timna

good news

funding came through for the course development proposal. now it almost looks as though I'm working this summer.

mr. t. is convinced that I need to do more marketing and find a few places that would pay for online courses. I guess I wasn't ready to do that in Jan-Feb when the summer courses were going on the books and now it's a bit late.

not sure what the summer plan is here. last year it seemed reasonable and logical to write and revise. since nothing came of that, it seems a bit unreasonable to make that the plan again for this summer. looks like we're going to be here (except almond joy who will probably go alone to Israel) and go together in Dec.

other than that -- looks like we're going to see my family next weekend and I am so pleased! I'll drive down with the kids if mr. t. has to work Friday and he'll fly down to join us.

reading outside in the hammock

with ben timna: Watership Down which I had never read before.

still a little chilly, but good to be out in the sun.

the kayaking brother-in-law stops by

Passover next week so the relatives are traveling here and there. one of mr t's younger brothers kayaks and rafts for a living. this past winter he was in Mexico. he's usually in Uganda for the winter and Turkey in the summers. at 4C's jo(e) witnessed a whole bunch of phone calls when I was trying to arrange kayaking kid's tickets to Israel for the seder. something about his credit card being Israeli was keeping him from doing it directly himself. I made mistakes by booking on expedia in two segments: then one loses the higher luggage allowance rate of international flights, so I had to cancel it. kayak kid and I are a little too blase about these things -- it drives mr. t. a little crazy. it all worked out, of course.

it's great to see him. I suspect the kayak may stay here for the summer -- he was counting on us traveling to Israel in the near future, but we might not be doing that. (his ticket is with an airline that frowns on big luggage and charges too much for it). we'll take good care of it.

about those decisions: my sister graciously said she'd come in May and meanwhile we may travel to her next weekend. so the conference drive/visit is on if that friend comes through.

the other one is still up in the air.   

hosting the conference

very involved over the past week on the small, but state-wide, conference we hosted here. lots of work to do but not a lot delegated so I was somewhat frustrated. did what I could. (all sorts of experience here, even if I'm an adjunct in this present incarnation, I've worked academic conferences for about 7 years when I worked in the president's office in Israel).

my talk -- this was a good experience. I polled my students about their sense of community in an online course and they gave me lots of information. I presented this semester's evolution from their resistance to community to the extremely active and engaged discussion board. I have no qualms about presenting my learning experiences and what I am thinking about doing differently: that's how I get feedback in a conference. a bit strange to be talking to local colleagues; we do so little of that.

decisions, decisions

not earth shattering, but becoming urgent.

1. in about 3 weeks -- I have the option of going to a conference with an old friend who I only see about every 2 years or so. I'd be driving up to the conference city with her and then driving to another place we both want to see. the downside is that this conference did not accept my proposal this year (first time ever) and it's a place I applied to and had a campus visit since the last time she and I attended the conference. some awkwardness, but I've stayed in touch with a couple of folks and it could be fun.

OR, my youngest sister can come up with her daughter precisely that weekend. I miss her and she's kind of needing to have some short breaks from home.

2. I've been invited by my dean and another administrator to an overnight conference in a different part of the state. it's on a subject I dearly love and would enjoy immensely. in addition, the hotel is on a lovely lake. a no brainer, eh?

OR, I recognise that since I will have been away (speaking invitation) the weekend before, it will not be a good time to leave Tues/Wed no matter who pays for it.

I'm still kind of getting resentful comments at home about the double spring break I managed this year (research road trip early March, 4C's late March)...

any ideas?

negotiating

seems like I'm juggling on quite a few different fronts today:

