Real life intrudes
For the first time that I can remember, since I started blogging that is, I’ve been busy enough that I’ve been disinterested in blogging. Real life has intruded, quite rudely, on my favorite self-indulgent habit.
Work has been busy, but that’s expected, as this is the time of year in higher-ed IT when you run fast to get things done that you can’t do during the regular parts of the academic year. Most folks think Summer is the “quiet” time, and that’s true if you only look at things like the number of people on campus. But for things like projects, improvements, purchasing new computers, moving all sorts of stuff around, and getting it all ready for the onslaught of the new school year? That’s what Summer, and particularly the first three weeks of August (after the Summer semester ends), is for. In addition to our usual stuff, we’ve had some extra chaos in the form of some construction & moves in our office space, plus a few new hires, as well as a maternity leave thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, there’s also a major database (our student information system) conversion going on - thankfully my group has only been tangentially involved, but it’s still a 2+ year, multi-campus project coming into production. It’s all made for an atmosphere that is nice & ripe for stress, tension, and drama…
I’m also teaching a class for the first time, and I’ve got to finish getting things ready for that. There’s nothing like knowing you have to get your syllabus ready, along with making sure that everything is ready to go in the online course management system (it’s an online-only, distance learning course), to make me flash back to the days of doing homework & having projects of my own…
And then there’s the ongoing recovery from the chaos generated by the flood in our basement almost two weeks ago. Fortunately, things went very well with the cleanup (losses were limited mainly to particle-board type furniture & bookshelves, the carpeting, and a washing machine). The insurance company has been good to deal with thus far. The washer has been replaced, the carpeting has been ordered, a battery backup has been installed for the sump pump so that this won’t happen again, and we’ll probably hold off on the bookshelves until after we get the new carpeting.
We’ve also been watching the Olympics more than I thought we would. It helps that I’ve been recording them so that we can buzz through them to get to the good parts without having to deal with the dreck that NBC insists on subjecting us to. It’s been darned impressive & entertaining to watch the swimming events, especially - but certainly not only, as all the swimming events were good, both men and women - Michael Phelps’ quest to break Mark Spitz’ record by winning 8 gold medals in 8 events, which he did by setting 1 Olympic & 7 World records. The women’s gymnastics meet was also pretty good, and it was nice to see the Americans acquit themselves so well.
So, life’s been busy. It’s a reason, not an excuse. I’ll try to do better. I must find my muse…
-ghp
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