The Inhale Thread !

[sinenomine]

I picked up my first farm share allotment of the year this morning. Lots of super fresh, yummy fruit and veg. :-)

[AmLitHist]

Several:

1.  The weather was cool and not humid yesterday as I had to run ALHS to not one but two orthopedic appointments in Big City.  (Especially nice, since I couldn't accompany him into the office because of COVID rules and instead sat in the car in the shady parking garages with the windows open and crocheted while I waited.)

2.  ALHS's appointments went relatively well.  The shoulder surgeon said the replacement of last July is looking great (although he prescribed PT as a prelude to an MRI which will probably lead to replacement of the left one by the end of the year--but at least we're not at that last stage just yet).  The knee/hip surgeon gave ALHS cortisone shots in both knees, and they actually worked by evening (although it sounds like at least one replacement is coming within the next 9-12 months).

3.  Kid #1 has moved from once-nice but increasingly crappy (drugs, drunks, constant cop presence) apartment near Big City, into a modest but nice farmhouse about 10 miles from us.  It's quiet and remote and has lots of room for the GSD, and it should be a great location for Kid to isolate and work on her web business and her art--just what she needs with her mental health issues and after the past year of increasing job and life upheaval. Hopefully her anxiety will decrease in response.

4.  I have some very nice students this summer.

5.  I've learned I don't have to go back to campus for the rest of the year (interthreaduality)! Yay!

[mamselle]

All good, but I know you were most concerned about #5, very glad to hear that!!

Quintuple Yea!

M.

[ergative]

I was allowed to go to my office to pick up my gym shoes last week, and since then I've started 'running' (i.e., alternating a slow job and a gasping walk every block or two). I went for a 'run' yesterday---my fourth since I've started 'running'---and I was able to go for a full 7 minutes before I had to stop and walk. I got farther than I've gotten before.  It's really nice to be active again, although I do miss the muscles I was building back when I had access to kettlebells classes.

[mamselle]

I am a pod of one, enjoying my Covid-induced agora-avoidance.

That is all.

M.

[Vkw10]

This summer, I moved from #27 to #1 on the reserved parking list! I am now the proud occupant of a prime parking space in the garage attached to my building. I can arrive after 7:30! I can go out to lunch whenever I want!

Seems a bit silly to pay an extra $300 a year for reserved parking given how many spaces are open with a third of faculty teaching online, but the average waitlist time for that garage is seven years. I'm grabbing the space while I can.

[mamselle]

Makes sense to me...especially if it means walking through fewer of the unmasked throngs to reach your office/classroom/cubicle in the library/whatever...

M.

[mamselle]

Well, a double a month later....

It is truly heartening when an advanced student understands a critique and puts it to immediate use.

Even more so when they thank you for it and you know they mean it.

M.

[apl68]

Well, a double a month later....

It is truly heartening when an advanced student understands a critique and puts it to immediate use.

Even more so when they thank you for it and you know they mean it.

M.

That sounds great!

[mamselle]

Well, a double a month later....

It is truly heartening when an advanced student understands a critique and puts it to immediate use.

Even more so when they thank you for it and you know they mean it.

M.

That sounds great!

Thanks!

And today, after going through all the sevenths, I couldn't get my other more advanced student to stop going through his music trying to find them all....even though his brother was waiting for his lesson...!!!

M.

[larryc]

First Zoom meeting of my Digital Humanities class tonight. Lots of students, eager and willing. This is a favorite class but also a difficult one to teach. But this class is going to go great.

[FishProf]

First full (split into two flights) lab of the year.  Difficult to do while (mostly) distanced, but I walked out going "Oh yeah.  That's why I love teaching".

[mamselle]

Yes!

Cool feeling.

M.

[Catherder]

Our federal government has just announced a national ban on six plastic products. The list includes:


    Grocery checkout bags,
    Straws
    Stir sticks
    Six-pack rings
    Plastic cutlery
    Food takeout containers made from hard-to-recycle plastics (like the black plastic packaging)

The principle is to ban items particularly harmful to the environment or difficult to recycle.

It's a start.

[ergative]

I just had a really good meeting with my informal research group. We are not funded by any agency (not for lack of trying! Grant was rejected) but we work well together and like each other and published an article on our project earlier this year, and right at the end one of the people said, 'why aren't we analyzing our data this way instead of that other way?' and I couldn't think of a reason not to, and then we realized that this other type of analysis could be combined with an expansion of our dataset and that would be an easy way to pop out another article on the project, and I was happy.