• just sent an email to the dept head that I will not be attending the dept retreat next week since it's being held on Passover. I wouldn't be teaching on Passover so I try to be consistent. the only reasons I debated at all -- (a) I could have spoken up if I'd noticed the problem with the date last fall, and/or (b) I do feel more on the spot as a candidate. I honestly don't think that anyone who understands why I'm not there will be critical; however, for most people at this college, the day off is the next one, Good Friday.
• swimming vs lacrosse: almond joy is in over her head and she wants to be able to buy out of the problem. she signed up for lacrosse pretty hastily and was sure she could do both (and it is *really* expensive). she didn't know she'd be moved up to the more advanced and tougher swim group. she didn't know that the promise to bus to practices was only going to last until the games started (this week). there's no way to get to a 3pm practice for 14-year-olds. but mr. t. wants her to honestly try to do some of each -- once committed to a team sport -- she has to play out the season, in his opinion. I guess the breaking point was that she wasn't going to any practices this week (even if he came from work to drive her) since she feels she has a tenuous hold on the swimming, so then she didn't think she should go to the Thurs or Fri games. then she planned a party for Fri night.  spinning here, trying to balance the strong feelings all around.
• writing a conference talk for Fri am. getting lots of good material from my online students.
• robbing Peter to pay Paul on the tax front. but next year, without mr. t's company, it should be better. or at least more predictable.
• even the food front seems like a big negotiation. didn't used to think much about this or that. I did whatever. hmmm.

been poisoning any kids lately?

I thought the coffee shop idea with ben timna while almond joy swam last winter was a great idea. we didn't drive 40 extra miles back and forth, back and forth, we did homework together and then played chess, we talked and had fun. apparently, now that we are looking at what we're eating, I was slowly, but ever so surely poisoning my baby. one kid's cocoa was over 400 calories! and there were some days (very few, I assure you) that he had 2.

ben timna is a very methodical and math-oriented kid. he's also very firm when he believes something is right or wrong. he has never been back to McDonald's after seeing "Fast Food Nation."(corrected by almond joy: it was "Super Size Me"). now that he's looking at nutritional values and calculating points (WW version), he's systematic. he was horrified that the coffee shop could have been so bad for him. I'm so sorry, little one, I didn't look into it more carefully. I'll do better next time.

I miss student contact

the online course has a weekly cycle that ends at 8am Monday morning. usually I like seeing how the week has gone, posting the quiz grades, some housekeeping announcements and getting the next week's subject up and running. lately it's been particularly easy as the students have been leading the discussion and they prepare the week's topic: questions, a powerpoint or "lecture" or summary, sources and sites.

seems like it's running pretty smoothly.

so why am I lethargic? I think I really miss seeing the real, live students. we had our last film 2 weeks ago and that's it. I might not see them anymore. everyone seems on track, they're doing the readings and making astute and thoughtful comments, taking the quizzes, writing the essays -- but something is indeed missing for me.

I've signed up for 2 fully online classes for fall. I admit that I'm already looking forward to the 2 hybrids I've signed up to teach far more than the onlines.

salmon and tehini sauce

incredibly simple, incredibly good. when I went on the spring road trip, I stayed with friends I hadn't seen much in the last 20 years. Julie made great salmon and I meant to copy the recipe. didn't do it. yesterday I pulled a recipe out of the internet with most of the components, but too late I realized that the sauce was meant to be applied after the grilling. what I wanted was what Julie had done: make sauce, put it on salmon, bake (and ignore while doing other things). didn't want to deal with the grill.

so the sauce is this: yogurt, tehini, salt, pepper, lemon juice and fresh dill. put some olive oil on the salmon. put the sauce on the salmon. bake for about 30 - 40 minutes. it's wonderful.

of course, I was a bit nervous trying this out on 12 people so I did one plain. silly. now we have to make more sauce today.

(the high schoolers did ok with each other, though they were pretty quiet. the parents found lots to talk about.)

we heard there is a high school girl from Beer Sheva here

thus went the phone call this morning. yes, I guess almond joy was born in Beer Sheva and is now in high shool. new sabbatical family in the area, 10th grade son went to high school here for the first time this week. whoever gave him the tour of his new high school said she knows there are other Israeli high schoolers, even one from nearby (he's from Omer). with only that clue, his mom was searching the metro area.

as good Israelis we invited them over for dinner tonight. and invited another family with a high school daughter, albeit not from Beer Sheva.

it's one way to get the house cleaned up a bit and some real food a-cookin.

almond joy says, "what am I going to say?" and "the last time I went to school in Israel I was in kindergarten" and "what if it's awkward?"

and I tell her, last week in Paris, grandma's friends lined up all their grandchildren for you to go out with, and you had fun, right?  you might have fun tonight, too.