Spring 2013 Schedule

Although there might be one change, this looks like my schedule for next semester;

MWF at 10am:  Introductory Psychology
MW at 2pm:  Research Methods
M at 6pm: Human Sexuality
TTh at 9:30am: Introductory Psychology
T at 6pm: Child Growth and Development

There are several great things about this schedule.  The number 1 great part of this schedule is that I have no 8am classess!!!!!  My earliest class is 9:30am!!  No more getting up at 5:30am for Professor Oja!
The second great thing about this schedule is that I taught 3 of these 4 classes this semester.  So I only have 1 new prep!  That is so awesome, and will save me so much time. 
A third great thing about this schedule is that I actually get one unit of overload, which is basically overtime.  Per my contract, I get 15 units of classes.  Usually that is 5 3-unit classes.  But Research Methods is a 4-unit class, so I get overtime by adding that to my schedule!  Woot!  Apparently, that extra pay gets saved until the summer, and distributed when I presumably aren't working.  That'll really help out my summer savings!  If I teach a class this summer, I could be really set! 
With two night classes, I'll still get to call my friend Robert twice a week.  This is a fourth cool thing about this schedule.  I know Robert will agree. 
Oh, I just realized another thing!  I'll be done with classes at 11am on Fridays!  This a fifth great part of this schedule!  It'll make it way easier to go on trips.  Hello, my niece and nephews!  :)

The change that I'm hoping for is to take away the TTh Introductory Psychology class, and add the same class in a MWF schedule.  That way, both of my Introductory Psychology classes are on the same schedule.

Birthday Plans in 2012

It's that time of year again!  It's cooling down, the pumpkins are out, and I'm getting older! 

My birthday is the one day of the year that I plan a do-nothing day.  Sure, there are other days of the year in which I'm completely unproductive, but my birthday is the day that I plan to be that way.

Usually, I try to watch a lot of Netflix and hope that someone will bring me food.  Sleeping in is mandatory, and napping is encouraged.  When available, spending some time in a jacuzzi is preferred over taking a shower. 

This year, I've decided to focus my relaxing a bit.  This birthday will be all about reading.  I want to be able to spend a whole day emersed in the books that I'm reading.  I might check out Mark Watches or Mark Reads, too.  That counts as reading!  I'm not sure if browsing Facebook counts as reading, though.  Hopefully there will also be napping, and there will probably be a little watching of Glee, but I really want to focus on the reading. 

I'm concerned, though, that I'll be reading student homework.  Or reading a textbook chapter in prepartion for a lecture.  That is not a relaxing birthday!  And it's totally productive!  How can I have a do-nothing reading day when I'm working?  So, hopefully I get my grading and lectures done beforehand.

Book List 2012

My family still does Christmas lists.  Pasted below is my extensive list of books that I'd like.  That doesn't even include the ones on my Amazon Wish List (look under my email address).  Really, if you're looking for a gift for me (my birthday is coming up soon!), go to Amazon.  If you can't find my Wish List, then choose from below!  The books are in the order of how much I want them.  Well, at least for the first 10 or so.  Then it's just a giant list.

Auntie M's Book List

Heinlein’s Friday; Starship Troopers

Max Brooks, World War Z

Mark Acres, RuneSword: Dark Divide Volume Five

Alfred Bester, The Stars are My Destiny

Marion Zimmer Bradley books

Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Asimov, The Foundation Trilogy;  The Caves of Steel

Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; Journey to the Center of the Earth

Usula K LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness; The Dispossessed

C.S. Lewis, The Space Trilogy

Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife

Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes; The Illustrated Man

Gregory Maguire, Wicked

Tolkien, The Silmarillion,

Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere,

Arthur C. Clark’s Rednezvous with Rama

Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony

Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time (series)

Alan Moore, Watchmen

China Melville, Perdido Street Station

Stephen King, The Dark Tower (series)

Stephen King, The Stand

Walter Miller, A Canticle of Leibowitz

Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms

David Eddings, The Belgariad

Brandon Sanderson, The Mistborn (series)

