and to overwork. A good night’s sleep often eludes us. Waking often in the middle of the night is more and more common. Why does it happen? We have no idea. We are not going to give up. We still value each day. Actually, we value each day more and more as we accumulate more days and as we lose old friends. Getting old is not for wimps!

Research and the world.

I have listened to several Ph.D. students present their research ideas over the last week. I find myself thinking, is that a good research topic? Can they develop that and get a line of research published (necessary for getting academic tenure.) Then I stop and think WGRA. WGRA was a term one of my English professors used. And yes, my supporting area for my Ph.D. was English. WGRA stands for Who Gives a Rat’s A** about that? When we write or do research, are we doing anything important? What impact will this make? What new way of thinking can we foster? What impact will our work have on the world? Having a longer world view than most of the students, I can say that I hope they complete their dissertations and get their Ph.Ds and find good jobs. I don’t think you will ever hear of them. I don’t think they will make an impact on this world. I think they will get married, raise children, and live good lives. Is there anything more important than that? Love and Peace.

Ethics

When we think about ethics, religion often starts the conversation. What do your religious beliefs tell you is right or wrong? It occurred to me that often religion tells people what not to do. The ten commandments tell people what not to do. I call them the thou shalt nots. There is a whole lot less guidance on what to do, and they tend to platitudes. Things like ‘do good’ or ‘love one another.’ The latter is the one most fundamental Christians forget. They tend only to love those who are just like themselves and believe as they do. Is it right to impose your beliefs on others? We have a problem in this country with many people imposing their beliefs on others, especially concerning abortion and LGBTQ. I heard on the news this morning that the state of Oklahoma has banned state-funded travel to the state of California. This is because California has a travel ban on Oklahoma due to Oklahoma’s restrictions on adoption by same-sex couples. San Francisco extended the prohibition for Oklahoma’s restrictive abortion laws. I want you to have the right and ability to believe as you choose. I want the same right. I don’t believe in legislating morality or ethics. Do you?

Light

Did you ever think about how light affects our lives? We have a rainbow room. The sun shines in through the windows in the afternoon. There are a number of crystals in the windows that cast rainbows on all of the walls and pictures in the room. The rainbows on the paintings give Candi ideas on how to use light in her paintings. Many of the Impressionists were interested in light and how it could change their paintings (e.g., Monet).

How does light look when filtered through the leaves of the tree? Or through the early morning fog? Or in the harsh unfiltered summer light on the road? Or on the grasses waving in the winter snowscape? How does light make you feel? Does it make you feel lighter or heavier? Happier or melancholy? How do you react to light on wildflowers along the road? How do you respond to the early morning light coming through the bedroom curtains? Do you let light into your soul? Do you feel the power of the universe coming into you through the light in your life?

What is a media producer?

I have a student/friend that is looking to move from a Batchelor’s in Management Information Systems to a Masters in Film Producing. That seems like a huge change. My first question was what does a producer do? It turns out that they handle everything on the business end of a film, or TV program, or theatrical production. They get the financing, hire the director, casting director, and everyone else involved in the production. They also get the thankless job of firing anyone that does not work out or contribute positively to the production. It is a job that I can relate to being a serial CEO. A producer is a person that brings the production to the final end or distribution, whether it be in the theater, movie theater, or the television. If you watch the credits at the end of a news program, you will see an executive producer and then many producers, one producer for each segment. My student with an undergraduate degree in business will be an excellent producer. I have written several letters of recommendation for her and can only hope that she is able to get the education that will enable her to enter the field. I expect to see her accepting an Oscar or Emmy or Tony in the future.

How important is your pay?

