Well that was somewhat scary

Son called me last night to tell me his right side has been hurting since Thursday night when he walked home from the service station after his car broke down. It's been getting worse, and not better--so of course my first thought was appendicitis.

This whole issue of finding health care and car care in an entirely different state is incredibly frustrating. Thank God for the Internet, where I quickly found a walk-in clinic not far from his workplace. Son is still covered under our insurance, so I figured it would be no big deal--I'd just give them the info over the phone, and we'd get him taken care of. Uhhhhh not so fast there pardner--the clinic would not take the number over the phone. Son doesn't have the new card, and although he has his own insurance now thanks to his library job, he doesn't yet have the ID cards for that either. That meant we had to pay up front. So no, they wouldn't take my insurance ID card over the phone, but they'd take my credit card if I scanned both sides and faxed the scan to them along with a scan of my driver's license and a written consent to charge me $150 plus any lab fees.

Again, thank God for the Internet. I have a scanner but no fax machine, so I found an online e-fax site and sent the document off.

Thank God a third time that Son didn't have appendicitis, only an inflamed rib joint. He's on ibuprofen for a week and hopefully feeling better today.

As for the rest of the family, Youngest Daughter is touring Arequipa today. Tomorrow she leaves Peru for the long trip home, arriving in HomeCity at 3 p.m. on New Year's Day. I cannot wait to see her! I've been able to talk to her via Gmail chat, and it sounds like she's gotten a lot of souvenirs and a lot of photos. Eldest Daughter has cleaned up the mess we left behind and gotten a chance to rest a bit after the onslaught of her family :-)

Workwise, I was assigned a session to chair at my professional conference in Vancouver this coming May. I guess that means I have to go, ha ha. My abstract was obviously accepted, so work must begin on the paper for this conference. I'm also picking at a train-the-trainer proposal for my boss, and working on learning R via an online course at my uni. Feels nice to work on things at a leisurely pace.

In whatever state you find yourself, be content

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11-13, NIV.

When I get frustrated about finances and where we are or aren't going in the quest for a debt-free life, I have to stop and read that passage. There are lots of people worse off than we are (and lots who are better off, but who cares about that? Good for them! I hope I get to that level at some point, too!), so I am trying to not let money issues worry me. That includes unexpected car repair bills (Son's). I'm thankful we have the funds to take care of that kind of thing, even if I have to juggle stuff to cover it.

Christmas was wonderful, and Eldest Daughter did herself proud. She worked so hard to make things nice! Her apartment looked festive! We brought the star for her tree from home, and darn it, the thing didn't work. So we ran over to Walgreen's and found the exact same star (bought two!). I had unearthed Son's missing ornaments while trying to find ED's cross-country ski boots, so I brought his box with me and we put them on the tree for him to find. His flight was late and it was 3 a.m. by the time he got to ED's apartment. ED showed him the tree and he saw his long-lost Rudolph ornament hanging right in the front. It was a great moment.

We had planned to go ice skating on my birthday, but it was too warm so we just hung around ED's place for the afternoon watching our football team lose, and then went to her boyfriend's parents' place for dinner. We had a nice evening with them. It was so thoughtful of them to do that!

Christmas Eve was spent making cookies and chili for Christmas Day. We watched a movie and some cooking shows, then read A Visit from Saint Nicholas and sprinkled the obligatory Santa glitter out ED's window.

Christmas morning was beautifully sunny. We had presents under the tree! Santa found us after all! After we opened our gifts we had our chili but were too full for dessert (I think ED planned it that way so she would get all the cookies to herself, ha ha). The boys tried to get tickets for the movies, but there was a huge line so they went to Blockbuster instead and rented one.

Wednesday morning EAAAAAAAAAAARLY we got up to take Son to the airport (sniff). We were so early, we beat security! Spouse and I ventured out again around 7:30 a.m. to look for a breakfast place that wasn't a doughnut shop or McDonald's, but none was to be found. We finally settled for Burger King and a truly awful meal. Then we picked up ED and went to see the new National Treasure movie. A good time was had by all. Afterwards we said goodbye to our precious girl and headed home.

Now I'm easing back into work in preparation for the next seven weeks of this quarter and the spring semester at my alma mater, where I am teaching a grad class on Mondays. Good thing I checked my work e-mail, because I'd totally forgotten about the four recommendation letters I needed to write for one of my students. Got those done this morning, whew!