Larry Niven, Ringworld

Dan Simmons, The Hyperion Cantos

Tupelo Hassman’s Girlchild

Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

Ben Sherwood’s The Survivor’s Club

Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

Joe Halderman, The Forever War

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods; Going Postal

Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever

Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vorkosigan Saga

Niven & Pournelle, The Mote in God’s Eye; Lucifer’s Hammer

Terry Goodkind, The Sword of Truth

Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Susanna Clarke, Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell

Raymond E. Feist, The Riftwar Saga

Terry Brooks, The Shannara Trilogy

Robin Hobb, The Farseer Trilogy

R. A. Salvatore, the Legend of Drizzt (series)

Jacqueline Carey, The Kushiel’s Legacy (series)

Steven Erikson, The Malzan book of the Fallen (series)

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair

Iain M. Banks, The Culture Series

Neal Stephenson, Anathem

Jim Butcher, The Codex Alera (series)

Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun

Timothy Zahn, The Thrawn Triology

Michael Moorcock, The Elric Saga

Robert McKinley, Sunshine

Vernor Vinge, A Fire Upon the Deep

Kim Stanley Robinson, The Mars Trilogy

John Scalzi, Old Man’s Ware

Neil Stephenson, The Diamond Age

Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings

Harlan Ellison’s Dangerous Visions

Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game

Patrick Rothfuss, The Kingkiller Chronicles

Piers Anthony, The Xanth Series

Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash

Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

Richar Adams, Watership Down

Lynn Abbey, Rifkind’s Challenge

Connie Willis, Doomsday Book

What the Best College Teachers Do, Ken Bain

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants

Barbara Hambly, the Ladies of Mandrigyn (series)

Howell & Willis’s Societies at Peace

Marjorie M. Liu, Darkness Calls

Jenson, The Heart of Whiteness

Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad/Poor Dad

Jay Lake's Green

Tanith Lee’s The Birthgrave (series)

Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, and The Boys from Brazil

James McBride, Color of Water

Amil Menon, Archipelago

Rev. Morrison-Reed, Black Pioneers in White Denominations; In Between

Walter Mosley’s 47

Gail Nyoka, Mella and the N'anga: An African Tale

Nnedimma Okorafor-Mbachu, Zahrah the Windseeker

Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Jennifer Roberson, The Novels of Tiger & Del

Alan Roger’s Bone Dance

Joanna Russ, The Adventures of Alyx; Picnic on Paradise; And Chaos Died; We Who are About To; The Two of Them; To Write Like a Woman; What are we fighting for?

Josepha Sherman, The Secret of the Unicorn Queen (series)

Judith Stone, When She Was White

Sheri Tepper, The Gate to Women’s Country

Shelly Tochluck, Witness Whiteness: First Steps toward an antiracist practice and culture

Susan Vaught, Stormwitch

H. G. Wells’ Things to Come

Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line

Zamyatin & Randall, “We”

Other books: 

Book of hiking trails in Clark County or PNW.

welcomewhitefolks.blogspot.com

Anything by:

Elizabeth Bear

Judith Berman

Lois McMaster Bujold

Samuel Delaney

Jewel Gomez (except Gilda)

Nalo Hopkinson

Juliet Marillier (except Sevenwaters series)

Anne McAffrey

Brandon Massey

Fiona Patton

Geoff Ryman

Jessica Salmonson

Crystal Singers

Sherry Thomas

Nisa Shawl

Worst Excuse Ever Not to Jog?

I have very few excuses that will actually get me out of jogging. Having a cold or other respiratory issue is one of them. Being nauseous. Most often, having something fun to do and expecting to fit in a run later in the week is the reason that I skip a jog. I expect, with my new job as a full-time professor, that I'll have to skip a run sometimes to prepare for class.

But this morning's excuse is much less... substantial. I basically skipped my jog because of a blister.

