Apology due – Again.
Really, really busy here, but I still need to make time for posting. It’s mid-terms now, so I have a lot of paperwork to get out of the way and a number of students with “F’s” at the moment. My grading structure for that particular class (of which there are two this semester) has 70% of the grade coming from daily one-pagers on previous class reading assignments. If I don’t assign the papers, no one but me tends to read for class, and that not only makes me angry, but it also limits the productivity of the class. Can’t argue a point with myself (well, I really can, but that’s another thing altogether).
Snowing at the moment – big flakes – not something we see in this part of the world very often. It was 75 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday, and now it is 30 and snow is really coming down right now. I hate it on a day-t-day basis and would never live somewhere, it was an issue – even Alaska, which I dearly loved – but it’s fun one day at a time or whatever. We will be back up to the mid-50’s tomorrow, and hover around freezing for the next few days, so a little snow is okay. Too wet to stick – even to the trees – but kind of cool coming down.
Things seem to be going okay with the slow-weight-loss-program, as the youngest daughter commented on how much better my shirts fit and that she would have to take me shopping for some new ones (with me paying, of course). Glad it is a little noticeable.
Still mostly restricting to eating at home and smaller meals, along with adding in breakfast every single day. It’s really strange that I can add in one entire meal and actually lose weight, but it’s a metabolism thing and it seems to be working just fine. I actually get hungry much earlier if I don’t eat breakfast and in the past, I could never eat right after first getting up (unless on vacation and that was always sort of weird to me. I love breakfast out when we are on vacation). Regardless, more calories is equaling less me, and that is a good thing.
Lunch is often one of the vanilla shake things, but not always. I sometimes eat a regular sandwich or something similar – all depends on how hungry I really am. One thing that is happening is that I seem much more aware of when I am hungry and when I am full. I never really handled that well – Like I said before, I’m part of that the-kids-in-China-are-hungry-so-clean-your-plate generation. I tend to do that, but now I think it through. KL has me eating more veggies, and that is working well, and I can’t remember the last thing I had that didn’t have nuts in it. I am also taking granola with me to the university, and snacking on a few handfuls of it when between classes. Seems to help. I really like the type KL is getting me and then I mess some with it as is starts to empty, adding in some walnuts or almonds, sesame seeds, or whatever.
Doing a little more walking, but having some issues with my left hip. Used to race motorcycles, both road racing (180+) and flat track (125 or so) and crashed and burned several times – two REALLY good. The hip hurt is relatively new as it’s usually the knees that give me trouble, but I also hurt the same hip when I was ten years old, and it might be from that – who really knows? Anyhoo, hurts – a lot – and even keeps me awake at night. I have a Rolfer (a sort of ninja massage technique practioner) and she has helped me a lot, but I hate to see her too often as her help is a barter for a small wellness and green living magazine we own and I don’t want to take advantage of the trade too often. Guess it’s simply “bite the stick” time right now and see if it gets better on its own.
KL and I are cooking dinner most nights, having gone from eating out pretty much all the time (especially when we just had the guest house built and no kitchen) to only very occasionally actually going out to eat. That has certainly helped due to portion sizes. Like I said, “kids and China” and all that, so smaller meals makes it easier to not overeat. Plus, I like to eat. I like good food, and I want to do this right as a forever thing, so less is more, except for me, and then less (food) is less (me).
Trying a bunch of different recipes, and most are working out well. KL makes a good vegetarian chili (a friend who is a MD and a naturopathic guy both) served it at his Super Bowl Party because he and his wife (actually girlfriend, but mostly no one knows) loved it. We had chicken last night, and that is probably my favorite meat of all time. This is cattle country, but I like chicken, especially when cut relatively think and cooked sort of crispy. Butter spray helps with that and minimal calories and some baked potato to go with it and that was last night’s dinner and one of the best in a while. Kl is a pretty darn good cook, though we did have one couple that he would never eat at out house (“What is that? Is that a twig? Is there ANY meat it this? What the heck is this?).
Need to run. Papers to grade and all that. I promise to try and write more often.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Day 334
Wayyyyyy late blogging, but better late than never. Sort of. I hate clichés, actually.
I’ve been really busy. In addition to teaching, my wife and I own a small health and wellness and green magazine, and at particular times of the month, editing needs to be done and it takes priority over most everything else, That, in turn, puts me behind grading papers, so that’s how it goes and why I am behind on most everything at the moment, including my writing.
I have had a couple of interesting things happen with the writing though, in the last few days. Three days ago, a character – a middle-aged Black woman – woke me u to make sure I wrote something very important down for inclusion in the book I am trying to get finished. I say trying, as I have written and re-written the first chapter many, many times, and re-done the ending most recently. What she had to say wasn’t earth shaking, but it adds to the primary character and helps with end-of-story understanding, so it was important. I hate to ignore such things because if I do, thinking I will remember the next morning – I don’t, and some of my best ideas are then lost forever.
I also had a young boy – also Black – do the same thing. He’s ten, and works with his father (who is blind) in the stables. I have a serious scene where a good old man is harassed by some riders and then hung because he doesn’t have answers to their questions, and while I like it as written, the boy had some ideas that will make the scene much better and alleviate a possible issue – good deal. It’s just that I tend to push hard and when I finally do go to bed, I am ready. Really ready. And I hate to get up to write a paragraph or a few notes. I tried the Seinfield pad-by-the-bed thing, but I had the same issue with it he did in one episode of his show.