I did three loads of laundry this morning. Kitty Son, who has been my shadow since I got back, decided to check things out to make sure everything was in working order. He gave the dryer his sniff of approval and finally got out so I could put the clothes in. Nice of him.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Going on hiatus until after the 26th. Have a wonderful holiday--I know we will!

A sloth?

My kid wants a baby sloth. Her reasoning: They are cute. They only go to the bathroom once a week. They are cute. They bury their doodoo, so the baby could use the cat litter box. They are cute.

But baby sloths grow up, and sloths get BIG!

Yes, they are cute (the babies, that is). But I think it would seriously freak me out to see a sloth hanging from the ceiling fan.

Anyway, YD seems to be having a wonderful time, and I got to talk to her via Google IM which was wonderful. Sounds like she has made a lot of purchases...

I am feeling virtuous because I've made cookies for my department. Of course, I still have 12 data mining assignments and 12 stats assignments to grade and a database to update. But the cookies are made!

We had a big grant meeting today at 11 a.m. and I totally and completely forgot about it. Didn't put it on my calendar. Went in to the office in jeans and a sweater. Then Boss called to see where I was, and I ran over to the student union where the meeting was. Ack. All was okay, though, they had just started and no one noticed the jeans (I hope!).

Saturday I get to see Eldest Daughter and Son!! Spouse and I will drive to the City Too Very Far Away to spend Christmas with ED, and Son flies in from the State Too Very Far Away around midnight. Sunday is my birthday, and plans are to go skating and then watch our Favorite Football Team in the afternoon. I cannot wait!

Piranha and blow guns

It seems my sweet little daughter has learned to shoot a blow gun and fished for piranha. I am betting she wanted to bring both the gun and the fish home. Son asked if YD and Pretty Niece whacked the piranha with a wrench (reminiscent of an Adirondack vacation in which both sweet little girls took fiendish pleasure in dispatching rock bass and perch in that manner) but I guess the kitchen help took care of that. College Friend says the fishies were tasty.

I told him to tell my kid to write me or I'd spend her money.

That wasn't so bad, and news from Peru

We didn't get nearly as much snow as they forecast, somewhere around 10" total. Of course, our house in HomeCity is blessed because the neighborhood snow somehow gets blown right into our driveway...time to dig out.

Last night I got an e-mail from Best Friend saying that they are having a great time in Peru. She also said that Youngest Daughter had a touch of heat sickness while they were visiting a Yagua Indian village but has completely recovered. She said it was endearing to see the chief of the village fanning YD--I hope they took a picture! (Although if YD was looking sick, she probably wouldn't appreciate being photographed) Today they take the Canopy Walkway over the rainforest. Maybe it will be a bit cooler so many feet up in the air. Poor baby!

I am grading the first set of assignments for this quarter. When I gave the assignment (three short paper reviews) I emphatically told them to write the paper summaries in their own words; that they were not to use chunks of text directly from the author without enclosing the text in quotes and properly citing the author. The second student paper was just skating --this close-- to plagiarizing. His paper didn't get flagged on Turnitin, but I looked at the original papers and he was too closely paraphrasing for my comfort level.

Checking for plagiarism is a time-consuming and annoying effort. I sure hope the other 18 papers aren't like that one.

Well, here it comes

It started snowing around 7:30 p.m. and we already have about 3 inches on the ground. Should be interesting!

Waiting for the Big Storm

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged! The beginning of the week was horribly busy, getting Youngest Daughter ready for her trip. She had to have a Hepatitis A shot, her last set of weekly allergy shots (hurray!) and we needed to get a bunch of little things for the trip, including mosquito repellant wipes. While we were at the sporting goods store YD spotted a pack of "travel-size" duct tape. As we are great fans of all things duct tape, we just HAD to buy that. Who knows, it might come in handy!

Wednesday morning we went to the Original Pancake House with my sister-in-law to have Dutch Babies. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Then we brought YD to the airport at 4:30. Luckily, there was no line at security and she got through in minutes--although they had to put her carryon through the X-ray machine twice. Must have been the box of cookies she made to take with her!