See, I went hiking on Sunday. The description said it was "cross country" hiking. I wasn't sure what that was, but I went anyway. In my new running shoes. For this particular hike leader, "cross country" hiking means off-trail hiking. Basically, we walked through a forest straight up to a peak instead of using the windy trail. Running shoes in the forest aren't that useful. I ended up getting a blister on my big toe because my foot kept sliding sideways.

This morning, I jogged in place a couple times and realized that going for a run would put a lot of pressure on that blister. So I skipped it. May be I should've jogged and made the blister worse, but I'm choosing to try to let it heal for a few days. The only problem with this decision is that I put on a pair of pants from my "too big" box and they fit. :( Oy vay, I've gotta get active again!

Back on the Health Path

After moving, I got a terrible cold with allergies on top of that. With unpacking and getting settled, it was a rough time for exercise.

But my new apartment is set up, my new office is set up, and I've started my new job, so things are settling down. That left me room to focus on being healthy! Yesterday, I joined a gym in my new city, and today I went for a run! I found a circular road around my house that is 2.9 miles, almost a 5k. How convenient!

It was my first run in a few weeks, but it went well. My allergies weren't TOO bad, it only got really hot (90 degrees+) towards the end of the run, and I wasn't too slow. I only used 2 tissues, and didn't start coughing until I was almost done. It was no personal record or anything, but surprisingly good for having taken such a long time off, then dealing with the heat and poor air quality. In fact, I probably shouldn't be running outside at all with the air here, but I enjoy it so much!

My eating has improved, as well. I'm getting back in to a healthy lifestyle after weeks of travel and transition. It's quite a relief, actually.

Memorial Church Service

Today, I went to my new church for the first time since I moved.  When I got there, the greeter asked if I knew what was going on today.  I didn't.  She said that we were holding a memorial service for a long-term member.  I said, "But I didn't know her."  The greeter said that it was okay, that she'd been away for awhile (likely due to being in her 90s!).  So I sat down. 

The crowd was much less joyful than it usually is in a UU congregation.  There were funeral flower arrangements near the pulpit. 

The first speaker talked about all of the service that this woman had done for the fellowship, starting in 1967.  Then members and her family came up to speak about her.  She seemed to be quite a spirited woman.  Several of her grandkids spoke.  They were in their 30s, like me.  They talked about how involved she had been in their lives.  Everyone spoke about how she taught them to live their life through love. 

During these, I kept thinking of my Gram.  I thought about how nice it would have been to have had a service for her, to hear all of these wonderful stories.  To be reminded how amazing she'd been.  To see how her loved changed so many people. 

As I've been unpacking this past week, I've found a lot of pictures of Gram and items that she'd given me.  I've put most of them in my superhero-themed room.  She is a hero to me.  It was a good time for me to reflect on who she was and what I lost.  And to remind myself that she'll live on through how she changed each of us, and how we who she helped us become is raising the next generation through love. 

I love you, Gram. 

What I've Learned from Superheroes

Buffy

• You are most powerful when you have support.
• Sex is dangerous. 
• High school is Hell.

Xena

• Love is the most powerful thing that exists.  Even more powerful than Courage.
• War lords wear dreadlocks.

Spiderman

• With great power comes great responsibility. 
• Being special hurts your loved ones.

Wonder Woman

• You have to hide yourself and be subservient for a man to love you. 
• You can run if you have enough support in your corset.  But your boots should not have heels.

Captain America

• Be willing to sacrifice yourself if it will save many others.
• Be polite and courteous.

Doctor Who

• Life is not worth living without people to share it with.
• Traveling is fun.
• Helping is fun.

Captain Jack Harkness

• Aliens are hot. Humans are hot.
• Being an intergalactic lover is lonely.

Taggert 

• Never give up, never surround.
  

Kirk

• There is no unwinnable situation.
• Alien women are hot.

Spock

•  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.  Or the one.

Yoda

• Do, or do not.  There is no try.

Mal Reynolds

• You may be on the losing side, but that doesn't mean that it's the wrong side.
• Take care of, and fight for, your crew (chosen family).  Even if you don't like them.