The youngest daughter and her husband were due here last night to pick up a giant computer desk/armoire sort of thing that is sitting in our small living room, but money was short so they might have to wait a weekend or two to get it. They own a business that is dependent upon some conditions that are weather related, and it has been slow for them so they have some money that is slow coming in. There’s a possibility they might come today, and that would be great.
Food this week has been mostly home made, with one foray to PeiWei (a Chinese place). Yesterday, KL was tired and in town at the same time, so she picked up a single serving (which is what we always do) and we split it. My favorite Chinese place and for $10 it feds us both – such is the power of Americanized servings. Twice what one person really needs, so it feeds up both (and I ain’t a little guy!). That alone says a lot about how easy it is to fatten up by simply eating out – especially that generation of us who heard all about the “starving kids in China who would love to have what we have on our plates” so eat up. We did, we do, and we have weight issues.
We are both being careful about extras or unnecessary calories, but I need to up my movement. Most of the exercise I get at the moment is from parking as far back in the school parking lots as I can and walking, which hasn’t been fun with the cold and the rain. We have some pretty steep hills here and I need to walk them with KL, who is doing much better with her walking. I’m planning or removing some cedar trees here, so that will work as “exercise” I am sure.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so there is a “Chocolate Walk” in one of the local towns and KL wants to go. We have two sets of friends due here in a couple of hours. So I have to start getting ready soon. Still have a ton of papers to grade, but that will just have to wait. KL comes first today (and most days –okay, all of them).
One person in each couple works with us on the magazine (Citlalli on ad design, Olivia on some sales), so we bought their tickets for this event.
Didn’t write much but at least no character got me up in the night to get this done, and that in and of itself, is a good thing. I’ll try to do better with it. I promise.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
I’ve been really busy. In addition to teaching, my wife and I own a small health and wellness and green magazine, and at particular times of the month, editing needs to be done and it takes priority over most everything else, That, in turn, puts me behind grading papers, so that’s how it goes and why I am behind on most everything at the moment, including my writing.
I have had a couple of interesting things happen with the writing though, in the last few days. Three days ago, a character – a middle-aged Black woman – woke me u to make sure I wrote something very important down for inclusion in the book I am trying to get finished. I say trying, as I have written and re-written the first chapter many, many times, and re-done the ending most recently. What she had to say wasn’t earth shaking, but it adds to the primary character and helps with end-of-story understanding, so it was important. I hate to ignore such things because if I do, thinking I will remember the next morning – I don’t, and some of my best ideas are then lost forever.
I also had a young boy – also Black – do the same thing. He’s ten, and works with his father (who is blind) in the stables. I have a serious scene where a good old man is harassed by some riders and then hung because he doesn’t have answers to their questions, and while I like it as written, the boy had some ideas that will make the scene much better and alleviate a possible issue – good deal. It’s just that I tend to push hard and when I finally do go to bed, I am ready. Really ready. And I hate to get up to write a paragraph or a few notes. I tried the Seinfield pad-by-the-bed thing, but I had the same issue with it he did in one episode of his show.
The youngest daughter and her husband were due here last night to pick up a giant computer desk/armoire sort of thing that is sitting in our small living room, but money was short so they might have to wait a weekend or two to get it. They own a business that is dependent upon some conditions that are weather related, and it has been slow for them so they have some money that is slow coming in. There’s a possibility they might come today, and that would be great.
Food this week has been mostly home made, with one foray to PeiWei (a Chinese place). Yesterday, KL was tired and in town at the same time, so she picked up a single serving (which is what we always do) and we split it. My favorite Chinese place and for $10 it feds us both – such is the power of Americanized servings. Twice what one person really needs, so it feeds up both (and I ain’t a little guy!). That alone says a lot about how easy it is to fatten up by simply eating out – especially that generation of us who heard all about the “starving kids in China who would love to have what we have on our plates” so eat up. We did, we do, and we have weight issues.
We are both being careful about extras or unnecessary calories, but I need to up my movement. Most of the exercise I get at the moment is from parking as far back in the school parking lots as I can and walking, which hasn’t been fun with the cold and the rain. We have some pretty steep hills here and I need to walk them with KL, who is doing much better with her walking. I’m planning or removing some cedar trees here, so that will work as “exercise” I am sure.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so there is a “Chocolate Walk” in one of the local towns and KL wants to go. We have two sets of friends due here in a couple of hours. So I have to start getting ready soon. Still have a ton of papers to grade, but that will just have to wait. KL comes first today (and most days –okay, all of them).
One person in each couple works with us on the magazine (Citlalli on ad design, Olivia on some sales), so we bought their tickets for this event.
Didn’t write much but at least no character got me up in the night to get this done, and that in and of itself, is a good thing. I’ll try to do better with it. I promise.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Day 338
A long time ago, in a previous life (okay, this life, but so long ago it FEELS like a previous life – that happens when you start getting old), I raced motorcycles. Road racing at 180 mph, dragging a knee on the asphalt, flat tracking at 100-125, dragging a steel shoe. Then I crashed. Bad. Took out a fence and dislocated my left elbow, all the fingers of my left hand, tore my ACL(s) again, and woke up in traction. And, I messed up my hip – again.