YD stayed overnight in DC, since her plane for Peru didn't leave until Thursday morning. She called me before they left, which was really nice. Thursday evening she called from Panama, where she'd toured Panama City and the canal, but the call came during my class so I missed talking to her. Apparently Pretty Niece took her computer along, so YD e-mailed me later in the evening. They were heading off to take a cruise on the Amazon. Kitty Son misses YD very much. He has been running around trilling and meowing and jumping up and off the bed and tables and generally being a pain in the butt, although a cute one.

After class Thursday night Dad and I put tube sand in the back of my truck and installed a board across the bed to hold the sand in place. Just in time, too, because we are supposed to get 12-18 inches of snow this weekend. Everyone is stocking up on milk, bread, and other necessities since it looks like we may be snowbound Sunday. I'm glad I got the tonneau cover on the truck so I don't have all that snow in the bed.

Yesterday I went to dinner with my mom and she and Dad gave me an early birthday present--a blue cardigan sweater. It's gorgeous! We were hungry early, but it took some looking to find a restaurant that was open at 3 in the afternoon. Most were closed until 4:30 or 5:00. But, we finally found an Italian place close by that had great food and delicious bread.

So today I am in grading jail with the first set of assignments of the winter quarter. Too bad there's no Grading Fairy. But I have "The King and I" on TV, puffy MamaCat on my lap, and a steaming hot cup of tea to keep me company.

Getting ready for the big trip


Youngest Daughter is leaving this week for a three-week trip to Peru with Auntie and Uncle and Cousin from Virginia. We have shopped until we dropped for all the necessities she needs to take with her. Tomorrow she gets shots and new asthma meds to take with her, and starts packing in earnest.

Today we are going to Little Town Halfway Between UniTown and HomeCity for a chamberpot singer concert. Then we'll to go to HomeCity and stay overnight. I need to come back to UniTown on Tuesday to check on the kitties and for a meeting and class. After class I'll drive back to HomeCity and then Wednesday will be spent in a flurry of preparation. YD's flight leaves at 6:35 Wednesday night. Then I have to drive back to UniTown for class on Thursday.
Whew!

So, the snowflake. I have not heard from her all weekend, and on Friday she promised to keep in touch with me as she hammered out a suitable topic for an independent study. I shot down the one she had, because it was too vague and not grad level. We shall see. I have snowflake's "cousin" (similar story to snowflake's, minus the suspension--but she is not doing well in her program either, and she ran afoul of me in class last quarter) also wanting to do an independent study. I am requiring a conference paper submission as part of the independent study, so it's not a trivial thing.

Speaking of conferences, the check for the hotel fiasco finally came. The outcome from this frustrating affair? We are $152 poorer, since the bank, the hotel, and my uni refuse to reimburse us for the NSF fees that resulted from this mess. That sure makes me want to go to more conferences, yes it does.

The snowflake won

Dang.

Remembering Pearl--the day that lives in infamy

Photos and commentary from the Naval Historical Center


















































































































USS Bennington (CVA-20)

Passes the wreck of USS Arizona (BB-39) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Memorial Day, 31 May 1958. Bennington's crew is in formation on the flight deck, spelling out a tribute to the Arizona's crewmen who were lost in the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Note the outline of Arizona's hull and the flow of oil from her fuel tanks.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph.




Army Day Ceremonies, 6 April 1948

The U.S. flag which flew over the U.S. Capitol at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack is returned to the Capitol during Army Day ceremonies. This flag had been raised over the three defeated Axis capital cities, Rome, Berlin and Tokyo.
In this photo, men of the Third Infantry Division, all World War II veterans, are presenting the flag at the Capitol Plaza, Washington, D.C. It is being accepted by Senator Arthur Vandenberg.

Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.




Rest in peace.

A cautionary tale for students

A grad student came in this morning to talk to me about doing an independent study. She was in my class last winter, and was one of those high maintenance students who always have some problem that prevents them from completing their assignment on time, or making it to the exam on time, or working with their teammates on the term project.

The chickens came home to roost for her, and she was bounced out of her program. So, she transferred into another program that allowed her to design a unique course of study. This program requires students to develop a plan consisting of two concentrations. The plan must be supported by a literature search and a written proposal; then the plan is approved (or not) by a committee of professors across the university. For some students, it's a last-ditch opportunity to salvage their graduate career.

