Nearly Thanksgiving

School was quite busy this week.

I had my first bone density scan on Tuesday afternoon. 

Thursday evening was book club. We read Stephen King's The Gunslinger this month. I wasn't that interested, but at least half of the other club members are fans. They convinced me I should read the second book in the series before I form a final judgement.

Friday evening I went to the Atlanta Symphony concert. It was Brahms and Schumann with a guest pianist and I enjoyed the music. There were a bunch of college kids in the balcony, obviously there to fulfill some kind of class credit requirement. They weren't as disruptive as the younger students last spring, but still annoying.

Saturday I first visited the Tucker post office. Then I went to the local ACS section's luncheon to recognize 50- and 60-year members. Six of them attended, and each one was presented with a certificate and allowed about 5 minutes to talk about their careers. All had really interesting stories. The lunch was held at the 57th Fighter Group restaurant at the little Peachtree Dekalb airport, and I liked watching the small planes take off and land while we ate.

After lunch, I went to the Pius X Holiday Market. I attended last year and found lots of good Christmas presents. It was similar this year, although much less crowded at 2 pm than at 10 am. I bought three bags of items from local craftspeople which I feel pretty good about. Now I just need to write my holiday letter, wrap everything, and mail it all.

Saturday night I went to the Atlanta Gladiators game. We won! It was a lot of fun again, except for the group of small boys and their dads who took over the row ahead of me (not their purchased seats) . The boys spent much of the game hitting each other with cowbells and other items, climbing over the seats, and running in and out of my row. After the second period, the dads finally told them to stop bothering me, which improved things a bit.

Sunday I graded things and did a bit of cleaning at home before going to campus for the production of Twelfth Night. It was excellent! The student who played the fool was great. He sang several songs, and there was dancing, and a mirror ball. I worked in the office for an hour or so before heading over to Decatur to have dinner with K & P. That was enjoyable and I was able to deliver their gift.

A Cold Snap

Another eventful week here. Monday evening I went to board games in Dunwoody. Tuesday I played cribbage and had the fourth-best card, so I won another $5. That was pleasing! Sunday evening it started to get cold and windy, and it was about 0 C when I got up on Monday morning. I needed my winter coat, scarf, and mittens! I had to drive to Lawrenceville in the afternoon to have a mammogram, and there were even flurries in the air when I was out. It was cold all day, and got even colder that night, so that it was -3 C on Tuesday morning. When I arrived in the office, it was even cold there: 14 C! I wore my coat and scarf all day until Facilities got the heat working again in the afternoon.

Wednesday I overcame some adversity to attend my first ACS local section meeting, which was held at a steakhouse in Norcross. I was tardy leaving campus and traffic was heavy, plus the car was nearly out of gas, so after a wrong turn in the dark I stopped at a gas station to fill up and get my bearings. After that I was calmer and found the place; I had to park two blocks away (Norcross is always busy when I go there). Even though I was half an hour later than I expected, the group was still enjoying the buffet of what would have been called "heavy hors d'oeuvres". I had some of that and met the other people at my table, one of whom turned out to be the chairperson of the local section. Both the Georgia section (which is centered in Atlanta) and the Northeast Georgia section (centered in Athens) were participating and I met the other chair in the buffet line. Around 7 pm the lecture started on "The Chemistry of Bourbon." It was a good basic talk about distillation, the history of whiskey, and some chemical components that are responsible for flavors. We also had a tasting of two bourbons, one scotch, and one rye. I liked the scotch best.

My tasting notes, which I neglected to bring home after the meeting.

I had students in my office all day Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the midterm exam Thursday evening. It was another late night at school as I didn't leave until almost 9 pm. I did not have as much difficulty with the scanner this time, and the others left me alone.

Friday after school I went to Documentary Night. We watched "Mission: JOY" which was about Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the Dalai Llama and their friendship. I learned some things I had not known about each of them, and it was inspiring to see them interact so lovingly with each other. The discussions afterward were good, too. My nomination for next month was not chosen, but I'm glad I participated.

Saturday I graded exams and worked on other school stuff until early afternoon. Then I drove to Norcross to check out the arepa restaurant that a student recommended. Unfortunately, neither of the employees spoke very much English and seemed to tell me they would not be able to sell me arepas, so I went home unfulfilled.  I talked to the parents only during Family Meet because the Texans were at the national band competition with Ian (his band earned 9th place!) and Katy is in Quebec with a friend. I made Alton Brown's baked mac & cheese for dinner and then joined J & J for Zoom games. T & S appeared for about 30 minutes as a surprise, and it was a joy to see everyone and listen to them talk again. How I miss those friends!