These last few days I have not blogged as I have been in pain. A lot of pain – as much as I was when I injured it a long time ago. I could barely walk and I was living on Aleve, as often as I could take them. Without the Aleve, I did not sleep and again, could barely walk.
I have also been going through Rolfing this past year and into this one and it has helped will all the past injuries (Rolfing is sort of like massage on steroids – I often refer to it as “Ninja Massage”). It generally hurts, but it also works like nothing I have ever tried – and it doesn’t hurt THAT much (usually). I called my Rolfer and she said to get into her office ASAP, so I did. Friday, as soon as classes were over. I went from 100% pain to about 25% with just the one visit, and then returned again yesterday (Monday) for some additional work. Absolutely amazing. No Aleve, can sleep, walk mostly pain-free. Kathleen is unbelievable. Still hurt some, but it is back to “manageable.” We all gotta pay at least some for the things we did, right?
Breakfast was going to be a couple of biscuits this morning, as I am getting really, really tired of cereal, but they take too long to cook and I don’t have a lot of time in the mornings. Tried one of the “ready to go” breakfast bowls (I think it was one of Jimmy Dean’s) on Monday, and it was just so-so (and that is about as good as it was). Won’t do that again. So it was cereal today, and I tried a new one. Smart Start. Tastes a lot like graham crackers – which isn’t as good as it sounds like it might be – but the vitamin list is excellent – nearly 100% on most everything, and that is good. SO, I’ll likely keep eating it and mixing the days between Smart Start and Cheerios (us old guys have to also eat oatmeal – cholesterol reduction and all that). Might make some biscuits and then re-warm them. Yeah, that would work.
Weather here is expected to get cold again, and might dip into the high 20’a tonight. Expecting some snow – at least a little – which is unusual for us. This isn’t snow-in-the-winter country, so no one has any idea how to drive it in and cars are not set up for ice/snow. Will have to play it by ear in the morning to see how the trip into town and classes works out. We are up 1800 feet on the side of a hill and slip-sliding down to the main road might be a possibility, but not if I can’t make it back up again. Have to see in the tomorrow light.
Oh, yeah, on top of the uber pain from the hip, I also I have a cold sore. I have no idea why as I don’t get cold sores, but my lip is royally messed up and that’s sure what it appears to be. Huh – that is about all I can say. Huh.
Lunch was a shake (one of the Chopra specials) and they are surprisingly filling. Dinner was Chicken Kiev and some roaster garlic mashed potatoes with corn – a favorite here. KL and I do them occasionally and they are quick, easy, and always good.
We had a tiny bit of ice cream left in the freezer, so KL mixed some o f it (Blue Bell light vanilla – one of the all-time best ice creams ever made) with some nasty rice ice cream she had in the freezer, and I ate what was left of the REAL ice cream. Wow. Was it good.
All is semi-back to normal, pain-wise, anyway. Still hurt (I always hurt some – misspent youth and all that – but cool memories…). Guess it’s goodbye for today. See you tomorrow.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
These last few days I have not blogged as I have been in pain. A lot of pain – as much as I was when I injured it a long time ago. I could barely walk and I was living on Aleve, as often as I could take them. Without the Aleve, I did not sleep and again, could barely walk.
I have also been going through Rolfing this past year and into this one and it has helped will all the past injuries (Rolfing is sort of like massage on steroids – I often refer to it as “Ninja Massage”). It generally hurts, but it also works like nothing I have ever tried – and it doesn’t hurt THAT much (usually). I called my Rolfer and she said to get into her office ASAP, so I did. Friday, as soon as classes were over. I went from 100% pain to about 25% with just the one visit, and then returned again yesterday (Monday) for some additional work. Absolutely amazing. No Aleve, can sleep, walk mostly pain-free. Kathleen is unbelievable. Still hurt some, but it is back to “manageable.” We all gotta pay at least some for the things we did, right?
Breakfast was going to be a couple of biscuits this morning, as I am getting really, really tired of cereal, but they take too long to cook and I don’t have a lot of time in the mornings. Tried one of the “ready to go” breakfast bowls (I think it was one of Jimmy Dean’s) on Monday, and it was just so-so (and that is about as good as it was). Won’t do that again. So it was cereal today, and I tried a new one. Smart Start. Tastes a lot like graham crackers – which isn’t as good as it sounds like it might be – but the vitamin list is excellent – nearly 100% on most everything, and that is good. SO, I’ll likely keep eating it and mixing the days between Smart Start and Cheerios (us old guys have to also eat oatmeal – cholesterol reduction and all that). Might make some biscuits and then re-warm them. Yeah, that would work.
Weather here is expected to get cold again, and might dip into the high 20’a tonight. Expecting some snow – at least a little – which is unusual for us. This isn’t snow-in-the-winter country, so no one has any idea how to drive it in and cars are not set up for ice/snow. Will have to play it by ear in the morning to see how the trip into town and classes works out. We are up 1800 feet on the side of a hill and slip-sliding down to the main road might be a possibility, but not if I can’t make it back up again. Have to see in the tomorrow light.
Oh, yeah, on top of the uber pain from the hip, I also I have a cold sore. I have no idea why as I don’t get cold sores, but my lip is royally messed up and that’s sure what it appears to be. Huh – that is about all I can say. Huh.
