Finished reading: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations about Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum 📚
Finished reading: The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine 📚 I’m going to give this one an “ugh.” Unlikeable characters. Dumb story. The only lesson seems to be “don’t tell journalists something that you don’t want published widely” which, as a daughter of Washington, DC, I already knew.
A close up of an old manuscript
Whelp, it’s already snowing here in New Hampshire at 2 PM. I’m going to head on home and crank up the woodstove while we wait for a foot of snow to fall in the next 24 hours.
Others have said this, too. I’m astounded at how healthy I have been during this COVID year (knock on wood). Not a cold, not even a sniffle, during the past 11 months. Usually I would have had at least one cold. It’s a revelation to see how sick other people make me. 🙃
I’m listening to Lisa Sieverts Radio on Apple Music and I have to say that they have outdone themselves in algorithmically selecting music that I like, both old favorites and new stuff I’ve never heard before. Good job, Apple!
Woo hoo! Nearly 5 miles at 9 degrees F🏃♀️
I’m a folkie at heart and thus loved this Jacob Collier album from a couple of years ago. 🎵 Apple Music Link
Currently reading: The Overstory by Richard Powers 📚
Currently reading: Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria by Beverly Daniel Tatum 📚
Once a year, I have to re-learn Tinderbox because its magic is worth it as I create student groups for a multi-week assignment. It’s a crazy program. Here’s a video showing what TB can do, this is way fancier than what I’m doing. Tinderbox Training Daily Journal and PM
Temperature is dropping like a stone here in New Hampshire. It was 29 degrees F a couple of hours ago, now 24, and heading for 0 degrees by 7 AM tomorrow morning.
The Rural Blog: Rural health care experts suggest five creative ways the Biden administration can improve rural health care irjci.blogspot.com
The discussion forum for my course has started! Yesterday was the opening day of the term. Our first webinar is tomorrow. I’m the weird geek who loves course discussion forums. I am so interested in what my students have to say. We’re using Yellowdig Engage this year.
Mac Apps I rely on:
- MailMate
- DevonThink
- Obsidian
- Hook
- Google Docs
- Keynote
- BusyCal
March 23. That’s when my 85-year-old friend gets his first vaccine shot. Apparently over 10% of the population of my state (NH) signed up for vaccines this weekend.
Helped an 85-year-old friend get in line for the COVID-19 vaccine today. I don’t know when his appointment will be, though from what I hear from neighbors, it’ll be March. In New Hampshire, 147,000 65+ year olds signed up yesterday, the first day for Phase 1b signups.
Tamsin kitty finally trying out the box behind the wood stove 🐈
I’ve been working on a volunteer project for a few months. It had run into a logjam. Today I had a great Zoom call with the right people and we broke through the problem area. Now I can make progress again. Feels like a nice way to end a Friday.
T - 6: My Tech Setup for Zoom Teaching
- Computer: iMac circa late 2019
- Second Screen: Samsung display in portrait mode
- Microphone: Audio-technica ATR2100-USB plugged into Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
- Tripod in front of screen will hold my iPhone 11 as webcam running from Reincubate Camo, which will feed Zoom
- Keynote presentation running in Window mode
- iPad Mini (not shown) running as remote for keynote, with Apple Pencil so that I can write on slides as needed
- Green screen fabric backdrop which shows a neutral blue-ish photo as virtual background in Zoom
- Vari-Desk Standing desk so I can stand while teaching
- 2015 MacBook Pro which will be used as a confidence monitor to confirm students are seeing the correct view of slides
- lots of sticky notes with important key stroke commands
Currently Reading: The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine 📚
COVID-19 Ski Day: happy trails with a good ski buddy, all masked up.
Finished reading: Harvest by Jim Crace 📚Dark and depressing, albeit well written. It’s a novel about the time in England when the economy switched from agrarian commons to capitalist exploitation.
I’m pretty happy so far with Reincubate Camo to turn my iPhone into my webcam when I’m teaching. I have an iPhone 11 and one funny advantage is that the dual camera system looks like two eyes, so it’s easy to know where I should be looking. 🏫
T - 9: Teaching again
The Agile Project Management course that I teach begins in nine days. The 2021 version is almost a complete rewrite as I shift from 50% online to 100% online (thanks COVID-19). Here’s my Curio planning file, currently on its 19th revision.
