Thanksgiving

I've never been a big fan of Thanksgiving.  Being rigid in my values, I've always felt that we should be grateful all year round.  I've never seen a connection between gratitude and over-consumption or sports. I spent many a year with family members outside my immediate family that did not seem to have any interest in me.

We've been fortunate as a married couple to celebrate the feast with friends from church, but that's still for me mainly a chance for fellowship with good friends and a chance to sample good cooking.

College Applications

Our son is applying for college.  He is a hard worker, but he has been putting this off over and over again.  My wife has taken the lead in getting on his case about putting the time in.  He seems in over his head and I wish that I could be more of a help---he seems overwhelmed by the stress.

I don't remember it being this hard for me when I was younger, but I also had a lot more support from my guidance counselor---being the prodigy got me lots of attention.

Trustees

I often attend the meetings of our Board of Trustees as a faculty guest, for at least part of the meeting, because of leadership roles that I have had on faculty committees.

Our trustees are not evil, but there is something about the power differential that being around them seems to warp reality. Administrators who are used to acting as kings start acting like peons.  There is a real sense that we are not to speak unless spoken to.  I wonder how much of that is just my university and how much of that applies to other universities.

A large part of these meetings is designed to educate the trustees to the point where they will agree with the decisions of the president and provost, where the merits of the proposals will be absolutely clear. The proposals before the trustees always deal with long-term planning for the institution, which I am painfully aware involves a broader perspective than I have from my place at the university.  In that sense, even as reality warps it is a grounding for me in issues that I don't normally contemplate.

Fall Break

I don't handle breaks well at school.  Without my usual structure I raise my expectations for both work accomplished and rest taken.  I ensure that I can not be satisfied at the end of my break by keeping my expectations of myself ridiculously high.

One of these days I need to get therapy---

Approaching Midterm

There is one week of classes left before our Fall Break.  The semester has been flying by.  I am doing more and sleeping less than I usually do, and it has been a particularly sleepless week, so I've been slipping into dreams a good deal during my waking hours.

I currently have nothing scheduled for my two days off;  I anticipate coming to work and trying to feel ahead of the curve.  We'll see.

Sick Child

Our son had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic.  This happened before, seven years ago.  He was hospitalized with a rash covering his body, swelling, and fever.  Eventually steroid and antihistamines helped him recover and we not only made sure his medical records banned that antibiotic but also had him tested for sensitivity to other antibiotics, with no problems.

He's not been sick much in the past seven years, but he has been on other antibiotics without a reaction.  This time he reacted badly.  My wife stayed home with him all week.  Halfway through he started being able to sleep soundly.

He's going to be on medicines for a while that will keep him groggy.  We plan to send him back to school tomorrow.

It is a deep feeling of impotence, watching your child suffer and not being able to make it better in a timely fashion.

Self Confidence

I've been trusting in my abilities more lately, and it's helped me to achieve more.  This stands in contrast with some low periods in my life where mistakes seemed to cascade and I started to question all of my choices.

I am putting more time into preparing for tasks, so that's part of it.  The other part is that like most people I get better at things when I do them more often.

So it's been crazy with my schedule but (so far) a fun crazy.