Lunch was a shake (one of the Chopra specials) and they are surprisingly filling. Dinner was Chicken Kiev and some roaster garlic mashed potatoes with corn – a favorite here. KL and I do them occasionally and they are quick, easy, and always good.
We had a tiny bit of ice cream left in the freezer, so KL mixed some o f it (Blue Bell light vanilla – one of the all-time best ice creams ever made) with some nasty rice ice cream she had in the freezer, and I ate what was left of the REAL ice cream. Wow. Was it good.
All is semi-back to normal, pain-wise, anyway. Still hurt (I always hurt some – misspent youth and all that – but cool memories…). Guess it’s goodbye for today. See you tomorrow.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Day 340
Weekend! Don’t know why, but I needed this one. I am ahead on grading so I am not even grading today or tomorrow.
Every semester the department chair has to sit-in on a class for everyone, and I got luck last semester and it didn’t happen. It’s not that I care, particularly, but I just don’t like it. It’s weird to me to have someone else in my classroom. I spend time getting certain camaraderie in the class and having someone else there is silly, to me. I’ve been doing this a while, so I definitely know what I’m doing, and it would seem her time could be spent much better elsewhere (like looking for some way to pay us a living wage, for instance). Anyway, it went well. The class was really interactive and with the exception of having a lot to cover in only 50 minutes, it was a good day. For those who don’t know – which is pretty much anyone who isn’t in college – there is a site on the Internet called ratemyprofessor.com, and it does what we used to do by word of mouth back in the dark ages when I was an undergrad. Students can check on any professor at pretty much any college or university in the US and see what others have thought about their teaching methodology, class, etc. and I, for one, think it’s great. I’d have loved such a place to gain info when I was an undergrad (or in grad school, for that matter. My grad advisor was the poster child for arrogant and he was anything but helpful). When classes opened this semester, it took 7 minutes for mine to close and I got a number of calls from former students upset that they didn’t get into another class. That makes me feel good, as I am very serious about my classes and the fate of all of my students. That is part of why although I teach at a major university, I also teach part time at a community college. I hate to see anyone fall through the cracks who really wants an education, and I will do anything I can to help my students succeed.
An old injury has made most of this past week miserable, and it’s part (only part) of why I haven’t been as diligent blogging as I really should have been. It’s funny – I made a commitment (mostly to me, apparently) to do this and I thought maybe someone would be reading along. Regardless, I feel bad that I don’t seem to make it as often to the blog as I would like. I will try to do better.
Back to the injury. I used to more “guy things” than I do now when I was much younger, and, as they say, much dumber. My first adventure into “guy dumb” was when I first hurt the left hip. I was ten – a mere child. Trampolines were all the rage for a while back then and I went to a place that had them to rent by the hour. Two minutes before my time was up, I did a back flip and landed wrong. Instantly, the hip let me know I had done something to it. It got better in a day or two, but I hurt it again playing football later. And then there was the skydiving “incident” followed by some stuff involving racing and motorcycles and going too damn fast for any human being to try. That (meaning all of it) led to a re-injury of the hip where I broke bones in my right foot, compressed my shoulder, dislocated my left elbow and all the fingers of my left hand. Oh, and I was unconscious for a while too. More than once. All this “guy history” led up to Monday when the hip started up – again. Only this time, bad. Real bad as in can-barely-walk sort of bad. I have lived on Aleve for the last week and can highly recommend them for hip injuries as they work, at least to some degree. Now for those who are somewhat into pain, I also have been doing Rolfing (a process) for some months now. It’s sort of like ninja massage, only it can get pretty intense and the pain is often right at the yelling-I-am-going-to-hit-something-ouchie threshold.
It has been a tough week.
Passed up all the comforting food that I would really have liked to help with the pain – and somehow I know they would have – and it went okay. Damn near answered the wild M&Ms though, on more than one occasion. Ate cereal for breakfast all week, and it was really a struggle to do. It works – breakfasts have made a difference in how I feel all day – but damn it was hard to do when I was nauseous. And I was, most of the week. Still taught classes (though I considered cancelling a few for the first time ever).
Lunch most of the week was one of the Chopra shakes, and they work surprisingly well. Only 8 ounces – yet the powder isn’t too bad and apparently it has enough fiber/vitamins/minerals/whatever to be relatively filling as I didn’t miss not eating a real meal.
Dinner has been pretty light all week, except for last night. Tool KL out to the local (as in only 16 miles away) cool gourmet restaurant we eat at sometimes, and I did bring nearly half of it home for today’s lunch. Doing okay with food overall, and for that I really am glad.
Working on the radio station here and nearly ready with that part. Will be working on the tower base again tomorrow and that is a job in and of itself. A 30”X30” X5 foot hole in nearly solid rock is pretty difficult to do. But the weather is finally good here (been raining every day), and the sun is out, so I’ll work on it while I can. Next weekend is Valentine’s Day and our daughter is due to pick up a gigantic armoire/computer desk/thingy that is sitting in our living room at the moment. She got it on Craig’s List and they delivered it here.
Well, Guess it’s about time to go. I’m getting hungry and I need to give KL a call before the wild M&Ms know.
Tomorrow (I hope!).
