More snow and more reading

It's been fun to read others' blogs! I'm assuming I have a few "bleaders," even if very few of you are commenting.

We have actually had a few more snowflakes in Denton, cause for great excitement. The cold weather gave me a excuse to stay in and read more. Totally unrelated to my classes this semester (yes, even teachers want to do something not required), I just finished reading
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. It's a very entertaining account of a 30-year-old's attempt to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I laughed loudly at her descriptions of cooking, living in New York City as a transplanted Texan, surviving marriage, and blogging. (So, there's a slight connection with me and with my roles this semester.)

I'm also trying to learn more about TaskStream...and struggling to create my own portfolio there. Faculty have to submit a yearly self-evaluation, and it seemed appropriate to learn the platform that our students will learn and use. Except that now I'm doubting whether I want to learn something new or take the easy way. Maybe others can relate to that dilemma.

Okay, time to go read some slightly less interesting stuff.

Working from Home

Here's my usual work site - sitting on my sofa at home. I thought you'd want to see my setting when I'm reading DBs and book reviews. The laptop enables me to work toward the goal of responding to all emails within 24 hours. However, I do sleep sometime (even sometimes falling asleep right here with the laptop). Email is definitely my preferred method of communicating; I've grown to hate voice mail and phone tag.

Snow Days

I know it's hard for some of you to believe, but the beginning of school here has been greatly impacted by ice and a few snow flakes. We were iced in on MLK Day and then closed again on Wednesday. So, several projects (such as mailing CDs) are somewhat delayed.

On a positive note, being iced in did give me some time to read. I just finished Made to Stick and will be sharing ideas from that very interesting approach.

Look in Bb for some other ideas about where to blog.

Course Shell Ready on MLK Day

Okay, now I'm really committed to blogging - I mentioned it in the syllabus, so I can't back out. You can do your homepage in Bb and link to your own blog--not required, just encouraged.

I think I should answer the same questions as the syllabus requests of you:

• where I grew up: small town in Louisiana with mom, dad, 2 older brothers and a younger sister. My siblings are all still in Louisiana and we're all still close even though I've lived in Texas for many, many years.
• food: favorites have been crawfish, shrimp, butter beans, greens, cornbread dressing. Now with 2 vegetarian children, my tastes and my cooking have changed (no more seasoning with bacon grease, for example).
• music: jazz and blues. My husband and I are looking forward to a Marcia Ball concert next month.
• family ritual: My family of origin has a family reunion once a year, at the family cemetery. My husband knows that we will go.

So, keep looking for some pictures to be posted soon. Meanwhile, explore Bb, complete the quizzes, think about your family for the ethnographic research.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I thought you would enjoy some personal thoughts from me as we travel this journey together. I'll share thoughts about books I'm reading, movies I've seen, ideas from your posts, and probably much more. We can learn the process together! Hopefully, this will connect our community of classmates.