How important is your pay? It is one way we are recognized for the work we do, and how much our employer values what we do. How much is enough? Is there a trade-off between pay and time off of work? How would you feel if your employer threatened to lower your compensation with no discussion or reason was given?  At the university, rumors are flying everywhere regarding faculty pay reductions for summer classes and online classes. Our department chair even mentioned in December that there would be changes in those areas in the new year. The faculty that teach large classes and large online classes and the summer classes tend to be clinical (i.e., non-tenured and non-tenure track faculty). These faculty are the lowest paid at the university and will feel any reduction the most. If you read my 12/14/19 and 12/15/19 blogs, you will understand why college education costs so much. You will also understand that taking money from the faculty members that teach the largest classes will be so repugnant to the lowest-paid faculty that teach those classes. This comes as the university continues to add administrative personnel that have nothing to do with delivering the product to the customers (i.e., education to the students). This reduction will reduce costs, but will not address the source of the problem, high ratio of staff and administrators to teaching faculty. In fact, it will probably have the opposite effect. Many teaching faculty will likely start searching for another job. I have started looking and have found several that are in Texas, my preferred location. One job post I found is two hours from my Brenham home and one is only an hour. I like where I currently teach and moving is a pain in the derriere. I am only looking because if the university follows through with the rumored changes, it will mean that they don’t get it, and I will not continue being content to teach here. I am not the only one. I have talked to several teaching faculty and they all say that if their pay is reduced, they will also look elsewhere. Why doesn’t the administration understand this? Are they like our legislators in Washington, so removed from reality that they just can’t see the problem?

Holidays

MLK Day is officially tomorrow. It is really today, January 19. We keep moving holidays to the work week so people can get a day off. Is the purpose of a holiday a day off work or to honor someone or something? We should be honoring what Martin Luther King did for the civil rights movement in the USA. Just as we should be honoring those that died serving the country on Memorial Day. Or honoring all those that work on Labor Day. We used to observe both Lincoln’s birthday and Washington’s birthday in February. We now have one day we honor all former US presidents. Are we honoring them or just getting a day off work or having a chance to increase retail sales for a made-up holiday? These holidays are kind of like Valentine's Day. Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to sell greeting cards, candy, and jewelry. It is not a day we should celebrate, totally unlike St. Patricks Day.

St. Paddy’s day is an important event. We celebrate the driving of snakes out of Ireland and the drinking of good beer. What could be more important than that? It is so important that most universities schedule spring break over St. Patrick’s Day. When I was at Miami University (Ohio), the students had a special day, which was the week before Spring Break, so that they did not miss obligatory drinking during St. Paddy’s Day. Bars even got an exemption to open at 7am the Thursday before St. Pat’s so no one would miss the opportunity to overindulge. How better to demonstrate the importance of that day!

Hats

I saw a picture of Queen Elizabeth II today. She was wearing a hat. I thought back to the Netflix series the Crown. She was wearing a hat whenever she was outside. My wife wears a hat whenever she is outside. Redheads need sun protection, in addition to the sunscreen she puts on every morning. Skin cancer is not a thing to be messed with, and hats provide protection from the sun. My grandfather always wore a hat when he went outside. It was very typical of his generation. He was born in 1905. Look at old movies. Every man and woman wore a hat. Today, who wears hats? Cowboys and ranchers wear hats. Their hats usually are western wear made by companies like Stetson or Resistol. The only people that routinely wear hats today are those that wear a uniform. Military, police, and firefighters wear hats as part of their uniform. I don’t count caps as hats. Many people wear baseball type hats. These don’t count.

I wear hats because my wife insists I need protection from the sun. And after many years of wearing hats, it seems really strange to step outside without the sun protection a hat provides. I have many hats. Panama straw hats for summer. (Most Panama hats are made in Ecuador.) I have hats made by Stetson and Resistol, both western hats and other styles, like Australian wool and the Stetson Temple design. I have a crushable wool hat and buffalo and sheep wool hat. I have a Borsalino grey fedora (think Indiana Jones) and a Borsalino black Alessandria; both are made in Italy. I have a grey Cavanaugh made in New York City over 50 years ago. I also have a virtually indestructible travel hat, a beret, and a couple of Kangol wool hats. I got a new Kangol hat because the old one is wearing out. The old one will never be thrown out. It is an old friend.

