I teach my last class today. (In 30 minutes!!) Then final exam is Monday.
Some may recall i have had a health issue in October, so Ive been busy with the scheduling of tests. Hopefully the tests can be concluded by next week.
I leave for Florida to visit my parents in 12 days!! I will return on 1/1. I do not know what I will do in Florida, but I will try to start to walk and i am sure that I will help get ready for the visit of Santa and the nieces and nephews and grand niece to visit their grandparents/great grandparents.
I will try to work on a paper before i leave. I have not been able to do research since my brief hospitalization. But i have one paper to get ready, as i have submitted it to a conference in early February and my coauthor informs me that she is out of money so the presentation will fall to me! So I guess that I had better write what I need to get into the paper and figure out what she has done already!!
Classes resume after Martin Luther King day, but the adminoverlords want us back like 10 days before that! (bastards).
One class is ready to go up and run online. Another needs work,a nd the last should not require much work to prepare online. So I am pretty much ready for classes to resume in January, I think!
what about you? Is your term over yet? Any big travel plans? Will you accomplish anything noteworthy in the (too) short time that is available these next few weeks? Are you ready for classes to resume in January?
Any movies you are looking forward to?
I thought everyone's plans for winter break were "Try desperately to catch up on everything that got left behind during the term," followed by "Relax at last," the second of these never being accomplished because of the first. No?
France, Belgium, the UK (if it's still there after the 12th).
Libraries, family, friends.
(Not necessarily in that order....)
M.
Quote from: Hegemony on December 04, 2019, 01:37:02 PM
I thought everyone's plans for winter break were "Try desperately to catch up on everything that got left behind during the term," followed by "Relax at last," the second of these never being accomplished because of the first. No?
I hope not-- that's no way to live. The work will always be there. You will not, especially if you don't give yourself breaks to rest and restore.
I'm spending two full weeks visiting my grandma in Arizona. My parents will be there the whole time as well, and we'll overlap a bit with my aunts and uncles and some of the cousins. I usually just go for a week but she's turning 93 and is my last living grandparent and one of my favorite people, so it seemed like a good choice this year. I'll have to work some from there, but it's work I can do from anywhere (grant writing mostly). I can't say I'll miss the grey and cold here either, and I'm looking forward to some desert hiking.
Exams are next week. The university changed website this week, hiding unimportant things like the LMS login, webmail login, and calendar with exam schedule. If I survive exams, I'll drive to my brother's for Christmas, with detours to see friends and relatives along the way. My usual two day drive will take four or five days this year.
After Christmas, I'm looking forward to some quality time with a couple of data sets. I've also lined up a dozen old movies to binge watch, three board game nights, and a partner for exploring the local walking trails. My classes are prepped for next semester, so only impediment to my plans will be last minute scrambles for SACS documentation.
Enjoy your holidays!
I'll be popping in to campus from time to time to do admin things, but in a laid-back way (I hope!). For the first time in ages, I'm not traveling this December; instead, I'm looking forward to quiet holidays, time to catch up on both writing and leisure activities, and rehearsing for and singing in a holiday benefit concert.
We'll be in the UK for the break (we get there on the 13th - that should be LOADS of fun :D). My partner is voting by proxy on the 12th, so we shall see...
Family in Hawai'i, family on the east coast, and friends/family in the southwest.
Oof.
We will pilgrimage to grandparents who are still with us this year. Everyone has fingers crossed that we don't have an unexpected all-day layover this year in an emergency stop airport between cities that are about an hourlong, non-stop flight apart per the normal, daily flights.
I'm a bit anxious about this year. I lost my brother in a horrible car accident earlier this semester, and have been on leave. I return to campus in January and honestly, I'm still not certain I'm up to the task.
For the holiday, I'll spend it with my parents, the first time I've done so since childhood (this is largely connected to my brother's loss, as his birthday falls in December, too). I'm taking all the necessary precautions one does when you have problematic family members (I have a hotel, a rental car, and a short turnaround flight) but something is compelling me to spend this year's holiday with my mom. After that, I have a mini-retreat in the mountains planned with the spouse.
For the last three years we've had WolfpackCon -- a 12-hour board gaming session held at a local coffee shop. It was started by a former resident and board game designer who now works in Los Angeles. He visits family for Christmas, then organizes a marathon gaming session for the game group he started years ago (The Wolfpack). I'm hoping that some truly epic stuff hits the table that day.
I'm spending next week working on my own writing/research projects, one week with my family in another state, and the three weeks of January teaching an in-person winter session class for three hours a day. I normally dislike winter session classes, but the money was too tempting to pass up.
Quote from: nescafe on December 09, 2019, 06:55:14 AM
I'm a bit anxious about this year. I lost my brother in a horrible car accident earlier this semester, and have been on leave. I return to campus in January and honestly, I'm still not certain I'm up to the task.
For the holiday, I'll spend it with my parents, the first time I've done so since childhood (this is largely connected to my brother's loss, as his birthday falls in December, too). I'm taking all the necessary precautions one does when you have problematic family members (I have a hotel, a rental car, and a short turnaround flight) but something is compelling me to spend this year's holiday with my mom. After that, I have a mini-retreat in the mountains planned with the spouse.
Wishing you strength, comfort, and peace, nescafe.
12 hour drive to visit my brothers over Christmas. Then fly down to my fieldwork site for a week where it's warm and sunny and the beer is cold. Collect some data, do some writing, one day's fishing. Then back to Artem U and try slap my syllabi together before the Asst Dean in charge of paper clips starts making threatening noises that they were due 3 weeks ago. The college loads all exams, tests and due dates onto a student master calendar so the little darlin's don't have 2 tests in the same week.
