a gathering, a bovine, a chill dude, a flush for Friday

I went out for a brisk little run in the crisp black Friday morning air today. Apparently there was a goose convention going on at one of the local high school practice fields.

Either that or they're groundskeepers doing a fertilizer application while the kids are on break.

Christmas decorations have been making their appearance in the neighborhood. 

I came across this jolly... bull? buffalo? Maybe he's a steer considering how friendly he looks?

It was a bright sunny morning, but a frosty 20F, so coming upon a guy at the park, shooting hoops in shorts and short sleeves was a bit mysterious.

I didn't take a pic of him, but used my masterful digital imaging skills to dramatically recreate the scene.


How was he not freezing?

That's pretty much it for my Black Friday adventures. The guys had a nice time with extended family yesterday, and brought back much leftover beers - as they were in charge of supplying beer. Clearly, they brought more than necessary.

None of us are big beer drinkers. Unfortunately, unlike leftover Halloween candy, I can't just bring it to work and dole it out. Magnum says we might have to up our intake to more than the typical half a beer every couple weeks. 

Honestly, though, I get the "Asian Flush" from alcohol, and don't really like the feeling. Mainly my cheeks. If I'm buzzed, I can bet I look like I'm wearing clown makeup. 

I'm a bad boozer. Suggestions for the leftovers?

home alone 2

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow USAians! This is a quiet one for me as Magnum, Wolfgang, and Meego all went to our niece's (Magnum's sister's daughter's) who is hosting the gathering of family. I've hung back to be zookeeper to our dogs who can't be left alone for the time it takes to drive to niece's, feast, socialize, drive back.

No worries, I figured I'd get some things done around the house that need doing, spend a little time homeschooling myself on that math refresher... Those plans went out the window shortly after the guys left. 

I was stir crazy and, instead, took each of the mongrels for a decent walk. That's my purpose today, afterall. 

The college students have the whole week off, so my tutor calendar is empty empty. I worked a shift in the testing center on Monday, and that's been it for my college obligations. I'm basking in free time until Monday.

What's everyone else up to today?

I hope it's a grateful one.

says there's room for maybe just one more

Yay for Saturday! Sheesh, this was a busy week. I'm glad to have survived.

The students have all of next week off at the college. Testing is running through Wednesday, but my tutor schedule is happily empty.

Don't get me wrong, I do typically enjoy tutoring. But as can be expected, the students who sign up for tutoring are the ones who struggle, not only with the coursework, but with stress and anxiety in general, and I'm no therapist.

But really, it's kind of an odd mix. Some are older students who haven't been in a classroom for a while, so just need some extra guidance. Then there are the younger ones who were academically abandoned by the pandemic and other "systemic failures" during their high school years. 

It's a bit of an old story here - I'm sure I blogged about it as I went through it. But in a nutshell, my degree is engineering, I was a happy engineer for several years, we had kids and I became a happy mom and former engineer, and I picked up tutoring along the way.

About 10 years ago, I enrolled in a program at the university that was a pathway for people with STEM degrees to become high school math and science teachers. Seemed like all paths led me in that direction, except...

I learned that I have NO desire to teach at a high school. I mean... the education classes I was taking felt lame to me, for lack of a better word. The atmosphere at the schools we observed didn't gel with me. I even took a non-teaching job at a "nice" high school and couldn't stand it more than one semester.

But hey, it's not them, it's me. I know! I do know wonderful teachers who love their jobs and their schools, and more power to 'em. It's just not my bag.

I shared that summary with one of my tutees this week after she asked me about it. She was enticing me to take on a next level class that I currently don't tutor, but she will be taking next semester. 

"Do it, we need you!", she implored. Seems the only tutors for that course are retired instructors who only tutor online, while I'm okay meeting in person.

I'll probably do it. I'm reteaching the subject to myself to slough off the dust by Spring semester. As we talked, she asked if I'd ever want to teach a class at the college. People have asked me that before, and it seems like there's always openings for math teachers. But... ew. I enjoy tutoring. Teaching is a whole 'nother can of worms. It really has very little appeal to me.

Part of that is likely because... I turned a ripe 60 years old this week. *ock, my bones*. Ain't got no time nor patience for BS. Teachers put up with a lot of BS, while tutors show up, wearing halos.

In true old lady form, here's a coupla pics of a cat. Wolfgang's cat Maisey, whom I've visited daily this past week while on food duty.

I'm happy to make it to 60. Let it be known, I have no desire to do 60 more.

magical time

When Wolfgang goes out of town, lucky him, he has a willing person to check on and feed his cat, Maisey. That person would be me.

Maisey is not the most social of cats, but she's figured out that I'm the food person, so I think she likes me. I wish we could just have her stay at our house, but clearly, all hell would break loose if she did. Our cat is not fit to share with other cats - it's how he got booted from his first home and ended up with us. 

Bottom line, I go to Wolfgang's every day if he's out of town, which has been the case recently. 

It's a pleasant 10-mile bicycle round trip from my house to Maisey's. If I go there after work, it's more like 12 miles, mostly flat. Wolfgang lives in a modern apartment complex downtown. When I go there, I feel like one of those bike messengers, in the elevator with my bicycle, on a mission.

