Category Archives: Personal Issues

Catching Up: September 23, 2022 Edition

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It’s the first week of Fall Quarter for me. Whee.

[+] Mary of Steel Magnificat needs a new car. If you’re familiar with her blog, you know that her now-defunct car was the “Neighborhood Trolley” and used not only for her family’s needs, but she also drove people to the grocery store, to the doctor, and to myriad appointments that would have been very difficult (if not impossible) to get to on public transportation. The GoFundMe for her is here. (I can’t donate at the moment, so I’m sharing it.)

[+] Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was flown from Edinburgh to London last week on a RAF Boeing Globemaster C17. The story behind the choice of that plane is beautiful.

This is what leadership looks like.

[+] The services at Westminster Abbey and Windsor Chapel made me happy to be Episcopalian, but what undid me were the pipers. I think the most touching moment was the pipe band playing “The Skye Boat Song” as they were parading behind the hearse to Windsor Chapel. I also loved the two appearances by the Queen’s personal piper.

Between the pipers and the military parade through Central London, I have no doubt my grandpa was geeking out at all of this in heaven. I’m pretty sure the Queen was also pretty happy with everything as well.

Catching Up: September 17, 2022

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It’s been a mentally tough few weeks since I posted. Summer Quarter burned me out to the point where I spent a few weeks just playing Cross-Stitch World on Facebook because I was so mentally drained.

Daniel started school, so I’ve had some guilt-free naptime after getting him on the bus. He also had an Audiology appointment this week which went well. He liked the audiologist we saw as well as her assistant, so we got a good hearing test. They’re repairing his hearing aids, so we’ll probably have them back next week.

I have my schedule for the quarter, and I will be on campus three days a week. I’m kind of stunned by this because I’m “getting my life back”, but it’s tinged with some bitterness because the last 2 1/2 years have shown me the utter selfishness of people who are angry because they’re being mildly inconvenienced by having to keep others safe. We could probably have been back to “normal” sooner if people had quarantined, worn masks, stayed home, and gotten vaccinated.

Catching Up: Things Your Tutor Would Like You to Do (College Edition)

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I just finished Summer Quarter, and this is my list of things I’d really like students to start doing.

[+] Please read your syllabus/course documents. Seriously, read them. Your instructor is listing out a lot of information that you need to know in those, and they’re putting the time in to create those documents.

[+] If you have a question about your instructor’s expectations for the assignment that is not covered in the instructions, please email your instructor. I feel like I need to make a recording of me saying this because I honestly don’t know what your instructor wants if it’s not an instructor that I have had before. They’re willing to answer your email, so talk to them. Also… stop asking me five versions of the same question and getting cross with me when I reply with the words “asked and answered.”

[+] Stop complaining when your instructor deducts points for things listed in their syllabus or things they have told you to fix multiple times. You know what I said about reading your course documents? I meant it. If your instructor told you that assignments need to be double-spaced and in 12 pt. Georgia font, they’re not kidding. If your instructor tells you that you need to write out dialogue, listen to them. If I remind you to do those things, stop complaining about me making more work for you. Your instructor is within their rights to deduct points if they’ve stated the requirements or given you that feedback.

[+] Stop taking free extensions from instructors unless you need them. Extensions are an emergency thing, not something to depend upon. There is an instructor at the college who consistently gives his students extension after extension for non-emergency reasons… and it cuts into the time they have to do the next set of work. I’ve had to tell my students not to take the extensions because it creates a snowball effect in terms of not being able to meet deadlines and needing more extensions. I’ve had to do things like set guideposts on dates that they need to get assignments done so that those extensions are no longer necessary. So please, STOP TAKING THOSE EXTENSIONS UNLESS YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY.

[+] Please, I beg you, STOP PROCRASTINATING. Procrastination on your part does not equal an emergency on mine. I’m totally happy to help you figure out a schedule to get things done and avoid having to do too much on one day, but I can’t help you if you’re going to slack off and save everything until the day before it’s due.