Today I met C for another hike, this time at the Powers Island unit of the Chattahoochee River NRA. We tried to do the whole trail on the east side of the river (I hiked the other side once before). It's only about 2.5 miles, about half flat and following the river bank and the other half climbs up the bluff and back down. We made it all the way to the furthest point before C slipped in some mud and hurt her ankle. Luckily after a while she was able to stand and hobble back to the parking lot. I was pretty useless: I offered to help (refused) but was only able to hunt up some nice bamboo sticks for C to use as canes. It took us over 30 minutes to walk the last 0.25 miles, luckily it was the flat part along the river. I was surprised she still wanted to go to Mutation Brewing for lunch and beer after that, but she did. We carpooled in my car, so after lunch I had to drive her back to the park and that turned into a problem because there was a crew painting lane markings on the exit which was therefore closed by the police. I had to detour all the way to the Windy Hill exit and then come back through Sandy Springs/Marietta. C went to the ER for x-rays and found she had a fracture of the fibula. She said it didn't hurt as much as the nurses expected, but I was sorry that our hike ended so poorly for her. It will be awhile before we can go again.

Such a nice day!

I made a roasted sweet potato and chickpea salad and then went to the Sunday Assembly potluck. There was a lecture this month, which was about how to have better conversations with people to build community and lessen divisions. We were told to remember three things: Duverger's Law (which is about the way our system of voting results in a two-party system and maximum division), the Truth Effect (which is that you believe what you hear most often, even if you learn the truth once), and Daryl Davis (who convinced several dozen high-ranking KKK members to leave the organization by talking to them). We also did an activity to practice better communication skills, which I was bad at, although I was good at role-playing the characters in the scenarios.

This week the Federal government reopened after the longest-ever 43 day shutdown. What a mess.

Winter is Coming

Winter is coming to Atlanta tonight, apparently. This afternoon was sunny and 24 C, but the winds picked up around sunset and now (21:30) it's only 7 C. There is a chance of freezing overnight, and tomorrow night is supposed to be even colder. 

My week was full of students trying to cram in their required meetings for Midterm 2 corrections before the Friday deadline. If I ever do this again, I'm going to make an earlier due date and/or give less points the longer students wait. As it was, I had people just turning in pages without talking to me at all. Because of the number of appointments, I couldn't get any other work done, and that made me stay late most nights. I missed Monday board games and Wednesday board games, which did not improve my serenity.

Tuesday I did go to cribbage club, and it's a good thing I did because I only lost one game of nine for my best card ever. It was good enough for first place, so I won a little money (enough to cover almost all of the past two months of losing nights' dues). That sure was nice!

Swag at the conference

Thursday I had not planned any outing. I went home and cooked myself dinner and then I packed my overnight bag. Friday I left school before 3 pm and drove to Oxford College for the Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (GURC). This campus was the original location of Emory University, and they keep it as a 2-year liberal arts school. After registering, I attending the faculty workshop, which was a panel discussion. There were as many panelists as audience. After that there was a mixer and I met a few people while supping on the posh snacks: polenta fries with blackberry ketchup, lamb sliders, braised beef skewers, and ginger punch. When that event petered out, I found my hotel and enjoyed a couple of hours of quiet before sleep. I'm glad I decided to get a room in Covington, rather than drive home and then back again on Saturday morning. 

Student Center at Oxford College

I was woken in the early hours (around 4 am) by a thunderstorm, so then the world was wet and foggy as the sun rose. I got myself together, checked out, and headed back to Oxford College. There was a nice breakfast buffet, then talks all morning. I was again glad I brought knitting with me; I was able to complete the leg and start the heel flap on the second of the pair of socks I took with me to Albuquerque in February. I tried to attend as many OU students' presentations as possible without room-hopping. There was a lunch break in the campus dining hall. Pretty good food, too, but clearly overwhelmed the facility. The lines were long and they ran out of glasses and cookies! After lunch we gathered for an OU photo and then there was one more session of talks, in which my first research student presented. She did well, considering we only collected the first data a week ago. There was a quick keynote address and introductions of next year's conference host, then the poster session. I tried to get to all the OU posters, and managed all but one. My second research student had a poster. I also talked to several other poster presenters: one about analyzing compost, one about modeling student study behavior using economic equations. We had another OU group photo and then almost everyone reconvened at a local ramen and sushi restaurant for dinner. We arrived just before the heavy rain and enjoyed a lovely meal together. I was thrilled to take part in one of those big boats full of sushi with my table. After dinner, I detoured for ice cream and then drove home in the dark. 

Sushi boat!

I had vague plans to go to downtown, historic Covington to see the courthouse and the other sights. Several TV shows (the only one I have seen is the Dukes of Hazzard) have been filmed in Covington. But, with the rain and the dark, I didn't do that. I'll have to go again sometime on my own.

Today I worked on grading papers and preparing for the coming week. After a quick lunch, I took MARTA to Westview Cemetery for the walking tour of the grounds. There were two other people waiting when I got there, but no tour guide. We hung around for about 20 minutes before a security guard came and told us there was not going to be a tour. I didn't hear exactly why, but it sounded like the tour guide had not noticed people signed up for today so he didn't come. Sad face. Well, the three of us wandered around for a bit, but I decided to head home and come another time. At least I was able to finish my car book, Ringworld, and start the next one while spending so much time on trains. And, at least I didn't drive all that way and back. 

Waiting for the tour that never happened.