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Every semester the department chair has to sit-in on a class for everyone, and I got luck last semester and it didn’t happen. It’s not that I care, particularly, but I just don’t like it. It’s weird to me to have someone else in my classroom. I spend time getting certain camaraderie in the class and having someone else there is silly, to me. I’ve been doing this a while, so I definitely know what I’m doing, and it would seem her time could be spent much better elsewhere (like looking for some way to pay us a living wage, for instance). Anyway, it went well. The class was really interactive and with the exception of having a lot to cover in only 50 minutes, it was a good day. For those who don’t know – which is pretty much anyone who isn’t in college – there is a site on the Internet called ratemyprofessor.com, and it does what we used to do by word of mouth back in the dark ages when I was an undergrad. Students can check on any professor at pretty much any college or university in the US and see what others have thought about their teaching methodology, class, etc. and I, for one, think it’s great. I’d have loved such a place to gain info when I was an undergrad (or in grad school, for that matter. My grad advisor was the poster child for arrogant and he was anything but helpful). When classes opened this semester, it took 7 minutes for mine to close and I got a number of calls from former students upset that they didn’t get into another class. That makes me feel good, as I am very serious about my classes and the fate of all of my students. That is part of why although I teach at a major university, I also teach part time at a community college. I hate to see anyone fall through the cracks who really wants an education, and I will do anything I can to help my students succeed.
An old injury has made most of this past week miserable, and it’s part (only part) of why I haven’t been as diligent blogging as I really should have been. It’s funny – I made a commitment (mostly to me, apparently) to do this and I thought maybe someone would be reading along. Regardless, I feel bad that I don’t seem to make it as often to the blog as I would like. I will try to do better.
Back to the injury. I used to more “guy things” than I do now when I was much younger, and, as they say, much dumber. My first adventure into “guy dumb” was when I first hurt the left hip. I was ten – a mere child. Trampolines were all the rage for a while back then and I went to a place that had them to rent by the hour. Two minutes before my time was up, I did a back flip and landed wrong. Instantly, the hip let me know I had done something to it. It got better in a day or two, but I hurt it again playing football later. And then there was the skydiving “incident” followed by some stuff involving racing and motorcycles and going too damn fast for any human being to try. That (meaning all of it) led to a re-injury of the hip where I broke bones in my right foot, compressed my shoulder, dislocated my left elbow and all the fingers of my left hand. Oh, and I was unconscious for a while too. More than once. All this “guy history” led up to Monday when the hip started up – again. Only this time, bad. Real bad as in can-barely-walk sort of bad. I have lived on Aleve for the last week and can highly recommend them for hip injuries as they work, at least to some degree. Now for those who are somewhat into pain, I also have been doing Rolfing (a process) for some months now. It’s sort of like ninja massage, only it can get pretty intense and the pain is often right at the yelling-I-am-going-to-hit-something-ouchie threshold.
It has been a tough week.
Passed up all the comforting food that I would really have liked to help with the pain – and somehow I know they would have – and it went okay. Damn near answered the wild M&Ms though, on more than one occasion. Ate cereal for breakfast all week, and it was really a struggle to do. It works – breakfasts have made a difference in how I feel all day – but damn it was hard to do when I was nauseous. And I was, most of the week. Still taught classes (though I considered cancelling a few for the first time ever).
Lunch most of the week was one of the Chopra shakes, and they work surprisingly well. Only 8 ounces – yet the powder isn’t too bad and apparently it has enough fiber/vitamins/minerals/whatever to be relatively filling as I didn’t miss not eating a real meal.
Dinner has been pretty light all week, except for last night. Tool KL out to the local (as in only 16 miles away) cool gourmet restaurant we eat at sometimes, and I did bring nearly half of it home for today’s lunch. Doing okay with food overall, and for that I really am glad.
Working on the radio station here and nearly ready with that part. Will be working on the tower base again tomorrow and that is a job in and of itself. A 30”X30” X5 foot hole in nearly solid rock is pretty difficult to do. But the weather is finally good here (been raining every day), and the sun is out, so I’ll work on it while I can. Next weekend is Valentine’s Day and our daughter is due to pick up a gigantic armoire/computer desk/thingy that is sitting in our living room at the moment. She got it on Craig’s List and they delivered it here.
Well, Guess it’s about time to go. I’m getting hungry and I need to give KL a call before the wild M&Ms know.
Tomorrow (I hope!).
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Day 340
Weekend! Don’t know why, but I needed this one. I am ahead on grading so I am not even grading today or tomorrow.
Every semester the department chair has to sit-in on a class for everyone, and I got luck last semester and it didn’t happen. It’s not that I care, particularly, but I just don’t like it. It’s weird to me to have someone else in my classroom. I spend time getting certain camaraderie in the class and having someone else there is silly, to me. I’ve been doing this a while, so I definitely know what I’m doing, and it would seem her time could be spent much better elsewhere (like looking for some way to pay us a living wage, for instance). Anyway, it went well. The class was really interactive and with the exception of having a lot to cover in only 50 minutes, it was a good day. For those who don’t know – which is pretty much anyone who isn’t in college – there is a site on the Internet called ratemyprofessor.com, and it does what we used to do by word of mouth back in the dark ages when I WAS AN UNDERGRAD. Students can check on any professor at pretty much any college or university in the US and see what others have thought about their teaching methodology, class, etc. and I, for one, think it’s great. I’d have loved such a place to gain info when I was an undergrad (or in grad school, for that matter. My grad advisor was the poster child for arrogant and he was anything but helpful). When classes opened this semester, it took 7 minutes for mine to close and I got a number of calls from former students upset that they didn’t get into another class. That makes me feel good, as I am very serious about my classes and the fate of all of my students. That is part of why although I teach at a major university, I also teach part time at a community college. I hate to see anyone fall through the cracks who really wants an education, and I will do anything I can to help my students succeed.
