First Mail: January 18, 2007

I checked my mailbox today. It's tricky to check you mailbox because the mailbox lobby is only open an hour or two more than the main lobby, then the building is locked. So you have to go during business hours, basically.

I remember when we had a PO Box in Dallas. If we went out of town, the first thing we did when we got back was go check the PO Box. At one point, we had two . . . one for home and one for business. It was often Sunday night and after dark when the post office was closed but we could still get in to check our boxes. At Hollins, we had post office boxes, but we could check them any time of day or night. I guess it's a sign of the times.

So, Today is Day 10. It's been 2 weeks since I had mail stopped in Richardson to have it forwarded to here in Maine. I've stopped at the Post Office 10 times (once a day for 10 days) and no mail. But today I got my first mail. It was 2 bills, but I was actually excited to see them with their little yellow labels. I hope more are to come.

Community Education . . . for a different community

When I went to check my post office box for the first time, there were only two pieces of mail in there, both addressed to "Postal Customer". One was the catalog of Community Education from the local School Administration District. I flipped through it just for fun and found the following class.



I don't believe I've ever seen this class in all the continuing ed catalogs I've looked through in my life in Dallas. ;-) There's also an "Advanced" version of this class taught by the same guy.

I told the story to MRM and RBF and RBF said, "Oh, is that taught by Pete Tracy? I know him." I told the story to Beth and Dr. Grace and Beth said, "I bet that's being taught by Pete Tracy. I know him."

I am enjoying the change from Texas to Maine, but also the adjustment from Big City to Big Town.

What happens when it's always below freezing

When you walk in the snow to your car, you naturally get snow on your snowboots. You try to shake most of it off before you get in the car, but some stays on your shoes and then falls on the floor while you're in the car. You also get snow inside your car when you open the door and some falls off the roof or blows in. In Dallas, that snow will melt either when you turn on the heater for a long time or the sun shine in your window for a while or the temperature gets warm again. But here, that snow is still in your car, exactly where you left it, two days later when you get back in your car again. I don't drive far enough for the heater to kick in and make a difference, so I have little snow piles in my car that unless I brush them out or scoop them out, will still be there in two or three more days because it hasn't been over freezing in quite a while.

First Day of Teaching: January 17, 2007

My teaching schedule is basically 12:20 - 4:30 on Wednesday and Friday, and 12:20 - 2:40 on Monday. It definitely sounds easier than the old 8:15 - 3:30, 5 days a week when I taught elementary school. In some respects it's just as much work. But it sure is nice to have one whole day (or weekend) before each teaching day to get ready! Of course, there's a ton of work up front to get ready for the semester. In elementary school teaching you can make up your lesson plans a week at a time and sometimes a day at a time. In college, everyone expects you to lay out all 16 weeks up front. I've been stalling on that part. I don't want to commit to a plan that I figure out after the first week isn't going to work. But I do hope to finish up the syllabi this weekend.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I taught Block 1 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had Block 2 for 1 hour 10 minutes, then had 10 minutes to pack up (which takes longer when you have to put on your big coat and gloves et.al) and get to the next building. Then I taught my EDU 101 class for 1 hour 40 minutes. It was a whirlwind to remember what time each class began and end and where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be covering. Three preps is pretty wild.

So how did it go? Well, if I had remembered earlier in the day to take off my snow boots and put on my regular shoes, I think my feet wouldn't have hurt so much at the end of it. Did the students do a good job and stay engaged? Yes. In all 3 classes. I came out just about right time-wise in the first 2 classes. In EDU 101, I was done with what I had planned to cover in an hour and I had 40 minutes to go. Well, I'm not one to let anyone out early, so I vamped on an activity that I was planning to do later in the semester. It wasn't totally thought out but I knew the basics of what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it, and what the end product should look like. Praise God for 21 years classroom experience plus 18 sections of CECS 4100 over the years . . . I pulled it off. It went really well and the students (except those who read this blog posting) will never know.

I think I like this college professor life. :-)