Monthly Archives: January 2022

January 11 Day 674: A Whole Lot of Nothing

Before the pandemic, the selfish were rewarded and the selfless were taken advantage of. During the pandemic nothing has changed. Except we keep asking for more from the people that already give too much. Who do you think does the work? And who gets rewarded? It isn’t right. We need to change the system. ForContinue reading “January 11 Day 674: A Whole Lot of Nothing”

January 9 Day 672: Catching Sunrise

I looked out the window this morning and saw it was going to be a beautiful sunrise. I threw on pants, sweatshirt, sneakers, and raced out the door in an attempt to catch nature’s show. Apparently this is something I do on January 9, at least according to my Facebook memories. As I arrived atContinue reading “January 9 Day 672: Catching Sunrise”

January 8 Day 671: Time Out

I. Just. Couldn’t. Be. Productive. I have said it before and I will say it again, the most difficult part of this whole ordeal is the uncertainty. And yesterday was jam packed with it. So, I did a little grading. Mostly I retreated from anything remotely connected to teaching, the University, and professional obligations. InsteadContinue reading “January 8 Day 671: Time Out”

January 7 Day 670: Crap

I should be attending the Joint Mathematics meeting right now but that got canceled 2.5 weeks ago. I am sad that I do not get to be energized by my disciplinary colleagues or celebrate professional accomplishments and interesting ideas. This was to be the first big conference in-person since the start of the pandemic. PartContinue reading “January 7 Day 670: Crap”

January 6 Day 669: Miro Voting–the Reality

It worked! Not perfectly. I learned things along the way. I had 12 (of 17 students) attending class today. Of those 12, only 9 participated in the voting. Not everyone got the prompt to join the voting. I don’t know if this was because they joined the board after the voting started or if itContinue reading “January 6 Day 669: Miro Voting–the Reality”

January 5 Day 668: Miro Voting—the Plan

Presenting definitions can be downright boring. One activity for class tomorrow gives students all the definitions from this section (as you can see on the left side of the cover image) and has them work in groups to identify which of the four augmented matrices a), b), c), or d) on the right satisfy thoseContinue reading “January 5 Day 668: Miro Voting—the Plan”

January 4 Day 667: Return to Remote

This was not the way I hoped to start Winter Quarter 2022. Remote in the first week and in-person thereafter. “Have a soft start” they said. Unfortunately, in a 10-week quarter, there is no wiggle room. In the best of times, it is a delicate balance between empowering students to investigate new concepts on theirContinue reading “January 4 Day 667: Return to Remote”

January 2 Day 665: Good Morning 8 AM

The University of Washington System works on academic quarters. Classes start tomorrow (although I start teaching on Tuesday.) This first week is to be delivered remotely. Over the past 2 years, I was primarily teaching in the afternoon—often as late at 5:40 pm. However, I got assigned an 8 am class this quarter. Pre-pandemic, IContinue reading “January 2 Day 665: Good Morning 8 AM”

January 1 Day 664: In the New Year, I Can Do Better.

Happy New Year. May 2022 bring health and happiness to all–or at least a little less stress and turmoil. I’ve been working to prepare my winter classes (the first meeting is in 3 days!) I think I have the course site completed with dates, assignments, and readings–at least for the first two weeks. I amContinue reading “January 1 Day 664: In the New Year, I Can Do Better.”