I wear hats to protect my skin from the sun and because I like hats. Wearing a hat sets me apart from most people. When I run into another hat wearer, there is an instant bond. We immediately understand each other and know that we know something the rest of the world does not. We tend to long for an era that had more of an idea of etiquette. Gentlemen held doors. I still do, which often surprises the students. But you know, it is catching. I often see students holding the door for others, even in the rain or snow. And it is not just the gentlemen, but also the ladies. I like gender equality, don’t you?

Understanding other cultures

Last Thursday, I had the study abroad group speak to my class. We believe that this world is very small, and to get a good education, it is necessary to learn about the global economy and other cultures. Many of my students have never been outside of Oklahoma. Many consider Texas to be a foreign country. I understand that and agree with it. The only way to understand another culture is to go to that country. Throughout my career, I traveled to a number of countries. I spent time in India, south and central America, Canada, and Europe. I learned that in many cultures, people will not say that they do not know the answer to a question. In France, when asked a question that the person does not know the answer to, the answer will be answered with ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybe’. I also learned that Engineer is not a profession in France. It is a title. The things that we would expect a professional engineer to know or understand a French engineer may not know. The French also seem to think they are invulnerable. I was traveling in India with a French colleague. He ate unpasteurized yogurt in India and said that nothing could bother him. We got him to a hospital before he died of dehydration from the effects of that yogurt.

My first-time trip to India, we were met at the airport and taken to our hotel in Delhi. When we pulled up in front of the hotel, my first instinct was to open the door and get out. My Indian colleague stopped me. He told me that opening the door is the responsibility of the hotel doorman. If I were to open the door, I would be taking his job from him and demeaning his worth. I never thought about it like that. We had drivers everywhere we went. Even my Indian colleagues were not allowed to drive. It was the driver’s job to drive the car. In the hotel restaurant, American style beef steak was on the menu. I asked the waiter if the steak was from a cow. He was horrified and assured me that it was not. I wondered if it could be water buffalo. The answer was perhaps. I asked if it could be a camel steak. Again, that answer was perhaps. I asked if the steak could be from a Monkee. Again the waiter was horrified and answered that was impossible. I assume you know that cows are sacred in India. We waited for almost an hour for four cows to get up and leave an intersection. I asked why someone didn’t get out and make them move. I was told that it would never happen. When our Indian colleagues came to Texas, they were horrified that we fenced cows in a pasture.

Last summer we spent three weeks in Costa Rica. It is advertised as a great place to retire. Maybe it is for some, but not for me. Every country has it’s own problems. One of Costa Rica’s most significant issues is immigration. People are going to Costa Rica from Venezuela and from Nicaragua. Their immigration problems make the Estados Unidos problems insignificant by comparison. The only way to understand a country is to go there, and not just to the tourist areas.

Oops!

I missed a day posting on my blog. I only made it two weeks into the new year. Darn. Time to pay more attention. In my defense, I had a student meeting at 5:30 pm yesterday. I was tired when I finally got home, but no excuses. Resolve to do better and move on.

Do two posts today make up for none yesterday? I will go with yes. However, based on what I teach my students, the answer has to be no. I tell my students that there is no late, and I do not grade any late assignments. Late assignments get a zero. Resolve to do better and move on.

Decisions

It may seem strange, but I finally started looking at the weather before leaving home in the morning. Since it was 24 degrees with a projected high of 34 degrees, I wore my parka. I still did not change footwear, I wear sandals every day unless it is snowing. No socks. I think sandals with socks look strange. Kind of like the old men in New Jersey that wear shorts with black, knee-high socks. I really try to avoid making decisions in the morning, but now I have added an action that requires a decision. My alarm clock (my cell phone) is programmed for days that I have to teach. I wear jeans, take the Hawaiian shirt off the left end of the rack, clean ones go from the dryer to the right side of the rack. No decision required. Sandals (no socks), and I am ready to go; no decisions required. Anything that might have required a decision, like a lesson plan for class, is done the day before when I am wide awake and coherent. I even changed my routine from looking at the weather in the morning before leaving home to looking at the weather before bedtime and setting out the correct outerwear. Now no morning decisions. I think most people only can make a limited number of decisions in a day. The fewer minor decisions needed, the more that are available for things that might actually make a difference. You know those big important decisions, like what kind of beer to have with dinner.