I installed a replacement smoke detector in my dining room. About a week ago, the original one woke me up with beeping at 4 am. It turned out to be a 10-year, no replacement battery type, so there was nothing to do but buy a replacement. I got a 2-pack, thinking that the one on the second floor might be a similar age. The new ones also have CO detectors. I was kind of hoping that the new model would fit the old mounting bracket, but of course it didn't. The bracket had been painted on the wall, so I had to use a razor blade to get it off, then drill new holes to install the new bracket in roughly the same place. The new detector also is the 10-year no replacement style. I tested the one upstairs, which is a different brand, and decided not to install the new one there yet.

The Gales of November

Hopefully, there will be no gales...

The highlight of the week was Halloween on Friday. The chemists dressed as the Noble Gases (I was Xenon) and competed against the biologists (who were very clever and dressed as six different drosophila mutants). I wore my costume all day at school and then went to K and P's house for snacks and drinks.

Dressed as the noble gas Xenon.

 It was chilly every night this week and I finally had to turn on the heat in the house. For Cody, you understand. Obviously I would have toughed it out with extra blankets and a hot water bottle for the bed.

Saturday I joined L and B for a walk on Path 400. We did the same 3.5 miles as last month, which covered the newly opened section. After the walk, I went to the post office in Sandy Springs to mail a package and then noticed I was across the street from the Crumbl cookie shop. I used my coupon from the Gladiators home opener to get a free cookie.

The cookie had Reese's pieces.

After that I drove up to Cumming to visit a pavlova bakery which was doing a Yelp Elite event. For showing up and writing a review, I got a free tiny pavlova bite and a bowl of strawberry ice cream.

Between two pieces of pavlova (meringue), there was Nutella and strawberries.

My plan was to go next to Indio Brewing in Sugar Hill for lunch and a beer, but I found that they were closed for a private party. So instead I went to Duluth and had lunch at Sweet Octopus.

Shrimp Wonton Ramen 

I still had a beer afterwards at 6S Brewing, which I have passed on two other visits to Duluth without going in. The sour was okay, the televisions playing college football were far too loud, and I was about the only one there, drinking my beer and reading a book for an hour.

That was Saturday. On Sunday I did a lot of schoolwork at home, while cooking crockpot soup. It was a bright sunny morning and I took advantage of that by sweeping out the patio which had collected a lot of leaves, pine needles, and other plant debris. Good thing I did, because it rained later in the day and everything would have been muddy and soggy.

I went to a concert at a Lutheran church in Decatur in the afternoon to hear Mozart's Requiem. One of the cribbage club guys invited me because he is in the choir. There was a small orchestra and four soloists in addition. The sanctuary was unusual: round, with the musicians in the middle and the audience around the outside. There were multicolored stained glass windows, a balcony featuring a pipe organ with red lighting, and a three-dimensional stained glass cross lit from the inside hanging in the middle of the room.

Spooky Season

I missed last week's update. Monday and Tuesday after my trip to Helen was Fall Break at Oglethorpe. Unfortunately, I had jury duty on the Monday. I had to get up even earlier than usual in order to ride MARTA to Decatur before 8 am. Then I sat around most of the day, waiting for 60 of us to be questioned. I finished a book and started another. I went to a Mexican restaurant a block away for lunch with three other people during our break and the server messed up the order so two of us didn't get our food in time to eat it. We carried it back to the courthouse and I ate mine sitting on the floor outside the courtroom. Anyway, after all that I wasn't selected for the trial.

Waiting in the orientation room at the courthouse.

Tuesday I stayed home and did some grading and other school work with breaks for meals and to read books. It was nice to have a little time for doing "nothing."

The rest of the week was quite a blur, with the second General Chemistry exam on Thursday evening. I had a bit of a meltdown when the copier refused to scan my stack of exams. 

On Saturday I attended the Atlanta Gladiators home opener. It was a warm evening. They had a live band playing outside the arena that I enjoyed. The crowd was surprisingly small (maybe half capacity?) but energetic. Since I am now classified as a season ticket holder, I was able to stand in a long line for the special giveaway: I received a blanket, an aluminum tumbler, and a coupon for a cookie. I was also invited to sign the special dasher board. Then I waited in an even longer line to pick up my pre-ordered Gladiators cap. 

New hat!

Last Sunday I had brunch on Zoom with J & J. I made Dutch baby bunny and it actually turned out well. In the afternoon, I took MARTA downtown and met Katy at her hotel. She was in town for an infectious disease conference. We had beer at Skol Brewing (Viking theme, a Minnesota Viking fan club event had just ended) and then dinner at Alma Cocina.

Beer at Skol Brewing.

Dinner at Alma Cocina.

The rest of the week was pretty ordinary. I went to board games Monday evening, cribbage club on Tuesday, Wednesday I went home and forced myself to stay awake until I had finished the book for Thursday's book club meeting. I really liked the book, but Wednesday I did not feel well at all and I kept dozing off while sitting on the sofa holding the book. Regardless, it was a good book club meeting on Thursday; everyone loved the book (it was Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury). Friday I came home and watched TV and did some knitting. It is starting to look like something.

Knitting progress.

Yesterday all I did was grade student papers at home while doing laundry and cooking crock pot ribs. I also got more reading and knitting done. 