The building has private entrances along interior hallways. Several of them have welcome mats. This one intrigued me back around Halloween.

How fun, right?

Except... I was there again this week. The Ouija board "welcome" is still there. Apparently, it's not a Halloween decoration, but a permanent fixture. Heh, those jokesters... I think

Not far from that is this set up

I have no idea the signifigance, if any, of the white wreath. But the mat reminds me of the illuminati symbol or Eye of Providence, which again, I really don't know its message. 

I guess the inhabitants just want to keep their floors clean.

In other news, the college students (and teachers and tutors, for that matter) are dragging butts to make it to fall break. After that, there's one more week and then finals. Meanwhile, I'm planning my schedule for spring semester while students are hoping to not have to retake any classes. This isn't high school. Actual failure is now an option.

Maybe they can summon outside forces for finals. Magic 8-ball?

things change

I was feeling the need for a change and rearranged my little sanctum that I share with the cat.

This room was a cold, dank, unfinished portion of our garden level basement when we first looked at this house. Between that time and the time we moved in - as it was then a rental - the previous owners DIYed a quick little space.

It became my and Napolion's space, although he'd probably say it's his space that he lets me use sometimes. It is the one area of the house off limits to the dogs because of the variety of "snacks" (it is both the cat's dining room and bathroom).

It's cozy and comfy and mine. I rearranged, hoping to make it feel more spacious. It feels like it worked. 

This table, though. It's old, and like a human, it's got a few sags, dimples, and  unexplained blotches.

I've started looking for a replacement - something between kid's desk and professional's work surface. I'm finding a lot of both ends of the spectrum, not so much in the middle. 

The cat was keen to inspect, and seems satisfied enough with the change of digs.

He seems to have little concern about the crappy table.

Today was beautiful weather-wise. A gift after a cold, cloudy, damp several days that I was not quite yet acclimated for. I thought, "what a nice day for cleaning up the yard", and then thought I must be getting old to have that come to mind so quickly. 

Well, if the shoe fits...

Alegra la noche

Yesterday afternoon, on the way home from work, the city had a station set up, giving away free stuff. Yes, I consider myself a minimalist, but that won't stop me from checking out some free stuff.

They were giving away bike lights, reflector bands - like for your sleeve or pant leg - and reflective shoe laces. I partook of the bike lights (the freebie tail light turned out to be total crap, but the headlight's a winner) and the shoe laces. The occasion was "Brighten the Night", sponsored by the city. I guess it for  now that we're back to standard time, heading toward winter solstice.

The utilities people were there too, and I got a 4-pack of LED light bulbs. Generous of them. I was on my bicycle and really needed to play some excellent tetris to get everything in my bag.

This week has felt weird. Early darkness coupled with the election - tutor students looking for ease of anxiety, and not just the math kind. So we worry about the things we can control. Math is friendly that way. No ambiguity.

Speaking of controlling and brightness, I upped my visibility as I mentioned recently, regarding the early morning runs in the dark.

Snapped a couple of pics out in the pre-sunrise wilds this morning before the snow moves in.

My new vest not only is reflective, but has built in lights - front and back. Three light modes: fast blink. slow blink, and steady. I swear the fast blink has seizure inducing quality. I stay away from that. 

Stay seen and sane, everyone 👍

ground control

Happy November! It's a beautiful fall morning here. I partook of the popular pastime known as rake-all-the-damn-leaves for a while. Now I'm sluggishly chilling. Sluggishly because maybe allergies combined with the flu shot I got yesterday. Plus, apparently, my dependence on caffeine, which I've not yet had today.

I'm not a fan of changing clocks, but I'm feeling rather appreciative of the extra hour we get this weekend. But, let me wrap up the week, bullet style

• At the testing center, we underwent required "de-escalation" training. Out of curiosity, I'd asked Boss why we were required to do this, as it had never been part of the plethora of other required trainings. His answer, "Something happened at one of the other testing centers, and I've already told you too much"

Well, okay then. Bring on the training. Presented by a couple of our security guys (Work Study loved it), it was good common sense reminders. We all felt pretty good about how well we work together to de-escalate such situations.

The VERY NEXT day, dude bullies his way in, gets all upset because he can't keep his cellphone with him (?!) while taking his test. Spends 9 minutes failing a test he was given 2 hours to complete, flings a chair (it was on wheels, so it just went for a fun roll, not hitting anything/ one), and storms out with a parting, "F*CK Y'ALL!!"

Not gonna lie, my calming strategies from the prior day's training took a back burner to my inner seething. Same for my coworkers Blossom and Sarge. But we kept it together enough to, at least, not escalate things. From his parting salutation, I was reminded of the pride banner hanging over the disabilities services office:

And I thought, "Well, how wondefully inclusive of him"

• On the tutoring side of things, I was talking with one of my tutees. He's majoring in mechanical engineering and told me he's interested in becoming "an agricultural engineer on Mars". Whoa.

Apparently, there's a fair amount of research going into the colonization of Mars. Still, I think it'll be a while. But hey, he's young, and it's nice to have a focused goal.  

Meanwhile, I struggle to grow a decent garden here on Earth.