Renewal

Life begins each semester anew. New faces, each distinct individuals. Yet most at the same place in their life. Each group that starts gets the same information as the previous group. Many take in the information and assimilate it and move on the next semester for the step in their education. Since I have all of the business students in my classes, many recognize me and will say hi. I had one in my office that had the class four years ago, and she was disappointed that I did not recognize her. With 600 to 800 students a semester, I tend to retain memories of only the most outstanding. If the memories were negative, I consciously discard them. If the memories were positive, I kept them. It is really great to see the alumni return to campus as recruiters for their companies. Making a positive impact on someone’s life is one of the most rewarding things about teaching. I was thinking about when to retire from teaching and move on to the next phase of life. I have a friend that has retired, and I asked her what she was going to do next. Her answer was that she was going to travel and enjoy her family. I wish I could do that, but it is not how I am wired. I was thinking that I would retire from teaching in three to five years. After reflection, I think I will retire when I am no longer an effective educator, whenever that is. No timeline. And I need to have a plan for what I am going to do next. Even at my age (as one of my friends put it ‘advanced age’), I need to continue making a contribution. This blog is my way of practicing for the next phase in life. I plan to continue writing and thinking.

Superlatives.

Already this is a year of superlatives and it is only the 13^th day of the new year. I got a flu shot today, and the pharmacist said it was the worst flu season ever. Listen to the news. It is the worst fire season ever in California, which is nothing compared to Australia. In Australia, there have been over a billion animals killed. Yes, B not M. According to the news, Venice, Italy, has had the most flooding ever. They have had a 100-year flood every year and now several times a year. We have had more mass shootings this last year than ever before. All of these are negative things that make the news. Positive news is not news. How often do you hear that someone did something good. The only thing I can remember, and yes, my memory is not as good as it once was, is that people have been leaving tips in the denominations fo 2020. Most $20.20, but there is occasionally a tip of $2020.00. There have even been reports of a tip of $20,200. It is nice to hear, but why only now. Shouldn’t we be concerned about our fellows all year? Will all this fade in the next few weeks? I have more than many others. Should I be worried about them? I read that Jeff Bezos gave $690,000 for Australian fire relief, less than he makes in 5 minutes. If this is the standard for giving, I only need to give $5 to match Bezos. And how much has Trump given? Yet he shows up at the final college football game to enormous cheers. At what expense to both you and me? Darn. I did not want to go there again. Sorry. Or not.

A very sad week

This week the US administration assassinated an Iranian general. Then the Iranian government retaliated by shooting missiles at bases in Iraq where there were both Iraqi and US soldiers. This raised the threat level in both countries. Then there was a horrible mistake. A commercial passenger airplane was seen incorrectly as a threat to Iran, missiles were fired, and the plane was destroyed, killing 176 people. This sequence of events was started by the US president authorizing the general’s assassination. The US president claims the killing of the general was because he was an imminent threat. However, he has refused to provide congress with any evidence of the danger to which he was reacting. Was this just another diversionary tactic that the president has become known for? One must wonder if it was, as he suggested, to get congress to move away from impeachment. In the last year, the president has enabled the Turkish genocide of Kurds in northern Syria by moving US troops away from the Turkish border and now assassinated a foreign leader. There does not appear to be any long term foreign policy in this administration. There seems to be only a spur of the moment decision without any thought of consequences. I doubt if Congress will remove the president through the impeachment process. It is up to the American voter to hold the president responsible for his actions by removing him from office and trying him in the International Court of Justice, just as the Nazis were tried for their atrocities.

I apologize for going into politics again and against what I said I was going to write about. It is just that this issue is too important not to comment.

It pays to get quality workmanship.

