I need to get going for the day. Looks like I can get a walk in with the dog if I do it around mid-day, only 15% chance of rain. I could maybe clean out one water drain also, then tackle inside the house work.

vacuum
sweep/mop
put away laundry
change sheets

t waves

I've been reading along and sending out good thoughts and lots of love, but I haven't felt up to posting. ~ma to everyone who needs it.

Hi Gud! Sorry about the medical billing awfulness.

One of the things we've been trying to emphasize at my work is that the mid-semester jump to online teaching is a) not something that can have the same expectations as face-to-face teaching and b) not the same as a carefully crafted, deliberate online course. There's a reason we schedule 6-12 months to design and produce the latter. And they're not right for every course even then.

Sorry for the rant.

Rant-worthy stuff.

Good to see your pixels, Gud. The medical system is the absolute worst. I'm sorry you have to battle this absurdity. If the bill has already gone to collections you may be able to settle for a fraction.

Sorry for the rant.

I certainly enjoyed it!

There's a good bit of preening by administrators about how well this went, but it had nothing to do with administrators. For my campus it is based on tens of thousands of faculty and staff donating space in their homes, computer equipment, and broadband to the cause of completing the university's business.

It's not much to ask of the faculty, who have for years been privileged to work from home part of the time, and are prepared for it. But it can be a substantial burden on the lower paid staff members who really do not have the resources to provide an ad hoc outpost for the university at their own expense.

Many staff live in rural areas without good broadband, and some students have returned to those places. They have their phones, but really who is going to do eight hours of clerical work or read a textbook on a phone? The university has set up high-speed wireless in the football stadium parking lot and some staff and students drive their cars in, park in a socially distant way, and work all day from the passenger seat. A few students have made a lark of it with lawn chairs, coolers, and beach umbrellas, but it's mostly desperate people trying to hold on to their jobs. The administrators keep saying how grateful they are for the way everyone stepped up, but we'll have to see how grateful they are when it comes time to review staff compensation.

I don't face any of those issues. As long as my students and colleagues don't mind occasional Zoom interruptions by rambunctious twins (10 years old now, meara!), I'm set. But it's finals week here, so once I grade my students' final exams and papers it will be time for me to start analyzing data and writing my own papers again. That's my real job, as far as my department is concerned. We'll see how that goes with rambunctious twins in the mix.

Ten????? Omg when did that happen. I thought they were like 5!

Timelies all!

For some reason Mr. S has been insisting on going through the bins of his projects from school, deciding which things he wants to keep. Bits of paper everywhere...

on the upside is he occupied without you?

No, he insists on Daddy helping him.(which often means doing it for him)

I just went for a walk with a friend! It was only half an hour, masked and walking on opposite edges of the sidewalk, but that was the most in-person interaction I've had since March 16.