Today, I met CH at Stone Mountain Park and we hiked the trail up to the top. It was a cloudy day, but we could still see the Atlanta skyline as well as some other city skylines (we argued about which cities they were - I think Cumberland/Vinings and Sandy Springs/Dunwoody) and a number of other mountains. The trail up is strenuous: bare rock most of the time and occasionally steep. Lots of people on the trail. At the summit it was windy. The walk back down took half the time.

Selfie at the summit of Stone Mountain.

Atlanta skyline.

After our hike, we drove into Stone Mountain Village for brunch at the Sweet Potato Cafe, which was tiny and adorable. The food was great! I had a not-very-adventurous breakfast plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, grits, and a sweet potato biscuit. Then we walked a block or so over to Outrun Brewing, which I had visited once before. We had a couple of beers each there. Then we drove back to the park and I drove us around the mountain. We visited the Memorial lawn, with the view of the infamous Confederate carving on the side of the mountain.

Difficult to make out in my photo, but that's Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson on horseback in the carving.

The mountain is certainly something amazing. Just a big stone lump there surrounded by forest. I climbed Arabia Mountain to the south last spring and it is exactly the same kind of thing. The Park is huge, with lots of shops, restaurants, and activities. Someday I should go back when the weather is nicer to play mini-golf, ride the train, and whatever else. There are also lots more trails that are free, and I have the annual parking pass so I can go anytime I want (regular parking is $20 a day). Our last stop, as the rain started sprinkling, was at the Carillon on the lakeshore. I will have to find out when it gets played and go back to hear it. It has 732 bells and was made by Coca-Cola for the 1964 Worlds Fair, then donated to the park.

The Coca-Cola Carillon.

Midterm Week

This was midterm week and I was very tired. It seemed like every minute I wasn't actually in class, I had students in my office. That caused some very late nights at school. Monday and Wednesday I stayed until 7 pm or later. 

Tuesday I went to cribbage and had a better, though not great, week. Coming home I was stopped again by the paving crew for an hour on I-285. Luckily my GPS routed me around some of that or who knows how long I would have been stuck out there.

Thursday I parked at Chamblee Station and rode MARTA to West Lake, then walked about a mile to Westview Cemetery for Atlanta History Center's Party With the Past. We were allowed to wander around inside the mausoleum, and there was a history talk inside the chapel. There was a bar and some swag (I got a lapel pin and some brochures). I would like to go back for the longer tour of the cemetery and see more of it in the daylight. Around 8 pm, it started to rain, so I hung around waiting for that to pass before hiking back to MARTA. I still got pretty wet, including the book I had with me. I got home after 10 pm.

Before the rain, outside the mausoleum.

Friday I took MARTA to the first symphony concert of my subscription season. I enjoyed this concert very much. It started with a Bach cantata (#150) featuring the chamber choir, then a Grieg piece (Concerto in A minor) for piano and orchestra with a visiting Russian pianist (Pavel Kolesnikov) who wore a white suit with shiny black shoes and was very expressive with his arms while he played. The last piece was Symphony No 4 in E minor by Brahms. Another late night as I didn't get home until about 11 pm.

Found the tiny door outside Symphony Hall.

Saturday I got up early and rode MARTA to Midtown, then walked to Piedmont Park for Atlanta Pride Festival. I was there when the festival officially opened at 10 am, so I had an hour to wander around the booths and collect swag. I got some reusable bags, silicone bracelets, other trinkets, and informational brochures. I also got a temporary tattoo. From 11 am to 2 pm I volunteered at the Sunday Assembly table, which was fun. After that, I hiked back to MARTA and took the train to Oakhurst, then walked to K's house for Porchfest. I missed the concert in her yard, unfortunately. The woman was just packing up when I arrived. But I met K's other friends and her new kitten, and then we all walked down the road to another band and listened to them for almost an hour. A few of us stayed for dinner at the Imperial Cafe, which - like everything else - was packed with Porchfest visitors. But I met Kat, who plays street hockey and guides kayak groups. Maybe we'll all go kayaking on the river sometime soon. Again I didn't get home until after 10 pm.

Sunday Assembly table.

At Porchfest.

Sunday I drove to Helen to meet C and her family for lunch. I got there about 10:30 am and wandered around while I waited for them. We had a fun time. First, lunch at a German restaurant (I had schnitzel), then beer in the beer garden, then apple strudel at a bakery. We went in to some shops, including a candy shop where I bought a small amount of peanut brittle, and a toy shop where I bought some things for the nieces and nephews. We had another beer at a different place and dinner in a riverside steak and seafood restaurant. Then I drove home.

Chattahoochee River in Helen.

I don't feel that I've been home much this week. I only made a little progress on the cape, but with all the MARTA rides, I have read a lot of pages.

A little progress on the cape.

And Now It's October

Another busy week, full of classes and students, getting things done just in time.