We continue to get surprised. The contractor that is remodeling the Ohana finished today. He worked both Saturday and Sunday, and the job is complete. He gave an original estimate of two weeks. He finished three days ahead of schedule and the work is outstanding. It even satisfied “Miss Perfection”, my wife. We did not get bids on the job. The contractor we hired had done wall patching when we had the water piping replaced. He was recommended by the plumber that did the piping replacement. He did such an outstanding job that it is impossible to tell where there are patches in the drywall. We hired him based on his quality of work. We estimated the cost of the remodeling, and his price was reasonable. When hiring a contractor, there is more to consider than just the price. In addition, he was licensed, bonded, and insured. You do not necessarily want someone that does just ok work, or is the lowest price. When I was doing project work, I never hired the lowest priced contractor. There was always a way to disqualify the lowest price. If you need surgery, do you want the surgeon that does OK work? Or do you want the one with the most experience and best recovery rate? There are many times you want quality performance.

After six years, still remodeling.

We have contractors in the house again. The only part of the house that was not remodeled in the six years we have lived here was the Ohana. The previous owners used this area as a game room. We use it as guest quarters. It is in the end house off the kitchen and opposite the remainder of the bedrooms and living area. It has a mini-kitchen, and there is a bathroom just outside of the door in the utility room. We were not going to touch this area but then the ceiling started to fall down. The old ceiling was acoustical tile nailed to slats. This, of course, leads to a complete remodel of the living space. The new ceiling will be laminate hickory flooring nailed to plywood. All of the walls had wallpaper, and it will be removed and painted. We are having slat wall panels installed on all four walls to make it easier to hang all of Candi’s paintings, so in a way, it will be a combination of guest quarters and gallery. I have to leave before it will be done, so over Spring break, I get to help put the Ohana back together. Then the entire house will have been remodeled. It sounds like that will be time to sell it and move again. I surely hope that does not happen. Candi says this is her forever home. I never expect to have a forever home, so I will not be disappointed if we move again. It will not be Costa Rica. I am thinking about looking into Portugal.

A final finish and a new start

Yesterday, I finished a research paper and sent it to my co-author. I thought I was finished with it. He called today and suggested we need to make additional changes (read demanded that I make changes that he wanted.) So OK. Not today, but tomorrow. Actually, the changes are quite small and really inconsequential. So, me being passive-aggressive and really kind of petty, I am not going to do them until tomorrow. I will get the changes completed tomorrow because the next day, I drive back to Stillwater to start class on Tuesday. The university begins the Spring semester on Monday, but I have classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I will use the time between now and Tuesday to review and decide what changes to make, what worked and what did not work last semester. A new semester and 600+ new students makes for a challenging January.

Follow up. I did make the changes and sent it to my co-author. He submitted it to a journal. We can hope that it gets accepted. If it does not, I may just post it on this blog.

Finishing old projects in the new year

When I start a new project, there is always a burst of energy and enthusiasm. As the project continues, it often takes a concerted effort to keep it moving forward, and the longer the project the more effort. And then the end finally comes, and we are filled with relief. A research project often follows this course. After the project is complete and the paper written, we send it off to a journal for review and hopefully, acceptance. And then we wait and wait and wait. The wait can extend six months or more. And then we finally hear from the journal editor. The paper was rejected. We get a list of reasons and suggestions from the reviewers. We gather ourselves up and vow to make the suggested changes and get the research published. We make the changes and select a different journal and send it off again to wait and wait. We finally hear from the journal editor, and the paper is rejected again. This time the comments are the opposite and contradict the comments from the first group of reviewers. We now decide to get a third opinion from a different journal and, hopefully, a group of reviewers that can recognize our brilliant work! The third time we are rejected again, but for entirely different reasons. I have no enthusiasm for another rework of the paper, and so it goes on the shelf.

After three years, my co-author contacts me about redoing the paper one more time. I tell him to go ahead and take his best shot. He does and we get some good comments and encouragement, but no acceptance. The reviewer’s comments suggest a major rewrite, which my co-author asks me to do. I agree without much enthusiasm. Since it has been several years since the original research, I need to go back and do a literature review to see what has happened in that niche of the research field since the original research. After months of fitting this in between everything else going on in my life (yes, nothing is static), I finally start the rewrite, which unfortunately, is major. And today is a great day, the paper is finished and sent to my co-author for review. Life is wonderful and hopefully, we get an acceptance somewhere. I can start the new year with that off my plate, and it feels great.