[+] Please at least look at your classes’ Canvas sites before we meet. Ideally, you should at least attempt your homework before you see me, but I can deal with you coming without doing that if you’re stuck on being able to start. However, please at least KNOW what your assignment is so that I can help you. When you come and haven’t even looked at what you have due, it makes it really hard to help you because your instructor may have not given me access to that Canvas page.

Catching Up: August 19, 2022 Edition

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It’s been hard to have something to write about because I’m literally working, watching YouTube, and sleeping.

[+] Kiddo had an ADHD appointment last week. He is now 5’3″ and has doubled his weight since his g-tube surgery 4 years ago. Unfortunately, he is really constipated, so life is full of suppositories and Miralax.

[+] Next week is finals week, and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s been a bit of an intense summer, and I’m kind of burned out. Interpersonal Communication is a tiring class to tutor, and I’ve got three sections of it on my tutoring roster. None of the instructors teach it the same way either. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m having to answer every question with the words “I don’t know. Email your instructor.”

Catching Up: August 7, 2022 Edition

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It’s 12:39 a.m. on August 7th, and I have very little to tell you about my life because I’m eating, drinking, working with students, watching too much YouTube, and not sleeping near enough. All the student stuff is kinda sorta protected by FERPA (and I’m not feeling like getting into the Come to Jesus conversations I’m having to have with a few of them), so here is the stuff I’ve been watching for the last week or so on YouTube. There’s A LOT of them, so I’m putting a cut in this post. Click on “Continue reading” to see the whole shebang. (And yes, I have a weird YouTube algorithm.)

Continue reading →

Catching Up: July 29, 2022 Edition

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TGIF…

[+] This week, I discovered Steel Magnificat, the blog of Mary Pezzulo. I had seen friends link up stories from her blog before, but I wish I had taken the time to read her blog before now. She is an amazing writer and an even more incredible person.

[+] We’re having a church picnic at a member’s farm on the 7th, and I spent this week arranging to *NOT* have to figure out how to put worship online that Sunday. I’ve been out there before and the part of the farm we’ll be at is kinda primitive. I would probably have to record worship and upload it later… and I don’t have the space on my phone to record a 90-minute service. Broadcasting it off of my laptop would require really dedicated Internet access, and I really don’t think they have it in that part of the property. Also… I haven’t had a service off from running things and doing Zoom (we’re talking Sundays, Holy Week, and funerals) since April 25, 2021. I think I (and everyone else on the committee who switches around from Sunday to Sunday) can use a Sunday off.

[+] Daniel had an ADHD appointment scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8. My alarm didn’t go off and Daniel woke me up at 8:22. I called them apologetically and rescheduled it. They were cold to me on the phone, and I don’t blame them one bit because I know how much of a headache it is from working in a clinic when people are no-shows.

[+] One of my new guilty pleasures is Code Blue Cam. It is videos from police body cams, and it’s interesting to see the job from that perspective. I am not an ACAB person by any stretch (as I have relatives in law enforcement), and I am absolutely in favor of police having body cams that are not allowed to be turned off. (A lot of jurisdictions have civil and criminal penalties for officers who do so.) The department that seems to have the majority of videos right now is the La Crosse Police Department, and one fo the things that surprised me is that they have to put their guns in a lockbox when they head into the station.

Catching Up: July 23, 2022 Edition

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Oh mercy…

[+] I’ve been asked how people can pray for me job-wise, and the best way currently is to pray for clarity because there is still a lot of vagueness about what will happen.

[+] I’ve heard ALLLLLLL about “beaver nuggets” from my Texan friends and Emily of Snake Discovery is obsessed with Buc-ee’s, so I found a site where you can order food from them and ordered myself some of their gummy bears and some beaver nuggets. The gummy bears were forgettable, but the beaver nuggets are brown sugar covered pieces of puffed cornmeal that are ADDICTIVE. However, the owners of Buc-ee’s are huge supporters of Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz, so I won’t be ordering any more of their food… at least, I won’t order any more of it without making a donation to Beto.

[+] My schedule for the summer is still in flux, and I got four new students this week. I’m doing LOTS of Interpersonal Communication classes, Business Math, Business Computers, an Ethnic Studies class, and a Sociology class.