Monday evening I was able to come home at a reasonable time and attend the POGIL book club on Zoom. We are reading The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching by Jonathan Zimmerman. For the first meeting, we discussed the first two chapters, but I had not finished yet so I felt a bit out of the loop. I have been reading this book in bed at night and falling asleep after two or three pages, so it's slow going. The book is interesting, I am just too tired to read much. I am supposed to read the next three chapters by the end of October; I hope I can do that. I learned that "recitation" used to actually be students reciting their texts from memory (sounds awful). The focus of the book is on the way professors have resisted professionalizing their craft for at least the past three hundred years. They/we have always insisted that teaching is an individual, personal art and not something that can be measured or improved scientifically. Intellectual freedom has been used as a shield to prevent anyone telling professors how to teach. There has also been some interesting history about when professors' jobs made the switch from prioritizing teaching (in Germany, students paid fees directly to the instructor, so there was an incentive to have the most popular classes, for example) to prioritizing scholarship (in the U.S. and elsewhere, a prevailing belief was that good researchers, productive scholars, should somehow automatically be good teachers).

Tuesday I played cribbage. I won three games this time. I'm hoping for better luck in October.

Wednesday I went to the monthly board game meetup at Red's. I was the first person there, and only three other people showed up. I was able to play Thebes with the first person, and when she had to leave, the other two and I played Scout. 

Thursday evening my sci-fi book club met to discuss Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. I thought the book was fine, but not particularly great. The magic system was interesting: based on Breath, a kind of life force that can be accumulated by taking other people's from them. Breath can be used to animate objects and it imparts some extra sensory information to its holders. There are also the Returned - people who have died and returned to life - who are considered gods, but must be "fed" Breath at least once a week. I was irritated by one of the other members who talked too much, in my opinion. It didn't help that Sanderson is one of his favorite authors, so he had a lot to say. For October we are reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury and I'm looking forward to it because I haven't read it before.

Friday I actually came home at a reasonable time and was able to relax after dinner. I finished weaving in ends for my On the Spice Market shawl while watching the first episode of The Lazarus Project on Netflix. Friends  J & J recommended it to me. I enjoyed it enough to watch two more episodes on Saturday evening, while beginning the next knitting project, Olivia's Cape. I planned this and bought yarn for it back in January, during the week of "start all the things"!

Finished and blocked shawl.

Starting the cape.

On Saturday, I went for a three mile walk on Path 400 with Sunday Assembly. It was seasonably cool in the morning; I wore jeans. It turned out to be only two of us this month, but the walk was still nice. We traveled the newly opened section between Old Ivy Park and Loridans Park, including the spur down to Mountain Way Common, which is where I went by mistake last month and got shouted at by the construction workers. 

On Path 400.

After the walk, I went to Atlanta Photography Group (a little gallery in a mall on Piedmont Avenue) to pick up my cousin's photo. He had entered it in a show in August and asked me to collect it for him when he wasn't able to come to Atlanta this week. 

At the Atlanta Photography Group gallery.

Today I have been working on school stuff mostly. I made soup in the crockpot and did some house cleaning tasks. In the afternoon I went to the Fall Festival hosted by my realtor (actually her realty group). It was in a posh neighborhood in Roswell. Supposed to be outdoors, everyone stayed inside because there was drizzly rain all afternoon today. I stayed a couple of hours, ate some treats and talked to people, especially my actual realtor, Casey and her friends. I forgot my phone in the car, so I didn't take any photos of the cute Halloween-themed cookies or the many Halloween decorations around the house and yard, unfortunately. After I'd had enough socializing, I came home and worked some more. 

Autumn Begins As September Ends

It is still quite warm in Georgia, although the season has turned to autumn, officially. I saw an old FB post of mine that reported frost on the ground in Michigan at this time, and it sent me into some cognitive dissonance. I haven't needed as much as a sweatshirt yet.

We finished scoring the General Chemistry exams and handed them back this week. I think the results were good, an average of around 66% with several scores in the 90's. I had a couple of those in my "quick" section, but the other section had a high of 79, which tracks with my impression of the two sections. I offered the students participation points for coming to my office to go over their exams individually, and so I had a few days of constant visitors. I didn't remind them that they get participation points anytime they come to my office, and it did spur a few of the reluctant ones.

The other big event was in the Modeling and Problem Solving class. We finished the first Module this week. The deliverable for this Module is a scientific poster, and the students presented in teams during the class time on Thursday. We had a few visitors from the other sections and from last year's class. I think our group did well overall, and it was enjoyable to see them rise to the challenge. 

On Monday evening I went to the board game group. Tuesday I played cribbage, and won three out of nine games, so not as catastrophically bad as the previous two weeks have been. Thursday evening I met K & P for outdoor Oakhurst jazz night. They provided dinner and brought me two bottles of Founders Porter, not knowing that Founders comes from Grand Rapids. So I had a bittersweet moment of nostalgia when I first saw the familiar label. Friday I stayed on campus late to attend the first Theatre production of the year, A Respectable Wedding by Bertolt Brecht. One of the chemistry students had a part in it. I thought it was strange; it takes place at a wedding reception but the guests don't really get along and there was a lot of shouting and crying. I should have read about it before seeing it, I think, because I found it difficult to follow what was happening.