Back to school

Time to start thinking about going back to school. Most children are already back in school; in our area, some started yesterday and some today. I get a slight reprieve until next Monday. My classes don’t start until Tuesday. One of my four sections is only about 60% full, not surprising since it is a 7:30 am class. The others, including my online course, have a waiting list. It should also not be surprising that the 7:30 or 8 am classes have a higher GPA than the classes later in the day. Most of my students are Freshmen and Sophomores. The university allows on-campus students to take online classes. In my opinion, that is a mistake. Most freshmen are not mature enough nor do they have the discipline required by an online class.  This last semester the online class had a GPA of 2.0 and the face-to-face classes had a GPA of 3.0. This is typical. I do not allow late work. Most of the online students had at least one 0 for late work. Some had several. I curve the online class to compensate for this. In talking with other faculty, they also find that it is typical for online classes to do worse than face-to-face classes and most apply a curve to their grades. The university is very interested in the retention rate of students, especially at the freshman and sophomore levels. I don’t believe it is because of the university’s desire to ensure that the students get a good education, but rather that they contribute to the university’s income. More on this after we hear how faculty’s pay will be cut. This is not a sure thing but was strongly hinted at the end of last semester. More on this in a future post.

Sunny Day and climate change

It is a beautiful first Monday of the decade here. Sunny and 70 degrees with light winds. The weeds are growing quite well. The grass is still dormant. Candi is transplanting flowers that have jumped their beds and into the grass. She has bluebonnets growing and several starting to bloom. We can only hope that we do not have another freeze this Spring. But wait, Spring is far off, and Winter has just begun. 

I accept that the planet may be experiencing global warming, but how much variation can be blamed on global warming and how much is just normal variance. It seems the problem is not that we cannot make calculations, but that we have too little data on which to base the calculations. We have semi-accurate weather data for the last 100 years, ok, maybe 150 years, and I won’t give you 200 years. Recorded history is several millennia. I would suggest that our sample is too small. The question many have asked is, “do we have enough time to wait and do nothing while we gather data? If we believe that the weather patterns we see are normal variations, the answer is yes, let’s wait and see. If we are on the cusp of change that we cannot retreat from, the answer is no, we must act now. If we respond to reduce the possibility of climate change and we find out that what we have experienced is normal variation, no harm, no foul. If we were correct, and what we are experiencing is on the cusp of no return, we acted correctly. Therefore, there is only one right action, and that is to work to stop climate change now, today, no wait. Logically, it looks like an easy choice. So what are we waiting for, debating, denying?

Terrorism, Assassination, and Genocide

I am so confused and every time I listen to the news, I get more confused. The US accuses Iran of state-supported terrorism, and the US president reacts with state assassination of an Iranian general. How is this going to result in peace? Hasn’t it been enough to starve the people of Iran through sanctions? Can we stop this escalation and bring it back from the brink of war? The US president had already sanctioned genocide of the Kurds and enabled the Turks to start the process when he pulled out of helping and protecting the Kurds in northern Syria. Now he authorizes assassination. Isn’t it time that Americans say enough? Trump Republicans are not Americans. Those in Congress are not living up to their oath of office and should be removed. We have a chance to do that later this year. I hope we have the courage to do just that. This all makes my stomach churn and gives me a migraine, but it must be faced directly or we lose our system of government.

Craft breweries and distilleries

There continues to be an explosion of craft breweries and craft distilleries. Just walk through the liquor store and there are breweries making beers you never heard of and probably don’t want to hear about. There are a lot of bad beers out there. I will never buy more than one bottle or can of a beer I am not familiar with. This is why many stores have single beers for sale. If one is good, I may invest in a 6-pack. However, the price point on many of these craft brews is way too high. When they charge more for their beer than the cost of an imported Aventinus Tap 6, guess which I am going to purchase. The brewers argue that their beer costs more because of the small quantities. If the quality is high, then the high price is justified. Otherwise, they will be another failed craft brewery.