An old injury has made most of this past week miserable, and it’s part (only part) of why I haven’t been as diligent blogging as I really should have been. It’s funny – I made a commitment (mostly to me, apparently) to do this and I thought maybe someone would be reading along. Regardless, I feel bad that I don’t seem to make it as often to the blog as I would like. I will try to do better.
Back to the injury. I used to more “guy things” than I do now when I was much younger, and, as they say, much dumber. My first adventure into “guy dumb” was when I first hurt the left hip. I was ten – a mere child. Trampolines were all the rage for a while back then and I went to a place that had them to rent by the hour. Two minutes before my time was up, I did a back flip and landed wrong. Instantly, the hip let me know I had done something to it. It got better in a day or two, but I hurt it again playing football later. And then there was the skydiving “incident” followed by some stuff involving racing and motorcycles and going too damn fast for any human being to try. That (meaning all of it) led to a re-injury of the hip where I broke bones in my right foot, compressed my shoulder, dislocated my left elbow and all the fingers of my left hand. Oh, and I was unconscious for a while too. More than once. All this “guy history” led up to Monday when the hip started up – again. Only this time, bad. Real bad as in can-barely-walk sort of bad. I have lived on Aleve for the last week and can highly recommend them for hip injuries as they work, at least to some degree. Now for those who are somewhat into pain, I also have been doing Rolfing (a process) for some months now. It’s sort of like ninja massage, only it can get pretty intense and the pain is often right at the yelling-I-am-going-to-hit-something-ouchie threshold.
It has been a tough week.
Passed up all the comforting food that I would really have liked to help with the pain – and somehow I know they would have – and it went okay. Damn near answered the wild M&Ms though, on more than one occasion. Ate cereal for breakfast all week, and it was really a struggle to do. It works – breakfasts have made a difference in how I feel all day – but damn it was hard to do when I was nauseous. And I was, most of the week. Still taught classes (though I considered cancelling a few for the first time ever).
Lunch most of the week was one of the Chopra shakes, and they work surprisingly well. Only 8 ounces – yet the powder isn’t too bad and apparently it has enough fiber/vitamins/minerals/whatever to be relatively filling as I didn’t miss not eating a real meal.
Dinner has been pretty light all week, except for last night. Tool KL out to the local (as in only 16 miles away) cool gourmet restaurant we eat at sometimes, and I did bring nearly half of it home for today’s lunch. Doing okay with food overall, and for that I really am glad.
Working on the radio station here and nearly ready with that part. Will be working on the tower base again tomorrow and that is a job in and of itself. A 30”X30” X5 foot hole in nearly solid rock is pretty difficult to do. But the weather is finally good here (been raining every day), and the sun is out, so I’ll work on it while I can. Next weekend is Valentine’s Day and our daughter is due to pick up a gigantic armoire/computer desk/thingy that is sitting in our living room at the moment. She got it on Craig’s List and they delivered it here.
Well, Guess it’s about time to go. I’m getting hungry and I need to give KL a call before the wild M&Ms know.
Tomorrow (I hope!).
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Every semester the department chair has to sit-in on a class for everyone, and I got luck last semester and it didn’t happen. It’s not that I care, particularly, but I just don’t like it. It’s weird to me to have someone else in my classroom. I spend time getting certain camaraderie in the class and having someone else there is silly, to me. I’ve been doing this a while, so I definitely know what I’m doing, and it would seem her time could be spent much better elsewhere (like looking for some way to pay us a living wage, for instance). Anyway, it went well. The class was really interactive and with the exception of having a lot to cover in only 50 minutes, it was a good day. For those who don’t know – which is pretty much anyone who isn’t in college – there is a site on the Internet called ratemyprofessor.com, and it does what we used to do by word of mouth back in the dark ages when I WAS AN UNDERGRAD. Students can check on any professor at pretty much any college or university in the US and see what others have thought about their teaching methodology, class, etc. and I, for one, think it’s great. I’d have loved such a place to gain info when I was an undergrad (or in grad school, for that matter. My grad advisor was the poster child for arrogant and he was anything but helpful). When classes opened this semester, it took 7 minutes for mine to close and I got a number of calls from former students upset that they didn’t get into another class. That makes me feel good, as I am very serious about my classes and the fate of all of my students. That is part of why although I teach at a major university, I also teach part time at a community college. I hate to see anyone fall through the cracks who really wants an education, and I will do anything I can to help my students succeed.
An old injury has made most of this past week miserable, and it’s part (only part) of why I haven’t been as diligent blogging as I really should have been. It’s funny – I made a commitment (mostly to me, apparently) to do this and I thought maybe someone would be reading along. Regardless, I feel bad that I don’t seem to make it as often to the blog as I would like. I will try to do better.
