Tidbits

(1) Today was a nice change of pace for me at work. Three colleagues and I had an administrative retreat off campus. We booked a conference room at the Grand Dakota Lodge, a local conference center. We ordered breakfast and ate while we worked, doing the same again for dinner at noon. We spent the whole day reflecting on past and current practice and strategizing for the future of our unit at the university, all while escaping the daily routine and setting with its interruptions to sustained, deliberate thought and creativity. We even set aside time for reading and discussion of scholarly articles for professional development. It was refreshing and team-building!

(2) Although I was away from campus today, Suzanna was not! She and her class hiked over from their elementary school to the science building to join one of the natural sciences professors for some fun experiments. One involved putting something into a big pot placed underneath an empty littler pot and waiting for colorful flames to spontaneously burst forth from the empty smaller pot. Another dealt with a pickle through which the professor got electricity to travel, lighting up the pickle. He also dipped a copper penny into something that turned it silver and then into something else that turned it gold. His assistant added potassium to a bucket of ice, which started the ice on fire. Each child in Suzanna's class got to put vinegar and baking soda inside an uninflated balloon, which they sealed and then pounded; the friction mixed and heated up the vinegar and baking soda, which caused the balloon to inflate! I asked Suzanna if she were interested in becoming a scientist, and she said "no." I asked her why not. She said, "Because I'll be too busy doing things that I really want to do, like being a doctor and a singer."

(3) Abigail's most recent "thing": to hide about the house and wait to be noticed (as missing) and/or to be found. I walked upstairs to find her butt in hot pink sweatpants glaring out from underneath the dining room table. She was huddling silently in a 1950s public school atomic bomb drill position, just waiting for no one in particular to say, "Where's Abigail?" so that she could burst forth with a "Boo!" and surprise them. Instead, I said, "Hi, Abigail" and kept on walking. Later I spied her bright pink pajama-clad legs sticking out from under the coffee table in the living room. "Hi, Abigail" again. She's got patience, for sure, but she could use some advice RE: camouflage.

(4) At school Hillary has made something for me for Valentine's Day. I know this because several times she has approached me with something hidden behind her back, asking me, "Aren't you eager to know what I made for you for Valentine's Day?" I tell her that she should wait until next week to give it to me, whereupon she reiterates that I must be too curious to wait that long. "Nope, I'm not," I reply, and ve-e-ery reluctantly she returns to her bedroom with whatever it is until a few hours have passed and she spies it in her room once more. Then the procedure repeats.

(5) I'm reading a book via e-mail. Each day, a portion of the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton arrives in my inbox, per my request. I went to Daily Lit and found a book that I wanted to (re)read--and that was free (most of them on the site are, actually)--and signed up to have the book e-mailed to me in short sections, easy enough to read as they arrive daily. I loved the book when I read it in high school, and I'm pretty sure we have it in hard copy, too. I just wanted to try this new electronic method of reading a book. I still prefer to hold a physical book, but this system helps me control my pace and reminds me daily to keep reading.