Stretch

Entry 004

It seems like many things are stretching out. Hence the them for this post.

This morning we received the news that we would be finishing this semester online. That takes us to June 19th in online mode. The tally

• The last day that I worked from my office at the campus was Friday March 13th.
• My last visit to the office (to pick up my mat for my standing desk and a book) was Wednesday March 18th
• June 19th will be journal entry 67 assuming I continue with one each day.

The core questions:

Credit goes to Ben and readers of his blog for these “Four Questions” and the five stretch questions.

1. What did you do today? My TC1028 class. A more normal routine mostly spent in breakout rooms working on exercises. I spoke to my students about the announcement of the semester finishing online and fielding administrative questions. I ran my regular two #educoffee sessions. The morning session I was joined by Gerardo and Apostolos and the afternoon session with Joe, Orchid and Luis. David Garza delivered our 6th weekly message for faculty. I had 4 separate office hour sessions with students and an interview with Ben. I also cooked burgers and french fries for the family which turned out quite well.
2. What did you enjoy? A wonderful conversation with Ben Werdmüller about writing/blogging for students. I wanted to provide this for my students but recorded and sent it to YouTube. Embedded video at the end of this post. I really admire and respect the work of Ben and it was a distinct pleasure to interview you him today. I thank him for his generosity.
3. What did you find difficult? Sleep was interrupted. I woke up at 3am (exactly) and couldn’t fall back asleep. I listened to a couple of podcasts for about 45 minutes then was able to fall back asleep until about 7am. Good sleep overall but split into “first sleep” and “second sleep”. If you find that disturbing or strange, it isn’t. There is much written about our natural sleep patterns being biphasic and not a “solid eight” as we often here. I remember reading this years ago and have listened to various podcast episodes discussing this. You can find details on this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphasic_and_polyphasic_sleep
4. What has changed? I have been reading more with my Kindle and audio books. I finished listening to the additional chapter of Ken Dryden’s “The Game” that came as part of the 20th anniversary edition. I had read the paperback before and it is still on my shelf here at home. I have a couple more of his books in audible format and will listen to them in time. My current audible “read” is Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential“. I actually had the hardcover ages ago and lent it to a friend before I could read it and then it was lost in a kitchen fire which is funny in a way. On the Kindle which sits on my bedside table, I finished book nine of the Wheel of Time series (“Winter’s Heart”) and started book ten (“Crossroads of Twilight”). I am also reading (for the 4th time probably) on the Kindle a novel by Tom DeMarco, “The Deadline” along with my TI2011 Software Engineering class.

Video interview with Ben

Featured Image Credit