Digital Analogue

Finding the summer groove

So here I am in my office at 7:30 on a Saturday night. Why? Well, let me back up.

I got back from the AP reading on Tuesday, and mostly just checked email, watched a little TV, and went to bed. Wednesday I'd intended to get into the office, but after mowing my lawn and puttering a little, I took a nap, and then it was time for the faculty potluck. Thursday I did some weedwhacking, then tidied a little and took a siesta, waking up in time to watch some TV, catch up on webcomics, and go to bed. I'd been on the edge of getting sick for most of the reading, and three months of sleep deprivation are taking their revenge.

So yesterday, I woke up around 10 and finally made it in to my office around noon. I got a little done, got lunch, and then sat down for some of my first really productive time in a while. I actually have a lot that I want to get done this summer, including at least two SIGCSE submissions, and I'm determined to not let this all slip until September (the deadline, not to mention, the start of school). So in and amongst my various house projects, I want to make sure to get at least a few hours of work done every day.

Normally I'd happily exclude weekends, but I'm going to be up in Palatine for much of next week, almost certainly not getting work done (probably not even trying), so I want to establish a bit of a groove before I leave. Not that I'm doing nothing but working—having finished the big kitchen-painting project before the reading, I'm now freed up to start on the next big one, re-hanging my windows. I spent several hours this morning dismantling my upstairs bathroom window (selected as a prototype because it's not huge, it's accessible, and it's painted, so if I accidentally gouge something it'll be easy to cover up). There was a brief moment where it was looking like the broken weight-ropes had fallen all the way to the floor inside the wall, well-nigh unretrievable, but that doesn't appear to be the case. These aren't the most accessible windows in the world, but they'll be ok now that I know how they're put together. And since all the windows in the house appear to be original, they should all have roughly the same construction. And although many of the upper windows are painted shut, it looks like they're all properly double-hung, so once I'm done they should all open from both the top and the bottom. Squee!

Anyway, after all that, I'm now back to writing sample assignments for a CS2 course. It's kind of a neat (and certainly novel) experience writing assignments and having the time to make them just right, since I'm not under the pressure of having to print and distribute them in a few hours (or a few minutes...). Maybe I should do this more often!

"I just got everything perfect in my life, and then I went and messed it all up by having a baby. I don't feel that way anymore, but the thought certainly crossed my mind a few times at the beginning. ... I compare the process to becoming a vampire, your old self dies in a sad and painful way, but then you come out the other side with immortality, super strength and a taste for human blood. At least that's how it was for me. At any rate, it's complicated." --Jonathan Coulton