Ain't it fun working at a private, tuition driven place that got a C on that federal database thingy for financial solvency??
Quote from: RatGuy on December 09, 2019, 12:52:41 PM
For the last three years we've had WolfpackCon -- a 12-hour board gaming session held at a local coffee shop. It was started by a former resident and board game designer who now works in Los Angeles. He visits family for Christmas, then organizes a marathon gaming session for the game group he started years ago (The Wolfpack). I'm hoping that some truly epic stuff hits the table that day.
That sounds like an awesome time!
Quote from: nescafe on December 09, 2019, 06:55:14 AM
I'm a bit anxious about this year. I lost my brother in a horrible car accident earlier this semester, and have been on leave. I return to campus in January and honestly, I'm still not certain I'm up to the task.
For the holiday, I'll spend it with my parents, the first time I've done so since childhood (this is largely connected to my brother's loss, as his birthday falls in December, too). I'm taking all the necessary precautions one does when you have problematic family members (I have a hotel, a rental car, and a short turnaround flight) but something is compelling me to spend this year's holiday with my mom. After that, I have a mini-retreat in the mountains planned with the spouse.
Nescafe, wishing peaceful family vibes to you. I hope everything goes smoothly. Short visits are good; less time for people to get on each other's nerves.
I am trying doing something different for the break this year: Nothing. I will bring my computer with me on our trip to visit the in-laws in the Midwest. It may never come out of my bag, but, if it does, it will be for Netflix, or to find my mom's old cookie recipes. But if I do nothing more than read bad books, watch some Netflix, and make it to the gym a few times, it will be a resounding success.
Spending the month in Guangzhou Province....
Mrs. Bede and I are leaving for Paris on Christmas Day, since the flights are so cheap. Returning after the New Year, and spending a few days with my best friend and his husband in New York.
Oh, and stressing about my manuscript the entire time, since it's due at the press on February 1.
Quote from: Bede the Vulnerable on December 13, 2019, 05:51:48 AM
Mrs. Bede and I are leaving for Paris on Christmas Day, since the flights are so cheap. Returning after the New Year, and spending a few days with my best friend and his husband in New York.
Oh, and stressing about my manuscript the entire time, since it's due at the press on February 1.
Ummm.....strikes.
I'm having to rethink my whole research trip there, it's looking serious.
(If we both make it, though, maybe we can meet up!)
Bonne chance...
M.
Quote from: Tee_Bee on December 12, 2019, 01:44:17 PM
I am trying doing something different for the break this year: Nothing. I will bring my computer with me on our trip to visit the in-laws in the Midwest. It may never come out of my bag, but, if it does, it will be for Netflix, or to find my mom's old cookie recipes. But if I do nothing more than read bad books, watch some Netflix, and make it to the gym a few times, it will be a resounding success.
Tee_Bee! It's been a while since we have seen you round these parts!
I was thinking that, too!
Glad to see both of you, in fact!
M.
I have made it to my parents' house. It has been a lot of political TV (with the current events, it does not mean that they are obsessed with the politics, but that much of the TV available is covering it).
My parents are trying to finish up the Christmas preparations.
I am waiting for the car to be free for me to finish my shopping and preparations.
Otherwise, I have pretty much just sat in a chair with a laptop. It takes a day to recover from the air travel. It rained much of yesterday and today, while it looks nice, it is a bit cool and otherwise, Im trying to be helpful, but out of the way.
I dont know when my brother's family will arrive. I know that the newest addition is five months old, and will not be here until the 27th. As such, the big events are delayed until the 28th. No problems with that for me, though. I am being asked for a list of demands/desires. However, I dont have any. I can not think of anything that I particularly need or want. (I want to lose weight, but im not sure how to wrap willpower!)
In the next day or so, I would like to get some cooking done. I want to prepare a few lasagnas in small pans (roughly 8x8 size) so that my parents will have some available in the freezer when they dont feel like cooking or so that they will have some ready for when they take the camper (motorhome) out on one of they vacations.
This year, I m not planning to do too much sweet cooking. I usually make a lot of things but frankly, Im not the only one that could stand to lose weight. I m most concerned with my niece who is 16 and I fear pre-diabetic. I fear that she eats simply because something is there. In the past, among other things, I would give my niece and nephew a box of Whitman's Samplers for Christmas (as i know that I would have really enjoyed it when I was a youngin!) Now, I dont think that is a good idea.
So how are your break plans working out?
Is your shopping done?
Any cooking plans?
Any movie plans?
We had a busy stretch with 15yo's final exams and oldest daughter coming to visit, figuring out vegetarian and vegan food that would suite various palates. Work was busy as well, trying to wrap up for the year (for the most part). Now I have a day or two to get some shopping and cards done, and then 15yo is back with us briefly. We are doing Christmas Eve with her and my parents in law, and then we will have a week and a half to ourselves. I'm glad to have this day or two to recharge a bit! We are just doing lasagnas on Christmas Eve to keep it simple, though I will probably make some bread on Monday to go with it. I think we will try to make leg of lamb on Christmas Day. The past year has been a blur, so I'm looking forward to dialing it down a bit. We are hoping to get to see Knives Out at some point and watch my school's bowl game. Not too many other plans besides cleaning, filing, paperwork, reading some books, and working on a few hobbies.