Wednesday, November 9, 2016

marching on...

I hate politics and government.  Really!  But this time, with this election, I got caught up in all the drama which is completely out of character for me.  It’s not that I’m a Trump fan, but that I could not make myself vote for Clinton.  No doubt she is a capable woman, but when she played the dumb blonde card about wiping her email server (“…like with a cloth or something? I don’t have any idea at all…”) – grrrrrr – that was unforgivable in my book.  She should have just manned up and admitted she deleted anything that she thought might be incriminating – I’d at least have had some shred of respect left for her (well, maybe, but in light of other unethical acts she and the Clinton Foundation committed, probably not).

As for Trump, people make mountains out of anthills.  In my book, he’s a typical man.  I have brothers and I’ve worked with men all my life.  They’re all a bunch of gorillas - they trash talk – it’s what they do.  Their maturity ends at around age 14, at least for the majority of them.  It seems that Trump did some growing up in the last weeks of the race.  It’s good, he needed to.  Change is good.  Our country – our government – needs change and a reset of ethics.  If Clinton had won, we would have the same (or worse) as four more years of Obama.  I voted for change.

Enough politics.

The temperature is dropping this week.  We have not had a frost yet, but it’s coming soon.  I bought a baker’s rack to set plants on in our kitchen.  It’s not nearly big enough - rack and kitchen.  I like my rack though, but by the time I get all the plants in from the porch, we will need a machete to walk through the kitchen.  Tomorrow afternoon, I’ll be wrestling the big plants in.  How in the world will I get that monstera through the door?   It’s got to be five feet in diameter at least…but I love it.

New baker's rack with succulent garden.

People are decorating for Christmas.  I just threw out the Halloween pumpkins last weekend and set out some Thanksgiving decorations.  Honestly though, I’ve already started some Christmas shopping…taking advantage of some early sales.  Money is not as plentiful as it used to be now that I’m retired.  I have to stretch it more and pay attention to value rather than convenience.    

I got a teaching excellence award from University #2 thanks to a wonderful review written by one of my students on an end-of-course survey.  One of the things I love about teaching is that I get to interact with students, and I never know (well, unless they tell me…sometimes they do) that I have somehow inspired them or influenced them in some way.  Sometimes the least little comment, something said without much thought or intention, makes a huge difference to that person.  It’s amazing when that happens.

Anyway, the dean emailed the certificate to me with congratulations, and said he hoped I would continue to have success at University #2.  I replied to his email, thanked him, and told him I hoped that University #2 would someday soon give me opportunity to teach again.  He replied back today.  Apparently, my name had been unintentionally dropped during the reorganization last summer, and that’s why I’ve not been given any classes for the past three sessions.  I am now on schedule for classes starting December, with a promise of steady employment through the end of 2017, and extra classes if I want them to make up for missed sessions.  It’s very good!!



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