We also have many craft distilleries starting up everywhere. The Austin, Texas area must have 30 or more that popped up in the last three to four years. The one many are familiar with is Tito’s. They sell high priced vodka. Tito’s has done a great marketing job. Vodka is vodka, or primarily ethanol that has been cut to a proof below the 96% that it is distilled to. The quality of the water matters. The type of still used can influence the taste. The primary sugar used matters, potatoes are different from corn or sugar cane, or sugar beets. However, ethanol is ethanol and the name and design of the bottle don’t make it better. They simply affect the way marketing has influenced you. Snobbery does not change the taste of vodka, whether it is poured from a plastic bottle or an engraved glass bottle with a goose on it.

There are many new distillers making whiskey. The prices of most of the craft distilled whiskeys are ridiculously high. Check out Larceny (an excellent whiskey that uses the same grain bill as Pappy.) Then compare it to a craft whiskey. Go for Larceny. The craft distillers have not earned their high prices and likely never will. Just think before you spend your money on that new liquor. If you cannot taste before purchase, why purchase? Are you going to buy a new car without a test drive. That logic should apply for any new product unless the cost is so low as to make the test drive irrelevant.

Rocks

We went to a rock shop in Austin today. There were beautiful rocks from all over the globe, many kinds and colors of quartz, agates, amethyst, geodes, copper-containing rocks, silica and mica rocks, igneous rocks, fossil containing sedimentary rocks, and many, many more. Many rocks were raw like they just came out of the ground. Some had been cut and polished on display in the gift shop. It was tempting to gather buckets and buckets of different stones. But they sell by the pound and prices ranged from $2 to $100 per pound. Candi got one that she thought was about one half pound, which, when weighed, was a full pound. A big difference at $16/pound. Still, it will look good in the garden. Ironic when you think about it. Take a rock out of the ground in one part of the world, send it all the way to Texas, so a lady can buy it and put it back in the ground. It is a puzzlement. Part of an artistic display in the garden? This is the penalty for being married to an artist, but only a small penalty.

Best laid plans

Did you ever take a car in for service and have them tell you that the wait would be an hour? It sounds reasonable to me. And then if everything is true to form, it will take two to three hours for your routine oil change or tire rotation or whatever you went for. I did exactly that today. We had planned on the long wait and got there at 8:05 am. None of the places we were going opened until 10 am, so we were good with the usual waiting time. When we arrived, we were told that the wait would be at least an hour. We settled in the waiting room with our books and coffee, making ourselves comfortable. Imagine our surprise when 25 minutes later, we were told that the car was ready. It could not be so! Nothing opened for another hour and half. We drive almost an hour to get to the dealer from our small rural town in Texas. What were we going to do to kill the waiting time? Since we were going to Austin the next day, we decided to drive home. After stopping at the grocery store, we were home before 10 am. I am sure the service group was proud of themselves for the fast turn around, they had no way of knowing how they messed up our plans for the morning. Life is full of surprises.

Back for 2020

Back from vacation and recovered from the flu (unfortunately, it was not just a cold.) It is New Year’s Day 2020. A new year and a new decade! The time for hope renewed, which is evidenced by new year’s resolutions. The news this morning said that the most popular ones are to lose weight and exercise more, and they typically last until the second week of February. I thought that was very optimistic; I would have guessed the second week of January. Candi makes the same resolution every year and keeps it. She resolves not to make any resolutions.

I have been considering what to resolve for 2020. I really need to stop to think before speaking, fast to quip and regret later. I want to continue getting better at writing and, therefore, continue this blog. I hope to lower my stress levels, but I am not sure how to go about it. Perhaps, stress would be lower if I did not listen to news broadcasts? My stress levels might be lower if I only worried about things that I can control? How do we know what control we really have? How much can one vote count? How much can one opinion affect the actions or others? Does it matter if we express our views to our Congressman and Senators? I think I will work to lower my stress levels by sharing the viewpoints that cause me stress with those who have a direct vote in Washington. If it serves to raise their stress levels, good. Perhaps they will remember that they are Americans first, Republicans second, and did not take an oath to support Trump like they did to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.