Saturday I got up early and went to Fort Yargo State Park for Georgia State Parks volunteer day. I had a five mile hike while collecting trash. Our ranger, Jake, gave a commentary on the plants and animals along the way. We saw many Joro spiders in their immense webs, as well as several kinds of mushrooms/fungus, and a tiny ring necked snake. There was evidence of beaver activity in the creek, too.

Our trash collecting crew on the trail.

After the hike, I explored more of the park. There is a reconstructed block house similar to the original fort, as well as some other period-appropriate buildings. I guess there are reenactors who come out sometimes to demonstrate trades there.

View of the lake from the fort.

I also checked out the beach recreation area after the man at the visitor center (of course I took this opportunity to get my parks passport stamped) told me it was just renovated. It was a very nice swimming beach. There was a little shop for snacks, a shower building, a disc golf course, pickleball courts, and a mini golf course. Even though it was hot, I played a round of mini golf.

Big beautiful beach!

After the park, I went to downtown Winder for lunch. I had a delicious crepe and grits, and then I walked a couple of blocks for pistachio ice cream. While I was in town, I took photos of the new Barrow County courthouse off the highway as well as the historic courthouse downtown. 

Historic Barrow County Courthouse in Winder, Georgia.

Next, I drove back through Lawrenceville and stopped at Slow Pour Brewing. This was the brewery I visited during my first interview trip in February 2024. I needed to check it off my Gwinnett County beer quest, so I spent a comfortable hour reading in their taproom while drinking an Oktoberfest marzen. Then I walked two blocks down the street to Third Rail Distillery (also on the Gwinnett County list) to get a bottle of their bourbon whiskey.

Last, I drove to Cumming and found the Forsyth County courthouse. Downtown Forsyth was very governmental. Not a lot of shops or restaurants, but several large administrative buildings. Also, very few people on foot. I took the requisite photos but that was all. There was a historical marker on the corner describing a lynching that took place in the county in 1912 and resulted in the county excluding Black folks for most of the 20th century. Not a very nice thought.

Forsyth County Courthouse in Cumming, Georgia.

I met my friend C in another part of Cumming so we could try Crooked Culture Brewing and have dinner together. I had a blueberry sour to begin with, then delicious supper, and finished with a kolsch before coming home at the end of a very long, active day.

Neptune Is Not A Blueberry (blueberry sour)

Today I've done laundry, made carrot soup, baked some bread, and washed dishes twice. One of the professors who lives near me had a small group of us over for brunch today, so I had a pleasant couple of hours on her porch conversing with other women faculty. When I got home I caught up on some work for classes, and then we had Family Meet. I finished my pre-tenure review portfolio as well! It felt very good to hit Send on the email to the tenure & promotion committee chairperson. That thing has been weighing on me all summer and I'm glad to be done with it, for awhile at least.

Semester Week 4

 The fourth week of the fall semester is typically when the first year students have their first exams, and it's generally a pretty difficult week for everyone. They don't know how to study, some of them have never needed to study, and yet they are all super anxious about exams. I had a seemingly endless line of General Chemistry students at my office on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. On top of working with my colleagues to write questions and put together the actual paper exam, I volunteered to organize the alternate time for those students who had "unavoidable conflicts" with our evening exam time. It was challenging to get a list so I knew what size room to use and how many copies to bring. I asked for names by the end of the day on Monday, but on Wednesday at 7 pm I was still getting emails "please, please, can I join the alternate time?" So I ended up with eight students at 8 am on Thursday. Of course, that was the day there was a car accident on the road just in front of my neighborhood that delayed me getting to campus by over ten minutes. Then I had my normal day and finished by giving the exam at the regular time (6 pm) and then spending an hour scanning the pages and separating them into stacks for scoring. I didn't leave campus until almost 9 pm.

Monday evening I was able to come home and cook pork chops with glazed carrots for dinner. That would have been nice except I received a summons for jury service in the mail.

I've only lived here 13 months!

The report date is October 13, which is the Monday of our fall break. We only get two days here, not a week like Aquinas had, and I have mixed feelings about spending my break at the county courthouse. On one hand, at least I won't miss any classes. On the other hand, I wanted to do something fun! I did try to reschedule but the county will only allow you to move the date a maximum of 3 weeks. I even emailed the clerk and asked if I couldn't reschedule for summer, or even the first week of January. The answer was a flat "no". So now I have to find someone to cover my classes (luckily only General Chemistry since FYS doesn't meet that week and I have a co-teacher for STM-101). Worse, that week is the second General Chemistry exam, so if I am chosen for a jury I might not be around for that (which some would consider a bonus, but I feel guilty).

Tuesday I played cribbage and had the worst night ever. Only one win out of nine games. It was pretty awful. Things can only improve, right?

Wednesday I stayed late at school to prepare materials for Thursday and Friday, since I had so many student visitors that I didn't get any work done in the usual hours.

Thursday evening was the exam, as already described.