Back to the injury. I used to more “guy things” than I do now when I was much younger, and, as they say, much dumber. My first adventure into “guy dumb” was when I first hurt the left hip. I was ten – a mere child. Trampolines were all the rage for a while back then and I went to a place that had them to rent by the hour. Two minutes before my time was up, I did a back flip and landed wrong. Instantly, the hip let me know I had done something to it. It got better in a day or two, but I hurt it again playing football later. And then there was the skydiving “incident” followed by some stuff involving racing and motorcycles and going too damn fast for any human being to try. That (meaning all of it) led to a re-injury of the hip where I broke bones in my right foot, compressed my shoulder, dislocated my left elbow and all the fingers of my left hand. Oh, and I was unconscious for a while too. More than once. All this “guy history” led up to Monday when the hip started up – again. Only this time, bad. Real bad as in can-barely-walk sort of bad. I have lived on Aleve for the last week and can highly recommend them for hip injuries as they work, at least to some degree. Now for those who are somewhat into pain, I also have been doing Rolfing (a process) for some months now. It’s sort of like ninja massage, only it can get pretty intense and the pain is often right at the yelling-I-am-going-to-hit-something-ouchie threshold.
It has been a tough week.
Passed up all the comforting food that I would really have liked to help with the pain – and somehow I know they would have – and it went okay. Damn near answered the wild M&Ms though, on more than one occasion. Ate cereal for breakfast all week, and it was really a struggle to do. It works – breakfasts have made a difference in how I feel all day – but damn it was hard to do when I was nauseous. And I was, most of the week. Still taught classes (though I considered cancelling a few for the first time ever).
Lunch most of the week was one of the Chopra shakes, and they work surprisingly well. Only 8 ounces – yet the powder isn’t too bad and apparently it has enough fiber/vitamins/minerals/whatever to be relatively filling as I didn’t miss not eating a real meal.
Dinner has been pretty light all week, except for last night. Tool KL out to the local (as in only 16 miles away) cool gourmet restaurant we eat at sometimes, and I did bring nearly half of it home for today’s lunch. Doing okay with food overall, and for that I really am glad.
Working on the radio station here and nearly ready with that part. Will be working on the tower base again tomorrow and that is a job in and of itself. A 30”X30” X5 foot hole in nearly solid rock is pretty difficult to do. But the weather is finally good here (been raining every day), and the sun is out, so I’ll work on it while I can. Next weekend is Valentine’s Day and our daughter is due to pick up a gigantic armoire/computer desk/thingy that is sitting in our living room at the moment. She got it on Craig’s List and they delivered it here.
Well, Guess it’s about time to go. I’m getting hungry and I need to give KL a call before the wild M&Ms know.
Tomorrow (I hope!).
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Day 341
Well, the new juicer arrived today – not a big day for most people, but hey, it is for us. Never did find the old juicer, which is an entirely different type. This is one of Jack LaLane’s and like I said earlier, he is something like 105-106, and still looks good, so juicing might really work. We washed it – got to do that, right? And then we tried it out. Wow. Tons of juice out of everything we put through it. I’ve never seen so much juice from carrots and when we did some Clementine’s (kind of like little oranges, but sweeter), it was superb. Added some apples to the carrot and it was the best I’ve ever had. Not bitter, not “carrot weird” – actually good. Amazing. And this thing shreds the pulp, so it should be great in the compost pile (what we don’t use for carrot cake or whatever). We plan to see if we can use it to get a lot more veggies and fruit into both of us.
If you’ve been reading – and who am I kidding, no one has but me – but if you have, and you haven’t become an official Average Joe follower, then you know I am not the biggest veggie or fruit eating guy around. I am a regular guy, a regular Joe. I like the guy staples – corn, potatoes, peas, and the guy staple fruits – apples, bananas. Want to try some combos. KL does a great job of hiding broccoli (which I hate) in potato or other soups, and does it with other veggies. With this thing, we need to think of ways to add both fruits and vegetables to other dishes. Could be fun and sure should contribute to better health overall. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Weather here sucks. It has gone from cold (for us) in the teens to the mid sixties and back to the mid thirties again. Rains, doesn’t, rains again. Trying to get the hole dug for the tower and it keeps filling up with water between assaults with the jackhammer. The ground here is rock. Not some rocks. Rocks all over the place. Nothing but rock. Almost everywhere, and so far, definitely anywhere I would like a hole of any kind to be. The cost of having them done professionally (with a tractor and a hole-drilling rig) is $20 per hole for the first ten, and then $15 a hole after that. At prices in that range, you have to be really sure where you want one. A local ham I helping with the tower base (ham tower/antenna) and it is all about the jackhammer. Seventy-five pounds this animal weighs, so it is a workout to use. Heck, just moving the damn thing is a workout, without the pounding. Anyway, it was foggy today and drizzly, and it’s supposed to get really bad tonight and tomorrow. Again. Crummy until maybe Friday or so, then it’ll be sunny all over again. I have the jackhammer borrowed form a neighbor, and I’m hoping I can keep it until the hole is another two feet deep. That will take a while.
Breakfast here today was cereal, which it tends to be most days. I like cereal okay, but it does get a tad old every day. I’ll have to look into alternatives, but with my current class schedule (And the major hassle of parking on campus) I have to leave about 8:00 each morning and I’m up at 7:00 and don’t want up any earlier if I can help it. Been a long time since I could sleep that late – I tend to have to be up at 6:00 most semesters, so sleeping until 7:00 is a treat and lets me work later (writing most of the time).
