The Fora: A Higher Education Community

I'm not sure what we'll do over Break. Maybe do some gardening? House repairs? We still need to paint the last 25% of the exterior garage door. :)

Congratulations @fast_and_bulbous! 
I hope the switch goes very well for you and you launch a great and sustainable career path.
Do report back occasionally with updates on how it's going.

Thinking of visiting Puerto Rico with some friends. Spring break dates work for all. Not yet bought tickets or made any other arrangements, but hoping to do so soon.

Quote from: apl68 on Today at 07:25:08 AM

Quote from: evil_physics_witchcraft on January 19, 2025, 08:43:50 AMJust had an ocular migraine (zigzag rainbows, no pain) about an hour ago. Not the kind of thing to deal with BEFORE having coffee. :(

Do you have those often?  I had one several years ago.  I've been told that I'm at elevated risk for certain eye problems, and I was initially afraid I was about to go blind!  I was alarmed enough that I was able to get my eye doctor to work me in that day.  He found that all was well, and diagnosed an ocular migraine.  Hasn't happened to me since.  If you've really got to have a migraine, pain-free is the way to go.

I find that they are usually stress-related, way too much screen time (which I binged on the other day) or I'm dehydrated. I started keeping track and I seem to have about 1 a year so far (for the past 5 years).

Tuesday's a guaranteed nothing day, though I might be able to sneak in a teeny tiny bit of T5 at night.

Good morning!

QBABM yesterday! First in a long while. Last word alit, which I usually see early on.

LB: I also had judg(e)mental-lox.

Happy puzzling!

Quote from: kaysixteen on January 18, 2025, 04:47:17 PMSo when you tell them, 'no, that ain't the way it works', how do they deal with it?  (Methinks this attitude shift is at least partially due to covid policy shifts in k12, coupled with parental, ahem, well...)

I tell them the options they do have, ask them to let me know which one they pick, and go from there.
I have sole discretion and a reputation of being 'fair and consistent'.  No complaints escalated to my chair or dean.

A seven-figure compensation package for the head of a compass-point school in a sparsely-populated state?  Seems beyond ridiculous.  This sort of hogging by members of a corrupt managerial class has become endemic in a lot of places besides universities.  It's one part of why trust in institutions of all sorts is at an all-time low.

It may have been several years now since COVID, but that ordeal knocked students and districts down awfully hard.  They have often had a long, slow climb back up that isn't yet finished.  Our local district is only just now getting reading scores back up to snuff, for example. So it's not too surprising if new college freshmen are still struggling.

The Mel Fisher museum is well worth a visit, clean!

No spring breaks here outside of academia, so I had to be content with MLK Day yesterday.  I took a day trip to a quaint little town and state park about an hour from here that I'd somehow never visited before.  Got to stroll around and sight-see for a couple of hours, with nobody else around due to the frigid winds.