Friday I went out for lunch with my colleague C because it was her birthday. We went to Fox Brothers BBQ (my third time) and I had the pulled pork sandwich with potato salad. Delicious. I went to my first Faculty Senate meeting to make my report as Chair of the committee, which was fine. The best part was that the meeting was in the Juvenile Reading Room in the library, and the room is actually full of children's books and DVDs (leftover from an early childhood program that no longer exists, they told me). While I was looking around, I found the fifth book in The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper that I've been reading this summer. The public library had the first four but not that one, so I checked it out on my way back to my office. I stayed on campus late again to get things ready for Monday. I stopped at Kroger on the way home, so it was even later when I reached my house. 

Saturday I spent the morning grading my page of the exam. I had Family Zoom which was just the parents and me. We discussed plans for Christmas at Katy's. I need to decide whether I'm going to drive or take Amtrak to Virginia. I'm attracted to the train trip: I would board in Atlanta at 11 pm and arrive in DC the following afternoon, so I could get the roomette and sleep most of the way (and it's less expensive than flying). But I'm also excited by the road trip opportunity. I've started a list of National Parks sites along the route and I discovered the Virginia only has 43 State Parks and there's a prize for visiting multiples of five of them (a checklist! hooray!). Plus, I might be able to visit Farmville and see friends there. But it is 650 miles each way, so I'd be driving for two days and need to stop overnight somewhere. Right now, I think road trip is winning. The parents are planning to get an AirBnB for the three of us, and it would be nice to have my own car while I'm there. I definitely want to take the Metro out to Reston now that I've seen Another Way of Living with the documentary film group. It's on the Silver Line that goes to Dulles airport; maybe I can get people to go with me to the Air & Space museum there and have a quick stop in Reston, too.

After that I had dinner and boardgames over Zoom with my GR friends. I made pizza. The crust turned out flat and hard again; I'm clearly doing something wrong. Maybe the flour is bad? Or the yeast? I let the refrigerated dough come to room temperature and it looked puffy and good until I rolled it out. Maybe I rolled it too much? I don't know why it isn't soft and bready like it used to be. I mean, it's still edible, but the texture isn't right.

Today I did other school work (preparing FYS for tomorrow and working on my portfolio) while baking banana bread and making vegan green bean casserole for the Sunday Assembly potluck. The casserole turned out very good; it's made with fresh mushrooms and great northern beans instead of Cream of Mushroom soup. I took Planet Unknown and played that with three guys. 

The other thing this week was I finally finished On the Spice Market. I did the bind off this afternoon while things were in the oven. I still need to weave in ends and block it, but today was really the first time I was able to spread it out and look at it. It took me almost exactly nine months and I think it turned out great!

Ta-Da! Finished at last!

Situation Normal

A normal week. I taught a bunch of classes and went to meetings, as usual. I was elected chairperson of the Curriculum Committee, unfortunately. I was trying not to be in charge of anything, but nobody else wanted the job either, and I figured it might help with my tenure case if I showed some leadership.

Monday night I went to the board game group, and there was only one other person there. But by the time I'd eaten my sandwich, two others had arrived. We played three games and it was quite enjoyable. 

Tuesday night I played cribbage, and not too well. I started off with two skunks and a regular win, but then I lost five games in a row to finish with only ten points. 

On Wednesday, I was treated to pizza lunch from the HR department for completing the summer wellness challenge. I logged the fifth-most time walking among employees. In addition to lunch, I received a stuffed Petey the Stormy Petrel for my office.

Petey the Stormy Petrel

Thursday night I went to book club and found a copy of Planet Unknown on the clearance table for only $10, so I bought it at the end of the night. The book discussion was good, too. 

It's a big box.

Friday night was documentary film night. Always enjoyable. We watched "Knock Down the House" which is about the 2018 House of Representatives races in which a bunch of women of color ran against established Democrats. Most of them lost, but it was a very interesting snapshot of those times. 

Also on Friday my Division held STEM Fest, when faculty present posters about our research and attract students to work with us. I had an old poster and had a number of visitors, mostly people from this year's General Chemistry class who were earning participation points, but a few from last year also came to say hello. I enjoyed a lovely King of Pops treat while talking to everyone. 

Me with an old poster

After that, the chemistry club decorated lab coats and I went to mooch pizza and admire their creativity.

Saturday morning I joined a Meetup group of women for Neighborhood Walks. We met at a tea shop near the Beltline. The group walked about a mile to Ponce City Market, then came back. I enjoyed talking to some of the women, especially one named Laura who is a science fiction fan, although her favorite author is Orson Scott Card. At the end of the walk we had a presentation from a women's wellness coach, and a raffle. I won a gift card to the tea shop, Just Add Honey, so I immediately went inside and used it to buy some Hibiscus and some Honeybush tea. The shop had seemingly everything and they also make tea drinks to go. 

A section of the Beltline. There were a lot of people there, so this is the only photo I took that wasn't crowded.

Outside Just Add Honey after the walk.

I haven't done a lot this weekend, otherwise. I swept the patio and read a lot of books. I had grading to finish, as well as the letter for my portfolio.