Lunch is here, when I get back from classes. It is around 3:00 or so, which is a bit late for lunch, but it is now a vanilla shake from something that Deepak Chopra sells. KL found it and decided we needed to try it, so what the heck. Anything that works, works for me. We’ll see, but a shake is high fiber, high vitamin and low calories, so should be okay. Seems filling too and the taste is so much better than stuff like that used to taste.
Dinner tonight was some roasted chicken (half of one, split between KL and me) with some oddball Mediterranean pasta that is smaller than spaghetti. We both like it – it’s made with a little olive oil (good for you) and a spice pack (hopefully also good for you), and the little chicken goes a long way with it. Not the best meal, but relatively low cal, good taste, and filling. What I need sometimes when the day is a little challenging.
The Deepak stuff includes a reddish drink that is done twice daily, and I think (without getting up to look) that it’s full of some supposed-to-be-good-for-you-stuff. Make you not hungry, give you energy, you know, the same stuff we’ve all heard a thousand times. Hope this one is true, because while not real expensive, it ain’t cheap either. Again, we’ll see.
I teach at two different places – a major university and a community college, and there is a lot of difference in the students. The CC guys are often needing a lot more from me because they aren’t nearly so well prepared for my classes. Sometimes it’s frustrating, as I really want to help them. I did the community college thing first, then went to university. Then did a masters, blah, blah, blah. Many of them really want to learn, but they lack a lot. It seems only those willing to put aside any arrogance about what they don’t know really gain all they can. It was one of those days when I reached most of them, but feel like I could have reached a couple I don’t think I really did.
There’s always tomorrow, I guess. And, speaking of tomorrow, I still have papers to grade, so see you then.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
If you’ve been reading – and who am I kidding, no one has but me – but if you have, and you haven’t become an official Average Joe follower, then you know I am not the biggest veggie or fruit eating guy around. I am a regular guy, a regular Joe. I like the guy staples – corn, potatoes, peas, and the guy staple fruits – apples, bananas. Want to try some combos. KL does a great job of hiding broccoli (which I hate) in potato or other soups, and does it with other veggies. With this thing, we need to think of ways to add both fruits and vegetables to other dishes. Could be fun and sure should contribute to better health overall. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Weather here sucks. It has gone from cold (for us) in the teens to the mid sixties and back to the mid thirties again. Rains, doesn’t, rains again. Trying to get the hole dug for the tower and it keeps filling up with water between assaults with the jackhammer. The ground here is rock. Not some rocks. Rocks all over the place. Nothing but rock. Almost everywhere, and so far, definitely anywhere I would like a hole of any kind to be. The cost of having them done professionally (with a tractor and a hole-drilling rig) is $20 per hole for the first ten, and then $15 a hole after that. At prices in that range, you have to be really sure where you want one. A local ham I helping with the tower base (ham tower/antenna) and it is all about the jackhammer. Seventy-five pounds this animal weighs, so it is a workout to use. Heck, just moving the damn thing is a workout, without the pounding. Anyway, it was foggy today and drizzly, and it’s supposed to get really bad tonight and tomorrow. Again. Crummy until maybe Friday or so, then it’ll be sunny all over again. I have the jackhammer borrowed form a neighbor, and I’m hoping I can keep it until the hole is another two feet deep. That will take a while.
Breakfast here today was cereal, which it tends to be most days. I like cereal okay, but it does get a tad old every day. I’ll have to look into alternatives, but with my current class schedule (And the major hassle of parking on campus) I have to leave about 8:00 each morning and I’m up at 7:00 and don’t want up any earlier if I can help it. Been a long time since I could sleep that late – I tend to have to be up at 6:00 most semesters, so sleeping until 7:00 is a treat and lets me work later (writing most of the time).
Lunch is here, when I get back from classes. It is around 3:00 or so, which is a bit late for lunch, but it is now a vanilla shake from something that Deepak Chopra sells. KL found it and decided we needed to try it, so what the heck. Anything that works, works for me. We’ll see, but a shake is high fiber, high vitamin and low calories, so should be okay. Seems filling too and the taste is so much better than stuff like that used to taste.
Dinner tonight was some roasted chicken (half of one, split between KL and me) with some oddball Mediterranean pasta that is smaller than spaghetti. We both like it – it’s made with a little olive oil (good for you) and a spice pack (hopefully also good for you), and the little chicken goes a long way with it. Not the best meal, but relatively low cal, good taste, and filling. What I need sometimes when the day is a little challenging.
The Deepak stuff includes a reddish drink that is done twice daily, and I think (without getting up to look) that it’s full of some supposed-to-be-good-for-you-stuff. Make you not hungry, give you energy, you know, the same stuff we’ve all heard a thousand times. Hope this one is true, because while not real expensive, it ain’t cheap either. Again, we’ll see.
I teach at two different places – a major university and a community college, and there is a lot of difference in the students. The CC guys are often needing a lot more from me because they aren’t nearly so well prepared for my classes. Sometimes it’s frustrating, as I really want to help them. I did the community college thing first, then went to university. Then did a masters, blah, blah, blah. Many of them really want to learn, but they lack a lot. It seems only those willing to put aside any arrogance about what they don’t know really gain all they can. It was one of those days when I reached most of them, but feel like I could have reached a couple I don’t think I really did.
There’s always tomorrow, I guess. And, speaking of tomorrow, I still have papers to grade, so see you then.
-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA
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