Well, our little snowflake was true to form and flaked out last quarter, producing nothing for her proposal although she expended great amounts of energy pestering professors to let her into their courses. Problem is, she's suspended and can't register for anything.

I made her sit through my tough-love lecture on not using up one's good vibes all in one swell foop. Of course, it's too late for her unless she sweet-talks the grad coordinator into lifting the suspension. My money is on the snowflake. She is pretty, and smiles a lot, and is extremely persistent.

But, could be, the chickens are going to stay put and she will be out of this program for good as well. We shall see.

Yup, I was right

I got a response from the online learning person:

The purpose of this forum is to increase the professor-student relationship. It is our hope that instructors will read the postings of students and improve their teaching (or start a dialog with the students) and vice-versa.

I just caught the posting that generically referenced a course (although it didn't say when it was offered or who taught it) and edited it the posting to remove the reference. We've been checking/reading the forum pretty regularly, so I don't know how we missed that.

Yes, I agree students need to work with their instructors directly, then the department chair. Unfortunately, many students are apprehensive about speaking to their instructor or going to the department or even filling out the course evaluation, because they are afraid of repercussions to their grade.

We hear over and over again that quality can deteriorate in an online course, so this is one attempt to help build awareness for instructors. Some instructors may not know what aspects of an online course students really like or dislike. Faculty are welcome to do the same to help shed light for the students who might not be aware of their poor online etiquette.

If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to call me.

And my counter:

Thank you for your response. I respectfully disagree. The way the forum is presented invites negative comments such as the one you had to edit. I doubt you will get any comments from instructors at all, and I am betting more than a few feel the same way I do about that forum.

If you really want constructive remarks, then 1) don't pit instructors against students and vice versa, and 2) ask for positive ideas about ways to make the online environment more useful to both students and instructors. There are better ways to get the feedback you want than to set it up from the start to be antagonistic. For instance, referring to instructors as "turkeys" (as one poster did) isn't going to foster a good relationship or encourage professors to participate, no matter how justified a student may feel in expressing that view.

Just my $0.02.

Poor online etiquette, my eye. Let's talk about cheating. Let's talk about not doing the work and then grubbing for a grade. Let's talk about whining over expecting students to write coherent sentences. Let's discuss snit fits over non-instantaneous response to e-mail or complaints about that horrible requirement that e-mail messages be properly spelled with meaningful subject lines.

"We all know who the turkeys are and this forum will help keep the honest ones honest."

Oh sure, this is for mutual benefit....yeah, RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT.

Taking it a bit too far

My school is very student-centered, and I've written before about the tendency to assume students are little angels and all their complaints about evil instructors are legitimate. Well, here's another example of this lopsided viewpoint. In September the online learning center inaugurated a community for online students in our course management software (sort of like Blackboard but not quite). The idea is to provide a central "student lounge" for distance students. I have no problem with that.

The part I have a problem with is the section on "Pet peeves." There's a discussion forum for students with pet peeves about instructors, and one for instructors with pet peeves about students. The forum description says "The purpose of this forum is to let instructors and students politely and anonymously vent about specific behaviours that don't encourage an optimal learning environment. Anonymous postings are allowed, but inappropriate postings or postings containing names will be deleted and further action may be taken. This discussion is meant to encourage best practices and dialog regarding the ideal learning environment for both students and instructors."

Not surprisingly, there are a number of messages complaining about instructors, some with content that makes it easy to identify the offending instructor. Also not surprisingly, there are no messages complaining about students. If I were one of those instructors I would be upset and would surely want the chance to rebut what was said.

The place for students to voice their displeasure is first with the instructor and second, if the complaint is serious enough, with the department chair. Thirdly, the students can bash instructors freely in the term-end evaluations (also a place where instructors have no chance for rebuttal).

Last quarter we saw incredibly insulting posters about professors hanging up in the student union, touting the Student Association's rating site. It seems to me that allowing students to anonymously complain on this online community site is yet another way to blindside faculty and erode the professor-student relationship.

The other thing that disturbed me about this site was the repeated requests to have online staff monitor faculty logins to courses. I log in to mine several times a day, and I respond very quickly to student questions and concerns, so that's not an issue for me. But that doesn't mean I want someone monitoring whether or not I log in every day.

I wrote to the director of online learning outlining my concerns, but I'm not hopeful they will remove that section.