September Already

The second week of classes was as full as the first, even though it was a shortened week because of the Labor Day holiday on Monday. We had program meetings for FYS and the President's update, and I contributed a short presentation on Ascend for our faculty learning session. I had lots of meetings with students since my FYS section was required to have one-on-ones with me before Friday, and some of the students from my other classes also showed up.

On Thursday evening I met K and P in their new neighborhood in Decatur for a free outdoor jazz concert. They generously provided dinner and beer. I enjoyed the music, the time to catch up with friends, and the opportunity to see a new part of Atlanta.

Gwen and the band, Grits Bits.

Wednesday evening I attended the athletics pep rally on campus, Petey's Madness, where the fall teams were introduced. It was not as stiflingly hot as last year, and there was less pressure for faculty to attend. I only recognized one other faculty colleague there, although I did meet someone from the Advancement Office. After the team introductions, there was a silly relay race and then a 3-point shot contest. I did not snag any swag except a paper fan.

Our mascot, Petey the Stormy Petrel.

On Saturday I met the Sunday Assembly group for a walk in Sandy Springs. It was only about two miles on a paved path, and we stopped for beverages at a coffee house near the end. There were only three of us, so I was able to get to know them a little and it sounds like we have several interests in common (science, beer, books). After that, I went to my local public library to pick up my reward for reading 50 books so far this year. It was a nice mug, sticker, and bookmark. The theme is "100 Years, 100 Books" celebrating the 100 years of the library system and we earn a prize for every 25 books read. The Friends of the Library was doing their annual Lemonade Party (which I missed last year) so I attended that and signed up to be a Friend also.

My prize library mug.

I've spent my Sunday working on my review portfolio, which is due to my Chair this week. I think the letter, the main component, is done. I just need to assemble all the supporting materials, and Chair says she doesn't need to see that so I have a few weeks. I almost cannot believe that I'm going through the tenure process again; it was difficult enough the first time and I certainly had no wish to repeat it. But I believe changing jobs and coming here was the right thing to do, so here I am.

 

DragonCon

First week of class was great. I enjoyed meeting all my students, mostly first-years. They are anxious and squirrelly, but that's normal. We had Convocation on Thursday and it was a nice ceremony. I didn't take any good photos though. 

In other news, I gave away 55 books this summer through BookMooch. I'm trying to reduce the book collection, since so many are just packed in boxes and I don't have shelf space for them. There are still many to unpack and sort through, so this is an ongoing project. Likewise, I started selling the board games I don't play, and I sold 9 through BGG Marketplace this summer. The immediate result of all this is that I have a slightly larger clear space in the third bedroom. It's basically the size of one stack of boxes.

The most exciting part of the week was attending DragonCon. I was a volunteer at the Art Show, which earned me a free badge. I left school right after class on Friday to take MARTA downtown to check in before my first shift. I was stationed outside a breakout room, and my job was to count the people who entered the room. Not too hard, and I was able to listen to the band that played two hours. They were called Wasted Wine and I enjoyed their music.

Wasted Wine playing Friday afternoon.

When my shift ended, I had time to attend a panel. One of the other volunteers and I found the Volunteer Village area and took advantage of the free snacks and swag there. Then I found a Murderbot panel happening in the same hotel, and that turned out to be pretty good. After the panel I went home.

On Saturday I had a bunch of errands to run in the morning. I drove over to the Doraville MARTA station after lunch and found it more full than I'd ever seen before. I had to park on level 4. I got downtown just in time for my shift, and this time I was stationed on one of the doors. My job was to check badges and turn away people with open food or drink containers. They let me have a radio and headset, although I never used it. Also outside the hall was a performance stage, so I was able to listen to the various bands all afternoon. It was really interesting to see all the people in costumes. Some gave me swag or ribbons.

One of the bands: the Dust Bowl Fairies.

At the door.

After the Saturday shift, I wandered back to Volunteer Village for a snack. Then I stood in line for 45 minutes for the Sixty-Minute Silmarillion, which was a panel retelling Tolkien's history of the First Age of Middle Earth. Very funny! Original songs and a slideshow. They said an older version is on YouTube, but I haven't looked for it.

Sunday I had school work to finish in the morning, and I went downtown after lunch again. I was allowed door duty again, which was equally fun. Afterwards, I was considering the Atlanta Symphony show, but the line was already extremely long, so instead I went to a Star Wars panel that turned out to be random people selected from the audience, reading awkward dialog from the films. It was very funny, and I only had to wait 30 minutes in line.

Droids outside the Star Wars area.

Monday was the last day of the Con. I went a little earlier, but not early enough. I thought I might get into the vendor hall, but the line was already too long. I had door duty again, but only for three hours. After the art show closed, we helped load out. 

The last band was Vicki's Dream, a heavy metal group. They were loud, but very good.

Big yellow carts to carry artists' stuff out the loading dock.

Before we left, volunteers got to choose a piece of donated art. I got a print called Lunar Bunnies. It was kind of a pain to carry home on the train, but I managed not to crease it or drop it.

My gift.

Since I spent so much time on trains, I finished my car book (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) and started another (The Elegance of the Hedgehog), which is helping me work through the enormous TBR list. Both of these books were acquired in 2021.